Current AFfairs February

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The British start-up DeepMind Technologies – an artificial intelligence company has been

purchased by the American tech giant Google. The deal was confirmed at Google’s London

office which represents Google’s biggest ever single acquisition in Europe. The acquisition of

DeepMind will prove to be helpful for Google in further developing its most recent

Hummingbird search update which was created to make Google more human and searches

which can now understand context like a human brain.

V.P Agrawal has been removed from his position by the Aviation ministry. He was chairman

of the state-run Airports Authority of India (AAI). After him, Alok Sinha has been given

additional charge as AAI chairman who is currently a joint secretary in the Aviation Ministry.

UNWTO Ulysses Prize for Excellence in the Creation and Dissemination of Knowledge has

gone to Dr. Tej Vir Singh of Lucknow. Dr.Singh is the Founding Director of the Centre for

Tourism Research & Development (CTRD) and professor in India. At the University of

Garhwal, Dr. Singh commenced his first Himalayan tourism training course as the Founding

Director of the Institute of Himalayan Studies and Regional Development. The award

recognizes those who had given an exceptional contributions to knowledge and innovation in

tourism.

CNN’s Richard Quest has been awarded with UNWTO Award for Lifetime Achievement for

the year 2013. He received the award during the UNWTO Awards Ceremony which was held

in Madrid, Spain. He got the award for his reporting across the globe which has displayed the

challenges and achievements of the tourism industry and raising it into the mainstream of

the international agenda. This award is given to those who played a key role for the

development at the national, international, local or regional level.

Macklemore and Ryan Lewis grabbed Best New Artist at the 56th Grammy for the year 2014.

The award ceremony commenced with dazzling performance by Beyonce and Jay Z. The duo

rapper won the first of the major awards beating the likes of Kanye West, Jay Z, Kendrick

Lamar and Drake. The duo took the award home for their phenomenal success with hits like

'Can't Hold Us', 'Same Love' and 'Thrift Shop' at the 56th Grammy award which was held at

LA’s Staples Center. They also won awards for the best rap performance, best rap album and

best rap song for 'Thrift Shop'.


Late K Prasad Babu, a Sub-Inspector of the Andhra Pradesh’s counter-Maoist force has been

posthumously awarded with Ashok Chakra during 65th Republic Day celebration. Ashok

Chakra is the highest peacetime gallantry award of India which has been given to Andhra’s

anti-Naxal unit cop who played a vital role in killing nine Maoists and injuring several others.

Babu’s father received the award from Pranab Mukherjee, President of India before the

commencement of the Republic Day Parade

The granddaughter of Mahatma Gandhi, Ela Gandhi has been honoured with Amadelkufa in

South Africa. Amdelkufa means Sacrifice in Zulu language. Gandhi was honoured for her

lifetime role to the South African freedom struggle. Gandhi formed the trio of Indian-origin

South Africans along with Mac Maharaj and Sunny Singh. The trio played a vigorous role in

the Umkhonto we Sizwe (Spear of the Nation) which was the armed struggle wing of the

African National Congress.

H C Meena is the newly appointed Secretary Security in the Cabinet Secretariat. Meena who

is a 1976 batch Indian Police Service (IPS) officer has served as the Director General (DG) in

Rajasthan. Meena will serve the post till his superannuation which is till 30 September 2014.

The Managing Director (MD) of Tata Motors Karl Slym has recently died after falling from a

hotel in Bangkok. Slym was in Bangkok to attend a Tata Motors Thailand Limited board

meeting. Slym in his initial career worked for Toyota in UK. Before Tata group, he worked as

the executive vice-president of SGMW Motors in China.

India was ranked 155 out of 178 countries as per the Environmental Performance Index

(EPI) 2014. India has index score of 31.23 points in its efforts to address environmental

challenges. India was behind its neighbouring countries Pakistan, China and Nepal. Amongst

the BRICS countries, South Africa was at 72 position that was followed by Russia China and

Brazil.

Samajwadi pension scheme has been launched by Uttar Pradesh government that will

benefit about 40 lakh families. Through this scheme, pension from 500 rupees to 700 rupees

will be given to beneficiaries. The government has also decided to make 1.70 Shiksha Mitra as

teachers who are teaching in primary schools for a long time and demanding their

regularization as teachers. Moreover, it has also been decided to modernize police stations

and control rooms in Gautam Budha Nagar.

Union Ministry of Rural Development has inked a memorandum of understanding (MoU)

with Digital Green to exchange the appropriate livelihood practices among rural

communities under the National Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM). It’s worth mentioning

here that Digital Green is an international, non-profit development organization which is


supported by Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Government of India and Ford Foundation

while NRLM is the biggest programme for women empowerment in India.

Queen Latifah, a rapper-turned-actress has bagged the 2014 Matrix Award. Dana Elaine

Owens known by her stage name Queen Latifah is an actress, rapper, American singer-

songwriter, comedienne, model, television producer and talk show hostess. New York

Women in Communications gives the award to honour females who change the world. Also,

this award is recognized by the communications and entertainment communities and is

considered as one of the most dazzling and celebrated events of the year. The award was

given to seven extraordinary women who changed the world through their work in the

communications industry.

Social Justice and Empowerment Minister Kumari Selja’s resignation has been accepted by

President Pranab Mukherjee from the Council of Ministers with immediate effect.

Mallikarjun Kharge, Minister of Railways will be given additional charge of the Ministry of

Social Justice and Empowerment. 51 year old Selja, a fourth-time Lok Sabha member gave

her resignation after being nominated to the Rajya Sabha from her home state Haryana.

Indian cricket team got defeat by New Zealand in final ODI by 87 runs. New Zealand won

the series by 4-0 in Wellington. Ross Taylor of New Zealand made the century of 102 runs

while Kane Williamson made 88 runs and scored his fifth half century. With this victory,

New Zealand has bagged the 5-match ODI series. After this defeat, New Zealand has

dethroned Indian cricket team from the number one spot in the ODI rankings.

Indian skipper and Indian cricket team captain MS Dhoni has become the fourth fastest

batsman who scored 8000 runs in one-day cricket. He made this record during the final ODI

against New Zealand in Wellington. The three men who made this record are Dhoni’s

compatriot Sourav Ganguly, Sachin Tendulkar and the West Indian legend Brian Lara. The

32-year-old Dhoni has taken 214 innings to touch t he landmark

Experienced Sri Lankan batsman Mahela Jayawardene has made a record in his name as he

has become the sixth-highest run-scorer in Test cricket with his unbeaten double-century.

The double century was made on the first Test against Bangladesh in Dhaka. Sri Lanka

declared their first innings at 6-730 on the third day of the first Test against Bangladesh with

the help of Jayawardene's 203 and Kithuruwan Vithanage's maiden century (103) which was

the highest score by any team against Bangladesh.


India’s Somdev Barman has thrashed Chinese Taipei in the Asia-Oceania Group-I Davis Cup

Tennis tie with a 3-0 winning. India’s Somdev Barman beat Ti Chen in 6-7, 7-6, 1-6, 6-2, 9-7.

Due to bad light, the match had remained unfinished.

Janet Yellen has taken charge as chairman of the Federal Reserve. 67 year old Yellen is the

first woman to chair the Federal Reserve in its 100-year history. Yellen will have full

authority as the top central banker. She will succeed Ben Bernanke whose second four-year

term has recently expired.

Vice Admiral Michael Rogers, a senior U.S. Navy officer will be nominated as the Director of

the National Security Agency (NSA) by U.S. President Barack Obama. 53 year old Rogers will

take over awhen the spy agency is under unparalleled pressure due to leaks from ex-

intelligence contractor Edward Snowden.

The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) will provide financial

assistance a credit potential of Rs 12727 crore in the state focus paper (SFP) for Uttarakhand.

The credit potential is for the year 2014-15 under the priority sector with the increase of

17.35%

In terms of intellectual property (IP) environment, India has at the bottom of the list of 25

countries. India’s percentage score has further degraded from 25% to 23% in the year 2014,

as per a report by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Global Intellectual Property Center

(GIPC. In this list, US has ranked on the top while UK stood on second followed by France.

A Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement (DTAA) has been signed between India and Fiji.

The agreement has been inked between countries to avoid double taxation and for the

avoidance of fiscal evasion with respect to taxes on income. P. Chidambaram, Union Finance

Minister and Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum, Fiji's Minister of Justice, Public Enterprises, and

Industry and Trade signed the pact in Delhi. The agreement will offer tax stability to the

residents of both India and Fiji and will facilitate mutual economic cooperation.

According to Fortune Magazine, Google has been named as the best company to work for the

fifth consecutive year. The internet search giant has topped the current list of “100 Best

American Companies to Work for”. In this list SAS, a software developer stood on second

while strategy consultants, the Boston Consulting Group remained on third position.

Goldman Sachs Group, Intel, Ernst & Young, CISCO, Deloitte, American Express, Accenture,

Discovery Communications and Hyatt Hotels were the noted names in this list. Above

252,000 employees were surveyed by the institute.


Lagging behind Japan, India has now become the third largest crude oil importer in the

World, according to the data released by Reuters. In 2013, India has imported 3.86 million

barrels-per-day of crude oil. India's crude oil imports were near 6 % higher than Japan's

customs-cleared imports. China, USA, India, Japan and Germany are World’s top five oil-

importing countries.

According to the 'Brand Trust Report 2014', Samsung a South Korean consumer electronics

major is most trusted brand in India. While Sony of Japan remained on second position and

the home-grown salt-to-steel multinational Tata stood on third place followed by LG, Nokia,

Hewlett Packard, Hero, Honda, Reliance and Mahindra & Mahindra respectively.

Arun Kumar Gupta is the newly appointed Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) of

Shipping Corporation of India (SCI). The Union Government appointed him for this vacant

post. He succeeded retired Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) of SCI S Hajara. Prior,

he was the director of offshore services in Mumbai. The director finance of SCI, BK Mandal

was acting CMD since the retirement of Hajara.

The first monorail service of India was launched in Mumbai. Prithvira, Chavan,

Maharashtra Chief Minister inaugurated the first phase of Monorail. The first phase of the

fully air-conditioned monorail covers 8.9 km long Wadala-Chembur section while

commercial operations have also commenced a day after its launch. Initially, the Monorail

service will function between 7 am and 3 pm and its minimum fare will be five rupees while

maximum fare will be twenty rupees. The Monorail is lass with CCTV cameras and has

advanced passenger driver communication facility

Asia’s first Shore Based Test Facility (SBTF) has been commissioned into Indian Navy at INS

Hansa in Panaji, Goa. With this, India has joined the elite group of nations who has SBTF

which is primarily used for flight testing of naval aircraft that operate from aircraft carriers.

After the United States and Ukraine, this is the third such facility in the world.

Teresa Kho is the newly appointed Asian Development Bank (ADB) Country Director for

India. Earlier Kho was serving as the Director of Bangladesh Resident Mission of ADB. Kho

succeeded Hun Kim while Kim is now Deputy Director General of ADB's South Asia

Department in Manila.

Harish Rawat has sworn in as the new and eighth Chief Minister of Uttarakhand. Congress

leader Rawat has been elected leader of the state Congress Legislative Party during its

meeting in Dehradun. The congress leader was administered the oath by Governor Aziz


Qureshi along with a 11-member Cabinet. 65 year old Rawat succeeded Vijay Bahuguna. He is

presently the Union Minister for Water Resources.

American Oscar-winning actor and Director Philip Seymour Hoffman was found dead at his

apartment in New York. He died at the age of 46. He has done more than 60 films which

include The Master, Magnolia, Boogie Nights, Mission Impossible, the Big Lebowski and

many others. Hoffman grabbed the best actor Oscar award in 2005 for essaying the role of

writer Truman Capote for Capote movie. In 2010, Hoffman made his debut as a film director

with the New York-set Jack Goes Boating where he also starred.

The first Padma Shri awardee of Meghalaya, Silverine Swer has died at her residence at

Riatsamthiah. She died at the age of 103. In 1990, she received the Padma Shri award and

was also the oldest voter from Meghalaya. She had seen four wars namely the two world

wars, India’s involvement in the Liberation War of Bangladesh and Sino-India War. She has

also served as Chairperson of the International Year for Women and the Chairperson of the

State Social Welfare Advisory Board. Swer was also a member of the Good Will Movement of

the Moral Rearmament (MRA).

After thrashing Maharashtra by seven wickets in finals, Karnataka lifted Ranji Trophy for

cricket in Hyderabad. Maharashtra batted first and gave the target of 157 runs which was

easily chased by Maharashtra losing only three wickets in their second innings. Karnataka

have won the trophy for seventh time. Lokesh Rahul of Karnataka has been adjudged as Man

of the Match.

A Spanish professional tennis player Rafael Nadal has retained his top position in the men’s

ATP tennis rankings which was released recently. He was followed by Serbian tennis ace

Novak Djokavic, Australian Open winner Swiss Statislas Wawrinka, Juan Martin del Potro of

Argentina and Spanish David Ferrer who made into top five respectively.

An American professional tennis player Serena Jameka Williams has retained her top

position in WTA women’s tennis rankings which was recently issued. Williams retains

13,000 points which was followed by Belarusian Victoria Azarenka with 6,581 points and

Australian Open winner Li Na on 6,570 respectively. Polish Agnieszka Radwanska and

Russian Maria Sharapova followed them and retained their position in top five of WTA

women’s tennis ranking list.

Famous social networking site Facebook has celebrated its 10th anniversary. Facebook has

more than 1.2 billion users. Mark Zuckerberg from Harvard University launched the

company on February 4, 2004. Initially this social networking site was conceived as a way to


connect students and to let them build an online identity for themselves. As per Princeton

University study, Facebook may lose around 80 % of its users over the next three years.

On 4 February, World Cancer Day was observed worldwide to increase the information about

cancer and dismiss the myths about the disease. According to UN Agency report, cancer is

the world’s biggest killer disease and is expected to increase in the coming years. As per the

World Cancer Report 2014, it has confirmed existing inequality in the cancer control and

care globally. By 2025 almost 80 % of the increase in the number of cancer deaths will occur

in less developed regions.

An apex development bank in India, National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development

(NABARD) has sanctioned1,112 crore for creation of 1,336 warehouses in seven states. These

seven states where warehouses will be created are Kerala, Tripura, Haryana, Punjab, Tamil

Nadu, Gujarat and West Bengal and it will create 7.5 lakh tonnes of extra storage space.

Indian central government has cut down the Natural Gas (CNG) prices by about Rs 15 per kg

and Piped Natural Gas (PNG) by Rs 5with an aim to connect with the ‘Aam Aadmi’ chord.

Last month, the Prices of CNG had been hiked by Rs 4.50 to Rs 50.10 a kg. For this, the

newly-elected Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in Delhi along with auto rickshaw operators had

called a maha-panchayat to decide on a possible strike

The Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) investment limit in the Power Grid Corporation

has been raised to 30 % of its paid up capital by the Reserve Bank of India. Under the

Portfolio Investment Scheme, FIIs through the primary market and stock exchanges can

purchase up to 30 % of the paid up capital of Power Grid Corporation of India.

Joachim Guack, President of Germany has arrived New Delhi on a six day visit. He will hold

talks with top dignitaries of India and discuss ways to further strengthen bilateral ties

between the two countries. He has been accompanied by a 80-member delegation which

includes 15 business leaders. Guack along with his dignitaries will meet Pranab Mukherjee

his counterpart, Hamid Ansari Vice President, Dr Manmohan Singh Prime Minister, Sushma

Swaraj Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha and Sonia Gandhi UPA Chairperson. He

will also go v. He will also have a visit on Bengaluru where he will meet Karnataka Governor.

To utilize the benefits of cloud computing in India, GI Cloud has been launched by Kapil

Sibal, Communications and Information Technology Minister. This facility will make sure

best possible utilization of the infrastructure and increase the development and deployment

of eGovernance applications. It will also assist the departments to obtain ICT services. Under

the initiative MeghRaj, the National Informatics Centre (NIC) is providing Cloud services.


Finally, master blaster cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar and eminent scientist Prof C N R

Rao was conferred Bharat Ratna, the country's highest civilian honour. Pranab Mukherjee,

the President of India presented the honours at Rashtrapati Bhavan. The cricket icon

batsman Tendulkar is the first sportsman who has been bestowed with the honour was

retired from international cricket last year. Tendulkar and Rao both are recipients of Padma

Vibhushan which is the country's second highest civilian honour. Prof Rao, the third scientist

after C V Raman and former President A P J Abdul Kalam to receive the Bharat Ratna, is a

well-known scientist who worked on solid state and materials chemistry and his work has

been published around with 1,400 research papers and 45 books.

To head the 7th Central Pay Commission, Ashok Kumar Mathur a former Supreme Court

Justice has been appointed as the Chairman. Vivek Rae, Petroleum and Natural Gas

Secretary will be the full time Member and Director while Dr Rathin Roy of National

Institute of Public Finances and Policy will be its part-time Member. The newly appointed

Commission will revise the salaries of about 50 lakh employees and about 30 lakh pensioners

of Central government.

Ali Mohamed Shein, President of Zanzibar is currently on an official India visit from 1 to 9

February 2014. Hamid Ansari, Vice President of India invited him. Shein and his wife visited

India along with his 28-member delegation visited the Amber Fort of Rajasthan also visited

Deewan-e-Khas, Man Singh Mahal, Shish Mahal, Deewan-e-Aam, and other places in fort

complex.

Nathpa Jhakri Hydro Power Station, the India’s largest hydropower plant has been awarded

consecutively third time for its meritorious performance in 2013-14. The Hydro Power

Station with the 1500 MW capacity received a Gold Shield this year while silver shield in the

year 2012-13 and Bronze shield in the year 2011-12. Central Electricity Authority awarded

Nathpa Jhakri Hydro Power Station in the category of Performance of Hydro Power Stations.

Indian-Americans in the US House of Representatives have honoured Joe Crowley, US

Democratic Congressman for his work for the community mainly his efforts in getting the

FBI to trace hate crimes against Sikhs and Hindus. Crowley is currently serving as the co-

chair of the Congressional Caucus on India. He is the eight-term representative of the

14th Congressional District of New York that includes sections of Queens and the Bronx

which has a substantial population of Indians.

India born Satya Nadella has been appointed as new Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of

Internet Giant Microsoft in Washington. Nadella succeeded Steve Ballmer while he takes

over as the third CEO of the Microsoft firm. Nadella born in Hyderabad, joined Microsoft in


1992 and he is the first Indian to head the Microsoft in its 38-year history. He has served as

the Executive Vice President of Cloud and Enterprise Group in 2012. It’s worth mentioning

here that Bill Gates is the founder and first CEO of Microsoft.

Poonam Khetrapal Singh is the newly appointed Regional Director of World Health

Organisation (WHO) South-East Asia Region. In 44 years, she is the first Indian to hold the

post of Regional Director, South East Asian Regional Organistion (SEARO). India had

occupied the post from 1948-1968. Singh has succeeded Samlee Plianbangchang of Thailand.

Plianbangchang has served for ten years consecutively.

Parveen Amanullah, First Woman Muslim Minister of Bihar has resigned in a setback to

Nitish Kumar government. The Social Welfare minister Amanullah has sent her resignation

letter to the Chief Minister stating that she was finding it difficult to work in the present

scenario and has also announced to quit membership of the JD(U).

The 33-year-old swashbuckling batsman England batsman Kevin Pietersen’s international

career ended by England Cricket Board. His career came to an abrupt end after he was

dumped from the team for the upcoming tour of the West Indies and later the World

Twenty20 Championships which will be held in Bangladesh. He has played 104 Tests and 136

ODIs and is England’s highest run-scorer in all formats of the game with a career spanning

nine years. The ECB made this dramatic announcement after a disastrous Ashes series in

Australia which was lost by the English team 0-5.

Joshna Chinappa, veteran Indian player has lifted her maiden WSA World Tour title with

the Winnipeg Winter Club Open trophy. She smashed Egypt's Heba El Torky in a hard-

fought final in Winnipeg, Canada. The fourth-seeded Indian Chinappa won 3-2 (11-13 11-8 11-

5 3-11 12-10) in a see-saw battle. With this win, India marks the second consecutive year of

an Indian winning the trophy with Dipika Pallikal.

North and South Korea has now agreed to hold its first reunions since 2010. The reunion has

been hold for families separated by the 1950-53 Korean War -- the first such vent for above

three years. The reunion will be held 20 to 25 February in the North Korea.

Satya Nadella , the newly appointed CEO of Microsoft will earn $4.8 million this year while

$18 m in financial year of 2015. He receives an annual salary of $1.2 million while he will get

three times ($3.6 million) more as a cash award. This amount will go up to $18 million next

year as he becomes eligible for stock awards.

Famous Hindi writer Vishwanath Tripathi has been chosen for the esteemed Vyas Samman

for the year 2013. He has been selected for the coveted annual literary award that was

instituted by the K K Birla Foundation in 1991. The 82-year-old Tripathi has been chosen for


his memoir 'Vyomkesh Darvesh', which is a biolgraphy of noted Hindi scholar Acharya

Hazari Prasad Dwivedi. With this prize, he will receive Rs 2.5 lakh. The award is given to an

exceptional literary work in Hindi which has been published during the last 10 years. Around

20 publications including novels, memoirs and poetry collection are to his credit.

o Amul, the milk brand marketed by Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation

(GCMMF) has bagged the AIMA high performance brand award for 2013. The All

India Management Association (AIMA) is the national apex body of management

professionals in the country. It’s an annual award which is given to eminent

professionals and organisations for making excellent contribution to their

organisations and to distinguish excellence in entrepreneurship, management and

leadership. The award was instituted by AIMA and RK Swamy BBDO in 2009.

The 16-year-old Malala Yousafzai, a Pakistani schoolgirl and activist has been nominated for

the World Children's Prize in Sweden for supporting education rights for girls. She was also

nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize last year. She has bagged the European Union's

Sakharov human rights prize for her campaign for the right of all children to an education.

The World Children's Prize is also known as the “Children's Nobel Prize” which was founded

in 2000 and it aims to increase awareness of children’s rights in more than 50,000 schools in

above 100 countries through educational programs.

Marco Lambertini has been appointed as new director-general (DG) of WWF (World Wide

Fund for Nature), a global conversation organisation. He will assume his new charge as the

DG from 1 May 2014. Prior to this, he was serving as chief executive in Bird Life

International. He will succeed James P Leape. Leape was appointed as the director-general of

WWF International in 2005.

John Thompson is the newly appointed Chairman of Microsoft. The decision was taken

during the Board of Directors meeting which was held in Washington, US. He has succeeded

Bill Gates who has now taken charge of Technology Advisor to the CEO of Microsoft.

Thompson had joined the Board of Microsoft in 2012 and is the former chairman and CEO of

Symantec Corp. Prior, he was the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of privately held Virtual

Instruments.

N. Srinivasan, President of BCCI will be the newly appointed Chairman of the International

Cricket Council (ICC) for a period of two years from July 2104. He will head the ICC Board

which is the apex decision making body of the world cricket.

Indian professional tennis player Yuki Bhambri has entered final of the ATP Challenger

Tennis event which is being held in Chennai. Bhambri has emerged as winner in the contest

between country's top two tennis players where he thrashed India number one Somdev


Devvarman and breezeed into the final of the ATP Challenger Tennis event. Yuki will now

contest with Russian Alexander Kudryavtsev.

For infrastructure projects, India is offering buyer's credit of $100 mn to Namibia. Anand

Sharma, Commerce and Industry Minister made this offer while he visited Namibia. A

unique programme of Exim Bank, Buyer's Credit helps Indian exports by way of extending

credit facility to the overseas buyers for financing their imports from India.

Shimon Peres, President of Israel has made a new Guinness World Record. He has delivered

the largest online civics class in the world. With the use of Cisco’s advanced technology, he

delivered the classes. The classes will be run from Netanya, company’s headquarters. The 90

year old Peres is also the oldest serving head of state in the world. More than 6500 students

in above 200 classes across the country from Beersheva, Hadera, Jerusalem, Tel Aviv,

Ofakim, Kuseife, Dimona, Tiveria and other communities. Jewish and Arab students will also

be including as a participants in the online class.

Maruti Suzuki India Limited (MSIL) has stopped producing its iconic car brand Maruti 800.

Maruti 800 had been carrier for millions of middle class Indian families. The company made

an announcement and ensured that its production was stopped in 18 January 2014. While

the spare parts of Maruti 800 will be available in the market for next 8 to 10 years even after

the production has been stopped. In April 2010, Maruti 800 sale was stopped in 13-cities

including Pune, Hyderabad, Bangalore and Kanpur. The model was launched in early 1980s

in India with the price Rs 50000.

On a pilot basis, Plastic notes in the denomination of 10 Rs will be soon tried out in five

cities. Around 1billion Rs 10 plastic notes will be introduced on a trial basis in five cities

which includes Shimla, Mysore, Kochi, Jaipur and Bhubaneswar. Its field trial is expected to

be launched in the mid of 2014.

The Union Government has increased the Fair and Remunerative Price (FRP) for sugarcane

by 10 Rs per quintal for marketing season of 2014-15. This decision of sugar price hike was

taken during a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs held in New Delhi.

The Union Cabinet has finally cleared the Telangana Bill and it will be introduced in

Parliament on Feb 12. The controversial bill will be presented in the Rajya Sabha in the

present form and the government will move 32 amendments when it is taken up for

consideration.

Indian economy is likely to increase by 4.9% in current fiscal as compared to the growth rate

of 4.5 % in 2012-13. The Central Statistics Office, CSO released the advanced estimates.


The Sochi Winter Paralympic Games 2014 has commenced in Sochi, Russia with dazzling

opening ceremony. The Olympic Stadium has 40,000 seat capacity. More than 88 nations

along with participants are competing in Sochi.

Retired cricket legend and batting icon Sachin Tendulkar will lead the MCC team against

Shane Warne-led Rest of the World side at the Lord's to mark the bicentenary celebrations of

the historic club. For the second time Tendulkar will appear at Lord's. Tendulkar is set to

lead a side that will also have another Indian batting great Rahul Dravid in his side.

75-year-old Sushil Koirala, a veteran Nepali Congress leader has been elected as new Prime

Minister of Nepal. With the support of the CPN-UML Koirala, the sole contestant in the

premier race has been elected with 405 votes in the 601-member Constituent Assembly. 148

lawmakers from Rastriya Prajatantra Party-Nepal, UCPN-Maoist and some small parties in

the Maoist-led alliance had voted against Koirala.

National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD), an apex development

bank has given financial assistance of Rs348.63 crore to Karnataka under Rural

Infrastructure Development Fund (RIDF). The sanction of 127 veterinary institution

buildings will help in breed improvement, improving animal health, availability of milk, milk

production, reduction in mortality, increased income to farmers etc.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI), India's central bank has scrapped 26% capital on the

interest rate that can be charged by a microfinance company to its borrowers. The new

method will allow the companies to decide their interest rates. The new rules also declares

that the large MFI which is registered as a non-banking finance company will be allowed to

have a margin of 10 % while the remaining can have margin of 12 %.

Now waitlisted passengers will soon get automatic SMS in their mobile phones after

confirmation of waitlisted tickets before journey. Presently, one has to either dial the enquiry

number 139 or has to go for the Internet to know the waitlisted ticket status while others get

to know the status of their tickets only after reaching stations. The technological arm of

Railways, CRIS is making the software for the SMS-based service. Even though IRCTC has

already launched a system for booking tickets using cell phones.

Sikkim has achieved more than 100 % sanitation in rural and urban households, sanitary

complexes, schools and Aanganwadi centres. With this, it has become the only state in the

country to 100 % sanitation. Sikkim was also declared as “best performance panchayats”

which is highest in the country. Sikkim has also topped the list of all states of the country in

net performance indicators. Good


N Ramachandran, World Squash Federation (WSF) president has been chosen unopposed

as the president of the Indian Olympic Association (IOA). Rajeev Mehta Kho-Kho Federation

of India President has been elected unopposed as Secretary General and Anil Khanna All

India Tennis Association (AITA) chief has been elected as Treasurer. Earlier in the day All

India Football Federation was barred from attending the special GBM as well as elections of

Indian Olympic Association in New Delhi on the ground that it did not follow the “proper

procedure” while sending names of their delegates. He is a former secretary general of

Squash Rackets Federation of India (SRFI) and brother of N Srinivasan who is Board of

Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) Supremo. Ramachandran was elected as treasurer of the

Indian body in 2012.

New Zealand won the 1st Test win against India by 40 runs since 2002 and took a 1-0 lead in

the two-Test series at Eden Park in Auckland. Brendon McCullum, Captain of New Zealand

due to his brilliant double century in 1st innings has been chosen as Man of the Match.

An Indian shooter and a World and Olympic champion Abhinav Bindra has become the first

person to clinch three gold medals in the Inter-Shoot Tri-series Shooting in the Air Pistol

event. With this victory, he has become the first person to win three gold medals in this event

which is being held at Hague, Netherlands. He shot 209.3 in the finals and finished ahead of

the second-placed shooter by 2.4 points to grab the third gold medal.

Yulia Lipnitskaya, a 15-yr-old Russian figure skater has become the youngest athlete in the

world to win a Gold medal at the Winter Olympics. With her debut at the Sochi Winter

Olympics, Lipnitskaya has recorded the best result ever in women’s free skating with score

141.51 and earned a combined total of 214.41.

The 8th edition of Defence Expo organized at Pragati Maidan in New Delhi concluded

recently. The Department of Defence Production, Ministry of Defence has organised the

DefExpo 2014. The event manager of the four-day DefExpo was the Federation of Indian

Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI). As many as 624 companies from above 30

countries showcased weapon systems for the Navy, Army and Internal Security. Major

participants of this event were from Russia, USA, UK, UAE, South Africa, Spain, South

Africa, France, Australia, Canada, India, Japan, Poland, South Korea, Switzerland, Japan,

Singapore and many others. DefExpo is the largest display for the world level defence

companies to showcase their sea, land and air capabilities in a single event.

The Indian cricketer Yuvraj Singh’s cancer foundation called “YouWeCan” has joined its

hand with an NGO Navbharat Sewa Samiti to launch a campaign named “Cancer Mukt Purvi

Dilli”. The focus of joining the hand is to bring awareness and the early detection of cancer

and education. Yuvraj Singh launched the campaign and highlighted the need for an early

detection of the lethal disease to save lives.


The 13th edition of Mumbai International Film Festival (MIFF) for Documentary, Short and

Animation Films concluded in Mumbai recently. The world’s largest and oldest international

week-long festival international documentary film festival is a biennial festival that is

organised with the collaboration of Government of Maharashtra and the Indian

Documentary Producers Association, Mumbai. The festival displayed above 400 films from

more than 35 countries which concluded with best of the work in short and animation films

honoured with awards and documentary.

An Olympian long distance runner Ranjit Bhatia has recently died in New Delhi. He died at

the age of 77. Popularly known as Bhatia Sahib was a famous sports journalist, long and

middle distance runner and educationist. He represented India in 5000 meter race in Rome

Olympics which held in 1960 and also participated in Marathon race. He was a contemporary

of Milkha Singh and Paan Singh Tomar. He was a student at Oxford University and a Rhodes

Scholar. He was awardedwith an Order of British Empire award for his exceptional services

to the game and his responsibility as a bridge between sports of India and United Kingdom.

Zaka Ashraf, the Chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board has been removed by Prime

Minister Nawaz Sharif has sacked Zaka Ashraf as the Chairman of the PCB. The Prime

Minister has appointed a team of 11-member ad-hoc committee to run the cricket affairs

which includes Test players Zaheer Abbas, Shaharyar Khan, Iqbal Qasim and Najam Sethi.

He has been sacked on mainly financial mismanagement and mishandling Pakistan’s

position in the Big three issue at the ICC level.

Srilankan cricketer Kumar Sangakkara has made a record by becoming the second person in

Cricket history to score a triple century and also a century in the same test match. By

performing this rare record, he has joined Graham Gooch who is the former skipper of

England cricket team. He scored 319 runs in the first inning of the match and 105 runs in the

second innings against Bangladesh. He failed to break the record of Gooch 333 and 123 runs

in two innings as most runs in a Test match.

The Akshaya Patra Foundation has bagged the Gold Shield and Hall of Fame for Excellence

in Financial Reporting for the year 2012-13 by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of

India (ICAI). It’s the first NGO to receive the Hall of Fame. The NGO has been honoured

under the Category XI Not-for-Profit Sector. Manish Tiwari, Union Minister of Information

and Broadcasting and Justice G.S. Sistani, Judge of Delhi High Court has presented the

award in New Delhi. Akshaya Patra has won the Gold Shield for the fifth consecutive year

and now has awarded the Hall of Fame now. It’s worth mentioning here that Hall of Fame is

awarded to an entity who has been a winner of Gold Shield for five consecutive years under

the same category.


“Are You Listening” documentary of Bangladesh’s Kamar Ahmad Simon’s documentary

bagged the Golden Conch Award at the Mumbai International Film Festival for

Documentary, Short and Animation Films (MIFF).The documentary was awarded the Best

Documentary Award. The award comes with the Golden Conch trophy and Rs 5,00,000 cash.

15-year-old Yulia Lipnitskaya has become the youngest Russian athlete to clinch a gold medal

at the Winter Olympics. Yulia bagged this medal in Winter Olympics 2014 at Sochi, Russia in

free skating in the team figure skating competition. She scored 141.51 points and has earned a

combined total of 214.41 under the International Judging System. South Korean Kim Yuna is

the current record holder with score 150.06 and combined total of 228.56 in women’s single

in Winter Olympics 2010.

In order to commemorate former South African President Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela, South

Africa's postal service has issued a stamp with a portrait of Mandela. The stamp was released

on the 24th anniversary of his release from prison during white minority rule. Mandela is a

South African anti-apartheid revolutionary, philanthropist and politician who spent 27 years

in prison. He died at the age of 95.Mandela’s portrait stamp is available at all 1,591 post

offices in South Africa and also stamp collectors can buy it online.

India has completed three years without any polio so India has a reason to celebrate victory

over polio. Ministry of Health and Family Welfare organised celebration to commemorate

this great accomplishment as well as to thank the efforts of all those who contributed to it.

The polio virus surveillance system in India is among the best in the world which has tested

negative for polio. It paves for polio-free certification of the South East Asia region of WHO.

Indian-origin Mathew Martoma has faced up to 20 years in jail over insider trading scheme

in US. 39 year old Martoma, the former portfolio manager of CR Intrinsic Investors was

involved in $275 million. He is accused in one count of conspiracy to commit securities fraud

and two counts of securities fraud by a federal jury last week after a month-long trial.

The 101st edition of annual Session of Indian Science Congress (ISC) was recently held in the

University of Jammu, Jammu & Kashmir. Dr. Manmohan Singh, Prime Minister of India

inaugurated the event. Prof. R C Sobti was the President of the 101st ISC. “Innovations in

Science and Technology for Inclusive Development” is the theme of the 101st ISC. This is

pursuance of the policy Science healing and innovative. More than 12,000 delegates

including Senior Scientists, Noble Laureates, Teachers, Students and Young Scholars had

participated and presented their research findings.

Krishi Karman Awards for the year 2012-13 was given by the President of India, Pranab

Mukherjee. The award was given during inaugural function of World Congress on Agro-

Forestry (WCA-2014) which was held in New Delhi. The Government of India, Ministry of


Agriculture instituted the award in 2010-11. Madhya Pradesh, Manipur and Odisha received

the award in the Total food grain production category while Bihar, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh

and Andhra Pradesh bagged the award in the excellence in the Individual food grains crops

category.

In the list of 180 countries in the World Press Freedom Index 2014, India has ranked 140th in

the Index. China and Pakistan stood at 175 and 158 position respectively. Finland topped the

rank while Netherlands and Norway were on second and third position. US ranking dropped

to 46th position from 32nd.

R.K.Tiwari is the newly appointed chairman of Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT). His

appointment has been approved by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) under

the Union Government. Tiwari is an Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officer of 1976-batch. He

is presently working as the Member of Legislation and Computerisation Department in the

CBDT. He will assume charge from March and will replace current Chairperson Sudha

Sharma who will retire in this February.

Jatinder Bir Singh is the newly appointed Chairman and Managing Director of Punjab and

Sind Bank (PSB). He will replace D.P.singh. His appointment has been approved by the

Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) under the Union Government. Singh is IAS

officer of 1983-batch of Assam-Meghalaya cadre. Before this, he was an Additional Secretary

in the Ministry of Water Resources.

Shirley Temple, the former Hollywood child has recently passed away. She died at the age of

85 in California. The Oscar winner actress found fame as a young girl in films like Stand Up

and Cheer, Bright Eyes and Curly Top. Her dancing, singing and acting has won over fans

worldwide.

China and Taiwan has commenced their first official level talks since the end of the fierce

Chinese civil war in 1949. Wang Yu-chi, head of Taiwan’s mainland affairs office and Zhang

Zhijun, his Chinese counterpart held the talk at the Nanjing four day trips. The talks were

held to improve the bilateral relations of the two nations.

Asian Development Bank (ADB) will give financial assistance of USD 275 million loan to

improve rural road connectivity in 5 states in India. The five states include Madhya Pradesh,

Assam, Odisha, Chhattisgarh and West Bengal. The loan will help in constructing 3,693 km

of all-weather rural roads in these states which will benefit nearly 1,800 rural habitations.

The roads will improve access to health and education facilities, markets, district

headquarters and other centres of economic activity.


Pranab Mukherjee, President of India has got Rotary's highest award for his leadership in

victory over polio. The award is given to those heads of countries who has given exceptional

service to the humanity and has served India and its people upholding values reflected in

Rotary's objective “Service Above Self”.

India has ranked 8th in the list of countries in terms of digital governance. Accenture released

the report on digital governance. Singapore has topped the list while Norway and UAE stood

at second and third position respectively. As per report, India is observing the rise in demand

for the digital governance and has emerged as economy which will enhance competence and

production. The report is made out of survey of more than 5000 respondents in 10 countries

including the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Germany, UAE, Brazil, India, Singapore, Norway,

South Korea, United States and United Kingdom.

In order to raise awareness about the importance of radio World Radio Day was observed on

February 13to celebrate radio as a medium. “Gender Equality and Women's Empowerment

in Radio” is the theme for this year 2014. Two years ago, the United Nations Organisation for

Education, Science and Culture (UNESCO) approved a proposal to celebrate this day on

February 13 worldwide. International, national and regional broadcasters have organised

numerous events to celebrate this day.

'National Women's Day’ is celebrated on 13th February every year in India on the birthday of

Sarojini Naidu. Sarojini Naidu is popularly called as the “Nightingale of India”. Naidu was

the first Indian woman President of the Indian National Congress and also the first Indian

woman to become Governor of any State (Uttar Pradesh) in India. The day is observed as

general celebration of appreciation, respect and love towards women. Women’s groups

around the country organised various events on this day.

Vinod Sawhny is the newly appointed Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Reliance

Communications (RCom). He will replace Gurdeep Singh who has been given additional

responsibility of consumer business comprising DTH and consumer broadband business.

While Punit Garg will remain CEO of Indian Enterprise and IDC business.

Balu Mahendra, veteran and eminent filmmaker has recently passed away following a cardiac

arrest. He died at the age of 75. He started his career as a cinematographer for ‘Nellu’, a

Malayalam movie in 1974. He has directed some of the most unforgettable films including

the award winning Veedu and Moondram Pirai.

Karnataka clinched Irani Trophy by smashing Rest of India by huge margin of 222 runs at

M.Chinnaswamy stadium in Bangalore. Last month, Karnataka has thrashed Maharashtra by

winning Ranji Trophy. For the fifth time, Karnataka has won Irani Trophy.


Belgium has now become second country to allow Mercy Killing for Children as Parliament of

Belgium has legalised death to incurably ill children of any age. Though some Church and

some paediatricians have opposed this decision. The country had legalised euthanasia for

adults 12 years ago. Through this law, a young child will be allowed to finish their life with

the help of a doctor. Luxembourg and Switzerland are other countries that allow active

euthanasia.

Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, King of Bahrain will visit India this week. He will hold talks with

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on regional, bilateral and global issues. President Pranab

Mukherjee invited him to visit India. He will also meet Vice President Hamid Ansari and

Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh to share mutual trust, interests and unique people-to-

people contacts

For the security of North-Eastern people, the Delhi Police has launched a new helpline

number “1093” who are living in New Delhi. The complaint number will register all types of

complaints including harassment and racism directly to the police. The central police control

room (CPCR) situated in Delhi Police headquarters will receive five direct lines and all calls.

The police are also planning to launch a Twitter account and a Facebook page for northeast

people where they can lodge complaints and suggestions.

A day after Arvind Kejriwal has resigned as Chief Minister of Delhi, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)

has cleared that they would contest the Lok Sabha polls under Kejriwal’s leadership. It’s

worth mentioning here that Kejriwal has resigned as the Jan Lokpal Bill was opposed in

Delhi Assembly united by outside supporter Congress and BJP.

A day after Arvind Kejriwal has resigned as Chief Minister of Delhi, Kejriwal has become

caretaker Chief Minister (CM) of Delhi. The CM will work as a care taker government until

the President accepts the resignation.

Najeeb Jung, Delhi Lt Governor has suggested for President's rule in his report submitted to

the President after Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal of the Aam Aadmi Party Government has

resigned. The Lt Governor has also rejected termination of Delhi Assembly.

Bharat Gupta Executive President and Marketing and Digital of Jagran Prakashan Limited

has been awarded with ‘Youth Achievers Award’. The award was conferred during the sixth

Global Marketing and Social Media award ceremony which was organised in Mumbai. He is

an engineering graduate and has a diploma course in media from Mudra Institute of

Communications, Ahmedabad. This award felicitates the young professionals who have

outshined in their respective fields and has created a position for themselves.


Enrico Letta, Prime Minister of Italy has resigned recently. His resignation has been accepted

by Italy’s President. He is from center-left Democratic Party. He will replace Matteo Renzi,

the Democratic Party leader and the mayor of Florence. He was sworn in as the Prime

Minister in April 2013.

Justice Mukul Mudgal, former chief justice of Punjab and Haryana High Court is the newly

appointed chairman of Broadcasting Content Complaints Council (BCCC). BCCC is a self-

regulatory body for non-news channels. He will replace Ajit Prakash Shah a retired Justice.

His appointment has been approved by the board of directors of Indian Broadcasting

Foundation (IBF).

The longest underwater tunnel of the World will be built by China beneath the Bohai Sea.

The port cities of Yantai in Shandong province and Dalian in Liaoning province will be

connected by this 123-km long underwater tunnel. The project of this 123-km long

underwater tunnel will cost 36 billion dollar. The project is expected to start from 2015 or

2016 and will be completed by 2026. After completion, the tunnel will cut down the current

travel time between the two cities of around 40 minutes.

For the first time third World Congress on Agro-Forestry was organised in India. It recently

concluded in New Delhi. “Trees for Life” is the theme of the Congress. The World Agro-

forestry Centre, the Indian Society of Agro-forestry, the Indian Council of Agricultural

Research and Global Initiatives jointly organised the third World Congress on Agro-Forestry.

The first two congresses were organised in USA and Nairobi, Kenya. It helps in shaping next

steps to be undertaken in the field of integrative science.

Afghanistan and India did joint inauguration of Afghan National Agricultural Science &

Technology University. Salman Khurshid, Indian Foreign Minister and Hamid Karzai,

Afghanistan President opened it in southern Kandahar province of Afghanistan. The

University which has been established with the help of India, is the first Agricultural

University in Afghanistan while Afghanistan exports fresh and dry fruits to many countries of

the world including India.

G-4 Director Generals for UN Affairs met was held in New Delhi. In this meet, the four G-4

nations namely Germany, India, Brazil and Japan also conducted a Seminar on UNSC

Reform. During the meeting, the Director Generals (DGs) of the four nations talked about

Security Council Reform. Similar. The G-4 countries reiterated their support for each other’s

candidature and also reaffirmed their vision of the importance of developing countries.


India and Poland have agreed to form Joint Working Group for cooperation in films sector.

This was decided in a meeting between Bimal Julka, Information and Broadcasting Secretary

and Malgorzata Omilanowska, Secretary of State of Poland along with his visiting high-level

Polish delegation. In order to prepare a futuristic road map to augment co-operation in

student exchange programme, animation, films, digitization and such other areas of mutual

benefit, both the countries has agreed to form a Joint Working Group.

By legally banning the consumption of all forms of smokeless tobacco including pan masala

within state, Assam has become the first state to legally ban the consumption of tobacco.

Janaki Ballav Patnaik, Assam’s Governor has given his assent to the Assam Health to

prohibit tobacco and nicotine.

The former test captain of Pakistan Javed Miandad has resigned from the post of Director-

General of Cricket to the Chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB). His resignation still

awaits the acceptance by the PCB management committee. He was serving as the Director-

General in the board since 2008. Earlier, Zaka Ashraf has been removed from the post of

Chairman of PCB.

A well-known ethnic Indian minister of Malaysia P Waythamoorthy has resigned from the

cabinet due to failure of government to execute its promises to save the rights of minority

groups in the Muslim-majority country. Currently Waythamoorthy is leader of the Hindu

Rights Action Force (Hindraf) and has resigned as a Deputy Minister.

Konsam Himalaya Singh from North East States has become the first Lieutenant General in

the army. The senior most serving officer in the army from Manipur, Singh is presently

serving in the military secretary’s branch. He was the second battalion Rahput Regiment in

the year 1978. He has commanded 27 Rajput Regiment and was awarded Yudh Seva Medal

for heading successful operations against Pakistan. He has been awarded once Army

Commander’s commendation card and thrice the COAS commendation card.

A Green Circle – RWITC, a green foundation was launched in Mumbai to promote clean and

green living. The foundation will encourage its goal through cultural, social and public

programmes. Royal Western India Turf Club (RWITC) along with the Energy and Resources

Institute (TERI) has set up the foundation. TERI will work to create programmes of

inspiration, information and awareness.

The Odisha Lokayukta Bill 2014 has been passed by Odisha Legislative Assembly. The ex-

Chief Ministers, other ministers, Chief Minister and public servants have been kept under the

purview of the 6-member anti-corruption panel as per the provision of the bill. On 12


February, the Bill was introduced in the State Assembly of Odisha and it was passed

unanimously after a two-day discussion.

India has inked two agreements with Kyrgyz Republic during the visit of Foreign Minister of

Kyrgyz Abdyldaev Erlan Bekeshovich to India. Both sides exchanged documents to give

mutual legal aid in criminal matters and to make simpler visa regime for official and

diplomatic passport holders. The pact was signed in the presence of Kyrgyz Republic Foreign

Minister Abdyldaev Erlan Bekeshovich and External Affairs Minister of India Salman

Khurshid.

Pranab Mukherjee, President of India has finally imposed President’s Rule in Delhi after

accepting the Chief Minister of Delhi Arvind Kejriwal’s resignation. Earlier after Kejriwal’s

resignation, Najeeb Jung, Delhi Lt Governor has suggested for President's rule in his report

submitted to the President and ultimately this information was published in his press

release. The Delhi Assembly will be kept under suspended animation with this imposition of

the President Rule. Under Article 356 of the Constitution of India, the President’s Rule was

imposed under the emergency provisions.

The first train in India attached with a Braille-embedded AC coach for visually-challenged

passengers will be Purushottam Express. The superfast train running between Delhi and

Puri, Purushottam Express train will become the first train in India with Braille signage as

part of its social assurance to make trains and stations more-friendly towards specially-abled

passengers. The coach with Braille signages has been manufactured at Integrated Coach

Factory in Chennai.

For the first time, India will host World Bridge Championship for Bermuda Bowl (men) and

Venice Cup (women). The World Bridge Federation (WBF) announced it on 17 February

2014. Panaji in Goa and Chennai in Tamil Nadu have been shortlisted to host the World

Bridge Championship. Around 550 players from as many as 66 countries are expected to be

seen in action in this world championship. The World Bridge Team is conducted by the

World Bridge Federation (WBF) every two years. The premier tournament in international

bridge observes the top teams from each geographic region competing against each another

for the Bermuda Bowl trophy.

The central government has increased the import tariff value on silver and gold. The silver

tariff has been raised to 663 US dollar per kilogram while gold is 421 US dollar per 10 grams

considering the global prices. The Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) has issued

notification of the tariff value on imported silver and gold. Earlier, the tariff value on

imported gold was 404 US dollar per 10 grams and on silver it was 635 per Kg. The gold

imports reduced as government has taken several measures to control shipment of

jewels/gold to reduce the high current account deficit.


Dr. Vijaykumar Vinayak Dongre (VV Dongre) and Prof. Guocheng Zhang has been honoured

with the International Gandhi Award for the year 2013 by Pranab Mukherjee, the President

of India at Rashtrapati Bhawan, New Delhi. Both were awarded for making exceptional

contributions in the field of leprosy to eliminate the disease through training, treatment and

research.

Matteo Renzi has been nominated to be the European Union's youngest prime minister and

Italy's youngest PM. The 39-year-old mayor of Florence, Renzi has been asked by Italy's

President Giorgio Napolitano to form a new government. Recently, Enrico Letta has resigned

as prime minister of Italy.

Former Indian cricketer and Indian batting icon Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag has

been nominated for the “ESPNcricinfo@20 Cricketer of the Generation” award. Besides these

two Indian cricket icon, Sri Lankan player Muttiah Muralitharan, Australian player Shane

Warne, West Indian Brian Lara and South African Jacques Kallis will also be in this list. The

former Indian captain Rahul Dravid will nominate the winner of the “Contribution to

Cricket” award. A Renault automobile will also be presented to the winner.

Nirbhaya fund which was raised for the safety and empowerment of women has got

additional Rs 1,000 crore in budget as Finance Minister P Chidambaram has allocated an

additional Rs 1,000 crore to the fund. The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs has

approved Rs 1,405-crore project in January to trail and supervise public transport and

provide alarm buttons for alerting authorities.

Rakesh Maria is the newly appointed Police Commissioner of Mumbai. Senior IPS officer

Rakesh Maria has also been the head of the Maharashtra Anti Terrorism Squad and was the

head of the Maharashtra Anti Terrorism Squad. Maria belongs to the 1981 batch of the

Indian Police Service and he has played a vital role in arresting most of the accused in the

1993 Mumbai serial blasts. He has also headed probes into 26/11 attacks and 1993 Mumbai

blasts.

Alfonso Cuaron’s 3D space disaster movie “Gravity” has dominated BAFTA 2014 awards by

winning six of the 11 honours it was nominated for while British director Steve McQueen’s

“12 Years A Slave” grabbed best film prize. Gravity, the space drama has won best British

film, best original music, best sound, best cinematography and best special visual effects. 12

Years A Slave movie fame British-born actor Chiwetel Ejiofor has grabbed the best actor

award for his film by beating shortlisted actors Leonardo DiCaprio, Christian Bale and Tom

Hanks.


India has smashed Scotland by 5 wickets in the ICC under 19 cricket World Cup which was

held in Dubai. India chased the target of 89 runs against Scotland and grabbed the victory.

Deepak Hooda with his quick fire 24 runs and Sarfaraz Khan with a 45runs brought India to

the victory.

New Zealand has get the victory over the second cricket Test Series against India 1-0 held in

Wellington which concluded in a draw. Prior, Brendon McCullum New Zealand Skipper has

created history by becoming the first player of New Zealand to score a triple hundred. In this

match, Virat Kohli made his 6th century while McCullum was chosen man of the match

Chinese tennis ace Peng Shuai has been ranked World No. 1 in the latest Women’s Tennis

Association (WTA) Doubles ranking which was released recently. Shuai is the first Chinese

player to reach the top of the WTA's doubles ranking. Chinese Taipei tennis ace Hsieh Su-

Wei was ranked No.2 in WTA Doubles ranking. Wei’s ranking is the highest ranking ever for

a player from Chinese Taipei. This pair is also the first team from Asia to clinch the TEB BNP

Paribas WTA Championships which was held in Istanbul in 2013.

Chinese tennis ace Li Na has been ranked World No. 2 in the latest Women’s Tennis

Association (WTA) Singles ranking which was released recently. She has now become the

first Male or Female and Asian player to hold the WTA World No. 2 singles ranking. The 17-

time Grand Slam title-winner with 12380 points topped the Women’s Tennis Association

(WTA) Singles ranking while Li Na reached the second spot with 6690 points. Earlier, she

was ranked World No. 3 in WTA singles ranking in 2013. The tennis ace of China has

grabbed the Australian Open 2014 by clinching her only Grand Slam title.

Agra has observed the beginning of ten-day festival Taj Mahotsav from February 18. The

festival will end on 27 February 2014 at the Eastern gate of Taj Mahal. “Paigham-e

Mohahabbat or the message of love” is the theme of the festival for this year 2014. It’s worth

mentioning here that Taj Mahotsav commenced in 1992. Uttar Pradesh Department of

Tourism organize the festival to increase the Indian Tourism.

Tarun Tejpal, founder and editor of Tehelka magazine has been charged with rape by Goa

police. Goa police charged him with sexual harassment andrape of a woman journalist in a

five-star hotel lift last year November in Goa. Tejpal was if found guilty, he can be sentenced

to more than seven years of imprisonment on based of these charges. As per the complaint,

the sexually harassed victim was reportedly assaulted by Tejpal on November 7 and 8

repeatedly.


India’s first Minority Cyber Village has been inaugurated in Rajasthan. K Rehman Khan,

Minister for Minority Affairs inaugurated Cyber Village in Chandoli in Alwar district of

Rajasthan. The main focus of this Cyber village project is to facilitate computer education to

the people aged between 15 to 59. For pilot project, Chandoli with over 80 % of minority

population has been selected as the first village. Under this project the experts will give

training of commuter skills to the people of chandoli.

“ModiNomics: Inclusive Economics, Inclusive Governance” a book authored by Sameer

Kochhar has recently been launched by Arun Jaitely, a BJP leader at the Indian Habitat

Centre, Lodhi Road in New Delhi. This book speaks about the vision of Modi’s idea of both

Inclusive Governance as well as Inclusive Economics. It also gives an insight of Narendra

Modi about development and economic strategies. BJPs Prime Ministerial candidate

Narendra Modi skipped the programme of book launch. Sameer Kochhar has also written

books which include Building from the Bottom, Policymaking for Indian Planning, Growth &

Finance and many others.

Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw is the newly appointed Chairperson of Management-Bangalore (IIM-

B) of its board of governors. She is replacing Mukesh D. Ambani who was the Chairman of

the board for the last eight years. Shaw is currently Chairman and Managing Director (CMD)

of Biocon Ltd and she has also been a member of the IIM-B board for the past several years.

Till now, Shaw is the first woman chairperson of any IIM board.

The former National Security Agency contractor Snowden has been elected as Rector of

University of Glasgow. He will succeed Charles Kennedy. He will hold the post for upcoming

three years. A group of students at the University nominated Snowden. He overcame the

author Alan Bissett, the former champion cyclist Graeme Obree and the Rev Kelvin

Holdsworth who also stood for the post. The Rector post is meant to represent student issues

to university officials.

N. Kiran Kumar Reddy, Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh has resigned as CM. He submitted

his resignation to E.S.L. Narasimhan, the Governor of Andhra Pradesh. Reddy has resigned

in protest against the Central Government decision to divide the Telugus for votes and seats.

A Marathi film Killa has grabbed Crystal Bear award during 64th Berlin International Film

Festival. The Marathi film directed by Avinash Arun has won the Crystal Bear (Glasernen

Bar) for the best film award in Generation Kplus section by the Children’s jury. Killa is the

first Indian film to bag this award and the third Marathi film to be selected for this award in

the entire history in Berlinale.


The former and great footballer of England Tom Finney has recently died at the age of 91. He

was famous for his name Preston Plumber. He was rivalled by Staneley Matthews and Bobby

Charlton in the English game. Finney had made appearance in over 400 leagues for Preston

North End and has clinched 76 caps for England between 1946 and 1960.

· Soon famous social networking site Facebook is going to acquire mobile messaging company

WhatsApp for 19 billion dollars. It’s the largest acquisition by the Mark Zuckerberg-led firm

Facebook so far that will give it a stronghold in the market for messaging. Jan Koum,

WhatsApp co-founder and CEO will join Facebook Board of Directors under the agreement.

This acquisition deal will give WhatsApp the flexibility to develop and swell and noted that

users of the service will not experience any change in usage.

· The third edition of ‘Brand Summit’ of Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) will be held in Kochi

on March 4. ‘Building Brands in the Age of Transparency’ is the theme of this summit which will

scrutinize the essential changes that has taken place in the brand environment and the consumer’s

mind space in the increasingly incorporated global market place. The summit will also witness

industry experts discussing about the successful national and international brand management

initiatives and illustrate practical applications

· The union government has decided to convert 7,200 kilometres of state roads into national

highways. After this conversion, the total length of the state highways will reach about 17,000

kilometres. The decision was taken during a Cabinet Meeting held in New Delhi.

· An all-new title Do Bael – Munshi Premchand Ki Kahaaniyan’ new title for Premchand stories was

launched at the Delhi Book Fair. Children’s favourite Amar Chitra Katha launched a comic on new

title on the work of the legend Munshi Premchand. The famous Hindi author Munshi Premchand’s

two stories “Budhi Kaki” and “Do Bael” has been covered in 32 pages.

· The Union Cabinet has approved classifying Odia as a classical language to give movement to

scholarships in the language. Till now, Kannada, Tamil, Sanskrit, Telugu and Malayalam have been

declared as classical languages. Odia is one of oldest languages as there has been demand for

declaring Odia as a classical language. It has no resemblance to Sanskrit, Hindi, Bengali and Telugu.

· The Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) has proposed to introduce unique identity number (UIN) as a

component of hallmark to ensure traceability of such certified articles in a bid to guard consumers

from being cheated. For this, BIS will introduce 9-digit alpha numeric unique identity number for

hallmarked jewels. The concept is expected to be operational in 2015. It will also help the standards

body take action against the crooked manufacturers misusing the ISI mark/hallmark.


· The Vice President of India, Hamid Ansari has released a book entitled “Public issues before

Parliament” authored by Vijay Darda at a ceremony in New Delhi. Vijay J Darda is a politician from

Indian National Congress party. The book is a sample of the important contributions made by Vijay

Darda during his period as a Member of Parliament. The book is devoted to the common man who

considers Parliament as an embodiment of his expectation and desires.

· Saurabh Chandra is the newly appointed Oil Secretary in the Department of Industrial Policy &

Promotion. Chandra is succeeding Vivek Rae who will be retiring on February 28. The Prime

Minister appointed the new Petroleum & Natural Secretary. He is a 1978 batch Indian

Administrative Service (IAS) officer of Uttar Pradesh cadre.

· Bubba Watson has clinched the Northern Trust Open at Riviera Country Club in Pacific Palisades,

California, USA. Since 2012 Masters where he grabbed fifth US PGA Tour title, this is his first title.

He has played the final 39 holes without a bogey and has shot a 7-under 64 to grab the Northern

Trust Open.

Interim budget is submitted by the government during the transitional period where the rule

of a government is going to be over because of forth coming elections.

Mostly the interim budget is viewed as the report card of the governments achievements in

the past few years.

The government in power cannot present a full budget because in such a short session,

there's no time to debate proposals in Parliament.

The vote-on-account presents an estimate of expenditures to be sanctioned by the exchequer

till the Budget is passed.

Direct tax

Direct tax is a kind of charge, which is imposed directly on the taxpayer and paid directly to

the government by the persons (juristic or natural) on whom it is imposed.

Income tax, Corporation tax, Gift tax,Inheritance tax,Property tax falls under Direct tax.

Indirect Tax

An indirect tax is a tax collected by an intermediary (such as a retail store) from the person

who bears the ultimate economic burden of the tax (such as the customer).

Customs duty, central excise duty, securities transaction tax, sales tax, service tax,Value

added tax falls under Indirect tax.

Customs duty


Duties of customs are levied on goods imported or exported from India at the rate specified

under the customs Tariff Act, 1975

Central excise duty

Central excise duty is tax which is charged on such excisable goods that are manufactured in

India and are meant for domestic consumption.

Interim Budget highlights

For the financial year 2014-15 fiscal deficit is pegged at 4.1 % and revenue deficit is

estimated at 3.0 %.

Plan expenditure will be Rs 555,322 crore.

Non-plan expenditure is estimated at Rs 12,07,892 crore.

Budgetary support to railways is pegged at Rs 29,000 crore in 2014-15

Defence

Defence budget allocation has been increased by 10 percent.

Modernization plan for strengthening the Central Armed Police Forces will be implemented

in next two years.

One Rank One Pension will be implemented for defence forces from 2014. The retired

soldiers of the same rank and length of service will receive the same pension, regardless of

when they retire. Currently, pensioners who retired before 2006 receive less pension than

their counterparts.

Financial sector

Banking

Government has proposed Rs 11,200 crore capital infusion in banks for the year 2014-15.

A target of Rs 800,000 crores has been set for providing agriculture credit for this year.

Interest subvention scheme ( interest subvention of two percent and incentive of three

percent for prompt payment) will continue in this year.

Education loans

Government proposes to carry the interest liability of student loans prior to 2009 and

provide them some grace period to repay the loans.

Financial markets


The important steps taken to revive the financial markets are to revamp rupee denominated

corporate bond market, strengthen currency derivatives market, single record of all financial

assets of an individual and to install smoother clearing and settlement mechanism for foreign

investors.

Commodity Derivatives Market

Proposal for Amendment of the Forward Contracts (Regulation) Act was made to strengthen

the regulatory framework of the commodity derivatives market.

10 points to pursue in the coming years

1. Fiscal consolidation must be within 3% of GDP by 2016-17.

2. Foreign investment must be secured.

3. RBI must strike a balance between price stability and growth while framing monetary policy.

4. Recommendations of Financial Sector Legislative Reforms Commission mus be implemented

soon.

5. Huge quantity of new infrastructure is to be created with private participation.

6. All taxes on export products and all minimum tariff on inland products should be abated.

7. Subsidies must be rational.

8. Urbanization must not bifurcate cities into two.

9. Skill development must be the priority for the government.

10. The central government has special responsibility to ensure that resources are allocated to

the needy.

Revenue

No changes to the Tax law.

Excise duty on goods such as Nuclear reactors, boilers, machinery and mechanical

appliances, Electrical machinery and equipment ,sound recorders and reproducers, television

image and sound recorders and reproducers will be reduced to 10 %.

Excise duty on Small cars, motor cycles, scooters and commercial vehicles is pegged at 8%

from 12 %.

Excise duty on SUVs and large &mid-segment cars , trailers have also been reduced .

Excise duty on mobile handsets will be 6% with CENVAT credit or 1% without CENVAT

credit.

Customs duty on non-edible grade industrial oils, fatty acids, alcohols is pegged at 7.5%.

Loading, unloading, packing, storage and warehousing of rice is exempted from service tax.

Cord blood banks are considered as healthcare services and will be exempt from service tax.

Research


Research Funding Organisation that will fund research projects selected through a

competitive process will be set up.At present research projects receiving direct funding from

government is eligible for tax deduction according to Income Tax Act.

Probable effects of interim budget

If the government borrowings are lowered, then more funds will be available in the market

for ordinary people which will in turn make the interest rate to go down or at least remain

stagnant.

Automobile manufactures have announced their plans to cut short the price of their

products due to reduced duty price.

Reduction in excise duties will reflect in the price of domestically produced goods.

Interest liability takeover by government for the educational loans will directly benefit nearly

9 lakh students.

Defence personnel will finally have a smile as the issue of one rank one pension scheme will

be implemented from this financial year sorting out decade old issue.

New initiative to fuel research and development will promote scientific research and help

India gain leadership position globally in areas such as engineering and research and design.

More young voters will vote in 2014 elections

According to the revised estimate of electoral data with EC, the Lok Sabha election this year

will have more voter turnout in the age group of 15-19 than previous elections.

The proportion of young voters will be more in north India than south India.

With respect to the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs on World

Population prospectus report, India's young population will start declining from 2015.

Demographic dividend is a term used to denote the occurrence of abundant working age

population in the age structure (15-59) due to declining fertility rates.

Bringing Green Revolution to Eastern India (BGREI)

West Bengal government has launched a innovative scheme to improve the productivity of

the agricultural sector.

The BGREI scheme will develop cultivable wasteland, sand-lade area into arable land and

also land shaping , rising , converting uncultivable land into arable one.

Field bunding, graded bunding and terracing are also utilised to increase the water retaining

capacity.

Horticultural varieties were grown in order to protect the other plants from soil erosion.


Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Amendment) Bill, 2011

The bill seeks to amend the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985 which

provides for the control and regulation of narcotic and psychotropic substances and

forfeiture of the substance in illegal trade.

The bill seeks to amend the definition of 'central government factories' and also defined the

terms ' commercial quantity ' and 'small quantity'.

The act applies for all properties which was bought through the illegal trade and it also

includes the value of the property.

According to this act any person who consumes drug specified in the act can be penalized.

The act calls for setting up a Appellate Tribunal headed by a Chairman to deal with the

proceedings of the case.

Any drug or goods seized by the concerned officers must be produced before the

jurisdictional authority within 180 days .

The competent authority under this act will be Commissioner of Customs or Central Excise

department.

China -Pakistan economic corridor

China and Pakistan have announced their plans to renew the already agreed proposal for a

economic corridor linking China's Xinxiang region with Pakistan's Islamabad by upgrading

the Karakoram Highway.

India expressed its concern about the initiative as the highway passes through PoK( Pakistan

occupied Kashmir) region.

China in an official announcement made it clear that its intention was to promote economic

ties and not to involve in the Kashmir dispute.

The proposal to extend economic corridor involves building infrastructure,increased

cooperation in the industrial, agricultural, mining, financial, telecommunication and service

sectors.

Pakistan’s government needs China to help develop the energy sector in order to alleviate

crippling power shortages. China has already committed $6.5 billion to build a new nuclear

power plant in Karachi.

One party rule in Cuba set for change

Soon the one party rule in Cuba will face stiff challenge as works are underway to raise the

need for the constitutional reform.

Supporters of the new initiative must gather a minimum 10000 signatures in support of the

change to recommend the National Assembly to consider the proposal.

At present, the constitution of Cuba don't allow multi party system.


Elections will fuel the growth of Ad industry

India was the second fastest growing market for Ad industry next to Russia.

The Lok Sabha elections and elections in respective states will drive the growth of Ad

industry in India according to the recent report Pitch Madison Media Advertising Outlook

2014 by the Madison group.

According to their report, in 2013 the print advertising was the largest segment accounting

for 41.3 per cent followed by TV at 39 per cent, digital at 10 per cent and outdoor, radio and

cinema making up the balance 10 per cent.

Indian born Scientist ,Ms.Rituparna Bose have identified fossils which could redefine the

pre-historic phase in American history.She has utilised a novel technique called geometric

morphometrics to differentiate the fossils.

With Assembly elections nearing, the State government of J&K has imposed a ban on news

and current affairs programmes will not be permitted on any private cable television channel

in the Kashmir Valley.According to the government due to the continuation of ban on these

services, spread of rumours and false propaganda against the government has declined to a

large extent.

Iceland prefers EEA than EU

Iceland government will prefer to be apart of European Economic Area and plans to

withdraw its application to join EU.

Most of the people in Iceland don't want to join Iceland which is also supported by the centre

-rightist government in power now.

European Union is the economic and political union constituted by 28 member states located

in Europe.

European Economic Area will allow the participation of members of EFTA to participate in

EU's internal market.

Indian economy faces stiff internal issues

The G20 leaders urged the the Indian government to strengthen the Indian economy by

removing the internal problems which make the economy vulnerable to global phenomenon.

Recently RBI Governor has expressed concerns about the US government's plan for cutting

short the stimulus package which already have the currencies in emerging economy to hit the

bottom.

Finance Minister of India too have asked the Reliance-supported think-tank Observer

Research Foundation (ORF) to draft strategy papers for India’s position in the G20 on the


BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India China, South Africa) Development Bank to absorb any such

unforeseen economic downturn in near future.

'Auto City' in Tamilnadu

The Tamilnadu government will set up an Automotive Industrial Development Centre

offering investment facilitation services to companies willing to invest in the automotive

industry.

At present Tamilnadu contributes to around 35% of the India's auto component production.

The proposed 'Auto City' will have logistics hub to provide multi modal transport, a design

and technological park ,effluent treatment ,waste management utilities and transport of

goods to various ports on 24 hour basis for movement of consignment trucks.

Anuja Prabhudessai

Anuja Prabhudessai will the first Goan woman to be elevated to the post of High Court

Judge.

At present she is serving as the North Goa Principal and District and Sessions Judge.

Mrinal Pande

Mrinal Pande has been nominated chairperson of the Advisory Council of Haridev Joshi

University of Journalism and Mass Communication, Jaipur.

She was serving as the Prasar Bharati chairperson and also served as the Editor of Hindi

daily Dainik Hindustan.

Ukraine won its first Olympic women’s biathlon relay gold medal at the Sochi 2014 Winter

Games.

Evi Sachenbacher-Stehle of Germany has been stripped of her medals in Sochi winter

Olympics with the doping test proves positive for consuming banned drugs.

President's rule likely in Andhra Pradesh

President's rule can be imposed in the State or Union territory according to Article 356 and

Article 365 of the Indian constitution.

Article 356 states that, when the President feels that the particular State cannot function

according to the provisions mentioned in the constitution, it is lawful for the President to

declare 'President's rule'

Article 365 states that, when the State cannot give effect to the directions of the Centre, then

too President can declare 'President's rule'.


Recently, with the Delhi CM resigning after anti-graft bill issue,, Centre decided to impose

President's rule in Delhi.

As the present Andhra Pradesh will take some time to split into two new States, Centre is

considering the option for imposing President's rule in the State.

Subsidy bill is more than the poverty gap

Government's food subsidy stood at Rs 1,15,000 crores which is more than twice of the

amount needed to bring all the population above poverty line.

The enormous subsidy is allocated as it is needed to fund the procurement, storage and

maintenance of food grains by the FCI.

When FCI utilizes the funds effectively, the cost of subsidy will bear true fruits.

Food Corporation of India is the nodal agency for providing effective market price for

farmer's produce, distribution of food grains for PDS and maintaining buffer stocks for

ensuring nation's food security.

Challenge to Freedom of Speech

Central Board of Film Certification has denied a censor certificate to the film No Fire Zone:

The Killing Fields of Sri Lanka which deals with the last phase of the war between Sri

Lankan forces and the LTTE in early 2009.

Sri Lankan government was opposing the release of the film stating that it will create

tensions in war ridden country once again.

Freedom of Speech is guaranteed by Article 19 of the our constitution.

Nalanda University is truly a international university

The Nalanda University is proposed to be constructed in Rajgir, Bihar.

The idea for the university was provided by former president of India Dr. A.P.J.Abdul Kalam.

Japan and Singapore are financing the construction work of the university.

Government of India has passed the Nalanda University Act in 2010.

In total nine countries were involved in the Nalanda University project making it a truly

international university.

RBI constitutes Committee to examine FSLRC Recommendations

The Financial Sector Legislative Reforms Commission (FSLRC) made certain

recommendations on enhancing skill building and capacity development in banks and non

banks regulated by the Reserve Bank of India to ensure availability of skill sets at all levels for

effective delivery on required roles and responsibilities.


RBI has constituted a Committee under the Chairmanship of Shri G. Gopalakrishna,

Executive Director, RBI to look into the recommendations of the FSLRC report.

The mandates of the committee include identifying skill sets, capacity building of

staffs,evolve qualifications and methodology to certify the personnel and system along with

procedures to certify board members of the bank.

Bhutan gets electric car

Bhutan gets a compact electric car in its streets proving to the world that the country is

technology friendly.

The country has a unique Gross National Happiness index to measure the overall well being

of its citizens.

It is also decided by the government to carefully monitor the pollution levels in streets with

the introduction of tech-friendly cars.

K.T.Thomas

K.T.Thomas has been appointed as the head of the eight-member search committee to select

the names for various posts of Lokpal.

The search committee will scrutinise the more than 300 applications received for the post of

chairperson and eight members and forward the names to the selection committee.

Dr. Piyushendu Gupta

Dr. Piyushendu Gupta is a medical practitioner and art historian.

He was awarded with the ‘Itihas Ratna’ Award by Asiatic Society of Bihar.

Down Syndrome

Down Syndrome is a genetic disorder characterized by the presence of all or part of the third

copy of Chromosome 21.

Persons with this syndrome suffer from mental disability to some extent, distinct facial

features and associated with delay in physical growth.

The down's syndrome can be found out in pregnancy and proper diagnostic has to be

followed for the entire life time of the person.

World Congress on Down's Syndrome is going to conducted in Chennai next year.It is a

triennial event.

Aakash missile


Aakash missile is a surface to air, medium range missile developed in collaboration with

three entities including DRDO.

At present it is inducted in Indian army and Indian Air force.

The missile has a intercept ranege of 30 km and flies at supersonic speed, reaching

around Mach 2.5

The missile can be launched to engage and destroy fighter aircraft, unmanned aerial vehicles,

helicopters and other targets.

It is supported by phased array Rajendra radar, which can track 64 targets.

India-China border talks moving on a fast pace

Last year both India and China have signed a Border Defence Cooperation Agreement

(BDCA).

The recent talks in the sixth round of the Annual Defence Dialogue between the two sides

discussed about the border incidents and implementation of Border Defence Cooperation

Agreement.

Both the countries have also desired to open a hotline between the DGMO-level officials in

both the sides.

Russian government has expressed it's concern over the parallel government formed by the

opposition parties in Ukraine.

Uganda's President gave his nod for the anti-gay bill which calls for stringent punishment for

the persons involved in unnatural relationship.

Inflation will be the focus of RBI

RBI's focus for the forth coming year will be to contain inflation.

In general inflation is a situation in which too many money chase too few goods.

It is also caused by the following reasons:

1. The supply of money goes up.

2. The supply of other goods goes down.

3. Demand for money goes down.

4. Demand for other goods goes up.

Somdev Devvarman is placed at Rank 78 in the recently released ATP rankings.Leander Paes

continued to be at number 10. Rohan Bopanna dropped to 16th while Mahesh Bhupathi

slipped to 41.


International North-South Transport Corridor

India is planning to conduct a dry run test for the proposed International North-South

Corridor covering Nhava Sheva (Mumbai)- Bandar Abbas (Iran)- Tehran-Bandar Anzali

(Iran)-Astrakhan(Russia)

The International North–South Transport Corridor is (ship, rail, and road ways) the

route for moving freight from South Asia to Europe through Central Asia, the Caucasus, and

Russia.

The route primarily involves moving freight from India to Iran by ship; from Iran to Armenia

and Georgia by rail and road; and from Georgia to Russia and Europe.

India-Azerbaijan bilateral relation

Both the countries spoke about the steps initiated towards fulfilling the mission of

International North-South Corridor.

In the hydrocarbon sector , both the countries are mutually helpful as Azerbaijan

Government has supported ONGC Videsh Limited’s acquisition of Participating Interest (PI)

owned by Hess Corporation’s wholly owned subsidiaries in the upstream and midstream oil

and gas assets in the Azerbaijani Chirag Guneshli (ACG) Contract area and in Baku-Tbilisi-

Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline.

India too expressed its interest to diversify the bilateral trade and investment in sectors such

as pharmaceuticals,tourism, culture, health, agriculture & animal products, information and

communication technology, chemicals, science, education etc.

Indira Paryavaran Bhawan

Indira Paryavaran Bhawan is the India’s first on site Net Zero Building .

It is built by adopting the solar passive design and energy efficient building material.

The building has been designated as the highest green rated building.

The requirements of GRIHA 5-Star and LEEDS Platinum ratings have been achieved by

adopting various measures few of the are given below.

Effective Ventilation by orientating the building in an East-West direction, separating

different blocks with connecting corridors and having a large central court yard; 75% of

natural daylight is utilised to reduce energy consumption; access friendly design for

differently-abled persons;Green materials have been used like Fly ash bricks, regional

building materials, materials with high recycled content, high reflectance terrace tiles and

rock wool Insulation of outer walls.

Know your mobile tower radiation level online


A 13-member, high-level committee has recommended that a dedicated website be set up to

let the public know how much emission occurs from every tower in the country.

Indian government has set one tenth of the permissible level of radiation allowed by

International Commission on Non-Ionising Radiation Protection (ICNIRP).

ICNIRP's principal aim is to disseminate information and advice on the potential health

hazards of exposure to non-ionizing radiation to everyone with an interest in the subject.

The committee was formed by the Department of Telecom on the orders of the Allahabad

High Court to look into issues of electromagnetic field (EMF) radiation

Malaria will face tough challenge

A major break through achieved in the fight against Malaria.Scientists working with the

project has dsicvered that AP2-G is necessary for switching on genes that control the

development of precursor malaria cells to the male and female forms of the parasite.

Malaria is a blood related disease in which the parasite is transmitted to humans by the

Anopheles mosquito.

Maulana Hasrat Mohani

Maulana Hasrat Mohani is freedom fighter and eminent Urdu poet.

The real name of Maulana was Syed Fazl-ul-Hasan.

Vice President released a postal Stamp on his memory.

National Monitoring Committee for Minorities (NMCM)

National Monitoring Committee for Minorities (NMCM) held its first meeting since its

conception under Minister of Minority Affairs.

It includes seventy two experts in minority related issues.

Its main objectives are to assess the initiatives for minority welfare under the ministry :to

analyse the achievements and review the planning process, programmes, strategies and

implementation process over a period of time.

Independent Evaluation Office (IEO)

IEO would provide a systematic feedback to the Planning Commission , the ministries

concerned and to the broader community of stakeholders interested in improving the

effectiveness of development programmes.

Independent evaluations should go beyond assessing deliverables, focus on outcomes to

make programmes more effective and accountable and also provide evidence based inputs

for better policy making and to improve development outcomes.


It must provide more flexibility at local levels and improve the evidence on which

development programmes are based.

State of Infant Mortality rate in India

Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) is define as the number of infant deaths during the year per

number of live births during the year multiplied by 1000.

Infant mortality rate comprises of two parts, viz. Neo-natal mortality rate ( death in less than

29 days)and Post neo-natal mortality rate (death between 29 days and less than a year).

The neo-natal mortality rate also comprises of two parts viz. Early neo-natal mortality rate (

death less than 7 days) and late neo-natal mortality rate ( death between 7 days and less than

29 days).

According to ‘Save the Children’ global report, the progress in reduction of neo-natal

mortality rate (NMR) has been slower in India though the IMR was 25 per 1000 live births.

Pakistan decides to tighten its grip over terrorists

Pakistan Government has tabled the New Internal Security Policy in the assembly stating

that it had three options to tackle the terrorist menace, to maintain status quo, or have a

focused dialogue for peace or a military operation.

The new National Internal Security Policy had a secret component and strategic and

operational aspects as well.

The Pakistan government will resort to military action based on the consensus in the

assembly.

RBI announces guidelines of revitalizing distressed assets

RBI has introduced formation of Joint Lenders’ Forum (JLF) and adoption of Corrective

Action Plan (CAP) for implementing the Framework for Revitalising Distress Assets in the

economy.

The JLF will try to arrive at an early and feasible solution to preserve the economic value of

the underlying assets as well as the lenders’ loans.

RBI will set up a Central Repository of Information on Large Credits (CRILC) to collect,

store, and disseminate credit data to lenders.

In order to identify stressful accounts, RBI has asked the banks to categorise stressed

accounts ( before declaring them into NPA) into three categories of Special Mention

Account.They are as follows:

1. SMA 0-Principal or interest payment not overdue for more than 30 days but account

showing signs of incipient stress

2. SMA 1-Principal or interest payment overdue between 31-60 days


3. SMA 2-Principal or interest payment overdue between 61-90 days

Banks are advised that as soon as an account is reported by any of the lenders to CRILC as

SMA-2, they should mandatorily form a committee to be called Joint Lenders’ Forum (JLF) if

the aggregate exposure (AE) of lenders in that account is Rs 1000 million and above.

The borrower may request the lender/s, with substantiated grounds, for formation of a JLF

on account of imminent stress.

India-Israel strengthen security ties

India and Israel signed three agreements to strengthen the bilateral security relations with

each other.

The agreements are Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty in Criminal Matters; Agreement on

Protection of Classified Material and Agreement on Cooperation in Homeland and Public

Security.

Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY)

Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY) is implemented by Ministry of Labour &

Employment from the year 2007.

It provides for smart card based cashless health insurance cover of Rs. 30000 per family per

annum on a family floater basis to BPL families in the unorganised sector.

RSBY coverage is now extended to auto / taxi drivers in addition to other categories of

unorganized workers.

According to the new announcement, auto/taxi drivers have to contribute 50% of premium

for the RSBY, as applicable in that district, in addition to Rs. 30/- as registration fee.

Remaining 50% of premium will be shared by the Central and State Government ( 25% each).

Saksham

Rajiv Gandhi Scheme for Empowerment of Adolescent Boys also known as “Saksham” is

launched by the Union government.

The main objective of the scheme is to make Adolescent boys gender sensitive, to make them

ahimsa messengers to prevent violence against women,to enable self development and

empowerment,to address their physical , mental and emotional health needs, nutrition and

hygiene,to provide vocational skills through national skill development programme and help

them participate in nation building.

At present the scheme will utilise the Integrated Child Development Scheme platform for

implementing the programme.

The scheme will cover all adolescent boys (both school going and out of school) in the age-

group of 11 to 18 years subdivided into two categories( 11-14 & 14-18 years).


In the first phase, Saksham scheme shall be implemented in 20 selected districts in seven

States on a pilot basis.

Scotland in the making

Scotland is a part of United Kingdom as if now but in 1990s, a system of devolution has

emerged in the UK, whereby Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have each been granted

some measure of self-government whilst remaining within the UK.

Issues such as the constitution, foreign affairs, defence, social security, pensions, issues of

medical ethics, and fiscal, economic and monetary policy are decided on at Westminster,

London where UK parliament is located.

At present , political parties are demanding a Independent Scotland without the UK

interference in the affairs of the country.

A referendum will conducted by September on this issue.

As a result of the new political development, British financial group Standard Life is drawing

contingency plans to move some of its operations out of Scotland in the event it votes for

independence.

Demand for zeroing export duty on Iron ore pellets

Industry demands recall of export duty on iron ore pellets to the Union government.

Iron ore pellets are spheres of typically 8–18 mm mostly used as raw material for blast

furnaces.

They typically contain 67%-72% Fe and various additional material adjusting the chemical

composition and the metallurgic properties of the pellets.

Polavarm Project

Polavaram project is a multi purpose irrigation project proposed to be constructed across

Godvari river, Andhra Pradesh .

The main objective of the project is to transfer the surplus waters of Godavari river basin to

the Krishna river basin.

Government will implement the after creating a special purpose vehicle.

The multi-purpose project will involve Central grants to the tune of 90 per cent of the cost.

National Mission for Sustaining the Himalayan Ecosystem (NMSHE)

(NMSHE) mission was launched under the National Action Plan on Climate Change

(NAPCC) .


The key objective of the mission is to develop a sustainable national capacity to continuously

assess the health status of the Himalayan Ecosystem ; enable policy bodies in their policy-

formulation functions;assist States in the Indian Himalayan Region with implementation of

actions selected for sustainable development.

The mission will focus on the following issues such as :Himalayan glaciers and associated

hydrological consequences;Prediction and management of natural hazards;Biodiversity

conservation and protection;Wild life conservation and protection;Traditional knowledge

societies and their livelihood;Capacity in regulation of science and critical peer evaluation to

help governance issues related to sustenance of the Himalayan Ecosystem;Assist in

restoration and rehabilitation process of Uttarakhand.

The mission will cover 12 Himalayan States of India :Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh,

Uttarakhand, Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura,

Meghalaya, Assam and West Bengal.

National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC)

NAPCC was initiated in 2008.

The plan comprises of eight national Missions:National Solar Mission;National Mission for

Enhanced Energy Efficiency; National Mission on Sustainable Habitat; National Water

Mission;National Mission for Sustaining the Himalayan Eco-system; National Mission for a

Green India; National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture ; National Mission on Strategic

Knowledge for Climate Change.

Bitcoin faces tough times

Bitcoin is the payment system using digital currency(virtual currency) generated via a open

source software.

Vietnam has banned the virtual currency bitcoin.

It stated that bitcoin is highly anonymous so bitcoin can become a tool for crimes like money

laundering, drug trafficking, tax evasion, illegal payment.

Mt. Gox bitcoin exchange in Tokyo filed for bankruptcy protection, acknowledging that a

significant amount of the virtual currency had gone missing.

Shri Chandi Prasad Bhatt was awarded the Gandhi Peace Prize for the year 2013.

Shri Chandi Prasad Bhatt is a Gandhian environmentalist and social activist.He was

conferred with Ramon Magsaysay Award and Padma Bhushan. At present he is awarded with

Gandhi Peace Prize for the year 2013.

India finished fifth in the under-19 World Cup held in Sharjah.


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