Current Affairs for SSC CGL Exams - 03 June 2016

:: NATIONAL ::

Clashes in Mathura leads to big voilence

Five protesters and two policemen, including an SP-rank officer, were killed and over 40 injured in clashes during an eviction drive in Mathura district.
The clashes broke out when the police were trying to evict illegal occupants of a land in Jawahar Bagh, believed to be activists of Azad Bharat Vidhik Vaicharik Kranti Satyagrahi, on the directions of the Allahabad High Court.
SP (City) Mukul Dwivedi and SHO Farah police station Santosh Kumar were killed in firing by the encroachers.

MyGov.in asking peoples opinion regarding government

Have an opinion about the NDA government that you would like to share with Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself?
More than 15,000 people have already done so on MyGov.in, a portal run by the government of India, and much like your Friday matinee, ratings have been solicited by the PM on 15 of his pet projects.
At the end of these responses, (and they are there for anyone who logs on to MyGov.in to see), the scores on just what and whose work makes the cut in the government is telling.
Ranking right there at the top, with an average of 4.6 stars are the initiatives taken by the government on rail connectivity and modernisation, so hurray for Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu.
Following closely in the list of above average work are the initiatives on roads and highways; they score an average of 4.55 stars.
Number three is the work of a Minister who was conspicuous by her absence (due to ill-health) from the second anniversary: External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj. Her Ministry’s work gets an average of 4.5 star rating.
Make in India, and initiatives in the power sector are the next two popular areas of government work. Each scored an average of 4.2 stars.

In order to contain the spread of ballistic missiles, India joined The Hague Code

Strengthening worldwide attempt to contain the spread of ballistic missiles, India has joined The Hague Code of Conduct against Ballistic Missile Proliferation (HCoC).
It is a voluntary legally non-binding multilateral body aimed at preventing the spread of ballistic missiles that can deliver weapons of mass destruction.
"India’s joining the Code signals our readiness to further strengthen the global non-proliferation regimes,” Vikas Swarup, Spokesperson of the Ministry told journalists.
In recent years, the HCoC has been focused on West Asia, South Asia and the East Asia due to the rising missile and nuclear arms race among rival powers.
In the latest meeting of the HCoC which concluded on May 29, a special mention was made of the increased number of missile launches by North Korea in 2015.

Home Ministry signed an agreement with Terrorist Screening Center of the U.S.

Ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the United States, the Home Ministry signed an agreementto join the global terror database maintained by the Terrorist Screening Center (TSC) of the U.S.
An arrangement between the authorised governmental agencies of the Government of India and the Government of the United States of America for exchange of terrorist screening information was signed.
The U.S. has already finalised such agreements with 30 countries and the Terrorist Screening Center has details of 11,000 terror suspects on its database, including nationality, date of birth, photos, finger prints (if any) and passport number.
Under this arrangement, both sides will give each other access to terrorism screening information through designated contact points, subject to domestic laws and regulations.
The proposal was initially made by the U.S. in 2012, but had made little progress due to objections raised by security agencies.
The Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW) and Intelligence Bureau (IB) had opposed giving the United States unhindered access to the database of terror suspects in India.

:: International ::

The committee on constitutional reforms come up with Bill of rights in Sri Lanka

The official committee on constitutional reforms in Sri Lanka has not been able to arrive at a consensus while making recommendations on several contentious areas such as the nature of state, religion, merger of provinces and land powers.
Despite this, the 20-member committee has come up with an exhaustive Bill of Rights and provisions for curtailment of powers of the office of Governor, a subject that has been of great interest to the Northern and Eastern Provinces.
It covers 32 types of rights, ranging from right to life (not included in the 1978 Constitution) to freedom of religion to rights of people with diverse sexual and gender identities.
In many ways, views of the committee also presented a microcosm of diversities of views and positions in society.
On the issue of religion, the committee points out that despite the existing constitutional position of providing Buddhism “the foremost place”, the Supreme Court has called Sri Lanka a “secular State”.
The committee is also for retaining the present national flag or designing one without any reference to ethnicity, while representing Sri Lankan collective life, or framing a new flag symbolising the equality of all ethnic groups.
Terming the merger of the Northern and Eastern provinces as “the most controversial”, the committee makes six recommendations.
One of them is for allowing the current structure of nine provinces with constitutional provisions for power- sharing.

Shangri-La Dialogue to start

U.S. Defence Secretary Ashton Carter arrived in Singapore ahead of a regional security summit likely to be dominated by China’s continued military build up in the South China Sea.
His attendance at this weekend’s Shangri-La Dialogue is part of a broader U.S. diplomatic push to build and maintain alliances in the Asia-Pacific region, which America sees as key to its own long-term economic and security interests.
In the year since the last summit, China has stepped up its maritime patrols across the South China Sea and built up a series of military bases on small islands it reclaimed from the ocean.
Mr. Carter has spoken forcefully about China’s military moves in the South China Sea and last week said Beijing risked building a “Great Wall of self-isolation”.
China has indicated it may soon declare an Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) that would require civilian aircraft to identify themselves to military controllers in the region.

German passed resolution terming massacre of Armenians as genocide

German lawmakers passed a resolution recognising the First World War massacre of Armenians by Ottoman forces as genocide, defying Turkey’s warnings that the vote could hurt ties.
Only one MP voted against and another abstained, as Parliament approved overwhelmingly by a show of hands the resolution titled “Remembrance and commemoration of the genocide of Armenians and other Christian minorities in 1915 and 1916”.
Turkey, however, recalled its envoy to Germany and summoned the German charge d'affaires to a meeting at the foreign ministry in Ankara.
The resolution, put forward by the ruling left-right coalition and the opposition Greens, carries the contentious word throughout and also puts partial blame on the German Empire.
The “genocide” recognition comes at a particularly awkward time as Germany and the European Union are relying on Turkey to help stem a record influx of migrants even as tensions are rising between both sides over human rights and other issues.
Acknowledging Turkey’s fury over the Bundestag move, political leaders argued, however, that a clear recognition of historical facts was a key step to healing old wounds.
Berlin has until now not taken a clear position on the WWI massacre, and President Joachim Gauck had been the highest-ranking German official who has called the killings a “genocide”.
His speech last year during commemorations of the 100th anniversary of the killings had drawn fire from Turkey.
The issue is particularly sensitive in Germany, as it has special ties with Ankara not least due to its three-million-strong ethnic Turkish population which settled following a massive “guest worker” programme in the 1960s and 1970s.

:: Business and Economy ::

Central Bank focuses on cyber security policy

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has told commercial banks to ‘immediately’ put in place a cyber security policy, duly approved by the board, in the wake of increasing cyber attacks in the financial system.
The policy would also include setting up an adaptive incident response, management and recovery framework to deal with adverse incidents/disruptions, if and when they occur, according to the central bank.
“There is an urgent need to bring the board of directors and top management in banks up to speed on cyber-security related aspects, where necessary and hence banks are advised to take immediate steps in this direction,” according to the statement.
Banks have been asked to formulate a Cyber Crisis Management Plan (CCMP) which should be a part of the overall board-approved strategy.
“CCMP should address the following four aspects—Detection, Response, Recovery and Containment.”
The central bank has observed that with the use of technology by banks gaining momentum, the number, frequency and impact of cyber incidents/attacks had increased manifold in the recent past.
The regulator has emphasised that the cyber security policy should be distinct and separate from the broader IT policy/IS Security policy so that it can highlight the risks from cyber threats and the measures to address or mitigate these risks.
The Reserve Bank of India said it had observed banks were hesitant to share information on cyber security-related incidents.

Government plans to set up 250 small agro-processing cluster

Government plans to set up 250 small agro-processing clusters at an estimated cost of over Rs.5,000 crore, Food Processing Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal said.
After getting required approvals, the Food Processing Ministry will invite expressions of interest from public and private players.

OPEC did not change production after recovery

OPEC decided to keep oil gushing after a moderate recovery in the crude eased the pressure to limit output, with Saudi Arabia saying the cartel is “very satisfied” with the oil market.
A final statement from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, after a meeting in Vienna, made clear that the 13-nation group had not set a new output target.
It said that since its last meeting in December, “crude oil prices have risen by more than 80 per cent, supply and demand is converging and oil and producer stock levels in the OECD have recently shown moderation.”
Traditionally OPEC, which pumps around a third of the world's oil, has cut production to boost falling prices.
But in the most recent drop, tumbling from over $100 in 2014 to close to $25 in January, OPEC — driven by Riyadh — has changed tack, keeping oil flowing to maintain market share and squeeze competitors.
It has taken some time — straining even Saudi Arabia's finances, to say nothing of on-the-brink OPEC member Venezuela — but the tactic now appears to be working at last.
Non-OPEC output is falling and prices last week briefly rose above $50 for the first time in six months, although they have softened slightly since.