Current Affairs for IAS Exams – 28 September 2015

:: National ::

India launches ASTROSAT, 6 foreign crafts, including 4 from US

Joining an elite group of nations, India on Monday successfully launched its first space research observatory ASTROSAT that will help in a detailed understanding of the universe and also put into orbit six foreign satellites including the first from the US.
Taking another major step in its ambitious and low-cost space programme, ISRO's trusted workhorse Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV), in its 31st flight, injected ASTROSAT and the six co-passengers into orbit about 25 minutes after a perfect lift-off from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre.
Launched in its maiden attempt, ASTROSAT, which includes a telescope that uses x-ray, has been dubbed as a mini-Hubble telescope launched by US' NASA in 1990 and a one-stop shop for studying astronomical sources. So far, only the US, Japan, Russia and Europe have launched a space observatory.
"Well done @isro. This is one more grand accomplishment for Indian science & our scientists," Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is now on a visit to the US, said in a tweet.cope launched by US'
Declaring the launch successful amid cheers from the assembled scientists, a beaming ISRO Chairman A S Kiran Kumar said PSLV had put in an astronomy mission which is being looked at not only within the country but also globally to bring in new information to scientific community.
It was for the first time that India launched US satellites--four in all--belonging to a San Francisco-based company, under an agreement signed with Antrix Corporation Ltd, the commercial arm of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). With a lift-off mass of about 1,513 kg, ASTROSAT was first injected into a 650 km orbit by PSLV-C30, followed by the other six satellites in the space of about three minutes. International customer satellites that piggybacked the polr rocket were the LAPAN-A2 of Indonesia meant for maritime surveillance using Automatic Identification System (AIS), and maritime monitoring nanosatellite from Canada, NLS-14 (Ev9), which uses 'next generation' AIS.
The rocket, one of world's most reliable launch vehicles which clocked its 30th successful mission in a row today, also carried four identical LEMUR nano satellites of a Spire Global Inc., San Fransisco, US, that were non-visual remote sensing satellites 'focusing primarily on maritime intelligence through vessel tracking via' the AIS, ISRO said.
With this, a total of 51 satellites belonging to global customers from 20 countries, including Germany, France, Japan, Canada, U.K, have been launched successfully by ISRO so far.

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:: Business ::

All you need to know about the marriage between Sebi and FMC

The amalgamation of Forward Markets Commission (FMC), the erstwhile commodities regulatory body, with capital markets watchdog Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) came into effect today, marking the first major case of two regulators being merged.
Although, the merger of these two independent regulatory bodies was under discussion for long time, the move gathered pace, especially, after the commodity market was rocked by the outbreak of a multi-crore scam at National Spot Exchange (NSEL) unearthed two years back.

Now that the merger has been done with, below is the draw down of the journey of the commodities regulatory body and what led to the eventual covergence with the capital markets regulator Sebi.

1) History of the two regulatory bodies: The Forward Markets Commission regulated commodities market since 1953, while the Securities and Exchange Board of India was set up in 1988 as a non-statutory body for regulating the securities markets and became an autonomous body in 1992 with full independent powers. Currently, India boasts of three national and six regional bourses for commodity futures in the country. The persisting global economic slowdown coupled with slackening growth in China fuelled a sharp fall in commodity prices over the past year or so. So much so that the consolidated turnover of all the exchanges put together fell to nearly Rs 60 lakh crore in 2014-15 from over Rs 101 lakh crore in the preceding financial year.
2) Issues stifling commodities markets: FMC oversaw the commodities market for over 60 years, but it lacked powers which led to wild fluctuations and alleged irregularities remaining untamed in this market segment. Also, the commodities market faced challenges with respect to speculative activities and illegal activities like 'dabba trading' flourishing in this segment.
3) Talks of merger: The merger talks between the two regulatory bodies was first mooted in 2003, and continued in next few years before the Rajan committee in 2009 reiterated consolidation of all financial sector regulators under one umbrella. In the events before the outbreak of NSEL crisis came to light, Justice BN Srikrishna-led FSLRC recommended unified regulation. But the fallout of NSEL prompted finance ministry to bring FMC under its fold in that same year. Finally, in his budget speech this year in February, finance minister Arun Jaitley announced the merger of FMC with Sebi.
4) What merger aims to achieve: The merger is aimed at streamlining the regulations and curb wild speculations in the commodities market, while facilitating further growth there. Cautioning small investors, Sebi chairman UK Sinha had said, "If you put your hard-earned money into this market, it may not be ultimately good for you. The commodities market is for those who are experts in this space. For non-experts, it is a risky area."
5) Measures by Sebi: Sebi has also created a separate Commodity Cell and has set up new departments for regulation of commodities derivatives market. Sebi has formed a Commodity Cell by posting its senior officials, while two internal departmental committees (one each in Integrated Surveillance Department and Market Intermediaries Regulation and Supervision Department) have been set up. The market regulator has also sought help from the Agriculture Ministry with regard to the data sources for the prices and to improve the methodology for determination of final settlement price.

:: Sports ::

Abhinav Bindra wins gold in Asian Air Gun Championships

Beijing Olympics champion Abhinav Bindra produced some excellent shooting to clinch the gold while London Games bronze medallist Gagan Narang failed to finish on the podium in the men's 10m Air Rifle event of the Asian Air Gun Championships on Sunday.
32-year-old Bindra, who won gold in 2008 Olympics in 10m Air Rifle event, shot 208.3 to bag the top prize ahead of Kazakhstan's world number eight Yurkov Yuriy (206.6) and Korea's Yu Jaechul (185.3) on the first day of competition at the Dr Karni Singh Shooting Range.in Newunday. PTI
Narang, who won a bronze in the same event in 2012 London Olympics, finished fourth with a score of 164.5 while another Indian, Chain Singh was two places below at seventh after notching up 122.7.
Narang started on a good note, shooting 10.6 and 10.6, but fell behind in the following attempts while Chain Singh was out after a shoot-off with Korea's Kim Dajin.