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Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 03 August 2015

Current Affairs for IAS Exams – 03 August 2015

:: National ::

Beware! NIA may snoop on you personal chat for terror links

In order to keep a tab on the increasing menace of radicalisation of youth by terrorist organisations through social media and other online platforms, National Investigation Agency (NIA) has formed a special cell.
According to a report published in a leading daily, the special cell is equipped with state of the art software tools to single out conversations in online chatter, which may be specially significant from terrorism or radicalisation point of view.
Until now, only intelligence agencies like the Research and Analysis Wing (RA&W) and Intelligence Bureau (IB) were in possession of such tool.
But now NIA is also armed with similar surveillance software. It has been a long standing demand of the agency to cultivate its own intelligence capabilities so that it can generate information regarding its ongoing investigations.
A group of Indians left to fight for ISIS after getting radicalised through social media. One of the most vocal proponents of ISIS in the digital space, Shami Witness was found out to be a guy working in a software company in Bengaluru. Earlier too there have been several instances where Indian Mujahideen and Lashkar-e-Taiba have used the internet to attract youth cadres in their ranks. Thus, NIA is looking to keep a tab on such conversations but in the process personal privacy will unfortunately be a cruel martyr.
According to NIA officials, terrorists have long changed their modus operandi. They no longer operate using phones and are often taking recourse in online mediums to pass on their information. Hence, NIA is looking to up the ante so that they can beat terrorists at their own game.
However, terrorists are also no longer merely using plain messages. Often highly encrypted messages are passed, cryptic codes exchanged.
So analysing the data to reach to the proper conclusion is the most key element. It is like obtaining a needle from a haystack and NIA is hoping that it will be able to get lucky on occasions to aid their investigations.

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:: International ::

Obama to unveil 'biggest step ever' in climate change fight

US PRESIDENT Barack Obama will on Monday local time unveil what he called the "biggest, most important step we've ever taken" to fight climate change, a sensitive issue, central to his legacy.
The White House will release the final version of America's Clean Power Plan, a set of environmental rules and regulations that will home in on the pollution from the nation's existing power plants, setting limits on power-plant carbon emissions for the first time.
Plants will have to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 32 per cent from 2005 levels by 2030.
Laying out how climate change is a threat to the economy, health, wellbeing and security of America, and adding that time was of the essence, Obama said in a video released early Sunday: "Climate change is not a problem for another generation. Not anymore."
Power plants account for some 40 per cent of US emissions of carbon dioxide, the most common greenhouse gas that contributes to climate change.
In the coming months, Obama is expected to visit Alaska to highlight the impact of climate change and will host Pope Francis at the White House when they are expected to make a collective call for action.

Politically sensitive

In its initial proposal a year ago, the Obama administration had set the target at 30 per cent of power plant reductions
The stronger 32 per cent collective reduction drew fierce opposition from the Republican Party, which described the measures as "overreach", "heavy-handed" and said they would have "devastating consequences for our economy".
Climate change is a hot-button issue in American politics, and cuts are politically sensitive because coal, among the dirtiest energy sources, remains a major US industry.
Even as natural gas gains in popularity, hundreds of coal-fired power plants dotted across the country provide about 39 per cent of the US electricity supply, ahead of natural gas and nuclear

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:: Business ::

India to produce at least dozen billionaires among start-ups by 2020, says Assocham

India is expected to produce at least a score of billionaires and many times millionaires among the start-ups in the next five years with e-commerce, financial services and other technology driven fields generating the maximum interest, an Assocham study on start-ups has pointed out.
It said the maximum of value creation is expected in the fledgling e-commerce, music-entertainment, payment gate-ways and city transport aggregators such as radio taxis.
The travel arena, especially in the ticketing and booking has already gained some level of maturity.
The untapped areas for online business include e-coaching, medical consultations (with fool-proof safety features) and social networking in the cities, while in the rural landscape, the initiative is going to be led by the State sector.
According to the study, even though the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) is putting a friendly regime for the start-ups to raise finance from the bourses, it would take some time before funds are raised through this channel.

:: Sports ::

Tendulkar, Dravid, Ganguly, Laxman likely to be named in BCCI conflict of interest list

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) that recently asked all the state cricket associations to sign the agreement of conflict of interest has planned to take the process underway very soon and the consequences might see names of the legends Sachin Tendulakar, Rahul Dravid and Anil Kumble among the members who would be dragged in the issue.
If BCCI’s this undertaking is put into effect, the international retired cricketers will face difficulty in continuing their respective posts in the cricket board.
According to a report from The Indian Express, the members of cricket associations will be denied from having any commercial interests associated with the game, comes at a time when the Justice Lodha committee is looking into organisational reforms in the body.
Here is the list of the BCCI members who may run foul of the undertaking:

Sachin Tendulkar: Member, BCCI’s cricket advisory committee, he is Mentor, Mumbai Indians.

Rahul Dravid: Coach, India U-19 and India ‘A’, he is Mentor, Rajasthan Royals.

V V S Laxman: Member, BCCI’s cricket advisory committee, he is Mentor, Sunrisers Hyderabad.

Sourav Ganguly: Member, BCCI’s cricket advisory committee, and a broadcaster. Last commentary assignment was the 2015 ICC World Cup.

Anil Kumble: Chairman, BCCI’s technical committee, he is Mentor, Mumbai Indians, and co-founder of Tenvic, a company in the business of sports training and consulting.

Brijesh Patel: Chairman, BCCI’s new area development committee, and secretary, Karnataka State Cricket Association. He is Head (Cricket Operations) for Royal Challengers Bangalore.

Ravi Shastri: Director, Indian cricket team, and contracted to the BCCI as commentator. Last commentary assignment was the ongoing Ashes. He is Member, IPL governing council.

Sunil Gavaskar: Contracted to the BCCI as commentator. He runs Professional Management Group, a sports marketing agency that has signed on a number of cricketers, including Mumbai batsman Sarfaraz Khan.

Sanjay Bangar: Coach, Indian cricket team, he also coaches Kings XI Punjab.