1st September, 2006 – 20th September, 2006

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1^st September, 2006 – 20^th September, 2006

1. The 17^th Law commission headed by Justice M. Jagannadh Rao has suggested comprehensive 'Witness Identity Protection' ( WIP) and 'Witness Protection' (WP) programmes to prevent witnesses from turning hostile under threat from the accused and to ensure that criminal trials do not end in acquittals. It also suggested to the State governments that they enact a law to compel hospitals and doctors to attend to accident victims, those requiring emergency medical treatment and women in labour.
2. The Indian Aviation Contingent-I comprising of 243 air warriors has been sent to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) which has been in a state of turmoil since attaining freedom in 1960.
3. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh inaugurated the largest Housing project for women workers in Asia in Sholapur, Maharashtra. The project comprises 10,000 houses to be built for the bidi workers.
4. The Forbes magazine has listed Germany's first woman chancellor Angela Merkel as the world's most powerful woman. She has overtaken US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
5. The Ministry of Agriculture, has launched FASAL - a programme for Forecasting Agriculture output using Space, Agro-Meteorology and Land-based observations for better accuracy in crop production. Initially the programme will cover two commodities - wheat and rice. Later it will be extended to all major crops. Crop output forecasts will be made one month before harvest, taking into account drought, floods, frost and such weather situations. The FASAL project will take into account rain, heat and humidity influences on crop.
6. A Joint Parliamentary committee comprising 10 MP's from the Lok Sabha and 5 from the Rajya Sabha has been appointed to suggest a comprehensive definition of 'office of profit'. It shall make a report to the House by the first day of the last week of the next session of Parliament.
7. The Union Panchayati Raj Ministry has come out with a proposal to synergise the activities of the Nehru Yuva Kendra Sangathan with panchayats across the country for promoting sports and games called Panchayati Yuva Khel Abhiyan, the initiative aims at propelling the country and increasing medals tally that plays an important part in boosting national self esteem and securing international recognition.
8. A meteorite fell at Kanvarpura village near Rawatbhata, where the Rajasthan Atomic power plant is situated on August 29. It weights 6.8 kg and is of a rare type as it consists of 90 per cent iron.

9. The Supreme Court has ruled that voluntary retirement of an employee under a scheme cannot be sought as a matter of right and it is not mandatory for the employer to accept all applications received under the scheme.

10. The country observed the centenary of the national song "Vande Mataram" composed 130 years ago by Bankim Chandra Chatterjee.

11. The Government abolished the five per cent import duty on wheat for private traders. The decision has brought the private traders on a par with the state Trading Corporation, which is already importing wheat at zero duty. The Zero duty on import of wheat will remain in force till December 31.

12. The World Peace Gong – a symbol of brotherhood, peace and nature was inaugurated on September 11 at the Gandhi Smriti centre to commemorate the Centenary of Gandhiji first Satyagraha launched in South Africa on September 11, 1906. Presented by the multi-cultural society of Indonesia, the large Gong bears the national flags of all united nations member countries and symbols of prominent religious of the world.

13. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh meets Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. It is the first visit of an Indian Prime Minister to Brazil in 38 years. The two countries decided to start a bilateral strategic dialogue on regional and global issues such as energy security and the international security situation including terrorism. They agreed to work in closer coordination in international forums. The other major area of cooperation would be in the reform of the UN in particular the expansion of the security council.

Indian and Brazil are both claimants for permanent membership of the security council and decided to work together in the framework of the G4 along with Japan and Germany.

14. India -Brazil-South Africa forum - which met on September 13^th at the summit level for the first time -came out with a joint declaration. According to it -

• The leaders agreed to explore approaches to cooperation in the peaceful uses of nuclear energy under appropriate safeguards.

This support from Brazil and South Africa is crucial as the two countries are members of the Nuclear suppliers group, whose approval would be necessary for the deal with the US to come into operation and Brazil currently chairs the group secondly, the two countries had given up the option of building nuclear weapons despite possessing the technological capability. India's deal with the U.S. had been criticised as being unfair to countries such as Brazil and South Africa, and gaining their support would remove much of the force behind the argument.

• They also decided to establish a working group to focus on the modalities of a trilateral free trade agreement among India, Mercosur ( the South American group comprising Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay and Argentina) and the Southern African Customs Union.

15. The Government notifies the new Environmental Impact Assessment ( EIA) norms, relaxing the rules for obtaining environmental clearance from the centre. According to the new notification projects will now receive environmental clearance at the Centre and State level depending on the built-up area instead of the cost of the project. Developmental projects with a built-up area of between 20,000 to 1,00,000 square meters will be given environmental clearance by the State Pollution Control Boards and those with a built-up area of over a lakh square metres will have to approach the Union Environment and Forests Ministry for EIA clearance. While the new notification gives concessions to the building and construction sector, several sectors, including automobile and biomedical industry, will now be cleared at the State level.

16.Yaws, a chronic infectious disease, has been eliminated from India. However, it will be another two years before the disease is eradicated. ( Elimination means no case has been reported for the past three years. If there is no incidence for two more years, then it will mean the disease is eradicated ). India eliminated leprosy in 2005. Kala-azar would be eliminated in 2008.

Yaws is a tropical infection of the skin, bones and joints prevalent among children in the age group 6-15 in remote tribal areas. The disease was noticed in the 49 tribal districts of 10 States, particularly Andhra Pradesh, Orissa and Chhatisgarh. India took up the Yaws Eradication Programme ( YEP) in 1996-97. The project was first taken up in Koraput district of Orissa in 1996-97 and extended to all endemic districts in 1999. Yaws can be eradicated by administering a single pencillin injection to the infected persons, their family members, neighbours and school contacts.

17. A non-governmental organisation, Toxics Link has found alarming levels of lead and cadmium in soft Polyvinylchloride (PVC) toys. Lead and cadmium are proven poisons, being neurotoxins and nephrotoxins respectively, Neurotoxins are agents that harm the nervous system while nephrotoxins affect the kidneys. Even the tiniest amounts can have long-term and measurable effects on children while displaying no distinctive symptoms. Lead is absorbed into the blood stream- some of it is filtered out and excreted, but the rest is deposited in the liver, brain, kidney and bones.

18. The Reserve Bank of India ( RBI) committee, headed by S.S.Tarapore, on Fuller Capital Account Convertibility has recommended the implementation of the scheme in a five year period in three phases and a comprehensive review at the end of the five year period ending in 2010-11 to chalk out the future plan of action.

19. The Board of Governors of the International Monetary Fund ( IMF) has endorsed a package of organisational governance reform by a landslide 90.6 per cent of total voting power. Under the IMF - approved first stage of reforms, China, South Korea, Mexico, Turkey have been given varying measures of adhoc increases in their voting powers. With this increase, China's voting power surges to 3.72 per cent from 2.98. Beijing's quota which stands at 6,369.2 million Special Drawing Rights (SDR) at present will jump to 8,090.1 million SDRs. India's voting power will slide to 1.91 per cent from 1.95, while its quota will remain stable at 4,158.2 million SDRs. India was joined by Brazil, Argentina and Egypt in its campaign against the reform plan. Their main argument was that the "non-linear" plan was likely to bring about new imbalances within the IMFs power structure.

20. The Oil and Natural Gas Corporation ( ONGC) plans to invest over Rs. 35,000 crore in a new 15 million tonnes refinery, petrochemical plant and power and LNG plants at the Mangalore Special Economic Zone. This will be first Petroleum, Chemicals, Petrochemicals Investment Region (PCPIR) of the country.

21. Europe's first spacecraft to the moon ended its three year mission with a planned crash on the lunar surface. The impact took place in a volcanic plain called the 'Lake of Excellence'.

22. Opium poppy cultivation in Afghanistan has recorded an increase of almost 50% present from 2005. Afghanistan produces more than 90% of word's opium and heroin supply.

23. Sudan has asked African Union (A.U.) peacekeepers to leave Darfur by the end of the month. The Sudanese government has already rejected a UN security council resolution calling for deployment of more than 20,000 UN peace keepers to take over from the embattled 7000 strong A.U. force. the combined effect of war and famine has left up to 3,00,000 people dead in Darfur and displaced 2.5 million in three and a half years of civil war hitting the Sudanese government and allied militias against ethnic minority rebels.

A peace agreement was signed in Abuja on May 5^th by the government and the main Darfur rebel faction.

24. Women constitute almost half of all global migrants world wide - 95 million or 49.6 percent. While the United State received the highest number of migrants in 2005, India stood eighth in rank, according to the state of world population 2006 report - 'A passage to hope: women and international migration', released by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).

25. The European Union has expressed its support to Vietnam's bid for swift accession to the World Trade Organization. ( E.U. Trade Commissioner - Peter Mandelson )

26. A bronze bust of Kalidasa was unveiled in the Shanghai Theatre Academy. Kalidasa's is the first and the only exhibit of an Asian figure.

27. Delegates of the 26^th General Assembly of the International Astronomical Union ( IAU) decided to remove Pluto from the list of nine planets. From now on the inner polar system - Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars and the gas giants of the outer system - Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune will comprise the planets in our solar system, while Pluto, Xena and Ceres (the largest rocky body orbiting the Sun between Mars and Jupiter) are to be called 'dwarf planets'. Smaller objects orbiting the Sun such as asteroids and comets will be called 'small solar system bodies'.

The IAU has also put forward a new definition for planets. To be considered a planet under the new nomenclature, the heavenly body must be big enough to have been pulled into a round shape by its own gravity. Planets must also dominate their neighbourhood, effectively clearing out other rubble in their path.

28. China's first seed breeding satellite "Shijiom-8", launched on September 9 has started sending back one high- definition digital image of sprouting Chinese cabbage every two hours since September, 10.

29. The two day NAM summit adopted the Havana declaration and the Final Document. It -

• Urged countries to refrain from extending, political, diplomatic, moral and material support to terrorism.
• Condemned unilateralism and attempts to exercise hegemonic domination in international relations.
• Opposed categorisation of countries as good or evil based on unilateral and unjustified criteria and the adoption of a doctrine of pre-emptive attack, including by nuclear weapons.
• Called for efforts to make United Nations Security Councils more democratic, more representative, more accountable and more effective.

It also adopted a declaration on Palestine and called on four countries involved in mediation to remain actively engaged in the Palestinian and Israeli side to bring about resumption of direct and substantial negotiations. On Iran's Nuclear issue the conference said diplomacy and dialogue through peaceful means must continue to find a long -term solutions.

30. Moldova's breakaway province of Trans- Dniester has overwhelmingly voted to become part of Russia. The Russian speaking region of 550,000 broke away from Moldova following a bloody war in 1992. The 16-year dispute is one of several "frozen conflicts" among former Soviet States which left thousands dead in the 1990's and threaten to erupt again.

FROZEN CONFLICTS - THREATEN TO REIGNITE Chechnya : Breakaway Russian republic has been in state of conflict since 1994, with violence sporadically spreading to neighbouring republics. South Ossetia : Conflict in early 1990s drove out 1,00,000 people and growing nationalism could reignite violence. Independence referendum scheduled for Novemer,12. Trans-Dniestr : Split from Moldova in 1990, fought war in 1992. 60% ethnic Russian or Ukrainian. Moldova's main industrial region. Abkhazia: Fought with Georgia in 1992-93, winning de facto independence. Close ties to Russia include passports and pensions. Nagorno-Karabakh : Controlled by Armenian military since three-year war ended in 1994.

31. Michael Schumacher, the most successful Formula one driver of all time announces his retirement from the sport at the end of the 2006 world championship. The German is a seven times world champion.

32. Joshana Chinappa and Saurav Ghosal emerged as the winners of women's and men's singles titles in the 54^th National Squash championship.

PEOPLE IN THE NEWS

Name Reason(s) for being in the News 1. Shivshankar Menon Appointed Foreign Secretary 2. Fali Nariman His book India's Legal System : Can it be saved ? was released by the President. 3. Justice B.N. Srikrishna Appointed Chairman of the Sixth Pay Commission 4. Shobhana Bhartia Vice-Chairperson and Editorial Director, Hindustan Times Media. Elected Chairperson of the Audit Bureau of Circulation for 2006-07. 5. Shabhana Azmi – Film Star and Social Activist Recipient of the Gandhi International Peace Prize. 6. Javed Aktar - Script Writer and Lyricist Recipient of the Indira Gandhi Award for National Integration. 7. Usha Narayanan Assumes charge as Executive Director of SEBI. 8. Lucy Tate - Student Has become Britain's youngest Magistrate at the age of 19.

DISCLAIMER The information presented above has been collected from a variety of sources. Brain Tree exercises due care and caution in collecting the data before publication. Inspite of this, if any omission, inaccuracy or printing errors occur with regard to the data, Brain Tree will not be held responsible or liable.

Dear aspirants,

Enclosed herewith please find our first handout on current affairs for the Civil Services Preliminary Examination 2007. This handout covers Current Affairs between 1^st September,2006 to 20^th September, 2006.

Regards,

Gopala Krishna

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