Apr 23, 2013

15-23 Apr 2013


  • Rebel leader Michel Djotodia is now President of a transitional council that plans for elections within 18 months, though critics say his government lacks control over its fighters in the streets. The rebels’ ouster of President Francois Bozize came two months after they signed a peace agreement in Libreville, Gabon, that would have let him serve until 2016. 
  • New Zealand lawmakers approve gay-marriage bill .
  • An F-22P frigate built for the Pakistan Navy with Chinese assistance was commissioned during a ceremony held at a naval shipyard in the southern port city of Karachi.
  • H-1B fee hike plan rattles IT firms :
    • raising the base cap of the visa from 65,000 to 110,000 annually
    • For firms that employ 50 or more employees, depending on the percentage of their total workforce that are H-1B or L-1 employees, under the new system they would be liable to pay either $5,000 (30-50 per cent of existing employees with H-1B or L-1) or $10,000 (more than 50 per cent H1-B or L-1) in fees per additional worker in either of these two statuses.
  • British MPs vote against anti-caste legislation.
  • Musharraf escapes arrest after court revokes bail
  • Nicolas Maduro, the chosen heir of late Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez, won Sunday’s presidential election
  • Blast in Boston
  • The German parliament backed the €10 billion ($ 13.1 billion) international bailout for Cyprus.
  • Justice Sundaresh Menon : International Jurists Award 2013.
  • 4th Clean Energy Ministerial taking place in New Delhi.
    • sixth Clean Energy Ministerial in Mexico City in 2015 and CEM5 to be held in the Republic of Korea next year,
  • Volunteer Guide Programme Path Pradarshak to be Introduced to Help the Visitors to Appreciate the Treasures of the National Museum.
  • The 20th meeting of Eastern Zonal Council, comprising of the States of West Bengal, Odisha, Bihar and Jharkhand, was held  at Kolkata chaired by Sushil Kumar Shinde
  • High Level Working Group is headed by Dr. K. Kasturirangan (Member, Planning Commission) report on Western Ghat : 
    • managing forests and improving their productivity to ensure inclusive growth and economic benefits for local communities; integrating forest accounts into state and national economic assessments; initiating an ecosystem service fund to help villages around the forests; promoting sustainable agriculture and; encouraging ecotourism for local benefit.
    • PROPOSES Protecting 37 Per Cent of the total boundary as Ecological Sensitive Area
    • used satellite data, down to 24 m resolution, as against 9 km used by WGEEP
      • WGEEP : Western Ghat Ecology Expert Panel : 
        • Entire Western Ghats be declared as an ecologically sensitive area.
        • 3 levels of categorization for the regulatory measures for protection would be imposed..
    • distinguishes between the cultural(58.44) and the natural landscape (41.56%)of the region.
  • Shri Sunil Kumar has taken over as Managing Director, Centre for Railway Information Systems (CRIS)
  • The Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement (DTAA) and the Protocol between the Republic of India and Malta for the avoidance of double taxation and for the prevention of fiscal evasion
  • Twitter today launched a music service that recommends tunes based on what people are 'tweeting' about
  • The Android application named 'Dial Kashmir' contains over 500 contacts of government and private departments : Mehvish Mustaq (first Kashmiri to develop app)
  •  RBI to start plastic money project on trial basis with the introduction of 10 rupee note : Plastic notes are said to withstand more wear-and-tear than their paper counterparts and have a longer life than the latter.They are also said to be more difficult to fake and could therefore be a means of countering counterfeiting.
  • Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India (HMSI) on Wednesday launched its “most affordable” motorcycle Dream Neo
  • Vodafone India, along with ICICI Bank,  launched its mobile money transfer and payment service.Called “M-Pesa”, the service was launched across the eastern states of India that include West Bengal (including Kolkata), Bihar and Jharkhand.
  • Infrastructure Debt Funds (IDFs) can now extend the tenure of their schemes by up to two years with the consent of two-third investors, with market regulator SEBI notifying the changes in its IDF regulations.
  • Goldman Sachs to manage PSU Exchange Traded Fund 
  • Subscribers of the retirement fund body EPFO will be able to apply online for transfer and withdrawal of their provident fund from July 1
  • The Intellectual Property Facilitation Centre (IPFC) of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), Mysore, has organised a seminar on ‘Demystifying intellectual property rights (IPR) and IP management
  • Centre announces Rs. 12,000-crore package for Bihar for the remaining period of 12th Five yr plan.
  • The government also decided to continue the special plan for the KBK districts (Kalahandi-Bolangir-Koraput) of Odisha with an allocation of Rs. 250 crore per annum in the remaining four years (2013-14 to 2016-17) of the Twelfth Plan.
  • Court directs gram sabhas to take a call on Vedanta’s bauxite mining project in Odisha’s Niyamgiri Hills : 
    • Tribal Groups : Dongria Kondh, Kutia Kandha .
  • Jawaharlal Nehru University professor Gopal Narayan Guru has been chosen for the Malcolm Adiseshiah Award for Distinguished Contribution to Development Studies for 2013-14
  • The Bihar Cabinet  passed a proposal of the Home Department to grant 35 per cent reservation for women in recruitment of constables and sub-inspectors in reserved and as well as unreserved categories. 
  • The EC has stated that the ring finger of the left hand would be marked for regular voters and the little finger of the left hand in case of a re-poll.
    • In case of proxy voting (for defence and other service personnel), the mark will be placed on the index finger of the right hand.
  •  The Supreme Court  stayed its direction that only sitting or retired chief justices of High Courts or an apex court judge can head the Central and State Information Commissions.
  • The Planning Commission has recommended switching to an international pricing formula for natural gas — which now works out to $14.5 per mBtu, almost three times more than the present price of $4.2 mBtu (per million British thermal unit) — by the beginning of the 13th Plan (2017-22).
    • The Planning Commission has also sought that coal bed methane (CBM) gas and the yet-to-be discovered shale gas be freed from any price control or approvals without any further delay.
    • The Commission feels the Rangarajan panel’s formula for natural gas price at $8.5 mBtu should be viewed as an interim or transitional solution valid up to the 12th Plan (March 31, 2017) and applicable for all existing contracts.
  • T.K. Ramamurthy, the older of the music director duo Viswanathan-Ramamurthi who revolutionised orchestration in Tamil film music and became known as ‘Mellisai Mannargal’, died.
  • By 2020, India is set to become the world’s youngest country with 64 per cent of its population in the working age group. 
  • The enrolment for Aadhaar card has touched 99 per cent and 88.6 per cent in Union Territory of Chandigarh and Himachal Pradesh respectively.
  • Eminent Telugu novelist, short story writer, poet and critic Ravuri Bharadwaja was selected on Wednesday for the prestigious 48th Jnanpith award for the year 2012 for his contribution to Telugu literature. In 2011  : Odiya Novelist Pratibha Ray got the award.
  • The global community of news publishers and editors( The World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA) and the World Editors Forum) has reacted critically to U.K.’s proposed move to set up a press regulator through a royal charter. 
  • Kerala has become the first State in the country to implement the e-payment facility in tendering processes.
  • The two marines, Massimiliano Latorre and Salvatore Girone, were on board an Italian vessel ‘Enrica Lexie’ when they had allegedly shot dead two Indian fishermen off the Kerala coast on February 15.
  • Sustainable development is an integral part of fundamental rights conferred on citizens by the Constitution and cannot be allowed to be hampered by environmental degradation, the Supreme Court has said.
  • The Election Commission  issued an order allowing Aadhar card to be used by those voters, who do not have the Electors Photo Identity Card (EPIC) issued by the Commission, as an alternative document to establish their identity.
  • The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (I&B) has set up an inter-ministerial committee for promoting and facilitating film production. It would serve as a ‘single-window’ for clearance for filmmakers .
  • Indian perfume-maker Mumbai-based Fem Care Pharma Ltd wins right to ‘Gatsby’ trademark over Mandom Corporation, a Japanese company. 
    • Scott Fitzgerald’s Gatsby, a fictional character from novel The Great Gatsby portrayed as a decadent dandy in the 1920s.
  • The Allahabad High Court on Monday quashed a notification issued by the then Mayawati government for creating new district Chatrapati Sahuji Maharaj Nagar, presently known as Amethi.
  • The scheme, which is likely to be launched from July 1, is aimed at directly putting the subsidy component of the domestic cylinder into the bank account attached to Aadhar UID through Direct Cash Transfer of the consumers to eliminate the leakages in the system and address the problem of diversion of domestic cylinders for commercial market.
    • The consumers are likely to get around Rs.4,000 per annum from the government, and they will have to then buy LPG at the market price of Rs. 901.50 per 14.2-kg cylinder.
  • Clubbing of allowances with basic pay for PF deductions under the EPFO scheme, a move that will increase savings but reduce take-home pay of over 5 crore subscribers may take place.
  • North Korea on Thursday demanded the withdrawal of U.N. sanctions and the end of U.S. - South Korea military drills as conditions for resuming talks meant to defuse tension on the Korean Peninsula. 
  • Japan celebrated the birthday of the world’s oldest living person, Jirouemon Kimura, who turned 116 .
  • Cyprus will offer citizenship to foreign investors who stand to lose significant sums due to the country’s financial crisis as a form of “reimbursement,”.
  • Yahoo's first email app for Apple's iPad, adds 2 more apps to mobile arsenal  that will provide current temperatures and forecasts
  • Seshachalam hills with the recent sighting of a rare poisonous spider (The spider belonging to the genus poecilotheria is known to be native to India and Sri Lanka, of which eight species are found in India and seven in Sri Lanka)after a gap of 113 years in India at the foothills of Tirumala.
  • The International Union for Conservation of Nature has enlisted all the subspecies of Bornean(Malaysia) orangutans as endangered.
  • Russia on Friday launched an “orbital Noah's Ark” to space — a bio-satellite packed with an array of mice and other small creatures to study the effects of long flights on living organisms.
    • Russia’s latest BION-M1 biological research capsule carrying 45 mice, eight Mongolian gerbils, 15 geckos, snails, fish eggs, micro-organisms and plants blasted off aboard the modernised Soyuz 2 rocket from the Baikonur launch pad in Kazakhstan.
    • Bion-M1 is the world’s only returnable satellite committed to biological research
    • Part of Bion Series ( also called Biocosmos)
  • The Tamil Nadu Industrial Development Corporation plans to facilitate formation of solar power parks, for a total capacity of 1000 MW, with private players in 2013-14 as 
    • in Perambalur district as Aerospace park with GKV group,Hyd
    • with Bangalore-based Raasi Green Earth Energy, was developing a 100-MW capacity solar park in Paramakudi taluk of Ramanathapuram district
  •  The ‘Farm Fresh Vegetables on Wheels’ launched by the Department of Horticulture involving clusters of farmers and farming entrepreneurs is catching up in Andhra Pradesh
  • A life convict at Kadapa Central Prison,Hyd Ande Srinivasulu Reddy has emerged as the topper among all the prisoners who appeared for the Dr. B.R. Ambedkar Open University degree examinations to win the “Smt. Ananthasagar Bharathi Vishweswara Reddy Memorial Book Prize”.
  • Space scientist Prof. Roddam Narasimha and artist Syed Haider Raza (for Art) were presented with the Padma Vibhushan, while actor Rajesh Khanna and satirist Jaspal Singh Bhatti were honoured with Padma Bhushan posthumously. Among other Padma Bhushan awardees were M.K. Bhan, a former Secretary in the Department of Biotechnology, Olympian Mary Kom, Hindustani musician Ustad Abdul Rashid Khan, industrialist Adi Godrej and Bharatnatyam exponent Saroja Vaidyanathan. 
  • Thrissur Pooram, a major festival of the State, will be celebrated on Apr 21 in Kerala.
  • Iraqis vote in first election after U.S. troop withdrawal
  • Italian President Giorgio Napolitano was re-elected to the country’s highest office .
  • India is the largest recipient of remittances in the world, receiving $69 billion in 2012, the World Bank has said.After that China ,Phillipines etc
  •  Abdul Hamid is to be Bangladesh’s 20th president of Awami League party
  •  P.C. Chacko as Chairman of the Joint Parliamentary Committee examining the 2G spectrum allocation
  • Thrissur Pooram : Celebrated every year in the month of ‘Medam’ (mid-April to mid-May) as per the Malayalam calendar, the festival was introduced by King Sakthan Thampuran of the erstwhile Kochi state (Kerela)in the late 18th century.More than 100 elephants roam around.
  • The ‘human computer’, ‘mental calculator’, math whiz Shakuntala Devi passed away.In 1977, she calculated the 23rd root of a 201-digit number in just 50 seconds. In 1980, she multiplied two 13-digit numbers given to her randomly by the Computer Department of Imperial College, London
  • Z Category security to Mukesh Ambani after threat from Indian Mujahideen: This is the first time that the CRPF would be providing VIP security to a private person on the lines of a similar cover it extends to government functionaries in Jammu and Kashmir and Punjab.
    • Under the ‘Z’ security cover, Mr. Ambani will be surrounded by over 20 commandos and personnel armed with sophisticated weapons. 
  • Fixed Wireless Phone (FWP) : The product is a mix of a landline and a mobile phone. It is as simple as using a landline phone wherein we dial from a larger numeric pad, speak/hear using a receiver. Technology-wise, it is GSM-based and a SIM card has to be inserted in the slot meant for it from BSNL 
  • Union Tourism Minister Shri K.Chiranjeevi will inaugurate the new campus of Indian Institute of Tourism and Travel Management (IITM) at Noida tomorrow.
    • It has pan India presence with its centers at Gwalior, Nellore, Delhi, Goa and Bhubaneswar.
  •  Videocon Industries and Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd. (BPCL) have reported a fourth huge natural gas discovery in an offshore Mozambique block, where they hold 10 per cent stake each.
  • Jayalalithaa condoles death of violin maestro Lalgudi Jayaraman.
  •  AC Double Decker daily express train to Bangalore will commence operations
    • The coaches were built by the Rail Coach Factory Kapurthala on an anti-climbing template that is a guarantee against a pile-up of coaches in the case of a mishap. Some of the other features include a GPS-based Passenger Information System that scrolls real-time running position, train speed and distance to the next station, quickly operable emergency windows, air suspension system and multiple shock absorbers for a smooth ride and fire extinguishers in all coaches.
  • Companies Bill 2012 : CSR clause
    • This Clause states that every company having net worth of Rs. 500 crore or more, or turnover of Rs. 1,000 crore or more or net profit of rupees five crore or more during any financial year, shall constitute a CSR Committee of the Board consisting of three or more Directors, including at least one Independent Director, to recommend activities for discharging corporate social responsibilities in such a manner that the company would spend at least 2 per cent of its average net profits of the previous three years on specified CSR activities.
  • Indian Coast Guard Ship ‘Rajdoot’, designed and built by Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers, Kolkata was commissioned at Kolkata
  • The Prime Ministers of Serbia and Kosovo reached a tentative EU-mediated deal in Brussels on Friday that would give Kosovo’s ethnic Albanian leadership authority over rebel Kosovo Serbs. In return, the minority Serbs would get wide autonomy within Kosovo.This is to normalise realtion between two countries. 
  • Universal Commodity Exchange (UCX) became the sixth commodity exchange to launch futures trading.Headquatered in Mumbai. It had launched 11 contacts in nine commodities at the first phase of trading. 
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