Current Affairs for SSC CGL Exams - 10 September 2015

:: National ::

World Hindi conference in Bhopal

The 10th World Hindi Conference in Bhopal saw a conflict of sorts, perhaps inadvertently, between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj, as suggested by their speeches during the inauguration of the conference by the PM.
Even as Sushma Swaraj expressed her concern over English's growing effect on Hindi, the PM's speech was liberally peppered with English words.
During the inauguration session, external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj, her deputy VK Singh and chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan made efforts to use pure Hindi words in their speeches even if they found some words difficult to pronounce.
Sushma Swaraj said, "I am pained to say that today, not only do we have to think of promotion (Sanvardhan) of Hindi but also its protection (Sanrakshan). The way English's growing effect is reflected in Hindi, the language is losing its identity (Asmita)."
Sushma Swaraj who consciously chose to stick to Hindi words, accidentally used English word 'report' once after mentioning 'rapat' (the Hindi word for report) at least twice. However, she corrected herself and stuck to Hindi.
However, when the Prime Minister Narendra Modi rose to speak, he used English words several times in his speech. The English words that his speech featured included 'agencies', 'Gandhian', 'stethoscope', 'thermometer', 'drainage', 'electrifying effect' 'secretariat', 'dictionary', 'Russia', 'Russian', 'requirement' 'technology', 'acknowledge', 'aspiration', 'values', 'digital world', 'message', 'convey', 'software', 'expert', 'app', 'market', 'modern', 'exclusive', 'inclusive', 'mobile phone', 'contact list' etc.
The PM's frequent use of English words appeared to be in sync with the message he imparted through his speech on Hindi language, in which he stressed the need for organising workshops in Hindi and other Indian languages and including words from them in Hindi.
Modi, however, didn't talk of assimilating foreign languages in Hindi, but his speech sent out a message that Hindi needed to be made flexible.

:: International ::

Taiwan Is Poised to Elect Its First Woman as President

The people of Taiwan appear poised to elect their first female president. Two of the three leading candidates in the January election, including the nominees of both major parties, are women.
Women have led other Asian nations, but they have largely followed in the footsteps of male relatives. Not in this case. Rather, analysts say, the race reflects the fact that Taiwan does a better job of putting women into political office than just about anywhere else in the world.
The front-runner in the current campaign is Tsai Ing-wen, 59, of the opposition Democratic Progressive Party. She lost her first bid for the presidency in 2012, but has maintained a strong lead in polls this time. Her chief contender, from the long-powerful Kuomintang, or Nationalist Party, is Hung Hsiu-chu, 67, the vice president of Taiwan’s legislature.
The contest contrasts sharply with the situation scarcely more than 100 miles away in mainland China, which considers the self-ruled Taiwan part of its territory.

:: Business ::

SEBI asks Raju family to pay more than Rs 1,800 crore

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) on Thursday asked ten entities connected to the Satyam scam case including the ex-chairman of the erstwhile Satyam Computer Services Ltd., B. Ramalinga Raju and other family members to disgorge over Rs.1,800 crore, which are ‘ill-gotten gains’ made by them.
The SEBI order said that pursuant to the SEBI order on July 15, 2014, B. Ramalinga Raju and B. Rama Raju have to jointly and severally disgorge Rs.56,16,85,195 (Rs.26,62,50,000 and Rs.29,54,35,195) “which they had earned by sale/transfer of shares held by them in Satyam Computers.” Further SEBI asked SRSR Holdings Pvt. Ltd. (controlled by Raju brothers) to disgorge the wrongful gain of Rs.1,258.88 crore jointly and severally with B. Ramalinga Raju and B. Rama Raju.
The other family members include, Chintalapati Srinivasa Raju, Anjiraju Chintalapati (since deceased). Ms. B. Appalanarasamma, Ms. B. Jhansi Rani, B. Rama Raju Jr., B. Suryanarayana Raju, B. Teja Raju and IL&FS Engineering and Construction Company Ltd. (formerly known as Maytas Infra Ltd.) were also asked to disgorge the amounts.
SEBI ordered that these amounts would be paid, along with simple interest at 12 per cent per annum from January 7, 2009, till the date of payment, within 45 days from the date of this order, that is, September 10, 2015.
Earlier, SEBI passed an order on July 15, 2014, wherein it had barred B. Ramalinga Raju, B. Rama Raju (then Managing Director of Satyam), Vadlamani Srinivas (ex-CFO), G. Ramakrishna (ex-VP) and V.S. Prabhakara Gupta (Ex-Head of Internal Audit) from the markets for 14 years and also asked them to return Rs.1,849 crore worth of unlawful gains with interest.

:: Sports ::

India beat Malaysia 9-1 to enter semi-final of Junior Asia Cup

Skipper Rani Rampal led from the front and slammed a hat-trick as Indian eves thrashed Malaysia 9-1 in their last league game of the seventh women’s Junior Asia Cup on Thursday.
By virtue of this win, India has qualified for the semi-final of the tournament.
The Indian eves started on an attacking note and penetrated the Malaysian circle in the early minutes of the game.
Preeti Dubey rushed into the Malaysian circle and played a cross ball towards Rani Rampal, who scored the first goal for India in the eighth minute.

US plans to accept 10,000 Syrian refugees next year

That number is significantly higher than the 1,500 Syrians that have been permitted to re-settle in the US since the start of the conflict.
The 10,000 figure is still much lower than the 340,000 asylum seekers who arrived in Europe this year.
Since the beginning of the conflict the US has given $4bn ($2.6bn) in aid.
The increase in accepting refugees displays a "significant scaling up" of US commitment to accept people from conflict zones and help provide for their needs," White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said.
US Congress would have to to make a "significant financial commitment" in order to allow for additional 10,000 refugees to the US, Mr Earnest said.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has registered four million Syrians as refugees, and it has asked governments around the world to resettle 130,000 Syrian refugees by the end of 2016.