Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 1 June 2017
::National::
India lost its fastest-growing major economy tag
India lost its fastest-growing major economy tag in the fourth quarter of 2016-17, with GDP growth coming in at 6.1% compared with China’s 6.9% in the same period.
Data from the Ministry of Statistics showed GDP grew 7.1% in the financial year 2016-17, slower than the 8% registered in 2015-16.
The GDP numbers were based on the new 2011-12 base year recently adopted for data including the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) and Wholesale Price Index (WPI).
Gross value added (GVA) growth was 6.6% for 2016-17 and 5.6% in the fourth quarter, compared with 7.9% in 2015-16 and 8.7% in Q4 of that year.
The “numbers show a clear slowdown in GVA,” DK Srivastava, Chief Economic Adviser at EY India, said.
“That is, post-demonetisation there has been a slowdown,” he said. “The GDP growth rate is slightly higher (than GVA growth) because of a more than proportionate increase in indirect tax net of subsidies.”
Nandini K.R. from Bangalore topped the Civil Services Examination
Nandini K.R. from Bangalore topped the Civil Services Examination 2016, the final results of which were declared by the Union Public Service Commission.
An Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officer, Ms Nandini, who hails from Kolar in Karnataka, cracked the exam in her fourth attempt.
Anmol Sher Singh Bedi, who graduated with a B.E. degree in Computer Science from BITS, Pilani, secured the second rank.
“It is like a dream come true. I always wanted to be an IAS officer,” Ms Nandini told PTI from the National Academy of Customs, Excise and Narcotics in Faridabad, where she is undergoing probation.
“I put in a lot of effort. After getting selected in the IRS in 2014, I had taken the exam again in 2015 but could not crack it. I took the test again and topped it. It is a wonderful experience,” she said.
The top 10 candidates included Bilal Mohiuddin Bhat from the remote border district of Handwara in North Kashmir.
Currently a Indian Forest Service officer based in Lucknow, Mr Bhat would have crossed 32 years, the cutoff age for appearing for the examination, in November this year. He had appeared for the examination four times.
Strategic Partnership policy came into effect
The much-awaited and long-delayed Strategic Partnership (SP) policy, intended to promote Indian private sector participation in defence manufacturing, formally came into effect.
The Defence Ministry notified the policy as the final chapter under the Defence Procurement Procedure. Various selection and evaluation criteria have been stipulated for short-listing the SP.
The policy acknowledges that the Indian private sector currently has “limited experience in defence manufacturing and even lesser in respect of final integration” of complex defence systems and sub-systems.
In view of this, the policy states, “besides any experience in defence manufacturing, potential SPs will be identified primarily based on their experience and competence in integration of multi-disciplinary functional system of systems, engineering and manufacturing.”
In a bid to avoid cancellation of deals in case of a single vendor situation, the policy states that “even if only one Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) submits a proposal in any given segment, the process of technical evaluation will be completed”.
Of the four segments under SP, two are for the Navy: submarines and utility helicopters. The others are single-engine fighter aircraft for the Indian Air Force and armoured vehicles for the Army.
Both the Navy deals have been held up from some time due to delay in finalising the SP policy.
India and Spain stressed that there should be “zero tolerance” on terrorism
India and Spain stressed that there should be “zero tolerance” to terrorism and called on the international community to end “selective or partial” approaches in combating the menace which posed the gravest threat to international peace and stability.
PM Modi, the first Indian PM to visit Spain since 1992, met the European country’s top leaders and they stressed that states and entities which encourage, support, finance terrorism, provide sanctuary to terrorists and glorify terrorism should be subjected to international laws, including restrictive measures.
Mr. Modi held wide-ranging talks with Spanish President Mariano Rajoy at the Moncloa Palace and invited Spanish firms to invest in India which offered “many opportunities” for them in various fields.
After the talks, the two sides signed seven agreements, including pacts on transfer of sentenced persons and visa waiver for holders of diplomatic passports.
Five MoUs were signed between the two countries on cooperation in organ transplantation, cybersecurity, renewable energy, civil aviation and one between India’s Foreign Service Institute and Diplomatic Academy of Spain.
Spain is the 12th largest investor in India and the seventh largest trading partner in the EU. There are more than 200 Spanish companies in India that are actively involved in road construction, railways, wind power, defence and smart cities.
New centres of influence and new engines of growth are emerging says PM
Enhancing bilateral trade, nuclear and technology cooperation will be at the top of the agenda, but multilateral issues will hold centre stage during his talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin at St. Petersburg.
“New centres of influence and new engines of growth are emerging,” he said adding that India and Russia were “natural partners” in fighting terrorism, and promoting a multipolar international system.
The PM’s words are significant as they come amid a visible strain in India-Russia ties that have further strained since his last meeting with President Putin in Goa, on the sidelines of the BRICS summit in October 2016, and rising discomfort over Russia’s growing alliance with China and ties with Pakistan.
The BRICS meeting came against the backdrop of the Uri attacks, as well as Russia’s decision to go ahead with military exercises with Pakistan despite the Modi government’s publicly stated policy of “isolating” Pakistan.
At the BRICS meet, as well as in December 2016 at the Heart of Asia conference on Afghanistan, MEA officials conceded, Russia was not as forthcoming in support of their formulations on “cross-border” terror as India expected.
India’s other worry has been over Russia folding into Chinese President Xi’s prestige project, the Belt and Road Initiative (B&RI) on the back of the Chinese investment in the $400 billion Russia-China Power of Siberia gas pipeline that is expected to be operational by 2019-2020.
India’s strident objections to the B&RI and the China Pakistan Economic Corridor on sovereignty issues led to it boycotting the B&R Forum in Beijing in May, whereas President Putin met with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and President Xi Jinping in the first such meeting of its kind instead.
The grouping is particularly problematic for India, given that it will enter the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation with Pakistan next week, when Mr. Modi travels to Kazakhstan.
During the summit on June 1, PM Modi and President Putin are expected to spell out a “joint vision statement” aimed at re-energising the relationship on the bilateral, and also the multilateral sphere.
In an editorial this week, Mr. Putin called the two countries “equal partners in international affairs”, suggesting that a free trade agreement between the Eurasian Economic Union and India, as well as developing the International North South Transport Corridor would be a part of it.