19-20 jan 2015
19 jan
South Africa's AB de Villiers hit fastest century in ODIs
South Africa’s cricketer AB de Villiers on 18 January 2015 hit the fastest century in One-Day International (ODI) cricket. The 30-year-old South African captain scored the century in just 31 balls.
He achieved the feat in second ODI match of the 5-match ODI series played at the Wanderers in Johannesburg against West Indies.
The previous record was held by New Zealand’s Corey Anderson who scored a century in 36 balls against the West Indies on 1 January 2014.
On the way to make the world record of fastest century, Villiers went to fifty off 16 balls, one ball less than Sanath Jayasuriya's 19-year old record of the fastest ODI half-century. Jayasuriya scored the fifty in 17 balls for Sri Lanka against Pakistan in 1995-96.
Apart from this, Villiers 149 off 44 balls that included 16 sixes helped South Africa to score 439, the second highest total in one-day internationals. South Africa went past their own previous highest total-the 438 for nine they scored in a record run chase against Australia on the same ground in 2005-06. Sri Lanka holds the world record of 443 for nine, made against the Netherlands in 2006.
Fastest ODI centuries
• AB de Villiers of South Africa – in 31 balls against West Indies in Johannesburg on 18 January 2015
• Corey Anderson of New Zealand – in 36 balls against West Indies in Queenstown on 1 January 2014
• Shahid Afridi of Pakistan – in 37 balls against Sri Lanka in Nairobi on 4 October 1996
• Mark Boucher of South Africa – in 44 balls against Zimbabwe in Potchefstroom on 20 September 2006
• Brian Lara of West Indies – in 45 balls against Bangladesh in Dhaka on 9 October 1999
Indigenously-built Light Combat Aircraft Tejas handed over to IAF
The first of the indigenously-built Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas Series Production-1 (SP1) was handed over to the Indian Air Force (IAF) on 17 January 2015. Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar handed over Tejas to IAF in the presence of Air Chief Marshal Anup Raha at the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) in Bengaluru.
LCA Tejas was handed over to the Air Force after Initial Operational Clearance-II, which signifies that the aircraft is irworthy in different conditions. It received its Initial Operational Clearance-I in January 2011, after being built by state-owned HAL. It is expected that the aircraft will receive its Final Operational Clearance by December 2015.
Characteristics of Tejas
• Tejas is a Light Combat Aircraft that uses fourth generation technologies
• It is built from CFC materials and has unstable aerodynamics
• It is equipped with a quadruplex digital fly-by-wire flight control system to ease handling by the pilot
• It incorporates an advanced glass cockpit that comprises all the round dialed electro-mechanical instruments
• It is fitted with the coherent pulse-Doppler Multi Mode Radar that is designed to operate equally effectively in the Air to Air and Air to Surface domains.
• It is fitted with Open Architecture Computer (OAC)
LCA Tejas
LCA Tejas is a lightweight multi-role jet fighter developed by India under a project that commenced in 1983 and had cost 17000 crore rupees to the exchequer. It is a tailless, compound delta wing design powered by a single engine. It came from the LCA programme that was initiated to replace the ageing MiG-21 fighters in IndianAir Force’s combat.
Timeline of LCA Project
• LCA project was approved with an initial budget of 560 crore rupees in August 1983
• Its first fighter prototype flew in January 2001
• It received initial operational clearance (IOC) in December 2013
• 1st fighter (in IOC configuration) was handed over in January 2015
• It will receive Final Operational Clearance (FOC) in December 2015
• 20 jets will be delivered for 1st IOC squadron by 2017-18
• 2nd squadron with 20 Tejas in FOC configuration will be created after 2018
• IAF will begin 80 Tejas Mark-II inductions for 4 squadrons by 2021-2022
Pankaj Advani won National Billiards title for seventh time
Cueist Pankaj Advani on 17 January 2015 won National Billiards Championship at the Bengal Rowing Club in Kolkata. He defeated his PSPB mate Dhruv Sitwala 5-0.
This was his seventh Senior National Billiards Championship. Advani, the 12-time world champion has won the previous six titles in 2012, 2011, 2009, 2008, 2007 and 2005.
Third and fourth position of the tournament was notched by Siddharth Parikh (RSPB) and B. Bhaskar (Karnataka), respectively.
Final placing: 1) Pankaj Advani (PSPB); 2) Dhruv Sitwala (PSPB); 3) Siddharth Parikh (RSPB); 4) B. Bhaskar (Karnataka); 5) Rupesh Shah (PSPB); 6) Dhvaj Haria (PSPB); 7) Brijesh Damani (PSPB); 8) Jaiveer Dhingra (Maharashtra).
Jimjang Deru created national record in weightlifting in 56-kg category
Weightlifter Jimjang Deru of Arunachal Pradesh on 17 January 2015 created national record in weightlifting by lifting 238 kilograms under the 56 kilograms category. He created the record at the 10th Youth National Weightlifting Championship held in Yamuna Nagar, Haryana.
He lifted 103 kilograms in snatch and 135 kilograms in Clean & Jerk to clinch the Gold.
Earlier in the first week of January 2015, he became the Asian Youth Champion in the 56-kg category at the Asian Weightlifting Championship in Doha, Qatar.
Deru is the national champion in the 56-kg category for past three years. He broke his own record set in 2014 at the 9th Youth National Weightlifting Championship held at Guwahati.
Other winners from Arunachal Pradesh were
• Yukar Tachack – he clinched the Silver for 62 kg weight category by lifting a total of 220 kilograms. He lifted 100 kilograms in Snatch and 120 kilograms in Clean and Jerk.
• Dampi Umpai – he won the Bronze medal in the Under-56 kilograms weight category by lifting 204 kilograms. He lifted 90 kilogram in Snatch and 114 kilogram in Clean & Jerk
Paladugu Venkata Rao, former Minister of Andhra Pradesh, died
Paladugu Venkata Rao on 18 January 2015 died. He was 75. He was a former Minister of Andhra Pradesh and a senior Congress leader.
At the time of his death, he was serving as Member of Legislative Council for second time. His term was to end in 2017.
Born in November 1940 in Krishna district, he joined active politics as Youth Congress leader in 1968 and made his electoral debut as a Member of Legislative Assembly from Nuzvid constituency in 1978.
He went on to serve as Minister for Rural Water Supply (1980-82), Agriculture Minister (1982) and Marketing Minister (1982-83).
After a brief gap, he returned to the Assembly and won the Nuzvid seat for the second time in 1989.
After the revival of the Legislative Council during Y.S.Rajasekhara Reddy’s regime, he was elected from the Assembly quota as an MLC in 2009. He was re-elected again in 2011 for a six year term.
The veteran leader is also known for donating his residential building in Nuzvid to Andhra Pradesh Horticulture University to start a Rythu Seva Kendram. The building was used as an agriculture research centre and has been named after his late parents Paladugu Lakshmaiah and Nagaratnamma.
Eicher Motors appointed Rudratej Singh as President of Royal Enfield
Eicher Motors on 19 January 2015 appointed Rudratej Singh as President of Royal Enfield. He will report to Eicher Motors Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer Siddhartha Lal.
Earlier, he was based in Singapore with Unilever as Vice-President — South Asia, HPC & Foods Marketing Operations.
As President, he will be responsible for building thought leadership for the brand and leading the commercial business for Royal Enfield.
It would include global sales and after-sales, brand and marketing, new product strategy and creating and growing new business opportunities such as apparel, accessories, and other adjacencies.
His experience in marketing mix development and managing brand equity along with global perspective will help the company’s objective of becoming leaders in the mid-sized motorcycling segment.
Royal Enfield is the Chennai-based arm of the company. It currently sold various models including Bullet, Classic and Thunderbird.
Nissan and NASA partnered to Jointly Develop and Deploy Autonomous Drive Vehicles
US space agency NASA and Japanese automaker Nissan on 9 January 2015 announced formation of a five-year research and development partnership.
Under this contract the two organisations will jointly develop and deploy advance autonomous vehicle systems and prepare them for commercial application. First such vehicle will be tested by end of 2015.
The partnership will accelerate Nissan's development of safe, secure and reliable autonomous drive technology that it will progressively introduce to consumers beginning in 2016 up to 2020
Focus of the partnership
Researchers from Nissan's US Silicon Valley Research Center and NASA's Ames Research Center at Moffett Field will focus on sophisticated hardware and software used in road and space applications. These involve
• Autonomous drive systems
• Human-machine interface solutions
• Network-enabled applications
• Software analysis and verification
Besides, they will also test a fleet of zero-emission autonomous vehicles at Ames to demonstrate proof-of-concept remote operation of autonomous vehicles for the transport of materials, goods, payloads and people.
About Nissan Motor Company
Nissan Motor is second-largest automotive company of Japan with its headquarters in Yokohama, Japan. It is a part of the Renault-Nissan Alliance. Nissan in 2010, introduced the Nissan LEAF, and continues to lead in zero-emission mobility.
The LEAF, the first mass-market, pure-electric vehicle launched globally, is now the best-selling EV in history with almost 50 percent share of the zero-emission vehicle segment.
Viktor Troicki won Men’s Single title of Sydney International Tennis Tournament
Viktor Troicki of Serbia on 18 January 2015 won Men’s Single title of Sydney International Tennis Tournament. He won the title by defeating Mikhail Kukushkin of Kazakhstan 6-2, 6-3 in the final.
With this win, Troicki jumped to rank 54 from his current ranking of 92. His carrier best rank was 12. The Sydney win was the second ATP career title for Troicki.
On the other hand, despite losing the final, Kukushkin jumped to rank 51 from his current ranking of 66. His career best rank was 48.
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.
National Immunization Day for the year 2015 observed on 18 January
National Immunization Day for the year 2015 was observed on 18 January 2015. As a part of this, Children below 5 years of age were given polio drops as part of the government's drive to sustain polio eradication in India.
Earlier on 17 January 2015, President Pranab Mukherjee launched the Pulse Polio Programme for the year 2015 by administering polio drops to children in New Delhi.
Every year, India observes National Immunisation Day in January to mark the launch of pulse polio programme.
India has been implementing the Pulse Polio Programme since 1995. In India, the last case of wild polio was reported on 13 January 2011.
On 27 March 2014, India was certified as polio free country along with other 11 countries of South-East Asia Region of World Health Organisation (WHO). These countries were Bangladesh, Bhutan, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Indonesia, Maldives, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Timor-Leste.
Hyderabad to host World Congress on Information Technology in 2018
Hyderabad will host the World Congress on Information Technology (WCIT) in 2018. This will be the first WCIT to be held in India and the theme of the 2018 WCIT will be Future of enterprises.
The decision to hold the event was taken during a meeting between Chief Minister of Telangana K Chandrasekhar Rao and National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM) on 16 January 2015.
WCIT will be attended by over 2500 delegates from 80 countries and would cover Issues such as cyber security, global collaborative models, IT continuing education policies, global convergence, future of technology and others.
As part of this, the Chief Minister would visit the US, the UK and other countries to invite the bigwigs of the IT industry to the 2018 event. Also, a State government delegation would visit WCIT to be held in Brazil in 2016 as part of the preparations for 2018 event. The State Government would release 1 million US dollars funds for the event by March 2015.
The hosting of WCIT will give a big push to the information technology industry in Telangana and is expected to create opportunities for business worth 2 trillion US dollars, besides helping brand building of Hyderabad.
In 2014, the 19th WCIT was held in Guadalajara in Mexico. The theme was Building the Digital Age Together.
The first WCIT was held in 1978 and it is held since then every two years.
HDFC Bank featured among world's 50 most valuable banks in 2014
HDFC bank was named among 50 most valuable banks in 2014 with a market capitalisation of 41.58 billion US dollar. It was ranked at 45th position.
The list of 66 largest banks in the world by market capitalisation as on 31 December 2014 was compiled and released in January 2015 by Relbanks. The top ten banks include 4 US banks, 4 Chinese banks, 1 bank of each United Kingdom (UK) and Australia. These top ten banks are
• Wells Fargo & Co. of US with market cap of 284.39 Billion US dollar
• Industrial & Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) of China with market cap of 269.70 Billion US dollar
• JP Morgan Chase & Co. of US with market cap of 233.94 Billion US dollar
• China Construction Bank of China with market cap of 213.18 Billion US dollar
• Bank of America of US with market cap of 188.14 Billion US dollar
• Agricultural Bank of China with market cap of 187.34 Billion US dollar
• HSBC Holdings of UK with market cap of 181.24 Billion US dollar
• Bank of China with market cap of 177.65 Billion US dollar
• Citigroup Inc of US with market cap of 163.93 Billion US dollar
• Commonwealth Bank of Australia with market cap of 112.37 Billion US dollar
Apart from HDFC two other banks of India were listed in the list and they are
• State Bank of India was ranked 51 with market cap of 36.40 Billion US dollar
• ICICI Bank Limited was ranked 55 with market cap of 33.42 Billion US dollar
Parliament of Europe adopted resolution on two Italian marines
Parliament of Europe on 14 January 2015 adopted a resolution calling on India to allow the return of two Italian marines Massimiliano Latorre and Salvatore Girone. The resolution was adopted by majority during the plenary session of European Parliament in Strasbourg, France.
Details of the Resolution
• Member of European Parliament (MEPs) expressed great sadness at the tragic death of the two Indian fishermen, but also grave concerns about the detention without charge of the Italian marines
• They also stressed that restrictions on the marines’ freedom of movement represent a serious breach of their human rights and ask for their repatriation.
• They also backed the positions stated by Italy on the 2012 incident and therefore hope that jurisdiction will fall to the Italian authorities and/or international arbitration.
• They finally asked Federica Mogherini, High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, to take all necessary steps to protect the two Italian marines and state their support for the efforts of all parties involved to work towards a mutually acceptable solution.
India’s reaction
The resolution drew sharp reaction from India and it termed the step as not well advised as the matter was sub judice.
Earlier, Supreme Court on 14 January 2015 granted three months extension to the Italian marine, Massimiliano Latorre, for his stay in Italy on health grounds. The other marine, Salvatore Girone is living in the Italian Embassy in New Delhi.
Background
Massimiliano Latorre and Salvatore Girone, were arrested on murder charges after in an anti-piracy they killed two Indian fisherman off the coast of Kerala on 15 February 2012. The two maintain that they fired at the fishermen after mistaking them for pirates while guarding the ship Enrica Lexie.
The shooting incident sparked a diplomatic row between India and Italy over conflicting opinions on jurisdiction and immunity.
Former PM Manmohan Singh adopted Pachim Bekeli Gaon Panchyat under Sansad Adarsh Gram Yojana
Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on 17 January 2015 adopted Pachim Bekeli Gaon Panchyat under Sansad Adarsh Gram Yojna (SAGY). Pachim Bekeli Gaon Panchyat is located in Kamrup district of Assam.
Manmohan Singh represents Assam in the Rajya Sabha.
Almost 125 MPs have adopted a village under SAGY since the announcement of the Yojana by PM Narendra Modi on 15 August 2014. Some of the MPs and the villages adopted by them are:
• Prime Minister Narendra Modi: Jayapur village in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh
• Hema Malini: Raval village, Uttar Pradesh
• Sachin Tendulkar: Puttamraju Kandrika village, Andhra Pradesh
• Kaushalendra Kumar: Nanand village in Nalanda, Bihar
• Narendra Sawaikar: Cola village, Andhra Pradesh
• Avinash Rai Khanna: Adamwal village in Hoshiarpur, Punjab
• Rajendra Agrawal: Bhagwanpur Chatawan village in Rajpura, Punjab
Union Minister Sushma Swaraj, MP Sharad Pawar of the Nationalist Congress Party, AK Antony of the Indian National Congress, JD-U’s Sharad Yadav are among others who have each chosen a village to adopt in their respective constituencies.
Sansad Adarsh Gram Yojana
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 15 August 2014 announced Sansad Asarsh Gram Yojana. It aims to cover 2500 villages by 2019. Under the project, each Member of Parliament (MP) will take up the responsibility of providing infrastructure and developing three villages by 2019.
The objective of the project is to create a holistic development of all adopted villages by the MPs in all aspects —human, personal, social, economic and environmental development, including provision of basic amenities, services, security and good governance.
Twitter appointed Taranjeet Singh as Head of Sales for its India operation
Microblogging site Twitter on 19 January 2015 appointed Taranjeet Singh as Head of Sales for its operation in India.
As Head of Sales, his responsibilities would include increasing commercial opportunities for Twitter in India and to work closely with brands and agencies to maximise value of real-time marketing.
Earlier, Taranjeet served as the Sales Director (South Asia) for BBC Advertising and was responsible for revenue and business strategy of BBC World News.
Prior to joining the BBC, he held various positions at Outlook Publishing Pvt Ltd, including heading its advertising sales and business development in Northern India.
The appointment of Taranjeet is aimed at enhancing revenues for Twitter from India, one of the biggest Internet market in the world. India is one of the fastest growing markets for the social networking platform.
According to Research firm eMarketer, India will become Twitter's third-largest market with 18.1 million users in 2014.
Prime Minister of Bhutan Lyonchhen Tshering Tobgay visited India
Prime Minister of Bhutan Lyonchhen Tshering Tobgay visited India from 10 January to 18 January 2015. He visited along with his spouse Aum Tashi Doma, Foreign Minister Rinzin Dorji and Economic Affairs Minister Norbu Wangchuk.
As a part of his visit, he met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and held wide-ranging discussions on bilateral relations as well as on regional and international issues of mutual interest and concern.
Both the leaders agreed that cooperation in the field of hydropower was mutually beneficial and a win-win situation for both countries. They reiterated their commitment to the 10000 MW hydro power plant initiatives and also committed for early implementation of the four JV-model projects, totaling 2120 MW.
He also met President of India Pranab Mukherjee, Union Minister of Home Affairs -Rajnath Singh, Minister of External Affairs Sushma Swaraj, Union Minister of Finance Arun Jaitley, Chief Minister of Gujarat Anandiben Patel and many other leaders.
He also attended the Vibrant Gujarat Summit 2015 and also visited a number of very successful projects in Gujarat such as the Gujarat International Finance Tec-City (GIFT), Solar Park, Kaushal Vardhan Kendra (Skill Development Institute), Sabarmati river front, Garima Park and Kids City. Further, Prime Minister also visited the Buddhist sites in Vadnagar, Gujarat.
The visit of the Prime Minister of
20 jan
ONGC won 10th Savio Cup All India Basketball tournament
Oil & Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), Dehradun on 19 January 2015 won the 10th Savio Cup All India Basketball tournament. In the final clash played at Don Bosco School court in Matunga, Mumbai, ONGC defeated Indian Overseas Bank (IOB), Chennai 63-53.
Best scorers of the match
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Oil & Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) |
Indian Overseas Bank (IOB) |
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ONGC as the winner of the tournament received the Savio Cup and a cheque of 1.3 lakh rupees while IOB as the runners-up received prize-money of 70000 rupees.
Apart from this, Chhattisgarh won the title in women’s category by defeating Southern Railway. With this win, the winner received a trophy and prize amount of 50000 rupees while the runners-up received a cash award of 25000 rupees.
Haiti president announced formation of new government under Prime Minister Evans Paul
Haitian President Michel Martelly on 18 January 2015 announced the formation of new government that will be led by newly elected Prime Minister Evans Paul.
Martelly appointed 18 ministers and 16 secretaries of state to the new cabinet of Haiti. Carel Alexandre was appointed as the head of public security. The new planning minister is Yves Germain Joseph.
Despite promising a new government, Martelly kept several current cabinet members in their posts including the Ministers of Defence, Foreign Affairs, Health, Tourism, Education and Public Works and appointed his allies to the key positions of Planning Minister and Secretary of State for Public Security.
The new cabinet was announced amid the political unrest against Martelly's rule on the impoverished Caribbean country. Martelly has been in power since 2011, but he has failed to end Haiti's long-running political turmoil and protesters have called on street protests aimed at resignation of Martelly.
In order to end the street protests, Martelly on 16 January 2015 announced to build a broad-based government. Martelly urged anti-government demonstrators to keep street protests peaceful as he tries to steer the country toward new elections.
Haiti's parliament was dissolved in the second week of January 2015 after the last-minute negotiations to extend the terms of the members of Haiti Parliamentcollapsed. Former Prime Minister Laurent Lamothe was also forced to resign on 14 December 2014.
Background
Haiti has a long history of coups, uprisings and dictatorships and now the dissolution of parliament raised fears that the nation is again on a way to violent unrest. Washington fears that a political collapse can spark mass migration of Haitians to the United States.
Haiti remains heavily dependent on US financial aid. It is the poorest nation of the America and is still recovering from a devastating earthquake in January 2010 that destroyed large parts of the capital, Port-au-Prince.
There have been no legislative or municipal elections in the country for three years. However, the elections could be held in 2015 but President Martelly must first form an Electoral Council first.
Filmmaker Pahlaj Nihalani appointed as Chairman of CBFC
Filmmaker Pahlaj Nihalani on 19 January 2015 was appointed as the Chairman of Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC).
Nihalani, known for the 1990s blockbusters Shola aur Shabnam and Aankhen will succeed Leela Samson who resigned from her office on 16 January 2015.
Nihalani is also known for producing a fan-song for Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2014 titled Har Ghar Modi-The Power House of India.
Union Information and Broadcasting Ministry who reconstituted the complete Board also appointed nine new members in it. The tenure of the Chairperson and the members of the CBFC will be of three years.
The Chairman and the members were appointed in accordance with the sub-section (1) of Section 3 of the Cinematograph Act, 1952 and Rule 3 of the Cinematograph (Certification) Rules, 1983.
Appointed members of the board are
• Film director Dr. Chandra Prakash Dwivedi – he is known for his epic TV serial Chanakya and critically acclaimed national award winning film Pinjar
• BJP leader Vani Tripathi Tikoo - she acted in films like Chalte Chalte and Dushman
• Kashmiri activist and filmmaker Ashoke Pandit - he is known for films like And the World Remained Silent and Sheen
• Dalit RSS activist Ramesh Patange – he authored Me, Manu anee Sangh (I, Manu, and Sangh)
• Gujarat Central University Vice-Chancellor Syed Abdul Bari
• Bengali actor George Baker
• Tamil actor Sattanathapuram Venkataraman Shekhar
• Telugu actor Jeevitha
• Writer Mihir Bhuta
Union Government banned mobile handsets with fake, duplicate identity numbers
Union Government on 19 January 2015 prohibited imports of all kind of mobile handsets with fake or duplicate Unique Identity Numbers. The decision will help the security agencies to track callers using different SIM (Subscriber Identity Module) cards.
Director General of Foreign Trade in its notification added GSM mobile handsets with duplicate or fake IMEI and CDMA mobile handsets with duplicate or fake ESN (Electronic Serial Number)/MEID (mobile equipment identifier) to the list of Prohibited items for import.
Earlier, import of mobile phones with or without 00…00 IMEI numbers were banned but this order places bans on duplicate handsets as well.
International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) number
IMEI number is a unique 15-17 digit number which is used by GSM network to identify validity of the devices on a cellphone or mobile. These numbers are helpful in tracking the mobile phones.
Electronic Serial Number (ESN)
Electronic serial numbers (ESNs) is a unique identification number that every cellular phone has and is assigned by the specific manufacturer. It helps in authenticating the validity of the phone in respect to the cellular service the phone is attempting to use. These numbers are used in CDMA phone sets.
Mobile Equipment Identifier (MEID)
MEID is a unique number that identifies a wireless handset. This system replaced the electronic serial number (ESN) system in 2006 this helps to activate a phone with a carrier that requires your phone's unique identifier in a specific format.
NHRC issued notice to UP Government over Hooch Tragedy
National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) on 19 January 2015 issued notice to Uttar Pradesh Government over hooch tragedy in Malihabad near Lucknow and its bordering Unnao district.
Terming Hooch Tragedy as a serious issue of human rights violation, the panel issued notices to Chief Secretary Alok Ranjan, Inspector General of Police Subhash Chandra and District Magistrate Rajshekhar.
The notices were issued after the Commission took suo motu cognizance of media reports on hooch tragedy.
Hooch Tragedy
The hooch tragedy occurred on 12 January 2015 in Kharta and other villages in Malihabad area of Lucknow and Talasarai village in Hasanganj area of Unnao district.
The hooch tragedy has so far claimed 49 lives and more than 100 people are still undergoing treatment in various hospitals. The condition of over a dozen patients, who consumed spurious liquor, continues to remain serious and they have been put on life support systems.
Many victims have also lost their eyesight permanently. The state government ordered a magisterial enquiry into the incident and Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav also ordered the suspension of 20 officials including Administrative, Police and Excise Officials.
WHO released Global Status Report on Non-communicable Diseases 2014
The World Health Organisation (WHO) on 19 January 2015 released the Global Status Report on Non-communicable Diseases 2014.
As per the report, every year, 16 million people die prematurely before the age of 70 from heart and lung diseases, stroke, cancer and diabetes. Most of these deaths are preventable.
WHO estimated the cost of reducing the global non-communicable diseases (NCD) burden is 11.2 billion US dollars a year. From 2011-2025, cumulative economic losses due to NCDs in low and middle-income countries is estimated at 7 trillion US dollars.
With an investment of only 1-3 US dollars per person per year, countries can dramatically reduce illness and death from non-communicable diseases (NCDs).
The report provides the most current estimates based on NCD mortality (2012) and risk factors in 194 countries. The report outlines 9 global voluntary targets in the action plan that address key NCD risk factors including tobacco use, salt intake, physical inactivity, high blood pressure and harmful use of alcohol.
The 9 global NCD targets are:
1. 25 percent relative reduction in risk of premature mortality from cancer, diabetes, chronic respiratory diseases.
2. At least 10 percent relative reduction in the harmful use of alcohol within the national context.
3. A 10 percent relative reduction in prevalence of insufficient physical activity.
4. A 30 percent relative reduction in mean population intake of salt.
5. A 30 percent relative reduction in tobacco use in persons aged 15+ years.
6. A 25 percent relative reduction in the prevalence of raised blood pressure according to national circumstances.
7. Halt the rise in diabetes and obesity.
8. At least 50 percent of eligible people receive drug therapy to prevent heart attacks and strokes.
9. 80 percent availability of the affordable basic technologies and essential medicines to treat major NCDs in both public and private facilities.
Highlights of the report
• Out of the 38 million lives lost to NCDs in 2012, 16 million or 42 percent were premature and avoidable, this was 14.6 million in 2000.
• Premature NCD deaths can be significantly reduced through government policies reducing tobacco use, harmful use of alcohol, unhealthy diets and physical inactivity, and delivering universal health care.
• The report calls for more action to be taken to curb the epidemic, particularly in low and middle-income countries, where deaths due to NCDs are overtaking those from infectious diseases.
• The WHO report provides the baseline for monitoring implementation of the Global action plan for NCDs 2013-2020 aimed at reducing the number of premature deaths from NCDs by 25 percent by 2025.
• Though some countries are making progress towards the global NCD targets, but the majority are off course to meet the 2025 targets. Till December 2013, only 70 countries had operational national NCD plan in line with the Global NCD action plan.
• High rates of death and disease, particularly in low- and middle-income countries, are a reflection of inadequate investment in cost-effective NCD interventions.
Regional cost-effective successes listed in the report:
Turkey was the first country to implement all the best-buy measures for tobacco reduction. In 2012, the country increased the size of health-warning labels to cover 65 percent of the total surface area of each tobacco product. There is currently a total ban on tobacco advertisement.
Hungary passed a law to tax food and drink components with a high risk for health such as sugar, salt and caffeine. Around 40 percent of manufacturers changed their product formula to reduce the taxable ingredients.
Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Canada, Mexico and the USA have promoted salt reduction in packaged foods and bread. Argentina has already achieved a 25 percent reduction in the salt content of bread.
In 1993, Finland introduced mandatory salt labelling and products containing particularly high levels of salt were also required to carry warning labels. Daily salt intake in Finland dropped from approximately 12 g/day in the late 1970s to as little as 6.8 g/day among women by 2002.
India signed MoU with South Africa for developing Youth Enterprises
A public sector enterprise under the Union Ministry of Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises, National Small Industries Corporation Limited (NSIC) on 19 January 2015 signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) of Cooperation with the Black Business Council (BBC) of South Africa.
The MoU was signed during the Conference on Cooperation in MSME Sector organized by NSIC and the High Commission of India in cooperation with Black Business Council.
Highlights of the agreement
• The agreement was signed for developing youth owned enterprises in South Africa.
• The MoU, besides cooperation in MSME sector, also focuses on BBC's efforts to economically empower the marginalized group in South Africa through NSIC's Rapid Incubation Programme.
• BBC plans to establish 5 Rapid Incubation Centres in South Africa in cooperation with NSIC.
India-South Africa
India-South Africa cooperation is about sharing knowledge and expertise, exchange of best practices, supporting innovation and building capacity and skills.
The two nations have great prospects for synergizing their complementarities in areas of industry, services, trade and technology especially in the field of Micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs).
South Africa as a member of Southern African Development Community can be a good partner for Indian businesses. Similarly, India offers South African companies an excellent location for addressing the huge domestic Indian market as well as the wider Asian market.
EU decided to appeal a decision by ECJ to remove Hamas from terror list
The European Union (EU) on 19 January 2015 decided to appeal a decision by the European Court of Justice(ECJ) to remove Hamas from its official terrorist organization blacklist. EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini decided to appeal in a meeting with other foreign ministers from the 28 EU-member states.
ECJ announced its decision in December 2014. It came in for sharp criticism for removing Hamas from the list, with both the US and Canada condemning the move and urging Hamas to be put back on the terrorist list.
EU claimed that ruling was clearly based on procedural grounds and did not imply any assessment by the court of the merits of designating the Hamas as a terrorist organisation.
Further, the decision to remove Hamas from the list was said to have been the result of a technicality, with it being claimed that the group's inclusion in the list was against EU procedures and without sufficient evidence.
According to the court, Hamas's inclusion was based largely on articles in the press as opposed to legal judgments.
The cause for Hamas's removal was due to EU terror list rules requiring new information every six months to reevaluate terrorist standing. Apparently classified intelligence had not been used as proof due to fears of tipping off Hamas, and instead news reports were submitted.
Hamas was added to the terror list in 2003 following a push by Israel and the US to have the radical Islamist terror group - whose charter pledges to destroy Israel and calls for a genocide against the Jewish people - recognized as such in Europe.
About European Court of Justice
The European Court of Justice (ECJ), is the highest court in the European Union in matters of European Union law. As a part of the Court of Justice of the European Union it is tasked with interpreting EU law and ensuring its equal application across all EU member states.
The court sits in Luxemburg.
Scientists developed two new global maps to provide help in search for fresh farmland
Scientists from International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) developed two new global maps to provide help in search for fresh farmland.
The maps were released in the third week of January 2015 in the journal Global Change Biology. It offered two types of data that experts argue is essential for the search. Now, two new global maps may provide some help in the search for fresh farmland.
The first map was created using a great deal of international and vetted crowd-sourced data, showing global cropland percentages at one kilometer resolution for the year 2005.
This data, cross-checked for accuracy and combined with pre-existing large-scale maps, created something researchers are claiming is more intergraded than anything else seen before.
A second map, based entirely off crowd-sourced data through the Geo-Wiki project, helps verify the rate of change that cropland goes through.
This map was produced after a global network of citizen scientists looked at thousands of high-resolution images of land cover to determine whether cropland was present or not in regions that likely had land back in 2005.
This can help them determine where and when cropland remained, and if it is still in use.
Comment
Current sources of information on cropland extent are not accurate enough for most applications. With the world growing increasingly warmer, the global cropland map is a low cost solution to fill this need.
However, finding this land so that it can quickly be put to use remains a challenge.
The trouble with being certain about farmland distribution is that there are not many detailed records in developing countries, especially when smaller lands often look no different that the surrounding vegetation from planes or satellites.
However, where maps agree there is cropland, there is a higher likelihood that cropland is actually present.
World Economic Situation and Prospects 2015 report released by UNESCAP
United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) on 19 January 2015 released World Economic Situation and Prospects (WESP) 2015 report. The report projects that the regional growth will pick up in 2015-16, as average GDP growth will accelerate from 5.0 percent in 2014 to 5.3 percent in 2015 and 5.7 percent in 2016.
The report has highlighted that the South Asia’s economic growth is set to reach a four-year high in 2015. The average gross domestic product (GDP) growth of South Asia accelerated from 3.7 percent in 2013 to 4.9 percent in 2014, and is projected to strengthen further to 5.4 percent in 2015 and 5.7 per cent in 2016.
It expects that the recovery will be led by a pick-up in growth in India, which accounts for about 70 percent of regional output.
The report in context of other Asian countries like Bangladesh and the Islamic Republic of Iran said that they will also see growth in the forecast period.
It says that growth supported by the robust external demand is expected to be underpinned by a moderate strengthening of domestic consumption and investment.
Report in context of India
WESP 2015 report said that India will see gradual growth acceleration in its GDP which is expected to reach 5.9 percent in 2015 and 6.3 percent in 2016. It says that it is expected that the recovery will be led by India.
India’s economy expanded in 2014 estimated by 5.4 percent, which improved from growth of 5.0 percent recorded in 2013.
The report said that the recovery is partly the result of improved market sentiment and plans to reform the bureaucracy, labour laws and public subsidies after the new administration took office in the second quarter of 2014.
About United Nations World Economic Situation and Prospects (WESP) report
WESP report is published annually at the beginning of the year by the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN/DESA), the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), the five UN regional commissions and the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO).
ONGC inked MoC in Hydrocarbons and Energy with Pan-IIT
Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) on 19 January 2015 inked a Memorandum of Collaboration (MoC) with Pan-IIT (Indian Institutes of Technology) to work towards a collective R&D Programme for Developing Indigenous Technologies to enhance Exploration and Exploitation of Hydrocarbons and Alternate Sources of Energy.
Pan IIT is a consortium of seven premier Indian Institutes of Technology namely, IIT-Kharagpur, IIT-Kanpur, IIT-Madras, IIT-Mumbai, IIT-Delhi, IIT-Guwahati and IIT-Roorkee.
The agreement was signed in Delhi in presence of Union Minister of Human Resource Development Smriti Irani and the Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas, Dharmendra Pradhan. The MoC is a response to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Make in India initiative.
The two institutes have identified seven thematic areas and sub-topics under the MoC. The identified thematic areas includes
• Geological and Geophysical studies
• Reservoir characterization, modeling and simulation
• Oil and Gas Production and Recovery Enhancement
• Software Development
• Unconventional Energy Resources
• Engineering solutions/tools and technology development
• Alternate Energy researches have been identified by both
The programme will be funded by the ONGC and shall take advantage of the available infrastructure and manpower of the IITs and ONGC. The two institutes have agreed to
• Develop indigenous technologies
• Engage in sustained research
• Capacity building aimed at a multi-pronged approach
• Transform their experiential based learning in this core sector
Ayonika Paul, Annu Raj Singh won gold at 4th Gun for Glory Shooting Championship
Ayonika Paul of Railways and Maharashtra's Annu Raj Singh won a gold medal each in their respective events at the 4th Gun for Glory (GFG) Shooting Championship.
The championship was held at the Shree Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex in Balewadi in Pune from 15 January 2015 to 21 January 2015.
Ayonika won the gold in 10m Rifle Women and Annu Raj Singh won it in 10m Pistol Women.
Ayonika shot 206.8 to defeat Pooja Ghatkar with a difference of 1.3. Pooja, who scored 205.5, grabbed the silver medal. The bronze went to Railway's Priya Agarwal who scored 183.5.
Annu Raj Singh shot 199.2 and was followed by Pune's Amita Gawate, who scored 191.6. The bronze was won by Priyanka Survirkar, who scored 171.2. The difference between Annu Raj and Amita was 7.7.
About Gun for Glory Shooting Championship
The championship was established in January 2011 by the Gagan Narang Sports Promotion Foundation.
Gun for Glory is a not-for-profit enterprise operating out of the Shooting Range at the Shiv Chhatrapati Shivaji Stadium, Balewadi, Pune. India’s first privately managed shooting facility with world class infrastructure, training, coaches, staff made accessible to talented shooters via scholarships and fee subsidies.
Four ICG vessels commissioned at Mormugao Port of Vasco
Union Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar on 19 January 2015 commissioned four Indian Coast Guard (ICG) vessels at Mormugao Port of Vasco in Goa. The launched vessels include two fast patrol vessels namely ICG Amogh and ICG Ameya and two interceptor boats Charlie 413 (C-413) and Charlie 414 (C-414).
These boats will be mainly used for patrolling and interception and will also be used for the purpose of research and rescue by the agency.
The two fast patrolling vessels have been built by Cochin Shipyard Ltd and have a displacement of 290 tons and can hit maximum speed of 33 knots. On the other hand, the smaller interceptor boats have been built by Larsen & Turbo shipyard Ltd. Hazira and have a displacement of 106 tons and can hit a maximum sped of 45 knots.