Current Affairs for BANK, IBPS Exams - 20 November 2017

::NATIONAL::

The new surrender policy in J&K to give jobs to any local youth who gives up the gun

• Earlier, the surrender policy was limited to those who crossed the Line of Control into Pakistan-occupied Kashmir in the early 1990s and were stuck there.
• The new surrender policy is considering provision of “passports and jobs to any local youth who gives up the gun” and “support for his full assimilation into society,”.
• Meanwhile, parents of two more militants — Ashiq Hussain Bhat from Shopian and Manzoor Ahmad Baba from Pulwama — have appealed through the media to their sons to give up militancy and rejoin the family.
• Around 60 boys have already been “brought back into the fold”, said the police. At least 190 militants have been killed this year. Of these, 66 were locals. There is a remarkable change in the situation. The agitation that peaked earlier this year has been brought under control.
• On the Hajin operation, in which six LeT militants were killed, DGP Vaid said, “These militants killed [former counter-insurgency personnel] Rashid Billa and Ramzan Parray, an officer, and attempted a fidayeen attack in Bandipora.”
• The Saturday operation had “cleaned up the area,” the DGP said. “People will heave a sigh of relief and can live without fear now,” he said.

More than 200 websites displayed details of Aadhaar

• More than 200 Central and State government websites publicly displayed details such as names and addresses of some Aadhaar beneficiaries, the Unique Identification Authority of India has said.
• In response to an RTI query, the Aadhaar-issuing body said it had taken note of the breach and got the data removed from those websites. It, however, did not specify when the breach took place.
• It said Aadhaar details have never been made public from/by UIDAI.
• The Centre is in the process of making Aadhaar mandatory to grant benefits of various social service schemes.
• “UIDAI has a well-designed, multi-layer approach and a robust security system in place and the same is being constantly upgraded to maintain the highest level of data security and integrity,” the RTI reply said.
• The architecture of the Aadhaar ecosystem has been designed to ensure data security and privacy which is an integral part of the system from the initial design to the final stage, it said.
• “Various policies and procedures have been defined, these are reviewed and updated continually thereby appropriately controlling and monitoring any movement of people, material and data in and out of UIDAI premises, particularly the data centres,” the UIDAI said.
• It said security audits are conducted on a regular basis to further strengthen security and privacy of data. Besides this, all possible steps are taken to protect the data, the authority said.

using casteist remarks over phone in a public place is an offence

• The Supreme Court has ruled that using casteist remarks over phone in a public place against the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe category amounts to criminal offence, warranting a jail of a maximum five years.
• The apex court refused to stay criminal proceedings and quash an FIR against a person, who allegedly used derogatory casteist remarks over phone to a woman from the the SC/ST category.
• A bench of Justices J. Chelameswar and S. Abdul Nazeer declined to interfere with the August 17 order of the Allahabad High Court, which rejected the plea of a Uttar Pradesh resident, seeking quashing of the FIR against him by the woman.
• It dismissed his plea saying he has to prove during the trial that he had not talked to the woman over phone in a public place.
• Advocate Vivek Vishnoi, appearing for the accused, said that at the time of the said conversation, both the woman and his client were in different cities and it could not be stated that it was in public view.
• He said that section 3(1)(s) of SC/ST Act relates to a person, who abuses any member of a SC or ST by caste name in any place “within public view“.
• The issue involved in the petition was that whether a private conversation on mobile phone between two individuals can come within the ambit of expression “within public view“.
• He said that by no stretch of imagination, a private conversation between two individuals on mobile phone can come within the ambit of expression “within public view” and that the charges framed against the petitioner need to be quashed.
• The lawyer further said that the complainant has made some vague allegations regarding land sale transactions but no specific averments were made which may prima facie show that offence of cheating and intimidation were made out.
• The bench, however, refused to agree with the contention and said it was only in the trial that the accused could prove if he was talking on phone in public view or not.

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::INTERNATIONAL::

China to mediate between Bangladesh and Myanmar

• China has expressed its willingness to facilitate a dialogue between Bangladesh and Myanmar to solve the Rohingya refugee crisis.
• Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, on a two-day visit to Bangladesh, met Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. He said Beijing was willing to facilitate the dialogue, acknowledging that the Rohingya crisis was a “big challenge for Bangladesh”.
• Ms. Hasina reiterated her call to the international community, including China, to mount pressure on Myanmar to take back its nationals.
• Earlier, at a meeting with his Bangladeshi counterpart A. H. Mahmud Ali, Mr. Wang said that as a friend of both Bangladesh and Myanmar, Beijing would “not be partial to any side”.
• Mr. Wang’s visit came days after the UN revived a resolution on Myanmar that was dropped last year due to the country’s progress on human rights.
• The UN General Assembly’s Third Committee, which focuses on human rights, called on Myanmar to end operations that have “led to the systematic violation and abuse of human rights” of Rohingya Muslims. A total of 135 countries voted in favour of the resolution and 10, including China, against it, while there were 26 abstentions.

Emmerson Mnangagwa named as new Zimbabwe President

• Emmerson Mnangagwa, nicknamed ‘Ngwena’ (The Crocodile) was named as president of the ruling ZANU-PF party in place of Robert Mugabe, putting him one step away from the top job.
• Mr. Mnangagwa — a long-time party loyalist and hardliner who could prove as authoritarian as Mr. Mugabe — initially fled to South Africa after his sacking earlier in November. But the dramatic seizure of power by the military returned him to centre stage.
• Born in the southwestern Zvishavane district on September 15, 1942, Mr. Mnangagwa joined the struggle for independence from Britain in 1966, becoming one of the young combatants who helped direct the war after undergoing training in China and Egypt.
• In the early days after independence from Britain in 1980, Mr. Mugabe made Mr. Mnangagwa Minister for National Security. Since then, he has occupied a host of Cabinet positions.

BUSINESS AND ECONOMY

government is set to bring out a new policy to spur domestic electronics

• The government is set to bring out a new policy to spur domestic electronics production by March 2018 in a bid to boost its flagship ‘Make in India’ programme and curb the country’s trade deficit.
• The official said work was under way to release a draft policy by December that would outline a framework to make India a global leader in product verticals such as medical and automotive electronics, besides mobile phone and consumer electronics.
• The government had first unveiled an Electronics Manufacturing Policy in 2012, which included schemes such as Modified Special Incentive Package Scheme and electronic development fund.
• The new policy is likely to take a re-look at the utility of these schemes which have either ended or will expire soon. Deliberations on the revised policy with stakeholders started in September, following which nine sectoral working groups have been formed.
• The working groups, including industry leaders, experts and MeitY officials, are focusing on individual product lines such as mobile handsets and related components, LED products, medical electronics, consumer electronics and automotive electronics (including electric vehicles).
• Other groups have been tasked with framing a strategy for boosting solar photovoltaic cells, fabless chip design, electronic manufacturing services and products such as semiconductors.
• According to a MeitY notification, the revised National Policy on Electronics will strive to increase the competitiveness of the electronics manufacturing industry; innovation, R&D and start-ups; promoting research in emerging technologies and India-specific initiatives and strategies to promote/ incentivise exports in electronics system design and manufacturing.
• Domestic consumption of electronic hardware in India was $63.6 billion in 2014-15. Imports stood at $36.9 billion, as per NITI Aayog.

Govt seeking Rs. 13,000 crore of surplus lying with the central bank

• The government has not asked the Reserve Bank to pay any special dividend and is only seeking Rs. 13,000 crore of surplus lying with the central bank, Economic Affairs Secretary Subhash Chandra Garg has said.
• In August, the RBI had paid a dividend of Rs. 30,659 crore for the fiscal ended June 2017. It was less than half the Rs. 65,876 crore it had paid in 2015-16.
• The government had budgeted for a Rs. 58,000 crore dividend from the RBI in its Budget for this fiscal.
• “There is no proposal at this stage to ask for any special dividend. What is being discussed is to only ask for what the RBI earned this year but did not distribute. That is about Rs. 13,000 crore. That’s what the government has suggested the Reserve Bank to transfer,” Mr. Garg said.
• Asked about the contours of the recap bonds, Mr. Garg said,“the recapitalisation package is in the final stages.
• “The Department of Financial Services is working on it and soon we would see all these aspects being addressed,” he said.

India has moved up one position to 126 in terms of GDP per capita of countries

• India has moved up one position to 126 in terms of GDP per capita of countries, still ranked lower than all its BRICS peers, while Qatar remains the world’s richest on this parameter as per IMF data.
• The data, which forms part of the latest World Economic Outlook report of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), ranks over 200 countries in terms of per capita GDP based on purchasing power parity (PPP).
• PPP is the rate at which the currency of one country needs to be converted into that of a second country to ensure that a given amount of the first country’s currency will purchase the same volume of goods and services in the second country as it does in the first.

Lower taxes and higher public expenditure could widen budget deficit in 2017-18

• Lower taxes and higher public expenditure could widen budget deficit in 2017-18, but steps taken by the government to broaden the tax base and improve spending efficiency would help in narrowing it going forward, U.S.-based rating agency Moody’s said.
• In an interview, Moody’s Investors Service VP (sovereign risk group) William Foster said the agency believes that the government’s commitment to fiscal consolidation remains and sustained growth would help it reduce debt burden.
• Moody’s had last week raised India’s sovereign rating for the first time in over 13 years, saying growth prospects have improved with continued progress on economic and institutional reforms.

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