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Cristiano
Ronaldo wins third European Golden Boot
Sports
> European
Golden Boot > Nov 07, 2014
Real Madrid forward
Cristiano Ronaldo received the European Golden Boot trophy for being
the joint top scorer last season in Europe, along with Luis Suarez,
having hit 31 goals. The World Player of the Year, who also won the
Golden Boot in the 2007-08 and 2010-11 seasons, has had a glittering
career with both Manchester United and Real and he helped the latter
to win their tenth European Cup last season.
Ronaldo previously won
the award in 2007-2008 while playing for Manchester United and in
2010-2011 with Real Madrid.
Narendra
Modi expands cabinet, inducts 21 new ministers
Politics
and Government > Cabinet
of Ministers > Nov 09, 2014
In a major cabinet
reshuffle, Prime Minister Narendra Modi appointed 21 ministers,
including four cabinet ministers, three minister of state
(independent charge) and 14 ministers of state. While former Goa
chief minister Manohar Parrikar was made defence minister, Suresh
Prabhu has been given the railway ministry, which is keenly watched
by Modi because of his interest in building rail infrastructure in
the country and also to promote his pet project of starting a bullet
train in the country. Finance minister Arun Jaitley has been given
the charge of information and broadcasting ministry, which was
previously held by Prakash Javadekar. Former Karnataka chief minister
D.V. Sadanand Gowda is the new law and justice minister. Gowda was
earlier handling the railway ministry, and the law and justice
ministry was with Ravi Shankar Prasad, who is now handling
communications and information technology.
|
Portfolios
|
Ministers
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|
Finance,
Corporate Affairs, Information and Broadcasting
|
Arun
Jaitley
|
|
Defence
|
Manohar
Parrikar
|
|
Railways
|
Suresh
Prabhu
|
|
Law
and justice
|
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Health
and family welfare
|
Jagat
Prakash Nadda
|
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Rural
Development, Panchayati Raj, Drinking water and sanitation
|
Chaudhary
Birender Singh
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Science
and Technology, Earth Sciences
|
Harsh
Vardhan
|
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Labour
and employment (independent charge)
|
Bandaru
Dattatreya
|
|
Skill
Development and Entrepreneurship (independent charge),
Parliamentary Affairs
|
Rajiv
Pratap Rudy
|
|
Culture
(independent charge), tourism (independent charge), civil aviation
|
Mahesh
Sharma
|
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Water
resources, river development and Ganga rejuvenation
|
Sanwar
Lal Jat
|
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Agriculture
|
Mohanbhai
Kalyanjibhai Kundariya
|
|
Portfolios
|
Ministers
|
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Micro,
small and medium enterprises
|
Giriraj
Singh
|
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Chemicals
and fertilizers
|
Hansraj
Gangaram Ahir
|
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Human
resource development
|
Ram
Shankar Katheria
|
|
Science
and technology, Earth Sciences (minister of state)
|
Y.S.
Chowdary
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Finance
|
Jayant
Sinha
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Information
and broadcasting
|
Rajyavardhan
Singh Rathore
|
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Urban
development, Housing and Urban poverty alleviation
|
Babul
Supriyo Baral
|
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Food
processing industries
|
Sadhvi
Niranjan Jyoti
|
|
Social
justice and empowerment
|
Vijay
Sampla
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Gujarat
becomes first state to make voting mandatory in local body elections
Politics
and government > Mandatory
voting > Nov 10, 2014
The Gujarat Local
Authorities Laws (Amendment) Bill-2009 which makes voting in local
body elections compulsory has been approved by the state's governor
OP Kohli. The same Bill also provides for 50% reservation for women
in all local body elections. The controversial Bill empowers the
state government to take punitive action against those who do not
vote in local body elections. However, it does not specify the type
of action that would be taken against a defaulter. With this Gujarat
has become the first state in the country where voting in local body
polls has been made mandatory. Previous governor Kamla had refused
twice to give her approval to the Bill. It received approval only
after Kamla was removed by the Modi government at the Centre and OP
Kohli was made governor in her place.
Jeevan
Pramaan – Digital Life Certificate for pensioners launched
India
> Digital
Life Certificate > Nov 10, 2014
Prime Minister Narendra
Modi on Monday launched 'Jeevan Pramaan - Digital Life Certificate
for Pensioners' with a view to reduce hardships of senior citizens.
Jeevan Pramaan, which is an Aadhar-based Digital Life Certificate,
will be a digital certification, which will do away with the
requirement of a pensioner having to be physically present or submit
a physical Life Certificate in November each year, in order to ensure
continuity of pension being credited into his account. Department of
Electronics and IT has developed a software application which will
enable the recording of the pensioner's Aadhar number and biometric
details from his mobile device or computer, which will be uploaded to
a central database on real-time basis, ultimately enabling the
Pension Disbursing Agency to access a Digital Life Certificate.
Jnanpith
award conferred on Hindi poet Kedarnath Singh
Awards
> Jnanpith
Award > Nov 10, 2014
The 49th Jnanpith award
was conferred on eminent Hindi poet Kedarnath Singh for his
contribution towards Indian literature. President Mukherjee
congratulated Dr. Singh for winning this coveted award and said he
was sure Dr. Singh would continue to enrich Hindi literature in the
years to come. He also said that he was sure that the Bharatiya
Jnanpith will adequately work out ways of exposing our youth to the
brilliance of our literature.
Others
Sachin
Tendulkar’s autobiography ‘Playing It My Way’ launched
India
> Playing
It My Way > Nov 05, 2014
Indian cricketing
legend Sachin Tendulkar launched his autobiography ‘Playing It My
Way’ on 5th November in Mumbai in the presence of some
of his former teammates, celebrities and family members. Earlier,
Sachin gave the first copy of the book to his mother Rajni, while at
the launch he presented a copy to his mentor and childhood coach
Ramakant Achreka.
PM
Modi ranked 15th on Forbes list of 72 most powerful people in the
world
World
> Forbes
list > Nov 05, 2014
Prime Minister Narendra
Modi has been ranked 15th on the Forbes List of 72 most
powerful people in the world. This is the first time that Modi’s
name has appeared in the list. Russian President Vladimir Putin
topped the list for the second year in a row leaving behind his US
counterpart Barack Obama who was ranked second. The list also
included the names of Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani at
36th, ArcelorMittal chairman and CEO Lakshmi Mittal at 57th and
Microsoft's Indian-born CEO Satya Nadella at 64th. Congress president
Sonia Gandhi, who was the highest ranked Indian last year at 21, is
missing from the list. The top five remained the same as 2013.
Chinese President Xi Jinping ranked third, Pope Francis ranked fourth
and the world's most powerful woman German Chancellor Angela Merkel
ranked fifth.
National
Open Athletics Championships: Jaisha strikes second gold, Luka named
best woman athlete
Sports
>
Athletics > Nov 05, 2014
Asian Games bronze
medallist O P Jaisha won the women's 1500m race to grab her second
gold on the final day of the 54th National Open Athletics
Championships. 31-year-old Jaisha had also won the 5000m gold on the
opening day of the tournament.
Asian Games silver
medallist Tintu Luka, representing Railways, also grabbed her second
gold after she anchored the Railways 4x400m quartet to top spot in
3:47.77, ahead of ONGC (3:49.93) and Kerala (3:56.40). Luka, who also
won gold in women's 800m, was adjudged the best woman athlete of the
Championships while Ankit Sharma, who set a new meet record in men's
long jump (7.87m), was named best man athlete.
Railways won the
overall team championships for yet another time to continue their
stranglehold on the National Open Championships.
Bharti
Airtel calls off Rs 700-crore deal to acquire Loop Mobile
Corporate>Bharti
Airtel > Nov 06, 2014
Telecom carrier Bharti
Airtel has scrapped its Rs 700 crore deal to buy the subscribers and
assets of Loop Mobile over delay in government approval. It would
have been India's first M&A in the sector since 2008.
Airtel's proposed deal
with Mumbai-based Loop had been awaiting clearance for over eight
months. The scrapping of the pact will affect some 120,000
subscribers of Loop as the operator's licence is set to expire this
month.
Jan
Dhan balance tops Rs 5,000 crore mark, nearly 7 crore accounts opened
India>
Pradhan
Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana > Nov 06, 2014
The Pradhan Mantri Jan
Dhan Yojana has so far managed to bring over Rs 5,000 crore into the
formal banking system, as close to seven crore account holders have
started depositing cash into their bank accounts. A large part of
this money was hitherto kept at home, with little or no productive
use. Latest data collated by the finance ministry showed that on
November 3, 6.98 crore bank accounts had been opened across the
country, with Rs 5,300 crore parked in them. Just a tad under 4 crore
RuPay cards had been issued to these account holders, with the
remaining expected to get the ATM card over the next few weeks.
Government
to infuse Rs. 2375.42 crore to revive 23 district co-op banks
Bank
specific > District
cooperative banks > Nov 06, 2014
The government has
decided to revive 23 District Central Cooperative Banks (DCCBs) in
four states which were on the verge of closure by infusing Rs
2,375.42 crore. Of the total amount, the Centre would contribute Rs
1,464.59 crore, state governments Rs 673.29 crore and NABARD Rs
237.54 crore. Of the 23 un-licensed district level banks, 16 are in
Uttar Pradesh, 3 each in Jammu and Kashmir and Maharashtra and 1 in
West Bengal. The government said that it wanted to revive these
institutions as people from lower strata of society and small
businessmen have deposits in these institutions.
Suzlon
unveils world’s tallest hybrid wind generator turbine
India
> World’s
tallest hybrid wind generator turbine > Nov 06, 2014
Suzlon Energy, on
Thursday, put into operation the world’s tallest hybrid wind
generator turbine in Surat, Gujarat. Designed and developed by local
engineers, the 120-metre hybrid turbine is taller than conventional
wind turbine towers and will generate 12 to 15 percent more energy.
With this new turbine, the installed wind energy capacity at the
Kutch region of Gujarat has gone up to 1,100 MW and this makes it
Asia’s biggest wind energy park at one location.
Ankur
Mittal clinches gold at the 4th Asian Shotgun Championship
Sports
> Shooting > Nov 06, 2014
22 year-old Ankur
Mittal clinched the gold medal in men's double trap event at the 4th
Asian Shotgun Championship held in Abu Dhabi. His teammate Mohd Asab
won the bronze after reaching the finals. In the Continental
championship that began on November 1, Seema Tomar had won the
woman's trap event and team gold alongside Shagun Chaudhary and
Shreyasi Singh. Manavaditya Rathore, son of Olympic silver medallist
Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, also won the junior trap event.
Axis
Bank inks MoU with South Korean NongHyup Bank
Corporate
> Axis Bank > Nov 06, 2014
Axis Bank has signed a
pact with NongHyup Bank (NH Bank) to enhance cooperation in treasury,
trade and other business between India and South Korea. The MoU aims
to reinforce trade and economic relationship between South Korea and
India, and will promote mutual development through business
cooperation.
NH Bank is one of the
largest banks in South Korea with an asset base of $185 billion.
RBI
makes SMS alerts for cheques mandatory
India
> RBI guidelines > Nov 07, 2014
Expressing concern over
the rise in cheque-related fraud cases, the Reserve Bank of India
(RBI) has made SMS alerts mandatory to both payer and drawer in
cheque transactions as soon as the instruments are received for
clearing. RBI has also asked banks to alert a customer with a phone
call and obtain confirmation when dealing with suspicious or
high-value cheques. Until now, SMS alerts were mandatory only for
card transactions.
Besides sending alerts,
banks have been asked to ensure that all cheques of over Rs 2 lakh
are scanned under an ultraviolet lamp that will highlight any
tampering. In case of cheques of over Rs 5 lakh, banks have been
asked to scrutinize them at multiple levels.
National
Cancer Awareness Day observed across the nation
India
> National
Cancer Awareness Day > Nov 07, 2014
National Cancer
Awareness Day was observed on 7th November 2014 across the nation.
Union Health Minister Dr. Harsh Vardhan in September 2014 had
announced that 7th November will be observed as National Cancer
Awareness Day every year.
There were 2.9 million
cases of cancer in the country with 1.1 million new cases being
reported annually. The Health Minister expressed confidence that if
there is mass health insurance, the premium burden on the common man
would be substantially reduced. Cancer, if detected early, could be
treated at a fraction of the cost that is incurred when diagnosed at
an advanced stage.
India
Bhutan sign MOU to collaborate on the establishment of Nalanda
University
India
> Nalanda
University > Nov 07, 2014
India
and Bhutan have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to
collaborate on the establishment of the Nalanda University in Bihar
to develop the institution as an international centre of excellence.
The two countries signed the MOU following a meeting between
President Pranab Mukherjee and the Bhutanese King Jigme Khesar
Namgyel Wangchuck. The Nalanda University will be located in Rajgir,
Bihar and will have the power to confer degrees, diplomas and
certificates.
Virat
Kohli Becomes Fastest Cricketer to Reach 6000 Runs in ODIs
Sports
> Cricket > Nov 09, 2014
Indian batsman Virat
Kohli became the fastest cricketer in history to score 6000 One-Day
International runs, breaking the record of legendary West Indian
Vivian Richards' , during his 53-run knock in India's third ODI
against Sri Lanka in Hyderabad on Sunday. Playing in his 144th match
and 136th innings, Kohli began the match 50 short of 6000 and reached
the milestone before getting out at 53. Richards had needed 156
matches and 141 innings to reach the milestone in 1989. Virat is the
eighth Indian to have scored 6000 or more runs and 47th overall.
SBI,
HDFC, Axis Bank cap free ATM transactions at own and third-party ATMs
Bank
specific > ATM > Nov 09, 2014
Nation’s largest
lender State Bank of India (SBI) and private sector lenders such as
HDFC Bank and Axis Bank have limited the number of free ATM
transactions per month in six metros viz. Mumbai, New Delhi, Chennai,
Kolkata, Bangalore and Hyderabad. Customers will now have to pay a
maximum of twenty rupees for transactions exceeding the limit
specified by the respective bank. The capping and additional charge
on excess usage come following the RBI’s circular to limit free ATM
transactions to three at own-bank ATMs and two at other bank ATMs in
the six metros. SBI has capped ATM transactions at three and imposed
fees of Rs 20 per subsequent transaction. HDFC Bank and Axis Bank
will also be charging Rs 20 per transaction above five a month. At
the third-party ATMs, SBI will charge for more than two transactions
while HDFC and Axis will charge for more than three transactions.
SBI's
Arundhati Bhattacharya most powerful Indian woman in business:
Fortune
World
> Most
powerful Indian woman > Nov 09, 2014
Arundhati Bhattacharya,
the Chairperson of SBI, has been named as the most-powerful woman in
business in India by Fortune Magazine. ICICI Bank's Chanda Kochhar
and Shikha Sharma of Axis Bank follow Bhattacharya at the second and
the third place respectively. The other women who figure in the top
10 are Zia Mody Co-founder AZB Partners; Mallika Srinivasan CEO of
TAFE and Aruna Jayanthi CEO of Capgemini India; Preetha Reddy, MD,
Apollo Hospital Enterprise; Kiran Mazumdar Shaw chairperson and MD at
Biocon and Shobhana Bhartia, chairperson, HT Media.
Ppoilitics and
Governmen
Prime Minister Narendra
Modi expanded his team on Sunday by appointing 21 new ministers, four
of them in the Cabinet and three others as ministers of state with
independent charge.
World
Chess Championship: Carlsen defeates Anand
Sports
> Chess > Nov 10, 2014
World chess champion
Magnus Carlsen took an early lead in the ongoing world chess
championship after he beat challenger Viswanathan Anand in the second
game demolishing the Indian grandmaster’s defence in a little over
three-and-a-half hours. For the second time in two days, Anand made
unforced errors in the third hour of play, allowing Carlsen to pile
pressure on him. In the first game, Anand survived a difficult
position and held Carlsen to a draw.
Aadhaar
to be made mandatory for issuance of passport, government might do
away with prior police verification
India
> Passport
issuance > Nov 11, 2014
Prior police
verification for issue of fresh passports may no longer be required
with the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) proposing to rely on
Aadhaar card for identification of the applicant and on the National
Crime Records Bureau's (NCRB) database for validation of his/her
criminal antecedents. Based on an applicant’s self-declaration on
aspects like citizenship, criminal antecedents, criminal proceedings,
summons/warrants etc., the government may soon start issuing
passports on a post-verification basis. The new and simpler system
has been proposed to do away with issues related to police
verification and consequent delay in issuance of passports. The
government will thus make Aadhaar card a mandatory requirement for
issue of passports.
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