Current Affairs - 19th Feb 2014

Telangana bill passed in Loksabha

The Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Bill, 2013 was passed in loksabha and it will be taken to Rajyasabha for the next process. This bill was made to carve out a separate state of Telangana out of Andhra Pradesh.

A.P. has total 23 districts out of which 10 will be allocated to Telangana and the rest 13 districts will remain with A.P. Also out of the total 42 Loksabha seats, Telangana will have 17 whereas A.P. will have 25 seats.

Hyderabad will be the common capital for both the states.

It is interesting to know that Andhra Pradesh was formed in 1953 after carving out from Madras and Telangana was included in A.P. in 1956. Before that, it was a part of the Hyderabad Empire and under the control of the Nizams.

China becomes largest gold buyer

China became the largest gold buyer in the world in 2013 and surpassed India as the largest gold consumer.

The data was shown by World Gold Council where now India comes at 2nd position as the largest gold consumer in the world.

This report comes after union government took a lot of efforts to curb gold imports in the wake of rising CAD.

Indian govt. launches vikaspedia

Union govt. launched vikaspedia- an online information guide for social sector and initially it will have information on health, agriculture, education, social welfare, energy and e-governance.

Before the launch of this portal, people had to pay to get access to such information but now it will be free-of-cost.

This portal is launched in 5 languages as of now and the plan is to increase the languages to 22.

Government gets $605 million loan from Asian Development Bank (ADB)

The Govt. of India and ADB signed three loan agreements worth $605 million for different projects to enhance the quality of road, railways and power sector.

For the betterment of rail services, an agreement of $130 million was signed. For power sector in Madhya Pradesh, a loan of $350 million was allocated by the ADB.

For up gradation of road connectivity in north-eastern region, ADB provided a loan of $125.2 million.

National tourism award, 2013

Sikkim has been declared as the best state in implementing the Rural Tourism Project for the year 2012-13. Union Minister of state for HRD Mr. Shashi Tharoor presented the national tourism award to Sikkim.

Bharti Airtel’s acquisition of Loop mobiles

Airtel, India’s largest mobile operator in terms of subscribers all over the country, acquired Loop mobile-Mumbai’s oldest operator for a whooping $700 crore.

This move will enhance the customer base of Airtel as the 3 million subscribers of Loop mobile in Mumbai will now become Airtel subscribers.