Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 11 February 2017

:: National ::

The National Women's Parliament (NWP), organised by AP Legislative Assembly with the theme “Empowering women — strengthening democracy”, began at the Pavitra Sangamam (confluence of Godvari and Krishna rivers).
Over 10,000 women delegates, including women MPs, MLAs and those who have excelled in different walks of life from across the country and abroad, are attending the conclave.
The Women Reservation Bill occupied centre stage with Union Urban Development Minister and AP Chief Minister batting for reservation of one-third seats in Lok Sabha and State Assemblies for women.
Recalling that the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) was a pioneer in extending reservation to women in the political arena, Mr. Chandrababu Naidu stressed on the need for passing the Women Reservation Bill.
The Bill was passed in the Rajya Sabha in 2010 but it lapsed following the dissolution of the 15th Lok Sabha.
Emphasising on the role of women in the well -being of society and mankind, Buddhist spiritual leader Dalai Lama said women had a special role in society.
There will be seven plenary sessions at the event, with discussions on subjects such as socio-political challenges in women empowerment, women’s status and decision-making, building own identity and vision for the future.

The government plans to set up a Defence Procurement Organisation (DPO) to integrate and streamline the long and arduous process of defence acquisitions.
A government appointed committee, headed by former Director of Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Lucknow, Dr. Pritam Singh, has submitted a report on the modalities of setting up the DPO to Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar.
The aim is not to create another bureaucracy. The DPO will be a vertical under the Defence Ministry and the philosophy is to integrate the processes.
The Defence Procurement Process, which applies to all defence capital procurements, has been modified several times to bring in transparency and speed up acquisitions but it continues to be lengthy and complicated.
In a related move to shorten the procurement cycle, the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS), has increased the financial powers of the Defence Minister.
In the past, the Defence Minister was entitled to clear deals upto Rs. 500 crore, which has now gone up to Rs. 2,000 crore Jointly, the Finance Minister, the Defence Minister can approve projects up to Rs. 3,000 crore, up from the earlier Rs. 1,000 crore.
The Defence Secretary too has now been given financial powers upto Rs. 500 crore to clear deals. This ensures that a major chunk of the procurements are approved within the ministries.
About 70% of the deals by number are below Rs. 3,000 crore. So now only deals of Rs. 3,000 crore and above would go to the CCS for approval.

The Union Minister for Statistics and Programme Implementation, D.V. Sadananda Gowda said that demonetisation was a step in the right direction to curb corruption, black money and terrorism.
He was speaking at the Digi Dhan Mela, organised by the Government of India through the National e-governance Division, to promote digital transactions.
The Minister said the government was committed to uprooting the scourge of black money and terrorism and it was already paying rich dividends by way of reduced terror incidents in Kashmir and violence in regions of naxal influence in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.
Another minister said India was aspiring to be an economic power but the cash to GDP ration was 12% as against the global average of 4% and this was to be reduced by opting for cashless transactions.

The endorsement by U.S. President Donald Trump of the one-China policy during a telephone conversation with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping has cleared the air for a substantive dialogue between Washington and Beijing.
A White House statement said Mr. Trump and President Xi spoke at length on the phone. “President Trump agreed, at the request of President Xi, to honour our ‘one-China’ policy,” the statement said.
China had been angered by earlier remarks by Mr. Trump, questioning Beijing’s sovereignty over Taiwan under the one-China principle.
China’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lu Kang said China and the U.S. were discussing the early convening of a possible meeting of the two Presidents.
Following the telephone conversation, a statement by the spokesman for Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen stated that it was in Taiwan’s interest to maintain good relations with both the U.S. and China.
A separate statement by China’s Foreign Ministry said President Xi appreciated Mr. Trump for upholding the one-China policy.

Direct tax collections rose 10.8% in the April-January period to Rs. 5.82 lakh crore compared with the same period a year earlier, official data showed.
Net indirect tax collections in the same period grew 23.9% to Rs. 7.03 lakh crore. While excise duty collections made up the bulk of indirect tax collections growth, personal income tax collections bolstered direct tax collection growth.
During January 2017 itself, net indirect tax collections grew 16.9% compared with the corresponding month last year. However, this is far slower than the 26.9% growth seen in January 2016.
The growth rate in net collection for customs, central excise and service tax was 10.1%, 26.3% and 9.4% respectively during January, compared to the same month last year.
Excise duty collection growth is much less than last year. The growth rate in January has even fallen below the average growth rate for the year so far. It is indicative of a declining trend.
Excise duty collection grew 44% in January 2015, far more robust than the 26.3% seen this January.

Solar tariffs hit a record low of Rs. 2.97 per unit following the completion of bids for three 250 MW units of Madhya Pradesh’s Rewa Solar Power plant.
Mahindra Renewables won Unit 1 at a price of Rs. 2.979 per unit, ACME won Unit 2 at Rs. 2.970 per unit and Solenberg Power won Unit 3 at Rs. 2.974 per unit.
However, Secretary General, Solar Thermal Federation of India, said that the problem lay with the piled up inventory in a ‘neighbouring country’ that was sold at low prices to Indian firms. “If this continues, then prices can fall even further.”