Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 16 February 2017

:: National ::

Delhi-Centre issue to be taken by constitution bench

• A two-judge Bench of the Supreme Court referred to a Constitution Bench a series of appeals filed by the Delhi government.

• It is for laying down the law on whether the Lieutenant Governor (LG) can unilaterally administer the National Capital without being bound by the “aid and advice” of the elected government.

• A question that arises for consideration now is whether the appeals would have to be heard by an eleven-judge Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court.

• This is because a nine-judge bench of the apex court had in 1996 in the NDMC versus State of Punjab case, recognised Delhi as a Union Territory for taxation purposes.

• However, senior advocate for the Delhi government, had submitted that the petitions did not seek full Statehood for Delhi, but was asking for more freedom for an elected government to administer and govern the national Capital.

India created history by record 104 spacecraft launch

• India, a one-rocket fledgling in space transportation compared to its European and U.S. counterparts, created launch history by placing a record 104 spacecraft in their desired orbits.

• The feat was performed on the old reliable launch vehicle, the PSLV, numbered C-37, which took off from the first launch pad at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota.

• C-37 was a largely commercial flight as all but three passenger satellites, small nanosats, belonged to six other countries.

• The PSLV, in the category of launch vehicles that can lift relatively light loads to space, now marks 38 successful missions in a row out of a total of 39 flights.

• The latest Cartosat is the fifth in the series of six Cartosat-2 spacecraft, starting from Cartosat 2 in 2007 and followed by what were earlier marked A, B, C, D and E. The last one is due.

Government appointed five new judges to apex court (Register and Login to read Full News)

Army chief General Bipin Rawat warns of tough action (Register and Login to read Full News)

:: International ::

Bangladesh has started a counter-offensive against the World Bank

• Bangladesh has started a counter-offensive against the World Bank after a Canadian court found no proof of bribery in the awarding of contract for the Padma bridge project.

• The executive as well as the legislature, led by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, came down heavily on the World Bank for “false allegations” that they said had caused delay.

• Country’s High Court issued a ruling asking the government to explain in two weeks why it should not be directed to form an inquiry commission to identify the people who created “false stories”.

• A case had been filed at a Canada court against SNC-Lavalin in 2010-11, accusing the company of bribing Bangladeshi officials to secure contracts.

• Following a long trial, the Canadian court acquitted three employees of the company last week.

• Ms. Hasina has blamed Nobel Laureate Muhammad Yunus for using his ties with Hillary Clinton to disrupt funding. However, Mr. Yunus has rejected the allegations.

:: India and World ::

India moved to stabilise ties with China

• India moved to stabilise ties with China, saying there was nothing political in the ongoing visit of a delegation from Taiwan, which criticised Beijing’s One China policy.

• India’s statement came after China filed a diplomatic protest after the delegation argued that Taiwan’s independence is an international reality.

• The statement, which came within hours of a major dinner hosted by BJP leader Ram Madhav in Delhi in honour of the delegation, Foreign Secretary is expected to visit Beijing, which will be the 1st high-level visit from India to Beijing in 2017.

• “The reason why China lodged the representation is because that we have been requiring countries that have diplomatic relations with China to fulfil their commitment to the ‘One China policy,” China said.

• “Some Indians view the Taiwan question as an Achilles’ heel of the mainland. They have long wanted to use the Taiwan question and the South China Sea and Dalai Lama issues as bargaining chips in dealing with China,” said Global Times.

• Leader of the delegation Kuan Bi Ling had emphasised that Taiwan’s freedom and sovereignty is a reality in international affairs.

:: Business and Economy ::

Lower growth in Information Technology sector

• The information technology (IT) industry lobby body Nasscom said the sector will grow at the lower end of its revised target in fiscal 2017 but deferred guidance for the next financial year by a quarter as it faces headwinds.

• Amid continuous technology disruptions, political upheavals and slowdown in IT-BPM global spending, the Indian IT-BPM industry is projected to grow 8.6% (in constant currency) to cross $155 billion in FY2017.

• Nasscom had earlier revised downward its fiscal 2017 revenue growth target to 8%-10% from an initial 10%-12% as the headwinds started emerging.

• Nasscom president said the association will come out with its guidance for the IT and the BPM sector in the next quarter, most probably in May, once it is done with “deeper interactions” with customers and other stakeholders.

• While the world and especially Indian IT industry tries to adjust to Mr. Trump’s policies, Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani opined that the protectionist policies were ‘blessings in disguise’ for India.

• Stressing the significance of data Mr. Ambani said, “Data is the new oil and Indians should not have scarcity of it in terms of quality, quantity or affordability.”

India’s goods exports recorded positive growth

• India’s goods exports recorded positive growth for the fifth consecutive month with shipments in January rising by 4.32% to $22.1 billion following good performance by major sectors such as engineering and petroleum.

• The slowdown in global trade continues to impact India as well, he said adding India’s goods exports for 2016-17 would be about $270 billion.

• Increasing protectionism, volatility in currencies and uncertainties clouding over global economy pose major challenges for India’s exports in 2017.

• Imports in January, meanwhile, increased by 10.7% – a five-month high – to $31.9 billion. This resulted in trade deficit increasing to $9.8 billion, more than $7.6 billion seen in January 2016.

• Gold imports shrunk by about 30% to $2 billion in January. In December, imports of the yellow metal had contracted 50.1% to $1.8 billion after having risen in the previous two months.

• As per WTO statistics, the growth in exports is positive for the U.S. (2.63%), the European Union (5.47%) and Japan (13.43%) but was negative for China (1.51%) for November 2016 over the corresponding period of previous year.

• Non-petroleum exports in January rose 1.6% to $19.4 billion while petroleum exports increased by 29% to $2.7 billion. Oil imports in January surged 61% to $8 billion while non-oil imports were marginally up by 0.01% to $23.8 billion.

• Exports during April-January 2016-17 were also marginally higher by 1.09% to $221 billion while imports during the period shrunk 5.8% to $307.3 billion.

• Trade deficit in April-January 2016-17 also narrowed to $86 billion from $107.7 billion during the same period in the previous fiscal.

The Cabinet approved the merger of State Bank of India (Register and Login to read Full News)

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