Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 12 December 2014

Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 12 December 2014

National

BJP calls for a nationwide law to restrict conversions

• Trying to turn the tables on the Opposition and reiterating a long-held Sangh Parivar view, the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government called for a nationwide law to restrict conversions.
• “Let there be anti-conversion laws in all the States and at the Centre also,” Parliamentary Affairs Minister M. Venkaiah Naidu said at the end of a three-hour discussion in the Lok Sabha on the “conversion by inducement” of Muslims in Agra.
• The Speaker allowed the discussion as a “special case” after three adjournments in the pre-lunch session and a meeting between the government’s floor managers and Opposition leaders in her chamber.
• Opposition leaders accused the BJP and its ideological mentor, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, of being complicit in the reported campaign by Hindu outfits to convert Muslims and Christians into Hindus.
• Objecting to the Opposition “maligning” the RSS, Mr. Naidu said the “RSS is our mother organisation from which we have taken inspiration.” This triggered an angry outburst from the Opposition, which, in turn, brought the BJP members on their feet.
• The Congress led at least six parties in a walkout, with the members shouting slogans. Earlier, initiating the discussion, Jyotiraditya Scindia (Congress) listed a series of attempts by the Sangh Parivar in the past six months to strike at India’s composite culture, and pointed to External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj’s call for making the Bhagavad Gita the “national scripture.”
• He also accused the BJP and its affiliates of “changing Indian history, culture and the national identity.” Wondering if these are the “promised good days,” he said the Prime Minister should reply to the discussion and allay the apprehensions of minorities.

States rejected Centre’s GST Bill

• The States have rejected the draft Bill for the Goods and Services Tax (GST), dealing a major blow to the Centre’s resolve to roll it out at the earliest.
• The Centre-States stalemate has put a question mark over whether the government will be able to introduce the GST Constitution Amendment Bill during the ongoing Winter Session of Parliament.
• Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said in the Lok Sabha last month that he would introduce this Bill during the session. The GST rollout has missed several deadlines in the absence of a Centre-States consensus.
• At a meeting of the Empowered Committee of State Finance Ministers, the States opposed the draft Bill and its proposal to extend the GST to petroleum goods and entry tax.
• “Consensus eludes the Centre and the States on the three main issues of compensation, petrol tax and entry tax,” Empowered Committee Chairman Abdul Rahim Rather told presspersons.
• He said the Empowered Committee would not support the Centre’s Bill unless it conceded the States’ three demands. The GST will subsume all excise and service taxes.
• The States want compensation from the Centre for the revenues they will lose over five years from the shift to the GST regime. They want a clause on the compensation to be inserted into the Bill, Mr. Rather said.
• The Centre’s proposed draft does not have such a provision at present. “We were surprised to know that the Centre has only agreed to one of our recommendations,” said Mr. Rather.
• The Union government agreed that its share of the revenue from the GST would go to the pool of tax revenues devolved to the States.
• Mr. Rather, however, welcomed Mr. Jaitley’s announcement in the Lok Sabha on the payment of Rs. 11,000 crore by April as compensation to the States for the central sales tax. “We are happy to know that the Centre has agreed to keep a provision of Rs. 11,000 crore in the current year’s budget for it.”

NGT stays MoEF clearance for phase 1 of mini-hydel project

• The National Green Tribunal’s (NGT) south zone has stayed the clearance given by the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) for phase 1 of a mini-hydel power project.
• The project was proposed by Sri Maruthi Power Gen (India) Pvt. Ltd., in the reserve forests of Kaginahare and Kenchanakumari in Sakleshpur taluk. The State government had forwarded the project proposal to the MoEF, despite clear opposition from the Forest Department in Karnataka.
• Prashanth Y., a wildlife conservation enthusiast of Bengaluru, had moved the tribunal challenging the MoEF’s clearance for the controversial project.
• The NGT, in its order dated November 20, stated, “The tribunal is satisfied that a prima facie case is made out for granting an order of interim stay of phase 1 clearance issued by MoEF”, and posted the next hearing on the matter for January 21, 2015. Justice M. Chockalingam and expert member R. Nagendran gave this ruling.
• The Karnataka government had sent the proposal in February 2014 for diversion of 10.6897 ha of forest land in favour of the private company to generate 18.9 MW of power.
• Dipak Sarmah, the then Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, had recommended rejection of the proposal. However, Forest Minister B. Ramanath Rai and Chief Minister Siddaramaiah are said to be in favour of the project.
• Mr. Rai had given his opinion, in writing, in favour of it in December 2013. Prior to this, the Chief Minister had also shown interest in reconsidering the project, which was previously rejected. A letter sent to the Forest Department by the Energy Department in June 2013 provides proof of this. The MoEF has cleared the proposal.

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International

Tackle climate change a test of global leadership says john Kerry

• On a day when there was much despair about the climate talks, U.S. Secretary of state John Kerry flew into Lima and made an impassioned appeal for a global commitment to tackle climate change impacts.
• He said addressing climate change promptly and effectively is as big a test of global leadership and every nation has a responsibility to do its part to pass this test.
• Addressing a packed press conference, Mr. Kerry who is en route Colombia, made a 35 minute speech which was more like a political statement where he slammed climate sceptics and emphasized that no single country, not even the United States, can solve this problem or foot this bill alone.
• He said there is no time to sit around going back and forth about whose responsibility it is to act. It’s everyone’s responsibility, because it’s the net amount of carbon that matters, not each country’s share,” he said.
• He accepted that the biggest emitters, including the United States have to contribute more to the solution. And only those nations who step up and respond to this threat can legitimately lay claim to any mantle of leadership and global responsibility.
• And yes, if you’re a big, developed nation and you’re not helping to lead, then you are part of the problem, he declared. He called for giant, measurable, clear steps forward and concrete actions and ambitious commitments.
• However, he also issued a warning to developing countries to act, saying that while industrialized countries have to play a major role in reducing emissions, that doesn’t mean that other nations are just free to go off and repeat the mistakes of the past and that “they somehow have a free pass to go to the levels that we’ve been at where we understand the danger.”
• “We have to remember that today more than half of global emissions – more than half – are coming from developing nations. So it is imperative that they act, too, “he said.
• Speaking of the urgency to combat climate change, he said it ranked equally with the array of global threats– terrorism, extremism, epidemics, poverty, and nuclear proliferation – all challenges that know no borders.
• An ambitious agreement in Paris is not an option, it’s an urgent necessity and he was optimistic that the world can get there.
• And while no one here believes that a global climate agreement is going to be the silver bullet that eliminates this threat, he said it certainly won’t be eliminated without an agreement.
• Now you don’t need a PhD to see for yourself that the world is already changing, Mr. Kerry said and listed out various impacts of climate change and extreme events.
• He blamed “bad habits’’ for the current state of affairs but pointed out that the challenge that may be immense but it’s not insurmountable.

US passes bill to use of military force against ISIS

• A key US Congressional committee has passed a bill authorising use of military force against the dreaded Islamist State militant group that has seized swathes of territory in Iraq and Syria.
• The Authorisation for Use of Military Force (AUMF) bill allows the President to use military force against ISIS for up to three years.
• “But (it) limits the activities of US Armed Forces from participating in ground combat operations except in defined circumstances,” said Senator Robert Menendez, Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
• AUMF passed by a vote of 10 to 8. This AUMF would also require a report on the comprehensive strategy for this campaign after 60 days and sunset the 2001 al-Qaeda AUMF after a period of three years enactment, unless it is reauthorized, he said.
• Earlier, Secretary of State John Kerry appeared before the Committee urging Senators to approve force authorization.
• “We stand resolved to defeat ISIS,” he said. The State Department said it continues to believe the Menendez draft AUMF text provides a reasonable basis for continued discussions.
• “As Secretary Kerry indicated at this week’s hearing, the Administration would like to continue to work with members to further refine the language, including how the authorization defines associated forces, the manner in which the sunset of the new authority is handled at the end of three years, and how it addresses ground combat force limitations,” an official statement said.

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Science & Technology

Shela River route closed after Sundarbans oil spill

• The Bangladesh government has closed Shela River route to allvessels after the sinking of an oil tanker that led to a massive oil spill in the Sundarbans mangrove forest.
• Carrying 357,664 l of furnace oil, the tanker ‘OT Southern Star 7’ went down after being hit by another vessel on the Shela at Mrigmari in the Sundarbans Chandpai range three days ago.
• The massive oil spill from the sunken tanker has put the biodiversity and ecology of the world’s biggest mangrove forest, a world heritage site since 1997, at risk.
• Forest officials suspect that all of the furnace oil in the sunken tanker has already spread into the rivers and canals of the Sundarbans.
• Ministry of Shipping also said the ship which rammed the victim vessel was detained and its survey certificate and registration were cancelled.

Sports

Ankita enters semifinals in ITF women's tennis

• Ankita Raina battled her way past Ellen Allgurin of Sweden 3-6, 7-5, 6-3 in the quarterfinals of the $15,000 ITF women's tennis tournament.
• Ankita, seeded second, was the only Indian to make the semifinals as qualifier Bhuvana Kalva and Natasha Palha lost to top-seeded Sofia Shapatava and fourth-seeded Emily Webley Smith.
• Ankita will be challenged by qualifier Anastasiya Komardina of Russia who recovered from the brink of defeat to oust Margarita Lazareva of Russia 2-6, 7-6(4), 6-4.
• Natasha Palha did well to win unfinished match against Silvia Njiric of Croatia, but lost her quarterfinal clash with Emily Webley Smith.
• In the doubles, Rushmi Chakravarthi and Nidhi Chilumula set up a title clash against second-seeded Ankita Raina and Webley Smith.
• The results: Quarterfinals: Sofia Shapatava (Geo) bt Bhuvana Kalva 6-3, 7-6(3); Emily Webley Smith (GBR) bt Natasha Palha 6-1, 6-3; Anastasiya Komardina (Rus) bt Margarita Lazareva (Rus) 2-6, 7-6(4), 6-4; Ankita Raina bt Ellen Allgurin (Swe) 3-6, 7-5, 6-3.

Business & Economy

India is on growth track: IMF

• The International Monetary Fund said the focus on governance and financial inclusion measures taken by the government were positive signs that India was back on the growth track.
• In India, the growth was stalled for sometime, but the measures taken by the new government started showing signals of growth, it said.
• “We see a positive outlook for India. Last year, the growth rate was 4.7 per cent, and in the current year it would be around 5.6 per cent.
• With the new government’s initiatives, we believe the growth rate next year would be even more,” said Ratna Sahay, Deputy Director (Strategy, Planning and Coordination), Monetary and Capital Markets Department, IMF.
• The IMF also said, in India lack of infrastructure was a major hurdle for developmental activities, which the government needed to address for speedy growth.
• Commenting on the ‘Make in India’ move by the government, Ms. Ratna said, “It will create jobs, and will generate tax revenues. This will help in reducing the fiscal deficit.’’ The IMF also said the growth outlook was good.
• However, the country needed more reforms to fuel the growth. “Though there are positive signs, there are lot of reforms needed to bring inflation and budget deficit down,” she added.
• Some of the reforms the government should look at would be to improve tax administration, introduction of GST, to get rid of subsidies on fertilizers as well as food and reduce corruption.
• “Getting rid of subsidies does not mean ignore the poor. It should be targeted. When the entire country gets bank accounts, it can be facilitated by direct cash transfer. The current account deficit has improved from last year and it will also improve,” added Ms. Ratna.

PSBs can issue equity with differential voting rights: Arundhati Bhattacharya

• With the government indicating that it would not continue to fund public sector banks (PSBs), State Bank of India (SBI) Chairman Arundhati Bhattacharya said they could look at issuing shares with differential voting rights to raise funds to meet the Basel-III capital adequacy norms.
• “The writing on the wall is very clear...they (PSBs) have to think of differential voting rights. It is time to lay out some kind of roadmap on how much the banks need to do and how much support it would get,” she said while talking to reporters on the sidelines of a conference.
• The government allowed PSBs to raise up to Rs.1.60 lakh crore from markets by diluting government holding to 52 per cent in phases so as to meet the Basel III norms.
• Pitching for consolidation in the banking sector, Ms. Bhattacharya said it was important to have 3-4 major banks. According to Ms. Bhattacharya, “it is better to merge good banks with good banks.”
• “The news that the government has allowed PSBs to bring down the government stake to 52 per cent kicks off the next round of reforms... because for the first time, clear signal has been given (to PSBs) to source capital from the market.
• “The big daddy back there is not going to be around to give them capital as and when they need. If they need to be competitive and want to grow, then they definitely need to look at other places for more capital,” Ms. Bhattacharya added.
• The Basel III norms, which will come into effect from March 31, 2019, were put in place following the 2007-08 financial crisis triggered by the fall of Lehman Brothers.

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Sources: Various News Papers & PIB

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