UGT
IN
CA-15-11
CURRENT AFFAIRS SNIPPETS : NOVEMBER 2015
INSTRUCTOR NOTE
Time : 120 minutes
GOVERNMENT
Pay panel moots 23.5% hike, to cost govt. Rs.1.02
lakh cr.
In its report submitted to the Union Finance Minister
Arun Jaitley, the Seventh Central Pay Commission
has recommended an overall increase of 23.55 per
cent in pay, allowances, and pension for government
employees. Within this, the Commission’s report
recommends a 16 per cent increase in basic pay,
a 63 per cent increase in allowances and a 24
per cent hike in pension. The recommendations
are to come into force on January 1, 2016. “This
will impact 47 lakh employees and 52 lakh pen-
sioners. The total monetary impact on the central
government would be Rs 1.02 lakh crore. Around
Rs 74,000 crore would be the impact on the Union
Budget and Rs 28,000 crore on the Railway Budget,”
Mr Jaitley said at his residence after he received
the report from Justice A.K. Mathur, Chairperson
of the Commission. Mr Jaitley said the impact of
the recommendations amounts to 0.6 per cent of
GDP, adding that while the government would review
the report soon, the State governments would take
their own view on it.
The report also recommends an annual increment
of 3 per cent in basic pay.
Significantly, the report has recommended a one-
rank one-scheme for all government employees,
including military personnel. “The Commission
recommends a revised pension formulation for civil
employees including CAPF personnel as well as
for Defence personnel, who have retired before
January 1, 2016. This formulation will bring about
parity between past pensioners and current retirees
for the same length of service in the pay scale
at the time of retirement,” Justice Mathur explained.
Past pensioners will first be placed in the proposed
pay matrix on the basis of where they stood in
the existing pay band and pay grade structure
when they retired. This amount is to be raised
to arrive at the notional pay of retirees, taking
into account the number of increments they earned
in that level while in service at the rate of 3 per
cent. Defence forces personnel will also receive
Military Service Pay as admissible.
Fifty per cent of the total amount arrived at in
Module
this manner will be the new pension, the report
said.
For more information, please visit: http://
www.govtempdiary.com/category/7th-pay-commis-
sion-india
Syed Akbaruddin is India’s next Permanent
Representative to UN
Senior diplomat and former high-profile spokes-
person of the External Affairs Ministry Syed
Akbaruddin has been appointed as India’s Per-
manent Representative to the United Nations,
succeeding Asoke Mukerji.
He had also brought an effective mix of social
and digital media into the External Publicity division.
As India’s Permanent Representative to the global
body in New York, Mr. Akbaruddin’s main task
would be to push for India’s bid to gain permanent
membership of the UN Security Council as well
as to strongly advocate its position on key issues.
Mr. Akbaruddin was Chief Coordinator of the
recently-held Indo-Africa Summit here which was
participated by heads of state and government of
41 countries from African continent.
He had served at the International Atomic Energy
Agency (IAEA) in Geneva and is considered an
“expert” on the West Asia where he had served
in various capacities. Vikas Swarup, author of best-
selling novel Q&A which formed the basis for Oscar-
winning movie Slumdog Millionaire, had replaced
Mr. Akbaruddin as MEA spokesperson in April.
For more information, please visit: https://
www.pminewyork.org/
Ex-Cabinet Secy. (T. Subramanian) to head panel
on new education policy
Former Cabinet secretary T.S.R. Subramanian has
been appointed chairperson of a committee set
up by the Human Resource Development Ministry
to draft the new education policy.
Now, 0.5% cess on services to support Swachh
Bharat
The government imposed two new levies — a
0.5 per cent Swachh Bharat Cess on all services,
now liable to service tax, and a 2 per cent regional
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connectivity cess on international air travel and
flights between metros and big cities.
The Swachh Bharat cess will be effective from
November 15, said an official release. The proceeds
from this cess will be exclusively used for Swachh
Bharat initiatives. The decision will increase the
service tax outgo on insurance premiums, air fares
and cell phone bills. “This is not another tax but
a step towards involving each and every citizen
in making contribution to Swachh Bharat,” the
government said.
For more information, please visit: http://
www.cbec.gov.in/resources//htdocs-cbec/press-re-
lease/faq-sbc.pdf;jsessionid=E0B1767EF4CB184C
04BDFA1583CC3D1C
Justice T.S. Thakur to be next Chief Justice
of India
In a significant move signalling that seniority reigns
supreme in the highest judiciary following the revival
of the Collegium, Chief Justice of India H.L. Dattu
has recommended the name of Justice Tirath Singh
Thakur as his successor.
Justice Thakur, who is the seniormost judge after
the Chief Justice, will take over after Chief Justice
retires on December 2, 2015. It is a convention
that the present CJI recommends to the government
the name of his successor. After the Law Ministry
clears his name, the file would travel to the Prime
Minister’s Office and finally reach the President.
His Warrant of Appointment would be issued after
the President gives his approval.
Though considered a formal routine and a courtesy
from the incumbent to his successor, Chief Justice
Dattu’s recommendation this time gains signifi-
cance as it comes shortly after a five-judge
Constitution Bench on October 16 struck down
the National Judicial Appointments Commission
law and restored the Collegium system of judicial
appointments.
Had the NJAC law been upheld in whole by the
Bench, it would have been the six-member
Commission, and not the CJI, who would have
recommended the next Chief Justice of India.
Again, Chief Justice Dattu’s recommendation comes
even as the five-judge Bench led by Justice J.S.
Khehar is in the process hearing suggestions to
fix the eligibility criteria for judicial appointments
in an effort to make the Collegium transparent.
The Bench has fixed November 5 to debate and
decide on the suggestions it received from various
quarters to better the Collegium style of func-
tioning.
Justice Thakur, who is known for his patient,
detailed and fair hearings of cases, would be the
43rd Chief Justice of India. He would be in office
till January 4, 2017.
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Justice T.S. Thakur heralded the overhaul in the
Indian cricket administration by holding that no
office-bearer of the Board of Control of Cricket
in India (BCCI) should have any commercial interests
in the game. The judgment on January 22, 2015
demanded institutional integrity from the BCCI and
classified the Board’s administration of cricket in
India as a public function.
Justice Thakur also heads the bench hearing the
Sahara-SEBI dispute, which is steering the course
for Sahara Group to return Rs. 36,000 crore back
to its allegedly duped investors. He also heads
the bench monitoring the Saradha chit fund scam
and the multi-crore NRHM scam.
Known for his pithy observations in court, it was
Justice Thakur who reminded the NDA government
of its pre-election promise to clean up River Ganga.
He had pulled up the government, saying it would
probably take them another 200 years to do the
job.
In another case, he had observed that meat bans
cannot be “shoved down someone’s throat” while
refusing a Jain community organisation’s plea to
set aside the stay order issued by the Bombay
High Court on a state government notification banning
sale of meat and slaughter in Mumbai during the
Paryurshan festival period. Advocating tolerance,
he had rounded off the hearing by quoting an
Urdu couplet by the poet Kabir, “ why do you
peek into the homes of those who use meat, let
them do what they do, but why are you so bothered
about them, brother’.
Born on January 4, 1952, he is the son of D.D.
Thakur, an eminent advocate who became judge
in the Jammu and Kashmir High Cour and later
union minister.
Justice Thakur started his legal practice in his
father’s chambers in the Jammu and Kashmir High
Court and went on to represent as Pleader in a
variety of cases cutting across all branches of
law.
He was designated a senior advocate in 1990 and
was invited to the Bench as an additional judge
of the J&K High Court.
He served as judge in the High Courts of Karnataka
and Delhi, before being appointed as acting Chief
Justice of Delhi High Court in 2008.
He was serving as Chief Justice of the Punjab
and Haryana High Court at the time of his elevation
to the Supreme Court in November 2009.
For more information, please visit:
http://supremecourtofindia.nic.in/judges/
judges.htm
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STATE
50 Uttar Pradesh districts declared drought-
hit
As many as 50 of the 75 Uttar Pradesh districts
have been declared drought-hit. The revenue
collections in the affected districts would remain
suspended till March 31, 2016, the official added.
The decision was taken by chief minister Akhilesh
Yadav after assessing detailed district-wise report
of the drought situation.
Among the districts declared drought-hit are Faizabad,
Jhansi, Sant Ravidasnagar, Lucknow, Allahabad,
Mirzapur, Ballia and Ghaziabad.
Extensive relief measures have been ordered by
the chief minister and departments like irrigation,
rural development, panchayati raj, agriculture, social
welfare, institutional finance, animal husbandry and
health have been asked to execute special schemes
to mitigate the problems faced by farmers in these
areas.
T-Hub to be inaugurated on November 5
The much-awaited inauguration of T-Hub, an
incubation facility for technology start-ups estab-
lished in Hyderabad by the State government, is
set for November 5.
Prominent industrialist Ratan Tata and Governor
E.S.L. Narasimhan will participate in the programme.
Opening of the facility, a crucial component in
the government plans to develop an ecosystem
to nurture start-ups, was originally scheduled early
last month, but was postponed after chairman
emeritus of the Tata Group was indisposed.
Constructed at a cost of Rs. 40 crore, the T-
Hub building to seat 800 on 60,000 sq ft built
up space is the first step so far as start-ups are
concerned. The structure, on the IIIT-Hyderabad
campus in Gachibowli, will serve as the launch
pad for start-ups, who, for the next stage, would
be provided an option of moving into a much
large space at the second phase to be developed
at Raidurgam, a few km away.
For more information, please visit: http://www.t-
hub.co/
Delhi government clears the Jan Lokpal Bill
The Delhi government cleared the much-awaited
Jan Lokpal Bill and it is likely to be tabled in
the Assembly next week. The Bill brings the Chief
Minister’s office under its purview and ensures
that any investigation and trial by the Lokpal has
to be completed within six months. Even as the
Winter session of the Assembly opened at the
Old Secretariat, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal along
with his Cabinet ministers cleared the Jan Lokpal
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Bill.
Addressing a gathering, Deputy Chief Minister Manish
Sisodia said that Cabinet meeting, specially called
for clearing the Jan Lokpal Bill, was held at the
Cabinet meeting room in the Old Secretariat ‘to
make the moment special’.
The draft Bill envisages a system where a corrupt
person found guilty would go to jail within two
years of the complaint being filed and his ill-gotten
wealth confiscated. It also envisages power to
the Jan Lokpal to prosecute politicians and
bureaucrats without government permission. The
Bill also envisages CAG audit in the cases.
The Jan Lokpal Bill (Ombudsman Bill) is an anti-
corruption Bill drawn up by activists seeking the
appointment of an independent body that would
investigate corruption cases, complete the inves-
tigation and trial in a time-bound manner. Once
passed and notified, people will be able to complain
directly and imprison corrupt politicians and
bureaucrats under the law.
The Bill is on the lines of the Lokpal Bill of
Uttarakhand, which was drafted by Arvind Kejriwal
and Manish Sisodia in 2011.
Sources said that the Bill was cleared in a rush
as the party drew flak from the Opposition as
the Bill wasn’t listed in the Winter Session. In
fact, the BJP leaders during the session asked
why it wasn’t being passed despite the Aam Aadmi
Party being the majority in the Assembly. The
Congress, which has failed to win any seats in
the Assembly, protested outside the Vidhan Sabha.
However, this is the second time that the AAP-
government has cleared the Bill. In February 2014,
the government cleared the Bill but didn’t send
it to the Lieutenant- Governor. L-G Najeeb Jung,
had raised objection regarding this to the Union
Home Ministry.
For more information, please visit: http://
www.aamaadmiparty.org/Jan-Lokpal-Bill-and -
full-statehood-for-Delhi
Two-thirds majority for Nitish-Lalu Grand
Alliance
As the Nitish Kumar-Lalu Prasad duo led the Grand
Alliance to a historic, thumping two-thirds majority,
even reviving its junior partner, the Congress, the
BJP-led NDA bit the dust — and the curtain came
down on what must rate as one of the most bitterly
fought Assembly elections in Bihar.
Conscious that this victory would resonate through
the country, influencing politics in other parts,
Chief Minister and JD (U) leader Nitish Kumar
— composed but clearly moved by the extent of
the mandate — said: “The Bihar 2015 poll will
always be remembered as a milestone in the electoral
3 UGT-Module--CA-15-11

politics of the State; it reflected the national mood.”
Mr. Kumar said the poll would be remembered
as one where the “party at the Centre had put
all its resources into an Assembly election.”
Lalu Prasad, Rashtriya Janata Dal chief, has proved
to be the kingmaker, providing both the mass support
for the coalition and a sharp aggression at the
stumps, countering Prime Minister Narendra Modi
at every stage. Mr. Kumar lived up to his reputation
of being a “Chanakya”: he retained his chief
ministership, while helping old comrade Lalu Prasad
return to the centre stage after many years in
the political wilderness. In 1990, too, when Mr.
Prasad became Chief Minister for the first time,
Mr. Kumar’s role in that victory had earned him
the sobriquet “Chanakya” of Bihar politics.
The decisive victory ensures that government
formation will be smooth. Mr. Kumar said that
first his party legislators would meet, and then
all the coalition MLAs would meet to settle the
issue of portfolios. To a question whether one
of Mr. Prasad’s sons would be his Deputy Chief
Minister, he said the press conference was not
an appropriate forum to discuss the matter. The
swearing-in ceremony is likely to be after Diwali.
After the JD(U) and the BJP parted ways in June
2013, all eyes were on the Bihar Assembly election.
It became a matter of prestige for both. Each
looked for partners that would widen their social
base; caste played a critical role in this election,
but in the end, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi
leading the NDA’s charge, it became a referendum
on his 16 months in power rather than on Mr.
Kumar’s decade as Chief Minister.
Mr. Modi, who flew to Bihar for a record 26
times to address public meetings, and BJP president
Amit Shah crafted the party’s strategy, dominating
even the billboards. This gave the grand coalition
an opportunity to portray them as baharis (out-
siders), even as the BJP leaders and activists sulked,
finding themselves on the margins.
NATIONAL
Railways launches ‘Vikalp’ for waitlisted pas-
sengers to get confirmed berth
Railway is launching a new scheme under which
waitlisted passengers can get confirmed accom-
modation in next alternative train if they opt for
the option while booking their tickets online.
Known as Viklap, the alternative train accommo-
dation scheme will take off in trains running on
Delhi-Lucknow and Delhi-Jammu sectors from
November 1, on a pilot basis. Initially, Vikalp scheme
will be available only for the tickets booked through
internet for six months and option will be limited
to mail and express trains on the two selected
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routes, said a senior Railway Ministry official.
As per the scheme, waitlisted passengers of a
train would be given option of getting confirmed
accommodation in the next train running on the
route.
Railway aims to achieve the twin objectives of
providing confirmed accommodation to waitlisted
passengers and ensure optimal utilisation of available
accommodation by this scheme.
Super-speciality entrance should be for all
medical students (No reservation): Supreme
Court (govt)
Echoing the aspirations of thousands of medical
students across the country, the Supreme Court
reiterated its message that super specialities in
medical education should be “unreserved, open
and free” to usher in the best of talents.
In a 58-page judgment, a Bench of Justice Dipak
Misra and P.C. Pant urged the States of Andhra
Pradesh and Telangana to drop its policy of reserving
seats for super speciality medical courses to only
students domiciled there.
In his judgment for the Bench, Justice Misra wrote
that any hope for a progressive change as far
as reservation policy is concerned had remained
merely a hope.
It asked the Andhra and Telangana authorities to
objectively assess the policy to see whether it
does justice to the aspirations of students and
approach the issue keeping national interest as
paramount.
Referring to several of its own judicial precedents,
the apex court quoted. “In Dr. Pradeep Jain case
this Court has observed that in Super Specialities
there should really be no reservation. This is so
in the general interest of the country and for
improving the standard of higher education and
thereby improving the quality of available medical
services to the people of India”.
The petitions filed said how students from other
States, namely, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat,
Rajasthan, Delhi, Karnataka, Kerala, West Bengal,
Bihar and Haryana, allow candidates from all over
India to appear in the entrance examination.
It complained that States like Andhra Pradesh,
Telangana and Tamil Nadu confine the eligibility
only to the candidates having domicile in their
respective States.
The judgment records the frustration of the students,
saying how they found that the situation in the
three States created “clear disparity, and further
a state of inequality”.
They said the right to equality is indivisible across
the country, and any disparity is a violation of
the fundamental rights.
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This judgment only deals with the two States of
Andhra and Telangana. The bench observed that
it would consider Tamil Nadu’s case separately
in a hearing scheduled for November 4, 2015.
For more information, please visit:
http://supremecourtofindia.nic.in/FileServer/2015-
10-27_1445933253.pdf
India, Sri Lanka Joint Naval Exercise at
Trincomalee Reinforces Neighbourly Ties
India and Sri Lanka began their bilateral naval exercise
off Sri Lanka’s Trincomalee, reinforcing their strong
neighbourly ties.
The fourth edition of Sri Lanka India Naval Exercise
(SLINEX) will be on till November 1. The SLINEX
series of bilateral maritime exercises were initiated
in 2005. Since then, three such successful
engagements were conducted.
For more information, please visit:
http://www.indiastrategic.in/topstories4179_India-
Sri_Lanka_Joint_Naval_Exercise_SLINEX_Underway.htm
Farmers celebrate National Milk Day on
November 26
Farmers celebrated National Milk Day at the National
Dairy Development Board’s Southern Regional
Training Centre here by paying encomiums on
the Father of White Revolution Verghese Kurien.
Farmers thanked the Central Government for
considering the birth anniversary of Verghese as
National Milk Day. He recalled how the late visionary
leader had improved the economic well being of
the farming community by institutionalising milk
production and procurement on a large scale through
establishing societies throughout the country.
For more information, please visit: http://
www.aau.in/sites/default/files/National%20milk
%20day%20celebrations%20nov%2015.pdf
INTERNATIONAL
China to Build World’s Largest Animal Cloning
Centre
China is planning to build the world’s largest animal
cloning centre that will produce one million cattle
embryos annually and rapidly improve the quality
of livestock.
The 200 million yuan (USD 31.3 million) com-
mercial cloning centre will be built in Tianjin city’s
Tianjin Economic Technological Development Area
(TEDA), a government-sponsored business devel-
opment park.
UGT
Mauricio Macri wins Argentina presidential elec-
tion
Opposition candidate Mauricio Macri has won
Argentina’s presidential election, marking an end
to the left-leaning and often combative era of
President Cristina Fernandez, who along with her
late husband dominated the country’s political scene
for 12 years and rewrote its social contract.
Ruling party candidate Daniel Scioli, Ms. Fernandez’s
chosen successor, conceded and said he had called
Mr. Macri to congratulate him on a victory that
promises to chart Argentina on a more free market,
less state interventionist course.
With 75 per cent of the vote counted, Mr. Macri
had 53 per cent support compared to 47 per cent
for Mr. Scioli.
The victory by the business-friendly Mr. Macri
comes after he did better than expected in the
first round on October 25, forcing a runoff with
Mr. Scioli, the governor of the vast Buenos Aires
province. Mr. Macri campaigned on promises to
reform and jumpstart the South American country’s
sagging economy. He pledged to lead by “listening
more and speaking less” than Ms. Fernandez,
something he frequently said on the campaign trail.
Mr. Macri’s win signals a clear end to the era
of Ms. Fernandez, who along with her late husband
and predecessor, Nestor Kirchner, rewrote the
country’s social contract, gaining both rabid
followers and fierce critics along the way. People
often refer to their combined years in power as
the “Kirchner era.”
The power couple spent heavily on programmes
for the poor, raised tariffs to protect local economies
and passed several progressive laws, including the
legalisation of gay marriage in 2010.
For more information, please visit: http://
www.buenosairesherald.com/tags/Mauricio%20
Macri
World Economic Forum – Gender Gap Report
India has improved its ranking in the World Economic
Forum’s Global Gender Gap report 2015 moving
up from rank 114 in 2014 to 108 among 145
countries. The improvement has come mainly on
the back of stronger representation of women in
political leadership. However, in health survival
India has regressed over the past decade and ranked
third from bottom, 143 out of 145 countries.
India’s rise in the rankings was mostly thanks
to a doubling of the number of women in ministerial
positions, which pushed up the proportion of women
in ministerial positions from 9% to 22%.
India’s ranking in health is pulled down by its
ranking for one of the sub-indicators, sex ratio
at birth, where it was ranked 143 ahead of only
China and Armenia.
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The annual report put together by the WEF since
2006, measures the gap between men and women
in health, education, economic opportunity and
political representation. The overall ranking of a
country is on the basis of its performance in these
four areas. The top five ranks are dominated by
Nordic countries — Iceland, Norway, Finland and
Sweden in that order — followed by Ireland at
No. 5, having risen from rank 8, pushing out
Denmark, which failed to get a place within the
top 10.
Interestingly, Rwanda, which entered the index
just last year, was ranked at No. 6 moving up
by one place and Philippines ranked 7, the only
non-OECD countries to figure in the top ten. Major
economies in the top twenty included Germany
(11), France (15) and the UK (18). The US was
ranked 28.
Among the BRICS grouping, the highest-placed
nation remained South Africa (17), supported by
strong scores on political participation. Russia (75)
was next, followed by Brazil (85), which lost 14
places this year due to growing wage gaps and
a decline in the number of women in ministerial
level positions. China (91) lost four places falling
from its rank of 87 in 2014. Yemen remained
at the bottom of the index as it has since 2006,
despite significantly improving relative to its own
past scores.
The report noted that despite an additional quarter
of a billion women entering the global workforce
since 2006, wage inequality persists, with women
only now earning what men did a decade ago.
For more information, please visit: https://
agenda.weforum.org/topic/global-issues/gender-
parity
IS claims responsibility for Paris terror attacks
The Islamic State terrorist group has claimed
responsibility for the series of attacks targeting
young concert-goers, soccer fans and Parisians
enjoying a Friday night out at popular nightspots
killed at least 128 people in the deadliest violence
to strike France since World War II. French President
Francois Hollande condemned it as terrorism and
pledged that France would stand firm against its
foes. The worst carnage was at a concert hall
hosting an American rock band, where scores of
people were held hostage and attackers ended the
standoff by detonating explosive belts.
The Islamic State released an undated video on
Saturday threatening to attack France if bombings
of its fighters continue. Earlier, on Saturday, Mr.
Hollande said the attacks were committed by Islamic
State, planned and organised from abroad with
help from inside France.
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Paris Prosecutor Francois Molins said as many
as five attackers were killed, though it was not
clear how many there were altogether and how
many, if any, were still at large.
The attack unfolded with two suicide bombings
and an explosion outside the national stadium during
a soccer match between the French and German
national teams. Within minutes, according to Paris
police chief Michel Cadot, another group of attackers
sprayed cafes outside the concert hall with machine
gunfire, then stormed inside and opened fire on
the panicked audience. As police closed in, they
detonated explosive belts, killing themselves.
In addition to the deaths at the concert hall, dozens
were killed in an attack on a restaurant in the
10th arrondissement and several other establish-
ments crowded on a Friday night, police said.
Authorities said at least three people died when
the bombs went off outside the soccer stadium.
French President Francois Hollande announced that
he held the IS responsible for the attack and France
considered it “an act of war”. He announced a
state of emergency, the first in France since 2005,
and the deployment of 1,500 soldiers.
The attack was carried out on six locations, one
being the French national stadium Stade de France
where France and Germany football teams were
playing a friendly before an 80,000-strong crowd.
Mr. Hollande, who was among the spectators,
was evacuated immediately following security
protocol. At least 80 people were killed in the
attack at the Bataclan Theatre during a concert
by the band Eagles of Death Metal. The gunmen
entered the 1,500-seat venue and began shooting
without warning. The police said the assailants
were killed. A Syrian passport was found on one
of the attackers.
The band members are safe, but have not been
located.
What has shaken the French in general and Parisians
in particular is that this is the second big terror
attack in one year. Paris is hosting the United
Nations Conference on Climate Change from
November 30 to December 11 in which more than
100 heads of state are expected to participate.
France is the host of Europe’s top football
competition next year, the UEFA European
Championship.
International Day for Tolerance celebrated on
November 16
On the day of its fiftieth anniversary, 16 November
1995, UNESCO’s Member States adopted
a Declaration of Principles on Tolerance. Among
other things, the Declaration affirms that tolerance
is neither indulgence nor indifference. It is respect
and appreciation of the rich variety of our world’s
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cultures, our forms of expression and ways of
being human. Tolerance recognizes the universal
human rights and fundamental freedoms of others.
People are naturally diverse; only tolerance can
ensure the survival of mixed communities in every
region of the globe.
For more information, please visit: http://
www.un.org/en/events/toleranceday/
Sierra Leone declared free of Ebola transmis-
sions
The World Health Organization (WHO) declared
Sierra Leone free from Ebola transmissions, as
West Africa battles to stamp out the deadly virus
that is holding on in neighbouring Guinea.
Nearly 4,000 people have died in Sierra Leone
of Ebola since the outbreak began in late 2013.
The organization said 42 days have passed since
the last confirmed Ebola patient was discharged
on September 25 after two consecutive negative
test results.
A country must go through 42 days equal to two
incubation periods of 21 days without an Ebola
case in order for WHO to declare it free of Ebola
transmission. It’s a benchmark that neighbouring
Liberia reached in May only to then experience
a brief reappearance of cases before it was declared
free from transmissions again in September.
Sierra Leone had at one point begun the 42-day
countdown only to discover a new Ebola case.
Guinea, where the epidemic began, now remains
the only country struggling to rid itself of the
disease. WHO has recorded seven new cases in
neighbouring Guinea in the past 21 days.
China’s Tianhe-2 ‘is fastest supercomputer’
– Again
Development of a Chinese supercomputer, reported
to be fastest in the world, will have far-reaching
ramifications in the cyber world and is sure to
break the U.S. monopoly in the field of strategic
technology.
According to a survey results announced, Tianhe-
2, a supercomputer developed by China’s National
University of Defense Technology, achieved
processing speeds of 33.86 petaflops (1000 trillion
calculations) per second on a benchmarking test.
It earned the supercomputer the number one spot
in the Top 500 survey of supercomputers, agency
reports said.
The tests show the machine is by far the fastest
computer ever constructed. Its main rival, the U.S.-
designed Titan, had achieved a performance of
17.59 petaflops per second, the survey said. Five
of the world’s 10 fastest computers are installed
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in the U.S., the survey said, with the two in China,
two in Germany and one in Japan.
For more information, please visit: http://
www.extremetech.com/extreme/218078-chinas -
tianhe-2-is-still-the-worlds-fastest-supercomputer-
but-cray-is-on-a-resurgence
4 Indo-Canadians in Trudeau Cabinet
Four Indian Canadians were sworn in as Cabinet
Ministers, as 42-year-old Justin Trudeau took oath
as Canada’s 23rd Prime Minister at a grand public
ceremony.
While Harjit Sajjan, 42, was appointed Defence
Minister, Navdeep Bains, 38, secured the portfolio
of innovation, science and economic development.
Amarjeet Sohi was sworn in as Minister for
Infrastructure and a young Sikh woman, Bardish
Jhagger, a first-time MP, was sworn in as Minister
for Small Business and Tourism.
Bains had played a key role in Trudeau’s election
as the Liberal Party leader in 2013.
In the outgoing government, Tim Uppal, a Sikh,
held the rank of the Minister of State. Herb Dhaliwal
was the first Sikh to become a full Cabinet Minister
in Canada in 1997, followed by Ujjal Dosanjh in
2004. Dhaliwal held the Revenue portfolio while
Dosanjh held Health.
Justin Trudeau’s father and former Canadian Prime
Minister Pierre Trudeau is credited with opening
the country to new immigrants in the 1970s.
For more information, please visit: http://
www.parl.gc.ca/parliamentarians/en/ministries
US’s fight against ISIS finally gets a name:
‘Inherent Resolve’
The Pentagon has finally named its fight against
Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria: Operation
Inherent Resolve.
The naming process, which took weeks of quiet
deliberation behind closed doors at US Central
Command and at the Pentagon, is part of a package
of administrative moves under way to organize
a long-term military campaign.
13th ASEAN-India Summit held in Kuala Lumpur
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had made a passing
reference to the disputes in the South China Sea
in his address at the Association of Southeast Asia
Nations (ASEAN)-India Summit held in Kuala
Lumpur.
“India hopes that all parties to the disputes in
the South China Sea will abide by the guidelines
on the implementation of the Declaration on the
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Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea, and
redouble efforts for early adoption of a Code of
Conduct on the basis of consensus,” the Prime
Minister said.
Mr. Modi also emphasised the need for evolving
specific plans of cooperation in maritime security,
counter-piracy and humanitarian and disaster relief.
For more information, please visit: www.asean.org
Punjabi Has Become The Third Language In
Parliament Of Canada
Four years after Punjabi became Canada’s third
most common language, it has now attained the
same status in the country’s new Parliament after
English and French following the election of 20
Punjabi-speaking candidates to the House of
Commons.
Twenty-three Member of Parliaments of South
Asian-origin were elected to the House of Com-
mons, Parliament of Canada on October 19
parliamentary elections.
Of the 20 who speak Punjabi, 18 are Liberals
and two are Conservatives. Among the newly-
elected Punjabi-speaking MPs, 14 are males and
six are females. Ontario elected 12, British Columbia
four, Alberta three and one is from Quebec.
The 430,705 native Punjabi speakers make up about
1.3 per cent of Canada’s population. The 20 Punjabi-
speaking MPs represent almost six per cent of
the House of Commons.
Boost for Erdogan as AKP wins critical Turkey
vote
Turkey’s Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu has
declared victory for his ruling party after pre-
liminary election results showed it restoring its
majority in parliament.
State-run TRT television reports that with more
than 97 per cent of the votes counted, the ruling
Justice and Development Party, or AKP, has won
just above 49 per cent, which would comfortably
restore its ruling majority.
The vote is a rerun of a June election in which
AKP surprisingly lost its one-party rule due to
a strong showing by a Kurdish party. Most analysts
had expected AKP to fall short again, but the
preliminary results suggest it picked up millions
of votes at the expense of the nationalist MHP
and pro-Kurdish People’s Democratic Party, or
HDP. AKP’s vote tally jumped nearly nine per-
centage points. The secularist CHP was hovering
around the same result as in June.
Following the June vote, renewed fighting between
Turkey’s security forces and Kurdish rebels left
hundreds of people dead and shattered an already-
fragile peace process. Two recent massive suicide
bombings at pro-Kurdish gatherings that killed some
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130 people, apparently carried out by an Islamic
State group cell, also increased tensions. Following
the vote, small clashes broke out in Diyarbakir
in the Kurdish southeast between protesters and
police.
Turkey is a key U.S. ally in the fight against IS
and, since it hosts more Syrian refugees than any
other nation in the world, a crucial player in efforts
to end the war in Syria and resolve Europe’s massive
immigration crisis.
Mr. Erdogan was not on the ballot, but the election
will determine if he can continue to be Turkey’s
primary political power by guiding the ruling party
in parliament.
Mr. Erdogan had warned of instability if a coalition
government is formed.
China ends controversial one-child policy amid
shrinking workforce (Important)
China has dropped its controversial one-child policy
bowing to pressures imposed by the prospects
of an ageing society and a growing shortfall in
the workforce.
The decision allowing couples to have two children
was taken by the Chinese Communist Party (CPC).
The policy change is an advance over the 2013
ruling, which allowed couples, where one of the
parents was a single child, to have two children.
Pressure was mounting on the authorities to ease
family-size norms after it became evident that the
one-child policy meant to restrain a burgeoning
population in the seventies, was leading to severe
labour shortages and an ageing population.
According to UN estimates, nearly 440 million
people in China would be over 60 by 2050, signaling
a sharp decline in the labour pool. Last year, the
working population between the ages 15-59 slid
by 3.71 million.
Following its findings last year, the Chinese Academy
of Social Sciences said that the mainland should,
without delay, permit all couples to have a second
child because the total fertility rate had dropped
to 1.4, signifying the average number of children
to be born of a woman in her entire lifespan.
This was well short of the 2.1 mark that should
be reached to ensure a balanced population profile.
The state-run Xinhua news agency quoting a
communiqué issued at the end of the fifth plenary
Session of the 18th Communist Party of China
(CPC) Central Committee, said that the change
of policy is intended to balance population de-
velopment and address the challenge of an ageing
population.
The latest ruling notwithstanding, it was unclear
whether spiraling living costs would allow couples
to avail the two-child option. Many couples who
were allowed another child under the 2013 rules
decided not to, on account of the high cost of
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raising children, especially in the urban areas.
State media said in January, that out of about
30,000 families in Beijing who could benefit from
the 2013 rules, just 6.7 per cent applied to have
a second child.
For more information, please visit: http://
www.britannica.com/topic/one-child-policy
Saudi women allowed to run in local elections
In first, Saudi Arabia allowed women to register
to stand in local elections, in a historic first for
the ultra-conservative Muslim kingdom.
In a country where women face a host of restrictions
including a driving ban, the move was welcomed
as an important step forward.
But it also faced criticism from hardline conser-
vatives and from rights groups who said it does
not go far enough in providing women with equal
rights.
Women in the oil-rich Gulf state, which applies
a strict segregation of the sexes, are banned from
driving and have to cover themselves in public
from head to toe. They also have to obtain the
consent of a male guardian to travel, work, apply
for a passport or to marry.
The late king Abdullah in 2011 granted women
the right to vote and to stand as candidates in
this year’s local elections.
Russian airliner with 224 aboard crashes in
Egypt’s Sinai, all killed
A Russian airliner carrying 224 passengers crashed
into a mountainous area of Egypt’s Sinai peninsula
shortly after losing radar contact near cruising
altitude, killing all aboard.
The Airbus A321, operated by Russian airline
Kogalymavia under the brand name Metrojet, was
flying from the Sinai Red Sea resort of Sharm
el-Sheikh to St Petersburg in Russia when it went
down in central Sinai soon after daybreak.
A north Sinai security source said initial examination
suggested the crash could have been caused by
a technical fault; but it was too early to draw
any firm conclusions. The plane, he said, had
landed in a “vertical fashion”, contributing to the
scale of devastation and burning.
A militant group affiliated to Islamic State in Egypt,
Sinai Province, said in a statement carried by the
Aamaq website, which acts as a semi-official news
agency for Islamic State, that it had brought down
the plane “in response to Russian airstrikes that
killed hundreds of Muslims on Syrian land”.
Russia, an ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad,
launched air raids against opposition groups in
Syria including Islamic State on Sept. 30. Security
sources said there was no indication the Airbus
had been shot down or blown up.
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Sinai is the scene of an insurgency by militants
close to Islamic State, who have killed hundreds
of Egyptian soldiers and police and have also attacked
Western targets in recent months.
Islamic State websites have in the past claimed
responsibility for actions that have not been
conclusively attributed to them.
G20 summit: terror, climate change to top Modi’s
agenda (Important)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to raise
issues related to terrorism, climate change and
global cooperation to unearth black money, among
others, during the two-day G-20 summit beginning,
where talks would be dominated by attacks in
Paris and war in Syria.
The Summit of leaders from 20 top economies
of the world, being held at a time when the global
economic growth is slowing down, is expected
to be attended by U.S. President Barack Obama,
Russian President Vladimir Putin, British Prime
Minister David Cameron, German Chancellor Angela
Merkel and Chinese President Xi Jinping, among
others.
As world leaders congregate in this Turkish resort
town, ongoing war in nearby Syria, the migrant
crisis in the region and the need for strengthening
the crackdown against terrorism will take the centre
stage.
French President Francois Hollande cancelled his
visit for the G20 meeting in the wake of the attack.
The host country has been pressing for a discussion
at the 10th G20 Summit on the conflicts in Syria
and the worst migrant crisis since World War
II.
Some world leaders including Mr. Modi are also
likely to voice concern over delay in implementation
of the quota reform of the International Monetary
Fund (IMF), aimed at giving more voice and voting
power to the emerging economies as well as providing
a pitch for cutting transaction cost for transferring
money from abroad.
Earlier this week, China has also pitched for IMF
quota reforms and said it wants the G20 to reform
the voting rights at the multilateral lending agency
to give emerging economies a larger role.
Mr. Modi, who was scheduled to arrive late from
London after completing his three-day UK visit,
is also likely to hold bilateral meetings with some
of the G20 leaders on the margins of the Summit,
as also with IMF Chief Christine Lagarde.
On the sidelines of the event, BRICS nations —
Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa —
will meet to review progress of their two recent
initiatives — the BRICS bank and the contingent
reserve arrangement.
The G20 countries account for 85 per cent of
the world economy, 75 per cent of the global
9 UGT-Module--CA-15-11

trade and two—third of the world’s population.
The Summit, he said, is being held at a critical
juncture — just after the adoption of Sustainable
Development Goals agenda at the United Nations,
and just before discussions on climate change at
COP-21 in Paris on November 30-December 1.
The G-20’s mandate is to foster economic and
financial stability and the 2015 Summit agenda
refers to “strengthening the global recovery” and
enhancing market regulation, energy policy and
climate change.
Turkey, a NATO member which has taken in more
than two million refugees from Syria and Iraq
and faces a threat of spillover from the conflicts,
however, wants the heads of state to also discuss
the unrest there.
The G20 leaders will convene for a working dinner
tomorrow to address the intensifying refugee crisis
and global terrorism.
The meeting is taking place at a time when several
economies are struggling for a decent growth rate.
This week, the Organisation for Economic Co-
operation and Development in Paris lowered its
global growth forecast for the second time in three
months.
China’s growth has slowed down to less than
7 per cent, causing a sell-off in the stock market
and pushing down oil prices. Russia is also contracting
after the collapse in oil prices and sanctions set
by Western nations after Moscow annexed Ukraine’s
Crimea.
While Argentina is on the cusp of meltdown, Brazil
is trying to navigate a deepening recession and
rampant inflation.
For more information, please visit: http://
www.g20india.gov.in/
India Overtakes China, Becomes Biggest Gold
Consumer: Survey
India regained its top position from China as the
biggest overall consumer of gold in the first nine
months this year with a total consumption of 642
tonnes, a survey said.
For more information, please visit: https://
forms.thomsonreuters.com/gfms/
2015 set to be ‘hottest year on record’, says
UN
This year is set to be the hottest on record and
2016 could be even hotter due to the current El
Niio weather pattern, the U.N. weather agency
said.
The World Meteorological Organization (WMO)
said global average surface temperatures in 2015
were likely to reach what it called the “symbolic
and significant milestone” of 1° Celsius above the
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pre-industrial era.
“This is due to a combination of a strong El Niio
and human-induced global warming,” the WMO
said in a statement.
Next week world leaders will gather in Paris to
discuss plans to curb greenhouse gas emissions
and prevent world temperatures rising beyond 2
degrees above pre-industrial levels.
The El Nino weather pattern, marked by warming
sea-surface temperatures in the Pacific Ocean,
causes extremes such as scorching weather and
flooding. Meteorologists expect El Nino to peak
between October and January and to be one of
the strongest on record.
A preliminary estimate based on data from January
to October showed that the global average surface
temperature for 2015 was around 0.73 °C above
the 1961-1990 average of 14.0°C, and approxi-
mately 1°C above the pre-industrial 1880-1899
period, the WMO said.
U.N. overwhelmingly rejects U.S. embargo of
Cuba
The United States voted against a U.N. resolution
criticizing the U.S. economic embargo against Cuba,
despite initial U.S. discussions about abstaining
on the annual vote.
The U.S. had considered taking a less emphatic
stance on the resolution in light of the new opening
of diplomatic relations between the two countries.
U.S. officials said they decided to cast a “no”
ballot because the text did not fully reflect the
spirit of the recent opening between the two former
enemies.
Only Israel joined the U.S. in opposing the resolution,
with 191 voting for it.
The resolution, introduced by Cuba, demanded an
end to the embargo — which it refers to as
“blockade.” The resolution also calls on all U.N.
members to refrain from interfering in other
countries’ internal affairs as well as the freedom
of international trade and navigation.
For more information, please visit: http://cuba-
embargo.procon.org/
Nepal gets first woman President
A Communist leader who has long campaigned
for women’s rights was elected as Nepal’s first
female President.
Bidhya Devi Bhandari of the Communist Party of
Nepal Unified Marxist-Leninist received 327 votes
against her opponent’s 214 in the Parliament,
Parliament Speaker Onsari Gharti announced.
The President is the ceremonial head in Nepal
while the Prime Minister is the nation’s leader.
Ms. Bhandari (54) is the deputy leader of the
10

party led by Prime Minister Khadga Prasad Oli,
who was elected earlier this month and leads a
coalition government. The new Constitution adopted
last month required Nepal to name a new President.
Ms. Bhandari is an active campaigner for women’s
rights in Nepal and was among the politicians who
campaigned for ensuring women’s rights in the
new Constitution. The document says one-third
of the members in parliament have to be women
and either the President or Vice-President must
be a woman.
The new President has been a leading political
figure since her husband Madan Bhandari, who
was then leader of the party, was killed in a still
unsolved car accident in 1993.
She also led many demonstrations against the then
King Gyanendra in 2006 that finally ended his
authoritarian rule and restored democracy.
Ms. Bhandari is Nepal’s second President since
the Himalayan nation was turned into a republic
after abolishing the centuries-old monarchy. The
first President, Ram Baran Yadav, was elected
in 2008 and was supposed to be in office for
two years. But preparing and adopting the Con-
stitution took seven years because of differences
between political parties.
For more information, please visit: http://
www.presidentofnepal.gov.np/
BUSINESS
Sunil Kanoria takes over as Assocham presi-
dent
SREI Infrastructure Finance vice-chairman Sunil
Kanoria assumed charge as president of industry
body Assocham.
For more information, please visit:
www.assocham.org
Harshavardhan Neotia elected as Ficci’s presi-
dent
Harshavardhan Neotia, Chairman of Ambuja Neotia
group, has been elected president of industry body
Ficci for 2016. Neotia, a ‘Padma Shri’ awardee,
is also a member of the Rajasthan Chief Minister’s
Advisory Council and West Bengal Chief Minister’s
Core Committee on Industry. Currently, he is the
senior VP of the industry body.
Neotia will take over from the current Ficci
President Jyotsna Suri during the chamber’s AGM
next month, Ficci said in a statement.
For more information, please visit: blog.ficci.com›
Presidium
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Marriott Hotels to buy Starwood Hotels for $12b
Marriott International Inc will buy Starwood Hotels
& Resorts Worldwide Inc for $12.2 billion to create
the world’s largest hotel chain with top brands,
including Sheraton, Ritz Carlton and the Autograph
Collection.
The combined company will own or franchise more
than 5,500 hotels with 1.1 million rooms worldwide
and give Marriott greater presence in markets such
as Europe, Latin America and Asia.
Marriott currently has three-quarters of its rooms
in the US. Starwood, which also owns St. Regis
and Aloft hotel brands, gets nearly two-thirds of
its revenue from outside the country.
CCEA approves 10 per cent stake sale in CIL
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs
approved a 10 per cent disinvestment in Coal India,
the third government stake sale in the company’s
history. The government is expected to get around
Rs.20,000 crore from the disinvestment.
At the company’s current market capitalisation,
a 10 per cent stake sale will fetch the government
around Rs. 21,100 crore. While announcing the
Cabinet’s decision, Coal and Power Minister Piyush
Goyal said that the government was looking to
mop up Rs.20,000 crore from the disinvestment
in Coal India.
For more information, please visit: http://
www.divest.nic.in/MediaCentre-CIL.asp
Subir Gokarn appointed ED at IMF
Former Reserve Bank of India Deputy Governor
Subir Gokarn was appointed as an Executive Director
on the board of the International Monetary Fund
(IMF).
“The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has
approved the proposal for appointment of Mr. Subir
Gokaran, Economist as Executive Director rep-
resenting the Indian Constituency (India, Bangladesh,
Bhutan and Sri Lanka) at the International Monetary
Fund vice Mr. Rakesh Mohan,” the government
said in a release.
Mr. Gokarn’s name was cleared by Appointments
Committee of Cabinet headed by Prime Minister
Narendra Modi, as per an order issued by the
Department of Personnel and Training.
For more information, please visit: https://
www.imf.org/external/np/sec/memdir/eds.aspx
Tata Motors brings Messi (Global Ambassador)
on to score with youth
Argentine and FC Barcelona star Lionel Messi will
be the global brand ambassador for Tata Motors’
passenger vehicles for the next two years.
It was clear that a face was needed to make the
11 UGT-Module--CA-15-11

right connect with young buyers, which meant
choosing celebrities from the predictable arena of
sports and films. And that’s how the company
zeroed in on Messi as brand ambassador.
From Pareek’s perspective, this is a critical point
for Tata Motors, given that it has a lot of ground
to cover after the Nano setback. The Zest and
Bolt represented a transition and it is hoped that
Messi will be able to push the next range of products
by striking the right note with younger buyers.
For more information, please visit: http://
madeofgreat.tatamotors.com/
MTS India merges with Anil Ambani’s RCom
Billionaire Anil Ambani-led Reliance Communica-
tions said it will take over Russian conglomerate
Sistema’s Indian mobile telephony venture that
operates under the MTS brand.
While financial details of the deal were not immediately
announced, RCom said Sistema Shyam Teleservices
Ltd (SSTL) will hold a 10 per cent equity stake
in RCom as a result of the deal.
“RCom will acquire approximately 9 million
customers and approximately Rs 1,500 crore of
annual revenues by virtue of the transaction,” the
company said in a statement.
AWARDS
Kuldip Nayar gets Ramnath Goenka Lifetime
Achievement Award
Veteran journalist, columnist and author Kuldip
Nayar was honoured with ‘Lifetime Achievement
Award’ for his contribution to journalism at the
eighth edition of the prestigious Ramnath Goenka
Excellence awards for years 2013 and 2014.
Nayar is former editor of the Indian Express. During
Emergency he was jailed under the Maintenance
of Internal Security Act (MISA) for leading a protest
against the excesses of the administration.
For more information, please visit: http://
expressindia.indianexpress.com/ramnath-goenka-
foundation/
UNHCR to be Awarded 2015 Indira Gandhi Prize
for Peace
Indira Gandhi Prize for Peace, Disarmament and
Development for 2015 will be awarded to the Office
of the United Nations High Commissioner for
Refugees (UNHCR).
The international jury of the prize, headed by Vice
President Hamid Ansari, has taken the decision,
Secretary, Indira Gandhi Memorial Trust, Suman
Dubey said.
The prestigious award is being given to the Office
of UNHCR in recognition of its “immense con-
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tributions” in assisting millions of refugees who
have fled their houses and for working under difficult
circumstances to bring about changes to reduce
the flow of refugees.
UN General Assembly established UNHCR on
December 14, 1950 initially to help people displaced
by World War II. In the decades that followed
it became the principal agency that has helped
displaced persons the world over.
UNHCR’S mission is to safeguard the rights and
well-being of refugees and seek lasting solutions
to their plight.
The prize is accorded annually to individuals or
organisations in recognition of creative efforts toward
promoting international peace, development and
a new international economic order, ensuring that
scientific discoveries are used for the larger good
of humanity, and enlarging the scope of freedom.
The prize carries a cash award of Rs. 25 lakh
and a citation. It was first awarded in 1986.
For more information, please visit:
www.unhcr.org.in
Flogged blogger Badawi wins EU rights prize
A Saudi blogger sentenced to 10 years in prison
and 1,000 lashes for insulting Muslim clerics has
won the European Union’s prestigious Sakharov
Prize for human rights.
Raif Badawi was honoured with the award as a
symbol of the fight for freedom of speech in an
announcement greeted with a standing ovation at
the European Parliament assembly in Strasbourg,
France.
The freedom of thought award is named after
Soviet scientist and dissident Andrei Sakharov. It
was set up in 1988 to honour people and or-
ganizations, which are defending human rights and
fundamental freedoms.
For more information, please visit: http://
www.europarl.europa.eu/sakharovprize/en/home/
the-prize.html
SPORTS
Australia, New Zealand ready for first day-
night test match
Australia will host New Zealand at the Adelaide
Oval in a match which starts and is set to span
five days and nights.
It’s a real departure from tradition, with the relatively
untested pink leather ball replacing the standard-
issue red for the first time in a format that dates
back to the 1870s. “We are creating history playing
in the first day-night test so I’m sure a lot of
people are going to be watching around the world,”
Australia captain Steve Smith said.
12

World Series Cricket, established by Australian
media baron Kerry Packer in the late 1970s,
revolutionised the game when it threatened to go
stale, using the one-day format, a white ball and
coloured uniforms, and playing under lights for
the first time. Playing under lights has taken almost
four decades to catch on, however, for the longest
form of cricket.
The uniforms will remain white for the Adelaide
test which is one reason why the white ball used
in limited-overs matches is not a viable option
for the test but the session breaks for lunch, once
treated as the immovable feast, and tea will change.
Play will start at 2 p.m. local time, instead of
late morning, and tea will be held after the first
session instead of the second, with dinner sched-
uled between the second and third sessions.
Much of the focus in the build-up to the Test
has been on the pink ball which has been used
rarely in Australian first-class matches and which
New Zealand has used only in practice games.
While there’s an emphasis on the new playing
conditions, the test will start on a sombre note
to mark the one-year anniversary of Australia batsman
Phillip Hughes’ death. He was struck by a basll
under the back of his batting helmet while playing
in a match in Sydney and died two days later.
Narine’s bowling action found to be illegal –
ICC suspends him
The ICC suspended West Indies off-spinner Sunil
Narine from bowling in international cricket with
immediate effect after an independent assessment
found his bowling action to be illegal.
Narine was reported after the third ODI match
against Sri Lanka in Pallekele earlier month, following
which a test was performed on November 17 at
the ICC’s accredited testing centre in Loughborough
University.
The assessment revealed that all variations of his
deliveries exceeded the 15 degrees level of tolerance
permitted under the regulations.
In accordance with Article 6.1 of the regulations,
Narine’s international suspension will also be
recognised and enforced by all National Cricket
Federations within domestic cricket events played
in their own jurisdiction, save that, with the consent
of the West Indies Cricket Board, Narine may
be able to play in domestic cricket events played
under the auspices of the West Indies Cricket
Board.
Davis Cup: Andy Murray clinches it for Team
GB after 79 years
Great Britain won the Davis Cup for the first
time in 79 years in Ghent when Andy Murray
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defeated David Goffin 6-3, 7-5, 6-3 in the first
of the reverse singles for a title-clinching 3-1 lead
over Belgium in the final.
It was a fitting climax for the 28-year-old Scot
to provide the winning point, having won all 11
rubbers he played in during the campaign as the
British defeated heavyweights United States, France
and Australia before the clincher against Belgium.
The win over Goffin made him just the third player,
after John McEnroe and Mats Wilander, to win
all eight singles in the same calendar year since
the Davis Cup World Group started in 1981.
It was do or die for Goffin and Belgium against
the World No.2 who had yet to drop a single
set against the 16th ranked Belgian in previous
games.
But it was a tense and edgy start from both players
in front of a raucous 13,000 capacity crowd at
the Flanders Expo Centre where a claycourt had
been laid down in an effort to blunt Murray’s
firepower.
Britain is the only nation to have competed in
all Davis Cup editions since 1900 and its 10th
title makes it the third most successful nation after
the United States (32) and Australia (28).
But it was a long way coming. Britain last won
it in 1936 with Fred Perry as its star and last
played in the final in 1978.
For more information, please visit:
www.daviscup.com
India thrash Pakistan 6-2 to win Junior Men’s
Asia Cup hockey
Harmanpreet Singh scored a quartet as Indian team
kept their unbeaten run intact in the Junior Men’s
Asia Cup hockey tournament, registering an emphatic
6-2 victory over arch-rival Pakistan in the final.
Harmanpreet, who has been on a goal spree in
this tournament, opened India’s account in the
10th minute converting a penalty corner in scintillating
fashion. Harmanpreet netted another in 15th minute
with a rocket of a strike to convert yet another
penalty corner.
Pakistan struck back in the 28th minute with a
field goal by Muhammad Yaqoob before Harmanpreet
rose to the occasion with a hat-trick in the 30th
minute as India finished the first-half with a
comfortable 3-1 lead.
India started the second-half with the usual flair
when Armaan Qureshi and Manpreet scored field
goals in 44th and 50th minute respectively to
consolidate India’s lead to 5-1. Harmanpreet found
himself at the scoreboard again with a fourth strike
of the match in the 53rd minute and became the
highest scorer of the tournament with 15 goals.
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Pakistan reduced the margin in the 68th minute
and scored a consolation goal through Muhammad
Dilber.
For more information, please visit: www.fih.ch/
261394
Novak Djokovic ends spectacular year with record
ATP World Tour Finals title
Novak Djokovic put the finishing touch to a
magnificent season by beating Roger Federer 6-
3 6-4 to win the ATP World Tour Finals on Sunday
for the fifth time in his career.
The Serbian underlined his complete dominance
of men’s tennis with another immaculate display
to become the first player in the year-ending
tournament’s 46-year history to triumph four times
in a row.
Federer brought the tournament to a close in anti-
climactic fashion with a double-fault, although not
as much as a year ago when he pulled out of
the final with back injury.
He won three of the year’s four grand slams,
beating the evergreen Federer in the Wimbledon
and U.S. Open finals to take his career haul to
10, and would have celebrated the rarest of ‘calendar
year slams’ had it not been for an inspired Stanislas
Wawrinka in the French Open final.
Not only that but he won a record six Masters
Series crowns and reached 15 consecutive finals
after losing to Ivo Karlovic in the Doha quarter-
finals at the start of the year. He ended the year
with an 82-6 win loss record — half of those
defeats coming against Federer, including 7-5 6-
2 group stage defeat by the Swiss that snapped
his 23-match winning streak and three-year unbeaten
run indoors. He has now levelled his head-to-head
record (22-22) with Federer for the first time
in his career, a day after pulling level with Rafael
Nadal (23-23). Djokovic is seven short of Federer’s
record 17 grand slam titles and, if he avoids injuries,
it is far from inconceivable that he could threaten
that mark in the next few years.”
For more information, please visit: http://
www.atpworldtour.com/en/tournaments/barclays-
atp-world-tour-finals/605/overview
Nigeria win the Under-17 World Cup
Nigeria’s Golden Eaglets are crowned champions
of the Fifa Under-17 World Cup in Chile after
defeating Mali 2-0. The Nigerians have successfully
defended the title they won two years ago in the
UAE.
For more information, please visit: www.fifa.com/
u17worldcup
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Shashank to replace Srinivasan as ICC head
Board of Control for Cricket in India president
Shashank Manohar will be the new BCCI rep-
resentative at the International Cricket Council.
He will replace former BCCI president N. Srinivasan
who was elected the first chairman of the ICC
in June 2014.
“By virtue of being the BCCI president at the
ICC, Manohar will take over as chairman of the
ICC,’’ said Anurag Thakur, secretary, BCCI. “I
never aspired for this,’’ said Mr. Manohar who
will be in office till June 2016.
Former BCCI and ICC president Sharad Pawar
has been named the alternative representative in
case Mr. Manohar is unable to attend. The house
praised Mr. Srinivasan’s contributions as the ICC
chairman.
The BCCI accepted in principle the proposed rules
on conflict of interest and other amendments to
its constitution. It also appointed retired Justice
A.P Shah as the ombudsman, who will look into
all conflict of interest disputes.
For more information, please visit: http://
www.espncricinfo.com/india/content/story/
938735.html
Heena Sindhu wins gold at Asian shooting cham-
pionship
India’s Heena Sidhu made a grand return to form
by winning the gold medal in the 10m air pistol
women’s event at the 13th Asian Shooting
Championship in Kuwait City.
Heena, who won a gold at the eighth Asian Air
Gun Championship at home recently, shot an excellent
198.2 in the finals to edge out Mongolian Gundegma
Otreyad, who shot 198.
For more information, please visit: www.asia-
shooting.org
Shiva Thapa Rises to No. 2 Spot in World
Rankings Boxing
Shiva Thapa became the highest-ranked Indian boxer,
zooming to second in the latest international rankings
after winning a bronze medal at last month’s World
championships in Doha.
Shiva was placed second with 1550 points in the
56kg category, up five places from the previous
list. The top spot was occupied by Irishman Michael
Conlan (2150 points), who won the gold medal
at the World Championships.
For more information, please visit: http://
www.wbanews.com/wba-ranking
14

All Blacks (New Zealand) overwhelm Australia
to win record third Rugby World Cup (Im-
portant)
New Zealand cemented their status as the greatest
team in rugby history when they overwhelmed
Australia 34-17 at Twickenham to become world
champions for a record third time, and the first
nation to retain the Webb Ellis Cup.
Australia attacked again but great defence kept
them out and Ben Smith then kicked into space
for the fresh-legged replacement winger Barrett
to collect the ball and score under the posts. The
New Zealand bench erupted, celebrating their third
triumph after 1987 and 2011, and their first on
foreign soil.
For more information, please visit:
www.rugbyworldcup.com
PERSONS IN NEWS
Former RAW chief Shankaran Nair passes away
Former chief of the country’s external intelligence
agency Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), K.
Shankaran Nair, passed away
K. Shankaran Nair was part of the Intelligence
Bureau and was later inducted into Research and
Analysis Wing (RAW) in 1968, as the deputy to
Rameshwarnath Kao, its founder.
As Mr. Kao’s deputy, Shankaran Nair is credited
with the success of the 1971 Bangladesh war.
Under his leadership, RAW helped find the guerrilla
fighters troupe Mukti Bahini and train them.
Mr. Nair succeeded R N Kao, as the chief of
RAW in 1977. He resigned just three months after
taking over, protesting against the then Prime Minister
Morarji Desai downgrading the post of chief of
RAW, to director from Secretary (R), earlier.
Mr. Nair played a crucial role restructuring RAW
in 1980 after Indira Gandhi returned to power.
He was later appointed as India’s High Commis-
sioner to Singapore in 1986 and served till 1988.
Mr. Nair wrote his memoir Inside IB and RAW:
The rolling stone that gathered moss in 2008,
considered to be one of the definitive insider accounts
of the initial days of post-independent Indian
intelligence and RAW.
VHP leader Ashok Singhal passes away
VHP leader Ashok Singhal, who rose to prominence
playing a leading role in the Ram Janambhoomi
movement in the late eighties and after, died at
a private hospital.
A bachelor and an RSS pracharak all his life, Singhal,
adopted an aggressive style in the “kar sewak”
campaign in the build up to the demolition of the
Babri Masjid in December, 1992.
A metallurgy engineering graduate from Banaras
UGT
Hindu University, he pitch-forked the organisation
in the Ayodhya Ram temple movement and sought
to internationalise it by recruiting supporters and
organising branches world wide. The overseas
supporters contributed immensely to the VHP
campaign. Prime Minister Narendra Modi condoled
the death of Singhal. “The demise of Ashok Singhalji
is a deep personal loss. “He was an institution
in himself, whose life was centred around serving
the nation,” he tweeted.
Singhal was a fiery orator — often taking hardline
Hindutva positions — and used his skills to the
hilt in those days. He planned the VHP’s shila-
poojan and Ram Jyoti campaigns as part of the
movement. The campaigns did polarise the atmo-
sphere and sparked violence in many places —
Kota and Jaipur in Rajasthan, Khargone and Indore
in Madhya Pradesh, Gonda and other places in
U.P. and Bhagalpur in Bihar
Actor Saeed Jaffrey dies at 86
Saeed Jaffrey, one of the first Indian actors to
successfully establish a career in both Hindi cinema
and international movies by starring in classics
like ”Shatranj Ke Khilari”, “Gandhi” and ”My
Beautiful Laundrette”, has died at the age of 86.
He starred in as many as 100 Hindi films, including
acclaimed projects like Satyajit Ray’s ”Shatranj
Ke Khiladi” opposite the late Sanjeev Kumar. He
credited Ray for bringing him back to Indian films.
His famous Bollywood outings include ”Chashme
Buddoor”, ”Masoom”, “Kissi Se Na Kehna”,
“Mandi”, “Mashaal” “Ram Teri Ganga Maili”,
“Ram Lakhan”, “Ajooba” and ”Henna” among
many others.
Jaffrey’s international career saw him working
with Sean Connery, Michael Caine, Roshan Seth,
James Ivory, Richard Attenborough and Daniel
Day-Lewis.
His noted international films are ”The Man Who
Would Be King”, “Death on the Nile”, “Sphinx”,
“The Jewel in the Crown”, “A Passage to India”,
“My Beautiful Laundrette”, “The Deceivers”,
“After Midnight”, “On Wings of
Fire” and ”Chicken Tikka Masala”.
Jaffrey received a BAFTA nomination for ”My
Beautiful Laundrette”.
He is also the first Indian to receive the Order
of the British Empire (OBE) for his contributions
to drama.
Hero Group founder Munjal dead
Hero MotoCorp patriarch and doyen of the Indian
two-wheeler industry, Brijmohan Lall Munjal, died
after a brief illness. He was 92.
Munjal had retired from active role and become
chairman-emeritus of the over $4-billion group earlier
this year and remained on the board of the company
15 UGT-Module--CA-15-11

as non-executive member.
Hero Group, which officially came into existence
in 1956, had started its activities in the early 1940s
as a bicycle-maker run by the four brothers. Munjal
was born in 1923 at Kamalia in present-day Pakistan.
After India’s Independence, the Munjal brothers started
a small business of manufacturing bicycle compo-
nents in Ludhiana and went on to build one of the
largest business groups in the country.
Munjal led the Hero Group to a number of firsts.
Hero MotoCorp is the world’s largest two-wheeler
company now for the 14th year in a row. Another
group firm, Hero Cycles, has been the largest
manufacturer of bicycles since 1986. He led the
Hero group to form a joint venture with Japan’s
Honda in 1984, the joint venture — Hero Honda,
went on to become the world’s single-largest motorcycle
maker. The partnership ended in 2011. He was
conferred with the ‘Padma Bhushan’ in 2005.
Former Bengal Speaker H.A. Halim passes away
Hashim Abdul Halim, the longest-serving Speaker
of any Legislative Assembly in the country, passed
away. He was 80.
Halim served the West Bengal Assembly as the
Speaker for 29 consecutive years from 1982 to
2011. While he gave many controversial ruling
as a Speaker, Halim always shared cordial re-
lationship with the members of the Assembly.
On the last day of the previous Assembly of the
State (14th Assembly) the then Chief Minister
Buddhadeb Bhattacharya described Halim as the
“captain of a ship” who had deftly steered it through
the choppy waters despite attempts by the Opposition
to “sink it.”
In the first term of the Left Front government
between 1977 and 1982, Halim served as the Minister
of Judicial Affairs. He became the Speaker in 1982
and remained as one during the rest of Left Front’s
tenure, in all its six terms.
He did not contest the election in 2011, when
the Left Front was defeated after a 34-year tenure.
He started his career as a lawyer.
Modi among world’s most powerful people: Forbes
Prime Minister Narendra Modi made his debut among
the world’s most powerful people, ranked 15th
on the Forbes list topped by Russian President
Vladimir Putin who pipped his U.S. counterpart
Barack Obama for a second year in a row.
The list of 72 most powerful people in the world
also included the names of Reliance Industries
Chairman Mukesh Ambani at 36th, ArcelorMittal
Chairman and CEO Lakshmi Mittal at 57th and
Microsoft’s Indian-born CEO Satya Nadella at 64th.
On Modi, Forbes said “India’s newest rock star
doesn’t hail from Bollywood. He is the newly elected
Prime Minister who sailed into office in May with
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a landslide victory, ushering the BJP into power
after decades of control by the Gandhi dynasty.”
Forbes described him as a “Hindu nationalist” and
referred to the 2002 Gujarat riots when he was
the State’s Chief Minister.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel is at the second
spot followed by US President Barack Obama (third)
and Pope Francis (fourth) and Chinese President
Xi Jinping (fifth).
Apart from Modi who is at the ninth position,
others in the top ten are Microsoft Founder Bill
Gates at the sixth place, US Federal Reserve
Chairperson Janet Yellen (7), UK Prime Minister
David Cameron (8) and Google’s Larry Page(10)
About Modi, the magazine said that India’s “populist”
Prime Minister presided over 7.4 per cent GDP
growth in his first year in office, and “raised his
profile” as a global leader during official visits
with Barack Obama and Xi Jinping.
“A barnstorming tour of Silicon Valley reinforced
his nation’s massive importance in tech. But governing
1.2 billion people requires more than shaking hands:
Now Modi must pass his party’s reform agenda
and keep fractious opposition under control,” it said.
To compile the list of world’s most powerful people,
the magazine said it considered hundreds of
candidates from various walks of life all around
the globe, and measured their power along four
dimensions. They are whether the candidate has
power over lots of people, financial resources
controlled by each person, whether the candidate
is powerful in multiple spheres and whether the
candidates actively used their power.
The only other Indian in the most powerful people’s
list is Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani
who is ranked at the 36th position.
Among Indian-origin people, steel tycoon Lakshmi
Mittal is at the 55th spot while Microsoft CEO
Satya Nadella is ranked 61st.
About Putin, the magazine said he “continues to
prove he’s one of the few men in the world powerful
enough to do what he wants — and get away
with it”.
“International sanctions set in place after he seized
Crimea and waged war-by-proxy in the Ukraine
have kneecapped the Ruble and driven Russia into
deepening recession, but haven’t hurt Putin one
bit: In June his approval ratings reached an all-
time high of 89 per cent,” it noted.
The magazine said that German Chancellor Angela
Merkel continues her reign as the most powerful
woman on the planet for 10 years running.
About Obama, Forbes said there is no doubt that
the US remains the world’s greatest economic,
cultural, diplomatic, technological and military
power.
For more information, please visit: http://
www.forbes.com/powerful-people/list/#tab:overalls
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