Current Affairs for BANK, IBPS Exams - 15 November 2017

::NATIONAL::

University tag to Private varsities now should be ‘Deemed to be universities’

• Based on an order from the University Grants Commission (UGC), all deemed universities in the country will now either have to go only by the original name or mention clearly as “Deemed to be university”.
• The order was based on a guideline from the Supreme Court after a PIL was filed by an individual. As per the PIL, only public universities have got the right to attach the ‘university’ tag and the rest / private universities should be called as ‘deemed to be university’ and not as university.

Joint training doctrine Indian armed forces-2017

• In a first, the Indian armed forces released a joint training doctrine meant to facilitate joint training and planning.
• Titled ‘Joint Training Doctrine Indian Armed Forces - 2017,’ it was released by Admiral Sunil Lanba, Navy Chief and Chairman, Chiefs of Staff Committee, in the presence of other two Service Chiefs.
• “The aim of the doctrine is to promote ‘synergy’ and ‘integration’ among the three Services and other stake-holders leading to an enhanced efficiency and optimum utilisation of resources.
• Besides numerous advantages of the doctrines, this document will also go a long way in ‘fostering initiative’ and ‘stimulating creativity’ for promoting ‘integration’ between the three services in times to come,” the Defence Ministry said in a statement.
• The Defence Ministry stated that the concept of using ‘joint training’ for promoting ‘diplomacy’ and ‘civil-military interface’ have been highlighted in the doctrine. It will serve as a ‘foundation’ and a ‘knowledge base’ from which specific directives and strategies will be derived, from time to time, the statement added.

Can Division of powers be applied to Delhi

• The Supreme Court raised a question whether the constitutional scheme on division of executive powers between the Centre and the States can be made applicable to the Union Territory of Delhi.
• A five-judge Constitution bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra, which is hearing pleas on who enjoys supremacy in governing the national capital, put the query after noting the submission of senior advocate Indira Jaising that the executive powers of Delhi should be ascertained in the light of the constitutional scheme providing a clear division of powers between the States and the Centre.
• “Everything boils down to day-to-day administration. How can the Centre say that you (Delhi government) cannot have the executive power. I can understand this position on legislative powers,” Ms. Jaising said.
• She said the court should not be guided by the nomenclature of Delhi as a Union Territory while interpreting Article 239AA and the executive powers of the Delhi government and there should be no “blurring of responsibilities” between the State and the Centre.

The ‘India State Level Disease Burden’ report

• The ‘India State Level Disease Burden’ report, prepared as part of the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) Study 2016, and published in Lancet , has found that every State in India has a higher burden from non-communicable diseases and injuries than from infectious diseases.
• The study used multiple data sources to map State-level disease burden from 333 disease conditions and injuries, and 83 risk factors for each State from 1990 to 2016. It was released by Vice-President M. Venkaiah Naidu.
• “The contribution of non-communicable diseases to health loss — fuelled by unhealthy diets, high blood pressure, and blood sugar — has doubled in India over the past two decades. Air pollution and tobacco smoking continue to be major contributors to health loss.
• Many Indian States are bigger than most countries in the world. It is necessary to plan health interventions based on the specific disease burden situation of each State, many of which are no less than nations within a nation, if the existing major health inequalities between the States have to be reduced.
• This requires availability of the best possible disease burden and risk factors estimates for each state based on all available data using a standardized framework.
• These estimates are now provided in three complementary outputs released today: the report, the technical paper, and the open-access visualisation tool.
• Discussion with policy makers suggests that these findings will be useful for planning of State health budgets, prioritisation of interventions relevant to each State, informing the government’s Health Assurance Mission, monitoring of health-related Sustainable Development Goals targets in each State, assessing impact of large-scale interventions based on time trends of disease burden, and forecasting population health under various scenarios in each State.
• The report, which provides the first comprehensive set of State-level disease burden data, risk factors estimates, and trends for each State in India, is expected to inform health planning with a view toward reducing health inequalities among States.

Creamy layer in SC/STs quotas case referred to Statute Bench

• Reopening the debate on the application of “creamy layer” for reservations for the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes in government jobs, the Supreme Court referred the question to a Constitution Bench.
• A Bench of Justices Kurian Joseph and R. Banumathi said clarity is required on the “application of creamy layer in situations of completing claims within the same races, communities, groups or parts thereof of SC/ST communities notified by the President under Articles 341 and 342”.
• This question on the application of creamy layer principle in SC/ST quotas comes 11 years after a five-judge Constitution Bench in the M. Nagaraj judgment of 2006 had decided that creamy layer should be excluded from the reservations for the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in government jobs.
• Legal experts note that the Mandal Commission and E.V. Chinnaiah cases had confined the creamy layer concept to the Other Backward Classes section.
• The two-judge Bench’s order is based on a batch of petitions for clarity on Article 16 (4), which deals with the State’s powers for providing for appointments or posts for “any backward class of citizens”; on Article 16 (4A), which arms the State with power to make provisions for quota in promotion with consequential seniority to SC/ST communities; and finally Article 16 (4B) on unfilled reservation vacancies.

Rasogolla gets GI tag

• The Geographical Indication (GI) Registry and Intellectual Property India presented the Geographical Indication Tag status to Banglar Rasogolla of West Bengal and Mamallapuram stone sculptures of Tamil Nadu. West Bengal was involved in a lengthy battle with Odisha, which too had claimed Rasogolla as its invention.
• The Directorate of Food Processing Industry of West Bengal had applied seeking the GI status for Banglar Rasogolla. After due procedure (examination, objections, hearing, opposition and appeal), the same was published in theGI Journal.
• While West Bengal believes that the Rasogolla was invented in Calcutta by confectioner Nabin Chandra Das, Odisha says it was invented in the holy city of Puri in the 13th century. West Bengal in its application had provided proof of origin — historical records dating back to 1896.
• According to one of the documents submitted by West Bengal citing historical evidence, Rasogollas invented in the Nadia district of West Bengal are 60 years old (lower end time frame).
• Haradhan, a confectioner of village Phulia is named as the inventor. West Bengal has given half-a-dozen historical evidences to back its claim.
  Similarly, the Tamil Nadu Handicrafts Development Corporation had applied (number 426) on May 31, 2013 seeking the GI tag status for Mamallapuram stone sculptures. After compliance to procedures, it was also published in the same journal.
• Tamil Nadu in its application stated that the sculptures from Mamallapuram were known to be carved in stone with characteristics of intricate designing chiselled finely, keeping with the spirit of the surrounding Pallava art and architecture.
• The description includes cave architecture, rock architecture, structural temples, open sculptures, relief sculptures and painting/portrait sculptures.

::INDIA AND WORLD::

India a more dependable partner for South-East Asia

• Displaying convergence of interests with the new quadrilateral grouping with U.S., Japan and Australia, India reached out to China’s backyard, addressing an array of issues ranging from the tension in the Korean peninsula to freedom of navigation and sought a crackdown on chemical weapons during the ASEAN and the East Asia summits.
• New Delhi has emerged as a more dependable partner for South-East Asia following the Doklam faceoff with China, and indicated that the South-East Asian countries expect New Delhi to be assertive with Beijing.
• The explanation of India’s post-Doklam international image acquires significance in view of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s one-on-one meeting with Premier Li Keqiang that was held on the sidelines of the East Asia Summit on Tuesday.
• Elaborating on the counter-China angle, the high-level official said the Southeast Asian region had been facing uncertainties following the exit of President Barack Obama as he took visible interest in the region.
• However, the latest visits by the leaders of the quadrilateral countries, including by the new U.S. Presdient Donald Trump have once again assured support to these countries as they face China’s commercial and military domination.
• Prime Minister Narendra Modi shared concerns of DPRK’s pursuit of missiles and nuclear weapons and called for complete verification and irreversible denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula. He also said that North Korea’s proliferation links must be investigated and the parties who have supported these unlawful programmes must be made accountable.

India- Russia’s chopper deal in final stages

• India and Russia are in the final stages of concluding the deal to build Kamov-226T utility helicopters in India. A Russian team is in India to hold discussions on the joint venture that will manufacture the helicopters.
• “A Russian team is in India for technical discussions on the JV with Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. (HAL). The Request For Quotation (RFQ) should be issued by the government to the JV in about a month or so after the current round of discussions,” an official source said.
• India and Russia have concluded an Inter-Governmental Agreement (IGA) for 200 helicopters estimated to cost over $1 billion.
• As per the deal, 60 helicopters will be imported from Russia and at least another 140 built in India by the HAL with technology transfer.
• After the RFQ is issued to the JV, the final commercial deal should be concluded very quickly as there are fixed timelines on the process, the source added.
• The India-Russia JV is between the HAL and Russia’s Rostec-JSC Rosoboronexport and Russian Helicopters.
• The Kamov-226T helicopters are meant to replace the ageing and obsolete Cheetah and Chetak fleets of the Indian armed forces. The number is expected to go beyond 200 given the large requirement from the services.
• India and Russia intend to export the Kamov-226T to third countries after meeting the domestic requirement.

ICJ seat deadlock

• Dalveer Bhandari, India’s nominee for the last seat in the World Court, has received an overwhelming support from the U.N. General Assembly members, who defied permanent members of the Security Council to back him against Britain’s candidate.
• The battle between Mr. Bhandari and Britain’s Christopher Greenwood for the International Court of Justice (ICJ) seat remained deadlocked as neither could get the requisite numbers of votes in the latest face-off. Mr. Bhandari, 70, and Mr. Greenwood are seeking re-election at the Hague-based ICJ.
• A third of the court’s 15-member bench are elected every three years for a nine-year term, elections for which are held separately but simultaneously in the United Nations General Assembly and Security Council in New York.
• Ronny Abraham of France, Abdulqawi Ahmed Yusuf of Somalia, Antonio Augusto Cancado Trindade of Brazil and Nawaf Salam of Lebanon were elected after four rounds of elections.
• The U.N. General Assembly and the Security Council met separately to elect the remaining one candidate for the ICJ. In each of the five rounds of elections, Mr. Greenwood received nine votes and Mr. Bhandari five in the U.N. Security Council.
• The winner must secure 8 votes in the Security Council. Given that Britain is a Permanent member of the Security Council, Mr. Greenwood has an advantage over Mr. Bhandari.
• Mr. Bhandari received absolute majority in the General Assembly elections in all the five rounds.
• Both the General Assembly and the Security Council adjourned the meeting for the election, to be convened at a later date.

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::INTERNATIONAL::

Qatar says they are “ a thousand times better off” without Gulf allies’

• Months into a dispute that has seen Doha cut off from Saudi Arabia and the UAE, Qatar’s Emir said his country was “a thousand times better off” without them.
• In a speech to the Shura Council, the upper house of Parliament, Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani said his government had nonetheless put in place contingency plans as he expected the bitter political dispute with his neighbours and former allies to drag on.
• Sheikh Tamim nonetheless said his government was working on “introducing a number of food security projects” and had “given special attention to water security” as it looked to a future without its former Arab allies.
• Iran, Turkey and most recently Spain have stepped in to help Qatar secure food imports amid a boycott by four Arab states.
• Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt in June announced they had severed ties with Qatar, sealing off the emirate’s only land border in the wide-ranging boycott. They accuse Qatar’s government of supporting Islamist extremism and fostering close ties with Iran. Qatar denies the charges.
• Moody’s has estimated that Qatar used $38.5 billion — equivalent to 23% of its GDP — to support the economy in the first two months of sanctions. Qatar, which is scheduled to host the 2022 World Cup, insists that it is economically strong enough to survive the crisis.

::ENVIRONMENT::

Migratory birds flock to Chilika Lake

• With winter setting in, migratory birds have started to arrive at Odisha’s Chilika Lake, the largest brackish water lagoon in the country .
• At least one lakh migratory avian guests have arrived at the lake so far. Divisional Forest Officer (DFO), Chilika Wildlife Division, Bikash Ranjan Dash said around 50 species of migratory birds have been sighted till Tuesday.
• This year, the arrival of migratory birds was slightly delayed due to climatic conditions. Usually the birds arrive at the lake in the second fortnight of October, but this year they started flocking in the beginning of November.
• Fall in atmospheric temperature was slightly late in this part of the country. Added to that, sporadic rainfall that continued till October kept high patches and vegetation of the lake submerged. These may be the reasons behind the delay in arrival of the birds.
• At present, the migratory birds are perching in areas where the water level is comparatively low and mud patches are visible. Birds like waders are mostly seen at mud patches, while ducks are being sighted in areas of shallow water.
• The other bird varieties that are being sighted in large numbers in the lake include pintails, gadwals, shovellers, rudy shelducks and pratincoles among others.
• As many as 19 bird-protection camps have been set up by the Forest Department at Nalabana sanctuary and other areas around Chilika Lake.
  Around 30 former bird poachers, who were arrested by the Forest Department in the past, are part of these bird-protection camps.
• The Nalabana island and its adjoining areas, spread over 15 sqkm inside the large lake, is a major perching region for these migratory birds. No boats, except for two power boats of the Forest Department, are being allowed to enter the sanctuary area.
• Avian guests from north, central and east Siberia, China, Mongolia, west Asian countries and the Himalayan region of India reach Chilika every year during winter months.

::SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY::

U.S. approves first pill with digital ingestion tracking system

• The Food and Drug Administration has approved the first drug in the United States with a digital ingestion tracking system, in an unprecedented move to ensure that patients with mental illness take the medicine prescribed for them.
• The drug Abilify MyCite, developed by Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd, was first approved by the FDA in 2002 to treat schizophrenia. The ingestible sensor, made by Proteus Digital health, was approved for marketing in 2012.
• The FDA said in a statement said that the digitally enhanced medication “works by sending a message from the pill’s sensor to a wearable patch.” “Being able to track ingestion of medications prescribed for illness may be useful for some patients.
• The FDA supports the development and use of new technology in prescription drugs and is committed to working with companies to understand how this technology might benefit patients and prescribers.
• In a portion of the statement to address privacy concerns, the FDA said the wearable patch that comes with the medication “transmits the information to a mobile application so that patients can track the ingestion of the medication on their smart phone.
• Patients can also permit their caregivers and physician to access the information through a web-based portal.
• The companies said the Proteus Ingestible sensor “activates when it reaches stomach fluids and communicates with the patch.

::BUSINESS AND ECONOMY::

Canada plans to pitch for WTO deal on e-com, SMEs, eliminate gender barriers

• Canada plans to pitch for a global deal to boost trade involving e-commerce and Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) besides norms that will help eliminate gender barriers to trade, at the World Trade Organisation’s (WTO) Ministerial Conference.
• Canada will be pushing [for a] gender declaration... to favour more women and women entrepreneurs in trade.
• The next Ministerial Conference, which is the WTO’s highest decision-making body, will be held between December 10-13 in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
• On bilateral issues with India, Mr. Champagne said Canadian pension funds were keen to invest in the development of infrastructure and smart cities in India. However, he said, “what is slowing down the level of (Canadian) investment (in India) is that we haven’t yet finalised the bilateral Foreign Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement (FIPPA).”
• “That is why I was telling [commerce and industry] minister Suresh Prabhu that we need to quickly finalise the FIPPA.” Mr. Champagne, who also met Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, said, “... it is in the best interests of Canada and India to finalise it [FIPPA] to bring a new momentum in our relationship.”
• On whether the Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) mechanism, which, among other things, enables investors to sue governments before international tribunals and seek huge compensation for the economic harms they suffer due to reasons including policy changes, will be included in the FIPPA, he said, “when there is a will there is a way.”
• Asked whether Canada was keen on signing the FIPPA before the India-Canada Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA), he said, “I want both. [But] on the FIPPA, the negotiations are more advanced, and so I spoke to Jaitley. We agree on what are the remaining issues... [and] on how to resolve them. So we have told our chief negotiators to get on with it.” On the CEPA, he said, “we need to engage in discussions... From the Canadian side we are equally committed because, blame me for being ambitious ...we need to look at the full potential of our relationship.”

Debt data to be informed to Information Utility

• As part of its attempts to further strengthen bankruptcy regulations, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) plans to amend listing norms to make it mandatory for companies to disclose all data on debt to the newly-formed Information Utility (IU) — a central database for loans taken by firms from banks and financial institutions.
• The regulator was mulling insertion of an enabling clause in the SEBI (Listing Obligations and Disclosure Requirements) Regulations, which all listed companies have to comply with.
• SEBI is discussing the modalities with various stakeholders like IBBI (Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India), banks, lawyers and industry experts.
• An amendment in the listing regulations to make companies directly report to an IU seem to be the best way ahead. The move, once implemented, will tighten the regulatory framework for disclosure of debt and also give lenders access to a central database that has the borrower’s credit history, including defaults if any.
• SEBI had earlier suspended an attempt to make it mandatory for listed companies to inform stock exchanges of any default on payment of interest or principal to lenders within a day of such default.
• This time, however, the regulator is looking to to make companies directly report to the IUs instead of stock exchanges.
• SEBI chairman Ajay Tyagi said the regulator would address all issues within its domain to strengthen the bankruptcy regulations.
• (NeSL), the first IU to be registered under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC). Under IBC, an IU would be a one-stop repository for all information related to lending and borrowing activities of all financial institutions.
• To protect investors, SEBI may consider “an enabling provision... that information regarding issuance of debt securities be shared with Information Utilities,” said Sumit Agrawal, partner, Suvan Law Advisors.

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