CURRENT AFFAIRS AUG 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