WBCS Current Affairs 23/08/2014 to 29/08/2014

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1.American space agency NASA has planned to launch Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) satellite in November 2014. It is part of the first tier of missions recommended for NASA by the Earth Science Decadal Survey.

2.The Supreme Court declared illegal all coal block allocations between 1993 and 2010, saying these were done in an unfair, arbitrary and non-transparent manner without following any objective criteria. The court, however, said that further hearing was required to decide whether there is a need for cancelling around 200 coal block allocations.
The petitions were based on the Comptroller and Auditor General’s (CAG) report that the exchequer suffered a loss of Rs. 1.64 lakh crore due to the arbitrary allocations of coal blocks. The coal blocks allocated to private companies between 2004 to March 2010 are situated in Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra, West Bengal, Odisha and Madhya Pradesh.

3.India launched “The Green Bus project” in Nagpur with the launch of its first ethanol-run, environment-friendly public bus. The bus will emit carbon dioxide as low as 15% to 90% and its emissions will be monitored by the Union government, Maharashtra state government and Nagpur Municipal Corporation.
The buses are manufactured by Swedish company Scania Commercial Vehicle India Ltd. Scania has additionally introduced an engine in consonance with Bharat Stage 5 Norms, a step toward further reducing the emissions.

4.Eminent Oscar-winning British director and actor Richard Attenborough (90) passed away.
In his six-decade long career, he appeared in movies including Brighton Rock, World War Two prisoner of war thriller The Great Escape and later in dinosaur blockbuster Jurassic Park. As a director he was best known for Gandhi, which won him two Oscars.

5.Thailand’s military’s top official, General Prayuth Chan-ocha (60), has been named the new Prime Minister of the country. Gen Prayuth was nominated in a legislature chosen by the junta and consisting mostly military and police figures. The general was the head of the army when he led a coup in May 2014. The coupled to the ouster of Yingluck Shinawatra’s civilian government. The General had claimed that military intervention was needed to restore stability to the nation.

6.Guru Hanuman Akhara, a wrestling academy based in Delhi, has been chosen for Rashtriya Khel Protsahan Puraskar (RKPP) for year 2014. As per Sports Ministry, Guru Hanuman Akhara has been chosen for ‘establishment and management of sports academies of excellence.’ President Pranab Mukherjee will honor the RKPP awardees along with Arjuna, Dronacharya and Dhyan Chand award winners at the National Sports Awards function in Delhi on August 29, 2014. Other RKPP awardees:
Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC): Chosen for employment of sports persons and sports welfare measures
Jindal Steel Works (JSW): Chosen for its contribution in identification and nurturing of budding/young talent
Child Link Foundation of India: Chosen for its ‘Magic Bus’

7.Eminent Kannada writer and one of the most heralded public intellectuals in the country, U.R. Ananthamurthy (82) passed away.
He was a contemporary writer and critic in the Kannada language and is considered as one of the path-breakers of the Navya movement.

8.India’s first indigenously-built stealth anti-submarine warfare INS Kamorta was commissioned into Indian Navy by Defence Minister Arun Jaitley at naval dockyard in Vishakhapatnam.
The corvette has been built by the state-owned Gardenreach Shipbuilders (GRSE) in Kolkata and is the first vessel in the Navy whose all weapon systems have been manufactured indigenously.
Kamorta is the first of four ASW stealth combat ships designed by Indian Navy’s internal organization, Directorate of Naval Design (DND), and built by GRSE.

9.Syrian Golan Heights was in news in the fifth week of August 2014 after forty-three UN Peacekeepers from Fiji were held as hostage by an armed group of rebels. The UN Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) Personnel were detained near Quneitra, during fighting between Syrian armed rebels and Syrian Arab Armed forces within the area of separation.
Apart from this, another lot of 81 peacekeepers from the Philippines have also been restricted to their positions in the vicinity of al-Ruwayhina and Burayqa. The incident occurred a day after the rebels occupied and took control of a crossing into the Israeli-occupied Golan after a long battle.

10.Union Government on 25 August 2014 notified the Securities Laws Amendment Act, 2014 (SLAA, 2014). The Act came into force on the day it was notified amends the Securities and Exchange Board of India Act, 1992, the Securities Contracts (Regulation) Act, 1956 and the Depositories Act, 1996.
Main Highlights of the SLAA, 2014
• The Act empowers the Securities Exchange Board of India (SEBI) to clamp down on illicit money-pooling schemes, arrest of defaulters, to access call data records and other frauds.
• It is a part of the government and regulators’ efforts to tighten noose around fraudsters in the wake of several cases of illicit money-polling activities that includes ponzi operators.
• It would also facilitate setting up of a special SEBI court to fast-track the investigation and prosecution process.
• It also grants approval for search and seizure operations in suspected cases of frauds.
• It has as many as 57 clauses to amend various sections of the SEBI Act and two other related legislations.

11.Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 28 August 2014 launched Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana. The Yojana is a mega financial inclusion plan. Under the yojana bank accounts and RuPay debit cards with inbuilt insurance cover of 1 lakh rupees will be provided to crores of persons with no access to formal banking facilities.
The primary aim of the Jan Dhan Yojana is to bring poor financially excluded people into the banking system by providing them bank accounts and debit cards.
Target of Yojana
The Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana has set an ambitious target of bringing in more than 7.5 crore un-banked families into India’s banking system by opening more than 15 crore bank accounts at the rate of two bank accounts per household by 15 August 2015.
The remaining hilly areas and the other 75 naxalite affected districts will be covered under the Yojana by the end of August 2016.
Coverage of Yojana
The scheme will cover both urban and rural areas of India and all bank accounts opened will be linked to a debit card which would be issued under the RuPay scheme. (Rupay is India’s own unique domestic card network owned by National Payments Corporation of India and has been created as an alternative to Visa and Mastercard.)
Benefits under Yojana
Every individual who open a bank account becomes eligible to receive an accident insurance cover of up-to 1 Lakh rupees for his entire family.
Moreover, an additional 30000 rupees life insurance cover will be provided for those opening bank accounts before 26 January 2015.
Once the bank account became active for 6 months and being linked to account holders Aadhar identity, they would become eligible for an overdraft of up to 2500 rupees, which would further be enhanced by the bank to 5000 rupees over time.
The Jan Dhan Yojana also seeks to provide incentives to business and banking correspondents. The banking correspondents act as link for the last mile between savings account holders and the bank by fixing a minimum monthly remuneration of 5000 rupees.
The long term vision of the Jan Dhan Yojana is to lay the foundation of a cashless economy and is complementary to the Digital India Scheme.
If you have any Question/Point on the above information, please ask/discuss it in the Current Affairs Group.

12.Sivaramakrishnan committee constituted by the Union Government to suggest the place to build the capital city of Andhra Pradesh submitted its report on 27 August 2014 to the Home Minister Rajnath Singh in New Delhi.
The committee gave options about the capital and positive and negative points of the places. But the committee did not Zero in on any particular place for the capital. It only mentioned the availability of lands and other factors.
Interestingly, the committee objected Vijayawada to be the capital, in the context of the AP government transferring certain departments to Vijayawada, declaring it as the future capital.
Highlights of the Report
• Opined the capital could be between Marturu and Vinukonda.
• It also proposed Musunuru, Mangalagiri, Macherla, Gollapally, Vinukonda, Marturu, Donakonda, Pulichintala as suitable for Capital regions.

13.The Delhi Government on 28 August 2014 made it mandatory for women riding a two-wheeler to wear helmets in Delhi NCR region. The purpose is to ensure safety of women in the national capital. The law came into effect after the government amended rule 115 of the Delhi Motor Vehicles Rules, 1993.

14.Vinod Kumar Duggal resigned as Manipur Governor on 28 August 2014. He was appointed as governor of Manipur by President Pranab Mukherjee on 23 December 2013.
Thus, Vinod Kumar Duggal became the ninth governor to resign since the NDA Government came to power in May 2014. Eight other governors -- M.K. Narayanan (West Bengal), Ashwani Kumar (Nagaland), B.L. Joshi (UP), B.V. Wanchoo (Goa) Shekhar Dutt (Chhattisgarh), Sheila Dikshit (Kerala), V Purushothaman (Mizoram), K. Sankaranarayanan (Maharashtra) had resigned before.

15.Recep Tayyip Erdogan was sworn in on 28 August 2014 as 12th President of Turkey. He was sworn-in a ceremony held at Parliament of Turkey in Ankarra. The ceremony was attended by Heads of state from a dozen nations in Eastern Europe, Africa, Central Asia and the Middle East.

16.Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 27 August 2014 set up a Ramanujam committee to identify obsolete laws. The committee will identify the laws which they believed hamper governance by creating avoidable confusion.
The Committee will be chaired by R. Ramanujam, Secretary in the PMO, V.K. Bhasin, former Secretary, Legislative Department, will be its other member.
The committee will submit its report in three months and on the basis of its recommendations a bill will be introduced in Parliament in the winter session. The committee will examine Acts and Rules which may have become obsolete within the last 10 to 15 years.

17.Shah Rukh Khan on 27 August 2014 became the Ambassador of Turn Back Crime campaign of Interpol. This was revealed from a statement released from Interpol headquarters in Lyon, France. The campaign will promote awareness on how everyone can play a role in preventing crime.

18.Union Cabinet on 27 August 2014 announced to lift the restriction of one LPG cylinder per month per household.
However, the Union Cabinet did not change the overall cap of 12 subsidised cylinders per year. Cooking gas consumers will now get 12 cylinders of 14.2-kg at subsidised rate in a year, even if they don’t consume one bottle/month.

19.Tata Value Homes tied up with e-commerce major Snapdeal on 26 August 2014 to sell houses online through the online marketplace model. There are 1000 apartments across Mumbai, Talegaon, Pune, Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Chennai and Kolkata.
For the launch period, Tata Value Homes would offer a benefit to the customers who book the home through Snapdeal. In this, customers would get 10000 rupees per month for one year as assured rent after the possession of the home. It is left on customers to stay on premise or lease it out.

20.Seven countries joined the United States (US) in arming the Peshmerga Kurdish forces in Northern Iraq against Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) on 26 August 2014. These seven countries are Albania, Canada, Croatia, Denmark, Italy, France, and the United Kingdom. This was announced by US Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel.The announcement comes two weeks after Hagel commissioned a U.S.-led working group to accelerate resupply efforts to Kurdish forces.
These developments comes after outgunning of the Kurdish forces by ISIS group in August 2014, which had overrun Iraqi military bases and acquired equipment and ammunition in June 2014.
Other than this, US also is expected to get helping hand from countries like Australia, Berlin, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and United Arab Emirates (UAE). The air campaign would be supported by Britain and Australia. Turkey is expected to give access of its military base and the financial support is expected from Saudi Arabia, Qatar, UAE.
This development comes close on the heels of US President Barack Obama authorising surveillance of flights over Syria on 26 August 2014.

21.Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) under the Union Ministry of Commerce and Industry on 27 August 2014 notified Press Note 8. Press Note 8 allows 100 percent Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) through automatic route in rail infrastructure of Indian Railways.

22.The President of India, Pranab Mukherjee on 27 August 2014 presented the Hindi Sevi Samman for the years 2010 and 2011 at a function at Rashtrapati Bhavan.

23.The World Health Organization (WHO) on 26 August 2014 called for a range of tough regulations that restricts the use of e-cigarettes. The world health body in a report has recommended banning their indoor use and sales to the children.
Experts at WHO have warned that such products might pose threat to adolescents and the fetuses of pregnant women.
Apart from this, WHO also urged manufacturers not to make claims that the devices can help people to quit smoking until there is firm evidence to support their cause. WHO says that legal steps should be taken to end the use of e-cigarettes indoors - both in public spaces and in work places.

24.The Supreme Court of India on 27 August 2014 directed the real estate developer DLF Ltd to pay a fine of 630 crore rupees that was imposed on it by the Competition Commission of India (CCI). CCI had imposed a fine on DLF for alleged unfair business practices.
SC bench comprising of Justice Ranjana Prakash Desai and Justice NV Ramana in its interim order asked DLF to pay an initial amount of 50 crore rupees and 25 crore rupees in interest within three weeks. Rest of the penalty should be paid within three months.

25.The prestigious Rajiv Gandhi National Quality Awards for the year 2012 were announced by Union Minister for Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution Ram Vilas Paswan on 26 August 2014. The awards are given by the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS).
Winners in Different Categories
Best of All Award: Rail Wheel factory (Ministry of Railways), Bangalore
Large scale service industries: Tata Business Support Services Limited, Hyderabad
Large scale manufacturing industries: Sakthi Masala P. Ltd., Erode, Tamil Nadu
Small scale manufacturing industries: Elin Appliances Pvt. Ltd., Solan, Himachal Pradesh

26.Kerala state cabinet cabinet on 27 August 2014 ratified the new liquor policy. The policy was contemplated to shut down bars attached to hotels below the five-star category .It was a part of governments plan to reduce availability of liquor.

27.World’s first Hindu eco-temple named Shree Swaminarayan Mandir was opened in Kingsbury of northwest London, United Kingdom on 19 August 2014. The eco-temple features solar panels on its roof and a rainwater harvesting system.

28.Delhi-based 13 year old school boy Yashwardhan Shukla authored a novel, Gods of Antarctica. The book is fictional tale of gods and monsters. It was put into print by the Readers Paradise publishers.

29.The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs on 27 August 2014 approved the continuation of production of urea from 3 plants by using existing feedstock Naphtha for three months beyond 30 June 2014, that is from 1 July 2014 to 30 September 2014.
The three plants are:
• Madras Fertilizers Limited (MFL) Manali
• Manglore Chemicals and Fertilizers Ltd (MCFL) Mangalore
• Southern Petrochemical Industries Corporation (SPIC) Tuticorin
These three units would help Indian farmers in meeting the urea requirement in the ongoing Kharif season. This decision will ensure food security of the country.
On the basis of NPS-III, total cost of production of urea is calculated. The selling price of urea is fixed at 5360 rupees per tonne.
Background
Under the Modified New Pricing Scheme-Ill for existing urea units, only three naphtha based units that is MFL - Manali, MCFL-Mangalore and SPIC - Tuticorin were allowed to produce urea from naphtha as feedstock till 30 June 2014.
The Centre asked these firms to switchover to natural gas otherwise subsidy would not be given.
However, these fertilizers companies were unable to convert to gas from naphtha, as there were protests from farmers in Tamil Nadu who were against the laying of gas pipeline. Moreover gas was not available.

30.French President Francois Hollande named the new French government on 26 August 2014 under Prime Minister Manual Valls. Those ministers who rebelled against the austerity measures suggested by Hollande were dropped out from the list.

31.India overtook Japan to become the third largest crude oil importer in the World. As per the data released by Reuters on 30 January 2014, India imported 3.86 million barrels-per-day of crude oil in the year 2013.
India's crude oil imports were nearly 6 percent higher than Japan's customs-cleared imports of 3648372 barrels-per-day (211716710 kilolitres).
image Recently, China had overtaken USA to become the world’s largest importer of crude oil.
World’s Top Five Oil-Importing Countries
1. China: China imports 6.30 million barrels per day
2. U.S.A: USA imports 6.24 million barrels per day
3. India: India imports 3.86 million barrels per day
4. Japan: Japan imports 3.64 million barrels per day
5. Germany: Germany imports 2.67 million barrels per day