Current Affairs for IAS Exams – 10 March 2016

:: National ::

Art of living event gets go ahead after fine

Imposing an initial fine of Rs. 5 crore, the National Green Tribunal (NGT) gave the go-ahead to the ‘World Culture Festival’, a three-day cultural extravaganza being organised by Sri Sri Ravi Shankar’s Art of Living Foundation on the flood plains of the Yamuna.
It also directed the Art of Living to bear the cost of restoring the area into a biodiversity park after the completion of the event, holding it responsible and liable for the damage caused to the environment, ecology, bio-diversity and aquatic life of the river.
The green watchdog also pulled up the Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) and the Delhi Development Authority (DDA), stating that they hadn’t discharged their statutory functions.
The Tribunal directed Art of Living to give an undertaking by Thursday that enzymes will not be released into the Yamuna and no further degradation of environment will happen.
Art of Living said that it would file an appeal in the Supreme Court against the fine. A spokesperson said: “The festival will go on as planned and since we have not violated any rules we will appeal against the NGT order.”

T20 World Cup match between India-Pak shifted to Kolkata

The uncertainty over the India-Pakistan World T20 match in Dharamshala was cleared when ICC CEO Dave Richardson announced that the match, to be played on March 19, would be shifted to Eden Gardens in Kolkata.
The decision has been taken for security reasons, following consultations with the BCCI, the State associations, the ICC and BCCI security consultants.
The ICC and the BCCI understand the disappointment that is likely to be felt by many over the decision to move the match.
But the safety and security of the event is of paramount importance to the ICC and we have taken into consideration the concerns shared with us by our security advisers as well as the Pakistan Cricket Board.
Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh had opposed any India-Pakistan match as a mark of respect for the two martyrs from Himachal Pradesh killed at the Pathankot airbase in January.

The Enemy Property (Amendment and Validation) Bill, 2016 passed in lower house (Register and Login to read Full News..)

No labour inspection in Start-ups for three years (Register and Login to read Full News..)

:: International ::

Think tank believes SAARC should include China as well

Globalisation is putting pressure on the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) to change its traditional ways of working, according to Regional Centre for Strategic Studies (RCSS), a 23-year-old South Asian regional think tank.
The message behind the trend of globalisation is that the region has to include China, which, he called, has now become a “South Asian country” for all practical purposes.
This is because the South Asian countries, be it India, Pakistan, Bangladesh or Sri Lanka, were having very close and strong ties with China in terms of trade and development.
Emphasising the need for changes in the two fundamental provisions of the SAARC Charter, he said a time-frame had to be fixed for the continuance of the two provisions — decisions at all levels to be based on unanimity and exclusion of bilateral issues.
It was all right to have these stipulations 30 years ago at the time of establishment of the SAARC but “you cannot have them frozen”.

Sri Lankan Parliament adopted resolution to convert itself into a Constitutional Assembly (Register and Login to read Full News..)

:: Science and Technology ::

Artificial fingertip for texture

A team of Swiss scientists has enabled an amputee feel smoothness and roughness in real-time with an artificial fingertip that was surgically connected to nerves in his upper arm.
The nerves of non-amputees were also stimulated to feel roughness, meaning that prosthetic touch for amputees can now be developed and safely tested on anyone, said the team from the Swiss Federal Institutes of Technology (EPFL).
Mr. Sorensen is the first person in the world to recognise texture using a bionic fingertip connected to electrodes that were surgically implanted above his stump.
Nerves in his arm were wired to an artificial fingertip equipped with sensors.
As the fingertip moved across textured plastic, the sensors generated an electrical signal. This signal was translated into a series of electrical spikes, imitating the language of the nervous system, then delivered to the nerves.

:: India and World ::

PM Modi’s visit to US will revive the India-U.S. tie

Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar visited the U.S. capital ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit scheduled for later this month.
“The visit was aimed at reviewing the India-U.S. bilateral relations and preparing for India’s participation in the forthcoming Nuclear Security Summit later this month”, said a statement by the Indian embassy.
The visit comes amid India’s efforts to stop the U.S. from selling eight F-16 fighter planes to Pakistan.
Talks between the two countries on three key defence agreements are also progressing ahead of U.S. Defence Secretary Ashton Carter’s visit to India in April.
In a meeting with U.S. National Security Adviser Susan Rice, he discussed bilateral relations and cooperation against terrorist groups such as Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM).

:: Business and Economy ::

Ministry of Shipping expects to sign major pacts in summit

The government is expected to sign agreements worth over Rs. 72,000 crore with private players on port-related projects at the Indian Maritime Summit to be held in Mumbai next month.
The Ministry of Shipping has identified 109 projects worth Rs.72,864 crore on which agreements will be signed during the event to be held from April 14-16. South Korea will be the partner country for the Summit.
The sectors identified for investment include ship-building, ship repair and recycling, port modernisation, new port development and multi-modal logistic hubs among others.
In addition, more than 150 projects will be showcased for investment under the Sagarmala Project for port modernisation.
Govt. is planning to create 40 lakh direct employment and 50 lakh indirect employment (opportunities) in five years in the maritime sector.
The Shipping Minister said logistic cost is hurting India, while logistic cost was 18 per cent in India, it was 8-10 per cent in China and 10-12 per cent in European countries.
“If development near ports happen and we are able to cut the logistic costs by four per cent, the exports will double,” the Minister said.
Under the Sagarmala Project, the major development programmes identified by the government include port modernisation (Rs. 90,000 crore), port connectivity (Rs.1.20 lakh crore) and port-led industrialisation (Rs.90,000 crore) besides coastal community development.

Give it Up campaign a major success

More than 80 lakh households have given up LPG subsidy under the ‘Give it Up’ scheme, as of March 3, 2016. The ‘Give it Up’ campaign is part of the government’s endeavour to reduce its LPG subsidy bill.
Under the scheme, LPG users who can afford to pay the market rate for the fuel are encouraged to give up their subsidy.
The government, on its part, has promised to use the savings from this to provide more LPG connections to the unconnected.
More than 53 lakh consumers have voluntarily surrendered subsidy on LPG in the last six months.
Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) are making efforts to target the higher income group (taxable income of more than Rs.10 lakh) using technology and available information.
Consumers are also provided with on-line facility to declare their income and submit their self-declaration in the prescribed form to distributors if the taxable income of self or his/her spouse exceeds Rs.10 lakh.
The ‘Give it Up’ campaign goes hand-in-hand with the government’s Direct Benefit Transfer in LPG wherein the subsidy amount is directly transferred to beneficiaries’ bank accounts, thereby reducing the scope for leakage.