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Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 06 November 2014

National

Kerala Congress (M) panel to probe conspiracy angle

• The high power committee of the Kerala Congress (M) decided to set up a committee to probe political and other conspiracy angles related to the charges of bribery against its leader and Finance Minister K.M. Mani.
• The meeting, which was also attended by the party’s district presidents, decided to institute legal proceedings against hotelier Biju Ramesh who had raised the frontal allegations against the senior leader.
• Earlier in the day, the State Cabinet threw its weight behind Mr. Mani, expressing solidarity with him, in effect contrasting it with the division in the Left Democratic Front (LDF) and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] over the nature of the probe.
• The UDF leaders virtually sought to capitalise on the latent differences in the LDF, particularly the CPI(M), as a route to bail out its crucial partner.
• Before the Cabinet began, Mr. Mani met Chief Minister Oommen Chandy in the presence of Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala and Industries Minister and IUML leader P.K. Kunhalikutty. It was at this meeting that the leaders arrived at a general understanding not to flare up the issue politically. Sources said Mr. Mani had wanted a government probe into the conspiracy angle, but Mr. Chandy urged him to go slow on this in order to take advantage of the division in the Opposition.
• The KC(M) high power committee met for over four hours in the evening during which the pros and cons of the impact of the charges were discussed.
• The decision to institute a party-level probe into the conspiracy angle only goes to prove the extent of the KC(M) leaders’ suspicion about the charges.
• Addressing the media soon after the meeting, KC(M) working chairman and Water Resources Minister P.J. Joseph said the composition of the party committee had not yet been decided.
• The party had never alleged that there was a political conspiracy or pointed an accusing finger at the Congress, but in the context of the demand of several leaders, the party felt that it had a responsibility to probe the matter.

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International

Pakistan Taliban threatens to attack India

• Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (Jamaat ul-Ahrar), the group that claimed responsibility for the suicide attack at a Pakistani check post near the Wagah border that killed 61 people, has threatened attacks on India next. In a telephone interview to agency Reuters, the spokesperson of the group Ehsanullah Ehsan (assumed name) said. “I have already conveyed it to Modi... that if our suicide bombers can carry out attacks.
• On this side of the border, they can easily do it on other side of the border in India,” he told Reuters by telephone from an undisclosed location.
• “I told him that his hands are red with the blood of Kashmiri mujahideen (fighters) and innocent people of Gujarat for which he would have to pay the price.”
• Ehsan was probably referring to an earlier message on his twitter account, which said, “You (Modi) are the killer of hundreds of Muslims. We wl (will) take the revenge of innocent people of Kashmir and Gugrat” (sic).” The message has since been deleted, but sources said PM Modi has been briefed about the threat since, and security agencies are taking the threat “very seriously”.

Science & technology

Pakistan a big impediment to global polio eradication: report

• The global polio eradication effort will miss yet another deadline — that of stopping transmission of all naturally-occurring ‘wild’ polio viruses by the end of this year, a vital first step in completing a task that began in 1988 and was to have been achieved by the year 2000.
• The latest report from the Independent Monitoring Board (IMB), which produces periodic assessments of how the global programme is faring, makes for sombre reading. The virus remains out of control in Pakistan. In Africa, Ebola has complicated the task of wiping out the virus.
• In the nine months from January to September this year, polio paralysis had increased five-fold in Pakistan compared to the same period last year while in the rest of the world it had been reduced seven-fold.
• Many polio cases in neighbouring Afghanistan were caused by the Pakistan virus. This virus had also gone to Syria and Iraq, and paralysed children there.
• “Pakistan’s polio programme is a disaster,” says the IMB in its report. “It continues to flounder hopelessly, as its virus flourishes. Home to 80 per cent of the world’s polio cases in 2014, Pakistan is now the major stumbling block to global polio eradication.”
• Instead of the virus being restricted to a dwindling number of pockets, it was present in every province in the country. In key areas, fewer children were being vaccinated than two years back and immunity had plummeted.
• Less than a quarter of vaccination campaigns carried out over the past year met the required 80 per cent coverage. The fact that the virus has been circulating for six months in a metropolis like Lahore “clearly demonstrates deteriorating accountability and oversight.”
• In May this year, the Board had recommended that Pakistan create an Emergency Operations Centre, as Nigeria had done, to oversee its polio programme. But the country had shown “characteristically little urgency” in doing so, and the plan put forward by it for this purpose was “a pale imitation of its vibrant Nigerian counterpart,” lacking the clear and powerful leadership that characterised the latter.

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Business & economy

India, Russia agree on negotiations for Free Trade Agreement

• For the first time India and Russia have agreed on negotiations for a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between India & the Customs Union of Belarus, Kazakhstan & Russia.
• As reported earlier, the agreement marks the first FTA negotiations initiated by the NDA government, and discussed by visiting Russian Deputy Prime Minister Rogozin and Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj during the 20th session of India-Russia Inter-Governmental Commission (IRIGC) in New Delhi.
• The Indo-Russian Inter-Governmental Commission on Trade, Economics, Scientific, Technological and Cultural Cooperation (IRIGC-TEC) oversees 20 working groups covering trade, economic, scientific, technological and cultural cooperation.
• Other major decisions include proposals for establishment of a ‘Smart City’ in India by the Russian company “Sistema,” joint cooperation for development of potassium and magnesium deposits in Russia, project for launching telecommunication satellites “NextStar” in the geostationary orbit of the Earth on low cost platforms and projects in high end computing. As expected, the focus was largely on boosting economic cooperation.
• Mr. Rogozin also co-chaired the eighth India-Russia Forum for Trade and Investments, an active business forum between the two countries, along with the Minister of State for Commerce & Industries Nirmala Sitharaman.

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Sports

MS Dhoni as captain of ICC’ ‘ODI Team of the Year’

• Mahendra Singh Dhoni was named captain of ICC’ ‘ODI Team of the Year’ but none of the Indian players found berth in governing body’s ‘Test Team of the Year’ led by Sri Lankan Angelo Mathews.
• The ICC cricket committee headed by former India captain Anil Kumble announced the two teams consisting of 12 players each.
• While 12-member ODI team for performance during 2014 had Dhoni as captain along with his Indian team deputy Virat Kohli and pacer Mohammed Shami in the XI, opener Rohit Sharma has been named as the 12th man.
• The 12-member ‘ODI team’ comprises of four Indian players, three South African players, two Australians, one Pakistani, one Sri Lankan.
• This is the seventh year in a row that Dhoni has made it to the ICC’s ‘ODI’ side while Dale Steyn made it to the ‘Test’ for the seventh year in succession.
• However due to their 1-3 series defeat in England and 0-1 Test series loss to New Zealand earlier this year, the committee didn’t find any of the Indian cricketers worthy enough to make the cut in the ‘Test team’ of 2014.
• The ‘Test team’ has two Australians, three New Zealanders, two from England, three Sri Lankans and two from South Africa.
• The Chairman of the LG ICC Awards Selection Panel, Anil Kumble, said: “I would like to congratulate all the players for their selection in the teams of the year. It is an achievement to be proud of and recognition for their good performances in the qualifying period.
• “Team selection is one of the toughest jobs and when you have a large pool of outstanding players to select from in a 12—month period between 26 August 2013 and 17 September 2014, then it becomes even more difficult.” Statistics were available as a guide but were not necessarily the overwhelming factor in the choices made.