Current Affairs for IAS Exams – 24 August 2016

:: National ::

After PM's appeal now Home Minister to lead J&K mission

• Following Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressing “deep concern and pain” over the situation in Kashmir, Home Minister Rajnath Singh will undertake a two-day visit to the Valley.

• The Home Minister will review the situation and may hold talks with a cross section of people.

• Mr. Singh would not extend an exclusive invitation to the separatists but he would welcome anyone who comes to meet him during his stay there.

• This is his second visit in a month to the Valley which has been witnessing unrest since July 8 when Hizbul Mujahideen terrorist Burhan Wani was killed in an encounter with security forces.

• As many as 65 people, including two policemen, have been killed and several thousand injured so far in the violence there.

• Mr. Singh has also held meetings with some non-Kashmiri Muslim leaders in the past few days to find a solution to the Kashmir crisis. The government also intends to rope in the clergy to spread the message.

• Former Jammu and Kashmir interlocutor M.M. Ansari, former Orissa High Court judge Ishrat Masroor Quddussi and security analyst Qamar Agha were the few personalities Mr. Singh met recently.

U.N. confirmed six address of Dawood in Pakistan

• India’s consistent stand that Dawood Ibrahim is based in Pakistan has got a virtual endorsement from the U.N. which has confirmed six addresses of the underworld don in that country.

• The listing of the UN Security Council’s ISIL and Al-Qaida Sanctions Committee also includes information about Dawood’s various passports, including those issued in Pakistan.

• India, in a dossier, had cited nine addresses in Pakistan as those frequented by Dawood of which the UN Security Council’s ISIL and Al-Qaida Sanctions Committee removed three, finding those incorrect.

• The Committee, which amended its entry concerning Dawood, a UN-designated terrorist, made no changes with regard to six addresses provided by India.

• One of the three addresses which have been dropped by the Committee from its list was found “similar to that of a residence of Islamabad’s envoy to the U.N. Maleeha Lodhi”.

• The addresses were included in a dossier prepared by India in August last year that had listed nine residences in Pakistan of the mastermind of 1993 Mumbai serial blasts as evidence to show that he is holed up in that country.

IITs may have 1 lakh seats by 2020

• The IIT Council on Tuesday approved in principle an increase in number of seats by 2020, subject to each IIT’s assessment of its preparedness.

• Govt's vision for 2020 is one-lakh seats, though it is up to the institutes to decide how to go about it. The student-teacher ratio, which should be 10:1 is right now 15:1.

• New recruitments will, therefore, have to accompany the capacity expansion planned. As of now, the IITs admit 10,500 UG students, 8,000 PG students and 3,000 Ph.D students. Other initiatives are planned to improve the IITs.

• The government is planning to put in place an engineering aptitude test that students of classes 11 and 12 can take up to assess their ability to excel as engineers beforehand.

• This apart, plans for global collaborations have also got the nod of the IIT Council.

• A Prime Minister Research Fellowship would be started so that bright students do not suffer for lack of funds. He also gave details of the progress of some other initiatives.

• He said 92 projects have till now been accepted under the Uchhatar Avishkar Yojana (UAY) – aimed at giving students of premier institutions like the IITs a more market-oriented mindset – at an expense of Rs. 282-crore.

• Under the Global Initiative for Academic Networks (GIAN), 260 foreign academics have already come and delivered lectures in classrooms. The lectures have also been recorded.

• Over 800 academics will come to India from abroad under this initiative, he added.

Bihar CM discussed flood situation with PM (Register and Login to read Full News..) 

Central Water Commission and the Central Ground Water Board could be merged (Register and Login to read Full News..) 

:: International ::

U.S.’s security assistance to Pakistan has slowed significantly

• The U.S.’s security assistance to Pakistan has declined by 73 per cent since 2011 due to the deterioration in ties following the killing of Osama bin Laden, according to a Congressional report.

• The report, prepared for the U.S. Congress by the Congressional Research Service (CRS), covers both military and economic assistance given between 2002 and 2015 as well as those earmarked for fiscal years 2016 and 2017.

• The bilateral relationship started deteriorating after the killing of al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden in a raid in Abbottabad and a U.S. air strike on a Pakistani border post in Salala that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers.

• Earlier this month, the Pentagon decided not to pay $300 million in military reimbursements to Islamabad over its alleged reluctance to act against the Haqqani network, a charge Islamabad had immediately rejected.

• Security aid fell 73 per cent from nearly $1.3 billion in 2011 to $343 million in 2015. Economic aid declined from nearly $1.2 billion in 2011 to $561 million in 2015, the report said.

• The CSF accounted for “as much as one-fifth of Pakistan’s total military expenditures” from 2002 to 2014, said the CRS, a U.S. government news and analysis service for Congress.

:: Business and Economy ::

An authority to administer and manage its Digital Locker initiative

• The Centre will soon appoint an authority to administer and manage its Digital Locker initiative, one of the key projects under Digital India programme, as it looks to push paperless governance.

• The Digital Locker Authority will be responsible for granting licenses and to authorise a private entity to offer these services.

• Besides, it will need to prepare standards and guidelines, while also ensuring compliance by service providers. These guidelines include those for data retention and migration, audit and security and privacy.

• The authority will also need to notify the fee or service charges a subscriber will have to pay for availing Digital Locker services from authorized service providers.

• Currently, the services are offered for free.

Govt might ban all cash transactions above 3 lakhs

• The government is considering a recommendation by the Special Investigation Team to ban all cash transactions of more than Rs.3 lakh.

• The government was also in talks with Singapore to renegotiate the tax treaty between the two countries along the lines of the revised treaty between India and Mauritius.

• While there will be some differences between the India-Singapore and India-Mauritius treaties, they won’t be significant.

• The General Anti-Avoidance Rule (GAAR) would supersede all other international tax treaties India has entered into, except those with specific provisions that run counter to GAAR.

New non-performing assets formation slowed (Register and Login to read Full News..) 

India is 7th wealthiest country in the world (Register and Login to read Full News..) 

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Sources: Various News Papers & PIB

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