Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 10 February 2017

:: National ::

Political crisis in Tamil Nadu deepened

• AIADMK interim general secretary V.K. Sasikala met Governor and staked claim to form the next government in Tamil Nadu, contending that she enjoyed the support of a majority of party legislators.

• Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam, who separately met Mr Rao at the Raj Bhavan earlier , is learnt to have submitted a memorandum seeking time to prove his majority in the Assembly.

• No clarity emerged late in the evening as to who would receive a call from the Governor to head the government in the State where none of the Cabinet Ministers has accepted the command of Chief Minister Panneerselvam.

• Governor said he would “consider” their claims. He is likely to consult constitutional experts before taking a decision on government formation.

• Governor Rao, who returned to Chennai from Mumbai late in the afternoon, granted time to Mr. Panneerselvam to meet him at 5 p.m., while Ms. Sasikala was granted an appointment at 7.30 p.m.

India began the process for extradition of Vijay Mallya

• Beginning a formal process, India sought extradition of absconding tycoon Vijay Mallya from the United Kingdom.

• The government reached out to the U.K. days after the Central Bureau of Investigation advised extradition of the millionaire, who is wanted by a number of banks for defaulting on loans.

• The development came two days after the Karnataka High Court ordered winding up of United Breweries (Holding) Ltd, the 102-year- old parent company of the UB Group.

• The order followed UBL’s failure to pay back banks and individual creditors as per guarantees extended to the now defunct Kingfisher Airlines Ltd. (KFA).

• Extradition process was necessary as UK in its communication had stated that it recognised the seriousness of charges against Mr Mallya which included defaulting in paying loans amounting to Rs. 9,000 crore to a consortium of 17 banks.

Data analysis shows unarmed civilians fall victim to IED more

• A detailed data analysis carried out by the National Security Guard, a counter-terror and counter-hijack force, show it is the unarmed civilians who often fall victim to IED blasts set off by terrorists across India. The VIPs are the least targeted.

• Between 2012 and 2016, anywhere between 49% and 72% of the attacks have been targeted at ordinary civilians in each of these years. In contrast, attacks targeting VIPs were in the range of 1% to 7%.

• In 2016, only 7% of the IED attacks were targeted at the VIPs. In comparison, 55% of all IED explosions across India in 2016 were targeted at public places. The remaining 37% were against security forces.

• The Union government provides security to more than 300 VIPs. While the Special Protection Group provides security to the Prime Minister, the former Prime Ministers and their close family members.

• The NSG report said that three VIPs each were targeted in Northeast India and areas affected by Left-wing extremism, one in Jammu and Kashmir and remaining 16 in the rest of India.

• In all, 337 bomb-related incidents were reported in the country, the highest in five years.The States affected by LWE contributed the most number of IED blasts at 159, followed by the north-eastern States at 59 and Jammu and Kashmir at 31.

• In 2016, the number of IED blasts rose from six to 33 in Kerala and from 12 to 32 in Tamil Nadu. Chhattisgarh saw an increase from 39 to 60.

• The report said Jammu and Kashmir saw an increase in number of blasts after the Hizbul Mujahideen militant BurhanWani was killed in an encounter with the security forces.

Aadhaar number mandatory for food subsidy (Register and Login to read Full News)

Central govt to provide 90% subsidy under HathkarghaSamvarthanSahayata scheme (Register and Login to read Full News)

:: International ::

Brexit to trigger after bill passed by House of Commons

• The British government is on track to trigger the Brexit process by the end of March, after the legislation authorising the government to start negotiations passed through the House of Commons without any amendments.

• The legislation will now pass to the House of Lords, which will consider it when it returns from recess on February 20. In the end, 494 MPs from the Labour and the Conservatives voted in favour of the legislation.

• Among the Labour rebels was a shadow cabinet minister Clive Lewis, who resigned from that role, putting the total number of senior shadow cabinet resignations during the course of the legislation at four.

• The unamended Bill was passed following two days of debate this week, as attempts to put conditions on the Bill were defeated.

• Another one, which sought to commit the government to extra funding for the National Health Service— as was promised by the Leave campaign during the referendum — was also defeated.

• The government clarified, however, that Parliament would have the final say on the deal agreed with Europe after the two-year negotiation process — a move that was billed by the Labour as a “concession”.

• However, others objected to the speedy way the Bill moved through the house, with the SNP’s Alex Salmond accusing the government of “railroading” the legislation in a way that had not been seen for over a century.

• The next major challenge for the government will come in late February when the Bill moves to the House of Lords.

• The government has signalled it expects the Lords to respect the result of the referendum, though its anxieties about the potential conditions the Lords could put on the legislation were revealed.

:: India and World ::

India and US agreed to expand cooperation in defence

• In the first high level contact between the defence departments of India and the U.S. since President Donald Trump took charge, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar and his U.S. counterpart agreed to expand cooperation.

• Two discussed cooperation under the Defence Technology Trade Initiative (DTTI) and the Major Defence Partner status and agreed to take forward the joint development of defence platforms.

• The Defence Ministry said Mr. Parrikar and Gen. Mattis emphasised the high priority placed by both countries on the relationship, and resolved to work together to expand this partnership.

• Earlier Mr. Parrikar had written a letter congratulating Gen. Mattis after his appointment. On the course of the defence cooperation.

• Key appointments in the Pentagon are yet to made. There will be some clarity only after that on the defence front.

• For instance the portfolio of Frank Kendall, Under Secretary for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics is likely to be bifurcated. He heads the DTTI from the U.S. side.

India rejects criticism from U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (Register and Login to read Full News)

:: Science and Technology ::

Decades old radioactive glass used to examine the Moon’s formation theory

• Scientists have used decades-old radioactive glass, found blanketing the ground after the first nuclear test bomb explosion, to examine theories about the Moon’s formation about 4.5 billion years ago.

• Researchers from University of California San Diego in the U.S. examined the chemical composition of zinc and other volatile elements contained in the green-coloured glass.

• It is called trinitite, which were radioactive materials formed under the extreme temperatures that resulted from the 1945 plutonium bomb explosion.

• Scientists have long suggested that similar chemical reactions took place when a collision between Earth and a Mars-sized planetary body produced debris that formed the Moon.

• The analysis found similarities between the trinitite and lunar rocks.

:: Business and Economy ::

Finance Minister says no disclosure of electoral bond purchasers

• FM says that there should be no fear of disclosure of names of those buying electoral bonds since banking confidentiality laws state that banks cannot divulge account details to the government or even to the courts.

• Mr. Jaitley further urged the opposition to not “find problems with every solution” and that he was ready for a discussion if they had any improvements to proposals on electoral funding.

• On the Opposition’s charges that banks’ NPAs had grown under the current govt,FM said that one major reason for the increase in NPA levels was that several such bad loans were kept hidden until the RBI conducted its Asset Quality Review last year.

• The banking companies regulation act has a secrecy law which says that banks cannot give account details to the government or even the courts.

• The Rs. 2,000 limit on cash donations to parties was suggested by the Election Commission, Mr. Jaitley added.

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