CURRENT AFFAIRS PDF NETAJI IAS 13 NOVEMBER 2016 NETAJI IAS
13 NOVEMBER 1 India-Bhutan Trade Agreement Why in News? The Agreement on Trade, Commerce and Transit between India and the Royal Government of Bhutan has been signed in Thimpu, Bhutan. Previous Agreements: The first Agreement on Trade and Commerce between Bhutan and India was signed in 1972. Since then, the Agreement has been renewed four times. The last Agreement was renewed on July 28, 2006 and was valid till July 29, 2016. The validity of the Agreement was extended for a period of one year or till the date of coming into force of the new Agreement, whichever is earlier, by exchange of diplomatic notes between the two countries. New Agreement on Trade, Commerce and Transit: The new bilateral Trade Agreement aims to enhance trade between the two countries through trade facilitation by improving procedures, cutting down on documentation and adding additional exit/entry points for Bhutan s trade with other countries. It is also expected to further strengthen the excellent relations between the two countries. w w w. n e t a j i i a s. c o m Page 1
13 NOVEMBER 2 India-Bhutan Trade Relationship: India is Bhutan s largest trading partner. A free trade regime exists between India and Bhutan Major exports from India to Bhutan are diesel, parts of hydraulic turbines, including regulators, ferrous products, petrol, wood charcoal, other coal, coke and semi coke etc., The major items of import from Bhutan to India are electricity from the four Hydropower Plants of Basochhu, Chukha, Tala and Kurichhu (a total of 1840MW of electricity is generated, out of which about 460MW is consumed domestically and the rest, exported to India), ferro silicon, portland cement, dolomite, carbides of calcium etc., Category: Mains GS II Bilateral relations Source: PIB w w w. n e t a j i i a s. c o m Page 2
13 NOVEMBER 3 Neglect of healthcare will have a negative impact on India s economy Impediments in accessing healthcare: Economic factors: Poverty and low economic statuacs is the major impediment to accessing quality healthcare. High out-of-pocket expenditures, with more than three-quarters of the increasing financial burden of health care being met by households. Social factors: Gender discrimination manifests itself in the form of denying timely healthcare facilities to women. Certain misconceptions about ineffectiveness of allopathy medicines prevents rural and tribal people from accessing healthcare facilities. Infrastructural inadequacies: Absence of adequate healthcare facility (PHC) at reachable distance discourages rural people from accessing healthcare centres. The total allocation on Health remains inadequate and much below the amount required to address the yawning gaps. Lack of sufficient public allocations has resulted in huge demand-supply gaps in cancer detection, treatment and care requirements. Some of the indicators about the overall healthcare situation in India are of concern: India has only 0.7 doctors per 1,000 patients in comparison to WHO stipulated minimum doctor-to-patient ratio of 1:1,000; w w w. n e t a j i i a s. c o m Page 3
13 NOVEMBER 4 About 15,000 doctor positions at primary health centres are lying vacant; Hospital bed density in India is 0.9 per 1,000 persons, which is significantly short of World Health Organisation (WHO) guidelines of 3.5 per 1,000; 682 out of every 100,000 people die from non-communicable diseases, as against the global figure of 539; According to the WHO, India still accounts for the highest maternal deaths and still births in the world; 4,000 out of 5,000 community health centres do not have even a single obstetrician; India s per capita spending on healthcare is the lowest among BRICS countries; Low spend on healthcare as a percentage of GDP is insufficient to meet the demands of a growing population and disease burden. Moreover, there is a significant need to implement a robust plan for effective utilisation of existing budgets so that public expenditure is fully utilised; Absence of universal health coverage and limited social health coverage has led to a high burden of Out- Of-Pocket expenditure (OOP) in India. OOP contributes approximately 86% of private expenditure and 60% of overall healthcare expenditure in our country; Measures to improves access to healthcare: Increasing public expenditure to 2.5% of GDP as recommended by various committees. This investments should translate into quality healthcare facilities in hitherto uncovered areas. w w w. n e t a j i i a s. c o m Page 4
13 NOVEMBER 5 Strong network of PHCs, district hospitals and tertiary healthcare facilities should be established to put in place an effective referral system thereby ensuring that various healthcare needs are addressed at the appropriate levels. Adequate attention should be given to preventive, curative and palliative care. Currently the focus is largely only on curative health care. Promotion of use of generic medicines will down bring the cost of total treatment thereby improving affordability. Civil society will have to be roped in by the government in its efforts to bring about behavioural and to effectively correct misconceptions. Universalising medical insurance in terms population covered, would drastically bring down the out of pocket expenditure. Neglect of healthcare will have a negative impact on India s economy combined with rising population. For us, health is an issue of national security. We cannot protect the sovereignty of the nation, or ensure sustainable development unless we have a healthy population. We cannot aspire to be a world power when millions do not have access to affordable health care. Category: Mains GS II Health. Source: Public Information Bureau. w w w. n e t a j i i a s. c o m Page 5
13 NOVEMBER 6 CURRENT AFFARIS BITS India Signs MoU with Republic of Korea India has signed MoU with the Republic of Korea to enhance bilateral air service cooperation.x1 Capacity entitlement has been increased from 6 to 19 services per week. Chennai and Bangalore have been added as additional points of call. Indian carriers can now mount air services additionally to Seattle and Vancouver from Korea so operations could become economical. Ho-Chi-Minh city is now available as an intermediate point to the carriers of both countries in addition to Bangkok, Macau or Hong Kong. Navy s Long Range Maritime Patrol Aircraft- Boeing P-8I Inaugurated Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar inaugurated the long range maritime patrol aircraft Boeing P-8I (Poseidon Eight India).x2 The unveiling took place at at INS Rajali, Arakkonam, Chennai. It is one of the best surveillance aircrafts, achieving a number of operational milestones. It included participation in the search effort for Malaysian Airlines Flight MH 370. w w w. n e t a j i i a s. c o m Page 6
13 NOVEMBER 7 The P-8I aircraft is a variant of the P-8A Poseidon aircraft developed by Boeing as a replacement for the US Navy s ageing P-3 fleet. Indian Navy became the first international customer for the P-8 aircraft. TCS to Train 1,000 Graduates from UK Universities Tata Consultancy Services signed a pact with British Council.x3 TCS will train 1000 UK University graduates at its Innovation Labs and software development centres between 2016-20. This partnership aims to address the problem of insufficiently trained human resources. This is especially in the backdrop of prospects of increasing IT sector in UK by 2020. Suu Kyi s Party Wins Majority in Historic Myanmar Vote Aung Saan Suu Kyi s National League for Democracy (NLD) party won outright majority votes.x4 This was the first free election in 25 years in Myanmar. National League for Democracy (NLD) party crossed the 329 seat threshold needed for an outright majority in both houses of the 664- member parliament w w w. n e t a j i i a s. c o m Page 7
13 NOVEMBER 8 Previously, she won the free vote in 1990, but the military ignored the result. She was kept under house arrest for next 20 years before her release in 2010. Ola Launches Ola Money App for Mobile Recharges, Transfers Ola is planning to offer its mobile wallet app, Ola Money independently for its users.x5 So far it has offered to customers services like payment of taxi fares and recharges. It is now looking to introduce services like payment to partner merchants, utility bill payments etc. HSBC Unveils Rs 100-crore Skill Development Programme HSBC Bank announced a skill development programme HSBC Skills for Life.x6 This will benefit 75000 Indians. This came during the Prime Minister s official visit to UK. HSBC will invest 100 crores for this programme. w w w. n e t a j i i a s. c o m Page 8
13 NOVEMBER 9 It will collaborate with non-profit organisations in three focus areas employment-linked skills development of disadvantaged, upskilling of educators and teachers and women s empowerment through livelihood enhancement. India s First Gender University to Come up in Kerala Kerala government is planning to set up a first ever gender university.x7 It will exclusively deal with research oriented studies related to gender in the country. The University is coming up at Gender Park in Kozhikode district. The South Asian Research Centre at the Gender Park will be developed into a full-fledged varsity by next year. It will have a global outreach and an innovative approach to deal with gender issues. World Bank Approves $500 Million Loan to Pakistan World Bank has approved a loan of $500mn to Pakistan for energy sector reform.x8 This is part of USD 10 billion that the international lenders agreed to provide over a period of three years. w w w. n e t a j i i a s. c o m Page 9
13 NOVEMBER 10 Pakistan has fulfilled many conditions for getting this loan. These include setting up an independent entity to purchase electricity from producers, the Central Power Purchasing Agency (CPPA) Guarantee Limited. IRDAI Permits Lloyds of UK to Set up Business in India Insurance and Regulatory Development Authority of India (IRDAI) has permitted UK-based Lloyds group to set up business in India.x9 This is after the release of new rules and regulations for re-insurance sector by IRDAI. Lloyd s UK shall set up Lloyd s India to set-up market and associated structures for conduct of reinsurance business in and outside India. SBI, UK Launch Neev Fund to Help Low-Income States in India Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched India s first Low Income State Infrastructure Equity Partnership (the Neev Fund).x10 This came during his official visit to UK. The Fund has co-investment from the UK Department of International Development and the State Bank of India. w w w. n e t a j i i a s. c o m Page 10
13 NOVEMBER 11 The Fund will be used to provide equity partnerships for small infrastructure development in several sectors. These include sectors like water & sanitation, clean energy and urban infrastructure in eight low income states. w w w. n e t a j i i a s. c o m Page 11