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Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 03 February 2015

:: National ::

The Supreme Court issued notice to the government and the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) on a plea to make ‘Moral Science’ compulsory from Class 1 to 12.
A Bench comprising Chief Justice H.L. Dattu and Justice A.K. Siki sought responses of the Human Resource Development Ministry and the CBSE on a PIL petition filed by advocate Santosh Singh, contending that Moral Science should be made compulsory to “include moral values and nurture national character in the national interest.”

Russia and China have endorsed India’s efforts to formalise an iron-clad rejection of international terrorism, amid a call by the three countries to end the era of a unipolar world and rid the globe of the threat of “regime change.”
At the end of their day-long deliberations in the Chinese capital, the foreign ministers of the Russia-India-China (RIC) grouping issued a comprehensive joint communiqué that called for an ambitious reform of an international system that was respectful of the diversity of home-grown political systems.

The communiqué recommended India’s inclusion in an expanded Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), a 21-nation grouping of Pacific Rim countries.
The Ministers endorsed India’s impending membership to the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) after elevating the grouping, which is pillared by Russia, China and most of the Central Asian States as “one of the key instruments in promoting multilateral political, security, economic and humanitarian interaction in the region.”

The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), which India is joining soon, has been holding major counter-terrorism exercises, in anticipation of the withdrawal of the U.S. forces from Afghanistan. Recognising the threat to stability posed during Afghanistan’s upcoming transitional phase, the three Ministers called for supporting the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF), in tune with the withdrawal of the U.S.-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF).

Without specifying the “Pivot to Asia” doctrine of the U.S., which involves concentration of forces on China’s periphery, a joint statement by the RIC grouping called for advancing talks in the East Asia summit framework on rule-based security architecture in the Asia-Pacific, driven by the United Nations.

The U.N. weather agency says 2014 was the warmest year on record, though the temperature difference with 2010 and 2005 is so small that it’s impossible to say for sure which of the three years was the hottest.
The World Meteorological Organization’s analysis on Monday mirrored findings two weeks ago by NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and also included data from the Met Office in Britain.
The Geneva-based WMO said surface temperatures were 0.57 degrees Celsius above average last year.
That’s slightly warmer than 2010 and 2005, but the difference was within the uncertainty margin of 0.10 degrees Celsius.
With 14 of the 15 hottest years recorded this century, WMO chief Michel Jarraud said warming is expected to continue as atmospheric levels of heat-trapping CO2 rise.

2,038 cases reported this year across the country, 191 dead
In the wake of a H1N1 (swine flu) outbreak, which has claimed 191 lives this year, the Centre said mortality on account of the flu can be contained with immediate medical intervention.
There have been 2,038 cases of H1N1 reported across the country in 2015, with Telangana reporting the highest number of cases at 629 and 34 deaths, followed by Delhi with 488 cases and 5 deaths, Gujarat with 309 cases and 38 deaths and Rajasthan with 205 cases and 49 deaths.
Health Ministry officials said Delhi’s low mortality is attributable to the high awareness about the flu, followed by early detection and timely treatment.
The Centre is closely monitoring the surge in cases and Central teams have been dispatched to Telangana and Rajasthan.