Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 1 March 2015

Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 1 March 2015

:: National ::

Pakistani singer Adnan Sami applies for Indian citizenship

  • Pakistani singer-musician Adnan Sami has applied for Indian citizenship for a second time despite an earlier plea of his having been rejected by the Centre.

  • The 43-year-old singer - whose earlier request was rejected some two years back - has made his application to the Foreigners’ Division of the Home Ministry.

  • Last month, Home Ministry had asked Law Ministry as to whether Sami can be granted Indian citizenship. But Law Ministry refused to entertain the request, saying that the power of granting Indian citizenship lies with the Home Ministry under the Citizenship Act.

  • The Law Ministry, however, said that it can help Home Ministry with the interpretation of any provision of the Citizenship Act to enable it to decide the case.

  • Under the Indian Citizenship Act, a foreigner is entitled to receive citizenship provided that he or she has rendered distinguished service to the cause of science, philosophy, art, literature, world peace or human progress.
     

  • Sami, who has a Pakistani passport, had arrived in India in 2001 and, between 2001 and 2013, visited the UK and several other countries. He has a business and professional visa.

  • His earlier application for citizenship was submitted to the special branch of Mumbai Police.

Nai Manzil to bridge lack of skills in minorities

  • The ‘Nai Manzil’ scheme announced in the budget is something that the Minority Affairs Ministry has been talking about ever since the Modi Government assumed office last year.

  • In reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha on July 16, 2014, the Ministry had listed ‘Nai Manzil’ as one of the steps “being taken’’ by the Government for the welfare of minorities.

  • It was billed as a “bridge course to bridge the academic and skill development gaps of the deeni Madrasa passouts with their mainstream counterparts’’.

  • Seven-and-a-half months later, Mr. Jaitley flagged ‘Nai Manzil’ as a scheme that “will be launched this year’’ to enable minority youth who do not have a formal school-leaving certificate to obtain one and find better employment.

  • The other minority community-related programme that he flagged in the Budget speech on Saturday pertained to show-casing the civilisation and culture of Parsis. The Government will support an exhibition ‘The Everlasting Flame’, he said.

  • The allocation for the Ministry “is being protected’’ with an estimate of Rs. 3,738 crore. Last year’s budget had allocated Rs. 3,734 crore to the Ministry which was cut down to Rs. 3,165 crore in the revised estimates.

  • A bulk of this is for the Multi Sectoral Development Programme for Minorities and the other main claimants to the allocation are the pre-matric and post-matric scholarships for minorities.

Vistara to have fleet size of 20 aircraft by 2018 (Register and Login to read Full News..)

E-commerce transactions on ‘aggregator’ platforms turn costly  (Register and Login to read Full News..)

:: International ::

Australia, Malaysia, Indonesia to trial new flight tracking system

  • Indonesia and Malaysia will lead a trial to enhance the tracking of aircraft over remote oceans, allowing planes to be more easily, Australia’s transport minister said.

  • The announcement comes one week ahead of the anniversary of the disappearance of flight MH370, which vanished last year on a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 people on board. No trace of the plane has been found.

  • Airservices Australia, a government-owned agency that manages the country’s airspace, will work with its Malaysian and Indonesian counterparts to test the new method, which would enable planes to be tracked every 15 minutes, rather than the previous rate of 30 to 40 minutes, Australian Transport Minister Warren Truss said.

  • The trial is expected to use satellite-based positioning technology already on board 90 per cent of long-haul aircraft that transmits the plane’s current position and its next two planned positions, said Airservices Australia chairman Angus Houston, who helped lead the search for MH370.

  • The trial would boost the frequency in which planes would automatically report their position, allowing air traffic controllers to better track them, Houston said.

  • There is no requirement for real-time tracking of commercial aircraft and ever since flight 370 disappeared, air safety regulators and airlines have been trying to agree on how extensively planes should be tracked.

  • The Boeing 777 veered sharply off-course and vanished from radar shortly into its flight on March 8.

  • An international team of experts who analysed a series of hourly transmissions between the plane and a satellite later determined that the plane travelled for another seven hours before crashing somewhere within a remote 60,000 square kilometer or 23,000 square mile patch of the Indian Ocean.

:: Business & Economy ::

Full electrification by 2022

  • Giving a major boost to the government’s plans to make India energy surplus by 2019 and to provide electricity to each household by 2022, the government proposed five new Ultra Mega Power Projects (UMPPs), each of 4,000 MW which will come up in the plug-and-play mode enabling investors to start these plants without much delay.

  • Out of the 4 UMPPs announced earlier, two (Mundra and Sasan) are operational now.

  • Presenting the Union budget, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said all clearances and linkages would be in place for these five new UMPPs before the projects are awarded through a transparent auction system.

  • He also said the second unit of Kudankulam Nuclear Power Station would be commissioned in 2015-2016. Apart from this the budget has also made several provisions for the growth of Renewable Energy sector in the country.

  • By 2022, the government announced plans to have 1,75,000 MW of renewable energy generation (100000 MW solar, 60,000 wind and 15,000 MW other technology). Solar energy will get the biggest in capacity from 3,500 MW now to 1,00,000 in 7 years.

  • According to experts the government’s intention to drive new investment in power generation is a welcome and necessary move, but to continue to attract investors, the government must revive the distribution sector.

  • The government has decided to increase clean energy cess on coal from Rs 100/tonnes to Rs 200/tonnes which will help mobilise funds for clean energy initiates.

Nirbhaya fund gets Rs. 1,000 crore (Register and Login to read Full News..)

:: Science & Technology ::

Govt. staff barred from using private e-mail for official purposes

  • Government employees have been barred from using private e-mail services for official communications.

  • “Users shall refrain from using private e-mail servers from government network. E-mail service authorised by the government and implemented by the IA (Implementing Agency under this policy is NIC) shall only be used for all official correspondence,” said the policy on use of IT resources notified .

  • The new policy also bars officials from using forward option in e-mails to non-government e-mail services.

  • “The e-mail services provided by other service providers shall not be used for any official communication,” the notification said.

  • This policy is applicable to all employees of Central Government and employees of those State or Union Territories governments that use the e-mail services of provided by Central Government.

  • This policy idea was mooted by the Department of Electronics and IT after whistle blower Edward Snowden claimed that U.S. intelligence agencies secretly monitors Internet data to spy on various countries, including India with help of some of software and Internet companies.

  • As per new policy, government officials will be allocated two e-mail ids — one based on designation and other on name.
     

:: Sports ::

Dalmiya set to return as BCCI chief

  • Former president Sharad Pawar failed to get a proposer from East zone, prompting the Maratha strongman to pull out of the race.

  • Jagmohan Dalmiya is set to return as president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).

  • The 74-year-old West Bengal strongman was the only nominee for the top job as the deadline ended. The BCCI’s Annual General Meeting will be held .

  • A former BCCI and ICC president, Mr. Dalmiya had temporarily run the BCCI’s day-to-day affairs in 2013 when N. Srinivasan stepped aside following the IPL spot-fixing and betting scandal. He had been requested by Mr. Srinivasan to do so.

  • Given his proximity to Mr. Srinivasan over the last three years, Mr. Dalmiya is seen as his candidate.

  • Interestingly, Sharad Pawar’s faction, who is in the city with his supporters, also projected Mr. Dalmiya as its choice. This also reflected the group’s failure to secure two East Zone votes — for a name to be proposed and seconded – for its own man.

  • This is the East Zone’s turn to nominate, and Mr. Dalmiya controls two of the six votes in the region: the Cricket Association of Bengal and the National Cricket Club.

  • There will, however, be a contest between the two factions for the other posts; these do not need to be proposed and seconded by associations from the East Zone.

  • Mr. Srinivasan’s group has nominated Sanjay Patel as its choice for secretary, Anirudh Chaudhry, treasurer, and Amitabh Chaudhary, joint secretary.

  • Mr. Pawar’s faction has fielded Anurag Thakur (secretary), Rajiv Shukla (treasurer) and Chetan Desai (joint secretary).

  • For the posts of vice-president, one from each zone, Mr. Srinivasan’s group has named G. Gangaraju (South), T.C. Mathew (West), C.K. Khanna (Central), Gautam Roy (East) and M.L. Nehru (North).

  • Mr. Pawar’s faction has Ravi Savant (West), Jyotiraditya Scindia (Central) and M.P. Pandove (North) as its candidates.

  • Although Mr. Srinivasan’s group has the edge, things could become tight. There are 31 votes, including the casting vote of the chairman. However, there could, effectively, be only 30 votes since the Rajasthan Cricket Association has been suspended.

  • Since Shivlal Yadav served as the Supreme Court-appointed interim Board president, Mr. Srinivasan’s group could move a proposal for the former Indian off-spinner to chair the meeting. This could be opposed by Mr. Pawar’s faction.

  • The chairman must pick representatives for the Delhi and Districts Cricket Association and the Baroda Cricket Association, which have warring factions.

Sri Lanka hammers England by 9 wickets

  • Kumar Sangakkara and Lahiru Thirimanne struck fluent centuries to help Sri Lanka outplay a hapless England by 9 wickets in a pool A ODI match of the cricket World Cup.

  • Chasing 309 for a win at the Westpac Stadium, Sri Lanka looked comfortable from the very start after a 100—run opening partnership and then Thirimanne (139 not out) and Sangakkara (117 not out) managed an unbeaten 212—run stand to help the islanders canter to their target in 47.2 overs.

  • Earlier electing to bat, England rode on Joe Root’s 121 to post 309 for six in 50 overs and a quickfire 19—ball unbeaten 39 from Jos Buttler in the end raised English hopes of a good showing.

  • But that was not to be as Sri Lanka looked unfazed after what looked an ordinary bowling effort, to make the chase look simple and register their third win of the tournament.

Pakistan beat Zimbabwe by 20 runs (Register and Login to read Full News..)

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Sources: Various News Papers & PIB

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