Union Government approved two plant to manufacture Semiconductor chips
1.The Union Government approved the setting up of two plants to manufacture semiconductor chips in India on 14 February 2014. The plants will be set up by two business consortia, including Israel's Tower Jazz-IBM and STMicroelectronics at a cost of around 63412 crore Rupees.
2.One of the business consortiums consists of India's Jaiprakash Associates, IBM and Tower Jazz. It plans to set up a plant at a cost of 34399 crore Rupees near the Yamuna Expressway in Uttar Pradesh.
3.The other, which consists of France-based STMicroelectronics, HSMC Technologies (Hindustan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation) and Malaysia's Silterra, will set up a plant in Prantij in Gujarat at a cost of 29013 crore Rupees.
4.It is expected that the final agreements regarding both plants will be signed by August 2014.
5.The government has been working on a plan to reduce its costly import bill and manufacture some products, which are imported. The two plants are expected to help the country reduce its import bill by allowing manufacture of semiconductor chips locally.They will also create direct employment opportunities for around 22000 people and indirect opportunities for a lakh more.
Researchers at Chinese Academy of Sciences developed fire-resistant paper
1.Researchers with Shanghai institute of Ceramics, Chinese Academy of Science developed a new type of paper that is resistant to fire on 14 February 2014. The research was published in Chemistry - A European Journal.
2.The paper will not catch fire even at 1000 degrees Celsius temperature. This new paper is formed from calcium phosphate compound.
3.The novel kind of inorganic paper is flexible and incombustible, but still feels like ordinary paper. It can be torn, folded, and destroyed by strong acid.
4.It can be used for important documents to preserve for long periods of time
China to build the longest underwater tunnel of the World
1.China announced a plan to build the longest underwater tunnel of the World on 14 February 2014. Water tunnel will be constructed beneath the Bohai Sea.
2.The 123-km long underwater tunnel will connect the port cities of Dalian in Liaoning province and Yantai in Shandong province. The project will cost 36 billion dollar to construct the shortcut between two northern port cities in an earthquake-prone region.
3.The work on tunnel is expected to start from 2015 or 2016 and is expected to be completed by 2026. Once complete, it would drastically cut the current travel time between the two cities to about 40 minutes, which are currently separated by a 1400-km drive or about eight hours by ferry.
4.The tunnel would surpass the combined length of the world's two longest tunnels, Japan's Seikan Tunnel linking Honshu and Hokkaido and the Channel Tunnel between Britain and France.
AAP announces first list of candidates for Lok Sabha elections
1.AAP has announced its first list of 20 candidates for Lok Sabha elections. The list includes Yogendra Yadav, Kumar Vishwas, Medha Patkar and Meera Sanyal.
2.Anjali Damania, convener of Maharashtra unit of Aam Aadmi Party, will contest against senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader Nitin Gadkari from Nagpur.
3.Meera Sanyal will contest from South Mumbai against Milind Deora; Medha Patkar will contest from Mumbai (North East) and Yogendra Yadav will contest from Gurgaon.
4.The Aam Aadmi Party has decided to field former journalist Ashutosh against Union Minister Kapil Sibal from the Chandni Chowk constituency in Delhi.
5.The party's Mukul Tripathi will take on Foreign Minister Salman Khurshid from the Farrukhabad seat, while senior advocate HS Phoolka will contest from Ludhiana against Information and Broadcasting Minister Manish Tewari.
6.Announcing the list, Manish Sisodia confirmed that Kumar Vishwas is slated to take on Rahul Gandhi in Amethi.
7.Subhash Wade will contest against Suresh Kalmadi
Vinita Bali joins Crisil board
Crisil has appointed Vinita Bali as an additional director on its board. She will be an independent, non-executive director.
In a release, Crisil said Bali, the Managing Director of Britannia Industries, has held a variety of leadership positions in marketing and general management with multinationals including The Coca-Cola Company and Cadbury Schweppes PLC and has worked in the UK, Nigeria, South Africa, Chile and the US.
Members of the board of directors of Crisil include Douglas L. Peterson (Chairman), M. Damodaran, H. N. Sinor, Dr Nachiket Mor, David Pearce, Yann Le Pallec and Roopa Kudva (Managing Director and CEO).
Tulips to adorn Mughal Gardens this year
1.President Pranab Mukherjee today opened the annual “Udyanotsav” of the famous Mughal Gardens which has this year a delicate addition in the form of tulips imported from Holland.
2.Nearly 5,000 tulips will bring the flavour of Kashmir Valley in the floral extravaganza at Rashtrapati Bhavan which will showcase 200 varieties of roses, 250 bonsai plants, 80 varieties of cactus along with flowers like Dahlia, Calendula, Gerbera, Linaria, Larkspur, Gaznia, Verbena, Viola, Pansy Carnation, Chrysanthemum, Marigold, Salvia in full bloom.
3.The Mughal Gardens, which braved the unseasonal rains without any damage, will remain open for general public from February 16 to March 16, 2014 (except on Mondays which are maintenance days) between 10 am to 4 pm, a statement from the Rashtrapati Bhavan said.
4.“The main attraction of this year’s Udyanotsav are Tulips which will be planted in phases,” the statement said, highlighting that the Tulips will be in full bloom in colours of red, orange and yellow mixed with red and white.
ICICI Bank opens 24X7 self-service electronic branches
1.ICICI Bank has opened sixty-one 24x7 electronic branches across 33 cities. Eight of these electronic branches are in Tamil Nadu, including one at Coimbatore. The project is currently in the trial phase.
2.“This initiative of an automated branch offering self-service solutions round-the-clock aims to provide customers an opportunity to leverage technology and transact at their convenience,” its Executive Director Rajiv Sabharwal said.
3.The bank has embarked on this initiative to embrace the environmental objective of ‘go green’ and offering flexible banking hours.
4.Some of the key services offered by these electronic branches include cash deposit with instant credit into account (only for ICICI Bank customers), cash withdrawal, cheque deposit with instant acknowledgement, video conferencing with a bank executive for product information and credit card queries, an Internet banking kiosk, phone banking, printing of account statements, placing a request for demand drafts, funds transfer, cheque book request and so on.
5.During the trial run in January, the bank is said to have registered 1.2 million transactions in the 61 electronic branches.
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