Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 22 April 2017

:: National ::

PM says Civil servants should change with changing times

PM Modi said anonymity was one of the greatest strengths of civil services, cautioning government officials that the use of social media should not lead to a decline in this strength.
Even as social media and mobile governance were leveraged for connecting people to benefits and government schemes.
At the Civil Service Day function, Mr. Modi also assured the civil servants that he would stand by them if they took decisions with an honest intention and in public interest.
He said the conditions prevailing today were quite different from about two decades ago and would evolve much further over the next few years.
While earlier the government was almost the sole provider of goods and services, which left a lot of scope for ignoring one’s shortcomings, people now very often perceived that the private sector offered better services than the government.
The Prime Minister said with alternatives now being available in several areas, responsibilities of government officials had increased in terms of the challenges, not the scope of work.
He said that the sooner the attitude of the government would change from a regulator to an enabler, the faster the challenge of competition would turn into an opportunity.
He said while the absence of government in a sphere of activity should be perceptible, its presence in a sphere of activity should not become a burden.
Noting that there was a quantum jump in the applications for Civil Service Day awards, from less than 100 in 2016 to over 500 this year, PM said that the focus should now be on improving quality, and making excellence a habit.
Mr. Modi said while “political will” was needed for reform, which he did not lack and may be had a bit extra, the “performance” part must come from civil servants and that “transformation” was enabled by people’s participation.
Recalling that 2022 would mark 75 years of Independence, he urged the officials to play the role of catalytic agents in fulfilling the dreams of the freedom fighters.

SC refused to dwell on a petition seeking a judicial declaration on Kohinoor

Supreme Court refused to further dwell on a petition seeking a judicial declaration to bring the Kohinoor diamond back from the United Kingdom, leaving the task to the wisdom and efforts of the government.
A Bench led by Chief Justice of India J.S. Khehar questioned how petitions seeking the return of properties lying with a foreign government find their way into the Supreme Court, which has no jurisdiction whatsoever over such matters.
The court said it cannot direct the United Kingdom on what to do with the Kohinoor diamond. The court was hearing a petition filed by the All India Human Rights and Social Front against the High Commissioner of the U.K.
The affidavit said the Antiquities and Art Treasures Act of 1972, which prevents the export of precious articles and treasures from the country.
It was toothless as the British East India Company confiscated the Kohinoor from the boy king Maharaja Duleep Singh in 1849 — “it is a known historical fact.”
Though both India and the U.K. were signatories to the UNESCO Convention on Means of Prohibiting and Preventing Illicit Import, Export of Ownership of Cultural Property, the restitution of Kohinoor would require a “special agreement” between both countries.

Land attack variant of BrahMos supersonic cruise missile testfired

The Indian Navy successfully carried out the maiden test-firing of the land attack variant of BrahMos supersonic cruise missile from a stealth frigate in the Bay of Bengal.
The test-firing is seen as a major capability addition as, so far, the Navy has inducted only the anti-ship variant in many of the frontline vessels.
Explaining the significance of the development, the statement said the land attack variant provides the naval ships the capability “to precisely neutralise selected targets deep inland, far away from coast, from stand-off ranges at sea.”
Majority of the frontline ships of the Navy, like the Kolkata, Ranvir and Teg classes of ships, are capable of firing this missile.
BrahMos, derived from Russian P-800 Oniks or Yakhont missile, is a joint product of India and Russia.
The present range of the BrahMos is 290 km, which is now in the process of being extended up to 450 km following India’s entry into the Missile Technology Control Regime last year.

SC questioned the logic to make Aadhaar mandatory for filing income tax returns (Register and Login to read Full News)

The government is exploring the possibility of allowing all petroleum products (Register and Login to read Full News)

:: International ::

Madhesis declared that they would participate in the upcoming elections

Marking a major shift in strategy, agitators from Nepal’s plains declared that they would participate in the upcoming elections if Kathmandu addresses “some” of the concerns about constitutional amendments.
This was discussed in a meeting between the Madhesi leaders and the government of Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’, even as five political parties from Nepal’s plains united to form a single platform.
The new shift is a significant development in view of the earlier Madhesi position on boycotting the three-tier elections to be held in Nepal.
The discussion between two sides that began is likely to continue. There are unconfirmed reports that a high-level special envoy from New Delhi has also reached Kathmandu to assist the negotiations.
The unification of the political parties took place a few days after Nepal’s Foreign Minister Prakash Sharan Mahat said that the Madhesi parties are unprepared to face the electorate.

:: India and World ::

India and South Korea signed two agreements to build artillery guns

India and South Korea on Friday signed two agreements to build artillery guns for the Indian Army and for collaboration in shipbuilding.
One of them is an Inter-Governmental Agreement (IGA) between the governments while the other is a manufacturing agreement between two private companies.
India has already nominated Hindustan Shipyard Limited (HSL), Visakhapatnam while South Korea will designate their shipyard soon.
The MoU was conceived under the overall umbrella of the ‘Special Strategic Partnership’ between both sides, Defence Ministry said in a statement.
The MoU will come into effect from the date of signature by both sides and will be initially valid for a period of five years and would be automatically extended for further successive five year at a time.
The two sides will identify specific projects to work on and this cooperation is expected to enable HSL to upgrade and modernise its facilities.
Indian engineering conglomerate Larsen & Toubro (L&T) and Hanwa Techwin of South Korea signed a contract to manufacture the K9 Vajra-T tracked, self-propelled artillery guns for the Indian Army.

India and EU firmed up plans for holding the 14th bilateral summit (Register and Login to read Full News)

:: Business and Economy ::

IT Minister has instructed NPCI to smoothen the refund mechanism for BHIM

IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad has instructed National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) to smoothen the refund mechanism for BHIM (Bharat Interface for Money) application.
This follows feedback highlighting that the process of getting a refund in BHIM application is more cumbersome compared to other applications.
Now 56 crore bank accounts have been linked to Aadhaar, of the total 97 crore back accounts. The lag was due to some issues in states such as Assam and Meghalaya.
According to government data, as on December 2017, Assam and Meghalaya have the lowest Aadhaar penetration at 6% and 9%, respectively.
This means that about 41% of the bank accounts are still to be linked to Aadhaar.
Further, the banks have been instructed to invest in and strengthen their IT infrastructure to deal with the rising number of digital payments and improve transaction success rates.
Additionally, every bank has been instructed to have at least 30 Aadhaar biometric machines at every branch, and that 50 lakh such devices be installed in the current year.

Medcine industry says drug policy must be holistic

A policy framework which seeks to achieve the goal of making medicines affordable and accessible to the poor is necessary for the pharmaceutical industry.
The framework must be holistic in its approach, involve all the stakeholders and focus on serving the patients.
There was a need to create a vision where everybody was aligned instead of decisions being taken “arbitrarily.”
Pointing to how issues concerning the pharmaceutical industry came under the purview of different ministries, it was time for action, given that Indian exports were declining.