Current Affairs - December 29, 30, 2013

Current Affairs

December 29 & 30, 2013

International Affairs

1. US Secretary of State John Kerry will travel to Israel and the Palestinian territories on New Year's Day trip to push forward the peace process and find a lasting solution to decades-old conflict in the region.

2. Pakistan High Commissioner Salman Bashir today said some of the subjects of Indo-Pak relations should be revisited as sincere desire for better relations were expressed in statements, "but sometimes the ground reality appears to be contrary."

3. Nepal's warring political parties today nominated lawmakers under a proportional representation system, which is likely to end weeks of post-election limbo.

National Affairs

4. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Monday fulfilled one of its electoral promises, with the government deciding to supply 20,000 litres of free water per month for every household from January 1, 2014.

5. 148th Birth anniversary of English author, poet, Nobel Prize laureate Rudyard Kipling to be observed Dec 29.

6. 42nd Death anniversary of ‘Father of the Indian space program’ Vikram Ambalal Sarabhai observed Dec 29.

7. 7th Death anniversary of former President of Iraq Saddam Hussein observed Dec 29.

8. 134th Birth anniversary of Raman Maharishi Dec 29.

9. Birth anniversary of Indian independence movement activist, politician, writer, educationist KM Munshi observed Dec 29.

10. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is scheduled to lay the foundation stone of Super Specialty Cancer Treatment and Research Centre at Mullanpuron town near chandigarh Dec 29.

11. Union Defence minister A K Antony inaugurated the valedictory session of the 125th anniversary celebrations of #Kerala state assembly Dec 29.

12. The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) today flagged off the trial run on the first section of the Phase III route between Central Secretariat and Mandi House stations, a distance of three km.

13. New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) inaugurated the renovated Connaught Place Dec 29.

14. The under fire Samajwadi Party faced another embarrassment as one its ministers, the Minister of State for Public Works Department and Irrigation Surendra Singh Patel allegedly slapped a boy on the back of his head during a government-sponsored blanket distribution function in Rohania village in Varanasi.

15. Panchayat polls in Uttarakhand will be held in three phases beginning March 8, State Election Commissioner Subardhan announced today Dec 29. 

16. Delhi Ministers, officials won’t use red beacon

i. In keeping with its promise to end VIP culture, the Aam Admi Party government in Delhi decided that red beacon will not be used by ministers and officials.

ii. The decision was taken at the first cabinet meeting presided by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday.
iii. “No minister or official in Delhi government will use red beacon,” a senior official in the Delhi government said after the meeting.
iv. The cabinet also decided that no Personal Security Officer and escort vehicle will be be provided to any official.
v. “Security is to be allowed based on threat perception,” the official said. In its manifesto, AAP had promised to end VIP culture in Delhi. Later, the Chief Minister said there will be no witch-hunt against bureaucrats.
vi. “I have asked them to work with honesty,” he said. There were apprehensions among certain bureaucrats, who were close to the previous regime, that they may be targeted by the new dispensation.

17. Major fire at timber factory in Hyderabad

i. A major fire broke out at a timber factory in Musheerabad area here in the early hours today.

ii. Eight fire engines have been pressed into service.

iii. “No one is injured…Efforts are on to extinguish the fire,” Deputy Commissioner of Police (Central Zone) V.B. Kamalasan Reddy said.

iv. The factory abuts a residential building. Fire-fighters were facing some difficulty as the area is congested, a fire brigade officer said.

v. According to an eye-witness, the fire erupted at around 2 a.m., but the fire engines reached only at around 4.30 a.m., and the fire is still not out.

18. TN launches free CFL bulb scheme

i. The Tamil Nadu Government today launched the first phase of the project providing free compact fluorescent light bulbs to over 14 lakh hut-dwellers in the State, an energy saving measure aimed at saving 40 MW of power.

ii. Chief Minister Jayalalithaa also launched over Rs 500-crore worth of projects under the Energy Department through video conferencing from her camp office at Kodanadu in the Nilgiris district.

iii. The scheme of providing free CFL bulbs was launched with an objective of promoting power-saving, a state government release here said.

iv. In the first phase of the Rs 8.77-crore project launched today, Jayalalithaa gave away one nine-watt CFL bulb to seven persons each, the release said, adding that the initiative will help the Government save about 40 MW.

v. About 14.62 lakh domestic consumers coming under the hut-dwellers category will benefit with seven lakh of them being covered under the first phase, it said.

19. Sacked SP leader Kamal Farooqui’s decision to join AAP likely today

i. Expelled Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Kamal Farooqui is likely to announce his decision on joining the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Monday.
ii. The former SP leader had met Delhi Chief Minister and AAP convener Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday and said that “everybody” is keen to join AAP.
iii. Farooqui was sacked by the SP as its secretary after he made a controversial comment that Indian Mujahideen co-founder Yasin Bhatkal was arrested because he was a Muslim.

iv. AAP leader Sanjay Singh confirmed the recent development and said that discussions related to “Farooqui joining the party is on”.
v. Apart from Farooqui, Adarsh Shastri, the grandson of former Indian Prime Minister late Lal Bahadur Shastri, has also decided to quit his a crore-plus plum salaried job at Apple to join the AAP.
vi. Drawing a salary of Rs 1 crore a year, 40 years old Adarsh decided to join the AAP despite his father, Anil Shastri, being a Congress leader.

Business and Economy

20. Oil India and IRMA has inked a pact for study on dairy development

i. Energy major, the Oil India Limited (OIL) on 29 December 2013 signed an agreement with the Institute of Rural Management, Anand (IRMA) to carry out a feasibility study on dairy production in two districts of Assam. Oil India as a CSR initiative has decided to step into dairy sector.

ii. Oil India has a significant presence in Assam and IRMA will prepare a Detailed Project Report (DPR) after the study in the two districts Dibrugarh and Tinsukia of Assam. It is expected that the study would pave a way for a roadmap for the plan for development of a cooperative dairy project in the two districts.

iii. OIL has planned to develop the project on the lines of the Amul model. Oil India, to implement the company’s Dairy Project aims to formulate the DPR on the basis of the baseline survey.

iv. The study is funded by Oil India and is focused on the prospects of development of a cooperative dairy project in the state.

21. The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has extended the dates related to the auction of spectrum in 1800MHz and 900MHz bands. Now, the Auction will start on 3rd February 2014 instead of 23rd January 2014.

22. RBI says economy taper-ready; pegs CAD under 3%

i. Reserve Bank of India has said the country is ready for the US Federal Reserve’s tightening, and has pegged the current account deficit at below 3 per cent for this fiscal in its eighth Financial Stability Report.

ii. “External sector risks have been considerably reduced and the effect of the tapering on the economy is expected to be limited and short-lived,” the report released today said.

iii. “The CAD is expected to be less than 3 per cent of the GDP during the current financial year,” the RBI said in the half-yearly report. “On balance, the country’s external position appears to be manageable and reserves seem adequate.”

iv. CAD shot up to an all-time high of 4.8 per cent last year on account of a heavy trade deficit and higher gold imports.

v. The high CAD, along with fears of tapering, was one of the reasons for the rupee touching a lifetime low of 68.85 against the dollar on August 28 this year. The rupee improved since then, but is still 14 per cent lower year-to-date.

vi. The biggest leveller had been a drastic fall in gold imports and the $34 billion that RBI could gross by way of the two dollar swap windows.

vii. The report, however, stresses that the long-term solution to the external sector problems for the country lies in increasing the productivity and the export competitiveness.

23. RBI set up a committee on Data & information Management

i. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said it had set up a panel under executive directorDeepak Mohantyto review the current system of data collection, dissemination and data management processes in the central bank and improve the existing mechanism.

ii. The 15-member committee will review the availability, coverage, frequency, timeliness and quality of the existing data/surveys/information used for monetary policy, macro-financial policy and supervision, RBI said in a statement.

iii. The committee, which will consult various stakeholders on this, is expected to submit its report within a period of four months from the day of its first meeting, RBI said.

iv. Members of the committee include Bimal Roy, director, Indian Statistical Institute; Pami Dua, head, Delhi School of Economics; and Susan Thomas, assistant professor, Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research.

24. Reserve Bank today extended the time for issuance of inflation indexed bonds to March 31, 2014 from earlier date of Dec 31, 2013.

25. Painting an optimistic picture on the external front, the Reserve Bank has said the country is ready for the US Federal Reserve's tapering, and has pegged the current account deficit at below 3 per cent for this fiscal in its eighth Financial Stability Report.

26. Since 2004, India has been the second fastest growing large economy in the world for a 10 year period.

27. The Foreign Investment Promotion Board today approved UK-based Tesco Plc's proposal to enter the Indian multi-brand retail segment in joint venture with Tata Group company with an initial investment of USD 110 million (about Rs 680 crore).

28. UK-based telecom player Vodafone's Rs 10,141 crore proposal to buy out minority shareholders in its Indian arm was today approved by the FIPB.

Appointments

29. Pradeep Kumar appointed as MD Corporate Banking of State Bank of India

i. P Pradeep Kumar on 29 December 2013 was appointed as the Managing Director (Corporate Banking) of State Bank of India (SBI), the biggest lender of the country.

ii. As one of the four managing Directors, he will look after the corporate banking portfolio of the bank.

iii. As per a Government of India’s notification P Pradeep Kumar will be the Managing Director and Group Executive (Corporate Banking) of SBI with effect from 27 December 2013. The position will be occupied by him till the end of October 2015.

iv. Pradeep Kumar is a post graduate in Statistics and he joined SBI in 1976 as a probationary officer. He has held several key assignments, which includes bank’s US operations. He has served State Bank of Travancore as its managing Director.

30. Army Chief Gen Bikram Singh today took over as the new Chairman, Chiefs of Staff Committee (CoSC) to succeed IAF Chief NAK Browne, who is superannuating tomorrow.

Science and Technology

31. Scientists have for the first time discovered phosphorous, one of the essential elements for life in the cosmic leftovers from a supernova explosion.

32. Emissions of sulphur dioxide — atmospheric pollutant with health and climate impacts — from power plants in India increased by over 60 per cent between 2005 and 2012, new data analysed by a NASA satellite found.

33. Researchers from the University of Spain found traces of ancient vineyards that date back 1,000 years, once intensely used to grow grape vines.

Sports

34. Jacques Kallis overtakes Dravid to become 3rd highest Test run-getter

i. South African all-rounder Jacques Kallis today surpassed Rahul Dravid as the third highest run-getter in Test cricket after a 115-run knock against India in his farewell match here today.

ii. Kallis, who would be retiring from Tests at the end of the ongoing second and final game against India, now has 13,289 runs in the longest format.

iii. The South African, considered the best all-rounder in modern cricket, struck a fluent 115-run knock today, which came off 316 balls and included nine fours, in his final Test.

35. Former world champion Abhijeet Gupta wins Al-Ain Classic International Open  Chess tournament.

36. Schumacher in coma, ‘critical’ after France ski accident

i. Michael Schumacher, the seven-time Formula One champion, is in a coma and remains in a “critical” condition after striking his head in a ski accident in the French Alps on Sunday, the hospital treating him said.

ii. The 44-year-old German was “suffering a serious brain trauma with coma on his arrival, which required an immediate neurosurgical operation”, the hospital in the southeast French city of Grenoble said in a statement.

iii. Schumacher had been skiing off-piste in the upmarket Meribel resort, where he reportedly has a property, when he fell and hit his head on a rock, mountain police who gave him first aid said.

iv. He was airlifted to a local hospital, then to the Grenoble facility. A specialist neurosurgeon from Paris was rushed in to oversee his treatment. But when Schumacher then fell into coma, doctors realised the damage was worse than initially feared.
v. The two mountain police officers who gave first aid said Schumacher was suffering “severe cranial trauma” when they got to him and a helicopter was brought in to evacuate him within 10 minutes.

About Michael Schumacher

i. Schumacher, who won the last of his world titles in 2004, definitively retired in 2012 in the Brazilian Grand Prix, in which he finished seventh, after an abandoned attempt to quit six years earlier.
ii. Since his debut in 1991, the German towered over the sport, winning more Formula One world titles and races than any other.
iii. He had a record 91 wins and is one of only two men to reach 300 grands prix.
iv. Schumacher was born in January 1969 near Cologne, Germany, the son of a bricklayer who also ran the local go-kart track, where his mother worked in the canteen.
v. His helmet had a message for fans: “Life is about passions — Thank you for sharing mine.”

37. South Africa defeats India by 10 wickets in Durban test to win test series by 1-0.

38. ATP Open Tennis tournament begins in Chennai today

i. ATP Chennai Open Tennis tournament begins today. Swiss Stanislas Wawrinka is the top seed in the competition, with experienced players like Russian Mikhail Youzhny and Italian Fabio Fognini also taking part.

ii. Defending champion Janko Tipseravic had, earlier, pulled out, due to injury. India’s top Singles player Somdev Devvarman, Yuki Bhambri and Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan have already made it to the main draw.
iii. In the Doubles, Leander Paes, Rohan Bopanna, Purav Raja and Divij Sharan are among the Indians, who will be seen in action with their respective team-mates.
iv. Today, Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan will take on Czech Jiri Vesely in the Singles first round.
v. In the Doubles, the Indo-Russian duo of Saketh Myneni and Karen Khachanov will clash with the Spanish pair of Pablo Carreno Busta and Albert Ramos.