Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 19 August 2015

Current Affairs for IAS Exams – 19 August 2015

:: National ::

Committee on Assessment and Implementation of CCE report

Armed with a growing chorus against the no-detention policy at the elementary school level (up to Class VIII), the Union Human Resource Development (HRD) Ministry is likely to make a case for reconsidering – if not reversing — this provision of the Right to Education Act (RTE), 2009, at the first meeting of the Central Advisory Board of Education (CABE) under the Modi government’s watch this Wednesday.
The report of the ‘CABE Committee on Assessment and Implementation of CCE [Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation] in the context of the No-Detention Provision under the RTE Act’ is one of the items on the agenda for Wednesday’s meeting.
Headed by the then Education Minister of Haryana, the Committee had flagged certain issues with the provision and sought to draw linkages with the declining levels of learning.
This sub-committee of CABE is learnt to have recommended that the no-detention policy be implemented in a phased manner so that all stakeholders understand what it entails instead of interpreting it as zero assessment.
Further, the CABE Committee was of the view that it should be applied only till Class V instead of all the way up to Class VIII.
Since the report was finalised in the last year of the UPA government, no action was taken then. But after Smriti Irani took over as HRD Minister, she has held a series of meetings including with school children in which the general opinion favoured – to the surprise of many – examinations; not just at the lower levels but also in Class X where the once dreaded Board exams had been made optional during the UPA regime.
The main complaint against CCE was that it did not prepare students well for competitive examinations including school-leaving Boards.

:: International ::

Greece says migrant crisis won't be solved with fences

Greece appealed to its European Union partners on Tuesday to come up with a comprehensive strategy to deal with a growing migrant crisis as new data showed 21,000 refugees landed on Greek shores last week alone.
That number is almost half Greece's overall refugee intake in 2014 and brings total arrivals this year to 160,000, even as it struggles with a debt crisis that has forced it to accept a third international bailout.
The influx of refugees, mainly from Syria, has strained an already ill-prepared reception system in Greece that relies heavily on volunteers, forcing thousands to camp out in filthy conditions and triggering sporadic clashes and brawls.
A spokesman for the United Nations refugee agency UNHCR in Geneva said Greece needed to show "much more leadership" in dealing with the crisis.
Earlier this month construction began on a 175 km (110 mile) razor wire border fence in Hungary to deter migrants, while Britain and France have tightened security on the French side of the 30-km (19-mile) tunnel linking the countries.
Greece, which is in the throes of its worst economic crisis in generations, criticised other European countries for being more of a hindrance than a help as bottlenecks were reported not only in getting into the country, but getting out on its northern land borders.
UNHCR officials said only three Greek islands had organised reception facilities for refugees but that they were inadequate.

Beijing slams to Philippines, Japan on S.China Sea (Register and Login to read Full News..)

:: India & world ::

Russia back India’s bid for a permanent seat in UNSC

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s interview comes on the heels of the U.S. Ambassador to India, Richard Verma, asserting that there has been no change in his country’s position on the expansion of the UNSC and on India’s bid for candidature for a permanent seat.
However, despite the assertions of public support for India’s candidature, neither the U.S. nor Russia has explained why their letters to U.N. General Assembly president Sam Kutesa did not include their support.
These countries have also made it clear they wouldn’t support veto power for India or any other country.

China, a roadblock

China too remains a big roadblock as it has neither clarified its position on support for India nor is it expected to support the adoption of the UNSC expansion process if it comes to a vote by September 15, when the current UNGA session ends.
New Delhi, which will be competing for a permanent seat with Germany, Japan and Brazil, already has the support of France and the U.K., and has long held that as one of the biggest democracies and a growing economy it is poised to take its place in the UNSC complete with the veto.

:: Business ::

Investors like Alibaba, Snapdeal is ready to take on biggies

If you are in e-commerce, you just cannot ignore the power of Indian market. That's the message investors are getting from the latest round of investment Snapdeal has obtained.
Snapdeal has raised $500 million from Chinese e-retail giant Alibaba, Taiwanese iPhone maker Foxconn and Japanese major SoftBank.
Existing investors Temasek, BlackRock, Myriad and Premji Invest also participated in the funding round, Snapdeal said, without giving further details.
In October 2014, the company had raised $627 million from SoftBank, which is learnt to be holding a significant stake in the online marketplace now.
In the latest round, media reports say Alibaba and SoftBank are likely to have invested $100-125 million each.

:: Sports ::

Sebastian Coe elected new president of IAAF

Sebastian Coe was elected president of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) on Wednesday after beating Ukraine's Sergey Bubka by 115 votes to 92 in a ballot of the governing body's 50th Congress.
The Briton takes over as head of a sport battling a public relations crisis with the IAAF accused of failing in its duty to address doping amid allegations that blood doping was rife in athletics.
The former Olympic 1,500 metres champion will replace Senegalese Lamine Diack, who has run the body for the last 16 years, at the end of the Aug. 22-30 world championships in Beijing.
Coe has aggressively defended the IAAF's record on doping over the last three weeks, saying the organisation had "led the way" on out-of-competition testing and laboratories, and introduced blood passports in 2009 to help weed out the cheats.
Coe also reiterated his promise to hand each of the 214 federations a development grant of $200,000 in each Olympic cycle of four years, and to engage with governments to help utilise their funding to help athletes.
The financial acumen he gained in heading up the organising committee for the London Olympics would stand him in good stead as he seeks to bring new sponsorship to the sport, he added.