Top Careers & You

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WEEKLY CURRENT AFFAIRS UPDATE
(August 22 to 28, 2010)

List of contents
™ Section A: INDIA
™ Section B: WORLD
™ Section C: ECONOMY & CORPORATE
™ Section D: SPORTS

MAJOR NEWS OF THE WEEK

Section A: INDIA
™ Harishankar Brahma assumes charge as Election Commissioner
™ Swarna Subba Rao is the new Surveyor General of India
™ Bhagwati Prasad sworn in as Jharkhand Chief Justice
™ Bhasha Samman for Punjabi scholar Gurudev Singh
™ Author Ravindra R. Kelekar is no more
™ Stamp on Communist leader P. Jeevanandham unveiled
™ J&K PWD Minister Saroori sacked
™ Former Arunachal CM Apang arrested for PDS scam
™ Lok Sabha passes Bill to hike MPs salaries
™ Lok Sabha passes Civil Liability for Nuclear Damages Bill
™ Parliament approves Code of Criminal Procedure (Amendment) Bill, 2010
™ Parliament passes Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Bill
™ Whistleblower Bill introduced in Lok Sabha
™ Cabinet approves Educational Tribunals Bill
™ Govt. demands Blackberry data on real-time basis
™ Sowa-Rigpa included in Indian medical system
™ Parliament passes Indian Medical Council Amendment bill
™ Suggestions for revamping IFFI submitted to I&B ministry
™ Lok Sabha passes Nalanda varsity Bill
™ Birth centenary of Mother Teresa celebrated
™ A.K. Antony lays foundation stone for MIDHANI expansion
™ Govt. admits diversion of SC welfare funds for Commonwealth Games
™ ‘Unwanted Daughters - Gender Discrimination in Modern India’ released
™ ‘The Honest Always Stand Alone’ released
™ ‘Science and Sustainable Food Security - Selected Papers’ released
™ ‘How India Earns, Spends and Saves: Unmasking the Real India’ released
™ ‘The Masque of Africa’ released
™ ‘The Crimson Throne’ released
™ ‘India, Pakistan and the Bomb: Debating Nuclear Stability in South Asia’ released
™ ‘Atlas of Unknowns’ released
™ ‘Home Boy’ released
™ ‘Quarantine’ released
™ ‘Captive Imagination’ released

Section B: WORLD
™ Mexico's Ximena Navarrete crowned Miss Universe
™ 3 Indians in MIT list of world’s top innovators
™ Francis Ford Coppola selected for lifetime achievement Oscar
™ Joan Clos is new executive director of UN-HABITAT
™ Ban ki-Moon appoints Jack Lang to assist prosecution of Somali pirates
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™ Pierre Nkurunziza sworn in as new President of Burundi
™ Danny Philip elected PM of Solomon Islands
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™ Nepal Parliament fails to elect PM for the 5 time
™ No party wins simple majority in Australian Parliamentary elections
™ US court disallows federal funding of stem cell research
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™ 1 woman climber’s record of scaling world's 14 highest peaks under a cloud
™ Russia opens short-cut Europe-Asia sea route across the Arctic.
™ New constitution promulgated in Kenya
™ Penn Plaza will be the largest skyscraper in the US
™ S. Korea & U.S. conclude ‘Ulchi Freedom Guardian’ war games
™ India suspends defence ties with China over visa denial to Northern Command chief
™ UN urges France to avoid Roma deportations
™ Iran test fires surface-to-surface missile Fateh 110
™ Iran unveils drone “Karrar”
™ Van Gogh painting stolen from Cairo Museum
™ Arabic to become compulsory in Israeli schools
™ Middle East Quartet calls for direct talks between Israel, Palestine

Section C: ECONOMY & CORPORATE

™ Haseeb Drabu resigns as Chairman of J&K Bank
™ Mukesh Ambani joins WEF Foundation Board
™ Paul Allen sues tech giants over ‘patent violations’
™ Annual Supplement to Foreign Trade Policy 2009-14 announced
™ Clearance for bauxite mining for Vedanta in Orissa cancelled
™ RBI says no to use of forex reserves for India Infrastructure Debt Fund
™ SEBI permits share trading using mobiles
™ Banking Ombudsmen receives over 6,500 complaints in 2009-10
™ Electronic payments comprise 88.3% of banking transactions in 2009-10
™ World Space Biz 2010 organised in Bangalore
™ Media Houses to disclose holdings in companies they report about
™ India is the largest exporter of petro products in Asia
™ Auto parts sector to see major investment this decade
™ Corporate Affairs Ministry releases corporate governance voluntary norms
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™ India’s 1 auto recycling plant in Chennai
™ Copyright Board reduces royalty payable by radio to music companies
™ Saint Gobain’s ‘World Glass Complex’ coming up in Alwar
™ Adani Group signs deal for port, rail projects in Indonesia
™ Piaggio to re-introduce Vespa brand in India
™ Mahindra signs MoU to acquire Ssangyong
™ Starwood Hotels to invest Rs. 300 crore in India
™ Tata-Corus to sell Teesside plant to Thai company
™ Cisco to acquire ExtendMedia
™ Wynncom launches India’s first Hindi QWERTY phone
™ Footwear maker Liberty enters telecom
™ Google to allow phone calls for Gmail users
™ Dell to acquire 3Par
™ Facebook is No.1 social networking site in India
™ Dell launches smartphone Aero

Section D: SPORTS
™ Saina loses in QF of World badminton championship
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™ Greg Chappell named Australia’s 1 full-time selector
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™ Arjun Atwal is the 1 Indian to win a PGA tournament
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™ Mike Russell wins 2010 IBSF World Billiards Point Format Trophy
™ Roger Federer wins Cincinnati Masters
™ Wozniacki wins Rogers Cup tennis
™ Commonwealth Games OC releases Rs. 1.75 cr to IWF to pay fine

Section A: INDIA

Newsmakers
• Brahma assumes charge as Election Commissioner: Sixty-year-old Harishankar Brahma, a retired IAS officer of
1975 batch from the Andhra Pradesh cadre, assumed charge as Election Commissioner at Nirvachan Sadan in New
Delhi on August 25, 2010. Brahma, who retired as the Union Power Secretary in April this year, will hold office till April
18, 2015. The vacancy for the third Election Commissioner arose after the elevation of S.Y. Quraishi as Chief Election
Commissioner. V.S. Sampath is the other Election Commissioner. Brahma is the second person from the North-East to
become an Election Commissioner, after J.M. Lyngdoh.
• Swarna Subba Rao is the new Surveyor General of India: Swarna Subba Rao took over as the new Surveyor
General of India on August 26, 2010. The Dehradun based Survey of India is the country’s central engineering agency
in charge of mapping and surveying. Set up in 1767 to help consolidate the territories of the British East India
Company, it is one of the oldest Engineering Departments of the Government of India.
• Bhagwati Prasad sworn in as Jharkhand Chief Justice: Bhagwati Prasad was sworn in as Chief Justice of the
Jharkhand High Court in Ranchi on August 28, 2010.
• Bhasha Samman for Punjabi scholar Gurudev Singh: A noted Punjabi scholar and a Telugu veteran were on
August 25, 2010 chosen for Bhasha Samman by the Sahitya Akademi for their contributions in the field of classical and
medieval literature. Punjabi scholar Gurudev Singh has been chosen for the honour from the Northern region while
Telugu researcher-critic Korlapati Sriramamurthy has been selected from the Southern region. The Bhasha
Samman carries a cash prize of Rs.1 lakh besides a plaque and citation.
• Bhasha Sammans in Kachchhi, Avadhi, Bundeli, Chakma and Garhwali given: Bhasha Sammans have also been
announced for eight scholars and writers in languages like Avadhi, Garhwali and Kachchhi which are not recognised
by the Akademi. The writers selected for the honour are Madhav Joshi ‘Ashq' and Tejpal Darshi ‘Tej' for Kachchhi,
Vishwanath Pathak for Avadhi, Ram Narayan Sharma and Kailash Nehari Dwivedi for Bundeli, Niranjan Chakma for
Chakma language, and Sudama Prasad Premi and Prem Lal Bhatt for Garhwali.
• Author Ravindra R. Kelekar is no more: Konkani litterateur and Jnanpith Award winner Ravindra R. Kelekar passed
away at the age of 85 on August 27, 2010. He bagged numerous awards and honours, including the Padma Bhushan
and the Sahitya Akademi Fellowship. His book, ‘Himalayan’, a travelogue written in 1975, won him the Sahitya
Akademi Award. He was the only writer of Goa and of Konkani to win the Jnanpith Award as well as the Sahitya
Akademi Fellowship.
• Stamp on Communist leader P. Jeevanandham unveiled: A commemorative stamp featuring freedom fighter and
communist leader P. Jeevanandham, known as Jeeva, was released in Chennai on August 28, 2010. He was also the
founder of Tamil literary magazine “Thamarai” and the communist newspaper “Janasakthi”.
• J&K PWD Minister Saroori sacked: Governor N. N. Vohra on August 27, 2010 accepted the recommendation of J&K
CM Omar Abdullah to dismiss Public Works Department Minister Ghulam Mohammad Saroori of Congress Party from
his council of ministers. Saroori has been embroiled in controversy ever since his daughter was accused of using an
impersonator during a medical entrance exam in Jammu.
• Former Arunachal CM arrested for PDS scam: Former Arunachal Pradesh chief minister Gegong Apang, prime
accused in the Rs. 1,000 crore public distribution system (PDS) scandal that came to light in 2004, was arrested on
August 25, 2010 and remanded in a week’s police custody. The cases pertain to huge anomalies including forgery and
fraud that took place in the PDS in Arunachal between 1995 and 2004.

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News round up
Lok Sabha passes Bill to hike MPs salaries

Bill passed
• The Lok Sabha on August 27, 2010 passed the Bill increasing three-fold the salary of the MPs from Rs. 16,000 to Rs.
50,000 a month, and doubling the daily, constituency and office expense allowances.
• The Salary, Allowances and Pension of Members of Parliament (Amendment) Bill, 2010 will be implemented with
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retrospective effect from May 18, 2009, when the 15 Lok Sabha was constituted. The Bill amending the Salaries and
Allowances of Members of Parliament Act, 1954, will now have to be cleared by the Rajya Sabha before the hike is
implemented.
• The Bill raises salary of members of Parliament from Rs. 16,000 to Rs. 50,000. The daily allowance paid to MPs when
they attend parliament has been raised to Rs. 2,000 from Rs.1,000. Constituency and office expense have risen from
Rs. 20,000 to Rs. 45,000 each. The bill also enhances pension for former MPs from Rs. 8,000 to Rs. 20,000.
• Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal said that the provisions for raising salary, daily allowance and
minimum and additional pension would involve a recurring annual expenditure of Rs. 103.76 crore. A one time
expenditure of Rs. 118 crore would be incurred on account of arrears.
• The last hike in salaries and allowances of 795 MPs – 545 members of Lok Sabha and 250 members of Rajya Sabha
– came into effect nearly 10 years ago.

SALARY AND ALLOWANCES OF PARLIAMENTARIANS

SALARY AND ALLOWANCES OLD NEW #
Monthly salary 16,000 50,000
Daily allowance (to attend Parliament or committee meetings) 1,000 2,000
Constituency allowance per month 20,000 45,000
Office expenses per month 20,000 45,000
PERKS
9 Limit for interest-free loan for MPs for buying a personal vehicle increased to Rs. 1 lakh from the present Rs. 1 lakh.
9 Road mileage rate for vehicles used by MPs increased from Rs. 13 per km to Rs. 16 per km.
9 The spouse of a parliamentarian can travel any number of times in first class or executive class.
PENSION
OLD NEW #
Monthly pension 8,000 20,000
Pension for every additional year 500 1,500
# As per the Salary, Allowances and Pension of Members of Parliament (Amendment) Bill, 2010 passed by the Lok
Sabha on August 27, 2010

Chronology:
• August 20: Union Cabinet clears a 300 per cent salary hike for MPs that raised their salaries from Rs. 16,000 a month
to Rs. 50,000 a month. This was promptly rejected by leaders of some parties who argued that it should be at least
80,001, a rupee more than what a Secretary to the government earns.
• August 23: As a compromise the Cabinet approved an extra hike of Rs. 10,000 comprising a hike of Rs. 5,000 in
constituency allowance and Rs. 5,000 towards office expenses
• August 27: Bill passed by the Lok Sabha

Compromise
The proposal to hike the salaries received much attention lately as the MPs from Opposition parties, particularly the
Samajwadi Party, the Rashtriya Janata Dal, and the Bahujan Samaj Party rejected the government earlier proposal. The
proposal had been approved by the Union Cabinet but the MPs from these three political parties wanted their salaries to
be one rupee more than that of the Cabinet Secretary, which is Rs. 80,001, as recommended by a Joint Parliamentary
Committee on Salaries and Allowances of MPs headed by Charandas Mahant of Congress.

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The government's decision of not accepting the Joint Committee report in totality had brought protests in Parliament from
a section of MPs led by Lalu Prasad (RJD) and Mulayam Singh (SP) who dubbed it as an “insult” to members and
organised a mock Parliament. However government reached a compromise with the dissenting MPs by raising the
constituency and office allowances each by a further Rs. 5,000.

Lok Sabha passes Civil Liability for Nuclear Damages Bill

• The Lok Sabha on August 25, 2010 passed the landmark Civil Liability for Nuclear Damages Bill 2010, which aims to
facilitate global entry into the business of setting up nuclear power generation units in India.
• The Bill was necessary for the entry of big companies such as France's nuclear giant Areva and America's General
Electric and Westinghouse, which were unwilling to do business with India without clarity over accident compensation.
Passage of the Bill facilitates the opening up of the country's $150 billion nuclear market after the government agreed
to tougher provisions.
• Moving the bill in the Lok Sabha, the minister of state for science and technology, Prithviraj Chavan, said the
government had taken on board 18 amendments, which included tripling of the liability cap on an operator in case of
an accident to Rs. 1,500 crore, up from Rs. 500 crore.

Important clauses and their implications are as follows:

• Section 6(2): Nuclear operators to be strictly liable for damages resulting from an accident but their liability is capped
at Rs. 1500 crore, unless a higher amount is notified by the government. In earlier draft the cap was Rs. 500 crore.
Beyond this cap, government assumes responsibility for damages. Bill also specified “maximum liability” of 300 million
SDRs, approximately Rs. 2,100 crore.
• Section 17(b): If accident “has resulted as a consequence of an act of supplier or his employee, which includes supply
of equipment or material with patent or latent defects or sub-standard services, “the operator shall have a right of
recourse, i. e., can sue the supplier for recovery of any damages paid. There is no need for the supplier to agree to
this in a contract or to have intentionally caused an accident, as earlier drafts proposed.
• Section 1(3A): Only government or “government company” can benefit from the liability cap but the latter is defined as
on where the Central government has “not less than 51%” ownership. This paves the way for the liability burden of
any private sector partner to be subsidised by the tax payer.
• Section 18(b): Increases the time period for filing claims in case of personal injury from 10 to 20 years
• Section 16(1): Claims for damages must be disposed of within three months of application.
• Section 35: Victims can approach the High Court and the Supreme Court for review of compensation amounts.

Parliament approves Code of Criminal Procedure (Amendment) Bill, 2010

• The Rajya Sabha on August 27, 2010 passed the Code of Criminal Procedure (Amendment) Bill, 2010 which will make
it compulsory for the police to record the reasons for making or not making an arrest for a cognisable offence that
carries the maximum punishment of up to seven years. The Lok Sabha has already approved the Bill. Before Section
41 of the Criminal Procedure Act was amended, the law stated that a police officer ‘may' record the reasons for
arrest or non-arrest of a person.
• Under the amended Bill, if a person is not arrested for a non-cognizable offence, the police will have to serve him
notice, asking him to join the investigation. The amendment will ensure that the person does not delay the probe by not
cooperating. Defending the amendment, Home Minister P. Chidambaram said a person arrested could go to court and
say that the reason for his arrest was absurd and get bail. If a person failed to comply with the notice (of the
investigating agency) or was unwilling to identify himself and give his name and address, he would be arrested on the
spot.

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Parliament passes Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Bill

• Parliament has given its approval to the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Bill, 2010, already passed by the Rajya
Sabha and adopted by the Lok Sabha on August 27, 2010.
• The Bill seeks to regulate the acceptance and utilisation of foreign contribution or foreign hospitality by certain
individuals or associations or companies. It will prohibit acceptance and utilisation of foreign contribution or foreign
hospitality for activities detrimental to the national interest or national security.
• The Bill would prevent the use of foreign funds to divide the country on religious basis. Those organisations, with
fictitious or benami accounts, which had indulged in conversions directly or indirectly, created communal tension,
supported sedition or had diverted funds earlier would be barred from receiving foreign contributions any more.
• Over 40,000 organisations in the country receive foreign contributions and of them, only 18,000, report the funds
transfer and submit accounts. The Bill will ensure that every five years the organisations renew their registration. If
those receiving foreign contribution do not file accounts the government will have the power to cancel their registration.
• There was a provision in the Bill where if any organisation received funds over Rs.10 lakh in an instance, the bank
concerned would immediately inform the government so that government agencies would track the source of such
funds.
• Those organisations engaged in production or broadcast of audio news, audio-visual news or current affairs through
any electronic mode will be brought under the purview of the legislation.

Whistleblower Bill introduced in Lok Sabha

• A bill proposing to protect whistleblowers, who report corruption in the government establishment, was on August 26,
2010 introduced in the Lok Sabha.
• The minister of state for personnel, Prithviraj Chavan, introduced the Bill, which intends to bring under its ambit
employees of Central and state governments, public sector firms, local authorities and societies among others.
• The proposed legislation provides for severe punishment to those who expose the identity of whistleblowers or try to
victimise them for exposing misdeeds in their organisation.
• The legislation, which is called “the Public Interest Disclosure and Protection to Persons Making the Disclosures Bill,
2010”, also provides for setting up a regular mechanism to encourage persons to disclose information on corruption or
wilful misuse of power by public servants to cause “demonstrable losses” to the government.
• According to the statement of objects and reasons of the bill, it seeks to provide “adequate protection to persons
reporting corruption or wilful misuse of discretion, which causes demonstrable loss to the government or commission
of a criminal offence by a public servant”.

Cabinet approves Educational Tribunals Bill

• The Union Cabinet on August 23, 2010 cleared a bill seeking to create a mechanism to provide for speedy resolution
of matters relating to disputes in institutions of higher education. The Educational Tribunals Bill, 2010 proposes to set
up a two-tier structure of Educational Tribunals at the national and State level to adjudicate on the gamut of disputes
that arise in the higher education system.
• The tribunals will act as forums for fast-track and speedy resolution of issues in institutions in order to build an effective
system of checks and balances in higher education. The State tribunals will adjudicate on matters concerning
teachers, employees and students of institutions in the respective States. The national tribunal would deal with all
matters concerning regulatory bodies in higher education and also matters involving institutes located in two or more
States.
• The Bill also provides for imprisonment up to three years or fine of Rs. 10 lakh or with both to those who fail to comply
with the orders of the State or the National Educational Tribunals.
• The Bill is likely to be considered and passed in this session that concludes on August 31.
• At present, there are 504 university-level institutes and 25,951 colleges across the country with an enrolment of 13.6
million students. The annual intake in these institutes is about 1.4 million.

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Indian govt. demands Blackberry data on real-time basis
• The standoff between Canadian mobile phone maker RIM and the Indian government over complete access to data
transfer between BlackBerry phones has continued. While the government wants a facility to monitor on a real time
basis, RIM is willing to do so on a deferred basis only.
• The government has conveyed to the BlackBerry maker RIM (Research In Motion) that it will not settle for anything
short of a facility to monitor communication on a real time basis and has demanded that RIM install a server in India for
tracking their messenger and enterprise mail service.
• Earlier RIM had offered to provide information on a deferred basis from its Canada-based server after it faced the
threat of a shutdown of the core features by August 31 if security agencies were not provided with access to heavily
encrypted corporate e-mail sent on a Blackberry handset.
• The RIM had provided an option to the security agencies and officials of the Home Ministry that they could hand over
details of BlackBerry phones needed to be monitored and the firm would decrypt the BlackBerry Messenger (BBM)
and BlackBerry Enterprise mail Service (BES) of the smart phones in question.
• However, the proposal was rejected as security agencies said handing over telephone numbers for monitoring would
expose the source to an outside company and this could be detrimental to the country's security.
• Security agencies have argued that even the automated system of extracting information from a Canada-based server
was not free of danger because the information could be hacked midway.
• RIM officials were told in no uncertain terms that they should deploy their interception server in India with the Indian
Service Provider having a definitive tracking system.
• The Home Ministry told the Telecom Ministry that if the security concerns were not addressed, the service should be
stopped immediately.

Sowa-Rigpa included in Indian medical system

• The Rajya Sabha on August 25, 2010 passed a Bill to include Sowa-Rigpa within the ambit of the Indian medical
system. It is practised in the sub-Himalayan region and other parts of the country, besides Tibet, Mongolia, Japan and
some other countries. The Bill seeks to include registered practitioners of Sowa-Rigpa in the Indian Medical Council.
• The Indian Medicine Central Council (Amendment) Bill, 2010, seeks to include Sowa-Rigpa along with Ayurveda,
Siddha and Unani medicine in the system, set minimum standards for education, and maintain a register of all
practitioners in these fields.
• The Bill would ensure protection and preservation of the Sowa-Rigpa system and help in its development. It would lead
to the setting up of a regulatory mechanism in the education and practice of Sowa-Rigpa. It was being done as
recommended by the National Medicinal Plant Board, which is working on Indian herbs and plants used in various
traditional systems.

Parliament passes Indian Medical Council Amendment bill

• The Parliament on August 26, 2010 approved the legislation empowering the Union government to supersede the
Medical Council of India (MCI) and constitute a board of governors, with the Rajya Sabha passing the bill amending
the Indian Medical Council Act. The Indian Medical Council Amendment Bill 2010, passed by the Lok Sabha earlier,
entails reconstitution of the council within one year from the date of its replacement. Until then, a board of governors
will exercise the powers and perform the MCI's functions.
• The bill deems that the MCI shall stand superseded and the president, vice-president and other members shall vacate
their offices without any claim for compensation. The MCI was dissolved on May 15, 2010 through an ordinance that
established a board of governors to handle the affairs of the council for one year. Among its functions, the MCI
registers medical practitioners, monitors and gives recognition to medical colleges and degrees to doctors.
• Health and Family Welfare Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad said that population to doctor ratio in urban areas was 2,000:1
while it was 9,500:1 for rural areas.

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Suggestions for revamping IFFI submitted to ministry

• An expert committee instituted by the Information & Broadcasting (I&B) Ministry to give suggestions for enhancing the
stature, scope and scale of the International Film Festival of India (IFFI) submitted its report to I&B minister Ambika
Soni on August 25, 2010.
• The committee, which had Pritish Nandy as its Chairman, has recommended that the competition section be
enhanced from being a specialised competition to an international one, which is open to all.
• The committee recommended that two new awards — Best Actor and Best Actress — be introduced and include prize
money of Rs. 10 lakh each, besides a certificate and a silver peacock. With these new awards, the total cash award
under IFFI would amount to Rs. 90 lakh.
• The committee further suggested that the final entries in the ‘International Competition’ section be increased from the
present 15 to 18. Moreover, in the ‘Indian Panorama’ section, the jury should be allowed to select fewer than the
stipulated five films from the 20 recommended by the Film Federation of India (FFI), if standards are not met.

• Lok Sabha passes Nalanda varsity Bill: The Lok Sabha on August 26, 2010 approved the Nalanda University Bill,
2010, which has already been approved by the Rajya Sabha, to set up a Rs.1,005-crore international university at
Nalanda in Bihar, where a varsity for Buddhist learning existed over 800 years ago. Establishment of the University
was an international effort by the East Asian Summit comprising 15 countries.
• Civil Services Aptitude Test to replace prelims: The government on August 26, 2010 agreed to a proposal to
introduce Civil Services Aptitude Test (CSAT) in place of Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination. In CSAT, one of the
optional subjects which a candidate could have chosen out of 23 optionals has been replaced with a common paper on
aptitude test. The government will shortly notify the new scheme of examination giving details of the syllabus.
• Birth centenary of Mother Teresa celebrated: People in Albania commemorated the birth centenary of Mother
Teresa, who was of Albanian origin, on August 26, 2010. In Skopje — the capital of neighbouring Macedonia, where
Mother Teresa was born — Parliament held a special session to pay tribute to the city’s most famous daughter. Born
Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu in 1910, she arrived in India in 1929 and took her religious vows as a nun. She adopted the
name Teresa, under which she would achieve worldwide recognition. Mother Teresa was beatified in 2003, but her
elevation to sainthood is still awaiting proof of a medical miracle. Meanwhile, in India, President Pratibha Patil unveiled
an updated edition of Mother Teresa’s biography on the occasion of her 100th birth anniversary. The book, which was
first published in 1992, has been updated by its original author Naveen Chawla, who also served as Chief Election
Commissioner.
• A.K. Antony lays foundation stone for MIDHANI expansion: Defence Minister A.K. Antony on August 27, 2010 laid
the foundation stone for Rs. 600-crore expansion programme of MIDHANI (Mishra Dhatu Nigam Ltd) in Hyderabad.
MIDHANI is designed to manufacture a wide range of special metals and alloys used in space, defense, aeronautics
and nuclear power industries.
• Govt. admits diversion of SC welfare funds for Commonwealth Games: The Union government on August 26,
2010 admitted that Rs.678.91 crore, meant for carrying out welfare projects for people belonging to the Scheduled
Castes in the Capital, was spent on various Commonwealth Games-related infrastructure projects by the Delhi
government.

Section B: WORLD

Newsmakers
Mexico's Ximena Navarrete crowned Miss Universe
• Miss Mexico Ximena Navarrete (22) was crowned Miss Universe 2010 on August 24, 2010 in Las Vegas. She was
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followed by Miss Jamaica Yendi Philipps while Miss Australia Jenista Campbell was the second runner-up at the 59
annual pageant. Miss India Ushoshi Sengupta (21) from Kolkata did not make it to the top 15.

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• Navarrete replaces Miss Universe Stefania Fernandez of Venezuela who won the title in 2009. For her win, she will get
a luxury New York apartment with living expenses, a one-year scholarship to the New York Film Academy, jewellery,
clothes, shoes and an undisclosed sum of money.
• Miss Congeniality Universe was Australia’s Jesinta Campbell; Miss Photogenic Universe was Thailand’s Fonthip
Watcharatrakul while the award for Best National Costume was won by Thailand’s Fonthip Watcharatrakul. The
winner of Miss Congeniality Universe and Miss Photogenic Universe will each receive $1,000 cash prize and a gift
from Diamond Nexus Labs. Miss Photogenic Universe and the National Costume Award are chosen by online voters.
Miss Congeniality Universe is chosen by contestants.
• Miss Universe pageant is organised by Miss Universe Organisation – a joined venture between Donald J Trump and
NBC Universal.

3 Indians in MIT list of world’s top innovators

• Rikin Gandhi, 29, CEO of Delhi-based Digital Green, is one of the three of Indian-origin people who made it to the
annual list of young innovators published by the Technological Review magazine on August 28, 2010. The magazine is
put out by an independent company owned by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). The list, called TR35,
is a collection of the top 35 innovators under the age of 35 in a particular year.
• Ranveer Chandra, 34, of Microsoft Research was chosen for ‘delivering high-speed wireless Internet connections
over longer distances’
• Rikin Gandhi, 29, CEO, Digital Green was chosen for ‘educating farmers through locally produced video’
• Indrani Medhi, 32, of Microsoft Research India was chosen for ‘building interfaces for the illiterate’ that could help
them find jobs, get medical information, and use cell-phone-based banking services

• Francis Ford Coppola selected for lifetime achievement Oscar: Francis Ford Coppola, director of cult classic films
such as the Godfather series, will be awarded a lifetime achievement Oscar by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts
and Sciences on November 13, 2010. The Academy said the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award would be presented
to him on November 13. Awards will also be presented to historian and preservationist Kevin Brownlow, director Jean-
Luc Godard and actor Eli Wallach.
• Joan Clos is new executive director of UN-HABITAT: The UN General Assembly on August 25, 2010 voted
unanimously to elect Joan Clos of Spain, as the new executive director of the UN Human Settlements Program (UN-
HABITAT) for a term of four years. He succeeded Anna Tibaijuka who has headed UN-HABITAT since it was formed
in 2001 to replace the UN Centre for Human Settlements (UNCHS). The agency is mandated by the UN General
Assembly to promote socially and environmentally sustainable towns and cities with the goal of providing adequate
shelter for all.
• Ban ki-Moon appoints Jack Lang to assist prosecution of Somali pirates: Jack Lang of France was on August
26, 2010 appointed as the special adviser to the UN secretary-general on legal issues related to the piracy off the
coast of Somalia. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon chose Lang to serve a representative in helping states decide
how to deal with captured Somali pirates who have been terrorizing the ships in the waters around East Africa,
hijacking vessels, stealing cargo and holding crew for ransom.
• Pierre Nkurunziza sworn in as new President of Burundi: Pierre Nkurunziza was on August 26, 2010 sworn in as
the President of Burundi in capital Bujumbura. Burundi, which became independent from Belgium in 1962, is one of the
poorest countries in the world with a rank of 174 on the Human Development Index (HDI).
• Danny Philip elected PM of Solomon Islands: Danny Philip was on August 25, 2010 elected Prime Minister of
Solomon Islands at the special parliament session in capital Honiara.

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News round up
th
Nepal Parliament fails to elect PM for the 5 time
• Nepal's Parliament failed to elect a Prime Minister for the fifth time on August 23, 2010. Both candidates — Unified
Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda' and Nepali Congress leader Ram
Chandra Poudel — were unable to secure a simple majority in the house of 601.
• The house business advisory committee later decided to hold a sixth round on September 5.
• Prachanda got 246 votes in his favour. While 111 MPs voted against him, 206 remained neutral. Poudel got 124 votes.
While 243 voted against him, 200 remained neutral. The stalemate persisted as two major political blocs, Communist
Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist Leninist) and the United Democratic Madhesi Front (UDMF) comprising four Madhesi
parties, decided to remain neutral once again.
• UML has maintained that a majority government through this exercise cannot finish the peace process and write a
constitution. The Madhesi front reiterated it would not vote since neither NC nor Maoists had given a satisfactory
response to their demands on Madhesi rights, peace process and new constitution.
• Nepal has been without a proper government for two months, and is staring at a financial crisis as the budget has not
been presented.
• While the Maoists have hinted they are willing to withdraw and initiate a new process, the NC has argued withdrawal of
candidates without any alternative agreement in place would lead to a vacuum.

Nepalese Parliament/Constituent Assembly: Party positions

Party No. of Leaders
seats
Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) 229 Pushpa Kamal Dahal (Prachanda)
Nepali Congress 115 Sher Bahadur Deuba, Sushil Koirala & Ram Chandra
Poudel
Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist- 108 Jhala Nath Khanal
Leninist)
Madhesi Jana Adhikar Forum, Nepal 54 Upendra Yadav
Tarai-Madhesh Loktantrik Party 21 Mahantha Thakur
Others 74
Total 601

No party wins simple majority in Australian Parliamentary elections

• A federal election was held on August 21, 2010 for members of the 43rd Parliament of Australia. Voting is compulsory
and 14 million Australians are eligible.
• The opposition centre-right Liberal/National Coalition (Liberal Party of Australia & National Party of Australia) led by
Opposition Leader Tony Abbott and the incumbent centre-left Australian Labor Party led by Prime Minister Julia
Gillard each won 72 seats in the 150-seat House of Representatives, four short of the requirement for majority
government, resulting in the first hung parliament since the 1940 election.
• Both major party leaders are seeking to form a minority government. Four independent members, one member of the
National Party of Western Australia and one member of the Australian Greens hold the balance of power.
• Issues: During the campaigning, opposition leader Abbott tried to exploit the Labor party's divisions after the departure
of Kevin Rudd as PM in June, trying to portray his coalition as a stable answer to the Labour Party government beset
by in-fighting. In his campaign he pledged to tighten immigration and hit out at government spending. He has also
toned down his well-known climate change skepticism. Prime Minister Gillard, a former lawyer who called a snap
election shortly after coming to office in June, was hoping to be rewarded for the government's handling of the
economy, which weathered the global recession remarkably well.

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Australian House of Representatives: Seat tally

Party Vote share (%) Seats Change
Liberal/National Coalition 43.4 72 +7
Australian Labor Party 38.3 72 −11
Australian Greens 11.4 1 +1
Nationals WA 0.4 1 +1
Independents 2.5 4 +2
Other 4.0 0 0
Total 150

US court disallows federal funding of stem cell research

• A court in the US on August 23, 2010 barred federal funding of embryonic stem cell research. President Barack
Obama had, through an executive order, allowed federal funding of human embryonic stem cell (ESC) research last
year.
• The court ruling said that Obama’s executive order violated the US legislation called the Dickey-Wicker Amendment
that bans federal funding of all such research. The judgement that could result in the government-run National
Institutes of Health (NIH) being barred from issuing funding grants for ESC research.
• Chief Judge Royce Lamberth of the Federal District Court for the District of Columbia said the will of the Congress, as
expressed in the 1996 Dickey-Wicker Amendment, was to prohibit federal funding of research in which human
embryos were destroyed.
• Supporters of human embryonic stem cell research say it is vital to carry it out alongside other types of stem cell
research to understand how to transform cells into desired tissue types and treat diseases ranging from juvenile
diabetes to blindness.
• Opponents say it is wrong to destroy human embryos, even days-old embryos to be discarded from fertility clinics.

1st woman climber’s record of scaling world's 14 highest peaks under a cloud
• Fresh doubt has been cast on the record of the South Korean climber, Oh Eun-Sun, who was hailed in April as the
first woman to climb the world's 14 highest peaks.
• Everest (8,850m), K2 or Godwin Austen (8,611m), Kangchenjunga (8,586m), Lhotse (8,516m), Makalu (8,463m),
Cho Oyu (8,201m), Dhaulagiri (8,167 m), Manaslu (8,163 m), Nanga Parbat (8,125m), Annapurna (8,091m),
Gasherbrum I (8,068m), Broad Peak (8,047m), Gasherbrum II (8,035m) and Shisha Pangma (8,013m) are the 14
tallest peaks in the world.
• Oh Eun-sun “probably failed” to reach the top of the world's third-highest peak, Kangchenjunga, the Korean Alpine
Federation (KAF) judged on August 26, 2010. Top Himalayan record keeper Elizabeth Hawley is investigating the
KAF ruling. If she decides to list the 2009 ascent as “unrecognised”, the record will pass to Spanish climber Edurne
Pasaban. Oh climbed Annapurna, the last of her 14 mountains above 8,000m, on April 27, 2010. Pasaban completed
the list by scaling Shisha Pangma just under three weeks later, on May 17, 2010.
• Oh has responded to the Korean Alpine Federation's verdict - issued at a meeting of seven local climbers who have
scaled the 8,586m mountain - by describing it as “a unilateral opinion”. Hawley, keeper of the authoritative Himalayan
Database, said in June it was looking “unlikely” that Oh reached the Kangchenjunga summit. This came after one of
the three sherpas who accompanied her on the ascent of Kangchenjunga said she stopped 150 metre below the
summit, in high winds

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