Current Affairs for IAS Exams – 08 May 2016

:: National ::

Prime minister meets Chief ministers of drought affected states

Prime Minister Narendra Modi met the Chief Ministers of Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and Karnataka to discuss the drought situation in these States.
The separate meetings with each Chief Minister — alongwith Central and State officials — are part of Mr. Modi’s move to meet the Chief Ministers of the 11 drought-affected States.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis sought additional Central assistance to deal with the situation, with as many as 28,000 villages being drought-affected.
He added that the Centre had agreed to his request to submit a supplementary memorandum, as 11,000 villages have been affected by drought recently, apart from the ones hit by drought earlier.
Days after refusing to accept a water train sent by the Centre for drought-hit Bundelkhand, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav asked Mr. Modi for Central assistance.
After the meeting, Mr. Yadav said there was water in the dams of Bundelkhand but arrangements had to be made for its distribution.
Mr. Yadav told Mr. Modi that as against the Rs.7,543 crore sought by the State in 2015 to compensate for damage due to hailstorms, just Rs. 2,801 crore was received, and as against Rs. 2,057 crore sought for drought relief, only Rs. 934 crore was received.
With Karnataka facing one of the worst droughts in the last 44 years, the State government has sought an additional Rs. 12,272.21-crore assistance from the Centre for drought-proofing measures.
Chief Minister Siddaramaiah called on Prime Minister and submitted a detailed memorandum seeking Central aid in the form of increased assistance in existing schemes as well as special assistance for proposed drought mitigation measures.
During 2015–16, the State declared 137 taluks in 27 districts as drought-affected during kharif and rabi cropping seasons.
The water storage status in 13 major reservoirs as on May 4, 2016, was 152 tmcft, which constituted only 18 per cent of the total capacity.
In a petition to Mr. Modi, the government said agricultural and horticultural crops in 29.96 lakh hectares of land have suffered more than 33 per cent damage, amounting to Rs. 15,635 crore.
The State had submitted a memorandum to the Centre seeking Rs. 3,830 crore. But the Centre released Rs. 1,540 crore from the National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF).

Child rights and You survey shows child marriage is declining but not at very fast pace

NGO Child Rights and You (CRY) said India has the highest number of child brides and the rate of child marriages has declined just by 11 per cent in the last 15 years in the country.
CRY said recognising Mother’s Day was a welcome step but raised concern about the young girls who were experiencing motherhood due to coercion, trafficking and in economic and social deprivation.
Our country today has the highest rate of child marriage with globally the highest number of child brides.
Over 50 per cent of them are in Rajasthan, Bihar, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal.
The national strategy document on prevention of child marriage, compiled by the Women and Child Development Ministry in 2013, shows that in the last 15 years, the rate of child marriages in the country has declined just by 11 per cent.
In Maharashtra, there were 2,12,993 married girls under 15 years of age, out of which 21 per cent have become mothers, Census figures cited by CRY showed.
Child marriage gives rise to anaemic and weak and under-aged mothers who eventually end up giving birth to children who are malnourished.
The NGO further said various socio-cultural, religious practices and beliefs were the reasons behind the social evil.

Scientists have detected atomic oxygen in the atmosphere of Mars (Register and Login to read Full News..)

:: International ::

Worst flare-up of violence since 2014 war in Gaza

Israeli aircraft hit two Hamas targets in Gaza in response to rocket fire as the worst flare-up of violence since a 2014 war entered a fourth day.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the rocket launch and most such fire since 2014 has been carried out by fringe Islamist groups but Israel holds Hamas responsible for all such attacks.
It was the fourth day of the worst cross-border violence since the 50-day war between Israel and Hamas which left 2,251 Palestinians and 73 Israelis dead in 2014.
Mortar fire by Palestinian militants and Israeli air strikes and shelling have raised concerns for the future of an informal truce that has held since the conflict ended.

Human rights lawyer of Pakistani descent became mayor of London

Newly elected London Mayor’s opening words at his swearing-in ceremony – “Good Morning, I’m Sadiq Khan, and I’m the Mayor of London” – were drowned in claps and whistles by the audience at the Southwark Cathedral in London.
The 44-year old human rights lawyer of Pakistani descent is not only the first Muslim head of London, but set a record by winning 1.1 million votes.
Mr. Khan led an energetic campaign that was turned increasingly toxic by the personal attacks and slander levelled against him by his opponent, the billionaire Mr. Goldsmith, including the smear that he shared platforms with extremists in the past.
Mr. Khan, a practising Muslim, is a liberal who received death threats from extremists for his support for the legalisation of gay marriage in 2013.

UN concerned with Sri Lanka handling with former LTTE functionaries (Register and Login to read Full News..)

:: India and World ::

Nepal accuses India of destabilising political situation

A day after Nepal cancelled the visit of its President to India and recalled its ambassador, problem in bilateral ties is due to battle of nerves during which Kathmandu accused New Delhi of backing a plot to topple the government.
Nepal govt claims that the plot to break the ruling alliance, led by Mr. Oli, received support from India.
The crisis was triggered on May 3-4 when the former Prime Minister, Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’ of the United Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist (UCPN-Maoist), invited Sher Bahadur Deuba, leader of the Nepali Congress (NC), to form a combine and replace the government of Mr. Oli with a national unity government.
Nepal accused India of facilitating Mr. Prachanda’s sudden rebellion. Mr. Prachanda’s UCPN-Maoist is an alliance partner of Mr. Oli’s Communist Party of Nepal-Unified Marxist Leninist (CPN-UML). The shaky coalition continues as of now.
However, India has rejected Kathmandu’s charges. The govt says the setbacks are due to Mr. Oli’s “petulant and un-diplomatic behaviour.

:: Science and Technology ::

Earliest known example of a plant-eating marine reptile

A bizarre crocodile-sized ’hammerhead’ creature, that lived 242 million years ago in what today is southern China may have been the earliest known example of a plant-eating marine reptile, researchers have said.
The fossil, discovered in 2014, has a poorly preserved head, but it seemed to have a flamingo-like beak.
Scientists found that “beak” is actually part of a hammerhead-shaped jaw apparatus, which it used to feed on plants on the ocean floor.
The reptile’s name, Atopodentatus unicus , hints at its muddled past — it is Latin for “unique strangely toothed.”
However, newly discovered fossils make it clearer how its “strange teeth” were actually configured.
Its wide jaw was shaped like a hammerhead, and along the edge, it had peg-like teeth. Then, further into its mouth, it had bunches of needle-like teeth.
Not only does this discovery solve the mystery of the strange-toothed animal, but it also provides us with an example of the first herbivorous marine reptile.
The jaw structure is clearly that of an herbivore. It has similarities to other marine animals that ate plants with a filter-feeding system, but Atopodentatus is older than them by about eight million years.
The existence of specialised animals like Atopodentatus unicus shows us that life recovered and diversified more quickly than previously thought.

:: Business and economy ::

Process of issuing unique business identification number started

The government has started the process for issuance of Unique Business Identification Number (UBIN) to enable budding entrepreneurs set up their business without any delays, a top official said.
Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion (DIPP) has begun an exercise for issuance of UBIN for budding entrepreneurs to start their new businesses without any delay.
The top bureaucracy has been activated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to produce results well within targeted time and in India it is no longer a business as usual.

The Agrihub, a digital platform for the farm sector, will raise $3 million

The Agrihub, a digital platform for the farm sector, will raise $3 million over the next four months for scaling up operations, according to the co-founder of the Bengaluru-based start-up.
Over 3,600 farmers and well-known brands such as John Deere, Yara Fertilizers, Rallis, Namdhari Seeds, Tafe, KF Bioplants, New Holland Agriculture, Known You Seed, Ginegar and Nagarjuna have already been listed on the platform.
The product category offered by the company includes: seeds and plants; irrigation products; fertilizers and plant protection products; farm tools and equipment and hi-tech agriculture and allied products.