Daily GK Potion – 29th and 30th December 2014
- MS Dhoni Announces Retirement From Test Cricket With Immediate Effect
- India’s World Cup-winning captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni announced his retirement on Tuesday from Test cricket shortly after his team lost yet another overseas series, this time against Australia.
- Dhoni, who is one of the world’s highest-earning sportsman, has chosen “to retire from Test Cricket with immediate effect in order to concentrate” on the 50-over and Twenty20 formats of the game.
- In the 90 Tests that he was part of, Dhoni scored 4876 runs at an average of 38.09 with six hundreds and 33 50s to his credit.
- Virat Kohli, who was the vice-captain under Dhoni, will lead the Indian team in the fourth and final Test against Australia that begins in Sydney.
- BCCI banned spinner Pragyan Ojha from bowling in competitive cricket
- BCCI has finally banned discarded India left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha from bowling in competitive matches due to suspect action.
- He will be heading to Chennai for taking corrective measures.
- He is the quickest Indian bowler to reach to 100-wicket milestone. He has taken 113 wickets from 24 Test matches and 21 wickets from 18 ODIs. He also played 6 T20 Internationals in which he got 10 wickets.
- Vrinda Sarup appointed School Education and Literacy Secretary
- Senior IAS officer Vrinda Sarup was appointed as Secretary, Department of School Education and Literacy.
- She has been appointed in place of R Bhattacharya, a 1978 batch IAS officer of Andhra Pradesh cadre, who superannuates on Wednesday.
- Indian-American photojournalist Rajan Devadas dies in US
- Rajan Devadas, one of the most admired Indian-American photojournalists whose lenses chronicled US-India relations for more than half a century, has died.
- Modi govt declares all-out war against Bodo militants
- Reports say up to 9,000 soldiers and paramilitary troopers have been summoned on the Assam and the Arunachal Pradesh border to flush out terrorists accused of massacring innocent people.
- India’s forex reserves is now at $320.564 billion, just a shade lower than the all-time high of $320.785 billion.
- Tata Coffee names Sanjiv Sarin as CEO designate
- The board of directors of Tata Coffee Ltd. has informed Bombay Stock Exchange that it has approved the appointment of Sanjiv Sarin as the ‘CEO designate’ of the company with effect from January 8, 2015.
- He will assume charge after the retirement of Hameed Huq, the current MD and CEO. Hameed Huq will retire on March 31, 2015 and has been with Tata Coffee for over 15 years.
- Union Cabinet approves amendment to Land Acquisiton Act
- In a bid to ease the process of acquiring land, the Union Cabinet on Monday recommended the promulgation of an ordinance to amend the Land Acquisiton Act, 2013, by including five new categories of projects that would not require prior consent from affected families as well as Social Impact Assessment (SIA).
- The sensitive provisions relating to compensation, relief and rehabilitation have been left untouched.
- The amendment also includes 13 legislation that are currently exempted under the purview of the Act in the compensation, rehabilitation and resettlement provisions.
- Gmail blocked in China
- Google’s Gmail was blocked in China after months of disruptions to the world’s biggest email service, with an anti-censorship advocate suggesting the country’s “great firewall” was to blame.
- The country has the world’s most sophisticated internet censorship mechanism, known as the “great firewall of China”.
- Rbi Releases Financial Stability Report
- RBI eases norms to help India Inc increase global footprint
- In order to encourage Indian companies to expand their global footprint and showcase entrepreneurial skills, the Reserve Bank relaxed norms for overseas direct investments.
- The modified norms will provide greater freedom to domestic companies like Tatas, Bharti and Reliance to increase their commitments in overseas joint ventures and subsidiaries and also help them repatriate funds without seeking prior approval of the RBI.
- Department of Disabilities Affairs renamed Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities
- Cabinet clears hiking stake in IFCI to 51%
- Government Monday approved raising its stake in IFCI Ltd to 51 percent by infusing Rs 60 crore in the country’s oldest financial institution.
- The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, approved infusion of Rs 60 crore in Industrial Finance Corporation of India (IFCI) Ltd to make it a government company by way of acquisition of preference shares from existing shareholder(s),” an official statement said.