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Sl. No. LIST OF CONTENTS PAGE NO.

1. 1st JANUARY, 2017-THE HINDU 1 DAILY NOTES 2. 2nd JANUARY, 2017-THE HINDU 6 DAILY NOTES 3. 3rd JANUARY, 2017-THE HINDU 8 DAILY NOTES 4. 4th JANUARY, 2017-THE HINDU 12 DAILY NOTES 5. 5th JANUARY, 2017-THE HINDU 14 DAILY NOTES 6. 6th JANUARY, 2017-THE HINDU 17 DAILY NOTES 7. 7th JANUARY, 2017-THE HINDU 21 DAILY NOTES 9. 9th JANUARY, 2017-THE HINDU 25 DAILY NOTES 10. 10th JANUARY, 2017-THE HINDU 30 DAILY NOTES 11. 11th JANUARY, 2017-THE HINDU 35 DAILY NOTES 12. 12th JANUARY, 2017-THE HINDU 38 DAILY NOTES 13. 13th JANUARY, 2017-THE HINDU 43 DAILY NOTES 14. 14th JANUARY, 2017-THE HINDU 46 DAILY NOTES 15. 15th JANUARY, 2017-THE HINDU PONGAL HOLIDAY DAILY NOTES 16. 16th JANUARY, 2017-THE HINDU 49 DAILY NOTES 17. 17th JANUARY, 2017-THE HINDU 54 DAILY NOTES

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18. 18th JANUARY, 2017-THE HINDU 60 DAILY NOTES 19. 19th JANUARY, 2017-THE HINDU 66 DAILY NOTES 20. 20th JANUARY, 2017-THE HINDU 72 DAILY NOTES 21. 21st JANUARY, 2017-THE HINDU 77 DAILY NOTES 22. 22nd JANUARY, 2017-THE HINDU 82 DAILY NOTES 23. 23rd JANUARY, 2017-THE HINDU 85 DAILY NOTES 24. 24th JANUARY, 2017-THE HINDU 87 DAILY NOTES 25. 25th JANUARY, 2017-THE HINDU 88 DAILY NOTES 26. 26th JANUARY, 2017-THE HINDU 90 DAILY NOTES 27. 27th JANUARY, 2017-THE HINDU 95 DAILY NOTES 28. 28th JANUARY, 2017-THE HINDU 99 DAILY NOTES 29. 29th JANUARY, 2017-THE HINDU 103 DAILY NOTES 30. 30th JANUARY, 2017-THE HINDU 108 DAILY NOTES 31. 31st JANUARY, 2017-THE HINDU 115 DAILY NOTES

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01st JANUARY, 2017-THE HINDU DAILY incur on this account will be borne by the NOTES Centre.  Raised the credit guarantee for small Modi thanks people for enduring note ban pain businesses from Rs 1 crore to Rs 2 crore and said this will help boost job creation. Small retailers and traders would benefit from this move, which would also guarantee credit extended by non-banking financial companies.  Banks have also been directed to raise the cash-credit limit from 20 per cent to 25 per cent for such businesses and raise the working capital loans from 20 per cent to 30 per cent to the extent that such traders transact in a cashless mode.  Announced to enhanced the maternity benefits  Prime Minister unveiled a given to pregnant women for pre-natal care to relief package for farmers, senior citizens, Rs 6,000 from the existing level of Rs 4,000 small enterprises, women and the rural poor as and declared that this benefit will now be a return gift of sorts for enduring the pain available for women in all 650 districts of the caused by the Centre’s decision to scrap the country. Currently, the scheme is only working legal tender nature of old ₹500 and ₹1,000 as a pilot project in 53 districts. notes. As 33 MLAs defect, BJP forms govt in Arunachal Special Announcements: Pradesh  He announced a special scheme under the Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana to provide an interest subvention of 4 per cent on loans up to ₹9 lakh and 3 per cent on loans up to ₹12 lakh for urban housing.  A similar scheme would be rolled out for the rural poor to get a house-building loan of up to ₹2 lakh at a 3 per cent lower interest rate.  Promising to convert three crore Kisan credit cards to Rupay cards in the next three months, he flagged the inconvenience posed by Kisan credit cards which require farmers to go to the bank to withdraw cash against their credit limit. With a Rupay card, they will be able to make transactions for farm inputs without visiting the bank.  Announced a guaranteed 8 per cent return on bank deposits up to ₹7.5 lakh made by senior citizens for a period of 10 years.  BJP government was installed in Arunachal  Announced a virtual doubling in the credit Pradesh after 33, out of 43 Peoples’ Party of flow to the farm sector via district central co- Arunachal (PPA) MLAs led by Chief Minister operative banks and primary societies, with , joined the party. the Centre bearing the interest cost for 60 days  The high-voltage political drama began late on on existing loans availed by farmers. Thursday night after PPA President Kahfa  This interest subvention will be credited to Bengia temporarily suspended Khandu, his farmers’ accounts and an additional ₹30,000 deputy Chowna Mein and five legislators from crore is being provided by the Centre to the the primary membership of the party for National Bank for Agriculture and Rural alleged anti-party activities. Development (NABARD) to lend to co-  The PPA, an alliance partner of the North East operative banks and societies at a lower Democratic Alliance (NEDA) government in interest rate. Again, the losses NABARD may 1 | P a g e http://www.currentaffairsonly.com

the State, selected Takam Pario as the new chief minister of the State.  However, the political equation changed when majority of the PPA MLAs who initially extended support to Pario, later shifted their allegiance to Khandu.  Elaborating on the decision to merge with the BJP, the Chief Minister said that circumstances compelled the MLAs to take the decision in the interest of the people and the state.

Delhi Lieutenant-Governor takes charge check for mutations that make one more vulnerable to breast cancer have been available in since 2010, companies this year have expanded the repertoire.  It is possible to request online a test that can tell you your propensity to diabetes, autism, spondylitis and coronary heart disease.  Based on one’s genetic make-up, the tests can also provide information on global clinical drug trials and advise on the efficacy or toxicity of chemotherapy and/or radiotherapy as an additional service to physicians and patients.  The bulk of genome testing services however still require that patients scan their genes only after being recommended by a doctor.  Anil Baijal was sworn in as the new  Unlike several countries such as the U.S., Lieutenant-Governor of Delhi at a brisk Qatar, the U.K. that have announced plans to ceremony at Raj Niwas in the presence of undertake large projects to map genomes, the several dignitaries including National Security Indian government doesn’t yet have any major Adviser Ajit Doval. initiative.  Less than a fortnight after his predecessor  There are also very few studies on the kind of Najeeb Jung’s surprise resignation, Anil genetic variants, unique to Indians that may Baijal, 70, a 1969-batch IAS officer, who has make them respond differently to certain drugs served in several significant positions both at or make them more vulnerable to certain the Centre and State government, was diseases. administered the oath of office and secrecy by  The idea is that over time new genes or Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court G. variations of known genes are discovered that Rohini. will be useful to design better drugs or  After the ceremony, both Mr. Baijal, who is sometimes use known drugs in new ways. said to be well-versed with the administration  The conversation around personal genomics of the Capital given his long stint in several has certainly amplified but without several offices, especially at the helm of the Delhi more databases to capture India’s unique Development Authority, and Mr. Kejriwal, genomic peculiarities, an online test may be who usually found himself at loggerheads with little more than a sophisticated gimmick for his predecessor, expressed their intent to work now. in tandem for the development and welfare of Delhi.

The year of personal genomics

 This may have been the year personal genomics came of age in India, while tests to

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 First of all, JCVI-syn3.0 is not a synthetic form of life but a synthetic genome inserted Playing god into a naturally occurring cell. The work paves the way to create cells from scratch in the future.  Second, despite the social and ethical concerns behind such work — and many of those are genuine that can be addressed by putting stringent regulatory and legal framework — a discovery of a true synthetic cell has positive implications especially for India.

Benefits of synthetic cells:  Creation of self-replicating artificial synthetic  A landmark discovery in 2016 has identified a cells, when achieved, will have far-reaching minimal set of instructions required for a cell applications in environment, health and to exist and self-propagate. agriculture.  A milestone was achieved in 2016 when  For example, synthetic bugs can be created biologist J. Craig Venter team reported the from scratch to produce enzymes and creation of a bacterial cell, Mycoplasma, with chemicals that can chew up or degrade plastic a minimal genome built with the help of man- in urban waste, digest toxic and destroy made machines. They called it JCVI-syn3.0, unwanted material in rivers and lakes. containing 5,31,560 base pairs and just 473  In the health sector, creating artificial cells genes. with immobilised or insoluble hemoglobin can  Mycoplasma is an ideal organism to work provide effective solutions as oxygen carriers, with in synthetic biology as it contains some which can be engineered to bear genes of of the smallest and parsimonious genomes in interest providing boost in immunity and the bacterial kingdom and is devoid of a cell disease resistance. wall.This was the smallest artificial genome  Similarly in agriculture, synthetic cells can ever created. help us understand how to make crops  Transplanting it into a living cell, which has resistant against drought and pests and at the its own genome lost during the process, made same time providing with additional nutrition. it the first viable, self-propagating cell, one that did not exist in nature before. British-Indian knighted in New Year’s honours

Ethical Concerns:

 Shankar Balasubramanian, an Indian-origin British professor of chemistry and DNA expert at Cambridge University, has received a Knighthood along with Olympic stars Andy Murray and Mo Farah among others by Queen

Elizabeth II for their contributions.  Although the scientific research underlying  Mr. Balasubramanian (50), has been JCVI-syn3.0 has been hailed as one of the recognised for his work as a co-inventor of landmark discoveries of the year 2016, it has Next Generation DNA sequencing, described not augured well among some, especially as the most transformational advance in those who believe that life can only be created biology and medicine for decades. and destroyed by god. 3 | P a g e http://www.currentaffairsonly.com

 Solexa sequencing, as it is now known, allows sequencing the human genome took years of an individual genome to be sequenced in a day work and cost billions. or two at less than 1,000 pounds; previously,

M&As’ to be favoured route for FDI in 2017

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 Mergers & acquisitions (M&A) are likely to  Rs 2.5-Rs 3 lakh crore will need for be the favoured route for foreign direct financing airports in addition to the money investment flows into India in the year 2017 spent on land acquisition. As a result of that, as market consolidation is expected in we need to ensure that we attract investors, sectors facing a cash crunch, such as e- both equity and debt, into the airport asset commerce and telecommunications. class,” Mr. Sinha said.  The ‘FDI Report 2016,’ prepared by the  The Centre had done an extensive city-by- Financial Times, noted that the biggest city analysis of airport traffic projects and change in green-field FDI (for starting new worked out a plan to double the airport ventures) in 2015 globally was the near capacity over the next 10-15 years. tripling of green-field FDI into India, with an  At present, out of 125 airports managed by estimated $63 billion pouring in. Airports Authority of India (AAI), 69  For the first time, India was the global leader airports receive commercial flights. The for FDI in 2015, overtaking the U.S. (which existing airport terminals can handle 25 had $59.6 billion of green-field FDI) and crore passengers per annum, according to China ($56.6 billion), the report pointed out. AAI. The government data showed that India received a record $55.4 billion worth FDI in 2015-16.  The year 2016 saw Russia’s state-owned oil giant Rosneft and a consortium led by physical commodities trading group Trafigura entering into a $13 billion-deal to acquire Essar Oil’s refining and retail assets, as well as Vadinar port and related infrastructure. The deal was billed as India’s largest inbound foreign direct investment.  The indirect share transfer norms were brought in following transactions where control over Indian assets and businesses was transferred indirectly through offshore transfers. In 2015 the Government had New Scheme Initiatives: provided a safe harbour to small investors  The National Civil Aviation Policy (NCAP) holding less than five per cent and without 2016 pushes for a fresh approach for any management control. calculating airport tariffs to attract investors  The `Make In India’ (MII) initiative was  As per this policy, the Airport Economic launched in September, 2014 to promote Regulatory Authority (AERA) has initiated India as a global manufacturing hub and the process to abandon the single-till attract investments. approach it has followed till date, to determine aeronautical charges at 20 major airports across the country, including Rs. 3,00,000 cr plan afoot to double airport Kolkata and Chennai. The airports at Delhi, capacity Mumbai, Bangalore and Hyderabad follow a shared-till model.  Under single-till mechanism, revenues from both aeronautical (landing, parking and ground handling) and non-aeronautical (duty-free shops, hotels, restaurants and airport infrastructure) segments are taken into account to determine the internal rate of return (IRR).  Apart from its core operations, airports earn income from the non-aeronautical side which includes food and beverages, duty-free  The Centre will require up to ₹3 lakh crore shops, advertising, car parking and hotels. for doubling the airport capacity over the  The adoption of a hybrid-till model for all next 10 to 15 years, Minister of State Civil airports under which 30 per cent of airport Aviation Jayant Sinha said. 5 | P a g e http://www.currentaffairsonly.com

operator’s non-aeronautical revenues would  The IDBI Bank had announced reduction in be used to subsidise airport costs. The its two-year MCLR by 40 bps to 9.2 per remaining 70% of non-aeronautical charges cent, and the 1-year MCLR was reduced by are allowed to be utilised by the operator for 15 bps to 9.15 per cent. development of airport infrastructure.  All the banks have made the new MCLR  The idea is to encourage the operators to effective January 1. expand airport infrastructure. But the lower revenue base compared to single-till method Rushikulya rookery welcomes Olive Ridley practically prompts the operators to levy turtles higher charges (User Development Fee (UDF) on passengers and airlines.  Olive Ridley turtles have started sporadic nesting at the Rushikulya rookery coast in 02nd JANUARY, 2017-THE HINDU DAILY Ganjam district of Odisha, while their NOTES mating is on in the sea near the rookery.  The Rushikulya rookery is a major nesting Loans to be cheaper as SBI slashes rate site of these endangered marine turtles. Experts are however not sure about the  State Bank of India (SBI), the country’s reason behind their nesting much ahead of largest lender, has reduced its marginal cost mass nesting time. of funds based lending rate (MCLR) by a  It is believed that during sporadic nesting the whopping 90 basis points. turtles might be testing whether the sand on  Among the steepest interest rate cuts in a the beach is soft and loose to enable easy long time, the move is aimed at boosting digging to lay eggs as well as other factors. loan growth, which has fallen to a multi-  The Forest officials have initiated measures decade low. to protect the eggs. The Forest Department  MCLR is the benchmark rate to which all has come up with six artificial hatcheries loans are linked. A percentage point equals near the Rushikulya rookery. Eggs collected 100 basis points (bps). from sporadic nesting points are being  According to a statement issued by the SBI, incubated in these artificial hatcheries. its one-year MCLR would be 8 per cent as  To prevent any mishaps, the sea near the compared with 8.9 per cent earlier. Home rookery is being patrolled to check illegal and auto loans of most banks, including SBI, entry of fishing trawlers. are linked to their respective one-year  Only mother Olive Ridleys come to the MCLRs. sandy coast to lay their eggs. Male turtles  Existing loans linked to the MCLR will be never come over to the beach. Males return impacted when they are re-priced. MCLR back after mating season while the females has been in effect from April 1, 2016 and stay back for mass nesting. had replaced the base rate.  New rules announced by the Reserve Bank Panel to use mobile apps to track Punjab polls of India in December 2015 took away from banks the freedom to decide when to revise  The Election Commission (EC) will rates. Rates will have to be decided based on introduce a mobile app-based system to the 'marginal cost of funds'. In other words, monitor the law-and- order situation during banks have to routinely calculate their cost the Punjab Assembly elections. of funds and any change has to be passed on  Numerous mobile applications, based on the to borrowers by revising their benchmark. Android platform, have been developed for This new formula-based benchmark is called maintaining law and order, streamlining the the marginal cost of lending rate (MCLR). functioning of polling officers and  “The decision is prompted by liquidity,” SBI monitoring criminals. chairman Arundhati Bhattacharya said. “We  “These apps have important features that have a lot of deposits in low-cost accounts. would enable poll officials to feed real-time Credit growth is very muted. It is important information and data on polling. Even the for us to try and jump-start the credit complaints received by the EC would be growth,” she said. dealt with online.”  Another public sector lender Union Bank of  The application will be visible only to the India has also reduced its MCLR with the EC and officials designated by it. one-year rate coming down by 65 bps to 8.65 per cent. Rs. 5.5 lakh for each PoK refugee 6 | P a g e http://www.currentaffairsonly.com

 The Centre will deposit Rs. 2,000 crore into the bank accounts of 36,000 Hindu refugees from Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK), a senior Home Ministry official said. These refugees migrated to Jammu and Kashmir in 1947, 1965 and 1971.  “Each PoK refugee would get Rs. 5.5 lakh in his or her bank account, and the Centre will bear the cost,” the official said.  The compensation package for the Hindu refugees was announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2016, and it got the clearance from the Union Cabinet in December 2016. claimed by the Kurdistan Freedom Falcons  Currently, violent protests have erupted in (TAK), seen as a radical offshoot of the the Valley against domicile certificates being outlawed PKK rebel group. issued by the State government to 19,000  Also, in December 2016, an off-duty west Pakistan refugees, mostly Hindus, who came to India after Partition, but are yet to policeman assassinated Russia’s be given any voting rights or financial Ambassador to Turkey in an Ankara art package. gallery.  The west Pakistan refugees have been  In June 2016, 47 people were killed in a demanding a similar package, but the triple suicide bombing and gun attack at previous Omar Abdullah government had Istanbul’s Ataturk airport, with authorities vehemently opposed the move. blaming IS.  The Mehbooba Mufti government has agreed  Turkey is still reeling from a failed July to sanction Rs. 1.2 crore in the Rs. 2,000- 2016 coup blamed by the government on the crore package as the amount pledged by the U.S.-based Islamic preacher Fethullah Gulen Centre fell short by a few hundred rupees per that has been followed by a relentless purge person. of his alleged supporters from state institutions.  “Since the PM has announced a package of Rs. 2,000 crore, we asked the State  The United States and France voiced outrage government to chip in as the benefit for each at the attack and said they stood alongside family was a little less than the Rs.5 lakh,” their NATO ally in its fight against terror. said an official.  The bloodbath came as the Turkish Army wages a four-month incursion in Syria to Turkey launches manhunt after club massacre oust IS jihadists and Kurdish militants from the border area, suffering increasing  Thirty-nine people, including many casualties. foreigners, were killed when a gunman went on a rampage at an exclusive nightclub in Gulen movement: Istanbul where revellers were celebrating the New Year.  It is an Islamic transnational religious and  The shooting spree at the waterside Reina social movement led by Turkish preacher nightclub was unleashed when 2017 in Fethullah Gulen, who has lived in the United Turkey was just 75 minutes old, after a year States since 1999. of unprecedented bloodshed that saw  The movement has attracted supporters and hundreds of people die in strikes blamed on critics in Turkey, Central Asia, and other Kurdish militants and jihadists and a bloody parts of the world. failed coup.  It is active in education with private schools  The attacker had escaped and was now the and universities in over 180 countries as well target of a major manhunt. Turkey in 2016 as many American charter schools operated saw more attacks than any other year in the by followers. history of the country.  Despite its teachings that are considered  In December 2016, 44 people were killed in conservative even in Turkey, some have a double bombing in Istanbul after a football praised the movement as a pacifist, modern- match hosted by top side Besiktas, an attack oriented version of Islam, and as an 7 | P a g e http://www.currentaffairsonly.com

alternative to more extreme schools of Islam the difference between UTC and UT1 such as Salafism. approaches 0.9 seconds, a leap second is  The Gulen movement is a former ally of the added to UTC through atomic clocks Turkish Justice and Development Party worldwide,” D. K. Aswal, Director of NPL, (AKP). When the AKP came to power in said. 2002 the two formed, despite their  Adding a second barely has an impact on the differences, a tactical alliance against daily life, but it does matter in the fields of military tutelage and the secular elite. satellite navigation, astronomy and  It was through this alliance that the AKP had communication. accomplished an unprecedented feat in Turkish republican history by securing 03rd JANUARY, 2017-THE HINDU DAILY national electoral victories sufficient to form NOTES three consecutive majority governments in 2002, 2007, and 2011. SC bowls out top BCCI bosses  The Gulen movement gained influence on the Turkish police force and the judiciary during its alliance with conservative • Noting that its diktats are not “written in sand” President Erdogan, which saw hundreds of and are meant to be complied with, the Supreme Gulen supporters appointed to positions Court stripped BCCI president Anurag Thakur within the Turkish government. and secretary Ajay Shirke of their posts and  Once the old establishment was defeated ordered them to “forthwith cease and desist” from around 2010 to 2011 disagreements emerged associating with Indian cricket’s most powerful between the AKP and the Gulen movement. body. Since 11 December 2015 the Gulen movement is classified as a terrorist • A three-judge Bench of Chief Justice T.S. organization in Turkey. Thakur and Justices A.M. Khanwilkar and D.Y.  After the failed coup attempt in 2016, the Chandrachud declared Mr. government of Turkey blamed the group for the coup and authorities have arrested Thakur and Mr. Shirke “unfit” to continue at the thousands of soldiers and judges. helm of the BCCI for their “obstructionist”  Over ten thousand education staff were attitude and specious pleas in court about their suspended and the licenses of over 20,000 incapacity to make affiliated State associations teachers working at private institutions were fall in line with the Justice Lodha reforms. revoked for alleged affiliation to Gulen. Fethullah Gulen strongly condemned the • Besides, the court found Mr. Thakur prima facie coup, and rejected claims of his guilty of both contempt of Supreme Court involvement. proceedings and perjury (fabrication of false evidence), adding that such a person does not ‘Leap second’ syncs Indian time with Earth’s spin deserve to continue as BCCI president.

 A ‘leap second’ was added to the Indian • The court said a committee of administrators clock at 5:29.59 hours to synchronise with would be appointed to run the BCCI. The Bench the Earth’s rotational clock. sought “objective assistance” from senior advocate Fali Nariman and amicus curiae and  As the atomic clock at the National Physical senior advocate Gopal Subramanium to choose Laboratory (NPL) under the Council for persons of experience and integrity for the Scientific and Industrial Research struck committee. 23:59:59 on 31 Decemebr 2016, it was

programmed to add an extra second to 2017 • Meanwhile, till the committee was formed, the to compensate for a slowdown in the Earth’s court ordered the seniormost vice-president of rotation. the BCCI to take over as BCCI president and the  “The Earth and rotation around its own axis joint secretary to replace him. is not regular, as sometimes it speeds up and

sometimes it slows down due to various • Once the committee of administrators is formed, factors, including earthquakes and moon’s the Lodha panel’s job will be confined to overall gravitational forces. As a result, policy-making. The administrators would work astronomical time (UT1) gradually falls out in association with the Lodha panel. of sync with atomic time (Coordinated

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• The Supreme Court, here, referred to how it had in 2014 appointed retired cricketer Sunil • The majority on the Bench — the Chief Justice Gavaskar as interim BCCI president in relation to and Justices Madan B. Lokur, S.A. Bobde and L. IPL 2014 when it had found the then BCCI Nageshwara Rao — interpreted that Parliament president, N. Srinivasan, incapable of performing meant by ‘his’ a complete ban on any reference or his duties. appeal to religion, race, community, caste and language during elections. This meant the • The court said other BCCI administrators, pronoun extended to the social, linguistic and excluding Mr. Thakur and Mr. Shirke, shall religious identity of the voter also. continue, provided they do not fall under the categories the Lodha panel recommended for • Quoting Winston Churchill, Justice Lokur said: immediate ouster. Such administrators who “At the bottom of all tributes paid to democracy remain after the filtering should provide an is the little man, walking into the little booth, unconditional undertaking in four weeks that they with a little pencil, making a little cross on a will comply with the Lodha panel reforms. little piece of paper...”

Seeking votes on religious basis a corrupt act: SC • Dissenting with the majority and delivering a scathing retort, the minority judgment authored • Terming religion a very private relationship by Justice D.Y. Chandrachud pointed to the between man and his God, a seven-judge Bench historic discriminations and deprivations suffered of the Supreme Court, in a majority judgment, by the masses on the ground of religion, caste and held that an appeal for votes during elections on language. Justice Chandrachud wrote that these the basis of religion, caste, race, community or were social realities in our country that the Indian language, even that of the electorate, will amount addresses. to a ‘corrupt practice’ and call for disqualification of the candidate. • “How can this be barred from being discussed in an election? Religion, caste and language are as • “Election is a secular exercise and therefore a much a symbol of social discrimination imposed process should be followed… The relationship on large segments of our society. They are part of between man and God is an individual choice the central theme of the Constitution to produce a and state should keep this in mind,” the Supreme just social order. Electoral politics in a democratic Court held in a majority judgment of 4:3. polity is about social mobilisation,” Justice • The court was interpreting the pronoun ‘his’ Chandrachud wrote in his separate judgment used in Section 123 (3) of the Representation of supported by Justices A.K.Goel and U.U. Lalit. the People Act. Hotel service charge optional, says govt. • The provision mandates that it would amount to a ‘corrupt practice’ if a candidate or his agent or • You — as a consumer — have the discretion to any other person, with his consent, appeals for not pay ‘service charge’ added to your bill by votes on religious or such grounds. any hotel/restaurant.

• The question referred to the Constitution Bench • In a statement, the Consumer Affairs Department led by Chief Justice of India T.S. Thakur on a asked the State to advise hotels/restaurants to batch of election petitions was whether the word prominently display that “the service charges are ‘his’ used in Section 123 (3) of the Representation discretionary/voluntary and a consumer of the People Act only meant a bar on appeals dissatisfied with the services can have it waived.” made in the name of the candidate or his rival or his agent or others in his immediate camp. Or, • This follows several complaints that hotels and does the word ‘his’ also extend to soliciting votes restaurants are charging service charge in the on the basis of the religion, caste, community, range of 5-20 per cent, in lieu of tips, which a race, language of the electorate as a whole. consumer is forced to pay irrespective of the kind of service provided, the department said. • The latter would mean a blanket ban on any appeal, reference, campaign, discussion, dialogue • It said the Consumer Protection Act, 1986, or debate on the basis of religion, race, caste, provides that a trade practice which, for the community or language, even if such a debate was purpose of promoting the sale, use or supply of on the deprivations suffered by the voters due to any goods or for the provision of any service, these considerations.

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adopts any deceptive method is to be treated as • Attorney General, Mr. Mukul Rohatgi said there unfair. were no files pending with the government. The judiciary of the State High Courts was largely to • It had called for a clarification from the Hotel blame for the delay in filling up the vacancies. Association of India, which said the service The State High Courts tended to start the process charge is discretionary and should a customer be of judicial appointments late, sometimes sitting dissatisfied with the dining experience, he/she can on vacancies for years, he said. have it waived. Therefore, it is deemed to be accepted (by the customer) voluntarily, it said. Agni-IV test a ‘grand success’

NGT stays metro rail work on riverbed in Pune • The Strategic Forces Command (SFC), which is entrusted with the launching of nuclear weapon • The western zone bench of the National Green delivery systems, successfully test-fired the long- Tribunal (NGT) issued an interim stay on a range, strategic ballistic missile, Agni-IV, from a proposed portion of the metro rail route passing road-mobile launcher positioned on the Abdul through the Mula-Mutha riverbed in the city. Kalam Island, off Damra village on the Odisha coast. • A two-judge bench of Justices U.D. Salvi and Dr. Ajay Deshpande passed the directive acting on an • The DRDO conceived, designed and developed Environmental Interest Litigation (EIL) filed in the Agni-IV. the NGT in May 2016 by a group of prominent Pune citizens, which contended that in the • The two-stage, surface-to-surface Agni-IV can proposed metro rail alignment, a 1.7 km stretch carry a nuclear warhead weighing one tonne over passing through the left bank of the Mula-Mutha a distance of more than 4,000 km. river could spell the death knell for the riverbank ecosystem along that route. • Agni-V, successfully test-fired in December 2016, can carry a nuclear warhead weighing 1.5 Centre stalling judicial transfers: SC tonnes over a distance of 5,000 km and plus. • Agni-IV has already been deployed by the Army. • The Supreme Court accused the Centre of • It had been flight-tested five times earlier — in allowing transfers of Chief Justices and judges of 2011, 2012, twice in 2014 and in 2015. This is various High Courts to “languish on somebody’s the sixth success in a row. desk” for months together, even as senior advocates, including Ram Jethmalani, told the Jharkhand mine tragedy was waiting to happen apex court that it is “time the judiciary taught the government a lesson.” • The disaster at Rajmahal open cast mine in Jharkhand, which has claimed 18 mines so far, • Appearing before a Bench of Chief Justice of was waiting to happen as safety concerns raised India T.S. Thakur and Justice D.Y. Chandrachud, by activists and locals were rubbished by Mr. Jethmalani and senior advocate Yatin Oza authorities. referred to the case of Justice M.R. Shah of the Gujarat High Court, whose transfer to the Madhya • A complaint by a local activist, pointing to Pradesh High Court had been kept pending since violation of safety norms and forwarded to the February 2016. Director General of Mines Safety (DGMS) by the Prime Minister’s Office, was termed • Chief Justice Thakur retorted, “What is “incorrect/false” in December 2015. happening? The recommendations of the Collegium cannot be allowed to languish on • “After detailed inquiry on your complaint, the somebody’s desk. If you do not agree with a allegations made by you against the management name, send the file back to us.” of Rajmahal OCP (open cast mine) were found incorrect/false, which comes under the purview of • Seeking a status report from the Centre on the Mines Act, 1952,” a letter written by the Director pending transfers of HC judges in the next three of Mines Safety (SD), Jharkhand had told weeks, the court noted that the delay on the part Ashutosh Chakraborty, the activist who had filed of the government had given rise to “grave the complaint with the PMO. apprehensions and misgivings” within the legal community.

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• A year later, on December 29, 2016, hundreds of • However, there is no confirmation on thousands of tonnes of overburden dump came participation from the Gilgit-Baltistan region of crashing, burying men and machinery. Pakistan.

• “Had they conducted proper investigation into SBI raises spread on home loans, cuts loan the complaint, such a huge tragedy could have growth target been avoided,” Mr. Chakraborty said. • State Bank of India (SBI), which reduced its • He said he had even provided photographs on benchmark lending rate by 90 basis points from how safety concerns were overlooked by not January 1, has increased its spread on home maintaining a proper bench while digging deep loans to 50 basis points (bps) and above, as into the open cast mine. The overburden was compared with 25 bps earlier. dumped in a de-coaled area in huge quantities which led to the collapse, he said. • This means that the lowest home loan rate a borrower can avail of with the largest lender in Pravasi Divas this year to highlight social the country is 8.5 per cent. innovations • SBI will offer floating loan home loans at 8.65 • Pravasi Bharatiya Divas 2017, annual global per cent for loans up to Rs. 75 lakh. That is, it convention for the Indian diaspora, will focus on would add a spread of 65 basis points to the one- social innovators, the Ministry of External year marginal cost of fund based lending rate Affairs said. (MCLR).

• The January 7 to 9 conclave to be held in • For loans above Rs. 75 lakh, the effective Bangalore will be the first full-fledged festival interest rate will be 8.7 per cent. of diaspora Indians under a new format adopted by the government of Prime Minister Narendra • Since the spread of the loan will remain Modi in 2016. unchanged when the loan switches to floating- • The event will be attended by more than 4,000 rate, SBI declined to term it as a teaser loan and delegates and high-power delegations from said it would not attract higher standard Mauritius, Malaysia and Qatar. provisioning. • There will also be a contest of innovators and the winner will get an award of ₹1 lakh. • The bank has also cut down its loan growth target for the current financial year to 8-9 per • All sessions of the mega event will be in plenary cent from 11-12 per cent envisaged at the format and will be interactive, which will allow beginning of the year. delegates from overseas to convey their suggestions to the government directly. • The merger of SBI with its associate banks, which was expected to be completed by the end • The sessions will focus on immigration and the of the financial year, is now likely to happen in role of diaspora organisations. The idea behind the first quarter of the next financial year. the new format was to make the celebration more responsive to the problems faced by the Indian Teaser Loan: diaspora abroad. The highpoint of the event would be the award for the pravasi achievers • An adjustable-rate mortgage loan in which the (Pravasi Bharatiya Samman Awards) that will be borrower pays a very low initial interest rate, conferred by President Pranab Mukherjee on which increases after a few years. January 9. • Teaser loans try to entice borrowers by • The current format of the PBD 2017, which was offering an artificially low rate and small down first announced by External Affairs Minister payments, claiming that borrowers should be during the annual conference of able to refinance before the increases occur. 2016, generated interest as reports had indicated participation by delegates who trace their origin to Pak-occupied Kashmir. Core sector output growth slows to 4.9% in November

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• The eight core industries recorded a year-on-year defaulter in Bengal as it was paying interest to its growth in output of 4.9% in November 2016, depositors. slower than the previous two months - that is, a 6.6% increase in October and 5.01% in • But after the Saradha scam opened a Pandora’s September. Box, the Supreme Court instructed the investigating agencies, Enforcement Directorate • The eight core industries comprise close to 37.9 (ED) and the Central Bureau of Investigation per cent of the weight of items included in the (CBI) to probe all the companies involved in Index of Industrial Production (IIP) and raising funds from small depositors. As a part of electricity has the maximum weight (of 10.32 per that process, the Rose Valley Group was cent) among the eight sectors. investigated.

• Gautam Kundu, the chairman of the group, and 04th JANUARY, 2017-THE HINDU DAILY other officials were arrested in March 2015. NOTES Poll panel caught in tussle for ‘cycle’ flu: Mysuru zoo to be shut till Feb. 2 • A day after Mulayam Singh staked claim to the • Mysuru zoo will remain closed for a month, till 2 Samajwadi Party symbol “bicycle,” the Akhilesh February 2017, as a precautionary measure, as Yadav camp representative Ramgopal Yadav met laboratory reports confirmed that the cause of Election Commissioners and maintained that the death of some migratory on its premises real Samajwadi Party was the one of which recently was due to avian influenza (H5N8). Akhilesh had been elected national president.

• This is perhaps for the first time in the history of • Both the groups have staked claim to the symbol the zoo that it will remain out of bounds for and therefore, the Commission will now ask them tourists for many days. to produce documentary evidence to prove their stand. It will also examine the party’s constitution • A Spot Billed Pelican and three Greylag Goose to determine whether procedures were followed. died in a zoo pond on December 28. Another • However, the final test will be the numbers in the Spot Billed Pelican and a Greylag Goose died in organisational and legislative structures. the same pond on December 30. • In the Sadiq Ali case, the Supreme Court has • A report from the National Institute of High held that the test of majority applied by the Security and Diseases (NIHSAD) Commission to settle a dispute of this nature is confirmed avian influenza as cause for the death valid and relevant. of birds. • As the EC is expected to announce the poll schedule for Uttar Pradesh and four other States • The entire zoo campus is been sterilized. in a couple of days, it may not have enough time to decide the dispute. Thus, in all likelihood, the After Saradha scam, Rose Valley came under Samajwadi Party symbol will be frozen till the scrutiny issue is settled.

• According to the estimates of the investigating • Defying his father’s directions, Akhilesh had agencies, the Rose Valley Group had collected issued a separate list of candidates for the coming upwards of Rs.17,000 crore from the market. Assembly elections. The party supremo then The small depositors association puts the figure expelled him and his supporters, including Mr. around Rs. 40,000 crore. Ramgopal Yadav. The rival group then called for a national council meeting and declared Akhilesh • The organisation allegedly violated guidelines of as the party’s national president, virtually staging the Reserve Bank of India and other related a coup. financial fraud control acts, meant to regulate such companies raising small investments, SC asks list of firms with debts over Rs. 500 cr. primarily in the rural areas of at least half a dozen States. • Anxious over the rise in bad loans, the Supreme Court ordered the government to provide • Interestingly, unlike the other big chit fund “empirical data” on cases pending in Debt company, Saradha, the Rose Valley was not a Recovery Tribunals (DRTs) for over 10 years and

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the list of corporate entities with debts in excess • Apple is learnt to have sought the waiver on the of Rs. 500 crore. ground that it makes ‘cutting-edge technology’ items for which it is not possible to source as • A Bench led by Chief Justice of India T.S. Thakur much from India. also directed the government to provide a complete and detailed report on whether DRTs • The Centre is looking into whether there is a and their appellate bodies are well-equipped, as need for separate guidelines on local sourcing far as infrastructure and manpower, to take on pertaining to the waiver on ‘cutting edge defaulting corporate entities which have reneged technology’ and what constitutes such high-end on loans and render timely justice. technology.

• The court referred to how the new Enforcement of Diamond contracts set to debut soon in India Security Interest and Recovery of Debt Laws and Miscellaneous Provisions (Amendment) Bill, • India is all set to become the first country in the 2016 has been enacted by Parliament to combat world where polished diamonds will be traded pendency in bad loans cases. on a commodity exchange.

• But the SC expressed its scepticism on whether • The Reliance Capital-promoted exchange, Indian the new legislation by itself would be able to Commodity Exchange Ltd (ICEX) is in the final solve the rising pendency in bad loan cases in stages of unveiling diamond contracts that will overburdened DRTs. allow even individuals to trade in the precious stone in a transparent manner. ‘No concessions likely for Apple’s manufacturing unit’ • The final approval from the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) is expected • The Commerce Ministry does not favour granting soon. The exchange has already received the in- concessions to U.S. multinational technology principle approval from the regulatory body for major Apple, for establishing a manufacturing the introduction of diamond contracts. unit in India to make its products including iPhones and iPads, according to a senior • Once diamond contracts start trading on an government official. exchange, it will become a financial investment • This is because other companies have not sought product. Diamond has never been able to become similar concessions — including the relaxation of an investment product due to low transparency in labelling and local sourcing norms as well as pricing. excise and import duty reductions — for starting manufacturing in the country. • There is no current global benchmark price for diamond, making the stone less attractive than • India is among the largest smartphone markets in gold or silver as an investment option. the world. More than 40 companies are manufacturing mobile phones in the country. • While India is the third-largest consumer of diamond after the U.S. and China, it has the • Currently, there is the Modified Special largest share in diamond-cutting and polishing. Incentive Package Scheme to promote manufacturing of electronic items in India. There • In September 2016, the Centre added 6 new are incentives for investments in Special commodities that were allowed to be traded on Economic Zones. exchange platforms including diamonds, tea, eggs, cocoa, pig iron and brass. • The Centre is keen that Apple does substantial value addition in the country and ensure that Key proteins that make Zika virus so deadly local supply chains grow as well — thereby identified generating employment, increasing manufacturing and exports. • In a first comprehensive description of the Zika • The Centre is looking into Apple's proposal virus genome, scientists from U.S. have seeking exemption from 30 per cent local identified seven key proteins that may make the sourcing norms on virus so deadly.

FDI in single brand retail. • Over the past year, scientists have learned that it can cause a range of dangerous health problems,

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including birth defects such as microcephaly and • The EC has issued Standard Operating neurological problems such as Guillain-Barre Procedures for the first and the last 72 hours of syndrome. the implementation of the Model Code of Conduct to ensure a smooth election process. • However, they did not know which Zika protein or proteins are causing harm, or exactly how GST: No accord on dual control these proteins cause damage. • The eighth meeting of the Goods and Services Tax • Zika virus has infected hundreds of thousands of Council failed yet again to reach a consensus on people around the world, mostly in the Americas. the critical issue of dual control and cross In the U.S. and its territories, more than 38,000 empowerment, a major roadblock in the Zika cases have been reported so far, most of them finalisation of the draft GST laws, Union Finance in Puerto Rico. Minister said.

• There are no vaccines or treatments to prevent or • The other concern is the definition of the word treat the symptoms of Zika infection. ‘territory’.

• The next step is to understand more about how • “The territory issue is a complex one. The area of these seven proteins work in humans. It may be 12 nautical miles from the India coast is Indian that some of them are more damaging than territory,” he explained. others, or perhaps all of them work in concert to cause harm. • “Service tax in this area has been levied by the Government of India. But fishing in these areas 05th JANUARY, 2017-THE HINDU DAILY has been taxed by the States.” NOTES • “The answer to this is not political, it is purely a 7-phase poll in U.P. from February 11 to March 8 constitutional issue,” Mr. Jaitley said. • Assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Manipur and Goa will be held between • One other issue raised by the States was the February 4 and March 8, the Election compensation, and how this amount should be Commission announced. increased due to the hit to State revenues caused • The Model Code of Conduct for the Centre, the by the demonetisation of high value currency State governments, political parties and their notes. The Centre has assured the states that it will candidates comes into immediate effect, it said. look into the matter.

• Polls will be held in a total of 690 Assembly • The Council will meet again on January 16. constituencies. In the 403 constituencies of Uttar Pradesh, the elections will be conducted in seven Birds culled in Gujarat over fears of avian flu phases from February 11 to March 8. • The Gujarat health authorities have culled more • Chief Election Commissioner Nasim Zaidi said than 2,000 birds after the detection of the all candidates have been directed to open bank dreaded avian flu or bird flu at a poultry farm accounts, and pay for all expenses above 20,000 near Ahmedabad. through cheques. • The report by the Indian Council of Agricultural • Also, each candidate would have to file a separate Research-National Institute of High Security affidavit in the form of a “no-demand certificate” Animal Disease confirmed the deaths of the declaring that there are no dues on account of birds due to avian influenza. water, electricity, rent for government accommodation in the past decade or any other • The State authorities have sounded a high alert such services. and placed restrictions on the movement of birds and eggs, and on chicken shops in the area. • “The maximum limit for expenses for each candidate in Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Ken-Betwa river-linking project faces new hurdle Uttarakhand is 28 lakh. In Goa and Manipur, the A new hurdle has come in the way of the marquee limit is 20 lakh,” he said. Ken-Betwa river interlink project in its terms of financing.

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• The NITI Aayog (National Institution for this, 4,141 hectares is core forest and located Transforming India) has recommended that inside the reserve. Madhya Pradesh contribute 40 per cent of the project cost, with the Centre contributing 60 per • A key point of contention between wildlife cent. experts associated with the impact assessment and dam proponents in the MoWR was whether • The Ministry of Water Resources (MoWR) has the height of the Daudhan dam could be reduced opposed this and requested that 90 per cent of to limit the water overflow. the funds be routed through the Centre. • The MoWR had refused to agree to this, saying • A lack of clarity on the funding pattern could it would compromise the economic viability of mean more delays to the Rs. 10,000-crore project the project. The records of the August 2016 that would be the first ever inter-State river meeting suggest wildlife experts were convinced. interlinking project. SC schedules day-to-day hearings on Cauvery • The project was given a go-ahead by the appeals from Feb 7 National Board for Wildlife (NBWL) at a meeting chaired by Minister of State for • The Supreme Court asked Karnataka to continue Environment and Forests, Anil Madhav Dave, in releasing 2000 cusecs of Cauvery water to August 2016. neighbouring State of Tamil Nadu while posting appeals filed by Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and • An environment clearance panel has, according Kerala against the Cauvery Water Dispute to officials in the water ministry, also cleared the Tribunal's decision on water-sharing for day-to- project on 30th December. day hearing. • A separate committee that determines forest clearance to such projects, is yet to take a call. • Stressing the urgency to resolve the prolonged water dispute at the earliest, the Supreme Court • “The toughest bit was the wildlife Bench scheduled back-to-back hearings from clearance...once the funding mechanism is clear, February 7 for a period of three weeks. Tamil it would take seven years for the project to be Nadu submitted that the north-east monsoon had ready,” said Water Resources Minister Uma failed completely and it was suffering from a 67 Bharti. per cent deficit of water. However, the Bench • This will be the first time that a river project will refused to deliberate this issue, saying it has be located within a tiger reserve. already spent “considerable time” on it.

• The Rs. 10,000-crore Ken-Betwa project will • On December 9, the Supreme Court, in a irrigate the drought-prone Bundelkhand region judgment, had refused the Centre's stand that the but, in the process, also submerge about 10 per apex court lacked jurisdiction to hear the Cauvery cent of the Panna Tiger Reserve in Madhya river dispute. It had upheld the constitutional Pradesh, feted as a model tiger conservation power of the court to hear the appeals filed by the reserve. three States against the tribunal award.

• The main feature of the project is a 230-km long • The Centre had argued that the parliamentary law canal and a series of barrages and dams of Inter-State Water Disputes Act of 1956 coupled connecting the with Article 262 (2) of the Indian Constitution excluded the Supreme Court from hearing or Ken and Betwa rivers that will irrigate 3.5 lakh deciding any appeals against the Cauvery hectares in Madhya Pradesh and 14,000 hectares Tribunal's decision. The Centre had claimed the of Uttar Pradesh in Bundelkhand. tribunal award was final.

• The key projects are the Makodia and Dhaudhan • The Bench however held that the remedy under dams, the latter expected to be 77 metres high Article 136 was a constitutional right and it and responsible for submerging 5,803 hectares of cannot be taken away by a legislation much less tiger habitat in the Panna Tiger Reserve. by invoking the principle of election or estoppel (a principle used in certain situations to prevent a • When, and if, the proposed reservoir is filled to person from relying upon certain rights, or upon a the brim, 6,221 hectares will be inundated — of set of facts (e.g. words said or actions performed) which is different from an earlier set of facts).

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high-end manufacturing, and take advantage of • “The jurisdiction exercised by this court under the low labour costs that are still available in its Article 136 is an extraordinary jurisdiction which less developed zones. empowers this court to grant leave to appeal from any judgment, decree or determination in any • IT highlighted the likelihood of Apple shifting cause or matter passed or made by any court or manufacturing to India—as well as its larger tribunal and the scope of this Article has been implications for China. settled in numerous decisions,” the Supreme Court observed. • “If Apple expands in India, more global tech giants may follow suit and China is likely to see • Further, the Bench had held that it was settled law a further transfer of the supply chain given that the Supreme Court could not take cognisance India's abundant supply of working-age labour of an original inter-State water dispute, and this and low labor costs.” alone was the original intent of the Constitution under Article 262. The court held that once a • It added: “Industrial competition between China water dispute, as defined under Article 262(1) and India comes down to the labour force, where read with provisions of the 1956 Act, is costs and the level of skills are two major factors adjudicated by the tribunal, it loses the nature of that influence business decisions. Although China 'original dispute'. has an edge having nurtured skilled workers over past decades, a majority of Indian states have an Article 262 - Adjudication of disputes relating to absolute labour cost advantage over China. waters of inter State rivers or river valleys Today, labour cost is still a significant part of the complicated equation for business success.”  Parliament may by law provide for the adjudication of any dispute or complaint with Ministry seeks duty cut for leased planes respect to the use, distribution or control of the waters of, or in, any inter-state river or river • The Union civil aviation ministry has proposed valley. the lowering of customs duty for aircraft imported by leasing companies set up in India.  Notwithstanding anything in this Constitution, Parliament may by law provide that neither the • The ministry has asked the finance ministry to Supreme Court nor any other court shall exercise consider reducing customs duty for lessors from jurisdiction in respect of any such dispute or 21 per cent to the prevalent rates of zero per cent complaint as is referred to in clause (1) for scheduled and 2.5 per cent for non-scheduled operations. Article 136 - Special leave to appeal by the Supreme Court • Aircraft imported by non-scheduled operators, such as Alchemist Airways and Air Odisha, face  Notwithstanding anything in this Chapter, the a 2.5 per cent import duty whereas planes Supreme Court may, in its discretion, grant imported by scheduled operators, such as IndiGo special leave to appeal from any judgment, and SpiceJet, are exempt from tax at present. decree, determination, sentence or order in any Aircraft imported for any other purposes, cause or matter passed or made by any court or including private use, attract 21 per cent customs tribunal in the territory of India duty.

 Nothing in clause (1) shall apply to any Leasing companies fall under the third category: judgment, determination, sentence or order passed or made by any court or tribunal • If the proposal is accepted, then, if a leasing constituted by or under any law relating to the company imports planes for leasing it to non- Armed Forces. scheduled operators, import duty of 2.5 per cent may be levied instead of 21 per cent. State media cautions China over India’s labour A new human organ discovered cost • Irish scientists have recently identified a new • Anticipating India’s rise as the next workshop-of- human organ that has existed in the digestive the world, a leading Chinese daily affiliated with system for hundreds of years. the Communist Party of China (CPC) is strongly advocating that Beijing should rapidly shift to 16 | P a g e http://www.currentaffairsonly.com

• Named as the mesentery, the organ connects the unit in Sept. 2015, under the Directorate of intestine to the abdomen and had for hundreds of Vigilance, by the Delhi government without years been considered a fragmented structure necessary approvals from the Lieutenant- made up of multiple separate parts. Governor.

• Mesentery is a fold of the peritoneum which • The office of former L-G Najeeb Jung referred to attaches the stomach, small intestine, pancreas, the CBI, seven matters of alleged irregularity by spleen, and other organs to the posterior wall of the Delhi government which had come to light in the abdomen. the Shunglu panel report.

• Better understanding and further scientific study • Mr. Jung had formed a three-member committee of the mesentery could lead to less invasive chaired by former Comptroller and Auditor surgeries, fewer complications, faster patient General V. K. Shunglu on August 30, 2016. The recovery and lower overall costs. other members were ex-chief election commissioner N. Gopalaswami and ex-chief vigilance commissioner Pradeep Kumar. 06th JANUARY, 2017-THE HINDU DAILY NOTES • The panel’s mandate was to examine “irregularities” and “infirmities” in over 400 files TN staring at acute drinking water shortage on decisions taken by the AAP government. It had submitted its report to the L-G office in • Having experienced the worst annual rainfall in November 2016. 2016, Tamil Nadu is on the threshold of an acute shortage of drinking water. • The special feedback unit, said sources, was allegedly created without the knowledge of senior • According to a senior Tamil Nadu Water Supply members of the governments bureaucratic and Drainage (TWAD) Board official, southern hierarchy. It worked directly under the districts, especially those depending upon the supervision of the Chief Minister’s office. Vaigai dam, are going to be hit very badly. • With major dams in State having abysmal • The ‘feedback unit’ was tasked with “gathering storage, districts are looking to Kerala and relevant information and actionable feedback” Karnataka for relief. about officials and departments under the Delhi government. It was also tasked to do trap cases to • The Tamil Nadu authorities are contemplating catch bureaucrats taking bribe red handed. approaching the Kerala government for taking water from the dead storage. • The CBI had recently registered a case into the appointment of Nikunj Aggarwal as OSD to • The situation with regard to schemes drawing Health Minister Satyendra Jain, besides alleged water from the Cauvery and Coleroon rivers is irregularities in the functioning of the Delhi not as depressing. Even with the 11 per cent Wakf Board. storage in the Mettur dam, about 875 MLD, accounting for 86 per cent of the designed SC asked to resolve conflict over ‘rape’ definition capacity, is being supplied. in two laws

• Yet, another Board official says that the • A chink in the colonial-era Indian Penal Code situation can be managed during summer if (IPC) condoning sexual intercourse and 5,000 cubic feet per second (cusecs) of water is exploitation of a 15-year-old child ‘wife’ has released from the dam for 10 days. been brought to the Supreme Court’s attention.

• It is in this context that the State authorities are • An exception to Section 375 (rape) in the IPC hoping that the Karnataka government would allows a man to go scot-free despite having sex comply with the latest order of the Supreme with his 15-year-old ‘wife’. Court on the release of 2,000 cusecs. • This exception ensures that he will not be Govt’s ‘feedback unit’ under CBI lens charged with rape even though child marriage is a crime. • The CBI has registered a preliminary enquiry to look into the setting up of a special ‘feedback’

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• Nobel Peace laureate Kailash Satyarthi, through Q. How does the ECI establish a claim of majority in his organisation Bachpan Bachao Andolan, these wings? appealed to the Supreme Court for help to end • The Commission examines the party’s this “statutorily-backed” crime against children. constitution and its list of office-bearers submitted when the party was united. It identifies • The organisation said an estimated 47 per cent of the apex committee(s) in the organisation and children in India were married off before they finds out how many office-bearers, members or turned 18, according to the United Nations. delegates support the rival claimants. For the legislative wing, the party goes by the number of • The illegal practice was a serious deterrence to MPs and MLAs in the rival camps. It may the physical, social, psychological and moral consider affidavits filed by these members to well-being of children. ascertain where they stand.

• The more recent Protection of Children from Q. What ruling will the EC give after a definite Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act of 2012 qualifies finding? those aged below 18 as ‘children’. • The ECI may decide the dispute in favour of one faction by holding that it commands enough • POCSO has specific penal provisions against support in its organisational and legislative ‘penetrative sexual assault’ and ‘aggressive wings to be entitled to the name and symbol of penetrative sexual assault’ on children below 18. the recognised party. It may permit the other group to register itself as a separate political • Mr. Satyarthi wants the apex court to clear the party. anomaly in law. The IPC terms children as those aged under 15 years while POCSO terms  What happens when there is no certainty about children as those aged under 18. the majority of either faction?

• The apex court directed the government to • Where the party is either vertically divided or it is address the issue within four months. not possible to say with certainty which group has a majority, the EC may freeze the party’s symbol • The Bench asked Mr. Satyarthi to approach the and allow the groups to register themselves with court on the same grounds for immediate new names or add prefixes or suffixes to the resolution if he is not satisfied with the party’s existing names. government’s response. Q. Can the dispute relating to SP be decided How will EC decide on the party symbol row in immediately, given that elections are round the SP? corner?

• Rival factions are staking claim to the name and • The EC may take time to gather enough material symbol of the Samajwadi Party. to decide the question. For immediate electoral purposes, it may freeze the party’s symbol and • The Election Symbols (Reservation and advise the groups to fight the elections in different Allotment) Order, 1968 empowers the EC to names and on temporary symbols. recognise political parties and allot symbols. Q. What happens when rival factions settle their differences in future?  Under Paragraph 15 of the Order, it can decide disputes among rival groups or sections of a • If reunited, the claimants may approach the EC recognised political party staking claim to its again and seek to be recognised as a unified party. name and symbol. The EC is the only authority The EC is also empowered to recognise mergers to decide issues on such a dispute or a merger. of groups into one entity. It may restore the The Supreme Court upheld its validity in Sadiq symbol and name of the original party. Ali and another vs. ECI in 1971. Q. What aspects does the EC consider before With gifts and goodwill, 218 fishermen return recognising one group as the official party? from Pakistan • The ECI primarily ascertains the support enjoyed by a claimant within a political party in its • Pakistan has released 218 Indian fishermen organisational wing and in its legislative wing. detained in the past 12 months. Senior officials said that this is a goodwill gesture aimed at confidence building measures.

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• This is the second batch of Indian fishermen • It comprises civil society members such as released by Pakistan in less than two weeks. activists and academicians, and held island-wide • Pakistan had earlier released 220 Indian consultations on the Sri Lankan government’s fishermen on December 25, 2016. proposed reconciliation mechanisms following • The fishermen were provided with Rs 500 each the UNHRC resolution in 2015. and gifts by non-government Edhi Foundation • Sri Lanka, which co-sponsored the resolution, volunteers. proposed four mechanisms for reconciliation —

• Pakistan and India relations nosedived following 1. Truth, Justice, Reconciliation and Non- attacks in Pathankot and Uri. India had accused Recurrence Pakistan based terrorists of carrying out the 2. Office of Missing Persons attack. 3. Office of Reparations • Pakistani authorities have promised to investigate the matter. 4. Judicial Mechanism with Special Counsel.

In poll run-up, no bets on budget • Releasing its report on January 3, based on public hearings and discussions across Sri • Leaders of the Congress, Trinamool Congress, JD Lanka, the team recommended a “hybrid court” (U), RJD and the DMK met the Election with both local and foreign judges to prosecute Commission and sought a recommendation to the war crimes. Central government to defer the Union Budget presentation in the wake of coming Assembly • The report comes days after Prime Minister elections in five States. Wickremesinghe made a public statement ruling out foreign judges, a contentious issue among • The Budget session is to start on February 1. nationalist forces among the majority Sinhalese. • Rajya Sabha Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad demanded that the Budget be presented after • President Maithripala Sirisena too has opposed March 8. international judges, raising questions on whether the government will muster enough political will • The Centre could announce populist measures to move ahead on reconciliation, amid domestic and under such circumstances, a just and fair political compulsions. election could not be conducted, he said. • Addressing a press conference, CTF secretary • Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Nasim Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu said it was crucial that Zaidi said that a representation for deferment of international legal experts participate, because the the Budget was being examined and a decision existing local mechanisms lacked the trust of the on the issue would be taken in due course. people and competency.

• Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati had also • “Many people who participated in the urged the Commisssion to recommend that the consultations demanded confidence-building Budget presentation be deferred, pointing out that measures to bridge the trust deficit,” he said, during the 2012 Assembly polls it was presented pointing the need for constitutional reforms, de- after the elections. militarisation, return of private land occupied by armed forces, livelihood opportunities and to • However, the Central government has repeal Sri Lanka’s draconian Prevention of maintained that there is no need to postpone the Terrorism Act (PTA), which the state continues to Budget presentation, saying that otherwise invoke. developmental works in other States would suffer. • The consultations, according to CTF member and researcher Mirak Raheem, threw light on an Sri Lanka task force seeks ‘hybrid’ war crimes “array of perpetrators”, and victims among both court the Tamils and Sinhalese.

• In January 2016, Prime Minister Ranil • Perpetrators ranged from the state, its armed Wickremesinghe appointed the Consultation forces, the police, the Janata Vimukthi Perumuna Task Force (CTF), to seek national views on — a leftist nationalist party involved in two armed reconciliation mechanisms. uprisings — to various Tamil militant groups, including the LTTE, and members of the Indian

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Peace Keeping Force — a military contingent deployed for a peace keeping operation in Sri • However, miners have been prohibited from Lanka between 1987 and 1990. initiating operations at such mines till the time they secure the requisite green clearances, as per New norms likely for top PSU bank posts an order notified by the Mines Ministry.

• The Banks’ Board Bureau is working to ensure • Since the Mines and Mineral (Development and that leadership roles in state-run banks would only Regulation) Act of 2015 requires all mining rights be given to those with at least six years of service to be auctioned, all miners who had secured a left, in order to ensure accountability of their Letter of Intent for operating a mine from a State actions, the organisation’s Chairman Vinod Rai government before January 12, 2015, were given said. a two-year window to execute and register their mining leases. • Mr. Rai also said that public sector bank employees’ compensations would become more Export infrastructure scheme on the anvil competitive in 2017-18, with increases in the variable pay component. • The Centre will tie up with the States to soon roll- out a new scheme called ‘TIES’ — or Trade • The former Comptroller General of Accounts Infrastructure for Export Scheme — to boost said that the main principle behind banking export infrastructure, Commerce Minister management should be transparency in the said. accounting process and transparency in the decision making process. • She said the States must develop their own export strategy in alignment with the national foreign • Mr. Rai added that these incentives would apply trade policy, as well as enhance co-operation with to positions across all levels, not just to the Central agencies to set up common facilities for middle and senior management. testing, certification, trace-back, packaging and labelling. • He also said that the Banks Board Bureau is in the process of filling up vacancies in the top • S.C. Ralhan, president of the apex exporters’ management of the public sector banks. body Federation of Indian Export Organisations, said: “Indian roads carry nearly 65 per cent cargo • Mr. Rai said that the Corporate Debt against the global trend where railway is the major Restructuring Cell was created with noble contributor. Therefore the States should focus on intentions in the early 2000s, but it soon found improving the last mile connectivity of major itself unable to cope with the high volume of exporting hubs to Inland Container Depot/Ports. stressed assets in the system. Quality of roads including their load bearing capacity may be upgraded for smooth transit of • He said that while there were innumerable cases export goods.” where project reports were inflated, balance sheets were manipulated and funds siphoned off, • Pointing out that about 150 Sanitary & Phyto- there was an equal number of cases where Sanitary (SPS) measures (or norms on food safety irresponsible or lazy lending took place, where and animal & plant health standards) and a similar due diligence was not performed and supervision number of Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) was perfunctory. notifications (including mandatory and voluntary standards) were being issued by World Trade Centre lifts ‘green tape’ threat on new mines Organisation-member countries each month, Ms. Sitharaman said: “Around 50-60 per cent of these • With more than 300 proposed mines facing the measures have the potential to impact India’s prospect of becoming non-starters due to their trade.” inability to secure environmental clearances before a January 11, 2017, deadline to register • So far only 17 States (of the 29 States and seven mining leases, the Union Territories in the country) have prepared their export strategy, Ms Sitharaman said and Centre has stepped in to give a fresh lease of life told the remaining States/UTs to expedite their for such mines by allowing States to grant such export strategies. leases irrespective of the status of the environmental clearance.

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• On services, she said IT and ITeS had an GDP growth expected to be slower at 7.1% this overwhelming predominance in India’s services year exports but were largely restricted to the U.S. and EU markets and are therefore vulnerable to • India’s gross domestic output is expected to changes imposed by these two trading blocs. grow at a slower pace of 7.1% in 2016-17 compared to the 7.6% clocked in the previous • “There is a need to diversify our services exports. year, Chief Statistician TCA Anant said. Areas like medical tourism, nursing and healthcare, education, audio-visual media have an • But this doesn’t factor in the impact of the excellent potential that can be harnessed. For this, Centre’s decision to scrap high-value currency we need to develop the right competencies like notes on November 8. language skills for the East and North East Asian markets,” she said. • This estimate is asserted to be in sync with the Reserve Bank of India’s economic growth • Meanwhile, the Centre has decided to soon bring forecast, largely based on data from the first out a Logistics Performance Index to rank states seven months of the year. on steps taken to facilitate trade and improve logistics. • The gross value added (GVA) is estimated to grow 7% in 2016-17 compared with a growth • Measures in the pipeline include expediting the rate of 7.2% in 2015-16. proposal for a north east corridor to improve connectivity with south east Asian countries and • The agriculture sector saw significant growth exports to that region. with its GVA estimated to grow 4.1 per cent in 2016-17 up from 1.2 per cent in the previous Israel harnessing sunshine with world’s tallest year. solar tower • The service sector in aggregate is expected to • With Israel traditionally running its economy on grow 7.9 per cent in 2016-17, slower than the fossil fuels, renewable energy has long been 8.1 per cent seen in the previous year. hobbled by bureaucracy and a lack of incentives. • Manufacturing, on the other hand, is expected to • But the country is starting to make an effort, witness a slowdown, with the sector’s GVA to setting a goal of generating 10 percent of its grow 7.4 per cent in 2016-17 down from 9.3 per energy from renewable sources by 2020, up from cent in 2015-16. the current 2.5 per cent. SC stays transfer and sale of 2G spectrum by Maxis • The Ashalim project, deep in the Negev desert, is made up of three plots, with a fourth planned for the future, each with a different solar technology. • The Supreme Court stayed all transfer and sale • The centrepiece is a solar tower that will be the by Malaysia-based Maxis group of companies of world’s tallest at 250 m. 2G spectrum, originally allocated to Aircel in November 2006. • Solar towers use a method differing from the more common photovoltaic solar panels, which • Maxis’s controlling owner, Ananda Krishnan convert sunlight directly into electricity. Tatparanandam, and three face charges in a case linked to the multi-crore 2G spectrum corruption • Instead, towers use a solar-thermal method — scam, which is under trial before a Special CBI Thousands of mirrors focus the sun’s rays onto court in Delhi. the tower, heating a boiler that creates steam to spin a turbine and generate electricity. • These four were among eight named by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in its • Encircling the Ashalim tower are 50,000 mirrors, charge sheet filed on August 29, 2014. known as heliostats, in a shimmering blanket of • They had not complied with repeated summons glass over the desert. from the CBI court over the years.

07th JANUARY, 2017-THE HINDU DAILY • To compel the appearance of the accused, the NOTES Bench proposed to pass a restraint order against the accused from earning revenue from the use of

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their allocated 2G spectrum in case they did not ‘Patidar stir has run out of steam’ turn up in court within the next fortnight. • The Patidar quota agitation in Gujarat has “run • The Bench proposed that, in case the accused out of steam” and the community will support chose not to appear in court, no monetary claims the Bharatiya in the Assembly polls, for the loss of its allotted 2G spectrum would be claims Gujarat Chief Minister entertained. amid speculation that election in the State is likely to be advanced by a few months. • The court further asked the government to publish its order in two leading newspapers of • Mr. Rupani, who took over as Chief Minister Malaysia so that Maxis and others are officially after ’s sudden resignation in apprised of the mandate. August 2016.

SC refuses urgent hearing on budget • Deputy Chief Minister and a Patidar, Nitin Patel is holding talks with the Patidar leaders to  The Supreme Court refused an urgent hearing of resolve the legally and politically contentious a petition for the postponement of the Union matter. Budget on account of the Assembly elections announced in five States. “There is no urgency in • However, the Chief Minister declined to comment it. We will lay down the law when this petition on 23-year-old Patidar quota agitator Hardik comes up,” said a Bench, headed by CJI J.S. Patel. His six-month ‘exile’ from the State is Khehar. ending and he is preparing a massive show of strength on his return to the State. Aadhaar now mandatory for EPF pension scheme SC stays order allowing seizure of roosters  The Centre has made obtaining an Aadhaar number mandatory for 2.5 crore members of the • In a big relief for rural Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Employees’ Pension Scheme (EPS) of 1995, one Nadu before the Pongal/Sankranti festivities, the of the benefits available to Employees’ Provident Supreme Court stayed an Andhra Pradesh High Fund subscribers. Court December 26, 2016, order allowing joint teams of police and district administration to  The Labour Ministry said in a notification that barge into any premises and seize roosters primed those without an Aadhaar number will have to for traditional fights. make an application to get enrolled by January 31, 2017. • The fights are conducted by farmers as part of the Pongal/Sankranti celebrations, a 6000-year-  The subsidy, equivalent to 1.16 per cent of the old “sport” held across 13 districts. employee’s salary upto 6,500, paid by the Centre towards the EPS, will no longer be credited till • The apex court issued notice to the State the Aadhaar number is shared with the government, the Animal Welfare Board of India, authorities. and the Director General of Police of Andhra Pradesh, among others, on Mr. Rao's petition.  At present, the minimum pension under EPS is 1,000 per month and an employee can receive Knives, lighters to be allowed in metro trains pension only after a minimum 10 years of service. • Keeping safety in mind, the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) has permitted women to  The Centre contributes 1.16 per cent of the carry small knives, less than four inches long, employee’s salary towards the scheme along while travelling in metro trains. with employer contribution of 8.33 per cent of the salary. • They are not a threat to security but required by women for their protection.  Employees are automatically enrolled under EPS • The agency has also decided to allow lighters and if they are members of the Employees’ Provident matchboxes in metro trains, as hundreds of these Fund scheme. items are seized from passengers daily during

screening. However, one passenger will be

allowed to carry only one lighter or matchbox.

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• Tribals residing in the core and buffer zones of the • Certain tools have also been struck off from the Similipal Tiger Reserve (STR) in Odisha, alleged list of items restricted from being carried in metro that the State government was bent on relocating trains. The decision was taken after labourers them outside the forest which would jeopardise frequently complained of inconvenience caused their livelihood sources as well as separate them to them while travelling in metros. from nature.

‘Bio-fortification key to tackling malnutrition’ • Under the banner of the Similipal Surakshya Manch (SSM), tribals and other traditional forest • Looking well beyond food security and hunger dwellers said the relocation move was arbitrary elimination, noted agricultural scientist and and not sync with the Forest Right Act, 2006. ‘Father of Green Revolution’ M.S. Swaminathan sees “bio-fortification”, the process of improving • They claim that the Gram Sabha consents have nutritional quality of food crops, as holding the not been taken while the families are being key to tackle malnutrition and under- threatened to forgo their traditional right over nourishment. forest.

• He was delivering a talk at the 104th Indian • Villagers said if the human activities were Science Congress in Tirupati, Andhra Pradesh. detrimental to tiger conservation, why was the government promoting tourism by constructing • He floated the idea of developing ‘Nutrition hotels and guest houses inside the forest. gardens’ (botanical gardens with plants considered rich in vitamins, iron, iodine etc.) and • Recently, in a bid to unburden wildlife sanctuaries creating public awareness. from anthropogenic pressure, the State government had extended relocation offer to • In this connection, he referred to the role played villagers residing inside all the 19 protected by the newly-developed sweet potato variety wildlife areas of the State ‘in the interest of having orange-coloured flesh (high in beta protection of wildlife areas’. Chief Minister carotene) in combating child malnutrition. Naveen Patnaik had said the rate of compensation would be at par with the central scheme, which • “After calorie deficiency and protein deficiency, was for only the core area of tiger reserves, and the hidden ‘micronutrient’ deficiency requires would be met out of the State’s own funds. attention now”, he pointed out. SBI, HDFC Bank spar over M-wallet fee • Calling food as curative medicine, as has been found in the case of tuberculosis, he said that • If you have a savings account with HDFC Bank reaching food to the masses would eliminate and you want to transfer funds from that account most disorders. to State Bank of India’s mobile wallet, you won’t be able to do so as of now. • On Ehrlich's prediction of India falling flat in achieving food security, he threw a challenge to • This is because SBI and HDFC Bank are yet to the agricultural scientists to prove wrong all such reach an agreement on how much the former will prophesies. Dr. Swaminathan suggested “genetic pay the latter for such a transfer. checkmating” of new disease threats to usher in the era of food security. • When funds are transferred to a mobile wallet from a bank account, the wallet company has to • From Nehruvian focus on multi-purpose charge the bank, which is either a percentage of irrigation projects to Lal Bahadur Shastri equating the amount transferred or a fixed amount. farmer with the soldier with the catchy slogan “Jai Jawan Jai Kisan’, Dr. Swaminathan dwelt on • According to HDFC Bank officials, SBI has not former Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee’s agreed to the fee it demanded for such transfer. inclusion of ‘Jai Vigyan’ that gave the “We have asked for 1.5 per cent fee per technological thrust to India's focus. transaction — for the funds transferred from our accounts to SBI’s wallet — which the bank is yet Tribals against shifting of villages from protected to agree,” a HDFC Bank official in the know of areas the matter said.

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• The country’s largest lender is also not allowing • Samsung, the single most popular smartphone its fund transfer from its bank accounts to brand in India, commanded a roughly 30 percent standalone mobile wallets like Paytm and market share just over a year ago. That slipped to MobiKwik due to security reasons. 21 percent in November 2016, according to data available. • The Ratan Watal committee which was set up by the government had recently suggested a medium • Thanks to low cost, improved technology and an term roadmap for digital payments to grow advertising blitz, Chinese brands like Oppo, substantially over the next three years from the Lenovo, OnePlus and Gionee took a combined current level of about five per cent of personal share of over 50 per cent, compared with just 19 consumption and 20 per cent of all transactions. per cent a year ago.

Centre clears 26% strategic sale in BEML Railways may get 6% increase in Budget

• The Centre will sell 26% stake in defence  The Finance Ministry may grant the Indian equipment manufacturer BEML, out of Railways a more than six per cent increase in government’s shareholding of 54.03%, making it gross budgetary support to Rs. 48,000 crore, a the first major PSU to be sold through strategic figure that the operator of the world’s fourth disinvestment, which may fetch the exchequer largest railway network wants raised further, over 1,000 crore. according to official sources.

• The strategic sale approval is just the third in  The Finance Ministry has pegged the budgetary over 12 years. support at Rs. 48,000 crore for 2017-18.

• In September, the Cabinet had cleared strategic  While the public utility had sought Rs. 60,000 sale of Bharat Pumps and Compressors Ltd., crore for the coming fiscal to rev up investments, while in December it had approved sale of India’s the Finance Ministry had pointed out that the first pharma company Bengal Chemicals and Railways won’t have to pay any dividend from Pharmaceuticals Ltd as well as Hindustan the coming year. Antibiotics Ltd.  The Budget, which is likely to be presented on February 1, will be the first time that the state- • These PSUs will be the first privatisation since owned sale of Jessop and Co in 2003-04 under the NDA government headed by Prime Minister Atal Railways will have its allocation announced in Bihari Vajpayee. the Union Budget as the colonial-era practice of a separate Railway Budget has been dispensed • These are among the public sector units that NITI with. Aayog has identified for sale of government’s majority stake to private companies in order to  The GBS will, however, be more than six per cent bring in greater efficiency and professionalism in higher than Rs. 45,000 crore provided by the their functioning. Finance Ministry in 2016-17. The increase in budgetary support is significant as the Indian • Established in May 1964, BEML operates on Railways will no longer be required to pay three major business verticals for associated dividend to the Finance Ministry for the capital equipment manufacturing — mining and invested in it following the Budget merger from construction, rail and metro and defence and 2017-18. aerospace.  In 2016-17, Indian Railways is budgeted to pay China grabs 50 per cent of India’s smartphone Rs. 9,731 crore as dividend, whereas the subsidy market claimed by the Railways towards loss-making routes is estimated at Rs. 4,301 crore. As a result, • Chinese brands took their largest ever slice of the the net dividend payment to the Finance Ministry $10-billion Indian smartphone market in late is estimated at Rs. 5,430 crore in 2016-17 against 2016, accounting for more than one in every two the gross budgetary support of Rs. 45,000 crore. phones sold - a growing market share that ate into sales from top-selling Samsung Electronics. • The Indian Railways meets its planned expenditure through a combination of GBS,

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market borrowings and internal revenue generation. • The budget is to be presented on February 1.

• The dividend waiver will allow the Railways to • The budget session of Parliament was convened step up investment towards track renewal, to start from January 31. President Pranab maintenance, station improvement and passenger Mukherjee has summoned the Rajya Sabha and amenities. the Lok Sabha to meet on January 31, according to official notifications. Double delight from Indian telescope data Turf tussle sets L-G against CM in Puducherry • Astronomers, using data from India’s Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (GMRT) in Pune, • The last pretence of cohesive governance may have discovered two of the most powerful have vanished in Puducherry, with the simmering phenomena in the universe — a supermassive discord between Lt. Governor Kiran Bedi and black hole and the collision of giant galaxy Chief Minister V. Narayanasamy turning into a clusters about two billion light years from Earth. full-blown confrontation.

• By combining data from NASA’s Chandra X-ray • Trouble started after the Lt. Governor suspended Observatory, the Giant Metrewave Radio a Pondicherry Civil Services cadre official for Telescope (GMRT) in Pune and other telescopes, posting a reportedly lewd video on one of the researchers found what happens when matter WhatsApp groups initiated by her to pass on ejected by a giant black hole is swept up in the instructions to officials. The official was detained merger of two enormous galaxy clusters. by police and later summoned to Raj Nivas for an explanation. • Optical data from the Keck Observatory and Japan’s Subaru telescope, both on Mauna Kea, • A case was booked under Section 67-A of the IT Hawaii, detected the galaxies in each cluster. Act. Closing ranks, the bureaucracy decided to exit the Lt. Governor’s WhatsApp groups after a • First, at least one spinning, supermassive black delegation of officials failed to convince Ms. hole in one of the galaxy clusters produced a Bedi to withdraw the suspension. rotating, tightly— wound magnetic funnel. The powerful electromagnetic fields associated with • The government came out with a circular dated this structure have accelerated some of the January 2, 2017, prohibiting officials from using inflowing gas away from the vicinity of the black social media for “interaction with seniors hole in the form of an energetic, high-speed jet. bypassing the administrative hierarchy and routine official channel”. 08th JANUARY, 2017-THE HINDU DAILY NOTES • Though the circular cited security risks, it was a virtual no-brainer that the move was intended as EC seeks govt. response on plea to defer Budget a rebuff to the Lt. Governor.

• The Election Commission has sought a response • Interestingly, the challenge to the Lt. Governor’s from the Centre on petitions for deferring the suspension order would come, not from the presentation of the Union Budget in view of the government, but from the Election Commission coming Assembly elections in five States. of India. The ECI stayed the Lt. Governor’s suspension order as the official happened to be • The EC has written to Cabinet Secretary P.K. serving as an Electoral Registration Officer. It Sinha, asking for a response by January 10. categorically stated that the official, in his capacity as an electoral officer, is subject to • The government has maintained that the budget “control, superintendence and discipline of the presentation need not be postponed; otherwise Commission under Section 13CC of the developmental works in other States would Representation of People Act, 1950”, and the Lt. suffer. Governor should have taken the Commission into confidence before placing the official under • Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Nasim suspension, particularly when the publication of Zaidi said that a representation for deferment of the final electoral rolls was imminent. the budget was being examined, and the EC would take a decision in due course.

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• Apparently unfazed by the setback from the ECI’s OCT) and applied an algorithm based on a directive, the very next day, the Lt. Governor statistical biomarker tool for early detection of cancelled the government circular prohibiting the diabetic macular edema. use of social media as it “has been issued in contravention of guidelines, rules, and policies, A fully biocompatible cell-level motility engine etc., in force”. • A Chennai-based group has come up with a • In a hard-hitting complaint to Union Home workable design for a system using which Minister , eight Congress MLAs nanosized particles can be made to move through blamed the Lt. Governor for her “rigidly a viscous liquid like blood without the autocratic, unethical, whimsical and dictatorial,” application of external energy. style of running the administration by “overlooking” an elected government. • Unlike in earlier schemes, the process is entirely biocompatible and does not involve the • If the ruling Congress stopped short of demanding application of external magnetic fields etc. a recall, the Opposition AIADMK urged the Centre to recall the Lt. Governor for “violating the • The concept is that you have the cargo to be procedures and set rules by having frequent tussle delivered inside a small micro-sized colloidal with the elected government”. particle, which could also have a small piece of magnetite. ‘Gujarat will be defence services hub’ • This colloidal particle is attached to a string of • Defence equipment manufacturing and active particles. These active particles by international finance services are the focus areas converting biochemical energy stored in ATP or at the Vibrant Gujarat Summit, which will be carbohydrates into mechanical energy, make inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on wavy or spiral movements that propel the January 10 in Gandhinagar. colloidal particle through the viscous medium.

• According to Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay • Using a small magnetic field, of strengths that Rupani, manufacturing is Gujarat’s forte: the are safe for the human body, can be used to State is a leading manufacturing base for move this motility engine in the preferred petrochemicals, pharmaceuticals, textiles and direction. automobiles. Now, defence equipment will join the list. Under the policy, tax incentives like • Two among myriad examples of bodies moving reimbursement of stamp duty and exemption from inside the body using active transport are sperms the Value Added Tax and interest subsidy on and the ciliary layer in the lung. borrowings are available to those seeking to set up R&D centres or manufacturing units in the State. Kerala’s avian diversity gets richer

 International financial services is another area of • The avian species diversity of Kerala got a boost focus, with the opening of the international stock in the last days of 2016 with BirdLife exchange set up by the Bombay Stock Exchange International dividing a species in two. (BSE) in Gujarat International Finance Tec City (GIFT City) near Gandhinagar. • BirdLife International, an organisation which assesses the conservation status of birds globally, Indian scientists’ novel approach to diagnose has split the group of montane , retinal diseases which are endemic to the Western Ghats, and recognised them as two new species. As a result,  Early diagnosis of certain eye diseases and Kerala now has four mountain laughingthrushes studying the early progression of the diseases has in place of two. now become possible, thanks to the work carried out by a team of researchers from three institutes • The newly accepted species are Banasura — IISER, Kolkata, L.V. Prasad Eye Institute, laughingthrush ( jerdoni), which Hyderabad, and BARC, Visakhapatnam. has a very restricted distribution in Wayanad district and Travancore laughingthrush  The researchers used the retinal data captured by (Trochalopteron merdionale) found in a well-established imaging method in Thiruvananthapuram district. While the ophthalmology (optical coherence tomography or conservation status of the Banasura species was 26 | P a g e http://www.currentaffairsonly.com

assessed as endangered, the Travancore variety authoritative articles about birds, their habitats, was considered vulnerable, considering the risk and their conservation around the world. the species were facing. • It is the official Red List authority for birds, for • The two original species of the family were the International Union for Conservation of and Palani Nature (IUCN). laughingthrush. ‘India’s refusal to scale up bedaquiline is really • The Nilgiri species, assessed as an endangered the world’s problem’ one, is found in Silent Valley National Park and Siruvani hills of Kerala. • An 18-year-old girl has taken the Indian government to court after being refused access to • The near-threatened Palani laughingthrush is blockbuster tuberculosis drug bedaquiline. found mainly in Munnar hills and the mountains of Periyar Tiger Reserve apart from Grass Hills • The girl has extensively drug-resistant and Palani hills in Tamil Nadu, according to tuberculosis or XDR TB and her case is ornithologists. emblematic of the desperation of TB patients in India, as the Health Ministry has delayed the roll- • The identification of the two new species was out of the life-saving drug beyond six centres in carried out by following the internationally the country. accepted scoring system. • Before we had limited options for MDR TB • BirdLife International recognised the findings patients, but now with bedaquiline we do, and all and reclassified the birds in the latest Red List. citizens of India (and of the world) have a right Research papers on the genetic characteristics of to health and life and access to this medication. each species are expected shortly, he said. • Second, the delay means that little is being done • Laughingthrushes are found only in the peaks of to stop the ongoing spread of MDR-TB Western Ghats, popularly known as sky islands. (multidrug-resistant tuberculosis) within India These mountain peaks are separated from the and outside of its borders. others so well that the birds from one sky island find difficult to move to the next sky island. This • The most effective way to stop the spread of has resulted in the creation of four closely related MDR-TB is to rapidly identify people with the species, each of them occupying a series of disease and start them on effective treatment. mountain tops across the entire range of southern When they are denied access to effective Western Ghats, noted the ornithologists in a treatment, they continue to be sick and spread the scientific paper. disease to others.

• And this also affects the international community given that MDR-TB is an airborne disease that does not respect country boundaries. BirdLife International • India is home to more MDR-TB patients than • Founded in 1922 and formerly known as the any other country in the world. International Council for Bird Preservation, it is a global partnership of conservation organisations Will improving access to bedaquiline result in that strives to conserve birds, their habitats and antibiotic resistance, as the government fears? Is this global biodiversity, working with people towards a fair argument? sustainability in the use of natural resources. • It changed its name in 1993 to "BirdLife • Resistance develops to any antibiotic when it is International" used — and this is true of all diseases and all • It is the world's largest partnership of antibiotics. And in fact, there are usually naturally conservation organisations, with over 120 occurring resistant strains that are out there even partner organisations. before a drug is ever used. Bacteria are perfect examples of evolution, where natural mutations • It publishes a quarterly magazine, World provide a survival advantage in some conditions Birdwatch, which contains recent news and and the “strongest survive”.

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• So the only way to make sure there is no • It is a largely “silent condition”, symptoms are resistance to BDQ is to never use BDQ, and when seldom manifested till the final stages. “It is like there is such a severe, deadly, and airborne this — when you drive a car, you won’t feel the disease like MDR-TB, then never using the drug petrol running out until the vehicle stops, unless is not an option. Some degree of responsible use you check periodically.” is necessary. • You don’t want BDQ available in all the drug • CKDu was in the news some years ago when stores or on the open market. But the severe farmers working in Central America’s sugar cane restrictions the farms succumbed to a “mysterious” kidney disease. Indian government has placed on BDQ — with officials saying it should only be used for the • In both Central America and Sri Lanka, reports worst, most resistant cases — actually increase of the condition first began emerging sometime the chance of generating BDQ resistance. in the 1990s, according to Dr. Herath.

• Data from South Africa show that the sooner a • In 2014, Sri Lanka media widely reported on a person is offered access to BDQ, the better the “mysterious” kidney disease spreading among outcome for the individual patient and for the farmers. community. When the drug is saved as a last resort only for the most resistant patients, those • “More recently, there are reports of the disease patients are usually very ill with severe lung in some parts of Andhra Pradesh, among people damage and exposure to multiple drugs, and BDQ from the agricultural community.” is less likely to be helpful and resistance is more likely to develop in those cases. So early access to Health-care data is ailing BDQ for persons who need it is the ideal way to decrease the development of resistance, and • Data pertaining to health care in India, evidence patients should be given all the help and support shows, is significantly compromised in terms of they need to successfully complete treatment. its quality, its periodicity and coverage.

• But TB is a funny field, and it is the only disease • In addition, “there is a visible discrepancy that I know of where the key treatment principles between the type of information available and are based on a fundamental mistrust between what is required by health planners, medical persons living with the disease and those who are scientists and researchers,” says a recent paper by supposed to be providing service to them. This is the Health Team of the National Institute of seen in DOT (Directly Observed Treatment), Public Finance and Policy (NIPFP), New Delhi. mandatory hospitalisation, and the rationing of medications like BDQ. Providers and public • It has been well recognised and acknowledged health practitioners blame patients for causing by the government officials that data collection drug resistance, when in fact it is often providers system in India needs to be completely revamped and cumbersome health systems that are really to as different data sources lead to different blame. conclusions.

Sri Lanka’s next big fight • So if you want to know the proportion of births that were delivered by caesarian section in a • Unlike in its successful battle against malaria, the private health facility of Andhra Pradesh, country has a peculiar challenge as it tries National Family Health Survey (NFHS)-4 will combating this disease — Chronic Kidney say it is 57 per cent but the Health Information Disease of Unknown Etiology (CKDu), a specific System of the National Rural Health Mission term used to connote conditions where causal 2015-16 pegs it at around 42 per cent. factors remain unknown. • In an issue brief published by the Observer • In 2016, the World Health Organisation declared Research Foundation (ORF), four major data Sri Lanka “malaria-free”. gaps were identified.

• While hypertension and diabetes are known to be  First, there is a lack of data at the sub-State common causes for kidney ailments, CKDu falls or the district level, making it difficult to outside that ambit. plan for targeted interventions.

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 Second, data is collected at irregular 21 injured following protests against Chinese intervals, which doesn’t allow for mid- project course policy correction. For example, the fourth round of NFHS was conducted after a • At least 21 people were injured in violent clashes gap of nine years. between Sri Lankan government supporters and villagers marching against what they say is a plan  Third, data remains incomplete in many to take over private land for an industrial zone in surveys and tools, especially in which China will have a major stake. administrative data at hospitals and nursing centres in smaller towns and districts. • Police used tear gas and water cannons to try to break up the clashes, which took place as Prime  Fourth, which is a problem across the board, Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe was attending an is data quality. The issue brief mentions that opening ceremony for the industrial zone, located the lack of an independent quality control near the port city of Hambantota, about 240 km body limits the quality of available data, southeast of the capital Colombo. especially given that the information passes through various layers before reaching the • Sri Lanka’s government has signed a framework stage of evaluation and analysis. agreement for a 99-year lease of the Hambantota port with a company in which China will have India, Portugal sign defence agreement 80 per cent ownership.

• In a bid to boost joint production and • Officials also plan to set up a nearby industrial development of niche weapons systems, India and zone where Chinese companies will be invited to Portugal entered into a defence agreement — one set up factories. of the seven sealed during the Delhi visit of Prime Minister of Portugal Antonio Costa. • The villagers and monks are opposed to it and demand their residential and farmlands be • The agreement came following Portugal’s support spared. to India’s multilateral plans in various technology regimes including Missile Technology Control • A court had issued a restraining order on the Regime (MTCR) where India secured protest, saying it could lead to unrest, but the membership in 2016. Prime Minister Modi protesters defied it. invited Portuguese companies to ‘Make in India’ • Mr. Wickremesinghe inaugurated the industrial and set up joint ventures and commercial zone despite the clashes. Speaking at the partnerships based on joint production and ceremony, China’s Ambassador to Sri Lanka, Yi technology transfer. Xianliang, said that his country hopes to invest $5 billion in the region within the next five India can emerge a superpower: Suriname years, and that the new industries are expected to generate 100,000 jobs.  Suriname Vice-President Michael Ashwin Adhin has said that India should transfer nature-friendly • China invested over $1.2 billion in the port in technology to Suriname to enable it to compete what some analysts call its “string of pearls” in the global market. strategy in countries surrounding its rival India. ATM, credit cards will become irrelevant by 2020,  “India should emerge as superpower not only says Kant because it has the potential, but also because it has spirituality and values that define a Vishwa • With the adoption of technology and the kind of Guru — world teacher,” he said. disruption happening in the digital payments space, ATM cards and POS would become  Recalling the arrival of Indians at Suriname as redundant by 2020, said NITI Ayog CEO indentured labourers from Uttar Pradesh and Amitabh Kant. Bihar between 1873 and 1916, he said currently, Indians accounted for 30 per cent of the country’s • “India is in the midst of huge disruption in the population and held key positions in society. world of both financial technology and in terms of “They did not forget their roots. They brought social innovation. In my view within the next two- along with them knowledge of medicinal plants, and-half years India will make all its debit cards, plant seeds and musical instruments,” he said. credit cards, ATM machines and POS machines totally irrelevant,” Mr. Kant said. 29 | P a g e http://www.currentaffairsonly.com

• The missions, announced on January 4, are part of • Further he said: “The cards will become NASA’s Discovery Program for planetary redundant in India as every Indian will do exploration. They were shortlisted by NASA in transaction just by using his thumb and mobile September 2015 and have survived a final cut that phones. The transaction would be done in just eliminated two proposed missions to Venus — thirty seconds through Aadhar-enabled which has not seen a U.S. planetary mission since technology.” Magellan launched in 1989.

China setting up highest altitude telescopes close • Psyche is slated to launch in October 2023 and to LAC should reach its 210-kilometer-wide target in 2030. It will explore what could be the exposed • China is setting up the world’s highest altitude core of an early, now-vanished planet. gravitational wave telescopes in a Tibet prefecture close to the Line of Actual Control • Lucy is scheduled to be launched in October (LAC) with India, with a budget of $18.8 million 2021 and will arrive at its first major target in to detect the faintest of echoes resonating from the 2027. universe, which may reveal more about the Big Bang theory. • Lucy will explore six of Jupiter’s Trojan • Construction has started for the first telescope, asteroids, which are trapped in orbits ahead of code-named Ngari No. 1. and behind the giant planet. • It is expected to be operational by 2021. 09th JANUARY, 2017-THE HINDU DAILY • Ngari, with its high altitude, clear sky and NOTES minimal human activity is said to be one of the world’s best spots to detect tiny twists in cosmic Fuel outlets to stop accepting cards light.

• Gravitational waves were first proposed by Albert • All India Petroleum Dealers Association Einstein’s theory of general relativity 100 years (AIPDA) announced that its members would not ago, but it wasn’t until 2016 that scientists with accept payments by credit and debit cards. the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory announced proof of the waves’ • The decision came after “HDFC and other existence, spurring fresh research interest among banks...quoted [an] RBI circular... [to charge] 1 the world’s scientists. per cent on all credit card transactions and between 0.25 and 1 per cent on all debit card • In September 2016, China commissioned the transactions from January 9,” which would eat world’s largest radio telescope in a mountainous into the dealers’ profits. region of southwest China’s Guizhou Province to • The association cites they have a very thin search for more strange objects space, gain better margin and cannot afford this deduction. understand the origin of the universe and to boost the global hunt for extraterrestrial life. New ginger species with medicinal properties found in Andamans • The installation of the telescope’s main structure — a 4,450-panel reflector as large as 30 football • Scientists of the Botanical Survey of India (BSI) pitches was built at unique valley in Guizhou have found a new species of Zingiber (commonly Province. referred as ginger) from the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. NASA sets sights on asteroid exploration • The species Zingiber pseudosquarrosum, new to • NASA will send two spacecraft to explore science, belonging to genus Zingiber, was already asteroids in the hopes of revealing new used by the local Particularly Vulnerable Tribal information about the solar system’s origins. Groups (PVTGs) of the Andamans for its medicinal values. • Psyche will journey to what could be the metallic heart of a failed planet, and Lucy will • After collecting and systematically analysing the investigate the Trojan asteroids near Jupiter. species, scientists found that the new species indeed possesses ethno-medicinal uses.

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• The fresh extract [juice] of fleshy tuberous roots is Come April, Aadhaar is must for MGNREGS used to treat abdominal pain and anti-helminthic work troubles by Nicobarese and certain other tribal communities. • From April 1, workers in rural areas enrolled under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural • This pseudo stem of the new species is Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), predominantly red in colour. Flowers have a which mandates 100 days of work for a vermilion tinge and dehisced fruit [fully mature household a year, must have an Aadhaar card. fruits] are lotus shaped. The morphological features of this species makes it distinct from other • However, till an Aadhaar card is obtained, ration species belonging to the genus Zingiber. card, driving licence, voter identity card, Kisan passbook with photo, job card issued under the Particularly vulnerable tribal group (PVTG) MGNREGS and a certificate issued by a gazetted officer or a tehsildar will be admissible as proof • It is a government of India classification created of identity to get the benefits. with the purpose of enabling improvement in the conditions of certain communities with • The government has invoked Section 7 of the particularly low development indices. Aadhaar (Targeted Delivery of Subsidies, Benefits and other Services) Act, 2016, which • The Dhebar Commission (1960-1961) stated that mandates that when the government gives within Scheduled Tribes there existed an subsidy, benefit or service from the inequality in the rate of development. Consolidated Fund of India (CFI), an individual • During the fourth Five Year Plan a sub-category can be asked to undergo authentication or furnish was created within Scheduled Tribes to identify proof of possession of Aadhaar. groups that considered to be at a lower level of development. PAC to quiz RBI Governor, officials • This sub-category was named "Primitive tribal group". • The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Parliament has sent a questionnaire to RBI • The features of such a group include a pre- Governor Urjit Patel and other top finance- agricultural system of existence, that is practice related officials on demonetisation. of hunting and gathering, zero or negative • The committee is headed by Congress leader population growth, extremely low level of K.V. Thomas. literacy in comparison with other tribal groups. • They will appear before the PAC on January 20.

• Groups that satisfied any one of the criterion • Mr. Patel apart, Finance Secretary Ashok Lavasa were considered as PTG. and Economic Affairs Secretary Shaktikanta Das • These communities were identified on the basis will attend the meeting. of recommendations made by the respective state governments. • The PAC, which scrutinises the reports of the Comptroller and Auditor-General, takes SUO • Total 75 groups are identified as PTG MOTU note of important matters. • The 75th group recognised as PTG was the Maram in Manipur in 1993-94. • The development is crucial as questions have • No new group was declared as PTG on the basis been raised about some aspects of of the 2001 census demonetisation: how many people were involved in the decision-making; is there a law that can • In 2006 the government of India proposed to restrict people’s access to their money; how much rename "Primitive tribal group" as Particularly money has come back into the banks after vulnerable tribal group". demonetisation and how much black money has been extinguished; what was the need to • PVTGs from Andaman and Nicobar Islands are: demonetise if counterfeit currency estimates did Great Andamanese, Jarawas, Onges, Sentinelese not necessitate it and if an advanced country like and Shompens. Japan has a higher cash-to-GDP ratio than India; and how much much money has been pumped back into the system?

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 The Army has given the thumbs-up to a heavy • Sources say the committee is expected to quiz artillery gun, Advanced Towed Artillery Gun the officials on these issues, as several details System (ATAGS), being developed by Defence about demonetisation and new notes put into Research and Development Organisation circulation have not been made public. (DRDO), in collaboration with the private sector.

SC wants paper trail in EVMs for fair poll  Bharat Forge Ltd. Of the Kalyani Group, Tata Power Strategic Engineering Division and • Even as five States go to the polls, the Supreme Mahindra Defence Naval System from the Court has reiterated the necessity to implement private sector are involved in a big way, along the Vote Verifiable with the Ordnance Factory Board(OFB), in the project. Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) in electronic voting machines (EVMs) to ensure 100 per cent  ATAGS is a 155-mm, 52-calibre towed artillery transparency in elections. gun being developed in mission mode for the Army’s artillery modernisation programme. • In the VVPAT system, when a voter presses the button for a candidate of his choice in the EVM,  Sources said that by the present sequence, it a paper ballot containing the serial number, name could tentatively be inducted in the Army of the candidate and poll symbol would be between 2022-24. printed for the voter.

• The VVPAT is intended as an independent verification system for voting machines designed to allow voters to verify that their votes were cast A promise to heirs of indentured labourers correctly, to detect possible election fraud or malfunction and to provide a means to audit the • Bringing joy to Persons of Indian Origin (PIO) stored electronic results. living in countries where Indians had worked as indentured labourers, Prime Minister Narendra • This is the second time the Supreme Court is Modi said new procedures and documents would insisting on the implementation of VVPAT in be put in place to help them get the Overseas EVMs. In 2013, the apex court, on a petition filed Citizen of India (OCI) card. by BJP leader Subramanian Swamy, had directed the Election Commission to introduce the paper • Thousands of PIOs whose families migrated to trail in EVMs in a phased manner for the general several countries as indentured labourers four to elections in 2014. five generations ago, currently have difficulties in • The EC had, at the time, informed the apex court obtaining the OCI card as they are unable to that the VVPAT could be introduced in a phased furnish proper documents and the family tree to manner. secure the card.

Road safety week to begin • Indentured workers from India were taken to Suriname, Reunion Island, South Africa, • The 28th Road Safety Week begins, as is Guyana, Mauritis, Fiji and Trinidad and Tobago observed each year in January, to spread to work in sugar cane plantations. awareness, especially among the youth. • Girmit is a corrupt form of the English word • This year’s theme is ‘Accident is painful, safety agreement, and Mahatma Gandhi had called is gainful’. himself the first Girmit.

• Highest road deaths - India accounts for 11 • “We have a special bond with Girmitya countries percent of global road accident deaths, with and are aware of the difficulties that PIOs are about 1.46 lakh fatalities facing in getting the OCI card. Starting with — a number that is among the highest in the Mauritius, new procedures and documents will be world. put in place so that PIOs from these countries get their cards,” Mr. Modi said. Army enthused by new indigenous artillery gun Illegal recruitment will be done away with: Minister 32 | P a g e http://www.currentaffairsonly.com

• The Union government made it clear that it will • There have been fears that the government may take strict action against illegal agencies that hire use it to target P-Notes, which could attract a tax people for jobs abroad, especially in West Asian rate of up to 15 per cent. countries. 10th JANUARY, 2017-THE HINDU DAILY • The Centre has launched an online portal called NOTES e-Migrate and ‘MADAD’ platforms to address the grievances of migrant workers. SC hints at setting up SIT for Panama papers probe TReDing’ the path to quick payments • The Supreme Court indicated that it may order, at • The objective of TReDS (Trade Receivables a “relevant time,” the setting up of a Special Discounting System) is to create Electronic Bill Investigation Team (SIT) to look into the Factoring Exchanges that could electronically revelations made in the Panama papers allegedly accept and settle bills so that MSMEs could about nearly 500 high-profile Indians who have encash their receivables without delay. money parked in offshore accounts.

• Noting that the TReDS will give MSMEs greater • The Bench said, “everything” could not be under access to finance and put greater discipline on the control of the SIT set up to investigate black corporates to pay their dues on time, the RBI in money. That SIT is headed by the former November 2015 granted in-principle nod to three Supreme Court judge, M.B. Shah. “One SIT applicants, NSE Strategic Investment Corp- should not control everything. We are thinking of SIDBI, Axis Bank and Mynd Solutions to another SIT. We want an independent SIT,” establish and run TReDS. Justice Misra observed.

• Since the TReDS will not be allowed to assume • At an earlier hearing, Additional Solicitor- any credit risk, its minimum paid up equity General Tushar Mehta had submitted that a Multi capital shall be ₨.25 crore, the RBI had said. Agency Group (MAG) of various investigating agencies was formed by the government to go ‘Mini grids can power rural economic activity into the disclosures made in the list which included 500 Indian entities. • A mini grid, as defined by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, is an offgrid power • The Panama papers contain huge amount of system with a generation capacity of between 10 information, including over 11 million KW and 500 KW. documents covering 2,10,000 firms in 21 offshore jurisdictions. • Mini grids can spur economic activity in rural areas and accelerate the process of expanding SC seeks response of 7 states on land for SEZs mobile phone network across the country due to their large capacities and the ability to connect to • Invoking the legal victory of West Bengal’s the national grid. farmers over the mighty state in Singur, West Bengal, their compatriots across the country, Anti-avoidance tax rule to kick in from April stripped of their agricultural land by their 2017 governments in the name of Special Economic Zones (SEZ), found their voice in the Supreme • Tax anti-avoidance rule GAAR will kick in from Court. April 1, 2017, the tax department said. • General Anti-Avoidance Rule (GAAR) was part • A three-judge Bench led by Chief Justice J.S. of the 2012-13 Budget speech of the then Khehar asked the Centre and seven State Finance Minister Pranab governments — Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, West Mukherjee to check tax evasion and avoidance. Bengal and Punjab — to explain why vast tracts • GAAR was originally to be implemented from of fertile agricultural lands, forcefully acquired April 1, 2014. from farmers and tribal people, lay barren and • It contains provision allowing the government to abandoned, or in the hands of private real estate prospectively tax overseas deals involving local developers. assets.

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Telangana plea against Krishna tribunal award disposal of cases relating to environmental dismissed protection and conservation of forests and other natural resources including enforcement of any • The Supreme Court dismissed a Telangana legal right relating to environment and giving government petition against a decision of the relief and compensation for damages to persons Krishna Water Dispute Tribunal-II to limit the re- and property and for matters connected allocation of the river water only to the two therewith or incidental thereto. successor States of Andhra and Telangana, and not dabble with the share of water enjoyed by the • The Tribunal shall not be bound by the other two riparian States — Maharashtra and procedure laid down under the Code of Civil Karnataka. Procedure, 1908, but shall be guided by principles of natural justice. • The tribunal had decided that the details of the re-distribution would be decided as per the • The Tribunal is mandated to make and Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act of 2014 by endeavour for disposal of applications or an apex council headed by top officials. appeals finally within 6 months of filing of the same. • The Bench explicitly told Telangana that it • Initially, the NGT is proposed to be set up at five would not want to go into the entire award of the places of sittings and will follow circuit tribunal nor delve into a fresh consideration of procedure for making itself more accessible. the water dispute. New Delhi is the Principal Place of Sitting of the Tribunal and Bhopal, Pune, Kolkata and NGT notice to Centre, Delhi govt over plastic ban Chennai shall be the other four place of sitting of the Tribunal. • The National Green Tribunal has issued notices to the Ministry of Environment and Forests, Delhi Sex ratio in Haryana touches 900-mark for first government, Delhi Pollution Control Committee time in 20 years and Delhi Cantonment Board while hearing a plea that challenged the ban on manufacture, sale, storage, usage, import and transport of plastic • Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the bags in the city. ambitious “Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao” (B3P) campaign against female foeticide in Panipat in • The court also asked the Delhi government not to January 2015. take coercive steps against the petitioner, the All India Plastics Manufacturers’ Association, for • Two years later, Haryana, notorious for its eight weeks. skewed sex ratio and patriarchal mindset, saw a historic turnaround. • The association had challenged the notification • Sex ratio at birth (SRB) in the State this past saying that the city government had exceeded its year touched the 900-mark for the first time in jurisdiction in issuing the notification. almost two decades.

• The Sheila Dikshit government’s order against Tuberculosis institute warns against use of new plastic, which was to come into force from drug November 23, 2012, had been stayed by the court.  Uncertainty continues to shroud the fate of 18- year-old girl suffering from extensively drug- • The plea said “declare impugned notification of resistant tuberculosis (XDR TB) who is waiting October 23, 2012, null and void being ultra vires for the drug Bedaquiline (BDQ). to the parent Act, i.e. the Environment Protection Act and Rules framed thereunder. The  The National Institute of Tuberculosis & notification also violates the fundamental rights Respiratory Diseases (NITRD) on Monday told of the petitioner”. the Delhi High Court that the drug could not be administered without proper tests as it might lead National Green Tribunal (NGT) to the TB-causing bacteria becoming further drug resistant and may spread to the community and • The National Green Tribunal has been have catastrophic effects. established in 2010 under the National Green Tribunal Act 2010 for effective and expeditious

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 On the petitioner’s concerns about delayed rollout British politician - Priti Patel of BDQ in India, the Institute said: “ It is a new Assistant Secretary of State for South and drug discovered after five decades of research on Central Asian Affairs in the United States TB treatment and its efficacy and effects are still Department of State – Nisha Desai Biswal. being evaluated and therefore, it is being rolled out in a phased manner to avoid its misuse, development and spread of fatal BDQ resistant 11th JANUARY, 2017-THE HINDU DAILY bacteria in the community.” NOTES

Second Scorpene submarine ready SC orders audit of 30 lakh NGOs

 Khanderi, the second Scorpene submarine under • The Supreme Court directed the government to Project-75 being built at Mazgaon Docks audit nearly 30 lakh NGOs which received public Limited (MDL) in Mumbai is all set to be funds but consistently failed to explain how they launched into water. spent the money.

 Meanwhile, the first submarine Kalvari is close • It ordered that any NGO found to have cooked its to completing sea trials and likely to be inducted books or indulged in misappropriation should be into the Navy by the middle of this year. subject to immediate criminal prosecution. Besides, the government should initiate civil recovery  Six Scorpene submarines are being built with proceedings against such rogue organisations. assistance and technology transfer from DCNS and others of France and under a $3.75-billion • The judicial order is unprecedented because deal signed in October 2005. defaulting NGOs so far have been only blacklisted  It is scheduled to be commissioned into the Navy by the government. in December 2017. Centre allows PF contribution via private banks • The court was taken aback as the government seemed to be unaware that General Financial Rules, • Companies can now make statutory provident 2005 mandate a regulatory mechanism for the fund contributions to the Employees’ Provident NGOs. Fund Organisation “through scheduled banks in India, including private sector banks.”, as per • The Bench addressed the Rural Development Labour Ministry notification dated January 4. Secretary and Director of Council for Advancement of People’s Action and Rural Technology • Till date, contribution could be made only (CAPART), which comes under the Rural through nationalised banks and payment portal Development Ministry, “There can be no doubt that PayGov. the amounts disbursed by CAPART is public money and needs to be accounted for... the only exercise so Awarding PIOs in recognition of their services far against those who have failed to file their balance sheets is blacklisting. • Zeenat Jafri started the second Indian school in Saudi Arabia — International Indian School — • It is necessary to start criminal and civil action by in 1982 with her husband. the Central government and CAPART,” the Supreme Court said. • She was among the 30 people feted for her achievement during the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas, NGT panel to inspect major waste generators when the Pravasi Samman Awards were given away by President Pranab Mukherjee. • The National Green Tribunal (NGT) constituted a • Among the other prominent winners of the committee to inspect major waste generators in the award were Capital, including five-star hotels, malls, hospitals, educational institutions with hostels and housing Portugal Prime Minister Antonio Luis societies. Santos da Costa Mauritius Minister of Finance and Economic • The NGT expressed concern that public authorities Development - Pravind Kumar Jugnauth lacked infrastructure and appropriate technical Labour Member of the European Parliament capacity to handle such huge quantity of waste — representing the West Midlands - Neena Gill 35 | P a g e http://www.currentaffairsonly.com

the city generates nearly 14,100 metric tonnes of • The CSE recommended that solar rooftops should municipal solid waste a day. become a part of the applications for construction approvals, with the builders keeping a certain portion • The Tribunal said that mass generators of waste of the plinth area “shadowfree” to aid solar panels. cannot be equated to households generating trash. • It recommended that fiscal incentives, including • “Generators of mass municipal solid waste and rebate on building tax, could be considered in order sewage must ensure strict enforcement of the to encourage the switch to solar power. Municipal Solid Wastes (Management and Handling) Rules, 2000,” the Bench said. Effects of Endosulfan devastating: SC

About Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016: • Describing the effects of Endosulfan as “devastating,” the Supreme Court directed the Kerala • The Environment Ministry has notified rules government to release the entire compensation to making it incumbent on a wide range of groups — over 5,000 victims, mostly newborns, and their hotels, residential colonies, bulk producers of families in three months. consumer goods, ports, railway stations, airports and pilgrimage spots — to ensure that the solid waste • A three-judge Bench led by Chief Justice of India generated in their facilities are treated and recycled. J.S. Khehar said the State of Kerala can initiate legal proceedings to recover the compensation money • Though the onus on garbage management would from pesticide companies responsible for the continue to be the responsibility of municipal bodies, production and sale of the highly controversial but they would be allowed to charge user fees and levy cheap agrochemical. spot fines for littering and non-segregation. • The apex court said the State government can also • Though these rules would take effect from April 6, approach the Central government, State corporations there would be a “transition period” of two to five and entities for the recovery of compensation. years, beyond which fines would be imposed, said Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar. • Kerala has earmarked over Rs.180 crore for • The rules on solid waste management have been payment of compensation to victims, some of whom amended after 16 years and a key provision is to are terminally-ill from the effects of the pesticide formalise the profession of rag-picking. which was aerially sprayed on cashew plantations adjoining habitats where the victims are located. • According to the new rules, local bodies with a population of one lakh or more were required to set • In 2011, the Supreme Court ordered the immediate up solid waste processing facilities within two years, ban of Endosulfan while disregarding pleas of over census towns below a lakh would be given three 150 private export companies. years and old and abandoned dump sites would have to be closed or bio-remedied within five years. • Endosulfan, already banned in 81 countries and its use not permitted in another 12 nations. • This is an essential component of Swachh Bharat (Mission) … only 70 per cent of garbage is collected Maharashtra banks in doldrums and of that 30 per cent is treated.

Make solar rooftops mandatory: CSE • Maharashtra’s banking infrastructure remained deficient more than a month after demonetisation, • Solar panels on rooftops should be made mandatory with fewer functional ATMs and Banking for new residential societies, recommended the Correspondents (BCs) in rural areas. Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) in a policy brief. • The latest bank data also shows abnormally poor disbursement of crop loans under various central • After studying the electricity consumption of five schemes, with only 17% target achieved for the Rabi residential societies in Delhi, Jaipur and Ghaziabad, season as opposed to 88 per cent in the Kharif the CSE found that by switching from diesel season, clearly signalling that an overburdened generator (DG) sets to solar power for backup, the banking system was unable to cope with the facilities would be saving lakhs of rupees every year. demands of demonetisation. • The latest data submitted by State’s 36 major banks to the Union Ministry of Finance show a higher 36 | P a g e http://www.currentaffairsonly.com

number of ATMs, as many as 14,490, were • The Commission has also instituted screening recalibrated (for Rs 2,000 notes) between November committees for carrying out speedy screening and 8, 2016 and December 20, 2016. granting clearances to advertisements being put out by the government. • But 5,846 or 34 per cent of the total ATMs remained inactive as on December 20, along with • The candidates have been directed to submit no- 6,306 or 41 percent of the Banking Correspondents objection certificates issued by owners of private (BCs) not functional as on December 20,2016. properties where their posters or hoardings are displayed. • The data presented during the during the 133 SLBC held in Mumbai on December 30 also shows that as • Otherwise, the cost involved will be included in many as 36,54,471 RUPAY card pins remained un- their accounts. distributed, which simply meant as many cards were inactive as on December 20. EC issues warning

Cash for land is just not done: SC • The Election Commission issued a stern warning to political parties against making statements that might trigger disharmony in society on the basis of religion • Agreeing to hear the plight of the landless victims and hamper free and peaceful conduct of Assembly of the Sardar Sarovar Project in detail, the Supreme elections in the five poll-bound States. Court observed that giving cash instead of land to farmers who lost their fertile lands to the mega dam • Stating that the Model Code of Conduct was in project is “tentatively” not acceptable. place, the Commission said various provisions of the Indian Penal Code provided that political parties and • Earlier, the apex court had dismissed an application their leaders should desist from making statements to by the Madhya Pradesh government and the create disharmony between different sections of Narmada Valley Development Authority for a society on the basis of religion, as the same disturb modification of the apex court judgments of 2000 peace and tranquility. • The Commission also and 2005 upholding land rights for adult sons of the quoted the Supreme Court judgment in January 2017 Sardar Sarovar Project affected farmers. on the use of religion and caste, terming it a ‘corrupt practice’. About Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA): India opposed to inclusion of ‘new issues’ in WTO • Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA) is a social movement consisting of adivasis, farmers, environmentalists and human rights activists against • Ahead of a special meeting of trade ministers on a number of large dams being built across the the sidelines of the forthcoming World Economic Narmada River, which flows through the states of Forum at Davos, India opposed attempts by some Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra. developed nations to introduce ‘new issues’ including ecommerce and investment into the formal • Sardar Sarovar Project is one of the many dams agenda of the World Trade Organisation (WTO)- under the Narmada Dam Project. The main aim of level negotiations on liberalisation of global trade. the project is to provide irrigation and electricity to people in these states. • India had on earlier occasions too rejected the attempts of the developed world to make such ‘new EC starts screening of government ads issues’ part of the ongoing Doha Round talks saying it will ‘dilute’ the ‘development agenda’ of the negotiations. • The Election Commission reiterated that government funded advertisements, which publicise • The World Economic Forum is scheduled to take achievements of political functionaries or parties, place between January 17 and 20. violate the Model Code of Conduct guidelines.

H1B reform to add pressure on IT firms’ margins • According to a 2004 order, no political party or functionary can use public resources to eulogise themselves or enhance their image. • IT firms’ margins will come under more pressure if the U.S. Government clears the H1B visa reform Bill • However, government hoardings with general — ‘Protect and Grow American Jobs Act’, rating messages on social welfare schemes and awareness agency India Ratings and Research (Ind-Ra) said. campaigns are allowed. 37 | P a g e http://www.currentaffairsonly.com

• The key proposal in the Bill is to increase the salary • The map had therefore become important to of H1B visa holder to $100,000 (₨. 66 lakh) from assess the construction, illegal encroachment and $60,000 per annum and the cessation of an changes in the area after 1993. exemption of having a master’s degree. • The cash cushion and low debt levels that IT companies enjoy, however, will mean the squeeze on margins will be Air pollution a national problem credit neutral. • Delhi’s toxic air may be making news every few • The salary level that has been proposed is months. But pollution levels across the country significantly higher than the average employee cost are alarming too. of Indian IT companies of under ₨.1 million (Rs. 10 lakh). • A new report released on 11th January shows that over 90 per cent of the cities studied had H-1B Visa: pollution levels higher than the prescribed • It is a non-immigrant visa in the United States standards. under the Immigration and Nationality Act. • According to an analysis of 2015 data for 168 • It allows U.S. employers to temporarily employ cities by Greenpeace India, 154 were found to foreign workers in specialty occupations. have an average particulate matter level higher than the national standard. • If a foreign worker in H-1B status quits or is dismissed from the sponsoring employer, the worker • None of the cities studied had air quality must either apply for and be granted a change of matching the standard prescribed by the World status to another non-immigrant status, find another Health Organisation. Hasan in Karnataka came employer (subject to application for adjustment of closest to the standard. status and/or change of visa), or leave the U.S. • Due to the Himalayas and the cooler weather as 12th JANUARY, 2017-THE HINDU DAILY well as big industrial clusters, the levels of NOTES pollution are higher in the North.

Ensure no illegal construction in Tughlaqabad • Looking at the sources of pollution, the report Fort area: HC to ASI found that fossil fuels were the biggest contributors to the particulate matter.

• The Delhi High Court directed the • In the report, Greenpeace recommended setting Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) to ensure up more monitoring stations in order to get a that there is no unauthorized activity or better picture of pollution levels. construction taking place within the Tughlaqabad Fort area. Green tribunal orders test of cosmetics containing microbeads • Meanwhile, the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) shared a survey map of Delhi, including • The National Green Tribunal has directed the the Tughlaqabad Fort area, with the court and Centre to test cosmetic products containing was then ordered to give the map to the ASI and microbeads after a plea sought a ban on their use the Delhi government. on the ground they are extremely dangerous for aquatic life and environment. • Earlier, the DDA had refused to share the map with the ASI stating that it was a “secret and • Microbeads are tiny plastic substances measuring restricted document”. less than five millimetres that act as exfoliators (agents which remove dead cells) on skin and teeth • The Archaeological Survey of India had when used in soap, toothpaste and other products. contended that since it did not have the survey map, it was unable to do much conservation • It directed the Central Drugs Standard Control work as all the inhabitants within the Organisation to analyse the products in laboratory Tughlaqabad Fort area had got a stay on eviction and submit a report in four weeks. after 1993. • The plea said: “The unregulated production and usage of plastic in microbeads in various cosmetic

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products and their excessive usage by the end user • She said the Kazis, once considered judicial is leading to water pollution across the globe....” authorities under the Muslim Personal Law, no longer possessed such powers after courts of law Hope Island becomes graveyard for Olive Ridleys were established during the British regime.

• Carcasses of Olive Ridley turtles are washing • The Kazi Act established in 1880 was very clear. ashore on beaches in Odisha, indicating that the It had not vested any powers of adjudication breeding cycle of the endangered species has with Kazis. been dealt a severe blow this year by mechanized • Also, such certificates merely stated that “on a fishing boats. representation of the spouse on a particular date, the talaq pronounced in respect of his wife is • The turtles, which are protected under the valid as per Islamic Shariat.” Wildlife (Protection) Act, commence their journey from the Indian Ocean during their • “As to what facts which persuaded the Kazi to mating season in October and November. When opine to issue a certificate has not been set out. they reach the Bay of Bengal, the females lay eggs Moreover, it does not clarify that the certificate on the beaches. is only in the nature of opinion,” the petitioner argued. • Even as the destination for a majority is Gahirmatha in Odisha, the sandy stretches of • To this, the Muslim Personal Law Board Hope Island of the Coringa submitted that it was willing to examine the format in which such certificate may be issued as Wildlife Sanctuary have turned into a breeding an opinion of the Kazi, so that there would be no area for a few hundred turtles every year. ambiguity on its effect. • The Bench passed the interim direction pending • A female lays 100 to 150 eggs in a pit dug by it consideration of the issue by the Muslim carefully and leaves the shore after covering the Personal Law Board. hollow with sand. Six weeks later, the newly hatched turtles start the journey to their Indian Tax break for parties legal, says SC Ocean habitat. • The Supreme Court dismissed a petition seeking Talaq certificate issued by Chief Kazi has no legal to lift “100 per cent tax exemption” granted to sanctity, says Madras HC political parties.

• “Every political party needs funds to project • The Madras High Court passed an interim order their political regime and politically represent the restraining the Chief Kazis from issuing ‘talaq people who follow them,” a three judge Bench certificates’ (a certificate validating talaq as per led by Chief Justice of India J.S. Khehar said. Islamic Shariat) till further orders. • The court observed that it was up to the government of the day to decide what tax regime • The Bench also clarified that “for the purposes of they need to impose. courts of legal proceedings, the certificate issued by the Chief Kazi is only an opinion and has no Pakistan to renovate Katas Raj temple legal sanctity.” • Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif visited • The Bench passed the order on a public interest the Katas Raj Hindu temple in Chakwal district litigation petition moved by senior advocate of Punjab to inaugurate its renovation. Bader Sayeed seeking to declare that Kazis in India, particularly Tamil Nadu, were not • The Katas Raj temple is revered by Hindus empowered to certify talaq. across the globe as legend has it that the foundation of the sacred site was laid by Lord • Ms. Sayeed claimed that Kazis were issuing Shiva. certificates recognising talaq without following necessary precedents like reconciliation. • Mr. Sharif said the temple was over 5,000 years Sometimes, it was done without even the old and had been the focal point of four knowledge of the wife. civilisations.

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• Al-Biruni, Persian scholar and polymath, had computed the earth’s circumference from here. • It was raised in the wake of the 1965 War, "for ensuring the security of the borders of India and for matters connected there with". Electronic media guidelines for polls • It is a Union Government Agency under the • While extending the scheme of equitable administrative control of Ministry of Home timesharing on electronic media for the ensuing Affairs. Assembly elections under State funding of recognized political parties through the free use of • The BSF has its own cadre of officers but its State-owned television and radio, the Election head, designated as a Director-General (DG), Commission (EC) released a set of stringent since its raising has been an officer from the guidelines for observance in the Indian Police Service. telecasts/broadcasts. • The BSF has grown exponentially from a few • The guidelines said that telecasts/broadcasts on battalions in 1965, to 186 battalions with a Doordarshan/All India Radio (AIR) will not sanctioned strength of 2.5 lakh personnel permit criticism of other countries, attacks on including an expanding air wing, marine wing, religions or communities, anything obscene or artillery regiments, and commando units. defamatory, incitement of violence, anything amounting to contempt of court, aspersions cast • It currently stands as the world's largest border on the integrity of the President and the Judiciary, guarding force. anything affecting the unity, sovereignty and integrity of the nation, and any criticism by name • BSF has been termed as the First Line of of any person. Defence of Indian Territories.

• At the time of General Elections to the Lok Sabha in 1998, a new initiative for State funding Banarasi sari sector fades, as traditional credit of recognized political parties through free use of vanishes after note ban the State owned Television and Radio was introduced under directions of the Commission. • For already distressed weavers and poorly-paid labourers in the famous Banarasi sari industry, • The said scheme was subsequently extended in demonetization has come as a crippling blow. all the General Elections to the State Assemblies held after 1998 and General Elections to the Lok • The prospects of weavers are further hit by the Sabha in 1999, 2004, 2009 and 2014. paralysis of the local “batta” system after demonetisation. BSF to ensure quality food • From production (weavers and small-time • The BSF came out with fresh guidelines for producers) to marketing (traders in Varanasi and maintaining high quality of food for its personnel wholesalers from metro cities), the trademark along the border as the Union Home Ministry Banarasi sari industry primarily works on credit directed it to file a complete report on allegations —a complex and age-old system of rolling credit of substandard food made by a soldier posted relying on post-dated bearer cheques exchanged along the LoC. against cash.

• BSF Director-General K.K. Sharma met Union • This ensures cash flow. Business in the market is Home Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi and submitted a much above capital available always and traders second interim report on the allegations made by pay weavers and producers by bearer cheques, Tej Bahadur Yadav on a video that was uploaded which act as credit. on social networking sites. • The traders may themselves be awaiting Border Security Force (BSF): payments for sales. • The weaver uses the cheques, each less than ₨. • It is one of the five Central Armed Police Forces 20,000, in one of three ways. of the Union of India charged with guarding 1. With good financial standing, he may wait India's land border during peacetime and to encash it after it matures. preventing transnational crime.

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2. Second, he may forward the bearer cheques, which usually have random names, to • A benefit of ‘demonetisation’ in the medium suppliers of raw material. term may be liquidity expansion in the banking 3. Third, if the weaver is short on capital, has to system, helping to lower lending rates and lift pay unbanked labourers and meet daily economic activity. expenses, he cannot wait for the cheques to mature. He may set aside a part or take all • “In the short-term, ‘demonetisation’ could cheques to the “batta” market, and get them continue to disrupt business and household exchanged for cash, for a commission. The economic activities, weighing on growth,” it batta (discount) rate ranges from 0.5% to 3% said. a month but may rise during festivals or emergencies, when weavers are desperate. • The challenges in phasing out large currency notes and replacing them with new ones “may • After demonetisation, most of the few dozen pose risks to the pace of other economic reforms battawallahs in Varanasi have shut shop as they (e.g., GST, labour, and land reforms).” are unable to withdraw money or encash the NITI Aayog projects 8% growth rate cheques. • They have stopped accepting new post-dated • NITI Aayog has estimated a growth rate of 8% for bearer cheques. 2016-17 as per a ‘cautiously optimistic’ prognosis • This has halted the supply of cash downstream, it has laid out in the appraisal document for the affecting the weavers as well as the labourers. Twelfth Five-Year Plan, flagging the lack of reforms in land acquisition, labour and simplification of administrative procedures as World Bank cuts growth forecast to 7% impediments to growth.

• The World Bank has cut its 2016-17 economic • The review, however, does not take into account growth forecast for India to 7% from 7.6%, citing the impact of demonetisation. a slowdown in consumption and manufacturing due to demonetisation, an ongoing decline in • Stating that a large number of reforms by the private investment and credit constraints due to present government over the past two years impaired bank balance sheets. created a ‘strong foundation’ for such a growth trajectory, the government think-tank said caution • “Weak industrial production and manufacturing was essential as reforms in areas such as skill and services purchasing managers’ indexes development, infrastructure, labour laws and land (PMI), further suggest a set back to activity in acquisition are far from complete. the fourth quarter of FY2017.” • NITI Aayog stated that much needed to be done • “A retrenchment of private investment, reflecting to spell out tax laws clearly so that future excess capacity, corporate deleveraging, and investors can assess their liabilities with credit constraints due to impaired commercial reasonable certainty. banks’ balance sheets, also had an adverse effect on activity,” according to the report. • “Urgent attention” was needed for simplification of regulatory cum administrative procedures “or • However, four key recent reforms could help what has come to be popularly referred to as ease growth rebound, the bank said. These, it said, of doing business,” it said. were : 1. the passage of the bankruptcy and • A key lacuna in the Indian growth story has been insolvency code, slow growth of manufacturers in general and 2. the liberalization of FDI norms across labour-intensive manufacturing in particular. sectors, 3. the passage of the Goods and Services Tax • Sectors in which India lags behind are (GST) Amendment Bill, and electronics, food processing, leather, and textiles and garments. 4. The agreement between the government and the Reserve Bank of India on a monetary • The 12th Plan is the last five-year Plan and from policy framework that included the setting 2017- 18, the Centre would adopt a three-year up of a monetary policy committee and action plan and a fifteen-year vision document. agreement on a flexible inflation target.

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Cut borrowing: RBI’s Patel exhorts Centre potentially habitable planets in Alpha Centauri, the nearest star system to Earth. • RBI Governor said borrowing more and pre- empting resources from future generations by • The European Southern Observatory is an governments could not be a short cut to long- intergovernmental astronomy organization lasting higher growth. backed by 16 countries in Europe and South America and hosted in Chile. • “Instead, structural reforms and reorienting government expenditure towards public • The ESO said it has signed a deal with infrastructure are key for durable gains on the Breakthrough Starshot, a venture that aims to Indian growth front. deploy thousands of tiny spacecraft to travel to the system and send back pictures. • Investment in public transport, specifically railways and urban MRTS, can lead to reduced • Starshot, which is backed by internet billionaire costs and productivity gains as also help us to Yuri Milner and physicist Stephen Hawking, will lower our oil import bill, and, as collateral benefit, provide funding to allow equipment on the Very improve air quality in our cities,” Dr. Patel said. Large Telescope that studies in the mid-infrared to be adapted to better detect faint planets, the • The government had maintained the fiscal ESO said in a statement. roadmap in the last budget by proposing to keep the fiscal deficit target at 3.5% for 2016-17. • The adaption will have the effect of reducing • The deficit target was to be lowered to 3% by bright stellar light that drowns out relatively dim 2017-18. planets, improving the chances of finding them, it said. • The central bank Governor also cautioned against large credit guarantees by the • Interest in exploring the sun's nearest neighbor government and steep interest rate subventions has increased since scientists announced last year as these impeded optimal allocation of financial that they had discovered evidence of an Earth- resources and increased moral hazards. sized planet circling Proxima Centauri, a star in the Alpha Centauri system. • “Guarantees increase government’s contingent liabilities, and add to risk premium for its own • Larger telescopes planned for the 2020s - such as borrowing. Guarantees per se, at the end of the the ESO's own Extremely Large Telescope, day, have limited utility in solving important current under construction in Chile - should sector issues,” Dr. Patel said. provide researchers with more information on ‘April 1 still the target for GST’ the number and nature of exoplanets.

• Union Finance minister Arun Jaitley said the Hand-powered blood centrifuge developed Centre was committed to implementing the Goods and Services Tax (GST) from April 1 this • Stanford engineers, including those of Indian year and all contentious issues with the States origin, have built an ultra-lowcost, human- would be resolved in the next few weeks. powered centrifuge that separates blood into its individual components in only 1.5 minutes, and • “One Nation, One Tax regime will lead to a may enable precise diagnosis and treatment of seamless and hassle-free transfer of goods and diseases such as malaria, HIV, tuberculosis and services in the country. Implementation of GST African sleeping sickness. will improve and expand India’s economy,” Mr.Jaitley said. GST and the withdrawal of high • This version will enable precise diagnosis and value currency notes would boost growth and treatment in the poor regions where these their impact on the economy would be seen next diseases are most prevalent. year, he said. Telescope to seek habitable planets in nearest star New species of gibbon found in China system

• Scientists have discovered a new species of • The European Southern Observatory’s Very gibbon living in south-west China’s rainforests Large Telescope in Chile will be modified in order to allow it to search more effectively for

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• It has been named the ‘Skywalker hoolock • The larger problem, officials and experts said, gibbon’ by its discoverers, who are Star Wars was that “really important” strategic partnerships fans. with countries such as the U.S., Russia, France and Germany and neighbours such as Afghanistan • The name is also a nod to the fact that the lose some value every time the government Chinese characters of its scientific name, associates a country with the title that does not Hoolock tianxing, mean “Heaven’s movement”. have the same strategic importance. • Gibbons are renowned for their loud song, which they use to mark territory, and this also sounded • Officials said the Ministry was often asked to unusual. come up with “qualifiers” to add emphasis during summits with those countries. For example, Russian spares to support India India’s ties with Russia were referred to as a “special and privileged strategic partnership”. • Russia has amended its laws, allowing long-term contracts for spares and support for military • India has signed strategic partnership agreements equipment supplied to India by their Original with more than two dozen countries/supranational Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs). entities listed here in the chronological order of • This will address longstanding concerns on the the pacts: France (1998), Russia (2000), Germany serviceability of the imported equipment. (2001), Mauritius (2003), Iran (2003), United Kingdom (2004), United States (2004), EU • Currently, procurement of spares is a long and (2004), Indonesia (2005), China (2005), Brazil cumbersome process as India cannot deal (2006), Vietnam (2007), Oman (2008), directly with the OEMs but with designated Kazakhstan (2009), Australia (2009), Malaysia intermediaries like Rosoboronexport. The (2010), South Korea (2010), Saudi Arabia (2010), change in law does away with that. Uzbekistan (2011), Afghanistan (2011), Tajikistan (2012), Japan (2014), ASEAN (2012), • Indian military largely constitutes platforms and Seychelles (2015), Mongolia (2015), Singapore equipment of Russian origin and a constant (2015), and UAE (2015) concern has been the availability of spares for them. 13th JANUARY, 2017-THE HINDU DAILY NOTES • One of the biggest beneficiaries of this will be the frontline Su-30MKI fighter jets of the Indian Air Force, the serviceability of which had at one time Fewer migratory birds at Najafgarh Lake this fallen below 50 per cent, which means less than year half of the over 210 jets in service were available for operational deployment.  The Asian Waterbird Census (AWC) 2017, • In the next step, India is also discussing the carried out at Najafgarh Lake by a team of possibility of Russian Original Equipment volunteers accompanied by AWC Delhi State Manufacturers (OEMs) allowing licence coordinator and ecologist T. K. Roy, has manufacture of spares locally by Indian vendors. recorded a decline in the number and species of birds. ‘Strategic partners’ are now dime a dozen  The AWC is part of the International Waterbird Census (IWC) of Wetlands International. • India and Rwanda announced a strategic  Experts hold global climate change responsible partnership after a meeting between Prime for change in the migration trend of birds as Minister Narendra Modi and President Paul well the decline and shrinking of wetlands, due Kagame at the ongoing Vibrant Gujarat summit, to which fewer birds are coming in. promising to enhance their exchanges and tighten cooperation between them. Wetlands International

• But the move has raised eyebrows both within the  Wetlands International is the only global not- External Affairs Ministry and outside, with for-profit organisation dedicated to the officials conceding that they have “lost count” of conservation and restoration of wetlands. the number of such strategic partnerships announced by India in the past two decades.  Wetlands International is dedicated to maintaining and restoring wetlands— for their

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environmental values as well as for the services UGC lists journals for granting academic point they provide to people.  Head office is based in the Netherlands. • The University Grants Commission (UGC) has come out with a comprehensive list of about Remove PM photos from hoardings: EC 38,000 journals that will be recognized for granting points — under the Academic • The Election Commission wrote to the Cabinet Performance Indicators (API) system — to Secretary calling for removal of Prime Minister college and university faculty members who get Narendra Modi’s photograph from hoardings at their papers published in them. The journals span petrol pumps in Goa and in gas consumer a wide variety of fields, covering areas such as certificates in Uttarakhand. engineering, agriculture, medicine, humanities and social sciences, environment, business and • “The Commission had received a complaint that ecology. in Goa, hoardings with photographs of the Prime Minister were displayed at petrol pumps,” said The API system awards points — counted for the letter. promotion and also while applying for teaching jobs — for publications, which are seen as a sign of an • The EC said that it had also received a press academic being actively involved in research. clipping showing that certificates bearing the Prime Minister’s photograph were being • A person gets 30 points for publishing a book distributed by oil companies to LPG consumers brought out by an international publisher, 20 for a in Uttarakhand who had surrendered gas subsidy. book brought out by a national publisher, 15 • “This is not permissible under the Model Code points for publishing an article in a refereed of Conduct or under the ECI instructions. journal and 10 points for an article in other reputed journals. • You are requested to ensure that the instructions are brought to the notice of all concerned for • The UGC had decided to compile the list in view strict compliance in letter and spirit,” the of complaints that academics were publishing in Commission told the Cabinet Secretary. substandard, and sometimes paid for, publications. Review RTE Act: Niti Aayog University Grants Commission • The Niti Aayog has called for a review of the provisions of the Right To Education (RTE) Act, • The University Grants Commission of India 2009 that stipulate that no child can be held back (UGC India) is a statutory body set up by the in a grade, regardless of his performance, all the Indian Union government in accordance to way up to the eighth grade. the UGC Act 1956 under Ministry of Human Resource Development, and is charged with • This means that a child is entitled to an eighth coordination, determination and maintenance grade even if he cannot recognise a single letter of standards of higher education. or a number if he has spent eight years in school. • It provides recognition to universities in • The Aayog pointed out that the purpose behind India, and disburses funds to such recognised this provision is to minimise the drop-out rate, universities and colleges. since demoralization resulting from failing a class leads to children withdrawing from school • Its headquarters is in New Delhi, and six altogether. regional centres in Pune, Bhopal, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Guwahati and Bangalore. • “But despite this good intention, the provision has a detrimental effect on learning outcomes, SC refuses plea on alleged dilution of since it takes away the pressure to learn and to whistleblower law compete. • The RTE Act needs to be revisited,” it said in its • The Supreme Court refused to examine a petition review of the 12th Five Year Plan. alleging dilution in the Whistleblower Protection Act and seeking interim measures to protect whistleblowers who expose corruption in public administration and governance.

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• A Bench led by Chief Justice of India J.S. • Any public interest disclosure received by a Khehar said Parliament is already seized with the Competent Authority will be referred to a government law and the judiciary would be encroaching on authorised authority if it falls under any of the above the legislature’s turf by entertaining allegations 10 prohibited categories. This authority will take a now. decision on the matter, which will be binding.

• The tone of the court hearing was in complete Key Issues and Analysis contrast to the earlier hearing in January 2016, when the apex court had pressed the Centre to put • The Statement of Objects and Reasons of the in place a fool-proof interim mechanism to Bill states that the 10 prohibited categories are receive complaints and protect the lives of modelled on those under the RTI Act, 2005. However, whistleblowers till the law was enacted. this comparison may not be appropriate. Unlike the RTI Act, disclosures under the Bill are not made The Whistle Blowers Protection (Amendment) public but in confidence to a high level constitutional Bill, 2015 or statutory authority.

The Bill amends the Whistleblowers Protection Act, • With regard to the 10 prohibited categories, 2014, which provides a mechanism for receiving and the RTI Act allows (i) the public authority to disclose inquiring into public interest disclosures against acts information if he considers it to be in public interest; of corruption, wilful misuse of power or discretion, or and (ii) a two stage appeal process if information is criminal offences by public servants. not made available. The Bill does not contain such provisions. The Bill prohibits the reporting of a corruption related disclosure if it falls under any 10 categories • A Competent Authority is required to refer a of information. These categories include prohibited disclosure to a government authority for a information related to: finaldecision. However, the Bill does not specify the minimum qualifications required or the process of  sovereignty, strategic, scientific or appointment of this authority. economic interests of India, or the incitement of an offence; Supreme Court: Jallikattu ban to stay  Records of deliberations of the Council of Ministers; The Supreme Court refused to be hurried into  That which is forbidden to be published by pronouncing its verdict on a government notification a court or if it may result in contempt of allowing the bull taming sport, jallikattu, before court; Pongal.  A breach of privilege of legislatures;  Commercial confidence, trade secrets, The notification, issued by the Centre on January 7 intellectual property (if it harms a third 2016, had sought to circumvent an apex court ban on party); jallikattu in 2014.

 That relayed in a fiduciary capacity; The notification had reintroduced bulls into the fold  That received from a foreign government; of ‘performing ’ under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act of 1960, thus giving an  That which could endanger a person’s indirect nod to jallikattu, which the apex court had safety etc.; described as an act of “inherent cruelty.”  That which would impede an investigation • The apex court had stayed the notification on etc.; pleas by animal welfare activists.

 Personal matters or invasion of privacy. About JALLIKATTU

However, if information related to (ii), (v), (vi), and • Jallikattu, is an event of hugging or (x) is available under the Right to Information Act, embracing the bull and it is held in Indian 2005, then it can be disclosed under the Bill. state Tamil Nadu as a part of Pongal celebrations on Maatu Pongal day. The Act permits disclosures that are prohibited under the Official Secrets Act (OSA), 1923. The • Bulls are bred specifically by people of the Bill reverses this to disallow disclosures that are village for the event and attended mainly by covered by the OSA. many villages' temple bulls (koil kaalai).

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• Inflation as measured by the CPI was slower • A temple bull is like the head of all cattle in than this only in November 2014, when it was at a village; special rituals will be performed 3.27%. for this temple bull during important days. • The main contributor to slower inflation was the • During the event, prizes are announced to softening in food prices, with inflation in the encourage the youth to participate. After the ‘food and beverages’ category of the CPI falling event, tamed weak bulls are used for below the 2% mark (1.98%) for the first time domestic activities and agriculture, since January 2012. meanwhile the untamable strong bulls are used for breeding the cows. • On the other hand, fuel inflation is trending upwards, with the ‘fuel and light’ segment • Thus wild nature of the bulls are inherited to seeing inflation accelerate to 3.77% in December its next generation, even though these compared with 2.8% in November. country bulls are domesticated a very long time ago. Biodegradable bullets that sprout plants?

• Jallikattu has been known to be practiced • The U.S. Army is planning to use biodegradable during the Tamil classical period (400-100 bullets loaded with special seeds that sprout into BC). It was common among the ancient environmentally beneficial plants that eliminate people Aayars (Yadava) who lived in the ammunition debris and contaminants, reducing ‘Mullai’ geographical division of the ancient soil pollution in training grounds. Tamil country. Spent shells litter U.S. Army training facilities Industrial output at 4-year high of 5.7% in November around the world as there is no efficient way to clean them up.

• Industrial output expanded by 5.7% , the fastest The shells, which contain metal and other chemicals, pace in more than four years, largely on account can rust and pollute soils and groundwater. of a low base effect, government data showed. The plants that grow from the seeds could also help • The base effect had a significant impact in remove soil contaminants or feed local wildlife. November 2016 because many sectors had witnessed a significant contraction in November 14th JANUARY, 2017-THE HINDU DAILY 2015. NOTES

• The manufacturing sector, for example, So what’s the big deal about advancing the Budget, contracted 4.5% in November 2015, while the asks SC capital goods sector contracted 24.4% that month. • The Supreme Court said it found nothing wrong in

the government’s move to advance the presentation • This led the capital goods sector to show growth of the Union Budget in Parliament by almost a for the first time in a year in November 2016, month, on February 1, amid the run-up to the with the sector growing 15%. elections in five States.

• Consumer goods production grew 5.6% in • A PIL petition, had sought the postponement of the November, with consumer durables growing annual Budget till after the elections are over. He 9.8% . said it could contain sops to influence the voters in

the Assembly elections, and was thus a violation of Retail inflation at two-year low the poll code.

• Retail inflation eased for the fifth straight month • The court said there is only a government statement in December to a more than two-year low, with that the Budget is going to be presented on February price gains based on the Consumer Price Index 1. (CPI) slowing to 3.4% compared with the same

month of the previous year. • “So what provision of law is violated by this

statement? What provision of the Indian Constitution is violated here?” Chief Justice Khehar asked. 46 | P a g e http://www.currentaffairsonly.com

House panel not to summon PM on demonetization • The key projects are the Makodia and Dhaudhan dams, the latter expected to be 77 metres high and • In a stormy meeting of the Public Accounts responsible for submerging 5,803 hectares of tiger Committee (PAC) of Parliament, BJP members habitat in the Panna Tiger Reserve. prevailed upon chairperson and former Union

Minister K.V. Thomas to give his assent to a • Because it disturbs the habitat of resident wildlife clarification that the committee did not have the and requires the diversion of forest land in Madhya powers to summon either Prime Minister Narendra Pradesh, the project required a wildlife, forest and Modi or any other Minister with regard to any issue environmental clearance by separate, independent before it. committees.

• The committee said in a release, “Ministers shall • The Environment Clearance Committee records not be called before the Committee either to give that an additional Rs. 5,037 crore would be required evidence or consultation in connection with the as part of the project’s environmental protection examination of estimates of accounts.” plan.

• However, [the] chairperson, when [it is] considered • Officials involved with the project said that re- necessary but after its [committee’s] deliberations evaluations of the cost of resettlement and are concluded, may have an informal interaction with rehabilitation of families resident in the area, and re- the Minister.” estimating the cost of the value of the forests that

would be lost to the dam, as well as inflation, have Surviving drought: Kerala imposes curbs on water use led to the escalated costs.

• Faced with a worsening drought situation, the AI software purchase under CBI scanner Kerala government has imposed curbs on the use of water in reservoirs. It has also stepped up the review • The Central Bureau of Investigation has registered and monitoring system at the district levels. a case against unknown officials of Air India,

German company SAP AG and IBM, for alleged • District Collectors have been directed to stop the irregularities in the purchase of Enterprise Resource release of water through canals for irrigation, and Planning (ERP) software worth ₨. 225 crore for the keep a close tab on the water level in reservoirs. national carrier in 2011.

• The assessment of the water situation in terms of • The case was filed following a recommendation by Litres Per Capita per Day (LPCD) is being reported the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC), which to the government on a regular basis. found “serious procedural and other irregularities in

the procurement as well as the amount paid and the • Efforts are on to establish drinking water kiosks in extent of services rendered.” all wards.

About CENTRAL VIGILANCE COMMISION • The government is also monitoring the utilisation (CVC): of groundwater.

• The Central Vigilance Commission was set up by Cost of Ken-Betwa project now goes up to ₨18,000 the Government in 1964 on the recommendations of crore the Committee on Prevention of Corruption, headed by Shri K. Santhanam, to advise and guide Central • The cost of the National Democratic Alliance Government agencies in the field of vigilance. government’s marquee river interlinking project to transfer water from the Ken to the Betwa river has • CVC is conceived to be the apex vigilance now reached Rs. 18,000 crore, or nearly double the institution, free of control from any executive estimate used by the National Board for Wildlife to authority, monitoring all vigilance activity under the accord clearances to the project in 2016. Central Government and advising various authorities in Central Government organizations in planning, • The main feature of the project is a 230-km long executing, reviewing and reforming their vigilance canal and a series of barrages and dams connecting work. the Ken and Betwa rivers that will irrigate 3.5 lakh • Consequent upon promulgation of an Ordinance by hectares in Madhya Pradesh and 14,000 hectares of the President, the Central Vigilance Commission was land in Uttar Pradesh’s Bundelkhand. given “statutory status” in 1998. 47 | P a g e http://www.currentaffairsonly.com

• The Central Vigilance Commission Act 2003 was Number of unemployed in India to climb: ILO later effected by the Parliament.

• The number of unemployed people in India is • The provisions provide that the CVC shall consist expected to rise by 1 lakh in 2017 and another 2 lakh of: A Central Vigilance Commissioner - in 2018, according to the International Labour Chairperson; Not more than two Vigilance Organisation (ILO). Commissioners - Members;

• The ILO predicted that the number of jobless will About Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI): increase from 17.7 million in 2016 to 18 million by

2018 even though the country’s unemployment rate • The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is the is expected to go down from 3.5 per cent to 3.4 per domestic intelligence and security service of India, cent in 2017. which simultaneously serves as the nation's prime central law enforcement agency. • Globally, the ILO reckons that the number of

jobless people will increase by 3.4 million in 2017, • The CBI is overseen by the Ministry of Personnel, in its report on World Employment and Social Public Grievances and Pensions of the central Outlook for 2017, with projections based on government, headed by a Cabinet Minister who econometric modelling carried out in November reports directly to the Prime Minister. 2016.

• The CBI was established in 1941 as the Special • The global unemployment rate is expected to rise Police Establishment, tasked with domestic security. modestly from 5.7 to 5.8 per cent in 2017 as the pace It was renamed the Central Bureau of Investigation of labour force growth outstrips job creation. on 1 April 1963.

• Vulnerable forms of employment, which include • Its motto is "Industry, Impartiality, Integrity". contributing family workers and own account

workers, are expected to stay above 42 per cent of Pakistan missiles worry U.S.; 47 entities under total employment. strict watch

• About 1.4 billion people are likely to be engaged in • The United States government is increasingly such employment in 2017, with the number rising by worried over the rising range and variety of 11 million per year, with Southern Asia and sub- Islamabad’s missile capability and the recent Saharan Africa being the most affected. decision of the Obama administration to impose trade restrictions on seven Pakistani entities came • Global uncertainty and the lack of decent jobs are, out of this concern. among other factors, underpinning social unrest and migration in many parts of the world. • All the entities are linked to Pakistan’s missile programme. Trade deficit narrows in December

• With the addition of these seven, there are 47 • India’s trade deficit narrowed to $10.36 billion in Pakistani entities that are under strict watch of the December 2016 — the lowest in the last three U.S agencies. months — as exports expanded year-on- year for the

fourth consecutive month and outpaced imports, • What has triggered the alarm bells in Washington is according to data released by the Commerce Shaheen-III, which has a range of 2,750 km. Ministry.

• Pakistan has officially explained its longest-range • Eighteen of the 30 major export segments, missile to date, tested for the first time in 2015, as a including petroleum products, drugs and pharma, capability to strike the Andaman and Nicobar gems and jewellery, recorded a growth in December Islands, the farthest Indian territory from its shores. 2016.

• But the missile also has Israel in its range, along • The 5.72% growth in December 2016 was up from with several European countries – something that the 2.26% in November 2016 but slower than 8.22% in U.S. strategic community finds unnerving. October 2016.

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• Imports rose by just 0.46 % to $34.25 billion in In Praise of Air, a poem that ‘cleans’ your December 2016. environment

• Gold imports shrunk (-) 48.5 % to $1.96 billion • A revolutionary air cleansing poem, In Praise of after having risen in the previous two months. Air, has removed more than two tonnes of pollution

from the environment in the U.K. as part of a project • In terms of growth, this was the lowest since (-) that could be used to fight pollution in cities across 77.44 % in August 2016, while in value terms it was the world, a leading British University claimed. the lowest since $1.94 billion in September 2016. • The poem was produced by scientists and writers at NITI Aayog to soon set up panel on poverty line the University of Sheield in the U.K.

• NITI Aayog, the government’s premier think-tank, • The catalytic poem by award-winning writer Simon will soon set up an expert committee to arrive at a Armitage, Professor of Poetry in the University’s new poverty line, according to an official. School of English, has been printed on specially treated material developed by scientists at the • “Pursuant to the decision taken at the first meeting university that is capable of purifying its of the Governing Council of NITI Aayog held under surroundings through catalytic oxidation. the chairmanship of Prime Minister Narendra Modi on February 8, 2015, a Task Force on Elimination of • The poem, which has been on display on the Poverty in India was set up by NITI Aayog on March University of Sheffield’s Alfred Denny building 16, 2015. since May 2014, has now reached the end of its exhibition in Sheffield, and the project team has estimated that it has removed over two tonnes of Indian pepper may be a cancer fighter nitrogen oxide from the surrounding environment.

• The team now hopes the poem and its air-cleansing • The Indian long pepper, widely popular for spicing technology can be replicated on billboards and up food, may soon be used as a potential cancer artwork in towns and cities across the world. treatment drug, according to a new study. 16th JANUARY, 2017-THE HINDU DAILY • The Indian long pepper contains a chemical that NOTES could stop your body from producing an enzyme that is commonly found in tumours in large numbers, Why can’t FM stations broadcast news, asks SC according to the study in Journal of Biological

Chemistry.  A Bench of Chief Justice of India J.S. Khehar and Justice D.Y. Chandrachud picked up from a • Long pepper’s expected medicinal properties date plethora of pending public interest litigation back thousands of years. petitions a 2013 one filed by Common Cause for • The secret lies in a chemical called Piperlongumine a judicial declaration to end the monopoly of the (PL), which has shown activity against many cancers Prasar Bharati Corporation, which owns and including prostate, breast, lung, colon, lymphoma, operates All India Radio, over news broadcasting leukaemia, primary brain tumours and gastric cancer. and current affairs programmes.

• Using X-ray crystallography, researchers were able  The Bench asked why there should be a to create molecular structures that show how the continuing prohibition on FM radio stations and chemical is transformed after being ingested. community radios from airing their own news and current affairs on par with private TV • PL converts to hPL, an active drug that silences a channels and the print media. gene called GSTP1.  The government’s prohibition, Common Cause • The GSTP1 gene produces a detoxification enzyme argued, was in clear violation of the Supreme that is often overly abundant in tumours, the study Court’s landmark verdict in 1995 in the said. Ministry of Information & Broadcasting vs Cricket Association of Bengal.

 The apex court then held that “airwaves are public property to be used to promote public 49 | P a g e http://www.currentaffairsonly.com

good and expressing a plurality of views, Secretary-level officer nominated by the Chief opinions and ideas”. “Policy Guidelines and of Secretary,” the Commission has said. the Grant of Permission Agreements framed by the government which prohibit private FM radio • The poll body has also asked the five States to stations and community radio stations from send their compliance report by 17th January. broadcasting their own news and current affairs programmes are clearly violative of the Getting to know Tabby’s star fundamental right of freedom of speech and expression as guaranteed under Article 19 (1) (a) • Tabby’s star (or Boyajian’s star), named after of the Constitution. the lead author on the paper announcing its unusual fluctuating light, is also called WTF  It is submitted that the right to freedom of speech (Where’s the flux?) star because of the and expression also includes the right to unexplained large fluctuation of light energy. information, which encompasses diverse interpretations of news and current affairs,” civil • A part of the Cygnus constellation, Tabby’s star rights advocates Prashant Bhushan and Kamini shows anomalously large fluctuations of light Jaiswal submitted before the Bench in the present intensity which has puzzled astronomers. case. • The observations by Kepler spacecraft have  The court, in turn, directed the government to shown that its light intensity drops by more than explain, in four weeks, the series of orders 20 percent at times, with regular smaller systematically passed between 2008 and 2013 to fluctuations which are also in excess of that seen gag private radio from airing their own news in many other stars. and current affairs broadcasts. • The observed drop in light intensity, which is Rajnath reviews Manipur situation about 20 percent of the normal brightness, is too large to be explained as being due to a transiting  Home Minister Rajnath Singh held a planet blocking its path to the earth. meeting on to assess the security situation in pollbound Manipur, hit by an economic • After several guesses were made, the reason for blockade for more than 70 days. this fluctuation has now been partly explained in a paper in the journal Physical Review Letters  Manipur is reeling under the blockade called by a group from University of Illinois at Urbana by the United Naga Council protesting Champaign. against the creation of seven new districts. • In a novel way, this work has brought in ideas Stay on hearing public appeals till polls from the theory of phase transitions in magnetism to understand the star’s wavering • The Election Commission has issued an order light. barring chief ministers, ministers and political appointees in the five pollbound States from • The work draws an interesting parallel between hearing appeals filed by people before statutory the fluctuations of magnetic field in the star and bodies till the election process was over as their what is seen in a ferromagnetic transition, for decisions could influence voters. the first time.

• It said the hearings by politicians “may have • “We do not yet know for sure if the transition is direct or indirect influence on voters and may the result of a change of magnetization. We do also disturb the level-playing field” during the not yet have an exact mechanism for the elections. transition,” a researcher involved states, hinting • All such hearings of statutory bodies should be that there is more work in store to decipher this deferred till the conclusion of poll in all puzzle. constituencies in your State. The moon is 4.51 billion years old • If any such hearing is required to be held in compliance with the mandatory provisions of • The moon is at least 4.51 billion years old. This law/any court order, such hearing in lieu of chief is from 40 to 140 million years older than minister/ministers or politically appointed office- previously thought, says new research published bearers of statutory bodies, should be held by a 50 | P a g e http://www.currentaffairsonly.com

in Science Advances, based on an analysis of Market regulator tightens merger norms minerals from the moon called zircons. • In a bid to safeguard the interests of the public • These minerals were brought back to Earth by shareholders, the Securities and Exchange the Apollo 14 mission in 1971 and have now Board of India (SEBI) has tightened the norms been studied by researchers from University of for merger of an unlisted company with a listed California, Los Angeles (UCLA). entity.

• The moon was formed by a violent, head-on • The board of the capital market regulator, at its collision between the early Earth and a Jaipur meeting, has decided that the holding of “planetary embryo” called Theia. public shareholders post the merger cannot be less than 25%. • The Earth’s collision with Theia created a liquefied moon, which then solidified. Scientists • Further, the watchdog has stipulated a similar believe most of the moon’s surface was covered threshold for institutional shareholders of the with magma right after its formation. unlisted entity as well, post-merger. • The new research would mean that the moon formed “only” about 60 million years after the • “The objective is to have wider public birth of the solar system. shareholding and to prevent very large unlisted company to get listed by merging with a very • This is an important point because it would small company,” according to a SEBI statement. provide critical information for astronomers and planetary scientists who seek to understand the • The regulator has also decided that an unlisted early evolution of the Earth and our solar company can be merged with a listed company system. only if the latter is listed on a stock exchange having nationwide trading terminals. One hundred years of the ‘bond’ • To ensure larger say for the public shareholders, • The chemical bond has just crossed a century. the regulator has also made their e-voting The ‘bond’ has been central to science, second mandatory in cases wherein the stake of such only to atoms perhaps, both of which together shareholders reduces by more than 5% in the make the physical world. merged entity.

• In the past hundred years, the bond has been • Among other issues, the regulator also manipulated in numerous ways, which made reduced the broker fees by 25% from drugs, polymers, plastics, dyes, detergents, ₨.20 per Rs. 1 crore of turnover to ₨.15 agrochemicals, liquid crystals, and many others per Rs. 1crore of turnover. possible and in the process, the world around us has changed irreversibly. • This will result in reduction of overall cost of transactions and will benefit the investors and • We synthesized over nine million compounds, promote the development of securities market, making the chemical industry the largest in the according to the statement. world, second only to energy. • In order to help mutual fund investors take • The chemical bond decides the ‘horoscope’ of better informed decisions, SEBI has decided the molecule. that fund houses will have to include in their advertisements, the performance of the scheme • It decides the properties of molecules such as in terms of CAGR (Compound Annual Growth colour, reactivity, solubility, etc. all of which Rate) for the past one year, three years and five decide their applications. years and since inceptionCurrently, the fund house only publishes the scheme’s returns for as • Metals, ceramics and semiconductors are what many twelve month periods as possible for the they are due to their chemical bonding. past three years. • Today, structure and bonding are essential aspects of chemical pedagogy.

51 | P a g e http://www.currentaffairsonly.com

• The regulator has also allowed mutual funds and Manmohan Singh governments, laid the to invest in hybrid instruments like REITs foundations of a special strategic global (Real Estate Investment partnership with Japan at the turn of the century and in the first few years of the new Trusts) and InvITs (Infrastructure Investment millennium when the signs of a shift in global Trusts) but has laid down certain criteria on power balance in favour of Asia became the cap for such investments. apparent. • A mutual fund scheme cannot invest more than 5% of its net asset value (NAV) in units Trade and investment: of a single REITs/InvITs issuer. Further, the overall exposure of a scheme in Trade and investment between the two countries REITs/InvITs has been capped at 10%. is significantly lower than the potential.

• However, such limits will not be applicable As per data from the Japan External Trade for investments in case of index fund or Organization (JETRO), Japan’s aggregate sector or industry specific scheme pertaining outward investment in China during the period to REITs and InvITs. 1996-2015 was $116 billion and in India was $24 billion. China has received close to 5 times more It’s time to say ‘Irasshaimase’ (welcome) to Japan investment than India.  Between FY15 and FY16, while FDI from History: Singapore and the U.S. have more or less doubled, Japan’s FDI into India has increased • Japan and India have had a long trade and by only 30%. economic relationship starting from the later part of the 19th century.  By 2015-16, Japan-India two-way trade had increased to $14,512 million (a cumulative • However, post-World War II and the annual growth rate of 6.3%), China-India two- establishment of diplomatic relations, the way trade had grown to $70,758 million imperatives of the cold war kept the relations (CAGR of 22.6%) and South Korea- India between the two countries at a suboptimal level. two-way trade had grown to $16,587 million (CAGR of 14.6%). In the late 1980s, with the cold war fading, Japan- India relations again looked promising. Challenges to partnership

It is worth noting that even during the cold war • There are three main challenges which have period, Japan’s Overseas Development Assistance constrained the Japan-India partnership from (ODA) was still active in India. The landmark achieving its full potential. event which signalled the high point of the First, India’s complex regulations, red relationship in that period was the joint venture tape, ad hoc nature of state-level between Maruti Udyog and Suzuki Motors in interventions. 1984 to produce small cars in India. Second, Japanese companies face • Despite having been an early investor in considerable logistics challenges and non- India’s industrialisation, Japan in the early availability of uninterrupted power supply 1990s was focused on trade and investment constrains their manufacturing plans in with China. India.

• India’s nuclear tests in 1998 again led to Third, while India can emerge as a large severe condemnation and harsh sanctions by market for Japanese infrastructure system Japan and the relations moved to a low keel. exports, there have been incredible delays in the commencement of the projects. • The P.V. Narasimha Rao government’s “look east policy”, which was furthered by Vajpayee 52 | P a g e http://www.currentaffairsonly.com

Initiatives taken: • The cumulative Overseas Development Assistance disbursement by Japan (India is • In order to facilitate investment from Japan, the largest recipient of Japanese ODA) in the union government has set up a Japan Plus 2014 was JPY4.6 trillion and in FY 15-16 committee which comprised four senior only JPY 185.6 billion was disbursed. bureaucrats from the government and three Japanese officials chosen, one each from • Given the under performance on all the Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and benchmarks set up under the Tokyo Industry (METI), Japan External Trade Declaration, timely intervention from the Organization (JETRO) and the Aichi highest levels of both governments can still prefecture to deal with all aspects of ensure that the ambitious metrics can be investment, mainly challenges faced by achieved. Japanese companies post investment. • The Japanese government must play a more • In fact, Japan International Cooperation active role in building India’s infrastructure, Agency (JICA) has funded the Tamil Nadu which will serve as a foundation for sustained Investment Promotion Program for economic growth. strengthening policy framework and urban and industry infrastructure to facilitate India superbug resistant to available foreign investment. antibiotics?

• Japan is working on developing 12 Industrial • A woman in the U.S. died after being townships called Japan Industrial Townships infected by a superbug during her visit to (JITs) which will operate like Little Japan with India, say doctors who found that the all the infrastructure to support the operations “nightmare” bacteria was resistant to all of Japanese companies. Still, the JITs face available antibiotics. challenges from access to ports, lack of uninterrupted power supply and poor level of • The infection was caused by carbapenem- benchmarking to global best standards as resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE), a applicable for industrial parks. While there is multidrug-resistant organism associated with the shining example of the Delhi Metro Rail, high mortality. the delays with Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC), which was set up in 2007, • After the CRE, identified as Klebsiella and the pace of the ongoing feasibility studies pneumoniae, was confirmed by lab testing, of Chennai Mumbai Industrial Corridor an isolate from a wound specimen was sent (CBIC) are disappointing. for further susceptibility testing and to determine the mechanism of resistance. Tokyo Declaration, 2014 • That testing confirmed the presence of New • The Tokyo Declaration of November 2014 Delhi metallo-beta-lactamase (NDM-1), an sets a target for doubling Japan’s foreign enzyme that directly breaks down direct investment, the number of Japanese carbapenems, a powerful class of antibiotics companies operating in India and an ambitious that are often used to treat multidrug-resistant investment target of JPY 3.5 trillion ($33.5 infections. billion) within a five-year period. • The U.S. Centres for Disease Control and • The number of Japanese companies in India Prevention’s antimicrobial testing showed the in October 2014 was 1,156 and by October isolate was resistant to 26 different 2015 it was 1,229, an increase of 6%, much antibiotics. lower than the needed growth to achieve the target.

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Epic Antarctic voyage maps seafloor to predict  The advertisement published in Annie ocean rise Besant’s “New India”.  Bharati met Mahatma Gandhi at the • In East Antarctica, 3,000 km south of the residence of Kasturi Ranga Iyengar on West Australian town of Albany, an ice Cathedral Road in March 1919. shelf the size of California is melting  Gandhiji stayed in the city between March from below. 19 and 23 and there is a record of the meetings he attended. • The concerning trend was confirmed by  Rajaji, who was present during Bharati’s Australian scientists in December 2016, meeting with Gandhiji, is said to have who reported that warming ocean described the poet’s appearance as similar temperatures were causing the rapid melt to ‘a pitha sanyasi [a mad sanyasi]. of the end of the Totten glacier, which is  Two photographs were taken in 1917, holding back enough ice to create a global Besides Bharati, his wife Chellammal, sea rise of between 3.5 metres and six daughters Thangammal and Sakunthala metres. and Vijayaragavachariyar are seen in the picture. • A team of international scientists left  Photograph along with the members of Hobart aboard the Australian research Karaikudi Hindu Madhabimana Sangam ship Investigator to map the seafloor and for a separate image in 1919. ahead of the glacier to trace its history  Irish writer James H. Cousin met Bharati back to the last ice age, in the hopes of in Puducherry and described him as one predicting its future melting patterns. The of India’s four important poets — besides 51-day mission is one of the longest ever Tagore, Sarojini Naidu and Sri voyages by Australian scientists to Aurobindo. Antarctica and will involve mapping the

unexplored Sabrina Coast seafloor and taking samples of piles of glacial President to unveil Netaji’s restored car sediment left behind by the retreating ice tomorrow sheet.  President Pranab Mukherjee is set to 17th JANUARY, 2017-THE HINDU DAILY unveil the car a four-door sedan NOTES manufactured in the early 1930s by Auto Union, then a venture of four German auto majors and now owned by Audi. New 98-year-old photo of Bharati revealed  Prof. Bose – a member of Parliament and

a professor of history at Harvard  Mahakavi Subramania Bharati’s University, said full optical restoration of photograph that was recently discovered, the sedan not done but original catalogue making it only one of six available images intact. of the patriot-poet.  Subhas Chandra Bose or Netaji had  The photograph, discovered at the boarded the car in the guise of a Pathan, Department of Tamil language of Madras evaded the British police and set off on University in New Delhi. his ‘Great Escape’ to Germany.  It was taken at the Ratna Company,  It was past 1.35 am, January 16-17, 1941 Chennai, apparently to promote English Dr. Sisir Kumar Bose [son of elder lectures on “The Cult of the Eternal — brother of Netaji] was at the driver’s seat, Being a scientific exposition of the art of started the engine immediately, took a conquering death” by Bharatiyar at the right on the Elgin Road and another right Victoria Public Hall on March 2, 1919 to Allenby Road [now Dr Sisir Kumar presided over by Justice S. Subramania Bose road] and went further north. Netaji Iyer. was on the rear seat.

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 Sisir Bose and Netaji reached Gomoh  The 1267 committee needs to base its station (now in Jharkhand) late on January decision on solid evidence and follow 17 to to board the Delhi-Kalka Mail. relevant resolutions and rules of procedure and make a decision based on G.S-02 consensus. The technical hold China proposed is to allow more time for Warships sold, not gifted to Pakistan, says consultation and deliberation. China NATO is obsolete, U.S. could cut a deal with China clarified that it had not “donated” two Russia, says Trump warships to Pakistan, but that the transfer of vessels, apparently for the defence of Gwadar NATO is “obsolete”, Germany’s Angela Merkel port, was part of a legitimate “military trade” made a “catastrophic mistake” on refugees, Brexit between the two countries. will be “great” and the U.S. could cut a deal with Russia. Pakistani media reports: {Trump’s controversial comments about  China has handed over two ships to European allies in interviews with British Pakistan Navy on Saturday to safeguard newspapers} the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). Hand to Russia:  The two ships had not been provided exclusively for protecting the Gwadar He suggested a deal in which nuclear arsenals port, will be employed in all maritime would be reduced and sanctions against Moscow zones of Pakistan to undertake search and would be eased, but gave no details extending a rescue operations. hand to Russia.  The vessels were handed over to the agency in Guangzhou, China, and not at Earlier: Gwadar.  China is building two more ships, named  His predecessor Barack Obama puts Dasht and Zhob, which will be delivered sanctions over Moscow’s involvement in to the Pakistani Navy soon. Ukraine, the Syrian war and for alleged cyber attacks to influence the U.S. Jash-e-Mohammad (JeM)- Azhar and NSG Issue: election.  Washington’s European allies imposed  China’s Point- China had not blocked sanctions against Russia over Ukraine in India’s move to impose a ban on the JeM 2014. Those measures were renewed on chief. Beijing will continue to remain December 19. engaged with “relevant parties on this”. India has sought a UN ban on the head of NATO: the JeM chief following last year’s attack on the Pathankot air base.  It was obsolete, because it was designed many, many years ago and the countries  Membership to the grouping could not be aren’t paying what they’re supposed to considered a “farewell gift” that countries pay. give to each other. China’s clearance on  Eastern European NATO countries blocking India’s membership to the 48- nervous about Moscow following nation Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) Russia’s annexation of Crimea and  Background- Earlier this year China involvement in Ukraine. Vetoed on India’s demand for a ban on Jash-e-Mohammad (JeM) chief Masood Trade deal with U.K: Azhar in the 1267 committee of the UN Security Council. 55 | P a g e http://www.currentaffairsonly.com

 He backed a trade deal with post-EU Transforming ties with India: Britain, which would be “good for both sides”. After 20 January Inauguration he  In the early 1990s, the situation was will meet British Prime Minister Theresa delicate his flexibility played a role in the May. evolution of Iran’s ties with India.  Other countries will leave the European  He noted the visit of P.V. Narasimha Rao Union in future largely due to the pressure (first Indian Prime Minister to visit Iran the bloc was put under following a since the revolution) in September 1993 significant rise in migrants and refugees as “a turning point”. arriving.  In March 1994, Iran bailed out India in  He also criticised Ms. Merkel for letting the UN Commission on Human Rights, Germany admit undocumented migrants blocking a consensus on Kashmir. enter the country, insinuating that this  He spoke his mind: on the “persecution” posed a security risk. of minorities, on the Babri Masjid, and on the importance of India-Pakistan talks, The pragmatist’s pivot to India including “true” representatives of Kashmiris, such as the Hurriyat  The death of Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani Conference, to resolve the conflict in the on January 8 was a landmark for the Valley. Islamic Republic of Iran.  Taliban’s spectacular advance in  He was a pivotal figure in the country’s Afghanistan by then with the support of path since the 1979 revolution: a founding Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence had father, a military leader in the war with concentrated minds in both countries and Iraq, and twice President. concerned at being associated too closely  Under his presidency a historic shift in with India while the then Organization of ties with India, laying the groundwork for the Islamic Conference (OIC) was the cooperation that has unfolded, preparing once more to censure India on haltingly, over the past 20 years. Kashmir.  In April 1995, Rafsanjani met PM Rao at From radical to moderate: New Delhi. Speaking to over 10,000 Shias at Lucknow’s Bara Imambara —  His nicknames “Akbar Shah” and “the and promising ₹10 million for its upkeep shark”, convey his blend of power, — Rafsanjani gave an unexpected cunning, and adaptability. He was also a endorsement of Indian secularism and source of support for Iran’s beleaguered even praised India’s “serious will” on reformists. Kashmir while dismissing Pakistan’s call  In the final decade of his life, he became a for American mediation. totem of pragmatism, moderation, and  He signed a three-way India-Iran- reform. Turkmenistan transit agreement, allowing  He warned that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s India to avoid Russian or Ukrainian ports. victory in 2009 would bring “Islamic He also urged a Tehran-Delhi-Beijing fascism”, blamed the Bashar al-Assad axis — his proposal, sandwiched between regime for the use of chemical weapons in India’s 1993 and 1996 border agreements 2013, and supported Hassan Rouhani’s with China. successful bid for the presidency that  Structural factors, such as India’s same year. economic liberalisation and the situation  His funeral last week drew more than two in Afghanistan, were more important for million people, including supporters of the change in relations. the Green Movement, crushed by force in  Rafsanjani’s trip marked several themes 2009, and vocal critics of Russia, that would shape India-Iranian relations alongside which Iran is fighting in Syria. for the next two decades. One was economic diplomacy focussed on

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connectivity, energy, and trade. Another SC revives hearing on Andhra bifurcation was mutual concern over the future of Afghanistan, and Pakistan’s role there.  Supreme Court reviving a bunch of  A third was India’s effort — not always petitions challenging the bifurcation of successful — to prevent relations with the erstwhile State of Andhra Pradesh in Washington and Tehran from interfering 2014 said What better “index” to ascertain with one another. whether a State is to be divided or not other than public demand. Economic diplomacy:  The Petition wanted the court to declare the bifurcation as an illegal and  Rising India has looked to Central Asia unconstitutional act. and Iran has emerged from the sanctions  In 2014 issuing notice to Centre Govt. straightjacket after historic agreement Supreme Court Bench, led by then CJI over the Chabahar port. H.L. Dattu refused to stay the Andhra  Iran is considerably more relaxed than Pradesh Reorganisation Act of 2014, India about Gwadar, China’s regional leading to the bifurcation of the State and infrastructure plans, and the Chinese the formation of Telangana. navy’s presence in the Indian Ocean.  India’s oil imports from Iran trebled from Petition Demands: the previous year, pushing it into fourth place in the ranking of Indian suppliers,  Petitioners demanded there should be a and there is pressure on the Reserve Bank “federal index” for State formation. The of India to allow Iranian banks to open Centre cannot be allowed to ride branches in India, which would boost the roughshod over the federal structure of relatively modest amount of bilateral democracy. trade.  They denied there had been no such  Tehran now openly flirting with parts of pressure to bifurcate and proper the Taliban even as Delhi and Kabul draw consultations were not held between the closer together. Taliban delegations have Centre and erstwhile State authorities. been coming to Iran for years; they  The petitions were listed before new attended December’s International Chief Justice Khehar. He Questioned- Islamic Unity Conference in Tehran with What can be a better index than the entire no semblance of secrecy. State demanding it [bifurcation]? ‘State’, we did not mean the State government. Tehran-Washington balancing act: We meant the people of the State,” Chief Justice Khehar said.  With Boeing and Airbus queuing up to  The petitions claimed that the Centre had sell to Iran, it’s easier for India to do so introduced the Bill when it was rejected after eased in sanctions by Obama by the Andhra Pradesh State Legislature. administration in the U.S.  They contended that the bifurcation  President-elect Trump has repeated, to a violated the basic provisions of British newspaper, his view that Barack federalism. The Centre had to first consult Obama’s nuclear deal with Iran is “one of the State legislature before passing any the worst deals ever made”. Russian law to merge or divide it. President Vladimir Putin, would agree to  The Excuse: Telangana lost 140 of its a re-imposition of sanctions. villages due to the bifurcation, and this  Mr. Rouhani seeking re-election this year, was not the first time the people had and hardliners breathing down his neck, experienced the sufferings of bifurcation it’s not difficult to imagine a spiral of and new State formations. The first time U.S. and Iranian steps that leads to its was when Andhra was separated from unravelling. Madras

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 Centre’s note: Centre submitted that a Centre notifies green action plan for Delhi committee had held detailed hearings and filed a report that the people living in  Environment Ministry has amended laws parts of the present Telangana wanted a and formally tasked a Supreme Court- new State. appointed panel with implementing a graded action plan for pollution control. SC slams States’ stance on PILs  The comprehensive plan, prepared by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB),  Supreme Court slammed several States focusing on Delhi was submitted to the for their casual attitude towards crucial Supreme Court on December 2 last year. public interest matters. Admonishing the The court had accepted the plan and asked States for failing to file responses and the Centre to notify it, details measures to status reports in court despite several be enforced based on the intensity of opportunities. pollution ranging from severe plus or  States were caught napping in a row of emergency to moderate-poor. public interest litigation (PIL) petitions  In pursuance of sub-section (1) of section which came up for hearing, right from 3 of the Environment (Protection) Act, installation of speed governors in public 1986 (29 of 1986), the Central transport vehicles to curb road accidents government hereby assigns the task of to industrial pollution to even mid-day implementation of the Graded Response meals in schools. Action Plan to the EPCA (Environment Pollution Control Authority) Lack of urgency:  Once the plan is notified, emergency measures like odd-even car rationing  The Bench found that several States had scheme and ban on construction activities not bothered to file responses against the will be automatically enforced in the city PIL plea on industrial pollution filed by if level of PM2.5 breaches 300 the Gujarat-based NGO, Paryavaran micrograms per cubic metre and PM10 Suraksha Samiti, was filed five years ago levels stay above 500 micrograms per in 2012. cubic metre for two consecutive days.  The Bench ordered State Transport  The plan lists a number of other measures Secretaries who had neglected to file their such as ban on diesel generators & responses to be present in court on the increase in parking fee during 'very poor' next date of hearing after four weeks. The air quality, closing brick kilns, hot mix States’ lack of urgency got brickbats in plants, stone crushers and intensifying the two hearings concerning mid-day public transport services, increasing the meals and industrial pollution. frequency of mechanised cleaning and  In the speed governors’ case, Andhra sprinkling of water on roads. Pradesh, Assam, Nagaland, Sikkim, Tamil Nadu, Delhi, Tripura, Bihar, Rajasthan G.S-03 and Madhya Pradesh had not filed their replies. Findings on pest menace under a cloud

Road casualties:  The Central Island Agricultural Research Institute (CIARI), Port Blair, faces On hearing a PIL plea filed by NGO Suraksha allegations of research misconduct and Foundation highlighting the large number of fabrication of scientific data on the casualties on Indian roads. The NGO had sought occurrence of pollu beetle, a pest infesting intervention from the apex court with the States to black pepper. install speed governors to rein in speeding public  Scientific paper by K.D. Prathapan transport vehicles. challenging CIARI their claim to have identified the pollu beetle (Longitarsus

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nigripennis) as a major pest of black control over taxpayers in the new indirect pepper on the Andaman and Nicobar tax regime. Islands.  Another area of contention between the  He argued that three field surveys and Centre and the States was the issue of review of literature had failed to provide who would get to collect tax on the evidence of the occurrence of the pest on economic activities taking place in Indian the islands. territorial waters.  In 2011 a team of researchers at the  The Council will now meet on February CIARI, led by Ajanta Birah, published its 18 and approve the legislation that need to work in the Indian Journal of be cleared by Parliament and it is Entomology. expected that those would be passed and  Black Pepper: It’s a cash crop cultivated ratified during the Budget session. in Western Ghats and Andaman Island.  Time for implementation was decided in Its once was the attraction for European 1st April but due to some legislative and people & that led to colonization of India. administrative formulation it’s delayed to 01st July. ‘Sanitising of cattle-sheds key to prevent  Parliament has earlier passed 122nd malaria’ Constitution amendment bill to Intact Goods and Service Tax. This tax policy is  Mosquitoes transmitting malaria are often indirect tax means tax imposition not found in cattle-sheds in India and these directly intend to any person this is called insects need to be targeted to further regressive tax as economic status of the WHO’s goal of eliminating the disease person not mentioned while taxing. globally by 2030.  Understanding the dynamic between The Formula: humans, cattle and mosquitoes could have major implications for malaria control  As per the formula for dual control of policy and practice, not only in India, but assessees, 90% of those with a GST in other areas where transmission is turnover of Rs. 1.5 crore or less will be sustained by zoophilic vectors. assessed for the purposes of scrutiny and  A team collected a total of 1,774 audit by the States, and 10% by the Anopheles culicifacies and 169 administrative machinery of the Centre. Anopheles fluviatilis mosquitoes  Those above a turnover of Rs. 1.5 crore specimens — major vectors of malaria on would be assessed in the ratio of 50:50 the Indian subcontinent — from six between the Centre and the States. villages in Odisha (highest number of malaria cases in India). Demonetisation has hit India’s growth: IMF  The researchers built a computer model that simulated the life of an adult  IMF cuts down India’s expected growth mosquito and showed that conventional rate by one percentage point in the current control tools such as insecticide-treated fiscal year and 0.4 percentage point the bed nets and indoor insecticide sprays are next year. less effective when mosquitoes exhibit  6.6% for current year and 7.2% next year ‘zoophilic’ behaviours — having an (earlier projected 7.6%). attraction to non-human animals.  In 2018-19, the Indian economy should be growing at 7.7%, as estimated earlier. GST stalemate resolved, rollout deferred to  Reasons: 1. temporary negative July 1 consumption shock induced by cash shortages. 2. payment disruptions  The Goods and Services Tax (GST) associated with the recent currency note Council arrived at a consensus on withdrawal and exchange initiative. contentious issues such as administrative

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U.S China Outlook: an average annual rate of 0.5 percentage points in the previous decade.  Global growth for 2016 is estimated at 3.1%. stimulus policies expected and Reasons: already underway in the U.S. and China will hold the world economy from further  Relatively slow reversal rates in more slowdown. Trump could have a positive recent years, projected to increase impact on the U.S. economy as White unemployment globally by 11 million a House and Congress are in the hands of year. the same party for the first time in six  Rise in income levels in the lowest rungs years. of the population.  For China, the growth forecast for 2017  Economic dislocation and unprecedented was revised upwards, to 6.5%, 0.3 mass migration percentage point above the October forecast. In 2018, China’s growth rate is The challenge for policymakers worldwide is to projected to be 6% against India’s 7.7%. ensure that incomes do not fall below the levels of  Continuing rapid credit expansion, basic subsistence as the world marches towards impaired corporate debts, and persistent the poverty reduction targets under the 2030 government support for inefficient state- Sustainable Development Goals. owned firms are the future risks which can disrupt slowdown in future. Specialist salvage op to set INS Betwa upright

Vagaries of the job market  Navy has selected a specialist salvage firm Resolve Marine Group (RMG) to set  The International Labour Organisation’s the INS Betwa upright. The 4,000-tonne latest forecast in ‘World Employment and guided missile frigate had slipped to its Social Outlook 2017’ that a few more side on December 5. millions are set to join the pool of the  It will cost about Rs. 20 crore and the jobless during this year and the next. entire process is expected to be completed  Serious concern to the stubborn challenge by the end of February. of reducing the extent of vulnerability that  Two people were killed and 14 injured currently affects about 42 per cent of the when the INS Betwa suffered the mishap total working population. It refers to lack while being un-docked for a scheduled of access to contributory social protection two-year refit in Mumbai’s dockyard. As schemes among the self-employed and of now, the ship is 25% in water. allied categories, unlike their counterparts  structures will be erected around the ship in the wage-earning and salaried classes. to balance it and lift it with hydraulic machines as the dock is de-flooded in a The Data: controlled way it will take about 15- 20days.  Self-employed and allied accounts for nearly 50% of workers in the emerging 18th JANUARY, 2017-THE HINDU DAILY economies and 80% in developing NOTES countries.  Overall share of vulnerable workers G.S-01 dropped from 46 per cent of total employment in 2015 to 42% in 2016. But ‘Asians drove rise in world tourism numbers in only a mere 0.2 percentage point rate of 2016’ reduction through 2017-18.  The proportion of the population in jobs  The number of international tourists rose characterised by vulnerability declined by by four per cent worldwide to 1.2 billion in 2016 as Asians travelled more. : WTO

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 This is seventh consecutive year of  She promised to trigger Article 50 of the growth since 2009, when global tourism Lisbon Treaty, by March-end. (Britain has figures declined 4%. 2 years to negotiate a break-up deal).  Reasons: financial crisis, security fears,  “phased process of implementation” is and an outbreak of swine flu. expected to calm fears of a sudden jolt to  People living in Asia rose eight per cent the economy on abruptly leaving the EU. compared to 2015. Parliament to vote: Region-wise:  Parliament would now get a vote on the  Asia-Pacific area proved a popular final deal before it was implemented destination — the second-most visited which could even potentially block the region after Europe. deal.  The growth in the number of visitors to  A final settlement and trade deal could be Europe had slowed due to security simultaneously negotiated within the concerns. time-frame after Britain officially  Americas registered a growth of four per declaring the country’s intention to quit, cent in visitor numbers. or face leaving with no agreement.  Africa recovered from a sharp drop in 2015 due to security fears, recording an Significant to India: eight per cent growth.  Middle East saw a four per cent drop in  India has 800-odd Indian companies with the arrival of tourists. European headquarters in London.  In 2015, France ranked number one,  Indian companies have traditionally followed by the U.S. and Spain. But viewed Britain as their main gateway to France has been hard hit by extremist Europe, and in anticipation of a potential attacks in the past two years. hard Brexit, had begun to obtain the necessary licences to operate in the G.S-02 region.

Britain to leave EU’s single market: May Relations with nations beyond the EU:

May’s Views:  India, along with New Zealand and Australia as countries on which  Britain would leave the EU’s single discussions on future trade ties started. market in order to restrict immigration in  U.K. needs to increase significantly its a clean break from the bloc, but trade with the fastest growing export lawmakers can vote on the final deal. markets in the World.  Her emphasis on immigration controls — though focused on EU citizens during the In Davos, Xi defends globalisation speech — was also significant, signalling that the toughening of overall  China’s President Xi Jinping at the World immigration policy is unlikely to end any Economic Forum in Davos insists that time soon. globalisation was irreversible despite a  Britain would seek a trade deal giving populist backlash in the West. In what “the greatest possible access” to the amounted to a rewriting of the global market on its departure. Further, any economic order, led for decades by the divorce deal with the remaining EU U.S. members must be approved by votes in  He added Globalisation should be “more both chambers of Parliament. inclusive, more sustainable” currently existing global institutions are

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“inadequate” and should be more Position on Arunachal: “representative”.  Mr. Trump’s position on the status of 4-day WEF event: , and arms sales to India, would be of major concern to  Four day event ends as Mr. Trump takes China. office. Trump has repeatedly accused  Whether President Trump supports China of carrying out trade policies that India’s claim to Arunachal Pradesh and have led to massive loss of U.S. factory continues U.S. arms sales to India jobs. He has threatened to slap tariffs of (America’s largest customer of weapons) up to 45% on Chinese goods. is another Chinese worry about the  Mr. Xi added, It is simply “not possible” coming year. to reverse the flow of global capital,  U.S. Ambassador to India Richard Verma technology, goods and people. China was had visited Arunachal Pradesh on October committed to “opening up” and defending 21 to attend a three-day local festival in globalisation’s gains for emerging Tawang, drawing strong criticism from economies rebuking Trump’s thinking. China.  India wants the Trump-administration to Facts and Reports: acknowledge Arunachal Pradesh as part of Indian Territory.  World Economic Forum study- within advanced economies, median per capita ‘An Afghan agenda for Trump’ income fell on average 2.4% over the past 5 years, helping to explain why  On 20th Jan: Obama leaves office along disaffection is so high across the West. with it he leaves behind an unfinished  Oxfam report - eight men own the same conflict, the longest lasting and least wealth as the poorest half of the world’s successful U.S. war in history- population scaling the chasm between the Afghanistan. richest and poorest.  President of contradiction whose Afghan  Consultancy Edelman- public confidence policy proved markedly disastrous. He in institutions including in governments, wrongly believed that he would win the business, the media and NGOs slumping War on Terror militarily and by appeasing across the rich world. the military establishment in Pakistan.  The new U.S. President must address ‘Trump has declined Dalai Lama’s request for Pakistan’s treacherous role in Afghanistan a meeting’ at full tilt.  It is imperative to limit the impact of the U.S. President-elect had declined the Dalai conflict in Afghanistan on the Afghan Lama’s request for a meeting, signalling the new people, and compel Pakistan to squeeze administration’s openness to a policy review on those who harm Afghanistan and nurture, Tibet. Dalai Lama had once expressed his wish to shelter and finance forces of terror. meet Mr. Trump, but this was turned down. Double-dealing on Pakistan: Impact on India:  Letter of Promises: Obama to Karzai Any shift in U.S. position on the Dalai Lama is . concerned about the safe havens bound to have a downstream impact on India, in Pakistan and the threat they which hosts the Tibetan leader. Last month, the pose to Americans and Afghans. Chinese Foreign Ministry had expressed its . continue to use the various means “strong opposition” to the Dalai Lama’s meeting at our disposal to degrade the safe with President Pranab Mukherjee at a Rashtrapati havens [in Pakistan] and to Bhavan function. disrupt attacks into Afghanistan.

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 No serious efforts were actually blind bombardments, more drone attacks, undertaken by the Obama administration heavy reliance on special forces, fruitless “to degrade the safe havens”. 8 Years military operations in Afghan homes and Obama’s Admin remained passive in villages. taking firm action against Pakistani state  His rhetoric was that the war in support for terrorism. Afghanistan is “a war of necessity” and a  Contradicting his words Obama said that “war that we (the U.S.) have to win”. Pakistan is a strategic “ally” in the War on  An intensified U.S. drone campaign, Terror, and while already fighting a war assassinations, covert operations, in Afghanistan, his administration “cannot ineffective night raids, illegal detention of open another front against Pakistan”. more than 5,000 Afghans in the Bagram prison were not only a clear violation of India & Border Concern: Afghan sovereignty but of international law.  He repeatedly urged his Afghan  Obama administration severely counterpart to address Pakistan’s undermined human rights by downplaying “concerns” about the Indian influence in the threat of its overall military operations Afghanistan. to civilian lives in Afghanistan. The  He even suggested that Mr. Karzai find a mindless killing of the Afghan civilians “resolution of differences” on the Durand — elders, women and children — was the Line with Pakistan. He proposed that “any symptom of his weak and failed policy. issues concerning the border must come  The substantial militarisation of the U.S. through mutual agreement between the Afghan policy and the expansion of war parties concerned”. killed any chance of peace in  Mr. Karzai cleared stances on both key Afghanistan. issues: Afghanistan cannot and will never accommodate Pakistan’s desire to control Expectations: Kabul’s foreign policy, nor can it be expected to recognise the imposed  Key objectives of the U.S. foreign policy Durand Line. not expected to change under the new  The focus of Mr. Obama’s foreign policy administration. was on Pakistan rather than Afghanistan.  President Trump can avoid the errors of the past in Afghanistan. He should boost Appeasing Pakistan: the security and defence capabilities of the Afghan national armed forces.  After Killing Osama bin Laden under  On Afghanistan, Mr. Trump should Obama, Pakistan’s ISI secured “a embrace a vibrant diplomacy and regional commitment from the U.S. to give cooperation towards Russia, China, India Pakistan ‘a freer hand’ in Afghanistan to and Iran. terrorise and slaughter Afghans (mainly Hazaras) under a new brand: the Islamic G.S-03 State.  Out of $33bn U.S. assistance to Pakistan India now an associate member of CERN $21bn were given under President Obama in the name of fight against terrorism, but  India has officially become an Associate Islamabad’s policy of supporting member of CERN with the Indian terrorism and radicalism didn’t changed. government completing its internal approval procedures in respect of the Failing Afghanistan: agreement it had signed with CERN on November 21, 2016.  Obama’s policy, as seen by Afghans, was  An Agreement was signed in November about putting more boots on the ground, 2016 to admit India to CERN as an

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Associate member. But India had to and visas for smooth movement of “notify CERN of its final approval for the professionals. Agreement to enter into force” and  It said the TFS Agreement will address become an Associate member. the key issues that are pertinent to facilitating trade in services, such as As an associate member: transparency, streamlining procedures, and eliminating bottlenecks.  India will have full access to all data generated at CERN. As there are many Finance Ministry suspends Dec. 21 tax circular experiments in CERN, there will be on indirect transfers plenty of information available.  India can participate in all experiments.  In a move that will provide a respite to Also, whenever any CERN facilities get foreign portfolio investors (FPIs), venture upgraded and go through maintenance, it capital and private equity investors, the will provide opportunities for Indian central board of direct taxes (CBDT) has industries to participate. decided to put on hold its recent circular  It will also enhance the participation of on taxation of indirect transfers. young scientists and engineers in  In December 2016, the tax department operation and maintenance of various issued a clarification on the scope of CERN projects. indirect transfer provisions that sought to even apply these provisions to FPIs. This Industry seeks foreign partners for trade pact would have taxed any profits made by funds with underlying assets (including  India’s top industry bodies are attempting equities) in India. to build a coalition with counterparts in  This would have subjected FPIs, other nations with similar interests to give especially those with India-focused funds, a fillip to the country’s proposal for a to greater scrutiny by the income-tax (I-T) Trade Facilitation in Services (TFS) department and led to double taxation in Agreement at the World Trade many cases. Organisation (WTO)-level.  It was estimated that 181 publicly traded  The proposed TFS pact, among other funds whose India exposure is more than things, aims to make it easier for half of total assets could be affected by professionals and skilled workers to move this move. These funds managed $39 across borders for short-term work, as billion of assets. well as ensure portability of their social  This had forced many foreign investors to security contributions. make representations to the finance  India is making the case for this pact in ministry asking the latter to reconsider the line with the Trade Facilitation circular. Agreement (TFA) in goods, signed by WTO in 2014. It aims at expediting Centre mulls easing FDI norm for single brand movement, release and clearance of goods retail as well as co-operation on customs compliance issues.  The govt. is considering allowing 100 %  Pitching for a trade facilitation agreement FDI through automatic route in single in services in WTO, India had floated a brand retail with certain conditions. concept note in September 2016 saying  Currently, FDI up to 49 % is permitted the pact will reduce transaction costs by under the automatic route but beyond that doing away with unnecessary regulatory limit, government’s nod is required. and administrative burden on trade in  Foreign investment is allowed subject to services. certain conditions, which require products  India had proposed simplification of to be of a ‘single brand’ only and to be procedures and clarity in work permits sold under the same brand globally.

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 FDI beyond 51 %, it is mandatory to business — isn’t scuttled by fears of a source 30 % of the value of goods return to inspector raj. purchased from India, preferably MSMEs. SC asks govt. to file status report on Ganga In the nick of time rejuvenation

 A compromise has been reached between  Supreme Court sought a fresh status the Centre and the States on the formula report from the Centre on what it was for administrative control over taxpayers doing to revive the holy river after the under the GST. government’s self-proclaimed promise to  The authority to levy GST on all services clean up the Ganga river become 2 years entities and manufacturing firms with old. ₹1.5 crore or more annual turnover centre  The report was sought on a 32-year-old allowed the states there way. pending public interest litigation petition  The new control-sharing system: filed by environmental lawyer, M.C.  90% of all GST assessees with a Mehta. turnover of up to ₹1.5 crore will  In 2014, the Supreme Court said that its come under the watch of the “last hope” rested on the National Green States. Tribunal (NGT) and referred the task of  10% under that of the Centre, monitoring industrial units along the with both getting to assess half of Ganga to the NGT. the firms with a turnover over  The court had even empowered the ₹1.5 crore. tribunal to cut off water and power  The trickiest issues between the Centre connections if the units are found to be and the States are now resolved and only polluting the river. The court had legislative drafts remain to be approved observed that official apathy coupled with when the Council meets next on February “failure at various levels” in both the 18. State and the Central Pollution Control  Centre rest its hopes of an April 1, 2017 Board had led to the Ganga dying at the rollout ‘more realistic’ July 1. hands of “highly” and “grossly” polluting units, which flushed their untreated Industry Concerns: effluents into the river without any checks.  Firms would need about six months to gear up for the new tax regime once the IITs’ consortium: laws, rules and all the minutiae of implementation, including the rates for  In January 2015, a consortium of IITs was different products and services, are preparing a road map to rejuvenate the known. river. a proposal is on track to have a total  More clarity and finesse are also needed of 80 sewage treatment plants (STPs) on the harsh penal provisions, including which would process, in a day, 368 the power to arrest, proposed in the draft million litres of water flowing into the GST law (that lists out 21 offences) river in the five river basin States.  The creation of an anti-profiteering  The Ganga River Basin Management Plan authority that can act against firms that (GRBMP) 2015 drafted by the IIT fail to pass on benefits of tax rate cuts to consortium had pointed to several consumers. problems, from rapid urbanisation to  A clear rule-based framework is over-grazing, which has led to the slow necessary to ensure that one of the biggest destruction of the river was submitted by gains envisaged from GST — an Govt. in March, 2015. exponential change in ease of doing

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Domestic air passenger traffic grew 23% in 19th JANUARY, 2017-THE HINDU DAILY 2016 NOTES

 India’s domestic air passenger traffic G.S-01 grew 23.18% to about 10 crore in 2016 compared with the previous year, data Jaipur Lit Fest’s theme is ‘Freedom to dream’ released by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA). The 10th edition of the Jaipur Literature Festival  In 2016, India’s air traffic stood at 9.98 (JLF) beginning at the historic Diggi Palace crore passengers compared with 8.19 situated in the heart of Jaipur. crore in 2015 which had seen a 21% growth. “Freedom to dream: India at 70” will be the theme  In 2016, 63.8% of all passengers flew of the event. using low-cost airlines, such as IndiGo, SpiceJet and GoAir, up from 59.7% in The five-day festival will witness participation of 2015. over 250 authors, thinkers, politicians, journalists and popular culture icons, while the number of  Low-cost airline IndiGo continued to audience is expected to surpass last year’s figure dominate in 2016 with a 2.6% increase in of 3.30 lakh. its market share to 39.3%.SpiceJet’s passenger share rose to 12.7% from Discussion on RSS: 11.6% a year ago. Vistara carrying 2.5% of the total passengers and AirAsia, 2.4%. JLF will witness intense participation of speakers  Full-service airlines Air India, Jet discussing the topics ranging from civil wars and Airways and GoAir declined in 2016. cultural appropriations to women’s empowerment,  India has 35 crore middle-class citizens experiments with truth and understanding but the number of tickets sold was only aesthetics. eight crore. The government expects the number of tickets sold to go up to 30 A session devoted to the theme, “Saffron and the crore by 2022. Sangh, which will have Rashtriya Swayamsevak  Reason: A dip in aviation turbine fuel Sangh leaders Dattatreya Hosabale and prices by 8% on an average in 2016 Manmohan Vaidya in conversation with Pragya allowed airlines to offer fares that were Tiwari, has already generated curiosity in view of lower by about 14%.(Aviation turbine the RSS ideology being discussed for the first fuel cost contributes about 40% of the time in the event. total cost of the operations of airlines.)  According to CAPA report titled Aviation Ramjas concludes centenary celebrations Outlook for 2017-18: o India’s domestic market is on  Ramjas College completed 100 years of track to surpass 10 crore fulfilling their promise of quality passengers in 2016-17 and India education. The College, situated on the will likely overtake Japan this North Campus. financial year to become the third  Ramjas College is one of the oldest largest domestic market behind educational institutes, founded by Rai the U.S. and China. Kedarnath. o India will witness the third  The college was named in memory of Lala consecutive year of domestic Ramjas, the father of Rai Kedarnath. growth above 20% in 2017-18  The college was set up with the aim to and the growth could be as high cater to the educational needs of middle as 25% and lower middle sections of the society.  It was inaugurated by Mahatma Gandhi at its Old campus in Anand Parbat. Many

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students of the collage participated in the binding nature of the Indian Divorce Act Quit India Movement. of 1869, which governs divorce among Christians. TN takes jallikattu issue to PM  The implication of the Canon law is confined to either theological or  CM O. Panneerselvam leaves for Delhi to ecclesiastical, but has no legal impact on take up the issue with Prime Minister the divorce or annulment of marriage Narendra Modi after pro-jallikattu (bull- between two persons professing the taming sport) protests swell into a mass Christian religion. movement.  After the Divorce Act came into force, a  ‘It is our right’ dissolution or annulment under such o Representatives refused to call off personal law cannot have any legal impact their agitation as they were as statute has provided a different waiting the outcome of the procedure and a different code for divorce scheduled talks between Mr. or annulment. Modi and Mr. Panneerselvam.  Triple talaq argument  The Protest: o In petition it was argued that o Initiated on social media when courts can recognise platforms, the protests which dissolution by triple talaq under were initially confined to the the Mohammedan personal law, college student community and they should also recognise the rural folk, overnight turned into a Canon law as the personal law of mass movement of sorts. Indian Catholics. o The protesters demanded the o It also asked why courts lifting of the ban on Jallikattu or prosecute Roman Catholics under an ordinance. They also sought a Section 494 of the Indian Penal ban on PETA. Code for the alleged offence of o The Protest spawned overnight at bigamy without considering the the Marina in Chennai, Canon law. Alanganallur in Madurai, VOC o The petitioner, had contended that Grounds in Coimbatore and other the case touched the lives of over districts. one crore citizens “who are Indian Christians/ Catholics governed by Jallikattu supporters attack police team, damage the Code of Canon Law both three vehicles when law enforcers prevented them regarding marriage and its from organising jallikattu near St Antony’s dissolution.” Church at Kandupatti after celebrating o The court is presently hearing a ‘Samathuva Pongal’. row of petitions, including a suo motu one, on whether practices of G.S-02 Islamic personal law like triple talaq and polygamy discriminate ‘Church courts’ cannot veto divorce law, says against Muslim women. Supreme Court  Marriage & dissolution: o The Canon law enjoins that The Supreme Court said Canon law and decrees Catholics are required to marry in of divorce given by ecclesiastical tribunals or a Catholic church and equally ‘Church Courts’ cannot veto the statutory law of enjoins that they seek nullity in divorce. the canonical court (ecclesiastical court/ tribunal) also under the 1996 verdict: Code of Canon Law. Otherwise, the marriage and the dissolution  The SC 1996 judgment on Molly Joseph versus George Sebastian upholding the 67 | P a g e http://www.currentaffairsonly.com

will not be recognised by the Commission to frame the Catholic Church. amendments. o The Commission besides, life Death by adulterated food may lead to life term imprisonment, recommended that the guilty should pay the victim's  The Law Commission of India has family a sum of Rs. 10 lakh as recommended life imprisonment for fine for his crime. traders, businessmen and shopkeepers o The Commission borrowed the found guilty of the death of their example of three States – Orissa, customers by intentionally selling them Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal – adulterated or “noxious” food and drink. to recommend life imprisonment  The suggested amendments in penal law to those found guilty of causing for food adulteration is the focus of the death by food adulteration. Commission's 264th report titled 'The  The Law Commission recommendations Criminal Law (Amendment) Bill 2017 are now on the government's table, (Provisions dealing with Food awaiting a decision. Adulteration)'.  Victims of greed: India, Sri Lanka in talks on port o Lives of pregnant women and children in anganwadis and Sri Lanka is in talks to offer the port of government schools, fall victim to Trincomalee to India, the decision on offering the the greed of individuals looking port to India will be taken soon. for a slight margin by selling adulterated food and drinks to Trincomalee has been on the table for sometime unsuspecting consumers. as Sri Lanka wants to maintain a neutral stand and  Weak Law: provide equal access to its ports to both China and o Currently, under Sections 272 and India. 273 of Indian Penal Code, 1860, the guilty get away with either a Hambantota hurdles: fine of Rs. 1000 or, rarely, an imprisonment of 6 months for Hambantota port in Sri lanka being developed by selling adulterated or noxious the China, who carried out major infrastructural food and drink with fatal results. work at the Hambantota port in southern coast of o Supreme Court direction to the the island nation, has put a heavy burden on the government in Swami country. Achyutanand Tirth versus Union of India, which dealt with Sri Lanka is willing to address India’s concerns rampant adulteration in milk on the visit of Chinese nuclear submarines to Sri supplied to school students, for Lanka. urgent amendments in the penal law and bring punishment on Debt Burden: food adulteration up to the times. The port of Hambantota was conceived as a major  Paltry fine: Sri Lanka-China project during the presidency of o A fine of Rs. 1000 or a rare six Mahinda Rajapakse, but the controversy around months in prison was hardly a the debt burden has slowed down the project. deterrent for a crime causing deaths and grievous injury to a Colombo is aware of its responsibilities in the cross-section of the society. Indian Ocean region, and is committed to freedom  Commission’s Stand: of navigation. o The government had in turn referred the matter to the Law Respect sovereignty, India tells China

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 Asserting its territorial sovereignty, India  Pratham's Annual Status of Education said at second edition of the Raisina (Rural) report for 2016: Dialogue that the China-Pakistan o In U.P the fraction of out-of- Economic Corridor (CPEC) passes school children between six and through its territory. 14 years of age climbing to 5.3 %  China and Pakistan have fast-tracked from 4.9 % between 2014 and work on CPEC, a large part of which 2016. passes through Pakistan-occupied o Madhya Pradesh and Kashmir. Once completed, CPEC will Chhattisgarh — also share the provide an all-weather energy route for dubious distinction, with fractions China from the Gulf. of out-of-school children  Reports of China-Pakistan naval climbing from 3.4 % to 4.4 % in cooperation in Gwadar port of the former, and from 2 per cent to Balochistan, which will serve as the entry 2.8 % in the latter in the same point to CPEC increases India’s concerns. time span.  Dynamic factor: o Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Manipur, o China’s rise was a major West Bengal and Madhya “dynamic” factor in the Asian Pradesh has low attendance rates affairs and reminded the audience of children, at 50-60 %. that differences with China had o The all-India enrolment ratio for not gone away. the age-group of six to 14 has o China’s overall broadening of slightly improved from 96.7 % in ties, especially in business and 2014 to 96.9 % in 2016. people-to-people contacts, has o The proportion of out-of-school been overshadowed by girls between 11 and 14 years of differences on certain political age still stays higher than 8% In issues. Uttar Pradesh (9.9 % ), Rajasthan  Differences with China: (9.7 % ) and Madhya Pradesh (8.5 o CPEC and the “political issues” %) but some States continue to are significant as both India and under-perform. China have dealt with the o Usable toilet availability is rising, differences over the last several with 68.7 % schools now having months. usable toilets as against 47.2 % in o India’s membership bid in the 2010. Just 3.5 % schools visited Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) across India had no toilets in was scuttled by China in the year 2016. 2016. o There was nationally no increase o China’s territorial assertion over in private school enrolment Asia, received a jolt in July 2016 between 2014 and 2016. when the Permanent Court of  Areas of concern: in reading and Arbitration gave an adverse arithmetic ability verdict on the South China Sea o English-reading ability: issue. . At Class 3 students at the o India’s position on South China all-India level has Sea was in sync with the increased, with 32 % international position. students in 2016 — compared with 28.5 % in Uttar Pradesh registers increase in number of 2014 — being able to out-of-school children read simple words. . 60.2 % Class 8 students Pratham annual report says the State also has a could read simple low attendance rate, along with Bihar & Manipur. sentences in 2009, the

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number was 46.7 % in Finance that about Rs. 9.2 lakh crore had 2014 and 45.2 % in 2016. been put back in circulation since the . The ability to read demonetisation on November 8. English at Class 5 level,  After 8th November 86% (Rs. 15.44 lakh however, stays crore) — of currency notes in circulation unchanged. till then strucked.  No computers:  On demonetised currency that had been o In Rural Schools just 20 % schools deposited back in banks still on had computers in 2016, marginally continuing. RBI rejected media reports higher than 19.6 % in 2014. that 97% of the demonetised currency was o In Kerala 89% schools had back in the system. computers, Gujarat 75.2%,  RBI said figures would need to be Maharashtra 55.1% Tamil Nadu reconciled with the physical cash balances 57.3%. to eliminate accounting errors/possible  double counts, etc without which estimates may not indicate actual Court decrees can’t be flouted, warns SC numbers.  The liability of the RBI has not been  Supreme Court warned on decrees passed extinguished, denying the government the in the Sutlej-Yamuna Link (SYL) canal fiscal space for greater social sector dispute between Punjab and Haryana spending. cannot be flouted.  The printing of Rs. 2,000 notes had begun  The interim order of status quo will in June 2016. continue which asked the Centre and  The demonetisation decision by the Punjab to file their replies to Haryana’s government and the RBI — taken at the plea seeking compliance of court’s order. behest of the govt. — took about one year to plan. Status quo:  Once the money has passed through the system, it will be scrutinised in order to  The reports of the Union Home Secretary, catch the wrongdoers. Chief Secretary of Punjab and Director General of Police of Punjab, who were Prototype of super, super computer in 2017 appointed as court receivers of the land and other properties of the canal, have  To win a global race to be the first to indicated that status quo has been build a machine capable of a billion, maintained. billion calculations per second, China  Haryana has not challenged the Punjab plans to develop a prototype exascale Termination of Agreement Act, 2004, and computer by the end of the year. therefore it has not been set aside till now.  China built the world’s fastest  The effect of the apex court’s decree supercomputer, the Sunway TaihuLight cannot be there unless the Act passed by machine, in June last year. legislature is nullified.  It used only locally made microchips, making it the first time a country has The answers to Presidential reference fell under taken the top spot without using U.S. the advisory jurisdiction and hence the court has technology. not set aside the Act.  Of the top 10 fastest computers, two are in China and five in the US as of G.S-03 November,2016.  The Exascale Computers: Rs. 9.2 lakh cr. back in circulation: RBI chief o Exascale computers are even more powerful, and can execute  Urjit Patel Governor RBI told the Parliamentary Standing Committee on 70 | P a g e http://www.currentaffairsonly.com

at least one quintillion (a billion Regional connectivity plan nets proposals to billion) calculations per second. revive 65 airports o A complete computing system of the exascale supercomputer and  The Airports Authority of India has its applications can only be received 45 proposals from 11 bidders expected in 2020, and will be 200 covering more than 200 routes for the times more powerful than the regional connectivity scheme. country’s first petaflop computer  Operators Interest Tianhe-1. o The operators have submitted o The exascale computer could plans covering 65 airports, out of have applications in big data and which 52 are un-served airports cloud computing work, he added, which haven’t seen a single flight noting that its prototype would for more than a year and the lead the world in data remaining 13 are under-served transmission efficiency as well as airports where less than seven calculation speed. commercial flight departures take  Despite some gains the country’s place in a week. scientific output still lags behind, and its o Operators interested in universities fare poorly in global rankings. Underserved airports: Kadapa in Andhra Pradesh, Jamnagar and Trump’s hair inspires naming of tiny moth Bhavnagar in Gujarat, Jorhat in Assam, Kullu in Himachal  Scientists have named a species of moth Pradesh, Diu, Puducherry, Agra after U.S. President-elect Donald Trump. in Uttar Pradesh, Pant Nagar in  By naming this species after the 45th Uttarakhand, Gwalior in Madhya President of the U.S it bring some public Pradesh and Durgapur in West attention to and interest in the importance Bengal. of alpha-taxonomy in better o Some of the unserved airports, understanding the neglected micro-fauna proposed to be revived for component of the North American regional flights, include Bilaspur biodiversity. and Jagdalpur in Chhattisgarh,  About Neopalpa donaldtrumpi: Jamshedpur in Jharkhand, o The adult of the species stands Jeypore and Jharsuguda in out with yellowish-white scales Odisha, Jalandhar in Punjab, on the head. Kandla in Gujarat, Kolhapur and o The discovery of this distinct Latur in Maharashtra. micro-moth in the densely  The Scheme: populated southern California. o As per the scheme, the Centre o The twirler moth lives in a will subsidise the losses incurred substantially urbanised and by airlines flying out of dormant populated habitat, stretching airports, to allow airlines to across the states of California in charge ₹2,500 for an hour’s flight the U.S. and Baja California in to passengers. Mexico. The habitat is under o About 80% of the subsidy will be serious threat. collected by charging a levy of up o The moth [Neopalpa to ₹8,500 on each departing flight donaldtrumpi], specimen already of domestic airlines and the rest exists in the collections of the 20% will come from the Bohart Museum of Entomology at respective state governments. the University of California. o The Centre has now invited counter-bids against these initial proposals and will accept them till February 1. The routes or 71 | P a g e http://www.currentaffairsonly.com

networks would be awarded to 20th JANUARY, 2017-THE HINDU DAILY bidders who quote the lowest NOTES requirement of Viability Gap Funding (VGF) against such G.S-01 routes. U.K. seeks Indian help in resolving Chagos 2016 was the hottest year on record Archipelago dispute

 Temperatures spiked to new national  The British Foreign Secretary has sought highs in parts of India, Kuwait and Iran, Indian assistance in resolving current while sea ice melted faster than ever in tensions between the U.K., the U.S. and the fragile Arctic, said the report by the Mauritius over the future of the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric military base Diego Garcia, and the Administration. Indian Ocean Chagos Archipelago.  Taking a global average of the land and  A warning from Mauritius last year that it sea surface temperatures for the entire would push to take the matter to the year, NOAA found the data for “2016 was International Court of Justice. the highest since record keeping began in  In India’s interest: 1880”. o Ensuring the future of Diego  The global average temperature last year Garcia would be in India’s was 0.94˚C above the 20th century security interest in the region. average, and 0.04˚C warmer than in 2015.  The Chagos Islands — referred to by the  A separate analysis by the U.S. space British as the British Indian Ocean agency NASA also found that 2016 was Territory, but which is not recognised as the hottest on record. such by Mauritius — is home to the U.S. military base Diego Garcia. The Findings:  In the 1960s and 1970s, inhabitants were removed from the islands. Mauritius  Atmospheric concentrations of both maintaining that the archipelago remains carbon dioxide and methane reached its integral part. record levels. The main reason for the rise  Mauritius holds legally binding rights to is the burning of fossil fuels like oil and fish in the waters surrounding the Chagos gas, which send carbon dioxide, methane Archipelago, to the eventual return of the and other pollutants known as greenhouse Chagos Archipelago to Mauritius when gasses into the atmosphere and warm the no longer needed for defence purposes, planet. and to the preservation of the benefit of  Since the start of the 21st century, the any minerals or oil discovered in or near annual global temperature record has been the Chagos Archipelago pending its broken five times [2005, 2010, 2014, eventual return. 2015 and 2016]  In March 2015, a tribunal brought against  The Pacific Ocean warming trend of El the U.K. under the UN Convention on the Nino, which experts say exacerbates the Law of the Sea found that the Marine planet’s already rising warmth. Protected Area brought in by the U.K.  Unusual spikes in temperature were seen around the Archipelago in 2010 (but not in Phalodi, India, which reached 51˚C on including Diego Garcia) was not May 19 — marking India’s hottest compatible with Britain’s obligations temperature ever. Dehloran, Iran hit 53˚C under the convention. on July 22, a new national record.  In November, 2016 U.K. government Mitribah, Kuwait hit an all-time high of announced in Parliament that it had ruled 54˚C on July 21, which may be the out the resettlement of the islanders on the highest temperature ever recorded in all of grounds of “feasibility, defence and Asia. security interests… and the cost to the

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British taxpayer”. It also renewed the TN can enact law to treat jallikattu as lease for Diego Garcia, up until 2036. traditional sport  The Mauritius government reacted furiously following the November  The Attorney-General said that the State announcement. government has the power to enact a law  A positive move to treat jallikattu as a traditional sport. As o The British — acting on the it came under the exclusive jurisdiction of request of the U.S. — are hopeful the State as per the Constitution. that India may be able to exercise  The law can allow the sport subject to its influence with the Mauritian stringent conditions that there will not be government to help the three anybody at a distance of 100 feet, nobody sides come to some agreement, to can throw stones or do any acts of cruelty prevent the situation from and if the same are found to be done, then escalating. there can be punishment, so that the o While India has maintained that concerns of the Supreme Court rendered the matter of whether or not to in the judgment, the concerns about proceed with the UN General cruelty, are also kept in view and a Assembly move is a decision for balanced position can be found by the the Mauritian government to State. make, the approach by the U.K. is seen by the Indian side as a Regarding the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals positive move, signalling Act is a central law which can be amended by Britain’s eagerness to partner Parliament but if it is a sport in a local area, “let with India on security matters in the State make the law relating to the sport minus the region. any cruelty, with stringent punishment” for those who commit cruelty. Jallikattu protests snowball, bandh today G.S-02  Mass protestors on third day demand the Centre and the Tamil Nadu government EC seeks more details on budget presentation take legal steps to hold jallikattu.  Chennai getting ready for dawn-to-dusk  The Election Commission has asked the bandh on Friday; holiday declared by Govt. to furnish details on the procedure schools in Chennai, south Tamil Nadu. followed by the then UPA-II government  Asserting identity: for postponing the Union Budget o Thousands of people, presentation in 2012. predominantly students pressed  Opposition parties demanding that the on with their strong uprising Budget presentation be postponed in view against the Centre to redeem of the Assembly elections in five States. ‘Tamil identity and culture.’ They alleged that Budget announcements reminiscent of the anti-Hindi might help the ruling party influence agitation in the 1960s, also voters. fuelled by students.  Central government response: o It started as a social media protest o The Union Budget is an annual for jallikattu which turned into a constitutional exercise and it massive movement — peaceful, covers the entire country. self-regulated and leaderless. o It also stuck to its decision to o Agitators vent their ire on Modi, advance the Budget presentation Panneerselvam; politicians kept arguing that it was done to ensure out of uprising driven by social that the budgetary allocations media. were made well in time, allowing various sectors to expedite

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implementation of government bigamy without considering the projects. Canon law.  This year, the Budget session is to start from January 31 and the next day, the o The petitioner, had contended that Union Budget and the Economic Survey the case touched the lives of over are scheduled to be presented. one crore citizens “who are Indian Christians/ Catholics governed by ‘Church courts’ cannot veto divorce law, says the Code of Canon Law both Supreme Court regarding marriage and its dissolution.” The Supreme Court said Canon law and decrees of divorce given by ecclesiastical tribunals or  The court is presently hearing a row of ‘Church Courts’ cannot veto the statutory law of petitions, including a suo motu one, on divorce. whether practices of Islamic personal law like triple talaq and polygamy 1996 verdict: discriminate against Muslim women.  Marriage & dissolution:  The SC 1996 judgment on Molly Joseph versus George Sebastian upholding the o The Canon law enjoins that binding nature of the Indian Divorce Act Catholics are required to marry in of 1869, which governs divorce among a Catholic church and equally Christians. enjoins that they seek nullity in the canonical court (ecclesiastical  The implication of the Canon law is court/ tribunal) also under the confined to either theological or Code of Canon Law. Otherwise, ecclesiastical, but has no legal impact on the marriage and the dissolution the divorce or annulment of marriage will not be recognised by the between two persons professing the Catholic Church. Christian religion. Safe childhoods for a safe India  After the Divorce Act came into force, a dissolution or annulment under such  Government of India ratifies the personal law cannot have any legal impact International Labour Organisation (ILO) as statute has provided a different Convention 182 on the worst forms of procedure and a different code for divorce child labour and Convention 138 on or annulment. Minimum Age of Employment. About 4.3 million children wake up to a day of  Triple talaq argument labour and not school. Another 9.8 million are officially out-of-school. o In petition it was argued that when courts can recognise  Child labour perpetuates illiteracy and dissolution by triple talaq under poverty. It is the root cause of organised the Mohammedan personal law, crimes such as human trafficking, terror they should also recognise the and drug mafia. Canon law as the personal law of Indian Catholics.  An African epiphany: o It also asked why courts o It was the language of prosecute Roman Catholics under compassion and humanity that Section 494 of the Indian Penal would help accelerate the global Code for the alleged offence of movement against childhood exploitation. 74 | P a g e http://www.currentaffairsonly.com

o The Global March Against Child pornography, use of children for Labour, began in January 1998 illicit activities such as drug from Abuja, the capital city of trafficking, and exposure to any Nigeria traversed 80,000 hazardous work which is likely to kilometres across 103 countries harm the health, safety or morals and became a strong group of 7.2 of children. million marchers culminated finally in Geneva on 1st June with o Under the provisions of the ILO ILO conference. Conventions 182 and 138, India will not adhere to a fixed deadline o The voice of the marchers by which the worst forms of child demand for an international labour must be eliminated. It will convention to ban the worst forms ultimately depend on the level of of child labour was heard and moral courage, public concern, reflected in the draft of the ILO social empathy, political will and Convention 182. the implementation of resources invested in the development and o In June 1999, delegates of the protection of children. ILO unanimously adopted the convention. It was the first time 80% IS suspects educated in schools, not that a convention or treaty had madrasas were in the 25- 40 age bracket been adopted with the full support of all members.

 Clearing the hurdles:  As per National Investigation Agency ( NIA) that 80% of the persons arrested for o The main problem in the way of alleged links to the Islamic State ( IS) India ratifying Conventions 182 went to formal schools and only 20% had and 138 [two of the eight core studied at madrasas ( Islamic seminaries). labour conventions] was  NIA arrested 52 persons for allegedly addressing forced or compulsory plotting terror attacks and being part of recruitment of children and the banned outfit in 2016. appropriately raising the age of  47 of the accused were from the Sunni employment in hazardous sect of Islam and 5 had converted from occupations from 14 to 18 years. Hinduism and Christianity. o 50% of the suspects were o The Child Labour (Prohibition followers of Ahle Hadith ( or and Regulation) Amendment Bill, Salafis/ Wahabis who follow the 2016 by the Indian Parliament puritanical form of Islam prohibiting the employment of promoted by Saudi Arabia). children up to 14 years of age, o 30% followed Tablighi Jamaat ( and children up to 18 years of age Sunni Islamic movement). in hazardous occupations. o Only 20% were Deobandis ( Islamic school based in o The government will take Saharanpur, Uttar Pradesh) and immediate and effective measures none of them was from the to prohibit and eliminate the Barelvi sect. worst forms of child labour: child slavery (including the sale and Social Background: trafficking of children, debt bondage, and forced recruitment o An analysis of their educational for armed conflict), child qualifications indicated that 20 prostitution and their use in were graduates and had 75 | P a g e http://www.currentaffairsonly.com

professional degrees, 12 were  The Centre had announced special diploma holders, 13 had done packages for the apparel sector in June their matriculation, 4 studied till last year and for made-ups (an article the senior secondary level and manufactured and/or stitched from any three were post- graduates. type of cloth, other than a garment) in o 30 were from the middle- income December. group, 9 from the upper- middle-  It is expected there will be no changes in income group and 13 from the the optional CENVAT that is lower- income group. implemented now.  The textile and clothing sector has sought Proximity rule unconstitutional, unfair to the lowest duty slab of 5% without minorities: HC exemptions for any segment of the value chain, according to industry The Delhi High Court termed AAP government’s representatives. guidelines to minority unaided schools to grant  About 60% of the Indian textile industry admission to minority community students only is cotton-based and 80% of textile and from the neighbourhood or from within a radius of clothing exports are also cotton-based. 1 kilometre as “Unconstitutional”. Airlines yet to collect cess for regional fund It is against the settled principle of law as per Centre to keep options open on funding the Article 13 of the Constitution. scheme

Inclined to grant stay:

The HC grant a stay on the January 7 notification  Most of the domestic airlines have refused of the Delhi government in favour of minority to charge a levy on air tickets that will schools. finance the regional connectivity fund.  The Centre will explore other efficient The petitions were filed by Mount Carmel School means to fund the scheme if domestic and Somerville School against the government airlines do not come on board, as the notification that the private schools on Centre wants to start services under the government land will have to compulsorily admit regional connectivity scheme by March. students from within one kilometre radius.  Counter bids Directive unlawful: o The Centre has received 45 proposals from 11 bidders This is against the basic structure of the covering more than 200 routes Constitution. The law and the Supreme Court under its regional connectivity judgments that gave authority to minority scheme. institutions was to ensure that the minorities do o 15 of them have agreed to provide not feel alienated. all the requisite infrastructure concessions along with the balance 20% subsidy for flight operations under the regional G.S-03 connectivity scheme. o It has now invited counter bids Textile industry seeks 5% duty under GST against these initial proposals that cover 65 under served or unserved airports.  The Scheme:  The textile industry wants a uniform duty o Under the scheme, the Centre will of 5% under the Goods and Services Tax subsidise the losses incurred by (GST). the airlines in flying out of

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airports with low passenger  Upgrading infrastructure: volumes. o National Informatics Centre or o The airlines will be allowed to NIC is the technology charge passengers ₹2,500 for an infrastructure arm of the hour’s flight. About 80% of the government and plays a key role subsidy will be collected from the in Digital India. airlines that will charge a levy of o As a pilot project, 150 District up to ₹8,500 on each departing NIC offices would be upgraded flight. The balance 20% will during 2017-18. come from the respective state governments. No demand from IAF; India goes slow on  Legal tangle: Hawk variant o The Federation of Indian Airlines, which represents IndiGo, Jet  Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) Airways, SpiceJet and GoAir, has and BAE Systems have teamed up to dragged the Centre to the courts develop the combat variant, which will be challenging the levy of up to a slow flying, ground support aircraft. The ₹8,500 on domestic flights from two had signed a Memorandum of 1st December. Understanding (MoU) in the past to o The Delhi High Court will now explore the possibility. hear the airlines’ plea on February  Development of a combat variant of the 1. Hawk Advanced Jet Trainer (AJT) slows down as there has been no demand for it Centre awards ₹60.9 crore as prize money for from the Indian Air Force. digital payments  India had contracted 123 Hawk Mk-132 AJT aircraft from BAE Systems of the  The Centre has so far awarded ₹60.9 crore U.K. for the IAF and the Navy. Another as prize money to over 3.81 lakh order for 20 aircraft to equip the Surya consumers and 21,000 merchants under Kiran aerobatics team is in an advanced its two lucky draw schemes – Lucky stage. Grahak Yojana and Digi-Dhan Vyapar  HAL is assembling the Hawks in India Yojana – announced to boost digital under a license. payments post demonetisation, unveiled  Under the new plan, the idea is to equip on December 25 and will remain open till the Hawk jet with air-to-air and air-to- April 14. ground missiles, rockets and bombs to  Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil transform it into a combat platform. Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and Karnataka have  Discussions are under way between HAL emerged as the top five states with the and BAE Systems to work out the model maximum number of winners in the age of development of the advanced Hawk. group of 21-30 years.  Inculcating digital: o Over 100 Digi-Dhan Melas will 21st JANUARY, 2017-THE HINDU DAILY be held across the country “to NOTES inculcate digital payment among the people”. G.S-01 o About 24 Digi-Dhan Melas have been held across the country so IS wreaks havoc again in Syria’s Palmyra far since December 25.  Islamic State group has demolished more o The Common Service Centres treasured monuments in Syria’s ancient (CSCs) have so far trained about Palmyra, a month after recapturing it from 1.94 crore citizens and 5.93 lakh government forces. merchants on transacting using digital payment systems. 77 | P a g e http://www.currentaffairsonly.com

 10 days ago, Daesh destroyed the fundamental, religious and tetrapylon,” a 16-columned structure that cultural rights of the people of marked one end of the ancient city’s Tamil Nadu, especially when colonnade, using an Arabic acronym for such bulls and cows are treated as the terror outfit. a part of the farmers’ families.  In March, IS razed world-famous temples o Home Ministry has assured that and tower tombs at the site. The IS the file would be processed as recaptured Palmyra late last year as early as possible so that ordinance Syria’s government waged a fierce battle could be promulgated in the two to take back all of the northern city of or three days. Aleppo from rebel forces.  History at Palmyra: SC bows to Centre’s plea on verdict o The tetrapylon, built during the rule of the Roman Emperor  Supreme Court agreed to the Centre’s Diocletian in the 3rd Century AD, plea to defer its judgment on the Centre’s consisted of four sets of four January 7 notification re-introducing bulls pillars each supporting massive as ‘performing animals’, even though just stone cornices. last week it had refused a plea by several o The monument had suffered lawyers to pronounce the jallikattu verdict considerable damage over the before the start of Pongal. centuries and only one of the 16 pillars was still standing in its  The court had termed it an issue of original Egyptian pink granite. “police excess” and asked the applicant to The rest were cement replicas go to the Madras High Court. erected by the antiquities  A review petition filed by the Tamil Nadu department in 1963. government against the 2014 judgment was also dismissed by the Supreme Court G.S-02 in November 2016.  Petitions challenging the Centre’s January Ordinance to clear path for holding jallikattu 7, 2016 notification re-introducing bulls  The Centre cleared the Tamil Nadu as ‘performing animals’ were reserved for government’s proposal to promulgate an judgment by the Supreme Court. The ordinance to hold jallikattu, a bull taming court had also stayed the notification on sport. pleas made by animal activists.  State government had proposed to issue an ordinance since the subject falls in the G.S-03 Concurrent list of the Constitution, it was China’s GDP growth beats expectations mandatory to get a nod from the Centre.  Home Ministry and Environment and Law Ministries gave there clearance to the  China’s economy grew a faster-than- draft for the ordinance. expected 6.8% in the fourth quarter,  Now State Govt. can promulgate it by boosted by higher government spending introducing it either as a Bill in the and record bank lending. Assembly or the State Cabinet can clear  The economy expanded 6.7% in 2016 the it. It doesn’t have to go to the President of slowest pace in 26 years. India for his assent since his powers are  Rising debt-to-GDP ratio: vested with the Home Ministry. o China’s debt-to-GDP ratio rose to  Centre for solution: 277% at the end of 2016 from o 46 AIADMK parliamentarians 254% the previous year, with an met Home Minister Rajnath increasing share of new credit Singh and submitted a being used to pay debt servicing memorandum, stating that the ban costs. on jallikattu was against the 78 | P a g e http://www.currentaffairsonly.com

o The 4th quarter was the first time o Rapid monetary expansion and in two years that the world’s expectations of slower economic second-largest economy has growth at home, along with a shown an uptick in economic rising U.S. dollar, also hit the growth. yuan. o The impact of government efforts o China’s sluggish exports could at structural reforms, and a also come under fresh pressure if potentially testy relationship with U.S. President-elect Donald a new U.S. administration. Trump follows through on o A slowdown in the property pledges to impose tough market and steps to address protectionist measures. supply shortages in the o Trump advisers and cabinet- commodity sector put pressure on nominees have identified the demand and output. U.S.-China relationship as in need  Sector wise: of adjustment to support the o Housing helped prop up growth president-elect’s objective of a again in the fourth quarter, with manufacturing renaissance. property investment rising a surprisingly strong 11.1% in Cooperative banks cannot accept PMGKY December from 5.7% in deposits November. o Consumer spending was also The government announced that cooperative strong, with retail sales in banks will not be authorised to accept deposits December rising at their fastest under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Deposit pace in a year on stronger sales of Scheme due to irregularities in book-keeping at cars and cosmetics. cooperative banks. o Fixed asset investment grew 8.1%, the slowest pace since Official Notification: 1999, as investment by private firms slowed again in December Application for the deposit in the form of Bonds on a monthly basis. Ledger Account shall be received by any banking o Consumption contributed the bulk company, other than co-operative Banks, to which of growth last year, but income the Banking Regulation Act, 1949 (10 of 1949) growth didn’t pick up, and a applies. measure of China’s income inequality rose slightly last year. Draft steel policy to enable ₹10 lakh crore investments  Liquidity Concern: o The People’s Bank of China unexpectedly cut the amount As part of the new draft National Steel Policy of banks must keep in reserve on 2017, Steel Ministry has proposed setting up Friday, a measure aimed at easing greenfield steel plants along India’s coastline to tight liquidity ahead of the tap cheap imported raw materials such as coking upcoming Lunar New Year coal and export the output in a more cost-effective holiday. manner. o Liquidity conditions are tighter  About the Policy: than authorities’ expectations, as o The draft policy lays out two capital outflows remain strong. alternatives of its vision — “to o Capital outflows have been create a globally competitive steel putting strong downward pressure industry that promotes inter- on the yuan, which lost nearly 7 sectoral growth” or “to create a % last year, making it the worst self-sufficient steel industry that performing major Asian currency. is technologically advanced,  Risk Increase: 79 | P a g e http://www.currentaffairsonly.com

globally competitive and the proceeds from disinvestment from the promotes inclusive growth. Department of Investment and Public o The policy envisages to more Asset Management (DIPAM) to the than double India’s domestic steel Department of Economic Affairs. production capacity to 300  The Department of Economic Affairs in million tonnes by 2030-31. It the Finance Ministry will now be in anticipates a requirement of ₹10 charge of “financial policy in regard to lakh crore of fresh investments to the utilisation of the proceeds of meet that goal and expects at least disinvestment channelised into the 11 lakh new jobs being created in National Investment Fund. the process.  During his Budget speech 2016-17, o To cut down reliance on Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had expensive imports of coking coal, announced renaming the previously the policy has mooted gas-based known Department of Investment as steel plants and technologies such DIPAM. as electric furnaces to bring down  The Centre had created a National the use of coking coal in blast Investment Fund in 2005 in which the furnaces. proceeds from the disinvestment of o It focuses on impediments like Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSEs) high input costs, availability of were to be channelised. raw materials, import dependency  The Cabinet Committee on Economic and financial stress plaguing the Affairs, has given its approval to sector, projections made under the Alternative Mechanism, who would policy for a couple of factors are decide on the quantum of disinvestment in all still under discussion, such as a particular Central Public Sector the demand and production of Undertaking (CPSE) on a case-by-case sponge iron. basis subject to Government retaining 51  PSU units: % equity and management control. o Public sector firms in the steel sector should aim for economies Centre allows girl access to life-saving TB drug of scale and will be encouraged to divest their non-core assets through mergers and  Delhi High Court had allowed a patient restructuring, according to the suffering from XDR TB (extremely drug policy. resistant tuberculosis) access to life o Establishment of steel plants saving drug Bedaquiline. along the coast under the aegis of  Till now, the drug was accessible only Sagarmala project based on the from six hospitals in five cities – Delhi, idea of importing scarce raw Mumbai, Chennai, Ahmedabad, and materials and exporting steel Guwahati. products.  Reason: The teenager was denied o A cluster-based approach will be treatment with Bedaquiline, a powerful pursued, especially for micro, antibiotic and the last line of treatment small and medium enterprises to left for her, because she was a resident of ensure optimum land use, easy Patna and not did not have domicile of availability of raw materials and Delhi. economies of scale.  Asking for swift action Delhi Network of Positive People (DNP+) has written to Centre shifts disinvestment advice to new Prime Minister Narendra Modi asking for department easier access to TB patients in India.  The government transferred the role of  The activist community has been advising the government on how to utilise demanding immediate scale up of

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Bedaquiline, which has so far reached  Focused on finding “habitable zones” fewer than 200 patients since its launch in where water could exist in a liquid state February 2016. on a planet’s surface.  According to the latest Global TB Report  Examining a habitable zone on a by World Health Organisation (WHO), planetary system Wolf 1061c 14 light there were an estimated 2.8 million new years away orbit changes at a faster rate, TB cases in India in 2015. which may mean its climate could be  The report maintains that the incidence of quite chaotic. DR TB might be between 42,900-85,800 in the country – with a majority of not India steps up submarine induction as Chinese having access to the drug. presence grows in region

Scientists simulate Mars mission  6 scientists have entered a dome perched  Indian Navy expects to induct two atop a remote volcano in Hawaii where Scorpene diesel-electric submarines into they will spend the next eight months in service this year and launch a third isolation to simulate life for astronauts submarine into water even as officials travelling to Mars. acknowledged the growing Chinese maritime presence in the Indian Ocean  Mission Details: Region (IOR). o The NASA-funded mission, known as the Hawaii Space  Indian Scorpene Submarines: Exploration Analog and o The first of the Scorpenes, Simulation (Hi-SEAS), is the fifth Kalvari, is expected to finish sea of its kind intended to create trials by May and is on track to be guidelines for journeys to Mars, inducted before the monsoon. 56 million km from Earth. o The second submarine Khanderi o The study is designed to help was launched into sea in Mumbai NASA understand human last week. The commissioning of behaviour and performance the Khanderi would be dependent during long space missions as the on the monsoon as trials cannot U.S. space agency explores plans be conducted during the three to for a manned mission to the red five month period. planet. o The third Scorpene submarine o The crew will perform geological Vela will be launched into water fieldwork and basic daily tasks in this year after the monsoons. the 1,2002ft. Dome, located in an  India has contracted six Scorpene abandoned quarry 8,200 feet submarines from DCNS of France to be above sea level on the Mauna Loa built locally with technology transfer. The volcano on Hawaii’s Big Island. Navy intends to induct all six by 2020. o Communications with a mission  The P-8I long range maritime patrol control team will be time-delayed aircraft, procured from the U.S., has been to match the 20-minute travel a major force multiplier and the Navy has time of radio waves passing been keeping track of Chinese “sub- between the Earth and the Mars. surface movement”, which has increased in the name of anti-piracy operations in Astronomer studies ‘habitable’ exoplanet the Gulf of Aden.  In an attempt to search for life outside  At least one Chinese submarine has been Earth, an astronomer has studied an continuously deployed in the Indian exoplanet called Wolf 1061c and found Ocean. that the celestial body could be habitable.

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22nd JANUARY, 2017-THE HINDU DAILY withdrawn the permission given to hold NOTES kambala based on the Supreme Court’s order on jallikattu. The hearing on the G.S-01 petition is scheduled for January 30.  The State government could also CM to flag off jallikattu in Madurai, but stir promulgate an Ordinance to allow continues kambala, provided a demand for it built up. The Tamil Nadu government will conduct jallikattu in Madurai and other parts of the State G.S-02 on Sunday morning following the Governor’s approval for the ordinance proposing amendments Erdogan strengthens grip as presidential to the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act system is approved (1960).  The Turkish Parliament has backed a plan  The Ordinance: to strengthen the powers of the o The ordinance, which envisages presidency, paving the way for a State-specific amendments to the referendum on the issue in spring which, Prevention of Cruelty to Animals if passed, could allow President Tayyip Act of 1960, is meant for Erdogan to stay in office until 2029. “ensuring survival and well being  The constitutional reform bill was of native breeds of bull and approved overnight with339 votes in the preserving cultural traditions” of 550-member assembly. The legislation Tamil Nadu. needed at least 330 deputies to support it o It will amend Section 11 (treating in order to go to a public vote. animals cruelly) of the 1960 Act.  The reform would enable the President to Later a bill will be moved in the issue decrees, declare emergency rule, session of the Assembly that is appoint ministers and top state officials beginning on January 23 and dissolve Parliament — powers that (Monday) and adopted during the the two main Opposition parties say strip session. away balances to Mr. Erdogan’s power. o The sentiments of Tamils and to  Mr. Erdogan says the reform will provide protect their cultural right and stability in the European Union candidate having regard to the grave and country at a time of turmoil and prevent a volatile situation prevailing in the return to the fragile coalitions of the past. State and in the best interest of maintaining law and order, it had Mr. Erdogan assumed the presidency, a largely been decided to promulgate the ceremonial position, in 2014 after over a decade Prevention of Cruelty to Animals as prime minister with the ruling AK Party. (Tamil Nadu Amendment) G.S-03 Ordinance, 2017. A sunspot with centre twice the size of Earth After jallikattu, it is kambala’s turn  A contorted centre of a sunspot that is  The demand for lifting the ban on nearly twice the diameter of the Earth, kambala (traditional kambala was over along with other invisible details of our 1,000 years old) — buffalo racing — is Sun, has been unveiled by scientists. gaining momentum in coastal Karnataka  The results are an important expansion of after an Ordinance promulgated to lift the the range of observations that can be used ban on jallikattu (bull-taming) in Tamil to probe the physics of our nearest star. Nadu is out.  About ALMA:  On PIL petition filed by PETA the state govt. informed the High Court that it had 82 | P a g e http://www.currentaffairsonly.com

o The Atacama Large PSLV (C37) from the Satish Dhawan Millimetre/submillimetre Array Space Centre in Sriharikota in Andhra (ALMA) antennas designed so Pradesh in the first week of February. that they could image the Sun in exquisite detail using the  Explanation: technique of radio inter- o The satellites will be separated ferometry. from the launch vehicle in o It is used to image the millimetre- different directions. The wavelength light emitted by the separation angle and time of Sun’s chromosphere. separation will be such that one o The images demonstrate ALMA’s satellite will not collide with ability to study solar activity at another. longer wavelengths of light than o The satellite separated from the are typically available to solar launch vehicle will have a relative observatories. velocity of one metre per second. So after 1,000 seconds the New technique for faster diagnosis of HIV distance between a satellite and  Scientists have developed a new method the rocket will be 1,000 metres. for medical testing that may lead to faster o The satellite that gets launched diagnosis of HIV, Lyme disease, syphilis first will move at a relatively and rotavirus infections. faster velocity than the next  It is developed by combining cutting-edge satellite that is launched. Due to nanoscience with a magnetic phenomenon different relative velocities, the discovered more than 170 years ago to distance between the satellites create the method for speedy medical will increases continuously but tests. the orbit will be the same.  The Technique: o At an orbital altitude of around o Nanoparticles are coated with the 500 km, it would take the vehicle antibody to BSA, or bovine serum 90 minutes to complete one orbit. albumin, which is commonly The satellites will be injected into used as the basis of a variety of orbit at different locations at diagnostic tests. different angles, at different times o By mixing the nanoparticles in a and different orientations. test solution, the BSA proteins  Facts: preferentially bind with the o In June last year, ISRO launched antibodies that coat the 20 satellites in one go. It took nanoparticles. about 26 minutes to launch all the o Nanoparticles with an iron core 20 satellites. In 2008, ISRO and applied a magnetic field to launched 10 satellites in a single the solution, causing the particles mission. to align in a particular formation. o The highest number of satellites o As proteins bind to the antibody- launched in a single mission so coated particles, the rotation of far has been 37 by Russia in the particles becomes sluggish, 2014; NASA launched 29 which is easy to detect with laser satellites in one go in 2013. optics. ‘Massive Antarctic ice shelf ready to break’ How ISRO plans to launch 103 satellites on a A massive ice shelf is breaking away from West single rocket Antarctica is now attached to its parent ice shelf  The Indian Space Research Organisation just by a thread. (ISRO) will set a record when it launches Covering 5,000 sq km and nearly 100 storeys- 103 satellites in one go on a single rocket deep the formation is poised to snap off from

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Larsen C ice shelf, creating “one of the largest o The arrangement would help icebergs ever recorded”. consumers which protect them A widening rift running the length of the finger- from unscrupulous manufacturers shaped, 350 metre-thick ice block grew 10 km selling products making false longer some time during the last three weeks, claims. satellite images revealed. In late December, the rupture had already Japan threatens to drag India to WTO on steel extended by 18 km, leaving the future iceberg as Trump era heralds trade tensions connected along only a small fraction of its  Japan is threatening to take India to the length. WTO over restrictions that nearly halved If the glaciers held in check by Larsen C spilt into its steel exports to the South Asian nation the Antarctic Ocean, it would lift the global water over the past year, a step that could mark by about 10 cm. The nearby Larsen A ice trigger more trade spats as global tensions shelf collapsed in 1995, and Larsen B broke up in over steel and other commodities run 2012. high. Misleading ads for traditional medicine under  Japan is worried about the more rough Centre’s scanner and tumble climate for global trade being engendered by incoming U.S. President  ASCI has been given a self-monitoring Donald Trump, and feels it must make a mandate by the Ministry of AYUSH to strong stand for open and fair identify potentially misleading international markets. advertisements in the AYUSH sector  The matter of Duty: deals with and process complaints o Japan request for WTO dispute through its Consumer Complaints Council consultations with India over steel (CCC) safeguard duties and a minimum  Advertising Standards Council of India import price for iron and steel (ASCI) scans the advertisements based on products. complaints it receives. o India imposed duties of up to  The advertisements based on ayurveda, 20% on some hot-rolled flat steel yoga and naturopathy, unani, siddha and products in September 2015, and homoeopathy medicines, treatment and set a floor price in February 2016 related services. for steel product imports to deter  The Agreement: countries such as China, Japan o A MoU with ASCI to ensure that and South Korea from any advertisement making claims undercutting local mills. for diseases and disorders, in o Japan world’s second-biggest violation of the notification issued steel producer argue that India’s by our ministry for indications actions are inconsistent with that have been prohibited from WTO rules and contributed to the claiming, are immediately plunge in its steel exports to brought to attention of Ministry India, which dropped to 11th- of AYUSH. largest on Japan’s buyer list in o The MoU also requires ASCI to 2016 through November, down report to the Ministry of AYUSH, from sixth-largest in 2015. advertisements in potential  Growing trade disputes: violation of the Drugs and Magic o There has been a series of trade Remedies (Objectionable disputes over the past few years Advertisements) Act, 1954 and amid massive exports of cheap Rules there under as well as non- steel products from China, the compliance of ASCI’s CCC world’s top producer, with recommendations for the Ministry Vietnam, Malaysia and South of AYUSH to take further action. Africa taking or planning

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measures to block incoming  The Standing Committee on Finance in shipments. 2014-15 had asked the Finance Ministry o Japan is also monitoring its small to set up an expert group to make the volume of imports for signs of whole Budget exercise cost-effective, dumping, fearing that steel environment and people-friendly. products with nowhere to turn  Despite a reduction in 2016-17, the because of import restrictions printing cost more than doubled, from may head to its own market. ₹1,300 per set in 2015-16 to ₹3,450 in 2016-17 with total printing cost went up Rescue plan for the vaquita by 4%.  The cost of printing rose to ₹70.62 lakh in  International Committee for the Recovery 2016-17, against ₹67.83 lakh in 2015-16, of the Vaquita (CIRVA) recommended an (the latter was a 28% decline over the emergency plan to help save the vaquita, a year before). rare species of porpoise, from extinction in the northern Gulf of California. G.S-03  The plan involves relocating some of the Curbs on outsourcing may hit U.S. economy: remaining vaquitas to a temporary Nasscom sanctuary, while crucial efforts aimed at eliminating illegal fishing and removing  India’s IT industry has warned about the gill nets from their environment continue. adverse impact that curbs on outsourcing  The emergency action plan will be led by will have on the U.S. economy, which the Mexican government and supported lacks high-skilled workers. by a consortium of marine mammal  Trump had promised to follow a ‘Buy experts from more than a dozen American, Hire American’ policy in his organisations around the world. inaugural speech. Indian IT industry provided services to American companies, which helped them to be 23rd JANUARY, 2017-THE HINDU DAILY competitive in the global market. NOTES  More than 60% of the Indian IT industry’s $108-billion export revenue G.S-02 comes from the U.S.  There is huge inter-dependency between When the Budget starts with a subsidy and the U.S. and the Indian economy. The deficit economic logic for U.S. companies to work with Indian IT companies is compelling and the bonds are strong.  The print run was slashed by 60% from  U.S Job with Indian Companies: 5,100 copies 2015-16 to 2,047 copies for o Indian IT company which tried to Union Budget 2016-17. The number of hire people in the U.S had Budget sets to be printed in 2015-16 interviewed more than 4,000 reduced by 35%. people but could hire only about  The cost of printing a Budget set stood at 20. It’s not that they not qualified, ₹3,450 last year, but the Centre sold each but are not qualified with the of them at the Lok Sabha counter for less skills that are needed. than half, at ₹1,500. The printing cost for o According to December 2015 each set of the Budget and its projections by the U.S. Labour accompanying explanatory documents Department, employment of more than doubled. computer and information  Budget sets were sold at cost, ranging technology occupations will grow between ₹835 and ₹1,330, while printed 12% from 2014 to 2024 (faster copies were sold in the Lok Sabha counter than the average for all other at a heavily subsidised price. occupations). 85 | P a g e http://www.currentaffairsonly.com

o However, due to shortfalls in The existing mobile subscribers in the country college graduates in science, should be encouraged to go in for Aadhaar-based technology, engineering and electronic Know Your Customer verification, for mathematics (STEM), entering which telecom service providers could offer the STEM workforce, there could incentives such as free data or talk time. be 2.4 million unfilled STEM The facilitation of Aadhaar-driven eKYC for the jobs in the U.S. by 2018 — with existing customer base would ensure proper more than half of these vacancies verification of subscribers and address the security in computer and IT-related skills. concerns pertaining to fake or bogus mobile o The Indian IT industry’s connections. investments in the U.S. were to It would also help telecommunication operators to the tune of $2 billion between avoid the hassle of storing physical customer 2011-13 and in the four-year verification paper documents that could get period between 2011-15, Indian damaged or misplaced in the long run. IT industry had paid $20 billion in taxes. Indian model to predict impact of climate change  Foreign students: o In U.S colleges and universities more than 50% of the students are  Scientists at the Indian Institute of foreigners in STEM courses. Tropical Meteorology (IITM), Pune, are Companies need to hire them on likely to unveil in December a visa because they are foreigners computerised model that can forecast the as well. impact of climate change on the Indian o According to a 2015 report, the monsoon until 2100. industry had created more than 4  It is the first time India will be submitting lakh jobs in the U.S., including a home-grown assessment to the 150,000 direct employment Intergovernmental Panel on Climate positions. Change (IPCC), a body convened by the o The problem is “discriminatory”, United Nations, and hugely influential to as the provisions implemented by policymakers and governments on the the U.S. to curb immigration of risks posed by climate change. high skilled workers. The restrictions which were imposed  A test version of the model is already in terms of higher cost of visa is available on websites of research groups applicable only to so called 50-50 affiliated to the IPCC. companies, which is actually only  The IPCC summarises projections from the Indian companies. such models, developed by scientists from o Only Indian companies get around the world, to report on the level of affected and even some of the consensus, among scientists, of the extent other bills which have been to which specific pollutants and gases — introduced are only targeting so from carbon dioxide to particulate matter called 50-50 companies. — interfere with weather patterns and ocean temperatures. TRAI to suggest Aadhaar eKYC for outstation  IITM scientists have customised users buying SIM significant parts of a model, called CFS 2 (Climate Forecast System version 2) and used it to give three month forecasts of TRAI is likely to recommend to the Department the Indian monsoon, to project how the it of Telecom (DoT) that Aadhaar-based eKYC be will be altered by climate change over the allowed even for outstation customers who want next century. to get a mobile connection in a particular service  The model has to first reasonably simulate area. land and ocean temperatures that existed in the 1850s, or before the carbon 86 | P a g e http://www.currentaffairsonly.com

dioxide-spewing Industrial Revolution, similar to what parts of the and also capture droughts and floods in developing world are the years up to the present. experiencing today as climate change affects food security. o There is a parallel between the 24th JANUARY, 2017-THE HINDU DAILY need for immediate adaptation NOTES after Tambora and the challenges in coping with the climate-driven G.S-01 devastation caused by storms, G.S-02 floods and droughts today. G.S-03  The research group’s findings were What mackerel and a volcano can tell us about published this month in the climate change journal Science Advances .

 A group of scientists and academics with N.K. Singh panel submits report on FRBM Act the University of Massachusetts and other  A committee constituted by the institutions made that assessment while government last year to set a new fiscal conducting research about a long-ago consolidation roadmap has submitted its calamity in New England that was caused report. The panel has submitted its report by the eruption of Mount Tambora half a on revising the Fiscal Responsibility and world away in Indonesia in 1815. Budget Management Act to the finance  The Tambora eruption was one of the minister. most powerful in recorded history, and  The government had mandated the was followed by a short time of climate committee to explore whether it should change specifically, global cooling and adopt a flexible fiscal deficit target severe weather. instead of a fixed number every year.  Its impact on weather, food availability Highlights of the report and human and animals deaths worldwide  The committee has recommended major has been studied extensively. The year changes in the 13-year-old Fiscal that followed the eruption, 1816, is often Responsibility and Budget Management described as the “Year Without a (FRBM) Act and suggested ways to Summer”. ensure responsible and higher growth,  The Study Results: sources said. o The researchers assert that that bit  The committee says, “a new FRBM Act is of history gives clues about what critical to create better conditions for co- food security could be like in the ordination between monetary and fiscal modern era of climate change. A policy and also usher in a low interest rate cooled climate led to deaths of regime.” livestock and changed fish  There is also a suggestion that fiscal patterns in New England, leaving expansion or contraction should be many people dependent on aligned with credit contraction or mackerel, an edible fish that was expansion respectively in the economy. less affected than many animals.  Since its introduction, the Fiscal o Alewives, a fish used for Responsibility and Budget Management everything from fertilizer to food Act has been facing a rocky road in terms by 19th century New Englanders, of implementation. Paused four times did not fare well. But mackerel since its enactment in August 2003, had better survival rates and including for a reset of the fiscal deficit became a critical source of target in 2008-09 following the global protein and jobs. financial crisis, the FRBM Act has o As crops failed and famine began become a subject of animated debate. to spread, the little fish emerged as a staff of life. It’s a scenario 87 | P a g e http://www.currentaffairsonly.com

Budget before polls gets green light from SC Countries opposing this move say, “Only after all  Noting that there is “nothing concrete” to local options have been exhausted for settling back the notion that presentation of the disputes between a corporate and a government, annual budget can sway the minds of do we want to permit issues to be taken up in people during the State Assembly polls, international arbitration tribunals.” the Supreme Court has dismissed a Also, they want such provisions to be a part of petition seeking the postponement of the bilateral agreements only and not be allowed in a Central budget till the Assembly elections multilateral agreement. in five States. Background: SC for daily drug dosage regimen for TB patients  A petition was filed in the Supreme Court contending that policies like giving homes  The Supreme Court gave the government to the economically-deprived in States 9 months to replace the thrice-a-week introduced in the annual budget influence dosage norm of tuberculosis drugs with a people to vote in a particular fashion. daily dosage regimen recently approved  “They present schemes like these in the by the World Health Organisation to curb budget to control the minds of the relapse of the deadly disease and deaths citizens. These schemes declared during during treatment. election time are against the Model Code  The PIL termed the current dosage of Conduct,” the petitioner had argued. practice “unscientific” and Budget on February 1: “improper.” present TB protocol  The government last year decided to stipulated only an inadequate medicine advance the presentation of budget. The regime to cut costs, adding that it objective behind this move is to have the promoted relapses and generated a lethal Budget constitutionally approved by drug-resistant strain in patient. Parliament and assented to by the President, and all allocations at different  Over 10% of TB patients suffered relapse tiers disseminated to budget-holders, compared with the global average of 3%, before the financial year begins on April noting that the relapsed cases were harder 1. The proposal for a change in the budget to treat than first-time infections. presentation date was first mooted by some of the government’s senior most 25th JANUARY, 2017-THE HINDU DAILY bureaucrats as part of a ‘Transforming NOTES India’ initiative in January 2016. G.S-01 India rejects attempts by EU, Canada for global G.S-02 investment agreement G.S-03 India, along with Brazil, Argentina and some Survey of India to re-measure Mount Everest other nations, has rejected an informal attempt by height the European Union (EU) and Canada to work towards a global investment agreement at the  An expedition from the Survey of India World Trade Organisation (WTO)-level that would depart for Nepal in two months to would incorporate a contentious Investor-State conduct the exercise that will re-measure Dispute Settlement (ISDS) mechanism. the height of Mount Everest. Reason for opposition  The doubts expressed by section of the The ISDS mechanism has become contentious as scientific community about the shrinking it permits companies to drag governments to of the towering mountain peak after international arbitration without exhausting the devastating earthquake in Nepal two years local remedies and claim huge amounts as ago. compensation citing losses they suffered due to reasons, including policy changes. Methods: Recent demands  The height of Mount Everest is planned to be measured this time by two methods — 88 | P a g e http://www.currentaffairsonly.com

using Global Positioning System(GPS) Background: and a ground method.  During British Raj forest officers  GPS is a survey instrument, looks like a surveyed the vast expanse of grasslands transistor. In 10minutes at top of and woodlands in the country, they mountain it tells the exact height. decided to term them ‘forests’.  Ground method-Triangulation. The height can be calculated from ground by Reducing costs: observation.  Environment management could help India reduce costs incurred in firefighting Facts: ecological disasters.  A deadly 7.8—magnitude earthquake  Good ecosystem management, such as struck Nepal in 2015, killing thousands of preserving catchment basins, planting people and altering the landscape across trees, can help prevent crises like drought the Himalayan nation. in Karnataka.  In 1855 Survey of India measured the height of Mount Everest at 29,028 ft. Profitable sustainability: Mount Everest officially stands at 8,848  By putting innovation and a respect for metres (29,028 feet) above sea level. nature together can help realise. And the possibilities ranged from underwater What’s in a name? The future of an ecosystem, vertical gardens in South Africa and apparently recyclable diapers to sustainable goat rearing in Mongolia and fair price organic  International conference on ecology and tea in Assam. conversation organised by the Ashoka  Rather than expecting governments to Trust for Research in Ecology and the spend money to save the ecosystem, Environment (ATREE) — to business ventures which benefit commemorate their 20th year at communities and take lessons from nature Bengaluru. can make a marked difference.

Naming means: Climate change plan to get new missions

 We are losing biodiversity here because  India’s eight-point plan to fight climate these grasslands have become targets for change will soon become a 11-point plan government afforestation programmes. with new missions to address the impact Currently, landscapes of grasslands and of climate change on health, coastal zones wooded areas to be considered as and waste-to-energy on the anvil. savannahs.  Since 2012, the Prime Minister’s Council  A savannah implies sparse tree cover, on Climate Change India has instituted a grasslands which are prone to forest fires, National Action Plan on Assessment, and abundant herbivores. Many of our Adaptation and Mitigation of Climate “forests” are ecologically like savannahs, Change, that has specified eight national but are being managed like forests. missions.  If the “misnaming, misunderstanding and  These include a National Water Mission, mismanaging” are corrected, then we can Green India Mission, National Solar treat these forest areas (for instance, Mission, National Mission on Sustainable Bandipur or Nagarahole) as savannahs Habitat, National Mission on Enhanced where an optimum number of forest fires Energy Efficiency, National Mission for can be gauged and herbivore population Sustaining Himalayan Ecosystem, maintained to protect biodiversity in the National Mission for Sustainable ecosystem. Agriculture, and a National Mission on Strategic Knowledge for Climate Change.

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Varishtha Pension Bima Yojana wins Cabinet nod  India will soon ratify an amended version  The Cabinet gave its post-facto approval of the Kyoto Protocol to put pressure on for introduction of the Varishtha Pension developed countries to deliver on climate Bima Yojana 2017 on 24th Jan. change commitments.  Implementation of Clean Development About the Scheme: Mechanism (CDM) projects under this  The scheme will be implemented through commitment period in accordance with Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) sustainable development priorities will during the current financial year to attract some investments in India as well. provide social security to persons aged 60 years and above against a future fall in U.S. reluctance: their interest income due to uncertain  The refusal of the U.S., the second largest market conditions. polluter, to be part of the Protocol and  The scheme will provide pension based lack of commitments by Canada, Japan on a guaranteed rate of return of 8% per and other major developing countries annum for 10 years, with meant that global emissions actually rose monthly/quarterly/half-yearly or annual during this period. basis options.  The difference between the return Sustainable development: generated by LIC and the assured return  Developing countries like India have no of 8% per annum would be borne by the mandatory mitigation obligations or government as a subsidy. targets under the Kyoto Protocol. The Kyoto Protocol incentivised several firms Cabinet clears redevelopment of Pragati Maidan in India to retrofit their polluting plants with newer technology in the hope of The Cabinet approved a proposal to redevelop earning carbon credits. However after an Pragati Maidan by setting up a world class initial spike, carbon credit prices — that Integrated Exhibition-cum-Convention Centre at a could be traded in emission-trading total cost of Rs. 2,254 crore. markets like shares — have crashed to About the Plan: rock-bottom prices.  The ITPO will utilise Rs. 1,200 crore out of its free reserves towards funding of the Kyoto Protocol: project. It will raise institutional loan /  The 1997 Kyoto Protocol came into effect soft loan / external aid / land monetisation in 2005 and obligated the rich and for the balance amount of Rs. 1,054 crore industrialised countries to reduce with government guarantee for the emissions by 5.2% of 1990 levels during amount of institutional loan. the 2008-2012 period.  Pragati Maidan of India Trade Promotion  Until now, 75 countries have ratified the Organisation (ITPO) is a Mini Ratna so-called Doha Amendment of the Kyoto Company under the Department of Protocol, which spans from 2012 to 2020, Commerce. and falls far short of the 144 needed to bring it into force . India to ratify amended version of Kyoto Protocol Move is aimed at putting pressure on developed nations 26th JANUARY, 2017-THE HINDU DAILY NOTES

 The Union Cabinet gave its approval to Transparency puts India on list for failing to ratify the deal that is set to expire in 2020 curb corruption and was shunned by several developed countries, most prominently the United  The annual index of Transparency States. International for the year 2016 has been

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released by Transparency International, a The UAE to partner India in stabilising South Berlin-based anti-graft organisation. Asia and fight security challenges.  It has used World Bank data, the World Economic Forum and other institutions to  There is an agreement that they will invest rank 176 countries by perceived levels of nearly $75 billion in India over the next corruption in public sector. The score runs couple of years. During the visit we are from zero, which is highly corrupt, to 100, hoping that an MoU will be signed between which is very clean. their investment fund and NIIF (National India ratings: Infrastructure Investment Fund)  The index has placed India on the watch  The summit-level talks, however, fell short of list for its inability to curb mega clinching a major investment agreement for corruption scandals and petty bribery. India, though the visiting Crown Prince  The index has placed India with Brazil Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al and China in the 40th position. The index Nahyan said the UAE would further intensify notes that India’s condition showed ties with India. growth with inequality.  The Agreement on Comprehensive Strategic  India’s score has improved by two points Partnership came four days after both sides from 38 in 2015. As per the report, the held the first ever strategic dialogue. impact of corruption on poverty, illiteracy  The UAE, with its unique development and policy brutality showed that not only experience and Islamic and Arab background, was the economy growing but so was and India, with its inimitable and successful inequality. development experience and its unique model Performance of other countries: of coexistence, can work together to push for  Latest rankings put New Zealand and peace and stability in Asia and the Middle Denmark in joint first place with a score East. This makes me even more optimistic of 90, followed by Finland, Sweden, about the future of our relationship. Switzerland, Norway, Singapore,  Bilateral trade, valued at $ 180 million per Netherlands and Canada. annum in the 1970s, is today around $ 50  At the bottom of the index, Somalia was billion, making UAE India’s third largest ranked the most corrupt country. trading partner for 2015-16 after China and  South Asia has performed poorly. the US. Bangladesh at 27th and Nepal at 29th  The UAE is India’s second largest export positions were slotted in the highly destination, with exports of over $ 30 billion corrupt section. in 2015-16. For the UAE, India was the  Pakistan, at 32, also came in the red zone. biggest trade partner in 2015 — over $ 28 Afghanistan ranked 15th was in the billion in non-oil trade. “highly corrupt” list with South Sudan, North Korea and Libya. Apart from the strategic partnership, agreements on defence industries, maritime transport, India, UAE sign strategic partnership pact cybersecurity, shipping and transport were also signed. India has figured out that its relationship with the UAE rests on four pillars — trade and commerce, voting National Voter’s Day: January energy security, security and defence, and 25th What are your rights? welfare of its expat community. January 225th On this day in 1950, the Election Apart from this, agreements on defence industries, Commission of India was founded. The ECI maritime transport, cybersecurity, shipping and observes National Voters Day to create awareness transport were also signed. on voting and voter rights.

India and UAE: Enrolling as a voter

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A citizen can be enrolled as voter when he or she  A Presiding Officer can stop you from voting is 18 years as on January 1 of the year electoral if it is found that you are impersonating rolls are prepared. The electoral rolls are revised another person. This is a punishable offence once in five years as well as prior to an election. The Commission periodically does house-to- OCIs cannot vote house enumeration. But the onus is on you to register as a voter.  An Indian residing abroad with his/her name registered in the electoral roll cannot vote, Where to vote? unless he/she personally visits the polling booth. However, the government is looking at  The Election Commission registers a person options such as proxy voting or postal ballot as a voter in the constituency where he or she to enable NRIs to vote. Overseas Citizens of ordinarily resides. When you change your India, who are citizens of another country, do residence, the EC has to be intimated. not have the right to vote. Enrolling as a voter in more than one location  The Election Commission has, however, is an offence. recently introduced the option for NRIs to  A non-resident Indian can vote in his/her register themselves as voters through the hometown after registering as an Overseas EC’s portal. Voter. Affidavits filed by candidates are public Voter ID is not mandatory for voting documents

The Election Commission provides every voter a At the time of nomination, candidates should photo identification card called Electors’ Photo submit details of their educational background, Identity Card (EPIC). Along with your photo and criminal records, and assets and liabilities. A voter address, the EPIC contains your electoral roll can obtain copies of the nomination form and the number, which enables the polling official to affidavit filed by the candidate from the Returning easily identify you. However, it is not mandatory Officer, immaterial of whether the person belongs to carry your Voter ID when you cast your vote. to the constituency or not. Other valid photo identifications, such as passport, driving license, PAN etc. are adequate to exercise Right to decline your franchise.  A voter can decline to vote. The person must Voter ID does not mean you can vote visit the polling booth in person and inform the Presiding Officer. The index finger will A person can vote only if his/her name is found in be inked, the polling register must be signed the electoral rolls. If, for any reason, a name is but the person will not cast the vote. removed from the electoral roll, the polling  This is however not similar to NOTA (none official will not allow the person to vote. of the above) option, where the person exercise the franchise. Who cannot vote? You can still vote if someone else has cast the vote in your name  When an Indian becomes a citizen of another country, he/she automatically loses the right to vote. The Rule 49P of the Conduct of Elections Rules  A person declared as ‘mentally unsound’ by a allows the voter to cast vote using a “Tendered court does not have voting rights. Ballot Paper.” The Presiding Officer will collect it  In case a person is found to be involved in and keep it separate. corrupt electoral practices, his/her name can be removed from electoral roll.

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Proxy voting, postal ballots are not for all POEM rules target companies that were set up abroad to retain income outside India but are  Postal ballots, in which a voter exercises controlled from India. his/her franchise through post is available only for people on election duty, armed force POEM personnel, and electors subject to preventive detention. The Place of Effective Management is defined in  Proxy voting is an option available for the Income Tax Act to mean “a place where key personnel in armed forces, police, management and commercial decisions that are government officials posted outside India. necessary for the conduct of the business of an  The person can authorise another residing in entity as a whole are, in substance, made.” the same polling booth area to cast a vote on his/her behalf. This option is also available Key facts: for wives of the above mentioned personnel, but not for the husbands.  According to the guidelines, a company will Climate change plan to get new missions be deemed to be engaged in active business outside India if the passive income is not more than 50% of its total income and less India’s eight-point plan to fight climate change than 50% of its total assets are situated in will soon become a 11-point plan with new India, less than 50% of the total number of missions to address the impact of climate change employees are situated in India or are resident on health, coastal zones and waste-to-energy on in India, and the payroll expenses on such the anvil, senior officials in the Environment employees is less than 50% of the total Ministry. payroll expenditure.  These rules will not be applicable to firms Since 2012, the Prime Minister’s Council on with annual turnover of less than RS 50 crore. Climate Change India has instituted a National Under these guidelines, Active Business Action Plan on Assessment, Adaptation and Outside India test has been provided so as not Mitigation of Climate Change, that has specified to cover companies outside India which are eight national missions. engaged in active business.  Adequate administrative safeguards have  These include a National Water Mission, been incorporated in the guidelines by Green India Mission, National Solar Mission, mandating that the assessing officer (AO), National Mission on Sustainable Habitat, before initiating an inquiry for POEM in a National Mission on Enhanced Energy case of a taxpayer, will seek approval from Efficiency, National Mission for Sustaining Principal Commissioner or Commissioner of Himalayan Ecosystem, National Mission for Income-Tax. The AO shall also obtain Sustainable Agriculture, and a National approval from a Collegium of Principal Mission on Strategic Knowledge for Climate Commissioners of Income-Tax before Change. holding that POEM of a non-resident company is in India. Tax guidelines to target shell companies  In cases of “companies other than those that notified are engaged in active business outside India”, the determination of POEM will be a two- stage process. The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has  The first stage would be identification or issued guidelines on the ‘place of effective ascertaining the persons who actually management’, or POEM, of a company to make the key management and determine its tax liability. commercial decision for conduct of the company’s business as a whole.

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 The second stage would be determination version is Pinaka mark-II, which evolved of place where these decisions are in fact from Pinaka mark-I. being made. Music to the ears: New species of songbird The concept of POEM to decide the residential found status of a company was introduced by the Finance Act, 2015. The modification to the Researchers exploring the forests of Western existing norms was necessary as several Ghats also designate two new genera that is companies skip tax liability by misusing the endemic to the region guidelines. This will protect the business interests of both global companies having business The team has designated two new genera, the connection with India or presence here, and Indian Western Ghats shortwings as Sholicola (closely multinationals having active business abroad. related to flycatchers) and the laughing thrushes as Montecincla (closely related to babblers). GSLV’s cryogenic upper stage tested successfully

 The newly described Sholicola ashambuensis  The Indian Space Research is confined to the Agasthyar Malai mountain Organisation’s Propulsion Research ranges. Complex at Mahendragiri, about 60 km  The species in the Montecincla genera from here, successfully conducted the include Montecincla jerdoni, Montecincla stage level test of GSLV MK III’s cachinnans, Montecincla fairbanki and cryogenic upper stage C-25. Montecincla meridionalis belongs to  The 50-second long test of C-25 of the Montecincla genus. Sholicola major country’s most powerful launch vehicle and Sholicola albiventris belongs to Sholicola that can carry satellites weighing 4,000 kg genus. was successful.  For Western Ghats, already known for its rich  The cryogenic upper stage of the GSLV is and unique biodiversity, we have just the large C-25, the most difficult increased the number of bird species found component of the launch vehicle to be nowhere else in the world. developed. It will be powered by the  These birds live in the most vulnerable part of indigenously developed CE-20 engine. the ecosystem — fragmented forest patches on the highest peaks of the range — that is Improved Pinaka rockets test-fired facing increasing pressure from humans activities and climate change. Hope that the  Pinaka rockets, with a guidance system and the knowledge of their distinct evolution and an enhanced range, were successfully test- ecology would help to increase conservation fired from the Integrated Test Range (ITR) at efforts. Chandipur in Odisha  The earlier Pinaka version, which was an Haley sworn in as the new UN Ambassador unguided one, has now been transformed into a guided version, with a navigation, guidance  Nikki Haley was sworn-in as the U.S. and control kit developed by the Research Ambassador to the United Nations, Centre, Imarat (RCI), Hyderabad. becoming the first Indian American to  The RCI comes under the Defence Research serve on a Cabinet rank position in any and Development Organisation (DRDO). U.S. presidential administration.  According to the DRDO officials, enhancing  She was former South Carolina Governor, the range and accuracy of Pinaka. If its range was sworn in by Vice-President Mike was earlier 40 km, it is more than 70 km now. Pence. She is the first woman to be  Radars, electro-optical systems and telemetry confirmed to Mr. Trump’s Cabinet. systems at the ITR tracked and monitored the rocket all through its flight path. The guided

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27th JANUARY, 2017-THE HINDU DAILY About Employees' Provident Fund NOTES Organisation

10 die in Kashmir avalanches • The Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (abbreviated to EPFO), is an Organization tasked to assist the Central Board of Trustees, • Ten soldiers were killed and four went a statutory body formed by the Employees' missing after twin avalanches hit an Army Provident Fund and Miscellaneous patrol party and a camp in Bandipora’s Provisions Act, 1952 and is under the Gurez valley, 200 km from Srinagar. administrative control of the Ministry of Labour and Employment, Government of • Gurez is a mountainous region with a small India. valley across the Razdan Pass, the only road connecting it with the Kashmir Valley at a • EPFO assists the Central Board in height of 11,672 ft. administering a compulsory contributory Provident Fund Scheme, a Pension Scheme • It borders Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) and an Insurance Scheme for the workforce and remains cut of due to the heavy engaged in the organized sector in India. snowfall since the first week of January. • It is also the nodal agency for implementing • Official figures point out that 62 soldiers, one- Bilateral Social Security Agreements with third of the total fatalities between 2007 and 2012, other countries on a reciprocal basis. were due to natural calamities, including avalanches, in Jammu and Kashmir. • The schemes cover Indian workers as well as International workers (for countries with • Soon, group housing scheme with PF funds which bilateral agreements have been signed. As of now 17 Social Security Agreements are operational). • The Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) has mooted a group • It is one of the largest social security housing scheme which will enable members organisations in India in terms of the number to form cooperative housing societies and use of covered beneficiaries and the volume of their entire provident fund savings towards financial transactions undertaken. buying land, constructing homes or paying housing loan instalments. • The EPFO's apex decision making body is the Central Board of Trustees (CBT). • In its recent proposal to the Labour Ministry, the EPFO has proposed addition of a “new Surajkund mela to go digital paragraph 68BD as a group housing scheme so that EPF members forming a cooperative • With a view to encourage cashless society of 10 or more employees may be transactions, online payment options will be given not only a one time EPF withdrawal but made available at the 31st Surajkund also an option to pay loan instalments International Crafts mela, to be held in towards housing loan to banks from the Faridabad from February 1 to 15. monthly contributions received in • Adequate number of point-of-sale machines Employees’ Provident Fund Scheme, 1952.” would be made available at the mela. • The option of e-ticketing through Haryana • At present, an employee who has completed Tourism website will also be available. five years of service is allowed to withdraw PF savings equivalent to 36 months of the NGT to hear PIL on cleaning of Ganga member’s salary (basic salary and dearness allowance) for construction of a flat or 24 • The National Green Tribunal has decided to months of the salary for purchasing land. hear a PIL filed in 1985 on the cleaning of 95 | P a g e http://www.currentaffairsonly.com

river Ganga on a day-to-day basis from About Advanced Towed Artillery Gun System February 6. (ATAGS)

• The Supreme Court has transferred the PIL • The Advanced Towed Artillery Gun System filed by advocate M. C. Mehta to the NGT, (ATAGS) project was started in 2013 by which has been hearing the matter with DRDO to replace older guns in service in the regard to issues relating to municipal solid Indian Army with a modern 155mm artillery waste and industrial waste since 2014. gun.

• The top court has asked the green panel to • Armament Research and Development submit an interim report to it every six Establishment (ARDE) partnered with months to give an idea about the progress Kalyani Group, Tata Power and OFB for this made and difficulties, if any. purpose.

• The development of the gun took about 4 R-Day show flexes military muscles years and is expected to be complete by March 2017.

• India’s 68th Republic Day was celebrated with • The delay in completion of the project was a display of military strength and cultural attributed to realization of ordnance and diversity in the presence of the Crown Prince recoil system and supply issue with of Abu Dhabi Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al manufacturing of sub-systems. Nahyan as the chief guest. • The gun is expected to start user trials in • The elite Black Cat commandos of the National 2017 and production is expected to start in Security Guards (NSG) and the indigenously 2019. built Tejas Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) made their debut at the parade. Both received loud • It was first publicly showcased at 68th cheers from the public. Republic Day parade on 26 January 2017 • This is the first time in over three decades that an indigenous fighter aircraft has flown on Children with HIV treated badly in schools, Rajpath since the Marut developed by claims plea Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) in the 1960s. • Denial of admission, outright expulsion, • A 149-member marching contingent from the segregation, breach of confidentiality to United Arab Emirates (UAE), led by a band cleaning toilets and classrooms. These are of 35 musicians, was unique to this year’s some of the ways schools treat children living parade. with Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV).

• In 2016, a French contingent marched on • The treatment meted out to HIV-positive Rajpath, the first by a foreign Army. children, whose deaths account for 7% of all AIDS-related deaths in the country, is part of • There were several indigenous platforms a writ petition filed by NGO Naz among the mechanised columns that took part in the parade. These included the Dhanush Foundation (India) Trust in the Supreme upgraded long-range artillery guns, the Court. Advanced Towed Artillery Gun System being developed by the Defence Research and • A Bench led by Chief Justice of India J.S. Development Organisation and the Akash Khehar has sought the government’s response surface-to-air missile system. on why — despite the Right to Education being a Fundamental Right — children suffer this way. 96 | P a g e http://www.currentaffairsonly.com

Trump set to block refugees, restrict Muslim • According to the NACO estimates in 2012- visitors 2013, the total number of people living with HIV is estimated at 20.9 lakh in 2011. • Children under 15 years account for seven • President Donald Trump was poised to per cent (1.45 lakh) of all infections. suspend the U.S. refugee programme for four months and to halt visas for travellers from • This discriminatory and degrading treatment seven Muslim countries, according to U.S. is a direct assault on the children’s privacy, media, as per a draft executive order autonomy and dignity under Articles 21, 21A and 14 , the plea contended. • Refugees from war-torn Syria will be indefinitely banned, while the broader U.S. Ukraine lauds India for support over Crimea refugee admissions programme will be suspended for 120 days as officials draw up a • Ukraine commended India for not supporting list of low risk countries. Russia’s claims over the Crimean peninsula. • Meanwhile, all visa applications from • Following the intervention in Crimea, Russia countries deemed a terrorist threat — Iraq, annexed the region on March 18, 2014. However, India has maintained that the Syria, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Somalia and situation should be resolved peacefully. Yemen — will be halted for 30 days.

• Also, Ukraine wants to complete the contract, • Alongside this, the Pentagon will be given 90 signed in 2009, on modernisation and days to draw up a plan to set up “safe zones” overhauling of An-32 fleet for the Indian Air in or near Syria where refugees from its civil Force. war can shelter.

• Armoured infantry vehicles, equipment • Mr. Trump told ABC News that his plan to engineering, patrol boats, space research are limit the entry of people from Muslim some of our other priorities in relation with countries was necessary because the world is India,. “a total mess”.

China open to work with Russia, U.S. to tackle • “No it’s not the Muslim ban, but it’s countries global challenges that have tremendous terror,” Mr. Trump said. “And it’s countries that people are going to • China signalled its openness for a trilateral come in and cause us tremendous problems.” partnership with Russia and the U.S., following Moscow’s advocacy that the three • “Turning our back on vulnerable refugees countries should develop relations jointly. doesn’t protect the United States,” said Michael Olsen, former director of the U.S. • “China, Russia and the U.S. are all major National Counterterrorism Center. “In fact, it countries with worldwide influence and plays into ISIS’s false narrative that we are at permanent members of the UN Security war with all Muslims instead of terrorist Council. For world peace, stability and organisations,” he told watchdog Human development, we share a great responsibility. Rights First. We aim to build a generally stable and positive major country relationship; with Russia, we • Mr. Trump also vowed to “eradicate ISIS [wish to] deepen our comprehensive strategic from the face of the earth”, which proved partnership of cooperation and we also work popular with U.S. voters. to promote the major country relations with U.K. pushes for speedy legislation on Brexit the U.S.,” Chinese spokesperson said. • Two days after the Supreme Court ruled that the government could not trigger Brexit 97 | P a g e http://www.currentaffairsonly.com

negotiations without parliamentary consent, average of 52 per cent and also outpaces each the U.K. government has published the brief of the BRIC countries as China (47 per cent), “straightforward” legislation it promised, Brazil (41 per cent), and Russia (2 per cent), giving MPs just a handful of days to debate it. all expand slower,” BP said.

• Even before the Supreme Court ruling, the • Its share of global energy demand increases to government insisted that nothing would 9 per cent by 2035, accounting for the second hinder its plans to trigger Article 50 by largest share among the BRIC countries with March. China at 26 per cent, Russia at 4 per cent and Brazil at 2 per cent. • “The Prime Minister may notify, under Article 50(2) of the Treaty on the European Union, the India mulls reviving old gold mines United Kingdom’s intention to withdraw from the EU,” begins the two-clause bill. • India is planning to revive a cluster of colonial era gold mines – shut for 15 years but with an • The brevity of the bill was not unexpected: estimated $2.1 billion worth of deposits left – under parliamentary convention, amendments as the world’s second largest importer of the must fall within “reasonable limits” of the metal looks for ways to cut its trade deficit, bill’s purpose, so a brief piece of legislation officials said. helps the government keep the number of amendments in check. • State-run Mineral Exploration Corp has started exploring the reserves at Kolar Gold • The speed was necessary to ensure the Fields, in the southern state of Karnataka, to government could stick to its timetable and get a better estimate of the deposits, according avoid generating further uncertainty, the to three government officials and a briefing government said. document prepared by the federal Mines Ministry. • While the Labour party has said it will back the legislation to trigger Brexit, the party is set • India, the world’s biggest gold importer to bring in amendments that would ensure behind China, spends more than $30 billion a some form of single market access, and year buying gold from abroad, making the protection of workers rights and metal its second-biggest import item after environmental regulations crude oil.

Growth in India’s oil consumption to be fastest • India imports 900 tonnes to 1,000 tonnes per by 2035 year, but local gold output is miniscule, at 2 tonnes to 3 tonnes per year.

• Having pipped Japan to become world’s third • Gold is a mainstay of Indian culture, serving largest oil consumer, India’s oil consumption as the primary vehicle for household savings growth will be the fastest among all major for hundreds of millions of people in Asia’s economies by 2035, BP Statistical Review of third-largest economy. World Energy said. • The Kolar fields are among the world’s deepest gold mines. • India, Asia’s second biggest energy consumer since 2008, had in 2015 overtaken • In 2001, Bharat Gold was forced to cease Japan as the world’s third-largest oil operations due to mounting losses, the result consuming country behind US and China. of a large, unproductive workforce and dated, economically unviable methods of mining.

• Over the next 15 years, successive federal and • India’s energy demand growth at “129 per state governments have tried to revive the cent is more than double the non— OECD mines or to sell them of, often disagreeing on 98 | P a g e http://www.currentaffairsonly.com

the course of action and taking their disputes • However, as people age, the lens loses its to the courts. ability to change focus, which is why many people ultimately require reading glasses or Smart glasses’ that automatically focus on bifocals to see objects up close and regular what you see eyeglasses to see objects at a distance.

• “The focal length of the glasses depends on • The days of wearing bifocals or constantly the shape of the lens, so to change the optical changing to reading glasses may soon be over, power we actually have to change the thanks to the new ‘smart glasses’ developed membrane shape,” Mr. Mastrangelo said. by scientists, including one of Indian origin. • Before putting them on for the first time, all • The smart glasses can automatically adjust users have to do is to input their eyeglasses the focus according to what a person is prescription into an accompanying seeing, whether it is far away or close. smartphone app, which then calibrates the lenses automatically via a Bluetooth • The glasses developed by researchers at connection. University of Utah in the U.S. contain lenses made of glycerin, a thick colourless liquid, 28th JANUARY, 2017-THE HINDU DAILY enclosed by flexible rubberlike membranes in NOTES the front and back. No proof of sabotage, wagon faults may have • The rear membrane in each lens is connected derailed train, says panel to a series of three mechanical actuators that push the membrane back and forth like a transparent piston, changing the curvature of The Commission of Railway Safety (CRS), the liquid lens and the focal length between under the Ministry of Civil Aviation, has not the lens and the eye. found any evidence of sabotage in the November 20 derailment of the Indore-Rajendranagar • In the bridge of the glasses is a distance Express. meter that measures the distance from the glasses to an object via pulses of infrared • The commission has identified ‘carriage and light. wagon defects’ as the prime reason for the accident which resulted in the most number • When the wearer looks at an object, the of casualties in a train accident in over a distance meter instantly measures the decade. distance and tells the actuators how to curve the lenses, researchers said. • “The report holds overaged coaches, carriage and wagon defects, and wheel alignment • If the user then sees another object that is issues as the primary reasons behind the closer, the distance meter readjusts and tells derailment. The report, however, does not the actuators to reshape the lens for suspect sabotage,” a CRS official said. farsightedness. • Four sleeper coaches of the Indore- • The lenses can change focus from one object Rajendranagar Express were badly damaged to another in 14 milliseconds. in the accident near Kanpur.

• A rechargeable battery in the frames could • The report mentions that there was a “huge” last more than 24 hours per charge, he added. variation in the wheel gauge of the S1 and S2 coaches causing the derailment, according to • The human eye has a lens inside that adjusts the official. the focal depth depending on what you look at. 99 | P a g e http://www.currentaffairsonly.com

• The Ministry of Home Affairs had asked the • Around 108 have already come up in planned National Investigation Agency (NIA) to and regularised colonies. At these clinics, probe the accident. patients get their tests, medicine and doctor consultation for free. • Railway Minister had written to Home Minister Rajnath Singh about the • When all the mohalla clinics are built, Delhi possibility of sabotage in six train accidents, will be a saturated model state for healthcare, including the derailment of the Patna-bound wrote the former UN Secretary-General. Indore-Rajendranagar Express near Kanpur.

Govt. hospitals to display rules for biomedical Farmers’ deaths a human rights issue: waste management Supreme Court

• According to the circular, “As per directions • The Supreme Court asked the Centre and the of the Health Minister, the Awareness States to explain whether there was a lifeline, Generation for Biomedical Waste including a comprehensive insurance plan, for Management Rules, 2016, are to be displayed farmers to end the vicious circle plaguing the on all Delhi government hospital websites and agriculture sector. notice boards of Delhi government hospitals/dispensaries of DGHS and all • It was alarmed that crop failure and natural healthcare facilities.” calamities were driving debt-ridden farmers across the country to take their lives. • Biomedical waste comprises human and animal anatomical waste, treatment apparatus • Widening the scope of a public interest including needles, syringes and other litigation petition filed by an NGO on the material used in healthcare facilities. farmers of Gujarat, a Bench led by Chief Justice of India J.S. Khehar included all the • This waste is generated during diagnosis, States, the Centre and the Reserve Bank of treatment or immunisation in hospitals, India in the litigation in an effort to get a nursing homes, pathological laboratories, holistic picture of the plight of farmers. blood banks, among others.

Kofi Annan praises mohalla clinics  Terming the death of farmers due to crop losses a “human rights issue,” the Bench asked • Former United Nations Secretary-General why the government had not yet formulated a Kofi Annan has lauded the Aam Aadmi Party national policy to protect the lives of the (AAP) government’s mohalla clinics country's breadwinners. initiative for providing free primary healthcare.  The court was hearing a petition filed by the NGO, Citizens Resource and Action and • Mr Annan heads ‘The Elders’, an Initiative, seeking a compensation of Rs 5 lakh independent organisation promoting peace, each for the families of 692 farmers who justice and human rights worldwide. committed suicide in Gujarat between January 2003 and October 2012. • In a letter to Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, Mr. Annan said that the initiative was  Their crops had failed and their bank loans “consistent with the Universal Health began to choke them. The petition also Coverage (UHC) goal” of the World Health sought financial relief from the government Organisation. for farmers facing drought. • The Delhi government has plans to construct some 1,000 mohalla clinics.  It pleaded for a humane agricultural policy, taking into consideration the probable loss of

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crops, to help farmers tide over a drought- Karnataka’s taxi policy runs counter to like situation. Central guidelines

Chhattisgarh to track teacher attendance using • Karnataka’s Transport Department has issued tablet PCs a notice asking why shared rides in taxis using apps should not be declared illegal, since the service may be violating the operating  In a bid to use technology to better monitor the principle of a taxicab. quality of schooling, the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) will supply • Karnataka’s rationale is that permits for taxis tablet computers to schools across are only for point-to-point rides, and not for Chhattisgarh so that teachers can use them to shared rides. record details like daily attendance and midday meals. • Karnataka’s approach runs counter to the Union Ministry of Road Transport and  Each tablet would cost just under Rs. 10,000. Highways committee report on ‘Taxi Policy A central server would store all the details, Guideline to Promote Urban Mobility’ issued enabling better and regular assessment of the in December 2016, which the Ministry has strengths and weaknesses of schools. accepted.

 Authorities could then work efficiently to • What the Union Ministry committee says: In improve educational standards. The scheme is order to provide cheaper travel solutions and likely to be implemented between July and to reduce the number of cars, sharing of seats September 2017, and if successful, could be may be allowed on aggregator- based taxis replicated across the country. with the express consent of passengers.

No one law on cattle slaughter: SC • Internationally, research points to wider social benefits of shared urban mobility. • The Supreme Court declined a plea to direct States to frame a uniform policy banning • To decongest cities, UITP (The International cattle slaughter and prevent the illegal inter- Association of Public Transport, known as State transportation of cattle. UITP,) says the ideal policy is CoMo, or Combined Mobility. • Arguing before a Bench led by Chief Justice of India J.S. Khehar, PIL petitioner and Delhi Strengthen the backbone, such as resident Vineet Sahai said inconsistencies in Bengaluru’s BMTC/ Metro and similar various State laws on slaughter and networks in New Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, transportation of cattle had ensured that cattle Hyderabad, and make regulatory changes smuggling continued unabated. to plug in shared taxis, bicycles and shared bikes, car pools and ride sharing. • Mr. Sahai pointed to the case of how cattle were transported from Tamil Nadu and Use Real Time Passenger Information and Andhra Pradesh, where the law was stringent, adopt open data policies to create apps to neighbouring Kerala, which allowed that link buses, trains and shared taxis. slaughter. • The petition contended that prohibition of Navy rejects Tejas, begins global search cow slaughter was part of the Directive Principles of • After declaring the naval version of the State Policy under the Constitution. indigenous Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas unfit for operating from aircraft carriers in its “present form,” the Indian Navy has

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launched a global hunt for a carrier-based in the 2016 Budget was reflected in multi-role fighter aircraft. clarifications issued by the Finance Ministry on 27 January 2017. • “The Defence Ministry intends to procure approximately 57 Multi-Role Carrier- Borne • The Finance Ministry, as part of the Fighters [MRCBF] for the Navy,” the Navy clarifications, made clear its rules regarding stated in the Request for Information (RFI) several issues that the industry had demanded dated January 17. greater clarity on, including the specific cases in which GAAR would apply to Foreign • The Navy currently operates Russian Mig- Portfolio Investments (FPI), the treatment of 29K twin engine fighters from the aircraft Limitation of Benefits (LOB) clauses and the carrier INS Vikramaditya. precedence given to court rulings in such situations. • These will also fly from the first Indigenous Aircraft Carrier (IAC) Vikrant once it enters • It has been clarified that if the limitation of service. benefits (LOB) clause sufficiently addresses tax avoidance, then GAAR will not apply. • The IAC-II which is currently at the design stage can handle twin engine, heavy aircraft, • The LOB clause in the India-Singapore and greatly extending the area of operations. Mauritius treaties now is relevant only for availing the 50% tax rate for two years. • The Navy has procured 45 Mig-29Ks in two batches. The Navy does not intend to procure • The official clarification also said that, if at the more Mig-29s given its troubled history. time of sanctioning an arrangement, the court had explicitly and adequately considered the • The RFI says the aircraft are “intended as day- tax implications, then GAAR would not apply and night capable, all-weather, multi-role, to such an arrangement. deck-based combat aircraft which can be used • It has also been clarified that GAAR would for air defence, air-to-surface operations, not apply if an arrangement was permitted by Buddy refuelling, reconnaissance etc from IN the Authority for Advance Rulings. aircraft carriers.” WTO pact set to lift world trade by $1 tn. in • This narrows down the selection to two Trump era aircraft now available in the global market — Boeing’s F-18 Super Hornet and Dassault • The Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA) Rafale, 36 of which the Indian Air Force has that will boost global exports by $1 trillion contracted. The F-35 fifth generation aircraft should come into force within two weeks, of the U.S. is also an option. the head of the World Trade Organization said, just as the rhetoric of U.S. President Donald Trump clouds the outlook for global Centre says GAAR effective April 1, industry trade. demurs • This will have a major impact on poorer • The Centre has reiterated that the General Anti countries, because it standardises and Avoidance Rules – aimed at curbing tax simplifies customs procedures, slashing the avoidance – will come into force on April 1, time, cost and complexity of taking goods ignoring industry’s suggestion to defer the over borders. rules on account of uncertainty over their applicability and to provide adequate time to • The United States, European Union, China prepare for the new regime. and Japan were among the early adopters, although big and rich countries have less to • The government’s resolve to stick to the gain since their customs procedures are rollout date for the GAAR regime announced already at high levels. 102 | P a g e http://www.currentaffairsonly.com

Scientists take first steps to grow human but to construct its pancreas of pure mouse organs in pigs cells, instead of the usual mixture of rat and mouse cells.

 For the first time, biologists have succeeded in  The next step is to repeat the experiment in growing human stem cells in pig embryos, pigs, which produce organs of a more shifting from science fiction to the realm of suitable size for use in humans. the possible the idea of developing human organs in animals for later transplant.  The two reports together establish the feasibility of trying to grow replacement  The approach involves generating stem cells human organs in animals, though such a goal from a patient’s skin, growing the desired is still far off. Many technical and ethical new organ in a large animal like a pig, and barriers have yet to be overcome, but the then harvesting it for transplant into the research is advancing alongside the acute patient’s body. need for organs; some 76,000 people in the U.S. alone are awaiting transplants.  Since the organ would be made of a patient’s own cells, there would be little risk of • Both Izpisua Belmonte and Nakauchi said immune rejection. there was a long way to go before human organs could successfully be grown in  The human-organ-growing pigs would be animals like pigs. examples of chimeras, animals composed of two different genomes. • Chimeras will be more immediately useful in studying human embryogenesis, testing drugs  They would be generated by implanting and following the progress of disease. human stem cells into an early pig embryo, resulting in an animal composed of mixed pig • Both scientists expressed confidence that and human cells. ethical concerns about chimera research could be addressed.  One team of biologists, led by Jun Wu and Juan Carlos Izpisua Belmonte at the Salk • Chimeras are typically mosaics in which each Institute, has shown for the first time that organ is a mixture of the host and donor cells. human stem cells can contribute to forming But new techniques like the Crispr-Cas gene the tissues of a pig, despite the 90 million editing system should allow the human cells in years of evolution between the two species. a pig embryo both to be channelled into organs of interest and to be excluded from tissues of  Mr. Belmonte’s team has now shown that concern like the brain and reproductive human stem cells do survive in pig embryos tissues. and help form their organs, although not very efficiently. 29th JANUARY, 2017-THE HINDU DAILY NOTES  Another group, headed by Tomoyuki Yamaguchi and Hideyuki Sato of the Trump restricts entry from 7 Muslim nations University of Tokyo, and Hiromitsu Nakauchi of Stanford, has reversed diabetes in mice by inserting pancreas glands composed of mouse • U.S. President Donald Trump has banned cells that were grown in a rat. people from seven Muslim majority countries from entering the nation for 90 days and  Mr. Nakauchi has disabled the master gene in suspended admission of refugees for 120 days rats for making a pancreas so that when mouse through an executive order on 27 January 2017. stem cells are injected into the early embryo of

such a rat, the growing embryo has no choice

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• The order has also indefinitely barred Talwar class stealth frigates during bilateral refugees from Syria. discussions on the sidelines of the BRICS summit in October 2016. • Iraq, Iran, Libya, Yemen, Somalia, Sudan and Syria are the countries targeted by the • As per the agreement, two ships are to be order. procured directly from Russia and two to be built in India with Russian assistance. • Iran said it would stop U.S. citizens entering the country in retaliation to Washington’s • In the commercial offer submitted later, visa ban against Tehran and six other Russia has quoted about $990 million for the majority- Muslim countries announced by two ships to be directly imported. new U.S. President Donald Trump. • For those to be built in India, the commercial offer quoted about $800 million for “supply of EC: Ministries, departments cannot bypass us material to ensure construction of the two ships in India” and $51 million for “supply of project documentation” to ensure their • Noting that the Ministries of Defence and construction. The cost of construction of the Finance, besides NITI Aayog, had taken two ships in an Indian yard — yet to be certain decisions that disturbed the level identified — was to be arrived at later. playing field in the pollbound States, the Election Commission (EC) requested the • Defence sources said this would steeply push Cabinet Secretariat to issue instructions to all up the overall cost of the two ships and it was government departments for strict adherence seen as a way to ensure that all four ships to its guidelines. were imported from Russia.

• Citing a March 2014 directive, the EC said all • “It will be a serious setback to the Make-in- references of the Cabinet Committee should India initiative,” one official observed. be routed through the Cabinet Secretariat and the matters of Ministries or government • The basic structures of the two frigates are departments have to be referred by the already ready at Yantar shipyard in Russia Ministry concerned. and will be finished once the contract is finalised. • “The provisions of the Model Code of Conduct and various instructions... provide • The issue was discussed in detail by the that the party in power, whether at the Centre Defence Acquisition Council at its meeting or in States, shall ensure that no cause be given on November 7 which for any complaint that it uses its position to further its prospects in any election,” it said. “compared the cost differential in the ships to be brought from Russia and those proposed Stealth frigate deal in choppy waters to be built in India,” sources said. • India had earlier procured six frigates of the • The multi-billion dollar deal between India same class weighing 4,000 tonnes in two and Russia for four stealth frigates has run different batches. into trouble over pricing and local • Another winter has passed but several construction with Transfer of Technology thousand people who repeatedly get displaced (ToT). in Murshidabad district, West Bengal, due to the erosion of the banks of the Ganga are • India and Russia had signed an Inter- going through the ordeal again, with no one Governmental Agreement (IGA) for four bothered to take measures to prevent the additional Krivak or erosion.

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• The river swallowed their houses and land Multidrug -resistant bacteria in China again in between October and November 2016. The villagers claimed they have • The mcr-1 gene — a gene that makes bacteria become “refugees” in their own country yet resistant to colistin, an antibiotic of last resort, again. and that is transferrable between bacteria — has been found in a wide variety of strains of • This is not the first time that these people, Escherichia coli in China following mostly bidi workers and daily wage earners, widespread use of colistin in agriculture since have been displaced by the mighty river. 1980s.

• It has been going on for the last three • As China prepares to introduce the drug for decades. the first time in human medicine, two new studies published in The Lancet Infectious • The 120-km stretch of the right bank of the Diseases provide evidence of how widely the Ganges -- from Farakka to Jalangi in the mcr-1 gene has spread to bacteria in clinical district -- is especially prone to erosion. settings, including to a minority already resistant to the carbapenem class of States seek to allay fears over MR vaccine antibiotics, and highlight the need for caution and careful prescribing when the country introduces colistin. • With five States in the country hoping to launch a massive measles-rubella (MR) • Colistin was recently banned for use in vaccination drive to cover children above nine agriculture in China, and will soon be months and below 15 years of age from introduced in clinical use for the first time. February 2017, questions have been raised about the immunisation drive in schools. What is the Gibraltar Arc?

• The project was to be initially rolled out in Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Goa, Lakshadweep • The Gibraltar Arc is a geological region, and Puducherry, as a public health move considered one of the narrowest landforms on implemented through schools and camps. Earth.

• But issues have cropped up as some parents of • A team of Andalusian scientists, led by the students in private schools have expressed University of Granada (UGR), has been able apprehensions about re-vaccinating their to reconstruct for the first time what the children, even if they have been vaccinated Gibraltar Arc was like 9 million years ago. with the older version of the Measles Mumps Rubella (MMR) vaccine earlier. • The researchers have been able to prove that, since then, large blocks of land, with sizes • In Karnataka, parents have decided that they about 300 kilometres long and 150 kilometres would not consent to this injection as they wide, have rotated clockwise (in the case of feel that the drive is “forced re- the Baetic System mountain range) and immunisation”. counter-clockwise (in the case of the Rif mountain range, in the north of Morocco). • In Tamil Nadu too, some opposition is seen from parents, though perhaps not on the scale • The said movements have completely as witnessed in the neighbouring State. Here, reshaped the Gibraltar Arc, since they have there is some confusion on the been carried out at a very high speed: 6° per implementation of the project. million years (in total, 53° for the block of the Western Baetic System), and are compatible with both the opening of the Strait of Gibraltar about 5 million years ago as with the current movements measured with GPS. 105 | P a g e http://www.currentaffairsonly.com

Odisha rejects panel on Mahanadi remittance services, Internet banking and other specified services.  Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik informed Prime Minister Narendra Modi that the Odisha • In 2015, RBI had granted ‘in-principle’ government has rejected the Centre’s approval to 11 entities to set up payments negotiation committee on Mahanadi river banks. water dispute with Chhattisgarh. Bilateral trade hit by banks’ reluctance to  Mr. Patnaik in his letter, however, said he was transact with Iran open to attending a meeting at the Prime Minister’s level as a last chance to settle the • India’s trade with Iran is yet to be fully river water dispute through dialogue. normalised even a year after the lifting of international sanctions on Tehran.  Pending formation of the tribunal, he requested the Prime Minister that Chhattisgarh • Indian exporters are complaining of be immediately directed to stop works of the difficulties faced by them due to some Indian ongoing project on Mahanadi basin. nationalised banks refusing to deal with Iran- related transactions, according to the apex  Noting that the negotiation committee would body for exporters in the country, the only delay the setting up of the tribunal as Federation of Indian Export Organisations demanded by Odisha, Mr. Patnaik said the (FIEO). State would allow Chhattisgarh to complete the construction of the disputed projects. • This is despite the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), in a notification in May 2016,  On Odisha’s rejection of the negotiation specifying that payment or remittance or committee, Mr. Patnaik said: “The committee reimbursement can be made from or to Iran in is not in accordance with the provisions of Sec any freely convertible currency for imports 4(1) of the Inter-State Rover Water Dispute from Iran and exports to that country. Act of 1956 and its composition is arbitrary.” • Previously, following the sanctions on Iran India Post gets payments bank licence over its nuclear activities, both the nations had agreed in 2012 that 45% of India’s oil import  India Post has received payments bank payments to Iran would be paid in rupees and licence from the Reserve Bank of India to deposited in UCO Bank as that bank hardly start roll-out of banking operations had an exposure to U.S. or European Union. commercially under the permit. • In turn, Iran was to utilise that amount to pay  India Post Payments Bank is the third entity for its imports from India. It is learnt that the balance in the rupee account may not be to receive payments bank permit after Bharti sufficient to cover three months of India’s Airtel and Paytm. exports to Iran.

 Payments banks can accept deposits up to • India’s trade with Iran in FY’16 was $9 ₨.1 lakh per account from individuals and billion, of which $6.3 billion were imports small businesses. from Iran (of which $4.5 billion was the oil

import bill), while India’s exports were worth  The new model allows mobile firms, only $2.7 billion. supermarket chains and others to cater to

banking requirements of individuals and • Exporters and importers have been advised to small businesses. It will be set up as a carry out their transactions in currencies such differentiated bank and will confine its as the Euro wherever possible, the official activities to acceptance of demand deposits, said, adding that banks still have apprehensions that the U.S. regulators could 106 | P a g e http://www.currentaffairsonly.com

take arbitrary decisions on Iran-related fire, including an electrical wiring issue, a transactions. pure-oxygen environment and flammable materials throughout the crew cabin. Indian firms keen to rebuild Sri Lanka’s former war zone • NASA made dozens of changes and resumed flying in October 1968, setting the stage for the historic Apollo 11 lunar landing in July • The Associated Chambers of Commerce and 1969. Industry of India (Assocham) will explore the “virgin market” in Jaffna, located in Sri Why India needs to step up its fight Lanka’s Tamil-majority Northern Province, for possible business collaborations and to help commercially rebuild the former war- • India’s fight against leprosy — 16 years after zone, a representative of the trade body said. being eliminated globally as a public health issue — is far from over. • Representatives of about 65 Indian companies, ranging from textiles to • The World Health Organization (WHO) engineering, are participating in the Jaffna asked South-East Asian countries, including International Trade Fair 2017 that India which accounted for 60% of such cases commenced on January 27. worldwide in 2015, to focus on preventing disabilities in children. • Information is now been sought from the Jafna Chamber of Commerce on labour • According to WHO, leprosy affected policies, land, taxation, and the availability of 2,12,000 people globally in 2015. India alone water and electricity there. reported 1,27,326 new cases, accounting for 60% of new cases globally. • Some Indian companies may even consider acquiring sick industries for revival. • The other high-burden countries were Brazil and Indonesia.

• Of the new cases, 8.9% were children and NASA marks 50 years of Apollo 1 fire 6.7% presented with visible deformities. The remaining 10,286 new cases (5%) were reported by 92 countries. Thirty countries • NASA marked the 50th anniversary of its reported zero new cases. moon programme’s fatal Apollo launchpad fire with the first public display of the • India is among the 22 countries considered as scorched hatch that trapped three astronauts having a “high burden for leprosy” along inside their spaceship during a routine pre- with high transmission. launch test. • Global statistics show that 1,99,992 (94%) of • NASA astronauts Virgil “Gus” Grissom, new cases were reported from 14 countries Edward White and Roger Chafee died when reporting more than 1,000 new cases each. thick smoke filled the crew module of the Only 6% of new cases were reported from Apollo 1 capsule on January 27, 1967, in what the rest of the world. was the first deadly accident in the space agency’s early days. • While the mode of transmission of leprosy is not known, the most widely held belief is that • The men were unable to open the capsule’s the disease was transmitted by contact three-part hatch before being overcome by between those with leprosy and healthy smoke. persons. • Investigators discovered several problems with the Apollo capsule design that led to the 107 | P a g e http://www.currentaffairsonly.com

• More recently, the possibility of transmission • Mr. Trump has said he will help Christians in by the respiratory route is gaining ground. Syria, but a Christian family of six that • There are also other possibilities such as obtained U.S visas after a 15-year process transmission through insects which cannot be was possibly the first victims of his travel completely ruled out. ban.

• Although leprosy affects both sexes, in most • Those detained or not allowed to travel to parts of the world males are affected more American include holders of permanent frequently than females, often in the ratio of residency permits – popularly called green 2:1, according to WHO’s Global Leprosy cards – students and business people. Report. • Mr. Trump’s selection of seven countries that • World Leprosy Day is observed on the last figure in the list has also brought into focus Sunday of January since 1954. questions of conflicts of interests that have been haunting his presidency from the word • In 2016, WHO launched the Global Leprosy go. The seven countries have not been the Strategy 2016–2020: Accelerating towards a source of any terrorism in the U.S while leprosy-free world, with the aim of countries such as Saudi Arabia, the UAE and reinvigorating efforts to control leprosy and Egypt that are connected to incidents of avert disabilities, especially among children terrorism in the U.S are not included in the list. still affected by the disease in endemic countries. • Several commentators have linked this to Mr. Trump’s business links – while he has • India, which is among the endemic countries, business interests in Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the has been advised to include strategic UAE and Qatar, he has none in the seven interventions in national plans to meet the new listed countries. targets, such as screening all close contacts of persons affected by leprosy; promoting a NIA sets up camp near Kanpur derailment shorter and uniform treatment regimen, and site incorporating specific interventions against stigmatisation and discrimination. • The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has set up a camp in Kanpur, close to the site 30th JANUARY, 2017-THE HINDU DAILY where coaches of the Indore-Rajendranagar NOTES Express derailed on November 20, as it tries to join the dots in at least three train accidents, Court stops deportations under Trump travel claimed to have been orchestrated at the ban behest of Pakistan’s ISI.

• A senior Home Ministry official said the • A judicial order stayed the deportation of agency would clinically examine the accident people from seven Muslim-majority countries site and the mangled coaches, still lying on - Iran, Iraq, Syria, Sudan, Libya, Yemen and either side of the tracks, to ascertain if there Somalia - who arrived in the U.S after was any sabotage behind the derailment that President Donald Trump barred their entry killed more than 140 people. into the country through an executive order. • The Home Ministry had asked the NIA to • The judicial order does not deal with the probe the claims made by the three accused merit of the executive order issued by Mr. arrested by the Bihar police for allegedly Trump that could be deemed unconstitutional planting a powerful bomb packed in a pressure as it effectively sanctions religious cooker on a track in Ghorasahan of East discrimination. Champaran district on October 1. The IED was defused by the police. Paswan, one of the 108 | P a g e http://www.currentaffairsonly.com

accused had told the police that they planted CrPC has already been imposed in sensitive the bomb on the instructions of Pakistan’s ISI. districts including Rohtak, Sonipat, Jhajjar and at other places as a precautionary • He also said that the ISI was involved in the measure, they said. Kanpur train accident of November 20 and that he and two others had travelled to the • The assembly of five or more people in about accident site to place the IED. 500 meters from the national and state highways as well as railway stations in the city • The NIA will also take into account the has been prohibited, officials said, adding that report of the Commission of Railway Safety paramilitary forces and state police personnel (CRS), which investigates all the major train have been deployed in sensitive areas to accidents in the country. Its preliminary maintain strict vigil. probe had not found any evidence of sabotage and identified ‘carriage and wagon • Haryana Chief Minister defects’ as the main reason for the accident. appealed to various organisations of the community to maintain peace in the State, • “We have asked the CRS to submit its report. saying the doors of his government are always Reports from other accidents are also being open for dialogue. collated to examine if there was a pattern in the derailments,” said the official. About Jat agitation • Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu had written Who are Jats? to Home Minister Rajnath Singh about the • In Haryana, Jats are a politically influential possibility of sabotage in at least six train community and constitute nearly 29 per cent accidents in the last one year. of the population.

Oil spill in Chennai dooms turtles • Jats originally belonged to farming communities and now mostly live in • A thick oily tide from the sea lapped at the Haryana, Punjab, Delhi, Rajasthan and coast of several fishing hamlets in north UP. Chennai on 29 January 2017, a day after two cargo ships, one of them an oil tanker, • Their population in total is about 82.5 collided off Kamarajar Port in Ennore. million. Over the years, they have become politically active in certain • Several dead turtles and hatchlings coated states, especially in Haryana and with the black oil were washed ashore and Punjab. discovered among the boulders. What are their demands? • M.T. Dawn Kanchipuram coming from Mumbai with a full load of petrol and diesel • Jats, Jat Sikhs, Rors, Tyagis and collided around 4 a.m. on 28 January 2017 Bishnois, are seeking reservation with an LPG tanker, M.T. BW Maple. under the Other Backward Jats begin quota stir in Haryana Classes(OBC) category.

• Seeking reservation in government jobs for • They had been promised that the the community, members of Jat organisations Economically Backward Category(EBC) started their agitation in most districts of quota will be increased from 10% to 20% Haryana. by the state government.

• Violence in last year’s Jat stir claimed 30 lives • In addition to this they were also and caused huge damage to property in the promised the annual income ceiling State. Officials said Haryana this time has raised from Rs 2.5 lakh to Rs 6 lakh been put on maximum alert. Section 144 of 109 | P a g e http://www.currentaffairsonly.com

to accommodate more people under philosophy that “nobody is above the law and the category. all are equal.”

Atomic clocks on indigenous navigation • The legend of Manu Needhi Cholan or ‘Elara’ satellite develop snag — the Chola king — and how he had inspired generations of judges was revealed in a recent • NavIC, the indigenously built satellite based Supreme Court order dismissing a challenge positioning system, has developed a technical to the elevation of Justice J.S. Khehar as the snag in the atomic clocks on its first satellite. country’s 44th Chief Justice of India in keeping with the convention of seniority. • In the NavIC, a constellation of seven satellites, one of the three crucial rubidium • The order came on a petition filed by a group timekeepers on IRNSS-1A spacecraft failed of lawyers under the banner – National six months ago. The other two followed Lawyers Campaign for Judicial Transparency subsequently. and Reforms – which had questioned Justice Khehar’s fairness and eligibility to be the top • A. S. Kiran Kumar, Chairman of the Indian judge. Space Research Organisation, confirmed the glitch in the clocks but clarified that the • They alleged the judge to have “usurped” the satellite was otherwise all right, and the rest of power to appoint judges to the country’s the satellites were performing its core function constitutional courts through his NJAC of providing accurate position, navigation and judgment. time. • Dismissing the allegation, a Bench of Justices • However, without its clocks, the IRNSS- R.K. Agrawal and D.Y. Chandrachud drew a 1A“will give a coarse value. It will not be used parallel between the time-tested tradition of for computation. Messages from it will still be justice administration practised by judges in used.” ISRO, he said, was trying to revive the modern India and the ancient Chola king’s clocks on 1A and readying one of the two sense of justice without fear or favour. back-up navigation satellites to replace it in space in the second half of this year. • “The judges of all the courts, since its very inception, have always maintained this great • The troubled IRNSS-1A spacecraft was put tradition of the Chola king and are rendering in space in July 2013 and has an expected life even justice to all concerned, whosoever he or span of 10 years. she may be, irrespective of the fact whether • The seventh navigation satellite, IRNSS-1G, they are rich or poor, and whether they occupy was launched in April 2016. a high or a low status in society,” Justice Agrawal wrote. • The satellites of the ₨. 1,420-crore NavIC, short for Navigation with Indian • The apex court narrated the legend of how Constellation, and also known as the Indian Manu Needhi Cholan, who believed in “even Regional Navigation Satellite System, give justice towards friends and foes”, had his son precise information on position, navigation crushed to death under the wheels of a chariot and time (PNT) of objects or persons to users to render justice to a cow whose calf the prince on ground, sea and air. had run over.

SC cites Chola king in order IT Ministry urges tax sops for PC manufacturers too • An ancient Chola king is the personification of a perfect judge for the Supreme Court. This • The Ministry of Electronics and Information king who ruled South India around 250 B.C. Technology has urged the Finance ministry to has been the torch-bearer of the judges’ work retain the differential excise duty regime and tax exemptions granted for the manufacture of 110 | P a g e http://www.currentaffairsonly.com

mobile handsets and tablets, under the • Japanese financial services major Nomura impending Goods and Services Tax regime, to downplayed the impact of the protectionist prop up domestic manufacturing of electronic trade policies of the U.S. President Donald products. Trump on India as it sees only a 10-basis- point hit on GDP at 6.8% in 2017. • In its key recommendations for the Union Budget 2017-18, the Ministry has suggested • It is also quick to add that ‘Trumpnomics’ that these exemptions be expanded to personal will hit the domestic software exporters, as computers and servers, as per the Phased 86% of the H-1B visas in the past have been Manufacturing Roadmap it has worked out in cornered by Indians. consultation with the Centre’s think tank NITI Aayog. • “We expect this hit on growth to be only transitory, as remonetisation, wealth re- • “The current duty dispensation is 12.5% distribution and lower lending rates should countervailing duty (CVD) versus 1% excise result in growth returning to above 7% from duty (without input credit of excise duty paid the second half of 2017,” it said. on the goods). • ‘Trumponomics’ refers to economic policies • Differential duty makes imports of mobile of President Trump and assumes a fiscal handsets more expensive compared with stimulus to boost growth from the third making them locally, encouraging quarter, two Fed hikes this year, low-scale smartphone players to set up manufacturing U.S. trade protectionism and tighter units in India. immigration policies.

• Over the past one and a half years, about 40 FinMin may aid rail safety fund new mobile factories have come up in the country, generating direct employment for • The Finance Ministry has agreed to more than 40,000 people and indirect contribute partially to a new dedicated employment for 1.25 lakh people. The railway safety fund in the upcoming Budget Ministry has also suggested that specified to be presented on February 1. capital goods for the manufacture of • The Railway Ministry had requested the electronic goods be exempted from basic Finance Ministry to create a ‘non-lapsable’ customs duty and countervailing duties. safety fund named ‘Rashtriya

• To promote indigenous manufacturing of Rail Sanraksha Kosh’ over five years. LCD and LED panels, it has been recommended that the specified key raw • Train derailments have increased to a six- materials and inputs for the manufacture of year high of 74 till January 2017 compared to these panels may be permitted at 0% customs 65 in 2015-16 and this may prompt the duty. Railways to bring back a cess on railway tickets to fund safety efforts. • The ministry has also pitched for extension of income tax benefit for research and • The dedicated rail safety fund is proposed to development (R&D) to software products and be utilised for track improvement, bridge the chip design industry. rehabilitation work, rolling stock replacement, • The proposal is expected to boost the human resource development, improved generation of intellectual property in the inspection system and safety work at level- country. crossings, among other things.

Nomura sees ‘Trumponomics’ having minimal • In 2001, when a Special Railway Safety Fund impact on India of ₨17,000 crore was created, the Railways raised ₨ 5,000 crore through safety surcharge on passenger fare and the 111 | P a g e http://www.currentaffairsonly.com

remaining ₨12,000 crore came from the valid as the original Aadhaar card sent by Finance Ministry. UIDAI,” it added.

• The Railways had asked for ‘Rashtriya Rail The Railway Budget – a requiem Sanraksha Kosh’ to be set up based on the recommendations of a high-level safety Indian Railways review committee under former chairman Atomic Energy Commission Dr. Anil • The Indian Railways (IR) is a behemoth Kakodkar. employing 1.3 million workmen, lifting more than 1 billion tonnes of freight annually and • The Committee, which submitted its report in carrying 24 million passengers in its 12,000 2012, had projected an investment passenger trains each day. requirement of ₨1 lakh crore on safety over • 2017 will go down in history as the first year five years. when the Rail Budget was subsumed in the • The Centre has so far fully implemented 22 General Budget. out of 87 partially or fully accepted recommendations made by the panel. History of separate budget:

Aadhaar number printed on paper perfectly • A separate rail budget has its genesis in the valid: Centre recommendations of the Acworth Committee of 1920 when its chairman, Sir William Acworth, pointed out the need for unified • The Unique Identification Authority of India management of the entire railway system and (UIDAI) has cautioned people about sharing inter alia, recommended that “the Finance their personal information with unauthorised department should cease to control the internal agencies for printing Aadhaar numbers on a finances of the railway, that the railway should plastic card, while stressing that the Aadhaar have a separate budget of its own….” letter, with its cutaway portion or the downloaded version, on an ordinary paper is • This was considered necessary because the “perfectly valid.” Railways’ revenues far outstripped the general revenue and had the potential of masking • Several agencies charge anywhere between small yet important aberrations in the general ₨.50 and ₨.200, or more, for printing budget of the Government of India, if Aadhaar on a plastic card in the name of presented together. smart card. • In 1947, when Independence was achieved, • The UIDAI has also warned unauthorised railway revenues were still 6% more than the agencies that “collecting such information or general revenue. unauthorised printing of Aadhaar card or aiding such persons in any manner amounts to • The Railway Convention Committee headed a criminal offence punishable with by Sir Gopalaswamy Ayyangar imprisonment under the IPC and, also, recommended, “separation of Railway Chapter VI of The Aadhaar (Targeted finances from General finance should Delivery of Financial and Other Subsidies, continue”. Benefits and Services) Act, 2016.” • A resolution to this effect was approved by the • The UIDAI further said that if someone loses Constituent Assembly on December 21, 1949. the Aadhaar printout, they could download it The revised convention was to be effective for for free from the website. a period of five years starting 1950-51, but continued for 66 years, just as a few other • “The printout of the downloaded Aadhaar constitutional provisions for language and card, even in black and white form, is as reservation have enjoyed an extended life.

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• By the 1970s, the size of rail revenues had shrunk and was about 30% the size of general O At that time, movement of petroleum revenues. products was the most profitable • By 2015-16 it was down to 11.5%. business for the Railways and it had a lion’s share of 75% in this sector. It is • The writing was on the wall; only the now down to 10%! Railway Board failed to read it. Many erudite scholars of economics like Swaminathan S.A. Aiyar and Bibek Debroy were now raising Is a retrieval from this quagmire feasible? the pitch for discontinuance of the rail • Well, a return to the halcyon days of having a budget. separate budget seems implausible.

Suicidal move? Could the Indian Railways have • But, a retrieval of the Railways’ financial avoided this fate? health is quite within reach, if due focus is • It erred on two facets of its philosophy for laid on the core sectors of freight operation growth. and enhanced productivity of assets. 1. First and foremost was its penchant for subsidising the passenger fares from Living dangerously in the hacker’s shadow in a artificially jacked up freight rates. ‘less-cash’ economy O The non-AC fares have remained static for the past 12 years; this has been nothing Demonestisation pushed digitisation: short of suicidal. • One of the undisputed benefits of the recent O Freight rates now are at such high levels demonetisation exercise has been the that road hauliers successfully compete concerted push towards digitisation of cash with Railways on grounds of being transactions. cheaper. • Concomitant with this development has been O It is not surprising that the rail share in the rapid growth in the use of smart devices, the overall freight kitty is down from primarily mobile phones. 89% in 1950-51 to less than 30% in 2014-15. • Though digital payment systems have been in existence for a while, the last few weeks have 2. Secondly, the Railways themselves have witnessed an explosive growth in their use. been withdrawing from their core areas of operations and concentrating on Mobile-based systems: peripheral items. • There are a number of mobile banking O They have withdrawn themselves from applications that have been developed by all urban transport activities. major banks for their respective customers to perform transactions that they would O In the 1990s, if the IR had devised normally have conducted over the bank’s innovative solutions like forming webportal. Special Purpose Vehicles (SPVs) to catalyse construction of metro lines, • The Bharat Interface for Money (BHIM) both the people of India and the application has been developed by the Railways would have benefited from National Payments Corporation of India it. (NPCI) to allow any customer of a Universal Payment Interface (UPI)-live bank (like SBI, O Instead, in the 1990s, a situation was HDFC, ICICI, etc.) to conduct certain basic created, albeit unwittingly, which transactions such as sending or receiving made transportation of petroleum money. products cheaper by pipeline. 113 | P a g e http://www.currentaffairsonly.com

• While these applications do not (claim to) USSD-based payment system: store any bank-related information on the • A relatively “low technology” method of phone itself, they connect directly to the conducting transactions is the USSD-based consumer’s bank accounts, which may be a payment system. cause for concern. • This NPCI-developed system allows consumers to access their bank accounts Mobile wallets: using the regular wireless telephony network • Mobile wallets on the other hand are (non-data) to communicate with their applications that act like our physical wallets respective banks and perform transactions. but in the digital world. • The advantage here is that a smart phone is • We can add money to our wallets from our not required to conduct mobile banking bank accounts, debit or credit cards and then transactions (especially for payment). use these funds for various transactions – be it paying vendors or friends. • All these transaction methods are multi- lingual, and hence useful in the context of • SBI Buddy, Chillr, Paytm, Oxigen, India. MobiKwik, etc. are examples of mobile wallets. • The limitation with such wallets is that the Vulnerabilities exist: vendor and the customer should also be using the same wallet. • Vulnerabilities associated with payments systems exist and hence signal the need for Advantage of mobile wallets v/s banking caution. Examples follow. application: 1. Compromised applications: The most • Their advantage over the banking application plausible vulnerability with payment is that the liability of the consumer is limited applications is the presence of other to the amount kept in the wallet (just like applications on a consumer’s mobile physical wallets). phone.

Basic Reqirements: If a user has an alternative keyboard application, it could be a risk in terms of • In any of the applications mentioned above, logging passwords and pins while secure communication (over 2G, 3G or Wifi performing bank transactions. network) is used to access and conduct transactions. It is also possible that a user inadvertently downloads an application • A smart phone is necessary and the while browsing the web that could encryption level is similar to what we get compromise his/ her phone data and when using the bank’s web-portal. In the transactions. case of BHIM, the dedicated UPI network between banks is used. With some payment wallets, anyone • There are more than 47 banks that have having casual access to a user’s mobile registered with NPCI to conduct immediate phone could be a vulnerability as payments over the UPI network. application PINs are not set up. • Each of these applications varies in terms of the number of access passwords required to 2. Denial of service: A vulnerability conduct a transaction. associated with all forms of payment • For ease of use, wallets typically have the systems is a denial of service attack on least number of access checks. the network as whole. This could be at the level of the telephony network via 114 | P a g e http://www.currentaffairsonly.com

jamming devices or at the server where 1. Payment systems should ensure that their billions of illegitimate requests could be systems are continually audited for sent in a short period of time, making it security vulnerabilities and patched difficult for legitimate transactions to be frequently. completed. 2. Systems should be hosted with active 3. Man-in-middle vulnerability: In this measures to mitigate denial of service scenario, a hacker gets access to either attacks, while also maintaining flexibility the servers on the telecom network, the to handle seasonal upsurges in traffic. payment wallet or the bank’s networks. Measures to be taken by the government : 4. Listening to the communication (despite being encrypted) could still be 1. While the government has put its weight considered a risk. This type of behind the concept of a cashless vulnerability could be considered to be economy, it needs to invest sufficiently more esoteric. in securing the network as well as educating the population on how to avoid 5. Hacking of a bank’s or NPCI’s servers : becoming a victim of fraud. There should This could end up exposing personal be a robust training programme, details of users, while hacking of a especially focussing on the old and mobile (GSM) network (A5/1 encryption illiterate who will be affected the most has known vulnerabilities) could expose by this transition. all communication, especially the USSD- based transactions.There are trade-offs 2. Lastly, it must revisit laws and establish a between convenience and security. special mechanism to ensure that entities stealing data or preventing legitimate digital transactions are dealt with severely Steps to minimize vulnerabilities: and swiftly in a manner apparent to the public. • While it is impossible to eliminate all vulnerabilities and risks, there are some 31st JANUARY, 2017-THE HINDU DAILY simple steps that users, payment system NOTES providers, banks and governments could take to minimise their risks while using payment Panel headed by Vinod Rai to oversee BCCI’s systems. affairs

• The greatest vulnerability in mobile payment systems lies at the consumer’s end. Precautions to • The Supreme Court appointed a four-member be taken by consumers: Committee of Administrators (CoA) headed 1. Users need to carefully protect their by former mobile devices from unauthorised access. 2. In the least, one should have a PIN to lock Comptroller and Auditor General of India the phone. Vinod Rai to oversee the Board of Control 3. A biometrics based locking/unlocking for Cricket in India (BCCI). system would most secure as of now. • The others are former woman Test cricketer 4. PIN access for applications — especially Diana Edulji, historian Ramachandra Guha for banking applications or digital wallets and IDFC Ltd MD and CEO Vikram Limaye. would be another layer of protection. • The four will function as the interim bosses of the BCCI and run the day-to-day Measures to be taken by Payment systems: administration of the cricket body till the

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Lodha reforms are fully implemented and differences on several issues regarding the elections held. MoP draft, including that the AG should be consulted on judicial appointments. • A three-judge Bench headed by Justice Dipak Misra did not heed pleas for fresh hearings by • The last draft was handed over by the the BCCI, its State members and non-State government to the Collegium in August 2016 members and took the step forward in the for finalisation. “It [the MoP] has been direction laid out by the Justice R.M. Lodha pending for the last six months. Once work on Committee. MoP is finished, a large number of problems would be over,” Mr. Rohatgi submitted. • The BCCI CEO was ordered to submit a report to the CoA detailing the level of compliance • He said the Central government would work achieved by the BCCI and its members in together with the Supreme Court and the adopting the Lodha recommendations upheld Chief Justice towards this end and resolve all by the court on July 18, 2016. issues."

• After this, the committee has been given four • But petitioner and advocate Ashwini weeks to scrutinise the compliance achieved Upadhyay intervened, saying the delay in and report to the Supreme Court. judicial appointments was not the only • The Bench said the scrutiny would help in demand in his petition. the ‘smooth implementation’ of the Lodha reforms. • He read out from his petition seeking even to “double the number of judges” in the courts SC refuses govt. plea to stop hearing on to combat pendency. judicial vacancies • But here, Chief Justice Khehar favoured the • The Supreme Court refused to heed the government's line that existing vacancies for Centre's plea to stop hearing a batch of writ judges should be first filled up rather petitions on the yawning number of judicial doubling their numbers. vacancies in High Courts across the country and the delay in filling them, noting that “we Reserve Bank eases curbs on cash withdrawals cannot run away from our own cause.” • The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) lifted curbs • Mr. Rohatgi said the Supreme Court should on cash withdrawals for holders of current deal with the delay in judicial appointments in accounts, cash credit accounts, and overdrafts High Courts on its administrative side and not with immediate effect. lend its judicial weight to public interest petitions filed by individuals in a “parallel • The limits had been imposed in November proceeding” like this. following the withdrawal of high value banknotes. • But Chief Justice Khehar, flanked by Justice N.V. Ramana, said the Supreme Court had • “The limits on savings bank accounts will already decided to entertain the petitions, and continue for the present and are under having decided to do so, it would not now consideration for withdrawal in the near back out. future,” the central bank said. • The move is expected to ease fund • Mr. Rohatgi said all problems on the delay availability for small businesses and traders. would end if the draft Memorandum of Procedure (MoP) was finalised. • “Banks are urged to encourage their constituents to sustain the movement towards • The government and the Supreme Court digitisation of payments and switching over Collegium, then led by Chief Justice Khehar's of payments from cash mode to non-cash predecessor, Justice T.S. Thakur, had serious mode,” the RBI said. 116 | P a g e http://www.currentaffairsonly.com

• The court also levied a fine of ₨ 5 lakh on Medical audits will check stent prices, say him, besides confirming the attachment of his activists assets, currently worth about ₨ 3 crore.

• Demanding that the government introduce SC junks petition against President, calls it medical audits, where doctors will have to ‘malicious’ account for drugs and devices used, health activists said they were ‘alarmed’ that doctors and hospitals were taking ‘cuts’ for • The Supreme Court dismissed a public recommending use of coronary stents, which interest litigation petition filed by a may not be necessary, in heart patients. “disgruntled litigant” against President Pranab Mukherjee, calling it an “assault on • After seeing that massive margins charged at the Constitution.” each step in the distribution and supply of stents, activists have demanded that the • Noting that PIL petition is not a free-for-all to government develop standard treatment file whatever one pleases against who ever one guidelines for cardiovascular interventions pleases, a Bench of Justices Dipak Misra and with the help of expert doctors, free from R. Banumathi said a “litigant cannot assume conflict of interest, and implement medical that he is the monarch of all he surveys.” audits of procedures. • The order came on a petition filed by one Ms. • The recommendations come after data Aninidita against three persons, the first of published by the National Pharmaceutical whom is the President of India. Pricing Authority (NPPA) showed that the price of a stent increases nearly 2000% by • The petition was filed, the Supreme Court the time the patient gets the implant. learnt, after the litigant’s appeals filed earlier in the Supreme Court. • The NPPA data also shows that the largest cut goes to the hospitals, which can be as • Citing its 2006 judgment in Rameshwar high as 650% more than the price at which Prasad and Others versus Union of India, the the hospital purchases the stents from the Bench observed that it has been clearly held distributor. that the President cannot be arrayed as a party to a litigation. • Coronary stents were included in the National List of Essential Medicines (NLEM) • The court said individual grievances of a after a petition was filed before the Delhi litigant could not be a ground for launching a High Court by advocate Birender Sangwan. “malicious” attack on the “system,” especially when high constitutional ED secures first-ever conviction under money authorities like the President were involved. laundering law Defreeze accounts of Indira Jaising’s NGO: • The Enforcement Directorate (ED) secured HC the first-ever conviction under the Prevention of Money • In what may come as a huge relief to former Additional Solicitor-General of India, Indira Laundering Act (PMLA), which came into Jaising, the Bombay High Court ordered the force in 2005, with a Ranchi special court domestic accounts of her NGO, The Lawyers sentencing former Jharkhand Minister Hari Collective, be de-freezed. Narayan Rai to seven years imprisonment in a corruption case. • While giving the order, the single bench of Justice M.S. Sonak said the “Centre’s allegations are quite vague when it comes to

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the charge of mixing of foreign contribution I-T notices to 87 under Benami Transactions with local/domestic funds.” Act

• Justice Sonak was hearing the appeal filed by  Initiating stringent action against black money the NGO against the Charity Commissioner’s holders, the Income-Tax department said it order passed on November 27, 2016, which had issued 87 notices and attached bank said that “the money in bank accounts be deposits worth crores in 42 cases nationwide frozen with immediate effect and shall be in under the newly enforced Benami custody of the bank in accordance with Transactions Act, which attracts a heavy Foreign Contribution Regulation Act Rules”. penalty and rigorous jail term of a maximum 7 years. Centre to hold talks to end Manipur crisis  After the demonetisation order of the • The Centre has decided to hold tripartite talks government in November 2016, the with the United Naga Council (UNC) and the department had carried out public Manipur government to end the ongoing advertisements and had warned people against blockade of two national highways in depositing their unaccounted old notes in Manipur, which has disrupted normal life and someone else’s bank account saying such an led to a shortage of essential commodities in act would attract criminal charges under the the State. The economic blockade imposed by Benami Property Transactions Act, 1988, the UNC, an umbrella body of Naga groups applicable on both movable and immovable under the patronage of National Socialist property, that has been enforced from Council of Nagaland (Isak-Muivah), against November 1, 2016. the Manipur government’s decision to carve out seven new districts, has continued for over Postmen to deliver banking services four months now. • The UNC sees the move as an attempt to • The USP (Unique Selling Proposition) of truncate the concept of a greater Nagalim. India Post Payments Bank (IPPB) will be its ability to offer door-to-door banking service • Home Minister Rajnath Singh had earlier sent through postmen and Grameen Dak sevaks, a tough message to Manipur Chief Minister said Finance Minister Arun Jaitley. Okram Ibobi Singh that if the State government failed in discharging its • The bank aims to have 650 branches – one in constitutional duties, the Centre “may have to each district – to be operational by September explore other measures under the provisions 2017. Each branch will be connected to the of the Constitution of India to ensure that the post offices in the district. difficulties of the people of Manipur are alleviated.” • IPPB will offer 4.5% interest on deposits up to ₨.25,000, 5% on ₨.25,000- ₨.50,000 • The Home Ministry had earlier written a letter and 5.5% on ₨.50,000- ₨.1,00,000, much to the Election Commission of India (ECI) lower than 7.25% announced by competitor regarding the “ongoing tension and grave law Airtel Payment Banks. and order situation” and requested it to defer the elections in the State in the wake of • Stating that their role is to “broaden” the shortage of security forces. market not “skim” it, IPPB CEO A.P. Singh said the bank will offer services with “no • The EC overruled the Ministry’s conditions apply” tag. apprehensions and announced that polls will be held in the State in two phases on March 4 Suryoday offers 9% on 1-2 year fixed deposits and 8. • Suryoday, a small finance bank that started banking operations on 23rd January 2017, will

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offer 9% on fixed deposits with a maturity of usage of micro ATMs and Point of Sale 1 to 2 years, said a top official. machines will also be discussed.

• Senior citizens will get 75 basis points (bps) • The high-profile meeting will also deliberate more on such deposits. upon the need for the autonomous Banks Board Bureau (BBB) to expedite banking • The announcement comes at a time when reforms including PSB consolidation. interest rates are falling with large universal banks offering no more than 7% on deposits • The BBB was set up in April 2016 to help of similar tenure. select heads of public sector banks and financial institutions as well as assist banks • Suryoday, which was a micro finance with strategies and capital raising plans. institution (MFI), has converted into a small • On bad loans, the discussions are likely to be finance bank. centred on the pros and cons of the proposed National Asset • As an MFI, it did not have access to public deposits. The lender also said it will offer Management Company (or a ‘bad bank’) - a 6.25% on savings bank deposits of up to ₨.1 special category asset reconstruction company lakh. with stakeholders including the government and the private sector for takeover and Banks’ ‘Gyan Sangam’ to discuss digitisation, turnaround of bad loans, stressed assets and consolidation at PSBs restructured assets.

• The push for digitisation in the wake of Boron may be the next wonder material demonetisation and the proposal for public sector bank (PSB) consolidation are likely to • Move over graphene! Boron may become the top the agenda for the third edition of the Gyan nanomaterial of the century as scientists have Sangam which is the retreat for PSBs, found that two-atom-wide ribbons and single- government owned Financial Institutions (FI) atom chains of the element possess unique and insurance companies, slated for March properties. 2017. • For example, if metallic ribbons of boron are • The sessions on digitisation will include stretched, they morph into antiferromagnetic presentations on increasing the use of semiconducting chains, and when released Artificial Intelligence (AI) systems and big they fold back into ribbons. data analytics in the banking & financial services industry in India. • Experimental labs are making progress in synthesising atom-thin and fullerene-type • The major slowdown in credit growth – to a boron, which led Boris Yakobson, researcher more than six-decade low of 5.1% for the at Rice University in the U.S. to think 1-D fortnight ended December 23 – and ways to boron may eventually become real as well. revitalise it, as well as measures to effectively tackle bad loans will also be among the main • One-dimensional boron forms two well discussion topics during the Gyan Sangam, defined phases — chains and ribbons — official sources told. Referring to the which are linked by a “reversible phase manpower shortage, especially in middle transition,” meaning they can turn from one management in PSBs, the sources said the form to the other and back. retreat would have discussions on automating many of these functions to ensure productivity • Mr. Yakobson’s lab creates atom-level improvement. computer simulations of materials that do not necessarily exist yet. • Strategies for strengthening the ‘banking correspondent’- network and increasing the 119 | P a g e http://www.currentaffairsonly.com

• Simulating and testing their energetic • Despite its teachings that are considered properties helps guide experimentalists conservative even in Turkey, some have working to create real-world materials. praised the movement as a pacifist, modern- oriented version of Islam, and as an alternative • Carbon-atom chains known as carbyne, to more extreme schools of Islam such as boron fullerenes and two-dimensional films Salafism. called borophene, all predicted by the Rice group, have since been created by labs. • The Gulen movement is a former ally of the Turkish Justice and Development Party Turkey opens trial against Gulen (AKP). When the AKP came to power in 2002 the two formed, despite their differences, a • Turkey opened the biggest trial yet over the tactical alliance against military tutelage and failed July 2016 coup aimed at ousting the secular elite. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, trying 270 suspects including, in absentia, the alleged • It was through this alliance that the AKP had mastermind, the U.S.-based Islamic preacher, accomplished an unprecedented feat in Fethullah Gulen, an accusation he strongly Turkish republican history by securing denies. national electoral victories sufficient to form three consecutive majority governments in • The suspects, 152 of whom are in pre-trial 2002, 2007, and 2011. detention, include ex high-ranking military officials like former Aegean Army Command • The Gulen movement gained influence on the Chief. Turkish police force and the judiciary during its alliance with conservative President • Ankara also accuses the movement Mr. Erdogan, which saw hundreds of Gulen Gulen leads of being a “terror organisation” supporters appointed to positions within the although the group insists it is a peaceful Turkish government. organisation promoting moderate Islam. • Once the old establishment was defeated • Turkey has repeatedly asked the U.S. to around 2010 to 2011 disagreements emerged extradite Mr. Gulen, who has been living in between the AKP and the Gulen movement. exile there since 1999. • Since 11 December 2015 the Gulen movement is classified as a terrorist • The suspects face life imprisonment if organization in Turkey. convicted, in a trial expected to take two months. • After the failed coup attempt in 2016, the government of Turkey blamed the group for Gulen movement: the coup and authorities have arrested thousands of soldiers and judges. • It is an Islamic transnational religious and social movement led by Turkish preacher • Over ten thousand education staff were Fethullah Gulen, who has lived in the United suspended and the licenses of over 20,000 States since 1999. teachers working at private institutions were revoked for alleged affiliation to Gulen. • The movement has attracted supporters and • Fethullah Gulen strongly condemned the critics in Turkey, Central Asia, and other coup, and rejected claims of his involvement. parts of the world.

• It is active in education with private schools and universities in over 180 countries as well as many American charter schools operated by followers.

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