Current Affairs - 2 December 2014

Modi's minister uses derogatory language, defends remark

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  NEW DELHI: Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti, who used derogatory language during campaigning for Delhi assembly elections, has defended her remark even as Congress has sought a reply from the government on the issue.
  
  Addressing an election rally in Delhi on Monday, Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti had said, "People of Delhi have to decide if they want a government of Ramzaadon (followers of Ram) or a government of those who are illegitimate."
  
  Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, the minister of state in the Union ministry said, "My statement was for those who don't believe in Ram, who don't believe in unity of country. It should not be given a communal twist."
  
  "I did not take name of any particular individual, community or party," she said on her remark.
  
  "Is it a crime to talk about Ram? How can talking about Ram be communal?," she asked.
  
  Congress has decided to raise the issue in Rajya Sabha and has given a notice.
  
  Senior Congress leader Ashwani Kumar said, "It shows narrowmindedness of BJP. Such statement has never been made in history of democracy before."
  
  Opposition wants the minister to apologize for using abusive language.

Phase-II polls: Voting under way in Jharkhand, J&K amid tight security

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  NEW DELHI: Voting is under way for the second phase of the five-phased state elections in 18 seats in Jammu & Kashmir and 20 seats spread across seven Maoist-hit tribal districts of Jharkhand amid tight security.
  
  All eyes are trained on this phase after the first one on November 25 logged a record turnout of over 70% in Jammu & Kashmir and 62% in Jharkhand.
  
  In Jammu & Kashmir, polling will continue till 4pm at 2181 polling booths. Over 15 lakh voters will determine the fate of 175 candidates.
  
  Of the 18 constituencies, Handwara in north Kashmir Kupwara district will be the focus of attention as separatist-turned-mainstream politician Sajad Gani Lone is making debut in assembly elections after unsuccessfully contesting the Lok Sabha polls in 2009.

14 CRPF men killed in Chhattisgarh Naxal ambush, toll may rise

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  RAIPUR: Within a day of Chhattisgarh chief minister Raman Singh asserting that the state will become "Naxal-free", Maoists struck in Sukma district on Monday, killing 14 Central Reserve Police Force personnel, including two officers. The Maoists allegedly adopted a cowardly tactic by using villagers as human shields for the ambush that took place about 6 km from Taarmetla, where 76 CRPF jawans were mowed down in April 2010 in the deadliest single-day insurgent attack yet on Indian security forces.
  
  "The Naxals used villagers as shields, so our troops couldn't retaliate with full force as that would have cost villagers' lives," a senior CRPF officer said. 
  "The slain officers included deputy commandant D S Verma and assistant commandant Rajesh Kapuriya. At least 13 to 14 jawans were injured," a senior CRPF officer supervising the rescue operations said over phone from Jagdalpur, the divisional headquarters of Bastar.

Army says won’t recruit Haryana’s molester duo

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  CHANDIGARH: There is no place for molesters in the Indian Army. This is the strong message that the Army sent out on Monday by announcing that the two men, caught on camera molesting the Sonipat sisters in a moving bus, will not be recruited despite them clearing the physical test. The sisters will be honoured on Republic Day for their bravery.
  
  Kuldeep and Deepak were waiting to give the written test but they can forget their dream of donning the proud uniform. The recruiting branch of the Army told TOI that it was the end of the road for the two. The officials issued a statement after the Rohtak deputy commissioner informed the branch recruiting officer about their now-infamous bus ride.
  
  "We take such issues very seriously and we have zero tolerance policy," Army sources said.

Noida chief engineer was no engineer !

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  NOIDA: Yadav Singh, who was the chief engineer of Noida, Greater Noida and Yamuna Expressway Development Authority till Rs 12 crore in cash was found in his SUV a few days back, did not even have an engineering degree for most of his career.
  
  He joined Noida Authority in 1980 as a junior engineer (JE). He was promoted to the post of assistant project engineer in 1985. And then to project engineer (PE) in 1995. But all this while, he did not have an engineering degree.
  
  In 1995, he was promoted to PE (TOI has a copy of the letter) with the rider that he gets a degree within three years, which he duly did. But the promotion raised many eyebrows. One, because he didn't have a degree, and two, because he superseded 20 other assistant project engineers, something unheard of in UP's seniority-driven babudom.

Mumbai cops disallow Pak artistes' concert

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  MUMBAI: Popular Pakistani band Sachal Jazz Ensemble had to call off its performance at the NCPA on Monday evening at the last moment because the city police withheld seven Pakistan artists in the band permission to perform. 
  
  The Lahore-based band consists of three British citizens and seven Pakistanis. The last-minute cancellation left a 1,000 strong crowd that had gathered to hear the internationally renowned band deeply disappointed. 
  
  The band had tweeted on Sunday night that it was going to perform "jazz and ragas" at the NCPA. The performance was to begin at 7 pm; the show was cancelled at 7.40 pm after the permissions failed to come through. 
  
  Reportedly, the three UK citizens in the band were given approval by the police to perform in the city, but the permissions to the Pakistanis were held up. The organizers, who were trying the whole day to get the requisite permissions, seemed surprised by the last-minute denial. They refused to speak about the issue, only saying that they will send a formal email on Tuesday explaining the cancellation. 
  
  Sources in the police special branch said the department sat on the application from the band to perform in the city in the wake of the current India-Pakistan tensions. "There have been cases in the past where the situation has turned violent after approval was given to organise such concerts," said the source. 

Deprive parent deserters of tax credits, says IIM

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  AHMEDABAD: Considering the increase in number of Indians pushing their parents to old age homes, faculty members of the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIM-A) provided a solution to the policy makers. 
  
  "The government should give tax credits to people who stay with their parents. There is a limit to the number of old age homes that anyone can build but there is a need of such homes as people do not want to stay with their ageing parents. So, if we cannot make social and value changes, then we can make it economically viable for the nation. This will encourage more families to stay together, leading to a reduction in the total cost of the nation," said Dheeraj Sharma, faculty in marketing and organizational behaviour, who had organized a meeting of IIM-A professors with top politicians and government officials in New Delhi last week to discuss such challenges. 
  
  The meet—Vision 2024 Imperatives for Public Policy—saw 20 IIM-A professors meet over 100 government officials and ministers, including Ravi Shankar Prasad, minister of communications and information technology; Piyush Goyal from ministry of power; Rajyavardhan Rathore, minister of state for I&B; Satyapal Singh, member of parliament; and Subramanian Swamy, former cabinet minister. 

Mysterious fire guts Delhi church, foul play suspected

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  NEW DELHI: A mysterious, early morning fire destroyed one of East Delhi's big churches, St Sebastian's Church in Dilshad Garden, prompting allegations of foul play by the Christian community.
  
  Police have registered an FIR against unknown persons under section 436 (mischief by fire with intent to destroy house) of IPC.
  
  The blaze started in the early hours of Monday and reduced to ashes the church's interior, including the altar, the Holy Bible, Cross and all images and statues. Several churchgoers stood outside the charred remains of the 13-year-old shrine the entire afternoon, protesting against what they believed was a planned assault.
  
  Delhi archbishop Anil Couto has in a memorandum to PM Narendra Modi and home minister Rajnath Singh demanded a judicial inquiry into the incident. Couto also alleged that the police took a long time to react to the fire and were late in sending officers and forensic units to collect evidence.

Man gets month in jail for defaming judiciary on social networking sites

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  MUMBAI: The Bombay high court on Monday sentenced a man to one month simple imprisonment after holding him guilty of criminal contempt of court for posting defamatory material against the judicial system on social networking sites.
  
  "Time has come. The courts will have to take a strict view," said a division bench of Justices V M Kanade and Anuja Prabhudessai. "We have come to the conclusion that you have committed contempt of court,'' they told Dwarka Hiranandani (56). The judges said they were sentencing him to a month although the maximum sentence under The Contempt of Courts Act is six months' imprisonment.
  
  But they acknowledged his right to appeal against the order in the Supreme Court, and added that until then, their order was not be executed. They directed the state to take him into custody after the appeal period was over, and if there was no stay by the apex court. "You don't have any right to scandalize the judiciary. You cannot make such allegations," the judges told Hiranandani, who urged the bench to show mercy to him, saying he was the victim.
  
  The court allowed a criminal contempt petition filed by Hiranandani's sister-in-law Anita against him, his wife Duru and son Sunil in their dispute over a flat at Lokhandwala, Andheri (W). Her petition said the HC had transferred Hiranandani's civil suit to the city civil court but he had been making scandalous allegations against not only the judges and the judicial system, but even advocates who appeared in the matter in writing and on the Internet.

CENSUS - 2011 IMPORTANT FACTS

• Census 2011 is the 15th Census of India since 1872. The slogan of Census 2011 is "Our Census, Our Future".

  The present Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India is Dr. C. Chandramouli. Census 2011 covered 35 States/Union Territories, 640 districts, 5,924 Sub-districts, 7,933 Towns and 6, 40,930 Villages. Total Population The total population of India at 0.00 hours of 1st March 2011 is 1210.6 million. India’s population accounts for 17.5 per cent of world population. The country’s population is almost equal to the populations of the U.S., Indonesia, Brazil, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Japan put together. Out of the total increase of 182 million added in the last decade, the contribution of rural and urban areas is equal (91.0 million each). The absolute addition is slightly lower than the population of Brazil, the fifth most populous country in the world. This makes 2001-2011 as the first decade with the exception of 1911-1921 which has actually added lesser population compared to the previous decade. The rural population is 833.5 million and the urban population 377.1 million. The rural population constitutes 68.8% and urban population 31.2% of the total population. Uttar Pradesh is the most populous State with 199 million people followed by Maharashtra at 112 million people and Lakshadweep is the least populated at 64,429 persons. Uttar Pradesh has the largest rural population of 155.3 million (18.6% of the country's rural population). Maharashtra has the highest urban population of 50.8 million (13.5% of country's urban population) in the country. Himachal Pradesh (90.0%) has the largest proportion of rural population. Delhi (97.5%) has the highest proportion of urban population. Thane of Maharashtra is the most populated District in India. Dibang Valley, Arunachal Pradesh, is the least populated District in India. Growth Rate The growth rate of population in India in the last decade is 17.7% (Rural - 12.3%; Urban - 31.8%). Meghalaya (27.2%) has recorded the highest decadal growth rate in rural population. Daman & Diu (218.8 %) recorded the highest decadal growth rate in urban population during 2001-2011. Population Density Population density in Census 2011 works out to be 382 showing an increase of 57 points from 2001. Delhi (11,320) turns out to be the most densely inhabited followed by Chandigarh (9,258) among all States/UTs, both in 2001 and 2011 Census. Among the major States, Bihar occupies the first position with a density of 1106, surpassing West Bengal which occupied the first position during 2001. The minimum population density works out in Arunachal Pradesh (17) for both Censuses. Among districts in India, highest density district is North East Delhi (37,346 per Sq KM) and lowest density district is Dibang of Arunachal Pradesh (1 per Sq KM). Sex Ratio  The Sex Ratio in the country which was 933 in 2001 has increased by 7 points to 940 in 2011. In rural areas, the sex ratio has increased from 946 to 949. The corresponding increase in urban areas has been by 29 points from 900 to 929. Kerala has recorded the highest sex ratio (1084) in respect of total population. Daman and Diu recorded the lowest sex ratio (618) among States and UTs. The lowest sex ratio in rural areas has been recorded in Chandigarh (690). The corresponding value in urban areas has been returned in Daman & Diu (551). Child Population  The child population in the age group of 0-6 years stands at 164.5 million. Compared to Census 2001, the Child population has increased by 0.7 million in the country. The growth rate of child population works out to 0.4% in the last decade. However, there has been a decline of 4.1% in rural areas and an increase of 15.6% in urban areas. Census 2011 marks a considerable fall in child sex ratio (0-6 years) from 927 to 919 (-8 points) during 2001-2011. This is the lowest sex ratio since 1961. Scheduled Caste Population The total Scheduled Caste population returned in Census 2011 is 201.4 million. The Scheduled Caste population constitutes 16.6 % of the total population. The highest proportion of Scheduled Castes has been recorded in Punjab (31.9 %) and the lowest in Mizoram (0.1%). The highest number of Scheduled Castes has been recorded in Uttar Pradesh (41.4 million) and the lowest in Mizoram (1,218). Scheduled Tribe Population  The total Scheduled Tribe population returned in Census 2011 is 104.3 million. The Scheduled Tribe population constitutes 8.6 % of the total population. The highest proportion of Scheduled Tribes has been recorded in Lakshadweep (94.8 %) and the lowest in Uttar Pradesh (0.6%). The highest number of Scheduled Tribes has been recorded in Madhya Pradesh (15.3 million) and the lowest in Daman & Diu (15,363). Literacy Rate The number of literates in India is 763.5 million in Census 2011. Literacy rate has gone up from 64.83 per cent in 2001 to 74.04 per cent, showing an increase of 9.21 percentage points. The literacy rate for males and females works out to 82.14 per cent and 65.46 per cent respectively. The increase in literacy rate in males and females during 2001-2011 is in the order of 6.88 and 11.79 percentage points respectively. The highest number of rural literates has been recorded in Uttar Pradesh. Maharashtra has recorded the highest number of literates in urban areas. In percentage terms male literates were 56.9% of the total literates and the female literates were 43.1 % of the total literates. Kerala has the highest literacy rate (93.91) followed by Lakshadweep (92.28). Bihar has the least literacy rate (63.82) and least goes to Arunachal Pradesh (66.95)