Current Affairs February 28, 2014

Current Affairs February 28, 2014

International Affairs

1. Ukraine’s parliament has approved Arseniy Yatsenyuk as the country’s new prime minister after a voting was held on 28^th February amid the sharp rise in tensions. He got 317 votes in favor out of total 450 votes. He has previously served as the economy minister and foreign minister, and a speaker of parliament.

2. The US economy grew at a much slower rate in last quarter of 203 than earlier predicted.  US gross domestic product (GDP) grew at an annualised rate of 2.4% in the fourth quarter of 2013 compared to an initial estimate of 3.2%, as per the US Commerce Department. The dowanward revision was due to weaker than expected consumer spending which has nearly 70% weight in overall US economic activity.

3. Turkish President approved the bill restricting the judicial powers

Turkish president Abdullah Gul approved the bill on restricting the judicial powers on 26 February 2014. This bill is about curbing the independence of the judicial powers.

The bill will give more control to the Justice ministry in comparison to the Supreme Board of Judges and Prosecutors. This body is an independent body which deals with the appointment of the judiciary.

In another development, the Turkish parliament approved another bill putting restrictions on internet. The law would permit the telecommunication authority to close the websites for violation of privacy. However, the authority would still need court’s approval within 24 hours. The authority would also have to obtain a court order to access records of user activity.

4. Al-Qaida plots comeback in Afghanistan: US
Al-Qaida’s Afghanistan leader is laying the groundwork to relaunch his war-shattered organization once the United States and international forces withdraw from the country, as they have warned they will do without a security agreement from the Afghan government, US officials say. Farouq al-Qahtani al-Qatari has been cementing local ties and bringing in small numbers of experienced militants to train a new generation of fighters, and US military and intelligence officials say they have increased drone and jet missile strikes against him and his followers in the mountainous eastern provinces of Kunar and Nuristan. The objective is to keep him from restarting the large training camps that once drew hundreds of followers before the US-led war began.

5. Venezuela issues arrest warrant for opposition figure:
Venezuela issued an arrest warrant for a second opposition figure, his party said, ramping up the pressure on protesters who have staged nationwide rallies in the biggest challenge to President Nicolas Maduro since he came to power.Near-daily demonstrations have seen duelling pro- and anti-government protesters face off in sometimes violent confrontations that have left 14 people dead in the deeply polarized and economically troubled oil-rich country since the start of February. Leopoldo Lopez, of the opposition Voluntad Popular ( Popular Will), turned himself in last week after a warrant went out for his arrest. The party said on Thursday that Maduro’s embattled government was now seeking Carlos Vecchio, the party’s national political coordinator.

Sports:

National Affairs

6. National Science Day is observed today (28^th February) across the nation to mark the discovery of the Raman Effect by Indian physicist Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman (CV Raman) on 28 February 1928. This day is celebrated every year on this day to spread a message about the significance of scientific applications in the daily life of the people. The theme for 2014 is “Fostering Scientific Temper and Energy conservation”.

7. The Union Cabinet has recommended imposition of President’s rule in Andhra Pradesh today. Kiran Kumar Reddy has resigned as Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister protesting creation of Telengana state earlier this month and the state has been without a Chief Minister since then. The Cabinet also hiked poll expenditure ceiling from the present 40 lakh to 70 lakh rupees for candidates in the Lok Sabha elections.

The Cabinet has also approved additional dearness allowance, DA, of 10% to make total DA as 100% which will be effective from 1st January 2014. The hike will benefit 50 lakh Central government employees and 30 lakh pensioners. The Cabinet approved minimum pension of Rs 1000 per month under the Employees Provident Fund Organisation, EPFO.

At the same time, the Cabinet approved setting up a new rail coach manufacturing unit at Kolar, in Karnataka to manufacture 500 coaches per annum. It approved financial support of 434 crore rupees for establishing four new National Institutes of Design at Jorhat, Bhopal, Vijayawada and Kurukshetra.

8. Union Finance Minister P. Chidambaram inaugurated India’s first post office savings bank ATM at the Head Post Office in Thyagaraya Nagar, Chennai on 27^th February. The ATM was launched as a part of an Information Technology (IT) modernisation project of the Department of Posts in order to boost its core banking network and prepare itself to get banking license. India Post is one of the main contenders which all have applied for banking licenses.

9. Sahara India head Subrata Roy has surrendered to the UP police today after Supreme Court issued non-bailable warrant for his failure to appear before it in a case of non-refund of Rs 20,000 crore to investors. His main counsel Ram Jethmalani told a Bench headed by Justice KS Radhakrishnan that 65-year-old Roy is in police custody and also requested for bail. But Justice Radhakrishnan, who sat with Justice Vikramajit Sen, however, said that it is not possible for the Special Bench to assemble today.

10.  Sonia to go in for president rule in Andhra

AICC general secretary and state party affairs in-charge Digvijay Singh hinted on Thursday that the Central Cabinet would impose President’s Rule in Andhra Pradesh.

Congress president Sonia Gandhi met Mr Singh, Union home minister Sushilkumar Shinde and her political secretary Ahmed Patel, on Thursday, to take stock of the situation after the resignation of Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy.

AICC leaders were of the opinion that in the present situation, imposing President’s Rule in the state will be the better option.

Sonia Gandhi agreed and gave the green signal for imposing President’s Rule in the state. After the meeting, Digvijay Singh told the media that the Central Cabinet will take a final decision on Friday.

When asked about the merger of the Telangana Rashtra Samiti with the Congress, Mr Singh said, “We have confidence and believe KCR’s word, what he told us in the past about merging the TRS with the Congress.”

11. Dinesh Sarraf appointed next ONGC chief

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

12. Government constitutes G K Pillai committee to look into the viability of carving out a separate Bodoland state from Assam.  

This one-man committee has been assigned 9 months to submit its report after due deliberation with all stakeholders.

13. The Supreme Court sets up a five-judge Constitution Bench to look into the prospect of legalization of Mercy Killing.

14. Environment ministry gives go-ahead to confined field trials of Genetically Modified (GM) crops. The move will enable gene modification trials of over 200 varieties of rice, wheat, cotton, maize among other crops.

Though the matter is sub judice in Supreme Court, the apex court has not put any embargo on trials so far.

15. Centre inaugurates All India Institute of Medical Science (AIIMS) at Bhubaneswar, Odisha. The institution is also set to launch bar-coded ‘e-health card’ (smart card) which will keep record of patients’ ailment and treatment history. The same facility will be extended to all six AIIMS in the country.

16. Government kicks off Rajiv Gandhi Scheme for Empowerment of Adolescent Boys – “Saksham”.  

It aims to achieve all-round development of boys by making them self-reliant, gender-sensitive and aware citizens.

The project is to cover all adolescent boys between 11 to 18 years of age. 

To be implemented in 20 selected districts in seven States on a pilot basis. 

17. Centre to set up a new rail coach manufacturing unit at Kolar, Karnataka.  

The joint venture between Indian Railways and Karnataka government is expected to roll out 500 coaches every year.

18. Kejriwal summoned as accused in criminal defamation case:
Former Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal was on Friday summoned as an accused in a criminal defamation complaint filed against him by BJP leader Nitin Gadkari.Metropolitan Magistrate Gomati Manocha issued summon for April 7 against Kejriwal on the complaint in which Gadkari had alleged that he was defamed by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader, who had included his name in the party’s list of ” India’s most corrupt”.Senior advocate Pinki Anand and advocate Ajay Digpaul, who had appeared for Gadkari, had argued that Kejriwal had made the statement against the BJP leader with a “malafide intention” to tarnish the image and lower the dignity of their client.

Science and Technology

19. Mars Mission, proof of our ability to go beyond Earth’s orbit, says Kalam:
India’s Mars Mission has proved that the country has acquired the capability to make trans-Mars injection manoeuvres well beyond Earth’s orbit, said A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, former President, here on Thursday.“After five orbit raising manoeuvres and trans-Mars injection on December 1, the spacecraft has gone beyond the influence of Earth. We have to wait for many more complex manoeuvres and about 300 days, probably till September end of this year 2014, for the spacecraft to be stationed around Mars. All of us are looking forward to the success of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) in this complex mission,” he said inaugurating the World Congress on Computing and CommunicationTechnologies organised by the Department of Computer Science and IT of the St. Joseph’s College here.

Banking Awareness

20. Country’s first post office savings bank ATM

Union Finance Minister P. Chidambaram on Thursday inaugurated the country’s first post office savings bank ATM at the Head Post Office in Thyagaraya Nagar, Chennai. The ATM was part of an Information Technology (IT) modernisation project of the Department of Posts.

A total of Rs. 4909 crore had been allotted for the modernisation in the interim budget by Mr. Chidamabaram. This the Core Banking Solutions (CBS) scheme would benefit as much as 1,55,000 post offices. The launching of the ATM was a step towards making the department a completely technology oriented one.

The ATM would run on a trial basis for six months. Afterwards, it would become an interoperable where cards of other banks could be used.

Keeping in view the future of post offices in the IT era where sending letters and post cards had become a rarity, the department was inventing new strategies to keep itself on the growth trajectory. For parcel services, people still preferred the post office.

Secretary of Department of Posts Padmini Gopinath said about 2800 such ATMs would be installed by end of 2015. Sixty-two post offices covering 64 lakh accounts had already migrated to CBS and over 26,840 post offices will adopt CBS by 2016. All account holders will be provided with an ATM card. The postal department was also toying with the idea of starting e-commerce services in rural areas to improve its earnings.

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

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.

Business and Economy

22. General Motors India has appointed Arvind Saxena as its President and Managing Director, effective from 1^st March 2014. He succeeds Lowell Paddock, who is moving to GM International Operations (GMIO) as Vice-President, Planning & Programme Management. Before this appointment, He was Managing Director of Passenger Cars (VW brands) and a director of Volkswagen Group Sales India.

23. Government sanctions Rs.434 crore for establishment of four new National Institutes of Design (NID) at Jorhat (Assam), Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh), Vijayawada (Andhra Pradesh) andKurukshetra (Haryana).

24. Nucleus Breeding Centre for Tiger Shrimp inaugurated in Port Blair.  

25. India ranks second only to China in global aquaculture production producing 4.64 million tonnes annually out of the world’s total production of 60 million tones.  The centre is estimated to earn India USD 1 Billion through aquaculture export.

Sports

26. Misbah urges batsmen to buck up ahead of clash against India:
Gearing up for the marquee clash against India, Pakistan captain Misbah-ul-Haq wants his batsmen to learn quickly from the mistakes they made against minnows Afghanistan in their Asia Cup preliminary clash in Fatullah.Pakistan won the match by 72 runs but some of their batting frailties were laid bare by a resolute Afghan bowling attack which managed to restrict them to 248.”We have a very important match against India coming up now, so we have to avoid making these kinds of mistakes. We have to take responsibility, especially as a batting unit,” the skipper said ahead of the much-anticipated clash on Sunday.

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