(Sample Material) Current Events Timeline: "Polity and National News - January 2014 (Vol -1)"

Current Events Timeline for IAS PRE 2014

MGNREGS to include Rural Sanitation- UPA has widened the scope of its flagship MGNREGS to include works relating to rural sanitation in collaboration with the Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan (NBA). This would strengthen the base of rural livelihood and create durable assets and infrastructure at village level. The provision has been provided in the Para 4(1) IV(i) of the Schedule I of the MGNREG Act.

Tamil Nadu asks Supreme Court to scrap Sethusamudram project- Tamil Nadu government has reiterated that the Supreme Court should direct the centre to scrap the sethusamudram project as the Gulf of Mannar and surrounding areas are extremely eco-fragile and economically nonviable. The state also said that Ram Setu or Adam's Bridge fulfills the natural and cultural criteria fixed by UNESCO, and implementation of the project would be a potential threat to this world renowned and unique structure. The Centre had earlier rejected the recommendations of the Pachauri Committee on the alternate plan. Pachauri Committee had concluded that the plan was nonviable.

Supreme Court reserves order on KG basin dispute- Court reserved its order on the issue of appointing national or international arbitrator for adjudication of dispute between Reliance Industries Ltd. (RIL) and the government over recovery of cost for developing the country's key natural gas field in KG basin.

CBI filed two cases into the irregularity in allocations of coal blocks between 1993 and 2005. Also, since September 2012, CBI has registered 14 other cases relating to allocations made between 2006 and 2009. thus, a total of 16 cases has been registered so far, which pertain to- not following the specified purpose/project, false representation and criminal conspiracy to acquire the coal blocks for material interest.

Centre admitted before the Supreme Court that something went wrong with coal block allocation. The case has come to light after the Supreme Court told Centre that it has no power to allocate coal blocks to private companies. Court also raped the CBI for sharing the graft report with the then Union Law Minister Ashwani Kumar.

CBI would soon submit the status report before the Supreme Court in the alleged irregularities in coal blocks allocation between 1993-2009. CBI has found that the companies had not even begun mining. Meanwhile, Attorney General G. E. Vahanvati has recommended the government that coal blocks allocated to private companies post-2005 be cancelled.