Daily Current Affairs – 11-12th January 2015
1. Kerala became first state to have first Hi-speed
Rural Broadband Network
i. India’s first Hi-speed Rural Broadband
Network (National Optical Fibre Network) was comissioned by the government
today in Idukki district of Kerala.
ii. Union
Minister of Information Technology and Communications Ravi Shankar Prasad
commissioned Hi-speed rural broadband network under the Digital India programme,
through video-conferencing at a glittering function at Technopark in the
capital Thiruvananthapuram today.
iii. Under this programme, all 2.5
lakh Gram Panchayats in the country will be connected on optical fibre.
iv. The aim of this service to offers lot of people’s friendly services like
E-health, E-Commerce and E-Education.
2. Kolinda
Grabar-Kitarovic to be first female President of Croatia
i. Former Assistant Secretary General at NATO and former
Croatian ambassador to the United States Kolinda
Grabar-Kitarovic won the 2015 Presidential elections of Croatia.
ii.
She will take charge of the President office on 19th February 2015
thus becoming the first female President of Croatia.
3. Surendra Kumar Sinha appointed chief justice
of Bangladesh
i. Justice Surendra
Kumar Sinha appointed as the 21st chief justice of Bangladesh. He replaced Chief
Justice Md Muzammel Hossain.
ii.
His appointment was confirmed by the Bangladesh President Abdul Hamid as per
Article 95(1) of the Bangladesh Constitution.
iii. Justice Sinha will be the first non-Muslim to take charge of
the office of Chief Justice of Bangladesh.
4. RBI inks deal with European Central Bank (ECB)
i. Reserve Bank of India European
Central Bank (ECB) today signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on
cooperation in the field of central banking, the RBI said.
ii. The aim of the deal is to
exchange exchange of information, policy dialogue and technical cooperation
between the two institutions,”
iii. Reserve Bank of India
Governor, Raghuram Rajan, and Mario Draghi, President of the European Central
Bank (ECB) signed an agreement.
5. Jifi savings account launched by Kotal Bank
i. Kotak Mahindra Bank launched
Jifi Saver, a social savings bank account that can be managed via Twitter and
Facebook.
ii. “Jifi Saver will take care of online
shopping, on-the-go transactions, financial planning, etc. It also offers all
benefits and functionalities of a regular savings bank account,” Kotak said in
a statement.
iii. Jifi Saver
customers will earn savings interest rate offered to all savings account
holders, i.e., 6 per cent p.a. on balance of above Rs. 1
lakh and 5 per cent on balance up to Rs. 1 lakh.
iv. Jifi Saver is available in 27 cities across the
country at present.
Note: Earlier Kotak Bank launch ‘Jifi’ Current account in March last
year
6. World Bank estimate 6.4% economic growth in
India in 2015
i. World Bank President Jim Yong Kim said Indian
economy is likely to grow at 6.4 per cent in 2015.
ii. Speaking at the Vibrant
Gujarat summit World Bank Chief said India’s economy according to our
projections is expected to grow 6.4 per cent this year and even faster in 2016,
iii. Mr. Jim said, he was “very
encouraged” by the recent proposal of a Constitution amendment bill for Goods
and Services Tax.
7. Israel to open centres of excellence for farmers in
India
i. Israel will start centres of excellence for
farmers in India to encourage research in agriculture sector and for the growth
of animal husbandry.
ii. During Vibrant Gujarat
Global Summit-2015, Israel Agriculture Minister Yair Shamir said,
Israel was likely to open these centres in the states of Haryana, Maharashtra,
Punjab, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal.
iii. Israel
also wants to help INdia to fight against hunger and to provide ample food
security by providing some good researches in agriculture sector, he added.
8. NABARD signs MoU with IIM-A for Chair in agri
biz
i. National
Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development today signed an
Memorandum of Understanding with Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad for
setting up a NABARD Chair Unit at IIM-A.
ii. The MoU was signed by H. R.
Dave, Deputy Managing Director on behalf of NABARD and Prof. Ashish Nanda,
Director on behalf of IIM-Ahmedabad at Ahmedabad.
iii. The objective of the Chair
Unit is to encourage research in emerging areas such as Climate Change, Rural
Livelihood, Financial Inclusion, Value Chain Management, Agriculture Marketing
and Financial Product Development, says a press release from IIM-A.
9. Delhi elections will be held on February 7
i. Chief election commisooner today announced the election dates for the Delhi Legislative Assembly
which will be held on February 7, 2o15.
ii. The results
for the elections will be announced on February 10. While nominations will
begin on Wednesday, the last date for filing the nomination is January 21.
Note: President’s Rule was imposed on February 17
after Aam Admi Party leader Arvind Kejriwal resigned as Chief Minister.
ii. Aam Admi Party (AAP) formed government on
December 28, 2013 with outside support from Congress after the single largest
party, the BJP, refused to form government citing “lack of numbers”.
10. Stanislas
Wawrinka lifts Chennai Open Tennis title 2015
i. Stanislas
Wawrinka defeated Aljaz Bedene of Slovenia to lift the Chennai Open Tennis
title 2015.
ii. In the final he defeated Aljaz in straight
sets 6-3, 6-4.
iii. . Stanislas Wawrinka won the Chennai Open title for the third time.
11. Bengaluru FC lift Federation Cup Football
Trophy
i. Bengaluru FC defeated Dempo Sports Club to lift maiden Federation Cup
football title.
ii. Bengaluru FC defeated Dempo Sports Club by 2-1in the final.
iii. This is the second major title for Bengaluru
FC in their two years of existence.
iv. Sunil Chhetri and substitute Robin Singh
scored the goal from winning team.