Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 08 August 2014

Committee set up to review Parliament security

• Security of Parliament, which was targeted by terrorists 13 years back, is set to be strengthened further with a special committee being set up to suggest measures for it within a month.
• The committee will be headed by former Union Home Secretary R.K. Singh and will include former Rajasthan DGP Harish Chandra Meena and former Mumbai Police Commissioner Satyapal Singh.
• The committee would give suggestions on training, adequacy of manpower and other relevant issues. It would also review all security equipments installed and future projections for further strengthening security.
• In the previous Lok Sabha, a committee on security in Parliament complex, headed by then Deputy Speaker Karia Munda, was set up in the aftermath of the pepper spray attack inside Lok Sabha by a Congress MP that sparked massive outrage.
• This committee had examined security-related matters, which also included ways to prevent bringing of dangerous and life-threatening material into the chamber of the House by the Members of Parliament themselves.

No change in UPSC exam dates: Govt.

• The government decided to convene an all-party meeting on the issue even as it ruled out postponement of the examinations slated for 24th of August.
• Govt. said the status quo remained on the government’s view for exclusion from gradation or merit the English comprehension skills component of the Civil Services Aptitude Test in the preliminary examination and for an additional attempt in 2015 for those who took CSAT in 2011.

SC restrains Haryana SGMC from taking control of Gurdwaras

• The Supreme Court restrained the Haryana Sikh Gurdwaras Management Committee (HSGMC) from taking control of 51 of the 52 Gurdwaras in the State.
• The bench, hearing a writ petition questioning the constitutional validity of the law enacted by Haryana government directed that status quo be maintained in respect of other Gurdwaras.
• The Bench also directed the SGPC and HSGMC to open separate bank accounts with regard to the Gurdwaras under their management and possession and deposit all the offerings in that account.

WTO imbroglio: India not for 1986-87 as base year

• India has offered fixing of the base year for food subsidies on the basis of average of last three years, as opposed to 1986-87 as proposed by WTO, as a way forward for an agreement at the WTO.

• India did a ‘course correction’ on the position taken at the Bali ministerial conference. Explaining the changed stance, the Govt. said India insisted on a ‘single undertaking principle’ to ensure simultaneous implementation of nine plus one issues which the Ministers had agreed at Bali.

• Govt said it is not alone in this matter, it said that India and other LDCs were willing to wait till September 2014, for every one to convince each other.

Pakistan Rangers to hand over BSF constable

• The Border Security Force (BSF) constable who was captured by Pakistani Rangers, after he was swept away by the strong currents of Chenab in Jammu and Kashmir, would be handed over to Indian agencies.
• The hand-over of Satyasheel Yadav (30), who is posted with the BSF’s water wing, would take place at a sector commander-level meet.
• The jawan was on patrol with three other BSF personnel in the Paragwal-Khour sub-sector along the Line of Control when their boat developed a snag. He fell into the river and was swept away to the Pakistani side. He was subsequently apprehended by Pakistani forces.

Israel agrees to extend Gaza ceasefire

• Israel has agreed to extend beyond Friday a 72-hour ceasefire that has halted a month of fighting in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip.
• The 72-hour ceasefire, which came into effect on Tuesday, has brought relief to millions on both sides after one month of fighting killed nearly 1,900 Palestinians and 67 people in Israel, mostly soldiers.
• United Nations chief Ban Ki-moon urged a permanent end to the cycle of Israeli and Palestinian violence. Indirect talks between Palestinian factions and Israel have been taking place, mediated by Egypt, to broker a long-term ceasefire.
• Israel and Palestine, both sides are digging in their positions as negotiations continue in Cairo on a lasting truce and reconstruction for the war-battered coastal territory.

Iraqi militants seize country's largest dam

• Sunni militants from the Islamic State group seized Iraq’s largest dam, placing them in control of enormous power and water resources and access to the river that runs through the heart of Baghdad.

• After a week of attempts, the radical Islamist gunmen successfully stormed the Mosul Dam and forced Kurdish forces to withdraw from the area.

• The Mosul Dam or Saddam Dam as it was once known is located north of Iraq’s second—largest city Mosul, which fell to the militants on June 10. Fighting intensified in the region after the nearby towns of Zumar and Sinjar fell to the militants.

• The al—Qaeda—breakaway group has established its idea of an Islamic state in the territory it controls in Iraq and Syria, imposing its harsh interpretation of Islamic law. Iraqi government forces, Kurds and allied Sunni tribal militiamen have been struggling to dislodge the Islamic State militants and its Sunni allies with little apparent success.

• The seizing of dams and reservoirs gives the militants control over water and electricity that they could use to help build support in the territory they now rule by providing the scarce resources to residents. Or they could sell the resources as a lucrative source of revenue.

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Kapil to head Arjuna Awards selection committee (Register and Login to read Full News..)

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Sources: Various News Papers & PIB

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