Current Affairs - 12th, 13th and 14th April 2014
Wisden five cricketers of the Year
Shikhar Dhawan is the only Indian to feature in the Wisden’s five cricketers of the year list for2013. This coveted recognition is being given since 1889 and is given only once to any player in his entire career. The other four cricketers are: - Chris Rogers and Ryan Harris of Australia, Joe Root of England and Women’s skipper of England Charlotte Edwards.
Millennium Technology Prize 2014
The prize was given to British American physicist Stuart Parkin for providing a thousand fold increases in digital data storage of magnetic disks. The prize which carries a whooping amount of one million euro is given for technological breakthroughs since 2004 by Technology Academy Finland. The previous famous recipients of this award include the likes of Shuji Nakamura of Japan for laser research and Time Berners-Lee for the World Wide Web.
A new internet security bug
Heartbleed is the new internet security bug in OpenSSL software which has exposed extremely confidential data like username, passwords, credit card details etc to internet hackers. The bug was discovered by security firm Codenomicon and Google researcher Neel Mehta.
Sangeet Natak academy awards
The Sangeet Natak academy (academy ratna) awards for 2014 have been conferred upon Kanak Rele, R. Sathyanarayana, and Mahesh Elkunchwar. These awards were established in 1953 and were given to people for their outstanding work in the field of performing arts.
Controversial book on the PM of India
Sanjay Baru, the previous media consultant of PM Manmohan Singh has written a book on him named- The Accidental Prime Minister: The making and unmaking of Manmohan Singh. This book garnered limelight because Sanjay Baru, in his book, has claimed that in the second tenure of UPA govt. PM had no right to take sole decisions and was bound to sought permission from the Congress President. His revelations have given fire to the argument that UPA govt. had two centers of power.
New Chief Justice of India
Justice Rajendra Mal Lodha is set to become the new chief justice of India. He will overtake P. Sathasivam to become the 41st CJI of the country. his tenure will be of 5 months and he will retire in September 2014. Chief Justice is selected on the basis of seniority among the judges of Supreme Court.
IFC completed its first bond
International Financial Corporation, a wing of World Bank and headquartered in Washington D.C. completed its first global rupee bond programme worth $1 billion. Under this programme, the IFC had issued three-year bonds totaling Rs 30 billion and five-year bonds totaling Rs 20 billion. These programmes were aimed at strengthening the capital market of India and attract foreign investment.
Special advisor of BCCI chairman
Deepak Parekh, head of HDFC has been appointed as the special advisor to BCCI chairman for the IPL Sunil Gavaskar in the IPL governing council meeting. He will assist Gavaskar to ensure the smooth functioning of this year’s IPL which will be held in UAE.
Singapore Open Title 2014
Simon Santoso of Indonesia defeated Ling Chong Wei, the world no. 1 badminton player to win the Singapore open title for 2014. In the women’s singles final Olympic champion Li Xuerui of China was defeated by team-mate Wang Yihan.
Famous lyricist and poet Gulzar was selected or the prestigious 45th Dada Saheb Phalke award 2013. This award is the biggest and highest honor given for contribution in film industry since 1969. His original name was Sampooran Sigh Karla and he took the pen name of Gulzar Deenvi after turning an author.
India at top in foreign remittances
As per a report of the World Bank on foreign remittances, India remained at No. 1 spot in the world in foreign exchange remittances from its migratory work force in 2013. India received $70 billion of foreign remittances; China received $60 billion at no.2.
New notes for the year 2014
The RBI will release fresh notes of denomination of Rs. 500 and Rs. 100 in the printing year 2014. All these notes of the Mahatma Gandhi series will have the signature of current RBI governor Raghuram Rajan. The RBI has been introducing banknotes in the Mahatma Gandhi Series since 1996. It has so far issued notes in the denominations of Rs 5, Rs 10, Rs 20, Rs 50, Rs 100, Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 in this series.
Ben Bernanke in India
The former chief of US Fed Reserve Ben Bernanke will be the chief guest at the second edition of Kotak Presidium, a leadership series organized by Kotak Mahindra Bank in Mumbai. He will address the meeting to share his views and experience on economy. He has been a two time chief of prime bank of USA. During the 2008 meltdown, Bernanke worked to stabilise the banking sector through three rounds of quantitative easing.
