Current Affairs for IAS Exams – 04 November 2016

:: National ::

The Goods and Services Tax (GST) will be levied at multiple rates ranging from 0 per cent to 28 per cent.
Ultra luxuries, demerit and sin goods, will attract a cess for a period of five years on top of the 28 per cent GST.
Overcoming opposition from some States, the GST Council finalised a multiple-slab rate structure, including the cess, for the new indirect tax. The quantum of cess on each of these will depend on the current incidence of tax.
On nearly half of the consumer inflation basket, including food grains, the GST will be at 0 per cent, Council Chairman and Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley told a media conference after the meeting.
The approved slabs vary slightly from the proposal the Centre had moved at the Council’s last meeting. The lowest slab of 5 per cent will be for items of common consumption.
There would be two standard rates of 12 per cent and 18 per cent, which would fall on the bulk of the goods and services. This includes fast-moving consumer goods.
The highest slab of 28 per cent will include white goods and all those items on which the current rate of incidence varies from 30-31 per cent.

The Indo Tibetan Border Police and the Army have been engaged in a face- off with the Chinese People’s Liberation Army along the Line of Actual Control in Leh’s Demchok area.
Around 50 Chinese Army personnel had come close to the Indian side of the LAC and were refusing to go back.
The Chinese side is objecting to an irrigation project under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act to link a village with a ‘hot spring’.
The Chinese troops took positions and demanded that work be stopped as either side needs permission before undertaking any work.
India disputed the claim, stating that as per the agreement between the two countries, information about construction needs to be shared only if it was meant for defence purposes.
This is the first time since the 2014 incident when Chinese Army had come deep inside the Indian territory in Demchok to protest an ongoing irrigation project.

In a major victory for ‘Remain’ campaigners and those alarmed by the British government’s efforts to single-handedly control the country’s exit from EU, the High Court ruled that Brexit could not be triggered without a parliamentary vote.
The court rejected government arguments that clauses in legislation gave it the power to act without parliamentary approval when it came to triggering Article 50, which gives EU member states a two-year period to withdraw.
The government’s argument was contrary to the fundamental constitutional principles of the sovereignty of Parliament and the government’s lack of entitlement to use its prerogative powers to change domestic law, the court said.
It is too early to tell the long implications of the ruling: the government has announced it will appeal the decision to the Supreme Court, with a hearing likely to take place in early December at the earliest.
Should the government be forced to seek parliamentary approval, it is unlikely that MPs would vote against Article 50, despite comments from former UKIP leader Nigel Farage that “a betrayal may be near at hand”.
The Conservatives are likely to rally around the Prime Minister. On the Labour side, though there are many Labour MPs who campaigned against leaving, the clear Brexit vote in many of their constituencies leaves them unlikely to vote against what is seen as the clear will of the people.

NASA has successfully completed building the mirror of the largest space telescope, which will be 100 times more powerful than the Hubble probe and may find the first galaxies that formed in the early universe.
The James Webb Space Telescope will be the successor to NASA’s 26-year-old Hubble Space Telescope. The Webb telescope’s infrared cameras are so sensitive that it needs to be shielded from the rays of the Sun.
A five-layer sunshield of the size of a tennis court will prevent the background heat from the Sun from interfering with the telescope’s infrared sensors.
The five layers of membrance are each as thin as a human hair.
It will go into space on a European Ariane rocket from French Guiana, but before that is possible the delicate hardware must be tested to ensure it will survive the ride.

Centre has imposed anti-dumping duty on imports of steel wire rods from China to protect domestic manufacturers from cheap in-bound shipments.
The Department of Revenue in a notification said anti-dumping duty is being imposed for six months on import of wire road of alloy or non-alloy steel from China.
The measure follows recommendation by the DGAD that steel wire road was being exported by China “below the normal value” and “the domestic industry has suffered material injury” because of such imports.

Justice R.M. Lodha Committee has advised the BCCI to comply with the Supreme Court orders to “avoid any hindrance to the cricketing calendar and to ensure the continued enjoyment of the sport by its aficionados”.
The Supreme Court has asked the BCCI and its full members to adopt the Justice Lodha Committee recommended Memorandum of Association, Rules and Regulations.
The Lodha Committee has also told the BCCI that “The proposed MOU between the BCCI and ECB concerns bilateral cricketing policy, the formulation of which is not a part of the mandate of the Committee.”
The BCCI has asked the five staging associations — Saurashtra, Andhra, Punjab, Mumbai and Tamil Nadu — if they can host the Test matches without facing financial crunch.