5-6 jan 2015 eng

5 jan

Andy Murray won ATP World Tennis Championship in Abu Dhabi

Andy Murray won the ATP World Tennis Championship at Zayed Sports City in Abu Dhabi on 4 January 2015. He won the title after the world number one Novak Djokovic withdrew from the final match citing illness.

This was the first title of year 2015 for Andy Murray.

In the Semi-finals, Murray defeated Rafael Nadal 6-2, 6-0 in straight sets. In the other semi-final, Novak Djokovic defeated the Australian Open Champion Stanislas Wawarinka 6-1, 6-2.

Gujarati film actor Upendra Jethalal Trivedi died

Veteran Gujarati actor Upendra Jethalal Trivedi passed away on 4 January 2015 in Mumbai following respiratory arrest. He was 79.

Upendra Jethalal Trivedi
• Born in Kukadia village of north Gujarat, Upendra began working as a labourer in Mumbai.
• In 1971, Upendra began his career as an actor in Gujarati films with the movie Jesal Toral directed by Ravindra Trivedi.
• Upendra is well-known as Abhinay Samrat due to his brilliant performance in the Gujarati play Abhinay Samrat.
• Upendra has directed National Award winning Gujarati film Manvini Bhawai and is also the recipient of Padma Shri in 1989 and Pandit Omkarnath Thakur award.
• He was also an active member in the Gujarat political arena and had won the Gujarat legislative assembly election from Bhiloda in 1980s

Veteran Chinese sports administrator He Zhenliang died

The former International Olympic Committee (IOC) member and Vice President He Zhenliang died on 4 January 2015 in Beijing following a brief illness. He was 85.

He Zhenliang
• He Zhenliang began his career in 1955 as an international communication official in National Sports Commission of China.
• In 1964, he became the Deputy Secretary General of the Chinese Gymnastics Association and later served as the Secretary General of the Chinese Table Tennis Association.
• In 1979, he was promoted to the position of Deputy Secretary General of the all-China Sports Federation and the Chinese Olympic Committee (COC).
• Zhenliang was elected as a member of the IOC from the People's Republic of China in 1981 and was elected as IOC Vice President in 1989.
• He became IOC Honorary Member in 2010 and served on the IOC Executive Board three times in 1985, 1994 and 1999.
• He was the Honorary Member of the Commission for Culture and Olympic Education from 2009 to 2015.

SRF Limited acquired DuPont's pharma business brand Dymel

Specialty chemicals firm SRF Limited on 1 January 2015 acquired the pharmaceutical propellant business brand Dymel of American chemical firm DuPont for 20 million US dollars.

Highlights of the acquisition
• SRF will own the DuPont Dymel brand and will also receive the technology for setting up its own current Good Manufacturing Practices (cGMP) facility for manufacturing HFC 134a Pharma grade.
• DuPont will supply SRF with the product from its existing facility till SRF’s production facility is approved.
• This transaction provides immediate access to SRF on DuPont’s technology, brand and customers, thus enabling its instant entry into the pharmaceutical segment at a global level.

About SRF Limited
Established in 1970, SRF is the only Indian manufacturer of the grade of hydro fluoro carbon HFC 134a. With headquarters in Gurgaon, India, the company has operations in two more countries including Thailand and South Africa.

SRF is a domestic leader in Refrigerants, Engineering Plastics and Industrial Yarns as well. The company is also one of the key domestic manufacturers of Polyester Films and Specialty Chemicals.

The company won the prestigious Deming Prize for two of its businesses namely Tyre Cord in 2004 and Chemicals Business in 2012.

China launched official website for military weapons procurement

China on 4 January 2015 launched an official military weapons procurement website www.weain.mil.cn to guarantee transparency in arms procurement.

The website will be operated by the People's Liberation Army (PLA) of General Armament Department of China. It aims to break down barriers for private companies seeking to enter the market.

Highlights of the website
• The website www.weain.mil.cn provides information on the country's weapon and armament needs, relevant policies, procurement notices, enterprise lists and technology.
• Around 350 items that can be procured have been listed on the website.
• The procurement information will be released on the website on the first working day of every January and July.
• Private enterprises, military procurement departments, and military industry groups and personnel can register on the website.

Background
The website was launched amidst the huge outrage on some of the top PLA officials who are accused of indulging in corruption in the procurement of supplies.

Several top PLA officials including General Xu Caihou and the overall supervisory authority over the military under previous President Hu Jintao faced anti-corruption probes in the extensive anti-graft campaign launched by Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Israel stopped transfer of tax collected from Palestinians to Palestinian Authority Government

Israel on 3 January 2015 decided to stop the transfer of about 500 million shekels (127.6 million US dollars) of taxes to the Palestinian Authority Government. The taxes were collected on behalf of the Palestinians for the month of December 2014.

The decision to withhold the Palestinian tax receipts was made at a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Israel’s step comes in retaliation against Palestinians move to join the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague.

The Palestinian envoy to the United Nations, Riyad Mansour on 2 January 2014 had submitted the Palestinian application to the ICC to the UN’s top legal affairs official, Stephan Mathias, at the UN headquarters in New York.

Under the application, the envoy had requested to grant retroactive jurisdiction to the court to cover war crimes allegedly committed by the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) during Operation Protective Edge.

New Jersey to host International Hindi Conference in April 2015

The International Hindi Conference will be hosted by New Jersey in April 2015. The announcement was made on 4 January 2015

The theme of the International Hindi Conference 2015 is Expanding World of Hindi: Possibilities and Challenges.

Highlights of the International Hindi Conference 2015
• The conference will be attended by Hindi scholars from various parts of the world, in particular from the United States and India.
• The participants of the International Hindi Conference will discuss the current status of the teaching and learning of Hindi among other things.
• The participants are also expected to discuss individual and organisational partnerships and leadership and field capacity building and infrastructure building skills and topics.
• Topics such as Hindi in higher education, Expanding the use of Hindi in businesses and commerce, Community support for Hindi and Current status of the teaching and learning of Hindi will be taken up in the conference.
• This conference will provide a forum for participants to get together and identify challenges and find solutions for the advancement of the Hindi language in North America and the Caribbean region.

O T Anilkumar won 7th Chennai Open FIDE Rating Chess Tournament (Category B)

O T Anilkumar of Kerala won the 7th Chennai Open FIDE Rating Chess Tournament (Category B) at Nehru Stadium, Chennai on 3 January 2015. He won the title after scoring 8.5 points from nine rounds and pocketed the winner's purse of 30000 rupees.

During the tournament, he saw a draw during third round and won rest of the games.

The second place was shared by Dusthageer Ibrahim M of Tamil Nadu, Toshali V of NAdhra Pradesh and Harshini A of Tamil Nadu at 7.5 points.

The nine round Swiss event saw participation of 372 players, including two FIDE titleholders. During the tournament, total cash prizes of 2 lakh rupees were distributed.

Transgender Madhu Kinnar won Mayoral election from Raigarh Municipal Corporation

Independent candidate and transgender Madhu Kinnar on 4 January 2015 won the Mayoral election in Chhattisgarh’s Raigarh Municipal Corporation. Kinnar won the election by 4537 votes against Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) Mahaveer Guruji.

With this, she scripted history by becoming the first transgender to get elected as mayor in the state.

Madhu Kinnar, whose original name is Naresh Chauhan, funded her electoral campaign by working as a singer and dancer on trains.

Her win follows Supreme Court’s decision, in which it ruled that transgender people could be legally recognised as a third gender.

After the SC’s decision, Tamil-language Lotus TV based in the city of Coimbatore in September 2014 recruited India’s first ever transgender news anchor, Padmini Prakash.

PM launched National Programme for LED-based Home and Street Lighting

Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi on 5 January 2015 launched a National Programme for LED-based Home and Street Lighting in New Delhi to reduce energy consumption.

Other Launches
• A scheme for Light Emitting Diode (LED) bulb distribution under the Domestic Efficient Lighting Programme (DELP) was also launched.
• The Prime Minister also launched a web-based system to enable consumers in Delhi to register requests for procuring LED bulbs under Domestic Efficient Lighting Programme (DELP). Consumers can register either through the programme website (www.eeslindia.org/Delhi-Launch) or by sending an SMS to a designated number.

Highlights of the programme
• LED bulbs will be distributed in a phased manner from March 2015 onwards.
• The entire project of installing LED bulbs for domestic and street-lighting in 100 cities is targeted for completion by March 2016.
• In Delhi, LED bulbs will be provided to all domestic consumers at an initial payment of 10 rupees each and the balance amount of 120 rupees each will be recovered from their electricity bill.
• Therefore, the cost for an LED bulb to domestic consumer will be 130 rupees through this programme due to bulk procurement, compared to the current open market retail price in the range of 350-600 rupees for LED bulbs.
• The estimated annual savings for households in Delhi per LED bulb will be 162 rupees. The LED bulbs will have a warranty of 3 years.
• It will result in annual saving of energy by about 24 crore units every year.

Background
The initiatives are the part of the Government’s efforts to spread the message of energy efficiency in the country. The LED based lights will help in reducing energy consumption by 88 percent compared to a normal bulb.

LED bulbs have a very long life, almost 50 times more than ordinary bulbs, and 8-10 times that of CFLs. These LEDs provide both energy and cost savings in the medium term.

Jiaolong, the Chinese deep sea submersible, began exploration in Indian Ocean

China's deep sea manned submersible Jiaolong on 2 January 2015 started exploration for the first time in the southwestern Indian Ocean. The submersible will search for active hydrothermal vent.

The Chinese vessel Jiaolong, named after a mythical dragon, during its 120-day expedition will dive in the ocean with an aim to collect sample of research polymetallic sulfides, biological diversity, hydrothermal microbes and genetic resources for research purposes.

Hydrothermal sulfide is a kind of sea-bed deposit containing copper, zinc and precious metals such as gold and silver.

Background
China in 2012 gained approval to explore 10000 square kilometer of Indian Ocean for polymetallic sulphide ore deposit in an international seabed region of the southwest Indian Ocean. It secured a 15-year long approval from the International Seabed Authority (ISA).

Earlier in 2001, China obtained exclusive rights to prospect in a 75000-square-km polymetallic nodule ore deposit in the east Pacific Ocean.

Mumbai Tiffin Box Suppliers Association GS Gangaram Laxman Talekar died

Mumbai Tiffin Box Suppliers Association General Secretary (GS) Gangaram Laxman Talekar passed away on 31 December 2014 following a heart attack.

Gangaram Laxman Talekar
• Earlier, he had worked with Central Bank and Hindustan Mills for small duration.
• He has given various Lecture in IIMS, Management Institutes, IIT and Multinational Companies on topics like time management, accuracy and supply network.
• He has delivered Lecture at Terra Medre conference held at Italy and also at London, Holland, Bangladesh and America.

Mumbai Tiffin Box Suppliers Association
• Mumbai Tiffin Box Suppliers Association is famously known as Mumbai Dabbawala Association.
• Dabbawalas (one who carries the box) carry and deliver freshly made food in a lunch box (Dabba) and deliver it to offices in the Indian city of Mumbai.
• There are about 5000 dabbawalas in number and deliver approximately 200000 Tiffin boxes every day.
• The organisation is recognised as delivering 6 sigma level of accuracy in dabba delivery.

Project LettuceOnMars: To grow lettuce on Mars in 2018

Scientists at University of Southampton, UK are planning to grow lettuce on Mars in 2018 under the Project #LettuceOnMars. Under the project the team will grow small plants with gases obtained from the Martian atmosphere, with a minimum of material imported from Earth.

The aim of the project is to prove that plant life can thrive in the controlled greenhouse environment and that the resources on Mars can be appropriately managed to establish a permanent human settlement.

The scientists led by Suzanna Lucarotti will demonstrate their project via a payload in the form of lettuce that will be carried by Mars One Lander in 2018.

Mars One Lander will be launched by Mars One which is a not-for-profit foundation that aims to establish a permanent human settlement on Mars by 2026.

How lettuce will be grown on Mars?
The greenhouse of the project would be launched from the Earth with lettuce seeds, water, nutrients and systems for atmospheric processing and monitoring.

As per the plans, on its way to Mars, the greenhouse will be powered down while the lettuce seeds will be frozen and will be reactivated again after Mars One Lander lands on the Red Planet. The activated powers will help in heating elements to maintain a temperature between 21°C and 24°C.

Whereas, Carbon Dioxide which is essential for the plants life will be extracted from the Martian atmosphere and will be processed before entering the growth chamber. Further, the lettuce will be grown without soil and water and nutrients will be sprayed on it on a regular interval.

When suitable environment will be created, the plants would start growing. On completion of the mission, the heaters would be switched to full power, exterminating all life in the payload.

ICG Rajratan: The Inshore Patrol Vehicles

ICG Rajratan: The Inshore Patrol Vehicles
Indian Coast Guard (ICG) Rajratan, the fifth ship in the series of eight Inshore Patrol Vessels (IPVs) ordered after the 26/11 attack, was in news in the first week of January 2015.

The ship was deployed in 48-hour search operation at and around the site where the Pakistani terror boat sank after its crew set it ablaze on 1 January 2015.

However, the ship could neither gather the debris of the fishing boat nor traced any survivors of bodies of the boats suspected terrorist crew.

The only evidence of the incident that occurred now lies in the footage shot by sailors onboard ICGS Rajratan.

Specifications of ICG Rajratan
• The ship has been indigenously built by Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers, Kolkata.
• The ship is 50-meter long and can achieve a maximum speed of 34 knots
• It has an endurance of 1500 nautical miles at an economical speed of 16 knots
• It is equipped with state-of-the-art weaponry and advanced communication and navigational equipments.
• It provides an ideal platform for undertaking multifarious close-coast missions such as surveillance, interdiction, search and rescue and medical evacuation.
• It is fitted with Integrated Bridge Management System (IMBS), Integrated Machinery Control System (IMCS) and an integrated gun mount with indigenous Fire Control system (FCS).
• It is based in Porbandar and is commanded by Commandant (JG) C S Joshi and has a complement of five Officers and 30 other ranks

Jiji Thomson resigned as Director General of SAI

jiji Thomson on 2 January 2015 resigned as Director General of Sports Authority of India (SAI) with immediate effect. Thomson took charge of SAI in March 2013.

He claimed that the central government delayed his promotion as Sports Secretary for six months before he finally requested for his immediate repatriation to his parent cadre in Kerala.

Jiji Thomson will now take over as Chief Secretary of Kerala on 31 January 2015.

Jiji Thomson
• Jiji Thomson, a 1980 batch IAS officer of Kerala cadre, served as Secretary of Andhra Pradesh State Wakf Baord, Finance Department in 2000.
• He was the Managing Director of State Industrial Development Corporation from 2000 to 2003.
• He served as Agricultural Marketing Adviser for Union Ministry of Agriculture from 2008 to 2009.
• He was Special Director General of Organisation C Commonwealth Games under Union Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports from 2010 to 2012.
• From 2012 to 2013, Thomson served as the Managing Director of TRIFED under Union Ministry of Tribal Affairs.

Sutirtha Bhattacharya took charge as CMD of Coal India Limited

Sutirtha Bhattacharya on 5 January 2015 took charge as Coal India Limited’s full-time Chairman and Managing Director (CMD). The post was vacant for over six month.

Prior to taking the charge of Coal India, Bhattacharya, a 1985 batch IAS officer of Andhra Pradesh cadre was the CMD of the state-owned Singareni Collieries Company.

Bhattacharya’s name was recommended for the CMD of Coal India Limited (CIL) by the Public Enterprises Services Board (PESB) on 19 November 2014. Later in November 2014, his named was cleared for the top post by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet.

Coal India was without a full-time head since May 2014 when S Narsing Rao resigned from the post to join Telangana government. But it was being handled by additional secretary, coal, AK Dubey who was given the additional charge as CMD of CIL from 26 June 2014.

Prime Minister appointed economist Arvind Panagariya as the Vice Chairman of NITI Aayog

prime Minister Narendra Modi on 5 January 2015 appointed economist Arvind Panagariya as the Vice-Chairman of National Institution for Transforming India (NITI) Aayog. He is an Indian-American economist and Professor of Economics at Columbia University.

Panagariya is an Alma matter of Rajasthan University and holds a Ph.D. degree in Economics from Princeton University.

He has written around 10 books, the latest being India: The Emerging Giant, which was published in March 2008 by the Oxford University Press, New York.

Besides Arvind Panagariya, PM also appointed other members of the newly constituted NITI Aayog that came into existence on 1 January 2015 replacing 65 year old Planning Commission.

The other members appointed are:

Full-Time Members

Bibek Debroy, Economist
Dr. V.K. Saraswat, Former Secretary Defence Research & Development

Ex-officio members

Rajnath Singh, Union Minister of Home Affairs
Arun Jaitley, Union Minister of Finance, Corporate Affairs and Information & Broadcasting
Suresh Prabhu, Union Minister of Railways
Radha Mohan Singh, Union Minister of Agriculture

Special Invitees

Nitin Gadkari, Union Minister of Road Transport & Highways and Shipping
Thawar Chand Gehlot, Union Minister of Social Justice and Empowerment
Smriti Zubin Irani, Union Minister of Human Resource Development

6 jan

Union Cabinet approved 2G telecom spectrum auction targeted to fetch 64840 crore rupees

The Union Cabinet on 5 January 2015 approved the largest ever auction of Second Generation (2G) telecom spectrum that is targeted to fetch around 64840 crore rupees from the sale.

The last date for submission of application for the auction is 2 February 2015 and bidders will be pre-qualified by 13 February 2015. The auction will start on 23 February 2015.

Any company holding a universal service licence to provide telephony services or eligible to obtain the services can bid in the auction.

The government had generated about 62162 crore rupees from the last auction of the 2G spectrum in February 2014.

Three Bands of 2G spectrum Auction
• The government will sell 380.75 megahertz of 2G spectrum in three bands- 800 MHz, 900 MHz and 1800 MHz.
• In 800 MHz band, 103.75 MHz in all service areas will be put on auction while 177.8 MHz in 900 MHz band will be sold in 17 telecom circles or service areas. 99.2 MHz will be auctioned in 15 circles in 1800 MHz band.
• There are total 22 telecom service areas in the country and the price of spectrum in each circle is different.
• The 900 Mhz and 1800 Mhz band are used for providing GSM based mobile services by companies like Airtel, Vodafone, Idea, Uninor. The 800 Mhz band is used for CDMA based mobile services by companies like MTS, Tata Teleservices and Reliance Communications.

Reserve price
The Cabinet approved a reserve price of 3646 crore rupees pan-India per MHz in 800 MHz band, 3980 crore rupees for 900 MHz band pan-India excluding Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, and Jammu & Kashmir and 2191 crore rupees pan-India (excluding Maharashtra and West Bengal) in 1800 MHz band.

The reserve or auction start price is the same as recommended by the Telecom Commission, except in the case of 900 MHz. The Telecom Commission had proposed a reserve price of 3695 crore rupees for each MHz in 900 Mhz.

Procedure of making payments
The Centre has given two options to successful bidders to make the payment:

• Full Upfront Payment: Bidders can make a full upfront payment within 10 days of declaration of final price.
• Deferred Payment: Bidders can make the deferred payment through an upfront payment of 33 percent in the case of 1800 MHz band and 25 percent in the case of 900 MHz and 800 MHz within 10 days of declaration of successful bidders and final price.

There will be a two-year moratorium for payment of balance amount of one-time charges for the spectrum, which will be recovered in 10 equal annual instalments.

Auction of 3G Spectrum
Regarding the auction of 2100 MHz or 3G spectrum, Union Cabinet decided that 2100 MHz may also be put on auction simultaneously in February 2015 along with auction of other bands.

However, the reserve price for 2100 MHz was not announced. The decision to auction 3G spectrum simultaneously was taken to increase the availability of the scarce resource.

Meanwhile, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has recommended a reserve price of 2720 crore rupees per mHz for 2100 MHz. However, the Telecom Commission is yet to arrive at a final price.

RBI allowed FIIs to buy up to 49% paid-up capital in Bajaj Corp

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on 5 January 2015 allowed the Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs)/Registered Foreign Portfolios Investors (RFPIs) to buy up to 49 percent of the paid-up capital of Bajaj Corp Ltd. The investments will be made under the Portfolio Investment Scheme (PIS).

Till September 2014 (BSE data), FIIs held 15.21 percent in the company.

Foreign shareholding hike decision was taken after passage of a resolution by the Board of Directors and special resolution by shareholders, in which they agreed to enhance the limit for purchase of its equity shares and convertible debentures by FIIs/RFPIs.

Union Petroleum ministry launched LPG schemes for benefitting BPL families

The Union Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on 5 January 2015 launched the sale of subsidised 5 kg cooking gas cylinders under Free Trade LPG (FTL) Scheme to benefit Below Poverty Line (BPL) families, students and migrant labourers.

Under the facility, BPL families will get 500 rupees subsidy while purchasing 5kg cylinder. Those who do not have address proof due to acquiring residence on temporary basis can buy 5 Kg LPG cylinder at market price.

The 5 Kg LPG cylinders will be available at 9 retail outlets in Bhubaneswar and at 4 retail outlets in Cuttack. Subsequently, the sale of cylinder under FTL scheme is proposed at various locations of Udyan Fresh outlets in Bhubaneswar.

The scheme is aimed at increasing the usage of LPG, a cleaner cooking fuel, by households.

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Scheme
The Union Petroleum Ministry also launched the expanded Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Scheme to cover BPL families living in urban areas. Under the scheme, all BPL families will be getting LPG connection without paying the security deposit for cylinder and pressure regulator.

The scheme provides concession of 1600 rupees to BPL families. The move is aimed to make cooking gas easily available to consumers.

The scheme is available upto 31 March 2015.

Jubiliant Life Sciences got USFDA approval for selling its generic drugs in US market

Bangalore-based drug firm Jubilant Biosys Ltd on 5 January 2014 received final approval of the US Food & Drug Administration (FDA) for its generic drugs Mycophenolate Mofetil and Rizatriptan. With this, Indian pharma major will now be able to sell these generic drugs in the American market.

Mycophenolate Mofetil, an immuno-suppressant, is a generic version of Roche's Cellcept whereas tablets of Rizatriptan, used for treatment of migraine, are generics of Merck's Maxalt tablets.

The strengths for which the approvals were given by the USFDA include
• Mycophenolate Mofetil – in strengths of 250 mg capsules and 500 mg tablets
• Rizatriptan tablets - in strengths of 5 mg and 10 mg

Mycophenolate Mofetil capsules and tablets are manufactured by the company's US arm Jubilant Cadista Pharmaceuticals Inc and Rizatriptan tablets are made at Jubilant Generics Ltd, Jubilant Life Sciences.

P Krishnamurthy appointed as Private Secretary of Union Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar

IAS officer P Krishnamurthy was on 5 January 2015 appointed as Private Secretary of Union Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar. He is appointed for a five-year period or on co-terminus basis with the minister's tenure.

Krishnamurthy is presently working as Resident Commissioner at Goa Sadan and State's finance secretary.

P Krishnamurthy
• Krishnamurthy is a 1997 batch IAS officer of Arunachal Pradesh-Goa-Mizoram Union territories (AGMU) cadre.
• He has also worked as secretary to Parrikar when the latter was Goa chief minister.
• He served as Deputy Commissioner of North Division of Revenue Department, Delhi from 2008 to 2009.
• He was the Director of the Education Department of National Capital Territory of Delhi from 2009 to 2011.
• He served as the Director of National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT) from 2011 to 2014.

Former MCA office-bearer Ramesh Kosambia died

Former office bearer of the Mumbai Cricket Association's (MCA) Ramesh Kosambia died at his residence in Borivli on 5 January 2015. He was 87.

Kosambia who was part of the Bal Mahaddalkar group which swept the MCA elections in the late 1980s is survived by three sons and a daughter.

Ramesh Kosambia
• He served MCA as the Joint Secretary of Mumbai Cricket Association for 7 years from 1989 to 1994 & 2005 to 2007
• He served MCA as Treasurer for 9 years from 1988 to 1990 & 1998 to 2005
• He also served the Association as the Managing Committee member
• He was associated with the Association for more than 60 years

S Shrikrishna won the National Sub-Junior Billiards title 2015

S Shrikrishna on 5 January 2015 won his maiden National Sub-Junior Billiards title at the BRC Gloster National Billiards & Snooker Championship 2015. He defeated Ishpreet Singh Chadha of Maharashtra by 326-283 in an hour-long final play.

Shrikrishna reached the finals by defeating Suraj Rathi of Maharashtra as he won 334-198 in the play. While, Chadha defeated Hritik Jain of Madhya Pradesh to reach the finals.

In Pre-quarters, S Shrikrishna (TN) defeated Abhinav Singh of Uttarakhand. Ishpreet Chadha reached in Pre-quarters after getting a walkover from Tanurag Gautam of Chandigarh.

Union Cabinet approved to set up India-based Neutrino Observatory in TN

Union Cabinet headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 5 January 2015 approved to set up the India-based Neutrino Observatory (INO) in Tamil Nadu.

The INO laboratory will host experiments such as the neutrino-less double beta decay and the search for dark matter.
The INO project will be set up near Pottipuram village in the Bodi West Hills of Theni district in Tamil Nadu. The project is at an estimated cost of 1500 crore rupees.

INO is an underground laboratory with a rock cover of approximate 1200 metre for non-accelerator based high energy and nuclear physics research in India. The project also includes Inter-Institutional Centre for High Energy Physics (IICHEP) and Iron Calorimeter Detector (ICAL).

The project will be jointly supported by the Department of Atomic Energy and the Department of Science and Technology. The infrastructural support will be given by the State Government of Tamil Nadu since the project is located in Tamil Nadu.

IICHEP will be established in Madurai that is about 110 km from the proposed site of the neutrino observatory. The construction of 50000 tonne magnetised ICAL is to study the properties of the neutrino especially the mass hierarchy among different types of neutrino.

The goals of INO are:
• To Study neutrinos which are fundamental particles belonging to the lepton family. Neutrinos come in three flavours, one associated with electrons and the others with their heavier cousins the muon and the Tau.
• Development of detector technology and its varied applications.

The INO Project Director is Naba Mondal who is a Senior Professor at Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai and was earlier associated with the pioneering experiments at the underground laboratory at Kolar Gold Fields.

Excessive concentration of antibiotics found in three Chinese rivers

An excessive amount of antibiotics was found in Chinese rivers namely Yangtze, Huangpu and Pearl Rivers. The situation threatens to cause widespread antibiotic resistance.

The report related to this was released by China Central Television in the last week of December 2014.

Main Findings of the Report

• High concentration of antibiotics in the rivers was caused by illegal discharges by Shandong Lukang Pharmaceutical, one of China's largest drug producers, and the abuse of antibiotics by poultry farmers.

• The Shandong Lukang Pharmaceutical has been discharging polluted water containing over 50000 nanograms of antibiotics per litre, which is 10000 times above the level of antibiotics in untainted water.

• In a water sample taken randomly, two types of antibiotics were detected. The concentration of amoxicillin, a drug that is used to treat ear or bladder infections, was 8 nanograms per liter.

• In rivers like the Pearl, which empties into the South China Sea, and Shanghai's Huangpu River, every liter of sampled water was found to contain several hundred nanograms of antibiotics, compared with less than 20 nanograms in water in developed countries.

Effects of excessive antibiotics in groundwater

• The antibiotics traced in rivers can enter the food chain through soil and groundwater and lead to resistance to treatment of even common ailments.

• The drugs can cause bacterial resistance to antibiotics in humans and damage ecological systems.

• Excessive amounts of antibiotics in water will cause drug resistance and reduce the effectiveness of drugs.

Comment

Seventy percent of all drugs produced in China are antibiotics, compared with 30 percent in Western countries. At least 15000 tons of drugs expire and end up in trash bins every year.

According to a report published in science journal Chinese Science Bulletin in May 2014, China's surface water contains 68 kinds of antibiotics.

Android App SnoopSnitch launched to detect International Mobile Subscriber Identity

A new Android app called SnoopSnitch was launched in last week of December 2014 during the Chaos Computer Congress’ annual meeting in Hamburg, Germany.

The app can detect International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI) catchers so as to inform a person that someone is spying on him. IMSI catchers are eavesdropping devices used for intercepting mobile phone traffic and tracking the movement of smartphone users.

The android app has been created by Security researchers Alex Senier, Karsten Nohl and Tobias Engel from SRLabs in Berlin due to their concerns to public privacy.

Features of the App SnoopSnitch
• SnoopSnitch can detect IMSI catchers and warn smartphone users in case their devices are giving up their personal information and connecting to fake base stations (IMSI catchers), user tracking, and SS7 attacks
• This app lets a user to know that there is surveillance in a certain area, but it can’t prevent a smartphone from connecting to stingrays
• At present, the app works with Android handsets that have Qualcomm chips inside such as Sony and Samsung Galaxy models.

ICRISAT launched GreenPHABLET for small farmers

International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) on 29 December 2014 launched GreenPHABLET for small farmers. GreenPHABLET is a customised low-cost combination of phone and tablet computer. The device was powered by GreenSIM.

The GreenPHABLET is dust- and shatter-proof, readable under bright sunlight; operates from -20°C to +60°C.

The device has been developed by the ICRISAT Centre of Excellence in ICT Innovations for Agriculture in collaboration with NUNC Systems.

Features of GreenPHABLET

The GreenPHABLET will allow information to be precisely targeted to individual smallholder farmers. This will help farmers purchase inputs at lower price, get a better price for their produce, and link them to markets.

The device will act like a mobile village knowledge centre/common service centre which enables farmers to benefit from contemporary information and communication technologies and expanding Internet connectivity in remote rural regions.

The device will enable to share real time information between farmers and researchers which would help to improve crop productivity and researchers to collect accurate data in real time.

Apart from regular phone services developing world smallholder farmers receive free messages about the weather and pest problems while sharing the most competitive agricultural input and crop prices.

About GreenSIM

The GreenSIM is a special SIM card that can be used with any mobile phone. The GreenSIM was created under partnership between ICRISAT, mobile phone service provider Airtel, and the IFFCO (Indian Farmers Fertiliser Cooperative) Kisan Sanchar Limited (IKSL).

Through the GreenSIM, a farmer will be entitled to receive five voice messages. These messages are in Telugu, covering various fields like agriculture, animal husbandry, horticulture, insurance, government policies and schemes, mandi prices, weather forecast, sericulture, pisciculture, crop loans, plant protection and health.

About International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid-Tropics (ICRISAT)

ICRISAT is a non-profit agricultural research organization headquartered in Patancheru in Hyderabad, Telangana.
It was founded in 1972 by a consortium of organisations convened by the Ford and the Rockefeller Foundations. Its charter was signed by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

Tropical forests absorb more Carbon Dioxide than thought: NASA

A new study of NASA highlighted that tropical forests may absorb more carbon dioxide (CO2) in response to rising atmospheric levels of the greenhouse gases than earlier thought by scientists.

The new research was published online on 28 December 2014 in the Proceedings of National Academy of Sciences. Lead author of the paper of the research is David Schimel.

Main Finding of the Study
The study suggests that the tropical forests absorb 1.4 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide out of a total global absorption of 2.5 billion, which is more than that absorbed by forests in Canada, Siberia and other northern regions, called boreal forests.

In other words, carbon absorption by boreal forests has slowed down, while in case of tropical forests, it may continue to take up carbon for many years.

What’s New in the Study
The new study is the first to devise a way to make head-to-head comparison of carbon dioxide estimates from many sources at different scales.

It reconciles results at every scale from the pores of a single leaf, where photosynthesis takes place, to the whole Earth, as air moves carbon dioxide around the globe.

The findings are advancement over the theory of carbon fertilization which says that as human-caused emissions add more carbon dioxide to the atmosphere, forests worldwide use it to grow faster, reducing the amount that stays airborne.

All else being equal, the carbon fertilization effect is stronger at higher temperatures, meaning it will be higher in the tropics than in the boreal forest.

Comment
Forests and other land vegetation currently remove up to 30 percent of human carbon dioxide emissions from the atmosphere during photosynthesis. If the rate of absorption were to slow down, the rate of global warming would speed up in return.

The findings have big implications for understanding whether global terrestrial ecosystems might continue to offset carbon dioxide emissions or might begin to exacerbate climate change.

Former Minister of State for PWD Ram Prasad Kamal died

Former Minister of State for Public Works Department (PWD) Ram Prasad Kamal passed away on 4 January 2015 after a brief illness in Allahabad. He was 84.

Ram Prasad Kamal
• Kamal was a batchmate of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee while studying law at DAV College, Kanpur.
• Kamal was inducted into the BJP by Vajpayee in 1980 following which he was elected for two consecutive terms as member of the Uttar Pradesh Vidhan Parishad from 1992.
• Ram Prasad Kamal served as the Minister of State for PWD for BJP government from 1997-2004.
• Earlier, he had been twice elected as a member of the Mathura Nagar Palika as an independent candidate.
• Kamal had also served as the president of BSA College's Law Department and as the dean of Agra University's Law Department.

BCCI announced 15-man Indian cricket team for World Cup 2015

Board of Control for Cricket in India on 6 January 2015 announced the 15-man squad for the Cricket World Cup 2015. The Indian team was announced during the meeting of the selection committee of BCCI.

The 15-member Indian cricket team led by Captain-cum-Wicket Keeper Mahendra Singh Dhoni comprises of:

Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Ajinkya Rahane, Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina, Ambati Rayudu, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Axar Patel, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Ishant Sharma, Mohammed Shami, Stuart Binny, Umesh Yadav.

However, the Man of the Series of the Cricket World Cup 2011, Yuvraj Singh was not able to make the cut due to his below the mark performance since last world cup in 2011.

Cricket World Cup 2015 is scheduled to be held from 13 February to 14 March 2015 in New Zealand and Australia. The first match of the one-month extravaganza will be played between New Zealand and Sri Lanka.

Union Government nominated 17 Telugu personalities as brand ambassadors of Swachh Bharat campaign

Union Urban Development Minister Venkaiah Naidu on 5 January 2015 nominated 17 Telugu personalities as brand ambassadors of Swachh Bharat campaign. The Telugu personalities are nominated from Telangana and Andhra Pradesh to carry forward the Swachh Bharat programme.

The personalities include cricketer VVS Laxman, chess player Koneru Humpy, singer SP Balasubrahmanyam, actor Pawan Kalyan, BCCI interim president Shivlal Yadav, actor Nitin, actress Amala Nagarjuna, MP Kavitha, MP Jayadev Galla, Badminton player P Gopichand, Industrialist Mohan Reddy, Industrialist JA Chowdary, Industrialist Rameshwara Rao, Industrialist GS Rao, Dr Gopi Chand, lyricist S Ashok Teja and Media personality V Radhakrishna.

Union Government announced 20 crore rupees for Telangana and 10 crore rupees for Andhra Pradesh as token allocation for undertaking the Swachh Bharat campaign.

Nomura forecasted Indian Economic growth at 5.5 percent for FY 2015-16

The global financial services firm Nomura on 5 January 2015 forecasted that Indian Economy will grow at 5.5 percent during the financial year (FY) 2015-16 and 6.6 percent during FY 2016-17.

The firm also forecasted that Indian Economy will also recover in FY 2015-2016. The recovery is likely to get support from easing inflationary pressures and measures towards economic reforms.

On Inflation, the report noted that input costs have moderated due to lower commodity prices, which along with still-subdued demand, has kept output prices stable.

However, the report noted that the period of a positive base effect on CPI inflation is over and CPI inflation is expected to rise from 4.4 percent in November 2014 to 5.5-6.0 percent in the next three months, before moderating back towards 5 percent after March 2015.

About Nomura

Nomura Holdings Inc. is a Japanese financial holding company and a principal member of the Nomura Group. It provides investment, financing and related services to individual, institutional and government customers on a global basis with an emphasis on securities businesses.

In October 2008, the company acquired Lehman Brothers Holdings’ investment banking and equities unit in Asia and Europe.

Forbes released its fourth annual The 30 Under 30 List

Forbes Magazine on 5 January 2015 released its fourth annual The 30 Under 30 List in New York, US. The list features 600 young disruptors, innovators and entrepreneurs from 20 industries who are transforming the world.

The list has been prepared by a panel of expert judges in their respective fields. Some of the judges include Steve Ballmer in Sports, Daniel Ek in Technology, Sara Blakely and Tommy Hilfiger in Retail & E-commerce.

As per the 30 Under 30 list of 2015, around 16 percent of the 600 young disruptors are either dropped out or never attended college, 19 percent are immigrants and 83 percent have a middle-class or low-income background.

Further, the average age of young innovators on the 30 Under 30 List who knew exactly what they wanted to be is 14 years.

Some of the names on the 30 Under 30 List

Palmer Luckey: 22-year-old, founder of Oculus VR, who at 21, sold his company to Facebook for 2 billion US dollars, netting himself over 500 million US dollars in the process.
Blake Lively: 27-year old actress and entrepreneur
James Harden: NBA All-Star at the age of 25
Michelle Phan: 27-year old Digital entrepreneur
Danielle Weisberg and Carly Zakin: 28-year old co-founders of TheSkimm
Ryan Israel: 29-year old Pershing Square Capital Management Partner
Emily Weiss: 29-year old Glossier founder
Sam Altman: 29-year old Y Combinator President
Austin McChord: 29-year old founder of Datto
Eben Bayer and Gavin McIntyre: 29-year old co-founders of Ecovative cofounders
Emma Watson: Harry Potter actress and UN Goodwill Ambassador

Indians on the 30 Under 30 List

44 Indians and people of Indian-origin, including technology wizards, inventors and policymakers, have been named in the list. Some of them include:

Ishveen Anand: 29-year-old founder of OpenSponsorship, which is the first online platform to facilitate sponsorship agreements by connecting brands with pro-sports rights holders like leagues and teams. The group currently includes Indian cricket captain M S Dhoni and F1 team Force India.
Vijay Chudasama: 28-year old who is working in one of the hottest areas for new biotechnology drugs of combining antibodies with other medicines.
Vinith Misra: 27-year old who is working on the Chef Watson machine, which applies artificial intelligence to create new recipes.
Vivek Ravisankar: 27-year old co-founder of HackerRank, a service company that can use coding challenges to find new engineering talent.
Deepika Kurup: 16-year old who invented an inexpensive method of purifying water that utilises sunlight and a photo-catalytic composite of titanium dioxide and silver nitrate.
Nitesh Banta: 28-year old cofounder of Rough Draft Ventures that helps student entrepreneurs receive up to 25000 US dollars to start a company.
Ankur Jain: 24-year old co-founder of Humin', an app that organises contacts, social networks and calendars into a neat, searchable interface
Avinash Gandhi: 26-year old who is making waves in Hollywood as an agent for talent agency William Morris Endeavour
Partha Unnava: 22-year old CEO of Better Walk which develop a better set of crutches that do not hurt people's armpits.
Aman Advani: 26-year old co-founder of Ministry of Supply, a men's fashion company that has developed shirts that use NASA-developed technology to manage heat and moisture.
Nikhil Agarwal: 28-year- old, Assistant professor at MIT
Vikrum Aiyer: Deputy Chief of Staff for the Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property
Niraj Antani: 23-year old Ohio state representative
Rahul Rekhi: 23-year-old, who is currently working to develop an UN-level treaty on antibiotic resistance policy.

Tonino Lamborghini Mobile launched smartphone 88 Tauri costing 6000 US dollars

Tonino Lamborghini Mobile on 6 January 2015 launched a stainless steel-and-leather smartphone 88 Tauri globally that costs you 6000 US dollars.

This luxurious handset was launched ahead of the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

Here are the features of Lamborghini Smartphone:

The handset comes to you as an unlocked device accepting dual SIM cards for international travel.
It has a 5-inch high-definition display and can connect to mobile networks around the world.
88 Tauri has a 20-megapixel of rear camera along with 8-megapixel of front camera.
It has 2.3 GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 processor.
88 Tauri can provide a good battery backup as it has 3400 mAh battery.
The next big thing is RAM. You will get 3 GB of RAM and 64 GB of internal storage in this premium smartphone.
The 88 Tauri handset is offered in black, gold and steel silver and is finished with high-grade leather available in five colors.

Union Cabinet approved promulgation of ordinance for amending MMDR Act, 1957

Union Cabinet on 5 January 2015 approved promulgation of ordinance to amend the Mines and Minerals Development and Regulation (MMDR) Act, 1957. The ordinance will amend the mining laws to auction the Iron ore and other minerals and pave the way for more transparent allocation of minerals.

Main Highlights of the Ordinance
• The ordinance will pave the way for introduction of competitive bidding for allocation of minerals (iron ore and other non-coal mines).
• The auctioning of minerals will induce transparency and royalty-sharing will compensate project-affected locals.
• The amendment will also enable creating District Mineral Funds for the welfare of the project-affected people
• The amendment will impose additional tax on miners in the form of benefit-sharing as percentage of royalty that is credited to District Mineral Funds.
• The amendments will allow transfer of mining leases, the allocation of leases covering far larger areas that is up to 100 sq km than the existing average of 10 sq km and longer periods of up to 50 years.
• The amendment will allow the entry of large foreign miners and ramp up raw material supply for steel and aluminium companies.
• The amendment also sought to attract private investment and latest technology and it will do away with administrative delays and more powers to the central government such as in setting the time limit for auctions.
• The amendment allows the companies holding the mines already - moratorium of five years for non-captive mines and 15 years for captive leases.

Earlier in December 2014, Union Government