Current Affairs Update - 4-5 Jan, 2015

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 5 January 2015 appointed economist Arvind Panagariya as the Vice-Chairman of National Institution for Transforming India (NITI) Aayog. He is an Indian-American economist and Professor of Economics at Columbia University.
• Panagariya is an Alma matter of Rajasthan University and holds a Ph.D. degree in Economics from Princeton University.
• He has written around 10 books, the latest being India: The Emerging Giant, which was published in March 2008 by the Oxford University Press, New York.
• Besides Arvind Panagariya, PM also appointed other members of the newly constituted NITI Aayog that came into existence on 1 January 2015 replacing 65 year old Planning Commission.

• Bibek Debroy, Economist
• Dr. V.K. Saraswat, Former Secretary Defence Research & Development

• Rajnath Singh, Union Minister of Home Affairs
• Arun Jaitley, Union Minister of Finance, Corporate Affairs and Information & Broadcasting
• Suresh Prabhu, Union Minister of Railways
• Radha Mohan Singh, Union Minister of Agriculture

• 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

• Sutirtha Bhattacharya on 5 January 2015 took charge as Coal India Limited’s full-time Chairman and Managing Director (CMD). The post was vacant for over six month.
• Prior to taking the charge of Coal India, Bhattacharya, a 1985 batch IAS officer of Andhra Pradesh cadre was the CMD of the state-owned Singareni Collieries Company.
• Bhattacharya’s name was recommended for the CMD of Coal India Limited (CIL) by the Public Enterprises Services Board (PESB) on 19 November 2014. Later in November 2014, his named was cleared for the top post by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet.
• Coal India was without a full-time head since May 2014 when S Narsing Rao resigned from the post to join Telangana government. But it was being handled by additional secretary, coal, AK Dubey who was given the additional charge as CMD of CIL from 26 June 2014.

• The Centre is implementing a 1,900 crore e-governance project called ‘Panch Deep’ to automate transactions of the Employees State Insurance Corporation (ESIC), Union Minister for Labour Bandaru Dattatreya said here on Sunday.
• Under the project, Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solution would be installed across the country which will give a unique card to the employees and facilitate clearance of third party bills.
• Addressing a press conference here, he said the unique bio metric cards given to the members would make authentication easier. Besides, the ERP solution would help build a massive database of health records of all the members. “It is going to be one of the biggest online databases in e-governance,” the Minister said.

• The corporate affairs ministry has charted its road map for full implementation of the new Companies Act that envisages setting up Investor Education and Protection Fund Authority (IEPFA) and National Financial Reporting Authority (NFRA) within six months.
• The government is already in final stages of notifying rules for IEPFA and NFRA, a quasi-judicial apex body for accounting and auditing standards, also with powers to probe and review audits of companies.
• Since April last year, when the Companies Act 2013 took effect, only 60% sections of law have been notified while 187 sections related to investor protection and winding up of companies are yet to be notified.

• Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi on 5 January 2015 launched a National Programme for LED-based Home and Street Lighting in New Delhi to reduce energy consumption.

• A scheme for Light Emitting Diode (LED) bulb distribution under the Domestic Efficient Lighting Programme (DELP) was also launched.
• The Prime Minister also launched a web-based system to enable consumers in Delhi to register requests for procuring LED bulbs under Domestic Efficient Lighting Programme (DELP). Consumers can register either through the programme website (www.eeslindia.org/Delhi-Launch) or by sending an SMS to a designated number.

• LED bulbs will be distributed in a phased manner from March 2015 onwards.
• The entire project of installing LED bulbs for domestic and street-lighting in 100 cities is targeted for completion by March 2016.
• In Delhi, LED bulbs will be provided to all domestic consumers at an initial payment of 10 rupees each and the balance amount of 120 rupees each will be recovered from their electricity bill.
• Therefore, the cost for an LED bulb to domestic consumer will be 130 rupees through this programme due to bulk procurement, compared to the current open market retail price in the range of 350-600 rupees for LED bulbs.
• The estimated annual savings for households in Delhi per LED bulb will be 162 rupees. The LED bulbs will have a warranty of 3 years.
• It will result in annual saving of energy by about 24 crore units every year.

• The government will soon issue commemorative coins in honour of Tata Group founder Jamsetji Nusserwanji Tata to mark his 175th birth anniversary.
• Jamsetji Tata, considered as the father of modern industry in India, will be the first industrialist to be felicitated by the Indian government in such a manner.
• The official said Jamsetji was chosen by the government because he is a legendary figure and the government also wants to encourage Indian businesses through this initiative.
• The government has so far minted coins in honour of artists, freedom fighters, scientists, institutions and organisations.
• Previously, the government had honoured Jamsetji by releasing postal stamps — one in 1958 and another in 1965.
• Jamsetje Tata founded Tata Group, India’s largest business conglomerate. He was born on March 3, 1839 in Navsari, a small town in south Gujarat.

• Mumbai Tiffin Box Suppliers Association General Secretary (GS) Gangaram Laxman Talekar passed away on 31 December 2014 following a heart attack.
• Earlier, he had worked with Central Bank and Hindustan Mills for small duration.
• He has given various Lecture in IIMS, Management Institutes, IIT  and Multinational Companies on topics like time management, accuracy and supply network.
• Mumbai Tiffin Box Suppliers Association is famously known as Mumbai Dabbawala Association.
• Dabbawalas (one who carries the box) carry and deliver freshly made food in a lunch box (Dabba) and deliver it to offices in the Indian city of Mumbai.

• Indian Coast Guard (ICG) Rajratan, the fifth ship in the series of eight Inshore Patrol Vessels (IPVs) ordered after the 26/11 attack, was in news in the first week of January 2015.
• The ship was deployed in 48-hour search operation at and around the site where the Pakistani terror boat sank after its crew set it ablaze on 1 January 2015.
• However, the ship could neither gather the debris of the fishing boat nor traced any survivors of bodies of the boats suspected terrorist crew.
• The only evidence of the incident that occurred now lies in the footage shot by sailors onboard ICGS Rajratan. 

• Independent candidate and transgender Madhu Kinnar on 4 January 2015 won the Mayoral election in Chhattisgarh’s Raigarh Municipal Corporation. Kinnar won the election by 4537 votes against Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) Mahaveer Guruji.
• With this, she scripted history by becoming the first transgender to get elected as mayor in the state.
• Madhu Kinnar, whose original name is Naresh Chauhan, funded her electoral campaign by working as a singer and dancer on trains.
• Her win follows Supreme Court’s decision, in which it ruled that transgender people could be legally recognised as a third gender.
• After the SC’s decision, Tamil-language Lotus TV based in the city of Coimbatore in September 2014 recruited India’s first ever transgender news anchor, Padmini Prakash.

• China's deep sea manned submersible Jiaolong on 2 January 2015 started exploration for the first time in the southwestern Indian Ocean. The submersible will search for active hydrothermal vent.  
• The Chinese vessel Jiaolong, named after a mythical dragon, during its 120-day expedition will dive in the ocean with an aim to collect sample of research polymetallic sulfides, biological diversity, hydrothermal microbes and genetic resources for research purposes.
• Hydrothermal sulfide is a kind of sea-bed deposit containing copper, zinc and precious metals such as gold and silver.

• Scientists at University of Southampton, UK are planning to grow lettuce on Mars in 2018 under the Project #LettuceOnMars. Under the project the team will grow small plants with gases obtained from the Martian atmosphere, with a minimum of material imported from Earth.
• The aim of the project is to prove that plant life can thrive in the controlled greenhouse environment and that the resources on Mars can be appropriately managed to establish a permanent human settlement.
• The scientists led by Suzanna Lucarotti will demonstrate their project via a payload in the form of lettuce that will be carried by Mars One Lander in 2018.
• Mars One Lander will be launched by Mars One which is a not-for-profit foundation that aims to establish a permanent human settlement on Mars by 2026.

• The International Hindi Conference will be hosted by New Jersey in April 2015. The announcement was made on 4 January 2015.
• The theme of the International Hindi Conference 2015 is Expanding World of Hindi: Possibilities and Challenges.

• The conference will be attended by Hindi scholars from various parts of the world, in particular from the United States and India.
• The participants of the International Hindi Conference will discuss the current status of the teaching and learning of Hindi among other things.
• The participants are also expected to discuss individual and organisational partnerships and leadership and field capacity building and infrastructure building skills and topics.
• Topics such as Hindi in higher education, Expanding the use of Hindi in businesses and commerce, Community support for Hindi and Current status of the teaching and learning of Hindi will be taken up in the conference.

• Edward Brooke, the Massachusetts Republican who was the first African-American to be popularly elected to the U.S. Senate, died on Saturday, according to Massachusetts Republican Party spokeswoman Kirsten Hughes.
• Brooke, 95, was elected to Congress in 1966 by voters in Massachusetts at a time when the nation was gripped in racial unrest.
• He was serving as the Massachusetts attorney general when he was elected to the U.S. Senate.
• There had been two black senators shortly after the Civil War but until early in the 20th Century, senators were picked by state legislatures and not by popular vote.

• The Sports Ministry today decided to recommend ace shuttler Saina Nehwal for the Padma Bhushan award but insisted that it did not receive her nomination from the Badminton Association of India (BAI) within the stipulated deadline.
• “In view of the achievements of Ms. Saina Nehwal, the Department of Sports has decided to recommend her case for Padma Bhushan to the Ministry of Home Affairs as a special case although the last date for making the recommendation is long over,” the Ministry said in a statement.
• On Saturday, a disappointed Saina had stated that the Badminton Association of India (BAI) had recommended her name for the Padma Bhushan in August last year but the Sports Ministry rejected her application, citing norms.
• But Sports Minister Sarbananda Sonowal refuted the claim, saying that his ministry received the letter of nomination only on Saturday.
• The Ministry today reiterated its stand and said not just this year, it didn’t receive any letter from BAI nominating Saina for the Padma awards in 2013 as well.

• Jiji Thomson on 2 January 2015 resigned as Director General of Sports Authority of India  (SAI) with immediate effect. Thomson took charge of SAI in March 2013.
• He claimed that the central government delayed his promotion as Sports Secretary for six months before he finally requested for his immediate repatriation to his parent cadre in Kerala.
• Jiji Thomson will now take over as Chief Secretary of Kerala on 31 January 2015.
• He was Special Director General of Organisation C Commonwealth Games under Union Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports from 2010 to 2012.
• From 2012 to 2013, Thomson served as the Managing Director of TRIFED under Union Ministry of Tribal Affairs.

• Andy Murray won the ATP World Tennis Championship at Zayed Sports City in Abu Dhabi on 4 January 2015. He won the title after the world number one Novak Djokovic withdrew from the final match citing illness.
• This was the first title of year 2015 for Andy Murray.
• In the Semi-finals, Murray defeated Rafael Nadal 6-2, 6-0 in straight sets. In the other semi-final, Novak Djokovic defeated the Australian Open Champion Stanislas Wawarinka 6-1, 6-2.