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Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 08 December 2014

National

No consensus among Chief Ministers on panel revamp

• There was no consensus among Chief Ministers at a meeting specially convened by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the nature of the body that should replace the Planning Commission.
• Congress Chief Ministers questioned the Government’s approval to scrap the Planning Commission, which was announced by the Prime Minister on August 15. Instead, they demanded that the Centre reinvent the plan panel rather than scrapping it and replacing it with a new body.
• At the consultation meeting, the Centre and States also couldn’t reach any agreement on whether India should retain or scrap five-year plans and the annual State plans.
• Briefing reporters after the meeting Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said the Centre would hold further consultations to decide on the alternative mechanism to transfer funds from the Centre to the States for Central Plan Assistance.
• He said that at the meeting, there was broad consensus on three points: federalism must be strengthened, States must get more powers and they must have greater flexibility to implement schemes and programmes.
• “All States agreed that the principle of one-size-fits-all as far as the design and format of schemes and programmes go does not work,” Mr. Jaitley said. He also said that all States were in favour of cooperative federalism.
• Sunday’s consultations follow a decision of the Cabinet on August 13, to repeal the March 15, 1950 Resolution by which the Planning Commission was set up.
• Mr. Modi said “Team India” was a combination of three teams — the Prime Minister and Chief Ministers; the Union Council of Ministers; and the bureaucracy in the Centre and States.

Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) hand seen in Uri attack says Army

• The Army said it had enough evidence to show that the six terrorists who carried out the attack on its camp in Uri belonged to the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and were supported by the Pakistani establishment and highly trained for special operations.
• General Officer Commanding (GoC) of the Army’s 15 Corps Lt. General Subrata Saha said the GPS recovered from the slain militants pointed to a staging area north of Jhelum across the Line of Control (LoC).
• Lt. Gen. Saha said the incidents in Nowgam sector, in which six militants and a JCO were killed, and in Uri sector were not routine infiltration attempts.
• “The markings on the warlike and logistic stores, whether it was food, ammunition or medicines, indicate that they were of Pakistani origin. The terrorists were heavily armed and had enough food to last several days,” he said.

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International

China launches a major water supply project in Sri Lanka

• China has started a major water supply project in Sri Lanka, using “soft power” to deepen its relationship with Colombo.
• The China Machinery Engineering Corporation (CMEC) has launched the $230-million enterprise — the largest ever undertaken by the Sri Lankan government, Xinhua quoted an official as saying.
• The Chinese company had earlier been involved in the construction of the $1.2-billion Lakvijaya coal fired power plant in Sri Lanka.
• Once completed, the project will yield clean drinking water for 600,000 people in 42 villages not far from Colombo.
• The CMEC will build a water treatment plant with a supply capacity of 54,000 cubic meters a day and other infrastructure within three years. That would include laying over 1,000 km of pipes.
• Analysts say the new venture is one of several steps that Beijing and Colombo have taken to consolidate their relationship. China sees Sri Lanka as one of the important elements of the Maritime Silk Road (MSR), which will connect its Fujian province with Europe.
• The MSR would transit through the Indian Ocean via India, Sri Lanka, Maldives, and Nairobi in Kenya. It would terminate in Venice after crossing into the Mediterranean via the Suez Canal.
• Analysts say New Delhi is carefully observing China’s growing relationship with Sri Lanka and Maldives — two countries with which India has had a special relationship.
• China is also engaged in the expansion of Hambantota Port in southern Sri Lanka, with two loans of $600 million and one billion Yuan, the website of the Sri Lanka Ports authority said.
• The dollar-denominated loan will come from the Exim Bank of China and the the Yuan loan from the Chinese government. The first phase of the Hambantota port was also financed by China.

Protests in California against black killings turn violent

• Protests in California against a spate of recent killings of young African-American suspects turned violent, as demonstrators looted shops and hurled objects at police and injured several officers, officials said.
• Police in Berkeley used tear gas against the crowd, said police spokeswoman Jennifer Coats, as some demonstrators smashed store windows and looted shops.
• Some protesters launched canisters of smoke and tear gas back at police, while others could be seen smashing store windows with skateboards.
• Several buildings were damaged, including a bank and grocery store, while numerous civilian and police cars were also vandalised.
• Ms. Coats said the number of arrests and injuries was not known. But many demonstrators remained peaceful, and appealed for calm.
• “Why are you people looting? There’s no need, we’re peacefully protesting. You shouldn’t be taking stuff from stores that aren’t bothering us,” said one woman on CNN.
• Thousands of demonstrators gathered across the United States for a fourth consecutive night to condemn a grand jury decision not to charge the white officer in the July 17 chokehold death of black father of six Eric Garner in New York.
• Protests were largely peaceful from New York — where “die-ins” was staged as people lay down in Grand Central Station — to Washington, where several roads and a central bridge were closed.
• The decision not to indict the officer comes after another grand jury in the St. Louis suburb Ferguson also decided not to indict a white officer who shot dead Michael Brown, an unarmed black teenager.

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Business & economy

ICICI Bank announced a hike in ATM charges from Jan 1

• Country’s largest private sector lender ICICI Bank has announced a hike in its ATM charges for saving account holders from January 1 next year.
• Under the new method, the number of free transactions in a month is fixed at five using own ATMs, while it has been capped at three for other banks’ machines.
• Customers can enjoy only five free transactions, including financial and non-financial, at the bank’s own automated teller machines (ATM), it said in a post on its website.
• After exceeding the free transaction limits, customers will have to pay Rs 20 per financial transaction excluding service tax and Rs 8.50 for every non-financial transaction, it said.
• For transactions at non-ICICI Bank ATMs, the number of free financial and non-financial transactions have been reduced to three per month at six metros of Mumbai, New Delhi, Chennai, Kolkata, Bengaluru and Hyderabad, after which the customer will have to pay Rs 20 for a financial transaction and Rs 8.50 per non-financial transaction.
• In case of usage in non-metro areas, a customer can enjoy five free transactions per month at non-ICICI Bank ATMs, after which the same charges apply, it said.
• The issue of ATM usage has been a very contentious one due to the inter-connect charges a bank has to pay to the other.
• Additionally, the operating costs have also gone up, following a spate of incidents at the ATMs like the robbery at Bengaluru last year, which started the debate on transaction charges.
• After consultations, the RBI last month started a system under which it allowed banks to charge from the fourth transaction onwards at other banks’ ATMs in metros, and also gave the liberty to banks to charge customers for the sixth transaction onwards at own machines.

Indian Engineering exports to China decline in October

• Indian engineering exports to China dropped nearly 50 per cent in October. Exports fell to $310 million against $612 million in October 2013, according to the Union Commerce Ministry’s Engineering Export Promotion Council of India (EEPC).
• As a result, India’s total engineering exports declined 9.36 per cent to $5.03 billion in October.
• Total iron and steel exports shrank by 18 per cent to $704 million in October. India exported $858 million of iron and steel products in the same month last year, mainly to China.
• “As the Euro zone and the EU battle the slowdown and on and off recession, the impact was evident on exports of Indian engineering goods to these markets.
• The slowdown of the Chinese economy was clearly visible on India’s exports,” the EEPC said in a statement.
• As per the EEPC India analysis, consignments to U.K. were down 29 per cent to $169 mn from $238 mn a year ago.
• Likewise, shipments to Italy at $127 million were 22 per cent lower than $163 million in October 2013. Exports of engineering items to Germany fell over four per cent to $163 million from $171 million.

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Sports

India beats Colombia in WSF world women’s team squash

• India, playing for lower placings, defeated Colombia 2-0 in the 13-16 semifinals of the WSF world women’s team squash championship at the Niagara-on-the-lake venue in Canada.
• India plays Mexico next for the 13th position.
• The results (13th-16th semifinals):
• India bt Colombia 2-0 (Joshna Chinappa bt Catalina Pelaez 11-1, 11-5, 13-11; Anaka Alankamony bt Laura Tovar 11-9, 11-7, 11-5).

Science & technology

Pluto-bound spacecraft ends hibernation to begin an unprecedented mission

• After nine years and a journey of 4.8 billion km, NASA's New Horizons robotic probe awoke from hibernation to begin an unprecedented mission to study the icy dwarf planet Pluto and sibling worlds in its Kuiper Belt home.
• A pre-set alarm clock roused New Horizons from its electronic slumber at 3 p.m. EST (2000 GMT), though ground control teams didn't receive confirmation until just after 9:30 p.m. (0230 GMT on Sunday).
• New Horizons is now so far away that radio signals travelling at the speed of light take four hours and 25 minutes to reach Earth.
• The scientific observation of Pluto, its entourage of moons and other bodies in the solar system's frozen backyard begins January 15, program managers said. The closest approach is expected on July 14.
• Pluto lies in the Kuiper Belt, a region of icy mini-planets orbiting the sun beyond Neptune that are believed to be leftover remains from the formation of the solar system some 4.6 billion years ago. It is the last unexplored region of the solar system.
• "It's hard to underestimate the evolution that's taking place in our view of the architecture and content of our solar system as a result of the discovery ... of the Kuiper Belt," lead researcher Alan Stern said.
• Since its discovery in 1930, Pluto has been a mystery. Scientists struggled to explain why a planet with a radius of just 740 miles (1,190 km) - about half the width of the United States - could come to exist beyond the giant worlds of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune.
• In 1992, astronomers discovered that Pluto, located about 40 times farther away from the sun than Earth, was not alone in the far reaches of the solar system, prompting the International Astronomical Union to reconsider its definition of "planet."

Stem cells research hold new hope for baldness

• New procedures are being evolved in different therapies and surgical methods to extend the benefits of stem cell research and its applications to the needy people with better and effective results.
• “This has not only revolutionised bio-technology sector as a whole but also contributed immensely to the therapeutic procedures in a variety of areas.
• Cosmetology is no exception to this and people are deriving lot of benefit out of this,” said cosmetologist Dr. G. Radhika Reddy.
• Addressing an awareness meeting held at their newly established Angels Advanced Clinic at Ramalingapuram, Dr. Reddy said the biggest advantage with the Stem cells cause a healthy multiplication of cells in a specific part of the body where it would be introduced.
• This had indeed become a boon for the public seeking natural relief from various illnesses including skin and hair related disorders.
• In the case of chronic problem of hair loss, Dr. Radhika said that the stem cell would be injected into the scalp in the form of a liquid. It would reactivate the weakened hair roots leading to re-growth and new growth of hair.