Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 27 January 2017

Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 27 January 2017

:: National ::

According to new proposal provident fund for housing purposes

• EPFO has mooted a group housing scheme which will enable members to form cooperative housing societies and use their entire provident fund savings towards buying land, constructing homes or paying housing loan instalments.

• In its recent proposal to the Labour Ministry, EPFO has proposed addition of a “new paragraph 68BD as a group housing scheme so that Employees’ Provident Fund members forming a cooperative society of 10 or more employees may be given not only a one time Employees’ Provident Fund withdrawal.

• It also has an option to pay loan instalments towards housing loan to banks from the monthly contributions received in Employees’ Provident Fund Scheme, 1952.

• Employees with at least 3 years’ subscription to Employees Provident Fund scheme will be allowed to withdraw their savings for housing purposes, including repayment of loans from their monthly contributions.

• There will be no cap on the amount of Employees’ Provident Fund savings that can be drawn for purchasing land, constructing a house or repaying housing loans, under the proposed scheme.

• Members of an existing cooperative society formed under any present law can avail this scheme, provided at least 10 members of the housing society were subscribers to the Employees’ Provident Fund scheme.

• At present, an employee who has completed five years of service is allowed to withdraw Provident Fund savings equivalent to 36 months of the member’s salary for construction of a flat or 24 months of the salary for purchasing land.

Facing serious charges Meghalaya Governor quits

• Facing sexual harassment charges, Meghalaya Governor resigned after a section of Raj Bhavan employees demanded his removal for “seriously compromising” the dignity of the gubernatorial office.

• Chief Minister Mukul Sangma had said earlier that he was waiting for Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Home Ministry to take a call.

• Nearly 100 Raj Bhavan staff petitioned President, the Prime Minister and Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh seeking their intervention to remove the Governor and restore the ‘dignity’ of the Raj Bhavan.

Poll app launched for upcoming Manipur assembly (Register and Login to read Full News)

Havaldar Hangpan Dada gets Ashoka Chakra (Register and Login to read Full News)

:: International ::

China open for a trilateral partnership with Russia and the U.S.

• China  signalled its openness for a trilateral partnership with Russia and the U.S., following Moscow’s advocacy that the three countries should develop relations jointly.

• China, Russia and the U.S. are all major countries with worldwide influence and permanent members of the UN Security Council. For world peace, stability and development, we share a great responsibility.

• During his address at Russian Parliament, Mr. Lavrov said: “We would like to see Russia, the U.S. and China to develop relations together.”

• Mr. Lavrov’s statements acquires importance in the wake of a debate in China on whether Beijing would be marginalised in anticipation of closer ties between Moscow and Washington under the presidency of Donald Trump.

• The three countries would be beneficial for all the three sides and the peace and development in the region and the world. “So we think that the three countries should have positive interaction.

Trump to suspend U.S. refugee programme (Register and Login to read Full News)

:: Science and Technology ::

New glasses will auto focus

• New ‘smart glasses’ developed by scientists, including one of Indian origin, that can automatically adjust the focus on what a person is seeing, whether it is far away or close.

• The glasses developed by researchers at University of Utah in the U.S. contain lenses made of glycerin, a thick colourless liquid enclosed by flexible rubber-like membranes in the front and back.

• The rear membrane in each lens is connected to a series of three mechanical actuators that push the membrane back and forth like a transparent piston, changing the curvature of the liquid lens and the focal length between the lens and the eye.

• When the wearer looks at an object, the meter instantly measures the distance and tells the actuators how to curve the lenses.

• If the user then sees another object that is closer, the distance meter readjusts and tells the actuators to reshape the lens for farsightedness. The lenses can change focus from one object to another in 14 milliseconds.

• A rechargeable battery in the frames could last more than 24 hours per charge, he added.

• The human eye has a lens inside that adjusts the focal depth depending on what you look at.

• However, as people age, the lens loses its ability to change focus, which is why many people ultimately require reading glasses or bifocals to see objects up close and regular eyeglasses to see far away.

:: Business and Economy ::

All curbs on cash withdrawl to end by feb end

• With the cash crunch situation easing, Reserve Bank of India may do away with the weekly withdrawal limits from banks as well as ATMs by the end of February.

• The RBI had recently raised the ATM withdrawal limit to Rs. 10,000 a day but maintained the weekly cap at Rs. 24,000 for savings account and Rs. 1 lakh for current account holders.

• According to SBI’s research report Ecowrap, “By the end of February, 78-88% of the currency could be back in the system under the best case scenario in terms of an optimal currency distribution (more small denomination notes),”.

• Urjit Patel could not set a time frame before the Standing Committee on Finance for return of normalcy in the banking system even as the central bank asserted that Rs. 9.2 lakh crore or 60% of demonetised currency had been replaced.

India to be fastest oil consuming country by 2035 (Register and Login to read Full News)

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