Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 13 April 2015

:: National ::

Election Commission sets up committee to allow migrants to vote

• After the government’s green light to NRIs to cast their votes from abroad, the Election Commission has set up a committee of senior officers to consider whether electoral laws can be changed to empower voters who have migrated to other States within the country.

• The poll body is considering whether inter-State migrant voters could retain their names on the electoral rolls of their native places, and also, if they could cast their votes through mechanisms such as postal ballot.

• Under the present law, a person can be enrolled only at the place he is residing. A migrant has to get himself enrolled in the new place.

• A relaxation of this law would prove beneficial to cadre-based parties in keeping their vote bank intact, especially in States such as Kerala and Tamil Nadu where many youths are migrating to other States for jobs.

• In an affidavit filed before the Supreme Court, the poll body said the committee was set up despite scepticism about the need to amend the Representation of the People Act. The poll body was responding to a notice issued by the Supreme Court on January 12, 2015, on a plea made by UAE-based doctor Shamsheer V.P., represented by senior advocate Dushyant Dave and advocate Haris Beeran, demanding electoral reforms to allow inter-State migrants the voting privileges like postal ballot, which is accorded to government servants.

• The commission said a person who migrated can be considered “ordinarily resident” in his new place even without owning or possessing a house there. It said the law was reasonable as it is now.

• The application filed by Dr. Shamsheer sought the same voting privileges accorded to government servants under Section 20(8) (d) of the Representation of the People Act, 1950, read with Section 60(b) of the Representation of the People Act 1951, which allowed them to vote via postal ballot upon the consent of the Election Commission.

Curbs on Governors’ outstation visits

• The Union Home Ministry has notified a new set of rules to “regulate” official visits of Governors outside their States, mandating prior permission from the President and putting a cap of 73 days in a year as duration of such visits.

• Amending the Governors (Allowances and Privileges) Rules, the Ministry issued a notification on February 10 saying that all outstation visits will require prior approval of the President. Any communication on this will have to be forwarded to the President’s Secretariat at least seven days in advance.

• The notification, which seeks to discourage a Governor’s visit to the home State, says that copies of all communications seeking approval of the President for visits should be sent to the Prime Minister’s Principal Secretary and the Union Home Minister.

• Even under emergency or extraordinary circumstances, the Governor cannot undertake visits without intimating the President’s Secretariat.

• “In case of emergent or extraordinary circumstances, the intimation shall contain details of the circumstances and the compelling reasons why it was not possible to obtain prior permission,” it says, adding that the duration of such visits cannot exceed 73 days or 20 per cent of the days in a calendar year.

• “The Governor shall invariably obtain clearance under the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act and political clearance before undertaking any foreign visit,” says the notification.

• Also the Governors have to seek permission from the President for private visits within India at least two weeks in advance, except under exceptional circumstances.

• Communications pertaining to private visits abroad have to be made at least six weeks in advance. Except under extraordinary circumstances, the Governors cannot undertake any outstation visit without prior approval.

• In case of visits due to extraordinary circumstances, the Governors have to intimate the President’s Secretariat as soon as the programme is finalised, providing details of the compelling reasons it was not possible to obtain permission. Once the schedule for the visit is approved, it cannot ordinarily be revised.

• New rules make prior approval of President mandatory.

AIB pitches for Net neutrality

• Stand-up comedy group AIB has returned with an online video, Save the Internet , three months after its show “AIB Knockout” had kicked up a controversy.

• The earlier show, which featured Bollywood celebrities Karan Johar, Ranveer Singh and Arjun Kapoor, invited criticism from some sections for the use of expletives.

• The row forced the AIB to pull out the show from YouTube and go into hibernation.

• This time, the new nine-minute video on Net neutrality says Internet service providers and governments should treat all data on the Internet equally, not discriminating or charging differentially by user, content, site, platform or application.

• The four members of the group, in their usual humorous manner, take on the various telecom operators in the country, saying they are trying to push the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India into allowing them to block apps and websites to “extort” more money from consumers and businesses.

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:: International :

Malta votes for bird hunting

• Malta has voted in a referendum to continue the controversial tradition of spring hunting in which birds migrating across the Mediterranean are killed before they can breed, preliminary results showed.

• The issue has stirred passions for years in the island nation, with supporters defending it as a longstanding custom and opponents attacking what they see as a cruel practice that often flouts the law.

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:: Business and Economy ::

Air Pegasus launches services from Hubballi

• Low-cost airline Air Pegasus set off on its maiden flight from the Hubballi Airport with MP and BJP State president Pralhad Joshi flagging off the service, while bringing Hubballi again on the air service map.

• With SpiceJet dillydallying on resuming flight services from Hubballi, which was suspended after an aircraft crash-landed here last month, the launch brought some relief to regular air passengers who were for some time forced to travel to Belagavi to catch flights.

• Prior to formally launching the return flight (0P112) to Bengaluru, Mr. Joshi wished managing director of Décor Aviation Private Limited (promoter of Air Pegasus) Shyson Thomas good luck and thanked him for keeping his promise of launching flight services of the new aviation company from Hubballi.

• He hoped that soon the new airlines would operate two schedules daily from Hubballi. He said that Hubballi had potential for air traffic and expressed the confidence that more airlines would come to Hubballi once the runway expansion work to make it “Airbus Ready” was completed in October 2015.

• Mr. Shyson Thomas told presspersons that while for initial 10 days it would be a single schedule in the afternoon, it would be subsequently shifted to morning hours.

• “My plan is to have two schedules daily from Hubballi. The inaugural offer is Rs. 1,234,” he said.

• Director of Hubballi Airport Shivanand Benal clarified that the airport had no technical problem whatsoever and was safe for air traffic.

• Earlier, in a function at a hotel, director of aircraft manufacturer ATR Guillaume Huretas, handed over a tiny ATR aircraft symbolically to Mr. Thomas.

• Director of Air Pegasus Ashwin Thomas briefed about the plans of the company in improving regional air connectivity among tier 2 and tier 3 cities.

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:: Science and Technology ::

‘Green’ sub station to power Faridabad metro corridor

• The upcoming Badarpur-Faridabad corridor of Delhi Metro would be powered by a Green Sub-station as the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation has constructed a host of eco-friendly features at Faridabad including its first ever ‘green’ electrical Receiving Sub Station (RSS).

• The RSS, constructed at Sector 46, Faridabad will provide power to the 13.875 km long Badarpur – Escorts Mujesar (Faridabad) elevated corridor, the trial runs of which is likely to start later this month. Officials said the DMRC has already applied for its “Green Building” certification to the Indian Green Building Council.

• The sub station has a series of eco-friendly features, which makes it the first ever ‘green’ RSS of the Delhi Metro network. Solar power panels with capacity of 50 KWp have been installed at the RSS. The power generated will cater to the requirements of the RSS building and the remaining power will be used for the stations electrical load.

:: Sports ::

Sania creates history, is first from India to seal top world ranking

• Sania Mirza will become the first Indian woman to claim the number one doubles ranking after winning the Charleston title with partner Martina Hingis.

• Hingis and Sania captured their third doubles title in as many tournaments, after triumphs in the Indian Wells and Miami hardcourt events.

• The duo hadn’t dropped a set in their two prior tournaments, but they were tested on the green clay courts of Charleston, saving a match point against Anabel Medina Garrigues and Yaroslava Shvedova in the semi-finals.

• They defeated Casey Dellacqua and Darija Jurak 6-0, 6-4 to lift the trophy.

• Sania becomes the first Indian woman to reach number one in either singles or doubles. She has won seven WTA doubles titles over the last 12 months.

Jitu Rai bags bronze medal

• Jitu Rai asserted his class yet again by winning the air pistol bronze in the shooting World Cup in Changwon, Korea .

• It was the fourth medal in a World Cup for the 27-year-old, who had won the earlier three medals — a gold and two silvers — in a span of nine days last year in Maribor and Munich.

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Sources: Various News Papers & PIB

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