GK & Current Affairs: December 20-23, 2014

Bimal Jalan
Former Reserve Bank governor Bimal Jalan is the head of the Expenditure Management Commission. The Commission is expected to recommend major expenditure reforms that will enable the government to lower its fiscal deficit. Over time, a fiscal deficit in control will help the Government to strengthen the macro economy and ease inflation in the country. The Commission will be mandated with the task of suggesting an overhaul for reducing the food, fertiliser and oil subsidies and other ways of controlling India’s fiscal deficit. It is expected to submit its interim report before the presentation of the 2015-16 Budget next February. The final report is expected before the Budget of 2016-17.

It is a scheme for conserving and preserving the heritage characters of 12 cities
The union government will launch a flagship scheme HRIDAY to revitalize the heritage cities of Amritsar, Ajmer, Gaya, Kanchipuram, Mathura, Varanasi and Vellankani. Heritage City Development and Augmentation Yojana ( HRIDAY) – aims to bring together urban planning, economic growth and heritage conservation besides beautification in an inclusive and integrated manner with focus on cleanliness, livelihoods, skills, safety, security, accessibility and faster service delivery.

Sachin Tendulkar
The International Cricket Council announced Sachin Tendulkar as the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 ambassador. It will be the second successive time that the India maestro will be the Ambassador of ICC’s pinnacle tournament, after he fulfilled the role in the previous event, which was co-hosted by Bangladesh, India and Sri Lanka in 2011. In his role as a World Cup 2015 ambassador, Tendulkar will promote and support a variety of ICC initiatives to enhance the profile of the tournament, which is the third biggest sporting event in the world and will take place in Australia and New Zealand from February 14 to March 29.

Beji Caid Essebsi
Beji Caid Essebsi, an 88-year-old former cabinet minister, won Tunisia’s first free and democratic presidential election in a runoff. Mr. Essebsi received 55.7 percent of the vote, and his rival, the interim president, Moncef Marzouki, got 44.3 percent in the election.

Bharat Hotels
Jyotsna Suri, chairperson of Bharat Hotels Ltd elected as the president of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (Ficci). Suri succeeded Sidharth Birla.

Gujarat
The 13th edition of the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (PBD), an event which celebrates the achievements of Indians living abroad, will be held in Gujarat from January 7-9. Gujarat has been chosen as the partner State as 2015 happens to be the 100th year of Mahatma Gandhi’s return to India from South Africa.

Yemen
The Houthis, also known as the Partisans of God or Believing Youth are a Zaidiyyah insurgent group operating in Yemen.

Singer
Joe Cocker was an English rock and blues singer, who came to popularity in the 1960s, and was known for his gritty voice, his spasmodic body movement in performance and his cover versions of popular songs, particularly those of the Beatles. He was best known for his cover of The Beatles’ With A Little Help From My Friends.

Nicaragua
Nicaragua has announced the start of work on a new canal linking the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. The 278km (172 mile) waterway will be longer, deeper and wider than the Panama Canal. The Grand Canal of Nicaragua, as it has been called, aims to rival Panama’s waterway and lift the country out of poverty.

Arunima Sinha

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