Current Affairs for SSC CGL Exams - 9 September 2017

::National::

It can be lifetime ban if a air passenger is unruly

• Quantum of punishment will depend on gravity of offence; it will be harsher for repeat offenders

• Air passengers can now be banned for a lifetime for unruly behaviour on flights by both domestic and foreign airlines, the Union government announced.

• The unruly passenger will be put on a no-fly list, which will be made public and maintained by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA).

• The ban will range between three months and a lifetime depending upon the gravity of the offence.

• For physical gestures, verbal harassment and being unruly while inebriated, there will be a ban on passengers for up to three months; for physically abusive behaviour including pushing, kicking, hitting or sexual harassment, up to six months; and for life-threatening behaviour the ban may range from two years to a lifetime.

• In case a passenger is a repeat offender, the duration of the flying ban will be twice that of his previous ban, according to the DGCA rules.

• Airlines, on receiving complaint of unruly behaviour by the pilot-in-command, will refer the matter to an internal committee chaired by a retired district and sessions judge and members would include a representative each from different airline and passenger associations or consumer forums.

• The internal committee will decide the quantum of ban based on evidence produced by both airline and passenger including eye-witnesses, within a period of 30 days failing which the passenger will be free to fly.

• The passenger will not be allowed to fly till the decision of the internal committee. However, there will be no compensation in case the allegations by airlines are proven wrong.

• However, other airlines will not be bound by the no-fly list of an airline, the Ministry of Civil Aviation said. Aggrieved passengers can appeal within 60 days to an Appellate Committee constituted by the Ministry of Civil Aviation chaired by a HC judge.

• The no-fly list provisions will be applicable with immediate effect to all citizens, including Parliamentarians. The no-fly ban will be in addition to any statutory legal action that can be taken against the offender under existing laws

The new name of West Bengal will be Bangla

• A year after the West Bengal Assembly passed a resolution to change the name of the State, the Mamata Banerjee government was compelled to have one name for the State after the Centre rejected the earlier proposal of having three names in three different languages.

• On August 29, 2016, the Assembly had passed a resolution changing the name of West Bengal to Bengal in English, Bangla in Bengali and Bangal in Hindi.

• The issue of change of name was lying with the Centre, which had raised objections about having different names in different languages.

• At the Cabinet meeting held, it was decided that that the name will be Bangla in all the languages.

• While the resolution was being debated in the State Assembly in August 2016, certain members of the Opposition, including Leader of the Left Front Legislature Party Sujan Chakraborty, had said that a State cannot have different names for different languages.

Indian Army to induct 800 women into military police for 1st time

• In yet another significant step towards inducting women into the military, the Army said it would admit nearly 800 women into the Corps of Military Police in non-officer ranks over the next few years.

• While the decision had been in the pipeline for some months now, the announcement came a day after India’s first full-time woman Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman assumed office.

• Adjutant-General Lt.Gen. Ashwani Kumar told a conclave of retired Army chiefs that the decision has been taken to introduce women in the ranks, starting with the Corps of Military Police. The Army, at present, has women only in the officer ranks, and that too just a few thousand of them.

• In the light of increasing requirement for investigations into gender-specific crimes and allegations, it was felt necessary to introduce women in the Corps of Military Police

• The Army had established two artificial reproductive technique centres for the benefit of childless couples in the force. The centres in Bhopal and Guwahati are in addition to the existing ones in Delhi, Pune and Mumbai.

• The three-day conclave, hosted by the Chief of the Army Staff, General Bipin Rawat, and attended by eight former chiefs, was informed of a proposal to upgrade the rank structure, which would benefit approximately 1.45 lakhs junior commissioned officers and other ranks over a span of five years.

• The Army will set up two residential Army Public Schools, with a capacity of 2,000 children each.

• The Army had opened a fund to cater specifically to battle casualties and to which citizens from any walk of life could contribute. The first tranche of Rs. 3.24 crore was disbursed in July.

13-year-old Mumbai rape survivor delivers premature baby after SC order to abort

• Based on the order of the Supreme Court allowing her to ‘terminate’ her pregnancy in the 32nd week, a 13-year-old gave birth to a boy at the State-run JJ Hospital.

• The delivery was via C-section, and the infant was immediately shifted to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, doctor. The child, weighing 1.8 kg, was born prematurely with underdeveloped organs.

• As per the court’s order, the girl was taken into surgery around 1.30 p.m. The delivery went well without complications. The baby will do fine with good NICU care for a few weeks.

• The girl, a rape survivor, found out about her pregnancy only in the 27th week. The family first approached Dr. Kartik Bhagat, who directed them to gynaecologist Dr. Nikhil Datar to see if the SC could be approached for an abortion. As per law, foetuses older than 20 weeks cannot be medically terminated.

• By the time a petition was filed in the SC on August 28, the girl was in the 31st week. The apex court allowed termination to relieve the girl of the mental trauma of carrying the pregnancy. While a full term is between 36 and 40 weeks, the girl delivered in the 32nd week.

• While Dr. Datar hailed the SC decision as ‘historical’ and ‘path-breaking’, some doctors feel that in the zest to do good for the girl, the order has caused her much harm.

• C-section at 31-32 weeks is risky and affects future fertility, albeit marginally. This is apart from the harm to the otherwise completely healthy foetus, which will probably still survive the prematurity but with difficulty.

• Section 5 of The Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act, 1971 allows a doctor to take a decision in good faith for terminating a pregnancy beyond 20 weeks to save the life of the pregnant woman.

Rohingya issue

• Six police personnel were injured and a police vehicle set ablaze as protesters clashed with security forces in parts of the Valley over the “alleged killings and displacement of Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar”.

• A police spokesman said miscreants from a mob pelted stones on the police and security force deployment at Anantnag’s Lal Chowk.

• The protesters were carrying placards calling for an end to the “persecution of Rohingya Muslims”. In Srinagar, areas under five police stations were placed under restrictions.

• More than a dozen protest marches were held in the Valley over the issue. Students at Kashmir University also held a demonstration.

• A joint resolution framed by the MMU [Mutahida Majlis-e-Ulema] was passed unanimously in all mosques and shrines, where the United Nations and other world human rights bodies were urged to play their part in stopping the genocide of the Muslims of Myanmar.

::INDIA AND WORLD::

India’s disassociation from Bali action

• India’s decision to reject a joint statement by the World Parliamentary Forum in Indonesia, that included references to human rights in Myanmar in its ‘Bali declaration’, was a major show of support for the Suu Kyi government after Prime Minister Narendra Modi ended his bilateral visit.

• The move, however, has put India on the other side of the Rohingya refugee debate from Myanmar’s other neighbours and countries in the region.

• Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Sri Lanka were all among countries that joined the Bali declaration at Nusa Dua, that India disassociated from.

• In their explanation, the Indian delegation headed by Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan had said the reference to Myanmar had been “proposed at the eleventh hour” and was unjustified as the Parliamentary forum was meant to focus on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and not a particular country.

• At the drafting committee India raised its objections, especially after Turkey inserted clauses specific to one country (Myanmar), which Bangladesh supported. But the host country went ahead and adopted the declaration despite our objections

• In two separate paragraphs, the Bali Declaration that was eventually made by 49 countries, expressed concern about the recent violence in Myanmar’s Rakhine state, where the UN says at least 1,000 Rohingya Muslims have been killed, and 2,70,000 have fled, mainly to Bangladesh, in the past two weeks.

• The statement “called on all parties to contribute to the restoration of stability and security, exercise maximum self-restraint from using violent means, respect the human rights of all people in Rakhine State regardless of their faith and ethnicity,” as “there can be no sustainable development without peace”.

• India’s statement followed PM Modi’s visit to Naypyitaw where he expressed his support for the NLD government’s crackdown on terror groups in the Rakhine.

::INTERNATIONAL::

Nepal, China talks on railway connectivity project

• Nepal on began talks about a railway connectivity project with China. Deputy Prime Minister of Nepal Krishna Bahadur Mahara, who visited Beijing, held talks with top Chinese decision-makers and said that the Belt and

• Road Initiative (BRI) opens up the railway connectivity project as a national priority of Nepal.

• Nepal government had come up with a common consensus among major political leaders in the government and in the Opposition to carry forward railway connectivity as a national priority project. Both sides agreed to take necessary measures to carry out technical study of the project.

• Government of Nepal has accorded high importance to the implementation of MoU on BRI signed between the two countries. Apart from the talk on railways, both sides also sealed an agreement on energy cooperation.

• A third agreement signed opened up Nepal’s tourism sector for greater Chinese investment.

• The agreements came two days after China held the BRICS summit and indicate Nepal’s desire to reach out to Chinese and Eastern markets as an alternative to India.

Pakistan-China

• After agreeing to list Pakistan-based outfits Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) and Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) as international terror groups during this week’s Brazil-Russia-India-China-South Africa (BRICS) summit, China reassured Pakistan that there was no shift in its policy of recognising Islamabad’s role in countering global extremism.

• During a press conference with his Pakistani counterpart Khawaja Asif, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi stressed that Beijing saw Islamabad as a close ally that is a key part of the battle against international terrorism.

• Much of the press conference was devoted to the joint role of Beijing, Islamabad and Kabul to ensure durable peace in Afghanistan.

• China had played a crucial role in bringing Pakistan and Afghanistan together. To support that initiative Pakistan has already undertaken many steps and will pursue those steps for improving relationship with Kabul.

• Islamabad is working on a substantive and robust engagement with the Kabu(at the) political level, security level, military level, intelligence level.

• The Chinese have escalated their engagement with Kabul, especially after the collapse of the four-party talks involving the United States, China, Pakistan and Afghanistan. In June, Mr. Wang had visited Kabul and Islamabad to reinforce a Beijing-driven initiative in Afghanistan.

• Beijing was “exploring” hosting a China-Pakistan-Afghanistan conference later this year. “strategic communication, security dialogue and practical cooperation” would be the pillars of the new platform for regional cooperation.

::ECONOMY::

Greenfield carbon black project in China by Birla Carbon

• Birla Carbon, part of the diversified $41 billion Aditya Birla Group, has set up a 1.2 lakh metric tonnes greenfield carbon black project at Jining in the Shandong province of China.

• The plant, inaugurated by Dr. Santrupt Misra, CEO, Birla Carbon, will be expanded to 2.4 lakh tonnes in the second phase. The plant will cater to the Chinese customer base.

• While the Aditya Birla Group has always had a presence in China, we have not leveraged the potential that both we, as a group, and China as a marketplace had to offer.

• China is one of the largest markets for carbon black. It is forecast to grow at a rate of 7% by 2021.

21st GST Council meet

• The Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council will meet for the 21st time, to discuss pending issues in the implementation of the new indirect tax regime, including the quantum of cess to be levied on luxury cars and the problems businesses are facing while logging onto the GST Network portal to file returns.

• Cesses will definitely be announced. But not all cars will be at a uniform levy. It might vary between 5-10% on petrol and diesel cars and on car length.”

• There is an expectation that there will be some time frame for GSTR-3B for the subsequent months.

• So that if GSTR-1 cannot be filed for whatever reason, then GSTR-3B can be filed.

• Meanwhile, the Centre said A. B. Pandey, CEO, UIDAI, would take over as chairman of GSTN with immediate effect. GSTN's first chairman Navin Kumar completed his term on August 29.

If PSBs can’t be recapitalised then privatise them

• If banks cannot be provided the required capital from government funds, then they should be privatised, Reserve Bank of India Deputy Governor Viral Acharya said..

• He added that while lending excesses happen all over the world, the problems arising from them should be dealt with swiftly. Mr. Acharya, however, pointed out that these were his personal views and did not reflect the views of the RBI.

• If we cannot attract the right leadership or structure the boards (of banks) as needed, then we need to ask the questions as to whether we should have fewer banks or if we need to privatise them.

• Lending excesses do happenall over the world,” he added. But once the problem has occurred, one should look to fix it quickly.

• Mr. Acharya also said that the act of merging stronger banks with weaker banks must be done carefully.

Telecom Commission sought clarification from inter- ministerial group

• The Telecom Commission (TC) sought clarification from the inter-ministerial group (IMG), looking into the financial stress in the sector, on some of its recommendations, including extending the timeline for deferred spectrum payment by telcos to 16 years against 10 years at the present.

• The Commission, which is the highest decision making body in the Department of Telecom, discussed the report submitted by IMG, prepared after detailed deliberations with stakeholders, including telcos and the banks.

• The Commission has asked for clarification and more details on some of the recommendations mainly on the deferred payment period for spectrum bought as well replacing PLR with MCLR.

• The IMG had suggested shifting from prime lending rate (PLR) to marginal cost of funds-based lending rate (MCLR) for interest and penalty payments with regard to licence fee and spectrum usage charges.

• The TC cleared a project to provide mobile coverage in North-Eastern states under which about 3,835 telecom towers will be set up in 4,502 unconnected villages in various states, except Arunachal Pradesh and Meghalaya. Bharti Airtel and its subsidiary had won the tender for this project.

Income inequality in India at its highest level since 1922’

• According to a research paper by renowned economistsThomas Piketty and Lucas Chancel, income inequality in India is at its highest level since 1922, the year the Income Tax Act was passed.

• In December, they will release the first ‘World Inequality Report’ where they will compare India’s inequality trajectory with other emerging, industrialised and low-income countries and suggest ways to tackle global and national inequality.

• The share of national income accruing to the top 1% income earners is now at its highest level since the creation of the Indian Income Tax [Act] in 1922. The top 1% of earners captured less than 21% of total income in the late 1930s, before dropping to 6% in the early 1980s and rising to 22% today.

• Over the 1951-1980 period, the bottom 50% group captured 28% of total growth and incomes of this group grew faster than the average, while the top 0.1% incomes decreased.

• Over the 1980-2014 period, the situation was reversed; the top 0.1% of earners captured a higher share of total growth than the bottom 50% (12% versus 11%), while the top 1% received a higher share of total growth than the middle 40% (29% vs. 23%). These findings suggest that much can be done to promote more inclusive growth in India.

• Since the 1980s, India did not only open-up and liberalise its economy, it did it in a way that was very favourable to top income earners and capital owners.

• Top tax rates which were very high in the 1970s (up to 98%) decreased to 30% in the 1980s. Wages set by governments in government enterprises were liberalised after privatisations and the dispersion increased.

• It is also likely that privatisations principally benefited richest income groups, those who already had capital, rather than the majority of the population which didn’t access equity.

• On the other hand, growth at the bottom of the distribution was notably lower than average growth rates since the 1980s.

• China also liberalised and opened up after 1978, and in doing so, experienced a sharp income growth as well as a sharp rise in inequality.

• This rise, however, stopped in the 2000s so that inequality is currently at lower level there than [in] India (top 1% income share at 14% versus 22% in India, according to our estimates).

• In Russia, the move from a communist to a market economy was extremely brutal and today has a similar level of inequality as in India. This shows that there are different strategies to transit from a highly regulated economy to a liberalised one.

• In the arrays of possible pathways, India pursued a very unequal way but could probably have chosen another path. All this data is available on an open-access website, WID.world.

• Some commentators argue that without extreme growth at the very top of the distribution, there wouldn’t have been high growth in India. There is, in fact, little evidence supporting this claim. The top 0.1% captured more total income growth as the bottom 50% since 1980.

• The highest growth period in Western Europe, after the second world war, was also a period of equitable redistribution of the fruits of growth. Europe grew as a market economy but it was not a market society. It had institutions, rules, norms limiting the power of capital accumulation and of income concentration.

• There are many options and we do not claim to put an end to debates. Regarding rising inequality at the very top of the distribution, we show that after 1980, in India, top Income Tax rates were brought from extreme levels to much lower ones.

• Land concentration is also an issue in India. where agriculture remains a key sector. Indeed, access to free and quality education and health is crucial to raise bottom 50% incomes.

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