(Current Affairs For SSC Exams) National Events | September 2014

Modi offers assistance for PoK flood relief

In a humanitarian gesture, Prime Minister NarendraModi on offered all possible assistance to Pakistan for carrying out relief operations in the flood-ravaged Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir (PoK).
Making the offer after undertaking a visit to flood-hit Jammu and Kashmir for a first-hand assessment of the situation, Mr. Modi expressed his anguish at the loss that has been caused in PoK.

Government of India can print Re 1 note: Law Ministry

Putting to rest the debate on printing of one rupee notes, the Law Ministry has opined that the Government of India has all the powers to print currency notes of this denomination.
While the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has the authority to issue bank notes of denominational values of Rs. 2, Rs. 5, Rs. 10, Rs. 20, Rs. 50, Rs. 100, Rs. 500, Rs. 1,000, Rs. 5,000 and Rs. 10,000, the one rupee note was printed and issued by the central government.
The Government of India also has the sole right to mint coins of all denominations.
However, since the RBI was of the view that with the repeal of Section 2 of the Currency Ordinance, the Government of India is not empowered to issue note of denominational value of one rupee, the law ministry opinion was taken.
The Law Ministry in its opinion stated that the Coinage Act of 2011, which consolidates the laws relating to coinage and the mints, does not bar the Government of India from printing one rupee notes.
Section 4 of the Act provides that the central government may authorise minting of coin of denomination not higher than Rs. 1,000, it said, adding that the definition of coin in the Act makes it clear that Government of India one rupee note is included in the definition of coin.
The Act defines a coin as “made of any metal or any other material stamped by the Government or any other authority empowered by the Government in this behalf and which is a legal tender including commemorative coin and Government of India one rupee note,” the ministry said in its opinion.“Further, apart from the metal, the coin may be made of any other material,” it said.
The ministry said while repealing the Currency Ordinance, 1940, “necessary provisions for inclusion of Government of India one rupee note within the meaning of ‘Coin’ have been consciously incorporated in the Coinage Act, 2011. Further, the RBI, as per Section 24(1) of the RBI Act, 1934, is not empowered to issue bank note of denomination of value of one rupee.”
“Central government is not precluded to issue one rupee Government of India note under the Coinage Act, 2011. The dimension, design, material and standard weight of such One Rupee Note have to be prescribed by the Central Government in terms of Section 4 and 5 of the Coinage Act, 2011,” the opinion said.
The printing of notes in the denominations of Re. 1 and Rs. 2 has been discontinued as these denominations have been coinised. However, such notes issued earlier are still in circulation.

N-deal highlights growing energy ties

Australia boosted its credentials as India’s core energy partner by signing a deal for uranium supplies, and imparted urgency to the transfer of coal for thermal power plants, facing severe shortage of the resource.
Visiting Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbot unveiled Canberra’s aspirations by pointing out that Canberra could become an “utterly reliable source of energy, resource and food security for India.”
Analysts point out that the deeper engagement in energy and food security could pave the way for a broader strategic relationship between the two countries, which could include a significant defence component. A joint statement on defence cooperation signed last year had emphasised joint forays specifically in the Asia-Pacific region — an area of growing tensions because of rival claims on South China Sea resources between China and other littoral States — as well as the Indian Ocean region.

India suicide capital of Southeast Asia, says WHO

India recorded the highest number of suicides in Southeast Asia in 2012, says a report released by the World Health Organisation (WHO) in Geneva.
The number of victims was 2,58,075 — 1,58,098 men and 99,977 women — that year. Globally, the number was 8,04,000.
Suicide by pesticide ingestion is among the most common methods employed globally and is of particular concern in rural areas in Southeast Asia.

SC moots dual citizenship for surrogate children

The Supreme Court on Thursday asked the government to clarify its stand on the citizenship of children born to surrogate mothers in India, but whose biological mother was a foreign national.
“Under the Constitution, a child born here from an Indian surrogate mother is entitled to Indian citizenship. But what happens if the biological mother is a foreign citizen and the child applies for citizenship of that country,” a Bench led by Justice RanjanGogoi asked.
Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Tushar Mehta acknowledged the problem, adding that in countries such as Germany, surrogacy was banned by law.
The Bench was looking into the larger issue on the need for a “comprehensive legislation” dealing with all issues and situations, including the citizenship of a surrogate child, created by new reproductive technology.
The problem of citizenship of a surrogate child was highlighted in the case of twin babies born to an Indian surrogate mother and a German father, Jan Balaz, in 2008.
The two boys, Balaz Nikolas and Balaz Leonard, were conceived by an Indian woman in Gujarat’s Anand district in January 2008.
Justice Gogoi suggested that the government could consider dual citizenship for surrogate children born in such circumstances.

India, Australia to sign civil nuclear deal

India is set to win another endorsement for its status as a peaceful nuclear power, with Prime Minister NarendraModi and his Australian counterpart, Tony Abbott, expected to sign an India-Australia civil nuclear cooperation agreement here.
The agreement, which will enable Australia to export uranium to India in return for safeguards from India on its use, will bolster India’s plans to increase nuclear energy production.
India offers the potential to double Australia’s uranium exports to more than a billion dollars by 2018, say experts.

‘Protect rights of minorities’

The National Commission for Minorities (NCM) has asked the government to send out a clear message to minorities reassuring them that their Constitutional rights would be preserved and protected.
The Commission sent a communication to this effect to the Home and the Minority Affairs Ministries after discussing the complaint against BJP member Yogi Adityanath for a “hate speech” he is said to have delivered.
According to sources, the Commission has taken a serious view of such speeches; particularly by prominent persons.

Audit of community policing scheme

After a successful stint of over six years, the JanamaithriSuraksha Project (Community Policing) initiative of the Kerala Police is set for a professional audit on its effectiveness in bridging the gap between the police and the community.
An external agency will study the project in detail and its effect in over 250 police stations across Kerala.
The Kozhikode city and rural police officers who head the scheme in various stations will share their experience with the professional agency appointed by the government to review the progress of the scheme.

Axe 72 obsolete laws urgently: Law Commission

Even as the Union government prepares to bring in a comprehensive law during the winter session of Parliament to weed out obsolete laws, the Law Commission identified 72 outdated laws which required urgent repealing.
The oldest among them is the Bengal District Act, 1836, which relates to the administration and development of local areas.
Second in line is the Bengal Bonded Warehouse Association Act, 1838, which mandates that only “residents of the presidency of Fort William in Bengal can be directors of the Bengal Bonded Warehouse
Association and that the association can sell property only to the East India Company.”
The Sheriffs Fees Act, 1852, is another antique law which needs to be axed. The Act deals with payment to the sheriffs of the “presidency towns of Bombay, Calcutta and Madras.”
The 72 laws are part of the 261 statutes that “prima facie require repeal as they are inconsistent with modern times” as recommended in an interim report handed over by the Law Commission to the government.
Other laws identified have been enacted from 1838 to 1898.
The commission said it found during its research that 34 repealed laws still remained on the government website.

3 p.c. quota for disabled covers all employees’

The Supreme Court clarified that the three per cent reservation for disabled persons in government jobs covered all classes of employees, including appointments and promotions to the Indian Administrative Services.
Although 19 years had passed since the passage of the Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights and Full Participation) Act of 1995, the disabled were struggling for their rights, a Bench headed by Chief Justice R.M. Lodha said.

RajdeepSardesai to join TV

Former IBN 18 Editor-in-Chief RajdeepSardesai will join the India Today group as Consulting Editor . Mr. Sardesai quit IBN 18, in July after the MukeshAmbani-led Reliance Industries Limited bought a controlling stake in Network 18 and its subsidiaries. He founded Cable News Network- Indian Broadcasting Network (CNN-IBN) in 2005, after quitting New Delhi Television (NDTV). Recently, India Today group’s former Editor-in-Chief Shekhar Gupta was re-designated as Editorial Advisor — just two months after he moved over from the Express Group. Nalin Mehta, Managing Editor of India Today’s English news channel Headlines Today, also quit in May.

‘Right to sell liquor no fundamental right’

The Kerala government submitted before a Bench of the Supreme Court that the right to sell liquor was not a fundamental right. Government counsel KapilSibal, arguing against a petition challenging the decision to close 730 bars in the State, said the decision to close the bars was a policy decision. Bar licences could be cancelled any time. In an urgent mentioning to stop the State from enforcing the policy, a battery of senior counsel appearing for the bar owners termed the policy “discriminatory.”

Bihar tops in growth: CSO

Bihar is the fastest growing State while Tamil Nadu is the worst performer, the latest data released by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) has revealed. Bihar’s Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) grew 10.73 per cent during 2012-13 — the only State that clocked a double-digit growth rate during the year. The growth rate was 10.29 per cent in 2011-12 and 15.03 per cent in 2010-11. Tamil Nadu recorded the slowest growth rate — 3.39 per cent — slower than the national average of 4.5 per cent in 2012-13. The second-best performing State is Madhya Pradesh, which grew at 9.89 per cent. Delhi is third with a growth rate of 9.33 per cent.
The CSO-verified growth rate for 2012-13, however, is lower than that reported by Bihar’s Statistics Directorate. The State government had reported a growth rate of 15.05 per cent. All major industrial States lag behind Bihar. Growing at 7.96 per cent, Gujarat is ranked sixth and Maharashtra ninth with 6.18 per cent. As the growth rate for the bulk of the States is higher than the national GDP, the economic slowdown is not reflected in the data. Normally, the States’ GDP adds up to about 90 per cent of the national GDP. The difference is the output of the sectors that do not belong to any State such as the Bombay High. Over the years, discrepancies have been increasing between the GSDP data in the States’ reports and the figures that finally come out after discussions with the CSO and validation. India inks free trade agreement with ASEAN
India has formally signed a free trade agreement for services and investments with ASEAN. Philippines, now the only ASEAN country yet to sign the pact, is also expected to do so soon. All ASEAN members — Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam — are expected to get the agreement ratified by their Parliaments after which it will be formally adopted during the next India–ASEAN summit later this year. The services agreement will open up opportunities of movement of both manpower and investments. The pact will allow India to leverage its competitive edge in the areas of finance, education, health, IT, telecommunications and transport. This will be especially helpful for balancing India’s deficit with ASEAN countries in trade of goods.
The India–ASEAN Agreement on trade in goods was operationalised in 2010. Key to India’s interests is a brief annex in the agreement on the movement of natural persons that defines business visitors, intra corporate transferees (managers, executives and specialists) and contractual service suppliers.

Global biodiversity prize for Indian

R. Kamal Bawa, president, the Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE), India, and Distinguished Professor, University of Massachusetts, Boston, is among the three winners of the MIDORI Prize for Biodiversity, 2014.
The winners were announced in Tokyo and Montreal.
The other two who bagged the prize are Alfred Oteng-Yeboah, Chair, Ghana National Biodiversity Committee, and Bibiana Vila, principal researcher, National Research Council and Director, Vicunas, Camelids and Environment (VICAM), Argentina.
The MIDORI prize is a biennial international prize given by the AEON Environmental Foundation and the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) to honour individuals who have made outstanding contributions to the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity at global, regional or local levels.
According to a press release, each recipient will be given a wooden plaque, a commemorative gift and $100,000 to support their work in safeguarding biodiversity.
They will be honoured at an award ceremony in Pyeongchang in South Korea on October 15

Data glitches stall rollout of Food Security Act

Technological and procedural delays in identifying the intended beneficiaries of the National Food Security Act (NFSA) has seen the agencies involved — the Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD), the Electronics Corporation of India Limited (ECIL), the nodal agency to provide enumeration devices and data entry operators, and state officials -- indulge in a blame game.
For the Socio-Economic Caste Census survey, proposed as the basis of the identification process, enumerators used scanned images of handwritten data from the National Population Register (NPR) to verify household members’ basic details.
They were accompanied by data entry operators (DEOs) who entered the responses into a tablet computer.

L.K. Advani as the chairman of the Ethics Committee of LokSabha.

LokSabha Speaker SumitraMahajan appointed BJP veteran L.K. Advani as the chairman of the prestigious Ethics Committee of LokSabha.
ManikraoGavit of Congress was heading the Committee in the last LokSabha.
Other members of the Committee are A Arunmozhithevan, NinongEring, Sher Singh Ghubaya, HemantTukaramGodse, Pralhad Joshi, BhagatsinghKoshyari, Arjun Ram Meghwal, BhartruhariMahtab, KariyaMunda, Jayshreeben Patel, Malla Reddy, SumedhanandSaraswati and Bhola Singh.
The 86-year-old Advani is a member of the Committee on Public Undertakings headed by Shanta Kumar (BJP) and Committee on Information Technology headed by young BJP MP Anurag Thakur.
Another BJP veteran MurliManohar Joshi is heading the Committee on Estimates. Party senior Maj Gen B C Khanduri is heading the Committee on Defence.
The Ethics Committee examines every complaint relating to unethical conduct of a member referred to it.

BCIM (Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar) corridor

India has warmed to the idea of the BCIM (Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar) corridor that could prove to be a game-changer in regional linkages among the four countries.
The BCIM corridor, long promoted by China, is intended to link Kunming to Kolkata, Mandalay (Myanmar), Dhaka and Chittagong.
It is intended to advance multi-modal connectivity, harness economic complementarities, promote investment and trade and facilitate people-to-people contacts.

Key to Xi Jinping’s visit to India

20 MoUs and agreements are expected to be signed by the two countries on issues related to infrastructure development, cultural ties among others during Mr. Xi's visit.
Beijing is expected to push its new-generation APC1000 nuclear reactors. The two leaders are expected to discuss the possibility of a civil nuclear cooperation agreement.
Is the Gujarat model, the way forward for India-China ties? Gujarat has been among the biggest destinations for Chinese investment in India, with Beijing looking to take forward plans to set up industrial parks in India, in part based on its experience in Gujarat.
India has warmed up to the idea of the BCIM (Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar) corridor. Long promoted by China, BCIM is intended to link Kunming to Kolkata, Mandalay (Myanmar), Dhaka and Chittagong. It is intended to advance multi-modal connectivity, harness economic complementarities, promote investment and trade, and facilitate people-to-people contacts.
China has amplified the pitch on its vision of the Maritime Silk Road (MSR) amid the repositioning of American forces in the Asia-Pacific and an emerging trade deal between Washington and its traditional regional allies.
Over $10 billion investment is expected from China during Mr. Xi’s visit. Currently, Chinese investment in India stands at $400 million.
'Progress has been made in the negotiations on the boundary question, and the two sides have worked together to maintain peace in the border area,' wrote the Chinese Premier in connection with the decades-old border issues that have marred Sino-Indo ties for long.
President Xi’s visit may provide NarendraModi a rare chance to seize the moment by stating India’s political intent on solving the border row between the two countries, beginning with measurable steps to clarify the Line of Actual Control, and to root out border incidents.
With India and China deciding to mark 2014 as a “year of friendly exchanges”, talks on the issue of stapled visas might figure in the meeting.

India host the Third Meeting of SAARC Cultural Ministers

India will host the Third Meeting of SAARC Cultural Ministers in New Delhi from September 24-26.
Of the seven states invited to the event, six — Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Maldives, Nepal and Bhutan — have already confirmed that they will attend the meet.

India Newborn Action Plan

The Centre launched a programme to reduce infant mortality and bring down the number of deaths to a single digit by 2030 from the current 29 deaths per 1,000 live births.
The ‘India Newborn Action Plan (INAP),’ inaugurated by Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan, is the first step towards arresting infant deaths.
Asserting that India can reduce the deaths through “simple, cost-effective interventions” before and immediately after delivery, Dr. Vardhan said of the 2.8 million who die at birth worldwide, India contributes seven lakh.
The programme will be implemented under the existing Reproductive, Maternal, Child Health and Adolescents Plus (RMNCHA+) framework.