Current Affairs for SSC CGL Exams - 07 April 2016

:: NATIONAL ::

NIT Srinagar still tensed

Tensions between Kashmiri and outstation students kept the National Institute of Technology in Srinagar on the boil as outstation students — protesting the “celebrations” by some local students of India’s T-20 cricket loss to West Indies.
A day after they were lathi-charged by the police while protesting with placards, the outstation students demanded action against those NIT officials who, they said, had indulged in “anti-national” activities.
They insisted that they be allowed to hoist the national tricolour every day before the main gate of the institute.
Incidentally, during the Jawaharlal Nehru University crisis, Ms. Mufti had sent emissaries to Delhi to ask the Centre to ensure the safety of Kashmiri students.
The flare-up is now emerging as a test for the new government of the PDP and the BJP, allies who are together despite having little in common in their approach to the Kashmir issue.
The roots of the crisis go back to alleged celebrations by Kashmiri students of India’s T20 loss, leading to a confrontation on April 1 with outstation students, who waved the tricolour.

Union Home ministry wants internet companies to set up servers in India

The Union Home Ministry had requested Internet companies like Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp and Google to maintain servers in India to help get real time information about accounts, which spread mischievous and incendiary messages.
Almost two months after Home Minister Rajnath Singh waded into the Jawaharlal Nehru University row with terror link claims based on a fake Twitter handle of Hafiz, Twitter is yet to respond to the government’s request for details of the handle.
In February, the Home Ministry asked Twitter India for details of the account.
This was one of many cases, in which the government faced problems in getting real time information about such accounts. Twitter has put up a Transparency Report on removal requests athttps://transparency. twitter.com/.

Bombay High Court asks People are more important or IPL matches?

Rapping the BCCI and the cricket associations in Mumbai and other parts of Maharashtra over water wastage when the State is reeling under severe drought, the Bombay High Court on Wednesday said the Indian Premier League (IPL) matches should ideally be shifted elsewhere, where there is no water crisis.
The court asked the State to spell out on April 7 the steps it plans to take.
“How can you [the cricket associations and the BCCI] waste water like this? People are more important or your IPL matches? You know what the condition is in Maharashtra,” a Division Bench said.
The court sought responses from the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium, the Vidarbha Cricket Association, the Maharashtra government and the Mumbai, Nagpur civic bodies.

One rank one pension scheme gets ex-post facto approval

The One Rank One Pension scheme, brought in last November to benefit more than 2.5 million ex- servicemen and war widows, on Wednesday received ex-post facto approval from the Cabinet.
Under the scheme, pension would be revised on the basis of the pension of retirees of calendar year 2013 and the benefit will be effective from July 1, 2014. In future, the pension would be revised every five years.
The Financial implications on account of grant of OROP , including pre-matured retiree cases, would be Rs. 10,925.11 crore for payment of arrears and annual financial implication would be Rs. 7,488.7 crore.

:: INTERNATIONAL ::

Panama Govt says it is unfair to single out Panama

Panama mounted a fierce defence of its crucial financial services sector, trying to head off a feared international clampdown on its offshore business in the wake of the “Panama Papers” leak.
Diplomats accredited to the small Central American nation were called to the foreign ministry to hear officials argue that it was unfair to single out Panama in the scandal.
The government has also written a harshly worded letter to the head of the OECD,, attacking a statement he made describing Panama as “the last major holdout that continues to allow funds to be hidden offshore from tax and law enforcement authorities”.
Earlier, law firm Mossack Fonseca, at the centre of the scandal after its papers were obtained from an anonymous source by various media organisations, said it had lodged a criminal complaint against the leaks.

India took the issue of J-e-M chief with China

India has conveyed its disappointment to China after its move to add Maulana Masood Azhar, head of Pakistan-based militant group Jaish-e-Mohammed, to an international blacklist of terrorists faced Chinese opposition at the UN.
“We have taken up the issue with the Chinese at a fairly high level and we will continue to pursue this with them. We will have to wait and see where this goes,” Mr. Jaishankar said.
India accuses J-e-M of masterminding the January attack on the Pathankot air base, and had requested that Azhar be added to the U.N. Security Council blacklist of groups linked to al-Qaeda or Islamic State, but China objected it.
Mr. Jaishankar, however, added that the issue will remain limited between India and China at the UN and will not “overflow into other areas”.
Chinese Ambassador Le Yucheng said that Beijing had not dismissed India’s move to bring a ban on Azhar. “We felt that the information provided by India to the UN was inadequate, that is why we placed a ‘technical hold’—a temporary measure,” Mr. Le said.

US Presidential nomination still far from settled

Democrat Bernie Sanders and Republican Ted Cruz won the presidential primaries in Wisconsin, toppling national front runners Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump.
Both winners are still a long way away from winning the nominations, but the Wisconsin outcomes could mean that the nomination contests in neither party will be settled before conventions in July.
“We have won seven out of the last eight contests”, said Mr. Sanders. “We have a path toward victory, a path to the White House”.
Mr. Sanders is expanding his base with targeted ads appealing to the black and other minority populations that have been Ms. Clinton’s voter bases.
But all this is may not be sufficient to win the nomination. After Wisconsin, Ms. Clinton has 1,743 and Mr. Sanders 1,027 delegates.
The overwhelming delegate lead that she maintains is due to a special category called super-delegates — who are not elected through primaries but are party functionaries who are eligible to vote in the national convention.
Of the total 712 super delegates, 469 have pledged support to Ms. Clinton.
On the Republican side, Mr. Trump faced the most decisive setback in his presidential campaign as the entire party establishment coalesces behind Mr. Cruz, who was also considered an outcast not so long ago.
Mr. Cruz now has 517 delegates against the 1,237 required to win the nomination and Mr. Trump has 743. Mr. Trump has to win 55 per cent of the delegates in the remaining contests; Mr. Cruz will have to win 88 per cent, in order to win the nomination.
Those agitated over Mr. Trump’s campaign vitriol might now need to catch up on Mr. Cruz’s positions — over the last fortnight, he has called for measures like special police vigilance in Muslim neighbourhoods, reiterated his blanket opposition to abortions; and has promised to build a wall along the border with Mexico.

:: Science and Technology ::

Comets and asteroids might have helped Mars to be more conducive to life

Large comets and asteroids that bombarded Mars some 4 billion years ago likely enhanced climate conditions enough to make the red planet more conducive to life, at least for a time, a new study has found.
If early Mars was as barren and cold as it is today, massive asteroid impacts would have produced heat to melt subsurface ice, said Stephen Mojzsis, a professor at University of Colorado Boulder in the U.S.
Scientists have long known there was once running water on Mars, as evidenced by ancient river valleys, deltas and parts of lake beds.
In addition to producing hydrothermal regions in portions of Mars’ fractured and melted crust, a massive impact could have temporarily increased the planet’s atmospheric pressure, periodically heating Mars up enough to “re-start” a dormant water cycle.
Much of the action on Mars occurred during a period known as the Late Heavy Bombardment about 3.9 billion years ago when the developing solar system was a shooting gallery of comets, asteroids, moons and planets.

:: Business and Economy ::

Governments tax collection exceeds budget and revised estimates

The government collected Rs.14.6 lakh crore in taxes in financial year 2015-16, which is higher than the Budget Estimates and Revised Estimates for the year.
The government data shows that the bulk of the growth in total tax revenues was due to the increase in indirect tax collections.
Indirect tax revenue in FY 2015-16 stood at Rs.7.11 lakh crore, which is higher than the BE and RE by Rs.65,618 crore and Rs.9,885 crore, respectively.
Indirect tax collections were 31.1 per cent higher than in the previous financial year.
Direct tax collections grew 7.6 per cent in the fiscal year 2015-16 to Rs 7.48 lakh crore, marginally lower than the RE of Rs 7.52 lakh crore.
The aggregate Budget Estimates (BE) for total direct and indirect tax revenues for the fiscal year 2015-16 was Rs 14.45 lakh crore, which was revised to Rs 14.55 lakh crore. The actual collection (provisional) is Rs 14.60 lakh crore.
The direct tax collection, however, is lower than the RE of Rs 7.52 lakh crore.

Government looking for various measures to increase exports

The government is considering several measures, such as offering incentives for small exporters and a package to revive Special Economic Zones (SEZs), to help reverse the trend of a prolonged contraction in merchant exports since December 2014.
Labour-intensive export sectors and organic food producers will get concessions and a package is on the anvil for SEZs so that they can utilize large tracts of unused land available with them.
Also being considered are steps such as categorising the entire export credit given by all lenders separately under priority sector lending without riders, ensuring better coordination with Indian missions overseas, as well as relaxing norms for the Exim Ban and ECGC to give them greater operational flexibility.
Setting up of three dedicated zones for manufacture of Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (API or drug raw materials) and other pharmaceutical items, incentives for the bio-tech industry especially for skill development, sops for manufacture and export of electronic items.
These proposals will be taken up soon with other Ministries and regulatory authorities, Commerce & Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said after the Board of Trade (BOT) meeting.
The 72-meber Board is a government-industry panel looking into measures to boost exports. The recently reconstituted Board chaired by Sitharaman held its first meeting on Wednesday.
Indian exports have declined from $314 billion in FY’14 to $310 billion in FY’15. Exports in FY’16 are expected to shrink further to nearly $260 billion.
Trade bodies demanded better infrastructure to shore up exports and called for tax benefits to be extended to small and medium units.
Besides, greater participation of the States is also required to boost exports.