WBCS Current Affairs 14/06/2014 to 21/06/2014

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1.As per an announcement by the Delhi Government, the national capital has become the first ‘kerosene-free city’ in the country. It was announced that the ‘Delhi: A Kerosene-Free City Scheme, 2012′ has been implemented successfully and now no subsidized kerosene is being provided in the national capital.

2.The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) conducted Open Market Operations (OMOs) to sell Rs 2,255 crore of government bonds between June 2 to June 6, 2014, to absorb excess rupee liquidity it has injected into the system through dollar purchasing. As per market experts, the apex bank may have also been trying to curb volatility in government securities through these OMOs.

3.The government appointed Tax Administration Reform Commission (TARC), headed by Parthasarathi Shome, has recommended some radical reforms in tax administration which include:

Abolition of the post of Revenue Secretary
Amalgamation of CBDT and CBEC
Broaden the use of Permanent Account Number (PAN)
Avoid retrospective amendments to tax laws
Income Tax Return should also include wealth tax details
Separate budget allocation to ensure time bound tax refund and a passbook scheme for TDS (Tax Deduction at Source).
Tax Administration should be given greater functional and financial autonomy and independence from governmental structures, given their special needs.
As per report submitted by the panel to the Finance Ministry, the Revenue Secretary, an IAS, is “likely to have little experience or background in tax administration at the national level and little familiarity with tax.”

4.Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) is very close to becoming world’s second biggest tech employer. Currently, with over 3 lakh employees, it has already become the world’s 3rd largest employer in the technology sector. Considering the pace at which it is expanding, it could become the second largest employer by the end of 2014, overtaking Hewlett-Packard, and would be fast closing in on leader IBM.

5.The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) approved the appointment of Shaktikanta Das, a 1980 batch Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer of Tamil Nadu cadre, as the new Revenue Secretary, replacing Rajiv Takru.

6.On his first foreign visit after becoming PM, Narendra Modi who is on a two-day Bhutan visit promised to foster bilateral ties which he described as “B2B —Bharat to Bhutan” as he held talks with the Bhutanese King and countries Prime Minister, discussing an entire range of relationship between the two nations.
Mr. Modi also unveiled the Supreme Court complex built by India as part of the developmental cooperation. Modi described the bilateral ties as “B2B relations — Bharat to Bhutan relations”.
He announced doubling of scholarships granted to Bhutanese students in India which will now be worth Rs 2 crore. Modi also assured to help Bhutan in establishing a digital library, which will provide access to Bhutanese youth to two million books and periodicals.
Prime Minister’s visit to Bhutan holds significance since China has lately scaled up efforts to persuade it and set up full-fledged diplomatic relationship with Bhutan.

7.T​he nomination of Prince Zeid al Hussein of Jordan of as the new High Commissioner for Human Rights was unanimously approved by the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA). He succeeds outgoing Navi Pillay of South Africa.​ He is the first High Commissioner from the Asian continent and from the Muslim and Arab worlds.

8.Juan Manuel Santos has secured another term as the President of Colombia as he has won the recently held presidential poll. His victory symbolizes peoples support to his 18-month-old peace negotiations to end country’s longest-running conflict with the left-wing FARC rebel group.

9.NTPC has filed a plea seeking continuation of work on its Lata Tapovan Hydro Power Project in Uttarakhand that was put on hold following the Supreme Court’s May 7 order. The apex court has issued notice to the government in this regard.

10.In a bid to impose a ban on dance bars across state, the Maharashtra assembly passed a law which amends Maharashtra Police Act which banned performance of bar dancers in all hotels, bars and restaurants. In 2005, while banning dance bars, the government had denounced the bars as dens of immorality. It claimed they debauched the young and were meeting places for criminals.

11.Realty behemoth DLF has become India’s first real estate firm to get ISO 9001:2008 quality certification for development of housing and commercial projects

12.The tension between Russia and Ukraine has further intensified with Russia cutting off the gas supply to Ukraine. Both countries blamed the other for the failure of talks in Kiev. ​
The gas issue is one more dispute between the two countries, besides the annexation of Crimea peninsula by Russia. Kiev has accused Moscow of inciting unrest in the eastern region of the country.
The CEO of Russia’s state gas company, Gazprom, alleged that the Ukrainians were trying to “blackmail” Russia into giving them a lower price and had failed to repay a huge debt accrued over recent years.
As per Ukraine’s PM, the gas talks were part of a “general Russian plan to destroy Ukraine”.
The relationship between Russia and Ukraine are under severe strain since Moscow annexed Crimea in February 2014. The move to stop gas supply will impact the Europe as about 15% of the EU’s gas supply is Russian gas piped through Ukraine.
Although, Russia will continue to supply gas to Europe but Gazprom has warned there were substantial risks for gas transportation to the EU via Ukraine.

13.The Government of Madhya Pradesh has launched ‘Gauravi’- India’s first One-Stop Crisis Centre (OSCC) at J. P. Hospital in Bhopal. The centre will help women who are victims of violence by enabling them to register an FIR, medical treatment, psychological counseling and legal help—all under one roof. The single-window centre was inaugurated by Bollywood actor Aamir Khan.
‘Gauravi’ will provide help and assistance to survivors and victims of dowry harassment, domestic violence and other atrocities on women.

14.Professor Tejinder Virdee, a noted Indian-origin physicist known for his work for the Large Hadron Collider, was conferred an honorary knighthood by Queen Elizabeth II in recognition to his contribution to the field of science.

15.Australia defeated The Netherlands to retain the men’s hockey World Cup title in the final played at the Kyocera Stadium, Hague (The Netherlands​). For Australia it is second successive World Cup victory. ​
Australia and The Netherlands were standing against each other and played both Women’s and Men’s Finals of the World Cup Hockey 2014.
I​ndia registered an easy win over Asian champions South Korea to finish ninth in the men’s hockey World Cup.

16.The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) released the Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species is celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2014. As of now, the Red List has 73,686 assessed species, of which 22,103 are threatened with extinction. The release includes lemurs, Japanese eels, slipper orchids.

17.Indian-origin Dakshnia Agrawal (24) has bagged the ‘Miss Marwadi Nepal 2014′ title during the second edition of the beauty contest organized in Kathmandu, Nepal. The model received the title at a function held by Indian-origin ‘Marwadi’ business community.
Vishaka Agrawal (22) and Sanjoli Joshi (23) adjudged first and second runner-ups in the pageant respectively.

18.Government-owned power equipment manufacturer Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (BHEL) commissioned 68 MW Unit at the Rampur Hydro Electric Project in Himachal Pradesh. With this, BHEL has commissioned four units of the 412 MW hydro power plant of SJVN Limited.

19.Lt Gen Amit Sharma (58) has been appointed as the new Commander-in-Chief of Strategic Forces Command (SFC) which guards the nuclear weapon store of the country. He takes charge from Vice Admiral S P S Cheema as the latter has moved to Kochi to head the Navy’s Southern Command based there. Previously, Sharma was the Chief of Staff of Japiur-based South Western Command of the army and had headed its elite 21 Strike Corps.
The SFC is responsible to implement the directives of the Nuclear Command Authority (NCA). It has the sole responsibility of starting the process of delivering nuclear arsenal after receiving approval from NCA.

20.Vice President Hamid Ansari was presented with the book titled Warrior State: Pakistan in the Contemporary World written by T V Paul.

21.Indian origin scientist Rasik Ravindra has been elected as member of the United Nations Commissionon the Limits of Continental Shelf (CLCS) as India’s candidate for member of the Commission.

22.Researchers have found a massive reservoir of water three times the size of Earth’s oceans located hundreds of miles beneath the surface of the planet. Scientists from Northwestern University and the University of New Mexico provided the first ever evidence for potentially oceans worth of water deep beneath the United States.

23.As per a report by Japanese Fisheries Agency, Japan has continued the hunting of whales and has killed 30 minke whales off Ishinomaki, Miyagi Prefacture (at its north-east coast), in the first hunt since the International Court of Justice (ICJ) March 2014 order which directed Tokyo to halt killing the whales in the Antarctic.

24.Olympic gold medal winner The Netherlands defeated Australia in the title clash at the Kyocera Stadium, Hague (The Netherlands)to win the women’s hockey World Cup.

25.The Indo-French Air Drill “Garuda V” which began on June 3, 2014 successfully concluded at Air Force Station (AFS) Jodhpur in Rajasthan. During this exercise both the air forces performed various combat roles including Air to Air re-fuelling. The exercise provided significant mutual learning opportunity to both Air Forces.

26.A long wait for India ended when the country became a permanent member of the Washington Accord, an esteemed international treaty on engineering studies and mobility of engineers across signatory countries including the US, the UK and Australia. Permanent membership reflects on the country’s stature in the technical education space. Until now, India has been just a provisional member since 2007.
The meeting of the International Engineering Alliance of WA member nations met in Wellington, New Zealand and gave India the signatory status to join the select group of nations who are permanent signatories to the Washington Accord (WA). This will ensure highest quality assurance standards to be implemented in our technical and engineering programmes and provide global mobility to our engineering graduates​. It will significantly enhance their employment opportunities around the world.
The Washington Accord:
It is an international accreditation treaty for professional engineering academic degrees, between the bodies responsible for accreditation in its signatory nations. Initially when the Washington Accord came into force in 1989, only 6 developed countries were its members.

27.The Reserve Bank of India will soon come up with India’s first payments bank, which will offer deposit and payment services but not provide loans.
This idea is in line with the recommendations made by the Nachiket Mor committee. The central bank sees huge potential for financial inclusion with focus on remittances by involving payment system product.
As per the RBI, while full-service banks require an entry capital of Rs.500 crore, payments banks can start operations with a capital of just Rs.50 crore since all their money will be invested in safe government securities.
They will be required to comply with all RBI guidelines for commercial banks.

28.Uganda’s foreign minister Sam Kahamba Kutesa has been unanimously elected as the President of the 193-membered United Nations General Assembly (UNGA). He was in news recently for defending the Ugandan government’s stringent anti-homosexuality law which President Yoweri Museveni signed in February 2014.

29.The Narmada Control Authority (NCA) has given nod to raise the height of the Sardar Sarovar Dam by 17 metres to 138.62 metres, which, on its completion, would allow Gujarat to get three times more water for irrigation. The new height would make it the second highest dam in the world after Grand Coulee in the US.
A higher dam will improve the efficiency of hydro-power generation and water supply capacity of this project, and is likely to benefit not just Gujarat but also adjacent states of Rajashthan, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh. Gujarat has been waiting for this decision for last 8 years.
Activist Medha Patkar, who drew attention to the dislocation of thousands of people as a result of this move, is protesting the decision and has called the move undemocratic.
As per Patkar, the dam with its current height has 2 lakh people in its affected region. If the height is increased by 17 metres, the thickly populated villages in Nimad area of Madhya Pradesh with houses, farms, shops, temples, mosques and standing crops would be submerged. The centre will allow Gujarat to raise the height of the dam from existing 121.91m to 138.7m
Benefits of Project:
Irrigation water to 1.8 million hectares to benefit one million farmers.
Drinking water for 9,633 villages and 131 towns
Who gets what:
WATER: Rajasthan (1.79%), Maharashtra (0.89%), Gujarat (32.14%), Madhya Pradesh (65.18%)
POWER: Maharashtra (27%), Gujarat (16%), Madhya Pradesh (57%)