Detailed Current Affairs For SSC /UPSC 8th July 2016

Nuclear security group membership is focus of PM’s Africa visit

During his five-day four-nation tour to Mozambique, South Africa, Tanzania and Kenya, energy, food security, trade, maritime cooperation and diaspora interactions will rank high on the Prime Minister’s agenda. The Africa tour is aimed at enhancing ties with that continent, particularly in the economic sphere and people-to-people contacts.

Key points

Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in Pretoria on a visit that will see both economic ties and an address to the Indian diaspora as highlights and also be a chance for India to kick-start its next round of talks in its campaign for Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) membership.
South Africa is the first NSG country that Mr. Modi is visiting since India failed to have its membership decided at the plenary session in Seoul.
However in Seoul, many countries, including Switzerland and South Africa are believed to have raised procedural concerns over the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), ambassadors from at least four delegations.
India has now pinned its hopes on an informal process initiated by the NSG to evolve a consensus on its membership to a possible NSG session later this year.
The issue would be taken up when Mr. Modi meets the South African President. In a pre-departure media briefing the MEA also rejected reports that South Africa had opposed India’s membership at any point.

Volcanic eruptions in India and asteroid in Mexico brought end to dinosaurs

A new study shows the combined impacts of volcanic eruptions in India and an asteroid impact in Mexico brought about one of the Earth’s biggest mass extinctions that wiped out the dinosaurs 66 million years ago.

Key Points

According to Andrea Dutton a researchers from the University of Florida, it’s quite likely both the volcanism and the asteroid were to blame for the ultimate mass extinction.
The Deccan Traps weakened the ecosystems before the asteroid slammed into the Earth – it’s consistent with an idea called the press-pulse hypothesis: a ‘one-two punch’ that proved devastating for life on Earth.
Located in India, the Deccan Traps are one of the largest volcanic provinces in the world.
Dutton and her colleagues at the University of Michigan utilised a new technique of analysis to reconstruct Antarctic Ocean temperatures that support the idea that the combined impacts of volcanic eruptions and an asteroid impact brought about the mass extinctions 66 million years ago.

International News

Bangladesh says terrorist attack was conducted by homegrown terrorism

Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan has reiterated that radicalised home-grown elements were behind the recent terror attacks in the country, not the West Asia-based terror group.
After the July 1 attack on an upmarket café in Dhaka where militants killed 20 visitors, the IS had claimed responsibility. In another video, the group said that the café attack was only a “glimpse” of what’s to come.
“Police have done a remarkable job. They stopped the militants at least a kilometre before the historic Eidgah Maidan [field] of Sholakia, where lakhs of people assembled for prayer,” Mr. Khan said.
He added that the attackers are “not real Muslims who have engaged in un-Islamic act on Eid” targeting innocent civilians. “They do not have a religion.”

The Prime Minister to lead Britain out of the EU will be a women

The race to be Britain’s next prime minister was whittled to two with Conservative Party lawmakers ensuring that the country will have a female head of government — the nation’s first since Margaret Thatcher stepped down more than a quarter-century ago.
The contest will pit the home affairs secretary, Theresa May, against Energy Minister Andrea Leadsom in a race that features contenders who were on opposite sides of last month’s European Union referendum.
In a vote among 330 Tory members of Parliament, May was on top, with 199 votes, compared with 84 for Leadsom. A third candidate, Justice Secretary Michael Gove, was knocked out after securing 46 votes.
The winner will be announced Sept. 9 and will replace David Cameron. He announced his plans to step down late last month, just a day after he was unable to persuade the country to back the remain campaign in a referendum on Britain’s E.U. membership.

Business and Economy

India’s widening gender gap a concern, says ILO

International Labour Organisation (ILO) Director General Guy Ryder has expressed concerns over the widening gender gap in workforce in India.
Mr. Ryder, who is on a three-day India visit said, one of the issues which have come to my attention since I have been in India is gender and the question of women participation.
In international comparison, the gap in India is very big and the level of women’s participation is going down which is a source of concern.
While there is a difference of 25 per cent in workforce participation rate of men and women worldwide, in India it is up to 40 per cent.
ILO will work with the government in its labour reform process by bringing in international experience and setting international labour standards.
India will ratify two core ILO conventions soon by amending the Child Labour Act. There were some issues related to ratifying the other two conventions related to right of forming unions and collective bargaining.

About ILO (International Labour Organization)

The only tripartite U.N. agency, since 1919 the ILO brings together governments, employers and workers representatives of 187 member States , to set labour standards, develop policies and devise programmes promoting decent work for all women and men.
The main aims of the ILO are to promote rights at work, encourage decent employment opportunities, enhance social protection and strengthen dialogue on work-related issues.
The ILO was founded in 1919, in the wake of a destructive war, to pursue a vision based on the premise that universal, lasting peace can be established only if it is based on social justice. The ILO became the first specialized agency of the UN in 1946.

India, Sri Lanka agree to start talks for ETCA

India and Sri Lanka agreed to start negotiations on fast-track basis for the proposed Economic and Technology Cooperation Agreement (ETCA) and conclude the talks before end of the year.

The issue among others was came up for discussion during the meeting between the visiting Sri Lankan Minister for Development Strategies and International Trade, Malik Samarawickrama, and Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.
The leaders also agreed that early harvest measures may be negotiated but these would come into effect on the date the agreement comes into force.
The two sides noted that India-Sri Lanka free trade agreement, made operational in March 2000, has been beneficial to both the countries.
Both leaders discussed several issues related to bilateral trade and investment.
Further it said that the ministers agreed to hold a meeting of the reconstituted India-Sri Lanka CEO’s Forum at an early date.
The bilateral trade between the countries stood at USD 6 billion in 2015-16 as against USD 7.45 billion in the previous fiscal.