General Studies & Current Affairs for Bank, SSC, CLAT, Civil Services and other Competitive Exams

      2  December 2014 National: Agni-IV launch successful The launch of Agni-IV, India's strategic miss...

GK & Current Affair Updates: December 2- 2014









     2  December 2014


National:

Agni-IV launch successful
The launch of Agni-IV, India's strategic missile, from the Wheeler Island, off the Odisha coast was a success. This was the fourth success in a row for the Agni-IV missile, which has a range of more than 4,000 km. The missile unit of the Strategic Forces Command of the Army test-fired the missile. After three successful flights in November 2011, September 2012 and January 2014, the missile was inducted into the Army. Agni-IV weighs 17 tonnes and is 20 metres long. It can carry a one-tonne nuclear warhead. In this flight, it carried conventional explosives

A first of its kind, PM-led panel, to select CBI director
A high-powered committee comprising Prime Minister Narendra Modi, leader of the Congress in Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge and Chief Justice of India H L Dattu will meet to select the new CBI director. The vacancy has arisen as incumbent RanjitSinha is retiring after completing his two-year tenure as chief of the premier investigative agency. This is the first time that the PM-led panel will be selecting the CBI director. The composition of the selection panel, which was earlier headed by the Central Vigilance Commissioner (CVC), was revised when Lokpal & Lokayuktas Act was passed earlier this year, amending provisions the Delhi Special Police Establishment Act. Recently, both Houses of Parliament approved another amendment to the DSPE Act to allow leader of the single largest party in the Lok Sabha to sit on the selection panel for CBI director, where no Leader of the Opposition was recognized.

Bill sought to ratify boundary pact
A day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi confirmed that his government will go ahead with the land boundary agreement with Bangladesh; the Parliamentary Standing Committee on External Affairs tabled its report, recommending a Constitution amendment Bill to enable the swapping of enclaves and end a 67-year-old dispute between the two countries. Tabling the report in Parliament, the Chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on External Affairs, Shashi Tharoor, said the report had been “unanimously” passed by members who included those of the BJP and the Trinamool Congress, both of which had earlier opposed swapping of the enclaves. The swap will involve handing over 17,000 acres of land to Bangladesh in return for 7,000 acres in 111 enclaves in West Bengal, Assam, Tripura and Meghalaya, and was first decided under the 1974 Land Boundary Agreement (LBA) between India and Bangladesh, but never ratified by Parliament. It will require an amendment to the Constitution (the 119th amendment) ratified by both Houses of Parliament with a two-thirds majority. The standing committee’s report notes that “a number of Indian nationals living in Indian enclaves in Bangladesh territory are going to be adversely affected as they would lose their claim to Indian citizenship,” and directs the governments of India and Bangladesh to ensure there is no “discrimination” against them. The number of people to be involved in the whole swap is approximately 52,000, of which about 15,000 are on the Indian side of the border.


No job in police force even if you are exonerated in criminal case: SC
The Supreme Court ruled that any person who has faced a criminal case cannot get a job in the police force, even if he or she is acquitted or reaches a settlement under the law. “A candidate to be recruited to the police service must be worthy of confidence and must be a person of utmost rectitude and must have impeccable character and integrity. A person having criminal antecedents will not fit in this category. Hence, acquittal after a full-fledged trial or exoneration at the stage of framing of charges would not make any difference as far as suitability of a candidate is concerned, it said. “Even if he is acquitted or discharged, it cannot be presumed that he was completely exonerated. Persons who are likely to erode the credibility of the police ought not to enter the police force,”. An acquittal in a criminal case, was not conclusive evidence of innocence of an accused since it could be ordered on the basis of even a benefit of doubt or prosecution’s failure to establish someone’s guilt beyond reasonable doubt.

Ensure relief for victims of mishaps, crimes: Supreme Court
Victims of crimes and their families can look forward to a helping hand from the government to put the agonising memories behind them and be able to start life afresh. The Supreme Court has directed all states and Union Territories to implement without delay the scheme meant to compensate injured victims and families of those killed in crimes. The governments are obligated to disburse compensation under Section 357A of the Code of Criminal Procedure whereby a court can issue such orders to help victims of crime rehabilitate. A bench of Justices V Gopala Gowda and Adarsh Kumar Goel said there was a benevolent purpose behind having such a legal provision and that it could not be allowed to frustrate due to ignorance or indifference on the part of the courts or of the authorities concerned.

International:

Lima climate talks kick off
The world’s nations gathered in the Peruvian capital Lima in a renewed push for a deal to roll back carbon emissions threatening future generations. The 12-day talks under the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) take place amid grim scientific warnings and a surge in interest in sealing a pact in Paris in December 2015.

Birds as suicide bombers
Terrorists the world over are known to deploy suicide bombers, or “human bombs”, to wreak death and devastation on their targets, but have you ever heard of a bird being used as a suicide bomber? The Taliban seem to be using such a strategy and the Afghan police reportedly shot dead a bird which had been equipped by the terrorists with an explosive pouch, a GPS tracker and a detonator. The bird had several wires protruding from its feathers, a mobile phone detonator and a specially designed ‘suicide vest’. Alert officers spotted the suspicious-looking bird in the Faryab province in the north of the country, near the border with Turkmenistan and their suspicions increased as the large bird is not known to be native to the area.

Business & Economy:

Ranbaxy launches arthritis drug Infimab
Ranbaxy Laboratories launched the first biosimilar version of Johnson and Johnson’s Remicade, a drug used for treating various conditions including rheumatoid arthritis. Infimab has been introduced in the domestic market through a licensing partnership with Epirus Biopharmaceuticals.

Vijay Mallya quits MCFL board
UB group Chairman Vijay Mallya has resigned from the board of directors of Mangalore Chemicals & Fertilizers Ltd (MCFL) with immediate effect.

Sports:

Lahiri ends tied 2nd, Thaworn claims Asian Tour title
Anirban Lahiri missed way too many putts and ended being tied second as Thailand’s Thaworn Wiratchant rewrote the record books by winning an unprecedented 18th Asian Tour title after closing with a five-under-par 67 to lift the King’s Cup.