genesis-january 2015 issue i

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www.endeavorcareers.com January 2015-Issue-I THE GENESIS

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The Genesis January 2015-Issue-I

Big Stories NITIAayogtoreplacePlanningCommission 3

Current Affairs India 6States 16World 18Sports 23Economy 25Corporate 28Cyberbuzz 34Science&Technology 35

PeopleBusinessBiography:ArvindPanagariya 5Faces:MahendraSinghDhoni 22

Knowledge Corners BookReview:WinningStrategiesforBusinessbyRKBaisya 36GroupDiscussion:Developmentshouldgetpriorityoverdefence 37Crossword,Sudoku 38,49Doyouremember? 43CorporateKnowledgeQuiz 45PointCounterpoint 50

NITI Aayog: 3 In line with the Government of Indias approach of less government and a move away from centralised planning, the socialist-era Planning Commission has been replaced by a new think-tank that will be headed by the Prime Minister and will have all Chief Ministers as members in a broad-based Governing Council

Faces: MS Dhoni: 22 Dhonis brand value worth millions of dollars will undergo a change after his retirement from Tests but it is unlikely that the poster boy from Ranchi will go downhill in the world of endorsements, said ad-gurus Prasoon Joshi and

Ahmedabad CO & Centre: 101, Suyojan Towers, Nr. Hotel President, Off. C.G. Road Ahmedabad 09 :079 26464053/26420509 Vallabh Vidya Nagar: 3rd Floor, Diwaliba Chambers, Near ICICI Bank, Bhaikaka Statue VV Nagar 388120 :02692-326065/230826 Baroda: 316, Atlantis, Opp Vadodara Central, Sarabhai Road, Vadodara 390016 :0265-2341992, 9033100222 Mumbai: Vashi: :022-65652221/7666587770; Vile Parle (W): :022-65568888/65567788; Borivali: :022-65354535/65354515 Rajkot: 3rd floor, Kings, Opp Punjab Honda, Near G T Seth School, Kalawad Road, Rajkot, :02813051475 Gandhi Nagar: 302, Swagat Rain Forest - I, Block A ,Nr. City Pulse, Gandhinagar 382007 :079 - 23600050/32449313 Surat: UL/45-48, Pooja Abhishek, Opp S.P.B. College, Athwa Lines :0261 - 313 4418/3992675 Bhopal: RMJ Educational Services, 174, Modi Complex, M P Nagar Zone II, Bhopal 462011; :0755 - 4009501 Jaipur: 34, Everest Colony, B/H Apex Mall, Lal Kothi, Jaipur :01414044315 Kanpur: 117/L/248 Naveen Nagar, Near Neer Ksheer Chouraha, Kakadeo, Kanpur 208025; :8808017100, 8808011100 Thane: 501, 5th Floor, Thakor Niwas, Opp. Thane Station (West), Near Thane Post Office, Thane (W) - 400 601 : 022-25444600/41009898 Rajahmundry: 46-7-26/1,Sri Sai Venkateswara Complex, Opp: Green Park Restaurant, Danavaipet, Rajahmundry533101 : 0883 - 6557777 Bangalore: 702, II Floor, 11th Main, 44th Cross, Opp. Sri Raghwendra Swamy Temple 5th Block, Jayanagar560041 :080-41310888/41550888

I try to learn from the past, but I plan for the future by focusing exclusively on the present. Donald Trump



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NITI Aayog to replace Planning Commission In line with the Government of Indias approach of less government and a move away from centralised planning, the socialist-era Planning Commission has been replaced by a new think-tank that will be headed by the Prime Minister and will have all Chief Ministers as members in a broad-based Governing Council to involve states in evolving national development priorities.

RelicofasocialisteraThe government on January 1, 2015 replaced the 64-year-old Planning Commission with a new body called NITI Aayog, and tasked with transforming India as indicated in the first word of the name. NITI stands for National Institution for Transforming India. The decision had been expected ever since Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in his Independence Day speech, had

announced that the Planning Commission, seen as a cumbersome relic from the days of a planned economy, would be replaced with a new body in sync with the contemporary economic world. Modi had invited chief ministers to a meeting in the capital in December to discuss the issue. Most of the chief ministers had favoured restructuring of the socialist-era body created in 1950, but some Congress chief ministers had opposed disbanding the existing set up. Manmohan Singh, as Prime Minister of the then Congress-led government, had said in April 2014 that the current structure has no futuristic vision in the post-reform period. The NDA believes Niti Aayog will provide an effective forum that strengthens cooperative federalism and the concept of Team India. The Centre-to-state one-way flow of policy, that was the hallmark of the Planning

Commission era, is now sought to be replaced by a genuine and continuing partnership of states. It will put an end to slow and tardy implementation of policy, it said. Niti Aayog will serve as a Think Tank of the government as a directional and policy dynamo and would provide the governments at the Centre and in states with strategic and technical advice on key policy matters including economic issues of national and international importance.


www.endeavorcareers.com January 2015-Issue-II THE GENESIS

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Soviet-style centralised planning and resource allocation is irrelevant in a liberalised market economy, where private investment is the key driver and States compete with each other to attract such investments. NITIAayog:OfficebearersIn the new scheme of things, the Prime Minister will head NITI Aayog as the chairperson, and appoint a deputy chairperson as well as a chief executive officer or CEO. It will have five full-time members and two part-time members, while four union ministers would serve as ex-officio members. The erstwhile command economy era body set up nearly 65 years ago by late Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru had a Deputy Chairman and full-time members with a member secretary, an official, as a convener. The Prime Minister appointed renowned NRI Economist Arvind Panagariya as the Vice Chairman of NITI Aayog. Economist Bibek Debroy and former Defence Secretary V.K. Saraswat have been appointed as the Full-Time Members. Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, Union Railways Minister Suresh Prabhu and Union Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh have been appointed as the Ex-Officio Members. Union Ministers Nitin Gadkari (Road Transport, Highways and Shipping), Thawar Chand Gehlot (Social Justice and Empowerment) and Union Smriti Zubin Irani (HRD) have been appointed as Special Invitees. WhyPlanningCommissionwasstartedIndias first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, a socialist who admired Joseph Stalins drive to industrialize the Soviet Union, set up and chaired the Planning Commission to map out a development path for Indias agrarian economy in 1950 when India had just become an independent republic. The threat of political fragmentation had not completely gone away; it was a mere three years after the bloody partition of the country. Central planning was as much a political project as it was an economic one. The early plans were drawn out when India was short of domestic savings and foreign exchange. The state was supposed to play the role of entrepreneur because it was assumed that private industry did not have the resources

for large projects. The original focus of the Planning Commission was on resource allocation. WhyPlanningCommissionhadtogoThe India for which the Niti Aayog has been set up is a radically different country. The old assumptions about low domestic savings, foreign exchange constraints and shallow financial markets have withered away. The private sector has replaced the public sector as the main engine of investment many decades ago. The markets have a far greater role to play in mobilizing savings and channelling them towards productive investments. The Planning Commission stared irrelevance in the face, even though it did try to reinvent itself as a manager of social sector schemes. The commission had remained powerful over the decades because it had emerged as a sort of parallel cabinet with the Prime Minister as its head. In 2012, the Planning Commission was pilloried for spending some Rs. 35 lakh to renovate two office toilets, and then it was lampooned for suggesting that citizens who spent Rs. 27 or more a day were not poor. AboosttocooperativefederalismThe Commissions power in allocating central funds to states and sanctioning capital spending of the central government was deeply resented by states and various government departments. Its new avatar promises to be different. According to an editorial in The Hindu the NITI Aayog seeks to substitute centralised planning with a bottom-up approach where the body will support formulation of plans at the village level and aggregate them at higher levels of government. In short, the new body is envisaged to follow the norm of cooperative federalism, giving room to States to tailor schemes to suit their unique needs rather than be dictated to by the Centre. This is meant to be a recognition of the countrys diversity. The needs of a State such as Kerala with its highly developed social indicators may not be the same as that of, say, Jharkhand, which scores relatively low on this count. If indeed the body does function as has been envisaged now and the jury will be out on that States will, for the first time, have a say in setting their own development priorities.


www.endeavorcareers.com January 2015-Issue-II THE GENESIS

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Business Biography Arvind Panagariya: Niti Aayogs Chanakya He has been a supporter of the prime ministers economic policies and openly spoken on the success of the latters tenure as chief minister of Gujarat.

Renowned US-based NRI Economist Arvind Panagariya was appointed as the Vice Chairman of the newly constituted NITI Aayog by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently. To many, Panagariya is the obvious choice for the post. Not only is he an experienced economist with a stellar academic record, but he is also one of the few economists to have volubly criticised the economic policies of the previous government while lending his intellectual support to Narendra Modi in the run-up to the general elections last year. Panagariya is an Indian-American economist and Professor of Economics at Columbia University and an ex-Chief Economist at the Asian Development Bank. He has also worked for the World Bank, IMF, WTO and UNCTAD in various capacities. He did a Masters degree in economics from Rajasthan University in 1973 and a doctorate from Princeton University in 1978, in international economics and development economics. Panagariya has written/edited ten books the prominent among them being India: The Emerging Giant, Indias Tryst with Destiny: Debunking Myths that Undermine Progress and Addressing New Challenges (co-authored with Jagdish Bhagwati), Free Trade Areas and Rules of Origin: Economics and Politics and Why Growth Matters: How Economic Growth in India Reduced Poverty and the Lessons for Other Developing Countries (co-authored with Jagdish Bhagwati). Panagariya writes a monthly column in The Economic Times, Indias top financial daily. He has also written guest columns in the Financial Times, Wall Street Journal, The Hindu, India Today and Outlook. He has appeared on numerous national and foreign television channels. He also features in Bloomberg TV India for the show Transforming India With Arvind Panagriya. His friends call him a pragmatist who is guided by evidence rather than ideology. Much shouldnt be read, therefore, in his views on issues such as centre-state relations, education and health contrasting sharply with those advocated by the previous regime. Panagariya, who was critical of UPAs Food Security Act and National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, has

repeatedly made the case for transitioning towards cash transfers of government benefits. He has argued that replacing the current subsidy regime, which suffers from a high level of leakages, with an efficient system of cash transfers would ensure benefits reached the targeted poor. His strong views on the subject suggest that putting in place such a subsidy regime is likely to be a top priority for him at the NITI Aayog. Panagariya has also repeatedly called for market reforms - in land and labour, in particular. He contends that in contrast to the development trajectory of most Asian countries, India has effectively bypassed the manufacturing stage, transitioning from an agricultural to a service-oriented economy. But as the service sector has a limited capacity to absorb labour, the surplus labour force currently engaged in agriculture has nowhere to go. The imbalance in the economy - 50 per cent of labour is in agriculture while the sector accounts for less than 15 per cent of GDP - can be rectified only if labour-intensive manufacturing is developed in India. However, he sees the countrys stringent land and labour laws as impediments in this objective. Rajasthan, where Panagariya was a member of the state economic advisory council, was the first to propose changes to land and labour laws. The economists views on government spending, however, go against those advocating fiscal prudence in the current scenario. Panagariya has advocated a more liberalised spending, arguing that greater capital expenditure could relax some of the infrastructure bottlenecks facing the country. With the chief economic advisor, Arvind Subramanian, also making a similar point in the mid-year review, it is likely that the government will have a rethink on this issue. Those who think that Panagariyas appointment heralds a new age of right-wing economics in India might want to consider what he told Reuters last year. He said that though India should give markets a freer rein, it still needed growth in social spending as the country was home to a third of the worlds extremely poor. The policy movement, therefore, may not be from the left to the right, but from far left of centre towards a centrist position.



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Current Affairs: India HAPPENINGS WinterSessionofParliamentends

The Winter Session of Parliament ended on December 23. The important bills passed by both houses of the Parliament include the following: The Apprentices (Amendment) Bill, 2014 - The bill makes

various changes to the act regulating the training of apprentices in the country.

The Labour Laws (Exemption from Furnishing Returns and Maintaining Registers by certain Establishments) Amendment Bill, 2011 - Amends two labour laws to change the definition of small establishments, among other things.

The Delhi Special Police Establishment (Amendment) Bill, 2014 - Makes two amendments - the first permits for the

leader of the single largest party in Lok Sabha, in the absence of a leader of opposition, to be in the selection committee for the appointment of the Central Bureau of Investigations director. The second amendment states that the appointment of the CBI director cannot be invalidated on the ground of absence or vacancy of any member of the selection committee.

The Indian Institutes of Information Technology Bill, 2014 - Declares the four IIITs (Allahabad, Gwalior, Jabalpur

and Kanchipuram) as Institutes of National Importance. The Central Universities (Amendment) Bill, 2014 enables the setting up of another central university in Bihar, in

addition to an existing one. The Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Orders (Amendment) Bill, 2014 - Adds communities in the list of scheduled

castes in Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, and Tripura. It also removes the Majhi community from the list in Sikkim. The Textile Undertakings (Nationalisation) Laws (Amendment and Validation) Bill, 2014 - Seeks to amend the Sick

Textile Undertaking (Nationalisation) Act, 1974 and the Textile Undertakings (Nationalisation) Act, 1995, which provide for nationalisation of certain textile undertakings, and for their management by the NTC - a central public sector enterprise under the textiles ministry.

The Merchant Shipping (Amendment) Bill, 2013 - Seeks to add new provisions to the Merchant Shipping Act, 1958 to

comply with the International Convention for the Control of Harmful Anti-Fouling Systems on Ships, 2001. The Merchant Shipping (Second Amendment) Bill, 2013 - Proposes to amend the existing act to bring it in conformity

with the International Labour Organisations Maritime Labour Convention, 2006, which lays down the standards for the living and working conditions of seafarers, including their food, accommodation, medical care, social security, and recruitment.

The School of Planning and Architecture Bill, 2014 - Grants deemed university status to these schools in Bhopal,

Vijayawada and Delhi - benefitting the students of the first two who are still awaiting their degrees. The National Capital Territory of Delhi Laws (Special Provisions) Amendment Bill, 2014 - Seeks to maintain the

status quo with respect to encroachment or unauthorized development or construction from various dates. Protection has also been provided against punitive action by any local authority.



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IndiacatchinguponMDGtargetsIndia has already achieved 5 of the 12 targets under UNs Millennium Development Goals and is close to achieving four more by 2015, Statistics Minister V K Singh said in the Lok Sabha in December. MDGs are international development goals that UN member states including India, have agreed to achieve by the year 2015. MDGs consist of eight goals whose achievement is statistically tracked on the basis of 12 targets. Out of these 12 targets, India has already achieved 5 targets. Indiaislikelytoachieve: The target of reducing the proportion of poor to half between

1990 and 2015 The targets which envisaged primary education for all

students and eliminating gender disparity at all levels of education by 2015

The target to halt and reverse the spread of HIV/AIDS, malaria and other major diseases by 2015

The target to achieve cooperation with the private sector, making available the benefits of new technologies, especially information and communications

Indiaisunlikelytoachievethetargetof: Reducing child mortality ratio by two-thirds between 1990 and 2015 Integrating the principal of sustainable development into country policies and programmes and reversing environment

loss. Reducing maternal mortality ratio to three quarters and halving the proportion of people suffering from hunger

between 1990 and 2015. Reduce to half by 2015, the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic

sanitation. Lokpalselectionpanelcompositioncleared: The leader of the largest opposition party in Lok Sabha will be included in a panel to select the chairperson and members of Lokpal under the amended law, governing the functioning of the anti-corruption body. The amendments in the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act paves the way for the inclusion of Congress party leader Mallikarjun Kharge in the selection panel led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. As per the Lokpal Act, the selection committee consists of the Lok Sabha Speaker, the Leader of Opposition in the Lower House, the Chief Justice of India or a judge of the apex court nominated by him and an eminent jurist who could be nominated by the President. CBSElaunchesSaransh: the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has launched an on-line facility titled Saransh for schools affiliated to it, said HRD Minister Smriti Irani in December. Saransh helps the schools to look at their performance in scholastic and co-scholastic areas at an aggregate level, and at the level of each student in the school. All the performance metrics are presented through numbers as well as in charts/graphs for easy understanding. The online facility helps schools compare their performance vis-a-vis other schools. UAVPanchitestsuccessful: The wheeled-version of Indias indigenous unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) Nishant

successfully undertook its maiden flight in December. The UAV named Panchi, meaning bird, is capable of taking-off and landing using small airstrips. While Panchi has all the surveillance capabilities of UAV Nishant, it will have longer endurance as it does not have to carry the air bags and parachute system as in the case of UAV Nishant. Similar to Nishant, Panchi can be used for intelligence gathering missions over hostile territory,

reconnaissance, target designation, surveillance besides others.



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PinakaMarkIIsuccessfully test fired: An advanced version of the indigenously developed Pinaka Mark-II rocket was successfully test fired in December from a defence base in Balasore, Odisha using a multi-barrel launcher. The unguided rocket system is meant to neutralise large areas with rapid salvos. It has been inducted into the army and the present trials were conducted with some improvements. With a battery of six launchers, the Pinaka system can fire a salvo of 12 rockets in 44 seconds. SeatrialsofINSArihantstarted: Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar flagged off first Made-in-India nuclear-powered submarine INS Arihant from Vizag for sea trials in December. INS Arihant will be propelled by a pressurised water reactor (PWR) that uses enriched uranium as fuel. The PWR will generate about 80 MW of power. India presently has the nuclear submarine INS Chakra that has been leased from Russia. Once inducted, the INS Arihant will help the country complete its nuclear triad giving it the capability to respond to nuclear strikes from sea, land and air-based systems. BanonNDFB(S)extended: Government has extended the ban imposed on NDFB (S), the Bodo militant group responsible for the killing of more than 70 people in Assam in December, by five more years. The notification declaring the National Democratic Front of Bodoland (Songbijit) as an outlawed organisation under Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act for five years was issued by the Home Ministry. Meanwhile, the Centre has extended the Suspension of Operations (SoO) agreement with NDFB (Progressive) for six months till June 30, 2015. Compensationfor1984riotvictimsapproved: A proposal to give Rs 5 lakh each to the kin of victims of the 1984 anti-Sikh riots that occurred after assassination of the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, was approved by the government in December. The compensation to the families of the riot victims will be given in addition to what they have so far received from the government and other agencies. Of the 3,325 victims, 2,733 were killed in Delhi alone while the remaining were from other states. Survey of India to map Ganga to nab polluters: The Survey of India will take up works for geographical identification of sources contributing to the pollution of River Ganga right from Gangotri to its mouth near Bay of Bengal. The Rs 542-crore estimated Survey of Ganga project will provide the central government with exact ground level coordinates of all polluting sources located in the entire 250,000 square kilometre Ganga Basin. We are in advance stages of finalising the Rs 542-crore project from the National Mission for Clean Ganga. To clean a river like that, we need to know exactly the polluting sources, said Dr Swarna Subba Rao, surveyor general of India in Hyderabad in December. SCpermitsnewCBIDirector toprobe2Gcase: The Supreme Court has allowed new CBI Director Anil Kumar Sinha to take charge of the investigation and prosecution in the 2G scam cases, more than three weeks after it had removed his predecessor from the probe after allegations of him trying to protect some of the accused. Earlier, the Court had removed the then CBI Director Ranjit Sinha from 2G cases, saying the allegations against him of protecting some accused appear to be prima facie credible. MissionIndradhanush, which aims to cover by 2020 children who are either unvaccinated or partially vaccinated against seven vaccine-preventable diseases, has been launched by the government. The diseases are diphtheria, whooping cough, tetanus, polio, tuberculosis, measles and hepatitis B. Union Health Minister J P Nadda launched the mission on Good Governance Day to mark the birthday of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee on December 25. NDMAmembersappointed: The government has appointed a scientist, an armyman and a UN expert on disaster reduction as members of the revamped NDMA, which had previously seen mostly politicians and retired bureaucrats with no background of disaster management holding office. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has approved the names of Kamal Kishore, a disaster reduction expert at the United Nations Development Programme, Lt Gen N. C. Marwah (retired), and D N Sharma, Director of Health, Safety and Environment Group at Bhabha Atomic Research Centre. The PM is the ex-officio chairperson of National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA). The NDMA will have four members, besides a Vice-Chairman.



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Expertgroupsetuptocheckcybercrime: Home Minister Rajnath Singh has approved the setting up of a five-member expert group to tackle cyber crime in December. The members of the expert group will be CDAC (Pune) Director-General Rajat Moona, Professor Krishnan of the Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru, CERT-In Director-General Gulshan Rai, Manindra Aggarwal of IIT-Kanpur and D. Dass of IIIT-Bengaluru. Joint Secretary (Centre-State) Kumar Alok will be the convener of the group. The group will prepare a road map for effectively tackling cyber crime and give suitable recommendations on possible partnerships with the public and private sectors. Govtdepartmentsaskedtoavoidprivateemailservices: The government has asked all central and state departments and ministries to stop using private email services for official communication and instead use indigenous services provided by NIC, to prevent misuse or leakage of classified data. Issued by the Computer Emergency Response TeamIndia (CERT-In) in December, the circular stated that India-based email communication systems should be preferred for official work as the servers of private email service providers are based out of India and is prone to misuse or leakage of classified and proprietary data. The CERT-In is the nodal agency to combat hacking, phishing and to fortify security-related defences of the Indian Internet domain. LiarsDiceoutofOscarrace: Indias official entry Liars Dice (Hindi) is out of Oscars race after it failed to make the cut in the Academys shortlist in the Best Foreign Language Film category in Los Angeles in December. Nine films advanced to the next round of voting. Directed by Geethu Mohandas and starring Nawazuddin Siddiqui and Geetanjali Thapa, Liars Dice scored at the National Awards in May 2014 where Thapa won the Best Actress award while Rajeev Ravi won the Best Cinematography award. StampcommemoratingKukaMovementreleased: A commemorative stamp to highlight heroic deeds of those engaged in 1857 Kuka movement of the Namdhari Sikhs against the British was released by the government on December 24. The Kuka Movement marked the first major reaction of the people in the Punjab to the new political order initiated by the British after 1849. MISC: Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated a five-day cultural festival Sanskriti in Varanasi on December 25. Union Minister Narendra Singh Tomar flagged off the Gwalior-Lucknow Sushaasan Express from the birth place of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in Gwalior on December 25. EVENTS

World Diamond Conference: The Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC) in association with the World Diamond Mark Foundation (WDMF) and with the support from the Ministry of Commerce and Industry organized the first World Diamond Conference in New Delhi in December Twelve Indian companies have signed contracts to buy diamonds directly from Russian diamond mining giant ALROSA. Russia is the worlds largest producer of diamond, while India is the worlds biggest manufacturing centre for cut and polished diamonds.

International conference ofAhmadiyyaMuslims: The three-day annual international conference of the Ahmadiyya Muslim community concluded at its headquarters in Qadian town of Gurdaspur district in Punjab on December 26. The event saw the participation of more than 17,000 delegates from all over the world including 6,000 from Pakistan. H. Mirza Ghulam Ahmad of Qadian was the founder of the Ahmadiyya Muslim community in 1891 AD. IMPORTANTDAYSNationalMathematicsDay: The 127th birth anniversary of acclaimed Indian mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan was celebrated as the National Mathematics Day on December 22. Born on this day in 1887 in Tamil Nadus Erode district, Ramanujan made extraordinary contribution in number theory, infinite series, mathematical analysis and making formulas and equations. The mathematical genius compiled more than 3,900 mathematical results and equations. His Ramanujam Prime and Ramanujam theta discoveries had also inspired further research on the subject.



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NationalConsumerDay was observed on December 24 to mark the day on which the Consumer Protection Act (1986) received the assent of the President. The Act provides effective safeguards to the consumers against different types of exploitation such as defective goods, unsatisfactory services and unfair trade practices. NationalEnergyConservationDay was observed by the Power Ministry on December 14 with the launch of a campaign Bijli Bachao, Desh Banao. AWARDSSahityaAkademiAwards2014

Eight books of poetry, five of novels, three of essays, three of short stories, one each of literary criticism, autobiography and play have won the Sahitya Akademi Award this year announced in New Delhi on December 19.

Language Title and Genre Author Assamese Mariam Astin Athaba Hira Barua (Short Stories) Arupa Patangia Kalita Bengali Piya Mana Bhabe (Poetry) Utpal Kumar Basu Bodo Udangnifrai Gidingfinnanei (Poetry) Urkhao Gwra Brahma Dogri Hashiye Par (Novel) Shailender Singh Gujarati (late) Chhabi Bhitarani (Essays) Ashvin Mehta English Trying to Say Goodbye (Poetry) Adil Jussawalla Hindi Vinayak (Novel) Ramesh Chandra Shah Kannada Uttaraardha (Essays) G.H. Nayak Kashmiri Kore Kakud Pushrith Gome (Poetry) Shad Ramzan Konkani Manthan (Essays) Madhavi Sardesai Maithili Uchat (Novel) Asha Mishra Malayalam Manushyanu Oru Aamukham (Novel) Subhash Chandran Marathi Chaar Nagarantale Maaze Viswa (Autobiography) Jayant Vishnu Naralikar Nepali Satta Grahan (Short Stories) Nanda Hankhim Odia Bipula Diganta (Poetry) Gopalkrushna Rath Punjabi Agarbatti (Poetry) Jaswinder Rajasthani Sundar Nain Sudha (Short Stories) Rampal Singh Rajpurohit Santali Mala Mudam (Play) Jamadar Kisku Sindhi Sija Agyaan Buku (Poetry) Gope Kamal Tamil Agngnaadi (Novel) Poomani Telugu Mana Navalalu - Mana Kathanikalu (Literary Criticism) Rachapalem Chandrashekara ReddyUrdu Shahdaba (Poetry) Munawwar Rana Award for Manipuri and Sanskrit languages will be declared later

The Awards were recommended by distinguished Jury members representing 22 Indian languages and approved by the Executive Board of the Sahitya Akademi which met under the Chairmanship of Dr. Vishwanath Prasad Tiwari, President of the Sahitya Akademi. Manipuri and Sanskrit language awards will be declared later on. The Award in the form of a casket containing an engraved copper plaque, a shawl and a cheque of Rs. 1,00,000/- will be presented to the authors of these books on March 9, 2015 at New Delhi during the Festival of Letters organized by Sahitya Akademi.

AsiaCosmopolitanAward: Former Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh, was honoured with the Second Asia Cosmopolitan Award in Nara, Japan on December 21. The award cited the former Indian leaders contribution in transforming Indias economy and its integration with the broader East Asian economy throughout his tenure. Others who received the award include Prize-Professor Peter David Drysdale of Australia for Economic Science and Professor Wang Gungwu of Singapore for Social Science. The two recipients of Cultural Prize were Rithy Panh, a Cambodian filmmaker and Japanese theatre group, the Takarazuka Revue Company.



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SASTRARamanujanAward: Professor James Maynard of Oxford University and the University Of Montreal, Canada were conferred the SASTRA-Ramanujan Award 2014 in Kumbakonam (TN) on December 21. The annual award, established in 2005, honours young mathematicians for outstanding contributions in the areas influenced by mathematical genius Srinivasa Ramanujan. Maynard was chosen for the USD 10,000 award in recognition of his advances on various long-standing problems on prime numbers. Ojas Art Award: Three artists, who work with the tribal art form of Gond, have been selected to display their artworks at the upcoming mega literature festival in Jaipur in January 2015. The trio -- Bhajju Shyam, Venkat Raman Singh Shyam and Roshni Vyam were picked as the winners of the inaugural Ojas Art Award in December. The award has been co-organised by Delhi-based art body Ojas Art with Teamwork Arts, which produces the Zee Jaipur Literature Festival. SingaporeInternationalFilmFestival: Indian filmmaker Chaitanya Tamhane won the Best Film and the Best

Director awards for his first feature film Court at the 25th Singapore International Film Festival (SGIFF) in Singapore in December. Court follows the trial of an outcaste Dalit folk singer and unveils the power structures of society and prejudices of the court. The film features trial of the ageing singer for abetting the suicide of a sewerage worker with an inflammatory song. Meanwhile Ritesh Batra-directed The

Lunchbox was named Best First Feature by Toronto Film Critics in Toronto in December. International Film Festival of Kerala: Argentine movie Refugiado has bagged the coveted Suvarna Chakoram (Golden Crow Pheasant Award) for the Best Feature Film in the 19th edition of the International Film Festival of Kerala, which concluded in Thiruvananthapuram on December 19. The movies director-producer Diego Lerman and co-producer Nicolas Avruj share the prize money of Rs 15 lakh and trophy. Japanese director Hiroshi Todas Summer Kyoto was adjudged as the Rajatha Chakoram (Silver Crow Pheasant award) for the Best Director and the FIPRESCI (International Federation of Film Critics) Award for the Best Asian film while Iranian director Hossein Shahabis bagged the Rajatha Chakoram in the Best Debut Director category for the movie The Bright Day.

Yash ChopraMemorial Award: Amitabh Bachchan (72) was conferred with the second Yash Chopra Memorial Award in Mumbai on December 26. Bachchan delivered several blockbusters such a s Deewar, Kabhi Kabhie, Trishul, Kaala Patthar, Silsila, Mohabatein, Veera Zaara and Bunty Aur Babli in his long association with Chopra. The Award has been instituted by the TSR Foundation of T Subbarami Reddy in the memory of the late producer-director, who died in 2012. Melody queen Lata Mangeshkar was the first recipient in 2013.

QutabMinaraward: Director Subhash Ghai was given the prestigious lifetime achievement award, which is also known as Qutab Minar award, at the third edition of Delhi International Film Festival (DIFF) that opened in New Delhi on December 20. The eight-day long festival also saw an audio-visual presentation of the ace filmmakers more than three decades of work was shown at the ceremony.

Dubai International Film Festival awards: Noted Indian playback singer Asha Bhosle, 81, was honoured with the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 11th Dubai International Film Festival (DIFF) in December. The octogenarian singer has recorded more than 12,000 songs and is known for her versatility as a singer of film songs, pop songs, ghazals, folk songs and bhajans. Acclaimed Egyptian actor Nour El-Sherif was also presented with the DIFF Lifetime Achievement Award for his work in over 100 films, in a career spanning nearly five decades. The eight day film festival will come to an end on December 17.



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PERSONSINNEWSPanditMadanMohanMalaviya: Rich tributes were paid to Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya on his 153th birth anniversary by leaders across the country on December 25. Respectfully addressed as Mahamana, Malaviya was an educationist and politician most remembered as the founder of Banaras Hindu University (BHU) at Varanasi in 1916, the largest residential university in Asia and one of the largest in the world. He also served as the Vice Chancellor of Banaras Hindu University from 1919-1938. Malaviya had held the position of President of the Indian National Congress on four occasions, 1909, 1913, 1919 and 1932. He left Congress in 1934 to join the Hindu Mahasabha. NarendraModi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who did not make it to the final eight selected by TIME for the annual Person of the Year title, has been hailed as one by its readers in an online poll conducted by the publication. Modi has been named winner of this years readers poll for TIME Person of the Year, securing more than 16 per cent of the almost five million votes cast in December. Protesters in Ferguson, who were demonstrating against a grand jurys decision not to indict white police officer Darren Wilson who shot and killed unarmed black teenager Michael Brown in August ranked second with 9 per cent of the votes.

K. Radhakrishnan: Dr. K. Radhakrishnan, Chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is one of the 2014 top ten scientists chosen by the prestigious journal Nature. This is the first time in the recent past that the journal has chosen an Indian working in India. When Indias Mangalyaan successfully settled into Mars orbit in September 2014, the country became the first and only nation to have done so on its maiden attempt. The space organisation crossed two other major milestones this year. In January, the space organisation achieved spectacular success with the spaceflight of an Indian cryogenic engine and stage. The recent launch of the heaviest and

tallest GSLV Mark III and the successful re-entry of the unmanned crew module were the other landmark achievements. PrakashMishra: Senior IPS officer Prakash Mishra took over as the new Director General of countrys largest paramilitary and lead anti-Naxal operations force CRPF in December. Among other appointments made in December, Rajinder Khanna became the new Director of the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), T. Vijayakumar took charge as the Director-General of CAPART (Council for Advancement of Peoples Action and Rural Technology) and O. P. Singh as Director General of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF). Dineshwar Sharma took charge as the new Director of Intelligence Bureau on January 1 succeeding Syed Asif Ibrahim. R K Srivastava was appointed as the Chairman of the Airports Authority of India (AAI) for a five-year term. RaghubarDas: Raghubar Das was sworn in as the first non-tribal Chief Minister of Jharkhand in 14 years since it was carved out of Bihar in Ranchi on December 28. A former employee of Tata Steel, he served as the member of legislative assembly for five times, representing Jamshedpur East since 1995. With 37 seats, the BJP in coalition with ally AJSU (5 seats) could form a stable government with the support of 42 MLAs in the 81 member Assembly. Maliksisters: By scaling Mount Vinson, Antarcticas highest mountain at 4,892 metres, Tashi Malik and Nungshi

Malik from Dehradun have become the worlds first twins and siblings to climb the highest peaks on the seven continents. The 23-year-old twins accomplished their Mission 2 for 7 on December 16 when they scaled Vinson. The mission started by conquering Mt. Kilimanjaro (Africa) in February 2012. The mission progressed as they conquered Mt. Everest (Asia) in May 2013; Mt. Elbrus (Europe) in August 2013; Mt. Aconcagua (South America) in January 2014; Mt.

Carstensz Pyramid (Australia/Oceania) in March 2014; and Mt. McKinley (North America) in June 2014. Clean India brand ambassadors: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on December 25 nominated a few more prominent personalities for the Clean India campaign including former Indian cricket captain Sourav Ganguly, first



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woman IPS officer Kiran Bedi, comedian Kapil Sharma, Nagaland Governor Padmanabha Balakrishna Acharya, classical dancer Sonal Mansingh, the famous dabbawalas of Mumbai, Institute of Chartered Accountants of India, Ramoji Rao and

his Eenadu group, and TV Today chairman Aroon Purie and his organisation. PranathyGangaraju of Georgia was crowned Miss India USA 2014, which is the oldest running Indian pageant outside of India. Pranathy, 19, is a student majoring in film acting and production, a media release said on December 14. Monica Shah, 24, of Florida and Angela Nand, 27, of Hawaii, were respectively declared first and second runners up among 21 contestants from various parts of the country.

OBITUARIESK.Balachander (84), acclaimed filmmaker and founder of Kavithalaya Productions died in Chennai on December 23. Apart from Tamil, he had made films in other languages such as Telugu, Kannada and Hindi. He made his directorial debut in Hindi films with Aaina starring Mumtaz and Rajesh Khanna in 1974. His next movie in Hindi was Ek Duje Ke Liye in 1981 for which Balachander received the Filmfare Award for Best Screenplay. The films hit song Tere Meere Beach Mein won a Filmfare Award for Best Lyrics for Anand Bakshi and a National Film Award for Best Male Singer for SP Balasubrahmanyam. Popularly referred to in the Tamil film industry as Iyakunar Sigaram (literally the Director who scaled the peak) Balachander was known to have given breaks to todays superstars like Rajinikanth and Kamal Hassan. He received several accolades including Dadasaheb Phalke award (2010),

Padma Shri (1987), Kalaimamani Award (Tamil Nadu) Nandi and Golden Nandi Award (Andhra Pradesh). G. Venkataswamy (85), senior-most Congress leader from undivided Andhra Pradesh, died in Hyderabad on December 22. He was elected to the Lok Sabha seven times. Venkataswamy was an active trade unionist and headed the Indian National Trade Union Congress from 1961 to 1964. He founded the B.R. Ambedkar Education Society which was converted into a public education trust. ChunibhaiVaidya: Gandhian and land rights crusader Chunibhai Vaidya (97) died in Ahmedabad on December 19. Vaidya participated in the freedom struggle and in Vinoba Bhaves Bhoodan Movement. He waged a battle against Emergency in 1975 and faced imprisonment and was felicitated with the Jamnalal Bajaj Award in 2010. His book Assassination of Gandhi: Facts and Falsehood was translated and published in eleven languages. SobhoGianchandani: Acclaimed writer and leftist leader Sobho Gianchandani (94), who was given the sobriquet of a man from Mohenjo-Daro by Rabindranath Tagore, died in Pakistans Larkana in December. Gianchandani, who studied at the Shantiniketan College in West Bengal, was the first non-Muslim and non-Urdu recipient of the renowned Kamal-e-Fun Award -- a top literary award given to writers in the field of literature. NandChaturvedi: Noted Hindi poet and a litterateur Nand Chaturvedi (91) died in Udaipur on December 26. He was given Bihari Puraskar of K. K. Birla Foundation for his poem Yeh Samai Mamuli nahin. Other awards won by him include Prasaran Sanmaan by Prasar Bharati, Sahitya Vachaspati award by Prayag Hindi Sahitya Sammelan and Mira Puraskar, the highest literary honour of Rajasthan Government. MadhaviSardesai: Konkani writer Dr. Madhavi Sardesai (52) passed away in Margao on December 15. A well-known critic and linguist, Sardesai had received the Sahitya Akademi award for the second time recently for her book Manthan, an anthology of critical essays written in the Konkani language. Earlier Sardesai had also received Sahitya Akademi Award for translation of her book Eka Vicharachi Jivit Katha on Gandhis life. MohammadFarooq: The oldest litigant in the Babri Masjid case, Mohammad Farooq (100), died in Ayodhya on December 25. A resident of Ayodhya, Farooq was one of the seven main litigants from Muslim side in the 1949 Babri Masjid case regarding placing of Lord Ram idols in the premises.



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N.Krishnamurthy: Acclaimed Carnatic vocalist Nedunuri Krishnamurthy (87) passed away in Visakhapatnam on December 8. SBalasubramanian (79), Chairman of Vikatan group of Tamil publications, died in Chennai on December 19. RECENTRELEASESNonfiction: Born Again on the Mountain by Arunima Sinha Bhopal Gas Tragedy: After 30 Years by Sunita Narain The Night It Rained Guns Unravelling the Purulia Arms Drop Conspiracy

by Chandan Nandy Talking of Justice Peoples Rights in Modern India by Leila Seth Honour and Fidelity: Indias Military Contribution to the Great War 1914 to

1918 by Amarinder Singh A Few Good Men and the Angry Sea by Air Commodore Nitin Sathe Vande Bharatam by Pt. Prabodh Kumar Mishra Rajesh Khanna: The Untold Story of Indias First Superstar by Yasser Usman How Sachin Ruined My Life by Vikram Sathaye Odyssey in Tibet Pilgrimage to Kailas Manasarovar by Tarun Vijay Tuti slate, Aadhi pencil se Mukhyamantri Ki Kursi Tak: Jitan Ram Manjhi by Ashraf Asthanwi Salt of the Earth: The Story of Tata Chemicals by Philip Chacko and Christabelle Noronha. Fiction: The Way Things Were by Aatish Taseer The Steradian Trail by M. N. Krish A Bad Character by Deepti Kapoor The Red Helmet by Deepika Shetty Matabele Dawn by Saad Bin Jung EXTERNALRELATIONS RUSSIA The President of the Russian Federation, Vladimir V. Putin, came on an official visit to India on December 11 for the 15th Annual India-Russia Summit. Defence training and strengthening nuclear cooperation were among the 20 agreements signed between India and Russia following delegation level talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Putin in New Delhi. The two countries signed agreements/MoUs on the following issues: Quality: MoU was signed between Quality Council of India (QCI) and Federal Accreditation Service of Russian

Federation for technical cooperation on accreditation. Health: The MoU between the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and the Russian Foundation for Basic

Research (RFBR) seeks to boost cooperation in Health Research. Power: MoU between TATA Power and Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) describes cooperation in exploring

investment opportunities in the energy sector across the Russian Federation. Fertilisers: MoU between ACRON of Russia and NMDC of India (consortium leader) envisages acquisition of stakes

by Indian companies in a project of ACRON, a Russian fertilizer company. Finance: MoU between VTB (Vneshtorgbank) of Russia and ESSAR Group envisages a loan of US$ one billion to

ESSAR by VTB for general corporate purpose. The MoU between Indias IDFC and RDIF (Russian Direct Investment Fund) creates a fund for investments in India and Russia.



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Petroleum: MoU between Oil India Limited and Zarubezhneft envisages cooperation in joint exploration of hydrocarbons. The MoU between ESSAR and ROSNEFT for long-term supply of crude oil envisages ten year supply and purchase by India of crude oil and feed stocks/products.

Industry associations: The MoU between FICCI and Delovaya Rossiya aims at identifying new areas of economic cooperation. Media: The MoU between news agencies Press Trust of India and ITAR-TASS envisages cooperation on exchange of news and the right to use news items.

IT: The MoU between Electronics and Software Export promotion Council of India (ESEPCI) and Skolkovo Foundation of Russia describes support to companies in the Information Technology sector.

Nuclear energy: The signing of contract between Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) and ATOMSTROYEXPORT (ASE) for unit 3 and 4 of Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant will mark the commencing of the implementation.

Renewable energy: The MoU between Gamesa Wind Turbine Pvt Ltd. of India and ROTEK of Russia will facilitate cooperation between the two companies in wind power equipment.

Space: The MoU between EIRENE SYSTEMS of India and GLONASS Union envisages a joint venture to market GLONASS technologies and solutions in India.

USA: Sikorsky of US has bagged the 6,000-crore contract for supplying 16 multi-role helicopters to the Indian Navy. The US firm was the only left in the fray after the partial ban on European company Finmeccanica, it emerged as the winner. The final negotiations for Sikorskys S-70B Seahawk will start soon. Also Indian-American Richard Rahul Verma was unanimously confirmed as the next US Ambassador to India by the Senate in December. NZ: ONGC Videsh Ltd (OVL), the overseas investment arm of state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) has won an offshore oil and gas exploration block in New Zealands Taranaki offshore basin, in December.

GERMANY: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will jointly open the Hannover trade fair along with German Chancellor Angela Merkel when he travels to Germany next April, said German ambassador Michael Steiner in New Delhi in December. The fair will showcase Make in India initiative to promote the country as a manufacturing hub among global investors. India is the partner country at the Hannover Messe 2015, which is also the worlds

largest industrial trade fair. MAURITIUS: By delivering an offshore patrol vessel to Mauritius, India exported its first warship on December 20. Built by defence PSU Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers Limited (GRSE) in Kolkata, the USD 58.5 million CGS Barracuda is capable of moving at a maximum speed of 22 knots with an approximate displacement of 1350 tonnes. NEWAMBASSADORS: Envoys of Serbia, Egypt, Hungary, Kazakhstan and Bangladesh presented their credentials to President Pranab Mukherjee at the Rashtrapati Bhavan in December: Vladimir Maric, Ambassador of Serbia; Hatem El Sayed Tageldin, Ambassador of Egypt; Szilveszter Bus, Ambassador of Hungary; Bulat Sergazyuly Sarsenbayev, Ambassador of Kazakhstan and Syed Muazzem Ali, High Commissioner of Bangladesh.

CLMV: Minister of State for Commerce and Industry Nirmala Sitharaman said that Culture, Commerce and Connectivity will be the hallmark of Indias relations with the CLMV countries, namely Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam. The second India - CLMV Business Conclave, ASEAN - India Economic Engagement: The Way Forward was organized by CII and

Indias Ministry of Commerce and Industry in New Delhi on December 11. Ajay Shriram is the CII President while Chandrajit Banerjee is the Director General of the industry chamber.



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Current Affairs: States DELHI Himmat, a mobile application of Delhi Police that will allow women to send a distress call to Police Control Room

and their relatives in case of any emergency, was launched in New Delhi by Home Minister Rajnath Singh on January 1. In case of an emergency, the user can send an alert by shaking her phone or by pressing the power button/soft button. As soon as the distress button is pressed, it will trigger a 30-second audio and video recording on the phone which will be relayed to the Police Control Room and the victim will get a call back from the PCR. An SMS alert will also be sent to minimum of five friends and relatives of the user.

Netra, the light weight UAV fitted with night vision cameras, will be used by Delhi Police to patrol the streets of the national capital. The device has already been used by security agencies like BSF, CRPF for counter-insurgency activities while NDRF used it to search for survivors during the Uttarakhand flash floods of 2013.

Aiming at turning Delhi into a smart city, the Union Ministry of Power launched a pilot project in New Delhi in

December on conversion of streetlighting from conventional system to an energy-efficient and environment-friendly LED type.

In a noble initiative, Delhi Police has launched OperationMilap, a scheme aimed at uniting missing children with

their parents. The drive has been launched by the Anti Human Trafficking Unit (AHTU) of the Crime Branch of the Delhi Police during which teams will check all the Children Homes in the national capital.

The Minister of Railways, Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu inaugurated the WiFiBroadband Services at New Delhi

Railway Station in December. The project is being executed by RailTel, a PSU under the Ministry of Railways.

Railways Minister Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu flagged off the bi-weekly New DelhiBhatindaNew DelhiShatabdiExpress at New Delhi Railway station on December 18.

BIHAR Bihar Police January 1 launched a special drive named OperationMahavir against trafficking of children. A

team of policemen has been set up in each of the 38 districts to crack down on gangs involved in trafficking of children. Police will closely monitor places like brick kilns, roadside hotels, markets, bus stands and railway stations to trace missing children.

HARYANA The fortnight-long annual SurajkundInternationalCraftsMela will begin on February 1, with Chhattisgarh as

its theme state and Lebanon, the partner nation. The fair showcases the richness and diversity of the handicrafts, handlooms and cultural heritage of India.

RAJASTHAN Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje started the distribution of the Bhamashah cards among women

belonging to BPL category in Ajmer in December to ensure that they get monetary benefits of government schemes. The cards will help the beneficiaries to withdraw money transferred to their bank accounts under various schemes.

MAHARASHTRA The Maharashtra State Legislative Assembly has revoked the suspensionoffiveCongressMLAs, who were held

responsible for creating a ruckus as well as misbehaving with the Maharashtra Governor who arrived to address the first joint sitting of the state legislature in November.



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A Bill to rename Pune University as Savitribai Phule Pune University was passed unanimously by the Maharashtra Legislative Council in Nagpur in December.

GUJARAT The Gujarat government has come out with the rules and regulations for national as well as international cabserviceproviders operating in the state. The governments move comes in the wake of the rape of a woman by the driver of a smartphone application-based taxi service in Delhi recently. These rules, however, will not be applicable to local taxi drivers.

The Surat Municipal Corporation (SMC) announced its partnership with Microsoft India to transform Surat into a smart city by introducing several citizen centric services including water management and urban planning. In coming months, Microsoft will help SMC to roll out these services through its CityNext program.

WESTBENGAL The worldssecondtallestpowertransmissiontowers, built by Haldia Energy Limited (HEL), has come up

in West Bengal. The 236-metre-long twin towers, located at HELs 600-MW capacity plant at Haldia and Raichak across the river Hooghly, are the tallest in the country. The worlds highest transmission tower (370 m) is in China.

TRIPURA Prime Minister Narendra Modi dedicated to the nation the second unit (363 MW) of a 726 MW power plant that will

supply power to Bangladesh and seven northeastern states in December. The state-owned ONGC, IL&FS and the Tripura government jointly floated ONGC Tripura Power Co Ltd (OTPC) to set up the Rs.9000-crore Palatanapowerplant in southern Tripura, some 60 km south of Agartala.

MIZORAM Governor of Uttarakhand AzizQureshi was transferred and appointed as the governor of Mizoram on Dec 30.

Meanwhile, Governor of Meghalaya KK Paul was transferred and appointed as the governor of Uttarakhand for remainder of his term. Paul will continue to hold additional charge of the office of governor of Manipur. West Bengal Governor KeshariNathTripathi will discharge functions of governor of Meghalaya, in addition to his own duties.

KERALA Keralas tourism campaign GodsOwnCountry,PeoplesOwnTourism - which aims to link tourism with

rural areas - was launched in Thiruvananthapuram in December. The campaign focuses on linking tourism with the mainstays of rural Kerala, including agriculture, traditional trade, village lifestyles and art forms.

After the success of its women empowerment initiatives like Kudumbashree, a community- based poverty reduction

project, and She-Taxi, Kerala is gearing up to set another landmark by creating countrys largest social entrepreneurship network of women. The programme, SandeshOne will be a network of 1000-plus women to generate mass employment at the grassroots level by promoting various micro-enterprises.

A total of 18,112 people dressed as SantaClause gathered at the Shakthan Thampuran Market ground in Thrissur

(Kerala) on December 27, registering a GuinnessWorldRecord for the largest gathering of Santa Clauses. ANDHRAPRADESH Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu launched the FarmersDebtRedemption Scheme in

December, fulfilling a key electoral promise to waive farm loans of up to Rs 1.50 lakh per family. As per the Debt Redemption Scheme, those who took loans between April 1, 2007 and December 31, 2013 are eligible for the waiver.



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Current Affairs: World HAPPENINGS LimaClimateChangeConference

A new 2015 agreement on climate change took a further step forward in Lima following negotiations by over 190 countries from December 1 to 14. Nations concluded the Lima Climate Change Conference by elaborating the elements of the new agreement, scheduled to be agreed in Paris in late 2015.These Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs) will

form the foundation for climate action post 2020 when the new agreement is set to come into effect. The Lima Climate Conference achieved a range of other important outcomes and decisions: Pledges were made by both developed and developing countries prior to and during the COP that took the

capitalization of the new Green Climate Fund (GCF) past an initial $10 billion target. The Conference recognised that National Adaptation Plans (NAPs) offer an important way of delivering resilience. Governments made progress on coordinating the delivery of climate finance and of the various existing funds. Further

pledges were made to the Green Climate Fund in Lima by the governments of Norway, Australia, Belgium, Peru, Colombia and Austria. This brought the total sum pledged to the Green Climate Fund to close to USD 10.2 billion.

Several countries formally submitted information and data on the status of their greenhouse gas emission reductions to

the UNFCCC (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change) secretariat. An information hub will be launched on the UNFCCC web site, spotlighting actions by countries carrying out REDD+ (Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation) activities. The aim is to bring greater transparency on both the actions being undertaken, including safeguards for communities and the payments being made.

USA and Cuba resume diplomatic relations after 50 years: The United States will restore full diplomatic relations with Cuba and open an embassy in Havana for the first time in more than a half-century after the release of an American contractor, Alan Gross, held in prison for five years, U.S. officials said on December 17, 2014. In a deal negotiated during 18 months of secret talks hosted largely by Canada and encouraged by Pope Francis, who hosted a final meeting at the Vatican, President Barack Obama and President Raul Castro of Cuba agreed in a telephone call to put aside decades of hostility to find a new relationship between the United States and the island nation just 90 minutes off the U.S. coast. JapansLDPKomeito coalition reelected: Prime Minister Shinzo Abes Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and its junior partner the Komeito Party won 325 seats, a more than two-thirds majority, in the election for the 475-seat lower house in December. The LDP alone secured 290 seats, while Komeito got 35 seats. An overwhelming majority in the powerful chamber means the ruling bloc could approve bills rejected by the upper house and the dominant majority in the lower house also makes it possible to propose amending the countrys pacifist constitution. Voter turnout was at a record low of 52.38 percent. Japans Parliament re-elected Abe to serve another term as prime minister on December 24. GlobalArmsTradeTreatycomesintoforce: A treaty laying down international rules for the USD 85 billion global arms trade went into force in December. As many as 130 countries have signed the treaty and 60 have ratified it. The Global Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) covers international transfers of everything from tanks to combat aircraft to missiles, as well as small arms. The treaty compels countries to set up national controls on arms exports. States must



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assess whether a weapon could be used to circumvent an international embargo, be used for genocide and war crimes or be used by terrorists and organised crime. NewRussianmilitarydoctrinelabelsNATOsecuritythreat: The Kremlin published a revised military doctrine in December that labels NATO a fundamental threat to Russian security, reflecting the deteriorated relations between Moscow and the West. The doctrine decries the reinforcement of NATOs offensive capacities directly on Russias borders, and measures taken to deploy a global anti-missile defence system in Central Europe. The doctrines harsher tone also follows decision by Ukraine to abandon its non-aligned status, a symbolic move that provoked Moscows anger by potentially clearing the way for Kiev to request NATO membership. Eurasian Economic Union: Russia and four other ex-Soviet nations have completed the creation of a new economic alliance intended to bolster their integration. The Eurasian Economic Union, which includes Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Armenia and Kyrgyzstan, came into existence on January 1, 2015. In addition to free trade, its to coordinate the members financial systems and regulate their industrial and agricultural policies along with labor markets and transportation networks. Russian President Vladimir Putin said that the new union will have a combined economic output of USD 4.5 trillion and bring together 170 million people.

NicaraguastartsworkonPanamaCanalrival: Nicaragua announced the start of work on a new canal linking the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans in December. The 278km waterway will be longer, deeper and wider than the Panama Canal. The Grand Canal of Nicaragua, as it has been called, aims to rival Panamas waterway and lift the country out of poverty. The opening ceremony was largely symbolic, as work began on an access road for machinery needed to build a port for the canal on Nicaraguas Pacific coast. UN asks Israel to compensate Lebanon for oil spill: The UN General Assembly overwhelmingly approved a resolution asking Israel to pay

Lebanon over USD 850 million in damages for an oil spill caused by an Israeli air force attack on oil storage tanks during its war with Hezbollah in July 2006. The assembly voted 170-6 in favor of the resolution, with three abstentions on December 19. Israel, the United States, Canada, Australia, Micronesia and Marshall Islands voted no. General Assembly resolutions are not legally binding but they do reflect world opinion. WTO talks on dutyfree trade in IT goods collapse: Talks on cutting trade tariffs on information technology products in Geneva collapsed in December, delaying and potentially scuppering a deal estimated to be worth $1 trillion to global trade. The talks aimed to update the WTOs 17-year-old Information Technology Agreement, which guarantees zero-tariff and duty-free trade on hundreds of products, adding about 200 more products to the list. Several participants blamed the failure on a deadlock between China and South Korea over liquid crystal display (LCD) screens. South Korea, home to top LCD producer LG Display Co Ltd, wanted LCD screens included in the deal. But China, which wants to foster its own LCD industry, refused. Maldives signs up for Chinas Maritime Silk Road: The Maldives has joined Chinas 21st Century Maritime Silk Road project, becoming the second nation in Indias backyard after Sri Lanka to sign up for the multi- billion infrastructure scheme floated by Beijing to firm-up its influence in the region. The Maldives joined the project - a brainchild of Chinese President Xi Jinping in December 2014. India has not joined the Maritime Silk Road project but has sought more details from China about it. NASAdetectsorganicmatteronMars: In a promising find, the NASA Curiosity rover has detected organic molecules - the building blocks of all known forms of terrestrial life - on Mars. The organic molecules, found by the team responsible for the Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) instrument suite on Curiosity, were in a drilled sample of the Sheepbed mudstone in Gale crater - the rovers landing site - the US space agency said in December. Organic molecules consist of a wide variety of molecules made primarily of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen atoms.



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130killedinterrorattackonPeshawarschool: At least 100 children were among a staggering 130 people killed when heavily armed terrorists launched a brazen attack on an army-run school in Pakistans Peshawar city on December 16. Six terrorists first set a vehicle on fire and then stormed the Army Public School building in Peshawar, the capital of Pakistans Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province. All six were killed by the Special Forces. Churchillspainting fetches1.8mpounds at auction: A painting by Sir Winston Churchill titled The Goldfish Pool at Chartwell has fetched 1.8 million pounds at recently held auction in Sothebys, London in December. The Goldfish Pool at Chartwell, which depicts the pond at Churchills Kent home, was painted in 1932 was described by Sothebys as a striking manifestation of the artist at his very best. The previous auction record for one of Churchills paintings was 1 million dollars. Churchill was Britains Prime Minister during World War II and he died in 1965. CountryThreatIndex: Pakistan is placed eighth in the list of the most dangerous countries in the world which is led by Iraq, said the Country Threat Index (CTI) compiled in December by IntelCenter, a Washington-based company working for intelligence agencies. The rankings were prepared after examining the volume of terrorist and rebel alerts, messaging traffic, videos, photos, incidents and the number of killed and injured in a country over the past 30 days. The other countries in the top 10 are Nigeria (second), Somalia (third), Afghanistan (fourth), Yemen (five), Syria (six), Libya (seven), Egypt (nine) and Kenya (10). PoliticalRiskAtlas: A report on countries facing extreme political risks released in December has placed Somalia in the first position. The report titled Political Risk Atlas 2015 focuses on nearly 200 countries that are facing political risks. Released by Verisk Maplecroft, the atlas has scored 198 countries on 54 political risks to enable international organisations to identify risks to their operations, investments and supply chains. Somalia has retained its position as the country with the highest risk while Syria is in second place, followed by Central African Republic (third), South Sudan (fourth), Iraq (fifth), Libya (sixth), Afghanistan (seventh), DR Congo (eighth), Sudan (ninth) and Yemen (10th). US,NATO end Afghan combatmission: The US and NATO ceremonially ended their combat mission in Afghanistan in Kabul on December 8, 13 years after the September 11 terror attacks sparked their invasion of the country to topple the Taliban-led government. NATOs International Security Assistance Force Joint Command, which was in charge of combat operations, lowered its flag, formally ending its deployment. US Gen. John F. Campbell, commander of NATO and US forces, said that the mission now would transition to a training and support role for Afghanistans own security forces, which have led the fight against the Taliban insurgents since mid-2013. WorldsfirstherbalKoranunveiled: The worlds first handcrafted herbal Holy Koran, made from about 200 medicinal plants, was unveiled in Dubai in December. The Koran has been made by the Islamic arts and calligraphy company, Heddem Arts. The Koran is made of high potency herbal mixtures prepared as per Unani medical system. Herbal sheets of the Holy Koran have many therapeutic properties when the reader moves his fingers on the letters or in and around the pages, the herbal mixture seeps through the pores in the fingers, providing health benefits, Heddem Arts said in a statement. PERSONSINNEWSAnerood Jugnauth: Former President and leader of the Alliance Lepep party, Anerood Jugnauth was appointed Mauritius new Prime Minister by President Kailash Purryag in capital Port Louis on December 14. The appointment came one day after the resignation of former Prime Minister Navin Ramgoolam who lost in the polls. Ramgoolam was serving his third term as the Prime Minister since 2005. Ramgoolam leads the centre-left group that brings together the Labour Party (PTR) and the Mauritian Militant Movement (MMM) party of ex-prime minister Paul Berenger. BejiCaidEssebsi (88) was confirmed as the winner of Tunisias first free presidential election since independence from France in 1956. Essebsi, a leader of the anti-Islamist Nidaa Tounes party, won just over 55% of votes cast in the runoff round on December 21, defeating the incumbent, the former human rights activist Moncef Marzouki, who held the post through an alliance with the moderate Islamist movement Ennahda.



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Rolene Strauss (22) of South Africa became the 64th Miss World in London on December 14. She won the title over runner-up Miss Hungary Edina Kulcsar. Miss United States Elizabeth Safrit took third place. Strauss, a fourth-year medical student at University of the Free State, put her studies on hold after being crowned Miss South Africa in March. Indias Koyal Rana could make it only to top 10. Priyanka Chopra was the last Indian to clinch the crown in 2000. JuliaMorley: For the first time in 63 years, Miss World pageant has decided to ditch the swimsuit round from its competition from 2015. Julia Morley, the chairwoman of

Miss World announced in London in December that next year onwards there would be no swimsuit round. The Miss World pageant is trying to keep up with its theme of beauty with a purpose and Morley feels bikini round does not serve any purpose. Eric Morley started the Miss World competition in 1951 and over the year it has come to represent 120 countries. VivekMurthy: Dr. Vivek Murthy has become the first ever Indian-origin doctor to be named as the Surgeon General of the United States as the Senate announced its decision in December, putting an end to a year of uncertainty over his nomination. The Senate voted 51 to 43 to pick the 37-year-old for the top position. The 37-year-old is the youngest doctor to occupy the post. RajivShah, the Indian-American Administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development has decided to step down in February 2015. Shah has led the agency since 2010. USAID describes itself as the lead U.S. government agency working to fight poverty and promote democracy around the world. MaleehaLodhi: Pakistan has appointed renowned journalist and writer Maleeha Lodhi as the countrys permanent representative at the UN in December. Lodhi has been editor of leading English newspapers in the country and currently writes on security issues. Previously, Lodhi has twice served as Pakistans ambassador to the US (1993-1996 and 1999-2002) and as Pakistans high commissioner to Britain (2003-2008). ReverendLibbyLane: The Church of England appointed its first ever female Bishop in December, overturning centuries of tradition in a Church that has been deeply divided over the issue. It named Reverend Libby Lane, 48, as the new Bishop of Stockport in northern England. OBITUARIESShowbiz: BoothColman (91), known for his roles in television series Star Trek, and films like Julius Caesar, passed away in Los Angeles on December 23. LarryAuerbach (91), the Emmy award-winning director and the man behind the long-running soap opera Love of Life, passed away in Los Angeles on December 21. Veteran Italian actress VirnaLisi (78), known for her role in 1965 comedy classic How To Murder Your Wife, died in Rome on Dec 18. PhilStern (95), an award-winning photographer who snapped combat scenes in World War II and later became known for candid shots of Hollywood stars like Marlon Brando, died on December 16. Stern, who shot for Life, Look and other magazines, honed his skills as a war photographer. AWARDS

OlofPalmeprize: Chinese pro-democracy activist Xu Youyu was awarded Swedens Olof Palme Human Rights Prize in December. The Olof Palme Prize is an annual prize worth $75,000 granted by the Swedish labour movement. It commemorates the memory of the Nordic countrys Social Democratic prime minister, an outspoken international human rights advocate, who was assassinated in the Swedish capital Stockholm in 1986.



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Faces Mahendra Singh Dhoni: Fast & furious Relying on his unorthodox batting technique and his inspirational leadership, Dhoni rose from his humble origins to become Indias most marketable cricketer with endorsement income comparable only to Sachin.

Indian team captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni surprised the cricket world in Melbourne on December 30 with his sudden announcement of immediate retirement from Test cricket. Under Dhonis captaincy, India won the top prize in all formats: the No.1 Test ranking for 18 months starting December 2009, the 50-

over World Cup in 2011 and the World Twenty20 on his captaincy debut in 2007. Dhoni made his test debut against Sri Lanka in Chennai in December 2005. He played 90 Tests in his ten-year long cricket career and has made 4876 runs with a top score of 224 against Australia at Chennai in 2012-13 and an average of 38.09. He scored six hundreds and 33 fifties and has taken 256 catches and made 38 stumpings. Dhoni became captain for the first time in November 2008 against South Africa at Kanpur. He went on to lead India in 60 Tests out of which India won 27 tests (the highest by any Indian captain), lost 18 while 14 were drawn. Under his captaincy, the team managed to win just six Tests on overseas while losing 15 and drawing 9. As a captain, Dhoni made 3454 runs at an average of 40.63. Dhoni as a batsman and wicketkeeper in ODIs: Matches: 250, Highest Score: 183, Average: 52.85, 100s: 9, 50s: 56, Catches: 227, Stumpings: 85 One of Indias most flamboyant cricketers ever, Dhoni represented the brash and rising new middle-class India. He didnt respect reputations. He improvised, he learned, but didnt make an apology about his batting style, which was not the most elegant. He became a multi-faceted ODI batsman, one who could accumulate, one who could rebuild, and one who could still unleash those big sixes. Dhoni brought to captaincy a thick skin and relative indifference to results that an Indian captain needs to keep the job for long. His calmness on the field helped and worked like a charm in the shorter formats, although tactically he sometimes sat back for too long in Tests. All that cant argue against the fact that India had some of

their best years in Test cricket, in terms of tangible achievement, under Dhoni, and that Dhoni has for years been among the best ODI batsmen in the world. However, post the 50-over World Cup win in 2011, reality struck, and an ageing team kept losing in unfamiliar conditions. Among the most embarrassing defeats under Dhoni were the 0-4 whitewashes suffered in England (2011) and Australia (2011-12). After eight straight Test losses away from home, Dhoni the captain came under immense pressure, which was accentuated by a 2-1 home series loss to England in 2012-13, the first time India had lost a series at home in more than 8 years. This brought out a new chapter in Dhonis career wherein he seemed more assertive as a captain, started building a new team and became the first Indian captain to win four Tests in a series, when India defeated Australia 4-0 to win the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. While India under Dhoni continued to do well at home, overseas losses continued. These included 0-1 defeats in SA and NZ and in 2013-14 and 1-3 in England in 2014 and now 0-2 in Australia. ImpactofretirementonBrandDhoniDhonis brand value worth millions of dollars will undergo a change after his retirement from Tests but it is unlikely that the poster boy from Ranchi will go downhill in the world of endorsements, said ad-gurus Prasoon Joshi and Prahlad Kakkar after his retirement announcement. According to the 2014 figures, Dhoni endorses more than 20 brands, charging approximately Rs 13 crore per annum for each. The 33-year-old is also the sole Indian in Forbes lists of worlds most valuable athlete brands where he is ranked fifth with a brand value of USD 20 million. Kakkar believes Dhonis salability would have dropped had he also quit from ODIs and T20 Internationals. He further said: Anyway Dhonis brand value was not because of Test matches, it was because of ODIs and T20. So as long he is playing, he should be fine. Dhonis departure from the longest format can only raise the profile of Virat Kohli, who is already considered the biggest thing in Indian cricket.



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Current Affairs: Sports FOOTBALL HeroIndianSuperLeague

Substitute Mohammad Rafique headed the only goal of the match in injury time as Atletico De Kolkata clinched the inaugural Hero Indian Super League (ISL) football tournament with a 1-0 win over Kerala Blasters at the D.Y. Patil stadium in Mumbai on December 20. The tournament featured eight teams -- Chennaiyin FC, FC Goa, Atletico de Kolkata, Kerala Blasters FC, Delhi Dynamos FC, FC Pune City, Mumbai City FC and NorthEast United.

Elano Blumer of Chennaiyin FC, who netted 8 goals in 11 matches, won the Golden Boot Award for scoring the maximum number of goals in the tournament followed by Miroslav Slepika of FC Goa, Iain Hume of Kerala Blasters FC, Gustavo Marmentini dos Santos of Delhi Dynamos FC and Fikru Teferra Lemessa of Atltico de Kolkata were joint second with 5 goals each.

Jan eda of FC Goa won the Golden Glove award given to the top goalkeeper finishing ahead of Apoula Edima Edel Bete of Atltico de Kolkata, Subhasish Roy Chowdhury of Atltico de Kolkata, David Benjamin James of Kerala Blasters FC and Rehenesh TP of NorthEast United FC.

Manyavar Rang Jama De Most Exciting Player of the League award went to Luis Garcia of Atltico de Kolkata. The Muthoot Group Fair Play Award was won by Delhi Dynamos FC.

FIFArulesoutanychangein2018&2022WorldCuphosts: FIFA will not reopen the vote for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups, and will publish at least some of the confidential report into the bidding process, President Sepp Blatter said in in December. The 78-year-old Blatter, who is seeking a fifth term as president, said there are no legal grounds to revoke the executive committees decision (in 2010) on the award of the 2018 and 2022 World Cups. CRICKETICCWorld Cup 2015Ambassador: The International Cricket Council (ICC) on December 22, 2014 named Indian legend Sachin Tendulkar as the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 Ambassador. In his role as ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 Ambassador, Tendulkar will promote and support a variety of ICC initiatives to enhance the profile of the tournament. Tendulkar retired from international cricket in 2013 after representing his country in 200 Tests, 463 One-Day Internationals (ODI) and one Twenty20 International. In a career spanning 24 years, the 41-year-old scored a total of 34,357 international runs and 100 centuries. A member of the Indian world cup winning team in 2011, Tendulkar is the

all-time leading run-getter in World Cup history with 2,278 runs in 45 matches at an average of 56.95. CAtrademarks63notout: In an attempt to thwart people from cashing in on the late Australian batsman Phillip Hughes tragedy, Cricket Australia (CA) has trademarked the phrase 63 not out. CA says it registered the trademark in conjunction with Phillips management purely as a defensive registration to prevent others trying to exploit Phillips memory. Unlicensed Phillip Hughes merchandise was being sold on online auction sites including t-shirts, stickers

and memorial trophies. Earlier in December, Australian cricketer Phillip Hughes passed away after succumbing to injuries he endured from a bouncer at the SCG in a Sheffield Shield match.



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BADMINTONToprankedIndians: Kidambi Srikanth continued his meteoric rise in world badminton as he ended the season by becoming only the third Indian male shuttler to break into the top-five, reaching a career-high fourth in December. The 21-year-old Indian, who clinched the China Super Series Premier before reaching the semifinals of back-to-back tournaments in Hong Kong and Dubai, joined the elite club which comprises Prakash Padukone and national chief coach Pullela Gopichand, who were World No. 1 and 4 respectively in the past. Among Indian women, Saina Nehwal retained her number four position in the latest ranking which was released in Kuala Lumpur on December 25. BWFSuperseries: Chen Long of China beat Denmarks Hans-Kristian Vittinghus 21-16, 21-10 to win the Mens Singles title at the $1,000,000 Badminton World Federation (BWF) Superseries Finals at the Hamdan Sports Complex in Dubai on December 21. Tai Tzu Ying won the Womens Singles title defeating South Koreas Sung Ji Hyun 21-17 21-12 in the final. Indias best formers Saina Nehwal and Kidambi Srikanth lost in the semi-finals. TataOpen: H. S. Prannoy and Ruthvika Shivani Gadde clinched the mens and womens singles titles respectively in the USD 25,000 Tata Open India International Challenge badminton tournament, in Mumbai in December. Prannoy defeated a fighting R M V Gurusaidutt in a thrilling mens singles final 21-16 20-22 21-17 that lasted 64 minutes at the Cricket Club of India (CCI) courts. 17-year-old Ruthvika got the better of Arundhati Pantawane 19-21 21-18 21-14 in the womens singles final. CHESSLondonClassicChess: Five-time chess world champion Viswanathan Anand won his maiden London Classic title after defeating British Grandmaster Michael Adams in the fifth and final round, in London in December. Meanwhile at Kottayam, Grandmaster S.P. Sethuraman clinched his maiden National Premier Chess title in December. He tallied 8.5 points from the 13-round event. ChessOlympiad: Top seeds India bagged the gold medal in the World Youth Under-16 Chess Olympiad at Gyor in Hungary on December 22. India beat Turkey 3.0-1.0 in the 10th and final round to clinch the title ahead of Russia and Iran at the FIDE tournament held at the University of West Hungary. The Indian team comprised Diptayan Ghosh, Murali Karthikeyan, Aravindh Chithambaram, Kumaran Balaji and G K Monnisha. MISCTennisWorldChampionsfor2014: Serbian Novak Djokovic and Serena Williams of the US were declared the mens and womens World Champions for 2014 by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) in Paris in December. The 27-year-old Djokovic won Wimbledon, reached the final at French Open and finished the year ranked No.1 in the world. The 33-year-old Williams won the US Open, the 18th Grand Slam title of her career, and was also ranked No.1 by the Womens Tennis Association. Americans Bob and Mike Bryan were Mens Doubles world champions while Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci of Italy were the Womens Doubles world champions. ThemesongofNationalGames: The theme song of the 35th National Games, composed by singer and composer Hariharan, was formally released in Thiruvananthapuram on December 24. A promotional video starring the Games Goodwill Ambassador Sachin Tendulkar was also released. The three-minute song which has a mix of languages -- Hindi, Malayalam and English -- has been written by lyricist Javed Akthar. WorldCupKabaddi: The Indian mens team continued their winning streak by clinching the fifth Kabaddi World Cup title, while the womens side bagged the crown for the fourth consecutive time at the Guru Gobind Singh Multipurpose Stadium in Badal (Muktsar) on December 20. The Indian mens team defeated Pakistan 45-42 for the fourth time, while the women team beat New Zealand 36-27 for the second time in a row. Golf: Om Prakash Chouhan won the 13th TATA Open at the Beldih Golf Course in Jamshedpur on December 21. Indias Arjun Atwal won the Dubai Open at the Els Golf Club in Dubai on December 21.



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Current Affairs: Economy InsuranceOrdinancerepromulgated The Insurance Laws (Amendment) Ordinance, 2014,

signed by President Pranab Mukherjee on December 26, hikes foreign investment limit in the insurance sector to 49 per cent from the current 26 per cent.

Insurance penetration in India is very low compared to

the global average. The sector is in need of capital to expand and ensure better access to insurance services, especially in rural areas and for economically weaker sections. Enhancement of the foreign equity cap with the safeguard of Indian Ownership and Control is a critical aspect of the Ordinance, which will potentially enhance capital availability.

The Ordinance is aimed at amending the Insurance Act, 1938, the General Insurance Business (Nationalization) Act,

1972 and the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority Act, 1999 to remove archaic and redundant provisions in the Insurance Laws, empower IRDA to enable more effective regulation and enhance the foreign equity investment cap in an Indian Insurance Company from 26 to 49% with the safeguard of Indian ownership and control.

The Ordinance is aimed at allowing insurance companies to raise capital through new and innovative instruments,

which would help capital intensive insurance industry to garner resources for business growth. The Ordinance will empower IRDA to regulate key aspects of Insurance Company operations in areas like solvency,

investments, expenses and commissions, which is in keeping with global best practices of regulation. The absence of such empowerment for IRDA potentially undermines faith in our regulatory framework and discourages investment in the sector.

The Ordinance will also substantially enhance penalty provisions to ensure comp

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