Current Affairs
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Current Affairs February 2015 | www.jagranjosh.com 1 Current Affairs PREFACE 18 PICK OF THE MONTH 19 RWB released the World Press Freedom Index 2015 19 India, Sri Lanka signed agreements on Civil Nuclear Cooperation 22 Union Government accepted 14th Finance Commission recommendations 23 Centre for Science and Environment released a report titled Heat on Power 26 Oscar Awards 2015 28 Delhi Legislative Assembly elections 2015 30 35th National Games concluded in Thiruvananthapuram 32 Producer Daggubati Ramanaidu died 34 US Federal Communications Commission approved Net Neutrality Rules to protect Open Internet 35 Union Budget 2015-16: Highlights 36 Railway Budget 2015-16: Highlights 38 Anil Kumble and Betty Wilson inducted into ICC Cricket Hall of Fame 42 Australian Open 2015 43 INTERNATIONAL 45 UNSC adopted Resolution 2201 demanding Houthis withdrawal from Yemen’s govern- ment institutions 45 Russia and Cyprus signed an agreement to allow Russian navy ships to use Cypriot ports 47 Parliament of Jamaica passed a law to decriminalise marijuana for personal use 48 House of Lords of UK passed a legislation allowing creation of babies using DNA of three people 49 US announced to allow work permits to spouses of H-1B visa holders from May 2015 50 Parliament of Thailand passed a law to ban commercial surrogacy for foreigners 51 Manuel Valls headed Socialist Government in France won confidence vote over market February 2015 | www.jagranjosh.com 2 Current Affairs reforms 52 India and Bangladesh decided to step up Joint Border Patrolling 53 5th India-Myanmar Joint Trade Committee meet held in Nay Pyi Taw 54 France signed an agreement with Egypt for sale of 24 Rafale fighter plane 55 UNSC approved resolution targeting sources of financing for ISIS, Al-Nusrah Front 56 Prime Minister Narendra Modi initiated Cricket diplomacy, called four SAARC leaders 57 Russian Central Bank cut its interest rate from 17 percent to 15 percent 58 US announced new cyber security agency CTIIC to respond to enhanced cyber threats 59 7th round of India Kenya Joint Trade Committee meeting held in New Delhi 60 The United States closed its embassy in Yemen 62 North Korea test fires homegrown anti-ship short range missiles 63 Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott survived vote of confidence on leadership of Liberal Party 65 Hurun Report Inc released the Hurun Global Rich List 2015 66 International Court of Justice ruled Neither Croatia nor Serbia committed genocide during Balkan War 68 Bangladesh Cabinet approved National ICT Draft Policy 2015 69 Joint Communiqué of tri-nation meet of Foreign Ministers of India-Russia-China released 70 Pakistan successfully test-fired Air Launched Cruise Missile Ra’ad 74 Japan successfully launched the Information Gathering Satellite 74 Canada announced an anti-terror law criminalising public terror threats, strengthening CSIS 75 NATIONAL 77 A person can be accorded Scheduled Caste status on his re-conversion to Hinduism: Su- preme Court 77 Union Ministry of Chemicals & Fertilizers declared 2015 as Year of Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients 78 February 2015 | www.jagranjosh.com 3 Current Affairs TRAI issued 6th Amendment to Telecommunication Mobile Number Portability Regulation, 2009 79 Mumbai University signed MoU with Indian Railways to set up Rail Innovation and Tech- nology Centre 81 Rajya Sabha passed Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Orders (Amendment) Bill, 2014 81 TRAI issued Regulation on domestic carriage charges 83 Union Government launched portal MADAD to redress consular grievances 83 Justice KS Radhakrishnan panel on road safety submitted its report to the Supreme Court 85 Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched Soil Health Card Scheme 86 Union Government proposed Oil Subsidy Sharing Formula between Public Sector Oil Companies 88 Union Government blocked private email network for official work 89 Union Government approved Project-17A worth 8 billion US dollar 90 Demand for dowry can be made at any time and not necessarily before marriage: Su- preme Court 91 Government is expected to be a responsible litigant: Central Information Commission 92 Ministry of Urban Development partnered with Bloomberg Philanthropies for Smart Cities Initiative 93 Third National Lok Adalat disposed 56000 cases, disbursed 265 crore rupees for final set- tlement 94 Election Commission announced to launch Electoral Roll Authentication Mission 95 BIS announced to develop Standards for Solid Waste Management and Potable Drinking Water 95 Religious decrees cannot override the written code of law: SC 96 SC directed CBI to probe RBI and SEBI in multi-crore chit-fund scam 97 Union Government approved revised Guidelines for Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana 98 Union Government issued guidelines to tackle increasing number of H1N1 cases 99 February 2015 | www.jagranjosh.com 4 Current Affairs Web-based tool Atrocity Tracking and Monitoring System launched 100 Union Government approved increase of authorised Share Capital of NMDFC 102 National Minorities Development and Finance Corporation (NMDFC) 102 Union Ministry for Health & Family Welfare launched National Deworming Initiative 103 Prime Minister constituted 3 sub-groups of Chief Ministers within NITI Aayog 104 SC sought response from Union Government on making Moral Science a compulsory subject in Schools 104 ECONOMY 106 Economic Survey 2014-15: Highlights 106 Railway Budget 2015-16: Statistical Highlights 110 Railway Budget 2015-16: Quality of Life in Journeys 112 Railway Budget 2015-16: Major Initiatives 115 Union Cabinet approved the implementation of 15000 MW Grid-connected SPV Projects under NSM 119 Union Cabinet approved creation of two additional benches of the Authority for Advance Rulings 121 KVIC, RSETIS signed MoU to provide vocational training to unemployed youth 122 CCEA approved continuation of incentive scheme for marketing of raw sugar production 124 CCEA approved four Highway Projects in Uttar Pradesh, Odisha and Chhattisgarh 124 Union Government launched single window eBiz portal to foster business environment125 RBI issued Guidelines on Import of Gold by Nominated Banks and Agencies 127 EPFO launched Online Help Desk to trace Inoperative Accounts 128 Union Ministry of Finance imposed Anti-dumping duty on imports of graphite electrodes 129 RBI decided to bring back one rupee notes 130 Union Government decided to infuse 6990 crore rupees in nine Public Sector Banks 131 CSIR-NCL signed MoU with Security Printing and Minting Corporation of India Ltd 132 February 2015 | www.jagranjosh.com 5 Current Affairs ENVIRONMENT | ECOLOGY 134 ZSL and Gujarat Forest Department signed a MoU for conservation of Asiatic lion 134 National Green Tribunal banned plying of Vintage cars on Delhi roads 135 Two tropical cyclones Marcia and Lam hit Australia 136 India’s first air quality checking Mobile App SAFAR-Air launched 136 India signed Grant Agreement of 8 million US dollars with World Bank for funding SLACC Project 138 Tsunami advisory issued in Japan after 6.9 earthquake 139 Muthoot Group tied-up with WWF for its Friends for Life project 140 Four new species of Fish discovered in Kerala 141 Two algal species Ulva paschima Bast, Cladophora goensis Bast discovered off India’s west coast 142 NASA Launched its first earth satellite Soil Moisture Active Passive 143 Committee on Infrastructure Development approved development of no-frill airports at Ajmer, Belgaum 144 CORPORATE 146 NSE signed MoU with GIFT to establish an international exchange in Gujarat 146 Forbes released Asia’s 50 Power Businesswomen 2015 list 146 Ericsson sued Apple for telecom patent infringement 148 IBM Corporation tied-up with Tech Mahindra Ltd to accelerate Global Hybrid Cloud adop- tion 148 Bharat Puri appointed as Managing Director of Pidilite Industries Limited 149 US District Court ordered Apple to pay 533 million US dollar to Smartflash in iTunes pat- ent case 150 Takahiro Hachigo appointed as President and CEO of Honda Motor Co Limited 151 Maheshwar Sahu appointed as Independent Director on board of RIL 151 Samsung acquired US-based mobile wallet startup LoopPay 152 Snapdeal.com acquired luxury fashion portal Exclusively.com 153 February 2015 | www.jagranjosh.com 6 Current Affairs Bharti Airtel Ltd tied-up with UNICEF to provide education content in 17 African countries 154 Lupin signed an agreement with Celon Pharma for developing generic version of asthma drug 155 RUAG Aerostructures, Tata Group signed a pact to supply components for Airbus 320 156 Faisal Siddiqui appointed as South Asia President of HTC 156 Punit Renjen appointed as CEO of Deloitte’s Global Operations 157 Balasubramaniam Venkataramani appointed as MD & CEO of Multi Commodity Exchange 158 Infosys announced to acquire automation technology firm Panaya Inc for 1200 crore ru- pees 159 Parle Products launched nationwide Litter Free Campaign 159 ICICI Bank Limited tied-up with UAE Exchange to offer instant bank transfer service 160 Aditya Birla Chemicals to merge with Grasim Industries 161 Digital Magazine App Flipboard launched Web Browser Version 162 Microsoft acquired Sunrise for 100 million US dollars 163 Star India Pvt Ltd acquired Telugu television channel Maa Television Network Ltd 164 Facebook, Reliance Communications Ltd tied up to provide free Internet access to people 165 Google-appointed panel to recommend right to be forgotten for EU only 166 Alibaba decided to invest 590 million US dollar in Meizu Technology Co 167 Damyant Singh appointed as Brand Director of Adidas India 168 Adani Enterprises, Rajasthan Government signed MoU to set up 10000 MW