Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 20 May 2014

New PM appointed

Narendra Modi who steered the BJP-led NDA to a stunning victory will be sworn in as Prime Minister on May 26 at Rashtrapati Bhavan.
Mr. Modi was appointed as the Prime Minister by the President and was asked to advise the names of others to be appointed Members of the Council of Ministers.
Stepping out after his meeting with the President, he addressed the media briefly and held-up the formal letter of appointment as Prime Minister.
Mr Modi’s call on the President came after he was unanimously elected leader of the BJP Parliamentary Party and later at a combined meeting of the BJP and its allies constituting the NDA as leader of the coalition.
Later, a Rashtrapati Bhawan communique said as Mr Modi has been elected leader of the BJP Parliamentary Party and BJP has majority support in the House of the People, the President appointed him the Prime Minister of India and requested him to advise the names of members of the council of ministers.
Today’s scene was vastly different from the summer of 1996 when the then President Shankar Dayal Sharma appointed Atal Bihari Vajpayee as Prime Minister of a minority government that fell in 13 days.
Later, after the 1998 and 1999 elections Mr Vajpayee was again called to form governments only after the then President K R Narayanan was satisfied with letters of support from parties backing the NDA coalition on the numbers.

India has advised its nationals in Thailand to take precautions for their safety after the military imposed martial law in the troubled South East Asian nation.
The Embassy advised Indian nationals staying in Thailand and tourists to avoid certain areas where protesters were camping like around government buildings, parliament building, Royal Thai Police HQ, Interior Ministry, Defence Ministry in Bangkok.
Tourists were advised by the Embassy to avoid places of demonstrations, political gatherings and marches. They were also advised to regularly monitor the situation through the local media, hotels and tour operators.
Martial law was invoked by Thailand Army in a surprise pre-dawn move to maintain order after six months of anti-government protests that left the country paralysed. A Centre for the Resolution of the Emergency Situation (CRES) has been set up for public safety and maintenance of peace and order in the country.

A U.S government website that is currently inviting public comments on whether to allow the spouses of H-1B visa-holders to work has provided a glimpse at the trials and tribulations of Indians who go abroad to work ‘onsite’ at various IT firms.
The Department of Homeland Security, a U.S government body, had, a few months ago, decided to allow spouses of H-1B visa-holders, who are seeking green cards, to get work authorisation.
The U.S government is, therefore, interested in collecting comments through its ‘Regulations.gov’ comment board, which allows feedback to rise and fall on its own merit.

The high import duty and supply curbs on gold had a telling effect on demand for the yellow metal gold in the first quarter of calendar 2014 when demand slid 26 per cent to 190.3 tonnes. Figures released by World Gold Council’s (WGC) India demand statistics showed that in value terms, it slid 33 per cent to Rs. 48,853 crore and 41 per cent in dollar terms to $7.9 billion.
Of this, jewellery demand declined 9 per cent to 159.5 tonnes and 18 per cent in value terms to Rs. 37,377.8 crore while investment demand declined 54 per cent in volume terms to 44.7 tonnes and 59 per cent in value terms to Rs. 11,475.2 crore.
With the election of the BJP and its declared pro-business approach, there is an expectation that the short-term curbs on gold will be removed. Another factor is the hope that there will be relaxation of the curbs which will lead to a reduction in the prevailing premium.

Tokyo Electric Power Co. said it had suspended a radioactive water treatment system at its Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant recently.
The operator halted the Advanced Liquid Processing System after it found higher calcium levels than normal in water in one of the system’s three lines.
The system is a key component in the effort to deal with the massive amounts of toxic water at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station, as the operator keep injecting water into three of its six reactors to keep them cool.
The plant suffered meltdowns at the three units after it was hit by an earthquake and tsunami in March 2011.

Russia is intensifying its shift towards China as Russia’s relations with the West have sunk to their post-Cold War low over the Ukraine crisis.
China has refused to condemn Russia’s takeover of Ukraine’s Crimea and has adopted what experts called “positive neutrality” over the conflict.
The two countries are expected to sign a “fantastic package” of more than 40 agreements when President Vladimir Putin travelled to Shanghai recently for a two-day state visit and participation in a regional security summit.
Mr. Putin and his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, will oversee the start of joint war games in a sign of closer defence ties between the two countries. At least 16 Russian and Chinese warships will train together in the East China Sea, where China is locked in a bitter territorial dispute with Japan.
Russia and China will undertake eight “strategic projects” in space, rocket engines, aviation and infrastructure.