Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 23 April 2015

:: National ::

Cabinet nod for juvenile law changes

The Union Cabinet cleared amendments to the Juvenile Justice Act that would allow juveniles aged between 16 and 18 to be tried as adults for heinous crimes such as murder and rape.
The Bill will be presented before Parliament.
The proposed new law gives the Juvenile Justice Board the power to assess whether the perpetrator of a heinous crime aged between 16 and 18, had acted as a ‘child’ or as an ‘adult.’
The board will be assisted in this process by psychologists and social experts.
“As per the Ministry of Women and Child Development, this unique instrument of a two-stage assessment/trial brings about a balance that is sensitive to the rights of the child, protective of his legitimate interests and yet conscious of the need to deter crimes, especially brutal crimes against women,” a release from the government said.

NJAC to be constituted very soon: Centre tells SC

Noting that the Supreme Court Collegium system of judges appointing judges has ceased to exist, the Centre told the apex court that the government sat “overnight to clear 95 per cent” of the recommendations made by the Collegium just a couple of days before the notification of the National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC) Act on April 13.
Attorney-General Mukul Rohatgi submitted before a Constitution Bench led by Justice J.S. Khehar that only three or four recommendations of the Collegium were “held back.”
The Attorney-General’s submission came during objections, raised by petitioners challenging the NJAC Act, that the presence of Justice Khehar, a member of the Supreme Court Collegium on the Constitution Bench, creates conflict of interest.
“The question whether Justice Khehar is a member of the erstwhile Collegium or not can be revived only if this NJAC fails ... As of now, the NJAC is operating,” Mr. Rohatgi submitted.
Meanwhile, a five-judge Bench of the Supreme Court directed its focus on deciding the constitutionality of the new law, an issue affecting hundreds of judicial appointments to higher courts across the country, without delay. The Bench expressed its intention to start hearing the batch of petitions challenging the NJAC law from April 27 and finish before the court closes for vacation.

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:: International :

Sanctions to dominate n-talks: official

Fresh talks aimed at finalising a nuclear deal between Iran and world powers will focus on the lifting of sanctions and possible intervention by U.S. Congress, a top Iranian negotiator said.
Iran and the P5+1 group of nations agreed earlier this month to a framework deal aimed at putting a nuclear bomb out of Tehran’s reach in return for an easing of economic sanctions.
U.S. President Barack Obama called the interim agreement a “historic understanding” but Iran is concerned that U.S. Congress could introduce a bill to block a final accord.

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:: Business and Economy ::

Twitter to host developer meet in Bengaluru

Application developers in the country soon will have a chance to experience advanced tools from Twitter to help them create more sophisticated apps.
The micro-blogging site, which recently launched its worldwide tour ‘Twitter Flock’, will host Asia’s first roadshow in Bengaluru on May 13. The event is coming to India after its visit to London, Berlin and New York.
“India is one of the fastest-growing markets for Twitter today, and is home to many top technology developers in Asia. Our inaugural Flock mobile developer roadshow now comes to India; Bengaluru will play host to some of the country’s best developers on the May 13,” said Arvinder Gujral, Director, Business Development, South and Southeast Asia in a blogpost.
According to the agenda, the conference will begin in the afternoon and will continue till 7 p.m. At the event, Twitter will introduce Fabric, a modular mobile platform, which it launched in its first developer conference in October last. The platform will help a developer to build mobile apps much easier.
Several software engineers, product managers and developer advocates from the Fabric team will join a number of Indian mobile app developers at the event. The event will also provide opportunity for Indian developers to hear from the team that built the platform.
“Throughout the event, we will share details on our technology solutions to support you in developing better applications,” added Mr. Gujral.
Twitter’s plan to conduct its event in India comes as a certification for the growing start-up activity in the country. Earlier this year, Twitter had made its first acquisition in India by buying Zipdial. The buy gave Twitter about 50 employees in India and also a new engineering office in India.
“For Twitter, India and Indonesia are huge markets. Lot of applications are being built using Twitter API in India. It also has a R&D centre now in India with the acquisition. The plan of Twitter to organise its developer conference in India itself is a huge endorsement for the start-up community,” said Sharad Sharma, co-founder of software product think-tank iSpirt.

:: Science and Technology ::

India ranks second in cyber attacks through social media

Cyber criminals are now using social networking sites to target users in India.
According to a report from Symantec, a security solutions provider, India ranked second among nations that were most targeted for cyber crimes through the social media in 2014, after the US.
“While email remains a significant attack vector for cybercriminals, they continue to experiment with new methods across mobile devices and social networks to reach more people with less effort. India’s growing social media population proved to be a ready base for them,” said Tarun Kaura, Director, Technology Sales (India), Symantec.
He said that in 2014, India had the second highest number of social media scams globally and the highest in the Asia Pacific region. Over 80 per cent of these scams were shared manually as attackers took advantage of people’s willingness to trust content shared by friends.

:: Sports ::

India falls to Israel

India lost to Israel in the third round of the World team chess championship.
India thus lost its lead position and is placed sixth. With six rounds left, Israel is leading the table with eight points.

India loses to Russia

India went down to Russia in the fourth round of the women’s World team chess championship.
It was Koneru Humpy’s loss to a lesser-rated Valentina Gunina on the top board that set the Indians back.
On the second board, Dronavalli Harika defeated former World champion Alexanadra Kosteniuk, but Soumya Swaminathan lost to Girya Olga on the fourth board.
On the third, Padmini Rout held Aleksandra Goryachikna to a draw. Five rounds remain.

Sports Ministry de-recognises PCI

The Union Sports Ministry has de-recognised the Paralympic Committee of India (PCI) with immediate effect.
In a communication sent to the PCI, the Ministry has said that the decision has been taken in the wake of numerous serious complaints about poor management/conduct of the 15th National Para Athletics Championships at Ghaziabad from March 20 to 22.
The Ministry has urged the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) to form an ad-hoc committee to work in place of PCI till a federation is granted recognition by IPC for para-sports in India.