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Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 12 February 2015

:: National ::

Go by Constitution, Pranab tells Governors

Any deviation from constitutional principles and provisions will weaken the democratic fabric of the country and jeopardise the well-being of citizens, President Pranab Mukherjee warned.
Every Indian, he argued, looked to the Constitution as the guarantor of liberties, freedom and equality. The Governors had the primary responsibility to ensure that constitutional provisions were followed.
The President’s remarks come in the wake of the release of an advertisement by the Information and Broadcasting Ministry, in which the words ‘socialist’ and ‘secular’ were omitted from the Preamble to the Constitution.
Addressing the 46th conference of Governors, Mr. Mukherjee said efforts must be made to ensure that peace and communal harmony prevailed. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other senior ministers were present.
Ethnic violence in Assam had to be countered effectively, especially the sinister motives to drive a wedge between the Bodos and the non-Bodos, he said.
India, he pointed out, would have the largest workforce in the world by 2025, with a surplus of 47 million workers as against a global shortage of 56.5 million workers.

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:: International ::

India-specific safety features in Uber app

Uber Technologies Inc. added a panic button and tracking features to its taxi hailing app in India after the U.S.-based company was banned in New Delhi last year in the wake of rape allegations against one of its drivers.
Uber’s India app now has a “send status” feature to enable passengers to share ride details with their contacts in real time. The app also has an “SOS” button to call the local police directly.
A spokesman said the functions were the first market-specific safety features launched by Uber. The company planned to launch safety features in other countries soon.
Uber was banned in New Delhi in December following the rape allegations and the authorities issued rules that required all taxis to be equipped with a physical panic button.
However, Uber resumed operations in January and has since said it has stepped up background checks on all its drivers. The app is available in several cities.
Uber is fighting bans in France, Spain and South Korea for alleged violations, including using unlicensed drivers. It has also had to contend with rape allegations against drivers in Chicago and Boston.

:: Business & Economy ::

MTS makes foray into home Wi-Fi segment

Sistema Shyam TeleServices Ltd. (SSTL), which provides telecom services under the MTS brand, entered into the home Wi-Fi segment.
The company till now had primarily provided data services via dongles. The product, Homespot Instant Wi-Fi, is being targeted at people in the age group of 16-35 years with small families, with higher focus on Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities, the company said, adding, this will enable high-speed broadband access to five users simultaneously, including smartphone customers.

:: Science & Technology ::

INS Viraat to be decommissioned in 2016

The Navy is learnt to have taken the call to retire the decrepit warhorse INS Viraat, the aircraft carrier that has had a service life of 56 years as on date — first as HMS Hermes in the Royal British Navy and in its present avatar since 1987.
Viraat — which saw action in the Falklands War and remained for well over a decade the sole aircraft carrier in the Indian Ocean region following the decommissioning of the first Indian carrier INS Vikrant in 1997 — is slated to have a grand farewell at the International Fleet Review at Visakhapatnam in February 2016.
It is in the process of obtaining Defence Ministry’s clearance to the retirement plan.
Mounting maintenance costs and rapid depletion of its integral fleet of Sea Harrier jump jets are said to have catalysed the decision to decommission Viraat. The Navy shelled out Rs. 70 crore for the last routine refit of the carrier.
The carrier was to have been dry-docked at the shipyard for the next round of periodic refit in December last year, but it was called off in view of the retirement proposal. Viraat is now expected to have its decommissioning refit sometime in the middle of 2015, say sources.
The retirement call was forced, in part, by the dwindling fleet of Sea Harrier fighters operating from the deck of Viraat. While the limited upgrade Sea Harrier (LUSH) programme bestowed the fighters with modern avionics and beyond visual range (BVR) strike capability, the ageing airframe has been a concern. Not more than seven Sea Harriers are available at the moment — some of them cannibalised (used as ‘Christmas Tree’ for spares) to keep the relatively agile ones airworthy.
India’s first carrier Vikrant, which was turned into a maritime museum post-retirement in 1997, has now been broken up after its upkeep became ostensibly unviable.