(FREE) UPSC Current Affairs 2024 PDF

Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 31 March 2014

Bhullar’s death sentence commuted by the SC

The Supreme Court has commuted the death sentence of 1993 Delhi bomb blast case convict and Khalistani terrorist Devinderpal Singh Bhullar to life term on the ground of delay in deciding his mercy plea and his medical condition.
A four-judge bench headed by Chief Justice P. Sathasivam granted life to Bhullar on the ground of delay on the part of the government in deciding his mercy plea and also on the basis of his present medical condition.
The bench, also comprising justices R.M. Lodha, H.L. Dattu and S.J. Mukhopadhaya, passed the order on a curative petition filed by Bhullar’s wife Navneet Kaur.
She pleaded before the court to relook into its verdict, in which Bhullar’s plea for commuting the sentence was rejected, in view of its recent judgment where it was held that delay in deciding mercy plea can be a ground for commutation of death penalty.
Bhullar was convicted and awarded death penalty for triggering a bomb blast in New Delhi in September 1993, which killed nine persons and injured 25 others, including then Youth Congress president M.S. Bitta.

CBI to submit reports to CVC

The CBI will submit reports on investigations against 20 companies, as part of the preliminary enquiries instituted into the coal block allocations scam to the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC), for a review following a Supreme Court directive.
Few days ago, the court had directed the CVC to review the 20 cases, asking the CBI to submit the reports to the Commission within five days.
The apex court has also asked the CVC to review the cases against two companies — Vikas Metals Private Limited and Kamal Sponge and Power Private Limited — in which the CBI has filed closure reports.
This after the CBI Deputy Inspector-General Ravi Kant Sharma, who is supervising investigations into the coal block allocation cases, submitted before the Supreme Court that he wanted to file charge sheets against the two companies. The probe against 20 other firms under scrutiny for alleged irregularities in allotment of coal blocks was closed despite some officials’ opinion that it should have been carried further.
Accordingly, the Supreme Court directed the CVC to look into these cases and submit its recommendations within four weeks. The CBI has so far registered five preliminary enquiries, including the two in connection with the missing coal block allocations-related files. While 18 cases have been registered, the agency has filed charge sheets in two cases.
The agency has registered two latest cases against Prakash Industries and Central Collieries.

World unprepared for risks from a changing climate?

A U.N.-backed panel said that climate change impacts are already taking place on all continents and across the oceans, however, the world is unprepared for risks from a changing climate.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) finalized a report on the impacts of climate change on human and natural systems, and possible methods of adaptation during the five-day conference last week in the Japanese city of Yokohama.
Climate change is a growing threat to human security as it causes damage to homes and property, disrupts access to food and water and leads to forced migration, according to the IPCC, which is composed of hundreds of scientists and government representatives.
Risks from climate change are “high to very high” if temperatures increase over 4 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, where the world is now heading, the report said.
If temperatures rise between 1 to 2 degrees Celsius, risks increase “disproportionately,” it said.
The report issued on Monday assesses the impacts of climate change, adaptation and vulnerability of human and natural systems. It is the second of three assessment reports by the IPCC.
A summit in Paris in 2015 will focus on the creation of new international climate treaty to replace the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, the first phase of which came to an end in 2012.

Pervez Musharraf indicted for high treason

Former Pakistani dictator Pervez Musharraf was indicted by a special court hearing the high treason case against him, becoming the first ever military ruler to face criminal prosecution.
Mr. Musharraf, who personally appeared in court, is accused of treason under Article 6 for suspending, subverting and abrogating the Constitution, imposing an emergency in the country in November 2007 and detaining judges of the superior courts.
The 70-year-old former president, who is the first military ruler in Pakistan’s history to be tried in court, has rejected all the charges leveled against him.
The military has ruled Pakistan for about half of its 66-year history and no ruler or top military commander has ever faced criminal prosecution before Mr. Musharraf.
Since Mr. Musharraf returned to Pakistan from self-exile in March last year, he has faced prosecution in four major cases, including for his alleged involvement in the murder of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto in 2007 and the killing of Baloch nationalist leader Akbar Bugti in 2006.

Earth Hour 2014

British Columbians reduced the province’s electricity load by a full one per cent last night for Earth Hour on 29th of March which was equivalent of turning off 1.4 million lights.
Earth Hour was observed at night from 8:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m., and millions more people around the world also turned off their unnecessary lights and electronics.
In Vancouver, BC Place and Canada Place turned off their lights for an hour.
B.C’s energy savings during Earth Hour of one per cent was actually down from last year, when it was 1.95 per cent — the highest savings since 2008, when it was two per cent.

OPEC members ship more oil than allowed from Iran

Iran`s top four crude oil buyers lifted their purchases 17.2 percent in February from a year ago, as the OPEC member continues to ship more oil than allowed under a deal that eases some of the sanctions aimed at its disputed nuclear programme.
Under the interim agreement reached in November between Iran and six major powers and that took effect in January, the Islamic nation is supposed to hold its exports at an average of 1 million barrels per day (bpd) for the six months to July 20.
But imports by its four biggest buyers, China, India, Japan and South Korea, as well as Turkey, have totalled more than that since at least November, and tanker tracking data indicates only a slight slowdown in Tehran`s exports in March.
Iran`s higher exports could help cap benchmark oil prices that have risen due to supply concerns in countries like Libya, and with the escalating tensions between Russia and the West over the annexation of Crimea by the world`s top oil producer.
The increased buying of Iranian crude has come as the modest easing of sanctions has improved sentiment and reduced political risk for the OPEC member`s clients.
The United States reminded India earlier this month to keep its Iran imports at end-2013 levels, according to government sources there, which would require Indian refiners to cut buying from Tehran by two-thirds from the first-quarter to drop its intake average back to 195,000 bpd by July 20.
Iran`s biggest oil customer, China, lifted imports by 6 percent from a year ago to 552,613 bpd in February, while South Korea`s crude imports more than doubled to 290,714 bpd.
Iran Imports into India declined 8.7 percent to about 266,000 bpd.

Malaysian Grand Prix

Mercedes AMG Petronas made it two out of two so far this season, winning the 2014 Malaysian GP. This time, it’s the 2008 world champion and new Petronas Primax technical performance consultant Lewis Hamilton taking the victory, ahead of teammate and Australian GP winner Nico Rosberg and Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel.
Hamilton entered the record books with the dominant win, securing his first Grand Chelem. That’s getting the pole position, the fastest lap of the race and winning the grand prix while leading every lap. Only 23 drivers have ever achieved this, and just 11 of them have more than one. Vettel, for instance, has four.