Current Affairs for BANK, IBPS Exams

23 September 2016

:: National ::

India said Pakistan’s campaign had failed

• India said Pakistan’s campaign to highlight Kashmir at the United Nations had failed even as Govt stopped short of giving a definite answer on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s plans to attend the November SAARC summit in Islamabad.

• Uncertainty continued over Mr. Modi’s presence at SAARC as India held consultations with Afghanistan and the U.S., and pushed Pakistan to shut down the infrastructure of terrorism affecting South Asia and the world.

• SAARC stands for regional cooperation which is underpinned by peace and stability. The biggest threat to peace and stability we all know is terrorism.

• Squarely addressing this will benefit the entire region and also strengthen regional cooperation.

• India’s stand on solidarity among terror victims came after Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif described slain Hizbul Mujahideen militant BurhanWani as a “young leader” in his UNGA speech.

• India had rebutted it by saying that the Pakistani leader had used the highest podium of the U.N. to “glorify” terrorism.

• The India-Afghan common approach to regional terrorism was also boosted by the India-U.S.-Afghanistan trilateral that was held on the sidelines of the UNGA on September 21 in New York.

• The trilateral covered “peace and reconciliation” and the security situation in Afghanistan.

Grain production likely to touch record figure in this Kharif season

• India’s grain production in the ongoing kharif (2016-17) season is likely to be a record high 135.03 million tonnes, with an improved output of rice and pulses, thanks to a good monsoon.

• “We are likely to achieve an all-time high grain production which could be nearly four million tonnes more than the previous record,” Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh said.

• India achieved a record kharif production of 131.27 million tonnes during 2011-12. The production for 2015-16 stood at 124.01 million tonnes.

Govt agreed to give permit to 10 hydro electric projects

• The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change has agreed to “consider” the State’s request and “permit the 10 hydro electric projects (HEPs) of less than 25MW capacity of a total combined capacity of 82.3 MW.

• However, the Ministry has said that cumulative impact assessment study of the Bhagirathi Basin must be carried out for it to decide whether the 10 projects were viable.

• According to the Central government notification of December 18, 2012, a 100-kilometre stretch of the river Bhagirathi from Gaumukh to Uttarkashi, feeding an area of 4,179.59 sqkm, was to be declared eco-sensitive.

• The notification mentions that HEPs of only upto 2 MW can be built in the notified area.

• The State government had sought amendments in the 2012 notification to incorporate HEPs of upto 25 MW capacity in it.

• According to the State government data on the Bhagirathi river, 16 HEPs with a capacity of 1,743 MW are in various stages of development.

• In a meeting held with Environment Ministry officials on August 31 in New Delhi, State government officials discussed the problems arising from the ESZ notification of 2012, which included the HEPs.

• The Ministry has also asked the Uttarakhand government to initiate a carrying capacity analysis for a Bhagirathi River Basin Cumulative Impact Assessment Study for establishment of HEPs.

Lakhs of private hospital nurses to get benefits

• Lakhs of ill-paid and over-worked nurses in private hospitals and nursing homes can at last hold their heads high.

• The Central government has instructed the States and Union Territories to frame laws to ensure that nurses employed in private hospitals and nursing homes enjoy working conditions on a par with government nurses.

• The definitive move from the government marks a major victory for private nurses who have waged a prolonged legal battle in the Supreme Court for basic human and work rights from their employers.

• The Centre’s move was triggered by a scathing report from a committee — set up by the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare as per a Supreme Court order that working conditions and pay of nurses in private hospitals were “really pathetic.”

• The apex court, on a batch of petitions from nurses bodies led by Trained Nurses Association of India, had ordered that the Committee’s recommendations be made into law either by the Centre or the States.

• The Centre wants the new law to ensure that nurses working in private hospitals with over 200 beds should be given a salary on par with that drawn by State government nurses of the corresponding grade.

• In private hospitals with more than 100 beds, nurses should be paid a salary not less than 10 per cent in comparison of the salary of State government nurses of similar grade.

• In case of private hospitals with number of beds ranging between 50 and 100, the salary of nurses should not be less than 25 per cent of that drawn by government nurses of the same grade.

• The salary given to private nurses should not be less than Rs. 20,000 per month in any case even for nurses working with hospitals with less than 50 beds.

Apex court to listen the Maggi case

• The Supreme Court has agreed to hear a plea by Nestle India for permission to destroy over 500 tonnes of recalled stock of Maggi noodles past their expiry date.

• A Bench of Justices Dipak Misra and C. Nagappan will hear the petition on September 30, while asking the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) to file its response by that time.

• Nestle said huge quantities of noodles are stored in 39 locations all over the country. Over 38,000 tonnes have already been incinerated as of September 1, 2015 following the due process agreed with the food regulator.

• Continuing to store massive quantities of noodles past their shelf life may prove to be a hazard to health.

• But the FSSAI counsel submitted that the destruction of stocks can also be construed as destruction of evidence, especially when the matter is pending in the apex court.

:: Business and Economy ::

Govt named external nominees to MPC

• The Centre named three academics trained in economics as the external appointees on the monetary policy committee (MPC) that will work with the Reserve Bank of India’s three members to decide interest rates.

• The RBI is represented on the MPC by Governor Urjit Patel, Deputy Governor in-charge of monetary policy R. Gandhi, and M.D. Patra, the executive director who was nominated by the RBI board.

• The three external members — PamiDua, Chetan Ghate and Ravindra Dholakia — will have a fixed four year term, which is non-renewable.

• The RBI will set interest rates according to the majority view of the six-member MPC, with the Governor having the casting vote in case of a tie.

• The MPC will be responsible for ensuring inflation based on the Consumer Price Index is contained within a range of 2 per cent to 6 per cent, a target announced as part of the new monetary policy framework agreed to by the Centre and the RBI.

• Previously, decisions were taken by the RBI Governor. The move to inflation targeting and committee based rate-setting were part of changes recommended by former Governor Raghuram Rajan and then Deputy Governor Dr. Patel.

• Chetan Ghate is the only member of the Technical Advisory Committee on Monetary Policy who becomes a member of the MPC, and is therefore familiar with the RBI’s policy making process.

• Dr. Ghate, who is a professor at the Indian Statistical Institute, Delhi, is a macroeconomist with a research focus on economic growth, fluctuations, economic development, and monetary and fiscal policy in developing and emerging market.

To boost exports Govt. revamps Merchandise Exports from India Scheme

• Commerce ministry extended support to certain new products and enhanced the rate of incentives for some other under the reward programme called Merchandise Exports from India Scheme (MEIS).

• With this the total number of items covered under the scheme has been increased from 5,012 to 7,103, an official statement said.

• The total government support extended under the scheme has been enhanced from the present Rs 22,000 crore to Rs 23,500 crore per annum, it added.

• The major highlights of the support include addition of 2901 products in the scheme.

• These include several items of traditional medicines, marine products, dried onion, processed cereal products and value added items of plastics, leather articles and suitcases.

• The rate of incentives of 575 product items falling under 11 products categories have been increased.

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