Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 19 March 2015

:: National ::

GST Bill to be first off the block

The Union government will give the long-pending Goods and Services Tax (GST) Constitution Amendment Bill precedence over the controversial Land Acquisition (Amendment) Bill, sensing a better chance of passing the former if sequenced that way, sources said.
The GST Bill’s passage will require a constitutional amendment, which means a two-thirds majority was required in Parliament. The Assemblies too will have to approve the Bill ahead of the April 2016 deadline.
By bringing the GST Bill first, the government feels it stands a better chance of ensuring the Congress’s support, as the party had originally brought the Bill when it headed the previous United Progressive Alliance government.
The Congress is the second largest party in the Lok Sabha and the largest in the Rajya Sabha, and its support in the two Houses would be crucial for the passage of the Bill.
But there are two more reasons for this sequencing. The government does not wish to annoy the Congress by bringing the Land Acquisition (Amendment) Bill to the Rajya Sabha as the party, along with a majority of the other Opposition parties are opposed to it.
Equally, if not more, important for the government is the fact that it needs first to deal with the political fallout of the Opposition’s campaign on the streets and inside Parliament against the Land Bill, one that climaxed in a dramatic march of the Opposition, led by Congress president Sonia Gandhi, from Parliament House to the Rashtrapati Bhavan.
Ruling party MPs and senior Ministers privately acknowledge that the march has damaged the BJP, particularly in rural India among the farming community.
The BJP, therefore, has decided that it needs an outreach campaign on the Land Bill and the party’s leadership has asked all its MPs to use the coming weeks and months to try and change the optics on it, by explaining to their constituents the government’s reasons for wishing to amend the 2013 Act.

CBI books Devas, former Antrix head

Four years after the Business Line and The Hindu broke preliminary CAG findings in the 2005 Antrix-Devas agreement worth Rs.1,000 crore, the CBI has registered a case against Devas Multimedia Private Limited, the then Antrix Corporation Limited executive director and others for allegedly favouring an ineligible company in the deal.
Those facing allegations of cheating, conspiracy and corruption are then Antrix executive director K.R. Sridhara Murthi, R. Vishwanathan and M.G. Chandrasekhar (former ISRO scientist) of Forge Advisors LLC, USA; and Bengaluru-based Devas Multimedia, besides unknown officials of Antrix, ISRO and Department of Space.

Tulu films pioneer K.N. Tailor passes away

K.N. Tailor, Tulu theatre, cinema artiste and director, passed away at a private hospital. He was 75 and is survived by his wife Jayanthi, three daughters and a son.
He was ailing for sometime and the State government had given him Rs. 50,000 for medical treatment.
Tailor produced, directed and acted in more than 10 Tulu films and wrote scripts for about 20 Tulu plays.
Considering his achievement, the Karnataka Tulu Sahitya Academy presented him its honorary award in 1997-98.
Tulu art director Tamma Lakshmana told The Hindu that Tailor was the founder of Tulu cinema.

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:: International :

National showcase for ancient treasures

The National Bardo Museum in Tunis is Tunisia’s national showcase for ancient treasures and is renowned for its exceptional collection of mosaics.
Unique in the scope of its holdings, the museum boasts objects from prehistory, the Phoenician period and Punic and Numidian times, as well artefacts from the Roman, Christian and Islamic eras.
A new wing opened in 2012, doubling the floor-space to 23,000 square metres, after a 10 million euro ($10.6 million) facelift.
The Bardo also reorganised its collection, to better highlight its exceptional heritage.
Among the most prized works of the collection is “The Triumph of Neptune”, a 2nd century mosaic that measures 13 by eight metres (43 by 26 feet).
Originally exhibited on the floor, it was put on the wall of the new entrance hall, making it the largest vertical mosaic in the world.
Another of masterpiece is “Virgil’s Alcove”, a mosaic depicting the ancient Roman poet who wrote “The Aeneid” surrounded by his muses.
Adjoining the Parliament building in Tunis, and housed in a 19th century palace, the museum greets hundreds of thousands of visitors each year. The record was 600,000 in 2005.
Tourism, a key sector for the Tunisian economy, has been severely affected by the political crisis unleashed by the revolt and by the expansion of jihadist movements.

Germany bans Uber service

A German court banned Uber from offering its ridesharing service nationwide, adding to the company’s troubles in Europe.
Frankfurt state court spokesman Arne Hasse said the ruling banning the UberPop service from offering rides with drivers who don’t have taxi permits was issued.
The ruling stems from a suit brought against Uber by a German taxi association, which was heard in Frankfurt because it is one of the German cities where Uber launched operations.

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:: Business and Economy ::

Now, pay Rs. 5,000 for littering platforms, tracks

The habit of littering, defecation or spitting on and along railway tracks and platforms will now cost Rs. 5,000 under the Polluter Pays principle.
The National Green Tribunal passed a string of directions to clear the Railways of the filth which has earned it the tag of being the “biggest open toilet”.
The Tribunal empowered the Railways to impose a fine of Rs. 5,000 on anyone found littering or defecating on tracks or platforms.
Those residing along the tracks and disposing waste on railway property would also be fined.
That is not all. If the waste is found lying in front of any house adjoining the tracks, the fine would be recovered from the occupants of the property.
A Bench headed by NGT chairperson Swatanter Kumar also directed the three municipal corporations to place dustbins in the 46 slum clusters along the railway property.

CII plans excellence centre in Bengaluru

The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) will be setting up a Centre of Excellence on Entrepreneurship in Bengaluru.
Presently, CII has nine centres of excellence located in different parts of the country.
They cater to quality, green building, sustainable development, competitiveness, manufacturing, leadership, water, food and agriculture and logistics.
For the new centre, CII plans to raise Rs.10 crore from the private sector. It would start functioning over the next few months.
Chandrajit Banerji, CII Director General, said “We are setting up an entrepreneurship ecosystem, which is not specific to any sector.
The new Centre will have an incubation centre to nurture different types of entrepreneurship. It will also incubate rural entrepreneurship in non-tech areas too.”

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:: Science and Technology ::

IISc: Chennai highest per capita emitter of greenhouse gases

At nearly 39 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent, Delhi has the highest greenhouse gases footprint in the country.
Greater Mumbai and Chennai follow Delhi with 23 million tonnes and 22 million tonnes respectively.
Ahmedabad accounts for the least (9 million tonnes) GHS footprint among the seven Indian cities studied by a team of researchers at IISc,
Despite the total GHS footprint being 17 million tonnes lesser than Delhi, Chennai has the highest per capita emission of carbon dioxide equivalent — 4.79 tonnes.
Kolkata follows Chennai with 3.29 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent. Chennai also emits the highest carbon dioxide equivalent per GDP — 2.55 tonnes carbon dioxide equivalent per lakh rupees.
The results, based on the 2009-2010 data, were published recently in the journal Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews by a team led by Prof. T.V. Ramachandra of the Energy &Wetlands Research Group, Centre for Ecological Sciences, IISc, Bengaluru.
The paper has looked into all sources of greenhouse gas emissions — transportation, domestic sector, electricity consumption, industry, agriculture and livestock, and solid and liquid waste.
A sector-wise analysis revealed that transportation turned out to be biggest source of emission in cities where rail transportation was either absent or was just being put in place.
Of the seven cities studied, Delhi turned out to be the highest emitter of greenhouse gases from the transportation sector. Vehicles in Delhi emitted over 12 million tonnes of greenhouse gases during the study period.
But as percentage contribution from all sources in a city, transportation in Delhi accounted for 32 per cent of greenhouse gases emission. It was 57 per cent in Hyderabad, 43 per cent in Greater Bengaluru, and 25 per cent in Ahmedabad.
“Lack of appropriate public transport system in these cities [Bengaluru and Hyderabad] and haphazard growth due to unplanned urbanisation has led to large-scale usage of private vehicles,” notes the paper.
Contrast this with the three cities — Kolkata, Greater Mumbai and Chennai — where rail forms the backbone of transportation. Based on percentage contribution from all sources, transportation accounted for just 13 per cent in Kolkata, 17.4 per cent in Greater Mumbai and 19.5 per cent in Chennai.
The domestic sector was the next biggest contributor of greenhouse gases emissions. Electricity consumption for lighting and other household appliances, consumption of fuel for cooking were the major sources of domestic emissions. Again, Delhi topped the list with 11.6 million tonnes of gases emitted, which is 30 per cent of the total emissions from all sources in the city.
Chennai comes second with 8.6 million tonnes, which is 39 per cent of the total emissions by the city. Greater Mumbai is less than half with 8.4 million tonnes but 19 per cent of its total emissions. Greater Bengaluru and the other two cities — Hyderabad and Ahmedabad — account for half and one-fourth of Chennai’s respectively.
When seen as percentage contribution from all sources in a city, the domestic sector emerged as the biggest contributor of emissions in all the three cities where rail formed the backbone of transportation — Kolkata (43 per cent), Chennai (39 per cent) and Greater Mumbai (37 per cent).
Electricity for commercial and other services such as street lighting and railways, accounts for 15-24 per cent of total emissions by cities except in the case of Hyderabad and Ahmedabad.
“Buildings with glass façade are energy guzzlers. These buildings were meant for European countries,” said Dr. Ramachandra. “If normal buildings consume 1,300-1,500 units per person per year, those with glass façade consume 14,000-15,000 units per person per year.”
Chennai figured as the top emitter (4.4 million tonnes) in the industrial sector. The emissions come from ammonia production for fertilizer industries, and petro products. There is “insufficient data” in the case of medium- and small-scale industries located within Chennai and other six cities.

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:: Sports ::

South Africa crushes Sri Lanka in a damp squib

The first quarterfinal, easily the most-awaited one, turned out to be a damp squib.
Sri Lanka had shown ominous form in the league and South Africa had recovered well after the early loss to India.
But Sri Lanka’s world crashed against the determined South African bowlers, who were outstanding in slightly helpful conditions.