CURRENT AFFAIRS NOVEMBER 2014 MAGAZINE

CURRENT AFFAIRS NOVEMBER 2014 MAGAZINE 1.New Ministers– (1)Manohar Parrikar - Defence Ministry (2) Suresh Prabhu - Railways Ministry (3) Jagat Prakash Nadda - Health Ministry (4) Chaudhary Birender Singh - Rural Development Minister (5) Bandaru Dattatreya – Labour (6) Rajiv Pratap Rudy - Skill Development (7) Dr. Mahesh Sharma – Tourism 2.Sutirtha Bhattacharya will be the new Chairman and Managing Director of Coal India Limited. 3.Bollywood Actor Farhan Akhtar was appointed as UN Women Goodwill Ambassador for South Asia. Farhan is the first male ever to be chosen as a Goodwill Ambassador in the organization’s history. 4.Former Indian Police Service Officer K C Reddy was appointed as the member of United Nations probe panel on Gaza. 5 . The Union Government appointed GS Sandhu as Chairman of National Chemical Weapon Convention. 6. Senior IRS officer Anita Kapur was appointed as the new chairperson of the Central Board of Direct Taxes. 7. The Italian physicist Fabiola Gianotti was appointed as first woman chief of CERN particle physics research centre. 8. Rajiv Mehrishi took charge as Union Finance Secretary under the Union Ministry of Finance. He succeeded Arvind Mayaram. 9. Former Indian cricket captain Dilip Vengsarkar received the prestigious BCCI-instituted Colonel C K Nayudu Lifetime achievement award. 10.Tamil superstar Rajinikanth was honoured with the centenary award for Indian Film Personality of the year 2014 at the 45th International Film Festival of India. 11. Chintan, a non-government organisation was conferred the Deutsche Bank Urban Age Award, 2014. 12.Steel Authority of India Chairman CS Verma was conferred with the IIM- JRD Tata Award for Excellence in Corporate leadership in Metallurgical Industries for the year 2014. 13.Veteran classical vocalist Pandit Jasraj was conferred with the Sumitra Charat Ram Award 2014 for Lifetime Achievement. 14.Neha Gupta was awarded with the prestigious International Children’s Peace Prize 2014. 15.The Indian Space Research Organisation was chosen for the Indira Gandhi Prize for Peace, Disarmament and Development for 2014. 16. Radio Kashmir Jammu won prestigious Gandhian Philosophy and Public Service Broadcasting award 2014 for its programme Jeevan Rekha. 17.President Pranab Mukherjee conferred the 49th Jnanpith Award on eminent Hindi poet Kedarnath Singh. 18. Former Prime Minister of India Manmohan Singh received the Japan’s top national award The Grand Cordon of the Order of the Paulownia Flowers 2014. 19.The Hockey India chief Narinder Batra was awarded the prestigious President's Award by the International Hockey Federation at Morocco. 20. The Darjeeling facility or the Padmaja Naidu Himalayan Zoological Park was chosen for the distinguished International Award the planet Heroes Award 2014. 21.The US President Barack Obama will be the Chief Guest at 66th India’s Republic Day celebrations 2015. He will be the first US President to attend the Republic Day Parade of India. 22. Supreme Court directed CBI Director Ranjit Sinha to withdraw himself from 2G case and asked CBI chief not to interfere in the ongoing 2G probe. 23.Neel Mukherjee was in news because his book Lives of Others was shortlisted for Costa Book Awards. 24. Rampal Singh Jatin was in news because he was arrested by Haryana Police on 19 November 2014 from his fortified Satlok Ashram in Hisar of Haryana. 25.Union Government nominated Dr. Hasmukh Adhia as a Director on the Central Board of Directors of the Reserve Bank of India. 26.US Navy SEAL commando Robert O’Neill who shot Osama bin Laden at his Pakistan hideout in Abbottobad on 2 May 2011 revealed his identity. 27.Indian-American Nikki Haley won second term as South Carolina Governor. 28. Mallikarjun Kharge, a leader of Congress in Lok Sabha was inducted into the three-member Chief Information Commissioner selection committee. 29. Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited to Fiji. He is the first Indian Prime Minister to visit the Pacific countries after Indira Gandhi who visited in 1981. 30. Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Australia as part of G-20 summit and bilateral summit with Australia. He became the first Indian Prime Minister to address the Australian Parliament. He also addressed the Indian diasporas in Australia. 31. Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh visited Israel to discuss bilateral issues including strengthening security ties and fight against terror. 32. President Pranab Mukherjee visited Bhutan. During his visit, the two countries signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Nalanda University. 33.Oscar award winner Mike Nichols died. 34.Legendary Kathak danseuse Sitara Devi died. 35.Senior Congress leader and former Union Minister Murli Deora died after a prolonged illness. 36. Mathematician Alexander Grothendiec k died in France. 37.Goa Chief Minister Manohar Gopalkrishna Prabhu Parrikar resigned to take up the post of Defence minister in the Union Cabinet. 38.Baiji in Iraq was in news because Iraqi authorities claimed that Government forces have recaptured the strategic northern town of Baiji from Islamic State for Iraq and Syria (ISIS) militants. 39.Prime Minister Narendra Modi adopted Jayapur village in Varanasi under Saansad Adarsh Gram Yojana SAGY). 40.Anbar in Iraq was in news because of massacre of 322 people of Iraqi Al-Bu Nimr tribe by ISIS militant group. 41.Wagah border was in news due to suicide bomb blast that occurred in Pakistani side. The blast claimed lives of at least 61 people including 11 women and three security personnel. 42.Child Rights and You (CRY) launched Project Unlearn with an aim to end child labour and encourage children to go to school on 14 November 2014 on eve of Children’s Day. 43.Mumbai recorded 16.4 million internet users surpassing Delhi and Kolkata. Delhi recorded 12.15 million internet users and Kolkata recorded 6.27 million internet users. 44.12th ASEAN-India Summit was held in Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar. The summit was held on the sidelines of 25th ASEAN Summit. The Next ASEAN-India Summit will be held in Cambodia in 2015. 45.9th East Asia Summitwas held in Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar. The summit was held on the sidelines of the 25th ASEAN Summit. 46.83rd Interpol General Assembly was held at Grimaldi Forum in Monaco. 47.25th Association of Southeast Asian Nations Summit was held in Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar. Myanmar chaired the ASEAN summit for the first time. 48.9th G-20 Summit of major economies was held in Brisbane, Australia. The summit focused on promoting economic growth and set the target of boosting global growth by 2 percent in five years. The next summit will be hosted by Turkey in Antalya on 10 November 2015. 49.The International Buddhist Conference 2014 was held in Lumbini, Nepal. 50.7th Summit on the Global Agenda was held in UAE. The Summit on the Global Agenda for the year 2014 was organized by the World Economic Forum in collaboration with the Government of the United Arab Emirates and Government of Dubai. 51. 22nd Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Summit was held in Beijing, China. The summit was held under the theme of Shaping the Future through Asia-Pacific Partnership. The next APEC Summit will be held in Philippines in 2015. 52.The World Economic Forum in partnership with the Confederation of Indian Industry hosted the India Economic Summit in New Delhi. 53.6th World Ayurveda Congress (WAC) was held in New Delhi. 54.India-Russia Inter-Governmental Commission on Trade, Economic, Scientific, Technological and Cultural Cooperation (IRIGC-TEC) was held in New Delhi. The next session of the IRIGC-TEC will be held in Moscow in 2015. 55. Prasar Bharti announced to re-launch DD National with new tagline Doordarshan National – Desh Ka Apna Channel. 56.Mithra Shakthi exercise: three week mock war drill between Special Forces of Indian and Sri Lankan Army. 57.A Torpedo Recovery Vessel, TRV-72 of Indian Navy sank off the Visakhapatnam coast during a naval exercise. 58.Sachin Tendulkar’s autobiography Playing It My Way was launched. 59. International Counter-Piracy Conference was held in Dubai. 60. 4th India-China Joint Training Exercise Hand-in-Hand 2014 began at Aundh Military Station in Pune, Maharashtra. 61.Surface-to-surface nuclear-capable Dhanush ballistic missile was test-fired from a naval ship off the Odisha coast with strike range of 350 kilometer. 62.Prithvi-II surface-to-surface missile was test-fired at Chandipur, Odisha. Prithvi-II was developed indigenously which is nuclear-capable and has a strike range of 350 km. 63.India test fired nuclear-capable Agni-II strategic ballistic missile with a range of 2000 Km. It was conducted from Wheeler Island, Odisha. 64.President Pranab Mukherjee inaugurated India International Trade Fair 2014 at Pragati Maidan in New Delhi. Partner country of the trade fair is South Africa. Focus Country of the fair is Thailand while the focus state is Delhi. 65. Akash surface-to-air missile was test fired by the Indian Air Force from Integrated Test Range at Chandipur near Balasore, Odisha. The missile is a medium range surface-to-air anti-aircraft defence system with a strike range of 25 km. 66.Deepak Gupta was appointed as chairman of Union Public Service Commission. He replaced Rajni Razdan. 67.18th SAARC summit will be held in Kathmandu, Nepal. Last summit was held in 2011 in Maldives. 68.Railways, one of the biggest consumers of energy, is moving towards harnessing green power with a 26 MW windmill proposed to be built in Rajasthan. 69.Klaus Iohannis won Romanian Presidential elections. 70.Kerala and Goa have become first states in the country with every household having at least one bank account. In addition, Goa, Chandigarh, Puducherry and Lakshadweep and three districts of Gujarat- Porbandar, Mehasana, Gandhi Nagar, have also covered all households under PMJDY with at least one bank account. 71. Securities Exchange Board of India on announced to de-recognise Delhi Stock Exchange (DSE) on the allegations of serious irregularities in its functioning. 72.Ratan Tata has been appointed to the board of Interpol Foundation. 73. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has made his Instagram debut with a picture of the venue of the 25th ASEAN Summit. 74.Union Home Minister and Lucknow MP Rajnath Singh has adopted Beti village in the district under the Pradhan Mantri Adarsh Gram Yojna. 75.The European Parliament is preparing a non-binding resolution that proposes splitting Google Inc’s search engine operations in Europe from the rest of its business as one possible option to rein in the Internet company’s dominance in the search market. 76. BJP government headed by Devendra Fadnavis won the confidence motion in Maharashtra assembly by a voice vote. 77.The Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) cleared the decks for the Indian army’s proposal for 814 155mm/52 calibre mounted guns systems (MGS), at a cost of R15,750 crore ($2.55 billion) 78The work on the much-talked about Turkmenistan– Afghanistan–Pakistan–India pipeline (TAPI) would start in 2015. The steering committee meeting for the cross-country pipeline was held at Ashgabat in Turkmenistan. 79. Additional Director R K Dutta will now head the CBI probe in the 2G spectrum scam after the Supreme Court directed the agency Chief Ranjit Sinha to recuse from the investigation. 80.India has the potential to achieve 9 per cent growth rate and become a USD 10 trillion economy by 2034 on the back of concerted efforts by the corporate sector and a constructive role played by the government, a PwC report said. 81. India’s financial capital Mumbai is among the world’s most attractive cities in terms of professional and private life in a list topped by Dubai and followed by Amsterdam. London ranked 10 and Paris 11. Mumbai, which ranked 13, is the only Indian city to appear in the list of 15 best cities worldwide. 82.Switzerland agreed to join the global framework that allows automatic exchange of tax information. 83.India is set to surpass the United States to become the world’s second-largest internet user base by December this year, next only to China, a report by the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) and IMRB International said. The IAMAI report stated that India had 159 million mobile internet users in October, a figure that is estimated to reach 173 million by the end of December. 84. Indian government is targeting up to $1 billion of private investment by 2017 to build rail lines linking ports and national networks to ease growing congestion, which has delayed coal imports for power plants and contributed to a power supply crisis. 85.India is likely to grow at 5.4 per cent this fiscal, the OECD has said in its Economic Survey of India. 86.With 356 million 10-24 year-olds, India has the world’s largest youth population despite having a smaller population than China, a latest UN report said. China is second with 269 million young people, followed by Indonesia (67 million), the US (65 million) and Pakistan (59 million), Nigeria with 57 million, Brazil with 51 million, and Bangladesh with 48 million. 87.The G20 leaders committed to put in place a mechanism for automatic exchange of tax information between member countries by 2017. 88. Government relaunched Kisan Vikas Patra. Finance minister Arun Jait ley said the KVP would help poor, gullible investors to channelise their savings towards a trusted government scheme instead of some ponzi schemes. KVP would be a bearer instrument without name of the holder. KVP will be available in the denomination of R1,000, R5,000, R10,000 and R50,000. It has no upper ceiling for investment and can be encashed after a lock-in period of 30 months. Amount invested in KVP would be doubled in 100 months. The KVP certificates will be sold through post offices initially, but they will later on be made available to the investing public through designated branches of nationalised banks. However, there won’t be any tax benefit for investment in KVP. 89.Leaders of the world’s 20 developed and emerging economies vowed to boost global GDP by over USD 2 trillion over next five years by investing in infrastructure and increasing trade, aimed at boosting the global recovery amid geopolitical tensions. 90.Indian Railways has identified toilets as one of the 17 special areas where 100 per cent FDI can bring about major investments. Earlier, the government had relaxed the FDI norms permitting 100 per cent investment in rail projects, such as high-speed trains, suburban service, dedicated freight corridors, freight and passenger terminals. 91.Government fixed the subsidy for domestic LPG at Rs 40 per kg (or Rs 568 per cylinder of 14.2 kg) to be shared between government and public sector oil companies. However, the Prime Minister’s Office also decided to keep the consumer price unchanged during the current fiscal year ending March 2015 after which the deliverable price could vary with the change in international price. Any variations in procurement price of LPG by oil marketing companies (OMCs) will be adjusted through fixed compensation of Rs 20 per kg by the government and the balance Rs 20 per kg by oil companies. 92.Asia Pacific countries agreed to cooperate on the extradition of corrupt officials, enhance asset recovery efforts and establish an anti-corruption transparency network to share intelligence on graft. The network, called the APEC Network of Anti-Corruption Authorities and Law Enforcement Agencies (ACT-NET), is the first such network that members of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation group had worked to set up. 93.Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said the government is planning to bring down its stake in public sector banks to 52 per cent so as to meet Rs 3 lakh crore capital requirement. 94.Arundhati Bhattacharya, the Chairperson of country’s largest bank State Bank of India (SBI), has been named as the most-powerful woman in business in India by Fortune Magazine. ICICI Bank’s Chanda Kochhar and Shikha Sharma of Axis Bank follow Bhattacharya at the second and the third place respectively. 95.Prime Minister Narendra Modi made his debut among the world’s most powerful people, ranked 15th on the Forbes list topped by Russian President Vladimir Putin who pipped his US counterpart Barack Obama for a second year in a row. The list of 72 most powerful people in the world also included the names of Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani at 36th, ArcelorMittal Chairman and CEO Lakshmi Mittal at 57th and Microsoft’s Indian-born CEO Satya Nadella at 64th. 96.Prime Minister Narendra Modi re-constituted a high-level climate panel and dropped well- known environmentalist Sunita Narain and top industry leader Ratan Tata from the council. TERI chairperson R K Pachauri, economist Nitin Desai and retired diplomat Chandrasekhar Dasgupta were retained by Modi as non- government members. 97.Modi announced the operationalisation of the $100 million line of credit for Vietnam’s defence purchases. 98.Union Tribal Welfare Minister Jual Oram launched the Vanbandhu KalyanYojana (VKY), aimed at improving the infrastructure and human development indices of the tribal population. 99.Hong Kong democracy activists marked one month of mass protests by unfurling a sea of umbrellas as student leaders called for direct talks with Beijing officials, the first time such a request has been made. 100.Japanese company SoftBank, kick-starting its plans to put in about $10 billion in India announced investments in home-grown market place Snapdeal and popular mobile app for cab bookings Ola. 101.BSE is planning to make a foray into commodity exchange business, now dominated by Multi Commodity Exchange (MCX) and NCDEX. 102.The governments of India and Russia have agreed that BrahMos missile will be exported to a list of mutually agreeable countries for defensive purposes. 103.India ranked 142 among the 189 countries surveyed for the latest World Bank’s “Ease of Doing Business” report released, a drop by two places from the last year’s ranking, as Singapore topped the list. 104.Minimum support price of wheat has been hiked from Rs. 1,400 to Rs. 1,450. The prices have been decided by the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices. 105.The Uttar Pradesh government signed memorandum of understanding with five firms for construction of the Rs.15,000-crore Lucknow-Agra Expressway. 106.Union government submitted, in a sealed cover, a list of 627 Indians holding black money abroad in Supreme Court. 107.Moody’s Investors Service said its outlook on India’s banking system was negative. Moody’s base-case forecast is for GDP growth of 5 per cent for the fiscal year ending March, 2015, and 5.6 per cent for 2015-16. 108.Prime Minister Narendra Modi approved the signing of a memorandum of understanding with Mozambique for cooperation in the field of oil and gas. 109.The Colombo High Court awarded the death sentence to five Tamil Nadu fishermen arrested by the Sri Lankan Navy in November 2011 on drug trafficking charges. 110.The Home Ministry is learnt to have decided to give Rs. 5 lakh additional compensation per head to the families of 3,325 people killed in the 1984 anti-Sikh violence. 111.Sweden officially recognised the state of Palestine, becoming the first western European Union member to do so. 112.The Reserve Bank of India has raised the limit for urban co-operative banks (UCBs) to sanction loan against gold collateral to Rs.2 lakh from Rs.1 lakh at present. 113.Education Ministers and officials of eight SAARC countries have resolved to collaborate on increased use of information technology and improving the quality of education. 114.According to RBI’s new guidelines that come into force from 1st November 2014, bank customers in six metros—Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Hyderabadand Bangalore — are allowed to withdraw money and/or carry out non-financial transactions like mini-statements at ATMs of banks, where they hold saving/current accounts, free of charge only five times a month. Every transaction beyond this threshold will be charged Rs.20 per use. Besides, the number of free transactions at ATMs of non-home banks has been cut to three times a month from five times. The RBI, however, clarified that nothing precludes a bank from offering more than three free transactions at other bank ATMs to its account holders if it so desires. The cap in the number of free ATM transactions will not apply on small/no-frills or basic savings bank deposit account holders who will continue to enjoy five free transactions. 115.Under pressure from India over the safety of United Nations Peacekeeping forces, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has set up a 14-member panel, including an Indian to review peacekeeping operations worldwide. The panel is headed by Jose Ramos-Horta. 116. The Spanish government has successfully passed a new copyright law which imposes fees for online content aggregators such as Google News, in an effort to protect its print media industry. 117.At least 55 people, including children and security personnel, were killed and nearly 200 injured in a powerful suicide blast at Wagah in Pakistan evening, minutes after the popular flag-lowering ceremony at the main Indo-Pakistan land border crossing. 118.The Justice (retired) Mukul Mudgal Committee, probing the betting and spot-fixing scandals in the Indian Premier League, submitted its final investigation report on the alleged role of former Board of Control for ricket in India (BCCI) president N. Srinivasan and 12 others in a sealed cover to the Supreme Court. 119.Vijay Laxman Kelkar has been appointed as Chairperson of the Finance Ministry’s think tank National Institute of Public Finance & Policy (NIPFP). He replaces the former Reserve Bank Governor C. Rangarajan. 120.Union Cabinet recommended dissolution of the Delhi Assembly, paving the way for fresh elections in the capital. 121.For the first time India and Russia have agreed on negotiations for a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between India & the Customs Union of Belarus, Kazakhstan & Russia. 122.Pakistan summoned the U.S. ambassador to reject allegations in a Pentagon report that Islamabad supports militant proxies in India and Afghanistan, a Foreign Ministry statement said. 123.The Supreme Court has set aside two orders of the Madras High Court, directing the Centre to conduct a caste-based census, holding that it should not have interfered in the domain of policy. 124.Bhutan King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck welcomes President Pranab Mukherjee at the Paro International Airport in Bhutan. 125.India will extend Visa on arrival facility to Russian businessmen at 18 airports in the country. 126.The two-day conference on Asian elephants concluded in Guwahati with a resolve to establish a regional think tank with nodal officers from Indian, Bhutan and Myanmar. 127.Three-time Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislator, Laxmikant Parsekar who was Health Minister in the Manohar Parrikar Government, was sworn in as the eleventh Chief Minister of Goa. 128.Prime Minister Narendra Modi took the Swachh Bharat campaign to the Ganga’s ghats and nominated Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav among nine public figures to promote the programme in the State. 129.China and Pakistan inked 20 agreements amounting to Chinese investment reportedly worth about $46 billion. 130.Chinese President Xi Jinping on announced $40-billion fund to build mega Silk Road projects criss-crossing Asia. 131.Lt. Gen. Rizwan Akhtar has taken over as the head of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). He succeeds Lt. Gen. Zaheerul Islam, who retired. 132.Gujarat has become the first State to make voting compulsory in local bodies. 133.President Pranab Mukherjee conferred the 49th Jnanpith award upon eminent Hindi poet Kedarnath Singh for his outstanding contribution towards Indian literature. 134.Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched a new Aadhaar-based digital life certificate for pensioners ‘Jeevan Pramaan’ that will allow self-certification and benefit over a crore pensioners in the country. 135.Eleven women died and 34 were reported critical after undergoing “faulty” sterilisation surgeries at a government-organised family planning camp in Bilaspur district of Chhattisgarh. 136.The members of Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) members have agreed to initiate the formation of a free trade area in the Asia-Pacific — a vision steered by China, which competes with the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) initiative of the United States. 137.The Islamic State terrorist organisation plans to introduce its own currency and bring back solid gold and silver coins. 138.Microsoft has unveiled a cheaper smartphone, costing about 110 euro ($135), as it eyes emerging and other low-cost markets for growth. The new model is the first Lumia smartphone under Microsoft’s own brand name. 139.China and the United States have agreed on a timetable to limit emission of greenhouse gases. The breakthrough was achieved during talks between visiting U.S. President Barack Obama and his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping. In a joint announcement, the U.S. agreed to reduce by 2025 its emission of greenhouse gases by 26 per cent to 28 per cent below its 2005 level. 140.India’s second mission to Mars could be launched between 2018 and 2020. 141.The Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) cleared the long-pending proposal of HDFC Bank to hike foreign holding in the bank to 74 per cent. 142.Reserve Bank Governor Raghuram Rajan was shortlisted for candidates for BRICS’ New Development Bank president. 143.Mr. Modi said the PIO (Persons of Indian Origin) and OCI (Overseas Citizen of India) status would be merged ahead of the Pravasi Bhartiya Divas to be held from January 7 in Ahmedabad. 144.Japan’s economy unexpectedly slid into recession as housing and business investment declined following a sales tsax hike, further clouding the outlook for the global economy. 145. E. Sreedharan has been appointed as one-man committee by the Ministry of Railways to suggest a “proper system and procedure to ensure proper accountability and transparency” at the level of General Manager and other functionaries for taking all commercial decisions. 146.Twelve years after it was constituted, the Nanavati Commission of Enquiry probing the 2002 post-Godhra riots submitted its final report to Chief Minister Anandiben Patel. 147.Forty years of pioneering work culminating in the successful launch of India’s first Mars orbiter this September has won the Indian Space Research Organisation the Indira Gandhi Prize for Peace, Disarmament and Development for 2014. 148. SEBI revamped the ‘Prohibition of Insider Trading’ regulations with more stringent measures, aligning its orms with international practices. The new rules, based on the Justice Sodhi Committee report, would replace the SEBI (Prohibition of Insider Trading) Regulations 1992. 149. India’s Pacific Ocean outreach gained traction with the announcement of a slew of lines of credit and development assistance totalling $ 80 million for Fiji and a visa-on-arrival for all the 14 island countries in the region during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit. 150. INS Vikrant — the county’s first aircraft carrier — has finally faded away into history. The Centre said it was difficult to maintain the vessel. In March, the Indian Navy sold Vikrant to a Mumbai-based ship breaking company for Rs. 63 crore. 151.The former Supreme Court judge Chandramauli Kumar Prasad has been selected to be the next Chairman of the Press Council of India. Justice Prasad retired in mid-July. 152.The world must cut CO2 emissions to zero by 2070 at the latest to keep global warming below dangerous levels and prevent a global catastrophe, the U.N. warns. 153.The OECD has upped its 2015-16 growth projection for India to 6.6 per cent. 154. India’s Mars mission Mangalyaan, developed by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), has been listed among the 25 best innovations of 2014 by the Time magazine. “Nobody gets Mars right on the first try. The U.S. didn’t, Russia didn’t, the Europeans didn’t. But on September 24, India did,” the magazine said. 155. In an all stock amalgamation, ING Vysya Bank decided to merge with Kotak Mahindra Bank, creating the fourth largest private sector bank in the country.