Current Affairs-GK February 14, 2016

Make in India Centre inaugurated

ü  Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 13 February 2016 inaugurated the ‘Make In India’ Centre at the MMRDA Grounds, Mumbai along with Swedish Prime Minister Kjell Stefan Lofven and the Prime Minister of Finland, Juha Petri Sipila.

ü  Theme: innovation, design and sustainability.

ü  During the week (February 13-18), the event will offer immense access and opportunities to connect with Indian and global industry leaders, the central and state governments and other stakeholders.

Government orders merger of NSEL, FTIL

ü  The ministry of corporate affairs (MCA) ordered the merger of National Spot Exchange (NSEL) with its promoter Financial Technologies (FTIL). The ministry’s objective is to compensate the traders who had transacted on the now defunct NSEL (the government had asked it close down in late 2013), from the cash holdings of FTIL, a listed entity. FTIL is moving the Bombay high court to challenge the government order.

ü  In July 2013, the commodities futures market regulator Forward Markets Commission (FMC) had ordered NSEL to discontinue its commodities contracts. Within weeks, the exchange folded up with about 13,000 investors unable to get paid from a handful of borrowers on the exchange.

PM Modi prods private sector to start investing at Make in India

ü  Prime Minister Narendra Modi prodded industrialists to kick start their investments and not wait for opportune time as global players are looking for joint ventures and technical collaboration with Indian companies.

ü  PM Modi was addressing the movers and shakers of India at an event to inaugurate the week-long ‘Make in India’ campaign.

ü  Extending full support to new-age start-ups, he said the young start-ups are showing us newer and faster way for enterprise and delivery of services across sectors including pollution control, health, education, agriculture and services.

Anil Agarwal to invest $10 bn

ü  Billionaire Anil Agarwal will invest $10 billion or Rs.68,000 crore to set up India’s first and one of world’s largest liquid crystal display (LCD) panel manufacturing units, known as Panel FAB, in Maharashtra.

ü  The money will be invested in five phases by Twinstar Display Technologies, promoted by Mr. Agarwal’s investment firm, Volcan Investments.

ü  A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) will be signed with the Government of Maharashtra on the sidelines of the ‘Make in India’ Week in Mumbai.

ABB showcases dual armed robot

ü  Prime Minister Modi and the Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Löfven visited the ABB stall at the ‘Make in India’ week.

ü  ABB is part of the Swedish Pavilion and is showcasing a host of innovative technologies made in India at the exposition.

ü  ABB India has been an integral part of the country’s power and automation industry.

Google will shut down Picasa soon

ü  Google has announced that it will shut down Picasa and will redirect users to try Google Photos for all their photo sharing needs.

ü  Google has also announced that it will stop support for Picasa desktop application from March 15, 2016.

Rare supernova ‘impostor’ found in a nearby galaxy.

ü  A team of astronomers has found a rare supernova “impostor” in a nearby galaxy. University of Washington’s Breanna Binder and her colleagues recently solved a mystery involving X-rays-a case of X-rays present when they shouldn’t have been.

ü  After a star explodes as a supernova, it usually leaves behind either a black hole or what’s called a neutron star, the collapsed, high-density core of the former star. Neither should be visible to Earth after a few weeks. But this supernova, SN 2010da, still was. SN 2010da is what they call a ‘supernova impostor,’ something initially thought to be a supernova based on a bright emission of light, but later to be shown as a massive star that for some reason is showing this enormous flare of activity.

South Asian Games: Anand clinches first taekwondo gold for India

ü  Anand clinched the first taekwondo gold for India in the U-87 kg category in the 12th South Asian Games, by defeating Afghanistan’s Ramesh Hossani in the final.

ü  India had to settle for silver in the U-54 Kg section as Abrar Khan lost to Afghanistan’s Mohsen Razaei.

ü  Expectedly, Rohullah Nikpai, twice Olympic bronze medallist in taekwondo, bagged the gold medal in the U-68 category, defeating Naveed Khan of Pakistan in the final (technical knock-out).

Indian Ambassador to Tajikistan passes away

ü  Biraja Prasad, who was posted recently as Ambassador to Tajikistan, passed away following a massive cardiac arrest.

ü  Mr. Prasad, a career diplomat, had joined the Indian Foreign Service in 1998.

ü  He had held different diplomatic assignments such as third secretary and then second secretary (Political) in Embassy of India, Moscow (Russian Federation) from 2000 to 2002 and Second Secretary (Political and Commercial).