22 March 2014 – Current Affairs
1) Union Government on 21 March 2014 sold its 9% stake in which private sector bank?
Axis Bank (The stake was divested through the Specified Undertaking of UTI (SUUTI), which was formed in 2003 is an offshoot of erstwhile UTI and held 20.72%
in Axis Bank. The other promoters of the bank are Life Insurance Corporation, General Insurance Corporation, New India Assurance and National Insurance Company)
2) British retail major Tesco on 21 March 2014 announced forming of an equal joint venture with which retail entity associated with the Tata Group, by picking up 50% stake in it?
– Trent Hypermarket Ltd – THL (Tesco acquired 50% stake for about 85 million pounds. THL operates Star Bazaar retail business in India. On completion of
the transaction THL will operate 12 stores retailing a range of merchandise, including food and grocery, personal and home-care products, home and kitchen,
fashion and accessories etc. Tesco became the first global retailer to apply for multi-brand retailing after the government allowed 51% FDI in the segment
in September 2012. The Foreign Investment Promotion Board had cleared its proposal on 30 December2012)
3) What is the name of the Indian journalist who won the prestigious Google Digital Activism Award for 2014 beating likes of Edward Snowden?
– Shubhranshu Choudhary (Shubhranshu Choudhary conceptualised CGNet Swara (Voice of Chhattisgarh), a mobile-phone service that allows citizens to post
and listen to local reports in their local language using basic mobile phones. Shubhranshu Choudhary is a Knight International Journalism Fellow and
the founder of CGNet Swara. He previously worked with BBC and Guardian and was also a reporter at the Hindi-daily Deshbandhu.
The awards were announced at an event in London on 20 March 2014. The Google Digital Activism Award is a part of the Index Freedom of Expression Award
, which honours achievers in four different categories: advocacy, arts, digital activism and journalism. Other nominees for the 2014 Google Digital Activism Award were whistleblower Edward Snowden, Free Weibo, an uncensored version of Chian’s largest social network SinaWeibo and TAILS operating system)
4) Popular micro-blogging site Twitter completed how many years of its first tweet on 21 March 2014?
Eight (Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey on 21 March 2006 sent the first tweet through twitter which read “just setting up my twttr.” Since then billions
of tweets have been sent through Twitter, making it the world’s most popular micro-blogging platform. However, Twitter was publicly launched on 15 July 2006)
5) Which country on 21 March 2014 restricted access to micro-blogging platform Twitter with an objective to apparently root out the social media network where wiretapped recordings have been leaked, damaging the government’s reputation ahead key local elections this month?
– Turkey (Many users trying to access the network early on 21 March were confronted with a notice from Turkey’s telecommunications authority,
citing court orders for the site’s apparent closure. The internet has in the past weeks been awash with incriminating leaked recordings, including
one in which Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan allegedly instructs his son to dispose of large amounts of cash from a residence amid a police graft probe
. Links to the recordings were posted on Twitter)
6) Which water-based initiative from India won the 2014 UN-Water “Water for Life” Best Practices Award as announced on 21 March 2014?
– International Water Management Institute (IWMI)-Tata Water Policy Programme (IWMI-Tata Water Policy Programme is a project based on
water scarce across India. The award was given for project’s sustainable practices of water resources)
0 comments :
Post a Comment