17-18 jan 2015April

17 jan

Stephen Constantine appointed as head coach of India's men football team

Stephen Constantine was appointed as the head coach of Indian men’s football team on 16 January 2015. He will supervise both the senior and under-23 football teams.

Constantine of England replaced Wim Koevermans of Netherlands, who resigned in October 2014 after India faced a 3-2 defeat against Palestine in a friendly match. It is expected that he will take charge of the team by first week of February 2015.

This is the second time that 52-year-old Constantine has been appointed as the coach of Indian football team. He served as India’s coach from 2002 to 2005, during which the team achieved its best-ever ranking of 109. During that tenure India won the LG Cup in Vietnam and finished runners-up in the Afro-Asian Games.

Current world ranking of the Indian football team is 171.

Constantine was the head coach of Rwanda’s national team before joining the Indian team. He guided Rwanda to their highest-ever world ranking of 68 in FIFA’s ranking of December 2014.

Union Government launched two schemes to support Scheduled Castes

Union Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment on 16 January 2015 launched two schemes to support the Scheduled Castes (SC). These schemes are Venture Capital Fund for Scheduled Castes and Green Business scheme.

The scheme was launched by Thaawar Chand Gehlot, Union Minister of Social Justice and Empowerment.

Venture Capital Fund for Scheduled Castes
The Venture Capital Fund for Scheduled Castes scheme was launched with an initial capital of 200 crore rupees. Under the scheme, financial assistance of 15 Crore rupees for a period of 6 years will be provided to 30 SC entrepreneurs in a year.

IFCI Limited will be the Sponsor, Settler and Asset Management Company or Nodal Agency to operate the scheme. It will contribute 50 crore rupees which would comprise 5 crore rupees as sponsor and 45 crore rupees as investor.

The objectives of the Venture Capital Fund scheme are:
• To promote entrepreneurship amongst the Scheduled castes who are oriented towards innovation and growth technologies.
• To provide concessional finance to the Scheduled Caste (SC) entrepreneurs, who will create wealth and value for society and at the same time will promote profitable businesses.
• To develop SC entrepreneurs economically.
• To enhance direct and indirect employment generation for SC population in India.

Green Business Scheme
Under this Scheme, loan for unit cost up to 1 lakh rupees at concessional rate of interest will be provided to Scheduled Castes for activities such as e-rickshaw, Solar Pump and Solar energy powered implements, poly house etc.

Green Business Scheme for providing financial assistance has been launched keeping in focus climate change.

National Conclave on ending Under-nutrition among Tribal Children concluded

National Conclave on ending under-nutrition among tribal children concluded on 16 January 2015. The two-day conclave was organized by ST and SC Development Department of Odisha government, SC & ST Research and Training Institute, Union Ministry of Tribal Affairs and UNICEF.

At the conclave participants reaffirmed their commitment to end chronic under-nutrition of tribal children across nine Schedule V States.

The conclave ended with eight-point agenda to end the under-nutrition in these States. These are:
• Making nutrition of tribal children a political and bureaucratic priority to stir policy dialogue and coordinated action
• Setting up mechanisms for coordinating actions for nutrition, health, drinking water and sanitation and livelihoods at the highest level at both State and Central levels
• Universalisation of public funded crèches in tribal areas
• Disaggregated data on tribal nutrition through surveys
• Institution of weekly haat should be tapped to deliver services and take messages
• Integrated Tribal Development Agency (ITDA) has relevance and requires strengthening with more representation from all concerned departments
• Community nutrition and day care centres can provide meals to pregnant women and breastfeeding mothers, counselling and linkage to savings groups and livelihoods options
• Civil society and faith-based organizations with established grassroots presence and credibility can increase outreach of services and information on government schemes and generate community demand

Andrey Baryshpolets won the 13th Parsvanth International Grandmasters Chess Tournament

Ukrainian Grandmaster Andrey Baryshpolets won the 13th Parsvanth International Grandmasters Chess Tournament on 16 January 2015. He defeated Deepan Chakkravarthy of India in the 10th and final round of the Tournament that was held in New Delhi.

Baryshpolets went home richer by winning 300000 rupees in the 3000000 rupees prize money festival. Baryshpolets was followed by Ivan Popov of Russia who finished second and Alberto David of Italy who finished third. All the three got 8 points each.

Apart from this, the C category of the Tournament was won by Vardan Nagpal who won a cash prize of 1.25 lakhs rupees for his efforts. The second place in this section was won by Rishabh Jain who won 100000 rupees.

India’s performance at 13th Parsvanth International Grandmasters Chess Tournament
• Deepan Challravarthy finished as the best performing Indian as he finished tenth on seven points despite losing the last round game.
• Abhijeet Gupta won his last round game against Himal Gusain to end 11th on seven points.
• As many as five International Master Norms were secured in the tournament. These were C R G Krishna, Aniruddha Deshpandey, Abhishek Kelkar, M Kunal and S Ravi Teja.

21st Screen Awards announced

21st Screen Awards were announced on 15 January 2015 at Mumbai. Shahid Kapoor and Priyanka Chopra won the Best Actor Award for Male and Female category respectively.

Shahid won the Best Actor (male) award for Haider and Priyanka won Best Actor (female) award for Mary Kom. Best Film award was given to film Queen, while its Director Vikas Bahl won the Best Director award.

Hema Malini was honoured with Lifetime Achievement Award.

Other awards declared on the occasion includes
• Best Actor (male) in the popular choice category - Shah Rukh Khan for Happy New Year
• Best Actor (female) in the popular choice category - Deepika Padukone for Happy New Year
• Hero of the Year (male) - Shahid Kapoor
• Hero of the Year (female) - Alia Bhatt
• Best Supporting Actor (female) – Tabu for Haider and Seema Pahwa for Ankhon Dekhi
• Best Actor Supporting Role (Male) – Inamul Haq for Filmistaan
• Best Actor in a Negative Role award (male) - Tahir Raj Bhasin for role of villain in Mardanni
• Best Actor in a Negative Role award (female) - Huma Qureshi for Dedh Ishqiya
• Best Jodi award – Shahid with Tabu for Haider
• Best Actor in Comic Role (male/female) – Sharib Hashmi for Filmistaan
• Entertainer of the Year – Sajid Nadiadwala
• Ramnath Goenka Award – Manjunath
• Best Ensemble Cast – Ankhon Dekhi
• Best Child Actor – Parth Bhalerao for Bhoothnath
• Best Playback Singer (male) – Arijit Singh for song Muskurane Ki Wajah of Citylights
• Best Playback Singer (female) – Jyoti and Sultana Nooran for song Pattakha Guddi of film Highway
• Best Music – Mithoon and Ankit Tiwari for Ek Villain
• Best Lyrics – Kausar Munir for song Suno Na Sangemarmar of Youngistan
• Most Promising Debut Director – Nitin Kakkar for Filmistaan
• Best Promising Newcomer (male) – Tiger Shroff for Heropanti
• Best Promising Newcomer (female) – Patralekhaa for Citylights
• Best Animation – Char Sahibzade
• Best Dialogue – Rajkumar Hirani, Abhijat Joshi for PK
• Best Screenplay – Sandeep A Varma for Manjunath
• Best Story – Rajat Kapoor for Ankhon Dekhi
• Best Editing – Sanjib Datta for Mardaani
• Best Production Design – Haider
• Best Cinematography – Bobby Singh for Queen
• Best Action – Heropanti
• Best Film Marketing – 2 States
• Best Choreography – Ahmed Khan for Kick’s song Jumme Ki Raat
• Best Costume – Manoshi Nath and Rishi Sharma for PK

The awards were also announced for Marathi films and the winners include
• Best Actor (male) - Dilip Prabhavkar for Vitti Dandu and Nandu Madhav for Tapal
• Best Actor (female) - Usha Naik for Ek Hazarachi Note
• Best Marathi Film -Vitti Dandu produced by Leena Devre, Ajay Devgn and Kajol
• Best Director - Laxman Utekar for Tapal
• Best child actor – Nishant Bhavasar for Vitti Dandu

In 2014, Deepika Padukone for Ram-Leela and Farhan Akhtar for Bhaag Milkha Bhaag won the Best Actress and Best Actor awards at the 20th Screen Awards.

Best Director Award was won by Shoojit Sircar for Madras Cafe while the Best Film Award was won by Bhaag Milkha Bhaag

HAL Chairman R K Tyagi conferred with JGBS-Top Rankers’ Excellence Award

Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) Chairman R.K. Tyagi was on 16 January 2015 conferred with the JGBS-Top Rankers' Excellence Award for CEO of the year 2014.

Tyagi played a key role in 2014 being a successful year for HAL through series of initiatives. The year was dedicated for Integrity, Customer Focus and Quality (ICQ).

The award has been instituted by Jindal Global Business School (JGBS) and Top Rankers’ Management Consultants.

JGBS is part of O P Jindal Global University, Delhi whereas Top Rankers’ Management Consultants is a Delhi based executive search company which provides recruitment and HR solutions to various organizations.

HAL's performance under R K Tyagi in 2014
• HAL was rated as Excellent with a score of 1.08 for the year 2013-14 which is the best among all Defence Public Sector Undertakings (DPSUs).
• The company emerged in top six public sector companies out of over 180 PSEs assessed by Department of Public Enterprises (DPE).
• HAL designed and developed Light Combat Helicopter (LCH) Technology Demonstrator TD-3 that showcased Company’s approach for design and development.
• The Ground Test Vehicle (GTV) run of Light Utility Helicopter was another important milestone.
• The first ROH Su-30 aircraft was recently handed over to the Indian Air Force in Nashik by the company.
• On Research and Development front, HAL did extremely well during 2014 by focusing on patents and Intellectual Property Rights. The number of patents filed by HAL increased from 71 in 2012-13 to 209 in 2013-14 and to 773 in 2014-15.
• HAL also contributed to the success of Mars Orbiter Mission and GSLV Mk III launch in 2014.

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

The Red Sari: written by Spanish author Javier Moro

The Red Sari, an unauthorized biography of Congress Party President Sonia Gandhi, was released by Roli Books in India on 16 January 2015. The book has been written by Spanish author Javier Moro.

The book describes about how Sonia Gandhi’s courage, honesty, and dedication have made her a leader in the eyes of one-sixth of humanity that is from her idyllic childhood to her passionate love affair, and from her days as a docile daughter-in-law to her current status of being the only Indian politician to have refused Prime Ministership.

This book also examines the lives of the famous Nehru-Gandhi family set against the backdrop of the Bangladesh War, the Emergency, Operation Blue Star, and other events that have shaped modern Indian history.

The controversy related to book

Originally, the book was written in Spanish language and was titled El Sari Rojo. It was first published in 2008.

The English version of the book was not allowed to release in India in 2010 because it was argued by the Congress Party and Sonia Gandhi's lawyers that the book is full of untruths, half-truths, falsehoods, defamatory statements, completely imaginary and invented conversations.

Sania Mirza, Bethanie Mattek-Sands won women’s doubles title of Sydney International

Sania Mirza and her partner Bethanie Mattek-Sands of the US on 16 January 2015 won the women’s doubles title of the Sydney International Tennis Tournament.

The unseeded Indo-American pair defeated top-seeded Americans Abigail Spears and Raquel Kops-Jones 6-3, 6-3 in the summit clash played in Sydney. With this win, the duo earned 470 ranking points each and split 39000 US Dollar as prize money.

This was the fifth WTA title for Sania and Bethanie together, while it was the first title of the season for Sania. This was 23rd career title for Sania.

The 2015 Sydney International Tennis Tournament was held from 12 January to 17 January 2015 at Sydney Olympic Park Tennis Centre, Australia.

Sydney International Tennis Tournament
Sydney International tennis Tournament also known as Apia International Sydney is one of the oldest professional tennis tournaments of the world. It started in 1885. The tournament was used by colonial officials as a means to select the Davis Cup team.

Currently, the tournament is conducted annually a week prior to the Australian Open, the first Grand Slam tournament of the tennis calendar.

CCEA approved revised buffer norms of foodgrains for better management of food stocks

Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) on 16 January 2015 approved revision in buffer norms of foodgrains in the Central Pool. The revision was approved to ensure better management of food stocks in the country.

Revised buffer norms of food grains
Now the Food Corporation of India will have to maintain higher buffer stock in different quarters as compared to the existing norms of 2005, they are as follows

As on	Existing since April 2005	Revised
1April	21.2 million tonnes	21.04 million tonnes
1 July	31.9 million tonnes	41.12 million tonnes
1 Oct	21.2 million tonnes	30.77 million tonnes
1 Jan	25.0 million tonnes	21.41 million tonnes

Apart from this, the CCEA also approved that the Department of Food and Public Distribution can offload excess stock in the domestic market through open sale or through exports, in case the stock of food grains in the Central Pool is more than the revised buffer norms.

An Inter-Ministerial Group (IMG) has also been constituted to implement the decision. It will comprise of Secretary, Department of Food & Public Distribution, Secretary, Expenditure and Secretary, Consumer Affairs and will be responsible for managing the food stock.

Why the need to revise buffer norms?
The buffer norms were increased in light of significant increase in the off take of foodgrains under Targetted Public Distribution System (TPDS) and also in light of the increased foodgrains requirement necessitated by the implementation of National Food Security Act, 2013 from 5 July 2013.

The Food Security Act, 2013 promises 5 kg of grains per person every month at 3 rupees and 2 rupees per kg for rice and wheat respectively. The scheme will cover two-third of the population.

However, the revised buffer norms are lower than what was suggested by the then UPA government. UPA government led by Manmohan Singh had proposed to increase the buffer norms by 60 percent.

Narendra Modi-led government increased the buffer norms only by 50 percent. This suggests that government is keen to better target the subsidies and maintain the fiscal deficit within the limits provided by Union Budget 2014-15.

This is because in order to meet the increased requirements of foodgrains necessitated by Food Security Act, the FCI will have to incur expenditure of 25-32 crore rupees as carrying cost to hold 1 lakh tonnes of wheat and rice annually.

Deep Kumar Upadhyay appointed as Nepal's ambassador to India

Nepali Congress leader Deep Kumar Upadhyay was on 16 January 2015 appointed as Nepal's ambassador to India. The post was lying vacant since 2011.

The decision to appoint Deep Kumar Upadhyay was taken at the cabinet meeting headed by Nepal’s Prime Minister Sushil Kumar Koirala. He is a Central Working Committee member of the Nepali Congress party.

Earlier, Upadhyay has served as an assistant finance minister of Nepal. However, he does not have experience in foreign affairs as he had never served any diplomatic position earlier.

The post was lying vacant for more than 3 years when the Maoist-led government called back its ambassador to India Rukma Shukshere Rana in August 2011. She was called back after she was found serving as the Managing Director of Indian joint venture Dabur Nepal.

Japan committed 2620 crore rupees Overseas Development Assistance loan to India

Japan committed to provide an Overseas Development Assistance (ODA) loan of 2620 crore rupees (50 billion Yen) to India. The notification related to this was released by the Union Ministry of Finance on 16 January 2015.

The loan amount will support infrastructure projects that will be implemented in public-private partnership mode.

The loan will be provided by Japan International Commerce Agency to the India Infrastructure Finance Company (IIFC) to support infrastructure projects built on public-private partnership mode.

The commitment to provide the ODA loan was part of pledge made by Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe during the Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s five-day visit to Japan. Modi visited Japan in August – September 2014.

India-Japan Economic Relations
Since the formation of Narendra Modi-led government at the Centre, the economic relations between India and Japan has catapulted to a new high.

According to Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Government of India, in October 2014, the number of Japanese companies in India reached 1209, which is 13 percent higher over the same period in 2013.

Further in last five years, that is, during 2010 - 2014, the numbers of Japanese companies doing business in India have shown a Compound Annual Growth Rate of 13.67 percent.

During the period June 2014 to September 2014, FDI inflow from Japan rose to 618 million US dollars from 273 million US dollars during the corresponding period in 2013. The FDI inflow from Japan stood at 103.14 million US dollars in October 2014.

In a recent survey made public by the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC), India has been ranked as the top destination for future investments from Japan.

Flash floods in Malawi; hundreds killed

Malawi in the third week of January 2015 witnessed flash floods due to heavy torrential rain. The floods swept away several houses and have killed at least 170 people. Malawi is one of the world's poorest countries.

Vice-President Saulos Chilima said more than one lakh people have been displaced from their homes, mostly in the south. The government has declared a third of the country as disaster zone and appealed for help.

Effects of the flash floods
• It swept away roads and bridges and destroyed thousands of hectares of crops
• It had raised fears if cholera outbreak in the southern half of the country

Mark Knowles, Ellen Hoog named FIH Player-of-the-year 2014

Australian captain Mark Knowles and midfielder of the Netherland Ellen Hoog on 15 January 2015 were named as the International Hockey Federation (FIH) Player of the Year 2014 in men and women category, respectively.

Other names to be honoured include
• Goalkeepers-of-the-year (Men): Jaap Stockmann of the Netherlands
• Goalkeepers-of-the-year (Women): Joyce Sombroek of the Netherlands
• Rising-stars-of-the-year (Men): Gonzalo Peillat of Argentina
• Rising-stars-of-the-year (Women): Florencia Habif of Argentina
• Women’s Coach-of-the-year: Argentine Max Caldas, Coach of the Netherlands team
• Men’s Coach-of-the-year: Australian Ric Charlesworth, Coach of Australia team

Year 2014 ranked as Earth's hottest year since 1880

The year 2014 was ranked as the Earth’s hottest year since 1880 as per the two separate analyses done by National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) scientists and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) scientists. The findings of NASA and NOAA were released on 16 January 2015.

Both NASA and NOAA conducted independent analyses based on satellite and ground readings, but they arrived at similar conclusions.

The global average temperature for 2014 was roughly 1.24°F (or 0.69°C) warmer than the 20th-century average that included record heat in the western United States, Europe, Australia, and much of the Pacific Ocean.

Rankings of 10 warmest years
1. 2014
2. 2010
3. 2005
4. 2007
5. 1998
6. 2002
7. 2013
8. 2009
9. 2003
10. 2006

Findings
As per GISS Surface Temperature Analysis (GISTEMP), since 1880, Earth’s average surface temperature has warmed by about 1.4 degrees Fahrenheit (0.8 degrees Celsius), which was caused by the increase in carbon dioxide into the planet’s atmosphere.

The 2014 temperatures were the warmest ones, but scientists still expect to see year-to-year fluctuations in average global temperature caused by phenomena such as El Nino or La Nina.

The phenomena El Nino and La Nina in the Pacific Ocean played an important role in the flattening of the long-term warming trend over the past 15 years. Moreover, 2014’s record warmth occurred during an El Nino-neutral year.

Regional differences in temperature are more strongly affected by weather dynamics than the global mean temperature.

Study Process
The scientists at NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) in New York mapped the five-year global temperature averages from 1880 to 2014.

The GISS analysis incorporated surface temperature measurements from 6300 weather stations, ship- and buoy-based observations of sea surface temperatures and temperature measurements from Antarctic research stations.

This raw data was analyzed using an algorithm that measures the varied spacing of temperature stations around the globe. The result is an estimate of the global average temperature difference from a baseline period of 1951 to 1980.

The US and UK announced cooperative measures in combating cyber threats

The US President Barack Obama and UK Prime Minister David Cameron announced cooperative measures in combating cyber threats. Both the countries announced the measures during the bilateral summit between the two countries held in Washington DC, US on 16 January 2015.

The measures include better threat information sharing and the creation of a new joint cyber task force.

The measure on better threat information sharing will bring together Internet security experts from the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) and Security Service MI5 of the UK and the National Security Agency (NSA) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) of the US.

On the other hand, the formation of a joint cyber task force will have a physical presence in both the countries.

The US and UK also agreed that the cyber threat was one of the most serious economic and national security challenges for both the countries and required cooperation between governments and the private sector.

Both the countries also agreed on encryption of online service by private companies to maintain people privacy and help track down terrorists. They also recognised that the international nature of cyber threats requires that governments around the world work together to confront the cyber threats.

It was also agreed to strengthen efforts to enhance the cyber security of critical infrastructure in both the countries and support new educational exchanges between the US and the UK.

Petra Kvitova won women’s single title of Sydney International Tennis tournament

Petra Kvitova of Czech Republic on 16 January 2015 won the women’s single title of Sydney International Tennis tournament. She won the title defeating Karolina Pliskova of Czech Republic 7-6, 7-6 in the final.

This is the 15th career title won by former Wimbledon Champion and World No 4 Kvitova. She won the Wimbledon Championship twice in 2011 and 2014 respectively.

Pliskova, on the other hand, finished her 2014 season with more aces than any other player apart from Serena Williams of the US. With this tournament she was ranked 22 and this is the first she was in the top 20.

The Sydney International also called Apia International Sydney is a tune-up event before Australian Open, the first Grand Slam tournament on the tennis calendar.