WBCS Current Affairs 03/01/2015 to 15/01/2015 Part 1

[admin]

1.President Pranab Mukherjee has appointed Harishankar Brahma as the new Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) of India.
He will be 19th CEC of India and succeed V S Sampat who had retired after attaining age 65 on 15 January 2015.
He will take charge on 16 January 2015.
Chief Election Commissioner
As per the provisions of Article 324 of Constitution
Chief Election Commissioner and Election Commissioners are appointed by the President.
They hold office for the term of 6 years or until they attain age of 65 years, whichever is earlier.
The Chief Election Commissioner can be removed from office only through impeachment by Parliament.

2.United States has designated Maulana Fazlullah, chief of Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP)- an outfit of Pakistan’s Taliban, as global terrorist and has imposed sanctions against him.
It was announced after US Secretary of State John Kerry had asked Pakistan to target all terror outfits like the Lashkar-e-Taiba, Taliban and the Haqqani Network that pose a threat to itself, neighbours like India and to US.

3.Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has cut down repo rate by 25 basis points to 7.75 percent from 8 percent, with immediate effect.
It was announced ahead of the scheduled date of monetary policy announcement on 3rd February 2015 as part of RBI’s 6th bi-monthly monetary policy statement.
RBI’s 6th bi-monthly monetary policy statement says that
Repo rate: RBI has reduced the policy repo rate under the liquidity adjustment facility (LAF) by 25 basis points from 8.0 per cent to 7.75 per cent.
Cash reserve ratio (CRR): RBI has unchanged CRR and kept it at 4.0 per cent of net demand and time liabilities (NDTL).
Reverse repo rate: RBI has adjusted reverse repo rate under the LAF to 6.75 per cent.
While, RBI has adjusted Marginal standing facility (MSF) rate and the Bank Rate to 8.75 per cent with immediate effect.

4.Indian cricket team has unveiled new eco-friendly ODI jersey ahead of the triangular series starting in Australia on 16 January 2015. It was unveiled in Melbourne.
Key facts of Team India’s eco-friendly ODI jersey
It is made out of 100% recycled polyester obtained from 33 recycled plastic bottles.
The new light weight kit combines high performance innovation with sustainability.
The jersey is light, comfortable and packed with innovation.
This eco-friendly jersey kit is made by BCCI’s official apparel sponsor Nike.

5.In India, Army Day is being observed every year on 15 January.
Significance of Day: In 1949, on this day Lt. General (later Field Marshal) Kodandera Madappa Cariappa became the first Indian Commander-in-Chief of the Indian Army (of the independent India) by succeeding British Army General Roy Butche

6.India’s open water swimmer Bhakti Sharma has set a new world record by swimming 1.4 miles in 52 minutes in one degree temperature in the Antarctic Ocean.
She has bettered the earlier record of British open water swimmer Lewis Pugh and American swimmer Lynne Cox. She is also the first Asian girl and youngest in the world to achieve this feat.
Hindustan Zinc had sponsored her to achieve this feat and pursue swimming career.

7.Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh has handed over Resident Identity Card (RIC) readers to Navy Chief Admiral R K Dhowan and Coast Guard Director General Vice-Admiral A G Thapliyal.
As part of RIC Scheme, these maritime security gadgets will be used by security agencies to check identity cards of the residents of coastal areas issued under RIC Scheme.
Government had issued more than 65 lakh people mainly residents of coastal villages with identity cards as per RIC Scheme under the National Population Registrar.

8.Italy’s President Giorgio Napolitano has resigned from office. He has resigned citing reason of poor health ahead of his 2020 expiry term. He also announced his retirement after stepping down as President.

9.Eminent Sanskrit scholar Prabhu Nath Dwivedi has been conferred with prestigious Sahitya Akademi Award 2014 for Sanskrit language.
He was chosen for his work Kanakalochanaha- a collection of 16 short-stories based upon various social issues eroding the system.
His book was selected by a three-member jury of the Sahitya Akademi.
Mr Diwedi is Sanskrit teacher and has been teaching in various universities for more than three decades.

10.M.Y.S. Prasad, director of Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota Range (SHAR), has been selected for the prestigious Vikram Sarabhai memorial award 2014-15.
He will be presented award by the Indian Science Congress Association (ISCA).
He was selected for this award for his outstanding contribution to R&D in the field of space science in his long and chequered career at the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).
Prior to Dr. Prasad, former ISRO chairmen Dr. Satish Dhawan, Dr. K. Kasturi Rangan, Dr. G. Madhavan Nair and Dr. K. Radhakrishnan have received this prestigious award.

11.Pope Francis has declared 17th century Indian priest and missionary Joseph Vaz as saint in Colombo, Sri Lanka.
Pope announced it while addressing a holy mass for 5 lakh people at the Gall Face Green in Colombo. Joseph Vaz has become first priest from Sri Lanka, canonised as saint.

12.The team of ISRO’s Mars Mission has been awarded 2015 Space Pioneer Award in the Science and Engineering category by National Space Society (NSS).
They are being conferred with this award for achieving the rare feat of entering Mars orbit in maiden attempt.
Mars Orbiter Programme Team will receive the award during NSS’ 34th International Space Development Conference which will be held in Toronto from 20 May 2015.
ISRO’s Mars Orbiter Mission(MOM)
It was launched on 5 November, 2013. It made history on 24 September 2014 after it entered Mars orbit in maiden attempt.
It achieved two significant missions. First, entering into orbit around Mars and secondly, taking full-disk colour imagery of Mars with its onboard high resolution camera.
It should be noted that, the Mars Orbiter programme team is located in Bengaluru, Karnataka. It is headed by eminent ISRO scientist Mylswamy Annadurai.
About Space Pioneer Award
It recognizes those individuals and teams whose accomplishments have helped to open the space frontier. It was instituted in 1988.
This prestigious award is be given by the National Space Society (NSS), an American educational and scientific organization.
Award memento consists of a silvery pewter Moon globe cast. It is casted by the Baker Art Foundry in Placerville, California. Originally, this sculpture was created by Don Davis, the well-known space and astronomical artist.

13.nion Government has sacked chief of Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO) Avinash Chander, 16 months before his contract end.
Termination of his contract was approved by Appointments Committee of Cabinet (ACC) headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi with effect from 31 January 2015.
He was appointed as DRDO chief in June 2013. He was to retire on 30 November 2014, but government had extended his tenure beyond his retirement on contract basis

14.Union Urban Development Ministry, United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and Bill and Milinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) have agreed to partner in Swachh Bharat programme.
In this regard, USAID has inked a pact with the Urban Development Ministry while BGMF signed a Memorandum of Cooperation.
The Memoranda were signed in presence of Union Urban Development Minister M Venkaiah Naidu and US Ambassador to India, Richard Verma.

15.Railway Ministry has flagged off India’s first compressed natural gas (CNG) powered train between Rewari and Rohtak in Haryana.
It was flagged off by Union Minister for Railways Suresh Prabhu at Rewari junction of the Northern Railway zone.
Some facts about CNG train
It is powered by Diesel Electric Multiple Unit (DEMU). It is based on dual fuel system- diesel and CNG.
This train is integrated with 1,400 HP engine to run on dual fuel through fumigation technology.
It is capable of running at a speed of 100 km per hour.
Train comprised of two power cars and six car coaches, manufactured by Integral Coach Factory at Chennai with the CNG conversion kit supplied by Cummins.
Its successful implementation, marks a major landmark in adoption of green fuel by Indian Railways.

16.A British magazine has named RBI Governor and well-known economist Raghuram Rajan as the Governor of the Year in the Central Banking Awards for 2015.

17.Well-known Hindi scholar and writer Dr Kamal Kishore Goyanka has been selected for the prestigious Vyas Samman for the year 2014.
He has been chosen for this award for his research work ‘Premchand Kee Kahaniyo Kaa Kaalkramanusar Adhyayan’.
Vyas Samman
This award is instituted by the K.K. Birla Foundation. It was started in 1991.
It is awarded annually in recognition of the hindi literary work published in past 10 years.
The award carries monetary award of 2.5 lakh rupees, a citation and a plaque.

18.Alur Seelin Kiran Kumar has been appointed chairman of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).
His name was cleared by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC), headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
He will replace former ISRO chairman K Radhakrishnan who had retired on 31 December 2014. He will have tenure of 3 years from the date he take charge.
Previously, Shailesh Nayak, Secretary, Ministry of Earth Sciences, was given additional charge of ISRO till the appointment of a new head following the retirement of K Radhakrishnan.

19.India and Bangladesh inaugurated third border haat in Srinagar-Purba on the Tripura-Bangladesh border.
It was inaugurated by Union Commerce and Industries Minister Nirmala along with her Bangladeshi counterpart Tofail ahmed in the presence of Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar.
This is the first border haat opened in state Tripura which shares 856-km border with Bangladesh.

20.Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha was appointed Chief Justice of Bangladesh by President Mohammad Abdul Hamid.
With this appointment, he has become the first Hindu to hold highest judicial post in the Muslim-majority country.
He will succeed incumbent Chief Justice Md Muzammel Hossain as he is retiring on 16 January 2015 and will have a term of around three years.

21.Cristiano Ronaldo has won the FIFA Ballon d’Or award for year 2014.
He has earned this title of world’s best football player for a third time. Earlier he was conferred with award in 2008 and 2013.

22.Eminent Economist Arvind Panagariya has taken charge as first Vice-Chairman of the newly-created National Institution for Transforming India (NITI) Aayog on 13 January 2014.
After taking charges, he was briefed about newly created NITI Aayog by its CEO Sindhushree Khuallar and other senior officials.
Background
On 5 January 2015, Union government had announced the appointment of Vice- Chairman, 2 full time members, 4 ex-officio members (Union ministers) and 3 special invitees of Aayog.
They were appointed after government on 1 January 2015 had announced that NITI Aayog has replaced the 65-year old Planning Commission.
It should be noted that Prime Minister is Ex-Officio Chairman of NITI Aayog.
Prime Minister Naredra Modi also had appointed Economist Bibek Debroy and former DRDO chief V K Saraswat as full-time members of Aayog.
While, Union Ministers Rajnath Singh, Arun Jaitley, Suresh Prabhu and Radha Mohan Singh were appointed as the Ex-Officio members of Aayog. Other Union Ministers like Nitin Gadkari, Smriti Zubin Irani and Thawar Chand Gehlot are Special Invitees in Aayog.

23.Sun Temple at Konark, Odhisa has been the coveted with Adarsh Monument tag by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI).
Along with Sun Temple, three other monuments of eastern India were given Adarsh Monument tag. They are
Hazarduari Palace in Murshidabad district of West Bengal.
Vaishali-Kolhua in Bihar.
Rang Ghar in Sibsagar (Sivasagar) district of Assam.

24.Idukki district of Kerala has become first district in India to have high speed Rural Broadband Network i.e. National Optical Fibre Network (NOFN) Internet connectivity.
Union Minister of Information Technology and Communications Ravi Shankar Prasad commissioned this Hi-speed rural broadband network under the governments flagship Digital India programme.
In Idukki, 8 block offices and 52 village panchayats out of 53 will benefit from this project.
Facts about National Optical Fibre Network (NOFN)
NOFN is the largest rural connectivity project of its kind in the world.
It aims to transform the country into a digitally empowered society and knowledge economy.
It seeks to link each of the 2.5 lakh village panchayats in the country spread over 6600 blocks and 631 districts through broadband optical fibre network in order to provide a minimum bandwidth of 100 Mbps.
On its completion, NOFN is expected to facilitate Broadband connectivity to over 600 million rural citizens of the country.
NOFN, is being funded by the Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF), Department of Telecom, Ministry of Communications & IT.
It will offer people with friendly services like e-governance, e-health, e-education, e-banking, public internet access etc. It will also enable delivery of various government services such as local planning, management, monitoring and payments of Government schemes at panchayat level.
Thus it will help to provide non-discriminatory telecom infrastructure, in order to bridge the gap of digital divide in rural internet access.

25.72nd edition of Golden Globe Awards was organized at Beverly Hills, California.
The winners of various awards in 72nd Golden Globe Awards are as follows:
Best Motion Picture Drama: Boyhood
Best Motion Picture Musical/Comedy: The Grand Budapest Hotel
Best Director in Motion Picture-Drama: Boyhood
Best Actor in Motion Picture-Drama: Eddie Redmayne for The Theory of Everything
Actress in Motion Picture-Drama: Julianne Moore for Still Alice
Best Actor in Motion Picture or Musical or Comedy: Michael Keaton for Birdman
Best Actress in Motion Picture Musical or Comedy: Amy Adams for Big Eyes
Best Actor in a Supporting role in Motion Picture: K. Simmons for Whiplash
Best Actress in a Supporting role in Motion Picture: Patricia Arquette for Boyhood
Best Original Score Motion Picture: Jóhann Jóhannsson for The Theory of Everything
Best Foreign Language Film: Leviathan (Russia)

26.Union Government has appointed Pournima Gupte as member (actuary) of Insurance Regulatory Authority of India (IRDA).
With her appointment, IRDA got an actuary after a gap of three years. Since 2011, this post was lying vacant after R Kannan retired from IRDA.
It should be noted that for the first time a woman has been appointed on the board of IRDA.
Earlier, Pournima Gupte had worked with Life Insurance Corporation and has worked as actuary at Reliance Life Insurance and IDBI Federal.
About Insurance Regulatory Authority of India (IRDA)
IRDA is an apex statutory body that regulates and develops the insurance industry in India.
It was constituted as per provisions of Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority Act, 1999.
Headquarters: Hyderabad, Telangana.
Structure and Composition: It is 10 members body consisting of: Chairman, 5 full-time members, 4 part-time members. All members are appointed by Union Government.
Current chairman of IRDA is T.S. Vijayan.
On 31st December 2014, Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) was renamed as ‘Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India’.

27.1.President Pranab Mukherjee has appointed Harishankar Brahma as the new Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) of India.
He will be 19th CEC of India and succeed V S Sampat who had retired after attaining age 65 on 15 January 2015.
He will take charge on 16 January 2015.
Chief Election Commissioner
As per the provisions of Article 324 of Constitution
Chief Election Commissioner and Election Commissioners are appointed by the President.
They hold office for the term of 6 years or until they attain age of 65 years, whichever is earlier.
The Chief Election Commissioner can be removed from office only through impeachment by Parliament.

2.United States has designated Maulana Fazlullah, chief of Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP)- an outfit of Pakistan’s Taliban, as global terrorist and has imposed sanctions against him.
It was announced after US Secretary of State John Kerry had asked Pakistan to target all terror outfits like the Lashkar-e-Taiba, Taliban and the Haqqani Network that pose a threat to itself, neighbours like India and to US.

3.Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has cut down repo rate by 25 basis points to 7.75 percent from 8 percent, with immediate effect.
It was announced ahead of the scheduled date of monetary policy announcement on 3rd February 2015 as part of RBI’s 6th bi-monthly monetary policy statement.
RBI’s 6th bi-monthly monetary policy statement says that
Repo rate: RBI has reduced the policy repo rate under the liquidity adjustment facility (LAF) by 25 basis points from 8.0 per cent to 7.75 per cent.
Cash reserve ratio (CRR): RBI has unchanged CRR and kept it at 4.0 per cent of net demand and time liabilities (NDTL).
Reverse repo rate: RBI has adjusted reverse repo rate under the LAF to 6.75 per cent.
While, RBI has adjusted Marginal standing facility (MSF) rate and the Bank Rate to 8.75 per cent with immediate effect.

4.Indian cricket team has unveiled new eco-friendly ODI jersey ahead of the triangular series starting in Australia on 16 January 2015. It was unveiled in Melbourne.
Key facts of Team India’s eco-friendly ODI jersey
It is made out of 100% recycled polyester obtained from 33 recycled plastic bottles.
The new light weight kit combines high performance innovation with sustainability.
The jersey is light, comfortable and packed with innovation.
This eco-friendly jersey kit is made by BCCI’s official apparel sponsor Nike.

5.In India, Army Day is being observed every year on 15 January.
Significance of Day: In 1949, on this day Lt. General (later Field Marshal) Kodandera Madappa Cariappa became the first Indian Commander-in-Chief of the Indian Army (of the independent India) by succeeding British Army General Roy Butche

6.India’s open water swimmer Bhakti Sharma has set a new world record by swimming 1.4 miles in 52 minutes in one degree temperature in the Antarctic Ocean.
She has bettered the earlier record of British open water swimmer Lewis Pugh and American swimmer Lynne Cox. She is also the first Asian girl and youngest in the world to achieve this feat.
Hindustan Zinc had sponsored her to achieve this feat and pursue swimming career.

7.Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh has handed over Resident Identity Card (RIC) readers to Navy Chief Admiral R K Dhowan and Coast Guard Director General Vice-Admiral A G Thapliyal.
As part of RIC Scheme, these maritime security gadgets will be used by security agencies to check identity cards of the residents of coastal areas issued under RIC Scheme.
Government had issued more than 65 lakh people mainly residents of coastal villages with identity cards as per RIC Scheme under the National Population Registrar.

8.Italy’s President Giorgio Napolitano has resigned from office. He has resigned citing reason of poor health ahead of his 2020 expiry term. He also announced his retirement after stepping down as President.

9.Eminent Sanskrit scholar Prabhu Nath Dwivedi has been conferred with prestigious Sahitya Akademi Award 2014 for Sanskrit language.
He was chosen for his work Kanakalochanaha- a collection of 16 short-stories based upon various social issues eroding the system.
His book was selected by a three-member jury of the Sahitya Akademi.
Mr Diwedi is Sanskrit teacher and has been teaching in various universities for more than three decades.

10.M.Y.S. Prasad, director of Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota Range (SHAR), has been selected for the prestigious Vikram Sarabhai memorial award 2014-15.
He will be presented award by the Indian Science Congress Association (ISCA).
He was selected for this award for his outstanding contribution to R&D in the field of space science in his long and chequered career at the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).
Prior to Dr. Prasad, former ISRO chairmen Dr. Satish Dhawan, Dr. K. Kasturi Rangan, Dr. G. Madhavan Nair and Dr. K. Radhakrishnan have received this prestigious award.

11.Pope Francis has declared 17th century Indian priest and missionary Joseph Vaz as saint in Colombo, Sri Lanka.
Pope announced it while addressing a holy mass for 5 lakh people at the Gall Face Green in Colombo. Joseph Vaz has become first priest from Sri Lanka, canonised as saint.

12.The team of ISRO’s Mars Mission has been awarded 2015 Space Pioneer Award in the Science and Engineering category by National Space Society (NSS).
They are being conferred with this award for achieving the rare feat of entering Mars orbit in maiden attempt.
Mars Orbiter Programme Team will receive the award during NSS’ 34th International Space Development Conference which will be held in Toronto from 20 May 2015.
ISRO’s Mars Orbiter Mission(MOM)
It was launched on 5 November, 2013. It made history on 24 September 2014 after it entered Mars orbit in maiden attempt.
It achieved two significant missions. First, entering into orbit around Mars and secondly, taking full-disk colour imagery of Mars with its onboard high resolution camera.
It should be noted that, the Mars Orbiter programme team is located in Bengaluru, Karnataka. It is headed by eminent ISRO scientist Mylswamy Annadurai.
About Space Pioneer Award
It recognizes those individuals and teams whose accomplishments have helped to open the space frontier. It was instituted in 1988.
This prestigious award is be given by the National Space Society (NSS), an American educational and scientific organization.
Award memento consists of a silvery pewter Moon globe cast. It is casted by the Baker Art Foundry in Placerville, California. Originally, this sculpture was created by Don Davis, the well-known space and astronomical artist.

13.nion Government has sacked chief of Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO) Avinash Chander, 16 months before his contract end.
Termination of his contract was approved by Appointments Committee of Cabinet (ACC) headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi with effect from 31 January 2015.
He was appointed as DRDO chief in June 2013. He was to retire on 30 November 2014, but government had extended his tenure beyond his retirement on contract basis

14.Union Urban Development Ministry, United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and Bill and Milinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) have agreed to partner in Swachh Bharat programme.
In this regard, USAID has inked a pact with the Urban Development Ministry while BGMF signed a Memorandum of Cooperation.
The Memoranda were signed in presence of Union Urban Development Minister M Venkaiah Naidu and US Ambassador to India, Richard Verma.

15.Railway Ministry has flagged off India’s first compressed natural gas (CNG) powered train between Rewari and Rohtak in Haryana.
It was flagged off by Union Minister for Railways Suresh Prabhu at Rewari junction of the Northern Railway zone.
Some facts about CNG train
It is powered by Diesel Electric Multiple Unit (DEMU). It is based on dual fuel system- diesel and CNG.
This train is integrated with 1,400 HP engine to run on dual fuel through fumigation technology.
It is capable of running at a speed of 100 km per hour.
Train comprised of two power cars and six car coaches, manufactured by Integral Coach Factory at Chennai with the CNG conversion kit supplied by Cummins.
Its successful implementation, marks a major landmark in adoption of green fuel by Indian Railways.

16.A British magazine has named RBI Governor and well-known economist Raghuram Rajan as the Governor of the Year in the Central Banking Awards for 2015.

17.Well-known Hindi scholar and writer Dr Kamal Kishore Goyanka has been selected for the prestigious Vyas Samman for the year 2014.
He has been chosen for this award for his research work ‘Premchand Kee Kahaniyo Kaa Kaalkramanusar Adhyayan’.
Vyas Samman
This award is instituted by the K.K. Birla Foundation. It was started in 1991.
It is awarded annually in recognition of the hindi literary work published in past 10 years.
The award carries monetary award of 2.5 lakh rupees, a citation and a plaque.

18.Alur Seelin Kiran Kumar has been appointed chairman of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).
His name was cleared by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC), headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
He will replace former ISRO chairman K Radhakrishnan who had retired on 31 December 2014. He will have tenure of 3 years from the date he take charge.
Previously, Shailesh Nayak, Secretary, Ministry of Earth Sciences, was given additional charge of ISRO till the appointment of a new head following the retirement of K Radhakrishnan.

19.India and Bangladesh inaugurated third border haat in Srinagar-Purba on the Tripura-Bangladesh border.
It was inaugurated by Union Commerce and Industries Minister Nirmala along with her Bangladeshi counterpart Tofail ahmed in the presence of Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar.
This is the first border haat opened in state Tripura which shares 856-km border with Bangladesh.

20.Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha was appointed Chief Justice of Bangladesh by President Mohammad Abdul Hamid.
With this appointment, he has become the first Hindu to hold highest judicial post in the Muslim-majority country.
He will succeed incumbent Chief Justice Md Muzammel Hossain as he is retiring on 16 January 2015 and will have a term of around three years.

21.Cristiano Ronaldo has won the FIFA Ballon d’Or award for year 2014.
He has earned this title of world’s best football player for a third time. Earlier he was conferred with award in 2008 and 2013.

22.Eminent Economist Arvind Panagariya has taken charge as first Vice-Chairman of the newly-created National Institution for Transforming India (NITI) Aayog on 13 January 2014.
After taking charges, he was briefed about newly created NITI Aayog by its CEO Sindhushree Khuallar and other senior officials.
Background
On 5 January 2015, Union government had announced the appointment of Vice- Chairman, 2 full time members, 4 ex-officio members (Union ministers) and 3 special invitees of Aayog.
They were appointed after government on 1 January 2015 had announced that NITI Aayog has replaced the 65-year old Planning Commission.
It should be noted that Prime Minister is Ex-Officio Chairman of NITI Aayog.
Prime Minister Naredra Modi also had appointed Economist Bibek Debroy and former DRDO chief V K Saraswat as full-time members of Aayog.
While, Union Ministers Rajnath Singh, Arun Jaitley, Suresh Prabhu and Radha Mohan Singh were appointed as the Ex-Officio members of Aayog. Other Union Ministers like Nitin Gadkari, Smriti Zubin Irani and Thawar Chand Gehlot are Special Invitees in Aayog.

23.Sun Temple at Konark, Odhisa has been the coveted with Adarsh Monument tag by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI).
Along with Sun Temple, three other monuments of eastern India were given Adarsh Monument tag. They are
Hazarduari Palace in Murshidabad district of West Bengal.
Vaishali-Kolhua in Bihar.
Rang Ghar in Sibsagar (Sivasagar) district of Assam.

24.Idukki district of Kerala has become first district in India to have high speed Rural Broadband Network i.e. National Optical Fibre Network (NOFN) Internet connectivity.
Union Minister of Information Technology and Communications Ravi Shankar Prasad commissioned this Hi-speed rural broadband network under the governments flagship Digital India programme.
In Idukki, 8 block offices and 52 village panchayats out of 53 will benefit from this project.
Facts about National Optical Fibre Network (NOFN)
NOFN is the largest rural connectivity project of its kind in the world.
It aims to transform the country into a digitally empowered society and knowledge economy.
It seeks to link each of the 2.5 lakh village panchayats in the country spread over 6600 blocks and 631 districts through broadband optical fibre network in order to provide a minimum bandwidth of 100 Mbps.
On its completion, NOFN is expected to facilitate Broadband connectivity to over 600 million rural citizens of the country.
NOFN, is being funded by the Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF), Department of Telecom, Ministry of Communications & IT.
It will offer people with friendly services like e-governance, e-health, e-education, e-banking, public internet access etc. It will also enable delivery of various government services such as local planning, management, monitoring and payments of Government schemes at panchayat level.
Thus it will help to provide non-discriminatory telecom infrastructure, in order to bridge the gap of digital divide in rural internet access.

25.72nd edition of Golden Globe Awards was organized at Beverly Hills, California.
The winners of various awards in 72nd Golden Globe Awards are as follows:
Best Motion Picture Drama: Boyhood
Best Motion Picture Musical/Comedy: The Grand Budapest Hotel
Best Director in Motion Picture-Drama: Boyhood
Best Actor in Motion Picture-Drama: Eddie Redmayne for The Theory of Everything
Actress in Motion Picture-Drama: Julianne Moore for Still Alice
Best Actor in Motion Picture or Musical or Comedy: Michael Keaton for Birdman
Best Actress in Motion Picture Musical or Comedy: Amy Adams for Big Eyes
Best Actor in a Supporting role in Motion Picture: K. Simmons for Whiplash
Best Actress in a Supporting role in Motion Picture: Patricia Arquette for Boyhood
Best Original Score Motion Picture: Jóhann Jóhannsson for The Theory of Everything
Best Foreign Language Film: Leviathan (Russia)

26.Union Government has appointed Pournima Gupte as member (actuary) of Insurance Regulatory Authority of India (IRDA).
With her appointment, IRDA got an actuary after a gap of three years. Since 2011, this post was lying vacant after R Kannan retired from IRDA.
It should be noted that for the first time a woman has been appointed on the board of IRDA.
Earlier, Pournima Gupte had worked with Life Insurance Corporation and has worked as actuary at Reliance Life Insurance and IDBI Federal.
About Insurance Regulatory Authority of India (IRDA)
IRDA is an apex statutory body that regulates and develops the insurance industry in India.
It was constituted as per provisions of Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority Act, 1999.
Headquarters: Hyderabad, Telangana.
Structure and Composition: It is 10 members body consisting of: Chairman, 5 full-time members, 4 part-time members. All members are appointed by Union Government.
Current chairman of IRDA is T.S. Vijayan.
On 31st December 2014, Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) was renamed as ‘Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India’.

27.Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has adopted 4 villages in Vadodara district in Gujarat as part of the Sansad Adarsh Gram Yojana.
He has adopted following 4 villages of Vadodara district:
Karnali village
Pipaliya village
Valida village
Baglipura village
About Saansad Adarsh Gram Yojana (SAGY)
SAGY encourages Members of Parliament (MP’s) from both Houses to identify and develop one village from their constituency as a model village
Under this scheme, MPs will be responsible for developing the socio-economic and physical infrastructure of three villages each by 2019, and a total of eight villages each by 2024.
Key objectives of the Yojana include:
The development of model villages, called Adarsh Grams, through the implementation of existing schemes, and certain new initiatives to be designed for the local context, which may vary from village to village.
Creating models of local development which can be replicated in other villages.
Under this SAGY, the first Adarsh Gram must be developed by 2016, and two more by 2019.
From 2019 to 2024, five more Adarsh Grams must be developed by each MP, one each year. This implies that a total of 6,433 Adarsh Grams, of the 2,65,000 gram panchayats, will be created by 2024.
Thus, SAGY aims to transform lives of many for whom economic development never happened and also bring about a sense of pride, volunteerism, and self-reliance in villages.

28.Tennis living legend Roger Federer has recorded 1000 titles wins in men’s professional circuit career.
He made his 1000 win after winning Brisbane International Tennis title. In his 1,000 career match, he defeated Milos Raonic with score of 6-4, 6-7, 6-4.
It should be noted that Roger Federer is third tennis player to win more than 1000 titles. Other two tennis player are Jimmy Connors and Ivan Lendl.

29.United Nations (UN) Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon inaugurated Gujarat’s second canal-top 10-MW solar power project.
It is located on 5.5 km stretch of Vadodara branch of Sardar Sarovar project canal. It is implemented by Hyderabad-based Megha Engineering and Infrastructure Limited (MEIL)

30.First ministerial meeting of the Forum of China and the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) concluded in Beijing.
It was two-day meeting and was co-chaired by Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and his Costa Rican counterpart, Manuel Gonzalez Sanz.
First China-CELAC Forum ministerial meeting passed three major documents:
Beijing Declaration.
Five-year cooperation plan.
Regulations on the China-CELAC forum.
Both sides also reached a consensus on deepening political mutual trust, expanding cooperation and promoting development of the forum.
On the concluding day it was announced that forum’s next meeting will be held in Chile in 2018.

31.Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated 7th Vibrant Gujarat Summit in Mahatma Mandir, Gandhinagar.
Key facts
Inaugural ceremony was attended by United Nations General Secretary and US State Secretary John Kerry.
Apart from them, several ministers from Europe, Japan, Australia and Canada and over 50 CEOs of top Indian as well as international companies attended it.
Gujarat Chief Minister Anandi Ben Patel earlier had welcomed all head of states dignitaries, diplomats and deligates to the summit.
This edition will be 3 day event, starting from 11 January and conclude on 13 January 2015.
For the first time, eight countries Canada, Japan, China, Australia, the Netherlands, Singapore, South Africa and U.S. have become partner for the summit with State.
This event is expected to bring in record investments to Gujarat. State government expects to sign over 20,000 Expression of Interest during the summit.

32.People from 11 countries have taken part in First Buddha Heritage Walk in Bihar.
In this heritage walk over 500 pilgrims from 11 countries walked through a 13-km-long forest trail.
They walked through the trail which Lord Gautam Buddha had taken to reach Rajgir from Bodh Gaya around 2,543 years ago.
It was organized by Bihar State Tourism Development Corporation (BSTDC).
Buddhist monks from Japan, China, South Korea, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Vietnam, Taiwan, Indonesia, Malaysia, Brazil, and India took part in it.
Some facts about this route
As per scholars, this well documented route is among such several routes taken by Buddha during his 45 years of preaching in various parts of India.
It passes through lush green forest, hills and valleys and several ancient Stupas can be seen in the along the route.
It is also believed that Bimibsara (emperor of the Magadha Empire from 542 BC till 492 BC) took Lord Buddha to Venu Van near Rajgir on this route and offered him place to stay as a gift. Buddha had stayed there during his visit.

33.Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has successfully tested an advanced electronic warfare (EW) suite.
It was tested onboard of the country’s Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas-PV1.
Key facts about Electronic Warfare (EW) suite
It is developed by Defence Avionics Research Establishment (DARE) of DRDO.
EW suite consists of Radar Warner and Jammer.
This suit gives pilot an additional capability of nullifying the effect of detected radar threat by appropriate mode of jamming.
It will replace existing EW systems, which are fitted on various combat aircraft as they consist of basic equipment – Radar Warner Receiver. It only has capability to provide warning to the aircraft pilot in case of detection of a radar threat.

34.Every year 10 January is being observed World Hindi Day. Objective of this day is to promote use of Hindi language abroad.
To mark the occasion, special functions are being organized. It is usually, observed by Union Ministry of External Affairs (MoEF) and Indian Missions abroad.
Background of World Hindi Day
On this day in 1975, the First World Hindi Conference was organized in Nagpur by then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. It was held from 10 to 12 January 1975.
In first conference, then Prime Minister of Mauritius Seewoosagur Ramgoolam was Chief Guest. This conference was attended by 122 delegates from 30 countries.
Since then every year 10th January is being observed as the World Hindi Day.

35.Appointment Committee of the Cabinet has appointed senior bureaucrat Sindhushree Khullar as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of NITI Aayog.
She will serve in the post for one year starting from 1st January.
She is 1975-batch officer of the Indian Administrative Service’s (IAS) Union Territories cadre. She had retired from the service in March 2013. Earlier, she was member-secretary of Planning Commission.

36.3 day Flamingo Festival has begun at the famous brackish water of Lake Pulicat in Nelapattu Bird Sanctuary located at Nellore district of Andhra Pradesh. It will be hosted in Doravari Satram mandal, in Nellore district.

37.Tata’s Vistara airline has started domestic flight operation in India. Vistara started its flight operation after first flight took off from Delhi to Mumbai on 9 January 2015.
Vistara airline is a joint venture of Tata Sons and Singapore Airlines (SIA). Earlier in 2014, Tata Group had to launch a full-service carrier in India with the help of SIA.
Some facts about Vistara airline
As part of joint venture Tata group owns 51 percent stake of Vistara airline, while Singapore Airlines holds 49 percent of stake.
In the first year of their service, they will operate flights from Delhi to Goa, Mumbai, Bangalore, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Chandigarh, Srinagar, Jammu and Patna.
To start full-service, Vistara has leased two A320s air crafts.
It will be the third full-service airlines in India, after state-run Air India and private carrier Jet Airways.
This is the second time the Tata group, has entered the full service airline business in India. First time in 1932, they had started Tata Airlines, which was later renamed Air India in 1946, and was nationalised in 1953.

38.Prominent Chinese theoretical physicist Yu Min has been awarded State Preeminent Science and Technology Award for 2014.
Chinese President Xi Jinping gave him the award in the ceremony held at Great Hall of the People in Beijing.
He was awarded for his groundbreaking research which led to the development of China’s first hydrogen bomb in 1967. It was tested after China’s first successful atomic weapons test. He is famously known as China’s ‘Father of Hydrogen bomb’.

39.Union Government has merged Persons of Indian Origin (PIO) card-holders with Overseas Citizens of India (OCI) card-holders.
Union Home Ministry in this regard has issued notification mentioning that all PIO card-holders henceforth are deemed to be OCI card-holders with effect from 9th January 2015.
Thus, withdrawing PIO cards with immediate an effect. Now only OCI cards facility with enhanced benefits will exist to provide maximum possible benefits to Indian Diaspora.
This notification was announced on the concluding day of 13th Pravasi Bharatiya Diwas.
Background
Earlier on January 6, 2015 Government had promulgated Ordinance to amend the Citizenship Act, 1955.
This amendment changed the eligibility and provided additional benefits of PIO Card holders that have been incorporated in OCI Card and certain other relaxation to OCI Card holders.
Governments this decision comes in lines with Prime Minister Narendra Modi previously made announcement in USA and Australia visits.
During this visit he had announced that PIO and OCI cards will be merged and the Indian Diaspora will be given maximum possible benefits.

40.Aziz Qureshi has sworn-in as the Governor of Mizoram. Justice Michael Zothankhuma, Judge of the Gauhati High Court, administered the oath of office to Qureshi.
The swearing-in ceremony was held at the Durbar Hall of the Raj Bhavan in Aizawl. It was attended by the s Mizoram Chief Minister Lal Thanhawla and some of his cabinet colleagues.
Earlier Aziz Qureshi was governor of Uttarakhand. But in December 2014, he was transferred from Uttarakhand and was appointed as the Mizoram Governor.

41.Pravasi Bharatiya Samman 2015 has been awarded to 15 prominent non-resident Indians (NRI’s) on the concluding day of 13th Pravasi Bharatiya Diwas.
They have been conferred with award for their contribution in various fields. The awards were presented by Vice-President Hamid Ansari at Mahatma Mandir in Gandhinagar, Gujarat.
Recipients of awards are
Satyanarayan Nadella- CEO of tech giant Microsoft.
Donald Rabindernauth Ramaotar- He is President of Guyana and awarded for his work for the Indian diaspora in Guyana.
Mala Mehta- For her contribution to Hindi language. She is founder of Indo- Australian Bal Bharatiya Vidyalaya in Thornleigh suburb in Sydney. Since its establishment, she has been pursuing the growth of Hindi in Australia.
Rajaram Sanjaya- He is India-born Mexican scientist. He is winner of the ‘2014 World Food Prize’ for developing 480 wheat varieties that have been released in 51 countries.
Kanwaljit Singh Bakhshi- He is Member of Parliament (MP) from New Zealand. He is also known for work he had done for the Indian diaspora in New Zealand.
Essop Goolam Pahad- He is a South African politician. He was Minister in the Presidency from 1999 to September 2008 in South Africa.
Mahendra Nanji Mehta- Uganda-based businessman of Indian origin.
Professor Nathuram Poori -He is founder of Purico Group are also chosen for their contribution to Indian diaspora.
Lord Raj Lumba- He is a philanthropist and founder of clothing company Rinku Group. He is a Liberal Democrat member of the House of Lords, United Kingdom.
Kamlesh Lulla- He is chief scientist for Earth observation in the Human Exploration Science Office at the Johnson Space Centre at NASA. He has named for the award for his exceptional service to the space science.
Nandini Tandon- She has been given this award for her work in life sciences and Healthcare and IT in USA and India along with other emerging markets.
Rajmal Parakh
Duraikannu Karunakaran
Shah Bharatkumar Jayantilal
Ashraf Palarkunnummal
About Pravasi Bharatiya Samman
It is the highest honour conferred on overseas Indians. As a part of the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (PBD), this award is conferred by the President of India on
Non-Resident Indian, Person of Indian Origin (PIO) or
An organization or institution established and run by the Non-Resident Indians or Persons of Indian Origin.
This award carries a bilingual Sanad (certificate) under the hand and the seal of the President. In addition, it includes a citation, a gold medallion and a miniature of the medallion in the form of a lapel pin.

42.Maithiripala Sirisena has sworn-in as 7th President of Sri Lanka.
Sri Lanka’s Supreme Court Judge K. Sri Pawan administered the oath of office to Maithiripala Sirisena at a oath taking function held at the Independence Square in Colombo.
While, United National Party (UNP) leader Ranil Wickramasinghe was sworn-in as Sri Lanka’s Prime Minister.
Election verdict: Maithiripala Sirisena was declared elected in Presidential elections after he had defeated incumbent President Mahinda Rajapaksa by more than 4 and a half lakh votes. In this election he had secured 51.28 per cent of total votes casted.

43.Governor’s rule has been imposed in the state of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K).
It was imposed after President Pranab Mukherjee approved the recommendation of J&K Governor N. N. Vohra as there is deadlock in the State over formation of a new government after state assembly election.
Earlier, Governor had submitted a report to the President, after caretaker Chief Minister Omar Abdullah had resigned.
Background
Jammu Kashmir State assembly election held in December 2014 had given hung verdict as no party has majority to form government in State.
In this election, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has emerged as the single largest party with 28 seats in the 87 members House. While Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) has emerged second largest party winning 25 seats. But both parties failed to get the magic figure of 44 to form a government.
Other parties like National Conference (NC) have 15 MLAs while Indian National Congress (INC) has 12 MLA’s.
What is Governor Rule in Jammu & Kashmir?
In case of failure of constitutional machinery in any other state of India, the President’s Rule is imposed under Article 356 of the Constitution.
But in case of J&K, as per Section 92 of state Constitution, the Governor’s Rule can be imposed in the state for a period of six months only after the consent of the President of India in case of failure of constitutional machinery. During the Governors rule, State Assembly is either suspended or dissolved.
If the Constitutional machinery is not restored before the expiry of this six month period, the provision of Article 356 of the Constitution of India are extended to J&K and the President’s rule is imposed in the State.
It should be noted that, Governors rule has been imposed in the state for the 6 time since 1977.

44.M. Karunanidhi has been re-elected as the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) Party’s President for the 11th time. He was elected by the newly constituted general council of party.

45.NASA’s Kepler Space Telescope has achieved a big milestone after it had discovered 1000 exoplanet.
In order to achieve this milestone, planet hunting telescope had continuously monitored more than 150,000 stars beyond our solar system.
It has offered scientists an assortment of more than 4,000 candidate planets for further study and recently, 1,000 exoplanet was verified among these monitored stars.

46.apanese automaker Honda has agreed to pay US 70 million dollars in fines to the US authorities for failing to report safety issues involving its cars.
It was announced by the US regulator National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) after Honda had accepted liability for the breach on safety issues.
As per NHTSA, Honda failed to report more than 1,700 death and injury claims involving its cars between July 2003 and June 2014.
In this regard, Honda will pay two $35 million fines, making it as the largest amount ever paid by any automaker.

47.Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi has inaugurated the Dandi Kutir museum in Gujarat’s capital of Gandhinagar. It is a state-of-the-art three-storey museum, based upon the life and works of Mahatma Gandhi.
It was inaugurated on the occasion of the 13th Pravasi Bhartiya Divas (PBD) and 7th edition of Vibrant Gujarat.

48.The 19th National Youth Festival has begun in Guwahati, Assam. This festival coincides with the 152nd birth anniversary of Swami Vivekananda.
Theme of this edition of youth festival is Youth for Clean, Green and Progressive India. It aims to spread to spread national integration and harmony.

49.President Pranab Mukherjee has signed an ordinance to amend the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 as per Article 123 of Constitution. This ordinance will pave the way for plying of e-rickshaws on roads of Delhi.
Earlier, in December 2014 Union Cabinet had approved promulgation of the ordinance as a bill in this regard was not able to pass in the recently concluded winter session of Parliament due to logjam in Upper House (Rajya Sabha).
Background
Previously in July 2014, Delhi High Court had banned E-rickshaws or battery-operated three-wheeler vehicles on safety concerns.
Union government had brought Motor Vehicles Amendment Bill, 2014 to amend to parent Act in order to legalize E-rickshaws. It was passed by the Lok Sabha.
Article 123 of Constitution: It gives legislative power to President. He can issue ordinances when Parliament is in recess i.e. not in session if there is urgent need to have a law on some urgent public matter. The ordinance has similar effect to an act of parliament.
However, every ordinance must be laid and approved by both houses of the parliament within 6 weeks from the reassembling. If not placed and approved by both houses of the parliament after reassembling it becomes invalid.

50.Private sector Kotak Mahindra Bank has received its shareholders nod for merger of Bengalaru-headquartered ING Vysya Bank with itself.
It was approved by the 99.30 per cent in number representing 99.93 per cent in value of the shareholders present.
This approval is considered as important step for merging of two banks to form new entity. Now this merger is subject to the final approval from Reserve Bank of India (RBI), Competition Commission of India (CCI) and such other approvals.