Current Affairs for IAS Exams – 12 December 2015

Current Affairs for IAS Exams – 12 December 2015

:: NATIONAL ::

Number of difficulties comes with Aadhaar notification in AP

• Even as school managements heaved a sigh of relief after the government relaxed the rule that makes inclusion of Aadhaar card numbers in the SSC forms mandatory.

• The Andhra Pradesh State Edu-cation Department, in a circular issued on November 26, said inclusion of Aadhaar number was mandatory for students writing their SSC exams in March 2016.

• The categorical warning handed out by the department, setting December 15 as deadline, sent school managements and parents into a tizzy.

• It took a good number of furious parents and baled school managements to deplore the move and remind the authorities concerned about the SC directive that Aadhaar card should be made mandatory only for those availing an LPG subsidy and the beneficiaries of the Public Distribution System, to retract the move.

• Then there is the problem of discrepancy in the spellings of the students' names and other details in the birth certificates and the Aadhaar cards which need to be addressed afresh.

Congress stalling RS for National Herald

• With the BJP ready-ing a booklet titled ‘National Herald Family Greed and National Blackmail' to pro-vide its members of Parliament and organisational leaders points to attack the Congress, no breakthrough to the deadlock in the Rajya Sabha is in sight.

• Congress members repeatedly disrupted the Upper House again on Friday alleging “political vendetta” in the National Herald case even as informal talks continue on the crucial Goods and Services Tax Bill, the fate of which is linked to whether the House functions.

• political positions remain polarised since the National Herald controversy came up.

Indo-Pak foreign secretary meet will happen in Jan (Register and Login to read Full News..)

:: INTERNATIONAL ::

Russia keen on guarantee pact for defence projects

• As India and Russia gear up to sign a major deal for manufacture of Russian light utility helicopters in India with significant participation by the private sector, Russia is keen to conclude a mutual investment guarantee pact with India for joint de-fence projects in future.

• In the first stage it can be a government-to-government agreement. In the second stage it can be at the business-to-business and central bank level. Payment can be in local currencies which will minimise risks.

• India and Russia are expected to conclude the Inter-Governmental agreement for the production of 200 Kamov-226K light utility helicopters in India during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Russia later this month.

• A second-level agreement will be signed between Russian Helicopters and the In-dian partner.

• An Indian private player is likely to be chosen to work with Hindus-tan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) under the Make in India initiative.

Final negotiations before the Climate pact (Register and Login to read Full News..)

:: INDIA and WORLD::

India's plan of Make in India attracts Japan

• Japan's new and aggressive investment plans in India will not be limited to mega infrastructure projects such as bullet trains and will cover almost the full spectrum of prominent government schemes such as “Make in India” and Swachh Bharat.

• Expressing his government's desire to invest in key sectors, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Friday said: “Japan has decades of experience of doing business with India. It is this experience which will help us in India.”

• Mr. Abe delivered a brief speech at the Japan-India Innovation Seminar.

• The bullet train project be-tween Mumbai and Ahmedabad and will be a showpiece of India-Japan collaboration.

• Japan has offered to finance 80 per cent of the cost of the project interest rate of less than 1 per cent.

TAPI gas pipeline could become a reality soon

• Vice-President Hamid Ansari will join Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani along with his host Turkmenistan President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov on Sunday to press a button that will forge the first pipeline to supply Turkmen gas to Afghanistan, Pakistan and India, (TAPI) with a final length of nearly 1,800 km by the time of its completion in 6-7 years.

• The project has potential to extract from it between 15-25% of its natural gas needs of India. India joined TAPI in 2008.

• Afghanistan, which will receive about 16% of the gas (India and Pakistan will have a share of 42% each) from the pipeline, would also receive an estimated $200-$250 mil-lion as transit fees from Pakistan.

• Similarly, India would pay Pakistan transit fees for the pipeline that will originate in Turkmenistan's south east areas, travel through Herat, Fa-rah and Helmand provinces of Afghanistan, entering Pakistan in Balochistan and then cutting across Pakistan Pun-jab to reach the border area of Fazilka-Abohar in Indian Punjab.

• The cost of laying infrastructure to protect the pipe-line from possible attacks will affect the TAPI's viability.

Cooperation in defence between US and India (Register and Login to read Full News..)

:: BUSINESS and ECONOMY ::

Industrial output climbs to 5-year high

• With 17 of the 22 industry groups in the manufacturing sector showing a posi-tive growth, the industrial output in October recorded a five-year high of 9.8 per cent year-on-year.

• The higher growth was on account of a favourable base, as October 2014 registered a negative growth 2.7 per cent, as well as the pre-festive sea-son ramp up in output.

• The industrial output in September 2015 was 3.6 per cent. The growth logged be-tween April and October this year over the corresponding period of the previous fiscal was 4.8 per cent.

• Mining recorded 4.7 per cent year-on-year growth (versus 3 per cent in September), while manufacturing output was 10.6 per cent for the month (versus 2.6 per cent in September).

• Electricity output was seen at 9 per cent in October (versus 11.4 per cent last month).

• The cumulative growth in these three sectors during April-October 2015 over the corresponding period of 2014 has been 2 per cent, 5.1 per cent and 5.2 per cent respectively.

Slide in Brent crude oil price continues

• Crude oil prices hit fresh seven-year lows as the International Energy Agency (IEA) warned global oversupply could worsen in the new year.

• Brent slipped below $39 a barrel for the first time since December 2008 as the IEA, which advises developed nations on energy, warned that demand growth was starting to slow.

• Brent crude futures were down 60 cents at $39.13 a bar-rel at 1058 GMT, bouncing slightly from a session low of $38.90.

To protect steel, anti-dumping duty has been slapped (Register and Login to read Full News..)

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Sources: Various News Papers & PIB

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