Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 10 March 2015

:: National ::

PM to inaugurate slew of projects in Sri Lanka

India is “intent on strengthening ties” with Sri Lanka, said Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar as he announced a number of projects to be inaugurated during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Sri Lanka on March 13 and 14.
Mr. Modi, who is the first Indian Prime Minister to make a visit to the neighbouring country in 24 years, will commission a railway line in Talaimannar, inaugurate the cultural centre in Jaffna, and also hand over 20,000 homes that have been built by India in the Northern Province.
“India has been a significant contributor to the rebuilding process in Sri Lanka,” Mr. Jaishankar told journalists here at a press conference to discuss the Prime Minister’s three-nation “Indian Ocean foray”, including the Seychelles and Mauritius, that begins.
Mr. Modi will reach Colombo on March 13 and hold discussions with President Maithripala Sirisena. He will attend a lunch hosted by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, who has set off a storm with his recent remarks on “shooting Indian fishermen” if they trespass into Sri Lankan waters.
Seeking to downplay the controversy, Mr. Jaishankar said the remarks had been clarified and since it was an “emotive issue” he would not like to comment further.
“All that needed to be said” had been conveyed by External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj during her meeting with Mr. Wickremesinghe on Saturday, he said.
Speaking to The Hindu in Delhi, Sri Lankan analyst P. Saravanamuttu from the Centre for Policy Alternatives in Colombo, doubted if Mr. Wickremesinghe’s comments would overshadow Mr. Modi’s visit.
“In Sri Lanka, Mr. Wickremesinghe is under criticism from all quarters with pressure to prove his ‘nationalistic’ credentials, and especially over-reliance on India, and his comments may be seen in that context.”
In Colombo, the highlight of Mr. Modi’s visit will possibly be his address to the Sri Lankan Parliament. He has earlier addressed Parliaments in Thimphu and Kathmandu during his visits there in 2014. He will also go to Anuradhapura to see religious sites. Mr. Modi will be the first Indian Prime Minister to visit Jaffna and Talaimannar.
He is expected to take up India’s concerns over the implementation of the 13th amendment and rehabilitation of Tamil refugees in his bilateral talks as well as during his meeting with the governor of the Northern Province in Jaffna.
The Prime Minister will also look to “promote reconciliation” during meetings with leaders of all political parties, including the Tamil National Alliance that rules in the Tamil-majority Northern Province, the ruling SLFP and the UNP, the Foreign Secretary said. However, no meeting has been planned with the former President, Mahinda Rajapaksa, during Mr. Modi’s visit.
While ruling out any defence cooperation agreement during Mr. Modi’s Sri Lanka visit, Mr. Jaishankar said there was a “common thread” to the Prime Minister’s outreach to all three countries vis-à-vis India’s maritime influence.

SC unhappy with fund use for Taj zone green project

Noting its unhappiness with the Uttar Pradesh government, the Supreme Court came to the brink of ordering a CBI probe into the alleged irregularities in its utilisation of funds meant for compensatory afforestation at the Taj Trapezium Zone (TTZ) in Agra.
“We are not happy with the way the State government has dealt with the question of compensatory afforestation. There is a large gap between the saplings required and the actual plantation,” a Bench of Justices T.S. Thakur and C. Nagappan observed.
Justice Thakur considered directing a CBI probe into the “irregularities,” but said the court would give the government one last opportunity to fulfil its commitment to plant saplings to replace trees felled across the land spread over several hundred hectares.
It said the only explanation for “discrepancy and failure” from the officials was non-release of funds.
Calling their attitude “cavalier,” the court asked why these officials could not have approached the court had their intentions been in earnest.
A Bench gave the State four weeks to comply with its orders. The State’s Additional Advocate-General Gaurav Bhatia promised that the court orders would be complied with and a better affidavit, removing all discrepancies on the number of trees uprooted and the number of trees planted.

Mumbai to come under CCTV surveillance, says Governor

The installation of CCTV-based surveillance systems for Mumbai is expected to be completed within 90 weeks and the project is already being implemented in Pune, Maharashtra Governor C. Vidyasagar Rao told the joint session of the Maharashtra Assembly on the opening day of the budget session.
“It is proposed that GPRS-based system will be installed in Meru and other Private Taxis and the front seats reserved in share taxis in Mumbai for women,” he said to underline the measures for improving the safety and comfort of women commuters in Mumbai.
Emphasising several measures taken by the Devendra Fadnavis government to decongest Mumbai and improve its infrastructure, Mr. Rao said the government has expedited the work of Navi Mumbai International Airport Project, the second international airport for the city, and has received consent letters from Project Affected People (PAP) for land acquisition.
On the plan to decongest Mumbai by developing new smart cities, Mr. Rao said the government has proposed a new city on an area of 600 sq km around the Navi Mumbai international airport, and the city would be christened NAINA.

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:: International ::

ICC hands over Bashir case to U.N.

Sudan has failed to arrest its long-time leader Omar al-Bashir for genocide and war crimes, the International Criminal Court (ICC) ruled, referring the matter back to the U.N. Security Council.
Mr. Bashir (71) is wanted by The Hague-based ICC, the world’s only permanent court, for his role in the western Sudanese region of Darfur where insurgents rose up in 2003 in an ongoing conflict that has left more than 300,000 people dead.
He faces five counts of crimes against humanity including murder and torture, three of genocide and two of war crimes including attacking a civilian population.
The ICC in 2009 and 2010 issued two warrants against Bashir, but he continues to travel across the African continent despite a legal obligation by ICC member states to arrest him.

More U.S. sanctions on Venezuela

U.S. President Barack Obama ordered a fresh wave of sanctions against senior Venezuelan officials involved on opposition crackdown, including the prosecution of Caracas’s Mayor.
Mr. Obama ordered the freezing of U.S. properties and bank accounts of seven officials, including the director general of the intelligence service and the director of the national police.
The move is certain to worsen already fraught U.S.-Venezuela ties.
Most of those targeted for U.S. sanctions on Monday were accused of being involved with a 2014 crackdown on opposition protests that left more than 40 dead.

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:: Business & Economy ::

Black money taxable at highest rates

Under the new law on black money, the offence will be made non-compoundable and offenders will not be permitted to approach the Settlement Commission. Undisclosed incomes or returns from foreign assets will be taxable at the maximum marginal rate and exemptions or deductions which may otherwise be applicable in such cases, shall not be allowed.
The offence of concealment of income or evasion of tax in relation to a foreign asset will be made a predicate offence under the Prevention of Money- laundering Act, 2002. This provision would enable the enforcement agencies to attach and confiscate unaccounted assets held abroad and launch prosecution against persons indulging in laundering of black money, Revenue Secretary Shaktikanta Das told.
Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had said in his budget speech that he would introduce the law in Parliament during the current session. Under it, he had said, it would be mandatory to disclose all overseas bank accounts and assets to the tax authorities and concealment of income or assets held overseas could attract a jail term of up to 10 years.
The government has also said that ahead of the law’s enforcement, it would provide a one-time compliance window of a few months.
Das said the penalty during the compliance window could be lower than 300 per cent — the rate Mr. Jaitley had said in his budget speech would apply to the concealment of income and assets overseas under the new law.

:: Science & Technology ::

India can shape the future of Internet, says ICANN chief

With next billion people on the Internet likely to come from India, Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) CEO Fadi Chehadé said the country had the power to shape the future of Internet.
“India is central to what the Internet is at the global level... India is not simply getting into the digital world. The country is already an incumbent, a driver in the digital world in every sense of the word,” Mr. Chehadé said speaking at an event organised by Observer Research Foundation.
ICANN, a non-profit organisation, is the global body that oversees operation and administration of the Internet domain name system.
He added since his last visit to the country in October 2013, India’s place at the global level “has taken a new energy that is remarkable”.
Mr. Chehadé said India plays an important role in making sure things are run in the right direction in digital economy. “Its shaping how digital economy would look like, not tomorrow, but 10 years form now because the next billion people who will share the Internet will come from here... you will shape the future of internet,” he said.
Meanwhile, speaking at the same event, Communications and IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said the future architecture of the Web should not be a prerogative of a few and should be open to all.
He added that Internet must be equitable, effective, open-for-all and no one should be able to claim early arrival benefit.
“Internet is one of the finest creations of human mind. It can’t become a prerogative of few. Internet has to connect with local to become global,” Mr. Prasad said.

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:: Sports ::

India draws with China

India kept its chances alive by holding China 2-2 in the Indo-China Chess Summit 2015 for the Komatireddy Prateek Reddy Trophy.
GM Sethuraman came up with another impressive display to outwit GM Ding Liren in 23 moves in Grunfeld Defence.
Sethuraman, with a score of five out of seven, was the top-scorer for his team.
India later suffered a blow when captain K. Sasikiran frittered away an advantageous position to go down to Wei Yi in Grunfeld Defence. GMs B Adhiban and M.R. Lalith Babu drew against Wang Chen and Zhou Jianchao respectively.