Current Affairs February 15, 2014

Current Affairs February 15, 2014

National Affairs

1. L-G recommends President's rule in Delhi

i. Delhi Lt Governor Najeeb Jung has recommended for President's rule in his report submitted to the President on Saturday on the follow up action in the wake of resignation of the Aam Aadmi Party Government.

ii. LG has also rejected recommendation for dissolution of Delhi Assembly and suggested suspended animation of Delhi assembly. 

iii. The Lt Governor has forwarded the report along with the resignation of the Government and the Cabinet's recommendation. 

iv. The final decision on whether to bring the national capital under a spell of central rule or dissolve the House for holding elections along with Lok Sabha polls as recommended by the outgoing cabinet will emerge once the President takes a call on the report. 

v. Meanwhile AAP has announced nationwide anti corruption campaign against Congress and BJP from February 23. 

2. AAP to contest LS polls under Kejriwal’s leadership

i. A day after Arvind Kejriwal stepped down as Delhi Chief Minister, Aam Aadmi Party on Saturday made it clear that it would contest the Lok Sabha polls under his leadership.

ii. Mr. Kejriwal on Friday resigned as Delhi Chief Minister shortly after his government was defeated on the issue of tabling of the Jan Lokpal Bill in Delhi Assembly in the face of a united resistance by outside supporter Congress and BJP.

iii. Congress and Opposition BJP said Mr. Kejriwal was never serious about governing and was looking for an excuse to “run away” to cover up his “failure” to deliver on his commitments.

iv. Congress and Opposition BJP said Mr. Kejriwal was never serious about governing and was looking for an excuse to “run away” to cover up his “failure” to deliver on his commitments.

3. Kejriwal becomes caretaker CM of Delhi

i. Arvind Kejriwal has become caretaker Chief Minister of Delhi after resigning from the Delhi Cabinet.

ii. The caretaker CM will continue working as a care taker government, until the President accepts the resignation. 

iii. Delhi, being a Union Territory, it is the President who finally accepts the resignation letter of the Chief Minister. 

iv. In case of other states, the Governor is the final authority. Delhi's Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal quit on Saturday evening after his government failed to introduce its ambitious Jan Lokpal Bill. 

v. Meanwhile, Anna Hazare called the developments of the day especially Kejriwal's resignation unfortunate. 

4. Justice Mukul Mudgal to replace Ajit Prakash Shah as the new chairperson of Broadcasting Content Complaints Council (BCCC).   

BCCC is a self-regulatory body for non-news channels.He, a former chief justice of Punjab and Haryana High Court, had chaired the Supreme Court appointed committee mandated to look into Indian Premier League match-fixing allegations.

He also was the chairman of committee set up by the I&B ministry to propose changes in the Cinematograph Act, 1952.

5. Sonia Gandhi regrets failure to pass women’s quota bill:
United Progressive Alliance (UPA) chairperson Sonia Gandhi today regretted that the Women’s Reservation Bill has not been able to be passed in the Lok Sabha for lack of consensus. “With the Lok Sabha elections looming large, my greatest regret is that the Women Reservation Bill has not been able to be passed in the Lok Sabha for lack of consensus though it has been approved by the Rajya Sabha”, she said here. Gandhi made the observation while launching the “Nirbhaya Kerala Surakshita Kerala” – Fearless Kerala, Secure Kerala – programme, a government-civil society initiative to tackle crimes against women and children.

International Affairs

6. Afghanistan-India ties: Joint inauguration of Afghan National Agricultural Science & Technology University

i. A new chapter in Afghanistan-India relations began with the joint inauguration of the Afghan National Agricultural Science and Technology University.

ii. It was opened by President Hamid Karzai and Indian Foreign Minister Salman Khurshid in southern Kandahar province of Afghanistan today.

iii. Foreign Minister Salman Khurshid arrived on a day-long visit to Afghanistan for the inaugural ceremony. Several Afghan Ministers and senior officials attended the function organized in tight security in Kandahar.

iv. The University established with the help of India is the first Agricultural University in Afghanistan.

v. Afghanistan exports fresh and dry fruits to many countries of the world including India.

7. Italy Prime Minister Enrico Letta resigned

i. Italy Prime Minister Enrico Letta resigned on 14 February 2014. The statement released by the Italian presidential palace stated that the Italy’s President, Giorgio Napolitano accepted the resignation.

ii. Letta belongs to the center-left Democratic Party.  Letta is likely to be replaced by the Democratic Party leader, the mayor of Florence Matteo Renzi.

 About Enrico Letta Letta was sworn as the Prime Minister in April 2013 forming the grand coalition government. The Democratic Party has a majority in the lower house of Parliament but relies on smaller parties in the Senate.

8. G-4 Director Generals for UN Affairs met in New Delhi

i. G-4 Director Generals for UN Affairs met on 11 February 2014 in New Delhi. During the meet, the four G-4 nations namely Brazil, Germany, India and Japan also conducted an Outreach Seminar on UNSC Reform on 12 February 2014.
ii. During the meeting, the Director Generals (DGs) of the four nations exchanged their views on Security Council Reform. Similar such a meet was held on 26 September 2013 in New York on the sidelines of the 68th UN General Assembly.

iii. The G-4 countries reiterated their commitments as aspiring new permanent members of the UN Security Council, as well as their support for each other’s candidatures.

iv. They also reaffirmed their view of the importance of developing countries, in particular Africa, to be represented in both the permanent and non-permanent categories of an enlarged Council.

9. India, Poland agree to form Joint Working Group for cooperation in films sector

i. India and Poland have agreed to expand cooperation in the restoration and digitization of film archives.

ii. This was agreed in a meeting between Information and Broadcasting Secretary Bimal Julka and the visiting high-level Polish delegation headed by Malgorzata Omilanowska, Secretary of State.

iii. Both the countries also agreed to form a Joint Working Group in order to prepare a futuristic road map to enhance co-operation in films, animation, digitization, student exchange programme and such other areas of mutual benefit. 

iv. Speaking on the occasion, Julka briefed the delegation about various initiatives of the Information and Broadcasting Ministry in the films sector such as setting up of National Film Heritage Mission with digitization of film archives, setting up of the Centre of Excellence on Animation, Gaming and Visual effects and the participation in various film festivals by the ministry to promote India as a filming destination. 

Awards

10.  Dainik Jagran’s Bharat Gupta conferred with ‘Youth Achievers Award’

i. Adding another feather to his cap, Bharat Gupta, Executive President, Marketing and Digital of Jagran Prakashan Limited has been conferred with the ‘Youth Achievers Award’ at the sixth Global Marketing and Social Media award ceremony held at Mumbai on Thursday.

ii. The award function was organized to felicitate the young professionals who have excelled in their respective fields creating a niche for themselves.

iii. Gupta, an engineering graduate, did a diploma course in media from Mudra Institute of Communications, Ahmedabad.

11. US photojournalist John Stanmeyer has been honoured with the coveted first prize in the World Press Photo awards 2013. He received the award for the moonlit image depicting men from Djibouti raising their mobiles trying to get cheap phone signals from nearby Somalia.

53 photographers were awarded in as many as 18 categories from almost 100000 entries worldwide. The awards, one of the best in photojournalism, is being allotted since 1955.

Science and Technology

12. Chinese Academy of Sciences develops a new type of paper that is resistant to fire

i. Chinese Academy of Sciences, have developed a new type of paper that is resistant to fire, even under 1,000 degrees Celsius temperature.

 ii. The novel kind of inorganic paper is flexible and incombustible, but still feels like ordinary paper.

iii.  It can be torn, folded, and destroyed by strong acid. It can be used for important documents, preserving them for long periods of time.

13. Microsoft plunges into mobile war, Google exits:
When Microsoft announced in September that it was buying Nokia’s struggling handset business and would meld its Windows operating system with the devices, it offered two major reasons for the $7.2 billion deal:
- Apple and Google were combining their software and hardware.
- The deal would ensure the survival of Microsoft’s Windows operating system in a mobile universe.
That was then. Last month, Google threw in the towel on its foray into handsets, selling itsMotorola Mobility division to Lenovo of China for $2.91 billion.

14. Rakuten, Japanese e-commerce major, to purchase famous call and messaging app provider Viber Media for $900 million.

15. China’s second lunar probe

Chang’e-2 is the second unmanned lunar probe by China and has travelled by more than 70 million km in the space. It is the longest voyage of any Chinese lunar probe.

16. Bangalore is the first city to have 4G services

Bangalore, the capital of Karnataka will become the first city of the country to facilitate 4G services provided by Bharti Airtel. This service would be provided to 4G smart phones.

  

17. Post office launches electronic Indian Postal Order

The post office of India launched the e-IPO service for the payment of online fee for applying for RTI (right to information). Last year the same facility for opened for Indians living abroad.

Sports

18. ICC U-19 Cricket World Cup C’ship: India set victory target of 263 runs for Pak

i. India has set a victory target of 263 runs for Pakistan in the ICC Under 19 Cricket World Cup Championship in Dubai. Electing to bat first after winning the toss, the India team made 262 for the loss of 7 wickets in stipulated 50 overs.

ii. Sarfaraz Khan was the top scorer for India with 74 runs of just 78 deliveries.

iii. Sanju Samson made 68, while Akhil Harwadekar scored 41 runs and Ankush Bains chipped in 24 runs.Deepak Hooda made some lusty hits at the close of Indian innings and made 22 runs of just 18 deliveries.

iv. For Pakistan Kramat Ali has bagged two wickets.

19.  Rahane slams maiden Test century, India nine wickets away from victory

i. Ajinkya Rahane cracked his maiden ton as India dished out a dominant batting display to take a massive 246-run lead and put themselves in the drivers' seat over New Zealand on the second and final cricket Test on Saturday.

ii. Rahane, playing in his fifth Test, struck a classy 118 which he made from 158 deliveries with the help of 17 fours and a six as India scored 438 all out on the second day in reply to New Zealand's 192 on a Basin Reserve pitch which has considerably eased out in favour of batsmen.

iii. Pacer Zaheer Khan then dismissed opener Peter Fulton for just one as New Zealand ended the day on 24 for one, still trailing by 222 runs with nine second innings wickets in hand.

iv. The other opener Hamish Rutherford and in-form Kane Williamson were at the crease on 18 and four respectively at the draw of stumps

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