Current Affairs : September 4, 2011

Release of $2.1 billion more for Ireland bailout by IMF

• Another $2.1 billion of the rescue package will be released for Ireland by the International Monetary Fund (IMF). 
  
• According to the IMF, Irish economy was showing signs of stabilisation.
  
• Along with those of Greece and Portugal, Ireland’s budget and banking crisis threatened the stability of the Euro.
  
• Heavy debt burdens are also on Spain and Italy
  

Ganga pollution: High Court notice to UP Government

• While hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) to make river Ganga pollution free,
  the Allahabad High Court issued notices to Principal Secretary of Urban Development of the State Government and the Director General of Uttar Pradesh Jal Nigam.
  
• Despite the repeated orders passed by the court, no action was taken to prevent direct flow of dirty water of tanneries into Ganga.
  
• It was informed by the pollution control board of the state that treatment plants are not working in Kanpur and Unnao.
  

Tripartite Agreement signed between Government and ULFA to suspend operation in Assam

• With an objective to bring peace in the north-eastern state of Assam, a tripartite agreement for Suspension of Operations against United Liberation Front of Assam(ULFA), was signed in New Delhi.
  
• The agreement was signed among the representatives of Central and Assam Governments and ULFA leaders.
  
• It agreed that the outfit will not carry out any seditious activity till the finding of a political solution to the complex insurgency problem while the security forces will also not take any action against the ULFA cadres.
  
• ULFA had earlier agreed to give up violence and find a solution to the problems as perceived by them through peaceful negotiations with the Government of India and Government of Assam.
  

Indian Boxer Vijender Singh won gold at the World Police and Fire Games in New York

• Vijender Singh won gold and also won the Best Boxer award at the World Police and Fire Games in NewYork
  
• Vijender won two golds, two silvers and a bronze at the event
  

Inquiry ordered into the alleged Mass Graves in Garo Hills by Meghalaya Government

• Meghalaya Government ordered an inquiry into the alleged mass graves in some areas in West Garo Hills district.
  
• Garo National Liberation Army’s (GNLA) alleged that mass graves exist at Tura and Samanda in West Garo Hills district, where rival outfit Achik National Volunteer Council (ANVC) dumped bodies after secret killings. ANVC has been holding peace talks with the government since a ceasefire in 2004.
  
• According to GNLA ,the ANVC, which is now under a tripartite ceasefire agreement with the State and Central Government, killed many youths secretly over the past two years.
  
• Divisional commissioner of Garo Hills region Peter W. Ingty heads the inquiry committee for the probe.
  

Ban on Oil Imports from Syria : European Union

• European Union announced a ban on oil imports from Syria
  
• It could cut off major source of financial support for the government’s five-month-old crushing of dissent.
  
• Syrian government will find it difficult to fund the effort against the protesters. 
  The US had already banned Syrian oil imports.
  
• Europe buys most of Syria’s oil, spends around 4.1 billion dollars in the country in 2010.
  
• Western governments have kept Syrian President Assad under pressure to step down. 20 – 30% of the Syrian government’s income comes from oil exports.
  

The European Union (EU) is an economic and political union of 27 member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) and the European Economic Community (EEC), formed by six countries in 1958. In the intervening years the EU has grown in size by the accession of new member states and in power by the addition of policy areas to its remit. The Maastricht Treaty established the European Union under its current name in 1993

Month: Current Affairs - September, 2011