Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 22 December 2014

National

Center proposes to increase wage ceiling for ESIC

• Government proposes to increase wage ceiling for availing Employees’ State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) benefits under the ESI Act after improving medical services, Lok Sabha was informed.

• Labour Minister Bandaru Dattatreya said during Question Hour that the ESIC has taken a number of decisions to improve the medical services to be provided under the ESIC and also to increase wage ceiling for availing ESIC benefits.

• Mr. Dattatreya said as on March 31 there were 1.74 crore employees enrolled under the ESI Act. The estimated size of work force in the organised sector based on National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO) figure (2011-12) is 2.89 crore and percentage share of ESI enrolled employees to total work force in the organised sector is 60.2.

• Replying a supplementary, the Minister said cancer and other life threatening diseases are covered under the ESIC scheme and government recommends advanced treatment of such patients to empanelled multi-specialty hospitals.

• Mr. Dattatreya said during current fiscal, (up to November), 56 proposals from state governments, including 28 from Kerala, were received for implementation of ESIC schemes in new areas which have been brought under coverage.

Why ‘brand’ only Gujarat blames opposition

• The government’s plans to hold the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas conference for overseas Indians in Gujarat, along with the Gujarat government’s big investor summit, Vibrant Gujarat, is running into criticism about the Central government’s focus on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s home State.

• External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj will announce the government’s arrangements for two conferences, along with Gujarat Chief Minister Anandiben Patel.

• The conferences will be held back-to-back in the twin cities of Gandhinagar and Ahmedabad respectively, with Pravasi Bharatiya Divas on January 9, and Vibrant Gujarat on January 11, allowing delegates to attend both.

• Accusing the Centre of showing a preference for Gujarat, Trinamool Congress leader Derek O’Brien compared the focus on Vibrant Gujarat to the “lack of any interest” in a State like West Bengal, which is also holding its global business summit, called Bengal Leads 2015, from January 6 to 8.

• “The PM was in ‘CM mode’ even when he visited New York and Washington,” Mr. O’Brien alleged, “Most handshakes with corporate honchos were accompanied with the diktat: You must come in early January to Gujarat. Who would not comply with such a request,” he added.

• Prime Minister Modi, who will attend both functions, has also reportedly requested world leaders to come to the Vibrant Gujarat summit. Sources in New Delhi and Washington confirmed to that U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry will be visiting Gujarat at the PM’s personal invitation.

• Mr. Kerry, who will be accompanied by a 90-member delegation will be there along with other luminaries at Gujarat global CEO conclave, including U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki Moon, former Microsoft CEO Bill Gates, and Dutch Prime Minister Mark Butte.

• Organisers say they hope to have about 75 global CEOs, 10 world reknowned economists and Nobel Laureates and about 100 Indian CEOs, and efforts are on to rope in former US President Bill Clinton.

• “This is the biggest Vibrant Gujarat so far,” confirmed an official, “All arrangements for the CEO conclave are being routed through the PMO for clearance.”

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Business & Economy

Jet Airways (India) raises $150 million

• Jet Airways (India), concluded a $150-million (about Rs.945 crore) five-year syndicated loan facility, which was fully subscribed by banks spread across the Middle East region.

• “Jet Airways is renowned for introducing quality to India’s airline industry, and it is time to re-energise and re-establish ourselves as the country’s leading full-service airline.

• We will continue to build on this strong foundation as part of our three-year turnaround plan. This syndicated loan facility will be instrumental in underpinning the airline on this progressive path” Jet Airways CEO Cramer Ball stated.

• “The successful closure of this transaction is clear evidence of the growing liquidity available from the Middle East, favouring large leading Indian corporate,” John Iossifidis, Head of the International Banking Group at Mashreqbank said.

• “India has always been an essential strategic market for Mashreqbank and we remain committed to working alongside our core relationship clients, to explore different forms of capital funding,” he added.

• Last year, Abu Dhabi based Etihad Airways had picked up 24 per cent stake in Jet Airways, and had stated that it would help Jet Airways mobilise funds through bank loans to improve finances.

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Sports

Tendulkar named for ICC World Cup 2015 ambassador

• Cricket icon Sachin Tendulkar was named the ICC World Cup ambassador for the second successive edition. “The International Cricket Council today announced Sachin Tendulkar as the World Cup 2015 Ambassador.

• It will be the second successive time that the India maestro will be the Ambassador of ICC’s pinnacle tournament, after he fulfilled the role in the previous event in 2011,” the ICC said in a statement.

• In his role as ambassador, Tendulkar will promote and support a variety of ICC initiatives to enhance the profile of the tournament, which is the third biggest sporting event in the world and will take place in Australia and New Zealand from February 14 to March 29.

• Tendulkar retired from international cricket last year after representing India in 200 Tests, 463 ODIs and one Twenty20 International. In a career spanning 24 years, the 41-year-old scored a total of 34,357 international runs and 100 centuries.

• Tendulkar added the missing World Cup title to his long list of achievements in his sixth attempt in 2011. He is the all-time leading run-getter in World Cup history with 2,278 runs in 45 matches at an average of 56.95.

• “I am delighted and honoured to be appointed ICC Cricket World Cup Ambassador for the second successive time. After playing in the last six editions, the upcoming World Cup will be a different experience as I will follow it from the sidelines.

• It could probably be comparable to the ICC Cricket World Cup 1987 where I was a ball boy, enthusiastically cheering every ball,” Tendulkar said.

• “The image of the champion team lifting the World Cup inspires many youngsters around the world and gives them a dream to chase — a dream which I fulfilled after 22 years of relentless pursuit by being part of the victorious Indian team in 2011,” he added.

International

South Korea holds nuclear plant drills against cyber attacks

• South Korea’s monopoly nuclear power company said it began drills against possible cyber attacks after online threats of attack against its plants.

• State-owned Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power Co. said the two-day drills are meant to prepare workers in the event of hacking attacks aimed at disabling the plants’ controlling systems.

• The company and the energy ministry said that even though the controlling system is safe from hacking, they are holding the exercises to assure public safety.

• Last week, documents including layouts of nuclear facilities and personal information of nuclear workers were published online. Local media said the unidentified user who posted images of the stolen nuclear documents imprinted with “WHO AM I?” on a South Korean blog were hackers.

• The company said the documents were not confidential and that the safety of the nuclear power plants was not affected. A Korea Hydro official said investigators were still looking into whether the data were stolen by hackers who breached into its computer systems or if they were leaked by employees.

• Speaking on condition of anonymity because the person was not authorized to speak about the matter, the official said the company had not yet determined how the documents were leaked.

• But Hauri Inc., an anti-virus company based in Seoul, said it alerted the company earlier this month after detecting malicious computer codes that were attached in emails to the nuclear company’s employees.

• The company said investigators were looking into those emails to see whether they were connected to the stolen data. a user on Twitter demanded a halt to operations at three nuclear power plants.

• The user, who wrote in Korean, threatened to disclose more data and carry out another attack if the request was not met by Christmas.
   

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Sources: Various News Papers & PIB

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