Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 25 March 2014
- Rajiv Takru, a 1979 batch IAS officer, has been appointed as the new Revenue Secretary and will succeed Sumit Bose, who retires on 31 March 2014. He was earlier CEO of Prasar Bharti and has worked in the Information and Broadcasting Ministry.
- Arvind Kejriwal to contest against Nerendra Modi in the Lok Sabha polls in Varanasi.
- New CEO & MD of Marico is Saugata Gupta. Gupta will take charge from 1 April 2014. Earlier he acted as Marketing Head of the company.
- Govind Mishra to given the "Saraswati Samman" for year 2013 for his book "Dhool Paudho Par". He will be the second person to receive this award. In 1991, Harivansh Rai Bachchan became the first Hindi author to receive this honour.
- Egyptian Court sentenced 529 supporters of ousted Islamist President, Mohammed Morsi to death.
- ICC Twenty-20 World Cup:
- West Indies to take on Bangladesh at Dhaka.
- South Africa defeat New Zealand by 2 wickets.
- Multi Dollar deal won by TCS from GDF Suez, French Firm. This deal is to standardise CRM and billing applications across Netherlands, Belgium and France. This is the first major contract for TCS in France.
- Bank of India (BoI) launched Instant Money Transfer (IMT) scheme in Mumbai that allows customers to withdraw cash without using either debit or credit cards at IMT-enabled ATMs. This is the first-of-its-kind initiative launched by a public sector bank.
- The 25th edition of Arab League Summit begins in Kuwait city. Top Arab leaders will attend the two day meet aimed at enhancing cooperation and solidarity among Arab states.
- Indian Ordinance factory today launched a light-weight revolver "Nirbheek", designed especially for women to defend themselves from assault. It is a .32 bore revolver, weighing 500 grams that can be kept by women in their purses or handbags.
- Ravishankar Gopalakrishna, the CEO and CFO of Jet Airways has resigned from the company. According to the information available he tenure will end at the end of the next month. Reasons for the resignation not disclosed.
- Royal Mail in Britain issued a postage stamp of Noor Inayat Khan, World War II heroine of Indian origin on 25 March 2014. She fought fascism and died in the Dachau concentration camp. Noor was born in Moscow to an Indian Father, Hazrat Inayat Khan and an American mother, Ora Ray Baker in January 1914. Noor was brought up in Paris and family immigrated to London when Paris was occupied by Germany during the World War II in 1940. She was the first woman radio operator to be flown undercover to Paris under the code name Madeleine.
- As per the report released by UN Health Agency, 7 Million people died due to air pollution in 2012. Air pollutions includes cooking fires, auto fumes etc. Most of the people died due to lung cancer, pulmonary diseases, stroke, and heart disease.
- The G7 group of top economic powers have kicked out Russia from the powerful G8 over its annexation of Crimea and threatened to impose far-reaching sanctions if Moscow continued its incursion into Ukraine.
- Veteran Bollywood actress Nanda passed away at the age of 75. Nanda was nominated for Filmfare Award five times for her performance in Bhabhi (1957), Aanchal (1960), Ittefaq (1969), Ahista Ahista (1981) and Prem Rog (1982).
- Sahara group on Tuesday offered to the Supreme Court to pay market regulator SEBI in a span of one year Rs. 20,000 crore of the money it has to return to the investors collected through Optionally Fully Convertible Debentures (OFCD).
- Google has partnered with Luxottica SpA, the makers of Ray-Ban and Oakley sunglasses, to bring a high fashion sensibility to its high-tech wearable computer, Google Glass.
- GAIL signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Chubu Electric Power Co of Japan in South Korea.
- Managing Director (MD) of Britannia Industries Vinita Bali has announced to retire till the end of March 2014.
- Vandana Foundation has launched AQUATM water vending machine in Mumbai. It will release 1 liter water at a price of 1 rupee. The best part of the machine is that it can be operated through prepaid card.
- Tata Communications Payment Solutions Ltd (TCPSL) launched the white label Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) network.