Current Affairs : August 6, 2011

August 6, 2011

Lok Sabha passes grants of Rs. 25,707 Crore and Appropriation bill

  • Lok Sabha passed the Supplementary demands for Grants of Rs. 25,707 Crore and the relevant Appropriation bill by a voice vote
  • As per the Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, supplementary grants needed because of the augmented expenditure on the various counts MPLAD schemes besides the hike in stipend for Anganwadi workers and Compensation paid to Bhopal Gas tragedy victims

CAG report on CWG-2010

  • The report by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) – on Common Wealth Games tabled in the Lok Sabha
  • It posed allegations against Delhi Chief Minister condemning her of abnormalities and extravagance in the games
  • As per the report Delhi Government committed lapses and irregularities in the bidding process and held responsible numerous ministries and agencies including the DDA, MCD, NDMC and PWD for the complete mess
  • It observed numerous cases of wasteful expenditure by the Delhi government and civic agencies amounting to the tune of over 100 Crores rupees over street scrapping and an excess expenditure of over 31 Crores on street lighting by MCD, NDMC and PWD
  • The report, also points a finger of suspicion at Organizing Committee of the Games headed by Suresh Kalmadi, now in jail
  • It suspected that Kalmadi had preferred many companies
  • The report said the Prime Minister’s Office named Kalmadi for appointing as Committee’s chief despite objections from the then sports Minister Late Sunil Dutt

Oxygen Molecules in Orion Constellation found by NASA Scientists

  • Herschel Space Observatory’s large telescope and infrared detectors furnished the first definite finding of oxygen molecules in space
  • Molecules discovered in the Orion star-forming complex
  • Individual atoms of oxygen are widespread in space, mostly around massive stars
  • But molecular Oxygen, which makes up about 20% of the air we breathe, remains undetected
  • Astronomers looked for the subtle molecules in space for decades using balloons, as well as ground- and space-based telescopes
  • The Swedish Odin telescope spotted the molecule in 2007, but the sighting could not be confirmed
  • Oxygen gas was discovered in the 1770s
  • Oxygen is the 3rd most common element in the universe
  • Herschel: European Space Agency cornerstone mission, with Science instruments provided by pool of European institutes
  • NASA’s Herschel Project Office is based at JPL, which contributed mission-enabling technology for two of Herschel’s three Science instruments

Indian Court of Arbitration for Sports set up to settle Sports Dispute

  • The Indian Olympic Association (IOA) sets up a 8 member Indian Court of Arbitration for Sports (ICAS)
  • ICAS set up under the Chairmanship of Dr. AR. Lakshmanan, former Supreme Court Judge and former Law Commission chairman
  • Objective:
    To resolve all sports related disputes in India
  • Other Members of ICAS: M.R. Culla and retired judges, Justices R.S. Sodhi, B.A. Khan, Usha Mehra, Lokeshwar Prasad and S.N. Sapra
  • All sports related disputes in the whole world are settled by the International Court of Arbitration for Sports situated at Lausanne, Switzerland through a panel of eminent experts in the field of law, medicine, sports and others
  • The International Olympic Committee (IOC) had given directions to the IOA to constitute the Indian court of Arbitration for Sports in order to resolve all sports related disputes within the territory of India
  • All disputes in relation to sports under the Indian Olympic Association will therefore be decided by the Indian Court of Arbitration for Sports.

Software developed to prevent Stampede Deaths

  • German Scientists developed new software to prevent Stampede Deaths
  • S/w can precisely sense when crowds are starting to build up to unsafe levels
  • It could help prevent stampede deaths that often occur during festivals and mass celebrations 
  • S/w to give security staff a chance to scatter crowds to safety by pre-empting the crisis
    S/w observes the motion of the crowd by inspecting the movement of each pixel b/w different frames of crowd video footage
  • When there are extremely symmetrical pixel motions, it means there is something odd going on and the S/w puts the operator on qui vive by highlighting the area in red
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