Current Affairs - 5 October 2014

Officials in Tamil Nadu retract, but fail to save Jayalalithaa from jail term

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  CHENNAI: In the end, even somersaults performed by state officials with aplomb in the court were not enough for the unseated chief minister of Tamil Nadu, J Jayalalithaa, to disprove allegations of amassment of wealth against her before the special court in Bangalore.
  
  "Most amazing and shocking," remarked special judge John Michael Cunha, pointing out the retraction by IAS and IPS officers, including the vigilance officer who registered the FIR in the case, besides several officials of state departments, from their earlier depositions.
  
  A total of 76 prosecution witnesses were recalled by the court in 2000, when the trial was going on in Chennai, on the application filed by the accused. The manner in which 64 of them casually, without any rhyme or reason, backtracked from their earlier depositions cannot be dismissed as a trivial act of dishonesty or hostility of witnesses, Cunha said.

Heavy firing by Pakistani troops in Mendhar, Sawjian sector of Poonch

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  POONCH: Pakistan once again resorted to a major ceasefire violation in the Mendhar and Sawjian Sector of Poonch district early on Sunday morning. 
  
  Earlier, two people were injured in the Swajian sector on Friday night during ceasefire violation.
  
  Lieutenant General Subrata Saha had said on Saturday that the Army has been responding continuously to the ceasefire violations by Pakistani Rangers.
  
  "You would have noticed, whenever there have been such instances of ceasefire violations, they have been responded to appropriately, both in terms of the response on the ground along the Line of Control, as also putting them across as per our ceasefire agreement or shall we say ceasefire understanding norms; we have been sending the hotline messages. All that action is in progress as much as it is on the ground outside the various headquarters," he added.
  
  Unprovoked firing and ceasefire violations by Pakistani troops at Indian positions along the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu & Kashmir left one dead and injured four civilians on Friday.

With fleet on last legs, IAF chief sounds alert over delayed fighter projects

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  NEW DELHI: Indian top-gun pilots are slowly but surely running out of combat-worthy fighters to fly. Faced with the twin-threat from China and Pakistan, the IAF has once again sounded the red-alert over the huge delays dogging all its three fighter induction projects.
  
  Air Chief Marshal Arup Raha on Saturday said the delays in the MMRCA (medium multi-role combat aircraft) project, the indigenous Tejas light combat aircraft programme and the joint development of the futuristic stealth fifth-generation fighter aircraft (FGFA) with Russia, should be a major concern for the entire country.
  
  "Every project, be it acquisition or design and development, is taking longer than it should. We have lost timelines. We have quite a few fleets which are on their last legs. It's definitely a concern," said ACM Raha, ahead of the IAF's 82nd anniversary on October 8.

Stun grenade on PM's standby plane: 4 AI officials suspended for lapse

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  NEW DELHI: The discovery of a 'stun grenade' on Saturday morning on an aircraft kept on standby during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's US trip has exposed chinks in our aviation security armour and led to the suspension of four senior Air India officials — two security officers in Mumbai and Hyderabad each.
  
  The story is like this. When Modi took off for New York last week in an Air India jumbo jet, another Boeing 747 was kept on standby in Delhi. After he landed there safely, the plane was taken off standby duty and deployed by the National Security Guard to Mumbai the next day for an anti-hijack drill. NSG "mistakenly" left behind a stun grenade shell inside the aircraft.

Mile-high class war: Business class gets flat beds as seats shrink in economy

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  French economist Thomas Piketty may bemoan the rising inequality on earth but it's worse up in the air. Keen to get maximum revenue out of every square inch, airlines are crunching coach even as they make business and first even more plush. 
  
  Airlines like Etihad, Emirates and Singapore have introduced first class suites while flat beds have become almost the norm in business cabins. The extra room has come by shaving knee space and wedging in extra seats into economy. Seat widths have also shrunk globally from around 18 inches in the 70s and 80s to 17 inches (both on the Boeing 737-800 that SpiceJet uses and the Airbus A320s that Indigo and GoAir fly). This, even though the size of the average airline passenger has been expanding. Even the loos are getting smaller. Boeing announced last year that it would be shrinking the aircraft's standard 3 x 3 foot lavatory space. 
  
  And it's not just western airlines that are putting on the squeeze at the back of the plane. Indian carriers have also opted for "slimline" seats with thinner padding to shave centimeters off the distance between rows. And what will they do with the extra space? Pack in more rows, of course. So don't be surprised if recline rage (we already excel at road rage) makes its way across the Atlantic to Indian skies. 

US investors bet on PM Modi, to invest $41 billion in India in 3 years

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  NEW DELHI: While much has been made of the US' decision to revoke PM Narendra Modi's visa in 2005, the issue did not figure at all in his discussions with President Barack Obama either over the dinner at White House or the bilateral meet between the two leaders next day. Official sources also said that the success of Modi's trip to the US had paved the way for investments worth $ 41 billion from the US into India in the next few years.
  
  "PM has said he does not hold any grudge against the issue and President Obama too chose not to bring up the issue at the meetings he had with the PM,'' said a government source here, adding that Modi's visit to the country was a "game-changing'' one.

Indian youths who joined ISIS may not face arrest on return

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  NEW DELHI: An NDA regime may be naturally seen as "tough on terror", but the Narendra Modi government seems to be toying with the idea of taking a humanitarian approach towards Indian youths who are suspected to be fighting alongside the Islamic State (also known as ISIS) in Iraq.
  
  Faced with a proposal by NIA to lodge an FIR against ISIS, the home ministry is exploring if these youths can be deradicalised when they come back from Iraq rather than pushing them behind bars. The argument in favour of this idea is that an FIR will not only scare the youths from coming back but also prevent parents from reporting to police.

• Current Affairs Quiz 4 October 2014

  • 1. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 3 October 2014 addressed the countrymen over radio for the first time in his programme ______________.
    A. Vatan Ki Baat
    B. Mann Ki Baat
    C. Meri Baat
    D. Hamari Baat 
  • 2. Ryder Cup is associated with _______________.
    A. Golf
    B. Cricket 
    C. Hockey
    D. Football 
  • 3. In September 2014, the Bangladesh government appointed whom as the new Bangladesh High Commissioner to India ?
    A. Syed Muazzem Ali
    B. Tariq A. Karim 
    C. Syed Zirgham Raza Hyder Kazmi
     D. Naeem Anwar
  • 4. Who amongst following appointed as the president of News Broadcasting Association ?
    A. Rajat Kapoor 
    B. KVL Narayan Rao 
    C. Rajat Sharma
    D. Anurradha Prasad
  • 5. Which date is declared as Antyodya Diwas by Union Government ?
    A. 20 September
    B. 25 September
    C. 2 October
    D. 4 October 
  • 6. UN Climate Change Summit 2014 was held at __________________.
    A. Geneva
    B. Tokyo
    C. Berlin
    D. New York
  • 7. Which movie was selected for Indians official entry in the 2015 Oscars Awards?
    A. Paranthe Wali Gali
    B. Jai Ho
    C. Liar's Dice
    D. Highway
  • 8. Which Hindi Language author received Saraswati Samman 2013 for his novel "Dhool Paudhon Par"?
    A. Govind Mishra
    B. Harivansh Rai Bachchan
    C. Amar Goswami
    D. Pran Kumar Sharma
  • 9. Who amongst following is director of "Liar's Dice"
    A. Nawazuddin Siddiqui
    B. Geetu Mohandas
    C. Imtiaz Ali 
    D. Nagesh Kukunoor
  • 10. World Animal Day was observed on _____________ across the world.
    A. 1 October
    B. 2 October
    C. 3 October
    D. 4 Octobe
  • Answer :
    
    1)B, 2)A, 3)A, 4)C, 5)B, 6)D, 7)C, 8)A, 9)B, 10)D