Current Affairs for IAS Exams – 11 February 2016


Current Affairs for IAS Exams – 11 February 2016


:: National ::

SC hears constitutionality of President rule in Arunachal

  • The Supreme Court o questioned Governor J.P. Rajkhowa's use of his “constitutional discretion” to advance the sixth session of the Arunachal Pradesh Assembly by over a month.

  • Advancing the session from its scheduled date of January 14, 2016 to December 16, 2015 in order to remove Speaker NebamRebia triggered the entire political crisis leading to the impositionof President's Rule on January 26

  • The Bench's questions pertained to the order issued by Mr. Rajkhowa on December 9, 2015 to advance the Assembly session without consulting Chief Minister NabamTuki and his Council of Ministers under Article 174 (1) of the Constitution.

  • Instead of calling a floor test, the Governor invoked Article 174 (1) of the Constitution and ordered the session to be advanced for “facilitating the House to expeditiously consider resolutions for removal of Speaker.”

  • Referring to its past judgements, the apex court said a Governor could not assume constitutional discretion un-less such powers were expressly provided in the specific Articles of the Constitution.

  • Since Article 174 (1) was silent on whether the Governor should consult or not the State Cabinet before advancing dates of the Assembly session, it was presumed that aid and advice of the Chief Minister and Council was required to be taken.

Plan to develop cities around major ports dropped

  • The Centre hasdropped the plan to develop smart cities around major ports in Mumbai and Kolkata.

  • Lat year, the government had planned to build one smart city each at 12 major ports at an estimated cost of Rs. 50,000 crore.

  • The ports — Kandla, Mumbai, the Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust, Mormugao, Vi- sakhapatnam, Cochin, Chennai, New Mangalore, Ennore, V.O. Chidambaranar, Paradipand Kolkata — have 264,000 acres of land around them.

  • These ports handle 61 per cent of the cargo traffic.

Women Qazis get support from Deoband

  • Islamic seminary Darul-UloomDeoband came to the defence of two Muslim women from Rajasthan — Afroz Begum and Jahan Ara — who became Qazis (judges).

  • Who, in Islamic legal jurisprudence, has the authority to function as the head of informal arbitration centres to sort out disputes related to personal laws as well as other matters.

  • Deoband’s support for the two women came days after conservative religious clerics in Rajasthan protested against the two women being awarded the certificate of “Qaziat” by a Islamic training Centre in Mumbai.

  • Maulana Usmani also said there was no reason for any- one to oppose the two Qazis because there are “several madrasas that train women to become a Qazi or a Mufti.”

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:: INTERNATIONAL ::

Zika virus reached China

  • China hasconfirmed its first case of the Zika virus in a man who had recently travelled to South America, the official Xinhua news agency said.

  • The virus, which is causing international alarm after spreading through much of the Americas, was detected in the eastern province of Jiangxi.

  • Chinese health authorities downplayed the risk of the mosquito-borne virus spreading because of the winter cold, Xinhua added.

  • Hong Kong’s Port Health office has stepped up inspections at the airport in response and reinforced training for boundary control inspectors, the statement added.

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:: INDIA and WORLD ::

UAE’s national oil company agreed to give oil to India free

  • In a first of its kind deal, UAE’s national oil company Adnoc has agreed to store crude oil in India’s maiden strategic storage and give two-thirds of the oil to it for free.

  • India is building underground storages in Visakhapatnam and Mangalore and Padur in Karnataka to store about 5.33 million tonnes of crude oil to guard against global price shocks and supply disruptions.

  • Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc) is keen on taking half of the 1.5- million-tonne Mangalore facility.

  • It will stock 0.75 million tonnes or 6 million barrels of oil in one compartment of the Mangalore facility.

  • Of this, 0.5 million tonnes will belong to India and it can use it in emergencies. Adnoc will use the facility as a warehouse for trading its oil.

:: BUSINESS and ECONOMY ::

RBI directed banks to accelerate provisioning requirement

  • The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has directed commercial banks to accelerate provisioning requirement, from April 1, for the existing stock of restructured loans that are showing signs of stress.

  • RBI has identified bank specific accounts in which respective lenders have to make higher provisioning from April 1.

  • These accounts were restructured earlier. Banks have provided only 5 per cent for these restructured loans, but now the central bank has directed them to increase the provisioning by 2.5 per cent every quarter so that by March 31, 2017, provisioning reached the 15 per cent level — in line with sub-standard accounts.

  • However, banks are not allowed to classify these accounts as non-perform- ing assets.

  • The central bank has given four quarter to banks, starting April 1, to make full provisioning for the identified accounts, so that a bank is not hit in one go.

  • The central bank’s move comes in the back drop of RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan’s drive to clean up banks’ balance sheets by March 2017.

  • In February 2014, the central bank issued a set of guidelines on joint lenders’ forum and laid out a corrective action plan with the objective of revitalising distressed assets in the banking system.

  • In that circular, RBI had said that banks have to face accelerated provisioning if the borrower’s account continues to show weakness.

  • The step to increase provisioning is seen in line with the accelerated provisioning requirement.

Govt. plans to set up 2,000 waterports

  • Government plans to set up 2,000 waterports as well as “Ro—Ro” services at five select places to transport goods and vehicles.

  • Besides, there is a plan to develop 1,300 islands and 280 light houses as major attractions for tourists.

  • Not only this we will develop our 1,300 islands as major tourist attraction.

  • The government will soon start Ro- —Ro (Roll—on Roll—of) service at five places including Haldia, Patna, Varanasi and Sahibganj with the World Bank assistance.

  • Once they are operational, trucks could be transported till the points leading to huge savings which in turn would boost economy.

  • He also informed that government is constructing waterways on a 1,620 kilometer stretch on the Ganga between Varanasi and Haldia and 30 water ports would be constructed there.

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Sources: Various News Papers & PIB

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