Weekly Current Affairs (18th – 24th January 2014)

24 January 

• Central Bank of India now has three EDs following his appointment, B K Divakara along with Raj Kumar Goyal and Animesh Chauhan. 

• The Election Commission (EC) would be starting a voter helpline in all 75 districts of Uttar Pradesh. 

• Finance Minister P Chidambaram has assured global investors that India is prepared to face the impact of US Fed tapering. 

• Indian-American professor Rakesh Khurana has been appointed Dean of the prestigious Harvard College. 

• National Girl Child Day is 24th January. This day is observed every year to raise awareness and consciousness towards the girl child. 

 • RBI has issued revised guidelines for loan restructuring norms by non-banking financial companies, NBFCs in order to minimise the risk of defaults. 

• Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh gave away National Bravery awards for the year 2013 to 25 children from various parts of the country in New Delhi. Dr Singh told the award winners that they are an inspiration to both their own generation and the nation. 

• Kiran Mazumdar Shaw of the country's largest biotech research firm, Biocon Ltd, has been named winner of the 2014 Othmer Gold Medal, a top award of the US-based Chemical Heritage Foundation. It is a top award of the US-based Chemical Heritage Foundation. 

• Sania Mirza and her Romanian team mate Horia Tecau advanced into the mixed-doubles finals in the Australian Open tournament. 

23 January 

• ‘Resurgent India: Glimpses of Rajiv Gandhi’s Vision of India’ Book was launched by Vice President Hamid Ansari in Delhi. The main theme of ‘Resurgent India’ is an objective evaluation of Rajiv Gandhi’s contributions to the nation. 

• Cumbria University of UK became the first public university to accept fees in Bitcoin. 

• Asian Development Bank (ADB) has provided $400 million first tranche line of credit to India Infrastructure Finance Company Ltd (IIFCL) to help accelerate infrastructure growth through increased private sector investment. 

• Nation celebrates 117th birth anniversary of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose. 

• Garuda Vasudha Advanced Light Helicopter of Geological Survey of India launched. The Garuda Vasudha a Dhruv category built by HAL dedicated to the nation. The Ministry also laid the foundation stone of a Centre of Excellence Laboratory building of GSI at Bangalore, worth of 42 crore. 

• India and Japan signed the memorandum in tourism. 

• Sudhir Mahato, the former Deputy Chief Minister of Jharkhand died. He was a leader of the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM). He won the assembly elections for the first time in 1990 from Ichchagarh and retained it in 2005, the year he became the Deputy Chief Minister. 

22nd January 

• Currency notes issued before 2005 to be withdrawn after 31st March said RBI. From April 1, 2014, the public will be required to approach banks for exchanging these notes. 

• The President of India Pranab Mukherjee presented awards for the year 2012-13 to various States and Cities for outstanding performance in different categories under the flagship schemes of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation. 

• Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren laid the foundation stone for the new state assembly building amid protests from residents of the area. 

• T. Nanda Kumar appointed as new National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) Chairman and will take charge from March 1. 

• Union Cabinet has approved a proposal to constitute a Rail Tariff Authority, RTA to advise the Railway Ministry on fares. 

• Padma Vibhushan and Dada Saheb Phalke awardee Legendary Telugu Actor Akkineni Nageswara Rao passed away in Hyderabad at the age of 91. He was ailing with cancer. 

• Supreme Court rules that delay in deciding mercy plea can be ground for commuting death sentence; Commutes death sentence of 15 convicts to life term. 

• Odisha’s Chilika lagoon, which is a hotspot for biodiversity has been named ‘destination flyways’ by United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) following its inclusion in a list of eight such sites worldwide. 

• The country's mineral production saw a 3.7 per cent jump in November last year over the preceding month on the back of higher coal, chromite, bauxite and iron ore output, with total value of the products recorded at Rs 17,163 crore. 

• Coimbatore born scientist and Stanford University Emeritus Professor Arogya Swami Joseph Paulraj awarded the prestigious 2014 Marconi Society Prize. 

21st January 

• For 2014 General Elections, Union ministers P Chidambaram, Salman Khurshid, Ghulam Nabi Azad, Anand Sharma and AICC general secretary Mukul Wasnik have been named as senior Congress spokespersons. Shashi Tharoor, Abhishek Manu Singhvi and Jyotiraditya Scindia are among 13 spokespersons chosen by the Congress. 

• Indian Navy is all set to start sea trials for its first indigenously-built nuclear-powered submarine INS Arihant in few weeks, Assistant Chief of Naval Staff Rear Admiral LVS Babu said. INS Arihant's commissioning into theIndian Navy, which is expected till the end of the year, will gift India with the “nuclear triad”, that is the ability to retaliate to nuclear strikes from land, air and sea-based systems. 

• Stanislas Wawrinka upsets Novak Djokovic 2-6, 6-4, 6-2, 3-6, 9-7 in the quarter-finals of the Australian Open to reach his second straight semi-final. The loss ends a 28-match Djokovic win streak which stretches back to a US Open finals loss in early September to Rafael Nadal. 

• Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday evening called off his street-side agitation after getting a face-saver solution from the Centre for his demand seeking punitive action against the Delhi Police. 

• Senior Polic Officer Aryna Bahuguna appointed as the 28th new chief of the Hyderabad-based National Police Academy, alma mater for IPS officers in the country. 

• Three northeastern states, Tripura, Manipur and Meghalaya celebrated their 42nd statehood day. In Manipur the day is celebrated as “Manipur Divas”. The state has always been a favourite tourist destination 

• New education website launched by IT professionals. http://www.backyard.in is a new software based website intending to enhance the quality of the education system and to enrich campus life in an innovative way. It is an online educational cum social networking service. 

20th January 

• Nuclear capable Agni-IV missile test-fired from Odisha. The new generation missile, which has the capability to hit targets 4,000 km away, was tested for its full range from the Wheeler Island off the Odisha coast near Dhamra in Bhadrak district, about 200 km from state capital Bhubaneswar. 

• Police sources said Minister of State for Human Resource Development Shashi Tharoor got a clean chit into the matter based on a witness testimony. Autopsy report says drug overdose killed Sunanda 

• Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and his Ministers defied prohibitory orders and sat on a 10 day dharna demanding suspension of five State police officers. 

• Telecom regulator TRAI on Monday got a new Secretary, Sudhir Gupta, ahead of it releasing the final guidelines of spectrum trading and auction of CDMA radiowaves. Gupta, a principal adviser with TRAI, has been elevated to the post of Secretary. 

• Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare Gulam Nabi Azad launched the National Urban Health Mission in Bangalore. 

• Abhishikta S Shetty of Karnataka on 19th July 2014 was crowned as the Miss South India 2014 at the Le Meridien in Coimbatore. 

19th January 

• The National Stock Exchange (NSE) retained its position as the world's largest bourse in terms of number of equity trades for the second consecutive year in 2013. 

• New Zealand defeat India by 24 runs in first ODI. Despite Virat Kohli's sparking ton hosts New Zealand staged a thrilling 24-run win against India in the first cricket one-dayer at Napier. 

• NSE top-ranked globally for equity trades for 2nd year in 2013, while China's Shenzhen Exchange overtook the NYSE as the second largest. 

• Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni became the first Indian wicketkeeper and the fourth overall to effect 300 dismissals in one-day internationals when he caught a Ross Taylor nick in the opening ODI against New Zealand. 

• Technopark situated in the capital city of Kerala, Thiruvananthapuram has become the largest IT park in the country. 

• Serena Williams' pursuit of history has been put on hold, the 32-year-old American had been hoping to win her 18th Grand Slam title. 

18th January 

• Constantijn Jonker scored a hat-trick as the Netherlands thumped New Zealand 7-2 to win the inaugural Hockey World League in New Delhi. 

• 3rd Lusofonia Games (Portuguese Commonwealth Games) started at Goa. It will be held from January 18 to 29. 

• 18 people were dead following a stampede in Mumbai in a rush to pay last respects to the spiritual leader of the Dawoodi Bohra community Syedna Mohammad Burhanuddin. 

• A special court on Saturday rejected the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI)'s plea to drop Maharashtra's former chief minister Ashok Chavan from the list of accused in the Adarsh scam case.

• The Indian hockey team will not participate in the 23rd Sultan Azlan Shah Cup to be held in Ipoh, Malaysia from March 13 to 23 as they will be preparing for the World Cup in Europe.

• Olympic medal winner and boxer Vijender Singh debut movie 'Fugly', produced by Akshay Kumar will be released on May 16 this year.