Current Affairs : August 25, 2011

Supreme Court: Compensation for land acquisitions to be based on market value

• The Supreme Court held that compensation given by the Govt to farmers when acquiring their land should be decided on the basis of its market value
  
• The court passed the order while hearing a bunch of petitions filed by the land owners seeking enhanced compensation for their land which is situated on the Ambala-Chandigarh Highway
  
• SC also increased the base price from Rs 2.75 Lakh per hectare to Rs 4.09 Lakh rupees per acre for the land which was acquired by the Punjab government
  
• The court said the owners are entitled to the highest value which similar land in the locality is shown to have fetched
  

SC instructs Hospitals to formulate a mechanism for free treatment to poor

• The Supreme Court has directed that private hospitals getting subsidized land can’t run away from its responsibility to give free treatment to economically weaker section of society
  
• Extracting some of the hospitals for not giving free treatment to the poor, Supreme court demanded them to formulate a system with Delhi Government in order to ensure this
  
• Meanwhile, the court ordered that patients from Government Hospitals be referred to such private hospitals which would provide free treatment
  

National Transitional Council to take Libya’s seat in League’s council

• The Arab League announced that Libya’s rebel National Transitional Council (NTC) will be the legitimate representative of the Libyan people
  
• With this Libya will return to its permanent seat on the League’s council
  
• The NTC will be the legitimate representative of the Libyan state in the meeting of Arab League
  
• The Arab League suspended Libya’s membership in February,2011 after Muammar Gaddafi’s forces launched a crackdown to try to stop the uprising spreading in the east of the country
  

Bank supervision department to handle corruption complaints in Public Sector Banks

• In order to deal with complaints of charges of corruption in the Public Sector Banks, a special investigation cell in the banking supervision department of RBI has been created
  
• Finance Minister Mr. Pranab Mukherjee informed that apart from this an officer in the Cabinet Secretariat will also scrutinize the complaints received against Board level appointees of public sector banks
  
• The nature of complaints against Board level appointees include allegations of writing of loans, taking over of accounts, other banks and irregularities in grant of advances
  
• The abuse of official position and possessing disproportionate assets by them are also being investigated
  

Japan PM Naoto Kan Resigns

• Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan has announced his resignation
  
• Thus the next PM for Japan would be the 6^th one in last 5 years
  
• Mr Kan said that as promised on 2 June, he is resigning as the leader of the DPJ. He said, once the new leader is selected, he will also resign as the Prime Minister
  
• Kan’s decision to stand down was widely expected, in the midst of falling approval ratings and party infighting
  

No case pending against Indian student of Tri Valley University: Sibal

• The Government announced that there is no more case pending against any Indian student who studied in the Tri Valley University in USA
  
• India had already made it very clear to the US authorities that any inhuman treatment to Students would be unacceptable
  
• 1800 Students were affected after the university was shut down in January 2011
  
• In the case of Tri-Valley university, the Government interfered via diplomatic and political channels to assure the safety of the Indian students
  
• Indian Mission and Consulates in the US are on a regular basis meeting the affected Students and providing all possible assistance to them
  
• India has already conveyed to the US government that Indian students should be given sufficient Time and opportunity to transfer to other universities or return to India honorably