Today CA : 30/01/2015 (शाहिद दिन)

1. Gujarat government launches Taluka Planning Atlas project
Gujarat government has launched Taluka Planning Atlas (TPA) project.

It was launched by Chief Minister Anandiben Patel at a function held in Gandhinagar, Gujarat.

Taluka Planning Atlas (TPA) project:

• This project has been undertaken by the state planning department with the help of director of Economics and Statistics, Gujarat and Bhaskaracharya Institute for Space Applications and Geo-Informatics (BISAG).

• TPA aims to help the local administration in taking effective decisions about the development in respective regions.

• In this regard, TPA will provide the maps that will give precise information about the current status of various facilities and schemes.

• Under this project, an atlas of 100 maps will be compiled to showcase various facilities as well as government schemes at village level in each taluka.

• It will include precise information about facilities such as number of primary and secondary schools, health centres, dairies, cold storages, post offices, banks, etc.

• It will be implemented in phases. In the first phase, atlas for one taluka each in 33 districts will be prepared and put on state government portal Gswan.

• This atlas has used the information consisting of village profile provided by every village in state as well as taluka panchayat based on various indicators of development since 2010.

2. Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe appointed as Chairman of African UnionZimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe has been appointed as Chairman of African Union (AU).

He will be 13th Chairman of African Union (AU) and succeed Mauritanian President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz for a one-year term. The position of chairman of the AU is a rotating one on yearly basis and largely ceremonial.

Robert Mugabe: He has ruled Zimbabwe since independence. He is Zimbabwe’s longest serving President and had assumed office in December 1987. Currently, he is also chairman of the 15-nation Southern African Development Community.

African Union (AU)

• It is the successor of Organisation of African Unity (OAU) and came into existence in 2002 at Durban summit in South Africa.

• Headquarters: It is located at Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

• Motto: A United and Strong Africa.

• Objective: As pan-African organization, AU aims at promoting unity and cooperation among African nations. It also strives to spread democracy and good governance in the continent.

• Members: At present the African Union has a total of 54 members. Morocco is the only African country which is not the part of the Union.

3. IIT Bombay launches Mass Open Online Courses (MOOC)
Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay has launchedMass Open Online Courses (MOOC) in three subjects, computer programming, thermodynamics, and signals and systems.

It aims to provide mass online education programme that will provide free online courses by giving access to high quality, IIT-style education to Indian students in Indian language.

Key features of Mass Open Online Courses (MOOC)

• It is launched as part of institute’s IITBombayX platform developed in collaboration with edX, a not-for-profit initiative by Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Harvard University.

• It will provide 16-week Computer Programming course in two parts aimed at computer programming students.

• The course on Thermodynamics is designed for mechanical engineering students and will last 12 weeks.

• Signals and Systems will be a 16-week course in two parts designed for electrical engineering students.

• The students will get an honour certificate of achievement certifying successful completion of the course after they have qualified in the tests.

• It will also offer training workshops for invited teachers on effective teaching for each of these three subjects under the Train 10,000 Teachers or T10KT programme of the institute.

4. India tops Credit Suisse emerging consumer scorecard 2015
India has topped in the list of Credit Suisse emerging consumer scorecard 2015, among the 9 emerging economies.

This scorecard was prepared by fifth annual Emerging Consumer Survey by the Credit Suisse Research Institute.

Key facts

• The survey had interviewed consumers across nine emerging economies including Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa and Turkey.

• Ranking of other countries: Brazil (2nd), Indonesia (3rd), Saudi Arabia (4th), China (5th), Turkey (6th), Mexico (7th), Russia (8th) and South Africa (9th).

• This survey had profiled the consumer sentiment and its drivers across the emerging world. Thus, providing insights regarding consumer sentiment and future consumption patterns in emerging economies.

• As per the survey, the formation of a strong government at the centre in India had triggered a major revival of consumer sentiment in 2014.

• It also mentioned that, e-commerce share in India have increased to 32 per cent from 20 per cent in 2013.

• In 2014 survey, India was placed at fourth position.

5. Zomato buys Turkey’s restaurant search company Mekanist
India’s online restaurant search and discovery service provider Zomato has announced the acquisition of Turkey’s restaurant search company Mekanist.

With this acquisition, Zomato has increased its coverage from about 27,500 restaurants in Istanbul and Ankara to more than 50,000 restaurants across Turkey.

Now, Mekanist’s traffic and restaurant-related content will be shifted to Zomato. While, Turkish restaurants now will be able to make use of Zomato’s hyperlocal advertising model to reach out to target customers.

Over the past year, Zomato has acquired five restaurant search players in New Zealand, Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia and Italy.

Earlier in January 2015, it had taken over Urbanspoon for about $52 million, which enabled Zomato to enter US and Australian markets.

About Zomato

• It was founded in 2008. Since, then it has expanded to global market on its own. At present it has its presence in India and 21 other countries.

• Zomato’s founder is Deepinder Goyal and he is current CEO. Its Headquarter is in New Delhi.

6. World Bank Report on Himachal Pradesh released
The World Bank has released report Scaling the Heights: Social inclusion and sustainable development on Himachal Pradesh.

It was released by Social Justice and Empowerment Minister Dhani Ram Shandil in Shimla.

This was first of its kind report prepared by the World Bank for Himachal Pradesh. The report reveals that state has effectively balanced economic growth with social inclusion.

Some facts from report

• Himachal Pradesh has emerged as one of the states with the best human development outcomes in the country.

• The performance in poverty reduction, education, women employment and health sectors was much better as compared to other states in India.

• The state had also taken lead in implementation of various national programmes and had given special emphasis on infrastructural development.

• The state had prepared a plan to mitigate the natural disasters which had been well appreciated by the government of India.

• But female child sex ratio, under-nutrition in children and an ageing population still remain issues of concern in the state.

7. GNLF founder Subhash Ghisingh passes awayGorkha National Liberation Front (GNLF) founder Subhash Ghisingh has passed away in New Delhi. He was 78.

He had spearheaded the Gorkhaland movement in the 1980s for a separate state for ethnic Gorkha people living in Darjeeling district of West Bengal.

Subhash Ghisingh

• He was born on 22 June 1936 at Manju Tea Estate in Darjeeling, West Bengal.

• In 1954, he had joined the Gorkha Rifles of the Indian Army as a soldier but quit in 1960.

• In 1968, he formed a political organisation called Nilo Jhanda to protect rights of the ethnic Gorkhas. Later, in April 1979, he raised the demand for a separate state for the Nepali-speaking people of the Darjeeling hills.

• In 1980, he had founded GNLF and led the movement, which disrupted the Darjeeling district with massive violence between 1986 and 1988.

• Later in 1988, this issue was resolved and resulted in setting up of the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council, a semi-autonomous body.

• He was first chairman of Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council after winning the first council elections and was its chairman from 1988 to 2008.