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Current Affairs for IAS Exams – 15 March 2016

:: NATIONAL ::

Union government will assess loss to the crop

The Centre has sent teams to Punjab, Haryana and other northern and western States to assess the loss of winter-sown (rabi) crops, including wheat, due to untimely rains and hailstorms in the past few days.
There are reports of damage to wheat crop in parts of Punjab, Haryana and Western Uttar Pradesh as hail and rain, accompanied with strong winds flattened the standing crop at many places.
The current spell of rain and hailstorms in parts of Rajasthan has also threatened the mustard crop.
On a conservative side, the wheat crop might have been damaged in five per cent of the total sown area in these northern States.
Wheat has been sown on around 29 million hectares this season across the country and out of this, around half the wheat is sown in the northern and western States.
Agriculture experts say the current spell of rains is detrimental for the early sown varieties. However, the late-sown crops could survive provided there is no wind or hailstorm in the coming days.

Supreme Court says Child’s interest should be the focus during adoption

Noting that the interests should be kept “first and foremost” during adoption, the Supreme Court directed the Centre and the States to frame regulations under the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection) Act, 2015.
SC also directed Centre and the States to implement the new guidelines for in-country and inter-country adoption to make the process transparent, friendly and fool-proof.
The new juvenile law defines “adoption” as the process through which the adopted child is permanently separated from his biological parents and becomes the lawful child of his adoptive parents with all the rights, privileges and responsibilities that are attached to a biological child.
Section 2 of the 2015 Act mandates that adoption regulations should be framed by the authority notified for the purpose by the Centre.
Terming the new law and its guidelines “comprehensive” and in line with the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child of 1989, the Supreme Court said it “puts in place safeguards against trafficking of children in the name of adoption.”
In 2011, there were 5,964 in-country adoptions and 589 inter-country adoptions. In 2014-15, there were 3,988 in-country adoptions and 374 inter-country ones.
The Bench, however, refused the NGO’s plea for an omnibus CBI probe into such rackets in the past in various parts of the country.

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:: India and World ::

Maldives and India to finalise cross border counter terror mechanism

India and the Maldives are in the process of finalising a “cross-border counter-terror mechanism” to deal with radicalisation, and to tackle the spread of citizens trying to join the terror group, the Islamic State, in particular.
Maldives, which believes about 40 of its citizens are currently fighting with the terror group in Iraq and Syria, wants to work closely with India and Sri Lanka, two countries that Maldivian citizens most travel to.
Explaining that the mechanism between India and the Maldives would go beyond “intelligence sharing,” Maldivian High Commissioner to India Ahmed Mohamed said, “There is a discussion between the Indian government and the Maldives on establishing a cross-border mechanism to address this issue and already the Maldives has institutionalised the process.”
Discussions would be with India and other countries on sharing policies on deradicalisation, as well as working with communities on preventing youth from being recruited for the brutal terror organisation.
Maldives shot to international attention on the issue after a video, purportedly made by men who claimed to belong to the IS, threatened “bomb attacks” in the tourist-bound islands after the arrest of Islamist leader Sheikh Imran Abdulla last year.

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:: INTERNATIONAL ::

Peace talks for Syria started

Talks to end Syria’s civil war opened in Geneva, but hopes for a breakthrough remained remote with the sides locked in a bitter dispute over the future of President Bashar Al-Assad.
The negotiations, which began a day before the fifth anniversary of the outbreak of the conflict, are the latest effort to end violence that has killed more than 270,000 people and displaced millions.
As the delegations arrived in Geneva over the weekend, Damascus warned that any discussion about removing Mr. Assad would be a “red line”.
UN envoy said agreeing on a new Syrian government was the main obstacle to forging a lasting peace.

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:: Science and Technology ::

The global surface temperatures in February were 1.35 degree Celsius warmer

Global temperatures in February smashed previous monthly records by an unprecedented amount, according to NASA data, sparking warnings of a climate emergency.
It confirms preliminary analysis from earlier in March, indicating the record-breaking temperatures.
The global surface temperatures across land and ocean in February were 1.35 degree Celsius warmer than the average temperature for the month, from the baseline period of 1951-1980.
The global record was set just one month earlier, with January already beating the average for that month by 1.15 degree Celsius above the average for the baseline period.
Although the temperatures have been spurred on by a very large El Nino in the Pacific Ocean, the temperature smashed records set during the last large El Nino from 1998, which was at least as strong as the current one.
The month did not break the record for hottest month, since that is only likely to happen during a northern hemisphere summer, when most of the world’s land mass heats up.

:: Business and Economy ::

WPI is in negative again

Retail inflation slowed to a four-month low in February, while the wholesale price index posted a negative reading for a 16th straight month.
It prompted industry groups to call on the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to cut interest rates to spur economic growth.
Consumer price index-based inflation decelerated to 5.2 per cent from 5.7 per cent in the preceding month.
Wholesale prices also continued to soften with official numbers for the wholesale price index (WPI) showing a 0.91 per cent contraction in February.
The data marks the first break in the six-month streak of accelerating retail inflation. Coming soon after official statistics showing industrial output continues to shrink, the figures signal domestic demand is yet to gain significant traction.
RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan had taken note of the poor industrial performance in January and said while the economy was recovering, this recovery was volatile and that not all economic indicators were moving in the same direction.
Index for Industrial Production (IIP) in January showed output contracted 1.53 per cent compared with the 1.18 per cent contraction in December 2015.
Food inflation in the CPI came in at 5.5 per cent in February compared with 6.7 per cent in January.
In the WPI, the rate of inflation in food articles also decreased to 3.35 per cent in February from 6 per cent in January. Primary article inflation in the WPI slowed down significantly in February to 1.6 per cent compared to 4.6 per cent in January.
Similarly, the rate of inflation in the ‘fuel & power’ segment in the WPI was -6.4 per cent in February compared to -9.2 per cent in January.
The ‘fuel & light’ segment in the CPI came in at 4.6 per cent in February, down from 5.3 per cent in January.
Inflation in the housing segment of the CPI accelerated to 5.3 per cent from 5.2 per cent in January.