Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 09 January 2015

:: National ::

NRIs can energise India: Narender Modi

• The phase when Indians travelled abroad in search of opportunity is over and now India beckons its overseas citizens as a land of opportunity, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in his inaugural address at the ongoing Pravasi Bharatiya Divas.

• “Our forefathers went to far off lands in search of opportunity. They endured long journeys and carved a niche for themselves wherever they went. There was also a phase where educated Indians and professionals went abroad for more exposure or better prospects.

• Perhaps that phase was necessary. But today opportunities await you on Indian soil. Time has changed rapidly and the world is looking at India with hope. An Indian in any corner of the world has become a symbol of strength. The world is ready to embrace us and we must be ready for the world,” Mr. Modi said.

• Reminding the diaspora that he had delivered on his promises made to them before coming to power, he said the government worked to merge Person of Indian Origin (PIO) and Overseas Citizenship of India (OCI) schemes, making way for a one-time visa.

• Overseas Indians would also be exempt from weekly police reporting. Mr. Modi said these measures were not merely a matter of ease of administration, but of self-respect as well.

Relief to Sunil Mittal, Ravi Ruia in Spectrum case

• In a relief to Bharti Cellular Ltd. CMD Sunil Bharti Mittal and Essar Group promoter Ravi Ruia, the Supreme Court set aside the order of the special court summoning them as accused in a corruption case related to allocation of additional spectrum during NDA rule in 2002.

• “The legal principle has been wrongly applied. We set aside the order of the special court,” a bench comprising Chief Justice H.L. Dattu and justices Madan B. Lokur and A.K. Sikri said.

• The bench said, “We are giving liberty to the special judge that if at any stage any material is found, he has every right to summon them (as accused).” The apex court had on December 4 last year, reserved the verdict after hearing counsel for corporate honchos and the CBI.

• Earlier during the arguments, senior advocate F.S. Nariman, appearing for Mr. Mittal, had told the apex court that the trial court erred in summoning his client despite the fact that the CMD was not named as accused in the charge sheet by the CBI.

• Mr. Nariman had told the bench that there was “nothing unusual” in the alleged assertion that Mr. Mittal had meetings with then Telecom Minister Pramod Mahajan and then Telecom Secretary Shyamal Ghosh.

• Earlier, CBI, which had not charged Mr. Mittal and Mr. Ruia, had defended the decision of a Special CBI judge to summon them as accused.

• The apex court was hearing petitions seeking setting aside of the order of a Special CBI Judge by which Mr. Ruia and Mr. Mittal, whose name did not figure in CBI’s charge sheet as accused, were summoned on March 19, 2013.

:: International ::

U.S. looks forward to working with new Sri Lankan President

• The U.S. looks forward to working with Sri Lankan president-elect Maithripala Sirisena, Secretary of State John Kerry said, as he commended outgoing President Mahinda Rajapaksa for accepting the election results.

• “I look forward to working with President-elect Maithripala Sirisena as his new government works to implement its campaign platform of a Sri Lanka that is peaceful, inclusive, democratic, and prosperous,” Mr. Kerry said in a statement soon after Mr. Rajapaksa conceded defeat.

• “I commend President Rajapaksa for accepting the results of the election in the proud tradition of peaceful and orderly transfers of power in Sri Lanka. His words about accepting the verdict of the people and moving forward are important,” Mr. Kerry said.

• Mr. Rajapaksa had called the election two years ahead of schedule, hoping to win a record third six-year term before the defeat of the Tamil Tigers fades in the memory of the people of the island which saw a three decades war over the demand of a separate Tamil Eelam.

• There was an unusual high voter turn-out for the elections held. “The Sri Lankan people deserve great credit on the successful conclusion of their elections. They turned out in great numbers to exercise their democratic rights and every vote was a victory for Sri Lanka,” Mr. Kerry said.

• “The United States applauds the Sri Lankan Elections Commissioner, the security forces, Sri Lankan civil society, and the candidates themselves for making sure this election was not marred by unrest and for ensuring a significant drop in campaign-related violence. It will be important for that effort to continue in the coming days,” he added.

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:: Business & Economy ::

Consumer durable firms hike prices

• Consumer durable firms, including Haier, Whirlpool, Panasonic, Godrej Appliances and Daikin, are increasing the prices of their products by up to 5 per cent following the withdrawal of excise duty sops, coupled with high input costs.
• “With excise duty concessions ending, the price hike was inevitable. We will also increase our prices in the range of 3-5 per cent depending on models,” Haier India President Eric Braganza told PTI.
• The price hike was effective on new stocks, he said. Another major player in the consumer durables segment, Godrej Appliances, is also mulling a similar step.
• “We are revising prices of our products by 3-5 per cent depending on different models,” Godrej Appliances Business Head and Executive Vice President Kamal Nandi said.
• Two major factors had led to price hike — 2 per cent increase in excise duty and weakening of the rupee against the dollar that had increased input costs — he added.
• The government decided against extending excise duty concessions given to the consumer durables industry from December 31. The excise duty on the sector is now at 12 per cent up from 10 per cent.
• Panasonic India and South Asia Managing Director Manish Sharma said the government’s decision of not extending excise duty cut on consumer durables would hit the buyer sentiment and impact sales.

Cotton Corporation of India to start sale of cotton

• The Cotton Corporation of India (CCI) plans to start selling the cotton, which it purchased at the minimum support price (MSP) from the market, from January 15.

• CCI director (marketing) M. M. Chockalingam told that the Corporation had so far purchased 40 lakh bales. It planned to sell 10,000 bales every day and measures would be taken to ensure there was no fluctuation in prices.

• The CCI was now present in 341 centres and purchasing cotton actively in about 150 centres. In the southern States, the CCI purchased 70-80 per cent of arrivals and in Gujarat and Maharashtra, it was about 10-15 per cent of spot arrivals.

• Traders are active in these two States, and are purchasing cotton at more than the MSP. The total purchases by the Corporation this season (October, 2014, to September, 2015) at MSP is expected to go up to 100 lakh bales.

• Trade sources here said arrivals had picked up, and over two lakh bales of cotton were coming to the market every day. Though there were no quality issues, export demand was almost nil and domestic mills were buying only limited stocks.

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:: Sports ::

Indian team needs to sort out its bowling combinations says Srinath

• Former India pace spearhead Javagal Srinath has raised doubts about the team’s bowling attack ahead of the upcoming ODI cricket World Cup though he has rated the defending champions’ batting line-up as the strongest going into the showpiece event.

• “India must sort out its bowling combinations and resources at the earliest. It needs someone to lead the attack and it needs to zero in on the bowlers who Dhoni and the team management believe will play in all the matches of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015,” Srinath wrote in an ICC column.

• The 45-year-old Karnataka cricketer has played in three 50-over World Cups, from 1992 to the 2003 edition in South Africa. “At this point, Bhuvneshwar Kumar seems the best bet to do that (lead the attack), unless Ishant Sharma finds his line and length and leads from the front.

• India’s bowling form will be thoroughly tested during the tri-series preceding the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015,” Srinath wrote. He added, “Midway through this tri-series, Dhoni should have decided what his first choice bowling attack will be for the duration of ICC’s pinnacle event.

• There will be some experimentation early on, but by the time the tri-series is over, India should have its best 11 in place, the team it believes will take it all the way to the title.”

• Among the spinners, Srinath said Ashwin is an “automatic choice” in the playing XI. “The balance of the team will determine whether if India will play a second spinner or an additional medium-pacer.” He heaped praise on the Indian batting line-up.

• “India’s batting is well set with the likes of Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane and Suresh Raina, not to mention MS Dhoni himself,” Srinath said.

• “This is amply reflective of the strength at the top of the batting order, so perhaps the selectors might have felt that keeping Vijay in the squad was a bit of a luxury they could not afford.

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:: Science & Technology ::

Bangladesh’s estuarine islands are sinking

• Bangladesh’s estuarine islands are sinking, and ironically, this could owe to embankments built to protect them from tidal erosion. Some islands have sunk by as much as 1.5 metres in the last 50 years, says a study published recently in the journal Nature Climate Change.

• The over 50 large islands in southwest Bangladesh, once forested but now primarily rice growing, were embanked in the 1960s and 1970s to protect them against tidal and storm-surge inundation.

• But these earthen embankments, while buffering them against floods, have also prevented the deposition of sediment that helps maintain an elevation in this area.

• The loss of elevation was felt most significantly during the 2009 cyclone Alia when large areas of land were left inundated for upto two years. “Despite sustained human suffering during this time, the newly reconnected landscape received tens of centimetres of tidally deposited sediment, equivalent to decades’ worth of normal sedimentation,” says the paper.

• Deforestation and a regionally increased tidal range have contributed to the phenomenon, say the researchers from Vanderbilt University, Tennessee, U.S. and Khulna University, Bangladesh.

• Interestingly, while these islands in the Ganges–Brahmaputra river delta are fast submerging, putting millions of inhabitants at risk of flooding, the neighbouring Sundarbans mangroves are stable from their natural shield of vegetation, the paper adds.

• Researchers used GPS and a theodolite survey of land elevations at an island called Polder-32 in southwest Bangladesh and compared it with the Sundarbans. They found that the mean elevation of Polder-32 is 1.15 metres lower than Sundarbans.

• The study therefore implicates “direct human modification of the environment” and not global sea-level rise as the most important agent of change in the western Ganges Brahmaputra tidal delta plain, says the paper.

• “The striking contrast between the tidal inundation patterns of these landscapes highlights the impact of sediment starvation and the historical loss of elevation, which has severely exacerbated the effects of tidal inundation,” notes the paper.

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Sources: Various News Papers & PIB

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