Current Affairs for IAS Exams – 27 December 2016

Current Affairs for IAS Exams – 27 December 2016

:: National ::

Finance minister says lower taxes will India compete globally

  • Finance Minister said India needs lower taxes to compete globally and that voluntary tax compliance by citizens should be encouraged by a friendly administration.
  • We have lived through the last seven decades in India under the impression that if avoidance could be done of government revenue, then there was nothing immoral about this. That was considered commercial smartness,” Mr. Jaitley said.

  • Payment of legitimate taxes is part of a citizen's duty, and non-payment is visited with severe con-sequences.” According to the Minister, “extraordinarily high taxation rates in the past” have encouraged people to evade taxes.
  • Tax authorities are judged by the quality of what they write or decide. The level of fairness followed by authorities will define the quality of interpretation of tax laws by authorities.
  • The voluntary compliance by citizens by payment of due taxes needs to be reciprocated by authorities through a tax-friendly administration.” Mr. Jaitley also told the trainees that tax officers should have high integrity.

Centre released funds for polavaram project

  • The Centre released Rs.1,981.54 crore, through the National Bank for Agricultural and Rural Development (Nabard), for Andhra Pradesh's ambitious Rs.16,000-crore Polavaram irrigation project along the Godavari river.
  • Releasing the amount, FM said this should quell any sense of distrust that the people of the State had developed towards the Centre over funding for the project.
  • Stressing that returns on investments in irrigation projects for agriculture can be visible by next season as opposed to investments in sectors such as manufacturing, where returns take a ‘reasonably long period' to register.
  • Using water resources to its optimal level is one of our prime goals and it is import-ant that a very large part of funding goes to this,” Mr. Jaitley said.
  • Terming the issue of water in the State's dry regions as very sensitive, he said that it took some time for the Centre to find a way to fund the Polavaram project, but it had finally done it.

Additional forces send to Manipur (Register and Login to read Full News)

:: Science and Tech ::

Agni V launch shows India’s nuclear deterrence capability

  • The test-firing of India’s most formidable ballistic missile, Agni-V , from the Abdul Kalam Island, of the Odisha coast, was an unalloyed success, signalling that India's nuclear deterrence capability has come of age.
  • This is the fourth success in a row for Agni-V , which can carry a nuclear warhead weighing about 1.5 tonnes over a distance of 5,000 km and plus.
  • It was the second time that Agni-V was fired from a canister mounted on a massive TATRA truck parked on the Island.
  • A gas generator at the bottom of the canister kicked out the long-range, three-stage, surface-to-surface missile that weighed 50 tonnes, was 17 metres long and had a two-metre diameter.
  • The previous Agni-V flight from a canister was on January 31, 2015. A missile launched from a canister mounted on a road-mobile launcher gives it operational flexibility.
  • This means it can be fired from a road in a city, after stopping the traffic, giving reduced reaction time. The missile can be made vertical in three minutes and the launch takes a few more minutes.
  • The two stages jettisoned and the missile accelerated as it plunged towards the earth. Its re-entry systems worked perfectly.
  • The heat-shield made of carbon-car-bon composites and encasing the dummy warhead, withstood a temperature of about 4,000 degrees Celsius. The on-board computer guided the missile towards its impact point in the Indian Ocean.
  • The bouquet of five Agnis form the bulwark of India's nuclear deterrence capability. While Agni-I has a range of 700 km, Agni-II 2,000 km, and Agni-III 3,000 km, Agni-IV can take out targets 4,000 km away.

:: International ::

China has tested fifth generation stealth fighter

  • China has tested the latest version of its fifth-generation stealth fighter, as it tries to end the West's monopoly on the world's most advanced warplanes.
  • The test comes as the nation flexes its military muscles, sending its sole air-craft carrier the Liaoning into the western Pacific in recent days to lead drills there for the first time.
  • The newest version of the J-31 — now renamed the FC-31 Gyrfalcon — took to the air for the first time.
  • The so-called “fifth-generation” twin-engine jet is China's answer to the U.S. F-35, the world's most technically advanced fighter.
  • The new FC-31 has “better stealth capabilities, improved electronic equipment and a larger payload capacity” than the previous version which debuted in October 2012.
  • AVIC has said that the FC-31 will “put an end to some nations' monopolies on the fifth-generation fighter jet”, the China Daily reported.
  • China is aggressively moving to develop its domestic weapons industry, from drones and anti-air-craft systems to home-grown jet engines.
  • In the past it has been accused of copying designs from Russian fighters, and some analysts say the FC-31 bears a close resemblance to the F-35.
  • When completed, the FC-31 will become the country’s second fifth-generation fighter after the J-20, which put on its first public performance at the Zhuhai Air Show in November.

:: Business and Economy ::

Gold prices hits lowest price in almost a year

  • Gold prices slumped by Rs.250 to hit a more than 11–month low of Rs.27,550 per 10 gram at the bullion market due to weak demand from jewellers and lower advices from futures trade.
  • Silver also fell by Rs.210 to Rs.38,600 per kg on reduced of take by industrial units and coin makers. Traders said a persistent fall in demand from jewellers and retailers in view of prevailing cash crunch largely weighed on gold prices.
  • The government on November 8 had scrapped old series Rs.500 and Rs.1,000 notes to flush out black money, leading to a cash crunch in the market.
  • Also, investors were clueless about future trends as major world markets such as Singapore, which rule price trends in local markets largely.
  • Meanwhile, gold in futures continued to trade below the Rs.27,000 level in afternoon trade. The February contract of the metal fell to a low of Rs.26,916 per gram on MCX commodity exchange.
  • In the local spot market, gold of 99.9 per cent purity plunged by Rs.250 to Rs.27,550 per 10 gram – a level not seen since February 4 when it had closed at Rs.27,575 per 10 gram.
  • Gold of 99.5 per cent purity too plunged by Rs.250 to Rs.27,400 per 10 grams. The precious metal had lost Rs.150 in the previous three days.

India’s export of iron items have come under scrutiny (Register and Login to read Full News)

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