Current Affairs - 26th Feb 2014

Indira Paryavaran Bhavan inaugurated

Indira Paryavaran Bhawan was inaugurated by Dr. Manmohan singh in New Delhi. This building will give accommodation for the ministry of Environment and Forests. The Bhawan is India’s first onsite net Zero Building built by the adoption of Solar Passive design and energy efficient building material.

NASA and ISRO to collaborate for missile launch

US space agency NASA is planning to launch water and drought related missile in collaboration with the ISRO.

In addition to that, it is also planning to launch Ice, Cloud, and Land Elevation Satellite-2 (ICESat-2); Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) Follow-on and Surface Water Ocean Topography mission.

Bimal Jalan committee on banking license submits its report

The Bimal Jalan committee which was constituted for providing banking licenses to the corporate houses submitted its report to the RBI. The panel scrutinized 25 applications by corporate houses which were initially 27 but Tata and Videocon withdrew their application later.

The committee contains 3 other members RBI Deputy Governor Usha Thorat, former Securities and Exchange Board of India Chairman C B Bhave and Nachiket M Mor, Director of the Central Board of Directors of the RBI. As of now, India has 27 public sector banks, 22 privte banks and 56 RRBs. Kotak Mahindra and Yes Bank were the last firms to get banking licenses in 2003-04.

Bitcoin bank shuts down after theft

One of the largest exchanges of Bitcoin –Mt Gox, a Tokyo based website which is also known as a Bitcoin Bank shut down after the theft of some 7,44,000 bitcoins over several years and it was on the verge of bankruptcy.

This theft was unnoticed for so many years and it has been brought to the notice of bitcoin enthusiast, the dangers of using unregulated online currency.

National Centre for Good governance in inaugurated in Mussorie

It will serve as an apex think tank to advise government on good governance. The institute is just the upgradation of the National Centre for Good Governance (NCGG).

Egypt’s interim PM resigns

Egypt’s interim PM Hazem-El-Bablawi resigned with his full cabinet and the President Adly Mansour appointed Ibrahim Mahlib as the new interim PM of the nation which is set to face fresh elections after two months.