Current Affairs for BANK, IBPS Exams

07 July 2016

:: National ::

Joseph E. Stiglitz says crackdown on NGO's hurting India's image

• The crackdown on non-government organisations (NGOs) as well as the harassment of students in universities has adversely affected India’s image on the international stage, says economist and Nobel laureate Joseph E. Stiglitz.

• Responding to a question of his evaluation of the Narendra Modi-led government, the economist said there were two big concerns that had got public attention abroad.

• One was the “conditions” being imposed on NGOs – Ford Foundation in particular – to make them difficult to operate in India and the other was the “harassment” of students in universities such as Jawaharlal Nehru University.

• Mr. Stiglitz delivered a talk on “Global inequality: Causes and Consequences” along with economist Branko Milanovic.

Apex court cautions Judges of judicial activism

• Cautioning the judiciary against judicial activism, the Supreme Court said judges must remain within the limits of the law and not peddle individual perceptions and notions of justice.

• The judgment provides a sharp mix of caution and rebuke to judges who cross the fine line between judicial functions and judicial activism.

• The apex court said if a judge considered himself or herself a “candle of hope” and took decisions under the influence of such a notion, it might do more harm than good to the society.

• While using the power Judge has to bear in mind that ‘discipline’ and ‘restriction’ are the two basic golden virtues within which a judge functions,” Justice Misra wrote.

• The verdict was passed on a petition by the Gujarat government challenging an August 2012 order by the Punjab and Haryana High Court that said the State’s refusal to prematurely release a TADA convict, Lal Singh, was “illegal.”

• The judgment, setting aside the High Court order, also noted that authorities’ report on the convict showed that he was “involved in disruptive activities, criminal conspiracy, smuggling of arms, ammunitions and explosives.”

Process to select new CBI director started

• The Narendra Modi government has started the process to select the next Director of the CBI, with almost five months left for the tenure of the incumbent Anil Sinha to end in December.

• The CBI Director has a fixed tenure of two years. Last week, the Department of Personnel and Training sought the names of eligible officers of the Indian Police Service from the Home Ministry.

• Under the Lokpal Act, a selection committee, headed by the Prime Minister and comprising the leader of the single largest Opposition party and the Chief Justice of India or a Supreme Court judge nominated by him as a member, appoints the CBI Director.

• The DoPT will shortlist officers on the basis of their experience and integrity in investigating anti-corruption cases.

Govt increases pace for cleaning Ganga

• Union Water Resources Minister said 231 projects would be simultaneously inaugurated at various locations in Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Haryana and Delhi.

• This would be the first sign of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Rs. 20,000-crore promise to clean up the Ganga by 2020 sputtering to life.

• The projects — several of them technology demonstration initiatives sourced from abroad and India too — deal with commissioning and improving sewage treatment plants, re-developing ghats and crematoriums, afforestation, tree plantation (herbs) and conservation of biodiversity.

• Ms. Bharti added that 400 villages along the river Ganga would be developed as Ganga Gram in phase-I with some IITs roped in for their development.

:: International ::

U.K’s Iraq War Inquiry report came

• Sir John Chilcot, who chaired the U.K’s Iraq War Inquiry, has concluded in his much-awaited report that the legal basis of then Prime Minister Tony Blair’s decision to go to war in Iraq was “far from satisfactory”.

• Sir Chilcot, in his time-line of the run-up to the declaration of the 2003 war and thereafter came to several important conclusions that have contested many of the claims made by Mr. Blair before the invasion.

• The first is that the judgments of the severity of the threat posed by Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction were “presented to the British Parliament with a certainty that was not justified”.

• Second, the outcome of the invasion was underestimated by Mr. Blair, “despite explicit warnings”.

• Third, planning for an Iraq after Saddam was “wholly inadequate”, and finally, the government “failed to realise its stated objectives”.

• Mr. Blair faced particular criticism for pledging to support U.S. President George W. Bush the year before the invasion, writing: “I will be with you, whatever”.

• In the report, Mr. Blair emerges as not just an obedient junior ally of the then U.S. President George W. Bush, but as a powerful backer and, sometimes, a step ahead of the U.S. President, first in pushing for regime-change in Iraq, and then endorsing military invasion as a means to carry it out.

• While military action in Iraq “might have been necessary at some point”, the report notes that in March 2003, when the U.S.-U.K.-led coalition entered Iraq, “there was no imminent threat from Saddam Hussein.”

• More than 1,50,000 Iraqis had died by the time most of the British troops withdrew in 2009, while 179 British soldiers also lost their lives.

• Seven years later, the country remains badly plagued by sectarian violence, as shown notably by Baghdad suicide bombing claimed by the Islamic State (IS) militant group which killed at least 250 people.

US announced that 8,400 troops will remain in Afghanistan into 2017

• President Barack Obama announced that 8,400 U.S. troops will remain in Afghanistan into 2017 in light of the still “precarious” security situation in the war-ravaged country.

• “Instead of going down to 5,500 troops by the end of this year, the United States will maintain approximately 8,400 troops in Afghanistan into next year through the end of my administration,” Mr. Obama told a news conference.

• The current number of U.S. troops in Afghanistan is 9,800.

:: Business and Economy ::

India will extend concessional loans to African nations during PM's visit

• India will extend concessional loans to African nations during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the region starting July 7.

• The PM’s delegation will also hold talks to host the African Development Bank’s annual meeting in Gujarat next year.

• Mr. Modi is slated to visit South Africa, Kenya, Mozambique and Tanzania, perceived to be the gateway to several landlocked African countries, during his five-day trip aimed at boosting economic and diplomatic ties.

• India’s premier export finance institution Exim Bank will extend Lines of Credit (LoC — or concessional loans) worth $240 million to Kenya and Tanzania.

• These LoCs are part of India’s plan to disburse $10 billion to Africa within the next three years.

• The objective is also to enhance India’s cooperation with Africa in food security as well as to boost exports from India’s Small & Medium Enterprises (SME) to Africa especially to promote rural development.

• Besides, India — having become a member of the African Development Fund (ADF) in 1982 and of AfDB in 1983 — will be looking to host the AfDB annual meet in 2017.

• Of the $240 million, $92 million will be for a water supply project in Zanzibar (a semi-autonomous region of Tanzania in East Africa), while $30 million will be for the Kenyan government to upgrade and modernise a textile factory.

• Another $15 million will be for Kenya’s IDB Capital Limited for supporting small and medium enterprises in that country.

• The remaining over $100 million will be to boost agricultural projects in Kenya through export of agricultural equipments, machinery and tractors from India to improve Kenya’s farm productivity.

• LoCs already extended to Kenya include $51 million for power transmission and $50 million for IDB Capital.

• India’s currently active LoCs to Africa are worth around $18.65 billion. Mathur said this includes agreements already been signed and contracts awarded for around $15 billion to African nations under as many as 203 LoCs.

States could have worsening financials in FY17: Yes Bank

• The State Governments saw worsening financials in the revised estimates for FY16 compared to the budget estimates for the year due to slowing revenue, which could become worse in FY17, according to a study by Yes Bank.

• The study finds that the worsening financials are mainly due to declining revenue receipts by the states and the Centre. Factors like the Uday bonds to bail out ailing discoms have worsened the situation.

• Other near-terms risks to state financials include the Uttar Pradesh and Punjab elections in the first half of 2017 and the implementation of the Seventh Pay Commission recommendations.

• Due to the unavailability of consolidated state finance numbers, the report analysed the budgets of 15 states accounting for about 78 per cent of India’s GDP to draw inferences about their fiscal positions in FY16 and FY17.

• The fiscal deficit ratios for some states shot up significantly due to the issuance of Uday bonds, some states—Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and UP have fiscal deficit higher than the 3 percent even after excluding the Uday bonds.

• Madhya Pradesh and Odisha will see higher-than-mandated fiscal deficit ratios in FY17 as well, according to the report.

• Another factor that is likely to affect state finances are the upcoming elections in Punjab and Uttar Pradesh in the first half of 2017.

• Similarly for Punjab, the report notes that the effect of elections seems to be more pronounced during the election year itself rather than in the year prior to elections.

• If the expenditure in these two states grow at the historical rate observed during past elections, then the fiscal deficit ratio in Punjab could potentially rise to 4.4 per cent from the 2.9 per cent budgeted for FY17, and that in Uttar Pradesh could rise to 5.6 per cent from 3 per cent budgeted, according to the report.

• The report finds that Gujarat and Jharkhand are most favourably placed in terms of the Seventh Pay Commission recommendations due to their relatively smaller share of public sector employees and lower liability on pension, wages and salaries.

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