Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 20 October 2014

National

A historic win by BJP in Haryana poll

• The BJP in scripted a historic win in the Haryana Vidhan Sabha elections, notching up 47 seats to get a clear majority the 90-member House. The party that has never got more than 10 per cent of the votes and played second fiddle to regional partners in the past, swept aside competition from the Congress and the Indian National Lok Dal to mop up 33.2 per cent of the votes.
• The BJP victory came despite the absence of any State leader of note and with a skeletal party structure. The BJP depended entirely on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s charisma while tiptoeing around Haryana’s infamous caste minefields.
• The BJP Parliamentary Board has decided to send Union Minister M. Venkaiah Naidu and party vice-president Dinesh Sharma to Chandigarh to finalise the Chief Minister. The BJP’s main aspirants for the post namely Manohar Lal Khattar, Capt Abhimanyu, Ram Bilas Sharma and Om Prakash Dhankar have all won.

Kerala to switch fully to organic farming by 2016: Minister

• Kerala anticipates a full switch over to organic agriculture by 2016 and micro-level campaigns, starting from panchayat level, are being launched to achieve the target, said Minister for Agriculture K. P. Mohanan.
• He was speaking at a press conference where he announced a global agricultural meet, which will be inaugurated here by Union Minister for Agriculture Radha Mohan Singh on November 6. The global agricultural meet will be held along with BIOFACH India 2014.
• Mr. Mohanan expressed confidence that target of a fully organic farming State was achievable with grassroots effort. Panchayats and Assembly constituencies which achieve the goals of total organic farming by August next year would be rewarded.
• The Minister claimed that the State’s agriculture sector had put up a remarkable show over the past few years, breaking away from negative to more than five per cent annual growth during the last financial year.
• A senior official of the Department of Agriculture said that crops like banana and pineapple had helped the State achieve the growth rate. He said that there had been 25 to 30 per cent increase in acreage under pineapple and banana. Vegetables were another area where the State had achieved considerable growth rate. Mr. Mohanan claimed that Kerala was now producing approximately 50 per cent of its vegetable requirements.

Substandard ‘India-made’ drugs in Africa

• A group of researchers chasing the theory that Indian drug manufacturers cut corners and make substandard drugs for markets with non-existent or substandard regulations say they have evidence to bolster it.
• In a working paper published on the website of the National Bureau of Economic Research, Roger Bate, Ginger Zhe Jin, Aparna Mathur and Amir Attaran have found that in a qualitative appraisal of 1,470 drugs claimed to be “made in India,” 10.9 per cent failed a basic assessment of active pharmaceutical ingredients. This pilot study seeks to focus on drugs that are labelled “made in India,” as these are among the most commonly used in developing countries.
• The samples that had the Indian label were from 14 unique manufacturers. But the authors remind us that the label “made in India” does not necessarily mean the actual manufacturer is an Indian firm.
• “In a few instances, we obtained information that samples were faked by organised criminals in China,” they say.\

First BJP CMs in Maharashtra & Haryana

• The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is all set to have its first Chief Ministers in Haryana and Maharashtra. The party won a majority in Haryana, and in Maharashtra, it has emerged as the single largest party.
• The party’s gamble of contesting alone in Haryana and snapping ties with its oldest ally, Shiv Sena, in Maharashtra have paid off. The results strengthen the hand of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who, along with BJP president Amit Shah, scripted the risky strategy in the first round of state elections after the Lok Sabha victory in May. Elections in Jammu and Kashmir and Jharkhand are due in a few months and the party may consider a mid-term election in Delhi, now under central rule.
• “For those who thought the Modi wave is over, this is proof that it's still a tsunami that can crush all competition. People of India consider Narendra Modi their undisputed leader,” said Mr. Shah, whose micro-management of election campaigns has become a defining character of the BJP along with the oratory of Mr. Modi. The results will also mean less power for state leaders of the party, increasingly dominated by the national leadership.
• However, failure to win a simple majority in Maharashtra left the BJP with a sense of incompleteness, though with twice as many seats as the Shiv Sena, the nearest opponent, it has established its primacy in the state for the first time. The Congress and the NCP were left far behind, with 42 and 41 seats respectively.
• With Maharashtra and Haryana under the saffron flag, the BJP would now have six chief ministers, controlling large states. Alliance partners lead governments in Punjab and Andhra Pradesh. The BJP’s efforts to dictate the terms of engagement with allies got a further fillip with these results.

CBI registers case against Jindal Steel & Power

• A case of alleged cheating and corruption has been registered by the CBI against Jindal Steel and Power company relating to the probe into coal blocks allocated during 1993-2005 period.
• CBI spokesperson said that it was the 36th FIR in connection with its probe in the coal allocation scam.
• The fresh case has been registered against Jindal Strips Limited (now known as Jindal Steel and Power Limited) and unknown public officials for alleged criminal conspiracy, cheating under the Indian Penal Code and Provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act, CBI official said.
• Soon after registering the case, the agency carried out searches at four locations in Raigarh, Chhattisgarh, they said.
• The sources said the case pertains to allocation of Gare Palma IV/1 coal block Jindal Strips Limited and JSPL. CBI spokesperson said The instant case is was the outcome of PE registered on September 26, 2012.

Pakistan violates ceasefire yet again (Register and Login to read Full News..)

International

Nobel laureates to speak in India for the first time

• For the first time, “a more extensive programme” of Nobel Prize-related events will take place in India in less than a fortnight from now, a posting on the official website of the prestigious prize, Nobelprize.org, said.
• Between October 30 and November 6, 2014, a number of events are being organised in New Delhi, Bangalore, Mumbai and Pune.
• The schedule of events will include a seminar, besides university lectures and round-table discussions with the Nobel Laureate in Physics (2006), Prof. George Smoot and Prof. Finn Kydland, Nobel Laureate in Economics (2004), says the release.
• Also, New Delhi will host a travelling exhibition, ‘The Nobel Prize: Ideas Changing the World.’ It will be open to the members of the public from October 31 to December 11.
• A seminar in New Delhi on the subject, ‘How can scientific creativity deliver the greatest benefit to humankind’, will have an opening speech by the former President of India, A.P.J. Abdul Kalam. Prof. George Smoot will deliver the keynote address. A couple of lectures exploring the topic, ‘Mapping the Universe and its History’ will also be delivered during the India programme by Prof. George Smoot.

U.N. Women launches a campaign in India

• U.N. Women here launched a campaign, aiming at ensuring greater participation of men in promoting women’s rights and gender equality.
• “We need boys and men to work with us. ‘HeForShe’ is a global solidarity movement to end gender inequality by 2030. It was launched by Union Women and Child Development Minister Maneka Gandhi
• The goal is to engage men and boys as advocates and agents of change in the effort to achieve equality. When women are empowered, the whole of humanity benefits,” U.N. Women Representative, Rebecca Tavares, said.
• Emphasising the need for sensitising the youth on issues related to gender equality, Ms. Gandhi said: “The WCD ministry has started many initiatives over the last four months to empower women including: the one—stop crisis centres for women, the national mission on malnutrition, and the ‘beti bachayo beti padhayo’ campaign.”
• U.N. Women is partnering with MenEngage, an acclaimed international forum that mobilises men and boys from around the world, to advocate for gender equality.

Bilawal Bhutto makes political debut (Register and Login to read Full News..)

Science & technology

Series of power project clearances for Uttarakhand

• While, the Supreme Court continues its stay on 24 hydroelectric power projects in the Alaknanda and the Bhagirathi Basins with an installed capacity of 3,065 MW, the Uttarakhand Government has shifted focus on getting clearances from the Centre for other projects across the State.
• In a major step towards restarting work on stalled projects, work on the 5,600 MW Pancheshwar multipurpose project, which was stalled for over 18 years, started after the proposal to restart work was discussed during the bilateral talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Nepalese counterpart Sushil Koirala, in August.
• The proposed 5,600 MW dam is to be built on the Indo-Nepal border in Champawat district.
• The 300-MW Lakhwar project, which is located in the Upper Yamuna River Basin in Dehradun district, is another project for which the State government has been striving to attain clearance. However, after being delayed under the Congress regime at the Centre, the project is set to attain final clearance after which the project work would begin.
• Chief Secretary Subhash Kumar said: “The investment clearance for the Lakhwar project is expected within two to three weeks after which we could begin construction work at the project site.”
• The project had received clearance in 1986 when it was under Uttar Pradesh’s Irrigation Department. Work continued till about 1992. The project work was later transferred to the Uttarakhand Jal Vidyut Nigam Limited (UJVNL).
• A change in the authority undertaking the project required a new clearance, which is what the State Government was trying to seek. The project work was stalled even after 30 per cent work was already complete.
• Work on a project proposed on the Tons river – 660 MW Kishau multi-purpose dam – was caught in disputes which were recently resolved by the Centre. The Centre agreed to bear 90 percent cost of power component of the project. The Centre also dismissed Himachal’s demand of a 50 per cent share in the enhanced power that would be generated in the existing downstream projects due to the project.

Elephants can ‘hear’ rainfall from miles away: researchers (Register and Login to read Full News..)

Business & economy

Job prospects in airlines look up

• After a gap of eight years, employment opportunity in the domestic civil aviation sector is opening up with existing and start-up airlines recruiting personnel to scale up/start their operations.
• Hiring is taking place in soon-to-be launched Vistara, the full service airline of Tata Sons and Singapore Airlines; IndiGo, which is expanding rapidly to retain its market share; AirAsia India, which is scaling up; and to some extent by six start-up airlines, namely, Air One, Premier Air, Zexus Air, Turbo Megha, Air Carnival and Zav Airways, which are waiting for Air Operating Permit (AOP), the final clearance to start operation from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA).
• While the start-up and new airlines are trying to fill key positions by luring senior personnel from existing airlines, others are recruiting staff across all levels in line with their aircraft induction plans.
• According to estimates by the Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation (CAPA), domestic airlines will induct about 22 aircraft till March and considering this, they would require about 2,300 staff, which may be filled, to some extent, by already available trained staff rendered jobless following the closure of Kingfisher Airlines two years ago and due to possible downsizing by a low cost airline saddled with debt.