Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 13 May 2015

Current Affairs for IAS Exams – 13 May 2015

:: National ::

Governors appointed for four States

President Pranab Mukherjee appointed Governors for four States, bringing down the number of Governors who had been holding the additional charge of more than two States for the past few months.
Droupadi Murmu, former Odisha Minister, has been appointed Governor of Jharkhand, whereas J.P. Rajkhowa has been given the gubernatorial post of Arunachal Pradesh. Tathagata Roy, former president of the BJP’s West Bengal unit from 2002 to 2006 and member of the party’s national executive, has been made the Governor of Tripura; whereas V. Shanmuganathan has been appointed Governor of Meghalaya.
Lieutenant General (Retd.) Nirbhay Sharma, Governor of Arunachal Pradesh, has been transferred and appointed Governor of Mizoram for the remainder of his term.
Jharkhand Governor Syed Ahmed has been transferred and appointed Governor of Manipur for the remainder of his term.

Ahead of PM’s visit, India-China irritants to the fore

India has lodged a protest against China’s announcement of infrastructure projects in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK), Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar said. Although Mr. Jaishankar did not say when the protest was made, he said the External Affairs Ministry had spoken to Chinese Ambassador Le Yucheng in Delhi, and India’s Ambassador to Beijing Ashok Kantha had indicated India’s upset to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
This is the first time the government has announced publicly that it had reacted to Chinese President Xi Jinping’s Pakistan visit on April 20, where he had announced a $46-billion package to construct infrastructure, including highways and hydel power projects along the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor through PoK to the Gwadar port in Balochistan.
In reply to a Parliament question on May 6, Minister of State V.K. Singh had only said that the “government keeps a constant watch on all developments having a bearing on India’s security and takes all necessary measures to safeguard it.”
The Foreign Secretary’s comments came on a day when China’s Global Times newspaper, said to be allied to the Communist Party, published a scathing editorial ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit entitled, “Can Modi’s visit upgrade Sino-Indian ties?”, accusing the government of playing “little tricks” on the border dispute, and criticising the Prime Minister’s visits to Arunachal Pradesh, that China claims, and calling on India to “stop all support to the Dalai Lama.”
While the government took no notice of the editorial, the remarks in Delhi and Beijing indicate that irritants in bilateral ties are being aired just ahead of Mr. Modi’s three-day visit to China, when he is expected to sign a number of agreements.
He will also be given a warm welcome by Mr. Xi who will travel to meet Mr. Modi in his native town of Xian on May 14, which is a rare break from precedent for Chinese leaders, and comes as a reciprocal gesture for Mr. Modi’s reception in Ahmedabad for the President and his wife last September.
Officials did not confirm the exact number and nature of bilateral agreements that will be signed in Beijing on May 15, but they are expected to include Chinese investment for railway projects and a railway academy in India, maritime research cooperation and one on sharing data on transboundary rivers.
India could also announce the extension of e-visa to China, a long-standing demand from the Chinese government, and the Home Affairs and External Affairs Ministries have been meeting for the past few weeks on liberalising the visa and security restrictions imposed on Chinese nationals. Two Chief Ministers, Gujarat’s Anandiben Patel and Maharashtra’s Devendra Fadnavis, will accompany the Prime Minister for a conference of State and Provincial heads, to discuss enhancing trade and cooperation with Chinese provinces.
Mr. Jaishankar said the resolution of the border issue was “bound to be discussed” when the two leaders met, with some indications from different sources that they could consider upgrading border communication and infrastructure to enhance the Border Defence Cooperation Agreement that was last upgraded in September 2013. In remarks, both countries signalled a softened approach, following the meeting of Special Representatives, National Security Adviser Ajit Doval and State Councillor Yang Jiechi, in February. The leaders indicated a determination to put behind the Chumar incident of alleged violations by the PLA into India during Mr. Xi’s visit to India last year that had significantly dented the visit’s atmosphere.
In an interview to the India Today weekly, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said the boundary question was a “difficult” part of relations, but to “settle the question as early as possible was the historical responsibility that falls on both governments; it also represents the shared aspiration of the two peoples.”
Interacting with Chinese journalists, Mr. Modi highlighted the “strong potential” of India-China relations. “Asia, being the land of Buddha, has the responsibility to ensure that this is a century free from war,” the Prime Minister, who has already set up a special page on his visit to China, wrote in a tweet and on his new social networking Sina Weibo account.

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:: International ::

Nepal again on edge as quake kills 57

Just when life was returning to normal in the cities after the earthquakes of April 25 and 26 and the affected people in the villages were trying to build temporary shelters, a 7.3 magnitude temblor rocked parts of Nepal, killing 57 people and injuring over 1,100.
Soon after the quake — termed an aftershock by experts — sent panic-stricken people out on to the streets, Prime Minister Sushil Koirala appealed for calm. At a press conference after an emergency Cabinet meeting, Mr. Koirala called upon people to come together to face the Himalayan crisis.
The police said casualties were reported from three districts of the capital and nine outside. The tremors affected altogether 32 districts, destroying buildings.
By 5 p.m., several open spaces, road islands (with green patches), fields and temples were full of makeshift and proper tents. People said they were going to sleep out in the open. Many had done so for over a week after the April 25 earthquake, but most had returned home.
The April quakes have so far killed over 8,000 people and left over 17,000 injured.

Another Bangladeshi blogger killed

Bangladeshi blogger-activist Ananta Bijoy Das (30) was murdered in northeastern Sylhet by unknown assailants, the third such murder in recent months.
The killing has set off a storm of criticism against Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, with noted author Taslima Nasreen saying people had “given up any expectation” that she would act against the killers.
Two other secular bloggers, Avijit Roy and Oyashiqur Rahman, were the earlier victims both by religious fanatics.
Police said some machete-wielding men hacked 30-year-old Mr. Das to death when he was going to the northeastern town.

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:: Business and Economy ::

DD mulls separate news channels in Hindi, English

Battered by falling viewership, DD News, which prides itself in being the only bilingual channel in the country offering news in Hindi and English, has proposed to reinvent itself amid a growing realisation that the bilingual offer has left the viewer quite confused.
Subject to clearance from the Prasar Bharati Board, the channel, which also lacks staff strength as compared to private newscasters, is proposing to do away with the current bilingual model and have separate channels catering to Hindi and English news viewers.
“On the same platform we broadcast Hindi, English, Urdu and Sanskrit news and also the bulletin for hearing impaired, catering to different population needs at the same time. It becomes difficult to figure out when to watch English or Hindi news bulletins,” a senior DD official said.
The Prasar Bharati Board has asked DD News organisers to work out the modalities of running the channels. Director General, News, Akshay Kumar Raut, confirmed that the channel is working on the proposal but refrained from putting a date to it.
He said he is in the process of finalising the proposal and would take it to the board soon. Mr. Raut also acknowledged that Hindi programming was stronger than English programming.
But getting the approval of the board is only a part of the process. Doordarshan, though autonomous on paper, depends on the Information and Broadcasting Ministry for financial support. Over 70 per cent of the budgetary allocation of the Ministry is earmarked for Prasar Bharati Corporation and its 22,000-odd employees.

:: Science and Technology ::

BARC-II project to commence in 2 years

Work on the second campus of the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC), also called BARC-II in Visakhapatnam, is expected to begin in a couple of years, while the Department of Atomic Energy is keen to take up mining of uranium in Nalgonda District in Telangana.
This was stated by BARC Director, Dr. Sekhar Basu and DAE public affairs spokesperson, S.K. Malhotra, Head, Public Awareness Division, DAE at a press conference, which was organised in connection with a four-day workshop.
Dr. Basu said BARC-II, coming up on a 4,000-acre site in Vizag would be bigger than the existing one at Trombay. It would house strategic facilities with advanced technologies, including a high flux reactor. Besides reprocessing fuel, it would produce radio-isotopes required for the entire country.
Observing that the facility would be futuristic and hi-tech, he wanted Andhra Pradesh Government to support it. Atomic Minerals Division (AMD) Director, Pratap Singh Parihar, said 18,000 tonnes of uranium deposits were identified at Peddagattu, Lambapur and Chitrial. It was a shallow deposit and the uranium concentration was 0.6 per cent as against 0.3 per cent in Tummalapalle in Kadapa district of Andhra Pradesh. Mr. Malhotra said that DAE was keen to take up mining in Nalgonda and pointed out that the deposits were better than those found in Thumalapalle.

Now, Railways schedule on Google Maps

Commuters can now access Indian Railways’ schedule on their mobile phones and desktops using Google Maps.
Besides information on 12,000 trains, the Maps will now offer updated details for bus and metro routes in eight cities: New Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Pune.
Google Transit, the feature in Google Maps that helps plan travel using public transport, will work on Android or iOS-based devices and desktops. Users can choose preferred mode of transport — bus, metro or train — and the time they will like to depart or arrive by. Users will need to type the destination into updated Google Maps, click on the “Get Directions” button and then select the “Public Transit” icon that will now include trains, apart from bus, car and walking options.

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:: Sports ::

Dipika recommended for Khel Ratna

The Tamil Nadu government has recommended star squash player Dipika Pallikal for the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna, India’s highest sporting honour.
Dipika has been recommended by Sports Development Authority of Tamil Nadu (SDAT), the sports arm of the State government.
The 23-year-old is the first Indian to break into the top 10 of world rankings. She was world no. 11 when her application was sent to the sports ministry and is no. 18 as per the latest Women’s Squash Association rankings.
Performances of last four years will be taken into consideration before the recipient of the coveted award is picked. The Chennai-born player was honoured with the Arjuna award in 2012 and Padma Shri in 2014.
Dipika made history at the 2014 Commonwealth Games, where she and Joshana Chinappa sealed the gold medal match, winning India’s first ever squash medal in the Games’ history.
Later in the year at Incheon, she bagged a first ever bronze medal forIndia in the women’s singles competition of the Asian Games.
In 2012, Pallikal helped the Indian women’s team to a memorable gold at the Asian Championship in Kuwait.
The others in the race for Khel Ratna are Sardar Singh (hockey), P.V. Sindhu (badminton), Jeev Milkha Singh (golf), Devendra Jhajariya (Paralympics), Girisha Hosanagara (Paralympics) besides discus throwers Vikas Gowda and Seema Punia.