Current Affairs - January 06, 2014

Current Affairs

January 06, 2014

International Affairs

1. Malaysia has introduced visa on arrival (VoA) facility for Indians travelling to this South Asian country from a third country, including Singapore and Thailand.

2. Nepal SC gives voters 'None of the Above' (NOTA) option; becomes 15th country to ensure negative voting in elections.

3. US Secretary of State John Kerry said he had won Saudi support for his efforts to broker an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal, in a day of whistlestop diplomacy to key Arab allies.

National Affairs

4. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will be the chief guest at this year's Republic Day parade at Rajpath in Delhi.

5. Guru Purab, birth anniversary of Guru Gobind Singh, tenth Guru of the Sikhs, being celebrated today.

6. Justice B.S. Chauhan appointed as the Chairman of Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal. He will succeed Justice N.P. Singh as such who had resigned on health grounds way back in April 2012.

7. Gujarat has done a little worse than the national average when it comes to achieving decline in the Total Fertility Rate (TFR) and Maternal Mortality Rate (MMR), according to the Union Health Ministry.

8. An ambitious project to mitigate flood damage in Bihar has taken a major step forward with a central agency finalising the detailed project report for linking four intra-state rivers which would help protect three districts from floods.

9. An FIR has been lodged against social activist Teesta Setalvad, her husband Javed Anand, Zakia Jafri's son Tanvir Jafri and two others for allegedly usurping Rs 1.51 crore collected by them for turning Gulbarg Society into a museum, police said.

10. Raman Singh and BJP MLAs took oath as the first session of the  newly-elected Chhattisgarh Assembly began on Monday, with BJP leader Gaurishankar Agrawal set to be elected as the Speaker. Agrawal, a two-time MLA, is the only candidate who had filed nomination for Speaker's post by Sunday evening, as the deadline expired. The session will have five sittings and end on January 10.

11. Employees of Kingfisher Airlines who have not been paid salaries for the past 17 months today launched an indefinite hunger strike demanding stringent action against the defaulting company.

12. Foot and mouth disease has claimed lives of over 4,700 cattle in Kerala after its outbreak a few months ago, State Agriculture Minister K P Mohanan told the state Assembly today.

13. The Visakhapatnam airport has commenced 24-hour operations from January 1 this year, Indian Navy Operates it.

14. The Mumbai police on Monday filed a 9,600 page chargesheet in the Rs. 5,600 crore National Spot Exchange Ltd (NSEL) payment scam in the special Maharashtra Protection of Interest of Depositors (MPID) Act court.

15. The famous Nataraja temple in the town of Chidambaram in Tamil Nadu will be managed by priests and not by the state government, the Supreme Court on Monday ordered.

Deaths

16. Telugu actor Uday Kiran (33) has allegedly committed suicide by hanging himself at his home in Hyderabad.

Awards and Honors

17. Manipur's M Khayingthei and Mizoram's Ramdinthara, who lost their lives while trying to save friends from drowning, are among three persons selected for 'Sarvottam Jeevan Raksha Padak'.

Business and Economy

18. The Delhi high court on Monday gave nod to the comptroller and auditor general (CAG) to audit the accounts of private telecom companies.

19. Market regulator Sebi on Monday cautioned investors and the general public against entities making false promises of exorbitant returns through schemes being run without regulatory approvals.

Science and Technology

20. India's rocket GSLV-D5, with indigenous cryogenic technology, successfully puts heavy communication satellite GSAT-14 into the orbit. India, with this successful mission, joins the elite club of the U.S., Russia, France, Japan and China who can put satellites weighing over two tonnes in orbit. India was denied the cryogenic technology for over 20 years by Russia under pressure from the US. 

21. State-run BHEL has completed building a transmission sub-station in Karnataka, a link that connects the southern and national electricity grids.

22. Delhi Government today warned private power distribution companies that their licenses may be cancelled if they do not cooperate with the Comptroller and Auditor General which is scrutinising their finances.

23. The Supreme Court on Monday directed the government to appoint a Regulator with offices in States under the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 for appraising projects, enforcing environmental conditions for approvals and imposing penalties on polluters.

Sports

24. The fate of former IPL commissioner Lalit Modi, who contested the Rajasthan Cricket Association polls, is likely to be known on January 17 with the Supreme Court today saying that it would open the sealed enveloped containing the results on that day.

25. Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports announces new criteria for giving Arjuna Awards to sportspersons from 2014 onwards.  

26. 90 percent weightage is to be given to winners of medals in International championships like Olympic Games (summer, winter and Paralympics), Asian Games and Commonwealth Games.

27. Courtesy his quarter-final appearance at the Chennai Open, Yuki Bhambri jumped 23 places to career-best rank of 172, while Somdev Devvarman lost three places to be 93 in the latest ATP chart, released on Monday.

28. 75th Senior National and Inter-State TableTennis Championship to begin tomorrow at Patna. 600 players from 32 states & UTs to participate.

29. India beat Pakistan by 40 runs to win the ACC Under-19 Asia Cup at Sharjah.

30. India's former shooting coach 'Tibor Gonczol' died aged 80. His illustrious list of disciples includes Samresh Jung, Jaspal Rana, Anjali Bhagwat and Suma Shirur among many.

31. Stanislas Wawrinka wins Chennai Open 2014.