Current Affairs Current Affairs - 29 January 2016 - Vikalp Education

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Current Affairs - 29 January 2016

General Affairs 

Chhattisgarh Creates Post Of Special Director General To Tackle Naxal Menace
  • Chhattisgarh Creates Post Of Special Director General To Tackle Naxal MenaceRAIPUR:  Chhattisgarh has constituted a post of Special Director General of Police (Anti-Naxal Operations) to effectively combat Left Wing Extremism in the state and has given the charge to senior Indian Police Service (IPS) officer DM Awasthi as part of a minor reshuffle in the top.

    "The reshuffle order of the four officers came last evening from Mantralaya (Mahanadi Bhavan), Naya Raipur," a government official said.

    The state government has appointed 1986-batch IPS officer DM Awasthi as the Special Director General of Police (Anti-Naxal Operations).

    A Director General (DG)-rank official, Mr Awasthi has also been assigned the charge of another crucial offshoot of the state police - the Special Intelligence Branch (SIB). Besides, he will continue to look after the affairs of Chhattisgarh Police Housing Corporation as its Managing Director.

    Earlier, Additional Director General of Police (ADGP) RK Vij used to handle anti-Naxal operations. Mr Vij, a 1988-batch IPS officer, has now been given the charge of Planning and Provisioning (P&P) and technical services.

    Similarly, ADGP Sanjay Pillai, who was holding the charge of P&P, Chhattisgarh Armed Force (CAF), recruitment and training, will have an additional portfolio of Special Task Force (STF). However, he will be relived from the charge of P&P.

    Moreover, the reshuffle has relieved ADGP Rajesh Mishra from the charge of telecom and he will continue to look after Administration.

    According to sources in the police department, anti-Naxal operations have been stepped up in the worst-hit Bastar region for the past few months.

    Keeping in view recent developments, the creation of the post of Special DG for anti-Naxal operations indicates more aggressive counter insurgency operations in near future, they said.

Man Throws Shoe At Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, Arrested
  • Man Throws Shoe At Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, Arrested
    NEW DELHI:  A shoe was thrown at Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar at a function in his native city of Bhakhtiyarpur in Patna district today.

    The man, identified as P K Rai, was arrested for hurling a show towards the chief minister, Senior Superintendent of Police Manu Maharaj said. The shoe fell short of the dais and the man was caught immediately.

    The man is from Samastipur district and initial questioning revealed that he was angry for non-redressal of his complaint. He was kept at Bhakhtiyarpur police station for detailed questioning.

    Mr Kumar, however, continued with the programme despite the incident.

For Pathankot Attack, Pak Now Wants More Evidence From India
  • For Pathankot Attack, Pak Now Wants More Evidence From IndiaNEW DELHI:  In clear signs of new stress points with Pakistan, India has said that "There is no mutually convenient date for Foreign Secretary-level talks so far."

    The comment of Vikas Swarup, the Foreign Ministry spokesperson, came as Pakistan said that it will ask India for more evidence in the investigation of the deadly attack earlier this month on the Pathankot Air Force base. Six Pakistan terrorists crossed the border and opened fire at the base; seven military personnel were killed.

    India had supplied proof of the terrorists' origins to Pakistan, but sources in Islamabad said so far, what has been furnished is "insufficient".  Pakistani officials had already indicated that phone numbers furnished by India that were called by the terrorists before they were killed in Pathankot are not registered in Pakistan. A decision on what evidence Pakistan will seek from India will be taken next week, said the Islamabad sources.

    The tense bilateral relations have also been exacerbated by a balloon from Pakistan that was shot down on Republic Day by a fighter jet. Mr Swarup said India will raise the matter of the balloon with Islamabad. A Sukhoi Su-30 fired nearly 100 rounds at the balloon after it was detected on air force radars. Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar said yesterday that the balloon came from "across the border" as the air force clarified that it was not equipped with surveillance or other devices but may have been "a way of Pakistan checking India's response time."

    Talks between the Foreign Secretaries of the two countries, loosely set for earlier this month, were delayed after the Pathankot attack. The dialogue was intended to stimulate bilateral relations, which had plummeted over the last year, but were revived with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's surprise visit to Lahore in December on Pakistani premier Nawaz Sharif's birthday.

    Mr Sharif has appointed a team of top military and intelligence officers to handle the Pathankot investigation.

    Yesterday, a Pakistani court refused to allow the government to collect samples of the main suspects in the Mumbai attacks of 2008 which were masterminded by Zaki-ur-Rahman Lakhvi who is in prison. The glacial pace of his trial has been submitted repeatedly by India as unacceptable.

Zika Virus 'Spreading Explosively', Says WHO
  • Zika Virus 'Spreading Explosively', Says WHO
    GENEVA:  The Zika virus, blamed for a surge in birth defects, is "spreading explosively", World Health Organization chief Margaret Chan said Thursday, calling for an emergency meeting on the outbreak on February 1.

    "The level of alarm is extremely high," Chan told a meeting of WHO member states in Geneva, calling for a February 1 meeting to determine if the outbreak qualifies as an international public health emergency.

    The virus "is now spreading explosively," she added.

    Chan said that during previous outbreaks the virus, which was first discovered in a monkey in Uganda in 1947, "occasionally caused a mild disease of low concern."

    But "the situation today is dramatically different," she said, highlighting the growing concern that Zika has links to a birth defect known as microcephaly, or an abnormally small head.

    "A causal relationship between Zika virus infection and birth malformations and neurological syndromes has not yet been established, but is strongly suspected," Chan said.

    She explained that the February 1 Emergency Committee meeting will seek "advice on the appropriate level of international concern and for recommended measures that should be undertaken in affected countries and elsewhere."

Japan Unveils First Stealth Fighter Jet
  • Japan Unveils First Stealth Fighter JetKOMAKI, JAPAN:  Japan on Thursday unveiled its first stealth fighter jet, officials said, with the maiden test flight planned for next month.

    The defence ministry's acquisition agency showed off the domestically developed, radar-dodging X-2 fighter at a regional airport near the central city of Komaki.

    Its first flight is scheduled in mid-February before delivery to the defence ministry by the end of March next year, the acquisition agency said.

    The X-2, developed by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, measures 14.2 metres (47 feet) long and 9.1 metres wide and was built as a successor to the F-2 fighter jets developed jointly with the United States.

    Presently, only the United States, Russia and China have been internationally recognised as having successfully developed and flown manned stealth jets, the agency said.

    Japan has reportedly spent about 39.4 billion yen ($332 million) to develop the aircraft.

    In November Japan's first domestically produced passenger jet, also developed by Mitsubishi Heavy, made its maiden test flight, a landmark development for the country after being barred from developing aircraft following its defeat in World War II.

Business Affairs 

First 20 smart cities announced; Pune, Jaipur, Chennai top the list
  • The government named 20 cities on Thursday which it says will be provided with uninterrupted power and water supplies, proper sanitation and public transport in a $7.5 billion makeover to turn them into smart cities with living standards comparable to Europe.
    The country's cities lack basic infrastructure such as toilets and are bursting at the seams with the influx of tens of thousands of people from the countryside.
    Thirteen of them are in the WHO's list of the 20 most polluted cities in the world, topped by the capital New Delhi.
    Prime Minister Narendra Modi has vowed to create 100 new smart cities by 2022 that will have internet connectivity, e-governance along with quality infrastructure such as waste management and efficient public transport.
    The plan is also intended to boost investment and create jobs for millions of people, but it has faced criticism for being a slow starter.
    The government has struggled to pass reform legislation making it easier to acquire land and build roads and it was not immediately clear how it would be able to provide high-quality infrastructure to these cities within five years.
    On Thursday, Urban Development Minister Venkaiah Naidu named the first set of cities that will be targeted for a transformation.
    These include Chennai, which was ravaged by floods last year because of flawed urban planning, as well as a part of New Delhi. Other proposed smart cities are the tourist destinations of Jaipur and Udaipur and Bhubaneswar in the east.
    "This game-changing mission marks the end of a business-as-usual approach," Naidu told a news conference. About 35 million people live in the 20 cities.
    Pune, Surat, Kochi, Ahmedabad, Jabalpur, Visakhapatnam, Solapur, Bhuvanagiri, Indore, Coimbatore, Kakinada, Belgaum, Guwahati, Chennai, Ludhiana and Bhopal as well as NDMC will be developed as smart cities, the minister said at a press conference.

RBI meet on Feb 2 may turn out to be a non-event; economists see 25-50 bps rate cut in FY17
  • Raghuram Rajan to maintain status quo on Feb 2 policy meet; economists see 25-50 bps rate cut in FY17RBI governor Raghuram Rajan is expected to leave interest rates as is in its monetary policy next week on February 2 with experts believing not more than 25-50 basis points (bps) cut will ensue in fiscal year 2016-17 as inflation worries owing to rising food costs continue to persist.
    The central bank had reduced repurchase rate (repo rate) by 50 bps to 6.75 per cent in its September policy meet.  
    Devendra Pant, Chief Economist and Head Public Finance, India Ratings and Research feels the surprise action in September has limited possibilities of future rate cuts in fiscal year 2015-16 amid rising inflation scenario.
    "By calling the 50 bps repo rate cut, in its fourth bi-monthly review on 29 September 2015, a frontloaded policy action, RBI has nearly shut the door on further rate cuts in FY16, RBI's policy stance is likely to be accommodative in the near term. If conditions permit, Ind-Ra expects a 25-50 bps cut in the repo rate during FY17," said Pant.
    The expert also added the inflationary challenge in the country is far from over as food prices have more than often triggered surprises.
    Ind-Ra expects average wholesale price index (WPI) to rise by 2.7 per cent and Consumer price index (CPI) to rise by an average of 4.9 per cent in FY17.
    Meanwhile, a Reuters poll of nearly 40 economists showed they expect only one 25 basis-point rate cut this calendar year, between April and June, unchanged from earlier expectations.
    The RBI wants annual inflation at 5 per cent by March 2017 but December was the fifth straight month inflation ticked up, with the rate rising to 5.61 per cent, while food and beverage inflation, which has 46 per cent weight in CPI, jumped to 6.3 per cent.
    However, Ind-Ra expects the CPI inflation to decline to around 5.8 per cent in January 2016, RBI's revised target.
    The slowdown in growth also ties RBI's hands to take any aggressive move on interest rates.   
    The government recently revised down its growth target for the current fiscal year to 7-7.5 per cent and said it was unlikely to be significantly greater the following year.
    The implementation of Seventh Pay Commission, which will raise the wages of government employees by nearly 25 per cent and government's efforts to revise budget deficit targets to stimulate demand may drive inflation further beyond the RBI's target.

Robust sales drive Maruti's net profit up 27% in Q3
  • Robust sales drive Maruti's Q3 net profit up
    Maruti Suzuki India Ltd posted a 27 per cent rise in its third-quarter profit, the country's top-selling carmaker said in a statement on Thursday, but missed bullish analyst estimates.
    Here are five takeaways from Maruti Suzuki's December quarter earnings:
    1. The company reported a 27.1 per cent jump in net profit at Rs 1,019.3 crore for the third quarter ended December 2015. The company had posted a net profit of Rs 802.2 crore during the same period last fiscal.
    2. The company's profits were driven by robust sales, cost reduction initiatives and favourable foreign exchange. "Higher volumes, material cost reduction initiatives and favorable foreign exchange contributed to profit during the quarter," Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) said.
    3. Net sales of the company rose 20.4 per cent to Rs 14,767.7 crore during the third quarter as against Rs 12,263.1 crore during the same period a year ago.
    4. During the third quarter, the company sold a total of 3,74,182 vehicles, a growth of 15.5 per cent, over 3,23,911 units sold in the third quarter of 2014-15.
    5. For the nine months ended December 31:The company posted a net profit of Rs 3,437.8 crore, up 41.6 per cent, for the nine months ended December 31 from the same period of previous fiscal. Net sales of the company rose 17.2 per cent to Rs 41,420.9 crore for the nine months ended December 31, over the same period last year. The company sold a total of 10,68,846 vehicles in April-December 2015, a growth of 13 per cent over the same period of previous fiscal.

Bharti Airtel's net profit falls in Q3: Things to know
  • Bharti Airtel's net profit falls in Q3: Things to know
    Bharti Airtel's net profit in the December quarter fell 22.21 per cent as compared to the corresponding period a year ago, missing analyst expectations. Here are the things you need to know:

    • Bharti Airtel's net profit in Q3 fell 22.21 per cent to Rs 1,117 crore from Rs 1,436 crore in year-ago period.
    • Total revenue of the company Airtel rose 3.7 per cent to Rs 24,066 crore for December quarter as against Rs 23,217 crore in year-ago period.
    • The country's largest telecom operator's Q3 earnings missed analyst estimates of achieving a net profit of Rs 1,264 crore in Q3.
    • The fall in net profit is being accounted to increased finance costs on spectrum payouts and higher interest costs.
    • Though the company's broadband sector remained strong, voice and data revenues were affected on account of competition from other telecom players.
    • Bharti Airtel added 8.1 million mobile customers in the December quarter taking the total number of subscribers to 351 million across India, South Asia and Africa.
    • The company's loss from its African business narrowed to $74 million from $136 million a year ago.
    • Airtel MD and CEO (India & South Asia) Gopal Vittal said the company's 3G and 4G roll out has accelerated the data usage growth to 73.3 per cent with the ARPU (average revenue per user) for data reaching Rs 200.

ICICI Bank Q3 net profit meets estimates, bad loans up
  • ICICI Bank Q3 net profit meets estimates, bad loans riseICICI Bank, country's biggest private sector lender by assets, reported a surge in bad loans for the December quarter partly due to a central bank direction to reclassify some troubled loan accounts as bad loans.
    Net profit rose 4.5 per cent to Rs 3018 crore ($443 million) for its fiscal third quarter to December 31, from Rs 2,889 crore reported a year earlier, the bank said in a statement on Thursday.
    Analysts on average had expected a net profit of Rs 30.17 crore for the bank, which is also listed in New York.
    Gross bad loans as a percentage of total loans widened to 4.72 per cent in the December quarter from 3.77 per cent in the previous three months.

General Awareness

150th birth anniversary of Lala Lajpat Rai

    • 28th January 2016 is celebrated as the 150th birth anniversary of the greatest Indian freedom fighter Lala Lajpat Rai. He was born in DhudikePunjab on 28 January 1865.

      150th birth anniversary of Lala Lajpat Rai
      About Lala Lajpat Rai
      • He is popularly known asPunjab Kesari and he is described as “a pillar of extremist nationalism in India due to his great contribution in the freedom moment.
      • Lala was the chief leader in the Indian Independence movement.
      • Lajpat was elected as the President of the Congress party in the Calcutta Special Session of 1920 and Rai was the head of the “Lakshmi Insurance Company,”
      • He was the part of Lal Bal Pal trio Lala Lajpat Rai, Bal Gangadhar Tilak, and Bipin Chandra Pal from 1905 to 1918 they are assertive nationalists.
      • He was also coupled with the establishment of Punjab National Bank in 1895 and presently Lakshmi Insurance Company.
      • His death anniversary 17 November is celebrated as one of Martyrs’ Day in India
      • He was a supporter of Arya Samaj and was editor of Arya Gazette,
      • He founded Servants of the People Society, a non-profit welfare organisation, in Lahore
      Books written by Lala Lajpat Rai
      • The Story of My Deportation(1908)
      • Arya Samaj(1915)
      • The United States of America: A Hindu’s Impression(1916)
      • Young India(1916)
      • Unhappy India(1928)
      • England’s Debt to India(1917)
      • Autobiographical Writings
      Buildings and Places build in the memory
      Lala Lajpat Rai University of Veterinary & Animal Sciences in Hisar, Haryana, Lala Lajpat Rai Institute of Engineering and Technology Moga , Lajpat Nagar and Lajpat Nagar Central Market in New Delhi, statue of Lajpat Rai stands at the central square in Shimla, India, Lajpat Rai Market in Chandani Chowk, Delhi, Lala Lajpat Rai Hall of Residence at Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT) in Kanpur and  Lala Lajpat Rai Hospital, Kanpur all are build in the memory of the great freedom fighter.

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