Raghuvar Das becomes Jharkhand’s first non-tribal CM
(i) Bharatiya Janata Party leader Raghuvar Das became the first non-tribal to take oath on Sunday as the Chief Minister of Jharkhand.
(ii) Governor Syed Ahmad administered the oath of office and secrecy to Mr. Das, 60, at a football stadium I Ranchi.
(iii) Four Ministers — three from the BJP and one from the All Jharkhand Students Union (AJSU) — also took oath.
(iv) The BJP Ministers are Neelkanth Singh Munda, C.P. Singh and Louis Marandi.
RBI can’t flip-flop on interest rate: Rajan
(i) Facing persistent calls for interest rate cuts from the government and the industry, Governor Raghuram Rajan on Friday said the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) cannot ‘flip-flop’ on rates with every rise or fall in the inflation and would rather wait for a stable low price scenario.
(ii) “The message I have been sending is that we don’t want to flip-flop back and forth. This month inflation was 2 per cent, therefore I will cut this much. Oh! it went up to 5 per cent, may be I should increase it. That’s not how a central bank operates,” he said.
Logistical doubts over Obama’s Varanasi visit
(i) U.S. President Barack Obama may include Varanasi in his itinerary during his visit next month as chief guest at the Republic Day parade.
(ii) Though officials in Lucknow and Varanasi are still clueless, Acting U.S. Ambassador Kathleen Stephens’ recent visit to the ancient city points to the possibility.
(iii) Prime Minister Narendra Modi is keen on Mr. Obama visiting his Lok Sabha constituency on January 27, but U.S. authorities have two major concerns: the small size of the Babatpur (Varanasi) airport that would not be able to handle the logistics for Air Force One — the President’s official plane — and the congested topography of the city that has seen terror attacks, government sources said.
IIT-Delhi Director quits
(ii) A source in the Human Resources Development Ministry confirmed that Pune-based scientist Vijay Pandurang Bhatkar who is the Chairman of the Board of Governors of IITD.
(iii) Mr. Shevgaonkar's resignation to the Ministry on Friday. “The Minister (Smriti Irani) is yet to accept the same,” the source added.
15 States ratify National Judicial Appointments Commission Bill
(i) The National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC) may soon become active with Union Law Minister D.V. Sadananda Gowda on Saturday saying.
(ii) 15 States had ratified the Constitution (121st Amendment) Bill, 2014, giving Constitutional status to the Commission.
(iii) “I have received information that 15 States have ratified the Bill.
(iv) The NJAC Bill, passed by Parliament in August, had to be ratified by at least half the State legislatures before it got the Constitutional status.
Amendment in Lokpal Act on LoP in next session: Minister
(i) A Bill for inclusion of the leader of single largest opposition party in Lok Sabha as a member of a committee selecting chairperson and members of Lokpal will be brought in the next session of Parliament, Union Minister Jitendra Singh said on Saturday.
(ii) “The Lokpal Bill was brought with some amendments in the last session. Members showed keen interest in it. It was decided that the Bill may be referred to a parliamentary committee.
(iii) Government did not object to it and the Bill was referred to the select committee of the House. The Bill will be taken in the next session,” Mr. Singh told reporters in Delhi.
Govt. to buy indigenous electronic products
(i) Prime Minister Narendra Modi has ordered all Ministries to give preference to electronic products from domestic manufacturers.
(ii) All government departments have been asked to submit a department-specific list of domestically manufactured electronic products for procurement within a fortnight.
(iii) The Prime Minister’s Office announced that this was part of the ‘Make in India’ initiative.
India gives $1 million to ESCAP Trust fund
(ii) The contribution, made to the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) Multi–Donor Trust Fund for Tsunami, Disaster and Climate Preparedness in Indian Ocean and Southeast Asian countries.
(iii) Announced by Ambassador of India to Thailand Harsh Vardhan Shringla, the donation will also ensure that vulnerable communities receive timely warning information.
ISL glitz props Indian football, national team slips in 2014
(i) The ‘sleeping giant’ woke up to a new dawn with the ISL putting Indian football on the global map.
(ii) The national team’s prolonged decline got buried under the intense hype over what turned out to be a fairly successful inaugural Indian Super League.
(iv) It was graced by former stars such as Alessandro Del Piero, David Trezeguet, Robert Pires, Marco Materrazi, Luis Garcia and Nicolas Anelka, among others.
AirAsia Indonesia flight QZ8501 to Singapore missing
(i) Flight QZ8501 lost contact with air traffic control at around 06:20 local time (23:20 GMT) over the Java Sea.
(ii) The plane, an Airbus A320-200, disappeared midway into the flight of more than two hours from the city of Surabaya. No distress call was made.
(iii) Bad weather was reported in the area, and an air search operation has now been suspended for the night.
(iv) Planes from Indonesia and Singapore had been scouring an area of sea between Kalimantan (Borneo) and Java. Some boats are reported to be continuing to search as night falls.
Nato ends its 13-year Afghan war, but insurgency boils
(i) Nato formally ended its war in Afghanistan on Sunday, holding a low-key ceremony in Kabul after 13 years of conflict that have left the country in the grip of worsening insurgent violence.
(ii) The event was arranged in secret due to the threat of Taliban strikes in the Afghan capital, which has been hit by repeated suicide bombings and gun attacks over recent years.
Sebi permits Bangalore Stock Exchange to exit from stock markets
(ii) According to the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi), BgSE has substantially complied with the conditions for its exit as per the regulator's framework and therefore "is a fit case to allow exit".
(iii) Sebi said BgSE had complied with the regulator's exit norms and made payment of necessary dues to the regulator, including 10 per cent of the listing fee and the annual regulatory fee.
Government invites bids for 24 coal mines
(i) In the first tranche of coal block auction, government on Saturday invited bids for 24 mines, including seven in Chhattisgarh.
(ii) Besides six blocks are being offered in Madhya Pradesh, three each in West Bengal, Maharashtra and Jharkhand and one each in Andhra Pradesh and Odisha, according to the bid document available in public domain.
(iii) The Union Cabinet on December 24 had approved re-promulgation of the coal ordinance and necessary guidelines for mine allocations.
Tarun Vijay conferred Malaysian award for Tamil cause
(i) BJP MP from UttarakhandTarun Vijay has been conferred with prestigious ThirukkuralThuthar (Ambassador of Tamil epic class Thirukkural by Thiruvalluvar) award.
(ii) The award was given to him by the legendary Malaysian Indian Congress leader, who holds the privileged status of Malaysia govt's special envoy to India and South Asia on Infrastructure.
(iii) Dato Utama S. Samy Vellu at a function attended by scholars and top Indian-origin Tamil leaders of Malaysia.
Replace history books written by Britishers: Swamy
(ii) Addressing students at Banaras Hindu University's Swatantrata Bhawan hall, he said the history books written by Indians should be promoted instead of the ones written by the Britishers.
(iii) Swamy said that even in the course books of schools and colleges the facts about Hindu kings should be mentioned more than the Mughal emperors like Akbar, Aurangzeb and others.
PM Narendra Modi is TOI's 'Person of the Year'
(i) It was a no-contest. Narendra Modi walked away with the title for leading the BJP to an incredible victory earlier this year.
(ii) As PM, he continued his game-changing ways by bringing in a new style of working and communication.
(iii) But as the year draws to a close, Modi has walked into tricky terrain. Words like Ramzaade-haramzaade, ghar wapsi, love jihad have entered the political lexicon, pushing Make in India to the sidelines.
(iv) Can the man with the mandate manage the contradictions and deliver the goods? 2015 holds the answers.
Sunil Chhetri named 2014 AIFF Player of the Year
(ii) Sandesh Jhingan, who played for Kerala Blasters FC in the Indian Super League (ISL), was declared the 'Emerging Player of the Year'.
(iii) Chhetri was chosen the winner on basis of votes from coaches from I-League clubs, according to an All India Football Federation (AIFF) release.
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