Current Affairs 16 January 2014

SC issued notices to the Centre and Justice Swatanter Kumar

The Supreme Court issued notices to the Centre and Justice Swatanter Kumar on a writ petition filed by a law intern alleging sexual harassment by him.
The apex court also said it was inclined to consider a mechanism to deal with allegations made against retired judges and judicial officers.
The notice to Justice Kumar came even as the former judge moved the Delhi High Court, seeking a direction to gag the media on reporting the allegations made by the law intern.
His lawyer, however, did not seek a blanket ban, submitting that the media could report court orders. The High Court will pass an order on Thursday.
In the apex court, Chief Justice of India P. Sathasivam, after hearing senior counsel Harish Salve appearing for the intern, decided to examine the issue and appointed senior advocates Fali Nariman and P.P. Rao as amicus curiae .

The prospect of the Enrica Lexie case coming back to Kerala emerged on Monday, amid indications that the Union Home Ministry may deny sanction to prosecute the two Italian marines accused of killing two Kerala fishermen under a law which provides death penalty — the Suppression of Unlawful Acts Against Safety of Maritime Navigation and Fixed Platforms on Continental Shelf Act.
If that happens, the case will come back to the Kerala Police and the accused will be tried under the Indian Penal Code. Under the Act, one who is proven to have caused death will be awarded only death penalty.
The Supreme Court handed over the probe to the NIA, which under law is mandated to probe only scheduled offences. Marines Massimiliano Latorre and Salvatore Girone are now lodged in the Italian Embassy premises in Delhi.
The Supreme Court had shifted the case to Delhi, saying that the Kerala Police had no jurisdiction.

With National Conference legislators firm on the privilege motion against the former Army chief, General (retired) V.K. Singh, the Privilege Committee of the Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Council was on Wednesday asked to attend an unscheduled meeting on January 20.
The scheduled meeting was to be held on January 22.
State Congress chief Saifuddin Soz, according to informed political sources, has received “instructions” from New Delhi to use his influence to ensure that Gen.
Singh was not censured for the television interview that sparked a political controversy last year. Gen. Singh is alleged to have denigrated J&K ministers — essentially members of the Legislature — by purportedly saying that they had been receiving secret Central funds “continuously since 1947.”

India and Sri Lanka on Wednesday decided to immediately free all fishermen in their custody and release their vessels.
Those accused of crimes other than crossing the international maritime boundary line will, however, be tried by the respective courts in Sri Lanka and India, said official sources in the Ministry of External Affairs.
The two sides have already begun releasing the fishermen. On Tuesday, both released 52 fishermen each.
They are to be repatriated on Thursday. The release of the remaining fishermen in jails on both sides could begin from Thursday to set the stage for a meeting by a newly formed six-member joint committee to resolve other fishing related issues.
The initiatives were decided during a meeting between Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar and Sri Lankan Minister of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Rajitha Senaratne.
Both governments have agreed that 160 Sri Lankan fishermen and 236 Indian could be set free immediately.

Myanmar begins its first international political role in decades this week as host of Southeast Asia's regional bloc, with experts warning against “over-inflated” expectations as the group grapples with territorial disputes and ambitious economic integration plans.
The country will host foreign ministers from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) for an informal meeting on Friday in the ancient capital Bagan -- the first major gathering of the group under Myanmar's debut year-long stewardship.
The long-isolated country has won international praise and the removal of most Western sanctions for wide-ranging reforms since the end of junta rule nearly three years ago, raising the promise of an investment boom.
The country has freed political prisoners, welcomed opposition parties into parliament and launched economic reforms.

For decades, Americans have talked about “energy policy” as if it were the political equivalent of a migraine.
The phrase connoted pain — in ever-rising gas prices, costly government schemes and dependence on imports from precarious Middle East regimes.
But recent developments involving energy production and technology have been so astonishing that they should puncture this long-running pessimism. The amazing fact is that on nearly every front, America’s energy prospects have improved in ways that would have been unimaginable just a decade ago.
In the energy marketplace, President Obama’s vision of an “all of the above” strategy is actually happening. Production of oil, gas and alternative energy is rising, even as demand begins falling for these energy sources — all thanks to new technology.
The market forces driving these changes are so powerful that even politicians probably can’t screw them up.
The changes in the energy picture were summarised for me recently by Energy Secretary Ernie Moniz. He’s a former MIT physics professor who, with his curly over-the-collar hair, looks very unlike the usual Cabinet secretary. I’d worry that Moniz was just blowing smoke, but he backed up his claims with extensive statistics.
Let’s start with oil production: According to a new study released this month by the Energy Information Administration, the U.S. is on track to pump nearly 10 million barrels of oil a day by 2016 — roughly equal to Saudi Arabia’s output.