Current Affairs for IAS Exams – 29 May 2016

Current Affairs for IAS Exams – 29 May 2016

:: NATIONAL ::

PM points out good work done by the government

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi presented his “report card” of two years at the helm of the NDA government in a five-and-a-half-hour television talkathon over the national broadcaster, Doordarshan.

• He said his government’s work as a the beginning of a “new dawn”, and the result of “keeping the interests of the common man front and centre.”
  Prime Minister Modi spoke about the general direction of his government and his strong measures to tackle graft across the board in the governmental system.

•  We have managed to save more Rs 36,000 crore in pilferage within the system. We caught more than 1.62 crore fake ration cards, fake schools with teachers on their rolls receiving salaries,” Mr. Modi said.

• “Facts like these, and the use of subsidised LED bulbs leading to a saving of over 20,000 MW of power every year do not make for headlines, but we must not allow a spirit of despondency to grip the nation,” he said.

• “My target is to provide five crore gas connections to those households which still rely on wood fired ovens for cooking,” Mr. Modi said.

• “We have three years of this term left; I promise to work hard to justify the confidence placed on me by the people. I will not stint when it comes to hard work,” the Prime Minister said.

Subramanian committee came up with recommendation for new education policy

• The no detention policy in schools should be applicable till Class V and exams be held from Class VI onwards, the Subramanian committee formed by the government to formulate a New Education Policy (NEP) has recommended.

• Panel has suggested that foreign institutions be allowed to come to India to improve the quality of higher education.

• The panel has also given specific suggestions to raise the standard of education which are found wanting in many respects from primary to higher level.

• One of the key suggestions is to focus on “remedial coaching” and “hand-holding” to ensure the learning outcome of children does not suffer.

• It has recommended that the ‘No detention policy’ be reviewed and exams be held from Class VI. The Right To Education law prescribes the no detention policy for students till Class VIII.

• However, in case a child does not pass in the first instance, he or she should be given two more chances to appear in the exam.

PM Modi tried his hand in traditional Khasi drum in Meghalaya visit

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi tried his hand at beating the traditional Khasi drum as he wound up his two-day visit to Meghalaya.

• Mr. Modi expressed keenness about ‘rhythm’ and beat a drum together with Khasi tribal musicians.

• “The Prime Minister tried his hand at beating our ‘Ka Bom’ and also interacted with leaders from at least 10 Himas,” The chief priest of HimaMawphlang, said.

• Mr. Modi also expressed interest on sacred groves and forest fragments with religious connotation for the protectors and sought to know details of how they were managed by the local community.

• Hunting and logging are usually strictly prohibited within these sacred groves.

• Mr. Modi’s visit to the sacred forest of Mawphlang, however, could not take place due to inclement weather. However, he was briefed on how the highly-regarded grove was managed, controlled and administered.

Indian Railways to come up with Clone trains (Register and Login to read Full News..)

Despite difficulties Kaveri engine still on radar (Register and Login to read Full News..)

:: International ::

India gets big diplomatic success

• Pakistan seems to have failed to seal the $700 million deal for the purchase of eight F-16 fighter jets from the U.S. following a row between the two countries over their financing.

• The Pakistani government was required to provide the Letter of Acceptance for purchase of the jets by May 24, but Dawn reported that the document was not issued leading to expiry of the offer.

• Initially, the $700 million deal for eight F-16 multi-role fighters, was to be partially financed through the U.S. Foreign Military Financing (FMF) programme but the Congress disallowed subsidising the sale.

• The subsidising was disallowed over concern that Pakistan had not done enough to end the dreaded Haqqani network’s terror sanctuaries on its soil as well as fears over Islamabad’s nuclear programme.

• Pakistan, which expected to get the fighters at the subsidised rate of $270 million, was subsequently asked by the U.S. administration to make the full payment for the eight aircraft from its national resources.

• Pakistan Prime Minister’s Adviser on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz said last month that Pakistan could look to buy the aircraft from some other country if the deal did not go ahead.

US asked Pakistan to go after terrorists

• The U.S. has asked Pakistan to go after terrorists, especially the Taliban leadership, days after an American drone killed Taliban chief Mullah Akhtar Mansour in Balochistan Province.

• “We continue to cooperate closely with Afghanistan, but also urge Pakistan to go after terrorists, especially Taliban leadership, and that cooperation continues,” State Department Deputy Spokesman said.

• Meanwhile, a former U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan, James B. Cunningham, said the drone strike that killed Taliban leader Mullah Mansour inside Pakistan should send a signal that the U.S. will not tolerate terrorist safe havens.

US again reiterates its support for India’s bid for NSG (Register and Login to read Full News..)

:: Business and Economy ::

Certain changes might be required for Bankruptcy code

• The government has brought in this Code, largely modelled on the U.S. Bankruptcy Law, with the good intention of facilitating timely resolution of corporate bankruptcy.

• Under the Code, where a corporate debtor fails to pay a debt that is due, the corporate insolvency resolution process may be initiated by a financial creditor or by an operational creditor or by the corporate debtor itself.

• A financial creditor is a creditor to whom a financial debt is owed by the corporate debtor. An operational creditor is a creditor who has provided goods or services to the corporate debtor, including employees, central or state governments.

• When a corporate debtor fails to pay a debt due to an operational creditor, such an operational creditor can demand payment of the same.

• If the corporate debtor fails to pay the amount due within 10 days of the demand or fails to dispute the debt, the operational creditor may file an application before the adjudicating authority for initiating a corporate insolvency resolution process.

• A dispute regarding the debt would be one where there is a record of a suit or arbitration proceedings having been filed before a demand for payment is made. Here lies the difficulty.

• To file a suit is expensive. Therefore, corporate debtors would dispute an operational debt by merely filing an arbitral reference regarding the dispute which is also arbitration proceedings in law, without really intending to pursue actual arbitration for resolving the dispute.

• Even if the arbitration award is given resolving the dispute, the corporate debtor would seek to set aside the award in the High Court which may take a long time to reach final resolution.

• Thus, the Code does not make much sense for the operational creditor.

• One of the ways of remedying the situation is to empower the adjudicating authority to finally determine whether the dispute is bonafide or not and to say that such a determination is a question of fact and hence not appealable.

• As far as financial creditors are concerned, they can straight away approach the adjudicating authority for an insolvency resolution process, even if there are certain disputes regarding the financial debt.

• Under the Code once an application of an operational creditor is admitted by the adjudicating authority an interim resolution professional gets appointed and the management of the corporate debtor passes to the interim resolution professional.

• Displacement of management of corporate debtor on account of a few unpaid operational creditors and financial creditors can cause great damage to the cause of entrepreneurship.

• Since the management of the corporate debtor under the Code passes to the insolvency resolution professional immediately after the application is admitted by the adjudicating authority.

• the adjudicating authority should be expressly empowered to order disgorgement by the resolution professional of all illegal and illicit gains if made by him when in management of the corporate debtor.

• The Code does not clearly say that the management of the corporate debtor would be restored once the insolvency resolution plan is fully implemented. This should be put down very clearly in the cause of entrepreneurship.
  • The insolvency resolution professional has to submit an insolvency resolution plan within 180 days to 270 days and if insolvency professional fails to do so or if the insolvency resolution plan is rejected by the adjudicating authority, the adjudicating authority has no option but to order liquidation of the corporate debtor.
  • Before ordering the liquidation of the corporate debtor it is not clear whether the corporate debtor can be heard by the adjudicating authority for granting any reliefs. This has to be clearly laid down.

Transition to Bharat Stage VI norms a big challenge to industries

• The transition to Bharat Stage VI (BS-VI) emission norms for vehicles will pose a significant technological challenge, according to a top official of Wheels India.

• Even for Europe, the transition from Euro 5 to Euro 6 norms took a lot of time.

• Technologies had to be adapted, innovations relating to manufacturing had to be done, and, more importantly, testing and validation to the new standards had to be performed.

• The climatic conditions, driving habits and road conditions, leave alone fuel conditions and maintenance practices, were significantly different in India compared to Europe.

• Significant developments in terms of automotive technology and pace of innovation must happen first if the industry had to meet the target that had been set for BS-VI.

• The government recently announced that India would leapfrog from BS-IV emission norms that are now in force to the BS-VI norms by 2020.

• Introduced in 2000, the Bharat norms are emission control standards put in place by the government to check air pollution.

• Based on European regulations (Euro norms), these standards prescribe specifications/limits for the release of air pollutants from equipment using internal combustion engines, including vehicles.

• Implementation of the BS-V standard was originally scheduled for 2019. This has now been skipped. BS-VI, originally proposed to come in by 2024, has now been advanced to 2020 instead.

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Sources: Various News Papers & PIB

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