Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 18 December 2017

Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 18 December 2017

::National::

India should rethink its support to U.S.’s Afghanistan policy

• India should rethink its support to U.S. President Donald Trump’s Afghanistan policy, said former Afghan President Hamid Karzai, during a visit to Delhi to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
• “India has the right to ask the U.S. questions on, and it must think and rethink its policy in view of changes and developments in Afghanistan,” Mr. Karzai told
• Calling the U.S. and Pakistan “bedfellows,” Mr. Karzai said Mr. Trump, who announced his new Afghan policy for South Asia in August this year, had failed to back his tough words on Pakistan with action.
• The policy, which entailed a larger role in development work for India as well as more pressure on Pakistan to act against terrorist safe havens within its borders, was welcomed by New Delhi at the time.
• He was referring to the Defense authorisation bill that Mr. Trump signed into law on Thursday, which provides for up to $700 million to be transferred to Pakistan for coalition support.
• While the U.S. still has to certify Pakistan is acting against the Haqqani network, the U.S. Congress also dropped a plan to add the Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammad, that target India, to the list of groups Pakistan must be certified on for action taken.
• Mr. Karzai, who has often criticised Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani’s government for concessions to the United States, also called for a Loya Jirga to decide the future course of the U.S. presence in Afghanistan, where it still maintains about 10,000 troops.

Chinese troop presence has been permanently beefed up in the Doklam area

• Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi’s message to India for maintaining border peace has been supplemented with fresh troop deployments to deter a confrontation in the Doklam area, says a Chinese blog.
• Two postings in Xilu.com, an online publication covering Chinese military affairs, say Chinese troop presence has been permanently beefed up in the Doklam area.
• The publication’s contributor Zhan Hao underscores that during a visit to India earlier this month, Mr. Wang wanted “to remind India not to create problems and not to worsen the bilateral relations”.
• Simultaneously, China has been positioning additional forces and building new infrastructure in the Doklam area. It is also strengthening rear support, in tune with China’s ongoing military reforms.
• The blog points out that China had first deployed “number 76 group on the (Doklam) plateau”.
• It earlier quoted Indian media reports as saying that 1,600-1,800 soldiers had been deployed in the Sikkim, Bhutan and the Tibet border area.China built two helicopter platforms, dozens of houses and stores, and upgraded roads to cope with the very severe winter.
• The emergence of a new base in the Doklam area will necessitate the construction of a “wide road in the rear” — a move that will have major implications for Bhutan.
• The posting highlighted that following fresh Chinese deployments, India was likely to scale down “provoking” China, though surveillance drone flights may continue.
• The blog asserted that the flight of the unmanned aircraft was a reflection of India’s anxiety about China’s new deployments in the Doklam area.

Finance minister reiterates the need for reforms in Education sector

• Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said it is imperative to reform India’s education sector. Even at a growth rate of 7-7.5%, India is not a satisfied nation, he said.
• “If the country’s growth is to surge in the next 10-20 years, then we have to think in terms of a roadmap, particularly in education,”.
• Stating that India has transformed into an ‘aspirational nation’ over the past 25 years, he said that while a number of sectors have reformed, education has remained untouched.
• “A country with a large population can see it either as an asset or liability. India has the potential to trade and create minds and the best of resources, which can add not only to our economy, but can also go and service other economies with stagnant populations. But to catalyse this, we need to unleash our energies as far as education is concerned,” he said.
• The Finance Minister alluded to the economy prior and subsequent to Liberalisation in 1991, commenting that as long as the economy was restrictive, the country grew moderately during the conservative era of the Licence Raj.

::International::

UN Security Council is considering change to the status of Jerusalem

• The UN Security Council is considering a draft resolution affirming that any change to the status of Jerusalem has no legal effect and must be reversed, in response to the U.S. decision to recognise the city as Israel’s capital.
• Egypt circulated the draft text on Saturday, and diplomats said the council could vote on the proposed measure as early as on Monday.
• Breaking with the international consensus, U.S. President Donald Trump this month announced that he would recognise Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and move the U.S. embassy there from Tel Aviv, sparking protests and strong condemnation.
• The draft resolution stresses that Jerusalem is an issue “to be resolved through negotiations” and expresses “deep regret at recent decisions concerning the status of Jerusalem”, without specifically mentioning Mr. Trump’s move.
• Diplomats said they expected the United States to use its veto power to block the measure while most, if not all, of the 14 other council members were expected to back the draft resolution.
• Israel’s UN Ambassador Danny Danon “strongly condemned” the draft, dismissing it as an attempt by the Palestinians “to reinvent history”.
• The draft resolution calls on all countries to refrain from opening embassies in Jerusalem, reflecting concerns that other governments could follow the U.S. lead.
• It demands that all member-states not recognise any actions that are contrary to UN resolutions on the status of the city.
• Several UN resolutions call on Israel to withdraw from territory seized during the 1967 war.
• The Palestinians had sought a toughly-worded draft resolution that would have directly called on the U.S. administration to scrap its decision.
• But some U.S. allies on the council such as Britain, France, Egypt, Japan and Ukraine were reluctant to be too hard-hitting and insisted that the proposed measure should reaffirm the position enshrined in current resolutions, diplomats said.
• Backed by Muslim countries, the Palestinians are expected to turn to the UN General Assembly to adopt a resolution rejecting the U.S. decision, if, as expected, the measure is vetoed by the United States at the council.

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::Business and Economy::

Odisha seems to have emerged as a preferred investment destination

• Odisha seems to have emerged as a preferred investment destination for a section of Indian companies seeking to remain cost competitive while aiming to expand their market.
• Following an overhaul of the State’s industrial policy and moves by the administration to deliver on promises, a large number of companies from non-metal sectors are heading to the eastern state, the 13th largest contributor to the Indian economy.
• Two years ago, the State came out with a sector-specific Industrial Policy focusing on employment-intensive non-metal sectors with an aim to be among the top three investment destinations in the country.
• It unveiled its Vision 2025 at the Make In India Week in Mumbai last year.
• According to a recent Assocham report, Odisha has been ranked third with a more than 7% share in total live investments exceeding Rs. 177 lakh crore attracted by different states of India as of FY17. Maharashtra had a share of more than 11% while Gujarat had 8.5%.
• Odisha had attracted more than 900 projects with live investments worth more than Rs. 13 lakh crore as of FY17, the report said.
• Odisha clocked a CAGR of about 9% in the industry sector between FY12 and FY17 which was ahead of all-India’s growth rate of 6%.
• Political stability under Naveen Patnaik since 2000 has helped. Top officials point to his relentless efforts in ensuring ease of doing business.
• Over the years, big names such as Tata Steel, Aditya Alumina, Vedanta, Jindal Steel & Power and Essar have invested in the state. But, this time around, companies from the non-metal sectors and MSMEs are coming in droves.
• Shahi Exports, India’s largest apparel exporter had started production in the state in 2016 and has already applied for capacity expansion to employ a total of 2,500 people.
• Odisha is also pulling out all stops in promoting food processing. ITC and Surya Foods, the makers of Priya Gold, are setting up units. Anmol Biscuits has invested in a factory to manufacture 5,000 tonnes of biscuits a month in Bhubaneswar and is also planning a cake factory. The company has a total investment plan of more than Rs. 150 crore.
• Seafood processing is also high on the State’s agenda. A Sea Food Park with a state-sponsored investment of Rs. 134 crore is coming up at Deras, near the State capital, which will be functional in early 2018. The park stands on 150 acres and seafood processed there would be primarily meant for exports.
• Twenty firms have committed investments worth Rs. 466 crore in the park. Odisha is targeting seafood exports worth Rs. 20,000 crore per year in the next five years.
• Navrangpur in southwest Odisha has traditionally seen significant production of maize. The State is now wooing cattlefeed manufacturers to set up base. Several starch units have applied for permission.
• The State is also setting up an Aluminium Park at Angul near the Nalco factory, a Plastic Park at Paradip near an Indian Oil refinery and a Food Processing Park at Bhadrak.
• Firms find the low wage rate attractive. Land acquisition costs and power tariffs are also low, and so is the cost of living, said sources. The State rates firms on their ability to create employment and provides incentives based on the rating.
• Odisha has developed a single-window portal where applicants can log in and obtain necessary approvals. Their grievances will also be tracked through this portal.

After two decades India was not blamed for the failure of a meeting of WTO

• For the first time in the more than two-decade history of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), India was not blamed for the failure of a meeting of the global organisation’s apex decision-making body as witnessed in the Argentine capital.
• The WTO’s Ministerial Conference had, on earlier occasions, ended without a Ministerial Declaration in Seattle (1999), Cancun (2003) and Geneva (in 2009 and partly in 2011) owing to a lack of consensus among member-nations from the rich and the poor world on issues relating to market-opening commitments in farm and industrial goods.
• India was blamed for these as well as for the failure of some of WTO’s ‘mini-ministerials’ (meetings by a group of some important members of the WTO from the developing and developed world), most notably in June 2007 in Potsdam and July 2008 in Geneva on agriculture issues.
• Talking about India’s efforts to protect food security right and centrality of development in multilateral trade negotiations as well as its views against the introduction of new issues like e-commerce, investment facilitation and norms relating to small firms into the ongoing Doha Round talks.
• The position of the U.S. to block the demands of more than 100 developing countries, including India and China, for the implementation of their food security programmes without onerous conditions, was widely seen as one of the main reasons for the failure of the talks.
• The U.S. had also questioned the centrality of development in WTO talks, another reason for the talks ending without a Ministerial Declaration.

Due to more routes fund crunch for UDAN

• With more routes set to be operational under UDAN, the Civil Aviation ministry is likely to face paucity of funds in providing viability gap funding (VGF) to participating airlines, an official said.
• To connect unserved and under-served aerodromes as well as make flying more affordable, the Ministry unveiled Ude Desh ka Aam Naagrik (UDAN) and 128 routes were awarded in the first round of bidding.
• A total of 141 initial proposals have been received from various players in the second round of bidding, the results of which are expected this month. As participating airlines are extended VGF, the Ministry feels that the amount that will be available towards it may not be sufficient once more players start operating UDAN flights.

Foreign investors are flocking India with huge investment

• Foreign investors are flocking to the Indian capital markets in a big way with a net inflow of more than $30 billion (more than Rs. 2 lakh crore) of so-called ‘hot money’ in 2017, with equities alone getting over $8 billion — an amount bigger than the cumulative investment of the previous two years.
• As the year draws to a close, the Indian stock market seems to have regained its status as one of the most favoured destinations for foreign portfolio investors (FPIs), as they have taken their net investment position in equities so far in 2017 to Rs. 55,000 crore — the highest in three years after Rs. 20,500 crore in 2016 and Rs. 17,800 crore in 2015.
• However, this remains a far cry from the heady levels seen earlier — Rs. 97,000 crore in 2014, Rs. 1.13 lakh crore in 2013 and Rs. 1.28 lakh crore in 2012.
• A sharper turnaround was seen in 2017 in terms of FPI inflows into debt markets where the net investments have soared to a staggering Rs. 1.5 lakh crore, after a net outflow of about Rs. 43,600 crore in 2016.

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