Current Affairs : June 2, 2010

First Official peace Talks: Centre and NSCN-IM
Centre and the National Socialist Council of Nagaland, Isak-Muivah (NSCN-IM) faction held the first official peace talks in the last 13 years of ceasefire in New Delhi.

Israeli attack in Gaza
Gaza Freedom Flotilla was an aid flotilla of six ships carrying 663 activists from 37 nation and the activists were planning to break through the Israeli Egyptian blockade of Gaza and deliver humanitarian supplies. The Israel had said that the flotilla has to change the course to the port of Ashdod where the Israeli Government would inspect the aid and deliver the items that were not banned by Israel in Gaza. The activists refused. In the Israeli raid about 16 people were reportedly killed and more than 30 injured when Israeli commandos stormed a six-ship flotilla carrying about 10,000 tonnes of aid and 600 human rights activists to the Hamas-run Gaza Strip. The United Nations demanded a full explanation for the attack while the EU and Russia demanded an inquiry. Israeli Ambassadors to many countries were summoned to the Foreign Ministries in those countries and demanded explanation for the attack. India also joins the protests.

Seychelles President in India:
Seychelles President James Alix Michel arrives in India on a three-day visit to hold delegation -level talks with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on several matters of bilateral, regional and global concern. It is a very important country of the Indian Ocean threatened by piracy…They want wider collaboration (with India) against piracy

NHRC Chairman: Justice K G Balakrishnan
Former Chief Justice of India K G Balakrishnan has been appointed as the Chairman of the National Human Rights Commission.He was the first Dalit Chief Justice of India and will be the first Dalit heading NHRC.NHRC was headless for over a year.

President’s Rule in Jharkhand:
Union Cabinet today recommended the president to clamp President’s rule in Jharkhand and keep the state assembly under suspended animation. Prior to this, Chief Minister Shibu Soren resigned without facing the trust vote in the state assembly. Soren Government was reduced to minority on May 24 when BJP with 18 MLAs and JD(U) with 2 MLAs withdrew support to the Soren’s government whose party Jharkhand Mukti Morcha had 18 MLAs and was also enjoying the support of seven other legislators in the 82-member House. The BJP was cut up with Mr Soren ever since he voted with UPA in the Lok Sabha during voting on cut motions on April 27.

Burkina Faso’s First Call center: Courtsey India
India’s Export-Import (Exim) Bank has given a loan of $5 million to Burkina Faso to start its first call center with 400 positions. Burkina Faso is also part of India’s flagship project – Pan African e-network project. Previously, India also approved the setting up of a tomato processing factory through a line of credit of $15 million in Burkina Faso.

Maruti Suzuki: Highest Monthly sales
Maruti Suzuki Tuesday reports a 27.9 % jump in sales for May at 102,175 units compared to 79,872 vehicles it sold in the year-ago period. For the first time the company has ever sold over 100,000 units in a month, its previous highest monthly sale figure being 96,650 units in February 2010. Domestic sales for Hyundai Motor India sped up 13% to more than 27,000. And Tata Motors sold 38% more vehicles this May, a total of nearly 53,000 cars, trucks and other vehicles.

Two-wheeler sales stayed on the fast lane as well. Hero Honda’s increased to 436,000 units, an increase of 14%. And Bajaj Auto’s India sales accelerated 63% to nearly 270,000 two-wheelers.

UAE’s airline Emirates has earned $1.1 billion net profit in 2009-10 despite the global slowdown and largest chunk of this profit comes from India. India and West Asia contributed to the 12.6% of the total revenues.

What is Trafigura?
Trafigura is a Swiss-based multinational company, which was named in the Iraq Oil-for-Food Scandal. Oil-for-Food Programme, which was established by the United Nations in 1995 and was terminated in late 2003. It was established with the stated intent to allow Iraq to sell oil on the world market in exchange for food, medicine, and other humanitarian needs for ordinary Iraqi citizens without allowing Iraq to boost its military capabilities. The company was reported to be behind the Côte d’Ivoire toxic waste dump in 2006. The dump was a health crisis in Côte d’Ivoire in which a ship registered in Panama, the Probo Koala, chartered Trafigura Beheer BV, disposed of toxic waste in the Ivorian port of Abidjan.It was more than 500 tonnes of a mixture of fuel, caustic soda, and hydrogen sulfide transported from Europe as toxic waste. The Dutch prosecutors haveaccused Trafigura of illegally exporting hazardous waste to Ivory Coast in 2006. the prosecuters say that “the waste is thrown over the fence, dumped in a third world country”. On June 1, 2010, The trial of Trafigura for illegally exporting hazardous waste to Ivory Coast in 2006 begins in Amsterdam. (BBC)

Kohinoor & Sultanganj Buddha:
Kohinoor diamond and the Sultanganj Buddha are only a few examples of our priceless artifacts taken away during British rule. The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) Director-General Gautam Sengupta says that there is a need for a “diplomatic and legal campaign” for their restitution from institutions, including the British Museum, the Royal Collection and the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery. In this context, India looks for joining a campaign with the support of UNESCO, and other countries with longstanding complaints about the foreign ownership of their artistic riches, including Egypt and Greece. (Times of India)

Waverock
Waverock is an IT park located in the Nanakramguda IT special economic zone (SEZ) in Andhra Pardesh being developed by New York-based real estate developer Tishman Speyer. The state government had entered an MOU in 2006 with the company. The park is being inaugurated on June 2, 2010. The park will be completed in 5 years.
Number of Poors:
India’s Planning Commission estimates the country’s BPL population at 62.5 million. But the rural development ministry says that number is more like 107 million. The ministry set up a panel to resolve the conflicting numbers. Now the government is coming up with a process to start the process of identifying families below the poverty line. Pilot projects are going to start next month in 260 villages across the country. Results of the pilot projects expected to come by March of next year. Its full-scale survey of below the poverty line families will then begin in April 2011.

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