Daily Current Affairs for SSC CGL Exams (31 January 2017)

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Current Affairs for SSC CGL Exams - 31 January 2017

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:: National ::

Supreme court appointed panel to head BCCI

• The Supreme Court appointed a four-member Committee of Administrators (CoA) headed by former Comptroller and Auditor General of India Vinod Rai to oversee the Board of Control for Cricket in India.
• The others are former woman Test cricketer Diana Edulji, historian Ramachandra Guha and IDFC Ltd MD and CEO Vikram Limaye.
• The four will function as the interim bosses of the BCCI and run the day-to-day administration of the cricket body till the Lodha reforms are fully implemented and elections held.
• A three-judge Bench headed by Justice Dipak Misra did not heed pleas for fresh hearings by the BCCI and its members and took the step forward in the direction laid out by the Justice R.M. Lodha Committee.
• The BCCI CEO was ordered to submit a report to the CoA detailing the level of compliance achieved by the BCCI and its members in adopting the Lodha recommendations.

Patnaik a 1985 batch IPS appointed Delhi Commissioner

• Superseding two seniors in the running for the job, Amulya Kumar Patnaik, a 1985-batch IPS officer, was appointed the next Delhi Police Commissioner.
• Mr. Patnaik will have one of the longest tenures till January 2020 when he is scheduled to retire. He replaces Alok Kumar Verma, who was appointed as the CBI Director.
• In 1995, Patnaik took the initiative to launch ‘Pratidhi’, a Delhi Police programme to extend counselling and other assistance to victims of traumatic crimes, an initiative that is working successfully till date.
• Mr. Patnaik, who is credited with steps like launching the Anti-Obscene Call Cell and the Anti-Stalking Cell, will have to look into this aspect.

More relaxations on cash widhdrawl

• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) lifted curbs on cash withdrawals for holders of current accounts, cash credit accounts, and overdrafts with immediate effect.
• The limits had been imposed in November following the withdrawal of high-value banknotes.
• The central bank also allowed savings bank account holders to withdraw the entire weekly limit of Rs. 24,000 in a single transaction from ATMs with effect from February 1.
• The limits on savings bank accounts will continue for the present and are under consideration for withdrawal in the near future. The move is expected to ease fund availability for small businesses and traders.
• Banks typically cap ATM cash withdrawals at Rs. 20,000–Rs. 25,000 per transaction, though some banks offer higher limits for high net worth individuals.

Tripartite talks between United Naga council, Manipur govt and centre

• The Centre has decided to hold tripartite talks with the United Naga Council (UNC) and the Manipur government to end the ongoing blockade of two national highways in Manipur, which has disrupted normal life.
• The economic blockade imposed by the UNC against the Manipur government’s decision to carve out seven new districts, has continued for over four months now.
• The UNC sees the move as an attempt to truncate the concept of a greater Nagalim.
• The Centre pressed into service two C-17 Globemaster cargo aircrafts to airlift six fuel tankers to Imphal. 96 kilolitres of petrol was airlifted to ease the oil shortage in the State.
• The Union government even sought Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi’s opinion to end the economic blockade.
• After consultation, it concluded that no law permitted Centre to interfere in the matter, as law and order was a State subject.

Maha kumbabhishekam at the famous temple dedicated to Sri Brahadeeswarar

• Maha kumbabhishekam will be performed at the famous temple dedicated to Sri Brahadeeswarar, and built at an interior village Gangaikondacholapuram in this district by Rajendra Chola.
• Special kaala pujai is being held at the temple to mark the ‘maha kumbabhishekam’.
• A large number of devotees have been participating in the yaga sala puja and offering their worship to the deities of Lord Brahadeeswarar and Sri Brahanayaki.
• The temple is noted for various idols carved on the ‘vimanam’ and also on the walls of ‘prakaram.’ The idol of Sri Chandesa Anugrahamurthy is one of the major idols which speaks volumes about the skill of the sculptors.
• Though there was provision for ‘dwajasthambam’ for the temple, it got damaged over the centuries.
• The temple authorities and the devotees had made arrangements for setting up the ‘dwajasthambam’ in front of the huge Nandhi at the entrance to the temple.
• The holy ‘dwajasthambam’ is 43.8 feet in height and its base has a pedestal of about 6.9 feet. Holy waters from the Ganges had been brought for the kumbabhishekam.

:: International ::

Miss France is Miss Universe

• France won its first Miss Universe crown in 64 years in a made-for-television spectacle where finalists spoke out on the refugee crisis and other hot-button global issues.
• Iris Mittenaere, a dental surgery student from Lille in the north of France, beat 85 of the world’s most beautiful women at the event in the Philippines scheduled for primetime viewing in the United States.
• Ms. Mittenaere (24) edged out Miss Haiti, the first runner-up, and Miss Colombia, the second runner-up, to win France’s first Miss Universe title since 1953.

:: Science and Technology ::

Boron may be the next wonder material

• Boron may become the nanomaterial of the century as scientists have found that two-atom-wide ribbons and single-atom chains of the element possess unique properties.
• For example, if metallic ribbons of boron are stretched, they morph into antiferromagnetic semiconducting chains, and when released they fold back into ribbons.
• Carbon-atom chains known as carbyne, boron fullerenes and two-dimensional films called borophene, all predicted by the Rice group, have since been created by labs.

:: Business and Economy ::

Digitalisation to top the agenda of Gyan Sangam

• The push for digitisation in the wake of demonetisation and the proposal for public sector bank (PSB) consolidation are likely to top the agenda for Gyan Sangam which is the retreat for PSBs.
• The sessions on digitisation will include presentations on increasing the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) systems and big data analytics in the banking & financial services industry in India.
• The major slowdown in credit growth to a more than six-decade low of 5.1% for the fortnight ended December 23  and ways to revitalise it, as well as measures to effectively tackle bad loans.
• The third edition of the retreat which will be attended by senior finance ministry officials as well as heads of PSBs, state-run FIs and insurance firms is likely to be held in Hyderabad or Bengaluru.
• Strategies for strengthening the ‘banking correspondent’-network and increasing the usage of micro ATMs and Point of Sale machines will also be discussed.
• The high-profile meeting will also deliberate upon the need for the autonomous Banks Board Bureau (BBB) to expedite banking reforms including PSB consolidation.
• The BBB was set up to help select heads of public sector banks and financial institutions as well as assist banks with strategies and capital-raising plans.

India post will use its manpower to deliver banking services

• The USP of India Post Payments Bank (IPPB) will be its ability to offer door-to-door banking service through postmen and Grameen Dak sevaks,
• Banking at the doorstep will no longer remain a mere slogan but will become a reality due to huge postal network in the country.
• The bank aims to have 650 branches – one in each district – to be operational by September 2017. Each branch will be connected to the post offices in the district.
• IPPB will offer 4.5% interest on deposits up to Rs. 25,000, 5% on Rs. 25,000-Rs. 50,000 and 5.5% on Rs. 50,000-Rs. 1,00,000, much lower than 7.25% announced by competitor Airtel Payment Banks.
• The main objective of IPPB will be public service rather than promoting commercial interests,  their role is to “broaden” the market not “skim” it.

70000 officials protest GST

• About 70,000 officials of the Central Board of Excise and Customs registered their protest against the decisions
• This came after the Indian Revenue Service Association, along with the service associations of Customs, Central Excise and Service Tax called for a boycott of the International Customs Day celebrations.
• The GST Council’s decision to give jurisdictional control of 90% of the tax assesses having an annual turnover below Rs. 1.5 crore to the States would lead to depletion of the taxpayer base with the Centre.
• The revenue service association pointed out several operational problems with the way the GST had been structured across the Centre and the States.

Important Full Forms For SSC CGL Exams 2017

☞. GOOGLE का मतलब है?उत्तर:- Global Organization Of Oriented GroupLanguage Of Earth.
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Daily Current Affairs for SSC CGL Exams (30 January 2017)

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Current Affairs for SSC CGL Exams - 30 January 2017

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:: National ::

RBI turned down EC's request to enhance withdrawal limit for candidates

• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has turned down the Election Commission’s request to enhance the cash withdrawal limit for nominated candidates in the five poll-bound States, from Rs. 24,000 to Rs. 2 lakh per week.
• Asking the RBI to reconsider, the EC wrote to it expressing serious concerns “about the cursory manner in which this issue has been dealt with and it appears that the RBI has not realised the gravity of the matter.”
• The EC reiterated that in order to facilitate proper conduct of elections, it was imperative that its directions were complied with.
• It had earlier written to the RBI stating that it had been told about the problems being faced by the candidates from different political parties, particularly in the rural areas, due to imposition of cash withdrawal limits.
• As per the EC directive, each candidate has to open a separate bank account. All receipts and payments of the candidates during the election process have to be routed through that account.
• The EC pointed out that the entire election process lasted only three to four weeks and therefore, the total amount that could be withdrawn would be only Rs. 96,000.
• This is against the statutory limit of expenditure of Rs. 28 lakh in Punjab, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh, and Rs. 20 lakh in Manipur and Goa, as fixed by the Central government on February 28, 2014.

Oil spil leads to death of marine animals

• A thick oily tide from the sea lapped at the coast of several fishing hamlets in north Chennai, a day after two cargo ships, one of them an oil tanker, collided off Kamarajar Port in Ennore.
• Several dead turtles and hatchlings coated with the black oil were washed ashore and discovered among the boulders. By afternoon, the spread of oil was seen on a 400-metre long stretch, 40 metres wide, near the Ernavur junction.
• Since there was a spill from the oil vessel, the Ennore Kamarajar Port authorities placed containment booms around the ships.
• The floating oil along the shore of north Chennai came as a shock to the fishing villages, since the Port authorities had said that there was only a thin sheen from the ships and it would disappear soon.
• Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB) visited Bharathiyar Nagar off Ernavur junction on the Ennore Expressway, where the spill was visible even in the evening.

NavIC has developed a technical snag

• NavIC, the indigenously built satellite- based positioning system, has developed a technical snag in the atomic clocks on its first satellite.
• In the NavIC, a constellation of seven satellites, one of the three crucial rubidium timekeepers on IRNSS-1A spacecraft failed six months ago. The other two followed subsequently.
• Without its clocks, the IRNSS-1A “will give a coarse value. It will not be used for computation. Messages from it will still be used.”
• A minimum of four working satellites was sufficient to realise the full use of the navigation system.
• NavIC has 21 atomic clocks on seven spacecraft. “How would the other clocks fare? Would ISRO reconsider the supplier of its atomic clocks? Such questions are not easy to answer.
• The troubled IRNSS-1A spacecraft was put in space in July 2013 and has an expected life span of 10 years. The seventh navigation satellite, IRNSS-1G, was launched in April 2016.
• NavIC, short for Navigation with Indian Constellation, and also known as the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System, give precise information on position, navigation and time (PNT) of objects or persons to users on ground, sea and air.
• Director General of the European Space Agency (ESA), which is putting up the 26-satellite Galileo system, made their problem public.
• Galileo has placed 18 spacecraft in space and is now deciding whether it should launch the four satellites as planned this year. He had also said they were in touch with ISRO after nine of their clocks developed snags.
• ESA’s and ISRO’s clocks reportedly come from the same Swiss company.

Mann ki baat focussed on students

• In the first Mann Ki Baat address to the nation this year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi kept his main focus on students.
• “Once you have a clear ambition with a mission to succeed, you need not worry about the marks in the exams. You will automatically score better,” Prime Minister Modi said.
• “No one cares to know with how much marks he got through the exam. People are more interested in the fact that he is a doctor and would certainly serve his patients with his knowledge, skills and expertise,” he added.
• The Prime Minister further said that restricting oneself to a limited number of courses or knowledge might harm one from achieving success.
• The Prime Minister also motivated students to compete with oneself instead of competing with others. “Self competition would help students in improvising in every single aspect and step.”
• “Start comparing yourself with the way you used to be and the way you are now,” he said. “In that way, changes in students can be easily found which otherwise would lead the way to betterment,” he added.
• This motivational speech by the Prime Minister would definitely be a pathway to the students to accomplish the right amount of success and would surely eliminate the fear of scoring better marks in the examination.

:: International ::

Judicial order stayed the deportation of people from seven countries

• A judicial order stayed the deportation of people from seven Muslim-majority countries who arrived in the U.S. after President Donald Trump barred their entry through an executive order.
• As the world watched Mr. Trump's move with dismay, protests erupted across America, particularly at airports where travellers were detained.
• The judicial order does not deal with the merit of the executive order issued by Mr. Trump that could be deemed unconstitutional as it effectively sanctions religious discrimination.
• The New York court order extends to all of America and provides relief to people in similar situations but at least three more similar court rulings were reported from other States by Saturday night.
• Earlier, Mr. Trump said the travel restrictions did not amount to a ban on Muslims.
• “It’s not a Muslim ban…very strict ban, and we’re going to have extreme vetting, which we should have had in this country for many years,” he said, as he signed  executive order, to prepare within 30 days a blueprint for defeating the IS.

:: Business and Economy ::

Finance Ministry has agreed to contribute to a new dedicated railway safety fund

• The Finance Ministry has agreed to contribute partially to a new dedicated railway safety fund in the upcoming Budget to be presented on February 1.
• Train derailments have increased to a six-year high of 74 till January 23 this year compared to 65 in 2015-16 and this may prompt the Railways to bring back a cess on railway tickets to fund safety efforts.
• Fund is proposed to be utilised for track improvement, bridge rehabilitation work, rolling stock replacement, human resource development, improved inspection system and safety work at level-crossings, among other things.
• The Railway Ministry had requested the Finance Ministry to create a ‘non-lapsable’ safety fund named ‘Rashtriya Rail Sanraksha Kosh’ over five years.
• However, the Finance Ministry is likely to grant a fresh infusion of only Rs. 5,000 crore in the upcoming financial year out of the initial proposed corpus of Rs. 20,000 crore.
• About Rs. 10,000 crore will likely be earmarked from the Central Road Fund (CRF) that is collected by levying a cess on diesel and petrol at present for safety-related work.
• The Railway Ministry, which was expecting an annual budgetary support of Rs. 20,000 crore over five years from the Finance Ministry for the proposed Rs. 1.19 lakh crore safety fund, may now be asked to fund the remaining Rs. 5,000 crore for the initial corpus from its own resources.
• Now, it may either have to bring back a cess on rail tickets to finance its share of Rail Safety Fund or look to fund it from non-budgetary resources.
• In 2001, when a Special Railway Safety Fund of Rs. 17,000 crore was created, the Railways raised Rs. 5,000 crore through safety surcharge on passenger fare and the remaining Rs. 12,000 crore came from the Finance Ministry.
• Back then, the Railways levied a fee of Rs. 1 for second-class ordinary trains and Rs. 2 for second-class Mail or Express trains, per person.
• For other classes, the surcharge on tickets had ranged between Rs. 10 and Rs. 100 depending on the class and distance of journey.
• The Railways had asked for ‘Rashtriya Rail Sanraksha Kosh’ to be set up based on the recommendations of a high-level safety review committee under former chairman Atomic Energy Commission Dr. Anil Kakodkar.
• The Committee, which submitted its report in 2012, had projected an investment requirement of Rs. 1 lakh crore on safety over five years.
• The Centre has so far fully implemented 22 out of 87 partially or fully accepted recommendations made by the panel.

First Budget without seperate railway budget

• The Indian Railways (IR) is a behemoth employing 1.3 million workmen, lifting more than 1 billion tonnes of freight annually and carrying 24 million passengers in its 12,000 passenger trains each day.
• Only a few railway systems in the world match or outdo these indices, but one factor that no other railway had matched was that the Indian Railways had its own budget - to be presented every year on the floor of the Parliament.
• At least this was the case until last year. 2017 will go down in history as the first year when the Rail Budget was subsumed in the General Budget.
• A separate rail budget has its genesis in the recommendations of the Acworth Committee of 1920, pointed out the need for unified management of the entire railway system.
• It recommended that “the Finance department should cease to control the internal finances of the railway, that the railway should have a separate budget of its own”
• This was considered necessary because the Railways’ revenues far outstripped the general revenue and had the potential of masking small yet important aberrations in the general budget of the Government of India, if presented together.
• In 1947, when Independence was achieved, railway revenues were still 6% more than the general revenue.
• The Railway Convention Committee headed by Sir Gopalaswamy Ayyangar recommended, “separation of Railway finances from General finance should continue”.
• A resolution to this effect was approved by the Constituent Assembly on December 21, 1949.
• The revised convention was to be effective for a period of five years starting 1950-51, but continued for 66 years, just as a few other constitutional provisions for language and reservation have enjoyed an extended life.
• By the 1970s, the size of rail revenues had shrunk and was about 30% the size of general revenues. By 2015-16 it was down to 11.5%. The writing was on the wall; only the Railway Board failed to read it.
• Could the Indian Railways have avoided this fate? It erred on two facets of its philosophy for growth. First and foremost was its penchant for subsidising the passenger fares from artificially jacked up freight rates.
• The non-AC fares have remained static for the past 12 years; this has been nothing short of suicidal. Freight rates now are at such high levels that road hauliers successfully compete with Railways on grounds of being cheaper.
• It is not surprising that the rail share in the overall freight kitty is down from 89% in 1950-51 to less than 30% in 2014-15.
• Secondly, the Railways themselves have been withdrawing from their core areas of operations and concentrating on peripheral items. They have withdrawn themselves from all urban transport activities.
• In the 1990s, if the IR had devised innovative solutions like forming Special Purpose Vehicles (SPVs) to catalyse construction of metro lines, both the people of India and the Railways would have benefited from it.
• Instead, in the 1990s, a situation was created, albeit unwittingly, which made transportation of petroleum products cheaper by pipeline.
• At that time, movement of petroleum products was the most profitable business for the Railways and it had a lion’s share of 75% in this sector. It is now down to 10%!
• It will be harsh to contend that a separate rail budget has not served the country well. In 1947, the same administration controlled the areas in the present day Pakistan and Bangladesh.

UIDAI cautioned about sharing information with unauthorised agencies

• UIDAI has cautioned people about sharing their personal information with unauthorised agencies for printing Aadhaar numbers on a plastic card.
• It also stressed that the Aadhaar letter, with its cutaway portion or the downloaded version, on an ordinary paper is “perfectly valid.”
• The UIDAI has also warned unauthorised agencies that “collecting such information or unauthorised printing of Aadhaar card or aiding such persons in any manner amounts to a criminal offence.
• The UIDAI further said that if someone loses the Aadhaar printout, they could download it for free from the website.

:: Sports ::

Roger Federer wins his fifth Australian open

• Roger Federer was in tears as he won a thrilling, five-set Australian Open final against his great rival Rafael Nadal to clinch a record-extending 18th Grand Slam title.
• Federer won a classic, fluctuating encounter 6-4, 3-6, 6-1, 3-6, 6-3 in three hours 38 minutes to move four Major titles ahead of Nadal and Pete Sampras on the all-time winners’ list.
• After an astonishing comeback from six months out with injury, the Swiss became the oldest man in the post-1968 Open era to win a Major since Ken Rosewall at the 1972 Australian Open.
• It was Federer’s fifth Australian title in his sixth final, and ended a long, seven-year wait to win again in Melbourne after his 2010 triumph over Andy Murray.
• It was the 35th meeting between the two long-time rivals with Nadal now leading 23-12 and 6-3 in Major finals, including his five-set win over Federer in the 2009 Australian final.
• Federer becomes the first man in history to win five or more titles at three different Grand Slam events. He has won five Australian Opens, seven Wimbledons, five US Opens and one French Open.

Daily Current Affairs For SSC CGL Exam (29 January 2017)

Current Affairs for SSC CGL Exams - 29 January 2017

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:: National ::

U.S. President has banned people from seven Muslim-majority countries

• U.S. President Donald Trump has banned people from seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the nation for 90 days and suspended admission of refugees for 120 days through an executive order.
• U.S. immigration authorities have started detaining travellers from Iran, Iraq, Syria, Sudan, Libya, Yemen and Somalia, and all refugees, though the order allowed exemption for those who were already in transit.
• As the new measures take full shape over the next three to four months, the ban could be extended, more countries could be added to the list and doors could be shut for refugees, particularly Muslims, fleeing violence.
• Mr. Trump has also ordered that religious minorities facing persecution in these countries shall be admitted to the U.S. Ahead of signing the executive order restricting entry into the country.

Deal for four stealth frigates has run into trouble

• The multi-billion dollar deal between India and Russia for four stealth frigates has run into trouble over pricing and local construction with Transfer of Technology (ToT).
• India and Russia had signed an Inter-Governmental Agreement (IGA) for four additional Krivak or Talwar class stealth frigates during bilateral discussions on the sidelines of the BRICS summit in October.
• As per the agreement, two ships are to be procured directly from Russia and two to be built in India with Russian assistance.
• Russia has quoted about $990 million for the two ships to be directly imported.
• For those to be built in India, the commercial offer quoted about $800 million for “supply of material to ensure construction of the two ships in India” and $51 million for “supply of project documentation” to ensure their construction.
• The cost of construction of the two ships in an Indian yard — yet to be identified — was to be arrived at later.
• Defence sources said this would steeply push up the overall cost of the two ships and it was seen as a way to ensure that all four ships were imported from Russia.
• The basic structures of the two frigates are already ready at Yantar shipyard in Russia and will be finished once the contract is finalised.

U.S. technology companies are girding for changes to immigration policy

• U.S. technology companies are girding for expected changes to immigration policy under President Donald Trump that could hurt their ability to tap the technical talent they need to stay competitive.
• Google’s India-born CEO Sundar Pichai said the order will create “barriers” to bringing great talent to the U.S. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said he was concerned about Mr. Trump’s actions.

EC set rules in motion

• “The provisions of the Model Code of Conduct and various instructions. provide that the party in power, whether at the Centre or in the States concerned, shall ensure that no cause be given for any complaint that it uses its position to further its prospects in any election,” the Commission said.
• As per the 2014 Model Code of Conduct guideline, all references of the Central government, which are proposed to be placed before the Cabinet or any committee of the Cabinet, should be routed through the Cabinet Secretariat.
• No such references should be made directly to the Election Commission by the Ministries.
• The government departments, public sector undertakings and the autonomous bodies functioning under any Ministry or department have to make references to the Election Commission through the Ministry concerned.
• The guideline says that at least 48 hours should be given to the Commission to process the references on matters related to the Model Code of Conduct.

:: International

Iraqi forces discovered a mustard chemical warfare agent

• Iraqi forces discovered a mustard chemical warfare agent in eastern Mosul alongside a cache of Russian surface-to-surface missiles, an Iraqi officer said.
• Iraqi and U.S. officials have repeatedly warned of Islamic State (IS) group’s efforts to develop chemical weapons.
• When Iraqi forces retook Mosul University earlier this month, they found chemistry labs they believed had been converted into makeshift chemical weapons labs.
• The number of casualties due to IS chemical weapons is a small fraction compared to the hundreds of civilians killed in car and suicide bombings carried out by the group.
• Experts say that is largely due to the low grade of the weapons and the group’s lack of access to efficient delivery systems.

:: Business and Economy ::

India’s trade with Iran is yet to be fully normalised

• India’s trade with Iran is yet to be fully normalised even a year after the lifting of international sanctions on Tehran.
• Indian exporters are complaining of difficulties faced by them due to some Indian nationalised banks refusing to deal with Iran-related transactions, according to  the Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO).
• This is despite RBI, in a notification in May 2016, specifying that payment or remittance or reimbursement can be made from or to Iran in any freely convertible currency for imports from Iran and exports to that country.
• Both the nations had agreed in 2012 that 45% of India’s oil import payments to Iran would be paid in rupees and deposited in UCO Bank as that bank hardly had an exposure to U.S. or European Union.
• In turn, Iran was to utilise that amount to pay for its imports from India. It is learnt that the balance in the rupee account may not be sufficient to cover three months of India’s exports to Iran.
• A senior official in a public sector bank, however, said on condition of anonymity that there have been no problems regarding Iran-related transactions in currencies other than the U.S. dollar.
• Exporters and importers have been advised to carry out their transactions in currencies such as the Euro wherever possible, banks still have apprehensions that the U.S. regulators could take arbitrary decisions on Iran's transactions.
• India’s trade with Iran in FY’16 was $9 billion, of which $6.3 billion were imports from Iran (of which $4.5 billion was the oil import bill), while India’s exports were worth only $2.7 billion.
• Of the $5.4 billion worth imports from Iran in April-October FY’17, oil imports were $4.5 billion. India’s exports to Iran during April-October FY’17 were $1.4 billion.
• The trade between these two countries were worth $16.2 billion in 2011-12 (India’s exports of $2.4 billion and imports from Iran worth $13.8 billion).

India Post has received payments bank licence from the Reserve Bank of India

• India Post has received payments bank licence from the Reserve Bank of India to start roll-out of banking operations commercially under the permit.
• Payments banks can accept deposits up to Rs. 1 lakh per account from individuals and small businesses.
• The new model allows mobile firms, supermarket chains and others to cater to banking requirements of individuals and small businesses.
• It will be set up as a differentiated bank and will confine its activities to acceptance of demand deposits, remittance services, Internet banking and other specified services.
• In 2015, RBI had granted ‘in-principle’ approval to 11 entities to set up payments banks.

The government is working on boosting infrastructure

• The government is working on boosting infrastructure, particularly ports, roads and waterways, to significantly reduce logistics cost that is “very high” in the country, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari said.
• He made a pitch for port-led development which is “crucial” for higher economic growth.
• “Our logistics cost is very high. It is 18%. It is easy to take any material from Mumbai to Dubai or from Mumbai to London, but it is very difficult to take material from Mumbai to Delhi as it is costly and complicated,” Mr. Gadkari said.
• The Road, Transport, Highways and Shipping Minister hoped that the target 40 km of road construction a day will be achieved by next year.
• “It was 2 km per day, last year, it was 18 km per day and by the end of this March, it will be 30 km per day. But our target was 40 km per day, and I am confident that next year, we will complete that target,” he added.

Daily Current Affairs for SSC CGL Exams (27 January 2017)

Current Affairs for SSC CGL 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

• To go the digital way in upcoming Manipur assembly polls, the State government unveiled a new mobile application called “e-Manipur election”.
• The app will provide key information to voters and has four key features: voter slip, location of nearest booth, way to booth, and filing of complaint through WhatsApp.
• Chief Secretary launched the app on the occasion of the 7th National Voters’ Day at City Convention Centre Hall here.
• The app project head, Ramayan, who was in charge of developing it, said that some of the features have been introduced for the first time in the State and the country.

Havaldar Hangpan Dada gets Ashoka Chakra

• President Pranab Mukerjee posthumously conferred Ashok Chakra, the highest peacetime gallantry award, on Havaldar Hangpan Dada at the 68th Republic Day parade. It was received by his wife Chasan Lowang Dada.
• Havaldar Hangpan Dada laid down his life last year while fighting terrorists in Kupwara district of Jammu and Kashmir.
• He was from the Assam Regiment and posted to Rashtriya Rifles. On May 26, 2016, his unit was pinned down in a gunfight with fleeing terrorists in the Naugam sector.
• In utter disregard to his own safety, he closed in on the terrorists, thus helping to save the lives of his comrades.

:: International ::

Trump to suspend U.S. refugee programme

• President Donald Trump was poised to suspend the U.S. refugee programme for four months and to halt visas for travellers from seven Muslim countries, according to U.S. media.
• A draft executive order said refugees from war-torn Syria will be indefinitely banned, while the broader U.S. refugee admissions programme will be suspended for 120 days as officials draw up a list of low risk countries.
• Meanwhile, all visa applications from countries deemed a terrorist threat Iraq, Syria, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Somalia and Yemen will be halted for 30 days.

• Alongside this, the Pentagon will be given 90 days to draw up a plan to set up “safe zones” in or near Syria where refugees from its civil war can shelter.
• It is unclear whether the published draft is the final version, or when Mr. Trump will sign it, but it would make good on his campaign promises.
• Banning the admission of Syrian refugees contradicts American values, undermines American leadership and threatens American security by making the ISIS case that we are at war with Islam,” he argued.

:: 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

• Having pipped Japan to become world’s third-largest oil consumer, India’s oil consumption growth will be the fastest among all major economies by 2035, BP Statistical Review of World Energy.
• India, Asia’s second-biggest energy consumer since 2008, had in 2015 overtaken Japan as the world’s third-largest oil consuming country behind US and China.
• India’s energy consumption grows the fastest among all major economies by 2035. As a result, the country remains import dependent despite increases in production.
• While energy consumption will grow by 4.2 per cent per annum faster than all major economies in the world India’s consumption growth of fossil fuels would be the largest in the world.
• India,  will overtake China as the largest growth market for energy in volume terms by 2030.
• Oil consumption will rise beom 4.1 million barrels per day in 2015 to 9.2 million bpd in 2035.
• Natural gas consumption would jump from 4.9 billion cubic feet per day to 12.8 bcfd while coal consumption is project to more than double to 833 million tons.
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• India’s energy demand growth at “129 per cent is more than double the non OECD average of 52 per cent and also outpaces each of the BRIC countries as China (47 %), Brazil (41 %), and Russia (2 %), all expand slower.
• Its share of global energy demand increases to 9 per cent by 2035, accounting for the second largest share among the BRIC countries with China at 26 per cent, Russia at 4 per cent and Brazil at 2 per cent.