Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 24 April 2017

:: National ::

EC issued letter of intent for purchase of 16.15 lakh VVPAT EVM's

The Election Commission has issued letter of intent for purchase of 16.15 lakh Voter-Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) machines, following a clearance by the Union Cabinet on fund allocations.
The machines will be procured in 2017-18 and 2018-19 at an estimated cost of Rs. 3,173.47 crore from public sector undertakings BEL and ECIL.

All train related queries to be answered through single app

Come June, all your train travel related queries will be answered through one mega application, likely to be named HindRail.
The Railways is developing the new app to provide information on arrivals, departures, delays, cancellations, platform number, running status and berth availability.
Besides, it will offer booking of taxis, porter services, retiring rooms, hotels, tour packages, e-catering and other travel-related needs.

Army looking for ways of optimum utilisation of personnel

Army Commanders’ Conference has debated ways of optimum utilisation of personnel as the Service has a “highly pyramidal structure” and hence over “50% personnel are not promoted despite being highly competent”.
Army said its core values had not changed, and rapid “societal changes and discernible impact of socio-economic aspirations on Army” had been a focus area of the conference. Various measures to enhance transparency and inclusiveness were deliberated.
This comes against the backdrop of concerns on the sahayak system in the Army after a series of videos had surfaced on social media recently in which serving personnel alleged that they were forced to do menial jobs.
Under the orderly system, jawans are assigned to officers to perform certain specified personal tasks. The government has promised a full review of the system, but no proposal has been made to abolish it.
The biannual conference, gives an opportunity for the top leadership to carry out due diligence on a range of issues and decisions are taken through a “collegiate system” comprising Commanders and other senior officers.

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:: India and World ::

Cyprus wants India's helps in reunifying the country

President of the Republic of Cyprus, will ask Prime Minister Narendra Modi if there is any way he can help in his country’s efforts to reunify the northern and southern parts of Cyprus.
In an interaction in the presidential palace, he explained the rationale by saying, “Those who are closely connected with Turkey can give us the strongest hand in our efforts.”
President Anastasiades and Mustafa Akinci, the President of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, have been engaged in a dialogue to find a solution.
President Erdogan in a recent referendum that gave him sweeping powers has emerged an even stronger, if unpredictable presence in the region, Cypriot politicians feel.
In 1974 Turkey invaded Cyprus, overran parts of it and has since stationed troops in the north. There is a ceasefire line that cuts across Cyprus, monitored by U.N. troops.
His remarks assume importance considering the Turkish leader Erdogan will be in New Delhi following at the heels of the visit of President Anastasiades.
Cyprus is pitching itself as both an investment destination and as a bridge to both Europe and the Gulf region, given both its location as well as its relations with the countries in the region.
India used Cyprus’s help to help evacuate its citizens from Lebanon in 2006, for instance.
Cyprus supports India in its bid to enter the UN Security Council as a permanent member. It supports India’s efforts on the Nuclear Suppliers Group.
Cyprus has consistently spoken in favour of India in various international fora on Kashmir. The President’s visit is likely to see further steps being taken to deepen the bilateral engagement.

:: Business and Economy ::

Govt wants unified transport ministry

The Union government is planning to establish a single unified transport ministry by merging the Ministries of Aviation, Railways, Surface Transport and Shipping so as to ensure greater ease of doing business and boost India’s trade.
As a first step, inter-ministerial discussions — initiated by PMO— have started for establishing a ‘Logistics and Integrated Transport Board’ as a nodal body at the central level for all transport-related matters across modes.
The ‘umbrella’ Board will include top officials from other Ministries concerned such as Finance, Commerce & Industry, External Affairs and Home, as well as senior representatives from the Indian industry and legal experts.
The aim, however, is to gradually set up a single unified transport ministry by merging the ministries of Aviation, Railways, Surface Transport and Shipping to ensure greater ease of doing business and boost India’s internal and external trade.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during a recent inter-ministerial meeting, had sought to know whether currently any single Ministry or department has the “ownership and responsibility” regarding coordination of all transport and logistics related matters.
The Prime Minister was also keen to know whether having a single unified ‘logistics and integrated transport body’ at the national level would be advantageous compared with the present system.
In this regard, the Centre is considering the report of the National Transport Development Policy Committee, chaired by Rakesh Mohan.
The report, submitted to the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, had pointed out that “nearly all of the 100 largest economies, all of the OECD countries, and all of India’s emerging market ‘peers,’ the BRICS countries, have a Ministry of Transport.
The report suggested that “India needs to have a single unified ministry with a clear mandate to deliver a multi-modal transport system that contributes to the country’s larger development goals including economic growth.
It will also help in expansion of employment, geographic expansion of opportunities, environmental sustainability, and energy security.
The Centre is also reportedly planning to build 35 multi-modal logistics parks by investing more than Rs. 50,000 crore.
In a bid to link India to global supply chains and logistics, the Union Cabinet had last month approved India's accession to the United Nations TIR Convention.

Finance Minister expressed disappointment over the slow IMF quota reforms

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has expressed disappointment over the slow pace of International Monetary Fund (IMF) quota reforms and said any further delay would erode the legitimacy and credibility of the multi-lateral organisation.
The Minister, who is here for spring meetings of the IMF, also underlined the need for enhanced surveillance by the IMF to address the rising vulnerabilities in the global monetary and financial systems.
The emerging risks to the global economy call for enhanced surveillance by the IMF. The IMF needs to be sufficiently resourced to be able to fully discharge this responsibility. It also needs to function as a quota-based institution.
Given that there is a broad agreement on maintaining the current overall lending capacity of the Fund and that the IMF’s existing resource pool is excessively tilted towards borrowed resources, there is a “dire need” for increasing quotas, he added.
India has been pressing for IMF quota reforms as it would give more say to developing nations in the activities of the multi-lateral organisation.
Also the quota reform would reflect the changed economic realities, specially with regard to the increasing prowess of the developing nations.
IMF should play a proactive role by productive engagement with Regional Financing Arrangements by way of sharing information and joint mechanisms for surveillance and policy signalling to build confidence among creditors.