Current affairs - JANUARY 25 2014

Current affairs

JANUARY 25 2014

International Affairs

1. China’s Li Na has won the women’s singles title at the Australian Open Tennis Championships today after defeating Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia in straight sets 7-6, 6-0. This is her second Grand Slam title after winning the French Open in 2011. With this she has also became the oldest winner of the women’s title, surpassing Margaret Court who was 30 when she became champion in 1973.

2. French First Lady visits India

i. French First Lady Valerie Trierweiler will make her first public appearance since it emerged President Francois Hollande was cheating on her with an actress, with a trip to India next week for charity work.

ii. Trierweiler was hospitalised for a week after news broke of Hollande’s affair with 41-year-old French actress Julie Gayet, and has since been holed up in a presidential retreat outside Paris as her future remains unclear.

iii. She will visit Mumbai for two days from Monday on a trip organised by French relief organisation Action Against Hunger (ACF) which had been planned long in advance.

iv. In Mumbai, Trierweiler will visit a hospital where ACF has a feeding project for malnourished children and witness a training programme for medical staff.

v. She will be shown around the city by French actress Charlotte Valandrey, who is involved in the cause of promoting organ donations and transplants.

National Affairs

3. The Election Commission of India celebrated the 4th National voters Day today (25 January) across the nation to commemorate the foundation day of the Election Commission of India and also to enhance the participation of the voters, especially the youth, in the democratic process. The theme for the 4th National voters Day is “Ethical Voting”. National Voters Day is started from 25 January 2011. Functions were held at more than 6.5 lakh locations across the country covering nearly all 8.5 lakh Polling Stations.

4. The Union Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas launched LPG Connection Portability Scheme across the country on this week. It will be launched across 480 districts of the country covering all the oil marketing companies (OMCs) and distributors which have multiple LPG distributors of various ratings. With the launch of this new initiative, consumers can now switch to the distributor of his choice within a cluster of LPG distributors in the vicinity. This measure will bring great relief to those LPG consumers who are either unhappy with the services of their current distributor or want to move to an LPG distributor closer to their place of residence.

5. India and Japan have inked eight pacts in various fields including power generation, culture, education and tourism today. The pacts were signed after the delegation level talks between the Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh and his Japanese counterpart Mr Shinzo Abe in New Delhi. Both sides are working towards increasing their cooperation in the area of advanced technologies. The visiting Japanese Prime Minister said that his country has agreed to provide 200 billion Yen loan to develop Delhi Metro Rail Corporation and other rail projects.

Later, in a joint statement, the two Prime Ministers reaffirmed their resolve to further deepen the Strategic and Global Partnership between the two countries and contribute jointly to the peace, stability and prosperity of the region and the world.

6. Noted actor-director Kamala Haasan and classical singer Begum Parveen Sultana have been selected for the prestigious Padma Bhushan award this year, while Bollywood actors Vidya Balan and Paresh Rawal will receive Padma Shri. Cricketer Yuvraj Singh, ace shuttler Gopichand and squash player Pallikkal have got Padma Shri awards. Dr Raghunath A Mashelkar, Director-General of India’s Council of Scientific and Industrial Research and B K S Iyengar, founder of Iyengar Yoga and is considered one of the foremost yoga teachers in the world,have been awarded with the Padma Vibhushan, which is the second highest civilian award after Bharat Ratna.

7. Dr. Mohinder Singh, member of the National Commission for Minority Educational Institutions and famous academician N Radhakrishnan have been awarded with the National Communal Harmony Award. Dr. Singh has been chosen for his work done in restoring peace after the 1984 anti-Sikh riots and Radhakrishnan for promotion of Gandhian values.

8. LPG Connection Portability Scheme launched

i. The Union Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas launched LPG Connection PortabilityScheme across the country on 22 January 2014. The scheme covers 480 districts in the country and all possible LPG markets which have multiple LPG distributors.

ii. Under the scheme an LPG consumer can switch to the distributor of his or her choice within a cluster of LPG distributors in the vicinity.

iii. To facilitate LPG to consumers Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) have made more than 1400 clusters distributors.

iv. The Procedure to opt for portability is very simple. No transfer fee or additional security deposit will be charged for transfer of connection under the scheme.

v. In October 2013 OMCs together launched LPG connection Portability Scheme as a pilot project in 24 districts covering 13 states. The OMCs in India are Indian Oil, Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum.

9. Aviation ministry removed V.P.Agrawal from position of AAI chairman

i. The Aviation Ministry removed V.P.Agrawal as chairman of the state-run Airports Authority of India (AAI) on 24 January 2014.

ii. Alok Sinha has given additional charge as AAI chairman. Alok Sinha is a joint secretary in the Aviation Ministry.

iii. V.P. Agrawal took over as chairman on 1 January 2009 for a period of five years. His tenure was ended on 31 December 2013, but he was allowed to continue in the post.

10. Japanese PM Shinzo Abe arrives in New Delhi

i. Japanese PM Shinzo Abe, who will be chief guest at this year’s Republic day Parade, arrived here on a three-day official trip to India.

ii. Abe, accompanied by his wife Mrs Akie Abe, is visiting India on the invitation of PM Manmohan Singh.

iii. During his three-day trip (25 -27 Jan), Abe is scheduled to hold talks with PM Manmohan Singh for the Annual Summit between India and Japan.

iv. The delegation-level talks between the two PMs is expected to cover economic issues, and international topics like Afghanistan and UN reforms, said reports.

11. India Posts to start rolling out ATMs from February

i. In anticipation of getting a banking licence from the Reserve Bank of India, the Department of Posts will roll out its own ATMs, with the first of them set to be functional on February 5 across three cities.

ii. “The first of the ATMs would be rolled out simultaneously in New Delhi, Chennai and Bangalore,” Kapil Sibal, Minister for Communications and IT, said, after inaugurating a data centre for the postal department.

iii. Following which, the postal department is planning to rollout 3,000 ATMs. About 1,000 machines would be introduced in the first year. The remaining 2,000 would be rolled out within six months to one year after the initial phase of rollout.

12. Scientist Mashelkar, yoga guru Iyengar get Padma Bhushan, cricketer Yuvraj gets Padma Shri

i. Renowened scientist R.A. Mashelkar, yoga guru B.K.S. Iyengar, actors Vidya Balan and Paresh Rawal, sportspersons Yuvraj Singh, P. Gopichand and Dipika Pallikal are among the personalities who have been awarded the Padma awards ahead of the Republic Day.

ii. While Mashelkar and Iyengar have been conferred with Padma Bhushan, actors Balan and Rawal have been awarded the Padma Shri awards

iii. Cricketer Yuvraj Singh, ace shuttler Gopichand and squash player Pallikkal have got Padma Shri awards. Dipika recently entered the top 10 in the WSA rankings, the official women’s squash world rankings.

Note:The Padma awards, India’s highest civilian honours, are given in three categories: Padma Vibhushan, Padma Bhushan and Padma Shri and announced on the occasion of Republic Day every year.

13. Vakrangee gets white-label ATM licence

i. Vakrangee Ltd has received the Reserve Bank of India’s final authorisation of the White Label ATM licence.

ii. Under this licence, Vakrangee is entitled to set up and run minimum 15,000 ATMs across the country in the next three years, sources close to the development said.

iii. White-label ATMs are those which are not run by the banks but by a non-banking entity in its own brand name (like Vakrangee ATM) after passing through all the stringent qualification and due-diligence process undertaken by the RBI.

iv. These ATMs will have all the functionalities like that of a bank-run ATMs.

v. For the ATM business, Vakrangee will focus more towards sub Tier-III towns with huge potential.

vi. The White-Label ATM business is a strategic fit for Vakrangee’s current business of rural bank branch management wherein brick and mortar bank branches (as common business correspondents) are set up by this company for the public sector banks.

Award

14. Richard Quest won 2013 UNWTO Lifetime Achievement Award

i. UNWTO awarded CNN’s Richard Quest the 2013 UNWTO Award for Lifetime Achievement on 22 January 2014.

ii. The UNWTO Award for Lifetime Achievement was presented during the UNWTO Awards Ceremony held in Madrid, Spain.

iii. The Award recognizes Mr. Quest’s reporting across the globe on CNN, which has showcased the challenges and successes of the tourism industry – raising it into the mainstream of the international agenda.

About UNWTO Lifetime Achievement Award

The UNWTO Award for Lifetime Achievement is conferred to recognize a lifetime achievement of individuals with visionary leadership and significant contribution throughout the nominee’s career as an inspirational role model for the development at the local, national, regional or international level.

15. Dr. Tej Vir Singh won the UNWTO Ulysses Prize

i. Dr. Tej Vir Singh from Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh won the 2013 UNWTO Ulysses Prize for Excellence in the Creation and Dissemination of Knowledge on 22 January 2014.

ii. Dr.Singh is the professor and Founding Director of the Centre for Tourism Research & Development (CTRD) in India.

iii. Dr. Singh started the first Himalayan tourism training course, as the Founding Director of the Institute of Himalayan Studies and Regional Development at the University of Garhwal.

About UNWTO Ulysses Prize 
The UNWTO Ulysses Prize is given to a distinguished scholar, whether in academia, government or private industry, for outstanding contributions to innovation and knowledge in tourism.

16. The Centre for Study of Society and Secularism, Mumbai won the award under organization category for its work to promote peace, secularism and communal harmony in the country. The Awards are instituted by the National Foundation for Communal Harmony to give appreciation and recognition to the efforts of individuals and Organizations for promotion of communal harmony and national integration in a sustained manner.

Sports

17. Australia Open: Li Na becomes first Chinese woman to clinch title

i. Li Na made it third time lucky in the Australian Open final, beating Dominika Cibulkova7—6 (3), 6—0 on Saturday to become the oldest woman to clinch the title in the Open era.

ii. Li, who turns 32 next month, lost Australian Open finals to Kim Clijsters in 2011 and Victoria Azarenka last year. In between, she won the 2011 French Open to become the first Chinese woman to win a major.

iii. In both her previous Australian Open appearances, Li won the first set but went down in three. Against Azarenka last year, she stumbled and twisted her ankle, and needed a medical timeout after hitting her head on the court.

iv. She had no such trouble against No. 20-seeded Cibulkova, going on a roll to win the last eight games.

18. Shane Warne to mentor Australia’s spinners for World T20 Tournament

i. Australia has appointed Shane Warne as a specialist spin consultant on 23 January 2014 to support Darren Lehmann ahead of Australian campaign in World Twenty20 to be played in Bangladesh. His role in the team will be to train the spinners of the squad.

ii. Warne will join the squad of the team for the three-match series against South Africa at the conclusion of the Test tour in March 2014. Australia has to play three T20 games against South Africa on 9, 12 and 14 March 2014.

iii. George Bailey is the captain of the Australian Twenty20 cricket team and at present the team is ranked at eighth position in the list of International Cricket Council.

iv. The coach of the Australian cricket team Lehmann considers that the role of Warne in the game will be a crucial turning point for the team.

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