Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 13 May 2014

Paid news scandal

The Election Commission has asked the former Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan and the former Jharkhand Chief Minister, Madhu Koda, to appear before it on May 23 for allegedly giving incorrect accounts of their 2009 poll expenses.
It is an ongoing case of alleged expenses made by him during the 2009 polls which were categorised as “paid news”. Mr. Chavan and Mr. Koda have been asked to attend the hearing here on May 23 “either in person or through their authorised representative or counsel.
The poll panel’s action comes a week after the Supreme Court gave it a free hand to inquire into complaints of paid news or incorrect expenses against a political leader. A Bench headed by Justice A.K. Patnaik had dismissed the plea of Mr. Chavan challenging the EC’s jurisdiction to inquire into such issues.

Seventeen Indian universities have made it to the Asia Pacific rankings of ranking agency Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) this year compared to 11 last year. Ranking agency QS released the rankings, which include Asia's top 300 universities, in association with non-profit organisation The Indian Centre for Assessment & Accreditation (ICAA) in New Delhi.
Six Indian institutes have made an entry to the list. Banaras Hindu University, Panjab University, Manipal University, Amity University, Birla Institute of Technology and Science, and the Indian Institute of Information Technology made it to the Asia rankings for the first time this year.
As in the previous editions of the rankings, the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) led the way. IIT Delhi held on to its 38th position like last year, ahead of IIT Bombay which was placed at 41. Five other IITs featured in the top 100, led by Kanpur and Madras just outside the top 50 at 52 and 53, respectively.

The world’s first airplane completely powered by electricity has successfully taken to the skies for its maiden flight, and could bring down air travel cost by more than a third, its developer Airbus said.
The small experimental aircraft called ‘E-Fan’ took off from an airport near Bordeaux in southwestern France. E-Fan measures little more than 19 feet from nose to tail and slightly more noise than a hairdryer.
Powered by 120 lithium-ion polymer batteries, the plane’s first official flight last month lasted less than 10 minutes, though the plane has the capability to fly for around an hour before recharging.

As more than 100 mines had been closed down in Odisha due to lack of statutory clearances following unearthing of the illegal mining scam, a high-level meeting recently decided to make mining activity a legitimate economic activity by complying with all statutory requirements through combined efforts of the State and Central governments.
The meeting was held at the Secretariat here under the chairmanship of Odisha Chief Secretary Jugal Kishore Mohapatra.
Union Mines Secretary Anup Kumar Pujari, Secretary and Union Steel Secretary G. Mohan Kumar and other officials attended the meeting.
Mines & Minerals Development and Regulation Act, 1957 was the governing legislation in the country and all issues relating to lease, auction, prospecting license, renewal etc. should be decided as per the provisions of the Act.
Available data shows that there were about 59 operating mines in Odisha, including 41 iron and manganese mines, six coal mines, one bauxite mine, five chromite and six limestone mines.
The issues relating to coal, water allocation and energy charges of National Aluminium Company (NALCO) and Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) were also discussed at the meeting. Mr. Mohapatra asked the PSUs to settle the issues through mutual discussions without promoting further litigation in these matters.

U.S. surveillance planes joined an international effort to find more than 200 Nigerian schoolgirls who were abducted by an extremist Islamic sect.
The U.S. provided aircraft over Nigerian territory, and was sharing satellite imagery with the authorities.
Islamist group Boko Haram said that it was willing to negotiate with the government over the release of the schoolgirls it abducted four weeks ago.
The group released a video demanding the release of all imprisoned insurgents in Nigeria in exchange for the teenagers. The girls had converted to Islam, the group said.
The government response to the demand was unclear, with one official saying there would be no negotiations, and another from the information ministry saying all options were on the table.