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Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 03 September 2014

World Bank rider for pedestrian project

The World Bank has told the Chennai Corporation that its funding of the pedestrian plaza at T. Nagar is conditional. It has advised the civic body to complete a study on environment and the social impact of the proposed pedestrianisation project in that area.
The study by the Chennai Corporation is also expected to assess the impact of the project on ‘reducing extreme poverty’ and ‘promoting shared prosperity’.
The Rs.83-crore pedestrian plaza, part of the T. Nagar redevelopment proposal, had already been approved by the Corporation Council a few months ago.
“Funding for the project will not be approved without a proper study of the social and environmental aspects of such an innovative urban infrastructure project,” said officials.
Work on commissioning the plaza with a commercial theme was expected to begin this month. But the requirement of a new study is likely to delay the project, they said.
The plaza is likely to become operational by May next.
The levels of pollution caused by traffic diversions, the increased number of visitors to T. Nagar, the rise in garbage collection and heightened commercial activity will also be assessed. Displacement of hawkers and impact on their livelihood will be part of the study.

“The increasing intimacy between Tokyo and New Delhi will bring at most psychological comfort to the two countries,” China’s State-run Global Times newspaper said in an editorial .
On the “blossoming personal friendship” between Narendra Modi and his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe, the paper said China-India relations denoted much more than that.
“Abe’s harangue on the Indo-Pacific concept makes Indians comfortable. It is South Asia where India has to make its presence felt… Sino-Indian ties can in no way be counterbalanced by Japan-Indian friendship,” the editorial said.
While mentioning that Mr. Modi had not named China in his remarks in Japan, the paper referred to Japanese and Western public opinion that the comments were directed at China.

A period of 100 days in power is too short to judge any Prime Minister, more so when the man in question, Narendra Modi, had sought five years to show results, and in some sectors such as infrastructure, ten years.
But this is certainly long enough a period to judge the direction of the man and his government.
Mr. Modi’s style has been crticised as authoritarian by the Opposition, but his admirers say it is an assertion of authority.

An Internet video posted purported to show the beheading of another U.S. journalist, Steven Sotloff, by Islamic State, which called it “retribution” for U.S. airstrikes. — AP

The National Commission for Minorities (NCM) has asked the government to send out a clear message to minorities reassuring them that their Constitutional rights would be preserved and protected.
The Commission sent a communication to this effect to the Home and the Minority Affairs Ministries after discussing the complaint against BJP member Yogi Adityanath for a “hate speech” he is said to have delivered.
According to sources, the Commission has taken a serious view of such speeches; particularly by prominent persons.

INS Sumitra , a new-generation naval offshore patrol vessel (NOPV) built by Goa Shipyard Ltd., will be commissioned by the Chief of the Naval Staff, Admiral Robin K. Dhowan, in Chennai.
The state-of-the-art warship will join the Eastern Naval Command in Chennai for maritime surveillance and coastal security.
This largest offshore patrol vessel of the Navy will be the fourth in its class, built on an in-house design of the shipyard.
The ship carries most sophisticated weapons such as guns, heavy-calibre super rapid gun mount, rapid-fire Russian AK630 guns, Kavach chaff launchers and the Sanket electronic warfare system and electronic sensors.

Al-Qaeda-linked Syria rebels who are holding more than 40 United Nations peacekeepers hostage in the Golan Heights are demanding they be expunged from a U.N. terror blacklist, Fiji revealed.
The Pacific nation’s Army chief Mosese Tikoitoga said the rebels also wanted humanitarian aid sent to a small town which is an Al-Nusra Front stronghold just outside Damascus. They are also seeking compensation for three of their fighters who were wounded in recent days.

The Supreme Court denied relief to debt-ridden Kingfisher Airlines challenging the decision of the Grievance Redressal Committee (GRC) of United Bank of India (UBI) to declare the airline and its promoter Vijay Mallya as wilful defaulters.
A Bench of Justices Anil R. Dave and U. U. Lalit refused to entertain the company’s petition seeking a direction to the government allowing liberty to make representation before the UBI’s grievance committee and right to a legal representative.
The airline claimed that it was declared a wilful defaulter without giving it an opportunity to be heard. It submitted, through counsel, that the defaulter order by UBI “blacklists” the company leading to serious consequences.