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Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 29 April 2015

:: National ::

Centre recasts Nehru memorial society

With Prime Minister Narendra Modi as the head, the Nehru Memorial Museum Library Society (NMMLS), considered a Congress legacy, has been reconstituted to include 34 members, and eight new members to the Executive Council.
An order dated April 27 announced Home Minister Rajnath Singh; Finance Minister Arun Jaitley; Human Resources Development Minister Smriti Irani; Culture Minister Mahesh Sharma; Dr. Karan Singh; Narayana Murthy, founder, Infosys; Centre for Policy Research president Pratap Bhanu Mehta; NITI Aayog member Bibek Debroy; former ISRO chief Dr. Kasturirangan; academic Nayanjot Lahiri; Prasar Bharati Chairperson Surya Prakash; former Foreign Secretary M.K. Rasgotra; columnist Swapan Dasgupta, and a member of the Jawaharlal Nehru Memorial Fund, as some of the new members to the society.
The 34 members of the society will have a tenure of five years.
The Executive Council comprises president of ICCR Lokesh Chandra as chairman, former editor and BJP member M.J. Akbar as vice-chairman, Pratap Bhanu Mehta, Nitin Desai, Surya Prakash, the financial adviser of the Ministry of Culture, an ex-officio member, and Dr. Mahesh Rangarajan as director. Chandra was in news for calling Modi god incarnate.
Regarded as a Congress fiefdom, one of the last decisions of the Congress-led UPA, with barely 48 hours left for the announcement of election results in 2014, was to extend the services of director Mahesh Rangarajan, originally for three years to 10 years.
Previous NMML directors have served till the age of 60, and by extending Rangarajan’s tenure for 10 years, the Congress had ensured that he would continue till his retirement.
Congress president Sonia Gandhi had stepped down as president of NMML last year.

‘Unbelievable support from India’

Nepal said India has led the relief and rescue operations being carried out in the quake-hit nation and was the first to rush aid to the people.
Nepal’s Ambassador to India Deepak Kumar Upadhyay said there has been “unbelievable support and assistance” from India and the assurance of help from the Indian government has been like a “blank cheque.”
The Ambassador said though countries like the United States, China and Israel have been quick with relief material and help, the Nepalese people have received “overwhelming love and support” from India immediately after the quake hit.
The embassy in Delhi, which is coordinating relief work, has also asked the External Affairs Ministry to facilitate the movement of registered NGOs, who have been recommended by the embassy and registered in India, to help in rescue and rebuilding work.
“We are getting a lot of requests from NGOs who want to go and help in Nepal, but we cannot have a rush of people there, so we have asked the MEA to help us verify the registered NGOs who can then be asked to pitch in with relief work,” the Ambassador said.
Appreciating India’s efforts, he said help started pouring in soon after Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke to his counterpart.

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:: International :

Sri Lanka adopts 19th Amendment

Marking the beginning of a new chapter in the contemporary political history of Sri Lanka, the Parliament night adopted the 19th Constitutional Amendment with an overwhelming majority. The legislation envisages the dilution of many powers of Executive Presidency, which had been in force since 1978.
At a marathon sitting that lasted over 12 hours, the 225-strong Parliament cleared the Bill with 212 members voting in favour of the legislation. Ten members were absent. While one voted against the Bill, another member abstained from the voting. The 14-member Tamil National Alliance (TNA) also supported the Bill.
After announcing the results of the third reading at about 11 p.m., Speaker Chamal Rajapaksa adjourned the House.
President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe thanked all the parties that supported the Bill.
Among the important features of the Bill are: the reduction in the terms of President and Parliament from six years to five years; re-introduction of a two-term limit that a person can have as President; the power of President to dissolve Parliament only after four and a half years [unlike one year, as prevalent now]; the revival of Constitutional Council and the establishment of independent commissions.
Though the abolition of the Executive Presidency was the major electoral promise of Mr Sirisena, the Supreme Court, in its ruling early this month, held that certain provisions, such as those making Prime Minister the head of Cabinet and empowering PM to determine the size of Cabinet, would require a referendum. So, the President remains the head of Cabinet. However, he can appoint Ministers on the advice of Prime Minister.
Earlier in the day, two issues cropped up — objections to the composition of Constitutional Council and the provision regarding the appointment of Ministers.
Eventually, the government agreed to include seven MPs in the Constitutional Council as against the original proposal of having only non-political members.

NY’s first India-born woman judge sworn in

Raja Rajeswari, the first India-born woman to be appointed a judge in New York City, was sworn-in by Mayor Bill de Blasio.
Ms. Rajeswari (43), who immigrated to the U.S. as a teenager, previously worked with the Richmond County District Attorney’s Office in several bureaus including Criminal Court, Narcotics, Supreme Court, and the Sex Crimes Special Victims Bureau, where she last served as Deputy Chief.
Ms. Rajeswari took the oath of office along with 27 other judges appointed earlier this month to the Family Court, Criminal Court, and Civil Court, which are part of the New York State Unified Court System. “To ensure New Yorkers have access to a fair, equitable justice system, we need judges who are qualified, honest and reflective of the people of this city,” said Mayor de Blasio.
The Mayor also said Ms. Rajeswari has an “extraordinary, extraordinary empathy for others.”
Ms. Rajeswari has worked on cases involving women and children and had said they are the ones that touched her the most.
She also said that she hoped to use her new position to improve the judicial system by encouraging interpreters to have more access to aid immigrants.

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:: Business and Economy ::

Junglee.com founders invest in Urban Ladder

Junglee.com founders, Anand Rajaraman and Venky Harinarayan, have invested an undisclosed amount in online furniture marketplace Urban Ladder.
With the investment, both Silicon Valley-based entrepreneurs will come on board and will work with Ratan Tata, who has also made an investment in the company. Mr. Ratan Tata, Chairman Emeritus, Tata Group, made a personal investment in the company in November 2014.
“We are thrilled to have veterans such as Anand and Venky onboard as investors to mentor and guide us. They have done some fantastic work in technology, and set very high global benchmarks. It is great that they believe in the potential of Indian e-commerce industry and are reinvesting in the ecosystem,” said Ashish Goel, CEO and Co-founder, Urban Ladder.
The investment from both comes at a time when the company is planning to triple the size of its tech team in the next six months. They are serial entrepreneurs, who co-founded Junglee Corp., a price comparison portal in 1996, which was acquired by Amazon.com in August 1998 for around $250 million.
Urban Ladder, which had recently raised $50 million dollars in Series C round led by Sequoia Capital and TR Capital, is ramping up its technology platforms and offerings.
“Furniture and home decor is a highly unorganised category in India, and Urban Ladder has been able to fill the need gap by finding great solutions for customers. The company’s journey has been very impressive. It’s a great team, off to a terrific start, and well positioned to be the leading furniture and home decor company in India” said Mr. Anand, Founding Partner, Cambrian Ventures.
Urban Ladder is on an expansion mode by launching new product portfolio and introducing new categories, along with geographical expansion to 30 cities by the year end. It has so far raised $77 million from Sequoia Capital, TR Capital, Kalaari Capital, SAIF Partners and Steadview Capital.
The investment from Silicon Valley entrepreneurs Anand Rajaraman and Venky Harinarayan comes at a time when the company is planning to triple the size of its tech team in the next six months.

:: Science and Technology ::

Operation Maitri to continue

Operation Maitri, India’s Army-led rescue and relief mission in quake-hit Nepal, would continue till normalcy returned to the Himalayan country, the Army said.
The Indian rescue mission succeeded in evacuating 170 foreign nationals belonging to the U.S., the U.K., Russia and Germany, Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar said.
So far, over 5,000 Indians have been brought back from Nepal by Air Force and civilian planes
“There is no set time frame. We will continue our efforts till normalcy returns to Nepal,” Major General Ranbir Singh, ADG (Military Operations), told journalists. Chief of Army Staff Dalbir Singh, he said, was in regular touch with his Nepalese counterpart Gaurav Shumsher Jung Bahadur Rana.
Stepping up efforts to help rebuild Nepal, India had sent a cumulative relief material of 24 tonnes to the interior areas, Defence Secretary R.K. Mathur said. Kathmandu and Pokhra would be used as bases for helicopters to fly to the affected areas.
The Army, the ADG said, had sent 18 medical teams (comprising 20 people each), and 12 engineer teams of about 60 to the neighbouring country. While the engineers were helping to clear the rubble from blocked roads, the power assessment team had managed to restore electricity in major areas. The medical teams had performed 65 surgeries and treated 540 trauma cases, the ADG said.
“In order to provide a healing touch, we have sent several Gurkha soldiers employed in the Indian Army to their respective areas in Nepal.”
Earlier in the day, spokesperson in the External Affairs Ministry Vikas Swarup tweeted: “Friends in need. India assisted in evacuation from Nepal of 170 nationals from 15 countries via commercial & IAF aircraft.”
Minister of State Dharmendra Pradhan also arrived at the Patna airport and instructed officials to ensure that there was no impediment to the supply of petroleum products to Nepal.

:: Sports ::

Historic MoU to ensure more IOC funding for athletes

The visit of International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Thomas Bach has ushered in good tidings for Indian sports with the historic Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed ensuring more IOC funding for Indian athletes.
Besides, the IOC chief’s firm assurance to the members of the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) that the National Olympic Committee’s (NOC’s) reworked constitution would not be changed any more has reduced the fear of further Government interference in the working of National sports bodies.
According to a highly-placed official in the IOA, the MoU, primarily signed between IOC and IOA ‘in the presence of the Government,’ would facilitate more inflow of funds to prepare athletes for the 2016 Olympics.
“Under the Olympic Solidarity Programme the IOA gets grants and funds for athletes. Now the IOC will ensure that they will go beyond that to help Indian sports develop.
“They suggested that the MoU be signed so that increased funding comes for the National Sports Federations (NSFs) which are under the Olympic programme. They will not only help athletes but also sports administrators and coaches. The actual funding will go through the IOA,” said the official.
“This (MoU) is for 2016 and after that it will be reviewed. At the moment they are focusing on 2016 and they may take it further till 2020.”
In his meetings with Government functionaries as well as IOA members, Bach also stressed that autonomy and good governance should go together.
“What he [Bach] is saying is we do not mind funding NOCs, but the funding must be in a responsible manner for a positive gain for the NSFs and the NOC.
“It (MoU) is a first-of-its-kind effort and they have never had such a tripartite agreement involving the Government and the NOC anywhere else,” the official added.
Bach’s words have comforted several sports bodies, who have been expecting more encroaching guidelines from the Government.
“In his address to the members, the IOC president stated that there is no re-look or change in the IOA constitution.”
As per the IOA’s new constitution — approved by the Government, IOC and IOA — the tenure and age stipulation is applicable to the office-bearers, who have been defined as the president, secretary general and treasurer.
But the IOA and NSFs are irked because of the fact that there is an attempt to use the National Sports Code to apply the age and tenure provisions to all officials of a sports body.
“You have to be reasonable and expect the NSFs to perform,” added the official.