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TARGET IAS 2016 BATCH
CURRENT AFFAIRS NOTES – 09-01-2016
GLOBAL ECONOMIC PROSPECT REPORT 2016
 It is published every six months once by World Bank.
Salient features of the report
 India will continue to be the bright spot of the global economy and is
projected to grow at a robust 7.8 per cent in fiscal 2016-17, more than a
percentage point higher than China’s,
 India continues to be the bright spot of the global economy as Chinese
growth is projected to slow further.
BRICS nations
 The World Bank estimates that China grew at an estimated 6.9 per cent
in 2015 (0.3 per cent less than its June projection).
 The growth rate projections are 0.3 per cent in 2016 and 0.4 per cent in
2017. Russia and Brazil are expected to remain in recession in 2016.
Why Indian economy performs much better than other BRICS nations?
 In contrast to other major developing countries, growth in India
remained robust, buoyed by strong investor sentiment and the positive
effect on real incomes of the recent fall in oil prices.
 India’s currency and stock markets were largely resilient over the past
year, even during bouts of volatility in global financial markets.
 Reserve Bank of India, it said, has rebuilt reserves while net FDI flows
have remained positive.
 Ongoing fiscal consolidation in India has reduced the Centre’s fiscal
deficit to close to 4 per cent of GDP, down from a peak of 7.6 per cent in
2009.
South Asia – Bright spot in Global economy
  In the report, South Asia is projected to be a bright spot in the outlook
for emerging and developing economies, with growth speeding up to 7.3
per cent in 2016 from 7 per cent in the year just ended.
 The region has smaller trade links with China than other regions.
 South Asia is a net importer of oil and will benefit from lower global
energy prices.
PINK BOLLWORM
 The pink bollworm is an insect known for being a pest in cotton farming.
 The pink bollworm is native to Asia, but has become an invasive species
in most of the world's cotton-growing regions.
 The pink bollworm is one of the most destructive pests of cotton.
 Though probably native to India, it is now distributed worldwide.
 It bores into cotton bolls, devouring blossoms and seeds.
 The pinkish-coloured larva generally pupates in a cocoon inside a boll or
seed, in litter, or underground. The brown adult has fringed wings.

Why recently in news?

 According to recent findings, Bt cotton is also affected by Pink bollworm
infestation.
 Technologies develop and collapse after a period of time. Obsolete
technologies need new touch to remain relevant. Farmers have reaped
rich profits from Bt cotton all these years. Now pink bollworm has posed
a new challenge. We need to develop the Bt technology to address the
newly cropped up issues of rejecting the technology itself once and for
all.
BROADBASED TRADE AND INVESTMENT AGREEMENT [ BTIA]
 It sets an ambitious agenda comprising of contentious market access,
investment protection and intellectual property enforcement issues.
 If implemented, BTIA will enhance trade relations between two large
economic partners.
 India and European Union are negotiating Broadbased Bilateral Trade
and Investment Agreement [ BTIA]
European Union Demands from India
1. Reduction in Automobile duties
2. Reduction in tax for wines and spirits & diary products
3. Need for stronger Intellectual Property regime
4. Further liberalization in key services like Insurance and Legal services
Indian concerns
 From Delhi’s standpoint, one of the most pressing goals for Indian
negotiators is to reach a favorable agreement on acquiring data secure
nation status, which would allow Indian IT companies greater market
access under Mode 1. There are four Modes – or types – of services
trade stipulated under the 1995 General Agreement on Trade in Service
(GATS). Mode 1 refers to cross border trade.
 India has also been pushing for changes in Mode 4, which covers the
movement of skilled professionals – like software engineers – and allows
them to temporarily reside and work in EU countries. This would
naturally entail significant changes to visa requirements, work permits as
well as directives of recognition of professional qualifications and wage-
parity conditions.
 In particular, the provision of farm subsidies offered by the EU to local
producers, imposition of anti-dumping measures on several Indian
export categories in EU markets, barriers on movement of professionals,
EU interest in inclusion of several WTO-Plus provisions in the agreement
etc. are among the concern areas of India.
  It must be noted here that software and Mode 4 services exports to the
EU have declined in the past six years, according to data published by
the Reserve Bank of India.
Contentious issues
 Indian intellectual property regime is entirely compliant with the Trade
Related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs) as stipulated by the World
Trade Organization (WTO). However the EU has been pressuring India to
adopt TRIPs plus provisions as part of the BTIA.
 The tussle between the EU and India over generic pharma is one which
has continued ever since India developed its generic pharmaceutical
industry.
 The European Union is hopeful of sealing a deal on migration with India
soon, even as the chief trade negotiators from the two sides are set to
meet on January 18 to discuss the contentious Broadbased Trade and
Investment Agreement (BTIA).

Global Approach to Migration and Mobility

 A high-level EU-India Dialogue on Migration and Mobility was launched

in 2006 under the framework of the EU Global Approach to Migration
and Mobility (GAMM).
 GAMM is implemented through comprehensive framework Common
Agendas for Migration and Mobility (CAMM).
INTERMEDIATE DEPTH EARTHQUAKES & RECENT NORTH EAST EARTHQUAKE
 There are only three regions in the world where intermediate-depth
earthquakes occur - Indo-Burmese plate region, Hindu Kush region and
near Greece in the Aegean area.
 Recent Earthquake which struck North eastern region of India occurred
in a seismically active region where the Indian plate was subducting
below the Burmese plate. It occurred at a depth of more than 25 km.
 Tremors were recorded by the CSIR-National Geophysical Research
Institute’s broadband seismological network, which was installed in the
North-east region
SUKANYA CHAKRABARTI & HER CONTRIBUTION TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF
SCIENCE
 Sukanya Chakrabarti, assistant professor at Rochester Institute of
Technology in New York, uses waves in the galactic disk to map the
interior structure and mass of galaxies
 He has discovered a new method that may help in detecting dwarf
galaxies dominated by dark matter and explain ripples in the outer disk
of the galaxy.
 Just as seismologists analyse waves to infer properties about the Earth’s
interior, Sukanya Chakrabarti uses waves in the galactic disk to map the
interior structure and mass of galaxies. This new method to characterise
dark matter marks the first real application of the field of
galactoseismology.
 Invisible particles known as dark matter make up 85 per cent of the mass
of the universe. The mysterious matter represents a fundamental
problem in astronomy because it is not understood.
IDCS 1426
 Recently Astronomers have detected a massive, sprawling, churning
galaxy cluster
 It is about 1,000 times more massive than our Milky Way galaxy
 The early universe was a chaotic mess of gas and matter that only began
to coalesce into distinct galaxies hundreds of millions of years after the
Big Bang.
 Astronomers at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), the
University of Missouri and the University of Florida have detected IDCS
1426, the most massive cluster of galaxies yet discovered in the first 4
billion years after the Big Bang.
 Galaxy clusters are conglomerations of hundreds to thousands of
galaxies bound together by gravity. They are the most massive
structures in the universe, and those located relatively nearby, such as
the Virgo cluster, are extremely bright and easy to spot in the sky.