Current Affairs for SSC CGL Exams - 17 February 2017

:: National ::

Terror attack on a popular Sufi shrine in Sindh province

At least 70 people were killed and 200 injured in a terror attack on a popular Sufi shrine in Sindh province. This is the seventh terrorist strike in Pakistan since 13th feb.
The shrine of Lal Shahbaz Qalandar in Sehwan city of Sindh was full of devotees when a suicide bomber struck. Officials feared the death toll would rise.
The Islamic State (IS) has claimed responsibility for the attack, the first time it has done so for a strike in Pakistan.
Pakistani officials have been denying the presence of the IS in the country despite several reports that the group has gained a foothold.
Commissioner of Hyderabad Shafiq Mahesar said rescue teams had been rushed to Sehwan.
The blast happened in the shrine’s compound where a large number of devotees were performing the ritual of ‘dhamaal’, said survivors.
Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said the blast was an attack on the progressive, inclusive future of Pakistan.
Army Chief General Qamar Bajwa has appealed to the nation to stay calm. “Your security services shall not allow hostile powers to succeed. We stand for our nation,” he said in a statement.

Apex court gets tough on sex determination

The Supreme Court ordered three Internet giants — Google, Microsoft and Yahoo — to immediately set up their own in-house expert bodies to keep tabs on and delete online pre-natal sex determination advertisements.
The court said the intent of the order was to make these search engines “responsive to Indian law.”
Section 22 of the Pre-conception and Pre-natal Diagnostic Techniques (Prohibition of Sex Selection) Act of 1994 prohibits advertisements relating to pre-natal determination of sex and imposes punishment.
However, ads continue to appear online, rendering the law toothless. Now, the Supreme Court has made the search engines themselves liable for preventing illegal sex determination ads from appearing online.
This step is in addition to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare’s move to set up a nodal agency to receive complaints on violation of Section 22 of the 1994 Act.
The court ordered that the search engines “shall appoint their ‘In-House Expert Body’ which shall take steps to see that if any words or any key words that can be shown on the Internet which has the potentiality to go counter to Section 22 of the 1994 Act, should be deleted forthwith.”
The court observed that the in-house expert body “shall on its own understanding” delete anything that violates the letter and spirit of language of Section 22 of the 1994 Act.
In case of doubt, they are free to approach the Ministry’s nodal agency and be guided by the latter.

Rajasthan students may will get lessons in water conservation

Students in the desert State of Rajasthan may soon get lessons in water conservation.
Rajasthan is the only State in the country to incorporate geo-tagging and advanced scientific techniques for water conservation works and now aims to include water conservation lessons in the school syllabus.
After successful implementation of Jal Swavlamban Yojna Phase-I, the State government has launched Phase-II of its flagship scheme by selecting 4,200 villages by geo-tagging, drone cameras and way-point scientific technique.
Vedire said that JSY model has been lauded by South Africa and Australia and they plan to adopt the model.

:: International ::

Sri Lanka's president initiates talks to end constitutional impasse

In a bid to break the apparent impasse on Sri Lanka’s constitutional reform process, President Mathripala Sirisena has begun talks with Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and Leader of Opposition R. Sampanthan.
Chairing the first tripartite discussion on January 30, the President reiterated his commitment to a genuine constitutional process to the leaders, underscoring the need to accelerate its pace.
After it rose to power in the January 2015 presidential elections, the Sri Lankan government embarked on a Constitution-making exercise, aimed at offering a just political solution to the island’s minority Tamils following a bloody civil war.
It appointed a 21-member committee to steer the process.
However, with members from different political parties differing on key aspects, the steering committee could not meet its initial deadline of presenting an interim report to the Constitutional Assembly comprising 225 legislators.
Six sub-committee reports addressing different aspects of the draft Constitution also await discussion in Parliament.
Amid growing domestic political pressure, particularly from former President Mahinda Rajapaksa who sits in opposition in Parliament, Mr. Sirisena reportedly stepped in to expedite the Constitution-making process.

:: Science and Technology ::

UAE looks to transport people to the Red Planet

The UAE has unveiled plans to build the first city on Mars by 2117 as the energy-rich country looks to transport people to the Red Planet over the next few decades.
UAE announced the 100-year national project on which the Gulf State would collaborate with specialised international organisations and scientific institutes.
The UAE will set out a plan to prepare national cadres that can achieve scientific breakthroughs to facilitate the transport of people to the planet over the next decades.
The 100-year plan will involve scientific research programmes to nurture national cadres specialised in space sciences at universities in the UAE. It will also entrench a passion for space in younger generations.
The announcement was made on the sidelines of the World Government Summit in the presence of representatives of 138 governments, six major international organisations, as well as leading international tech companies.
The new project will be associated with research themes featuring the exploration of transportation means, energy and food on the red planet. It will also try to find faster transportation methods for travelling to and from Mars.
The scientific initiative will first be implemented by an Emirati scientific team, and will eventually expand to include international scientists and researchers that will run in parallel with the coordination of human research efforts in the field of exploring and inhabiting Mars.

:: India and World ::

MEA spokesperson Vikas Swarup is new High Commissioner to Canada

Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Vikas Swarup has been appointed the new High Commissioner to Canada.
Mr. Swarup, a well-known author, became the MEA spokesperson in April 2015. He is expected to join his new post in Ottawa by mid-March.
Canada is a crucial country in India’s diplomatic agenda. Relations between the two countries have expanded in recent months following Prime Minister Justine Trudeau’s push for engagement with India.
Last year, the North American country sent the ministers of infrastructure and immigration to India to bolster ties. However, it is yet to support New Delhi’s candidature for permanent membership in the U.N. Security Council.
A visible face of the government, Mr. Swarup dealt with several high-tension matters, including India’s campaign to isolate Pakistan following the Pathankot and Uri attacks.

India and Afghanistan goes against the dominant view on Afghanistan process

India and Afghanistan took a hard line at the six-nation talks in Moscow, opposing the dominant view from Russia, China and Pakistan to involve the Taliban in reconciliation efforts.
External Affairs spokesperson Vikas Swarup said that denying “safe havens or sanctuaries to any terrorist group or individual in countries of our region,” was essential to stabilising the situation in Afghanistan.
Reconciliation efforts must be driven by the Afghanistan government and could only be facilitated by “friends and well wishers of Afghanistan,” he said.
He indicated that the previous round of QCG (Quadrilateral Cooperation Group) hosted by Pakistan was not acceptable.
He said: “The key challenge to the process remains a policy selectivity by some to distinguish between good and bad terrorists, even though terrorism is a common threat that confronts the whole region."
He also siad "where if one of us doesn’t stand firm against it, others’ counter-terrorism efforts will not bear the results we all seek.”
Another point of contention that emerged was over the composition of the talks hosted by Russia. Afghanistan made a strong pitch for the United States to be included as one of its most important partners.
It said it was a necessary part of all processes to “end war and usher in sustainable peace in Afghanistan”.
With U.S. troop levels down to their lowest of about 8,400 at the end of President Obama’s tenure, Afghanistan’s government has been hoping President Trump will increase assistance to the country.

:: Business and Economy ::

Reliance and Dassault come together for Rafale fighter jets

Reliance Aerostructure Limited has incorporated a 51:49 joint venture with Dassault Aviation to capture a major share of the offset business arising from the €7.87 billion deal for Rafale fighter jets.
The joint venture, Dassault Reliance Aerospace Limited (DARL), will have Mr.Eric Trappier, Chairman of Dassault Aviation France, as its chairman and Mr.Anil Ambani, chairman of Reliance Group, as its co-chairman.
India and France signed a purchase agreement for the supply of 36 Rafale fighter jets for €7.87 billion in September last year.
The contract includes a 50% offset obligation or about Rs. 30,000 crore, the largest-ever offset contract in India. DRAL will aim to grab a major share of this business, including components and parts.
The joint venture will execute the offset in phases with Phase I resulting in the generation of more than 700 highly-skilled direct jobs and 2,800 indirect jobs.
DRAL will support the Centre’s “Make in India” and “Skill India” policies and develop major Indian programmes with high levels of technology transfer to benefit the entire aerospace sector.
The proposed strategic partnership between Dassault and Reliance will also focus on promoting research and development projects under the IDDM programme (Indigenously Designed, Developed and Manufactured).

Reserve bank plans to rationalise the merchant discount rate

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) plans to rationalise the merchant discount rate (MDR) for debit cards and said there would be different charges for different kinds of merchants.
According to the draft norms on MDR, the merchants have been categorised in four categories, small merchants with turnover outside the ambit of GST, government transactions, special category of merchants.
For small and special category of merchants, the MDR has been capped at 0.4% of the transaction value for physical point-of-sale (PoS) machines and 0.3% for digital PoS.
For all other categories of merchants, MDR is capped at 0.95% of transaction value for physical PoS and 0.85% for digital PoS. For government transactions, a flat fee of Rs. 5 has been proposed for transaction value up to Rs. 1,000.