Current Affairs for IAS Exams – 24 June 2016

:: National ::

NSG agreed to hold a ‘Special Session’ with India’s membership on the agenda

After a day of twists and turns, India’s hopes for membership of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) got stuck over the question of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) in Seoul.
Even as the much-anticipated bilateral meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Xi Jinping in Tashkent ended without a statement of support from China.
Although India had scored a coup when the NSG agreed to hold a ‘Special Session’ on June 24th with India’s membership on the agenda.
This was despite China’s repeated assertion that the membership of non-signatories to the NPT, or “non-NPT countries” was not on the table for the 26th Plenary session that got under way in Seoul.
However, while India stated its case to China, there was no return statement from the Chinese government.

Shailesh Nayak Committee report on Coastal Regulation Zone 2011

Mangrove swathes dotting the coastal areas would be wiped out upsetting the coastal ecology and livelihood options of millions of fishermen if the Shailesh Nayak Committee report on Coastal Regulation Zone 2011 notification is accepted.
The panel, which recommended that “developmental activities in private mangrove land can be taken up,” has also directed that no buffer zones would be required in private holdings.
Construction of “walkways, interpretation centres, promenades, public facilities for developing parks, research facilities related to mangrove biodiversity, facilities for conservation and the like” can be set up in the 50-metre buffer suggested for vegetation extending more than 1,000 sq metres.
The buffer could also be developed as a greenbelt to prevent “encroachment, illegal dumping, construction activity and slum redevelopment” and such “unauthorised and illegal activities which are harmful to mangroves,” it recommended.

BCCI appoints Kumble as head coach (Register and Login to read Full News..)

:: International ::

Indian govt more confident on NSG membership now

Government remained optimistic of a positive outcome at the NSG meeting, given that India’s membership is now firmly on the agenda, and the consensus is in India’s favour.
India’s hopes of a place at the nuclear high table rest on that consensus being acknowledged in some form in the closing statement of the NSG, with a commitment to take forward India’s membership application either on Friday or in the near future with a fixed timeline.
As the special session began, and even though India had received vocal support in intervention from at least 32 countries during the day, including the United States, Japan, France and host South Korea.
However it became clear that several countries were holding out on the question of how to proceed forward for all countries that have not signed the NPT, without making a special exception for India.

Pakistan asks for exception in NSG bid (Register and Login to read Full News..)

:: Science and Technology ::

Desert telescope looks into Milkyway Galaxies Black hole

A desert telescope has focussed with unprecedented sharpness on a star circling a supermassive black hole thought to lurk at the centre of our Milky Way galaxy, excited astronomers announced.
This means they will be able to observe the star's movements in more detail than ever before, in an important test for Albert Einstein's theory of general relativity.
Dubbed S2, the star lies about 25,000 light years from our Solar System. It is the celestial body known to make the closest approach to our galaxy's central black hole, named Sagittarius A, on a 16-year elliptical orbit.
S2 is a relative youngster in astronomical terms — no more than 100 million years old.
It has been studied before, but in much less detail than can now be observed by the European Southern Observatory's Gravity instrument in Chile's Atacama desert.
Gravity combines the light from Europe's four largest telescopes to create a combined 130-metre (427-foot) diameter lense with “much sharper” imaging.
It will seek out miniscule but telltale deviations in the movement of gas and stars swirling around Sagittarius A — ultimately proving its existence.
Sagittarius A is thought to be four million times more massive than our Sun.
Black holes are regions in space-time where mass is collapsed into such a small area that gravity takes over completely, and nothing, not even light, can escape — making them invisible.
If Einstein was right, the Gravity team would expect to see minute changes in S2’s orbit in the extreme gravity environment nearest Sagittarius A.And they managed to set up their instrument just in time.
In 2018, S2 will make its closest approach to the black hole on its egg-shaped orbit — “just” 17 light hours or 18 billion km away.

:: Business and Economy ::

Mobile banking transactions rapidly increasing in India

With more banks offering mobile banking services, transactions through mobile apps has increased seven-fold in three years, between 2013 and 2016, the Reserve Bank of India said.
The central bank, which has released the payments and settlement vision document 2018, said all segments of electronic payments, particularly retail, had shown healthy growth since 2012-13.
At the same time, the usage of cheques had come down, indicating shift in customer preference towards electronic mode of payments.