Current Affairs for BANK, IBPS Exams 14 September 2016

Current Affairs for BANK, IBPS Exams

14 September 2016

:: National ::

Law commission chairman differs from SC Judge

In a view different from the highest judiciary’s call for more judges to trim pendency, Law Commission of India Chairman and former Supreme Court judge Justice Balbir Singh Chauhan said “working judges”, and not increasing strength of judges.
“Increasing the sanctioned strength of judges will not solve the problem. We need working judges. Liberty has become more important. Workload has increased because of an increase in awareness among the public and education.” He said
There has been an expansion of liberty and courts are bound by the public’s faith in the judiciary,” Justice Chauhan, Chairman of the 21st Law Commission said.
His view comes at a time when the Supreme Court has directed the Law Commission to file a report within a year on whether it is permissible to rid the apex court of routine appeals crowding the court.
Justice Chauhan’s views come at a time when Chief Justice of India T.S. Thakur has called for over 70,000 more judges to be appointed to courts all over the country to clear the backlog.
This is when the present vacancies in the High Courts number over 480 when the sanctioned strength is 1079. The Supreme Court has itself three vacancies in a total sanctioned strength of 31 judges.
Asked whether an amended Bill of the National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC) may be a way out of the current impasse perceived between the highest judiciary and the government over the drafting of the Memorandum of Procedure.
“Democracy is a collective opinion. Nobody has primacy. There should be a collective opinion, a collective effort. You cannot say we are the most important,” he said.
The October 16, 2015 judgment, which revived the Collegium, was based on ‘primacy of judiciary’ in judicial appointments.
On the Supreme Court’s reference in July 2016 to review provisions of the Advocates Act to curb misconduct among lawyers, he said the judiciary wants “more teeth” to control lawyers’ misconduct.

M.H. govt decided to make loans on projects run by WSHGs interest-free

Even as big businesses continue to default on payments, the Maharashtra government is reposing its faith in women-run self-help groups (WSHGs).
The State government has decided to make loans on projects run by an approximate 78,000 WSHGs interest-free. The move is likely to aid expansion of the WSHGs and enhance their capacity for entrepreneurial work.
A proposal to increase the government’s share from the current 50 per cent of the interest towards loans to 100 per cent will be tabled at the next Cabinet meeting by Rural Development and Women and Child Development Minister Pankaja Munde.
As per the proposal, the repayment ratio of the WSHGs is high, therefore the interest-free loan scheme be extended to encourage women to become entrepreneurs and promote different projects in small scale industrial sector.
The government is expanding loans to SHGs that are meeting its ten-point criteria, but was traditionally directly subsidising in cash.
The announcement of interest free loan was first made by Ms. Munde and Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis at Nagpur a few months back.
The idea, in the long run, is to promote women-oriented businesses, and introduce these products with government branding and packaging.

Countries first hotline to curb pornography

The country's first-ever hotline to curb sexual abuse of children through the Internet and to remove child pornographic content online is set to be unveiled next week.
Aarambh Initiative, a network of organisations and individuals working on child protection in the country, has collaborated with the U.K.-based Internet Watch Foundation,which is the most successful hotline at removing child pornography.
The hotline in India will be hosted on aarambhindia.org and will enable users to report child sexual abuse images and videos in a safe and anonymous environment.
While the hotline will initially be in English and Hindi, it will be available in 22 regional languages.

:: International ::

China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is generating a vigorous internal debate

The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is generating a vigorous internal debate, pitting those who advocate a less reliance on the project against who view the undertaking as a cornerstone of security of the ‘One Belt One Road’ initiative.
The Pakistani media also underscored the difficulties that are being encountered in ensuring the CPEC’s unhindered take-off. Pakistan’s Dawn newspaper reported that the Chinese side has said Islamabad should formally rope in the Army to ensure smooth execution of the project.
It added that China wanted the establishment of a separate ministry or authority that would focus exclusively on the CPEC.
Some say that China was now deeply enmeshed in Pakistan’s internal dynamics to shore up the CPEC project.

:: India and World ::

India said Terrorism is the grossest violation of Human Rights

Terrorism is the “grossest” violation of human rights, said India, lashing out at the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights ZeidRa’ad Al Hussein for his criticism of action by Indian forces in Jammu and Kashmir.
In his opening statement at the Human Rights Council in Geneva’s annual session,. Zeid Al Hussein called for an “independent, impartial and international mission” into reports of use of excessive force against the civilian population.
He also said that while Pakistan had responded to the HRC’s request to send the team, agreeing to its visit to Pakistan Occupied Kashmir “in tandem” with a mission to Jammu and Kashmir, India had yet to respond formally.
The Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir is part of a pluralistic and secular democracy, where freedoms are guaranteed by an independent judiciary, an active media and a vibrant civil society.
In contrast, Pakistan-occupied Kashmir is administered by a ‘deep state’ and has become a hub for the global export of terror,” MEA spokesperson said.
UN body in Geneva and India to spill over into the UN General Assembly in New York later this month, where External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj hopes to make a tough intervention on terrorism on September 26.
Meanwhile, welcoming the statement by the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Pakistan’s ministry of foreign affairs (MOFA) also “urged” India to make a formal response to the UN body.
Pakistan has escalated the diplomatic war over Kashmir since the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander BurhanWani sparked a series of protests and violence in the valley, that has left more than 76 dead and hundreds injured.
However, India said the demand for an “external mission” had been dismissed by the all-party conference that sent a delegation to Jammu and Kashmir.

Baswan committee report on changes in the Civil services exam referred to Govt

The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) has referred the report of the Baswan committee that has suggested changes in the civil services exam pattern to the government for final decision.
The UPSC had constituted the expert committee under the chairmanship of former Human Resource Development Secretary B.S. Baswan in August last year.
The panel had submitted its report to the UPSC last month and it has been sent to the Department of Personnel and Training for a final decision.
The panel is understood to have recommended reduction in the upper age limit of 32 years for candidates.

:: Science and Technology ::

GSAT-11, India’s advanced and heaviest communication spacecraft to date to be launched

GSAT-11, India’s advanced and heaviest communication spacecraft to date at 5,700 kg, is to be launched early next year on the European Ariane launch vehicle.
The high-throughput satellite with its multi-spot beam coverage of the country will be far superior to the older generation three-tonne INSAT/GSAT spacecraft.
GSAT-11 is designed to generate a bandwidth of more than 12 gbps primarily for users of Internet driven services, VSAT operations and rural connectivity.
Globally many operators are putting up such high throughput satellites for commercial use while ISRO is working on putting up five such in the near future.
This would be the first spacecraft to be integrated on ISRO’s new i-6k platform. The INSAT/GSATs have not exceeded 3,400 kg; the last heaviest was GSAT-10 launched in 2012.
Also, ISRO’s newly readied medium-lift launcher can only lift satellites up to 2,000 kg. Arianespace quoted its Chairman and CEO Stéphane Israël announcing the GSAT-11 contract along with five other global launch orders.

:: Business and Economy ::

Big foreign retail chains and food brandsare eyeing an entry in the Indian market

Big retail chains and food brands from the U.K., Italy and Brazil are eyeing an entry in the Indian market after the government opened up foreign investments up to 100 per cent in processing, marketing and retailing of food made in India.
The minister said that she would also be visiting Italy on September 29 at the invitation of the Italian government to meet food producers and retailers who have evinced interest in investing in India.
India’s food economy is growing at a faster rate than the economy and our food and grocery market is the sixth largest in the world. The average Indian spends about 40% of their wallet on food.
Apart from Walmart, which is evaluating the country’s new FDI norms for food retail, some large firms from Brazil have also expressed eagerness to foray into the Indian market.
The ministry has decided to hold a World Food Summit in 2017 on the sidelines of the Vibrant Gujarat summit, where big food retailers, processors, logistics, packaging companies as well as farmer-producer organisations would be invited.
The Food Processing Ministry is arguing for keeping processed food products in the exempt category of goods under the proposed Goods and Services Tax regime to replace the present indirect tax levies.

Jio may not be as successful as expected

Billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s target of achieving more than 100 million customers for Reliance Jio in the shortest possible time may remain a distant dream as the country has only about 75 million fourth-generation-enabled handsets.
With sales of about 3-4 million 4G handsets a month, India is likely to have 150 million 4G handset users by March 2018 and Jio’s target of adding a million subscribers a day seems an uphill task.
Jio is now acquiring about five lakh subscribers a day and has a subscriber base of more than five million.
Moody’s Investors Service expects Jio to achieve its 100 million subscriber target only by March 2018, while Morgan Stanley believes that Jio could have up to 40 million subscribers by end of the current fiscal year.
Market leader Bharti Airtel has so far not been able to convert five per cent of its total 251 million-odd subscribers or 12.5 million to migrate to 4G platform.
Moody’s senior research officer Vikas Halan didn’t expect Reliance Jio to be EBIT positive before 2020 as the success of Jio depends on increased penetration of 4G devices and change in data consumption patterns in the country.