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Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 20 April 2014

FIR lodged against Ramdev

An FIR has been lodged against Yoga guru Ramdev for alleged violation of the model code of conduct and prohibitory orders by holding a press meet without the permission of the administration.
Ramdev addressed a press conference at the residence of a yoga centre coordinator after participating in a ‘yoga diksha’ programme recently.
He said the administration’s permission was not taken to hold the press conference due to which a case has been lodged against Ramdev and the coordinator.
The information has been sent to the Election Commission.

The Election Commission (EC) has sought withdrawal of tax exemption benefits to ten political parties from the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) on the grounds that they failed to submit their mandatory expenditure contribution reports on time to the poll body.
The EC, in its latest communication, has asked the CBDT to take action against the defaulting parties under provisions of Section 29C (Declaration of donation received by the political parties) of the Representation of the People Act in consonance with I-T laws
The EC has identified the ten parties as Nagrik Ekta Party, Dharamrajya Paksh, Socialist Unity Centre of India (Communist), Yuvajana Sramika Rythu Congress Party, Sunder Samaj Party, Loktantrik Manavtawadi Party, Rastriya Mahila Janshakti Party (RMJP) and the Indian People Green Party as the defaulters in filing their contribution and donation receipt reports for the financial year 2012-13.
The stipulated time limit for this exercise was September 30, 2013 but all these parties defaulted in submitting the records to EC by an average of one-five months while one party (RMJP) did it within the time limit but the poll body found some discrepancies in their records and hence referred it to the CBDT.

China has for the first time released details of its recently announced “maritime Silk Road” plan, announcing that the Indian Ocean-focused initiative will prioritise building ports and improving infrastructure in littoral countries like Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.
China is also planning to establish free trade zones in Indian Ocean countries as part of the plan — a move that will reinforce China’s deepening economic presence in the Indian Ocean Region and in India’s neighbourhood.
The maritime Silk Road plan was unveiled in October last year when President Xi Jinping travelled to Southeast Asia. Since then, Chinese officials have highlighted the initiative as a key diplomatic priority for Mr. Xi’s government.
Nations from Malaysia and Singapore to India, Sri Lanka and the Gulf countries have all been sounded out about the plan. It had, however, remained unclear what the plan would actually entail.
The plan is expected to focus on infrastructure construction of countries along the route, including ports of Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. China is already involved in port projects in the three countries, in Gwadar, Hambantota and Chittagong.
China hopes to “coordinate customs, quality supervision, e-commerce and other agencies to facilitate the scheme”, as well as set up free trade zones.

Leading fertiliser cooperative IFFCO said that its subsidiary received permission from the provincial government of Quebec to set up a $ 1.6 billion urea plant.
The proposed facility will have a production capacity of up to 1.6 million tonnes of urea and 7,60,000 tonnes of diesel diesel exhaust fluid (DEF.
The estimated project cost of $ 1.6 billion is based on the most recent feasibility study.
La Coop fr an agri-food organisation in Quebec that is one of the project shareholders, has agreed to purchase some 5,00,000 tonnes of urea a year for distribution across the province, Canada and several US states.
In January 2013, IFFCO’s Canadian subsidiary acquired the land for the plant. The site is at Bncour Port and Industrial Park, which provides access via land, rail and water to markets across North America.
The deep-water port will also facilitate exports, especially to markets in Europe. Quebec province, Canada’s largest, is located in the east-central region of the country.

IT giant Infosys leads five Indian clean energy projects that have been shortlisted for the annual Ashden Awards, referred to as the Green Oscars, here Wednesday.
The awards recognise worldwide contributions towards green energy initiatives and a move away from fossil fuels.
Infosys has been nominated in the ‘Ashden Award for Sustainable Buildings’ category for the Bangalore-based company’s cutting edge design of new buildings which helps keep offices cooler and maximises natural light.
The other finalists include two projects from Maharashtra — Sakhi Unique Rural Enterprise (SURE) and Greenway Grameen — which have been nominated in the ‘Ashden Clean Energy for Women and Girls Award’ category.
SURE is a not-for-profit social enterprise in central Maharashtra that has selected, trained and supported more than 600 women micro-entrepreneurs to sell clean energy products like solar lanterns and cleaner cookstoves to other women.
Mumbai-based Greenway Grameen’s mission is to provide an affordable, desirable cookstove to improve quality of life for Indian women.

Retirement fund body EPFO will provide permanent or universal account numbers (UAN) on the pattern of core banking services to its over five crore active subscribers by October 15 this year.
Under core banking services, a customer can avail the bank services in any of its branch through his allotted unique account number.
The UAN will facilitate subscribers in avoiding filing of PF transfer claims on changing jobs.
UAN will be allotted to the present active members by October 15, 2014 and thereafter the coverage of other members will be taken up.
After getting UAN, a subscriber would not be issued new PF account number on joining new firm. It is expected to provide great relief to those workers in organised sector who frequently change jobs, particularly, in construction sector.
The UAN would be one account number which would be allotted to a subscriber for various schemes run by the EPFO for his entire service period with different employers.

NASA's robotic moon explorer, LADEE, is no more.
Researchers believe LADEE likely vaporized when it hit because of its extreme orbiting speed of 3,600 mph (5,800 kph), possibly smacking into a mountain or side of a crater. No debris would have been left behind.
LADEE - short for Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer - was launched in September from Virginia. From the outset, NASA planned to crash the spacecraft into the back side of the moon, far from the Apollo artifacts left behind during the moonwalking days of 1969 to 1972.