Current Affairs February 04, 2014

Current Affairs

February 04, 2014

National Affairs

1. Former Supreme Court Judge Justice Ashok Kumar Mathur has been appointed as the Chairman of the 7th Pay Commission. Petroleum and Natural Gas Secretary, Vivek Rae will be the full time Member. Dr Rathin Roy, Director, National Institute of Public Finances and Policy will be its part-time Member of the commission. Officer on Special Duty in the Department of Expenditure, Meena Agarwal will be the Secretary of the Pay panel. The Commission has been mandated to submit its report in two years’ time and its recommendations would be implemented from 1st January 2016.

2. India’s forex reserve goes down
The foreign exchange reserves had decreased by USD 1.20 billion to USD 292.08 billion for the week ended Jan 17.According to the RBI’s weekly statistical supplement, foreign currency assets, the biggest component of the forex reserves, grew by USD 117.3 million to USD 266.05 billion.

The foreign currency assets had fallen by $1.20 billion to USD 265.93 billion in the previous week

3. India’s longest rail cum Road Bridge

India's longest rail cum road bridge 'Bogibeel Bridge' (4.94 km) is expected to be completed by 2016. The bridge, the longest structure coming up on the river Brahmaputra, is part of the 74 km long rail link connecting the town of Dibrugarh (at the south bank of the river) to Dhemaji in the north of the Brahmaputra.

Its the first bridge of Indian Railways to be totally steel welded.

4. Govt revises FY13 GDP growth to 4.5% from 5%

The government revised downwards economic growth for 2012-13 to 4.5% from the previous 5% due to weak performance of farming, manufacturing sectors and a decline in mining activity.

5. The 28th Surajkund International Crafts Mela

Haryana organized the 28th international crafts mela in Faridabad. This is an international event which is organized every year to promote crafts and culture of the different states of this country. This time Sri Lanka was made trhe partner country whereas Goa was given the status of “theme state”.

6. Rajiv Gandhi khel Abhiyaan

The union government has proposed a pilot project named “Rajiv Gandhi Khel Abhiyaan” to promote and create sports facilities in rural areas covering 634 districts of the country. The project is set to cost Rs.12,808 crore and is said to be launched under monitoring of union sports minister Jitendra Singh.

7. Mother and child tracking centre inaugurated

A ‘Mother and Child Tracking Facilitation Centre’ was inaugurated by Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare Ghulam Nabi Azad in Delhi. This centre, set up with the support of GVK EMRI, tracks the health of pregnant women and newborn.

It aims to validate the data record of all the States maintained by the regional ‘Mother and Child Tracking Systems’ (MCTS) about the pregnant women and newborn children, along with the records of health workers enrolled so far.

8. Interest subvention scheme for SHGs

The Government announced Rs. 1,400 crore interest subvention on loans taken by Self Help Groups working for their empowerment. Interest subvention for the loans taken by women Self Help Groups (SHGs) is a significant initiative under Cetre’s ambitious programme National Rural Livelihoods Mission (NRLM). 

Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh said that it is applicable for loans availed by women SHGs from April 1, 2013. According to the Minister, from today onwards, all banks will lend to women SHGs at upfront 7 per cent interest (for loans up to Rs. 3 lakhs) in 150 select backward districts, most of which are affected by Naxalites. 

These SHGs will get a further 3 per cent subvention on prompt repayment, thus the effective charge on all such loans will be 4 per cent only.

International Affairs

9. World Cancer Day is observed today (4^th February) across the world in order to raise awareness of cancer and to encourage its prevention, detection, and treatment. World Cancer Day was founded by the Union for International Cancer Control (UICC) to support the goals of the World Cancer Declaration, written in 2008. The primary goal of the World Cancer Day is to significantly reduce illness and death caused by cancer by 2020. Tagline for 2014 is “Debunk the myths”.

A new global cancer compiled by UN Agency the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) was released on the World Cancer Day 2014 in Geneva, Switzerland. As per the report, Cancer as a single entity is the biggest cause of mortality worldwide – it has estimated about 8.2 million deaths from cancer in 2012. Over four years, the global cancer incidence has increased by 11 percent to an estimated 14.1 million cases in 2012 – equal to the population of India’s largest city (Mumbai).

Awards

10. The highest civilian award was conferred on Sachin and Prof. Rao

1.    The highest civilian award of the Nation Bharat Ratna has been conferred on cricket maestro Sachin Tendulkar and eminent scientist Prof CNR Rao.

2.    The Bharat Ratna was awarded to both the legends on 4 February at the Rashtrapati Bhawan by the India President Pranab Mukherjee.

3.    The award consists of certificate (Sanad) signed by the Indian President and a medallion. The award does not carry any monetary grant.

4.    After this honor the cricket maestro Sachin Tendulkar has become the first sportsperson and youngest person (40) alive to be conferred with the highest civilian award, Bharat Ratna.

5.    Scientist Prof. CNR Rao has become the third scientist after CV Raman and APJ Abdul Kalam to be conferred with the highest civilian award. [Watch Bharat Ratna live video here]

11. New norms for Khel Ratna, Dronacharya and Dhyan Chand Awards

1.    Jitendra Singh the Minister for Youth Affairs & Sports on 3^rd February has approved the criteria on which the Selection Committee for Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna (highest sports award of India), the Dronacharya and the Dhyan Chand Awards can be awarded to the sportspersons.

2.    The new criterion will be based upon the performance of the sportspersons in the Olympics, Asian or Commonwealth Games and World Cup / World Championships or such other international tournaments.

3.    The new criterion system will bring more transparency and quality in the selection for the National awards.

12. Nathpa Jhakri one of the largest power plant of India with the capacity of 1500 MW has been awarded the gold shield on 4 February for its outperformance in the year 2013-14.

Business and economy

13. Microsoft has named Satya Nadella as its new CEO. He is now an executive in charge of the company’s small, but growing business of delivering software and services over the Internet. The software giant announced today that Nadella will replace Steve Ballmer, who said in August that he would leave the company within 12 months. With this he will become only the third leader in the software giant’s 38-year history, after founder Bill Gates and Ballmer. Company founder Bill Gates is also leaving the chairman role for a new role as technology adviser. Board member John Thompson will serve as Microsoft’s new chairman.

Banking Affairs

14. Janet Yellen has been sworn in as Chairman of the Federal Reserve, the US Central Bank and the most powerful Central bank in the world. She succeeded Ben Bernanke. This is a crucial time for Federal Reserve when it has just started with its tapering by cutting stimulus of USD 10 billion every month.

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