Current Affairs January 25, 2010

Appointments / Elections:
Member of International Nuclear Energy Academy – Baldev Raj
Baldev Raj, eminent scientist and Director of Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research(IGCAR) Baldev Raj has been elected as Member of International Nuclear Energy Academy (INEA). The INEA elects members who have excelled and made outstanding, sustained contributions in domains of Nuclear Science and Engineering. The academy has about 100 elected members from all over the world.

Awards & Honors:
First Tagore Literature Awards 2009
First Lady of the Republic of Korea Kim Yoon-ok presents the first Tagore Literature Awards to eight Indian experts for their contributions in eight Indian languages — Bengali, Bodo, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Kashmiri, Punjabi and Telugu read here

Ashok Chakra: Havaldar Rajesh Kumar
The Ashoka Chakra is an Indian military decoration awarded for valor, courageous action or self-sacrifice away from the battlefield. It is the peace time equivalent of the Param Vir Chakra, and is awarded for the “most conspicuous bravery or some daring or pre-eminent valor or self-sacrifice” other than in the face of the enemy. The decoration may be awarded either to military or civilian personnel and may be awarded posthumously.
Havildar Rajesh Kumar of 11th Battalion, Rajputana Rifles (Posthumous) was awarded Ashok Chakra on the eve of Republic Day , January 25, 2010.

Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru National Award (2007) – Baldev Raj
Dr. Baldev Raj has also been conferred with Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru National Award (2007) by the Department of Science and Technology, Government of Madhya Pradesh , for outstanding contributions in the field of Engineering and Technological Sciences. This is highest award by Madhya Pradesh Government.

National Communal Harmony Awards
Mohd Hanif Khan Shastri who is an eminent Sanskrit scholar & Rajasthan’s Centre for Human Rights and Social Welfare selected for National Communal Harmony Awards for the year 2009. These awards were instituted in 1996 by the National Foundation for Communal Harmony, an autonomous organization set up by the Union Government.

Akkineni Award : Lata Mangeshkar
Lata Mangeshkar has been awarded Akkineni International Foundation promoted Akkineni Award 2009. The past recipients of the award included veteran actors Dev Anand, Vyjayanthimala Bali and Shabana Azmi.

Some Other awards won by Lataji:
Padma Bhushan (1969),
Padma Vibhushan (1999),
Dada Saheb Phalke Award (1989),
Maharashtra Bhushan Award (1997),
NTR National Award (1999),
Bharat Ratna (2001),
3 National Film Awards
12 Bengal Film Journalists’ Association Awards.
4 Filmfare Best Female Playback Singer awards.
The first Hindi film for which she gave playback was ‘Aap ki Sewa Main’ (1947).

Kravis Leadership Award : Pratham USA
India’s largest non-profit organization Pratham is working in the area of primary education. With a Mission Read here

National Updates:
Jharkhand Online Payment Facility:
Shibu Soren inaugurates online pension payment facility for the elderly on the eve of Republic Day. Soren also expresses hope to organize 34th national games in April 2010, which has been postponed 5 times since 2007.

Nitish’s 20% Growth Vision:
Economic Times’s “The Business Reformer of The Year” award winner Chief Minister of Bihar is not much happy with the outstanding 11% growth rate. What he says is that Bihar is ready to achieve a 20% growth rate if full support comes from the center. He sets the goal to make Bihar a developed state by 2015. Please note that Bihar & Orissa have achieved remarkable growth surpassing even Gujarat & Mahasratra in last year.

Business & Economy:
Adjustments in the Income tax Intelligence wing
To speed up high value cases of Rs. 10 lakh and more, the finance ministry makes some ovehauls in the Central Information Branch (CIB) . The following are notable points:
1. Commissioners of Income Tax of the Central Information Branch will now report to the intelligence wing, headquartered in Delhi.
2. CIB and Intelligence wing will independently probe the cases of tax evasion. Till now they were just doing the supportive functions for investigation arm of department.
3. 360 Degree Profiling: The intelligence wing would feed exhaustive taxpayer information to the technology-based database of the department. This enables the I-T department to track all PAN card-based transactions of a taxpayer, including those done by debit and credit cards.

This ensures current, constant and consolidated reporting and delivery of information on transactions.

First Indian Refinery to Produce Euro IV compliant Diesel: Reliance
Reliance Industries Ltd is becoming the first Indian refinery to produce Euro-IV compliant diesel as the first cargo of 25,000 tonnes of Euro-IV grade diesel from RIL’s refinery at Jamnagar was shipped by Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd on January 22, 2010. This is also the first coastal supply of Euro-IV diesel for the Indian market.

E-burglary in Income Tax department:
Somebody hacks into the password of one of the assessing officers in charge of crediting the refunds into the electronic clearing system and 11 crore of refunds were discovered to have been stolen. The amount was credited to fake accounts. Now a complete revamp of the security buffers in the computer software system is going on and tax refunds get delayed. The case goes to CBI and CBDT suggests the departments across the country to go slow on refunds.

Kerala is really colorful, for Paint Companies
With Indian paint market leader Asian Paints getting Rs. 400 Crore, worth of business, Kerala emerges as number one market for exterior emulsion paint companies like Asian Paints , Nerolac, Dulux and Jotun.

What is sibutramine and what is wrong with it ?
Sibutramine which is usually marketed as sibutramine hydrochloride monohydrate salt is a drug used for oral administration for treatment of obesity. It is basically an appetite suppressant. around 20 drug companies are marketing this drug under different brand names. Administration and usage of this drug has invited serious concerns about its safety. This has been suspended from use in the UK and EU. European Medicine Agency (EMA) has recommended complete withdrawal of the drug from European markets due to serious side effects. Now India’s Top Drug Regulator, DGCI (Drugs Controller General of India ) initiates steps to ascertain the safety profile of the medicine. It asks the pharmacovigilance committee to take note of the EMA decision.

Sports :
17 Hundred Plus partnership: Sachin Dravid
Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid register the world record for most 100-plus run partnerships by any pair in the history of Test match cricket on the second day of the second and final Test against Bangladesh in Mirpur. They have now 17 100plus partnerships.

First Commonwealth Games venue:
Dhyan Chand National Hockey Stadium is the first venue to be completed for this year’s Commonwealth Games. Its inaugurated by sports minister Manohar Singh Gill .

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