Current Affairs for SSC CGL Exams - 01 May 2017

:: National ::

South Asia satellite to be launched from Satish Dhawan Space Centre

The ‘South Asia Satellite,’ which India has built for use by countries of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) will be launched on May 5.
This was announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his Mann Ki Baat radio address.
He said the capacities of the satellite and the facilities it offered “will go a long way in addressing South Asia’s economic and developmental priorities.”
Natural resources mapping, telemedicine, education, deeper IT connectivity or fostering people-to-people contact — this satellite will prove to be a boon in the progress of the entire region.
Mr. Modi announced the satellite project at the 2014 SAARC summit in Nepal, and all SAARC countries, except Pakistan, have joined it.
The total cost of launching the satellite is put at Rs. 235 crore, and it will be met by the Government of India, Minister of State for Atomic Energy and Space Jitendra Singh had said in Parliament.
The GSAT-09 offers a full range of applications and services in telecommunication and broadcasting: Television, Direct-to-Home (DTH), Very Small Aperture Terminals (VSATs), Tele-education, Telemedicine and Disaster Management Support.
The 2,230-kg satellite was built by the Indian Space Research Organisation and has 12 Ku-band transponders. It is cuboid in shape and built around a central cylinder. It has a mission life of over 12 years.
It will be launched from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota on the Geostationary Launch Vehicle Mk-II. The GSLV-F09 is about 50 metre tall and is the 11th flight of the GSLV.

Election Commission is actively considering revision of its recount rules

The Election Commission is actively considering revision of its recount rules so that slips generated by the Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) devices can be matched with the Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) count.
Election Commission (EC) told that the office of the Chief Election Commissioner had received thousands of representations suggesting that changes be made to the recount rules to allow tallying with VVPAT slips.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had demanded that the Election Commission randomly count VVPAT-generated slips and tally them with EVM results.
The Election Commission functionary said that after the Centre approved the purchase of VVPAT machines, there was little point in looking at why the Commission had to send several reminders to the Government to sanction funds.

U.S. to decide on its continuation in the Paris climate agreement

The U.S. will decide on its continuation in the Paris climate agreement in the next two weeks, President Donald Trump said, naming China, Russia and India for allegedly contributing nothing under the treaty.
During the campaign, Mr. Trump had promised to withdraw from the treaty, but senior officials of his administration are divided over the issue. A decision is expected before the G-7 summit on May 26-27.
“Our government rushed to join international agreements where the U.S. bears the costs and the burden while other countries get the benefit and pay nothing and this includes deals like the Paris Climate Accord...,” he said.

Crop failure, absence of assured water resources etc are reasons for farmers suicides

A study conducted across 13 States by the Union Agriculture Ministry throws up the all-too-familiar reasons that drive farmers to suicide.
The Ministry’s agricultural economic research unit, investigated farmers’ suicides in Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Kerala, Chhattisgarh, Punjab, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal.
The story behind each death points to frequent crop failure, vagaries of the monsoon, absence of assured water resources, attacks of pests and diseases, debts, farming and social causes.
Nothing has changed on the ground for the farmer in the past two years, as is clear from the Union Home Ministry’s National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), which disseminates and compiles information on “suicides.
NCRB reports up to 2015 reveal identical causes of suicides among farmers — bankruptcy, farming-related issues, family problems, illness, drug abuse or alcoholism.
The court expanded the ambit of the petition to farmers’ suicides across the country and had asked the Centre on March 27 to provide an action plan to end the human tragedy.
The affidavit suggests crop insurance, crop and enterprise diversification, government intervention through MSP covering cost of production plus a reasonable profit margin, establishing farmers’ welfare cells as support groups and regulating informal credit market as remedies.
Besides, the Reserve Bank of India has allowed State and district level banks to take a lenient view on rescheduling of loans if crop loss is 33% or more.
The government has highlighted the Kisan Credit Card scheme and the e-National Agricultural Market Scheme launched on April 14, 2016 to “create a single unified market for the State and ultimately for the nation for agricultural commodities.”

Army is all set to accelerate work on installing a smart fence along LOC

With infiltration across the Line of Control (LoC) on the rise, the Army is all set to accelerate work on installing a smart fence to replace the existing border fence following successful trials.
The existing one called the Anti-Infiltration Obstacle System (AIOS) is located about 700m from the LoC. The double-row fence consisting of concertina wire was constructed between 2003 and 2005.
A proposal has been in the works for sometime to install a smart fence which will also enable round-the-clock real-time surveillance.
The plan gained momentum after the Pathankot and Uri terror attacks last year in which terrorists crossed the LoC and attacked military installations.
The fence has already been tested and installed along a 50km stretch on a trial basis. The project would be implemented by the Army Corps of Engineers, the officer stated.
Infiltration across the LoC peaked last year in the aftermath of the surgical strikes by the Army on terror camps in September. Attacks on military installations have also gone up dramatically over the last two years.
The border fence forms the first line of defence in the three-tier counter-infiltration grid. The new fence will be erected in place of the existing one and is expected to cost around Rs. 1000 crore.
Under Phase-I, vulnerable areas and where most damage has occurred will be covered. The rest of the fence will be replaced in the second phase.

Real Estate Regulatory Act to come into force

The much-awaited Real Estate Regulatory Act, which promises to protect the rights of homebuyers and bring in transparency to the sector, comes into force.
Though only 13 States and Union Territories have notified the rules so far, the Centre believes that within the next two months, others too will follow suit.
Real estate developers shall get all the ongoing projects that have not received completion certificate and the new projects registered with regulatory authorities by July-end. This enables the buyers to enforce their rights and seek redress.
Under these regulations, developers are required to display sanctioned plans and layout plans of at least 3X2 feet size at all marketing offices, other offices where properties are sold, all branch offices and head office of the promoters in addition to the site of project.
As per the new act, 70% of the funds would have to be deposited in a separate bank account in case of new projects and 70% of unused funds in case of ongoing projects.
Projects with plot size of minimum 500 sq.m or at least eight apartments shall be registered. Both developers and buyers will pay penalty for delays. The liability is on developers for structural defects for five years.

Moon village could serve as a launching pad for deep space missions

China and Europe are planning to build the first-ever “moon village” that could serve as a launching pad for deep space missions such as one to Mars, or even as a spot for space tourism and lunar mining.
Representatives of the Chinese and European space agencies have discussed collaborating on a moon-base and other possible joint endeavours. The plan was first revealed by Tian Yulong, the secretary general of China’s space agency.
Director general of the 22-member ESA, has described its proposed “moon village” as a potential international launching pad for future deep space missions, such as to Mars, and a chance to develop tourism or even lunar mining.

:: Business and Economy ::

Railway Ministry’s plans to allow private companies to run freight trains

The Railway Ministry’s plans to allow private companies to run freight trains from their own private terminals may lead to faster evacuation of cargo, but the proposed move faces multiple challenges.
As per plan, firms and manufacturers that transport bulk of their produce through the railway network would be allowed to set up their own private terminals from where their own trains would ply to delivery centres.
The trains will run on Indian Railways’ tracks and the operation of the trains will remain with the railways. This is per the provisions of the Special Freight Train Operations Scheme of the Ministry of Railways.
However, the problems being faced by Indian Railways such as creaky signalling infrastructure and tracks needing maintenance will largely remain the same.
The problem is compounded on congested routes such as between Delhi and Mumbai, which already face pressure from both passenger and freight trains.
The impact may not be immediate since it would require more time to build up infrastructure. The Railways, under Minister Suresh Prabhu, may be undergoing transformation, but scepticism persists.
Besides, the precedence given to passenger trains is expected to cause uncertainties in running freight trains in a scheduled manner. This may defeat the very purpose behind the partial opening up of the freight transport arm of the railways.
Apart from the convenience of transporting cargo through own trains, the economic viability of any such operation would remain a major question for private operators.
Analysts said the main cause of unprofitable operations may be attributed to the charges by Railways and ad-hoc changes in tariffs for some of the profitable cargo (heavy cargo and long distance haulage).
Also lack of guarantee of timely delivery of the consignment has repulsed the EXIM cargo, they added. For example, the railways command less than one third of total container volumes at JNPT, the largest container port in India located in Mumbai.
Another concern that bogs potential private operators is the lack of clarity on whether they would be allowed to run their rakes on the proposed Dedicated Freight Corridors (DFCs) being set up in the country.
In addition, there is lack of clarity on the approval process for rakes and the design specifications.
As per existing rules, the approval from the Research Designs & Standards Organisation (RDSO) of the Railways is required for running any non-standard rake.
It is feared that the approval process could take a long time and bureaucratic hassles would jeopardise the genuine intent, said industry sources.
The absence of a credible dispute resolution mechanism has also been red flagged by analysts. The Railways, being both the operator and regulator, meant that the dispute resolution system in place may not be adequately effective.
However, it is expected that the proposed Rail Development Authority may address the issues of effective and efficient regulation as well as dispute resolution.
Finally, although the intent to allow private operators to run their own rakes is laudable, ambitious and bold, it has to be backed by proper implementation mechanism, according to consultants.

India and the U.S. to held talks in sectors such as infrastructure, digital technologies

India and the U.S. are slated to hold trade talks in May to identify opportunities in sectors such as infrastructure, digital technologies and smart cities even as commercial ties have soured by the recent visa and intellectual property (IP) issues.
The discussions apart from food processing and supply chain logistics will focus on financial services, virtual currencies, clean energy, healthcare and manufacturing from a technology partnership perspective.
During the mega trade expo called ‘Glorious India’ in New Jersey on May 27-28, the focus of the talks will shift to garments, gems and jewellery, travel & tourism and real estate.
About 400 companies from India will take part in ‘Glorious India’ backed by the Indian Commerce and Industry Ministry (leading the ‘Make in India programme’) and Tourism Ministry (spearheading the ‘Incredible India’ initiative).
India-US trade in goods and services had risen to around $115 billion in 2016 from $109 billion in 2015, according to U.S. government data, and the aim is to raise this to $500 billion soon.
This indication of visa curbs came close on the heels of the U.S. government on March 3 “temporarily suspending premium processing for all H-1B petitions, including cap-exempt petitions, for up to six months.”
During that discussion on the sidelines of the ‘India Integrated Transport & Logistics Summit 2017’, the USIBC will unveil a task force on supply chain standards.
On May 9, there will be talks on legal and policy issues relating to the use of digital technologies like the IoT and cloud computing.

NITI Aayog has pressed for ‘substantive’ reforms in labour laws

NITI Aayog has pressed for ‘substantive’ reforms in labour laws to take the country out of the current low-productivity and low-wage jobs situation.
It has also said that unifying the existing large number of labour laws into four codes without reforming them will serve little purpose.
A panel, headed by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, is mulling converting 44 labour laws into four simplified codes. They relate to industrial relations, wages, social security and safety.

All you need to know about Infrastructure Investment Trusts

The initial public offering (IPO) for IRB InvIT, India’s first infrastructure investment trust fund will open for subscription. Sponsored by road developer IRB Infrastructure Developers Ltd., the trust aims to raise up to Rs. 4,035 crore.
Reliance Infrastructure, Sterlite Power Grid Ventures and other infrastructure firms are also gearing up to unveil InvITs.
InvITs are similar to mutual funds. While mutual funds provide an opportunity to invest in equity stocks, an InvIT allows one to invest in infrastructure projects such as road and power.
InvITs raise funds from a large number of investors and directly invest in infrastructure projects or through a special purpose vehicle.
Two types of InvITs have been allowed: one, which invests in completed and revenue generation infrastructure projects; the other, which has the flexibility to invest in completed or under-construction projects.
InvITs which invest in completed projects take the route of public offer of its units, while those investing in under construction projects take the route of private placement of units. Both forms are required to be listed on stock exchanges.
InvITs allow developers of infrastructure assets to monetise their assets by pooling multiple projects under a single entity (trust structure).
For instance, IRB InvIT constitutes six special purpose vehicles consisting of toll-road assets aggregating to 3,645 lane kilometres of highways located across the states of Maharashtra, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.
Infrastructure projects suffer from lack of availability of long-term capital and have depended on bank finance which typically has a short tenure.
InvITs are designed to attract low-cost, long term capital and the underlying focus is to reduce the funding pressure on the banking system as well as generating fresh equity capital for infrastructure projects.
InvITs are registered as trusts with SEBI and there are four parties — trustee, sponsors, investment manager and project manager.
In the case of IRB InvIT, IRB Infrastructure Developers Ltd. is the sponsor, IDBI Trusteeship Services Ltd. is the trustee, IRB Infrastructure Pvt. Ltd. is the investment manager and the project manager is Modern Road Makers Pvt. Ltd.
Sponsors are the firms which set up the InvITs. Investment managers manage assets and investments of InvITs and undertake activities of the InvIT. The project manager is responsible for executing the projects.
The trustee oversees the role of InvIT, investment managers and project manager and ensures that all rules are complied with.
As per present regulations, InvIT investments are not open for small and retail investors. The minimum application size for InvIT units is Rs. 10 lakh.
The main investors could be foreign institutional investors, insurance and pension funds and domestic institutional investors (like mutual funds, banks) and also super-rich individuals.
According to SEBI rules, at least 90% of funds collected, after paying for expenses, taxes and repayment of external debt, should be passed on to investors every six months. IRB InvIT is expected to pay about 12% as returns to investors.
Dividend income received by unit holders is tax exempt. Short-term capital gain on sale of units is taxed at 15%, while long-term capital gains are tax exempt. Interest distributed to unit holders is taxed.