Current Affairs for SSC CGL Exams - 21 July 2017

::National::

Landmark India-Japan civil nuclear agreement came into force

• The landmark India-Japan civil nuclear agreement came into force. Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar exchanged the diplomatic notes with the Japanese envoy to India to formalise the completion of the process.

• “The India-Japan Agreement for Cooperation in the Peaceful Uses of Nuclear Energy entered into force on July 20, 2017 with the exchange of diplomatic notes between Dr. S. Jaishankar and Ambassador of Japan to India.

• The pact was signed in Tokyo during the visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Japan on November 11, 2016.

• This Agreement is a reflection of the strategic partnership between India and Japan and will pave the way for enhanced cooperation in energy security and clean energy.

• It seeks to promote full cooperation between the two countries in the development and uses of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes on a stable, reliable and predictable basis.

• The deal is essential for bringing a network of nuclear energy cooperation for India, especially with the U.S. as prominent American nuclear companies are owned by the Japanese nuclear majors like Toshiba.

More than half of all People Living with HIV now have access to HIV treatment

• For the first time since the global onset of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, the scales have tipped in favour of patients. The latest UNAIDS report reveals that more than half of all People Living with HIV (PLHIV) now have access to HIV treatment.

• Further, globally AIDS-related deaths have almost halved since 2005.

• As of last year, 19.5 million of the 36.7 million HIV+ patients had access to treatment. Deaths caused by AIDS have fallen from 1.9 million in 2005 to 1 million in 2016.

• The bad news is that the majority of the cases — nearly 95 per cent of the cases in 2016 — were concentrated in just 10 countries, India being one of them.

• India has 2.1 million people living with HIV, with 80,000 new infections annually, as of 2016. In 2005, the annual incidence was 1,50,000 people.

• While the world seems to be on track to reach the global target of 30 million people on treatment by 2020, access to medicines remains a major barrier and India plays a special role.

• The report states that “although important progress has been made in improving access to medicines for people living with HIV, insufficient availability and poor affordability of essential medicines in low- and middle-income countries remain major barriers.

• Actions focused on the intersections between intellectual property rights, innovation, and public health are vitally important for resolving market failures in medicine development and manufacture, unmet needs for research and development, and pricing.

Ram Nath Kovind declared elected as India’s 14th President

• Ram Nath Kovind was declared elected as India’s 14th President polling 65.6% of the vote defeating the Opposition’s joint candidate, former Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar, who secured 34% of the vote.

• Mr. Kovind will be the second Dalit President of India after late President K.R. Narayanan but, more significantly, the first from politically significant Uttar Pradesh and the first person from the BJP to hold the office of President since Independence.

• The total number of MPs and MLAs who cast their votes was 4851, bearing a combined value of 1090300. However, with 77 votes being declared invalid — 21 from Parliament alone — the total number of valid votes was 4774, bearing a combined value of 1069358.

• Mr. Kovind polled 2930 of these votes — bearing a value of 702044 — and Ms. Kumar 1844 votes — with a value of 367314.

• The value of each vote of an MP was 708. Among the States, each vote in Uttar Pradesh had the highest value of 208, while each vote from Sikkim had the lowest value of seven.

• Mr. Kovind got the highest number of votes – 335 – from U.P. and the lowest – just 1 – from Kerala. Ms. Kumar secured the highest number of votes – 273 – from West Bengal and drew a blank in Andhra Pradesh.

AstroSat has detected a powerful solar flare sent out by this star

• The Sun’s closest star neighbour, Proxima Centauri, a cool dwarf star situated a little over four light years away, may not be inclined to harbour habitable planets, if its temperament is anything to go by.

• AstroSat, along with other space and earth-based observatories, has detected a powerful solar flare sent out by this star. At an energy of 10-raised-to-30 ergs, this explosion is about 100 times a typical flare.

• Last year’s discovery of Proxima Centauri b — a planet orbiting Proxima Centauri and, more importantly, lying in its habitable ‘Goldilocks’ zone — had set everyone wondering if it could host life.

::International::

US ended the program to provide arms and supplies to Syrian rebel groups

• President Donald Trump has ended the clandestine American program to provide arms and supplies to Syrian rebel groups.

• A recognition that the effort was failing and that the administration has given up hope of helping to topple the government of President Bashar al-Assad.

• The decision came more than a month ago by which time the effort to deliver the arms had slowed to a trickle.

• It joins similar failed efforts to deliver arms and money to groups seeking to overthrow governments that Washington found noxious, most famously the Kennedy administration’s disastrous effort to do away with the government of Fidel Castro in Cuba.

• Iran’s Foreign Minister charged that the U.S. had helped destabilise the region, and portrayed Iran as merely defending its interests.

• Washington, instead, views Iran’s aid to the Assad government as part of an effort to restore itself as a major regional power.

::Business and Economy::

RBI should reduce the risk weightage on assets with lower risk profiles

• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) should reduce the risk weightage on assets with lower risk profiles, according to Sundaram Finance Ltd.

• Addressing the shareholders at the annual general body meeting, he said such a reduction was necessary to differentiate them from other classes of assets which carried inherently higher risks.

• Assets such as commercial vehicles and cars carried lower lower risk profiles. In his view, the need for such an exercise assumed considerable urgency in the wake of rapidly narrowing regulatory gap between non-banking finance companies and banks.

• With inter-state check posts becoming a thing of the past, the viability of truck operations was expected to improve. Ironically, though, this could lead to better utilisation and absorption of existing capacity, in turn leading to subdued demand in the near term.

• Once the GST-related transition issues were resolved, he hoped the medium and heavy commercial vehicle offtake would see an upturn.

Telecom Department will meet operators and industry associations

• The Telecom Department will meet operators and industry associations to brainstorm on the new telecom policy, according to industry sources.

• The meeting is expected to be chaired by Telecom Secretary Aruna Sundararajan, and service providers as well as prominent industry bodies have been invited to place their ideas and inputs on the upcoming policy,.

• Earier this month, Telecom Minister Manoj Sinha had said that a National Telecom Policy was currently under formulation.

• The policy will focus on areas such as Internet for all, next-generation technologies (like 5G and IoT), skills development, and security, among others.

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