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Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 08 May 2014

WHO Report on Pollution

The 2014 version of the Ambient Air Pollution (AAP) database contains results of monitoring of outdoor air pollution from 1600 cities in 91 countries and it found that Delhi has the highest concentration of PM2.5 - particulate matters less than 2.5 microns - form of air pollution.
According to WHO, this type of concentration is dangerous because it consists of tiny particles that increase the risk of respiratory diseases and other health problems.
The Delhi air has PM2.5 concentrations of 153 micrograms and PM10 concentrations of 286 micrograms, which is much more than the permissible limits.
Beijing, which was once regarded by many as the most polluted cities in the world, has PM2.5 concentration of 56 micrograms and PM10 concentration of 121 micro grammes.
The WHO study covers the database from 2008 to 2013, with the majority of values for the years 2011 and 2012.
WHO added that they have enough to data to compare the air quality in a city today with previous years and all data showed that the problem of air pollution is getting worse.

Clean chit to Amit Shah

The CBI has sought dismissal of the plea by Gopinath Pillai, father of Javed Sheikh alias Pranesh Pillai, who was among those killed with Ishrat Jahan, to arraign Narendra Modi aide Amit Shah and the then Ahmedabad police commissioner K.R. Kaushik in the case. Mr Pillai had cited the resignation letter of suspended IPS officer and an accused in the Ishrat Jahan case D.G. Vanzara in support of his petition.
The agency, in its affidavit further, said that the resignation letter contains general allegations against some persons and not providing any concrete information about the role of Shah in this offence. After receiving the letter, CBI examined Vanzara in the jail. However, he has not disclosed any further details during his examinations”.
The CBI also said there was no evidence against Mr Kaushik to show his involvement in the encounter and so he was made a witness in the case. “During further investigation and evidence collected so far, it appears that Mr Kaushik was not involved in the conspiracy of killing the deceased.

No Special trade benefits for Russia

U.S. President Barack Obama intends to withdraw special privileges granted to Russia because the country is too economically advanced to need preferential treatment reserved for less developed countries.
Mr. Obama notified Congress that he intends to remove Russia from the Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) programme as Moscow is “sufficiently advanced” to warrant any preferential treatment.
Once Russia’s eligibility is withdrawn, which would be effected via a presidential proclamation, U.S. imports of GSP-eligible goods from Russia will be subject to normal, non-preferential rates of duty.
The purpose of the programme, which allowed $19.9 billion in imports to enter the U.S. duty-free in 2012, is to assist developing countries to use trade to boost their economic development.
Russia has advanced beyond the level of economic development and competitiveness for GSP eligibility. As such, Russia should no longer qualify to receive GSP benefits.

Nuclear talks with Iran

Nuclear experts from Iran and six world powers had “a useful meeting” in New York ahead of high-level political talks next week aimed at reaching an agreement to limit Iran’s ability to produce nuclear weapons.
The talks aimed at “further deepening” knowledge on the issues and contributed to preparations for next week’s high-level negotiations on a comprehensive agreement in Vienna.
Russia, the U.N. nuclear agency and outside experts tracking negotiations agree that the Iranians are cooperating and appear to want an agreement that ends crippling sanctions.

Mother tongue in primary schools

The Supreme Court recently held that the government cannot impose mother tongue on linguistic minority for imparting primary education.
The bench, also comprising justices A.K. Patnaik, S.J. Mukhopadhaya, Dipak Misra and F.M. Ibrahim Kalifulla, was hearing the issue which had come before the apex court as two Karnataka government orders of 1994 making mother tongue or regional language compulsory for imparting education from class I to IV, had come under challenge.
In July 2013, a two-judge bench of the apex court had said its Constitution Bench will examine whether government can impose mother tongue or regional language as the medium of instruction at the primary education stage as it has a far-reaching significance on the development of children.
The court, which was of the opinion that it was a fit case for consideration by a larger bench, had said that the issue involved in this case concerns the fundamental rights of not only the present generation but also the generations yet to be born.
It had said that the issue had to be referred to a larger bench as a two-judge bench of the court in 1993 had refused to interfere with a Karnataka government order specifying mother tongue Kannada as the medium of instruction at the primary school level and making it mandatory for every child.

'Global 2000'

Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries leads the pack of 54 Indian companies in Forbes' annual list of the world's 2000 largest and most powerful public companies, with Chinese companies occupying the top three slots on the list.
The Forbes 'Global 2000' is a comprehensive list of the world's largest, most powerful public companies, as measured by revenues, profits, assets and market value.
China is home to the world's top three biggest public companies and five of the top 10.
The US retains its dominance as the country with the most Global 2000 companies at 564.
Japan trails the US with 225 companies in aggregate.
India is home to 54 of the world's biggest companies
Reliance Industries is ranked 135 on the list with a market value of 50.9 billion dollars and 72.8 billion dollars in sales as on May 2014.
Reliance is followed by State Bank of India which is ranked 155 and has a 23.6 billion dollars market value.
The other Indian companies on the list are Oil and Natural Gas ranked 176, ICICI Bank (304), Tata Motors (332), Indian Oil (416), HDFC Bank (422), Coal India (428), Larsen & Toubro (500), Tata Consultancy Services (543), Bharti Airtel (625), Axis Bank (630), Infosys (727), Bank of Baroda (801), Mahindra & Mahindra (803), ITC (830), Wipro (849), Bharat Heavy Electricals (873), GAIL India (955), Tata Steel (983) and Power Grid of India (1011).
Also making the list are Bharat Petroleum (1045), HCL Technologies (1153), Hindustan Petroleum (1211), Adani Enterprises (1233), Kotak Mahindra Bank (1255), Sun Pharma Industries (1294), Steel Authority of India (1329), Bajaj Auto (1499), Hero Motocorp (1912), Jindal Steel & Power (1955), Grasim Industries (1981) and JSW Steel (1990).