Current Affairs : 2nd And 3rd October 2013

1. Gandhi Jayanti is celebrated in India today on 2nd October to mark the ocaasion of the birthday of Mahatma Gandhi, the 'Father of the Nation".

109th birth anniversary of former Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri also celebrated across the country. Several functions including symposia and discussions organised to mark the occassion. Leaders of different political parties paid floral tributes to the former Prime Minister at his memorial Vijayghat in Delhi.

2. The Centre given its approval for creation of a separate Telangana state from out of Andhra Pradesh and decided that Hydrabad will be the joint capital of the two states for 10 years.

3. The Asian Development Bank (ADB) Wednesday sharply lowered its forecast on India’s economic growth to 4.7 percent for this year from its earlier projection of 6 percent.

4. Government of India appointed on 2 October 2013 a four member committee headed by Arvind Mayaram, Economic Affairs Secretary setup to clear the ambiguity between Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and Foreign Institutional Investment (FII). The committee will look into the difference between them and it will also give definition of FDI and FII.

5. The International Academy of Spiritual Unity and Cooperation Among the Nations of the World has nominated President Putin as a candidate for the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize.

6. President Pranab Mukherji will meet the Prime Minister of Belgium Elio De Rupo in Brussles today. After the plenary meeting between the two leaders, delegation level talks will take place during which some agreements are likely to be signed between the two countries.

7. Special CBI court in Ranchi has sentenced RJD Chief and former chief minister Lalu Prasad Yadav to 5 years in jail in fodder scam case. The court also imposed a fine of 25 lakh rupees on him. The sentencing by special CBI judge Pravas Kumar Singh disqualifies Prasad from Parliament and renders him ineligible for contesting elections for 11 years.

8. Sun Pharmaceutical Industries India’s biggest drug maker by market capital and USA based Intrexon Corporation, a leading player in synthetic biology announced on 2 October 2013 to establish a joint venture to develop controllable gene-based therapies for the treatment of eye diseases. The joint venture will helpful for Sun Pharma’s to increase their global capabilities and experience in developing and manufacturing complex dosage forms .It will also enhance their specialty pharmaceuticals for niche therapy areas.

9. The goverment today launched a unique project to put 100 most important Indian heritage sites online. The sites include theTaj Mahal, Khajuraho and the Ajanta and Ellora caves. An agreement to this effect was reached at between the Archaeological Survey of India and Google in New Delhi today in presence of Union Culture Minister Chandresh Kumari Katoch.

10. Meghalaya Government to provide all School and college classrooms with Wi-Fi connection to aid their learning process. The announcement was made by CM Mukul Sangma after distributing free tablet computers to 11,000 class XII students as a part of state government’s Digital Learning Aid for Students scheme.

11. The book titled Haunted by Fire: Essays on Caste, Class, Exploitation and Emancipation authored by Mythily Sivaraman released in International Centre in New Delhi on 1 October 2013. Mythili Sivaraman is a Women Rights Activist. She is currently one of the Vice Presidents of the All India Democratic Women’s Association (Women’s wing of Communist Party of India (Marxist)).

12. A multinational company plans to launch the world’s largest man-made lagoon costing a whopping $7 billion. Crystal Lagoons Corp., developer of patented technology for giant crystalline lagoons, has signed a deal to construct the lagoon, covering 40 hectares, almost four-times bigger than the world’s largest existing lagoon.

13. 3M Healthcare, the healthcare division of 3M India, has won the “Sterilization Services Company of the Year award” at the Frost & Sullivan’s fifth annual India Healthcare Excellence Awards 2013. These coveted Awards recognized innovative growth strategies and solutions adopted by top companies in the healthcare industry for 2012-13.

14. Yashasvini Cooperative Farmers’ Health Care Scheme, launched in Karnataka in June 2003, has successfully completed 10 years benefiting lakhs of farmers in co-operative sector. The Yashasvini Cooperative Farmers’ Health Care Trust was formed under the principle “One for all and all for one” has made healthcare affordable to farmers in co-operative sector.

15. Airtel is the only telecom company from India featuring on the list of top ten global brands admired most in Africa, according to a survey. Airtel was placed at ninth on the list, beating Japanese car manufacturer Honda, the survey conducted by the African Business Awards said. The list was headed by US-based Coca Cola, and dominated by other US and European brands, the only other Asian brands were Japan’s Toyota and Samsung Electronics of Korea.
The full list is:
1. Coca Cola—US,
2. Shell—Netherlands
3. Samsung—South Korea
4. Vodafone—UK
5. Nike—US
6. Toyota—Japan
7. McDonald’s—US
8. Pepsi Cola—US
9. Airtel—India
10. Honda—Japan.

16. Tata Power today has commenced construction work for the first phase of its joint venture 400-MW hydro power project in Georgia. The hydel project would be jointly developed by Tata Power along with Clean Energy Invest AS, Norway (Clean Energy) and IFC InfraVentures (IFC).

17. Private insurer SBI Life Insurance on Thursday launched ‘Smart Power Insurance’ plan, which is designed to care for investor’s twin needs of insurance and investment. SBI Life Insurance is a joint venture between State Bank of India and BNP Paribas Cardif, the insurance arm of BNP Paribas.

18. The Gambian Government on 2 October 2013 announced that it is pulling out of the Commonwealth with immediate effect. Gambian, a West African country joined the Commonwealth of Nations in 1965. The last country to be withdrawn from the Commonwealth group was Zimbabwe in 2003.

19. The BCCI awarded the title sponsorship for all international series and the domestic tournaments in India for the year 2013-14 to Star Private Ltd and ESPN at the base price of Rs. two crore per fixture, considerably low compared to their previous deal with Airtel. Sponsorship rights will extend to domestic events such as Irani Cup, Ranji Trophy, Duleep Trophy, Vijay Hazare, Deodhar Trophy and Raj Singh Dungarpur Trophy.

20. Former national table tennis champion Uttam Chandarana, who dominated the sport during 1940s and 50s, passed away in Mumbai on Wednesday morning due to old age, family sources said. Chandarana is remembered for defeating world champion Ivan Andreadis in 1954.

21. Balaji Motion Pictures, the film production unit of Balaji Telefilms, has acquired the film adaptation rights to the book, The Devotion of Suspect X. ii. Director Sujoy Ghosh, whose previous release was the Vidya Balan-starrer Kahaani, has been signed to direct the Hindi feature film.

22. The California Institute of Technology (Caltech) has again been named the world’s top university by the Times Higher Education Global Ranking.