Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 03 June 2014

Demise of Union Minister Gopinath Munde

President Pranab Mukherjee has condoled the untimely demise of Union Minister Gopinath Munde and said the country has lost a veteran leader who always worked for the common man.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he was extremely saddened by the demise of his “friend” and cabinet colleague Gopinath Munde, whom he hailed as a “true mass leader.“
The party and government, he said, stands by the bereaved family members of the 64-year-old leader.
The President, expressing his shock, grief and sorrow over the death of Munde, said that his passing away is a huge loss for the people of Maharashtra and India.
Munde, the Rural Development Minister and the OBC face of BJP in Maharashtra, died apparently of shock and cardiac arrest suffered during a road accident.
Munde, who made his entry into the Union Cabinet for the first time after the Lok Sabha polls, was on his way to the airport when his car was hit by another vehicle.

The Supreme Court has dashed any remnant of hope residents of Campa Cola Compound had by dismissing their fresh plea against demolition.
The Campa Cola Residents Association had filed a new petition to stop the demolition on the grounds that BMC be allowed to regularize the 35 illegal floors across seven buildings in the Worli society.
Their first prayer was that the SC prevent the BMC from going ahead with the demolition till the outcome of the present petition. The BMC said the residents had earlier too made several attempts to delay deadlines and sought extensions through various pleas filed in courts.
The residents said new facts had emerged through Right to Information queries made from the BMC about its plans to regularize the illegal flats earlier. Their plea in court was for directions to the BMC to "adhere to their decisions of regularising the construction as revealed from the letters dated July 3, 1986 and minutes of meeting dated July 23, 1985."
An alternate demand raised by the residents was to have the matter "remanded to the Bombay high court of Mumbai for fresh hearing on the basis of new facts procured under RTI in the interest of justice".

India has made arrangements to evacuate all its nationals, mainly students, from violence-hit Ukrainian city of Lugansk to Kyiv.
The evacuation arrangements were made in cooperation with the Ukrainian government.
Indian authorities have arranged 500 train tickets to evacuate the Indian nationals.
India few days back issued an advisory asking its nationals to leave Donetsk and Lugansk regions in eastern Ukraine which is witnessing frequent violent clashes between pro—Russian separatists and government forces.
In the advisory, it also asked citizens in the other parts of eastern and southern Ukraine to remain vigilant about their personal safety and security.
Eastern Ukraine is witnessing a fierce escalation of violence between the two sides over the past few days.
The violence started after Russia annexed Crimea — an autonomous peninsula within Ukraine with a Russian ethnic majority — in March following which the pro—Russian rebels seized control of parts of eastern Ukraine and demanded its independence.

The Obama administration unveiled a plan to cut carbon dioxide emissions from power plants by nearly a third over the next 15 years, in a sweeping initiative to curb pollutants blamed for global warming.
Under the plan, expected to be finalised next year, carbon emissions would be reduced 30 per cent by 2030, compared to 2005 levels. It is a centerpiece of Obama’s plans to tackle climate change and aims to give the United States more leverage to prod other countries to act when negotiations on a new international treaty resume next year.
But the proposal sets off a complex regulatory process, steeped in politics, in which the 50 states will each determine how to meet customized targets set by the Environmental Protection Agency.
The policy change, which will further diminish the role of coal in U.S. electrical production, carries significant political and legal risks.
Initially, Obama wanted each state to submit their plans by June 2016. But the draft proposal shows states could have until 2017 and 2018, if they join with other states to tackle the problem.

Despite intense pressure and widespread anticipation, the Raghuram Rajan-led Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has decided to keep the policy rate unchanged.
In doing so, it has indicated that it is prepared for a wait-and-watch approach.
Perhaps, it has chosen to await the maiden budget of the Narendra Modi Government at the Centre so as to get a sense of direction of the new fiscal managers.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has kept the policy repo rate under the liquidity adjustment facility (LAF) unchanged at 8.0 per cent. It has also decided to keep the cash reserve ratio (CRR) of scheduled banks unchanged at 4.0 per cent of net demand and time liabilities (NDTL).
However, it has reduced the statutory liquidity ratio (SLR) of scheduled commercial banks by 50 basis points from 23.0 per cent to 22.5 per cent.
The apex bank has also decided to continue to provide liquidity under 7-day and 14-day term repos of up to 0.75 per cent of NDTL of the banking system.
Consequently, the reverse repo rate under the LAF will remain unchanged at 7.0 per cent, and the marginal standing facility (MSF) rate and the Bank Rate at 9.0 per cent.

Helped by healthy growth in electricity, fertilizers, cement and coal, the output of eight core industries increased 4.2 per cent in April, up from 2.5 per cent in the previous month.
The growth of the eight core sector in April, 2013, was 3.7 per cent.
Electricity production increased 11.2 per cent in April this year from 3.5 per cent in the same month last year.
Similarly, fertilizers, cement and coal registered higher growth during the month under review.
Fertilizers, cement and coal recorded a growth 11.1 per cent, 6.7 per cent and 3.3 per cent, respectively, in April, according to the data released by Commerce and Industry Ministry .
Coal, crude oil, natural gas, refinery products, fertilizers, steel, cement and electricity sectors had expanded 2.7 per cent in 2013-14. The eight industries have a combined weight of about 38 per cent in the Index of Industrial Production. Steel production increased 3.1 per cent compared with 10.1 per cent in the same month last year. Crude oil, natural gas and petroleum refinery product sectors contracted 0.1 per cent, 7.7 per cent and 2.2 per cent, respectively, in April.

India's top batsman Virat Kohli has won the Ceat International Cricketer of the Year award while off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin, the fastest player from the country to pick 100 Test wickets, bagged the Indian Player of the Year award for 2013-14.
Left-handed opener Shikhar Dhawan was named the International Player of the Year while Robin Uthappa, who was part of the triumphant Karnataka Ranji Trophy team, clinched the Domestic Cricketer of the Year honour.
Kohli had won the best player award in 2011-12 too. India's under-19 cricketer Vijay Zol got the Young Player of the Year award while yesteryear stumper Syed Kirmani, one of the finest behind the stumps who was also part of the 1983 World Cup winning team, was honoured with the Lifetime Achievement Award. Kirmani played in 88 Tests and 49 ODIs.
Australian Mitchell Johnson, who was instrumental in his country winning the Ashes Series in overwhelming fashion against England at home, and compatriot Glenn Maxwell received the Test Player of the Year and Popular Choice awards respectively, while Bangladesh all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan got the T20 Player of the award.