Current Affairs for IAS Exams – 17 September 2016

:: National ::

Politics turned a full circle in Arunachal Pradesh when 43 of the 44 Congress MLAs, including Chief Minister Pema Khandu, joined the People’s Party of Arunachal (PPA), a part of the North-East Democratic Alliance (NEDA.
Just two months ago, Mr. Khandu and his group of Congress rebels had deserted the PPA and returned to the Congress to form the government.
Mr. Khandu became the Chief Minister on July 16, replacing Nabam Tuki, who in turn had replaced Kalikho Pul after the Supreme Court reinstated the Tuki government.
Hours after losing its government in the State, the Congress dubbed the new dispensation an “illegitimate child of the BJP” and blamed Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP chief Amit Shah.

Recognising Nepal’s efforts to build a democratic polity, India expressed the hope that the government of PM Pushpa Kamal Dahal would hold an “inclusive dialogue” while implementing the controversial Constitution of his country.
India and Nepal held wide-ranging talks and sealed three significant deals as Mr. Prachanda’s September 15-18 visit to India unfolded.
However, differences over the Constitution which led to domestic discord and disturbed ties with Delhi persisted.
This remark indicated that Delhi would maintain dialogue with the Madhesi leaders who had demanded that PM Prachanda should address representational and territorial concerns of their community, within a short time span.

All India Radio announced the launch of a multi-media and mobile app for Balochi-speaking people in the Af-Pak region and other parts of the world.
Move was part of India’s efforts to reach out to the neighbourhood for a better people-to-people contact.
India had also raised the issue of atrocities in Balochistan at the meeting of a U.N. body earlier this week.
Prasar Bharati officials said the mobile app and the webpage were just “value addition” as Balochi service of the AIR has been in existence since 1974.

Over the last year, microfinance institutions (MFIs) have seen their business grow faster in urban India than in rural, according to an annual report by Sa-Dhan, the self-regulatory body for MFIs.
In addition, the report finds that these loans are being put to increasingly productive uses with a higher proportion of them going towards income generation than before.
In 2016, total loan amount disbursed increased by Rs.13,433 crore over 2015, there is a growth of 23 per cent where amount increased in rural areas by 14 per cent and in urban areas by 27 per cent.
The report also found that 94 per cent of the loans disbursed in 2015-16 were used for income-generating purposes, up from 80 per cent in the previous year.
Analysis of the loan portfolio held by reporting MFIs for 2014-15 and 2015-16 shows that the proportion of income generation loan to non income generation loan is 94:06.
Within the income-generating loans, the report found that the largest proportion—39 per cent—went to the animal husbandry sector, followed by 29 per cent to the trading & small business category.
Agriculture received 15 per cent of the loans, according to the report.

Sources: Various News Papers & PIB

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