Current Affairs for IAS Exams – 01 June 2016

Current Affairs for IAS Exams – 01 June 2016

:: National ::

Sixteen men were killed in a massive fire at the Army’s Central Ammunition Depot

• Sixteen men, including two Army officers, were killed in a massive fire at the Army’s Central Ammunition Depot (CAD) in Pulgaon town of Maharashtra’s Wardha district.

• CAD is the most crucial ammunition depot of the Army and among the largest in the world.

• Mr. Parrikar did not rule out sabotage. “But according to the Army officers and the experts, the possibility of sabotage seems less,” he said.

• Residents of villages such as Agargaon, Pipary and Nagjhari, situated within 5 km of the depot, moved to safer locations. Some houses were damaged when the ammunition exploded but no one was injured.

PM increased the retirement age for doctors of central services to 65 years

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi approved the retirement age of 65 years for doctors of central services, in an aim to strengthen the healthcare sector in the country.

• It said the move would enable the government to retain experienced doctors for a longer period, and to provide better services in its public health facilities, particularly to the poorest, who are entirely dependent on public facilities.

• The decision comes after Prime Minister Modi’s announcement at his Saharanpur rally recently that the retirement age of government doctors would be raised to 65 years.

The Indian Navy gets new chief and vice-chief (Register and Login to read Full News..) 

Around 53% fail in 10th exam in Bihar (Register and Login to read Full News..) 

:: International ::

About $13 million in bitcoins will be auctioned in Australia

• About $13 million in bitcoins will be auctioned in Sydney in June after Australian police confiscated the digital currency as proceeds of crime.

• Ernst & Young was running the process, which is only the second such bitcoin auction in the world after the U.S. Marshals Service sold 1,44,000 bitcoins over a two-year period that had been confiscated from Ross Ulbricht.

• Based on current bitcoin price of $533.80, the cryptocurrency is valued at almost $13.1 million.

• The Victoria State government has confirmed that is had seized about 24,500 bitcoins in late 2013 from a Melbourne drug dealer.

• Richard Pollard, 32, was sentenced in the Melbourne County Court in October to 11 years in prison after pleading guilty to drug trafficking on the Silk Road website

• Like the U.S. auction, the Australian bitcoins will be mostly sold in lots of 2,000. One lot will contain 2,518.

• Bitcoin is a digital currency that allows people to purchase goods and services and exchange money without involving banks, credit card issuers or other third parties.

Dalai Lama says refugees in Europe should eventually return to home countries

• The Dalai Lama said in an interview that Europe has accepted “too many” refugees, and that they should eventually return to help rebuild their home countries.

• “A human being who is a bit more fortunate has the duty to help them. On the other hand, there are too many now,” he said.

• He added that “from a moral point of view too, I think that the refugees should only be admitted temporarily”.

US says Euro 2016 soccer tournament will present “potential targets for terrorists” (Register and Login to read Full News..) 

:: Business and Economy ::

India maintains its position of fastest growing major economy

• India’s gross domestic product (GDP) grew 7.9 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2015-16, increasing overall growth for the entire year to 7.6 per cent and help maintain its position as the fastest-growing major economy.

• India’s gross value added (GVA) for the year grew by 7.2 per cent in what economists termed a consumption-led recovery.

• Any movement in investment is due to the public sector. This is being reflected in higher private consumption which is a good thing up to a point.

• But it does pose a danger of the re-emergence of inflation unless the monsoon is spot on this time.

• The agriculture sector grew 1.2 per cent compared to the advance estimate of 1.1 per cent. The sector contracted 0.2 per cent in the previous year.

• Manufacturing grew 9.3 per cent, slower than the 9.5 per cent forecast in the advance estimates. But this is much higher than the 5.5 per cent seen in 2014-15.

• The consolidated services sector grew 8.8 per cent in 2015-16 compared to 9.05 per cent mentioned in the advance estimates.

• Private final consumption expenditure, a proxy for private demand, grew at 7.4 per cent in 2015-16 compared to 6.4 per cent in the previous year.

• Growth in gross fixed capital formation, a measure of private sector investment, slowed down to 3.9 per cent from 4.9 per cent in 2014-15.

• Construction sector grew 3.9 per cent in 2015-16 compared to 4.4 per cent in the year-earlier period. However, the sector grew at 4.5 per cent in the fourth quarter of FY16 compared to 2.6 per cent in the year earlier period.

• Real GDP or GDP at constant (2011-12) prices for the year 2015-16 is now estimated at Rs.113.50 lakh crore, showing a growth rate of 7.6 per cent over the First Revised Estimates of GDP for the year 2014-15 of Rs.105.52 lakh crore

• The statistics office also revised downwards the GDP growth rate for the previous quarters of 2015-16. The first quarter grew at 7.5 per cent, slightly lower than the 7.6 per cent as per the advance estimates.

• The second quarter witnessed a growth rate of 7.6 per cent compared to the 7.7 per cent in the advance estimates. The third quarter grew at 7.2 per cent compared to the previous estimate of 7.3 per cent.

Core sector growth remained positive for the fifth consecutive month

• Core sector output remained in the positive territory for the fifth consecutive month with an 8.5 per cent year-on-year growth in April due better performance by petroleum refinery, fertiliser, steel, cement and electricity sectors.

• This is the highest since the 8.54 per cent growth recorded in November 2014.

• The eight core industries comprise nearly 38 per cent of the weight of items included in the Index of Industrial Production (IIP). The core sector growth had contracted 0.2 per cent in April 2015.

• A number of core sector industries such as petroleum refinery products and cement have shown excellent growth (in April) due to extremely low base.

• However, growth in electricity output remains the bright spot. Even growth in cement output is encouraging and appears to be benefiting from the revival of road sector.

• Petroleum refinery production rose 17.9 per cent in April 2016 (as against -2.9 per cent in April 2015) while fertiliser output increased by 7.8 per cent (-0.04 per cent in April 2015) and steel production jumped 6.1 per cent (0.01 per cent in April 2015).

• Cement output went up by 4.4 per cent (-1.4 per cent in April 2015) while electricity generation increased by 14.7 per cent (-0.5 per cent in April 2015).

• The areas of concern included coal production that shrank 0.9 per cent (8.1 per cent in April 2015) and crude oil production that contracted by 2.3 per cent ( -2.5 per cent in April 2015).

• Natural gas production also decreased by 6.8 per cent (-3.6 per cent in April 2015).

• The core sector output had slipped into the negative territory in November 2015 when it shrunk by 1.3 per cent.

Credit rating agency Fitch says public sector banks credit profile worrisome (Register and Login to read Full News..) 

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Sources: Various News Papers & PIB

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