Current Affairs for IAS Exams – 26 November 2016

:: National ::

PM reignited Indus water treaty issue

Prime Minister said the water that right-fully belonged to India under the Indus Water Treaty cannot be allowed to go to Pakistan.
He also said that the government was working towards using every single drop of water of the Sutlej, Ravi and Beas rivers for the country's farmers.
Mr. Modi said at a rally at Bathinda in Punjab, wherehe laid the foundation stone for an All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS).
“But now every single drop of water, which is rightfully ours under the Indus water Treaty, will be stopped and I'll give that tothe farmers in Punjab, Jammu and Kashmir and other parts of the country.”
“I have set up a task force for this purpose and I'm committed towards it,” he said.

SC says right to breath above religious and wedding celebrations

SC sent a message that religious and wedding celebrations take second place to the basic fundamental right to breathe clean air, by ordering an immediate and blanket ban on the sale of fire-crackers in Delhi and the National Capital Region.
Moved by the everyday despair of children, women and the elderly in a city choked by smog, the SC said the situation was indeed “grave” for drastic action to check the rising pollution graph.
Having once compared the bursting of firecrackers to the“burning of money,” SC upheld the government's authority to intervene in people's right to celebrate weddings and festivals if the cause was urgent and entailed the larger public good.
The ban was imposed on the basis of a petition filed last year by three children of Delhi immediately after Deepavali.
Children suffered the most and their battle tobreathe got tougher with the poisonous tang of Deepavali firecrackers remaining in the air even days after the festivities were over.
Supreme Court, as the guardian of the right to live with dignity, should help them immediately.
A Bench of Chief Justice of India T.S. Thakur and Justices A.K. Sikri and S.A. Bobde ordered a ban on the issuance of fresh licences to firecracker sellers and suspended the existing ones till further orders.
This would mean that any sale, purchase or stocking of firecrackers here would be rendered illegal.

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:: International ::

Erdogan threatens EU with migrant influx

President RecepTayyip Erdogan threatened to open Turkey's borders to allow migrants to reach the EU, in a move that would tear up a land-mark deal that has reduced the flow.
Mr. Erdogan's comments, some of his toughest in recent times against the European Union, prompted an immediate warning from Germany which helped broker the deal that such “threats” were unhelpful.
The threat came a day after the European Parliament angered Ankara by backing afreeze in EU accession talks, al-ready hit by alarm over its crack-down in the wake of the July 15 failed coup.
He said Brussels had cried out for help in 2015 as tens of thou-sands of migrants massed at Tur-key's border crossing with EU member Bulgaria.
Successful in stemming inflow, Ankara and Brussels forged a deal for Turkey to halt the flow of migrants to Europe — an accord that has largely been successful in reducing numbers crossing the Aegean Sea between Turkey and Greece.

:: Business and Economy ::

Committee under Amitabh Kant to look for cashless transactions

The Centre announced a new committee, headed by Niti Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant, to form a strategy to expedite the process of transforming India into a cashless economy.
The panel is tasked with identifying various bottle-necks affecting access of Digital payments. The committee was set up following a directive from the Prime Minister's Office to back up the demonetisation move.
The committee will identify and operationalise in the earliest possible time frame user-friendly digital payment options in all sec-tors of the economy.
This is an integral part of the government’s strategy to trans-form India into a cashless economy.
The aim was to identify various digital payment systems appropriate to different sectors of the economy and coordinate efforts to make them accessible.
The panel will engage regularly with Central ministries, regulators, state governments, district administration, local bodies, trade and industry associations to promote adoption of digital payment systems.
The committee will also attempt to estimate costs involved in various digital payments options and oversee implementation of measures to make such transactions be-tween the government and citizens cheaper than cash transactions.
The Centre is working to-wards moving all government transactions to the cashless mode, through a new single window e-payment system that individuals or businesses can use to make payments to any central or state department.
The government said the committee would also implement an action plan on advocacy, awareness and hand-hold-ing efforts among public-, micro-enterprises and other stakeholders.

Centre will provide a higher subsidy support to airlines operating smaller aircraft

The Centre will provide a higher subsidy support to airlines operating smaller aircraft in a bid to make its regional connectivity scheme more attractive.
For the same distance Govt will provide significantly higher subsidy to an airline operating a 20-seater aircraft than to a 40-seater or a 70-seater aircraft.
The government will provide three-year subsidy to fund the losses of airlines so that they offer airfares at Rs.2,500 for an hour's flight on half the number of seats.
For providing subsidies, the Centre has set up a regional connectivity fund, 80 per cent of which will be financed by levying a cess on other domestic routes, except for those in the N-E states and regional sectors and the rest will flow from the states.
The Centre aims to collect about Rs.400 crore for the regional connectivity fund every year, to be used to pro-mote regional air connectivity.
The national civil aviation policy, along with RCS, is expected to increase thenumber of functional air-ports to 150-200 in the next few years. At present, 69 air-ports across the country receive commercial flights.
The Centre launched an ‘ Air Sewa' portal for registering complaints of air passengers against air-lines and airports.
Passengers will be able to check flight status, register com-plaints and check complaint status on the Air Sewa website and mobile application.
Complaints related to flight delays, baggage loss and unusually long periods for refunds along with long queues at airports can be registered by passengers in this portal.