Current Affairs Update – 14th March, 2015

• Government is fairly determined and is introducing changes
  to ease the process of doing business and attract investments in India while
  trying to rationalise and lower taxes, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has said.
• He also said that the GDP growth rate this year would be 7.5
  per cent and hopefully higher in the next year.
• Speaking at another function launching the Union Bank of
  India (UK), a subsidiary of the Union Bank of India, Jaitley noted that India
  is emerging as one of the fastest growing economies and said that this year the
  GDP growth rate will be 7.5 per cent and next year hopefully it would be
  higher.
• He said that since the new government came to power the
  economy has regained.

• The government has slashed import tariff value on gold to
  USD 375 per 10 grams and silver to USD 512 per kg following weak global price
  trends.
• During the first fortnight of the month, the tariff value on
  imported gold was fixed at USD 393 per 10 grams and on silver at USD 549 per
  kg.
• The import tariff value is the base price at which customs
  duty is determined to prevent under-invoicing. It is revised on a fortnightly
  basis taking into account global prices.
• The decrease in tariff value on imported gold has been
  notified by the Central Board of Excise and Customs, according to an official
  statement released late last night.
• Gold in New York, which normally sets price trend on the
  domestic front, declined from a high of USD 1,162 per ounce and is currently
  ruling at USD 1,158.60 per ounce.
• Silver too has dropped to USD 15.64 per ounce.

• Olympic medal winning boxer MC Mary Kom is being appointed
  as the brand ambassador of the Northeast to showcase the potential of the
  region which offers Rs. 2.4 trillion business opportunities across various
  sectors.
• An official announcement in this regard would me made soon,
  Minister of State in the Ministry of Development of North East Region (DoNER)
  Jitendra Singh said.
• Hailing from Manipur, one of the eight northeastern States,
  Mary Kom is a five—time World Amateur Boxing champion, and the only woman boxer
  to have won a medal in each one of the six world championships.

• The Haryana Government has imposed a complete ban on the
  sale of beef in any form and proposed to provide for 10 years rigorous
  imprisonment for cow slaughter, but ruled out equating it with murder.
• “The ban also covers canned beef which was legal during
  the tenure of previous government,” according to an official release
  quoting Animal Husbandry Minister O P Dhankar issued here this evening.
• The move comes days after another BJP-ruled state
  Maharashtra banned sale and consumption of beef and imposed a five-year jail
  term for cow slaughter.

• The Times Higher Education on 13 March 2015 released the
  World Reputation Rankings 2015. This year rankings show that the United Kingdom
  boasts 12 of the 100 most renowned higher education institutions in the world.
• For the fifth consecutive year, the rankings highlight an
  elite group of six US and UK universities that hold a significant lead over the
  rest. The Harvard University ranks at the 1st position followed by Cambridge
  University at second position and Oxford University on the third.

1. Harvard University (US)
2. University of Cambridge (UK)
3. University of Oxford (UK)
4. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (US)
5. Stanford University (US)

• In a major development, former Maldivian president Mohamed
  Nasheed was tonight sentenced to 13-year imprisonment by a criminal court here
  under the anti-terrorism laws.
• In a court hearing late tonight, Nasheed, the country’s
  first democratically elected leader who was arrested on February 22 over the
  detention of a judge in 2012, was charged under the Anti-Terrorism Act 1990,
  highly-placed sources told PTI.
• 47-year-old Nasheed resigned as the Maldives’ leader in
  February 2012 after a mutiny by police and troops that followed weeks of
  protests over the arrest of judge Abdullah Mohamed on corruption charges.
• Nasheed has a constitutional right of appeal to the High
  Court of Maldives.
• Criminal charges in the country are brought by the
  Prosecutor General of the Maldives as per the Article 220(a) of the
  Constitution of Maldives.

• With 10 successive World Cup wins under their belt, Mahendra
  Singh Dhoni’s India on Saturday bettered Clive Lloyd’s fearsome outfit of the
  late 1970s and 80s in terms of consecutive victories in the quadrennial
  extravaganza.
• Lloyd’s team, which triumphed in the inaugural 1975 and 1979
  World Cups, had accumulated nine straight wins in its kitty.
• Dhoni’s men surpassed them with their six-wicket win against
  Zimbabwe in the ongoing edition of the mega-event here on Saturday.
• Now, the Men in Blue stand second only to Ricky Ponting’s
  Australian side that had registered a staggering 24 consecutive victories in
  the showpiece event.
• The eight-wicket win against Ireland last week was India’s
  ninth straight win in the World Cup, the run starting with the victory over the
  West Indies on March 6, 2011, in the tournament’s previous edition.
• Dhoni is also credited with most wins (13) by an Indian
  captain in the World Cups. He has overtaken 1983 World Cup-winning skipper
  Kapil Dev (11), Mohammed Azharuddin (10) and Sourav Ganguly (9).

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