Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 28 November 2014

National

Telangana State Assembly passes industry Bill

• Repealing the existing Andhra Pradesh State Industrial Single Window Clearance Act of 2002, the Telangana Assembly unanimously passed its own industrial Bill --Telangana State Industrial Project Approval and Self Certification System (TS-iPASS) --for timely clearances to industrial units proposed to be set up in the new State.
• The legislation aimed at speeding up processing for issue of various licences, clearances and certificates required by industries and also provide for an investor-friendly environment in the State.
• Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao, who piloted the Bill, described the law in Andhra Pradesh as one that had a “single window with grills” but it was a “single window without grills” now in Telangana.
• However, the Congress said the new legislation was “word-to-word” the same as the old one, barring introduction of a clause that asked the applicants to furnish a checklist with the common application form.

High Court vacates stay on metro rail works

• The Hyderabad High Court has vacated the stay on Hyderabad Metro Rail (HMR) works on Greenlands to Jubilee Hills Check Post stretch and also dismissed the writ petitions in this connection.
• This order was issued by a Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Kalyan Sen Jyothi Gupta and Justice P.V. Sanjay Kumar. The Bench made it clear that the issue of Metro rail was to be dealt with by experts and that an element of public debate was not needed.
• The writ was filed by Greenlands, Ameerpet, Madhuranagar, Yusufguda, Srikrishnanagar Joint Action Committee and 20 others.
• They alleged that the people whose properties were affected were not consulted. The petitioners also challenged the application of AP Tramways Act to HMR project. Acting on their petition, a single judge issued interim orders stopping all works on the stretch and later the Division Bench took up the case.
• Initially, the HMR and L&T were permitted to take up soil testing only. The Bench said that just because the word “rail” was used, it could not be said that the Indian Railways Act was applicable to the HMR.
• The Hyderabad High Court has vacated the stay on Hyderabad Metro Rail (HMR) works on Greenlands to Jubilee Hills Check Post stretch and also dismissed the writ petitions in this connection.
• This order was issued by a Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Kalyan Sen Jyothi Gupta and Justice P.V. Sanjay Kumar. The Bench made it clear that the issue of Metro rail was to be dealt with by experts and that an element of public debate was not needed.
• The writ was filed by Greenlands, Ameerpet, Madhuranagar, Yusufguda, Srikrishnanagar Joint Action Committee and 20 others.
• They alleged that the people whose properties were affected were not consulted. The petitioners also challenged the application of AP Tramways Act to HMR project.
• Acting on their petition, a single judge issued interim orders stopping all works on the stretch and later the Division Bench took up the case. Initially, the HMR and L&T were permitted to take up soil testing only. The Bench said that just because the word “rail” was used, it could not be said that the Indian Railways Act was applicable to the HMR.

Union govt. firm on removing German

• The Union government stood firm in its decision to replace German with Sanskrit in Kendriya Vidyalyas, saying students have the option to continue learning German as an “additional subject or a hobby course.”
• In an affidavit filed before the Supreme Court, the Commissioner of KVS dismissed suggestions that introduction of Sanskrit in Classes 6 to 8 would cause students “undue pressure or stress.”
Kerala faces H5N1 threat
• The government has initiated steps to intensify the culling operations in the three districts affected by the outbreak of Avian Influenza, even as the National Institute of High Security Animal Diseases, Bhopal, has confirmed that bird samples collected from Alappuzha, Kottayam, and Pathanamthitta have tested positive for the H5N1 virus.
• As many as 11 of the 24 samples sent from the three districts tested positive, according to the report sent by the institute to the State government.
• The Animal Husbandry Department is gearing up its manpower and infrastructure resources to step up the culling of birds.
• Director of Animal Husbandry V. Brahmanandan said between 50,000 and 60,000 birds would be culled. He said efforts were on to procure more protective kits for the culling teams on a war footing. As many as 7,000 birds were culled in Alappuzha district.
• Chief Minister Oommen Chandy has convened a meeting to review the progress of the action taken to manage the outbreak of bird flu and discuss steps to prevent transmission of the virus to humans.
• Health Minister V.S. Sivakumar said all possible steps had been taken to prevent the spread of the virus. “There has been no case of human infection by the H5N1 virus in Kerala so far,” he said. Adequate stocks of preventive medicines were available for the culling teams and persons handling birds, he said.
• “Health squads are visiting houses in Alappuzha, Kottayam, and Pathanamthitta to keep a close watch on the health status,” Mr. Sivakumar said.

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Business & econom

Floor capital for small finance

• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI), issued final guidelines for small finance banks and payments banks, paving the way for mobile firms and supermarket chains, among others, to enter the banking arena to cater to individuals and small businesses.
• The minimum paid-up capital for these banks will be Rs.100 crore each. The foreign shareholding will be in line with the foreign direct investment (FDI) policy for private sector banks.
• Applications will be accepted till the close of business as on January 16, 2015.
• According to the RBI, the objective of setting up of small finance banks will be to further financial inclusion by provision of savings vehicles and supply of credit to small business units, small and marginal farmers, micro and small industries and other unorganised sector entities, through high technology-low cost operations.
• Individuals/professionals with 10 years of experience in banking and finance and companies and societies will be eligible to set up small finance banks.
• Existing non-banking finance companies (NBFCs), micro finance institutions (MFIs), and local area banks (LABs) can also opt for conversion into small finance banks.
• The small finance banks will primarily undertake basic banking activities of acceptance of deposits and lending to un-served and underserved sections, including small business units, small and marginal farmers, micro and small industries and unorganised sector entities.
• However, RBI said, “There will not be any restriction in the area of operations of small finance banks.”
• The small finance banks will be subject to all prudential norms and regulations of RBI as applicable to existing commercial banks, including requirement of maintenance of Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) and Statutory Liquidity Ratio (SLR). “No forbearance will be provided for complying with the statutory provisions,” the apex bank said.
• The small finance banks will be required to extend 75 per cent of its adjusted net bank credit (ANBC) to the sectors eligible for classification as priority sector lending (PSL) by the RBI.
• “At least 50 per cent of its loan portfolio should constitute loans and advances of up to Rs. 25 lakh.”
• RBI also said that if the small finance bank aspired to transit into a universal bank, such transition would not be automatic, but would be subject to fulfilling minimum paid-up capital / net worth requirement as applicable to universal banks, among others.
• The RBI said that the objectives of setting up of payments banks will be to further financial inclusion by providing small savings accounts and payments/remittance services to migrant labour workforce, low income households, small businesses, other unorganised sector entities and other users.

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Sports

Shyam Sundar holds Vladimir Kramnik in Qatar Masters Open

• Indian Grandmaster M. Shyam Sundar achieved the best result of his career when he held former world champion Vladimir Kramnik of Russia to a creditable draw in the second round of Qatar Masters International Open chess tournament.
• Kramnik, who also drew his first round game with Stelios Halkias of Greece, met with a very unusual opening treatment from Shyam Sundar, who found difficult moves before steering the game to a level endgame.
• The Reti opening by the Russian stalwart saw Sundar opting to develop and part with both his Bishops early, and although Kramnik could claim to be better, the complexities always remained in a rather wild game. The peace was signed after 41 moves.
• Grandmaster and former world junior champion P. Harikrishna maintained a clean slate by defeating Alezander Ipatov of Turkey.
• With his second victory in as many games, Harikrishna has emerged as the only Indian with a perfect score after two rounds. He is now sharing a 14-way lead in the strongest open tournament of the world.
• Harikrishna was in his elements in a one sided contest out of a Queen’s gambit declined. Playing white, the Indian put pressure in the centre in the middle game and Ipatov was forced to part with a piece for two pawns.
• The technique by Harikrishna thereafter was exquisite as he wrapped up the game in 46 moves.
• Grandmaster Surya Shekhar Ganguly also came up with a good result in his second game, holding third seed Shakhriyar Mamedyarov of Azerbaijan to a draw.
• This one was an Italian game wherein Mamedyarov came up with an early surprise leading to a balanced rook and minor piece endgame where the draw was signed when the repetition was imminent.
• Among other Indians in the fray, first round heroes Ankit Rajpara and Neelotpal Das continued with their fine form to draw with higher ranked Daniel Naroditsky of United States and Milos Perunovic of Serbia, respectively.

2015 I-League will begin on January 17

• The All India Football Federation (AIFF) has announced that the 2015 I-League will commence on January 17.
• TEN Sports will broadcast 75 of the 110 matches on its channel and website. The league will kick off in Bengaluru, the home of the defending champion Bengaluru FC.
• It was also decided that no club could register a player after the 11th round of league fixtures. The AIFF would seek consultation with its technical team before deciding whether a goalkeeping coach would be allowed on the bench.
• Interestingly, every club's practice session will be monitored by the AIFF to ensure that training is conducted by only AFC A-Licence coaches.
• Among other decisions made at the I-League and Federation Cup Committee meeting here on Monday, the AIFF and league clubs agreed to hold an under-15 tournament next year. The inaugural competition would include the 10 I-League sides, two AIFF and four other academies.
• The governing body believes the tournament will give a push to India’s preparations for the 2017 FIFA under-17 World Cup.
• The venue and dates for the tournament, though, are still under discussion. The two host venues for the I-League second division final round are also yet to be finalised. The I-League’s under-19 competition will kick off in the second week of December.

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Science & technology

New drug target found for Diabetes

• In an important breakthrough, scientists have found a potential drug target for treatment of diabetes.
• With diabetes emerging as a global epidemic and around 350 million suffering from the condition, the WHO has projected that deaths due to diabetes would double by 2030 and it would be the seventh leading cause of death by then.
• A team of scientists led by Satish Kumar, Chief Scientist and Group Leader at Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB) has genetically deleted Wdr13 gene in a mouse afflicted severely with Type 2 diabetes and demonstrated that the absence of the gene corrects the pathology of the disease.
• In a previous study, the team had created a mutant mouse strain lacking Wdr13 gene and showed that the mutant mice had increased islet mass due to beta cells proliferation leading to enhanced insulin production.
• In the recent study, they deleted the gene and found that it was in accordance with their hypothesis — that the destruction of beta cells in severely diabetic model would be corrected with removal of the gene. The recent work was published in the journal Diabetologia.
• According to Dr. Kumar, it was found that the deletion of the gene not only increased insulin production, but also showed better glucose clearance and reduced inflammation and triglycerides — all associated with diabetes.
• He said that significant reduction was noticed in the expression of genes involved in inflammation of pancreas, liver and adipose tissue.

Control of ‘Tikka’ disease severity in groundnut

• The groundnut leaf spots (early leaf spot and late leaf spot) commonly called as “Tikka” disease cause nearly complete defoliation and yield loss up to 50 per cent or more depending upon disease severity.
• The leaf spot disease epidemics are affected by weather parameters such as hot and wet conditions. Under field conditions, initial symptoms of late leaf spot were noticed at 45-50 days after sowing of groundnut crop.
• The most prominent symptoms appeared on the foliage in the beginning and later lesions on stem also developed.
• The characteristic brown coloured lesions first appeared on the lower leaves which were usually smaller and almost circular. Early and late leaf spots in peanut can be differentiated on bases of colour of spot and yellow halo.
• In case of early leaf spot colour is reddish brown while in case of late leaf spot it is dark brown. Yellow halo is conspicuous and spreading in early leaf spot but dull and limited to margins of spot in late leaf spot.