Current Affairs for IAS Exams – 23 January 2016

:: NATIONAL ::

In a nationwide crackdown just days ahead of Republic Day, at least five “recruits” were arrested and a dozen placed under watch on Friday for being Islamic State (IS) sympathisers.
The network, and four youngsters arrested by the Delhi police on Wednesday, were allegedly recruited by a former Indian Mujahideen (IM) member, Mohammad Shafi Armar (29), who is suspected to be based in Syria.
Armar is one of the key members of terrorist outfit Ansar-ul-Tawhid (AuT), formed by former IM members who owe allegiance to the IS.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) and local police recovered low intensity explosives, detonators, wires, batteries and hydrogen peroxide and other material that can be assembled into IEDs.
The raiding parties recovered 42 mobile phones, as well as jehadi literature.
The men received online training to prepare pipe bombs, a signature weapon that the IM has used in the past to carry out multiple bomb blasts in various Indian cities.

The Human Resource Development Ministry set up a judicial commission to examine what led to the suicide of University of Hyderabad research scholar, Rohith Vemula, following a report submitted by a two- member fact-finding committee.
The judicial panel will submit its report in three months.
Without blaming the university administration, it is learnt the fact-finding panel report hinted that timely engagement with the students could have prevented the suicide.
The Human Resource Development Ministry has chalked out a series of measure to address issues faced by the students from disadvantaged social economic and education back- ground in higher educational institutions “comprehensively.”
A press note from the Ministry said there will be zero tolerance to acts of dis- crimination on campus.
The Ministry has decided to set up a special mechanism for receiving and taking expeditious action on the grievances from these students.

The President of Iraqi Kurdistan has called on global leaders to acknowledge that the Sykes-Picot pact that led to the boundaries of the modern West Asia has failed, and urged them to broker a new deal paving the way for a Kurdish state.
Massoud Barzani, who has led the troubled country’s Kurds for the past decade, said the international community had started to accept that Iraq and Syria in particular would never again be unified and that “compulsory co- existence” in the region had been proven wrong.
The political map of northern Iraq has changed drastically in the 18 months since Islamic State overran Iraq’s second largest city, Mosul. Kurdish forces are now in full control of Kirkuk and Sinjar and have claimed control of thousands more miles of land that had been under control of Iraq’s central government.
Now, four months before the centennial of the Sykes-Picot agreement under which Britain and France carved spheres of influence from the ruins of the Ottoman Empire, Mr. Barzani said maintaining the status quo would ensure further regional disintegration and destruction.

The Prime Minister’s office has sought indus- try recommendations on reviving and sustaining the growth momentum in the core sectors of manufacturing and infrastructure, ahead of the Budget.
The exercise is separate from the pre-Budget consultations that the Finance Ministry held with the chiefs of industry chambers like CII, FICCI and Assocham, CEOs and chairmen of large industrial conglomerates and IT industry representatives over January 6 and 7.
Industry had urged finance minister Arun Jaitley to spur domestic demand in the Budget in order to revive private sector investments.
The PMO often seeks inputs from industry bodies for ideas to sustain the reforms process in specific sectors and assess policy issues beyond the short-term imperatives which can be addressed in the Budget.
Though industrial output has grown at 3.9 per cent from April to November 2015, compared to 2.5 per cent over the same period in 2014, it remains volatile.
After surging 9.8 per cent in October last year, the index of industrial production fell by 3.2 per cent in November — its worst performance since October 2011.

Novak Djokovic underlined his supremacy in men’s tennis on Friday as he marched unstoppably into the Australian Open fourth round — along with Serena Williams, who raced through in just 44 minutes.
As Roger Federer reached a landmark 300th Grand Slam win, Djokovic still looked like the man to beat as he weathered a strong challenge from Andreas Seppi to reach the first weekend without dropping a set.
Maria Sharapova also weathered a fightback when she beat pint-sized American Lauren Davis 6-1, 6-7(5), 6-0, helped by a strategic break and change of dress, for her 600th career win.