Current Affairs Notes & Updates : February 15, 2010

February 25th, 2010

Appointments:
Carl-Peter Forster is Tata Motors group CEO
Carl-Peter Forster has been appointed new group CEO of Tata Motors. Earlier he was President of GM Europe, Chairman of the Opel Supervisory Board and Chairman of Saab. Forster will have the overall responsibility of Tata Motors' operations globally, including the British marquees Jaguar and Land Rover (JLR)

Events, Happenings & Observances:
Mysore: 'Pustakotsava'
'Pustakotsava' is the name of state level exhibition-cum-sale of Kannada Books, and was held at Mysore.

Manipur: Lui-Ngai-Ni
Lui-Ngai-Ni is the name of Naga seed sowing festival in which the blessings of the Almighty God are sought for a bountiful and bumper harvest for the well-being of mankind, is the common festival of the Nagas. Observed in Manipur and Nagaland of North East India.

Awards & Honors:

Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowships & Awards 2009
Prime Minister's Trophy to the best performing Integrated Steel Plant
Prime Minister's Trophy to the best performing Integrated Steel Plant was given for the year 2005-06 to Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Ltd and for the years 2006-07 and 2007-08 to Visakhapatnam Steel Plant.

National Updates:
On National Institute of Oceanography
A Y shaped new building is inaugurated at National Institute of Oceanography (NIO) campus Dona Paula, Goa by Union Minister for Science and Technology and Earth Science Prithviraj Chavan. He mentions purchasing of 3 new research vessels. Rs. 250 crores will be spent for this purpose.

Vessels of NIO:
Here is brief description of the research vessels of NIO

Gaveshani is NIO's first research vessel acquired in December 1975. She serviced till 1994.
Sagar Sukti: It is a coastal research vessel, converted by acquiring a fishing trawler built 1990 by M/s Hooghly Dock & Port Engineers Limited (HDPEL) Howrah, West Bengal, India and owned by NIO with refit in 2001 by Dempo Shipbuilding & Engineering Ltd, Goa.
Sindhu Sankalp: Originally built as fishing training vessel (FV Chisio Maru) by the Japanese Government in 1989 was bought by NIO in 2008. It is undergoing extensive modifications and will be available for the scientist community from January 2010.
Sindhu Sadhna: Under construction at present. It will be a new multi-disciplinary oceanographic research vessel will have capabilities to undertake basin scare observations and will enable Indian oceanographers to take up studies not only in the seas around India, but also in any part of the Indian Ocean.

Andhra Pradesh : New Bills to be Introduced:
The Andhra Pradesh Cabinet gives approval to four draft Bills for introduction in the current Budget Session of the State Legislature. The bills are:

National Academy of Legal Nalsar Bill Studies and Research University : providing 20 per cent reservation in the seats for Andhra Pradesh Students like in other States including Madhya Pradesh.
Andhra Pradesh Sports Authorities (Amendment) Bill 2010: to nominate in the Sports Authority of Andhra Pradesh(SAAP) eminent sportspersons working in State, Union Governments, corporations and nationalized banks.
Andhra Pradesh Excise Act(Amendment) Bill 2010: for maintenance of public peace and law and order as the government had to close retail IML (India Made Liquor) shops and bars in the State.
Andhra Pradesh Public Procurement Bill, 2010: for envisaging greater transparency, efficiency, cost-effectiveness, grievance redressal mechanism in public procurement

Arunachal Pradesh : Two Mountain Divisions of Indian Army
Defense Minister A K Antony announces raising of two mountain divisions of the Army that would be based in Arunachal Pradesh. A very important and significant announcement as in recent years China has been claiming parts of our land of the Rising Sun. Minister says that we are not interested in any country's territory but also would not concede ''an inch.

On Technology Perspective and Capability Roadmap
Defense Minister A K Antony also announced that India will soon publish ''Technology Perspective and Capability Roadmap'' for future production and procurement of Defense equipment keeping in mind the future needs of the armed forces

On FDI in Defense:
Defense Minister stressed the need for high level of indigenization of the Defense forces and called for more Public/Private Partnership (PPP) in the Defense sector. FDI by 26% will be soon permitted. (PIB)

Business & Economy:
Haryana: Second plant of Honda
Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India (HMSI) Pvt Ltd which is the 100 per cent owned two-wheeler subsidiary of Japan's Honda Motor Company presently has its first plant at Manesar in Haryana. The plant has capacity of 15 Lakh units and now the company plans for a second plant in Haryana.

On Indian edition of 'Fortune' magazine:
Govt. of India permits publication of Indian edition of foreign magazine Fortune under title 'Fortune India', dealing with News and Current Affairs. It will be published here by Business media private Limited. Please note that any foreign magazine needs to get approval from Ministry of Information and Broadcasting to be able to publish magazine in India. In recent times Spectator India and Forbes India had also been permitted by the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting for publication in the country.

Bharti's Third Attempt to Enter African Market:
Zain Group is a mobile telecommunications company founded in 1983 in Kuwait. Zain has commercial presence in 25 countries in Africa and Middle East. Bharti announced to hold discussion to talk with Zain Telecom for acquiring its African Operations. This will be third attempt of Bharti to make an entry in the African market as talks with MTN for two times had failed earlier.

'Trust Barometer' survey for 2010
'Trust Barometer' survey for 2010 was in the series of the annual surveys by public relations firm Edelman. The survey reveals that India headquartered companies have been ranked as trustworthy by 78 per cent of people surveyed in India, 63 per cent of respondents in Mexico and 52 per cent in United Arab Emirates.

India & World:
On India's Claim to Extended Economic Zone:
Under the law of the sea, an Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) is a sea zone over which a state has special rights over the exploration and use of marine resources. It stretches from the seaward edge of the state's territorial sea out to 200 nautical miles from its coast. United States has the largest Exclusive Economic Zone in the world. Next comes is France. Australia has the third largest Exclusive Economic Zone with the total area actually exceeding that of its land territory.

India has 2,305,143 sq. Kms of Total Exclusive Economic Zone area. India has laid claim to 0.6 million sq km of the sea bed beyond the exclusive economic zones both in the Arabian sea and the Bay of Bengal. It is pending before UN.

John Kerry's Visit:
John Kerry is a United States Senator and Chairman of the influential Senate Foreign Relations Committee was recently in India. He met Prime minister and discussed Afghanistan and Pakistan issue.

Ranking Web of World Depositories: Indian Institutions
A repository or Institutional Repository is an online locus for collecting, preserving, and disseminating -- in digital form -- the intellectual output of an institution, particularly a research institution. Ranking of World Repositories is a service which ranks the repositories of institutions and universities around the world. It is topped by Arxiv.org e-Print Archive of united States. Among Indian Institutions, Indian Institute of Science Bangalore ePrints is the top repository of the country which is on Rank 82. The other repositories in Top 400 are :

Rank 148: Openmed National Informatics Centre India
Rank 180: Indian Statistical Institute Digital Library
Rank 218: Indian Institute of Astrophysics Dspace
Rank 245: National Institute of Oceanography India Digital Repository

World Updates:
Bangladesh: Renaming Zia International Airport
Zia International Airport has been renamed as Shahjalal International Airport after 13th century Sufi saint Hazarat Shah Jalal.

Sports: Kapur, Bhullar, Lahiri Sponsored by Hero Honda
Hero Honda Motors Ltd. announces its latest sponsorship agreement with India's Golf stars Shiv Kapur, Gaganjeet Bhullar and Anirban Lahiri. A Brief Intro:

Shiv Kapur: He became a pro in 2004 and made the country proud with an individual gold medal in 2002 Asian Games.
Anirban Lahiri: He had a distinguished amateur career with six wins in 2006-07 turned pro in 2007 and has been one of the promising players in Asian Tour. He became the number one professional golfer on Aircel PGTI Indian Tour with some stupendous performances in 2009, recently made the country proud after he got a call-up for the Dubai Desert Classic.
Gaganjit Bhullar: Pro since 2006. he recently won Asian Tour International on february 7, 2010

Top 5 WTA Rankings Holders:
As of February 15, 2010, the top 5 WTA ranking Holders are as follows