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Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 15 July 2014

Ram Naik is new UP Governor, O.P. Kohli for Gujarat

New governors have been appointed in Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, West Bengal, Gujarat and Nagaland.
Former Union Minister Ram Naik appointed as Governor of Uttar Pradesh and veteran Delhi leader O.P. Kohli will move to Gujarat as Governor.
80-year-old Mr. Naik has the rare distinction of being the only Minister who completed five years as Petroleum and Natural gas minister in one government.
According to the communique, Keshari Nath Tripathi, a former Uttar Pradesh Speaker will take over the post of Governor in West Bengal.
Balram Das Tandon, 87, founder member of Jan Sangh in 1951, was appointed Governor of Chhatisgarh.
Padmanabha Acharya, was appointed as Governor of Nagaland.

President Pranab Mukherjee to award Gandhi Peace prize

Environmentalist Chandi Prasad Bhatt will be awarded the prestigious Gandhi Peace prize for 2013 by President Pranab Mukherjee.
The Gandhi Peace Prize was instituted by the government in 1995 on the occasion of the 125th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi.
This annual award is given to individuals and institutions for their contributions towards social, economic and political transformation through non-violence and other Gandhian methods. It carries a plaque, citation and an amount of Rs. 1 crore.
The recipients of this award include former Tanzanian President Dr Julius K Nyerere, founder President of Sarvodaya Sharamadana movement in Sri Lanka Dr A.T. Ariyaratne, Dr Gerhard Fischer of Rama Krishna Mission in Germany, Baba Amte, Dr Nelson Mandela etc.

Warship damaged in mishap, Navy orders probe

INS Kuthar, a Khukri class corvette, suffered damage while entering the harbour of a naval base in the Andamans.
It is the 15th reported mishap involving naval personnel and assets after the sinking of the Russian-origin submarine INS Sindhurakshak in August last year in which all the 18 personnel on board were killed.
INS Kuthar is understood to be part of the fleet of the Vishakhapatnam-based Eastern Naval Command, which is in-charge of operations in Bay of Bengal and areas beyond it.
The spate of accidents in the Navy resulted in the resignation of former Navy Chief Admiral D.K. Joshi, who took moral responsibility for the accidents.

Parliament passes bill on Polavaram project

Parliament on Monday passed a bill to facilitate transfer of 205 villages spread across seven mandals in the newly formed State of Telangana to the residual state of Andhra Pradesh for the multi-purpose Polavaram irrigation project.
The bill, approved by Lok Sabha last week, was opposed by members of the House from Telangana and the States of Odisha and Chattisgarh on the plea that it would cause unwarranted displacement of 52 thousand scheduled caste families from the three States.
The project is a difficult project to implement as it involves massive resettlement. It is on par with Sardar Sarovar Dam (in Gujarat) and Indira Sagar project in Madhya Pradesh.

Nobel laureate, activist Nadine Gordimer dies

Nadine Gordimer, died peacefully in her sleep at her home in Johannesburg on Sunday. She was 90 years old.
Nadine Gordimer was first a writer of fiction and a defender of creativity and expression, she was also a determined political activist in the struggle to end white minority rule in her country.
Gordimer won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1991 for novels that explored the complex relationships and human cost of racial conflict in apartheid-era South Africa.
Gordimer’s first novel, The Lying Days appeared in 1953, and she acknowledged that it had autobiographical elements. A New York Times reviewer compared it to Alan Paton’s Cry the Beloved Country, saying Gordimer’s work “is the longer, the richer, intellectually the more exciting.”
She won the Booker Prize in 1974 for The Conservationist, a novel about a white South African who loses everything.

Clashes on Syria-Lebanon border kill several

Heavy clashes along the Syria-Lebanon border killed several people, including a number of Hezbollah fighters and Syrian rebels.
The area has long been a flashpoint in the Syrian civil war.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the fighting left seven Hezbollah fighters dead and 31 injured.
The Iran-backed Hezbollah openly joined the Syrian conflict last year. The group’s fighters have been instrumental to President Bashar Assad’s success on the battlefield, tipping the balance of power in the 3-year-old conflict in the government’s favor.

WPI inflation eases to 5.4 % in June

Annual wholesale price index-based (WPI) inflation eased to 5.4 per cent in June, it was 6 per cent in May.
Retail inflation fell to 30-month low of 7.31 per cent in June, mainly on account of lower prices of food items, including vegetables, cereals and meat.
The retail inflation, measured on consumer price index (CPI), was 8.28 per cent in May. Its lowest was 7.65 per cent in January, 2012, the month the government started releasing the data in percentage terms.
According to the data, the corresponding provisional inflation rates for rural and urban areas for June are: 7.72 per cent and 6.82 per cent compared to 8.86 per cent and 7.55 per cent in May, respectively.
The moderation in inflation together with the rebound in industrial production, as per the recently released data, provides a positive signal that the structural bottlenecks afflicting the economy could be gradually showing signs of receding.
Prices of vegetables, though on a downward trend, continued to remain elevated despite a series of steps from new Government for a crack-down on high food inflation. These include restrictions on exports of key kitchen commodities.

Comprehensive GST regime a reality by year end

The Centre is working towards making a comprehensive Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime a reality by the end of the year.
Contentious issues of entry tax on petroleum and tobacco and arrive at a consensus on compensation to States is providing the bottleneck.

Rs. 2923 cr fine on telcos for violating issuance norms

The Government has imposed a penalty of about Rs 2,923 crore on telecom operators in the past seven years for issuing mobile connections without proper verifications.
TERM cells have imposed penalty on non—compliant consumer application form (CAF) and filing of complaints/FIR against forged cases.
Major deficiencies in issuing mobile connections were related to missing CAF, missing photo or document proof, subscriber’s acquisition based on forged or fake documents, pre—activated mobile connections, more than 9 connections to an individual in one service area etc.

Germany lift FIFA World Cup 2014 title

Germany's Mario Götze kicks in second half of extra time to win 1-0 against Argentina in final of the FIFA World Cup 2014. Germany became the first side from Europe to win a World Cup in South America.
Lionel Messi Of Argentina was awarded Golden Ball, which is given to best player of the tournament.
This was Germanies fourth world cup, last coming in 1990 against the same opponent. This is the first World Cup for unified Germany, the previous three having been won by West Germany in 1954, 1974 and 1990.
Argentina last won world cup in 1986, which was played in Mexico.
Manuel Neuer of Germany won the Golden Glove, award for best goalkeeper.
James Rodriguez of Colombia won the Golden boot award for most number(6) of goals in the tournament.

Govt slaps $579 m additional penalty on Reliance Industries

The government has slapped an additional penalty of $579 million on Reliance Industries for producing less than targeted natural gas from its KG-D6 block.
With this, the total penalty on RIL for missing the target in four fiscal years beginning April 1, 2010 now stands at a cumulative $2.376 billion.
The Production Sharing Contract (PSC) allows RIL and its partners BP Plc and Niko Resources to deduct all capital and operating expenses from the sale of gas before sharing profit with the government.
The creation of excess or unutilised infrastructure impacts the government’s profit share and this is sought to be corrected by disallowing part of the expenses incurred.
Gas output from the Dhirubhai-1 and 3 gas field in the eastern offshore KG-D6 block was supposed to be 80 million standard cubic meters per day but actual production was only 35.33 mmscmd in 2011-12, 20.88 mmscmd in 2012-13 and 9.77 mmscmd in 2013-14.