Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 25 June 2014

Gopal Subramanium opts out

• Feeling “let down” by the government and the judiciary, senior advocate and former Solicitor-General Gopal Subramanium informed Chief Justice of India R.M. Lodha that he was withdrawing his consent for appointment as a Supreme Court judge.

• In his nine-page letter, Mr. Subramanium told the CJI, “I do not want my elevation to be the subject matter of any kind of politicisation. I am dismayed at reports that the file forwarded by the court to the government recommending four names for elevation (including mine) has been segregated and the names of three candidates (not including mine) have been cleared by the government as well as by the President of India and that warrants have been issued for their appointment.”

• Mr. Subramanium said, “I withdrew my consent to uphold my self-respect and dignity.” Asked whether he would change his stand if the collegium were to reiterate his appointment, he said his decision was final.

The legitimacy of the collegium system

• The collegium system is one where the Chief Justice of India and a forum of four senior-most judges of the Supreme Court recommend appointments and transfers of judges. However, it has no place in the Constitution.

• The system was evolved through Supreme Court judgments in the Three Judges Cases: S.P. Gupta case (December 30, 1981) or the First Judges Case: It declared that the primacy of the CJI’s recommendation on judicial appointments and transfers can be refused for cogent reasons. The ruling gave the Executive primacy over the Judiciary in judicial appointments for the next 12 years.

• Supreme Court Advocates on Record Association versus Union of India or the Second Judges Case(October 6, 1993): The majority verdict gave back CJI’s power over judicial appointments and transfers. It says the CJI only need to consult two senior-most judges. The role of the CJI is primal in nature because this being a topic within the judicial family, the Executive cannot have an equal say in the matter, the verdict reasoned. However, confusion prevails as the CJIs start taking unilateral decisions without consulting two colleagues. The President is reduced to only an approver.

• In Special Reference case of 1998 or the Three Judges Case (October 28, 1998): On a reference from former President K.R. Narayanan, the Supreme Court lays down that the CJIs should consult with a plurality of four senior-most Supreme Court judges to form his opinion on judicial appointments and transfers.

Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 24 June 2014

Central govt. to simplify laws for single window clearance

• As the BJP-led NDA government completes its first month in office, Law and Justice Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said his Ministry was working towards meeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s commitment to provide a single window clearance for projects. This, he said, would improve the investment climate and send a clear message to foreign investors that they could freely invest in India.

• Mr. Prasad, who is also the Telecom Minister, said there was an impression that India was one of the most over-regulated countries in the world and one had to obtain 20 or odd clearances for a project and this affected investment climate. He said he had asked the Law Commission to examine whether so many clearances were needed for approvals.

• “The Commission has been asked to submit a report in consultation with trade bodies like Confederation of Indian Industry, with a suggestion in creating a more enabled business atmosphere, viz. how many clearances you need for a project with certain mandatory clearances.

• Also to tell the government whether we can have a process of self-certification from the project proponents that every law had been followed, with a rider that in the event of violation there will be serious punishment.

No hike in LPG, kerosene prices

Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 23 June 2014

First Budget of Modi govt. on July 10

• The first Budget of the Narendra Modi government will be presented on July 10. Parliament will be convened on July 7 for a session that will last till August 14.

• The Railway Budget will be presented on July 8, while the Economic Survey will be released on July 9. Parliamentary Affairs Minister M. Venkaiah Naidu has asked all Ministries to draw up a list of pending bills.

• There are at least four ordinances that need to be replaced with Acts of Parliament, including one that allowed Nripendra Mishra, who was earlier Chairman of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, to be appointed Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister. The TRAI Act had restricted jobs its chairmen could accept subsequently.

• An ordinance that transferred certain areas of Khammam district from Telangana to the successor State of Andhra Pradesh to execute the Polavaram project, and another one that amended the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act are awaiting parliamentary approval.

• The government has signalled that some hard measures are on the way to turn around the economy.

Weekly Current Affairs Update for IAS Exam

VOL - 12 (17th February 2014 TO 23rd February 2014)

Issue : VOL - 12 (17th February 2014 TO 23rd February 2014)

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Covered Topics:

• National

• NATIONAL PORTAL OF INDIA

• Ministry of External affairs

• Planning Commission of India

• International

• Economy

• India And The World

• Sports

• In The News

• Science and Technology

• Burning Issues (Editorials From Different Newspapers)

National Environment Regulator

• Background (Free Available)

• Mandate for the National Environment Regulator (Free Available)

• Lafarge Umiam Case (Free Available)

• Recent Developments (Only for Online Coaching Members)

• Conclusion (Only for Online Coaching Members)

There has been a growing concern over the management of the ecological issues in India. While India has committed to maintain a threshold of 33% of the total land area under forest cover, there have been severe lapses due to the increasing number of mining and developmental projects.

In this context, the Supreme Court of India has been acting proactively to promote the ecological concerns in India. Thus, the Court has been pushing for the establishment of a National Environment Regulator, to act as the watchdog over the various issues of environmental protection.

While the Court has been pushing for the regulatory agency for sometime now, the issue has gained substance recently.

Background

Back in 2011, the Supreme Court directed the Center to appoint a National Regulator to oversee the implementation of forest policy in India. The Court also rejected the contentions over the requirement of such a body, asserting the immediate need to have one.

A three-judge Bench, headed by Justice A. K. Patnaik, also ordered the Center to file an affidavit on compliance of its order latest by March 31, 2014.

The Bench stressed the need to set up the regulatory body, rejecting the plea of the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) that there was no need to appoint a regulator to oversee the implementation of forest policy. The Bench also made it clear that the clearances under the Forest Act would be granted by the MoEF but the regulator will see the implementation of the Forest Policy of 1998.

Ukraine Crisis and G-8 Summit

• Introduction (Free Available)

• Background (Free Available)

• Ukraine Crisis Genesis (Free Available)

• US-Russian Claims (Free Available)

• G-8 Summit (Only for Online Coaching Members)

• The G7 decision is, Open to Criticism (Only for Online Coaching Members)

• The Response of BRICS and Other Developing Countries (Only for Online Coaching Members)

• India’s Involvement (Only for Online Coaching Members)

Introduction

The emerging Ukraine crisis has cast a deep shadow over Russia’s relations with Europe. The severity of the issue was of the level that the European leaders canceled their summit with Russia. The EU claimed that Russia used economic pressure to block the EU’s trade agreement with Ukraine and Armenia.

The usual three-day summit was curtailed to a three-hour talk between Russian President Putin and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and the EU.

Russia and EU have blamed each other for the crisis in Ukraine. The tensions started when Ukrainian President V. Yanukovych ditched an EU Free trade and association pact in favor of building closer ties with Russia.
The issue has given wind to the Cold war kind of situation at the international level. With USA and Russia taking the opposite sides, the world fears the revival of the cold war.

Background

The uprising in Ukraine has divided the country into a series of tensions between Russia and the West. Public Protests started in December 2013 over President Viktor Yanukovych’s decision to abandon a deal with the European Union in favor of aid and natural gas agreements with Russia.

Though the protests were initially peaceful, it later turned ugly, with protesters seizing the government offices across the country. Their main demands include an end to corruption and self-enrichment by the ruling political elite.

President Yanukovych softened his attitude by granting pardon to the protesters through the Parliament, and offering the seat of Prime Minister to the respective Opposition leaders- Arseny Yatseyuk and Vitali Kiltschko. However, the opposition is furious over the condition that protesters require to vacate the occupied buildings.

Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 22 June 2014

New Telangana State has not been noticed by the UPSC yet

• The birth of new Telangana State has not been noticed by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC), or it seems so, and aspirants of various UPSC exams are unable to provide the correct details in the online application form while applying to various posts.

• The UPSC website for online submissions ‘upsconline.nic.in’ still shows only Andhra Pradesh in its list of States and Telangana residents are in a dilemma whether to choose Andhra Pradesh as their state, and if they choose will they end up with some problems in future for selecting the wrong State. They are more worried as the last date of a few exams will end this month.

• For example, aspirants for Civil Services preliminary exam have to apply online by June 30 while those aspiring for National Defence Academy (NDA) and Naval Academy Examination need to apply before July 21. Apart from these, vacancies have also been announced in various departments like Information Service, Border Road Transport organisation, Power Department, Directorate of Health and Family Welfare among others.

• After the formation of Telangana on June 2 this year, aspirants say, four notifications have been issued by the UPSC and the dilemma continues for all the aspirants. The ‘error’ may cost the aspirants as they fear that their applications may be rejected by the software in future once Telangana enters the list. Moreover, unsuccessful candidates may use the information to create legal hurdles for the selected candidates, aspirants argue.

Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 21 June 2014

Supreme Court to get 3 new judges

• President Pranab Mukherjee has cleared the elevation of the Chief Justices of Calcutta and Orissa High Courts Arun Mishra and Adarsh Kumar Goel, respectively, and senior lawyers Rohinton Nariman as Supreme Court judges.

• Earlier this week, the Law Ministry sent the file to the President after removing the name of the former Solicitor-General Gopal Subramanium. The Centre returned his name to the collegium headed by Chief Justice of India R.M. Lodha for reconsideration.

• The warrant of appointment is expected to be issued next week to enable them to assume office when the court reconvenes on June 30 after the summer holidays. With their appointment, the strength of judges in the court will go up to 28, as against the sanctioned 31. However Justices B.S. Chauhan and S.K. Prasad are due to retire in July; the Chief Justice on September 27; and Ms. Justice Ranjana Desai on October 29.

Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 20 June 2014

PMO has no intention to impose Hindi on any State

• After the Union Home Ministry’s May 27 instruction to government departments to use Hindi compulsorily in their social media communications spiralled into a political controversy, the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) clarified that the directive applied only to Hindi-speaking States and did not amount to a change in policy.This is neither a new policy nor an attempt to impose the use of Hindi on any non-Hindi-speaking State.

• The PMO clarification came in the wake of loud protests from Tamil Nadu, capped by a letter from Chief Minister Jayalalithaa who urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to ensure “that English is used on social media.”

• The release said the instruction was only a follow-up to the Ministry’s circular on March 10 — when the United Progressive Alliance was in power — to the same effect. “It was a routine circular and the government has no intention to impose Hindi on any State.

Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 19 June 2014

Advances hearing of plea against Suhag’s appointment by SC

• The Supreme Court agreed to advance the hearing of a plea by Lt. Gen. Ravi Dastane seeking a stay on the appointment of Lt. Gen. Dalbir Singh Suhag as the Army chief, saying his rise in rank to Army Commander of Eastern Command two years back was “wholly illegal.”

• Lt. Gen. Dastane, who was one of the contenders for the Army Commander’s post along with Lt. Gen. Suhag in 2012, claims he has “strong prima facie case” against the latter.He has filed the application in a pending appeal challenging an order of the Armed Forces Tribunal, dismissing his allegations against Lt. Gen. Suhag. The application seeks to restrain Lt. Gen. Suhag from taking over as the Army Chief.

• Defence Minister Arun Jaitley recently stood firmly by the government’s stand to appoint Lt. Gen. Suhag.Mr. Jaitley was compelled to step in and clear the air after an affidavit filed by the Defence Ministry in the Supreme Court as a counter to Lt. Gen. Dastane’s case had put the government in a spot. The affidavit blamed General (Retd) V.K. Singh, former Army chief and now a Minister of State in the Modi government, of taking an “illegal, premeditated” course to stall the promotion of Lt. Gen. Suhag as Army Commander in 2012.

• Appearing for Lt. Gen. Dastane, advocate R.K. Anand sought an early hearing as his client’s case would become infructuous once Lt. Gen. Suhag takes over from Army chief General Bikram Simgh on July 31, 2014.The Bench posted the matter for second week of July.

(Success Story) Abhilasha Kumari Sharma (IAS Toppers (AIR - 87)

Name: Abhilasha Kumari Sharma

Date of Interview: 17th April, 2014

Attempt: 2nd

Exam Name: IAS

Educational Background: Engineer

TIME- AFTERNOON

Q. What were the basic mantras of your success?

3 R'S - RIGHT STUDY MATERIAL , RIGHT TIME MANAGEMENT AND REVISION WAS MY MANTRA FOR SUCCESS.

Q. When did you start your preparation for the examination? What was your strategy for this examination?

I STARTED PREPARING FOR CIVIL SERVICE EXAMINATION AFTER PURSUING B.TECH IN ECE FROM JUNE 2011.

THE PREPARATION FOR THIS EXAM DEMANDS CONSISTENCY AND A RIGHT STRATEGY. I USED TO STUDY ALMOST EVERYDAY .ITS NOT JUST QUANTITY OF MATERIAL BUT ALSO QUALITY MATTERS ,SO I MADE AN ERNEST EFFORT FIRST SORTING OUT RIGHT BOOKS AND THEN STUDYING THEM. I USED TO PLAN MY STUDY HOURS WELL AND REVISED ON A REGULAR BASIS

(Success Story) Sakshi Goyal (AIR Rank - 175) for Civil Services Examination 2013

Already working as a Punjab Civil Services (PCS) officer, a girl from Rajpura town of Patiala district has cracked the Indian civil services exams, the results of which were declared on Thursday.

Sakshi Goyal, 25, who is working as an assistant registrar, department of cooperation of Punjab government, has secured 175 rank in the examination.

In 2012, she had cleared the PCS exam in the first attempt and secured 77th rank.

Sakshi, who has done her BSc (hons) in bio-informatics from SD College, Chandigarh, cleared the exam in her fourth attempt.

(Success Story) MD. Shahid Kamal Ansari (AIR-857)

Name: MD SHAHID KAMAL ANSARI

Date of Interview: 2nd June, 2014

Attempt: 4th

Exam Name: IAS

Q. What were the basic mantras of your success?

• Hard Work and Persistent Effort without being demotivated with the results. As John Steinbeck said "And don’t worry about losing. If it is right, it happens — The main thing is not to hurry. Nothing good gets away."

Q. When did you start your preparation for the examination? What was your strategy for this examination?

I started preparing for exam some three years back. This was my fourth attempt and second encounter with the interview. I could not clear prelims in the first attempt and went up to mains in my second attempt.

The basic strategy is to keep the things simple. Work on the basics of Polity, History, Geography, Economics for GS. Prepare your optional thoroughly and choose an optional which suits you and is of your area of interest rather than going on public opinion.

(Last two years Public Administration and Geography has been disastrous for many with people scoring double digits marks in papers)

so, choose your optional wisely.

Q. What is the best way to prepare current affairs?

Best way to prepare is through newspapers and magazines. The Hindu and Indian Express are two newspapers with good content. Read all the sections carefully (specially the Editorials, Business and IR pages).

Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 18 June 2014

Fewer students are getting mid-day meal

• Despite the huge expenditure on education under the previous United Progressive Alliance government, latest statistics on elementary education show that the percentage of government and aided schools providing mid-day meals to students has dropped from 94.83 in 2012-2013 to 88.60 in 2013-14.

• A similar drop has also been witnessed in the percentage of schools providing mid-day meals prepared outside the school premises. According to the data collected by the National University of Educational Planning and Administration on elementary education for the last fiscal, the percentage of schools providing meals cooked outside had dropped from 12.53 to 9.45.

• In all States barring Uttar Pradesh, Manipur and Nagaland, the mid-day meal coverage is over 90 per cent. While Manipur and Nagaland improved their coverage in 2013-14, Uttar Pradesh is one of the four States which saw a drop that is reflected in the national average.

• The coverage of the scheme in Uttar Pradesh went down from 87.86 per cent to 82.99 per cent.

• Besides U.P., Punjab witnessed a significant drop with the coverage going down from 96.37 per cent to 91.42 per cent. Other States where there has been a drop in coverage are: Delhi from 98.01 to 97.53 per cent, Goa from 96.04 per cent to 92.64 per cent and Rajasthan from 97.88 per cent to 97.7 per cent.

• Percentage of aided schools with coverage drops from 94.3 to 88.6 in past year.