Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 24 June 2015

Current Affairs for IAS Exams – 24 June 2015

::National::

Former BJP ideologue oppose land Bill

  • Away from the public eye, it is the government’s own which is now tearing apart the Land Acquisition Bill in the Joint Parliamentary Committee set to scrutinise the contentious piece of legislation.

  • After three RSS affiliates spoke out against the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Bill at a hearing on Monday, political activist and former leading spokesman of the Sangh Parivar K.N. Govindacharya on Tuesday said the proposed law went against the BJP’s manifesto, and would pauperise small and medium farmers.

  • He was so critical of the government that committee chairman S.S. Ahluwalia had to ask him to stick to airing his views on the Bill.

  • Committee members quoted Mr. Govindacharya as pointing out that the U.S. or even the Brazil model could not be applied here as the land-man ratio in those countries was very different from that in India.

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::Internatiomal::

Britishers dream of making a open-air pool on River Thames

  • Work to build an open-air pool on the River Thames in central London could start this year as more Britons dip their toes into the waters of outdoor swimming.

  • An online campaign to raise £125,000 to build a pool in the Thames fed by filtered river water, downriver from the Houses of Parliament and the London Eye, has already exceeded its target on funding platform Kickstarter.

  • Chris Romer-Lee, one of the brains behind the campaign, hopes this will be enough to submit the planning application on the heated pool, which will cost an estimated £11 million overall, by the end of the year.

  • Mr. Romer-Lee added that the scheme, which has drawn support from over 1,200 people, “comes at the right time because there’s been a resurgence in outdoor swimming”.

  • Outdoor swimming has long been a niche hobby for some in the capital, who frequent cold,

  • The Thames was declared biologically dead in 1957, while in 1858, the amount of raw sewage pouring directly into the river created what was known as the “Great Stink”.

Middle east Respiratory Syndrome outbreak: head bowed, Samsung heir apologises (Register and Login to read Full News..)

::India & the world::

Chinese u-turn on Lakhvi

  • India has taken up the issue of China blocking its move at the United Nations to seek action against Pakistan for releasing the 26/11 mastermind Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi “at the highest level” with Beijing.

  • It is not clear how India’s reaction to Beijing was conveyed, but “highest level” points to the Prime Minister. India’s bid to seek action against Pakistan was blocked by China on the grounds that New Delhi had not given sufficient information.

  • This move comes a little over a month after New Delhi and Beijing agreed to deepen their commitment to fight terror, during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the country.

  • A spokesperson for the Ministry of External Affairs said: “The government had taken up the issue of violation of the 1267 sanctions regime in respect of Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi.

  • Our concerns in this matter were conveyed to the Chair of the 1267 committee. We also raised this bilaterally with the other members of the committee.

  • In the case of China, this matter has been taken up at the highest level.”

India wants to come closer with Iran (Register and Login to read Full News..)

::Science & Technology::

Mars Orbiter Mission completes 100th orbit around Mars

  • The Indian Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) completed its 100th orbit around Mars on Monday. It is also gradually coming out of the blackout it had entered earlier this month, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has said.

  • The payloads on the spacecraft are to be re-started in a few weeks. They were last operated on May 27 to put the spacecraft in an autonomous mode.

  • MOM remains healthy and all its payloads are performing satisfactorily, ISRO said. The Mars Colour Camera has taken 405 frames so far.
    Health data

  • “The spacecraft’s health data is now being received,” ISRO said, and added that the orbiter now had an elliptical orbit of 474 km and 71,132 km from the red planet.

  • Since early June, the Mars Orbiter Mission and Mars were moving behind the sun as viewed from the earth. Two-way signals were disrupted by solar activities.

  • Launched from Indian spaceport of Sriharikota on November 5, 2013, MOM reached the red planet in September last year and has outlived its planned mission life of six months in a Martian orbit.

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Sources: Various News Papers & PIB

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