Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 18 June 2014

Fewer students are getting mid-day meal

Despite the huge expenditure on education under the previous United Progressive Alliance government, latest statistics on elementary education show that the percentage of government and aided schools providing mid-day meals to students has dropped from 94.83 in 2012-2013 to 88.60 in 2013-14.
A similar drop has also been witnessed in the percentage of schools providing mid-day meals prepared outside the school premises. According to the data collected by the National University of Educational Planning and Administration on elementary education for the last fiscal, the percentage of schools providing meals cooked outside had dropped from 12.53 to 9.45.
In all States barring Uttar Pradesh, Manipur and Nagaland, the mid-day meal coverage is over 90 per cent. While Manipur and Nagaland improved their coverage in 2013-14, Uttar Pradesh is one of the four States which saw a drop that is reflected in the national average.
The coverage of the scheme in Uttar Pradesh went down from 87.86 per cent to 82.99 per cent.
Besides U.P., Punjab witnessed a significant drop with the coverage going down from 96.37 per cent to 91.42 per cent. Other States where there has been a drop in coverage are: Delhi from 98.01 to 97.53 per cent, Goa from 96.04 per cent to 92.64 per cent and Rajasthan from 97.88 per cent to 97.7 per cent.
Percentage of aided schools with coverage drops from 94.3 to 88.6 in past year.

New govt’s first overseas crisis: India caught in Iraqi crossfire

Forty Indian men working in a construction company in Iraq were abducted by gunmen while they were reportedly trying to flee from Mosul, a city controlled by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin said .“No ransom calls or any other demands have been made by any group to the government so far,” Mr. Akbaruddin said. “We are in touch with officials of Red Crescent, which is the only humanitarian organisation operating in this area of the conflict.”
External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj assured the families of the missing men, most of them from Punjab, of the government’s efforts to bring them back safely.Officials in the Indian Embassy in Baghdad are also in touch with the construction company, Tariq Noor Al Huda, which has been telling the families that they had not been kidnapped but taken to a safe a location in northern Iraq.
New Delhi is helping to facilitate the return of other Indians working in Iraq who wish to return home. But a complex set of factors, including the mushrooming of checkpoints set up by the Sunni tribesmen in tactical alliance with the militants, may hamper the rescue and evacuation operations. Baghdad asked Washington to carry out air strikes on militants in the north.
Official sources said those who had taken over the Tikrit General Hospital, where around 46 Indian nurses, mostly from Kerala, are working, were persuading the trapped health workers to continue their work, though at less wages.

Greenpeace funds hit Home barrier

Following an Intelligence Bureau (IB) report that alleged foreign-funded NGOs were creating obstacles to India’s economic growth, the Home Ministry has clamped down on Greenpeace, an international campaign group present in 40 countries.
The Ministry has directed the Reserve Bank of India that all foreign contributions originating from Greenpeace International and Climate Works Foundation — two principal international contributors to Greenpeace India Society — must be kept on hold until individual clearances are obtained from the Ministry for each transaction.
The RBI has been asked to direct banks to this effect. The central bank has also been asked to report to the government if any government department or institution is receiving such funds.

Prime Minister’s Japan visit put off

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s expected visit to Japan next month has been deferred till the budget session of Parliament ends in early August.
The decision has been taken in view of the Budget Session which is very important for the Prime Minister and is expected to be a path—breaking one, putting into action many ideas which Mr. Modi has been talking about since several months.
The Cabinet meeting, chaired by Mr. Modi here this evening, decided to recommend the convening of the Budget session in the first week of July.

U.S. push to tag India as emerging economy

The crisis at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) talks in Geneva has deepened with the United States demanding that India and China be categorised as ‘emerging’ rather than as ‘developing economies’. India is resisting the move which, if it materialises, will halve WTO caps applicable to India’s food subsidies. It will also require India to grant market access to the U.S. The U.S. is insisting that India meet its food security law obligations with American imports.
“The U.S. insists that economies such as India and Indonesia with high rates of growth can no longer be categorised as developing countries,” the sources said. “India’s stand is that going by per capita income, it is actually the world’s largest Least Developed Country where about 600 million live at less than $2 a day,” the sources said.
The U.S. has also tabled a study in Geneva, produced by its allies Pakistan and Canada, that claims food subsidies in India and China exceed those in the U.S. and the EU.India has countered the study, with data to show that the U.S. farm subsidies to its corporate sector are to the tune of $20,000 to $30,000 per capita per year against India’s mere $200.
At the Geneva talks, the U.S. has so far successfully thwarted India’s efforts aimed at finding a permanent protection against even the WTO’s agriculture caps currently applicable to its food subsidies. America’s own agenda of an agreement on Trade Facilitation, however, is well on track for the July 31 deadline as laid down at the Bali Ministerial.

Reliance would start offering 4G broadband service in 2015

Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) has announced plans to invest Rs. 1.80 lakh crore ($30 billion) in three years in petrochemicals, refining, retail and broadband businesses with an aim to be among the Fortune 50 companies by the time it completes 40 years of corporate journey in 2017.
RIL Chairman and Managing Director Mukesh Ambani said this while unveiling his vision for the company at the annual general meeting .“In the past 37 years, we invested Rs.2.40 lakh crore, and in this current three years’ investment cycle, we will be investing over Rs.1.80 lakh crore. We are currently at the mid-point of largest investment programme in Reliance’s history,” Mr. Ambani told shareholders..
RIL, which is at present debt-free, would raise debt of Rs.60,000 crore in the next two years and by the time this investment cycle was finished, it would once again be debt-free in 2017-18 on a much larger basis.
Reliance Jio would start offering 4G broadband service in 2015, and it would be one of the largest job-creating and wealth-creating business initiatives in India. About Rs.70,000 crore had already been invested in this business, and 10,000 people were working across the country.

Norwegian ex-PM named for Asian ‘Nobel’

Former Norwegian premier Gro Harlem Brundtland was named as the first recipient of the Tang Prize, touted as Asia’s version of the Nobels, for her work as the “godmother” of sustainable development.
Ms. Brundtland was awarded the debut prize, created by one of Taiwan’s richest men with a $100 million donation, with winners in three other categories to be announced this week. She was awarded the biennial prize for “her innovation, leadership and implementation” of sustainable development.