Current Affairs - January 2015

TNPSC Current Affairs January 2015
Miscellaneous 

• Important Appointments
• Shailesh Nayak was appointed as the interim chairman of ISRO after the retirement of K Radhakrishnan
• A S Kiran Kumar was appointed as the new chairman of ISRO.
• H S Brahma was appointed as the new Chief election commissioner of India Succeeding V S Sampath.
• S Jaishankar was appointed as the new Foreign secretary replacing Sujatha singh.
• Operation Smile
• To find missing children and reunite them with their parents.
• Recently launched by the Hyderabad Police Department.
• Also launched in Trichy by the TN Police Department.
• Camel Festival was celebrated every January in Bikaner (Rajasthan). 
• Awards
• Leela Samson (Bharathanatiyam Artist) - was given the title Natya Kala Acharya.
• Padma Awards (Jan 2015)
• 104 persons were selected in total from various fields for Padma awards. Among them, 
• Padma Vibhusan - 9 awardees
• Padma Bhusan - 20 awardees
• Padma Shri - 75 awardees
• Also includes 17 women.
• awardees from Tamil Nadu
• Malur Ramaswamy Srinivasan - Padma Vibhusan (Science and Engineering)
• Gopalaswami - Padma Bhusan (Civil Service)
• Sudha Raghunatha - Padma Bhusan (Art)
• Kanyakumari Avasarala - Padma shri (Art)
• P V Rajaraman - Padma shri (civil service)
• R Vasudevan - Padma shri (Civil service)
• Ashok chakra
• Naik Neeraj Kumar Singh
• Mukund Varadharajan
• Important Books in News
• Mee Nathuram Godse Boltoy - a play written by Pradeep Dalvi.
• Madhorubhagan - authored by Perumal Murugan
• Kailash Satyarthi
• Handed over his Nobel Medal to the President of India Pranab Mukherjee.
• The medal will be kept at the museum in the Rashtrapathi bhavan.
• Priya Pillai
• A Greenpeace activist who addressed to British Parliamentarians from India through Skype after being barred to leave India.
• She explained about her work in the Mahan region in Madhya Pradesh. 
• Saudi Arabia's king Abdullah died and the kingship was passed to his brother Salman.
• Metro train services at Mantri Square station (In Bangalore) was stopped for 5 mins to rescue a Black Kite (a bird).
• Pooja Thakur
• became the first women to lead the guard of honour for US president Barrack Obama.
• R K Laxman - eminent Cartoonist passed away.

Polity

• Non residential Indians can now cast their votes from abroad without being physically present in their constituencies through e-postal ballot systems or proxy voting.
• The representation of people act 2010, Section 20(A) stating that the NRI should be physically present in their respective constituencies to vote was repealed.

Economics 

• NITI Aayog
• The Planning commission was replaced by a new institution called NITI Aayog.
• The Abbreviation for NITI Aayog is National Institution for Transforming India.
• Its main role will be formulation of policies.
• D K Mittal Committee
• D K Mittal Committee under the chairmanship of D K Mittal to suggest ways to increase the revenue of railways submitted its report.
• Kamarajar Port Limited Located at Ennore has planned to expand its cargo handling capacity to 100 million tonnes.
• HRIDAY
• HRIDAY - Heritage Development and Augmentation India Yojana.
• HRIDAY was launched by the central government to preserve and rejuvenate the cultural heritage of the 12 cities.
• The Kanchipuram and Velankanni was also among the list of cities.
• The government has allocated 500 crores for the project.
• India Post honored Mumbai's Dabbawalas with a release of a commemorative special cover on Dabbawalas.
• Disinvestment in Coal India Limited
• The central government sold 10% of its shares in Coal India Limited and raised Rs.22,555 Crores.
• The total disinvestment target for the current fiscal year 2014-2015 is Rs. 43,425 Crores.

Health and Environment

• National biodiversity Congress 2015
• The second edition of national biodiversity congress is to be held in Thiruvanthapuram (Kerala) in February 2015.
• Theme: "Biodiversity: Access and Benefit Sharing"
• 66 Tiger Deaths reported in 2014
• Tamil Nadu tops the list with 15 tiger deaths followed by Madhya Pradesh (14), Uttarkhand (8).
• Kirloskar Vasundara International Film Festival KVIIF
• The only film festival of India dedicated to environmental issues.
• The 9th edition of this film festival is to be scheduled from 16th Jan 2014 in Pune.
• Theme: Zero Waste: Begins with us
• Sofosbuvir
• A drug used to treat hepatitis C virus which affects Liver manufacture by Gileads Sciences.
• Recently the Indian patent Office rejected its patent application.
• Mild tremors were recorded in several places of Andhra Pradesh with magnitude 1.8 in Richter scale. 
• 18th Indian Birding Fair
• It was held at the Man sagar Lake in Jaipur(Rajasthan).

Science and Technology

• India Based Neutrino Observatory - INO
• It is a proposed underground laboratory to study atmospheric neutrinos.
• To be constructed at Pottipuram in Bodi West hills of Theni District of Tamil Nadu
• Pamban Bridge
• It is the first cantilever bridge of India.
• 28 corroded old girders of Pamban bridge was replaced with new girders.
• Agni-V
• Recently test fired from a canister at the Wheeler Island.
• It is a nuclear capable intercontonental ballistic missile.
• Range: 5000 km
• Payload: 1100 kg

World

• Hijab
• It means headscarf usually worn by muslim women
• Recently the Hijab law which implies compulsory wearing of Hijab is made unconstitutional in Iran.
• USA imposed new sanctions on North Korean Government officials and its defense industries for a cyberattack on Sony. 
• Capital of North Korea - Pyongyang
• Three Gorges Dam 
• It is the world's largest Hydroelectric Dam.
• It recently set a new record of highest annual power production.
• It is located on the Yangtze River (China).
• Terrorist Attack in Paris
• 12 people were killed in a terrorist attack on Charlie Hebdo magazine office in Paris.
• Kolinda Grabar Kitarovic - was elected as the first women president of Croatia.
• John F Kennady Airport (New york)
• The world's first dedicated terminal for animals is to be opened at the John F Kennady airport in New york.
• Miss universe
• Paulina Vega of Columbia was crowned Miss Universe 2014 at Florida (US).
• MH370
• Malaysia formally declared the MH370 disappearance an accident.
• The passengers and the crew members were presumed to be dead.
• K Sripavan - appointed as the new chief Justice of Srilanka.
• He was the second tamil to be appointed as the CJ of Srilanka.

Sports

• 35th National Games 2015
• The 35th edition of the national games began at the Greenfield statium in Thiruvananthapuram (Kerala).
• Sachin Tendulkar was appointed as the Goodwill ambassador of the 35th national games.

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