Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 20 February 2015

:: National ::

Sen to leave Nalanda post

Nobel laureate Amartya Sen withdrew his candidature for a second term as Chancellor of Nalanda University in Bihar, since the Narendra Modi government had not given its approval to his nomination.
More than a month had passed since the Board made the unanimous choice that he should serve as Chancellor of the university for a second term.
In a letter to members of the Governing Board, he said there was a unanimous resolution in January that he should have another term, but the President as Visitor was not able to give his assent to it.
Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen said academic governance in the country remained “deeply vulnerable to the opinions of the ruling government,” where it chose to make political use of special provisions in a university’s statute.

:: International ::

Second film festival in Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia is rolling out the red carpet for its second film festival in seven years but the deeply conservative country has one major problem — cinemas are banned.
More than 60 short films will compete for “Golden Palm Tree” trophies crowning best drama, documentary and student film categories at a gala event attended by film and television celebrities from around the Arab world, festival director Ahmed al-Mulla said.
The kingdom practises an austere version of Islam that does not permit conventional entertainment venues such as cinemas so screenings will take place in an arts centre in the Gulf coast city of Dammam.
Organisers said they hope the five-day festival will open eyes in Saudi Arabia to the possibilities of film despite objections from some conservatives that cinema will “Westernise” the kingdom or corrupt its morals.
Most of the film-makers being showcased are under the age of 25, said Mr. Mulla, who sees his role as helping them to develop.
Without cinemas, “sadly there is no way” to show such films publicly in Saudi Arabia, Mr. Mulla said, though many end up on video websites such as YouTube. Others are sometimes featured at small, special screenings.
As well as no movie theatres, Saudi Arabia has no film industry to speak of, said Mr. Eyaf, whose award-winning 2006 documentary Cinema 500 km highlighted the kingdom’s theatre ban.
This year’s event comes seven years after the first Saudi Film Festival, which Mr. Mulla also directed.
Mr. Mulla expects an overflow audience at the society’s 600-capacity screening hall on Friday’s opening night.

:: Business & Economy ::

Videocon launches Wi-Fi enabled ACs

Consumer electronics major Videocon Industries, unveiled a range of Wi-Fi enabled ACs to expand its presence in the highly competitive domestic air-conditioner (AC) market.
The new Wi-Fi AC can be controlled from anywhere in the world through an app on a smartphone.
It uses the Wi-Fi network at the consumer’s home to connect with a smartphone and receives signals on any 2G, 3G and 4G devices.
The company, launched four new split ACs from 1-1.5 tonnes belonging to the Wi-Fi series. These are priced between Rs.35,990 and Rs.41,990.
The focus markets for the range are Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Kerala and Delhi. The range is to be launched nation-wide in the next few days.