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Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 16 November 2014

National

Reforms must be people-centric: Modi

• Asserting that reform must be people-centric and people-driven, Prime Minister Narendra Modi told leaders of the G20 at a Retreat that globally reforms are handicapped with perception of being government programmes and a burden on the people and this needs to change.
• Mr Modi felt that reforms should lead to simplification of processes and that governance method must be reformed.
• Noting that reform is a continuous multi-stage process and that it must be institutionalised, the Prime Minister said it must be technology driven and must have scale and address root causes.

India will take ideas from Barcelona for ‘smart city’ model

• As foreign countries line up to offer their expertise in ‘smart cities,’ India will next be looking at Barcelona to borrow best practices for its own model.
• Union Urban Development Minister M. Venkaiah Naidu has been invited by the Mayor of Barcelona to attend the Smart City World Conference to be held between November 18 and 20.
• “Contrary to the perception that we are behind time in shaping the contours of the smart cities plan, we have a fair idea of what the smart cities are going to look like,” Mr. Naidu told.
• He said a broad framework is ready, and a meeting of all the stakeholders will be organised in the capital soon. Land and urban development being a State subject, the Centre will seek feedback from each State that has announced its intent to have smart cities.
• “We will not thrust any ideas on the States, their opinion will be taken, they will be asked to furnish their requirements about how many smart cities they want and with what features,” he said.
• The Minister has already held discussions with officials from Singapore and Seoul on the smart cities project.
• Singapore has shown interest in partnering with India for the development of a new smart satellite city and a new capital for Andhra Pradesh. Netherlands and Canada too have offered their expertise and are willing to partner with India.

Germany hopeful of solution over language row soon

• Even as a row continued to simmer over the Human Resource Development Ministry’s decision to take off German from the third language slot of the Kendriya Vidyalaya curriculum, Germany hoped a solution would be found soon.
• German Ambassador Michael Steiner said a solution would be found to allow the language to be taught in these schools.
• He expressed confidence that after raising the issue with the Union government, both sides would be able to work out a way that would take care of children’s desire to learn foreign languages.
• Human Resource Minister Smriti Irani said an investigation had been ordered since the existing arrangement violated the three-language formula.
• After an MoU between the Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan and the German government in 2011, German was added to the third language list.

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Science & technology

India’s first nesting site of white-bellied heron discovered

• A nesting site of the extremely rare white-bellied heron has been discovered in a remote part of the Namdapha Tiger Reserve in Arunachal Pradesh.
• It is estimated that there are only 250 white-bellied herons ( Ardea insignis ) left in the world and only about 50 left in India.
• “This is the first nesting site of the white- bellied heron to be discovered in India. Before the discovery of this site, Bhutan was (thought to be) the only country in the world to have a breeding population of the white-bellied heron,” Gopinathan Maheswaran, the scientist who is in charge of the bird Section of the Zoological Survey of India told.
• According to Mr Maheswaran, who has spent years in the wilderness looking for rare birds, there are very few people in the country who have encountered the white-bellied heron.
• Declared a critically endangered species under the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), it is an “extremely shy” bird which feeds on fish in clear fast flowing rivers.
• The confluence of Noa-Dihing and Namdapha rivers in the Namdapha Tiger Reserve supports a few individuals of white-bellied heron by providing them with freshwater fish.
• The nest of the bird was found about 18 metres above ground on an East Indian almond ( Terminalia myriocarpa ) tree adjacent to a dry river bed covered in tall grass and small shrubs, said Himadri Sekhar Mondal, a research scholar who along with Mr. Maheswaran observed behaviour of the herons at the nesting site. The scientists observed the courtship of a pair of white-bellied heron that went on to build a nest at the site earlier this year.

International

President Putin is to walk out of a G20 summit after rebukes over Ukraine

• Russian President Vladimir Putin is to walk out of a G20 summit in Australia, an aide said, after he faced scorn and scepticism from Western leaders over Ukraine despite venturing to paper over Europe’s deepest chill in relations since the Cold War.
• The abrupt decision threatens to upend the annual summit’s focus on revamping the global economy and fixing sores such as the Ebola epidemic in West Africa.
• “The programme of the second day is changing, it’s being cut short,” a source in the Russian delegation told AFP on condition of anonymity.
• Mr. Putin will attend summit sessions but will skip an official lunch and address reporters earlier than planned, the source said, adding: “Lunch is more of an entertainment.”
• There was no immediate comment from the G20’s Australian hosts or other delegations such as U.S. President Barack Obama’s to Mr. Putin’s decision, which came after some testy exchanges in Brisbane.
• Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper was approached by Mr. Putin to shake hands. Mr. Harper said, according to Canadian media: “Well, I guess I’ll shake your hand, but I only have one thing to say to you: you need to get out of Ukraine.”
• Before his own tense meeting with Mr. Putin on the G20 sidelines, British Prime Minister David Cameron said Russia faced a choice, with one option to implement an agreement to allow stability to return to Ukraine free of Moscow’s meddling.
• G20 host Tony Abbott went into a week of Asia-Pacific summitry vowing to confront Mr. Putin, particularly over the downing of a Malaysia Airlines passenger jet over Ukraine in July.

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Sports

Maana Patel, P. S. Madhu emerge the best

• Backstroke specialists P.S. Madhu (Services) and Maana Patel (Gujarat), who dominated the 68th edition of senior National aquatic championship by winning three gold each with two records to boot, were declared the best swimmers of the tournament after the final day of competitions.
• Maana, the 14-year-old junior champion, tried her skills in 100m freestyle and took bronze behind Aditi Dhumatkar (Maharashtra) and Shivani Kataria (Haryana).
• In the men’s 200 individual medley, Madhu took gold, beating Incheon Asian Games bronze medallist Sandeep Sejwal.
• “I want to translate my good showing in the Nationals to the international stage and am looking to train intensely to better my timing and get medals for the country,” said Maana, aiming to qualify for the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics.
• “Doing well in the Nationals is a big achievement and I am happy that I peaked at the right moment. It is now time for me to better my performance in the international forum.
• I will get back to my coaches to prepare for bigger events,” said Madhu. Maharashtra became the overall champion dislodging Karnataka that had dominated that position for over a decade.