News : 15-22 Oct 2013

Appointments :

1. The Madhya Pradesh government  constituted a judicial commission headed by Rakesh Saxena to probe the stampede at Ratangarh in Datia district on October 13.
2. New Chairman of Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC), S. K. Roy.

Resignations/Retirements

Obituaries

Awards

Sports

Books

1. RICHARD DAWKINS : An Appetite for Wonder

International

1. India has moved from 65 to 63 in the Global Hunger Index, making a marginal improvement since 2012, but continues to languish far behind other emerging economies. The score for the country improved slightly from 22.9 in 2012 to 21.3 this year. As has been the trend, within SAARC countries too, India continued to trail behind Pakistan and Bangladesh on the index.The index is prepared by the International Food Policy Research Institute along with Welthungerhilfe and Concern Worldwide.
2. Pre-COP (Conference of Parties), is organised to firm up the agenda for the meeting, where all member-countries of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change gather held at POLAND.
3. Typhoon Wipha, packing winds of 140 kilometre per hour (km/hr), is moving towards north Tokyo where the crippled Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant lies
4. German defence firm Atlas Elektronik, a leading manufacturer of high-tech maritime and naval systems, is in the process of finalising a deal with India for supplying low-frequency sonar systems for Navy’s warships that will help them detect enemy submarines, warships and torpedoes from a long distance.
5. India-Hungary joint commission on economic co-operation on Tuesday signed an agreement between the two countries in the field of traditional medicine.

National

1. “My Stamp”, an innovation of India Post, gives individuals the opportunity to get a postage stamp with their photos on it.To get personalised “My Stamp”, the customers will have to fill in the form indicating choice of stamps from available stamp sheets and deposit Rs.300 along with his or her colour photo (with white background) or provide the same in soft copy.
2. The Indian Navy inducted into service its largest offshore patrol vessel (OPV), INS Sunayna.
3. Chief Minister Siddaramaiah of Karnataka  instructed the Law Department to draft legislation in Kannada and then translate them into English.
4. First batch of members of the Bnei Menashe tribe may arrive in Jewish state by year-end.899 Indian Jews from Manipur and Mizoram, all members of the “lost” Bnei Menashe tribe, to immigrate to Israel.The Bnei Menashe (literally meaning sons of Menashe) tribe trace their roots to one of the 10 “lost tribes” of Jews exiled by the Assyrian regime over 2,700 years ago.Hundreds of Bnei Menashe are already living in Israel, having made aliyah (immigration) with the help of NGO Shavei Israel, which is dedicated to bringing “lost Jews” around the world to Israel.
5. Two Ukraine nationals – crew of the detained US ship Seaman Guard Ohio – were arrested by Tamil Nadu ‘Q’ Branch police.
6. Centre wants liquor and petroleum products to come under the GST, states are keen to retain their power to tax these items as they are major sources of revenue.

Polity

1. The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) has joined government and PSU oil firms against the Supreme Court order making Aadhaar card not mandatory for availing social benefits
2. Co-operative societies do not fall within the ambit of Right to Information Act, the Supreme Court has said.
3. Convicted Congress leader Rashid Masood  became the first MP to lose his seat after the Supreme Court struck down a provision that protects a convicted lawmaker from disqualification on the ground of pendency of appeal in higher courts.

Economics

1. Economics Nobel Prize : Shared by Eugene Fama, Robert Shiller and Lars Peter Hansen. Their work ranges from the foundations of modern finance (Fama) to defects in the mainstream models (Fama and Shiller) and improvements in statistical methodology (Fama and Hansen). More
2. London-based HSBC, on Thursday, said it would exit its retail broking business in India, the latest global bank to scale back operations in the country.
3. China’s economy grew by 7.8 per cent in the third quarter, the fastest growth recorded this year so far.
4. Google’s stock surpassed the $1,000 mark for the first time
5. The World Bank has lowered its forecast for India’s economic growth in the current fiscal year to 4.7 per cent from 6.1 per cent it had projected in April.The International Monetary Fund (IMF), in its World Economic Outlook, slashed India’s growth forecast to 4.25 per cent for the current fiscal.

Env & Ecology

Science & Tech

1. The National Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (NTAGI) has recommended scale-up of the pentavalent vaccine across the country, along with activities to monitor potential adverse effects.The pentavalent vaccine simultaneously provides protection against the five life threatening diseases — Diphtheria, Pertussis, Tetanus, Hepatitis B and Hib (Haemophilus influenza type b). DPT (Diphtheria, Pertussis, Tetanus) and Hepatitis B are already part of the national routine immunisation programme. Protection against Haemophilus influenza type B (Hib), which causes severe pneumonia, meningitis and other life-threatening conditions in children less than five years of age, is a new addition.The pentavalent vaccine, which is being used in 188 countries, is an important tool to reduce under-five mortality in India. Its rollout in Sri Lanka, Bhutan and Vietnam was briefly suspended to investigate concerns over a few deaths, but has since been re-introduced in all of these countries.
2. The 2013 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine is awarded to Dr. James E. Rothman, Dr. Randy W. Schekman and Dr. Thomas C. Südhof for their discoveries of machinery regulating vesicle traffic, a major transport system in our cells

News : 1-7 Oct 2013

Appointments :

Resignations/Retirements

Obituaries

1. Tom Clancy, whose high-tech, cold war thrillers such as The Hunt for Red October and Patriot Games made him the most widely read and influential military novelist of his time, has died.

Awards

Sports

International

1. A Bangladesh war crimes tribunal  awarded death penalty to Salauddin Quader Chowdhury, a top ranking opposition leader, for murder and genocide during the country’s Liberation War in 1971.
2. The Democratic-led Senate rejected the latest House Republican effort to negotiate on a spending bill stalled by conservative efforts to derail the health care overhaul.In a 54-46 party-line vote, the Senate turned aside a House request to name negotiators to a conference to resolve differences.
3. President Vladimir Putin has been nominated for the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize by a Russian advocacy group for his key role in preventing a US missile strike on Syria and initiatives to dismantle Damascus’ chemical weapons.
4. Malaysian lawmakers approved changes to a crime-prevention law which could be abused by authorities to hold people without trial for years and negate the prime minister Najib Razak’s pledge to protect human rights.PM is criticized for introducing the changes less than two years after abolishing laws that had occasionally been used in past decades to hold political dissenters without charge. Legislators in Parliament’s lower house passed the changes to the Prevention of Crime Act after a heated debate. The changes must be endorsed by Parliament’s upper house and the country’s constitutional monarch before they can take effect, but they are unlikely to encounter resistance at those stages.

National

1. India and Sri Lanka will  ink an agreement for the execution of the 500 MW thermal power project at Sampur in Trincomalee at a cost of Rs. 4,000 crore.
2. India’s commercial export of power to Bangladesh commenced on Saturday with the inauguration of the Bangladesh-India Power Transmission Centre at western Bherampura, adjacent to West Bengal.India will export 500 megawatts of electricity a day to Bangladesh over a period of 35 years. A 125-kilometre transmission line, 40 km of it in Bangladesh, connects the two substations.
3. Inter-company LPG portability comes into force in 24 cities.
4.  SMS complaint cell at Thanjavur municipal office is the first such facility in the whole of Tamil Nadu .
5. A recommendation of the Election Commission (EC) for a “cooling off period” to bar top bureaucrats from joining politics or contesting polls immediately on exit from service has been rejected by the government which feels such a step will not be in harmony with the constitutional provisions.

Polity

Economics

1. Private insurer SBI Life Insurance on Thursday launched ‘Smart Power Insurance’ plan, which is designed to care for investor’s twin needs of insurance and investment.
2. The Yashwant Sinha-led Standing Committee on Finance has argued strongly against grant of banking licences to corporate houses . Stating that industrial houses may not be geared to achieve the national objectives of financial inclusion, it has recommended that banking and industry be kept separate.

Env & Ecology

1. A huge cluster of jellyfish forced one of the world’s largest nuclear reactors of Oskarshamn nuclear plant in southeastern Sweden to shut down by producing waves.

Science & Tech

1. Twitter revealed plans  to raise 1 billion dollars in an initial public offering, setting the stage for the most eagerly-awaited tech offering since Facebook’s over-hyped public launch in May 2012.
2. In a top-level reshuffle, software services major Wipro,, appointed Soumitro Ghosh as head of Wipro Infotech replacing Senior Vice-President and Business Head of Global Infrastructure Services Anand Sankaran, who quit the company hours before the rejig was announced.
3. Indigenously manufactured vaccine to prevent the deadly Japanese encephalitis.The vaccine being used at present is imported from China and the government often had problems with its procurement, but the domestically prepared vaccine would be readily available, both in the government-run immunisation programme and in the open market.Vaccination is part of the government’s National Programme for Prevention and Control of JE/AES.he new vaccine, JENVAC, available in single and double dose, has been manufactured by Genome Valley-based Bharat Biotech.

Culture

1. A monolithic stone idol of Lord Buddha belonging to the 6th A.D. was unearthed by a team of epigraphists at Kavinadu tank, the largest in the district

Books – Oct 2013

• Cooperatives and socialism : A view from CUBA  :   Camila Pineiro Harnecker
• Parliament – Powers, Functions and Privileges: A comparative constitutional perspective : Advocate K S Chauhan