Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 13 May 2017

:: National ::

EC says soon a challenge to hack EVMs

• The Election Commission, following an over seven-hour-long meeting with representatives of 42 political parties, said it would soon offer to them an opportunity to prove that EVMs could be tampered with, given the existing administrative and technical safeguards.
• The Commission also announced that henceforth, voter verifiable paper audit trails (VVPATs) would be used in all the Assembly and General elections.
• Declaring that the “challenge” would indeed be held, Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Nasim Zaidi said at the event that the parties would also be invited to demonstrate that the EVMs used during the recent Assembly elections were tampered with.
• The CEC also said there were no favours for the Commission and that it maintained equal distance from all the parties and groups, which had enhanced India’s reputation in the eyes of the global community.
• While most parties expressed satisfaction with voting machines, particularly because VVPATs will be used for greater transparency, some parties like BSP, Trinamool and PMK demanded re-introduction of the paper ballots.
• Several parties, including the RJD, suggested that copies of paper trail slips should be saved separately for simultaneous counting.

SC asked whether man can validate a practice considered “sinful” by God

• Asking whether man can validate a practice considered “sinful” by God, the Supreme Court said the consequences of invalidating triple talaq, if it comes to that, would be decided later.
• “If triple talaq comes to an end, whatever the consequences are, will be decided later. There is no mutual consent in triple talaq.
• People debating, reasoning, thinking and interventions by arbitrators with families are present in other forms of talaq, but not in instant triple talaq,” Chief Justice of India J.S. Khehar orally observed.
• The Chief Justice is heading a Bench of five judges hearing a clutch of petitions challenging the constitutionality of the practice of instantaneous triple talaq.
• In the second day of hearing, Justice Kurian orally asked whether a practice considered “sinful in the eyes of God can be validated by the laws of man”.
• Justice Kurian was reacting to senior advocate Salman Khurshid's submissions that all Islamic schools consider triple talaq as “sinful”.
• Senior advocate Ram Jethmalani submitted that no amount of advocacy by man will justify instant triple talaq, pronounced “to get rid of a woman on a whim”. Mr. Jethmalani submitted that the practice was repugnant to the Holy Quran and the Prophet.
• He said secularism is the subjection of religion to the rule of law. There should be no discrimination against a woman just because she is a woman. Laws can be made only to improve the lot of women and not to cause them distress.
 

PM Modi hailed Sri Lanka’s plantation workers

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi hailed Sri Lanka’s plantation workers as the “indispensable backbone of Sri Lanka’s thriving tea industry.”
• Addressing a huge gathering of upcountry Tamils in Norwood here, the Prime Minister said while the people world over knew of Sri Lankan tea, it was less known that it was the workers’ sweat and toil that made Ceylon Tea the brew of choice for millions.
• An official source estimated nearly 35,000 people at the grounds that brimmed with men, women and children waving Indian and Sri Lankan flags.
• Thousands more reportedly did not make it to the venue as the narrow roads on the hills, newly carpeted, were clogged hours ahead of the meeting in which President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Rani Wicremesinghe also participated.
• Distinct from the Tamils of Sri Lanka’s north and east, where the island nation’s civil war broke out, ‘upcountry Tamils’ are of recent Indian origin. Almost two centuries ago, the British transported them to the island to work in the plantations.
• Evoking the ‘Ramayana’, and quoting from ancient Tamil texts, Mr. Modi pointed to shared history and ties. Upcountry Tamils, he said, captured the true spirit of the Kaniyan Pungunranar saying ‘ Yaathum oore, yavarum kelir ’ (Every town is our hometown and all people are our kin) by making Sri Lanka their home.
 

Medical centres in country to perform first uterus transplants

• Two medical centres in Pune and Bengaluru are gearing up to perform the country’s first uterus transplants.
• The medical breakthrough has triggered a strong debate over how far a woman should go to become a mother as 31 more women have lined up for the procedure.
• A uterus transplant is an extremely complex procedure that will enable women with absent or diseased uteruses to carry a pregnancy to termafter a donor uterus is transplanted into them.
• While there is no debate that womb transplant will be a medical leap for Indian doctors, the question remains about the viability of the procedure.
•
• One in every 4,000 women in India is born without a uterus. There are about 4 lakh women with congenital absence of uterus all over the world.
• Agra-based gynaecologist and former president of the Federation of Obstetric and Gynaecological Societies of India (FOGSI) Dr. Narendra Malhotra feels that the uterus transplants, if successful, will be a victory for science.
• At first, a donor undergoes a surgery for the removal of her uterus. Unlike other hysterectomies, blood vessels and vascular pedicels around the uterus have to be carefully preserved and then re-attached to the recipient.
• After the transplant, the recipient is put on immunosuppressants so that her body does not reject the donor’s organ. She waits at least for a year before attempting a pregnancy as an In Vitro Fertility (IVF) procedure.
• The woman’s eggs are extracted much before the transplant and the embryos formed with her husband’s sperms are frozen. If the IVF cycles are successful, the woman conceives.
• However, the delivery is carried out through a C-section and the transplanted uterus is removed after the delivery so that she does not have be on immunosuppressants continuously.
• The very first uterine transplant in the world was carried out in 2002 in Saudi Arabia, and the second one in Turkey in 2011. Both were cadaveric transplants wherein the uterus was taken from a brain dead patient.
 

Four Naval ships to be part of India's Act East policy

• Four Indian naval ships are on deployment to South East Asia and Southern Indian Ocean as part of India’s Act East policy.
• Indian Naval Ships Sahyadri, Shivalik, Jyoti and Kamorta are under the command of Rear Admiral Biswajit Dasgupta, the Flag Officer Commanding Eastern Fleet.
• Both INS Sahyadri and Kamorta are on a port visit to Singapore from May 12 to May 21, during which the vessels will participate in the International Maritime Review and lMDEX-17, said a Navy statement.
• Four ships and a P-8I long range maritime patrol and anti-submarine warfare aircraft will participate in an exercise with Singapore’s Navy and Air Force as part of SIMBEX-17, the annual maritime bilateral exercises.

• Held since 1994, this year’s exercise would be the 24th edition of SIMBEX. enforced.

:: International ::

Belt and road initiative received a big boost

• China’s bid to internationalise its Belt and Road connectivity initiative received a shot in the arm with the U.S. deciding to send a high level delegation to an upcoming international forum in the Chinese capital.
• France and South Korea have also decided to send delegates to the Belt and Road Forum, which begins on Sunday. Japan is being represented by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s senior adviser.
• Vietnamese President Tran Dai Quang is already in the Chinese capital for parleys with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping, ahead of the conclave.
• Leaders from 29 countries and regions as well as UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde and World Bank President Kim Yong will also attend the event.
• China will also allow U.S. imports of beef no later than July 16. Besides, foreign-owned companies will be allowed to provide credit rating services in China.
• According to a U.S. announcement, the two sides had also agreed to discuss extending the initial 100-day period into a one-year plan.

India and Pakistan relations are likely to deteriorate further in 2017

• The relations between India and Pakistan is likely to deteriorate further in 2017 and the easing of tension will depend on “a sharp and sustained reduction of cross-border attacks by terrorist groups based in Pakistan.
• Two major terrorist attacks in 2016 by militants crossing into India from Pakistan led to the slide in ties, and the “perceived lack of progress in Pakistan’s investigations into the January 2016 Pathankot cross-border attack” compounded it, according to the American assessment.
• The assessment of the global security situation under the Donald Trump administration echoes a concern that dominated the previous Obama administration’s south Asia policy — the risk of Islamist terrorists laying their hand on Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal.
• India’s military doctrine of cold start that aims to launch low intensity operation into Pakistan, and Pakistan’s declared willingness to respond with tactical nuclear weapons have been under scrutiny of American security strategists for a while.
• Mr. Obama made a mention of it at his address to the Nuclear Security Summit last year. Officials of the Trump administration have inherited that view of South Asia.
• Pakistan-based terrorist groups will present a sustained threat to U.S. interests in the region and continue to plan and conduct attacks in India and Afghanistan, the official told lawmakers.

:: Business and Economy ::

Civil Aviation Ministry has decided to significantly reduce the levy on air tickets

• In a relief to passengers flying on major domestic routes, the Civil Aviation Ministry has decided to significantly reduce the levy on air tickets imposed to fund the Centre’s new regional connectivity scheme UDAN.
• From June 1, it will only charge a uniform levy of Rs. 5,000 per flight on major routes, down from Rs. 7,500-Rs. 8,500 per flight it had ordered to charge earlier.
• The move will come as a relief to passengers taking flights on major domestic routes as each passenger will have to bear about Rs. 30 as cess against about Rs. 50 as per government’s previous order in November 2016.
• “The Central Government has decided to revise the levy on scheduled flights being operated within India to fund the Regional Air Connectivity Fund at a uniform rate of Rs. 5,000 per flight till further revision. The said levy will now come into effect from June 1, 2017,” said an order.
• The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has been directed to issue a circular on the revised levy amount.
• The Centre had ordered imposing a levy of Rs. 7,500 for flights up to 1,000 km, Rs. 8,000 for flights between 1,000 and 1,500 km and Rs. 8,500 for flights beyond 1,500 km, except north-eastern states and regional routes, effective from December 1.
• A reduction in levy is also seen as government’s efforts to bring domestic airlines on board its UDAN scheme as most domestic airlines refused to charge a levy on air tickets.
• The Federation of Indian Airlines (FIA), which represents IndiGo, Jet Airways, SpiceJet and GoAir, had dragged the Centre to the courts challenging the levy to finance the regional connectivity scheme.
• Only AirAsia and Air India had imposed a regional connectivity scheme surcharge on its tickets so far.
• The government’s directive came on the same day when IndiGo, India’s largest airline by market share, announced it will participate in the government’s UDAN scheme for providing regional air connectivity, by inducting 50 ATR 72-600 aircraft, which are smaller planes.
• The government also announced relief to existing airlines which had to charge a higher levy due to its previous order.
• As per the UDAN scheme, airfares on all flights operating from regional airports will be capped at Rs. 2,500 for an hour’s journey. The Centre will provide subsidy to fund the losses incurred by airlines through a regional connectivity fund.
• While 80% of the fund will be financed by the levy imposed on air tickets, the rest 20% will flow from respective state governments.
 

WPI eased significantly in revised figures

• Wholesale price inflation eased significantly to 3.85% in April from 5.3% in March 2017, according to a revised Wholesale Price Index released.
• Industrial output growth as measured by the new Index of Industrial Production (IIP)series showed a marginally stronger performance in March at 2.7%, compared with the old data series. However, even that was slower than the 5.5% IIP growth seen in March 2016.
• Meanwhile, consumer price inflation in April eased to 3% from 3.9% in March, a release from the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation on Friday showed.
• The main change made to the WPI and IIP is that the base year has been shifted from 2004-05 to 2011-12 in order to make the data more contemporary and reflective of ground realities.
• Previously, the WPI was calculated on the basis of the base price plus excise duty minus any trade discount. The new formula, according to Mr. Abhishek, removes the excise duty aspect.
• IIP grew 2.7% in March according to the new series, compared with 2.5% according to the old series. Within this, the mining sector grew 9.7% in March per the new series versus 7.9% as per the old data.
• The manufacturing sector growth rate was 1.2% compared with 1.3% based on the old series.
• “The new series show higher growth rates as compared to the old series which can be attributed to shifting of base to a more recent period, increase in number of factories in panel for reporting data and exclusion of closed ones and inclusion of new items and exclusion of old ones,” Care Ratings said in a report.

• The WPI rose 3.85% in April according to the new series, compared with 5.3% in March. Primary articles inflation was 0.4% in April, slower than March’s 4%. Inflation in manufactured products was steady at 3%.

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