Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 29 March 2015

:: National ::

Railways aim to eliminate direct discharge toilets by 2020-21

Aiming to eliminate direct discharge toilets from its entire fleet of passenger coaches by 2020-21, Railways has drawn up an action plan to replace them with environment-friendly bio-toilets.
“While 17,338 existing toilets in trains have been replaced with bio-toilets till date, our aim is to equip the entire coaching fleet with bio-toilets,” said a senior Railway Ministry official involved with the project.
According to the action plan, all new coaches would be fitted with bio-toilets by 2016-17, while the retrofitting of existing coaches with bio-toilets will continue.
For the 2015-16 fiscal, Railways has set the target to fit 17,000 bio—toilets in long—distance trains as part of its ’Swachh Rail -- Swachh Bharat’ programme.
Direct discharge of human waste from the existing toilet system in trains causes corrosion of the tracks, costing the public transporter in crores to replace the rail tracks.
The new-age green toilets have been designed by Railways along with Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) keeping in mind the requirements of Indian trains.
The bio-toilets are fitted underneath the lavatories and the human waste discharged into them is acted upon by a particular kind of bacteria that converts it into non-corrosive neutral water.
While the process of fitting 10,500 bio-toilets in new coaches is in progress, the target for the 2015-16 fiscal is 17,000 bio-toilets.
The Railways is also working towards improving the condition of toilet facilities at stations and in trains as it has been receiving several complaints from passengers regarding lack of cleanliness at these facilities.
The official said the aim is to make Swachh Rail the driving force behind the governments flagship programme -- Swachh Bharat Abhiyan.
Railways, which have launched a cleanliness drive across the country, has collected a fine of Rs 4 crore in the last six months against spoiling and littering railways stations across the country.

:: International :

Arab summit agrees on unified military force for crises

Arab leaders at a summit in Egypt announced the formation of a unified military force to counter growing security threats from Yemen to Libya and as regional heavyweights Saudi Arabia and Iran engage in sectarian proxy wars.
Working out the mechanism and logistics of the unified force, an idea floated by Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, could take months.
Islamic State militants have taken over swathes of Iraq and Syria and spawned splinter groups across the Arab world. The United States and other major powers are seeking a final nuclear deal with Iran, in a process that worries many Sunni Arab leaders wary of Shi'ite Iran's growing regional influence.
The summit final communiqué called for "coordination, efforts and steps to establish an unified Arab force" to intervene in countries such as Yemen.
The move came after Saudi Arabia patched together a 10-nation Arab coalition against Houthi fighters and launched military strikes there.
Arab leaders said the Saudi-led operation in Yemen would continue until the Iranian-allied Houthis, who have made rapid advances, withdraw and hand over their weapons and the country is united.
The Saudi-led operation in Yemen has underlined the rivalry between the predominantly Sunni kingdom and Shi'ite Iran and it could inflame sectarian proxy conflicts that have spread in the Middle East since the Arab Spring uprisings of 2011.
Sisi has repeatedly called for concerted Arab and Western action against what he sees as an existential threat posed by militant groups operating in Libya and elsewhere.
He ordered air strikes against Islamic State militants in Libya after the Sunni group beheaded 21 Egyptian Christians there.

:: Business and Economy ::

Price stabilisation fund : Centre’s nod for Rs. 500 crore corpus

The Union Agriculture Ministry approved the setting up of a price stabilisation fund (PSF) that had been announced by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in his July 2014 budget.
The fund, with a corpus of Rs. 500 crore, will be used to support market interventions for managing prices of perishable agri-horticultural commodities.
Initially, the fund is proposed to be used for onion and potato only. Losses incurred, if any, in the operations will be shared between the Centre and the States.
The PSF will be used to advance interest-free loans to State governments and Central agencies to support their working capital and other expenses on procurement and distribution interventions for such commodities, the Ministry said in a statement.
These commodities will be procured directly from farmers or farmers’ organisations right at the farm gate or mandi levels and be made available at reasonable prices to consumers.
For this purpose, the statement said, the States will set up a revolving fund to which the Centre and State will contribute equally. The ratio of Centre-State contribution to the State-level corpus in respect of northeast States will, however, be 75:25.
The revolving fund is being mooted so that requirements for all future interventions can be decided and met at the State level itself, it explained. The Central agencies will, however, set up their revolving fund entirely with advance from the Centre.
On March 18, Union Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan was planning to advise States to draw from the Rs.500-crore PSF for onions and potatoes.

:: Science and Technology ::

DRDO to develop indigenous AWACS

The Defence Acquisition Council (DAC), chaired by Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, which met, approved the development of an indigenous Airborne Warning and Control Systems (AWACS) by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).
The council allocated Rs. 5,113 crore for two systems based on the A-330 aircraft, which will be procured from Airbus.
Eventually, six systems will be built for use by the Air Force. In all, the DAC cleared deals estimated at Rs.7,400 crore.
AWACS are radars mounted on an aircraft to provide seamless 360-degree coverage of the airspace.
The Air Force is currently operating three Israeli Phalcons based on Russian Il-76 aircraft. In addition, the DRDO is developing two smaller Airborne Early Warning & Control (AEW&C) based on the Embraer aircraft, scheduled to be delivered this year.
The DAC cleared the procurement of 30 weapon-locating radars from Bharat Electronics Limited for Rs.1,605 crore, Defence Ministry officials said. Each system is mounted on two high mobility vehicles.
The DAC has also sanctioned two other projects for the Army. Tenders will be issued for 1,512 mine ploughs for the T-90 main battle tanks; the ploughs are systems fitted on existing tanks to clear mines on the path of the tanks. The second project was for procurement of 220 truck-mounted lifting devices for Rs.24 crore.
The Navy is set to acquire Harpoon anti-ship missiles for its HDW submarines with the DAC approving certain deviations in the offset requirements for the 22 Harpoon missiles worth Rs.913 crore. The deal was approved last year in a government-to-government deal with the U.S. for around $ 200 million.

:: Sports ::

Vettel wins Malaysian GP to end Mercedes streak

Ferrari driver Sebastian Vettel won the Malaysian Grand Prix to end Mercedes’ long Formula One winning streak and make the 2015 season look like a genuine contest between the two teams.
Vettel elected not to pit during an earlier safety-car period, while second-placed Lewis Hamilton and third-placed Nico Rosberg did pit in their Mercedes cars, and the clear air at the front of the field enabled Vettel to win by 8.5 seconds at the Sepang International Circuit.
Mercedes had won the previous eight races dating back to last season and had been expected to dominate through 2015, but in just the second race of this season, Vettel’s win indicated a potential fight for the championship ahead.
It was Ferrari’s first victory since the 2013 Spanish Grand Prix.

Australia win by 7 wickets, bag 5th World Cup title

Electing to bat first, New Zealand were dismissed for 183 in 45 overs against Australia in the ICC Cricket World Cup finals at MCG.
The semifinal hero, Grant Elliot was the top scorer with 83. Taylor made 40.
The Australian bowlers were up to the task right from the word go. Mitchell Johnson (3 for 30) and James Faulkner (3 for 36) were the pick of the bowlers. Mitchell Starc took 2 for 20, whle Maxwell took 1 for 37.
For the past one-and-a-half months, fans witnessed some intriguing contests among 14 teams for the coveted trophy. It has now come to the final moments with the top two teams fighting for the ICC World Cup 2015 trophy.
Both the hosts are in the final.
New Zealand has won all their group matches with authority except for the match against Australia which they won it by one wicket. New Zealand won a cliff-hanger against South Africa in the semifinals.
Australia, beaten by a narrow margin by New Zealand in the group stage, have won all the other matches with ease. The team trampled the defending champions India in the semifinals.
Australia fast bowler Mitchell Starc was named the player of the tournament after his team beat New Zealand by seven wickets to win the World Cup at the Melbourne Cricket Ground .
Fast-bowling all-rounder James Faulkner was named man-of-the-match for his devastating spell which helped set up a seven-wicket victory for Australia.
The 41-year-old former Indian batsman, who was the brand ambassador of the event, handed out trophies to the Man of the Match James Faulkner and Man of the Tournament Mitchell Starc.