Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 06 December 2014

Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 06 December 2014

National

Terrorists tried to attack Indian democracy: Narender Modi

• A day after terror strikes rocked the Kashmir Valley, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said terrorists tried to attack Indian democracy but brave jawans sacrificed their lives protecting the country’s security.
• The Prime Minister also paid tributes to martyrs who laid down their lives while fighting militants.
• “Terrorists tried to attack the democracy of India. But the brave jawans scarified their lives protecting the country’s security,” he told an election rally in Hazaribagh, Jharkhand.
• “I pay my tributes to Jharkhand’s brave son Sankalp Kumar Shukla and other brave jawans who scarified their lives. Sankalp Kumar Shukla’s martyrdom will be remembered by future generations in the state,” he said.
• Kashmir Valley was rocked by four attacks by militants from across the border, who stormed an army camp in Uri leaving 11 security personnel including Lt Colonel Sankalp Kumar dead and killed two civilians in Tral.
• The attacks and gun battles with security forces left in all 21 people dead. Among them was a top commander of Pakistan-based terror outfit LeT and seven militants.
• Mr. Modi, who will be holding a rally in Srinagar city, had condemned the terror attacks as “desperate attempts” to derail the atmosphere of hope created by the increased voter turnout and saluted the soldiers who laid down their lives for the nation.

International

China invites India for ‘Indo-Pacific’ partnership

• China is looking towards India for establishing an “Indo-Pacific era,” based on shared interests in developing new routes to Europe, and avoiding the “Asia Pivot” doctrine of the United States.
• People’s Daily, the official newspaper of the Chinese government is running a commentary that analyses India’s “Look East,” and now “Act East” foreign policy that is being steered by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
• The commentary, which first appeared in the Global Times — a daily affiliated with the Communist Party of China, acknowledges that Mr. Modi “wants a peaceful and stable periphery that will allow him to concentrate on domestic economic structural reform and infrastructure building.”
• It points out that the Prime Minister wants India to become a manufacturing hub, and deliver his promise of building “a powerful India in a decade.”
• In pursuit of its ambitious goals, the government needs to maintain “stable relations with China, Pakistan and other countries, and needs to absorb investment and technologies from countries like China, Japan and Singapore,” the daily observed.
• The write-up, acknowledges that the “Indian government and scholars” have not endorsed the “Asia-Pacific geo-strategy” scripted by countries such as the United States and Japan, which aims to “balance and even contain China’s increasing influence in the Asia-Pacific region and the Indian Ocean.”
• Also called the “Asia Pivot,” Mr. Obama’s “rebalance” doctrine aims to amass forces on China’s periphery with the help of allies — chiefly Japan, South Korea, Australia and the Philippines.
• Without biting into a collective U.S.-led approach, India “has enhanced its strategic and military cooperation with countries around China, such as Japan, Vietnam and Australia.”

Watson’s Nobel medal sells for $4.7 million (Register and Login to read Full News..)  

Women-centric reports win ‘IPI-India Award’ (Register and Login to read Full News..) 

Persons in news

Narender Modi named as ‘Asian of the Year’

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi was named ‘Asian of the Year’ by Singapore Press Holdings Limited, publisher of The Straits Times for being focused on India’s development and getting the world “excited” about the prospects of the country again.
• “Despite being relatively new to the job, he has already made a mark on Asia, reaching out to neighbours and receiving national leaders including Xi Jinping of China and Tony Abbott of Australia,” the press group said.
• “We look forward to presenting the award to Mr Modi in person at his convenience,” said the paper's foreign editor Ravi Velloor.

Business & economy

India’s Foreign exchange reserves up $1.43 billion

• India’s foreign exchange (Forex) reserves grew by $1.43 billion to $316.31 billion for the week ended Nov 28, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) data showed.
• The reserves had fallen by $672.4 million to $314.87 billion in the week ended Nov 21.
• According to the RBI’s weekly statistical supplement, foreign currency assets, the biggest component of the Forex reserves, rose $1.42 billion at $290.82 billion in the week under review.
• The foreign currency assets had declined $664.3 million at $289.39 billion in the previous week (Nov 21).
• The RBI said the foreign currency assets, expressed in U.S. dollar terms, include the effect of appreciation or depreciation of non-US currencies such as the pound sterling, euro and yen held in reserve.
• India’s reserve position with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) was up $2.5 million to $1.52 billion. The value of special drawing rights (SDRs) was higher by $6.4 million at $4.22 billion.
• The value of gold reserves which was static since Oct 3 at $20.01 billion and had declined by 275 million at $19.73 billion for the week ended Oct 31, stayed the same in the week ended Nov 21.

WB experts to suggest key reforms

• Responding to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's request to World Bank president Jim Yong Kim, a team of World Bank Group experts is currently in India to suggest key reforms and support India’s efforts to improve its business environment.
• Mr. Modi is particularly concerned about India's ‘Doing Business’ ranking that is currently at an abysmally low 142 among 189 countries ranked, down from 140 last year. Improving India’s ranking is essential to the success of the Prime Minister’s pet project ‘Make in India’ and improving investor sentiment in India.
• The team, comprising experts from the World Bank Group’s Trade & Competitiveness Practice, will suggest changes in commercial legislation — at local, state and national levels — so that the government can undertake reform.
• “The team is now in India to meet with public and private sector stakeholders in Delhi and Mumbai to learn about ongoing reform initiatives, discuss potential reform options and the feasibility of their implementation,” Sylvia Solf, Global Product Lead of Indicator-based Reform Advisory of the World Bank Group’s Trade & Competitiveness Practice told. “The team will present a set of recommendations to the Government of India,” she added.
• Prime Minister Narendra Modi had specifically requested the World Bank during his meeting with president Jim Yong Kim earlier this year that a Bank team visit India and suggest reforms in the Doing Business indicators.
• India ranks 142 out of 189 countries in the World Bank’s Doing Business indicators and Mr. Modi is keen to improve India’s rankings and encourage investment for his ‘Make in India’ project.

West can’t be spared for past climate sins: India

• Telling rich nations that they cannot be absolved of their past “sins”, India demanded that they should compensate developing nations for the effects their greenhouse gas emissions have had on climate.
• On the third day of the climate summit here in the Peruvian capital, India said it is “not equitable to talk about what a country is emitting now” because that country could be currently reducing their emissions.
• “This fact does not absolve them [rich nations] of all [past] sins,” Additional Secretary in the Ministry of Environment Susheel Kumar, who is the interim head of the Indian delegation, said.
• He said India believes that developed countries should be held responsible for their high levels of emissions which have caused harm to developing countries, like itself. That responsibility should come in the form of compensation and a fair 2015 Paris agreement.
• Mr. Kumar said India’s goal on adaptation during the 12-day U.N. climate change summit talks is for it “to be there in the entire text”.
• “We would also like a long-term global goal for adaptation to be clearly articulated in qualitative and quantitative terms.” Mr. Kumar said, adding that “for a developing country, adaptation becomes a more immediate need [than mitigation].”
• Ministerial-level talks will begin next week which will be attended by Environment Minister Prakash Javedkar on December 7.
• “India has always been a strong champion for equity,” Mr. Kumar said. India would like developed countries to compensate developing nations for the effects their emissions have had on climate.
• He also referred to the Germanwatch’s Global Climate Risk Index 2015, a study measuring which countries suffer from the most extreme weather-related events based on data from 1994-2013, as a way to quantify adaptation.
• India ranks third behind the Philippines and Cambodia in vulnerability but the index does not take into account India’s much larger population compared to the other two countries.
• Along with State climate action plans submitted by 29 States to the Parliament, Mr. Kumar also mentioned the efforts of the government through the National Adaptation Fund, the goal of which is to provide capacity building, technology and financial support to domestic adaptation projects.

UNEP report says a huge gaps in funding and technology (Register and Login to read Full News..)  

Vulnerable communities are doing things on their own, he said. (Register and Login to read Full News..)  

Click Here to Register for Full News

Click Here for Archive

Sources: Various News Papers & PIB

This is a Part of Online Coaching Programme for IAS Exam