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Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 20 November 2014

National

Rampal was remanded in judicial custody

• Self-styled godman Rampal was remanded in judicial custody till November 28 by the Punjab and Haryana High Court even as the police slapped fresh charges of murder and violence against him for the standoff between his supporters and the police at the Satlok Ashram in Barwala, Hisar.
• “I want to say that two other cases have been registered in Barwala and these pertain to murder. The six deaths that occurred [inside the ashram of an infant and five women) have been covered in these two cases,” Director General of Police, Haryana, S.N. Vashisht said.
• A Special Investigation Team (SIT) headed by Superintendent of Police, Hisar, is searching the ashram for more evidence. Mr. Vashisht said the SIT would submit its report within a day or two.
• Earlier in the day, the High Court cancelled the bail granted to Rampal in a 2006 murder case and directed his immediate arrest.
• The Advocate General submitted before the Division Bench of Justices M. Jeyapaul and Darshan Singh that Rampal had been arrested from his Barwala ashram in a contempt of court case and hence be produced. The Bench directed Rampal to be presented at 2 p.m.

Supreme Court raps Sinha for damaging CBI’s reputation

• The Supreme Court-appointed Special Public Prosecutor in 2G cases, Anand Grover, said there was credibility in the allegations of the NGO, Centre for Public Interest Litigation, accusing the CBI Director Ranjit Sinha of shielding the accused in the 2G spectrum investigation.
• The NGO had charged Sinha with “preventing” the filing of a charge sheet in the Aircel-Maxis deal, “weakening” the case against Reliance and 2G-accused Shahid Balwa and transferring a senior officer, Santosh Rastogi, out of the 2G probe.
• The NGO had access to the visitor’s logbook at the residence of Sinha which showed him meeting accused persons often. Mr Sinha had called for the name of the person who made available the logbook to be revealed.
• The three-judge Bench led by Chief Justice of India H.L. Dattu agreed with the argument of Mr. Grover that if the credibility of the information supplied could be proved, there was no need to disclose the identity of the informant.
• This was closely followed by Mr. Bhushan revealing that he has accessed the visitors’ register at Mr. Sinha’s residence. The logbook, he alleged, showed that Mr. Sinha had frequently met with persons who have been accused in the 2G cases.
• Mr. Sinha, through his counsel Vikas Singh, challenged the veracity of the allegations. He demanded that Mr. Bhushan first reveal the identity of his source.

International

Swedish appeal court rejects Julian Assange appeal to revoke arrest warrant

• A Swedish appeals court rejected an appeal by WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to revoke a detention order issued by prosecutors in 2010 over allegations of sexual assault.
• "In the view of the Court of Appeal there is no reason to set aside the detention solely because Julian Assange is in an Embassy and the detention order cannot be enforced at present for that reason," Svea Court of Appeal said in a statement.
• Mr. Assange has been stuck inside Ecuador's London Embassy since June 2012 to avoid a British extradition to Sweden. Sweden wants to question him on allegations of sexual assault and rape, which he denies.
• The Australian says he fears that if Britain extradited him to Sweden he would then be extradited to the United States where he could be tried for one of the largest information leaks in U.S. history.

Pakistan & Russia sign defence deal (Register and Login to read Full News..)

Persons in news

Superstar Rajinikanth conferred Centenary Award at IFFI

• South Indian cinema’s superstar Rajinikanth was bestowed with the Centenary Award for Indian Film Personality of the Year at the opening ceremony of the 45th International Film Festival of India (IFFI).
• Union Minister Arun Jaitley and Bollywood actor Amitabh Bachchan, who was the chief guest, presented the award, which consists of a cash prize of Rs.10 lakhs, a certificate and the Silver Peacock Medal. It was instituted last year to commemorate 100 years of Indian Cinema.
• A visibly moved Mr. Rajinikanth was seen wiping his tears as he thanked the Centre for the honour. He dedicated it to all his film producers, directors, technicians and fans.
• Earlier, Goa Governor Mridula Sinha lit the traditional lamp to formally open the 11-day festival. Several film personalities and dignitaries, among them Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, Goa Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar and State Information and Broadcasting Minister Rajyavardhan Rathore, were present.
• Mr. Bachchan spoke about the history and evolution of Indian cinema and the iconic films in different periods.
• Mr. Jaitley said the Indian film industry had come of age and pointed to the diversity it offered and the number of films produced in different languages to back this claim.
• “Cinema today acts as an alternative religion, as it entertains, educates and gives a social perspective to issues,” he said. His Ministry was making efforts to mainstream the National Film Heritage Mission as a policy initiative to ensure digital preservation of records.
• Mr. Jaitley also highlighted the importance of Goa being made the permanent venue of the IFFI in the context of its hospitality, growth, natural beauty and cultural diversity it represented.

N. Ram gets Award (Register and Login to read Full News..)

Science & technology

CO2 emissions must be zero by 2070 to prevent disaster: U.N.

• The world must cut CO2 emissions to zero by 2070 at the latest to keep global warming below dangerous levels and prevent a global catastrophe, the U.N. warns.
• By 2100, all greenhouse gas emissions — including methane, nitrous oxide and ozone, as well as CO2 — must fall to zero, the United Nationals Environment Programme (UNEP) report says , or the world will face what Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) scientists have described as “severe, widespread and irreversible” effects from climate change. The UNEP report published is based on the idea that the planet has a finite ‘carbon budget’. Since emissions surged in the late 19th century, some 1,900 Gigatonnes (Gt) of CO2 and 1,000 Gt of other greenhouse gases have already been emitted, leaving less than 1,000 Gt of CO2 left to emit before locking the planet in to dangerous temperature rises of more than 2C above pre-industrial levels.
• Jacqueline McGlade, UNEP’s chief scientist, told The Guardian that scientific uncertainties about the remaining carbon budget had diminished and the real uncertainty now was whether politicians had the will to act.
• “The big uncertainty is whether you can put enough policies in place from 2020-2030 — in the critical window — to allow the least-cost pathways [to lower emissions and temperatures] to still stand a chance of being followed,” she said. “The uncertainties have shifted from the science to the politics.”
• All scenarios in the UNEP report now require some degree of ‘negative CO2 emissions’ in the second half of the century, through technologies such as carbon capture and storage or, possibly, controversial, planetary wide engineering of the climate known as geo-engineering. UNEP is “extremely interested” in the subject and is planning a report in the months ahead.
• Consideration should also be given to compensatory schemes for investors in fossil fuels companies to address the ‘stranded assets’ issue, Ms. McGlade added.