Current Affairs For SSC CGL Exam - 03 February, 2014

Current Affairs For SSC CGL Exam

Minister for Rural Development Jairam Ramesh said that the wage rate of UPA’s flagship MGNREGA will be increased from April this year due to inflation. The notification will be placed before Parliament in the coming session scheduled to begin this week.
Addressing the 9th MGNREGA Divas, the Minister said MGNREGA wage rate has already been linked to Consumer Price Index and the yearly revision follows from it. Mr. Ramesh acknowledged that there is need for parity in the MGNREGA wage rate and the minimum wage in nearly 14 States including Bihar and Jharkhand, where the rural job wage is lower than minimum wage.
The Minister also encouraged the officials to motivate and help small and marginal farmers to undertake land levelling and irrigation schemes on their land under MGNREGA and lamented that only 10 per cent farmers have so far benefited from this provision.
Minister of State for Rural Development Pradeep Jain Aditya said that MGNREGA has brought about a revolution in rural India and stopped distress migration from rural to urban areas. He noted that this year more than 3 crore 80 lakh families have benefitted so far. While Mr. Jain acknowledged that fighting corruption in its implementation is a big challenge he asserted that it is the responsibility of the State governments.

The Supreme Court has agreed to review the list of 'high dignitaries' who can use red beacons. The apex court noted that the term high dignitaries appears contrary to democratic ethos.
The motor vehicles carrying high dignitaries specified by the Central government and their counterparts specified by the state, may be fitted with red lights. But the red lights with or without the flashers can only be used when the specified high dignitary is on duty.
Amicus curiae in the case Harish Salve said that in a republic everyone is public and except for security reasons, no one should be allowed to use the beacons. He also added that the beacons indicated a sense of symbolism which is not correct in a republic.
The matter has been posted for hearing after two weeks in the SC.

Is India in need of a strong anti-racism law? The recent attack on a young Arunachal boy and the alleged sexual assault on two Manipuri women make it seem like the demand is justified.
Student organisations from the northeast have been protestingover the death of Taniam. The alleged sexual assault on the two Manipuri women and the alleged police apathy towards them has only added fuel to the fire.
According to them India is in need of a strong anti-racism law.
The northeastern student groups say they are not protesting merely to demand justice for Taniam. It is for those thousands of people from the northeast who daily face some or the other form of harassment.
They are fighting the collective failure of a system and society that they actually belong to.

The moment of reckoning finally dawned on the Karnataka team after 14 long seasons. And while seizing the moment, the Karnataka players ensured that they would not be denied their shot at glory by completing a seven-wicket win over two-time champion Maharashtra at Rajiv Gandhi Stadium to win the Ranji trophy for the seventh time.
With Maharashtra resuming at 272 for six, Karnataka captain Vinay Kumar had preferred pace for most of the morning session, clearly in no mood to give away easy runs. But it was when he brought on 20-year-old leg-spinner Shreyas Gopal that things started happening; the latter did not disappoint his captain, sending back Srikant Mundhe (42, 75b, 3x4), who was beginning to look dangerous, and Akshay Darekar (13) in quick succession.
The last time Karnataka won the national championship was in 1999 when it defeated Madhya Pradesh in the final.
Karnataka collected the winner’s purse of Rs.2 crore and the trophy from BCCI vice-president N. Shivlal Yadav, while runner-up Maharashtra picked Rs. 1 crore.
Lokesh Rahul was named ‘Man-of-the-Match’.

Professional players do not spend too much time worrying about providing entertainment to the galleries. They just try to get the job done as quickly and efficiently as possible.
That was the hard lesson for the capacity crowd at the Indore Tennis Club as the Chinese Taipei challenge ended tamely with India running up a 5-0 victory in double quick time on the final day of the Davis Cup Asia-Oceania group ‘I’ tie.
After that, Yuki Bhambri dismissed Taipei’s doubles specialist Hsien-Yen Peng 7-5, 6-0 in 55 minutes. His two wins in the match helped Bhambri, who had beaten Yang in the first rubber on the opening day, enhance his Davis Cup record to 8-1. His only defeat since making his Cup debut against South Africa in 2009, was at the hands of Farrukh Dustov of Uzbekistan in Namangan in 2012.
This was the third time in a row that Bhambri was winning both his singles rubbers, following the efforts against New Zealand and Indonesia.
The results: India bt Chinese Taipei 5-0 (Saketh Myneni bt Tsung-Hua Yang 6-1, 6-4; Yuki Bhambri bt Hsien-Yen Peng 7-5, 6-0).