Current Affairs Update – 25-26-27-28-29-30 Dec, 2014

• Paving the way for additional foreign investment in
  insurance and to move ahead with the re-allocation of cancelled coal mines,
  President Pranab Mukherjee today signed the two ordinances in this regard.
• The Government had decided to promulgate these ordinances
  to move ahead with reforms in the two sectors, as respective bills could not
  get through during the just-concluded Parliament Session that ended on Tuesday.
• The President has signed the two ordinances, Press
  Secretary Venu Rajamony said.
• The Cabinet had approved promulgation of the Ordinance on
  Insurance Bill and re-promulgation of the Coal Ordinance on Wednesday, a day
  after the conclusion of the Winter session of Parliament.
• Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had expressed the hope that
  hiking of the foreign investment cap in the insurance sector to 49 per cent,
  which has been pending since 2008, will result in capital inflow of $6-8
  billion. Earlier, this foreign investment limit was capped at 26 per cent.
• The Insurance Laws Amendment Bill, 2008 could not be
  taken up for discussion in Parliament despite being approved by the Select
  Committee of the Rajya Sabha because of the uproar over the conversion and
  other issues.
• The Coal Mines (Special Provisions) Bill, 2014 has
  already been approved by the Lok Sabha during the session but could make no
  progress in the upper House.
• The re—promulgation of ordinance on coal will facilitate
  e—auction of coal blocks for private companies for captive use and allot mines
  directly to state and central PSUs.

• Four Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs) on 23 December
  2014 signed joint venture agreements to set up an integrated coal gasification-cum-fertiliser
  and ammonium nitrate complex in Talcher, Odisha.
• GAIL (India) Ltd, Coal India Ltd (CIL), Rashtriya
  Chemicals and Fertilizers (RCF) and Fertilizer Corporation of India (FCI)
  singed joint venture agreements.
• The integrated coal gasification-cum-fertiliser and
  ammonium nitrate complex will be set up with an estimated combined investment
  of 9000 crore rupees.
• The execution of construction activities of the projects
  will start in 2015-16 and expected to complete by 2019.

• First Joint Venture (JV) GAIL Coal Gas (India) led by
  GAIL will set up the Upstream Coal Gasification and Gas Purification section
  for production of Ammonia Syn Gas for downstream fertilizer unit.  The JV will invest around 3000 crore rupees.
• Second JV Talcher Chemicals & Fertilizers led by
  Rashtriya Chemicals & Fertilizers (RCF) will set up Ammonia-Urea, Nitric
  Acid-Ammonium Nitrate plants. The JV will be initiated with an estimated
  investment of 6000 crore rupees and majority stake will be held by RCF &
  CIL.
• The overall project comprises of 3850 MTPD Urea plant,
  2700 MTPD Ammonia plant, 850 MTPD Nitric Acid plant and 1000 MTPD Ammonium
  Nitrate plant.
• The entire project will produce 3850 tonne of urea, 2700
  tonne of ammonia, 850 tonne of nitric acid and 1000 tonne of ammonium nitrate
  per day respectively.

• The Reserve Bank of India on 29 December 2014 released
  the Financial Stability Report December 2014. The report also includes the
  Trend and Progress of Banking in India during 2013-14.

• The current weak global growth outlook may prolong easy
  monetary policy stance, that is, low interest rate regime in most advanced
  economies (AEs).
• Low risk premia resulting from low interest rate in AEs
  may lead to accumulation of vulnerabilities, and sudden and sharp overshooting
  in markets cannot be ruled out.
• Financial risk taking has not translated into
  commensurate economic risk taking.
• Increase in portfolios flows to emerging market against
  the backdrop of low interest rates in AEs may increase the risk of reversals on
  possible adverse growth or financial market shocks, thus necessitating greater
  alertness.
• On the domestic front, macroeconomic vulnerabilities have
  abated significantly in recent months on the back of improvement in growth
  outlook, fall in inflation, recovery in the external sector and political
  stability.
• Growth in the banking business and activity in primary
  capital markets remain subdued due to moderate investment intentions.

• The growth of the Indian banking sector moderated further
  during 2013-14. Profitability declined on account of higher provisioning on
  banks’ delinquent loans and lackluster credit growth.
• Urban co-operative banks exhibited improved performance,
  however, the performance of primary agriculture credit societies and long term
  rural credit co-operatives remained a matter of concern with a further increase
  in their losses coupled with deterioration in asset quality.
• The asset size of the non-banking financial companies (non-deposit
  taking-systemically important) showed an expansion, however, asset quality
  deteriorated further during the period of review.
• The banking stability indicator suggests that overall
  risks to the banking sector remained unchanged during the first half of
  2014-15.
• Although the liquidity position improved in the system,
  concerns remain on account of deterioration in asset quality along with
  weakened soundness.
• The profitability dimension of the indicator showed an
  improvement but it remained sluggish.
• The stress tests suggest that the asset quality of banks
  may improve in the near future under expected positive developments in the
  macroeconomic conditions and banks may also be able to meet expected losses
  with their existing levels of provisions.
• The asset quality of scheduled commercial banks may
  worsen from the current level if the macroeconomic conditions deteriorate
  drastically, and banks are likely to fall short in terms of having sufficient
  provisions to meet expected losses under adverse macroeconomic risk scenarios.
• Analysis of the interconnectedness indicates that the
  size of the interbank market in relation to total banking sector assets has
  been on a steady decline.
• Contagion analysis with top five most connected banks
  reveals that the banking system could potentially lose significant portion of
  its total Tier-I capital under the joint solvency-liquidity condition in the
  event of a particular bank triggering a contagion.

• The capital to risk weighted assets ratio (CRAR) of the
  scheduled commercial banks at 12.8 per cent as of September 2014 is
  satisfactory
• The banking sector, particularly the public sector banks
  would require substantial capital to meet regulatory requirements with respect
  to additional capital buffers.
• With the increased regulatory focus on segregating the
  cases of willful defaults and ensuring the equity participation of promoter(s)
  in the losses leading to defaults, there is a need for greater transparency in
  the process of carrying out a net economic value impact assessment of large
  Corporate Debt Restructuring (CDR) cases.
• Another aspect that impinges upon the banks’ asset
  quality is corporate leverage and its impact on banks’ balance sheets,
  particularly ‘double leveraging’ through holding company structures and the
  pledging of shares by promoters.
• Indian stock markets have seen a rapid growth in recent
  months. While the retail investor base still remains comparatively low, India’s
  stock markets have been attracting substantial amounts of foreign investments,
  increasing the risk of reversal.
• The Securities and Exchange Board of India has introduced
  an additional safety net in the form of core settlement guarantee fund to
  mitigate risks from possible default in settlement of trades and to strengthen
  risk management framework in the domestic capital markets.
• With a view to improving participation of actual users /
  hedgers and the quality of price discovery in the market, the Forward Markets
  Commission has revised position limits which are linked to estimated production
  and imports of the underlying commodities.
• To deal with issues relating to unauthorised deposit
  acceptance and financial frauds, the State Level Coordination Committee (SLCC)
  mechanism has been strengthened under the initiative of the Financial Stability
  and Development Council (FSDC).

• Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on 29 December 2014
  liberalised norms for Indian companies investing abroad. The liberalization of
  norms was part of series of amendment done by RBI from time to time in the
  Foreign Exchange Management (Transfer or Issue of any Foreign Security)
  (Amendment) Regulations, 2004.

• Bank may permit creation of charge on the shares of the
  Joint Venture/Wholly Owned Subsidiary/Step down Subsidiary (JV/WOS/SDS) of an
  Indian party in favour of a domestic or overseas lender for securing funded
  and/or non-funded facility.
• The loan availed by the JV/WOS/SDS from the
  domestic/overseas lender shall be utilized only for its core business activities
  overseas and not for investing back in India in any manner whatsoever.
• Bank may permit creation of charge on the domestic assets
  of an Indian party in favour of an overseas lender for securing the funded
  and/or non-funded facility.
• Bank may permit creation of charge on the overseas assets
  (excluding the shares) of the JV/WOS/SDS of an Indian party in favour of a
  domestic lender for securing the funded and/or non-funded facility.

• India became second largest foreign trading partner of
  Dubai after China. This was revealed by the figures released by Dubai Customs
  on 28 December 2014 that provides trade data for the first nine months of 2014.
• The figures show that China was Dubai’s top foreign trade
  partner with a trade value of 34 billion US dollars. As a result, the share of
  China increased 27 percent over the year 2014.
• India followed next with a trade value worth 21.78
  billion US dollar. However, among the Arab nations, India was at the top with
  trade volume worth 10 billion US dollars.
• Dubai’s non-oil foreign trade in the first nine months of
  2014 was around 269 billion US dollars, with imports having the biggest share
  at 169 billion US dollars, exports at 23.41 billion and re-exports 76.23
  billion US dollars.
• Dubai’s foreign trade scored steady growth in the first
  nine months of 2014 with top trading partners. Dubai’s trade statistics for the
  first nine months of 2014 clearly show the Emirate’s solid foothold as a regional
  and international trading and investment hub. It maintained a high value
  despite the global decline in commodity prices.
• This reflects Dubai’s trading capability to increase the
  volume of foreign trade, including imports, exports and re-exports, to compensate
  for any drop in prices.

• Larsen & Toubro (L&T) Hydrocarbon on 29 December
  2014 won offshore contract from Oil & Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) worth
  894 crore rupees for additional development of the Vasai East project.
• The project includes the work to improve recovery factor
  of Vasai East field where production was started in 2008 and it is scheduled to
  be completed by April 2016.
• L&T Hydrocarbon Engineering (LTHE) bagged the
  contract on complete turnkey basis from ONGC. LTHE is a fully owned subsidiary
  of L&T.
• The contract includes total engineering, procurement,
  construction and installation of two wellhead platforms, subsea pipelines and
  modification of existing facilities in Heera-Panna-Bassein block of Mumbai
  offshore.
• The 2500 crore rupees project will result in incremental
  oil production of 1.83 million metric tonne (MMT) and incremental gas
  production of 1.971 billion cubic metres (BCM) by 2030.

• Gujarat Pipavav Port Limited (APM Terminals Pipavav) on
  26 December 2014 tied-up with NYK Auto Logistics (India) Ltd to set up a
  dedicated Roll-on/Roll-off (Ro-Ro) automobile terminal at Pipavav port in
  Gujarat.

• Gujarat Pipavav Port sub-leased 85000 square meters of
  land for 10 years inside its premises to NYK Auto to develop a dedicated common
  user integrated Ro-Ro terminal.
• The facility will also have a pre-delivery inspection
  (PDI) unit and a vehicle processing centre (VPC).
• The terminal will be commissioned in mid-2015. It will
  have an annual designed capacity of 2.50 lakh vehicles.
• Gujarat Pipavav Port will provide all the port and
  related facilities for ensuring smooth and seamless flow of automobile cargo.

• Located in Gujarat, APM Terminals Pipavav is the first
  Public Private Partnership (PPP) port in India.
• APM Terminals Pipavav is part of an integrated Global
  Terminal Network of 56 ports and 154 inland facilities in 63 countries.
• Port Pipavav is managed and operated by APM Terminals,
  the ports and terminals company of the maritime giant the A.P. Moller-Maersk
  Group.
• It has two facilities in India currently- India’s largest
  container terminal, APM Terminals Mumbai in JNPT at Nhava Sheva, Mumbai and
  Port Pipavav in Gujarat.

• Sanjiv Sarin was on 29 December 2014 appointed as the
  Managing Director (MD) and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Tata Coffee
  Limited with effect from 8 January 2015.
• His appointed was approved by the Board of Directors of
  Tata Coffee Ltd. Sanjiv Sarin will succeed Hameed Huq, who will retire on 31
  March 2015.
• Sarin is currently the Regional President for South Asia
  in Tata Global Beverages Ltd, the holding company of Tata Coffee Ltd.

• Trevor Bull was on 26 December 2014 appointed as the
  Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Managing Director (MD) of Aviva India Life
  Insurance Ltd.
• He succeeded TR Ramachandran who led Aviva India since
  October 2008. Bull will take charge of the post from January 2015.

• Foreign Exchange Reserves of India reached 320 billion US
  dollars on the back of a massive jump in foreign currency assets. This was
  revealed by Reserve Bank of India (RBI) data on Foreign Exchange released on 26
  December 2014.

• During the week 8 December to 19 December 2014 the flow
  of foreign exchange hit 3.163 billion US dollars enabling total foreign
  exchange reserves to reach 319.997 billion US dollars.
• The foreign currency assets (FCAs), which are a major
  constituent of overall reserves, jumped by 3.310 billion US dollars to reach
  295.670 billion US dollars during the week ended 19 December 2014. FCA is
  expressed in dollar terms that include the effect of appreciation and
  depreciation of non-US currencies such as the euro, pound and yen, held in
  reserves.
• The gold reserves remained unchanged at 18.985 billion US
  dollars.

• Union Government observed 25 December 2014 as Good
  Governance Day. The day was observed to celebrate the 90th birth anniversary of
  Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
• The ministry also organised Multimedia Exhibition on
  former Prime Minister Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee to mark Good Governance Day at
  the IGNCA complex.
• Union Ministry of Ministry of Information and
  Broadcasting organised the rich repository of archival footage on eminent
  personalities . The footage will be available with the Ministry of Information
  and Broadcasting to the public through Doordarshan, All India Radio and Social
  Media platforms of the New Media Wing.
• The Exhibition also witnessed screening of three films
  based on the life of Shri Vajpayee provided by the Film Division of the
  Ministry. Photo Division provided the photos being mounted at the Exhibition.
  The Song and Drama Division of the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting
  gave cultural performances during the Exhibition. Publication Division
  organized a Book Exhibition at the venue. Doordarshan provided short-films to
  highlight the achievements of the former Prime Minister Shri Vajpayee.
• The Multimedia Exhibition on former Prime Minister Shri
  Vajpayee was an example of the innovative approaches being adopted towards
  information dissemination by different Media Units of the Ministry. The
  Exhibition reiterated the integrated communication approach being practiced for
  effective outreach and impact.
• At the closing ceremony, prizes were awarded to children
  who participated in painting competition organized at the venue during the
  Exhibition. The theme of the painting competition was Swachhta and National
  unity.

• Union Ministry of Science & Technology and Earth
  Sciences on 25 December 2014 launched an SMS-based warning system which will
  provide alerts on cyclones, tsunami and other weather-related natural
  calamities.
• The system was launched on the occasion of Good
  Governance Day as part of Prime Minister’s Digital India Programme.

• Under this web-based operational system, the Indian
  Meteorological Department (IMD) will send SMS to individuals who register
  themselves at the weather forecaster’s official website www.imd.gov.in.
• The meteorological department will utilize Mobile Seva of
  Department of Electronics and Information Technology (DeitY) for SMS based
  cyclone warnings.
• The information on warnings will be disseminated to
  officials involved in administration, district magistrates/collectors besides
  fishermen, farmers and general public.
• This system is part of the IMD’s initiatives for
  improvement in weather forecast and warning services based on latest tools and
  technologies including information and communication technology.

• Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on 25 December
  2014 launched Mission Indradhanush to achieve full immunization coverage for
  all children by 2020.
• The Mission Indradhanush aims to cover all those children
  who are either unvaccinated or are partially vaccinated against seven vaccine
  preventable diseases including diphtheria, whooping cough, tetanus, polio,
  tuberculosis, measles and hepatitis B.
• The Mission was launched on Good Governance Day that
  marks the birth anniversary of Bharat Ratna Madan Mohan Malaviya and birthday
  of Bharat Ratna Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

• Under Mission Indradhanush, four special vaccination
  campaigns will be conducted between January and June 2015 with intensive
  planning and monitoring of these campaigns.
• The ministry has identified 201 high focus districts that
  have nearly 50 percent of all unvaccinated or partially vaccinated children.
  These districts will be targeted by intensive efforts to improve the routine
  immunization coverage.
• Out of the 201 districts, 82 districts are in just four
  states of UP, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan and nearly 25 percent of the
  unvaccinated or partially vaccinated children of India are in these 82
  districts of 4 states.
• 201 districts will be covered in the first phase of the
  mission, 297 districts will be targeted for the second phase in the year 2015.
• The Ministry will be technically supported by WHO,
  UNICEF, Rotary International and other donor partners.
• Mass media, interpersonal communication, and sturdy
  mechanisms of monitoring and evaluating the scheme are crucial components of
  Mission.

• The Sushaasan Express was on 25 December 2014 flagged off
  by the Union Ministry of Mines and Steel. The Sushaasan (good governance)
  Express was launched from Gwalior, the birth place of former Prime Minister
  Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
• The train will run between Gwalior and Gonda via Hazrat
  Nizamuddin and Lucknow. The train was launched on the occasion of Good
  Governance Day that marks the birthday of Bharat Ratna Atal Bihari Vajpayee and
  birth anniversary of Bharat Ratna Madan Mohan Malaviya.

• On the same occasion, Union Railway Minister Suresh
  Prabhu sanctioned 29 crore rupees for the development of railways in Gwalior.
• Besides, another announcement was that the Union tourism
  ministry has approved a plan worth 24.93 crore rupees proposed by the Madhya
  Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation to develop Gwalior as a mega tourist
  centre.

• Union Ministry of Consumers Affairs on 25 December 2014
  announced to set up Grahak Suvidha Kendras in each zone of the country. The
  move is aimed to provide a number of services to the consumers.
• The proposed zones where the Government decided to set up
  the Kendras are North, South, West, East, North East, Central and the National
  Capital.
• The Kendras will provide counseling to consumers in
  redressal of their grievances and assist them in registering their complaints
  in the appropriate consumer forums. The government will also be authorized to
  take up complaints with private companies and service providers on behalf of
  the government.
• The Ministry has invited applications from registered and
  eligible Voluntary Consumer Organizations for setting up the Kendras.
• It has also drawn several other plans and programmes for
  empowerment of consumers and their welfare. Initiative has been taken on
  mainstreaming consumer advocacy in the policy decisions of other seven sectors
  of housing and health.

• Megastar Amitabh Bachchan was honoured with the Yash
  Chopra Memorial Award on 23 December 2014.
• Maharashtra Governor C Vidyasagar Rao honoured him with
  the award.
• Amitabh Bachchan is the sceond recipient of the award.
  The award was first conferred to melody queen Lata Mangeshkar in 2013.
• The Yash Chopra Memorial Award has been instituted by the
  TSR Foundation of T Subbarami Reddy in the memory of the late producer-director
  in 2013. Yash Chopra died in 2012.

• Union Government in the fourth week of December 2014
  decided to launch Operation All Out against Bodo militants. The decision to
  launch the operation was taken during the meeting of Army chief General Dalbir
  Singh Suhag and Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh in Delhi.
• The meeting was to review the security situation in Assam
  after National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB) militants’ on 23 December
  2014 massacred at least 81 tribal people in two districts of Assam, Kokrajhar
  and Sonitpur.
• The two-tier armed operation will be carried on by about
  9000 soldiers of Indian Army and paramilitary troopers on the Assam-Arunachal
  Pradesh border to flush out militants of the NDFB (Songbijit Brahma group).
• Apart from this, authorities have also mulled coordinated
  action with armies of Bhutan and Myanmar to hunt the NDFB(S) militants, as the
  group has its bases in the two countries. Bhutanese Prime Minister Tshering
  Tobgay has assured its support to India in its action against the Bodo
  militants.

• The Union Cabinet on 29 December 2014 approved
  promulgation of an ordinance that amends the Right to Fair Compensation and
  Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement (RFCTLARR)
  Act, 2013.
• The amendments were approved in a cabinet meet chaired by
  Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The decision to amend the act was taken in the
  backdrop of suggestions that came up in interactions with the State Revenue
  Ministers and key implementing Ministries, who faced difficulties in
  implementing the Act.
• The proposed amendments will serve both objectives
  namely, farmer welfare and along with the strategic and developmental needs of
  the country.

• Certain provisions of the Act were relaxed and Section 10
  A was added to the legislation
• It also removes Consent Clause (CC) and Social Impact
  Assessment (SIA) for acquiring land for five purposes, but compensation and
  rehabilitation and resettlement packages will be applicable as per the new Land
  Acquisition Act for acquiring land for these purposes.

1. National security
2. Defence
3. Rural infrastructure including electrification
4. Industrial corridors
5. Building social infrastructure including PPP where
   ownership of land continues to be vested with the government

• First Municipal Elections in 60 years were held in
  Myanmar on 27 December 2014 for electing the Yangon City Development Committee
  (YCDC).
• The ballot for the YCDC was the first chance for the
  residents of Yangon, the biggest city of Myanmar, to vote under the country’s
  quasi-civilian government which replaced outright military rule in 2011.
• However, the voters voted under severe voting
  restrictions and limited power of the councilors being elected.
• Voting was limited to one person per household and the
  age of the candidates were narrowly prescribed. Further there was a ban on
  political parties taking part in the campaign.
• As a result, only 4 lakh of the Yangon’s several million
  residents were eligible to vote for the elections.
• Also only 300 candidates, among them businessmen, retired
  civil servants and activists, are competing for 115 positions on the
  committee.  Though, the top posts will
  remain largely appointed.

• 16 States have ratified the National Judicial
  Appointments Commission (NJAC) Bill, 2014. The information related to this was
  revealed by Union Ministry of Law and Justice on 28 December 2014.
• The NJAC Bill, 2014 also called Constitution (121st
  Amendment) Bill 2014 seeks to replace the present collegiums system with
  National Judicial Appointments Commission to appoint the judges of higher
  judiciary.
• Although the names of all the states which have ratified
  the bill were immediately not known, however, Goa, Rajasthan, Tripura and
  Gujarat had ratified the bill in October 2014. Also, UP assembly had ratified
  the bill with an amendment. The NJAC Bill was ratified by Telangana in December
  2014.
• Earlier in August 2014, the Rajya Sabha Secretariat had
  sent the bill to the states for ratification after Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha
  had cleared the bill.

• The Department of Electronics and Information Technology
  (DeitY) on 29 December 2014 announced to set up a Fast Track Task Force to
  re-establish and catalyse significant growth in mobile handset and component
  manufacturing eco-system in India.
• As part of boost mobile manufacturing, the task force
  aims to achieve production of 500 million units of mobile handsets by 2019.
• It includes promotion of large scale
  manufacturing/assembly activity to achieve production of annual manufacturing
  output of 150000 crore rupees to 300000 crore rupees.
• It is estimated that this large scale production can
  create employment opportunity for 15 lakh people.
• Composition of the Task Force
• The Chairman of the Task Force is Pankaj Mohindroo, the
  President of Indian Cellular Association (ICA). The Co-Chairmen of the task
  force are Josh Foulger, the President of Nokia SEZ and Hari Om Rai, the
  Co-founder of Lava mobile handsets.

1. BD Park, Managing Director, Samsung India
2. Kenichiro Hibi, Managing Director, Sony India
3. Sandeep Bhargava, Microsoft Devices Director for
   Government relations
4. Soon H Kwon, Managing Director, LG India
5. Vikas Jain, Co-founder of Micromax Informatics

• Union Government on 29 December 2014 renamed the
  Department of Disability Affairs (Nishaktata Karya Vibhag) as Department of
  Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities (Viklangjan Sashaktikaran Vibhag).
• This department is functional under the Union Ministry of
  Social Justice & Empowerment.

• The Union Government in June 2012 created the Department
  of Disability Affairs under the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment. The
  department was created to act as the nodal agency for matters pertaining to
  disabilities. The department had several institutes functional under it like
  Institutes for the differently-abled, visually challenged, mentally challenged,
  and empowerment of persons with multiple disabilities.
• The decision to create Department of Disability Affairs
  was taken in accordance to Census 2001 that revealed that over 21 million (2.1
  crore) people in India (12.6 million males and 9.3 million females) are
  suffering from one or the other kind of disability. This population was
  equivalent to 2.1 percent of the population.

• Noted educationist and former Vice Chancellor of the
  Aligarh Muslim University Saiyid Hamid died on 29 December 2014 following a
  prolonged illness. He was 94.

• Born in Faizabad, Uttar Pradesh in 1920, Hamid worked for
  the educational uplift of Indian Muslims.
• After retiring from the Indian Administrative Service
  (IAS) in 1980, he was appointed as the vice chancellor of Aligarh Muslim
  University (AMU).
• He later succeeded Hakeem Abdul Hameed as the Chancellor
  of Hamdard University in Delhi.
• Saiyid Hamid was one of the members of the high-level
  Rajendra Sachar committee appointed by then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in
  2005 on the state of Muslims in the country.

• BJP leader Raghubar Das was sworn-in as tenth Chief
  Minister of Jharkhand on 28 December 2014. 59-year-old Raghubar Das is the
  first non-tribal Chief Minister of Jharkhand since the state came into being on
  15 November 2000.
• The oath of office and secrecy was administered by the
  Jharkhand Governor Syed Ahmed at a ceremony held at the Birsa Munda football stadium
  in Morhabadi in Ranchi.
• Apart from Das, four ministers (three from the BJP and
  one from the All Jharkhand Students Union (AJSU) were sworn-in as ministers.
  They are
• Ranchi MLA and former speaker of Jharkhand assembly – CP
  Singh of BJP
• Dhanbad MLA – Dr Louis Marandi of BJP
• Khunti MLA – Neelkanth Singh Munda of BJP
• Ramgarh MLA and former minister – Chandra Prakash
  Choudhary (only MLA from AJSU party)

• Raghubar Das is a five-time MLA from East Jamshedpur
• In August 2014, he was elected as BJP national vice
  president
• He also served as BJP President in Jharkhand
• After the 2009 Assembly elections, he was appointed as
  the deputy chief minister in the Shibu Soren government
• He had served as a minister in Jharkhand in the
  governments led by Babulal Marandi, Arjun Munda and held portfolios of finance,
  labour and urban development during his stint as cabinet minister
• For the first time, he was elected as MLA to the
  undivided Bihar assembly in 1995
• He also has served Tata Steel in Jamshedpur as a Grade 4
  employee
• Das belongs to the influential Vaishya community
• Das, during his education days at the Jamshedpur
  Co-operative College was an active student union leader and joined the student
  movement launched by Loknayak Jaiprakash Narayan in 1974.
• He was born on 3 May 1955 in Bhalubasa area of Jamshedpur

• Union Government launched Madan Mohan Malviya National
  Mission on Teachers and Teaching on 25 December 2014. Prime Minister Narendra
  Modi launched the mission at Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi.
• The mission was launched the mission with an outlay of
  900 crores rupees during 12th five year plan. It envisages to addressing
  comprehensively all issues related to teachers, teaching, teacher preparation,
  professional development, Curriculum Design, Designing and Developing
  Assessment & Evaluation methodology, Research in Pedagogy and developing
  effective Pedagogy.
• On One hand, the mission will address current and urgent
  issues such as supply of qualified teachers, attracting talent intoteaching
  profession and raising the quality of teaching in schools and colleges.
• On another hand, the mission will pursue long term goals
  of building a strong professional cadre of teachers by setting performance
  standards and creating top class institutional facilities for innovative
  teaching and professional development of teachers.
• The Mission will focus on both urgent issues and long
  term goals in a holistic manner dealing with the whole sector of education
  without fragmenting the programmes based on levels and sectors as school,
  higher, technical etc.
• The mission is an umbrella scheme will create synergies
  among the various ongoing initiatives on Teachers and Teaching under Union
  Ministry of Human Resources Development and other autonomous institutions.
• The Mission  will
  have the components such as  Schools of
  Education (in Central Universities), Centres of Excellence for Curriculum and
  Pedagogy,) Inter-University Centres for Teachers’ Education, National Resource
  Centre for Education, Centres for Academic Leadership and Education Management,
  Innovations, Awards, Teaching Resource Grant, including Workshop & Seminar
  and  Subject Networks for Curricular
  Renewal and Reforms.
• Besides, Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the Campus
  Connect wi-fi of Banaras Hindu University by remote control. He unveiled the
  plaque of the Inter-University Centre and also launched the Varanasi Mahotsav.

• Senior IAS officer Vrinda Sarup on 29 December 2014 was
  appointed as Secretary to the Department of School Education and Literacy under
  Union Ministry of Human Resource Development. Her appointment was approved by
  the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet.
• She succeeded R Bhattacharya who is due to retire on 31
  December 2014. R Bhattacharya is a 1978 batch IAS officer of Andhra Pradesh
  cadre.
• She will take the charge with immediate effects.
• Vrinda Sarup is a 1981 batch IAS officer of Uttar Pradesh
  cadre. She is presently working as Special Secretary to the Department of
  School Education and Literacy under the Union Ministry of Human Resource
  Development.
• Department of School Education & Literacy is
  responsible for development of school education and literacy in the country.
  The Department has its eyes set on the universalisation of education and making
  better citizens out of our young brigade.

• The oldest litigant in the Babri Masjid case Mohammad
  Farooq passed away on 24 December 2014 due to old age-related ailments. He was
  100.
• Farooq, a resident of Ayodhya, was one of the seven main
  litigants from Muslim side in the 1949 Babri Masjid case regarding placing of
  Lord Rama idols in the premises.
• Now, the eldest son of late Farooq, Mohammad Saleem will
  inherit his legacy of the case and may become litigant in place of his father
  as per Uttar Pradesh’s Additional Advocate General and convener of Babri Masjid
  Action Committee Zafaryab Jilani.

• On the night of 22 December 1949, an idol of Lord Rama
  mysteriously appeared inside Ayodhya’s Babri Masjid. This incident had set in
  motion a chain of events in the Indian politics.
• Farooq was one of the seven main litigants from the
  Muslim side who filed civil suits pledging their respective claims to the site.
  The rest of the six main litigants are Hashim Ansari, Ashhad Rashidi, Maulana
  Mahfuzurur Rahman, Mufti Hasbullah, Mahmud and Sunni Central Waqf Board.

• Malayalam film actor Narayanan Lakshmi (NL) Balakrishnan
  died on 25 December 2014 following a prolonged illness. He was 72.
• Being a diploma-holder in painting, Balakrishnan began
  his career as a still photographer and later turned to acting.
• He was associated with over 180 films as still
  photographer and appeared in major and minor roles in around 100 movies.
• His performances in movies like Kakkothikkavile Appooppan
  Thadikal, Pattanapravesham and Joker won him appreciation.
• He worked as a photojournalist in Kerala Kaumudi for
  eleven years  from 1968 to 1979.
• Balakrishnan has also published a book titled Black and
  White in 2011.

• Noted Hindi poet and a litterateur Nand Chaturvedi died
  on 26 December 2014 following a brief illness. He was 91.
• Born in 1923 in Jhalawar, Chaturvedi done his Master of
  Arts in Hindi from Rajasthan University.
• He retired as Professor of Hindi from Vidya Bhawan Rural
  Institute.
• Apart from teaching, he wrote poems and essays including
  Yeh Samai Mamuli Nahin, Shabd Sansar ki Yayavari- a collection of essays,
  Imandar Dunya Ke Liye.
• He was given Bihari Puraskar of K K Birla Foundation for
  his poem Yeh Samai mamuli nahin in 1996 and he also received Prasaran Sanmaan
  by Prasar Bharati.
• He was also honoured with Mira Puraskar, the highest
  literary honour of Rajasthan Government.

• Tenth anniversary of Indian Ocean Tsunami was observed on
  26 December 2014. The tsunami was struck off the coastal countries of Indian
  Ocean triggered by a 9.1magnitude earthquake in 2004.
• In Sri Lanka, the day was observed as the National Safety
  Day with a series of commemoration functions across the nation. Memorial
  ceremonies are held for the victims of the Indian Ocean tsunami in Indonesia,
  India, Thailand and Sri Lanka.
• In Banda Aceh of Indonesia, thousands of people gathered
  at the Great Mosque, a19th Century building and paid homage to the victims of
  tsunami. In India also paid homage to the victims of tsunami especially in
  Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Orissa.

• Tsunami or Indian Ocean earthquake was an undersea mega
  thrust earthquake that occurred on 26 December 2004, with an epicentre off the
  west coast of Sumatra, Indonesia.
• Tsunami was triggered by a 9.1magnitude earthquake, which
  struck off the costal countries of Indian Ocean such as Indonesia, Sri Lanka,
  India, Thailand and others. This was among the deadliest natural disasters in
  human history with at least 290000 people killed or missing in 14 countries
  bordering the Indian Ocean.
• Tsunami was also known as the Sumatra–Andaman earthquake
  and it has given various names, such as South Asian tsunami, Indonesian
  tsunami, the Christmas tsunami and the Boxing Day tsunami.

• Ukrainian Parliament, Rada, on 24 December 2014
  overwhelmingly adopted a bill that enables the country to join North Atlantic
  Treaty Organisation (NATO). The bill was adopted by 303 to eight votes.
• With this, Ukraine dropped the non-aligned status to join
  NATO. The non-aligned status was adopted by Ukraine in 2010 under Russian
  pressure. The status of non-aligned prevents states from joining any military
  alliances.
• During his election campaign in early 2014, President
  Petro Poroshenko had vowed to put Ukraine under Western military protection.

• Russia and four other ex-Soviet nations, viz., Belarus,
  Kazakhstan, Armenia and Kyrgyzstan on 23 December 2014 finalised the creation
  of Eurasian Economic Union (EEU).
• The decision to finalise the creation was taken during
  the CSTO (Collective Security Treaty Organization) meeting in Moscow, Russia.
• The creation of this economic alliance is intended to
  bolster their integration among the ex-Soviet states and will come into
  existence on 1 January 2015.
• The EEU will also help promote free trade among the
  member countries.
• Besides, it will help coordinate the financial systems
  and regulate the industrial and agricultural policies along with labour markets
  and transportation networks among the member countries.
• The new union will have a combined economic output of 4.5
  trillion US dollars and bring together 170 million people.

• Russia successfully test-launched Angara-A5 rocket from
  Plesetsk in northern Russia on 23 December 2014. The rocket was designed to succeed
  Proton and other Soviet-era launchers. The Angara is billed as the first rocket
  to have been completely built after the collapse of the Soviet Union.
• The rocket Angara was named after a Siberian river
  flowing out of Lake Baikal. It was expected to launch a payload of two tonnes
  into space. The rocket was developed with a view to launch manned spacecraft.
• The test launch of the light version of the Angara rocket
  ended in embarrassment in June due to a sudden automatic launch abort.
• The Angara-A5 is the first space-booster designed from
  scratch since the Soviet era. It took two decades of design work and scientific
  research. The test launch cost approximately 3 billion US dollar.
• The clean engine eco-friendly Angara rocket family is
  capable of delivering up to 25 tonnes to a low orbit.

• Access to Google Inc’s Gmail was blocked in China on 26
  December 2014 after months of disruptions. The access to the Gmail was
  supposedly blocked by Great Firewall of China which is the world’s most
  sophisticated internet censorship mechanism.
• As part of it, large numbers of Gmail Web addresses were
  cut off in China from 26 December 2014 and the service was still down on 29
  December 2014.
• The update was confirmed by GreatFire.org, a China-based
  freedom of speech advocacy group. Also, Google’s own real-time traffic to
  Google services displayed a sharp drop-off in traffic to Gmail from China.
• The U.S. State Department expressed concern over China’s
  actions which could make email communication difficult for companies operating
  in China.
• However, Chinese Foreign Ministry expressed that it is
  unaware of the development and it is committed to providing a good business
  environment for foreign investors.
• The disruptions of almost all of Google’s services in
  China began since June 2014, that is, since the run-up to the 25th anniversary
  of the government’s bloody crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators around
  Beijing’s Tiananmen Square on 4 June 1989.
• Yet the Gmail users could still access emails downloaded
  via protocols like IMAP, SMTP and POP3. These had let people communicate using
  Gmail on apps like the Apple iPhone’s Mail and Microsoft Outlook.
• Also, people can get around China’s internet censorship
  by using a Virtual Private Network (VPN) which allows unhindered access to
  blocked sites and services.

• Mahendra Singh Dhoni on 30 December 2014 announced
  retirement from International Test Cricket with immediate effect.
• Dhoni decided to retire from Test Cricket by citing the
  strain of playing all formats of Cricket. Now he wants to concentrate on ODI
  and T20 formats.
• His decision to retire from Test Cricket came after the
  Third Test against Australia at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG). Although
  the match ended in a draw, however, Dhoni surpassed Kumar Sangakkara record of
  stumping 134 players in all the three formats.
• Virat Kohli will be the captain of the Indian Team for
  the Fourth and Final Test against Australia that will be played in Sydney from
  6 January 2015. India has already lost the series.

• He is widely regarded as one of the greatest finishers in
  limited-over cricket
• He made his Test debut on 2 December 2005 as
  wicket-keeper against Sri Lanka
• Under his leadership India became the No. 1 team in the Test
  Rankings
• He became the captain of Indian Test Cricket team in 2008
• In his Test career, he has played 90 matches and scored
  4876 runs in 144 innings
• His highest Test score is 224 runs

• The BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India) on 28
  December 2014 banned left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha from bowling in competitive
  matches. He was banned after his bowling action was found illegal.
• Ojha’s action was tested at the ICC-recognised centre in
  Chennai and the test concluded that Ojha’s elbow flexed more than the permissible
  limit of 15 degrees.
• BCCI officially informed Ojha’s home state association
  Hyderabad that his action needs remedial measures. Ojha will now head to
  Chennai for taking corrective measures.

• Ojha is the quickest Indian bowler to reach to 100-wicket
  milestone in Tests
• He has taken 113 wickets in 24 Test matches and 21
  wickets from 18 ODIs
• He played his first One Day International match against
  Bangladesh on 28 June 2008 in Karachi

• Ankita Raina on 29 December 2014 won the International
  Tennis Association (ITF) singles title of the World Tennis Association circuit
  held in Pune. This was her first maiden 25000 US dollars ITF singles title.
• Ankita defeated Katy Dunne of British 6-2, 6-2 in the
  final to win the title. With this, she also became the first Indian to clinch
  the title in the NECC-ITF women’s tournament after 14 years.
• Radhika Tulpule was the first Indian to won the NECC-ITF
  title in the inaugural year of the tournament in 2001.

• The NECC ITF International Women’s Tournament is a tennis
  tournament on the ITF Women’s Circuit, under the tier of the WTA Tour, played
  on outdoor hard-courts. It is held annually since 2001 in Pune, India.

• Geoff Pullar, the former England opening batsman died on
  25 December 2014. The left handed batsman died at the age of 79.
• The former Lancashire and Gloucestershire batsman made
  his first international debut against India in July 1959 in Headingley. In 1960,
  he was voted as one of the Wisden’s Cricketers of the Year in 1960.

• He appeared in 28 Test matches for his country between
  1959 and 1963
• His knock of 131 against India at Old Trafford in his
  second Test made him the first Lancastrian to score a century on his home
  ground of Old Trafford

• India won Gold in World Youth Under-16 Chess Olympiad on
  22 December 2014. India won against Turkey 3.0-1.0 in the final round at the
  FIDE (Federation Internationale des Echecs) tournament held at Gyor, Hungary.
• Russia defeated Ukraine 3.5-0.5 in the final round to
  come at second place and win the Silver medal. The third place was clinched by
  Iran while Hungary finished at fourth place in the tournament.
• In the final round, three Indians International Master
  (IM) Murali Karthikeyan, IM Aravindh Chithambaram and Kumaran Balaji won their
  respective matches to clinch the Gold. Only IM Diptayan Ghosh lost to Vahap
  Sanal of Turkey.
• Karthikeyan won against Ali Marandi, Chithambaram against
  Volkan Sevgi and Balaji against Tuna Tuncer. Chithambaram was the best among
  the Indians in the 10-round tournament who scored eight points in the nine
  games (8 wins, 1 loss). Karthikeyan also scored eight points in the ten 10
  games (6 wins, 4 draws).

• In a unique tribute to Phillip Hughes, the Cricket
  Association of Nepal (CAN) is planning to place a bat belonging to the late
  Australian cricketer on top of the Mount Everest.
• CAN has written a letter to Cricket Australia (CA) and
  they are working on the initiative.
• In the letter addressed to CA chairman Wally Edwards, CAN
  outlined how it wanted to honour the fallen Test opener with a 63-over tribute
  match.
• Meanwhile, Cricket Australia trademarked the phrase “63
  not out” to stop people from making money at the expense of the former Test
  opener, who died after being hit by a bouncer during a domestic match in
  Sydney. He was on 63 when he was hit by the ball.