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Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 28 December 2014

National

Govt. employees under Lokpal Act have to disclose deposits in foreign banks

Amending the rules for voluntary disclosure of assets and liabilities by government employees under the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) has effected some changes in the form, making it mandatory for them to disclose deposits in foreign banks.
The deadline has been extended by four months from December 31. “Details of deposits in the foreign bank (s) to be given separately,” states the DoPT order, adding that government employees have to file statements of movable property separately for self, spouse and dependent child.
While investments above Rs.2 lakh have to be reported individually, amounts below that can be reported together. Apart from cash and bank balance, government servants would now be required to also reveal details of other movable assets including furniture, fixtures, antiques, paintings and electronic equipment.
However, this only if the total current value of any particular asset in any particular category exceeds two months' basic pay or Rs. 1 lakh.
Another order amending the previous Lokpal and Lokayuktas (Removal of Difficulties) Order, 2014, gives six months more to the government to make further amendments to the rules formulated thereunder.
While the government intends to make all the declarations public, many government officials have expressed concern that the information on their assets could be misused. The latest order does not have any provision ensuring secrecy of the disclosures made.
However, they are no more required to give out names of banks/non-banking institutions. While earlier they had been asked to also provide details on whether they owned aircraft, yacht or ships, the employees are now required to give particulars of only motor vehicles.
According to the rules, government employees from Group A, B and C service are required to declare assets and liabilities for the previous fiscal by the following July 31.

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International

U.S. & NATO ends Afghan mission amid rising insurgency

The United States and NATO will mark the formal end of the war in Afghanistan with a ceremony at their military headquarters in Kabul as the insurgency they fought for 13 years remains as ferocious and deadly as at any time since the 2001 invasion that unseated the Taliban regime following the September 11 attacks.
The symbolic ceremony will mark the end of the U.S.-led International Security Assistance Force, which will transition to a supporting role with 13,500 soldiers, most of them American, starting Jan. 1.
President Ashraf Ghani, who took office in September, signed bilateral security agreements with Washington and NATO allowing the enduring military presence.
The move has led to a spike in violence as the Taliban have claimed it as an excuse to step up operations aimed at destabilizing his government.
ISAF was set up after the U.S.-led invasion as an umbrella for the coalition of around 50 nations that provided troops and took responsibility for security across the country.
It ends with 2,224 American soldiers killed, according to an AP tally, out of a total of some 3,500 foreign troop deaths.
The mission peaked at 140,000 troops in 2010 with a surge ordered by U.S. President Barack Obama to root the insurgents out of strategically important regions, notably in the southern provinces of Helmand and Kandahar, where the Taliban had its capital from 1996 to 2001.
ISAF will segue into Resolute Support, training and support mission, with the U.S. accounting for almost 11,000 members of the residual force.

Science & Technology

Salinity increases in the Periyar

With the work on a temporary bund across the Periyar yet to be completed, the level of salinity in the river has been on a steady rise, casting a shadow over the supply of drinking water to Kochi and its neighbouring areas.
Kerala Water Authority officials warn that any further delay in completing the bund would lead to disruptions in the operation of the water treatment plant in Aluva. “With the bund completion reaching only the halfway stage, there are chances of high tides from the sea reaching upstream, causing a sharp surge in salinity.
There would not have been no such concern had the bund been erected by November,” said a senior KWA official. Salinity in raw water stood at 15 ppm (parts per million), 35 ppm less from the level recorded 10 days ago.
This reduction in salinity, however, was achieved through releasing water from the Boothathankettu dam. “Managing salinity levels by regulating the water flow from the dam upstream is not a feasible option as a sudden let-out may also lead to a manifold increase in the volume of silt and debris’’, the official said.
Meanwhile, the water level in the river has receded over the past few days though it is sufficient to cater to the three wells drawing water from the river. “As measured by the scale at the plant, the water level has dropped about 20-40 cm than what was recorded during the same period last year,’’ officials said.
Meanwhile, minor irrigation department officials said the bund construction would be completed in January. “We have completed dredging in about 140 metres and the remaining 60 metres will be completed in a couple of weeks.
The shortage of sand is the major hindrance in completing the formation as we have to collect sand as far as 250 metres downstream and deposit it on the bund’’, they said.