Daily Current Affairs – 10 January 2015, Saturday

1. Sindhushree
Khullar appointed first CEO of Niti Aayog

i. The Government has appointed former planning commission
secretary Sindhushree Khullar as the first Chief Executive officer (CEO) of National
Institution for Transforming India (Niti) Aayog.

ii. She will serve CEO post for one year. She
is 1975-batch officer of the Indian Administrative Service’s (IAS) Union
Territories cadre.

Note: i.
 The Government has replaced 64 year old Yojana
Aayog (Planning Commission) with a new institution named NITI Aayog (National
Institution for Transforming India) on January 1 2015.

ii. Prime
Minister Narendra Modi is the Chairman of Niti Aayog and

iii. Arvind
Panagariya (eminent economist) selected first Vice Chairman of
Niti Aayog.

2. Modibo Keita is a new Prime Minister of Mali

i. Modibo Keita chosen as the Prime Minister of West
African nation Mali. He replaced Moussa Mara.  

ii. His appointment was confirmed by Mali’s President
Ibrahim Boubacar Keita.

iii. Modibo Keita had previously served as the Secretary
General of the Presidency of Mali.

3. “SBI Quick” facility
announced by SBI

i. ‘SBI Quick’ facility is launched by SBI today, which aims to allow
customers to get their balance or a mini statement of their accounts on their
mobile phones.

ii. To avail of
the facility, customers have to register by sending an SMS
(REGaccount number) to ‘9223488888’ from the mobile number of the
customer available in the bank’s records for savings bank/ current account/
overdraft/ cash credit accounts. They will get an instant confirmation through
SMS, the bank said in a statement.

iii. Customers can
call on ‘9223766666’ or send SMS ‘BAL’ for balance inquiry. Call can be made to
‘9223866666’ or send SMS ‘MSTMT’ to get the mini statement. Instant reply will
be sent through SMS.

iv. In addition to this, a
customer can also block his or her ATM Card by sending an SMS —
BLOCKxxxx (xxxx represents last 4 digit of the card number) — to
567676, the statement said.

4. Perin Romesh
Chandra passes away

i. Freedom fighter Perin Romesh Chandra passes away following
a prolonged illness. She was 96.

ii. She was a leader of All India Peace & Solidarity
Organisation (AIPSO).

5. UK Dy High
Commission will be set up in Ahmedabad

i. Deputy High Commission will be set up in Ahmedabad to facilitate the Gujarat is
living in The Britain,

ii. UK Minister for Trade &
Investment, Lord Livingt said, soon there will be a Deputy
High Commission in Ahmedabad. There is greater importance of this state.

iii. The minister,
who is visiting the seventh edition of Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit 2015 on
Sunday at Mahata Mandir in Gandhinagar, mentioned that UK has been the largest
investor to invest in India among the G-20 countries.

6. SunEdison to
set up 250 MW solar power capacity in rural areas

i. US-based
solar energy company SunEdison will set up 250 MW of solar power generation
capacity through 5,000 rural projects in India.

ii. The company will tie up with India’s
Omnigrid Micropower Company (OMC) to accomplish this project.

iii. The projects
will come up over the next three to five years at an estimated cost of Rs. 5,000
crore.

iv. OMC has already put in place 36 kW
micropower plants across India and with the partnership of SunEdison, the two
companies aim to quickly provide electricity to 10 million people.

7. Sharapova wins
Brisbane International Title

i. Maria Sharapova defeated Ana Ivanovic in the
final to win the Brisbane International title.

ii. She beat Ivanovic in the straight sets 6-7(4) 6-3 6-3.

iii. The
27-year-old has won at least one title every year since 2003, an unbroken
streak of 15 years.

8. Yu Min
honoured with State Preeminent Science and Technology Award 2014

i. Chinese nuclear physicist Yu Min conferred with the
State Preeminent Science and Technology Award 2014 by Chinese President Xi
Jinping.

ii. He was awarded for his involvement in research into
nuclear weapons since the 1960s.

iii. Yu Min is presently an academician at the Chinese
Academy of Sciences.