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UN
report: India has the world's largest youth population
World
> Youth
Population >Nov 19
According
to a United Nations Population Fund’s (UNFPA) State of the World’s
Population report, India has the largest youth population in the
world with 356 million (28% of the total population) people under the
age bracket of 1035 years. China is a close second with 269
million people in the age bracket, followed by Indonesia (67
million), the US (65 million), Pakistan (59 million), Nigeria (57
million), Brazil (51 million) and
Bangladesh
(48 million). The report also said that 9 out of 10 young people live
in underdeveloped countries and with the right kind of
investment for this important resource of youth, developing economies
could see their economies soar to new highs.
ISRO
wins Indira Gandhi prize
Awards
> Indira
Gandhi Prize 2014 >Nov 19
Indian
Space Research Organisation has been awarded the Indira Gandhi Prize
for Peace, Disarmament and Development for 2014. It was successful in
proving India's competence in the field of space technology by
launching India's first Mars orbiter. It was also successful in
bringing the capability of Indian Scientists at par with those of
advanced nations from around the world.
ISRO’s
contributions in strengthening international cooperation in the
peaceful use of outer space and for the organisation’s role in
addressing the needs of rural Indians in remote areas also played a
vital role in helping it win this award.
Myanmar
hosts 12th ASEAN - India Summit
India>
ASEAN Summit >Nov 19
India
and other ASEAN countries attended the 12th ASEAN-India Summit held
in Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar. Those present in the Summit included
President of Myanmar, Thein Sein, Prime Minister of India, Narendra
Modi and all Heads of State/ Government of ASEAN Member States. Two
major agreements were signed during the summit: the Agreement on
Trade in Services and the Agreement on Investment of the Framework
Agreement on Comprehensive Economic Cooperation between ASEAN and
India.
India
has been attending annual Summits with ASEAN since 2002. India became
a full dialogue partner of ASEAN in 1996.
Lewis
Hamilton wins World Championship
Sports
> F1
Racing >Nov 23
British
driver Lewis Hamilton has won his second Formula 1 world title after
victory at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. Hamilton is only the fourth
Briton to win more than one world title, joining Jim Clark, Graham
Hill and Sir Jackie Stewart. He had entered the race with a 17-point
lead over Rosberg and only needed to finish in the top two to win the
championship.
Rosberg
started from pole position and needed Hamilton to finish third to
allow him to win what would have been his first title.
Brazilian
driver Felipe Massa crossed the line in second place ahead of his
Williams team-mate Valtteri Bottas.
Others
Doha
to host World Athletics Championships in 2019
Sports
> World
Athletics Championships >Nov 19
Doha will host the IAAF
World Athletics Championships in 2019. It was chosen over the cities
of Barcelona and Eugene. It was initially overlooked for the 2017
version of the event in favour of London. The event will be the
edition is set to be organised in the newly modernised Khalifa
stadium and will be held in the 17 the months of September and
November to avoid the soaring heat of the desert in the prior
months.The city previously hosted World Indoors Championships in the
year 2012. The event started in 1983 will help improve Qatar's image
as a sporting destination, after an alleged controversy surrounding
the selection of the country by FIFA to host the 2022 world cup.
Oxford
Dictionary's word of the year – 'Vape'
World
> English
Word of the Year >Nov 19
The word 'vape', which
means the to inhale and exhale the vapour produced by an electronic
cigarette or similar device, has become the latest word, after
‘selfie’ to be given a formal recognition in the Oxford
Dictionary. The move comes as a reflection of the huge popularity of
electronic cigarettes among the masses in recent years. The word
can be used both as a verb and a noun. Another such word is, 'bae' a
form of endearment.
Emergency
software update issued by Microsoft
After a security glitch
affected domain privileges of all supported versions of Windows,
Microsoft issued an emergency software to fix the issue. Due to the
problem, a potential attacker could upgrade unprivileged domain user
account privileges to those of a domain administrator account.
Banks
keeping track of education loan takers through Facebook and Twitter
Corporate
> Bank
Education Loan >Nov 19
Banks have started
using Facebook and Twitter to keep the defaulters of education loan
in check. This will enable banks to send or post reminder messages to
the students through such websites. This initiative was taken due to
the popularity of Facebook in India. Banks can also keep track of
education loan customers who have moved abroad. This initiative was
taken because approximately 5 - 6 per cent of these loans turned bad.
There is no set up of credit guarantee fund for education loans yet.
Assam
zoo, first to house the critically endangered Pygmy Hog
India
> Assam >Nov 19
Assam zoo in Guwahati
is set to bring the critically endangered pig Pygmy Hog. With this,
the zoo will become the first zoo to have this rare species. This
decision was announced in third week of November 2014. The motive is
to transform the zoo into captive breeding centre for critically
endangered mammals. A simulated habitat has been created in the zoo
by growing Barenge grass in order to conserve Pygmy Hogs.
Pygmy hog is the
smallest and rarest of wild pigs available in Assam. At the brink of
extinction, this species disappeared from its original range in India
and Nepal.
Neel
Mukherjee's novel 'The Lives of Others' shortlisted for British
Literary prize
Award
> British
Literary prize 2014
The novel 'The Lives of
Others' by Neel Mukherjee has been shortlisted for British Literary
prize - The Costa Book Awards, under the category of a novel.
The plot revolves
around a man's extremist political activism set in 1960s Bengal. The
judges called it politically charged, ambitious and sometimes harsh
in its portrayal of India. The shortlisted authors include 10 males
and 10 females. The winner of The Costa Book awards will be announced
in January 2015 and is set to receive £ 30,000 as the winning prize.
Yahoo
replaces Google as default US Firefox search engine
Corporate
> World >Nov 20
A deal between Yahoo
Inc. and Firefox maker Mozilla Corp has resulted in Google being
replaced by Yahoo as the default search option for the users of
Firefox Web browser. Yahoo is expecting a boost in its flagging
search market share from this deal. The financial terms of the deal
have not been disclosed, but it is stated that this partnership is a
revenue sharing agreement and includes certain “guarantees”.
A “share gain” for
Yahoo is also expected from this deal. Yahoo has revamped the look of
its search engine, for the Firefox partnership.
Deendayal
Upadhyay Gram Jyoti Yojna
India
> Economy >Nov 20
Deendayal Upadhyay Gram
Jyoti Yojna was approved by the Union Cabinet chaired by Prime
Minister. Deendayal Upadhyay Gram Jyoti Yojna has two major
components, one is the facilitation of rostering of supply to
agricultural and non-agricultural consumers in rural areas and other
the transmission reforms including metering of distribution
transformers / feeders in rural areas.
The implementation of
the scheme requires a budgetary support of Rs.33,453 cr from
government of India. The scheme aims to improve the electricity
related crisis in the rural areas. Contracts for execution of
products will be awarded by State Discoms/Power Departments after the
projects have been sanctioned. This process shall commence
immediately.
Biggest
overseas project signed by China
Corporate
> World >Nov 20
African country's coast
to get a 1,402 km railway line as a result of the largest overseas
contract signed by China and Nigeria. The estimated cost of the
project is USD 12 billion. China Railway Construction Corp Ltd (CRCC)
claims that this project is China's biggest overseas project till
date. CRCC also said that the railway project will benefit both the
countries. Moreover, the project is expected to create 200,000 local
jobs.
The railway line
consists of 22 stops stretching from Nigeria's economic capital Lagos
in the west to Calabar in the east. Chinese state-owned enterprises
have invested in Africa's infrastructure industries over the last
decade. CRCC lost a major 3.7 billion contract of building a rail
link in Mexico due to the country's issues regarding the nature of
bidding process.
World
Chess Championship: Carlsen retains title
Sports
> Chess >Nov 23
Magnus Carlsen
successfully defended his title as World Chess Champion. He defeated
challenger Viswanathan Anand in Game 11 of a 12-game match to achieve
the 6.5 points needed to claim victory.
Anand really went for
it, attempting a dramatic sacrificial strategy when playing with the
black pieces. It was a fitting end to a rematch of the 2013 WCC, when
Carlsen ended Anand's 5-time reign as champion.
Ex-IAS
officer Deepak Gupta named new UPSC chief
Politics
and Government > UPSC >Nov 23
Former IAS officer
Deepak Gupta has been appointed as the new chairman of UPSC. He is
the younger brother of former Home Secretary Madhukar Gupta. As per
convention, a UPSC chief is appointed from among the members of the
Commission. It is for the first time that somebody from outside has
been appointed as the UPSC chairperson.
The UPSC conducts the
prestigious civil services examination to select IAS, IFS and IPS
officers among others. The UPSC is headed by a chairman and 10
members.
Academician David R
Syiemlieh, retd IFS officer Manbir Singh, former CBI Director Amar
Pratap Singh, former Navy Vice Chief DK Dewan, ex-Railway Board
Chairman Vinay Mittal, educationists P Kelimsungla and Hem Chandra
Gupta, and former IAS officer Chhatar Singh are other members of the
Commission.
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