Current Affairs: FEB 27, 2014

Current Affairs: FEB 27, 2014

International Affairs

1. Zero Discrimination Day will be observed on 1^st March across the world. The day was launched by UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibé in Beijing. No matter how you look, where you come from or who you love – everyone has the right to live a full life with dignity. That is the message of Zero Discrimination Day. The symbol for Zero Discrimination is the butterfly, widely recognised as a sign of transformation, as per UNAIDS note.

2. India and Russia agrees to set up a Joint Study Group for studying the scope of CECA(Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement) with member-countries of the Customs Union viz Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus.

3. Indian origin scientist 'Madan Babu' has been honoured with Protein Science Young Investigator Award for 2014 at Cambridge (UK).  

The prize, given by Protein Society, recognizes notable contribution made in the study of proteins.

4. Sri Lanka rejects UN call for international investigation into war crimes committed by government forces during bloody civil war.

5. Ibrahim Mahlab was sworn in as new Egypt Prime Minister this week after resignation of former Prime Minister Hazem el-Beblawi who resigned earlier this week. A former member of Hosni Mubarak’s political party, he will head Egypt’s sixth government since the 2011 uprising that ended autocratic rule of Hosni Mubarak.

6. 100 metric tons of radioactive water leaked at Fukushima Power Plant: 100 metric tons of radioactive water leaked from a holding tank at Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant on 20 February 2014.The leak of an estimated 100 metric tons of highly contaminated water was discovered by Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO).The water leak was highly radioactive with a reading of 230 million becquerels per litre of radioactive isotopes. A becquerel is a unit used to measure radioactivity. WHO guidance advises against drinking water with radioactivity levels higher than 10 becquerels per litre.
The level is about 7.6 million times the government’s limit for water allowed to be released into the ocean.

7. Famous Spanish guitarist Paco de Lucia passed away in Mexico on 26 February 2014 due to a heart attack while playing with his children on a beach. He was 66. He was well known for a series of flamenco albums in the 1970’s which inspired a New Flamenco movement. He is known for his blending Flamenco music with Jazz, classical and other genres. He won two Latin Grammy awards in 2004 and 2012 and UK Bafta award for Best Foreign Language Film in 1985.

National Affairs

8. Indian Navy Chief Resigns

i. Indian Navy Chief Adm. D.K. Joshi has resigned, claiming “moral responsibility” for the Feb. 26 fire of a Russian-made Kilo-class submarine, INS Sindhuratna. The government accepted the resignation with immediate effect.

ii. India’s Navy, already struggling with a depleted submarine force, received another setback when the submarine INS Sindhuratna filled with smoke following a fire during the early hours of Feb. 26, nearly 80 kilometers from Mumbai, killing two officers and injuring seven others, said an Indian Navy source.

iii. In August 2013, the Navy lost another Kilo, INS Sindhurakshak, in a fire that gutted the boat and killed all 18 crew on board.

iv. The Vice Chief of Naval Staff Vice Admiral R.K. Dhowan will be discharging the duties of officiating CNS, pending appointment of regular CNS”.

9. India Newspaper Society (INS) celebrates its Platinum Jubilee.

Born as "Indian and Eastern Newspaper Society" on February 27, 1939 in New Delhi, its a umbrella body of Newspapers published in India and currently has more than 1,000 members having publications in 19 languages with a combined circulation of 71 million copies.

10. Government passes Bill to establish "Rani Lakshmi Bai Central Agricultural University" at Jhansi (UP).

Objective : impart education and undertake research in different branches ofagriculture, allied sciences and programmes of extension education in the Bundelkhand region (of UP/MP). It will also promote linkages with national and international educational institutes towards this goal.

The university will set up colleges for agriculture, horticulture, forestry (in UP) and veterinary, animal sciences and fisheries (in MP). 

11. National Monitoring Committee for Minorities (NMCM) holds its first meeting in Delhi.

NMCM : was constituted recently to assess the achievements and review Ministry of Minority Affairs' planning process, programmes, strategies and implementation process over its 9 years of establishment.

It includes 72 experts in minority related issues

12. Dinesh Sarraf appointed next ONGC chief

i. Dinesh Sarraf appointed as next Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) of Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC).

ii. The Public Enterprises Selection Board (PSEB) recommended Dinesh K Sarraf as the next head of the country's most valuable company ONGC. 

iii. Dinesh Sarraf will replace Sudhir Vasudeva who will be due to retire on 28 February 2014.

iv. Dinesh Sarraf had previously worked as the director (Finance) of ONGC

13. Madan Babu won Protein Science Young Investigator Award for 2014

i. Madan Babu, an Indian-born scientist, won the Protein Science Young Investigator Award for 2014 at Cambridge.

ii. The Protein Science Young Investigator Award is given by the Protein Society for important contribution made in the study of proteins.

iii. Madan received the award for his contributions to the understanding of the principles of regulation in biological systems, especially in the fields of intrinsically disordered proteins and gene regulation.

iv. With this award, he became the first scientist of Laboratory of Molecular Biology  (LMB) to win the award.

v. At present Madan Babu heads the Regulatory Genomics and Systems Biology group at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Cambridge, UK.

14. CCEA approved National Mission for Green India: The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) approved a National Mission for a Green India on 20 February 2014. The Green India Mission (GIM) aims to improve and increase India’s diminishing forest cover.The GIM scheme envisages a total cost of 46000 crore rupees over the next 10 years. The GIM is one of eight missions under the National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC).

Business and economy

15. Online Shopping Portal for authentic Tribal Products launched: The Union Ministry of Tribal Affairs on 20 February 2014 launched an online shopping portal for sale of authentic tribal products that will seek to create a niche market for indigenous artisans. The Portal was launched by Union Minister of Tribal Affairs Raj V Kishore Chandra Deo.The e-Commerce Portal will feature 69 tribal products like textiles, metal artifacts and Jewellery. Products that will be available on the portal will include Shawls, stoles and mufflers in Angora, Sheep wool and Pashmina from states like Orissa and Assam.

16. Giving breather to banks on capital market exposure limit for restructuring, the Reserve Bank of India said if acquisition of equity shares by banks for restructuring companies’ results in exceeding the extant regulatory Capital Market Exposure (CME) limit, the same will not be considered as a breach of regulatory limit. However, Banks will require reporting to it and disclosure in the Notes to Accounts in Annual Financial Statements.

According to the RBI, the general principle of restructuring should be that the shareholders bear the first loss rather than the debt holders.

17. ICICI Bank launches ‘branch on wheels’ in Odisha

i. ICICI Bank today launched ’branch on wheels’ in Odisha as part its financial inclusion plan to provide banking services in remote villages in the state which are devoid of banking facilities.

ii. “The ‘branch on wheels’ is a first-of-its-kind initiative by any private sector bank in India. This is yet another step of the bank to expand its reach to the unbanked villages,” ICICI Bank Executive Director Rajiv Sabharwal told.

iii. The ‘branch on wheels’, inaugurated here by Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and Sabharwal, is a mobile branch with an ATM.

iv. The bank has nearly 800 rural branches, including 440 in the hitherto unbanked areas. In Odisha, the bank has opened 20 lakh basic savings accounts and has a network of 229 business correspondents taking banking services to around 1,400 villages.

18. India’s IT Services Company Tech Mahindra has acquired the software services unit of Germany chemicals giant BASF in order to expand business in Europe. As part of the deal, the Mahindra group company will also take on board the 60 employees of BASF Business Services Consult. The new company provides services such as consulting, development and operation of IT systems.

19. Credit information solutions provider, Equifax India, launched a software solution named as ‘Bureau One’ to collate various credit bureau responses and deliver them seamlessly. This solution will empower lenders and businesses to make better underwriting decisions in a cost effective and timely manner and also give customers the ability to improve its credit appraisal process more efficiently.

Science and technology

20. India’s largest 130-MW Solar Power Plant “Welspun Solar MP Project” was launched by Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan and Narendra Modi at Bhagwanpur in Neemuch, Madhya Pradesh on 26 February 2014. It is also the Asia’s Largest Solar Power Plant. It will supply power at 8.05 rupees a kWh and will raise Indian solar capacity by 7 percent.

21. India successfully test-fired Akash missile from ITR Complex in Chandipur: India on 21 February 2014 successfully test-fired indigenously developed surface-to-air Akash Missile from the Integrated Test Range (ITR) launch complex-3 at Chandipur in Odisha coast. The missile that was launched targeted a floating object that was supported by Pilotless Target Aircraft (PTA) Lakshya. The intercepting floating object PTA Lakshya aircraft was flown from launch complex-2 at a definite altitude over the sea.Trial session of Akash was conducted last time on 6 June 2012 from the same base and it is possible that some more trials will be conducted within next couple of days.

Sports

22. P V Sindhu ranked 9th in BWF women’s Singles ranking: P V Sindhu was ranked ninth in the Badminton World Federation (BWF) women’s singles ranking on 20 February 2014. Sindhu moved to ninth with 55752 points from the eleventh just one place behind the Sania Nehwal (rank 7th).Sindhu, 18 reached the finals of Syed Modi International before winning the All India Open Senior Ranking in Kochi. Sindhu is just 3928 points behind the Olympic bronzemedalist, Saina Nehwal.
Sindhu and Saina will be playing the All England Open Championships from 4 to 9 March 2014 in Birmingham, England.
Parupalli Kashyap was ranked 18th place and Sourabh Verma reached the 41st rank in the BWF men’s singles ranking.

23. Sourav Kothari won the National Billiard Championships after defeating Alok Kumar, the defending champion, by 5-3 in the final match held in Lucknow yesterday. This is his first maiden title in the National billiards championship. B. Bhaskar defeated Dhruv Sitwala to win the third place in the National billiards championship.

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