21st January 2015 - Important Current Affairs updates

sponsored links

International Affairs

• The UN Security Council today condemned an Attack by Huthi rebels on Yemen's presidential palace and voiced strong support for President Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi.
• The Shiite militia fighters known as the Huthis earlier attacked the presidential complex and Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi's residence in an apparent bid to overthrow the embattled government.
• French security forces will get better weapons and protection to fight terror and the country will hire 2,600 new counter-terrorism officers, Prime Minister Manuel Valls announced on Wednesday.
• Mr. Valls said the government will spend 425 million euros on counter-terrorism over three years in response to the Paris attacks. Three police were among those killed by the gunmen.
• Global business school INSEAD has released the 2014 edition of its Global Talent Competitiveness Index (GTCI) in Davos, Switzerland. 
• India has been ranked 78th globally in terms of talent competitiveness of its human capital, which shows a shortage of skilled workforce in the country.
• Switzerland has topped the list of 93 countries, followed by Singapore and Luxembourg in second and third places, respectively.

National Affairs

• The government today approved two highway projects in Jammu & Kashmir involving total investment of about Rs 3,383 crore.
• The First project of four-laning of Ramban-Banihal section of National Highway - 1A (now NH-44) in Jammu & Kashmir will cost Rs 1,623.98 crore.
• The Second project is related to four laning of Udhampur- Ramban section of National Highway. The 40.07-km road project will cost Rs 1,758.68 crore.
• Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar has said that extra precaution is being taken at the borders ahead of US President Barack Obama's visit not just as a security measure for him but also to prevent incidents which might be undertaken to divert attention of the world in a different direction .
• The 8th Edition of the popular Jaipur Literature Festival, begins today.

• This festival is taking place in Jaipur since 2006.
• This is Asia's Biggest Literacy Festival.
• This festival is going to be held from 21st January 2015 to 25th January 2015.
• List of speakers this season will be 181 including VS Naipual, Chetan Bhagat and Amish Tripathi.
• Aiming at preserving and rejuvenating the rich cultural heritage, government today launched the ambitious Rs 500 crore project HRIDAY for 12 cities.
• The 12 cities selected for the scheme are Ajmer, Amritsar, Amravati, Badami, Dwarka, Gaya, Warangal, Puri, Kanchipuram, Mathura, Varanasi and Vellankanni.
• HRIDAY - Heritage Development and Augmentation Yojana
   

People in News

• Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has been examined by CBI in the coal block allocation case relating to Hindalco.
• He is the first former prime minister to have been interrogated in any case.

Business & Economy

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s flagship programme, Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) has emerged as the largest financial inclusion initiative in the world with 11.5 crore bank accounts opened under the scheme and has entered the Guinness Book of World Records.
• US President Barack Obama has declared an end to the financial crisis and pledged economic policies to benefit all Americans, in his annual State of the Union address to Congress.
• "Tonight, we turn the page," he said. "The shadow of crisis has passed, and the State of the Union is strong."
• A World Bank report has challenged the conventional understanding of India’s inequality.
• The report, “Addressing inequality in South Asia,” has found that the probability of a poor person moving out of poverty in India in 2014 was as good as that in the U.S.
• Japanese automaker Toyota Motor Corp has topped in global vehicle sales in 2014 by selling 10.23 million vehicles, beating Volkswagen (2nd place with 10.14 million vehicles) and General Motors (3rd place with 9.92 million vehicles). 
• Twitter Inc. today announced that it is acquiring Bengaluru-based mobile marketing and analytics company ZipDial Mobile Solutions Pvt. Ltd, its first acquisition in India—a move that is aimed at expanding its user base in the country. 
• The acquisition will also pave the way for the microblogging site’s first engineering office in India, in Bengaluru. 
• The Budget Session of Parliament will start from the 23rd of next month and the first part of the session will continue up to the 20th of March. Sources said in New Delhi that the second part of the session will take place from the 20th of April till the 8th of May.
• As per schedule, the Railway Budget will be presented on 26th February 2015.
• The Economic Survey will be tabled on 27th February 2015. 
• The Union Budget will be presented on the 28th February 2015.
• The decision was taken during a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Parliamentary Affair headed by Home Minister Rajnath Singh.

Read more Daily Current Affairs updates from here

sponsored links