Current Affairs january 2014

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India won the U-19 Asia Cricket Cup

India defeated Pakistan to win 2014 Under-19 Asia Cup in the final match played at Sharjah cricket Stadium in Abu Dhabi on 4 January 2014. The Indian under-19 squad led by Vijay Zol beat Pakistan side by 40 runs.

Centuries by Vijay Zol and Sanju Samson leads their team to a glorious victory. Batting first the India team scored 314 runs with the loss of 8 wickets. Pakistan have won the toss and have opted to field. 

Kamran Ghulam scored 102 and tried to keep Pakistan afloat. Pakistan has climbed 274 runs with the loss of 9 wickets. The stars of the innings were India skipper Vijay Zol and Rajasthan Royals' IPL star Sanju Samson. Both struck centuries and were involved in a 180-run stand for the third wicket. This is only the third time for India that two batsmen have scored centuries in the same innings of an Under-19 match. Pakistan entered the final with a two-wicket victory over Afghanistan. India earned their place in the final with three-wicket win over Sri Lanka. Earlier, in the Asia Cup of 2012, the trophy was shared by both Pakistan and India because the scores were tied on 282. 2012 Asia Cup was held at Kuala Lumpur in Sri Lanka.

Munish Sharda appointed as MD and CEO of Future Generali Life

Munish Sharda has been appointed as the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of private insurer Future Generali India Life Insurance on 7 January 2014.

Before this induction Sharda has worked with Aviva Life at the position of Director – Sales and Distribution for past five years. He has also served Citibank India for 10 years in its mortgages business. Sharda has pursued his Masters in Business Administration (PGDM) from the Indian Institute of Management, Lucknow. He also holds a Bachelor Degree in Mechanical Engineering from Punjab Engineering College.

Union Ministry of DoNER launched NERCORMP in Arunachal Pradesh

Union Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER) officially launched the North Eastern Region Community Resource Management Project (NERCORMP) at Changlang in Arunachal Pradesh on 6 January 2014. The programme is aimed at transforming lives of the poor and marginalised tribal families of the troubled districts of Tirap, Changlang and Longding. The project would be funded by NEC, Ministry of DoNER, for a period of six years starting from the year 2014. Besides the three districts of Arunachal Pradesh, the project in its third phase also covers Churachandpur and Chandel districts in Manipur. NERCORMP is already under operation in Assam, Manipur and Meghalaya. The first phase was completed in 2008 and the second phase (NERCORMP II) started its operations in July 2010.

About NERCORMP

NERCORMP for Upland Areas is a livelihood and rural development project aimed to transform the lives of the poor and marginalized tribal families in the North East region.

It is a joint developmental initiative of the North Eastern Council (NEC), Ministry of DoNER and International Fund for Agriculture Development (IFAD). The project adopts a holistic approach of development. It focuses on social mobilisation, organisation and capacity building to tap and realise the great latent potential of the communities by employing time tested traditional value systems and culture. Besides, it intervenes with the economic and social activities and infrastructure with predominant thrust on income generating activities to achieve economic transformation.

Prithvi II, the Nuclear capable Surface-to-Surface missile, successfully test-fired

India successfully test-fired its indigenously developed nuclear capable surface to surface Prithvi II missile with a strike range of 350 km from a test range at Chandipur near Balasore on 6 January 2014. Prithvi-II is capable of carrying warheads of 500 kg to 1,000 kg. It is thrusted by liquid propulsion twine engines. It uses advanced inertial guidance system with manoeuvring trajectory. The missile was test fired from a mobile launcher in salvo mode from launch complex-3 of the Integrated Test Range.

The entire launch activities were carried out by the specially formed Strategic Force Command (SFC) of the defence service. The entire trajectory of missile was tracked by DRDO radars, electro-optical tracking systems and telemetry stations. Prithvi II is the first missile which was developed by Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) under India's prestigious IGMDP (Integrated Guided Missile Development Program)
IGMDP was managed by DRDO, started in early 1980 and ended in 2008.The missiles developed under the program were Prithvi, Agni, Trishul, Akash, Nag. Prithvi-II missile is already inducted into the Indian Armed forces. The last trial of Prithvi-II was successfully carried out from the same base on 3 December 2012. The naval operational variant of Prithvi II class missiles are known as Dhanush. It was already inducted into Indian navy.