Current Affairs 4th November, 2015

National:

Maharashtra Government approves APJ Abdul Kalam Amrut Yojna

• Maharashtra Government has approved APJ Abdul Kalam Amrut Yojna scheme to provide one full hot cooked nutritious food to pregnant, lactating women in the tribal areas.
• It was approved by the state Cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis in Mumbai.

About APJ Abdul Kalam Amrut Yojna

• Objective: To curb malnutrition among tribal children by providing nutrition to pregnant women for 6 months when the child’s growth is at its peak. The scheme is an initiative of Tribal Development department of state government.
• Implementation: Anganwadis falling under Women and Child Welfare Department in 16 districts of states having tribal population will implement it.
• Scheme Plan: To provide one full hot cooked nutritious food to every pregnant (in third trimester) and lactating mother (first three months post-delivery) in tribal areas.
• Meal: The nutritious meal would be served at the anganwadi centre as per the convenience of the beneficiaries. It will include pulses, fruits, vegetables, rice and boiled eggs and milk on few occasions.
• The scheme will replace the earlier ‘Take Home Ration‘ scheme which provided packets of sheera or upma to lactating or expectant mothers in tribal areas of state.
  

Impose AFSPA in Garo Hills: Meghalaya High Court

• Meghalaya High Court has asked Central Government to enforce Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act (AFSPA), 1958 in militancy-hit Garo Hills region of the state.
• The order was issued by a full 3 bench of the High Court comprising Chief Justice Uma Nath Singh, Justice T N K Singh and Justice S R Sen while hearing on pending cases of militants calling bandhs in the state.
  
  The Court observation:
• Central government can enforce AFSPA in Garo Hills region in order to deploy armed forces to aid of civil administration to restore public order and maintain the law and order.
• The imposition of AFSPA would be only for the purpose of enabling the civil authorities in the state to effectively deal with militancy so that there is a regime of rule of law.

Background

• Recently the Meghalaya state is witnessing a rise in number of militancy incidents in the region especially in Garo Hills including abduction of a Megahalya Government Officials by Garo National Liberation Army militants.
• Though in past decade the insurgency was more or less contained in the state, but in last 2 years there has been a rise in the number of violence as several dormant insurgent groups in state started resurfacing.

About Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958

• Empowers armed forces to deal effectively in ‘Disturbed Areas’ declared by both state and Central government.
• Parliament had enacted it in 1958 to provide special legal security to the armed forces for carrying out operations in the troubled areas of 7 sisters states of North east.
• The act was extended to Jammu and Kashmir in 1990 in order to confront the rising insurgency in the area.
• The act provides army officers and jawans legal immunity for their actions undertaken disturbed areas.

Death:

Ex-Rajasthan MLA dies after month-long fast

• The former Janata Dal MLA, Gurusharan Chabbra, died after a month-long hunger strike to demand a stronger and independent Lokayukta in Rajasthan and a State-wide ban on liquor.
• On April 1 last year, he started a fast and broke it on May 15 after a government representative promised him to concede the demands.
• There was no action from the government, he started a fast on Gandhi Jayanti this year. On October 17, he was taken to the SMS Hospital here.

About Chabbra:

• Chabbra was a Janata Dal MLA from 1977 to 1980.
• He later joined the BJP, but quit active politics in 1992.
• This was the fourth time he was on a hunger strike for the two demands.
• In 2013, the Ashok Gehlot government had agreed to concede his demands, but Vasundhara Raje soon took over as Chief Minister.

Republican wins Kentucky Governor’s race in top state vote

• Kentucky voters elected just the second Republican, businessman Matt Bevin, in four decades to hold the Governor’s office, in a race that hinged largely on President Barack Obama’s signature health care reform legislation.
• Mr. Bevin had waged a campaign to scale back the state’s Medicaid expansion that was made possible under Mr. Obama’s federal health care overhaul. Some 4,00,000 lower-income people in Kentucky who gained health coverage under the Medicaid expansion could be affected.
• The Republican also played up his support for Kim Davis, the Rowan County clerk jailed for refusing to issue marriage licences to same-sex couples.

UNGA Disarmament Committee adopts draft resolution backing abolition of nuclear arms

• United Nations General Assembly’s (UNGA) Disarmament Committee or First Committee has adopted a draft resolution calling for the abolition of nuclear arms.
• The resolution was submitted by Japan and was adopted by 156 member countries, while 17 abstaining and 3 voting against it including China and Russia.
• But it failed to secure endorsement US, Britain, France and other key powers as they abstained from voting despite supporting it.
  
  Features of Resolution
• Stresses the inhumanity of nuclear weapons and urges nuclear powers to be more transparent in their disarmament efforts.
• Calls for efforts to raise awareness of the humanitarian impact of the use of nuclear weapons.

• Asks world leaders to visit the two Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki which were devastated by the nuclear attacks.
• Since 1994, Japan has been spearheading efforts UNGA Disarmament Committee to introduce resolutions on nuclear arms every year.
• The UNGA Disarmament Committee or First Committee deals with disarmament, threats to peace and global challenges that affect the international community. It seeks out solutions to the challenges in the international security regime.

Sports:

Inzy to be Afghanistan coach for two years

• Former Pakistan captain Inzamam ul-Haq has agreed to carry on working with the Afghanistan cricket team as coach for a two-year period after tasting success with the side in Zimbabwe.
• Inzamam, who played 120 Tests and 388 ODIs for Pakistan, agreed to be batting consultant for the recent tour of Zimbabwe where Afghanistan scored a historic series win.
• Inzamam was also offered a similar position with the Pakistan team two years ago but he declined after financial matters between him and the Pakistan Cricket Board didn’t work out.

Yogeshwar the highest-paid marquee player for Pro Wrestling League

• London Games bronze medallist Yogeshwar Dutt pipped double Olympic medallist and World champion, Sushil Kumar, to become the highest-paid marquee player at Rs. 39.7 lakh in the Pro Wrestling League auction.
• Yogeshwar was picked by Haryana.
• When the auction gained tempo, three women wrestlers outshone the leading Indian Olympic stars. The 21-year-old Oksana Herhel of Ukraine was taken by Haryana for Rs. 41.3 lakh, Belarus’ Vasilisa Marzaliuk by Punjab for Rs. 40.2 lakh and Yesilirmak Elif Jale of Turkey by Delhi for Rs. 39.6 lakh.
• The league, with a total cash prize of Rs. 3 crore and a Rs. 20 crore budget for the players, will be staged in six cities — Delhi, Bengaluru, Mumbai, Ludhiana, Gurgaon and Noida from December 10 to 27.
• With the base price fixed at Rs. 33 lakh, the other marquee players — Sushil Kumar (Uttar Pradesh, Rs. 38.20 lakh), Adeline Gray of United States (Mumbai, 37 lakh), Narsingh Yadav (Bengaluru, 34.5 lakh), Geeta Phogat (Punjab, 33 lakh) and Sofia Mattison of Sweden (Delhi, 33 lakh) — went for impressive sums.

Pakistani Cricketer Shoaib Malik announces retirement from Test Cricket

• Former Pakistan captain Shoaib Malik announced his retirement from Test cricket and now will play only in the One-Day International (ODI).
• He made this announcement after finishing Test match against England in Sharjah, UAE after he had made a comeback in Test format after five years of gap.

Career

• Shoaib Malik had made his ODI debut in 1999 against the West Indies and his Test debut was against Bangladesh in 2001.
• In his career, Malik had played 35 Tests matches and scored 1,898 runs. It comprised of three centuries and eight half-centuries.
• He had taken 29 wickets in his Tests career and his best was of 4-33 against England in October 2015.
• His bowling action also had come under scrutiny and was banned for one-year ban from international cricket in March 2010.
• Malik is married to Indian tennis legend Sania Mirza since 2010.