Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 22 May 2017

:: National ::

Indian Railways will now carry out a cleanliness survey of tracks on busy routes

• Widening its sanitation drive, the Indian Railways will now carry out a cleanliness survey of tracks on busy routes and rank its 16 zones based on performance.
• The railways had recently released results of a similar survey of 407 stations, carried out by the Quality Council of India.
• All-out efforts will be made to keep the tracks clean as part of the government’s ongoing cleanliness campaign, said a senior railway ministry official.
• Railway tracks at many stretches resemble garbage dump with leftover food, plastic bottles and paper boxes strewn all over. Discharge of human waste from trains is also a cause for concern.
• In fact, several railway divisions have pressed into service a mechanised system for cleaning of tracks near stations. Besides, installation of bio-toilets in several trains has reduced discharge of human waste on the tracks.
• The Indian Railways is the third largest rail network in the world, covering 66,000 km and having more than 8,000 stations.
• It was after the launch of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan on October 2, 2014, by Prime Minister Narendra Modi that the railways launched ‘Swachh Rail, Swachh Bharat Abhiyan’.
• The railways has also made operational a ‘Swachh Rail’ portal to showcase cleanliness rankings of various stations.

Scientists have developed sensor that can detect disease markers in one’s breath

• Scientists have developed a low-cost, disposable sensor that can detect disease markers in one’s breath, giving patients an early warning sign to call the doctor.
• The device is made of a thin square of an organic plastic. “We developed this method to directly print tiny pores into the device so we can expose these highly reactive sites,” said Ying Diao, professor at University of Illinois.
• For example, monitoring the change in ammonia concentration in the breath could give patients a warning sign to go for a kidney function test.

Government is unlikely to meet its target of 175 GW of renewable energy by 2022 (Register and Login to read Full News)

RBI Governor will appear before panel for briefing on demonetisation (Register and Login to read Full News)

:: International ::

U.S. President called on Middle East to combat a Islamic extremism

• U.S. President Donald Trump called on Middle Eastern leaders to combat a “crisis of Islamic extremism” emanating from the region, casting the fight against terrorism as a “battle between good and evil”, not a clash between the West and Islam.
• Mr. Trump’s address was the centrepiece of his two-day visit to Saudi Arabia, his first stop overseas as President.
• During a meeting of more than 50 Arab and Muslim leaders, he sought to chart a new course for America’s role in the region, one aimed squarely on rooting out terrorism, with less focus on promoting human rights and democratic reforms.
• Even as the President pledged to work alongside Middle Eastern nations, he put the onus for combating terrorism on the region.
• Bellowing into the microphone, he implored Muslim leaders to aggressively fight extremists — “Drive them out of your places of worship. Drive them out of your communities.”
• Sitting alongside Mr. Trump, Saudi King Salman declared: “The Iranian regime has been the spearhead of global terrorism.”
• Mr. Trump’s welcome in the region was also put on display during a series of individual meetings with Arab leaders.
• Reinforcing his theme of U.S. economic deals, the U.S. President told Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al-Thani they would discuss “lots of beautiful military equipment because nobody makes it like the United States”.
• For Mr. Trump the visit has been a welcome escape from the crush of controversies that have consumed his administration in recent weeks.
• The President’s trip to Saudi Arabia also served as something of a reset with the region following his presidential campaign, which was frequently punctured by bouts of anti-Islamic rhetoric. He once mused that he thought “Islam hates us”.
• That ban was blocked by the courts. A second order, which dropped Iraq from the list, is tied up in federal court and the federal government is appealing.
• That speech was denounced by many Republicans and criticised by a number of the United States’ Middle East allies as being a sort of apology.

Swiss referendum to withdraw the country from nuclear power (Register and Login to read Full News)

:: Business and Economy ::

RBI has revised the norms for prompt corrective action

• As the financial health of banks had deteriorated over the last three years, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has revised the norms for prompt corrective action, and has promptly imposed those norms on a couple of public sector lenders.
• PCA norms allow the regulator to place certain restrictions such as halting branch expansion and stopping dividend payment. It can even cap a bank’s lending limit to one entity or sector.
• Other corrective action that can be imposed on banks include special audit, restructuring operations and activation of recovery plan. Banks’ promoters can be asked to bring in new management, too. The RBI can also supersede the bank’s board, under PCA.
• The provisions of the revised PCA framework will be effective April 1, 2017 based on the financials of the banks for the year ended March 31, 2017. The framework will be reviewed after three years.
• The PCA is invoked when certain risk thresholds are breached. There are three risk thresholds which are based on certain levels of asset quality, profitability, capital and the like.
• The third such threshold, which is maximum tolerance limit, sets net NPA at over 12% and negative return on assets for four consecutive years.
• There are two type of restrictions, mandatory and discretionary. Restrictions on dividend, branch expansion, directors compensation, are mandatory while discretionary restrictions could include curbs on lending and deposit.
• In the cases of two banks where PCA was invoked after the revised guidelines were issued — IDBI Bank and UCO Bank — only mandatory restrictions were imposed. Both the banks breached risk threshold 2.
• Some more lenders are expected to come under the corrective action framework as and when their asset quality worsens, putting profitability under pressure.
• Some public sector banks have breached the net NPA parameter as well as the profitability parameter. These banks are comfortable on the capital parameter, thanks to the government’s commitment to ensure the PSU banks are not starved of capital.
• However, as the government has its own commitment for maintaining fiscal discipline, it remains to been seen how long it can afford to infuse capital in these banks.

FM will discuss potential areas of boosting cooperation between India and Africa

• Finance Minister will discuss potential areas of boosting cooperation between India and Africa. Mr. Jaitley will open the India-Africa Cooperation session being held in conjunction with the annual meeting of the African Development Bank (AfDB).
• The sessions will cover areas such as trade and investment, agriculture, renewable energy and manufacturing among others.
• Total trade between India and Africa increased almost fivefold between 2005-06 and 2015-16, and stood at $52 billion in March 2016-17.
• This is the first time that the African Development Bank is holding its annual meeting outside of the African continent.

A solution for the NPA problem for PSU banks has proved elusive (Register and Login to read Full News) 

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