Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 13 October 2014

National

Centre will set inflation targets for RBI

• Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has given the go-ahead for a major overhaul of the current monetary policy framework wherein the Centre will specify ‘inflation targets’ for the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to achieve. Under the proposed new regime, the RBI will set inflation as its top priority in its policy statements.
• The decision departs from the recommendation of an expert committee of the RBI, appointed to examine monetary policy. Headed by Reserve Bank Deputy Governor Urjit R. Patel, the committee had recommended that the monetary policy decision-making should be vested with a monetary policy committee, chaired by the RBI Governor.
• Other recommendations were that the apex bank adopts the new Consumer Price Index (CPI) as the measure of the nominal anchor for monetary policy. And that the RBI set the target CPI inflation level at 4 per cent (+/- 2 per cent) to be achieved through its monetary policy tools.
• A senior Ministry official told that the Modi government decided that the RBI “cannot set for itself an inflation target level of 4 per cent for all times to come…the Centre will set this target.” “It is best that inflation targets are set by the governments elected by the people and not a bunch of bureaucrats and economists sitting in the Reserve Bank.”
• RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan said last that many earlier reports including one by himself talked about the importance of central bank accountability and independence.

Hudhud snapped communication and power networks

• Odisha, which escaped the fury of Cyclone Hudhud, announced that it would extend help to districts of neighbouring north Andhra Pradesh. “As Visakhapatnam was terribly devastated, Andhra Pradesh government wanted Odisha to contribute in restoration efforts by deploying skilled manpower and equipment.
• Cyclone Hudhud snapped communication and power networks and damaged hangars and radar at the Eastern Naval Command headquarters at Visakhapatnam, but warships were able to withstand its impact. Sources said INS Circars suffered the most as the cyclone uprooted trees that fell on power and telephone lines.

India’s quest for Nobel Prize completes a cycle of sorts

• More than 100 years after Rabindranath Tagore was awarded the Nobel for Literature in 1913, India’s quest for the Nobel Prize has attained a certain philosophical completeness under all categories for which it is awarded, with Kailash Satyarthi of India being chosen along with Malala of Pakistan for the Nobel Peace Prize 2014.
• While C.V. Raman won the Nobel for Physics in 1930, Har Gobind Khorana bagged it under the category of Medicine in 1968. Khorana shared his prize with Robert W. Holley and Marshall W. Nirenberg.
• The Albanian-born Mother Teresa who later worked out her spiritual destiny in Calcutta was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979, even as India was again crowned with the Nobel Physics in 1983 in the hands of Subrahmanyam Chandrasekhar. He shared it with William Alfred Fowler.
• If in 1998 Amartya Sen won extraordinary laurels for India by winning the prize for Economics “for his contributions to Welfare Economics,” it was then followed by Venkatraman Ramakrishnan chosen for the Nobel Chemistry in 2009. Dr. Ramakrishnan shared it with Thomas A Steitz and Ada E. Yonath.
• Five years later, an Indian has again bagged the Nobel Peace, this time sharing it with a courageous Pakistani girl, rounding off a rare sub-continental partnership to work together for suffering humanity at large.

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International

IS jihadists meet dogged Kurdish resistance

• Islamic State (IS) jihadists met dogged Kurdish resistance in the high-profile Syrian battleground town of Kobane but in Iraq they put forces under strong pressure, prompting U.S.-led relief drops.
• A roadside bomb killed the police chief in Iraq’s Anbar province, between Baghdad and the Syrian border, where Pentagon officials have voiced concern about the vulnerability of government troops to a renewed jihadist offensive.
• Farther north, around the key oil refinery town of Baiji, the Iraqi army and its Sunni Arab tribal allies came under fresh attack by IS, prompting a first resupply operation by coalition aircraft. In Kobane, where IS, is battling Kurdish fighters under the gaze of the international media just across the border with Turkey, the jihadists were taking heavy losses, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
• It said IS was pouring in reinforcements from Syria, after its Friday capture of the Kurdish headquarters in Kobane failed to deliver a knockout blow.

Huge crowd return to Hong Kong streets

• Protests in Hong Kong continue to follow a roller-coaster path, with huge crowds which have once again converged on the streets, facing a ultimatum by authorities to disperse.
• After a sharp decline in mobilisation following an initial high, crowds supporting the protests surged in the Admiralty area, the political heart of Hong Kong. The build-up followed calls for a demonstration of street power by protests leaders, after the government earlier stepped back from proposed talks, which it said were possible only if the agitators stayed at home.
• But in the back-and-forth between the protesters and the authorities, it was now the government’s turn to warn students to clear the roads. In a televised address, Hong Kong’s Chief Executive, Leung Chun-ying, made it plain that the protesters would have to be dispersed by Monday morning so that normality could return.
• He warned that officials and police would take “all necessary actions” to restore order. Student leaders, taking the ultimatum seriously are hinting at a via media-provide access lanes through which government vehicles can pass, without abandoning the protests.

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Business & Economy

Overseas investors pull out Rs. 800 crore from stock market

• Overseas investors have pulled out nearly Rs. 800 crore from the Indian stock market since the beginning of this month, mainly on account of profit booking. In comparison, the debt market saw huge inflow of over Rs. 6,300 crore during the period.
• Foreign investors were gross buyers of equities worth Rs. 20,252 crore till October 10 and sellers to the tune of Rs. 21,038 crore — a net outflow of Rs. 786 crore (USD 128 million), according to the latest data.
• The outflow comes after overseas investments in the stock market hit seven months low in September. Market experts attributed the outflow to profit booking and consolidation in the equity market.
• “We have witnessed an outflow in this month mainly due to profit booking and the market is also in a consolidation mode,” CNI Research Head Kishor Ostwal said. He further said that the long-term prospects of staying invested in India are still positive.
• Overseas investors (Foreign Institutional Investors or Foreign Portfolio Investors) had pumped in a little over Rs. 5,100 crore in Indian equity markets in September, making it the lowest net investment since February when they had infused Rs. 1,404 crore.

Sports

Hamilton wins the inaugural Russian Formula One Grand Prix

• Lewis Hamilton won the inaugural Russian Formula One Grand Prix and extended his championship lead to 17 points in a Mercedes one-two that clinched the team’s first constructors’ title.
• The Briton, who started on pole position, chalked up his fourth win in a row and ninth of the season after German team-mate Nico Rosberg locked up at the first corner and damaged his tyres in a costly error.
• With 100 points still to be won from the final three races, thanks to double points in Abu Dhabi, Hamilton has 291 points to Rosberg’s 274 with everything still to play for.
• Hamilton, the 2008 champion, also became only the fourth driver in F1 history to win nine races in a single season and equalled Nigel Mansell’s British record of 31 career victories.
• On a warm and sunny afternoon in the Black Sea resort, Rosberg kept himself firmly in contention with a fine recovery drive from 20th place after his second lap pitstop.
Ajay Jayaram wins Dutch Open
• Ajay Jayaram registered the biggest triumph of his career, winning the $50,000 Yonex Dutch Open Grand Prix badminton tournament.
• The 27-year-old defeated Indonesia’s Ihsan Maulana Mustofa 10-11, 11-6, 11-7, 1-11, 11-9 in the final, which lasted 46 minutes, to bag his maiden GP title.
• “Jayaram has had injuries in recent times, but has come back strongly to win a Grand Prix,” said coach Vimal Kumar.

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Science & Technology

Earth-observing instrument activated on ISS

• NASA successfully installed and activated its first Earth-observing instrument - the ISS-RapidScat - on the International Space Station (ISS).
• The ISS-RapidScat will monitor ocean winds for climate research as well as weather predictions and hurricane monitoring. The instrument has already begun collecting data.
• “Its antenna began spinning and it started transmitting and receiving its first winds data Oct 1,” a NASA statement said.
• “Most satellite missions require weeks or even months to produce data of the quality that we seem to be getting from the first few days of RapidScat,” informed Ernesto Rodriguez from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory Pasadena, California.
• “The quality of these data reflect the level of testing and preparation that the team has put in prior to launch,” Dr. Rodriguez added. ISS-RapidScat instrument was launched aboard the SpaceX CRS-4 mission on September 21.