Current Affairs - July 2014

Miscellaneous 

• Rajasthan Government Officially announced the Camel as its state Animal.
• Mt. Sinha which is located in Antartica was named after the Indian-American scientist named Akhouri A. Sinha.
• Five persons died in the gas leak accident while dismantling the Chemical Tanker MV Perin docked at the Alang Ship Breaking yard (Gujarat).
• The 359 m rail bridge being constructed over the river Chenab will become the world's tallest rail bridge on its completion. It connects Baramula with Jammu. The present Tallest rail bridge is located in China's Guizhou province over Beipanjiang River with 275 metres height.
• World's Tallest rail pillar is to be constructed in Manipur (141 m). The present tallest pillar is in europe 139m height.
• Books in News:
• A room of one’s own - Virginia Woolf
• I am Malala - Yousafzai Malala
• Aurat Ke Haq Mein - Taslima Nasrin
• Viwaah Samasya, Arthat Stri Jiwan- Mahatama Gandhi  .
• The Hindus: An Alternative History - Wendy Doniger
• One life is not enough - Natwar Singh
• CBSE issued circular to all its affiliated schools to celebrate 2nd week of August as Sanskrit Week.
• Chandi Prasad Bhatt founder of the Chipko Movement (1973) was awarded the Gandhi peace prize. 
• MH17 - a malaysian airline which was shot down near the Russia - Ukraine Border.
• A non stop daily air service between India (New Delhi) and Russia (Moscow) has resumed after 15 years
• Shiksha Bachao Andolan was headed by Dinanath Batra.
• Nandankanan Biological Park located in Odisha became the first zoo in the country to have a black tiger cub born in capitivity.

Polity

• The term of Nanawati commission was extended for two more months to submit its final report. Earlier the commission was appointed to investigate and submit report on the Godhra Train Burning incident and the post communal riots in Gujarat in 2002.
• The Representation of People Act Section 125 (A) (3) - deals with the penalty for hiding information in the election affidavit which provides for imprisonment upto 6 months.
• The Representation of People Act Section 10 (A) - deals with the issue of paid news.
• Former Maharashtra CM Ashok Chavan has been issued notice under this act by the EC.
• Marrakesh Treaty
• India has become the first country to ratify it.
• As per the treaty the member countries are required to facilitate the published works to be accessible for the Visually challenged people by converting the works to braille formats, etc..,
• Adjournment Motion: A motion in the parliament for an adjournment of the business of the House for the purpose of discussing a definite matter of urgent public importance. 
• National Institute of Design bill was passed in Rajya Sabha, it seeks to declare the National Institute of Design (NID), Ahmedabad an institution of national importance.
• Pinky Anand has been appointed as the Additional Solicitor-General.
• Andhra Pradesh Reorganization (Amendment) Bill on shifting of 7 mandels form Telengana to Andhra pradesh for Polavaram project has been passed in the Lok Sabha.
• The TRAI (Amendment) Bill which was earlier passed in the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha gets President's Assent.
• The earlier TRAI Act bars chairman of the authority for further appointment in any government office after retirement.
• The Amendment bill seeks to drop the above bar so that the appointment of the former TRAI chairman, Nripendra Misra as the Principal Secretary to PM become legal.
• Cauvery Tibunal to meet on 15th july 2014 under its new chairman Justice B.S. Chauhan.
• The Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of  Atrocities) Amendment Bill, 2014 was referred to the Standing Committee Lok Sabha. 
• The bill States that "a non SC or ST public servant who neglects his duties relating to SCs or STs shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term of six months to one year"
• New Rules under Lokpal Act which has been notified by the central Government.
• The central government employees need to fill news forms having the following feilds cash in hand, bank deposits, investment in bonds, debentures, shares and units in companies or mutual funds, insurance policies, provident fund, personal loans and advance given to a person or any entity, among others.
• Also to declare the details about motor vehicles, aircraft, yachts or ships, gold and silver jewellery and bullion possessed by them, their spouses and dependent children.
• The Central Government Employees need to provide details of their immovable properties and statement of debts and other liabilities on first appointment or as on March 31 of every financial year.
• The competent authority may also exempt a public servant from filing the information in respect of any asset if its value does not exceed his/her four months basic pay or Rs 2 lakh, whichever is higher.
• Congress don't have the required one tenth of seats in lok Sabha to become the leader of Opposition party Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi gave his opinion on a reference made by the Lok Sabha Speaker. 
• CBI has registered a preliminary enquiry over Google's Mapathan 2013 Event. In this event Google had not taken permission from Survey of India which is India's Official mapping agency for mapping the security sensitive areas.
• Article 143 - power of President to consult the Supreme Court.

Economy

• Poverty Estimation
• Tendulkar committee - Absolute poverty
• Rangarajan Committee - Relative poverty
• Ragarajan Committee recommendations
• The bottom 35% of rural population based on month consumption to be declared as poor.
• The bottom 25% of Urban population based on month consumption to be declared as poor.
• Suresh Prabhu was appointed as the head the committee on Integrated Development of Power, Coal and Renewable Energy.
• CCEA - Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs approved onion and potato as essential commodity under the Essential Commodities Act 1955.
• Railway Minister D.V. Sadananda Gowda presented the Railway Budget 2014-15. The highlights are as follow:
• India's First Bullet train to be launched between Mumbai-Ahmedabad route.
• Increase in railway connectivity of the North eastern states.
• 72 New trains
• 17 - Premium Trains
• 38 - Express Trains
• 10 - Passenger Trains
• 4 - MEMU
• 3 - DEMU
• RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan, has approved the Andhra Pradesh's request for rescheduling of crop loans.
• Economic Survey 2013-2014
• Economic survey is published by the ministry of finance every year during the budget session. It usually reviews the development in the econromic economy over the past 12 months.
• Indian economy is likely to grow in the range of 5.4 to 5.9 in the upcoming financial year 2014-15. 
• High fertilizer subsidy to urea made the farmers to overuse urea thus there is an imbalance in the usage of right proportion of nutrients. The prescribed ratio of NPK is 4:2:1. The high subsidy has also led to food inflation.
• Budget 2013-2014 Highlights
• FDI in Defence increased to 49%. 
• e-Visa facility to be introduced in 9 airports in India to boost the tourism.
• Rs. 37,880 crore for road networks.
• Rs. 200 Crore for Statue of Unity a 182 metre tall statue of Sardar Vallabha patel in Gujarat.
• Horticulture University in Telengana. 
• Five new IITs will be set up in Jammu & Kashmir, Chhattisgarh, Goa, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala. 
• Five new IIMs will be set up in Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Bihar, Odisha and Maharashtra. 
• 100 Smart cities with latest technologies.
•  Total sanitation is to be achieved through Swatchh Bharat Abhiyan at a cost of 1000 crore by 2019, the year which also marks the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi.
• Indian ranks 135th in terms of Human Development Index HDI.
• National Health Profile 2013, a report published by the Central Bureau of Health Intelligence (Ministry of Health and Family Welfare)
• Tax Terrorism - a new term which means a situation when the taxman uses his power to extract more tax from a honest tax payer.

Science and Tech

• On 30th June 2014 PSLV -C23 was successfully launched from the Satish Diwan space centre in sriharikota.
• The Five foreign satellites put into orbit were
• SPOT 7 - France
• AISAT - Germany
• NLS7.1 and NLS7.2, - Canada and 
• VELOX-1 -Singapore.
• 'Water bear' or Tardigrades are microscopic animals with 8 Legs which has been recently discovered in Antarctica claimed to survive in space like environment. 
•  MERS - Middle-East Respiratory Syndrome, a viral disease reported from the middle east countries especially from Saudi Arabia. 
• A Bench of Supreme Court Justices C.K. Prasad and Pinaki Chandra Ghose, declared that the fatwas (rulings) issued by the shariat courts has no legal sanction and therefore is not binding on the parties.
• TRAI Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, has raised the minimum broadband speed from 256 kbps to 512 kbps to achieve the target set by the National Telecom policy 2012.
• INS Kamorta - an anti submarine warship was handed over to Indian Navy.  90% of its parts were indigenously made.
• Thoron mitigation system -  a new technology developed by mangalore university which can be used to remove radioactive gases like radon and thoron from the work places.
• India's First Rubber Dam - Janjavathi River in Andhra pradesh.
• 'Mentions' - a new facebook app specially designed for the celebrities to manage their account more effectively.
• Finland is expected to become world's Data bank because of its ideal climatic conditions for the server rooms.
• Kepler-421b, a newly discovered planet outside our solar system which is claimed to have the longest period of revolution with 704 days around its own star.
• In Bangalore the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike’s (BBMP) has proposed to create a road history by mapping all roads through Geographical Information System (GIS). Under this each road will be given an unique ID and its past data. It helps to avoid duplication of fund allocation for its maintenance. 
• SEBS - Science Express Biodiversity Special, a special exhibition on wheels has started its third phase journey from safdarjung railway station Delhi. 
• 'Oppurtunity' - holds now the world record of the Off earth roving distance with over 40 Km. It was earlier sent by NASA which landed in Mars in 2004.

World

• ISIS has seized the 40 kg uranium, a nuclear material from the Mosul University (Iraq).
• 6th BRICS Summit 2014
• To be held in Brazil.
• The Previous 5th BRICS Summit 2013 was held in Durban SA.
• Agreement to create BRICS bank is to be signed.
• Country's initial contribution to the bank
• China - $ 41 Billion
• Brazil - $ 18 Billion
• Russia - $ 18 Billion
• India - $ 18 Billion
• South Africa - $ 5 Billion
• Delhi became the world's Second Largest City. Tokyo of Japan tops the list.
• Chinese President Xi Jinping invited Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the upcoming APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) summit which is scheduled to be held in the month of November 2014 in China.
• INDRA [India - Russia] is a bi annual Military exercise between India and Russia. The naval drills has began in the Sea of japan between India and Russia.
• Typhoon Rammasun/ Glenda attacked Philippines.
• 7th IBSA Summit 2015
• To be hosted by India.
• The 6th IBSA Summit 2013 was also hosted by India.
• IBSA - India, Brazil, South Africa - a tripartite dialogue forum whose main objective is to develop south-south cooperation. 
• PM Narendra Modi invited German Chancellor Angela Merkel to visit India next year.

Sports

• Germany became the first European country to win the World Cup.in south America.
• Germany has won the world cup final by beating Argentina in the final with 1- 0  Score card
• Lionel Messi (Argentina) was awarded the Golden Ball.
• Manuel Neuer (Germany) was awarded the Golden Glove.
• Paul Pogba ( France) was selected as the young player of the tournament.
• 20th Common Wealth Games (2014) is being hosted by Scotland
• Ace Shooter Vijay Kumar,  led the Indian team in the opening ceremony.
• The Previous 19th Common Wealth Games (2010) was hosted by India.
• The upcoming 21st Common Wealth Games (2018) is expected to be hosted by Australia.

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