Current Affairs 31-JAN-2014

The Union Government decided to amend the rules governing IAS, IPS and Indian Forest Service (IFoS) officers 30 January 2014.

Union Cabinet approved amendments to Mental Health Care Bill to empower people suffering from mental illness and protect their rights.

Union Cabinet approved the second phase of Bangalore Metro Rail Project (Namma Metro) to improve public transport system in the city.

India overtook Japan to become the third largest crude oil importer in the World.

Bowing to party pressure, the government raised the quota of subsidised LPG to 12 cylinders per household in a year from nine at present and also put on hold paying users the subsidy into bank accounts using Aadhaar platform. 

Organisers of Oscars withdrew the song Alone Yet Not Alone from the Best Song Nomination category on 30 January 2014.

The country's first Monorail service will commence operations next month on the 8.9 km Wadala-Chembur section in the central-eastern suburbs of the metropolis after a delay of over two years.

India launched a Gandhi Portal named Search for Gandhi in London on 31 January 2014.

Two fast growing villages in Krishna district of Andhra Pradesh would be developed under the Provision of Urban Amenities in Rural Areas (PURA) by the Union Ministry of Rural Development in collaboration with a private firm.

Federal Aviation Administration of the US downgraded the safety ratings of Indian aviation on 31 January 2014 from top to the second category.

Agriculture Ministry has issued detailed guidelines and strategy for implementation of National Mission on Oilseeds and Oil Palm.

UPA chairperson and Congress president Sonia Gandhi laid foundation stone of Aligarh Muslim University's (AMU) Centre in Bihar's Kishanganj district.

The Ministry of Railways and Government of Karnataka signed a memorandum of Understanding today in Bangalore for setting up Rail Coach factory in the state.


India signed a MoU with The Netherlands in the field of health and medicine to strengthen bilateral cooperations.

Mohan Tiwari, Chairman-cum-Managing Director, Ircon International Limited (IRCON), received the Gold Trophy for Project export from the Chief Guest, Dr James S Mutende, Minister of State for Industry and Technology, Uganda at the Export Excellence National Awards held in Mumbai recently.

Cricketing minnows the United Arab Emirates and Scotland secured berths at the 2015 World Cup after taking the top two spots at a qualification tournament in New Zealand.

The Sindh government in Pakistan employed three transgendered persons in different departments on 31 January 2014.

Infosys BPO, the business process outsourcing subsidiary of IT major Infosys, announced that it was collaborating with the Government of Costa Rica and the Costa Rican Investment Promotion Agency (CINDE) to train students on technical and business process skills.

China marked arrival of its Year of the Horse, which is celebrated across the world by Chinese people on 31 January 2014 as the Lunar New Year.

Ukraine's embattled President Viktor Yanukovich on Friday signed into law an amnesty for demonstrators detained during mass unrest and repealed anti-protest legislation, in a fresh bid to take the heat out of the political crisis.

New Zealand's Kathy Cross became the first woman to be inducted in an ICC umpires' panel when she was named as an Associate and Affiliate International official following the annual review and selection process.

With the 87-run win in 5th ODI , New Zealand seal the 5-match series 4-0 againt INDIA

Current Affairs 29-jan-2014

US Chamber of Commerce released the International Intellectual Property (IP) Index.

 Manoj Kohli appointed as MD&CEO of non telecom business of Bharti Enterprises.

Gopal Vittal has been designed as MD& CEO of India and South Asia including Srilanka and Bangladesh.

First cantilever bridge of India, Pamban Railway Bridge, completed its 100 years.

The National Rural Livelihoods Mission and the Digital Green, a Microsoft Research Project signed a memorandum of understanding.

Election Commission has directed the CEOs of states to use opaque and reusable cardboard or flex board to make voting compartments at polling stations.

Prime Minister inaugurated NAWADCO as a new Central Public Sector Enterprise that will remain under the Ministry of Minority Affairs.

NGO named Tree Foundation engaged in conservation of sea turtle have discovered more than 100 dead Olive Ridley Turtles, since December 2013.

The Cuban revolutionary, Ulises Estrada who during 1960s was an aid of Che Guevara during his campaign in Africa died at the age of 79 years.

A benchmark index of Indian equities markets Wednesday closed flat - down 36.21 points or 0.18 percent - a day after the Reserve Bank of India hiked a key policy rate by 0.25 percent to tame inflation.

Delhi government has ordered a CAG audit into the finances of DIMTS. Decision was taken at a cabinet meet chaired by Arvind Kejriwal.

Supreme Court will take up the plea to commute the death sentences of three death row convicts in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case taking into account long delay of their mercy petitions on Thursday.

National Aluminium Company Ltd (NALCO) on Wednesday reported a 10 per cent jump in net profit at Rs 131 crore for the third quarter that ended on December 31, 2013.

CBDT issued order that exempts medal winning sportsperson at Olympics, Commonwealth and Asian Games from payment of Income Tax on cash rewards.

20 Free Web Tools And Open Source Software

1. Gmail – This is Google's online email (Web mail) service that allows you to register for a free email account and access a number of features that includes storage, search, built-in chat, mobile access, voice chat, spam filters and more.

2. Meebo - This integrates many online communication channels and platforms into a single service. The Meebo Messenger allows you to access your friends on all the major networks (AIM, Yahoo!, Windows Live Messenger, Google Talk, ICQ, Jabber) in a single friend list.

Free Web-Based and Open Source Software - Collaboration and Scheduling Tools

3. GanttProject – This is a free and open source desktop tool for project scheduling and management. It can be utilized by students for sharing projects and collaboration. It runs on Windows, Mac OS X and Linux systems.

4. TimetoMeet - This is a web-based scheduling tool for allowing students to find a common time for meeting with others to work on assignments and projects. It allows you to automatically synchronize your calendar from Outlook, iCal or Google and display all your appointments in one place.

Free Web-Based and Open Source Software - Document Editing and Management Tools

5. EditGrid – This is an online spreadsheet service offering a number of same features seen in Excel. It permits you to share, collaborate and publish your spreadsheet online.

6. Google Docs – This is a free web-based productivity spread offering students free software to work with documents (word processing), spreadsheets, presentations, drawings and forms. It allows you to upload files from your desktop, access files from any Internet-connected computer, and join with classmates and teachers.

Free Web-Based and Open Source Software - Presentation Tools

7. Embeddable Presentations - This is from Google Docs permitting you to make and collaborate on slideshow presentations. It allows you to add text, images, video more directly to your presentation slides.

8. Zoho Show 2.0 – This is an online tool for making presentations. It offers pre-built themes, clipart and shapes along with features like drag-and-drop that makes it an easy application to use.

Free Web-Based and Open Source Software - Task & Time Management Tools

9. Google Calendar – This is a free web-based tool from Google providing an easy way for busy students to create, organize and schedule assignments, lectures, social events and more. It allows you to share your schedule so family and friends can view schedules that others have shared with you.

10. Remember The Milk – This is a free web service that assists you in managing your tasks online. It allows you to make and manage tasks, set due dates and then get reminders about your scheduled tasks via email or instant messenger.

Free Web-Based and Open Source Software- Mathematics and Modeling Tools

11. GNU Octave - This is an open source high-level interpreted language that is oriented for numerical computations. It offers capabilities for the numerical solution of linear and nonlinear problems, along with performing other numerical experiments. It also offers a wide range of graphics capabilities for data visualization and manipulation.

12. Graphing Calculator from e-Tutor – This is an online web tool that allows students to enter functions of x via a standard mathematical format. The students only need to type one or more equations into the graph box on the site for using the graphing calculator.

Free Web-Based and Open Source Software - Note Taking

13. NoteMesh – This is a free online service permitting students in the same classes to share notes with each other. It works by making a wiki for individual classes for users to edit.

14. WebNotes (Lite version) – This is a free online service allowing students to highlight and add notes to Webpages from within the web browser. It allows the notes to be saved automatically with them reappearing any time you visit the page.

Free Web References and Educational Guides for Students

15. EasyBib – This free web tool offers instant bibliography and citations allowing you to search for a source, build the bibliography and then print or export it.

16. Google – This is a multi-functional "app" for students. Its search engine assists you in searching articles for research. It also acts like a calculator, definition finder, a conversion tool and more.

17. Google News search – This has an archive search option and is a good tool for students who are researching historical or current events.

18. Bookfinder – This is a search-based online resource that assists students in looking for the best prices on new and used textbooks, rentals, old editions, and international edition textbooks.

Open Source E-Learning Platforms for Educators

19. Claroline – This is an Open Source e-learning and e-working platform permitting teachers to make effective online courses and managing learning and collaborative activities on the web. It is based on PHP/MySQL and has been translated into 35 languages.

20. Dokeos – This is an online learning suite software that is offered as a free download with community-based support. It has some features that include SCORM compliant course import, support for multimedia content, test creation, course sequence building, forums, and videoconferencing.

Current Affairs 28-jan-2014

Uttar Pradesh government launched Samajwadi pension scheme on 28 January 2014.

Salman Khurshid held a bilateral meeting with John Kerry US Secretary on the sidelines of Geneva II meet on Syria in Montreux.

EGoM has approved a SUC of 5 percent of the annual gross revenue on all new airwaves that will be acquired in auction.

India Inclusive Innovation Fund (IIIF) launched by National Innovation Council and the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises.

AK Singh constituted a high level committee to review safety standards of tourist vessels operational at different tourist spots on Andaman Island.

India is set to become the first country since World War Two to buy a military aircraft from Japan, helping Prime Minister Shinzo Abe dismantle a ban on weapons exports that has kept his country's defence contractors out of foreign.

Tunisian Assembly passed the new Constitution laying the foundations for a new democracy.

Union Government banned cosmetic companies from testing on animals.

The Recording Academy announced 56th Annual Grammy Awards at Staples Center in Los Angeles, California.

Google purchased the British artificial intelligence company DeepMind Technologies.

Google and Samsung Electronics signed an agreement to cross-licence global patents to reduce risk of costly legal disputes on intellectual property.

Google is offering $2.7 million to security experts who can pwn its Chrome OS operating system at this year's "Pwnium 4" hacking contest.

Raymond Weil the founder of the watch brand of his name died at the age of 87. He is considered the great innovators of the Swiss watch industry.

India Post announced to install as many as 3000 Automated Teller Machine (ATM) and 1.35 lakh micro-ATMs by September 2015 on 27 January 2014.

New Zealand clinch seven-wicket win over India in the 4th ODI to take the series 3-0
 
India has won the basketball gold in the men’s section at the Lusofonia Games by defeating Angola 77-70 in Goa.

Former Indian cricket captain Rahul Dravid on Monday announced his association with GoSports Foundation with an aim to contribute towards the development and mentorship of Indian junior Olympic and Paralympic athletes.



 

Use command prompt

1. Accessibility Controls - access.cpl
2. Accessibility Wizard - accwiz
3. Add Hardware Wizard - hdwwiz.cpl
4. Add/Remove Programs - appwiz.cpl
5. Administrative Tools - control admintools
6. Automatic Updates - wuaucpl.cpl
7. Bluetooth Transfer Wizard - fsquirt
8. Calculator - calc
9. Certificate Manager - certmgr.msc
10. Character Map - charmap
11. Check Disk Utility - chkdsk
12. Clipboard Viewer - clipbrd
13. Command Prompt - cmd
14. Component Services - dcomcnfg
15. Computer Management - compmgmt.msc
16. Control Panel - control
17. Date and Time Properties - timedate.cpl
18. DDE Shares - ddeshare
19. Device Manager - devmgmt.msc
20. Direct X Troubleshooter - dxdiag
21. Disk Cleanup Utility - cleanmgr
22. Disk Defragment - dfrg.msc
23. Disk Management - diskmgmt.msc
24. Disk Partition Manager - diskpart
25. Display Properties - control desktop
26. Display Properties - desk.cpl
27. Dr. Watson System Troubleshooting Utility - drwtsn32
28. Driver Verifier Utility - verifier
29. Event Viewer - eventvwr.msc
30. Files and Settings Transfer Tool - migwiz
31. File Signature Verification Tool - sigverif
32. Findfast - findfast.cpl
33. Firefox - firefox
34. Folders Properties - control folders
35. Fonts - control fonts
36. Fonts Folder - fonts
37. Free Cell Card Game - freecell
38. Game Controllers - joy.cpl
39. Group Policy Editor (for xp professional) - gpedit.msc
40. Hearts Card Game - mshearts
41. Help and Support - helpctr
42. HyperTerminal - hypertrm
43. Iexpress Wizard - iexpress
44. Indexing Service - ciadv.msc
45. Internet Connection Wizard - icwconn1
46. Internet Explorer - iexplore
47. Internet Properties - inetcpl.cpl
48. Keyboard Properties - control keyboard
49. Local Security Settings - secpol.msc
50. Local Users and Groups - lusrmgr.msc
51. Logs You Out Of Windows - logoff
52. Malicious Software Removal Tool - mrt
53. Microsoft Chat - winchat
54. Microsoft Movie Maker - moviemk
55. Microsoft Paint - mspaint
56. Microsoft Syncronization Tool - mobsync
57. Minesweeper Game - winmine
58. Mouse Properties - control mouse
59. Mouse Properties - main.cpl
60. Netmeeting - conf
61. Network Connections - control netconnections
62. Network Connections - ncpa.cpl
63. Network Setup Wizard - netsetup.cpl
64. Notepad - notepad
65. Object Packager - packager
66. ODBC Data Source Administrator - odbccp32.cpl
67. On Screen Keyboard - osk
68. Outlook Express - msimn
69. Paint - pbrush
70. Password Properties - password.cpl
71. Performance Monitor - perfmon.msc
72. Performance Monitor - perfmon
73. Phone and Modem Options - telephon.cpl
74. Phone Dialer - dialer
75. Pinball Game - pinball
76. Power Configuration - powercfg.cpl
77. Printers and Faxes - control printers
78. Printers Folder - printers
79. Regional Settings - intl.cpl
80. Registry Editor - regedit
81. Registry Editor - regedit32
82. Remote Access Phonebook - rasphone
83. Remote Desktop - mstsc
84. Removable Storage - ntmsmgr.msc
85. Removable Storage Operator Requests - ntmsoprq.msc
86. Resultant Set of Policy (for xp professional) - rsop.msc
87. Scanners and Cameras - sticpl.cpl
88. Scheduled Tasks - control schedtasks
89. Security Center - wscui.cpl
90. Services - services.msc
91. Shared Folders - fsmgmt.msc
92. Shuts Down Windows - shutdown
93. Sounds and Audio - mmsys.cpl
94. Spider Solitare Card Game - spider
95. SQL Client Configuration - cliconfg
96. System Configuration Editor - sysedit
97. System Configuration Utility - msconfig
98. System Information - msinfo32
99. System Properties - sysdm.cpl
100. Task Manager - taskmgr
101. TCP Tester - tcptest
102. Telnet Client - telnet
103. User Account Management - nusrmgr.cpl
104. Utility Manager - utilman
105. Windows Address Book - wab
106. Windows Address Book Import Utility - wabmig
107. Windows Explorer - explorer

Current Affairs 27-jan-2014

Russia and China will conduct their first ever naval war games in the Mediterranean Sea from 1 February 2014.

Ministry of Women and Child Development launched the Multi Sectoral Nutrition Programmer.

PAN allotment procedure will undergo a change from 3 February 2014 and will ask for self-attested copies of POI, POA and DOB documents.

CSSS, Mumbai has been selected for the National Communal Harmony Awards 2013 in the organisation category.

Dhruva-3 was inaugurated at Advanced Research and Analysis Group in Hyderabad.

Ela Gandhi was awarded with Amadelkufa for her lifetime contribution to the freedom struggle in South Africa.

Indian markets breached their key support levels, led by massive selling seen in rate-sensitive stock just ahead of the RBI policy review on Tuesday.

Tata Motors stock fell by more than 6% on Monday as Thai police said they were investigating the possible suicide of the firm's managing director Karl Slym.

Tunisia's National Constituent Assembly approved the north African country's new constitution after members of the legislative body voted overwhelmingly for the charter on Sunday night.

The Supreme Court today granted conditional permission to industrial units within the Adani Port Special Economic Zone (APSEZ) in Gujarat to resume operations asking them to desist from carrying out any further construction until environmental clearance.

IT services major Infosys today said it has elevated its newly appointed President U B Pravin Rao as a whole-time Director in the company's Board till 2019.

Kaushal Sliva hit 30 and Dimuth Karunarate scored 28 to help Sri Lanka reach 60—0 at stumps on the first day of the first test against Bangladesh on Monday.

Delhi batsman Unmukt Chand remained unbeaten in his 111-run knock where he faced just 53 deliveries. His century included nine sixes and seven fours.



 

Current Affairs 26-jan-2014

Multi-hued images of India's rich cultural heritage, its achievements in diverse fields and military prowess were on majestic display at the magnificent Rajpath, the ceremonial boulevard, in New Delhi on Sunday as the nation celebrated its 65th Republic Day.

Twenty-one people were killed after a tourist boat capsized in the Bay of Bengal in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands on Sunday, official sources said.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) put pressure on Arvind Kejriwal's Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Sunday, praising President Pranab Mukherjee's address on the eve of 65th Republic Day.

The Gujarat unit of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Sunday launched a "broom march" as part of its campaign for the Lok Sabha elections and to expose corruption of the state government.

President Pranab Mukherjee today conferred the Ashok Chakra, the highest peacetime gallantry award, to Sub-Inspector K Prasad Babu on India's 65th Republic Day.

Tata Motors managing director Karl Slym passes away after falling from hotel room.

Maruti Udyog Ltd, the nation's largest car maker, has been directed by a consumer forum in New Delhi to pay Rs 3.85 lakh as compensation to a customer for selling her a defective Wagon R.

England threw away a winning position as they crumbled to a five-run defeat by Australia in the fifth one-day international in Adelaide.

Stanislas Wawrinka has emerged from behind the shadow of Roger Federer to claim his own place in the men`s tennis order by winning his first Grand Slam title at the Australian Open.

Padma Bhushan Awards for year 2014.

1. Prof. Gulam Mohammed Sheikh, Art - Painting, Gujarat

2. Begum Parveen Sultana, Art - Classical Singing, Maharashtra

3. Shri T.H. Vinayakram, Art - Ghatam Artist, Tamil Nadu

4. Shri Kamala Haasan, Art-Cinema, Tamil Nadu

5. Justice Dalveer Bhandari, Public Affairs, Delhi

6. Prof. Padmanabhan Balaram, Science and Engineering, Karnataka

7. Prof. Jyeshtharaj Joshi, Science and Engineering, Maharashtra

8. Dr. Madappa Mahadevappa, Science and Engineering, Karnataka

9. Dr. Thirumalachari Ramasami, Science and Engineering, Delhi

10. Dr. Vinod Prakash Sharma, Science and Engineering, Delhi

11. Dr. Radhakrishnan Koppillil, Science and Engineering, Karnataka

12. Dr. Mrityunjay Athreya, Literature and Education, Delhi

13. Ms. Anita Desai, Literature and Education, Delhi

14. Dr. Dhirubhai Thaker, Literature and Education, Gujarat

15. Shri Vairamuthu Ramasamy Thevar, Literature and Education, Tamil Nadu

16. Shri Ruskin Bond, Literature and Education, Uttarakhand

17. Shri Pullela Gopichand, Sports - Badminton, Andhra Pradesh

18. Shri Leander Paes, Sports - Tennis, Maharashtra

19. Shri Vijayendra Nath Kaul, Civil Service, Delhi

20. Late Justice Jagdish Sharan Verma, Public Affairs, Uttar Pradesh

21. Late Dr. Anumolu Ramakrishna, Science and Engineering, Andhra Pradesh

22. Prof. Anisuzzaman, Literature and Education, Bangladesh*

23. Prof. Lloyd I. Rudolph and Prof. Susanne H. Rudolph, Literature and Education, USA

24. Dr. (Smt.) Neelam Kler, Medicine - Neonatology, Delhi

***** Current Affairs 25-Jan-2014 *****

In what can be seen as a possible jibe at the political chaos in Delhi, President Pranab Mukherjee in his address to the nation ahead of the Republic Day said that the country has descended into a 'noisy democracy.

A strong undersea earthquake rocked parts of Indonesia's main Java island on Saturday, causing some damage but there were no reports of casualties.

Expert Committee constituted by Information and Broadcasting Ministry to review the institutional framework of Prasar Bharti has submitted its report.

Union Government launched the project for the development of the stretch of 37 Kilometer of the National Waterway-four (NW-4).

National Legal Services Authority (NALSA) launched the 2648 village legal service clinics across the country on 24 January 2014.

The Election Commission of India celebrated the 4th National Voters Day across the country on 25 January 2014.

The Aviation Ministry removed V.P.Agrawal as chairman of the state-run Airports Authority of India (AAI) 

NASA scientist confirmed life friendly fresh water once existed on Mars.

NASA says five Earth science missions will be launched into space in 2014, the busiest science launch program in more than a decade.

Underlining the need for urgent action to tackle climate change, World Bank chief Jim Yong Kim on Saturday called for developing a $50-billion 'green bond' market by 2015.

Shares in one of India's biggest drugmakers, Ranbaxy Laboratories, slid 19 per cent Friday after the US Food and Drug Administration suspended imports from a fourth manufacturing plant of the firm.

Ravindra Jadeja pulled off an absolutely unbelievable batting display, managing to tie the score with the Indian tail in tow, drawing the third ODI against New Zealand at the Eden Park stadium in Auckland.

Sania and Tecau won 2-6, 6-3, 10-2 in an interesting contest against the Australian duo that lasted an hour and 13 minutes. 

Li Na overcame a shaky first set to easily defeat Dominika Cibulkova, 7-6, 6-0, on Saturday.

Sarla Thakral

Sarla Thakral was first Indian woman to fly.Born in 1914, she earned an aviation pilot license in 1936 at the age of 21 and flew a Gypsy Moth solo. She had a four-year-old daughter. After obtaining the initial licence, she persevered on and completed one thousand hours of flying in the aircraft owned by the Lahore Flying Club. Her husband P. D. Sharma whom she married at 16 and comes from a family which had 9 pilots encouraged her to achieve it. He was the first Indian to get airmail pilot’s licence and flew between Karachi and Lahore.

While she was working towards the commercial pilot license in 1939, World War II broke out and civil training was suspended. Later her husband died in a crash. She abandoned her plans to become a commercial pilot, returned to Lahore and joined the Mayo School of Art where she trained in the Bengal school of painting and obtained a diploma in fine arts. She was also a dedicated follower of the Arya Samaj.

After the Partition she moved to Delhi with her two daughters where she met her second husband P. P. Thakral and married him in 1948. Sarla, also known as Mati, became a successful businesswoman, painter and began designing clothes and costume jewelry.

Facts to be known

1. 160 billion emails are sent daily, 95% of which are spam.
2. Spam generates 33bn KWt- hours of energy every year, enough to power 2.4 million homes, producing 17 million tons of CO2.
3. 9 out of every 1,000 computers are infected with spam.
4. Spammer get 1 response to every 12 million emails they send (yet it still makes them a small profit).
5. The first known cell phone virus, Cabir.A, appeared in 2004.
6. There are some 1 billion computers in use. And There are some 2 billion TV sets in use.
7. There are more than 4 billion cell phones in use. About 3 million cell phones are sold every day.
8. Amazon sells more e-books than printed books.

Current Affairs 24-Jan-2014

National Girl Child Day observed across India by the Government on 24 January with an aim to raise awareness and consciousness towards girl children.

NASA scientist confirmed life friendly fresh water once existed on Mars.

The DMK on Friday temporarily suspended its chief M Karunanidhi's son and former Union minister MK Alagiri from the party's primary membership and all posts for "indiscipline".

The Union Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas launched LPG Connection Portability Scheme on all India basis.

This year, 40 officers of the Customs & Central Excise Department have been selected for grant of Presidential Award of Appreciation Certificate for ‘Specially distinguished record of service’.

Richard Rossow has been named the Wadhwani Chair in US-India Policy Studies the Centre for Strategic & International Studies (CSIS), a leading Washington think tank.

In Uttar Pradesh, the Election Commission EC would be starting a voter helpline in all 75 districts.

Finance Minister P Chidambaram has assured global investors that India is prepared to face the impact of US Fed tapering.

Indian-American professor Rakesh Khurana has been appointed Dean of the prestigious Harvard College.

The Kerala government unveiled a comprehensive medical insurance scheme for the 56,000 police force, at an annual outlay of Rs 20 crore, with no liability on the part of those insured.

  Eight Indian-American students are among the 40 finalists in the prestigious Intel Science Talent Search competition, America's premier national science research competition for high school seniors.

 Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw of the country's largest biotech research firm, Biocon Ltd, has been named winner of the 2014 Othmer Gold Medal, a top award of the US-based Chemical Heritage Foundation.

 US-based leading online newspaper Huffington Post is planning to launch an India edition by May this year and negotiations are currently under way to finalise a local partner for this venture.

 Hopeful of launching flights in India in next 2-3 months, Air Asia chief Tony Fernandes says that airline would introduce low fares, which would be cheapest in the market.

UNWTO awarded CNN’s Richard Quest the 2013 UNWTO Award for Lifetime Achievement on 22 January 2014.

Morocco Parliament has amended an article of the penal code that allowed rapists of underage girls to avoid prosecution by marrying their victims.

Six people have been killed and some 100 others wounded in a series of explosions in the Egyptian capital, Cairo. A powerful car bomb exploded outside the police headquarters in central Cairo on Friday morning, killing four people and wounding at least 76.

South Sudan Government and rebels signed a ceasefire agreement on cessation of hostilities and question of the detainees in Addis Ababa.

USA allowed the Sikh military men to wear turbans, head scarfs and other religious clothing with their uniform.

The Indian rupee crashed by 73 paise on Friday to close at two-month low of 62.66 against the US currency on on strong dollar buying by banks and importers.

The Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) proposal to change its main policy tool to a 14-day rate from an overnight one is a move bankers expect to help them better align their lending rates with central bank decisions.

Facebook has debunked the recent study by the Princeton University that the social networking website would lose 80% of its users by 2015-2017.

Indian women team won the three ODI series 3-0 by defeating Sri Lankan women team. India defeated the Lankan team by 95 runs in the third match.

Hard reality crushed a fairytale revival at Melbourne Park as a ruthless Rafa Nadal inflicted more grand slam agony on Roger Federer with a straight-sets rout on Friday that booked his third Australian Open final.
 
Shane Warne has been appointed as the specialist spin consultant of Australia team to play World Twenty20 game in Bangladesh.

Weapons used by PARA SF

Pistol Auto 9mm 1A Semi-automatic pistol
Glock 17 9mm Semi-automatic pistol
SIG P226 9mm Semi-automatic pistol
Heckler & Koch MP5 Sub-machine gun
1A SMG Sub-machine gun
INSAS Assault rifle
AKM and AKMS Assault rifle
AK-103 Assault rifle
SA Vz. 58P and SA Vz. 58V Assault rifle
TAR-21 Tavor Bullpup Assault rifle
M4A1 Carbine
1A SLR Battle rifle
Mauser SP66 Bolt-action sniper rifle
SVD Dragunov Semi-automatic sniper rifle
IMI Galil Sniper Semi-automatic sniper rifle
Heckler & Koch MSG90 Semi-automatic sniper rifle
Gepard GM6 Lynx Anti-materiel rifle
OSV-96 Anti-material rifle
IMI Negev Light machine gun
PK General purpose machine gun
MG 2A1 General purpose machine gun
RCL MkIII 84mm recoilless rifle
B-300 Shipon 82mm Rocket launcher

Gmail secret

You can create multiple user accounts (IDs) on 90% websites with a single gmail id .

Atleast Every website dont allow you to create more then one account associate with same email id and you know it better..

But if you have gmail account then you can create many accounts on a websites.
Its possible because gmail account don't count dot(.) in email addresses.
thats means
anyname@gmail. com
and
any.name@gmail. com
both are same email address . Yeah if you send email to anyna.me@gmail .com then it wil go to anyname@gmail .com

that means if you already have ur account on a website with yourname@gmail .com
you can create you.rname@gmail .com

but facebook is listed in the 10% websites. it dont allow this even u use dot.
But 90% websites includin twitter will allow you to signup

Current Affairs 23-Jan-2014

Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose's birth anniversary celebrations at Parliament House complex today remained a dull affair with only one sitting MP out of a total of 775 members of both Houses turning up to pay homage to the renowned freedom fighter.

The Bombay high court on Wednesday asked the Maharashtra government to fill up 14,844 vacant posts of teachers in secondary and higher secondary aided schools by April 2015.

The internet has seized with glee on a Princeton research paper that suggests Facebook will be a virtually abandoned, tumbleweed-riddled corner of the web by 2017, when the social network's "outbreak" will have run its course.

Beijing passed a regulation to curb air pollution by controlling emissions. It says harsh penalties on people for not abiding by the guidelines.

US discovered that violence, infectious disease and changes in climate were responsible for the collapse of Harappa around 400 years ago.

Paulraj have been awarded with prestigious 2014 Marconi Society Prize for developing the theory and application of MIMO antennas.

Tony Fernandes, the chief of AirAsia announced its India operations from April 2014. He is in India to attend the World Economic Forums annual meeting.

Olympic Council of Asia has recognised Sambo, the Russian martial art and has become part of the Asian Games.

SEBI has asked depositories to formulate information technology panels at board level with a view to strengthen IT governance framework of systems.

Advanced Light Helicopter named Garuda Vasudha of Geological Survey of India launched from the Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd .

Sri Lanka has asked Maldivian President to allow its fisherman, the facility of innocent passage through its territorial waters to Arabian Sea.

NOAA and NASA in separate releases confirmed the continuous trend of global warming. NOAA said 2013 the fourth warmest year on earth since 1880.

Professor Rakesh Khurana has been appointed as the Dean of Havard College. He will assume the charge of the dean from 1 July 2014.

NASA Mars rover discovered Jelly doughnut rock revealed at a ten year anniversary of the Mars rover.

India and Japan signed the Memorandum for strengthening cooperation in tourism.

Nageswara Rao's two sons Venkat and actor Nagarjuna and other family members lit the pyre at the Annapurna Studios here, established by the thespian himself.

A second round loss at the Malaysia Open Super Series Premier last week saw India's Olympic bronze medallist Saina Nehwal drop a place to No.9 in the latest Badminton World Federation (BWF) rankings released Thursday.

Google Chrome Has a Bug That Lets Any Site Eavesdrop On You

Voice control is an awesomely futuristic way to control your technology like a spaceman, but only if you can trust it. So you might want to stay tight-lipped around Chrome; Google's browser has a dangerous security flaw that can let malicious sites eavesdrop on your every word.

Discovered by web developer Tal Ater, the bug in question is simple when exploited. All a malicious site has to do is get you to enable voice control for any legitimate purpose—maybe you want to dictate some text to a webapp, or record some noise for whatever reason—and it can potentially access your computer's mic long after you've navigated away.

All it needs to do is shoot out a pop-under window disguised as an ordinary ad, or something similarly innocuous, to keep your microphone hot. As long as it remains open, every noise you make will be sent back to Google through Chrome, and then on to the snoopers for whatever purpose they see fit. And there's no way for you to tell that the site you visited 20 minutes ago is still up to no good.

The dirty trick actually requires the use of a number of exploits, but the big one is that in Chrome, only full-on tabs indicate that they're listening in via your microphone. Smaller banner windows can continue to listen without showing anything at all. Tal reached out to Google with the bugs months ago, and Google confirmed to him that they were security flaws. But four months later, a fix still hasn't been pushed live to users. As of this post, the exploit still works.

The good news is that you need to initiate Chrome's voice recognition in the first place for this to work. Until a fix comes, you can protect yourself by just never talking to Chrome, or only activating your microphone on trusted sites. Still, the existence of flaws like this (that aren't promptly sewn up) makes it a little harder to be excited about the Star Trek future of an always-on microphone can enable, and makes it easier to be creeped out that Google and god-knows-who-else could be listening to talk to yourself at three in the morning.

Some Important BOOKS AND AUTHORS

1. Yuvi – Makaeand Waingankar
2. India’s Tryst with Destiny – Jagdish Bhagwati, Arvind Panagariya
3. Life Is What you Make It – Preeti Shenoy
4. I Have A Dream – Rashmi Bansal
5. Thinking Fast And Slow – Daniel Kahneman
6. Few Things Left Unsaid – Sudeep Nagarkar
7. Jugaad Innovation – Radjou, Navietal
8. Dongri To Dubai – S Hussain Zaidi
9. What Young India Wants – Chetan Bhagat
10. A Delicate Truth – John le Carre
11. Life after Life – Kate Atkinson
12. The Woman Upstairs – Claire Messud
13. Paris – Edward Rutherford
14. Shoes Of The Dead – Kota Neelima
15. My Magical Palace – Kunal Mukherjee
16. The Pity Of Partition – Ayesha Jalal
17. Revolution From above – Dipankar Gupta
18. Dirty Wars – Jeremy Scahill
19. The Fault In Our Stars – John Green
20. The Black Coat – Neamat Imam
21. Three Chancellors – Nilanjan Banerjee
22. Happy, Happy, Happy: My Life and legacy as the Duck Commander – Phil
Robertson with Mark Schlabach
23. Lean In – Sheryl Sandberg with Nell Scovell
24. Let’s Explore Diabetes With Owls – David Sedaris
25. Cooked – Michael Pollan
26. Dad Is Fat – Jim Gaffigan
27. The Hungry Ghosts- Shyam Selvadurai
28. The New Bihar: Rekindling Governance and development – NK Singh and Nicholas Stern
29. This Town – Mark Leibovich
30. Infiltrated – Jay W Richards
31. Zealot – Reza Aslan
32. Business Sutra: A Very Indian approach to Management – Devdutt Pattanaik
33. The Infatuations – Javier Marias
34. The Billionaire’s Apprentice – Anita Raghavan
35. Meena Kumari: The Classic Biography – Vinod Mehta
36. Exotic Aliens: The Lion and the Cheetah in India – Valmik Thapar, Romila Thapar And Yusuf Ansari
37. Like It Happened Yesterday – Ravinder Singh

Current Affairs 22-Jan-2014

The President of India Pranab Mukherjee presented awards for the year 2012-13 to various States and Cities for outstanding performance in different categories under the flagship schemes of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation.

New Yorkers awoke Wednesday morning to the sound of plows clearing the streets. In Washington, federal workers got in a few extra zzz's.

Reserve Bank committee's suggestion to keep consumer inflation at the Centre of its monetary policy-making indicates the hawkish stance of the central bank going ahead.

Union Cabinet has approved a proposal to constitute a Rail Tariff Authority, RTA to advise the Railway Ministry on fares.

Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren laid the foundation stone for the new state assembly building amid protests from residents of the area.

Supreme Court rules that delay in deciding mercy plea can be ground for commuting death sentence; Commutes death sentence of 15 convicts to life term.

The country's mineral production saw a 3.7 per cent jump in November last year over the preceding month on the back of higher coal, chromite, bauxite and iron ore output, with total value of the products recorded at Rs 17,163 crore.

Ennore Port Limited (EPL), Chennai and Ford India Private Limited have signed an agreement for export of Ford cars though the Ennore port for a period of 10 years.

In Nepal, 574 newly elected members of the second Constituent Assembly have been sworn in by the acting Chairman Surya Bahadur Thapa, the senior most member of the Assembly, at a function in the International Convention Centre in Kathmandu.

Cadila Healthcare Ltd (Zydus Cadila) has received final approval from the USFDA for Bupropion Hydrochloride Extended-release Tablets USP (XL) in the strength of 300 mg.

The dates for the next edition of the annual Jaipur Literature festival is set to be held from January 21 to January 25 in 2015, organisers said.

Legendary actor Akkineni Nageswara Rao died at the age of 91 in Hyderabad.

Syria's government and main political opposition have traded bitter accusations as a major peace conference began in Switzerland.

India has registered their second loss in the bilateral series against New Zealand.

Sports broadcaster Star India announced an eight-year broadcast deal with International Hockey Federation (FIH) during which the world sport body will look to host a major event in India each year.

A resurgent Roger Federer weathered a belated challenge from Andy Murray at the Australian Open on Wednesday to win 6-3 6-4 6-7(6) 6-3 and set up a mouthwatering semi-final with great rival Rafa Nadal.

International Premier Tennis League (IPTL) launched in Melbourne with the announcement of six teams.

Fathers Of Different Fields

1. Father of Astronomy : Copernicus
2. Economics : Adam Smith
3. Biology : Aristotle
4. Chemistry : Antoine Lavoisier
5. Geometry : Euclid
6. History : Herodotus
7. Genetics : G.J. Mendel
8. Botany : Theophrastus
9. Classical mechanics : IsaacNewton
10. Computer : Charles Babbage
11. Comedy : Aristophanes
12. English poetry : GeoffreyChaucer
13. Homeopathy : Heinemann
14. Indian Green Revolution : M.S.Swaminathan
15. India's Communication Revolution : Sam Pitroda
16. Medicine : Hippocrates
17. Modern physics : GalileoGalilei
18. Nuclear physics : Ernest Rutherford
19. Nuclear science : Marie Curie , Pierre Curie
20. Pentium Chip : Vinod Dham
21. Periodic table : Dmitri Mendeleev
22. Political science : NiccolòMachiavelli
23. Quantum mechanics : Max Planck
24. Relativity : Albert Einstein
25. Robotics : Al-Jazari
26. Thermodynamics : Sadi Carnot
27. Zoology : Aristotl

Current Affairs 21-Jan-2014

Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh reviews progress of infrastructure and development projects in the northeast.

Bahuguna (56), who belongs to Andhra Pradesh cadre, is at present posted as the Special Director General, CRPF, at its headquarters in the national capital.

The mayor of Bangui, Catherline Samba-Panza, is the first woman to be elected as the interim president of the Central African Republic.

CERT-In detected a private information stealing virus Dexter in the Indian online banking transactions space.

Union Cabinet approved to set up a Rail Tariff Authority.

Government has appointed senior police officer Aruna Bahuguna as the new chief of the Hyderabad-based National Police Academy, alma mater for IPS officers in the country.

The Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry announced the launch of the eBiz platform along with two DIPP services and an integrated payment gateway.

RBI has constituted an Expert Committee to Review Governance of Boards in India, which will be chaired by PJ Nayak, former Chairman and CEO of Axis Bank.

Union Cabinet has granted the minority status to Jain community and this nod has enabled the community to avail the benefits in government schemes.

Veerappa Moily, announced to set-up a MOT to carry out re-assessment work of hydrocarbon resources in 26 sedimentary basins in India.

National Urban Health Mission was launched by the Union Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad.

An English version of a book on Raghunath Mandir, detailing historical background and architecture of the shrine located in Jammu, where a large number of devotees from all over the country come to pay obeisance, has been launched.

In a setback to unaided private schools, the Delhi HC today dismissed their plea seeking a stay on city government''s nursery admission guidelines.

Google acquired Bengaluru based Impermium for 9 million dollar on 20 January 2014.

Cyrus Mistry won the DSC prize 2014 for South Asian literature for his book Chronicles of a Corpse Bearer.

Drug major Cipla announced the appointment of Sameer Goel as Country Head - India, with effect from Jan 20.

The Pakistan Cricket Board has appointed former Test player Muhammad Illyas as its new national chief selector, a post he had held in the past.

Lewis Clarke became the youngest person to trek to the South Pole.

Odisha has been selected as the Best State for providing self employment to the urban poor under SJGRY (Swarna Jayanti Sahari Rojgar Yojana), official sources said.

Netherlands won the Hero Hockey World League Final by defeating New Zealand 7-2 at Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium in New Delhi.

Female Indian Chief Ministers

1. Sucheta Kriplani — Uttar Pradesh
2. Nandini Satpathy — Orissa
3. Shashikala Kakodkar — Goa
4. Syeda Anwara Taimur — Assam
5. Janaki Ramachandran — Tamil Nadu
6. J. Jayalalithaa — Tamil Nadu
7. Mayawati — Uttar Pradesh
8. Rajinder Kaur Bhattal — Punjab
9. Rabri Devi — Bihar
10. Sushma Swaraj — Delhi
11. Sheila Dikshit — Delhi
12. Uma Bharati — Madhya Pradesh
13. Vasundhara Raje — Rajasthan
14. Mamata Banerjee — West Bengal

DANCE FORMS IN INDIA

1. Bharatnatayam - Tamil Nadu
2. Odissi - Odisha
3. Kuchipudi - Andhra Pradesh
4. Kathakali, Mohiniaattam - Kerala
5. Manipuri - Manipal
6. Kathak - North India
7. Chiraw (Bamboo Dance) - Mizoram
8. Garba Dance - Gujarat
9. Dandiya Raas - Gujarat
10. Giddha, Parhaun - Himachal Pradesh
11. Wangula Laho- Meghalaya
12. Yakshagan
- Karnataka
13. Pandavani, Lota - MadhyaPradesh
14. Jatajatin, Lagui - Bihar & Jharkhand
15. Ghoomar - Rajasthan

LANGUAGES OF ALL OVER THE WORLD

1. Chinese Mandarin1 billion +
2. English512 million
3. Hindi501 million
4. Spanish399 million
5. Russian285 million
6. Arabic265 million
7. Bengali245 million
8. Portuguese196 million
9. Malay-Indonesian140 million
10. Japanese125 million

Companies & Their Full Names

• ESPN → Entertainment and Sports Programming Network.
• HDFC → Housing Development Finance Corporation Limited
• HCL → Hindustan Computer Limited
• HTC → High Tech Computer Corporation
• HP → Hewlett-Packard
• HMV → His Master's Voice
• HSBC → Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation
• H&M → Hennes & Mauritz
• ICICI Bank → Industrial Credit and Investment Corporation of India Bank
• IBM → International Business Machines
• Infosys → Information Systems
• Intel → INTegrated ELectronics
• IKEA → Ingvar Kamprad Elmtaryd Agunnaryd
• ING → International Netherlands Group
• JVC → Japan Victor Company
• JBL → James Bullough Lansing
• KFC → Kentucky Fried Chicken
• L&T → Larsen & Toubro
• LEGO → leg godt
• MRF → Madras Rubber Factory
• NEC → Nippon Electric Company
• Nikon → Nippon Kogaku
• Nissan → Nippon Sangyo
• P&G → Procter & Gamble
• SAP → System Analyse and Programme networking
• UPS → United Parcel Service of America
• Wipro → Western India Palm Refined Oil Ltd

EUROPEAN UNION : FACTS

1. Total member countries - 28
2. Total official languages - 24
3. Total countries using euro currency - 17+1
4. 28th member of EU - CROATIA.
5. Latvia become the 18th country to use euro.
6. Latvia is expected to replace its currency, the Lat, with the Euro by January 1, 2014
7. The de facto Capital of EU is - Brussels
8. Anthem of EU - Ode to Joy
9. Winner of 2012 nobel prize for peace.
10. The 18 countries which are using Euro are - Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain.

FAMOUS PERSONS & THEIR NICKNAMES

1. Bengali Tiger –- Bibin Chandra Pal
2. Punjab Lion, Punjab Kesari –- Lala Lajpat Rai
3. Sher- e -Punjab –- Ranjit Singh
4. Lion of Kashmir –- Sheikh Mohammed Abdullah
5. Mysore Tiger –- Tippu Sultan
6. Bard of Avon –- William Shakespeare
7. Sage of Kanchi –- Sankaracharya
8. Bird man of India –- Salim Ali
9. Maratha Kesari –- Bal Gangadhar Tilak
10. Bapu –- Gandhiji
11. Babuji –- Jagjeevan Ram
12. Indian Machiavelli –- Chanakya
13. Indian Napoleon –- Samudragupta
14. Indian Bismarck –- Sardar Vallabhai Patel
15. Indian Shakespeare –- Kalidasa
16. Deenabandhu –- C.F Andrews
17. Deshabandhu –- C.R Das
18. Who is known as Prince of Beggars –- Madan Mohan Malaviya
19. Who is known as Prince of Patriots –- Subash Chandra Bose
20. Who is known as prince of Martyrs –- Bhagat Singh
21. Who is known as prince of Builders –- Shahjahan
22. Who is known as prince of Pilgrims –- Hiuen Tsang
23. Who is known as prince of Autobiography –- Babur
24. Who is known as prince of Money Makers –- Muhammad bin Tughlaq
25. Who is known as prince of Pilgrims –- Hiuen Tsang
26. Who is known as Grand old man of Indian Journalism –- Tushar Kanti Ghosh
27. Man of Destiny –- Napoleon Bonaparte
28. Andhara Kesari –- T. Prakasam
29. Lok Nayak –- Jayaprkash Narayan
30. Father of Medicine –- Hippocrates
31. Lady with the lamp –- Florence Nightingale
32. Poet's Poet –- Edmund Spencer

Chief Of Indian Army since Independence

1. Sir Robert McGregor Macdonald Lockhart*— 15 August 1947 to 31 December 1947
2. Sir Francis Robert Roy Bucher—* 1 January 1948 to 15 January 1949
3. Kodandera Madappa Cariappa —16 January 1949 to 14 January 1953
4. Maharaj Shri Rajendrasinhji Jadeja1—5 January 1953 to 14 May 1955
5. Satyawant Mallannah Shrinagesh—15 May 1955 to 7 May 1957
6. Kodandera Subayya Thimayya—8 May 1957 to 7 May 1961
7. Pran Nath Thapar—8 May 1961 to 19 November 1962
8. Joyanto Nath Chaudhuri—20 November 1962 to 7 June 1966
9. Paramasiva Prabhakar Kumaramangalam—8 June 1966 to 7 June 1969
10. Sam Hormusji Framji Jamshedji Manekshaw—8 June 1969 to 15 January 1973
11. Gopal Gurunath Bewoor—16 January 1973 to 31 May 1975
12. Tapishwar Narain Raina—1 June 1975 to 31 May 1978
13. Om Prakash Malhotra—1 June 1978 to 31 May 1981
14. Kotikalapudi Venkata— Krishna Rao1 June 1981 to 31 July 1983
15. Arun Shridhar Vaidya—1 August 1983 to 31 January 1985
16. Krishnaswamy Sundarji—1 February 1985 to 31 May 1988
17. Vishwa Nath Sharma—1 June 1988 to 30 June 1990
18. Sunith Francis Rodrigues—1 July 1990 to 30 June 1993
19. Bipin Chandra Joshi—1 July 1993 to 19 November 1994
20. Shankar Roychowdhury—20 November 1994 to 30 September 1997
21. Ved Prakash Malik—1 October 1997 to 30 September 2000
22. Sundararajan Padmanabhan—1 October 2000 to 30 December 2002
23. Nirmal Chander Vij—31 December 2002 to 31 January 2005
24. Joginder Jaswant Singh—31 January 2005 to 30 September 2007
25. Deepak Kapoor—30 September 2007 to 31 March 2010
26. Vijay Kumar Singh—31 March 2010 to 31 May 2012
27. Bikram Singh— 31 May 2012 Current

Countries With Most Land Borders

China Share Its Borders With 14 Countries:
Afghanistan, Bhutan, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Mongolia, Nepal, North Korea, Pakistan, Russian Federation, Tajikistan, Vietnam

Russian Federation Share Its Borders With 14 Countries:
Azerbaijan, Belarus, China, Estonia, Finland, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Mangolia, North Korea, Norway, Poland, Ukraine

Brazil Share Its Borders With 10 Countries:
Argentina, Bolivia, Colombia, French Guianya, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, Surinam, Uruguay, Venezuela

Congo Democratic Republic Share Its Borders With 9 Countries
Angola, Burundi, Central African Republic, Congo, Rwanda, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia

Germany Share Its Borders With 9 Countries:
Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Poland, Switzerland,

List of Stock Exchanges in India

1. Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE)
2. National Stock Exchange (NSE)
3. Ahmedabad Stock Exchange
4. Bangalore Stock Exchange
5. Bhubaneshwar Stock Exchange
6. Calcutta Stock Exchange
7. Cochin Stock Exchange
8. Coimbatore Stock Exchange
9. Delhi Stock Exchange
10. Guwahati Stock Exchange
11. Hyderabad Stock Exchange
12. Jaipur Stock Exchange
13. Ludhiana Stock Exchange
14. Madhyapradesh Stock Exchange
15. Madras Stock Exchange
16. Magadh Stock Exchange
17. Mangalore Stock Exchange
18. Meerut Stock Exchange
19. OTC Exchange of India
20. Pune Stock Exchange
21. Saurashtra Stock Exchange
22. Uttar Pradesh Stock Exchange
23. Vadodara Stock Exchange

Education Under Fast Tracks

Rajesh Sharma's school has no desks or chairs. The "roof" is a metro railway bridge 10 meters overhead. The blackboards are black rectangles painted on the wall of the adjacent station. Despite its makeshift nature, the school offers hope to poor children in the neighborhood.

Mr Sharma, 41, who runs a grocery across the street from the Yamuna Vihar metro station, started the school three years ago to offer free education to the children of the local laborers and farmers.

Being poor and mostly illiterate, the families of these children usually either see no need for them to be educated, or worry about the costs involved, particularly when sending them to school means they cannot help to support the family.

Mr Sharma himself dropped out of college in his third year because of his family's financial difficulties. The idea to open a school came to him on a morning walk along the Yamuna river when he saw some children weeding and picking flowers.

"I asked them which school they go to and they looked at me at with no answer. It had not occurred to me before that not every child has access to a school." Mr Sharma says.

So Mr Sharma and his friend, Laxmi Chandra, a retired teacher, teach classes under the metro bridge for two hours every weekday morning. The students, who now number more than 70, sit on foam mats and recite after their teachers as trains rumble overhead and traffic rolls past a few meters away. While the younger children learn the English alphabet, those between 10 and 16 study mathematics, from multiplication tables to geometry, taught by Mr Chandra.

Mr Sharma initially bore the entire cost of providing the children with textbooks, pencils and exercise books.

Over time, people who heard about the school began dropping off supplies, sometimes anonymously.

"One man came with 60 school bags once. He would not tell me his name or what he did. He said none of that mattered as long as the children got a decent education."

Mr Sharma started the school with the aim of providing children from poor families with a basic education.

However, after the government enforced the 2009 Right to Education Act last year, which guarantees free schooling for children between the ages of 6 and 14, Mr Sharma decided to focus on preparing the children for admission to school and helping them to cope with the curriculum.

However the difficulties in the cause don't end there. The children of farmers and laborers are reluctant to enroll, influenced mainly by the prejudice of their parents, most of whom are illiterate.

Mr Sharma has to battle constantly to get parents to send their children to his classes for just a couple of hours each day.

"They say, 'My son is too old now to catch up with the rest of his age group and study. Let us put him to work'," he said.

"The excuses for the daughters are even worse. Most of the time they cannot even bring themselves to believe that she deserves an education. Other times they are just waiting to marry her off."

Inspiring Young India BUILDING A NEW POSITIVE SOCIETY!

Current Affair 20-jan-2014

IRENA and ADFD has announced approximately 41 million dollar in concessional loans for renewable energy projects in developing countries.

Cyrus Mistry won the DSC prize 2014 for South Asian literature for his book Chronicles of a Corpse Bearer

India has test-fired nuclear-capable surface-to-surface Agni-IV missile with a range of 4000 kilometer from Wheeler Island of Odisha.

Wal-Mart registered a new Company called Wal-Mart India Private Ltd in India

India and UAE have agreed to promote cooperation in renewable energy especially in areas of solar energy and wind power by signing an MoU in Abu Dhabi.

National Urban Health Mission was launched by the Union Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad

Abhishikta S Shetty of Karnataka won the 11th Edition of the Miss South India 2014 pageant at the Le Meridien in Coimbatore.

Union Government has extended the benefits of the NMP throughout India to boost manufacturing sector.

Amazon Fulfillment Centres are warehouses where online retailers stock the inventory of their products.

Former Prime Minister of Italy Silvio Berlusconi and leader of Democratic Party (PD) Matteo Renzi signed a deal in Rome on electoral reforms

Former 5000mts world record-holder and politician Christopher Chataway died in London due to cancer. In 1955 he was knitted by Queen Elizabeth II.

Ethihad Airways in demonstration flight flew a Boeing 777 plane that was powered in part by biofuel developed in collaboration with a Total.

Netherlands won the Hero Hockey World League Final by defeating New Zealand 7-2 at Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium in New Delhi.

A majestic Roger Federer emphatically announced his return as a grand slam contender by trouncing Jo Wilfried-Tsonga 6-3 7-5 6-4 to charge into the Australian Open quarter-finals on Monday.

Mitchell Johnson's return to the elite ranks of the game in this country was formally acknowledged on Monday night when the born-again paceman added Australian cricket's highest individual honour to his ever growing trophy cabinet.





 

THE MAN WHO PIONEERED IN MAKING INDIA A POLIO FREE NATION

DR. HARSH VARDHAN!!


THE MAN WHO PIONEERED IN MAKING INDIA A POLIO FREE NATION.
TO THIS GREAT DOCTOR, MOST IMPORTANTLY GRT HUMAN BEING OF THIS COUNTRY.

IN 1994 WHEN HE WAS ANNOINTED AS THE HEALTH MINISTER OF UNION TERRITORY OF DELHI AND ALSO THE PRESIDENT OF DELHI MEDICAL ASSOCIATION, HE FIRST PIONEERED THE PULSE POLIO CAMPAIGN IN DELHI TO MAKE THE WORST POLIO AFFECTED STATE TO GET RID OF THE DANGEROUS VIRUS.

THIS MODEL OF CAMPAIGN WAS LATER ADOPTED IN THE WHOLE COUNTRY IN A BATTLE AGAINST POLIO!!

NOW WE ARE IN SELECTED AND MOST RESPECTED CLUB OF POLIO FREE NATIONS..!!

BILL GATES HAS HIS WORDS ABOUT INDIANS. AFTER READING IT YOU WILL FEEL GREAT ABOUT IT. SO PLEASE READ IT AND IN A WAY IT REFLECTS THE EFFORTS PUT BY DR. HARSH VARDHAN TO MAKE INDIA A POLIO FREE NATION!!

MR. GATES," The campaign showed India at its best―the relentless spirit, the scientific power, the business acumen, the manufacturing skill, the political imagination, and the vast human resources that can deploy more than two million people and spark the imagination of a billion. Yes, India faces challenges in many areas that are well documented in the media. But in its fight against polio, India has shown the world that when its people set an ambitious goal, mobilize the country, and measure the impact, India’s promise is endless.”

First woman scientist to head a missile project in India.

How many of you know DR.TESSY THOMAS ?

She is the first woman scientist to head a missile project in India.

she is the Project Director for many missile project in Indian Defence Research and Development Organisation.
She was the Master mind and was responsible for success of 3,000 km range Agni-III missile project, Mission Agni IV project, 5,000 km range Agni-V in 2009.The missiles were successfully tested on 19 April 2012.

"We are all proud of our country. Agni-C is one of our greatest achievements"

Agni-V missile is most powerful and Dangerous weapon that will make the world fear India.
Once fired It cannot be stopped,It travels faster than a Bullet and can carry 1000 kg of nuclear weapon and It has 5000 km Range.
It can be configured to launch small satellite and
can be used later to shoot down the enemy satellites in orbits.
It can be launched only on direct order of the Prime minister.

Because of her India now features among the super powers

We salute her outstanding contribution for making India self-reliant in the field of missile technology.

She is the real hero. She isn't celebrity, she is ordinarily human with extraordinary compassion But Indian media forget her.

God bless her with strength.

List of Stock Exchanges in India

1. Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE)
2. National Stock Exchange (NSE)
3. Ahmedabad Stock Exchange
4. Bangalore Stock Exchange
5. Bhubaneshwar Stock Exchange
6. Calcutta Stock Exchange
7. Cochin Stock Exchange
8. Coimbatore Stock Exchange
9. Delhi Stock Exchange
10. Guwahati Stock Exchange
11. Hyderabad Stock Exchange
12. Jaipur Stock Exchange
13. Ludhiana Stock Exchange
14. Madhyapradesh Stock Exchange
15. Madras Stock Exchange
16. Magadh Stock Exchange
17. Mangalore Stock Exchange
18. Meerut Stock Exchange
19. OTC Exchange of India
20. Pune Stock Exchange
21. Saurashtra Stock Exchange
22. Uttar Pradesh Stock Exchange
23. Vadodara Stock Exchange

Spur: The game is over

A young boy enters a barber shop and the barber whispers to his customer, “This is the dumbest kid in the world. Watch while I prove it to you.”

The barber puts a dollar bill in one hand and two quarters in the other, then calls the boy over and asks, “Which do you want, son?” The boy takes the quarters and leaves.

“What did I tell you?” said the barber. “That kid never learns!”

Later, when the customer leaves, he sees the same young boy coming out of the ice cream store.

“Hey, son! May I ask you a question?

Why did you take the quarters instead of the dollar bill?”

The boy licked his cone and replied,

“Because the day I take the dollar, the game is over!”

Global food index

India ranks among the worst on food accessibility



The global food index was compiled by Oxfam, which works to remove poverty and hunger. It combined data from World Health Organisation, the Food and Agriculture Organisation and the International Labour Organisation.

India's rank was 97 in a list of 125 countries. The top ten ranks were grabbed by European countries with Netherlands being ranked the best.

CURRENT AFFAIR 16-Jan-2014

Dr Girija Vyas , Union Minister for Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation has launched the Housing Start Up Index (HSUI) logo, web site and monitoring tool “Integrated Urban Poverty Monitoring System” (IPoMs) for JnNURM and Rajiv Awas Yojana ( RAY).

India and South Korea have signed nine pacts in different areas to deepen economic cooperation and bolster defence engagements.

Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar said country's foodgrain production this year is likely to surpass the previous record of 259.29 million tonnes achieved in 2011-12 crop year.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) included Hong Kong and Macau in the sensitive list.

Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday asked police to suspend four of its officers for allegedly refusing to act against sex and drug gangs and in a case of burning a woman.

An eminent Indian-American scientist and president of the prestigious Carnegie Mellon University in the US has been named a member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Renowned Marathi poet and firebrand activist Namdeo Dhasal passed away after a prolonged illness.

The 86th annual Academy Award nominations for best motion picture have been announced in Beverly Hills, Calif., by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

The World Bank has projected India's economy will grow over 6 per cent in 2014-15 and 7.1 per cent by 2016-17 as global demand recovers and domestic investment increases.

India's headline inflation based on wholesale prices eased to five-month low of 6.16 percent in December as the vegetable prices softened, government data showed.

Rajeev Kher, a 1980 batch IAS officer, was appointed Secretary in the Department of Commerce.

The world's super rich people hold a fifth of their wealth in property, estimated at $5,328 billion, while Asia's ultra rich have a greater share in real estate, a report says.

Tata Consultancy Services( (TCS), India's top IT services provider by market value, expects sales growth to accelerate next fiscal year after it beat quarterly profit estimates on increasing overseas demand for outsourcing services.

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) gave its approval for extension of the Special Package of Industrial Incentive for the States of Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand from 7th January, 2013 to 31st March, 2017.

In a significant move, India and Sri Lanka have decided to release over 400 fishermen, currently in custody of each other, in the next two weeks, a senior Agriculture Ministry official said in Delhi today.

Namdeo Laxman Dhasal, Dalit poet and author, ideologue and founder of the Dalit Panthers Party, died.

ONGC and Oil India will bailout government on Indian Oil Corporation disinvestment by picking up 10% equity in the country's largest petroleum retailer by next week.

Tamil Nadu government has sanctioned 1.75 crore rupees towards conducting two world level events in Chennai.

World number one Rafael Nadal rolled into the third round at the Australian Open with a dominant win over 17-year-old home hope Thanasi Kokkinakis on Thursday.

Indian golfer Anirban Lahiri seemed headed for a fine and flawless outing before a late double bogey blotted his first round card in the Kings Cup at Hua Hin on Thursday.

Important Persons In Power, who are recently in news

Head of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) - N.K.Sodhi.

Finance Minister of India - P.Chidambaram.

Petrolium Minister of India - M.Veerappa Moily.

Civil Aviation Minister of India - Ajith Singh.

Food Minister of India - K.V.Thomas.

Union Minister of State for Finance - Namo Narain Meena

Union Rural Development Minister - Jairam Remesh.

Chief Minister of Mizoram - Lal Thanhawla.

Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh - Raman Singh.

Lieutenant Governor of Delhi - Najeeb Jung.

Afghanistan President -hamid karzai

United Nations Secretary General - Ban Ki-moon

Bihar Chief Minister - Nitishkumar

Chief MInister of Madya Pradesh - Shivaraj Singh Chouhan

Thripura Chief minister - Manik Sarkar.

Head of Financial Sector Legilative Reforms Commission (FSLRC) - Justice B.N.Srikrishna.

External Affairs Minister of India - Salman Khurshid.

Dy.Chairman of Rajya Sabha - P.J.Kurien.

Commerce and Industry Minister of india - Anand Sharma.

Union Minister for New and Renewable Energy - Farooq Abdulla.

Union Labour Minister - Sis Ram Ola.

Chief Justice of India - P.Sathasivam.

Indian Railway in collaboration with Google

Indian Railway in collaboration with Google is now providing a 10 digit mobile number.

Just SMS your PNR number on this mobile number and instantaneously you will get your ticket';s current status along with all other journey related details.
The number is 97733-00000 .
NO need to prefix 0 or +91.

Best of all, you don';t pay a premium charge for any of this, just the price of a standard SMS. PLEASE DON';T FORGET TO STORE THE NUMBER IN YOUR MOBILE PHONE.

Current Affair 15- Jan 2014

The police have reportedly arrested two men and are questioning two others in the gang-rape case of a Danish woman, that has rocked the newly formed Arvind Kejriwal government in Delhi

A Samajwadi Party leader, involved in a number of criminal cases, was shot dead by some persons, riding a motorcycle, in broad daylight in Barabanki on Wednesday.

The average life expectancy of people in the country has increased by 5 years since 2004 due to consistent investments in public health sector by the government.

British PM David Cameron has ordered a probe into claims by an MP that Margaret Thatcher's government assisted India in the Operation Blue Star in 1984.

Smt. Krishna Tirath, Minister for Women & Child Development inaugurated a two-day National Convention on ‘Three Years of Completion of the RTE Act” in New Delhi.

With the government giving BHEL Chairman B Prasada Rao a two-year extension, Indian Oil Corp (IOC) Chairman R S Butola may be the next in line to get a post-retirement service extension as his case is similar to that of Rao's.

Noting that India continues to suffer from low, but improving, levels of economic freedom, the latest Index of Economic Freedom ranks the nation 120th globally and 25th among 43 countries in the Asia-Pacific region.

Saudi Arabia and Sri Lanka have signed a landmark labour pact in a renewed bid to regulate hiring of domestic workers from the island nation and to ensure protection to those who were already employed in the kingdom.

Pakistan's capital Islamabad was declared the most expensive city in the country, while Karachi was the second among the cheapest cities, a media report said.

The Union Government extended the term of Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) Chairman U K. Sinha for a period of two years on 14 January 2014.

A researcher at the Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science in Kolkata has become the first Indian to win the "Young Investigator Award" from a renowned international scientific organisation.

Scientists have found that the first placental mammal lived between 88.3 to 91.6 million years ago, suggesting that the ancestor of humans shared the planet with dinosaurs.

A court here rejected the bail plea of Tehelka editor-in-chief Tarun Tejpal in a sexual assault case. Tejpal has spent exactly a month and a half cumulatively in both police as well as judicial custody.

Finance minister P. Chidambaram says Indian economy will recover step by step in the next three years

A benchmark index of Indian equities markets Wednesday closed 256 points or 1.22 per cent higher on fall in headline inflation in December.

Novak Djokovic and Serena Williams raced into the third round of the Australian Open and out of the heat on Wednesday as controversy over play continuing in scorching temperatures rumbled on for a second day.

Top Indian shuttlers Saina Nehwal, P.V. Sindhu, Parupalli Kashyap and Kidambi Srikanth made winning starts in the New Year, notching up first round wins at the $500,000 Malaysia Open Super Series Premier here Wednesday.

New Zealand defeat West Indies by 4 wickets, seal series Wellington: New Zealand inflicted a further defeat on the West Indies in their second Twenty20 international on Wednesday to bring a dismal end to the visiting team`s tour.

Zaka Ashraf was elected chairman for a four-year term under a new PCB constitution but the court suspended him after a petition challenging the transparency of the process.

Frequency Ranges of Different Waves

1. Gamma ray — more than 30 EHz
2. X-Ray — 30 EHz to 30 PHz
3. Ultraviolet — 30 PHz to 790 THz
4. Visible — 790 THz to 430 THz
5. Infrared — 430 THz to 300 GHz
6. Microwave — 300 GHz to 300 MHz
7. Radio — 300 GHz to 3 Hz

This is what happens on Facebook every 20 minutes

In 20 minutes 1,000,000 links are shared on Facebook
In 20 minutes 1,484,000 event invites are posted
In 20 minutes 1,323,000 photos are tagged
In 20 minutes 1,851,000 status updates are entered
In 20 minutes 1.972 million friend requests are accepted
In 20 minutes 2,716,000 photos are uploaded
In 20 minutes 2,716,000 messages are sent
In 20 minutes 10.2 million comments are posted
In 20 minutes 1,587,000 wall posts are written

Geographical Surnames of Countries and Places in the World

1. Which country is known as 'Britain of the East'?
Answer: Japan

2. Which country is known as 'Britain of the South'?
Answer: New Zealand

3. Which country is known as 'Battle field of Europe'?
Answer: Belgium

4. Which Place is known as 'City of Cycles'?
Answer: Beijing

5. Which Place is known as 'City of Sky Scrappers'?
Answer: NewYork

6. Which Place is known as 'City of Golden Gate'?
Answer: San Francisco (U.S.A)

7. Which Place is known as 'City of Seven Hills'?
Answer: Rome (Italy)

8. Which Continent is known as 'Dark Continent'?
Answer: Africa

9. Which Place is known as 'Land of Kangaroo'?
Answer: Australia

10. Which Place is known as 'Empire City'?
Answer: New York (U.S.A)

11. Which Place is known as 'Eternal City'?
Answer: Rome, Italy

12. Which Place is known as 'Forbidden City'?
Answer: Lhasa, Tibet

13. Which Place is known as 'Land of Lilies'?
Answer: Canada

14. Which Place is known as 'Garden of England'?
Answer: Kent

15. Which Place is known as 'Holy Land'?
Answer: Palestine

Current Affairs December 2013 Questions and answers

1. The unmanned Lunar exploration mission successfully launched by China on 2nd December 2013 . It consists of a Lunar rover called the Yutu or Jade Rabbit?
Answer: Chang’e-3

2. Which Indian won the women’s singles title in the Macau Open Badminton Grand Prix Gold Badminton Tournament?
Answer: P.V Sindhu

3. The National Tiger Conservation Authority has notified Nagzira as the fifth tiger reserve in the state of ……………?
Answer: Maharashtra

4. Who becomes the first Indian scientist elected to Chinese Academy of Science?
Answer: Prof CNR Rao

5. Who is appointed as new chief of National Security Guard (NSG)?
Answer: Mr. Jayanta Narayan Chaudhary

6. Who is sworn in as the new Chief Minister of Delhi?
Answer: Arvind Kejriwal

7. Who has been appointed as the new Governor of Manipur?
Answer: Mr. Vinod Kumar Duggal

8. Who is sworn in as German Chancellor for 3rd time?
Answer: Angela Merkel

9. Name the autobiography of Mary Kom that unveiled recently?
Answer: Unbreakable

10. Human Rights Day was observed on:
Answer: December 10

11. Who won the UN Human Rights Prize 2013?
Answer: Malala Yousafzai

12. Who has been crowned Miss Earth 2013?
Answer: Alyz Henrich (Venezuela)

13. Which nation will host the Under-17 FIFA World Cup 2017?
Answer: India

14. International Anti Corruption Day was observed on:
Answer: December 9

15. The official match ball of FIFA World Cup 2014 has been named?
Answer: Brazuca

16. The former President of South Africa and anti-apartheid leader who passed away recently?
Answer: Nelson Mandela

17. International Civil Aviation Day was observed on:
Answer: December 7

18. Ahmet Uzumcu has been reappointed as the Director General of which international organization?
Answer: Organization for the prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW)

19. Who is to succeed Deepak Sandhu as the Chief Information Commissioner (CIC) of India?
Answer: Sushma Singh

20. International Volunteer Day was observed on:
Answer: December 5

21. In which state is the Hornbill Festival held every year in the first week of December?
Answer: Nagaland

22. Who has been named UNICEF’s brand ambassador for South Asia?
Answer: Sachin Tendulkar

23. Constitution Day was observed in India on:
Answer: November 26.

24. Xavier Bettel was sworn in as the President of which country?
Answer: Luxembourg

25. How many districts will be there in the proposed state of Telangana?
Answer: Ten

26. The two new parcel service’s launched by the Department of Posts are named ……….. and ………….?
Answer: Express Parcel and Business Parcel

27. FIFA has raised the prize money for the winners of the 2014 World Cup to …………… US Dollars?
Answer: 35 Million

28. Which state has emerged champions in the 29th Junior National Athletics Championship held in Bangalore?
Answer: Kerala ...!!

mportant Financial Organizations & their foundation

1955: Industrial credit and Investment Corporation India Ltd(ICICI)
1962: Deposit Insurance Corporation
1963: Agricultural Refinance Corporation
1964: Unit Trust of India
1964: Industrial Development Bank of India
1969: National Institute of Bank Management
1971: Credit Guarantee Corporation
1978: Deposit Insurance and Credit Guarantee Corporation (The DIC and CGC were merged and renamed as DICGC)
1982: National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development
1982: Export-Import Bank of India
1987: Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research
1988: Discount and Finance House of India
1988: National Housing Bank
1990: Small Industries Development Bank of India
1994: Securities Trading Corporation of India
1995: Bharatiya Reserve Bank Note Mudran Private Limited
1996: Institute for Development & Research in Banking Technology
2001: Clearing Corporation of India Limited
2008: National Payments Corporation of India

Current Affair 15-Jan-2014

NABARD has reduced the refinance rates for the banks and other lending agencies by 0.20 percent to promote rural credit and rural infrastructure.

Google to acquire smart thermostat and smoke alarm-maker Nest Labs Inc for $3.2 billion in cash

The MCX Stock Exchange will be the first to offer live trading in new Interest Rate Futures (IRF) in 10-year government bonds, as it has received the approval of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), the market regulator.

Portugal and Real Madrid's Cristiano Ronaldo won the FIFA Ballon d'Or award for 2013, ending Lionel Messi's four-year run as the world's best player.

Anju Bobby George declared winner of World Athletics Final, 2005 held in Monte Carlo

An International team of 34 scientists on 13 January 2014 spotted the footprints of Dinosaurs at Thaiat village in Jaisalmer district of Rajasthan.

Consumer Retail inflation came down in December 2013 to 9.87percent as against 11.16 percent in November 2013.

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) raised concern on 13 January 2014 over Ranbaxy.

The Pakistan Army respects the ceasefire agreement in letter and spirit, it quoted a Pakistan military’s spokesperson as saying

The man identified as Vishnu Gupta shouted slogans against the noted lawyer and called him a “traitor” for his recent comments relating to army’s presence in Kashmir.

Spur: This tree will manage our stress

One carpenter was hired to help us restore our old farmhouse. He had just finished a rough first day on the job. A flat tire made him lose an hour of work, his electric saw quit, and now his ancient pickup truck refused to start.

While I drove him home, he sat in stony silence. On arriving, he invited me in to meet the family. As we walked toward the front door, he paused briefly at a small tree, touching the tips of the branches with both hands.

After opening the door, he underwent an amazing transformation. His face was wreathed in smiles, and he hugged his two small children and then gave his wife a kiss.

Afterward, he walked me to my car. We passed the tree, and my curiosity got the better of me. I asked him about what I had seen him do earlier.

“Oh, that’s my trouble tree,” he replied. “I know I can’t help having troubles on the job, but one thing for sure, troubles don’t belong in the house with my wife and children. So I just hang them up on the tree every night when I come home. Then in the morning, I pick them up again.”

“Funny thing is,” he smiled, “ when I come out in the morning to pick them up, there aren't nearly as many as I remember hanging up the night before. ”

"ALL WE HAVE TO DO IS TO FIND ONE SUCH TREE IN FRONT OF OUR HOUSE & START THIS PRACTICE AS EARLY AS POSSIBLE AFTER READING THIS "

This Week's Sky at a Glance : Some night sky sights for January 10 – 18

 

Friday, January 10

Look left of the Moon at nightfall for the Pleiades, as shown here. The Pleiades are straight above the Moon by about 8 or 9.

Bright Capella high overhead, and bright Rigel in Orion's foot (both magnitude 0), are at almost the same right ascension. So they cross your sky’s north-south meridian at almost the same time. Capella now passes closest to straight overhead around 10 p.m., depending on how far east or west you live in your time zone. (It goes exactly through the zenith if you're at latitude 46° north: Portland, Oregon; Montreal; central France.) Whenever Capella is passing closest to the zenith, Rigel always marks true south over your landscape. 

Saturday, January 11

Aldebaran shines below the Moon at dusk, as shown here. It swings around to the left of the Moon by about 11 p.m.

Jupiter’s Great Red Spot transits Jupiter’s central meridian around 9:30 p.m. EST.

Venus is at inferior conjunction, passing 5° north of the Sun today.  

Sunday, January 12

The bright gibbous Moon shines in a particularly starry part of the sky. After dinnertime, look upper right of the Moon for Aldebaran, below the Moon for Betelgeuse in Orion's leftmost corner, farther upper left of it for Capella, and far lower left of the Moon for bright Jupiter in the middle of Gemini.

  Monday, January 13

Betelgeuse is lower right of the Moon this evening. Jupiter is to the Moon's lower left, with Pollux on beyond. Look far under the Moon for Procyon.  

Tuesday, January 14

Jupiter shines left of the nearly full Moon early this evening. Ganymede, the largest and brightest moon of Jupiter itself, slowly emerges out of eclipse from Jupiter's shadow around 10:21 p.m. EST. With a telescope, watch for this happening just off Jupiter's eastern limb.  

 Wednesday, January 15

Full Moon (exact at 11:52 p.m. EST). This is the smallest full Moon of 2014. Jupiter shines above it in early evening. As the evening grows late, Jupiter swings to the Moon's upper right.  

 Thursday, January 16 

As the Moon climbs up in the east, spot Procyon to its upper right, bright Jupiter higher above them, and Sirius far right of the Moon in the southeast, under Orion.  

Friday, January 17

As the stars come out, face north and look very high overhead for Cassiopeia, oriented now like a flattened letter M. As the night proceeds, it swings down in the northwest tilting sideways.  

Saturday, January 18

This the Big Dipper's time of year to swing up from the low north-northeast after dusk to stand on its handle in the northeast by about 9 p.m.