11th February 2015 - Important Current Affairs updates

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People in News

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi has crossed the 10 million mark in terms of number of followers on the popular social media platform Twitter.
• Modi, who made his Twitter debut in January 2009, is the second most followed politician on Twitter, behind US President Barack Obama and ahead of Mitt Romney (USA).
• Besides, he is also the third most followed world leader behind Obama and the Pope.
• The Emmy and Golden Globe winning comedian Jerry Seinfeld is set to perform in India next month, marking his first ever performance in Asia.
• The man whose influential show Seinfeld was named “the greatest television show of all time”, will perform in Mumbai on March 14 and 15 at the Sardar Vallabhai Patel Stadium, NSCI, as a part of the ongoing Stage42 festival which is a showcase of talent and experiences in comedy, music, theatre and food.

National Affairs

• Taking serious note of "inordinate delay" in completing caste census, the government today warned that central assistance to states for building rural houses and welfare pensions would be blocked if they fail to complete the exercise before March 15.
• In year 2015-16 and onwards, this SECC data will be the base on which the beneficiaries for the Indira Awas Yojana (IAY) and the National Social Assistance Programme (NSAP) will be selected so far as the Rural Development Ministry is concerned and those states who failed in selecting the beneficiaries from this data base would not receive financial assistance
• SECC - Socio Economic and Caste Census
• Udyanotsav 2015
  
• President of India Pranab Mukherjee will open Rashtrapati Bhavan's "‪‎Udyanotsav‬" for public viewing on February13, 2015 evening. Public can visit Mughal Gardens from Feb.14 till March 15 between 9.30 am to 4pm.
• This year's main attraction of the Udyanotsav is tulips, which have reportedly been in bloom in vivid colors of red, orange and yellow.
• Apart from the tulips, the 120 varieties of roses, which are a permanent feature of the gardens throughout the year, will also be on display.

Business & Economy

• SpiceJet today announced the launch of the ‘Cheaper Than Train Fares’ sale offer with one-way fares pegged at a starting price of just Rs 599 all-inclusive for domestic flights.

Science & Technology

• Anil Ambani led Reliance Communications Ltd. (RCOM) has partnered with Facebook to offer free data access to select popular websites for all its customers, existing and new ones.
• The partners launched Internet.org, a Facebook-led initiative to bring internet to everyone in the world.
• Thirty three popular websites can be accessed free of cost through internet.org and all the subscriber needs to have is an internet enabled hand set. 
• 70 per cent of RCOM's customers who have such phones are now off line and they are expected to benefit from this service.

Awards & Honors

• The mascot of India's 35th National Games, Ammu the Great Hornbill, has entered the Limca Book of Records.
• The mascot found its place in the record books owing to a play, 'Kalikkunna Kuttikalkkayi Bharatham Kathirikkunnu' (India Awaits Children Who Play) featuring the bird which has been staged in over 140 schools in Kerala.
• The Limca Book's 2015 Special Literature Edition said that by April 9, 2014, the play was staged in 147 schools across seven districts in the southwestern state.

Sports

• The Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports has revised the Scheme of Rashtriya Khel Protsahan Puruskar, which was introduced in 2009 to encourage and promote involvement of corporates, sports promotion boards etc., in the promotion and development of sports in the country. 
• In the revised scheme, Rashtriya Khel Protsahan Puruskar will be given in following four categories:
1.  Identification and nurturing of budding/young talent
2. Encouragement of sports through Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)
3. Employment of sportspersons and sports welfare measures
4. Sports for Development.
•  In the revised Scheme, eligibility criteria for all four categories have been prescribed.  As ‘Training to promote rural sports, nationally recognized sports, Paralympic sports and Olympic sports’   have been included in the Schedule VII of the Companies Act 2013 and the companies can now spend on promotion and development of sports from the funds earmarked for Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), a specific category for ‘Encouragement of sports through Corporate Social Responsibility’ has been provided for in the revised Scheme.
•  As non-governmental organizations are also doing a lot of work in promotion and development of sports, a   separate category ‘Sports for Development’ has been provided for exclusively for NGOs to recognize their contributions.
• National Games 2015
• Services win the men's Hockey title
• Punjab bag the honours in the women's section.
• Services way ahead of the rest with 107 medals including 66 gold. 
• Haryana is in 2nd place with 30 gold.
• Maharashtra is in 3rd place with 27 gold.

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