Current Affairs: January 25, 2012

February 1, 2012

India and Thailand sign MOU in Defense Cooperation

On January 25, 2012, India and Thailand signed an MoU on defence cooperation. MoU on Defence Cooperation signed during the visit would help both sides to further streamline and facilitate this process on matters of mutual concern
Both the countries also decided to step up bilateral cooperation and exchanges in the fields of defence, counter-terrorism and security.
The two countries have also signed the second Protocol to amend the Framework Agreement for Establishing a Free Trade Area. This would expedite the conclusion of negotiations on a bilateral Free Trade Agreement that would include goods, services and investment.
The above agreements have been signed at the end of talks between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and visiting PM of Thailand Yingluck Shinawatra.
The latest visit also coincided with the 65th anniversary of establishment of bilateral diplomatic relations, as well as 20 years of India s enhanced engagement with ASEAN.

National Voters day celebrated

2nd National Voters Day was celebrated on 25th January, 2012.
Every year National Voters’ Day (NVD) is observed on 25th January, a practice that was initiated in 2011 to commemorate the foundation day of the Election Commission of India and also to enhance the participation of the voters, especially the youth, in the democratic process.
The Election Commission’s objective behind National Voters’ Day is to increase enrolment of voters, especially of the newly eligible ones, by using this occasion to make universal adult suffrage a complete reality, and thereby enhance the quality of Indian democracy. The day is also utilized to spread awareness among voters regarding effective participation in the electoral process.
National Voters Day is celebrated with the aim and objective to create awareness among the people and educate the youths who has attained 18 years of age to enroll their names into the electoral roll.

Foundation of Ghogha-Dahej Ro-Ro service laid down by Narendra Modi

Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone of Rs 296 crore Ghogha-Dahej Ro-Ro service across the Gulf of Cambay. The two terminals at Ghogha and Dahej will be completed in 15 months.
The vessel can ferry up to 1,000 passengers, besides 100 vehicles and containers, to cover 31 km. Distance between the two on land route is 360 km.

76th senior national badminton championship: Results

Saurav Verma and P V Sindhu have won the men’s and women’s titles in the 76th senior national badminton championship.
Verma downed his fighting team-mate and second seed Sai Praneeth 21-19, 21-19, while ninth seed Sindhu shocked favourite and second seed Neha Pandit with an overwhelming 21-9-21-14 win in the finals played at KBA courts.
76th senior national badminton championship was organized at Bangalore.

Sam Pitroda launched India’s 1st ‘e-tutor tablet’

India’s first cloud-based Tablet solution for school students, e-tutor tablet , has been launched by Mr Sam Pitroda.
Sam Pitroda is Advisor to the Prime Minister of India on Public Information Infrastructure and Innovations.
With e-tutor teaching tablet, any school can easily set up a digital classroom with a simple handheld tablet PC and a projector. The teacher can easily explain concepts using the digital whiteboard that is set up in the Tablet PC and can save his/ her class notes for later reference by the students.

817 police personnel Awarded Police medals

817 police personnel have been awarded police medals on the occasion of the 63rd Republic Day 2012.
Seven personnel have been awarded President s Police Medals for Gallantry while Police Medals for Gallantry went to 87 personnel. President s Police Medals for Distinguished Service have been awarded to 93 personnel and Police Medals for Meritorious Service to 630 personnel.
As many as 38 personnel have been awarded correctional Service Medals.
President s Correctional Service Medals for Distinguished Service has been awarded to one person and Correctional Service Medals for Meritorious Service to 37 personnel.
Twenty four officials of CBI have been awarded President s Police Medal for Distinguished Service and Police Medal for Meritorious Service on the eve of the 63rd Republic Day.

Summary of President’s speech on eve of Republic Day

President calls upon the agencies involved in the delivery of services to work in a transparent, corruption free and accountable manner.
She says that tremendous work needed to be done to move forward on social and economic agenda if the country was to achieve fast, inclusive and sustainable growth.
President stressed on the need to adopt constitutional methods to achieve social and economic objectives as also maintain faith in public institutions like Parliament, the Executive and the Judiciary.
She also called for resolving all issues through dialogue and not through violence. The President also called for drawing women fully into the national mainstream.
She also said that reinforcing health and education sectors was fundamental for developing the country s human resources.
Making a strong advocacy for a permanent seat for India in the UN Security Council, the President said India seeks an architecture for global institutions that was reflective of the contemporary realities.

Aurangabad enters ‘Guinness Book…for largest simultaneous singing of National Anthem

On the eve of Republic Day 2012, thousands of citizens of Aurangabad created history by singing the national anthem, Jana Gana Mana , at Divisional Sports Complex ground in the city.
As many as 15,243 people of city took India into the Guinness Book of World Records by singing the anthem simultaneously, erasing the previous record held by Pakistan for 5,800 individuals.
The swelling crowd was led in the chorus on stage by Shankar Mahadevan, Mahatma Gandhi’ s grandson Tushar Gandhi, Prashant Damle, Roopkumar and Sonali Rathod, Vaishali Samant, Swapnil Bandodkar, Pramod Sarkate and Mrs Salaskar (widow of 26/11 martyr Vijay Salaskar) among others, who sang with Aurangabadkars to create the world record.

Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports recommends name of Dhyan Chand for Bharat Ratna

Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports has recommended the name of Hockey legend Major Dhyan Chand for the coveted Bharat Ratna award.
Earlier the rules for awarding Bharat Ratna have been altered by a notification, the award can be given to any person excelling in any field.
Late Major Dhyan Chand is acknowledged as the greatest Hockey player across the world. He won three successive Gold Medals at Olympic Games at Amsterdam in 1928, Los Angles in 1932 and Berlin in 1936.
Major Dhyan Chand is credited with scoring over 1000 international goals in a career which spanned from 1926 to 1948.

Himachal Pradesh Day celebrated

On 25 January 2012, Himachal Pradesh finished 41 years as a full fledged state of India.
At the time of India’s independence,Himachal Pradesh can in existance as Chief Commissioner’s Province of H.P. on 15 April 1948.
This Chief Commissioner’s Province was created by integration of 28 small princely states, prominent among them being Simla Hills States & four Punjab southern hill States.
After that, India’s smallest state at that time “Bilaspur” was merged in it on 1 April 1954 by the Himachal Pradesh and Bilaspur (New State) Act, 1954. Himachal became a part C state on 26 January 1950 with the implementation of the Constitution of India and the Lt. Governor was appointed.
Himachal Pradesh became a Union Territory on 1 November 1956.
On 18 December 1970, the State of Himachal Pradesh Act was passed by Parliament and the new state came into being on 25 January 1971. Thus Himachal emerged as the eighteenth state of the Indian Union.

Agreement between India & Pakistan on settlement of Transit Fee Issue for TAPI

India and Pakistan have agreed to settle the Transit Fee issue for the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) gas pipeline project at the earliest and conduct negotiations in a transparent manner keeping in mind the landed cost of gas.

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