{Current Affairs} Daily News Notes: 14th, 15th & 16th Dec, 2013

• ·         Bihar has fared the worst among nine Naxal-affected states in implementing the Integrated Action Plan (IAP), a centrally-assisted project for fighting Maoism with accelerated development. The State utilised 70.62 per cent of the total 705 crore rupee fund given by the Centre till November. The IAP projects are being implemented in 11 worst Naxal-hit districts in Bihar. The Planning Commission is implementing the IAP in 82 selected tribal and backward districts for accelerated development.
• ·         Heaping pressure on policymakers to act, official data shows retail inflation in November has jumped to 11.2%, higher than the previous month’s 10.1% and above expectations of around 10%, highlighting the extent of pain for households, especially those with low incomes. The sharp spike in retail inflation also dashed any hopes of a cut in interest rates. The Indian economy, Asia’s third-largest, faces a difficult situation where growth has slowed to a decade’s low but price pressures have remained stubborn. It has one of the highest inflation rates in the world, and the highest in Asia. Weak growth and high inflation also complicated the policy choice for the central bank. Reserve Bank of India (RBI) governor Raghuram Rajan said inflation was higher than the central bank’s comfort zone (between 4 and 5 pct), while growth was weaker than estimated and vowed to calibrate policy carefully. {INFOGRAPHICS: IIP growth; Country List}
• ·         With India’s first bitcoin exchange gearing up to start operations hopefully by next March, hundreds of investors, enthusiasts and banking officials gathered here on Sunday, on a mission to convince the government that the virtual currency is enduring and serious. Started in 2008, bitcoin is the most prominent amongst a group of digital currencies — money that exists in the form of computer code —that do not have a central issuing authority. These virtual currencies are stored in electronic wallets and can be traded on online exchanges and converted into cash. At India’s first bitcoin conference (at Bangalore) the top issue was how to convince the government and regulators that the bitcoin ecosystem would be a valuable economic innovation and not the currency of choice for money laundering and illegal drug purchases.
• ·         President of India has given the National Energy Conservation Awards at a function in New Delhi today. These Awards are given for the strong and innovative efforts of the award winners in enhancing their energy performance and also raises awareness about energy conservation opportunities that can enhance productivity, bring down energy bills, reduce energy import dependence and mitigate global warming. The Awards Scheme has been in operation since 1991 and now includes 53 sectors of Industry and other establishments. The responses among the industrial and commercial units have become very encouraging as is evident from the increasing participation level (from 123 in 1999 to 829 in 2013).
• ·         Three Proposals Approved in-Principle by the Ministry of Finance to Utilise the Resources in the Nirbhaya Fund (Finance Minister, in his budget speech, had announced 1000 cr fund) to Enhance the Safety and Security of Women: [1.] Integration of the police administration with the mobile phone network to trace and respond to distress calls with minimum response time. Manufacturers will also be instructed to launch SOS alert system in the existing handsets through free downloading of suitable software; [2.] A scheme for ‘security of women in road transport in the country’ covering 32 towns each with a population of over one million to be implemented over a period of two years. The scheme would have following features: (a.) Public Transport Vehicles to compulsorily have Global Position System (GPS) for tracking and enforcement and an installed CCTVs to record the events; (b.) Passenger Information Systems through smart phones, display on bus stops etc; (c.) IVR, Text and E-mail based complaint system for transport; (d.) Women enforcement wing in transport department; (e.) More women drivers and conductors – Training and Licensing; [3.] A pilot scheme of setting up an SOS alert system in trains in select zones.
• ·         Minister for Women and Child Development has informed that her ministry has introduced in 2009-10, the Integrated Child Protection Scheme (ICPS) for implementation throughout the country with the objective of creating a safe and secure environment for children in conflict with law as well as children in need of care and protection. Integrated Child Protection Scheme provides for setting up of Committees at State, District, Block and Village levels for monitoring the implementation of the Scheme. 
• ·         The government will shortly launch ‘Netra’, the defence ministry’s internet spy system that will be capable of detecting words like ‘attack’, ‘bomb’, ‘blast’ or ‘kill’ in a matter of seconds from reams of tweets, status updates, emails, instant messaging transcripts, internet calls, blogs and forums. The system will also be able to capture any dubious voice traffic passing through software such as Skype or Google Talk. The ‘Netra’ internet surveillance system has been developed by Centre for Artificial Intelligence & Robotics (CAIR, Bangalore), a lab under DRDO.
• ·         Retired High Court Judge DP Buch was sworn as the 4th Lokayukta of the Gujarat by Governor Kamla Beniwal, on the post that was lying vacant (Justice R M Soni’s term expired in December 2003) for a decade and over which Chief Minister Narendra Modi and Governor Kamla Beniwal were on a collision course for three years. The issue triggered a major controversy when the Governor appointed Justice (retd) R.A. Mehta as Lokayukta on August 25, 2011, without consulting the state government. But after winning the legal battle in SCI over the appointment, Mr. Justice Mehta rejected to take charge of Lokayukta in August, 2013 because the government didn’t accept his objectivity and credibility.
• ·         In 2011, over Rs 4 lakh crore worth of black money was illegally taken out of India, a new report by the international watchdog Global Financial Integrity (GFI) has revealed. This was 24% more than the previous year. This illegal outflow is nearly one third of the Government of India’s total budgeted expenditure in 2011 of Rs 13 lakh crore. It is 14 times the money spent by the central government on health, seven times that spent on education and five times the amount spent on rural development in that year. The past few years in India have seen a series of exposures of megascams like the Commonwealth, 2G, Coalgate, Maha irrigation, Jharkhand mining, and others. This has led to a rising tide of public outrage, symbolized by Anna Hazare’s movement against corruption and the dramatic rise of the Aam Admi Party led by Arvind Kejriwal. The GFI report is a sobering reminder that the creation and outflow of illicit wealth gained new heights despite all the outrage. In the 2002-11 period, India lost a staggering Rs 15.7 lakh crore ($344 billion) worth of black money created through crime, tax evasion, dodgy import-export practices and corruption. “India’s outflows increased steadily and dramatically for the whole decade, except for the one-year dip in 2009, during the height of the financial crisis, beginning at $7.9 bn in 2002 and ending up at $84.9 bn in 2011. That is a disturbing trend,” GFI said. GFI estimates illicit flows by collecting two broad categories of data globally: changes in external debt and trade mispricing. For India, nearly the entire illicit outflow is through trade mispricing. This is how it works: an importer declares a higher import value to the customs department than the value of goods recorded by the exporting partner country. Similarly, an exporter understates the value of goods exported in relation to the imports recorded in the importing partner country. In both cases, balance of funds is kept abroad. International trade data reveals this by comparing partner trading countries. {INFOGRAPHICS: Dirty Money; Dubious List; Illegal Capital}
• ·         Marking the end of Pakistan Punjab chief minister Shahbaz Sharif ’s visit to India, the two Punjabs agreed to reduce trade barriers for promotion of business and encourage new routes of trade. A joint statement approved by Sharif and his counterpart Parkash Singh Badal said the two sides will also pursue policies for easy access for people of both sides to religious places of their respective faiths. They will also encourage exchange of students and interns from educational institutions. The joint statement called for promotion of community contacts and understanding through exchange of delegations consisting of professionals and practitioners from different sectors including agriculture, trade, industry and commerce. During his visit to India, Sharif last week met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and renewed Islamabad’s invitation to Singh to visit Pakistan.
• ·         Vijay Diwas marking India’s military triumph over Pakistan in the 1971 War is being observed across the country to pay tributes to the martyrs who laid down their lives for the nation. This year is the 42nd anniversary of the War. After losing in the war, Chief of Pakistani forces, General Amir Abdullah Khan Niazi along with over 93 thousand troops surrendered to Indian Armed Forces led by General Jagjit Singh Aurora, in the Ramna Race Course, now Suhrawardy Udyan, in Dhaka. On 27th March 1971, Prime Minister of India, Indira Gandhi expressed full support of her government to the Bangladeshi struggle for independence.
• ·         Bangladesh is today observing its 43rd Victory Day, marking the emergence of a free country after an epic struggle for freedom, dignity and justice on December 16th, 1971. President Abdul Hamid and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina led the people of Bangladesh to pay homage to the Martyrs of the Liberation War at the national Memorial in Savar.
• ·         Australia has closed its main military base in Afghanistan and its last combat troops have withdrawn from Uruzgan province. The Australian military has maintained a permanent presence at Tarin Kot base in the province since 2005.
• ·         The Yemeni Parliament has banned the use of US drones in the country after dozens of civilians were killed by the unmanned aircraft. The decision to ban the use of US drones comes after one of the unmanned aircrafts mistakenly hit a wedding convey on Thursday in Al - Bayda province, killing 17 Yemeni civilians and wounding about 21 others. It was the second airstrike mistake in a week Washington has escalated its drone strikes to destroy the terror outfit, Al Qaeda in Arabian Peninsula in recent past. The Yemen-based al-Qaida offshoot has carried out a series of attacks in Yemen targeting state institutions, the military and foreign missions in the country.
• ·         India’s trade deficit with China after 11 months of this year has reached a record $29.5 billion, exceeding last year’s annual figure, according to newly released trade data. The numbers underline the sharp decline in once-burgeoning trade, which reached $74 billion in 2011 when China became India’s biggest trading partner. The following year, a 20 per cent slump in India’s exports, largely on account of iron ore mining bans, coupled with the global slowdown, resulted in a 10 per cent decline as trade fell to $66.50 billion, even as both countries announced an ambitious $100 billion target for 2015. During the period under reference, even as China’s trade with the rest of Asia as well as with its major Western trading partners has picked up, trade with India has remained in a slump, suggesting that causes were more structural rather than a reflection of global trends. Trade between the two countries was down by 2.7 per cent year-on-year, even as China’s overall global trade rose 7.7 per cent. This was driven by an export sector of China that has continued to show signs of revival, growing 12.7 per cent and marking the second straight month of rising exports. Among China’s biggest trading partners, trade with the U.S. was up by 7.6 per cent. Also, China’s trade with Southeast Asian countries showed the biggest growth, growing 10.9 per cent. However, with India, the trade has grown more than 50 times since 2006, when the Nathu La pass, between Sikkim and the Shigatse prefecture in Tibet, was reopened. Most of the trade is made up of imports of Indian goods into Tibet, which reached $12 million last year. Authorities said the border market is open for only six months of the year — opening on May 1 and closing on November 30.
• ·         European Parliament approved the Single Delegated Act under which ten countries including Pakistan are privileged to Generalized System of Preferences Plus (GSP Plus) Scheme. The European Union being Pakistan’s most important trading partner supports the integration of Pakistan with the global economy by granting Pakistan’s exports to the EU reduced tariffs under the EU’s Generalized Scheme of Preferences. It means there will be zero duties on over 90% of all products that Islamabad exports to the block of 27 nations. Thus, the EU trade concessions will benefit the country’s largest manufacturer and exporter, the textile and clothing industry, the most by allowing its products to compete with those of regional rivals like Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, which already have duty free access to the bloc’s market.
• ·         Mid-East governments (Israel, Jordan and the Palestinians) signed a historic trilateral agreement at the World Bank in Washington, which outlines regional water-sharing initiatives from the Red Sea to Dead Sea to relieve shortages in the waterless lands. The Dead Sea has unique water properties like humans can float naturally on the surface, etc. Owing to human intervention, the sea is depleting 1m/year. Thus, in order to save the Dead Sea, a pipeline will built on the Jordanian side of the Aqaba Gulf to carry sea water from a desalination plant at the Red Sea to the Dead Sea, while providing drinking water to the region. The deal is an outcome of the cooperation since 2005 among Israel, Jordan, and the Palestinian Authority on the Red Sea - Dead Sea Water Conveyance Study Program.
• ·         The Mars Orbiter has successfully executed a ‘course correction’ manoeuvre — the first of a series of four planned — to eliminate minor deviations in its trajectory. MOM commanded the thrusters on board to fire in order to attain the necessary incremental velocity. During this critical exercise MOM was about 2.9 million km away from earth. On account of the distance, the amount of time needed for the signal to go and come back was 20 seconds. Hence, the entire operation was managed by the on-board computer. Three more such manoeuvres have been have been planned — in April, August and September — prior to the Mars orbit insertion. According to Isro, the purpose of the manoeuvres is to fine tune the trajectory to achieve the right conditions for Mars capture.
• ·         Mary Kom, the legendary boxer from North East wrote her autobiography titled “Unbreakable”. The book was inaugurated by Bollywood Megastar Amitabh Bachchan at Mumbai. Mary decided to pen down her life’s battles, so that she could inspire and motivate others to never loose hope and fight for their dream. Mary Kom: [1.] Five-time World Boxing champion, and the only woman boxer to have won a medal in each one of the six world championships; [2.] Won lots of awards like Padma Bhushan (2013), Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award (2009), Padma Shree (2006), Arjuna Award (2003), etc; [3.] Appointed the International Boxing Association’s Ambassador for Women’s Boxing in 2009; [4.] First Indian women boxer to qualify and win a bronze medal at the London Olympics in the flyweight (51 kg) category.
• ·         Germany lifted the Men's Junior Hockey World Cup for a record sixth time. In the title clash at New Delhi last night, defending champions Germany defeated France, 5-2 to retain the title.