Current Affairs for IAS Exams – 28 January 2016

:: NATIONAL ::

SC fixes Feb 1st as the date for Arunachal Pradesh hearing

The Supreme Court directed the Centre and Arunachal Pradesh Governor J.P. Rajkhowa to furnish relevant material backing their claim of break-down in the constitutional machinery of the sensitive border State, leading to the proclamation of emergency by President Pranab Mukherjee on Republic Day.
A five-judge Constitution Bench led by J.S. Khehar issued notice to the Centre and the Governor on a petition by Rajesh Tacho, contending that the Governor and the Centre “played fraud on the Constitution” and President’s rule should be quashed.
The petition said Article 356 had been misused to topple the democratically elected Congress government.
It wanted the Centre and the Governor to “furnish” records of the events culminating in the Union Cabinet’s recommendation on January 24 and the subsequent proclamation of President’s rule.
The court directed the Centre and the Governor to file their responses by January 29 and posted the case for hearing on February 1.

Pakistan court rejects petition to match voice samples of 26/11 masterminds

In a fresh setback to the Mumbai attack trial, a Pakistani court has dismissed the government’s petition for the voice samples of 26/11 mastermind Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi and six other suspected handlers.
The prosecution had filed an application in the Islamabad High Court for the voice samples of the suspects to compare them with the communication intercepted by Indian intelligence and thenpresent them at the anti-terrorism court as evidenceagainst the seven suspects inthe Mumbai attack case.
Plea was dismissed saying that no such law exists, which allows to obtain voice sample of an accused.

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:: INTERNATIONAL ::

India at 76 number in Transparency International ranking

India has climbed nine points to rank 76th in this year’s global corruption index launched here on Wednesday topped by Denmark, with watchdog Transparency International calling graft a global “blight”.
According to Transparency International’s International Corruption Perceptions Index 2015, India is placed at 76th position along with Thailand, Brazil, Tunisia, Zambia and Burkina Faso out of 168 countries.
India has improved its past year’s position of 85 and has a grade index score of 38 out of a possible 100 which indicates the least corrupt, said the re- port topped by Denmark.
The index was prepared by using data from institutions including the World Bank, the African Development Bank.
According to Berlin-based Transparency International, 68 per cent of countries worldwide have a serious corruption problem and half of the G20 are among them. “Not one single country,anywhere in the world, is corruption-free,” the report said.
Denmark tops of the index for the second consecutive year as the country perceived as least corrupt. It scored 91 points, while North Korea and Somalia remained at the bottom with unchanged scores of 8.
Europe scores high The U.S. rose one spot this year to 16th place with a score of 76, tying with Austria. The U.K. rose three spots to place 10th, with a score of 81 that tied it with Germany and Luxembourg.
The other top spots, from second to ninth, were occupied by Finland, Sweden, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Norway, Switzerland, Singapore and Canada.
Brazil and Turkey were among nations that tumbled the most. Brazil slid to 76th place, sharing its position with India, down from 69th last year. Turkey fell two spots to 66th, continuing its descent from 53rd place in 2013.

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:: INDIA and World ::

Price between India and France for Rafale still unresolved

Indo-French talks to conclude the deal for purchase of 36 Rafale fighter jets seem to have reached the tipping point with officials on both sides giving four weeks to four months for conclusion of the price negotiations.
That the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and French President Francois Hollande early this week was to confirm the details of the Inter-Governmental Agreement (IGA) which was ready except for the pricing.
The MoU was the first important step to conclude the IGA. Even in pricing the analysis is complete and a breakup has been done and specific aspects on which price can be reduced are being discussed.
French Ambassador to India Francois Richier said he expected the price negotiations to conclude in four weeks to four months. “Four weeks will be a reasonable time,” he said, adding that four months would be “long time.”
If India ordered additional jets as the Indian Air Force had a requirement for 126 air- craft of this category, Mr. Richier said some of the components could be manufactured in India in line with the government’s Make in India initiative.
The IAF has on several occasions conveyed to the government that it needs more planes of the same category for fleet commonality and operational viability.

:: BUSINESS and ECONOMY ::

Computer Emergency response team signs pact with Malaysia, Singapore and Japan

The Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) has signed cooperation pacts with its counterparts in Malaysia, Singapore and Japan for cyber security.
CERT-In is the nodal agency responsible for dealing with cyber security threats.
The Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) will promote closer cooperation forexchange of knowledge and experience in detection, resolution and prevention of security-related incidents between India and the three countries.
The Cabinet,chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, apprised of the three MoUs which were signed last November and December.
An agreement between CERT-In and CyberSecurity, Malaysia, was signed on November 23, 2015, in Kuala Lumpur during Mr.Modi's visit to Malaysia, while the MoU with Singapore Computer Emergency Response Team (SingCERT), Cyber Se- curity Agency (CSA) of theRepublic of Singapore was signed on November 24, 2015 during the Prime Minister’s visit to Singapore.
The agreement between CERT-In and Japan Computer Emergency Response Team Coordination Center (JPCERT/CC) was signed on December 7, 2015 through diplomatic exchange.
The exchange of the signed MoU between the two parties was completed by December 22, 2015, according to the release.

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:: SPORTS ::

Martina Hingis and Sania Mirza reached Australian open final

Sania Mirza and her Swiss partner Martina Hingis stormed into the final of the women’s doubles event of the Australian Open after notching up a comfortable straight-set win.
However, Rohan Bopanna’s campaign ended with a shock defeat in the mixed doubles quarterfinals with partner Yung-Jan Chan of Chinese Taipei.
Sania and Hingis, who are on a record winning streak, continued their run as they brushed aside Julia Goerges and KarolinaPliskova, the 13th seeds, 6-1, 6-0 in just 54 minutes at Rod Laver Arena to enter their third successive doubles Grand Slam final.