Current Affaires 29-31 Dec 2015 Eng
IRDA renamed to Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India
31-DEC-2014
Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) was renamed as Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India on 30 December 2014.
The change in name came in to effect after the promulgation of Insurance Laws (Amendment) Ordinance, 2014, by the President of India on 26 December 2014.
The amendment was done to the Insurance Regulation and Development Act, 1999 by inserting the words India after Development Authority in Section 105 of the Ordinance amends section 2 (1)(b) of the IRDA Act.
About IRDA
Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) is an autonomous apex statutory body. It regulates and develops the insurance industry in India.
It was constituted by Parliament of India vide Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority Act, 1999.
Technology giant Microsoft sued Indian company C-Cubed Solutions for fraud
31-DEC-2014
Technology giant Microsoft sued an Indian company C-Cubed Solution on 30 December 2014 along with several other entities for fraud.
The other entities include Omnitech Support based in California and Florida-based Anytime Techies along with two other individuals were also sued.
Microsoft alleged that they have misused its name and registered trademarks while providing fraudulent technical support services to unsuspecting consumers.
Microsoft's Digital Crimes Unit filed a civil lawsuit in federal court in the Central District of California for unfair and deceptive business practices and trademark infringement against C-Cubed Solutions.
According to the lawsuit, C-Cubed is a private company associated under the laws of India. Its directors include Marc Haberman, Rachel Eilat Haberman and Jay Wurzberger.
It further alleged that the defendants used the Microsoft trademarks to enhance their credentials and confuse customers about their affiliation with Microsoft.
C-Cubed is a subsidiary of California-based Customer Focus Services (CFS) and operates the mail server by which CFS' fraudulent technical support businesses communicate with customers.
Since May 2014, Microsoft has received over 65000 customer complaints regarding fraudulent tech support scams.
Microsoft is demanding a jury trial and seeking permanent injunction to restrain and enjoin the defendants from infringement of Microsoft's registered trademarks and from directly or indirectly engaging in false advertising or promotions regarding the quality or security of Microsoft software.
RIL and Mitsui OSK Lines signed agreement to supply ethane from North America to India
31-DEC-2014
Reliance Industries (RIL) and Mitsui OSK Lines of Japan on 25 December 2014 signed a long-term agreement for transportation of liquefied ethane from North America to India.
According to the agreement, Mitsui will manage six Very Large Ethane Carriers (VLECs), built by Samsung Heavy Industries. It will also supervise the construction of 87000 cubic meter VLECs. These VLECs are expected to be delivered in the last quarter of 2016.
RIL plans to ship 1.5 million tonnes a year of ethane from its US shale joint ventures to its chemical complex in Gujarat through the VLECs.
RIL has two Joint Ventures (JV) namely Marcellus Shale in Pennsylvania with an investment of 1.7 billion US dollars and Houston-based Carrizo Oil & Gas with an investment of 392 million US dollars.
It also has another JV named Eagle Ford Shale with Dallas-based Pioneer Natural Resources in Texas worth 1.5 billion US dollars.
World's smallest goanna lizard species discovered in Australia
31-DEC-2014
World's smallest goanna lizard species was discovered on 30 December 2014 in Australia.
The new species has been named Dampier Peninsula Goanna while its scientific name is Varanus sparnus.
The goanna lizard weighs barely 16 grams. The Western Australia Museum announced the discovery of the new species of goanna lizard from the Kimberley region.
The discovery of this species is significant as it is the world's smallest species of Varanus lizard. This single genus has 77 species, with the new species the 78th one.
This group of charismatic lizards also contains large-bodied species such as the Australian desert-dwelling Perentie (Varanus giganteus) at over 2 metres long, and the famous Komodo Dragon (Varanus komodoensis) from Indonesia at over 3 metres long and over 80 kg (the largest lizard in the world).
In contrast, the new species has a maximum known size of only 23 cm and weighs just 16 grams.
The species was discovered by consultants Roy Teale and Greg Harold from Biota Environmental Sciences while undertaking a survey in the region.
Drug Firm Lupin received USFDA approval to market HIV drug Prezista tablets
31-DEC-2014
Drug firm Lupin on 30 December 2014 received the approval from the United States Food and Drugs Administration (USFDA) to market its generic drug Prezista tablets in the US. The tablets with chemical name Darunavir Ethanolate will be used to treat HIV-1 infection.
Earlier, the company had also received USFDA approval to market a generic version of ViiV Healthcare’s Epivir Tablets, used in treating HIV infection, in the American market.
About Lupin
The company is headquartered in Mumbai, India. Lupin Limited is an innovation led transnational pharmaceutical company producing a wide range of quality, affordable generic and branded formulations for the developed and developing markets of the world.
Junglee.com launched pre-owned vehicles category
Junglee.com on 30 December 2014 launched pre-owned vehicles category to its offering. Junglee.com is a search and comparison site by Amazon.
Customers can now find around 25000 pre-owned vehicles from around 160 cities across the country.
The company has also partnered with Mahindra First Choice to provide vehicle inspection services at affordable prices across all cities. Autoinspekt, a Mahindra First Choice Company, will inspect and publish a comprehensive inspection report for any vehicle on demand by customers on Junglee.com.
The website has also launched the automotive accessories store where customers can find and compare over 80000 car and bike accessories available from more than 100 online sellers.
The pre-owned car market has accelerated at a CAGR of 15% from 2011 to 2014. It reaches about half the size of the new car market, with sales of up to 1.6 million in a year.
Junglee.com
Junglee.com is an online shopping service by Amazon which enables customers to find and discover products from online and offline retailers in India.
Junglee was acquired by Amazon in 1998. Junglee.com was launched in India in February 2012 as a comparison-shopping website.
Venezuela entered recession with inflation at 63 percent
31-DEC-2014
Venezuela on 30 December 2014 entered recession with economic growth shrinking in the first three quarters of 2014. It was announced by the Central bank of Venezuela.
The economy of Venezuela shrank 2.3 percent in the third quarter after shrinking 4.8 percent in the first quarter and 4.9 percent in the second quarter.
Besides, the inflation of Venezuela has reached 63 percent in the month-ending November 2014 which is the highest inflation in the world. Price increases were the sharpest especially for housing, food and alcoholic beverages, and restaurants and hotels.
Though Venezuela government has introduced mandatory price cuts to control inflation but has not managed to get the inflationary spiral under control. Inflation has been aggravated by severe shortages of basic goods and fall down of crude prices.
Balance of payments of Venezuela is in surplus of 6.8 billion US dollars by the end of the third quarter in 2014, with a current account surplus of 899 million US dollars, and the capital account showing a deficit of 568 million US dollars.
Union Government signed 75 million dollar loan deal with ADB for KIUWMIP
31-DEC-2014
Union Government on 30 December 2014 signed a loan agreement with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) for 75 million dollar and 1.8 million dollar grant for Karnataka Integrated Urban Water Management Investment Program (KIUWMIP).
This loan from the ADB has a 25 year term including a grace period of five years.
The funds will be used to improve water resource management in three towns of Karnataka, namely Byadagi, Davanagere and Harihar in the Upper Tungabhadra sub-basin. The funds will be used to upgrade and expand
• Urban water supply and sanitation infrastructure
• Improve water resource planning
• Monitoring and service delivery
• Strengthen operational and administrative capacity
This project will help increase water treatment capacity by 15000 cubic meters per day. The fund will also help to expand and upgrade more than 1000 kilometers of water pipelines and increase sewage treatment capacity by 48000 cubic meters per day, thereby promoting water efficiency and environmental protection.
Malayalam film director Madhu Kaithapram died
31-DEC-2014
Eminent Malayalam film director Madhu Kaithapram died in Kozhikode on 29 December 2014 following a brief illness. He was 44.
Madhu Kaithapram
• Madhu Kaithapram made his directorial debut with the feature film Ekantham in 2006 that won him the National Film Award for the best debutant director.
• His other directorial ventures were Madhya Venal (2009) and the family-drama Orma Mathram (2011).
• His movie Madhya Venal won him the Kerala Film Critics Association Awards for the Film with Social Relevance and Commitment.
• His last directorial venture was journalist John Brittas starrer "Velli Velichathil", which was released in 2014.
Department of Financial Services appointed MD and CEO of four Nationalised Banks
31-DEC-2014
The Department of Financial Services (DFS) under the Union Ministry of Finance on 31 December 2014 appointed the Managing Directors (MD) and Chief Executive Officers (CEO) of four Nationalised Banks.
The chiefs were appointed on the recommendations of Appointments Board chaired by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Raghuram Rajan.
Appointments
1) Bank of India Executive Director R Koteeswaran was appointed as MD and CEO of Indian Overseas Bank (IOB).
2) Bank of India Executive Director Animesh Chauhan was appointed as MD and CEO of Oriental Bank of Commerce (OBC).
3) Punjab & Sind Bank Executive Director Kishore Kumar Sansi was appointed as MD and CEO of Vijaya Bank.
4) Bank of Baroda Executive Director P. Srinivas was appointed as the MD and CEO of United Bank of India.
They are appointed for a period of three years or till the date of superannuation, whichever is earlier. The appointment in Syndicate bank is still under consideration of Government.
For the first time, PSU banks will have a non-Executive Chairman, giving operational responsibility to Managing Director and Chief Executive Officers.
Revised Selection Procedures for the Chiefs of the PSBs
In PSBs, so far the top executive was designated as CMD, with the exception of the largest lender State Bank of India. However, the posts of Chairman and MD in the private sector banks was separated in 2007 as per the recommendations of AS Ganguly committee constituted by RBI.
The bifurcation of the CMD's post was also suggested by Reserve Bank to the Union Finance Ministry for PSBs. However, the recommendation had been pending with the government for years.
Meanwhile, the arrest of Syndicate Bank CMD S K Jain in August 2014 for allegedly receiving a bribe of 50 lakh rupees brought the issue to the fore again.
Henceforward, the Union Government has separated the post of Chairman and Managing Director of a Public Sector Bank (PSB). Now, in the new appointments of PSBs other than SBI, the Chairman will be a part time Board Member who would preside over the Board Meetings and will not be an Executive Chairman.
The procedure for selection of part time Chairman will be announced by the government later. For three Large Banks, i.e. Bank of Baroda, Punjab National Bank and Canara Bank, the Government has decided to go for a fresh selection procedure with a view to widen the search of candidates.
Tropical storm Jangmi struck Philippines
31-DEC-2014
Jangmi, a tropical storm made landfall in northeastern Mindanao Island of Philippines on 28 December 2014. The storm that caused
heavy rains and triggered flash floods and landslides in the country killed at least 30 people.
Tropical storm Jangmi, known in the Philippines as Seniang carried winds of 65 kilometers (40 miles) per hour destroying several bridges and highway and lead to evacuation of thousands of residents.
As per the latest forecast of NASA, the storm Jangmi has weakened to a tropical depression as it moved into the Sulu Sea.
Apart from Philippines, the storm has affected several parts of other countries like Malaysia and southern Thailand.
Noted journalist Boobli George Verghese died
31-DEC-2014
Eminent journalist Boobli George Verghese died on 30 December 2014 following a brief illness. He was 87.
Boobli George Verghese
• Born on 21 June 1927, Verghese graduated in Economics from the St Stephen's College, Delhi and did his Master's degree from Trinity College, Cambridge.
• He started his career in journalism with the Times of India and was later the Editor of the Hindustan Times (1969-75) and Indian Express (1982-86).
• He was an information adviser to Prime Minister Indira Gandhi from 1966 to 1969.
• In 1975, Verghese was given the Ramon Magsaysay award for his contribution to journalism.
• Verghese was a member of the Kargil Review Committee and co-author of the Kargil Review Committee Report.
• He was part of the Editors Guild of India Fact Finding Mission after the Gujarat riots in 2002.
• Verghese authored several books including Design For Tomorrow, Waters of Hope, Harnessing the Eastern Himalayan Rivers, Winning the Future, India’s Northeast Resurgent and Reorienting India.
• In October 2010, he published his autobiography First Draft: Witness to Making of Modern India.
• His last work was Post Haste: Quintessential India, a book that was released in May 2014.
UNSC rejected resolution demanding end to Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories by 2017
31-DEC-2014
The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) on 30 December 2014 rejected a resolution demanding an end to the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories within three years, i.e. 2017.
For being adopted the resolution needed support of at least nine members of the 15-member UNSC. But the resolution succeeded in winning only eight votes.
Russia, China, Chad, Chile, France, Argentina, Jordan and Luxembourg voted in favour of the resolution. While, the US and Australia voted against it. On the other hand, UK, Lithuania, Nigeria, the Republic of Korea and Rwanda abstained from voting.
The motion on the resolution was submitted in UN by Jordan after it was agreed and supported by 22 Arab states and the Palestinian Authority.
Features of the Resolution
• The resolution sought Israel’s withdrawal from Palestinian territory occupied since 1967 and, within one year, for a negotiated solution to the conflict.
• It outlined a solution and vision of two independent, democratic and prosperous States — Israel and a sovereign, contiguous and viable State of Palestine.
• It also envisaged a just solution to the status of Jerusalem as the capital of the two States
• It also demanded resolution to the question of Palestinian refugees as well as to all other outstanding issues, including control of water resources and the fate of prisoners in Israeli jails
• It asked for that third-party presence in the security arrangements for the transition process
New half-light half-matter quantum particles created
31-DEC-2014
A team of researchers led by Professor Menon created half-light, half-matter particles in atomically thin semiconductors made of a 2D layer of molybdenum and sulfur atoms. The findings were published in the journal Nature Photonics on 23 December 2014.
Professor Menon's research team included City College PhD students, Xiaoze Liu, Tal Galfsky and Zheng Sun, and scientists from Yale University, National Tsing Hua University (Taiwan) and Ecole Polytechnic- Montreal (Canada).
The study was funded by the US Army Research Laboratory's Army Research Office and the National Science Foundation.
Study Process
The team inserted the 2D material in a light trapping structure to realize these composite quantum particles.
They showed convincingly that by coupling a rather standard dielectric cavity to exciton-polaritons in a monolayer of molybdenum disulphide, they can reach this strong coupling regime with a very large binding strength.
Findings
• Formation of half-light, half-matter bosonic quasiparticles called microcavity polaritons.
• Evidence of strong light-matter coupling and the formation of microcavity polaritons in a two-dimensional atomic crystal of molybdenum disulphide embedded inside a dielectric microcavity at room temperature.
• Strong coupling at room temperature in two-dimensional materials that offer a disorder-free potential landscape provides an attractive route for the development of practical polaritonic devices.
CBRE Group released the Global Prime Office Occupancy Costs survey 2014
31-DEC-2014
Commercial property and real estate services consulting firm CBRE Group on 17 December 2014 released the semi-annual Global Prime Office Occupancy Costs survey 2014.
The study revealed the top 50 most expensive office markets in US dollars per square feet per annum. The research shows that London’s West End remained the world’s highest-priced office market with a rate of 273.63 US dollars per square feet per year.
In the Global Prime Office Occupancy Costs survey, CBRE tracks the occupancy costs for prime office space in 126 markets around the globe.
Top 10 Most Expensive Markets
|
Rank |
Markets |
Occupancy cost- US dollars per square feet per Year |
|
1 |
London’s West End, United Kingdom |
273.63 US dollars |
|
2 |
Hong Kong – Central, Hong Kong |
250.61 US dollars |
|
3 |
Beijing- Finance Street, China |
197.8 US dollars |
|
4 |
Beijing- Central Business District, China |
189.4 US dollars |
|
5 |
Moscow, Russian Federation |
165.05 US dollars |
|
6 |
Connaught Place (CBD), New Delhi, India |
158.47 US dollars |
|
7 |
Hong Kong- West Kowloon, Hong Kong |
153.65 US dollars |
|
8 |
London City, United Kingdom |
152.7 US dollars |
|
9 |
Tokyo (Marunouchi Otemachi), Japan |
136.46 US dollars |
|
10 |
Shanghai (Pudong), China |
127.89 US dollars |
Europe Middle East and Africa (EMEA)
The region showed 0.3 percent year-over-year increase in prime occupancy costs which was primarily driven by buoyant conditions in United Kingdom cities and the strong recovery of the Dublin office market.
The main decreases were seen in central European markets, such as Warsaw where the economies are relatively healthy but new supply has driven down rents.
Only in a few markets, a robust recovery was observed notably Dublin and London. In addition to London West End, other markets from the region on the global top 10 list were Moscow and London City.
Asia Pacific
In Asia Pacific, 20 markets ranked in the top 50 most expensive markets. Hong Kong (Central) remained the only market in the world other than London’s West End with a prime occupancy cost exceeding 200 US dollars per square feet.
The most expensive market in the global ranking from the Pacific Region was Sydney in 19th place with the occupancy cost of 99 US dollars per square feet.
America
The study also revealed that prime rents are rising fastest in the America where real estate fundamentals continue to improve.
Overall, America accounted for five of the 10 markets with the fastest growing prime occupancy costs. These markets were Seattle (Suburban), San Francisco (Peninsula), Boston (Suburban), San Francisco (Downtown) and Seattle (Downtown).
Rio de Janeiro remained the most expensive market in Latin America with occupancy cost of 101 US dollars per square feet and ranking as the 18th most expensive market globally.
India
In India, Central Business District (CBD) of Connaught Place, Delhi ranked at the sixth position in the Top 10 most expensive prime office markets in the world with occupancy cost of around 160 US dollars per square feet.
Mumbai’s alternative business district of Bandra–Kurla Complex (BKC) remained at the sixteenth position. CBD of Nariman Point stood at the thirty-second position on the Top 50 rankings for global prime office properties.
Union Government signed 60 million dollar loan deal with ADB for J&K
31-DEC-2014
Union Government on 30 December 2014 signed a loan agreement with Asian Development Bank (ADB) for a 60 million dollar Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) Urban Sector Development Investment Program (JKURSDIP).
This loan from the ADB has a 25 year term including a grace period of five years.
The funds will be used to improve urban services in two key cities of Jammu and Kashmir, namely Jammu and Srinagar. The funds will be used to improve urban services, like
• Water supply
• Urban transport infrastructure
The urban infrastructure up-gradation program initiated under the projects will benefit about half-a-million people in Srinagar and Jammu. It will support the state in ensuing increase average water supply, from 90 liter/day/capita to 135 liter/day/capita through rehabilitation and improvement of infrastructure. This would also help in substantial reduction of water logging in project areas.
Union Government constituted a Committee to look into NATGRID
31-DEC-2014
Union Government on 30 December 2014 constituted a high-level committee to allay apprehension of data sharing by various government agencies over National Intelligence Grid (NATGRID). NATGRID is a real time intelligence sharing set up.
The committee will be headed by the Union Home Secretary. Other members of the committee will include the chiefs of all intelligence agencies and investigating units.
The committee will discuss the steps with 22 agencies like Intelligence Bureau (IB), Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW), Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), Financial intelligence Unit (FIU), Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI), Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), and others.
It will also discuss the issues with the state government and chalk out strategy on how to bring synergy in data sharing, coordination and dissemination of information.
About NATGRID
NATGRID was proposed by former Union Home Minister P Chidambaram after the Mumbai 26/11 attack in 2008 and was approved by the Cabinet committee on Security during UPA regime.
It aims to synergise 25 categories of database from agencies like, railways, banks, airlines, credit card companies, immigration and others, and make it available to the law enforcement officers.
It was also aimed to identify, capture and prosecute terrorists and help pre-empt terror plots.
The project was to be implemented in four phases, the first two of which was planned to be operationalised by 2014 at a cost of 1100 crores rupees while the initial data sourcing was targeted to be made retrievable as early as 2013.
Late Harappan period house discovered in Chandyan village of Uttar Pradesh
31-DEC-2014
The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) discovered a house belonging to late Harappan period (1900 – 1800 BC). The remnant of the house was discovered during the excavations carried out at Chandyan village in Baghpat, Uttar Pradesh.
This is the first time evidence of habitation pertaining to late Harappan period found in the Upper Doab region between Ganga and Yamuna.
The archeologists also found remnants of a human skull with a copper crown corresponding to the late Harappan period at a brick kiln site in Chandyan village.
Besides, they also discovered a number of items such as around 20 burial pots, a pelvic bone of the same man whose skull and a few beads like carnelian, faience and agate pertaining to late Harappan period. Also a mud wall with pot holes was found wherein wooden pillars were fixed to support thatched roofs, multi-level foundations that supported structures in different times.
The late Harappan phase link with the Uttar Pradesh was established in 2005 when a farmer accidentally discovered a huge burial site at Sinauli village located just 40km from Chandayan. The Sinauli graves are also believed to correspond to the late Harappan period, strengthening conviction of archaeologists.
About Late Harappan phase
Late Harappan phase of the Harappan civilisation or Indus Valley civilisation saw the beginning of decline of the civilization.
The Harappan civilization is known for its superior urban planning, is believed to have flourished in the period between 3300 BC to 1300 BC which lies in present Pakistan, northwest India and parts of Afghanistan and Balochistan.
8th India-Republic of Korea Joint Commission meeting held in South Korea
31-DEC-2014
The 8th India-Republic of Korea Joint Commission Meeting was held in Seoul on 29 December 2014. The meeting was co-chaired was by Union External Minister of India Sushma Swaraj and Minister of Foreign Affairs of South Korea Yun Byung-se.
During the meeting, both the ministers held consultations on all aspects of bilateral ties to chart out a road map for further strengthening and deepening of strategic partnership of the both countries.
Highlights of the Meeting
• Both the countries comprehensively reviewed the development of bilateral relations and expressed their satisfaction at the steady expansion of bilateral ties.
• They highlighted the importance of high-level exchanges in imparting necessary momentum to the bilateral relationship.
• They agreed to consider the potentials for further expanding bilateral economic and investment cooperation.
• The two sides also discussed possibilities of addressing the trade deficit which is in favour of South Korea.
• Both countries also discussed the possibility of co-production of LNG (liquefied natural gas) tankers of South Korea with shipyards of India among the specific issues.
• India raised the need for a level playing field for Indian pharmaceuticals and software exports.
• Both the countries also agreed to step-up exchanges between officials and academics of the two sides.
• India invited South Korea to become an important partner of India in the Make in India initiative and Finance Minister of South Korea Yun agreed to encourage the South Korea’s industry to engage with India more closely.
• India invited F M Yun to visit India in 2015 for the 9th India-ROK Joint Commission Meeting
• President of South Korea Park Geun-hye reiterated the cordial invitation to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to visit South Korea which was welcomed by India.
Union External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj visited South Korea
31-DEC-2014
Union External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj visited South Korea on 28 December 2014 to attend the 8th India-Republic of Korea (RoK) Joint Commission meeting held in Seoul.
The Meeting was co-chaired by Sushma Swaraj and Yun Byung-se, Minister of Foreign Affairs (FM) of South Korea.
This was the highest level visit from India to South Korea after the assumption of power by the Narendra Modi-led NDA government in May 2014.
During her visit, she also met Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy of South Korea Yoon Sang-jick and sought support for Make in India programme.
She also called on President of South Korea Park Geun-hye and discussed avenues for further expanding bilateral economic and investment cooperation between the two countries.
During her visit, President Park Geun-hye reiterated a cordial invitation for an early official visit of Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi to South Korea which was welcomed by India.
Sushma Swaraj invited F M Yun to visit India in 2015 for the 9th India-ROK Joint Commission Meeting.
President Pranab Mukherjee appointed Governors of Mizoram, Uttarakhand and Meghalaya
31-DEC-2014
The President of India Pranab Mukherjee on 30 December 2014 appointed the Governors of Mizoram, Uttarakhand and Meghalaya.
Appointments
• Governor of Uttarakhand Aziz Qureshi was transferred and appointed as Governor of Mizoram for the remainder of his term.
• Meghalaya Governor Dr Krishan Kant Paul was transferred and appointed as Governor of Uttarakhand for the remainder of his term. Krishan Kant Paul will continue to hold the additional charge of the office of the Governor of Manipur, till further orders.
• Keshari Nath Tripathi, Governor of West Bengal, will take additional charge as the Governor of Meghalaya in addition to his own duties, till further orders.
Article 153 of Indian Constitution
The Article 153 of Indian Constitution states that there shall be a Governor for each state provided that nothing shall prevent the appointment of the same person as Governor for two or more states.
AirAsia plane QZ8501 debris, bodies found floating in Java Sea
31-DEC-2014
Java Sea was in news on 30 December 2014 after Indonesian officials claimed that they have located wreckage of AirAsia Flight QZ8501 at the bottom of the Java Sea.
Indonesian searchers who discovered the wreckage of plane by using Sonar equipment also spotted some bodies floating with the debris in the Java Sea off the Indonesian part of Borneo.
The objects have been found 160 km south-west of Pangkalan Bun.
Search operation head Bambang Soelistyo said he is 95 percent certain the objects spotted are from the AirAsia Flight QZ8501.
Background
AirAsia’s Airbus A320-200, carrying 162 people on board from Surabaya in Indonesia to Singapore lost contact with air traffic control and disappeared on 28 December 2014. The plane that disappeared had 137 adult passengers, 17 children and one infant, along with two pilots and five crew members.
First back-to-back Oscar winner Luise Rainer died
31-DEC-2014
Hollywood actress, Luise Rainer died on 30 December 2014 at her home at London. She died due to pneumonia at the age of 104.
Rainer, a star of cinema’s golden era was the first actor to win consecutive Oscars. She won the Oscars for The Great Ziegfeld (1936) and The Good Earth (1937).
Before entering Hollywood, Rainer born on 12 January 1910 appeared as an actress in a number of German and Austrian films.
Later, she was discovered by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) in the mid-30s and her first Hollywood role was in 1935’s Escapade with William Powell.
Other than Rainer, the feat of two consecutive Oscars has been achieved by only four actors in Academy Awards history to date. Four other actors to win consecutive Oscars are Spencer Tracy, Katharine Hepburn, Jason Robards and Tom Hanks.
Katharine Hepburn is the only actress after Rainer to win two consecutive Oscars. Hepburn won the Oscars for Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967) and The Lion in Winter (1968).
Sony Pictures film The Interview earned 15 million US dollars in online sales
30-DEC-2014
The Interview, an American political comedy film, was in news in the fifth week of December 2014 because the film has earned more than 15 million US dollars in online rentals and 2.8 million US dollars in theatres in just four days.
The Interview is produced by Sony Pictures and directed by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg. The film centers on a plot to assassinate North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un.
The film casts Seth Rogen and James Franco as two journalists who snag an interview with Kim and then are enlisted by the CIA to take him out.
The film although was pulled from theaters after threats from a group of hackers, however, Sony Pictures released it online on 5.99 US dollars video-on-demand (VOD) rental and 14.99 US dollars purchase option on YouTube Movies, Google Play (GOOGL.O), Microsoft Xbox Video (MSFT.O) and a dedicated site starting from 24 December 2014.
As a result, The Interview is now considered by experts a test case for simultaneous VOD and theatrical release, a taboo topic for the movie theater chains that want to retain their exclusive window.
Suven Life Sciences granted product patents for drugs used in neurodegenerative diseases
30-DEC-2014
Suven Life Sciences on 30 December 2014 announced that it has been granted product patents for its drugs used in the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer's disease, Schizophrenia and Parkinson's disease.
One each product patent has been granted by Eurasia, Japan and Mexico each and is valid until 2029. With this, Suven has total granted patents of 13 from Eurasia, 12 from Japan and 17 from Mexico.
The product patents correspond to the new chemical entities (NCEs) for the treatment of disorders associated with Neurodegenerative diseases.
The patents are exclusive intellectual property of Suven products which may be out-licensed at various phases of clinical development like at Phase-1 and Phase-2.
Suven Life Sciences was incorporated in 1989, by Venkat Jasti. It is pioneering efforts in C-R-A-M-S relationships with 22 Global Life Science majors IPO in 1995. It was listed on NSE and BSE in India.
Greece Parliament failed to elect President leading to General Elections in January 2015
30-DEC-2014
Greece Parliament failed to elect the President in the third and final round of voting held on 29 December 2014 leading to dissolution of the Parliament.
With the dissolution, Prime Minister Antonis Samaras announced the holding of General Elections on 25 January 2015.
In the crucial third and final round of voting the former European Commissioner Stavros Dimas, nominee of New Democracy party of Prime Minister Antonis Samaras, fell short of 180 votes needed to become the President. Consequently, the Parliament was dissolved.
He only managed to get 168 votes out of 300 seats of Parliament as 132 members abstained from voting.
The term of Prime Minister Samaras-led New Democratic Party coalition government ended almost 18 months before the end of the term of coalition government.
In the last General Elections held in 2012 in Greece, New Democracy party won the elections and formed the government.
Consequences
The Greece parliament failed to elect the president led to a new chapter of political uncertainty in the Greece. This is because opinion polls have consistently shown the left-wing main opposition Syriza party ahead. The party opposes the strict austerity measures imposed on Greece in return for bailout plan of 240 billion euro by European Union and International Monetary Fund.
After nearly crashing out of the euro in 2012, Greece returned to economic growth and ended a four-year exile from bond markets in 2014.
The impact of political uncertainty was clearly visible in the fall of main Athens stock market index by as much as 11 percent. The main banking stocks index also fell over 11 percent before recovering.
Union Cabinet approved hike of government stake in IFCI to 51 percent
30-DEC-2014
The increase in government stake will be through infusion of 60 crore rupees by way of acquisition of preference shares from existing share holders. As a result, India’s oldest financial institution IFCI will now become a government owned company.
The current shareholding of Union government in IFCI after inclusion of the preference share capital was 47.93 percent. Therefore, IFCI was not a Government Company under section 2(45) of the Companies Act, 2013.
About Industrial Finance Corporation of India
IFCI was set up in 1948 and it is a statutory corporation under the Industrial Finance Corporation Act, 1948. The Act was repealed by the Industrial Finance Corporation (Transfer of Undertaking and Repeal) Act, 1993 and was registered under the Companies Act, 1956.
IFCI's total paid-up capital of about 1925 crore rupees comprised 1662 crore rupees as equity capital and nearly 264 crore rupees as preference share capital.
Department of Disabilities Affairs renamed as Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities
30-DEC-2014
Union Government on 29 December 2014 renamed the Department of Disability Affairs (Nishaktata Karya Vibhag) as Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities (Viklangjan Sashaktikaran Vibhag).
This department is functional under the Union Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment.
About Department of Disability Affairs
The Union Government in June 2012 created the Department of Disability Affairs under the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment. The department was created to act as the nodal agency for matters pertaining to disabilities. The department had several institutes functional under it like Institutes for the differently-abled, visually challenged, mentally challenged, and empowerment of persons with multiple disabilities.
The decision to create Department of Disability Affairs was taken in accordance to Census 2001 that revealed that over 21 million (2.1 crore) people in India (12.6 million males and 9.3 million females) are suffering from one or the other kind of disability. This population was equivalent to 2.1 percent of the population.
RBI liberalised norms for Overseas Direct Investment by Indian companies
30-DEC-2014
Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on 29 December 2014 liberalised norms for Indian companies investing abroad. The liberalization of norms was part of series of amendment done by RBI from time to time in the Foreign Exchange Management (Transfer or Issue of any Foreign Security) (Amendment) Regulations, 2004.
Liberalised norms
• Bank may permit creation of charge on the shares of the Joint Venture/Wholly Owned Subsidiary/Step down Subsidiary (JV/WOS/SDS) of an Indian party in favour of a domestic or overseas lender for securing funded and/or non-funded facility.
• The loan availed by the JV/WOS/SDS from the domestic/overseas lender shall be utilized only for its core business activities overseas and not for investing back in India in any manner whatsoever.
• Bank may permit creation of charge on the domestic assets of an Indian party in favour of an overseas lender for securing the funded and/or non-funded facility.
• Bank may permit creation of charge on the overseas assets (excluding the shares) of the JV/WOS/SDS of an Indian party in favour of a domestic lender for securing the funded and/or non-funded facility.
DeitY announced to set up Fast Track Task Force to boost mobile manufacturing
30-DEC-2014
The Department of Electronics and Information Technology (DeitY) on 29 December 2014 announced to set up a Fast Track Task Force to re-establish and catalyse significant growth in mobile handset and component manufacturing eco-system in India.
As part of boost mobile manufacturing, the task force aims to achieve production of 500 million units of mobile handsets by 2019.
It includes promotion of large scale manufacturing/assembly activity to achieve production of annual manufacturing output of 150000 crore rupees to 300000 crore rupees.
It is estimated that this large scale production can create employment opportunity for 15 lakh people.
Composition of the Task Force
The Chairman of the Task Force is Pankaj Mohindroo, the President of Indian Cellular Association (ICA). The Co-Chairmen of the task force are Josh Foulger, the President of Nokia SEZ and Hari Om Rai, the Co-founder of Lava mobile handsets.
The members of the Task Force
• BD Park, Managing Director, Samsung India
• Kenichiro Hibi, Managing Director, Sony India
• Sandeep Bhargava, Microsoft Devices Director for Government relations
• Soon H Kwon, Managing Director, LG India
• Vikas Jain, Co-founder of Micromax Informatics
The Department of Electronics and Information Technology (DeitY) Directors SK Marwah and Asha Nangia will represent government in this task force.
Why the need to set up Task force
ICA in its budget recommendation has said that in absence of corrective measures, mobile exports from India will crash to zero in 2015.
Mobile market in India is estimated to grown by 32 per cent or to 12 billion US dollar in 2014 but imports account for three-quarters of the market.
Domestic production fell by 29 per cent in 2014 mainly due to suspension of production at Nokia plant.
Exports of mobile phones have been declining after touching a peak level of 12000 crore rupees in 2012.
Mobile exports crashed by 70 per cent from 11850 crore rupees in 2013 to 2450 crore rupees in 2014.
RBI released Financial Stability Report December 2014
30-DEC-2014
The Reserve Bank of India on 29 December 2014 released the Financial Stability Report December 2014. The report also includes the Trend and Progress of Banking in India during 2013-14.
Highlights of the Report
Macro-Financial Risks:
• The current weak global growth outlook may prolong easy monetary policy stance, that is, low interest rate regime in most advanced economies (AEs).
• Low risk premia resulting from low interest rate in AEs may lead to accumulation of vulnerabilities, and sudden and sharp overshooting in markets cannot be ruled out.
• Financial risk taking has not translated into commensurate economic risk taking.
• Increase in portfolios flows to emerging market against the backdrop of low interest rates in AEs may increase the risk of reversals on possible adverse growth or financial market shocks, thus necessitating greater alertness.
• On the domestic front, macroeconomic vulnerabilities have abated significantly in recent months on the back of improvement in growth outlook, fall in inflation, recovery in the external sector and political stability.
• Growth in the banking business and activity in primary capital markets remain subdued due to moderate investment intentions.
Financial institutions: Developments and stability:
• The growth of the Indian banking sector moderated further during 2013-14. Profitability declined on account of higher provisioning on banks’ delinquent loans and lackluster credit growth.
• Urban co-operative banks exhibited improved performance, however, the performance of primary agriculture credit societies and long term rural credit co-operatives remained a matter of concern with a further increase in their losses coupled with deterioration in asset quality.
• The asset size of the non-banking financial companies (non-deposit taking-systemically important) showed an expansion, however, asset quality deteriorated further during the period of review.
• The banking stability indicator suggests that overall risks to the banking sector remained unchanged during the first half of 2014-15.
• Although the liquidity position improved in the system, concerns remain on account of deterioration in asset quality along with weakened soundness.
• The profitability dimension of the indicator showed an improvement but it remained sluggish.
• The stress tests suggest that the asset quality of banks may improve in the near future under expected positive developments in the macroeconomic conditions and banks may also be able to meet expected losses with their existing levels of provisions.
• The asset quality of scheduled commercial banks may worsen from the current level if the macroeconomic conditions deteriorate drastically, and banks are likely to fall short in terms of having sufficient provisions to meet expected losses under adverse macroeconomic risk scenarios.
• Analysis of the interconnectedness indicates that the size of the interbank market in relation to total banking sector assets has been on a steady decline.
• Contagion analysis with top five most connected banks reveals that the banking system could potentially lose significant portion of its total Tier-I capital under the joint solvency-liquidity condition in the event of a particular bank triggering a contagion.
Financial sector regulation and infrastructure:
• The capital to risk weighted assets ratio (CRAR) of the scheduled commercial banks at 12.8 per cent as of September 2014 is satisfactory
• The banking sector, particularly the public sector banks would require substantial capital to meet regulatory requirements with respect to additional capital buffers.
• With the increased regulatory focus on segregating the cases of willful defaults and ensuring the equity participation of promoter(s) in the losses leading to defaults, there is a need for greater transparency in the process of carrying out a net economic value impact assessment of large Corporate Debt Restructuring (CDR) cases.
• Another aspect that impinges upon the banks’ asset quality is corporate leverage and its impact on banks’ balance sheets, particularly ‘double leveraging’ through holding company structures and the pledging of shares by promoters.
• Indian stock markets have seen a rapid growth in recent months. While the retail investor base still remains comparatively low, India’s stock markets have been attracting substantial amounts of foreign investments, increasing the risk of reversal.
• The Securities and Exchange Board of India has introduced an additional safety net in the form of core settlement guarantee fund to mitigate risks from possible default in settlement of trades and to strengthen risk management framework in the domestic capital markets.
• With a view to improving participation of actual users / hedgers and the quality of price discovery in the market, the Forward Markets Commission has revised position limits which are linked to estimated production and imports of the underlying commodities.
• To deal with issues relating to unauthorised deposit acceptance and financial frauds, the State Level Coordination Committee (SLCC) mechanism has been strengthened under the initiative of the Financial Stability and Development Council (FSDC).
Mahendra Singh Dhoni announced retirement from Test cricket
30-DEC-2014
Mahendra Singh Dhoni on 30 December 2014 announced retirement from International Test Cricket with immediate effect.
Dhoni decided to retire from Test Cricket by citing the strain of playing all formats of Cricket. Now he wants to concentrate on ODI and T20 formats.
His decision to retire from Test Cricket came after the Third Test against Australia at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG). Although the match ended in a draw, however, Dhoni surpassed Kumar Sangakkara record of stumping 134 players in all the three formats.
Virat Kohli will be the captain of the Indian Team for the Fourth and Final Test against Australia that will be played in Sydney from 6 January 2015. India has already lost the series.
Mahendra Singh Dhoni in Test Cricket
• He is widely regarded as one of the greatest finishers in limited-over cricket
• He made his Test debut on 2 December 2005 as wicket-keeper against Sri Lanka
• Under his leadership India became the No. 1 team in the Test Rankings
• He became the captain of Indian Test Cricket team in 2008
• In his Test career, he has played 90 matches and scored 4876 runs in 144 innings
• His highest Test score is 224 runs
Union Cabinet approved promulgation of Ordinance on Delhi Laws Amendment Bill, 2014
30-DEC-2014
The Union Cabinet on 29 December 2014 approved promulgation of an Ordinance on Delhi Laws (Special Provisions) Amendment Bill, 2014. The ordinance was approved in a Cabinet meet chaired by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi.
The ordinance seeks to amend the National Capital Territory of Delhi Laws (Special Provisions) Second Act, 2011 so as to regularise unauthorised colonies in Delhi.
After amendment, all the unauthorised colonies that have come up till 1 June 2014 will now be regularised. Previously, the cut-off date for regularisation of unauthorised colonies was 31 March 2002.
This will provide the benefits accruing from regularisation to 60 lakh people residing in 895 unauthorised colonies of Delhi that have come in existence between 31 March 2002 and 1 June 2014.
Background
The amendments were proposed against the backdrop of unsatisfactory experience of Delhi government in regularising the unauthorised colonies. Thus, Delhi government had sought extension of cut-off date for regularization to bring planned constructions in these colonies under existing building bye-laws and other applicable rules.
HIV can reduce hearing ability of the adults: Study
30-DEC-2014
A new study showed that the individuals who have contracted the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) can experience poorer low frequency or high frequency hearing than those without HIV infection. The findings were published in the JAMA Network Journals on 26 December 2014.
The study was conducted by Peter Torre III of San Diego State University and his colleagues from the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders, Bloomberg School of Public Health and Georgetown University Medical Centre.
Study Process
• The team recruited a total of 262 men (117 were HIV positive) from the greater Baltimore-Washington DC site of the Multicenter AIDS Cohort Study and 134 women (105 were HIV positive) from the Washington DC site of the Women’s Interagency HIV Study.
• The men were 57 years old on average, while the average age of the women was nearly 48.
• The team tested low-frequency pure-tone average (LPTA) at 250, 500, 1000 and 2000 hertz and high-frequency PTA (HPTA) at 3000, 4000, 6000 and 8000 hertz.
Findings of the study
Both the HPTA and LPTA were significantly higher for HIV positive adults, showing that their hearing was worse. However, relationship between HIV and hearing loss in the era of Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy (HAART) was not investigated thoroughly
High-frequency hearing loss is consistent with accelerated aging, but low-frequency hearing loss in this age group was unexpected.
Access to Gmail blocked in China
30-DEC-2014
Access to Google Inc’s Gmail was blocked in China on 26 December 2014 after months of disruptions. The access to the Gmail was supposedly blocked by Great Firewall of China which is the world's most sophisticated internet censorship mechanism.
As part of it, large numbers of Gmail Web addresses were cut off in China from 26 December 2014 and the service was still down on 29 December 2014.
The update was confirmed by GreatFire.org, a China-based freedom of speech advocacy group. Also, Google's own real-time traffic to Google services displayed a sharp drop-off in traffic to Gmail from China.
The U.S. State Department expressed concern over China's actions which could make email communication difficult for companies operating in China.
However, Chinese Foreign Ministry expressed that it is unaware of the development and it is committed to providing a good business environment for foreign investors.
The disruptions of almost all of Google's services in China began since June 2014, that is, since the run-up to the 25th anniversary of the government's bloody crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators around Beijing's Tiananmen Square on 4 June 1989.
Yet the Gmail users could still access emails downloaded via protocols like IMAP, SMTP and POP3. These had let people communicate using Gmail on apps like the Apple iPhone's Mail and Microsoft Outlook.
Also, people can get around China's internet censorship by using a Virtual Private Network (VPN) which allows unhindered access to blocked sites and services.
Eminent educationist Saiyid Hamid died
30-DEC-2014
Noted educationist and former Vice Chancellor of the Aligarh Muslim University Saiyid Hamid died on 29 December 2014 following a prolonged illness. He was 94.
Saiyid Hamid
• Born in Faizabad, Uttar Pradesh in 1920, Hamid worked for the educational uplift of Indian Muslims.
• After retiring from the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) in 1980, he was appointed as the vice chancellor of Aligarh Muslim University (AMU).
• He later succeeded Hakeem Abdul Hameed as the Chancellor of Hamdard University in Delhi.
• Saiyid Hamid was one of the members of the high-level Rajendra Sachar committee appointed by then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in 2005 on the state of Muslims in the country.
• He edited a journal Nation and the World and wrote extensively for the Muslim community's development in the social sphere.
• He won several national level awards, including Sanskriti Award for literature, Urdu Academy award, Hindi Academy award and National fellowship award by Ministry of Culture, Government of India.
Union Cabinet approved promulgation of ordinance on amendments to Land Acquisition Act, 2013
30-DEC-2014
The Union Cabinet on 29 December 2014 approved promulgation of an ordinance that amends the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement (RFCTLARR) Act, 2013.
The amendments were approved in a cabinet meet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The decision to amend the act was taken in the backdrop of suggestions that came up in interactions with the State Revenue Ministers and key implementing Ministries, who faced difficulties in implementing the Act.
The proposed amendments will serve both objectives namely, farmer welfare and along with the strategic and developmental needs of the country.
Main amendments in the RFCTLARR Act, 2013
• Certain provisions of the Act were relaxed and Section 10 A was added to the legislation
• It also removes Consent Clause (CC) and Social Impact Assessment (SIA) for acquiring land for five purposes, but compensation and rehabilitation and resettlement packages will be applicable as per the new Land Acquisition Act for acquiring land for these purposes. The five cases include
a) National security
b) Defence
c) Rural infrastructure including electrification
d) Industrial corridors
e) Building social infrastructure including PPP where ownership of land continues to be vested with the government
• It proposes to amend section 105 (read with Schedule IV) in order to bring 13 central legislations to enable people from whom the land will be acquired for higher compensation and rehabilitation and resettlement benefits. Following acts have been brought under the purview
a) The Atomic Energy Act, 1962
b) The Indian Tramways Act, 1886
c) The Railways Act, 1989
d) The Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains Act, 1958
e) The Petroleum and Minerals Pipelines (Acquisition of Right of User in Land) Act, 1962
f) The Damodar Valley Corporation Act, 1948
g) The Electricity Act, 2003
h) The Requisitioning and Acquisition of Immovable Property Act, 1952
i) The Resettlement of Displaced Persons (Land Acquisition) Act, 1948
j) The Metro Railways (Construction of Works) Act, 1978
k) The Coal Bearing Areas Acquisition and Development Act, 1957
l) The National Highways Act, 1956
m) The Land Acquisition (Mines) Act, 1885
Background
The Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013 came into effect on 1 January 2014. The Bill related to this was passed by the Parliament in 2013
• The act seeks to provide just and fair compensation to farmers while ensuring that no land can be acquired forcibly
• The Act also stipulates mandatory consent of at least 70 per cent for acquiring land for Public Private Partnership (PPP) projects and 80 per cent for acquiring land for private companies.
• The Act, which replaced Land Acquisition Act, 1894 made it mandatory compensation that is up to four times the market value in rural areas and two times the market value in urban areas.
Sanjiv Sarin appointed as CEO and MD of Tata Coffee Limited
30-DEC-2014
Sanjiv Sarin was on 29 December 2014 appointed as the Managing Director (MD) and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Tata Coffee Limited with effect from 8 January 2015.
His appointed was approved by the Board of Directors of Tata Coffee Ltd. Sanjiv Sarin will succeed Hameed Huq, who will retire on 31 March 2015.
Sarin is currently the Regional President for South Asia in Tata Global Beverages Ltd, the holding company of Tata Coffee Ltd.
Other appointments
Tata Global Beverages Ltd appointed Sushant Dash as the Regional President for India. He will take over charge from Sanjiv Sarin.
Vikram Grover appointed as Deputy Head of Tata Global Beverages Ltd’s water business with immediate effect. In addition, Vikram will also have overall responsibility for company's businesses in Pakistan and Bangladesh.
Sanjiv Sarin
• Sarin is a Postgraduate from IIT Delhi with an MBA from Xavier Labour Relations Institute (XLRI), Jamshedpur.
• He served as a Regional Manager of Asia at Medison Corporate Ltd from 1995 to 1997.
• He was an Executive Director of Business Development at Tata Coffee Ltd from February 2008 to October 2008.
• He also served as Non-Executive Director of Nucleus Software Exports Limited from June 2001 to July 2014.
• Before joining the Tata, he led the teams at the erstwhile Cadbury Schweppes in the Philippines, Egypt, India and the UK.
About Tata Coffee Limited
• Established as Consolidated Coffee Estates Ltd in Edinburgh, the company was acquired by the Tata Tea Limited in 1991-1992.
• The company was named as Tata Coffee Limited in 2000. Today, it is a coffee company owned by the Tata Group that owns 19 coffee estates in Southern India.
• Tata Coffee produces 10000 metric tonnes of natural shade grown Arabica and Robusta coffees, in both washed and unwashed forms.
• The company also owns 7 tea estates which spans 4755 hectares in Coorg and Chickmagalur districts of Karnataka and Annamalai district of Tamil Nadu.
Former England cricketer Geoff Pullar died
30-DEC-2014
Geoff Pullar, the former England opening batsman died on 25 December 2014. The left handed batsman died at the age of 79.
The former Lancashire and Gloucestershire batsman made his first international debut against India in July 1959 in Headingley. In 1960, he was voted as one of the Wisden's Cricketers of the Year in 1960.
About Geoff Pullar
• He appeared in 28 Test matches for his country between 1959 and 1963
• His knock of 131 against India at Old Trafford in his second Test made him the first Lancastrian to score a century on his home ground of Old Trafford
• Pullar played his final match against Australia in Adelaide in January 1963
• His nickname was Noddy
First Municipal Elections in 60 years held in Myanmar
29-DEC-2014
First Municipal Elections in 60 years were held in Myanmar on 27 December 2014 for electing the Yangon City Development Committee (YCDC).
The ballot for the YCDC was the first chance for the residents of Yangon, the biggest city of Myanmar, to vote under the country’s quasi-civilian government which replaced outright military rule in 2011.
However, the voters voted under severe voting restrictions and limited power of the councilors being elected.
Voting was limited to one person per household and the age of the candidates were narrowly prescribed. Further there was a ban on political parties taking part in the campaign.
As a result, only 4 lakh of the Yangon’s several million residents were eligible to vote for the elections.
Also only 300 candidates, among them businessmen, retired civil servants and activists, are competing for 115 positions on the committee. Though, the top posts will remain largely appointed.
Comment
Elections in Yangon city on were closely watched as a test of the country's democratic credentials ahead of a landmark nationwide poll scheduled for November 2015.
It was also a rare opportunity to have a say over the future of the country's commercial hub, where residents complain about runaway construction and soaring rents, worsening traffic, poor sanitation and weak pollution control.
L&T Hydrocarbon won offshore contract from ONGC worth 894 crore rupees
29-DEC-2014
Larsen & Toubro (L&T) Hydrocarbon on 29 December 2014 won offshore contract from Oil & Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) worth 894 crore rupees for additional development of the Vasai East project.
The project includes the work to improve recovery factor of Vasai East field where production was started in 2008 and it is scheduled to be completed by April 2016.
L&T Hydrocarbon Engineering (LTHE) bagged the contract on complete turnkey basis from ONGC. LTHE is a fully owned subsidiary of L&T.
The contract includes total engineering, procurement, construction and installation of two wellhead platforms, subsea pipelines and modification of existing facilities in Heera-Panna-Bassein block of Mumbai offshore.
The 2500 crore rupees project will result in incremental oil production of 1.83 million metric tonne (MMT) and incremental gas production of 1.971 billion cubic metres (BCM) by 2030.
Raghunath K. Shevgaonkar, Director of the Indian Institute of Technology -Delhi resigned
29-DEC-2014
Raghunath K. Shevgaonkar, Director of the Indian Institute of Technology –Delhi was in news on 28 December 2014 after a controversy erupted in media over his resignation.
Shevgaonkar resigned from the post of Director, IIT-Delhi on 22 December 2014 citing personal issues.
Prof. Shevgaonkar sent his resignation to the Chairman of IIT Board of Governors Vijay P Bhatkar which was forwarded to the Union Human Resource Development Ministry on 26 December 2014.
The resignation will have now to be approved by the President Pranab Mukherjee. Only the President, in his capacity as Visitor of the IIT, could accept the resignation.
Shevgaonkar became the Director of IIT-Delhi in 2011. He is still left with two years tenure.
Earlier, he was Deputy Director (Finance and External Affairs) of IIT Bombay from 2005 to 2008.
India became second largest foreign trading partner of Dubai after China
29-DEC-2014
India became second largest foreign trading partner of Dubai after China. This was revealed by the figures released by Dubai Customs on 28 December 2014 that provides trade data for the first nine months of 2014.
The figures show that China was Dubai’s top foreign trade partner with a trade value of 34 billion US dollars. As a result, the share of China increased 27 percent over the year 2014.
India followed next with a trade value worth 21.78 billion US dollar. However, among the Arab nations, India was at the top with trade volume worth 10 billion US dollars.
Dubai's non-oil foreign trade in the first nine months of 2014 was around 269 billion US dollars, with imports having the biggest share at 169 billion US dollars, exports at 23.41 billion and re-exports 76.23 billion US dollars.
Dubai’s foreign trade scored steady growth in the first nine months of 2014 with top trading partners. Dubai’s trade statistics for the first nine months of 2014 clearly show the Emirate’s solid foothold as a regional and international trading and investment hub. It maintained a high value despite the global decline in commodity prices.
This reflects Dubai’s trading capability to increase the volume of foreign trade, including imports, exports and re-exports, to compensate for any drop in prices.
16 States ratified National Judicial Appointments Commission Bill, 2014
29-DEC-2014
16 States have ratified the National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC) Bill, 2014. The information related to this was revealed by Union Ministry of Law and Justice on 28 December 2014.
The NJAC Bill, 2014 also called Constitution (121st Amendment) Bill 2014 seeks to replace the present collegiums system with National Judicial Appointments Commission to appoint the judges of higher judiciary.
Although the names of all the states which have ratified the bill were immediately not known, however, Goa, Rajasthan, Tripura and Gujarat had ratified the bill in October 2014. Also, UP assembly had ratified the bill with an amendment. The NJAC Bill was ratified by Telangana in December 2014.
Earlier in August 2014, the Rajya Sabha Secretariat had sent the bill to the states for ratification after Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha had cleared the bill.
About Constitution Amendment Bills
Article 368 of the Constitution of India requires that all the Constitutional Amendment Bill needs to be ratified by at least half the number of States in the country and it can be introduced in either House of Parliament and has to be passed by each House by special majority.
Once it is ratified half the number of States, then it will be sent to the President for his assent.
As per the article 368 of the constitution of India, Constitution Amendment Bills can be of three types like:
(i) Requiring simple majority for their passage in each House
(ii) Requiring special majority for their passage in each House i.e., a majority of the total membership of a House and by a majority of not less than two-thirds of the members of that House present and voting
(iii) Requiring special majority for their passage and ratification by Legislatures of not less than one-half of the States by resolutions to that effect passed by those Legislatures.
Ankita Raina won NECC International Tennis Association Singles title
29-DEC-2014
Ankita Raina on 29 December 2014 won the International Tennis Association (ITF) singles title of the World Tennis Association circuit held in Pune. This was her first maiden 25000 US dollars ITF singles title.
Ankita defeated Katy Dunne of British 6-2, 6-2 in the final to win the title. With this, she also became the first Indian to clinch the title in the NECC-ITF women's tournament after 14 years.
Radhika Tulpule was the first Indian to won the NECC-ITF title in the inaugural year of the tournament in 2001.
About NECC ITF
The NECC ITF International Women's Tournament is a tennis tournament on the ITF Women's Circuit, under the tier of the WTA Tour, played on outdoor hard-courts. It is held annually since 2001 in Pune, India.
The prize money of the tournament was 10000 US dollars during 2001–2006 but it was upgraded to 25000 US dollars in 2007-2008. Since 2010, the prize money has been 25000 US dollars though it was upgraded to 50000 US dollars for a year in 2009.
Foreign Exchange Reserves of India reached 320 billion US dollars
29-DEC-2014
Foreign Exchange Reserves of India reached 320 billion US dollars on the back of a massive jump in foreign currency assets. This was revealed by Reserve Bank of India (RBI) data on Foreign Exchange released on 26 December 2014.
As per the data on foreign exchange
• During the week 8 December to 19 December 2014 the flow of foreign exchange hit 3.163 billion US dollars enabling total foreign exchange reserves to reach 319.997 billion US dollars.
• The foreign currency assets (FCAs), which are a major constituent of overall reserves, jumped by 3.310 billion US dollars to reach 295.670 billion US dollars during the week ended 19 December 2014. FCA is expressed in dollar terms that include the effect of appreciation and depreciation of non-US currencies such as the euro, pound and yen, held in reserves.
• The gold reserves remained unchanged at 18.985 billion US dollars.
• Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) decreased by 29.2 million US dollars to touch 4.199 billion US dollars. With this, India’s SDR with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) dipped by 117.6 million US dollars to reach 1.142 billion US dollars.
• During the week ending on 25 July 2014 the reserves had touched 320.56 billion US dollars, which is little less than the life-time high of 320.79 billion US dollars on 2 September 2011.
Sample Registration Survey released Statistical Report 2013
29-DEC-2014
The Sample Registration Survey (SRS) released its Statistical Report 2013. According to the report, the fertility rate is falling faster than expected.The report was released on 22 December 2014.
India will reach replacement levels by 2020 with the total fertility rate (TFR) in 8 States below 2 children per woman.
Highlights of the Survey
• Among the Northern and Eastern States, nine States except Gujarat have a TFR levels above 2.1. TFR below 2.1 means population has begun to decline.
• West Bengal along with the Southern States, Jammu & Kashmir, Punjab and Himachal Pradesh has the lowest fertility in India. Odisha also has reduced the fertility rate to 2.1.
• Fertility is declining rapidly, including among the poor and illiterate. India is now just 0.2 point away from reaching replacement levels at 2.3.
• With these rates, India will achieve its demographic transition and reach replacement levels as early as 2020 or 2022.
• Among bigger States, Andhra Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, Punjab, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal has the average Total Fertility Rate (TFR) below 2.0 during 2011-13.
• The Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) is less positive but IMR has fallen to 40 deaths per 1000 live births, and 49 deaths of children under the age of 5 for every 1000 live births.
• The IMR has fallen mostly in rural areas than in urban areas whereas Chennai has the lowest IMR (16) among the metros.
• Among States, Kerala has the best IMR at 12 deaths per 1000 births and it is followed by Delhi and Maharashtra.
• Higher mortality rates still remain the same for infant girls and for girls under the age of five than for boys, as against the global trend.
Pompadour Green Pigeon endemic to Western Ghats spotted in Barkheda in Rajasthan
29-DEC-2014
Pompadour Green Pigeon (Treron pompadora), a native of the Western Ghats and Sri Lanka was spotted in December 2014 over a Bar tree (Ficus bengalensis) of Barkheda village in Rajasthan.
The Pompadour Green Pigeon was photographed by Durga Lal Verma, a computer hardware mechanic-turned bird-lover. Verma shared the photographs of the bird with environmentalists to establish its real name.
Barkheda village is a place that witness arrival of some 50-odd species of birds during winter season. Some surprise arrival of the year 2014 includes Great White Pelicans, Greater Flamingos and Demoiselle Cranes.
About Pompadour Green Pigeon
The pompadour green pigeon is a pigeon complex in the genus Treron. These pigeons have red legs, red-splashed wings marked by yellowish bars, orange breast and head. Pompadour green pigeon has been split into six multiple species, namely
• Sri Lanka green pigeon (Treron pompadora) from Sri Lanka
• Grey-fronted green pigeon (Treron affinis) from the Western Ghats in India
• Andaman green pigeon (Treron chloropterus) from the Andamans and Nicobars
• Ashy-headed green pigeon (Treron phayrei) from northeast India and Nepal, east to Yunnan in China, and south through Indochina (north of the Isthmus of Kra)
• Philippine green pigeon (Treron axillaris) from the Philippines and includes the subspecies amadoni, canescens and everetti
• Buru green pigeon (Treron aromaticus) from small islands in the Flores Sea and Buru, Indonesia
Raghubar Das sworn-in as first non-tribal Chief Minister of Jharkhand
29-DEC-2014
BJP leader Raghubar Das was sworn-in as tenth Chief Minister of Jharkhand on 28 December 2014. 59-year-old Raghubar Das is the first non-tribal Chief Minister of Jharkhand since the state came into being on 15 November 2000.
The oath of office and secrecy was administered by the Jharkhand Governor Syed Ahmed at a ceremony held at the Birsa Munda football stadium in Morhabadi in Ranchi.
Apart from Das, four ministers (three from the BJP and one from the All Jharkhand Students Union (AJSU) were sworn-in as ministers. They are
• Ranchi MLA and former speaker of Jharkhand assembly - CP Singh of BJP
• Dhanbad MLA - Dr Louis Marandi of BJP
• Khunti MLA - Neelkanth Singh Munda of BJP
• Ramgarh MLA and former minister - Chandra Prakash Choudhary (only MLA from AJSU party)
About Raghubar Das
• Raghubar Das is a five-time MLA from East Jamshedpur
• In August 2014, he was elected as BJP national vice president
• He also served as BJP President in Jharkhand
• After the 2009 Assembly elections, he was appointed as the deputy chief minister in the Shibu Soren government
• He had served as a minister in Jharkhand in the governments led by Babulal Marandi, Arjun Munda and held portfolios of finance, labour and urban development during his stint as cabinet minister
• For the first time, he was elected as MLA to the undivided Bihar assembly in 1995
• He also has served Tata Steel in Jamshedpur as a Grade 4 employee
• Das belongs to the influential Vaishya community
• Das, during his education days at the Jamshedpur Co-operative College was an active student union leader and joined the student movement launched by Loknayak Jaiprakash Narayan in 1974.
• He was born on 3 May 1955 in Bhalubasa area of Jamshedpur
Comment
Jharkhand as a state has seen ten Chief Ministers including Das since its creation in 2000. It has also witnessed three stints of President's Rule. Previous Chief Ministers of Jharkhand include Babulal Marandi, Arjun Munda, Shibu Soren, Madhu Koda and Hemant Soren, all of these were tribal leaders.
Union Government launched Madan Mohan Malviya National Mission on Teachers and Teaching
29-DEC-2014
Union Government launched Madan Mohan Malviya National Mission on Teachers and Teaching on 25 December 2014. Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the mission at Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi.
The mission was launched the mission with an outlay of 900 crores rupees during 12th five year plan. It envisages to addressing comprehensively all issues related to teachers, teaching, teacher preparation, professional development, Curriculum Design, Designing and Developing Assessment & Evaluation methodology, Research in Pedagogy and developing effective Pedagogy.
On One hand, the mission will address current and urgent issues such as supply of qualified teachers, attracting talent intoteaching profession and raising the quality of teaching in schools and colleges.
On another hand, the mission will pursue long term goals of building a strong professional cadre of teachers by setting performance standards and creating top class institutional facilities for innovative teaching and professional development of teachers.
The Mission will focus on both urgent issues and long term goals in a holistic manner dealing with the whole sector of education without fragmenting the programmes based on levels and sectors as school, higher, technical etc.
The mission is an umbrella scheme will create synergies among the various ongoing initiatives on Teachers and Teaching under Union Ministry of Human Resources Development and other autonomous institutions.
The Mission will have the components such as Schools of Education (in Central Universities), Centres of Excellence for Curriculum and Pedagogy,) Inter-University Centres for Teachers’ Education, National Resource Centre for Education, Centres for Academic Leadership and Education Management, Innovations, Awards, Teaching Resource Grant, including Workshop & Seminar and Subject Networks for Curricular Renewal and Reforms.
Besides, Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the Campus Connect wi-fi of Banaras Hindu University by remote control. He unveiled the plaque of the Inter-University Centre and also launched the Varanasi Mahotsav.
AirAsia flight QZ8501 carrying 162 passengers went missing
29-DEC-2014
AirAsia flight number QZ8501 went missing with 162 people on board en route from the Indonesian city of Surabaya to Singapore on 28 December 2014.
Flight 8501 (Airbus A320-200) lost contact with the air traffic control in Indonesian airspace (over the Java Sea) after pilots requested a change of flight plan due to bad weather. The pilot was not allowed to alter course.
Actions taken to search the missing flight
Indonesia, Singapore and Malaysia have launched a search-and-rescue operation near Belitung Island in the Java Sea after the plane went missing. The search operation includes 12 navy ships, five planes, three helicopters and a number of warships.
This is the third incident of the year 2014 in which the Malaysia based carrier has suffered. The two other incidents include
• Still-unexplained disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 (239 passengers and crew no report about them) in March 2014
• Downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 (all 298 on board died) in July 2014 over Ukraine
LSU Researchers discovered new method to convert Carbon Dioxide into Organic Compound
29-DEC-2014
The researchers at Louisiana State University (LSU) discovered a new method to convert Carbon Dioxide (CO2) into an Organic Compound. The findings were published in the journal Nature Communications on 19 December 2014.
The research team led by Andrew Maverick have discovered a cyclic copper complex that converts carbon dioxide to oxalate, changing the environmental pollutant into a more useful organic compound.
A key component to this discovery was the development of a compound that would react with carbon dioxide. The compound takes four to five days to react.
Process of the study
• Maverick and his team developed a three-step reaction sequence in which a copper complex converts carbon dioxide to oxalate under mild conditions.
• The copper complex is reduced to copper in solution, either electrochemically or using sodium ascorbate.
• The reduced complex selectively reacts with carbon dioxide from air and fixes it into oxalate, with the oxalate ion bridging between two copper atoms.
• The bound oxalate ion is released as oxalic acid on treatment with mineral acids, regenerating the original copper complex.
• The research team created more than 50 different compounds before finding the one that would react with carbon dioxide.
Background
Carbon dioxide is naturally present in the air as part of the normal circulation of carbon in the atmosphere.
However, human activities are adding more carbon dioxide and influencing nature’s ability to remove the greenhouse gas from the atmosphere. On the other hand, Carbon dioxide does not want to react with any compound.
Even highly energetic molecules often do not react with CO2. So, it was important to search for compounds which will convert CO2 into something with a little more stored energy.
Indian Army launched Operation All Out against Bodo militants in Assam
29-DEC-2014
Union Government in the fourth week of December 2014 decided to launch Operation All Out against Bodo militants. The decision to launch the operation was taken during the meeting of Army chief General Dalbir Singh Suhag and Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh in Delhi.
The meeting was to review the security situation in Assam after National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB) militants’ on 23 December 2014 massacred at least 81 tribal people in two districts of Assam, Kokrajhar and Sonitpur.
The two-tier armed operation will be carried on by about 9000 soldiers of Indian Army and paramilitary troopers on the Assam-Arunachal Pradesh border to flush out militants of the NDFB (Songbijit Brahma group).
Apart from this, authorities have also mulled coordinated action with armies of Bhutan and Myanmar to hunt the NDFB(S) militants, as the group has its bases in the two countries. Bhutanese Prime Minister Tshering Tobgay has assured its support to India in its action against the Bodo militants.
Rajan Devadas, an acclaimed Indian-American photojournalist died
29-DEC-2014
Rajan Devadas, a photojournalist whose lenses chronicled Indo-US relations from Washington DC, for more than half-a-century died on 26 December 2014. He died due to cardiac arrest at the Hebrew Home of Greater Washington in Rockville, Maryland. He was 93.
He is survived by his wife Kimiko and eight children.
About Rajan Devadas
• Devadas in his career as a photojournalist covered the US visit of every Indian Prime Minister from Jawaharlal Nehru to Manmohan Singh
• He also photographed every US President from John F Kennedy to George W Bush
• Other world leaders he photographed include
a) Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher of Britain
b) President JR Jayewardene of Sri Lanka
c) President Sheikh Mujibur Rahman
d) Spiritual leaders such as Pope John Paul, Dalai Lama and Mother Teresa
• In 2002 he was awarded with Padma Shri, one of India’s highest civilian honors
• He was born in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala in 1921
US and NATO officially ended combat mission in Afghanistan
29-DEC-2014
The United States and NATO on 28 December 2014 officially ended their combat mission in Afghanistan. The combat mission that ran for 13 years saw its end with Commanders of joint coalition forces lowering the flag during a ceremony in Kabul.
The ceremony ending the combat mission was followed by raising the flag of the new mission named Resolute Support.
From 1 January 2015 the alliance's role will shift to training and support mission for the Afghan army. The training and support mission will be administered by more than 13000 troops mostly Americans who will stay in Afghanistan to support local forces.
NATO that formally ended combat operations in Afghanistan had transferred full security responsibility of the country to the Afghan government.
The end of the combat mission was welcomed by US President Barack Obama, who in his communication said that US forces has made, extraordinary sacrifices and end of the longest war in American history was coming to a responsible conclusion.
US-NATO combat War in Afghanistan
US and North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) launched their war in Afghanistan in December 2001 in the backdrop of the 9/11 attacks against US. The war aimed at dismantling al-Qaeda and removal of Taliban from power.
Comment
End of NATO mission from Afghanistan comes at a time when the Taliban that was ousted from power 13 years ago is trying to re-emerge in the country. In such condition it might be possible that Afghanistan may go Iraq way. Iraq saw emergence of ISIS few years after US troops withdrew from the country.
British actor David John Ryall died
29-DEC-2014
Veteran British actor David John Ryall died on 25 December 2014 following a brief illness. He was 79.
David John Ryall was known for playing the role of Elphias Doge in the Harry Potter Deathly Hallows film.
David John Ryall
• Ryall received a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in 1962, during which he won the Caryl Brahams Award for a musical.
• His work at the National Theatre included Guys and Dolls, The Beggar's Opera and Animal Farm, Coriolanus, The School of Wives, Democracy and The UN Inspector.
• Ryall appeared in many well-known television shows including The Singing Detective, Holby City, Casualty, Midsomer Murders, Goodnight Sweetheart and the Andrew Davies version of House Of Cards.
• Ryall replaced the actor Peter Cartwright to play the role of Elphias Doge in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 in 2010.
• His other film were Around the World in 80 Days, Truly, Madly, Deeply, City of Ember, The League of Gentlemen's Apocalypse, Restoration and The Elephant Man.
• His last film was Automata, a 2014 science fiction action film directed by Spanish director Gabe Ibanez.
Vrinda Sarup appointed as Secretary to Department of School Education and Literacy
29-DEC-2014
Senior IAS officer Vrinda Sarup on 29 December 2014 was appointed as Secretary to the Department of School Education and Literacy under Union Ministry of Human Resource Development. Her appointment was approved by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet.
She succeeded R Bhattacharya who is due to retire on 31 December 2014. R Bhattacharya is a 1978 batch IAS officer of Andhra Pradesh cadre.
She will take the charge with immediate effects.
Vrinda Sarup is a 1981 batch IAS officer of Uttar Pradesh cadre. She is presently working as Special Secretary to the Department of School Education and Literacy under the Union Ministry of Human Resource Development.
Department of School Education & Literacy is responsible for development of school education and literacy in the country. The Department has its eyes set on the universalisation of education and making better citizens out of our young brigade.
Jazz clarinettist Buddy DeFranco died
29-DEC-2014
Renowned American jazz clarinettist Buddy DeFranco died on 24 December 2014 following a brief illness. He was 91.
Buddy DeFranco
• Originally named as Boniface Ferdinand Leonardo DeFranco, he was born in Camden, New Jersey.
• He learned to play the mandolin at the age of five and took up the clarinet four years later.
• Later, he performed at venues around the world for 75 years and also recorded many albums.
• Buddy DeFranco conducted the Glenn Miller Orchestra for eight years from 1966 to 1974.
• He was named as a National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Master and later a Living Jazz Legend in a Kennedy Centre ceremony.
• DeFranco was a member of the American Jazz Hall of Fame. He also received the Playboy All-Star award for top jazz clarinettist in the world 16 times.
• Today, the annual Buddy DeFranco Jazz Festival is held every year at the University of Montana.
BCCI banned spinner Pragyan Ojha from bowling in competitive cricket
29-DEC-2014
The BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India) on 28 December 2014 banned left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha from bowling in competitive matches. He was banned after his bowling action was found illegal.
Ojha's action was tested at the ICC-recognised centre in Chennai and the test concluded that Ojha's elbow flexed more than the permissible limit of 15 degrees.
BCCI officially informed Ojha’s home state association Hyderabad that his action needs remedial measures. Ojha will now head to Chennai for taking corrective measures.
About Pragyan Ojha
• Ojha is the quickest Indian bowler to reach to 100-wicket milestone in Tests
• He has taken 113 wickets in 24 Test matches and 21 wickets from 18 ODIs
• He played his first One Day International match against Bangladesh on 28 June 2008 in Karachi
• He made his Test debut in the Second Test against Sri Lanka in Kanpur on 24 November 2009
• His T20 debut was against Bangladesh on 6 June 2009.