Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw appointed Chairperson of IIM-B board of governors
1.Indian Institute of Management-Bangalore (IIM-B) has appointed Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw as the Chairperson of its board of governors.
2.At the meeting of the board of governors on February 11, the Chairperson, Mukesh D. Ambani, expressed his decision to step down, IIM-B said in a release.
3.The board, accordingly, appointed Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw as the Chairperson of the IIM-B board of governors with effect from February 11, it added.
4.“Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, Chairman and Managing Director, Biocon Ltd, has been a member of the IIM-B board for the past several years. She is the first woman chairperson of any IIM board”, it said.
5.She takes over from Mukesh D. Ambani, who has been the Chairman of the board for the last eight years. The Ministry of HRD has notified this change, it added.
Tina Maze wins Olympic giant slalom
1.Tina Maze skied through rain and snow to win Olympic gold, and then swam through slush to celebrate.
2.In tough conditions on the slopes above Sochi, Maze won her second gold medal of the 2014 Games by leading the giant slalom from start to finish.
3.Wearing bib No. 1, the Slovene skied cautiously and cleanly through the gates to finish 0.07 seconds ahead of Anna Fenninger of Austria.
4.Maze celebrated by belly-flopping onto the wet snow and pretending to swim the breaststroke.
5.Defending champion Viktoria Rebensburg of Germany was third, trailing 0.27 behind Maze’s two-run time of 2 minutes, 36.87 seconds.
6.American teenager Mikaela Shiffrin placed fifth in her Olympic debut, missing a medal by just 0.23 seconds.
7.“Next Olympics I go to, I’m sure as heck not getting fifth,” said Shiffrin, who will start as the favorite in the slalom on Friday.
8.The 30-year-old Maze added giant slalom gold in the rain to the tie for victory in a sunbathed downhill last week. She also won giant slalom silver at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics.
9.Maze led the first run by 0.52 seconds. Jessica Lindell-Vikarby of Sweden had been in second place, but she faded down to place seventh.
10.Maze began the second run with a 0.85-second advantage over Fenninger, the super-G winner, but gave much of it away in a cautious run down the steep and slushy final slope.
11.After Maze crossed the line, a further 44 lower-ranked skiers still had their second run. They included pop-classical violinist Vanessa-Mae, who raced for Thailand as Vanessa Vanakorn. She was the slowest of 74 first-run finishers, then slowest again in the afternoon by more than seven seconds.
12.She ended up 50.90 seconds behind Maze.
13.One absentee in the original 90-racer lineup was Maria Hoefl-Riesch of Germany, who skipped her weakest event because of a cold and breathing problems.
14.Julia Mancuso, GS champion at the 2006 Turin Olympics, skied out midway down the last slope in her final event.
15.“That’s a wrap for me here in Sochi. It’s been inspiring! Thanks for all the support and Love! {nldr}GoUSA!!! Now I get to celebrate my Bronze!!!,” Mancuso, who got her medal in super-combined, wrote on her Twitter account.
16.Maze has been the most consistent women’s skier at the Sochi Games. Mancuso edged her off the super-combined podium by just 0.10 seconds and she was fifth in super-G.
17.Maze’s joyous celebration reflected how the tension in her skiing has lifted at the Olympics. In an often-frustrating season, she has won only one World Cup race while struggling to follow her record-setting 2013 season.
18.Rebensburg matched her best result since the opening race of a season in which she was sidelined for several weeks by bronchitis. She glided through the finish area on just her right ski, pumping both fists after seeing her time.
19.Driving snow and sleet delayed the second run for nearly 15 minutes from its scheduled 1 p.m. (0900 GMT) start, but it slowed to a drizzle when the medal contenders raced.
20.Course workers scattered salt to firm the snow surface, which was already softened by days of sunshine.
21.The first run was completed in the morning despite persistent rain on lower sections and the first snowfall at the Sochi Olympics higher up.
22.Racers struggled to carve clean turns as their skis pushed the soft snow aside.
23.“It’s like skiing on sugar,” sixth-place finisher Maria Pietilae-Holmner of Sweden said after the first run. “It’s hard to ski the way you want to ski.”
Kiran Kumar Reddy resigns
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy, who is upset over the Telangana bill being passed by the Lok Sabha has resigned on Wednesday.
Mr. Reddy also said that he will be the caretaker Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh and he is on his way to meet the Governor to submit his resignation.
Earlier, Mr. Reddy is miffed that the AP Reorganisation Bill has been passed by the Lok Sabha and that the Centre is keen to push it through in Rajya Sabha also.
The sources close to him said, he might now wage a legal battle against the state’s bifurcation and the “undemocratic” manner in which the Centre went about the process.
Another version coming out from his camp is that Mr. Reddy may take a “break” from active politics for a couple of years till things cooled down and then chalk out his future course. He is expected to throw some light on his plans at the scheduled press conference.
The bill to carve out Telangana, the 29th state, by splitting Andhra Pradesh was passed on Tuesday by the Lok Sabha with Congress and BJP coming together on the issue.
Renaud Lavillenie broke 21-year pole vault record of Sergey Bubka
1.Renaud Lavillenie, the French Olympic champion on 15 February 2014 broke 21-year-old world record of pole vault of Sergey Bubka with a leap of 6.16 meter at Donetsk in the Ukraine.
2.Lavillenie aged 27 cleared the height in his first attempt by going 1 centimeter higher than the record set indoors by Bubka on 21 February 1993 at the age of 21. Bubka, the former Olympic champion also holds the world outdoor record of 6.14 meter achieved by him in Sestriere, Italy in 1994.
3.Bubka was the pioneer of the sport to become the first man to clear 6 meter and was present in Donetsk, when Lavillenie eclipsed his world record. Lavillenie is the six-time outdoor world champion. In pole vault, the world records set indoors or outdoors are accepted.
TV Comedy Pioneer Sid Caesar Died at 91
1.Sid Caesar a great TV comedian died at 91 on 14 February 2014.
2.His first TV comedy-variety show The Admiral Broadway Revue was aired in 1949. The TV comedy Shows of 1950s from Saturday Night Live to Sitcoms owe a debt to Caesar's brilliant interpretation of material. Your Show of Shows and Caesar's Hour reached as many as 60 million viewers weekly making Caesar richer by 1 million dollar annually.
3.Other TV shows which were his major achievements includes Your Show of Shows, 1950-54, with co-star Imogene Coca, and Caesar's Hour that appeared in 1954-57.
4.His emphasis on humour was born out of human nature which forms the part of comedies such as Modern Family.
5.Caesar wrote the biography Caesar's Hours: My Life in Comedy, With Love and Laughter in 2003.
6.Caesar was born in 1922 in Yonkers, New York, USA and was the third son of an Austrian-born restaurant owner and his Russian-born wife.
Sikkim won National Tourism Award 2012-13
1.Sikkim won the National Tourism Award 2012-13 on 18 February 2014. The award was handed over to Bhim Dhungel, Sikkim’s Tourism Minister by Shashi Tharoor, Union Minister for Human Resource Development at a function at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi.
2.Union Ministry of Tourism declared Sikkim as the best State in the implementation of rural tourism projects. The Ministry described, Sikkim as a perfect destination to experience rich culture and scenic natural beauty.
3.Bhim Dhungel at the award ceremony informed that the Chief Minister of Sikkim, Pawan Chamling has launched an ambitious project of 140-crore rupees for development of the tourism facilities in the state along with halting points, view points, retiring units and other infrastructural facilities.
Some other Achievements, Recognitions and Awards received by Sikkim
• Sikkim has been ranked as the first state in India for implementation of Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan.
• Sikkim has received 2 MGNREGA Awards for excellent implementation of MGNREGA Scheme in the State
• In 2013 for e-Governance, Sikkim received e-North East Award
• It received the Agriculture Leadership award in 2013
• Environment for Spring Conservation Project Sikkim received e-North East award in 2012
• In 2004-05 it received the award as best performing state in Education
• In recognition of commendable work done in the field of information Technology it received Skoch Challenger Award in 2005
• Hospitality India Award in 2006
• State Leadership Award 2009 in horticulture
• Best State for Adventure Tourism for the year 2009
Worldfloat introduced Citydeals, a Social plus e-Commerce feature
1.Worldfloat, a social networking site on 18 February 2014 announced that it had introduced e-commerce feature named Citydeals that would take on the major players like Flipkart, Snapdeal and OLX in discount deals market.
2.Pushkar Mahatta, the founder of Worldfloat said that the new feature would allow users to sell and buy products locally. This feature is like the feed of Facebook and would allow users to sell and buy products like mobiles, real estate, bikes, car and more. Initially the services of the new feature will be available in major cities - Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Bangalore and Kolkata.
3.This feature is different from its competitors because the company will not charge a single penny from the users for selling or buying their products, but the monetising model will be advertisement-based.
About Worldfloat
Worldfloat was launched in June 2012 as a social networking site and since then it has added features like free online movies, education videos, search engine facilities and comparison engine.
Government de-allocated six Coal Blocks due to delay in production
1.The Union Government of India on 18 February 2014 de-allocated six coal blocks given to firms following delay in production. This de-allocation has been done on the recommendation made in this regard by an Inter-Ministerial Group (IMG) that was headed by Additional Secretary, Coal as its Chairman.
2.The IMG was set-up to review the progress of development of captive coal blocks that were allotted to private companies.
3.Firms whose blocks has been de-allocation includes
• Hindalco Industries
• Tata Power
• Century Textiles and Industries
• J K Cement
4.The decision made by Coal Ministry to de-allocate the coal blocks given to JSPL and Sterlite has been put on hold in view of cases pending in courts.
Gross NPAs of listed banks soared 35.2 percent during first three quarters of 2013-14
1.The gross non-performing assets (NPAs) of listed banks rose 35.2 per cent to 2.43 trillion rupees during the first three quarters of the current financial year 2013-14.
2.Stressed loans of listed banks rose to 50 per cent for the calendar year 2013, even as the banks struggle to recover their dues and restructure loans.
3.Bad loans stood at 138613 crore ruppes for December 2013 against 92398 crore rupees in December 2012.
4.Among the listed banks, SBI had the highest share of gross NPAs at 67799 crore rupees followed by PNB at 16596 crore rupees, and Bank of Baroda at 11926 crore rupees.
5.ING Vysya's net NPAs increased the most at 359 per cent, followed by Bank of Maharashtra at 352 percent.
6.ICICI Bank's gross NPAs rose 8.2 per cent, or by 791 crore rupees to 10399 crore rupees. The level of bad loans was 9607.75 crore rupees as on 31 March 2013.
Connaught Place in Delhi ranked 8th most expensive office location
1.Connaught Place (CP) in Delhi was ranked as the world’s eighth most expensive office location in a report released by the Cushman & Wakefield on 18 February 2014.
2.The Connaught Place in Central Delhi fell four places from 4th rank in 2013 due to an appreciation in both the dollar and euro against the rupee in 2013 and also limited activities.
3.Mumbai Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC) emerged as the second most expensive office location in India and 8th most expensive across Asia Pacific and Africa Collections (APAC). Kolkata CBD recorded the highest rental growth in India.
4.The focus of the report is prime office rental performances and occupancy costs across the globe, including a ranking of the most expensive locations across the world in which to occupy office space.
Ten-day festival Taj Mahotsav began in Agra
Taj Mahotsav, the ten day annual festival began in Agra, Uttar Pradesh on 18 February 2014.The festival will be celebrated from 18 to 27 February 2014 at the Shilp Gram, the Eastern gate of Taj Mahal. The theme of the festival for this year is Paigham-e Mohahabbat or the message of love.
About Taj Mahostav
• Taj Mahotsav was started in 1992 and since then its glory has reached to greater heights. The festival is organized by the Uttar Pradesh Department of Tourism to increase the Indian Tourism.
• Taj Mahotsav is a vibrant platform that gives information of India where one can find India’s rich arts, crafts, cultures, cuisine, dance and music.
• In Taj Mahotsav legendary artisans from different parts of the country get an opportunity to display their exquisite works of art like wood or stone carvings from Tamil Nadu, Bamboo or cane work from North East India, Paper mash work from South India and Kashmir, the marble and zardozi work from Agra.
• The Performances of folk, classical music and dances of various regions, especially the Brij Bhumi will be performed the way they used to be centuries ago.
Bharti Airtel Signed an Agreement with Loop Mobile
1.Largest telecom operator of India Bharti Airtel signed a strategic agreement with Loop Mobile on 18 February 2014. Under the agreement Bharti Airtel will acquire the mobile network and 3 million subscribers of Loop Mobile in Mumbai circle.
2.With this deal, Bharti Airtel will become the largest mobile operator with 7 million subscriber base in Mumbai relegating Vodafone to second position with 6.8 million subscriber base.
3.The proposed transaction will bring together Loop Mobile’s 2G/EDGE enabled network supported by 2500 plus cell sites, and Airtel’s 2G and 3G network supported by over 4000 cell sites across Mumbai.
4.It will also offer subscribers the widest exclusive retail reach with 220 outlets that will enable best-in-class customer service.
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