Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 10 September 2014

Expedite Delhi govt. formation, SC tells Centre

The Supreme Court told the Centre that horse-trading would continue if steps were not taken soon to form a government in Delhi.
“Things better be done at the earliest, otherwise horse-trading will continue,” a five-judge Constitution Bench led by Justice H.L. Dattu told the Centre.
The observation was made with reference to a footage released by the Aam Aadmi Party, the petitioner in the case, purportedly showing some Bharatiya Janata Party leaders inducing its party MLA with money and perks to support the BJP.

China has stated its intent to substantially elevate its ties during the upcoming visit of President Xi Jinping to India, disallowing differences in perception on the border issue to cloud a growing relationship of significance.
Liu Jianchao, Assistant Foreign Minister, told visiting Indian journalists that President Xi’s visit next week would mark the beginning of “another era” in Sino-Indian ties, embedded with strong “strategic” resonance.
Chinese analysts are of the view that the United States’ Pivot to Asia — broadly seen as a China containment doctrine — has, in response, triggered greater possibilities for stronger partnerships between Beijing and some of the regional heavyweights, including Russia and India.
“Imagine the contribution it would make to human civilisation if China and India began to work together for the development and progress of 2.5 billion people,” observed Mr. Liu.
In response to a question, he said Beijing was open to exploring the possibility with Moscow of linking India with the $400 billion mega energy tie up that China had recently signed with Russia.

Four days ahead of the by-election in the Noida assembly constituency of western Uttar Pradesh, the Election Commission issued notice to BJP MP Yogi Adityanath for violation of the Model Code of Conduct.
The Gorakhpur MP, the BJP’s lead campaigner in U.P. has been charged with violating several sections of the model code : these relate to activities that aggravate “existing differences or create mutual hatred or cause tension between different castes and communities, religious or linguistic,” making an appeal to caste or communal feelings for securing votes,” and using “religion for furtherance of the prospects of election of a candidate,” promoting “enmity or hatred between different classes of the citizens of lndia on grounds of religion, race, caste, community, or language” to help a candidate.
This comes against the backdrop of Yogi Adityanath consistently making inflammatory speeches through the campaign, the most recent on Sunday when he blamed people of a minority religion for the State’s recent communal tensions.

The Department of Personnel and Training has extended the deadline from September 15 to December 31 for public servants to declare their assets and liabilities under the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act.
The decision has been taken in view of the concerns raised by various Ministries, including “exacerbation of vulnerabilities of the public servants after filing such details, specifically of moveable property, and their publication on websites of the respective ministries/ departments, giving rise to apprehensions of safety and security of family members of the public servant, particularly his children.”
The Department of Personnel and Training has accordingly revised the deadline for simplification of declaration forms and completion of the entire process from 270 to 360 days.

Bihar is the fastest growing State while Tamil Nadu is the worst performer, the latest data released by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) has revealed.
Bihar’s Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) grew 10.73 per cent during 2012-13 — the only State that clocked a double-digit growth rate during the year.
The growth rate was 10.29 per cent in 2011-12 and 15.03 per cent in 2010-11.
Tamil Nadu recorded the slowest growth rate — 3.39 per cent — slower than the national average of 4.5 per cent in 2012-13.
The second-best performing State is Madhya Pradesh, which grew at 9.89 per cent. Delhi is third with a growth rate of 9.33 per cent.
The CSO-verified growth rate for 2012-13, however, is lower than that reported by Bihar’s Statistics Directorate. The State government had reported a growth rate of 15.05 per cent.
All major industrial States lag behind Bihar. Growing at 7.96 per cent, Gujarat is ranked sixth and Maharashtra ninth with 6.18 per cent.
As the growth rate for the bulk of the States is higher than the national GDP, the economic slowdown is not reflected in the data. Normally, the States’ GDP adds up to about 90 per cent of the national GDP. The difference is the output of the sectors that do not belong to any State such as the Bombay High.
Over the years, discrepancies have been increasing between the GSDP data in the States’ reports and the figures that finally come out after discussions with the CSO and validation.

The Central Water Commission (CWC), responsible for forecasting floods and issuing advisory to States, has no flood forecasts for J&K, according to Himanshu Thakkar of the South Asia Network on Dams Rivers and People (SANDRP).
The CWC’s forecast list of September 6 had 18 level forecasts and 8 inflow forecasts, but none from J&K. Nor were there any hydrographs for rivers in the State.
It hoped the CWC would include the flood-vulnerable sites of J&K in its forecasts, and explain why they were not included so far.

Of Apple’s new smartphones that were unveiled, the iPhone 6 will have a screen measuring 4.7 inches, while the iPhone 6 Plus will be 5.5 inches. In both cases, developers will be able to design apps that can be viewed differently when the phone is held horizontally.
The screen resolution on the Plus version will be sharper than previous iPhones, at 401 pixels per inch rather than 326.
The new phones aren’t as big as Samsung’s latest flagship phones — 5.1 inches for the Galaxy S5 and 5.7 inches for the Note 4 — but they will be large enough to neutralise a key advantage Samsung and other Android manufacturers have had.
Apple says the new phones will be faster and have better battery life than previous versions. The phones will also have a new sensor to estimate how much you’ve climbed stairs, not just how far you’ve walked or run.
The new phones (iPhone 6 will cost $199 with a two-year contract in the U.S.) will start shipping in America on September 19.
Apple also introduced a system, called Apple Pay, for using the phone to make credit card purchases at retail stores.

Kolkata-born British author Neel Mukherjee’s latest novel The Lives of Others , set in troubled Bengal of the 1960s and centred around a dysfunctional family, has been shortlisted for the prestigious Booker Prize 2014, in its debut as a global literary award.
Mr. Mukherjee, who studied at Oxford and Cambridge, was also the only Indian-origin author to be longlisted earlier this year.
Mr. Mukherjee, now a British citizen, reviews fiction for the Times and the Sunday Telegraph and his first novel, A Life Apart was a joint winner of the Vodafone-Crossword Award in India.
Previously, the prize was open only to authors from the U.K. and Commonwealth, Republic of Ireland and Zimbabwe.
For the first time in its 46-year history, the £50,000-prize has been opened up to writers of all nationalities, writing originally in English and published in the U.K.— PTI