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Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 22 June 2014

New Telangana State has not been noticed by the UPSC yet

The birth of new Telangana State has not been noticed by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC), or it seems so, and aspirants of various UPSC exams are unable to provide the correct details in the online application form while applying to various posts.
The UPSC website for online submissions ‘upsconline.nic.in’ still shows only Andhra Pradesh in its list of States and Telangana residents are in a dilemma whether to choose Andhra Pradesh as their state, and if they choose will they end up with some problems in future for selecting the wrong State. They are more worried as the last date of a few exams will end this month.
For example, aspirants for Civil Services preliminary exam have to apply online by June 30 while those aspiring for National Defence Academy (NDA) and Naval Academy Examination need to apply before July 21. Apart from these, vacancies have also been announced in various departments like Information Service, Border Road Transport organisation, Power Department, Directorate of Health and Family Welfare among others.
After the formation of Telangana on June 2 this year, aspirants say, four notifications have been issued by the UPSC and the dilemma continues for all the aspirants. The ‘error’ may cost the aspirants as they fear that their applications may be rejected by the software in future once Telangana enters the list. Moreover, unsuccessful candidates may use the information to create legal hurdles for the selected candidates, aspirants argue.

Rani-ki-Vav, a 11th century stepwell in the Patan area of Gujarat, was approved for inscription on the World Heritage list by UNESCO at the meeting of its World Heritage Committee in Doha.
As per the UNESCO’s announcement, “the Queen’s Stepwell” was designed as an inverted temple highlighting the sanctity of water.Located on the banks of the Saraswati and built as a memorial to King Bhimdev I of the Solanki dynasty, Rani-ki-Vav is divided into seven levels of stairs with sculptural panels.
These panels — more than 500 principle sculptures and over a 1,000 minor ones — “combine religious, mythological and secular imagery.”
Soon after the inscription of Rani-ki-Vav was announced in Doha, Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted that it was “a matter of great pride for us” and urged his followers on Twitter to visit the stepwell during their next visit to Gujarat. Describing it as an “excellent symbol of our great art and culture,” he also tweeted the link to the monument available on the Gujarat Tourism website.

In a major boost to India’s fight against black money, Switzerland has prepared a list of Indians suspected to have stashed un-taxed wealth in Swiss banks and the details are being shared with Indian government.
The names of these Indian individuals and entities have come under the scanner of the Swiss authorities during an ongoing exercise to identify real beneficiary/owners of funds held in various banks operating in Switzerland, a senior Swiss government official said.
These individuals and entities are suspected to have held un-taxed money in Swiss banks through structures like trusts, domiciliary companies and other legal entities based out of countries other than India.

U.N. cultural agency Unesco granted its prized World Heritage status to a prehistoric cave in southern France containing the earliest known figurative drawings.
Delegates at Unesco’s World Heritage Committee voted to grant the status to the Grotte Chauvet at a gathering in Doha, where they are considering cultural and natural wonders for inclusion on the U.N. list.
The cave in the Ardeche region, which survived sealed off for millennia before its discovery in 1994, contains more than 1,000 drawings dating back some 36,000 years to what is believed to be the first human culture in Europe.
The painted images include representations of human hands and of dozens of animals, including mammoth, wild cats, rhinos, bison, bears and aurochs.

India has moved up to 58th rank in terms of foreign money lying with Swiss banks, but it accounts for a meagre 0.15 per cent of an estimated $1.6 trillion total global wealth held in Switzerland’s banking system.
The U.K. has retained its top position with highest share of close to 20 per cent of global wealth in Swiss banking system, followed by the U.S., West Indies, Germany and Guernsey in the top-five in terms of exposure to banks in Switzerland.
Amid much hue and cry over huge amounts of illicit wealth stashed by Indians in Swiss banks, the latest official data released by Switzerland’s central banking authority SNB shows that Indian money in Swiss banks rose by 43 per cent during 2013 to close to Rs. 14,000 crore (2.03 billion Swiss francs), pushing its global ranking up from 70th at the end of 2012.
The rankings are based on the direct client exposure as also the funds held through ‘fiduciaries’ or wealth managers with a total of 283 banks in Switzerland.

BCCI’s president-in-exile N. Srinivasan is set to take over as the chairman of the International Cricket Council (ICC) at this week’s annual conference in Melbourne.
BCCI secretary Sanjay Patel confirmed that Srinivasan was going to Melbourne. “By the month-end, India will take a leading role in the ICC.