january current affairs

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GK Power Capsule – January 2015 (The Hindu Review)

1. RBI cut its benchmark rate by 25 basis points to

7.75 per cent. RBI’s growth estimate for 2014-15

is 5.5 per cent.

a. Bank Rate – 8.75 % (0.25% Decreased)

b. Cash Reserve Ratio – 4 % (Unchanged)

c. Statutory Liquidity Ratio – 22 % (Unchanged)

d. Repo Rate – 7.75 % (0.25% Decreased)

e. Reverse Repo Rate – 6.75 % (0.25% Decreased)

f. Marginal Standing Rate – 8.75 % (0.25%

Decreased)

2. United Nation Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon

appointed Indian sociologist Saraswathi Menon in

peace-building panel.

3. Filmmaker Pahlaj Nihalani was appointed as the

Chairman of Central Board of Film

Certification. Nihalani will succeed Leela Samson.

4. Nepali Congress leader Deep Kumar Upadhyay

was appointed as Nepal's ambassador to India.

5. Hari Shankar Bramha was appointed as the new

Chief Election Commissioner. Brahma succeeds

V.S. Sampath.

6. Anupam Shrivastava was appointed as CMD of

BSNL.

7. Arvind Panagariya took charge as Vice-Chairman

of NITI Aayog. He became the first vice-chairman

of the National Institution for Transforming India

(NITI) Aayog, which replaced the Planning

Commission on 1 January 2015. NITI Aayog

comprises of Prime Minister as chairperson, one

vice-chairman, two full-time members, four ex-

officio members (Union ministers) and three

special invitees.

8. Alur Seelin Kiran Kumar was appointed as

Chairman of Indian Space Research Organisation

(ISRO). Kiran Kumar became eighth Chairman of

ISRO after succeeding K Radhakrishnan.

9. Senior bureaucrat Sindhushree Khullar was

appointed as the Chief Executive Officer of NITI

Aayog with effect from 1 January 2015. She will

serve the position for one year.

This GK Capsule has been prepared by Career Power Institute Delhi (Formerly Known as Bank Power). This

has been prepared on the basis of news and events appeared in The Hindu Newspaper in the month of

January 2015.


10. Krishan Kant Paul was sworn in as the sixth

Governor of Uttarakhand. He succeeded Governor

Aziz Qureshi.

11. Atul Khare was appointed as the United Nations

Under-Secretary-General, Department of Field

Support.

12. Sutirtha Bhattacharya took charge as Coal India

Limited’s full-time Chairman and Managing

Director.

13. Modibo Keita was appointed as the Prime

Minister of West African nation Mali.

14. R. Koteeswaran took charge as new Chairman and

Managing Director of public sector Indian

Overseas Bank.

15. R K Srivastava took over as the new chairman of

Airports Authority of India.

16. A.K. Mittal was appointed as the Chairman of

Railway Board. He succeeded Arunendra Kumar.

17. Senior IAS officer S Bhattacharya was appointed

as the Chairman and Managing Director of Coal

India Ltd.

18. Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh adopted

Pachim Bekeli Gaon Panchyat under Sansad

Adarsh Gram Yojna (SAGY). Pachim Bekeli Gaon

Panchyat is located in Kamrup district of Assam.

19. Veeravalli Sundaram Sampath demitted his office

as Chief Election Commissioner on 15 January

2015.

20. Leela Samson resigned as Chairperson of Central

Board of Film Certification.

21. Actor Amitabh Bachchan was presented with the

Social Media Person of the Year Award 2015 by

the Internet and Mobile Association of India.

22. The United States Department of State designated

Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan’s chief Maulana

Fazlullah, also known as Mullah Fazlullah, as a

Specially Designated Global Terrorist.

23. Union Government removed Avinash Chander,

the Chairman of Defence Research and

Development Organization (DRDO).

24. Pallewatte Gamaralalage Maithripala Yapa

Sirisena (Maithiripala Sirisena) was sworn-in as

the 7th President of Sri Lanka. Leader of the

United National Party Ranil Wickramasinghe took

the oath as Prime Minister of Sri Lanka.

25. Larry Page, the chief executive officer and co-

founder of Google was named as the Business

person of the Year for 2014 by Fortune magazine.

26. Koppillil Radhakrishnan retired as the Chairman

of Indian Space Research Organisation.

27. Koppillil Radhakrishnan featured in the Top 10

List of Journal Nature.

28. Prime Minister of Bhutan Lyonchhen Tshering

Tobgay visited India from 10 January to 18

January 2015. He also attended the Vibrant

Gujarat Summit 2015.

29. Union External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj

visited South Korea on 28 December 2014 to

attend the 8th India-Republic of Korea (RoK) Joint

Commission meeting held in Seoul. The Meeting

was co-chaired by Sushma Swaraj and Yun Byung-

se, Minister of Foreign Affairs (FM) of South

Korea.

30. Saudi Arabia King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz passed

away. After the death of Abdullah bin Abdulaziz,

his brother and Crown Prince Salman bin

Abdulaziz Al Saud was named as the new king.

31. Actor and comedian Taylor Negron died.

32. Hollywood actress, Luise Rainer died at her home

at London. She won the Oscars for The Great

Ziegfeld (1936) and The Good Earth (1937).

33. Veteran British actor David John Ryall died.

34. Noted Hindi poet Nand Chaturvedi died.

35. The oldest litigant in the Babri Masjid case

Mohammad Farooq passed away.

36. Hindustan Aeronautics Limited Chairman R.K.

Tyagi was conferred with the JGBS-Top Rankers'

Excellence Award for CEO of the year 2014.

37. 21st Screen Awards were announced at Mumbai.

Shahid Kapoor for Haider and Priyanka Chopra

for Mary Kom won the Best Actor Award for Male

and Female category respectively. Best Film

award was given to film Queen, while its Director

Vikas Bahl won the Best Director award. Hema


Malini was honoured with Lifetime Achievement

Award.

38. Sanskrit scholar Prabhu Nath Dwivedi was named

as the winner of the Sahitya Akademi Award 2014

for Sanskrit language.

39. The Mars Orbiter Mission Team of Indian Space

Research Organization won the 2015 Space

Pioneer Award in the Science and Engineering

category.

40. RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan received the

Governor of the Year Award for 2015.

41. The director of Satish Dhawan Space Centre, MYS

Prasad was selected for the Vikram Sarabhai

memorial award 2015.

42. Amitabh Bachchan was honoured with the Yash

Chopra Memorial Award.

43. Khurshid Mahmood Kasuri, Ex-Foreign Minister

of Pakistan, authored a book titled Neither a

Hawk nor a Dove.

44. Hindi novel Farishta was in news after its author

Kapil Isapuri accused the makers of film PK of

plagiarism.

45. The Red Sari, an unauthorized biography of

Congress Party President Sonia Gandhi, was

released by Roli Books. The book has been

written by Spanish author Javier Moro.

46. Book titled The Indian Parliament – A Critical

Appraisal was released by Vice President Hamid

Ansari. The book is authored by Prof. Sudha Pai

and Avinash Kumar.

47. Malawi witnessed flash floods due to heavy

torrential rain.

48. AirAsia flight number QZ8501 went missing with

162 people on board en route from the

Indonesian city of Surabaya to Singapore on 28

December 2014. Indonesian searchers 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.

49. 7th Vibrant Gujarat Summit was held from 11

January to 13 January 2015 in Gandhinagar,

Gujarat.

50. 13th Pravasi Bharatiya Diwas 2015 concluded in

Gandhinagar Gujarat. The chief guest of the 13th

PBD was Guyana President Donald Ramotar. The

theme of 2015 PBD was Bharat ko jano and

Bharat ko mano.

51. 102nd Indian Science Congress was held from in

Mumbai. The theme of the ISC was Science and

Technology for Human Development.

52. The International Hindi Conference will be hosted

by New Jersey in April 2015.

53. 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.

54. International Labour Organisation released a

report titled World Employment and Social

Outlook – Trends 2015. By 2019, more than 212

million people will be out of work, up from the

current 201 million.

55. Anti-poverty charity Oxfam released study tittled

Wealth: Having it all and wanting more. The study

highlighted that the wealthiest 1% will soon own

more than the rest of the world's population by

2016. Currently, 85 billionaires have the same

wealth as the bottom half of the world’s

population.


56. The first of the indigenously-built Light Combat

Aircraft Tejas was handed over to the Indian Air

Force. LCA Tejas was handed over to the Air Force

after Initial Operational Clearance-II. It is

expected that the aircraft will receive its Final

Operational Clearance by December 2015.

57. Union Government decided to launch Operation

All Out against Bodo militants.

58. The four member high-level committee headed by

Cabinet Secretary T S R Subramanium was

appointed to review environmental laws.

59. The Lunchbox was nominated for British

Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA)

Awards 2015 under non-English best film

category. The Lunchbox, starring Nimrat Kaur and

Irrfan Khan is directed by Ritesh Batra.

60. PM Narendra Modi inaugurated a state-of-the-art

museum Dandi Kutir opposite Mahatma Mandir in

Gandhinagar, Gujarat.

61. The Interview, an American political comedy film,

is produced by Sony Pictures and directed by Seth

Rogen and Evan Goldberg. The film centers on a

plot to assassinate North Korean leader Kim Jong-

Un.

62. Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojna made it to

Guinness Book of World Records. Indian Banks

opened 11.50 crore accounts under the Pradhan

Mantri Jan-Dhan Yojana in a short span of five

months. Out of the total account opened, 5.68

crore accounts (49.37 %)belonged to male and

5.82 (50.63%) crore account belonged to females.

63. All-women contingent of Indian army will march

for the first time on 2015 Republic Day parade.

64. Prime Minister Narendra Modi released

Commemorative Postage Stamps to mark 100

Years of Mahatma Gandhi’s Return from South

Africa to India. A set of two Commemorative

Postage Stamps were released during the 13th

Pravasi Bharatiya Divas in Gandhinagar, Gujarat.

The coins are of denomination of 100 rupees and

10 rupees, while the stamps are of value of 25

rupees and 5 rupees.

65. Kailash Satayarthi dedicated his Nobel Peace

Prize to the Nation. The medal was presented by

Satyarthi to the President at a ceremony held at

the Rashtrapati Bhavan.

66. Charlie Hebdo, a French satirical weekly

magazine, was in news due to attack by terrorist.

The magazine has been under threat since 2006,

the year when it published cartoons on Prophet

Mohammad.

67. Jangmi, a tropical storm made landfall in

northeastern Mindanao Island of Philippines.

68. Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched a small

deposit scheme Sukanya Samridhi Yojana for girl

child under the Beti Bachao Beti Padhao

campaign. Yojana will enable parents to open

bank accounts of girls who are under 10 years of

age. Account will fetch an interest rate of 9.1

percent and provide income tax rebate. It can be

opened at any time from the birth of a girl child

till she attains the age of 10 years with a

minimum deposit of 1000 rupees and maximum

of 1.5 lakh rupees. The account will remain

operative for 21 years from the date of opening of

the account or marriage of the girl child after

attaining 18 years of age. To meet the

requirement of higher education expenses, partial

withdrawal of 50 percent of the balance amount

will be allowed after the girl child has attended 18

years of age.

69. The Union Ministry of Urban Development

launched the National Heritage Development and

Augmentation Yojana (HRIDAY) that seeks to

preserve and rejuvenate the rich cultural heritage

of the country. In the initial phase of HRIDAY, 12

heritage cities have been identified.

70. Union Minister for Railways Suresh Prabhu

inaugurated India’s first compressed natural gas

(CNG)-powered train on the Rewari – Rohtak link

of Northern Zone.

71. President Pranab Mukherjee 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.

72. IRDA was renamed as Insurance Regulatory and

Development Authority of India.

73. The President of India Pranab Mukherjee

appointed the Governors of Mizoram,

Uttarakhand and Meghalaya. Governor of

Uttarakhand Aziz Qureshi was transferred and

appointed as Governor of Mizoram for the

remainder of his term. 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. 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.

74. The Union Cabinet approved promulgation of an

ordinance that amends the Right to Fair

Compensation and Transparency in Land

Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act,

2013. It 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. The five cases

include National security, Defence, Rural

infrastructure including electrification, Industrial

corridors and Building social infrastructure

including PPP where ownership of land continues

to be vested with the government.

75. Union Government launched Madan Mohan

Malviya National Mission on Teachers and

Teaching.

76. The World Bank has approved $ 75 million credit

for the Andhra Pradesh Rural Inclusive Growth

Project.

77. Online marketplace Snapdeal has partnered India

Post to jointly work on bringing thousands of

weavers and artisans from Varanasi through its

website.

78. For the first time in history, the BJP has more

State legislators than the Congress across the

country. With over 1,000 MLAs, the BJP has gone

from being regionally concentrated to

geographically widespread.

79. SEBI has passed an order providing the exit to

Bangalore Stock Exchange as a stock exchange.

80. National Sample Survey Office’s (NSSO) 2011-12

data on Nutritional Intake shows that per capita

calorie consumption rose to 2099 kilocalories per

day in rural areas and 2058 kilocalories per day in

urban areas. Both numbers are still below a

Planning Commission benchmark of 2,400

kilocalories per day.

81. The Bharatiya Janata Party leader Raghuvar Das

was sworn in as Chief Minister of Jharkhand in

Ranchi.

82. Congress celebrated its 130th Foundation Day.

83. Amending the rules for voluntary disclosure of

assets and liabilities by government employees

under the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, the

Department of Personnel and Training has made

revealing of foreign bank deposits mandatory.

The form for the disclosure has thus been

changed and the deadline extended by four

months from December 31.


84. Foreign Secretary Sujatha Singh summoned

Pakistan High Commissioner Abdul Basit and

conveyed India’s “strong concern” at the lack of

“effective action” by Pakistani prosecuting

authorities to keep Mumbai attack mastermind

Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi in custody.

85. The Delhi Government Transport Department

modified the law governing radio taxis plying in

the Capital, paving the way for the return of web-

based services, such as Uber, after weeks of

deliberations post the rape of a 27-year-old MNC

executive.

86. The Union Cabinet approved infusion of Rs.60

crore in Industrial Finance Corporation of India

(IFCI) Ltd. to make it a government company. It

would raise the shareholding of the Centre to 51

per cent.

87. After Lucknow, Metro rail will run in Kanpur,

Agra, Meerut and Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh.

88. President gave his assent to the setting up of the

National Judicial Appointments Commission as a

constitutional body. The commission gives the

executive an equal role in the appointment of

judges to the highest judiciary. The NJAC has the

Chief Justice of India as chairperson and two

senior-most judges of the Supreme Court as

members, apart from the Union Law Minister and

two eminent personalities, one of whom would be

nominated from among the Scheduled Castes, the

Scheduled Tribes, minorities, the Other Backward

Classes or women.

89. A.K. Mittal was appointed as the new Chairman of

Railway Board succeeding Arunendra Kumar.

90. Government announced splitting the post of

Chairman and Managing Director into two for the

public sector banks.

91. Government’s fiscal deficit at the end of

November touched almost 99 per cent of the

target for the entire year.

92. Modi government set up NITI Aayog (National

Institution for Transforming India) in place of the

Planning Commission. The Prime Minister will

head the new institution tasked with the role of

formulating policies and direction for the

government. Its governing council will comprise

the Chief Ministers and the Lieutenant Governors

of Union Territories. The Prime Minister will

appoint the Aayog’s Vice-Chairperson and Chief

Executive Officer.

93. After taking action against the international

environment group Greenpeace, the government

has clamped down on four American NGOs

working in the same field — Avaaz, Bank

Information Centre (BIC), Sierra Club and 350.org.

94. After Uttar Pradesh, the Bihar government has

decided to give Aamir Khan-starrer PK

entertainment tax exemption.

95. Krishan Kant Paul will be sworn in as the sixth

Governor of Uttarakhand on January 8. The

current Uttarakhand Governor, Aziz Qureshi,

would be transferred to Mizoram.

96. The Reserve Bank of India extended the deadline

for submission of applications for licensing of

Small Finance Banks and Payments Banks to

February 2.

97. Sixty-six wild tiger deaths were reported in the

country in 2014.

98. The Centre has extended the Armed Forces

(Special Powers) Act, 1958 declaring Assam as a

‘disturbed area’ for another year beyond

November 3.

99. U.S. imposed new sanctions on North Korea in

retaliation for a cyber attack on Hollywood studio

Sony Pictures.

100. The Union Cabinet approved the largest ever

telecom spectrum auction that is targeted to fetch

at least Rs.64,840 crore from the sale next month.

101. The eurozone slipped into deflationary territory

in December for the first time since the height of

the financial crisis in 2009.

102. ICICI Bank launched the country’s first contactless

debit and credit cards that use the near-field

communication technology.


103. SEBI proposed e-IPO norms, where investors can

bid for shares through Internet and eventually on

mobiles, while already listed public sector

undertakings (PSUs) will be provided a ‘fast-

track’ route for share sales to meet the

disinvestment targets. Under the new norms, SEBI

has proposed to drastically cut the timeline for

listing of shares within 2-3 days of the IPO, as

against 12 days currently.

104. The shareholders of Kotak Mahindra Bank and

ING Vysya have approved the amalgamation of

ING Vysya with Kotak Mahindra Bank.

105. Jammu and Kashmir came under Governor’s rule

with no political party coming forward and

staking claim to form the government and

National Conference leader Omar Abdullah asking

to be relieved as caretaker Chief Minister.

106. SunEdison Inc, the U.S.-headquartered solar

energy services firm, and India’s Adani Group

have come together to invest $4 billion or Rs.

25,000 crore in setting up one of the world’s

largest solar photovoltaic (PV) manufacturing

facility in Gujarat.

107. The Government of Gujarat, the Government of

India and the World Bank have entered into a

tripartite agreement in support of Gujarat’s

‘swachhta abhiyaan’ and smart city initiatives.

108. The government informed the Supreme Court of

its decision to accept the Election Commission's

recommendation to allow Non-Resident Indians

to vote from overseas through e-postal ballots or

proxy voting.

109. Ramesh Abhishek has been given a three-month

extension as the Chairman of the Forward

Markets Commission.

110. According to World Bank report, India will catch

up with China’s growth at 7 per cent in 2016–17.

World Bank Chief Economist and Senior Vice

President Kaushik Basu told “China’s growth will

remain high, but it will begin to taper very gently,

reaching 6.9 per cent in 2017”.

111. Wholesale inflation inched up to 0.11 per cent in

December from zero per cent in November on the

back of a surge in food prices.

112. The Indian Olympic Association-appointed Games

Technical Conduct Committee gave the all clear

signal to Kerala for the conduct of the 35th

National Games from January 31 to February 14.

113. Even as fuel retailers announced a Rs. 2.42 per

litre cut in the price of petrol and Rs. 2.25 a litre in

that of diesel, the Centre notified a Rs. 2 per litre

hike in the excise duty on both.

114. The Union Cabinet cleared the third phase of

auction of FM radio channels, expected to fetch

Rs. 550 crore to the government.

115. India has taken strong exception to the European

Parliament’s resolution accusing India of “a

serious breach of human rights” in its treatment

of two Italian marines accused of killing two

Indian fishermen off the coast of Kerala in

February 2012.

116. BJP declared India’s first woman IPS officer Kiran

Bedi as its chief ministerial candidate in Delhi.

117. Rajni Kothari, preeminent political theorist and

activist, died.

118. Mali’s Health Minister says the West African

country is Ebola-free after recording no new cases

for 42 days, the period required for the World


Health Organization to declare an outbreak

officially over.

119. Microfinance company Bandhan Financial

Services is set to get Rs.1,600 crore equity

infusion from the International Finance

Corporation (IFC) and GIC, Singapore’s sovereign

wealth fund.

120. The Reserve Bank of India asked banks to notify

the Base Rate, or the minimum lending rate, at

least once in every three months based on the

cost of funds.

121. The International Monetary Fund in its World

Economic Outlook report, has projected India to

grow at 6.5 per cent in 2016, overtaking China

whose growth was forecast to slow down to 6.3

per cent.

122. Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said that the

Guinness Book of World Records had recognised

the achievements made under the Pradhan Mantri

Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY), the biggest financial

inclusion initiative in the world.

123. The seven-month ban on Indian mangoes,

imposed last year by the European Union, has

been lifted well in advance of the deadline set for

the ban, which was originally till December 2015.

124. The first full-year budget of the Modi government

will be presented on February 28, five days after

the budget session of Parliament begins on

February 23.

125. The Centre decided to give flexibility to State

governments to set retail price of PDS sugar that

has been kept unchanged at Rs. 13.50 per kg since

2002.

126. Switzerland assured India of full cooperation on

tax information exchange and agreed to discuss

the issue of black money stashed in Swiss banks.

127. Indian-American author Jhumpa Lahiri won the

$50,000 DSC Prize for Literature, one of South

Asia’s top literary awards for her book, The

Lowland.

128. RBI asked banks to disclose more information on

lending rates and fees on their websites, “for

promoting transparency in the operations of the

banks.” These guidelines will come into effect

from April 1, 2015.

129. Microsoft has taken the wraps off a new version

of Windows 10, and a new wearable 3D gadget it

calls the HoloLens.

130. Government will release next month a new series

of Consumer Price Index (CPI) with 2012 as base

year for computing the retail inflation rate.

131. Foreign exchange reserves jumped by a massive

$2.66 billion to touch an all-time high of $322.135

billion in the week ended January 16.

132. US President Barack Obama arrived on a two-day

visit during which both sides will seek to break

the deadlock in operationalising the civil nuclear

pact, firm up a defence cooperation agreement

besides broadening ties in areas like trade and

investment. Obama will be the first US President

to grace the Republic Day parade as the Chief

Guest.

133. Prime Minister Narendra Modi asked bankers to

speed up the process of linking all Jan Dhan bank

accounts to Aadhaar and indicated that these

accounts would be used for providing credit,

insurance and pension services in the second

phase of the scheme.

134. Telecom Regulatory Authority of India has issued

draft regulations to facilitate full mobile number

portability (MNP) which is to come into effect

from May 3.

135. Ahead of the Budget, the Expenditure

Management Commission, headed by Bimal Jalan,

has recommended to the government that it cut

fiscal deficit to 3.6 per cent of the GDP during

2015-16.

136. Perhaps for the first time, petrol in India costs

more than the superior jet fuel (ATF) used in

aeroplanes, as the government has levied a record

excise duty on the fuel used in two-wheelers and

cars. A litre of petrol in Delhi costs Rs 58.91 per

litre. On the other hand, ATF is priced at Rs 52.42

a litre.


137. World Bank said it will commit USD 1 billion in

the Narendra Modi government’s Swachh Bharat

(Clean India) campaign.

138. The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs

approved the fair and remunerative price (FRP)

of sugarcane — payable by sugar mills for the

2015-16 season — to be fixed at R230 per quintal,

as compared with R220 for the 2014-15 season.

139. In a bid to augment supply of environment

friendly fuel, the government allowed private

manufacturers of bio-diesel to sell it directly to

consumers like Indian Railways.

140. The Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) government in

Haryana which has ambitious plans to promote

yoga and ayurveda in a big way has appointed

yoga guru Ramdev its brand ambassador.

141. Indian economy is likely to expand by 6.4 per cent

this year, according to a United Nations report.

142. The Supreme Court asked a group of major

companies — including Reliance

Communications, Bharti Infratel, Ambuja Cement,

Ultratech Cements, Reliance Infratel, Vodafone

Essar South, Adani Wilmar and Dalmia Cements

— to pay up 50% of the tax demanded by the

Rajasthan government by way of entry tax for

now.

143. Retail inflation moved up marginally to 5 per cent

in December as prices of some food items,

including fruits and vegetables, increased.

144. Union Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar said his

ministry will come out with a brand new

“simplified and time-bound” defence

procurement procedure (DPP) by March 2015

that will help smoothen defence procurement.

145. RBI said dilution of government holding in public

sector banks (PSBs) might not be sufficient for

meeting Basel III capital adequacy norms. It has

been reported recently that the government is

contemplating scaling down their holdings in

PSBs to 52%.

146. The Narendra Modi government has reportedly

raised the solar generation target five-fold from

the earlier target of 20,000 MW in 2022 envisaged

in the Solar Mission.

147. Prime Minister Narendra Modi dedicated the

‘ICICI Digital Village’ to the nation at an event

which was organised to celebrate the ICICI

Group’s 60 years of ‘partnering India’ in its

progress. It has created the ‘ICICI Digital Village’

at Akodara in Sabarkantha district of Gujarat.

148. LPG consumers across the country will from 1st

January get cash subsidy directly into their bank

accounts so that they buy the cooking fuel at

market price. Domestic LPG users will get Rs 568

in the bank account the moment they join the

Direct Benefit Transfer Scheme for LPG, which

has now been renamed PAHAL. PAHAL or

‘Pratyaksh Hanstantarit Labh’ was rolled out in 54

districts from November 15 and will extend to

rest of the country from January 1.

149. Following the tradition, the winners of Padma Awards 2015 announced on the eve of India's 66th Republic Day. Padma Awards are one of the highest civilian Awards of the country. The awards are conferred in three categories, namely, Padma Vibhushan, Padma Bhushan and Padma Shri.


Padma Vibhushan:

S.

No.

Name of the

Awardee

Discipline State /

Domicile

1. Shri L. K. Advani Public Affairs

Gujarat

2. Shri Amitabh Bachchan

Art Maharashtra

3. Shri Prakash Singh Badal

Public Affairs

Punjab

4. Dr. D. Veerendra Heggade

Social Work Karnataka

5. Shri Mohammad Yusuf Khan alias Dilip Kumar

Art Maharashtra

6. Shri Jagadguru Ramanandacharya Swami Rambhadracharya

Others Uttar Pradesh

7. Prof. Malur Ramaswamy Srinivasan

Science and Engineering

Tamil Nadu

8. Shri Kottayan K. Venugopal

Public Affairs

Delhi

9. Shri Karim Al Hussaini Aga Khan (Foreigner)

Trade and Industry

France/UK

Padma Bhushan:

S.

No.

Name of the

Awardee

Discipline State /

Domicile

1. Shri Jahnu Barua

Art Assam

2. Dr. Vijay Bhatkar


Maharashtra

3. Shri Swapan Dasgupta

Literature and Education

Delhi

4. Swami Satyamitranand Giri

Others Uttar Pradesh

5. N. Gopalaswami Civil Service Tamil Nadu

6. Dr. Subhash C. Kashyap

Public Affairs Delhi

7. Dr. (Pandit) Gokulotsavji Maharaj

Art Madhya Pradesh

8. Dr. Ambrish Mithal

Medicine Delhi

9. Smt. Sudha Ragunathan

Art Tamil Nadu

10. Shri Harish Salve

Public Affairs Delhi

11. Dr. Ashok Seth Medicine Delhi

12. Shri Rajat Sharma


Delhi

13. Shri Satpal Sports Delhi

14. Shri Shivakumara Swami

Others Karnataka

15. Dr. Kharag Singh Valdiya


Karnataka

16. Prof. Manjul Bhargava (NRI/PIO)


USA

17. Shri David Frawley (Vamadeva) (Foreigner)

Others USA

18. Shri Bill Gates (Foreigner)

Social Work USA

19. Ms. Melinda Gates (Foreigner)

Social Work USA

20. Shri Saichiro Misumi (Foreigner)

Others Japan

Padma Shri

S.

No

Name of the

Awardee

Discipline State /

Domicile

1. Dr. Manjula Anagani

Medicine Telangana

2. Shri S. Arunan Science and Engineering

Karnataka

3. Ms. Kanyakumari Avasarala

Art Tamil Nadu

4. Dr. Bettina Sharada Baumer


Jammu and Kashmir

5. Shri Naresh Bedi Art Delhi

6. Shri Ashok Bhagat Social Work Jharkhand

7. Shri Sanjay Leela Bhansali

Art Maharashtra

8. Dr. Lakshmi Nandan Bora


Assam

9. Dr. Gyan Chaturvedi


Madhya Pradesh

10. Prof. (Dr.) Yogesh Kumar Chawla

Medicine Chandigarh

11. Smt. Jayakumari Chikkala

Medicine Delhi

12. Shri Bibek Debroy


Delhi


13. Dr. Sarungbam Bimola Kumari Devi

Medicine Manipur

14. Dr. Ashok Gulati Public Affairs Delhi

15. Dr. Randeep Guleria

Medicine Delhi

16. Dr. K. P. Haridas Medicine Kerala

17. Shri Rahul Jain Art Delhi

18. Shri Ravindra Jain Art Maharashtra

19. Dr. Sunil Jogi Literature and Education

Delhi

20. Shri Prasoon Joshi Art Maharashtra

21. Dr. Prafulla Kar Art Odisha

22. Ms. Saba Anjum Sports Chhattisgarh

23. Smt. Ushakiran Khan


Bihar

24. Dr. Rajesh Kotecha Medicine Rajasthan

25. Prof. Alka Kriplani Medicine Delhi 26. Dr. Harsh Kumar Medicine Delhi

27. Shri Narayana Purushothama Mallaya


Kerala

28. Shri Lambert Mascarenhas


Goa

29. Dr. (Mrs.) Janak Palta McGilligan

Social Work Madhya Pradesh

30. Shri Veerendra Raj Mehta

Social Work Delhi

31. Shri Tarak Mehta Art Gujarat

32. Shri Neil Herbert Nongkynrih

Art Meghalaya

33. Shri Chewang Norphel

Others Jammu and Kashmir

34. Shri T. V. Mohandas Pai

Trade and Industry

Karnataka

35. Dr.Tejas Patel Medicine Gujarat

36. Shri Jadav Molai Peyang

Others Assam

37. Smt. Bimla Poddar Other Uttar Pradesh

38. Dr. N. Prabhakar Science and Engineering

Delhi

39. Dr. Prahalada Science and Engineering

Maharashtra

40. Dr. Narendra Prasad

Medicine Bihar

41. Shri Ram Bahadur Rai


Delhi

42. Ms. Mithali Raj

Sports Telangana

43. Shri P. V. Rajaraman

Civil Service Tamil Nadu

44. Prof. J. S. Rajput Literature and Education

Uttar Pradesh

45. Shri Kota Srinivasa Rao

Art Andhra Pradesh

46. Prof. Bimal Roy Literature and Education

West Bengal

47. Shri Shekhar Sen Art Maharashtra

48. Shri Gunvant Shah Literature and Education

Gujarat

49. Shri Brahmdev Sharma (Bhaiji)


Delhi

50. Shri Manu Sharma Literature and Education

Uttar Pradesh

51. Prof. Yog Raj Sharma

Medicine Delhi

52. Shri Vasant Shastri Science and Engineering

Karnataka

53. Shri S. K. Shivkumar


Karnataka

54. Ms. P. V. Sindhu Sports Telangana

55. Shri Sardara Singh Sports Haryana

56. Ms. Arunima Sinha Sports Uttar Pradesh

57. Shri Mahesh Raj Soni

Art Rajasthan

58. Dr.Nikhil Tandon Medicine Delhi

59. Shri H. Thegtse Rinpoche

Social Work Arunachal Pradesh

60. Dr.Hargovind Laxmishanker Trivedi

Medicine Gujarat

61. Shri Huang Baosheng (Foreigner)

Others China

62. Prof. Jacques Blamont (Foreigner)


France

63. Late Shri Syedna Mohammad Burhanuddin (Pos

thumous)

Others Maharashtra

64. Shri Jean-Claude Carriere (Foreigner)


France

65. Dr. Nandrajan “Raj” Chetty (NRI/PIO)

Trade and Industry

USA

66. Shri George L. Hart (Foreigner)

Others USA


67. Jagat Guru Amrta Suryananda Maha Raja (NRI/PIO)

Others Portugal

68. Late Shri Meetha Lal Mehta (Posthumous)

Social Work Rajasthan

69. Ms. Tripti Mukherjee (NRI/P

IO)

Art USA

70. Dr. Dattatreyudu Nori (NRI/PIO)

Medicine USA

71. Dr. Raghu Rama Pillarisetti (NRI/P

IO)

Medicine USA

72. Dr. Saumitra Rawat (NRI/PIO)

Medicine UK

73. Prof. Annette Schmiedchen (Foreigner)


Germany

74. Late Shri Pran Kumar Sharma alias Pran (Posthumous)

Art Delhi

75. Late Shri R. Vasudevan (Posthumous)

Civil Service Tamil Nadu

150. 66th Republic Day Celebrations

India celebrated its 66th Republic Day and showcased

before the chief guest US President Barack Obama and

the world its military might and cultural diversity with a

splendid display of land and naval weaponry, fighter

and reconnaissance aircraft.

Obama was the first ever US President to attend the

parade as Chief Guest on the second day of his three-day

visit, as light rains and overcast skies failed to dampen

the enthusiasm of thousands of spectators who

gathered along the Rajpath to watch the pomp-filled

spectacle.

Smartly attired all-female units from the Army, Navy

and Air Force marched for the first time in this year’s

parade, as the country’s military hardware with

carnival-style floats featuring achievements in diverse

fields as well as tribal dancers and traditional music

rolled past in a show of ‘unity in diversity’.

In a departure from tradition for the Chief Guest at the

Republic Day parade, Obama arrived in his own highly-

secured bomb-proof vehicle, ‘The Beast,’ at Rajpath.

A highlight of this year’s parade was the display for the

first time of the recently acquired long-range maritime

surveillance and anti-submarine P-8I aircraft and the

long-range advanced MiG-29K fighter plane.

Prime Minister Modi’s “Make in India” campaign to

boost the country’s manufacturing industry and create

much-needed jobs was featured in one of the tableaus.

january current affairs

Career

chairman of isro

vicechairman of niti

chairman of railway

india niti aayog

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director of coal india

bank power

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