Current Affairs 1st April 2014

Current Affairs 1st April 2014

Updated : 01-Apr-2014

Current Affairs 1st April 2014 - Important Points
Current Affairs 1st April 2014 - Details
"Polling at your fingertips", a sms based service launched in Shillong
On 31st March 2014, Mr P Naik (The Chief Electoral Officer) launched SMS based service named "Polling at your Fingertips" in Shillong, Meghalaya.

This is one of the most innovative steps started for the voters under which they will have to enter their EPIC number and send it to 9856066666.
The EPIC SMS from the voter will provide him all the details of their electoral number, polling stations, timing and date in their mobile phones. The SMS service will be charged at 3 rupees per SMS.
Re-promulgation of SEBI Ordinance 2013 cleared by President
On 30th March 2014, President of India Shri Pranab Mukherjee cleared the re-promulgation of the SEBI Ordinance Securities Laws (Amendment) Bill 2013.
The ordinance aims to give powers to Securities and Exchanges Board of India (SEBI) to act against Ponzi scheme.
Earlier, the Ordinance was re-promulgated on the advice of the Union Cabinet by the President on 18 July 2013 and again on 16 September 2013.
Bhullar's death sentence commuted to life imprisonment by Supreme Court
The Supreme Court commuted the death sentence of Devinderpal Singh Bhullar to the life imprisonment on 31 March 2014 on the basis of a curative petition. Mental illness and inordinate delay in deciding his mercy petition were the main reasons behind this decision. The landmark judgment of the apex court on 21 January also played a crucial role in the entire case.

The Centre while admitting the delay in deciding his mercy petition, informed the Supreme Court on 27 March 2014 that it has no problem with the commutation of death sentence of Devinderpal Singh Bhullar.
US Ambassador to India Nancy Powell resigned
On 31st March 2014, US Ambassador to India Nancy Powell announced her resignation in the US Mission Town Hall meeting.The resignation was submitted to Barack Obama, the President of US.
In previous years of her career she had postings as the US Ambassador includes Uganda, Ghana, Pakistan, Nepal and India.
Japanese Government should stop its Whaling Programme Jarpa II ordered ICJ
The UN's International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague, Netherland on 31st March 2014 has ruled that the Japanese government must halt its whaling programme Jarpa II in the Antarctic Ocean.
ICJ agreed the programme was not for scientific research as claimed by Tokyo. The court's decision is considered legally binding. Japan has agreed to abide by the decision.
Important to note :
Japan signed up a moratorium on whaling in 1986 under the International Whaling Commission, but continued whaling in the north and south Pacific under provisions that allowed for scientific research.
Indian-American cardiologist Dr Sumeet Chugh wins prestigious Simon Dack Award
Indian American cardiologist Dr Sumeet Chugh has been named as one of the recipients of a prestigious award from the American College of Cardiology. Dr Sumeet Chugh, an MD and associate director of Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute, will receive the Simon Dack Award along with another researcher.

Important to note :
Dr Sumeet Chugh also leads the World Health Organization (WHO) panel which performs a worldwide assessment of heart rhythm disorders for the Global Burden of Disease study.
Interior Minister Manuel Valls appointed as next prime minister of France
President Francois Hollande named former Interior Minister Manuel Valls as France's new prime minister on 31st March 2014. He made this decision after his Socialists suffered heavy losses in nationwide municipal elections.
Manuel Carlos Valls is a Spanish-born French Socialist Party politician. He was the Mayor of Evry from 2001 to 2012 and a Member of the National Assembly since 2002.
Valls is consistently voted France's most popular Socialist in opinion polls and He replaces Jean Marc Ayrault.
Manuel Valls is 51 year's old.
Govt notifies rules for 10 more chapters in the new Company Act
Government has notified rules for ten more chapters by rolling out the new Companies Act, this includes related to powers of boards and appointment of directors.
Most parts of the Companies Act, 2013, that replaces the nearly six-decade old law that governs corporates in the country, would come into effect from April 1 2014.
On 20th March 2014, the Ministry had received Election Commission's approval for notifying rules related to various sections of the new Companies Act, It was necessary as Model Code of Conduct came into force from March 5th 2014.
Repo Rate kept unchanged by RBI in First Bi-monthly Monetary Policy Statement of 2014-15
Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in its first Bi-monthly Monetary Policy statement 2014-15 announced on 1 April 2014, has kept the policy repo rate unchanged at 8.0%.
In the first bi-monthly monetary policy statement for 2014-15, the RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan decided to pause and not disturb status quo. The repo rate and the rate at which RBI lends money to banks remained at 8 per cent.
Other policy instruments such as cash reserve ratio also remain unchanged at 4%. The economic growth of country slipped to a decade-low of 4.5 per cent in 2012-13 and is estimated at 4.9 per cent in the current financial year 2013-14.
Read other Current Affairs and Current Affairs of Arpil 2014