Daily Current Affairs – 14th January 2015, Wednesday

1. H S Brahma appointed new Chief
Election Commissioner of India

i. Harishankar Brahma has been appointed
as the new Chief Election Commissioner of India. He replaces Veeravalli
Sundaram Sampath.

ii. A 1975 IAS officer of Andhra Pradesh cadre, Brahma
(60), who hails from Assam, is a former Union power secretary.
iii. Brahma
assumed charge as one of the three election commissioners of India on August
25, 2010.
iv. After
J M Lyndogh, Brahma will become the second officer from the northeast to be
appointed to this post.

2. Union Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi Naqvi
sentenced to one year imprisonment

i.Union
Minister of State for Minority Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, along with 19
others, was convicted by a Rampur Court for breaching prohibitory orders during
the 2009 Lok Sabha polls.

ii. Mr. Naqvi
along with 19 other people were booked in Patwai police station in Rampur for
allegedly breaching prohibitory orders and barging in a police station in
Patwai area while campaigning during 2009 Lok Sabha polls.

3. DRDO chief
Avinash Chander removed

i. Avinash Chander, Chief of Defence Research and
Development Organisation (DRDO) was removed by the government on Tuesday.

ii. He was removed 15 months before his contract
was supposed to end.

iii. He joined DRDO in 1972 after completing graduation in
electrical engineering from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Delhi

4. India and
Australia signed MoU for skill and infrastructural development in sports

i. The Sport Education Development Australia (SEDA) and
India’s Infrastructure Leasing and Financial Services Limited (IL-FS) signed a
Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on 13 January 2015.

ii. The agreement was signed by the Australian Minister
for Trade and Investment Andrew Robb.

5. Italy
President Giorgio Napolitano resigns

i. In Italy, President Giorgio Napolitano has
announced his retirement in a resignation letter.

ii. The President’s role is mainly ceremonial,
although he can choose a Prime Minister and dissolve Parliament.

iii.  The
power President possesses has been seen as crucial in recent years and Mr
Napolitano was praised by some for using it to dismiss PM Silvio Berlusconi at
the height of Italy’s sovereign debt crisis in 2011.

6. Karnataka,
SunEdison sign agreement

i.The Karnataka government and
SunEdison have signed an agreement to develop 5 gigawatts of renewable energy
within 5 years.

7. Inox Wind to
set up wind turbine manufacturing facility in M.P

i.Gujarat Fluorochemicals subsidiary Inox Wind
Ltd (IWL) will set up a single location integrated wind turbine manufacturing
facility in Madhya Pradesh’s Barwani district. The plant will be set up with an
investment of over Rs. 300 crore

ii. Inox Wind Ltd (IWL) will set up 400 MW of
projects in Madhya Pradesh making it the largest developer in the state.

8. BioAsia 2015
signed deal with Pharmaceutical Producers of India

i. The 12th edition of BioAsia 2015, the
annual international life sciences conference has tied-up with the Organisation
of Pharmaceutical Producers of India (OPPI) for co-oorganizinga meet on supply
chain and logistics.

ii. With the support from OPPI, BioAsia 2015
scheduled to be held during February 2-4, 2015 would enable companies to
identify new emerging market trends for a cost effective pharma supply chain
management.

9. Hara Patnaik Veteran
Odia actor passed away

i. Veteran
Odia actor and director Hara Patnaik passed away following a brief illness in
Bhubaneswar, Orissa. He was 56

10. Govt
sanctions Rs 996 crore investment in Central Power Research Institute

i. Government has approved investment of Rs 996
crore for capital projects of Central Power Research Institute (CPRI).

ii.  This
will support augmentation of High Power Short Circuit Facilities as well as
establishment of new test facilities in existing laboratories of CPRI.

iii. The investment would serve the growing
needs of Research and Development in the Indian Power Sector including,
development of advanced Testing Facilities, located at Bengaluru, Hyderabad,
Kolkota, Guwahati, Noida and Nagpur. A new laboratory will also be established
in Western Region at Nasik.

11. Pope Francis
declares Indian priest a saint

i. Pope Francis today addressed a holy mass of
5 lakh people at the Gall Face Green in Colombo and declared a 17th century
Indian priest, Joseph Vaz, a saint of Catholic Church.

ii. Jospeph Vaz became a priest in 1676 in Goa,
but then moved to Sri Lanka and worked for the revival of the Catholic Church in a
period of Dutch repression of Catholics.