Current Affairs for IAS Exams – 23 November 2015

:: National ::

PM Modi urges for not providing shelter to terrorists at ASEAN

Prime Minister Narendra Modi suggested a multi-pronged approach for combating international terrorism
Making an intervention at the East Asia Summit (EAS), he emphasised the need for building a new global resolve and new strategies for combating terrorism, without balancing them against political considerations.
Mr. Modi said India drew strength from its diversity and his government was working to create an environment where enterprise flourished and everybody got basic needs like shelter, sanitation, water, health care and education.
Development in India was “gathering speed now” amid the global slowdown and the country was growing at 7.5 per cent with faster growth expected in the coming years.

ASEAN Summit Statement

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) was proclaimed a community through a declaration signed by the ASEAN leaders at its 27th Summit
This was a historic development and an important milestone in the evolution of the 10-member grouping since its founding in 1967.
The leaders endorsed “ASEAN 2025: Forging Ahead Together,” which charts the path for community building over the next 10 years. The forward-looking road map articulates the ASEAN goals and aspirations to realise “consolidation, integration and stronger cohesiveness as a community.”
The people in the region would benefit from enhanced sustainable environmental governance and practices, equitable access to opportunities, ease of intra-ASEAN travel and doing business and mobility of skilled labour.
ASEAN would be a community, where improvements in transport linkages and infrastructure help people and businesses move efficiently
The ASEAN Economic Community will focus on creating an integrated and well-connected economy which will be business-friendly, trade-facilitative and market-driven to inspire investor confidence
The signatories to the declarations areBrunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, MalaysiaMyanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

INS Viraat

Fifty-seven-year-old and the oldest serving aircraft career, INS Viraat , Indian Navy’s flagship for over a decade before another aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya was commissioned in 2013, is being offered to States to be converted into a national maritime museum after it is decommissioned next year, after the International Fleet Review to be held here during February.
Andhra Pradesh is the first to approach the Defence Ministry to allot the ship to the State so that it could be converted into a tourist attraction.

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:: International ::

Tension in Crimea again

Crimea declared a state of emergency on Sunday after its main electricity lines from Ukraine were blown up, leaving the Russian-annexed peninsula in darkness after the second such attack in as many days.
More than 1.6 million people are without power, water supplies to high-rise buildings have stopped.
The Black Sea peninsula produces only 30 percent of its own energy needs, according to the regional government.

:: Science and Technology ::

Resurrection plants, from the ark against heat

Jill Farrant, a Professor of Molecular and Cell Biology at the University of Cape Town, hopes that unlocking the genetic codes of drought-tolerant plants could help farmers toiling in increasingly hot and dry conditions.
With more than 130 known varieties in the world, resurrection plants are a unique group of flora that can survive extreme water shortages for years.
During a drought, the plant acts like a seed, becoming so dry it appears dead.But when the rain pours down, the shriveled plant bursts “back to life”, turning green and robust in just a few hours.
The most well-known resurrection plant is Myrothamnus flabellifolius , which makes antioxidant chemicals to protect it during dry spells and is used in fashion designer Giorgio Armani’s cosmetics line.
Climate change could reduce maize yields across southern Africa by as much as 30 per cent by 2030, according to the UN Environment Programme.
Ahead of the United Nations conference in Paris at the end of November, countries are facing growing pressure to keep global warming below two degrees Celsius above pre-Industrial Revolution levels by weaning their carbon-hungry societies off fossil fuels.

:: India and World ::

Rafale deal likely to be concluded before France President visit

After an impasse over technicalities, India and France are working to finalise the agreement for the direct purchase of 36 Rafale fighter jets before the visit of French President Fancois Hollande to India as the chief guest of the next Republic Day parade.
Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar said the deal was “in the final stages of price negotiations” and issues such as the 50 per cent offset clause had “almost been sorted out”.
The ofset issue had been one of the major sticking points in the negotiations.
During his visit to Paris in April, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the direct purchase through a government- to-government deal as quickly as possible in view of the “critical operational necessity” of the Air Force, sidestepping the original medium multi-role combat aircraft (MMRCA) contest.
However, negotiations by the high-powered committee set up to negotiate the terms and conditions for the deal and recommend a draft agreement hit a road block over the issue of ofsets and changes in configuration sought by the Air Force.
Ofset clause applies for defence deals worth over Rs. 300 crore under which companies are to invest 30 per cent of the value of the contract back in the country.
For the MMRCA deal, the government had fixed it at 50 percent.
In addition, the Air Force wanted some structural changes to the aircraft to incorporate the indigenously built “Astra” beyond visual range (BVR) missiles.
The Air Force urgently needs new fighter aircraft to arrest the depleting fighter strength as MiG-21s and -27s are phased out and induction of the indigenous light combat aircraft has been repeatedly delayed.
It is still unclear if the Defence Ministry intends to order additional Rafale jets over and above the 36 or how it intends to replace the MiGs.

:: Business and Economy ::

RBI likely to keep interest rate unchanged in December

Higher retail inflation, coupled with the possibility of a U.S. Fed rate increase in December, may prompt the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Raghuram Rajan to keep the repo rate unchanged in the December policy review.
The central bank, which reduced interest rates by 50 basis points (bps) in the October policy review, will meet again on December 1 to review its monetary policy stance.
The central bank had reduced the benchmark interest rate by 125 bps to 6.75 per cent so far this year as inflation eased and the economic recovery stayed tentative.
The consumer price index-based inflation — RBI’s main gauge for measuring price rise — inched up to five per cent in October, up for the third straight month, compared with 4.41 per cent in the preceding month.
This was mainly due to an increase in some food prices in addition to festival related demand.
The RBI had expected retail inflation to go up after September as the favourable base efect wanes.
The central bank had also emphasized the need for pro-active supply- side management by the government to head of any food price pressures, especially in respect of onion and pulses.
The central bank has projected 5.8 per cent inflation for January 2016. Inflation, however, is expected to stay within the central bank’s comfort zone, market participants said.
The RBI has set a target of six per cent inflation for January 2016.

Arun Jaitley to meet PSB heads today

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley will meet heads of PSU banks on Monday to discuss various issues, including bad loans and interest rate reduction, in light of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) lowering its policy rate in September.
The performance review meeting of public sector banks (PSBs) will also take stock of the credit flow to productive sectors to spur economy and review of ‘Indradhanush’, the seven-pronged strategy to revive PSBs.
The government in August announced the programme, which includes Rs.70,000- crore capital infusion in PSBs in four years, starting with Rs.25,000 crore this fiscal, and measures to de-stress banks by introducing governance reforms.
The gross NPAs of PSBs rose to 6.03 per cent at the end of June 2015, as against 5.20 per cent in March 2015.