Current Affairs for IAS Exams – 24 May 2016

:: NATIONAL ::

India and Iran signed various agreements including to develop chahbahar port

• India and Iran signed a series of agreements that will allow New Delhi to use the port of Chahbahar to access Central Asia and Afghanistan.

• The first agreement, a bilateral, signed during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s May 22-23 visit, will provide India the right to develop and operate two terminals and five berths with multipurpose cargo handling capacities in the port of Chahbahar for 10 years.

• India and Iran also sealed 11 other agreements, covering culture, finance and conservation, during Mr. Modi’s official meetings with the Iranian President.

• Mr. Modi’s visit was preceded by those by External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas Dharmendra Pradhan when the contracts were finalised.

• “The agreement to develop the Chahbahar port and related infrastructure, and availability of about $500 million from India for this purpose, is an important milestone. This major effort would boost economic growth in the region,” Mr. Modi said in his statement, following the signing of the agreement between IPGPL (India Ports Global Private Limited) and Arya Banader of Iran.

Kochi Special Circuit Bench of NGT prohibited older diesel vehicles 

• In an order with far-reaching implications, the Kochi Special Circuit Bench of the National Green Tribunal (NGT) prohibited light and heavy diesel vehicles of more that 2000 cc engine capacity that are older than ten years from plying in six major cities of the State.

• The ban, which will cover vehicles in Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Kochi, Thrissur, Kozhikode, and Kannur, will come into effect in another 30 days.

• Each detected violation thereafter will entail a Rs.5,000 fine as environmental compensation. The fine should be collected by the traffic police or the Pollution Control Board.

• This means that out of the 96 lakh vehicles registered in the State, close to two lakh diesel vehicles, which are already 10 or more years old and have engine capacities of 2000 cc or more, have to be phased out.

• These include over 98,400 light motor vehicles, 44,524 medium motor vehicles, 41,121 heavy motor vehicles and 3,700 private stage carriers.

• The NGT Bench comprising Chairperson Swatanter Kumar and Expert Member Bikram Singh Sajwan has also directed the State government not to register any more diesel vehicle of 2000 cc and above, except Public Transport and Local Authority vehicles.

The Centre has told States to withdraw less pictorial warning tobacco product (Register and Login to read Full News..) 

:: Science and Technology ::

India takes baby steps towards developing a reusable launch vehicle

• The test flight of the RLV-TD represented the first step towards the ISRO programme to master the reusable launch vehicle technology.

• Termed the Hypersonic Flight Experiment, it was the first of a sequence of four test flights to validate various technologies.

• Designed and developed by Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC) at a cost of Rs. 95 crore, the RLV-TD weighing 1.75 tonnes used a thermal protection system (TPS) including 600 heat-resistant silica tiles and a Carbon-Carbon nose cap to withstand the high temperature during atmospheric re-entry.

• Taking baby steps towards developing a reusable launch vehicle capable of sending spacecraft into orbit and returning to the earth’s surface.

• The technology, when developed completely, would launch spacecraft, including satellites, into space and re-enter the earth’s atmosphere withstanding extreme pressure and heat conditions and land in an intended spot, helping to cut costs on launch vehicles substantially.

• The design of the air frame, development of mono propellant thrusters for guidance and control and advanced avionics for mission management were other challenges.

• As many as 600 engineers from ISRO centres, National Aerospace Laboratories, IITs and Indian Institute of Science were involved in the development of the RLV-TD over a period of eight years.

CSE puts alarming report on bread

• Your daily bread could contain cancer-causing chemicals — including potassium bromate and potassium iodate — substances that are banned in many countries, but not in India, warns the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE).

• The study tested bread sold in Delhi and found residues of potassium bromate/iodate in commonly consumed varieties of the food item.

• The use of potassium bromate — classified as a category 2B carcinogen (possibly carcinogenic to humans) — is banned in most countries. Potassium iodate contributes to thyroid-related diseases.

• The CSE has now recommended the immediate ban of these two chemicals to prevent their routine exposure to the Indian population.

• The study, conducted by the CSE’s Pollution Monitoring Laboratory (PML), says Indian bread manufacturers use potassium bromate and potassium iodate to treat flour while making bread.

• The PML tested 38 commonly available branded varieties of pre-packaged breads, pav and buns, ready-to-eat burger bread and ready-to-eat pizza breads of popular fast food outlets in Delhi.

• The study found that 84 per cent (32/38) samples were found to contain potassium bromate or iodate in the range of 1.15-22.54 parts per million (ppm).

• The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) on Monday said it has decided to remove potassium bromate from the list of permitted additives while it is examining evidence against potassium iodate before restricting its use.

• In 1999, the International Agency for Research on Cancer classified potassium bromate as possibly carcinogenic to humans. It was found to cause tumour of the kidney and thyroid, and cancer of the abdominal lining in laboratory animals.

• Considering potassium bromate as a ‘genotoxic carcinogen’, the Joint Expert Committee on Food Additives in 1992 said “use of potassium bromate as a flour treatment agent was not appropriate”.

• The EU had already banned its use in 1990 and so did the U.K. Subsequently, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, China, Sri Lanka, Brazil, Nigeria, Peru and Columbia too decided against its use.

Digitising data on ‘stolen’ Buddhist relics (Register and Login to read Full News..)

Barack Obama will not apologise for the atomic bombing of Hiroshima (Register and Login to read Full News..)

:: Business and Economy ::

India needs to tighten security norms to deal with the threats that cybercrime

• India needs to tighten security and regulatory norms to deal with the threats that cybercrime, terrorism, fire and corporate espionage will pose to businesses in the coming years, according to a recent study.

• The report highlights the fact that while awareness about security issues is on the rise, there is a need to overhaul security standards and the regulatory framework.

• Besides, there is also a lack of confidence in facing natural disasters like earthquakes and floods.

• The ‘Physical Security Environment Survey 2016’ found that as many as 73 per cent opined that the number of security incidents had increased in the past two years.

• The report added that India ranked 143 on the global peace index, lagging behind Bhutan, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

RBI warned banks to be on guard against misuse of jan dhan account

• Raising concerns that Jan Dhan accounts can be misused by ‘money mules’, the RBI today warned they are “very vulnerable” to frauds and asked banks to be on guard against such activities.

• The newly opened accounts under the PMJDY (Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana) could be very vulnerable to fraud practises.

• Third-parties can be used to launder the proceeds of fraud schemes (such as phishing and identity theft) by criminals who gain illegal access to deposit accounts by recruiting them as ‘money mules’.

• Failure to guard against misuse of customer accounts, might result in banks incurring supervisory sanctions and enforcement action from the RBI.

• He also expressed displeasure with entities surrendering their payments bank licences and said the RBI would explore the possibility of a levying processing fee on the applicants.

• In August, the RBI granted in-principle licences to 11 entities. While Cholamandalam Investment dropped out in March, last week Sun Pharma promoter, Dilip Shanghvi, surrendered the licence.

Govt. relaxes licence fees for India-controlled ships (Register and Login to read Full News..)

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Sources: Various News Papers & PIB

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