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Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 20 July 2014

An emotional outpouring on Bangalore streets

Emotions ran high as hundreds of people, including college students and members of several organisations, parents and grandparents took part in a rally, demanding justice for the six-year-old who was sexually assaulted in a school in Marathahalli earlier this month.
The parents have urged the police to ensure that the evidence is not tampered with. They have also sought speedy trial of the accused in fast-track courts. The 10 demands also include police seeking answers from the management over the punishment meted out to the six-year-old, by keeping her in a dark room where the alleged crime is said to have taken place.

Modi government to go with UPA policy on FDI in retail

The Narendra Modi Government is unlikely to rescind the foreign direct investment (FDI) policy for multi-brand retail that the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government had notified.
The decision to continue with the UPA Government’s policy has been taken as the Centre does not want to deny the freedom of choice that the notified FDI rules gives to States for choosing whether or not to let foreign retailers set up shop.
The Modi Government also decided to carry on with the UPA Government’s initiative of Aadhaar card for targetted schemesbut new Government will issue Aadhaar numbers to Indian citizens only.

Pipeline to Pakistan may revive stalled mega projects

India’s decision to pipe natural gas and other petroleum products to Pakistan is being seen as a first step that could lead to the revival of two stalled mega undertakings involving Islamabad — the Iran-Pakistan-India (IPI) pipeline and the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) project.
Instability in Pakistan’s Baluchistan, through which the proposed IPI would pass, coupled with the policy of the United States so far to seek Iran’s political and economic isolation, have impeded the project.
But the IPI could revive, should a breakthrough be achieved in the ongoing nuclear talks between Iran and the six global powers.

Water levels dip in major reservoirs

Water level in major reservoirs in the country has dipped lower than the average of last 10 years, due to a weak south-west monsoon this year.
Water storage in six reservoirs of the northern region, including Himachal Pradesh, Punjab and Rajasthan has dipped to 47 per cent as compared to 56 per cent in the corresponding period last year.
In the western region comprising Gujarat and Maharashtra, where the monsoon is particularly deficient this year, the average water level in 22 reservoirs is reported to be 22 per cent of the total storage capacity as against 45 per cent in the corresponding period last year.
In the central region comprising U.P., Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh the water level is on an average 31 per cent of the total capacity as against last year’s 48 per cent.

CAG files adverse report on PPP projects

The Comptroller and Auditor-General of India (CAG) has picked holes in the way the Public Private Partnership (PPP) was handled in two vital infrastructure sectors.
The Mumbai airport and three of the Railways projects mostly faulted on procedural grounds.
In case of the Mumbai airport, the CAG has asked the government to review the operator’s performance because when project cost had doubled, the gap was filled by asking passengers to shell out a development cess.
On the other hand, the revenue share of another consortium member — the public sector Airports Authority of India (AAI) — was “set to decline with the outsourcing of activities as noticed in the case of domestic and international cargo activities and the Airport Hotel project.”
Railway projects include a railway line to a port, something that new Railway Minister D. V. Sadananda Gowda hopes to promote in a big way to solve the ‘last mile problem’.
A CAG report on the Railways , said it had violated rules while selecting private players. Also, the Railways did not formulate any model agreement for execution of the projects within the time frame nor did it adopt the model prescribed by the Planning Commission for PPP projects.

Activists: WHO advisory on MSM needs rethink

Activists working on gay and transgender rights feel the new guidelines from the World Health Organisation (WHO) on HIV services for key groups have not been very well thought out specially in the context of providing anti-retroviral therapy (ART) to men who have sex with men (MSM).
The WHO in a news release on July 11 for the first time strongly recommended that men who have sex with men consider taking antiretroviral medicines as an additional method of preventing HIV infection alongside the use of condoms.
Rates of HIV infection among men who have sex with men remain high almost everywhere and new prevention options are urgently needed, the WHO said.
In India, the numbers of MSM was much lesser than other countries, compared to the population size.
ART is being given to those with CD 4 cell counts below 350 (CD4 cells or T-cells are the cells that send signals to activate your body’s immune response when they detect viruses or bacteria).
The National Aids Control Programme (NACP) IV aims to provide universal access to free ART to all those who require it.
The WHO warned that failure to provide adequate HIV services for key groups – men who have sex with men, people in prison, people who inject drugs, sex workers and transgenders – threatens global progress on the HIV response.

U.N. aviation body to help with Ukraine probe

Officials of ICAO, the U.N. body in charge of civil aviation based in Montreal are being dispatched to assist the Ukrainian investigative team to ascertain just what led to the tragic crash of Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 over Ukraine.
ICAO Council President Dr. Olumuyiwa Benard Aliu in a statement announcing that a team of experts would be sent “in response to an official request from Ukraine’s government.”
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko announced there would be an “open enquiry” into the crash.
Ukraine and Russia have since traded charges on who operated the complex anti-aircraft system which is available to both the Ukrainian military as well as the Russian army.
ICAO official said that some of the blame must be apportioned to the Ukrainian government for allowing the air corridor open over a part of the country under rebel control which is an active zone of conflict.
In march this year, the DGCA (Directorate General of Civil Aviation) in New Delhi had instructed Indian airlines to move to flying 50 nautical miles above the current flight path, but that still remained over Ukraine.
After the MH 17 crash, another DGCA advisory has shifted the suggested flight path 100 nautical miles further north.
Meanwhile Ukraine accused pro-Russian insurgents of destroying evidence at the crash site of the Malaysia Airlines jet.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Russian President Vladimir Putin issued a joint call for an independent commission to have immediate access to the site.

UN chief heads to Middle East to help end conflict

Amid an escalation of violence in the Middle East, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will leave for the region to help end the conflict between Israel and Palestinians that has killed more than 300 people, mostly civilians.
Mr. Ban is currently reviewing a request by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas which would place Palestine under an international protection system administered by the UN.
Mr. Abbas on Friday met with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi in Cairo, and both agreed to the necessity of an immediate ceasefire and the urgency of holding a donors conference to start rebuilding the Gaza Strip.
Iran nuke talks to be extended till Nov 24
Iran and six world powers failed on Saturday to meet their target date for cutting a nuclear deal but agreed to extend the talks until Nov. 24.
There are still differences over the size and capacity of activities by Tehran that could be used to make nuclear arms.
Months of exhausting negotiations were meant to culminate in an agreement by Sunday that would limit programs Iran says it needs to produce energy and for other peaceful purposes but which can also be used to make nuclear arms.
Both the U.S. and Tehran facing pressure from powerful skeptics at home, the extra time means that both will increasingly be negotiating not only with each other but also those at home.
The main dispute remains over uranium enrichment , Iran, pushed to be allowed to expand its enrichment program over the next eight years to a level that would need about 190,000 current model centrifuges. It now has about 20,000 centrifuges, with half of them operating. But U.S. said that even 10,000 are too many. Diplomats say Washington wants no more than 2,000.
Iran has received more than $6 billion of sanctions relief since late last year under an interim nuclear deal and the U.S. officials said that Tehran would get access to an additional $2.8 billion of frozen assets during the extended talks.

Policy for start-ups on the cards

The Department of IT and BT is working towards a ‘Start-up Policy’, which would be the first such legislation for start-ups in the country.
While the Start-up Act is in a draft stage, the Karnataka IT ITeS Innovation Incentives (i4) Policy already declares the enablers for start-up ecosystem.
The challenges before the sector are many: a weak mentor network, poor angel and institutional funding and a lack of access to end-markets.
Innovation is critical for India, a country that so many persistent problems like poverty, disease etc.

Recapitalisation of PSU banks on high priority: Jaitley

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Saturday said recapitalisation to the tune of Rs 2.4 lakh crore in public sector banks to meet Basel III norms is a ‘high priority’ item for the government.
The UPA Government’s Interim Budget had allocated Rs 11,200 crore for the current fiscal towards this.
The Government owns 58.60 per cent stake in SBI right now. For SBI to raise capital for meeting the Basel III norms, the Government could need to lower its shareholding.
He said the capital would be raised by the banks without diluting public sector characteristics in them. So, the government stake in the banks would remain over 51 per cent.
This programme has to be rapidly expanded so that the remaining 42 per cent of financially excluded population is brought into the banking system.