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Current Affairs for IAS Exams – 03 December 2015

NATIONAL

The incessant, record- breaking rainfall in the city and its suburbs could reduce this burgeoning metropolis by the coast into islands of misery, but not break the resilience of its people.
With rivers swelling and submerging bridges and lakes in the suburbs overflowing their banks, several thousands of people were left homeless or stranded in their own homes without food, water and electricity.
The record rainfall 29.4 cm in the city and 49 cm in Tambaram in 24 hours from 8.30 a.m. on Tuesday coupled with the increased dis- charge of water from reservoirs around the city hampered rescue operations and paralysed life.
The previous highest rainfall in the city on a single day in December was recorded in 1901.

Survivors of the Bhopal gas tragedy have claimed that the Union government is claiming less in compensation than what it did 30 years back.
While in 1985 the Indian government asked for $3.3 billion as compensation, it is now $1.2 billion in 2015, they claimed.
Union Carbide has paid only $470 million. The least the government should be asking for is $6.5 billion. But the curative petition only asks for 1.2 billion dollars.
In the last five years there has been just one hearing on the curative petition and the government has not moved a single application for urgent hearing on the matter.

The National Crisis Management Committee (NCMC), headed by Cabinet Secretary P.K. Sinha, reviewed the flood situation in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Puducherry and assured them of all help.
Mr. Sinha took stock of the availability of foodgrains in Tamil Nadu and directed the Ministries of Food, Agriculture, Health, Telecommunication and others to provide all assistance to the State to deal with the flood situation in Chennai and nearby areas.
The government said it had already released Rs. 509 crore to Tamil Nadu from the State Disaster Relief Fund (SDRF).
Union Home Secretary Rajiv Mehrish had a separate meeting with senior officials of the Disaster Management Division and asked them to be in constant touch with the Tamil Nadu government.
The amphibious ship INS Airavat with six integral boats, 20 divers and equipment has set sail from Visakhapatnam and is expected to reach Chennai early.
The Navy helpline 044-25394240 is running rescue and evacuation.

For the first time, child-friendly TB drugs for first-line medication in a fixed-dose combination was launched by TB Alliance, UNITAID and WHO at the 46th Union World Conference on Lung Health. These drugs, which meet the WHO’s revised dosage guidelines of 2010, are meant for children weighing less than 25 kg.
The fixed-dose drugs are already available and countries can place an order, which can take 2-3 months for delivery.
The Mumbai-based Macleods Pharmaceuticals is the only company manufacturing the child-friendly drugs. The medicines will cost $15.54 for the six-month course of treatment.
The availability of child-friendly TB drugs of correct dosages will increase drug adherence and thereby reduce acquired drug resistance. According to the WHO, each year, at least 1 million children become ill with TB.

Nearly a month after her party’s resounding election win, Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi held closed-door talks with Myanmar’s outgoing President on Wednesday to discuss what both said they hope will be a smooth transition of power.
Because it took so long for the two to meet, there were some concerns the still powerful military would not easily accept the results.
The Southeast Asian nation started moving from a half-century of dictatorship toward democracy in 2011, when military rulers inexplicably agreed to hand over power to a nominally civilian government headed by President.
Ms. Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy easily won the November 8 elections, securing enough seats in both the lower and upper houses of Parliament to form a government.
A clause in the 2008 military-directed constitution bars her from the presidency, but she has vowed to rule by proxy.

The government has completed only 26 per cent of the National Highways construction target, with four months left in this financial year, according to a statement by the Roads Ministry.
It targeted to complete 10,950 km of National High- ways during 2015-16. Until October 31,2015 about 2,892 km have been constructed.
The government has allocated Rs.81,114.60 crore through various schemes for the development of highways during this financial year, Mr. Radhakrishnan said.
The available port capacity was enough to handle the existing traic, he said. “The total capacity of ports both major ports and non-major ports was 1530.23 million tonnes as on 31.03.201.
Against this capacity, total traffic handled during 2014-15 was 1052.51 million tonnes.