Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 16 June 2015

Current Affairs for IAS Exams – 16 June 2015

:: National ::

Kapil Mishra sworn in as Delhi Law Minister

First-time MLA Kapil Mishra was sworn in as a Cabinet minister in the Delhi government and given charge of the Law Department.
Known as a loyalist of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, Mr. Mishra replaces Jitendra Singh Tomar who had resigned from the post last week following his arrest on charge of possessing fake degrees.
The 34-year-old MLA from Karawal Nagar was administered oath of office and secrecy by Lt Governor Najeeb Jung at a simple ceremony at the Raj Bhavan.
Mr. Mishra has been associated with the Chief Minister since the India Against Corruption (IAC) days.
When Yogendra Yadav and Prashant Bhushan upped their ante against the party leadership, he took a lead in starting a signature campaign urging all MLAs to back Mr. Kejriwal.
Mr. Mishra won from Karawal Nagar by a margin of over 44,000 votes and took oath in Sanskrit in the Delhi Assembly.

Goa withdraws circular on yoga event

In an attempt to assuage the feelings of the minority community, the Goa Education Department on Monday withdrew its controversial circular asking all schools in the State to send their students for a yoga drill, including Surya Namaskar, at the Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Stadium near here on June 21 morning.
The department had issued a related circular to all schools in the State, informing them that their students could perform yoga-related ‘asanas’ at the said stadium at Bambolim in north Goa, to commemorate the first International Day of Yoga.
The circular, however, had not made it compulsory for the students to attend the event.
Seeking to downplay the controversy, Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar said the decision was been taken to avoid duplication of the event.
Moreover, for the children from different parts of the State to gather at the stadium in the early morning would have caused them inconvenience, he said.
The Chief Minister said a number of like-minded NGOs are organising a yoga-related programme, in which 8,000 to 10,000 individuals are expected to participate.
The government, however, has said that the schools desiring to hold such an event on June 21, could do so on their premises.
Sources in Education Department said that the concept of the event was suggested by Arogya Bharati and the government had approved it.
The sources said that the State government was earlier also considering inclusion of yoga and ‘Surya Namaskar’ in the curriculum of physical training in schools.
However, fearing negative reaction from minority schools, the government has not pursued the proposal.
There are six minority community MLAs in the BJP which has a strength of 21 and their number in the coalition stands at 10 in the 40-member House.
The Church-affiliated Diocesan Educational Society is already upset with the State government over denial of permissions for new schools in some areas.

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:: International ::

Sirisena appoints defence chief

Two senior slots in the armed forces of Sri Lanka were filled with President Maithripala Sirisena appointing Air Chief Marshal Kolitha Gunathilaka as the new Chief of Defence Staff and Air Marshal Gagan Bulathsinhala as the new Air Force Commander.
Mr. Sirisena, who also holds the portfolio of Defence, handed over the letters of appointment to the two officers at his office.

CIA may have conducted human experiments

A secret internal document of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) contains guidance on “human experimentation” for Agency officers, it has emerged, and experts have challenged the Agency’s claim that it abided by limitations set for such experimentation even as it engaged in “brutal” psychologist-designed torture programmes.
The document, titled ‘Law and Policy Governing the Conduct of Intelligence Activities’, was obtained under the Freedom of Information Act by the American Civil Liberties Union .
It still is an active set of procedural guidelines, covering the “enhanced interrogation techniques” regime that was promulgated after the 9/11 terror attacks.
Under a section outlining limitations on human experimentation, the document requires that the CIA “shall not sponsor, contract for, or conduct research on human subjects” outside of instructions on responsible and humane medical practices set for the entire U.S. government by the Department of Health and Human Services.
However the document goes on to provide a measure of discretion to the CIA Director, a post held by George Tenet during the Bush years, to “approve, modify, or disapprove all proposals pertaining to human subject research.”
Experts such as Harvard University’s Nathaniel Raymond were quoted in The Guardian saying that in the case of interrogation of some detainees such as terror suspect Abu Zubaydah “the presence of medical personnel…was difficult to reconcile with both the CIA’s internal requirement of ‘informed consent’ on human experimentation subjects and responsible medical practices.”
The Agency came under immense pressure last year when a Senate Intelligence Committee report laid bare the extent of its torture programme and found that it were ineffective in locating major terrorists despite the CIA’s repeated claims to the contrary.
Some internal e-mails from the CIA were published in the media, including one on Zubaydah’s interrogation, in which an attending medical officer said the inmate “seems very resistant to the water board… No useful information so far.” When the Senate report came out it was evident that a wide range of brutal techniques was used including keeping detainees in complete darkness and depriving them of sleep for up to 180 hours.

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:: Business and Economy ::

Petrol prices up, but diesel is cheaper

The price of petrol was hiked by 64 paise a litre, but that of diesel was cut by Rs. 1.35 per litre in line with the trend in global oil rates.
This is the third increase in petrol prices since May.
Petrol in Delhi will cost Rs. 66.93 per litre while in Chennai the price will be Rs. 70.12, up from Rs. 69.45. A litre of diesel will cost Rs 50.93 per litre in the national capital and Rs. 54.29 in Chennai, Indian Oil Corp (IOC) said.
On May 16, petrol price was hiked by Rs 3.13 a litre and diesel by Rs 2.71 per litre.
However, on June 1, companies skipped raising rates by 30-40 paise that had become necessary due to rise in international rates.

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:: Science and Technology ::

India signs motor vehicle pact with three nations

India signed a motor vehicles agreement with three SAARC nations — Bhutan, Bangladesh and Nepal — that envisages seamless transit of passenger and cargo vehicles among these countries.
Though a seamless cargo movement between the South Asian neighbours is expected to take much longer, Monday’s agreement at Bhutan’s capital Thimphu is expected to remove bottlenecks by allowing people easy access.
The agreement signed on India’s behalf by Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari will not only reduce transport costs, but also enhance multi-modal transport and transit facilities, enabling increased connectivity and promotion of greater trade among the four countries.
“The Motor Vehicles Agreement is the ‘overarching’ framework to fulfil our commitment to enhance regional connectivity.
This will need to be followed through with formulation of the required protocols and procedures in the shortest time possible to realise the ultimate objective of free movement of people and goods in the region,” Mr. Gadkari said.
Bangladesh Minister for Road Transport and Bridges Obaidul Quader said there would be a trial run of vehicles on all the possible routes in October.
Bhutanese Prime Minister Tshering Tobgay will flag off a vehicle that will run through Bhutan-Guwahati-Shillong-Sylhet-Benapole-Kolkata route to survey the road.
Bangladesh Finance Minister A.M.A. Muhith said the infrastructure of the route would be improved in a year. He said the transit would start in a very limited scale in the beginning.

:: Sports ::

Bengaluru to host ATP Challenger

A $50,000 ATP Challenger men’s tennis tournament is set to be held, the first for the city in 12 years. Matches will be held at the KSLTA stadium courts from October 19 to 25, with India's top singles players expected to compete.
The tournament is likely to see a few world top-100 players in action, the Karnataka State Lawn Tennis Association (KSLTA) announced.
The ranking points gained in a Challenger event — the winner and finalist stand to earn 80 and 48 points respectively — will prove to be a valuable draw for rising talent.
“We feel that this is the time to have more Challenger events in India. This will help our players — with the required competition — to move up higher in the world rankings.”