January 11-20 2013 Current Affairs

• The duty on Indian cotton yarn imports imposed by Turkey came to an end when the country decided to remove it with effect from December 31, 2012.Turkey, which is a major cotton producer, had imposed the duty as safeguard measure in 2008 for 3 years, which was later extended for another 3 years in 2011.
•  India successfully test-fired a highly manoeuvrable version of the 290-km range supersonic cruise missile BrahMos from a naval warship off the coast of Vishakhapatnam in Bay of Bengal. This was the 34th launch of BrahMos.
• Air Marshal Kulwant Singh Gill took charge as the new commandant of the National Defence Academy (NDA) at Khadakwasla, Pune.
• France honored Pakistani schoolgirl Malala Yousafzai, who was shot by the Taliban for campaigning for girls’ education, with Simone de Beauvoir Prize for Women’s Freedom.
• Lionel Messi, who plays for FC Barcelona, added yet another feather in his cap as he won an unprecedented fourth consecutive Ballon d’Or at a FIFA gala in Zurich. The awards makes Messi’s status as the greatest football player of his generation after he left behing Real Madrid rival Cristiano Ronaldo and Barcelona teammate Andres Iniesta for the prize.
•  As per the latest decrees of Saudi King Abdullah, Saudi Arabian women will have a 20% quota in the all-male consultative Shura Council. The King appointed 30 women to the 150 member Council marking a historic first as he pushes reforms in the ultra-conservative kingdom.
•  India reported no new case of Polio for the second year in row. If India manages to repeat this success for one more year it will yield the country the status of polio free nation, in 2014. India introduced a Pulse Polio Immunization Program in 1995 with the aim to eliminate the disease from the country.
• After the Parliament of Sri Lanka passed the impeachment motion with two-third majority against Chief Justice Shirani Bandarnayake, President Mahinda Rajapaksa dismissed her from the office. She is the first to be impeached in the country’s history.
•  The Kumbh festival began at Prayag (Allahadab) and will conclude on March 10. The next Kumbh will be held at Ujjain in 2016 on the banks of Kshipra river.
•  Internet activist and co-founder of Reditt, Aaron Swartz (26), committed suicide. He was computer genius was the developer of the early version of the RSS (Rich Site Summary) – web feed system. He was facing federal charges in cases of a controversial fraud and hacking allegations.
• The United Nations has backed France for providing military aid to Mali to push back Islamists which are advancing their control to other parts of the country including northern and western regions. Mali is a former French colony.
•   India has decided to put negotiations to finalize a trade liberalization pact with Mauritius on hold. It has said that the talks will not be resumed till the island nation amends its Double-Taxation Avoidance Agreement (DTAA) with India.
•   R.K. Dubey has been appointed as the Chairman and Managing Director of Canara Bank.
• The Basel Committee has extended the deadline given to banks around the world to comply with Basel-III norms has been deferred for 4 more years to January 2019 against the previous deadline of January 2015.
• Retired umpire Simon Taufel of Australia will become the first umpire to deliver the esteemed MCC Spirit of Cricket Cowdrey Lecture.
• President Pranab Mukherjee honored 8 states with ‘Krishi Karman Awards’ in recognition to their special achievements in foodgrain production in 2011-12. The Awardees with their respective achievement category: 1.Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Manipur and Nagaland awarded for their special contribution to total foodgrains production.2. Bihar received the award for contribution to production and productivity of rice 3..Haryana awarded for wheat.Jharkhand for pulses.4.Uttar Pradesh for coarse cereals.
•  Halimah Yacob, a politician of Indian-origin, will be the first woman Speaker of Singapore’s Parliament when she replaces Michael Palmer, who was forced to resign over his extra-marital affair.
•  PM Manmohan Singh has selected urban development and parliamentary affairs minister Kamal Nath to lead the Indian delegation in the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) annual summit in Davos, Switzerland.
• RBI has introduced a dollar-rupee swap facility to increase the flow of credit to the export sector to support incremental Pre-shipment export Credit in Foreign Currency (PCFC) by banks.
• With an aim to raise Rs.8,886 crore, Indian Railway Finance Corporation Ltd (IRFC) will launch a tax-free bond issue. This would enhance IRFC resources for buying rolling stock for the Indian railways.
• As per the suggestions made by the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Food and Consumer Affairs headed by Vilas Muttemwar: Food entitlements under the National Food Security Act should be made available to 67 % of the population, excluding the 33% who pay taxes, have a pucca house etc.The ‘priority’ (Below Poverty Line) and ‘general’ (Above Poverty Line) categories should be done away with and should be replaced with “inclusion” and “exclusion” categories.The identification of beneficiaries for subsidised rice and wheat under the Public Distribution System will be done by State governments.The panel has calculated the total requirements of foodgrains at 62 million tonnes per annum with a subsidy bill of over Rs. 1.15 lakh crore.
•  Air India has grounded its entire six Boeing 787 Dreamliners aircrafts. The move came following the decision of Europe, the U.S. and Japan to put Boeing 787 Dreamliners out of action. The aircraft will not be allowed to fly until a formal clearance is given by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) and the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on the air-worthiness of the Dreamliner. Issue facing the Dreamliners is the thermal runaway problem in the Lithium-Ion batteries.
• ‘Red October’ (or ‘Rocra’ for short) = A Russia-based Cyber spying campaign (a cyber-espionage network) launched in 2007 by unidentified criminals that have been secretly stealing important data from many computer systems used by government agencies, military, nuclear, gas and oil industries, aerospace, private companies, etc. in many countries since2007. India is among the victims of this espionage network.
•  Patiala House court complex, one of the six district courts in Delhi switched to e-stamping facility completely.With this the court became the first district court to fully switch over to the e-stamping process and eliminate stamp papers.
•  Facebook has unveiled a new friends-based search tool “graph search” which will help its users search for people and places within the social network.
• Acclaimed Marathi writer Jyotsna Deodhar (86) passed away. She also worked as an All India Radio (AIR) programme producer, Deodhar authored over 40 books which included novels and short stories that won her critical applaud. 
• Zhao Jiang or Kalaimakal has become first Chinese author to write a book in Tamil. She has authored a book titled “ China’s Travel Attractions” which introduces the reader with the history and culture of Beijing, Shanghai and Tibet.
•  India’s largest public sector bank, State Bank of India (SBI), along with its associates, plans to set up ‘by-invitation-only’ branches under the ‘Kohinoor’ brand in 20 cities to serve uber-rich customers and Non-Resident Indians (NRIs)