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Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 26 September 2014

National

US court issues summons against Narendra Modi

• “Jane Doe”, multiple “John Does”, a man only known as Asif and the American Justice Centre — these were the variegated plaintiffs in the lawsuit that led to a dramatic summons issued by a New York federal court against Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi,
• In their lawsuit, they have made eight distinct claims for relief which include, in order, crimes against humanity; cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment; extrajudicial killing; wrongful deaths; negligence; public nuisance; battery; and intentional infliction of emotional distress.
• All allegations pertain to the role that the plaintiffs perceived Mr. Modi to have played in presiding over the anti-Muslim pogrom that occurred in Gujarat in 2002, when he was the state’s Chief Minister.
Business-to-business a priority over government-to-government engagements in Modi’s visit
• Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected in New York a day after unveiling his “Make in India” plan on 25th September for a five-day visit expected to focus on boosting the Indian economy.
• Calling the U.S. “a vital partner for our national development” as he left for his tour, Mr. Modi said he hopes to “draw especially on the rich possibilities of partnership in education, skills, research, technology and innovation.”
• During his visit, Mr. Modi will address corporates at different levels, from a breakfast meeting with 11 top CEOs, one-on-one meetings with leading business figures, including the heads of Boeing, GE, IBM, but also with investment management firms Blackrock and KKR, and finally an address to business chamber USIBC members in Washington.
• Another big priority for the PM will be energy supplies, as he will try to disentangle the nuclear knots over India’s supplier liability laws, speaking directly to the heads of GE and Westinghouse that have bid for plants in India. Mukesh Ambani will be part of the business delegation during the visit.

Science & Technology

Government study on spurious drugs is set to gain momentum

• The Government’s study on spurious drugs in the country is set to gain momentum in the next few months.
• The Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) in consultation with the Indian Statistical Institute and other partners, including the State drug controllers, have put in the basic framework on how to carry out the study, including details on the category or medicines to be covered, said Bangarurajan, Deputy Drugs Controller, CDSCO (West Zone).
• Former Drug Controller-General of India, Surinder Singh, who is now Director of the National Institute of Biologicals, heads this committee that is studying the prevalence of spurious drugs.
• A similar study on spurious drugs was conducted in 2009, where 24,000 samples were picked up from across the country. The prevalence of spurious products was found to be about 0.04 per cent.

After Mars mission GSLV-MkIII is ISRO’s next project

• The flush of the successful Indian Mars manoeuvre will take a while to wear off. Team ISRO has, meanwhile, got down to brass tacks and expects to get one of its biggest projects off the mark this calendar year — GSLV-Mark III.
• The first flight of the new vehicle is being considered for October-end if good weather holds, said ISRO Chairman K. Radhakrishnan. The stages of the vehicle are being put together at Sriharikota.
• The date of its launch depends on an earlier flight of the PSLV-C26, which will put into orbit the third regional navigation spacecraft, the IRNSS-1C. If the PSLV is flown in the week starting October 9 as planned, GSLV-MkIII can follow on the second launch pad a fortnight after it, Dr. Radhakrishnan said. The C-26 vehicle is also getting assembled at Sriharikota.

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Business and economy

“FDI should be understood as ‘First Develop India’: PM

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the ‘Make in India’ campaign at a high-profile event, which captains of industry from India and abroad immediately joined by committing multi-crore investments and projects in the presence of Mr. Modi.
• Speaking on the occasion, Aditya Birla Group chief Kumar Mangalam Birla said his steel-to-software conglomerate already had its manufacturing base in India and now planned to leverage its global production facilities for bringing technology here.
• The head of India’s largest private sector company, Mukesh Ambani of Reliance Industries (RIL), called the launch of the campaign a historic day for Indian industry and said, “We are committing ourselves to the movement our beloved Prime Minister had given to 1 billion Indians on Independence Day… The uniqueness of his leadership is that he dreams and he does.”
• Unveiling the campaign logo earlier, Mr. Modi said “FDI should be understood as ‘First Develop India’ along with ‘Foreign Direct Investment’” while encouraging investors not to just look at India as merely a market but also as an opportunity.
• The Prime Minister also noted that India ranked low on the “ease of doing business” index and said he was sensitising government officials to the need for “effective” governance.

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Person in news

Govind Mishra gets Saraswati Samman 2013

• Renowned Hindi author Govind Mishra was conferred the 'Saraswati Samman' for his novel "Dhool Paudhon Par" published in 2008 at a function in New Delhi.
• Govind Mishra is the second Hindi author who was conferred this honour after it was given to Harivansh Rai Bachchan in 1991. Born on August 1, 1939, in Atarra (Banda, Uttar Pradesh), Mishra completed his BA and MA (English) at the University of Allahabad.
• Giving away the award, constituted by the K K Birla Foundation, Home Minister Rajnath Singh said that it has been recognised as the highest literary award in India.

International

Bamiyan (Afghanistan) will be SAARC cultural capital for 2015

• Bamiyan, the Afghan town which shot into prominence when the Taliban blew up two ancient statues of the Buddha in 2001, has been selected to be the SAARC cultural capital for a year beginning April 2015. Dhaka will be the SAARC cultural capital in 2016-17.
• This was decided at the SAARC Culture Ministers Conference. Finalising the cultural capitals for the next two years was part of the Delhi Resolution which was adopted at the conference while preparing a road map on cultural ties till 2017. The year 2016-17 will also be declared the SAARC Year of Cultural Heritage.
• The SAARC countries also agreed to formulate proposals for transnational nominations for the World Heritage List and a regional list of heritage sites. India’s Project Mausam got a fillip as the Delhi Resolution agrees to recognise the impact and contribution of maritime routes and the monsoon as also other inland relations through centuries of trade, migration and colonialism.
• In a measure aimed at promoting literature produced in local languages of the region, the Ministers decided to make them accessible to readers across the world through translations in not just English but SAARC languages.

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Sports

Lifetime Achievement award for Kapil Dev

• Indian cricket legend Kapil Dev has been honoured with a Lifetime Achievement award at a ceremony in the House of Lords in London.
• The award, constituted by the Indo-European Business Forum (IEBF), was presented to the former India World Cup-winning captain for his contribution to the sport and for his work in the field of upliftment of poor and destitute communities through the Khushii society.