Daily Current Affairs – 8th January 2015, Thursday
1. UN Secretary-General appoints Atul Khare Under-Secretary-General
i. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has appointed
Atul Khare as the Under-Secretary-General,
Department of Field Support (DFS).
ii. He replaces Ameerah Haq of
Bangladesh.
iii. Khare
currently provides charitable medical advice in India. He has served the UN in many capacities, most recently as Assistant Secretary-General
leading the Change Management Team in 2011-2012.
2. Rashtriya
Avishkar Abhiyan scheme to attract students towards Science, Maths
i. The Government of India is planning to introduce Rashtriya
Avishkar Abhiyan to create awareness among the students in Science and
Mathematics.
ii. Mentioning a recent survey, Human
Resource Development Minister Smriti Irani said that inclination towards
studying Maths and Science has decreased to 30 percent.
iii. The Abhiyan seeks to create curiosity and
excitement and generate a spirit of innovation and exploration amongst school children by
encouraging higher education institutions to assist secondary and elementary
schools in the study of Science and Mathematics.
3. World Bridge
Championships 2015 will be held in India
i. India will host the 42nd
World
Bridge Championships which will
be held in Chennai from 26th September to 10th October 2015.
ii. The World Bridge Championships involve several sets
of championships organized under the World Bridge Federation.
iii. The World Bridge Championships are contested in every
odd-numbered year.
4. Rajkumar
Manisana former Chief Justice of the Guwahati High Court passes away
i. Former Chief Justice of the Guwahati High
Court and the chairman of the National Human Rights Commission, Rajkumar
Manisana, passed away in a private hospital in Imphal. He was 82.
5. Unemployment
rate in India rises to 4.9 % in 2013-14
i. The unemployment rate in the country rose to 4.9
per cent in 2013-14, mainly on account of increase in joblessness in rural
areas.
ii. In 2012-13, it was 4.7 per cent.
iii. On the positive side, the unemployment rate
dropped in urban areas to 5.5 per cent from 5.7 per cent in the previous
fiscal.
6. Bicycle
sharing scheme launched by Delhi Metro
i. To provide
pollution-free connectivity to its travelers, the DMRC today launched the
city’s first public bicycle sharing scheme, which would allow people to seamlessly
reach their destination via the metro rail.
ii. The
eco-friendly scheme was launched at Saket Metro Station in south Delhi.
iii. As part of this scheme, a bicycle shelter has been built in Neb Serai area,
neighbouring the station at Saket, from where commuters can hire any cycle and
then ride it to the station and leave it there as a bicycle shelter has also
been provided at the metro.
7. Hike
Messenger acquires voice-calling firm Zip Phone
i. The Instant
messaging application, Hike Messenger, has acquired the US-based voice-calling company for free voice-calling service.
ii. The deal is
aimed at expanding Hike’s product range in the Internet-based communication
space.
Note: Hike
Messenger is a cross-platform instant messaging service for smartphones that
uses the internet for communication. It was launched on 12th December, 2012 by Kavin
Bharti Mittal.
ii. Zip Phone is
a US based company founded by Anuj Jain in 2014.
8. HTC becomes official
sponsor for KXIP team
i. The Indian
Premier League (IPL) franchise, Kings XI Punjab on Thursday announced that telecom
giant HTC would be its official principal sponsor for the eighth edition of the
tournament.
ii. HTC will
occupy the right chest position on Kings XI Punjab’s playing jersey.
iii. This association
will further consolidate the brand’s existing relationship with KXIP which was established during
the Champions League T20 2014.