Current Affairs for IAS Exams – 03 September 2016

Current Affairs for IAS Exams – 03 September 2016

:: National ::

Climate change could be easy to implement than earlier deals

  • Climate change treaties have been notoriously hard to implement in the past, but the Paris Agreement, signed at the United Nations Climate Change Conference last year, could be a different story.

  • That’s according to U.S. Special Envoy for Climate Change Dr. Jonathan Pershing who says that the will of countries, such as India and the United States, to expedite change could see the agreement come into force as early as this year.

  • The group was formed to review progress made in the bilateral relationship on climate resilience, air quality, forestry, capacity building and clean energy, and to discuss opportunities for future collaboration in shared climate priorities.

  • The meetings between the two governments, he said, focused on how the two sides could grow interactions in terms of experts travelling each way for fellowships.

  • He highlighted that the talks looked at the question of climate resilience in a new light.

  • In the area of resilience, Mr. Pershing said, discussions were held about water, agriculture, food, energy systems, and the focus once again was on the kind of expertise each side can contribute to the other.

Muslim Personal Law Board says SC has no authority to decide on triple talaq

  • Noting that a religion cannot be “reformed” out of its existence or identity, the All India Muslim Personal Law Board challenged the Supreme Court’s initiative to judicially examine Islamic personal laws relating to marriage and divorce.

  • The apex Muslim law body of the country accused the Supreme Court of trying to indulge in judicial legislation in the name of “socially reforming” Islamic practices of marriage and divorce.

  • It said the practices depicted in the Holy Koran are out of bounds for the Supreme Court.

  • The AIMPLB claimed that personal laws of marriage and divorce are outside the purview of the fundamental rights of the Indian Constitution, and Article 44.

  • It envisages a Uniform Civil Code, is only a “directive principle of State policy and not enforceable.

Justice J. Chelameswar said collegium system is opaque

  • Justice J. Chelameswar, sitting Supreme Court judge, has sent a communication to the Chief Justice of India T.S. Thakur, expressing his disinclination to participate in the powerful Supreme Court collegium meetings.

  • He was the lone dissenting judge on the five-judge Constitution Bench, which scrapped the National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC) law, and upheld the collegium system in a majority judgment on October 16, 2015.

Global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of G20 countries are continuing to increase (Register and Login to read Full News..)

Canonisation of Mother Teresa do be done in the Vatican (Register and Login to read Full News..)

:: International ::

Belt and Road initiative to be followed by a World Land Bridge

  • China’s Belt and Road connectivity initiative, which bears a strong imprint of the Eurasian Land Corridor should be followed by a World Land Bridge that will link North America with the New Silk Road.

  • World Land Bridge is the natural sequel to the Eurasian Land Bridge, the mega-connectivity initiative to revive the ancient Silk Road in all its dimensions, including its lost cultural and civilisational attributes.

  • Siberia in Russia can be connected with Alaska, if we build an undersea tunnel across the Bering Strait. That would lay the foundation for a World Land Bridge.

  • Better coordination among the leaders of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS) within the G-20framework, to achieve far-reaching results.

  • Energy committee of the BRICS must embark on a “crash programme” to develop thermonuclear fusion, to achieve long-term energy security, and reduce pressure on finite resources.

  • When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, the most obvious thing was to enlarge this conception of connectivity by establishing development corridors linking the population and industry centres of Europe with those of Asia.

:: Business and Economy ::

India will tread a cautious middle path on excess capacity in steel

  • India will tread a cautious middle path when a simmering battle over global ramifications of excess capacity in steel takes centre-stage at the G-20 Summit in China.

  • The U.S. has already mounted pressure on China to drastically reduce its steel capacity, claiming that the ‘dumping’ of the commodity in various countries has been hurting steel producers across the world.

  • India will, however, play a low-profile role in the discussions on the topic as it is aware of the growing needs of its user industries — which currently depend on a mix of imported and locally-made steel to meet their requirements.

  • The U.S. at the G20 Summit will seek discussions on the reasons for excess capacity in steel as well as reforms & regulations in the global steel industry, including in China.

  • For India, it will be a ‘Catch-22’ as it is not only the third largest steel producing nation, but was also among the top 10 steel importers in 2015.

  • This means, the interests of local producers and user industries will have to be kept in mind while taking a stance, the sources said.

  • Besides, the Centre wants more foreign investment in India, including in the steel sector, as part of the ‘Make In India’ initiative aimed at boosting local manufacturing and exports.

  • It was also decided that the G20 steelmaking economies will participate in the OECD Steel Committee meeting slated for September 8-9, 2016 to tackle the issue.

  • To counter a surge in cheap imports of steel, which was hurting local steel makers, India had taken measures including anti-dumping duty, safeguard duty and Minimum Import Price.

  • India had also brought out an order banning the manufacture and distribution of stainless steel products that do not comply with the the ‘Bureau of Indian Standards’ mark.

Maharashtra ranked highest in broad measure of Ease of Doing Business (Register and Login to read Full News..)

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Sources: Various News Papers & PIB