Current Affairs for SSC CGL Exams - 13 October 2016

:: National ::

US says India needs to respond to Cross-border terrorism

The U.S. empathises with India’s position that it needs to militarily respond to cross-border terrorism.
But given the history of wars between Indian and Pakistan and the heavily militarised character of the region, both sides must show restraint and caution, a senior White House official said on Wednesday.
Senior Director for South Asia at the National Security Council said: “It [Uri] was a clear case of cross-border terrorism. We condemn this act of terrorism. It was a horrific attack.
Every country has a right to self-defence. But in a heavily militarised relationship that has also experienced three wars, there is indeed a need for caution and restraint.
We share with India, the concern…. for preventing any future attack. We empathise with the Indian position that it needs to respond militarily to cross border threat of terrorism. But we also advise caution.”

Cyber security is a big challenge to the World

Deterrence in terms of national cyber security is a big challenge the world over, given that identification of the sources from where the threats emanate is a time-consuming process.
It can be difficult to find an attribution to a cyber attack: was it a foreign state, an individual or an activist group? It is a tricky issue.
The perpetrators could be operating from different foreign jurisdictions, hiding behind multiple levels of disguise in the cyber space.
In the recent past, Indian government agencies and corporates have come under cyber attacks on multiple occasions.
This May, two cyber security firms claimed to have identified espionage groups that targeted computer systems in government agencies and e-commerce businesses.
There are largely three sources of cyber threats to corporates: state-sponsored; criminals out to extort money; and activist groups which believe that a particular corporate’s activities undermine their cause.
Through ransomware, which is increasingly becoming sophisticated in terms of technology, criminals block access of corporates to their own data stored in servers and demand ransom to release it.
The cyber expert said law enforcement agencies are often able to identify the sources of such threats, which are usually located abroad, but in many cases certain foreign jurisdictions do not show much interest in taking action against perpetrators.

Final draft of the National Water Framework Bill, 2016 brought by centre

Centre has brought final draft of the National Water Framework Bill, 2016, that stresses managing water at basin-level and “right measurement” of State’s contribution to river system to resolve conflicts.
The draft Bill pitches for establishing River Basin Authority for each inter-State basin to ensure “optimum and sustainable” development of rivers and valleys.
The Bill is expected to be placed before the Union Cabinet for its approval in a month, before it is tabled in Parliament.
It suggests States to recognise the principle that the rivers are not owned by the basin-States but are “public trustees.”
It says all basin States have “equitable” rights over a river water “provided such use does not violate the right to water for life” of any person in the river basin.
The draft Bill says every person has a “right to sufficient quantity of safe water for life” within easy reach of the household regardless of caste, creed, religion, age, community, class, gender, disability, economic status, land ownership and place of residence.
Describing the draft Bill as “comprehensive” one, he said the model law also stresses on Centre and States working in partnership for managing water.
It proposes establishing institutional arrangements at all levels within a State and beyond up to an inter-State river basin level to “obviate” disputes through negotiations, conciliation or mediation before they become acute.
Water being a State subject, the Bill, however, will not be binding on States for adoption.

:: International ::

Syria issue disturbs Russia and West relations

President Vladimir Putin cancelled a planned visit to France and British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson called on anti-war campaigners to protest outside the Russian embassy in London against the bombing of Syrian city of Aleppo.
French Foreign Minister said Mr. Putin cancelled the visit to Paris because he was “embarrassed” about Russia’s bombing of Aleppo.
President Putin had been due in Paris on October 19 to inaugurate a spiritual centre at a new Russian Orthodox church near the Eiffel Tower and open an exhibition of artworks assembled by a Russian collector.
But French President Francois Hollande insisted Mr. Putin also took part in talks with him about Syria, where Moscow is providing military support to the regime of President Bashar al-Assad.
Russia has been waging a punishing aerial bombing campaign in Syria for more than a year in support of Mr. Assad’s forces, part of a multi-front war that has claimed some 300,000 lives and seen Moscow further estranged from the West.
Moscow blocked a draft French UN resolution calling for an end to air strikes on rebel-held eastern Aleppo that have escalated in the last month, leaving hundreds of people dead, including dozens of children.

:: Science and Technology ::

Scientists recorded sounds by Jupiter’s aurora

Scientists have recorded haunting sounds cast by Jupiter’s auroras, captured by NASA’s solar-powered Juno spacecraft during its first full orbit around the king of planets.
The radio emissions cast by Jupiter’s auroras — light shows similar to the northern and southern lights on Earth — were recorded by an instrument, called Waves, as the Juno spacecraft travelled about 4,100 km above Jupiter’s swirling clouds.
The emissions from Jupiter were discovered in the 1950s but had never been analysed from such a close vantage point, according to NASA.
The scientists want to learn how electrons and ions are accelerated along magnetic field lines above Jupiter to eventually collide with the atmosphere, creating the bursts of light that become the auroras.
To do that, the Waves instrument will sample plasma waves along different segments in the magnetic field lines with each of its orbits around Jupiter.
A camera aboard the spacecraft captured high-resolution views of the Jovian atmosphere.

:: Business and Economy ::

Govt warns employees against criticism of GSTN

The Centre has warned its employees that they could invite penal action if it is found that they are indulging in criticism of its policies and actions.
Goods and Services Tax Network (GSTN)-a private company tasked with the creation of Information Technology (IT) infrastructure and composition of a GST council secretariat for the new tax regime.
It cited the service rules tinkered in June, covering the social media as well, that bar a government servant from making any adverse criticism of any policy or action of the government.
The Ministry said the primary objective of the service associations is to promote common service interest of its members.
The service rules were amended in June making it clear that disapproval of government policies on social media also amounted to violation of conduct rules.
And the threat of disciplinary action extends to caricatures that are uncharitable to the government.
Earlier rule book spoke about criticism made in a radio broadcast, public media (such as television) or documents. It will be applicable to anonymous and pseudonymous posts by officials too.
The recent memo of the Finance Ministry capped weeks of unrest among officers and cadre of the Excise and Revenue Department officials over a number of issues related to roll out of the General Sales Tax regime.
The central government holds 24.5 per cent stake in GSTN while state governments together hold another 24.5 per cent.
The balance 51 per cent equity is with non-government financial institutions, like HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank and LIC Housing Finance.

Rapid-growth companies number increased very fast

The number of Indian firms among the global rapid-growth companies identified by the World Economic Forum has almost doubled to 30 now from 17 in 2014.
The sheer scale of the Indian market, and the necessary innovation made by Indian companies, make them highly competitive at the global level.
They have the opportunity to scale beyond what can be done in Europe, for example. So that gives birth to very interesting business models that can then be replicated around the world.
In the category of young, innovative, start-up to mid-size companies, we have 30 from India. We have PayTM, Ola Cabs, Dabur, Parle Agro etc. These are innovative companies and we see them playing a greater role in the WEF’s ecosystem.
There are 100 Indian companies that are members of the WEF, of which 30 are mid-sized or entrepreneurial companies.
There is a strong entrepreneurial spirit. There is some talk of over-valuation of start-ups and then the subsequent scaling back of this valuation as being a matter for concern.
Despite India’s improved performance in the global competitiveness rankings, there still remain substantial challenges in the ease of doing business, and the taxation system.