Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 05 March 2014

Lok Sabha elections, 2014

The Election Commission has announced a nine-phase poll for the 16th Lok Sabha from April 7 to May 12. The counting of votes will be taken up on May 16. The model code of conduct has come into force with immediate effect. The Lok Sabha has a strength of 543 (excluding two nominated members) and the term of the present 15th Lok Sabha ends on May 31.
The nine phases of polls are to be held on: April 7, 9, 10, 12, 17, 24, 30, May 7 and May 12.
The elections to the 294-member Andhra Pradesh Assembly will be held on April 30 and May 7 along with the respective Lok Sabha constituencies in the State.
It will be three phase poll in Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Assam, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra, two phases in Andhra Pradesh, Manipur, Odisha, Rajasthan and Tripura. All the remaining States and the Union Territories wil have a single phase poll.

Sheila Dikshit, the Congress leader who served three terms as Chief Minister of Delhi, has been appointed the Governor of Kerala.
The decision taken by the union government, which is led by Ms Dikshit's party, has ignited criticism from other political groups especially Arvind Kejriwal's Aam Aadmi Party or AAP.
As Kerala Governor, Ms Dikhsit, who is 75, replaced Nikhil Kumar, a former police commissioner of Delhi who is likely to run for parliament from Bihar.

Voters will be able to exercise the “None of the Above” (NOTA) option for candidates in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.
Chief Election Commissioner V.S. Sampath said the entire election will be held using electronic voting machines (EVMs), and that the NOTA option will also be provided.
The option was first made available in the November-December assembly polls in five states last year.
The Lok Sabha elections will involve a staggering 814 million voters, an increase of some 100 million from 2009, and a sharp rise from the 176 million in the first parliamentary polls of 1952.

Brazil is commemorating the 100-day mark to the World Cup by lighting up tourist attractions with the green and yellow colours of the national flag.
Some monuments, bridges, theatres and World Cup stadiums were lit up across the country to celebrate the milestone.
Among the stadiums illuminated with the national colours were the Mineirao in Belo Horizonte and the Maracana, which will host the final of football’s showcase event in Rio de Janeiro on July 13.
The World Cup begins on June 12 with Brazil playing Croatia in Sao Paulo.

Technology giant Google has launched indoor maps in India that will help users browse through and locate specific locations inside venues like malls and museums.
The service, available as part of Google Maps, is already available in countries like the U.S., Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong and the Netherlands.
The service will be available free to Android and iOS users.
Apart from the metros, indoor maps will cover locations in cities like Bhopal, Coimbatore, Chandigarh, Dehradun, Jaipur, Kochi, Lucknow, Ludhiana and Moradabad.
Apart from malls, indoor maps would be available for National Gallery of Modern Art in Delhi, Salar jung museum in Hyderabad and Hyderabad International Convention Centre.

Switzerland may no longer be a honeymoon spot for tax evaders. A new international standard of tax data sharing is set to make things harder for tax haven networks around the world that have in the past included Switzerland and tiny island nations and enclaves. But India would have to frame new laws to make use of the new system.
The new standard, radically different from the current system, aims to prevent wealth from flowing into financial “black holes” through a systematic global regime of information sharing.
Banks and authorities using secrecy laws to evade governments trying to hunt down black money hoarders could lose much of their power. Past offenders, who have so far easily escaped by moving assets, will be in a fix when information about them gets leaked.
The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) presented a draft framework for the new standard and the finance ministers of the G-20, including India, endorsed it on February 23.
However, there are some loopholes. Vast amounts of illicit money are concealed through anonymity of contributors in trusts and foundations.