(Current Affairs) National Events | October + November: 2014

National Events

Govt. to consider UPSC exam in all 8th Schedule Languages

  • The Centre on Thursday said there was “force” in the argument that the Civil Services Examination should be conducted in all languages in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution and assured the Lok Sabha that this demand would be considered.

  • At present, while question papers are set in English and Hindi and the main examination can be attempted in any language in the Eighth Schedule, the preliminary examination are available only in English and Hindi.

  • As protests continued within and outside Parliament over the Civil Services Aptitude Test (CSAT), the government reiterated that the preliminary examination would be held as scheduled on August 24.

  • The Union Public Service Commission is yet to clear the air on whether it has accepted the government’s view that the English comprehension skill component of CSAT — paper II of the prelims — should not be counted for merit or gradation, and how this will be implemented.

E-rickshaws Finally get the Legal Stamp

  • The Delhi High Court on Friday advised the Delhi Government to organise camps for registration of e-rickshaws to protect the operators from further loss of earnings.
  • However, it refused to lift the ban on them plying on the Capital’s roads till the drivers have licences, registration certificates and insurance papers in their possession.
  • Filing the draft guidelines to regulate the battery-operated rickshaws, the Centre sought two months to finalise and notify them and urged the Court to let the vehicles ply during the this period. But the Court declined.

Don t disturb country s secular fabric, says SC

  • The Supreme Court on Friday cautioned non governmental organisations from making allegations which would disturb the country’s secular fabric.

  • A three-judge bench of Chief Justice R.M. Lodha and Justices Kurian Joseph and Rohinton Nariman, was hearing a writ petition filed by NGO Jayati Bharatam, seeking a SIT probe into incidents of conversion of Hindu girls into Muslims.

  • The Chief Justice of India (CJI) told counsel Vishnu Shankar Jain, appearing for the NGO “this is a secular state. Don’t try to bring religion into the court. We are also concerned with the matter and you are also saying it is serious. But the colour which you are giving is also concerning us. We are concerned with the law point.

Committee set up to Review Parliament Security

  • Security of Parliament, which was targeted by terrorists 13 years back, is set to be strengthened further with a special committee being set up to suggest measures for it within a month.
  • The committee will be headed by former Union Home Secretary R.K. Singh and will include former Rajasthan DGP Harish Chandra Meena and former Mumbai Police Commissioner Satyapal Singh.

  • The committee would give suggestions on training, adequacy of manpower and other relevant issues. It would also review all security equipments installed and future projections for further strengthening security.

  • In the previous Lok Sabha, a committee on security in Parliament complex, headed by then Deputy Speaker Karia Munda, was set up in the aftermath of the pepper spray attack inside Lok Sabha by a Congress MP that sparked massive outrage.

  • This committee had examined security-related matters, which also included ways to prevent bringing of dangerous and lifethreatening material into the chamber of the House by the Members of Parliament themselves..

SC Restrains Haryana SGMC from taking control of Gurdwaras

  • The Supreme Court restrained the Haryana Sikh Gurdwaras Management Committee (HSGMC) from taking control of 51 of the 52 Gurdwaras in the State.
  • The bench, hearing a writ petition questioning the constitutional validity of the law enacted by Haryana government directed that status quo be maintained in respect of other Gurdwaras.
  • The Bench also directed the SGPC and HSGMC to open separate bank accounts with regard to the Gurdwaras under their management and possession and deposit all the offerings in that account.

Three-language formula not implemented effectively: MHA

  • According to union govt., Implementation of the Centre’s Three-Language Formula for schools all over the country has been uneven owing to various interpretations of the formula by different States.

  • In many States, it has been adopted as 3+/-1 formula, and for the speaker of (linguistic) minority languages it has become a four-language formula as they have to learn their mother tongue, the dominant regional language,
    English and Hindi.

  • The Union Minister said some boards/institutions permit even foreign languages such as Spanish, French and German in place of Hindi or Sanskrit.

  • Listing the reasons for ineffective implementation, Govt. said southern States like Puducherry and Tamil Nadu besides Tripura were not ready to teach Hindi and Hindispeaking States did not include any South Indian language in their school curriculum. Among the other causes are the fear of heavy language load in the school curriculum; all the languages are not being taught compulsorily at the secondary stage; duration for compulsory
    study of three languages varies; and the States, most often, do not have adequate resources for provision of additional language teachers and teaching-learning materials.

  • The Three-Language Formula was devised in the Chief Ministers’ conferences in 1961. It was recommended by the 1968 policy under which the first language to be studied must be the mother tongue or the regional language; the second one in Hindi-speaking States would be some other modern Indian language or English, and in non-Hindi speaking States it would be Hindi or English.

Government issues alert for early detection of Ebola Virus

  • Union Govt. told Parliament that advisories were issued to the State Disease Surveillance Units to be on alert for early detection and management of travel related Ebola virus cases reported from the community.

  • In view of the reports of outbreak of the disease in Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Nigeria in West Africa, Govt. recommended that nonessential travel to these countries be deferred till such time that the situation is brought under control.

  • Though there is no vaccine or curative therapy for this disease, outbreaks can be contained through early detection and isolation of cases, contact tracing and monitoring, and following rigorous procedures for infection control.

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