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Current Affairs For Bank, IBPS Exams - 26 May, 2015

Current Affairs for IAS Exams – 26 May 2015

:: National ::

‘ACB can act against Delhi police’

In a shot in the arm for the Aam Aadmi Party, the Delhi High Court ruled that the Delhi government’s Anti-corruption Branch (ACB) has the jurisdiction to arrest police personnel.
The ruling comes in the middle of a high-stakes jurisdiction battle between the Delhi and the Union governments. The court said the Centre’s recent notification barring the ACB from acting against Union government employees was “suspect” as it could not exercise executive power over matters falling under the legislative competence of the Delhi government.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal hailed the judgment, saying it would give his party new strength and resolve to fight against corruption.
“The ACB has been in existence for 40 years. The ACB was entitled to act against officers of any department in the territory of Delhi, be it the Delhi Police, the Municipal Corporation or the Delhi government. But during our 49-day government, we filed a case against one of the most powerful persons in the country, Mukesh Ambani. Things changed after that,” Mr Kejriwal said.
The court’s ruling was part of a judgment denying bail to a head constable arrested by the ACB on a bribery charge. Anil Kumar had contested his arrest, pointing to a notification passed by the Home Ministry last July saying the Branch’s jurisdiction extended only to employees of the Delhi government. It was contested that entries 1 and 2 on the State List of the Constitution — Public Order and Police — stood excluded from the legislative competence of the Delhi government under the Constitution.
Dhayan Krishnan, senior lawyer appearing for the Delhi government, said the powers of the State government to investigate corruption stemmed not from the State List but from the Concurrent List (matters under both the State and the Union governments). Entries 1 and 2 on the Concurrent List covered criminal law, including all matters included in the Indian Penal Code and the Code of Criminal Procedure at the “commencement of this Constitution”. He argued that offences of corruption, now covered under the Prevention of Corruption Act, were originally part of the IPC and could, therefore, be investigated by the State government.
Judge Vipin Sanghi agreed with Mr. Krishnan’s argument, saying the reliance placed by the applicant (Anil Kumar) on matters 1 and 2 on the State List was “misplaced”.

Parrikar pushes for Chief of Defence Staff (Register and Login to read Full News..)

:: International ::

Bangladesh ratifies boundary pact protocol

The Bangladeshi Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, ratified the protocol on the Land Boundary Agreement (LBA) with India.
The ratification was the last of the approvals needed for the implementation of the protocol signed during the visit of the then Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, to Dhaka four years ago for exchange of enclaves. The Indian Parliament ratified it recently.
Exchange of instruments will now take place during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Bangladesh, Cabinet Secretary Musharraf Hossain Bhuyan said.
Under the protocol, 111 Indian enclaves inside Bangladesh and 51 Bangladeshi ones inside India were to be exchanged. Bangladesh will also get 2,777 acres of land, while India will get 2,267 acres.

Poland polls: win for opposition

Conservative opposition challenger Andrzej Duda has won a surprise victory in Poland’s presidential run-off, trumping incumbent centrist Bronislaw Komorowski with promises of change and generous social spending.
An MEP and lawyer with a populist streak, Mr. Duda scored 52 per cent support ahead of Mr. Komorowski, who mustered 48 per cent, exit polls showed.
The result is a stunning turnaround from expectations only a few weeks ago and gives a key indicator of the national mood ahead of an autumn parliamentary election in the heavyweight central European nation.

Indignados win big in Barcelona, Madrid (Register and Login to read Full News..)

:: Business and Economy ::

Move to make Nagpur a multi-modal logistics hub

The logistics sector is being given a leg up to support the sudden growth in e-commerce as well as the government’s Make in India initiative.
The Maharashtra Government, which is taking a lead in this initiative, has lined up plans to expedite an earlier programme to develop Nagpur, the central point of India, as a multi-modal logistics hub. The state government has also decided to set up an integrated logistics park near Mumbai.
“To support the Make in India’ initiative, we are coming up with an integrated logistic park at Bhiwandi, near Mumbai, on 2200 hectors of land. The plan is ready, and soon a state-of-the-art facility will come up to give a boost to the logistics sector,” Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said while addressing a three-day convention of Federation of Freight Forwarders’ Associations in India (FFFAI) .
“Nagpur is being developed as a multi-modal logistics hub as it is located at the centre of India. Aurangabad has also equal potential to emerge as a hub to cater to the requirement of e-commerce firms. Maharashtra is poised to play a vital role for the logistics sector, which will benefit the whole freight forwarding community,” he added. Addressing the conference Guruprasad Mohapatra, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Commerce, said new routes must be developed for CIS countries which had emerged as major trade partners of India.
“The bilateral trade between India and CIS region has increased from $8,346 million in 2010-11 to $11,054.million in 2014-15. FFFAI on behalf of Ministry of Commerce had conducted a successful dry run study on International North South Transport Corridor (INSTC). The activation of the corridor will help reduce dwell time and transaction costs by connecting India to Russia within 16-21 days at competitive freight rates leading to development of trade in the INSTC,” he said.
As India embarks on a massive manufacturing activity and is developing dedicated freight corroders as well as giving boost to inland waterways and coastal shipping, the freight forwarders, an important stakeholder in logistics industry, are gearing up to seize the opportunity.
“FFFAI is working actively to provide the requisite mindset, skill, technological roadmap and develop execution ability to handle the next growth curve in economy. This will help in reduction of transaction cost and provide efficient movement for manufactured products within & outside country,” said Amit Kamat, Honorary Secretary, FFFAI Convention.

:: Sports ::

CEAT Awards given away

Ranji Trophy champion Karnataka’s captain, fast bowling spearhead and inspiration, Vinay Kumar, was named CEAT Domestic Cricketer of the Year for 2014-15 at a function.
Receiving the prize from former India captain Nari Contractor, Vinay said: “Karnataka is dominant across different formats in first-class cricket because whenever there is a crisis situation, someone in the side puts his hand up to take responsibility for team performance.”
Test batsman Ajinkya Rahane was chosen Indian Cricketer of the Year, while Kapil Dev was chosen for the Lifetime Achievement Award.
Sri Lankan legend Kumar Sangakkara was named the International Cricketer of the Year.
Mumbai Indians’ skipper Rohit Sharma, who was given a Special Award for his record-breaking 264 against Sri Lanka in an one-dayer at Kolkata, said about the knock “I had come back into the game after a gap of three months and just went out to bat with an open mind, not thinking about anything.”
The annual awards honours players for performances in international and domestic cricket across all formats. Sunil Gavaskar is Chief Adjudicator of CEAT Cricket Rating, which identifies achievers based on points accumulated in various categories.
The RPG Group chairman, Harsh Goenka, announced the launch of cricket gear and named Aussie pacer Brett Lee as the brand ambassador.
The award winners: International Cricketer of the Year: Kumar Sangakkara; Domestic Cricketer of the Year: R. Vinay Kumar; Indian Cricketer of the Year: Ajinkya Rahane; T20 Player of the Year: Dwayne Bravo ; International Batsman of the Year: Hashim Amla; International Bowler of the Year: Rangana Herath; Popular Choice award: Kieron Pollard; Special Award: Rohit Sharma; Young Player of the Year: Deepak Hooda.