Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 19 November 2017

::National::

Manushi Chillar became the Miss World 2017

• India’s Manushi Chhillar was crowned as Miss World 2017 at a grand event held in Sanya in China. The 20-year-old medical student from Haryana had won Femina Miss India World 2017 in May this year.
• Manushi had made it to the top 5 along with contestants from England, France, Kenya and Mexico.
• The first and the second runners-up were Miss England Stephanie Hill and Miss Mexico Andrea Meza.
• The coveted title was last won by Priyanka Chopra for India in 2000, a year after Yukta Mookhey had made the country proud.
• In 1997, Diana Hayden had bagged the title, while Aishwarya Rai had the honours in 1994.
• Reita Faria was the first Indian to win the crown in the 1966.

Price of changed GST goods should be indicated

• The MRP of goods for which taxation structure has been changed after the GST Council meeting will have to be clearly indicated to the consumer, said Sushil Kumar Modi, head of the panel to resolve the technology glitches faced by traders on the network.
• Mr. Modi, said that the Ministry of Consumer Affairs had already stated that the old goods should have two stickers of the pricing — pre-GST price and revised MRP — for old stocks.
• He also said that people have the right to know what the rates of these commodities were prior to November 15 and after November 15.
• The GST council on November 10 had decided to reduce GST for 178 items from 28 % to 18%. The changes came into effect from November 15.
• Referring to the reduction in the GST rate for hotels, Mr. Modi said that consumers could approach the screening committee of the States with a petition in cases of violation.
• He also said that 621 verified and competent engineers from Infosys were deployed to look into issues pertaining to the GST network.

Former PM Manmohan Singh to receive Indira Gandhi Prize for Peace

• Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will be the recipient of this year’s Indira Gandhi Prize for Peace, Disarmament and Development.
• A jury headed by former President Pranab Mukherjee made the decision on the award given out annually to individuals and organisations in recognition of creative efforts toward promoting international peace, development and a new international economic order.
• The award, comprising a cash prize of Rs. 25 lakh and a citation, was instituted by the Indira Gandhi Memorial trust in 1986 and previous recipients include the former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev.
• It also include former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, former President of the Czech Republic Vaclav Havel, and organisations such as the United Nations High Comissioner for Refugees and ISRO.

::International::

Russia veto's probe into syria in UNSC

• Russia cast a second veto in as many days at the United Nations Security Council to block the renewal of a probe to identify the perpetrators of chemical weapons attacks in Syria.
• A draft resolution put forward by Japan would have extended the UN-led Joint Investigative Mechanism (JIM) for 30 days to allow time for negotiations on a wider compromise.
• But Russia used its veto power to prevent adoption after 12 council members voted in favour of the measure, effectively ending the mission. China abstained, while Bolivia voted no.
• It was the 11th time that Russia has used its veto power to stop council action targeting its ally Syria.
• “Russia is wasting our time,” U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley told the council after the vote. “Russia has no interest in finding ground with the rest of this council to save the JIM.”
• “Russia will not agree to any mechanism that might shine a spotlight on the use of chemical weapons by its ally, the Syrian regime. It’s as simple and shameful as that,” she said.
• A separate Russian draft resolution that called for changes to the JIM failed to garner enough support, with just four votes in favour.

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General Studies Pre. Cum Mains Study Materials

All the 7000 nuclear warheads of US are controlled by US President

• The U.S. is estimated to have 7,000 nuclear warheads and the President has the sole power to authorise their use.
• Once the President takes the decision, a nuclear warhead could be heading to its target in less than five minutes, if it is on a land-based ballistic missile. For submarine-based missiles, it could take as much as 15 minutes.
• Being in charge of the ‘nuclear button’ is considered to be the most consequential of all presidential powers and whether Donald Trump could be trusted with that responsibility was raised first by his Republican rivals.
• The intimate fear of a nuclear strike that stalked America during the Cold War has been revived again, thanks to North Korea’s advancing capabilities and a President who speaks — and tweets — about nuclear war in an evidently thoughtless fashion.
• Alarmed by his remarks such as North Korea would be “totally destroyed”, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee held a formal hearing on the question of “authority to order the use of nuclear weapons”. The last time Congress held such a hearing was 41 years ago.
• The 2010 Nuclear Posture Review says the U.S. could consider the “use of nuclear weapons in extreme circumstances” to defend its vital interests or that of its allies and partners.
• America’s existing nuclear command structure was developed in accordance with the threat posed by the Soviet Union. A missile’s travel time from Soviet bases to America was 30 minutes, and the response ought to be quicker than that.
• Authorisation of war falls under congressional powers, but if an attack against America is “imminent”, the Commander-in-Chief has the powers to act. But Generals can refuse to obey illegal orders.
• The question also is how to distinguish an imminent threat? Peter Feaver, a political scientist at Duke University, distinguished between “scenarios where the military wakes up the President versus scenarios where the President is waking up the military”.
• In the first, there is not much scope for deliberations if the President orders a strike. In the second, if the President is pressing the military to move towards a nuclear strike, there could be scope for more deliberations on questions of legality and proportionality. “Context matters,” said Mr. Kehler.

::Business and Economy::

Ministry of textiles seek additional fund for PowerTex India Scheme

• The Union Ministry of Textiles has sought additional funds to be disbursed to powerloom weavers under the PowerTex India Scheme, said a senior official in the ministry.
• The three-year programme, which comprises several schemes, was started in April this year with an outlay of Rs. 487 crore, working out to approximately Rs. 160 crore a year.
• The official said the In-Situ, yarn bank, and group workshed schemes have had ‘good’ response and Rs. 72 crore was disbursed since April under the PowerTex programme.
• The Textiles Ministry has sought about Rs. 100 crore more for this financial year for this project. About 10 proposals were sanctioned under the yarn bank and group workshed schemes and another 70 applications are pending.
• The Ministry has also recommended an increase in capital subsidy for the powerloom sector from the current 10% to 30%.
• The yarn bank scheme has taken off well in places such as Malegaon, Bhiwandi, and Ichalkaranji.
• However, fabric exports have come down and the council has sought a special package for the powerloom sector similar to the ones given for the apparel and made-ups sectors.
• It had also demanded increase in capital subsidy to 30% to encourage powerloom units to modernise, he said. The increase in capital subsidy has been a long-standing demand of the powerloom sector.
• Schemes such as those for the yarn bank and group worksheds have had lukewarm response in the south due to several inherent reasons.

::Science and Tech::

Carbon released by plant respiration may be 30% higher than previously predicted

• Carbon released by plant respiration may be around 30% higher than previously predicted, a new study claims.
• The study, published in the journal Nature Communications, suggests that as the mean global temperature increases, respiration will increase significantly.
• Such increases may lower the future ability of global vegetation to offset carbon dioxide emissions caused by burning fossil fuels.
• “Plants both capture carbon dioxide and then release it by respiration. Changes to either of these processes in response to climate change have profound implications for how much ecosystems soak up carbon dioxide emissions from burning fossil fuels,”.
• The findings are based on the comprehensive GlobResp database, which is comprised of more than 10,000 measurements of carbon dioxide plant respiration from plant species around the globe.
• Merging this data with existing computer models of global land carbon cycling showed plant respiration has been a potentially underestimated source of carbon dioxide release.

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