Current Affairs for IAS Exams – 19 December 2016

Current Affairs for IAS Exams – 19 December 2016

:: National ::

Single, permanent Tribunal to adjudicate all inter-State river water disputes

  • The Centre has decided to set up a single, permanent Tribunal to adjudicate all inter-State river water disputes, a step which is aimed at resolving grievances of States in a speedy manner.
  • This body will subsume-existing tribunals. Besides the tribunal, the government has also pro-posed to float some Benches by amending the Inter-State Water Disputes Act, 1956 to look into disputes as and when required.
  • Unlike the tribunal, the Benches will cease to exist once the disputes are resolved. A decision to approve an amendment to the Act was taken at the Union Cabinet earlier this week.
  • Along with the tribunal, the amendment proposes to set up Dispute Resolution Committee (DRC). The DRC, comprising experts and policy-makers, is pro-posed to handle disputes prior to the tribunal.

Govt stuck with conventions in RAW, IB nominations

  • Though government overlooked the seniority criterion while appoint-ing the Army Chief, it stuck to the convention while appointing the heads of the Intelligence Bureau (IB) and the Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW).
  • Rajiv Jain, a 1980-batch IPS officer of the Jharkhand cadre, now heads the security desk in the IB. Mr. Jain will take over as the IB chief on January 1, a day after the present chief, Dineshwar Sharma, retires.
  • Mr. Jain has been appointed for a fixed tenure of two years. He was the senior-most in the IB hierarchy and the appointment comes months before he was to superannuate in March 2017.
  • Mr. Jain has also served at a subsidiary unit of the IB in Ahmedabad from 2004 to 2008. During his present stint as Special Director, Mr. Jain had the primary role of monitoring and strengthening cybersecurity.
  • He had served in Jammu in the 1990s when militancy was at its peak.
  • The appointment of Anil Dhasmana as the next RAW chief has generated much interest in Pakistan as he is an expert on the Baloch issue, a subject close to the heart of the present dispensation.
  • He succeeds Rajinder Khanna, who completes his tenure on December 31. Mr. Dhasmana has close ties with the Nepal station of RAW , one of the most critical desks in the region.

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:: International ::

Protests, looting lead to delay of demonetisation in Venezuela

  • With protests rock-ing his unpopular government, embattled President Nicolas Maduro delayed until January 2 taking Venezuela's highest denomination bill out of circulation.
  • The 100-bolivar bills would temporarily remain legal tender, Mr. Maduro said, but the borders with Colombia and Brazil will remain closed to hit what he claims are “mafias” hoarding Venezuelan cash abroad in a U.S.-backed plot to destabilise the country.
  • The bill is worth about 15 U.S. cents at the highest official rate, and until recently ac-counted for 77 per cent of the cash in circulation in Venezuela.
  • Venezuela has the world's highest inflation rate, set to hit 475 per cent this year ac-cording to the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
  • The government is trying to introduce new bills in denominations up to 200 times higher than the old ones, but the plan derailed when Mr. Maduro banned the 100-bolivar note before the new bills arrived.
  • Four airplanes with the new currency set to arrive from abroad were delayed by international sabotage, Mr. Maduro said. He did not say where the money was coming from, or what type of sabotage.
  • Rioting and angry protests erupted in several Venezuelan cities as the chaotic reform left people without cash to buy food or Christmas presents.

:: Business and Economy ::

Dedicated fund of Rs 10000 crore for infrastructure development

  • The country's infrastructure sector, requiring investments of more than $1.5 trillion in the coming ten years, is set to get a boost with a dedicated fund of Rs.10,000 crore to provide credit enhancement for commercially viable projects.
  • The fund — through ‘un-conditional and irrevocable partial credit guarantee' — will help enhance the credit rating of bonds issued by infrastructure firms so that they, in turn, can attract long-term investments especially from global insurance, pen-sion and sovereign wealth funds.
  • Prior to the setting up of the dedicated fund, the RBI is expected to bring out a comprehensive regulatory framework for credit enhancement to infrastructure projects and Non-Banking Finance Companies (NBFC) keen on the business.
  • The central bank's norms for credit enhancement products will include capital requirement and bad loans or asset classification.
  • The dedicated fund will be in the form of a Special Pur-pose Vehicle (SPV) and will be categorised an NBFC-Infrastructure Finance Company.
  • Its promoters are likely to include LIC, General Insurance Corporation of India, State Bank of India, Bank of Baroda, Power Finance Corporation, Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency and India Infrastructure Finance Company Ltd (IIFCL).
  • The government is keen on roping in international financial institutions such as Asian Development Bank, Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, New Development Bank, Inter-national Finance Corporation, and talks are on in this regard.
  • Also, other Indian public sector insurance companies, large state-owned banks and the National Investment & Infrastructure Fund (NIIF) are expected to contribute to the fund that will have an authorised capital of Rs.10,000 crore.
  • The initial minimum paid-up capital will be Rs.500 crore, which will be quickly scaled up with regular capital infusion to Rs.10,000 crore.

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Sources: Various News Papers & PIB