Current Affairs for IAS Exams – 16 March 2016

:: NATIONAL ::

New rules for LPG subsidy enforced

The government seems to have given up on the Give It Up Campaign for LPG cylinders and has begun debarring LPG users who earn more than Rs. 10 lakh a year from the subsidy, starting from their next refill.
thousands of taxpayers have received such SMSs from their distributors, pointing out their income status and the ineligibility for further subsidies.

Centre reduces power of excise inspectors

The government has asked the Central Excise Department to keep its inspectors away from the premises of jewellers who will now file quarterly returns and pay excise duty electronically every month through a voluntary disclosure of stocks.
Any grievance or dispute will be resolved by a commissioner-level officer.
To counter the jewellers’ claim that the imposition of excise duty on jewellery will render lakhs of workers and artisans jobless as they are ill-equipped to deal with the paperwork, the government has clarified that they need not register with Central Excise, pay duty or file returns.
Only jewellers who have an annual turnover of more than Rs 12 crore will be liable to pay a nominal 1 per cent excise duty if they do not claim inputs tax credit.
However, the government has categorically said the excise duty will not be withdrawn under any circumstance.

Supreme court pushing for National Court of Appeal

Noting that equal access to justice for all is a fundamental right under the Constitution, the Supreme Court decided to set up a Constitution Bench to debate the establishment of a National Court of Appeal (NCA) with regional benches to act as final courts of justice in criminal and civil cases.
Now the apex court would judicially pronounce on whether there is a need to bifurcate the higher judiciary, with the Supreme Court exclusively hearing constitutional and public law cases.
Secondly, the apex court seems to introspect on its own role as the single, final court situated in the national capital dealing with an increasing load of cases — from criminal and civil appeal to constitutional questions of law.

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:: INTERNATIONAL ::

Htin Kyaw became first civilian president of Myanmar after decades

Myanmar got its first civilian President in decades after lawmakers elected a close aide of Aung San Suu Kyi, who is expected to hold the real reins of power in the formerly junta-run nation.
Htin Kyaw (69) hailed his elevation to the top post as “Suu Kyi’s victory”, a clear nod to her plan that he serve as a proxy for the Nobel laureate who is constitutionally barred from becoming President.
Myanmar is undergoing a dramatic transformation from an isolated and repressed state to a rapidly opening aspiring democracy.
Ms. Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) won a thumping victory at elections in November, allowing her party to dominate Myanmar’s two legislative houses.
But the military remains a powerful force and has refused to change a clause in the junta-era Constitution which bars her from the presidency. Her choice of Mr. Htin Kyaw is seen as a testament to her absolute faith in his loyalty.
Mr. Thein Sein, a former General, led a quasi-civilian reformist government for the last five years that has been praised for moving the nation out of the shadow of outright military rule.
The NLD is still haunted by its 1990 election victory, which was snatched away by the generals.
Zin Mar Aung, an NLD MP who was involved in 1988 protests and is herself a former political prisoner, termed the vote “very historic”.
Ms. Suu Kyi (70), enjoys unrivalled popularity both as the daughter of the country’s independence hero and as a central figure in the decades-long democracy struggle.
It is not yet clear what role she plans to take or how she will manage her relationship with the new President.

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:: Business and Economy ::

Exports continues to fall for fifteen straight months

Exports shrunk for the fifteenth consecutive month as shipments in February fell 5.7 per cent year-on-year to $20.7 billion owing to weak overseas demand, including in large markets such as the European Union.
Trade deficit narrowed to $6.5 billion, the lowest since September 2013. Decline in commodity prices and fall in imports of gold and petroleum products contributed to the narrowing of the trade deficit.
Of the 30 export sectors, 16, including major ones such as engineering (11.2 per cent fall to $4.5 billion) and petroleum products (28.2 per cent fall to $1.8 billion) were in negative growth territory.
The situation in the engineering exports remains worrisome with an over 11 per cent drop in February, 2016, which is on a low base of the same month in the last fiscal.
Going by the current trend, merchandise exports in FY’16 would be around $260 billion, a drop of about $50 billion as compared to FY’15.
The fall of 5.66 per cent in February has been the slowest pace at which exports have fallen since the contraction began in December 2014 with a 3.77 per cent fall, according to the data.
In all the intervening months, the contraction in exports has been over 10 per cent with a maximum of 24.43 per cent in November 2015.
The commerce ministry said the trend of falling exports is in tandem with other major world economies.
Exports fell in the U.S. (10.35 per cent), European Union (7.62 per cent) and China (1.67 per cent) for December 2015 over the corresponding period of the previous year as per WTO statistics, it said.
Imports during February, 2016 also contracted 5.03 per cent to $27.3 billion with 21 of the 30 export sectors recording negative growth. Cumulative imports during April-February FY’16 contracted 14.7 per cent to $351.8 billion.
Trade deficit for April-February, FY’16 was at $113.38 billion, lower than $126.29 billion in April-February, FY’15 leading to less concerns about the Current Account Deficit (CAD).
The Commerce Ministry said taking merchandise and services trade together, the overall trade deficit for April-February, FY’16 was $54 billion as compared to $64.2 billion in the same period last year, a fall of 15.79 per cent (services data pertains to April-January as January 2016 is the latest data available).
During April 2015-February 2016 this fiscal so far, exports have shrunk 16.7 per cent to $238.4 billion. Non-petroleum exports during April-February FY’16, however, fell only by nine per cent to $211.3 billion.
Imports during February, 2016 also contracted 5.03 per cent to $27.3 billion with 21 of the 30 export sectors recording negative growth. Cumulative imports during April-February FY’16 contracted 14.7 per cent to $351.8 billion.

Multiple global stakeholders were made incharge of ICANN

At a luxury hideaway in Morocco, two years of talks on Icann’s running of the Internet finished with a deal to put multiple global stakeholders in charge.
Inside, the people who run the Internet’s naming and numbering systems have been meeting with some of the governments who would rather be doing the job themselves.
What they have agreed is a plan for Icann, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, to end direct U.S. government oversight control of administering the Internet and commit permanently to a slightly mysterious model of global “multi-stakeholderism”.
Though the French government was still seething over a spat about “dot champagne”, it rallied the naysayers the weekend before the official meeting started. Yet the real worry was the United States.
When Icann was founded in 1998, the plan was to keep its anchoring contract with the U.S. National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) for a year or two, and for Icann to become independent in 2000.
But in the meantime, the Internet became just too important for the U.S. to let go of the reins.
Shielded by the U.S., Icann resisted attempts by the United Nations’ International Telecommunication Union to take over its job.
Iana (the Internet Assigned Names Authority, the part of Icann that deals with country codes, Internet numbers and protocols) went on being part of Icann, even as other countries felt sure the U.S. must be abusing its power behind the scenes.
But as the millions of dollars of business transacted over the Internet became trillions, and the first, second and then third billion people came online, it started to look a bit odd that one government had de jure control of a chunk of the Internet.
The Internet is run by an unaccountable private company. This is a problem.
Under pressure from the EU and others, Icann and the U.S. government took small steps, spelling out their relationship in a deceptively simple document, the Affirmation of Commitments, in 2009.
Icann and the U.S. would probably have muddled along together for another decade, with the occasional hand-wave towards global accountability. And then Snowden happened.
In a prescient flash of political brilliance, Icann’s CEO, Fadi Chehade, made a pact with Brazil’s President Dilma Rousseff. Still smarting over the NSA tapping her smartphone, Rousseff, announced a global meeting to decide the future of the Internet.

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:: Sports ::

India lost first match against New Zealand in T20 World Cup

The game of cricket is a glorious gamble and New Zealand’s decision to pick three spinners of all variety — off-spinner Nathan McCullum, left-armer Mitchell Santner and leg-spinner Ish Sodhi — enabled it outwit the home team batsmen on a surface that helped them to a prodigious extent.
Defending a small total of 126, which reflected the sub-standard quality of the pitch, New Zealand chipped away relentlessly to deal a shock 47-run defeat to the host in the opening match of the ICC World T20.
The star-studded Indian batting line-up did not have the resources to quell the challenge posed by the vicious turning ball. It was New Zealand’s fifth consecutive win against India in the shortest form of the game.