Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 20 June 2015

Current Affairs for IAS Exams – 20 June 2015

:: National ::

World gears up for Yoga Day

The heart of India's capital will transform into a sea of colourful mats as thousands perform the camel, cobra and other postures for the first International Yoga Day championed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Shortly after dawn on a New Delhi boulevard, some 35,000 bureaucrats, students, soldiers and others are to take part in the 35-minute mass outdoor yoga session, hopeful of qualifying for the Guinness Book of Records.
Yoga enthusiasts in other countries are also expected to stretch and bend for Sunday's celebration of the ancient Indian practice, including in Britain where mats will be rolled out along the banks of the River Thames.
Modi who practises yoga daily, has made Yoga Day a key initiative of his government since he took office 13 months ago.
Preparations in India have been gathering pace since the UN agreed to the day, with schools, military barracks and even jails encouraged to participate in their own sessions on Sunday.
Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan and others have been roped in for promotion. Posters and other advertisements have also been published throughout the country encouraging residents to descend on their local park for "yoga for harmony and peace".
Modi calls yoga "the anchor of my life", helping him work long hours on little sleep.
But the premier will make only a speech on Sunday and not take to the mat himself at the mass session along Rajpath boulevard.
Starting at 7 a.m., instructors will teach the session, to be beamed on giant screens along the historic avenue.
Modi wants to reclaim yoga as an historical part of Indian culture which has been lost to the West because of its enormous popularity.
Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj will be at the UN's headquarters in New York for the day's launch when scores are expected to strike a pose in Times Square.

Govt. can’t be out of NJAC, says SC

The Supreme Court dismissed the idea of totally removing government participation in the appointment process under the National Judicial Appointments Commission, reasoning that there was no way other than banking on the government machinery to gather credible intelligence inputs on persons considered for judicial appointments.
The debate was triggered by counsel Anil Divan, who said the NJAC Act was flawed as the commission would be totally dependent on inputs from government departments.
Mr. Divan argued that for an agency to be independent, it should have an independent secretariat.
Mr. Divan went on to point out that the NJAC Act did not spell out the criteria to select “eminent persons”. He wondered if “eminence” in the NJAC Act was the same quality the government had found in a person chosen to head the Film and Television Institute of India.
Meanwhile, the track record of a former Supreme Court judge came up during the hearing for the second consecutive day. This time, Attorney-General Mukul Rohatgi produced copies of judgments passed by the former judge to prove his point that the latter had a dismal record.
The Bench had confronted Mr. Rohatgi’s claims about the judge. It had even produced a file to prove that the judge did not have a poor performance graph. Confronted by this, Mr. Rohatgi said he would again verify and return to the court.
“My information is correct,” Mr. Rohatgi said.

V.K. Singh for Kanishka blast memorial (Register and Login to read Full News..)

:: International ::

World’s largest book on display in Australian library

The world’s largest book, a giant atlas - Earth Platinum - weighing 150 kg, has been put on display at the State Library here, media reported.
Over 100 international cartographers, geographers and photographers were involved in the production of the atlas which contains 128 pages — 61 pages of maps and 27 images of famous locations including Vatican City’s St. Peter’s Basilica and Peru’s ancient ctadel, Machu Picchu.

We have cure for Ebola, AIDS: N. Korea

North Korea says it has succeeded where the greatest minds in science have failed.
It announced it has a drug can prevent and cure MERS, Ebola, SARS and AIDS.
The secretive state did not provide proof, and the claim is likely to provoke widespread scepticism.
The official Korean Central News Agency said scientists developed Kumdang-2 from ginseng grown from fertilizer mixed with rare-earth elements.
According to the pro-North Korea website Minjok Tongshin, the drug was originally produced in 1996.

LeT operates freely in Pakistan: report (Register and Login to read Full News..)

:: Business and Economy ::

Pay Rs.5,000 cr and get bail, SC tells Sahara chief

The group has to pay a total Rs.10,000 crore, half of it in cash and half in bank guarantees, for the release of Subrata Roy on bail. The Supreme Court, held that he cannot be released on bail until he pays the remaining Rs.5,000 crore in bank guarantee.
The group has to pay a total Rs.10,000 crore, half of it in cash and half in bank guarantees, for the release of Mr. Roy on bail from the confines of Tihar jail, where he has been lodged for over a year.
However, things touched ground zero for Mr. Roy when his counsel and senior advocate Kapil Sibal informed the court that the bank had ‘backed out’ from giving the guarantee and that there was no money currently for his release.
The three-judge bench, led by Justice T.S. Thakur, said this judgment making his release conditional on payment of guarantee was drafted on the assurance given by Sahara that they had the bank guarantees ready.
“Yes, but the bank backed out after media reports came out on the proceedings,” Mr. Sibal replied. The lawyer added that it would be difficult for Mr. Roy to pay up without first getting released from jail.
Justice A.K. Sikri, who authored the verdict, said the judgment had already been passed, indicating to Mr. Sibal that nothing could be done now until Sahara paid up the money.
The judgment said once Mr. Roy is released on bail, whenever that is, he has 18 months to repay his depositors his total liability of Rs.36,000 crore.
The court said this payment should be made in instalments of Rs.3,000 crore every two months. Default of two months will land Mr. Roy back in jail.
The court further refused Mr. Roy’s application for parole, but agreed to extend conference room facilities for him inside Tihar jail for a period of eight weeks so that he can negotiate with prospective buyers and find money to pay for his bail.
Mr. Roy is in jail since March 2014, unable to pay Rs.10,000 crore for his bail.
The bench while reserving the case for judgment in mid-May had sought details on how the group proposes to proceed with the sale of its assets and payment to the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI).
The apex court, on August 31, 2012, had said the group was required to refund Rs.24,000 crore with 15 per cent interest in three months to the depositors. It had, on March 26, 2014, asked 65-year-old Roy to pay Rs.10,000 crore to get bail, out of which Rs.5,000 crore should be paid in cash and rest in bank guarantees.
During the last hearing, a battery of senior lawyers led by Mr. Sibal had sought the release of Mr. Roy from jail saying that he would be submitting a scheme on repayment in July and that he could be sent back if he defaulted.
“As a goodwill gesture, please release him. Please give six weeks time to him and he be sent back to jail if he does not do the needful,” Mr. Sibal had said, adding “keeping him in jail does not serve anybody’s purpose”.
“Please do not feel that we are insensitive… and for last 16 months, we had been asking your client about the payment of money. This is not an ordinary case and it is a case of its own kind. This man is in jail for the last 16 months…how do you ensure that money is recovered…,” the Bench had responded during the hearing.
The court had also earlier permitted Mr. Roy to use facilities like the conference room in Tihar jail complex to hold negotiations with potential buyers to sell his three luxury hotels — Dream Downtown and The Plaza in New York and Grosvenor House in London — to raise Rs.10,000 crore to get regular bail.

House panel moots commercial courts

Parliamentary Standing Committee on public grievances, law and justice, has put forward the need for the setting up of commercial courts in the country as soon as possible.
Tough there were disagreement among the committee members, Mr. Natchiappan said constitution of commercial courts was being considered by the Committee for the quick redressal of commercial disputes.
About 22 categories of commercial disputes have been identified. Public and private sector enterprises have welcomed the initiative, he added.
However, Commercial Courts Bill 2015 states that: “notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, a Commercial Court or a Commercial Division shall not entertain or decide any suit, application or proceedings relating to any commercial dispute in respect of which the jurisdiction of the civil court is either expressly or impliedly barred under any other law for the time being in force.”
Currently, Negotiable Instruments Act disputes are dragged for years together for one reason or other, the defaulters are the ultimate gainers.

Healthify Me gets angel funding

Tech entrepreneurs and investors Sashi Reddi, Amit Gupta, Pallav Nadhani and Roopa Nath have teamed up with TVS group scion Gopal Srinivasan to invest money in fitness start-up HealthifyMe.
The Bengaluru-based start-up allows users to track their food, exercise and weight using their smartphone and computer. It will use the money to establish their global headquarter in Singapore and expand globally. It will also use the money to hire over 1,000 nutritionists and fitness trainers.
Being a third generation TVS family member, Mr. Srinivasan is also the founder and Chairman of TVS Electronics and a Director in TVS & Sons.
This is the second round of funding for HealthifyMe. It raised an undisclosed amount in May from Indian handset maker Micromax. The firm plans to offer applications that would allow consumers a real-time access to nutritionists, trainers and yoga instructors. The users will get diet plans, workout plans and access to an online support community.
An alumnus of University of Pennsylvania Vashisht founded the start-up in 2012 along with Massachusetts Institute of Technology graduate Mathew Cherian and former Google engineer Sachin Shenoy. Vashisht and Cherian bonded over mutual fitness concerns, while working at the Unique Identification Authority of India.
Mr. Cherian, a fitness enthusiast helped Vashisht lose 15 kg in about nine months. The learning triggered them to launch HealthifyMe, that later got incubated at Microsoft Accelerator.
Till now, HealthifyMe has attracted over 1,00,000 users.
The company said that it provided access to the world’s first and largest Indian food database.
It has developed a calorie counter for regional foods and an exercise tracker for logging in physical activities.

LG India launches high-end smartphone G4 (Register and Login to read Full News..)

Co-op banks told to set up management boards (Register and Login to read Full News..)

:: Science and Technology ::

Social media use doubles in rural India

The use of social media in rural India has grown 100 per cent in the past year with 25 million people using the Internet to access Twitter and Facebook, according to a report.
“Accessing social media is one of the key reasons why people access the Internet. In fact for many people accessing the Internet for the first time, social media was the reason why they embraced Internet,” said the IAMAI-IMRB report on social media.
Across India, there are 143 million users of social media. Urban areas witnessed a growth of 35 per cent with 118 million users as of April 2015. On the other hand, the number for rural India stood at 25 million, up from close to 12 million last year, showing a growth of 100 per cent.
Facebook emerged the leading social media website with 96 per cent of urban users accessing it, followed by Google Plus (61 per cent), Twitter (43 per cent) and LinkedIn (24 per cent). The largest segment of users consists of college-going students (34 per cent), followed by young men (27 per cent), the report said. School children constitute 12 per cent.
The IAMAI-IMRB report on social media in India said “almost half the urban social media users hail from the top four metros.”
“College students and young men still form 60 per cent of social media users in urban India,” the report said.
The trend, the report said, is moving towards accessing social media on the go through phones (smartphones as well as feature phones) and tablets.

:: Sports ::

SAI to overhaul coaching system

The Sports Authority of India (SAI) is in the process of overhauling its coaching system and also reviewing the possibility of utilising the foreign coaches on its payroll in more areas.
Around 35 foreign coaches in different disciplines have been engaged in training the national teams. “But their association is often restricted to accompanying the teams or assisting them at camps. Not always are they busy,” said Sports Authority of India (SAI) Director General Injeti Srinivas.
Srinivas stressed home the point that the foreign coaches need to give more time and expand their area of interaction. “I am insisting on a 45-day period of academic interaction with Indian coaches. We need to utilise the foreign coaches in all possible areas that can help the team of Indian coaches. A major overhauling is in the process and I am sure it will benefit those interested in improving the image of Indian sports,” added Srinivas.
As far as the SAI DG was considered, there was no dearth of good Indian coaches. “We have the wherewithal to improve things. The foreign coach can share his experience with the coaches and show them the best training methods. It is a process that takes time and has to be set in motion. In terms of dedication and discipline the Indian coaches are not far behind but we lack the documentation and strategising system. The technology is available to Indian coaches and they use it too but the documentation aspect has to improve.”
The SAI has approached the Union Finance Ministry for the required funding. “We have sought additional funding (of 40 crore) because it is imperative and paramount. The foreign coaches have to train Indian coaches and also set aside time to have a look at some of the talented youngsters who don’t make it to the national team or camps,” said Srinivas.
The SAI is convinced that the pool available to pick strong Indian teams is vast and that the foreign coach can identify the cream and concentrate on them. “We can hold small clinics and look to strengthen the competitive structure of the particular sport. Many sports federations don’t even hold National championships. How do you identify the talent then? It is here that the foreign coach can come in with useful contribution by picking gifted players and grooming them to become champions,” Srinivas stated.
Citing the MoU signed with the All India Football Federation, Srinivas noted, “In SAI, we have 10,000-plus football trainees, 11 coaches and almost 50 grounds. It is quite an impressive structure that begs to be encouraged. We aim to provide opportunities to the talent that we have at our disposal.
“I think it’s the most comprehensive collaboration and will benefit Indian football a lot in the under-14 and under-17 categories. In due course we will upgrade the infrastructure,” added Srinivas.