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1. Lok Sabha elections, 2014
• The Election Commission has announced a nine-phase
poll for the 16th Lok Sabha from April 7 to May 12. The counting of votes will
be taken up on May 16. The model code of conduct has come into force with
immediate effect. The Lok Sabha has a strength of 543 (excluding two nominated
members) and the term of the present 15th Lok Sabha ends on May 31.
• The nine phases of polls are to be held on: April
7, 9, 10, 12, 17, 24, 30, May 7 and May 12.
• The elections to the 294-member Andhra Pradesh
Assembly will be held on April 30 and May 7 along with the respective Lok Sabha
constituencies in the State.
• It will be three phase poll in Jharkhand,
Chhattisgarh, Assam, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra, two phases in Andhra
Pradesh, Manipur, Odisha, Rajasthan and Tripura. All the remaining States and
the Union Territories wil have a single phase poll.
2. Sheila Dikshit : Governor of Kerala
• Sheila Dikshit, the Congress leader who served
three terms as Chief Minister of Delhi, has been appointed the Governor of
Kerala.
• The decision taken by the union government, which
is led by Ms Dikshit’s party, has ignited criticism from other political groups
especially Arvind Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party or AAP.
• As Kerala Governor, Ms Dikhsit, who is 75,
replaced Nikhil Kumar, a former police commissioner of Delhi who is likely to
run for parliament from Bihar.
3. Provision of NOTA in general elections
• Voters will be able to exercise the “None of the
Above” (NOTA) option for candidates in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.
• Chief Election Commissioner V.S. Sampath said the
entire election will be held using electronic voting machines (EVMs), and that
the NOTA option will also be provided.
• The option was first made available in the
November-December assembly polls in five states last year.
• The Lok Sabha elections will involve a staggering
814 million voters, an increase of some 100 million from 2009, and a sharp rise
from the 176 million in the first parliamentary polls of 1952.
4. 100-day mark to World Cup
• Brazil is commemorating the 100-day mark to the
World Cup by lighting up tourist attractions with the green and yellow colours
of the national flag.
• Some monuments, bridges, theatres and World Cup
stadiums were lit up across the country to celebrate the milestone.
• Among the stadiums illuminated with the national
colours were the Mineirao in Belo Horizonte and the Maracana, which will host
the final of football’s showcase event in Rio de Janeiro on July 13.
• The World Cup begins on June 12 with Brazil
playing Croatia in Sao Paulo.
5. Indoor maps launched by Google
• Technology giant Google has launched indoor maps
in India that will help users browse through and locate specific locations
inside venues like malls and museums.
• The service, available as part of Google Maps, is
already available in countries like the U.S., Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong and
the Netherlands.
• The service will be available free to Android and
iOS users.
• Apart from the metros, indoor maps will cover
locations in cities like Bhopal, Coimbatore, Chandigarh, Dehradun, Jaipur,
Kochi, Lucknow, Ludhiana and Moradabad.
• Apart from malls, indoor maps would be available
for National Gallery of Modern Art in Delhi, Salar jung museum in Hyderabad and
Hyderabad International Convention Centre.
6. Switzerland no more the perfect spot for tax
evaders
• Switzerland may no longer be a honeymoon spot for
tax evaders. A new international standard of tax data sharing is set to make
things harder for tax haven networks around the world that have in the past
included Switzerland and tiny island nations and enclaves. But India would have
to frame new laws to make use of the new system.
• The new standard, radically different from the
current system, aims to prevent wealth from flowing into financial “black
holes” through a systematic global regime of information sharing.
• Banks and authorities using secrecy laws to evade
governments trying to hunt down black money hoarders could lose much of their
power. Past offenders, who have so far easily escaped by moving assets, will be
in a fix when information about them gets leaked.
• The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and
Development (OECD) presented a draft framework for the new standard and the
finance ministers of the G-20, including India, endorsed it on February 23.
• However, there are some loopholes. Vast amounts of
illicit money are concealed through anonymity of contributors in trusts and
foundations.
