1. Hari Shankar Brahma appointed as the New Chief Election Commissioner Hari Shankar Bramha was appointed as the new Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) by President Pranab Mukherjee . Brahma, the senior-most Election Commissioner in the Election Commission of India succeeds V.S. Sampath. Sampath demitted the office on 15 January 2015 after attaining the age of 65, the upper age limit under the Constitution for holding the post. Brahma (64) will assume the charge of the office of Chief Election Commissioner with effect from 16 January 2015. He will have a small tenure of three months till 19 April 2015, when he turns 65, the upper age limit for the post. 2. Haryana government announces yoga guru Ramdev its brand ambassador Haryana government has announced yoga guru Ramdev as its brand ambassador. By appointing the yoga guru as its brand ambassador state aims to promote yoga and Ayurveda in the state.It was announced by Haryana’s minister of sports and health Anil Vij. In order to promote ayurveda in a big way, state government is planning to to develop a first ever herbal forest with over 25,000 plants over 1,000 acres of land in the state. State government also plan to open “Vyayamshalas” and “Yogshalas” in 6,500 villages and cities of Haryana. 3. J&K wins National e-Governance award 2014-15 for best district-level initiative Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) has been selected for National e-Governance award 2014-15 for its best district level initiative in the country. J&K state has been selected for this award by Department of Administrative Reforms for its e-Panchayat project. This award will be presented during 18th National Conference on e-Governance to be held at Gandhinagar, Gujarat on January 30-31, 2015. 4. Noted RTI activist Subhash Chandra Agrawal conferred with Giraffe Hero award 2015 Renowned Indian RTI activist Subhash Chandra Agrawal was conferred with the Giraffe Hero award 2015 by a US-based NGO The Giraffe Heroes Project. The award will be presented to him on 22 January 2015. Agrawal was awarded for his bravery in utilising the Right to Information (RTI) Act, 2005 for public good despite innumerable challenges. Agrawal also holds the Guinness record of filing highest number of published letters to the editors. His RTI applications has delivered some important orders in India like declaration of assets by Supreme Court judges, bringing political parties under the RTI act among others. 5. Indian-Americans Jonodev Osceola Chaudhuri and Deven J Parekh nominated to key posts in US US President Barack Obama nominated two Indian-Americans Jonodev Osceola Chaudhuri and Deven J Parekh to key posts in US. Jonodev Osceola Chaudhuri was nominated as Chairman of the National Indian Gaming Commission (NIGC) whereas Deven J Parekh was nominated as the Member of the Board of Directors of Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC). At present, Jonodev Osceola Chaudhuri is serving as acting Chairman of NIGC which is responsible for regulating and ensuring the integrity of more than 420 Indian gaming facilities. In 2012, he was named senior counsellor to the Assistant Secretary for Indian affairs in the Department of the Interior. Deven J Parekh, on the other hand, is currently the Managing Director (MD) at Insight Venture Partner. Since 2011, he has been also serving as a Member of the Technological Advisory Council of the Federal Communications Commission. 6. Chief Election Commissioner Veeravalli Sundaram Sampath demitted his office Veeravalli Sundaram Sampath demitted his office as Chief Election Commissioner on 15 January 2015. He demitted the office after he turned 65, the upper age limit to hold the post as per the Constitution of India. He will be succeeded by Hari Shankar Brahma. Sampath during his 6-year tenure in the Election Commission conducted two Lok Sabha elections and at least one round of Assembly polls in all the states. Sampath also presided over the conduct of Presidential and Vice-Presidential elections in 2012. 7. Leela Samson resigned as Chairperson of Central Board of Film Certification Leela Samson resigned as Chairperson of Central Board of Film Certification, (CBFC). She was appointed as the Chairperson of CBFC on 1 April 2011. 8. Brett Lee announced his retirement from all forms of cricket Australian cricketer Brett Lee announced his retirement from all forms of cricket after a 20-year career. Lee is currently playing in the Australia Big Bash League for Sydney Sixers team. Lee will retire from cricket at the end of Big Bash League 2015. Earlier, Lee retired from international cricket in 2012, but he continued to play Twenty20 in both the Australian Big Bash League and the Indian Premier League. 9. US designates Taliban Chief Mullah Fazlullah as Global Terrorist United States has designated Maulana Fazlullah, chief of Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP)- an outfit of Pakistan’s Taliban, as global terrorist and has imposed sanctions against him. It was announced after US Secretary of State John Kerry had asked Pakistan to target all terror outfits like the Lashkar-e-Taiba, Taliban and the Haqqani Network that pose a threat to itself, neighbours like India and to US. Being designated as global terrorist, all the property and interests of Maulana Fazlullah that are in US or that come within the US, or the possession or control of US persons will be freezed. 10. Food security: Negotiations for permanent solution by Dec, says WTO DG Azevedo The World Trade Organisation (WTO) will strive to achieve a permanent solution on the critical issue of public stockholding (for food security purposes) by end December, its Director General Roberto Azevedo has said. India should play a leading role in the coming months in achieving this outcome, Azevedo said at a special plenary session at the CII Partnership Summit in Jaipur on Friday. Azevedo used the occasion of the special plenary session--marking the 20th Anniversary year of WTO-- to promise that 2015 will be a year where this multilateral trade body will deliver more negotiating outcomes, more quickly. 11. Britains missing spacecraft found on Mars Britains infamous Beagle 2 spacecraft, once dubbed a heroic failure by the nations Astronomer Royal, has been found on Mars -- 11 years after it went missing searching for extraterrestrial life. Beagle 2, part of the European Space Agencys Mars Express mission, had been due to land on Mars on Christmas Day 2003, but went missing on December 19, 2003. Until now, nothing had been heard from it since then. But in an announcement made to a packed news conference at Londons Royal Society scientific institution on Friday, space experts said the tiny Mars lander has been found on the surface of the red planet. Beagle 2 is no longer lost, said David Parker, chief executive of the UK Space Agency. He said scientists now had good evidence that the spacecraft successfully landed on Mars on the date it was due -- December 25, 2003 -- but had only partially deployed. This find shows that the entry, descent and landing sequence for Beagle 2 worked and the lander did successfully touch down on Mars on Christmas Day 2003, the UK space agency said in a statement. Beagle 2 -- which measures less than 2 metres across -- was named after the ship Charles Darwin sailed when he formulated his theory of evolution. It was built by British scientists for about 50 million pounds ($85 million). The plan was for it to report back from the Mars surface using instruments designed to help search for signs of life, but nothing was heard after it was dropped off to make its landing. 12. NTPC signs term loan agreement for Rs. 10,000 crore NTPC has signed a term loan agreement for Rs. 10,000 crore with State Bank of India on January 15, 2015. The loan has a door to door tenure of 15 years and will be used to part finance the capital expenditure of NTPC. 13. SBI Composite Index for manufacturing sector slips to 51.5 in January The SBI Composite Index, an indicator for tracking India’s manufacturing activity, registered declining month-on-month momentum, amid sluggish credit growth and elevated interest rates. The Monthly Index has slipped from 55.4 (high growth) in December 2014 to 51.5 (low growth) in January 2015. On a year-on-year basis however, the index inched up to 52.1 in January (signalling moderate growth) from 50.6 (low growth) in December 2014. The Index captures two components of the manufacturing cycle – month-on-month and year-on-year – growth on a scale of 0 to 100. Index above 50 implies growth over previous respective period and less than 50 will suggest a contraction over respective period. “Increase in automotive sales, and benign inflation are the positive factors contributing to the index. But, sluggish credit growth to major sectors and elevated interest rate has dragged the index downwards,” SBI said in a research note. The SBI Composite Index rivals the existing data point from British lender HSBC. It has been developed on the basis of the bank’s internal loan portfolio, which mirrors the credit demand in the country, and other data sets available in public domain. 14. Japanese manufacturers rank India as most preferred investment destination India has been ranked as the most preferred destination for future investments by Japanese manufacturing companies in a survey conducted by the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC). Indonesia and China have been ranked second and third, respectively in the survey, according to a release issued by the Commerce Ministry. JBIC conducted a survey of 1,000 companies from Japanese manufacturing sector in July 2014. In October 2014, the number of Japanese companies in India touched 1,209, which was 13 per cent higher over the same period last year. Some Japanese companies are contemplating their future investment plans in India amounting to about Rs. 75,000 crore ($12 billion) in next 2-3 years, the release added. During June-September 2014, FDI inflows from Japan amounted to $618 million against $273 million in the corresponding period in 2013. FDI inflow of $103.14 million took place in October 2014. 15. RBI permits banks to act as insurance brokers Seeking to increase insurance penetration in the country, the Reserve Bank on Thursday allowed banks to act as brokers for insurers, set up their own subsidiaries and also undertake referral services for multiple companies. “Banks may undertake insurance agency or broking business departmentally and/or through subsidiary,...,” RBI said in the guidelines for entry of banks into insurance business. The banks have also been allowed to set up subsidiaries and joint venture companies for undertaking insurance business with risk participation, it said. They can also act as corporate agents without seeking prior approval from the RBI. However, they will have to comply with IRDA guidelines. Under existing bancassurance guidelines, a bank can act as a corporate agent and sell policy of only one life insurer and one non-life insurance company. The new guidelines allow banks to act as brokers permitting them to sell insurance policies of different insurance companies. The guidelines follow an announcement made by the former Finance Minister P Chidambaram in 2013-14 Budget. “Banks will be permitted to act as insurance brokers so that the entire network of banks’ branches will be utilised to increase the penetration of insurance,” the Budget had said. There are about 87 commercial banks in the country with 1.2 lakh branches across the country. There are 52 insurance companies operating in India; of which 24 are in the life insurance business and 28 are in general insurance business. In addition, GIC is the sole national reinsurer.
Posted on: Sat, 17 Jan 2015 02:18:19 +0000
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