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Current AffairsAnnual Issue

2016

March, 2017 [CURRENT AFFAIRS BOOK BOOK]

4 Preface | www.jagranjosh.com

PREFACE

The Current Affairs March-2017 eBook covers the current events that happened in the

month of February. Current Affairs is a crucial component of any competitive exams

including IAS|PCS, SSC, Banking and MBA.

The Current Affairs play the bigger role in many competitive and government exams. It

holds the power of making or breaking your chance of success. Therefore, the candidates

should cover the Current Affairs thoroughly and smartly.

However, there are huge numbers of student who are often confused about how to

prepare the current affairs section of the different competitive exams. To clear such doubts

and confusion, Jagranjosh.com has come up with eBook concept.

Although current affairs section per se is very wide to be covered, yet we have tried to

cover all the possible current affairs for the month of January 2017.

The Current Affairs March-2017 eBook is divided into different section keeping in mind

the need of various exams. The sections covered namely are International, National,

Economy, Ecology and Environment, Science & Technology, Corporate, Sports, States News

Makers and few others.

Every news item in each section is arranged date wise with the most recent news

being covered first and so on. Highlights of the issue are- Trump Trumped TPP: What lies

ahead?, Supreme Court secular election verdict, Reforms in Political Funding, Drug Price

Control in India.

Presentation of the given current affairs has been planned meticulously. It has been

planned in such a way that it remains in the minds of readers for a longer duration.

Wherever necessary each news item is presented along with a background and analysis so

as to help candidates contemplate all the important current events at the time of exam in

an effective way.

Copyright ©Jagranjosh.com

All rights reserved. No part or the whole of this eBook may be copied, reproduced, stored in retrieval system or transmitted and/or

cited anywhere in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the written

permission of the copyright owner. If any misconduct comes in knowledge or brought in notice, strict action will be taken.

Disclaimer : Readers are requested to verify/cross-check up to their satisfaction themselves about the advertisements, advertorials,

and external contents. If any miss-happening, ill result, mass depletion or any similar incident occurs due to any information cited or

referenced in this e-book, Editor, Director/s, employees of Jagranjosh.com can’t be held liable/responsible in any matter whatsoever.

No responsibilities lie as well in case of the advertisements, advertorials, and external contents.

[CURRENT AFFAIRS BOOK] March, 2017

www.jagranjosh.com | INDEX 5

INDEX cover story ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 8

National | India ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 18

Economy ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 57

Report | Survey ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 78

Corporate ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 81

Committees | Commissions ............................................................................................................................................................................................. 97

Defence | Security ..................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 100

Environment | Ecology ......................................................................................................................................................................................................... 105

Science | Technology............................................................................................................................................................................................................. 124

International ..................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 142

Summit | Conference............................................................................................................................................................................................................. 163

Art & Culture .................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 164

Awards | Honours ....................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 169

Sports ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 184

Person Appointed ....................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 211

Person Died......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 231

States ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 238

Day | Week | Year ...................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 263

Person Resigned ......................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 270

Books | Authors ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 272

Exam Boosters............................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 274

Quizzes ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 294

SBI PO (Prelims) Exam 2017 ........................................................................................................................................................................................... 306

Sarkari Naukri .................................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 343

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L=50,000

pyramid = (1/3) b h

cone = (1/3) b h = 1/3 pi r 2 h

P = C (1 + r) t

B = A (1 + r/n)NT - P

2/PI = sqrt2/2 * sqrt( 2 + sqrt2 )/2 * sqrt(2 + ( sqrt( 2 + sqrt2) ) )/2 * ...c

PI/4 = 1/1 - 1/3 + 1/5 - 1/7 + ...

(n 0)B0 + (n 1)B1 + (n 2)B2

gamma = - integral(0-inf) e^-x ln x dx

Gamma(x+1) = x Gamma(x)

Gamma(x) = r x(integral)(0 to inf) e -rt t (x-1) dt

-(x+2) = 9-x -2 = 9-x = 11x = -11

ABSOLUTE VALUE

|−23|+|4|

4 × π × r2

(½) d1d2

1. |–a| = |a|

2. |a| ≥ 0

|a – b| ≥ |a| – |b

a+b =c

cone = (1/3) b h = 1/3 pi r 2 h

(4/3) pi r1 r2 r3

P = C e rt

PI/4 = 1/1 - 1/3 + 1/5 - 1/7 + ...

1. |–a| = |a|

2. |a| 2/PI = sqrt2/2 * sqrt( 2 + sqrt2 )/2 * sqrt(2 + ( sqrt( 2 + sqrt2) ) )/2 * ...c

-x ln x dx

Gamma(x+1) = x Gamma(x)

-(x+2) = 9-x -2 = 9-x = 11x = -11

(½) d1d2

cone = (1/3) b h = 1/3 pi r 2 h

(4/3) pi r1 r2 r3

P = C e rt

PI/4 = 1/1 - 1/3 + 1/5 - 1/7 + ...

1. |–a| = |a|

2. |a| 2/PI = sqrt2/2 * sqrt( 2 + sqrt2 )/2 * sqrt(2 + ( sqrt( 2 + sqrt2) ) )/2 * ...c

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8 cover story | www.jagranjosh.com

COVER STORY

Trump Trumped TPP: What lies ahead?

As expected, Donald Trump

officially took the much awaited decision to withdraw the US from 12 -nations Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). Donald Trump has been active in making a

number of policy changes since he took the charge of the 45th President of the United States.

The exit of the US from the TPP was one of the most significant decisions

taken by Donald Trump. The TPP was signed by his predecessor Barack Obama in 2015. While signing the cancellation of the deal, Trump argued that the TPP deal was harmful to the citizens and manufacturers in America. He also said that the US is going to stop the ridiculous trade deals that have taken everybody out of our country and taken companies

out of our country.

The TPP deal which was negotiated by Barack Obama, never got a formal approval

from the Congress. But, this deal was supported by business entities. Then, it was considered as the primary economic pillar of Obama administration’s shift towards his own Asia-Pivot Policy meant for Asia pacific region to counter China.

What is TPP?

TPP stands for Trans-Pacific Partnership. It is a hefty and complex agreement

negotiated meticulously by 12 countries: the United States, Mexico, Peru, Canada and Chile in the Americas, and Japan, Vietnam, Australia, Malaysia, Vietnam, Brunei, Singapore, and New Zealand in the Asia-Pacific. All these countries comprise almost 40 percent of the

world's gross domestic product.

The main rationale for the deal for many negotiating members was to re-engage the United States as a trading partner, and balance what were sometimes one-sided trade relationships with China by collectively raising standards. A TPP minus the US makes it far less attractive for most members.

How did the idea of the pact come about?

On the sidelines of Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meeting in Jeju, South Korea, on June 3, 2003, representatives from Brunei, New Zealand .Chile and Singapore agreed on a Trans-Pacific Strategic Economic Partnership Agreement. In January 2008, the

US initiated talks with these four countries on trade liberalization in financial service. This


www.jagranjosh.com | cover story 9

move eventually set the stage for the TPP. The Partnership was broadened to include Vietnam, Japan, Australia, Malaysia, Canada, Peru, and Mexico.

Impact of Trump’s decision on India

The exit of the US from TPP would be beneficial for India as some of its provisions are

not in the country's interest. TPP was supposed to re-write the trade rules, most of which were inimical to India's interests.

There is a possibility that the US’s withdrawal from the globalization would create a distinct possibility for China to fill its shoes. The rise of China in this reason can cause some concerns to India. Some experts believe that India should carefully watch the developments

on this pact so that India could explore opportunities in all the TPP member countries to boost its trade.

Impact of Trump’s decision on RCEP

There are many common misconceptions about TPP. The biggest misconception is that it is assumed that it is simply a trade agreement when it is actually much more than that. TPP not only does TPP slash tariffs, but it also contains intellectual property obligations, anti-corruption measures, environmental commitments and human rights and child labour conditions. As a consequence, neither India nor China would have been ready to sign on this deal.

RCEP is the proposed Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between 16 Asia-Pacific countries

which include India, Japan, China, Australia, New Zealand, South Korea, and the 10-member ASEAN bloc. The proposed FTA, which aims to open up trade in goods and services as well as liberalize investment policies, will cover a market of over three billion people in these countries whose total GDP is more than $17 trillion and account for 40 percent of world trade.

After its withdrawal from the TPP, America’s role would be diminishing in the region. As a result, China will emerge as much more powerful nation now. China has already built several new regional alliances through projects like Maritime Silk Road, One Belt One Road (OBOR), Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) and Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank

(AIIB). President Xi Jinping is planning to push hard for another regional alliance called the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP).

It was originally considered as China’s response to Obama’s TPP. Now, New US

president’s cancellation of TPP, TPP has slowed down but RCEP is racing ahead. India is neither a partner in TPP nor in RCEP thus far. But now India will be forced to take a view on RCEP on the basis of its status and interests in the region.

Conclusion

Following the formal exit of the United States from the Trans- Pacific Partnership

(TPP), China is hoping to speed up the galvanization of two regional trade proposals the



Free-Trade Agreement of the Asia-Pacific (FTAAP) and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP).

Apart from it, several member countries expressed hope that the TPP could be salvaged after the US’s decision left its future in serious jeopardy. Other countries, such as China, may help fill the void left by the U.S.

Members of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) are seeking to move forward with the

trade agreement after the United States withdrew.

-x-x-x-x-

Supreme Court secular election verdict

The supreme court of India ruled a landmark decisions for electoral reforms in India

which will pave the way for secular elections in the country. The Supreme Court ruled that

race, caste, religion, community or language would not be allowed to play any role in the

electoral process. If any candidate found using these tactics then election of that candidate

would be declared null and void. A seven-judge Constitution Bench, ruling by a 4-3 majority,

ruled that an election will be nullified not only if votes are sought in the name of the religion

of the candidate but also when such an appeal devolves on candidate’s election agents or

religion of voters or by anybody else with the consent of the candidate.

The Supreme Court said its decision is referred to Section 123 (3) of the

Representation of the People Act. This decision was passed by seven-judge bench. It was

divided in four judges versus 3 judges. We have elaborated both points of view of the

bench.

Interpretation of the Decision:

1. Minority View:

There were differences among the judges on some points. The major disagreement

was on the Court’s idea of universal citizen which is also mentioned in the Representation of

the People Act, 195. They argued that the restricted version of this act is necessary by

keeping the social context of the country in main view. The minority’s argument to the

majority’s construction of the universal citizen was that such an individual did not, and could

not, exist. They claimed that human beings are always situated within their social contexts,

and in India, these contexts have been characterized by language, religion, caste, and

community. In history, there have been the sites of inclusion and exclusion, domination and

resistance, privilege and oppression, power, discrimination, pleasure, and suffering. They

further added that in the dissent’s view, constitutional law could not be oblivious to this

history. It could not wrench the individual out of her context, and set her down, abstract



and disembodied, to deliberate in the public sphere. It was argued that the constitutional

law could not say to those who had been denied dignity and rights for centuries, on the very

basis of their religion, caste, community or language that they were now precluded from

organizing around those very markers to liberate themselves.

2. Majority View

In the majority view, Chief Justice of India T S Thakur, S A Bobde, Justices Madan, L

Nageswara Rao and B Lokur, argued that “his” would mean religion of candidate, his

agents, voters as well as any other person who, with the candidate’s consent, mentions

religion in an appeal for the promotion of the prospects of the election. The majority of

judges cited the Representation of the People Act, 1951. The majority of judges maintained

that the law is meant to achieve the purity of elections. For the purity of elections its

necessary that appeals to caste, religion, community and language must be kept out of the

electoral process. The majority of the judges declared that an election that was fought and

decided on these issues was a distortion of democracy. They gave two reasons for how it

distorts democracy:

1. It is essential for the survival of democracy that there must be agreement on certain

basic principles which could unite and hold citizens together. Religion, caste, language, etc

have been precisely the kind of divisive markers of identity that threatened this delicate

consensus.

2. Democracy depends on voters exercising their franchise on the basis of rational

thought and action. But appeals to religion, caste and language, were inherently irrational

and emotive in nature. To substantiate this, the majority also indicated the legislative

history behind the Representation of the People Act’s section 123(3). It elaborated that its

basic purpose was to “curb communal, fissiparous and separatist tendencies. Therefore, to

restrict Section 123(3)’s prohibition only to electoral candidates would be contrary to public

interest.

Constitutional Validity of the decision

In this decision, the Supreme Court presented two visions of the Constitution. First is

the citizenship in a democratic country. Second is the idea of public sphere in a democracy.

As a matter of law, the majority’s decision was passed by the court. But it is still an open

quest which vision is more convincing, and truer to our uniquely diverse and plural

democracy, and to its eventful and tumultuous history.

Section 123(3) of Representation of the People Act states that corrupt practice

appeals made by a candidate or his agents to vote or abstain from voting for any person on

the ground of “his” religion, caste, race, community or language. The main idea which came



up for interpretation before the Constitution Bench was the meaning of the term “his”.

Previous judgments of the Supreme Court were in conflict with the present decision .Hence,

this question came up before the seven judges. The bench abstained from revisiting its 1995

judgment on whether the words “Hindutva” and “Hinduism” connote the “way of life” of

the Indian people and not just Hindu religious practices. The three-judge bench judgment of

1995 had said that an appeal in the name of ‘Hindutva’ to seek votes was not a corrupt

practice. Such appeal was not liable for warranting disqualification of a candidate as it was

‘a way of life’ and not a religion.

Supreme Court has grappled with the question whether a provision in electoral law

that makes it a corrupt practice to use religion, caste, race, community or language as a

ground for electioneering votes in an election is a bar limited to the groups to which

candidates or their rivals belong, or whether it is a general prohibition on sectarian appeals.

The 1961’s amendment of Section 123(3) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951,

gave rise to this doubt.

Conclusion

The aim of the new decision is to widen the definition of the particular corrupt

practice. It is well known that secularism is a basic feature of the Constitution of India. This

decision has been interpreted in the light of Parliament’s intention to stop any religious

appeal for votes. There is a justifiable worry that a wider interpretation may lead to

eliminate political issues that turn on religion, race, community, caste or language from the

poll discourse. It is left to the wisdom of judges dealing with electoral provisions to draw the

line between what is permissible and what is not. It is up to them to look at the context in

which some statements are made before deciding whether they constitute the corrupt

practice. The majority’s decision will find resonance with all those who support the primacy

of secularism in the public domain. The minority view nuances this with a reminder that

legal issues need to be seen in their social context.

-x-x-x-x-

Budget 2017: Reforms in Political Funding

The Union budget presented by finance minister Arun Jaitley on 1 February 2017, unveiled a slew of measures including political funding reforms. For political-electoral reforms, the budget 2017 included the recommendations made by Election commission of India. Earlier, the Election Commission had recommended a reduced cap of Rs2,000 to regulate

anonymous donations and curb political parties that are



established only with “an eye on getting the benefits of income tax exemption” available to political parties.

Limit on cash donations

The budget reduced anonymous cash donations to political parties up to Rs2,000. It is

one-tenth the current level. In Budget speech, Arun Jaitley also announced a Rs 3 lakh cap on cash transactions. He said the government is considering a law to confiscate properties of offenders, including those suspected of economic crimes, who flee the country.

Earlier, political parties were bound to maintain a record containing details of the donor for every donation above Rs 20,000 in cheque but not less than this. This limit created

a loophole of splitting the funds into smaller denominations and not maintaining any record for the same.

The reduced amount of undeclared donations will help in tackling this problem of

maintaining the record of donated money.

Donations would still be made without any limit by account payee's bank draft or cheque, or e-clearing system through a bank account or electoral bonds.

Digital boost in Political Donations

This reform also intends to discourage cash transaction and encourage transparency in

political donations. For this, the budget proposed the idea of providing an additional alternative to digital payments. Apart from it, the use of digital payments in political donations adds an additional challenge i.e. maintaining the secrecy of donations.

Finance Minister mentioned that donors have also expressed reluctance in donating

by cheque or other transparent methods as it would disclose their identity and entail adverse consequences. And to resolve such concerns, the finance minister proposed the introduction of electoral bonds which is explained below.

Introduction of Electoral bonds

The budget 2017, mentioned a proposal by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to allow

political parties to issue electoral bonds to raise money. Under this process, these bonds can

be bought from any notified bank and used as donations.

The bond will be redeemed via the Election Commission or any other body formed for regulating the same at the bank account specified by the political party. The election commission or any other regulatory body would be acting as an intermediary. This process will make the donations anonymous for the political party, which will not be able to know the source of money.

Each party will specify only one bank account. Apart from it, the political parties will

be obliged to file returns of donations with a consolidated amount, instead of specifying each donation obtained within a specified time period under the Income-tax Act.



Amendment in the RBI Act

For issuing the electoral bonds, certain modifications would be required in the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Act. The finance minister has given a date for the implementation of this change from April 1, 2018.

Facts about Funds Received by Political Parties in India

Associations of Democratic Reforms released a datasheet about the donations in political parties which revealed that

1. Over 70 percent of funds received by seven national and 50 regional parties, as per

filings to the Election Commission (EC) between 2004-05 and 2014-15, came from unknown sources.

2. The total income of national and regional parties was over Rs 11,367 crore, as much as Rs 7,832 crore came from unknown sources.

3. During 2004-15, the Congress received the highest amount of over Rs 3,982 crore, of which a whopping 83 percent came from unknown sources.

4. The ruling BJP got over Rs 3,272 crore of which 65 per cent came from unknown sources while the CPM, which got Rs 893 crore, had 53 percent from unknown sources.

5. The BSP which declared that it received Rs 764 crore during 2014-15, claimed to have received every rupee from unknown sources.

The SP received Rs 766 crore or 94 per cent of the total funds of Rs 819 crore from unknown sources.

-x-x-x-x-

Drug Price Control in India

The right to health is not

mentioned in Indian Constitution but health remains a very

important aspect of human life. The supreme court of India held in one of its decisions on the scope of article 21 which states “Right to life” covers “the Right to good health”.In recent years, the government has taken steps to control the prices of drugs and medical tools in India so that the medical benefits could be provided to all at affordable prices.



Here, we have briefed the history of drug price control in India, the recent steps taken

by the government for drug price reduction and its impacts on people and industry.

Brief History of Drug Price Control in India

The Drug Price Control Order (DPCO) is issued under Section 3 of Essential

Commodities Act, 1955. It is aim is to ensure that essential drugs are available to all at affordable prices. The first time, the Drug Price Control Order was put in place after the Sino-Indian war of 1962 because pharmaceutical companies started to profiteer and it became necessary in public interest to cap drug prices. Over the years, it has been modified five times.

The Drug Price Control Order (DPCO) 1995 was introduced in India which covered 74 bulk drugs and their formulations. The consequences were not quite as hoped because the producers of many drugs shifted their manufacturing to some other countries. The result was half the products were discontinued after their producers exited. Indian production of something as important as penicillin shifted to China.

In 1997, the government established National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) which was entrusted with the task of enforcement of provisions of DPCO, fixation/revision of prices of pharma products and monitoring of prices of controlled and decontrolled drugs.

The National Pharmaceutical Pricing Policy-2012 was set up on 07.12.2012. The salient

features of NPPP-2012 are the regulation of prices of drugs is on the basis of essentiality of drugs as specified under National List of Essential Medicines, (NLEM)-2011, regulating the prices of formulations only and fixing the ceiling price of formulations through Market-Based Pricing (MBP).

The new policy of DPCO was introduced in 2013. DPCO 2013 increased India’s National List of Essential Medicines (NLEM) from 74 to 799 formulations. Since its introduction, no

new investments have been witnessed. There has been a shift towards non-controlled products. As a consequence, new introductions of drugs and the average number of incumbent brands and new introductions of drugs in the DPCO 2013 list has reduced compared to the non-DPCO 2013 list.

In 2015, the health ministry revised its National List of Essential Medicines (NLEM),

2011 to include 376 drugs in the new NLEM 2015 list. A total of 106 medicines were added, and 70 medicines have been deleted to finalize the new list.

Recent steps taken by the government to control Drug Prices in India

1. Reduction in the prices of medicines

In September 2016, drug price regulator National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) reduced the prices of around 33 essential medicines, which brought down their retail prices by 30-50%. The medicines include antibiotics and drugs used to treat ulcerative colitis, anti-allergics used for common cold and cough, arthritis, gastro- esophageal reflux

disease (Gerd), psoriasis, and tuberculosis.

Current Affairs March 2017

Publisher : Jagran Josh Author : Jagran Josh

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