Current Affairs for SSC CGL Exams - 27 November 2016

:: National ::

Friction between Govt and Judiciary continues

Chief Justice of India Thakur again pointed to the vacancies in High Courts across the country and then Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad took a pot-shot at the Supreme Court, saying that it had failed the country during the Emergency.
Prasad blames SC “Let us not forget, during Emergency, High Courts showed courage, but the Supreme Court failed us,” the Law Minister said at the Supreme Court of India Constitution Day Lecture Series.
He said the courts can pass directives, but governance must remain with those elected to govern and that legislation must remain a preserve of the legislature. Problems will resolve if all organs work within their domains.
Earlier, Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi said everyone, judiciary included, should recognise that thereis a lakshmanrekha that needs to be respected and they should be prepared for introspection.
Justice J.S. Khehar, who is next in line to be CJI as per seniority norm and author of the majority judgment in NJAC case, said the judiciary has always kept to the lakshmanrekha by upholding the Constitution.
Chief Justice Thakur add-ed that the significance of the Constitution is that it hasunited a vast continent into a single nation. If Parliament has the power to enact laws, it should do so within the limits defined under the Constitution, he said.

PM stresses on soft skills in policing

It is time development of soft skills was made an integral part of the training modules for police personnel, PM Modi said.
Mr. Modi said aspects like human psychology and behavioural patterns of people should also be included in the police training curriculum.
Mr. Modi emphasised the importance of foot patrolling. Intelligence gathered by lower rung of policemen, especially from the level of con-stables, must not be ignored and should be made use of for prevention of crime, he said.
Police officials of higher echelons must ensure that leadership skills were inculcated among different levels of police personnel. Adopting new and collective training modules, a qualitative change must be brought about in the police force, he said.
Mr. Modi said the annual conference of police chiefs of States, the Union Territories and other crucial wings had transformed from theway it was conducted earlier.
The conference had now become a platform for sharing experiences and best policing practices. These useful inputs would help in shaping future policing policies.

Terror outfit’s logistics and capabilities hit by demonetisation

Almost three weeks after the demonetisation, militants in Kashmir are desperate for new banknotes to pay up their monthly bills, especially those of mobile phones and SIM cards, the police say.
The Lashkar-e- Taiba's attempt to loot the Malpora branch of J&K Bank in Budgam district of Rs. 14 lakh on November 21 is a case in point.
Of the Rs. 14 lakh looted, five LeT sympathisers who were all arrested — succeeded in getting the new notes for Rs. 3 lakh.
According to a police assessment, the militants active in the Valley spend a lot every month on cellphones and SIM cards. A militant commander or the head of a module keeps changing cell-phones and SIM cards.
On an average, Rs.10,000 is spent every month on gadgets andinternet. For 100 active militants, a group needs Rs. 10 lakh a month, the assessment reckons.
The other major expenses for militants are couriers, fuel charges and overground workers who ferry weaponsfrom the border areas to the mainland and help in their distribution.

:: International ::

Fidel Castro, communist revolutionary, died at the age of 90

Fidel Castro, the fiery apostle of revolution who brought the Cold War to the Western Hemisphere in 1959 and then defied the United States for nearly half a century as Cuba's maximum leader, bedevilling 11 U.S. Presidents, died on 26th.
In declining health for several years, Castro had orchestrated what he hoped would be the continuation of his Communist revolution, stepping aside in 2006 when he was felled by a serious ill-ness.
Raúl Castro, who had fought alongside Fidel from the earliest days of the insurrection and remained Minister of Defence and his brother's closest confidant, has ruled Cuba since then.
Fidel Castro had held onto power longer than any other living national leader, except Queen Elizabeth II. He became a towering international figure whose importance in the 20th century far exceeded what might have been expected from the head of state of a Caribbean island nation of 11 million people.

:: India and World ::

Qamar Javed Bajwa will replace Raheel sharif as Pak army chief

Lt. Gen. Qamar Javed Bajwa, who has extensive experience of handling affairs in Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir and the northern areas, was appointed Pakistan's new army chief. He will succeed Gen. Raheel Sharif.
Lt. Gen. Bajwa will take charge of the world's sixth-largest army by troop numbers in a formal handover, when General Raheel formally retires. Gen. Raheel in January declared he would not seek ex-tension.
There were speculation that the PML-N government would give him extension at the eleventh hour citing reasons that he was needed by the country to lead war on terror.
The post of Army chief is the most powerful in Pakistan. Lt. Gen. Bajwa was serving as Inspector General of the Training and Evaluation be-fore being promoted to the top post.

:: Business and Economy ::

RBI wants to absorb excess liquidity in banks due to demonetisation

RBI has taken steps to absorb excess liquidity in the banking system following demonetisation and said banks have to maintain 100 per cent CRR for the incremental deposits they received between September 16 and November 11.
The central bank clarified that the overall CRR requirement would stay at 4 per cent and the move would come into effect from the fortnight beginning November 26.
CRR is the proportion of deposits that banks have to keep as cash with the central bank. Banks do not earn any interest on CRR balances kept with the RBI.
The RBI withdrew the prevailing Rs.500 and Rs.1,000 notes on November 8 and banks started depositing and exchanging those notes from November 10.
The central bank said the incremental CRR requirement is intended to be a temporary measure and within its ‘liquidity management framework', and will be re-viewed on December 9 2016 or even earlier.
According to latest RBI data, deposits in banks swelled by Rs.3.24 lakh crore between September 16 and November 11. The last fortnight of September saw deposit mobilisation jump by Rs.3.5 lakh crore.
According to bankers, the move was likely to have only a marginal impact on bank's cost of funds since it was a temporary measure.

Industry concerned about centre keeping penalties with themselves

The Centre has empowered itself to impose penalties on businesses that fail to pass on the benefits of the GST to consumers in the form of lower prices, triggering concerns in industry about a re-turn to the era of socialist controls and harassment.
It will achieve this through an enabling provision introduced in the model Goods and Services Tax (GST) law, unveiled by the Centre on November, 26.
The revised drafts of the model GST law, as well as the Integrated GST Act and GST (Compensation to the States for loss of revenue) Act — which the government hopes to introduce and pass in this session of Parliament.
The new proposed GST bills, seeks to allay some industry concerns about its implementation by exempting free goods from GST unless they are being supplied to related parties, and treating supplies to special economic zones as ‘zero-rated.'
Securities will be exempted from GST as well as subsidies paid by the Centre and states, while credits will bepermitted against payments of excise and counter-veiling duties.
However, the new anti-profiteering measure is being seen as a potential dampener as it could lead to more discretion in the hands of the tax authorities.
A similar caveat has also been imposed on the credit of excise and countervailingduties paid on transition stock and such input credits would only be allowed if the benefit is passed on to the recipient.
While the proposal to treat ‘intangibles' as services in the earlier draft model GST law has been removed, several concerns of the services sector, particularly with respect to single centralisedregistration and clarity in terms of place of supply rules, have not been adequately addressed.=

Amitabh Kant says demonetisation will lower taxes and interest rates

Demonetisation will bring the Indian economy to a new equilibrium with low tax regime and lower interest rates, NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant said.
“Bank deposits will go up and the move will address the structural weaknesses in the banking system. But the biggest achievement would be the end of a parallel economy,” he said.
Mr. Kant urged traders to facilitate cashless trans-actions through various modes such as debit and credit cards, bank transfers and e-wallets. “
Around 86 per cent trans-actions in India are through cash which is the highest globally. This leads to corruption and leakages. Demonetisation will take India towards a cashless economy.
CEO, Unique Identification Authority of India called traders to adopt Aadhaar-en-abled payment system to go cashless.
Aadhaar number and fingerprint will be sufficient for customers to make transactions. They will not be required to carry their debit or credit cards once their bank details are linked with the Aadhaar number.

Industry wants stimulus to deal with negative impact due to demonetisation

The Centre's de-monetisation of high-value currency notes had triggered a sharp drop in demand with several sectors recording more than 30 per cent fall in sales since November 8, industry captains told Finance Minister.
Urging the government to remonetize the economy as soon as possible by bringing new Rs.500 notes into circulation, industry mooted a stimulus package to offset the negative impact on job creation and economic growth in the coming quarters.
Though demand would return over time, it depended on how quickly the new Rs.500 notes were brought into circulation.
Mr. Jaitley, in turn, told India Inc. that this was ‘the new normal' in the use of cash in the economy and that industry ought to get used to the idea of cheque and epayment transactions and push for new payment platforms.
This would, in one stroke, bring in 500 million people into the electronic payment mode, the minister is learnt to have said.
Paying wages to workers had become a challenge as many were mi-grants who didn't have bank accounts in places where they worked.