7th February 2015 - Important Current Affairs updates

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National Affairs

• Delhi registered a record voter turnout in the assembly polls which closed at 6 pm today, according to preliminary data received from Chief Electoral Officer of Delhi, 67 per cent voter turnout was recorded.
• Chief Election Commissioner - H S Bramha
• JD(U) legislature party elects Nitish Kumar as new leader, sacks Jitan Ram Manjhi.
• The Bihar cabinet approved a proposal recommending dissolution of the state Assembly.
  
• The Supreme Court today directed the Centre to convene a meeting of the home secretaries of the states and Union territories within four weeks to frame a scheme for providing medical treatment to acid attack victims.
• The apex court had earlier banned over the counter sale of acid, “unless the seller maintains a log/register recording the sale of acid which will contain the details of the person to whom acid is sold, the quantity sold and shall contain the address of the person to whom it is sold.”
• In an acknowledgement of the efforts of foreign service officers in cultivating and protecting Indian interests abroad, Prime Minister Narendra Modi today unveiled “Transformation", a memorial in commemoration of those Indian government officers and personnel who sacrificed their lives in the line of duty while serving abroad.
• The Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) government led by Chief Minister Raman Singh in Chhattisgarh has officially declared Valentine’s Day as Matru-Pitru Divas (Parents’ Day).
• The state has been celebrating February 14 as Matru-Pitru Divas instead of Valentine’s Day since the year 2012 on the advice of the jailed Godman, Asaram Bapu.

International Affairs

• Pakistan has said that it may grant non-discriminatory market access status to India and the two countries are moving towards sealing a deal to liberalise trade.
• Nigeria’s electoral commission has decided to postpone the 14th February 2015 Presidential and Legislative elections for six weeks to give a new multinational force time to secure north-eastern areas under the sway of Boko Haram.
  
• Millions could be disenfranchised if the voting went ahead while the Islamic extremists hold a large swath of the northeast and commit mayhem that has driven 1.5 million people from their homes.
• “Nafea Faa Ipoipo”, or “When Will You Marry?”, A painting of two Tahitian girls has been sold for $300 million, making it the most expensive work of art ever sold.
• Painted by French artist Gauguin in 1892.

MOUs

• As part of its diversification programme, the state owned Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation (IDCO) today signed an MoU with public sector Indian Rare Earth Ltd (IRE) to set up a mineral separation plant in Odisha's Ganjam district.
• IDCO CMD Vishal K Dev and IRE CMD R N Patra have executed the MoU at the State Secretariat in the presence of Industries minister Devi Prasad Mishra. 
• The cost of this project is pegged at Rs 450 crore.

New Appointments

• The Greek parliament today elected Zoe Konstantopoulou, as its new President.
• The 38-year-old lawyer, a member of the left-wing party Syriza, received a record number of 235 of 300 deputies’ votes.
• The director of Indian Institute of Petroleum, Dehradun, Dr MO Garg takes charge as the new Director General of Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR).
• This post was technically vacant since more than a month as Dr PS Ahuja retired on December, 31, 2014.

Science & Technology

• LCA-NP2, the second prototype of the Navy version of the Light Combat Aircraft, flew for the first time today.
• It took off from the Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd runway at 12.27 p.m. and flew for about 35 minutes, said HAL, the production partner in the indigenous fighter programme.
• HAL Chairman - T. Suvarna Raju
• North Korea today announced that it has test-fired a new anti-ship cruise missile, a move experts in Seoul viewed as an attempt to raise tensions ahead of joint military drills between the United States and South Korea.
• Indian Coast Guard today inducted a high-speed patrolling ship ‘Amogh’ into its fleet which will be stationed off Paradip coast.
• With this new commissioning, the number of patrolling ships of the Coast Guard reached Six.

Business & Economy

• India’s foreign exchange reserves surged by 5.84 billion US Dollars to touch a fresh all-time high of 327.88 billion US Dollars during the week ending January 30.
• In the previous reporting week, the reserves had declined marginally by 97.9 million dollars to 322.037 billion dollars.
• The increase in reserves was on account of higher foreign currency assets (FCA), which forms a major constituent of overall reserves.

Sports

• National Games 2015
• Ace pistol shooter Vijay Kumar wins a golden double for the second time with the haul of 5 gold and one bronze.
• Services continue to lead with 38 gold
• Ishant Sharma ruled out of the Cricket ‎World Cup‬ owing to a knee injury.
• As per regulations, Mohit Sharma, who was a stand-by, will be inducted into the World Cup squad.

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