February 2015 Current Affairs - Jagran Josh

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February 2015 | www.jagranjosh.com

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PREFACE 18

PICK OF THE MONTH 19

RWB released the World Press Freedom Index 2015 19

India, Sri Lanka signed agreements on Civil Nuclear Cooperation 22

Union Government accepted 14th Finance Commission recommendations 23

Centre for Science and Environment released a report titled Heat on Power 26

Oscar Awards 2015 28

Delhi Legislative Assembly elections 2015 30

35th National Games concluded in Thiruvananthapuram 32

Producer Daggubati Ramanaidu died 34

US Federal Communications Commission approved Net Neutrality Rules to protect Open

Internet 35

Union Budget 2015-16: Highlights 36

Railway Budget 2015-16: Highlights 38

Anil Kumble and Betty Wilson inducted into ICC Cricket Hall of Fame 42

Australian Open 2015 43

INTERNATIONAL 45

UNSC adopted Resolution 2201 demanding Houthis withdrawal from Yemens govern-

ment institutions 45

Russia and Cyprus signed an agreement to allow Russian navy ships to use Cypriot ports

47

Parliament of Jamaica passed a law to decriminalise marijuana for personal use 48

House of Lords of UK passed a legislation allowing creation of babies using DNA of three

people 49

US announced to allow work permits to spouses of H-1B visa holders from May 2015 50

Parliament of Thailand passed a law to ban commercial surrogacy for foreigners 51

Manuel Valls headed Socialist Government in France won confidence vote over market

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reforms 52

India and Bangladesh decided to step up Joint Border Patrolling 53

5th India-Myanmar Joint Trade Committee meet held in Nay Pyi Taw 54

France signed an agreement with Egypt for sale of 24 Rafale fighter plane 55

UNSC approved resolution targeting sources of financing for ISIS, Al-Nusrah Front 56

Prime Minister Narendra Modi initiated Cricket diplomacy, called four SAARC leaders 57

Russian Central Bank cut its interest rate from 17 percent to 15 percent 58

US announced new cyber security agency CTIIC to respond to enhanced cyber threats 59

7th round of India Kenya Joint Trade Committee meeting held in New Delhi 60

The United States closed its embassy in Yemen 62

North Korea test fires homegrown anti-ship short range missiles 63

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott survived vote of confidence on leadership of Liberal

Party 65

Hurun Report Inc released the Hurun Global Rich List 2015 66

International Court of Justice ruled Neither Croatia nor Serbia committed genocide during

Balkan War 68

Bangladesh Cabinet approved National ICT Draft Policy 2015 69

Joint Communiqu of tri-nation meet of Foreign Ministers of India-Russia-China released

70

Pakistan successfully test-fired Air Launched Cruise Missile Raad 74

Japan successfully launched the Information Gathering Satellite 74

Canada announced an anti-terror law criminalising public terror threats, strengthening

CSIS 75

NATIONAL 77

A person can be accorded Scheduled Caste status on his re-conversion to Hinduism: Su-

preme Court 77

Union Ministry of Chemicals & Fertilizers declared 2015 as Year of Active Pharmaceutical

Ingredients 78

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TRAI issued 6th Amendment to Telecommunication Mobile Number Portability Regulation,

2009 79

Mumbai University signed MoU with Indian Railways to set up Rail Innovation and Tech-

nology Centre 81

Rajya Sabha passed Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Orders (Amendment) Bill, 2014 81

TRAI issued Regulation on domestic carriage charges 83

Union Government launched portal MADAD to redress consular grievances 83

Justice KS Radhakrishnan panel on road safety submitted its report to the Supreme Court

85

Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched Soil Health Card Scheme 86

Union Government proposed Oil Subsidy Sharing Formula between Public Sector Oil

Companies 88

Union Government blocked private email network for official work 89

Union Government approved Project-17A worth 8 billion US dollar 90

Demand for dowry can be made at any time and not necessarily before marriage: Su-

preme Court 91

Government is expected to be a responsible litigant: Central Information Commission 92

Ministry of Urban Development partnered with Bloomberg Philanthropies for Smart Cities

Initiative 93

Third National Lok Adalat disposed 56000 cases, disbursed 265 crore rupees for final set-

tlement 94

Election Commission announced to launch Electoral Roll Authentication Mission 95

BIS announced to develop Standards for Solid Waste Management and Potable Drinking

Water 95

Religious decrees cannot override the written code of law: SC 96

SC directed CBI to probe RBI and SEBI in multi-crore chit-fund scam 97

Union Government approved revised Guidelines for Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana

98

Union Government issued guidelines to tackle increasing number of H1N1 cases 99

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Web-based tool Atrocity Tracking and Monitoring System launched 100

Union Government approved increase of authorised Share Capital of NMDFC 102

National Minorities Development and Finance Corporation (NMDFC) 102

Union Ministry for Health & Family Welfare launched National Deworming Initiative 103

Prime Minister constituted 3 sub-groups of Chief Ministers within NITI Aayog 104

SC sought response from Union Government on making Moral Science a compulsory

subject in Schools 104

ECONOMY 106

Economic Survey 2014-15: Highlights 106

Railway Budget 2015-16: Statistical Highlights 110

Railway Budget 2015-16: Quality of Life in Journeys 112

Railway Budget 2015-16: Major Initiatives 115

Union Cabinet approved the implementation of 15000 MW Grid-connected SPV Projects

under NSM 119

Union Cabinet approved creation of two additional benches of the Authority for Advance

Rulings 121

KVIC, RSETIS signed MoU to provide vocational training to unemployed youth 122

CCEA approved continuation of incentive scheme for marketing of raw sugar production

124

CCEA approved four Highway Projects in Uttar Pradesh, Odisha and Chhattisgarh 124

Union Government launched single window eBiz portal to foster business environment125

RBI issued Guidelines on Import of Gold by Nominated Banks and Agencies 127

EPFO launched Online Help Desk to trace Inoperative Accounts 128

Union Ministry of Finance imposed Anti-dumping duty on imports of graphite electrodes

129

RBI decided to bring back one rupee notes 130

Union Government decided to infuse 6990 crore rupees in nine Public Sector Banks 131

CSIR-NCL signed MoU with Security Printing and Minting Corporation of India Ltd 132

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ENVIRONMENT | ECOLOGY 134

ZSL and Gujarat Forest Department signed a MoU for conservation of Asiatic lion 134

National Green Tribunal banned plying of Vintage cars on Delhi roads 135

Two tropical cyclones Marcia and Lam hit Australia 136

Indias first air quality checking Mobile App SAFAR-Air launched 136

India signed Grant Agreement of 8 million US dollars with World Bank for funding SLACC

Project 138

Tsunami advisory issued in Japan after 6.9 earthquake 139

Muthoot Group tied-up with WWF for its Friends for Life project 140

Four new species of Fish discovered in Kerala 141

Two algal species Ulva paschima Bast, Cladophora goensis Bast discovered off Indias

west coast 142

NASA Launched its first earth satellite Soil Moisture Active Passive 143

Committee on Infrastructure Development approved development of no-frill airports at

Ajmer, Belgaum 144

CORPORATE 146

NSE signed MoU with GIFT to establish an international exchange in Gujarat 146

Forbes released Asias 50 Power Businesswomen 2015 list 146

Ericsson sued Apple for telecom patent infringement 148

IBM Corporation tied-up with Tech Mahindra Ltd to accelerate Global Hybrid Cloud adop-

tion 148

Bharat Puri appointed as Managing Director of Pidilite Industries Limited 149

US District Court ordered Apple to pay 533 million US dollar to Smartflash in iTunes pat-

ent case 150

Takahiro Hachigo appointed as President and CEO of Honda Motor Co Limited 151

Maheshwar Sahu appointed as Independent Director on board of RIL 151

Samsung acquired US-based mobile wallet startup LoopPay 152

Snapdeal.com acquired luxury fashion portal Exclusively.com 153

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Bharti Airtel Ltd tied-up with UNICEF to provide education content in 17 African countries

154

Lupin signed an agreement with Celon Pharma for developing generic version of asthma

drug 155

RUAG Aerostructures, Tata Group signed a pact to supply components for Airbus 320 156

Faisal Siddiqui appointed as South Asia President of HTC 156

Punit Renjen appointed as CEO of Deloittes Global Operations 157

Balasubramaniam Venkataramani appointed as MD & CEO of Multi Commodity Exchange

158

Infosys announced to acquire automation technology firm Panaya Inc for 1200 crore ru-

pees 159

Parle Products launched nationwide Litter Free Campaign 159

ICICI Bank Limited tied-up with UAE Exchange to offer instant bank transfer service 160

Aditya Birla Chemicals to merge with Grasim Industries 161

Digital Magazine App Flipboard launched Web Browser Version 162

Microsoft acquired Sunrise for 100 million US dollars 163

Star India Pvt Ltd acquired Telugu television channel Maa Television Network Ltd 164

Facebook, Reliance Communications Ltd tied up to provide free Internet access to people

165

Google-appointed panel to recommend right to be forgotten for EU only 166

Alibaba decided to invest 590 million US dollar in Meizu Technology Co 167

Damyant Singh appointed as Brand Director of Adidas India 168

Adani Enterprises, Rajasthan Government signed MoU to set up 10000 MW Solar Park

169

Alibaba signed an agreement to acquire 25 percent stake in One97 Communications 169

Chambal Fertilisers shut down its urea plant in Kota 170

Siemens bagged orders worth 450 crore rupees from Varanasi-based Diesel Locomotive

Works 171

Twitter, Google signed a deal to make tweets searchable 171

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HAL bagged 1090 Crore contract to supply 14 Do-228 Aircraft to IAF 172

Lupin got USFDA nod for marketing its diarrhea drug vancomycin hydrochloride in US 173

Prasanth Kumar appointed as CEO of MindShare South Asia 173

SCIENCE | TECHNOLOGY 175

Scientists discovered quasar SDSS J0 100+2802 with central black hole mass of 12 bil-

lion solar mass 175

WHO approved ReEBOV Antigen rapid test kit to identify Ebola-infected patients 177

Earths inner core has an inner core of its own: Study 178

Researchers from Australia unveiled worlds first 3D printed jet engine 179

Researchers combined solar telescope with Laser Frequency Comb to search for Earth-

like planets 180

Researchers found new 3D vaccine for cancer and infectious diseases 182

NASAs Hubble Space Telescope captured the rare triple-moon conjunction 183

British House of Commons voted to allow creation of babies with DNA from three people

183

India successfully test-fired canister-based ICBM Agni-5 missile 185

SPORTS 187

AB de Villiers of South Africa hit the fastest 150 runs in ODI 187

Martin David Crowe inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame 187

Ranchi Rays crowned Champions of Hero Hockey India League 2015 188

Chris Gayle became first cricketer to score Double Century in Cricket World Cup 189

Union Ministry of Youth Affairs revised the National Sports Awards Schemes 190

Somdev Devvarman retained the Delhi Open title of Tennis 191

Cyclist Alberto Contador of Spain announced to retire from Cycling after 2016 season 192

Saurav Ganguly awarded Honorary Life Membership of Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC)

193

Virat Kohli became first Indian cricketer to score century against Pakistan in World Cup

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194

Usain Bolt to retire after 2017 World Championships in London 195

Tintu Luka won gold in 800m in 35th National Games 196

Chhetri and Devi presented with 2014 AIFF Player of the Year award 196

ICC Cricket World Cup started with ceremonies in Melbourne and Christchurch 197

35th National Games mascot Ammu named in Limca Book of Records 198

India Cements Limited transferred IPL team Chennai Super Kings franchise to CSKC Lim-

ited 199

Union Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports revised Rashtriya Khel Protsahan Puruskar

Scheme 200

Vijay Kumar won the Gold of 25 metre Centre Fire Pistol event at the 35th National Games

201

Saloni Dalal became youngest medal winner in National Games 2015 202

Australia defeated England to win Tri-Nation ODI Series 202

Serena Williams of US won the womens single title of Australian Open 2015 203

STATE 205

Mufti Mohammed Sayeed sworn-in as Chief Minister of Jammu & Kashmir 205

Haryana Government raised cash reward under Inter-Caste Marriage Scheme 206

Gopinath Pillai appointed as Special Envoy to Andhra Pradesh by Singapore government

207

Andhra Pradesh signed MoU with Wipro for building and implementing APSEA 207

Delhi Government launched mLiquorSaleCheck Mobile App to put cap on sale of illicit

liquor 208

Uttar Pradesh Budget 2015-16 209

DK Pandey appointed as Director General of Police of Jharkhand 211

Yaduveer Raj Urs adopted as heir to Wadiyar dynasty 211

Nitish Kumar took oath as Chief Minister of Bihar 212

Bihar Government decided to grant 35% reservation for women in Non-Gazetted jobs 214

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Current Affairs


Bihar State Cabinet approved the inclusion of Dusadh caste in Mahadalit category 215

Jawed Usmani sworn-in as Chief Information Commissioner of Uttar Pradesh 216

Chhattisgarh Government awarded for Renewable Power Development in the State 217

Himachal Pradesh Government launched Crime and Criminal Tracking Network System

Project 218

West Bengal Government launched Micro Business Credit Card to boost MSME sector

218

Uttarakhand Government launched Himalaya Darshan programme to boost tourism in the

State 219

Jharkhand Government to provide tablets to all girls student of KGBV 220

Madras HC directed Tamil Nadu government to ban beauty contests in colleges 220

TR Zeliang led government won Motion of Confidence in Nagaland Assembly 221

77th Annual Convention of Presiding Officers of Legislative Bodies held in Lucknow 222

Justice MM Das appointed as Chairman of Commission of Inquiry probing Chit Fund

Scam 222

Union Government announced 850 crore rupees development package for Andhra

Pradesh 223

Gujarat Handloom Corporation signed MoU with E-commerce firm eBay 224

Haryana Government launched e-registration of properties in all tehsils of the State 225

Bihar decided to provide free education to SC, ST and girl students till PG 226

Telangana government decided to organise Godavari Pushkaralu on the lines of Kumbh

Mela 226

Andhra Pradesh Government approved reformed Solar, Wind Energy policy 228

Arvind Kumar Jain appointed as Director General of Police of Uttar Pradesh 229

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Current Affairs


NEWS CAPSULE 230

PERSON IN NEWS 230

FBI announced 3 million US dollar award for information on Evgeniy Mikhailovich

Bogachev 230

Abdul Jabbar sentenced to life imprisonment for war crimes in Bangladesh 231

Former President of Maldives Mohamed Nasheed arrested in Male under anti-terror law

231

Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic sworn-in as President of Croatia 232

Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan named in LIMCA Book of Records 232

Person Appointed 234

Justice Amitava Roy sworn in as Supreme Court judge 234

Kshatrapati Shivaji appointed as CMD of Small Industries Development Bank of India 234

Ravi Chaudhary appointed as Executive Director for Regions and Centre Operations at

FAA 235

Tapan Misra appointed as Chief of ISROs Space Application Centre 236

Rashad Hussain appointed as US Special Envoy for Strategic Counterterrorism Commu-

nications 237

The US Senate appointed Ashton B Carter as Defense Secretary 238

Krishna Chaudhary took charge as DG of ITBP 238

M Ravindran appointed as Chairman of Indraprastha Gas Limited 239

Ajaypal Singh Banga appointed as member of US Advisory Committee for Trade Policy

and Negotiations 240

MO Garg appointed as Director General of Council of Scientific & Industrial Research 241

LC Goyal appointed as the Union Home Secretary 242

Madhusudhan Prasad appointed as Secretary in the Union MoUD 242

Nandita Chatterjee appointed as Secretary in the Union Ministry of HUPA 242

Sergio Mattarella sworn-in as the President of Italy 243

Ashok K Agarwal appointed as General Manager of Southern Railway 244

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Current Affairs


Person Resigned 245

Rajendra K Pachauri resigned as Chairperson of Intergovernmental Panel on Climate

Change 245

Bihar Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi resigned 245

Odisha Chief Information Commissioner Tarun Kanti Mishra resigned 246

Sanjay Mathur resigned as VP, Global Technology Centres, Asia Pacific at Cisco Systems

246

Amy Pascal, co-chairman of Sony Studio resigned 247

Science | Space 248

Nuclear capable Prithvi-II missile test-fired from Chandipur in Odisha 248

Rahul Kaiche became first cardiac surgeon in Maharashtra to use titanium plates for coro-

nary surgery 249

SpaceX successfully launched Falcon 9 rocket from Florida 249

Person on Visit 251

President of Singapore Tony Tan Keng Yam visited India 251

Maldivian Foreign Minister Dunya Maumoon visited India 252

Prime Minister of Bhutan Lyonchhen Tshering Tobgay visited India 253

Person Died 255

Russian opposition politician Boris Nemtsov shot dead in Moscow 255

Noted sociologist Meera Kosambi died 256

Acclaimed US actor Leonard Nimoy passed away 257

Former Haryana Chief Minister Hukam Singh died 257

Veteran cinematographer Aloysius Vincent passed away 258

Veteran Tamil director RC Sakthi passed away 259

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Current Affairs


Maria Golovnina, Reuters bureau chief for Afghanistan and Pakistan, found dead 260

Rana Bhagwandas, the first Hindu Chief Justice of Pakistan died 260

Pioneer of mobile theatre in Assam Adya Sharma passed away 261

Veteran CPI leader Govind Pansare died 262

Eminent filmmaker Nirad Mahapatra passed away 263

Legendary Urdu Poet Dr. Kalim Ahmed Ajiz died 263

BJD Vice-President kalindi Charan Behera passed away 264

Rajya Sabha MP from Uttarakhand Manorama Dobriyal Sharma died 265

Veteran cartoonist Rajinder Puri passed away 265

Bollywood Actor Ashraful Haque passed away 266

French actor Louis Jourdan passed away 267

Creator of chocolate-like spread Nutella Michele Ferrero died 267

Former Home Minister of Maharashtra Raosaheb Ramrao Patil died 268

PAS spiritual leader Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat died at 84 269

Telugu novelist Kesava Reddy passed away 270

Japanese industrial designer Kenji Ekuan died 270

Veteran journalist Diptosh Majumdar died 271

Veteran Marathi theatre artist Atmaram Govind Bhende died 272

Acclaimed Indian sculptor and artist Mrinalini Mukherjee passed away 274

JK group chairman Gaur Hari Singhania died 275

Maharashtra Netball player Mayuresh Pawar died during the 35th National Games 275

Photo journalist Krishna Murari Kishan passed away 276

Former Delhi state footballer Peter Gomes died 276

Awards | Honours 277

Wipro won seven awards at the CIO Choice Honour and Recognition 2015 277

Clemson University honoured Ratan Tata with Doctorate of Automotive Engineering 278

Kristen Stewart won the Best Supporting Actress Award at Frances Cesar Awards 278

Purnendu Dasgupta won the J. Calvin Giddings Award 2015 of American Chemical Soci-

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Current Affairs


ety 279

Prime Minister presented Krishi Karman Awards 2013-14 to State Government functionar-

ies 280

Each award winning state received a trophy, a citation and a cash award of 1 crore rupees

281

Indian-origin scientist Professor Srikanth Jagabathula received CAREER Award 282

Nagesh Kukunoors film Dhanak won two awards at 65th Berlin International Film Festival

283

Dr. Tessy Thomas, Geeta Varadan jointly named for Nayudamma Award 2014 284

Indian-American Gurpreet Singh presented with National Science Foundation CAREER

award 285

Brigade of Guards and Sikh Regiment jointly awarded Best Marching Contingents on Re-

public Day 2015 286

Dr. Ambedkar National Merit Awards conferred by Thaawar Chand Gehlot 286

Vinod Mehta awarded with Yash Bharti Samman 2015 by UP Government 287

Amartya Sen won Charleston-EFG John Maynard Keynes Prize 2015 288

57th Annual Grammy Awards 289

Eminent Marathi writer Bhalchandra Nemade chosen for Jnanpith Award 2014 291

68th British Academy Film Awards announced 293

Zakir Naik won King Faisal International Prize for the year 2015 294

Madhya Pradesh won the 10th National Award for excellent work in MGNREGA 299

Mithileshwar awarded with Shrilal Shukla Sahitya IFFCO Award 2014 300

Places in News 301

Maoist attacked CRPF personnel in Sukma district of Chhattisgarh 301

Militants attack Nigerian city Maiduguri and Damaturu 302

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Exhibition | Fare 303

3rd Tortoise Festival organised at Hajong Lake in Assam 303

29th Surajkund International Crafts Mela celebrated 303

Books | Authors 305

PR Mohana Rao authored a book titled Flora of Guntur City Andhra Pradesh 305

Editor Unplugged: Media, Magnates, Netas and Me authored by Vinod Mehta 305

Fragile Frontiers: The Secret History of Mumbai Terror Attacks written by SK Rath 306

Kiran Bedi released comic book titled Kiran Bedi Kaise Bani Top Cop 307

Pakistans Ex-Foreign Minister Khurshid M Kasuri penned a book titled Neither a Hawk

nor a Dove 307

Hindi Novel Farishta authored by Kapil Isapuri 308

Book on Sonia Gandhi titled The Red Sari written by Javier Moro released in India 309

Tamil Novel Madhorubhagan written by Perumal Murugan 309

The Indian Parliament A Critical Appraisal written by Sudha Pai and Avinash Kumar re-

leased 310

Defence | Security 312

Indian Navy concluded TROPEX Exercise 2015 312

Indo-Nepal joint military exercise Surya Kiran VIII started in Nepal 313

Indian Army and State Bank of India inked MoU on Defence Salary Package 314

10th Aero India show concluded in Bengaluru 315

BrahMos missile successfully test-fired from INS Kolkata 316

HADR Exercise conducted by Indian Navy in the Lakshadweep Islands 317

318

Report | Survey 319

IDC released a report on Indian Smartphone market 319

Telecom regulator TRAI released a report 320

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Current Affairs


Summit | Conference 322

First Renewable Energy Global Investors Meet & Expo, RE-Invest 2015, held in New Delhi

322

15th Delhi Sustainable Development Summit 323

First World Ocean Science Congress held in Kochi 324

Committees | Commissions 326

Union Government constituted SIT to reinvestigate 1984 anti-Sikh riot cases 326

Union Government constituted Anil Baijal Panel to suggest a framework to assess CSR

activities 327

Abbreviations | Terms 329

Chief Minister of Assam advocated Naturonomics for NE states to usher in a robust econ-

omy 329

Vanaj 2015, the first National Tribal Festival 329

SMAP: NASAs first satellite to collect global soil moisture 330

Art | Culture 331

The first National Tribal festival Vanaj 2015 concluded 331

Dosmoche festival celebrated in Ladakh 332

Ancient Vishnu idol found in Punjabs Tran Taran 332

India and China jointly launched Visit India Year in China 333

Inventions | Discoveries 334

10th century sculpture of Buddha discovered in Thanjavur 334

Day | Week | Year 335

International Rare Disease Day observed on 28 February 335

International Mother Language Day observed on February 21 336

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Current Affairs


World Radio Day observed on 13 February 336

Union Health minister declared 10 February as National Deworming Day 337

World Cancer Day observed across the world 338

Miscellaneous 341

Words Ride-share, unboxing added to Oxford Dictionary 341

3 Indians in the shortlisted 100 applicants for the one-way trip to Mars 341

Uber introduced two new India-specific safety features 342

First Robot-staffed Hotel of the World to open in Japan 343

Taj Mahal Gardens perfectly align with Sun Solstices: Study 344

WORLD DAIRY February 2015 348

INDIA DAIRY February 2015 356

One Liners February 2015 367

News Snnipet February 2015 373

18

Current Affairs


The Current Affairs February 2015 eBook covers the current events that happened in the month of February. Current Affairs is a crucial component of any competitive exams including IAS/PCS, SSC, Banking, MBA. The lack of preparation for current affairs by the aspirants and candidates often is a main cause of their failure. Even though the candidates know it but they are often confused about how to prepare the current affairs section of the different competitive exams. It is to clear such doubts and confusion, Jagranjosh.com has come up with eBook concept. Although current affairs section per se is very wide to be covered, yet we have tried to cover all the possible current affairs for the month of February 2015.

The Current Affairs February 2015 eBook is divided into different section keeping in mind the need of various exams. The sections covered namely are International, National, Economy, Ecology and Environment, Science & Technology, Corporate, Sports, States, and News Capsule. Every news item in each section is arranged date wise with the most recent news being covered first and so on. Although there might be some deviations but that is solely to give priority to the most important current affairs in each section.

Presentation of the given current affairs has been planned meticulously. It has been planned in such a way that it remains in the minds of readers for a longer duration. Wherever necessary each news item is presented along with a background and analysis so as to help candidates contemplate all the important current events at the time of exam in an effective way.

Copyright Jagranjosh.com

All rights reserved. No part or the whole of this eBook may be copied, reproduced, stored in retrieval system or transmitted and/or cited anywhere in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the written permission of the copyright owner. If any misconduct comes in knowledge or brought in notice, strict action will be taken.

Disclaimer

Readers are requested to verify/cross-check up to their satisfaction themselves about the advertisements, advertorials, and external contents. If any miss-happening, ill result, mass depletion or any similar incident occurs due to any information cited or referenced in this e-book, Editor, Director/s, employees of Jagranjosh.com cant be held liable/responsible in any matter whatsoever. No responsibilities lie as well in case of the advertisements, advertorials, and external contents.

PREFACE

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Current Affairs


PICK OF THE MONTHRWB released the World Press Freedom Index 2015

The Reporters Without Borders (RWB) on 12 February 2015 released the World Press

Freedom Index (WPFI) 2015. In the WPFI 2015, India was placed at 136th position

out of 180 nations that were surveyed worldwide in terms of press freedom.

In the top of the list were three Scandinavian countries: Finland on the 1st position

followed by Norway and Denmark. At the other end of the scale, Turkmenistan, North

Korea and Eritrea were the worst performers securing the last places in the index.

The 2015 World Press Freedom Index highlights the worldwide deterioration in

freedom of information in 2014.

Declines in the WPFI 2015

Andorra with 32nd position witnessed the sharpest fall in the index. It fell by 27 places as a result of the many conflicts of interests and lack of independence of its media from financial, political and religious interests.

In Asia, East Timor fell by 26 places to 103rd position. In Sub-Saharan Africa, Congo fell 25 places to achieve 107th rank in the index.

Western Europe saw numerous countries in decline. Italy was ranked at 73rd position, it fell 24 places. Iceland was down by 13 places to get 21st rank in the

index by paying the price of worsening relations between politicians and media.

Pressure on independent media continued to intensify in Russia which fell by 4 places to be placed at 152nd rank.

The United States was placed at 49th position by falling down by 3 places. In

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Current Affairs


2014, the New York Times journalist James Risen came under US government

pressure to reveal his sources.

The risers in the WPFI 2015

Mongolia rose 34 places and was ranked at 54th position, the Indexs biggest jump.

Tonga strengthened its position by achieving 44th rank due to an independent press. It rose by 19 places.

The end of long-running political crisis in Madagascar boosted the country by 17 places. It stood at 64th position.

In Europe, Georgia continued to rise for the third year by securing 69th position, up by 15 places.

In 86th place, Ivory Coast was up by 15 places. It continued to emerge from the political and social crisis that plunged the country into full-scale civil war in 2010.

Nepal at 105th position was up by 15 places as the country witnessed drop in violence by the security forces against journalists, especially at demonstrations.

Tunisia rose seven places to achieve 126th rank, a relative increase although in absolute terms the country stagnated.

A cause for satisfaction was Brazil which rose by 12 places to get 99th rank in the index.

In America, Mexico managed to pull itself up four places, it got 148th rank.

Top 10 in WPFI 2015

Rank Country Overall Score

1 Finland 7.52

2 Norway 7.75

3 Denmark 8.24

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Current Affairs


4 Netherlands 9.22

5 Sweden 9.47

6 New Zealand 10.06

7 Austria 10.85

8 Canada 10.99

9 Jamaica 11.18

10 Estonia 11.19

India in World Press Freedom Index 2015

In WPFI 2015, India has shown improvement from its rank of 140 in 2014. However,

Indias overall score declined from 40.34 to 40.49. In 2014, India stood at 140th

position.

About World Press Freedom Index (WPFI)

World Press Freedom Index is produced by France-based international non-governmental organization Reporters Without Borders (RWB). WPFI aims to

promotes and defends freedom of information and freedom of the press.

The WPFI ranks the performance of countries according to index calculated based upon various parameters.

These parameters include media pluralism and independence, respect for the safety and freedom of journalists and the legislative, institutional and infrastructural

environment in which the media operate.

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Current Affairs


India, Sri Lanka signed agreements on Civil Nuclear Cooperation

India and Sri Lanka on 16 February 2015 signed bilateral agreements on civil nuclear

cooperation, cultural cooperation and cooperation in the field of Agriculture. Besides, an agreement was also signed for Sri Lankas participation in the Nalanda University

Project.

India and Sri Lanka also agreed to expand defence and strategic cooperation,

including a trilateral format with the Maldives.

The agreement was signed during Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena four-day

visit to India.

Agreement on Civil Nuclear Cooperation

This agreement will facilitate the transfer and exchange of knowledge, expertise and resources in peaceful use of Nuclear energy between both nations.

India will assist Sri Lanka in developing its civil nuclear energy infrastructure including training of personnel in peaceful use of nuclear energy, use of radioisotopes,

nuclear safety, radiation safety and nuclear security.

It will also facilitate cooperation in radioactive waste management and nuclear and radiological disaster mitigation and environmental protection.

This is the first such agreement signed by Sri Lanka.

Other Agreements

The agreement on Cultural cooperation was signed between both the nations for the years 2015-18. It seeks to enhance cooperation in different fields like arts, visuals arts, cultural documentation, archaeology, handicrafts, etc.

A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed on establishment of Nalanda University. It will enable Sri Lanka to participate in Indias Nalanda University

project.

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Current Affairs


Another MoU was signed between both the nations on cooperation in the field of Agriculture. It will facilitate bilateral cooperation in Agro Processing, Agricultural

extension, horticulture, agricultural machinery, training in farm mechanization,

livestock diseases, etc.

Comment

The agreement on civil nuclear cooperation between India and Sri Lanka may prove

to be a game changer in the South Asia region and is a sign of a closer strategic

partnership between Sri Lankas government led by Srisena and India.

Also, Srisena making his first official visit to India after becoming the President signifies the importance which the new government in Sri Lanka attaches to India as a regional ally following years of uneasy relations with India.

Further, this is a good sign for stronger and healthy ties between the two countries,

especially given Indias growing fear of Chinas proximity to Sri Lanka, which is

perceived as a security threat for India.

Union Government accepted 14th Finance Commission recommendations

Union Government in the third week of February 2015 accepted the recommendations

of the 14th Finance Commission. The commission headed by former Reserve Bank

of India (RBI) Governor Dr. YV Reddy seeks to provide more power to the states for

their progress.

This devolution of more share of revenue to states through tax revenue is an indicator

of Union Governments commitment to move away from One Size Fits All approach.

Recommendations of the 14th Finance Commission

Tax devolution should be the primary route for transfer of resources to the states

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Current Affairs


The increased devolution of the divisible pool of taxes is a compositional shift in transfers from grants to tax devolution

The panel recommended horizontal distribution by using broad parameters like population (1971) and changes in population since then, income distance, forest

cover and area among others

Distribution of grants to States and local body was recommended by using 2011 population data with weight of 90 percent and area with weight of 10 percent

Grants to States should be divided into two and they are

a) Grant to duly constituted Gram Panchayats

b) Grant to duly constituted municipal bodies

Grants should be divided into two parts and they include, basic grants depending upon the performance of the gram panchayats and municipal bodies. The ration

of basic to performance grant is 90:10 for Panchayats and 80:20 for municipalities

It recommended a total grant of 287436 core rupees for a five-year period. Of this fund, 200292 crore rupees will go for panchayats while the remainder will go to

the municipalities

It views there is a need to change the sharing pattern in respect to various Centrally-sponsored schemes. It wants the stats to share a greater fiscal responsibility for the implementation of such schemes.

The 14th Finance Commission

The 14th Finance Commission (FFC) was constituted by the orders of President on

2 January 2013 in accordance to the Article 280 of the Constitution of India. The

commission submitted its report with recommendations to the President Pranab

Mukherjee on 15 December 2014.

The commission was formed to suggest recommendations for the period from 1 April

2015 to 31 March 2020.

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Terms of Reference of 14th Finance Commission

The resources of the Central Government, for five years commencing on 1 April 2015, on the basis of levels of taxation and non-tax revenues likely to be reached

during 2014-2015

The demands on the resources of the Central Government, in particular, on account of the expenditure on civil administration, defence, internal and border security,

debt-servicing and other committed expenditure and liabilities

The resources of the State Governments and the demands on such resources under different heads, including the impact of debt levels on resource availability

in debt stressed states, for the five years commencing on 1 April 2015, on the basis of levels of taxation and non-tax revenues likely to be reached during 2014-

15

The objective of not only balancing the receipts and expenditure on revenue account of all the States and the Union, but also generating surpluses for capital

investment

The taxation efforts of the Central Government and each State Government and the potential for additional resource mobilisation to improve the tax Gross Domestic

Product ratio in the case of Union and tax-Gross State Domestic Product ratio in

the case of the States

The level of subsidies that is required, having regard to the need for sustainable and inclusive growth, and equitable sharing of subsidies between the Central

Government and State Governments

The expenditure on the non-salary component of maintenance and upkeep of capital assets and the non-wage related maintenance expenditure on plan

schemes to be completed by 31st March, 2015 and the norms on the basis of

which specific amounts are recommended for the maintenance of the capital assets and the manner of monitoring such expenditure

The need for insulating the pricing of public utility services like drinking water, irrigation, power and public transport from policy fluctuations through statutory

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provisions

The need for making the public sector enterprises competitive and market oriented; listing and disinvestment; and relinquishing of non-priority enterprises

The need to balance management of ecology, environment and climate change consistent with sustainable economic development

The impact of the proposed Goods and Services Tax on the finances of Centre and States and the mechanism for compensation in case of any revenue loss.

1st Finance Commission of India constituted in 1951 was chaired by K.C. Neogy. Its

plan was operational during 195257.

13th Finance Commission constituted in 2007 was chaired by Dr. Vijay L. Kelkar,

Former Union Finance Secretary and Adviser to the Finance Minister. Its plan was

operational during 20102015.

Centre for Science and Environment released a report titled Heat on Power

The Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) on 22 February 2015 released a report

titled Heat on Power. The report claims that Indian coal-based thermal power plants

are one of the most inefficient in the world.

The report was released by MS Swaminathan, the father of Indias Green Revolution.

It was released after a two-year-long research study conducted under CSEs Green

Rating Project (GRP).

This study on coal sector in India, which evaluates its environmental performance

and compliance, is first of its kind in India. The study was conducted with an aim to give a clear picture of the environmental performance of the coal sector.

Findings of the study

Inefficient resources use and technological backwardness lead to high levels of

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pollution. There is immense scope for improvement

Plants are operating at 60-70 percent capacity only, if capacity utilisation is improved, sector can meet additional power requirement without building new

plants

Delhi- based NTPCs Badarpur plant one of the most polluting in the country

55 percent of the units were violating air pollution standards which are already extremely lax Particulate Matter (PM) norms are at 150-350 mg/Nm3 (milligram

per normal metre cube) compared to Chinese norms of 30 mg/Nm3.

Fly ash disposal is the major problem, as 50 to 60 percent of 170 million tonnes of fly ash that is produced by this sector is ustilised while the rest is dumped into poorly managed ash ponds, resulting in polluting land, air and water

River and reservoirs of 20 plants were found to be polluted by ash slurry, which is a toxic heavy metal

40 percent of plants do not meet the basic Total Suspended Solid (TSS) norms for effluents discharged by them

60 percent of plants had not installed effluent and sewage treatment plants

36 of the 47 plants were unable to meet the Ministry of Environment and Forest (MoEF) mandated target of utilising 90 percent of the solid waste (ash) generated

average use was only 54 percent.

On the occasion of release of the report, three top power plants were awarded for

their environmental performance, while two others received awards for their efficient use of resources such as energy and water.

Top performers included West Bengal-based CESC-Budge Budge, JSEWL-Toranagallu

(Karnataka), Tata-Trombay (Maharashtra) and JSW-Ratnagiri (Maharashtra). They

scored between 45-50 per cent.

Tata-Mundra (Gujarat) received an award for having the highest energy efficiency, while Gujarat Industries Power Company Ltd (GIPCL), Surat, won an award for lowest

water use.

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Green Rating Project

Green Rating Project is one of the very few public-disclosure projects in the world

in which a non-governmental, non-industry organisation rates the environmental

performance of industries and makes the results public.

The project was started in 1997 and till date has rated five major industrial sectors of India including pulp and paper, iron and steel, chlor-alkali, cement and automobiles.

The coal-based power sector is the sixth it has rated.

Oscar Awards 2015

87th Academy Award, popularly called Oscar Awards, was conferred on 22 February

2015. The award ceremony was held at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles.

The Oscar Awards for the year 2015 were presented by the Academy of Motion

Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in 24 categories.

The awards were produced by Neil Meron and Craig Zadan and directed by Hamish

Hamilton. Actor Neil Patrick Harris hosted the ceremony for the first time.

The list of winners of 87th Academy Awards

Best Picture: Birdman

Best Director: Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu for Birdman

Best Actor: Eddie Redmayne for The Theory of Everything

Best Actress: Julianne Moore for Still Alice

Best Supporting Actor: JK Simmons for Whiplash

Best Supporting Actress: Patricia Arquette for Boyhood

Achievement in Costume Design: Milena Canonero for The Grand Budapest Hotel

Achievement in Makeup and Hairstyling: Frances Hannon and Mark Coulier for

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The Grand Budapest Hotel

Best Foreign Language Film: Ida directed by Pawel Pawlikowski

Best Live Action Short Film: The Phone Call

Best Documentary Short Subject: Crisis Hotline: Veterans Press 1

Original Screenplay: Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, Nicolas Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris, Armando Bo for Birdman

Achievement in Sound Mixing: Craig Mann, Ben Wilkins, Thomas Curley for Whiplash

Achievement in Sound Editing: Alan Robert Murray Bub Asman for American Sniper

Achievement in Visual Effects: Ian Hunter, Scott Fisher, Andrew Lockley and Paul Franklin for Interstellar

Best Animated Short Film: Feast directed by Patrick Osborne and Kristina Reed

Best Animated Movie: Big Hero Six 6

Achievement in Production Design: Adam Stockhausen and Anna Pinnock for The Grand Budapest Hotel

Achievement in Cinematograph: Emannuel Lubezki for Birdman

Achievement in Film Editing: Tom Cross for Whipalsh

Best Documentary Feature: Citizen Four directed by Laura Poitras

Best Original Song: John Stephens and Lonnie Lynn for Glory

Best Original Score: Alexandre Desplat for The Grand Budapest Hotel

Best Adapted Screenplay: Graham Moore for The Imitation Game

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Delhi Legislative Assembly elections 2015

Ram Niwas Goel elected as Speaker of Delhi Legislative Assembly

Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLA Ram Niwas Goel was on 23 February 2015 unanimously

elected as the Speaker of the Delhi Legislative Assembly. While AAP legislator

Bandana Kumari was elected as the Deputy Speaker of the House.

In the Delhi Assembly election 2015, Ram Niwas Goel was elected from Shahdara

constituency of Delhi. He defeated Bhartiya Janta Partys Jitender Singh Shunty by a

margin of over 11000 votes.

Bandana Kumari is an AAP MLA from Shalimar Bagh constituency. In Delhi assembly

election 2015, she defeated BJPs Rekha Gupta by a vote margin of 10978.

Their appointment was announced by pro-tem Speaker Fateh Singh who presided the

session of assembly for electing Speaker and Deputy Speaker of the Delhi Legislative

Assembly.

Arvind Kejriwal sworn-in as Chief Minister of Delhi

Arvind Kejriwal on 14 February 2015 was sworn-in as Chief Minister of Delhi.

The oath of office and secrecy was administered by Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung at Ramlila Ground, Delhi.

Other than Arvind Kejriwal, six other party members Manish Sisodia, Satyendra Jain,

Jitendra Tomar, Gopal Rai, Sandeep Kumar and Asim Ahmed Khan were administered

oath as Cabinet Ministers.

President of India Pranab Mukherjee on 13 February 2015 appointed Arvind Kejriwal

as the Chief Minister of the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi.

With the appointment, President of India revoked the order of Presidents rule with

effect from 14 February 2015. The orders of Presidents rule in National Capital

Territory of Delhi were issued earlier on 16 February 2014, under Article 239AB of the

Constitution.

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Also, he had appointed six AAP leaders as ministers on the advice of the Chief

Minister.

Portfolio of Delhi Cabinet:

Arvind Kejriwal: Chief Minister

Manish Sisodia: Deputy Chief Minister, Finance & Planning, Education, UD, Revenue

& any other department that is not allocated to any Minister

Sandeep Kumar: Women and child Social Welfare, Language, SC/ST

Gopal Rai: Transport, Development, Labour, General Administration Department and

Employement

Asim Ahmed Khan: Food and Civil Supply, Environment and Forest and Election

Jitender Singh Tomar: Law and Justice, Home, Tourism, Art and Culture

Satyendar Jain: Power, Health, Industries, PWD and IFC

He became 7th Chief Minister of Delhi as a person and 10th Chief Minister as tenure

wise.

List of Chief Ministers of Delhi

S.No. Chief Ministers Name Took Office Tenure

1. Chaudhary Brahm Prakash 1952 One

2. G N Singh 1955 One

3. MadanLal Khurana 1993 One

4. Sahib Singh Verma 1996 One

5. Sushma Swaraj 1998 One

6. Sheila Dikshit 1998 Three

7. Arvind Kejriwal 2013 Two

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Delhi Legislative Assembly elections 2015 results

The Election Commission of India (ECI) on 10 February 2015 declared the results of

Delhi Legislative Assembly Elections 2015.

Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) headed by Arvind Kejriwal secured absolute majority in the

assembly by winning 67 seats in the house of 70 seats.

2015 Delhi Legislative Assembly elections results

Aam Aadmi Party (AAP): Won 67 seats with vote share of 54.3 percent. With this, AAP became the first party in Delhi to win with 67 seats in the history of Delhi assembly elections.

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP): Won 3 seats with vote share of 32.3 percent.

Indian National Congress (INC), Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), Indian National Lok Dal and Independents did not win any seat with vote

share of 9.7 percent, 1.3 percent, 0.5 percent, 0.6 percent, 0.5 percent respectively.

There were 35924 people (0.4 percent voters) who went for NOTA button.

35th National Games concluded in Thiruvananthapuram

35th National Games concluded in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala on 14 February

2015. On the final day of the Games on 13 February 2015, hosts Kerala won five Gold medals, five Silver medals and four Bronze medals.

The concluding ceremony of the 35th National Games was held at the greenfield stadium at Kariavattom on the outskirts of Thiruvananthapuram.

Kerala Governor Justice P Sathasivam was the chief guest on the occasion. The

concluding ceremony saw a cultural programme titled Rivers of India, with the theme

protecting the rivers as highlight.

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The top five positions in medal tally

Gold Silver Bronze Total

Services 91 33 35 159

Kerala 54 48 60 162

Haryana 40 40 27 107

Maharashtra 30 43 50 123

Punjab 27 34 32 93

In all the 35th National Games saw disbursal of 1334 medals comprising of 405 Gold,

406 Silver and 523 Bronze medals respectively.

Services by topping the medal tally set the record of topping the National Games for

the third consecutive time. It won the Raja Bhalendra Singh Trophy.

The 36th National Games will be hosted by Goa in 2016. The 34th National Games

were hosted by Jharkhand in 2011.

About 35th National Games

The 35th National Games were held in Kerala from 31 January 2015 to 14 February

2015. The Games was formally inaugurated by the Union Urban Development Minister

Venkaiah Naidu at the Green Field Stadium in Kariavattom on the outskirts of the

capital Thiruvananthapuram.

Cricketing legend Sachin Tendulkar was the chief guest of the inauguration event.

The National Games saw 33 discipline of sport and was held at 30 venues spread

over seven districts of the state. This was the first time that the National Games were held in more than one district.

Mascot: The Great Hornbill, or the Great Indian Hornbill, the State bird of Kerala

Logo: A unique mnemonic that uses a distinctive visual device, a customized

typography and a youthful colour palette to captures the renewed spirit of the Games

and the true essence of the host State, Kerala

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Philosphy: Get Set Play

Goodwill Ambassador: Sachin Tendulkar

Producer Daggubati Ramanaidu died

Noted film producer and Dada Saheb Phalke award winner Daggubati Ramanaidu died on 18 February 2015 in a hospital of Hyderabad. He was 78.

He was suffering from prostate cancer.

Ramanaidu is survived by his sons Suresh Babu (producer), Venkatesh (actor) and

grandson Rana Daggubati (actor).

Daggubati Ramanaidu

He held the Guinness World record for producing the highest number of films (over 150) in several languages like Telugu, Hindi, Malayalam, Tamil, Kannada,

Oriya, Punjabi and English.

Later in his career, he turned to politics and was the Telugu Desam Member of Parliament from Bapatla in Guntur in the 13th Lok Sabha between 1999 and 2004

He owned a production house, named Suresh Productions Pvt. Ltd

In 2013, he was awarded with the Padma Bhushan, Indias third highest civilian award

In 2009, he received the Dadasaheb Phalke, Indian cinemas highest honour

He was born on 6 June 1936 in Karamchedu, Madras Presidency of British India

Some of his famous films were Staten Island (in English), Dilwaala (in Hindi), Hum Aapke Dil Mein Rehte Hain (in Hindi), Kuch Tum Kaho Kuch Hum Kahein (in Hindi),

Asukh (in Bengali), Jeevana Tarangalu (in Telugu), Soggadu (in Telugu), Preminchu (in

Telugu), Dharama Devatha (in Oriya), Aswaradoon (in Malayalam), Singh vs Kaur (in

Punjabi) and others.

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US Federal Communications Commission approved Net Neutrality Rules to protect Open Internet

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) of the United States (US) on 26

February 2015 voted to implement the Net Neutrality Rules.

In the five-member FCC, three commissioners voted in favour of rules whereas two commissioners voted against it. The Rules were proposed by the FCC Chairman Tom

Wheeler.

The rules seek to make sure that Internet Service Providers (ISPs) in the US treat all

legal content equally so as to preserve the Internet as a platform for innovation, free

expression and economic growth.

Features of the Net Neutrality Rules

Broadband access has been classified as a telecommunication service which means that it will be subject to much heavier regulation

Broadband providers cannot block or speed up connections for a fee

The rules bars internet providers from any deals with content firms, known as paid prioritisation, for smoother delivery of traffic to consumers

Interconnection deals have been regulated. Interconnection deals means a place where content companies pay broadband providers to connect to their networks

Firms that feel that they are levied with unjust fees can complain to the FCC in which each case will be dealt with on a case by case basis

These rules are also applied to mobile providers as well as fixed line providers

These rules are guided by three principles, namely Americas broadband networks

must be fast, fair and open. The principles were shared by a majority of nearly 4

million people who participated in the FCCs Open Internet proceeding.

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About Net Neutrality

Net neutrality also known as Internet neutrality is the principle that Internet service

providers and governments should treat all data on the Internet equally, not

discriminating or charging differentially by user, content, site, platform, application,

type of attached equipment, or mode of communication.

The term was coined by Columbia University media law professor Tim Wuin 2003 as

an extension of the longstanding concept of a common carrier.

Union Budget 2015-16: Highlights

Union Finance Minister, Arun Jaitley on 28 February 2015 presented Union Budget

2015-16 in the Lok Sabha. This was the first full year Budget of the NDA government and the second budget of Arun Jaitley.

Highlights of the Union Budget 2015-16

Gross tax receipts of 14.49 lakh crore rupees

Non-planned expenditure was 1312200 crore rupees

Corporate tax was reduced to 25 percent over next four years from existing 30 percent

Defence allocation for fiscal 2015-16 is 246727 crore rupees

100 percent tax deduction for contribution to Swachh Bharat Fund

Service tax hiked by 14 percent

34699 crore rupees allocated for MNREGA, which is highest ever allocation to the programme

Yoga was included in the ambit of charitable purposes under the Income Tax Act

Custom duty on 22 items will be reduced

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People will have to quote their PAN for all purchases above 1 lakh rupees

AIIMS will be set up in five states namely Jammu & Kashmir, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Himachal Pradesh and Assam

Centres for film production will be created in Arunachal Pradesh

Law under FEMA on capital account transactions will be amended

National skill development mission to be launched

By 2022 there is plan to produce 175000 MW renewable energy

Visa on arrival extended to 150 countries

1000 crore rupees more allocated to Nirbhaya fund

Transport allowance increased to 1600 rupees per month

To increase clean energy cess of 220 rupees per tonne of coal

Online excise & service tax registrations in 2 working days

Wealth tax has been abolished, replaced by 2 percent on superrich

9000 crore rupees from additional 2 percent surcharge on the super rich

1008 crore rupees was collected under total wealth tax

GARR will be deferred by 2 years

Benami transactions in property deals will be curbed

7-year imprisonment for non-filing of return on foreign asset

300 percent penalty on concealing income

Undisclosed income to be taxed on maximum marginal rate

New law to tackle black money

Sovereign gold bond with fixed rate of interest will be developed

Gold monetization scheme will be introduced

Internationally competitive direct tax regime will be created

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Public debt management agency will be created

5 ultra-mega power projects, each of 4000MW

To enable minority youth, a new scheme named Nayi Manzil will be started

Investment on infrastructure to go up by 70000 crore rupees

Integrated education and livelihood scheme for minorities were announced

New scheme for assisted living devices for BPL senior citizen

Senior citizens welfare fund will be created

Access to the formal credit system will be increased

Universal social security system will be created

Micro unit development finance unit MUDRA Bank will be created

25000 crore rupees allocated for rural infrastructure development fund

National unified market for farm produce will be created

5300 crore rupees allocated for micro irrigation and PMs irrigation scheme

Total transfer to the states will be 62 percent

Will Form A Monetary Policy Committee

At least 1 member of each family to have job by 2022

Electrification of remaining 20000 villages by 2020

GST will be rolled out on 1 April 2016

Railway Budget 2015-16: Highlights

Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu on 26 February 2015 presented the Railway Budget

2015-16 in the Lok Sabha. In his first Railway Budget, Prabhu outlined a plan to invest over 8 lakh crore rupees over 5 years.

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The size of the Plan Budget has gone up by 52 percent from 65789 crore rupees in

2014-15 to 100011 crore rupees in 2015-16.

9 thrust areas of the Budget includes

Indian Railway to become prime mover of economy once again

Resource Mobilization for higher Investments

Decongestion of heavy haul routes and speeding up of trains: emphasis on gauge conversion, doubling, tripling and electrification

Project Delivery

Passenger Amenities

Safety

Transparency & System Improvement

Railways to continue to be the preferred mode of transport for the masses

Sustainability

Four goals for Indian Railways to transform over next five years

To deliver a sustained and measurable improvement in customer experience.

To make Rail a safer means of travel.

To expand Bhartiya Rails capacity substantially and modernise infrastructure: for this purpose daily passenger carrying capacity will be increased from 21 million

to 30 million. Track length will also be increased by 20 percent from 114000 km

to 138000 km. Annual freight carrying capacity will be grown from 1 billion to 1.5

billion tonnes.

To make Bhartiya Rail financially self-sustainable.

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Key Highlights of the Railway Budget 2015-16

No increase in passenger fares

Passengers can book tickets 120 days in advance instead of 60 days which was available till date

Outlay for passenger amenities increased by 67 percent

New train sets that can save 20 percent journey time will be introduced in future. These trains will be similar to bullet trains in design but can run on the existing

tracks

The speed passenger trains across nine corridors will be increased to 160-200 km from 110 km

SMS alert will be introduced for train timings and under this passengers will be informed in advance the updated arrival or departure time of the trains at starting

or destination stations

Air-conditioned coaches for suburban trains will be introduced

Wi-fi will be available at 400 railway stations

Railways Intends to set up an Innovation Council called Kayakalp for Purpose of Business Re-Engineering

Railways Proposes to set up Malaviya Chair for Railway Technology at IIT (BHU), Varanasi

Bidding system will be used for redevelopment of stations

10 satellite railway stations will be developed in 2015-16

800 km of gauge conversion will be commissioned

E-catering introduced in 108 trains can be accessed by ordering on IRCTC website

Water vending machines will be expanded on more stations

Onboard entertainment facility will be extended on Shatabdi trains

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General class coaches will see introduction of mobile charging stations

For benefit of the common man, more general class coaches will be added to select trains

Pension funds, multi-lateral banks have evinced interest in Railways

Proposed the best operating ratio in nine years, of 88.5 per cent for 2015-16

Track capacity will be increased by 10 percent to 1.38 lakh kilometers

Feasibility report of high speed train between Mumbai and Ahmedabad is expected by mid 2015

To ease private investment, wagon-making scheme will be reviewed

All India 24x7 grievances helpline 138 will be started

Bio-toilets will replace more than 7000 toilets, while 650 stations will get new toilets

Passenger travelling unreserved can produce a ticket within 5 minutes and for this purpose Operation Five Minutes will be introduced

To address complaints of people Mobile application is being developed

Integrated tickets will be introduced

Hand-held devices will be introduced for ticket checkers; it is move towards paperless ticketing

In next 2 years, centrally managed railway display network will be introduced in over 2000 stations

Rail-cum-road ticket to be extended in many stations

Rail connectivity will be enhanced in North Eastern states

To aid expanding freight handling capacity and provide end-to-end logistic solutions, Transport Logistic Corporation of India will be set up

PPP model will be used to augment resources and generate more employment

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6608 kilometer of track will be electrified

96182 crrore rupees will be spent to expand capacity of 9420 km rail lines

For women safety, CCTVs will be introduced in selected trains and suburban trains

Train Protection Warning System and Train Collision Avoidance System will be installed on select routes at the earliest

Projects for rail connectivity to many ports and mines

Foreign Rail Technology Cooperation Scheme will be launched in order to achieve the higher quality service

Programme to improve design, quality and cleanliness of bed linen will be launched within the next six months

Anil Kumble and Betty Wilson inducted into ICC Cricket Hall of Fame

Former India captain Anil Kumble and Australian legend Betty Wilson on 22 February

2015 were inducted into the International Cricket Council Hall of Fame at the

Melbourne Cricket Ground, Australia.

Kumble and Wilson became the 77th and 78th inductees into the Hall of Fame.

The 44-year-old Kumble is the fourth Indian to be included in the elite group other

three includes Sunil Gavaskar, Kapil Dev and Bishan Bedi. Wilson is the second

Australian woman in the Hall of Fame behind Belinda Clark. Wilson was given the

honour posthumously.

About Anil Kumble

He had played 132 Tests for India and captured 619 wicket

A right-arm leg spin (leg break googly) bowler, Kumble with 619 wickets is the third-highest wicket taker in Test cricket, only behind Muttiah Muralitharan (800)

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and Shane Warne (708)

He is the second man in history of cricket to take 10-wickets in an innings. He dismantled Pakistan in 1999 to finish with figures of 10 for 74

Betty Wilson

Wilson is considered as one of the greatest female cricketers of all-time

She played 11 tests between 1947 and 1958 and scored 862 runs and claimed 68 wickets

In 1957 against England, she became the first cricketer (male or female) to score a century and take 10 wickets in a Test

Wilson passed away on 22 January 2010, aged 88

Australian Open 2015

Australian Open 2015 came to an end on 1 February 2015 at Melbourne, Australia.

Novak Djokovic of Serbia and Serena Williams of the US won the mens and womens

single title, respectively.

In the final clash for the title, Novak Djokovic won his fifth Australian Open title by defeating Andy Murray of Britain 7-6(5), 6-7(4), 6-3, 6-0. On the other hand, Serena

Williams defeated Maria Sharapova (Russia) 6-3, 7-6(5) to claim her sixth Australian

Open and 19th Grand Slam title.

With this win, World Number 1 Djokovic became the most decorated Australian Open

champion of the Open era, surpassing Andre Agassi and Roger Federers quartet

of titles. Now only Roy Emerson, with six, stands above him in the mens all-time

records.

Results of other categories at Australian Open

Mens Doubles title: Italian pair Simone Boleli and Fabio Foginidefeated French

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pair Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut 6-4, 6-4. Boleli and Fogini is the

first all-Italian team to win a Grand Slam Mens Doubles title in more than 50 years. The last Italians to win a mens doubles title at a major were Nicola Pietrangeli and

Orlando Sirola at the 1959 French Open.

Womens Doubles title: American-Czech pair Bethanie Mattek-Sands(the US) and Lucie Safarova (Czech Republic) defeated Chinese-Taiwan pair Zheng Jie (China)

and Chan Yung-jan (Taiwan) 6-4, 7-6 (7-5). This was the first grand slam womens title for Mattek-Sands and Lucie Safarova and was the first new pairing to win the womens doubles title at Melbourne Park since 2005

Mixed Doubles title: Indo-Swiss pair Leander Paes (India) and Martina Hingis (Switzerland) defeated Canadian-French team of Daniel Nestor(Canada) and

Kristina Mladenovic (France), in straight sets, 6-4, 6-3. This was Leanders third

Mixed Doubles title at the Australian Open and 15th overall. For Martina, it was the

ninth title at Melbourne.

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UNSC adopted Resolution 2201 demanding Houthis withdrawal from Yemens government institutions

United Nation Security Council (UNSC) on 15 February 2015 adopted theResolution

2201 demanding immediate and unconditional withdrawal of Houthis from the

government institutions of Yemen.

The resolution was brought after the UN Secretary-General Ban ki-Moon had warned

the 15-member UNSC that Yemen was collapsing under the weight of a protracted

political crisis, widespread attacks by Al-Qaida, increasing secessionist tendencies

in the south and an acute humanitarian crisis.

Main Highlights of the Resolution

The resolution demanded Houthis to safely release President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi and all others from house arrest, and engage in good faith in UN-brokered

negotiations designed to keep the fracturing Middle Eastern country on a steady

path towards democratic transition.

The Council strongly deplored actions by the Houthis, who had gained control of the capital Sanaa in September 2014, to dissolve parliament and take over

Government institutions.

The resolution urged all parties to agree upon and publicly announce dates for completing the constitutional consultation process, hold a referendum on the text

and conduct elections under the new electoral law.

It strongly called on all parties, in particular the Houthis, to abide by the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Initiative and its Implementation Mechanism, as well

INTERNATIONAL

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as the outcomes of the comprehensive National Dialogue Conference, and the

Peace and National Partnership Agreement, which provided for a Yemeni-led

democratic transition.

The Council also demanded that all parties cease armed hostilities against the people and legitimate authorities of Yemen, and relinquish arms seized from

military and security institutions.

Stressing the importance of the United Nations cooperation with international partners, the Council requested the Secretary-General to propose options for

strengthening the office of the Special Adviser.

It also called on Secretary-General to propose options on UN assistance for finalizing and adopting the Constitution in Yemen, carrying out electoral reform and holding general elections.

Background

Yemen has been beset by unrest for months. The country has been marred by fights between Houthis militias and Yemen government.

The Houthis, who adhere to a branch of Shia Islam known as Zaidism, have staged

periodic uprisings since 2004 in an effort to win greater autonomy for their northern

heartland of Saada province.

They consolidated their control over Saada during the 2011 uprising that forced long-

time President Ali Abdullah Saleh to step down.

In September 2014, they gained control of Sanaa, the capital of Yemen.

Houthis accuse President Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi and other leaders of putting

their interests ahead of the Yemeni people. However, the opponents allege that the

rebels ultimately hope to reinstall the Zaidi imamate, which ruled North Yemen for

almost 1000 years until 1962.

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Russia and Cyprus signed an agreement to allow Russian navy ships to use Cypriot ports

Russia and on 25 February 2015 signed an agreement to give Russian navy ships

access to Cypriot ports in the Mediterranean Sea. Russian ships that will dock at

Cypriot ports would mostly be used in counter-terrorism and anti-piracy efforts.

The agreement was signed in Moscow after talks between Russian President Vladimir

Putin and Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades.

The military deal also included the possibility of Russia using an air base on Cyprus

for humanitarian relief missions.

Why the deal is important for Russia?

It would end the search of Russia for building a base in Mediterranean Sea since it

had lost a military base on Syrias Coast during fighting between anti-government rebels and troops loyal to President Bashar al-Assad.

Further, in the wake of plummeting of ties between Russia and the West over Ukraine

crisis, Russia has sought to strengthen ties with a number of individual EU members

including Cyprus, Hungary and Greece.

The relations between Russia and Cyprus

Cyprus is heavily dependent on Russian investment and has been a destination for

cash from Russia. Earlier in the last week of February 2015, Russia restructured a 2.5

billion euro (2.8 billion US dollars) loan to Cyprus it signed in 2011. The restructuring

included cutting the annual interest rate to 2.5 percent from 4.5 percent and extending

the redemption period to 2018-2021.

According to Global Financial Integrity, illicit money flows from Russia to Cyprus amounted to at least 211.5 billion US dollars during the period 1994 2011.

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Parliament of Jamaica passed a law to decriminalise marijuana for personal use

Parliament of Jamaica on 25 February 2015 passed a law to decriminalise the

possession of small amount of marijuana up to 57 grams for personal use.

Marijuana is widely grown in Jamaica and has cultural roots there. The country is also

the biggest exporter of marijuana to the United States among Caribbean countries.

Provisions of the law

It allows Jamaicas Rastafarians to use marijuana for religious purposes. The plant is regarded as sacred by members of the faith and has been celebrated in the

islands reggae music.

It paves the way for establishing Cannabis Licensing Authority to deal with regulating the cultivation and distribution of marijuana for medical and scientific purposes in Jamaica.

It makes possession of up to 2 ounces of marijuana a petty offense that can result in a ticket but not in a criminal record.

Cultivation of five or fewer plants of Marijuana on any premises will be permitted.

Tourists who are prescribed medical marijuana abroad will soon be able to apply for permits authorizing them to legally buy small amounts of Jamaican weed.

Background

This move by Jamaican lawmakers is in line with the international trend of easing

restrictions on marijuana for medical or personal use.

Uruguay was the first country in the world to approve the growth, sale and distribution of marijuana. In United States, states like Alaska, Colorado, and Washington have

legalised the sale and possession of marijuana for both medical and non-medical

use.

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Mexico, Colombia and Argentina have also decriminalised the possession of small

amounts of marijuana.

House of Lords of UK passed a legislation allowing creation of babies using DNA of three people

House of Lords of the United Kingdom (UK) on 24 February 2015 passed a legislation

allowing creation of babies using DNA of three people, which is also called mitochondria

donation procedure. The House of Lords voted in favour of the Bill that amends the

Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act (HFEA), 1990.

With this, United Kingdom became the first country to legalise the creation of three-parent IVF designer babies using Mitochondrial Donation Technique. The first baby may be born as early as in 2016.

Earlier on 3 February 2015, House of Commons voted in favour of the Bill. Now UKs

fertility regulator Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) will decide

how to license the procedure to prevent babies inheriting deadly genetic diseases.

Significance of the Bill

The law is aimed at preventing serious inherited diseases being passed on from

mother to child. This procedure will help in giving a permanent change to the hereditary

problems that have passed on through the generations.

This change in IVF law can help 2500 women of reproductive age in Britain with

hereditary mitochondrial diseases. Now in United Kingdom, women with hereditary

mitochondrial diseases will be able to give birth to healthy babies without transferring

their hereditary diseases.

Mitochondrial Donation Technique does not allow passage of defective mitochondria

from mother to babies. Thus, preventing new born babies from dangerous diseases

related brain damage, muscle wasting, heart failure and blindness due to defective

mitochondria.

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US announced to allow work permits to spouses of H-1B visa holders from May 2015

The United States (US) on 24 February 2015 announced that it would allow work

permits to spouses of H-1B visa holders from 26 May 2015.

The move will benefit thousands of talented and professional Indian spouses who come to America but are unable to work.

Currently, spouses of H-1B visa-holders are not eligible to work. However, The U.S.

Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) will begin accepting applications for

work visas from H-1B spouses from 26 May 2015.

The USCIS said the Department of Homeland Security was extending the eligibility

for employment authorisation (EAD) to certain H4 dependent spouses of H-1B non-

immigrants who are seeking employment-based Permanent Residency.

Eligible individuals include certain H4 dependent spouses of H-1B non-immigrants

who are the beneficiaries of an approved Form I-140, Immigrant Petition for Alien Worker, or satisfy at least one or more of the three conditions.

The conditions include that the principal H-1B worker must have an approved I-140

or be currently on an extended H-1B status beyond the six-year limitation based

upon an I-140 petition application pending for at least 365 days.

Once USCIS approves the Form I-765 and the H4 dependent spouse receives an

Employment Authorisation Card, he or she may begin working in the United States.

USCIS estimates the number of individuals eligible to apply for employment

authorisation under this rule could be as high as 179600 in the first year and 55000 annually in subsequent years.

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Parliament of Thailand passed a law to ban commercial surrogacy for foreigners

Parliament of Thailand (National Legislative Assembly) on 19 February 2015 passed a

law banning commercial surrogacy, putting a halt on foreign couples seeking to have

children through Thai surrogate mothers. The parliament voted 160 to 2 to pass the

law.

The legislation is aimed at ending rent-a-womb industry that made the Southeast

Asian country a top destination for fertility tourism.

Provisions of law banning commercial surrogacy

It completely bans foreign couples seeking to have children through Thai surrogate mothers.

Only married Thai couples or couples with one Thai partner who have been married at least three years can seek surrogacy.

It allows a Thai couple to seek a surrogate to carry the fetus only if they are able to prove that they and their relatives are infertile.

It also forbids any middlemen or agencies, receiving any assets or benefits through the surrogacy process.

It also says that anyone violating this law will face a maximum jail sentence of 10 years and a maximum fine of 6100 US dollars. Agents will also face imprisonment, if caught.

It puts a ban on advertising and promotions, shuts down surrogate agents and unregistered clinics.

Background

Earlier in November 2014, Thailands Parliament voted a draft bill to ban commercial

surrogacy. This draft bill was formulated to regulate the illegal commercial surrogacy

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after outrage erupted over this unregulated industry.

This industry came under intense scrutiny after a series of surrogacy scandals broke

in the country involving foreigners.

Manuel Valls headed Socialist Government in France won confi-dence vote over market reforms

Frances Socialist Government headed by Prime Minister Manuel Valls on 19 February

2015 won the confidence vote over market reforms.

The no-confidence vote against the government was brought by opposition conservatives after Manuel Valls forced through the market reforms without

parliamentary approval.

The no-confidence vote brought in National Assembly saw only 234 lawmakers voting in favour of the motion which was far short of the number required to bring down the

government.

289 votes were needed to pass the motion in the National Assembly, the lower house

of the parliament.

The non-passage of the no-confidence motion means that package of economic reforms automatically pass their first reading in parliament and the Manuel Valls government has the right to use the same decree in subsequent readings.

In Frances 57-year old Fifth republic, only once, a no-confidence vote has succeeded. It succeeded in 1962 when it was used to oust the government of Georges Pompidou.

Background

Earlier on 17 January 2015, Manuel Valls employed a rarely-used constitutional

device called 49 3 decree to force through a key package of economic reforms. The

package of reforms included extending Sunday shopping hours and opening up key

parts of the French economy to competition. This led to tensions between President

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Francois Hollande and Valls on the centrist wing of the Socialist Party and rebels on

the left.

France, the Eurozones second-biggest economy, has been suffering from chronically

high unemployment and sluggish growth from past few years.

India and Bangladesh decided to step up Joint Border Patrolling

India and Bangladesh on 17 February 2015 decided to step up joint patrolling

along the boundary to act against criminals and smugglers. The coordinated border

management plan will also help in enhancing cooperation between the two nations.

The decision was taken at the India-Bangladesh Joint Working Group meeting and

the Home Secretary-level talks held in New Delhi on 16-17 February 2015. The

Indian delegation was led by Union Home Secretary LC Goyal while the Bangladeshi

delegation was led by Senior Secretary in the Ministry of Home Affairs Mozammel

Haque Khan.

Agreements and decisions made during the meet include

The two sides agreed to vigil on the border by deployment of troops of Bangladesh in unguarded border areas of Bangladesh, particularly along the borders facing

Tripura and Mizoram.

The two sides agreed to act against the criminals engaged in human trafficking from Bangladesh to India and other countries.

The two sides agreed to resolve the issues concerning fishermen drifting inadvertently across the maritime boundaries

The two sides discussed about the security and border management-related issues between the two countries

The meetings of Deputy Commissioners or District Magistrates of the districts bordering India and Bangladesh were also resumed, after a long time

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Apart from this, LC Goyal also appreciated the steps taken by the Bangladesh

authorities in acting against the carriers of fake Indian currency notes as well as the

actions taken against the Indian Insurgent Groups taking shelter in the bordering

areas of Bangladesh.

5th India-Myanmar Joint Trade Committee meet held in Nay Pyi Taw

The 5th India-Myanmar Joint Trade Committee (JTC) meeting was held in Nay Pyi

Taw in Myanmar on 17 February 2015.

Indias Minister of State for Commerce & Industry (Independent Charge) Nirmala

Sitharaman co-chaired the meet with Myanmars Union Minister of Commerce U Win

Myint.

During the meeting, the two nations committed towards strengthening mutually

beneficial relationship especially in field of promoting two-ways investment, infrastructure development particularly to promote border trade, connectivity,

agriculture, energy, skill and entrepreneurial development, pharmaceutical and

people-to-people contacts.

Important Highlights of the Meeting

Both the countries agreed to work together to remove the bottlenecks that hampers the bilateral trade and investment. The bottlenecks identified were lack of good connectivity, lack of banking arrangement both for regular and border trade.

In context of bottlenecks, India offered to support Myanmar to develop infrastructure at the border trade points, upgrade trade training institutes in Yangon and provide

training to Myanmar officials on World Trade Organisation (WTO) and international trade related issues.

To promote bilateral trade, India offered to support subsidised direct shipping links between the two countries

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The two ministers also agreed to jointly inaugurate the land custom statio

Documents

February 2015 Current Affairs - Jagran Josh