Current Affairs : January 6, 2012

Election Commission takes various steps for effective implementation of Model Code of Conduct

• The Uttar Pradesh Government has been asked to transfer 259 Block Development Officers in view of their over stay in the same districts
• Setting up communication centres at district headquarters in Uttar Pradesh.
• Lodges 43 FIRs in different cases for violation of model code of conduct.
• Seized Rs. 4 crore 50 lakhs unaccounted cash at different places in last 10 days in Uttar Pradesh.
• Ordered removal of Director General of Police in Manipur.
• Makes sure that every voter in Manipur will be photographed during voting.

New TRAI guidelines on consumer grievance redressal

• TRAI (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India) announces ‘Telecom Consumers Complaint Redressal Regulations, 2012″
• As per the new regulations, the telecom firms will have to set up complaint centres and web-based monitoring systems for their customers within 45 days.
• The new rules come into force with immediate effect
• These regulations will apply to all service providers, including BSNL, MTNL and others providing basic telephone service, unified access service, cellular mobile telephone service and Internet service.

Army Chief General V K Singh visits Myanmar

• Army Chief General V K Singh begins his five-day visit to Yangon.
• The objective of the visit is to bolster defence ties and mutual understanding between India and Myanmar.
• Army Chief will meet Myanmar’s President, Commander-in-Chief of its defence forces, Chief of General Staff of Army and other senior officials in the government.
• He will also visit the country’s defence institutions like National Defence College, Command and General Staff College and North Western Command headquarters.
• India has decided to offer to increase the number of vacancy reserved for Myanmar’s gentlemen cadets in the National Defence Academy, NDA at Khadakvasla in Pune.

Food Inflation comes down

• Food prices drop for the first time in 6 years. Inflation in low, yet prices pinch as rising cost of living overshadows drop in vegetable prices.
• With prices plummeting to record low on account of good production and oversupply in markets, farmers are now going for distress selling’.
• Food inflation slipped into the negative zone, falling to minus 3.36 per cent for the week ended December 24, as the prices of essential items like vegetables, onions, potatoes and wheat declined.
• This is the first time in almost six years that food inflation has fallen, on an annual basis. Food inflation, as measured by Wholesale Price Index, had stood at 0.42 per cent in the previous week, and at almost 21 per cent in the corresponding week of 2010.
• As per the official data, Onions became 73.74 per cent cheaper, year-on-year, during the week under review, while potato prices were down 34.01 per cent. Wheat prices fell 3.41 per cent. Overall, vegetables became 50.22 per cent cheaper during the week under review.
• This would ease the pressure on government as well as RBI to containing inflation side.

15th World Sanskrit Conference Inaugurated in New Delhi

• Prime Minister inaugurates the 15th World Sanskrit Conference in New Delhi.
• He says that the government is committed to promote and develop Sanskrit language and a number of measures are being taken to encourage the study of Sanskrit language in the country.
• He also mentions that Sanskrit does not belong to any particular race, sect or religion.
• Sanskrit is one of the scheduled languages of India set out in the eighth schedule of Constitution of India. Its a nonregional languages and the one out of scheduled languages which is spoken by least people.
• Sanskrit does not belong to any particular race sect, or religion. It represents a culture that is not narrow and sectarian but open, tolerant and all-embracing.

Kamla Persad Bissessar arrives India

• Prime minister of Trinidad and Tobago Mrs. Kamla Persad Bissessar arrives in New Delhi for a 10 day state visit.
• She is accompanied by a high level Ministerial and Business delegation.
• Five agreements are likely to be signed between the two countries.
• She is the Chief Guest at the Pravasi Bhartiya Diwas celebrations 2012.
• Mrs. Bissessar is the first woman of Indian origin who is heading a government.
• Pravasi Bharatiya Divas is being held in Jaipur from January 7, 2012.
• Mrs. Bissessar will also be conferred Pravasi Bhartiya Samman in Jaipur.
• Her ancestral village is in Buxar district of Bihar.

Dalai Lama conferred Mahatma Gandhi International Award for Peace and Reconciliation

• Mahatma Gandhi International Award for Peace and Reconciliation was conferred to Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama at Bodhgaya in Bihar.
• Ela Gandhi , the grand daughter of Mahatma Gandhi presented the award to the Dalai Lama.
• Award was introduced in 2003 to mark the centenary of “Indian Opinion”, a newspaper published in South Africa by Mahatma Gandhi.
• Dalai Lama is performing ongoing Kalchakrapuja at Bodhgaya for international brotherhood , peace and harmony.

Pravasi Bhartiya Diwas 2012

• Pravasi Bhartiya Diwas 2012 is being organized at Jaipur this year.
• The theme of the Pravasi Bhartiya Diwas 2012 is ‘Global Indian- Inclusive Growth’.
• More than 1300 delegates from 54 countries will participate in the 10th Pravasi Bhartiya Diwas this year to discuss their investment strategy with the government.
• It is organized by Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs since 2003, when NDA Government organized it for the first time.
• Commemorates the arrival of Mahatma Gandhi in India from South Africa.

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Month: Current Affairs - January, 2012