Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 01 March 2017

Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 01 March 2017

:: National ::

Third quarter growth remained at 7% despite demonetisation

  • CSO has kept its January estimate for growth in GDP in 2016-17 unchanged at 7.1%, signalling that independent economic forecasters may have overstated the drag on the economy from the November withdrawal of high-value currency notes.

  • The CSO, which released its second advance estimates of economic growth, also provided GDP and Gross Value Added (GVA) figures for the third quarter, which showed GDP growth slowing to 7%, from 7.3% in the second quarter.

  • The numbers are vindication that demonetisation didn’t have a major impact on the economy. They have looked at all the numbers at their disposal and have come out with their estimate.”

  • The official figures peg GVA growth for the full year at 6.7% as against the 7% projected in the first advance estimates. For Q3, the GVA growth rate is estimated at 6.6%, down from the 7.1% reported in Q2.

  • The CSO also revised downward the GVA growth rates for the first two quarters to 6.9% in Q1 and 6.7% in Q2, from the 7.3% and 7.1% reported earlier.

  • The reason why GDP has maintained is because the reduction in GVA has been compensated for by an improved estimate in net indirect taxes.

  • The Election Commission had barred CSO from releasing State-specific data on economic growth projections, in view of the ongoing Assembly elections.The Commission gave a clearance to the release of only national level data.

IMD predicts above normal temperature across country

  • Prepare for a scorching summer as the India Meteorological Department has forecast “above normal” temperatures across most of the country.

  • Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Jammu and Kashmir — or hill-station States popular among tourists wanting to escape the heat — are expected to be particularly hot with predicted temperatures, on average, likely to be well above 1 degree C above their normal summer temperatures.

  • Punjab, Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Odisha and Telangana are other States in the “core heat zone” that are likely to see significantly warmer temperatures.

  • The IMD weather model, used to prepare the forecast, shows a 47% probability of summer temperatures being above normal.

  • The summer forecast is in line with a generally warm trend over previous months. 2016 was the warmest year in a century, according to the IMD, with the country 0.91 C warmer than the 1961-1990 average.

  • The summer months of March-May last year were 1.36 C higher than historical average, making it the second-warmest since 1901.

  • The weather agency blames global warming. “Studies indicate increasing trends in the frequency and duration of heat waves over the country.”

India and US engage in issue of safety of Indians in US

  • Indian and U.S. officials are engaging on the issue of safety of Indians in America, the External Affairs Ministry said ahead of a visit by Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar to Washington.

  • It said there was no need for India to issue a “demarche” to the U.S. over the suspected racially motivated killing of an Indian engineer.

  • The statement came amid rising criticism in the U.S. and Indian media over the lack of a response from U.S. President Donald Trump on the killing, although White House spokesperson Sean Spicer did call details of the incident “disturbing”.

  • Meanwhile, hailing the talks between Mr. Jaishankar and Chinese Executive Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs Zhang Yesui in Beijing last week as “positive and constructive”, the Ministry said that they had “addressed the full complexity of India-China relations”.

  • The official also said that “common ground” had been found during specific exchanges on Afghanistan, U.N., counter-terrorism and nuclear issues.

Al Nagah-II 2017 between armies of India and Oman (Register and Login to read Full News)

Mallya’s extradition issue raised with U.K. (Register and Login to read Full News)

Law ministry asks for opinion about AIJS (Register and Login to read Full News)

:: India and World ::

Sri Lankan says extremist forces behind delay of reconciliation

  • Sri Lankan Foreign Minister attributed to “extremist forces” the perceived delay on the part of the Sri Lankan government in moving ahead with reconciliatory efforts. The extremists, he addded, were creating roadblocks for narrow political gains.

  • On United Nations Human Rights Council, the Minister said: “While stubbornly refusing to acknowledge any of the far-reaching gains we have made in the last two years, they argue that we have either done too much or too little.”

  • Sri Lanka made several commitments to the UN body in September 2015, when it co-sponsored a consensus resolution calling for a credible judicial process to probe alleged rights abuses.

  • However, sections of Sri Lankan society, particularly those living in the north and east, have been dissatisfied with the pace of government initiatives.

  • He noted that the government was progressing with the formulation of the legal framework of the proposed Counter Terrorism Act.

  • Following criticism over the draft legislation, the government is said to be fine-tuning it to meet international standards.

  • Sri Lanka is expected to push for a “technical rollover” of the 2015 resolution in order to buy more time to fulfil its promises to its people, seven years after the country’s bloody civil war ended.

:: Business and Economy ::

OECD threw its weight behind India’s rating upgrade

  • Internationally influential think-tank, OECD threw its weight behind India saying the country is worthy of a credit rating upgrade, but cautioned Indian policy makers against taking measures only with an aim to get a better rating.

  • The OECD also said the Indian government needed to do “much more”, in terms of promoting India through road shows.

  • The government needs to be a “good salesman” — by informing global investors and rating agencies about the reforms it had already undertaken “in the best interest of the country” as well as their positive impact on the economy.

  • India’s (sovereign) credit rating has remained unchanged for the past several years at ‘BBB (-)’ — or the lowest investment grade, which is only a grade above “junk” status for government/sovereign bonds.

  • Leading international credit rating firms such as Standard & Poor’s, Moody’s and Fitch rate government/sovereign bonds on the basis of lending risks — or, in other words, their estimation of the borrower’s ability to repay its debt and the likelihood of them defaulting.

  • According to the Indian government’s Economic Survey 2016-17, “India’s ratings have remained stuck at the much lower level of BBB-, despite the country’s dramatic improvement in growth and macro-economic stability since 2014.”

Govt to hold fresh auctions this year

  • The government will hold fresh spectrum auctions between July and December this year and the exercise will be an annual affair from now, Telecom Secretary JS Deepak said.

  • The Centre is also working to ensure that India embraces 5G telecom networks in tandem with the rest of the world, unlike 3G and 4G technologies whose rollout was far slower, he said.

  • This year’s auctions are likely to be held between July and December and the department of telecom is soon going to send a request to telecom regulator TRAI for its recommendations on the spectrum to be sold, the price and newer spectrum bands that could be offered.

  • Before July, the department will frame a policy for the use of various spectrum bands, including high frequency bands.

  • “We are putting up new bands that can be used for other applications including 5G. Someone may now want 500 Mhz as well. And if they don’t want it, it’s okay, we will keep it,” he said.

  • While limited spectrum was offered in auctions till 2015, since last year, the government has started putting all the available spectrum on sale in line with a Supreme Court judgement, the secretary said.

  • While South Korea is expected to be the first country to rollout 5G network services in time for the 2018 Winter Olympics, Mr. Deepak said India is keen to be an early mover.

  • The department is also framing a policy on the use of higher frequency spectrum for different purposes, including 5G services and is expected to unveil it in the next three months.

OECD keeps India’s growth forecast to 7% (Register and Login to read Full News)

Core sector slows to 3.4% in January (Register and Login to read Full News)

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