Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 13 December 2014

National

Better to ‘Make in India’ primarily for India: Raghuram Rajan

• Reserve Bank Governor Raghuram Rajan cautioned the government on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘Make in India’ mantra, suggesting that India would have to look for regional and domestic demand for growth — to make in India primarily for India.
• Dr. Rajan said that at this stage, an exports-push strategy for growth would be ineffective; as the industrial world stagnated, many emerging markets were rethinking their export-led growth model, he said. He was delivering the Bharat Ram Memorial Lecture.
• “There is a danger when we discuss ‘Make in India’ of assuming it means a focus on manufacturing, an attempt to follow the export-led growth path that China followed … But the world as a whole is unlikely to be able to accommodate another export-led China,” Dr. Rajan said.
• Since the global economy was still weak, he argued, it would be much less likely to be able to absorb a substantial additional amount of imports in the foreseeable future.
• “Export-led growth will not be as easy for India as it was for the Asian economies that took that path before.”
• He also cautioned the Modi government against picking a particular sector such as manufacturing for encouragement, simply because it had worked well for China.
• “India is different, and developing at a different time, and we should be agnostic about what will work … Such agnosticism means creating an environment where all sorts of enterprise can flourish,” the RBI Governor said.

Govt. introduced Bill in LS to amend companies law

• The government introduced a Bill in the Lok Sabha to amend the companies law to provide stringent punishment for illegal money pooling activities, among other things.
• The Companies (Amendment) Bill, 2014, introduced by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, proposes as many as 14 changes in various provisions of the new companies law, which was passed by the previous UPA regime.
• The Bill proposes punishment for illegal money pooling activities, amid rising instances of people getting duped by such fraudulent schemes.

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International

Upset at India-Russia deals U.S. says, can’t be business as usual

• A day after Russian President Putin’s visit, the United States criticised India for the agreements signed between New Delhi and Moscow.
• Responding to a question on the 20 agreements signed, including one on the Rupee-Rouble trade, State department spokesperson Jen Psaki said, “Our view remains that it’s not time– for business as usual with Russia. But beyond that, we’d have to take a closer look at what these agreements entail.”
• The US and Ukraine have also expressed unhappiness that President Putin was accompanied by the Crimean Premier Sergey Aksyonov. Mr. Aksyonov is on the sanctions list of the U.S., Canada and European Union for his role in the accession of the former Ukrainian region to Russia in March this year.
• While the U.S. state department said it was “troubled” by his presence in New Delhi, Ukranian President Petro Poroshenko accused India of putting “money” ahead of “values” and “civilisation”.
• “The Indian position doesn't help, it doesn't save Aksyonov,” said Mr. Poroshenko, speaking at the Lowy Institute think tank in Sydney, “He is a criminal, it's very simple.”
• The Ministry of External affairs refused to comment on the attack from the U.S. and from Ukraine over the issue.
• Officials told that while Mr. Aksyonov’s arrival in Delhi was “not a surprise”, he was not part of the “official delegation”, and was on a private visit.
• However, has learnt his meetings in New Delhi were arranged by the Russian Consul-General in Mumbai Alexey Novikov, and he initialled a “partnership agreement” between Crimean and Indian businesses, particularly in the area of meat exports.
• Seafood exporter Gul Kripalani, who was present at the meeting told, “I am really surprised that this agreement has attracted so much controversy.
• The meeting with the Crimean Prime Minister followed Russia’s decision to allow the import of Indian buffalo meat last week.”

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Sports

Indians just behind Brazilians in goal-scorers’ list

• Indian players have scored 23 goals, only three less than Brazilian imports from all teams, in the Indian Super League football tournament that has entered the knockout phase now.
• Brazilian players, led by eight strikes from Chennaiyin FC’s sharp shooter Elano Blumer, have notched up 26 goals overall.
• Indian players — led by FC Goa’s Romeo Fernandes and Chennaiyin FC’s Jeje Lalpekhlua who have found the target thrice each — have tallied 23 in all.
• Players from France and Spain are tied with 11 goals apiece, said an ISL release. A total of 121 goals have been scored from 56 games in the round robin phase of the football event.
• Brazil (26 goals): Elano Blumer (Chennaiyin FC) 8, Gustavo dos Santos (Delhi Dynamos FC) 5; Andre Santos (FC Goa) and Bruno Pelissari (Chennaiyin FC) 4 each; Andre Moritz (Mumbai City FC) 3 (hat-trick), Guilherme de Castro (NEUFC) and Pedro Gusmao (Kerala Blasters) 1 each.
• India (23): Romeo Fernandes (FC Goa) and Jeje Lalpekhlua (Chennaiyin FC) 3 each; Baljit Sahni and Cavin Lobo (both Atletico de Kolkata) 2 each; Durga Boro (NEUFC), C.S. Sabeeth (Blasters), Subhash Singh (Mumbai City) and Balwant Singh (Chennaiyin FC) one each.

Business & Economy

Inflation declined to 4.38% in November

• Declining for the fifth consecutive month, retail inflation dropped to 4.38 per cent in November, the lowest since the new series of data was introduced in January, 2012, on the back of high-base effect of last year and softening of prices of food items.
• The Consumer Price Index-based inflation or retail inflation stood at 5.52 per cent in October, while it was 11.16 per cent in November, 2013.

Industrial production measured by IIP contracts by 4.2% in October

• The factory output as measured by the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) contracted by 4.2 per cent in October, on account of de-growth in the manufacturing sector and poor demand for consumer goods.
• The factory output had declined by 1.2 per cent in the same month last year. For September, it was revised to 2.8 per cent from the provisional estimates of 2.5 per cent released last month.
• During the April-October period, the IIP rose 1.9 per cent against 0.2 per cent in same period of last fiscal.
• “The fall in manufacturing growth in October is disturbing, more so because it is broad-based and not limited to a few sectors,” FICCI President Sidharth Birla said.
• It not only reflected slowdown in investments but also the deep rooted slackness in consumer demand which required bringing down the interest rates urgently, he added.
• Industry experts expressed concern over the fact that despite being a festive month, growth of consumer goods, especially durables, has been negative in October.
• “Sixteen of the 22 industries registered negative growth rates. It is disappointing more so because October is one of the peak spending months when rural incomes increase and two festivals should have prompted consumer spending.
• It does appear more was spent on gold (imports have increased),” CARE Ratings said. Manufacturing output, which constitutes over 75 per cent of the index, contracted by 7.6 per cent in October, compared to a dip of 1.3 per cent in the same month a year ago.
• Production of capital goods, a barometer of demand, declined by 2.3 per cent, as against a growth of 2.5 per cent. The consumer goods output too contracted by 18.6 per cent as against a decline in output at 5 per cent logged a year ago.

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Science & Technology

Mosquito coils, incense sticks contain carcinogens: expert

• Inhaling smoke emitted by mosquito coils and incense sticks is not only harmful to the lungs, but can also cause cancer, said Sundeep Salvi, director of Chest Research Foundation, Pune.
• Dr. Salvi, who spoke on ‘Indoor pollution and asthma’ at the 48th National Conference of Indian College of Allergy, Asthma and Applied Immunology at JSS Hospital, claimed that research by the foundation had shown that mosquito coils and incense sticks contain carcinogens, while studies in Taiwan and China had established their link with lung cancer.
• “Burning one mosquito coil in a closed room amounts to smoking roughly 100 cigarettes,” Dr. Salvi said.
• While the emission from the burning of incense sticks, used commonly during religious occasions in India, is toxic as it contains lead, iron and manganese, he said the pesticide ‘pyrethrin’ in mosquito coils is harmful for the lungs.
• The no-smoke coils, marketed by the companies, may have less particulate matter, but they emit a high level of carbon monoxide, which is unsafe for the lungs, he added.
• Though studies are yet to be conducted on mosquito repellent mats and liquidators, he said the gaseous pollution they cause are ‘a strong irritant for the lungs’.
• Dr. Salvi said the foundation had recently conducted research in 22 villages near Pune, which showed that 65 per cent of the households keep both the doors and windows closed while using mosquito coils, which accentuates the effect of inhaling toxic fumes.
• P.A. Mahesh, professor, Department of Pulmonary Medicine, JSS Medical College, who is also the organising secretary of the conference, said studies showing that carcinogenic content in mosquito coils and incense sticks were conducted recently.
• “Mosquitoes are found only in temperate zones like India and China. So, no research had been conducted in Europe or the U.S., which are cold zones,” he added.

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Sources: Various News Papers & PIB

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