Current Affairs for BANK, IBPS Exams - 25 February 2018

::NATIONAL::

2 Wheeler scheme launched by PM

Prime Minister Narendra Modi kickstarted the subsidised Amma two-wheeler scheme meant for working women.
This on the occasion of former Chief Minister Jayalalithaa’s 70th birth anniversary.
As part of the scheme, every beneficiary will be given 50% of the cost of a two- wheeler or a grant of Rs. 25,000.
Each year, one lakh working women would be covered.
As a mark of the commencement of the scheme, five women were handed over keys to vehicles and registration certificates by the Prime Minister.
Greening drive
In the presence of Governor Banwarilal Purohit, Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami, Deputy Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam, Union Minister of State for Shipping Pon. Radhakrishnan and Lok Sabha Deputy Speaker M. Thambi Durai, the Prime Minister also inaugurated a programme to plant 70 lakh tree saplings.
In the last six years, 3.99 crore saplings were planted under a similar programme.

Stability and ability of leadership at centre and AP state: Vice-Pres

Vice-President M. Venkaiah Naidu said Andhra Pradesh was emerging as a favourite destination for investments due to the stability and the ability of the leadership at the Centre and in the State.
He was speaking after inaugurating the three-day CII Partnership Summit and the Sunrise Andhra Pradesh Investment Meet here at the sprawling APIIC grounds at the Harbour Park.
This was the third summit being held in a row in the city.
Lauding the visionary leadership of Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu, the Vice-President said with enormous opportunities for investors with a 974-km long coastline, the second largest after Gujarat.
There was plenty of scope for investment in agriculture, food processing industries, electronics, seafood and infrastructure.
Mr. Venkaiah Naidu said India had emerged as a strong economy due to the pro-active policies of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and said as per projections, the country was poised to become $10-trillion economy with an average income of $5,000 in 10 to 15 years.
Describing the demonetisation and the rolling out of the GST regime as revolutionary decisions, he said now the bank lending rates had come down with substantial increase in the filing of the Income-Tax returns.
“All States including AP have extended their cooperation for implementation of these decisions.”
Mr. Chandrababu Naidu gave details of the steps being taken for real-time governance and ease of doing business to create conducive climate for investors.
He said AP was poised to emerge among the top three performing States by 2022 and No. 1 State by 2029 and the best investment destination by 2050.
He said automobiles, textiles, healthcare, engineering, IT, food processing industries, aerospace and defence had been identified as thrust areas.
In his keynote address, Union Minister for Commerce and Industry Suresh Prabhu said after the difficulties faced due to the bifurcation, AP was performing very well on all fronts.
It had emerged as the fastest growing State and in the New India campaign launched by the Prime Minister, it would continue to have an important role to play.
He said the vision adopted by the Prime Minister and the Chief Minister would make AP a “new and vibrant State”.
Saying exports and value addition of various products would generate a lot of revenue and jobs, he advised AP to lay emphasis not only on production but also designing of various products.
Union Civil Aviation Minister P. Ashok Gajapathi Raju, CII president Shobana Kamineni, Director General Chandrajit Banerjee, Adani Group Chairman Gautam Adani and Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion Secretary Ramesh Abhishek were present.

Inadequate supervision: Jaitley on PNB scam

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley blamed “inadequate supervision” by auditors and regulators as well as “indifference” and/or ignorance of top management for the banking frauds.
It including the Letters of Undertaking scam at the state-owned Punjab National Bank.
While hinting at a tightening of laws, he cited a lack of political consensus and ruled out privatisation of public sector banks as a response to the scams.
Mr. Jaitley, without naming any bank or those involved in the fraud, said it was “worrisome” that red flags were not raised and that “top managements were indifferent to what was going on or were unaware of what was going on.”
Also of concern was that the “multiple layers of auditing system chose to either look the other way or do a casual job,” the Minister said.
“You had inadequate supervision... who did what, we will eventually find out in the course of investigation.”
“Regulators have a very important function... [of] deciding the rules of the game. Regulators should have a third eye perpetually open. But unfortunately in the Indian system, we politicians are accountable, the regulators are not.”
The law would be tightened further, if necessary, to find out where the fraudsters were and what was the action that the law permitted against such delinquent persons.
Referring to ethical practices, he said it was a significant problem in India.

Uninterrupted power supply in Telangana

The power utilities of Telangana met a record peak demand of 10,000 MW power on past two days for the first time since formation of the State.
The increase in the demand has been attributed mainly to the uninterrupted power supply to the agriculture sector starting from January 1 this year.
“We are expecting the demand to go up to 10,600 MW to 10,700 MW in the coming weeks but we have tied up to meet the demand even up to 11,500 mw and the transmission and distribution networks are in a position to handle a load over 15,000 MW,” Chairman and Managing Director of the Southern Power Distribution Company G. Raghuma Reddy and CMD of the Northern PDC A. Gopal Rao said, on completion of 50 days of 24×7 power to the farm sector.
Stating that it was a memorable occasion for the power utilities in the State.
It is particularly with the background of their inability to meet uninterrupted supply even to the domestic sector when Telangana came into being.
The top executives of the two distribution companies said support from the government and hard work of the employees for the last three years had been behind the success.
Several States across the country were enquiring with the power utilities of Telangana how they were providing uninterrupted supply to all categories of consumers without any trouble in the system.
Some States were planning to replicate “our successful model”.
They had fears of system breakdown before introducing 24×7 supply to agriculture but were convinced of the system’s efficiency after the trial run conducted in the run-up to the launch of uninterrupted supply to the farm sector, he said.
Strengthening of T&D network had helped the utilities bring down the failure of distribution transformers by about 50% this January compared to the same period last year, the two CMDs claimed.
They stated that about Rs. 84,000 crore investment would be made in public sector power generation and further improvement of T&D network in the next five years which included the expected increase of load on the system from the ongoing lift irrigation projects.
Timely repayment of loans taken from the Rural Electrification Corporation (REC) by the State’s power utilities had helped them get the corporation to reduce the interest rate to 9.65% from 12% and 13%. Orders to the effect were expected in a few days.
This would be a huge relief since the interest burden was expected to come down by almost 25% – 2.5% to 3% , Mr. Raghuma Reddy stated.

Ceasefire violation in Uri

Over 1,000 civilians, including women and children, stranded due to the Pakistani shelling and firing, were rescued in guarded ambulances in Baramulla’s Uri.
The ceasefire agreement in force in the area since 2003 started to fall apart.
The Pakistan Army asked locals on the Indian side to “empty the villages on the zero line using loud speakers of their village mosques”.
Pakistan has widened its firing target in Uri. There were announcements made on speakers.
Around eight villages with a population of around 5,000 were affected due to the firing and the shelling.
Pakistan fired from two sides at Uri town, which is surrounded on three sides by Pakistan pickets.
From Jammu’s Pir Panchal valley, “major ceasefire violations” started in the Kashmir valley since February 22, the first since the Kargil war of 1999, and have displaced over 1,500 civilians so far.
The trigger was the killing of a BSF jawan in Kupwara on February 20.
The Indian Army in retaliation “destroyed” several pickets of the Pakistan Army in Uri Sector in the past two days.
The Army said Pakistan resorted to “unprovoked firing at 11:50 a.m. and the fire was retaliated effectively”.
The exchange of fire in Uri stopped by 7 p.m. It remained intense between 12 and 3 p.m. “No casualties were reported”.
Villagers of Uri’s Charunda, Tilawari, Thajal, Batgram, Hathinanga, Sahoora and Balkote in the Haji Pir Sector said “they are reliving the pre-ceasefire agreement era again”.

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::INTERNATIONAL::

India-China-SCO

Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale has held across-the-board talks with top Chinese officials on advancing ties between India and China, which have encountered several points of friction.
Mr. Gokhale’s visit is also seen as part of preparations for talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Xi Jinping at the June summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) in the Chinese coastal city of Qingdao.
The Foreign Secretary met Politburo member and State Councilor Yang Jiechi, China’s top foreign policy official, as well as Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Vice-Foreign Minister Mr. Kong Xuanyou.
Last year, Prime Minister Modi and President Xi met in Xiamen on the sidelines of the BRICS summit in September to revive ties that had been hit by the Doklam border crisis.
As a follow-up to these talks, Mr. Yi and Mr. Yang visited New Delhi in December.
During the consultations, the two sides reviewed recent developments in bilateral relations, including high-level exchanges, and discussed the agenda for bilateral engagement in the coming months.
India’s concerns regarding China’s growing influence in the Indian Ocean have been rising, and have peaked after the pro-China President of Maldives Abdulla Yameen declared a state of Emergency on February 5 in the island nation.
Without making any specific reference to the Maldives, the statement said the “two sides also exchanged views on regional and international issues of common interest”.
The statement noted the necessity of building on “convergences” between the two countries.
It stressed that Beijing and New Delhi should “address differences on the basis of mutual respect and sensitivity to each other’s concerns, interests and aspirations”.
In the past, Indian officials have pointed to the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), which passes through Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) as an infringement of India’s sovereignty.
China’s decision to come in the way of a UN ban on Masood Azhar, head of the Pakistan-based terror group Jaish-e-Mohammad (JEM), and Beijing’s objections to India’s entry into the Nuclear Suppliers Group emerged as additional points of abrasion in ties.

::ECONOMY::

e-way bill to resume from April 1

A group of State finance ministers (GoM), led by Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi, mooted the implementation of the provision for electronic-waybill generation for inter-State movement of goods from April 1, under the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime.
The e-waybill is generated on the GST-Network — a common and shared information technology (IT) infrastructure between the Centre and States.
Following a GoM meeting here on issues including IT-related challenges in the GST regime, Mr. Modi said the e-waybill requirement for inter-state movement of goods worth more than Rs. 50,000 would be introduced in phases after looking into the response to the same.
The GoM’s suggestion would be taken up by the GST Council at its meeting on March 10.
The e-waybill provision — meant to eliminate tax evasion and increase revenues by about 20% — was introduced on February 1, but had to be put on hold following glitches in the system
The GST Council should ensure that all the States introduced this mechanism from the same date and that the current practice, wherein different systems are followed in different States, was discontinued.

Commercial coal mining to enhance energy security

The success of commercial mining will hinge on the size of mines being offered, their reserve price, and the norms pertaining to the auction of mines.
But the ensuing competition would enhance India’s energy security, according to industry insiders.
Opening up commercial coal mining for Indian and foreign companies in the private sector, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, on February 20, approved the methodology for auction of coal mines/blocks for sale of the commodity.
A key feature of the proposal is allowing 100% FDI in commercial mining as well as coal export.
“Coal production is likely to increase in future, transforming into a competitive scenario,” said Subhashri Chaudhuri, secretary general of the Coal Consumers Association of India.
Mr. Bhattacharyya said proven mining experience and core competence should get more weightage in bidder evaluation rather than mere revenue maximisation.
Revenue maximisation should not be the only focus of the auction methodology.
Moreover, it was also important to offer larger coal blocks, say about 50 million tonnes of annual capacity, for about 25 to 30 years.
Offering smaller mines will not attract either the right type of companies or adequate investment — it may rather defeat the very purpose of this reform if a small mine of 2 to 5 million tonne capacity is to be offered.
.On the competition likely to be faced by CIL, Mr. Bhattacharya, under whose charge CIL’s listing took place in 2010, CIL was unlikely to suffer beyond facing a competitive pressure as its prices had always been at a discount to import prices and it did not utilise its position to raise prices.

::SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY::

New plant species found in West Bengal

Scientists from the Botanical Survey of India have identified a new plant species from two protected National Parks in West Bengal.
Named Drypetes kalamii, it is a small shrub found to be shorter version of its close relative Drypetes ellisii.This adds to the rich floral wealth of India.
Standing just 1 metre tall, the newly described plant is unisexual in nature, which means they have separate male and female plants.
During the survey and documentation of the flora of Buxa National Park, West Bengal (core area of Buxa Tiger Reserve), in 2011, came across these plants, but could not identify them.
Another author of the paper had collected a new female plant with fruits from Jaldapara National Park, West Bengal.
The fruiting specimen can be easily identified in Drypetes . We later found that both the plants belonged to the same species.
Further consultations with plant biologists from India and abroad helped us confirm its new identity.
The researchers compared the new plant with other Drypetes species and found differences in the leaf, flower and fruit structures. There are about 220 species of Drypetes identified across the globe of which 20 have been reported from India.
The new species is a close relative of a medicinal plant known in Sanskrit asPutrajivah.
NASA had recently named a new bacterium after Dr Kalam.
The new species is found in wet, shaded areas of subtropical moist semi-evergreen forests, at a height ranging 50-100 metres.
With pale yellow flowers in clusters and bright orange to red fruits, the plant is exclusive to the two national parks.
By following the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) rules, the scientists have provisionally assessed the plant to be “Critically Endangered”.
The report states forest fires and grazing as two plausible threats to the new species.

Pattern of deforestration explained in Physics theory

Predicting rising numbers is usually good news in ecology, but not if they refer to forest fragments.
Current rates of deforestation could cause a 33-fold increase in forest fragments over the next 50 years, shows a study published inNature.
Deforestation, fuelled by factors including habitat conversion and timber production, causes fragmentation.
As large forests are cut into pieces, biodiversity suffers and carbon is also lost.
To study patterns of tropical forest fragmentation, scientists at the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (Germany) used remotely-sensed images to map more than 130 million forest fragments across 427 million hectares in the Americas, Asia, Africa and Australia.
They found that fragment sizes in three continents followed similar frequency distributions.
The number of forest fragments smaller than 10,000 hectares, for instance, is similar in Central and South America (11.2%), Africa (9.9%) and Southeast Asia (9.2%).
The theory (which has been used to explain phenomena including the trickling of water through soil and patterns of forest fires) states that in a certain phase of deforestation, the forest landscape exhibits structures that can be found repeatedly.
The scientists found that forest fragmentation is currently close to a critical point beyond which fragment number will strongly increase.
Using this to predict future patterns of forest fragmentation, the team found that any additional forest loss can decrease fragment size and cause a 33-fold increase in the number of forest fragments over 50 years.
Though their models show that this could be partly mitigated by reforestation and forest protection, there will be repercussions for countries that fall in these zones, including India.
More fragments mean more edges which are highly disturbance-prone and decrease habitat quality for wildlife.