Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 11 August 2015

Current Affairs for IAS Exams – 11 August 2015

Aadhar card will be optional for availing various welfare schemes of the government, the Supreme Court on Tuesday said and ordered that no personal information of the holders of such cards shall be shared by any authority.
A three-judge bench, which in the forenoon referred to a larger Constitution Bench a batch of petitions challenging the Aadhar scheme and the issue whether right to privacy is a fundamental right, recorded the statement of Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi that "no personal information of Aadhar card shall be shared by any authority".
The bench, headed by Justice J Chelameswar, which issued a slew of directions, said the Centre shall give wide publicity through electronic and print media that the card is not mandatory to avail the government schemes.
The bench, also comprising Justices S A Bobde and C Nagappan, said, "UIDAI/Aadhar will not be used for any other purposes except PDS, kerosene and LPG distribution system." However, the court made it clear that even for PDS, kerosene and LPG distribution system, the card will not be mandatory.
It directed that the information received by UIDAI shall not be used for any other purposes, except in criminal investigation with the permission of the court.
The court did not allow the interim plea of petitioners, challenging Aadhar scheme, that the ongoing enrolment process for the Aadhar card be stayed.

There will be no end to world population growth in this century, says the UN, adding that the world's population will increase from 7.3 billion people to 9.7 billion in 2050 and 11.2 billion at the century's end.
Asia, with a current population of 4.4 billion, is likely to remain the most populous continent, with its population expected to peak around the middle of the century at 5.3 billion and then to decline to around 4.9 billion people by the end of the century.
Developing countries with young populations but lower fertility like India face the prospect of substantial population ageing before the end of the century.
The world population growth will not stop in this century unless there are unprecedented fertility declines in those parts of sub-Saharan Africa that are still experiencing rapid population growth.
According to models of demographic change derived from historical experience, it is estimated the global population will be between 9.5 and 13.3 billion people in 2100.
The primary driver of global population growth is a projected increase in the population of Africa.
The continent's current population of 1.2 billion people is expected to rise to between 3.4 billion and 5.6 billion people by the end of this century.

As the news that Sundar Pichai was named the new CEO of Google came in, 71-year-old Sanat Kumar Ray was pacing up and down in his residence at IIT-Kharagpur with happiness.
Ray talked about Pichai's knack in electronics saying he demonstrated his keen interest in the subject in his third year at IIT and also wrote a thesis on the subject in the final year.
He added that an alumnus like Pichai prove the fact that the IITs have indeed been contributing to the society's development.
Forty three-year-old Pichai, who was born and brought up in Chennai, graduated from IIT-Kharagpur, where he did a BE in metallurgical engineering.
He went on to do a masters from Stanford University and an MBA from Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania.
Pichai's name was registered as P Sundarajan when he was at IIT-Kharagpur. He was a 1993 batch student of the department of metallurgical and materials engineering.
Pichai joined Google in 2004, the year the company launched Gmail, and has worked on some of the company's best-known products, from the Chrome browser to the Android mobile software.

The Indian mining giant Adani and the Standard Chartered bank have severed their ties after the federal court revoked the environmental approval for Adani's controversial $16bn coal mine project in Australia.
The development puts the Carmichael coal mine project in Queensland into further doubt.
This is the second big bank after Australia's largest lender, Commonnwealth Bank walked away from Adani after the approval was revoked barely a week ago.
Noting that the company valued the partnership with Standard Chartered, a statement by the firm said that "as Standard Chartered has noted, the delays experienced by Adani in receipt of its project approvals informed the decision."
The project to build one of world's largest coal mines and expanding a port on the Great Barrier Reef- the largest coral reef system - is opposed by green groups and residents.

Sania Mirza is all set to become the first woman tennis player to be conferred India's highest sports award Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna, Times Now reported on Tuesday.
Sania is only the second tennis player to get the coveted award after Leander Paes in 1996-97.
Earlier this month, the Sports Ministry had recommended the Wimbledon doubles champion for the award but had also made it clear that the final decision rests with only the Awards Committee.
Sania won her career's first ever women's doubles Grand Slam title with Swiss partner Martina Hingis in July. She also became world number one before winning the Grass Court major.
Sania, who has won three mixed doubles Grand Slams in her career, was reportedly competing with squash player Deepika Pallikal and discus thrower Vikas Gowda for the prestigious award.
Sania also won the gold medal and the bronze medal in the mixed and women's doubles categories in the 2014 Asian Games.
Sania had received the Arjuna award in 2004 while two years later she was awarded India's fourth highest civilian honour -- Padma Shri.
Sania has also won the mixed doubles titles at Australia Open (2009), French Open (2012) and US Open (2014) and is currently the world's No. 1 ranked doubles player.