Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 18 June 2015

Current Affairs for IAS Exams – 18 June 2015

:: National ::

Govt. pushes yoga’s universal appeal, Ministry releases book

  • As part of its effort to package yoga as a religion-neutral exercise and ensure maximum participation nationwide in the first International Day of Yoga programmes, the Union AYUSH Ministry released a book, Yoga and Islam , on its universal appeal and acceptance.

  • However, the Ministry’s decision to drop Om and Surya Namaskar (sun salutation) from the Common Yoga Protocol for Yoga Day has not gone down well with some sections of the Sangh Parivar.

  • Union Minister of State for AYUSH Sripad Naik’s suggestion that Muslims who do not want to chant Shlokas can take the name of Allah instead came in for sharp criticism from Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader Praveen Togadia, who said this would not be acceptable to Hindus.

  • Published by the Muslim Rashtriya Manch, an RSS initiative, Yoga and Islam has as its main thrust the idea that yoga does not have anything to do with religion. The book seeks to address apprehensions that minority communities have expressed over participating in the programmes.

  • It draws parallels between some yoga exercises and namaaz, stating that “namaaz is one sort of yoga asana”.

  • Earlier, the RSS weekly Organiser said in an editorial that yoga had nothing to do with religion

Govt. says transgender category in UPSC exam after SC order

  • The Union government said it could frame rules for including transgenders as a third gender category in the civil services examination only after the Supreme Court decides on its plea for clarification on the definition of “transgender”.

  • In an affidavit filed in the Delhi High Court, the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) said no decision or order had been passed by the Centre for declaring transgender persons as the third gender.

  • As the issue in question is sub judice before the Supreme Court and the application for modification of the apex court’s April 15, 2014 judgment on transgenders is still pending, the inclusion of transgender as a category in the application forms for this year’s civil services preliminary examination has not been carried out.

  • The DoPT was responding to an HC notice on a public interest writ petition moved by lawyer Jamshed Ansari, challenging the absence of transgender category in the UPSC’s notice for the exam scheduled on August 23. The lack of third gender option would result in transgenders not being able to apply for the test, the petition said.

  • The High Court's Vacation Bench comprising Justice Mukta Gupta and Justice P.S. Teji refused to stay the process of the UPSC examination after taking on record the DoPT’s affidavit. The court listed the PIL for hearing on July 27.

  • The affidavit said the Union government could frame rules for the benefit of transgenders, including reservation for them, only after the Supreme Court clarified the issue. As the Centre has moved the apex court, any interim order passed by the High Court would result in a situation where the consequential effects would remain unaddressed for want of clarity.

  • Referring to the Supreme Court's judgment, the affidavit pointed out that it had observed that even gay, lesbian and bisexual were included in the transgender category. “However, our stand is that this concept is based on sexual orientation of the person, while the term ‘transgender’ has to do with the person’s own deep sense of gender identity,” it said.

Govt. plans 20 million houses for urban poor (Register and Login to read Full News..)

Archana Ramasundaram to head NCRB (Register and Login to read Full News..)

:: International ::

Colombo notifies 20th Amendment

  • Even as certain sections of political parties in Sri Lanka continue to have reservations over the latest version of the proposed 20th Amendment, the government has gone ahead with the notification of the draft legislation in the gazette.

  • As per the decision taken by the Cabinet last week, the overall size of Parliament will be 237, a rise of 12 compared to the existing legislature. Of this, 145 members will be elected directly, through the system of first past the post (FPTP).

  • Though the notification does not talk of proportional representation (PR) numbers, this can be taken as 55, after taking into account the number of directly-elected members (145) and the nomination of 37 persons to the national list, which has also been mentioned in the notification.

  • The notification provides the scope for the Delimitation Commission for creating multi-member polling divisions and, in any event, the number of members to be elected through such a division should not exceed three.

  • The Tamil Progressive Alliance (TPA), Tamil National Alliance (TNA), Sri Lanka Muslim Congress and the All Ceylon Makkal Congress are among those which have expressed objections to the proposed Amendment in the present form. Even the ruling United National Party is not happy with the move to increase the size of Parliament.

  • Campaign for Free and Fair Elections (CaFFE) executive director Rajith Keerthi Tennakoon feels that the demand of double ballot system can be accommodated. He also wants the government to establish independent Election Commission and Police Commission, as envisaged in the 19th Amendment, before the parliamentary elections are held.

Five-time Turkish President dead (Register and Login to read Full News..)

:: Business and Economy ::

Ad Council launches mobile app for consumer complaints

  • Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI), the self regulatory body for content in Indian advertising, has launched the country’s first consumer complaint mobile app — ASCIonline. The app is part of ASCI’s effort to address the issue of misleading advertisements.

  • The mobile app is currently available on android and iOS and is free. The app is easy to use and a consumer can lodge a complaint by providing advertisement details and the objection. Users can also attach files like image or video or YouTube link of the advertisement. In the case of multiple complaints, the user can check the history of all previously registered complaints with the latest status and all other details.

  • The role of ASCI and its Consumer Complaints Council (CCC) was to deal with complaints received from consumers and industry against advertisements which are reported to be false, misleading, indecent and illegal, leading to unfair practices.

Government clears 16 FDI proposals worth Rs.6,751 cr.

  • The Union Government has cleared 16 foreign direct investment proposals worth Rs. 6,750.86 crore, including that of Beacon’s unit Syngene, Torrent Pharma, Star India.

  • The approvals were based on the recommendations of Foreign Investment Promotion Board, a statement from the Finance Ministry said.

  • The top proposals include — Torrent Pharmaceuticals’ plan to increase foreign institutional investment limit to 35 per cent from 13.09 per cent amounting to Rs. 3,000 crore and Star India Private Ltd proposal for further issuance and transfer of shares to its foreign collaborator and acquisition of another Indian company on a slump sale basis, for a value of Rs.2,500 crore.

  • Another notable clearance was for pharma major Biocon’s unit Syngene International’s plan to increase the foreign investment limit to 44 per cent from 10 per cent through offer of shares to foreign institutional investors, foreign portfolio investors and non-resident Indians, worth about Rs.930 crore.

  • Proposals from BASF Chemicals India Private Ltd, Ordain Health Care Global, TRIF Kochi Projects, TRIF Real Estate and Development, Berggruen Real Estates and Today Magazines Lifestyle also got the nod.

  • Approvals to about 21 proposals were deferred, including those of Kotak Mahindra Bank’s proposal to increase foreign investment limit to 55 per cent in light of merger with ING Vysya Bank.

  • The government has rejected Strides Arcolab plan to issue shares to non-resident and resident shareholders of Shasun Pharmaceuticals under a merger plan, along with five other proposals.

Bandhan Financial Services to start bank (Register and Login to read Full News..)

:: Science and Technology ::

World’s thinnest light bulb created

  • Researchers have created the world’s thinnest light bulb using grapheme (an atomically thin and perfectly crystalline form of carbon) instead of tungsten as a filament.

India: ocean warming weakens monsoon (Register and Login to read Full News..)

:: Sports ::

Pawar is MCA chief

  • The incumbent Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) president Sharad Pawar won a seventh two-year term as president at the association’s biennial elections held.

  • The 74-year-old, contesting the elections on the plank to keep the primacy of the Wankhede Stadium as the venue for the association’s cricket activities, defeated Vijay Patil — a two-term vice-president of the association — by a margin of 30 votes. Pawar polled 176 votes as against Patil’s 142.

  • Patil’s ‘Cricket First’ panel was backed by the Shiv Sena, whose chief Uddhav Thackeray called up voters to choose Mr. Patil and not Mr. Pawar reasoning that the NCP chief was batting on zero after being elected six times before.

  • Ashish Shelar, MLA and BJP city president, was elected vice-president. Former India captain Dilip Vengsarkar was also elected vice-president for a fifth term.

  • Dr. P.V . Shetty was elected honourary joint secretary and Mr. Nitin Dalal, treasurer. Messrs. Vengsarkar, Shelar and Dalal belong to the Pawar-Mahaddalkar group.

  • Dr. Unmesh Khanwilkar of ‘Cricket First’ was elected as the second honorary joint secretary.

  • In all, 321 of the eligible 325 voters took part in the elections.

India claims two team golds (Register and Login to read Full News..)

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Sources: Various News Papers & PIB

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