13th April 2015 - Important Current Affairs updates

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National Affairs

• Over four months after the President granted assent to the two Bills, the NDA Government today finally notified the Ninety-Ninth Constitutional (Amendment) Act and the National Judicial Appointments Commission Act, thus ending the over two-decade-old collegium system of appointing judges of Supreme Court and high courts.
• Under the new law, a six-member panel – National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC) – headed by the Chief Justice of India will select judges of the apex court and state high courts.
• Along with the Head, this panel includes two senior-most Supreme Court judges, Union Minister of Law and Justice and two “eminent persons” nominated by a committee comprising the Prime Minister, CJI and Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha or leader of the largest opposition party in the Lok Sabha.
• Government's think tank NITI Aayog today announced that it will soon come out with an integrated policy to help meet massive demand for energy including solar, wind, gas and coal.
• The move is aimed at boosting power generation in the country from various sources like solar, wind, gas, coal etc to meet the growing demand.
• Important Note : The government has set an ambitious target of generating 1,75,000 MW from renewable sources by 2022, including 1,00,000 MW solar power.
• NITI Aayog Chairman : Narendra Modi
• Vice Chairman : Arvind Panagariya 
• Chief Executive Officer (CEO) : Sindhushree Khullar
• In a first of its kind initiative in the country, Gujarat government has launched Industrial Tourism to showcase development.
• The package, called Industrial Tour of Gujarat, covers major industrial installations which have earned global acclaim for the state.
• Some of the major attractions of this tour package include a visit to Tata Nano plant in Sanand, Pipavav port near Amreli, Alang ship breaking yard in Bhavnagar and Amul Dairy in Anand.

People in News

• The Haryana government today decided to give "status equivalent to Cabinet Minister" to Ramdev, who has been appointed as the state's brand ambassador to promote yoga and ayurveda.
• Yoga would be made a compulsory subject in Haryana's schools for which 'yogshalas' will be constructed in all the towns and about 6,500 villages of the state under the guidance of Ramdev.
• Haryana's Health and Sports Minister : Anil Vij
• Putting to rest months of speculation and rumours, former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has announced that she would be running for the office of U.S. president in 2016.

Deaths

• Lt Gen Hanut Singh (retd), One of the most famous officers of the Indian Army has passed away in Dehradun.
• He commanded the 17 Horse, or the Poona Horse regiment in the 1971 Indo-Pak war. 
• He was honoured with the Param Vishisht Seva Medal (PVSM) and the Maha Vir Chakra (MVC) [India's second highest gallantry award]. 
• He retired from the Army in 1991.
• Guenter Grass, the Nobel-winning German writer who gave voice to the generation that came of age during the horrors of the Nazi era, passed away.
• He won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1999.
• Note : He ran into controversy when he revealed in 2006 that he had been a member of the Waffen-SS during World War II.

Sports

• New Zealand wins Sultan Azlan Shah Hockey Tournament 2015 by beating Australia.

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