(Current Affairs) National Events | October: 2016

National Events

SC quashed the acquisition of land in Singur

  • The Supreme Court quashed the CPI (M)-led West Bengal government’s acquisition of 997 acres of agricultural land for industry captain Tata Motors’ Nano “small car” plant in Singur.
  • Judgement said though it is “completely understandable” for the government to acquire land to set up industrial units, the “brunt of development” should not be borne by the “weakest sections of the society.”
  • The judgment questions the former CPI(M) government’s acquisition of the land over the objections raised by farmers and even proceeding to install equipment and factory machinery.
  • The issue led to an electoral victory for the Mamata Banerjee government, which went on to enact the Singur Land Rehabilitation and Development Act in 2011 to re-claim the land from the Tatas.

Election Commission issued directions for use of an integrated violet sketch pen

  • The Election Commission issued directions for use of an integrated violet sketch pen of “approved” design, which would be manufactured by a particular firm, in future Rajya Sabha and Legislative Council polls.
  • The decision comes over two months after votes of 12 Congress legislators marked using a “wrong” pen were declared invalid in Rajya Sabha polls in Haryana.
  • In its order, the Election Commission said: “integrated violet sketch pen of specific design and manufactured by a particular firm, both approved by the Election Commission of India, shall be used in all future elections”.

Hundreds of tonnes of gold could be recovered from old electronic devices now

  • Hundreds of tonnes of gold could be recovered from old electronic devices such as smartphones, TV sets and computers each year, thanks to a simple chemical method developed by researchers.
  • Current methods for extracting gold from old gadgets are inefficient and can be hazardous to health, as they often use toxic chemicals such as cyanide, researchers said.
  • Electrical waste — including old mobile phones, televisions and computers — is thought to contain as much as seven per cent of all the world’s gold, a key component of the printed circuit boards found inside electrical devices.
  • Improving how the precious metal is recovered from discarded electronic devices could help reduce the environmental impact of gold mining and cut carbon dioxide emissions.
  • They developed a simple extraction method that does not use toxic chemicals and recovers gold more effectively than current methods.
  • The finding could help salvage some of the estimated 300 tonnes of gold used in electronics each year, researchers said.
  • The findings could aid the development of methods for large-scale recovery of gold and other precious metals from waste electronics, researchers said.

Enemy property ordinance approved by the cabinet

  • The Union Cabinet gave ‘post facto approval’ to the ordinance, a first in the independent parliamentary history of the country, promulgated by President Pranab Mukherjee to amend the Enemy Property Act.
  • Since the government could not get the required parliamentary approval in the just-concluded session, PM Modi invoked Rule 12 of business and transactions to seek re-promulgation of the ordinance by the President.
  • The amended provisions are to guard against claims of succession or transfer of properties left by people who migrated to Pakistan and China after the wars in 1965 and 1962.
  • Thanks to the amended version now, once a property is deemed as enemy property, no claims of ownership will be entertained, even if classification of the enemy changes in due course of time.
  • In the last two years, questions have been raised on the frequent recourse of the Modi government to the ordinance route and whether the President should have assented to all the governments for issue of ordinances.

Unions across India go on strike

  • All trade unions, except Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS), have joined hands to make the national bandh on Friday a success.
  • Condemning the government for “making a mockery” of their main demand of minimum wages, the union leaders have pledged to take up a sustained agitation till the demands are met.
  • The union leaders have been addressing gate-meetings at major industrial units since the last couple of days to create awareness among the workers on their demands.
  • The government has agreed for Rs. 9,100 per month, which is not acceptable. The minimum wage per day now is Rs. 307, and the government has increased it by Rs. 43 to make it Rs. 350.

Reliance Jio comes up with free voice calls and free roaming

  • Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani threw down the gauntlet to rival telecom operators by announcing lifetime free voice calls and free roaming, and data plans priced at an average of Rs.50 per GB.
  • RIL customers will also enjoy free data till the end of 2016. “The era of paying for voice calls is ending,” Mr. Ambani said at the company’s annual general meeting.
  • His statements were interrupted by repeated rounds of applause from the shareholders.
  • As part of the introductory offer, users will have access to unlimited LTE data and national voice, video and messaging services free of cost up to December 31.

India’s space capacity of 34 working satellites is not sufficient

  • India’s space capacity of 34 working satellites is barely half of what the country needs and is severely limited to meet increasing demands from the Centre, States and businesses, Chairman of the ISRO, said.
  • ISRO plans to put 12–18 satellites in space each year to meet this demand and also wants to be free to pursue higher technologies.
  • Domestic industry should urgently step in to make satellites and launch vehicles, he told a gathering of Indian and overseas space supplies companies.
  • ISRO’s satellites for communication, earth observation and navigation can connect people, tell fisher folk where to find fish; forecast crop yields, locate people or places; and help governments govern and plan projects.
  • Today, over 60 Central departments – compared to 15 departments until recently – and all State governments were demanding satellite-based solutions for governance.
  • While industry already supplied small systems and components for spacecraft and rockets, he said this was not adequate.
  • ISRO was working out ways for itself, its commercial arm — Antrix Corporation — and industry to provide practical solutions.
  • At least three of ISRO’s overseas counterparts have floated interesting possibilities to be pursued jointly with India.
  • The Swiss Space Centre which has earlier launched a tiny satellite on the PSLV has discussed with ISRO the possibility of jointly sending a small space craft to clear space debris.
  • Six more small commercial satellites of foreign customers are slated to be launched this month-end along with the ocean data gleaning Scattsat-1.

Odisha became the 16th State to ratify the constitutional amendment for GST

  • Odisha became the 16th State to ratify the constitutional amendment that will pave the way for the roll-out of the Goods & Services Tax (GST).
  • Ratified now by more than half the 29 States, the amendment requires only the President’s assent — which, it is expected, to receive expeditiously — before the Centre can notify it.
  • Following the notification of the Constitutional (122nd Amendment) Act, 2014, no State will be able to remain outside the GST regime. Upon its notification, all States will lose the powers to levy and collect value-added tax.
  • This will be regardless of whether a State has ratified the amendment or not. Further, to receive a share in the revenue collected from the GST, a State will have to pass the model GST laws.
  • Even States such as Tamil Nadu — where the ruling All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam has been opposing the GST in its proposed form are participating in the ongoing discussions for thrashing out the GST’s roll-out.
  • After the notification, the Centre and the States will immediately move to set up the proposed GST Council.
  • Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had earlier indicated that the Empowered Committee of State Finance Ministers itself is likely to be made the Council.
  • While the committee is headed by West Bengal Finance Minister Amit Mitra, the council is expected to be chaired by the Union Finance Minister.
  • Earlier, starting with Assam, Maharashtra, Haryana, Bihar, Jharkhand, Himachal Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Telangana, Madhya Pradesh, Delhi, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim and Goa ratified the amendment.

Climate change could be easy to implement than earlier deals

  • Climate change treaties have been notoriously hard to implement in the past, but the Paris Agreement, signed at the United Nations Climate Change Conference last year, could be a different story.
  • That’s according to U.S. Special Envoy for Climate Change Dr. Jonathan Pershing who says that the will of countries, such as India and the United States, to expedite change could see the agreement come into force as early as this year.
  • The group was formed to review progress made in the bilateral relationship on climate resilience, air quality, forestry, capacity building and clean energy, and to discuss opportunities for future collaboration in shared climate priorities.
  • The meetings between the two governments, he said, focused on how the two sides could grow interactions in terms of experts travelling each way for fellowships.
  • He highlighted that the talks looked at the question of climate resilience in a new light.
  • In the area of resilience, Mr. Pershing said, discussions were held about water, agriculture, food, energy systems, and the focus once again was on the kind of expertise each side can contribute to the other.

Muslim Personal Law Board says SC has no authority to decide on triple talaq

  • Noting that a religion cannot be “reformed” out of its existence or identity, the All India Muslim Personal Law Board challenged the Supreme Court’s initiative to judicially examine Islamic personal laws relating to marriage and divorce.
  • The apex Muslim law body of the country accused the Supreme Court of trying to indulge in judicial legislation in the name of “socially reforming” Islamic practices of marriage and divorce.
  • It said the practices depicted in the Holy Koran are out of bounds for the Supreme Court.
  • The AIMPLB claimed that personal laws of marriage and divorce are outside the purview of the fundamental rights of the Indian Constitution, and Article 44.
  • It envisages a Uniform Civil Code, is only a “directive principle of State policy and not enforceable.

Global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of G20 countries are continuing to increase

  • Global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of G20 countries are continuing to increase, a report from Climate Transparency, an open global consortium, has shown ahead of the 2016 G20 Hangzhou summit to be held in China.
  • Between 1990 and 2013, the absolute carbon dioxide emissions of G20 countries, which account for three-fourths of global CO{-2}emissions, went up by 56 per cent, the report shows.
  • India received a ‘medium’ rating with good scores for emissions, share of renewables in total primary energy supply (TPES) and climate policy, but poor scores in carbon intensity, share of coal in TPES and electricity emissions.
  • The worst overall performers were Australia, Argentina, Japan, Russia, Saudi Arabia and South Africa.
  • The carbon intensity of the energy sector was found increasing, due to the strong and continuing role that coal plays.
  • Of all the G20 member-states, Australia, Canada, Saudi Arabia and the United States stand out with by far the highest per capita energy-related CO{-2}emissions.
  • Saudi Arabia, South Korea and Japan still show an increase over the five-year period 2008-2013.
  • Argentina and South Africa have declining per capita emissions, as with the EU and its big member-states Germany, France, Italy and the U.K., the report notes.
  • China’s per capita emissions were found to be above the G20 average: at 38%, with China having the highest economic growth rate between 2008 and 2013.
  • The coal share of China, India, South Africa and Turkey will remain clearly above the maximum 2°C benchmark in the time period until 2030, the report notes.
  • To be in line with a 2°C-compatible trajectory by 2035, G20 countries face an investment gap of almost $ 340 billion/year in the power sector.
  • Though plugging the gap requires an increase in green investments, G20 governments provided, on average, almost $ 70 billion in subsidies for fossil fuel production between 2013 and 2014, the report points out.
  • This was despite G20 leaders pledging to phase out ‘inefficient’ fossil fuel subsidies in 2009. The report also points out that reducing fossil fuel subsidies could theoretically create fiscal space for more international climate finance.

Canonisation of Mother Teresa do be done in the Vatican

  • The canonisation of Mother Teresa in the Vatican will be marked by India with the release of a commemorative postage stamp.
  • India Post will on the day issue a souvenir sheet on Mother Teresa, acclaimed the world over for her work among the poor.
  • The stamp will be available for sale on the e-post office portal.
  • India Post released, in Kolkata, a special postal and numismatic cover on the Roman Catholic nun.
  • West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee left for Rome to attend Mother Teresa’s canonisation ceremony.

Click Here for Full National Issue

Click Here to Join Online Coaching for IAS (Pre.) Exam

<< Go Back To National Events Main Page

Current Affairs
National Issues
Civil Services EXAM
Civil Services Preliminary
Civil Services Mains
UPSC