CURRENT AFFAIRS 13-14th Feb., 2015

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1. Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal takes oath as chief Minister of Delhi after huge victory in Delhi elections. Kejriwal might keep home, power and finance portfolios and close aide Sisodia might become the first deputy chief minister of Delhi.

2. Euro zone economic growth accelerated unexpectedly in the final quarter of 2014 as the bloc's largest member, Germany expanded at more than twice the expected rate. Even then Greece's place in the euro zone is uncertain.

3. New restrictions imposed by the government on foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) investing in corporate bonds may affect overseas investments and also be a deterrent for contractual arrangements of companies. Earlier the Reserve Bank of India and the Securities and Exchange Board of India restricted FPI investments in bonds with residual maturity of three years or more.

4. The Chief Information Commissioner (CIC) of Odisha‬ Tarun Kanti Mishra resigned from his position. He was awarded with the prestigious Odisha Sahitya Academy Award for his significant contribution to Odia literature.

5. Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India has imposed a penalty of Rs. 10 lakh on Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) of India for altering filled- in proposal forms without necessary authentication from the proposers. The policies were also split and more than one policy was issued under a single proposal.

Current Affairs 13th Feb., 2015

1. Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) will be launching a pan-India awareness campaign to tackle the menace of spurious calls. The authority is also exploring social media channels such as Facebook and mass SMS campaigns to spread awareness.

2. According to the latest RBI report on the Banking Ombudsman scheme, metro and urban areas accounted for 71 per cent of the total complaints received by the 15 offices of the banking ombudsman (OBOs) during 2013-14. The objective of the BO scheme is to provide a cost-free avenue to common bank customers for resolution of their complaints on deficiency in banking services.

3. Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (Irdai) has asked insurers to pursue an open architecture model in bancassurance. According to latest data, between 2009 and 2013, life insurance penetration declined from 4.6 per cent to 3.1 per cent.

4. Government of Rajasthan declared a swine flu epidemic in the state, with about 100 deaths estimated. It is an epidemic when there is rapid spread of infectious disease to a large number of people in a given population within a short period of time, usually two weeks or less.

5. An Indian-origin scientist Gurpreet Singh has received a $500,000 National Science Foundation CAREER award to develop ultrathin metal sheets that can help produce better rechargeable batteries. Bulk quantities of nanosheets are necessary for energy applications, including rechargeable batteries, supercapacitors and catalysts for photoelectrochemical hydrogen production.