Current Affairs for BANK, IBPS Exams - 05 March 2018

::NATIONAL::

India-Myanmar-Border Pact going no where

Myanmar has indefinitely deferred signing an agreement with India to streamline the free movement of people within 16 km along the border.
India is keen to sign the agreement but Myanmar — citing “domestic compulsions” — has asked more time before the agreement is sealed.
On January 3, the Union Cabinet had approved the agreement between India and Myanmar on land border crossing to enhance economic interaction between people of the two countries.
To give it shape, the Centre had asked four States — Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur and Mizoram — that share the unfenced border with Myanmar to distribute “border pass” to all the residents living within 16 km from the border.
The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) has been deferred twice in the past seven months.
It was to be signed in September last year when Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Naypyidaw for a bilateral visit.
India tried to again push the agreement in January when Myanmar’s State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi was in New Delhi with nine ASEAN leaders as chief guest for the Republic Day parade.
“Myanmar has been dragging its feet on the agreement. They have asked for more time and are reluctant due to domestic compulsions. They fear that if they sign the pact, the international agreement will have to be adhered to,” a senior government official said.
An official said as per the proposal, there would have been no restrictions on the movement of people across the borders.
The domiciles were to be allotted border passes and those going across for agriculture, work or to meet relatives should carry the pass at all times.
The official said both the countries intend to put a system in place after India raised the issue of movement of extremists and smugglers freely across the border.
Naorem Premkanta Singh, a militant arrested by the National Investigation Agency (NIA), who was part of the group that attacked an army convoy in 2015 in Manipur’s Chandel district killing 18 personnel.
India and Myanmar share a 1,643 km unfenced border along Arunachal Pradesh (520 km), Nagaland (215 km), Manipur (398 km) and Mizoram (510 km) and permit a ‘free movement’ regime upto 16 km beyond the border.

Documentary on India-China encounter reveals interesting facts

Differing Indian interpretations of a brief May Day exchange between China’s Chairman Mao Zedong and India’s charge d’affaires Brajesh Mishra in 1970 delayed the return of an Ambassador to Beijing by six years.
The diplomatic opening to India from the Chinese came after years of non-contact and has been the subject of much analysis in both countries.
In a note for Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, Natwar Singh — posted in the PMO at the time — said the encounter was “not an earth shattering event”.
Mr. Singh, who went on to become India’s External Affairs Minister, felt it would be wrong to dismiss the meeting as a “casual encounter”, but at the same time one should not “read too much into it”.
This note is among hundreds of documents collated by Avtar Singh Bhasin, formerly with the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), in a five-volume documentary study of India-China relations, published in association with the policy planning division of the Ministry.
After his encounter at the Tiananmen Square, Mr. Mishra sent a “most immediate” cable to Mrs. Gandhi and External Affairs Minister Dinesh Singh, the same day quoting Mao: “‘We cannot keep quarrelling like this. We should be friends again. India is a great country … we will be friends again someday.’ I replied ‘We are ready to do it today’.”
“In anything connected with Chinese leaders it is difficult to say whether it [the conversation] was premeditated or not. My judgment is that Mao was fully briefed before arriving on the [Tiananmen] rostrum [where other diplomats were also present]. In any case, expression as above of friendship by Mao himself should be given the most weighty consideration,” Mr. Mishra informed New Delhi in a four-paragraph cable.
On May 6, a Chinese Foreign Ministry official, Yang Kung Su, told Mr. Mishra after repeated queries, “Our great leader, Chairman Mao, has talked to you personally. That I think is the greatest concrete action on our side and it is the principle guiding the relations between China and India.”
During the meeting, Mr. Mishra lamented the fact that there had hardly been any contact between the two countries in the past 11-12 years and suggested “concrete action” to improve relations. “There is no trade between us. Even our Embassies are not full fledged.”
In June 1970, Mr. Mishra came to Delhi and met Mrs. Gandhi and her trusted officials including P.N. Haksar and T.N. Kaul.
He suggested that India should send an Ambassador to Beijing since G. Parthasarathy had completed his term and Delhi did not appoint a replacement.
In a 2006 interview to the Indian Foreign Affairs Journal , Mr. Mishra, who went on to become Prime Minister A.B. Vajpayee’s Principal Secretary, said Mrs. Gandhi was inclined to support sending an Ambassador but Mr. Haksar “turned the meeting around”.
Mr. Mishra suggests in the interview that negotiations for an Indo-Soviet friendship treaty were at an advanced stage at the time.
The late diplomat also said in the interview that in early 1971, Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai conveyed his congratulations through him in Beijing to Mrs. Gandhi for her election victory, suggesting continuity in Chinese policy of making up with India from the May 1 conversation.
It would be further five years before External Affairs Minister Y.B. Chavan announced in the Lok Sabha on April 15, 1976, that K.R. Narayanan, who rose to be President, would be India’s new ambassador to China.

Tele-Education Project

The Rs. 84-crore tele-education project — aimed at improving the quality of education in upper primary and high schools in rural areas.
But which is hit by technical and implementation hurdles — is set to be extended to more schools with computer facilities.
The Department of Primary and Secondary Education’s move, however, has upset teachers and a section of department officials as a third-party evaluation report conducted by the Azim Premji Foundation (APF) in August 2017 had recommended that the project — rolled out in November 2014 — be discontinued.
The report had also categorically stated that it should be limited to the current set of schools and not extended until there is evidence of learning improvement.
The evaluation, ordered by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, has revealed that the project was operating as per the design only in 220 of the total 1,000 schools covered owing to issues pertaining to receiving telecast and broadband connectivity.
It also found that local schoolteachers had no ability to provide detailed explanations and clarification.
The report had termed it “a pedagogical approach unsuitable for schoolchildren”.
The report had said there is “no robust evidence of improvement in learning outcomes” and the learning improvements reported by the IIMB-led consortium were “untenable” owing to serious design and methodological issues.
It also said a comparison of SSLC results of April 2016 and April 2017 showed a marginal improvement in some subjects and grades, which was “superficial and misleading”.
Though the report had suggested discontinuation of the project, the foundation had recommended changes if the project had to be continued, including allowing the teacher to control the sequencing of content.

Netravathi Bridge-cum-Barrage gets clearance

The State Cabinet granted approval for construction of a bridge-cum-barrage across the Netravathi connecting Adyarkatte, off the National Highway 75, and Harekala, near Mangalore University.
Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has earmarked Rs. 174 crore in the budget for this work.
Apart from meeting the long-standing demand of connecting these two places, the project will help in harvesting water for many of the arid regions of Mangaluru Assembly Constituency.
This project was part of the Paschima Vahini Scheme launched last year to build vented dams across west-flowing rivers, said Food and Civil Supplies Minister U.T. Khader.
Talking to reporters, Mr. Khader said that the project has proposed the construction of a 7 m wide bridge downstream of the Thumbe Vented Dam.
Below this bridge would be the barrage that will impound about 6 tmcft (thousand million cubic feet) of water.
A multi-village drinking water scheme estimated at Rs. 134 crore would help harvest water and meet the drinking water needs of the arid regions of the Mangaluru Assembly Constituency.
With Cabinet clearing the bridge-cum-barrage work, Mr. Khader said, the Minor Irrigation Department would start the work of preparing a detailed project report and then tenders would be floated.
The bridge atop the dam would alleviate commuting woes of people around Konaje, Innoli, Harekala and surrounding areas.
The residents of these areas now depend either upon boats to reach NH 66 on the northern bank of the Netravathi or on buses that take a circuitous route to reach the city.
Mr. Khader said that the Cabinet has cleared a policy for extraction of sand from non-Coastal Regulatory Zone areas in Dakshina Kannada.
As per the new norm, all residents, who have been in a taluk for five years or more, can apply for licence for extraction of sand.

BJP backed Party to form Government in Meghalaya

A number of regional parties with the support of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) outsmarted the Congress, which had emerged the single largest party in the recent Assembly elections, in the race for government formation in Meghalaya.
After a day of frantic political activity in the State, the National People’s Party (NPP), led by its leader Conrad Sangma, staked claim to form the government in the State.
Mr. Sangma paraded 34 MLAs before Governor Ganga Prasad.
“We have given a letter of support of 34 MLAs to the Governor. We think this is what stability is all about,” Mr. Conrad Sangma, who is also Lok Sabha member from Tura, told journalists outside the Raj Bhavan.
The Governor invited Mr. Sangma to form the government. He will be sworn in as Chief Minister on March 6.
Till the afternoon, the coalition was claiming the support of 29 MLAs, but the numbers grew by the evening.
The NPP, with its 19 MLAs, claimed the support of six MLAs of the United Democratic Front (UDF) as well as two from the Hill State People’s Democratic Party (HSPDP) and two BJP legislators.
At the Raj Bhavan, four MLAs of the newly formed People’s Democratic Front (PDF) and one Independent joined the non-Congress coalition led by the NPP.
Senior BJP leader Himanta Biswa Sarma, who played a crucial role in bringing together the regional parties, said the BJP would be part of the government.

Printed Study Materials for IBPS, SBI Bank Exam

::INTERNATIONAL::

First Dalit woman Senator in Pakistan’s legislature

Krishna Kumari Kohli, a human rights activist fielded by the Pakistan Peoples Party, became on Saturday the country’s first Dalit woman Senator.
Kohli, 39, who hails from the remote village of Dhana Gam in Nagarparkar, Sindh, was elected to a reserved seat for women.
Ms. Kohli said she was happy that the PPP had reposed faith in her and in her work.
“I am a human rights activist and try to highlight the problems faced by the minorities especially Hindus. PPP could have nominated any other woman for the seat but they showed they have regard for minorities as well,” she said.
Known as Kishoo Bai, Ms. Kohli said she knew that a lot of work needed to be done for the upliftment of the oppressed and the poor in the interior areas of the country
Recalling the childhood incident that motivated her to fight for minority rights, Ms. Kohli said: “I, my family members and relatives were held as bonded labourers in a private jail owned by an influential landlord in Umerkot district and we were only freed during a police raid.”
Ms. Kohli, who got married to Lal Chand, a student of the Sindh Agriculture University, when she was in Class IX but continued her studies and received a postgraduate degree in sociology from the University of Sindh.
Her activism began in 2005 when she started organising seminars following which she was selected for the third Mehergarh Human Rights Youth Leadership Training Camp, Islamabad, in 2007, Dawn reported.
Following the programme, she worked actively on issues related to bonded labour, women’s rights and sexual harassment at workplace.
Also, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, won 15 seats in Senate and became the largest party in the upper house, according to the provisional results.

::ECONOMY::

GST necessary for India: Suresh Krishna

The implementation of Goods and Services Tax (GST) is absolutely necessary for the country as it has the potential to double the GDP, according to Suresh Krishna, chairman and managing director, Sundram Fasteners Ltd. (SFL).
“There is nothing wrong in it (GST),” Mr. Suresh Krishna said.
“You will understand the benefits of it after five or 10 years. After the implementation of GST, the gross domestic product (GDP) of New Zealand grew by four times. I will be happy if the GDP grows by two times in India,” he said.
After GST took effect, check posts at State borders had vanished, paving the way for easy movement of goods, he said.
“For want of C form, vehicles used to block way for other vehicles. It resulted in huge amount of wastage [of fuel] and time. Now, all these have gone. The savings is great,” he added.
Queried about the scam at the Punjab National Bank (PNB), Mr. Krishna cautioned the Centre against taking any knee-jerk action just because a few industrialists had duped public sector banks.
“What happened in the case of Punjab National Bank is unfortunate. [But] even Lehman Brothers Inc. collapsed despite strict controls, in the U.S.,” he said.
He said public faith in the banking system had been dented in the wake of the fraud as defaulters had fled India.
“There will be certain apprehension in the minds of the public. There is no doubt,’’ he said.
He felt that the government should not go in for any knee-jerk action similar to the one taken in Satyam Computer Services’ scandal.
He said one should not lose faith in the banking system just because of one [PNB] failure. “It will be a great error. You have to trust the Indian banks. You have public sector banks, private sector banks and reputed banks in the country. It is up to you to make your own judgement. We need to carry on,’’ he added.
Having experienced a challenging period for the manufacturing sector from ‘60s to ‘90s, Mr. Krishna said he had always remained optimistic.
Asserting that India was capable of producing quality products of international standard, he said he was against levy of taxes in the guise of protectionism.
Referring to the recent announcement by U.S. President Donald Trump on tariff on steel and high-end bike imports from India, he said: “It is not good for any economy to put higher import duty. It will definitely affect imports. After the U.S., China will do it.
“One should have an open economy to be the best in the world. Or else, it will become uncompetitive. And, you will not be able to compete in the other markets,” he said.
Pointing out that India was doing well in automobile and auto components, Mr. Krishna said: “We are becoming one of the largest producers of auto vehicles in the world by producing three million cars and 15-16 million motorcycles every year.
“We are in a sunrise industry. We will be number three or four very quickly. It is only a matter of time. [The] same may apply for bus, trucks, off-road vehicles and excavators.”
He felt that the country could absorb 10 million cars and 50 million two-wheelers. Personal transportation was a common aspiration of the middle class in India, he said.
To a question, he said it would take more than 20-25 years for the country to realise its dream of fully moving over to electric vehicles.
The industry and the users, he said, had to deal with three vital issues — type of battery, its disposal mode and infrastructure such as charging stations.
“The battery technology has to improve. We have to see whether the industry opts for lithium or cobalt,’’ he said. Battery should not be viewed just a component of cost of vehicle alone.
Its impact on the cost of ownership also mattered, Mr. Suresh Krishna added.