Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 08 August 2015

Current Affairs for IAS Exams – 08 August 2015

:: National ::

One-third of coal blocks up for auction in wildlife habitats

The latest survey conducted using Global Information System (GIS) by Greenpeace India shows that of the 101 coal blocks that are up for auction this year, 35 are in the habitats of tigers, leopards or elephants.
Twenty of these blocks are within 10 km of a protected forest area or within 15 km of an identified wildlife corridor.
An order issued by the Ministry of Coal on December 18, 2014, had identified these 101 coal blocks for auction/allotment.
The blocks are spread across eight States - Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, Orissa, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh and West Bengal.
Of the blocks up for auction, 39 critical blocks cover a total forest area of more than 10,500 hectares. Greenpeace India collected GIS data from five States for 46 coal blocks spread over 10 coal fields.
Data for the remaining 55 blocks of 101 was not available. In addition, many village boundaries overlap with the areas of the listed blocks, which call for approvals from grama sabhas under the Forests Rights Act, 2006, and prior to forest diversion under the Forest Conservation Act 1980.
Several blocks are already facing legal challenges in various courts, the study notes. As a result bidders are likely to face challenges in operationalising these blocks.

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:: International ::

North Korea will have Its Own Time Zone

North Korea, a country of roughly 25 million people, is in the midst of a severe drought, which is contributing to food shortages that are leaving more than 10 million people without enough food.
Even those lucky enough to have enough to eat have to suffer the indignity of living under a hereditary despotism of men with ridiculous haircuts.
But it’s not all bad news for the folks living in this nation-sized penitentiary.
After all, on August 15th, North Koreans will get to sleep in a half an hour later.
That’s right, according to a report in the BBC, the North Korean government announced on Friday that it would be setting up its own time zone, which will be 30 minutes earlier than that which it currently uses.
According to the report, the government made the decision to return to the time used in the Korean peninsula before Japan colonized it in 1910.
Before that time, all of Korea was 8.5 hours ahead of GMT, instead of the nine hours used in Korea and Japan today.

New Suez Canal &Egyptian President Still in Deep Water

Completed two years ahead of schedule, the new canal’s true worth is as a national symbol. Even so, it can’t wash over bigger troubles.
Only a new opera was missing from the dedication of the Suez Canal’s younger and shorter sister on Thursday.
A balloon that read “Long live Egypt” cruised aloft, huge national flags fluttered and the main streets were lit up. A special video produced by the army, which was screened on television, depicted

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:: Sports ::

BCCI forms ad-hoc committees for Bihar and Uttarakhand

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Friday formed an ad-hoc committee for cricket administration in Bihar and Uttarakhand.
The decision will pave the way for budding cricketers, who will now get a chance to play for their respective state teams.
The five-member committee for Uttarakhand will be chaired by MP Pandove and will also have Vishal Marwaha (secretary, Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association), Subir Ganguly (joint secretary, Cricket Association of Bengal), Vinod Shah (vice-president, Maharashtra Cricket Association), KVP Rao (manager - game development, BCCI).
Similarly, another panel formed to look after cricket affairs in Bihar will be spearheaded by its chairman Niranjan Shah and will also include Vinod Phadke (secretary, Goa Cricket Association), Sourav Dasgupta (secretary, Tripura Cricket Association), Bharat Zaveri (executive member, Gujarat Cricket Association) and Ratnakar Shetty (general manager - game development, BCCI).
The BCCI is currently embroiled in a legal tangle with the Bihar Cricket Association (BCA) over a Rs10 lakh payment as remuneration to justice Dharam Pal Sinha, who has agreed to conduct the BCA elections after a gap of seven years.
Cricket in Bihar has been in shambles due to the absence of a representative body with no first-class matches staged in the state for several years.
The cricket politics in Uttarakhand reached its new heights in the last 15 years after the state was bifurcated from Uttar Pradesh in November 2009. Five cricket associations in the state have been fighting over affiliation from the central board. In fact, three of the associations had joined hands in January this year to claim the affiliation, but they fail to impress BCCI officials.