Current Affairs Feb 22-23 2014

Current Affairs Feb 22-23 2014

National Affairs

1. Satisfied with G20 outcome: Chidambaram

Satisfied with the outcome of G20 meeting, Finance Minister P. Chidambaram on Sunday said India’s concerns with regard to withdrawal of US stimulus and the need to expedite IMF quota reforms have been taken on board by the group of rich and developing nations.

“The communique has been drawn by the deputies sitting together and our concerns have been fully reflected in the communique,” he told PTI in an interview after conclusion of the G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors meet.

The Minister said “yes”, when asked whether he was satisfied with the G20 communique.

2. Indian government proposes ‘Youth Connect Programme’ to implement NYP-14

For the effective implementation of the National Youth Policy-2014, the Government of India has recommended that all the relevant ministries should set up a mandatory “Youth Connect Programme” to educate the youth about the various schemes and programmes available to them that are administered by the concerned ministries.

Given the fact that youth comprise 27.5 per cent of the population, and represent a large proportion of the target segment of most of the ministries, it is important to ensure that the key ministry departments communicate with the youth and must work in a coordinated manner to facilitate holistic youth development.

Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi and Sports Minister Jitendra Singh had, on Friday, unveiled two ambitious projects — ‘National Youth Policy 2014′ and ‘Rajiv Gandhi Khel Abhiyan’ — which focus on education, skill development, employment, entrepreneurship and health.

The NYP 2014 is a comprehensive policy document that states the vision of the Government of India for the youth of the country and also how this vision is sought to be realised by the government. NYP-2014 caters to the needs of the youth in the age-group of 15-29 years.

3. 7^th Pay Commission approved by the Cabinet

7^th Pay Commission approved by the Cabinet. According this commission dearness allowance will be merged with basic pay. This will be done after it touched 50% of the basic pay. It is estimating that merger will increase the salary by 30%.

4. First Indian to become ADB Admin Tribunal President is Lakshmi Swaminathan

First Indian to become ADB Admin Tribunal President is Lakshmi Swaminathan. He has been elected for 3 years. He is the 7^th president of the Tribunal. Previous presidents are one from UK, one from Sri Lanka, 2 from Philippines, 2 from US.  In 2010, she joined as a member in this tribunal.

5. Last surviving member of Musical Von Trapp Family Passes Away

Last surviving member of Musical Von Trapp Family Passes Away. Her name is Maria. Her stories was immortalised in the board way musical and movie The Sound of Music. She died on 18^th February 2014 as reports said. She was 99 years old. Maria died in her sleep. In the family of seven children she was second eldest daughter. In 1930s, this family was escaped from Nazis and settled in United States.

6. Seemandhra MPs urge Kiran Kumar Reddy to float new party

Seemandhra MPs, expelled from Congress, and other party leaders on Sunday urged Andhra Pradesh caretaker Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy to launch a new political outfit.

“We fought (in Parliament) and Chief Minister in the Assembly. Our fight should not go waste. We told him to start a new party. He will also talk to MLAs tomorrow,” MP GV Harsha Kumar told reporters here.

Another expelled MP Sabbam Hari also said Reddy would continue his consultations with MLAs and others tomorrow and a conclusion can be reached thereafter. Reddy had resigned from his post on February 19 in protest against the division of Andhra Pradesh and the way the AP Reorganisation Bill was pushed through in Parliament.

Governor ESL Narasimhan has asked Kiran Kumar Reddy and his council of ministers to continue in their posts till alternative arrangements are made.

The Congress leadership and the Centre have not yet taken a decision on formation of a new government in AP or imposing President’s rule in the state.

The Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Bill was passed in Parliament last week and now awaits President’s assent.

7. UIDAI Chairman Nandan Nilekani said he will resign from his job by March-end to contest Lok Sabha election on Congress ticket.

8. India test-fired the indigenously developed surface-to-air Akash missile from the Integrated Test Range launch complex at Chandipur.

9. The Indian economy is much more resilient to external shocks now than was last year, a top IMF official has said, attributing this to a series of administrative decisions and policy measures taken by the Union Government.

10. A committee has been constituted under the chairmanship of M.P. Bezbaruah, Member, North Eastern Council and other members to look into the various kinds of concerns of the persons hailing from the North Eastern States who are living in different parts of the country, especially the Metropolitan areas.

11. Saradha Group head Sudipto Sen was sentenced to three years in prison for defaulting on depositing the provident fund dues of his employees.

Banking Awareness

12. Bharatiya Mahila Bank & NIA ink MoU for health policies:

Bharatiya Mahila Bank (BMB) and New India Assurance have inked an MoU to provide three customised package health insurance policies from the general insurance major. These policies are named BMB Sakhee, BMB Nirbhaya and BMB Parivar Suraksha.

Bharatiya Mahila Bank  is the financial services banking company based in New Delhi, India. India’s Prime Minister Manmohan Singh inaugurated the system on 19 November 2013 on the occasion of the 94th birth anniversary of former Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. Although initially reported as a bank exclusively for women, the bank will allow deposits to flow from everyone, but lending will be predominantly for women. India will be the third country in the world to have bank especially for women. Pakistan, Tanzania already have an exclusive bank for women.

13. Unclaimed Employees Provident Fund Increased to Rs.3000 Crores

EPFO (Employees Provident Fund Organisation) stated that Unclaimed Employees Provident Fund Increased to Rs.3000 Crores. In 2011-12, this unclaimed fund is Rs.2948.11 crores as against Rs.332.14 crores in 2006-07. CAG report has stated that total Rs.8.55 crores fund became inoperative as on March 2012.  Report also stated that in 7 states this fund is not transferred to regional offices. Regarding this there are 81,531 cases registered in these states.

International Affairs

14. Sri Lankan Parliament passed a law that makes mandatory graphic warning on Cigarette packs

Sri Lankan Parliament on 19 February 2014 passed a law that made it mandatory to put graphic warning on cigarette packs.

15. To control air pollution China limited factory production

 China has taken emergency measures to control air pollution. One of the measures is suspended factory production and other measure is limited vehicles on the roads. Yellow alert for smog was issued by NMC (National Meteorological Centre). Emergency response cut 20% of vehicles.

16. American University offered Indian Doctors access to its Medical expertise

 American University offered Indian Doctors access to its Medical expertise through Telemedicine. Main objective of this programme is to improve care towards the patients.  Regarding this an agreement was done between TeleChikitsa Ventures (Bangalore based) and University of Pittsburgh Medical centre. As a part of this agreement, American Physicians who were specialised in colorectal surgery, pulmonology, oncology etc will provide secondary opinion in India. This will be done through advanced web based technology.

Sports

17. Somdev Devvarman beats Donskoy to reach Delhi Open final

 Somdev Devvarman earned himself a shot at his third ATP Challenger title as he fought past Evgeny Donskoy in straight sets to breeze into the final of the ONGC-GAIL Delhi Open, here on Saturday.

The second seed and 96th ranked Indian avenged his last week’s defeat against the Russian fourth seed with a 6-4 6-2 win in an hour and 28 minutes in the semifinal of the USD 100,000 tournament at R K Khanna Tennis Stadium.

It was the third meeting between the two players. Somdev had won the first time they played last year in Miami Masters but lost to the 114th-ranked Russian last week in the semifinals of the Kolkata Challenger.

Somdev last won a Challenger level title in 2010 at the Izmir event in Turkey.

18. The 2014 Laureus World Sports Awards ceremony will take place at the Istana Budaya March 26.

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