Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 19 June 2015

Current Affairs for IAS Exams – 19 June 2015

:: National ::

Draft HRD Bill tests IIMs’ autonomy

For one of India’s best known global brands, the Indian Institutes of Management, a Bill framed by the Union Human Resource Development Ministry has brought in worries over autonomy.
The oldest of these 13 institutes, the IIM-Ahmedabad, has expressed concern over some of the provisions of the Indian Institutes of Management Bill, 2015, which, it feels, will spell the end of autonomy.
After the treatment meted out to the directors and chairmen of the Indian Institutes of Technology, it appears that the IIMs are next on the block.
The recommendations in the Bill, drafted by the Ministry headed by Smriti Irani, on display on mygov.in, are at variance with the recommendations submitted by them last year.
The Bill, they fear, carries the trademark signature of overreach as is evident in some of the clauses. For one, they say the government seeks to appropriate for itself the power to decide on academic posts other than the one of director, whereas the draft submitted by the IIM-Ahmedabad wants the institutes to take the decision.
Pankaj Chandra, former IIM-Bangalore Director, who was involved in recommending changes to the structure of the IIMs earlier, says the Bill should grant more autonomy to the institutes in deciding how they wish to structure themselves, as they are governed by societies.

MEA wants ED to come on board

The Ministry of External Affairs claimed that the Enforcement Directorate should have approached the Supreme Court against the Delhi High Court order restoring former IPL Commissioner Lalit Modi’s passport, as the case was being handled and investigated by the probe agency, while the MEA only got involved, technically, since the passport division comes under it.
The ED on the other hand asserted that the MEA was the actual respondent in the case and it should have been its responsibility to file an appeal.
The matter was cleared up by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley when he said that the decision to appeal against the HC order lay with the passport authorities.
However, while an official confirmed that the MEA was now ready to take the matter to the Supreme Court, the Ministry still wants the ED to come on board to provide stronger evidence in order to challenge the High Court verdict.
The High Court had observed that an investigation under the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) did not entail custodial interrogation and observed that the ED should have pushed for an alternative method of questioning such as video-conferencing rather than revoking his passport.
Mr. Modi was issued a fresh passport from the Indian High Commission in London in September last year following the court order. Opposition parties have criticised the government for its failure to file an appeal in the case.

MEA to recruit experts from private sector (Register and Login to read Full News..)

:: International ::

No grace period for Greece: IMF

International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde warned Athens it cannot delay a huge payment due at the end of the month, piling on the pressure as eurozone Ministers sought a deal on the Greek debt crisis.
Ms. Lagarde laid down the law as German Chancellor Angela Merkel said she was still convinced an agreement was possible to save Greece from defaulting and crashing out of the euro if Athens made concessions.
“There will be no period of grace,” Ms. Lagarde told reporters in Luxembourg. “I have a term of June 30 — if it’s not paid by July 1, it’s not paid.”
The crisis is nearing a climax with Greece’s international bailout due to end on June 30 before Athens gets the last €7.2-billion ($8.1 billion) tranche, and without a deal it will be unable to pay the IMF.

Pak.-Russia deal on Mi-35 copters (Register and Login to read Full News..)

:: Business and Economy ::

Eicher Polaris JV launches personal utility vehicle

Three years after it was formed, Eicher Polaris, the equal joint venture (JV) between commercial vehicle maker Eicher Motors and the U.S.-based Polaris Industries, launched its first product — Multix, a 4-wheel personal utility vehicle targeted at small independent businessmen.
Powered by a 511-cc diesel engine, Multix is priced between Rs.2.32 lakh and Rs.2.72 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi).
The product, billed as India’s first personal utility vehicle by the company, can seat a family of five with luggage, and can also be adapted to create a large luggage space.
It is also equipped with a power take-off point, which can generate power of up to 3 KW that can be used for lighting homes and powering equipment such as drilling machines and water pumps.
The vehicle is available in two variants, and claims to offer a fuel efficiency of 28.45 kmpl on diesel.
Initially, it will be launched in 30 cities, most of which are Tier-II cities. The company aims to have a pan-India presence in the next 24 months. The delivery for the Multix will start in August.
The manufacturing facility at Jaipur has a capacity to produce 60,000 units, which can be increased to 1.20 lakh units.
On export plans, Mike Dougherty, Vice-President, Asia Pacific & Latin America, Polaris Industries, said: “not currently.
These products are made for Indian conditions and the opportunity here is huge.”

Micromax unveils world’s slimmest, lightest 4G phone (Register and Login to read Full News..)

:: Science and Technology ::

Environmental study on Colombo port project

The Chinese-funded Colombo Port City Development Project, which has been mired in controversy, will hereafter be handled by the Urban Development Authority (UDA).
This was decided by the Cabinet on Wednesday evening, considering various aspects of the project such as requirements of water, transport and other infrastructure.
The decision follows submission of a report by a committee of secretaries, which was formed in May. Till now, the Ministry of Ports and Shipping was in charge of the project execution.
The project, which became an issue during the presidential election in January this year, was suspended by the present government, a week ahead of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit in March.
In September last year, an agreement was signed between the Secretary in the Ministry and the executing agency, CHEC Port City Colombo (Private) Limited. The UDA would now seek legal opinion whether it could sign a fresh agreement.
The Cabinet also decided that the Central Environmental Authority would commence “immediately” a complete environmental impact assessment of the project with regard to sand mining, rock blasting and other related activities. The expected duration of the study was four months.
When the project was suspended three months ago, the China Communications Construction Company Limited (CCCC), the investor in the project, had stated in a release that the foreign direct investment by the Company for the project would be $ 1.4 billion and an estimated 83,000 jobs would be generated locally.
Another decision of the Cabinet was to hold the 2016 national sports festival in the Jaffna and Kilinochchi districts of the Northern Province.

:: Sports ::

India outplays Great Britain

After defeating USA in the previous match, the Indian men’s team posted a 3-1 win over Great Britain in their fourth practice match ahead of the Fintro Hockey World League Semifinal.
Gurbaj Singh, Devindar Sunil Walmiki, Akashdeep Singh were the scorers for India.

India ranked third in doping

India may be considered a sporting minnow but in terms of doping by its athletes, it has been ranked third behind Russia and Turkey in a World Anti-Doping Agency Report for 2013 with as many as 91 from the country testing positive for banned substances in that year.
According to the 2013 Anti-Doping Rule Violations Report released by WADA on June 15, Russia has the maximum number of dope offenders with 212 testing positive while the figures for Turkey and India were 155 and 91 respectively.
Of the 91 Indians, 20 were women athletes.
Among sports disciplines, track and field athletes lead the Indian dope cheats with 30.
Weightlifting comes second with 19 caught for doping with nine wrestlers committing Anti-Doping Rule violations.