10 November 2014
National:
M.V. Raghavan passes away
Veteran Communist
leader and Communist Marxist Party (CMP) general secretary M.V. Raghavan passed
away. He was 81. He had been first elected as CPI(M) candidate to the Assembly
from erstwhile Madayi constituency in 1970. He had repeated his win in
Taliparamba in 1977, Koothuparamba in 1980 and Payyannur in 1982.
Agni-II test-fired for full 2,000-km strike range
India test-fired
the nuclear weapon-capable Agni-II ballistic missile for its full strike range
of 2,000 km from Wheeler Island off the Odisha Coast. Personnel of the
Strategic Forces Command (SFC) fired the surface-to-surface missile from a
mobile launcher. The 20-metre-tall Agni-II zoomed to an altitude of 600 km and
began its descent before splashing near its pre-designated impact point in the
Bay of Bengal with “two-digit accuracy.” A battery of sophisticated radars,
electro-optical systems and telemetry stations along the east coast tracked the
trajectory and monitored various parameters of the missile from the launch till
the terminal phase during the 14-minute flight. Two downrange ships recorded
the final event as the dummy warhead detonated.
Gujarat Governor O P Kohli gives nod to controversial voting
Bill
Gujarat Governor O
P Kohli recently signed the controversial Gujarat Local Authorities Laws Bill,
2009, which has the provisions of compulsory voting and 50 per cent reservation
for women in the institutions of local self-governance. Once the Act comes into
effect, Gujarat will be the first state to have the provision of compulsory
voting. The controversial Bill empowers the state government to take punitive
action against those who do not vote in local body elections. However, it does
not specify the type of action that would be taken against a defaulter.
International:
Kuwait offers Comoros citizenship to stateless
Tens of thousands
of stateless people in oil-rich Kuwait will be offered citizenship of the
impoverished African nation of Comoros to end their decades-old problem, the
government said. The stateless people — known as bidoons — would be granted
“special applications for Comoros’ economic citizenship,” More than 110,000
stateless people were born and raised in Kuwait and claim the right to
citizenship in the Gulf emirate. The government, which describes them as
illegal residents, says only 34,000 qualify for consideration for citizenship.
The rest are considered natives of other countries who either emigrated to
Kuwait after the discovery of oil five decades ago or were born to these
migrants. In the past three years, bidoons have held demonstrations to demand
citizenship and other basic rights, and police have dispersed them using force,
arresting hundreds who are on trial. Comoros is an archipelago state located
off eastern Africa and is a member of the Arab League.
Catalans vote on independence
More than a million
Catalans turned out to vote on independence from Spain in a symbolic ballot,
defying challenges from the Spanish government. In one of Spain's richest but
most indebted regions, a long-standing yearning for independence has swelled as
recession and corruption scandals have shaken Spain. Spain’s conservative
government challenged the vote in the courts, forcing Catalan leaders to water
it down from a non-binding referendum to a symbolic vote organised by
volunteers.
First same-sex marriage in Russia
A lesbian couple
tied the knot in Russia in a quiet ceremony seen as the first such marriage in
the country where gay unions are illegal. The marriage went through because one
of the women was born male but is now transgender and undergoing hormone
therapy in Saint-Petersburg.
Business & Economy:
Any Time Money turns dear
Savings bank
account holders are walking around with a long face these days. Weighed down by
rising prices and stagnant salaries, they now have an additional headache to
bear. Henceforth, they will not have the convenience of walking across to the
friendly neighbourhood ATM (automated teller machine) to draw money for free
more than five times a month. Those living in Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai,
Bangalore and Hyderabad will have the convenience of only three transactions in
a month if they were to use an ATM belonging to a bank where they don’t hold an
account. For transactions over these limits, including balance confirmation and
PIN change, the bank will levy a fee on them. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI)
had in August allowed banks to levy such fees and it also set the limits for
the number of free transactions terming it ‘rationalization’. And banks have
been quick to revise their charges once the RBI deadline of November 1 was
crossed. Every transaction over the permitted limit will now cost Rs.20 plus
service tax. Some banks charge half this for balance confirmation and PIN
change.
HM declares VRS for workers
The C.K. Birla-controlled
Hindustan Motors has declared a VRS for all the workers at its mother plant
Uttarpara in West Bengal’s Hooghly district. The company had declared work
suspension in May 2014 at the unit which turned out the iconic Ambassador cars.
The unit has some 1,900 workers on its rolls.
Sports:
Czech Republic lifts Fed Cup
The Czech Republic
claimed its third Fed Cup title in four years after Wimbledon champion Petra
Kvitova had to fight hard to overcome Angelique Kerber of Germany in the
opening reverse singles match. In a matchup of two top 10 players, Kvitova
prevailed 7-6(5), 4-6, 6-4 to give the Czechs an unassailable 3-0 lead on the
indoor hard court at Prague’s O2 Arena. The Czechs won their first title as an
independent nation in 2011 and retained the trophy next year. Czechoslovakia
won five times.
Kopecky wins the China Rally
Team MRF completed
its best season ever in the Asia-Pacific Rally championship (APRC) by winning
all six races in the 2014 championship with Jan Kopecky coasting to victory in
the China Rally Longyou. Kopecky driving an MRF Skoda Fabia S2000 reinforced
his and Skoda’s dominance of the series in 2014.
Marquez’s record win
MotoGP world
champion Marc Marquez claimed a record 13th win, beating Mick Doohan’s 12
victories in 1997, at the Valencia GP.
Watson claims title
Masters winner
Bubba Watson roared back to beat Tim Clark in a playoff and win the WGC-HSBC
Champions in Shanghai.
