Current Affairs for IAS Exams – 07 July 2016


Current Affairs for IAS Exams – 07 July 2016


:: National ::

Joseph E. Stiglitz says crackdown on NGO's hurting India's image

  • The crackdown on non-government organisations (NGOs) as well as the harassment of students in universities has adversely affected India’s image on the international stage, says economist and Nobel laureate Joseph E. Stiglitz.

  • Responding to a question of his evaluation of the Narendra Modi-led government, the economist said there were two big concerns that had got public attention abroad.

  • One was the “conditions” being imposed on NGOs – Ford Foundation in particular – to make them difficult to operate in India and the other was the “harassment” of students in universities such as Jawaharlal Nehru University.

  • Mr. Stiglitz delivered a talk on “Global inequality: Causes and Consequences” along with economist Branko Milanovic.

Apex court cautions Judges of judicial activism

  • Cautioning the judiciary against judicial activism, the Supreme Court said judges must remain within the limits of the law and not peddle individual perceptions and notions of justice.

  • The judgment provides a sharp mix of caution and rebuke to judges who cross the fine line between judicial functions and judicial activism.

  • The apex court said if a judge considered himself or herself a “candle of hope” and took decisions under the influence of such a notion, it might do more harm than good to the society.

  • While using the power Judge has to bear in mind that ‘discipline’ and ‘restriction’ are the two basic golden virtues within which a judge functions,” Justice Misra wrote.

  • The verdict was passed on a petition by the Gujarat government challenging an August 2012 order by the Punjab and Haryana High Court that said the State’s refusal to prematurely release a TADA convict, Lal Singh, was “illegal.”

  • The judgment, setting aside the High Court order, also noted that authorities’ report on the convict showed that he was “involved in disruptive activities, criminal conspiracy, smuggling of arms, ammunitions and explosives.”

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:: International ::

U.K’s Iraq War Inquiry report came

  • Sir John Chilcot, who chaired the U.K’s Iraq War Inquiry, has concluded in his much-awaited report that the legal basis of then Prime Minister Tony Blair’s decision to go to war in Iraq was “far from satisfactory”.

  • Sir Chilcot, in his time-line of the run-up to the declaration of the 2003 war and thereafter came to several important conclusions that have contested many of the claims made by Mr. Blair before the invasion.

  • The first is that the judgments of the severity of the threat posed by Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction were “presented to the British Parliament with a certainty that was not justified”.

  • Second, the outcome of the invasion was underestimated by Mr. Blair, “despite explicit warnings”.

  • Third, planning for an Iraq after Saddam was “wholly inadequate”, and finally, the government “failed to realise its stated objectives”.

  • Mr. Blair faced particular criticism for pledging to support U.S. President George W. Bush the year before the invasion, writing: “I will be with you, whatever”.

  • In the report, Mr. Blair emerges as not just an obedient junior ally of the then U.S. President George W. Bush, but as a powerful backer and, sometimes, a step ahead of the U.S. President, first in pushing for regime-change in Iraq, and then endorsing military invasion as a means to carry it out.

  • While military action in Iraq “might have been necessary at some point”, the report notes that in March 2003, when the U.S.-U.K.-led coalition entered Iraq, “there was no imminent threat from Saddam Hussein.”

  • More than 1,50,000 Iraqis had died by the time most of the British troops withdrew in 2009, while 179 British soldiers also lost their lives.

  • Seven years later, the country remains badly plagued by sectarian violence, as shown notably by Baghdad suicide bombing claimed by the Islamic State (IS) militant group which killed at least 250 people.

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:: Business and Economy ::

India will extend concessional loans to African nations during PM's visit

  • India will extend concessional loans to African nations during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the region starting July 7.

  • The PM’s delegation will also hold talks to host the African Development Bank’s annual meeting in Gujarat next year.

  • Mr. Modi is slated to visit South Africa, Kenya, Mozambique and Tanzania, perceived to be the gateway to several landlocked African countries, during his five-day trip aimed at boosting economic and diplomatic ties.

  • India’s premier export finance institution Exim Bank will extend Lines of Credit (LoC — or concessional loans) worth $240 million to Kenya and Tanzania.

  • These LoCs are part of India’s plan to disburse $10 billion to Africa within the next three years.

  • The objective is also to enhance India’s cooperation with Africa in food security as well as to boost exports from India’s Small & Medium Enterprises (SME) to Africa especially to promote rural development.

  • Besides, India — having become a member of the African Development Fund (ADF) in 1982 and of AfDB in 1983 — will be looking to host the AfDB annual meet in 2017.

  • Of the $240 million, $92 million will be for a water supply project in Zanzibar (a semi-autonomous region of Tanzania in East Africa), while $30 million will be for the Kenyan government to upgrade and modernise a textile factory.

  • Another $15 million will be for Kenya’s IDB Capital Limited for supporting small and medium enterprises in that country.

  • The remaining over $100 million will be to boost agricultural projects in Kenya through export of agricultural equipments, machinery and tractors from India to improve Kenya’s farm productivity.

  • LoCs already extended to Kenya include $51 million for power transmission and $50 million for IDB Capital.

  • India’s currently active LoCs to Africa are worth around $18.65 billion. Mathur said this includes agreements already been signed and contracts awarded for around $15 billion to African nations under as many as 203 LoCs.

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Sources: Various News Papers & PIB

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