Current Affairs Update – 31 Dec, 2014

• The Department of Financial Services (DFS) under the
  Union Ministry of Finance on 31 December 2014 appointed the Managing Directors
  (MD) and Chief Executive Officers (CEO) of four Nationalised Banks.
• The chiefs were appointed on the recommendations of Appointments
  Board chaired by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Raghuram Rajan.

1. Bank of India Executive Director R Koteeswaran was
   appointed as MD and CEO of Indian Overseas Bank (IOB).
2. Bank of India Executive Director Animesh Chauhan was
   appointed as MD and CEO of Oriental Bank of Commerce (OBC).
3. Punjab & Sind Bank Executive Director Kishore Kumar
   Sansi was appointed as MD and CEO of Vijaya Bank.
4. Bank of Baroda Executive Director P. Srinivas was
   appointed as the MD and CEO of United Bank of India.

• They are appointed for a period of three years or till
  the date of superannuation, whichever is earlier. The appointment in Syndicate
  bank is still under consideration of Government.
• For the first time, PSU banks will have a non-Executive
  Chairman, giving operational responsibility to Managing Director and Chief
  Executive Officers.
• In PSBs, so far the top executive was designated as CMD,
  with the exception of the largest lender State Bank of India. However, the
  posts of Chairman and MD in the private sector banks was separated in 2007 as
  per the recommendations of AS Ganguly committee constituted by RBI.
• The bifurcation of the CMD’s post was also suggested by
  Reserve Bank to the Union Finance Ministry for PSBs. However, the
  recommendation had been pending with the government for years.

• Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) was
  renamed as Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India on 30
  December 2014.
• The change in name came in to effect after the
  promulgation of Insurance Laws (Amendment) Ordinance, 2014, by the President of
  India on 26 December 2014.
• The amendment was done to the Insurance Regulation and
  Development Act, 1999 by inserting the words India after Development Authority
  in Section 105 of the Ordinance amends section 2 (1)(b) of the IRDA Act.
• Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) is
  an autonomous apex statutory body. It regulates and develops the insurance
  industry in India.
• It was constituted by Parliament of India vide Insurance
  Regulatory and Development Authority Act, 1999.

• Union Government on 30 December 2014 signed a loan
  agreement with Asian Development Bank (ADB) for a 60 million dollar Jammu and
  Kashmir (J&K) Urban Sector Development Investment Program (JKURSDIP).
• This loan from the ADB has a 25 year term including a
  grace period of five years.
• The funds will be used to improve urban services in two
  key cities of Jammu and Kashmir, namely Jammu and Srinagar. The funds will be
  used to improve urban services, like
• Water supply
• Urban transport infrastructure
• The urban infrastructure up-gradation program initiated
  under the projects will benefit about half-a-million people in Srinagar and
  Jammu. It will support the state in ensuing increase average water supply, from
  90 liter/day/capita to 135 liter/day/capita through rehabilitation and
  improvement of infrastructure. This would also help in substantial reduction of
  water logging in project areas.

• Union Government on 30 December 2014 signed a loan
  agreement with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) for 75 million dollar and 1.8
  million dollar grant for Karnataka Integrated Urban Water Management Investment
  Program (KIUWMIP).
• This loan from the ADB has a 25 year term including a
  grace period of five years.
• The funds will be used to improve water resource
  management in three towns of Karnataka, namely Byadagi, Davanagere and Harihar
  in the Upper Tungabhadra sub-basin. The funds will be used to upgrade and
  expand  
• Urban water supply and sanitation infrastructure
• Improve water resource planning
• Monitoring and service delivery
• Strengthen operational and administrative capacity
• This project will help increase water treatment capacity
  by 15000 cubic meters per day. The fund will also help to expand and upgrade
  more than 1000 kilometers of water pipelines and increase sewage treatment
  capacity by 48000 cubic meters per day, thereby promoting water efficiency and
  environmental protection.

• Technology giant Microsoft sued an Indian company C-Cubed
  Solution on 30 December 2014 along with several other entities for fraud.
• The other entities include Omnitech Support based in
  California and Florida-based Anytime Techies along with two other individuals
  were also sued.
• Microsoft alleged that they have misused its name and
  registered trademarks while providing fraudulent technical support services to
  unsuspecting consumers.
• Microsoft’s Digital Crimes Unit filed a civil lawsuit in
  federal court in the Central District of California for unfair and deceptive
  business practices and trademark infringement against C-Cubed Solutions.
• According to the lawsuit, C-Cubed is a private company
  associated under the laws of India. Its directors include Marc Haberman, Rachel
  Eilat Haberman and Jay Wurzberger.
• It further alleged that the defendants used the Microsoft
  trademarks to enhance their credentials and confuse customers about their
  affiliation with Microsoft.
• C-Cubed is a subsidiary of California-based Customer
  Focus Services (CFS) and operates the mail server by which CFS’ fraudulent
  technical support businesses communicate with customers.

• The President of India Pranab Mukherjee on 30 December
  2014 appointed the Governors of Mizoram, Uttarakhand and Meghalaya.

1. Governor of Uttarakhand Aziz Qureshi was transferred and
   appointed as Governor of Mizoram for the remainder of his term.
2. Meghalaya Governor Dr Krishan Kant Paul was transferred
   and appointed as Governor of Uttarakhand for the remainder of his term. Krishan
   Kant Paul will continue to hold the additional charge of the office of the
   Governor of Manipur, till further orders.
3. Keshari Nath Tripathi, Governor of West Bengal, will take
   additional charge as the Governor of Meghalaya in addition to his own duties,
   till further orders. 

• The Article 153 of Indian Constitution states that there
  shall be a Governor for each state provided that nothing shall prevent the
  appointment of the same person as Governor for two or more states.

• The 8th India-Republic of Korea Joint Commission Meeting
  was held in Seoul on 29 December 2014. The meeting was co-chaired was by Union
  External Minister of India  Sushma Swaraj
  and  Minister of Foreign Affairs of  South Korea Yun Byung-se.
• During the meeting, both the ministers held consultations
  on all aspects of bilateral ties to chart out a road map for further
  strengthening and deepening of strategic partnership of the both countries.

• Both the countries comprehensively reviewed the
  development of bilateral relations and expressed their satisfaction at the
  steady expansion of bilateral ties.
• They highlighted the importance of high-level exchanges
  in imparting necessary momentum to the bilateral relationship.
• They agreed to consider the potentials for further
  expanding bilateral economic and investment cooperation.
• The two sides also discussed possibilities of addressing
  the trade deficit which is in favour of South Korea.
• Both countries also discussed the possibility of
  co-production of LNG (liquefied natural gas) tankers of South Korea with
  shipyards of India among the specific issues.
• India raised the need for a level playing field for
  Indian pharmaceuticals and software exports.
• Both the countries also agreed to step-up exchanges
  between officials and academics of the two sides.
• India invited South Korea to become an important partner
  of India in the Make in India initiative and Finance Minister of South Korea
  Yun agreed to encourage the South Korea’s industry to engage with India more
  closely.
• India invited F M Yun to visit India in 2015 for the 9th
  India-ROK Joint Commission Meeting
• President of South Korea Park Geun-hye reiterated the
  cordial invitation to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to visit South Korea which
  was welcomed by India.

• Eminent journalist Boobli George Verghese died on 30
  December 2014 following a brief illness. He was 87.
• He was an information adviser to Prime Minister Indira
  Gandhi from 1966 to 1969.
• In 1975, Verghese was given the Ramon Magsaysay award for
  his contribution to journalism.
• Verghese was a member of the Kargil Review Committee and
  co-author of the Kargil Review Committee Report.
• He was part of the Editors Guild of India Fact Finding
  Mission after the Gujarat riots in 2002.
• Verghese authored several books including Design For
  Tomorrow, Waters of Hope, Harnessing the Eastern Himalayan Rivers, Winning the
  Future, India’s Northeast Resurgent and Reorienting India.
• In October 2010, he published his autobiography First
  Draft: Witness to Making of Modern India.
• His last work was Post Haste: Quintessential India, a
  book that was released in May 2014.

• Union Government on 30 December 2014 constituted a
  high-level committee to allay apprehension of data sharing by various
  government agencies over National Intelligence Grid (NATGRID). 
• NATGRID is a
  real time intelligence sharing set up.
• The committee will be headed by the Union Home Secretary.
  Other members of the committee will include the chiefs of all intelligence agencies
  and investigating units.
• The committee will discuss the steps with 22 agencies
  like Intelligence Bureau (IB), Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW), Central
  Bureau of Investigation (CBI), Financial intelligence Unit (FIU), Directorate
  of Revenue Intelligence (DRI), Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), and
  others.
• It will also discuss the issues with the state government
  and chalk out strategy on how to bring synergy in data sharing, coordination
  and dissemination of information.
• NATGRID was proposed by former Union Home Minister P
  Chidambaram after the Mumbai 26/11 attack in 2008 and was approved by the
  Cabinet committee on Security during UPA regime.

• Java Sea was in news on 30 December 2014 after Indonesian
  officials claimed that they have located wreckage of AirAsia Flight QZ8501 at
  the bottom of the Java Sea.
• Indonesian searchers who discovered the wreckage of plane
  by using Sonar equipment also spotted some bodies floating with the debris in
  the Java Sea off the Indonesian part of Borneo.
• The objects have been found 160 km south-west of
  Pangkalan Bun.
• Search operation head Bambang Soelistyo said he is 95
  percent certain the objects spotted are from the AirAsia Flight QZ8501.

• AirAsia’s Airbus A320-200, carrying 162 people on board
  from Surabaya in Indonesia to Singapore lost contact with air traffic control
  and disappeared on 28 December 2014. The plane that disappeared had 137 adult
  passengers, 17 children and one infant, along with two pilots and five crew
  members.

• The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) on 30 December
  2014 rejected a resolution demanding an end to the Israeli occupation of the
  Palestinian territories within three years, i.e. 2017.
• For being adopted the resolution needed support of at
  least nine members of the 15-member UNSC. But the resolution succeeded in
  winning only eight votes.
• Russia, China, Chad, Chile, France, Argentina, Jordan and
  Luxembourg voted in favour of the resolution. While, the US and Australia voted
  against it. On the other hand, UK, Lithuania, Nigeria, the Republic of Korea and
  Rwanda abstained from voting.
• The motion on the resolution was submitted in UN by
  Jordan after it was agreed and supported by 22 Arab states and the Palestinian
  Authority.

• The resolution sought Israel’s withdrawal from
  Palestinian territory occupied since 1967 and, within one year, for a
  negotiated solution to the conflict.
• It outlined a solution and vision of two independent,
  democratic and prosperous States — Israel and a sovereign, contiguous and
  viable State of Palestine.
• It also envisaged a just solution to the status of
  Jerusalem as the capital of the two States
• It also demanded resolution to the question of
  Palestinian refugees as well as to all other outstanding issues, including
  control of water resources and the fate of prisoners in Israeli jails
• It asked for that third-party presence in the security
  arrangements for the transition process

• Commercial property and real estate services consulting
  firm CBRE Group on 17 December 2014 released the semi-annual Global Prime
  Office Occupancy Costs survey 2014.
• The study revealed the top 50 most expensive office
  markets in US dollars per square feet per annum. The research shows that
  London’s West End remained the world’s highest-priced office market with a rate
  of  273.63 US dollars per square feet per
  year.
• In the Global Prime Office Occupancy Costs survey, CBRE
  tracks the occupancy costs for prime office space in 126 markets around the
  globe.
• In India, Central Business District (CBD) of Connaught
  Place, Delhi ranked at the sixth position in the Top 10 most expensive prime office
  markets in the world with occupancy cost of around 160 US dollars per square
  feet.
• Mumbai’s alternative business district of Bandra–Kurla
  Complex (BKC) remained at the sixteenth position. CBD of Nariman Point stood at
  the thirty-second position on the Top 50 rankings for global prime office
  properties.

• Drug firm Lupin on 30 December 2014 received the approval
  from the United States Food and Drugs Administration (USFDA) to market its
  generic drug Prezista tablets in the US. The tablets with chemical name
  Darunavir Ethanolate will be used to treat HIV-1 infection.
• Earlier, the company had also received USFDA approval to
  market a generic version of ViiV Healthcare’s Epivir Tablets, used in treating
  HIV infection, in the American market.
• About Lupin
• The company is headquartered in Mumbai, India. Lupin
  Limited is an innovation led transnational pharmaceutical company producing a
  wide range of quality, affordable generic and branded formulations for the
  developed and developing markets of the world.

• Novak Djokovic and Serena Williams have been named 2014
  World Champions by the International Tennis Federation (ITF).
• The annual award takes in performances on the regular
  Tour and Grand Slams.
• Wimbledon champion Djokovic takes the men’s prize for the
  fourth time having won seven titles this season and the year-end top ranking
  for the third time in four years.
• Williams wins the award for the fifth time in a career
  which has brought her 18 grand slam singles titles — the most recent at this
  year’s U.S. Open.
• Americans Bob and Mike Bryan were named ITF men’s doubles
  champions while Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci of Italy won the women’s honour.