Starred
Articles
Justice
HL Dattu to be next Chief Justice of India
Justice Handyala
Lakshminarayanaswamy Dattu is likely to be the next Chief Justice of
India. Justice Dattu will replace CJI RM Lodha who will retire on the
27th of September. Dattu is currently a judge in the Supreme Court.
Justice Dattu will take office as the CJI at a time when the BJP
government has brought in the National Judicial Appointments
Commission Bill which has scrapped the collegium system of appointing
judges.
Justice Dattu also
served as Chief Justice of Chhattisgarh high court for a few months
in 2007 before he was transferred to Kerala HC. After two CJIs
retiring in one year, Justice Dattu's will be a relatively extended
tenure.
India,
Australia sign civilian nuclear energy deal
World
> India, Australia nuclear energy deal > September 6, 2014
To address India’s
growing need for power, the National Democratic Alliance (NDA)
government under Prime Minister Narendra Modi signed a civil nuclear
agreement with Australia. The deal, signed in the presence of Modi
and Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott, officially marked an end
to the ban imposed by Australia on selling uranium to India. The ban
was lifted in 2012, when talks for the nuclear deal began.
Both sides also signed
a parallel nuclear safeguards agreement, as India isn’t a signatory
to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. This was also the case when
India had signed a civil nuclear deal with Canada.
Australia has about 40
per cent of global uranium reserves, of which it exports about 20 per
cent, making it one of the largest exporters of the commodity. It
doesn’t have any nuclear power plants of its own.
Under the nuclear power
generation programme, India hopes to increase its nuclear capacity to
63,000 Mw by 2032 by adding about 30 reactors, at an estimated cost
of $85 billion.
India
Signs FTA in Services, Investments with ASEAN
India
> Free Trade Agreement > September 9, 2014
India has signed the
free trade agreement (FTA) in services and investments with the
10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), two years
after the discussions on the pact concluded. The agreement will ease
the movement of professionals and increase investment with the 10
nations in the bloc for IT and other professional sectors. India had
implemented FTA in goods with 10-member ASEAN in 2011.
Some of the important
Articles contained in the agreement are ones on transparency,
domestic regulations, recognition, market access, national treatment,
increasing participation of developing countries, joint committee on
services, review, dispute settlement and denial of benefits.
ASEAN members include
Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Myanmar, Vietnam, Indonesia,
Philippines, Brunei, Cambodia and Laos. Philippines, which did not
sign the deal is expected to do so once it completes domestic
procedures.
Others
NetApp
to partner with NABARD for data and disaster recovery centres in
cooperative banks
Banks
specific > NetApp-NABARD >September 3, 2014
Data storage solutions
firm NetApp has entered into a partnership with National Bank of
Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) for data and disaster
recovery centres to help cooperative banks move on to core banking
solution (CBS) platform. This is a major shift from a manual or
partially computerized standalone environment in which the banks had
been operating previously. With CBS, banks will be able to increase
financial inclusion with the help of cost effective and efficient
technology. The move will also enable the government to transfer
subsidy and other payments to account holders based on their Aadhaar
numbers. Of the 201 banks with 6,818 branches under the Nabard
Project, 199 banks and 6,795 branches are fully on CBS as on March
31, 2014. Another 87 branches opened in these banks during the
process of implementation, have also been put on CBS. TCS and Wipro
are implementing the project.
Government
approves 7 percent hike in dearness allowance
Politics
and government > Dearness Allowance>September 4, 2014
The central government
has approved 7 per cent hike in dearness allowance (DA), taking it to
107 per cent of basic pay. Around 30 lakh central employees and 50
lakh pensioners including dependents will be benefitted by this. The
increase is in accordance with the recommendations of the 6th
Central Pay Commission.
NATO
summit 2014 held in Wales, UK
World
> NATO Summit 2014 > September 4, 2014
North Atlantic Treaty
Organisation (NATO) Summit 2014 was held in Wales, UK from 4 to 5
September 2014. This was the first summit held in the United Kingdom
since Margaret Thatcher welcomed NATO leaders to London in 1990. More
than 60 world leaders attended the NATO Summit. The Ukraine crisis
and Afghanistan were the top agendas for this year’s NATO summit.
Unit
5 of RAPS becomes world’s 2nd longest running reactor
India
> Nuclear reactor > September 6, 2014
India’s nuclear power
programme today reached a new milestone after Unit 5 of the Rajasthan
Atomic Power Station (RAPS) become the second longest running reactor
in the world by being in operation for 765 days continuously. The 220
MW Pressurized Heavy Water Reactor (PHWR), in RAPS has been in
uninterrupted operation since August 2, 2012 and it has been
operating at full power with a capacity factor of 105 percent. The
plant, commissioned in February 2010, has been running at the
capacity of 98.5 percent and until now generated 8,663 million units
of electricity. Unit 7 of Canada’s Pickering nuclear plant holds
the world record of running continuously for 894 days.
US
Open 2014: The Champions
Sports
> Tennis >September 7, 2014
Sania Mirza clinched
the mixed doubles crown at the US Open 2014 with her male partner
Bruno Soares of Brazil. The duo beat the pair of Abigail Spears (US)
and Santiago Gonzalez (Mexico) by 6-1 2-6 11-9.
It was her 3rd
mixed-doubles titles, after the two with Mahesh Bhupathi at the
Australian Open in 2009 and then at French Open in 2012.
Men's Singles
In the Men's Singles
category, US Open witnessed a new unheralded champion. Croatia’s
Marin Cilic conquered his first grand slam having dashed the hope of
Kei Nishikori - the first man from Asia (and Japan) to reach a Gand
Slam final - with an emphatic scoreline of 6-3, 6-3 and 6-3.
Women's Singles
Serena Williams
defeated Caroline Wozniacki to bag her 3rd consecutive US Open crown.
It's her sixth US Open and 18th Grand Slam title overall.
Men's Doubles
Bob and Mike Bryan
lifted their fifth US Open and 16th Grand Slam doubles title. It was
also their 100th tournament title overall. They defeated Spaniards
Marcel Granollers and Marc Lopez 6-3, 6-4.
Women's Doubles
Russian pair of
Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina won their second Grand Slam
women's doubles title
They disappointed the
duo of Martina Hingis and Flavia Pennetta with a come-from-behind
win.
State
Bank of India and MasterCard launch multi-currency travel card
Bank
specific > State Bank of India > September 8, 2014
State Bank of India and
MasterCard have announced the launch of a multi- currency foreign
travel card that will be available through 100 selected branches of
State Bank in Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai and Bangalore Circles. The card
is available in both retail and corporate variants and will allow the
consumers to pay conveniently in multiple currencies. It will
initially be available in four currencies—USD, GBP, Euro and SGD
and eventually be made available in all major currencies. It's a
prepaid and reloadable card with 24/7 access to balance and
transaction history online or via the dedicated customer service
centre. Cardholders can gain free access to exclusive benefits and
offers around the world including cash delivery, medical and lawyer
assistance services.
Aditya
Birla Chemicals to acquire Jayshree Chemicals’ unit for Rs 212
crore
Corporate
> Aditya Birla > September 8, 2014
Aditya Birla Chemicals
(India), a subsidiary of the $40 billion Aditya Birla Group, on
Monday said it will acquire the chlor-alkali division (CAD) of
Jayshree Chemicals for a cash consideration of Rs 212 crore. Jayshree
Chemicals' chlor-alkali facility with a capacity of 50,000 tonnes is
located at Ganjam, Odisha. It has around 1600 acres of salt works in
Andhra Pradesh. Chlor-alkali is used extensively in aluminium and
several other industries. Jayshree’s chlor-alkali manufacturing
facility is situated in close proximity to several aluminium
manufacturing facilities, which provides significant growth
opportunities.
World
Literacy Day observed across the world
World
> World Literacy Day > September 8, 2014
World Literacy Day was
observed across the world on 8 September 2014. The theme of
International Literacy Day 2014 is Literacy and Sustainable
Development. The aim is to highlight the importance of literacy to
individual, communities and societies.
For over 40 years now,
UNESCO has been celebrating International Literacy Day by reminding
the international community that literacy is a human right and the
foundation of all learning. The importance of observing International
Literacy Day is the need to mobilize public opinion in favour of the
struggle against illiteracy. According to Human Development
Report-2003-UNDP it is estimated that there are 879 million
illiterate adults in the world, of which two-third are women.
0 comments:
Post a Comment