Feb 2015 CA

Current
Affairs
February 2015
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Rapid Academy of Competitive Exams
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February 2015
National Affairs
1st February
Country's first fenced elephant park to
come up near Bengaluru.
The People for the Ethical Treatment
of Animals (PETA) -an international animal
rights and conservation group -and the
Bannerghatta Biological Park, Karnataka,
have joined hands to create India's first `fenced'
elephant sanctuary in a forested space that will
allow elephants to move around freely within the
secure area.
Marans transfer ownership of SpiceJet to
Ajay Singh
SpiceJet has finally changed hands with the
airlines promoters deciding to sell and transfer
their entire holding of 58.46 per cent in the
airline to co-founder Ajay Singh.
The
share
sale
and purchase
agreement between the promoters Kalanithi
Maran, Chairman of the Sun group, his
company Kal Airways and Mr. Singh was
signed on 29 January 2015.
February 03
Madhya Pradesh
awarded
the
10th
national award for excellent work in
Mahatma
Gandhi
National
Rural
Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA).
The award was presented to Madhya Pradesh
Panchayats and Rural Development Minister
Gopal
Bhargava
by
the
Union
Rural
Development Minister Virendra Singh at the
MGNREGA summit held in New Delhi.
Punjab will issue Aadhaar linked e-ration
cards to ensure that only genuine beneficiaries
get subsidised food grain.
Punjab is the first state in the country to

have initiated the e-ration cards.
Punjab's Food and Civil Supplies Minister :
Adesh Partap Singh Kairon
IRCTC has announced the new system and a
new option to Book IRCTC Train Tickets
through Cash on Delivery (COD) and launched
a
new
website
called
http://www.bookmytrain.com .
This COD scheme has been launched on pilot
basis and the service will be available in more
than 200 cities initially. Customers can book a
ticket 5 days prior to commencement of
journey.
40 will be charged for the delivery of each
Sleeper Class ticket, Rs 60 will be charged for
an AC class ticket
February 04
PM India Narendra Modi promises global
investors a fair, predictable and consistent tax
system and growth focused economic policies.
The PM said, the priority of his government is
growth and jobs and to establish global
benchmarks in areas such as governance,
transparency and taxation.
The Bihar government has decided to
provide free education to Scheduled Castes
(SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST) and girl
students till Post Graduation (PG) level in
the state.
The decision, taken at a meeting of the state
cabinet, said no fee would be taken from the SC /
ST and girl students at the time of admission in
government universities and colleges in Bihar.
Maharashtra Government is planning to
revamp the 'Jeevan Amrut Yojana' (blood on
call) Scheme which is aimed at facilitating blood
supply to patients scheduled to undergo surgeries
and medical procedures in remote areas.
Aimed at curbing corruption in land
transactions in Haryana, the Manohar Lal
Khattar government has launched online
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registration of land deals in all tehsils of the
state.
Under the new system, documents for land
registration have to be submitted at e-Disha
centres, where a helpdesk will provide
information regarding stamp duty and collector
rates.
Home secretary Anil Goswami resigned
after government asked him to put in his papers
in the wake of controversy over his alleged
attempt to stall the arrest of Saradha scam
accused Matang Sinh, a former Congress
minister at the centre.
Former Police Chief of Gujarat P .C.
Pande discharged in Tulsi Ram Prajapati fake
encounter case.
February 05
Kolkata has become India's first WiFi
enabled metro city as the service was launched
from Park Street.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata
Banerjee informed through her Twitter account.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said that
the direct cash transfer schemes like the
PAHAL Yojana will bring an end to black
marketing and subsidies will reach people more
effectively.
Expressing satisfaction at the registration of
10 crore citizens as part of the PAHAL Yojana,
the prime minister said the scheme has a major
role in nation building.
This scheme aims to reduce diversion and
eliminate duplicate or bogus LPG connections.
PAHAL Yojana is one of the largest cash
transfer schemes in the world.
PAHAL - Pratyaksh Hanstantarit Labh
Delhi Elections 2015
The elections for the 70member Delhi
Assembly will be held in a single phase on 7th
February. The counting of votes will take place on
10th February.
New
Chief
Election
Commissioner
H.S.Brahma
Nagaland Chief Minister T R Zeliang won
the trial of strength with 59 MLAs in the
60member House voting in his favour at the one
day special session of the Assembly.
Former Gujarat top cop D G Vanzara set to
walk out of jail after court granted him bail in
Ishrat Jahan encounter case.
February 06
PM Narendra Modi Held First Meeting of NITI
Aayog.
He discussed the state of the economy,
especially the farm sector, and sought
suggestions for the upcoming budget in this
meeting.
The first Vice Chairman of the Aayog,
Arvind Panagariya, and fulltime member
Bibek Debroy and V K Saraswat had joined
last month.
The ex-officio members are Home Minister
Rajnath Singh, Finance Minister Arun
Jaitley, Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu and
Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh.
The Aayog's special invitees are Road
Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari,
Social Justice and Empowerment Minister Thawar
Chand Gehlot and Human Resource Development
Minister Smriti Irani.
February 07
JD (U) legislature party elects Nitish
Kumar as new leader, sacks Jitan Ram Manjhi.
The Supreme Court directed the Centre to
convene a meeting of the home secretaries of
thestates and Union territorieswithin four weeks
to framea scheme for providingmedical treatment
to acidattack victims.
In an acknowledgement of the efforts of
Foreign
Service
officers
in
cultivating
andprotecting Indian interests abroad, Prime
Minister
Narendra
Modi
unveiled

R.A.C.E
Transformation",
a
memorial
in
commemoration of those Indian government
officers and personnel who sacrificed their lives in
the line of duty while serving abroad.
The
Bhartiya
Janata
Party
(BJP)
government led by Chief Minister Raman Singh in
Chhattisgarh has officially declared Valentines
Day as MatruPitru Divas (Parents Day).
February 08
The Election Commission today ordered re
polling in two polling stations in Delhi where
voting took place.
The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has
ordered a ban on roadside shops and eateries
along the animal corridors near Assam's
Kaziranga National Park among a slew of
directions in the wake of increasing wildlife
casualties due to vehicular movement on the
adjacent highway.
Goa Tourism Minister Dilip Parulekar said
it is an honour that the state was getting global
recognition as a "safe tourism destination" as
he hailed the recent announcement by a media
conglomerate that placed Goa at the sixth spot in
'Top 10 Nightlife Cities' list.
Important Note: Goa has been positioned
sixth in the list of top 10 nightlife cities in
the world by 'National Geographic'.
February 09
The Janata Dal United (JDU) replaced their
leader Jitan Ram Manjhi with Nitish Kumar, as
the Bharatiya Janata Party put its weight
behind Manjhi but could not coordinate his
'rebellion'.
In its centenary year in 2013, the
Rockefeller Foundation announced the 100
Resilient Cities project with a $100 million
commitment
to
build
urban
resilience
worldwide.
The project consists hiring of a Chief
Resilience Officer (CRO) in each city, or a
senior person to work in municipal government

usually with mayors, or in the Indian context,
probably more with the commissioners with the
breadth and gravitas to work across the sectors
and silos and engage with private sector and civil
society.
February 09 is the death anniversary of
murlidhar devides amte, popularly known as
baba amte.
An Indian social worker and social activist,
who known particularly for his work for the
rehabilitation and empowerment of poor people
suffering from leprosy.
Goa has been ranked at the 6th position in
the list of top 10 nightlife cities in the world by
the list published by the national geographic.
February 10th
The AAP stunned everyone on Tuesday with
an overwhelming victory in the Delhi assembly
polls, setting up a second stint for Arvind
Kejriwal as chief minister.
The BJP was left bruised in a distant second
place with wins projected for it in just three
seats. The Congress drew a blank.
Kiran Bedi lost Krishna Nagar seat which
was considered as BJP's pet by a narrow margin,
While Arvind Kejriwal won New Delhi seat
comfortably.
Arvind Kejriwal will sworn as the Chief
Minister of Delhi for second successive term
on 14th February.
The Union health minister jagat prakash
nadda along with the state minister rajendra
rathore
declared
February
10
as
the
deworming day.
The day will be observed in 11 states and
union territories to treat 140 million children
initially at risk of parasitic worms infection in
schools and anganwadi centres.
Railways minister Suresh prabhu flagged
off 3 new trains.

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The
trains
are
Mumbai-Gorakhpur
jansadharan express, pune- lucknow weekly
express, bidar- Mumbai weekly express.
February 11
India presses for automatic exchange of
tax information at G20 meet
India
has
called
for
expeditious
implementation of the automatic exchange of tax
information saying it would help in tracking illegal
money stashed in foreign banks.
Minister of State for Finance Jayant
Sinha
advocated
"full
and
fast
implementation" of Automatic Exchange of
Information within the agreed time-frame.
National gamesmascot in Limca book of
records
National Games mascot Ammu, the Great
Hornbill, has immortalized itself by finding a
mention in the Limca Book of Records.
Inordinate delay in caste census
In the year 2015-16 and onwards, this socio
economic and caste census (SECC) will be the
base on which the beneficiaries for the Indira
awas yojana (IAY) and the national social
assistance program (NSAP) will be selected so
far as the rural development ministry is
concerned and those states who failed in
selecting the beneficiaries from this data would
not receive financial assistance
Udyanotsav 2015
President Pranab mukherjee will open the
udyanotsav for public viewing on February 13,
2015 evening. Public can visit mughul gardens
from February 14th till march 15th between
9.30am to 4pm.
This years main attraction of the udyanotsav
is tulips, which have reportedly been in bloom in
vivid colors of red, orange, yellow.
February 12
Himachal Pradesh government launched
criminal tracking network system project
Himachal
Pradesh
Chief
Minister
Virbhadra Singh on 11 February 2015 launched
the Crime and Criminal Tracking Network
System (CCTNS) project in the state.
It will also connect CID crime branch, 14
control rooms, finger print bureau, forensic
science laboratory and 16 CCTNS training centers
in the state.
Indian navy conducted HADR exercise
Indian Navy had conducted Humanitarian
Assistance and Disaster relief (HADR)
exercise in Lakshadweep Islands (Kavaratti,
Aggatti, Kalpeni and Androth).
HADR was Indian Navys large scale exercise
to test its readiness for handling a tsunami
like disasters in order to provide immediate
succor and relief to the affected people.
February 13
Fourth river festival begins in Madhya
pradesh
Fourth River festival has begun at
Bandrabhan bank of Narmada River in
Hoshangabad district in Madhya Pradesh. Three
day festival was inaugurated by Chief Minister
Shivraj Singh Chouhan.
Theme of this years river festival is "River,
its catchment area, chemicals and crisis"
Odisha chief information commissioner
resigned
The Chief Information Commissioner (CIC) of
Odisha Tarun Kanti Mishra resigned from his
position. He was appointed as the Chief
Information Commissioner of Odisha by replacing
D.N. Padhee.
Mishra has also written several books and
compilation of short stories. He was also awarded
with the prestigious Odisha Sahitya Academy
Award for his significant contribution to Odisha
literature.
Union Home Ministry forms threemember SIT to probe 1984 anti-Sikh riot
cases

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Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has
constituted a three-member Special Investigation
Team (SIT) for re-investigation of the 1984 antiSikh riot cases mainly in Delhi and other States.
Members: Three-member SIT will be headed
by Pramod Asthana, an IPS officer of 1986
batch. It will have retired district and sessions
judge Rakesh Kapoor and Additional Deputy
Commissioner of Police in Delhi Police Kumar
Gyanesh as its members.
Function: Newly-constituted SIT has been
empowered to examine fresh evidence in cases
which had even been closed. It will also look into
all serious criminal cases relating to the riots
examine evidence and even re-open cases and
file charge sheets in the courts concerned.
India ranks 136 in world press freedom
index (WPFI) 2015
In recently released World Press Freedom
Index (WPFI), India was placed at 136th rank
out of 180 nations surveyed worldwide in terms
of press freedom in 2015.
In WPFI 2015, India has shown improvement
from its rank of 140 in 2014. However, Indias
absolute score has declined from 40.34 to
40.49.
Top 10 countries: Finland (1st), Norway
(2nd), Denmark (3rd), Netherlands (4th),
Sweden (5th), New Zealand (6th), Austria (7th),
Canada (8th), Jamaica (9th), Estonia (10th).
February 14
Arvind Kejriwal sworn in as the eighth
Chief Minister of Delhi
Arvind Kejriwal took oath as Delhi's
youngest chief minister on 14 February 2015.
Lieutenant Governor of Delhi Najeeb
Jung administered the oath of office and secrecy
to him at oath taking ceremony held at Ramlila
Maidan, Delhi.
Earlier, President Pranab Mukherjee had
appointed Arvind Kejriwal as Chief Minister of
Delhi and 6 Ministers of his govenment as per

provisions of Article 239AA of Constitution.
PM inaugurated Bombay High Court's
museum:
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 14 February
2015 inaugurated the `Permanent Judicial
Museum' at Bombay High Court, which has on
display the Barrister Certificates of Mahatma
Gandhi and Mohammed Ali Jinnah.
The museum has been set up as a part of the
court's
sesquicentennial
(150th
year)
celebration.
Maharashtra Governor C Vidyasagar Rao,
Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, Union
Law Minister DV Sadananda Gowda and
Chief
Justice
of
the
Bombay High
Court Justice Mohit Shah were present on this
occasion.
India's first national tribal festival kicked
off in Delhi:
India's first national tribal festival 'Vanaj',
featuring around 900 artists across the country,
began in New Delhi on 13 February 2015.
The five-day event is being organised by the
government to conserve and promote the
distinctive cultures of the tribal by providing
them a national platform.
Tribal Affairs Minister Jual Oram urged
media to given them adequate coverage.
23rd edition of New Delhi World Book
Fair begins
The 23rd edition of the New Delhi World
Book Fair began at Pragati Maidan in New
Delhi.
This year the theme of fair is Suryodaya:
Emerging Voices from Northeast India.
About New Delhi World Book Fair
The Delhi Book Fair is Indias oldest book fair
organized at Pragati Maidan, New Delhi. First
Delhi Book Fair Was held in March 1972 and was
inaugurated by then President of India VV
Giri, 10 August 1894 23 June 1980

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February 15
Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena
arrived in India on a 4-Day visit
In his maiden foreign trip after assuming
charge, Sri Lankan President Maithripala
Sirisena arrived on 15 February 2015 on a fourday visit during which he will hold talks with the
Indian leadership on entire gamut of
bilateral ties.
Programme of Cultural Cooperation
between Sri Lanka and India for the years 2015 18.
MoU on the Establishment of Nalanda
University.
The MoU would enable Sri Lanka to
participate in the Nalanda University
Project.
Work-Plan 2014-2015 under the MoU on
Cooperation in the field of Agriculture
between India and Sri Lanka
Indian yoga teacher sets Guinness
record in Hong Kong
A 29-year-old Indian yoga teacher in
Hong Kong on 15 February 2015 set a Guinness
World Record for performing Yoga continuously
for 40 hours non-stop, demonstrating more
than 1,500 'asanas'.
Yogaraj CP, a yoga instructor based in Hong
Kong, broke the record for the 'Longest Yoga
Marathon (Male)' by performing continuously
for three days.
PM Narendra Modi inaugurated first
renewable energy global investors meet
Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the
first Renewable Energy Global Investors
Meet and Expo (Re-Invest) 2015 in New
Delhi.
Germany is the partner country for ReInvest 2015 and over 2500 delegates including
exhibitors from 45 countries are participating in
the three day event.
Third National Lok Adalat disposes 56000
cases, disburses 265 crore
The third National Lok Adalat was organised

on 14 February 2015 throughout India involving
the Supreme Court, high courts, districts courts
and taluka-level courts, except in Assam and
Uttar Pradesh.
It was organised under the patronage of
Chief Justice of India (CJI) H L Dattu and the
leadership of Supreme Court Judge Justice T
S Thakur. Nearly 56,000 cases were disposed of
by the third National Lok Adalat in a single day.
Third Lok Adalat was organised by the
National Legal Service Authority (NALSA) to
disburse cases related bank recovery, cheques
bounce cases, particularly under Section 138 of
the Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881.
Bihar cabinet included paswan caste in
mahadalit category
Bihar cabinet on 15th February 2014
approved a politically sensitive proposal of
including the paswan caste in the mahadalit
category.
February 16
Patna high court restrained bihar former cm
jitan ram manjhi government form taking any
policy decisions involving financial implications till
19th of this month.
293 firms commit to generate 266 GW
renewable energy in 5 years
February 17
AAP to launch jai kisan Abhiyan in
Haryana
Senior Aam Aadmi Party leader Yogendra
Yadav on Tuesday declared that a Jai Kisan
Abhiyan would be launched across the State
from February 21.
Haryana government has to decide to
launch a special taxi services for women
passengers in Gurgaon.
These taxis are going to driven by women
drivers

R.A.C.E
Officials said they are intended to start the
service in the next 100 days with the help of 50
nano cars.
Swachh Bharat Abhiyaan development
Construction of toilets under Prime Minister
Narendra Modi's dream project, Swachh
Bharat Abhiyan, has gained momentum with
7.1 lakh individual household toilets being
built in January.
AERO INDIA 2015
Asias premier air show, aero india will
start in bengaluru tomorrow with a global
eyeing the multi-billion dollar Indian defence
market, seeking to align with the make in India
campaign of narendra modi government.
This is said to be the largest ever air show
to be hosted in india.
Over 300 firms will be taking part in this
years event
Union government imposes anti-dumpling
duty
Union Ministry of Finance has imposed an
anti-dumping duty on imports of graphite
electrodes used in steel plants for five years. The
imposed duty ranges between $278.19 and
$922.03
per
tonne.
The
decision
was
taken
following
the
recommendations of the Directorate General of
Anti-Dumping Duty (DGAD).
February 18
132nd
birth
anniversary
of
Indian
revolutionary Madanlal dhingra is being
observed today
PM narendra modis suit with his name
narendra damodardas modi- forming the
stripes was auctioned in surat.
Rajesh
juneja,
surat
based
textile
businessman bid a whopping of 1.21 crore for
this controversial suit that modi wore during US
president Obamas visit to india.
The proceeds of auction will go to namaami
gange trust fund.
February 19
Hindalco won Gare palma coal mine
Aditya
Birla
group
firm
Hindalco
Industries has won the Gare Palma IV/5 mine
at Rs 3,502 per tonne.
In Chhattisgarh by outbidding companies like
BALCO, Sesa Sterlite, Ambuja Cements, which
were also vying for the same block.
States, including Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand
and West Bengal, are set to get over Rs 50,000
crore from the coal blocks sold in the ongoing
auction.
India test fired Prithvi-II missile
India successfully test-fired nuclear weapons,
surface-to-surface Prithvi-II missile from
Chandipur-on-sea
in
Balasore
district,
Odisha.
The missile has a range of 350 Km and was
tested for a shortened range of 250 km.
The
personnel
of
Strategic
Forces
Command (SFC) from a road mobile launch
complex-3 of the Integrated Test Range
(ITR) launched the missile.
Prithvi-II is capable of carrying 500 kg to
1000 kg of warheads and is thrusted by liquid
propulsion twine engines and has a strike
range of 350 km.
It is the first missile to have been developed
by the DRDO under the Integrated Guided
Missile Development Programme (IGMDP)
and has been inducted into the SFC in 2003.
Bihar announces 35% reservation for
women in non-gazetted govt jobs
Bihar government has announced 35%
reservation
for
women
in
non-gazetted
government jobs in group C and D grade.
This decision was taken at state cabinet
meeting presided by Former Chief Minister
Jitan Ram Manjhi.
Hiked Member of Legislative Assembly
Development Fund (MLADF) from the present

R.A.C.E
2 crore in a year to 3 crore from the next
financial year.
Proposal to pay 13 months salary in place of
12 months to policemen upto inspector rank.
Hiked the daily wage of home guards to Rs.
400 from Rs. 300 at present.
Enhance the payment of agricultural advisors
to Rs. 7,000 per month from Rs. 6,000 per
month at present.
Union
government
launches
single
window e-biz portal
Union Government has launched a single
window
government-to-business
(G2B)
portal- e-Biz (www.ebiz.gov.in) for 11 Central
government services to bring transparency and
ease of doing business in the country.
The portal was unveiled to public by Union
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in New Delhi.
February 20
PM modi launches soil health card
scheme targeting
Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched a
Soil Health Card scheme, under which the
Centre plans to target over 14 crore farmers in
the next three years to check the excess use
of fertilisers.
The card, to be issued after testing soil,
would help farmers save up to Rs 50,000 in 3
acres of land.
Shanghvi, the richest indian
59-year old Gujarat born Shanghvi, by
virtue of his over 63% holding in three group
companies Sun Pharma, Sun Pharma
Advanced Research and Ranbaxy Labs is
worth about 1.46 lakh crore ($23.42 billion at
an exchange rate of 62.34 to the dollar).
In comparison Mukesh Ambani holds only
45% holdings in his two companies RIL and
Reliance industries Infrastructure which is
worth only Rs 1.32 lakh crore ($21.2
billion).
KVIC, RSETIs sign MOU to provide

vocational training
The
Khadi
and
Village
Industries
Commission (KVIC) have joined hands with
Rural Self Employment Training Institute
(RSETI), to provide vocational training to
unemployed youth.
In this regard memorandum of understanding
(MoU) was signed between the two bodies in the
presence of Micro, Small and Medium
Enterprises Minster Kalraj Mishra. Along with
vocational training MoU also aims at providing
loan linkages to deserving beneficiaries linked to
the Prime Ministers Employment Guarantee
Programme (PMEGP).
The MoU is for initial period of three years.
However, its performance will be reviewed after
two years.
Union
government
approves
various
highway projects worth 8600 crore
Government has approved various highway
projects in states of Uttar Pradesh, Odisha and
Chhattisgarh worth over Rs 8,600 crore. The
work for these approved road projects will be
under the National Highways Development
Project (NHDP) Phase-V.
This decision was taken by Cabinet
Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA)
chaired by the Prime Minister Narendra
Modi.
The world famous khajuraho dance festival
begins at Madhya Pradesh.
Eminent Indian classical dancers will
perform during the seven day festival.
Inaugurated by minister of state for
culture surendra patwa.
February 21
PDP,BJP finalise deal on J&K government
formation
BJP and PDP agreed on forming the
government in Jammu and Kashmir, both the
parties confirmed that the two have finalized the
deal.

R.A.C.E
PDP will have chief minister's post for full
term and BJP deputy chief minister's post which
is expected to be given to state BJP leader
Nirmal Singh.
Women joined in Indian air force
For the first time, two women are part of
the Sarang team of the Indian Air Force, a
show-stopping helicopter-formation team
that is performing at the Aero India show.
In a major policy shift in 2010, the IAF
allowed women pilots to fly twin-engine medium
to heavy-lift helicopters.
Deepika Misra is the Squadron Leader and
Sandeep Singh an engineering officer, is the
Flight Lieutenant.
External affairs minister sushma swaraj
launches webportal MADAD (Because you are
us) to address grievences of Indian residing
aboard.
Indias high air pollution , ranked by the
world health organisation(WHO) among the
worst in the world,is adversely impacting the
lifespans of its citizens, reducing most Indian
lives by over three years,a new study has said.
February 22
Nine months after he stepped down, the
JD(U) leader Nitish Kumar was today sworn
in as the Bihar Chief Minister, ending days of
political drama following a bitter power struggle
with Jitan Ram Manjhi.
Besides Kumar, 22 ministers, including
three women, were also administered the oath
of office.
February 23
Budget Session of Parliament begins with
President Pranab Mukherjee's address to both
Houses.
The budget session contains 44 items of
financial, legislative and non-legislative
business.
The bills replacing ordinances on raising the

foreign investment limit in insurance,
auctioning coal mines and changing the
rules of land acquisition are some of the
important legislations scheduled to be tabled
during the session.
The Juvenile Justice (Care and protection of
Children) Bill, The Labour Code on Wages Bill,
The small factories (regulation of employment
and condition of services) Bill, and The Labour
Code on Industrial Relations Bill are also likely to
come up during the session.
Social activist Anna Hazare starts his two
day long agitation in Delhi against the Land
acquisition Ordinance.
Ordinance on Land Acquisition is antifarmer which the Government has brought to
cater to industrialists, he said.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal will
participate in the protest along with social
activist Anna Hazare at Jantar Mantar.
Rural Development Minister Birender
Singh.
Public
sector
banks,
including
the
country's biggest lender State Bank of
India,
will
remain
shut
on
alternate
Saturdays, according to a deal reached between
employee unions and the Indian Banks'
Association, which represents lenders.
An agreement was also reached to hike
wages of over 7 lakh public sector bank
employees by 15 per cent.
The wage hike will be applicable from
November 2012 and will be valid for five years
Himachal Pradesh is set to become the
country's first state to present a 'paperless'
budget on March 11.
Since the state already has the country's first
green assembly, all documents related to
budget estimates would be made available
online and only around 10 budget copies would
be printed for record.

10
R.A.C.E
Himachal
Pradesh
Virbhadra Singh
Chief
minister
Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, TRAI

has amended the regulation on it.
February 24
BJP chief Amit Shah announced today that
his party will partner with the Peoples
Democratic Party (PDP) to form government in
Jammu and Kashmir, two months after election
results were declared.
February 26
Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu has
presented the Rail Budget in Parliament.
PDP Chief Mufti Mohammad Sayeed will
meet PM Narendra Modi in New Delhi to give a
final
touch
to
the
programme
for
government formation in Jammu and
Kashmir.
Mr. Sayeed is likely to take oath this Sunday
as the next chief minister of J&K under a PDPBJP
alliance.
Delhi Government announces compensation
of 1 crore rupees to the next of the kin of a
CRPF personnel Narottam Das who was killed
in a landmine blast in Gaya, Bihar earlier this
week.
Chhattisgarh government lifts ban on
participation of its employees in the activities
of RSS.
The Chhattisgarh Civil Services (Conduct)
Rules 1965 prohibit a government servant from
taking part in politics.
Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal writes to
Haryana CM Manohar LAL Khattar on the
issue of release of water from Munak canal.
Delhi Chief Minister has said that the
shortage of water can lead to major disruptions
in production of drinking water in the national
capital.
Mr Kejriwal has also sought time from the
Haryana Chief Minister for a meeting with his
officials at Chandigarh to discuss and resolve the
issue.
February 25
Delhi government has slashed power tariff
by 50% for consumption up to 400 units per
month.
This decision will benefit around 90 percent
of Delhiites.
Government has also decided to supply free
water up to 20,000 litres for every household
in a month.
The Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister
Narendra Modi, gave approval for establishing
the New Development Bank (NDB) and the
BRICS Contingent Reserve Arrangement
(CRA).
Heads of the five nation BRICS group
Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa
decided at their sixth summit in Fortaleza in
July last year to create a development bank as
well as a reserve fund to finance infrastructure
projects and other sustainable development
projects.
The cabinet also approved state-run power
producer NTPC Ltd's plans to set up 15,000
megawatt of grid-connected solar projects,
which would be completed in three tranches.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh
Yadav presented a Rs 3.02 lakh crore annual
budget for 2015-16, 10.2 per cent more than last
fiscal.
This is his fourth budget.
Mobile subscribers from 3rd May, will be able
to port their numbers anywhere in the
country while changing service providers.
February 27
Nation remembers Great freedom fighter
Chandra Shekhar Azad (23rd July 1906 27th
February 1931) on his Death Anniversary
Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that the
government is ready to make changes in the

11
R.A.C.E
controversial Land Acquisition Bill if in
interest of farmers.
He termed MNREGA a failure of Congress
but the scheme to continue.
The Supreme Court took a strong view
against circulation of sexual violence videos
on popular messaging services and their
telecast on social networking sites, ordering
a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI)
inquiry into two rape cases that were highlighted
early this month by Sunitha Krishnan who
runs the anti-trafficking NGO Prajwala.
Haryana government said it has decided to
raise the cash reward under the inter-caste
marriage scheme from Rs 50,000 to Rs 1
lakh.
It was constituted under Rule 16 of the
Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes
(Prevention of Atrocities) Act.
Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar .
Election Commission will link electoral
photo Identity card with Aadhar number to
stop duplication and to make electoral rolls
error free.
Around 10 to 12% in electoral roll are
duplicate.
Chief Election Commissioner H S Brahma
The Gujarat Forest department and
Zoological Society of London entered into
memorandum of understanding for the
protection of Asiatic lion and its habitat which
was inked on Thursday.
The Gujarat Forest department will use
smart software which will be used for tracking
the movement of their staff and even the
lions.
This software has been developed jointly by
the Zoological Society of London and the
Gujarat forest department.
February 28
28th February 2015 is National Science
Day.
The theme of this year is Science for

Nation Building.
On this day, the nation pays tributes to the
legacy of the great scientist, Dr C V Raman, who
brought Nobel Prize in Science to Asia and
India for the first time for his e-pochmaking
discovery Raman Effect.
First President of Republic of India, Bharat
Ratna, Dr. Rajendra Prasad's Death Anniversary.
First Assamese dictionary for Science
and Technology terms with over 40,000
words was released by Dibrugarh University
Vice Chancellor Dr Alok Kumar Buragohain.
International Affairs
1st February
Sri Lankan President appointed K Sripavan
as Chief Justice
Sri Lanka on 1 February 2015 appointed
Justice K Sripavan, an ethnic-Tamil, its new Chief
Justice.
Justice Sripavan, 63, took oath as the 44th
Chief Justice before President Maithripala
Sirisena, the Presidents office said in a
statement.
Mr. Sripavan replaced Chief Justice Shirani
Bandaranayake, who resigned on 29 Jan 2015,
only a day after she was reinstated to the
position by Sirisena government.
He is second Tamil to hold be Chief Justice.
The last Tamil chief justice was Herbert
Thambiah, who left the position in 1991.
Bharat Rang Mahotsav, Asias biggest
theatre festival, began
War play 'Ghazab Teri Adaa', the latest
creation by National School of Drama (NSD),
opened the 17th edition of Bharat Rang
Mahotsav at New Delhi.
The theatre festival was inaugurated by
Mahesh
Sharma,
Minister
of
State
(Independent Charge), Ministry of Tourism
and Culture and Civil Aviation and National

12
R.A.C.E
Award-winning actor and an NSD alumnus Om
Puri.
February 02
Russia, India and China have called for an
early
conclusion
of
negotiations
on
the
comprehensive Convention on International
Terrorism.
In a joint communiqu issued after the 13th
meeting of foreign ministers of the three
countries, under the RIC Forum in Beijing they
strongly condemned terrorism in all forms and
said there can be no ideological, political, racial,
ethnic or any other justification for acts of
terrorism.
The Ministers affirmed the need for all
countries to join efforts in combating terrorism
under the auspices of United Nations.
Indian External Affairs Minister - Sushma
Swaraj
Chinese foreign Minister Wang Yi
Russian foreign Minister Sergey Levrov
India and China jointly launched the Visit
India Year in China (Beijing) during the visit
of Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma
Swaraj to China.
The initiative is aimed at enhancing the flow
of tourists from China to India and to
strengthen the people to people bond. China
will support the promotion of Indian tourist
resources in its country.
India
launched
its
flagship
diplomacy
magazine
in
Chinese
language
to
give
"interesting" information about the country's rich
culture and tradition.
External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj took
the opportunity to unveil the Chinese version of
'India Perspectives'.
February 03
The UK is now set to become the first
country to introduce laws to allow the creation
of babies from three people.
In an historic move, MPs have voted in

favour of the creation of babies with DNA
from two women and one man.
During the debate, ministers said the
technique was "light at the end of a dark
tunnel" for families.
February 04
4th February is World Cancer Day.
This Day was founded by the Union for
International Cancer Control (UICC) to
support the goals of the World Cancer
Declaration, written in 2008.
The primary goal of the World Cancer Day
is to significantly reduce illness and death
caused by cancer by 2020.
This year's theme:'Not Beyond Us'.
The 2015 campaign will be articulated around
four key areas of focus:
Choosing healthy lives
Delivering early detection
Achieving treatment for all
Maximising quality of life
Sri Lanka celebrates 67th Independence
Day
President Maithripala Sirisena promised to
bridge the ethnic divide that still exists following
the end of the countries civil war five years ago.
February 06
US President Barack Obama has said that
the "acts of intolerance" experienced by
religious faiths of all types in India in the past
few years would have shocked Mahatma Gandhi.
The comments by Obama came a day after
the White House refuted suggestions that the US
President's public speech in New Delhi in which
he touched upon religious tolerance was a
"parting shot" aimed at the ruling BJP.
Union Minister Arun Jaitley rejects these
remarks, Says aberrations cannot alter India's
history of tolerance.

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R.A.C.E
France and Germany present a new
peace plan to end conflict in Ukraine. US
extends full support to this plan.
French President Franois Hollande and
German Chancellor Angela Merkel presented
this plan, a day after Kiev gave its tentative
support for the proposal.
Sri Lanka President Maithripala Sirisena
will embark on a four day visit to India from
15th February.
This will be Mr Sirisena's first foreign trip
after becoming President.
February 07
Pakistan has said that it may grant nondiscriminatory market access status to India
andthe two countries are moving towards sealing
a deal to liberalise trade.
Nigerias
electoral
commission
has
decided to postpone the 14th February 2015
Presidential and Legislative elections for six
weeks to give a new multinational force time to
secure northeastern areas under the way of
Boko Haram.
Nafea Faa Ipoipo, or When Will You
Marry? A painting of two Tahitian girls has been
sold for $300 million, making it the most
expensive work ofart ever sold.
Painted by French artist Gauguin in 1892.
February 08
Russian President Vladimir Putin has said
that Russia does not plan to wage war on anyone
and going to cooperate with all.
The comments were the first from Mr. Putin
since
he
met
French
President
FrancoisHollande
&
GermanChancellor
Angela Merkel on the crisis in the Ukraine.
February 09
Swiss Leaks a trove of secret documents
from HSBCs Swiss private banking arm that
reveals names of account holders and their

balances for the year 2006-07.
Prime
Minister
Narendra
Modi
met
Singapore President Tony Tan Keng Yam,
who is presently in the national capital to
commemorate the 50th anniversary of diplomatic
relations between the two countries.
India-Singapore discussed an agenda of
development,
Skill
development,
connectivity in North East India primary
focus.
China launched its first cruise liner to sail
via its ambitious trans continential initiative
Maritime silk road(MSR) on its maiden voyage
during which it will visit three south-east asian
nations including malaysia and vietnam.
February 12
India - US partnership dialogue
U.S treasury secretary Jacob J.Lew met
union finance minister Arun jaitley in New
Delhi for the fifth india-U.S economic and
financial partnership dialogue.
The dialogue will focus on capital market
reforms and economic policies between the
two countries.
Lew, who is on a two-day visit to India, met
leading business heads in Mumbai yesterday at
the confederation of Indian industry (CII) and
US-India business council roundtable.
Four new fish species discovered in
Kerala
Four new fish species named Puntius
nelsoni,
Puntius
nigronotus,
Systomus
chryseus and Systomus
rufus have
been
discovered in Kerala.
They
were
discovered
by Mathews
Plamoottil, a zoology professor at Baby John
Memorial Government College in Kollam.
Facts about discovered species
Puntius nelson- Body and fins of this fish is
yellowish in colour. Its head is deeper, the snout
shorter and the mouth wider. It was discovered

14
R.A.C.E
at Kallumkal in Thiruvalla, at the place where
Pamba and Manimala rivers merge.
Puntius nigronotus- It has dorsal fin, black
in colour and has more rays. Its lateral line scales
are greater than its closest relatives. It was
discovered at Mananthavady in the hilly Wayanad
district.
Systomus chryseus- It is golden in colour
and its pectoral fin is greatly elongated. It was
discovered from Keezhvaipur near Thiruvalla.
Systomus rufus- Its fins are red in colour. It
was discovered from Venpala, near Thiruvalla
district.
Detailed articles describing these new species
have been published in international publications
like Journal of Research in Biology and
International Journal of Fauna and Biological
Studies.
February 13
Ashton carter confirmed as new US
defence secretary
Ashton Carter, a close confidant of
President Barack Obama and a strong
proponent of Indo-US strategic ties, has been
confirmed by the Senate as the next American
defence secretary.
Mr. Carter will be the 25th U.S. Secretary of
Defence, replacing Chuck Hagel who quit from
the post in November last amid reports of
differences with Mr. Obama.
World radio day observed on 13 february
World Radio Day was observed globally on
13 February 2015 with the theme Youth and
Radio.
United Nations Educational, Scientific,
and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) annually
celebrate the World Radio Day by planning
activities with broadcasters, organizations and
communities around the world.
UNESCO at its 36th General Assembly on
3 November 2011 proclaimed 13 February as
World Radio Day. The first World Radio Day

was officially celebrated in 2012.
February 14
YouTube celebrated its tenth anniversary
Video sharing site YouTube is celebrated its
tenth anniversary on 14 February 2015.
Some of the site's most popular clips have
become cultural phenomena, such as South
Korean singer Psy's addictive - and briefly
ubiquitous - Gangnam Style
February 15
China
opened
its
largest
overseas
embassy in Pakistan:
China has opened a new embassy in Pakistan,
its "largest overseas" diplomatic mission, which
foreign minister Wang Yi described as a
symbol of friendship between the "all weather"
allies.
An opening ceremony was held on February
13, during Wang's visit to Islamabad.
The opening of the new Islamabad embassy
came as China and Pakistan deepen their allweather relations with the construction of the
multi-billion Economic Corridor through the
Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (POK).
February 16
Egypt joined anti IS battle after extremist
group released a video showing the beheading of
21 Egyptian Christians it had held hostages
for week
February 17
External affairs and overseas Indian
affairs minister sushma swaraj is on two
day visit to oman.
She has arrived in muscal and will meet top
leadership in oman and hold talks on security
and defence.
India and oman enjoy excellent ties and
have worked together in anti-piracy operations
and cyber-crime

15
R.A.C.E
Joint military exercise has been held
recently between the two countries.
India oman bilateral trade is on upswing
and crossed $ 5.7 billion in 2013-14.
February 18
External affairs minister sushma swaraj
met oman foreign minister yousuf bin alawi
bin Abdullah and reviewed bilateral, political,
economic, defence and security issues as well
as the regional situations.
She also met oman deputy prime minister
sayyid fahd bin mahmoud al said.
Later she met Indian community in oman
and praised them for their achievements.
China proposes triangular partnership
with India, srilanka
Beijing has proposed at triangular partnership
with India and Sri Lanka, ahead of a month-end
visit to Beijing of the Sri Lankan Foreign
Minister Mangala Samaraweera.
Chinas new strategic construct of inclusive
ties with India and Sri Lanka follows its advocacy
of the 21st century Maritime Silk Road
(MSR), where India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh
and Pakistan are visualized as partner
countries in South Asia.
India is connected to the MSR through the
Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar
(BCIM)
economic corridor.
February 19
February 19, the first day of the new year
on the Chinese lunar calendar.
2015 in china is considered as the year of
the goat.
Nepal
celebrated
its
65th
national
democracy day 19 February.
National
democracy
day
(rashtriya
prajatantra divas) is being held in Nepal every
19th of February in honor of the late king
prithvi narayan shah.
February 20
Thailand passes law to ban commercial
surrogacy for foreigners
Completely bans foreign couples seeking
to have children through Thai surrogate
mothers.
Only married Thai couples or couples with
one Thai partner who have been married at
least three years can seek surrogacy.
US and Turkey signed agreement
United States (US) and Turkey have
signed an agreement to train and arm
moderate Syrian opposition forces taking on
Islamic State (IS) militants.
The deal was inked by Turkeys foreign
ministry undersecretary Feridun Sinirlioglu
and US ambassador to Ankara John Bass.
While, Western and Arab countries assist
them by providing airstrikes to stop IS
militants.
Saudi Arabia and Qatar also have agreed to
host similar training programmes which will begin
in March 2015.
February 21
21st
February
is
observed
as
the
international mothers language day.
It is to promote linguistic, cultural diversity
and multilingualism.
West Bengal CM mamata banerjee is on a
three day visit to Bangladesh.
She met Bangladesh prime minister
sheikh hasina, raising hope for a breakthorough
in resolving teesta river water sharing issue.
She also proposed a series of steps including
construction of bangabhandhu bhayan
in
Kolkata to strengthen cultural ties with
Bangladesh.
February 22
22nd February is Twins day.
22nd February is World Thinking Day.

16
R.A.C.E
This day is celebrated annually on 22
February by all Girl Guides and Girl Scouts.
It is also celebrated by Scout and Guide
organizations and
some boy oriented
associations around the world.
It is a day when they think about their
"sisters" (and "brothers") in all the countries
of the world, the meaning of Guiding, and its
global impact.
The Sri Lankan parliament has given
approval to enact laws to protect the victims of
crimes and witnesses by passing the long awaited
piece of legislation.
Justice Minister Wijedasa Rajapakshe
presented the Assistance to and Protection of
Victims of Crime and Witnesses Bill in
Parliament and the bill was passed by the House
with amendments.
Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom
of Bahrain Shaikh Khalid Bin Ahmed Bin
Mohamed Al Khalifa is in his Official visit to
India.
February 23
India and Nepal began 8th 'Surya Kiran'
exercise, a battalion level combined military
training exercise in Kathmandu, focusing on
counter terrorism and counter- insurgency
operations in the mountainous and jungle
terrain.
The Nepalese contingent was represented
by a battalion from an Infantry Division of
Nepalese Army.
February 24
India announced that the country is ready
for talks with Pakistan on all issues
including Jammu and Kashmir in accordance
with the Simla Agreement.
Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar will travel
to Pakistan next week, seven months after
India cancelled foreign secretary-level talks.
February 25
The United Kingdom has become the first

country in the world to legalize the creation
of the babies by the DNA from three people,
using Mitochondrial Donation Technique.
HFEA of the United Kingdom will now decide
how to license the procedure to prevent babies
suffering from deadly genetic diseases since
birth.
The first 'designer baby' could be born as
early as 2016.
The U.S. government has confirmed that
effective 26th May 2015, some holders of the H4
visa, who are spouses of high-skilled
workers on the H1B visa, will be eligible for
work authorization, a potential boon for
approximately 179,600 individuals in the first
year alone.
February 26
In accordance with the prime minister's
directives, Foreign Secretary Subrahmanyam
Jaishankar will be undertaking the first
phase of the SAARC Yatra as per the following
schedule:
March 1- Bhutan
March 2- Bangladesh
March 3- Pakistan
March 4- Afghanistan
He will begin his SAARC yatra with a visit
to Thimphu on March 1st and Dhaka on March
2nd, followed by a visit to Islamabad, where he
will resume India-Pakistan foreign Secretarylevel talks that were cancelled last year.
Later in the month, he would visit Nepal,
and also Sri Lanka and the Maldives, and the
dates for those are being worked out.
Russia and Cyprus have signed an
agreement that would give Russian military
ships access to the EU member state's ports
in the Mediterranean Sea.
The deal comes amid heightened tensions
between the Kremlin and the West over Russias
annexation of Ukraines Crimea territory a pro-

17
R.A.C.E
Moscow insurgency fighting Kyiv's forces in
eastern Ukraine.
Russian President : Vladimir Putin
Cypriot President : Nicos Anastasiades
Amongst the top 10 sectors, telecom received

the maximum FDI of 2.67 billion dollars in
the nine month period, followed by services
2.29 billion and automobile 1.58 billion.
February 27
The World Health Organization lauded
India's tobacco control mechanisms, calling
the country a "champion" for curbing "tobacco
marketing in films".
Chinese President Xi Jinping has unveiled
his new political theory "four comprehensives",
calling for deeper reforms and rule of law,
asserting his authority on the ruling Communist
Party and emerging as its strongest leader.
1st Indo Nepal Friendship Motor Rally
2015 was Flagged Off by Minister of State
(Ind.Charge) Tourism & Culture, Ashok
Chandra Panda at Hotel Mayfair Waves, Puri
(Odisha)
This is the first ever Indo-Nepal Friendship
Motor Rally. This rally is being jointly organized
by kalinga Motor Sports Club, Bhubaneswar
and Nepal Automobile Sports Association
(NASA).
About 24 Teams and 120 participants
from INDIA & NEPAL took off on an exciting
journey of 3060 kms spanning 10 days and
touching Kathmandu would conclude at the India
Gate, New Delhi on the 8th of March 2015.
February 24
Bangladesh's fugitive former lawmaker
Abdul Jabbar was sentenced to jail until death
by a special tribunal for committing crimes
against humanity during the 1971 independence
war against Pakistan.
Madhya Pradesh Governor Ram Naresh
Yadav has been named in an FIR filed in the MP
professional examination board case popularly
known as Vyapam scam.
Rajendra K Pachauri has quit as chairman
of the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on
Climate Change (IPCC) days after the police
began investigating charges that he sexually
harassed a 29 year old woman employee in
Delhi.
The Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh
(RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat cast aspersions
on the services of Mother Teresa by saying that
conversion to Christianity was the main
objective behind her service to the poor.
People in News
February 22
An Indian Christian priest, Father Alexis
Prem Kumar, abducted in Afghanistan eight
months back, has been released.
Mohamed Nasheed, the former Maldivian
president and opposition leader, was arrested.
He was the countrys first democratically
elected leader. He was arrested on terrorism
charges over the controversial detention of
Criminal Court Judge Abdulla Mohamed in
January 2012.
February 25
Vatican, Missionaries of Charity and
National Commission of Minorities have
slammed
RSS Chief Mohan
Bhagwats
controversial remarks on Mother Teresa.
February 26
The masked Islamic State militant known
as "Jihadi John", who has been pictured in the
videos of the be-headings of Western hostages,
has been named.
He is Mohammed Emwazi, a Kuwaitiborn
British man in his mid20s from west London,
who was previously known to British security
services.

18
R.A.C.E
February 28
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has accepted
the resignation of Dr R K Pachauri from the
Prime Minister's Council on Climate Change.
Dr Pachauri had resigned from the council
following the registration of a sexual harassment
case against him.
Mukul Roy, once the second in command of
the Trinamool Congress, has been removed
from the post of the partys national general
secretary.
Business and Economy
2nd February
Reliance teams up with State Bank of
India for payments bank
Looking to foray into banking business,
Reliance Industries has teamed up with
state-run behemoth SBI to apply for a
payments bank licence.
RIL and SBI put in a joint application to the
Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to set up a payment
bank that can offer services such as remittances
and deposits but not loans.
Aditya Birla, Future Group apply for
payment bank licences
Small Banks
Payment Banks
Small
banks can Payment
banks can
accept all
types
of take
deposits
only
deposits like
a on current & savings
commercial
bank account. These cannot
(savings, current, fixed offer credit cards, NRI
deposits,
recurring account,
&
time
deposits etc)
deposits (FD & RD).
Small banks cannot Payment banks cannot
give depositors money give loans but can
as loan to others (big invest in G securities
industries),
but
for (as most
of
the
small area of operation. depositors are poor
people.
so,
banks
cannot take a risk).
Aditya Birla Nuvo Ltd, Future Group and
Vakrangee Ltd sought permission from the
Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to set up

payments banks.
A payments bank licence will allow companies
to accept deposits of up to Rs.1 lakh and
increase payment options, especially for people
who have no bank accounts.
Aditya Birla Nuvo will hold 51% stake in the
proposed payments bank and the remaining
49% will be owned by Idea Cellular
The Kishore Biyani-led Future Group, parent
of Future Retail Ltd, also has filed an application
for a permit.
Among those applied for the licence include
Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL), Aditya Birla
Nuvo, Future group, Bharti Airtel and Idea
Cellular to name a few.
February 03
In an attempt to provide more liquidity to the
banking system, the Reserve Bank of India
(RBI) reduced the Statutory Liquidity Ratio
(SLR) by 50 basis points from 22per cent to
21.5 per cent with effect from 7th February
2015.
This move is likely to pump in around
Rs.45,000 crore to the system, which is likely to
prod banks to cut their lending rates.
Highlights of RBI's Sixth Bimonthly
Monetary Policy statement:
Short-term lending rate unchanged at 7.75
per cent. Cash Reserve Ratio unchanged at 4
percent.
Statutory Liquidity Ratio cut to 21.5 per
cent, effective February 7, to unlock banking
funds.
Current Account Deficit at 1.3 per cent of
GDP for 2014-15.
Inflation target at 6 per cent by January
2016.
GDP growth estimates under old base for
current fiscal at 5.5 per cent 6.5 per cent
for 2015-16.

19
R.A.C.E
Banks asked to lend to productive sector to
spur investment, growth Limit of foreign
exchange remittance doubled to USD 2,50,000
per person annually
Foreign portfolio investors allowed reinvesting
in G-Secsafter their investment limits are utilized
Bi monthly policy statement for 2015-16 on 7th
April 2015.
China has surpassed the United States as
the top destination for foreign direct
investment (FDI), a position held by the US for
11 year.
The United Nations Conference on Trade
and
Development
(UNCTAD)
recently
published a report showing China had attracted
USD 127.6 billion in foreign investment in
2014compared to USD 86 billion invested by
foreign businesses in the US.
February 05
GSHHDC (Gujarat State Handloom &
Handicrafts Development Corporation) will
soon launch its own e-commerce portal under
GarviGurjari brand to reach out to a bigger
customer base and boost sales in overseas
markets.
GSHHDC signed an MoU with global ecommerce giant eBay and plans to tieup with
domestic ecommerce majors as Flipkart and
Snapdeal.
India has improved its rank marginally on
the Intellectual property (IP) index released
by the USChamber of Commerce.
The US body has moved India to the second
last place from rock bottom in its rankingorder
last year.
This year, Thailand has been ranked at the
last place while US retains the top spot.
The
Airports
Economic
Regulatory
Authority (AERA) has proposed a 78.4 per
cent reduction in airport charges at the
Indira Gandhi International Airport Delhi,
applicable from February 1, according to a
consultation paper circulated by the tariff

regulator.
AERA, however, said the implementation of
the proposal will be done once the Delhi
International Airport Ltd (DIAL) submits
fresh rate slabs for its approval.
DIAL is a joint venture between the
Airports Authority of India (AAI) and GMR
group with 26 per cent and 74 per cent
holding, respectively.
February 06
Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) has won
a defence contract worth 1,090 crore, to
produce and supply 14 Do228 aircraft to the
Indian Air Force along with six reserve
engines, one flight stimulator and related
equipment.
The HAL Do228 aircrafts are manufactured
by the Transport Aircraft Division at Kanpur.
February 07
The state owned Industrial Infrastructure
Development Corporation (IDCO) signed an
MoU with public sector Indian Rare Earth Ltd
(IRE) to set up a mineral separation plant in
Odisha's Ganjam district.
IDCO CMD Vishal K Dev and IRE CMD R N
Patra have executed the MoU at the State
Secretariat in the presence of Industries minister
Devi Prasad Mishra.
The cost of this project is pegged at Rs 450
crore.
Indias foreign exchange reserves surged
by 5.84 billion US Dollars to touch a fresh alltime high of 327.88 billion US Dollars during the
week ending January 30.
In the previous reporting week, the reserves
had declined marginally by 97.9 million dollars to
322.037 billion dollars.
The increase in reserves was on account of
higher foreign currency assets (FCA), which

20
R.A.C.E
forms a major constituent of overall Constituent
of overall reserves.
February 08
Maharashtra government signed an MoU
worth Rs 949 crore with engineering and
construction major Larsen & Toubro (L&T) for
setting up CCTV based surveillance in the city.
As per the MoU signed by the company and
Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis in Mumbai,
6,000 CCTVs will be installed across the
metropolis and suburbs by September2016.
The Reserve Bank is likely to increase the
investment limit for foreign portfolio
investors in government securities by $5
billion, once the Budget is announced.
Telecom subscriber base of the country
reached all-time high of 97 crore at the end of
December 2014.
The latest report of Telecom Regulatory
Authority of India said the number of
telephone subscribers in India increased from
964.20 million at the end of November, 2014 to
970.97 million at the end of December, 2014.
February 09
In a first-of-its kind partnership in the Indian
auto space, CarDekho.com announced an
investment in the company by Ratan Tata.
Tata has for the first time ever joined hands
with an auto portal by investing in his personal
capacity.
GirnarSoft,
the
parent
company
of
CarDekho.com, now valued at USD 300 million,
recently concluded its series B funding with a
raise of $50 million.
Indian economy is estimated is growing at
7.4% in 2014-2015against 6.9% in previous
year.
The estimate is based on new formula
.according to central statistics office; economy
grew at 7.5% during the October December
2014 quarter.
The government had recently updated the

base year to calculate Gross Domestic Product
(GDP) to 2011-12 from 2004-05.
February 10
State-owned Punjab National Bank has
raised Rs. 1,000 crore through bonds at an
annual coupon of 8.23 per cent on Private
Placement basis to fund business growth and
meet global capital adequacy norms.
The government has decided to provide Rs.
870 crore to the bank as part of capital
infusion plan.
Public sector banks require equity capital of
Rs. 2.4 lakh crore by 2018 to meet the global,
Basel III norms on capital adequacy.
For the current fiscal, the government has
allocated
Rs.
11,200
crore
for
bank
capitalisation
Anil
Ambani
led
Reliance
Communications Ltd (RCOM) has partnered
with Facebook to offer free data access to
select popular websites for all its customers,
existing and new ones.
In the first phase this service has gone live in
seven circles of RCOM which include Mumbai,
Maharashtra, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh,
Tamil Nadu, Chennai and Kerala.
MOU was signed between Rajasthan
government and adani enterprises limited, for
the establishment of solar power plants
generating10,000 megawatt in the state.
Adani group will invest nearly 40,000 crore
in the state and install solar plants of 10,000
mw in that first 5,000 mw will be developed in
1st five years and the rest in subsequent years
MOU signed in the presence of the chief
minister vasundhara raje and rajesh adani,
M.D of adani group.
Out of the total capacity,5000 mw will be set
by the adani group while the rest is likely to be
in collaboration with rajasthan renewable
energy cooperation(RREC).

21
R.A.C.E
Jan dhan yojana started at dhanbad jail
Dhanbad jail has taken step to bring the
benefits of the central governments pradhan
mandhiri jan dhan yojana to its inmates.
The prison authorities acting on the
instruction of dhanbad deputy commissioner
prashant kumar, have roped in SBI to open
accounts for 1,100 jail birds, including 45
women and a majority being under trials,to
ensure their
financial inclusion that is being
harped upon by the narendra modi led
government
ICICI bank announced the launch of
pockets, Indias first digital bank for the
youth
Anyone including those who are not the
customers of ICICI bank can download the ewallet from google playstore, fund it from any
bank account in the country and start transacting
immediately.
This wallet uses virtual VISA card which
enables the users to transact on any website
or mobile application in India. Customer can
also request for a physical card to use it at any
retail outlet.
National association of software and
services company (NASSCOM), watchdog of
Indian IT industry, has reduced growth projection
for the Indian IT industry marginally for the next
financial year.
It has cut its export estimate for information
technology and back office services to 12-14%
February 11
Israeloffers expertise to clean up Ganga
In
an
effort
to
deepen
economic
cooperation, Israel has offered its expertise
and technological capabilities to India in its
ambitious drive to clean up the Ganga.
A preliminary offer on this was made by Amit
Lang, Director-General of the Ministry of
Economy, Israel led delegation to continue
talks on the Free Trade Agreement (FTA).
Israel has made significant technological

advancement in desalination and drip irrigation
with the worlds largest desalination plants and
recycles 90 per cent of water for agricultural
needs.
Scheme for grant of government pension
to journalists
Pondicherry government has initiated
steps to bring into effect a scheme evolved in
2003 to pay monthly pension to media
persons.
The scheme envisages payment of monthly
pension of 6000 to a media person who had
completed 20 years of continued service in a
newspaper, periodical, news agency or in
electronic media.
The beneficiary should be aged 58 years
and above at the time of presenting the
application.
NABARD announces 1,14,927 crorecredit
plan for Rajasthan
National Bank for Agriculture and Rural
Development
(NABARD)
announced
1,14,927 crore credit plan for agriculture in

Rajasthan for fiscal 2015-16, encompassing all
33 districts in the state.
The credit projections will grow by 39 per
cent from 82,534 crore in the ongoing fiscal
(2014-15) to 1,14,927 crore in 2015-16 for
Rajasthan's agriculture and allied sectors.
Spicejet announced services at lower
price
Spicejet announced the launch of the
cheaper than train fares sale offer with oneway fares pegged at a starting price of just
599 all-inclusive for domestic flights.
February 12
ICICI ties up with UAE exchange for instant
money transfer
ICICI bank has tied up with UAE Exchange to
offer an instant bank transfer service to the
Indians residing in the Gulf nation.

22
R.A.C.E
FLASH remit service started by the bank
enables customers to conveniently send money
instantly to their beneficiaries in India in Indian
Rupees.
Customers of ICICI Bank will be able to avail
this service by visiting any of the over 135
branches of UAE Exchange in UAE including over
15 branches across the Dubai Metro network.
Aditya birla chemicals to merge with
Grasim industries
The Board of Directors of Grasim Industries
Limited on 11 February 2015 approved the
proposed merger of Aditya Birla Chemicals
(India) Limited (ABCIL) with Grasim.
The proposed scheme is subject to approval
of the high court and regulatory authorities.
Grasim is a leading manufacturer of caustic
soda in India, with an installed capacity of
452500 tonnes per annum. Its plants are located
at Nagda in Madhya Pradesh and at Vilayat in
Gujarat.
Aditya Birla Chemicals (India) Limited
(ABCIL) is a leading manufacturer of bulk and
speciality chemicals and viscose filament yarn.
The
business
is
spread
across
multiple
manufacturing locations in four countries namely
India, Thailand, Germany and China.
Apple Inc. becomes first company worth
over $700 bn in global corporate history
US technology giant Apple Inc. became the
first company to reach a market value of
$700 billion.
Earlier in January 2015, Apple Inc had
recorded highest quarterly profit of 18
billion US dollar in corporate history worldwide
after the company sold 74.5 million iPhones in
quarter ending December 2014.
CSK ltd. To be owned by one lakh
shareholders
The Board of India Cements Ltd. (ICL) has
cleared the decks for transfer of IPL franchise
rights of Chennai Super Kings to its wholly
owned subsidiary, Chennai Super Kings Cricket

Ltd.
For the first time in the history of the
Indian Premier League (IPL), a cricket
franchise will be owned by the shareholders
of a company.
February 13
Cipla wins Rs 1170 cr tender from Global
Fund to supply HIV drugs
Indian pharmaceutical giant, Cipla has
been awarded $188.95 million (around Rs.
1,172 crore) Contract by Global Fund to
supply ARV (anti-retroviral) drugs.
IMF & WORLD BANK give assistance to
Ukraine
IMF and WORLD BANK agreed to provide
massive financial assistance to strife-torn Ukraine
US dollar 19.5 billion in all to bail it out of an
economic crisis.
International monetary fund and Ukraine
yesterday agreed on a US dollar 17.5 bailout
package with the World Bank announcing another
US dollar two million financial assistance.
February 14
After 20 years, Re 1 notes to make a
comeback
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on 13
February 2015 said it would soon put in
circulation currency notes with the denomination
of Re 1.
The notes will be printed by the Government
of India.
The RBI Act confers upon the central bank
the right to issue notes of all dominations, except
Re 1.
Such notes are issued by the government and
bears the signature of the finance secretary. All
other notes of different denominations are signed
by the RBI governor.
Muthoot
partnered
with
WWF
for
Elephant project

23
R.A.C.E
A new conservation project aimed at effective
management of human-elephant conflict and
protecting the habitats of Asian elephants in six
states has been launched.
Kerala-based
business
conglomerate
Muthoot Group has launched the 'Friends for
Life' project in partnership with World Wide
Fund for Nature-India.
India signs $8 million loan agreement
with World Bank for SLACC Project
India signed a loan grant agreement worth
US $8 million with World Bank for Sustainable
Livelihoods and Adaption to Climate change
(SLACC) Project.
The agreement was signed by Joint
Secretary in Union Ministry of Finance Tarun
Bajaj and World Banks India Country
Director Onno Ruhl.
About
Sustainable
Livelihoods
and
Adaption to Climate change (SLACC) Project
SLACC Project aims at improving the
adaptive capacity
of the
rural poor
particularly women farmers engaged in farmbased livelihoods to cope with climate change
and scale up the demonstrated best practices.
SLACC project will be implemented in
collaboration with government programs such as
Mahila Kisan Sashaktikaran Pariyojana
(MKSP) and Mahatma Gandhi National Rural
Employment
Guarantee
Scheme
(MGNREGS).
While, National Rural Livelihoods Mission
(NRLM) is the implementing agency of SLACC.
It will focus to provide assistance in Climatic
hazards that affect the availability of natural
resources, which adversely affect the livelihoods
of the poor by impacting production, affecting
incomes and preventing building up of assets.
February 16
Yes bank, Indias world largest private
sector bank said that it will raise rs.500 crore
through the issue of green infrastructure

bonds.
These bonds are for a tenor of 10 years.
This
is
Indias
first
ever
green
infrastructure bonds
The amount raised will be used by the bank in
renewable energy and energy efficiency projects
WPI inflation in Januarys falls to -0.39%
Inflation dropped to a five and a half year low
of - 0.39 per cent in January on falling prices of
manufactured and fuel items.
Whole sale price index (WPI) was at 0.11% in
December.
February 17
NTPC to invest USD 10 bn for building
renewable projects
Countrys largest power producer NTPC
will invest close to USD 10 billion for executing
green energy projects in the next five years as
part of governments plans to provide thrust to
clean electricity generation.
The public sector company has committed to
set up renewable power projects of 10,000 MW
capacity in the country over the next five years.
NTPC signed a term loan agreement of Rs
10,000 crore and Rs 2,000 crore with staterun SBI and Bank of Baroda, respectively, for
partially funding its capital expenditure.
Spectrum auction
Reliance Jio announced its participation in
the auction together with four other operators,
whose licences are up for renewal are Bharti
Airtel, Vodafone India, Idea Cellular and
Reliance Communications.
Infosys has signed an agreement to fully
acquire U.S based automation technology
provider panaya for an enterprise value of $200
million
This is the companys second largest
acquisition after it acquired zurich based
consulting company in 2012 for around $350
million.

24
R.A.C.E
February 18
Reserve bank of India may soon start
printing 1 currency note as per the latest press
release by the central banks
Mashable partners with India
US news portal Mashable and India.com have
partnered to launch Mashable India, which will
have a local editorial team to generate original
domestic content.
Mashable claims to have 42 million unique
visitors a month and 21 million social media
followers.
India.com is a joint venture of Penske Media
Corp. (PMC) and Zee Entertainment Enterprises
Ltd.
Snapdeal acquires exclusively to create
indias first online luxury mall
Snapdeal.com announced the acquisition
of Exclusively.com (formerly Exclusively.in),
the definitive online destination for premium
and luxury fashion.
Black money probe in geneva
Genevas public prosecutor searched the
premises of HSBC Holdings PLC in Geneva and
opened a criminal inquiry into allegations of
aggravated money laundering.
The bank has been in new for a leaked list of
its account holders that included 1,195 indian
names
February 19
Kalyani group announces joint venture
with Rafael defence system
The Kalyani Group has announced a joint
venture with Rafael Advanced Defence
System of Israel. This joint venture company
will be based in India.
The initiative is in line with the governments
Make in India policy and will enable the
development
and
production
of
high-end
technology in the country, said the company.
The joint venture will be a 51:49

partnership, with Kalyani Group holding 51
per cent stake as per the new FDI norms.
Recently, the government had raised the FDI
cap in defence to 49 per cent.
The Kalyani Group claimed the joint venture
will be among the first such ventures under the
new FDI limits.
Bharti airtel
tied-up with UNICEF to
provide education content
Indian telecom major Bharti Airtel Limited
tied-up with United Nations Childrens Fund
(UNICEF) to provide health, education and
youth-focused content to its customers in 17
African countries.
The partnership extends across 17 countries
in Africa including Kenya, Malawi, Madagascar,
Rwanda, Seychelles, Tanzania, Uganda,
Zambia, Burkina Faso, Chad, DRC, Congo,
Gabon, Ghana, Niger, Nigeria and Sierra
Leone.
February 20
50k-cr naval project gets cabinet nod
The Cabinet Committee on Security on
Tuesday sanctioned the country's biggest
naval project, the construction of seven
stealth frigates for Rs 45,381 crore.
Mazagon Dock Ltd (MDL), Mumbai, will
build four of these, while Garden Reach
Shipbuilders
and
Engineers,
Kolkata
(GRSE),.
The new vessels will be fitted with BrahMos
cruise missile for land attack, and the new IndoIsraeli Long Range Surface-to-Air Missile
(LR-SAM) that can shoot down incoming antiship missiles.
Telegana woos aerospace majors to invest in
SEZ near Hyderabad
A day after Andhra Pradesh chief minister
N Chandrababu Naidu made a strong pitch for
investment from aerospace and defence
majors at Aero India.

25
R.A.C.E
February 21
SBI finance small tea growers in North
east
State Bank of India (SBI) will provide
finance totaling Rs 100 crore benefiting 3,000
small tea growers in the North East.
The benefit is not only for Assam, but also
for new tea garden growing states such as
Arunachal
Pradesh,
Nagaland
and
Meghalaya which will also be covered under a
similar scheme.
India signs loan agreement with ADB
India has signed loan agreement with Asian
Development Bank (ADB) for 50 Million
dollars to boost power generation capacity in
Assam.
Indias foreign exchange reserves jumped
by USD 2.956 billion to all time high USD
333.1693 billion in the week end, as the report
published by RBI.
Strong FII inflows to Indian capital market
and reduction in import bill due to drop in crude
oil are the main reasons for high forex reserves.
The proposed 15000-crore merger deal
between kotak Mahindra bank and ING vysya
has got the CCIs (competition commission of
India) approval.
This merger will create the countrys fourth
largest private sector lendor.
February 22
FDI in India almost doubled to 2.16
billion dollars in December 2014, compared to
1.10 billion dollars in the same month of 2013.
Amongst the top 10 sectors, telecom
received the maximum FDI of 2.67 billion
dollars in the nine month period, followed by
services 2.29 billion and automobile 1.58 billion.
During
this
period,
India
received
maximum FDI from Mauritius of 5.89 billion
dollars, followed by Singapore 4.31billion & the
Netherlands 2.57 billion.
February 23
Private
power
utility
Tata
Power
announced signing an initial agreement with
Russia's largest coal producer Siberian Coal
Energy Company for tapping opportunities in
the energy sector.
The organization has announced that it has
signed a Memorandum of Understanding with
Siberian Coal Energy Company (SUEK) to
identify and evaluate opportunities in
energy sector in Russia.
February 24
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley tabled 14th
Finance Commission report in Lok Sabha.
There is no service tax in the state of
Jammu and Kashmir.
The Finance Commission has suggested
raising share of states in central taxes to 42
percent from current 32 percent.
Headed by Y V Reddy
In a bid to boost fixed line phone
connections in the country, telecom regulator
TRAI removed charges that a landline service
provider has to pay to the other service providers
for transmitting its customers' phone calls a
move that is likely to lead to lower tariffs.
Now, calls made from landline to landline
or landline to mobiles will not include the
interconnection charge, which was 20 paise.
Trai
has
also
reduced
network
interconnection usage charges (IUC) on calls
made from mobile phones by about 30 per cent
to 14 paise per call from 20 paise earlier.
A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was
signed between the Indian Army and State
Bank of India (SBI) on the Defence Salary
Package.
The signing in ceremony was chaired by the
Adjutant General, Lt Gen Rakesh Sharma
and was attended by top dignitaries of SBI

26
R.A.C.E
Bank, headed by Dr Vaidyan MG, Dy MD
(Retail Strategy).
The first MoU between SBI and the Indian
Army was signed in 2011 and was valid for a
period of three years.
February 27
Finance
Minister
ArunJaitley
tables
Economic Survey.
Growth rate of over 8% expected for
2015-2016
Fiscal deficit of 4.1 pc achiveable
Inflation rate pegged at 5 to 5.5 pc
West Bengal Finance Minister Amit Mitra
presented the state budget
West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee sad
that "This is a people's budget. It was a
Budget for Maa, Mati, Manush."
February 28
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley presented
NDA Government's first full-fledged Union
Budget in the Lok Sabha.
Corporate tax to be reduced from 30 to
25 per cent over the next four years
Wealth tax abolished Two per cent
additional surcharge on superrich with above
one crore rupee annual income.
Proposes to introduce bills to curb black
money.
Goods and Services Tax to be in place by
April 1, 2016.
Two crore houses in urban areas by 2022
and four crore in rural areas.
Two lakh rupees insurance for poor
people under Jan Dhan Yojana on premium
of one rupee per month.
AIIMS to be established in five states.
Three-pronged approach to use Jan Dhan,
Aadhar and mobile technology to check pilferage
of subsidies.
Proposes over 11 per cent hike to defence
sector.
Fiscal deficit to be reduced to three per cent

in the next three years.
In order to provide convenient online
shopping experience to customers, Indian
Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation
(IRCTC) has tied up with Amazon.in to sell
various products.
Under the agreement, IRCTC will leverage the
huge traffic it generates being a virtual monopoly
for train e-ticketing to sell products such as
consumer electronic, books, shoes, apparel
etc.
It has added a shop on Amazon tab on its
homepage which redirects to a separate landing
page on Amazon.in.
Awards and Honours

1st February
Kangana Ranaut, Shahid Kapoor bagged
the best actor awards at 60th Filmfare
Awards
The 60th FilmfareAwards ceremony was
held on January 31, 2015, at the Yash Raj
Studios in Mumbai.
Shahid Kapoor won the Filmfare award for
Best Actor (Male) for his performance in the
film Haider, while Kangna Ranaut received
the Best Actor (Female) award for Queen.
Best Film (Queen), Best Director (Vikas
Bahl - Queen)
February 04
Dr. Zakir A. Naik,president of the Islamic
Research Foundation of India, won the 2015
King Faisal International Prize (KFIP) for
Service to Islam.
Indian
Journalist
and
writer
Hindol
Senguptas book on entrepreneurial ventures in
India has been shortlisted for the U.S.
prestigious Hayek Prize this year.
February 06

27
R.A.C.E
Eminent Marathi litterateur Bhalchandra
Nemade, whose 1963 novel Kosala (Cocoon)
changed the dimensions of Marathi novel, was
selected for 2014 Jnanpith Award, the highest
literary honour in India, by the Jnanpith Selection
board.
This is the 50th Jnanpith Award.
February 09
Journalist vinod Mehta has been conferred
with
uttar
Pradeshs
highest
civilian
awardyash bharti by state government.
Bengaluru based musician ricky kejs
collaborative album winds of samsara wins
the best new age album award at the 57th
grammy awards.
Boyhood (the film which took 12 years to
make) honored with the best film award at
68thBAFTA (British academy film awards)
2015.
February 10
Economist and Nobel laureate Amartya
Sen has won the newly instituted CharlestonEFG John Maynard Keynes Prize.
In the spirit of John Maynard Keynes work,
life and legacy, this new global prize
recognises Professor Sens outstanding
contribution to society.
Lok sabha speaker sumitra mahajans
name was included in LIMCA book of records
recently for being the only woman of the
country to represent the same lok sabha
constituency on the same party for eight
consecutive times.
February 13
Indian-origin
scientist
gurpreet
singhwins National science Foundation
CAREER award
An Indian-origin scientist Gurpreet Singh has
won prestigious $500,000 National Science
Foundation CAREER award.
He has won this award for his research on

Scalable liquid exfoliation processing of
ultrathin
two-dimensional
metal
dichalcogenides
nanosheets
for
energy
storage devices.
This CAREER award will help him to study
large-scale production of ultrathin sheets, a
few atoms thick and several micrometres wide
using transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs).
Gurpreet Singh is assistant professor of
mechanical and nuclear engineering at
Kansas State University.
National Science Foundation CAREER
award is given by US National Science
Foundation as part of Faculty Early Career
Development Programme.
CCSHAU selected for Mahindra Samriddhi
India Agri Award 2015
Chaudhary
Charan
Singh
Haryana
Agricultural University (CCSHAU) has been
selected for the prestigious Mahindra Samridhi
India Agri Award 2015.
February 15
Chhetri and Devi presented with 2014
AIFF Player of the Year award
Sunil Chhetri from Secunderabad and Bala
Devi from Manipur were awarded the All India
Football Federation (AIFF) 2014 Player of
the Year - Male and Female trophy,
respectively.
31-year-old Chhetri, who is Captain for the
Indian National Football Team, has been
chosen as the winner for the 'AIFF 2014 Player of
the Year' award on the basis of voting done by
the Coaches from I-League Clubs.
Chhetri has been named AIFF Player of the
Year four times in 2007, 2011, 2013 and
2014.
Chhattisgarh gets award for renewable
power development

28
R.A.C.E
Chhattisgarh was felicitated for emerging as
one of the best performing states in the
renewable energy segment.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 15 February
2015 presented the award to Principal Secretary
of Chhattisgarh's Energy department, Aman
Singh, during the Renewable Energy Global
Investors Meet (RE-Invest) held in New Delhi.
Nagesh Kukunoor's 'Dhanak' honoured at
the 65th Berlin International Film Festival
Filmmaker
Nagesh
Kukunoor's
film
"Dhanak" has bagged The Grand Prix of the
Generation Kplus International Jury for the best
feature-length film and also received a special
mention at the 65th Berlin International Film
Festival.
The movie, which features Hetal Gada and
Krrish Chhabria, was invited for the Generation
Kplus programme at the gala, held Feb 5-15.
Dr. Tessy Thomas, Geeta Varadan jointly
named for Nayudamma Award 2014
Women scientists Dr. Tessy Thomas and
Geeta Varadan on 15 February 2015 were
jointly named for Dr. Y Nayudamma Memorial
Award 2014.
February 17
Indian-origin scientist professor srikanth
jagabathula has been awarded with faculty
early career development award (CAREER) by
national science foundation (NSF) of the
United States.
He was awarded for his research work in
developing data driven modelling and learning
techniques
to
improve
the
accuracy
of
operational decision making.
He will receive a total of USD 500,000 over
the next five years for his further research on the
same topic
February 18
Delhi based Indira Gandhi international
airport has won the annual airport service
quality (ASQ) award, which recognises and

rewards the best airports in the world based on
geneva-based
ACIs
ASQ
passenger
satisfaction survey.
February 22
Purnendu Dasgupta, an IndianAmerican,
who developed an environment friendly field
analyzer for checking toxic arsenic levels in
water, has been awarded with 2015 American
Chemical Society Division of Analytical
Chemistry J. Calvin Giddings Award.
February 25
Iranian journalist Masih Alinejad has
received a human rights award in Geneva for
creating a Facebook page inviting women in
Iran to post pictures of themselves without their
headscarves in defiance of rules requiring them
to wear a hijab.
February 26
Six Indian women CEOs and Managing
Directors, including State Bank of India head
Arundhati Bhattacharya and ICICI CEO
Chanda Kochchar, have been named by Forbes
magazine in its 50 'Power Businesswomen'
from Asia who are "knocking down" walls in
the traditional male bastions.
Apart from Bhattacharya and Kochchar, the
Indian executives on the list are
Akhila
Srinivasan
MD/Non-Executive
Director of Shriram Life Insurance/Shriram
Capital
Kiran
Mazumdar
Shaw
Founding
Chairman and MD of Biocon
Shikha Sharma CEO and MD of Axis Bank
Usha Sangwan MD of LIC
February 27
Exchairman of the Tata Group Ratan Tata
has been honored with an honorary Doctorate
of Automotive Engineering by the Clemson

29
R.A.C.E
University at the South Carolina Automotive
Summit.
New Appointments
February 02
Anish Aggarwal took over as Director
(Pipelines) at Indian Oil Corp, the nation's
largest oil refining and marketing company.
February 03
Dr.Nandita Chatterjee took over as the new
Secretary in the Ministry of Housing & Urban
Poverty Alleviation (HUPA).
Her last assignment was as Member
Secretary, National Commission for Women.
February 04
Rural development secretary L.C Goyal, a
1979batch Indian Administrative Service (IAS)
officer of Kerala cadre, has been appointed as the
next Home Secretary.
February 05
LC Goyal took charge as the new Union
home secretary replacing Anil Goswami who
had resigned.
Former New York Supreme Court Judge
Mary Mc Gowan Davis will replace Canadian
legal expert William Schabas, as the head of
the United Nations Human Rights Council
Gaza probe.
Infosys Ltd, Indias second largest
software services exporter, has announced
that it has appointed Roopa Kudva as an
independent member of its board.
Kudva is the managing director and chief
executive officer of global credit rating agency
Crisil Ltd in India.
February 06
US President Barack Obama has announced
to appoint top Indian-American CEO Ajay
Banga to a key administration position.
Banga, chairman of the US India

Business Council, has been appointed as
member of the Advisory Committee for Trade
Policy and Negotiations.
February 07
The
Greek
parliament
elected
Zoe
Konstantopoulou, as its new President.
The director of Indian Institute of
Petroleum, Dehradun, Dr MO Garg takes
charge as the new Director General of Council
of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR).
This post was technically vacant since more
than a month as Dr PS Ahuja retired on
December, 31, 2014.
February 09
Vodafone India on Monday announced the
appointment of Naveen Chopra as Chief
Operating Officer (COO) with effect from April
1, 2015.
Mr. Chopra, currently Director Vodafone
Business Services (VBS), will succeed Sunil
Sood, who will be the MD and CEO of the
company.
German sportswear major adidas group has
appointed damyant singh as its brand director
in india.
He succeeds tushwar goculdas, who was
recently appointed as the brand director of adidas
emerging markets.
February 10
M.Ravindran
was
appointed
as
the
chairman of Indraprastha gas Ltd, the firm
that sells CNG in New Delhi.
He replaces K.K.Gupta, director (marketing),
Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL),
who has relinquished the charge upon completion
of his two-year venture.
Government gave additional charge of
Managing Director and CEO of Punjab

30
R.A.C.E
National Bank to Gauri Shankar, senior most
executive director at the bank.
The post of full time Managing Director and
CEO has been vacant since November, when the
then Chairman and Managing Director K R
Kamath failed to get extension from the
government.
As per the government rules, the CMD and
Directors are appointed in public sector entities
for a period of five years or up to the age of 60,
whichever is earlier.
February 14
Taiwanese handset maker HTC said its vice
president and India head Faisal Siddiqui has been
appointed as the new regional president for its
south asia operartions.
Indian born punit renjen has been appointed
as the next CEO of US based accounting giant
Deloittes global operations.
Croatias first women president, kolinda
gabar-kitarovic was sworn in today and pledged
to kickstart the EU members ailing economy.
February 13
Ashish
Agrawal
appointed
as
Chief
Technology Officer of Micromax Informatics
Micromax Informatics has appointed Ashish
Agrawal as its new Chief Technology Officer
(CTO).
Prior to this appointment, he was working as
the CTO for mobile and cloud services player
Sirqul. He had worked for the execution and
adoption of Sirquls suite of mobile engagement
products and services.
Tech giant YAHOO said its Indian arm has
signed up south African cricketer Jonty
Rhodes as its analyst for the upcoming world
cup 2015 coverage on Yahoo cricket.
Balasubramaniam
Venkataramani
appointed as MD & CEO of MCX
Balasubramaniam
Venkataramani has
been appointed as new MD & CEO of Multi
Commodity Exchange (MCX). He will replace
then MD & CEO Manoj Vaish.
Prior to this appointment B Venkataramani
was Chief Business Officer of Bombay Stock
Exchange (BSE).
About Multi Commodity Exchange (MCX)
The
MCX
is
countrys
first
listed
commodity futures exchange that facilitates
online trading, and clearing and settlement
of commodity futures transactions, thereby
providing a platform for risk management.
February 16
Taiwanese handset maker HTC said its
vice president and India head Faisal
Siddiqui has been appointed as the new
regional president for its south Asia
operations.
Indian born punit renjen has been appointed
as the next CEO of US based accounting
giant Deloittes global operations.
Croatias first women president, kolinda
gabar-kitarovic was sworn in and pledged to
kick start the EU members ailing economy.
February 17
Former IAS officer jawed usmani took oath
as the new chief information commissioner
(CIC) of uttarpradesh.
February 19
Rashad hussain appointed as US special
envoy and coordinator
Indian-American Rashad Hussain has
been appointed as the Special Envoy and
Coordinator for Strategic Counter-terrorism
Communications.
Hussain is currently the US special envoy
to Organization for Islamic Countries (OIC).
February 20
Ex-IAS officer appointed as director in
RIL

31
R.A.C.E
Former top IAS officer from Gujarat,
Maheshwar Sahu has been appointed as an
independent director on the board of
Mukesh
Ambani-promoted
Reliance
Industries Limited (RIL).
Scientist Tapan misra appointed as director
of ISROs space application centre
Eminent scientist Tapan Misra has been
appointed
the
Chief of
ISROs
Space
Applications
Centre
(SAC),
Ahmedabad
Gujarat.
He will succeed A S Kiran Kumar, who was
appointed as the Chairman of the Indian
Space Research Organization (ISRO) in
January 2015.
February 21
Major general chrishantha de silva was
appointed as the new srilanka army chief by
president sirisena.
De silva will succeed lieutenant general daya
ratnayake with effect from February 22nd.
February 23
Honda Motor has announced its new
president and CEO, Takahiro Hachigo.
He is currently the companys managing
officer; he will take over the role which is being
held by Takanobu Ito effective late June 2015.
AAP
MLA
Ram
Niwas
Goel
was
unanimously elected Speaker of the Delhi
Assembly on the first day of the two-day session
of the House.
Another ruling party legislator, Bandana
Kumari, was elected Deputy Speaker of the
House where the main and only opposition, BJP,
has a negligible presence with just three
legislators.
February 25
Ravi Chaudhary, an Indian-American aviation
expert and former US Air Force officer, was
named the Executive Director for Regions and
Centre Operations at the Federal Aviation

Administration (FAA), which regulates and
oversees all aspects of American civil aviation.
February 27
Justice Amitava Roy was sworn in as a
judge of the Supreme Court.
He was the chief justice of Orissa high
court.
Kshatrapati Shivaji, a 1986 batch IAS officer,
has taken over as the Chairman and Managing
Director of Small Industries Development Bank of
India (SIDBI).
Books and Authors

The Indian Parliament A Critical Appraisal
Sudha Pai and Avinash Kumar
Tamil Novel Madhorubhagan - Perumal
Murugan
Book on Sonia Gandhi titled The Red Sari
Javier Moro
Hindi Novel Farishta - Kapil Isapuri
Neither a Hawk nor a Dove - Khurshid M
Kasuri
Kiran Bedi Kaise Bani Top Cop Reeta
Peshawaria Menon and Anu Peshawaria
Fragile Frontiers: The Secret History of
Mumbai Terror Attacks - SK Rath
Editor Unplugged: Media, Magnates,
Netas and Me - Vinod Mehta
Flora of Guntur City Andhra Pradesh - PR
Mohana Rao
Science and Technology
2nd February
NASA successfully launch edits first Earth
satellite
designed
to
collect
global
observations of the vital soil moisture hidden
just beneath our feet.
The Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP)
observatory, a mission with broad applications for
science and society, lifted off at 6:22 am
Saturday from Vandenberg Air Force Base,

32
R.A.C.E
California, on a United Launch Alliance Delta
II rocket.
Pakistan conducted a successful flight test of
the Raad, an indigenously developed air
launched cruise missile (ALCM).
The Raad missile, with a range of 350 km,
enables Pakistan to achieve strategic standoff
capability on both land and sea.
The Director General of Strategic Plans
Division,
Lt.Gen.
ZubairMahmood
Hayat
termed it a major step towards strengthening
Pakistans full spectrum credible minimum
deterrence capability.
February 07
LCANP2, the second prototype of the Navy
version of the Light Combat Aircraft, flew for
the first time.
It took off from the Hindustan Aeronautics
Ltd runway at 12.27p.m. and flew for about 35
minutes, said HAL, the production partner in the
indigenous fighter programme.
HAL Chairman T. Suvarna Raju
North Korea announced that it has test fired
a new anti-ship cruise missile, a move experts
in Seoul viewed as an attempt to raise tensions
ahead of joint military drills between the United
States and South Korea.
Indian Coast Guard inducted a high-speed
patrolling ship Amogh into its fleet which will
be stationed off Paradip coast.
February 08
In Uttar Pradesh, Dashashwamedha and
Sheetala, two main Ghats of Ganga in Varanasi
have been equipped with WiFi facility.
Visitors at these Ghats will get free WiFi
connectivity
in
the
vicinity
of
around
sevenhundred metres.
Inaugurating the service in Varanasi, Union
IT and Telecommunication Minister Ravi
Shankar Prasad said that eight more Ghats of
the city will be equipped with WiFi connectivity in

the coming months.
February 10
The worlds first hotel staffed entirely by
robots is set to open in japan, promoting this
slogan a commitment for evolution.
The henn-na hotel will open in the huis ten
bosch theme park in nagasaki prefecture in july
2015
With hope that by employing actroid
androids robots that mimic humans it will be
able to significantly reduce costs.
10 robots will staff the 72-room hotel,
capable of cleaning rooms, transporting luggage
and greeting guests at the hotels reception.
February 12
SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket successfully
launched from Florida
Unmanned SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket has been
successfully launched from Cape Canaveral Air
Force Station, Florida on its third attempt.
It was carrying unmanned Deep Space
Climate Observatory satellite. This satellite
will be used by the US National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
to
monitor the Sun.
February 14
India
successfully
tested
BrahMos
supersonic cruise missile
India on 14 February 2015 successfully test
fired the supersonic BrahMos cruise missile
from INS Kolkata, the navy`s most powerful
and newest warship, in Arabian sea, an official
said.
The Indian Navy commissioned INS Kolkata
Aug 16, 2014. This is the first ship of this class,
with two more in the pipeline.
All the three ships will be equipped with the
vertical-launched BrahMos system as the prime
strike weapon.

33
R.A.C.E
The BrahMos has a range of 290 km and
can carry a conventional warhead of up to 300
kg.
February 25
As many as 27 Indian Satellites, including
11 which facilitate the communication
network
in
the
country,
are
currently
operational.
One more satellite would be launched next
month while three more are in the pipeline,
Minister of State in Prime Minister's Office
Jitendra Singh said.
Sports
1st February
Novak Djokovic defeated Andy Murray to
win Australian Open 2015
Serbia's world number one Novak Djokovic
won a fifth Australian Open title on 1 February
2015, beating Britain's Andy Murray in four sets
in the final.
Djokovic won eighth Grand Slam title to
stretch his formidable record on the Melbourne
hard-courts to winning five from five finals in
eight years.
The victory means Djokovic stays at world
number one on the next ATP rankings when
they are released.
Leander Paes and Martina Hingis won
Australian Open mixed doubles:
Five times grand slam singles winner
Martina Hingis from Switzerland won her
second Australian Open mixed doubles title
on 1 February 2015 as she teamed with Indias
Leander
Paes
to
beat
last
yearswinners Frances Kristina Mladenovic
and Canadas Daniel Nestor 6-4 6-3.
While the 41-year-old Paes clinched his
seventh mixed doubles crown,
Australia won tri-series title
Mitchell Starc was named Man of the
Series, An all-round show by Glenn Maxwell
Man Of the Match.
2nd February
National Games 2015
Karnatakas Aaron DSouza finished the
200 metres freestyle race in 1 minute 52.06
seconds to be the new champion.
In the Womens section, Haryanas Shivani
Kataria clocked 2 minutes 7.46 seconds to grab
the Gold and break the Games record.
Sandeep Sajwal of Madhya Pradesh wins
gold in the 200 metre swimming breast
stroke
World squash champion Nicol David has
set a new record for topping the world rankings
when she secured top spot for the 106th month.
February 03
35th National Games Olympian Vijayakumar
strikes gold in the 25 metre pistol event.
Jasvir Kaur breaks National record in 63 kg
women category in Weightlifting.
February 05
Portuguese professional football player
Cristiano
Ronaldo
Voted
Best
English
Premier League Player Ever in the 23year
history of the English Premier League.
February 06
National Games 2015
GymnastDipa
Karmakar
individual golds
bags
Five
February 07
Ace pistol shooter Vijay Kumar wins a
golden double for the second time with the haul
of 5 gold and one bronze.
Ishant Sharma ruled out of the Cricket
World Cup owing to a knee injury.
As per regulations, Mohit Sharma, who was
a standby, will be inducted into the World Cup
squad.

34
R.A.C.E
February 08
Indian golfer Anirban Lahiri claimed the
Malaysian Open 2015 biggest victory of his
career.
February 11
The ministry of youth affairs and sports
has revised the scheme of rashtriya khel
protsahan puruskar, which was introduced in
2009 to encourage and promote involvement
of corporates, sports promotion boards etc.,
in the promotion and development of sports in
the country.
In the revised scheme, rashtriya khel
protsahan puruskar will be given in following
four categories.
Identification and nurturing of budding/young
talent.
Encouragement of sports through corporate
social responsibility
Employment of sportspersons and sports
welfare measures
Sports for development
National game 2015
Services win the mens hockey title
Punjab bag the honors in the womens
section.
Services way ahead of the rest with 107
medals including 66 gold.
Haryana is in 2nd place with 30 gold
Maharashtra is in 3rd place with 27 gold.
February 12
ICC world cup 2015 launched
The 11th edition of the ICC World Cup
was officially declared open after a two-act
opening
ceremony
in
Christchurch
and
Melbourne. The event was a wonderful mix of
culture and traditions of the host nations
Australia and New Zealand.
The first match of the tournament will take
place at the Hagley Oval between New
Zealand and Sri Lanka on February 14.
International
Cricket
Council
chief
executive David Richardson unveiled the
Cricket World Cup trophy, saying it was a
symbol of the ICC's values of excellence,
integrity and inclusion.
Latest technology used in ICC World

Cup 2015
Hotspot - Hot Spot is an infra-red imaging
system used in to determine whether the ball has
struck the Batsman, bat or pad.
LED stumps - An innovation, the LED Zing
technology certainly has an interesting effect.
However, it also means the cost of each stump
now stands at $ 40,000, an amount the
organisers can't afford to lose as a gift of
memento to players
Speed gun - The speed gun is a device that
measures the speed of the ball from one end of
the pitch to the other - and is thus used to
calculate the speed at which a bowler delivers the
ball.
Spider camera - The Spidercam is a system
which enables film and television cameras to
move both vertically and horizontally over a
predetermined area, typically the playing field of
a sporting event such as a cricket pitch, football
field or a tennis court.
Hawk eye - Hawk-Eye is a complex
computer system used officially in numerous
sports
such
as cricket, tennis, Gaelic
football, hurling and association
football,
to
visually track the trajectory of the ball and
display a record of its statistically most likely
path as a moving image.
Ball spin counter Used for measure the
ball spin/swing variation accurately.
Snickometer - A Snickometer, commonly
known as Snicko, is used in televising cricket to
graphically analyse sound and video, and show
whether a fine noise, or snick, occurs as ball
passes bat.

35
R.A.C.E
UHD - ultra high definition
February 14
Steven Finn took first hat-trick of 2015
World Cup:
35th National Games came to an end,
Services tops medal tally
Kerala bid farewell to the participants of the
35th National Games with an elaborate closing
ceremony
at
the
Greenfield
stadium,
Kariyavattom, on 14 February 2015.
Kerala Governor Justice P. Sathasivam
presented the trophy for best performing State
to host team captain Preeja Sreedharan,
while the IOA president gave away the Raja
Bhalendra Singh Trophy to the Services team,
overall medals tally topper for a third time in a
row.
Swimmers Sajan Prakash (Kerala) and
Aakansha Vora (Maharashtra) were adjudged
best performers in the mens and womens
sections.
Goa will host of the next edition of
National Games.
February 15
India beat Pakistan by 76 runs in
World Cup Opener
Defending champions India launched their
Cricket World Cup campaign in style as they
produced a clinical performance to spank
Pakistan by 76 runs, maintaining their unbeaten
record against the arch-rivals in the mega event
in Adelaide on 15 February 2015.
This
is
India's
sixth
consecutive
World Cup game win against Pakistan since
the rivalry started way back in 1992.
Virat Kohli becomes first Indian to score
century against Pakistan at World Cup
February 16
IPL -8 auction
Yuvaraj singh is emerged as a costlier ever

buy in the Indian premier league by going for
.16 crore to delhi daredevils in the eighth
player auction in Bangalore
Second costlier player Dinesh karthick
attracted for 10.5 crore to royal
changellers
ED slaps rs.425 crore FEMA notice to
BCCI ,IPL
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has
slapped a 425 crore show cause notice against
BCCI.
The notices have been issued to close to ten
individuals and entities, which include former
Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI)
chief N. Srinivasan, the then-IPL chairman
Lalit Modi, Chief Operating Officer (COO)
Sunder Raman.
February 17
World cup 2015
Global telecom sponser of icc world cup
2015, Reliance communication has patnered
with twitter to provide its customers with a
platform to follow the global commentary worlds
14 best cricketing nations compete for the tag of
champion team, with no data charges.
Customers who dont have twitter account,
they can go to the link www.rcom.co.in/cricket on
their mobile phones throughout the duration of
this global event
February 19
Five time world champion viswanathan
anand played out an easy draw with sergey
karjakin of Russia in the fifth and final round to
win the classical section of zurich chess classic.
February 20
Skipper Brendon mccullum slams fastest
half century (in 18 balls) ever in world cup
February 24

36
R.A.C.E
World Cup
West Indies beat Zimbabwe by 73 runs.
Chris Gayle becomes the first batsman to
score a fastest double century (200 from
138 balls) in World Cup.
He breaks Virender Sehwag's record (140
balls)
International
Kabbadi
Championship
began in Madurai.
It has been named Amma world cup
kabaddi championship in honour of former
Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa.
She had earlier sanctioned a grant of Rs 3
crore for the event.
February 25
Ranchi Rays crowned champions of Hero
Hockey India League 2015 (HHIL) by
defeating Jaypee Punjab Warriors.
February 27
South African cricketer AB DeVilliers hits
fastest 150 (66 balls) in ODI history.
February 28
NewZealand become the 1st to enter
quarterfinals
after
defeating
four-time
champions Australia.
Obituaries
1st February
Carl Djerassi, father of birth control pill
passed away:
Carl Djerassi, 91, the chemist widely
considered the father of the birth control pill,
died on 31 January 2015.
February 03
Noted sculptor Mrinalini Mukherjee (65)
passed away in New Delhi. She was the first
Indian artist whose work was displayed at
the Sydney Biennale in 1986.
She was best known for her sculptures using
knotted hemp fibre and cast bronzes.
February 08
Veteran Marathi theatre artiste and film
actor, Atmaram Bhende (91), considered the
doyen of Marathi experimental theatre, passed
away.
February 10
Death of Kayla Mueller, U.S aid worker who
had been held hostage by Islamic state milliants
is confirmed by US president barack obama
saying the united states would find and bring
justice to the terrorists who are responsible
February 12
Veteran CBS news correspondent Bob simen
(73) an award winning war reporter and
longtime correspondent for the 60 minutes
news show has died in a car accident in
manhattan.
February 13
Telugu novelist Kesava Reddy passes
away
Renowned Telugu novelist Kesava Reddy has
passed
away
in
Nizamabad
district
of
Telangana. He was 68.
He was well known for his writings that had
addressed many important social problems in
India like poverty, prejudices and superstitions.
Writer Career: He had penned eight
novels, short and long stories. Some of his
novels were translated into English and other
languages
February 16
NCP leader and former home
minister R R PATIL died
Veteral journalist and cartoonist Rajinder
puri passed away in New Delhi.
February 17

37
R.A.C.E
National school of drama graduate and
actor ashraful haque passed away due to bone
marrow related disease
February 18
Veteran film producer and dada saheb
phalke award winner, D Rama Naidu passed
away.
He held the Guinness book of world
records for the most films produced by an
individual.
In 2012, he was conferred with the third
highest civilan award, the padma bhusan.
February 19
Odisha film maker Nirad mahapatra
passed away
Eminent filmmaker from Odisha Nirad
Mahapatra passed away in Mumbai. He was 67.
As a film-maker, he was best-known for his
cultural,
ecological
and
industrial
documentaries.
He was an alumnus of the Film and
Television Institute of India (FTII), Pune.
Mahapatra was lecturer at FTII from 19721974 and had taught acclaimed directors like
Vidhu Vinod Chopra, Saeed Mirza and Ketan
Mehta. He was also in the Board of Directors
of FTII.
February 21
Senior CPI leader govind pansare passed
away
Tributes poured in for veteran Communist
leader Govind Pansare who succumbed to
bullet injuries.
All the leaders from around the country
condemned this cowardly act and shown
condolences to the social worker.
Famous urdu poet Dr.kalim ahmed ajiz
passed away in hazaribagh,Jharkhand.
He was the author of several books and
classical ghazals and his first book of ghazals was
released in 1976 by the president of india

fakruddin ali ahmad
February 23
A pioneer of mobile theatre in Assam,
leading painter and sculpture artist Adya
Sharma (86)has passed away.
He was known to all as Guruji.
February 24
Popular Tamil director R.C Sakthi, who
launched actor Kamal Haasan in a lead role
passed away.
He directed some criticallyacclaimed films
such as Manidharil Ithanai Nirangala,
Dharma Nirangala, Dharma Yuddham
and Amma Pillai.
His last directorial venture was the Tamil film
Pathini Penna", which fetched him two State
awards for best film and best dialogue writer.
Former acting chief justice of Pakistan
Rana Bhagwandas passed away.
He was the first Hindu and the second nonMuslim head of the supreme court of Pakistan.
February 25
Ace cinematographer Aloysius Vincent,
popularly known as A Vincent, who is known for
his work in Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam and Hindi
films, passed away on Wednesday, 25 February.
His movies "Vayanadan Thampan" and
"Parunthu" are considered iconic movies.
February 27.
Actor Leonard Nimoy (83), who won a
worldwide fan base as the pointyeared
halfhuman, half Vulcan Mr Spock in the
blockbuster "Star Trek" television and film
franchise, died.
February 28
US based Bangladeshi Author Avijit Roy
hacked to by suspected religious
extremists in Dhaka.

38
R.A.C.E
Peter Gomes - Former Delhi state footballer

Krishna Murari Kishan - Photo journalist
Mayuresh Pawar - Maharashtra Netball
player
Gaur Hari Singhania - JK group chairman
Mrinalini Mukherjee - Indian sculptor and
artist
Atmaram Govind Bhende - Marathi theatre
artist
Kenji Ekuan - Japanese industrial designer
Diptosh Majumdar - Journalist
Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat - PAS spiritual
leader
Kesava Reddy - Telugu novelist
Louis Jourdan - French actor
Michele Ferrero - Creator of chocolate like
spread Nutella
Veteran cartoonist - Rajinder Puri
Ashraful Haque - Bollywood Actor
Daggubati Ramanaidu - Producer
Kalindi Charan BeheraBiju - Janata Dal
(BJD) VicePresident
Manorama Dobriyal Sharma - Rajya Sabha
MP from Uttarakhand
Dr. Kalim Ahmed Ajiz - Legendary Urdu
Poet
Nirad Mahapatra - Eminent filmmaker
Govind PansareVeteran - CPI leader
Adya Sharma - Pioneer of mobile theatre in
Assam
Rana Bhagwandas - the first Hindu Chief
Justice of Pakistan
Maria Golovnina - Reuters bureau chief for
Afghanistan and Pakistan.
RC Sakthi - Tamil director
Hukam Singh - Former Haryana Chief
Minister
Aloysius Vincent - Veteran cinematographer
Raosaheb Ramrao Patil - Former Home
Minister of Maharashtra
Hukam Singh - Former Haryana Chief
Minister
Carl Djerassi - Father of Birth Control Pill
Important Days in February

2-Feb
World Wetlands Day

National Girl day
4-Feb
World Cancer Day

Sri Lanka Independence Day
10-Feb
National Deworming Day
12-Feb
Darwin Day
13-Feb
Hug Day
World Radio Day
14-Feb
Valentine's Day
21-Feb
International Mother Language Day
22-Feb
Thinking Day
24-Feb
Central Excise Day
28-Feb
International Rare Disease Day

National Science Day
------
The 87th Academy Awards

ceremony,
presented
by
the
Academy of Motion Picture Arts and
Sciences (AMPAS), honored the
best films of 2014 and took place on
February 22, 2015, at the Dolby
Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles.
During the ceremony, the Academy
of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
presented
Academy
Awards
(commonly referred to as Oscars) in
24 categories.
Begun in 1929, the Academy
Awards and its iconic Oscar statues
have become a high-water mark in
terms of pagentry and the movies
they honor.

39
R.A.C.E
And the Oscar goes to

No.
Roles
Winners
Best Picture:
Birdman
Actress in a
Leading Role
Julianne Moore, Still

Alice
Actor in a
Leading Role
Eddie Redmayne, The

Theory of Everything
Directing
Alejandro Gonzalez
Inarritu, Birdman
Actress in a
Supporting Role
Patricia Arquette,
Boyhood
Actor in a
Supporting Role
JK Simmons, Whiplash
Foreign
Language Film
Writing Adapted
Screenplay
Ida
Writing Original
Screenplay
Cinematograph
y
10
Makeup and
Hairstyling
11
Costume
Design
12
Music - Original
Song
13
Visual Effects
Graham Moore, The

Imitation Game
Alejandro G Inarritu,
Nicolas Giacobone,
Alexander Dinelaris, Jr
& Armando Bo, Birdman
Emmanuel Lubezki,
Birdman
Frances Hannon and
Mark Coulier, The Grand
Budapest Hotel
Milena Canonero, The
Grand Budapest Hotel
John Stephens and
Lonnie Lynn for 'Glory'
from Selma
Paul Franklin, Andrew
Lockley, Ian Hunter
and Scott Fisher,
Interstellar
14
Documentary
Short Subject
Ellen Goosenberg Kent

and Dana Perry, Crisis
Hotline: Veterans Press 1
15
Documentary
Citizen Four
Feature
16
Film Editing
Tom Cross, Whiplash
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Sound Editing
Alan Robert Murray

and Bub Asman,
American Sniper
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Sound Mixing
19
Production
Design
Craig Mann, Ben

Wilkins and Thomas
Curley, Whiplash
Adam Stockhausen
(Production Design);
Anna Pinnock (Set
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Short Film
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Animated
Feature Film
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Animated: Feast
Tom Cross, Whiplash
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Sound Editing
Alan Robert Murray

and Bub Asman,
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Sound Mixing
Craig Mann, Ben

Wilkins and Thomas
Curley, Whiplash
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Production
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Short Film
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Live Action: The Phone
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Animated
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Short Film
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Live Action: The Phone

Call
Big Hero 6l.
------

40

Feb 2015 CA

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