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Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 06 August 2014

UPSC exam row disrupts Parliament

Opposition members created an uproar over the UPSC issue trooping into the well and forcing adjournament of the House for half-an-hour. The Lok Sabha too witnessed an adjournment, till 12.30 p.m. over the UPSC row.
Civil Services aspirants also continued their agitation and said they would continue protests as the government had only addressed a “miniscule issue” by doing away with the English component of the Civil Services Aptitude Test (CSAT). They want the entire paper scrapped.

The government will auction captive coal mines to companies engaged in production of steel, cement and sponge iron after obtaining necessary clearances and detailed exploration of the blocks.
Notice Inviting application was issued on February 26, 2014, offering three coal blocks for mining to companies engaged in production of steel, cement and sponge iron.
The Ministry of Coal had offered three blocks for auction for captive use for steel, cement and sponge iron companies — two in Jharkhand and one in West Bengal. The mines have total reserves of 500 million tonnes.
Official auditor CAG had earlier said allotment of 57 mines to private firms without auction had resulted in a notional loss of Rs. 1.8 lakh crore to the exchequer.
Last year, the government had allocated 17 coal mines to Central and State public sector units, including four to NTPC. It had planned to auction 54 coal blocks with total estimated reserves of about 18 billion tonnes.

Former Indian Foreign Service officer Arvind Gupta was appointed as deputy National Security Adviser, a post which fell vacant following the resignation of Nehchal Sandhu.
Mr. Gupta, a 1979 batch officer, will also be Secretary, National Security Council Secretariat (NSCS), an apex advisory body tasked with suggesting to the government on political, economic and strategic security concerns.

The Supreme Court on Tuesday to hear detailed arguments on a petition seeking to extend the legal limit on abortion under the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act (1971).
The petition was filed by the NGO, Human Rights Law Network, on behalf of two women identified as only Mrs. X and Mrs. Y, who suffered pain and indignity caused by the 20-week limit on medical termination of pregnancy.
The petition said this limit extends to even cases of severe fetal abnormalities, forcing women to carry pregnancies to term even where the foetus may not survive delivery.

Israel and Hamas accepted an Egyptian ceasefire proposal meant to halt a bruising month-long war that has claimed nearly 2,000 lives, raising hopes that the bloodiest round of fighting between the bitter enemies could finally be coming to an end.
The war broke out on July 8, 2014 when Israel launched an air offensive in response to weeks of heavy rocket fire out of Hamas-controlled Gaza. It expanded the operation on July 17 by sending in ground forces in what it described as a mission to destroy a network of tunnels used to stage attacks. Israel says the last of the tunnels has nearly been destroyed.
Israel has demanded that Gaza become “demilitarised,” requiring the unlikely cooperation of Hamas in giving up its significant arsenal.

Sources: Various News Papers & PIB

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