Current Affairs for SSC CGL Exams - 12 November 2016

:: National ::

India signs nuclear deal with Japan

India signed a historic civilian nuclear deal with Japan during the annual bilateral summit held in Tokyo.
Sealing of the deal marked the high point of the ongoing visit to Japan by Prime Minister Narendra Modi who issued a media statement describing it as a ‘historic step’.
The nuclear deal which will help India access Japan’s nuclear market, had been under negotiation for six years and was firmed up during the 2015 visit of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to India when the principles of the agreement were frozen.
However, the final seal on the text had to wait legislative clearance from Japan, which has 13 civil nuclear agreements with countries such as France and the U.S.
India is the first non-member of the non-proliferation treaty (NPT) to have signed such a deal with Japan.
Negotiations which began in 2010 during the UPA government were stuck on India’s non-NPT status as Japan sought assurances that the deal would be used for peaceful purposes.
The last stage of negotiations was keenly watched due to a “nullification clause” which seeks automatic cancellation of the deal if India resorts to nuclear testing.

World Bank wants India and Pakistan to come for mediation

The World Bank has “urged” India and Pakistan to agree to mediation on how to proceed in their dispute over two hydropower dam projects in Jammu and Kashmir.
Replying to a strong statement from India that the World Bank, a signatory to the Indus Waters Treaty 1960, was favouring Pakistan by going ahead with an arbitration process, the Bank said it had gone ahead with both countries’ requests.
Conceding that a “draw of lots” was held to appoint three neutral umpires despite India’s objections, a senior World Bank official explained that the decision was a “procedural one.”
However, World Bank Group General Counsel admitted that two parallel processes were “unworkable” in the long run, and therefore mediation was required.
The dispute is over the Kishenganga (330 MW) and Ratle (850 MW) hydel plants India is constructing on the Kishenganga and Chenab rivers.

India-Japan civil nuclear agreement is “broadly in line” with other such deals

Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar told the media in Tokyo that the India-Japan civil nuclear agreement is “broadly in line” with other such deals New Delhi has signed so far.
However, Japan Times has reported that the deal includes the option that Japan can give a year’s notice before terminating it in case India breaks the nuclear testing moratorium that it had extended to the Nuclear Suppliers Group in 2008.
The deal is significant as it will help guarantee Japan’s continued support to India’s civil nuclear programme.
Apart from the Russian reactors, the planned nuclear reactors with France and the U.S. depend on Japanese parts.
The deal is also likely to revitalise Japanese nuclear majors that are yet to recover from the setback of the Fukushima accident.
That apart, the deal will bring Japan into the Indian nuclear market where France and Russia have already have a strong presence.
Both sides also signed nine agreements including one on cooperation between ISRO and JAXA in outer space. Another MoU that was signed covered investment in infrastructure projects in railways and transport terminals.

NITI Aayog vice chairman says demonetisation will reduce inflation

The Centre’s demonetisation drive will help lower inflation, NITI Aayog vice chairman Arvind Panagariya said.
“All these makes me believe that their could be some moderation in inflation in the short-term,” Mr. Panagariya said.
Yields on sovereign bonds softened after the government announced that the present Rs. 500 and Rs. 1,000 currency notes will not be a legal tender from November 9.
He also said that eradication of black money from circulation will have some impact on money supply.
As the black money goes out of the system, the money supply will shrink to some degree. This will reduce the inflation rate in the absence of any open market operations by the RBI,” Mr. Panagariya said.
Banks will see healthy growth in savings account deposits due to this exercise, he said.
Savings that were kept in different forms particularly in the form of currency notes, they will now move into bank deposits. So we will see some surge in bank deposits,” Mr. Panagariya added.
Separately, Bibek Debroy, member of NITI Aayog dismissed that the demonetisation will have any impact on economic growth.
He said black money was never in the calculation of GDP figures, hence the present demonetisation drive will not impact growth.

:: International ::

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump hailed Israel as a “beacon of hope to countless people”

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump hailed Israel as a “beacon of hope to countless people” in his first public message to the country since his upset victory.
“Israel and America share so many of the same values, such as freedom of speech, freedom of worship and the importance of creating opportunities for all citizens to pursue their dreams,” Mr. Trump said
“Israel is the one true democracy and defender of human rights in the Middle East and a beacon of hope to countless people.”
He added that he hoped his administration would play a “significant role in helping the parties to achieve a just, lasting peace,” saying that any deal would have to be directly negotiated between the two sides.
France is currently pushing for an international conference to discuss peace in the Middle East, but Israel says any talks should be bilateral ones between the two sides.
The Palestinians have called for international involvement, accusing Israel of reneging on past agreements.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was among the first leaders Mr. Trump spoke to after his election victory.
U.S. President-elect says he hopes to help Israelis and Palestinians achieve just, lasting peace.

:: Science and Technology ::

Supermoon on 14th will be biggest in 60 years

On 14th, the moon will be the biggest and brightest it has been in more than 60 years. So long as the sky is clear of clouds, it should be a great time to get outside and gaze at it or take some photos.
It’s what is commonly called a “supermoon”, or technically a “perigee full moon” — a phenomenon that occurs when a full moon coincides with the moon being the closest it gets to the Earth on its orbit.
What makes this one special is that the moon is going to be even closer to the Earth than it normally gets, making it a tiny bit bigger than even your average supermoon.
But, despite a lot of hyperbolic news written about the event in the past few days, don’t be too surprised if it looks much like any other full moon.
How much bigger will it be? At 8:09PM GMT, the moon will pass by the Earth at a distance of 356,511km — the closest it has passed the Earth since 1948. As it does so, it will be a full moon, making it a particularly big supermoon.
Supermooons are roughly 30% larger in area and 30% brighter than the smallest full moons — full moons that happen when the moon is at its furthest distance from Earth: at “apogee”. In terms of diametre — the width of the moon — it will be about 14% wider than the smallest full moons.
The difference between this unusually big supermoon and other supermoons is negligible.
While a supermoon is 30% brighter than the smallest full moons, it’s only about 15% brighter than an average full moon.
That’s nothing to sneeze at — on a clear night, away from city lights, it will provide more moonlight than you’d usually get from a full moon.
When it comes to the size, the difference in width (diameter) between a supermoon and an average moon is about 7%.
When the moon is high in the sky, that difference is something you’re unlikely to notice, because the sky is big and there’s nothing to measure it against.
But if you could compare it to a moon at apogee (when it’s farthest) you would probably be able to see the difference.
What’s more, the boost in actual size of the moon’s image from a supermoon is totally swamped by what’s known as the “moon illusion”, which affects your perception of the size of the moon.
That moon illusion (as the name suggests) is a complete illusion — the image of the moon does not change significantly at all as it moves from the horizon up into the sky.
But, when it is close to the horizon, observers think it looks bigger. Exactly what causes the moon illusion is still a matter of debate. But there are lots of possible explanations .
What causes a supermoon? The moon’s orbit around the Earth is not quite a circle but an ellipse — a kind of squashed circle.
Ellipses are described mathematically with two foci, one at either side of the centre. When an orbit is elliptical, the big body in the middle (the Earth in this case) sits at one of those two foci.
Since the Earth is sitting off to one side of the ellipse, the moon is inevitably closer to the Earth when it passes that side, and further away as it passes the other side.
When it is at the close side (called “perigee”), and it is a full moon, it’s called a supermoon. (That name was actually made up in the pseudoscience field of astrology but it has entered the common lexicon.)
Why are supermoons not all the same size? In short, the reason is that the shape of the ellipse that the moon draws around the Earth is changing all the time as it is pushed and pulled by other gravitational forces.

:: Business and Economy ::

Centre announced measures to increase cyber security

The Centre announced a slew of measures, including one that requires all organisations having a significant IT infrastructure to appoint cyber security officers, in an attempt to strengthen cybersecurity in India.
The Minister for Electronics and IT Ravi Shankar Prasad, speaking at the Economic Editors’ conference here, also said that efforts are being made to strengthen CERT-In, the governments’ cybersecurity arm.
“CERT-In is being strengthened. The ministry has approved 26 new posts,” he said.
State Certs are being planned by Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Kerala and Jharkhand. Also, three sectoral Certs in power sector — generation, transmission and distribution, have been set up, in addition to the banking one.

IMF supports India's demonetisation drive

The IMF said it supports India’s efforts to fight corruption through demonetisation, but noted that the transition needs to be managed “prudently” to minimise any disruption.
“We support the measures to fight corruption and illicit financial flows in India.
Of course, given the large role of cash in every day transaction in India’s economy the currency transition would have to be managed prudently to minimise possible disruption,” IMF spokesman told correspondents.

Industrial output grew at 0.7 percent

Industrial output grew 0.7 per cent in September compared with the same period a year ago, snapping a two-month contraction, government data showed.
The Index of Industrial Production contracted 0.7 per cent in August, and shrank 2.5 per cent in July. The move back into growth territory was driven mainly by consumer goods, with consumer durables especially seeing a strong turnaround.
A healthy contribution by consumer durables is likely to be short-lived, with experts saying that the government’s demonetisation move will dampen consumption in the remaining two quarters of the year.
Growth has come in at 0.7 per cent for the month, which is much lower than our expectation of 3.1 per cent which was based on the better performance of infra industries and retail sales in October.
The consumer durables category in the IIP grew a robust 14 per cent in September, up from the 2.2 per cent seen in August.
This pushed the growth of the overall consumer goods category up to 6 per cent in September from the 0.7 per cent in August.
The capital goods category extended its run of poor performance with 11 consecutive months of contraction. The category contracted 21.6 per cent in September compared with 22 per cent in August.
The manufacturing sector recovered marginally, growing 0.9 per cent following two consecutive months of contraction. The electricity sector grew 2.4 per cent in September, much faster than the 0.1 per cent growth rate seen in August.