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Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 22 October 2014

:: National ::

India wins another term at UNHRC

India received the most number of votes in the Asia-Pacific group of the U.N. Human Rights Council, winning a second consecutive two-year term at the world body.
This was a reflection of India’s standing in the world. India was a committed supporter of the U.N. human rights system and would continue to work towards strengthening of the Council.

Khattar will be next Haryana CM

First-time legislator Manohar Lal Khattar, 61, is set to become the 21st Chief Minister of Haryana.
Mr. Khattar, a Punjabi, pipped other aspirants to the post owing to his RSS background and proximity to top BJP leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi and party president Amit Shah.
He was unanimously elected leader of the BJP’s 47-member legislature group, following which he and senior BJP leaders met Governor Kaptan Singh Solanki and apprised him of the decision. The swearing-in will be held at the Tau Devi Lal stadium in Panchkula on October 26.
Mr. Khattar from Rohtak won the Karnal seat by a margin of 63,773 votes. State party chief and Mahendragarh legislator Ram Bilas Sharma proposed Mr. Khattar’s name in the legislature party meeting and several others, including Capt. Abhimanyu and Om Prakash Dhankar, backed his candidature. BJP observers M. Venkaiah Naidu and Dinesh Sharma were present. Mr. Khattar has been a member of the BJP’s national executive and senior RSS pracharak.
He was responsible for screening party candidates and was also chairman of the Haryana election committee for the Lok Sabha election earlier this year. Mr. Khattar from Rohtak entered the Karnal electoral battlefield as an outsider and met with resistance. He overcame the opposition with his shrewd projection of himself as the chief ministerial candidate.

Food Security Act rollout likely to delay

The differences in opinion between the Central and State governments over fixing the number of Below the Poverty Line (BPL) cardholders are likely to delay the implementation of the Food Security Act in the State.
The State government’s plan to implement the Act from November 1 is likely to be deferred at least by a month. While the State government had sought grain allotment for 14 lakh BPL families or the priority sector, the Centre had fixed it at 10.25 lakh families.
This means, about 3.75 lakh families will have to opt out of the public distribution system. The State government had earlier fixed the number of BPL families at 25 lakh.
The Centre had offered to continue grain allotment for the 3.75 lakh families even after enforcing the Act but it would be given only at the rates fixed for the Above Poverty Line (APL) or non-priority sector families.

CBI filed a case against Birla, Parakh

As directed by a special court, the Central Bureau of Investigation filed a revised investigation report along with all the documents seeking closure of a case of criminal conspiracy and cheating against Kumar Mangalam Birla, chairman of Aditya Birla Group, and the former Coal Secretary P.C. Parakh in connection with the allocation of coal blocks to Hindalco in violation of the rules.
Special Judge Bharat Parashar had in September pulled up the investigating agency for not filing the original of minutes of the screening committee along with the final report with a plea to close the case. The committee had considered the company’s application for allocation of coal blocks.
Mr. Parashar had then also expressed displeasure over the investigating officer’s submission that the original of the minutes was missing. He had also questioned him over the urgency to file the closure report without proper documents.
The CBI had filed photocopies of the minutes. In the fresh closure report, the CBI said that it was “detailed and comprehensive”. Later, Mr. Parashar fixed November 10 as the date for hearing argument on the CBI’s plea.

Train private sector too to tackle Ebola: IMA

The Indian Medical Association (IMA) has asked the Centre to include the private sector in its ongoing programme for training and preparing the government healthcare sector for Ebola control.
The IMA has pointed out that by focussing only on the government sector and leaving out the private healthcare industry from training could prove to be a serious lacuna in tackling Ebola, even though India is considered a low risk country.
“Nearly 75 per cent of healthcare is provided for by the private system, if we do not involve this sector there could be a serious lapse. How does a lay person know that he could be a carrier of the Ebola virus. He might simply turn up at a local private hospital thinking it is flu. Healthcare workers in private hospitals have to be trained to identify the symptoms,” said Dr. Narendra Saini, honorary secretary general of the IMA.
The Centre has been holding training sessions for the government healthcare professionals. With little response from the government to its request for funds to educate the private healthcare workers and for partnering with it, the IMA is now mobilising resources for a similar session for the private sector.
He said partnering with private hospitals will also help the government meet the requirements like isolation facilities, if there is an outbreak. “We have already issued a set of guidelines for the healthcare workers, but given the high mortality risk, healthcare workers need intensive and extensive training on how to handle the protective gear and what precautionary measures need to be taken to avoid possible contact with body fluids of suspected patients,” Dr. Saini said.

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:: Person in News ::

Oscar de la Renta passes away

Oscar De la Renta, who dressed first ladies, socialites and Hollywood stars for more than four decades, died at age 82, only six weeks after his last New York Fashion Week show. But not before another high-profile honor was bestowed on him — Amal Alamuddin wore a de la Renta gown to wed George Clooney in Venice.
De la Renta was one of the New York-based designers who in the late ‘60s and early ‘70s carved out a look of their own that was finally taken seriously by Europeans. Earlier this month, U.S. first lady Michelle Obama notably wore a de la Renta dress for the first time. De la Renta had criticized her several years earlier for not wearing an American label to a state dinner in 2011.

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:: Business & Economy ::

Rajasthan will streamline procedures for clearance encourage investment

Rajasthan will streamline the procedures for clearance of projects to encourage investment in the State. This follows reforms in the labour laws and announcement of the New Industrial Promotion and Solar Energy policies announced just last month.
“We want to ensure that investment is just a click away,” Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje said at the unveiling of Hero Motocorp’s manufacturing facility and Global Parts Centre. The manufacturing unit, Hero Motocorp’s fourth in the country, named, ‘Garden Factory’ is built on ‘green concept’ to promote sustainable growth and ‘happiness’ among the workers.
The company has invested Rs.1,050 crore in the world-class production unit and Global Parts Centre. Ms. Raje said the government was aware that the procedures and rules needed to be eased and old regulations re-visited. “We are doing that.
We have already made changes in three major labour laws and announced the New Investment Promotion Policy and Solar Energy Policy,” she said. The Chief Minister said the government alone could not be the source of livelihood.
Well thought-out partnership with the private sector can make a difference, Ms. Raje said while calling upon the private sector to invest in skill development to enhance the employability of youth. Referring to her recent visit to Singapore, where she saw the skill development platforms, Ms. Raje said Rajasthan was hopeful of collaborating with it for skill development.

Partially freeze and subsequently close KYC non-compliant accounts: RBI

Customers, who have not complied with KYC requirements despite repeated reminders, may face trouble with RBI asking banks to partially freeze and subsequently close such accounts.
“As regards non-compliance of KYC (Know Your Customer) requirements by the customers despite repeated reminders by banks, it has been decided that banks should impose ‘partial freezing’ on such KYC non-compliant in a phased manner,” the Reserve Bank said in a notification.
While imposing ‘partial freezing’, RBI said banks are advised to ensure that the option is exercised after giving due notice of three months initially to the customers and followed by a reminder for further period of three months.
“Thereafter, banks may impose ‘partial freezing’ by allowing all credits and disallowing all debits with the freedom to close the accounts.
“If the accounts are still KYC non-compliant after six months of imposing initial ‘partial freezing’ banks may disallow all debits and credits from/to the accounts, rendering them inoperative,” it said.

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:: International ::

U.S. supports Modi’s economic vision, says envoy

Last month’s summit in Washington between President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Narendra Modi was successful in reaffirming the importance of the India-U.S relationship and the need to “re-energise” it, especially in the light of the new Indian leadership’s economic vision, U.S Ambassador Kathleen Stephens told.
The visit yielded little in terms of tangible outcomes, especially in terms of the Indian wish-list, which included relaxation on the H1B work visa restrictions that have affected Indian IT companies and professionals. American business, with its continuing concerns about Indian taxation laws and its intellectual property rights regime, also refrained from making any concrete commitments.
But the U.S envoy said that the more important aspect of the visit was the recommitment to the partnership at the highest political level.
“The reason I believe it was a success was that our two leaders were able to establish a good communication, a good chemistry, which will be essential in going forward with the work that we want to do together in the many, many specific areas that we have agreed,” Ms. Stephens said in an interview.
Importantly, Ms. Stephens said, it was an opportunity for the U.S government and American private businesses to understand first hand his economic vision for India. The U.S. supports his plans for “moving India forward in terms of its economy and development.” She was confident that both sides would “find a way out” of the concerns that have bogged down trade relations on both sides.

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:: Sports ::

BCCI suspends all bilateral ties with the West Indies

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has suspended all bilateral cricket tours with the West Indies Cricket Board and accepted the Sri Lankan proposal to play a five-match one-day series starting November 2.
BCCI secretary Sanjay Patel, during his brief interaction with the media, said the decision followed the West Indies cricket team’s pull-out from the tour of India after playing just four one-dayers of the scheduled five one-dayer and three-Test series.
“The meeting also unanimously decided to initiate legal proceedings against the WICB as the pull-out also meant huge financial loss to the BCCI. “The BCCI appreciates the Sri Lankan Board’s offer to play the one-day series at such short notice.
The series will start on November 2 and is in lieu of their scheduled tour of India early next year. We will reciprocate by touring Sri Lanka during July-August, 2015,” Patel said. The five matches will be played at Cuttack, Hyderabad, Ranchi, Kolkata and Ahmedabad.
IPL governing council chairman Ranjib Biswal, meanwhile, clarified that the West Indian players would continue to play in the high-profile league despite the latest developments.
A senior official who attended the working committee meeting informed that the issue of seeking compensation was debated, but it was felt that given the WICB’s financial position, there was no point in stretching it too far as the WICB would in turn approach the ICC to come to its rescue later on, if such a mandate was issued.

Saina will spearhead Indian challenge in French Open

London Olympic bronze medal winning shuttler Saina Nehwal will spearhead the Indian challenge in the $275,000 French Open Super Series, starting in Paris.
Seeded fifth in the tournament, Saina, will face Sashina Vignes Waran of France in the first round of women’s singles while compatriot P.V. Sindhu, seeded eighth, will meet a tougher rival in Porntip Buranaprasertsuk of Thailand at the Stade Pierre de Coubertin.
Saina, who was the finalist in 2012, is likely to face little trouble on her way to the quarterfinals. In case both Saina and Sindhu manage to cross the last-eight hurdle, they would clash against each other in the semifinals of the event.
In the men’s singles, Glasgow Commonwealth Games gold medallist Parupalli Kashyap will have an uphill task in the opening round itself, where he will be meeting World no. 4 Kenichi Tago of Japan.
Other Indians in the men’s singles category, R M V Gurusaidutt and H S Prannoy, who last month won the Indonesian Masters Grand Prix Gold, will also face stiff challenge from World No.8 Hu Yun and World No.16 Kento Momota, respectively, in their first round contests.
In women’s doubles, star Indian pair of Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa will be up against the Netherlands duo of Eefje Muskens and Selena Peik in the first round.

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:: Science & technology ::

New non-venomous snake discovered in Odisha

A group of amateur herpetologists from Odisha claimed to have discovered a non-venomous snake in the State.
After months of research, these researchers have established clarity around the snake species, which were discovered in Ganjam district. The new snake species was rescued by Snake Helpline and subsequently studied in depth by a group of amateur herpetologists and scholars from Odisha.
“This research paper has been published in a leading international science journal — The Russian Journal of Herpetology. Dedicating this find to Odisha and its popular dance form Odissi, the scientific name of this new snake has been conferred as Lycodon Odishi,” Subhendu Mallik, chief investigator of the group.
The common name of the snake has been given as Subhendu’s Wolf Snake by the team who studied the snake.
“The new species was earlier overlooked by scientists and herpetologists as a young specimen of twin spotted wolf snake (Lycodon jara). The species is not just endemic to Odisha, but has been sighted elsewhere. It was always mistaken as a juvenile of the Lycodon jara. Strikingly similar to Lycodon jara, the Lycodon Odishi is much smaller and has a yellow collar which the Lycodon jara does not,” Mr. Mallik pointed out.