Current Affairs Capsule January 2015 Part-1

Current Affairs Capsule January 2015 Part-1

1. Maithiripala Sirisena becomes the new president of Srilanka after defeating the incumbent Mahinda Rajapaksa in a close fought battle. Sirisena was a former health minister in the Rajapaksa government.
   
2. The Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) was extended for another year in the state of Assam. The whole state of Assam was declared a disturbed area in the wake of recent attacks by militants.
3. Niti Aayog replaces the planning commission of India. NITI (National Institute for Transforming India) Aayog will work both as a think tank and a policy forum to make India a front runner in the list of leading countries of the world. Arvind Panagariya and Sindhushree Khullar have been named the vice chairman and chief operating officer respectively of the NITI Aayog respectively. The Prime Minister of India will be the Chairman of this Aayog.
   
4. A.K Mittal appointed as new chairman of the Railway Board. He superseded many big players to grab this post. It is expected that he will expedite the railway reforms to revive the ailing railways.
   
5. Union Cabinet approved setting up of India based Neutrino observatory laboratory (INO). The project will be set up in Bodi West Hills, Tamil Nadu. It is a world class underground laboratory to study neutrino from close quarters.
6. Pakistan enacts new law to create constitutional military courts to try terrorists. This law would give a tough message to the terrorists who often wriggle out from civil courts.
7. On 9th January, the13th Pravasiya Bharatiya Diwas was celebrated. On this occasion, the Persons of India Origin (PIO) and Overseas Citizenship of India (OCI) scheme was merged to aid the Indians settled in foreign countries. The Prime Minister also announced visa on arrival for them.
8. Kumar Sangakkara became the fastest batman to score 12,000 runs in test cricket. It took 224 innings for him to achieve this feat while breaking the record of Sachin Tendulkar who took 247 innings.
   
9. Boxing India gets recognition from the ministry of sports as the governing body of the sport in India. It is expected that the new body will streamline the organizational structure and improve the condition of boxing in India.
10. Union Sports ministry propounded the name of ace shuttler Saina Nehwal for the Padma Bhushan Award. Saina had earlier expressed her displeasure for being neglected by the ministry.
    
11. Indian diplomat Atul Khare named as UN Under Secretary General for field support. He will be accountable to provide field support to various peace keeping and political missions of the United Nations.
12. NASA’s (National  Aeronautics and Space Administration) famous Kepler Telescope achieves a formidable feat by making its 1000th exo planet discovery. An exo planet is a planet that does not orbit the sun and instead orbits a different celestial body.
13. Greece dissolves its parliament ahead of the snap elections to be held on 25th January. The dissolution ensued after the parliament failed to elect a president in the third and final round of voting.
    

Also Read

• Current Affairs Capsule December Part 3
• Current Affairs Capsule December Part 2
• Current Affairs Capsule December 2014 Part 1