Current Affairs - 6th Feb 2014

Moorti Devi Award to Haraprasad Das

Haraprasad Das, notable contemporary poet and thinker in Odia literature, has been conferred on the “26th Moorti Devi Award”. Its an annual literary award given by the Bharatiya Jnanpith organization.

Government launches the 'National Cloud' under ‘MeghRaj’ Initiative

‘GI Cloud’ renamed as ‘MeghRaj’ is a government initiative to reap the benefits of Cloud Computing. The service is supposed to accelerate delivery of e-services in the country. National Informatics Centre (NIC) will implement 'National Cloud'.

Indian Banks Association’s advisory to banks

The Indian Banks’ Association (IBA) during February 2014 issued an advisory to banks to ensure business continuity after Microsoft ends support for its popular Windows XP operating system on 8 April 2014.

In its advisory it drew the attention of banks to a study by Microsoft in which it claimed that very large number of Indian public bank branches would become vulnerable following the U.S.-based firm’s decision to stop support to Windows XP.34, 000 banks are expected to be affected.

The fiscal impact of this could be as much as a loss of business opportunity worth Rs.1,100 crore in a day and a loss of income worth Rs.330 crore over a period of three days. Windows XP – launched in October, 2001 – is three generations behind the latest operating system Windows 8, which was launched in October, 2012.

India-based Neutrino Observatory (INO)

At the 101st Indian Science Congress at Jammu, the Prime Minister imphasised his government’s commitment to establish the India-based Neutrino Observatory (INO) to primarily study atmospheric neutrinos.

This observatory is proposed to be established at Theni in Tamil Nadu.India-based Neutrino Observatory (INO) is a proposed particle physics research project to primarily study atmospheric neutrinos in a 1,300 meters (4,300 ft) deep cave under Ino Peak near Theni, Tamil Nadu, India.

This project is notable in that it is anticipated to provide a precise measurement of neutrino mixing parameters.

National Mission on High Performance Computing – NMHPC

Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh on 3 February 2014 proposed to constitute a new mission to work in the area of high-end computing with an outlay of Rs. 4500 crore.

The name given to this mission, which was announced on the occasion of 101st Indian Science Congress at Jammu is–National Mission on High Performance Computing – NMHPC.