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noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 28 Jul 2016 11:37:00 +0000

Patience. The word may sound so normal or even of no relation to us who belongs to the so called techno geek generation. But the word itself is more powerful not to mention on possessing it as quality. I am tend to write this post after a very long gap of nearly 3 years when the life has given me opportunity to remind me of this quality. When I look back now on sitting alone amidst a pool of people with no one to actually communicate, the various incidences when I actually lost my patience which was then so vital. Let's take a small example we come across every now and then, a call with a customer executive. The mistake we tend to do more often is showing our restlessness and anger/frustration against the mistake of some other person of the company or of technology issues of the firm. We tend to always forget that person is also doing his / her job like we do. Why our brain conveniently ignores this fact? Is it that not a most important fact. No, it's just that we were not been taught with the importance of patience and understanding our way of behaviour at that instance.

So, should we have take this as such big deal on this fast moving world and waste time. Well, all great minds of the century will surely agree since our ignorance of such basic quality is the major source of religiously/ socially corrupted society that we have inherited.

I believe that this is the time we should start thinking and finding root cause of the problems that we face as society today irrespective of being in which part of this world.

feb 7th current affairs:

noreply@blogger.com (AWARE and AWAKE) — Fri, 07 Feb 2014 18:03:00 +0000

1. Vyas Samman for Vishwanath Tripathi

i. Eminent Hindi writer Vishwanath Tripathi been selected for the prestigious Vyas Samman for the year 2013.

ii. Tripathi has been chosen for the coveted annual literary award instituted in 1991 by the K K Birla Foundation for his memoir 'Vyomkesh Darvesh', a biolgraphy of noted Hindi scholar Acharya Hazari Prasad Dwivedi.
iii. The award carries an amount of Rs 2.5 lakh. It is given to an outstanding literary work in Hindi published during the last 10 years.
iv. The selection committee for the award was headed by Hindi litterateur Surya Prasad Dikshit.
v. 82-year-old Tripathi has around 20 publications to his credit which include novels, memoirs and poetry collection.

About Vyas Samman
Vyas Samman was instituted by the K.K. Birla Foundation in 1991 and is awarded annually in recognition of the hindi literary work published in past 10 years in genres like plays, novels, poetry, short stories, critiques and others. The award carries 2.5 lakh rupees and a citation and a plaque.

2. RBI permits 4 non-bank entities to set up white label ATMs

i. The Reserve Bank today said it has issued ‘certificate of authorisation’ to four non-bank entities, including Tata Communications Payment Solutions and Muthoot Finance, to set up White Label ATMs (WLAs) in the country.

ii. The other two non-bank entities to which the Reserve Bank has issued the certificate for setting up and operating the White Label ATMs are Prizm Payment Services and Vakrangee Ltd.

iii. While Tata, Muthoot and Prizm have already launched their services, Vakrangee Ltd is likely to commence its service shortly, the central bank said.

iv. Most of the ATMs belong to banks, but the cash dispensing machines which are owned and operated by non-banking companies are called White Label ATMs.

v. The primary objective of permitting non-banks to operate WLAs, RBI said, was to enhance the spread of ATMs in semi-urban and rural areas (mainly in tier III to VI areas), where bank-owned ATM penetration was not growing.

vi. Under the new guidelines, certain minimum number of WLAs need to be installed in these areas within a year as per the scheme opted by the respective operators.

3. SC directs NTPC not to cut power supply to BSES in Delhi till 26th March

i. The Supreme Court today directed the NTPC not to cut the power supply to BSES in Delhi, till March 26th. The Bench also directed the BSES to pay fifty crore rupees to NTPC within two weeks.

ii. NTPC had last week, issued notices to BSES Rajdhani and BSES Yamuna on the issue of payment security mechanism and non-payment of outstanding dues to the state-run company. In the notice, NTPC warned of cutting power supply if dues are not paid by the tenth of this month. The two companies supply electricity to nearly 70 percent areas of Delhi.

iii. Earlier, the Delhi Government had warned the discoms that their licenses could be cancelled if they do not cooperate with the CAG in audit.

4. Apex court upholds recommendations of Majithia Wage Board

i. The Supreme Court today upheld the recommendations of Majithia Wage Board for journalists and non-journalists on their pay structure and directed that the revised salaries be granted to the employees.

ii. A Bench headed by Chief Justice P. Sathasivam said that the revised pay structure should be given to the employees from November 11, 2011, when the Centre notified the recommendations of the Board.

iii. It said that new pay structure would be given from April 2014 and the employer will have to pay arrears within a year in four instalments.

iv. The Bench dismissed the pleas filed by various newspaper managements challenging the validity of the Board’s constitution and its recommendations.

v. The Bench also said that the recommendations by the Board regarding variable pay is also within its jurisdiction.

vi. The 6th (Majithia) Wage Board was constituted by the Labour Ministry in 2007 despite strong reservations from the newspaper industry, and thereafter announced an ad hoc interim relief of 30 per cent of basic pay with effect from January 2008. This was implemented by the industry despite the heavy financial burden.

5. Indian-origin hedge fund manager convicted of insider trading

i. Indian-origin hedge fund portfolio manager Mathew Martoma has been convicted for his role in the $275 million insider trading scheme, the most lucrative in U.S. history, which involved sharing of secret information on testing of a potential breakthrough Alzheimer’s drug.

ii. Martoma, 39, was convicted on Thursday of one count of conspiracy to commit securities fraud and two counts of securities fraud by the jury of seven women and five men after two days of deliberations in the trial that lasted four weeks.

iii. The maximum prison sentence on all the three counts is 45 years but Martoma could be given a lesser prison time under federal sentencing guidelines.

iv. The former portfolio manager of CR Intrinsic Investors, a division of SAC Capital, also faces a fine of over $5 million on the charges.

v. Martoma’s verdict was the eighth insider trading conviction of a current or former employee at SAC Capital, the $14 billion hedge fund founded by Steven Cohen.

6. Amul wins AIMA brand performance award

i. All India Management Association (AIMA), the national apex body of management professionals in the country, has conferred the high performance brand award for 2013 on Amul, the milk brand marketed by Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF).

ii. The annual award is conferred on distinguished professionals and organisations for making outstanding contribution to their organisations and to recognise excellence in management, entrepreneurship and leadership, according to an Amul release here.

iii. AIMA and RK Swamy BBDO had instituted the Award in 2009.

iv. This award was given in reorganization of the path breaking achievements of GCMMF which has successfully used commercial marketing to enrich the lives of millions of farmers. It has achieved market leadership in all the categories that it operates in.

v. R S Sodhi, Managing Director, GCMMF, who will receive the award on behalf of 35 lakh milk farmers of Gujarat, said the brand Amul is growing at the rate of 20% CAGR since last five years. “For the current year, we are expected to grow at 30% and would reach turnover of Rs.18,000 crores”.

7. Marco Lambertini appointed as director-general of WWF International

i. The global conversation organisation, WWF (World Wide Fund for Nature) on 6 February 2014 appointed Marco Lambertini as director-general (DG) of the WWF International. His new role as the DG will start on 1 May 2014.

ii. At the time of this appointment, he was serving Bird Life International as its chief executive. He will succeed James P Leape, who was appointed as the director-general of WWF International in 2005.

Marco Lambertini
• Lambertini holds an experience of 25 years as a global conservation leader
• Prior to the Bird Life International, he served as the global director of Network and Programme for over a decade
• Lambertini began his association with WWF as a youth volunteer growing up in his native Italy.

8. Malala nominated for 'Children's Nobel'

i. Pakistani schoolgirl Malala Yousafzai, was nominated for the World Children's Prize in Sweden today for championing education rights for girls.

ii. She is a child herself and she stands up for girls' rights to education in Pakistan, but also in the world as a whole," Liv Kjellberg, 15, a member of the international prize jury told AFP.

iii. Malala was nominated last year for the Nobel Peace Prize and won the European Union's Sakharov human rights prize for her crusade for the right of all children to an education.

iv. The 16-year-old, who now lives in Britain following extensive medical treatment, was shot by a Taliban gunman in 2012 over her outspoken views on education in her home region in northwest Pakistan.

v. The World Children's Prize -- also known as the "Children's Nobel Prize" -- was founded in 2000 and aims to raise awareness of children's rights in 60,000 schools in 110 countries through educational programs which include studying champions of human rights and voting for the prize winners.

vi. The two other nominees for this year's award are John Wood, founder of the US-based education charity Room to Read, and Indira Ramanagar, a Nepali activist who helps prisoners' children.
vii. All three nominees will receive a share of the USD 100,000 (74,000-euro) prize money -- intended to go towards further activism -- at an award ceremony outside Stockholm in October 2014.

9. DTH scheme to give money directly to beneficiaries

i. After the direct benefit transfer project, the Government is now planning to usher in a Direct-To-Home (DTH) scheme to plug leakages and handover pensions, work wages and other entitlements directly to beneficiaries across the country.

ii. Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh said the scheme has been initiated in Andhra Pradesh and the need to bring out such a programme was thought as the government was witnessing that funds of welfare schemes were getting "leaked" rather than reaching legitimate beneficiaries.

iii. "Today (in) our delivery system...the leakage is more and the coverage is less. Whether it is food security, whether it is health, whether it is pensions, whether its is Mahatma Gandhi NREGA. You take any programme. We have a lot of money but how much money actually reaches the beneficiary is a big question mark".

iv. "In about two years time all wages, all pensions, all maternity benefits, all subsidy schemes meant for the people will actually be delivered electronically not to the bank account or the post office but directly to the family".
v. "It's really DTH, direct-to-home through the help of micro-ATMs, modern technology, mobile connectivity...we would be able to transform the system of welfare delivery," he said.

10. Union Government hiked FRP of Sugarcane by 10 rupees per quintal for 2014-15

i. The Union Government on 6 February 2014 approved the increase in the Fair and Remunerative Price (FRP) for sugarcane by 10 rupees per quintal for 2014-15 marketing season (October - September).

ii. As a result, FRP of sugarcane will increase from 210 ruppes per quintal to 220 rupees per quintal. This decision of hike in price was taken during a meet of the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs in New Delhi.

iii. FRP is the minimum price that has been legally guaranteed to the sugarcane farmers, whereas, the state government has the right to fix Statutory Advised Price (SAP) as their own prices.

iv. Even the millers are free to offer any price above the FRP price announced by the Union government. FRP for sugarcane has been fixed by taking the margins for sugarcane farmers on the basis of production cost of sugarcane including transportation costs.

v. After Brazil, India is the second largest producer of sugar in the world and is the biggest consumer of the sweetener. 23 million tonnes is the total annual demand of sugar in India.

Background
This FRP hike proposal had been done following the recommendation of the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP) which advises the government on pricing policy for major farm produce. CACP is a statutory body.

11. John Thompson appointed Chairman of Microsoft

i. John Thompson was appointed as the Chairman of Microsoft on 5 February 2014 by the Board of Directors at a meeting held in Washington, US. He succeeded Bill Gates who assumed the role of Technology Advisor to the CEO of Microsoft.

ii. John Thompson had joined the Board of Microsoft in 2012.
iii. Earlier, he was the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of privately held Virtual Instruments. The products are designed to ensure the performance and availability of applications deployed in virtualised and private cloud computing environments.

iv. He was also the former chairman and CEO of Symantec Corp.
v. Mr. Thompson stepped down as CEO in 2009, and stepped down from Board of Directors of Symantec in 2011.

feb 6th current affairs;

noreply@blogger.com (AWARE and AWAKE) — Thu, 06 Feb 2014 17:04:00 +0000

1. India offers buyer's credit of $ 100mn to Namibia for infra projects

i. India has offered to provide buyer's credit of 100 million dollars to Namibia for infrastructure projects. The offer was made by Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma during his recent visit to the country.

ii. The buyer's credit is in addition to the 100 million dollars line of credit offered during the visit of the President of Namibia to India in 2009.

iii. Buyer's Credit is an unique programme of Exim Bank, under which the Bank facilitates Indian exports by way of extending credit facility to the overseas buyers for financing their imports from India.

iv. An official release issued in New Delhi today said, India fully support to Namibia in the priority sectors such as drugs and pharmaceuticals, small and medium industries, agriculture and infrastructure.

2. Aus keen to sign Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement with India

i. Australia today said it was keen to sign the Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement with India to bring trade and investment ties to the forefront. Australian Trade Minister Andrew Robb said his country would push for the agreement after the general election in India.

ii. The Minister was speaking at the Australia-India Roundtable, an informal dialogue between the two countries in Melbourne today.

iii. Robb said the Australian government was working on Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement with India and Indonesia which would be pushed soon after polls are held in both the nations.He told the delegation that India was emerging one of the largest trading partner after China, Japan and South Korea.

iv. A high-level Indian delegation led by Secretary (East) of the Ministry of External Affairs Anil Wadhwa held talks with several Australian officials in Sydney and Melbourne. The Roundtable was organised by the Australia India Institute in partnership with the Lowy Institute and Indian foreign policy think-tank the Observer Research Foundation.

3. Gujarat Govt to offer lignite for SMEs via NSIC

i. While gas-based large industries continue to face fuel shortage, the small industries in Gujarat has a reason to cheer.

ii. The state government is considering allocating lignite directly to the small and medium industries through the National Small Industries Corporation (NSIC) from Rajpardi mines in south Gujarat.

iii. According to top government officials, the state government has given in-principle approval to the plan, which will ensure cheap fuel for the small industries.

iv. The government has appointed NSIC, a government of India enterprise as nodal agency to distribute lignite among the small units.

v. “As per the draft agreement, NSIC will act as the nodal agency, where the units will place their demand and subsequently NSIC will inform GMDC to supply lignite to the concerned unit,” said P K Jha, regional head, NSIC - Ahmedabad.

vi. GMDC will supply about 40,000 metric tonnes of lignite periodically from its Rajpardi mines near Bharuch.

vii. As the financial assistance under its raw material procurement scheme, NSIC will provide weak units a 90-day repayment cycle with interest rate of 11.95 per cent, much below the 14.5 per cent interest rate charged under stock hypothecation by banks, Jha informed.

4. Delhi govt orders probe against Sheila Dikshit on CWG projects

i. In yet another move aimed at needling outside ally Congress, the AAP government today directed its Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) to probe a number of Commonwealth Games related projects that were implemented during the reign of Sheila Dikshit.

ii. The government has particularly asked ACB to probe the alleged irregularities in street light projects in which the Prime Minister-appointed Shunglu Committee had questioned certain decisions made by Dikshit.

iii. We will ensure thorough investigation of all cases of corruption in CWG projects,” Law Minister Somnath Bharti said when asked about the government decision.

iv. The Shunglu Committee had found procedural violations by then Delhi Lt Governor Tejinder Khanna and Dikshit for alleged inadequacies in executing certain projects related to the 2010 Commonwealth Games.

Note: In the 70-member Delhi Assembly, eight Congress MLAs are giving outside support to the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government which currently has 27 MLAs after expulsion of rebel legislator Vinod Kumar Binny. The government has also been given outside support by a Janata Dal (United) MLA and an Independent.

5. Govt committee set up to suggest steps to ensure security of NE people

i. The government today set up a committee to suggest suitable remedial measures to address concerns regarding security of people from North East.

ii. The six-member panel to be headed by M P Bezbaruah, a retired bureaucrat, who will submit its report within two months after examining the causes behind the attacks, violence and discrimination against the people from the Northeast.

iii. The decision comes in the wake of death of a student from Arunachal Pradesh in New Delhi last week.

iv. Earlier today, Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi met Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde and MPs from North East to discuss steps to prevent atrocities against people from the North East region.

v. The delegation led by Member of Parliament and Vice Chairman of North East MPs Forum Khagen Das brought to notice of the Prime Minister on racial discrimination faced by the people from North East region in Delhi. They demanded steps to check the discrimination. Dr Singh assured the delegation members that he will look into their complaints.

6. New Microsoft chief will get $4.8 million this year, $18 m in 2015

i. The winner takes it all. Satya Nadella, who has been appointed as CEO of Microsoft, will earn $4.8 million in the current financial year.

ii. While Nadella gets an annual salary of $1.2 million, he will get three times ($3.6 million) more as a cash award. This will go up to $18 million next year as he becomes eligible for stock awards.

iii. These numbers are small when the performance-linked stock awards that will come his way in the next few years are factored in. Nadella has been taken on the company’s board.

Pat from Bill Gates
i. Bill Gates, in a statement sent to the SEC, said: “During this time of transformation, there is no better person to lead Microsoft than Satya Nadella. He is a proven leader with hard-core engineering skills, business vision and the ability to bring people together.”

ii. Microsoft said Nadella had led major strategy and technical shifts across a portfolio of products and services.

iii. Most notable among are the company's move to the cloud and the development of one of the largest cloud infrastructures in the world, supporting Bing, Xbox and Office.

7. McCullum, Williamson's tons lead Kiwis to 329 on 1st day of 1st Test against India

i. New Zealand has finished on top during the opening day of the first Test against India at Auckland after posting 329 at the loss of four wickets at the close, boosted by centuries from captain Brendon McCullum and Kane Williamson.

ii. Even as Zaheer Khan dismissed Williamson in the final session, the hosts finished on top with McCullum scoring an unbeaten 143 in the company of Corey Anderson.

iii. Meanwhile, Ishant Sharma scored his 150th Test wicket in his 54th Test by removing Hamish Rutherford, and in the process becoming the 11th Indian to take 150 Test wickets.

feb 5th current affiars:

noreply@blogger.com (AWARE and AWAKE) — Wed, 05 Feb 2014 17:36:00 +0000

1. Satya Nadella appointed as CEO of Microsoft

i. Satya Nadella was appointed as the Chief Executive Officer of Internet Giant Microsoft in Washington on 4 January 2014. Satya Nadella succeeds Steve Ballmer and he takes over as the third CEO of the Microsoft firm.

ii. Bill Gates is the founder and first CEO of Microsoft. Nadella is the first Indian to head the Microsoft in its 38-year history.

About Satya Nadella

i. Nadella was born in Hyderabad, India and joined Microsoft in 1992. Satya is a proven leader with hard-core engineering skills, business vision and the ability to bring people together.

ii. Nadella holds a bachelor of degree in electrical engineering from Manipal Institute of Technology. Nadella completed masters in computer science from the University of Wisconsin and an MBA from the University of Chicago.

iii. Nadella joined Microsoft in 1992 and he served as the Executive Vice President of Cloud and Enterprise Group in 2012.

iv. His father BN Yugandhar is a former planning commission member and served as special secretary to former Prime Minister P V Narasimha Rao.

About Microsoft

i. Microsoft founded in April 1975 by Bill Gates and Paul Allen in Redmond, US.

ii. At present it is the fourth largest company in the world in terms of market capitalization.

iii. Its block buster products include MS-DOS, Windows and Xbox (Video game).

iv. It acquired Nokia in September 2013 in a 7.2 billion dollar deal.

2. Pietersen’s international career ended by ECB

i. England batsman Kevin Pietersen’s international career on Wednesday came to an abrupt end after he was dumped from the team for the upcoming tour of the West Indies and the subsequent World Twenty20 Championships in Bangladesh.

ii. The 33-year-old swashbuckling batsman, who played 104 Tests and 136 ODIs, is set to end as England’s highest run-scorer in all formats of the game after a career spanning nine years.

iii. The dramatic announcement was made by the ECB after a disastrous Ashes series in Australia which the English team lost 0-5.

iv. Newly-appointed ECB managing director Paul Downton said it was a “tough decision” to drop Pietersen as part of a rebuilding process with the focus on next year’s World Cup.

v. “Therefore we have decided the time is right to look to the future and start to rebuild not only the team but also team ethic and philosophy.”

vi. Pietersen, a player of South African origins, had a controversy-marred run with the national team, and was often criticised for having an “ego”.

vii. Kevin Pietersen’s said:“I feel extremely fortunate to have played at a time of great success for England cricket alongside some of the best cricketers the country has ever produced. I want to thank everyone for their fantastic support and I wish the team the very best of success going forward.

3. Binny decides to withdraw support to Delhi Govt

i. Expelled AAP MLA Vinod Kumar Binny today decided to withdraw support to the Delhi Government, while terming Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal of being “more dangerous” than a corrupt person.

ii. “Today I am writing to Lt Governor Najeeb Jung apprising him of my decision to withdraw support to the Kejriwal Government. Kejriwal is more dangerous than a corrupt person. He is telling lies and deceiving not only citizens of Delhi, but also people of the entire country,” he said.

iii. “If the Government brings Anna’s (Hazare) Janlokpal Bill in the assembly for its passage, I will support them,” said Binny.

iv. Binny, who has been shown the door for “indiscipline” by AAP, has put forth a series of demands before the Delhi Government which include fulfilment of promises made by the party before the Assembly polls.

4. North, South Korea agree to first reunions since 2010

i. North and South Korea agreed to hold a reunion later this month for families separated by the 1950-53 Korean War -- the first such event for more than three years.

ii. Officials from both sides meeting in the border truce village of Panmunjom, decided the reunion would be held 20th -25th February at the North's Mount Kumgang resort, the South's Unification Ministry said on Wednesday.

iii. The agreement marks a small sign of progress between the two rivals who, in recent years, have struggled to cooperate on even the most basic trust-building measures.

iv. South Korea is due to begin joint military exercises with the United States at the end of February, and North Korea has warned of dire consequences should they go ahead.

v. Millions of Koreans were separated by the war, and the vast majority have since died without having any communication at all with surviving relatives.

vi. The reunion programme began in earnest in 2000 following an historic inter-Korean summit. Sporadic events since then have seen around 17,000 relatives briefly reunited.

5. US Congressman Crowley honoured by Indian-Americans

i. Indian-Americans here have honoured US Democratic Congressman Joe Crowley for his work for the community, particularly his efforts in getting the FBI to track hate crimes against Sikhs and Hindus.

ii. Crowley, who serves as the co-chair of the Congressional Caucus on India and Indian-Americans in the US House of Representatives, said it is "high time" that India becomes a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council.

iii. Crowley, the Vice Chair of the Democratic Caucus, was honoured on January 30 by the Jackson Heights and broader Queens Indian American community for his efforts on behalf of Sikh-Americans and the broader Indian American community.

iv. Nearly 100 Sikh and Indian-American community members and leaders from New York attended the event last week.

v. Crowley is the eight-term representative from the 14th Congressional District of New York, which includes sections of Queens and the Bronx, which has a substantial population of Indians.

6. Chinappa notches Winnipeg Open title

i. Veteran Indian player Joshna Chinappa lifted her maiden WSA World Tour title with the Winnipeg Winter Club Open trophy after beating Egypt's Heba El Torky in a hard-fought final in Winnipeg, Canada.

ii. The fourth-seeded Indian triumphed 3-2 (11-13 11-8 11-5 3-11 12-10) in a see-saw battle.
iii. The world number 27 Chinappa rallied after losing the opening game which was dominated by Heba.

iv. The Indian raced to an 8-3 lead in the second game before pocketing it easily. She built on the advantage by claiming the third game as well before Heba roared back in the fourth.

v. Chinappa's triumph marks the second consecutive year of an Indian winning the trophy with Dipika Pallikal being the one to clinch it before her.

4th feb current affairs:

noreply@blogger.com (AWARE and AWAKE) — Tue, 04 Feb 2014 16:11:00 +0000

1. World Cancer Day observed across the world !

i. The World Cancer Day 2014 was observed across the world on 4 January 2014 with its focus on Target 5 of the World Cancer Declaration: Reduce stigma and dispel myths about cancer, under the tagline Debunk the myths.

ii. This day is observed to raise the collective voices for improving the general knowledge around cancer and dismiss the misconceptions about the disease.

iii. A new UN Agency report says that cancer is the world’s biggest killer and is expected to explode in the coming years. A new global cancer compiled by UN Agency the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) was released on the World Cancer Day 2014 in Geneva, Switzerland.

iv. The World Cancer Report 2014 has confirmed about existing inequality in the cancer control and care globally. It says that by 2025 almost 80 percent of the increase in the number of cancer deaths will occur in less developed regions.

2. CNR Rao, Sachin receive Bharat Ratna

i. Bharat Ratna, the country's highest civilian honour, was conferred on legendary cricketer Sachin Tendulkar and eminent scientist Prof C N R Rao today.

ii. The President presented the honours at a brief function at Rashtrapati Bhavan's Durbar Hall attended by Vice President Hamid Ansari, Union ministers, Sachin's wife Anjali, daughter Sara and a host of dignitaries.

iii. Master batsman Tendulkar, who retired from international cricket on November 16 last year, is the first sportsman to bestowed with the honour.

iv. Tendulkar (40) and Rao (79), both of whom are recipients of Padma Vibhushan -- the country's second highest civilian honour, will join a list of 41 eminent personalities who have been conferred with the award that is given in recognition of exceptional service of the highest order since it was instituted in 1954.

v. An outspoken scientist, Prof Chintamani Nagesa Ramachandra Rao is a well recognized international authority on solid state and materials chemistry who has published over 1,400 research papers and 45 books.

vi. He is the third scientist after C V Raman and former President A P J Abdul Kalam to be conferred with the Bharat Ratna.

vii. Prof Rao's contributions have been recognized by most major scientific academies around the world through conferment of memberships and fellowships and has been honoured with several national and international awards, the official announcement said.
viii. He currently serves as the Head of the Scientific Advisory Council to the Prime Minister of India.

Note: The Bharat Ratna was announced after a gap of four years with Hindustani music doyen Bhimsen Joshi being the last recipient in 2009.

ii. CNR Rao became the third scientist and Sachin Tendulkar, the first sportsman, to get the country's highest civilian award.

3. Justice A K Mathur to head 7th Central Pay Commission

i. Former Supreme Court Justice Ashok Kumar Mathur has been appointed as the Chairman of the 7th Pay Commission.

ii. Petroleum and Natural Gas Secretary, Vivek Rae will be the full time Member and Director, National Institute of Public Finances and Policy, Dr Rathin Roy will be its part-time Member. Officer on Special Duty in the Department of Expenditure, Ms. Meena Agarwal will be the Secretary of the Pay panel.

iii. The Commission has been mandated to submit its report in two years time and its recommendations would be implemented from 1st of January 2016.

iv. The government constitutes Pay Commission almost every ten years to revise the pay scales of its employees and often these are adopted by states after some modification.
v. The newly appointed Commission will revise the salaries of over 50 lakh Central government employees and about 30 lakh pensioners.

4. RBI raises FIIs investment limit in Power Grid Corporation to 30%

i. The Reserve Bank of India has raised the Foreign Institutional Investors, FIIs investment limit in the Power Grid Corporation to 30 per cent of its paid up capital.

ii. In a press release yesterday, the RBI said that FIIs, through the primary market and stock exchanges, can now purchase up to 30 per cent of the paid up capital of Power Grid Corporation of India under the Portfolio Investment Scheme.

iii The RBI has informed that the Board of Directors and shareholders of Power Grid Corporation have passed a resolution, agreeing to enhance the limit for the purchase of its equity shares and convertible debentures by Foreign Institutional Investors.

5. German President Joachim Guack arriving in New Delhi tonight

i. German President Joachim Guack is arriving in New Delhi tonight on a state visit.

ii. During the six-day visit, he will hold talks with the country's top leadership and discuss ways to further enhance bilateral ties.

iii. Mr Guack will be accompanied by a 80-member delegation, including 15 business leaders.

iv. The visiting dignitary will meet his counterpart Pranab Mukherjee, Vice President Hamid Ansari, Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh, Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj and UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi during his stay.

v. He will also visit Bengaluru on Friday where he will have a meeting with Governor of Karnataka.

Note: India and Germany are strategic partners since 2000. There has been significant progress in all areas of bilateral cooperation with the commencement of Inter-Governmental Consultations in 2011. Germany continues to be India's largest trading partner in Europe.

6. Sibal launches GI Cloud to utilize benefits of cloud computing

i. Communications and Information Technology Minister Kapil Sibal today launched the GI Cloud to utilize the benefits of cloud computing in the country.

ii. The facility will ensure optimum utilization of the infrastructure and speed up the development and deployment of eGovernance applications. iii. It will also help the departments to procure ICT services on demand. The National Informatics Centre, NIC is providing Cloud services under the initiative MeghRaj.

7. Nabard sanctions 1,112 cr for creation of 1,000 warehouses in 7 states

i. Nabard has sanctioned ₹1,112 crore for creation of 1,336 warehouses in various States and State Government Corporations in the country.

ii. According to Harsh Kumar Bhanwala, Chairman, Nabard, “The recent Project Sanctioning Committee of Nabard has sanctioned creation of 1,336 warehouses in Haryana, Kerala, Punjab, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Tripura and West Bengal, which will create 7.5 lakh tonnes of additional storage space.

iii. Cumulatively, Nabard has sanctioned ₹5,830 crore under Rural Infrastructure/Warehousing Infrastructure Fund creating and additional capacity of 16.3 million tonnes as against 35 million tonnes intended to be established under 12th Five Year Plan.

8. Delhi govt clears Jan Lokpal Bill

i. Delhi Cabinet cleared the draft of the much talked-about Jan Lokpal bill which provides for covering all public servants — from chief minister to Group D employees — and seeks life term as maximum punishment for those found guilty of corruption.

ii. The bill provides for a legal right of protection to “honest” officials, whistleblowers and witnesses besides having provisions for time-bound investigation and trial of corruption cases.

iii. The draft bill was cleared at a cabinet meeting presided over by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. Bringing the Jan Lokpal bill to contain corruption was a key election promise made to the voters by AAP.

iv. PWD Minister Manish Sisodia said no provision for any “special privileges” for even the chief minister and council of ministers has been proposed in the bill when it comes to cracking down on corruption.

v. The only law which comes closest to this bill is the bill passed by the Uttarakhand assembly in 2011, but it too had some limitations in filing complaints against the CM and ministers. This bill for the first time provides a legal right of protection for the whistleblowers and witnesses in corruption cases,” Sisodia said.

9. Bihar First Woman Muslim Minister Resigns

i. In a setback to Nitish Kumar government in Bihar, Social Welfare minister Parveen Amanullah resigned on Tuesday from the Cabinet.Ms. Parveen sent her resignation letter to the Chief Minister.

ii. Ms. Parveen told reporters that she was finding it difficult to work in the present system and also announced to quit membership of the JD(U).

iii. The Minister said she would return to social work, her passion for a long time.

10. Nathpa Jhakri Hydro Power Station awarded a Gold Shield

i. Nathpa Jhakri Hydro Power Station awarded a gold shield on 4 February 2014 for its meritorious performance in 2013-14.Nathpa Hydro power Station consecutively third time received the award.

ii. Nathpa Jhakri Hydro Power Station received Silver shield for the year 2012-13 and Bronze shield for the year 2011-12 by the Central Electricity Authority in the category of Performance of Hydro Power Stations.

About Nathpa Jhakri Hydroelectric Station

Nathpa Jhakri Hydroelectric Station of 1500 MW capacity is the India’s largest hydropower plant.

It was commissioned in May 2004 and 62.50m high Concrete Gravity dam on River Satluj. Natpha Jhakri hydroelectric plant supply power to the North Indian states of Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Jammu & Kashmir, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and the cities of Delhi and Chandigarh.

11. Ali Mohamed Shein, President of Zanzibar is on India visit

i. President of Zanzibar, Dr. Ali Mohamed Shein is on an official visit to India from 1 to 9 February 2014.

ii. He visited India on the invitation of Vice President of India, Hamid Ansari. Ali Mohamed Shein is heading a 28-member delegation to India along with his wife.

iii. During this visit, he along with the delegation visited the Amber Fort of Rajasthan on 1 January 2014. He and his delegation also visited Shish Mahal, Man Singh Mahal, Deewan-e-Aam, Deewan-e-Khas and other places in fort complex. The delegation was on a two-day visit of the state.

12. Poonam Khetrapal Singh took charge as Regional Director of SEARO

i. Poonam Khetrapal Singh took charge as the Regional Director of World Health Organisation (WHO) South-East Asia Region on 1 February 2014.

ii. Poonam Khetrapal Singh succeeded Samlee Plianbangchang of Thailand who served for ten years consecutively. The Regional Director has a term of five years and can get a second term.

iii. She is the first Indian in 44 years to hold the post of Regional Director, South East Asian Regional Organistion (SEARO). India had occupied the post from 1948-1968.

About South East Asian Regional Organisational:

i. SEARO is one of the six regions of World Health and its headquarters is in New Delhi.

ii. SERO has 11 countries namely India, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Thailand, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Maldives, Timor Leste and DPR Korea.

iii. SERO is headed by a Regional Director (RD) who is elected by the members of the SEARO countries.

FEB 2ND AND 3RD CURRENT AFFAIRS:

noreply@blogger.com (AWARE and AWAKE) — Mon, 03 Feb 2014 17:47:00 +0000

1. Teresa Kho is ADB's new Country Director for India

i. The Asian Development Bank has a new Country Director for India in Teresa Kho.

ii. Kho, who assumed charge as Country Director for India on Monday, was previously heading the Bangladesh Resident Mission of ADB.

iii. She replaces Hun Kim, who is now Deputy Director General of ADB's South Asia Department in Manila.

iv. “India is one of the ADB’s most important clients. For ADB, it has been a privilege to partner with the Indian Government and support the Government’s development agenda.

2. Facebook celebrates its 10th birthday

i. Facebook — with more than 1.2 billion users worldwide — is celebrating its 10th birthday amidst challenges of keeping its original base of young users with new innovative social networks coming to the fore.

ii. The company was launched by Mark Zuckerberg on February 4, 2004, from Harvard University.

iii. The site was conceived as a way to connect students, and let them build an online identity for themselves, ‘Computer World’ reported.

iv. According to the company’s own recent figures, the social networking site has since expanded to cover a large swath of the world, with more than 1.2 billion people using its site on a monthly basis.

v. Among the growing challenges is the soaring popularity of smartphone apps that let people share images, videos, thoughts or observations at any moment.

vi. Social networking sites such as Pinterest, Twitter and SnapChat have sparked concerns that Facebook which set a social networking trend in motion may be losing its original teen base.

vii. A recent Princeton University study suggested that Facebook may lose around 80 per cent of its users over the next three years, a claim which was challenged by the social networking site.

viii. According to a recent report in iStrategyLabs, Facebook lost more than 3 million users in the age group of 13 and 17 between January 2011 and January 2014.

3. Silverine Swer, Meghalaya's first Padma Shri Awardee died

i. Silverine Swer, the first Padma Shri awardee of Meghalaya died on 1 January 2014 at her residence at Riatsamthiah.

ii. She was of 103 years in age. She received the Padma Shri award in 1990 from the then President of India, R. Venkararaman. She was also the oldest voter from Meghalaya.

About Silverine Swer
i. She saw four wars namely the two world wars, Sino-India War and India’s involvement in the Liberation War of Bangladesh
ii. She was born on 12 November 1910
iii. In 1932, she completed her degree from the Scottish Church College in then Calcutta

iv. She was a member of the Good Will Movement of the Moral Rearmament (MRA)
v. She served as the Chairperson of the State Social Welfare Advisory Board
vi. Chairperson of the International Year for Women –

4. Oscar-winning actor Philip Seymour died

i. Oscar-winning actor Philip Seymour Hoffman was found dead in his New York apartment yesterday, a law enforcement official said. He was 46.

ii. Hoffman has over 60 film credits to his name, including Magnolia, The Master, Boogie Nights, the Big Lebowski, Mission Impossible

iii. He won the best actor Oscar for his 2005 portrayal of writer Truman Capote in the film Capote. He made his debut as a film director in 2010 with the New York-set Jack Goes Boating, in which he also starred.

5. India, Germany may sign €1 bn pact for greenfield projects

i. India and Germany could sign an agreement for €1 billion for greenfield projects during the visit of the German President. Addressing a press conference, the German

ii. Ambasador says the agreement is being finalised. The President arrives here on February 4 for a state visit.

6. Karnataka beat Maharashtra; Lift Ranji Trophy

i. Karnataka defeated Maharashtra by seven wickets to lift the Ranji Trophy for cricket today. On the fifth and the last day of the final at Hyderabad , chasing a target of 157 runs, Karnataka sailed through, losing only three wickets in their second innings.

ii. Earlier, Maharashtra resuming their innings with overnight 272 for six were all out for 366 in their second innings. For Karntaka, R Vinay Kumar and Shreyash Gopal claimed four wickets each while remaining two were bagged by Abhimanyu Mithun. Maharashtra were 210 runs behind Karnataka on the basis of first innings score.

iii. Karnataka have won the trophy for seventh time. Lokesh Rahul of Karnataka who made the highest 131 in the first innings and 29 in the second was adjudged Man of the Match.

iv. BRIEF SCORE: Karnataka: 515 and 157 for three; Maharashtra: 305 and 366 all out.

7. Rafael Nadal remains top in ATP ranking list

i. Rafael Nadal remains top of the men’s ATP tennis rankings released Monday.

ii. The Spaniard tops the standings ahead of Serbia’s Novak Djokavic and Australian Open winner Statislas Wawrinka of Switzerland.

ATP top 10 as of February 3

(1) Rafael Nadal, Spain,

(2) Novak Djokovic, Serbia

(3) Stanislas Wawrinka, Switzerland

(4) Juan Martin del Potro, Argentina

(5) David Ferrer, Spain,

8. Serena Williams continues to dominate WTA tennis rankings

i. Serena Williams retains her commanding advantage at the top of the WTA women’s tennis rankings issued Monday.

ii. Williams remains on 13,000 points, well clear of next challengers Victoria Azarenka (Belarus) on 6,581 and Australian Open winner Li Na on 6,570.

WTA top 5 as of February 3

(1) Serena Williams, United States

(2) Victoria Azarenka, Belarus

(3) Li Na, China,

(4) Agnieszka Radwanska, Poland

(5) Maria Sharapova, Russia

9. Virat Kohli fourth in ICC Twenty20 rankings

i. Virat Kohli slipped a rung but was still the best-placed Indian batsman at fourth in the latest ICC Twenty20 rankings issued today.

ii. He was followed by Suresh Raina at fifth and Yuvraj Singh at sixth. Both these batsmen gained a position to move up the list.

iii. However, no Indian found a place in the top-10 of bowlers’ list, while Yuvraj was steady at third in the all-rounders’ chart.

iv. Elsewhere, Australia opener Aaron Finch jumped five places to a career-best third position after the home side beat England by 84 runs in Sydney to sweep the series 3-0.

10. Govt slashes CNG prices by Rs 15 per kg

i. With an aim to connect with the ‘Aam Aadmi’ chord, Central government on Monday announced the reduction in Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) prices by about Rs 15 per kg and Piped Natural Gas (PNG) by Rs 5.

ii. Prices of CNG or compressed natural gas in the national capital had been hiked by Rs 4.50 last month to Rs 50.10 a kg after retailers such as Indraprastha Gas Ltd (IGL) were forced to buy a fifth of their gas (LNG) requirements from overseas.

iii. The price increase led to protests from the newly-elected Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)-led government in Delhi as well as autorickshaw operators, who had called a maha-panchayat this week to decide on a possible strike.

iv. CNG in Delhi currently costs Rs 50.10 per kg and piped cooking gas Rs 29.50 per standard cubic metre.

feb 1st current affairs:

noreply@blogger.com (AWARE and AWAKE) — Sat, 01 Feb 2014 16:33:00 +0000

1. Yellen take charge as Fed Chief

i. Janet Yellen, the first woman to chair the Federal Reserve in its 100-year history, had take over the reins of the US central bank today and formally be sworn in next week, the Fed said on Thursday.

ii. Yellen, 67, who begins her post as the Fed unwinds its unprecedented efforts to boost the US economy, will be sworn in at 9 am EST (1400 GMT) on February 3.

iii. She will have full authority as the top central banker from Saturday until the swearing-in ceremony, according to the Fed.

iv. She succeeds Chairman Ben Bernanke, whose second four-year term expires on Friday. Yellen will be sworn in by Fed Governor Daniel Tarullo, a Fed official said on condition of anonymity.

2. Nepal, India amend transit treaty

i. Nepal and India have amended a bilateral transit treaty to facilitate the export of goods from a third country through India.

ii. Earlier, only goods of Nepalese origin were allowed to be exported through India to third countries. The amendment to the "export procedure" in the Memorandum to the Protocol to the Treaty of Transit of 1999 will facilitate the transit of goods of third country origin exported from Nepal, said a statement issued on Friday by the Indian Embassy in Kathmandu.

iii. The amendment will facilitate the re-export of goods imported to Nepal for fairs and exhibitions. It will also facilitate re-export of third country origin capital goods from Nepal for repair and return as well as re-export of rejected goods from Nepal.

iv. The change will facilitate Nepalese businesses as it will lead to re-export of goods imported from third countries after value addition, for which a legal provision was made in Finance Act of 2009.

v. The two sides discussed other important trade facilitation measures during the IGC meeting, including allowing the movement of imported vehicles on their own power from Kolkata to Nepal and facilitating the import of bulk cargo to Nepal by operationalising the multimodal transport link from Kolkata port through Jogbani-Biratnagar and Sunauli-Bhairahawa land routes, the statement said.

3. NTPC threatens to cut power supply in Delhi from Feb 11
i. NTPC Ltd on Saturday issued a notice to BSES Rajdhani Power Ltd (BRPL) and BSES Yamuna Power Ltd (BYPL) threatening to regulate the electricity supply from February 11.
ii. This may impact electricity supply to over 32 lakh customers spread across southern, eastern, central and western parts of Delhi.

Payment security mechanism

i. NTPC in its notice has said that the discoms have not been able to re-instate the payment security mechanism (commonly known as letter of credit or LC) within seven days as per norms in the power purchase agreement.

ii. The LC was enchased on January 31 after the discom failed to clear its dues to the power generating company. “So, the shortfall in LC with effect from February 1 is ₹ 271.61 crore (in the case of BRPL),” NTPC said.

Power purchase agreement

NTPC would regulate 1,261 MW of supplies to BRPL and another 811 MW for BYPL. As per the power purchase agreement (PPA), maintenance of LC of adequate amount and timely replenishment of LC on negotiation is a pre-requisite for availing power from NTPC stations.

4. Harish Rawat to be new Chief Minister of Uttarakhand

i. Harish Rawat will be the new Chief Minster of Uttrarakhan. He has been elected leader of the state Congress Legislative Party at its meeting in Dehradun today.

ii. This was announced by party observer Janardan Dwivedi after the meeting. The election was done in the presence of central party observers Ambika Soni, Janardan Dwivedi and Ghulam Nabi Azad. The new Chief Minister will take oath at the Raj Bhawan.

5. India’s first monorail service launched in Mumbai Today

i. India’s first monorail service has been launched in Mumbai. Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan inaugurated the first phase of Mumbai Monorail comprising today.

ii. The first phase covers 8.9 km long Wadala-Chembur section.Commercial operations will begin from tomorrow.

iii. Mumbai Monorail service will initially operate between 7 am and 3 pm at an interval of 15 minutes. The fully air-conditioned monorail’s minimum fare will be five rupees while maximum fare will be twenty rupees.

iv. Mumbai brand new mode of transport will flaunt itself in three colours, green, pink and sky blue. The first phase, constructed at the cost of 1,900 crore rupees will have seven stations. The service connecting Mumbai’s central and eastern suburbs is expected to reduce the travel time between Wadala and Chembur from 40 minutes at present to 21 minutes.

v. The mono rail has the glittering features like advanced passenger driver communication and CCTV cameras and it will use regenerative braking system saving 25 percent in power consumption.

6. Asia’s first SBTF commissioned into Indian Navy at Goa

i. India has joined the elite group of nations when the Shore Based Test Facility (SBTF) was commissioned into the Indian Navy at INS Hansa in Panaji, a Naval official said in Panji on Saturday.

ii. The SBTF, which was commissioned recently, is primarily used for flight testing of Naval aircraft that operate from aircraft carriers, he said.

iii. The SBTF has two parts including the Take-off Area with a ski-jump facility and the Landing Area with arresting wire facility, both of which are a replica of INS Vikramaditya, a press release by the Indian Navy, said.

iv. This is also being replicated onboard India’s first indigenous aircraft carrier Vikrant being built at Kochi.

Note: This is the third such facility in the world, after the United States and Ukraine.

7. Tennis: India defeat Chinese Taipei in Davis Cup Asia Oceania Group-I

i. India have taken a 3-Nil winning lead over Chinese Taipei in the Asia-Oceania Group-I Davis Cup Tennis tie. At Indore today, India won the second Singles when Somdev Devvarman beat Ti Chen, 6-7, 7-6, 1-6, 6-2, 9-7.

ii. The match had remained unfinished yesterday due to bad light. Later, the duo of Rohan Bopanna and Saketh Myneni brushed aside the challenge of Hsien-Yin Peng and Tsing Hua Yang , 6-0, 6-7, 6-3, 7-6 to win the Doubles.

iii. India will now take on Korea in April, the winner of which will play in World Group play-offs.

8. Rajasthan withdrew its approval for FDI in multi-brand retail

i. Rajasthan on 1 February 2014 scrapped its approval for the foreign direct investment in multi-brand retailing. The approval was given earlier by the previous Congress state government led by former Chief Minister, Ashok Gehlot.

ii. Vasundhara Raje, the Chief Minister of Rajasthan has written a letter to Commerce and Industry Minister of India, Anand Sharma for revising the FDI in multi-brand retail in a letter.

iii. With this decision of scrapping the approval over FDI made Rajasthan the second state after Delhi to withdraw approval for FDI in multi-brand retail.

iv. These two decisions of Delhi and Rajasthan came just after the change of government. Earlier, Rajasthan was one of the 12 states that agreed to allow FDI in the retail sector.

9. Narendra Modi free to apply for American visa: US

i. BJP's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi was free to apply for an American visa and a decision on it would be made on the process that we have in place, said a senior US official.

ii. We said he (Modi) is free to apply for a visa and we'll make a decision based on the process that we have in place here," State Department deputy spokesperson Marie Harf told reporters at her daily news conference on Friday.

iii. In 2005, the State Department had revoked a visa that Modi had for travelling to US in the wake of the 2002 riots in Gujarat.

iv. United States has repeatedly said that there is no change in its long-standing visa policy relating to Modi but he is free to apply for a visa and await a review like any other applicant.

jan 31st current affairs:

noreply@blogger.com (AWARE and AWAKE) — Fri, 31 Jan 2014 17:24:00 +0000

1. Sachin & Prof C N R Rao to get Bharat Ratna on February 4

i. President Pranab Mukherjee will confer cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar and eminent scientist Prof C N R Rao with Bharat Ratna on February 4 at Rashtrapati Bhavan.

ii. A formal ceremony, which is likely to be attended by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, will be held at the Rashtrapati Bhavan.

iii. The Little Master was given the honour hours after he played his 200th and last Test against the touring West Indies in November last year.

iv. Tendulkar (40) and Rao (89), both of whom are recipients of Padma Vibhushan–the country’s second highest civilian honour, join the list of 41 eminent personalities to get the award given in recognition of exceptional service of the highest order.

Note: i. Tendulkar is the first sportsman and the youngest recipient of the the Bharat Ratna. Besides Tendulkar, Rao will also be presented with the award.

ii. Prof Rao is a well recognized international authority on solid state and materials chemistry. The 89-year-old has published over 1,400 research papers and 45 books. His contributions have been recognized by most major scientific academies around the world through conferment of memberships and fellowships, and has been honoured with several national and international awards.

iii. Sachin Tendulkar and Prof Rao join the list of 41 eminent personalities to get the Bharat Ratna.

2. Disapprove of ATM charges: RBI Dty Governor

i. RBI Deputy Governor K C Chakrabarty has said that he disapproves the demand made by banks to charge their customers for using ATM services.

Speaking to reporters in Mumbai, Mr. Chakrabarty said it is a little bit ridiculous that bank will charge customers for using an ATM.

ii. He said that instead banks must compare the charges of serving a customer at a branch as against at the ATM.

iii. He further informed that RBI does not decide on service charges, and it was up to the banks to decide their charges.

iv. After a near-fatal attack on a Corporation Bank employee at an ATM in Bangalore last November, many states have made it mandatory to have round-the-clock security at ATMs, pushing up banks' costs. Banks' umbrella body IBA has requested RBI to cap the number of free transactions to five per month across any ATM network.

3. RBI issues guidelines for early detection of bad loans

i. RBI has released guidelines that will help banks in early recognition of bad loans and prompt steps for recovery or sale of unviable accounts.

ii. In the document called Framework for Revitalizing Distressed Assets in the Economy, RBI has asked banks to form a committee called Joint Lenders forum to formulate a plan for early resolution of stress in an account.

iii. The committee should also consider an option to transfer the promoters' holdings to a security trustee or an escrow arrangement till turnaround of company.

iv. In the new guidelines, which will be effective from April 1, the RBI has said that restructuring of a bad loan should be done in such a manner that shareholders, including promoters, bear the first loss and not the lenders. The guidelines ask banks to make future loans more expensive for borrowers who don't cooperate in resolving existing bad loans.

v. It also offers a liberal regulatory treatment for sale of distressed asset and allows lenders to spread loss on sale of such assets over two years provided loss is fully disclosed.

vi. RBI has said that the refinancing institution can fix a repayment period by taking into account the life cycle of the project and cash flows from the project.

vii. According to RBI, the amount of recast loans touched an all-time high of 4 trillion rupees or 10.2 per cent of the overall advances as of September 2013.

4. India and Fiji sign double taxation avoidance agreement

i. India and Fiji have signed a Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement, DTAA for the avoidance of double taxation and for the prevention of fiscal evasion with respect to taxes on income.

ii. The Agreement was signed in Delhi yesterday by the Finance Minister P. Chidambaram and Fiji's Minister of Justice, Public Enterprises, and Industry and Trade Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum.

iii. Speaking on the occasion, the Finance Minister Mr Chidambaram said that the Agreement will provide tax stability to the residents of India and Fiji and facilitate mutual economic cooperation. The move will also stimulate the flow of investment, technology and services between both countries.

5. India became third largest crude oil importer in the World

i. India overtook Japan to become the third largest crude oil importer in the World. As per the data released by Reuters on 30 January 2014, India imported 3.86 million barrels-per-day of crude oil in the year 2013.

ii. India's crude oil imports were nearly 6 percent higher than Japan's customs-cleared imports of 3648372 barrels-per-day (211716710 kilolitres).

World’s Top Five Oil-Importing Countries

1.China: China imports 6.30 million barrels per day

2.U.S.A: USA imports 6.24 million barrels per day

3. India: India imports 3.86 million barrels per day

4. Japan: Japan imports 3.64 million barrels per day

5.Germany: Germany imports 2.67 million barrels per day

6. Arun Gupta appointed as CMD of Shipping Corporation of India

i. Arun Kumar Gupta took charge as the Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) of Shipping Corporation of India (SCI) by the Union Government on 28 January 2014. The post was vacant for over a year after the retirement of S Hajara.

ii. Before this elevation to the post, Arun Gupta was the director of offshore services at the Mumbai-headquartered shipping line. Since retirement of S Hajara in December 2012, the Shipping Corporation of India has been without a full time head and has reported a net loss of 114.31 crore rupees in last fiscal.

iii. BK Mandal, the director finance of SCI has been acting as a CMD since the retirement of Hajara.

7. China marks arrival of the Year of the Horse

i. In China, celebrations marking the arrival of the "Year of the Horse" have taken place across the country.

ii. The Chinese Lunar New Year is a long-held traditional holiday for the Chinese people.

iii. It is commonly celebrated by Chinese people across the globe. China's Lunar New Year is also the largest annual mass migration on earth, as hundreds of millions of people head back to their home towns to spend the festival with their families.

iv. Chinese President Xi Jinping has delivered his Lunar New Year greetings to all Chinese people living in and around the world. He also issued a call for ethnic harmony among the people living in China.

v. In Hong Kong, crowds gathered at the city's best-known temples last night to make wishes for the new year. Worshippers in Taipei also crowded local temples to pray for prosperity in the new year.

8. Vijay Bahuguna resigns as Uttarakhand CM, Harish Rawat set to take over

i. Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna visited the Rajbhavan in Dehradun and submitted his resignation letter to the Governor Aziz Qureshi on Friday. Union Water Resources Minister Harish Rawat is all set to become Bahuguna’s successor in the state.

ii. Bahuguna, who was under fire for poor handling of relief work after last year’s flash floods, handed over his resignation to Governor Aziz Qureshi at Raj Bhawan in Dehradun.

iii. The decision to replace Bahuguna was reportedly taken at a meeting between Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and senior party leaders on Wednesday.

iv. Rawat is scheduled to reach Dehradun on Friday. Congress sources said it was believed that Rawat would galvanise the party workers and boost the party’s prospects in the general elections.

v. Currently an MP from Haridwar parliamentary seat, Rawat also served as state party president when ND Tiwari was chief minister between 2002 and 2007.

vi. After the 2012 Uttarakhand assembly polls, Bahuguna was said to be the Congress high command’s “favourite choice” for the chief minister’s post.

vii. He is the son of former Uttar Pradesh chief minister HN Bahuguna, and his sister and party spokesperson Rita Bahuguna Joshi is also said to be on good terms with the party’s central leadership.

9. Cricket: New Zealand win final ODI vs India by 87 runs

i. A listless Indian cricket team slumped to its worst ODI series defeat in New Zealand, going down 0-4, after the Black Caps hammered them by 87 runs in the inconsequential fifth and final one-dayer in Wellington on Friday.

ii. New Zealand's Ross Taylor made his second-straight century of 102 runs and Kane Williamson made 88 runs, scoring his fifth-consecutive half century.

iii. From Indian side, Varun Aaron who took 2 wickets giving 60 runs, was the most successful bowler while Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Mohammad Shami took one wicket each.

iv. With this, the hosts have bagged the 5-match ODI series. They had won the first two games, tied the third and also won the fourth to claim the series and also dethrone the Men in Blue from the Number One spot in the ODI rankings.

10. Dhoni is 4th fastest batsman to score 8000 runs in ODIs

i. Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni today became the fourth fastest batsman to complete 8,000 runs in one-day cricket during the fifth and final ODI against New Zealand in Wellington.

ii. The 32-year-old reached the milestone in the 26th over of the match. It is a commendable achievement by the wicketkeeper-batsman who comes in lower down the order.

iii. The three men ahead of him in the list are illustrious compatriots Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly and the West Indian legend Brian Lara, all of whom batted in the top three. Dhoni has taken 214 innings to touch t he landmark.

11. Mumbai police chief quits, may plunge into politics

i. Mumbai Police Commissioner, Satyapal Singh, tendered his resignation to the State Home Department on Thursday and plans to explore a career in politics.

ii. Mr.Singh has sought Voluntary Retirement from service and wants to be relieved from his duties by the second week of February.

iii. According to sources Mr. Singh has received offers from two major political parties - BJP and AAP. The BJP is keen to field Mr. Singh for a Lok Sabha seat from Meerut.

iv. Now I would like to expand my area of operation and I would like to devote my time and energy for social harmony, national reconstruction and world peace," Mr. Singh added

v. Mr Singh becomes the first police chief to quit the force. The 1980 batch officer was due for retirement in 2015.

12. Army’s Sikh Light Infantry wins best marching contingent award

i. Army's Sikh Light Infantry has been awarded the best marching contingent among the three Services at the Republic Day parade this year while the CRPF contingent bagged the honours in the paramilitary and auxiliary forces category.

ii. In the Services category, Territorial Army (Sikh LI) has been adjudged the best marching contingent in the Republic Day Parade 2014.

iii. In the category of Para-Military Forces and other auxiliary marching contingents, CRPF contingent has been adjudged the best contingent," a defence ministry release said.

iv. Out of the 18 tableaux, including five from union ministries and departments, the West Bengal tableaux, which depicted the famous Purulia Chhau dance, has bagged the top award.

v. "Tamil Nadu's tableaux on Pongal festival was adjudged the second best, while the third position has gone to the Assam tableaux based on the contribution of legendary folk singer, composer and writer Bhupen Hazarika to Assam's folk culture," the release said.

vi. In the competitive category of performances by school children, the dance presented by Navy Children School, New Delhi has been adjudged the best while a consolation prize was awarded to Govt Sarvodaya Kanya Vidyalaya, Hastsal, New Delhi, for their beautiful portrayal of traditional folk dance of Chhattisgarh.

13. Samsung is most trusted brand in India: Study

i. South Korean consumer electronics major Samsung is India’s most trusted brand followed by Sony of Japan and the homegrown salt-to-steel multinational Tata, says a study report released on Thursday.

ii. The 'Brand Trust Report 2014' says: “Samsung has grown steadily in trust ranks over the last four years - fifth in 2011, fourth in 2012, second in 2013 and has reached India’s most trusted rank this year.

iii. Samsung’s strategy of focusing on the core intangibles of its brand is evident from its climb to leadership in BTR 2014,” said N. Chandramouli, chief executive officer, TRA (formerly known as Trust Research Advisory).

Note: Hewlett Packard emerged as the most trusted brand in technology, Hero in automobiles and LIC in financial services and insurance sector.

The list of top ten brands:

1. Samsung 2. Sony 3. Tata

4. LG 5. Nokia 6. Hewlett Packard

7. Hero 8. Honda 9. Reliance

10. M&M

14. Obama to nominate Navy Vice Admiral Rogers as NSA chief

i. U.S. President Barack Obama will nominate a senior U.S. Navy officer as the Director of the National Security Agency (NSA), the federal body embroiled in a row over its spying programme.

ii. Vice Admiral Michael Rogers, 53, would take over at a moment when the spy agency is under unprecedented pressure following leaks from ex-intelligence contractor Edward Snowden.

iii. Mr. Rogers, a trained cryptologist, would take over from Gen Keith Alexander at the helm of the NSA, and also as head of the U.S. military cyber command.

15. Jayawardene becomes sixth-highest scorer in Test cricket

i. Veteran Sri Lankan batsman Mahela Jayawardene has become the sixth-highest run-scorer in the history of Test cricket with his unbeaten double-century on the third day of the first Test against Bangladesh in Dhaka.

ii. Jayawardene's 203 and Kithuruwan Vithanage's maiden century (103) helped Sri Lanka declare their first innings at 6-730 on the third day, which was the highest score by any team against Bangladesh.

iii. Jayawardene has gone ahead of Allan Border (11,174 runs) and West Indies star Shivnarine Chanderpaul (11,219) to move behind record-holder Sachin Tendulkar, Australia's Ricky Ponting, Jacques Kallis, Rahul Dravid and Brian Lara on the all-time list.

iv. The report mentioned that the former captain, who has 11,236 runs in 142 matches, equalled teammate Kumar Sangakkara 's Sri Lankan record of 33 Test centuries, and his and Vithanage's heroics gave Sri Lanka a gigantic 498-run first-innings lead over the hosts.

jan 30th current affairs:

noreply@blogger.com (AWARE and AWAKE) — Thu, 30 Jan 2014 15:52:00 +0000

1. Cabinet approves quota hike of subsidised LPG cylinders to 12

i. Days after Rahul Gandhi demanded, at a mega Congress conclave, that the quota of subsidised LPG per household be raised from nine to 12 cylinders a year, the Union Cabinet has today approved the proposal.

ii. The move will cover 97 per cent consumers and it is expected to inflate the government's subsidy bill by 5000 crore rupees, Oil Minister Veerappa Moily said today. The government currently spends Rs.46,000 crore a year on LPG subsidy, at a time when the economy is struggling with slow growth and high inflation.

iii. Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi had said at a party meet in Delhi earlier this month, "Pradhan Mantriji (Prime Minister, Sir), we cannot make do with just nine subsidized cylinders of cooking gas. Women in this country need more. We need 12 per family, sir, please increase the quota."

iv. Several Congress MPs have also been pushing for the rollback; leaders reckon that the populist move will stand the party in good stead in the general elections, due by May.

2. Kiwi Kathy Cross is first woman in ICC umpire's panel

i. New Zealand's Kathy Cross today became the first woman to be inducted in an ICC umpires' panel when she was named as an Associate and Affiliate International official following the annual review and selection process.

ii. The 56-year-old Cross was born in Taumarunui, King Country, and is now eligible for appointments to ICC World Cricket League Divisions 3 to 6.

iii. Cross has previously officiated in the Women's World Cup in Australia in 2009 and in India in 2013. Cross said she was thrilled with her induction into the panel.

3. Country's first monorail to roll out from Mumbai on Feb 2^nd

i. The much-awaited country’s first monorail is all set to roll out in Mumbai from Feb 2.

ii. The Chief Minister of Maharashtra Prithviraj Chavan will officially launch the first phase of the monorail project between Chembur and Wadala on February 1.

iii. The fully air-conditioned monorail’s minimum fare will five rupess while, maximum fare will be twenty rupees. He added that it has a capacity to 20,000 passengers per hour. Initially the frequency of train will be after every 15 minutes.

iv. Earlier, this month the state urban development authorities have given their safety nod to monorail’s commercial operations.

vi. The official informed that the 9 km long first phase of monorail from Wadala to Chembur will have seven stations.

4. RBI doubles sub-limit for FIs in govt securities

i. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has doubled the sub-limit for foreign investment in government securities, to USD 10 billion by long-term investors.

ii. RBI's move is aimed to attract more foreign funds. Investors like sovereign wealth funds (SWFs), multilateral agencies, insurance funds, pension funds and foreign central banks are considered as long term investors.

iii. In a notification issued from Mumbai on Wednesday the RBI said the decision taken in consultation with the government will be applicable with immediate effect.

iv. However, the total limit of USD 30 billion available for foreign investments in government securities has not been tinkered with.

v. The RBI has made it clear that the operational guidelines in this regard will be issued by SEBI.

Note: i. Earlier, the sub-limit for long term investors registered with SEBI was USD 5 billion.

ii. Foreign institutional investors(FIIs) - qualified foreign investors (QFIs) and long-term investors - registered with market watchdog SEBI are allowed to purchase government securities and non-convertible debentures (NCDs) or bonds issued by Indian companies within the limit of USD 30 billion.

5. India-Saudi Arabia to double bilateral trade over next 5 years

i. India and Saudi Arabia have decided to enhance their bilateral trade and economic co-operation. Both the countries have urged the public and private sectors to build strong partnerships in different fields.

ii. The 10th India-Saudi Arabia Joint Commission met in Riyadh during January 27-28 under the chairmanship of the finance minister P. Chidambaram and his Saudi counterpart.

iii. It was decided at the JCM to form a Joint technical team to promote cooperation in the field of oil, gas and minerals. The JCM called for the participation of Indian pharmaceutical firms in Saudi Arabia and finding the ways to make Indian companies eligible for Saudi projects.

iv. The JCM agreed on several measures to give a boost to the ties. Both sides also reviewed progress made in the India - Saudi Strategic Partnership which called for deeper engagement in political, economic, security and defence sectors.

v. An India Saudi Investment Fund will be set up in a time bound manner. Enhanced cooperation in all security fields and exchange of information, especially in organized crimes, money laundering and drug smuggling have been agreed to.

vi. India offered its expertise in Development of IT Parks; Development of Telemedicine network and the promotion of Indian ICT products and services.

6. Anand Kumar, the founder of Super30 got Ramanujan Mathematics award

i. Anand Kumar, a mathematician and founder of Super30 classes was conferred with the 2014 Ramanujan Mathematics Award in Rajkot on 27 January 2014.

ii.The award was given to him at the Eighth National Mathematics Convention organised in Rajkot.

iii. As award, he was presented a cash award of 20000 rupees by the Pitamber Patel, an Atomic scientist and JJ Rawal, a scientist.

About Ramanujan Mathematics Award
• Ramanujan Mathematics Award is an annual award that is given to a person who has at least three papers published in international journals and is involved in teaching mathematics.
• Ramanujan Prize was first awarded in 2005 to Marcelo Viana from Brazil
• Other Indian to be awarded with the prize is Ramdorai Sujatha, India in 2006

7. Six PSUs signed MoU to set up World’s largest Solar Power Project

i. Six Public Sector Units (PSUs) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on 29 January 2014 to set up the World’s largest 4000 MW ultra solar power project in Rajasthan.

ii. The joint venture company will develop the project with equity participation of – BHEL (26%), SECI (Solar Energy Corporation of India) 23%, SSL (Sambhar Salt Ltd) 16%, Power Grid 16%, SJVNL (Satluj Jal Vidyut Nigam) 16%, REIL (Rajasthan Electronics & Instruments Ltd) 3%.

iii. The project will be the largest single location solar plant spread across 19000 acres at Sambhar in Rajasthan. The project will be developed in two phases in 7 to 8 years.

iv. In the first phase of the project 1000 MW will be made operational within three years and the remaining 3000 MW will be covered in the next subsequent phases.

v. The First phase will require an investment of 7500 crore rupees. The department of heavy industry will set up a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) for the investment.

Note: The plant life is estimated to be 25 years and is expected to supply 6400 million units of energy per year. The plant will help to reduce CO2 emissions by over 4 million tonnes per year.

8. Rail coach factory to be set up at Kolar

i. The Ministry of Railways and the Government of Karnataka will sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for the setting up of a rail coach factory at Kolar in Karnataka.

ii. The new rail coach factory, on its inception, will serve to meet the increasing demand for passenger coaches and will also foster the economic development of the State.

9. Punjab Rural Olympics kicks off with bullock cart race

i. Four-day Kila Raipur Rural Sports Festival is starting with bullock-cart race at village Kila Raipur in Punjab’s Ludhiana district, today.

ii. Popularly known as Rural Olympics, this annual event is on since 1940’s.

iii. The events include tug-of-war, kabbadi, dog race, tractor race, tent pegging, athletics, hockey matches, cycle races, wrestling etc.

iv. The games, to be played in 7-acre open stadium, attract participants from various neighboring states of Punjab and beyond

10. Ajoy Misra elevated as the CEO and MD of Tata Global Beverages Limited

i. Ajoy Misra has been appointed as the CEO and Managing Director of Tata Global Beverages Limited (TGBL) on 29 January 2014.

ii. At the time of elevation to the position of CEO and MD, Misra was serving the company as Deputy CEO and Executive Director of TGBL. His appointment will come to effect from 1 April 2014 as decided by the board of directors of TGBL.

iii. On assuming the charge, he will replace Harish Bhat, who will step down from the position on 31 March 2014.

iv. Bhat as the managing director of Tata Global Beverages and the chairman of Tata Coffee will join the Tata Sons as a member of the Group Executive Council (GEC) and will report to the Chairman, Cyrus P Mistry, from 1 April 2014.

11. India has 37 per cent of the world's illiterate adults

i. India has by far the largest population of illiterate adults -- 287 million or 37 percent of the global total, said a report released on Wednesday.

ii. The "EFA Global Monitoring Report, 2013-14: Teaching and Learning: Achieving Quality for All", commissioned by the UNESCO, said 10 countries (including India) account for 557 million or 72 per cent of the global population of illiterate adults.

iii. "India's literacy rate rose from 48 per cent in 1991 to 63 per cent in 2006, (the latest year for which data was available), but population growth cancelled the gains. So there was no change in the number of illiterate adults," the report said.

iv. The report said that without attracting and adequately training enough teachers, the learning crisis will "last for several generations and hit the disadvantaged the hardest".

v. "It leaves one in four young people in poor countries unable to read a single sentence, affecting one-third of young women in South and West Asia," it said.
vi. The countries include Bhutan, India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Afghanistan.

vii. At the report launch, Delhi Education Minister Manish Sisodia said it was essential to change the content in our textbooks, so that the "future generation is more aware" about the various issues prevalent in society.

12. TRAI released Working Guidelines for Spectrum Trading

i. Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) released working guidelines for trade of spectrum on 28 January 2014. The guidelines need to be approved by the government before it can be implemented.

Main Working Guidelines are:

• Only outright transfers of airwaves have been permitted from the seller to the buyer.
• While no permission will be required from the government for trading of spectrum, the regulator has mandated that both the seller and the buyer will have to inform the licensor six weeks before the trade takes place.
• Only that spectrum will be allowed to put up for trade for which the companies have paid a market determined price, and trade of spectrum will be on a pan-licensed service area basis.
• While the transaction will be between two parties–buyer and seller the regulator has provided that the seller has the flexibility to choose the prospective buyer of its spectrum through mechanism such as tender or auction

jan 29nth current affairs:

noreply@blogger.com (AWARE and AWAKE) — Wed, 29 Jan 2014 17:10:00 +0000

1. National Waqf Development Corp. Limited inaugurated by PM

i. Manmohan Singh, the Prime Minister of India on 29 January 2014 inaugurated National Waqf Development Corporation Limited (NAWADCO) that is a new Central Public Sector Enterprise in New Delhi.

ii. It will be remain under the Ministry of Minority Affairs. National Waqf Development Corporation (NAWADCO) has been established with an authorized share capital of Rs.500 Crore.

iii. An official release said that the Waqf Corporation is an important institution that will work for development of Waqf properties for the community welfare.

iv. It will also facilitate and mobilize financial resources for the development of Waqf properties for community development purposes in a joint venture with the state and Union Territory Waqf Boards and the Mutawallis.

Note: i. The corporation has been establishment as a follow-up of the recommendation of Sachar Committee.

ii. In India more than 4.9 lakh registered Waqf properties are present and it fetches about 163 crore rupees annually. The recommendation of Sachar Committee says that if the properties of Waqf board are developed properly than it will bring an annual income of about 12000 crore.

iii. NAWADCO has been established with an authorized share capital of 500 crore rupees with an aim of facilitating and mobilizing the financial resources

About Sachar Committee
i. The Government of India constituted a Prime Minister's High Level, Justice Sachar Committee for preparation of a Report on the Social, Economic and Educational Status of Muslim Community of India.

ii. The Committee has submitted its report and this report is under implementation.

iii. The Sachar Committee Report is under implementation and in its findings it has established that Muslims in India are most backward community despite of their rich cultural heritage.

iv. The committee was chaired by Justice Rajindar Sachar and was constitution following the notification issued by the PMO on 9 March 2005.

2. U.P. government launched Samajwadi pension scheme

i. Uttar Pradesh government launched Samajwadi pension scheme on 28 January 2014. The scheme will benefit over 40 lakh families. Under the scheme pension from 500 rupees to 700 rupees will be given to beneficiaries.

ii. UP government also decided to make 1.70 Shiksha Mitra as teachers. The Shiksha mitras are teaching in primary schools for a long time and demanding their regularization as teachers.

iii. Besides, it also decided to modernize police stations and control rooms in Gautam Budha Nagar and the project will be funded by Nodia authority.

3. President accepts resignation of Kumari Selja

i. President Pranab Mukherjee on Wednesday accepted the resignation of Social Justice and Empowerment Minister Kumari Selja from the Council of Ministers, with immediate effect.

ii. Prime Minister, the President has directed that Minister of Railways Shri Mallikarjun Kharge shall be given additional charge of the transecting business of Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment.

iii. The fourth-time Lok Sabha member put in her papers soon after being nominated to the Rajya Sabha from her home state Haryana. Now, she will devote more time to party organization.

iv. Selja, 51, a known detractor of Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, comes at a time when the Congress high command is undertaking a rejig in the party ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.

4. BCCI to assume Central Leadership responsibility in ICC

i. The International Cricket Council, ICC Board has strongly backed the principles related to future structure, governance and financial models of the apex cricket body of the world.

ii. The board in its meeting in Dubai yesterday decided that the Board for Control of Cricket in India, BCCI would assume a central leadership responsibility.

iii. A BCCI representative will chair the ICC Board from June 2014 onwards for a period of two years. He will lead a five member committee including the representatives of Cricket Australia, CA , the English Cricket Board ,ECB and two other members from within the board.

iv. A new company will be set up to tender future commercial rights for ICC events.

v. ICC President Alan Isaac welcomed the decisions and said the measures would help expansion of the game of cricket and emphasize the primacy of Test cricket.

vi. He added that for the first time in cricket's history, participation will be based entirely on merit , giving incentives to everyone play better cricket and develop better cricketers.

Note: There will be three major ICC events in each four-year cycle, including the ICC Champions Trophy which will replace the ICC World Test Championship. The meeting decided that all Members can play all formats of cricket on merit.

5. SC refuses to review verdict on criminalising gay sex

i. The Supreme Court has refused to review its verdict on criminalising gay sex. The Apex Court took up petitions filed by the Centre and rights activists seeking review of its earlier verdict declaring gay sex an offence.

ii. The gay rights activists submitted that there are a number of grave errors and wrong application of law in the judgement that needs to be corrected.

iii. Amid huge outrage against the judgement, the Centre also filed a petition seeking review to avoid grave miscarriage of justice to thousands of gay persons.

6. Union Ministry of Rural Development signed MoU with Digital Green

i. The Union Ministry of Rural Development signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Digital Green on 28 January 2014.

ii. The MoU was signed to exchange the relevant livelihood practices among rural communities under the National Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM).

About Digital Green:

i. Digital Green is an international, non-profit development organization and it is supported by Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Ford Foundation, and Government of India.

ii. It aims to provide strategic direction, management, and coordination of the development, successful implementation, and monitoring of Digital Green's livelihood-related activities.

iii. It builds on the existing extension systems of public, private, and civil society organizations and strengthens them to be more effective and efficient.

About National Rural Livelihood Mission

• Aajeevika or National Rural Livelihoods Mission (NRLM) was launched by the Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD) in June 2011.
• NRLM is the biggest programme for women empowerment in India.
• NRLM aims to cover rural poor households through self-managed Self Help Groups (SHGs) and federated institutions and support them for livelihoods collectives.
• NRLM believes in harnessing the innate capabilities of the poor and complements them with capacities (information, knowledge, skills, tools, finance and collectivization) to participate in the economic growth.

7. NABARD projects a credit potential of Rs 12,727 cr for U'khnad

i. The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) on Wednesday projected a credit potential of Rs 12726.83 crore in the state focus paper (SFP) for the year 2014-15 in Uttarakhand under the priority sector.

ii. This envisages an increase of 17.35% over the current year projection, said S Selvaraj, Chief General Manger of NABARD’s Uttarakhand regional office while releasing the SFP.

iii. While projecting the credit potential, NABARD took into account the resources endowed with the state, infrastructure and extension support available, market trend, skill profile and the damage caused by the devastating floods last year.

8. India ranks at the bottom in terms of Intellectual Property

i. Despite the current decade being called India’s ‘decade of innovation’, the country has ranked at the bottom of the list of 25 countries in terms of its intellectual property (IP) environment.

ii. According to a report by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Global Intellectual Property Center (GIPC), India’s percentage score has further fallen from 25% in 2012 to 23% in the year 2014.

iii. The continued use of compulsory licenses, patent revocations, and weak legislative and enforcement mechanisms raise serious concerns about India’s commitment to promote innovation and protect creators,” the report said.

Note: US ranked on the top followed by UK and France. The five BRICS economies—Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa—continue to face serious challenges.

9. Google is best company to work for: Fortune

i. For the fifth consecutive year, Internet search giant Google has been named as the best company to work for by Fortune Magazine.

ii. Google has topped the latest list of '100 Best American Companies to Work for' followed by -- software developer SAS and strategy consultants the Boston Consulting Group in the second and third positions, respectively.

iii. "Google's stock climbed past $1,000 in 2013-a boon for Googlers, all of whom are stockholders," Fortune said adding that "Google tops the list once again, marking its eighth appearance and fifth time as No. 1."

iv. So much so that three winners of Google's annual talent show opened for Bruno Mars at his Las Vegas show in April at the Global Sales Conference.

v. Among other noted names, Qualcomm was ranked 32 in the list, Goldman Sachs Group (45), CISCO (55), Marriott International (57), Deloitte (61), PricewaterhouseCoopers (65), American Express (67), Novo Nordisk (72), Ernst & Young (78), Discovery Communications (79), KPMG (80), Intel (84), Microsoft (86), Accenture (90) and Hyatt Hotels (95).

vi. To pick the 100 Best Companies to Work For, Fortune partnered with the Great Place to Work Institute. More than 252,000 employees at those companies were surveyed by the

jan 28th current affairs:

noreply@blogger.com (AWARE and AWAKE) — Tue, 28 Jan 2014 16:34:00 +0000

RBI Current Policy & Reserve Rates:

Repo Rate – 8 %

Reverse Repo– 7 %

CRR – 4%

SLR – 23%

MSF– 9%

Bank Rate – 9%

2. Notes printed before 2005 will remain legal, says RBI

i. India's central bank, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has clarified that the currency notes that were printed before 2005 will continue to be legal tender.

ii. The central bank said that the move to withdraw banknotes printed prior to 2005 is aimed at pulling off these bank notes from the market.

iii. The central bank pointed out that it is a common global practice to withdraw older series notes. The central bank said that the notes printed prior 2005 "have fewer security features compared to banknotes printed after 2005."

iv. The central bank clarified its statement dated January 22 following questions from the banks.

v. The RBI also said on its website that it is already systematically withdrawing these notes from the market in a routine manner through the banks in the country.

vi. It said that the members of the public can exchange the notes at bank branches as per their convenience.

vii. Further, even July 1, 2014 onwards, members of public can exchange any number of these old series notes from the bank branches where they have their accounts," it said in a press statement.

3. Growth likely to slip below 5% in 2013-14: RBI

i. The Reserve Bank on Tuesday said the growth is expected to fall below 5 per cent in 2013-14 in absence of pick-up in manufacturing sector, but likely to recover to 5.5 per cent in the next financial year.

ii. The economic growth, it said, could be “somewhat lower than the central estimate of 5 per cent”.

iii. In the first half of 2013-14, the GDP growth was at 4.6 per cent.

iv. For fiscal 2014-15, there is a case for gradual recovery to the 5-6 per cent band, the RBI said, giving a central estimate of 5.5 per cent growth.

v. The central bank further said if the nearly 130 projects worth over Rs 4 lakh crore cleared by the Cabinet Committee on Investments translate into investments, global growth improves and inflation softens, the country’s GDP growth could come in at “the higher reaches” of the forecast range of 5-6 per cent.

vi. For the fourth quarter, the headline CPI inflation is expected to range between 7.5 and 8.5 per cent with an upside risk, it added.

4. BSE to launch IRF trading from 20th Jan

i. Leading stock exchange BSE has said live trading in new interest rate futures (IRF), in long tenure 10-year government bonds, will begin on its platform on 20th January.

ii. The exchange has already received the approval of market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) for launching IRFs.

iii. Besides, NSE will begin live trading in the IRF on 21st January, while MCX-SX said it will also go live this month without giving an exact date.

iv. The product would benefit banks, brokerage houses, insurance companies and primary dealers, among others.

v. The market regulator had said IRF are being introduced on a pilot basis and the product features would be reviewed based on the experience gained.

vi. An IRF is generally a contract between a buyer and a seller agreeing to the future delivery of any interest-bearing asset such as government bonds.

vii. Earlier last month, the market regulator had permitted the stock exchanges to introduce cash-settled IRFs on 10-year government bonds, which has been a long pending demand of capital market participants.

5. Google purchased DeepMind Technologies of UK

i. Google purchased the British start-up DeepMind Technologies – an artificial intelligence company – on 27 January 2014.

ii. The American tech giant Google confirmed the deal in its London office. This deal represents Google’s biggest ever single acquisition in Europe.

iii. The acquisition of DeepMind would prove to be helpful for Google in further developing its most recent Hummingbird search update.

iv. The Hummingbird search update was created to make Google more human and searches which can now understand context like a human brain.

About DeepMind Technologies:

i. The artificial intelligence company DeepMind Technologies was founded by Demis Hassabis, neuroscientist and computer genius together with Shane Legg and Mustafa Suleyman in London.

ii. Artificial intelligence uses computers for tasks normally requiring human intelligence, like speech recognition or language translation.

6. Meena appointed as Secretary Security

i. H C Meena has been appointed as the Secretary Security in the Cabinet Secretariat on 24 January 2014.

ii. Meena will hold the post till his superannuation on 30 September 2014.

iii. Meena an Indian Police Service (IPS) officer of the 1976 batch has served as the director general in Rajasthan.

About Secretary Security

• Secretary Security is a nodal authority in respect of policy relating to procurement of jammers by the State Governments and Central Police Forces.
• Secretary Security is an administrative head of the Special Protection Group (SPG) and is responsible for closely monitoring the security arrangements for the Prime Minister and former Prime Ministers in India as well as abroad.

7. India ranked 155th in global Environment Performance Index

i. The Environmental Performance Index (EPI) 2014 was released on 25 January 2014. As per the Index, India was ranked 155 out of 178 countries with an index score of 31.23 points in its efforts to address environmental challenges.

ii. India was ranked behind neighbouring countries China at 118, Pakistan at 148 and Nepal at 139 respectively.

iii. Among the BRICS countries, South Africa was placed at 72nd position, followed by Russia (73), Brazil (77) and China (118).

iv. EPI ranks how well countries perform on high-priority environmental issues mainly in the areas of protection of human health from environmental harm and protection of ecosystems.

8. Queen Latifah won 2014 Matrix Award

i. Rapper-turned-actress Queen Latifah won the 2014 Matrix Award on 25 January 2014.

ii. New York Women in Communications presented the 2014 Matrix Awards to honor seven remarkable women who have changed the world, through their work in the communications industry.

About Matrix Award

i. The Matrix Awards is recognized by the communications and entertainment communities as one of the most outstanding and prestigious events of the year.

ii. The Matrix Awards are given by New York Women in Communications to honour females who change the world.

About Queen Latifah

Dana Elaine Owens, better known by her stage name Queen Latifah, is an American singer-songwriter, rapper, model, comedienne, television producer, record producer, actress, and talk show hostess. She has long been considered one of hip-hop's pioneer feminists.

9. 4th ODI: New Zealand beat India by 7 wkts, win series 3-0

i. India have lost the Hamilton cricket match by 7 wickets and the series against New Zealand.

ii. The hosts had won the first two ODIs, while the third one dayer ended in a tie on Saturday.

iii. Chasing the target of 279 runs set by India, the host made 280 runs in 48.1 overs.

jan 27th -current affairs:

noreply@blogger.com (AWARE and AWAKE) — Mon, 27 Jan 2014 14:29:00 +0000

1. PAN allotment process to undergo change from 3 February 2014

i. PAN (Permanent Account Number) allotment process will undergo a change from 3 February 2014.

ii. The official release mentioned that an applicant of PAN will have to submit self-attested copies of Proof of Identity (POI), Proof of Address (POA) and Date of Birth (DOB) documents. The applicant will also have to produce the original documents for verification at the counter of PAN facilitation centres.

iii. The notification also said that the POI, POA and DOB documents attached with the application PAN form will be verified with their original documents at the time of application submission. It also said that the original documents will not be retained by the PAN Facilitation centre and will be returned back to the applicant as soon as it is verified.

2. Expelled AAP leader Binny sits on hunger strike

i. Expelled AAP leader Binod Kumar Binny on Monday sat on dharna at Jantar Mantar against the Ruling AAP led government for not fulfilling its promises made to people in its election manifesto.

ii. Expelled AAP leader Binod Kumar Binny earlier met the Lt. Governor over his three points.

iii. On reports that Binny might join Bhartiya Janta Party, Binny clarified that he will remain associated with the Aam Admi Party.

iv. Binny has also said that according to reports, two to three MLA's will also leave the party and join him and due to this fear, the party has expelled him.

v. Meanwhile, the expelled MLA has called the decision unfortunate and claimed that the ruling party in Delhi has misled the people and is escaping from the promises it has made to the people.

3. Wawrinka stuns injured Nadal to win Aussie Open

i. Switzerland's Stanislas Wawrinka claimed his first Grand Slam title in dramatic fashion on Sunday when he upset injury-troubled world number one Rafael Nadal in the Australian Open final.

ii. The eighth seed roared through the first two sets and overcame the distraction of a back injury to Nadal, and then the loss of the third set, to take it 6-3, 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 in two hours 21 minutes.

iii. Nadal, who was chasing his 14th major title, looked as if might pull out with the back injury but he fought back to take the third set and force the match into a fourth set.

iv. It was a stunning win for Wawrinka, who had not beaten Nadal in their previous 12 matches as he rallied to win the fourth set and take the championship.

4. Sania - Tecau lose in Australian Open mixed doubles

i. India's Sania Mirza and her Romanian partner Horia Tecau failed to clinch the Australian open mixed doubles title as they lost to French-Canadian combination of Kristina Mladenovic and Daniel Nestor in straight sets in the summit clash in Melbourne on Sunday.

ii. Sania, who was gunning for her third mixed doubles Grand Slam title and second in Australian Open, and Tecau lost 3-6 2-6 against the French-Canadian duo in a 58-minute contest at the Rod Laver Arena.

iii. The French-Canadian pair were clearly the better side in all departments of the game.

iv. Sania had earlier won the Australian mixed doubles title with Mahesh Bhupathi in 2009.

5. Sania wins Syed Modi International

i. India ace shuttler Saina Nehwal has snapped her 15 months title drought, clinching the Syed Modi International India Grand Prix Gold badminton crown with a straight-game victory over compatriot P V Sindhu in the women's singles competition in Lucknow on Sunday.

ii. The London Olympics bronze medallist staved off the challenge from Sindhu 21-14 21-17 in the women's singles summit clash, which lasted 40 minutes at the Babu Banarasi Das Indoor Stadium in Lucknow.

iii. The two-time champion was tested by her younger colleague but Saina kept her nerve to eventually break a 15-month title drought after appearing in her 22nd final of her international career.

iv. Saina had been battling a poor form and injury issues for more than a year now, which saw her slip to world number nine this week from ranked second.
v. This win has helped her earn 7000 points and will also allow her to climb the ranking ladder.

6. Macklemore, Ryan Lewis win 2014 Best New Artist Grammy

i. Rapper duo Macklemore and Ryan Lewis took home the first of the major awards at the 56th Grammys beating the likes of Kendrick Lamar, Jay Z, Kanye West and Drake.

ii. Macklemore, 30, and Lewis, 25, both from Seattle, won best new artist, following their phenomenal success with hits like 'Same Love', 'Can't Hold Us' and 'Thrift Shop' on Sunday night at LA's Staples Center.

iii. They also bagged awards for best rap album, best rap performance and best rap song for 'Thrift Shop'.

iv. Grammys 2014 kicked off with a scintillating performance by Beyonce and Jay Z.

7. Posthumous Ashok Chakra to Andhra’s anti-Naxal unit cop

i. A Sub-Inspector of the Andhra Pradesh’s counter-Maoist force was posthumously awarded Ashok Chakra, the highest peacetime gallantry award of the country, as India celebrated its 65th Republic Day on Sunday.

ii. Sub-Inspector K Prasad Babu was honoured for an anti-Naxal operation during which he had led an assault unit of Greyhounds (anti-Naxal force of Andhra Pradesh) near Andhra-Chhattisgarh border on April 16 last year.

iii. The award was received by Babu’s father from President Pranab Mukherjee before the commencement of the Republic Day Parade.

iv. Babu played a key role in killing nine Maoists and injuring several others.

8. MS Dhoni became first captain to play in four tied ODIs

i. MS Dhoni on 25 January 2014 became the first captain to be involved in four tied One Day International matches.

ii. Indian cricket team captain achieved this feat in Auckland, while playing third ODI match against New Zealand.

The last three tied matches Dhoni has played are
• ICC World Cup 2011 match in Bangalore against England
• ODI match played on 11 September 2011 at Lords against England
• ODI match played in February 2012 at Adelaide against Sri Lanka

9. Ela Gandhi honoured with Amadelkufa in South Africa

i. Ela Gandhi, the granddaughter of Mahatma Gandhi was honoured with Amadelkufa in South Africa on 26 January 2014. She was honoured for her lifetime contribution to the freedom struggle of South Africa. Amdelkufa in Zulu language means Sacrifice.

ii. She formed the trio of Indian-origin South Africans along with Sunny Singh and Mac Maharaj. These three played an active role in the Umkhonto we Sizwe (Spear of the Nation). The Umkhonto we Sizwe was the armed struggle wing of the African National Congress.

10. Karl Slym, MD of Tata Motors died after falling from hotel building in Bangkok

i. Karl Slym, the managing director of Tata Motors died on 26 January 2014 after falling from a hotel building in Bangkok.

ii. He was in Bangkok to attend a board meeting of the Tata Motors Thailand Limited.

iii. Slym, the British-born executive ran all the operations of Tata Motors except of the Jaguar Land Rover in the UK.

iv. Before joining Tata group, he served as the executive vice-president of SGMW Motors, China, which is a joint venture of General Motors.

v. Before, SFMW, from 2007 to 11, he was the President and managing director as well as a board member of the General Motors in India.

vi. He started his career by serving at Toyota in UK.

11. India eye win in 4th ODI to keep series alive against NZ

i. Having snatched a thrilling tie from the jaws of defeat in the last game, India would look to build on their new-found momentum and aim for their first win of the tour in order to keep the contest alive when they take on New Zealand in the fourth ODI, in Hamilton on Tuesday.

ii. The series stands at 2-0 in favour of New Zealand after India lost the first two ODIs in Napier (by 24 runs) and Hamilton (by 15 runs), while the third ODI at Auckland finished in a scintillating last-ball tie on Saturday.

iii. Even though India cannot win the series anymore, the visitors at least can level the rubber and keep their world number one ranking intact, but for that to happen they need need to win Tuesday's match at Seddon Park as well as the fifth ODI at Wellington.

26th jan current affairs:

noreply@blogger.com (AWARE and AWAKE) — Mon, 27 Jan 2014 04:55:00 +0000

Padma Awards Announced 2014 : The President of India has approved conferment of 127 Padma Awards including one duo case (counted as one) as per the list below. The list comprises two Padma Vibhushan, 24 Padma Bhushan and 101 Padma Shri Awardees. 27 of the Awardees are women and the list also includes 10 persons from the category of foreigners, NRIs, PIOs and Posthumous Awardees.The Awards are given in various disciplines/ fields of activities, viz- art, social work, public affairs, science and engineering, trade and industry, medicine, literature and education, sports, civil service, etc. ‘Padma Vibhushan’ is awarded for exceptional and distinguished service; ‘Padma Bhushan’ for distinguished service of high order and ‘Padma Shri’ for distinguished service in any field. The awards are announced on the occasion of Republic Day every year.

India ranked 155th in global environment performance list at World Economic Forum : India has been ranked at a low 155th position in a global list that places countries on how well they perform on high-priority environmental issues.The 2014 Environmental Performance Index (EPI), released today here, has ranked 178 countries in total. Among them, India is placed at the 155th position, with an index score of 31.23 points. Its rank is also much lower than BRICS peers.Among the BRICS, South Africa was placed at the 72nd rank with an index score of 53.51, followed by Russia (73rd rank, 53.45 points), Brazil (77th rank, 52.97 points) and China (118th rank, 43 points).Besides, India has fared poorly compared to neighbouring countries like Nepal and Pakistan — which are ranked 139th and 148th, respectively.

National Communal Harmony Awards 2013 Announced : The Centre for Study of Society and Secularism, Mumbai has been selected for the National Communal Harmony Award 2013 in the Organization category. Dr. Mohinder Singh of Delhi and Dr. N Radhakrishnan of Kerala have been selected for this Award in the individual category.Dr. Mohinder Singh, aged 72 is a scholar and presently member of the National Commission for Minority Educational Institutions. Earlier, he was also Member of the National Commission for Religious and Linguistic Minorities from 2005 to 2007Dr. N Radhakrishnan, aged 69 is a well known academic, a Gandhian scholar and a peace worker. He initiated the Shanti Sena programme at the Gandhigram University and extended this work to other parts of the country. He has been actively working to restore peace in communally tense areas of Tamilnadu and Kerala.

Aadhaar is not a proof of citizenship: Aadhaar is not a proof of citizenship, but a basic identity for a person to avail himself or herself of various benefits provided by the government, said Chairman of Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) Nandan Nilekani.Speaking to presspersons after visiting the Traffic Management Centre here on Friday, Mr. Nilekani described Aadhaar as the one of the world’s biggest social inclusion projects that aims to help beneficiaries get over Rs. 3,000 crore subsidies provided by the government.

368 Republic Day Gallantry and Other Defence Decorations Announced : The President has approved awards of 368 Gallantry and other Defence decorations to Armed Forces personnel and others on the eve of the 65th Republic Day Celebrations. This includes 03 Kirti Chakra, 10 Shaurya Chakra, 1 Bar Sena Medal (Gallantry), 48 Sena Medal (Gallantry), 02 Nao Sena Medal (Gallantry), 1 Bar to Vayu Sena Medal (Gallantry), 14 Vayu Sena Medal (Gallantry), 28 Param Vishisht Seva Medal, 05 Uttam Yudh Seva Medal, 07 Bar to Ati Vishisht Seva Medal, 45 Ati Vishisht Seva Medal, 19 Yudh Seva Medal, 05 Bar to Sena Medal (Devotion to Duty), 35 Sena Medal (Devotion to Duty), 08 Nao Sena Medal (Devotion to Duty), 15 Vayu Sena Medal (Devotion to Duty), 10 Bar to Vishisht Seva Medal and 112 Vishisht Seva Medal. In addition a total of 25 Mention-In-Despatches have also been announced for participating in Operation Rakshak.

Li Na trounces Cibulkova in straight sets to win first Australian Open : Seven months after giving retirement serious thought, Li Na made it third time lucky in an Australian Open final with a 7—6 (3), 6—0 win over Dominika Cibulkova to become the oldest women’s champion here in the Open era.Li, who turns 32 next month, lost finals to Kim Clijsters in 2011 and to Victoria Azarenka last year. In between, she won the 2011 French Open in one of the many firsts she’s established for Chinese tennis.Widely popular at Melbourne Park for her funny post-match interviews and wise cracks about her husband and his snoring, Li didn’t disappoint the Rod Laver Crowd in her first victory speech.

83 Presidential Awards for IAF this Year : 83 IAF Air Warriors have been decorated with Presidential Awards on the eve of Republic Day, this year.This includes Param Vishist Seva Medal (PVSM) for six Air Marshals, Ati Vishist Seva Medal (AVSM) for one Air Marshal, eight Air Vice Marshals and four Air Commodores.One Kirti Chakra (Posthumously), one Shaurya Chakra (Posthumously), two Shaurya Chakra, three Vayu Sena Medal (Gallantry) (Posthumously), one Bar to Vayu Sena Medal (Gallantry), eleven Vayu Sena Medal (VM) Gallantry, fifteen Vayu Sena Medal for devotion to duty have been awarded.The Vishist Seva Medal (VSM) have been awarded to two Air Vice Marshal, seven Air Commodores, nineteen Group Captains and two Wing Commanders.

jan 25th current affairs:

noreply@blogger.com (AWARE and AWAKE) — Sat, 25 Jan 2014 14:27:00 +0000

1. Australia Open: Li Na becomes first Chinese woman to clinch title

i. Li Na made it third time lucky in the Australian Open final, beating Dominika Cibulkova 7—6 (3), 6—0 on Saturday to become the oldest woman to clinch the title in the Open era.

ii. Li, who turns 32 next month, lost Australian Open finals to Kim Clijsters in 2011 and Victoria Azarenka last year. In between, she won the 2011 French Open to become the first Chinese woman to win a major.

iii. In both her previous Australian Open appearances, Li won the first set but went down in three. Against Azarenka last year, she stumbled and twisted her ankle, and needed a medical timeout after hitting her head on the court.

iv. She had no such trouble against No. 20-seeded Cibulkova, going on a roll to win the last eight games.

2. LPG Connection Portability Scheme launched

i. The Union Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas launched LPG Connection Portability Scheme across the country on 22 January 2014. The scheme covers 480 districts in the country and all possible LPG markets which have multiple LPG distributors.

ii. Under the scheme an LPG consumer can switch to the distributor of his or her choice within a cluster of LPG distributors in the vicinity.

iii. To facilitate LPG to consumers Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) have made more than 1400 clusters distributors.

iv. The Procedure to opt for portability is very simple. No transfer fee or additional security deposit will be charged for transfer of connection under the scheme.

v. In October 2013 OMCs together launched LPG connection Portability Scheme as a pilot project in 24 districts covering 13 states. The OMCs in India are Indian Oil, Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum.

3. India Posts to start rolling out ATMs from February

i. In anticipation of getting a banking licence from the Reserve Bank of India, the Department of Posts will roll out its own ATMs, with the first of them set to be functional on February 5 across three cities.

ii. “The first of the ATMs would be rolled out simultaneously in New Delhi, Chennai and Bangalore,” Kapil Sibal, Minister for Communications and IT, said, after inaugurating a data centre for the postal department.

iii. Following which, the postal department is planning to rollout 3,000 ATMs. About 1,000 machines would be introduced in the first year. The remaining 2,000 would be rolled out within six months to one year after the initial phase of rollout.

4. Vakrangee gets white-label ATM licence

i. Vakrangee Ltd has received the Reserve Bank of India’s final authorisation of the White Label ATM licence.

ii. Under this licence, Vakrangee is entitled to set up and run minimum 15,000 ATMs across the country in the next three years, sources close to the development said.

iii. White-label ATMs are those which are not run by the banks but by a non-banking entity in its own brand name (like Vakrangee ATM) after passing through all the stringent qualification and due-diligence process undertaken by the RBI.

iv. These ATMs will have all the functionalities like that of a bank-run ATMs.

v. For the ATM business, Vakrangee will focus more towards sub Tier-III towns with huge potential.

vi. The White-Label ATM business is a strategic fit for Vakrangee’s current business of rural bank branch management wherein brick and mortar bank branches (as common business correspondents) are set up by this company for the public sector banks.

5. Scientist Mashelkar, yoga guru Iyengar get Padma Bhushan, cricketer Yuvraj gets Padma Shri

i. Renowened scientist R.A. Mashelkar, yoga guru B.K.S. Iyengar, actors Vidya Balan and Paresh Rawal, sportspersons Yuvraj Singh, P. Gopichand and Dipika Pallikal are among the personalities who have been awarded the Padma awards ahead of the Republic Day.

ii. While Mashelkar and Iyengar have been conferred with Padma Bhushan, actors Balan and Rawal have been awarded the Padma Shri awards

iii. Cricketer Yuvraj Singh, ace shuttler Gopichand and squash player Pallikkal have got Padma Shri awards. Dipika recently entered the top 10 in the WSA rankings, the official women's squash world rankings.

Note:The Padma awards, India's highest civilian honours, are given in three categories: Padma Vibhushan, Padma Bhushan and Padma Shri and announced on the occasion of Republic Day every year.

6. Japanese PM Shinzo Abe arrives in New Delhi

i. Japanese PM Shinzo Abe, who will be chief guest at this year's Republic day Parade, arrived here on a three-day official trip to India.

ii. Abe, accompanied by his wife Mrs Akie Abe, is visiting India on the invitation of PM Manmohan Singh.

iii. During his three-day trip (25 -27 Jan), Abe is scheduled to hold talks with PM Manmohan Singh for the Annual Summit between India and Japan.

iv. The delegation-level talks between the two PMs is expected to cover economic issues, and international topics like Afghanistan and UN reforms, said reports.

7. French First Lady visits India

i. French First Lady Valerie Trierweiler will make her first public appearance since it emerged President Francois Hollande was cheating on her with an actress, with a trip to India next week for charity work.

ii. Trierweiler was hospitalised for a week after news broke of Hollande's affair with 41-year-old French actress Julie Gayet, and has since been holed up in a presidential retreat outside Paris as her future remains unclear.

iii. She will visit Mumbai for two days from Monday on a trip organised by French relief organisation Action Against Hunger (ACF) which had been planned long in advance.

iv. In Mumbai, Trierweiler will visit a hospital where ACF has a feeding project for malnourished children and witness a training programme for medical staff.

v. She will be shown around the city by French actress Charlotte Valandrey, who is involved in the cause of promoting organ donations and transplants.

8. Dr. Tej Vir Singh won the UNWTO Ulysses Prize

i. Dr. Tej Vir Singh from Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh won the 2013 UNWTO Ulysses Prize for Excellence in the Creation and Dissemination of Knowledge on 22 January 2014.

ii. Dr.Singh is the professor and Founding Director of the Centre for Tourism Research & Development (CTRD) in India.

iii. Dr. Singh started the first Himalayan tourism training course, as the Founding Director of the Institute of Himalayan Studies and Regional Development at the University of Garhwal.

About UNWTO Ulysses Prize
The UNWTO Ulysses Prize is given to a distinguished scholar, whether in academia, government or private industry, for outstanding contributions to innovation and knowledge in tourism.

9. Shane Warne to mentor Australia's spinners for World T20 Tournament

i. Australia has appointed Shane Warne as a specialist spin consultant on 23 January 2014 to support Darren Lehmann ahead of Australian campaign in World Twenty20 to be played in Bangladesh. His role in the team will be to train the spinners of the squad.

ii. Warne will join the squad of the team for the three-match series against South Africa at the conclusion of the Test tour in March 2014. Australia has to play three T20 games against South Africa on 9, 12 and 14 March 2014.

iii. George Bailey is the captain of the Australian Twenty20 cricket team and at present the team is ranked at eighth position in the list of International Cricket Council.

iv. The coach of the Australian cricket team Lehmann considers that the role of Warne in the game will be a crucial turning point for the team.

10. Aviation ministry removed V.P.Agrawal from position of AAI chairman

i. The Aviation Ministry removed V.P.Agrawal as chairman of the state-run Airports Authority of India (AAI) on 24 January 2014.

ii. Alok Sinha has given additional charge as AAI chairman. Alok Sinha is a joint secretary in the Aviation Ministry.

iii. V.P. Agrawal took over as chairman on 1 January 2009 for a period of five years. His tenure was ended on 31 December 2013, but he was allowed to continue in the post.

11. Third ODI between India & New Zealand end in tie

i. The third cricket one-dayer between India and New Zealand ended in a nail-biting tie at Auckland today. Chasing a stiff target of 315 runs, India needed just two runs off the last ball but could manage just a single.

ii. Ravindra Jadeja very nearly pulled off a sensational victory with some lusty hits but could not take India home in the last over as the third one-dayer against New Zealand ended in a nail-biting tie to keep the visitors afloat in the five-match series in Auckland today.

iii. The tie also ensured that India remained in the number one position in the ICC ODI rankings, having regained it yesterday following Australia's defeat to England in the fourth one-dayer.

iv. The score could have been much bigger had there not been not a minor collapse towards the end of the innings which pegged the Kiwis back to some extent.

v. The scores: New Zealand 314 all out in 50 overs. India 314 for nine in 50 overs.

vi. At present, the hosts lead the 5-match series Two-Nil.

12. Richard Quest won 2013 UNWTO Lifetime Achievement Award

i. UNWTO awarded CNN’s Richard Quest the 2013 UNWTO Award for Lifetime Achievement on 22 January 2014.

ii. The UNWTO Award for Lifetime Achievement was presented during the UNWTO Awards Ceremony held in Madrid, Spain.

iii. The Award recognizes Mr. Quest’s reporting across the globe on CNN, which has showcased the challenges and successes of the tourism industry - raising it into the mainstream of the international agenda.

About UNWTO Lifetime Achievement Award

The UNWTO Award for Lifetime Achievement is conferred to recognize a lifetime achievement of individuals with visionary leadership and significant contribution throughout the nominee’s career as an inspirational role model for the development at the local, national, regional or international level.

jan 24th current affairs:

noreply@blogger.com (AWARE and AWAKE) — Fri, 24 Jan 2014 17:38:00 +0000

1. Today is National Girl Child Day

i. Today is National Girl Child Day. This day is observed every year to raise awareness and consciousness towards the girl child.

ii. The aim is to ensure that every girl is respected, valued and treated equally in society.

iii. On this day, the Women and Child Development Ministry takes up a multi-pronged approach for addressing as well as working towards diminishing the child sex ratio in India.

iv. Earlier on 22 January 2014, the India Post launched a special savings scheme for the girl child between 10 and 20 in age of India.

v. The scheme has asked the parents of girls to open a Savings Bank account. It says that the parents can open
• Recurring Deposit (RD)
• Monthly Income Scheme (MIS)
• Fixed Deposits
• And can also buy National Savings Certificate (NSC)

2. PM gives away National Bravery Awards to children

i. Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh gave away National Bravery awards for the year 2013 to children from various parts of the country in New Delhi today.

ii. The award is given for showing exceptional grit and bravery in adverse situation. Speaking on the occasion, Dr Singh told the award winners that they are an inspiration to both their own generation and the nation. UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi, Women and Child Development Minister Krishna Tirath were also present on the occasion.

iii. 25 children from various States, including Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Chattisgarh, Manipur, Madhya Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir won the National Bravery awards.

iv. The awardees include nine girls. Five children were awarded posthumously. The award winning children will be part of Republic Day Parade at Rajpath on Sunday.

3. Economic growth in India projected at 5.35% in 2014, says UN report

i. India's economy is projected to grow at a slower-than-expected rate of 5.3 per cent this year, according to a United Nations report which said the country's slowdown may have bottomed out.

ii. The UN World Economic Situation and Prospects 2014 (WESP) report said a mild recovery in investment as well as stronger export growth will help in the gradual GDP pick-up.

iii. Full-year growth decelerated to 4.8 per cent in 2013 from 5.1 per cent in the calendar year 2012.

iv. The report further said that global economic growth is expected to increase over the next two years with continuing signs of improvement.

v. The global economy is projected to grow at a pace of 3 per cent in 2014 and 3.3 per cent in 2015, compared to an estimated growth of 2.1 per cent in 2013.

4. New RBI guidelines for loan restructuring norms by NBFCs

i. In order to minimise the risk of defaults, RBI has issued revised guidelines for loan restructuring norms by non-banking financial companies, NBFCs.

ii. In a notification issued from Mumbai yesterday, RBI said that rules for restructuring loans by NBFCs will be the same as those of banks.

iii. The key provisions include that the relaxation or extension of commencement of projects will not amount to restructuring for infrastructure, non-infrastructure and corporate real estate projects.

iv. RBI, further, said that a special classification benefit will be provided to corporate debt restructuring cases, including small and medium enterprises. The benefit will, however, be withdrawn with effect from April 1 next year.

5. SBI launches Youtube channel; Twitter handle next

i. Nation's largest lender State Bank of India on Friday strengthened its social media presence with the launch of its channel on popular video sharing website Youtube and said it will also be launching its handle on the micro-blogging site Twitter soon.

ii. The YouTube channel is another platform that will enable us to connect with our customers. SBI will continue to spread its footprint on social media through the launch of platforms like Twitter, shortly," Chairperson Arundhati Bhattacharya said in a statement.

iii. SBI, which controls around a fourth of the deposits in the system, is one of the oldest financial institutions in the country with an over 200 years of history.

iv. It has over 15,000 branches and over 43,000 ATMs. The bank statement said the Youtube channel will help it connect with the young and technologically savvy customers.

6. Favour free ATM services: Finance Services Secretary Takru

i. Financial services secretary Rajiv Takru has said that he favours free ATM services as they exist now.

ii. Speaking to reporters in Mumbai on Thursday, Mr. Takru said that if these services are made expensive then customers may end up at bank counters and warned that a teller service is far more expensive than ATM service.

iii. He however clarified that no bank has approached the government seeking approval to raise ATM fees and said that a final decision in this regard will be taken by RBI.

iii. Admitting that ATM services should be sustainable, Mr. Takru said banks should look at ways to encourage customers to increase their ATM usage so as to make them profitable. Mr. Takru also called for a re-look at orders of some state governments asking banks to have round-the-clock security at ATMs.

7. Kerala wins UN award for sustainable tourism

i. Kerala Tourism has been conferred the United Nations Award for creating innovative initiatives for sustainable tourism, the first time India has ever won the recognition.

ii. The state lifted the coveted honour for its sustainable development initiative in the world renowned backwater resort of Kumarakom, a Kerala tourism release said on Thursday.

iii. Kerala Tourism bagged the honour at the annual United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) Awards for Excellence and Innovation in Tourism presented at Madrid in Spain.

iv. Kerala won the UNWTO Ulysses Award for Innovation in Public Policy and Governance, the highest honour given to the government bodies for shaping global tourism policies through innovative initiatives.

v. Instituted in 2003 by UNWTO, the United Nations agency for the promotion of responsible, sustainable and universally accessible tourism, the UNWTO Awards showcase innovation and application of knowledge in tourism with the aim of effecting governance and society.

8. Railways earmark berth for security escort in trains with sleepers

i. The Railways has decided to earmark berth no. 71 in coach S-1 in all the trains having security escort.

ii. A Railway official said that the idea of having a dedicated berth for the security personnel is to help passengers to locate them easily in case of emergency. He said, trains which are devoid of sleepers will not have this facility.

iii. There are 3,475 trains which are provided with the escort of Railway Protection Force and Government Railway Police ensure security for passengers.

9. Viscera test must in death due to poisoning: SC

i. A bench of Justices Ranjana P Desai and J Chelameswar ruled that in all the cases where poisoning is suspected, immediately after the post-mortem, the viscera should be sent to the forensic science laboratories (FSL).

ii. The prosecuting agencies should ensure that the viscera is, in fact, sent to the FSL for examination and the FSL should ensure that the viscera is examined immediately and report is sent to the investigating agencies/courts post haste.

iii. The court took serious note of a number of cases relating to death by poisoning which resulted in acquittal mainly because police failed to seek a viscera examination from forensic science laboratories (FSL).

About Viscera test

i. In the Viscera test the internal organs of the body, specifically those within the chest (as the heart or lungs) or abdomen (as the liver, pancreas or intestines) are tested thoroughly.

ii. The Forensic Science Laboratories provide scientific assistance in crime investigation by way of examination of blood, semen, stains thereof and other.

10. Cumbria University of UK became the first public university to accept fees in Bitcoin

i. Cumbria University of UK became the first public university to accept fees in digital currency, Bitcoin. A system for processing the payments is already operational.

ii. The payment of fees through Bitcoin will be only applicable to two new courses on the roles of complimentary currencies in economic systems, which will be taught from summer this year at the Institute for Leadership and Sustainability (IFLAS).

iii. Cumbria is thought to be the first public university in the world to accept the currency, although a private University in Cyprus announced last year that it would do so.

11. DMK suspends MK Alagiri !

i. Amid strains in Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam's (DMK) first family over leadership squabbles, DMK has finally expells party chief Karunanidhi's elder son MK Alagiri.

ii. In a statement issued here, DMK general secretary K. Anbazhagan said Alagiri was creating confusion in the party by urging party cadres not to work and criticising the disciplinary action taken by the party against some members for their anti-party activities.

iii. He said the continuation of Alagiri in the party is not proper and would destroy the party discipline. Hence Alagiri is temporarily suspended from the party.

12. India and France jointly building 3rd satellite

i. India and France are working on building the third Indo-French satellite designed for climate change studies, a senior French official said on Thursday.

ii. The new satellite being built jointly by Indian Space Research Organisation and National Centre for Space Studies (CNES) of France would be a state-of-the-art satellite for earth observation for climate change, Weiss said.

iii. The final shape to the proposed project is scheduled to be given by next March when Indian and French scientists will hold a "big" meeting in France, Weiss said.

iv. India is the one of the most important countries of cooperation for France. Both countries have plenty of things to do together," he added.

13. Australian Open: Errani-Vinci retain women's doubles title

i. Top seeds Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci of Italy produced a great escape on Friday as they beat Russia's Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina 6-4 3-6 7-5 to retain the Australian Open women's doubles title.

ii. The Russian third seeds led 5-2 in the decider before Errani and Vinci roared back to clinch their fourth grand slam title and retain their world number one ranking.

14. Oz Open: Sania in mixed doubles final

i. Sania Mirza and her Romanian team-mate Horia Tecau advanced into the mixed-doubles finals in the Australian Open tournament today.

ii. The sixth seeded Indo-Romanian duo defeated Aussie pair of Jarmila Gajdosova and Matthew Ebden 2-6, 6-3 (10-2).

iii. The pair will now meet French Kristina Mladenovic and her Canadian partner Daniel Nestor in the finals tomorrow.

15. Rafael Nadal beats Roger Federer to set up final with Stanislas Wawrinka

i. World No 1 Rafael Nadal proves too strong for his great rival Roger Federer, finishing a comfortable 7-6 (7/4), 6-3, 6-3 winner

ii. This was Nadal’s 23rd victory in the series, and also his heaviest over Federer in any grand slam other than Roland Garros.

iii. Nadal will now play final with with Stanislas Wawrinka

23 jan current affairs:

noreply@blogger.com (AWARE and AWAKE) — Thu, 23 Jan 2014 16:35:00 +0000

1. Nation celebrates 117th birth anniversary of Netaji

i. Nation celebrates the 117th birth anniversary of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose today.

ii. On the occasion the main programme was held in Darjeeling, West Bengal where Chief Minister Ms Mamta Banerjee and other distinguished persons paid rich tributes to Netaji.

iii. Ms Banerjee recalled Netaji's contribution to the freedom movement of the country. She said that the deals of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose are still relevant in the present day to keep the country united.

iv. Various programmes are being organized in Odisha to mark the birth anniversary of Netaji Subash Chandra Bose. On the occasion, his birth place at Cuttack has witnessed a beeline of visitors since the morning.

2. Rakesh Khurana, appointed dean of Harvard College

i. Indian-origin academician Rakesh Khurana has been appointed dean of the prestigious Harvard College and will take over his new role in July.

ii. Mr Khurana is the Marvin Bower Professor of Leadership Development at Harvard Business School (HBS), professor of sociology in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS) and co-master of Cabot House at Harvard.

iii. Mr Khurana succeeds Evelynn Hammonds, professor of African and African American Studies, who stepped down last June after completing her five-year term. He will assume the role on July 1.

iv. Mr Khurana earned his bachelors from Cornell University and began graduate studies at Harvard in 1993, earning his Ph.D. in 1998.

3. ADB’s $400-m credit for IIFCL

i. Asian Development Bank (ADB) has provided $400 million first tranche line of credit to India Infrastructure Finance Company Ltd (IIFCL) to help accelerate infrastructure growth through increased private sector investment.

ii. State-owned IIFCL will have two years to utilise this limit and the line of credit would be used to advance direct loans as well as take-out bank loans.

iii. The first loan is part of the ADB-approved $700-million accelerating infrastructure investment facility in India multi-tranche financing facility designed for IIFCL.

iv. The loan agreement for the first tranche was signed by Nilaya Mitash, Joint Secretary in the Finance Ministry, and Narahari Rao, Officer-in-charge of ADB’s India Resident Mission. Sanjeev Ghai, Chief General Manager, IIFCL, signed the project agreement.

First tranche

This first tranche comes with a tenure of 19 and a half years at competitive cost, which is a small mark-up over Libor.

4. 10 crore jobs to be created in manufacturing sector: Sharma

i. India is looking to create as many as 100 million skilled jobs in the manufacturing sector by raising its share of GDP to 25 per cent from 16 per cent, Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma said.

ii . The Commerce and Industry Minister is in Davos for the World Economic Forum annual meet.

iii. India aims to raise manufacturing (sector’s) share of GDP from 16 per cent to 25 per cent and create 100 million skilled jobs. This is a must do,” Mr. Sharma said while addressing an WEF session on manufacturing.

iv. Mr. Sharma, who will meet around 80 business leaders from India and abroad at an investment round-table here, on Wednesday met top executives of global firms, including Diageo, Heineken and Shell, and pitched the India growth story.

5. Ansari launches book 'Resurgent India: Glimpses of Rajiv Gandhi Vision of India'(Re-issue)

i. 'Resurgent India: Glimpses of Rajiv Gandhi's Vision of India' was launched by Vice President Hamid Ansari in Delhi.

ii. Speaking about the book, 'Resurgent India's author and former Lok Sabha Secretary General P.D.T Acharya said on Wednesday: "Rajiv Gandhi is perhaps one of the most misunderstood prime ministers in Indian history.

iii. It is important to understand the heart and mind of one of the nation's most influential leaders to understand his ambitious policies in their entirety."

iv. The main theme of 'Resurgent India' is an objective evaluation of Rajiv Gandhi's contributions to the nation.

6. Saina slips to ninth in world badminton rankings

i. A second round loss at the Malaysia Open Super Series Premier last week saw India’s Olympic bronze medallist Saina Nehwal drop a place to No.9 in the latest Badminton World Federation (BWF) rankings released on Thursday.

ii. The Olympic bronze medallist, however, has a good chance to climb up once again if she progresses to the semifinals or final of the ongoing India Grand Prix Gold in Lucknow.

iii. World Championship bronze medallist P.V. Sindhu, however, maintained her No.11 ranking and is also expected to rise up the ladder when next week’s rankings are released.

7. Australian Open: Federer to face Nadal after beating Murray

i. Roger Federer has reached an 11th straight semi-final at the Australian Open through a 6-3, 6-4, 6-7 (6-8) 6-3 defeat of Andy Murray which took more than three hours.

ii. The Swiss will take on Rafael Nadal, who dealt with hand blisters in beating Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov 3-6, 7-6 (7-3), 7-6 (9-7), 6-2.

8. Sudhir Mahato, the former Deputy Chief Minister of Jharkhand died

i. Sudhir Mahato (58), the former Deputy Chief Minister of Jharkhand died on 22 January 2014 following a heart attack at Ghatsila in Singhbhum district.

ii. He is a leader of the JMM (Jharkhand Mukti Morcha). Now he is survived by his wife and four daughters.

iii. He won the assembly elections for the first time in 1990 from Ichchagarh and retained it in 2005, the year he became the Deputy Chief Minister. In 2009, he last the seat in the polls.

Sudhir Mahato
• He has been a member of Legislative Assembly of Bihar Assembly and Jharkhand Assembly from 1995 and 2005
• In 2005 he served as the Deputy Chief Minister Jharkhand and also as Industry Minister Jharkhand
• He was the President cum Chairman of Jharkhand Cricket Academy –

9. Garuda Vasudha Advanced Light Helicopter of Geological Survey of India launched

i. Minister of Mines, Dinsha Patel launched the Advanced Light Helicopter named Garuda Vasudha of Geological Survey of India from the Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL), Bangalore on 23 January 2014.

ii. The Garuda Vasudha a Dhruv category built by HAL dedicated to the nation.

iii. The Ministry also laid the foundation stone of a Centre of Excellence Laboratory building of GSI at Bangalore, worth of 42 crore.

iv. Garuda Vasudha is used for extensive surveys by the GSI for locating hidden mineral health.

v. Remote Sensing and Aerial Survey Wing of Geological Survey of India will be using both the aerial and heliborne survey together to locate mineral resources which will fulfill the rising demands.

10. Sania-Tecau sail into semis of Australian Open

i. India's Sania Mirza and her Romanian partner Horia Tecau stormed into the semifinals of the mixed doubles event at the Australian Open with straight sets victory over Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi and Julia Georges, in Melbourne on Thursday.

ii. Sixth seed Sania and Tecau hardly broke a sweat to prevail over the unseeded Aisam-Julia combination 6-3 6-4 in their quarterfinal clash that lasted just 63 minutes.

11. Haridwar to host 12th National Inter-District Athletics meet

i. The 12th edition of the three-day National Inter-District Athletics meet will be held from April 25 this year at Haridwar.

ii. The year marked both the 11th and 12th editions of the meet because the 11th edition was to be held in October last year, but was postponed to this month.

iii. Satisfied with the performance of the athletes in the recently concluded 11th edition at Ranchi, the AFI's Executive Director, AK Kesri, told reporters that the Haridwar edition would also attract participation of many districts.

12. Real Madrid retain title of world's richest soccer club

i. Spain's Real Madrid retained the title of the world's richest soccer club in the past year thanks to sponsorship and TV deals robust enough to endure a season without a major trophy, a study showed on Thursday.

ii. Real's revenue of 519 million euros ($704 million) put the club ahead of domestic rivals Barcelona in fiscal 2012/2013, with European champions Bayern Munich edging into third ahead of Manchester United, in the annual Football Money League compiled by accountants Deloitte.

iii. Revenue for the top 20 teams rose by 8 percent to 5.4 billion euros, Deloitte said, underlining the appeal of soccer to broadcasters and sponsors targeting mass consumer markets.

iv. Real Madrid and Barcelona are two of the most consistently successful teams in Europe, fielding top players such as Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi respectively.

13. Li Na storms into Australian Open final

i. China's Li Na advanced to her second successive Australian Open final with a 6-2 6-4 victory over Canadian teenager Eugenie Bouchard on Thursday.

ii. Li has now reached three finals at Melbourne Park in the last four years, having lost to Victoria Azarenka last year and Kim Clijsters in 2011. She also lost to Clijsters in the fourth round in 2012.

14. Wawrinka reaches first Slam final at Australian Open

i. Stanislas Wawrinka reaching his first Grand Slam final with a 6—3, 7—6 (1), 6—7 (3), 7—6 (4) win over Tomas Berdych in the Australian Open semifinals on Thursday.

ii. Wawrinka will meet the winner of Friday’s semifinal between Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer, the 33rd installment of their rivalry and the first at a Grand Slam since Nadal beat Federer in the Australian Open semifinals in 2012.

iii. Whoever he plays, Wawrinka will be the underdog. He has never won against Nadal in 12 meetings and has beaten Federer once in 14 matches.

22 jan current affairs:

noreply@blogger.com (AWARE and AWAKE) — Wed, 22 Jan 2014 15:50:00 +0000

1. Japanese PM to be chief guest at India’s Republic Day celebrations

i. The Japanese Prime Minister will be paying a three-day official visit to India beginning on January 25 at the invitation of his Indian counterpart Manmohan Singh.

ii. During his visit, Abe will meet Manmohan Singh for the annual summit between India and Japan. The discussions between the two leaders will add substance and content to the India-Japan strategic and global partnership.

iii. The visiting dignitary, who will be accompanied by his wife Akie Abe during the visit, will also call on President Pranab Mukherjee.

iv. The country will celebrate its 65th Republic Day on January 26 when President Pranab Mukherjee will take salute from the contingents of the armed forces and paramilitary forces alongside a rich display of its culture and heritage.

2. Urjit panel suggests 4 % CPI inflation target

i. An expert committee appointed to examine the current monetary policy framework of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has suggested that the apex bank should adopt the new CPI (consumer price index) as the measure of the nominal anchor for policy communication.

ii. The expert committee was headed by Urjit R. Patel, Deputy Governor of the Reserve Bank of India.

iii. The nominal anchor or the target for inflation should be set at 4 per cent with a band of +/- 2 per cent around it.

iv. “The nominal anchor should be defined in terms of headline CPI inflation, which closely reflects the cost of living and influences inflation expectations relative to other available metrics,’’ the committee felt.

v. “This target should be set in the frame of a two-year horizon that is consistent with the need to balance the output costs of disinflation against the speed of entrenchment of credibility in policy commitment,’’ the report said.

3. Sharif approves MoU with India on electricity trade

i. Energy-starved Pakistan is looking at buying electricity from India, with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif approving such a deal.

ii. A senior Pakistani official said the Cabinet approved the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) during its meeting on Monday.

iii. The issue of electricity trade had come up for discussion during the meeting between Commerce Minister Anand Sharma and Chief Minister of Punjab Shahbaz Sharif during his visit to India last month

iv. India has expressed its intent to export electricity to the tune of 500 MW to Pakistan immediately if infrastructure for transmission of power is made available.

4. Akkineni Nageswara Rao passed away

i. Padma Vibhushan and Dada Saheb Phalke awardee Akkineni Nageswara Rao passed away in Hyderabad at the age of 91, around 2:10 a.m. on Wednesday. He was ailing with cancer.

ii. ANR is fondly called the Tragedy King of Telugu cinema, through he gave milestone performances in romantic dramas such as Laila Majnu, Anarkali, Batasari, Prem Nagar, Premabhishekam, and Meghasandesham.

iii. Born on September 20, 1923, he strode like a colossus in Telugu Cinema and acted in 256 Telugu films.

5. T. Nanda Kumar to be appointed NDDB Chairman

i. T. Nanda Kumar will be the new Chairman of the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB), replacing Amrita Patel who has been holding the post since 1998.

ii. Nanda Kumar, currently Member of the National Disaster Management Authority, is slated to take over from March 1.

iii. “His name has been cleared by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet headed by the Prime Minister. Patel is currently on extension and will remain as Chairman till February 28.

6. Kailash Meghwal elected as Speaker of Rajasthan Assembly

i. Kailash Meghwal has been elected unanimously as the Speaker of Rajasthan Assembly.

ii. Today, Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje proposed his name and leader of Opposition, Rameshwar Dudi seconded this proposal. Kailash Meghwal was earlier Mines Minister and had resigned on Monday.

7. Chilika lagoon gets coveted UN status

i. Odisha's Chilika lagoon, hotspot for biodiversity, has been named 'destination flyways' by United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) following its inclusion in a list of eight such sites worldwide.

ii. Official sources said the lagoon was so named for its sustainable and resilient destination for migratory birds.

iii. The UN body’s arm on tourism and biodiversity would assist in development and implementation of strategies and projects linking sustainable tourism and livelihood resources.

iv. This season, around 7.19 lakh migratory birds have been sighted in the 1100-sq km lagoon , which is less than the previous years.

v. Last winter, around 8.77 lakh birds of 180 species had visited the lake and 8.83 lakh birds of 167 species had visited the blue lagoon in 2012.

Note: i. Chilika is the only site to be selected from Asia by the UNWTO and was recommended by six international agencies such as Secretariat of the Convention of Biological Diversity, Convention of Migratory Species, Ramsar Convention Secretariat, World Heritage and Man and the Biosphere Programmes of UNESCO.

8. First Climate Change theatre opened in Punjab

i. First Climate Change theatre was opened at Pushpa Gujral Science City in Kapurthala, Punjab.. The theatre will educate people on climate change. This is the second theatre in the world to be opened after Canada.

ii. The theatre is 18 metre in diameter and it is set up in a dome-shaped building with a seating capacity of 125 persons. The 25-minute film shows what worst can happen if humans do not take action on current or impending problems which could threaten civilization.

9. India-born Stanford professor awarded Marconi Society Prize

i. Coimbatore-born scientist and Stanford University Emeritus Professor Arogya Swami Joseph Paulraj has been awarded the prestigious 2014 Marconi Society Prize.

ii. Paulraj is the only India-born scientist to receive both the Marconi Prize and the Bell Medal, two top global IT technology awards.

iii. Further, he was awarded $100,000 prize, for his invention and advancement of MIMO (Multiple Input Multiple Output) technology, which is at the heart of WiFi and 4G technologies that millions worldwide use.

iv. The Marconi Prize comes three years after Paulraj was honoured with the other major telecom technology award – the IEEE Alexander Graham Bell Medal for his work on theoretical foundations of MIMO.

10. Mahesh Bhupathi launched IPTL in Melbourne

i. Tennis player Mahesh Bhupathi launched the International Premier Tennis League (IPTL) in Melbourne, Australia on 21 January 2014. He also announced the name of the teams during the launch of IPTL.

ii. The host cities or the teams which will participate in the IPTL are Mumbai, Bangkok, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur and Hong Kong. The fifth host city will be from the Middle East.

iii. Mahesh Bhupati linked arms with German tennis legend Boris Becker, and American Justin Gimelstob, a former pro and member of the ATP board to launch the IPL styles IPTL.

iv. The IPTL is expected to start in Asia from 1 December 2014 to 20 December 2014 for which the auction of players will be held in UAE on 2 March 2014. Each team is expected to field 10 players.

ii. The salary which each team will pay to its players is estimated to be between 4 million dollars and 10 million dollars.

11. New Zealand defeat India by 15 runs take 2-0 lead. India lose No. 1 spot

i. New Zealand defeated India by 15 runs take 2-0 lead in 5-match series.

ii. Chasing a victory target of 293 runs in 42 overs, India managed 277/9 in 41.3 overs before rain stopped play and the umpires declared the match over.

iii. MS Dhoni won the toss and put the Kiwis in to bat. The hosts made 271 for 7 in the stipulated overs, and because of the Duckworth-Lewis method, the visitors were given an upscale target of 297.

iv. Kane Williamson top scored for the Kiwis with 77, while Ross Taylor, Corey Anderson and Martin Guptill also made valuable contributions.

v. Mohammed Shami bagged the maximum of 3 wickets for Team India. Virat Kohli made 78 runs while captain Dhoni contributed 56.

12. Victoria Azarenka crashes out of Australian Open

i. In yet another shocker at the Australian Open Tennis tournament, World Number Two Victoria Azarenka of Belarus today crashed out of the first Grand Slam of the season at Melbourne.

ii. In the Women's Singles quarterfinals, Azarenka lost to Poland's Agnieszka Radwanska, 1-6, 7-5, 0-6. Slovakia's Dominica Cibukova today made it to semifinal, beating Simona Halep, 6-3, 6-0 in the other quarterfinal.

iii. For a place in the final, Radwanska will take on Cibulkova, while China's Li Na will meet Eugenie Bouchard of Canada.

iv. Top players like World Number One Serena Williams, Maria Sharapova, Novak Djokovic and David Ferrer have already bowed out of the tournament.

v. In the Men's Singles, World Number One Rafael Nadal today stormed into the semi-finals beating Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria, 3-6, 7-6, 7-6, 6-2.

13. Australian Open: Federer to face Nadal after beating Murray

i. Roger Federer has reached an 11th straight semi-final at the Australian Open through a 6-3, 6-4, 6-7 (6-8) 6-3 defeat of Andy Murray which took more than three hours.

ii. The Swiss will take on Rafael Nadal, who dealt with hand blisters in beating Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov 3-6, 7-6 (7-3), 7-6 (9-7), 6-2.

14. Karnataka through to Ranji finals after day 5 washout

i. Karnataka, who entered the final by the virtue of first innings lead, will take on Maharashtra at Hyderabad from January 29.

ii. The semi-final match was called off by the umpires without a ball being bowled on the fifth day due to persistent rain. The first day of the encounter was also wiped out.

iii. Karnataka, who were at 447 for five in reply to Punjab's first innings total of 270, went through to their first Ranji final in four seasons.

21st jan -current affairs:

noreply@blogger.com (AWARE and AWAKE) — Tue, 21 Jan 2014 14:44:00 +0000

1. Sudhir Gupta is new TRAI Secretary

i. Telecom regulator TRAI today got a new Secretary, Sudhir Gupta, ahead of it releasing the final guidelines of spectrum trading and auction of CDMA radio waves.

ii. Gupta, a principal adviser with TRAI, has been elevated to the post of Secretary.

iii. In the past 10 years at TRAI, Gupta has played a key role in almost all the key regulations, recommendations and directions. This include mobile number portability regulation, rules to curb pesky calls, quality of service standards.

iv. He has been responsible for formulating recommendations related to spectrum auctions, 3G and later BWA spectrum auctions. These two had helped government garner over Rs 1 lakh crore.

2. Bashar al-Assad regime likely to face war crime charges

i. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime could face war crimes charges in international court, after top war crime prosecutors claimed to have direct evidence of "systematic torture and killing" of about 11,000 detainees by his forces.

ii. Lawyers acting for the Arab state of Qatar released a report, which includes thousands ofphotographs of the dead bodies of detainees allegedly killed in government custody, many of whom severely malnourished and showing signs of strangulation, the Independent reports.

iii. According to the report, the evidence came from a military policeman, who worked secretly with a Syrian opposition group and later defected and fled the country.

3. Amul launches India’s first ‘milk ATM’

i. Automatic teller machines not only dispense money, ATM-like machines also vend other products such as chocolates and soft drinks. But Amul has gone a step further: it will now sell milk through “Any Time Milk” vending machines.

ii. The pilot project of this 24x7 ATM began with the installation of a vending machine at the gate of Amul Dairy in Anand town of Gujarat on Sunday.

iii. To start with, we plan to set up these ATMs at each of the 1,100 ‘mandalis’ (village-level milk collection centres) in Kheda and Anand districts where we market Amul, Ramsinh Parmar, Chairman, Kheda District Milk Producers’ Union, popularly known as Amul Dairy.

iv. For a Rs 10-currency note, which this machine will read through a sensor, the ATM would dispense a 300 ml pouch of Amul Taaza milk.

v. The ATM, fitted with refrigeration facility, has a capacity to hold 150 pouches at a time.

4. RBI’s Anand Sinha demits office

i. With Anand Sinha relinquishing his charge as Deputy Governor on Monday, the Reserve Bank of India has re-allocated his portfolios among the remaining three Deputy Governors — K.C. Chakrabarty, H.R. Khan and Urjit Patel.

ii. Sinha was in-charge of eight departments, including Departments of Banking Operations and Development, Risk Management, Information Technology and Expenditure and Budgetary Control.

iii. Sinha was on an 11-month extension as he was dealing with the process of issue of new bank licences in the private sector. In the race for this top-level vacancy at the RBI are Executive Directors: B. Mahapatra, R. Gandhi, P. Vijaya Bhaskar, G. Gopalakrishna and Deepali Pant-Joshi.

5. RBI sets up expert panel to review bank boards’ governance

i. Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Monday announced that it had set up an expert panel to review governance of bank boards and make recommendations.

ii. Headed by former Axis Bank CEO PJ Nayak, the panel will review the RBI's regulatory guidelines on ownership of banks and representation in their boards, among other things.

iii. The eight-member panel will also determine if there is any clash of interest in board representation. In addition, it will assess and review the `fit & proper' criteria for all categories of directors of banks.

iv. The panel will also review guidelines on composition of boards that vary immensely between public-sector, private-sector and foreign banks.

v. The panel has been set as large finance companies like IDFC and big corporate houses like Birla Group and L&T are seeking a licence to enter the banking sector.

vi. The expert panel is expected to submit its report within a period three months from the date of its first meeting.

6. Foundation day: Tripura, Manipur, Meghalaya celebrate statehood

i. Today is the foundation day of three North Eastern States of - Tripura, Manipur and Meghalaya.

ii. These states got full statehood on this day in 1972. In Manipur the day is celebrated as "Manipur Divas". The state has always been a favourite tourist destination.

7. It professionals launch new education website

i. A group of young IT professionals has launched a new software-based website intending to enhance the quality of the education system and to enrich campus life in an innovative way. (http://www.backyard.in) is an online educational cum social networking service like Facebook.

ii. It will help everyone in an educational institution- including the principal, administrators, faculties and students in enhancing the quality of education and the software will tie the whole college in a logical thread, Sarathi Sabyasachi Sahoo, the leader of the group, said.

iii. Sahoo, an IT professional who worked with Yahoo for five years said: We have taken 40 technical and management colleges and two colleges in the city into consideration at the initial stage.

iv. Before developing the software, a survey was conducted by our team members in various technical colleges in the city and we got a good response to the idea.

v. The software has the module to manage the hall of fame, notice board, library management and in the admin part.

vi. Various feature of this website include advance search bar, genuine id for students, user friendly interface, performance graph for students in terms of subjects, latest news update on the dashboard, question and answer section (where a student can ask any question on any subject under the courses of study and this can be answered by the concerned teacher or any other student).
vii. The website also provides facilities like in-built chat and message, unlimited photo upload and information about the college events, news and holidays, he said.

8. Jains granted minority status

i. The Jain community was accorded minority status by the central government on Monday, which will enable them to avail of benefits in government schemes and programmes.

ii. The decision to grant minority status to the community of about 50 lakh was taken at a meeting of Union Cabinet in New Delhi on Monday, a day after Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi took up this issue with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

iii. The Jains became the sixth community to have minority status after Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists and Parsis.

iv. Once recognised as a minority, Jains would get a share in central funds earmarked for welfare programmes and scholarships for the minorities. They can also manage and administer their own educational institutions.

v. Under Section 2 (c) of National Commission for Minorities (NCM) Act, 1992, five religious communities -- Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists and Parsis are declared as minority communities through a government notification issued in October 1993.

9. Jind and Karnal becomes part of NCR zone

i. The National Capital Region Planning Board, NCRPB, has approved the inclusion of Jind and Karnal districts of Haryana in the National Capital Region, NCR.

ii. An official release said, the approval was given by the 34th meeting of NCRPB which was held in New Delhi on Monday under the chairmanship of Urban Development Minister Kamal Nath.

10. Aus Open: Sania Mirza loses in doubles quarter final

i. In Australian open Tennis Tournament, the sixth seeded Indo-Zimbabwean duo of Sania Mirza and Cara Black bowed out to the top seeded Italian pair of Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci 2-6,6-3,4-6 in Women's Doubles, Quarter Final on Tuesday.

ii. In Men's Singles World number 3 David Ferrer crashed out of the Australian Open. In Quarter Final match Spaniard David Ferrer lost to Czech Thomas Berdych 1-6, 4-6, 6-4, 4-6.

iii. In Women's Sinlges China's World Number four Li Na and Canada's Eugenie Bouchard today stormed into the semi-finals of the season's first Grand slam.

11. India retains number two spot in ICC Test rankings

i. India continued to hold its number two spot behind South Africa in the latest ICC Cricket Test rankings issued in Dubai on Monday.
ii. India with 117 points are followed by Australia with 111 while leaders South Africa have 131.
iii. England with 107 points are at the fourth position.

12. Bouchard, Li into Australian Open semifinals

i. Eugenie Bouchard has reached the semifinals in her first trip to the Australian Open, beating 2008 French Open champion Ana Ivanovic 7-5, 5-7, 6-2 on Tuesday to set up a showdown with fourth-seeded Li Na.

ii. The result means two-time Australian Open finalist Li, who beat Flavia Pennetta 6-2, 6-2 in an earlier quarterfinal featuring two women who’ll turn 32 next month, will have to face a teenager for the third time in the tournament.

iii. The 19-year-old Bouchard, the first Canadian to reach the Australian Open semifinals, played with composure against former No. 1-ranked Ivanovic, who started the season with a title at Auckland, New Zealand, and produced a major upset to eliminate top-ranked Serena Williams in the fourth round.

jan 19nth -20nth current affairs:

noreply@blogger.com (AWARE and AWAKE) — Tue, 21 Jan 2014 03:22:00 +0000

1. Interim Iran nuclear deal comes into effect from today

i. The interim Nuclear Deal over Teheran’s nuclear program between Iran and the six major world powers comes into effect from today.

ii. The IAEA nuclear weapons inspectors have already arrived in Teheran to oversee Iranian nuclear facilities in the run up to prepare for the implementation of the deal.

iii. Ahead of the day, Iran’s Atomic Energy Department spokesman Behrouz Kamalvandi said that implementation of mutual commitments in the framework of the Geneva deal will begin from today.

iv. The agreement, suspension of 20-percent enrichment of uranium and the diluting of the current stockpile of enriched uranium are the most important commitments of Iran.

v. Under the deal arrived at in November last year, Iran would scale down parts of its nuclear program in exchange for partial easing of sanctions over a six month period.

vi. Under the agreement, Iran will limit its uranium enrichment to 5 percent ,the grade commonly used to power reactors. The deal also commits Iran to stop producing 20 percent enriched uranium which is only a technical step away from weapons-grade material and to neutralize its 20 percent stockpile over the six months.

2. Cyrus Mistry wins DSC Prize for 2014

i. Reticent author Cyrus Mistry on Saturday beat off stiff competition from five other writers to become the fourth winner of the $50,000 DSC prize for South Asian literature on Saturday for his book “Chronicles of a Corpse Bearer”.

ii. The prize, is given to the best work or translations of a work on or about the South Asian region.

iii. Mr. Mistry’s book is a story of marginalised community and looks at larger questions about life and death, which makes it a different read.

iv. Last year the award was won by Jeet Thayil for his debut debut novel “Narcopolis”. Mr. Mistry was presented with the award at a ceremony at the Jaipur Literature Festival here this evening by Gloria Steinem.

3. National Urban Health Mission launched in Bangalore

i. Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare Gulam Nabi Azad launched the National Urban Health Mission in Bangalore today.

ii. The programme aims at providing health security to urban poor. It envisages creation of necessary health check up infrastructure and the manpower requirement.

iii. Central Government will share 80 per cent of the cost to implement the programme. All the 779 urban areas with over 50,000 population in the country will be covered under the programme by March 2015.

iv. Around 20 crore people in urban areas will have access to free health care, with the launch of this programme.

4. Afghanistan likely to join WTO within next three months

i. Afghanistan is likely to join the World Trade Organization (WTO) within the next three months.

ii. According to Afghan Commerce and Industries Ministry the government of Afghanistan has already signed a trade agreement with the United States and now it has to sign agreements with the European Union and two other countries before becoming a member of the World Trade Organization.

iii. Out of the eight negotiating members of the WTO, Afghanistan is required to sign bilateral trade agreements and the negotiations are going on with the European Union, Turkey and Taiwan in this regard.

iv. If Afghanistan becomes a member of the World Trade Organization, the trade, commerce and investment in the country is likely to go up in coming years. It will also provide Afghan businessmen and industrialists to improve the quality of their product by adopting quality control measure.

About WTO :

i. The World Trade Organization (WTO) is a global international organization dealing with the rules of trade between nations.

ii. It functions on the basis of negotiated agreements between the trading nations and ratified in their parliaments. Currently 160 nations of the world are members of the WTO.

iii. WTO headquarter is in GENEVA.

5. Air India likely to join Star Alliance in summer

i. Air India should join Star Alliance, a global network of airlines by this summer, Star Alliance Chief Executive Officer Mark F. Schwab has said.

ii. Air India was invited to join the global airline alliance once again in December last year following a meeting of the chief executives of the various airlines who are members of Star Alliance in Vienna.

iii. The airline has gone through a difficult merger and has now started executing a fleet renewal plan. Our job in Star Alliance is to create connectivity,” Schwab had said late on Sunday night on Air India joining the Alliance.

6. US producer buys rights to Amish Tripathi’s Shiva trilogy

i. Author Amish Tripathi, who created waves in Indian publishing with a $1 million book contract, has cracked it even bigger this time with an American producer purchasing the rights to “The Immortals Of Meluha.”

ii. While Bollywood director Karan Johar has obtained the rights for an adaption of the popular book, the English rights of the same has gone to an undisclosed American producer.

iii. Tripathi was given a lucrative book deal by publisher Westland for writing his Shiva triology “The Immortals of Meluha” (2010), “The Secret of the Nagas” (2011) and “The Oath of the Vayuputras” (2013).

7. Tendulkar to mentor Gen-Next cricketers

i. Indian cricket icon Sachin Tendulkar will mentor 11 emerging players, including Parveez Rasool and Unmukt Chand, as part of an initiative by sports apparel giant Adidas.

ii. Adidas, which has already signed up Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and Suresh Raina, added some more names to its roster.

iii. Tendulkar welcomed the newest members of Team Adidas — Unmukt Chand, Parveez Rasool, Vijay Zol, Manan Vohra, Manpreet Juneja, Rush Kalaria, Chirag Khurana, Akshdeep Nath, Vikas Mishra, Sarfaraz Khan and Aparajith Baba.

iv. The 21-year-old Unmukt, is former Captain of the 2012 Under-19 World Cup champion team and played for the Delhi Daredevils in IPL this year.

v. Rasool, 25, is the first Jammu and Kashmir cricketer to represent the Indian senior team. He captained his state team to the Ranji trophy knock-out phase this year.

8. India successfully test-fired nuclear-capable surface-to-surface Agni-IV missile

i. India on 20 January 2014 test-fired nuclear-capable surface-to-surface Agni-IV missile with a range of 4000 kilometers from Wheeler Island in Dhamra of Odisha Coast.

ii. The missile was launched from the launch complex number 4 of Integrated Test Range (ITR) of Wheeler Island.

iii. DRDO conducted the test-firing today at the Integrated Test Range on the Wheeler Island.

About Agni-IV

i. It is the fourth missile in the series of Agni missiles. It was earlier known as Agni-II prime

ii. In missile technology, Agni represents a quantum leap of its own type

iii. With light weight, the missile has two stages of solid propulsion and a payload with re-entry heat shield

iv. Earlier, the missile has been tested three times

v. Agni-IV was developed by Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO)

vi. It is 20 meters in length weighs 17 tonnes and carries a pay load of one tonne .

9. Abhishikta S Shetty of Karnataka won Miss South India Pageant Title

i. Abhishikta S Shetty of Karnataka on 19 July 2014 was crowned as the Miss South India 2014 at the Le Meridien in Coimbatore.

ii. The first and second dice were also won by Aditi Shetty and Meghana Shetty of Karnataka as runners-up of the 11th Edition of Miss South India Pageant organised by Pegasus.

iii. Abhishikta was crowned by Anusha Venkataraman of Tamil Nadu, who was the winner of the title of 2013. Founder Chairman of Pegasus is Ajith Ravi. First runner-up Aditi and second runner-up Meghna were crowned by the MD and CEO of Manappuram Finance Ltd, VP Nandakumar.

10. Johnson beats skipper Clarke to win coveted Allan Border medal

i. Australian pace spearhead Mitchell Johnson won the coveted Allan Border medal at an event in Sydney on Monday.

ii. The fast-bowler beat out competition from captain Michael Clarke , who was the favourite to win the award for a record fifth time.

iii. Meg Lanning, just 21-years-old, won the Belinda Clark medal for the best female cricketer of the year.

iv. Johnson took 37 wickets and helped Australia complete the Ashes whitewash.

v. Clarke was declared the Test player of the year, finishing above Steve Smith and Chris Rogers.George Bailey was the runaway winner of the ODI player of the year

11. Maria Sharapova crashes out of Australian Open

i. In a sudden and second shock of Austraian Open, Dominika Cibulková beat Sharapova 3-6,6-4, 6-1 in 4th round.

ii. Russian star Maria Sharapova revealed she was struggling with a hip injury but refused to blame it for her shock loss at the Australian Open and insisted she will bounce back.

iii. The four-time major-winner was knocked out in the fourth round by Slovak Dominika Cibulkova 3-6, 6-4, 6-1, the second upset in as many days after world number one Serena Williams was sent packing.

12. Netherlands Wins maiden Hero Hockey World League title

i. The Netherlands won Hockey World League Final beating New Zealand 7-2 in New Delhi. Constantijn Jonker slammed a hat-trick to help the Netherlands lift the inaugural title at the Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium last night.

ii. England won the bronze medal by defeating world champions Australia 2-1 in a hard-fought third-fourth place match.

iii. Belgium retained its fifth place, while India secured sixth place.

13. New Zealand defeat India by 24 runs in first ODI

i. Despite Virat Kohli's sparking ton hosts New Zealand staged a thrilling 24-run win against India in the first cricket one-dayer at Napier today. With this New Zealand has taken a 1-0 lead in the five-match series.

ii. Chasing 293 for victory, India were bundled out for 268 in 48.4 overs. India got off to a shaky start, losing 4 wickets for just 129.

iii. But it was the 95-run 5th wicket stand between Kohli and Skipper Dhoni that brought the visitors back into the game. Virat Kohli scored his 18th ton with an exhilarating 123, while Dhoni scored 40.

iv. Skipper MS Dhoni wrote his name in the history books, as he became the first Indian wicketkeeper and the fourth overall to effect 300 dismissals in ODIs

v. The second ODI will be played at Hamilton on Wednesday.

14. Wal-Mart registered Wal-Mart India Private Ltd in India

i. Global Retail giant Wal-Mart registered a new entity called Wal-Mart India Private Ltd in India to enter the lucrative multi-brand market in India. Wal-Mart India Private Ltd was registered as a new entity with Ministry of Corporate Affairs.

ii. A Joint venture of Wal-Mart and Bharthi private Ltd was setup to operate wholesale stores and it was not catering directly to retail consumers.

iii. The Wal-Mart and Bharthi Enterprises in 2013 decided to independently own and operate their business formats in India.
iv. Earlier, a controversy broke, when Wal-Mart declared that it has spent 25 million dollars on lobbying activities that included enhanced market access for investment in India and for no law that bars it from lobbying in India.

jan 18nth -current affairs:

noreply@blogger.com (AWARE and AWAKE) — Sun, 19 Jan 2014 06:35:00 +0000

1.India, Pakistan agree to allow 24x7 trade through Wagah border
i. In a major decision that could smoothen trade between India and Pakistan, the two have decided to open theWagah-Attari border for trade 24X7 and allow containers to be moved right up to Amritsar and Lahore instead of being unloaded at the check-post and re-loaded on the other side.

ii. In a meeting between Commerce Ministers from both countries on Saturday, it was decided to re-start the trade liberalisation process stalled for 16 months and work towards non-discriminatory market access on a reciprocalbasis.
iii. At present, bilateral trade between India and Pakistan is a little over $3 billion annually, but both sides are hopeful that trade would go up several times as a result of the trade liberalisation process. iv. India has also agreed to look into the process of liberalising issue of visas to Pakistani businesspersons both bilaterally and under the South Asia Free Trade Agreement.
v. India and Pakistan had started negotiations to normalise trade ties in January 2011 and had made several concessions for each other before the talks came to an abrupt halt due to violence across the Line of Control.
vi. India, too, has to extend lower tariffs to Pakistan that it offers other South Asian countries on key products such as textiles.

2.India, S Korea ink 9 pacts; Posco plant work to start soon
i. In a bid to give new momentum to bilateral ties, India and South Korea have decided to intensify cooperation in a range of key sectors including trade, investment and defence even as PM Manmohan Singh announced that the work on the long-delayed Posco steel plant will start in coming weeks.
ii. Nine pacts in wide-ranging fields including cyber space cooperation were inked after the talks between Singh and South Korean President Park Geun-hye during which both leaders discussed ways to promote bilateral relations and exchanged views on a number of regional and international issues.
iii. After the talks, Singh said negotiations for revision of the existing Double Taxation Avoidance Convention have concluded.
  iv. During the talks, both the sides recognised the possibility of defence trade and joint production of military equipment by further promoting collaboration between our defence research organisations.
v. On the MoU on Joint Applied Research, which was inked after the Summit-level talks, Singh said it will enable the scientists of the two countries to work together and develop technologies for our common benefit.

3. Azad, Scindia, Surjewala drafted into Cong poll coord panel
   i. Senior leaders Ghulam Nabi Azad, Jyotiraditya Scindia and Randip Surjewala were made members of the Congress Election Coordination Committee headed by Rahul Gandhi, a day after he was asked by AICC to lead its campaign for Lok Sabha polls.
ii. With the nomination to the panel of Azad and Scindia, both Union ministers and Surjewala, an AICC spokesman, its strength has now gone up to 11.
   iii. A former Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir, Azad has earlier been a party general secretary who has handled its affairs in several states, including Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.
iv. The Committee was constituted in November, 2012, under Rahul, which was the first official stamp for his number two position in the party.

4.India loses 1-2 to Belgium, finishes 6th in World League Final
i. Hosts India blew away a goal lead and conceded two late goals to go down 1-2 against Belgium to finish sixth in the Hero Hockey World League Final on a chilly evening at the Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium New Delhi on Saturday.
ii. It was a hard-fought match between the two sides as both India and Belgium matched each other stick by stick and were in no mood to give an inch to the other in the fifth-sixth place classification game.
iii. The sixth place finish here is certain to give a major boost to India's world rankings.
iv. India are presently lying 10th in the world rankings but the performance here is certain to help India jump three places to the seventh position in the International Hockey Federation (FIH) rankings.
  v. However, Belgium, who are currently ranked fifth in the world, are likely to slip to the sixth place when FIH rankings will be released after the conclusion of this tournament.

5.Germans clinch World Cup doubles luge title
i. Germany’s Tobias Wendl and Tobias Arlt clinched the overall luge World Cup doubles championship Saturday,posting their sixth win in eight races on the circuit this season.
ii. It’s the third time in the last four seasons that Wendl and Arlt won the overall title, ensuring they’ll head to theSochi Olympics as favorites for gold.
  iii. Wendl and Arlt finished two runs at Altenberg in 1 minute, 23.789 seconds, finishing 0.219 seconds betterthan Toni Eggert and Sascha Benecken of Germany.
iv. The Austrian team of Peter Penz and Georg Fischler was third, 0.332 seconds back of the winners.

6. RBI to buy G-Secs on Jan 22
i. The Reserve Bank has decided to conduct Open Market Operations (OMO) by purchasing four government securities for an aggregate amount of Rs 10,000 crore on January 22.
   ii. The OMO is being conducted as, according to the RBI, the current assessment suggests that the strain on market liquidity is likely to endure in view of the fiscal targets set for the year as well as projections for aggregate credit growth, warranting the need to provide liquidity of a more permanent nature.
   iii. The RBI said it will be conducting OMO by purchasing four G-Secs — that is, government security (GS) maturing in 2017 (July) and carrying coupon rate of 8.07 per cent; 7.28 per cent GS 2019; 7.16 per cent GS 2023; and 8.28 per cent GS 2027 — aggregating Rs 10,000 crore.

7. BoM launches savings bank deposit scheme
   i. Bank of Maharashtra has launched a savings bank deposit scheme — Mahabank Royal Savings Account exclusively for high net worth Individuals having a minimum monthly average balance (MAB) of Rs 1 lakh in their account.
   ii. The slew of benefits offered to the accountholder under the product includes assistance of a relationship manager, free accident death insurance cover (Rs 50 lakh personal air accident death insurance and Rs 10 lakh personal accidental death insurance), higher transaction limit on ATM-cum-debit card on merchant point of sale terminals, and free national electronic funds transfer/real time gross system transactions through Internet banking, the bank said in a statement.
iii. Other benefits to the account holders include 50 per cent concession in the processing fees of all retail loans, 100 free personalised cheque leaves per annum, 50 per cent concession on annual maintenance charge of BoM SBI co-branded Gold Credit Card, and free demat account facility for the first year.

8. Actor Mithun Chakraborty to be nominated to Rajya Sabha
i.  Actor Mithun Chakraborty will be nominated to the Rajya Sabha on a Trinamool Congress ticket.
ii. “Shri Chakraborty is a well-known film personality. He has devoted his life to the cause of cultural and social activities with great success. He is an asset not only for West Bengal, but also to the entire country.
   iii. Chakraborty won the National Film Award for best actor twice — in 1976 for Mrigaya and in 1996 for Tahader Katha. He also won the National Film Award for Best Supporting Actor in 1998 for Swami Vivekananda.

9. India to skip Azlan Shah Cup for World Cup preparation
i. The Indian hockey team will not participate in the 23rd Sultan Azlan Shah Cup to be held in Ipoh, Malaysia, March 13-23 as they will be preparing for the World Cup in Europe.
ii. The World Cup will be held at the Hague, Netherlands, from May 31 to June 15 in relatively cooler conditions than tropical Malaysia.
   iii. India are five-time champions of the Azlan Shah Cup, winning it in 1985, 1991, 1995, 2009 and 2010.
   iv. So far four teams —— Australia, South Korea, Canada and France —— have confirmed their entry along with hosts Malaysia.

jan 17nth -current affairs:

noreply@blogger.com (AWARE and AWAKE) — Fri, 17 Jan 2014 13:59:00 +0000

1. Rahul won’t be PM candidate, CWC decision final: Sonia Gandhi

i. In an apparent bid to avoid reopening of the issue, Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Friday said that the CWC decision on Rahul Gandhi not being named as party's prime ministerial candidate is final.

ii. "The CWC had taken a decision on Rahul Gandhi yesterday. And that is final," Sonia Gandhi said in significant remarks before she began her formal speech at the start of the day-long AICC session in New Delhi on Friday as delegates demanded that the Congress Vice President be anointed PM candidate.

iii. Sonia Gandhi's remarks on the CWC decision on Thursday are seen by observers as an attempt to send signals to leaders who would take the stage during the session to avoid harping on 'Rahul as PM' subject.

iv. At the CWC on Thursday, Sonia rejected demands by leaders from various states to anoint him the PM candidate before elections, saying there has been no such tradition in the party.

2. Titanic II all set to sail

i. Australian millionaire Clive Palmer, who is building a replica of Titanic II, is trying hard to convince up to 1000 cruise ship passengers to board the ship.

ii. According to reports, not only the design but the facility of Titanic-II is exactly similar to that of old Titanic.

iii. Third class passenger section has also been made but Palmer is unsure that whether he would get any passenger for third class cabins for the ship's maiden commercial voyage from Southampton to New York in 2017.

iv. But the businessman is going ahead and using his marketing strategies to get over hundreds of passengers for third class cabin.

v. Clive Palmer had announced in 2012 that he is would build Titanic 2 in 2012.

vi. It is well known that Titanic cruise sunk in 100 years ago in Atlantic which claimed 1,517 lives. Lack of life boats in the ship was reason behind such a large number of deaths.

vii. As per reports, Titanic II will be equipped with air conditioning, helipad, hospitals, swimming pools, Turkish baths, smoking rooms, Millionaire suite, Chart room, Gym, Casino, cinema, shopping area and Titanic Master Captain’s quarters but there will be no television and internet connectivity. The ship is being built by CSC Jingling Shipyard.

3. Suchitra Sen passes away

i. Legendary Bengali actor Suchitra Sen who was undergoing treatment at a private health facility in the city died in Kolkata on Friday morning.

ii. She was 82 and is survived by daughter Moon Moon Sen and grand daughters Raima and Riya Sen.

iii. She suffered a massive heart attack on Friday morning and died at 8.25 a.m., doctors attending her said.

iv. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee who was in regular touch with doctors visited the hospital after hearing about her death.

v. Sen acted in over 50 movies between 1952 and 1978 of which six were in Hindi. She went into recluse after her last film was released. Over the past three decades she withdrew herself from public life and did not meet people except her family members.

vi. Prominent cinema personalities expressed grief over her death. Renowned actor and director Aparna Sen described her as a “legendary actress” and said, with her death an era has come to end in Bengali cinema.

4. Jaipur Literature Festival begins today

i. The seventh edition of the popular Jaipur Literature Festival, beginning at Diggi Palace on Friday, will feature as many as 240 speakers, including two Nobel laureates — Amartya Sen and Harold Varmus — who will engage in conversations on a wide range of subjects.

ii. The biggest annual literary event in Asia is expected to receive about 2 lakh literature lovers from across the country and abroad. The five-day festival, representing 14 Indian languages, will conclude on January 21.

iii. The speakers include author Jonathan Franzen, poet and lyricist Javed Akhtar, author Jhumpa Lahiri, feminist and journalist Gloria Steinem, author Shashi Tharoor, poet Ashok Vajpeyi, Urdu poet S.R. Faruqi, writer Ved Mehta, writer and scholar Reza Aslan, author Samantha Shannon, literary critic and activist Ganesh Devy, author and film director M. T. Vasudevan Nair, playwright Mahesh Dattani, and author Narendra Kohli.

iv. The 17th century picturesque Diggi Palace will come alive with discussions ranging from history and environment to politics, international relations, Bollywood, human emotions, philosophy and art in 175 sessions spread over six venues.

5. Jamila Bayaz, first women to be appointed police chief of Kabul province

i. Jamila Bayaz was appointed as the police chief of District One of Kabul province on 15 January 2014. She is the first woman in Afghanistan to be appointed as police chief of an entire district.

ii. The appointment of Jamila Bayaz is significant in more than one sense. Firstly, the appointment will pave the way for more Afghani women to rise through the ranks.

iii. Secondly, her appointment as police chief to one of the core districts of Kabul testifies that women position in Afghan society is improving since the Taliban were driven out from power in 2001.

iv. Kabul province is divided into 22 districts. Each number specifies the name of the district and is organized in ascending order in order of importance.

6. RBI included Hong Kong and Macau in the sensitive list

i. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) included Hong Kong and Macau in the sensitive list of countries along with Pakistan and China on 15 January 2014.

ii. Macau and Hong Kong are two Special Administrative Regions controlled by China.

iii. This means that establishments from Hong Kong and Macau will require prior approval of RBI for setting up business or related activities in India. The activities include establishment of liaison, branch, project offices or any other place of business.

iv. Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Iran and China are already included in the sensitive list.

7. Ex-world cycling champ Ballan banned 2 years

i. Former world champion cyclist Alessandro Ballan was banned for two years on Friday for blood doping.

ii. The Italian Olympic Committee’s anti-doping court announced the decision after Ballan was indicted on doping charges by a general court in Mantova for alleged team-wide drug use by the Lampre team.

iii. Ballan won the road race at the 2008 worlds in Varese.

iv. Ballan is banned to Jan. 16, 2016, and the suspension thus could end the 34-year-old rider’s career.

8. Yushi, Taiwanese poet awarded Thiruvalluvar award

i. Taiwanese poet Yushi was awarded the Thiruvalluvar award on 15 January 2014 by the Tamil Nadu government in Chennai. Yushi is the first foreign scholar to receive Thiruvalluvar award.

ii. The award was given to Yushi on the occasion of Thiruvalluvar Day. The award was given to him in recognition of his contribution to the Tamil language. Yushi has translated Tirukkural (one of the collection of sangam literature), the poems of poet Subramanya Bharathi and poet Bharathidasan in Mandarin, Chinese language.

iii. Yushi is the founder president of the Tamil Sangam in Taiwan. In 2004 he received the highest honour award by Seoul World Academy of Arts and Culture.

9. Syedna Mohammed Burhanuddin passes away

i. The spiritual leader of the Dawoodi Bohra community Dr Syedna Mohammed Burhanuddin passed away in Mumbai today.

ii. The leader was the eldest son of Syedna Taher Saifuddin, 51st Dai ul Mutlaq. He succeeded his father upon his death in 1965.

iii. Last year, thousands of Dawoodi Bohras from across the world flocked to the city to celebrate Syedna Mohammed Burhanuddin’s 102nd birthday.

iv. Last year, thousands of Dawoodi Bohras from across the world flocked to the city to celebrate Syedna Mohammed Burhanuddin’s 102nd birthday.

10. BMB ties up with SBI Cards

i. Bharatiya Mahila Bank (BMB) and SBI Cards have joined hands for roll-out of credit cards to customers of India’s first women-focused commercial bank.

ii. This will be the first instance of a public sector bank promoting a white-label credit card issued by SBI Cards.

iii. Under this arrangement, SBI Cards will issue and process the credit cards as white-label cards, allowing BMB to brand the cards as their own without having to invest in infrastructure.

iv. A white-label card does not carry the brand of the issuer (SBI Cards) on its face. It will only in this case carry the brand of BMB.

v. The agreement was signed by Usha Ananthasubramanian, Chairman and Managing Director, BMB, and Pallav Mohapatra, CEO, SBI Cards, here on Thursday.

11. India stuns Germany in HWL classification match

i. India will now face Belgium in the fifth-sixth place play-off match Saturday, while Germany will take on Argentina to avoid the wooden-spoon in the eight-nation tournament.

ii. The Indian hockey team pulled off a sensational come-from-behind 5-4 win over Olympic champions Germany after Mandeep Singh slammed a brilliant hat-trick in their fiercely-contested 5-8th place classification match of the Hero World League Finals here Friday.

iii. World ranked 10th, India rode on Mandeep’s (18th, 41st, 53rd) three field goals and Rupinderpal Singh’s two perfect strikes from penalty corners to set up the fantastic win against the Germans, against whom India last won way back in 2004 in the Champions Trophy in Lahore, Pakistan.

jan 16nth -current affairs:

noreply@blogger.com (AWARE and AWAKE) — Thu, 16 Jan 2014 14:53:00 +0000

1. Arunachal Pradesh witnessed the first trial run of rail engine

i. Arunachal Pradesh witnessed the first trial run of a rail engine on 15 January 2014. The first trial run was of 20-km from Harmutty in Lakhimpur district of Assam to the Arunachal Pradesh capital Itanagar.

ii. The State government would put a mechanism in place for checking the inner line permit (ILP) of the passengers. The ILP issued under the Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation, 1973 is necessary even for an Indian citizen to enter Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram and Nagaland.

iii. Arunachal Pradesh has also demanded the construction of 161-km Tinsukia – Parsuram Kund rail line to help tourists from all over India to put the holy place in global tourism map.

2. Jimmy Walker won Sony Open Golf tournament

i. Jimmy Walker of the US won the Sony Open golf tournament held in Hawaii on 12 January 2014.

ii. This was his second PGA Tour title. His first PGA Tour title came in October 2013 when he won the Frys.com Open, the first tournament of the new wraparound season.

iii. Walker closed with 7-under 63 for a one shot victory over his compatriot Chris Kirk who was placed second. As a result, he won 1.08 million dollars in prize money.

iv. PGA tour is the organizer of the professional golf tours played by the men in North America and United States.

3. Hockey: League: India suffer 2-7 thrashing by Australia

i. India squandered a two-goal lead to suffer a 2-7 hammering at the hands of world champions Australia and crash out of the Hero Hockey World League Final in New Delhi on Wednesday.

ii. Much to the surprise of the Australians, India took a two-goal lead in the first 15 minutes of the opening half of the quarterfinal match through Birendra Lakra (6th minute) and Yuvraj Walmiki (11th minute).

iii. After the changeover, Australia went on rampage as they scored goals at will through Russell Ford (41st, 47th), Simon Orchard (45th) and Jacob Whetton (65th) to teach the hosts a lesson in hockey at floodlit Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium.

iv. India stunned Australia as early as in the sixth minute when Lakra scored from an acute angle after receiving a pass from Dharamvir Singh.

4. RBI may keep policy rates steady in Jan review: Report

i. The Reserve Bank of India may keep the interest rates “steady” in its monetary policy review later this month and a rate cut is likely only in the next financial year, according to an SBI research report.

ii. With inflation easing, industry has clamoured for a reduction in interest rates. However, according to SBI, the central bank may keep the rates on hold at its quarterly monetary policy scheduled on January 28.

WPI inflation

Prices as measured by the Wholesale Price Index, gained at the slowest pace since July 2013, when the inflation was 5.8 per cent. In November, the WPI inflation increased 7.52 per cent, the fastest pace in 14 months.

SBI said that the WPI inflation may settle at about 6 per cent and the Consumer Price Index inflation at about 9 per cent by February.

CPI inflation

CPI inflation of less than 9 per cent is a possibility if the WPI inflation contracts at a faster pace and as the election season gets closer.

5. Posco steel plant to be operational in few weeks: Manmohan

i. The much-delayed $ 12 billion Posco steel project in Odisha is set to be operational in the next few weeks and granting of mining concession to the South Korean firm was in an advanced stage of processing, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said on Thursday.

ii. Dr. Singh made the announcement after holding extensive talks with President of South Korea Park Geun-hye in New Delhi.

iii. The South Korean President expressed happiness over clearances given to the project and hoped that the economic ties between the two countries will witness further growth.

iv. The Posco project, the biggest foreign direct investment (FDI) to India, was marred in controversies and issues like land acquisition and delay in clearances since its announcement in 2005.

6. Spain No. 1 in unchanged top 25 in FIFA rankings

i. World and European champion Spain remains No. 1 in an unchanged top 25 in the FIFA world rankings after a month in which only 18 international friendlies were played.

ii. Egypt made the biggest move, rising 10 places to No. 31 as older results dropped in value in the four-year cycle of matches used for the calculations.

iii. Spain holds a big lead over Germany in second place, with Argentina in third. Colombia and Portugal round out the top five.

iv. World Cup host Brazil is 10th, with the United States in 14th.

7. Well-known Indian economics professor in US dead

i. Adhip Chaudhuri, an international economist who taught at Georgetown University, died in Vienna, Virginia, earlier this week from lung cancer, his family announced. He was 63.

ii. He began teaching at Georgetown University in Washington, DC, in 1979. An exceptionally gifted teacher known for his ability to make difficult concepts understandable and relevant to his students' lives, he was recognised as 'teacher of the year' three times.

8. Fast Patrol Vessel Abhinav, the Indian Coast Guard Ship commissioned in Kochi

i. The Indian Coast Guard Ship Abhinav was commissioned in Kochi on 15 January 2014 by the Director General of Coast Guard Vice Admiral Anurag G Thapiyal.

ii. Abhinav is the third in the series of twenty Fast Patrol Vessels (FPVs) and has been designed and built by Cochin Shipyard Limited.

iii. The ship has been named ICGS Abhinav (which literally means Modern). It will be based at Kochi under the administrative and operational control of the Commander, Coast Guard Region (West).

iv. The ship is commanded by Commandant (JG) Raman Kumar and has complement of 5 officers and 34 other ranks.

About the Fast Patrol Vessel Indian Coast Guard Vessel (ICGS) Abhinav
• The 50 meter indigenous FPV displaces 290 tonnes and can achieve a maximum speed of 33 knots with an endurance of 1500 nautical miles at economical speed of 13 knots,
• It is equipped with state-of-the-art weaponry and advanced communication and navigational equipment
• It has been designed to undertake multifarious close-coast missions that includes surveillance, interdiction, search and rescue as well as medical evacuation.

9. Jet Airways CEO resigns

i. Jet Airways (India) Ltd.’s CEO Garry Kenneth Toomey, who joined the airline barely seven months ago, has resigned.

ii. Mr. Toomey’s resignation is effective immediately, the airline said on Thursday, without giving any details regarding the circumstances of his resignation.

iii. “Ravishankar Gopalakrishnan, the chief financial officer, will officiate as the “acting chief executive officer” till the board identifies and appoints a new CEO,” the airline said in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange.

jan 15nth -current affairs:

noreply@blogger.com (AWARE and AWAKE) — Wed, 15 Jan 2014 16:35:00 +0000

1. Army celebrates 66th Indian Army Day today

i. The 66th Army Day is being observed on 15 January 2014. The day is celebrated in recognition of the appointment of General K M Cariappa as the first Commander-in-Chief of independent India. He succeeded British Army General Roy Butcher on this day in 1948.

ii. Preparing for the celebrations, Lt Gen Ashok Singh, general officer commanding-in-chief, Southern Command, said in his message: "...On the auspicious occasion I extend my heartiest congratulation to all ranks of the Southern Command, our honoured veterans, Veer Naries, civilians and their family members."

iii. Stating that the Army Day provides an opportunity to reaffirm the army's pledge to defend the nation, he said: "We, the soldiers of the Southern Command rededicate ourselves to carry out our duties towards achieving our goal of safeguarding the borders of this great nation and serve the citizens of India."

iv. An official note from the Southern Command said that the future holds more challenges and that the command is optimistic that each and every member will put in his and her best to keep the Indian flag flying higher than ever.

2. World Bank projects India’s growth at over 6% in 2014-15

i. The World Bank has projected India’s economy will grow over 6 per cent in 2014-15 and 7.1 per cent by 2016-17 asglobal demand recovers and domestic investment increases.

ii. In China, growth is estimated to stay flat in 2014 at 7.7 per cent, slowing to 7.5 per cent for the next two years, reflecting deleveraging and less reliance on policy-induced investment.

iii. Global GDP growth may firm up to 3.2 per cent this year from 2.4 per cent in 2013, stabilising at 3.4 per cent and 3.5 per cent in 2015 and 2016, respectively, the World Bank said in its Global Economic Prospects (GEP) report released today.

iv. According to the report, the global economy is projected to strengthen this year, with growth picking up in developing countries and high-income economies appearing to be finally turning the corner five years after the global financial crisis.

3. RBI fixes rupee reference rate at 61.5885 against USD

i. In a press release issued by RBI, the exchange rates for the pound and yen against the rupee were quoted at 101.0914 and 58.99 per 100 yen, based on reference rates for the dollar and cross-currency quotes at noon.

ii. The reference rate is based on the noon rates of select banks and the SDR-Rupee rate would be based on this rate, the release added.

4. Rajeev Kher appointed new Commerce Secretary

i. Senior IAS officer Rajeev Kher has been appointed Secretary in Department of Commerce.

ii. Kher, a 1980-batch IAS officer of Uttar Pradesh cadre, is presently Special Secretary, Department of Commerce under Ministry of Commerce and Industry.

iii. He will take over from S R Rao, a 1978-batch IAS officer of Gujarat cadre, after his retirement on January 31, a press release issued today by Ministry of Personnel said.

iv. Sudarsanam Srinivasan, a 1980-batch IAS officer of Odisha cadre, has been appointed Member (Finance), Atomic Energy, Space and Earth Commissions.

5. RBI to make Sinha an advisor for 3 months after retirement as deputy governor

i. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has decided to appointedAnand Sinha, deputy governor, an advisor to the central bank for a period of three months after he retires on the coming Saturday.

ii. This is the first time an RBI deputy governor would have an advisory role after retirement, though there are instances of executive directors (EDs, the rank lower to this) having one.

iii. The move is aimed at keeping Sinha's guidance in completing the licensing process for new banks. The department ofbanking operations and development's job was to draft the final norms and do the initial screening of the applications; it is part of Sinha's portfolio as DG.

iv. The government has also begun the process of finding a successor to Sinha, having interviewed eight of the EDs.

6. Anees Salim bags The Hindu Prize for Best Fiction 2013

i. Kerala-based writer Anees Salim won The Hindu Prize for Best Fiction 2013 for his second novel, Vanity Bagh for consistent writing and humour and imagination.

ii. “The book is a very comic account of a young man from a minority group from a place called Vanity Bagh, also called Little Pakistan.

iii. It is about physical cities, both real and imagined,” said writer Timeri N. Murari, one of the jury members.

iv. Novelist Jim Crace made the announcement on Monday evening at the valedictory session of The Hindu Lit for Life. “There is a lot of humour in the book that runs through it. It is philosophical and liberating,” Mr. Murari added.

v. Mr. Salim was represented by his publisher Pranav Kumar of Picador, who also read out his acceptance speech at the event.

Note: i. The Hindu Prize for Best Fiction recognises the contribution of Indian writers to literary culture. It comprises a cash component of Rs. 5 lakh and a plaque.

ii. Manu Joseph won the first The Hindu Prize for Best Fiction in 2010 for his debut novel Serious Men.

7. Sourav Ganguly to be conferred Doctor of Letters by Bengal varsity

i. Former India captain Sourav Ganguly would be conferred with an honorary Doctor of Letters (D.Litt) degree by the prestigious Bengal Engineering and Science University (BESU), Shibpur, for his great contribution to Indian cricket.

ii. Sourav Ganguly has made great contribution to Indian cricket. His captaincy was brilliant. He has contributed to take Indian cricket to great heights in the arena of world cricket and for that we have decided to honour him with the D.Litt," BESU Vice-chancellor Ajoy Roy said in Kolkata on Tuesday.

iii. BESU was established as Bengal Engineering College in 1856 at Shibpur in Howrah district.
iv. In 1992 it became a deemed university and was upgraded to a full fledged university in 2004.

v. The university has been approved by the central government for conversion to Indian Institute of Engineering Science and Technology (IIEST) late last year.

8. Marathi poet Namdeo Dhasal passes away

i. Renowned Marathi poet and activist Namdeo Dhasal passed away in Mumbai today after a prolonged illness.

ii. He was 64. Dhasal who was battling with colorectal cancer, died at the Bombay Hospital.

iii. Dhasal was one of the founders of the militant Dalit Panther movement. He was also a pioneer of the Dalit literature movement.

iV. The Padma Shri awardee has had a medical history of myasthenia gravis which is one of the lesser known auto-immune disorders.

v. Dhasal, also a rights activist, received the Nehru award for his book 'Golpitha'. In 2004, he was awarded the prestigious Sahitya Akadami award for his contribution to literature.

vi. Dhasal's selected poems were translated into English under the title "Namdeo Dhasal: Poet of the Underworld", Poems 1972-2006.

9. Former SC judge seeks Rs 5 cr damages from media in sexual assault case

i. Former Supreme Court judge and National Green Tribunal Chairperson Swatanter Kumar on Wednesday moved the Delhi High Court seeking to restrain the media from reporting the alleged sexual assault case of his former woman law intern.

ii. Justice Kumar has also sought a whopping Rs five crore as damages from two English news channels and a leading English daily for defaming him in the case.

iii. A battery of senior lawyers, including Maninder Singh and N K Kaul, mentioned the civil suit before Justice G S Sistani at 10.30 am and sought an urgent hearing of the petition.

iv. Justice Sistani, who is in-charge judge of civil suits filed in the high court, ordered hearing of the petition on Wednesday itself.

v. According to the intern, the alleged harassment took place in May 2012 when he was a sitting judge of the apex court.

10. Akhilesh Das Gupta set to be re-elected BAI president

i. Akhilesh Das Gupta is set to be re-elected president of the Badminton Association of India (BAI) as he remained the only candidate for the coveted post at the end of the filing of the nominations.

ii. General secretary Vijai Sinha would also be re-elected unopposed when the BAI’s annual general meeting takes place here on January 25 during the Syed Modi International Grand Prix Gold Tournament.

11. Saina, Sindhu advance in Malaysia Open

i. Saina Nehwal and P V Sindhu got off to winning starts in their season, notching up straight-game victories in their respective opening round women’s singles matches in the USD 500,000 Malaysia Super Series Premier here Wednesday.

ii. While eighth seeded Saina took just 36 minutes to get the better of Indonesia’s Hera Desi 21—10, 21—16 in their first ever meeting, Sindhu fought hard before prevailing 21—17, 21—18 over her old foe Lindaweni Fanetri of Indonesia in a 43-minute contest.

iii. Saina next faces Yao Xue of China, while world number 11 Sindhu takes on sixth seed Yeon Ju Bae of Korea in the second round at the Putra Stadium here.

jan 14nth -current affairs:

noreply@blogger.com (AWARE and AWAKE) — Tue, 14 Jan 2014 15:55:00 +0000

1. Country in festive fervour

i. Makar Sankranti, Pongal and Bihu being celebrated with enthusiasm across the country; Eid-milad-un-nabi, marking the birth anniversary of prophet Mohammed is also celebrated with religious fervour.

ii. Two major harvest festivals, Makar Sankranti and Pongal are being celebrated across the country with much pomp and fanfare.

iii. While it is known as Makar Sankranti in northern regions of India, down South, the festival is celebrated by the name Pongal in Tamil Nadu.

iv. People from different parts of the country thronged the bank of river Ganges to take holy dip and offer special puja.

v. Assam is celebrating Bhogali Bihu or Magh Bihu, the harvest festival with feasts and prayers.

vi. Bihu festival is an occasion when all differences are forgotten and people unite People begin celebrations by erecting hut-like homes with bamboo, hay and dry leaves.
vii. Bihu is a celebration of food after a good harvest and a variety of sweets are prepared from rice, coconut and til. Here's a report-
vii. Eid Milad-un-Nabi is being celebrated across the world with religious reverence and fervour to commemorates the Prophet Mohammad's birthday.

2. Bhutanese parliamentarians on four-day visit to India

i. A parliamentary delegation from Bhutan on Monday left for New Delhi to discuss issues of bilateral cooperation.

ii. The 13-member delegation led by the Speaker of Bhutan's National Assembly Jigme Zangpo on the invitation of the Speaker of Lok Sabha Meira Kumar.

iii. During the four-day visit, the parliamentarians will meet Kumar and discuss issues of bilateral parliamentary cooperation.

iv. The delegation will also meet with other high-ranking officials and members of Indian Parliament and is likely to call on Vice President Hamid Ansari, according to a press release.

v. The Indian Parliament has been persistently rendering support in the human resource development of the Bhutanese parliamentarians and officials through such visits and exchange programmes.

3. Eid-e-Meeladunnabi being celebrated with religious fervour & gaiety

i. Jashne Eide Muladunnabi or the birth anniversary of Prophet Muhammad is being celebrated with religious fervour and gaiety in several parts of Uttar Pradesh and in Lucknow.

ii. In the shape of Julus-e Madh-e Sahaba is being taken out from Jhandewalan Park in Lucknow on the birth anniversary of Prophet Hazrat Muhammed today.

iii. Various gatherings are in the progress in the whole state of Uttar Pradesh since Monday evening where noted Islamic scholars are elaborating the deeds and teachings of the prophet, who not only preached peace but also practiced it through his remarkable and imitable life.

4. President presented Sunil Gangopadhyay Award 2012 & 2013

i. President of India, Pranab Mukherjee presented the Sunil Gangopadhyay Memorial Award of 2012 and 2013 on 11 January 2014 to two eminent Bengali poets, namely Nirendranath Chakraborty and Sankha Ghosh, respectively.

ii. The awards were given at a function at Raj Bhawan in Kolkata.

iii. The Sunil Gangopadhyay Memorial Award was instituted by a cultural organisation The Bengal in 2012 following his death. Gangopadhyay had a talent of bringing in the historical research works into his writings.

5. Delhi became first state to withdraw FDI in Multibrand Retail

i. Delhi government on 13 January 2014 withdrew the Foreign Domestic Investment (FDI) in Multibrand Retail. With this, Delhi became first state to take this step. This action is a reversal of previous Government’s stand in FDI that was made in July 2012 and allowed multi-brand retail trade.

ii. Delhi is one of the major recipients of FDI. This action can adversely affect the investment in the capital and tarnish its FDI friendly image.

iii. The Delhi Chief Minister, Arvind Kejriwal said that he is not opposed to FDI. He also agreed that FDI in multibrand retail gives more choice to the consumers.

iv. But, it was found that at the global level FDI in multibrand retail caused massive job losses at multiple places. Thus, to prevent unemployment in the capital this decision was taken.

6. Gopalakrishnan is MD & CEO of Aegon Religare

i. Aegon Religare Life Insurance has announced the appointment of KS Gopalakrishnan as the Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer of the company.

ii. Prior to this elevation, he was the Executive Director of the company and earlier to this, he was the Appointed Actuary and the Chief Financial Officer at ARLI.

iii. Gopalakrishnan has over twenty five years of experience in the life insurance industry across markets such as India, Canada and Hong Kong.

7. Corp Bank's scheme for small units

i. Corporation Bank will launch ‘Corp Micro Plus’, a special campaign for micro enterprises from January 17 to March 31.

ii. According to a press statement by the bank, the rate of interest will be at base rate (10.25 per cent currently). There will be no processing charges during the campaign period, it said.

iii. S. R. Bansal, Chairman and Managing Director of the bank, inaugurated a fully furnished SME (small and medium enterprise) loan centre at Ahmedabad on Monday, which will cater to the financial requirements of the MSME sector in Ahmedabad, Kadi, Rajkot, Gandhidham and Jamnagar, it said.

iv. The bank is planning to open SME loan centres at Pune, Ludhiana and Chennai before February 15.

8. Tata AIA Life launches 'Money Maxima'

i. Tata AIA Life Insurance today launched a product, Money Maxima, a long-term plan which is compliant with new IRDA guidelines.

ii. “Money Maxima is a long term plan that stretches to fit the dreams of our customers through flexibility of plan duration.

iii. The plan offers the dual benefits of both guaranteed and non-guaranteed returns and, hence, is good value for money,” Tata AIA Life Deputy CEO and CDO, Mukesh Dhawan said in a release.

iv. Tata AIA Life has launched a bouquet of solutions, compliant with new IRDA guidelines applicable from this month.

9. FIFA awards Cristiano Ronaldo prestigious Ballon d'Or prize

i. FIFA named Portuguese attacker Cristiano Ronaldo world's best soccer player for the 2012/2013 season.

ii. He was voted in ahead of Franck Ribery of Bayern Munich and Barcelona's Argentine superstar Lionel Messi, who was shortlisted to pick up the award for a fifth year in succession.

iii. Ronaldo last won the FIFA World Player award in 2008.

10. Nadine Angerer named player of year

i. Germany goalkeeper Nadine Angerer has been voted the best women's football player in the world for 2013.

ii. Angerer, the current European player of the year, defeated United States forward Abby Wambach, last year's winner, and five-time champion Marta of Brazil.

iii. Angerer helped Germany win the European Championship last year.

11. Anju B George gets gold medal in world athletics

i. Anju Bobby George has given India their first world athletics title although nine years after the event was held in Monaco.

ii. The long jumper, who won the silver at the World Athletics Final in 2005, was elevated to the top spot by the International Association of Athletics Federations on Monday, after gold medal winner Russia's Tatyana Kotova was disqualified for doping.

iii. Anju's fifth place finish at the 2005 Helsinki World Championship's long jump event was also upgraded to fourth.

iv. Kotova has been slapped with a suspension till January 2015 for testing positive for formestane and Anju who finished with silver then, has now been conferred the gold.

12. South Korean Prez to arrive tomorrow

i. South Korean President Park Geun -hye will arrive in New Delhi on Wednesday on a four-day visit and will hold extensive talks with Indian leadership with India making it clear that the trade deficit and market access would be among the issues which will be flagged.

ii. Park's visit also comes barely days after Korean firm Poscos nearly USD 8.4 billion (Rs 520 billion) steel plant in Odisha got a nod from the Environmental Ministry, paving the way for its going ahead with operations.

iii. The South Korean President, who will be accompanied by senior ministers for foreign affairs, trade and science, will hold extensive talks with leaders, including Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

13. Vijay Zol selected captain of India to lead U-19 Cricket World Cup

i. Vijay Zol of Maharastra was selected as the Captain of India to lead the Under-19 Cricket World Cup by the All-India Junior Selection Committee on 13 January 2014. The U-19 Cricket World Cup will be held in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in February 2014.

ii. Vijay Zol also led India to victory in the U-19 Asia Cricket Cup against Pakistan in January 2014.

iii. India has won the ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup three times in 2000, 2008 and 2012.

jan 13nth current affairs:

noreply@blogger.com (AWARE and AWAKE) — Tue, 14 Jan 2014 09:56:00 +0000

1. Polio in India officially eradicated: Government

i. India on Monday marked three years since its last case of polio was reported, a major public health success for a country that until recently accounted for most of the world’s cases.

ii. “Proud day for all of us as Indians,” Junior Home Minister RPN Singh wrote on Twitter. “India is polio-free for three years.” That is the official time period without a case for a country to be considered free of a disease by the World Health Organization (WHO).

iii. The achievement was due to a massive immunisation programme, Health Ministry spokeswoman Manisha Verma said, adding that the WHO was to formally certify India polio-free on 11 February after checking the data.

iv. The last polio case was recorded on January 13, 2011 in West Bengal state. In 2012, the WHO removed India from the list of polio-endemic countries. The disease remains officially endemic in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Nigeria.

Note: Polio is a highly infectious viral disease, mainly affecting children younger than 5. It can cause permanent paralysis and death, but can be prevented through immunization. The virus is spread through contaminated food and water.

2. Andhra Pradesh bags conservation award !

i. The Petroleum Conservation Research Association under the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas has selected Andhra Pradesh for the award of best performing State amongst the big states for the oil and gas conservation programmes.

ii. The award will be presented by M.Veerappa Moily, Union Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas in New Delhi on January 16, according to a statement from State Energy Conservation Mission.

iii. The fifth high-level meet of State Energy Conservation Mission, to be chaired by the State Chief Secretary P.K.Mohanty, will be held on January 16.

3. ICRA assigns ‘AAA(hyb)’ rating to SBI’s Rs 2,000-cr Basel III bonds

i. ICRA has assigned a ‘AAA(hyb)’ rating with stable outlook to State Bank of India’s Basel III compliant Tier II Bonds aggregating Rs 2,000 crore.

ii. This is the first Tier II capital instrument, compliant with the Basel III Capital Regulations, to be issued by SBI, the largest bank in India.

iii. The Basel III Tier II bonds issued by banks are expected to provide their depositors and senior creditors an additional layer of protection, the credit rating agency said.

Note: i. The RBI guidelines on Basel III Capital Regulations in May 2012 introduced stringent clauses for the debt capital instruments so that loss absorption kicks in before the “public injection of funds”.

4. RTI applicants need not provide their address: Centre

i. In order to protect an RTI applicant from any adverse consequence, the Centre has directed the government departments not to insist on seeking their address if a post box number is being provided to them for communication.

ii. So now if an RTI plea is filed with a post box number, the authorities cannot deny providing the information. The Centre has also directed the authorities not to disclose any personal details of the RTI applicants on the website.

iii. The order had come following a writ petition by Avishek Goenka who sought court's direction that the authority should not insist upon the detailed address of the applicant as and when any application is made under the Right to Information Act.

iv. The interested parties could cause a threat to the activist and there have been past incidents of unnatural deaths of activists in the field, presumably by persons having vested interest to conceal the information that is asked for by the activist, the petitioner had said.

5. EPFO approves raising Provident Fund interest rate to 8.75%

i. Retirement fund body EPFO decided to increase the rate of interest on Provident Fund deposits to 8.75 percent for 2013-14, a move that will benefit about 5 crore subscribers.

ii. "We have decided to recommend to the government 8.75 per cent rate of interest for 2013-14 to its subscribers," Labour Minister Oscar Fernandes told reporters after a meeting of the EPFO trustees in New Delhi on Monday.

iii. According to sources, the body had surplus funds, which enabled the interest rate to be increased from 8.5 percent in the previous financial year (2012-13).

iv. Payment of interest at the rate of 8.5 percent to subscribers would have required Rs 20,740 crore and left a surplus of Rs 56.96 crore, according to earlier projections.

v. The Central Board of Trustees, which is the apex decision-making body of the Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO), met on Monday and approved the interest rate.

6. '12 Years a Slave' wins Golden Globe for best dramatic film

i. '12 Years a Slave' won the Golden Globe award for the best dramatic film, the annual Hollywood award show's top prize.

ii. '12 Years a Slave,' directed by British filmmaker Steve McQueen, is the true life story of a free black man who is kidnapped and sold into slavery in pre-Civil War America.

iii. The Golden Globes, handed out by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, were awarded at a star-studded dinner in Beverly Hills, California this morning.

iv. 'American Hustle' won the Golden Globe award for the best comedy or musical film. 'American Hustle,' directed by David O Russell and starring Christian Bale and Amy Adams, tells the story of 1970s scam artists turned FBI informants who help the bureau ensnare politicians in a corruption sting.

7. American Hustle' wins big at Golden Globes 2014

i. Director David O Russell's con-artist caper 'American Hustle' took home the award for best comedy or musical at the 71st annual Golden Globe Awards, alongwith stars Amy Adams and Jennifer Lawrence, who walked away with prizes in the lead and supporting actress categories, respectively.

ii. Adams won for her role as an accent-swapping con artist while Lawrence took home the evening's first award for her work as a bitter, unintentionally funny housewife.

iii. It was Russell, who also directed Lawrence in her Globe and Oscar-winning role last year in 'Silver Linings Playbook'.

Leonardo DiCaprio wins Best Actor

i. Leonardo DiCaprio has won the Golden Globe for best actor in a comedy or musical for 'The Wolf of Wall Street.
ii. ' Best actress in a motion picture, drama went to Cate Blanchett for 'Blue Jasmine'.

8. Veteran South Indian film actress Anjali Devi dies at 85

i. Veteran South Indian film actress Anjali Devi died in Chennai today.

ii. The 85 year old actress was under treatment at a city hospital for a long time. Anjali Devi had starred in Telugu, Tamil and Kannada movies.

iii. She was best known for playing mythological characters like Sita in Lava Kusha, the first Telugu film in colour. Anjali Devi was married to music director P Adinarayana Rao and the couple has two sons. Her granddaughter Saila Rao is also an actress

9. Tennis: Australian Open begins in Melbourne

i. The first Grand Slam of the season, the Australian Open Tennis tournament, kicked off at Melbourne today. The Singles first round matches are underway.
ii. India's Somdev Devvarman is the only Indian in the Singles and will play his opening match later in the tournament. iii. The Doubles section is featuring Leander Paes, Mahesh Bhupathi, Rohan Bopanna, Divij Sharan, Yuki Bhambri and Sania Mirza with their respective team-mates.

10. Australian Open: Venus Williams knocked out in first round

i. Venus Williams lost in the first round at the Australian Open for only the second time, with her serve and concentration letting her down when it counted most in a 6-2, 4-6, 4-6 defeat to Ekaterina Makarova on Monday.

ii. The seven—time Grand Slam winner breezed through the first set against the No. 22-seeded Makarova, who had an upset win over Serena Williams in the fourth round at the 2012 Australian Open.

iii. She had chances in the second, missing a breakpoint opportunity to go up 4-2, and then serving three consecutive double-faults after leading the ninth game 40-30 to surrender a crucial break.

iv. Williams led 3-0 in the third set but Makarova rallied strongly to advance to the second round. Williams was playing the Australian Open for the 14th time and the highlight remains a run to the final in 2003.

11. Sachin Pilot appointed Rajasthan Congress chief

i. The Congress has appointed Union Minister Sachin Pilot as the new Chief of Rajasthan Pradesh Congress Committee. ii. The annoucement was made by party General Secretary Janardan Dwivedi in New Delhi today. Mr Pilot is the Minister of Corporate Affairs in Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh's Cabinet.

12. Pune to host International Pet Trade Fair

i. Pune will host the India International Pet Trade Fair, South Asia’s only pet trade fair and India’s largest pet event, from January 17-19.

ii. The exhibition-cum-trade show dedicated to the pet vertical in India will showcase a wide range of products and services ranging from health and nutrition products to vacation and exclusive styling studios.

iii. Over 70 companies from India and overseas are expected to participate in the event.

iv. IIPTF is organised by Creature Companion, a pet care magazine published by L.B. Associates Pvt Ltd.

13. Lohri being celebrated with traditional fervour & enthusiasm today

i. The festival of harvest, Lohri is being celebrated with traditional fervour and enthusiasm today.

ii. People, especially in Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh, exchange gifts, sweets and enjoy bonfire at night.