Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 01 February 2017
:: National ::
Economic survey points out positives and negatives
The government’s Chief Economic Adviser said there was a sense of anxiety about the economy’s prospects following demonetisation and stressed the need to allay the fears of an overzealous tax regime in its aftermath.
Mr. Subramanian termed the move to cancel the legal tender nature of high-value currency notes a “radical currency-cum-governance-cum-social engineering measure to permanently and punitively raise the cost of illicit and unaccounted transactions or kala dhan (black money).”
“Bank credit growth has come down, two-wheeler sales have come down. There will be an impact on GDP. But the question is how much,” he said.
The Survey pegs economic growth in 2016-17 at 7.1%, but this is based mainly on information for months before the November 8 demonetisation of Rs. 500 and Rs. 1,000 notes.
This is half a percentage point lower than the 7.6% growth last year, but the CEA warned that comparisons attributing the difference in growth numbers to demonetisation alone would be foolhardy.
Mr. Subramanian declined comment on the design and implementation of demonetisation, but did speak on the costs, and long-term benefits of what was “an unusual and unique monetary experiment” aimed at a structural break.
After a temporary slowdown in GDP growth, the Survey expects the economy to return to normal, once the scrapped currency is replaced by March.
In the long run, tax revenues and GDP growth would be bolstered on account of greater tax compliance and a reduction in real estate prices.
Supreme Court refused to stay the new law on Jallikattu
A few hours after the President gave his assent to the Tamil Nadu amendments in the Prevention of Cruelty Act of 1960 to allow jallikattu, the Supreme Court refused to stay the new State law.
Allowing the Central government to withdraw its January 7, 2016 notification permitting jallikattu, a Bench of Justices declined the plea for an interim stay on the operation of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Tamil Nadu Amendment).
It asked the organisation and other animal rights activists the ‘basis’ of their challenge to the new State law.
Referring to the amendments made by the Tamil Nadu Assembly to the 1960 Central Act, Justice Misra pointed out that the declared object of the new legislation is the preservation of a particular breed of bulls.
Attorney-General Mukul Rohatgi told the Supreme Court that jallikattu was a matter of culture and that citizens had the right to take measures to “conserve their culture.”
Mr. Rohatgi then referred to Section 11 (3) (e) of the 1960 Act which permits slaughtering of animals for food.
The State government and others supporting jallikattu in the current litigation were given four weeks to file their counter-affidavits.
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President delivered address to the Parliament (Register and Login to read Full News)
:: International ::
Bangladesh will push ahead with plan to relocate Rohingya refugees
Bangladesh will push ahead with a controversial plan to relocate tens of thousands of Rohingya refugees from Myanmar to a remote island despite warnings it is uninhabitable and prone to flooding.
The government has set up a committee comprising state officials in the coastal districts, ordering authorities to help identify and relocate undocumented Myanmar nationals to Thengar Char in the Bay of Bengal.
The committee will assist transferring both registered and unregistered refugees from Myanmar to Thengar Char near Hatiya island in Noakhali district.
Hatiya is situated on the estuary of the River Meghna and is a nine-hour journey away from the camps where the Rohingya have taken shelter.
Some 232,000 Rohingya Muslims — both registered and unregistered — were already living in Bangladesh before more than 65,000 stateless Rohingya fleeing violence in Myanmar’s western state of Rakhine began entering the country.
Most of those who fled to Bangladesh live in squalid conditions in refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar district, which borders Rakhine State and is home to the country’s biggest tourist resort.
Austria’s governing coalition has agreed to prohibit full-face veils (Register and Login to read Full News)
:: India and World ::
India reacted cautiously to the Pakistan government’s move on Saeed
India reacted cautiously to the Pakistan government’s move to place Mumbai attacks mastermind Hafiz Saeed and four other members of the Lashkar-e-Taiba front.
Officials suggested that the moves were cosmetic and designed to placate the U.S. government ahead of a major international meet on tackling terror funding next month.
Pakistan’s military, the government and the Punjab State law minister have issued statements claiming the action was prompted by “policy” considerations and “national security.”
However, government officials watching Islamabad closely say fears of U.S. strictures over terror financing may have more to do with it.
These were heightened by the Trump administration’s threat to add Pakistan to its immigration ban applied to seven countries so far.
