Current Affairs - 25.08.2010

• Orient Green Power Limited (OGPL), a subsidiary of Singapore-based Orient Green Power Pte. Ltd.  with a diversified portfolio of renewable energy plants in India, has drawn up plans to increase the capacity to 800 MW by March 2012. As on March 31, 2010, its installed capacity was 193.1 MW comprising 152.6 MW of wind farms and 40.5 MW from biomass-based power plants.  By the end of the current financial year, it plans to reach a capacity of  340 MW.
• Anil Dhirubhai Ambani-owned Reliance Life Insurance has announced that it has crossed the Rs.15,000-crore-mark in assets under management (AUM). “This milestone closely follows the Rs.10,000-crore AUM mark recorded by the company in September 2009,” the company said in a statement. The company is targeting to double the AUM to Rs.30,000 crore by 2011-12.
• Union Minister of State for Environment and Forests Jairam Ramesh has acted boldly and impartially by relying on scientific expertise and rejecting the application from Vedanta Resources for forest clearance to start bauxite mining in Orissa's Niyamgiri hills. In doing so, he has laudably upheld due process, human rights, and environmental laws. The transparent manner in which the Ministry went about assessing environmental concerns and the impact the project would have on tribal groups in the proposed mining area before arriving at a decision is particularly noteworthy.
• Tamil Nadu Government decides to urge AICTE not to grant approval for establishing anymore new engineering colleges in the State.
• Home minister P Chidambaram today hoped a starting point would be found in the next few days to help break the vicious cycle of violence in Kashmir and re-start the process of dialogue for peace.
• Describing the security scenario in the country as "critical", defence minister A K Antony on Wednesday said more high profile indigenous defence equipment were needed.
• Even the most extreme geoengineering approaches will not stop sea levels from rising due to climate change, a study suggests.New research proposes that as many as 150 million people could be affected as ocean levels increases by 30cm to 70cm by the end of this century.

Current Affairs - 24.08.2010

• THANJAVUR: The Centre has proposed to spend Rs 25 crore for various renovation and development works in Brihadeeswara Temple in Thanjavur in view of its millennium celebrations.
• BANGALORE: Elections to zilla and taluk panchayats will see 50% reservation for women.Governor H R Bhardwaj has approved the Panchayat Raj Act (Amendment) Bill, 2010, paving the way for enhancing women's reservation from the existing 33% to 50%, and use of electronic voting machines (EVMs) in elections to panchayat raj institutions.
• The West Bengal government has allocated Rs. 400 crore for 2010-11 for construction of new dwelling units and renovation of the existing ones for all homeless slum-dwellers and those who were not beneficiaries of the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission.Of this amount, about Rs. 50 crore has already been granted.
• Kolkata:Arrested Lashkar-e-Toiba operative David Headley has indicated to the National Investigation Agency (NIA) that the “Karachi set-up”, sponsored by an al-Qaeda arm that aims to target India by “using militants of local origin”, was responsible for the July 11, 2006 serial train blasts in Mumbai and the attack on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s Srinagar rally on November 17, 2004.
• World chess champion Viswanathan Anand has refused to accept the honorary doctorate, which was to have been conferred on him by the University of Hyderabad (UoH) at a special convocation at the ongoing International Congress of Mathematicians (ICM) 2010 here on Tuesday.
• Responding to the concerns of exporters and the sudden decline in exports last month, the UPA government on Monday announced sops worth Rs.1,052 crore to the labour-intensive textile, handicrafts and leather sectors to help them cruise through the fragile global economic recovery phase.
• The government today extended sops worth Rs 1,052 crore to exporters, particularly for the labour-intensive textile, handicrafts and leather sectors, to help them see through the fragile economic recovery."We are not yet out of the woods," Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma said while extending the schemes like DEPB, under which taxes are reimbursed to exporters, subsidised interest and sops for import of capital goods. Releasing the annual supplement to the Foreign Trade Policy 2009-14, he said the revenue implication of these measures would be Rs 1,052 crore. 
• An Indian-origin scientist-led team claims to have discovered a culprit in breast cancer - a master control switch with the power to set off a cascade of reactions orchestrated by a cancer-causing gene named Wnt1.Although the cancer-causing gene (or oncogene) Wnt1 has been connected with breast cancer for over 30 years, the signals that trigger it remain largely unknown. 
• CHANDIGARH: After Bhakra dam brimming to its capacity, rising water levels in Pong Dam have now become a cause for concern. The dam has crossed 1375 feet mark against its capacity of 1390 feet compelling authorities to release water, after over a decade. The dam saw its inflow increase by 10 times compared to last year even as uninterrupted heavy inflows compelled Bhakra Beas Management Board to release over 60,000 cusecs of water in Sutlej on Monday. 
• SINGAPORE: The yen struck a 15-year high against the dollar  and a nine-year peak against the euro on Tuesday as investors and speculators tested the resolve of Japanese authorities to stem the yen's steady rise.

Current Affairs - 23.08.2010

• The National Highway Authority of India(NHAI) has decided to launch a four digit toll free number to benefit distressed road users in not only saving their lives, but also helping in all possible ways and notably better the road safety in the country.
• Pakistan has eased visa restrictions for aid workers from all countries except India and Israel to help the nation deal with the humanitarian crisis caused by the devastating floods.
• NEW DELHI: Under attack from Left and Right for some proposed amendments in the Nuclear Liability Bill, government on Monday sought to reach out to BJP but the main Opposition party said it doubts the "intent" behind the move and could not commit support unless the changes are dropped.
• PATNA: More than two lakh employees of the Bihar government on Monday went on an indefinite strike demanding implementation of recommendations of the sixth pay commission in "letter and spirit". The Bihar State Non-Gazetted Employees Federation (BSNGEF) called for the strike in support of their seven point charter of demands.
• NEW DELHI: Enterprising British youngsters are utilising their school holidays to gain first-hand knowledge of the impact of globalisation. At least 30 are learning Indian business processes at leading multinational companies, acquiring basic knowledge of Indian culture as lodgers with Indian families and familiarising themselves with the education environment at schools in India.

Current Affairs - 22.08.2010

• India launches phase-II of African e-network project Conceptualized on the vision of former Indian President Dr. A P J Abdul Kalam of connecting India with all the 53 countries of the African Union with a satellite and fibre optic network for sharing India’s expertise in education and health care, the project is being implemented in 47 African countries, of which actual commissioning has been completed in 34 countries.
• A new cellphone could prove to be a boon for millions of heart patients as it also monitors their conditions.The H’andy Sana, a touch-screen phone, includes an application called Heart Suite, which enables users to measure, record and send electrocardiograms (ECGs).
• Personal music players and more exposure to live music could have caused an increase in hearing loss among teenagers, research in the US suggests. The study noticed that the number of teenagers suffering from hearing problems has shot up by nearly a third in the past 20 years. Also, between 2005 and 2006, one in five adolescents suffered some form of hearing loss, The Telegraph reported on Wednesday. The increase was significantly 6.5 million more than in an earlier survey conducted between 1988 and 1994.
• The Electronics Corporation of Tamil Nadu (ELCOT) has almost completed the structural works in its building in Navalpattu IT Park where 50,000 sq feet IT space is to be provided to clients.
• GREENSBORO: Arjun Atwal won the Wyndham Championship by one stroke Sunday, becoming the first Monday qualifier to win on the PGA Tour in 24 years.

Current Affairs - 21.08.2010

• Despite an uproar by Opposition parties inside and outside Parliament, the Petroleum and Natural Gas Ministry is likely to undertake a further, but minor, hike in the prices of petrol after the conclusion of Parliament's monsoon session in the first week of September.
• NEW DELHI: The proposed takeover of Cairn Energy's India business could see NRI billionaire Anil Agarwal emerging as the richest promoter of a corporate house ahead of Mukesh Ambani, who has ruled the list for long.
• NEW YORK: India ranks 78th on the World's Best Countries' list compiled by Newsweek magazine, which placed nations on the basis of health, education, economy and politics.
• China recorded more than 26,000 geological disasters in the first seven months of this year, nearly 10 times the number in the same period last year, Minister of Land and Resources Xu Shaoshi said.
• NEW DELHI: The Nuclear Liability Bill faced fresh roadblocks on Sunday with the BJP and the Left parties asserting that they would oppose any dilution of the suppliers' liability.
• Scientists have called for rapid curbing of carbon dioxide emission levels in order to limit ocean acidification as well as global warming.Dr. Toby Tyrrell of the University of Southampton’s School of Ocean and Earth Science and colleagues used computer models to quantify the likely response of ocean acidification to a range of carbon dioxide emission scenarios, including aggressive mitigation.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

Current Affairs - 20.08.2010

• Government on Friday faced protests in the Lok Sabha, hours after it decided to raise MPs' salary to Rs 50,000 with several non-BJP opposition members storming the well demanding that it be raised to Rs 80,00
•  Pakistan has finally accepted the USD five million aid offered by India for flood relief victims and said such a gesture was appreciated.
•  The steep hike in H-1B and L1 visa fees, which would cost Indian IT firms an additional USD 250 million annually, has come into effect from August 14, the US said today.
• MUSCAT: An on-flight bomb scare that turned out to be a hoax forced an Air India passenger jet to make an emergency landing at Muscat airport on Friday, Omani police said.
• Corruption in Nigeria's police has become institutionalised and junior officers are expected to share bribes, US-based Human Rights Watch says.
• The discovery of a rare magnetic star - or magnetar - is challenging theories about the origin of black holes.Magnetars are a special type of neutron star with a powerful magnetic field. They are formed by gravitational collapse after the original, or progenitor star, dies and forms a catastrophic supernova.
• A research team at Heriot-Watt University is investigating whether urine could be used as a source of renewable energy.The scientists have developed a system to test whether it can be used in fuel cells as an alternative to flammable hydrogen or toxic methanol.It could offer a non-toxic, low-cost, easily transportable alternative. Dr Shanwen Tao and his research partner, Dr Rong Lan, have been awarded a £130,000 grant to develop it.
• A strange double earthquake was responsible for the tsunami that devastated parts of the South Pacific in 2009, scientists claim.In a rare set of events, an initial 8.1 magnitude earthquake was immediately followed by a second 8.0 shock.The resulting tsunami devastated the South Pacific islands of Tonga and Samoa.
  
  
  
  

Current Affairs - 19.08.2010

• Maoist attacks have led to 217 disruptions in the movement of trains as a result of which the Railways have suffered a loss of Rs. 1,000 crore, Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee informed the Rajya Sabha today.
• The State Government plans to build a bed dam across the Vaigai at Mandivalasai near here to carry water to 67 tanks, including Kalari, one of the biggest tanks in the district.A sum of Rs.14.15 crore has been earmarked for the scheme, which is meant to enable easy flow of water through the waterways to the respective tanks. It will be implemented under the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD).
• Sabla - Rajiv Gandhi Scheme for Empowerment of Adolescent Girls. Centre cleared the implementation of this scheme. Aimed at enhancing their nutritional and economic status.Scheme will run with ICDS- integrated child development scheme in 200 select districts tgting girls in age gp 11-18.4500 has been allocated for implementing sabla during 11th plan.Cost of the scheme will bw shared equally by centre, states, & union territories
• After remaining in incarceration for 20 months, former Chairman of Satyam Computers, B. Ramalinga Raju was freed from judicial custody on Thursday evening but remained in the Nizam's Institute of Medical Sciences (NIMS) for further treatment.
• The world's biggest chip maker, Intel, has agreed to buy the security technology firm, McAfee.Intel will pay $7.68bn (£5bn) in cash.
• A diet rich in green leafy vegetables may reduce the risk of developing diabetes, UK research says.In an analysis of six studies into fruit and vegetable intake, only food including spinach and cabbage was found to have a significant positive effect.

Current Affairs - 18.08.2010

• Human Rights activist Ansar Burney has urged the Pakistan government to accept the donation offered by India for the flood relief work “in the greater interest of peace and love.”
• The government on Thursday introduced a bill in the Rajya Sabha to award death penalty to those involved in the hijacking of civilian planes.The Anti-Hijacking (Amendment) Bill 2010, introduced in the Rajya Sabha by Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel, seeks to have a provision to deal with hijacking, making the law more comprehensive and stringent.
• Iran will begin building its third uranium enrichment plant in early 2011, a top official said, defying world powers who have imposed new sanctions on Tehran for pursuing the sensitive nuclear work.
• India Inc on Thursday delivered a stern message to China, which is: the Chinese industry is putting at risk its own growth prospects in India by treating Indian companies as junior and unequal partners.
• MELBOURNE: An Indian-origin woman has been appointed as state's multicultural commissioner by the Victorian government to strengthen the multiculturalism and diversity in the state.

Current Affairs - 17.08.2010

• Public sector lender Indian Bank has hiked the interest rates on its deposits of Rs. five crore and below the maturity of two years and above by 50 basis points from 7.25 per cent to 7.75 per cent, the bank said today.
  Scientists have created red blood cells for the first time from spare IVF embryos ells in Britain as part of a multi-million pound project to manufacture synthetic blood on mass-scale.
• Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Tuesday announced a Rs 125 crore relief packaged for the Leh cloudburst victims and said all houses destroyed by the natural calamity will be reconstructed within the next two-and-a-half months.
• WASHINGTON: China  has moved new advanced longer range CSS-5 missiles close to the borders with India and developed contingency plans to shift airborne forces at short notice to the region, according to Pentagon.
• NEW DELHI: The two hands to produce count for more than that one mouth to feed, after all. Driven by a sterling demographic dividend, continuing structural reform and globalisation, India is poised to accelerate its growth rate to 9-9.5% over 2013-15, even as China will cool down to a more sedate 9% by 2012 and to 8% by 2015. So finds a new report by Morgan Stanley, authored by Chetan Ahya (managing director for Asia and India economist, who writes a monthly column for ET) and Tanvee Gupta.
• An Indian entrepreneur is relaunching the famous East India Company with the opening of a luxury food store in London on Saturday.The event takes place on the same day that - more than 135 years ago - the company was dissolved.

Current Affairs - 16.08.2010

• India remains very supportive of South Africa joining the BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India, and China) group soon, Indian High Commissioner Virendra Gupta said at a function to mark the country’s 64th Independence Day in Johannesburg.
• The Union Cabinet on Monday deferred a decision on hiking the salary and allowances of MPs though the issue was discussed in detail.The proposed increase is unlikely to be effected in the current session of Parliament.
• NEW DELHI: Coinciding with the beginning of a search for chairman Ratan Tata's successor, the Tata Group has become the country's wealthiest, with a market value of about Rs 3,71,000 crore — higher than that of the business houses led by the two Ambani siblings.
• MUMBAI: The country’s centres of excellence, mentored by foreign governments, have graded their graduates based on a Western system — the cumulative grade point index — for several years. Now, a section of them is moving to a more conventional marking system — based on percentage — after public sector undertaking (PSU) companies recruiting from top institutes have asked IITs, IIMs and National Institutes of Technology to provide an equivalence of their grades by giving percentages. 
• MUMBAI: Indiagold buying stayed weak for a fourth session on Monday as prices extended gains to hit its highest level in six weeks, with traders watching the rupee for direction, dealers said. 
• A common type of bacteria has surprised researchers by demonstrating the ability to "smell" chemicals in the air.
• New Delhi might have been a reluctant midwife these past few years but it always managed to come out on the right side of the changes Nepal was undergoing. Not anymore.

Current Affairs - 15.08.2010

• Highlights of Prime Minister’s Independence Day speech

• PM says government working for new inclusive India.
• PM asks Naxals to abjure violence, come forward for talks.
• PM invites alienated and dissatisfied groups in Jammu and Kashmir and North East to experience the potential of Indian democracy to accommodate divergent views and aspirations.
• PM says India wants a strong, stable and united Pakistan, but Islamabad has to act against terror.
• Government committed to the aam aadmi (common man).
• It is working for food safety and social security net, says PM.
• PM says farmers have been paid record minimum support price.
• Inflation will come down, assures the PM.
• Time for consolidation and fine tuning of Bharat Nirman flagship programmes, says the PM.
• PM announces separate councils for higher education and health, asks for a clean India campaign.
• PM cautions against harsh words and offensive language in public life.
• PM appeals to make the Commonwealth Games a success.

• Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Sunday said peace talks with neighbouring Pakistan would not succeed unless Islamabad stopped cross-border terrorism.In a speech delivered from the historic Red Fort in New Delhi on the country’s 64th Independence Day, Dr. Singh also called for an end to violent separatist protests in Kashmir and invited Maoist rebels for talks.
• Government has declared the Leh disaster as a "calamity of severe nature", allowing MPs to contribute Rs 50 lakhs from the MPLAD scheme towards relief in the cloudburst affected region."In the event of calamity of severe nature in any part of the country, an MP can recommend works upto a maximum of Rs 50 lakhs for the affected district," the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha Secretariats have told the members. 
• The Supreme Court on Friday asked Parliament to revisit the provision relating to cruelty and dowry harassment, pointing out that large number of frivolous complaints are filed and courts are flooded with such matrimonial cases.A Bench of Justice Dalveer Bhandari and Justice K.S. Radhakrishnan said “a serious relook of the entire provision is warranted by the legislation.”
• The devastating earthquake that rocked Haiti in January was unleashed by a previously undetected fault line, not the well-known one initially blamed, according to an analysis of new data.It’s unclear how dangerous the new, unmapped fault might be or how it’s discovery changes the overall earthquake hazard risk for Haiti, said Eric Calais, a professor of geophysics at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana, who presented the findings this week at a scientific conference in Brazil.
• A British toy maker has invented a super-smart robot that can learn from the Internet, crack jokes and sing karaoke. 
• KOLKATA: The West Bengal government on Sunday announced a post-retirement pension scheme for journalists and promised to implement a health insurance scheme for them soon. "All accredited journalists will be given a monthly pension of Rs 2,000 after retirement. We are planning to raise this amount in the future," finance ministerAsim Dasgupta said at an Independence Day function at the Press Club, Kolkata.
• ISLAMABAD: UN chief Ban Ki-moon on Sunday urged the world to quicken aid for up to 20 million people hit by Pakistan's worst humanitarian crisis as he flew in to visit areas ravaged by record floods. The United Nations has appealed for 460 million dollars to deal with the immediate aftermath of the floods but has warned that billions will be required in the long term with villages, businesses, crops and infrastructure wiped out.
• Global climate change is partly to blame for the abnormally hot and dry weather in Moscow, cloaked in a haze of smoke from wildfires, say researchers.The UK Met Office said there are likely to be more extreme high temperatures in the future.Experts from the environmental group WWF Russia have also linked climate change and hot weather to raging wildfires around the Russian capital.
• U.S. President Barack Obama sent his congratulations to all who will celebrate the 63rd anniversary of India’s Independence this weekend and said, “Indians around the world can not only look back on their history with pride, but can also look ahead to a future filled with hope and further progress.” 

Current Affairs - 14.08.2010

• NEW DELHI: Wonders never cease to exist. Two Delhi students have discovered a new asteroid as part of a unique astronomy project connected to the USspace agency NASA.Amanjot Singh and Sahil Wadhwa, both Class 12 students of Ryan International School, discovered a main belt asteroid (2010 PO24) on Aug 6 as part of the All India Asteroid Search Campaign (AIASC).
• Bihar brains have once again made it to the Union civil services aspirants — with a bang. Begusarai boasts of having two sons of the soil in the elite club of top 50 successful IAS aspirants this year. While Rajiv Roshan, a native of Gaura village under Teghra subdivision, has secured 23rd rank, Shambhu Kumar of Sihma village is placed 47th.
• Stepping in amid questions over Commonwealth Games preparations, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh gave overriding powers to a committee headed by Cabinet Secretary, bringing into its ambit the Organising Committee that has been tainted by corruption charges.
• Keen to push through the nuclear liability Bill in the ongoing session of Parliament, Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee Friday reached out to the Left to build a consensus on the contentious Bill.However, given the Bill is crucial to implementing the India-US nuclear deal, which they had unsuccessfully tried to block, there is little chance of the Left parties coming on board.
• The proponents of extreme ideologies and the followers of Left Wing Extremism must abandon their path of violence. I call on them to join national efforts for growth and development," President Pratibha Patil today said in the address telecast on national television, on the eve of 64th Independence Day

Current Affairs - 13.08.2010

• The presence of the NDM-1 gene, which alters bacteria and makes them resistant to antibiotics, was detected in India in a study which concluded last year, a study that’s, ironically, being trashed by the Government as “shocking and unscientific.” Several MPs have also called it an “MNC-pharma conspiracy” to undermine medical tourism in India because the study says the gene has been identified in 37 people who returned to the UK after undergoing surgery in India or Pakistan.
• Sankara Nethralaya on Thursday launched a distance mode course for opticians as part of the silver jubilee celebrations of the Elite School of Optometry (ESO). The course, to be offered jointly by Sankara Nethralaya and the Association of British Dispensing Opticians College (ABDO), United Kingdom, will provide opticians with professional acumen in not just dispensing glasses and lenses but will also give them the knowledge to be able to identify some of the common eye problems such as refractive errors.
• Washington: Slamming WikiLeaks' announcement that it is going ahead with its plan to post additional 15,000 classified documents on Afghan war on its website, the Pentagon termed it as the height of irresponsibility.
• US President Barack Obama is all set to sign into law a new Border Security Bill proposing a steep hike in H-1B and L-1 visa fees, a move that would affect Indian IT firms which may have to shell out an additional USD 250 million annually. Ignoring India's concern over some provisions in the Bill, the US Senate last night passed the legislation which was approved by vote by the House of Representatives this week.
• Human brain on a microchip? Yes, Canadian scientists have created such a microchip basically a neurochip, that "communicates" with brain cells, a discovery that they claim could help patients with Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases.
• London: For three years, Connie McPherson had debilitating leg ulcers that were so painful she sometimes couldn’t sleep. Despite repeated surgery, antibiotics, steroids and other treatments, nothing helped. Then last year, she took part in a trial for a new gel aimed at chronic wounds.
• Melbourne: Australian opposition Liberal party running neck to neck in the race for forming the new government has said it favours uranium exports and greater engagement with India, if elected to power. Cautioning against over-reliance on China, which is currently Australia’s biggest trading partner, the Liberal party leader Tony Abbott said he also favours resuming a Free Trade Agreement and greater defence co-operation with New Delhi.

Current Affairs - 12.08.2010

• The Lok Sabha was on Thursday adjourned till noon after opposition members created an uproar over caste enumeration expected to be done at the biometric phase of Census 2011, saying it was a time-buying tactic.
• After dipping for two straight weeks, India's food inflation rose again to double digits at 11.4 per cent for the week ended July 31, as prices of cereals, milk and fruits went up, official data released on Thursday showed. Food inflation was 9.53 per cent a week earlier.
• NEW DELHI: India's telecom regulator said today that mobile number portability (MNP) will be implemented nationwide from October 31, as announced earlier, ruling out any further delay.
• Hours spent sitting on chairs could invite cardiovascular disaster, says a study.Men who sit for 23 hours a week have a 64 percent greater chance of dying from cardiovascular disease than those who spend only 11 hours sitting. U.S. research published in Circulation found an 11 percent increased risk of death from all causes for every extra hour of TV viewing (i.e. sitting down) a day, reports The Daily Mail.
• Five combined water supply schemes and one supply improvement scheme, totally estimated to cost around Rs. 1,712 crore, have been cleared by the State government. The schemes cover Madurai, Coimbatore, Nagapattinam, Virudhunagar, Sivaganga and Tirupur districts. Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi has ordered that the schemes be given administrative sanction, according to an official statement.
• Less than 20 per cent of plants and animal species in the world's tropical forests may remain in their current form by the end of the century due to global warming, a new study says.
• State Bank of India (SBI), the country's biggest lender, posted a 25 per cent rise in quarterly profit, beating forecasts. SBI and rivals such as ICICI, India's No. 2 lender, are seeing an improvement in asset quality as consumer loan defaults slow in an economy forecast to grow about 8.5 per cent this fiscal year.

Current Affairs - 11.08.2010

• The School Education Department has withdrawn its decision to regulate the fees collected by private schools across Tamil Nadu this academic year.The new fee structure prescribed by the committee, formed by the School Education Department, for unaided private schools in the State under the Tamil Nadu Schools (Regulation of Collection of Fee) Act 2009, will be implemented next academic year, it was announced here on Tuesday.
• NEW DELHI: About 33 percent of the officers selected through Civil Services had considered resigning at some time or the other in their career, the government said on Wednesday.A survey has indicated that "about 33 percent of the respondents had considered resigning at some time or the other in their career mainly because of better opportunities outside government and disappointment about lack of recognition among others," Minister of state for personnel, public grievances and pensions Prithviraj Chavan told Lok Sabha.
• A staggering 96.3 million square feet of residential space — or about 80,000 homes — is lying unsold in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR), the highest-ever inventory pile-up for the area. Sales are down 38% over last year.
• Activists are warning that the more than 600 wildfires still burning in Russia could move into the areas affected by the Chernobyl nuclear disaster and spread harmful radiation.
• NEW DELHI: Admitting that the delivery of Scorpene submarines  was facing "problems", the government Wednesday said it had sanctioned an additional Rs.4,764 crore ($1 billion) for the project signed with France in 2004.
• NEW DELHI: The wheels of the current academic season have just begun to chug but the memories of the menace of ragging seems not to have been left behind.A bus decked with graffiti and posters was flagged off from the Delhi University campus today as part of a nationwide campaign "Bus- Aur Nahin".
• NEW DELHI: Marriage between minors is valid and it can be annulled only on the plea by one of the partners, the Delhi High Court ruled on Wednesday."A marriage in contravention of clause (iii) of section 5 (which fixes minimum age of twenty-one years for bridegroom and eighteen years for bride) does not fall in the category of void marriages nor does it fall in the category of voidable marriages. Consequently, by the process of elimination, it would be a valid marriage," the court said.
• Scientists have found Arctic rocks that may preserve the earliest remnants of Earth.Over billions of years, much of the material that made up the early Earth was modified by processes such as melting and mixing.
• Thousands of online banking customers have had their accounts drained by a sophisticated new computer virus, internet security experts say.
• 2010 is already being branded as the year the weather went berserk.In Pakistan, floods have claimed over 1,600 lives and left over two million people homeless.Countries across the world are scrambling to donate aid supplies to the 14 million people affected by the flooding.In China, massive downpours have caused mudslides, killing more than 1,117. Rescue teams have given up trying to find survivors and are attempting to locate bodies.

Current Affairs - 10.08.2010

• A caste census is set to become a reality with the ruling Congress having made up its mind to give it a go-ahead despite sharp divisions within, it is reliably learnt.With its partners, including the NCP and the DMK, having declared their support and the Opposition BJP also throwing the ball in the government’s court, the Congress was left with few options. 
• Driven by strong sales in the domestic market and good show by JLR, Tata Motors on Tuesday reported a consolidated net profit of Rs 1,988.73 crore for the quarter ended June 30.
• Contending that the Supreme Court had erroneously allowed the Tamil Nadu government to provide 69 per cent quota, exceeding the 50 per cent limit imposed in earlier judgments, a petition seeking review of this order was filed on Monday.
• On July 13, the Supreme Court disposed of a writ petition filed by Voice Consumer Care Council in 1994 challenging the 69 per cent quota law by directing the State to reconsider the same in the light of the various judgments concerning reservation to other backward classes. The Supreme Court even permitted the State to increase the 50 per cent limit in case 
• Tamil Nadu E-governance Agency Director Santhosh Babu told The Hindu that Coimbatore was one of the six districts that would come under e-governance in the State soon. Revenue, Adi Dravida and Tribal Welfare, Backward Classes, Most Backward Classes and Minority Welfare and Social Welfare departments would be covered under the project.
• Terming a U.S. proposal to increase visa fees as discriminatory, Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma said the hike would cost Indian firms USD 200 million extra a year and make them less competitive.
• “The Bill will have an (estimated) additional cost implication of over USD 200 million annually and an adverse impact on the competitiveness and commercial interests of Indian companies....,” Mr. Sharma said in a letter to U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk. 
• Tata Motors has reported a return to profit thanks to strong domestic demand for its cars and increased sales of its Jaguar and Land Rover brands.
• Neuroscientists are to build the most detailed model of the human brain with the help of an IBM supercomputer
• US researchers have for the first time encouraged substantial regrowth in nerves controlling voluntary movement after spinal cord injury.
• Iran has activated more equipment to enrich uranium more efficiently - in violation of UN resolutions, the UN nuclear watchdog says. 
• Swallowing its pride, NASA says it wants to learn from future commercial missions to the moon – and it is willing to pay up to $30 million for the privilege.

Current Affairs - 09.08.2010

New Delhi: State-run BHEL said it has bagged a contract worth Rs 2,525 crore from Abhijeet Infra for setting up a 1,080 MW thermal power plant (4x270 MW) in Jharkhand. "Valued at Rs 2,525 Crore, the contract envisages supplying and installing the main plant package for Abhijeet Infra Ltd's upcoming coal-based power plant in Ranchi Jharkhand," a statement said.


New Delhi: If only inflation woes could be washed away by the summer monsoon. Instead, India is girding itself for a "new normal" of inflation running at 6 to 8 per cent, from the roughly 5 per cent considered acceptable by policymakers in recent years, as a racing economy exacerbates structural bottlenecks.

Pakistani prosecutors on Monday filed an application seeking permission for an Indian magistrate and a police officer to depose via video conferencing in the anti-terrorism court conducting the trial of seven suspects charged with involvement in the 2008 Mumbai attacks.

We are all big consumers of electronics, from multiple cellphones to our big-screen television sets to the little computer that runs our car. But all of them have a life, at the end of which it becomes garbage, waste that goes into landfills, and then pollutes the earth. While the Russian capital swelters and coughs through a summer of 40-degree heat and smog from rampant forest and bog fires, six young men live sealed inside a container, at a constant 22 degrees Celsius.

Lonely souls could now look forward to a unique company, thanks to European scientists who have unveiled the world’s first robot which is able to display and detect human emotions.The humanoid machine, called Nao, which hunches its shoulders when it feels sad and raises its arms for a hug when it’s happy, has been designed to mimic the emotional skills of a one-year-old child, say the scientists.

Two astronauts have carried out an eight-hour spacewalk to try to repair a cooling system on the International Space Station but were only partially successful.

In its first demonstration of “affirmative action”, 55 of Corporate India’s top 1,000 companies have decided to make “caste disclosures” of their workforce in their annual reports next financial year. Led by almost all companies of the $70.8 billion Tata Group, the select and progressive list of 55 includes Mahindra & Mahindra and Godrej Industries from the Western region.

Indian Railways have rolled out an electric locomotive that will not only supply power to flagship trains like Rajdhanis and Shatabdis while pulling them but also eliminate noise pollution and save energy.The new locomotive of the WAP 7 class has been fitted with a technology called the ‘head on generation scheme’ to power the trains and the pantry as well as run the air-conditioning system.

Led by the realty and consumer durables sectors, the BSE benchmark Sensex today rose by over 143 points to its highest close since February 1, 2008, on expectations that a good monsoon this year will boost demand.

Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) plans to invest Rs. 2-lakh crore across asset classes in 2010-11, up from the Rs. 1.92 lakh crore last fiscal.

Current Affairs - 08.08.2010

Researchers led by an Indian-origin scientist at the Gladstone Institute, University of California, have found a novel way to coax a damaged heart to mend itself.The revolutionary treatment could be possible after the scientists discovered a technique for turning ordinary connective tissue into muscle cells inside the heart.

Researchers and scientists are turning to comparative physiology - an approach gives the scientific community a "crystal ball" for predicting the effects of global warming. According to George N. Somero, Associate Director of Stanford University''s Hopkins Marine Station, the comparative approach can provide insight into the ways in which past evolution under different climatic conditions determines a species'' likelihood of survival in a warming world.

New Delhi: Inflation is likely to go up to 15 per cent in the next two months with the full impact of fuel price hike reflecting in it coupled with the increase in consumption due to the upcoming festive season, Assocham said. The chamber also said that consumer price based inflation too would overshoot 18 per cent in the same period.

Washington: Scientists are exploring the truth behind the hypothesis that ‘life began between mica sheets’.
According to the "life between the sheets" mica hypothesis proposed by Helen Hansma of the University of California, Santa Barbara, life originated with molecules that lay between mica sheets.


The dermatological risks of using common exercise equipment in health clubs.When you go to the gym, do you wash your hands before and after using the equipment? Bring your own regularly cleaned mat for floor exercises? Shower with antibacterial soap and put on clean clothes immediately after your workout? Use only your own towels, bar soap, water bottles?


Six coastguard vessels and a helicopter with anti-pollution dispersal spray systems were pressed into service on Sunday to contain an oil spill caused due to a collision between two cargo ships off the Mumbai coast.
“Anti-pollution operations are underway. Six ships and one helicopter with anti-pollution disposal spray systems are on the job to contain the oil spill,” a coast guard official said.

Tejaswini Sawant on Sunday became the first Indian woman shooter to clinch a gold medal at the World Championship by finishing on top with a world-record equalling score in the 50m Rifle Prone event in Munich, Germany.


Social networking websites like Facebook and Twitter have cost the British economy a whopping 14 billion pounds a year in lost work time, a study said.The study pointed out that two million employees spend an hour a day on social networking sites and over half the workforce make use of Facebook, Twitter, MySpace or YouTube for half an hour a day when they are supposed to be working.

The grand vision of resurrecting the ancient international glories of Nalanda University may take some time to fulfil as ambitions are being tailored to current financial limitations, admitted Amartya Sen, chairman of the Nalanda Mentor Group.

Awareness is the first step to better health. Eating a healthy diet has always been wise. But can oils in foods be helpful? The answer is yes; food cooked in coconut oil stays fresh longer and promotes nutrient absorption. Coconut as a whole plays a very important part in our lives. Coconut oil has been used by many nations in the Pacific. They cook with it, moisturise their skin and hair with it, eat the flesh practically on a daily basis. Coconut oil is the product that should be on your shelf forever.

Current Affairs - 07.08.2010

• Terming the alleged large scale corruption in CWG projects as a "national shame" BJP on Saturday urged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to step into the matter and demanded a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe or a judicial enquiry to investigate the charges of irregularities. 
• Zardari claimed to have convinced Cameron that Pak was doing all it could to stop militant jihadi groups 'exporting terror' to Afghan and Britain.  
• A newly discovered vulnerability in the software that runs Apple Inc's(AAPL.O) iPad and iPhone could allow hackers to enslave the popular mobile devices, three security firms said on Tuesday.
• The Government said the banking ombudsman has received several complaints against private sector lenders including HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank of violating RBI guidelines on engagement of agents to recover loans. 
• Almost everyone likes beautiful women colleagues in the workplace, but a new study claims that attractive females often face discrimination when it comes to grabbing certain kinds of jobs.  
• A professor of engineering and neuroscience at Brown University is studying how human brain signals could combine with modern electronics to help paralyzed people gain greater control over their environments.
• A giant sheet of ice measuring 260 sq km (100 sq miles) has broken off a glacier in Greenland, according to researchers at a US university.
• One visit to a booby-trapped website could direct attackers to a person's home, a security expert has shown.The attack, thought up by hacker Samy Kamkar, exploits shortcomings in many routers to find out a key identification number.
• It uses this number and widely available net tools to find out where a router is located.Demonstrating the attack, Mr Kamkar located one router to within nine metres of its real world position.
• An international team of researchers led by a university professor from Japan has discovered a biochemical signal in flu virus that indicates whether it would infect humans and spread, the US science journal PLoS Pathogens has said.
  
• Global climate change talks have moved backwards since last year, say negotiators from both rich and poor nations at discussions in Germany.
• The US envoy said some countries had "walked away" from commitments made at Copenhagen last year to contain greenhouse gas emissions.But the top UN climate official, Christiana Figueres, said progress had been made towards an eventual deal.Negotiators are working towards the next climate summit in November.

Current Affairs - 06.08.2010

• NEW DELHI: Severe punishment awaits those involved in honour killings as the government intends to bring a law on the matter in the current Parliament session itself, Home Minister P Chidambaram said in Lok Sabha today.  
• There are 793 Indians in Pakistani jails, out of which 582 are fishermen.Of the remaining 211, who are all civilians, India has so far been given consular access to 33 prisoners only, External Affairs Minister S M Krishna said, adding "it is believed that there are 178 other Indian nationals in Pakistani jails, who have not been provided consular access."  
• The government on Thursday withdrew the recognition of Hockey India (HI) for violating its guidelines, barely a few hours after HI completed its controversial elections.  
• Hardline separatist leader Syed Ali Geelani on Wednesday made a fervent appeal to the people to remain peaceful during their agitation and not burn public property. Additional deployment of troops from Delhi would not deter the people from achieving their “cherished goal.”  
• Northern Railway has suspended its operations in the Kashmir Valley for an indefinite period, following massive damage caused to trains and infrastructure and fear of violence among non-local employees.  
• The private browsing modes on modern browsers leak information about where people have visited, suggests a study.  
• The Japanese city of Hiroshima is marking the 65th anniversary of the world's first atomic bomb attack.For the first time, a representative of the United States, which dropped the bomb on the city, is attending. 
• The US economy shed another 131,000 jobs in July, the second month in a row that jobs have been lost, the Labor Department has said.The private sector created 71,000 jobs, the government said. However, both figures were worse than expected.  
• Contrary to recent reports about water content in lunar rocks, the Moon may be quite dry, say scientists. 
• A study by US researchers, published in Science, analysed chlorine isotopes of the much-studied samples, brought to Earth by the Apollo space missions.They added that there was no or very little hydrogen in the magma ocean during the Moon's formation.And that would mean the Earth's natural satellite may have always been too dry to host life. Zachary Sharp from the University of New Mexico led the study. 
• The team used the Very Large Telescope in Chile to study the supernova 1987A, which lies 168,000 light-years away.The results show the original blast was very powerful and concentrated in one particular direction.Seen in 1987, it was the first supernova visible with the naked eye to have been observed for some 383 years. The 3-D view shows the explosion was stronger and faster in some directions than others, leading to an irregular shape with some parts stretching further out into space.

Current Affairs - 05.08.2010

• Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said the Reserve Bank is keeping a watch on demand factors and it will make adjustments, if necessary.  
• NEW DELHI: In a clear message to all sections of the people in Jammu and Kashmir, which has been hit by protests, strikes and firing over the past two months that has left scores dead and hundreds injured, Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram urged them on Wednesday to heed the voices of reason and desist from violent protests.
• CHENNAI: A Rs.10,000-crore liquefied natural gas terminal will come up at Kattupalli near the Ennore port, on the northern outskirts of Chennai.
• Washington: In an unusual departure from traditional prescriptions for coping with high stress, the United States Army is recommending something more eclectic to its soldiers in Iraq — mindfulness mediation. 
• Washington: U.S. President Barack Obama has asked young leaders of Africa to follow Mahatma Gandhi to bring the changes they want in the continent.
• “One of the things that I think everybody here has to really internalise is the notion that, you know, I think it was [Mahatma] Gandhi who once said, you have to be the change that you seek, you have to be the change that you seek,” he told the Young African Leaders Forum, which he had convened in White House. — PTI 
• BANGALORE: Samsung India on Wednesday unveiled the world's thinnest 3D LED television with a screen as thin as 7.98 millimetres here.
• Forensic scientists have developed a test that can match a suspect's DNA to crime scene samples in just four hours. 
• Ronnie Screwvala, chairman of media & entertainment company, UTV Group, said that his firm had invested £75m (5.5bn rupees) in three game titles. 
• A regular weight training regime may help treat rheumatoid arthritis, research suggests.  
• Russia is to ban the export of grain from 15 August to 31 December after drought and fires devastated crops.

Current Affairs - 04.08.2010

• Ruling DMK on Wednesday held state-wide protests against AIADMK chief J Jayalalithaa for seeking “frequent adjournments” in a disproportionate wealth case against her.Rawat said his department had launched ‘Kanya Vivah Yojana’ to provide financial help to those who marry after the age of 18 years.  
• Bihar is one of the hotspots of child marriage in the country and on average marriages of 67 per cent of girls below 18 years of age are solemnised every year, State Minister for Social Welfare Damodar Rawat said. 
• Kerala cabinet on Wednesday decided to lease out 40 acres of land to public sector Mazagon Dock Ltd. for setting up a National Institute of Warship Design Centre.    
• Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's motorcade was not attacked by a grenade on Wednesday, an official in his media office said, explaining that an explosion was from a "firecracker." 
• President Barack Obama is becoming increasingly strident in defending his top domestic priority — job creation.Unfortunately for countries such as India, this has come to mean the controversy over outsourcing rearing its ugly head with heightened frequency. 
• Singapore: Malaysia is planning to introduce a Visa Facilitation System (VFS) for tourists from India and China. This follows a decision to revoke the Visa on Arrival (VOA) scheme for visitors to Malaysia from several countries. The VOA scheme was discontinued in respect of Indian nationals in 2008. 
• Neuroscientists at the University of California are inching closer to a new brain-mapping method which they claim will help pinpoint a person's talents just by looking at the landscape of his or her mind. Professor Richard Haier, a psychologist who led the research, said that science remained vague but eventually it could be used to guide your career choice.  
• US President Barack Obama, who sees Mahatma Gandhi as an inspiration, has asked young African leaders to follow the legendary Indian icon to bring the changes they want in their continent.  
• Milestone man Sachin Tendulkar on Tuesday became the most-capped Test cricketer in the world after taking field for his 169th match, the third and final of the ongoing series against Sri Lanka, here.

Current Affairs - 03.08.2010

• In the wake of the Mangalore air disaster which claimed 158 lives, government on Tuesday said it was in the process of framing fresh regulations to ensure that safety is not compromised on account of financial distress of airlines.
• NEW DELHI: With some give and take between the Opposition and ruling parties, an agreement to end the week-long parliamentary impasse over how to discuss the prices issue was reached here on Monday. 
• SRINAGAR: The Jammu and Kashmir government is mulling over tough measures to enforce curfew to put brakes on the unending cycle of violence and people taking “law into their own hands.”
• The Jantar Mantar in Jaipur is now a World Heritage Monument. The 34th session of the World Heritage Committee, presently underway in Brasilia, has inscribed Jantar Mantar in the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation's World Heritage List. Thirty-three countries across the world had submitted 32 sites for consideration this year.
• HYDERABAD: Vice-Chancellor of Anantapur-based Sri Krishnadevaraya University P. Kusuma Kumari has been removed from her post for committing grave irregularities in the appointment of faculty members.
• BANGALORE: The Centralised Processing Centre of the Income Tax Department here has processed over 26 lakh e-filed returns in Forms 1-4 for the assessment year 2009-10. It has determined refunds in over five lakh cases. A release said refunds are being sent through State Bank of India. The status of these refunds can be checked at CPC's call centre (080-43456700) or at http://www.tin-nsdl.com/.
• Microsoft has issued a "critical" security update to fix a flaw in the way Windows handles shortcuts.The bug allowed attackers to craft booby-trapped shortcuts that allow them to take over a target computer.
• Nasa is planning two emergency spacewalks to repair the cooling system on the International Space Station.
• Keeping your heart fit and strong can slow down the ageing of your brain, US researchers say.
• A Boston University team found healthy people with sluggish hearts that pumped out less blood had "older" brains on scans than others.

Current Affairs - 02.08.2010

• India's ace shuttler Saina Nehwal was today selected for the prestigious Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award, the country's sporting honour, for her oustanding achievements on the badminton court. 

• The RBI has hiked the repo rate by 0.25 percentage point to 5.75 per cent and the reverse repo rate by 0.50 percentage point to 4.50 per cent.The repo rate is the rate at which the central bank lends to banks while the reverse repo is the rate it pays to banks for parking funds with it.

• “Consumption (of energy) is a pain. We have not learnt to have a lifestyle wherein we can be happy and contented without increasing consumption,” laments Ramesh Ramankutty, Head, Operations and Business Strategy, Global Environment Facility (GEF).

• The Tamil Nadu State Vivasaya Sangam has urged the authorities and the State Government to grant compensation for all farmers in Karur district affected by the effluents discharged into Noyyal River by dyeing and bleaching units in Tirupur.

• Geneva: A landmark international treaty to ban cluster munitions took effect on Sunday, requiring signatories to stop the use, production and transfer of the deadly weapons.

• Defence group BAE Systems and engine supplier Rolls-Royce have signed a £700m deal to supply India's Hindustan Aeronautics with 57 Hawk training jets.

• London Hospital used a genetically engineered herpes virus to treat successfully patients with head and neck cancer.

• British Petroleum could begin sealing its oil well in the Gulf of Mexico on Monday night, three months after its rupture led to the worst oil spill in US history.

• BUBBLING green tubes filled with algae gobbling up carbon dioxide and producing biodiesel may sound like the perfect way to make clean fuel, but it could generate nearly four times the greenhouse emissions from regular diesel.

Current Affairs - 01.08.2010

• A desalination plant which begins operating in Madras on Saturday will provide some of the cheapest drinking water in India, backers say.
• The Tamil Nadu Electricity Regulatory Commission on Saturday announced a new power tariff order, with effect from August 1.
• President Pratibha Patil on Saturday called upon the State governments, the Bar and the Bench to find innovative methods to liquidate backlogs of cases in courts in a time-bound manner.
• Now a brain scan method can help you discover your ideal job, scientists claim.
• It has been two days since Studsat, a ‘pico-satellite’ weighing under 1 kg, developed by students from seven colleges led by NMIT, was successfully launched from Sriharikota on board PSLV-C-15 along with four other satellites, and the amateur tracking and telemetry station is tuned to the satellite’s HAM frequency.
• Colombia's defeated Argentina 1-0 in the under-20 soccer tournament final in Paraguay.
• The UAE is to suspend some Blackberry mobile phone services, having said the devices pose a "national security risk", its state news agency reports.
• NASA Researchers have identified rocks that they say could contain the fossilised remains of life on early Mars.
• Canadian archaeologists have located a British ship abandoned in the Arctic while on a 19th Century rescue mission.
• Calcium supplements taken by many older people could be increasing their risk of a heart attack, research shows.