Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 01 February 2017

Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 01 February 2017

:: National ::

Economic survey points out positives and negatives

• The government’s Chief Economic Adviser said there was a sense of anxiety about the economy’s prospects following demonetisation and stressed the need to allay the fears of an overzealous tax regime in its aftermath.

• Mr. Subramanian termed the move to cancel the legal tender nature of high-value currency notes a “radical currency-cum-governance-cum-social engineering measure to permanently and punitively raise the cost of illicit and unaccounted transactions or kala dhan (black money).”

• “Bank credit growth has come down, two-wheeler sales have come down. There will be an impact on GDP. But the question is how much,” he said.

• The Survey pegs economic growth in 2016-17 at 7.1%, but this is based mainly on information for months before the November 8 demonetisation of Rs. 500 and Rs. 1,000 notes.

• This is half a percentage point lower than the 7.6% growth last year, but the CEA warned that comparisons attributing the difference in growth numbers to demonetisation alone would be foolhardy.

• Mr. Subramanian declined comment on the design and implementation of demonetisation, but did speak on the costs, and long-term benefits of what was “an unusual and unique monetary experiment” aimed at a structural break.

• After a temporary slowdown in GDP growth, the Survey expects the economy to return to normal, once the scrapped currency is replaced by March.

• In the long run, tax revenues and GDP growth would be bolstered on account of greater tax compliance and a reduction in real estate prices.

Supreme Court refused to stay the new law on Jallikattu

• A few hours after the President gave his assent to the Tamil Nadu amendments in the Prevention of Cruelty Act of 1960 to allow jallikattu, the Supreme Court refused to stay the new State law.

• Allowing the Central government to withdraw its January 7, 2016 notification permitting jallikattu, a Bench of Justices declined the plea for an interim stay on the operation of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Tamil Nadu Amendment).

• It asked the organisation and other animal rights activists the ‘basis’ of their challenge to the new State law.

• Referring to the amendments made by the Tamil Nadu Assembly to the 1960 Central Act, Justice Misra pointed out that the declared object of the new legislation is the preservation of a particular breed of bulls.

• Attorney-General Mukul Rohatgi told the Supreme Court that jallikattu was a matter of culture and that citizens had the right to take measures to “conserve their culture.”

• Mr. Rohatgi then referred to Section 11 (3) (e) of the 1960 Act which permits slaughtering of animals for food.

• The State government and others supporting jallikattu in the current litigation were given four weeks to file their counter-affidavits.

New restrictions introduced in H-1B visa (Register and Login to read Full News)

President delivered address to the Parliament (Register and Login to read Full News)

:: International ::

Bangladesh will push ahead with plan to relocate Rohingya refugees

• Bangladesh will push ahead with a controversial plan to relocate tens of thousands of Rohingya refugees from Myanmar to a remote island despite warnings it is uninhabitable and prone to flooding.

• The government has set up a committee comprising state officials in the coastal districts, ordering authorities to help identify and relocate undocumented Myanmar nationals to Thengar Char in the Bay of Bengal.

• The committee will assist transferring both registered and unregistered refugees from Myanmar to Thengar Char near Hatiya island in Noakhali district.

• Hatiya is situated on the estuary of the River Meghna and is a nine-hour journey away from the camps where the Rohingya have taken shelter.

• Some 232,000 Rohingya Muslims — both registered and unregistered — were already living in Bangladesh before more than 65,000 stateless Rohingya fleeing violence in Myanmar’s western state of Rakhine began entering the country.

• Most of those who fled to Bangladesh live in squalid conditions in refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar district, which borders Rakhine State and is home to the country’s biggest tourist resort.

Austria’s governing coalition has agreed to prohibit full-face veils (Register and Login to read Full News)

:: India and World ::

India reacted cautiously to the Pakistan government’s move on Saeed

• India reacted cautiously to the Pakistan government’s move to place Mumbai attacks mastermind Hafiz Saeed and four other members of the Lashkar-e-Taiba front.

• Officials suggested that the moves were cosmetic and designed to placate the U.S. government ahead of a major international meet on tackling terror funding next month.

• Pakistan’s military, the government and the Punjab State law minister have issued statements claiming the action was prompted by “policy” considerations and “national security.”

• However, government officials watching Islamabad closely say fears of U.S. strictures over terror financing may have more to do with it.

• These were heightened by the Trump administration’s threat to add Pakistan to its immigration ban applied to seven countries so far.

:: Science and Technology ::

Devices that can operate one million times faster than modern electronics

• A researcher from India has taken the first definitive step to produce high-speed electronic devices that can operate one million times faster than modern electronics.

• The electrons were found to be moving at a speed (frequency) close to 1,015 (one million billion) hertz; the best achievable speed in modern transistors is only 109 (one billion) hertz. The results were published in Nature .

• Conventionally, the motion of electrons (conductivity) is achieved by applying voltage. But Dr. Garg and others controlled the motion of electrons inside the solid material by using laser pulses.

• Light waves are electromagnetic in nature and have very high oscillation frequency of electric and magnetic fields. This ultra-high frequency of light waves can be used to drive and control electron motion in semiconductors.

• The performance of high-speed circuits rely on how quickly electric current can be turned on and off inside a material.

• The very short time interval needed to turn silicon dioxide from an insulator to a conductor was possible as the team used high-intensity and extremely short laser pulses and silicon dioxide in the form of a nanofilm. In the bulk form.

• Silicon dioxide tends to get damaged by high-intensity laser as the material tends to accumulate heat produced by the laser pulse.

• But as a nanofilm, silicon dioxide becomes nearly transparent to laser and absorbs less heat and therefore gets less damaged.

Solar-powered purifier developed by researchers (Register and Login to read Full News)

:: Business and Economy ::

Core sector grew at 5.6% in december

• The eight core industries registered a growth of 5.6% in December 2016 on the back of healthy output recorded by refinery products and steel.

• The growth rate of eight infrastructure sectors — coal, crude oil, natural gas, refinery products, fertilisers, steel, cement and electricity — was 2.9% in December 2015. It stood at 4.9% in November 2016.

• The core sectors, which contribute 38% to the total industrial production, expanded 5% in April – December 2016 compared with 2.6% growth in the same period in the last financial year.

• Refinery products and steel production jumped 6.4% and 14.9%, respectively, during the month under review.

• However, crude oil, fertiliser, natural gas and cement output reported contraction. Coal output declined by 4.4% in December 2016 from 5.3% in the same month previous year.

• Similarly, electricity generation, too, dipped by 6% as compared with 8.8% in December 2015.

The government has marginally revised GDP growth for 2015–16 to 7.9%

• The government has marginally revised upwards the GDP growth for 2015–16 to 7.9% from the earlier estimate of 7.6% after factoring in the latest data on agriculture and industrial production.

• “Real GDP or GDP at constant (2011–12) prices for 2015–16 and 2014–15 stands at Rs. 113.58 lakh crore and Rs. 105.23 lakh crore respectively, showing growth of 7.9% during 2015–16 and 7.2% during 2014–15,” stated CSO.

• However, the figure for 2014–15 has remained unchanged at 7.2% in the second revision of the national accounts for the fiscal. Last year, CSO had estimated GDP growth rate for 2015–16 and 2014–15 at 7.6% and 7.2%, respectively.

• CSO said the Gross Value Added (GVA) at constant (2011–12) basic prices grew at 7.8% in 2015–16 as against 6.9% in 2014–15.

• As per the revised numbers, growth in real GVA in 2015–16 has been higher than that of 2014–15, mainly due to stronger growth in agriculture, forestry and fishing (0.8%), manufacturing (10.6%), trade, repair, hotels and restaurants.

• Per capita net national income at current prices is estimated at Rs. 86,513 and Rs. 94,178 respectively for 2014–15 and 2015–16.

• Per capita PFCE (private final consumption expenditure) at current prices is estimated at Rs. 57,402 and Rs. 61,571 for 2014–15 and 2015–16, respectively.

Economic survey recommends major reforms (Register and Login to read Full News)

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