Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 29 January 2015

:: National ::

With the Centre appointing S. Jaishankar the new Foreign Secretary, it is unclear if the sudden move will upset other officers in the External Affairs Ministry the way the surprise appointment of Foreign Secretary Shiv Shankar Menon did in 2006, with several officers resigning in protest.
Dr. Jaishankar’s replacement of Sujatha Singh is an interesting twist, given they were both in the running for the Foreign Secretary’s post when Ms. Singh won the post in 2013. Officials in the then Prime Minister’s Office said that while Mr. Jaishankar was the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s choice, he was overruled at the time, primarily because of Ms. Singh’s seniority.

Even as the omission of the words ‘secular’ and ‘socialist’ from the Preamble text in a government advertisement has stoked a controversy, the Constituent Assembly debates clearly show why the words were omitted in the original text.
The debates saw Dr. B.R. Ambedkar reason that there was no need to include the term ‘secular’ as the entire Constitution embodied the concept of secular state, which meant non-discrimination on grounds of religion and equal rights and status to all citizens.
On the inclusion of the term ‘socialist,’ he said it is against the very grain of democracy to decide in the Constitution what kind of society the people of India should live in.
However, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi re-introduced the two words for political reasons in the 42nd Constitution Amendment of 1976. Constitutional expert Subhash Kashyap said: “The word ‘socialist’ was added to send a message politically that she stood for the poor. The word ‘secular’ was obviously meant for the minorities in the context of the birth control programmes of the emergency period. It was not as if the Constitution was not secular or socialist before the words were added. India has been secular before the 42nd Amendment and continues to be secular after it.” “It was merely playing politics,” Mr. Kashyap said.

Sri Lanka’s new President restored the country’s former Chief Justice after she was controversially impeached by the previous administration led by Mahinda Rajapaksa.
Lawyers welcomed Shirani Bandaranayake with bouquets of flowers at the Supreme Court in Colombo, although the decision to reinstate her will likely be largely ceremonial as she is expected to step down on Thursday.
A government official who asked not to be named said President Maithripala Sirisena had written to Ms. Bandaranayake to say her 2013 impeachment was unconstitutional and she should return to work.

Handset maker Xiaomi will set up a research and development unit in Bengaluru, its first such facility outside of China, as it looks to beef up presence in the booming Indian smartphone market.
The company, which expects the centre to be operational in the next few months, will focus on localising its products and features for the Indian market through the unit.
Work on the facility is expected to commence by the end of March and in the next few months, it will be operational, Xiaomi India Head Manu Jain told .