Singapore General Elections

In recently concluded 2015 Singapore General Elections, People’s Action Party (PAP) led by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has emerged victorious. PAP returned to power after scoring a landslide victory by winning an absolute majority of 83 seats in the 89 member Parliament. The opposition Workers’ Party won 6 seats. In this general election, PAP has secured 70 per cent of all valid votes up from 60.14 per cent in the 2011 general elections, when it had won 81 of the 87 constituency. With this victory, governing PAP has secured their 14th consecutive term in office since independence of city-state in 1965. 2015 Singapore General Elections was country’s first election after the death of its founding Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew. Parliamentary Elections in Singapore As per Constitution of Singapore, the Parliament has maximum term of five years after that it must be dissolved by the President and elections must be held within three months. Voting is mandatory in Singapore and is based on the first-past-the-post system. The elections are conducted by the Elections Department, which is under the jurisdiction of the Prime Minister’s Office.

Scientists have discovered a new ancestral species i

Scientists have discovered a new ancestral species in the human family tree dubbed as Homonaledi in South Africa. The new discovered species were named after the location where it was found i.e. naledi which means star in Sesotho, a local South African language. The species has been classified in the genus Homo to which modern humans belong. Discovery: It was made inside the Rising Star Cave in the Cradle of Humankind World Heritage Site in South Africa by team of scientists led by Lee Berger, professor at University of the Witwatersrand. They have discovered a huge haul of fossilised bones of these species which is the largest fossil hominin found on the African continent. Characteristic of Homonaledi species These species are among the first of our kind (genus Homo) and could have lived in Africa up to 3 million years ago. They have a tiny brain, a primitive pelvis and shoulders. They have more progressive human like body shape of its skull and have relatively small modern-looking teeth, primitive fingers, modern-looking feet and characteristic long legs.

India and Indonesia have signed a pac

India and Indonesia have signed a pact for repatriation of wanted prisoners and cooperate in all criminal matters, including gathering evidence. In this regard Union Ministry of Home Affairs has issued an official gazette notification for service or execution of summons or warrant in relation to criminal matters in both countries. Under the agreement India will execute summons to an accused person (or any person) requiring to produce documents and attend or a search-warrant issued by an Indonesian court. Indonesia will reciprocate with similar action to execute summons if there is any request from any Indian court. Such summons or warrant would be sent to its Internal Security Division-II for transmission to the central authority i.e. the Ministry of Law and Human Rights of Indonesia.

Queen Elizabeth II

Queen Elizabeth II became the longest-reigning Monarch of Britain and the longest-reigning female monarch in history. She surpassed the previous record held by her great-great-grandmother, Queen Victoria who had reigned thousand-year-old dynastical institution of Britain for more than 63 years and 7 months. It should be noted that, presently Queen Elizabeth II (88 years old) is world’s oldest living monarch. About Queen Elizabeth II Queen Elizabeth II was born as Elizabeth Alexandra Mary on 21 April 1926. She acceded to the throne on 6 February 1952 at the age of 25 after her father, King George VI died. She was crowned as queen of Britain and other realms, including Canada and Australia on 2 June, 1953. Presently, she is Queen of 16 member states in the Commonwealth of Nations which overall consists of overall 53 member states including India. She is also Head of the Commonwealth and Supreme Governor of the Church of England. In 1945, she had actively joined World War II as a driver in the Women’s Auxiliary Territorial Service (WATS).

Reliance Defence Ltd

Reliance Defence Ltd (RDL) led by Anil Ambani has inked memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Abu Dhabi Ship Building (ADSB) to set up a strategic partnership for construction of naval ships. The partnership will include construction of frigates and destroyers to address the demands of Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) over the next 10 years. Both signatory parties are also going to incorporate a joint venture (JV) company which will encompass both construction of new naval vessels as well as repair, maintenance, overhaul and refit opportunities of existing commercial and naval vessels in the Gulf region. In this proposed JV Company, RDL will be the majority partner with 51 per cent stake and ADSB will have 49 per cent of stake. Background The MoU signing between RDL and ADSB follows the joint statement issued during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to United Arab Emirates (UAE) in August 2015 which had highlighted cooperation and manufacture of defence equipment in India. About Abu Dhabi Ship Building ADSB is a major regional provider of construction, repair and refit services for naval, military and commercial vessels in the GCC region. It was established in 1996 and is headquartered in Abu Dhabi. Originally, it was established to support the repairs and refits of UAE Navy vessels. Currently, it has market portfolio of different projects worth 3 billion UAE Dirhams. Its stake is jointly owned by Mubadala (40 per cent stake), Abu Dhabi Government (10 per cent stake) while the remaining 50 per cent is publicly traded on UAE’s stock exchange.

Bodhgaya in Gaya district of Bihar as Spiritual Capital

Union Government is going to develop Bodhgaya in Gaya district of Bihar as Spiritual Capital of the country in order to serve the civilisational bond between India and the Buddhist world. It was announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi while addressing delegates from 90 countries on the concluding day of the International Buddhist Conclave held at Bodh Gaya. In his address Prime Minister called Gautam Buddha as India’s crown jewel and called Bodh Gaya as the land of enlightenment. About Bodhgaya Bodhgaya is a religious site and place of pilgrimage associated with the Mahabodhi Temple Complex in Gaya district of Bihar. Significance: It is famous because it place where Gautama Buddha (Founder of Buddhism) is said to have obtained Enlightenment (Bodhimandala) under the peepal tree which is known as the Bodhi Tree. For Buddhists, Bodh Gaya is the most important place and one of the main four pilgrimage sites related to the life of Gautama Buddha. Other three are Kushinagar, Lumbini, and Sarnath. In 2002, Mahabodhi Temple located in Bodh Gaya was accorded with UNESCO World Heritage Site status.

Climate change

Climate change is exerting “really scary” impacts on the Arctic with far-reaching consequences for the rest of the world, Barack Obama’s envoy for the region said on Friday.

Those changes, from melting sea ice to thawing permafrost and more frequent and severe storms, were leading the US and other countries to step up their presence in the remote and mineral-rich region, said Admiral Robert Papp, the State Department special representative for the Arctic.

Obama drew attention to a climate-changed Arctic during a visit to Alaska this week, hiking glaciers, cuddling husky puppies and visiting a remote indigenous community.

Greenpeace India

Union Government has cancelled licence of Greenpeace India, a non-profit Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) to receive foreign donations. The license was cancelled by Union Ministry of Home Affairs as per under Section 13 of Foreign Contribution Regulations Act (FCRA), 2011. Henceforth, Greenpeace India will be not able to receive any kind of foreign donations from its international network. Earlier in April 2015, MHA had suspended the license of Greenpeace India for six months for mixing foreign and domestic funds and not disclosing the movement of its funds. Greenpeace India had filed a petition challenging this suspension in the Delhi High Court. The court had allowed the NGO to use two of its accounts for the purpose of receiving and utilising fresh domestic donations for its day-to-day functioning. About Greenpeace India Greenpeace India is the subsidiary of the global environmental group Greenpeace, a non-profit NGO. Greenpeace has its presence in 40 countries across the world including in Europe, America, Asia and Pacific. Its operations in India run mainly in four broad campaigns viz. stop climate change, preserving the oceans, sustainable agriculture and preventing another nuclear catastrophe.

Forward Markets Commission

Union Government has notified the merger of commodities market regulator Forward Markets Commission (FMC) with Securities Exchange Board of India (SEBI) with an effect from 28 September 2015. In this regard, Union Finance Ministry has issued a notification mentioning that Regulation of Commodity Derivatives Market will shift to SEBI under Securities Contracts Regulation Act (SCRA) 1956. Forward Contracts Regulation Act (FCRA), 1952 gets repealed so does the FMC cease to exist. With this merger, all three national and six regional commodity exchanges will come under the ambit of national capital market regulator SEBI. Implication: This merger will create a unified regulator for commodities and capital markets which in turn will help streamline monitoring of commodity futures trading and curb wild speculations in the market. Background Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in his Budget speech of February 2015 had announced the merger of FMC with the capital market regulator SEBI in order to strengthen the regulation of commodity futures market. The Financial Sector Legislative Reforms Commission (FSLRC) also had recommended merger of SEBI, IRDA, FMC and PFRDA into a single entity called Unified Financial Agency (UFA).