Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 28 April 2015

Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 28 April 2015

:: National ::

India Inc. lends support to Nepal

• India Inc. — individually and through apex industry associations — has stepped in to help the people of Nepal and their friends and relatives who are trying to reach them.

• Airtel has offered free calls from India to Nepal for 48 hours from the midnight of April 25 to ease connectivity.

• ITC, which has a major corporate presence in Nepal through its subsidiary Surya Nepal hotel, despatched two lakh food items to support India’s relief operations in Nepal.

• CII has formed a “India & Nepal Task Force on Earthquake Relief Operations,” to coordinate and extend industry support for providing immediate relief to the earthquake-affected victims in Nepal and parts of India, especially West Bengal and Bihar.” This taskforce would be chaired by Sanjiv Goenka, Past President, CII.

• “We are in touch with Indian Embassy in Nepal, Nepalese Embassy in India, External Affairs Ministry in India, the Control Rooms in India & Nepal and also the affected State Governments in India. CII has also started collecting many items including ready-to-eat food, water, tarpaulin, biscuits, blankets, tents, essential medicines, etc, for immediate relief to the earthquake-affected victims in Nepal, CII president Sumit Mazumder said.

• A CII release said the Federation of the Nepalese Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI) has requested CII for help and support of the Indian industry.

• “After coordinating with various government agencies and local authorities, an interim assessment of the situation has been done and CII shared the urgent essential requirements with its membership, requesting them to contribute,” Mr. Mazumder said.

Maharashtra announces awards for film legends

• Senior cinematographer in the Hindi and Marathi film industries Suryakant Lavande and veteran actor Shashikala will be conferred the V. Shantaram and Raj Kapoor Life Time Achievement Awards respectively by the Maharashtra government.

• State’s Minister for Culture Vinod Tawde on Monday made the announcement. Actors Sonali Kulkarni and Vidya Balan will be presented the V. Shantaram and Raj Kapoor special contribution to the film industry awards respectively.

• The awards are given every year by the Maharashtra government on the birth anniversary of Dadasaheb Phalke, founder of the Indian Film Industry.

• “The life time achievement awards are given for their extra ordinary contribution to the film industry. We are happy to felicitate two legends of the industry,” said Mr. Tawde. The award ceremony will take place in Pune on April 30.

Let Supreme Court decide NJAC’s validity, says CJI (Register and Login to read Full News..)

:: International :

Loretta Lynch sworn in as A-G

• Loretta Lynch was sworn in as the 83rd Attorney-General, becoming the first African-American woman to serve as the top U.S. law enforcement official.

• She said her confirmation as Attorney-General showed that “we can do anything” and pledged to deal with cyber attacks and other threats facing the country.

• Vice-President Joe Biden administered the oath of office to Ms. Lynch (55) at a Justice Department ceremony. Ms. Lynch replaces Eric Holder, who left the job after six years as head of the department.

• Ms. Lynch was confirmed by the Senate and is expected to serve as the top federal law enforcement official for the remaining 20 months of the Obama administration.

U.S., Japan agree on new defence rules

• The United States and Japan unveiled new rules for defence cooperation in a historic move that will give Japanese armed forces a more ambitious global role amid concerns over China’s rising sway.

• Under the revised guidelines, Japan could come to the aid of U..S forces threatened by a third country or, for example, deploy minesweeper ships to a mission in the Middle East.

• U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Defense Secretary Ashton Carter and Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida and Defense Minister Gen Nakatani revealed the new rules after talks in a New York hotel.

• Although officials said the new doctrine is not aimed at China, there has been increasing concern over moves by Beijing to try to scoop up disputed areas of the South China and East China Seas.

• But they pointedly made mention of North Korea as another source of tension in the region.

• Mr. Kerry stressed that the United States saw the disputed Senkaku islands, known in Chinese as the Diaoyus, as firmly under Japan’s control.

• Washington’s “commitment to Japan’s security remains ironclad and covers all territories under Japan’s administration, including the Senkaku islands,” Mr. Kerry said. The sovereignty of the isles have been the source of friction between Tokyo and Beijing for decades.

• The guidelines came a day before U.S. President Barack Obama rolls out the red carpet at the White House for Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe for a high-profile visit.

• Under the previous rules, Japanese forces could assist American troops only if they were operating in the direct defence of Japan.

• The amended guidelines were drawn up to reflect a reinterpretation of Japan’s Constitution by Mr. Abe’s government last year, which allows for “collective defence.”

• The new defence guidelines are part of Mr. Abe’s bid to soften Japan’s constitutional commitment to pacifism.

• Tokyo’s readiness to embrace what Mr. Abe calls “proactive pacifism” comes amid growing anxiety in Japan and across Asia over China’s rising military and economic might.

LTTE to blame for most disappearances: Commission

• As many as 60 per cent of complainants from the Northern Province who gave evidence to the Presidential Commission on Missing Persons have levelled allegations of forced disappearances against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

• While 30 per cent of them made allegations against the security forces, armed and unknown groups were blamed by the remaining 10 per cent.

• These are the findings of interim report submitted by the Commission to President Maithripala Sirisena on April 10.

• Approximately, 2,500 persons in Northern and Eastern Provinces presented evidence to the panel. Of them, 1,500 are from the Northern Province, according to H.W. Gunadasa, secretary to the Commission, which was constituted in August 2013 by the then President Mahinda Rajapaksa.

• The panel, till April 9, received about 16,150 complaints from residents in the two Provinces besides 5,200 complaints from families of the security forces.

• Headed by former High Court Judge Maxwell Parakrama Paranagama, the Commission included Manohari Ramanathan and Suranjana Vidyaratna.

• Its brief was to go into the complaints of disappearances or abductions that took place between January 1, 1983 and May 19, 2009, when the Eelam War IV was over.

• Relying on oral submissions of relatives of missing persons, the Commission suggested that the Attorney-General institute judicial action into the reported cases of forced disappearances and abductions alleged to have been committed by officers of the security forces, a release of the Commission stated.

• The panel also recommended an investigation by a special team to go into four “grave incidents — Sathurukondan and Eastern University massacres of 1990, alleged to have been carried out by the security forces; and the massacre of 600 policemen in Ampara and that of Muslims in Kurukalmadam, both said to have been executed by the LTTE, the secretary said.

• Mr. Gunadasa referred to “non-cooperation” of the Ministries of Defence and Justice in providing names of persons who were said to have been in custody of prisons, detention camps, refugee camps and rehabilitation centres and said the panel has decided to summon officials of the two Ministries.

• The Commission also noted that livelihood assistance provided to families of missing persons was “far from adequate for the purpose of rebuilding their lives.”

• When asked about to the Commission’s findings, R. Sampanthan, leader of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) expressed inability to comment as he had not seen the report.

• The TNA once held the position that the LTTE would be the “most effective negotiator” on behalf of Tamils.

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China to integrate Mongolian, Russian initiatives with MSR (Register and Login to read Full News..)

:: Business and Economy ::

Capgemini acquires iGATE for $4 billion

• French IT services company Capgemini on Monday announced the acquisition of US-based IT services company iGATE for $4 billion.

• Through the acquisition Capgemeini, which has significant presence in the European market, is trying to widen its presence in North America.

• Apart from getting a strong-hold in the US, the buyout will also give Capgemini’s Indian operations a new scale, allowing it to compete on a par with the US and Indian companies.

• The company co-founded by Sunil Wadhwani and Ashok Trivedi is listed in Nasdaq. However, majority of its workforce is based in India.

• “The merger agreement has been approved unanimously by both Capgemini’s and iGATE’s Board of Directors. The transaction has also been approved by the written consent of shareholders holding a majority of iGATE’s shares,” both the firms said.

• At present, iGATE has a revenue of around $1.3 billion and over 30,000 employees spread across its centres in India, the US, Europe and China.

• In India, iGATE has centres in Bengaluru, Mumbai, Pune, Chennai, Hyderabad; while the French major has its centres in nine locations and employs more than 50,000 people.

• The deal is subject to necessary approvals and is expected to close in the second half of 2015 and iGATE will become the subsidiary of Capgemini North America.

:: Science and Technology ::

Instant self-test HIV kit goes on sale online in Britain

• Britain’s first legally-approved HIV self-testing kit went on sale online, promising a result in just 15 minutes with a 99.7 per cent accuracy rate.

• Developers hope the BioSure HIV Self Test will help identify the estimated 26,000 people in Britain who have HIV but do not yet know.

• “Knowing your HIV status is critical and the launch of this product will empower people to discreetly test themselves when it is convenient to them and in a place where they feel comfortable,” explained BioSure founder Brigette Bard.

• Early diagnosis reduces the risk of passing the disease on to other people and also raises the success rate of modern treatments, which now make the disease manageable.

• “Over 40 per cent of people living with HIV are diagnosed late, meaning they have been living with HIV for at least four years,” said Deborah Gold, chief executive of the National Aids Trust (NAT). “People diagnosed late are 11 times more likely to die in the first year after diagnosis,” she added.

• The kit reacts to antibodies — proteins made in response to the virus — in a drop of the person’s blood, producing two purple lines in the event of a positive diagnosis. The self-test, which is only available via the Internet, can only detect antibodies three months after the patient has become infected, and is not effective during this initial period, and all positive results must be confirmed by professional health workers, experts said.

• Rosemary Gillespie, chief executive at HIV charity Terrence Higgins Trust, said it was “great to see the first self-test kits being approved.”

• Currently, those who fear they may have been infected have to collect a blood sample at home and send it to a laboratory, waiting five days for the result.

• There are almost 110,000 people in Britain living with HIV, which can lead to AIDS if the sufferer’s immune system becomes badly damaged.

• A similar test in the U.S. has been available since 2012, giving a result in around 30 minutes from a sample of the person’s saliva or blood.

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:: Sports ::

India crowned champion

• Rakesh Kumar (69kg) and Harpal Singh (75kg) struck gold as India was crowned champion for the first time in the 22nd President’s Cup boxing tournament in Palembang, Indonesia.

• The Indian team logged 33 points to finish ahead of second-placed Mongolia after Rakesh and Harpal’s gold medals took the country’s total tally to four gold and a bronze at the end of the event.

• Their golden effort came after Shamjetsabam Sarjubala (48kg) and Pinki Jangra (51kg) clinched the yellow metal in the women’s competition of the tournament.

• While Harpal defeated Korea’s Jee Deok-Seong, Rakesh got the better of Japan’s Hiroaki Kinjo in the men’s summit clashes.

• Manish Kumar (60kg) settled for a bronze medal after losing to Mongolia’s Dorjnyambuu Otgondalai in the semifinals.

AIFF suspends three players

• The All India Football Federation (AIFF) suspended three players for misconduct.

• The AIFF disciplinary committee suspended Dempo SC’s Sheikh Jewel Raja and Prabir Das and Mohun Bagan striker Balwant Singh for two I-League matches after a meeting here. Raja was also fined Rs 50,000.

• “Sheikh Jewel Raja is charged under Article 49(d) of AIFF disciplinary code for aggressive and unwarranted behaviour against the goalkeeper of Pune FC and hereby suspended for two matches and fined Rs. 50,000,” an AIFF release said.

• “Prabir Das is charged under Article 58 for using abusive language towards the referee and hereby suspended for two matches. Balwant Singh is charged under Article 58 for using abusive language towards the referee and hereby suspended for two matches,” the release added.

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Sources: Various News Papers & PIB

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