Current Affairs For IAS Exam - 05 September 2015

Current Affairs for IAS Exams – 05 September 2015

:: National ::

HC allows permanent commission for women in Navy

In a major relief for women naval officers, Delhi High Court on Friday allowed a bunch of pleas seeking permanent commission for them in the force, saying "sexist bias and service bias" would not be allowed to block progress of women.
The court, while granting their plea, said the "women are here to stay" and since they "work shoulder to shoulder" with their male counterparts, it would "frown upon any endeavour to restrain the progress of women".
While the Army and Air Force allow permanent commission for women, the Navy has limited women officers only to short service commission of 14 years.
A bench of justices Kailash Gambhir and Najmi Waziri also allowed the women naval officers' plea seeking retirement benefits like pension.
Women naval officers were not eligible for pension as it required 20 years of service.
The order came on the plea of several naval women officers, both retired and serving, from the logistics, education and air traffic control departments of the Navy.
The women naval officers in their pleas in the high court had sought similar rights as their counterparts in the other two wings of the armed forces.
They had also alleged gender discrimination, saying while women officers were only entitled to short service commission, men were entitled to both short service as well as permanent commissions.

:: Miscellaneous ::

Google charged with abusing dominance in India

The investigation arm of Competition Commission of India (CCI) has accused Google of abusing its dominant positionin the online web search and advertising market and violating the provisions of the competition law, joining other countries which have put the search engine under the scanner.
Google is facing similar scrutiny in Brazil, while questions have also been raised in Mexico, Argentina and Hong Kong. It is also under the scanner in the European Union.
The Indian fair play watchdog had been probing a complaint by Bharat matrimony .com and NGO Consumer Unity and Trust Society for the past few years.
They have alleged that Google runs its core businesses of search and search advertising in an unfair and discriminatory manner, causing harm to publishers and advertisers and to the consumers.
They said Google was creating an uneven playing field by favouring its own services.
Google has time until next week to respond to the regulator, which will then begin a hearing.
The CCI investigation wing's report has noted that Google's search services produce biased results, raise conflict of interest issues and often result in users not getting the most relevant results.
Further, the probe found the US giant abusing its dominance in online web search and search advertising markets to impose unfair condition on the trademark owners, especially those, who have notified their trademarks to Google, whose trademarks are being allowed to be bid as keywords as third parties for online search advertising in violation of the competition law.

:: India & world ::

India can’t compete with China on INDCs

As the world eagerly awaits India’s climate action, there is absolute clarity that the country’s intended nationally determined contributions (INDCs) will not be similar to that of China.
The inter-governmental consultations on framing up the INDCs have shown that India is nowhere close to China on energy generation and consumption -- drivers for deciding a nation’s climate action.
China’s installed energy capacity is five times that of India; every household in China has access to electricity unlike 56% households in India and just a quarter of households in China use biomass for cooking as compared to 85% of rural homes in India.
When it comes to emissions, more than one-fourth of global emissions were by China as compared to just 6% for India in 2014. India’s per capita emissions are one-third of China’s.
These are some facts that energy ministries -- power, coal and new and renewable energy (RE) -- have conveyed to the environment ministry during consultation for firming up India’s INDCs. They have also highlighted why coal-based thermal power plants were necessary for India to continue high economic growth trajectory in the next 15 years or so.
Documents accessed by Hindustan Times show these ministries have strongly voiced their opposition towards any attempt to match China on INDCs as it could have implications on the country’s economic growth.
Former Planning Commission member Kirit Parikh too has strongly advocated against pushing renewable beyond a certain threshold to match China’s ambitious RE goal.
China has committed to generate 20% of its energy needs from renewable sources by 2030, reduce carbon dioxide emissions per unit of GDP by 60-65 per cent by 2030 from 2005 levels and limit power generation from thermal power plants.
Something similar could be disastrous for India, which is expected to submit its INDCs in September to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) after getting Cabinet’s nod.
China’s installed energy capacity is five times that of India, every household in China has access to electricity unlike 56% households in India and just a quarter of households in China use biomass for cooking as compared to 85% of rural homes in India.
When it comes to emissions, more than one-fourth of global emissions were by China as compared to just 6% for India in 2014. India’s per capita emissions are one-third of China’s.

Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan: The man behind the Teacher's Day in India

Every year on September 5, we celebrate Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan's birthday as Teacher's day. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan was India's first Vice President and second President, who was one of the most learned scholars and statesman.
Radhakrishnan taught in the University of Calcutta, the University of Oxford and the University of Mysore. He is credited for creating and shaping the contemporary Hindu identity and for connecting India to the West with his philosophies.

Some interesting facts about Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan that you must know: (Register and Login to read Full News..)

:: Science & Technology ::

Rapid TB tests could reduce mortality: New study

Three new tests for more rapidly diagnosing drug-resistant forms of tuberculosis (TB) could help make treatments more effective and reduce mortality,according to a study conducted in three countries including India.
Drug-resistant forms of TB are much harder and more expensive to treat and represent a major threat to global public health, experts say. "Our study shows that TB testing that once took two to three months can now be done in as little as a day," said co-author Richard Garfein, professor at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine.
TB remains one of the world's deadliest infectious diseases, causing (or contributing to) an estimated 1.5 million deaths in 2013, according to the World Health Organisation.TB is also the leading killer of people who have HIV, researchers said.
For the study, sputum (a mixture of saliva and mucus coughed up from the lungs) from 1,128 study participants at TB clinics in India, Moldova and South Africa were examined using three rapid tests for detecting drug-resistant forms of TB.
Two of these tests use molecular techniques to look for genetic mutations in the pathogen's DNA that confer resistance to antibiotics.
The third test employs a low-cost and easy-to-use version of the standard bacterial culture technique, making it suitable for resource-limited community clinics and hospitals.
An estimated 95% of TB deaths globally occur in low- and middle-income countries. Results from the rapid tests were then compared to the reference standard technique for detecting resistance to seven of the most important anti-TB drugs.
These comparisons showed that all three rapid assays accurately identified resistance to first- and second-line oral antibiotic treatments (isoniazid, rifampin, moxifloxacin and ofloxacin). They were less accurate but still very good at detecting resistance to injectable antibiotics (amikacin and capreomycin) typically administered to those with multi-drug resistant TB, researchers said.
The rapid tests performed poorly in detecting resistance to only one drug, the injectable antibiotic kanamycin, which is also used to treat multi-drug resistant TB.
The study also documented the time it took to obtain results. The molecular techniques showed themselves to be superior, with a mean time of 1.1 days for both DNA testing methods; 14.3 days for the rapid culture method; and 24.7 days for the reference standard test.

:: Sports ::

I-League and ISL merger possible after two-three seasons, says AIFF chief Praful Patel

The All India Football Federation (AIFF) finds itself in a tug-of-war for attention between Indian Super League clubs and I-League clubs: both tournaments spawned by the same organisation — but one which finds itself backed by big corporates, bollywood stars and Star Sports; and the other besieged by failing clubs, lack of marketing and almost negligible viewership.
Legacy and history are the only two things going for the I-League.
However, after a meeting with ISL organisers IMG-Reliance and I-League club representatives, AIFF president Praful Patel gave assurances that India's FIFA-recognised principal league is not going anywhere, at least for now.
A merger with the ISL has still been discussed and is very much in the pipelines, but it will take time.
That is no reason to stop the governing body of football to not listen to the grievances of I-League clubs.
Patel gave the example of I-League club Mumbai FC which had to play their home games outside of Mumbai because Cooperage was not ready to host matches — which made it extremely hard for the club to garner a following.
The Member of Parliament has also agreed that India play their World Cup qualifier against Guam in Mumbai at the Andheri Sports Complex, subject to organisers upgrading the turf, seating and other FIFA requirements.