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Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 8 May 2015

Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 08 May 2015

:: National ::

NJAC: Centre’s insistence on larger Bench draws flak

The Centre’s insistence that a larger Bench of nine to 11 judges should hear the petitions challenging the constitutionality of the new National Judicial Appointments Commission law replacing the Supreme Court Collegium came under flak .
In the last session of the marathon hearings before a five-judge Bench headed by Justice J.S. Khehar, senior advocates like Fali Nariman, who represents the lead petition in the batch challenging the new law and the 99th Constitution Amendment, said the Centre’s persistent demand would hold up court proceedings for no reason.
Mr. Nariman said the Centre’s plea for a larger Bench to hear the petitions came too late, and even after the petitioners had concluded their arguments.
If the Centre wanted to press for a larger Bench, it should have done so on the very first day Justice Khehar’s Bench took up the case.
Attorney-General Mukul Rohatgi had countered that the Centre was entitled to seek a reference to a nine or 11-judge Constitution Bench. It said the primary point for seeking reference was to have the Supreme Court reconsider the 1993 judgment in the Second Judges case delivered by a Bench of nine judges. The 1993 judgment had introduced the collegium system of judicial appointments.
The Bench had at this point asked the Centre as to why it wanted the 1993 Second Judges case reconsidered when it had already claimed that the NJAC would wipe away the previous collegium system and usher in a new third chapter of judicial appointments system.
“The Centre’s stand is that the Second Judges case is gone after Article 124A (brought by 99th Constitutional amendment). But they ask for its reconsideration by larger Bench which is the dichotomy.”

Pranab's Moscow visit to boost India-Russia education ties

President Pranab Mukherjee landed in Moscow for a visit aimed at reaffirming old ties between Russian and Indian soldiers who fought together during the Second World War, but also at restoring education ties between the next generation of young Russians and Indians. At least eight MoUs will be signed between Indian institutes and Russian Universities on Friday, with a high- power delegation of higher education officials travelling with the President.
Among them are directors of IIT Delhi, Mumbai and Madras, the Indian Statistical Institute, the Institute of Engineers (India) as well as the Vice-Chancellor of Delhi University. “The purpose is to recognise Russia’s strength in scientific and technological research, and to build a network students and professors who can conduct joint research together,” Secretary in the Department of Higher Education Satyanarayan Mohanty told onboard the President’s special aircraft.
Equally important, admit officials, will be finding new ways of attracting Indian students to Russia, after a sharp decline in numbers since the Soviet era when thousands used to study medicine and other high education degrees here. By 2001-2002, the number was down to 130 after the uncertainty caused by the disintegration of the Soviet Union. In contrast, the US attracts more than 1 lakh Indian students a year while, UK, Australia, New Zealand and Canada account for nearly all the rest of the students going abroad for higher studies.
“One reason is language difficulties in Russia, the other is that with the collapse of the Soviet Union, many of the scholarships for Indian students dried up,” explained Mr. Mohanty.
The MoUs will be signed on the historic Moscow State University campus that dates back to 1755, and Delhi University students can soon look forward to the option of studying some courses here as well. “There is the possibility in the near future of our students drawing credit from each of the two institutions, and I expect DU students to find Moscow an attractive destination, and likewise for MSU students to find Delhi University attractive too,” DU Vice-Chancellor Dinesh Singh told.
Russian education officials say the key will also be to encourage students and universities to collaborate on research rather than only come as students, as both India and Russia are known for their high standard of innovation, particularly in the IITs. According to Edward Crawley, the president of the Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology, along with the Tomsk University, one of the universities hoping to tie up with IITs, “Both the countries are interested in developing more indigenous economic capability. Reasons are different, but the outcome is same -- to become less reliant on products from the West or manufacturing from China.” SkolTech, as it is called, now offers courses with English as a language of instruction and hopes to attract at least 3-4 per cent of its student population from India after the MoUs are signed and 30-40 per cent in the future, according an interview Mr. Crawley gave to the Russia-India Report news agency.
Mr. Mukherjee is on a four-day visit to Moscow, primarily to attend the 70 commemoration of victory day for World War 2, and to meet with President Putin.

Consent, not age, is real issue in early marriage, says report

There is more to the practice of early and child marriage than it being yet another ‘social evil’ waiting to be eradicated.
In its report, Early and Child Marriage in India: A Landscape Analysis, released here on Tuesday, the NGO Nirantar Trust shows that while the primary aim of most organisations working on the issue has been to address the problem of girls marrying before the legally permissible age of 18, an empowerment approach is what is needed to address the problem of lack of agency and choice among young people in influencing life-altering decisions. A blind emphasis on age becomes a distraction from the real problems of choice and consent with regards to marriage, the report notes.
According to the National Family Health Survey (2005-06), 74 per cent of women in India married before the age of 20. The report identifies seven root causes of early and child marriage: the economics of marriage, sexuality, gender norms and masculinity, educational and institutional gaps, the centrality of marriage, risk, vulnerability and uncertainty, and age as an axis of power.
Based on research in eight States where early marriage is widespread, the report shows how in a system that wishes to control female sexuality, acknowledging that girls can have sexual agency and desires is a threat. The anxiety caused by this is so strong that even conversations around contraception and safe sex are shameful and actively discouraged, lest they should give adolescents the “wrong idea.”
At the report’s launch, Lakshmi Sharma, Chief of Bureau, Khabar Lahariya newspaper in Lucknow, spoke about how marrying at the age of 14 had not stopped her from pursuing her interests, and there is life after marriage for women, thus emphasising the importance of women’s agency.
Archana Dwivedi, Director, Nirantar Trust, said that similar to HIV/AIDS earlier, there was a great amount of interest and funding to work on the issue of early and child marriage in India, and the report was aimed at guiding organisations working in this area.
Statistics analysed in the report reveal the gendered nature of early and child marriage. The percentage of girls married before their legal age is the same as the percentage of boys married by 25. The report also notes that the difference between urban and rural statistics cannot be directly attributed to modernity and urbanisation. Often rural parents marry off their daughters in the village before they migrate so as to avoid the risks that young unwed girls face in cities.

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:: International ::

Guy Carawan, known for civil rights anthem' We Shall Overcome', dies

Guy Carawan, whose rendition of the song We Shall Overcome became an anthem of the U.S. civil rights movement, has died at his home in Tennessee, The New York Times reported. He was 87.
Carawan, a white folk singer, did not write the song, which has a long oral history that can be traced back to a church hymn in the late 19th Century that was taken up as a rally cry among labour activists in the 1940s.
Carawan first performed We Shall Overcome, to a group of black students in Raleigh, North Carolina in 1960 - and it quickly became the anthem of the civil rights movement, the New York Times said.
It was sung at demonstrations and rallies throughout the 1960s, including the 1965 march from Selma to Montgomery led by slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.
In the decades since, it has been performed by Tiananmen Square protesters and at the dismantled Berlin Wall, the Times reported.
In a 1999 interview with NPR about the song's history, Carawan said he learned the lyrics and melody from a friend in California.
"He taught me this song, and he also had put some chords to it. He sang the guitar with it. So he had a guitar with harmony like, (singing) 'we shall overcome someday. Oh, deep in my heart I do believe, yes, that we shall overcome someday'," he said, reciting the lyrics.
The son of Southern parents, Carawan was born in 1927 in Santa Monica, California.
He moved to New York City and became active in the folk revival movement in the 1950s. The version of We Shall Overcome sung by Carawan was forged with the help of fellow folk artist Pete Seeger, the Times reported.
Carawan and his second wife, Candie, taught music for decades at the Highlander Research and Education Center, a social justice leadership school, in New Market, Tennessee.
Carawan, who suffered from dementia, died and his final moments were peaceful, his wife told local media.

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:: Business and Economy ::

Dabur creates sub-brand Dabur Baby

FMCG company Dabur India Ltd. (DIL) has created a sub-brand Dabur Baby to step up its presence in the baby care segment, which is now a sub-vertical for the company.
The company is also looking at the entire range of the baby care products from healthcare to hygiene products such as diapers and swipes.
“We intend to be a serious player in the baby-care segment and will accordingly expand our presence,” DIL Category Head – Mother & Child Care Ramarao Dhamija told. So far, Dabur’s baby care portfolio include the massage oil ‘Dabur Lal Tel’ and natural supplements such as ‘Dabur Janma Gunthi’ (which promotes growth) and gripe water.
These three products now contribute around Rs.130 crore to Dabur’s turnover with Rs.100 crore coming from ‘Lal Tel’ considered the company’s signature product.
DIL on Wednesday launched a premium baby-massage oil with olive and almond oil under the new brand.

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:: Science and Technology ::

NGT bills Delhi households for a cleaner Yamuna

For a cleaner River Yamuna, the National Green Tribunal announced that every household in Delhi will have to pay environmental compensation every month.
The compensation to be paid would be directly proportional to the property or water tax, whichever is higher, paid by a particular household.
In case of households in unauthorised colonies which do not pay property tax or water bill, the amount would be Rs. 100 to Rs. 500.
“We direct NCT of Delhi, Delhi Jal Board and all Municipal Corporations, Cantonment Board, electricity companies like BSES and all other civic authorities to require payment of environmental compensation from every house hold which is generating sewage in the entire NCT of Delhi on the Polluters Pay Principle. It will be irrespective of whether a house hold is sewered or not. This would be equally applicable to the house hold located in the unauthorized colonies,” said a bench headed by NGT chairperson Justice Swatanter Kumar.
The payment of the ‘environmental compensation’ would be added to electricity bills, water bill and the property tax demand in order of preference by the respective departments which will transfer the money to NCT, Delhi.

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:: Sports ::

CSK vs. MI: CSK Mumbai Indians breach CSK’s fortress for 5th straight win

Mumbai Indians defeated Chennai Super Kings by six wickets in a breathtaking finish to record their fifth successive win of the Indian Premier League.
Needing 30 runs off the last 12 balls, Hardik Pandya (21 not out of 8 balls) and Ambati Rayudu (34 off 19) smashed left—arm spinner Pawan Negi for 25 runs in the penultimate over to tilt the high—pressure game in Mumbai’s favour.
Mumbai took two balls to knock off the five runs needed in the final over, ending at 159/4. Super Kings had recovered to post 158 for five in 20 overs.
Pandya was the star of the night as he backed his effort on the field by hitting three sixes in the 19th over, proving to be the difference in the end.
Super Kings remained at top in the points table despite their first defeat at home this season while Mumbai added to their remarkable turnaround with a fifth win in as many games.
They are now fourth in the standings with six wins and five losses.