Current Affairs for BANK, IBPS Exams

13 January 2016

:: NATIONAL ::

SC says no jallikattu

• In a clear message that animals cannot be bullied into pain and suffering in the name of custom and tradition in the 21st century, theSupreme Court stayed a January 7 notification issued by the Centre allowing jallikattu, despite theban imposed by the court in2014 on the sport, which it had called “inherently cruel.”

• It was Justice Banumathi, as a single judge on the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court, who first banned jallikattu.

• That decision was set aside by the High Court’s Division Bench but was redeemed by the Supreme Court in 2014, concluding that the bull-taming sport inflicted inconceivable cruelty on animals.

• Jallikattu is a clear violation of Sections 3 and 11 of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960. Cruel treatment of bulls cannot be a matter for human festivity, especially in the 21st century

• Attorney-General Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for the Centre, said it was true that bulls were being tortured prior to the 2014 Supreme Court ban. “But the 2014 judgment was talking about what was happening then.

• The Supreme Court was then dealing with jallikattu when bulls were tortured and ran around in frenzy like mad animals. The new notification protects the animals from cruelty, has prescribed safeguards.

• Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa’s reiteration that an ordinance be promulgated as a last-ditch attempt to allow the conduct of jallikattu in 2016 may be untenable in law.

• Legal experts say such an ordinance, if promulgated, would be seen as the legislature usurping judicial powers. Secondly, the ordinance would go against the very essence of the Supreme Court judgment and its conclusion that bulls are not performing animals.

• Legal experts point to the 2005 Supreme Court judgment in Sarbananda Sonowal versus Union of India, which bestows the right to any public-minded citizen to approach the highest judiciary under Article 32 of the Constitution if a law made by the legislature has a “disastrous effect.”

• In the Dr. D.C. Wadhwa versus State of Bihar case, the Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court held that the Executive has no arbitrary right to promulgate ordinances.

• The apex court held that it is the right of every citizen to insist that he should be governed by laws made in accordance with the Constitution and not law made by the Executive in violation of the constitutional provisions

Death on beach

• In a rare occurrence, 45 short-finned pilot whales were washed a shore in Thoothukudi district.. But as many as 36 mammals, part of the school that survived the beaching, were pushed back into the sea in a joint operation by several government agencies. Marine scientists said the school could have got stranded in search of food.

• Marine scientists working in the Gulf of Mannar Biosphere Reserve say that the short-finned pilot whales are deep water whales, diving upto 1,000 metres, who form stable matrilineal kinship groups. This particular group could have been stranded while in search of food, the favorite being squids.

• Not much is known about the species. In fact, the IUCNRed List of Threatened Species classifies it as ‘data deficient’.

• A team from Fisheries College and Research Institute(FC&RI), Thoothukudi,made observations on the water temperature, salinity and dissolved oxygen content of the inshore region, all of which were found to be normal.The short-finned pilot whales use call dialects to communicate within the group. One of the animals could have been isolated after falling sick or in search of food. The other whales might have followed it and might have been stranded as they could not have communicated effectively within the group.

Blood banks to update realtime stock status in public domain

• In a move to introduce transparency in availability and disbursement of blood units, all blood banks in India have been asked to update realtime stock status in public domain.

• National Health Portal (NHP) site gives realtime data about blood and blood components at the State and the district level. As the data is updated every 48 hours, families looking for blood can use the web-enabled system, taking away the need to tapping into personal sources, social media platforms etc for blood.

• The eBlood bank will enable electronic monitoring of blood collection, testing, storage and final use and even disposal The app also will maintain a database of regular donors, in case of requirement.

• The project was launched earlier this month after a pilot in Delhi and Mizoram during which the NACO found nearly 100 per cent reporting from blood banks in both States. According to the NACO data, out of the 2,760 blood banks in India, 2,711 are already on a digital platform

• With all the information online and readily available, the onus of procuring safe blood shifts from the individual to blood banks and will lead to even distribution and weed out professional donors and touts etc

:: INTERNATIONAL ::

Terrorist attack in Istanbul

• Syrian suicide bomber struck the heart of Istanbul’s busiest tourist district, killing 10 people, eight of them Germans, in the latest deadly attack blamed onIslamic State jihadists

• Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the attack was carried out by a suicide bomber of Syrian origin, while Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said he belonged to the Islamic State extremist group

• Ms. Merkel said the latest attack would deepen German resolve to combat international terrorism.

• The explosion took place at around 0820 GMT by the Obelisk of Theodosius, a monument from ancient Egypt which was re-erected by the Roman Emperor Theodosius and stands just outside the Blue Mosque.

• Long accused by its Western al-lies of not doing enough in the fight against IS, Turkey is now hosting aircraft from the U.S.-led coalition engaged in deadly attacks on IS strongholds.

:: BUSINESS and ECONOMY ::

Saudi Arabia premium increase a worry for India

• Saudi Arabia’s decision to increase the premium it charges its Asian oil customers will in the near term hurtIndia’s refineries as they get a fifth of their crude imports from the Gulf kingdom, according to ICRA, a unit of Moody's Investors Service.

• The increase comes even as global crude prices continued their free fall, with benchmark Brent declining to as low as $30.43 a barrel onTuesday and hovering near a 12-year low.

• Indian refiners will have to operate at these higher input prices fromSaudi Arabia in the near term, rather than simply shifting to imports from another country, as they are likely to be bound by purchase contracts that have been signed.

• Saudi Arabia is one of largest ex-porters to India, and because of term contracts, it might not be possible to immediately shift to other countries, shift can may be happen after six months to one year. But even then, it will be difficult to entirely shift away from Saudi oil.

• India imported 9.8 million tonnes of crude oil from Saudi Arabia in September 2015, comprising 20 percent of India’s total crude imports in that month, according to data com-piled by CMIE.

Industrial output dips to 5 year low

• A sustainable recovery in the Indian economy remains elusive with industrial output shrinking by 3.2 percent in November 2015, marking its worst performance since October 2011.

• While consumer price inflation inched up to 5.6 per cent in December.

• The dichotomy of rising inflation accompanying a decline in industrial output poses a fresh problem to the government of how to spur domestic demand.

• The spike in retail inflation makes it difficult for the RBI to cut interest rates to spur investments, while cramping the Centre’s ability to use fiscal fillip to prop up the economy.

• The contraction in November’s IIP comes after a 9.8 per cent growth in the index in October 2015. The contraction was mainly driven by a contraction in the manufacturing sector, of -4.4 per cent, the worst the sector has performed since October 2014, when it contracted -5.6 percent.

• The capital goods sector also saw a significant contraction on a usage basis, of -24.4 percent in November 2015,compared with a growth of 16.1 per cent in October 2015.

Mudra Bank will achieve target of 1.2 lakh crore loan

• Loans given under the PMMY Scheme (Pradahan Mantri Mudra Yojana) is set to achieve the target of Rs.1.2 lakh crore by March 2016.

• Around Rs.75,000 crore have been given till December 2016. Nearly half of the 1.7 crore beneficiaries are people who are setting up new units while the rest have used the micro finance facility for expanding their units.

• The loans were disbursed by banks and MFIs. Banks and MFIs can draw refinance under the MUDRA Scheme after becoming member-lending institutions of MUDRA, opening for them an additional resource stream.

• However, so far, only around Rs.1,500 crore of this refinance facility has been provided to banks and MFIs.

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