Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 18 March 2014

A survey on Women Safety in Delhi

Due to lack of safety, around 43 per cent of working in Delhi are willing to relocate outside the city even at the cost of a pay cut, according to a recent study.
The survey conducted by the PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry included working women, students and job aspirants. The survey “Women Safety in Delhi: Issues and Challenges to Employment” is based on the feedback of 3,400 women in Delhi.
It found that working women were inclined to work in day shifts with nearly 80 per cent of the respondents opting for day shifts.
About 9 per cent said they worked in flexible shift timings and nearly seven per cent opted for rotational shifts. A very small proportion of women respondents (4 per cent) worked in night shifts.
Around 64 per cent of working women said crimes against women had impacted their productivity as they now hesitated to stay in their workplace during late hours.
Many respondents felt fast track courts to deal with crimes against women and safer public transport were important for women’s safety in the national capital.

A study pointing that the pollution levels in New Delhi is worse than that of Beijing may have been quoting the data from the worst period of the year but the air quality in Indian cities is progressively getting worse, UN climate change chief Rajendra Pachauri.
There are variations in the composition of PM 2.5 in the atmosphere which varies from season to season. It may very well be the study they are quoting is that of the worst period during the year.
The situation is progressively getting worse in Delhi and Bangalore and even in second rung cities like Ludhiana.
Dr. Pachauri, chairman of the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, was co-recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize with former US vice president Al Gore in 2007.
He said that the Ministry of Environment should commission two or three institutions to carry out detailed assessment of the situation and what are the drivers of things making this is worse and future policy making.

The Hinduja brothers have emerged the third richest family in Britain, as part of an analysis of the divide between the rich and poor in the United Kingdom.
According to research published by the charity, the latest rich list from Forbes magazine showed that London-based Srichand and Gopichand Hinduja have a combined wealth of $10 billion.
The five top U.K. entries analysed for its A Tale of Two Britains report found the family of the Duke of Westminster the richest followed by David and Simon Reuben, the Hindujas, the Cadogan family, and Sports Direct retail boss Mike Ashley who, between them, had property, savings and other assets worth £28.2 billion.
It implies that the country’s five richest families now own more wealth than the poorest 20 per cent of the population, with their wealth totalling £28.1 billion — an average of £2,230 each.

Thailand will lift a nearly two-month-old state of emergency in Bangkok and surrounding areas following an easing of political protests in the capital.
The emergency decree will be replaced by another special law, the Internal Security Act, until April 30.

The Indian benchmark indices have hit a fresh all-time high in trade as foreign institutional investors continue to bank on India's economic growth story as well as are hopeful of a stable government at the Centre.
Following are the top five reasons which are making investors bullish on the Indian markets:
Goldman Sachs upgrades India to 'overweight': The brokerage has upgraded India to overweight and raised the Nifty's 12-month price target to 7,600.
General elections: The foreign institutional investors are pumping in million of dollars in Indian equities on hopes that the new government will continue with reforms to accelerate the economic growth.
Wise not to wait for election results and enter now: It's no good waiting for good news on Indian elections to come to fruition before buying equities, says the RBS report.

Three Pakistani cities have leapt into the headlines over an alert for dangerous atmospheric particles, ranking among the world’s most polluted cities.
According to a 2011 World Health Organisation (WHO) report, Quetta, Lahore and Peshawar are among the most polluted cities.
The pollution is measured as the microgramme (mcg) concentration per cubic metre of air of particulate matter smaller than 10 micrometres (PM10) — about a seventh of the width of a human hair.
Quetta ranked at number four along with Ludhiana tied at 251 mcg/m3 while Peshawar ranked at number six with 219 mcg/m3 according to data in the report.
Lahore, emerged as the tenth most polluted city with an exposure of 200 mcg/m3 as per 2003/4 data.
Similarly, Paris, whose levels hit a high of 180 mcg/m3 last week, has an annual mean level of 38 mcg/m3 according to 2008 data.