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Current Affairs for IAS Exams – 16 December 2015

:: NATIONAL ::

Ban likely on diesel SUVs

In a decision that may hit the affluent and urban upper-middle class of Delhi hard, the Supreme Court said on Monday that the rich can- not go around in SUVs polluting the environment.
It gave a positive indication that it would order a ban on register- ing diesel SUVs and luxury cars with an engine capacity of over 2000 CC.
A Bench of Chief Justice of India T.S. Thakur and JusticesA.K. Sikri and R. Banumathi said it would pass the order on December 16, the last working day for the apex court before it closes for the Christmas holidays.

WTO conference began in Nairobi

The World Trade Organisation’s (WTO) first Ministerial Conference in Africa began here with leaders from the continent and the WTO chief Roberto Azevedo exhorting the 162 member countries to be inspired by 195 nations recently inking the ‘historic’ Paris agreement on measures to curb global warming, and reach a similarly ambitious pact in a few days to liberalise world trade for lifting millions of people out of poverty.
The ministerial conference (the WTO’s highest decision- making body) is taking place in the Kenyan capital at a time when the global trade body is celebrating its 20th anniversary, but in the backdrop of sluggish world trade and tepid global economic growth.
However, persisting deep differences between the developed and the developing world on market opening commitments and their entrenched positions are expected to make the job of the Ministers difficult in reaching a consensus, especially to remove the distortions in world trade.
Developed countries, citing the slow progress of the ongoing Doha Round negotiations (which began in 2001), want the Round to be either brought to an end during this ministerial conference, or its ambit to be expanded by including ‘new’ issues of their interest and what they call are the latest challenges facing global trade.
These include global value chains, e-commerce, labour, environment, competition policies, investment pacts and state-owned enterprises.
However, developing countries including India want elements of their interest — including protection of the interests of poor farmers and a permanent solution for the issue of public stock-holding for food security purposes — to be addressed on a priority basis.

Office of Principle secretary of Delhi raided by CBI

A Central Bureau of Investigation raid on the secretariat of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal triggered a political storm, with a united opposition accusing the Narendra Modi government of political vendetta using the CBI.
Following the raid, the Delhi CM was locked out of his office for the day. The CBI and the Centre dismissed the allegations.
Reports from certain quarters regarding search at the office of Chief Minister, Delhi, are baseless. CBI emphatically denies having searched the office of CM, Delhi.
False propaganda should not be used to impede our investigation. The CBI spokesperson said in a statement.
According to indications emerging from the CBI, the agency may seek custodial interrogation of the accused IAS official Rajender Kumar.

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:: INTERNATIONAL ::

Naomi Klein believes Paris deal is catastrophic

Air pollution is likely to be a “game changer” for India and China in bringing awareness and action on climate change, according to Naomi Klein, Canadian writer and activist on inequality and climate change.
In Beijing the government had issued a red alert when pollution levels touched 237 micrograms per cubic metre.
Till recently, air pollution resulting from the production and use of fossil fuels like coal, oil and gas was largely confined to the localities of their production.
Now it poses the same danger in cities, where elites face the distress of seeing their children go to school with pollution masks, Ms. Klein said, adding that “domestic pressure” will build up on the need for governments to take action.
Describing the outcome of the recent Climate Change Conference in Paris as “politically ambitious but scientifically catastrophic,” Ms. Klein argued that while the positives included “putting some bold goals in writing”, the language “includes wriggle room and techno-fixes like ocean fertilisation.”
She said the targets set in the INDC (Intended Nationally Determined Contributions) — the very heart of the Paris agreement add up to a 3–4 degree increase in global warming, a far cry from the 1.5 degree cap.

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:: INDIA and WORLD ::

Difference of opinion between India and Pak in SCO

On way to becoming full members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), subtle differences in positions between India and Pakistan, on the fundamentals of countering international terrorism and China’s ‘Belt and Road’ connectivity initiative, came into the open during the heads of government meeting of the grouping in Zhengzhou.
In his opening remarks at the conference, India’s Minister of State for External Affairs, V.K. Singh, pointed to “zero tolerance towards terrorism” as the recipe to counter the menace.
Without naming Pakistan, he said: “Political convenience can no longer provide an alibi for backing terrorist groups ideologically, financially or through material support. Today, the world has realised that there are no good terrorists.”
New Delhi and Islamabad are completing formalities for becoming full members of the SCO, which is steered by China and Russia, and includes most of the Central Asian Republics.
Without stating India’s backing for the ‘Belt and Road’, Gen. Singh acknowledged that SCO member countries and their affiliates “should invest in improving regional transportation and communication networks through mutual consultation and sharing of benefits”.
The Minister proposed establishment of “new networks of physical and digital connectivity that extends from Russia’s northern regions to the shores of Indian Ocean”. He stressed that International North South Transportation Corridor was an important step in that direction.

:: BUSINESS and ECONOMY ::

Import and Export both on negative territory

India’s exports fell for the twelfth consecutive month in November, virtually shrinking by a quarter from a year earlier to $20 billion, leading exporters to seek an intervention from the government as they believe the situation is now worse than what they faced at the peak of the global financial crisis in 2008-09.
Imports also contracted by a sharp 30 per cent in November, led by a 63 per cent decline in fertiliser imports, and a 45 per cent dip in oil imports. Pulses, electronics and fruits and vegetables were the only commodities to see an increase in imports.
The trade deficit for November 2015 was just $9.7 billion, compared with $16.2 billion in November 2014 and experts said the country was unlikely to face pressure on the current account deficit even if there were some foreign capital outflows in response to an anticipated interest rate hike by the U.S. Federal Reserve.
Just seven out of India’s top thirty export goods, including carpets, jute products and tea registered an increase in November, compared to nine goods in October.
The share of India’s trade (exports plus imports) to its gross domestic product (GDP) — referred to as ‘trade openness’ in economic parlance — has fallen drastically from 55.6 per cent at peak in fiscal 2013 to 46 per cent in the second quarter of the current fiscal.

Government ready to roll out GST

The finance ministry is ready to roll out the new indirect tax regime for goods and services in 2016, even as an impasse in the Upper House of Parliament has prevented constitutional amendments to enable the new taxation system.
By January 2016, the ministry expects to finalise a draft model law for state governments to adopt the Goods and Services tax (GST) system that would replace multiple excise, sales and octroi duties levied on inter-State and intra-State trade of products and help make the country a single market, according to the ministry. The ministry also expects to have the IT network in place next month to manage the transition to the new regime.
But to get to that stage, the Constitutional Amendment Bill for GST needs to be passed with a two-thirds majority in the Rajya Sabha and then be ratified by at least 15 state assemblies to become law of the land.
A GST Council with representatives from the Centre and the States would then be formed, following which states would have to enact their own legislations to enable the actual switch to the GST regime.
It is going to take at least another month by which we will be able to finalise the draft law and once that is done we will be putting it up in the public domain and process of consultation and regional conferences for interaction with trade and industry will be done.

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:: SPORTS ::

Players of banned IPL teams auctioned

Mahendra Singh Dhoni will wear a non-Chennai Super Kings jersey in the Indian Premier League for the first time when he turns up for the new Pune franchise, owned by Sanjeev Goenka’s New Rising, in the next two editions.
The Pune franchise, which had the right to start picking players, chose Dhoni, Ajinkya Rahane, R. Ashwin, Steve Smith and Faf du Plessis.
The IPL chairman, Rajeev Shukla, after consulting with Ratnakar Shetty (BCCI general manager, game development), who has been handed the additional charge of the IPL as well, clarified that the actual fees of the players will continue to be the same, irrespective of the auction purse tag.