27 Feb 2013 Daily Current Affairs Study Material

Published for http://www.jobentra.blogspot.com

1.    PM approves changes in civil services exam pattern

i. Changes in civil services exam patterns have been approved by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, paving way for a new format which will give more weightage to general studies.

ii. The decision came in on the recommendation of a Committee constituted by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC), which conducts the examination annually.

iii. The report of the Committee, under the chairmanship of Prof. Arun S. Nigavekar, former chairman, UGC, was examined by the Department of Personnel and Training.

NOTE: i. At present, the civil services (main) examination has general studies Paper I and II of 300 marks each, including Compulsory and Optional subjects.

ii. As per the new changes, both the general studies papers will have more weightage.

iii. The UPSC conducts the civil service examination to select candidates for three All India Services - Indian Administrative Service, Indian Police Service and Indian Forest Service - besides scores of Group A services.

iv. "The civil services examination, 2013 was scheduled to be notified on 2nd February, 2013. However, due to some unforeseen circumstances, this examination will not be notified on 2nd February, 2013.

v. "The revised date of notification will be intimated in due course," an order issued by the UPSC stated.

2.    Government proposes JPC probe into VVIP chopper deal

i. The Congress-led UPA government on Wednesday proposed a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe into the Rs3,600-crore VVIP chopper deal.

ii. VVIP chopper deal came into limelight with allegations of kickbacks in the 3,600 crore rupee in the deal. 

iii. It was alleged that kickbacks to the tune of 362 crore rupees were paid to help secure the deal in favour of the Anglo-Italian firm Augusta Westland.

3.    IRCTC fined Rs 10L for selling soft drinks above MRP  

i. Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) has been slapped with a fine of Rs 10 lakh by a consumer forum here for selling soft drinks above the maximum retail price (MRP) to two customers.

ii. The New Delhi District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum imposed "punitive compensation" of Rs 5 lakh each in two separate cases against IRCTC, a subsidiary of Indian Railways, and said being a government corporation, "it is not expected to be deficient in such matters and cannot come down to level of private dealers".

iii. "We have considered the case in the perspective of unfair and restrictive trade practices, by a government company who supply food articles to millions of rail users, who in transit cannot protest or have little choice but to avail services at whatever cost."

iv. “The IRCTC being a government corporation is not expected to be deficient in such matters and cannot come down to level of private dealers," a bench presided by C K Chaturvedi said.

v. The forum directed IRCTC to deposit a fine of Rs 10 lakh with the Delhi State Legal Services Authority and also awarded compensation of Rs 10,000 each to the two passengers, Delhi residents Sachin Dhiman and Sharnya.

NOTE: i. The two complainants had alleged that a retail outlet of IRCTC had sold each of them a bottle of Maaza having MRP of Rs 12 for Rs 15.

ii. IRCTC, which handles the catering, tourism and online ticketing operations of the railways, was preceded against ex-parte as no one appeared on its behalf.

4.    Pak’s largest bank set to establish in India

i. The National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) is set to establish a banking channel between India and Pakistan by opening a NBP branch in Mumbai or Delhi.

ii. NBP President Dr Asif Brohi stated that NBP has already contacted the Reserve Bank of India to seek permission for establishing the NBP branch in India and is awaiting a formal approval.

iii. The bilateral trade relations between the two countries would flourish after the establishment of the banking channel and added that NBP is also catering to the banking needs of Pakistani businessmen in entire Central Asia after the opening of NBP branch in Tajikistan.

5.    US Senate confirms Hagel as new Defence Secy

i. Former Republican senator Chuck Hagel has been confirmed as the new US Defence Secretary by the Senate

ii. 66-year-old Hagel, a Vietnam war veteran, was confirmed by the Senate after a bruising confirmation hearing.

iii. Hagel's confirmation comes as a great relief for the Obama Administration as his nomination was held up for weeks and the Democrats and the White House had to do a tough convincing act to get him approved by the Senate.

iv. Hagel will replace incumbent Panetta at a time when the department is faced with multiple challenges including defence budget cuts, rapidly changing developments in the Middle East, increasing threat from North Korea besides the scheduled withdrawal of US forces from Afghanistan in 2014.

6.    Haryana raises Old Age Pension Scheme

i. State Government of Haryana has raised the Old Age pension from RS 500 to Rs 550, Rs 550 to Rs 600 per month given under three slabs benefitting over 9.83 lakh beneficiaries in the State. 

ii. No enhancement is made in the third slab of Rs 700. More than 2.92 lakh are getting Old Age Pension at a rate of Rs 700 per month.

iii. At present a total of over 12.87 lakh beneficiaries are getting Old Age Allowance.

7.    West Bengal to give fixed Salary to ASHA workers

i. The West Bengal Government has decided to give fixed salary to all Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHA) workers from next financial year. 

ii. Announcing this in Kolkata today the Chief Minister Miss Mamata Banerjee said that the ASHA workers will get 1300 rupees per month as fixed remuneration besides their daily amount of work done. 

iii. For this ASHA worker will have to open a bank account to which money will be transferred on the first day of every month. You are reading current affairs on Jobentra.blogspot.com

8.    Delhi to Ban the Manual Scavenging in the State

i. Delhi became the first state in India to ban the manual scavenging.

ii. The Chief Minister of Delhi banned deployment of the cleaning staff for the purpose of manual sewer cleaning.

iii. In the meanwhile, it was also declared that all the civic bodies of Delhi would be asked to regularise services of the cleaning staff that was working for several years on contractual basis.

NOTE: i. In January 2013, the Supreme Court of India had reproached the Union Government of India for not enacting the law that would lead to a ban on manual scavenging.

ii. The Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and Their Rehabilitation Bill, 2012 is still pending in the Parliament.

9.    India launches first Smartphone in Space

i. The Surrey Space Centre (SSC) of the University of Surrey on 26 February 2013 announced that STRaND-1, a nano-satellite carrying a smartphone was launched successfully into space from India.

ii. With this launch, India became the first country to successfully launch the first smartphone of the world.

About STRaND-1 and apps on board

i. STRaND-1 is the training and demonstration mission which is designed in order to test the commercial shelf technology in space.

ii. There are certain applications on board STRaND-1. These applications were designed by the winners of social networking site, Facebook competition which was organised in 2012.

iii. STRaND-1 mission weighs 4.3 kg and was launched in 785km Sun-synchronous orbit on the PSLV launcher of ISRO.

10.  India to finally participate in Azlan Shah Tournament

i. Amid the ongoing drama of Sultan Azlan Shah Tournament, Indian Hockey team finally got a breather after government reversed its decision to fund the travel expenses.

ii. "The Indian team will take part in the event. It will leave on 3^rd March. 

iii. However, after the news broke out, the Sports Ministry said that it has directed SAI to allocate the required funds to meet the air ticket expenses of the team considering the prestige attached to the tournament.

NOTE: i. India, who won the Azlan Shah Cup 5 times (1985, 1991, 1995, 2009 and 2010) bagged the bronze medal in the last edition of the tournament.

ii. Apart from India, the other participating nations in the tournament are arch-rivals Pakistan, Australia, South Korea,New Zealand and hosts Malaysia.

11.  SANTOSH Trophy:

i. Maharashtra cruised into the semi-finals of the Santosh Trophy national football tournament by beating Tamil Nadu, 2-1 in a group B quarterfinal league match in Kollam yesterday.

ii. The second quarter-final between Jharkhand and Goa, ended in a 2-2 draw.

12.  India moves to 4th spot in Test rankings

i. India moved up a rung to 4th in the ICC Test rankings for teams replacing Pakistan, while Sachin Tendulkar jumped three places to be 17th in the batsmen’s chart announced on Wednesday.

ii. Among the bowlers, off-spinner R. Ashwin rose to a career-best 11th.

iii. India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni charged up 15 places to 21st courtesy his maiden double hundred at Chennai.

iv. Virat Kohli gained 10 places and is now on a career-best 25th position.

v. Hashim Amla continued to lead the Test batsmen chart followed by Australian skipper Michael Clarke.