WBCS Current Affairs 03/01/2015 to 15/01/2015 part 2

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51.Kailash Satyarthi’s Nobel Prize has been put up for display at Rashtrapati Bhavan museum.
It was put for display, after Nobel Peace Prize winner Kailash Satyarthi dedicated his prize to the nation. He presented his medal to President Pranab Mukherjee in a ceremony held at Rashtrapati Bhavan.

52.Indian diplomat Atul Khare is named as UN Under Secretary-General for Field Support, Department of Field Support (DFS). It was announced by Secretary-General of United Nations Ban Ki-moon.
He will succeed Bangladesh’s Ameerah Haq. This appointment makes him as one of the highest ranking Indian officials in UN.

53.Pakistan government has enacted new law, to create constitutional military courts to try and punish terrorists.
This new law came into effect after it was signed by Pakistan President Mamnoon Hussain.
Earlier, Pakistan Army (Amendment) Bill, 2015 and 21st Constitution Amendment Bill, 2015 was passed by Pakistan’s National Assembly and the Senate.
Pakistan Army (Amendment) Bill 2015 aims to set up Constitutionally protected military courts to try and punish terrorists.
While, 21st Constitution Amendment Bill, 2015 provides constitutional cover for the establishment of military courts in Pakistan.

54.Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA Dinesh Oraon was unanimously elected as the Speaker of Jharkhand Legislative Assembly.

55.India’s largest private sector bank Industrial Credit and Investment Corporation of India (ICICI) Bank has launched country’s first ‘contactless’ debit and credit cards.
These cards will provide its customers to make electronic payments by waving the cards near the merchant terminal instead of dipping or swiping.
Facts about ICICI Bank’s contactless cards
These cards are based on the Near Field Communication (NFC) technology and powered by MasterCard contactless and Visa payWave technologies.
It provide customers with the improved convenience of speed as these cards require significantly less time than traditional cards to complete a transaction.
It also enhances security features for the customer.
Presently, bank has introduced these cards in cities like Gurgaon, Hyderabad and Mumbai. ICICI Bank also has provided with over 1200 Electronic Data Capture (EDC) machines that are capable of accepting contactless payments in these cities.

56.Bollywood actor Amitabh Bachchan is appointed as the brand ambassador for health sector in Andhra Pradesh.
His name was announced by the Andhra Pradesh state Health Minister Kamineni Srinivas.

57.Punjab has become first state in India, to completely ban the sale of loose cigarettes (even as single sticks) and loose tobacco.
State government had banned the sale of loose cigarettes and tobacco under Section 7 of the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Act, 2003 (COTPA Act, 2003).
Section 7 of COTPA bans sale of these products if they are traded, supplied or distributed without specified warning including pictorial warning on it.
State government notification in this regard clearly mentions that loose cigarettes and tobacco products do not carry a pictorial or a written warning so they are banned.
Earlier state government had banned sale of nicotine in the form of e-cigarette.
About COTPA Act, 2003
It was enacted by Parliament in 2003. It prohibits advertisement and regulates tobacco business in India.
This Act has put restriction on tobacco products which includes cigarettes, gutka, panmasala (containing tobacco), cigar, cheroot, Beedi, Snuff, chewing tobacco, hookah, tooth powder containing tobacco.

58.Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has announced Indian squad for the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015.
It was announced by the BCCI secretary Sanjay Patel, after the meeting of the selection committee of BCCI.

59.Tulsi Gabbard and Dr. Ami Bera have been sworn in for their second consecutive term in US House of Representatives.
Both of them belong to Democratic Party. They were sworn in after the 114th session of the US Congress began.
Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard is the first Hindu lawmaker in US to take her oath on Bhagavad-Gita. She was administered the oath of office by re-elected Speaker of US House of Representatives John Boehner.

60.Union cabinet meeting has approved setting up of India-based Neutrino Observatory (INO) project in Bodi West Hills, Tamil Nadu. This cabinet meeting was headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Key facts about India-based Neutrino Observatory (INO) project
It is an underground project, jointly supported by the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) and the Department of Science and Technology (DST).
It will comprise a complex of caverns – the main cavern, which will house detector which is 130 metres long, 26 metres wide and 30 metre high.
Along with main cavern, there will be two smaller caverns that will be used for setting up experiments for neutrino double detector and dark matters.
This underground complex will be approached by a 2-kms long tunnel.
It will host experiments such as the neutrino-less double beta decay and the search for dark matter.
It also involves Inter-Institutional Centre for High Energy Physics (IICHEP) and Iron Calorimeter Detector (ICAL).
Along with project, government has also approved the construction of a 50,000 tonne magnetised iron calorimeter detector (ICAL). It will study the properties of the neutrino, in particular the mass hierarchy among different types of neutrino.
Neutrino
It is an electrically neutral, weakly interacting elementary subatomic particle with half-integer spin. It belongs to the lepton family.

61.President Pranab Mukherjee has signed the ordinance that amend’s Citizenship Act, 1955.
Earlier, union government had promulgated this ordinance in order to merge Person of Indian Origin (PIO) and Overseas Citizenship of India (OCI) schemes. Thus, providing life-long Indian visa facility to PIOs.
It was signed on the eve of the opening of the three-days meet of Indian diaspora i.e. Pravasi Bharatiya Divas 2015 held in Gujarat.
Key amendments
Citizenship Act amendments will benefit PIO and will give them benefits like life-long visa and exemption from appearing before the local police station on every visit etc.
It will also change the clause of parent Act which says that foreigners who marry Indians must continuously stay in the country for a period of one year before they get an Indian citizenship. In this regards they will get relief of 30 days in a year when they can travel outside the country.
The amendment also clears the way for relaxed visa norms for minor children of OCI cardholders.

62.Prime Minister Narendra Modi has released commemorative coins to honour Tata Group founder Jamsetji Nusserwanji Tata.
PM released coins in the denomination of 100 and five rupee to mark Jamsetji Tata’s 175th birth anniversary.

63.Central government has launched the sale of subsidised 5-kg LPG cylinders scheme for Below Poverty Line (BPL) families and others.
It was launched by Union Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan in Bhubaneswar, Odhisa.

64.Prime Minister Narendra Modi has launched National Programme for LED-based Home and Street Lighting in New Delhi for energy conservation by reducing energy consumption.
Along with this programme, PM launched scheme for Light Emitting Diode (LED) bulb distribution under the Domestic Efficient Lighting Programme (DELP) and a web-based system to enable consumers in Delhi to register requests for procuring LED bulbs under DELP.
National Programme for LED-based Home and Street Lighting
It aims to install LED bulbs for domestic and street-lighting in 100 cities across India by March 2016.
Under this programme, LED bulbs will be distributed in a phased manner from March 2015 onwards.
The initiative is part of the Government’s efforts to spread the message of energy efficiency in the country.
LED bulbs have a very long life, almost 50 times more than ordinary bulbs, and 8-10 times that of CFLs, and therefore provide both energy and cost savings in the medium term.
It will help in saving of energy around 24 crore units every year.

65.Sutirtha Bhattacharya has taken charge as full-time Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) of Coal India Limited (CIL).
He is a 1985 batch IAS officer and for this post his name was cleared by Appointments Committee of the Cabinet after it was recommended by the Public Enterprises Services Board (PESB).
Prior to this appointment, he was the CMD of state-owned Singareni Collieries Company.

66.Eminent free-market economist Arvind Panagariya has been appointed as Vice-chairman of National Institution for Transforming India (NITI) Aayog.
NITI Aayog is established by government to function as both a think tank and a policy forum and replaces decades year old Planning Commission.
As a vice chairman, he will play a pivotal role in coordinating economic strategy and hold position similar to cabinet rank minister.
About Arvind Panagariya
He is an Indian-American economist and Professor of Economics at Columbia University. He holds a Ph.D. degree in Economics from prestigious Princeton University.
He was an ex-Chief Economist at the Asian Development Bank (ADB).
He has also worked for the World Bank, International Monetary Fund, World Trade Organization, and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) in various capacities.
He has written around 10 books and the latest was India: The Emerging Giant published in 2008.
Other Appointments of NITI Aayog
Full-Time Members:
Bibek Debroy- Economist.
V.K. Saraswat- Former Secretary Defence R&D.
Ex-officio members:
Rajnath Singh- Union Home Minister.
Arun Jaitley- Union Finance, Corporate Affairs and Information & Broadcasting Minister.
Suresh Prabhu- Union Minister of Railways.
Radha Mohan Singh- Union Minister of Agriculture.
Special Invitees:
Nitin Gadkari- Union Minister of Road Transport & Highways and Shipping.
Thawar Chand Gehlot-Union Minister of Social Justice and Empowerment.
Smriti Zubin Irani- Union Minister of Human Resource Development (HRD).

67.nion Sports Ministry has recommended badminton player Saina Nehwal’s name for Padma Bhushan award. As per Sports ministry, recommending her name is a special case.

68.Edward Brooke, the first elected black US senator passed away on 3rd January 2015. He was 95.
He belonged to US’s Republican Party.

69.Freedom fighter and National Flag designer Pingali Venkayya was honoured by naming All India Radio(AIR) Vijayawada (in Andhra Pradesh) building after him.
In this regard, Union Minister for Urban Development and Parliamentary Affairs, M. Venkaiah Naidu unveiled the statue of Pingali Venkaiah, in the premises of AIR Vijayawada.
On this occasion, minister also released a book on the biography of Pingali Venkayya, translated into Hindi by Mr.Venna Vallabha Rao.

70.Industrial Credit and Investment Corporation of India (ICICI) Bank has launched its own version of Digital Village Project by adopting entire Akodara Village in Sabarkantha district of Gujarat.
It was launched presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and ICICI Bank MD and CEO Chanda Kochar to mark 60-year-celebration of the ICICI group’s existence.

71.United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has decided to prepare a Tea Atlas in India’s North Eastern State Assam. This atlas seeks to create a comprehensive database of the tea gardens and socio-economic condition of its workers in state.

72.Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has signed an information sharing agreement with United States (US) banking regulators for better coordination with them in supervising financial institutions.
Earlier in December 2014, RBI had concluded a Statement of Co-operation (SoC) on “Supervisory Cooperation and Exchange of Supervisory Information” with the US banking regulators like Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System(FRB), Office of the Comptroller of Currency (OCC) and Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC).

73.Sri Lankan batsman Kumar Sangakkara has joined an elite group of cricketers to make 12,000 runs in Test Cricket.
He reached this milestone in Sri Lanka’s second Test match against New Zealand held in Wellington, New Zealand.
He has become the fifth cricketer to make 12,000 runs. Other four cricketers are Indian cricketer Sachin Tendulkar (15,921 runs), Australian cricketer Ricky Ponting (13,378 runs), Jacques Kallis from South Africa (13,289 runs) and India’s Rahul Dravid (13,288 runs).
Earlier in December 2014, he had achieved another feat by becoming only the fourth batsman to surpass the 13,000-run mark in one-day internationals (ODI’s).
Other three batsmen in this list are Sachin Tendulkar (18,426 runs), Ricky Ponting (13,704 runs) and Sri Lankan cricketer Sanath Jayasuriya (13,430 runs).

74.Union Government has extended the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958 for another one year in Assam and has declared the entire ‘state of Assam’ as a ‘Disturbed Area’.
As per government notification, this extension will for another one year beyond 03 November 2014 which is presently in force.
Facts about Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958
It was enacted by Parliament on September 11, 1958.
It conferred special powers upon the armed forces in disturbed areas in the states of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, and Tripura. The act was introduced in Jammu and Kashmir in 1990.
AFSPA was enacted to provide army officers and jawans legal immunity for their actions in disturbed areas. Under this act, a member of the Indian armed forces cannot be prosecuted or tried in any criminal or civil court for any act committed by him or her while performing duty in a disturbed area. Moreover, no court or quasi-judicial body can question the government’s decision to declare any area disturbed.
The provisions of AFSPA are very objectionable as it requires the following:
All that is necessary for a part of the State to be handed over to the armed forces is for the Governor or the Central Government to notify it to be in a “disturbed and dangerous” condition.
Even a non-commissioned officer of the armed forces is free, on the mere suspicion of violation of the law or commission of an offence, to fire upon or otherwise use force, even to the causing of death, against any person.
He can also without any warrant, arrest any person and enter and search any premises.
No prosecution of anyone indulging in excesses purporting to act under AFSPA is possible except with the previous sanction of the Government.

75.Prime Minister Narendra Modi has inaugurated the Indian Science Congress 2015 at the Mumbai University. It is the 102nd edition of this congress and Mumbai is hosting it again after the gap of 45 years.
The theme of 102nd Congress is Science and Technology for Human Development.
The Congress sessions aims to bring together eminent scientists, research scholars to popularize science and foster a scientific temperament.

76.Union Sports Ministry has given nod to Boxing India (BI) as the new governing body for the sport.
In this regard, Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports (Department of Sports) – Government of India has given the nod as it is a recognised member of the International Boxing Association (AIBA).
It will help BI to expedite the administrative formalities and streamlining the overall functioning and activities boxing.
Boxing India President: Sandeep Jajodia

77.Indian Railway’s construction company (IRCON) has restored the rail track between Jaffna and Kankasanthurai in North Sri Lanka.
This restored commercial Yal Devi Express service was formally inaugurated by Sri Lanka’s Transport Minister Kumara Welgama.
This 18 kilometer track passes through the high security zone which was freed from the control of Tamil tigers in 2009.

78.Veteran Indian-origin civil servant Joseph Yubaraj Manuel Pillay was reappointed as the Chairman of the Presidential Council of Advisers (CPA) by Singapore President Tony Tan Keng Yam.

79.Former ISRO chief and renowned Scientist Dr. Vasant Ranchod Gowarikar passed away in Pune, Maharashtra. He was 81.
He is considered as the ‘Father of the Indian Monsoon Model’.

80.IAS officer R K Srivastava took over as the new chairman of Airports Authority of India (AAI).
Earlier in December, Srivastava was appointed as chairman of AAI by the government for 5 years.
He is a 1984-batch Jharkhand-cadre IAS officer and has replaced Sudheer Raheja who was charge of the post since late August 2014.