11 November 2014
National:
Jnanpith conferred on Hindi poet
President Pranab
Mukherjee has conferred the 49th Jnanpith award upon eminent Hindi poet
Kedarnath Singh for his outstanding contribution towards Indian literature. The
Jnanpith award, institutionalized by philanthropist couple Sahu Shanti Prasad
Jain and Late Rama Jain, commemorates Indian authors for their contribution to
Indian literature.
India’s milk production touches 137 million tones mark from 20
million tones in 1951
Union Agriculture
Minister Radha Mohan Singh has launched National Dairy Development Board’s,
Golden Jubilee Year Celebrations at Anand in Gujarat. He said that India’s milk
production has touched 137 million tones mark from 20 million tones in 1951.
This has resulted in rise of per capita milk availability from 120 gram to 300
gram. He emphasized on the importance of programmes related to increasing
productivity as cattle productivity in India is lower compared to other
countries of the world. He said that India is largest milk producing nation of
the world since 1998. Operation Flood, the world’s largest food and development
program, formulated and implemented by NDDB resulted in the phenomenal growth
of dairy sector in India.
SC lifts restrictions on women make up artists in Bollywood
The Supreme Court
has put an end to restrictions on women make up artists in Bollywood. The apex
court said the 59 year old practice which discriminates on the basis of gender
is violative of constitutional values. A bench of justices Dipak Misra and U U
Lalit also held as unconstitutional a provision that makes it mandatory to have
a five year domicile of Maharashtra to become a registered make-up artist in
Bollywood. It directed the Cine Costume and Make-up Artist Association in
Mumbai to delete the provisions within 10 days.
Kolkata ranks third in survey on Internet users
In a recent survey
conducted in cities by the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI),
Kolkata has ranked third in the country in terms of the number of Internet
users. Kolkata has 6.27 million people who have access to the internet. IAMAI
is an industry association that conducts research on digital business. Mumbai
with 16.4 million Internet users has topped the rankings whereas Delhi with
12.15 million Internet users has come second. In terms of the numbers of
Internet users, Kolkata has climbed two spots compared to 2013 when it was
ranked fifth in the IAMAI research with 4.4 million Internet users. In terms of
annual growth of Internet users, Kolkata jointly holds the fifth place along
with Ahmedabad with 33 per cent growth. Delhi has registered the highest annual
growth of 50 per cent, followed by Mumbai (37 per cent) and Bangalore (36 per
cent).
M.K. Mishra, Prabakaran re-elected to Bar Council
Mannan Kumar Mishra
of Bihar and S. Prabakaran from Tamil Nadu have been unanimously re-elected
chairman and co-chairman of the Bar Council of India. Mr. Mishra is a senior
advocate practising in the Supreme Court and Patna High Court. Mr. Prabakaran,
who is practising in the Madras High Court and Supreme Court, is a member of
various committees set up by the BCI, including the legal education panel. He
is the spokesperson of the BCI and a member of the Academic and General
Councils of the National Law School, Bangalore and Director, International
Council of Jurists.
Javed Usmani is new CIC of Uttar Pradesh
Senior bureaucrat
and former Chief Secretary Javed Usmani will be the new Chief Information
Commissioner (CIC) of Uttar Pradesh. Mr. Usmani’s name was approved by Governor
Ram Naik. The Governor had earlier returned the file to the government as it
did not carry the mandatory Vigilance clearance report.
Test of Indo-Israel warship missile system successful
There is finally
some hope for frontline Indian warships being commissioned without an adequate
"area defence weapon" to guard against enemy aircraft, drones,
missiles and helicopters. The long-range surface-to-air missile (LR-SAM)
system, being developed by DRDO and Israeli Aerospace Industries (IAI) with an
interception range of 70 km, was finally tested for the first time after a long
delay in Israel. Israel is one of the largest defense suppliers to India,
notching sales worth around $1 billion every year. But the long delay in the
around Rs 13,000 crore development of two advanced SAM systems —LR-SAM project
sanction in December 2005 for Rs 2,606 crore to arm Indian warships. Similar
MR-SAM project sanctioned in February 2009 for Rs 10,076 crore for IAF air
defense squadrons.
International:
UN Chief sets up Gaza war inquiry
United Nations
Secretary General, Ban Ki Moon has set up a five-member panel to investigate
Israeli attacks on UN shelters during the Gaza war and the discovery of Hamas
weapons at UN sites. The inquiry will be led by retired Netherlands general
Patrick Cammaert with Maria Vicien-Milburn of Argentina, American Lee O'Brien,
Canadian Pierre Lemelin and K.C. Reddy of India as the members. The board would
review and investigate a number of specific incidents in which death or
injuries occurred at and damage was done to United Nations premises. Ban Ki
Moon had described the three Israeli shelling of UN-run schools as a moral
outrage. Israel maintains that Palestinian Hamas fighters were using the
schools to store weapons.
100-year-old skydives on birthday
Eleanor Cunningham
of Howes Cave, New York, has bested former President George H.W. Bush. He
celebrated his 90th birthday by skydiving; she made the big leap to mark her
centennial. It was her third jump, after taking up the sport at age 90.
Business & Economy:
RBI tightens NBFC norms by requiring them to have stronger
capital base
RBI has tightened
its norms for non-banking financial companies, NBFCs by requiring them to have
a much stronger capital base, failing which they would lose their registration.
This comes in the wake of public investors increasingly being defrauded in the
name of non-banking financial services. The NBFCs would be subjected to a
stronger set of rules and regulations if they raise public deposits. RBI
announced a new set of norms that also mandate a huge eight-fold increase in
the minimum 'net owned fund' requirement from 25 lakh rupees to 2 crore rupees
by 2017 in a phased manner.
Sports:
Novak Djokovic beats Marin Cilic at ATP World Tour Finals in
London
World number one
Novak Djokovic swept past US Open champion Marin Cilic to begin his campaign
for a third straight title at the ATP World Tour Finals in London. Djokovic
defeated Cilic 6-1, 6-1 in 56 minutes. With the win, Djokovic has joined
Stanislas Wawrinka at the top of Group A after the Swiss earlier thrashed Tomas
Berdych. It was Djokovic’s 16th victory against a Top 10 opponent in 2014. He
is unbeaten in 11 matches at the season finale, where he is a two-time
defending champion.
Misra is selection committee chairman
The All India
Tennis Association (AITA) reconstituted its selection committee with players
who have represented the country, at its executive committee meeting held in
Mumbai. The AITA stated that former Davis Cup captain S.P. Misra would be the
chairman of the selection committee, with Rohit Rajpal, Balram Singh, Zeeshan
Ali and Nandan Bal as other members.
