CLATGYAN’S GK COMPENDIUM FROM JANUARY 1 TO JANUARY 7, 2014.

January 1, 2014:

President Pranab Mukherjee signed the anti-corruption Lokpal and Lokyuktas Bill,

2011 which has now become a law. The bill was passed by the Parliament in the

winter session.

The Lokpal Bill, 2013, also referred to as The Lokpal and Lokayuktas Bill, 2013, is

an anti-corruption law in India which seeks to provide for the establishment of the

institution of Lokpal to inquire into allegations of corruption against certain public

functionaries and for matters connecting them.

Latvia became the 18th member of Eurozone. The former Soviet republic on the

Baltic Sea recently emerged from the financial crisis to become the EU’s fastest-

growing economy.

The 28-member EU is a political entity and represents the interest of all of Europe

whereas Eurozone is a currency block of 18 nations that have accepted Euro as a

common currency. Not all countries of EU use Euro as currency (Britain still uses

Pound as its currency).

Air Marshal Arup Raha took over as the Air Force Chief today. He succeeded

Norman Anil Kimar Browne.

NASA’s Hubble telescope has discovered clouds in the atmosphere of a super-Earth

type planet 40-light year away, providing the first ever weather forecast for a planet

outside our solar system.

Central government approved 1080 more buses for 13 cities/cluster of cities under

JnNurm.

Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JnNURM) is a massive city-

modernisation scheme launched by the Government of India under Ministry of Urban

Development. It envisages a total investment of over $20 billion over seven years.. It

was launched in 2005 for a seven-year period (up to March 2012) to encourage cities

to initiate steps for bringing phased improvements in their civic service levels. The

government has extended the tenure of the mission for two years, i.e., from April

2012 to March 31, 2014. JnNURM is a huge mission which relates primarily to

development in the context of urban conglomerates focusing to the Indian cities.

JnNURM aims at creating ‘economically productive, efficient, equitable and

responsive Cities’ by a strategy of upgrading the social and economic infrastructure in

cities, provision of Basic Services to Urban Poor (BSUP) and wide-ranging urban

sector reforms to strengthen municipal governance in accordance with the 74th

Constitutional Amendment Act, 1992.

New Zealand’s Corey Anderson scored the fastest century in ODI history from 36

balls breaking the previous record of Shahid Afridi.

January 2, 2014:

Arvind Kejriwal, Chief Minister of Delhi, won a crucial trust vote in the 70 member

Delhi Assembly today when its confidence motion sailed through easily with the

backing of the members of Congress, JD(U) and an independent.

January 4, 2014:

Andhra Pradesh assembly, legislators from Telangana joined their Seemandhra

colleagues in stalling proceedings of the House over the state bifurcation issue.

Telugu Desam and YSR Congress members from Seemandhra stormed the Speaker’s

podium for the second day in a row, demanding withdrawal of the draft Andhra

Pradesh Reorganisation Bill-2013

India’s largest software services company, Tata Consultancy services announced to

set up the world’s largest corporate learning and development centre in

Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala. The centre will have the capacity to train 50,000

professionals every year.

Justice A.K. Ganguly, Chairman of West Bengal Human Rights Commission resigned

from the post of honorary professor of the National University of Juridical Sciences

(NUJS) faculty after a female student of NUJS, also his law intern made allegations of

sexual harassment against him.

January 5, 2014:

Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) successfully launched its heavy-duty

rocket Geo-synchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle – Development 5 (GSLV-D5) for

placing communication satellite GSAT-14 into the orbit.

The 49.13-metre tall rocket GSLV-D5 lifted off from Satish Dhawan Space Centre at

Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh.

It was powered by an indigenously developed cryogenic engine.With the successful

launch of GSLV-D5 flight India has now become the sixth nation to possess the

cryogenic engine technology, and has joined the elite club of the United States,

Russia, France, Japan and China. GSLV-D5 is the eighth flight of India’s

Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV). It is also the fourth developmental

flight of GSLV. The cuboid shaped Rs.145 crore GSAT-14 is India’s 23rd

geostationary satellites built by ISRO.

Thousands of anti-government protestors marched through the Thai capital, a prelude

to the broader action in the following week to shutdown Bangkok in order to scuttle a

February election and topple the Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra.

January 6, 2014:

An FIR was lodged against social activist Teesta Setalvad , her husband Javed Anand,

Zakia Jafri’s son Tanvir Jafri and two others for allegedly usurping Rs.1.51 Crores

collected by them for turning Gulbarg society into a museum.

Aditya Joshi, Indian Baminton player became the first male junior badminton player

from India to be ranked first in the world.

The US Senate confirmed Janet Yellen as the next chairperson of Federal Reserve.

She succeeded Ben Bernanke as the next head. She also became in the first woman to

lead the Federal Reserve in its 100 year history.

Previously, she was President and Chief Executive Officer of the Federal Reserve

Bank of San Francisco, Chair of the White House Council of Economic Advisers

under President Bill Clinton, and Professor Emerita at the University of California,

Berkeley, Haas School of Business

January 7, 2014:

India successfully test-fired its indigenously developed nuclear capable surface-to-

surface missile, Prithvi-II. Inducted into India’s Strategic Forces Command in 2003,

it is the first missile to be developed by DRDO under India’s prestigious Integrated

Guided Missile Development Programme.

Prithvi II class is a single-stage liquid-fuelled missile having a maximum warhead

mounting capability of 500 kg, but with an extended range of 250 km. It was

developed primarily for the Indian Air Force.

Union Minister for Health, Ghulam Nabi Azad launched the nation’s first

comprehensive adolescent health programme, the Rashtriya Kishor Swasthya

Karyakram.

The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) launched the Rashtriya Kishor

Swasthya Karyakram with these key principles; Adolescent participation and

leadership, Equity and inclusion, Gender Equity and strategic partnerships with other

sectors and stakeholders. To guide the implementation of this programme, MoHFW

in collaboration with UNFPA has developed a National Adolescent Health Strategy.

It realigns the existing clinic-based curative approach to focus on a more holistic

model based on a continuum of care for adolescent health and developmental needs.