Current Affairs for IAS Exams

Current Affairs for IAS Exams – 24 October 2016

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Justice of India T.S. Thakur shared the dais and mutually agreed that India is a “bright spot” in the global economy.
But the top judge, in a reality check, pointed out that India continues to be one of the lowest ranked in the ‘Ease in Doing Business’ list of countries.
He said foreign investors are still wary of India’s labyrinthine and delayed justice delivery mechanism.
“We have over 3,000 foreign companies with operations in India. In 2015-16, there has been a 29 percent increase in foreign direct investments.
We wish to overtake China and the United States by 2050... Yet we are ranked 130 among a total 189 countries in the Ease of Doing Business,” Chief Justice Thakur said at a global conference on arbitration organised by NITI Aayog.

President Pranab Mukherjee has stressed the need to develop world-class healthcare facilities accessible to all citizens.
“Merely having high GDP growth figures is not enough. We have to ensure access to modern and scientific healthcare facilities for all,” the President said.
“Without an able body, an able mind cannot work. This is absolutely necessary in order to ensure our rightful place in the comity of nations,” he said after inaugurating the Sardar Patel multi-specialty heart hospital.
Mr. Mukherjee also opened a public trust-run hospital, which was originally set up by Sevashram, a voluntary organisation run on Gandhian principles in 1926 as a general medicare unit in Bharuch.
During the famous Dandi March, Mahatma Gandhi and other participants stayed at Sevashram.
After Independence, the medical unit was converted into a full-fledged public hospital and was inaugurated by the first President of India, Dr. Rajendra Prasad, in 1952.
Quoting Mahatma Gandhi, he said one should always think from the point of view of the poorest of poor before taking a new step. “If we practise this, we can transform the country.”

Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar called on Sri Lankan President MaithripalaSirisena on Sunday morning and discussed potential India-Sri Lanka partnerships in areas such as transport, energy and infrastructure.
Visiting Indian delegation is to hold sector-wise meetings with their Sri Lankan counterparts. On the agenda, official sources said, are discussions on likely partnerships in the power sector — using Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG).
Following Sri Lanka’s decision this September to scrap an NTPC-aided power project in the strategically-important Trincomalee, India has offered to partner the country in LNG and solar power initiatives.
The Foreign Secretary’s visit comes a week after Mr. Sirisena met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Goa, on the sidelines of the BRICS Summit, where India offered to build a solar power plant in Trincomalee.
India and Sri Lanka are also negotiating a trade deal, the Economic and Technological Cooperation Agreement (ETCA).

The Centre is planning to monitor flights landing at regional airports remotely instead of constructing new traffic control towers near such airports in a bid to cut costs.
Flights landing at regional airports will receive instructions from an air traffic control officer who might be sitting miles away at an air traffic control room located at a major airport in the city.
Some aviation experts have said that building an ATC tower infrastructure could cost between Rs.100 crore and Rs.300 crore.
The remote monitoring of planes has been tested in several markets such as Norway, Ireland, Australia and the United States.
Many major British airports are also considering centralised monitoring of air traffic services from a larger airport.
The Airports Authority of India (AAI), which provides air navigation services across the country, also plans to hire retired air traffic controllers to further cut down costs on training and to recruit people quickly.
At present, 69 airports receive commercial flights and AAI’s manpower requirement is set to increase with the government’s plans to revive flight operations at another 50 airports in the next three to four years.
India has about 2,300 air traffic control officers (ATCOs) at present and another 400 ATCOs will get trained by next year.