Current Affairs Update – 14th March, 2015


        Today’s Topics

   •  Economy
   •  India
   •  World
   •  Sports

Economy
India’s GDP Growth
Will be 7.5% in 2015-16 Fiscal Year: Jaitley

  • 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.

Govt cuts import
tariff on gold and silver

  • 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.

India
Mary Kom to be brand
ambassador of Northeast

  • 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.

After Maharashtra,
Beef Sale Banned in Haryana

  • 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.

World
Times Higher
Education released The World Reputation Rankings 2015

  • 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.

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

Former Maldives
President Sentenced to 13-Year Imprisonment

  • 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.

Sports
Dhoni’s team betters
Lloyd outfit’s record with 10th straight WC win

  • 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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