Current Affairs For SSC CGL Exam - 25 January, 2014

Current Affairs For SSC CGL Exam

Tribals in West Bengal's Birbhum district held protests against the gang-rape of a 20-year-old woman by 13 men on the orders of a Khap Panchayat.
Taking suo motu cognisance of the Birbhum gang-rape case, the Supreme Court issued a notice to the West Bengal government and asked it to file a report within a week even as all the 13 accused in the case were taken into police custody.
A three-judge bench of the Supreme Court ordered the probe. The accused were during the day remanded in police custody till Feb 6 by a local court.
While 13 accused, including a village council head, were arrested, the Trinamool Congress said that Mamata Banerjee, who was touring in North Bengal and was in Darjeeling, had ordered the removal of Birbhum SP C Sudhakar. The SP was removed because the accused were not taken into police custody, a lapse that angered the chief minister.
At least 13 people were arrested till Thursday for the gang-rape of the tribal woman in Birbhum district on Monday at the behest of a local kangaroo court of the village that "punished" the girl for daring to love a boy from a different community.
The incident occurred in Subalpur village of Birbhum district, about 200 from Kolkata.Such an incident is unheard in a tribal society where women always have their say in choosing their male partners.
After the kangaroo court ordered a fine of Rs 25,000/- for their affair, the village head asked everyone "to enjoy the girl" and himself took turn to rape her.

India and the US are holding preliminary discussions to resolve their differing interpretations of diplomatic immunity as they look to mend ties damaged by the row over American treatment of an Indian diplomat who was arrested and strip-searched in New York, India's ambassador said.
The US and India, the world's largest democracies, have forged closer economic and defense ties in the past decade, but relations took a tumble because of Indian outrage over the treatment of Khobragade, who was the nation's deputy consul general in New York. She was strip-searched after her December 13 arrest, which US Marshals say is common practice for a suspect taken into custody, but was viewed in India as unnecessarily humiliating.
India unleashed a steady stream of retaliatory measures against US diplomats, including restrictions at the American Center in New Delhi and revoking new ID cards for some diplomats.
Key to the dispute was Washington and Delhi's differing interpretations of what type of immunity was due to Khobragade. U.S. officials argued that as a consular official, she was immune from prosecution from acts performed in the exercise of consular functions, and not full diplomatic immunity.

Sam Pitroda-led expert panel has recommended that a Parliamentary Committee must oversee the functioning of Prasar Bharati to give it financial and administrative freedom so that it becomes a “genuine public broadcaster as against a government broadcaster”.
The expert panel, which submitted its report to the Centre, said the Prasar Bharati Act-- that governs the functioning of the public broadcaster-- should be amended to grant the broadcaster more freedom to break free from the routine interference by the parent ministry-- the Information and Broadcasting Ministry.
Set up in January last, the panel’s mandate was to suggest a suitable administrative and financial model for the Prasar Bharati that governs Doordarshan and the All India Radio, and even recommend if the Centre should have its own arm to propagate its programmes and policy in case the Prasar Bharati were to be made independent.
According to the Pitroda-led panel,the Centre should completely transfer the assets and human resource management to Prasar Bharati to make the “organisation administratively and financially autonomous of the government”.
In another significant suggestion, the panel said a new regulatory body should be set up, which would ensure the public accountability of Prasar Bharati with respect to all content broadcast on its television and radio network.

Jyoti Randhawa, one of India's top professional golfers, will represent city-based Dec-Ellora Laqshya Mumbai team in the Rs 1.2 crore prize money Louis Philippe Cup tournament to be held in Mumbai from February 17-22.
Jeev Milkha Singh, Anirban Lahiri, Gaganjeet Bhullar, Siddikur Rehyman, SSP Chowrasia, Rashid Khan and Himmat Rai, among others, are competing in the third edition of the event, featuring nine teams and offering Rs 36 lakh to the winning outfit and Rs 24 lakh to the losing finalist.
Incidentally, this is the first time Jeev would be playing in the metropolis as part of the Shubhkamna Delhi outfit.
The teams are Navratna Ahmedabad, Puravankara Bangalore, TAKE Chennai, DLF Gurgaon, Jaypee Greens Greater Noida, AVT Kolkata, Dev-Ellora Laqshya Mumbai, Krrish Colombo and Shubhkamna Delhi.
The tournament is sanctioned by the Professional Golf Tour of India (PGTI) and conceived and promoted by RN Golf Management (RNGM).

India regained its No. 1 ranking in the ICC ODI list after Australia lost its fourth One- Day International against England by 57 runs thereby dropping to the second place in the 13-team table.
As per the latest ICC table, India is back on top with 117 points while Australia is second with 116 points.
India lost its No. 1 spot in the ODI rankings recently , when it lost to New Zealand in the second ODI. But in order to maintain its top rank, India must win the third ODI against the Black Caps — failing which it will again lose its top position.