Current Affairs for IAS Exams – 27 May 2016

:: National ::

Kerala exchequer to loose significant amount due to NGT orders

• The State exchequer is to loose more than Rs.135 crore annually owing to curbs imposed by the National Green Tribunal’s Kochi Circuit bench on registration of diesel vehicles above 2000-cc in six cities in the State.

• Besides, the State will have to mobilise over Rs.270 crore for part repayment of motor vehicle tax to owners of 94,000 non-transport vehicles and 91,000 transport vehicles.

• More than 1.85 lakh motor vehicles powered by HSD and older than 10 years are to be phased out in the next five years, according to the NGT order.

• Rs.270 crore, the amount to be repaid, was worked out on the basis of 40 per cent depreciation to vehicles.

• The State collects one-time motor vehicle tax for a 15-year period. As diesel vehicles have to be phased out, the report said, the tax collected for the remaining five years would have to be repaid.

Apex court allowed salvagers Girone to go to Italy

• With the Centre endorsing his plea to return to Italy on ‘humanitarian grounds’, the Supreme Court allowed Italian marine Salvatore Girone to go home.

• He will have to return if an international tribunal decides that India has jurisdiction to try the marines for the deaths of two Kerala fishermen in 2012.

• In September 2014, the court had allowed Mr. Girone’s compatriot and co-accused in the case, MassimilianoLatorre, to leave for Italy after he suffered a stroke.

• The decision to let Mr. Girone go was taken after the Supreme Court was informed that the tribunal may give its verdict only by December 2018.

• A Vacation Bench laid down conditions for releasing Mr. Girone, including that he continue to remain under the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court and report to the local police station in Italy once every month.

• Also, the Italian authorities will keep the Indian embassy informed.

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:: International ::

Clear discussions on boundary negotiations between India and China

• Cordial and clear discussions on sensitive issues marked India-China talks during President Pranab Mukherjee’s visit to Beijing but no significant change in divergent positions was realised.

• Meetings with President Xi Jinping, Prime Minister Li Keqiang and National Peoples’ Congress chairman Zhang Dejiang marked a busy third day of a four-day visit by Mr. Mukherjee to China.

• Mr. Mukherjee’s delegation apprised its Chinese counterparts about India’s aims to rapidly expand its civilian nuclear programme in line with the country’s energy needs. He also asked Mr. Xi to give this matter “personal attention”.

• Director-General of Asian region in China’s ministry of foreign affairs, briefing the press following the meeting also said that the two leaders “agreed to strengthen cooperation in the peaceful uses of nuclear energy”.

• Mr. Mukherjee led a delegation to meet Mr. Xi after receiving a grand welcome in a ceremony held at the Great Hall of Peace in Beijing.

• The two leaders discussed ways to strengthen cooperation in “investment, trade and tourism”.

• Specifically, China has also agreed to accommodate more Indian tourists (seven batches or around 400 people this year) to visit Kailash Mansarovar via the Nathu La pass into Tibet.

• The two leaders also agreed to advance the ongoing boundary negotiations under the ‘Special Representatives’ mechanism, and at the same time resolved to take actions to maintain peace and tranquillity in the boundary regions.

• Mr. Jaishankar said that the Indian delegation had conveyed to the Chinese the need to eliminate cross-border terrorism.

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:: Business and Economy ::

India to WTO Dispute Settlement Body for adjudicating its dispute with the U.S.

• India will soon ask the World Trade Organisation (WTO) Dispute Settlement Body to establish a panel of experts to adjudicate its dispute with the U.S. over the increase in visa fees, government sources said.

• This follows the failure of India and the U.S. to arrive at an amicable solution during the consultations held on May 11 and 12 under the auspices of the WTO, they said.

• India’s decision to seek the setting up of the panel is likely to be announced after Prime Minister’s June 7-8 visit to the U.S.

• According to WTO norms, if consultations fail, the complaining country can ask the settlement body to appoint a panel.

• India notified the WTO Secretariat that it has “initiated a WTO dispute proceeding against the U.S. regarding measures imposing increased fees on certain applicants for two categories (H-1B and L-1) of non-immigrant temporary working visas into the U.S., as well as measures relating to numerical commitments for some visas.”

• According to India, the measures appear to be inconsistent with the U.S. commitments under the General Agreement on Trade in Services.

• India said the visa fee increase is “discriminatory” against Indian firms as these (H-1B and L-1) are the same categories that are most extensively used by Indian service suppliers, especially in the information technology sector.

• India warned that the U.S.’s decision to continue with the implementation of the visa fee increase could result in other nations deliberately raising customs duties on goods to increase revenue for their domestic programmes.

• During the talks, the U.S. denied that there was anything in its legislation specifying that the visa fee hike is applicable only to Indian companies.

• The U.S. said there was nothing discriminatory in the legislation against Indian information technology companies, adding that since the visa fee increase is general in nature, it was not violative of any WTO rule.

• Washington also informed that the visa fee hike was part of a legislation (the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2016), and therefore it would not be possible to make any changes without addressing the legislation as a whole.

• Indian IT industry body Nasscom said the financial implications of the visa fee increase for the technology sector would be around $400 million a year.

Food processing sector to attract more FDI

• Foreign direct investment (FDI) in the food processing sector is expected to cross $1 billion in the next two years, helped by reforms in FDI space and streamlining of FSSAI regulations, Union Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal has said.

• The government has announced 100 per cent FDI in marketing of food products produced and processed in India in this year’s Budget.

• Besides food parks, she said the rules and regulations of the food regulator FSSAI had been streamlined to boost food processing sector.

• The food processing sector has attracted $463 million worth of FDI during April-February of the last fiscal, she added.

• According to Ms. Badal, growth of the food processing sector will help farmers get better price for their produce as well as lead to reduction in wastage and lower prices of fruits and vegetables.

• To achieve this, the government has taken various steps to create infrastructure at the farm gate level. The ministry had allocated 17 food parks and about Rs.50 crore per food park will be given as grant.

• “In the last two years, seven food parks have become operational while during the UPA’s 10-year tenure, only two parks were operationalised,” Ms. Badal averred, adding that the target is to operationalise all 42 mega food parks by 2019.

• The minister said once the processing level reaches 20 per cent, consumers would have the option of processed fruits and vegetables and that too, at affordable prices.

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Sources: Various News Papers & PIB

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