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Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 29 July 2015

Current Affairs for IAS Exams – 29 July 2015

:: National ::

Centre returns controversial Gujarat Bill

The controversial Gujarat Control of Terrorism and Organised Crime (GCTOC) Bill, 2015, has been sent back to the State following an objection by the Information Technology (IT) Ministry.
The Home Affairs Ministry, which sent the Bill for an inter-ministerial consultation, returned it with the objections raised by the IT Ministry. This means the Bill will not be sent for Presidential assent and cannot become law yet.
Any Bill passed by an Assembly on issues contravening Central laws needs Presidential assent.
The Gujarat House passed the Bill again on March 31 this year, after it was rejected thrice by two former Presidents — the late A.P.J. Abdul Kalam in 2004 and Pratibha Patil in 2008 and 2009.
The Bill was first introduced as the GUJCOC Bill in 2003 — when Narendra Modi was Chief Minister — with provisions like increasing the period to file charge sheet from 90 to 180 days and strict conditions for granting bail to an accused.

:: International ::

Animal sacrifice banned indefinitely at Nepal's 300 year old Gadhimai Festival

In a break from tradition, Nepalese temple authorities on Tuesday announced an indefinite ban on a centuries-old Hindu tradition of mass animal slaughter that attracts hundreds of thousands of worshippers.
The 300 year old Gadhimai festival will go bloodless in its next edition in 2019. More than five lakh animals get slaughtered during the festival.
The festival, held once every five years, sees hordes of devotees from Nepal and India flock to a temple in the Himalayan nation's southern plains to sacrifice thousands of animals in the hope of appeasing the Hindu goddess of power, Gadhimai.
In the last Gadhimai festival in 2014, despite a police presence and a SC order to check the illegal smuggling of animals from Indian borders, people continued to cross the Bihar border with live cattle. 70% animals are technically smuggled from India.

:: Business ::

Mixed views on move to dilute powers of RBI Governor

The Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) Governors always had the privilege of independent decision-making on issues related to monetary policies, which helped the Indian economy for a long time.
Even at times of major financial crisis crippling the global economy, the RBI Governor’s decisions - sometimes in co-ordination with the Government and sometimes not in consonance with the government’s views - had helped the Nation.
As per the new draft of the revised proposal for Indian Financial Code (IFC), which would replace the multiple laws – some of them framed even before the independent India - governing the Indian financial sector, the central bank Governor will not have the veto power over the interest rates.
Moreover, the Government will have the power to appoint a majority of the members of the proposed monetary policy committee of the central bank.
Though the government is trying to clarify that the RBI’s independent decisions on monetary policies would not be diluted, in short, the Government is proposing a bill to have greater say in RBI’s rate decision-making.The new financial code also proposes a frame-work for inflation-targeting under which the Government and the central bank together will set the target.
However, another school of thought on markets believes differently. “While foreign investors are nervous about politicians preferring loose monetary policies instead of tight policies of independent RBI, I don’t see much problem with a good balance between Government and RBI,” says Samir Lodha, Managing Director, QuantArt, a foreign exchange advisory firm.
According to him, the economy needs a good booster of rate cut to kick-start manufacturing, capex cycle, infrastructure investments, job creation etc and also to compete in an environment of slowing global demand.
He believes that the Government is answerable for employment and inflation and hence “I do not see much problem if there is a balance between RBI and government in monetary policy decision making.”

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:: Sports ::

Women’s archery team makes 2016 Olympic cut

India women’s recurve team earned Olympic quota for 2016 Rio Games while the men’s trio failed to advance after squandering a handsome lead at the archery World Championships, in Copenhagen on Tuesday.
Pitted against seventh seed Germany, Indian trio of Deepika Kumari, Laxmi Rani Majhi and Rimil Buriuly showed nerves of steel to bounce back from 1-3 to coast to a 5-3 win and make the last eight, the yardstick for making the Olympics cut.
The experienced men’s team of Rahul Banerjee, Mangal Singh Champia and Jayanta Talukdar however had heartbreak as they squandered a 4-2 lead before losing 26-29 to second seed Italy in a thrilling tiebreaker.
Banerjee, Talukdar and Champia can still earn individual berths by finishing among 32 when the individual section that gets underway on Wednesday.
Coached by Poornima Mahto, the women’s team on the other hand showed tremendous character after Karina Winter, Elena Richter and Lisa Unruh took away the first set 46-59.
The Indian women’s trio levelled the second 5-5 to make it 3-1, while the Germans won the third by a narrow 51-50 margin to make it 3-3.