Current Affairs for BANK, IBPS Exams - 17 January 2018

::National::

Govt to revisit justice malimath report of 2003

A 2003 report of a Committee on reforms in the criminal justice system that recommended admissibility of confessions made before a police officer as evidence in a court of law is being revisited by the Centre.
The Committee on Reforms of the Criminal Justice System, or the Justice Malimath Committee, was constituted by the Home Ministry in 2000 by then Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani, who also held the Home portfolio.
It was headed by Justice V.S. Malimath, former Chief Justice of the Karnataka and Kerala High Courts.
The Commitee’s report was discussed at the annual Directors General of Police (DGP) conference held at Tekanpur in Madhya Pradesh earlier this month at which Prime Minister Narendra Modi was present.
Mr. Modi attended the presentation made by Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) DG R.K Pachnanda on the Committee’s recommendations.
Senior police officers also briefed the Prime Minister on internal security.
Asked if the government would implement the recommendations, Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju said, “Consultations will be held with the Law Ministry. Home Ministry cannot implement the report on its own.”
The Malimath panel had made 158 recommendations but these were never implemented.The subsequent UPA governments from 2004 to 2014 did not act on the report either.
The Committee also suggested constituting a National Judicial Commission and amending Article 124 to make impeachment of judges less difficult.

Annual status of education report shows damaging picture

Despite being part of the formal education system, half the children aged 14 to 18 are unable to read or understand written instructions, said the Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) 2017.
The study covered 1,084 children in 936 households in 60 villages in Mysuru district. The report, facilitated by Pratham, which focussed on rural areas this year, found that as much as 50.8% of children, who were part of the survey in the 60 villages, were unable to read or understand three out of four instructions.
What’s more, 71.3% of the children had completed eight or more years of school/college.As part of the pilot study of ASER’s ‘Beyond Basics’ research work, the study was conducted in 28 districts across 24 States in India.
Through ‘Beyond Basics’, the organisation hoped to capture data pertaining to the preparedness of children in rural India with respect to their ability to lead productive lives as adults.
To assess whether the children could follow written instructions, they were provided with instructions written on an O.R.S. packet. According to the report, the questions asked based on the test were: How many packets of O.R.S. (oral rehydration salts) should be mixed with 2 litres of water?
Within how many hours should the prepared mixture be consumed? How many litres of O.R.S. solution can be given to a 21-year-old within a span of 24 hours? Can this packet be used in December 2018?
Several children also found it difficult to tell time. While 88.3 % could tell time with regard to what hour of the day it was, only 67.6% could tell time in terms of hours and minutes. Also, 82.9% could count money (86.4% male and 80.4% female).

Govt would phase out subsidies to Haj pilgrimage

Union Minister for Minority Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi announced that the Centre would phase out subsidies for the annual Haj pilgrimage.
“It is part of the Modi government’s efforts to empower minorities with dignity and without appeasement,” he told a media briefing at the BJP headquarters here. The decision was taken by his Ministry in November .
The Centre’s decision followed a 2012 Supreme Court order asking that subsidies for the Haj be phased out by 2022 and the money saved (around Rs. 450 crore annually) diverted to more welfare-oriented activities.
Political parties reminded the government of the caveat in the court order that the funds should be spent on welfare.
In November Mr. Naqvi told that his Ministry and the government had a larger responsibility towards the minorities and the money saved from the Haj subsidy withdrawal would be used for the education of the girl child.
A new Haj policy, formulated by a committee headed by former bureaucrat Afzal Amanullah had also suggested that women Hajis be allowed to perform the pilgrimage without male escort, or mehram.
In a first, a batch of over 1300 women will perform the annual pilgrimage of Haj from India without a mehram this year.

IMD for tailor made forecast for various sectors

Soon, specialised weather forecasts could help take preventive measures against the spread of infectious diseases, plan power generation and also operation of train services. The IMD is coordinating with various government agencies for providing tailor-made weather forecasts for different sectors.
In the next few years, the IMD plans to widen its wings in several spheres of weather services. Following a memorandum of understanding with the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, the department has already started providing climate information feed for health service on an experimental basis.
The specialised weather forecast for four days would predict the possibility of the spread of diseases, including malaria and dengue, in a particular region based on the temperature and humidity conditions there.
Similarly, weather plays an important role in the operation of trains as it can damage tracks and electric equipment powering the train. The IMD is also providing weather information such as wind speed to the Indian Railways on a pilot basis.
Power generation is another sector where weather prediction would help plan ahead for power distribution. Following an agreement with the Power System Operation Corporation, the IMD has proposed to develop a demand forecast based on various parameters, including wind, temperature, humidity and onset of sea breeze.
Various energy sources like thermal and wind could be operated according to the demand and weather conditions.There are also plans to upgrade the services already being offered in the tourism and agromet advisory services.
One of the long-awaited improvements in long-range forecast and precision in weather warning may soon be implemented.

Israel’s PM says intelligence and big data necessary for security

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that intelligence, big data and defence preparedness were necessary to ensure national security.
Inaugurating the third annual Raisina Dialogue of the External Affairs Ministry, the visiting Israeli leader said he represented a special country that produced solutions to challenges, and urged stronger partnership between India and Israel by attacking bureaucratic bottleneck with an “axe”.
“A simple lesson in our turbulent lesson is this, that the weak don’t survive. The strong survive. You make peace with the strong. Make alliance with the strong. You are able to maintain peace by being strong.
Therefore, the first requirement of Israel from the time of our first Prime Minister David Ben Gurion was to achieve maximum strength to assure our existence,” Mr. Netanyahu said.
“I like soft power, but hard power is often better,” he said explaining that submarines, cybercapabilities, science and technology, interceptors were part of the security necessities to “ensuring security for countries in the present-day world”.
“The economic growth of the 21st century will emerge along the ‘confluence’ of big data, connectivity and artificial intelligence,” he said explaining that the future belonged to those countries who innovated along these three pillars. Mr. Netanyahu said economic, military and political powers were supplemented by the special power of values.
He also urged India to open up its economy by removing bottlenecks to fast growth and start ups. “If you want to have economic power, you must reduce taxes and you must cut bureaucracy. Government can facilitate economic growth, and government can also stop economic growth.
A main job of the leaders of India and Israel is to reduce the role of bureaucracy by cutting it with a machete, or an axe,” he said.

Sharpest year on year decline on under five infant mortality rate

India posted its sharpest year-on-year decline in the under-5 infant mortality rate (u5) since 2010, according to figures from the Sample Registration Survey (SRS) made public this week.
The u5, at 39 deaths per 1,000 live births, recorded a 5-point decline from the 2015 figure of 43.
According to the Union Health Ministry, this was a “landmark achievement” that translated to nearly 1,20,000 fewer deaths in 2016 as compared to 2015.
At the national level, the u5 varies from 43 in rural areas to 25 in urban areas and ranges from 11 in Kerala to 55 in Madhya Pradesh.
Except Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh, all the “bigger States/Union Territories” have higher u-5 mortality rates among girls than boys.
“In Kerala the number of children dying between 1 and 5 years is very low, at just one per 1,000 live births. However, the data shows that the gender divide and the urban-rural gap when it comes to infant deaths continue in Kerala too as in most States.
More girls seem to be dying than boys, the death rate of girls being 12 against 10 for boys. Also, the death rate is 12 in rural areas against 10 in urban areas.
Though not as good as Kerala, Maharashtra too has recorded a dip. From 23 in 2014 and 24 in 2015, the State has gone down to 21 deaths per 1,000 children in the age group of 1 to 5 years in 2016.
The State’s aggressive troubleshooting, however, started after more than 50 babies died in the Special Newborn Care Unit (SNCU) of the Nashik Civil Hospital last August.
The latest round of data builds on the SRS numbers made public last September that showed India had registered a significant 8% (3 point) decline in infant deaths per 1,000 live births (IMR) over the previous year. The IMR refers to death in infants who were yet to turn one.
The decline from 37 to 34 per 1,000 live births translated to 90,000 fewer infant deaths in 2016 compared to 2015.
In 2016, that edition of the report noted, India also recorded a major drop in birth cohort, which had for the first time come down to below 25 million.
Despite this drop, one in every 29 infants nationally, one in every 26 infants in rural areas and one in every 43 infants in urban areas continues to die within the first year of their lives.
Moreover, the sex ratio at birth — the SRS found — continued a steady decline that began in 2013 with only 898 girls for every 1,000 boys in 2016 compared to 909 girls for 1,000 boys in 2013.

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::International::

Bangladesh and Myanmar have agreed to repatriate 650,000 Rohingya refugees

Bangladesh and Myanmar have agreed to repatriate 650,000 Rohingya refugees, who fled Myanmar’s crisis-hit Rakhine province, in two years, according to an agreement signed between the two countries.
The countries held the first meeting of a joint working group on the issue in Naypyidaw where the deal was signed, according to Bangladeshi officials.
Under the deal, Bangladesh would establish five transit camps from which returnees would be received initially in two reception centres on the Myanmar side. Myanmar would shelter them in a temporary accommodation at the Hla Pho Khung and expeditiously rebuild the houses for the returnees to move in.
According to the arrangement, Myanmar would consider resettling the displaced people staying at the zero line on a priority basis and reiterated its commitment to the stop outflow of its residents to Bangladesh.
The two countries also finalised the “form” for verification of the returnees. Modalities for repatriation of orphans and children born out of unwarranted incidents have been incorporated in the arrangement.

::Business and Economy::

Draft agricultural export policy to come soon

The Commerce Ministry will soon put out a draft Agricultural Export Policy for comments from the public, according to a senior official.
The proposed policy, which aims to boost shipments of farm items by identifying niche products and new markets, also has a focus on value addition and reduction of wastage through pre and post-harvest interventions.
More than 400 exhibitors are expected to participate in the event, besides buyers from about 43 countries. About $2.5 billion worth of business is expected to be finalised during the event, as per government estimates.
Exports from the segment rose 18% to $21 billion in April-October 2017-18 period as against just 5% in 2016-17.
The proposed agricultural export policy will also help develop agricultural clusters. Commerce Minister Suresh Prabhu had said recently that, “If there are clusters for industry, why should we not think about clusters for agriculture.”
“Farmers have the right to access global markets and get better prices (for their produce),” Mr. Prabhu said.

Currency declined over widening trade deficit

Hit by the double whammy of rising global crude prices and worsening trade deficit, the currency market witnessed volatility, with the rupee plummeting to a fresh two-week low of 64.04 against the U.S. dollar.
Recording its biggest single-day crash in eight months, the Indian currency lost a whopping 55 paise or 0.87%.
Sentiment was impacted after the trade deficit widened to a three-year high on higher oil and gold imports. The shortfall in December increased to $14.88 billion, up about 41% year-on-year.

India’s thermal power plant risk facing shortage of water

India’s thermal power plants, about 90% of which rely on fresh water for cooling, risk facing serious outages because of shortage of water, according to a new report by the World Resources Institute (WRI).
Between 2013 and 2016, 14 of India’s 20 largest thermal utility companies experienced one or more shutdowns due to water shortages, the WRI said, and calculated that this cost the power producers more than Rs. 91 billion ($1.4 billion) in potential revenue from the sale of power.
“India lost about 14 terawatt-hours of thermal power generation due to water shortages in 2016, cancelling out more than 20% of growth in the country’s total electricity generation from 2015,” the report’s authors wrote.
About 40% of the country’s thermal power plants are facing great stress in terms of water availability, according to the report, defines water stress as the ratio of total water withdrawal over available supply.
According to the report, not only does high water stress result in equipment shutting down, it also results in a lower level of efficiency when it is running.
“Freshwater-cooled thermal power plants that are located in high water-stress areas have a 21% lower average capacity factor, compared to the ones in low and medium water-stress areas.” the WRI said.
The WRI’s report predicts that this problem is set to worsen as India’s thermal power sector expands and demand for water from other sectors increases. It says that by 2030, 70% of India’s thermal power plants are likely to experience increased competition for water from agriculture, industry and municipalities.
Significantly, the study found that water stress often occurs in places with abundant water supplies.
“Some of the most disruptive water shortages occurred in India’s most water-abundant areas,” the WRI report’s authors said.