25th February 2015 - Important Current Affairs updates

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National Affairs

• Delhi government has slashed power tariff by 50% for consumption up to 400 units per month.
• This decision will benefit around 90 percent of Delhiites.
• Government has also decided to supply free water up to 20,000 litres for every household in a month. 
• Both these decisions will be effective from March 1st, 2015.
• The Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi,  gave approval for establishing the New Development Bank (NDB) and the BRICS Contingent Reserve Arrangement (CRA).
• Heads of the five nation BRICS group — Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa — decided at their sixth summit in Fortaleza in July last year to create a development bank as well as a reserve fund to finance infrastructure projects and other sustainable development projects.
• The cabinet also approved state-run power producer NTPC Ltd's plans to set up 15,000 megawatt of grid-connected solar projects, which would be completed in three tranches.
• Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav presented a Rs 3.02 lakh crore annual budget for 2015-16, 10.2 per cent more than last fiscal.
• This is his fourth budget.
• This budget shows a deficit of 2.96 per cent, Yadav earmarked Rs 9,388.79 crore for new schemes apparently with an eye on the Assembly elections due in 2017.
• Mobile subscribers from 3rd May, will be able to port their numbers anywhere in the country while changing service providers.
• Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, TRAI has amended the regulation on it.
• Mobile Number Portability (MNP) currently allows consumers to change their service provider while retaining the same number only within a telecom circle, which in most cases, is limited to a State.
• In a statement TRAI said that it has issued sixth amendment to the Telecommunication Mobile Number Portability Regulation, 2009, which will facilitate full Mobile Number Portability (MNP) in the country.

International Affairs

• The United Kingdom has become the first country in the world to legalize the creation of the babies by the DNA from three people, using Mitochondrial Donation Technique.

• The members of the House of Lords have voted in favour of the Bill that amends the Human Fertilization and Embryology Act (HFEA) in 1990.
• Earlier in this month, the House of Commons had passed the bill. 
• HFEA of the United Kingdom will now decide how to license the procedure to prevent babies suffering from deadly genetic diseases since birth.
• The first 'designer baby' could be born as early as 2016.
• This law will help to prevent the babies from serious inherited diseases which may be passed on from the mother to the child.
• The U.S. government has confirmed that effective 26th May 2015, some holders of the H-4 visa, who are spouses of high-skilled workers on the H-1B visa, will be eligible for work authorisation, a potential boon for approximately 179,600 individuals in the first year alone.

 

People in News

• Vatican, Missionaries of Charity and National Commission of Minorities have slammed RSS Chief Mohan Bhagwat’s controversial remarks on Mother Teresa.
• A special Tada court has sentenced gangster Abu Salem to life imprisonment for the murder of builder Pradip Jain in 1995.

Science & Technology

• As many as 27 Indian Satellites, including 11 which facilitate the communication network in the country, are currently operational.
• One more satellite would be launched next month while three more are in the pipeline, Minister of State in Prime Minister's Office Jitendra Singh said.
• A membrane capable of producing safe drinking water by filtering out objects at the nanoscale level and killing the commonly found pathogenic bacteria E. coli has been developed by a team led by Dr. Suryasarathi Bose, Assistant Professor, Department of Materials Engineering, IISc, Bengaluru.

Awards & Honors

• Iranian journalist Masih Alinejad has received a human rights award in Geneva for creating a Facebook page inviting women in Iran to post pictures of themselves without their headscarves in defiance of rules requiring them to wear a hijab.
• The Geneva Summit for Human Rights and Democracy, a group of 20 non-governmental organisations, gave Ms. Alinejad this award for “giving a voice to the voiceless and stirring the conscience of humanity to support the struggle of Iranian women for basic human rights, freedom and equality.”

New Appointments

• Ravi Chaudhary, an Indian-American aviation expert and former US Air Force officer, was named the Executive Director for Regions and Centre Operations at the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), which regulates and oversees all aspects of American civil aviation.

Deaths

• Ace cinematographer Aloysius Vincent, popularly known as A Vincent, who is known for his work in Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam and Hindi films, passed away on Wednesday, 25 February.
• His movies "Vayanadan Thampan" and "Parunthu" are considered iconic movies.
• He won the Filmfare Best Cinematographer Award for "Prem Nagar" (1974).
• In 2003, Indian Society of Cinematographers (ISC) awarded him an Honorary Membership, along with KK Mahajan and VK Murthy. 

Sports

• World Cup 2015
• Ireland beat UAE by 2 wickets in a thrilling encounter.
• Ranchi Rays crowned champions of Hero Hockey India League 2015 (HHIL) by defeating Jaypee Punjab Warriors.

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