Today's GK(23-8-13)

Social networking giant Facebook on 21 August 2013 joined forces with six other technology giants to launch Internet.org with an aim to make Internet access affordable for people across the globe.

Internet.org is an initiative of Facebook and six other technology giants, namely Ericsson, MediaTek, Nokia, Opera, Qualcomm and Samsung.

Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook Founder and CEO, will head the partnership that aims to make Internet access available to the next 5 billion people.

About Internet.org

• The inititiave will see the partners collaborate on developing lower-cost, higher-quality smartphones and deploying Internet access in underserved communities.
• Internet.org brings together a global partnership that will work to overcome current challenges, including making internet access available to those who cannot currently afford it.
• The founding members of Internet.org will develop joint projects, share knowledge, and mobilise industry and governments to bring the world online.
• The partners will focus on developing technologies that make mobile connectivity more affordable and decrease the cost of delivering data to people worldwide.
• The partners will also work on ways to use less data by improving the efficiency of the apps built and how they can help businesses drive internet access to get people online.
• The partners will also invest in tools to dramatically reduce the amount of data required to use most apps and internet experiences.
• Potential projects include developing data compression tools, enhancing network capabilities to more efficiently handle data, building systems to cache data efficiently and creating frameworks for apps to reduce data usage.

Anjana Dhavalu Thamake won the third gold for India by winning the girl's 800m race on the concluding day of the track and field events in the second Asian Youth Games held at Nanjing. Thamake clocked a personal best of two minutes 11.47 seconds to bag the gold ahead of Savinder Kaur of Malaysia and Sri Lanka's K Dilhani Fernando.

Anjana Thamake, who was participating as an Independent Olympic Athlete as India is serving a ban, led the eight-athlete field all through and won the race comfortably

The 21st round of the boundary talks between the government of Bhutan and People’s Republic of China was held in Bhutan’s capital Thimphu on 22 November 2013. Bhutan and China reaffirmed their commitment to resolve the boundary issue at the earliest through mutual consultation, understanding and accommodation.

The two sides expressed satisfaction with the talks and agreed to conduct Joint Technical Field Survey in the first week of September in Pasamlung area in Bumthang. While the Bhutanese delegation was led by Foreign Minister, Rinzin Dorje, the Chinese delegation was led by Vice Foreign Minister, Ministry of Foreign Affairs Liu Zhenrrin. The Talks were held in a frank and cordial manner.

The boundary talks provided the opportunity for Bhutan and China to better understand each other's positions better on the issues related to boundary and in arriving at an early and amicable settlement of the boundary between the two countries.

The Supreme Court of India on 22 August 2013 asked the State Government of Chhattisgarh to answer the court that why a contempt proceeding should not be initiated against it, as the state government failed to carry on the directions of the court that banned Salwa Judum by its order in July 2011.

The Court in its order asked the authorities to vacate the schools and ashrams, which were occupied by the Security Forces in the state.

A Supreme Court Bench of two Judges, Justice S.S. Nijjar and Justice Ibrahim Kalifulla, issued notice on the contempt petition filed filed by social anthropologist Nandini Sundar, Ram Guha, Swami Agnivesh, Kartam Joga, which complained failure of the state in following many directions of the court. 

Earlier on 5 July 2011, the Supreme Court of India gave a series of directions to the Central as well as the state Governments seeking a compliance report from both.

The petition mentioned that the Court in its decision ordered closure of all types of support to Salwa Judum, but the state government failed to acknowledge or punished the civilian militia (mercenaries). On the courts order of registering the FIRs to investigate the criminal cases were given a negligible importance (cited by NHRC). It also mentioned failure in offering compensations to anyone, for their property losses. Even, the victims of Salwa Judum, who lost their lives in the attack (except the ones died in Naxal Voilence), were not compensated by the state government.

About Salwa Judum

Salwa Judum was a civilian militia mobilised and deployed as part of anti-insurgency operations in Chhattisgarh with an aim to counter the naxalite violence in the region. The militia consisted of the local tribal youths, who received support and training from the Chhattisgarh state government. It was founded by Mahendra Karma, who was killed in a naxalite attack on 25 May 2013 in Darbha Valley of Chhattisgarh.

SC in July 2011 declared Salwa Judum as unconstitutional and ordered the state government disband it and take away all the ammunition and accessories from the members.

Telugu writer, novelist and columnist, Malathi Chandur, died following prolonged illness in Chennai on 21 August 2013. She was 84 years of age.

About Malati Chandur

• Malati Chandur was born in 1930 in Nuzvidu in Krishna district of Andhra Pradesh. She married Chnadur Nageswar Rao in 1947 after which they moved to Chennai.
• Malati Chandur wrote more than 25 novels and had more than 300 translations into Telugu to her credit.
• Her more famous novels are Champakam, Cheedapurugulu, Aalochinchu, and Sadyogam. She was also a prolific short story writer and published several of stories in weekly magazines.
• Malati Chandur’s novels offered practical solutions to the problems women encounter in daily life. Most of her novels had a feminist slant.

Awards

• She was awarded the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1992 for her novel Hrudaya Netri, and the Kalaprapoornam by the Padmavathi Women’s University.
• She was the recipient of Andhra Pradesh Sahitya Academy Award.

Ali Asghar Soltanieh, Iran’s representative to the UN International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) since 2005, announced his resignation on 22 August 2013.

Ali Asghar Soltanieh, holds a doctorate in nuclear science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and headed Iran's Atomic Energy Organisation between 2009 and 2010.

Ali Asghar Soltanieh has played a key role in defending Iran's nuclear program as peaceful and denying allegations that Tehran wants to possess atomic arms. However, during his time as representative there have been fruitless negotiations with the International Atomic Energy agency.

Western countries and Israel suspect Iran's nuclear program is a cover for developing atomic weapons, which Tehran strongly denies. The IAEA has been investigating Iran’s program for the past decade. Iran has faced several international sanctions for its refusal to stop enriching uranium, a process key to creating a nuclear weapon.

The government on 23 August 2013 announced to release a national e-mail policy to protect privacy of email users in India. In the proposed policy all government departments and Indian embassies are being asked to use NIC server for their email correspondence.

NIC server is located in India and it cannot be accessed by any foreign agency. The government is working to enhance its capacity to protect data and information flows by building better cyber and telephony infrastructure and by evolving new cyber and telecom security practices.  The government is also promoting Indian players in the information technology sector to develop and offer Internet services by their servers located in India.

Former Law Minister Ashwani Kumar has been appointed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as his Special Envoy to visit Japan in the rank of a Cabinet Minister on 22 August 2013.

The Prime Minister has nominated Ashani Kumar to visit for up to seven days as PM's Special Envoy to maintain the momentum of high-level exchanges with Japan and to prepare for the upcoming visit of Their Majesties the Emperor and Empress of Japan and the Prime Minister of Japan to India.

Ashwani Kumar resigned as Union Law Minister on 10 May 2013 for allegedly interfering in a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe in coal blocks allocation. The Supreme Court had come down heavily on the CBI for allowing the Law Ministry to vet the draft of its probe report on the coal allocation.

Mob: Ashwani Kumar has been appointed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as his Special Envoy to visit Japan in the rank of a Cabinet Minister.

Microsoft announced on Friday that chief executive Steve Ballmer planned to give up his post within the next 12 months, driving shares of the software giant up 8 per cent in pre-market trading.

The Redmond, Washington-based company said that Mr. Ballmer will leave the company once the board of directors chooses a successor.

“There is never a perfect time for this type of transition, but now is the right time,” Mr. Ballmer said in a statement.

“My original thoughts on timing would have had my retirement happen in the middle of our company’s transformation to a devices and services company. We need a CEO who will be here longer term for this new direction.” The 57-year-old has been with Microsoft since 1980, when he was the first business manager of the then-five-year-old company.

He took over the helm at the company, best known for the Windows operating system and Office productivity software, when founder Bill Gates stepped down in 2000.

Mr. Ballmer has drawn criticism from analysts in the last few years for failing to gain a toehold in the booming market for tablet computers and smartphones, which is now dominated by rivals Apple and Google.

Microsoft pioneered tablet computing a decade ago, but its tablet-friendly Windows 8 operating system, released last year, has been seen as a disappointment that confused many users.

Microsoft Windows 8-based tablet computers have around 4 per cent of the market, compared to 62 per cent for Google’s Android operating system and 32 per cent for Apple’s iOS.

Veteran leader Robert Mugabe was sworn in Zimbabwe’s President for another five-year term on Thursday before a stadium packed with tens of thousands of jubilant supporters.

Mr. Mugabe (89), pledged “to observe, uphold and defend the constitution of Zimbabwe” in an oath administered by Chief Justice Godfrey Chidyausiku, extending his 33-year rule.

Supporters clad in clothes emblazoned with the image of the man who has lead their nation since independence in 1980 filled the 60,000—seater venue, a show of force after elections many say were rigged.

Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai insists the July 31 vote was stolen and his party boycotted the inauguration.Mr. Tsvangirai’s spokesman said the opposition leader “can’t attend a robber’s party.”

Independent probe

Former colonial power Britain has called for an “independent investigation” into the conduct of the election, which Mr. Mugabe officially won by a landslide.

A no-show by many neighbouring leaders — including President Jacob Zuma of regional power-broker South Africa — did little to dampen enthusiasm. — AFP

Asian currencies fell on Thursday as minutes of the Federal Reserve's last meeting indicated that the U.S. central bank could start scaling back its stimulus as early as September.

The rupee continued to depreciate against the dollar, and closed at a new low of 64.55, down 44 paise from its previous close of 64.11.

Indonesia's rupiah fell to another four-year low on corporate dollar demand and capital outflows.

The Malaysian ringgit slid to its weakest in more than three years after the country posted weaker-than-expected growth and a smaller current account surplus in the second quarter.

Thailand’s baht also touched a three-year low as Bangkok shares and government bond prices slid. The Philippine peso touched a two-month low in catch-up trade on Thursday.

Manila’s financial markets were closed from Monday to Wednesday due to heavy rains and a holiday, when most of its Asian peers fell.

Emerging markets from Thailand to Turkey have come under pressure in recent weeks due to anticipation that the Fed will reduce its quantitative easing.

Its massive stimulus to prop up the U.S. economy generated a wave of cheap money which moved into emerging market currencies, equities and bonds

Since the Fed hinted at a phased withdrawal of its stimulus package, currencies across the region have started their southward journey.

A series of initiatives to drain liquidity by the Reserve Bank of India has not helped the cause of the rupee. Rather, it has only accentuated the rupee fall, much to the chagrin of the policy-makers.

The rupee, during the day, recovered from its historic low of 65.56 to a dollar. “The rupee has declined by nearly 22 per cent against the dollar since May. and is Asia's worst performing currency so far this year. Daily, the rupee is breaching its previous low convincingly. Today (Thursday), for the fifth consecutive day, the rupee has made a new all-time low.

“The dollar is trading strong against major rivals since Wednesday as minutes from the Federal Reserve’s meeting showed almost all officials support a slowing of bond buys later this year, depending on the data. Foreign investors have been pulling money out of India as the economy has slowed down and the cost of borrowing in dollars has risen,” Monjit Gogoi, Regional Director, Alpari Financial Services (India) told The Hindu .

The rupee tried to regain some lost ground towards the last hour of trading after the finance minister stated that the rupee has been undervalued.

As the rupee recovered, the stock indices also moved into positive territory due to short-covering said analysts. The BSE Sensex, ending a four session losing streak, closed with a gain of 407 points at 18312.94 points.

“Volatility was very sharp today. As the rupee recovered, stocks also tried to regain lost ground. Today, the stocks gained because some people who had gone short in the last two three days tried to cover their position by buying stocks,” said Deven Choksey, Managing Director, KR Choksey Share & Securities.

The NSE Nifty, too, bounced back, and closed with a gain of 105.90 point at 5408.45.

Rupee weakness

“A deep oversold Indian equities and an up-tick in the European bourses provided the uplift to Indian stocks, which has clocked gains of 2 per cent on the broad indices. Expectation that government could lift the ban on mining propped the banking shares upward. The weakness in the rupee, which touched a fresh life time low of 65.56 did not have much impact on the equity markets, beyond intra-day volatility. Over the near-term, we see 65.50/60 as a supply point on the dollar/rupee, so as long as it holds, a range of 64.00 to 65.50 could unfold. However, a break above 65.60 could expose 66.50/67.00 levels,” said Anindya Banerjee, Currency Analyst, Kotak Securities. —With inputs from Reuters.