Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 18 March 2015

:: National ::

Holding that politically organised communities like the Jats cannot be included in the Central list of Other Backward Classes (OBCs), the Supreme Court directed the government to recognise emerging socially and educationally backward groups like transgenders, who are among the most distressed.
Hours after the court’s judgment, 27 Jat MPs, cutting across party lines, led by Union Rural Development Minister Chaudhury Birender Singh, met Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley with the plea that the government challenge the order in a review petition, or the community itself might have to take on that task.
Given that the judgment will affect the politically significant Jats in Bihar, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Delhi, Bharatpur and Dholpur districts of Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand, the Narendra Modi government will have to consider the plea of these MPs very carefully.
The apex court struck down the quota notification issued by the UPA government.

The Haryana Assembly has passed the Haryana Gauvansh Sanrakshan and Gausamvardhan Bill with two amendments, paving the way for prohibiting the slaughter of cow and its progeny and providing punishment of up to 10 years with a fine ranging from Rs. 30,000 to Rs. 1 lakh for any violation.
The Bill seeks to conserve and develop indigenous breeds of cows and to establish institutions to keep, maintain and care infirm, injured, stray and uneconomic cows in the State.
Under its provisions, anyone found guilty of cow slaughter would be liable for imprisonment ranging from three years to 10 years, along with fines from Rs. 30,000 to Rs. 1 lakh.
The killing of a cow in an accident or for self-defence will not be considered slaughter.
As per the Bill, any person found exporting a cow for the purpose of slaughter can be awarded rigorous imprisonment for not less than three years.

United Nations (U.N.) investigators offered to share names from secret lists of alleged Syria war criminals with prosecutors to help end the “culture of impunity” in the country.
The commission of inquiry on the human rights situation in Syria has been compiling lists of people suspected of committing war crimes in the brutal Syrian conflict for the past four years, but kept them secret for use in future prosecution.
The investigators have repeatedly appealed to the U.N. Security Council to refer the cases to the International Criminal Court (ICC), but in vain.
Frustrated with the standstill, the head of the commission Paulo Pinheiro said that the investigators would share names from the lists with prosecutors in any country preparing cases.
Presenting the commission’s latest report on the situation in Syria to the U.N. Human Rights Council, Mr. Pinheiro urged national authorities preparing to try cases linked to the conflict in the country to get in touch.
The commission has drawn up four lists of individuals and groups it believes are guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Syria over the course of the bloody conflict.
The investigators have refused to say whether Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad or any of his close aides are on the list, but former U.N. rights chief Navi Pillay, who was safeguarding the names, said more than a year ago that “the evidence indicates responsibility at the highest level of government, including the head of state.”

Nintendo’s trademark game characters such as Super Mario (in picture) and Pokemon could finally feature on smartphones and tablets.
The company is entering into an alliance with Japanese mobile game company DeNA Co. to develop games for mobile devices.

International Monetary Fund Managing Director Christine Lagarde warned an interactive meeting here that emerging economies faced market volatility from U.S. interest rate hikes.
“I am afraid this may not be a one-off episode. This is so, because the timing of interest rate lift-off and the pace of subsequent rate increases can still surprise markets,” the IMF chief said.
Ms. Lagarde said emerging markets must prepare in advance to deal with this uncertainty.
Praising Reserve Bank of India Governor Raghuram Rajan, she said he was the one who steered the Indian economy to safer waters after it was hit by the market turmoil following the ‘taper tantrum’ episode of mid-2013.
“India’s monetary policy rests in good hands. So I am very pleased to say that, in a very short time span, India successfully contained its domestic and external vulnerabilities more than in many other emerging economies,” she said.
She also praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Jan Dhan Yojana and the reform measures initiated in the past months.
“I am fascinated by the vibrancy I see wherever I go in India. The world is looking to India to lead the path to higher, sustainable, and inclusive growth,” she added.