Current Affairs 9 & 10 March 2014

Agitation chart in 2012

• Agitations by various sections over a range of issues recorded an increase of nearly 7 per cent in 2012 compared to 2011, with 78,444 protests and demonstrations reported all over the country.
• At the State level, the maximum number of 21,232 agitations — including over 10,000 protests by political parties, 2,720 by government employees, 1,392 by labour and 1,281 agitations on communal issues — were reported in Tamil Nadu, as against 15,746 in 2011. The fewest number of protests (574) in the State involved students.
• While 9,397 agitations were recorded in Madhya Pradesh, there were a total of 6,038 protests in Uttarakhand, reveals data recently released by the Bureau of Police Research and Development (BPR&D).
• The maximum number of agitations was political in nature (37.13 per cent), followed by protests on issues other than communal, student, government employees or labour-related (25 per cent). Communal agitations accounted for 4.95 per cent and student protests, about 9.41 per cent of the total number.
• While Tamil Nadu recorded the maximum number of communal agitations (1,281), Maharashtra stood second with 1,261. It was followed by Karnataka (445) and Delhi (425). The BPR&D report states no communal agitation was reported from Arunachal Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Haryana, Jharkhand, Manipur, Sikkim, Tripura, Uttarakhand, the A&N Islands, D &N Haveli, Daman & Diu and Lakshadweep.
• The maximum number of student agitations was reported in Rajasthan (939), followed by 862 in Uttarakhand, 850 in Madhya Pradesh and 811 in Assam.

Demwe project

• The controversial 1,750MW Demwe mega-dam project in Arunachal Pradesh could be in for more trouble with the Assam government stating that the project needed clearance from the State wildlife authorities as it would impact the Dibru-Saikhowa National Park.
• The project on Lohit river got a wildlife clearance from the Environment Ministry in February 2012 and has been challenged in the National Green Tribunal at present.
• The Assam government, in its affidavit before the tribunal, has contended that the project in the upper riparian State will alter the riverine ecology of the national park and therefore under the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 requires a clearance from the Chief Wildlife Warden of the State.
• The Assam government has also said that the impact of the project further downstream of the Kaziranga National Park too requires an assessment by experts.

Memories of partition

• Thousands of people from across the world have rallied to collect the moving stories of one of the greatest migrations after South Asia’s 1947 violent partition and the birth of two nations — India and Pakistan.
• Helping to preserve the history of that tragic event is a small team of volunteers based at the University of California in Berkeley and their newly founded organization, The 1947 Partition Archive.
• The group uses web-based “crowdsourcing” to record and preserve witness oral histories.
• The 1947 Partition Archive collected $35,000 (Rs 21 lakh) through a crowdfunding campaign to equip itself for the task of documenting the witness accounts.
• The ongoing project, which can be seen online at 1947 PartitionArchive.org, features an online Story Map showing where each person’s story originated.

Election in North Korea

• North Korean state media reported that nearly all registered voters had cast their ballots to elect members of the Supreme People’s Assembly for the first time since Kim Jong Un took leadership of the authoritarian regime after his father’s death two years ago.
• The Assembly is nominally the highest legislative power, but in practice only meets once or twice a year to rubber-stamp policies drawn up by the Workers’ Party.
• At the previous election in 2009, 99.98 per cent of voters turned out, to vote 100-per-cent unanimously for their respective designated candidates.
• One candidate was present in each constituency, leaving voters only the choice between voting “yes” or “no,” but observers of the isolated, communist regime were watching the designation of candidates for signs of change.
• A shake-up of the top officials is thought to be under way in the reclusive country in the wake of the execution of Kim’s uncle and former mentor Jang Song Thaek in December.

High inflation and it’s adverse effects

• Inflation is the biggest immediate challenge that the new government will face, according to Ajit Ranade, Chief Economist, Aditya Birla Group.
• India had many challenges, but among the key ones, which had been bothering the nation over the past 2-3 years, was zero growth in manufacturing or close to zero industrial growth.
• Control of food inflation would require even more attention because about 60 per cent of budget of most Indians went for food.
• Besides the question of inflation in India , there are a few more puzzles around the world that sends mixed signals .
• The European Union has been battling with debt crisis. Greece and many other countries have been struggling with sovereign debts, and their governments are indebted with no clear clue on repayments.
• Standard & Poor downgraded the U.S. economy from AAA to AA on August 2, 2011 and in place of crashing , there was a huge bond rally in the U.S.
• With debt crisis, Greece’s debt-to-GDP ratio is 100 per cent or slightly above. Other countries such as Italy, Belgium, Spain and Portugal are also having debt-to-GDP ratios over 100 per cent. It is about 40 per cent for the U.S. and China. In India, it is 80 per cent. While there are concerns over sovereign debt crisis in the EU and other countries, there is, surprisingly, no mention about one country that has the highest debt-to-GDP ratio in the world. It is Japan … and that has the ratio of about 350 per cent.

ICC Player Ranking: Virat Kohli is at number 1 spot

• India’s Virat Kohli has reclaimed the No. 1 position in the latest ICC Player Rankings for ODI batsmen, which were released recently after the conclusion of the Asia Cup.
• Kohli had entered the Asia Cup, trailing No. 1 ranked South African batsman AB de Villiers by two ratings points.
• Kohli’s tournament aggregate of 189 runs in three innings with 136 against Bangladesh as his series best earned him 12 ratings points, which has put him ahead of South Africa’s ODI captain by nine ratings points.
• Kohli was last ranked No. 1 just before the ODI series against New Zealand in January.

World T20, 2014 host : Bangladesh

• The World T20 2014 is all set to be held in Bangladesh between March 16 and April 6.
• According to Mahbub Anam, Director, Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) and member of the local organising committee of the T20 World Cup, the tournament is the biggest in the nation’s history.
• The BCB has also planned a concert featuring A.R. Rahman, Akon, and other local artistes on March 13 at the Bangabandhu Stadium.

 

200 new low cost airports in India

• With India poised to become the fastest growing aviation market in the world in the next two decades, the government plans to build nearly 200 low cost airports.
• The government is keen to expand the sector to the smaller cities in a bid to improve air connectivity, especially to Tier-II and Tier-III cities. At least four to five smaller airports from Andhra Pradesh, including those at Kadapa and Rajahmundry, were likely to figure in the list.
• At present, the non-metro airports accounted for about 30 per cent of the total air traffic, which was expected to rise to 45 per cent in the next few years.
• The Airports Authority of India was planning to invest Rs.1,500 crore in developing non-metro airports in the 12th Plan.
• Basically, the operation costs were very high and almost 70 per cent costs were “dollar-denominated.” Also, the cost of aviation turbine fuel (ATF) was quite high in the country with some States levying up to 30 per cent VAT.

U.S. curbs on importing gas

• Keen to import gas from the U.S. to meet its rising energy needs, India will ask Washington to ease restrictions on sales to countries with which it does not have a free trade agreement (FTA).
• Washington has till now allowed conditional export of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from five of its projects to nations with which the U.S. does not have a free trade agreement, so-called ‘non-FTA’ countries. India does not have a FTA with the U.S. till now. The issue of LNG exports to non-FTA nations would figure at the Indo-U.S. Energy Dialogue .
• U.S. Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz and Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia will lead the two sides at the talks, which were previously postponed due to row over treatment of Indian diplomat in US.
• Indian companies led by state-owned GAIL have already signed agreements with U.S. firms to buy as much as 3.5 million tonnes a year of LNG.
• Indo-U.S. collaboration in increasing efficiency of solar photovoltic cells by using local content and second generation bio-fuel production using non-edible oilseeds produced locally would also be discussed during the talks, they said.

Asian Air Gun Championship

• Chain Singh and Heena Sidhu claimed gold medals in the seventh Asian Air Gun Championship in Kuwait City.
• It was a dominant fare from both as they led from start to finish in clinching the men’s air rifle and women’s air pistol gold medals.
• World record holder Heena Sidhu topped the qualification phase as well with a score of 386, following rounds of 94, 97, 97 and 98.
• Chain Singh was equally impressive even though he had qualified in the seventh place with a modest score of 619.6, as against Liu Zhiguo of China, who had topped with an Asian record of 630.3.
• Apart from the three individual gold medals, India has collected two silver and two bronze medals in team championships. The Youth Olympic quota places will be at stake over the next two days that will feature junior and youth events.

Arunachal assembly polls

• Elections to the 60-member Arunachal Pradesh assembly will be held along with Lok Sabha polls on April 9.
• The decision of the poll body came days after state governor Lt Gen (Retd) Nirbhay Singh recommended dissolution of the state assembly on March 6.
• Lok Sabha elections for the two seats in Arunachal Pradesh will also be held on April 9.
• The tenure of the 60-member Arunachal assembly ends on November 4 this year.
• The notification for the assembly polls will be announced on March 15 while nominations can be filed till march 22.
• The Commission had on March 5 announced the schedule for elections to the 16th Lok Sabha and assemblies of Andhra Pradesh, Odisha and Sikkim.

Bhullar’s mercy plea

• The Supreme Court asked the Centre to take a decision on Khalistani terrorist Devinderpal Singh Bhullar’s fresh mercy plea by March 27 or else it will decide on the issue of commuting his death sentence to life imprisonment on the ground of his mental condition.
• A bench headed by Chief Justice P Sathasivam adjourned the case for hearing after the Centre contended that the mercy plea is still under consideration.
• It also said that there have been recent cases where the government has not been taking the advice of its law officers seriously and pointed out that last week one Additional Solicitor General sent a detailed letter to Centre but it was rejected outright.
• The court was hearing a curative petition filed by Bhullar’s wife Navneet Kaur seeking commuting of death sentence owing to his mental condition and because of delay on the part of the government in deciding his earlier mercy plea.
• She pleaded the apex court for a relook at its verdict by which her plea to commute his death sentence to life imprisonment was rejected. Earlier, the Centre had assured the Supreme Court that death sentence of Bhullar will not be executed till it takes a decision on a fresh mercy plea on medical grounds.
• The government had informed the court about the report sent by Delhi’s Lieutenant Governor in which he had not favoured execution of Bhullar’s death sentence.