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Current Affairs for IAS Exams – 02 November 2016

:: National ::

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said GaribiHatao (poverty alleviation) was the main aim of his government “without which everything else will be ineffective”.
“Our main aim is to make the country free from poverty. It may be a difficult task but our country’s interest lies in it. If we don’t do it, nothing else can work. That is why our entire energy is directed at the welfare of the poor.
Every single problem of the country can be solved only by the way of development and wherever we are ruling, let they be the States or the Centre, our governments are following the path of development,” he said.
Addressing the crowd, mostly of women, the Prime Minister said he was fortunate to get the blessing of his sisters from Chhattisgarh on the occasion of Bhaiduj, a festival of brothers and sisters.
Mr. Modi mentioned the vaccination programme “Mission Indradhanush” and the skill development programme launched by his government.

The NHRC, which issued notices to Madhya Pradesh authorities seeking reports on the gunning down of eight SIMI men, said in a statement that it had always been concerned about custodial deaths and deaths in police action.
They have also issued specific guidelines to all States and Union Territories on mandatory reporting of such instances.
This was the second prison break for three of the alleged SIMI men, who had escaped from Khandwa Jail three years ago. They were caught again this year in Odisha.
The prisoners had been charged with murder, sedition, jail break and robbing a bank.
The prisoners had escaped, and were killed in an encounter with police at about 11 a.m. the same day.

China unveiled its J-20 stealth fighter jet at its biggest air show which will have major implications for India as it is the first indigenously-made fifth-generation Chinese aircraft which Pakistan has shown interest in acquiring.
Two J-20 aircraft flew at the Zhuhai city air show where the Pakistan Air Force is also taking part flying with its J-17 Thunder jets which are jointly manufactured with China.

India’s factory activity rose for the tenth consecutive month to a 22-month high in October bolstered by a sharp increase in new orders, purchasing activity and output, a private sector survey showed.
The Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index, compiled by Nikkei and Markit, reported a value of 54.4 in October, up from 52.1 in September. A value of more than 50 shows expansion, while one below 50 implies contraction.
Rising from 52.1 in September to 54.4, the latest reading was indicative of a robust improvement in manufacturing business conditions that was in line with the long-run series average.
Consumer goods producers outperformed their intermediate and investment goods counterparts, registering stronger rates of expansion for both output and new orders.
Although the consumer goods sector again outperformed its intermediate and investment goods peers, all three sectors reported strong and accelerated growth in October. The domestic market was the prime source of new business gains.

The concerns of 15 Asia-Pacific nations including India, over agreeing to give greater market access to Chinese goods without gaining in return, may take centre-stage in the forthcoming ministerial meeting on the RCEP.
RCEP is the proposed mega-regional Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between 16 Asia-Pacific countries including India, China, Japan, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand and the 10-member ASEAN bloc.
Trade ministers of these countries are slated to meet on November 3-4 at Cebu, Philippines to take forward the FTA negotiations.
The proposed FTA, which aims to open up trade in goods and services as well as liberalise investment policies, will cover a market of over three billion people in these countries — whose total GDP is more than $17 trillion and account for 40 per cent of world trade.
Indian government sources said it was not just India, but all the other countries in the RCEP grouping are also worried about agreeing to eliminate tariffs altogether — a move that will mainly help China.
The RCEP negotiation process, which had begun three years ago, is unlikely to be concluded by this year-end.