NOV 20th 2015-Current Affairs

>>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 contributions" 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.

>>Indian men and women elite cyclists won five medals -- one gold, three silver and one bronze -- on the opening day of the Track Asia Cup at the IG Stadium Complex Velodrome.

Anu Chutia opened India's medal account by winning a silver in the 500m race distance event in the junior women category in a time of 40.093 seconds. 

Promising cyclist from SAI National Cycling Academy (SAINCA), Amritha Reghunathan grabbed the gold clocking 39.927s. 

India has fielded two additional teams of SAINCA and Western Indian Team (WIT). But the medals won by cyclists representing SAINCA and WIT will not be counted in India's medal tally. 

>>The US House of Representatives has passed a bill that tightens restrictions on the resettlement of Syrian and Iraqi refugees, amid security concerns.

Dozens of Democrats joined Republicans as the House passed the measure 289-137, in a rebuke to the White House.

President Barack Obama has said he will veto the legislation.

The bill follows the attacks in Paris that left 129 people dead, claiming to the be the work of Islamic State.

Seven of the perpetrators died in the attacks, and one of them is thought to have been a Syrian who entered Europe via Greece with migrants.

>>Nitish Kumar was sworn in Bihar Chief Minister for a fifth time  at a grand event attended mostly by non-BJP leaders. The two sons of RJD chief Lalu Prasad — Tejaswi and Tej Pratap —and 26 others were also sworn in.

In the late-evening allocation of portfolios, Tejaswi Yadav, the younger son of Mr. Lalu Prasad, became Deputy Chief Minister. The elder son, Tej Pratap, was given charge of three important Ministries.

Apart from Nitish Kumar, 12 members each from the Janata Dal (United) and the Rashtriya Janata Dal and four from the Congress were administered the oath of office.

After Mr. Kumar, Tejaswi Yadav and Tej Pratap took the oath. All the family members of Mr. Lalu Prasad were present at the glittering ceremony on Patna’s historic Gandhi Maidan.

 >>Moscow and Cairo signed an agreement to build a nuclear power plant in Egypt, with Russia extending a loan to Egypt to cover the cost of construction.

Russia's state-owned nuclear firm Rosatom said the plant, Egypt's first, would be built at Dabaa in the north of the country and was expected to be completed by 2022.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, said the project would involve the building of a 'third-generation' plant with four reactors.

Rosatom said in October that it was in the final stages of negotiating the deal, which it expected to be completed by the end of the year. Egypt has been considering a nuclear plant at Dabaa on and off since the 1980s.

But Cairo froze its nuclear plans after the 1986 Chernobyl disaster and only announced in 2006, under former President Hosni Mubarak, that it intended to revive them. Mubarak was then overthrown in a revolution in 2011.

Egypt, with a population of 90 million and vast energy requirements, is seeking to diversify its energy sources. As well as a nuclear plant, Sisi has talked of building solar and wind energy facilities in the coming three years to generate around 4,300 megawatts of power.

The country also recently discovered a large reserve of natural gas off the Mediterranean coast.

>>A hike of 23.55 per cent in emoluments, including pay, allowances and pension, for the 47 lakh serving employees of the Central government and 52 lakh pensioners has been proposed by the Seventh Pay Commission, headed by Justice A K Mathur, which submitted its report Thursday to Finance Minister Arun Jaitley.

While the proposed hike in salaries could potentially offer a boost to consumer spending, the cumulative impact of the proposals, which include a recommendation of a virtual one-rank-one-pension scheme for civilian Central government employees, entail a total additional outgo of Rs 1.02 lakh crore a year.

The recommendations, to be implemented from January 2016. Finance Secretary Ratan Watal said that the government can “handle” financial implications of the recommendations and will work out modalities for implementation of the suggestions.

The minimum pay for a Central government employee will go up to Rs 18,000 per month from Rs 7,000 currently while the maximum pay would go up to Rs 2.50 lakh per month from Rs 90,000 currently. “The total financial impact in the FY 2016-17 is likely to be Rs 1,02,100 crore, over the expenditure as per the ‘Business As Usual’ scenario. Of this, the increase in pay would be Rs 39,100 crore, increase in allowances would be Rs 29,300 crore and increase in pension would be Rs 33,700 crore”.

>>The World Congress for Disaster Management is on its way in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh. The conference is taking place at the Andhra University Convocation Hall.

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu inaugurated the event on November 19 and the event is scheduled to continue until November 22. Union Urban Development Minister Venkaiah Naidu and Union Minister of State for Home and Disaster Management Kiren Rijiju attended the event to express their views.

Here are seven key points about the Second World Congress for Disaster Management:

1. The Disaster Management Infrastructure and Control Society is organising the congress along with the Andhra Pradesh government. The first congress was held in Hyderabad in the year 2008.

2. The congress aims will address various aspects of disaster management in 28 sessions, structured around 10 clusters.

3. It will also highlight the need for collaboration and coordinated research among all disaster relief organisation.

4. The delegates, including 100 foreign attendees from 46 countries, will discuss about the various phases of disaster relief including pre-disaster preparedness and mitigation, disaster response and relief and post-disaster reconstruction and rehabilitation.

5. The gathering will also talk over the implementation of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030, which was adopted at the third United Nations World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction in March 2015.

6. In order to develop a disaster-resilient future, the congress will share knowledge on disaster management among various stakeholders from all sectors around the world.

7. The meet will also focus on reviewing the existing disaster management system of India and other countries and block loopholes.

>>APEC Philippines 2015 was the year-long hosting of Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit which concluded with the APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting held on 18–19 November 2015 in Pasay.

It was the second time the Philippines hosted the summit, the first being the 1996 APEC summit.

The agenda of the Philippines' hosting of APEC 2015 is exemplified through its theme which focuses on promoting and advancing inclusive growth in the Asia-Pacific region. This goal on promoting inclusive growth is divided into three stages: domestic/national, regional, and macro levels. There are also four priority set for APEC 2015:

• Investing in Human Capital Development
• Fostering Small and Medium Enterprises’ (SMEs) Participation in Regional and Global Markets
• Building Sustainable and Resilient Communities
• Enhancing the Regional Economic Integration Agenda

The official APEC 2015 logo and theme, "Building Inclusive Economies, Building a Better World", were unveiled during the event.

On 18 November US President Barack Obama and 11 other world leaders met to reach out to discuss the ambitious Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade agreement - a landmark deal that proposes to create the world’s largest free trade area.

This meeting, organized on the sidelines of APEC, was the first meeting of 12 TPP countries after this landmark agreement was signed on 5 October 2015.

The 12 countries that are involved in TPP agreement are - Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, the United States, and Vietnam.