Current Affairs For SSC CGL Exam - 02 March, 2014

Current Affairs For SSC CGL Exam

Based on pilot plant studies of a state-of-the-art process developed by the Indian Institute of Petroleum here, a unit in a refinery is being revamped to yield 40,000 tonnes a year of bio-aviation turbine fuel at competitive rates. It will be blended with fossil jet fuel for running commercial flights.
Under the recently developed process, renewable aviation fuel was produced from Jatropha curcas oil through a non-noble metal catalyst.
Pratt & Whitney, Canada, Indian Oil Corporation Ltd. and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd. are collaborating in the project. They have tested our fuel for its physio-chemical and performance characteristics.
The carbon tax imposed by Australia and the European Union on the aviation indus-try prompted airlines to run their flights on bio-fuel.

The Supreme Court has served notice on the Railways on a public interest petition seeking direction that sleeper coaches being manufactured conform with international safety standards.
A Bench of Chief Justice P. Sathasivam and Justice Ranjan Gogoi issued the notice, returnable in four weeks, on the writ petition filed by advocate Abhay Singh.
Pointing out that materials at present used in cushions, cushion covers, curtains, flooring and wood partitioning are substandard and do not comply with safety standards, the petitioner sought a ban on the use of these materials.
The materials used in the railway coaches emit toxic gases much beyond the permissible limit.

Polling in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections is most probably going to commence in the second week of April and may be spread over seven phases, the longest so far.
The probable dates for the commencement of polling are between April 7 and 10.
As of now, the plan is to have voting, involving over 81 crore voters, in seven phases but efforts are on to reduce that to six phases. The 2009 polls were held in five phases from April 16 to May 13.
The Model Code of Conduct for governments and political parties will come into force from the date of announcement.
However, the Election Commission has ruled out advancing the schedule or compressing it to avoid the summer heat, a demand put forward at the all-party meeting convened by the Commission last month.
The term of the current Lok Sabha expires on June 1 and the new House has to be constituted by May 31.
Along with the Lok Sabha polls, Andhra Pradesh, including the regions comprising the newly-carved out Telangana, Odisha and Sikkim will go to polls to elect new assemblies.

Six months after Afghanistan qualified for its maiden appearance in the Cricket World Cup, its success story continues to make waves and the country has now entered into the main ODI rankings table for the first time.
Following Afghanistan’s 32-run win over Bangladesh in the Asia Cup at Fatullah, its first against a Full Member side of the ICC, it has met the criteria for its maiden inclusion in the main Reliance ICC ODI Team Rankings table.
Afghanistan joins the table in 12th place with 32 ratings points, with the opportunity to slide past 11-placed Ireland should it win either of its two remaining Asia Cup group matches.
To gain the promotion to the main rankings table, Afghanistan needed to either win two ODIs against Full Members, or achieve one win in an ODI against a Full
Member and also needed to have won more than 60 per cent of qualifying matches versus other Associates.
Afghanistan immediately achieved a ranking upon entry into the table, having played 12 ODIs since August 2010, with the minimum requirement being eight matches.

Dominika Cibulkova beat American Christina McHale to win the women’s final at the Mexican Open.
In the men’s final, fourth-seeded Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria defeated South African Kevin Anderson, seeded fifth.