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Current Affairs for IAS Exams – 02 December 2015

NATIONAL

President Pranab Mukherjee has given as- sent to the contentious Labour Laws Bill of Gujarat, which has provisions to ban strikes in public utility services for up to one year.
The Bill was sent for the President’s approval along with the controversial Gujarat Control of Terrorism and Organised Crime (GCTOC) Bill, 2015, which is yet to be given the green light.
the Labour Laws (Gujarat Amendment) Bill, 2015, was cleared by the President on September 20. The Sikkim Promotion of Local Employment Bill was rejected on September 26 because it violated Sections 14, 15 and 19 of the Constitution.
As their contents had certain clauses repugnant to the Central government laws, the Ministry of Home Affairs had sent the two Bills for inter-ministerial consultation before for- warding them to the President.
Not all State laws are sent to the President for assent.
Over a dozen amendments were made to the original law regarding labour laws protecting labourers in factories and other sectors.

In a development that could create more employment opportunities and improve working conditions for women in factories and other sectors in Maharashtra, President Pranab Mukherjee gave his assent to a legislation that amends the Factories Act, 1948 allowing women to work night shifts from 7 p.m. to 6 a.m..
Percentage of educated women is in- creasing, and there is need for more employment opportunities for them.
In July this year, the Maharashtra Assembly had passed the amendment to Section 66 of the Factories Act which prevented women from working night shifts. The Bill was sent to the President for his nod.

Very heavy rain re- turned to Tamil Nadu, battering the already-ravaged coastal areas and bringing life to a grinding halt in Chennai and Puducherry.
Heavy rain in the catchment areas of the Chembarambakkam reservoir (25 centimetres between 8.30 a.m. and 5.30 p.m. on Tues- day) forced the authorities to discharge water at the rate of 20,000 cubic feet per second into the Adyar River.
Army Flood Relief Columns are carrying out extensive operations in Tambaram and Urapakkam areas in Chennai. Experts say there is a clear danger of infectious diseases breaking out, given the sanitary conditions. They warn that the State must be prepared and initiate remedial measures as soon as possible.

In yet another strong call for harmony and tolerance amid the raging debate on intolerance, President Pranab Mukherjee called for freeing “our public discourse from all forms of violence, physical as well as verbal.”
“ Real dirt of India lies not in our streets but in our minds and in our unwillingness to let go of views that divide society into ‘them’ and ‘us,’ ‘pure’ and ‘impure,’ he said, stressing Mahatma Gandhi’s vision of India as an inclusive nation with everyone being equal.
Underscoring the importance of an open society, Mr.Mukherjee said: “Only those who are confident of their conviction, secure in their faith and rooted in their culture can hope to live in an open house, an open society. If we close ourselves in, seek to be immune from other influences, it shows we are pre- pared to live in a house that is devoid of fresh breeze.”

China proposed a string of thematic lines, including a focus on counter-terrorism, for the development of media, in tune with the growing clout of the Brazil-Russia-India-China-South Africa (BRICS) grouping on the international stage.
The first BRICS media summit, was hosted by China’s Xinhua News Agency and co-chaired by The Hindu group of publications, Empresa Brasil de Communicacao S/A-EBC of Brazil, Rossiya Segodnya of Russia and South Africa’s Independent Media.
The BRICS countries are “protectors of current international system,” “constructors of international peace” and “promoters of a new type of international relations” said Chinese Vice-Foreign Minister Zhang Yesui
The media summit focused on two additional themes — integration of traditional and new media, as well as establishing an institutional architecture for the development of journalism in the BRICS countries.
The Beijing Declaration issued at the end of the conference noted the profound changes that were brought about the rapid development of the Internet and digital technology on the global media environment. “
The summit also yielded a six-point agreement on institutional development in the BRICS countries. This included: establishing a BRICS media foundation, a liaison office that would coordinate summit activities, training of media personnel, and coordination of BRICS media covering G-20 summits, holding a photo exhibition along BRICS summits and setting up BRICS Media Journalism Awards.

Roch Marc Kabore became Burkina Faso’s first democratically elected leader in nearly four decades , vowing a brighter future for the western African country after a year of political turmoil and unrest.

The benchmark interest rate, the repo rate, unchanged at 6.75 per cent as expected, and stressed the central bank’s policy stance remained “accommodative”.
The comment signalled that the RBI was prepared to continue with more monetary easing, if needed, to support an economic recovery.
Consumer price inflation, RBI’s main gauge for measuring price gains, quickened to a four-month-high of 5 per cent in October though the central bank appears on course to meet its January inflation target of 6 per cent.
Rajan also stressed the need for fiscal consolidation, which is also required for further monetary easing.
The impact of the seventh pay commission’s proposals need to watched. The pay panel’s direct effect on aggregate demand is, however, likely to be offset by appropriate budgetary tightening as the Government stays on the fiscal consolidation path,

India’s manufacturing sector grew at its slowest pace in 25 months in November on sluggish pace of new business orders, data from a monthly survey showed, strengthening the case for the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to keep the interest rates low.
This also marks the fourth consecutive month of decline in the rate of Indian manufacturing output growth, as per the monthly Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) survey conducted by Markit and Nikkei India.
he health of India’s manufacturing economy improved for the 25th successive month in November, although to the least extent in this sequence. The latest PMI data showed slower increases in incoming new business and output, while subdued demand growth led firms to keep workforce numbers broadly unchanged