Current Affairs 23-24th Feb., 2015

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1. Former President of Maldives Mohamed Nasheed was arrested on 22 February 2015 in Male. He was arrested under anti-terrorism laws after a court said that he might flee the country to avoid hearings on terrorism charges.

2. The Indian Army and State Bank of India (SBI) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on the Defence Salary Package. The MoU suits the requirements of serving soldiers, pensioners and families.

3. 87th Academy Award, popularly called Oscar Awards, was conferred on 22 February 2015 at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles. Best Picture: Birdman, Best Director: Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu for Birdman, Best Actor: Eddie Redmayne for The Theory of Everything, Best Actress: Julianne Moore for Still Alice.

4. Petroleum ministry has made public a key report on oil sector reforms by a panel under former Finance Secretary Vijay Kelkar. Its key suggestions are implementing market-linked pricing of natural gas after the end of the current Plan period (March 2017), creating an empowered Cabinet Committee on Energy (CCE) for policy formulation and creating an independent cadre of staff for the downstream regulator.

5. Dr Rajendra Kumar Pachauri stepped down as Chairperson of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Pachauri said that he was unable to provide strong leadership to the organisation. Pachauri had chaired the IPCC since April 2002 and his second term was due to end in October 2015.

CURRENT AFFAIRS 23rd Feb., 2015

1. Parthasarathi Shome-led Tax Administration Reforms Commission has submitted its fourth and final report to Finance Minister Arun Jaitley. Some of the areas highlighted by the commission are the importance of research inputs in tax governance, fairness in tax disputes, use of technology, performance management, trade and customs.

2. Labour ministry has proposed Unique Labour Identification Number (U-LIN), which will enable them to access health facilities across the country. It has also sought initial funding of Rs 100-200 crore for Recognition of Prior Learning, a scheme that will provide on-the-job training for close to 125 trades along with daily wages.

3. Government is launching a revamped online investor grievance mechanism which will be connected to the offices of registrar of companies (RoC) across the country. This will allow a complainant to check the status of his complaint using a grievance ID.

4. Government is preparing to deploy orbiting satellites to digitally map each farmland in the country and data from which will be used to provide tailor-made crop insurance cover to farmers.

5. Himachal Pradesh is set to become the country's first state to present a 'paperless' budget on March 11. The state already has the country's first green assembly and all documents related to budget estimates would be made available online with only around 10 budget copies printed for record.