Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 28 January 2015

:: National ::

In the first major step towards making Chandigarh a “Smart City,” the city administration launched its “official mobile app” to create awareness of consumer rights and responsibilities and provide all types of citizen-centric and public utility services and information to the residents.
Launching the scheme, Vijay Dev, Adviser to the Administrator of Chandigarh, said various departments would be directed to route all information and updates through the app and appoint a link officer for the work.
The app would become an important platform for redressing grievances.
Speaking at the launch of an app of the Food and Supplies and Consumer Affairs Department, Mr. Dev described it as a single “e-window” to all information related to the department and various citizen-centric services.
The app is now available free at Google Play store for Android phone users. Its iOS and Windows Phone versions would be released soon.
Important addresses, contacts, helpline numbers and e-mail ids of the consumer forum and various departments of the Chandigarh Administration are available on the app.

Excavations have begun at the two Harappan sites of Binjor in Rajasthan, close to the India-Pakistan border, and Rakhigarhi in Haryana.
While the Archaeological Survey of India’s Excavation Branch at Purana Quila, New Delhi, is excavating Binjor, the Deccan College Post-Graduate & Research Institute, Pune, and the Haryana Department of Archaeology is excavating the Rakhigarhi site, 25 km from Jind. About 350 km separate Binjor from Rakhigarhi. As the crow flies, Binjor is situated seven km from the border, in Anupgarh tehsil of Sri Ganganganar district.
There are about 2,000 Harappan sites in India, Pakistan and Afghanistan, with 500 in India and 1,500 in Pakistan.
At its glory, the Harappan civilisation flourished over two million square km, from Sutkajendor on the Makran coast of Balochistan to Alamgirpur in Uttar Pradesh, and from Manda in Jammu to Daimabad in Ahmednagar district of Maharashtra.
Sanjay Manjul, Director, Institute of Archaeology, New Delhi, who is director of the excavation at Binjor, said the excavation was being jointly done by the ASI’s Excavation Branch at Purana Quila and the Institute of Archaeology.
Vasant Shinde, Vice-Chancellor, Deccan College, is the director of the excavation at Rakhigarhi. Professor Shinde said that with the discovery of two more mounds last year at Rakhigarhi, the site had staked claim to be the largest Harappan site. One of the two newly discovered mounds would be dug this season.

Ashok Leyland (AL) has indicated that the company is actively focused on developing electric and ethanol-powered vehicles in preparation for the emerging opportunities in the alternative transport solution segment.
The Hinduja flagship, showcased full-fledged working prototypes of three electric zero emission vehicles (that include the all-electric light commercial vehicle Dost, 10-tonne electric truck and midi bus) and an ethanol-driven Dost.
AL expects first major opportunity for plug-in electric vehicles to come in the bus segment. Its upcoming electric bus is being developed in-house with some parts sourced from Ashok Leyland’s UK subsidiary Optare, which is a pioneer in bus making.
Though the commercial launch of electric vehicles and alternate fuel-powered vehicles may take some more years, AL is seeing some green shoots in terms of subvention schemes under the National Electric Mobility Mission Plan (NEMMP) 2020.
The transportation sector accounts for a third of total crude oil consumption in the country and road transportation accounts for over 80 per cent of total consumption.