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Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 11 March 2014

Intelligence grid to curb black money

The Election Commission has created a multi-agency grid of revenue and security intelligence agencies to regularly update it about suspected financial movements as part of measures to curb use of black money in Lok Sabha and assembly polls.
In a first-of-its-kind measure, the EC has created a board of senior officials drawn from ten financial and security intelligence departments which will meet twice a week at ‘Nirvachan Sadan’, the EC headquarters here, to generate common leads and flag suspect money instances.
The agencies that have been pooled in for the task include Income Tax intelligence and investigations, Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), Directorate of Revenue Intelligence, Central Economic Intelligence Bureau, Narcotics Control Bureau and the snoop wings of border guarding forces of SSB and BSF and those of CISF and the Railway Protection Force.
The EC has also asked these agencies to compile their respective information in a standard format so that the poll panel is updated about the use of illegal money and other inducements in the polls.
A comprehensive report prepared after these meetings would be shared with the respective Chief Electoral Offices of various states and Union Territories.
Apart from the revenue agencies, the intelligence wings of the Border Security Force will keep an eye on movement of cash, fake currency and drugs from across the Pakistan and Bangladesh borders while the same would be done by the Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) along the Nepal and Bhutan borders.

US drone strikes

A US drone strike killed two suspected al Qaeda leaders in Yemen's central province of Marib
"The drone strike this night targeted a car carrying al Qaeda regional leaders Mohammed Jabir al-Shabwani and Abdullah Mubarak bin Hamad in Wadi Abida area of Marib.
It was fourth drone strike within a week that targets al Qaeda suspects inside Yemen.
Two days earlier, another drone strike killed a suspected al Qaeda militant in Marib province.
The US has escalated its drone strikes on suspected al Qaeda targets in Yemen since President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi took office in February 2012 after a UN-backed deal removed former President Ali Abdullah Saleh from power.

Reconnaissance Aircraft

NATO is going to deploy reconnaissance planes in Poland and Romania to monitor the Ukrainian crisis, shortly after the U.S. announced that it was sending fighter jets to the same region in a show of support for its allies. The flights, carried out by E-3 Airborne Warning and Control System, or AWACS aircraft, "will enhance the alliance's situation awareness and all will take place solely over alliance territory.’’
Poland invoked Article 4 of the North Atlantic Treaty, which entitles any NATO member the right to consultation with allied military officials if it feels threatened. As a result, NATO has doubled its air presence in the region, deploying six F-15 fighter jets to the Baltic states, while U.S. and Polish military officials are finalizing plans for a ramped up joint-training exercise between their air forces.

Fortune India's 40 under 40 list

Seven women have made it to the Fortune India's first '40 Under 40' compilation that lists individuals who have managed to grow an idea into a profitable business.
The list comprises of entrepreneurs and professionals aged 40 years and less as of December 31, 2013. To clarify, this is a listing, not a ranking,
Kavita Iyer Rodrigues, Director & COO of Theramyt Novobiologics and who co-founded the first biotech startup in venture capital firm Accel Partners' stable in 2007 got featured in the list. So was Richa Kar Founder & CEO, Zivame.com.
The other women entrepreneurs, managers, founders in the list include: Kavita Bhupathi Chadda, Group CEO Globosport; Simeran Bhasin India Marketing head Fastrack & New Brands, Titan Industries; Gauri Singh, Founder and Director, The Maids' Company; Avani Saglani Devda, CEO Tata Starbucks and Neha Kirpal, Founder & Director India Art Fair.
The criteria for selection include growth in business (market share or revenue) and where growth rates were similar, emphasis was on profitability; those who executed a business model or innovation to grow in a tough market, who have reduced the per unit cost of delivering a product or service, scaled up an idea.
The individuals in the list belong from diverse sectors, although there are more tech startups than others.

Clean energy investment

US Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz said an envisaged spending of USD 36 trillion in clean energy worldwide in the next four decades "should be very attractive for the private sector."
According to Moniz, the investment would be about 0.6 percent of the cumulative world GDP over this time (by 2050).
In 2012, the International Energy Agency (IEA) estimated an additional USD 36 trillion would be needed between 2010 and 2050 to transit to a low-carbon economy. This would give the world an 80 percent chance of keeping the average global temperature rise below 2 degrees Celsius compared to pre-industrial levels.
The talks, part of the broader US-India strategic dialogue, were launched in May 2005 and last held in Washington DC in September 2012. The current meeting started on March 5th .
The dialogue is co-chaired by Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia and Moniz.

The sole Indian to score ton in World T20

Left-handed batsman Suresh Raina is the lone Indian in the short list of four players from all countries to have scored a century in the ICC World T20 Championship's brief history whose fifth edition is set to commence in Bangladesh.
The other three century makers in the shortest form of the game are Chris Gayle (West Indies, 117 v South Africa at Johannesburg in September, 2007), Mahela Jayawardene (Sri Lanka, 100 v Zimbabwe at Providence in May, 2010) and Brendon McCullum (New Zealand, 123 v Bangladesh at Pallekele in September, 2012).