Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 28 May 2014

NOTA provision in local body elections too

Introducing the NOTA (None of the Above) provision in local body elections is under the active consideration of the Election Commission.
An election would be declared invalid if at least 50 per cent votes were polled under NOTA category, he said.
Presidents, secretaries and electrical registration officers of grama, block and district panchayats were given training in the first phase.
Returning officers and assistant returning officers will be given training in the second stage. Elected representatives and officials at the lower level too would be given training.

NBFCs work

Non-Banking Finance Companies (NBFCs) are working as per the rules and regulations of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and their dealings are transparent, according to Thomas George Muthoot, chairman, Association of Kerala Non-Banking Finance Companies.
This was in the wake of the ongoing ‘Operation Kuberan.
NBFCs played a very important role in the financial inclusion programme of the Government of India. Customers could make use of the services of the grievance redress forum set up by the NBFCs. A fair practices code, prescribed by the RBI, was being followed. The code may be viewed on the websites of the companies.
RBI had given the freedom to the boards of NBFCs to fix the rates, considering the cost of funds and margin and risk premium. The business being market driven, there was no scope for charging high rates, especially as the NBFCs were functioning in a very competitive space.
NBFCs had certificates of registration obtained from the RBI and registered NBFCs do not accept blank cheques, stamp papers, signed white papers, and title deeds. RBI norms on Know Your Customer and corporate governance were being strictly adhered to. The apex bank’s guidelines on transferring 20 per cent of the net profit to the reserve fund were being complied with.

On occasion of Nehru’s death anniversary

Staunch secularism and socialist economics are still the Congress’s “core beliefs,” party president Sonia Gandhi , while stressing that that these Nehruvian values were being “fundamentally challenged by some in the prevailing political climate”.
A day after Narendra Modi was sworn in as Prime Minister, following the Congress’s ignominious defeat in the recently concluded general elections, Ms. Gandhi used the 50th death anniversary of former Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru to make a few political points: at a seminar, “Renewing India's Commitment to Jawaharlal Nehru's Vision,” organised by the Congress, she said that while the party’s core values remained unchanged, the party had evolved with the times.
Even though the Congress remained committed to the four pillars of Nehruvianism — democratic institution -building, staunch secularism, socialist economics and a foreign policy of non-alignment — that were integral to a vision of Indianness, Ms. Gandhi stressed that the party was not stuck in a time warp, merely repeating the conventional wisdom of 50 years ago: “Nehru himself,” she said, “was a man with an open and questioning mind, would have evolved with the times, even while remaining anchored in his core beliefs.”

U.S troops in Afghanistan

President Barack Obama said the U.S. will keep 9,800 of its troops in Afghanistan this year and will withdraw them completely by 2016 as he admitted it was “time to turn the page” on more than a decade of military intervention in the war-torn country.
He said the current 32,000-strong U.S. deployment in Afghanistan will be reduced to around 9,800 by the start of 2015. The number would be further halved by the end of 2015 before eventually being scaled back to a normal embassy presence with a security assistance component by the end of 2016.
However, any U.S. troop presence in Afghanistan after 2014 is subject to signing of the Bilateral Security Agreement (BSA) by the new Afghan president.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai has refused to authorise the BSA that should be signed by Karzai’s successor to become effective.
The U.S. and NATO plan to withdraw most of their forces ahead of a year-end deadline. Mr. Obama wants to keep a small number of U.S. troops in Afghanistan after 2014 to train Afghan security forces and support counterterrorism missions.
Currently, the U.S. military has 32,000 troops for the military intervention that started 13 years ago.

Top 10 global markets for Australia

India has figured among the top 10 markets for the international business community as per Australia’s International Business Survey.
India has also emerged as the most challenging of the top 10 countries to do business with.
AIBS 2014, a comprehensive study of Australian companies involved in international business, was released recently.
It found that India ranked as ninth important market currently. The country was also seen as the third important future market, with respondents saying they were planning on doing business in/with in the next two years.
The survey captured data from more than 1,600 Australian businesses, reflecting the opinions of a wide range of firms from diverse industries operating in over 120 markets.
The United States (chosen by about 15 per cent), India (six per cent) and the United Kingdom and Indonesia (five per cent each) make up the remainder of the top five most important future target markets.
The survey found that the most important market for international business for the participants varied by the industry.
Education and Training industry stood as the most important market for Australian international business community when it came to India.
On the list of top most important overseas markets in terms of international revenue, India stood at the ninth position, while US and China took the first and second rank respectively.
On rating the ease of doing business in their most important markets as compared to Australia, only 9 per cent of businesses perceived India as an easier or much easier market than Australia, with 81 per cent regarding it as more or much more difficult.

London gas arbitration award

The Supreme Court has ruled that only British courts can hear a petition that challenges the decision of a London arbitration tribunal on Panna-Mukta and Tapti gas fields’ contract between Reliance Industries and the government.
The apex court bench of Justice S.S. Nijjar and Justice A.K. Sikri said that the British courts, while hearing the petition challenging the award by the arbitration tribunal, will rely on the substantive Indian laws relating to it. The court said this while setting aside the Delhi High Court order that said it can hear such a challenge on an award made by the London arbitration tribunal. Reliance had moved the Supreme Court against this decision of the high court.

Goodwill ambassador for national games

The 35 National Games to be held in seven cities in the State early next year will have cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar as its goodwill ambassador.
The idea was mooted by Chief Minister Oommen Chandy during his meeting with Mr. Tendulkar and responding to it, the cricketer was quick to nod his approval.
Making a mention of this, Mr. Tendulkar said, “as a Member of Parliament, I have already given my vision on how to improve Indian sport to the Union Ministry of Human Resource Development. And now, I plan to do a follow up on that. We need to work collectively to help our country emerge as a sporting power.”