Current Affairs : June 22, 2011

June 25, 2011

UN Secretary General: Ban Ki-moon re-elected

Ban Ki-Moon was unanimously elected for a second term by the 192 Nations United Nations General Assembly
The second 5 year term for Mr. Ban starts from January 1, 2012
Mr. Ban has termed his re-election as a "very great honour beyond expression."

Uttar Pradesh Govt to amend Criminal Procedure Code for rape linked incidents

Uttar Pradesh Government has decided to amend Criminal Procedure Code for rape related incidents to avert crime against women
Amendment for absolute trials of rape cases in 6 months
Offences of assault on women will be made non-bailable
Ordinance to this effect has been forwarded to the Governor

USA uncovers Graphic new warning labels for cigarette packs

USA unveiled graphic new warning labels for cigarette packs
Images comprise photographs of horribly damaged teeth and lungs and a man exhaling smoke via a tracheotomy opening in his neck
They will be hard to miss as they cover up the top half of cigarette packets, front and back
Most comprehensive alteration to America’s smoking warnings since tobacco companies were forced to add the mandatory surgeon general’s warning in 1965
US authorities given additional power to control the tobacco industry after President Barrack Obama signed new anti-smoking legislation into law two years ago

World Heritage Site: Manas National Park

The Manas National Park, Assam once again became World Heritage Site following removal of the ‘in danger’ tag by the UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee
Decision taken at 35^th meeting of the World Heritage Committee held in Paris
Manas National Park was put in the UNESCO’s ‘in danger’ list following large scale destruction of wildlife and infrastructure during the height of Bodo insurgency in the late ’80s and early ’90s
Spread over 500 square km in Bodoland Territorial Council in the foothills of Bhutan
Got the World Heritage Site status in 1985
Now Assam has 2 World Heritage Sites, the other one being Kaziranga National Park
Manas home to a great variety of wildlife, including endangered species: tiger, pygmy hog, rhinoceros and elephant
Put on the List ‘in danger’ in 1992, seven years after it had entered UNESCO’s World Heritage Site List

5 more Indian languages included in Google

5 more Indian languages included by Google to its translation services
Google now supports 5 new experimental alpha languages-

Bengali
Gujarati
Kannada
Tamil
Telugu

PF accounts accessible online from July 2011

Online account accessibility for Employees Provident Fund beneficiaries from July 2011
Possible for the beneficiaries to know particulars of the contributions made and balance amount available in their accounts through EPF website

Rs 110 crore released by Union Govt to improve pulses production

The Union Govt has discharged Rs 110 Crore to the states to improve pulses production in the rain-fed areas of 60,000 villages
Rs 300 crore set aside for this purpose under the Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana for this financial year
To persuade farmers take up pulses cultivation, the Government in recent times raise the MSP (Minimum Support Price) of pulses by up to Rs 400 for the year 2011-12

Magiciam Gopinath Muthukad wins Merlin Award

Magician Gopinath Muthukad of India won this year’s International Merlin Award
Known as the Magicians’ Oscar
Kerala-based magician second Indian to be chosen to receive the Merlin Award
For exceptional contributions to Magic in 2011 bestowed by the US-based International Magicians Society
Earlier, P.C.Sorkar Junior received the award

Government empowers IT Department to begin legal action in cases of Tax evasion

The Government authorizes the Income Tax Department to commence legal action in tax evasion cases
Cases where the Indian investments are positioned overseas
The CBDT (Central Board of Direct Taxes) issued order that Income Tax department does not need any consent from superior authorities to commence legal action
Step taken in the ground of CBDT receiving for the first time investment data of few Indians who had accounts in Germany’s Leichestein bank recently

Govt to conduct new survey in Manual Scavenging

Government to conduct a new survey to know the exact number of persons caught up in manual scavenging in the country
Meeting to evaluate the operation of NSKFDC (National Safai Karamcharis Finance and Development Corporation)
PM Manmohan Singh had recently assured that the country will soon be made free of manual scavenging
NSKFDC is assigned to work for the rehabilitation of Safai Karamcharis, Scavengers and their dependents by providing working loan at concessional rates of interest
Mr. Mukul Wasnik: The Minister of Social Justice & Empowerment

PMO to supply RTI applicant Correspondence b/w PM and Raja

The Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) will provide to an RTI applicant the correspondence between Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh and former Telecom Minister A Raja in connection with 2G spectrum allocation

Annual Plan worth Rs 22,124 Crore to Bengal finalized by the Planning Commission

The Planning Commission finalized a yearly plan of Rs 22,124 Crore to West Bengal for the year 2011-12
Focus of the development initiatives: health, education and employment generation

Food Security Bill to ensure Right to Food: NAC approves the draft

NAC (National Advisory Council) accepted the draft Food Security Bill
It attempts to make certain Right to Food to the poorest of the poor in the country
The Bill recommends: 35 kgs of food grains for below poverty line household per month at subsidized rates
Entitles 75% of country’s population to highly-subsidized food grains
As per the Draft Bill: two types of households are eligible for discounted grain:
priority households- below the poverty line (BPL)- cover about 40% of the total population- entitled every month to 35 Kg and will pay 3 rupees per Kg of rice and 2 rupees per kg of wheat
general households-Lower Middle Class families- constitute the other 30% – will have the right to 20 Kg at a price not exceeding 50% of the Minimum Support Price paid to farmers for the food grains
Bill envisages a strong grievance redressal and monitoring system from the Centre to the block levels
Includes formation of an independent and empowered district grievance redressal officer
NAC chairman: Sonia Gandhi

India necessitates for a substantive dialogue amongst all the nations owning nuclear weapons

India necessitates for a substantive dialogue amongst all the nations possessing nuclear weapons
To fabricate trust and confidence and for cutting down the strikingness of nuclear weapons in international affairs and security doctrines
The Global Zero Summit beginning in London Wednesday evening
PM Dr Manmohan Singh extended support for the ambition of a world free of nuclear weapons
As per Dr Singh, the aim of nuclear disarmament can be accomplished by a gradual process insured by a worldwide assurance and a settled all-party framework that is global and non-preferential
Reformist steps are required for the de-legitimization of nuclear weapons
India has been firm in its stand for global, non-prejudiced confirmable nuclear disarmament
Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi presented a farsighted action plan for a Nuclear-Weapon-Free and Non-Violent World Order. This action plan sets out a roadmap to accomplish nuclear disarmament in a time bound fashion
The Summit draws together more than 100 prominent Global Zero leaders and senior Government officials for policy discussions for bringing all countries possessing nuclear weapons to the table to discuss all-party nuclear arms reduction for the first time in history

Agro-met and Fishery Advisory Service information brought profits to the farmers and fishermen

The Agro-met and Fishery Advisory Service has harvested in economic profits to the farmers and fishermen in the country
Information furnished to the farming society has earned them an economic benefit of Rs 50,000 Crore annually
The fishermen have made Rs 34,000 Crore profit annually
Earth System Science Organization furnishes valuable Agro-met information
The data concerning latent fishing zones and weather increased productivity thereby benefiting them
Agro-met services are now extended to 550 districts and will cover all the districts by next year
About 2 million farmers are availing this service on their mobile phones

World Bank sanctions $99 million package for Nepal- India project

World Bank sanctions $99 million package for Nepal- India Electricity Transmission and Trade Project
To help Nepal to extenuate its national energy crisis
It will provide Nepal with around 100 MW of electricity
Cross- border transmission project

Women’s Reservation Bill: All party meet ends

All party meeting on Women’s Reservation Bill concluded
Ms Meira Kumar (Lok Sabha Speaker) stated consultations in this regard to continue in order to arrive at a consensus on the bill

UK to provide Aid worth £ 1 billion to Bangladesh

UK to provide £ 1 billion aid to Bangladesh over the next 4 years to support programmes for cutting down poverty, fortifying Education sector and other social sectors and to deal with issues associated with Climate Change

Sri Lankan governing party defeats opposition sponsored bill on RTI

The ruling party in Sri Lanka United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA) utilized its majority in the Sri Lankan Parliament to defeat an opposition sponsored bill on Right to Information
Sri Lanka’s major opposition United National Party’s (UNP) moved a private member’s bill which furnished liberty of access to official Information
Ruling Party in Sri Lanka: President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA)
Opposition Party in Sri Lanka: United National Party’s (UNP)

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