Showing posts with label CURRENT AFFAIRS. Show all posts
Showing posts with label CURRENT AFFAIRS. Show all posts

Sunday, August 16, 2015

CURRENT AFFAIRS AT A GLANCE 2015

❖ Lithuania adopted the Euro currency on January 1, 2015 and became the 19th member of the Eurozone.

❖ A.B. de Villiers of South Africa scored the fastest century in One Day International cricket history on January 18, 2015. He scored a hundred in just 31 deliveries against the West Indies. He broke
the previous record of 100 off 36 balls set by Corey Anderson of New Zealand in 2014.

❖ Alexis Tsipras was sworn in on January 26, 2015 as the Prime Minister of Greece.

❖ S. Jaishankar was appointed as India's new Foreign Secretary on January 28, 2015. He replaced Sujatha Singh.

❖ NITI Aayog (National Institution for Transforming India Aayog) replaced Planning Commission
on January 1, 2015. Its Chairperson is the Prime Minister. Arvind Panagariya is the first Vice Chairman. Sindhushree Khullar is the Chief Executive officer. Economist Bibek Debroy and former DRDO Chief V.K. Saraswat are the two full time members.

❖ A.S. Kiran Kumar was appointed the Chairman of Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) on January 12, 2015. He succeeded K. Radhakrishnan.

❖ Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha was appointed the first Hindu Chief Justice of Bangladesh on January 12, 2015.

❖ Maithripala Sirisena was sworn in as the President of Sri Lanka on January 9, 2015. He succeeded Mahinda Rajapaksa. Ranil Wikramasinghe is the new Prime Minister.

❖ Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe took over the post of African Union Chairman on January 30, 2015.

❖ Dineshwar Sharma is the new Intelligence Bureau (IB) Chief and Krishna Chaudhary is the new
Director General of the Indo- Tibetan Border Police (ITBP).

❖ The first canister-based Agni V trial was successful. It was launched from Wheeler Island off Odisha coast on January 31, 2015. It has a strike range of 5,000 km.

❖ The first indigenously-built Tejas Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) was handed over by Defense Minister Manohar Parrikar to the Indian Air Force on January 17, 2015.

❖ Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) entered the Guinness World Records for opening the highest number of bank accounts in the least time. 11.5 crore new bank accounts have been opened under PMJDY as on January 17, 2015. It was launched by the Prime Minister on August 28, 2014.

❖ ICICI Bank launched India's first contactless debit and credit cards on January 7, 2015 that use the near field communication (NFC) technology.

❖ The government announced the names of 104 recipients of Padma Awards on January 25, 2015. This year's list comprises 9 Padma Vibhushan, 20 Padma Bhushan and 75 Padma Shree awardees. L.K. Advani, Amitabh Bachchan, Dilip Kumar and Prakash Singh Badal are among the Padma Vibhushan winners.

❖ The President conferred Ashok Chakra on the occasion of the 66th Republic Day to Major Mukund
Varadarajan (posthumous) and Naik Neeraj Kumar Singh (posthumous). Ashok Chakra is the highest gallantry award given during peacetime.

❖ Eminent Hindi scholar Kamal Kishore Goenka has been selected for Vyas Samman for 2014 for his research work "Premchand Kee Kahaniyo aa Kaalkramanusar Adhyapan".

❖ Paulina Vega of Colombia was crowned 63rd Miss Universe on January 25, 2015 in Miami, USA.

❖ Indian American author Jhumpa Lahiri won the prestigious DSC Prize for South Asian Literature 2015 for her book "The Lowland". This prize was announced at the Jaipur Literature Festival on January 23, 2015.

❖ Arundhathi Subramaniam won the inaugural Khushwant Singh Memorial Prize for Poetry for her work "When God is a Traveller" on January 24, 2015.

❖ Periyar Tiger Reserve in Kerala won the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) biennial award on January 22, 2015.

❖ M.Y.S. Prasad, Director of Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC), Sriharikota, was selected for the
Vikram Sarabhai Memorial Award 2015.

❖ RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan won the Governor of the Year Award in the Central Banking Awards for 2015.

❖ Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched "Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao" programme in Panipat, Haryana on January 22, 2015 in a bid to encourage birth and education of girls. Actress Madhuri Dixit is the brand ambassador. On the same day Sukanya Samriddhi Account was launched for the girls aged below 10.

❖ Saina Nehwal clinched the women's singles crown of the Syed Modi International Masters Badminton Tournament on January 25, 2015. She defeated Carolina Marin of Spain in the final in Lucknow. In the men's singles final Parupalli Kashyap of India beat compatriot K.Srikanth.

❖ Portugal footballer Cristiano Ronaldo won the FIFA Ballon d'Or 2014 Award. It is his second year running and third overall award.

❖ Legendary cartoonist R.K. Laxman died on January 26, 2015. He created "Common Man" cartoon.

❖ Wing Commander Pooja Thakur became the first lady
officer on January 25, 2015 to lead the Inter- Service Guard of Honor for the visiting US President Barack Obama at the Rashtrapathi Bhavan. Barack Obama is the first US President to be the Chief Guest for India's Republic Day.

❖ The French satirical weekly magazine Charlie Hebdo's Paris office was attacked by gunmen on January 7, 2015. In the attack 12 persons were killed.

❖ The 13th Pravasi Bharatiya Diwas (PBD) was celebrated between January 7-9, 2015 in Gandhinagar, Gujarat. It marked the 100th year of Mahatma Gandhi's return to India from South Africa. The Chief Guest was Guyana President Donald Ramotar. The theme of the 13th PBD was Bharat ko jano, Bharat ko mano. The Vice President Hamid Ansari presented the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman awards to 15 persons on January 9. The awardees include plant scientist Sanjay Rajaram and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella.

❖ The 102nd Indian Science Congress (ISC) was held from January 3 - 7, 2015 in Mumbai. The theme was Science and Technology for Human Development.

❖ The 60th Filmfare Awards were presented on February 1, 2015. "Queen" bagged highest number of awards i.e. 6. "Shahid Kapoor" is the best actor for the film "Haider" and "Kangana Ranaut" best actress for "Queen".

❖ Kolinda Grabar Kitarovic was sworn in as the first female President of Croatia on February 15, 2015.

❖ Sergio Mattarella took over as the President of Italy on February 3, 2015.

❖ Ashton Carter replaced Chuck Hagel as the Defense Secretary of the United States.

❖ Arvind Kejriwal of Aam Aadmi Party became the Chief Minister of Delhi on February 14, 2015.
Manish Sisodia is the Deputy Chief Minister.

❖ Nitish Kumar of Janata Dal (United) took oath as the Chief Minister of Bihar on February 22,
2015. He succeeded Jitan Ram Manjhi.

❖ L.C. Goyal replaced Anil Goswami as the Union Home Secretary.

❖ Dr.Y. Nayudamma Memorial Award 2014 was conferred on two women scientists- Tessy Thomas (DRDO) and Geeta Varadan (ISRO).

❖ Eminent Marathi writer Bhalachandra Nemade was chosen for the Jnanpith Award 2014. He is the 50th recipient of Jnanpith Award, India's highest literary honor.

❖ Nobel Economics laureate Amartya Sen has been awarded the inaugural Charleston-EFG John Maynard Keynes Prize 2015.

❖ Ricky Kej of India won the Grammy award for his album "Winds of Samsara" in the Best New Age Album category.

❖ ICICI Bank launched first digital bank in India "Pockets" on a mobile phone.

❖ Novak Djokovic of Serbia and Serena Williams of USA won the men's and women's singles titles respectively, in the 2015 Australian Open tennis championship. Indo-Swiss pair Leander Paes and Martina Hingis won the Mixed Doubles title.

❖ Virat Kohli became the first Indian batsman to score a century in a World Cup game against Pakistan on February 15, 2015.

❖ Kerala hosted the 35th National Games from January 31 to February 14, 2015. Sachin Tendulkar was the brand ambassador. Ammu, the Great Hornbill, was the mascot. Services Sports Control Board (SSCB)
won 159 medals with 91 gold, 33 silver and 35 bronze and topped the medals tally.

❖ Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu presented Railway budget on February 26, 2015 that did not announce any passenger fare hike.

❖ Finance Minister Arun Jaitley presented the Economic Survey 2014- 15 on February 27, 2015. He presented the Union Budget for 2015- 16 on February 28, 2015.

❖ The 87th Academy Awards ceremony was held on February 22, 2015. The Best Picture Award was given to "Birdman". Its director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu won the Best Director Award. Eddie Redmayne was given the Best Actor Award for "The Theory of Everything" and the Best Actress Award was given to Julianne Moore for "Still Alice".

❖ Nobel laureate Sir Venkatraman Ramakrishnan was named as the President of Britain's prestigious Royal Society. He will take up the post on December 1, 2015. He won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2009.

❖ IFS officer Vikas Swarup was appointed as the official spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on March 25, 2015. He is the author of the novel "Q & A" on which the Oscar winning film Slumdog Millionaire was based.

❖ Kerala Finance Minister K.M. Mani was appointed as the Chairman of the Empowered Committee
of State Finance Ministers on Goods and Services Tax (GST) on March 24, 2015.

❖ Mufti Mohammad Sayeed of the People's Democratic Party (PDP) was sworn in as the Chief Minister of Jammu & Kashmir on March 1, 2015. Nirmal Singh of BJP is the Deputy Chief Minister.

❖ Aditi Arya of Chandigarh was crowned Miss India 2015. She will represent
India at the Miss World pageant.

❖ The 3rd World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction (WCDRR) took place in Sendai, Japan from March 14 to 18, 2015.

❖ According to a report released by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) on March 16, 2015, India is the world’s largest importer of weapons and military equipment.

❖ Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar undertook SAARC Yatra and visited four SAARC nations Bhutan, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan from March 1 to 4, 2015.

❖ India banned dreaded terror group The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.

❖ The Supreme Court struck down the centre's controversial decision to grant reservation to the Jat community in jobs and educational institutions.

❖ The government has launched a new National Action Plan for Skill Training of Persons with Disabilities on March 21, 2015. National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) will be the implementing agency for this Plan.

❖ Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar launched a scheme for girl child "Aap ki Beti Humari Beti" with an aim to combat the problem of declining child sex ratio in the state on March 8, 2015. March 8 is International Women’s Day.

❖ Maharashtra government launched "Bhagyashree" scheme for girls on March 8, 2015. Bollywood actress
Bhagyashree is the brand ambassador.

❖ The indigenously developed Beyond Visual Range (BVR) air-to-air missile, Astra, was launched from
Sukhoi-30 fighter aircraft on March 18, 2015.

❖ The 8th edition of India-Nepal combined exercise Surya Kiran VIII was held at Salijhandi in Nepal.

❖ India launched its fourth navigation satellite on March 28, 2015. The PSLV-C27 ejected the 1,425 kg IRNSS-1D.

❖ Prime Minister Narendra Modi undertook a five-day tour of three Indian Ocean countries Seychelles,
Mauritius and Sri Lanka from March 10 to 14, 2015.

❖ As per the IntelCenter's "Top 10 Most Dangerous Countries" list released in March 2015, Pakistan is the eight most dangerous country. The list is topped by Iraq.

❖ The President Pranab Mukherjee conferred country's highest civilian award Bharat Ratna on former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee on March 27, 2015. Educationist and freedom fighter Madan Mohan Malviya was honored with Bharat Ratna posthumously on March 30, 2015.

❖ Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) has been selected for the Gandhi Peace Prize for the
year 2014.

❖ Veteran actor and film producer Shashi Kapoor has been named
for the prestigious Dadasaheb Phalke Award 2014. He is the 46th film
personality to receive India's highest award in cinema.

❖ Former Union Minister Veerappa Moily was selected for the Saraswati Samman for 2014 for his
Kannada book "Ramayana Mahanveshanam".

❖ John Nash and Louis Nirenberg of USA shared the 2015 Abel Prize for Mathematics. The prize was announced by the Norwegian Academy of Sciences and Letters.

❖ Rajendra Singh of India won the 2015 Stockholm Water Prize. He is popularly known as
"Waterman of India". He is an eminent water conservationist from Rajasthan.

❖ Indian ecologist Madhav Gadgil has won the Tyler Prize 2015 for environmental achievement. He shared the prize with American marine ecologist Jane Lubchenco.

❖ National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) has linked 15 crore Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT)
accounts with the Aadhaar numbers.

❖ Saina Nehwal and Kidambi Srikanth won women's and men's singles titles in the Indian Open Badminton
Championship in New Delhi on March 29, 2015.

❖ K. Srikanth of India won the Swiss Grand Prix Gold Badminton Championship title in Basel on
March 15, 2015. He beat Viktor Axelson of Denmark in the final.

❖ Carolina Marin of Spain won the All England Badminton Championship women's singles title by defeating Saina Nehwal in the final on March 8, 2015. Saina is the first Indian woman to reach the final.
Men's singles title was won by Chen Long of China.

❖ Services beat Punjab to win the Santosh Trophy football championship in Ludhiana on March 15, 2015.

❖ Karnataka clinched their eighth Ranji Trophy cricket title by defeating Tamil Nadu in the final in
Mumbai on March 12, 2015. Karnataka retained the Irani Cup also by beating Rest of India on March 20, 2015.

❖ Former Sri Lankan Army Chief Sarath Fonseka was conferred the highest military rank of Field
Marshal by the Government of Sri Lanka.

❖ Lee Kuan Yew, Singapore's first Prime Minister, passed away on March 23, 2015.

❖ India launched a massive air and sea operation-"Operation Raahat"- to evacuate over 4,000 Indian
nationals from Yemen in April 2015.

❖ Tennis star Novak Djokovic and athlete Genzebe Dibaba were named Laureus Sportsman and Sportswoman of the Year on April 15, 2015. The German football team was named "World Team of the Year".

❖ Sachin Tendulkar was inducted as a Laureus World Sports Academy member.

❖ Former Chief Minister of Odisha J.B. Patnaik died on April 21, 2015. He was also the former Governor
of Assam.

❖ Former Nepal Prime Minister Surya Bahadur Thapa passed away on April 15, 2015.

❖ German Nobel laureate Gunter Grass died on April 13, 2015. He won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1999. His most famous book is "The Tin Drum".

❖ Former Australia Cricket captain and renowned commentator Richie Benaud died on April 10, 2015.

❖ Ace Indian mountaineer Malli Mastan Babu who went missing in the Andes Mountains on March 24 was
found dead on April 4, 2015.

❖ Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched Micro Units Development and Refinance Agency (MUDRA Bank) on April 8, 2015. It is set up with a corpus of Rs. 20,000 crore.

❖ RBI approved the merger deal between Kotak Mahindra Bank and ING Vysya Bank.

❖ Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 Trophy was won by Gujarat on April 7, 2015. It beat Punjab in the final.

❖ New Zealand lifted the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup Hockey tournament after defeating Australia in the final in Malaysia.

❖ Chris Gayle of West Indies became the first batsman to make double century in ICC World Cup history on February 24, 2015. He scored 215 runs against Zimbabwe. New Zealand's Martin Guptill hit the highest score of 237 in ICC World Cup. He achieved this feat against the West Indies on March 21, 2015.

❖ Kumar Sangakkara of Sri Lanka became the first batsman to score four consecutive One Day International centuries. He created this record in the 11th ICC World Cup.

❖ Viswanathan Anand was granted the honor of having a minor planet named after him on April 1, 2015.
It is called 4538 Vishyanand.

❖ Hungarian writer Laszlo Krasznahorkai won the Man Booker International Prize for 2015. This prize is given every two years. Indian author Amitav Ghosh is one of the ten short listed authors.

❖ David Cameron became the Prime Minister of United Kingdom for the second term on May 8, 2015. David Cameron-led Conservative Party won 331 seats out of total 650 seats in House of Commons.

❖ J. Jayalalithaa was sworn in as the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu for the fifth time on May 23, 2015.

❖ Actor Mukesh Khanna was appointed as the Chairperson of the Children's Film Society of India (CFSI).
He is known for his iconic role as Shaktimaan on Television.

❖ Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev won his fifth successive term in the Presidential election. Karim Masimov is the Prime Minister.

❖ Indian-American Vivek Murthy was sworn in as the US Surgeon General. He is the youngest ever in-charge of America's public health.

❖ Neel Mukherjee's "The Lives of Others" won the UK's Encore Award for the best second novel on May 12, 2015.

❖ UNESCO Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize for 2015 was awarded to Mazen Darwish, a Syrian journalist.

❖ Two Indians Ananda Kumar and Pramod Patil were awarded the Whitley Awards, dubbed "Green Oscar", for their contribution to wildlife conservation.

❖ Siddhartha Gigoo won the 2015 Commonwealth Short Story Prize for Asian region for "Umbrella Man".

❖ Aruna Shanbaug, a former hospital nurse, brutally raped in 1973, died on May 18, 2015. She was at the centre of euthanasia or mercy killing issue.

❖ The World Health Organization (WHO) declared Liberia Ebolafree on May 9, 2015.

❖ Francois Hollande visited Havana on May 10, 2015, the first French President to visit Cuba in more than a century.

❖ Seychelles became the 161st member of World Trade Organization (WTO) on April 26, 2015.

❖ India ranked at a low 100th position on global Human Capital Index 2015. Finland topped the 124 nation list.

❖ Switzerland topped the World Happiness Index 2015 and India ranked 117 out of 158 countries.

❖ India signed an agreement with Iran for the development of Chabahar Port on May 6, 2015. It will give India sea-land access route to Afghanistan bypassing Pakistan.

❖ Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani visited India from April 27 to April 29, 2015.

❖ India assumed Presidency of the 68th session of the World Health Assembly (WHA), the top decision making body of the World Health Organization (WHO).

❖ The Union Cabinet cleared the "Namami Gange" integrated conservation mission to clean river Ganga on May 13, 2015. Budget allocated is Rs. 20,000 crore for the next 5 years.

❖ The Lok Sabha passed the Goods and Services Tax Constitutional (122nd Amendment) Bill on May 6, 2015. GST is proposed to be implemented from April 1, 2016. It will subsume excise, service tax, state
VAT, entry tax, octroi, etc.

❖ Union Health Minister J.P. Nadda launched "Kayakalp" –an initiative for awards to public health facilities.

❖ Nadia in West Bengal became the first Open Defecation Free (ODF) district in India. Nadia has more than 3.47 lakh toilets.

❖ Bharatiya Mahila Bank (BMB) won the Asian Banker Achievement Award 2015 for Technology Implementation in the category of Best Outsourcing Project (New Bank). The award was received by Usha Ananthasubramanian, CMD of BMB in Hong Kong.

❖ Bilateral naval exercise SIMBEX- 15 between India and Singapore was held from May 23 to 26, 2015 in Singapore.

❖ The French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo was presented with the 2015 Freedom of Expression Courage Award of the PEN American Centre at the American Museum of Natural History.

❖ Four Indians have been named in Forbes magazine's 12th annual list of World's 100 Most Powerful
Women. They are- Arundhati Bhattacharya (SBI Chairperson), Chanda Kochchar (MD and CEO of ICICI
Bank), Kiran Mazumdar Shaw (MD of Biocon) and Shobhana Bhartia (Chairperson of Hindustan Times
Group). The list is topped by Angela Merkel, the Chancellor of Germany.

❖ China defeated Japan in the final of the Sudirman Cup badminton tournament in Dongguan, China on May 17, 2015.

❖ Mohun Bagan won the I-League football title on May 31, 2015. Bengaluru FC ended as runners-up.

❖ The trial of Pinaka Mark-II missile cum multi barrel rocket launcher system was successfully conducted at Pokhran on May 30, 2015.

❖ The Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited three Asian nations i.e. China, Mongolia and South Korea
from May 14 to 19, 2015.

❖ Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley inaugurated the New Bank Note Paper Line unit of 6,000 metric tonne capacity at Security Paper Mill in Hoshangabad, Madhya Pradesh.

❖ India topped in World Hunger List with around 194 million people according to a UN report.

❖ Maharashtra Government has launched Swachhata Saptapadi Scheme on the lines of Union Government's Swachh Bharat Abhiyan.

❖ Former Singapore Foreign Minister George Yeo succeeded Amartya Sen as the Chancellor of Nalanda University in Bihar.

❖ S. Christopher is the new Director General of the Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO). G. Sateesh Reddy is the new Scientific Advisor to the Defense Minister.

❖ Veteran actor Michael Douglas received the Genesis Prize on June 18, 2015. This prize is nicknamed "Jewish Nobel Prize".

❖ Delhi Law Minister Jitender Singh Tomar of Aam Aadmi Party was arrested for possessing fake academic documents on June 9, 2015. Later he resigned.

❖ Sepp Blatter resigned as the President of FIFA on June 2, 2015, four days after being elected to a fifth term.

❖ Sister Nirmal Joshi, who succeeded Mother Teresa as the head of the Missionaries of Charity, died on June 23, 2015.

❖ K.V. Chowdary, former Chairman of the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), was appointed the
new Central Vigilance Commissioner on June 8, 2015. He is the first
non IAS to head the Central Vigilance Commission. Indian Bank CMD T.M. Bhasin was appointed the Vigilance Commissioner.

❖ Repo Rate: 7.25% Reverse Repo Rate: 6.25% Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR): 4% Statutory Liquidity Ratio (SLR): 21.5%

❖ Britain celebrated the 800th anniversary of Magna Carta accord on June15, 2015.

❖ China unveiled the world's first facial recognition ATM on June 1, 2015.

❖ The first International Yoga Day was celebrated on June 21, 2015. 192 countries celebrated.

❖ The 41st G7 Summit was held in June 2015 in Krun city in Germany.

❖ Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland beat Novak Djokovic of Serbia to win his first French Open singles title. Serena Williams of USA defeated Lucie Safarova of Czech Republic to win the women's singles title of French open.

❖ Australia won the ICC World Cup for the fifth time beating New Zealand by seven wickets in the final in Melbourne on March 29, 2015. James Faulkner of Australia was declared the Man of the Final and Mitchell Starc of Australia the Player of the Tournament.

❖ IPL 8 Mumbai Indians clinched their second Indian Premier League (IPL) title defeating ChennaiSuper Kings by 41 runs in the final at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata on May 24, 2015.

APPOINTMENTS IN 2015

Achal Kumar Jyoti : Election Commissioner
G. Mohan Kumar : Defence Secretary
Surender Singh : Director General of CISF
Loretta Lynch : USAAttorney General
P. Kunhikrishnan : Director, Satish Dhawan Space Centre
Pawan Munjal : Chairman, CEO and MD of Hero Moto-Corp
Sharad Pawar : President of Mumbai Cricket Association
Pradeep Kumar Sinha : Cabinet Secretary
Vijai Sharma : Chief Information Commissioner
R.C. Tayal : Director General of National Security Guards
R.Seshasayee : Non executive Chairman of Infosys
Benjamin Netanyahu : Israel Prime Minister
Jagmohan Dalmiya : BCCI President
Anurag Thakur : BCCI Secretary
David Hale : US Ambassador to Pakistan
Nasim Zaidi : Chief Election Commissioner
Sitaram Yechury : CPI (M) General Secretary
Mohan Kumar : Indian Ambassador to France
Sumit Mazuimdar : President of CII
Rajeev Shukla : Chairman of IPL governing council

62nd National Film Awards


Best Feature Film – Court (Marathi, Guajarati, Hindi and English)
Best Actor -Vijay Sanchari (Nanu Avanalla Avalu, Kannada)
Best Actress – Kangana Ranaut (Queen)
Best Direction – Srijit Mukherjee (Chotushkone, Bengali)
Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment –Mary Kom Haider, a Hindi film bagged most awards (5)

Tuesday, April 21, 2015

13th UN Congress on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice held in Doha

The 13th UN Congress on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice was held from 12 April 2015 to 19 April 2015 at Qatar National Convention Centre in Doha, Qatar. The Summit concluded with the adoption of Doha Declaration.
The Doha Declaration aims at integrating crime prevention and criminal justice into the wider United Nations (UN) agenda to address social and economic challenges and to promote the rule of law at the national and international levels, and public participation.
During the conference, delegates pledged action to promote justice for all, underline link between rule of law, sustainable development and by adopting a statement to that effect participants committed themselves to integrating crime prevention and criminal justice into the wider UN agenda.
The Doha Congress in 2015 coincided with the 60th anniversary of the Crime Congress. The summit was attended by a large group of policymakers, academicians working in the field of crime prevention and criminal justice to contribute to the drafting of the United Nations agenda and standards on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice.
The UN conference on crime control is held at every five-year intervals. The first Congress was held in Geneva, Switzerland in 1955 while the 12th Congress was held in Salvador, Brazil in 2010.

Shah Rukh Khan, Zayn Malik honoured at the 5th Asian Awards

Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan and teen idol Zyan Malik on 17 April 2015 were honoured at the 5th Asian Awards held at the Grosvenor House Hotel in London.  

Khan was awarded with the prestigious Outstanding Contribution to Cinema award. The 49-year-old actor received the award by Indian-origin British filmmaker Gurinder Chadha.

Previous winners in the cinema category included Irrfan Khan (2014), Anupam Kher (2013) and Yash Chopra (2011).
On the other hand, 22-year-old Malik was awarded with the Outstanding Contribution to Music. He is an English singer and songwriter, and a previous member of the boy band One Direction. 

List of Awardees
Category  
Winners
Founders Award
Dr. Amar Bose, Founder of Bose Corporation
Entrepreneur of the Year
Jack Ma, Founder & CEO of Alibaba
Outstanding Achievement in Cinema
Shah Rukh Khan, Bollywood actor
Chivas Regal Social Entrepreneur of the Year
Gopi Gopalakrishnan, President, World Health Partners 
Outstanding Achievement in Sport
Kumar Sangakkara, Cricketer of Sri Lanka
Business Leader of the Year
The Hinduja Brothers 
Outstanding Achievement in Television
Sanjeev Bhaskar, Comedian, actor and broadcaster
Outstanding Achievement in Art & Design 
John Rocha, Designer
Outstanding Achievement in Science & Technology 
Sir Tejinder Singh Virdee, Experimental particle physicist
Outstanding Achievement in Music
Zayn Malik, English singer and songwriter
About Asian Awards
It was launched in 2010 by Paul Sagoo, entrepreneur and Founder of the Lemon Group to recognise and reward exemplary achievement from within the Asian community across 14 categories that include business, philanthropy, entertainment, culture and sport. 

In 2010 and 2011, the awards were only open to those born in or with direct family origin from India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, or Bangladesh, however, in 2013, the Awards were opened to all people of both South and Eastern Asian origin.

UN Report India fifth biggest E waste producer

Global E-Waste Monitor Report   which takes a detailed overview of e-waste generation across the countries  is released by UN University- a UN Think Tank.

Report Highlights: 

•    India has generated total 1.7 Mt (million tonnes) of electronic and electrical equipment in 2014. 
•    Ranking: 1. USA  2. China, 3. Japan 4. Germany 5. India
•    The US and China produced 32% of total world s e-waste which is highest e-waste generation in 2014.
•    Asia is the largest e-waste producer in the world . Total e-waste generated by Asia is 16 Mt or 3.7 kg per inhabitant.  
•    e-waste generation ranking in Asia : 1. China -6.0 million tonnes  2. Japan- 2.2 million tonnes  3. India -1.7 million tonnes.
•    Africa generated the lowest amount of e-waste per inhabitant in 2014 which amounts 1.7 kg/inhabitant. Total waste generated by Africa is only 1.9 Mt.
•    Developed countries from Europe are among the top per capita producers.  The top five being Norway, Switzerland, Iceland, Denmark, and the UK.
•    People discarded mostly kitchen equipments, laundry and bathroom equipments like microwave ovens, washing machines and dishwashers.
•    Report estimated that the e-waste volume may rise from 21% in 2014 to 50 million tonnes in 2018 which highlights the world s fast-growing e-waste problem. Increase in sales of electrical and electronic equipments coupled with reduced product life cycle period , have been resulting into rapid rate e-waste generation.
•    Less than 16% of e-waste has been recycled and reused. Thus recycling of e-waste is a major challenge.
•    Toxins in e-waste include lead glass, batteries, mercury, cadmium, chromium and ozone-depleting substances (CFCs) which pose health associated problems like impaired mental development, cancer, and damage to livers and kidneys.

Tuesday, April 14, 2015

National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC) Act, 2014

Union Government has brought into force the National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC) Act, 2014 along with the 99th Constitutional Amendment Act, 2014. In this regard, notification to effect from 13 April 2015 was issued by the Union Law Ministry. With this new law the collegium system to appoint members to the higher judiciary has come to an end. Now President will appoint judges in the Supreme Court (SC) and 24 High Courts (HCs) in consultation with the NJAC. 

Facts about NJAC Act, 2014 
Composition of NJAC 
As per Article 124A, NJAC is a 6 member constitutional body. Consisting of Chairman- Chief Justice of India (CJI). Members- Two senior most Judges of the Supreme Court, the Union Minister of Law and Justice and two eminent persons. Two eminent persons will be nominated by committee led by Prime Minister of India, the CJI, and the Leader of the Opposition in the House of the People. 

As per 124B, functions of NJAC are 
Recommend persons for appointment as CJI, Judges of SC, Chief Justices and other Judges of High Courts. Recommend transfer of Chief Justices and other Judges HCs from one HC to another HC. 

About Collegium system 
Previously, under the collegium system, five top judges of the Supreme court recommended transfer and elevation of judges to Supreme Court and High Courts. It came into existence in 1993 after a Supreme Court judgement.

Sunday, April 12, 2015

India elected to four United Nations agencies

India was elected to four important United Nations (UN) agencies on 8 April 2015. These agencies are United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), World Food Program (WFP), Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice (CCPCJ) and the Governing Council of UN-Habitat.

India was elected to these bodies at the Coordination and Management Meeting (CMM) of UNECOSOC (the United Nations Economic and Social Council) held at the UN headquarters in New York, USA.

India was elected by acclamation, which is a form of election that doesn’t use a ballot.
Results of Elections
• India, along with thirteen other nations, was elected to the Executive Board of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) for a three year period starting from January 2016.
• India was re-elected to the Executive Board of the World Food Programme (WFP) along with five other nations for a two year period starting from January 2016. 
• India was elected to the Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice (CCPCJ) along with nineteen other nations for a three year period starting from January 2016. Some of the nations that were elected to CCPCJ included Iran, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia Austria, France, Sweden and the United States.
• India was re-elected to the Governing Council of the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) along with thirteen other nations for a three year period starting from January 2016.
Significance of India’s election to UN bodies
• India has a 100 percent record of winning the UNECOSOC elections. For instance, in the first week of April 2015, India was re-elected to the 47-nation UN Human Rights Council for the period of 2015-17. In October 2014, India was re-elected to ECOSOC by garnering the maximum number of votes in the Asia-Pacific group. 
• These continuous wins at various UN bodies highlights the fact that India’s role as an important and influential global power is now recognised by a vast majority of the UN membership.

PM launches first Indian Air Quality Index (AQI)

The government has unveiled the National Air Quality Index (AQI) that will give real time data regarding the level of pollutants in the air. It will inform people on the impact of air pollution on their health.

Initially, 10 cities will be covered by the index. These cities include Delhi, Agra, Kanpur, Lucknow, Varanasi, Faridabad, Ahmedabad, Chennai, Bangalore and Hyderabad. Each of These cities will have a monitoring station with Air Quality Index displayed on the board.

Different studies have found high level of air pollution in India. The environmental preference index placed India at 174th position out of 178 countries for air quality last year. A study conducted by WHO has found 13 of the most polluted 20 cities in the world present in India.

The Air Quality Index is the global standard that is used to determine the quality of air. Multiple data that is already available with the country’s Central Pollution Control Board is considered and is presented on a color coded scale having six levels by it.

Dark green is the first level, which indicates good quality air where as maroon indicates severe pollution. The index identifies health impacts associated with each category.

The index gives current and 24-hour average data on particulate matter – PM2.5 and PM 10 along with other pollutants like nitrogen dioxide, ozone and carbon monoxide.

New CEC named by President

Dr Nasim Zaidi has been named as the next Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) by President Pranab Mukherjee. He will succeed H.S.Brahma, who is the current CEC.

He is a 1976 batch officer of UP cadre and has retired in July 2012 as Secretary to the Union Government in Ministry of Civil Aviation. He had also hold the position of the Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA).

Bad performance for India on Social Progress Index (SPI)

India has been ranked at 101th place out of 133 countries on the Social Progress Index (SPI) in which Norway is placed at 1st position and U.S at 16th position. India s performance is very poor in the Index as even its neighbours such as Nepal and Bangladesh have secured better ranks. India s ranking is poor than it per capita GDP ranking, which is 93.

The index ranked all these countries on different indicators of wellness including health, water and sanitation, personal safety, access to opportunity, tolerance, inclusion, personal freedom and choice.

MUDRA Bank becomes reality

MUDRA Bank announced in the union budget this year has finally become a reality. It was launched by PM Modi on Wednesday. It will be functioning as a regulator for Micro-Finance Institutions and will serve as a credit provider to small entrepreneurs. The initial corpus is Rs. 20,000 crore.

MUDRA will play the role of laying down policy guidelines for the business of micro enterprise financing and registering MFI entities along with their rating and accreditation.

MUDRA Bank will be enumerating "responsible financing practices", whose will eliminate over indebtedness while ensuring proper principles of client protection and recovery methods.

It will also work to develop standards to govern last mile lending to micro enterprises.

The initial products and schemes of MUDRA will be known as  Shishu ,  Kishor  and  Tarun  signifying the level of development and need of funding for the beneficiary micro unit.

Sunday, March 29, 2015

Delhi Government launched India’s first e-ration card Service

Delhi Government on 27 March 2015 launched India’s first e-ration card service. The service was launched by the Chief Minister of Delhi Arvind Kejriwal.
In this service, E-ration card will be linked with Aadhaar cards and it would enable the beneficiaries of Public Distribution System (PDS) to get the cards online from the government’s web portal without hassles.
The new service is expected to curb corruption and increase transparency in the system.
The service would cut down the delays in preparation of ration card and would ensure the fast delivery to the beneficiaries.
As soon as an application for providing food security is approved by the Food Supply Officer concerned, a message will go to the cellphone number of the beneficiary informing him or her about approval of application and ration card.

ISRO won Gandhi Peace Prize 2014

Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on 27 March 2015 won Gandhi Peace Prize 2014. The award was selected by the jury under the chairmanship of the Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Besides Prime Minister, other members of the Jury that selected the ISRO for the award were Justice H L Dattu, Chief Justice of India; Mallikarjun Kharge, leader of the single largest Opposition Party in the Lok Sabha; LK Advani, Member of Parliament and Gopalkrishna Gandhi.
The Indian space agency successfully launched Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) and at a very cost effective price of 450 crore rupees.
The launch makes India the first Asian country to enter the Martian sphere of influence.
ISRO became the fourth space agency after National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) of the US, Russian Federal Space Agency (RFSA) and European Space Agency to have undertaken a mission to Mars.
Besides launching various research and communication satellites, the space agency through its cutting-edge technologies contributes to the nation's development through satellite based education, health care and connectivity to community activities for sustainable economic development.

About the Award
The Gandhi Peace Prize for social, economic and political transformation through non-violence was instituted in the year 1995 on the occasion of the 125th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi.
It is given to individual or organisation for making social, economic and political transformation through non-violence means.
The award comprises an amount of one crore rupees and a citation.

Nobel Laureate John Nash won Abel Prize 2015 for work on partial differential equations

Nobel Laureate John F Nash Jr. won the Abel Prize 2015 for his work on partial differential equations. The prize was announced on 25 March 2015 by the Norwegian Academy of Sciences and Letters. They will receive the Abel Prize from His Majesty King Harald at a ceremony in Oslo on 19 May 2015.
He will share the Prize with Louis Nirenberg, Professor Emeritus at New York University's Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences. They both will share the prize money of 760000 US dollar.
Nash and Nirenberg won the prize for striking and seminal contributions to the theory of nonlinear partial differential equations and its applications to geometric analysis. Partial differential equations are important in both pure math and describing natural phenomena.
John Nash is a senior research mathematician at Princeton University. He won the Nobel Prize for Economics in 1994 for his work in game theory as dramatized in the 2001 film A Beautiful Mind in which he was portrayed by actor Russell Crowe.
About the Abel Prize
The Abel Prize is an international prize presented annually by the King of Norway to one or more outstanding mathematicians. The prize was named after Norwegian mathematician Niels Henrik Abel.
The award was established in 2001 by the Government of Norway and complements the Holberg Prize in the humanities.
The Abel Prize has often been described as the mathematician's Nobel Prize, competing in that respect with the much older Fields Medal. It comes with a monetary award of 6 million Norwegian kroner (NOK).
In 2014, it was won by Yakov G Sinai, Professor at Princeton University and Landau Institute for Theoretical Physics, Russian Academy of Sciences.
The first Abel Prize was won by Jean-Pierre Serre, Professor at Collège de France, Paris in 2003.

Monday, March 23, 2015

Establishment of PCPIRs

The Government of India has approved setting up four Petroleum, Chemicals and Petrochemicals Investment Regions (PCPIRs) in the States of Andhra Pradesh (Vishakhapatnam – Kakinada), Gujarat (Dahej), Odisha (Paradeep) and Tamil Nadu (Cuddalore – Nagapattinam) which are estimated to attract investments of around Rs.7.63 lakh crore and provide employment to around 33.96 lakh persons. These PCPIRs are at different stages of implementation. PCPIRs are the projects with long gestation period and may take around 15-20 years to achieve full potential. As on 31.01.2015, investment of approx. Rs. 1.60 lakh crore have been made and direct & indirect employment for approx 2.23 lakh persons has been generated. 

The PCPIR projects are already functional and realization of full potential is a gradual process. The Government has set up Steering Committees for monitoring the implementation of PCPIRs in various States. The PCPIRs have been promoted in domestic and international forum through exhibition, road shows and interaction with industry associations in order to attract investments. 

Friday, March 6, 2015

Gujarat Becomes The First State To Conduct Online Elections

Gujarat has been creating landmark strides in the wing of elections to the local body authorities. Earlier the Gujarat government was successful in clearing the bill which has paved the way for compulsory voting by all the voters in the local municipal and panchayat elections. The very controversial Gujarat Local Authorities Laws Bill, 2009 was passed in the previous year, which made

(a) The voting by all those voters in the electoral college mandatory
(b) Also provided for 50% reservation for women in the local authorities.

Now after making the voting mandatory, the government has decided to make some appeasements by facilitating easy voting. This, the State Election Commission plans to bring by Online Voting.

This according to the commission would facilitate all those voters who are unable to reach the polling stations. The method follows a series of steps as follows:

(1) The voters would have to register themselves in the Gujarat Election Commission Official website.
(2) They would have to present themselves for the physical verification which would be carried out by the local officials who would visit the address specified by the voters.(3) The officials would collect the biometric details and along with that would also note the hardware configuration of the laptop and the desktops that would be possibly used for voting.(4) The voters would be asked to use the same hardware as checked by the officials for voting.(5) While voting the voters would receive a OTP(One Time Password) that would be sent to their mobile phones, which would be followed by a line for the purpose of verification.(6) Using these verifications the voter could cast his/her vote online. 

Govt launches E-Vaidya Scheme

The health minister launched the second electronic UPHC - Urban Primary Health Centre in the state of Andhra Pradesh. This would be the first of its kind e-Vaidya telemedicine facility launched in the country. The e-Vaidya scheme comes under the flagship- NUHM (National Urban Health Mission).

E-Vaidya is primarily a digital health unit which would serve as a primary health center, and is a highly innovative approach with a frugal combination between the offline and the online modes. It would help in enabling and provisioning of the health care for all. It operates under a cooperative partnership between the state and the central government. The scheme importantly introduces e-UPHC i.e electronic Urban Primary Health Centre.

The various important points under the scheme:

(a) Usage of videoconferencing with which the patients can directly interact with the doctors at far off places.
(b) Specialists and other consultation could be easily carried out by the technique.
(c) The Online e-UPHC at the fringe places would have the facility for video conferencing and also other basic facilities such as machinery for X-Ray, basic labs and other diagnostic technologies.
(d) The common people could consult these doctors using video conferencing and use these facilities for the various tests which are asked to be conducted on them for the purpose of diagnosis.
(e) Many plans are covered under the scheme, the patients could opt for yearly memberships from the e-Vaidya site and can consult with the doctors even while sitting at homes with internet. But the patients will have to pay a nominal fees for memberships.
(f) The fees would vary according to the kind of consultation seeked and the time period availed for such consultations. 

Union Cabinet paves the way for New Development Bank

The union cabinet has approved the establishment of New Development Bank and the BRICS Contingent Reserve Arrangement (CRA). The Bank will help India and other member countries to raise and avail resources for infrastructure and sustainable development projects. In the New Development Bank each participant country will be given one vote with none having veto power unlike the World Bank, which assigns votes based on the capital share. The BRICS CRA is aimed at providing short-term liquidity support to the members to help mitigate BOP crisis situation through currency swaps, in case such a situation arises.

Swachh Vidyalaya Abhiyan

The Ministry of Human Resource Development has launched Swachh Vidyalaya Programme under Swachh Bharat Mission with an objective to provide separate toilets for boys and girls in all government schools within one year. The Ministry financially supports States/Union Territories inter alia to provide toilets for girls and boys in schools under Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) and Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA). Under SSA and RMSA 88,728 toilets have been sanctioned during 2014-15. 1.58 lakh toilets as well as dysfunctional toilets have been taken up by Public Sector Undertakings/Corporates for construction/repairs. Besides an amount of Rs. 56.51crore has been allocated from the Swachh Bharat Kosh for re-construction/repairs of the dysfunctional toilets.