WBCS Current Affairs 31/10/2014 to 06/11/2014

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1.The Central Government is set to celebrate Jawaharlal Nehru’s 125th birth anniversary this year by undertaking various initiatives aimed at creating awareness of Nehru and his work. The initiatives aim to increase awareness about Nehru among the younger generation. It also aims to involve the common man in the celebrations. The government is expected to use the celebrations to further the cause of cleanliness in the country.
Events Planned to mark the celebration
Some of the initiatives announced by the Government as of now are:-
Organising ‘Year of Bal Swachhta’
Release of commemorative coins on Nehru
Organising ‘Bal Swachhta Mission’ in schools across the country between November 14 and 19
Launch of a website dedicated to Nehru
Release of a Rs. 10 cr grant for the modernization/upgradation of the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library
Roll-out of a special grant for scholars studying Nehru
Committee for Commemoration
The initiatives for the celebration were agreed upon at a meeting of the recently reconstituted National Committee for Commemoration of the 125th birth anniversary of Jawaharlal Nehru. The Committee headed by PM Modi also has Union ministers Rajnath Singh, Smriti Irani, Shripad Naik, Arun Jaitley and Prakash Javadekar.

2.The Cabinet has approved the extension of the deadline for the submission of the Report of the 14th Finance Commission by two months to December 31, 2014. The Commission had sought extension of its earlier deadline of October 31 in order for it to ‘examine financial projections and carry out consultations with the governments of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.’ The Commission was to submit its report on the basis of its terms of reference by October 31, 2014 covering a period of five years from April 1, 2015 to March 31, 2020.
New Mandate
The mandate of the 14th Finance Commission was expanded to include an additional term of reference to make recommendations for the successor states on reorganisation of Andhra Pradesh in accordance with Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014. It is on this ground that the Finance Commission has asked for an extension, so that it may carry out the necessary consultations.
14th Finance Commission
The 14th Finance Commission is a five member commission under the chairmanship of former RBI Governor Y.V. Reddy. The other members of the Commission are former Finance Secretary Sushma Nath, NIPFP (National Institute of Public Finance & Policy) Director M.Govinda Rao, Planning Commission Member Abhijit Sen and Former Acting Chairman of National Statistical Commission Sudipto Mundle.

3.The government cut the import tariff value on gold to US $391 per 10 gm and the tariff on silver to US $551 per kg. Last fortnight, the tariff on imported gold was fixed at $401 per 10gm and on silver at $575 per kg. Tariff values on gold and silver are notified by the Central Board of Excise and Customs. Tariff values on other items such as crude oil, palm oil, soyabean oil etc have also been cut.
Gold is the second largest import after petroleum for India. The government has imposed several restrictions to curb imports in an attempt to contain the current account deficit. Last year, it raised gold import duty to 10%, and made it mandatory for the importing parties to export back 20% of the imported gold.
The Ministry of Commerce and Industry has been pitching for easing of the gold import restrictions since it will boost gems and jewellery exports, which declined by 10.31% in August 2014.
Import Tariff Value
The import tariff value is the base price at which customs duty is determined to prevent under-invoicing. It is revised every fortnight to account for the volatile global prices.

4.The price of ATF (Aviation Turbine Fuel) of Jet fuel declined by 7.3%. The price of jet fuel now stands at Rs. 64,414.98 per kilolitre (kl) in Mumbai, against Rs. 69,610.50 earlier, while the price fell by Rs. 4,987.7 per kl to Rs. 62,537.93. The rates vary between states because of differences in local sales tax or VAT.

5.First Rashtriya Ekta Diwas observed, people across India participate in ‘Run for Unity’
On 31st October 2014, Rashtriya Ekta Diwas was observed nationwide to commemorate the 139th birth anniversary of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel.
The decision to observe 31 October as Rashtriya Ekta Diwas or National Integration Day was taken by the Union Government.

6.Former Chairman of Union Carbide Corporation, Warren M Anderson died on 29th September 2014 at a nursing home in Vero Beach, Florida. He was 92. Anderson was blamed for the 1984 Bhopal gas tragedy as he was Chairman and CEO of the Union Carbide Corporation at the time of the disaster.

7.On 31st October 2014, NDA government cleared the proposal of renaming 12 cities and towns of Karnataka.
Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh gave his approval to the proposal of the Karnataka government made on October 27, 2006 to change the names of the 12 towns and cities.
The home minister’s nod came after Survey of India, Ministry of Railways, Department of Posts, Ministry of Science and Technology and Intelligence Bureau have given their No Objection and clearance for the change in the nomenclature of the identified cities.
List of renamed cities with their new names
Bangalore- Bengaluru
Mangalore- Mangaluru
Bellary- Ballari
Belgaum- Belagavi
Bijapur- Vijapura
Hospet- Hosapete
Hubli- Hubballi
Chikmagalur- Chikkamagaluru
Mysore- Mysuru
Tumkur- Tumakuru
Gulbarga- Kalaburagi
Shimoga- Shivamogga

8.On 31st October 2014, Central government started FASTag Electronic Toll Collection (ETC) across 45 toll plazas on the Mumbai-Delhi corridor on the Golden Quadrilateral.
Government is aiming to install this system on 300 more toll plazas on national highways across the country by December 31 this year.

9.On 31st October 2014, Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) leader Devendra Gangadharrao Fadnavis, was sworn-in as the 18th Chief Minister of Maharashtra. He is the first BJP leader from Maharashtra to become CM.
Maharashtra Governor C.V. Rao administered the oath of office and secrecy to Mr. Fadnavis.

10.On 30th October 2014, ISRO Chairman K Radhakrishnan announced that the experimental mission of Geo-synchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle Mark III (GSLV-MK III) will take place in the first half of December.
Date of the launch is not yet fixed because of the three reasons:
Preparedness of the vehicle.
Certain analysis and reconfirmation is yet to be done for the new vehicle.
Weather: from October middle to first week of December the weather conditions are not good because of the cyclonic storms are so frequent.
About Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle Mark III (GSLV Mark-III)
ISRO has developed the geo-synchronous satellite launch vehicle (GSLV-Mark I-III) with indigenous cryogenic engine
The main function of GSLV Mark-III is for Mid-Heavy Lift Launch System.
Objective: To launch heavy satellites weighing more than two tonnes into geostationary orbit 36,000 km above Earth.
It will allow India to become less dependent on foreign rockets for heavy lifting.
GSLV Mark-III comprises of three stage vehicle with a first stage consisting of two identical large solid boosters strapped onto the second liquid stage. The third stage is a cryogenic stage.

11.On 30th October 2014, Finance Ministry has announced new mandatory austerity measures.
Government aims to restrict fiscal deficit to 4.1 per cent of GDP in 2014-15 and hence, have taken up such steps. Thus it will lead to10 per cent cut in the Centre’s non-Plan expenditure for 2014-15.
Austerity measures taken up by the ministry are:
The main objective of the fiscal prudence and economy measures was the need to rationalise expenditure and optimise available resources.
It bans ministers from holding meetings in five-star hotels and traveling in first class of airlines.
Ban on fresh appointments and filling of posts that have been vacant for over a year.
Officials have been advised to exercise economy in booking air tickets and have been encouraged to use video-conferencing instead of making trips where ever possible.
Officials would also not be permitted to get free companion tickets for domestic or international travel.
All departments must avoid bunching up expenditure in the last quarter to ensure that there is no wasteful spending
Subsidies part of the non-plan expenditure will face the brunt of the cuts in the new measures.
However, other components of the non-plan expenditure as interest payment, repayment of debt, defence capital, salaries, pension or Finance Commission grants to States will not face the cut.

12.On 30th October 2014, five Indian fishermen from Rameswaram, Tamil Nadu were sentenced to death penalty by the High court of Sri Lanka.
Case: Five fishermen from Rameswaram were arrested in November 2011 on charges of smuggling narcotics from India to Sri Lanka after they crossed the International Maritime Boundary Line.
High court of Sri Lanka sentenced three Sri Lankans and five Indian fishermen death penalty in this case.

13.Government is set to launch a new programme, the Unnat Bharat Abhiyan to uplift rural India. This programme will be launched in collaboration with the Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT) and the National Institutes of Technology (NITs) across the country.
The main idea for launching the programme is to provide definitive research that can be aligned with national development.
Unnat Bharat Abhiyan is an initiative of the Ministry of Human Resource Development. It will be coordinated and steered by IIT Delhi.
Key Points about Unnat Bharat Abhiyan
The programme, with the help of IITs, NITs and other leading technical institutions will prepare a roadmap for holistic rural development.
It will involve engaging with communities around each institute and for their upliftment.
Each IIT will identify 10 villages in its neighbourhood and work out technologies to solve the most pressing issues of the region.
Different teams from these institutes will visit the villages, identify problems and then aim to find financially-viable schemes.
Once the solution is identified then they will involve the industry in this to solve the problem.
Along with the HRD ministry and the institutes, some other ministries such as rural development and NGOs working in villages are also likely to be involved in the programme.
Some of the problems that the institutes will be looking at are, supply of potable water, sanitation, energy and low cost housing.

14.Cricketers Sachin Tendulkar and Steve Waugh have been inducted into the Bradman Hall of Fame.
The two cricketers were inducted as honorees of the Bradman Foundation at a gala dinner held at the Sydney Cricket Ground.

15.India was ranked 142nd among 189 nations in the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business Report. ‘Doing Business 2015: Going Beyond Efficiency’ is a World Bank Group flagship publication. The 2015 version is the 12th such annual report. The report seeks to measure the regulations that enhance business activity and those that restrict it. The report quantifies indicators on business regulations and the protection of property rights and then compares it across 189 economies and over different time periods.
The WB develops the rankings based on consultations with ‘legal and accounting professionals, government officials and business practitioners, among others, across countries.’
In 2014, for the first time, the WB collected data for two cities in large economies with population of more than 100 million. In India, the two countries taken into account were Mumbai and Delhi.

16.India won its re-election to the EcoSoc. This win comes just a week after India’s re-election to the UNHRC. On election, members serve a three year term. India’s previous term was scheduled to end in 2013. Now, on re-election, India will serve another three year term beginning on 1st January, 2015.Members of the EcoSoc
The newly elected members of the EcoSoc are Argentina, Austria, Brazil, Burkina Faso, Estonia, France, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Honduras, India, Japan, Mauritania, Pakistan, Portugal, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda and Zimbabwe.
The 54 seats on the EcoSoc are allotted ‘based on geographical representation with 14 allocated to African States, 11 to Asian States, six to Eastern European States, 10 to Latin American and Caribbean States, and 13 to Western European and other States.’
EcoSoc
The Economic and Social Council is the ‘United Nations’ central platform for reflection, debate, and innovative thinking on sustainable development.’ EcoSoc is one of the six main UN organs which were established by the UN Charter. EcoSoc is the ‘principal body for coordination, policy review, policy dialogue and recommendations on economic, social and environmental issues, as well as for implementation of the internationally agreed development goals.’ It supervises ‘the subsidiary and expert bodies in the economic, social and environmental fields.’

17.The CEO of Prasar Bharati, Jawhar Sircar, was elected unopposed as the Vice-President of the Asia Pacific Broadcasting Union (ABU).
Also, representatives from Malaysian broadcaster RTM and Japan’s NHK were also chosen as Vice-Presidents while the representative from South Korean broadcaster KBS was chosen as the President.
Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union (ABU)
The ABU was formed in 1964, and is a non-profit, non-governmental, professional association of broadcasting organizations. It has over 200 members in over 60 countries/regions. Its headquarters is in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and its President is Yoshinori Imai.
India is a founder member since 1964 and All India Radio (AIR) and Doordarshan have been associated with ABU too.ABU has full time members who must be national free-to-air broadcasters in the Asia-Pacific; associate members that is open to provincial, subscription and national broadcasters; and affiliate members who are organizations connected to broadcastic.
ABU provides a forum to promote the collective interests of its members. It is one of the most prominent and the third largest broadcasting union in the world.

18.The SC has asked the National Green Tribunal (NGT) to actively involve itself in the cleaning up of the Ganges river
Inactivity of other bodies
The SC asked the NGT to step in and take up the task of closing down industries polluting Ganga and take action against industries failing to install adequate anti-pollution measures to treat industrial effluents by March 2015. This responsibility had been entrusted to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) and state pollution control boards (SPCBs). However, these agencies have failed to even implement SC orders which have been passed over the last 30 years to reduce pollutants in the Ganga.

19.The Centre has submitted a list of people having illegal accounts in foreign banks to the Supreme Court (SC), who handed it over to the SC appointed SIT (Special Investigation Team)
Attorney-General Mukul Rohatgi filed a set of three documents in a sealed cover with the SC, on behalf of the Central Government. The documents contain the names of 627 persons having illegal HSBC accounts in Geneva which was provided by France and a status report of the investigation against them. The deadline for investigation into these accounts under the Income Tax Act is March 31, 2015.
Earlier, the government had released the names of three people from the list. The three persons whose names had been released are Pradip Burman, former executive chairman of Dabur; Pankaj Chimanlal Lodhiya, a Rajkot-based bullion trader and Radha S.Timblo, a Goa-based miner and owner of Timblo Pvt Ltd.Following this, the SC had issued an order asking the government to release all the names. The Court rejected the Centre’s argument that it would reveal the only the names against whom the Income Tax Department has evidence.
SIT
Once the documents were handed to the SC, the Bench handed the documents over to the SIT without opening the documents. The sealed cover will be opened by the Chairman and Vice-Chairman of the SC-appointed SIT. The further course of action will also be determined by the SIT. The Chairman of the SIT mentioned that there was no new detail in the list, and that the SIT already had the list of names.
Statistics
Though there are no official or authorised estimates, Global Financial Integrity (GFI), which is a Washington-based think-tank, has estimated that Indians have parked US $462 billion in bank accounts in overseas tax havens between 1948 and 2008.

20.Thanks to its loss to Pakistan in a match of the Abu Dhabi Test Series, India dropped to sixth place in ICC’s Test rankings. This ranking change shall remain irrespective of how the rest of the Abu Dhabi Test series turns out.

21.TB Mission 2020 is a Government of India initiative to eliminate TB or Tuberculosis in India by 2020.
This mission was announced by the Health Minister at WHO’s Global TB Symposium in Barcelona. The symposium was titled ‘Moving out of the box to end global TB epidemic: with post-2015 strategy.’
The Indian government is taking efforts to provide free diagnosis, treatment, nutrition support and financial aid from the government and private hospitals to the affected patients.
The Indian government is working with multiple multilateral agencies and forums to eliminate TB. Control of TB was declared part of the dominant agenda for the forthcoming meeting of BRICS Health Ministers in December. India is largest TB burden country.

22.Surya Prakash, has been appointed as the Chairman of the Board of Prasar Bharti for a period of three years. Prakash’s name was recommended by a three member committee. The Committee comprised of:-
Vice President Hamid Ansari, who is also the head of the committee
Press Council of India Chairperson, Markandey Katju
Bimal Julka, Secretary of Ministry of Information and Broadcasting