Current Affairs 08/03/2014 to 12/03/2014

[admin]

1.The President of India, Mr. Pranab Mukherjee awarded Stree Shakti Puraskar to six illustrious women on International Women’s Day for their distinguished services for the upliftment of women. The Government of India has instituted six national awards are known as Stree Shakti Puraskar.

These awards are in the name of the following eminent women personalities in the Indian history who are famous for their personal courage and integrity:- Rani Lakshmibai, Rani Rudramma Devi, Kannagi, Rani Gaidinliu Zaliang, Rani Ahilyabai Holkar and Mata Jijabai.
Awardees are-

Rani Gaidinliu Zeliang Award: Dr. Vartika Nanda (Delhi) for creating awareness on women’s issues through media.
Rani Lakshmibai Award: Ms. Manasi Pradhan (Odisha) for her work in the field of women’s empowerment.
Rani Rudramma Devi Award: Dr. M Venkaiah (Andhra Pradesh) for her contribution in the field of women’s health.
Mata Jijabai Award: Ms. Bina Sheth Lashkari (Maharashtra) honored for her achievement in the field of education and training
Kannagi Award: T Radha K Prashanti (Andhra Pradesh) for her achievement in the field of providing support to orphans, visually impaired, handicapped and destitute women.
Devi Ahilyabai Holkar Award: Dr Seema Sakhare (Maharashtra) for her contribution in the field of women’s rights, gender issues, legal counseling and institutional support to women and girls.

2.An Indian-American scientist, Mr. Anil Jain from Michigan State University built the world’s first three-dimensional (3D) model of a human fingerprint known as Phantom.
About Phantom – 3D model of human fingerprint
A method that takes a two-dimensional image of a fingerprint and maps it to a 3-D finger surface.
In health care, a 3D heart or a kidney may be created because of known dimensions and they can be put in a scanner and the imaging system may be calibrated.
Objective: To have a precise fingerprint model with known properties and features that can be used to calibrate existing technology used to match fingerprints.
Would help to improve the overall accuracy of fingerprint-matching systems that leads to better security in applications ranging from law enforcement to mobile phone unlock.
Developed to boost the accuracy of fingerprint-matching systems and to improve security technology.

3.The technology giant, Google launched indoor maps in India that would help users to access detailed floor plans indoor venues in India. Indoor maps enable users to view and navigate floor plans of several commercial locations viz. airports, shopping malls, large retail stores, transit stations, and more within Google Maps.

4.Indian-American attorney, Mr. Vince Chhabria (44) will become California’s first federal judge of South Asian descent. At present, Mr. Chhabria serves as the Deputy City Attorney at the San Francisco City Attorney’s Office. He has represented San Francisco in defense of its health insurance law, adoption rights of same-sex couples and other major cases, has won Senate confirmation for a federal judgeship.

5.The Punjab Cabinet approved the Backward Class (BC) status for the Jat and Jat Sikhs of the State. Now, Jats and Jat Sikhs are the 69th and 70th community to be included in the category.

6.The ongoing political crisis in Ukraine will effect India due to following reasons:
Immediate impact on India: The military stand-off situation of India would go worsen because Ukrainian military facility provides engines for military helicopters of Russian origin (that account for a quarter of the world’s medium, medium-heavy and heavy lift helicopters) and India has contracts with many sourcing naval engines, from where India gets its entire fleet of medium military transport aircraft modernized.
Business and economic factors- The conflict between Russia and Ukraine
Would weaker rupee against dollars that will be negative for stocks and for the Indian economy.
International oil and gas prices would go up that will adversely effect India, as India will have to spend more dollars to buy Brent as it is dependent on imports for its energy needs. This will pressure the rupee and may lead to a rise in the current account deficit.
The FDI inflow into India may be affected adversely.
Strategic reasons- If the military situation in Ukraine go worse than the relations between the US and Russia would be deteriorate, then at that situation India will be under pressure to take a clear position, as China has taken a clear position and supported Russia.
Note: Russia is a key friend of India and has helped repeatedly at the crucial time viz. Because of Russia’s pro-active help, India won the 1971 war against Pakistan and liberated Bangladesh, etc.
The Parliament of Crimea asked Moscow to allow the region to accede to Russia and move forwards the date of a referendum on the region’s status from March 30 to March 16, 2014. In other words, Crimean Parliament requested to Moscow to make Crimea the part of Russia.
The authorities in Crimea voted to accelerate secession from Ukraine, unanimously backing a law that declared the territory to be part of the Russian Federation.
Voters in Crimea had to choose between two options: Stay in Ukraine or join Russia. (Previously, the Parliament planned to seek greater autonomy for Crimea within Ukraine).
Ukraine’s interim prime minister opposed the referendum of Crimean parliament to join Russia. (The current Crimean constitution came into effect in 1999 and Article 135 of the Ukrainian constitution provides that the Crimean Constitution must be approved by the Ukrainian parliament).
Russian President Mr. Vladimir Putin stated that Russia had no plans to annex Crimea.
Note: Crimea is an autonomous republic in the south-eastern region of Ukraine and has its own constitution. Crimea’s people are 58 % ethnic Russians, 24% Ukrainians, and 12 % Tatars, descendants of the Turkic people that ruled the peninsula until the Russian Tsars annexed it in 1783. (Capital: Simferopol).
What is the cause of public protest against the President Viktor Yanukovych?
The immediate cause of anti-government protests started over President Mr. Viktor Yanukovych’s decision to abandon a deal with the European Union in favour of aid and natural gas agreements with Russia.
Causes of protest: Opposition to the Euromaidan movement, Opposition to the Yatsenyuk Government and the Verkhovna Rada’s vote to repeal language law that protected minority languages.
Effect of Protest: The anti-government protests led to the downfall of the government of President Viktor Yanukovych and set the new government.
In brief, the 2014 Ukrainian revolution was anti-Yanukovych who is pro-Russia. Those who protested wanted close Ukraine-EU relations and not Ukraine-Russia partnership.
USA’s move on Ukraine crisis:- The U.S. has suspended military engagement with Russia and opined to expel Russia from G-8 but Germanydidn’t favour the expulsion. Western leaders have shown consensus on suspending the G8 summit to be held at Sochi this year, if Russia doesn’t stop its interference.
What the Ukraine government did to resolve Ukraine crisis?
In order to resolve the political crisis in Ukraine, Ukraine Prime Minister Mr. Mykola Azarov resigned and the deputy Prime Minister Mr. Serhiy Arbuzov became the acting Prime minister of Ukraine.
To ease the two month long protest, the parliament repealed a set of anti-protest laws and a mass amnesty was granted to all the demonstrators in the streets, even the ones who have seized government buildings by force.
In the crisis talks between the President and opposition leaders, it was agreed that Parliament would hold a vote of no-confidence in the government, and to work towards potentially reinstating a constitution that boosted parliamentary powers and curtailed those of the President.
About Ukraine
Capital: Kiev.
Currency: Ukrainian hryvnia.
Prime minister: Arseniy Yatsenyuk.
National anthem: Shche ne vmerla Ukraina.
After its independence in 1991 from the former Soviet Union, Ukraine has swung between its desire for integration into the European Union and keeping friendly ties with Russia that continues to be its largest single trading partner that it depends on for cheap energy resources.
In 1997, Russia and Ukraine signed an agreement on the division of the Black Sea Fleet, with 81 % going to Russia along with Sevastopol and other military installations in the Crimea. In return, Moscow compensated Kiev with a large sum of money as well as writing off a large amount of Ukrainian debt. Russia also pays Ukraine an annual fee.
Note: Euromaidan – Protest which attracted around 300,000 people on Kiev’s Independence Square, known as the Maidan, the largest since the 2004 Orange Revolution. Activists seized Kiev City Hall.

7.The 3rd BIMSTEC (Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation) Summit held at Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar.
About BIMSTEC summit 2014
Theme: “Partnership for Harmony and Prosperity”.
Attended by:Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Bhutan and Nepal.
Chaired by:Myanmar.
Objective: To create an enabling environment for rapid economic development through identification and implementation of specific cooperation projects and the sectors of trade and investment, technology, energy, transport and communication, tourism, fisheries, agriculture, cultural cooperation, environment and disaster management, public health, people-to-people contact, poverty alleviation, counter-terrorism and transnational crime and climate change.
Next Summit will be chaired by Kathmandu, Nepal.( The Bimstec summit takes place every four years).
BIMSTEC is an international organization comprising Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Bhutan and Nepal as member countries.

8.The armies of India and Nepal are jointly conducting the military exercise, known as Ex-Surya Kiran Drills VI, at Saljhandi in Rupandehi district, Nepal.

9.The North Delhi Municipal Corporation (NMDC) launched “Stri Swasthya Suraksha Yojna”- a special health scheme for women to bring services closer for those living in rural areas and unauthorized colonies.

10.Indian acid attack victim, Ms. Laxmi won the prestigious International Women of Courage Award from the US First Lady Michelle Obama for successfully leading the campaign against acid attacks on women in India.
About acid attack victim Ms. Laxmi
Incident with her: In 2005, when she was 16 years old, an acquaintance threw acid on her face while she waited at a bus stop in New Delhi and disfigured her permanently.
After this incident, she became the standard-bearer in India for the movement to end acid attacks.
Made repeated appearances on national television, gathered 27,000 signatures for a petition to curb acid sales, and took her cause to the Supreme Court of India.
Owing to her petition, Supreme Court ordered the Indian central and state governments to regulate immediately the sale of acid and the Parliament to make prosecutions of acid attacks easier to pursue.

11.The Union Government decided to hike interest rates on fixed deposit schemes offered by post offices by up to 0.2 %. The decision to hike interest rates is taken on the recommendations of Shyamala Gopinath Committee.
As per the Shyamala Gopinath Committee’s recommendations
The interest rate on fixed deposits for one and two years has been increased to 8.4% from the present 8.2%.
Fixed deposits of three and five years will earn 0.1% higher rate at 8.4% and 8.5%.
The interest rate on five-year recurring deposits will be 8.4% from 8.3%.
The rate on National Savings Scheme (NSC) with 5 and 10 year maturities also remain unchanged at 8.5 % and 8.8 %.
The rate on five-year Monthly Income Scheme (MIS) remains the same at 8.4 %. The savings deposit rates are kept unchanged at 4 %.
Though, the interest rate on Public Provident fund (PPF) has been kept unchanged at 8.7 %.

12.The Chief election commissioner Mr. VS Sampath announced the schedule for the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.
Some Unique features of 16th Lok Sabha Elections:-
or the first time, Voters will be able to exercise the “None Of The Above” (NOTA) option for candidates in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.
Electoral strength in 2014 is 81.45 crore (814.5 million), the largest in the world
Use of COMET (Communication Plan for Election): During the Elections, the Election Commission of India would be using an SMS based alert system called COMET. This system would send SMS messages to the lakhs of government officials on election duty. COMET would also send alerts to the local police in case of disturbances at any polling station.
It would collect data via mobile phones about officials, scheduled events viz. staff reaching the polling station, mock polls, start/end of polling, voting %, number of voters, etc.

13.Former Delhi chief minister Ms. Sheila Dikshit (75) appointed as the Governor of Kerala by the President Mr. Pranab Mukherjee. Ms. Dikshit succeeded Mr. Nikhil Kumar, a former Delhi Police Commissioner. She became the 22nd Governor of Kerala. Ms Dixit formerly served as the Chief Minister of Delhi from 1998 to 2013.
Ms Dikshit was defeated in her own constituency, New Delhi,In December 2013 elections to the Legislative Assembly of Delhi, by Mr Arvind Kejriwal
President Pranab Mukherjee also approved a second term for Uttar Pradesh Governor B.L. Joshi.