Current Affairs for SSC CGL Exams - 18 May 2017

:: National ::

Indigenous pressurised heavy water nuclear reactors cleared by Govt

The Union Cabinet cleared the proposal to construct 10 indigenous pressurised heavy water nuclear reactors with a total capacity of 7,000 MWe.
Piyush Goyal said each of the reactors would have a capacity of 700 MWe. “We already have 6,780 MWe of operational nuclear power plants and about 6,700 MWe of plants under implementation, which will be set up by 2021-22.”
The decision comes against the backdrop of recent troubles for India’s international collaborations in nuclear projects.
While the U.S. deal, involving Toshiba Westinghouse for six reactors in Andhra Pradesh, is floundering after Westinghouse filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, the deal with French company Areva for reactors in Jaitapur remain mired in negotiations over costing.
Minister said these 10 plants would create Rs. 70,000 crore worth of business for domestic manufacturers and generate about 33,400 jobs, he did not provide a timeline for their completion.
“The design and development of this project is a testament to the rapid advances achieved by India’s nuclear scientific community and industry. It underscores the mastery our nuclear scientists have attained over all aspects of indigenous PHWR technology,” it added.
India generated 37,674 million units of nuclear energy in 2016-17, according to the Nuclear Power Corporation of India, at a capacity factor of 80%.
The two major projects under construction at the moment are located in Rajasthan and Gujarat, of 1,400 MWe each. Both plants, comprising two units of 700 MWe each, are under review.

Visakhapatnam railway station has been declared as the cleanest

The Visakhapatnam railway station is the cleanest, followed by Secunderabad, among the 75 busiest stations in the country.
As per a survey report released by Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu, the Jammu railway station occupied the third spot, while the New Delhi station was ranked 39.
The survey was carried out by the Quality Council of India. The Darbhanga railway station in Bihar was the dirtiest among the busiest stations.
Clean toilets at platforms, clean tracks and dustbins at stations were some of the criteria. This was the third survey on cleanliness done by the railways to keep a tab on rail premises as part of its ‘Swachh Rail’ campaign.
The Anand Vihar station was ranked 5th, while Nizamuddin and Old Delhi stations got the 23th and 24th positions.
The railway station in Varanasi, the Lok Sabha constituency of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, was ranked 14th.
The survey was carried out for 407 stations, out of which 75 are in the A-1 category or busiest stations and 332 are in the A category.
The Beas station was the cleanest, followed by Khammam, in the A category. Ahmedanagar station was ranked 3rd.
While the Darbhanga railway station was at the 75th position in the A—1 category, Jogbani was the dirtiest in the A category.

India balancing Israel and Palestinian situation

A day after the visit of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, the government has now turned its focus to PM’s visit to Israel in July, with Foreign Secretary and a key BJP official leaving for Tel Aviv to plan his diaspora event.
A website, israelwelcomemodi.org, inviting registrations for the July 5 event went live. Organisers say they expect at least 6,000-7,000 people to attend the event.
Israel is home to 80,000 people of Indian origin, mainly those who have taken “Aliyah,” as the migration of the Jewish diaspora to Israel is called. Among the groups which migrated in large numbers are the Bene-Israelis from Maharashtra, Cochin Jews, Baghdadi Jews from Kolkata, as well as some from the so-called “lost tribe” of B’nai-Menache from Manipur.
Organisers of the PM’s event hope to attract hundreds of Indian nurses, mainly from Kerala, who work in Israeli hospitals and old-age facilities, and Indian students and a few diamond merchant families from the country.
Asked what he hoped Mr. Modi’s visit could achieve, he said the Indian community would like to see more streamlined processes for OCI (Overseas Citizen of India) cards and visas, and more direct flights between the two countries.
Indian and Israeli officials involved in the arrangements told The Hindu that PM Modi is expected to travel to Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and Haifa during his visit from July 4 to 6.
In Haifa, he is expected to meet innovators and founders of technology companies and start-ups, and pay respects at the memorial to Indian soldiers who fought for the liberation of Haifa from the Ottoman Army during the First World War.

NTRO listed under The Intelligence Organisations (Restriction of Rights) Act

NTRO which reports to the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) and the National Security Advisor (NSA), will now have the same “norms of conduct” as the Intelligence Bureau (IB) and the Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW).
The Home Ministry issued a notification on May 15 listing NTRO under The Intelligence Organisations (Restriction of Rights) Act, 1985, a demand being made by the organisation for over a decade now.
The Act prevents employees of a notified agency from forming unions/associations, puts restrictions on the employee’s freedom of speech, bars any communication with the press, or publishing a book or other document without the permission of the head of the intelligence organisation.
Both IB and R&AW have on earlier occasions opposed the inclusion of any other organisation in the list of monitoring agencies under the Act.
In 2012, the Home Ministry under the UPA government had declined to grant phone surveillance powers to NTRO based on the argument that it was not notified under the Act.
The NTRO was created after the 1999 Kargil conflict as a dedicated technical intelligence agency. It has been fighting tooth and nail to get included in the list as it has the right to lawfully intercept and monitor communications externally.
Many security agencies like the NIA, the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI), the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) among others have been asking the Home Ministry to include them under the Intelligence Organisations Act.
In the schedule to the Intelligence Organisations (Restriction of Rights) Act, 1985 after serial number 3 and the entries relating thereto, the following shall be inserted namely-The National Technical Research Organisation.
NTRO hires many people from the private sector and the Act means they will have the same safety net and restrictions available to other spy agencies.

:: Business and Economy ::

Highest ever mobilisation through corporate bonds

The financial year 2016-17 witnessed the highest ever mobilisation through corporate bonds on private placement basis of Rs. 7.04 lakh crore by 661 institutions and corporates, an analysis by Prime Database shows.
The surge was primarily due to higher mobilisation by the private sector.
When compared with the previous financial year, FY17 saw an increase of 43% over FY16’s Rs. 4.92 lakh crore.
Incidentally, the share of the private sector, currently pegged at 47%, has been rising steadily. Six years ago, the private sector share was 23% in the overall segment.
The analysis showed government organisations and government financial institutions together mobilised 40% of the total amount, lower than the 42% in the previous year.
Within the segment, all-India financial institutions/banks led with a 69% share, followed by a 24% share by public sector undertakings and a 7% share by state level undertakings.
The highest mobilisation through debt private placements in the year was by HDFC (Rs. 44,546 crore) followed by PFC (Rs. 41,115 crore), NHAI (Rs. 33,118 crore) and LIC Housing (Rs. 26,874 crore).
The maximum amount — 30% of the total — was raised in the 3-5 year maturity bucket followed by the more than 10 years bucket, whose share was pegged at 27%.
In terms of coupon rates, 35% of the total amount raised was in the 7-8% coupon range and 32% of the amount was in the 8-9% per cent coupon range.
Interestingly, this was in contrast to 2015-16, when only 6% of the amount was in the 7-8% coupon range while 48% was in the 8-9% range.

GST will pare the cost of transport and logistics, formalise the sector

The Goods and Services Tax, set to start on July 1, will pare the cost of transport and logistics, formalise the sector, and could help bring supply chain management to the forefront, according to officials working on the new tax regime.
Separately, the Goods and Services Tax Network, the company tasked with running the IT infrastructure for GST, has already migrated taxpayer information from State and central tax authorities to its database.
With the GST Council meeting to finalise the rules pertaining to various aspects of GST, industry leaders and tax experts have raised several issues that the Council must look at.
Just like the GST Network rates vendors on the basis of their compliance, firms must also internally rate vendors, Mr. Prasad said. “Extending support to SMEs through various forums is also something we must think about,” he said.