Current Affairs 08/02/2014 to 15/02/2014

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1.Veteran Nepali Congress President, Mr. Sushil Koirala (75) elected as Prime Minister of Nepal, after he secured more than two-thirds of the votes in the Parliament of Nepal. He would be the sixth head of government since the country became a Republic in 2008, following a peace deal with Maoist rebels in 2006.

2.The famous Hindi writer, Mr. Vishwanath Tripathi (82) honored by the prestigious Vyas Samman 2013. He has been chosen for his memoir ‘Vyomkesh Darvesh ‘that is a biography of the noted Hindi scholar Acharya Hazari Prasad Dwivedi.
The Vyas Samman 2012 was given to Hindi litterateur Narendra Kohli for his historical novel “Na Bhooto Na Bhavishyati” based on Swami Vivekananda.
Mr. Surya Prasad Dikshit was the selection committee head of Vyas Samman 2013.
Mr. Tripathi has around 20 publications by his name that includes memoirs, novel and poetry collection.

3.Dr. Marco Lambertini appointed as the Director General of World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) International. He will begin his new role with the global conservation organization on May 1, 2014.

4.The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Transport, Tourism and Culture has rejected the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) Bill in the present form. The committee stated that the proposal for setting up a new aviation regulator lacks teeth in empowering the authority.
The panel, headed by Sitaram Yechury suggested the Civil Aviation Ministry to come out with a comprehensive Bill after revisiting the Aircraft Act, 1934 because it felt that the Act is too old to tackle the emerging problems in the aviation sector.

5.Ms Arunima Sinha bagged with Amazing Indian Award by the Vice President of India, Mr. Hamid Ansari, for scaling Mount Everest despite being physically challenged.
Ms. Sinha is the first Indian amputee who scales the Mount Everest on May, 2013. She is a former national volleyball and football player from Uttar Pradesh.
She lost her right leg in 2011 after being thrown off a moving train. Two years later she stood on the peak of the Mount Everest with an artificial leg and an indomitable spirit to achieve the unimaginable.

6.The Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO) is developing Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) for the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) to track down maoists in naxal hit states viz. Chattisgarh, Jharkhand, etc. And would demonstrate the operational capability of the first such vehicle, Nishant in Jagdalpur.
The UAVs being developed for CRPF would be able to help the forces trace and track down the ultra Left operatives in even thick forests.
The Nishant, a multi-mission UAV developed by India’s Aeronautical Development Establishment (ADE), a branch of DRDO, had already been inducted by the army. (Nishant consists of an air vehicle supported by ground control station equipment mounted on Tatra vehicles and it can be moved to any location for launching whenever required making it very versatile).
About Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs)
Means: Aerial vehicles which operate without a human pilot. Eaves are commonly used in both the military and police forces in situations where the risk of sending a human piloted aircraft is unacceptable, or the situation makes using a manned aircraft Impractical.
Uses: To get aerial video of a remote location, especially where there would be unacceptable risk to the pilot of a manned aircraft and can be equipped with high resolution still, video, and even infrared cameras.
The information obtained by the UAV can be streamed back to the control centre in real time.
Used to carry and deliver a variety of payloads. Helicopter type UAVs are well suited to this purpose, because payloads can be suspended from the bottom of the airframe, with little aerodynamic penalty.

7.Maruti Suzuki India Ltd (MSIL) stopped production of the iconic Maruti 800 car brand that had been the carrier for millions of Indian middle-class families. As per the company’s policy, though the car production has stopped, spare parts will be available for customers for next 8-10 years, for all the models which have been phased out till date.
Why Maruti Suzuki stopped the production of iconic Maruti 800?
The Maruti 800 lost its appeal among urban consumers as car buyers migrated to models such as the Alto and Wagon R from Maruti Suzuki’s stable and the Santro produced by Hyundai Motor India Ltd, among others.
Since 2010, due to the stricter emissions regulations, the company halted the sale of car in 13 major cities in India viz. Kanpur, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Pune, Ahmedabad, Agra, Surat, etc.
Maruti Suzuki stated that it would be too costly to make the hatchback to meet stricter emission standards (as per intention to cutting pollution) on congested roads.
That’s why, MSIL decided to completely stop the production and rolled out the last of its 800 model, but will continue to sell the spare parts of 800 to its customers for next 8 to 10 years.
Note: Maruti 800 was launched in India in early 1980s and the time of its launch it was priced Rs. 50000 only and at the time of closure of production it was priced at Rs. 2.35 lakh.

8.The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) released draft report on enabling Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) in payment system applications. Public Key Infrastructure enabled electronic payment systems that has been introduced by the RBI are – RTGS, NEFT, CBLO, FOREX Clearing, Government Securities Clearing and Cheque Truncation System (CTS).
Objective: To ensure a safe, secure, efficient, robust and sound payment system in the country.

9.The Union Cabinet cleared the Bill for the creation of Telangana with minimum changes in it. The bill stated that Hyderabad will not get the status of UnionTerritory. The cabinet also decided that a special economic package will be given to both Telangana and residuary Andhra Pradesh.
Hyderabad will remain the joint capital of Telangana and residuary Andhra Pradesh for ten years and the city will not be made a UnionTerritory as strongly demanded by MPs and MLAs of Seemandhra.
Excerpts of the Andhra Pradesh Reorganization Bill
The Bhadrachalam division will continue to be with Khammam district which will be part of Telangana.
NTPC will construct a 4,000 MW power project in Telangana to solve the electricity problem in the region.
A petroleum university will be constructed in Seemandhra region while seats for Semmandhra students in educational institutes in Telangana will be reserved for ten years.
Note: The controversial bill will be presented in the Rajya Sabha in the present form and the government will move 32 amendments when it is taken up for consideration.

10.The National Green Tribunal (NGT) banned the burning of tyres at public places viz. roads, areas surrounded by residential buildings and also during protests by political and religious groups, as this leads to health hazards.
As per the Western Zone Bench of NGT-Pune ruling:
The local police shall take prompt check on burning of tyres and any negligence in the instructions given by NGT-Pune may entail penal aftermaths as specified in section 26 of the National Green tribunal Act, 2010. Any violation of the order may result in a penalty of up to Rs 10 crore, extendible to up to Rs 25 crores and/or imprisonment of 3 years.
The decision came on a petition filed by the Sahyog Trust and other advocates against the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) and the state of Maharashtra.
Why burning of tyres is harmful for environment?
Burning tyres emit toxic soup of pollutants that contains harmful gases and chemicals viz. carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, chromium, arsenic, zinc, barium, cobalt, copper, iron, aluminum, manganese and vanadium, etc. which are hazardous to the human beings as well as to the environment. Minuscule particles released during the burning can settle deep in the lungs. Tyres contain 25 % extender oils derived from benzene, 25% styrene, a derivative of benzene, and 25% 1,3 butadiene. – both benzene and 1,3 butadiene are suspected human carcinogens. (A carcinogen is any substance, radionuclide or radiation, that is an agent directly involved in causing cancer).
About National Green Tribunal
A special fast-track court to handle the expeditious disposal of the cases pertaining to environmental issues.
Established on October, 2010 under the National Green Tribunal Act 2010.
Objective: For effective and expeditious disposal of cases relating to environmental protection and conservation of forests and other natural resources including enforcement of any legal right relating to environment and giving relief and compensation for damages to persons and property and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto.
Shall not be bound by the procedure laid down under the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908, but shall be guided by principles of natural justice.
New Delhi is the Principal Place of Sitting of the Tribunal and Bhopal, Pune, Kolkata and Chennai shall be the other four place of sitting of the Tribunal.
Note: The National Green Tribunal ruling can only be challenged in the Supreme Court.

11.With an aim to minimize frauds, RBI has mandated that Banks must adopt Aadhaar as additional authentication or move to EMV (Euro pay MasterCard Visa) chip and pin technology to ensure security in card-based payment transactions.
The apex bank made it mandatory for debit card holders to punch in their PIN numbers every time they use the card. The PIN functions as another layer of security for the debit card which reduces the chances of fraud. While using it at PoS, merchants will first swipe the cards at a PIN enabled PoS terminal and punch in the transaction amount. That will be followed by customers punching their PINs to complete the transaction.
What are Chip-and-Pin cards?
A chip-and-PIN card is a plastic card of standard size. It has two chips a) An embedded chip b) A traditional magnetic strip. In order to accomplish a transaction, a customer has to punch in his/her PIN number. In case the card gets stolen or lost, it is very difficult to copy the card due to presence of the embedded microchip.
Objective: The overall system of the card designed in order to make it more difficult for criminals to cash in on credit card fraud.

12.For the 2014 World’s Children’s Prize, Pakistani teenage rights activist Malala Yousafzai, John Wood from the USA and Nepalese child rights worker Indira Ranamagar are nominated for an award also known as the “Children’s Nobel Prize”.
Ms. Malala Yousafzai nominated for her courageous and dangerous fight for girls’ right to education. She started to speak out for girls’ rights at the age of 11, when the Taliban banned girls from going to school in the SwatValley in Pakistan.
Mr. John Wood nominated for his 15-year fight for children’s right to education. John quit his job as a manager at the Microsoft company to fulfil his dream: to fight poverty by giving children all over the world the chance to go to school.
Ms. Indira Ramanagar nominated for her 20-year struggle for prisoners’ children in Nepal. She has built up an organisation called Prisoners Assistance Nepal (PA), which has rescued over a thousand children from cramped, dirty prisons.
Indira Ramanagar and Prisoners Assistance:
Run three children‘s homes, two schools, and youth programs on organic agriculture, arts and crafts, and more.
Support girls in villages to enable them to go to school. They are also given bikes, since they often have a long journey to get to school.
Search for relatives and support them to take care of the children.
Make sure that children get a chance to visit their parents in prison.
Run programs allowing children to go to school during the day and stay with their mothers in prison at night. They also educate mothers in prison up to Year 5 level and give them vocational training.
Support prisoners who have been released, so that they can be reunited with their children.
Speak out for the weakest in society and fight for prisoners – especially women and their children – to be treated in a fair and humane way.

13.India and Germany signed two umbrella agreements for financial and technical co-operation, under Indo German bilateral Development Cooperation framework. The Umbrella Agreements were signed by Finance Minister P Chidambaram and German Federal Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development Gerd Mueller during their bilateral meeting.
The pacts were signed during an official six-day visit of German President Joachim Gauck.
The Umbrella Agreement on Financial Cooperation refers to concessional loans from Germany for nine projects viz.
Himalaya Hydropower Programme (HPPCL).
Green Energy Corridors.
Promotional Programme for Energy Efficient New Residential Housing-II (NHB).
Energy Efficiency in Thermal Power Plants (WBPDCL).
Affordable Housing Programme (NHB).
New Approaches in Microfinance and Microenterprise Finance (SIDBI)
Missing Middle Programme (SIDBI).
Madhya Pradesh Urban Sanitation and Environment Programme.
HimachalPradeshForest Ecosystems Climate Proofing Project.
The Umbrella Agreement for technical cooperation refers to 13 projects in Energy, Environment and Sustainable economic development sectors, which are a priority sectors under the bilateral development cooperation between the two nations.

14.The Aam Aadmi Party organized its first “Mohalla Sabha” at Vasundhara Enclave, New Delhi. Soon, the draft Delhi Nagar Swaraj Bill 2014 will be brought before the cabinet and then introduced in Delhi assembly soon.

As per the draft Delhi Nagar Swaraj Bill 2014
Every Delhi voter be a decision-maker.
Pave the way for self-rule through mohalla sabhas.
The contours of the mohalla sabha will be defined by the state election commission by taking public opinion into account. The members of the sabha will be voters who stay within the boundaries of the mohalla, and this collective will use its vote to send two representatives to a ward committee. This committee will do coordination at the ward level to pave the way for delivery of proposals cleared by the mohalla sabha at monthly meetings by vote. Funds will be put at the disposal of the sabhas by the mohalla secretariat, which will be manned by officials, to ensure execution of the decisions of people.
Gives the common man the power to remove the selected representative and also the area councilor mid-term through polling that can be initiated by the state election commission based after ascertaining the genuineness of representations from the mohalla sabha.
When mohalla sabha members come together at monthly meetings to cast their vote on issues, 33% must be women while 10% of the registered voters of a mohalla must be present at the meeting. Decisions are to be largely by consensus but may also be taken by a simple majority vote.
Mohalla sabhas shall strive for universal education and healthcare in the mohalla and formulate and implement schemes to eradicate hunger and homelessness and for welfare of senior citizens, disabled and other vulnerable sections of society.
Also gives the sabhas power to get any information from any official of the state government or municipal body regarding issues directly or indirectly related to their mohalla.
Creates room for an ombudsman and empowers the mohalla sabha to file complaints if anyone is found violating the law.
Wherever there are inter-ward issues, the standing committees of the municipal corporations will take a view, and wherever there are government-related issues, the departments concerned will be involved. The state government’s role will be limited to projects like flyovers and other major development plans for the city.

15.Microsoft has become the biggest company to be headed by an Indian. Indian-born Mr. Satya Nadella appointed as the new Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and member of the Board of Directors of the Internet giant Microsoft. The appoint of Mr. Nadella is a significant achievement as he joined a circle of India-origin executives manning top global companies.

Some global corporations led by Indian CEOs:

Mr. Lakshmi Mittal – Chairman and CEO of Arcelor-Mittal, world’s largest steel making company. The Indian Steel mogul is one of the most influential and powerful figures globally.
Ms. Indra Nooyi – Chairperson & CEO of PepsiCo, one of the largest food and beverage business in the world.
Rakesh Kapoor – CEO of Reckitt Benckiser, the consumer goods giant is listed on London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index.
Anshu Jain: Co-CEO, Deutsche Bank.
Ajay Banga: President & CEO, MasterCard, an American financial services corporation that process payments between the banks of merchants when purchases are made through the brand card. Mr. Banga appointed CEO in July 2010.
Sanjay Jha: Appointed as chief executive officer of GLOBALFOUNDRIES in January 2014. GLOBALFOUNDRIES is the world’s first full-service semiconductor foundry with a truly global manufacturing and technology footprint.
Shantanu Narayen – President and CEO of Adobe Systems, one of the world’s largest and most diversified software companies.
Dinesh Paliwali: CEO of Harman International, a leading provider of premium audio and infotainment systems for the automotive, consumer and professional markets. He has served as the CEO since July 2007.
Rajeev Vasudeva: Egon Zehnder.
Ivan Menezes: CEO of alcoholic beverages firm Diageo PLC since July 1, 2013.
Ajit Jain: Berkshire Hathaway Group.
Piyush Gupta: DBS Group Holdings.
Sanjay Mehrotra: CEO of SanDisk since January 1, 2011.
As per human resource experts, professionals in India have become global professionals. The technical skills and the behavioural patterns of Indians executives make them very much adaptable to any kind of situation they come across. Indians focus on good education and ability to work in difficult situations is aiding to this rising trend and more and more Indians could rise to top positions at global companies in the near future.

16.The Union Government set up a Bezbaruah panel to propose remedial measures to address concerns of people from the Northeast following outrage over the death in Delhi of a 19-year-old student from Arunachal Pradesh.

The Bezbaruah Committee:
A six-member panel led by Former IAS officer M P Bezbaruah, who is also a member of North-Eastern Council.
Members: Retired IAS officers H W T Syeim, Allen Temshi Jamir, Tape Bagra and P Bharat Singh and the Deputy Secretary in Ministry of Home Affairs S Saha as Member Secretary.
The Chairman of the committee shall co-opt members, one each from the other Northeastern states like Tripura, Mizoram and Sikkim.
Objective: The Panel will examine the causes behind attacks/violence and discrimination against people from the Northeast, suggest measures to be taken by the government to address these concerns besides suggesting legal remedies for the same. It will deliberate and find ways to stop such attacks on the people from Northeast.
The panel will submit a report within two months after examining the causes behind the attacks of discrimination against the people from Northeast.

17.The Central Consumer Protection Council (CCPC) under the chairmanship of minister K V Thomas set up a sub-committee to draft guidelines to safeguard consumer interest from false advertisements in the country.
Objective: To issue guidelines to monitor the advertisements. At present, there is no any legal protection cover available for consumers against false advertisements.
Formed to see how to regulate false statements made in the advertisements in the name of scientific claims. (Maximum false claims are made in health-related fields).
Will have the powers to (take) corrective actions and (impose) compensation.
Proposal: To hold everyone engaged in the production of advertisement responsible for its contents. This will include the manufacturer, advertising agency, artists, actors and the media platform, be it print or electronic.
The committee will submit its recommendations by the end of February 2014.
For instance, if the claims made by whitening creams proved unphenomenal as advertised, Consumer should have right to claim compensation not only from the advertisers but also from the celebrities endorsing the product.
Note: The immediate push for regulation has come from the Madhya Pradesh High Court. The court ordered the consumer affairs ministry to set up an ad-monitoring panel as recommended by the Vibha Bhargava Commission. The commission had submitted its report in 2005 and it underlined the urgent need to regulate false claims by advertisers of different products.
About Central Consumer Protection Council
The apex body is appointed by the Central Government in accordance with provisions of the Act.
Objective: To protect and promote the interest of consumers viz. the right to be protected against the marketing of goods and services which are hazardous to life and property; the right to be informed about the quality, quantity, potency, purity, standard and price of goods or services, as the case may be so as to protect the consumer against unfair trade practices, etc.
Lies under the Union Ministry of Consumer Affairs.
The CCPC consists of the minister in charge of the consumer Affairs as chairperson, minister in charge of States, members of parliaments, representative of the government departments, consumer organization, women members, representatives of trade, industries and consumers.

18.Apple India re-launched the production of iPhone 4 in India, Indonesia and Brazil. This is the first time that the American technology giant Apple has resumed the production of a discontinued phone. The company prides itself on pushing the design and technology envelope with every release and progressively stops the sale of older models.
Why American technology giant Apple restarted the production of iPhone 4?
Apple Inc. ceased the selling of iPhone 4 in many countries, owing to the launch of the iPhone 5s and the iPhone 5c. Due to this move, Apple lost the share and growth slowed in the last quarter in the markets of India, Brazil and Indonesia. Thus, to resume the growth Apple re-launched the product iPhone 4 in these countries.
The lower cost iPhone will help Apple to recoup market share in these countries.
This combat market leaders Samsung’s Grand and S4 Mini. Apple’s Foxconn vendor in China has restarted production of the iPhone 4.
Note: The entry level iPhone 5s sells for Rs. 53,500 in India, while the entry level iPhone 5c is Rs. 41,900. The reintroduced 8GB iPhone 4 retails for Rs. 22,900.

19.The Union Government has allowed 26% foreign investment in insurance sector in activities related to insurance viz. broking, Third Party Administrators (TPAs) and surveyors and permitted Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) and Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) to also invest in insurers within the stipulated cap.
The Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) stated that in case of insurance, the 26% cap will include FDI and investments from FIIs and NRIs.
(Earlier, only FDI under the automatic route was allowed in insurance companies.)

20.Indian gold loan company, Muthoot Finance Ltd became the first and only Non-Banking Finance Company (NBFC) to have obtained license for setting-up WLAs in India. The Muthoot Group launched its first White-Label ATM at its corporate office in New Delhi and has plans to invest Rs 300 crore in the next three years. The rollout will be mainly in tier-3 and tier-4 cities.
Goal: To set-up 9,000 WLAs over three years – 1,000 in the first year, 2,000 in the second year and 6,000 in the third.
Partner of Muthoot Finance to set up WLAs: FIS Payment Solutions Services.
Sponsor Bank for WLAs venture: Federal Bank.
The ATMs will be user-friendly, even to the differently-abled – equipped with Bio-metric thumb & voice-recognition.
The other entities that are offering White label ATMs:
Prizm Payment Services, a unit of Hitachi of Japan set up its first White Label ATM “Money Spot ATM” at Chendre village in Alibaug Taluk, Raigad district of Maharashtra on January, 2014;
Tata Communications Payment Solutions launched the India’s first ever network of white label ATMs called “Indicash” in June 2013 at Chandrapada in Thane district of Maharashtra.
What are White label ATMs?
ATMs set up and run by non-banking entities are called White Label ATMs (WLAs). Customers from any bank can deposit or withdraw money from such ATMs. They will provide ATM services to customers of all banks. In June 2012, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has permitted non-banking companies to set up ATMs, referred to as WLAs, to increase the penetration of the facility across the country.
Objective of permitting non-banks to operate WLAs: To enhance the penetration of the machines in semi-urban and rural areas, where bank-run ATMs are a few or none. The move is in line to the governments objective of achieving financial inclusion.

21.Evaluation studies of RGGVY (Rajiv Gandhi Grameen Vidyutikaran Yojana) commissioned by Rural Electrification Corporation have revealed that the programme has empowered the rural women.

Affect of electrification under RGGVY scheme on some states:

Rajasthan: 75% of women are able to work in the fields after electricity reached their homes.
Madhya Pradesh: 85% of the villagers, in particular, women and children feel more secure and protected against wild animals, venomous reptiles and robbers due to electrified households and street lights.
Uttar Pradesh: 43% people are surveyed and reported that they have started using mobile phones after electrification since it became possible to charge the mobile sets.
Bihar: As detected by the beneficiary households, the most important use of electricity is for illumination (94.9%), security (89.9%), and communication through cellular phones (42.1%), accessing information and entertainment (52.1%) and comforts by running fans (18.4%).
J&K: Most people feel that security & standard of life has increased. Villagers are able to get the treatment in the night. In some of the villages, it was found that the villagers use electrical appliances for crop processing.
Positive impact of Rajiv Gandhi Grameen Vidyutikaran Yojana(RGGVY) programme
96% of un-electrified villages have been electrified across the country.
Intensive electrification of 80% villages has been completed while free electricity connections have been provided to 77% BPL households under the flagship programme.
People are able to establish small scale activities in homes viz. weaving, tailoring, grocery shops, etc.
Students in all the states are able to study for longer hours and also save money & time which they had to spend on kerosene lamp. They also feel more comfortable during summer days due to the fans in the class.

22.Govt. launched the National Cloud under ‘MeghRaj’ initiative. National Information Centre (NIC) is providing Cloud services under the umbrella of ‘MeghRaj’.

About MeghRaj
In order to utilize and harness the benefits of Cloud Computing, the Central Government has embarked upon an ambitious initiative – ‘GI Cloud’ which has been named as ‘MeghRaj’.

Focus: To accelerate delivery of e-services in the country while optimizing ICT spending of the Government. This will ensure optimum utilization of the infrastructure and speed up the development and deployment of eGov applications.
Architectural vision of GI Cloud: As per the set of common protocols, guidelines and standards issued by the Government of India, GI cloud will cover a set of discrete cloud computing environments spread across multiple locations, built on existing or new (augmented) infrastructure.
Benefit of GI Cloud: Helpful for the departments to procure ICT services on demand in the OPEX model rather than investing upfront on the CAPEX.
Characteristics of National Cloud: Self service portal, Multiple Cloud solutions, Secured VPN access and Multi location Cloud.
Existing Cloud services: Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), Software as a Service (SaaS) and Storage as a Service (STaaS).
What is Cloud Computing?
Cloud computing is the delivery of computing and storage capacity. In cloud computing, end users are not required to buy software or Devices as they are provided by service providers on a rental basis. It’s an Internet based technology which enables its user to share technological resources, software and digital information from anywhere using a browser.

Note: The Department of Electronics & Information Technology (DeitY) prepared the two Policy reports viz., ‘GI Cloud Strategic Direction Paper’ and ‘GI Cloud Adoption and Implementation Roadmap’.

23.The Central Government constituted the 7th Central Pay Commission under the chairmanship of Mr. Ashok Kumar Mathur, a retired Supreme Court judge and retired chairman of Armed Forces Tribunal.

Objective: To revise the salary structure of Union government employees from both civil and military services.

Secretary of the ministry of petroleum and natural gas Mr. Vivek Rae will be a full-time member of the Commission.
Dr Rathin Roy, director of the National Institute of Public Finance and Policy, will be a part-time member.
Ms. Meena Agarwal, officer on special duty in the department of expenditure, will be the secretary of the Commission.
The panel will submit its report in two years and the recommendations would be implemented from Jan 1, 2016.
The Central Government constitutes Pay Commission almost every ten years to revise the pay scales of its employees and often these are adopted by states after some modification.

The 6th Central Pay Commission under the Chairmanship of B.N.Srikrishna was approved in July 2006.The 5th Pay Commission was implemented with effect from January 1, 1996 and fourth from January 1, 1986.
The 1st pay commission was constituted under the Chairmanship of Srinivasa Varadachariar in May 1946 and its report was submitted by 1947.
The first commission was based upon the idea of living wages to the employees, which was taken by the Islington Commission.

24.President Pranab Mukherjee conferred the country’s highest civilian honor Bharat Ratna on eminent scientist Prof C.N.R. Rao and cricket maestro Sachin Tendulkar at Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi.
Prof C.N.R.Rao is the third scientist after C V Raman and former President A P J Abdul Kalam, to be awarded with the honor.
Sachin Tendulkar, who retired from international cricket last year, is the first sports-person to be bestowed with the honor. He is also the first active sportsperson to become a Rajya Sabha member last year.
Union Home Ministry’s guidelines about Bharat Ratna:
Under the Constitution, the award cannot be used as a prefix or suffix to the recipient`s name. Though the award winner can use mention as ‘Awarded Bharat Ratna by the President’ or ‘Recipient of Bharat Ratna Award’ in their bio-data, letter head or visiting cards. The recipient receives a Sanad (certificate) signed by the President and a medallion. It does not carry any monetary grant.
Note: The Bharat Ratna has been conferred after a long gap with classical vocalist Pandit Bhimsen Joshi being the last recipient in 2008.

25.Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh inaugurated the 101st Indian Science Congress at Jammu University, Jammu. The five-day (Feb 3-7, 2014) event will see deliberations and presentation of papers by the scientific fraternity from across the globe.

Dr. Singh stated that the country must increase its’ annual expenditure on science and technology to at least 2% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and the private sector must join hands with the government for an inclusive progress in science and technology.

Excerpts of Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh’s speech
India will partner with the international scientific community in establishment of the world’s major R&D projects.
In the Gravitational Wave Experiment, India intends to host the third detector. A Neutrino-based Observatory is proposed to be established in Tamil Nadu at a cost of about Rs. 1450 crore.
India would soon join, as an associate member, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, CERN, where international projects such as the research on ‘God Particle’ was going on.
Favored genetically modified crops.
Supported the scientists to engage more with society and explain socially productive applications of biotechnology and other alternatives.
Announced the names of five eminent scientists, who have been selected for the recently instituted Jawaharlal Nehru Fellowships.
The Jawaharlal Nehru Fellowship is open to scientists who are either Nobel Laureates or Fellows of the Royal Society, or members of the United States or French academies of science. The selected scientists are entitled to a fellowship of $1,00,000 and a research grant of Rs. 55 lakh. They will have to do research in an institution here for 12 months, which can be spent in installments over 3 years. The host institution would also get a grant of Rs. 10 lakh for providing laboratory and other facilities for the research.

26.Bill Gates assumes role of “Founder and technology advisor” of Microsoft
John Thompson appointed as the new Chairman of Microsoft
Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates assumed a new role on the Board as Founder and Technology Advisor. He will help Satya Nadella (the new CEO of Microsoft) in shaping technology and product direction and will devote more time in making Microsoft Office more interactive and building a cloud platform as examples of ways Microsoft can innovate in the future. He stepped down as chairman of Microsoft in February 2014.
About Bill Gates
An American business magnate, investor, programmer, inventor and philanthropist.
Founded Microsoft in 1975 with his childhood friend Paul Allen and served as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) until 2000.
Chairman of the Microsoft board until Feb. 4, 2014.
As per recent poll conducted by The Times, Mr. Bill Gates is the most admired person on Earth.
Known for donating large sums of money to charitable organizations and scientific research and is highly regarded globally.
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (B&MGF or the Gates Foundation): founded by Bill and Melinda Gates in 1997.
Objective of the Bill & Melinda Gates foundation: to enhance healthcare and reduce extreme poverty, and to expand educational opportunities and access to information technology.
Note: Mr. John Thompson appointed as the new Chairman of Microsoft by the Board of Directors at a meeting held in Washington, US. He succeeded Bill Gates who assumed the role of Technology Advisor to the CEO of Microsoft. Mr. Thompson had joined the Board of Microsoft in 2012. He was also the former chairman and CEO of Symantec Corp.

27.Indian-born Mr. Satya Nadella (46) appointed as the new Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and member of the Board of Directors of the Internet giant Microsoft. Previously, he was the executive vice president of Microsoft’s cloud and enterprise group, responsible for building and running the company’s computing platforms, developer tools and cloud services.

Mr. Nadella is only the third chief executive in Microsoft’s 39-year history, following co-founder Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer. He succeeded Mr. Steve Ballmer.

About Mr. Satya Nadella
Born: 1967 in Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh.
Residence:Bellevue, Washington, US.
Started career as a member of the technology staff at Sun Microsystems.
Joined Microsoft in1992.
Played a major role in Microsoft’s transition to the cloud: During his long tenure, he lead major strategy and technical shifts across the company’s portfolio of products and services viz. development of one of the largest cloud infrastructures in the world supporting Bing, Xbox, Office and other services.
Played a key role in bringing some of Microsoft’s most popular technologies viz. its database, Windows server and developer tools, to the cloud, called Window Azure.
Helped Microsoft to bring a cloud version of Microsoft Office to the cloud, Office 365. Microsoft says Office 365 is one of its fastest growing products ever.
Currently, responsible for a huge, largely invisible part of Microsoft’s business.
Note: As per Mr. Nadella’s new employment agreement, the Indian-origin CEO of software major Microsoft will be paid his salary on “semi-monthly” basis at an annual rate of $1.2 million (Rs 7.5 crore). His annual salary would be determined by the company’s Executive Incentive Programme (EIP).

28.On the Kashmir Solidarity Day, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif invited India to engage in a “comprehensive, sustained and result-oriented” dialogue with Pakistan to resolve the Kashmir issue. The mountainous region of Kashmir has been a flashpoint between India and Pakistan for more than 60 years. The Prime Minister expressed the confidence that the Indian leadership would realize the sensitivity of the issue and will respond to his invitation of dialogue in a positive manner and give right to self-determination to the people of Kashmir.
Why is Kashmir disputed?
The territory of Kashmir was hotly contested even before India and Pakistan won their independence from Britain in August 1947.
Under the partition plan provided by the Indian Independence Act of 1947, Kashmir was free to accede to India or Pakistan.
The Maharaja of Kashmir, Hari Singh, wanted to stay independent but eventually decided to accede to India, signing over key powers to the Indian government – in return for military aid and a promised referendum. Since then, the territory has been the spark for two of the three India-Pakistan wars: the first in 1947-8, the second in 1965.
In 1999, India fought a brief but bitter conflict with Pakistani-backed forces who had infiltrated Indian-controlled territory in the Kargil area.
Currently a boundary – the Line of Control – divides the region in two, with one part administered by India and one by Pakistan. India would like to formalise this status quo and make it the accepted international boundary. But Pakistan and Kashmiri activists reject this plan because they both want greater control over the region.
Kashmir Solidarity Day
Also known as “Kashmir Day” is a national holiday in Pakistan.
Celebrated every year since 1990 as a day of protest against Indian control of part of Kashmir on February 5.
Why is “Kashmir Solidarity Day” celebrated?
Objective: As per Pakistan, in order to provide sympathetic and political support to the Kashmiri separatists people who they believe are struggling for their freedom from the Indian rule. (The part of Kashmir which are under control of Pakistan are Azad Jammu & Kashmir and Gilgit–Baltistan).
Dedicated to show Pakistan’s support and unity with the people of Indian-occupied Kashmir, their ongoing freedom struggle, and to pay homage to Kashmiri martyrs who lost their lives fighting for Kashmir’s freedom.