Current Affairs Update – 13 Jan, 2015

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Finance/Business/Economy News

1. RBI Governor
Raghuram Rajan received Governor of the Year Award for 2015

RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan received the Governor of the
Year Award for 2015. The award recognises the Governor of a Central Bank who
has demonstrated strong leadership during the period under review.
The Central Banking Awards for 2015 were announced by the
Central Banking Publications on 12 January 2015.

Central Banking Awards
for 2015

Governor of the Year Award: Raghuram Rajan, RBI Governor
Central Bank of the Year award: The Reserve Bank of New
Zealand (RBNZ)
Lifetime Achievement Award: Jacques de Larosiere former
Governor of the Banque de France (1987–1993)
Economics in Central Banking (inaugural award): Claudio
Borio, head of the monetary and economic department at the Bank for
International Settlements

He was awarded for his disciplined and focused approach
to tackling macroeconomic instability. His insights combined with his strong
leadership skills made Rajan an inspirational figure in the central banking
community. Rajan took over as RBI governor in September 2013 for a three-year
term.

2. RBI and ECB signed
MoU on cooperation in Central Banking

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the European Central Bank
(ECB) on 12 January 2015 signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for
cooperation in the field of central banking.
The MoU was signed by RBI Governor Dr. Raghuram Rajan and
ECB President Dr. Mario Draghi.

Feature of the
Memorandum of Understanding

It provides a framework for regular exchange of
information, policy dialogue and technical cooperation between the two
institutions
Technical cooperation may take the form of joint seminars
and workshops in areas of mutual interest in the field of central banking

3. World Bank signed
tripartite agreement for smart cities initiatives during Vibrant Gujarat Summit

World Bank on 12 January 2015 signed tripartite agreement
with the Government of Gujarat and the Government of India for Gujarat’s smart
cities initiatives and swachhta abhiyaan.
The agreement was signed on the sidelines of Vibrant
Gujarat Summit being held in Gandhinagar. On the occasion, the State government
released a special Vibrant Gujarat postal cover.
The Summit saw signing of around 21000 Memorandum of
Understanding (MoUs) running into 25 lakh crore rupees.
Besides, 1225 strategic partnership agreements were
signed at the Summit in the areas of skill development, defence, renewable
energy and biodiversity.
The agreements will boost Gujarat’s inclusive
development. They will restore confidence among investors about the investment
climate in Gujarat and also help in furthering the Make in India campaign.

4. Seventh Vibrant
Gujarat Summit 2015 held in Gandhinagar

The Seventh Vibrant Gujarat Summit was held from 11
January to 13 January 2015 in Gandhinagar, Gujarat. The summit was organised by
the Government of Gujarat. The sixth Vibrant Gujarat summit was held in 2013.
During the summit, Gujarat Chief Minister Anandiben Patel
announced that the MoUs singed includes as many as 1225 strategic partnerships.
The companies that have disclosed their investment committments include
Reliance Industries, Adani Group, Aditya Birla Group, Suzlon and Videocon, and
also some foreign players like Rio Tinto, Suzuki and CLP Holdings.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, US Secretary of State John
Kerry, Chief Minister of Gujarat Anandiben Patel, World Bank President Jim Yong
Kim, Union Finance Minister Arun Finance Minister Arun Jaitley was attended the
summit.

5. CSO released Quick
Estimates of Index for Industrial Production for November 2014

Central Statistics Office (CSO) under the Union Ministry
of Statistics and Programme Implementation on 12 January 2015 released the
Quick Estimates of Index of Industrial Production (IIP) for the month of November
with base year 2004-05.
IIP is a composite indicator that measures the short-term
changes in the volume of production of a basket of industrial products during a
given period with respect to that in a chosen base period.
The current IIP is published by CSO with 2004-05 as base
period.
The weightage of Manufacturing, Mining and Electricity
production in overall Index IIP is 75.53 percent, 14.16 percent and 10.31
percent respectively.

6. Tata’s offer for
DoCoMo buy-back gets RBI nod

In a breather to NTT DoCoMo, the Reserve Bank of India
(RBI) has agreed to a Tata group proposal to buy back DoCoMo’s 26.5 per cent
stake in Tata Teleservices at a pre-determined price of Rs 58 a share (Rs 7,250
crore for the entire stake), despite the company’s valuer, Price Waterhouse,
estimating the stake at Rs 23.34 a share, 60 per cent lower.
RBI has referred the matter to the investment division of
the Department of Economic Affairs under the finance ministry for views and
comments.
On December 22 2014, RBI told the finance ministry the
Tatas had hired Price Waterhouse to determine the fair value of the shares of
Tata Teleservices, soon after DoCoMo expressed interest to exit the company in
April 2014. RBI said the Tatas agreed to buy back the shares at Rs 58 a share
and had sought the central bank’s permission for the transaction, as the price
to be paid was higher than the fair-price valuation.

7. President signed
Ordinance to amend Mines and Minerals Development & Regulation Act, 1957

President Pranab Mukherjee on 12 January 2015 gave his
assent to an ordinance that amends the Mines and Minerals Development and
Regulation (MMDR) Act, 1957. The ordinance paves way for introduction of
competitive bidding for allocation of mines of iron ore and other non-coal
minerals.
Earlier, the promulgation of ordinance to amend the MMDR
Act, 1957 was approved by the Union Cabinet on 5 January 2015. The ordinance
route was taken by the Union government after it was not able to introduce the
Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) (Amendment) Bill, 2014 in the
winter session of the Parliament in December 2014.

Objective of the MMDR
(Amendment) Bill, 2014

Improved transparency in the allocation of mineral
resources
Obtaining for the government its fair share of the value
of such resources
Attracting private investment and the latest technology
Eliminating delay in administration, so as to enable
expeditious and optimum development of the mineral resources of the country

8. Zomato acquired US
based food portal Urbanspoon

Zomato on 12 January 2015 acquired the US based food
portal Urbanspoon for an undisclosed amount in an all-cash deal.
The acquisition of Urabanspoon establishes Zomato’s
presence in Australia and Canada, the UK and New Zealand. With this, Zomato
will be present in 22 countries across the world.
This is the sixth acquisition of Zomato in six months.
Earlier, Zomato acquired dominant restaurant search players in New Zealand,
Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia and Italy.
Zomato also announced to increase its restaurant coverage
from about 300000 restaurants to more than 1 million restaurants.

9. Deepak Parekh
appointed as Chairman of BAE Systems India (Services) Private Limited

Deepak Parekh was on 12 January 2015 appointed as a
Non-Executive Director and Chairman of BAE Systems India (Services) Private
Limited with effect from 1 January 2015.
Presently, Deepak Parekh is the Chairman of Housing
Development Finance Corporation (HDFC).
Indian Government honoured Parekh’s performance with the
Padma Bhushan in 2006.

News Related to India and Indian Polity

10. Alur Seelin Kiran
Kumar appointed as Chairman of ISRO

Alur Seelin Kiran Kumar was on 12 January 2015 appointed
as Chairman of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). Kiran Kumar became
eighth Chairman of ISRO after succeeding K Radhakrishnan who retired on 31
December 2014.
He was re-employed on contract basis for a tenure of
three years from the date of assumption of the charge of post. Kiran Kumar will
also be the Secretary of the Department of Space and also the Chairman of Space
Commission.
His appointment was approved by the Appointments
Committee of the Cabinet.

11. Ministry of
Railways inaugurated India’s first CNG powered train

Union Minister for Railways Suresh Prabhu on 13 January
2015 inaugurated India’s first compressed natural gas (CNG)-powered train on
the Rewari – Rohtak link of Northern Zone.
This is a milestone in adoption of green fuel in Indian
Railways which will help reduce greenhouse gas emission and also the
consumption of diesel.

Characteristic Feature
of CNG-powered train

The CNG Diesel Electric Multiple Unit (DEMU) is based on
dual-fuel that is diesel and CNG.
The train has been manufactured by Chennai-based Integral
Coach Factory (ICF) through fumigation technology.

12. Supreme Court
issued notice to Union Government on voting rights for inter-state migrants

The Supreme Court on 12 January 2015 issued notice to the
Union Government on voting rights for inter-state migrants.
A Bench headed by Chief Justice of India H L Dattu gave
four weeks time to Union to respond on the application by V P Shamsheer, a
native of Kerala, who is based in UAE.
The Shamsheer had filed an application to allow
inter-State migrants the same voting privileges, like postal ballot, accorded
to government servants.
Further, it sought the Supreme Court intervention to set
up a method for in-country migrants – who leave their constituency for reasons
of work or employment, business, education, marriage, etc., and to vote from
their current place of residence.
The Representation of the People Act, 1950 of section
20(music) (d)-reading along with Section 60 (beer) of the Representation of the
People Act 1951 allows government servants and certain other class of persons
to vote via postal ballot following the consent of Election Commission.

International News

13. ISRO Mars Orbiter
Mission Team won the 2015 Space Pioneer Award

The Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) Team of Indian Space
Research Organization (ISRO) on 12 January 2015 won the 2015 Space Pioneer
Award in the Science and Engineering category.
The award will be presented to an ISRO representative
during the National Space Society’s 2015 International Space Development
Conference (ISDC) that is scheduled to be held in Toronto, Canada from 20 May
2015 to 24 May 2015.
The Mars Orbiter Mission team is located in Bangalore and
is headed by Mylswamy Annadurai.

14. France’s Charlie
Hebdo to print tearful Mohammad on front page

Charlie Hebdo will publish a front page showing a
caricature of the Prophet Mohammad in its first edition since Islamist gunmen
attacked the satirical newspaper.
With demand surging for the edition due on Wednesday, the
weekly planned to print up to 3 million copies, dwarfing its usual run of
60,000, after newsagents reported that large numbers of customers around the
country were placing orders.
A total of 17 people were killed in three days of
violence that began when two Islamist militants burst into Charlie Hebdo’s
weekly editorial meeting, opening fire in revenge for the paper’s publication
of satirical images of Mohammad in the past.
The front page of the January 14 edition shows Mohammad,
a tear on his cheek, holding a sign saying “JE SUIS CHARLIE” (“I
am Charlie”) below the headline “TOUT EST PARDONNE” (“All
is forgiven”).

Sports News

15. Cristiano Ronaldo
won the 2014 FIFA Ballon d’Or Award

Real Madrid forward Cristiano Ronaldo on 12 January 2015
won the 2014 FIFA Ballon d’Or award for the best footballer of the year in the
world. It is the third time that Ronaldo has won the Ballon d’Or award
following the previous triumphs in the years 2008 and 2013.
Ronaldo defeated Barcelona forward Lionel Messi and
Bayern Munich goalkeeper Manuel Neuer by bagging 37.66 percent of votes.
Lionel Messi was at the second position with 15.76 votes
and Manuel Neuer stood at the third place with 15.72 percent votes.
181 national team coaches, 182 national team captains and
181 media representatives submitted their votes for the FIFA Ballon d’Or award.
The entire electoral procedure was overseen and monitored by
PricewaterhouseCoopers Switzerland (PwC).

Other Awardees

Nadine Kessler won the FIFA Women’s World Player of
the Year award 2014.
Joachim Low won the FIFA World Coach of the Year 2014
for Men’s Football award.
Ralf Kellermann won the FIFA World Coach of the Year
2014 for Women’s Football award.
James Rodriguez won the FIFA Puskas Award for the best
goal of the year.

The FIFA Ballon d’Or award is an annual association
football award given by FIFA to the male player who has performed the best in
the previous calendar year.

16. Golfer Anirban
Lahiri voted Asian Tour’s 2014 Players’ Player of the Year

Anirban Lahiri, an Indian professional golfer on 12
January 2015 was voted as the 2014 Players’ Player of the year in Asian Tour.
He was voted for his successful exploits on the Asian Tour, wherein he won two
titles and finished second on the Asian Tour Order of Merit.
He Won first title outside India in the form of CIMB
Niaga Indonesian Masters
He helped Team Asia to secure a dramatic 10-10 tie
against Team Europe at the inaugural EurAsia Cup
Apart from him, Australia’s Cameron Smith was also named
as the Rookie of the Year for a commendable season where he finished fifth on
the Asian Tour Order of Merit. He claimed seven top-10 finishes including a
tied fifth result at the CIMB Classic in Malaysia which was sanctioned by the
PGA TOUR and Asian Tour.

This post was last modified on July 20, 2019 12:11 pm