Download Current Affairs 19th January 2016

Current affiar
NATIONAL
SC for relooking the criteria of deciding the minority
status

A Supreme Court Constitution Bench decided to examine whether a religious
community should be granted minority status in a State where they are both
numerically strong and suffer no apprehension of being “dominated” by others.

The case may see the Supreme Court take a re-look at the circumstances in
which a State government declares a community a religious or linguistic
minority.

The five-judge Bench led by CJI Tirath Singh Thakur has appointed senior
advocate T.R. Andhyarujina as amicus curiae and asked the Centre to be
impleaded in the case.

The case concerns a challenge by the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbhandak
Committee (SGPC) of a Punjab and Haryana High Court judgment of
December 2007, stayed later by the apex court.

A Division Bench of the High Court had quashed notifications issued by the
State government granting minority status to SGPC-run educational institutions.

The notifications had allowed the SGPC to reserve 50 per cent seats in its
institutions for students from the Sikh community.
SCIENCE and TECHNOLOGY
Ice found at the surface of comet 67P

Researchers, including one of Indian-origin, have identified two large patches of
water ice on the surface of comet 67P, perhaps the most studied comet in
history.

The elusive ice was detected, using data collected by the European Space
Agency’s Rosetta spacecraft, on the bottom part of the main lobe of the
dumbbell-shaped comet, in a region called Imhotep.

It appeared as noticeably bright patches in visible light and was located on cliff
walls and debris falls.

Data collected by Rosetta’s Visible Infrared and Thermal Imaging Spectrometer
(VIRTIS) showed that the water ice grains in the Imhotep region came in
different sizes.

Some of the grains were tiny, just tens of micrometres across, which were
probably formed as a result of the comet’s 12-hour rotation.
PSLV-C31 launch in two days

The 48-hour countdown to the launch of PSLV-C31 rocket carrying IRNSS-1E
satellite commenced at Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota.

IRNSS-1E is the fifth of the seven-series Indian Regional Navigational Satellite
System (IRNSS), which India is hoping to put in place by the end of this year.

The regional navigation satellite system is aimed at providing accurate position
information service to users in India as well as the region extending up to 1500
km from its boundary.
ECONOMY
Merchandise export continues to shrink

India’s merchandise exports shrank for the 13th consecutive month in
December 2015 during which trade deficit in goods increased the maximum
since August 2015 following 179 per cent jump in gold imports.

However, according to the government, the silver lining was the services
exports recording a 54.5 per cent rise during April-November 2015 to touch
$179 billion, leading to less worry regarding the current account deficit.

Merchandise exports during April-December this fiscal had contracted by 18.06
per cent to $196 billion as compared to $239.9 billion during the same period in
the previous financial year.

Of the 30 main items, the exports of 15 of them, including petroleum products
and engineering goods, fell in December resulting in the overall merchandise
exports contracting 14.75 per cent over the same month in the year earlier
period to $22.3 billion.

However, this was the best showing on the export front following the
contraction by 10.3 per cent since July and the third best this Merchandise
imports meanwhile contracted by only 3.88 per cent to $33.96 billion due to the
179 per cent increase in gold imports to $3.8 billion (the highest since $4.95
billion in August 2015).
Increase in renewable energy share would also boost
GDP

A 36 per cent share of renewable energy in the global energy mix by 2030
would increase global gross domestic product by nearly $1.3 trillion, generating
millions of jobs and helping countries like India dependent on importing oil and
gas, a new study says.

‘Renewable Energy Benefits: Measuring the Economics’, released during the
International Renewable Energy Agency’s (IRENA) sixth assembly session,
provides the first global estimate of the macroeconomic impacts of renewable
energy deployment.

Specifically, the report highlights the benefits that would be achieved under the
scenario of doubling the global share of renewable energy by 2030 from 2010
levels.

Beyond finding that global GDP in 2030 would increase by up to $1.3 trillion—
the report also analyses country-specific impact.

Japan would see the largest positive GDP impact (2.3 per cent) but Australia,
Brazil, Germany, Mexico, South Africa and South Korea would also see growth
of more than one per cent each.

According to the report, improvements in human welfare would go well beyond
gains in GDP thanks to a range of social and environmental benefits.

The impact of renewable energy deployment on welfare is estimated to be
three to four times larger than its impact on GDP, with global welfare increasing
as much as 3.7 per cent.

Employment in the renewable energy sector would also increase from 9.2
million global jobs today, to more than 24 million by 2030, the report said.

A transition towards greater shares of renewables in the global energy mix
would also cause a shift in trade patterns, as it would more than halve global
imports of coal and reduce oil and gas imports, benefiting large importers like
Japan, India, Korea and the European Union.

Fossil fuel exporting countries would also benefit from a diversified economy.
The report builds on previous IRENA analysis on the socio-economic benefits
of renewable energy and on REmap 2030, a renewable energy roadmap to
doubling the global share of renewable energy by 2030.
SPORTS
India might consider conditional use of DRS

India may consider conditional use of the Decision Review System after
consultation with the team management on its return from Australia.

BCCI secretary Anurag Thakur said that India was not convinced the system
was foolproof but it might be inclined to consider its use if leg-before decisions
were left out of the ambit of the DRS.

The ICC, meanwhile, reaffirmed its commitment to the Spirit of Cricket and
bringing about positive social change through the sport, by launching ‘Cricket
for Good’, its CSR programme, in association with UNICEF.