Current Affairs for SSC CGL Exams - 29 March 2017

:: National ::

Bipin Rawat, to be conferred the honorary title of General of the Nepalese Army

The Chief of the Army Staff, General Bipin Rawat, will be conferred the honorary title of General of the Nepalese Army during his ongoing visit to the Himalayan country.
Gen. Rawat is on an official visit to Nepal and Bangladesh from March 28 to April 2, his first foreign visit after assuming office.
The President of Nepal, Bidhya Devi Bhandari, will confer the title of “Honorary General of the Nepalese Army” to Gen. Rawat at an investiture ceremony.
General Rajendra Chettri, the Chief of the Nepalese Army, was conferred the title of “Honorary General of the Indian Army” on February 3 during his first visit to India after assuming office.
This tradition, a reciprocal arrangement to honour each other’s Army chief’s with the honorary titles, has been continuing uninterrupted since it began in 1969.
During his visit to Nepal and Bangladesh, Gen. Rawat will be visiting several important military installations and meeting high-ranking dignitaries, including the Prime Minister, Defence Minister and the Chief of the Army Staff.
A delegation led by Gen. Rawat will visit the Nepalese Army Mountain Warfare School at Jomsom and the Pension Paying office at Pokhra.
From Nepal, Gen Rawat will proceed to Bangladesh, where he will meet the President, the Prime Minister and the Chief of the Bangladesh Army.

Large brain sizes in primates may have been a result of their diverse diet

Large brain sizes in primates may have been a result of their diverse diet, which included fruits and vegetables, rather than living complex social lives, scientists have found.
These results call into question “the social brain hypothesis,” which has posited that humans and primates are big-brained due to factors pertaining to social living.
The findings reinforce the notion that human and primate brain evolution may be driven by differences in feeding rather than in socialisation.
Researchers examined more than 140 primate species — or more than three times as many as previous studies — and incorporated more recent evolutionary trees, or phylogenies.
They took into account food consumption across the studied species — folivores (leaves), frugivores (fruit), frugivores/folivores, and omnivores and several measures of sociality, such as group size, social system, and mating system.
Results showed that brain size is predicted by diet rather than by the various measures of sociality — after controlling for body size and phylogeny.

Pellet guns may be used by security forces in Valley to disperse rioters

The government informed the Lok Sabha that pellet guns “may be” used by security forces in the Kashmir Valley to disperse “rioters” if other alternatives failed.
In a written reply, Minister of State for Home Hansraj Gangaram Ahir said the government constituted a committee of experts on July 26, 2016 to consider non-lethal alternatives to pellet guns.
“The committee has submitted its report, and the recommendations have been taken into account ... for appropriate implementation,” he said.
“...the government has decided that the security forces will resort to various measures such as PAVA-chilli [shells and grenades], Stun Lac [shells and grenades] and tear-smoke shells to disperse rioters.
However, if these measures prove to be ineffective ... the use of pellet guns may be resorted to,” he said.
The Supreme Court asked the Centre to come up with alternatives to pellet guns used by security forces against agitators and stone-throwing mobs on the streets of Jammu and Kashmir.

The Mental Health Bill passed in the Lok Sabha

The Mental Health Bill passed in the Lok Sabha after almost a six-year-long wait is expected to revive the way mental illnesses are dealt with in the country.
While the Bill has been termed as progressive by the fraternity, a particular clause that emphasises on advanced directive from the patient has been debated widely.
Bill has a clause that mandates the government to increase the number of mental health workers. It also talks about free access to medication from the levels of Community Health Centres (CHCs) and above.
The Bill prohibits Electro Convulsive Therapy (ECT) for minors. In adults, ECT can be given only after the use of anaesthesia or muscle relaxant.
While this therapy is used by few medical practitioners who are rooted to age old treatments, retaining ECT in the Bill has not gone down well with many progressive doctors who don’t believe in this therapy.
The Bill also restricts medical institutions from chaining patients or keeping them in seclusion.
The Bill states that a mentally-ill person shall have the right to make an advance directive that states how he wants to be treated and who his nominated representative shall be.
The Bill further adds that the advance directive has to be certified by a medical practitioner or someone registered with the Mental Health Board.
If a mental health professional/ relative/care-giver does not wish to follow the directive while treating the person, he can make an application to the Mental Health Board to review/alter/cancel the advance directive.
The Bill empowers every person to access mental healthcare and treatment from services run or funded by the government. The right to access mental health care includes affordable, good quality of and easy access to services.
In another progressive step, the Bill has made it mandatory for insurance companies to cover hospitalisation due to mental disorders.

The Centre informed SC that appointment of Lokpal is not possible now

The Centre informed the Supreme Court that appointment of the anti-corruption ombudsman, Lokpal, is not possible now.
Amendments to the Lokpal law, concerning the substitution of the LoP with the leader of the single largest opposition party in the Lok Sabha on the high-power Lokpal selection committee, is still pending with Parliament.
The committee comprises the Prime Minister, Lok Sabha Speaker, LoP and the Chief Justice of India or a SC judge as per the Lokpal and Lokayukta Act of 2013. But the 16th Lok Sabha has no recognised LoP.
Mr. Rohatgi said the implementation of the Lokpal law would remain in limbo till Parliament allowed the single largest opposition party leader to take the place of the LoP in the latter’s absence.
The court reserved the case for pronouncement of judgment. During the hearing, Mr. Rohatgi said Parliament may discuss the amendment in the Monsoon session along with other ones in the Lokpal Bill.
The SC had earlier criticised the government for “dragging its feet.” on the appointment of Lokpal to usher in probity in public life.

IMD sends warning to states about Heat waves

IMD forecast “above normal” temperatures this summer in Punjab, Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Odisha and Telangana.
The summer forecast is in line with a generally warm trend over previous months; 2016 was the warmest year in a century, according to the IMD, with the country 0.91 C warmer than the 1961-1990 average.
The summer months of March-May last year were 1.36 C higher than the historical average, making it the second warmest since 1901. The higher temperatures coincide with three, consecutive years of weak monsoons.
IMD said that “prevailing winds & clear sky conditions over northwest & adjoining central India” has led to heat wave conditions in West Rajasthan & Gujarat and at isolated places over West Madhya Pradesh.
Delhi was already 7 C hotter than what’s normal for the last week of March.

:: International ::

Trump to issue orders to backout from various commitments during Paris deal

U.S. President Donald Trump is set to issue a sweeping executive order to reverse a multitude of federal measures taken by his predecessor Barack Obama in order to meet American commitments under the Paris Climate Agreement.
Collectively, these measures could have moved the U.S. closer to its commitment of reducing its carbon emissions by 26-28% below 2005 levels by 2025, though they were not sufficient.
With Mr. Trump undoing the regulations on fossil fuel, America is making a turnabout in its climate policy.
Mr. Trump would dismantle the Clean Power Plan that sought to nudge the U.S. power industry from coal to renewable energy and cancel six executive orders and memorandums, all from the Obama era.
More federal land will be open to mining and power plants will be allowed to continue on coal without facing curbs once regulations are lifted.
Mr. Obama’s Clean Power Plan has been caught in a judicial wrangle, with 24 American States and the fossil fuel industry opposing it and 18 States and environmental groups defending it.
Mr. Trump’s executive order cannot instantly withdraw the regulations, as it involves a rule-making process of notification and hearings. While the impasse continues, the power industry can go on as business as usual.
The new administration would also undo the requirement of social impact of assessment of projects, while also rejecting a presidential memorandum that linked climate change to national security.
The Clean Power Plan was the cornerstone of Mr. Obama’s climate policy in the run-up to meeting Paris commitment. Mr. Pruitt defended its dismantling as essential for energy independence and job generation in the country.
More than government regulations, market forces — particularly cheap natural gas — are making coal mining increasingly unviable in the U.S. Renewable energy sources are also getting cheaper.
Coal mining itself has become more mechanised in recent years, employing lesser miners for the same quantity of mining. All this makes Mr. Trump’s emphasis on reviving mining in the U.S. an uphill task.
Regardless of what America does to combat climate change, India would remain firm on its Paris Agreement commitments, Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said in Washington recently.

:: Business and Economy ::

Social security benefits may be extended to anganwadi and Asha workers

The Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation’s central board of trustees will meet to consider extending social security benefits to volunteers under anganwadi , mid-day meal and Accredited Social Health Activists schemes.
The EPFO has proposed to the Labour Ministry that a lower contributory rate of 10% of income towards the Employees’ Provident Fund be allowed for scheme workers as against 12% contribution stipulated for the organised workers.
According to estimates, there are 14 lakh anganwadi workers, 12 lakh anganwadi helpers, 25.50 lakh mid-day meal workers in the country, as per the agenda of the EPFO’s central board of trustees meeting.
There is no mandatory social security cover for such scheme workers at present.
However, the Centre can issue a notification to cover any class of establishments with a lower contributory rate under the Employees’ Provident Fund and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1952.
This will only be applicable to scheme workers in organisations employing at least 20 workers. Providing social security coverage to the unorganised workers has been one of the key demands of the central trade unions.
The EPFO will also consider a proposal to increase wage ceiling for its social security coverage to Rs. 25,000 a month from Rs. 15,000 a month at present in a bid to bring more workers under the provident fund net.
At present, EPF is optional for employees earning more than Rs. 15,000 a month. The EPFO had sent a formal proposal to the Union Labour Ministry last year to increase the wage ceiling for EPF coverage to Rs. 25,000 a month.
The EPFO said that “there is an immediate requirement to enhance wage ceiling under EPP & MP Act, 1952” to ensure workers remain eligible for provident fund benefits.
However, the move may lead to additional financial burden on the Union government as it contributes 1.16% of the employee’s salary as subsidy towards the Employees’ Pension Scheme.
The wage ceiling hike will lead to additional burden of Rs. 2,708 crore per annum on the central government, the EPFO said.
The previous wage ceiling was revised in September 2014 when the limit was increased from Rs. 6,500 to Rs. 15,000 per month.
At present, out of around 3.7 crore active members are subscribed to EPFO, close to three crore workers are those in the earning category of Rs. 15,000 and below.

The Centre is working on an industrial policy for backward areas of the northeast

The Centre is working on an industrial policy for backward areas of the northeast as well as the Himalayan States to subsidise the cost of capital.
Cost of funds is high, and the government is working to bring this down and make funds easily accessible.
Norms were yet to be announced by the regulators concerned, including the RBI and the SEBI, regarding regulations for online lending platforms.
On state-wise start-up policy, as of now there are 16 states that have their respective start-up policies and the Centre has asked the remaining states to soon join the initiative.
The development of agriculture sector is a key priority area for the Centre. The government is encouraging organic farming across the country and he has sought suggestions in this regard from the public.
Invest India — the national investment promotion agency — in the last one and a half years had promoted foreign investments to the tune of $70 billion, of which already $3.1 billion worth of investments had come into the country.