Current Affairs January 2014

• Corey Anderson broke Afridi’s record of fastest century in One Day International against West Indies on 1 January 2014.
• Mammen Mathew, the Chief Editor of Malayala Manorma has been chosen for prestigious journalism Lokmanya Tilak National Award.
• Chief of Army Staff Bikram Singh took Charge as Chiefs of Staff Committee Chairman.
• Southern Grid has been synchronously connected to the rest of the Grid of India to accomplish a mission of One Nation–One Grid–One Frequency.
• The festival of Losar is being celebrated across Ladakh region of Jammu and Kashmir with traditional and religious fervor.
• President gave his assent to the Lokpal Bill. The assented bill provides creation of an anti-graft watchdog even to the office of the Prime Minister.
• Latvia became the 18th member of the euro zone. Latvia gained its independence from the Soviet Union in 1991 and joined the European Union in 2004.
• Justice AK Ganguly resigned as honorary professor of National University of Juridical Sciences.
• Shri S.K. Sharma was appointed as Chairman and Managing Director of Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL).
• World Braille Day observed on 4 January.
• India has signed a credit agreement of 160 million dollar with World Bank. The agreement was signed for Rajasthan Road Sector Modernisation Project.
• Cristiano Ronaldo was awarded the Order of Prince Henry.
• Infosys Ltd appointed B. G. Srinivas and U.B. Pravin Rao as presidents of Infosys Ltd.
• India’s Former Shooting Coach Tibor Gonczol died.
• India asked US Embassy not to screen movies at American Center without obtaining a licence.
• Raj Jain appointed as CEO of Bharti Retail.
• King of Bhutan, Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck and Queen Jetsun Pema Wangchuck will be on a five-day visit to India from 6-10 January 2014.
• ISRO successfully launched its heavy-duty rocket GSLV-D5 for placing communication satellite GSAT-14 into the orbit.
• Serena Williams won the Brisbane International Title 2014.
• Aditya Joshi became world no. 1 junior shuttler.
• Singer Phil Everly passed away in Burbank, California.
• Uday Kiran Telugu film actor died.
• R. Chandrashekhar was appointed as President of National Association of Software and Service Companies (NASSCOM) on 4 January 2014.
• India defeated Pakistan to win 2014 Under-19 Asia Cup in the final match played at Sharjah cricket Stadium in Abu Dhabi on 4 January 2014.
• Mahesh Mangaonkar began the New Year in the same way he ended 2013 by defeating Greg Lobban to win PSA Tour title at the Open du Gard.
• Former Supreme Court Judge, Justice A K Ganguly has resigned as the Chairman of the West Bengal Human Rights Commission (WBHRC).
• Portugal’s former footballer Eusébio died.
• Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has allowed the Indian companies to issue non-convertible or redeemable preference shares or debentures to non-resident shareholders as bonus.
• Munish Sharda appointed as the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of private insurer Future Generali India Life Insurance.
• US Senate has confirmed the name of Janet Yellen as the first woman to lead the US Federal Reserve.
• Prithvi II, the Nuclear capable Surface-to-Surface missile, successfully test-fired.
• >RBI panel has suggested to set-up specialized banks to cater to the low income households to cater to every citizen have a bank account by 2016.
• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) selected the Clearing Corporation of India Ltd (CCIL) as legal entity identifiers (LEIs) on 6 January 2014.
• Reserve Bank of India has allowed the Non-Banking Financial Companies (NBFCs) to lend up to 75 percent of the value of gold.
• Facebook acquired Bengaluru-based Little Eye Labs for 90 crore rupees on 7 January 2014.
• Seventh Global Insurance Summit was held at Hyderabad in Andhra Pradesh on 8 January 2014.
• Dr. Ambedkar National Merit Awards conferred by Kumari Selja.
• SEBI has made it compulsory for all investments into Collective Investment Scheme funds to be made through banking channels and not in cash.
• Kelkar panel submitted report to Union Oil Ministry on January 8, 2014.
• Election Commission decided to call off the tie with Google for registering the new voters.
• Reserve Bank of India relaxed Foreign Direct Investment rules.
• Ali Larayedh, the Prime Minister of Tunisia resigned.
• Pranab Mukherjee conferred the Pravasi Bhartiya Samman Awards to thirteen NRIs, PIOs and organizations for their outstanding contribution.
• Ministry of Environment and Forest cleared the Tawang-II hydro project in Arunachal Pradesh.
• The Union Cabinet approved the introduction of the National Youth Policy, 2014 (NYP, 2014) on 9 January 2014.
• World Hindi Day observed on 10 January.
• Bank of Japan and RBI concluded an agreement to raise BSA to 50 billion dollar.
• ONGC Men & Chhattisgarh Women won Federation Cup National Basketball Championship.
• Gorakhpur railway station entered Limca Book of Records as world’s longest platform.
• The 151st birth anniversary of Swami Vivekananda was celebrated on 12 January 2014.
• Israel’s Former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon died.
• Louis Oosthuizen retained the Volvo Golf Champions title.
• Sheikh Hasina along with her Cabinet of 49 Ministers was sworn-in before President Abdul Hamid on 12 January 2014.
• Sanil Shetty and Ankita Das won their maiden men’s and women’s singles championship on 12 January 2014.
• P.K.Goyal, Director of Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) was awarded the Best CFO Award on 12 January 2014.
• The President of India Pranab Mukherjee inaugurated Andaman and Nicobar Tribal Research and Training Institute at Port Blair on 12 January 2014.
• Cristiano Ranaldo awarded FIFA Ballon d’Or award 2013.
• NABARD has reduced the refinance rates for the banks and other lending agencies by 0.20 percent to promote rural credit and rural infrastructure.
• Pranab Mukherjee presented the Sunil Gangopadhyay Memorial Award of 2012 and 2013 to Nirendranath Chakraborty and Sankha Ghosh, respectively.
• SC has directed the Government to place the report of Justice Shah Commission on illegal mining in Odisha and Jharkhand to it by 27 January 2014.
• Anju Bobby George declared winner of World Athletics Final, 2005 held in Monte Carlo.
• World Bank in its Global Economic Prospects Report forecasted that economy of India will grow by just 6 percent in 2014-15.
• British PM ordered enquiry into Thatcher’s role in Operation Bluestar.
• Jimmy Walker of the US won the Sony Open golf tournament held in Hawaii on 13 January 2014.
• Famous Marathi writer and Social activist, Namdeo Dhasal died in Mumbai.
• NASA discovered potentially hazardous asteroid 2013 YP139.
• Tamil Nadu government has sanctioned 1.75 crore rupees towards conducting two world level events in Chennai.
• Sirajuddin Qureshi elected as the President of The Indian Islamic Cultural Centre (IICC).
• Coal India Ltd (CIL) board declared a dividend of 290 percent to its shareholders for the financial year 2013-14 on 14 January 2014.
• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) included Hong Kong and Macau in the sensitive list.
• Defence Ministry has justified its decision to scrap INS Vikrant to High Court of Mumbai as it has completed its operational life.
• 66th Army Day was observed on 15 January in recognition of General KM Carippa who became first Commander-in-Chief of the independent India.
• Taiwanese poet Yushi was awarded the Thiruvalluvar award on Thiruvalluvar Day.
• Abhijeet Gupta won his second Parsvanth International Grandmasters chess tournament on 16 January 2014.
• Garry Kenneth Toomey, CEO of Jet Airways was resigned.
• A team of archaeologist has discovered a tomb of the unknown Pharaonic king of dated back to about 1650 BC.
• Famous Bengali actress Suchitra Sen died in Kolkota on 17 January 2014. She was 82.
• IIFCL signed an agreement with the K-EXIM for infrastructure finance and covers cooperation and investment financing related to infrastructure.
• Reserve Bank of India (RBI) issued new 5 rupees and 10 rupees coins bearing images of Goddess Vaishno Devi.
• Sunanda Pushkar was found dead in a five-star hotel room, which police believe is a case of suicide.
• Vice President of India, Hamid Ansari released a book entitled Sangharsh ke safar ka nayak Mulayam written by Omveer Tomar on 17 January 2014.
• RBI has allowed foreign investors to buy shares of South Indian Bank as foreign shareholding in the bank has gone below the prescribed limit.
• Hery Rajaonarimampianina declared as the new President of Madagascar following the result of elections conducted with an aim to restore democracy.
• Netherlands won the Hero Hockey World League Final by defeating New Zealand 7-2 at Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium in New Delhi.
• Lewis Clarke youngest person to reach South Pole.
• Abhishikta S Shetty of Karnataka won Miss South India Pageant Title.
• Christopher Chataway, former 5000 meter world record holder Olympian died.
• Cyrus Mistry won the DSC prize 2014 for South Asian literature for his book Chronicles of a Corpse Bearer.
• India has test-fired nuclear-capable surface-to-surface Agni-IV missile with a range of 4000 kilometer from Wheeler Island of Odisha.
• Wal-Mart registered a new Company called Wal-Mart India Private Ltd in India.
• RBI Deputy Governor, Anand Sinha retired on 20 January 2014 and his portfolio has been allocated to other three Deputy Governors.
• RBI has constituted an Expert Committee to Review Governance of Boards in India, which will be chaired by PJ Nayak, former Chairman and CEO of Axis Bank.
• Aruna Bahuguna first woman to be appointed chief of National Police Academy.
• Google acquired Bengaluru based Impermium for 9 million dollar on 20 January 2014.
• Climate change theatre opened at Pushpa Gujral Science City in Kapurthala, Punjab.
• RBI panel suggested that a new consumer price index should be adopted. It has set an inflation target at 4 percent, with a band of (+/-) 2 percent.
• Uttarakhand Assembly during a special session passed new Lokayukta Bill. It has replaced the Uttarakhand Lokayukta Act passed by BJP government.
• The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of China decelerated to 7.7 percent in 2013-14.
• Union Government approved Capacity Building Scheme and Rajiv Gandhi Institute for Climate Change.
• Legendary actor Akkineni Nageswara Rao died at the age of 91 in Hyderabad.
• CCEA approved sale of the Government’s residual stakes of Hindustan Zinc worth 16500 crore rupees. Government holds 29.5% stakes of the company.
• Ratings and Research firm CRISIL released its Indian Economic Forecast for 2014-15 on 21 January 2014.
• Sudhir Mahato, the former Deputy Chief Minister of Jharkhand died.
• India-born Prof A J Paulraj won 2014 Marconi Prize.
• World Economic Outlook of IMF projected India’s Economic Growth at 4.5 percent for 2013-14.
• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has decided to withdraw all currency notes issued prior to 2005 from circulation on 21 January 2014.
• OCA recognized Russian martial art Sambo and is now a part of Asian Games.
• Cumbria University of UK became the first public university to accept fees in Bitcoin.
• Professor Rakesh Khurana of Indian origin appointed as Dean of Harvard College.
• Shane Warne to mentor Australia’s spinners for World T20 Tournament.
• USA allowed the Sikh military men to wear turbans, head scarfs and other religious clothing with their uniform.
• India Women Cricket team won one day series against Sri Lanka 3-0.
• Dr. Tej Vir Singh from Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh won the 2013 UNWTO Ulysses Prize on 22 January 2014.
• Richard Quest won 2013 UNWTO Lifetime Achievement Award.
• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) issued guidelines for loans restructured by non-banking finance companies (NBFCs) on 23 January 2014.
• Stanislas Wawrinka won the Australian Open men’s singles title by defeating Rafael Nadal 6-3, 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 in Melbourne.
• Churchill Brothers beat Sporting Club de Goa to lift the 35th Football Federation Cup.
• Pitroda Committee submit report to Information and Broadcasting Ministry.
• National Girl Child Day observed on 24 January.
• The Aviation Ministry removed V.P.Agrawal as chairman of the state-run Airports Authority of India (AAI) on 24 January 2014.
• State Bank of India launched its channel on Youtube on 24 January 2014.
• MS Dhoni became the first captain to be involved in four tied ODI matches, while playing third match against New Zealand in Auckland.
• H C Meena appointed as the Secretary Security in the Cabinet Secretariat on 24 January 2014.
• Rapper-turned-actress Queen Latifah won the 2014 Matrix Award on 25 January 2014.
• The Election Commission of India celebrated the 4th National Voters Day across the country on 25 January 2014.
• Karl Slym, MD of Tata Motors died after falling from hotel building in Bangkok, where he was to attend board meet of Tata Motors Thailand Limited.
• The Union Government of India on the eve of the 65th Republic Day function announced the Padma Awards 2014.
• Dhruva-3 indigenous High Performance Computing System inaugurated.
• The Environmental Performance Index (EPI) 2014 was released on 25 January 2014.
• PAN allotment procedure will undergo a change from 3 February 2014 and will ask for self-attested copies of POI, POA and DOB documents.
• India has won the basketball gold in the men’s section at the Lusofonia Games by defeating Angola 77-70 in Goa.
• Saina Nehwal won the Syed Modi International India Grand Prix title 2014.
• RBI raised the Repo rate under LAF by 25 basis points from 7.75% to 8% and kept the CRR of scheduled banks unchanged at 4% of NDTL.
• The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) banned the import of products from Ranbaxy’s Toansa plant in Punjab, India on 27 January 2014.
• Gen Fattah al-Sisi has promoted to the rank of Field Marshal (highest in the military), who ousted the Islamist President, Mohammed Morsi.
• Civil Aviation Ministry decided to remove restrictions on flights of Airbus A-380 to India on 27 January 2014. Raymond Weil, the pioneer of Swiss watch died.
• India Post announced to install as many as 3000 Automated Teller Machine (ATM) and 1.35 lakh micro-ATMs by September 2015 on 27 January 2014.
• Salman Khurshid held a bilateral meeting with John Kerry US Secretary on the sidelines of Geneva II meet on Syria in Montreux.
• India and Japan inked MoUs to strengthen cooperation in tourism and power generation.
• CBDT issued order that exempts medal winning sportsperson at Olympics, Commonwealth and Asian Games from payment of Income Tax on cash rewards.
• Pete Seeger, the singer, folk-song collector and songwriter died at Presbyterian Hospital in New York on 27 January 2014.
• World’s first 3D-printer Objet500 Connex3 was launched on 28 January 2014.
• National Waqf Development Corporation Limited inaugurated by Prime Minister.
• Ukraine’s Prime Minister Mykola Azarov resigned on 28 January 2014.
• Uttar Pradesh government launched Samajwadi Pension Yojana on 28 January 2014.
• Google purchased the British artificial intelligence company DeepMind Technologies.
• Ulises Estrada, the Cuban Revolutionary and associate of Che Guevara died.
• Gopal Vittal has been designed as MD& CEO of India and South Asia including Srilanka and Bangladesh.
• First cantilever bridge of India, Pamban Railway Bridge, completed its 100 years.
• The National Rural Livelihoods Mission and the Digital Green, a Microsoft Research Project signed a memorandum of understanding.
• Anand Kumar, founder of Super30 classes was conferred with 2014 Ramanujan Mathematics Award at the Eighth National Mathematics Convention in Rajkot.
• Manoj Kohli appointed as MD&CEO of non telecom business of Bharti Enterprises.
• ICC approved introduction of International Women’s Championship.
• Hero MotoCorp unveiled a 150cc hybrid diesel concept motorcycle RNT on 29 January 2014.
• The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) announced Indian rupee as a legal tender on 29 January 2014.
• Six Public Sector Units (PSUs) signed memorandum of understanding to set up World’s largest 4000 MW ultra solar power project.
• Ajoy Misra elevated as the CEO and MD of Tata Global Beverages Limited.
• Arun Gupta appointed as CMD of Shipping Corporation of India.
• India and Fiji signed DTAA for avoidance of double taxation and prevention of fiscal evasion with respect to taxes on income.
• Kathy Cross became the first woman to be appointed in an ICC umpires panel as an Associate and Affiliate panel of International umpires.
• Sumit Malik winner of 400m gold in men’s 400m race of Lusofonia Games has been stripped off from his medal for violating anti-doping rules.
• New technocratic government of Tunisia headed by Prime Minister Mehdi Jomaa was sworn in and replaced the Islamist-led administration of the country.
• Chief Minister of Uttarakhand, Vijay Bahuguna submitted his resignation to the Governor of the state.
• Agriculture Ministry issued guidelines on National Mission on Oil seeds and Oil Palm.
• Heena Sandhu 10 m Air Pistol score recognized as World record.
• Union Cabinet approved amendments in the Central List of OBCs in 13 states and three Union Territories as per advices received from the NCBC.
• Cabinet approved Amendments to the Mental Health Care Bill.
• India and the Netherlands signed an MOU in field of Sports for exchange of knowledge and experience in the fields of sports management and others.
• India overtook Japan to become the third largest crude oil importer in the World.
• The Union Government decided to amend the rules governing IAS, IPS and Indian Forest Service (IFoS) officers 30 January 2014.
• Union Government raised the quota of subsidised LPG cylinders to 12 cylinders per household in a year on 30 January 2014.
• India lost the fifth and final cricket ODI series of 5 matches against New Zealand by 87 runs in Westpac Stadium at Wellington.
• Organisers of Oscars withdrew the song Alone Yet Not Alone from the Best Song Nomination category on 30 January 2014.
• Allahabad High Court ordered CBI probe into alleged misappropriation of MGNREGA funds.
• Economic growth for 2012-13 lowered to 4.5 percent from 5 percent estimated earlier.
• India launched a Gandhi Portal named Search for Gandhi in London on 31 January 2014.
• Federal Aviation Administration of the US downgraded the safety ratings of Indian aviation on 31 January 2014 from top to the second category.
• Cabinet approved second Phase of Bangalore Metro Rail Project.
• China marked arrival of its Year of the Horse, which is celebrated across the world by Chinese people on 31 January 2014 as the Lunar New Year.