WBCS Current Affairs 24/05/2014 to 30/05/2014

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1.Defending champion China defeated Japan to win its 13th Uber Cup women’s badminton title. The victory comes after China’s recent loss to Japan in the semifinals of the Thomas Cup tournament. China ensured there was no surprise in store after its men’s team unexpectedly lost to Japan in the semifinals of the Thomas Cup tournament earlier this month.

2.In yet another first for BJP leader Sushma Swaraj (62), she has become the first woman External Affairs Minister of India.
She has several other first to her name:
At the age of 25, she became the youngest cabinet minister in Haryana government in 1977.
First woman Chief Minister of Delhi in 1998.
She was the first woman spokesperson for any political party in India and won the Outstanding Parliamentarian Award.

3.In its first major step after assuming charge, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government has ordered the formation of a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to investigate black money, mostly hoarded abroad.
Composition of SIT
The SIT will be headed by retired Supreme Court judge MB Shah. Its other members include Secretary revenue, deputy governor of the Reserve Bank of India, director of the Intelligence Bureau, director of the Enforcement Directorate, director of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), chairman of the Central Board of Direct Taxes and director of the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW).
As per an estimate by the US-based think tank Global Financial Integrity, the illegal money outflow from India is around $462 billion.
The black money refers to the money that is earned and transferred illegally abroad in tax havens like Cayman Islands and Mauritius, generally to evade tax. Real estate is believed to account for nearly a third of black money transactions. Other major areas of black money transactions include manufacturing, gold and consumer goods purchases.

4.In a historic achievement, Malavath Purna (13) became the youngest female mountaineer to scale the Mount Everest. Purna was accompanied by Sadhanapalli Anand Kumar (16), a Class IX student from the Khammam district of Andhra Pradesh. Anand and Purna are both students of Andhra Pradesh Social Welfare Educational Society.

5.The Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) has begun drilling its first-ever well in the Palar basin at Chinnapuliyur village near Gummidipoondi, about 55 km from Chennai.
ONGC had already started exploration in six out of seven sedimentary basins in India. The Palar basin was the seventh.

6.The overseas subsidiary of the state-owned explorer ONGC- ONGC Videsh Ltd (OVL), has struck a deal with Russia’s largest oil and gas producer Rosneft to jointly explore hydrocarbons in the offshore Arctic. The agreement will facilitate the OVL’s cooperation in subsurface surveys, exploration and appraisal activities and hydrocarbons production in Russia’s offshore Arctic. Rosneft is also considering supplying crude oil to Indian refineries.
India does not have a firm contract to import crude oil from Russia. It receives small volumes occasionally from OVL’s Sakhalin-1 project in Far East Russia. OVL has a 20% stake in the Sakhalin-1 oil and gas field in the Russian Pacific Ocean.

7.A draft UN resolution proposing Syrian crisis to be referred to the International Criminal Court (ICC) has been vetoed by Russia and China. The two permanent members of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) ignored the support for the measure by 65 other countries and all other members of the UNSC. It is the fourth time Russia has blocked a UNSC resolution on Syria.

8.Strengthened by capital inflows and excitement about the new incoming government, the Rupee reached 11-month high which has made it the best performing currency in Asia-Pacific region against the US dollar so far in 2014.

10.The ruling BJP promised in the election manifestos for 2014 Lok Sabha election, introduction of High-Speed Rail (HSR) in the country. It pledged to build the Diamond Quadrilateral project – connecting four major cities of India located in four edges of the country.
If implemented properly, the ‘Diamond Quadrilateral’ HSR project has the potential to dramatically transform India much like the Atal Bihari Vajpayee Government’s ‘Golden Quadrilateral’ highway project.

11.Gurgaon based mobile-maker Micromax has appointed Samsung India’s former mobile and IT business chief Vineet Taneja as its new Chief Executive Officer (CEO).
Micromax, the country’s second largest smartphone player, hopes the step will help it further strengthen its position in the market, which is witnessing sharp growth.

12.As per the data of the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP), during the financial year 2013-14, India received $5.98 billion in FDI from Singapore, whereas it was $4.85 billion from Mauritius. With this, Singapore has replaced Mauritius as the top contributor to India’s FDI. FDI inflow recorded in 2013-14 is the highest ever received from Singapore since 2006-07 which accounts for around 25% of total FDI inflow in India.
Experts believe that the Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement (DTAA) with Singapore incorporates Limit-of-Benefit (LoB) clause which has provided comfort to overseas investors based there. LoB clause in India-Singapore treaty justifies the substance in Singaporean entities, bringing certainty and avoiding possibilities of litigations.

13.As per a judgment by the Meghalaya High Court, Bangladesh nationals who have settled in Meghalaya before March 24, 1971 should be treated as Indians and they should be enrolled in the voters list.
The verdict was based on a petition filed by over 40 refugees, living Amjong village near the Assam-Meghalaya border in Meghalaya’s Ri-Bhoi district who were originally from Bangladesh, who were refused enrolment in the electoral roll and their citizenship certificates were seized by the district administration citing their citizenship as doubtful.

14.Ahmed Maitiq took oath as Libya’s new Prime Minister along with his cabinet ministers amidst objections against his election process. Libyan Parliament has been in an impasse since former leader Muammar Gaddafi was ousted in 2011 after protests.

15.Japan won its maiden women’s Asian Football Cup (AFC) defeating defending champion Australia in the final match held in Vietnam. With this win, Japan became the first country to simultaneously hold both the FIFA Women’s World Cup (2011) and AFC Women’s Asian Football Cup (2014). Aya Miyama, the captain of Japan, was awarded the tournament’s Most Valuable Player (MVP) award for her efforts.

16.Real Madrid clinched the Champions League for a record 10th time beating Atletico Madrid in the final match held in Lisbon, Portugal.
The UEFA Champions League which is popular as Champions League, is an annual continental club football competition organized by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) since 1992. It is one of the most prestigious tournaments in the world and the most prestigious club event in European football.
Real Madrid has been the most successful club in the competition’s history, having won the tournament 10 times, including its first five editions. Spanish clubs have achieved the highest number of wins (14), followed by England and Italy (12 wins each).

17.The WHO’s Emergency Committee for MERS-CoV has raised concerns about the sharp surge in the number of ‘Middle East Respiratory Syndrome CoronaVirus’(MERS-CoV) cases since March 2014. The sharp increase has been seen particularly in Saudi Arabia and in the United Arabian Emirates. The Emergency Committee has advised a number of measures to be urgently taken, including better national policies for infection prevention and control in healthcare facilities.

18.President Pranab Mukherjee appointed former Intelligence Bureau chief Rajiv Mathur (64) as the new Chief Information Commissioner (CIC). Mathur succeeds Sushma Singh as the head of the transparency watchdog. His name was recommended by a three-member selection panel headed by outgoing PM Manmohan Singh. His term will be of just 3 months.
At present, there are seven Information Commissioners — Vijai Sharma, Basant Seth, Yashovardhan Azad, Sharat Sabharwal, Manjula Prasher, M A Khan Yusufi and Prof Madabhushanam Sridhar Acharyulu.

19.The navies of India and Singapore are conducting the 2014 edition of the ‘SIMBEX 14’ series of annual bilateral naval exercises in the Andaman Sea. SIMBEX 14 is the 21st in the series, designed to enhance inter-operability and mutual understanding between Indian Navy and Republic of Singapore Navy (RSN).

20.Gujarat’s famous archeological monument “Rani ki Vav (The Queen’s Stepwell)” is among five international heritage sites to be recreated digitally using latest technology in Scotland, UK. The Scottish Ten — an ambitious five-year-project aims to create accurate digital models of Scotland’s five Unesco-designated World Heritage Sites and five international heritage sites in order to help in conservation and management of these sites.

21.India’s Mobile Seva Project started by Department of Electronics and Information Technology (DeitY) has won the 2014 United Nations Public Service Award. The award has been given in the category of promoting whole of government approaches in Information Age.

22.May 21, 2014 was observed as Anti-Terrorism Day throughout the nation. The day is observed annually to spread awareness among the people of all sections of the society, about the danger of terrorism and violence and its effect on the people, society and the country as a whole. The day commemorates the assassination of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi fell to the designs of terrorists in on the same day in 1991.

23.Mukul Rohatgi has been appointed as the 14th Attorney-General of India. He succeeds Gulam Vahanvati.

24.Hiroshi Naka, Japanese national appointed as the Vice President of World Bank

25.Former Chairperson of TRAI, Nripendra Misra has been appointed as the Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister, Narendra Modi.

26.Ahmed Maitiq was sworn-in as the new Prime Minister of Libiya on 26 May 2014.

27.Petro Poroshenko won the Ukrainian Presidential Election held on 25 May 2014.

28.Former IB chief, Rajiv Mathur took over as the new Chief Information Commissioner in the Central Information Commission.

29.Anandiben Patel was sworn-in as the first woman Chief Minister of Gujarat on 22 May 2014.