Current Affairs - January 20, 2014

Current Affairs

January 20, 2014

International Affairs

1. India may be next target of Taliban : India will be the next target of terror groups like Taliban operating in Afghanistan if they succeeded in capturing power in the war-ravaged country, former National Security Adviser M.K. Narayanan said in New Delhi.The West Bengal Governor also said what was particularly worrying was that Pakistan shows no inclination to desist from pursuing “high risk” strategies, and it appears determined to support Jihadist elements as a strategic instrumentality to keep India off balance.

2. Afghanistan is likely to join the World Trade Organization (WTO) within the next three months, as per the Afghan Commerce and Industries Ministry. The government of Afghanistan has already signed a trade agreement with the United States and now it has to sign agreements with the European Union and two other countries before becoming a member of the World Trade Organization. Out of the eight negotiating members of the WTO, Afghanistan is required to sign bilateral trade agreements and the negotiations are going on with the European Union, Turkey and Taiwan in this regard.

If Afghanistan becomes a member of the World Trade Organization, the trade, commerce and investment in the country is likely to go up in coming years. It will also provide Afghan businessmen and industrialists to improve the quality of their product by adopting quality control measure.

3. China’s economy grows 7.7% in 2013 : China’s economic growth decelerated in the final quarter of 2013 and appears set to slow further, adding to pressure on its leaders to shore up an expansion as they try to implement sweeping reforms. The world’s second-largest economy grew by 7.7 percent over a year earlier, down from previous quarter’s 7.8 percent, data showed Monday. Growth for the full year was 7.7 percent, tying 2012 for the weakest annual performance since 1999.

  

National Affairs

4. Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare Gulam Nabi Azad launched the National Urban Health Mission in Bangalore today. The programme aims to provide health security to urban poor and it envisages creation of necessary health check up infrastructure and the manpower requirement. Central Government will share 80% of the cost to implement the programme. All the 779 urban areas with over 50,000 population in the country will be covered under the programme by March 2015. Around 20 crore people in urban areas will have access to free health care, with the launch of this programme.

5. West Bengal has been selected for ‘Krishi Karman’ Award for 2012-13 as the best performing state in overall agricultural production in the country. The award would be presented by the President during the inaugural ceremony of the World Congress on Agro Forestry 2014 at Delhi on 10^th February. Krishi Karman Awards’ are the first ever awards being given to states for their effort and contribution towards raising the country’s foodgrain production.

6. Telecom regulator TRAI has appointed Sudhir Gupta as its new secretary, ahead of it releasing the final guidelines of spectrum trading and auction of CDMA radiowaves. He is a principal adviser with TRAI now and has been elevated to the post of Secretary.

In the past 10 years at TRAI, Gupta has played a key role in almost all the key regulations, recommendations and directions. This include mobile number portability regulation, rules to curb pesky calls, quality of service standards. He has been responsible for formulating recommendations related to spectrum auctions, 3G and later BWA spectrum auctions. These two had helped government garner over Rs 1 lakh crore.

7. Network18 has swept the exchange4media News Broadcasting Awards (ENBA) 2013. CNN-IBN won several awards in various categories including Best News Coverage National, Best In-Show Graphics and Best Talk Show in the exchange4media News Broadcasting Awards (ENBA) 2013. Network18′s Hindi news channel IBN7 also bagged numerous awards. NDTV 24X7 won Best News Channel of the Year (English) and Aaj Tak won the News Channel of the Year (Hindi) award. Shereen Bhan and Punya Prasun Bajpai won the Best Anchor award for English and Hindi respectively. Rajdeep Sardesai and Shazi Zaman won the Best Editor-In-Chief award in English and Hindi categories respectively.

8. Rahul Gandhi will be PM if Congress wins: Union minister Jairam Ramesh said if Congress returns to power, he does not see the party MPs electing anyone other than Rahul Gandhi as prime minister. Ramesh said irrespective of the fact that Rahul was not announced the PM candidate, he was masterminding and executing the Congress campaign with the help of other leaders. “He is giving direction, content and substance to our campaign,”

9. First session of 14th Rajasthan Assembly begins tomorrow : The first session of the 14th Rajasthan Legislative Assembly will begin on Tuesday.The session will begin with Protem Speaker Pradhyuman Singh administering oath of office to 200 new members, Parliamentary Affairs Minister R.S. Rathore said on Monday.The election of new Speaker will take place on January 22, and Governor Margret Alva will address the first sitting of the House on January 23.In the 200-member House, the ruling BJP has a strength of 163 members while the main Opposition Congress has 21 MLAs.

Business Affairs

10. Google develops contact lens glucose monitor : Google unveiled a contact lens that monitors glucose levels in tears, a potential reprieve for millions of diabetics who have to jab their fingers to draw their own blood as many as 10 times a day. He contact lenses were developed during the past 18 months in the clandestine Google X lab that also came up with a driverless car, Google’s Web-surfing eyeglasses and Project Loon, a network of large balloons designed to beam the Internet to unwired places.

11. India successfully test-fires Agni-IV missile : India on Monday successfully test-fired its nuclear-capable strategic missile Agni-IV, with a strike range of about 4,000 km, from a test range off the Odisha coast.
“The test firing was a total success. The missile travelled its full range,” M V K V Prasad, the director of Integrated Test Range, said.It was test launched from the launch complex-4 of the ITR at Wheeler Island, at about 10:52 AM.The missile is undergoing developmental trials by the DRDO.This is the third development trial of Agni-IV missile by the DRDO.

Sports

12. Dhoni becomes first Indian keeper to cross 300 dismissals : Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni today became the first Indian wicketkeeper and the fourth overall to effect 300 dismissals in One Day Internationals when he caught a Ross Taylor nick in the opening ODI against New Zealand.Dhoni had 299 dismissals (220 caught and 79 stumpings).

13. Sharapova out in another early upset in Australia : Third-seeded Maria Sharapova has been eliminated in the fourth round of the Australian Open, losing 3-6, 6-4, 6-1 to Dominika Cibulkova in the second major upset in 24 hours on Rod Laver Arena.Top-ranked Serena Williams was knocked out in the fourth round on Sunday in a three-set loss to 14th-seeded Ana Ivanovic.

14. Tendulkar to mentor next generation cricketers : Indian cricket icon Sachin Tendulkar will mentor 11 emerging players, including Parveez Rasool and Unmukt Chand, as part of an initiative by sports apparel giant adidas.Adidas, which has already signed up Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and Suresh Raina added some more names to its roster.

Take QUIZ By Pressing this Button