Current Affairs Update – 7-8 Jan, 2015

• ICICI Bank on 7 January 2015 launched contactless credit
  cards and debits cards called Coral Contactless Credit Card and Expressions
  Wave Debit Card respectively.
• These cards will enable customers to make electronic
  payments by waving the cards near a merchant terminal instead of dipping or
  swiping the cards.
• These cards are powered by MasterCard contactless and
  Visa payWave technologies.
• These cards are based on the near-field communication
  technology that provides customers improved speed to complete a transaction and
  enhanced security.
• The key advantage of these two cards is speed and
  security. The speed of transactions will add momentum to high value payments
  and the level of security is higher since the card doesn’t leave the customer
  during the transaction process.

• Avijit Ghosh on 1 January 2015 took over the charge of
  Chairman-cum-Managing Director (CMD) of Heavy Engineering Corporation (HEC). He
  is the 21st CMD of HEC which is a Public Sector Undertaking (PSU).
• He succeeded R. Misra whose tenure of three year ended on
  31 December 2014.
• His appointment was confirmed by the Public Enterprises
  Selection Board (PESB) under the Union Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances
  and Pensions. The board had recommended his name on 26 June 2014.
• Prior to this, he was serving as the Director (Mining) of
  Hindustan Copper Limited.
• He also served as the Assistant Vice-President of Jindal
  Steel and Power Limited and was posted in Ranchi before he joined Hindustan
  Copper Limited as its Director (mining) in 2010.

• Chinese Internet giant Tencent Holdings Limited on 6
  January 2015 launched China’s first online bank named WeBank to boost small
  businesses.
• The online bank aims at lowering costs for delivering
  practical benefits to small businesses, while forcing traditional financial
  institutions to accelerate reforms.
• WeBank’s first loan amounting to about 5600 US dollars
  was availed by a truck driver at the bank’s opening ceremony.
• Tencent and Alibaba were among ten private investors that
  received a nod from the Chinese government in 2014 to launch five private
  banks.

• Facebook Inc on 5 January 2015 acquired startup company
  Wit.ai in an attempt to develop voice recognition. However, the details of
  acquisition were not disclosed by the firms.
• The Wit.ai platform will remain open and will be
  available entirely free for everyone even after the acquisition.
• Through this acquisition, Facebook aims to connect
  everyone and build amazing experiences for the over 1.3 billion people on its
  platform.

• Praj industries, a global process solution company on 7
  January 2015 bagged an order from Uganda’s Kakira Sugars, to build an ethanol
  plant with a capacity of 60000 litres per day. The plant will process cane
  molasses from the Kakira Sugar Mill.
• The ethanol plant will also produce premium grade extra
  neutral alcohol (Beverage Alcohol) by employing ECOSMART technology. Besides,
  the bio-compost from the plant will be used as manure to increase soil
  fertility making it one of sustainable distilleries.
• Under the contract, Praj industries will provide key
  technologies for fermentation, distillation, waste water treatment including
  bio-methanation followed by bio-composting.

• Infrastructure Leasing and Financial Services Ltd
  (IL&FS) is set to invest about Rs. 35,000 crore for setting up 6,000
  megawatt (MW) of power generation capacities in Kutch – Gujarat, the company
  said.
• IL&FS Group has already laid out plans for a
  multi-product Special Economic Zone at Kutch and two power generation
  facilities combining 6,000 MW capacities in the SEZ.
• The company has already signed the agreements with the
  Gujarat Maritime Board, Government of Gujarat for the development of the
  Shipyard, Captive Jetties and LNG Terminal at Nana Layja and also for the
  development of SEZ and Free Trade and Warehousing Zone (FTWZ).
• IL&FS Group company, IL&FS Maritime
  Infrastructure Company Ltd (IMICL) is undertaking the day-to-day project
  development activities for an Integrated Maritime Complex comprising a Shipyard
  and a multi-product SEZ at Nana Layja where IL&FS is the co-developer,
  company’s web site says.
• The Project site is located at the mouth of Gulf of Kutch
  and is 95 km from Kandla Port and 65 km from Bhuj.

• Online Classifieds Company Quikr on 7 January 2015
  launched instant messenger Quikr Nxt to enable seamless transactions between
  its users. The product was launched by Quikr CEO and founder Pranay Chulet.
• The messenger will allow users to chat using the website
  or mobile app. The messenger has been integrated into Quikr’s mobile app,
  mobile site and website.
• The company claimed the new product is the world’s first
  instant messenger by a classifieds company.
• With the Quikr Nxt, buyers/sellers do not need to share
  their contact number or e-mail address and the only point of reference is the
  Quikr ID. This prevents bombarding by multiple e-mails and phone calls and
  safeguards the user’s privacy.

• High-level committee (HLC) headed by former Cabinet
  Secretary T S R Subramanium was in news in first week of January 2015. The four
  member high-level committee (HLC) was appointed by the Union Ministry of
  Environment and Forests (MoEF) and Climate Change (CC) to review environmental
  laws.
• In its recommendation, the committee suggested single
  window clearance mechanism for green nods.

• Raosaheb Patil Danve, was appointed as the Bharatiya
  Janata Party (BJP) President of Maharashtra on 6 January 2015. He is the Union
  Minister of State for Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution in
  Narendra Modi-led NDA government.
• He was appointed as the Party President for the
  Maharashtra Unit by BJP’s National President Amit Shah.
• 59-year-old, Danve succeeded Devendra Fadnavis who at
  present is serving Maharashtra as its Chief Minister. Earlier, he had served
  the party as vice-president in Maharashtra.

• President Pranab Mukherjee on 6 January 2015 signed the
  Ordinance that amends’ Citizenship Act, 1955. The ordinance provides life-long
  Indian visa facility to Person of Indian Origin (PIO) and exempts them from
  appearing before the local police station on every visit.
• Earlier, Union Cabinet headed by Prime Minister had
  approved the promulgation of ordinance to amend the Act. The ordinance was
  promulgated after the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2014 was not passed in
  either House of Parliament during the winter session of Parliament in December
  2014. It was introduced in Lok Sabha on 23 December 2014.

• It merges Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) and Persons of
  Indian Origin (PIO), thus making PIO eligible for life-long visa and bringing
  them on equal footing with OCI.
• It relaxes the requirement of 12 months in cases related
  to citizenship by registration and naturalization. Instead it allows for breaks
  up to 30 days if the Union government is satisfied that special circumstances
  exist, and has recorded them in writing.

• AMCA was in news in the first week of January 2015. It
  was revealed by the sources from Defence Ministry that the preliminary design
  stage of the futuristic fighter aircraft is over and the development work on
  the project is expected to start in 2015.
• The main purpose of the AMCA is to replace the aging
  SEPECAT Jaguar & Dassault Mirage 2000.
• The seed for developing the indigenous fifth generation
  fighter aircraft (FGFA) was sowed in 2008 but its finalised form was unveiled
  during Aero India 2013.
• The aircraft will be developed by Hindustan Aeronautics
  Limited (HAL) in collaboration with Indian Air Force (IAF), Defence Research
  and Development Organisation (DRDO) and Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA).
• The amount required for the initial design and
  development phase is 4000 crore rupees and the initial design of AMCA is
  expected to be ready by 2018. The first flight of the AMCA though will only be
  possible by 2025.

• Union Ministry for Social Justice & Empowerment on 7
  January 2015 launched National Toll Free Helpline (1XXX-XX-0031) to assist the
  alcoholic and drug dependent persons. The helpline was launched by the Union
  Minister for Social Justice & Empowerment Thaawar Chand Gehlot.

• It has been made with technical support
  from M/s TCIL, a Government of India undertaking.
• It will operate from 9.30 a.m. to 6.00
  p.m. from Monday to Saturday and will be upgraded to 24×7, based onthe number of calls and the
  response in this regard.
• It will help in order to mitigate the
  problems of drug abuse and create public awareness.
• The helpline was launched after the
  Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the National programme Mann ki Baat on 14 December 2014
  show his desire of setting up of a Toll Free Helpline to assist the alcoholic
  and drug dependent persons, their family members and community at large.
• The Ministry of
  Social Justice and Empowerment is the nodal Ministry for drug demand reduction
  and rehabilitation of victims of alcoholism and drug abuse.

• Bollywood actor Amitabh Bachchan on 6 January 2015 named
  as the Brand Ambassador of  Andhra
  Pradesh (AP) health sector. His appointment was announced by the AP Health
  Minister Kamineni Srinivas in Hyderabad.
• Being the brand ambassador of AP health sector, he will
  be participating in various health-related campaigns of AP government. However,
  Bachchan will not take any remuneration for the services he would be rendering
  to the state as its health ambassador.

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 6 January 2015 released a
  commemorative coin to mark the 175th birth anniversary of Tata group founder
  Jamsetji Nusserwanji Tata.
• The reverse face of the coin bears the image of Jamsetji
  Nusserwanji Tata in the centre, with the inscription 175 वा जन्मदिवस in
  Devnagri script.
• With this, he became the first industrialist to be
  felicitated by a commemorative coin.
• PM launched the coin in the presence of Minister of State
  (Finance) Jayant Sinha and Tata Sons Chairman Cyrus Mistry.

• The 102nd Indian Science Congress (ISC) was held from 3
  January to 7 January 2015 in Mumbai. The theme of the ISC was Science and
  Technology for Human Development.
• The 102 ISC was inaugurated by the Prime Minister
  Narendra Modi. The ISC was organized by the Indian Science Congress Association
  (ISCA) in association with University of Mumbai.
• Nobel Laureates, eminent scientists, technology experts
  and research students from India and abroad were participated the Indian
  Science Congress.
• Ancient sciences through Sanskrit, Ancient Indian
  aviation technology, Biodiversity conservation, Space application, clean energy
  systems and other topics were discussed. Science and Technology in SAARC
  Countries and issue of Genetically Modified (GM) crops in India were also
  discussed.
• Besides, Children’s Science Congress, Women’s Science
  Congress and Science Exhibition were also organised. The Children’s Science
  Congress was inaugurated by the former President APJ Abdul Kalam.

• Dr. Dinesh Oraon of Bharatiya Janata Party was elected as
  the Speaker of Jharkhand Legislative Assembly on 7 January 2015. Protem Speaker
  Stephen Marandi announced Oraon’s election as unanimous.
• His name for the post was proposed by the Chief Minister
  Raghubar Das and seconded by the Social Welfare Minister Louis Marandi.
• He is the 10th Speaker of the Jharkhand Legislative
  Assembly since the State came into being on 15 November 2000.

• The French satirical weekly magazine Charlie Hebdo’s
  Paris office was attacked by three masked gunmen on 7 January 2015. At least 12
  persons were killed in the attack.
• The killed persons include Editor-in-Chief Stephane
  Charbonnie (known as Charb) and cartoonists Jean ‘Cabu’ Cabut (known as Cabu), Tignous
  and Wolinski, as well as Charlie Hebdo contributor and French economist Bernard
  Maris.
• This was the deadliest terror attack of France since
  1961, when right-wingers bombed a train, killing 28 people.
• The organization was attacked for its satire edition of
  2011 in which it listed the Prophet Mohammed as editor-in-chief and featured
  cartoons. In retaliation, the office was burned in firebombing in November 2011
  and its website was hacked.
• Charlie Hebdo was a target of Islamist extremists since
  2006, when they published cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed, the holiest figure
  of Islam.
• Charlie Hebdo, a weekly French satirical news magazine
  that is being published since 1970 (had break between 1981 and 1992) is mainly
  known for its controversial provocative cartoons and caricatures. In past, its
  articles have targeted the extreme right, Catholicism, Islam, Judaism,
  politics, culture and others. The magazine has also targeted former Pope
  Benedict XVI and Orthodox Jews.
• In 2012, editor of the magazine, Stephane Charbonnier
  described the newspaper as left-wing, secular and atheist and pushed free
  speech limits until his death due to his believe in freedom of expression in
  France.

• Atul Khare was on 7 January 2015 appointed as the United
  Nations (UN) Under-Secretary-General, Department of Field Support (DFS). He
  will succeed Ameerah Haq of Bangladesh.
• His appointed was announced by United Nations
  Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. Khare is currently providing charitable medical
  advice in India.
• Khare joined the Indian Foreign Service in 1984 and has
  served Indian diplomatic missions in France, Mauritius, Senegal, Thailand and
  the United Kingdom.
• Khare has been serving the UN since years, most recently
  as Assistant Secretary-General leading the Change Management Team in 2011-2012.
• He was the UN Assistant Secretary-General for
  Peacekeeping Operations and Deputy Head of the Department of Peacekeeping
  Operations in New York from 2010 to 2011.

• Australia’s national airline Qantas was named as the
  world’s safest airline by AirlineRatings.com on 6 January 2015. The airline was
  lauded for amassing an extraordinary record of firsts in safety history and
  operations over its 94-year history.
• Qantas was praised for the way it monitors the engines of
  its aircraft using satellite communications and had a fatality free record in
  the jet era.
• The website said that the Australian airline Qantas has
  been a leader in development of the Future Air Navigation System, Flight Data
  Recorder to monitor plane and later crew performance, automatic landings using
  Global Navigation Satellite System as well as precision approaches around
  mountains in cloud using RNP.
• The website announced its top ten safest airlines and top
  ten safest low cost airlines for 2015 from 449 it monitors.

1. Qantas of Australia
2. Air New Zealand of New Zealand
3. British Airways of the UK
4. Cathay Pacific Airways of Hong Kong
5. Emirates of UAE
6. Etihad Airways of UAE
7. EVA Air of Taiwan
8. Finnair of Finland
9. Lufthansa of Germany
10. Singapore Airlines of Singapore

• The Scientists at the Harvard-Smithsonian Centre for
  Astrophysics have discovered two Earth-like planets Kepler 438b and Kepler
  442b. The findings of the discovery were published in The Astrophysical Journal
  on 5 January 2015.
• The planets were spotted by Nasa’s Kepler space telescope
  which detects planets as they move across the faces of their stars. Kepler
  collected the data for four years.
• The Harvard-Smithsonian team led by Guillermo Torres used
  a computer program called Blender to confirm that the planets were real.

• Popov Ivan of Russia on 6 January 2015 won 7th Chennai
  International Open Grandmaster Chess title. He clinched the title via super
  tie-breaker after eight players ended with 7.5 points each.
• The winner Popov Ivan was awarded the cash purse of two
  lakhs rupees, while Runner-up Dzhumaev Marat of Uzbek GM got one lakh fifty
  thousand rupees and third placed GM Mozharov Mikhail of Russia secured a cash
  award of one lakh fifteen thousand rupees.
• For the first time in the history of Chennai Open, there
  was an eight way tie and it was resolved on quotient.
• Among others, who shared the top spot were Dzhumaev Marat
  (Uzbekistan), Mozharov Mikhail (Russia), Ramnath Bhuvanesh R, Swapnil S
  Dhopade, Ravichandran Siddharth (all Indians), Gasanov Eldar (Ukraine), Nguyen
  Duc Hoa (Vietnam).
• Also, Chennai Open saw granting of Grandmaster norms to
  Ramnath Bhuvanesh & Swapnil S Dhopade and International Master Norm on
  Rakesh Kumar Jena. Pratyusha Bodda was granted the Woman International Master
  Norm.

• India will host the 42nd World Bridge Championships that
  will be held in Chennai from 26 September 2015 to 10 October 2015. The
  information was announced by Bridge Federation of India (BFI) president N R
  Kirubakaramoorthy on 7 January 2015.
• It is for the first time that World Bridge Championships
  are being held in Asia. This year, 660 players from 66 teams representing over
  40 countries will take part in the 15-day long event.
• India comes under Asia and Middle East zone which is
  consist of 14 countries. This zone has two qualifiers for the World Bridge
  Championships. As India has got the direct entry, only one qualifying slot is left
  from this zone.

• 11-member ICC Associate and Affiliate panel of
  international umpires for the year 2015 was announced by the International
  Cricket Council (ICC) on 7 January 2015.
• The panel was named by the Associate and Affiliate
  selection committee comprising of senior umpire and referees manager Vince Van
  Der Bijl, ICC umpire and referees administration manager Adrian Griffith, ICC
  regional match referee David Jukes and ICC development events manager Edward
  Fitzgibbon.

1. Allan Haggo of Scotland
2. Sameer Bandekar of India
3. Kathy Cross of New Zealand
4. Mark Hawthorne of Ireland
5. Wynand Louw of Namibia
6. Nigel Morrison of Vanuatu
7. David Odhiambo of Kenya
8. Buddhi Pradhan of Nepal
9. Sarika Siva Prasad of India
10. Ian Ramage of Scotland
11. Courtney Young of Cayman Islands

• Virat Kohli on Thursday became the second Indian batsman
  to score 500 runs in a Test series in Australia during the fourth and final
  match at the Sydney Cricket Ground.
• Kohli, who came into the match with 499 runs from the
  three earlier matches of the series, reached the landmark by hitting a four of
  the bowling of off-spinner Nathan Lyon during the morning session in the 44th
  over of India’s first innings.
• The 26-year-old Kohli, who was playing in his 33rd Test
  and seventh innings in this series, followed in the footsteps of batting legend
  Rahul Dravid who accumulated 619 runs from eight innings in the 2003—04
  Australia tour.
• Kohli has already hit three centuries in the series.