Current Affairs for IAS Exams – 25 September 2016

:: National ::

Prime Minister Narendra Modi s first public speech after the terror attack in Uri did not disappoint in the sharpness of its message to Pakistan.
He invoked the people of Pakistan in a direct dialogue, urging them to fight common socioeconomic ills that alict both neighbours, while warning that country's leadership that any threat to India's security will be strongly met.
Speaking at a well-attended public meeting on the Kozhikode beach on Saturday on the sidelines of the BJP national council meet, Mr. Modi also accused Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif of reading from a script prepared by terrorists at the United Nations General Assembly last week, in his serenade to Kashmir .
Taking forward his Balochistan speech at the Red Fort on August 15, Mr. Modi reminded Pakistan of its own internal strife in Sindh, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Gilgit.
The rally, held on the first day of the national council meeting, was expected to contain a strong message to Pakistan and address the outrage both in the country and Sangh cadre.

The Prime Minister’s Office has asked the Railways to apply the brakes on its ambitious fast track plan to set up an independent regulator for freight and passenger tariffs
The PMO has asked the Ministry to follow the legislative route to create the regulator rather than push it through an executive order.
The Ministry had proposed Rail Development Authority by issuing a notification through an executive order and subsequently strengthen its powers through the legislative process, in a bid to bypass possible hurdles in Parliament.
After decision to merge the rail Budget with the general Budget, Railway Minister had cited setting up of an independent regulator to determine tarif as per the market demand as the topmost priority for the Railways.
The legislative route may be a major setback for the Railways on this front, as it was banking on creating the independent regulator this year in order to perk up its worse-than-expected financial performance in the first half of this fiscal year.

India, Germany, Japan and Brazil will continue to push for comprehensive reform of the UN Security Council, Foreign Ministers of the four countries who met on the sidelines of General Assembly resolved.
India was represented by Minister of State for External Afairs M.J. Akbar.
The Group of 4 (G4) wants permanent membership of the Security Council for themselves, and wide and far-reaching reform of the UN.
“More than 70 years after the founding of the UN, the Security Council also has to adapt in order to cope with the ever growing global challenges,” a joint statement by the four countries said.

The Indian-American community in the U.S. has launched a White House petition to designate Pakistan a state sponsor of terrorism, days after a Bill in this regard was tabled in the U.S. Congress by two powerful lawmakers.
“This petition is important to the people of United States of America, India and many other countries which are continuously affected by Pakistan sponsored terrorism,” the petition said.
The campaign requires at least 1,00,000 signatures on the petition to qualify for a response from the Obama Administration.

The Centre is not considering any proposal to withdraw the ‘Most Favoured Nation’ (MFN) status accorded to Pakistan as even without the move the level of bilateral trade is very low.
The MFN status was accorded in 1996 as per India’s commitments as a member of the World Trade Organisation (WTO).
According to the MFN principle of the WTO’s General Agreement on Tarifs and Trade to which India is a signatory/contracting party —each of the WTO member countries should “treat all the other members equally as ‘most favoured’ trading partners.
According to the WTO, though the term ‘MFN’ “suggests special treatment, it actually means non-discrimination.”
In the wake of the deadly attack on Indian soldiers in Uri, an incident for which India is holding Pakistan responsible, there have been calls in India for tough action against its neighbour, including the revocation of the MFN status.
Bilateral trade between the two South Asian neighbours was just $2.6 billion in 2015-16 which represented a minuscule 0.4 per cent of India’s overall goods trade worth $643.3 billion in the same year.
The MFN concept is an integral part of the WTO agreements and is among the principles forming the foundation of the multilateral trading system.
As per the WTO, whenever a country brings down a trade barrier or liberalises a sector.