Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 22 July 2014

No change in stand on Palestine: Govt.

• The Government on Monday asserted in the Rajya Sabha that India’s policy on the Palestine issue remains unchanged but stonewalled demands for a unanimous resolution on the Gaza conflict.
• Replying to a short duration discussion in Rajya Sabha on Monday, External Affairs Minister rebutted the Opposition’s call for suspension of all military purchases from Israel and raising the issue at the United Nations.
• She said “We fully support the Palestinian cause while maintaining good relations with Israel,”.
• Discussion took place under rule 176 under which no resolution can be taken.
• Stating the Government’s position on the conflict in Gaza, Ms. Swaraj said peace would have been restored by now had Hamas accepted the ceasefire proposal from Egypt.
• Israel’s assistance to India during the Kargil war was very helpful, when it supplied much needed artillery shells at short notice.

Central government officials to declare assets under new Lokpal rules

• The Union government has notified rules on declaration of assets and liabilities of its employees under the Lokpal Act.

• Though system of declaration of assets and liabilities has been in vogue, the Lokpal Act seeks to systematise it with additional information.

• As per the new rules notified by the government, its employees have to file returns with details on cash in hand, bank deposits, investment in bonds, debentures, shares and units in companies or mutual funds, insurance policies, provident fund, personal loans and advance given to a person or any entity, among others.

• The returns should give information about spouses as well. The employees’ need to declare motor vehicles, aircraft, yachts or ships, gold and silver jewellery and bullion possessed by them, their spouses and dependent children, according to the form.

• The employees also to have to give details of their immovable properties along with statement of debts and other liabilities on first appointment or as on March 31 of every financial year.

Government promises broadband facility in every village

• The Centre on Monday promised to extend broadband facility to every village in the country with the active cooperation of State governments.
• More than 1.34 lakh internet enabled centres have been set up in rural areas to promote and develop information technology in rural areas of the country.
• Problem of unavailability of bandwidth and regional language barrier have impeded thee-governance initiatives in India, government said availability of bandwidth to important places will be done on priority basis.
• Mobile web in regional languages also has many challenges such as character encoding, bandwidth cost, presentation issues, device limitations, lack of standardisation, fonts, backward compatibility with legacy devices, rendering issues, lack of availability for all characters, issue of multiple scripts, standardization of glyph support, syllable composition and logic dependency on implementation level of handset manufacturer.

Storm over Katju’s exposé

• Former Supreme Court judge Markandey Katju’s wrote in an newspaper that pressure from an alliance partner of the United Progressive Alliance forced three successive ex-Chief Justices of the apex court to give extensions to an additional judge of the Madras High Court.
• He has an adverse Intelligence Bureau (IB) report against him, kicked up a political storm on Monday with disruptions in Parliament.
• The Congress steered clear of the controversy despite the charge that the party gave in to an ally’s demands to save its government.

UPSC unlikely to cancel CSAT Test, Verma Panel views awaited

Even as the government awaits the Arvind Verma panel's views on the syllabus/pattern of the civil services examination, senior officials see little scope for a recommendation favouring scrapping of the contentious Civil Services Aptitude Test-II or a postponement of the August 24 preliminary examination. Government sources conceded that a more likely option to resolve the CSAT tangle is to reduce the weightage of questions relating to English comprehension in General Studies Paper II, which carries 200 marks in all.

Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 21 July 2014

Parliament to discuss Gaza violence today

• Rajya Sabha will have a short-duration discussion on violence in Gaza, where hundreds of people have lost their lives.
• The government was placed in a tight spot over its reluctance to hold a discussion on the issue even after the motion was admitted by the presiding officer.
• The discussion in Rajya Sabha will see the participation of Congress leaders Ghulam Nabi Azad and Jairam Ramesh, JD(U)’s K.C. Tyagi and CPI(M)’s P. Rajeev among others.

IMD says monsoon deficit has come down to 31%

• The monsoon deficit has come down to 31 per cent with rains picking up in July across the country, giving relief to farmers.
• Central and northwestern India have been receiving deficient rainfall, but even in these parts the monsoon has been making progress.
• The monsoon is expected to remain good for the next two weeks in north, central, southern peninsula and eastern India.
• However, parts of northwestern India, which includes western Rajasthan and Kutch region, may still receive weak rainfall.
• In the next 24 to 48 hours, the weather system will bring in widespread good monsoon rains over Telangana, Chhattisgarh, east Madhya Pradesh and Vidarbha. The rain belt will gradually shift to bring rest of Madhya Pradesh and adjoining Maharashtra under its purview. By July 22-23, a fresh weather system will bring rains over Gangetic West Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand and Odisha.

Most rape victims in 2013 knew culprits: NCRB

• The report titled “Crime In India 2013” says that a total of 33,707 cases of rape were registered under Section 376 of the IPC in the year and in 31,807 cases (94.4 per cent) the culprits were known to their victims.
• According to the report, the cases of “incest rapes” too are on rise with 536 cases being registered in 2013 compared to 392 in 2012. Shockingly, most of the victims are in the age group of 10-18 years.
• This situation cannot be dealt with merely by enacting laws. Society has to take strong initiatives to deal with this situation.

Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 19 July 2014

Special court to hear coal scam cases: SC

• The Supreme Court decided to set up a special court to try cases arising from the coal block allocation scam and also appoint a special public prosecutor to lead the cases there.
• The petitioner NGO common cause and CBI both accepted the name of Gopal Subramanium as the special prosecutor.
• Court on Friday issued notice to seven private and public sector companies on central government’s plea seeking transfer, to apex court of all cases, challenging the cancellation of coal blocks allocated to them, pending before various high courts.

GEAC clears field trials for GM crops

• The Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC) has given the green signal for field trials of genetically modified (GM) rice, mustard, cotton, chickpea and brinjal.
• While the GEAC has approved the commercial release of Bt brinjal it has been stayed by the Ministry of Environment and Mr. Pande said the government would have to take a decision on this.
• The only genetically modified crop approved for release in India is cotton.
• Three companies - Bayer Bio Sciences, Monsanto and BASF have been allowed to import the Soyabean oil, which is genetically modified. The last time Central Food Technological Research Institute (CFTRI), gave a clean chit to imported samples.

Union Public Service Commission

CIVIL SERVICES (MAIN) EXAMINATION 2013

UPSC has presented the final marks of qualified candidates in civil service examination 2013.The qualified candidates have been recommended for appointment to the Indian Administrative Service (IAS), Indian Foreign Service (IFS), Indian Police Service (IPS) and other central services against 1,228 reported vacancies.

Council of Scientific & Industrial Research

CSIR-UGC Test For Junior Research Fellowship & Eligibility for Lectureship

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Union Public Service Commission

National Defence Academy and Naval Academy Examination (II)

Examination: National Defence Academy & Naval Academy Examination (II)

Year: 2014

Notice Number: 11/2014-NDA-II

Notice Date: 21-06-2014

Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 18 July 2014

India, Brazil to expand trade

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi met Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff and two countries signed agreements on cooperation in the field of environment and remote sensing.

• During the meeting, the two heads of nations agreed to take steps to further expand and diversify trade and investment flows and deepen cooperation in agriculture and dairy science, conventional and renewable energy, space research and application, defence, cyber security and environment conservation.

• They also agreed to intensify cooperation in international forums and multilateral institutions, including the G20.

• The two sides signed Memoranda of Understanding on environment; on cooperation in augmentation of a Brazilian earth station for receiving and processing data from Indian Remote Sensing satellites; and on cooperation in the establishment of a consultation mechanism on mobility and consular issues.

Govt to extend Ganga action plan to major rivers

• The government on Thursday said that based on the outcome of the action plan on Ganga, it may extend it to other major rivers of the country.
• Central assistance is being provided to states under two schemes — Repair, Renovation and Restoration (RRR) of Water Bodies and Flood Management Programme (FMP) during 12th Plan.
• Under the RRR scheme, a total of 3341 water bodies were taken up for restoration in 12 states, out of which 2033 water bodies have been completed till date. Under the FMP, a total of 420 workers were approved during XI Plan out of which 252 works were completed.

Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 17 July 2014

Bank in Shanghai, but presidency for India

• BRICS countries ironed out their differences over the announcement of the BRICS bank and the contingent reserve fund. The two economic initiatives are the major announcements of the Fortaleza declaration.
• Shanghai won out as the location for the headquarters for the BRICS bank with equal shareholding for all BRICS members. India would assume the first presidency of the bank, which would be named, as per the Indian suggestion, the “New Development Bank”.
• The NDB, to be headquartered in Shanghai, will have an initial authorised capital of $100 billion and an initial subscribed capital of $50 billion equally shared by the five member countries.
• What has clouded the bank’s future in recent months is the unexpected move by China to push forward the setting up of another financial institution — the Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB).
• The AIIB is expected to focus on China and Southeast Asia, while the BRICS bank effort which would emphasise projects in the member countries and in Africa.
• The AIIB move is being seen as an effort by China to challenge the influence of Japan in the region, as seen in Japanese influence in the functioning of the Asian Development Bank.
• Prime Minister Narendra Modi also said that The U.N. Security Council and the IMF are in need of “urgent reform”.
• He also pitched for a common outlook on global crises such as the conflict in Israel, Syria and Iraq, and called for BRICS countries to help “Afghanistan fight the forces of terrorism.” He said that cyber security was a priority for BRICS countries, and called for a united stand on “zero terrorism”.
• Mr. Modi invoked mantra of “Vasudaiv kutumbakam” (the global family), and called for more “people to people” ties within the BRICS countries, including a BRICS university, more travel, scientific exchanges and sharing of healthcare facilities.

IASEXAMPORTAL.COM Open Essay Competition

IASEXAMPORTAL.COM presents the First Open Essay Competition, for the Civil Services Aspirants. Today, an important part of the strategy for civil services examination is- to develop a good writing habit. Having a good understanding of the syllabus might not help you as long as you do not have a good writing skill. Thus, with an intention to help the aspirants in improving their writing skills, IASEXAMPORTAL.COM presents ‘Open Essay Competition’ for the very first time.

Any candidate may enroll for this essay competition. Besides the opportunity to improve yourself, there is also an opportunity to win good prizes, and also get your name on a special page dedicated to the competition, on our site.

Topic for July 2014

• Demographic dividend of India: a debate
   
• भारत का जनसांख्यिकीय लाभांश: एक बहस

Word Limit- 2000 words.

Last Date of Submission-July 30, 2014.

The Gist of Press Information Bureau: June 2014

• Justice Rajendra Mal Lodha sworn in as the Chief Justice of India (Free Available)
• Global crude oil price of Indian Basket decreased to US$ 106.88 per bbl on 17.4.2014 (Only For The Subscribed Members)
• Index of Eight Core Industries (Base: 2004-05=100), March, 2014 (Only For The Subscribed Members)
• Tripigator.com Launched in Partnership with Incredible India (Only For The Subscribed Members)
• 'RUPAY' (Only For The Subscribed Members)
• Consumer Price Index Numbers for Agricultural and Rural Labourers Base : 1986-87=100) (Only For The Subscribed Members)

Chinese Delegation Visits India

Lieutenant General Qi Jianguo, Deputy Chief of General Staff (Operations), PLA China arrived in New Delhi on 22 April 2014 along with an eight member delegation for a two day visit. The visit is in response to an invitation extended by the Government of India.

The official talks with the Chinese Delegation were held today in South Block. The two sides exchanged views on various issues of mutual interest such as maintenance of peace and tranquility along Line of Actual Control and enhancing mutual cooperation and understanding between the armies of India and China. Measures for implementation of existing Bilateral Agreements were also discussed.

The meeting was held in a warm and cordial atmosphere. Both sides agreed on the need to enhance bilateral military engagements. The Chinese side have confirmed their participation in the Fourth India China Joint Training Exercise scheduled to be held in November 2014 in India. The PLA Delegation also called on the Chairman Chiefs of Staff Committee and the Chief of Army Staff, General Bikram Singh and the Defence Secretary.

India and China attach great importance to high level military exchanges. 2014 has also been declared as "Year of Friendly Exchanges". It may be recalled that in February this year, the PLA Delegation led by Lieutenant General Wang Guanzhong, Deputy Chief of General Staff had come to India for Annual Def Dialogue and the Indian Defence Minister had visited China in July 2013. The Chinese side have also confirmed the visit of their Defence Minister General Chang Wanquan to India later this year.

Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 16 July 2014

China’s Xi invites Modi to visit, calls for ‘early’ border settlement

• In Fortaleza to attend the BRICS Summit, Mr. Modi and Mr. Xi met for 80 minutes – extending beyond the scheduled 40 minutes.

• China’s President Xi Jinping on Tuesday invited Prime Minister Narendra Modi to visit China in November and called for a “negotiated resolution” to the boundary dispute “at an early date”.

• China had invited Mr. Modi to attend the APEC leaders’ meeting in Beijing in November. However, with scheduled SAARC and G20 meetings that same month, the visit may take place at a later date.

• Mr. Xi called for a “negotiated solution to the border issues at an early date”

• Prime Minister Modi said that maintaining peace and tranquility on the border was essential for resolving the issue and India is willing to peacefully settle the boundary issue through exisiting mechanisms and friendly negotiations.

• The Prime Minister also referred to India and China’s common civilisational heritage, and links through Buddhism, and called for both countries to do more together to tackle their common challenge of fighting terrorism.

• The Chinese President said he wanted both countries to launch “a batch of exemplary projects” in infrastructure, such as railway construction, to enable more balanced and sustainable trade. The rising trade deficit in China’s favour, reaching $ 29 billion last year, was raised by Mr. Modi.

• Mr. Xi also said China welcomed India to join its initiative to set up a new Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank as a founding member, the official Xinhua news agency reported.

Environmentalist Chandi Prasad gets Gandhi Peace Prize

• Environmentalist and social activist Chandi Prasad Bhatt was presented the Gandhi Peace Prize by President Pranab Mukherjee.

• Mr. Bhatt is a dedicated, tireless and invaluable worker for the conservation of the environment, the Chipko movement started by him in 1973 followed the method of peaceful and non-violent Satyagraha for the redressal of the legitimate rights of the hill people to collect wood and fodder and saving them from natural calamities owing to large-scale deforestation.

• A Gandhian and a member of the Sarvodaya movement, Mr. Bhatt organised the Dashauli Gram Swarajya Sangh in 1964. He dedicated himself through the Sangh to improve the lives of villagers, providing employment near their homes in forest-based industries, and fighting against wrong policies through Gandhian non-violent satyagraha.

SC Constitution Bench to decide on `living will’ to die with dignity

• A five-judge Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court will take up for consideration a petition seeking to declare the execution of a `living will’ of persons, suffering from chronic terminal diseases and likely to go into a permanent vegetative state, to refuse treatment to pave way for their death.
• Petition was filled by NGO Common Cause.
• AG Mr. Rohatgi said the issue had lot of legal, social and moral aspects concerning the humanity as a whole. He said right to die merely because of pain and suffering would not be in the interest of society as it was against public policy.
• Ruling in `Aruna Shanbaug’s case’ decided that passive euthanasia is wrong.
• In November 2012 the Law Commission had submitted a report relating to passive euthanasia and `living will’.

Union Public Service Commission

Answer Key: CAPF (A. C.) Examination 2013 (General Ability & Intelligence)

Exam: CAPF (AC)

Year: 2013

Subjects: General Ability & Intelligence

The Central government asked the UPSC to postpone the Civil Services preliminary exam

UPSC civil services preliminary exam which was scheduled to be held on 24th of August 2014, might be postponed. Students have been protesting for removal of Civil Services aptitude test(C-SAT). According to students C-SAT , which tests candidates ability in various topics like reading comprehension, English language, Logical reasoning, Basic numeracy etc., is a disadvantage for hindi medium and rural background students.

On monday Students staged a protest outside the upsc as well as outside the house of Home Minister Rajnath singh. Government has already formed a committee to look into the matter. Union Minister of State for Department of Personnel and Training and Prime Minister's Office, said "Till there is a clarity over the syllabus and exam pattern they should be given sufficient time. It is quite legitimate on their part that we are suggesting to concerned authorities to consider postponement of the preliminary examination of IAS (UPSC) exams". He also asked committee to look into matter "And not let students go with a feeling that they have been wronged on account of any bias towards any language".

Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 15 July 2014

Ram Naik is new UP Governor, O.P. Kohli for Gujarat

• New governors have been appointed in Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, West Bengal, Gujarat and Nagaland.
• Former Union Minister Ram Naik appointed as Governor of Uttar Pradesh and veteran Delhi leader O.P. Kohli will move to Gujarat as Governor.
• 80-year-old Mr. Naik has the rare distinction of being the only Minister who completed five years as Petroleum and Natural gas minister in one government.
• According to the communique, Keshari Nath Tripathi, a former Uttar Pradesh Speaker will take over the post of Governor in West Bengal.
• Balram Das Tandon, 87, founder member of Jan Sangh in 1951, was appointed Governor of Chhatisgarh.
• Padmanabha Acharya, was appointed as Governor of Nagaland.

President Pranab Mukherjee to award Gandhi Peace prize

• Environmentalist Chandi Prasad Bhatt will be awarded the prestigious Gandhi Peace prize for 2013 by President Pranab Mukherjee.

• The Gandhi Peace Prize was instituted by the government in 1995 on the occasion of the 125th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi.

• This annual award is given to individuals and institutions for their contributions towards social, economic and political transformation through non-violence and other Gandhian methods. It carries a plaque, citation and an amount of Rs. 1 crore.

• The recipients of this award include former Tanzanian President Dr Julius K Nyerere, founder President of Sarvodaya Sharamadana movement in Sri Lanka Dr A.T. Ariyaratne, Dr Gerhard Fischer of Rama Krishna Mission in Germany, Baba Amte, Dr Nelson Mandela etc.

Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 14 July 2014

BRICS summit to reflect new global political architecture

• Global political issues such as the unrest in Iraq and Ukraine and the surveillance of world leaders by the U.S. National Security Agency are likely to find their way into the discussions at the BRICS summit.
• In particular, BRICS countries will announce the BRICS bank and contingency reserve fund as a counterpoint to the U.S.-led World Bank and International Monetary Fund.
• BRICS countries have areas of cooperation on various subjects, from energy to education, and there are new proposals, such as a Brazilian suggestion on the creation of a statistics platform different from the OECD methodology (The OECD analyses GDP, employment and other indices).

INS Kamorta handed over to Navy and Navy gets its largest destroyer

• INS Kamorta, the first in series of anti-submarine corvettes indigenously built by Kolkata based Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers Ltd. (GRSE), was handed over to Indian Navy.
• It is first Indian Naval warship ever built in the country with almost 90 per cent of indigenous content.
• The Indian Navy has got its largest-ever destroyer after the addition of the 163 metre-long vessel Kolkata (D63).
• Kolkata (D63) is India’s first domestically built guided missile destroyer to feature a Western-style air search radar and stealth technology.
• Kolkata has an all-round capability against enemy submarines, surface warships, anti-ship missiles and fighter aircraft.
• It incorporates modern weapons and sensors having advanced information warfare suite, an auxiliary control system with sophisticated power distribution architecture and modular crew quarters.

Disciplinary action cannot continue after retirement: SC

• Disciplinary proceedings against an employee cannot be continued after his retirement in the absence of a specific clause in the employment rules providing for such enquiry.
• Bench of Justices T.S. Thakur and C. Nagappan said once an employee retires from service there was no authority vested in the employer to continue the disciplinary proceedings even for the purpose of imposing any deduction in the benefits payable after retirement to the delinquent employee.

Union Budget allocates Rs 170 crore for UPSC

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has allotted Rs 170 crore for the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC). The funds will be utilised for expenditure on salaries and allowances of the chairman, members and establishment of the UPSC. Besides, the administrative expenses and the expenditure related to conduct of the examinations by the Commission will also be covered.

Last year's Union budget had earmarked Rs 166.64 crore for the same.

The UPSC conducts the following examinations: