Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 29 September 2017

Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 29 September 2017

::National::

Banaras Hindu University gets its first women proctor

• The Banaras Hindu University (BHU) appointed its first woman chief proctor, after her predecessor resigned taking moral responsibility for the recent violence on the campus.
• The appointment was approved by Vice-Chancellor Girish Chandra Tripathi, following the resignation of O.N. Singh.
• Royana Singh, an assistant professor at the Institute of Medical Science (Anatomy Department), has been appointed as the Chief Proctor. She is the first woman in the varsity’s history to hold the post and also heads the women’s grievance cell of the university.
• A number of students, including women, were injured in a baton charge by the police in BHU, where a protest against an alleged eve- teasing incident turned violent.Meanwhile, Mr. Tripathi visited the hostel and held talks with students.
• The V-C has accepted various demands of the students over their security concerns such as round-the-clock security, CCTV network, proper checking at the gates, and recruitment of women security guards, among other issues, according to students.

Union government will review the flexi-fare system

• The Union government will review the flexi-fare system introduced in premium trains last year, Railway Minister Piyush Goyal said.
• The Railways were also planning to reset its timetable by reducing the travel time for 600-700 trains through rescheduling and increasing speed, he said.
• Minister of State Railways Manoj Sinha said the government was not considering any hike in the rail fares at present.
• The Railways introduced the flexi-fare scheme in September last year in Rajdhani, Duronto and Shatabdi trains, under which 10% of the seats were sold at normal fare. The fare was increased thereafter by 10% for every 10% of the berths sold.
• The Railways had delayed the release of its timetable by a month to November 1 to redraft it focussing on speed and efficiency.
• The Railways are also in discussions with the Indian Space Research Organisation to use GPS technology to monitor trains for punctuality.
• The timetable would also be realigned keeping railway safety in mind so that stoppage of traffic for maintenance work gets priority.
• This move holds importance in the light of derailment of the Utkal Express near the Khatauli railway station in Uttar Pradesh that killed at least 21 people and injured more than 90 in August.
• The preliminary investigation had found that the Khatauli station officials did not allow stoppage of traffic for repairs and the maintenance team started working on the track without due permission.

CIC has upheld the right to information over the right to privacy

• The Central Information Commission (CIC) has upheld the right to information over the right to privacy in a case concerning the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) denying information on cases lying pending with it.
• It observed that the appellant’s request for action taken information on four-year-old complaints before the NCPCR was in the public interest and related to its core function.
• In its latest order, the CIC said it was not convincing that the NCPCR refused information, observing that no effort was made to provide the information which could have been voluntarily disclosed under Section 4(1)(b) of the RTI Act.
• The appellant sought information about the number of complaints received by the NCPCR, a copy of inquiry proceedings in such complaints, date-wise decisions of cases in which the accused were found guilty and what relief was granted.
• However, the Public Information Officer (PIO) replied on May 17, 2017 that the information sought was not disclosable as per exemption under Section 8 (1)(j) of RTI Act.
• The CIC said the NCPCR hired the services of a consultant and an adviser, who instead of guiding the PIO properly to disclose the information, misguided him to deny the entire information.
• The CIC has ordered the NCPCR to provide information regarding cases pending for over two years pertaining to the Bihar circle and the details of disposal of cases where the accused were found guilty, after removing names and personal details of children, within 15 days.
• It has also directed the PIO to show-cause why maximum penalty should not be imposed upon each of them, for illegal obstruction of information, before October 20, 2017.
• In a commentary on the impact of the right to privacy judgment passed by the Supreme Court on the RTI Act, Information Commissioner Madabhushi Sridhar noted that the public information officers continue to deny access to information held by them.

ECI will use VVPAT gadgets with Electronic Voting Machines in Gujrat polls

• The Election Commission of India will use Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) gadgets with Electronic Voting Machines (EVM) in all 50,128 voting booths in Gujarat, which goes to the Assembly polls at the end of this year.
• “This is the first time an entire assembly poll will be conducted using EVMs equipped with VVPAT,” Chief Electoral Officer B.B. Swain said.
• VVPAT machines, which will be attached to the EVMs, will allow voters to verify if their vote has gone to the intended candidate.
• This would ensure transparency in the voting process, the Chief Electoral Officer said.
• The machine is being put to use in Gujarat following a petition filed by Reshma Patel, one of the conveners of the Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti.

::International::

UN says talks between Syria and Opposition to happen in a Month

• The UN’s top envoy for Syria announced that new talks between Syria’s government and Opposition will take place “in about a month” and said this eighth round must finally move to “genuine negotiations on the political future” of the war-ravaged country.
• Staffan de Mistura told the UN Security Council that both sides should use the coming month to create conditions for the talks in Geneva “to be meaningful”, and to participate “without preconditions”.
• With the civil war now waging for over six-and-a-half years, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his allies have taken control of the country’s four largest cities and its Mediterranean coast.
• Backed by Russian air power and Iranian-sponsored militias, pro-government forces have marched across energy-rich Homs province and were fighting Wednesday on the east bank of the Euphrates.
• Mr. de Mistura told the council that fighters for the Islamic State (IS) are “being beaten back”.
• He pointed to the breaking of a three-year siege of Deir el-Zor city by IS, and the U.S.-led international coalition taking control of most of the city of Raqqa, once the de facto capital of the militant group’s self-styled caliphate.
• These zones should be a precursor “to a truly nationwide cease-fire” and action to provide humanitarian aid to all in need, he said.
• Talks in Kazakhstan’s capital of Astana “should be seen as laying the basis for a renewed Geneva process”, he added.
• Mr. de Mistura called on both Syria’s government and Opposition to use the weeks before the next talks “to assess the situation with realism and responsibility”.

Business and Economy

Finance Minister asked CPSEs to aggressively push capital expenditure

• Finance Minister asked central public sector enterprises (CPSEs) to aggressively push capital expenditure and warned against any slackness as the government looks to boost growth through increased public spending.
• While reviewing the capital expenditure plans of important CPSEs, estimated at Rs. 3.85 lakh crore, the minister also asked them to give “liberal dividends” to the government so that the money could be used for funding physical-social infrastructure.
• The meeting took place against the backdrop subdued private investments and sagging growth, which slowed to a three-year low of 5.7% in the first quarter of the current fiscal.
• Heads of major CPSEs in sectors like petroleum, defence, power, road transport, railways, coal, mines, steel and atomic energy have assured the government of raising capital expenditure by an additional Rs. 25,000 crore.
• Mr. Jaitley, while appreciating the commitments of the ministries and CPSEs, assured that the government would make available adequate resources but “no slackness under any circumstances would be acceptable“.
• It added that in the discussions for raising capital investments, it also came to attention that most public sector undertakings have very low or no debt on their balance sheet which is reflected in their low debt to equity ratios.
• “CPSEs were, therefore, asked to raise more debt and not to rely entirely on cash and free reserves for finding new investments and capital expenditure,” the release said.
• The CPSEs which have free reserves and surplus cash “were asked to consider declaring liberal dividends” so as to promote more productive use of such resources for financing much needed physical and social infrastructure.
• The CPSEs were also asked to release outstanding payments expeditiously to help improve the liquidity in the market, besides raising more resources through innovative financing arrangements like InvITs, and monetisation of assets.
• Since private investment is low, public spending along with investment from CPSEs is expected to drive economic activities and help perk up growth.
• Govt plans to borrow Rs. 2.08 lakh crore from the market in the second half
• The government plans to borrow Rs. 2.08 lakh crore from the market in the second half of 2017—18, a top official said today, reiterating its commitment to meet the fiscal deficit target of 3.2% cent of GDP.
• To finance the fiscal deficit for the current financial year, the Budget has pegged gross borrowing at Rs. 5.8 lakh crore and net borrowing at Rs. 4.25 lakh crore.
• The government borrowed Rs. 3.72 lakh crore in the first half and has pegged gross borrowings at Rs. 2.08 lakh crore in the remaining six months of the financial year ending March 31.
• The net borrowings in the October-March period of the year has been pegged at Rs. 1.92 lakh crore.
• Amid talks of stimulus package to boost sagging economic growth, Mr. Garg said deficit targets are set in the Budget and the finance ministry will stick to them as of now.
• He further said that the assessment of additional borrowing requirement, if any, would be made in December. He added however that there seems to be no need for additional borrowing.
• Central Public Sector Enterprises’ capital expenditure of more than Rs. 3.75 lakh crore was moving as per the plan, Mr. Garg said.

Centre is considering a proposal to allow small firms to file quarterly returns

• The Centre is considering a proposal from the industry to allow small firms to file quarterly returns even as they pay taxes on a monthly basis under the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime.
• This follows the troubles these small firms are having regarding complying with the GST norms due to their limitations in getting professional help, lack of connectivity and technological glitches.
• Sources said discussions were on regarding the threshold limit for small firms who could be granted such a relaxation.
• The suggestion was made at finance minister’s meeting with industry bodies and exporters to address their GST-related problems.
• The Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) raised demands including seeking exemption for merchant exporters from GST.
• Under RCM, threshold exemption for payment of tax may be increased from the present Rs. 5,000 to Rs. 50,000 which shall help ease burden of excessive compliances especially for the MSME players.

::Science and Tech::

A new test can help detect Zika and dengue viruses in blood

• A new test that resembles a pregnancy indicator strip can help detect Zika and dengue viruses in blood, according to a study which used serum samples from several countries including India.
• The test developed by researchers, including those from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the U.S., can accurately differentiate between the two mosquito-borne viruses.
• Researchers checked the accuracy of the test by testing blood serum samples taken from people in Brazil, Colombia, Guatemala, India, Mexico and Panama.
• The paper-strip test contains antibodies that react to the presence of Zika or dengue virus, and gold nanoparticles that respond to the antibody reaction.
• To use the test, a medical professional would dip the strip into a tube of either blood serum or whole blood, said the study published in the journal Science Translational Medicine .
• Zika and dengue both belong to the same viral family, which are called flaviviruses. They are two closely related viruses spread by the same mosquito.
• The team developed the new test because current testing products sometimes cross-react between Zika and dengue, providing a false positive for Zika when the patient actually has the other virus.
• Currently, material costs are about $5 (Rs. 320) per strip.

A fourth gravitational wave has been detected

• A fourth gravitational wave has been detected — this time with help from Italy-based equipment — after two black holes collided, sending ripples through the fabric of space and time, researchers said.
• Gravitational waves were predicted by Albert Einstein a century ago as part of his theory of general relativity, but the first hard evidence of their existence came only in 2015, when two U.S. detectors found the first such signal.
• The newly produced spinning black hole has about 53 times the mass of our Sun,” said a statement from the international scientists at Virgo detector, located at the European Gravitational Observatory (EGO) in Cascina, near Pisa, Italy.
• The Virgo detector — an underground L-shaped instrument that tracks gravitational waves using the physics of laser light and space — recently underwent an upgrade, and while still less sensitive than its U.S. counterparts, it was able to confirm the same signal.
• Known as interferometers, these high-tech underground stations do not rely on light in the sky like a telescope does, but instead sense vibrations in space and can pick up the “chirp” created by a gravitational wave.
• Previously, gravitational waves have been found using two U.S.-based detectors, known as the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) detectors in Livingston, Louisiana, and Hanford, Washington.
• The first was found in September 2015 and announced to the public in early 2016, a historic achievement after decades of scientific research.
• LIGO is funded by the National Science Foundation in the U.S. and operated by the California Institute of Technology and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Click Here for Old Current Affairs Archive

This is a Part of Online Coaching Programme for UPSC Exam

Buy Printed Study Material for UPSC PRELIMS EXAM

Join Test Series for IAS (Pre.) Exam