January 18

Karnataka and Chhattisgarh have joined the group of states where National Food
Security Act is being implemented. The other States/ UTs in the group are Haryan
a, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, Delhi, and Punjab.
* The Government of India has made food grain allocations to these States/ UTs a
s per requirements projected by them for the implementation of the Act. Uttrakha
nd and Chandigarh are also expected to join this group soon.
Benefits of this Scheme:
* The people identified as beneficiaries by the State Governments will now get f
ood grains at highly subsidized prices of Rs. 3/2/1 per kg for rice, wheat and c
oarse grains. Each beneficiary will get five Kg. food grains per month. However,
existing entitlement of Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) households which is 35 kg/mo
nth will be protected.
Union Home Minister Shri Sushilkumar Shinde will be the Chief Guest at the firs
t National Investigation Agency Day on January 20th, 2014 at Vigyan Bhawan, New
Delhi. Shri M.K. Narayanan, Governor of West Bengal, will deliver the first R.V.
Raju memorial lecture on National Security- Expanding Terrorist Dimension on the
occasion.
When and why was National Investigation Agency established?
* The National Investigation Agency (NIA) was set up by the National Investigati
on Agency Act, 2008, which was enacted as Indias law enforcement response to terr
orism in the wake of the 26/11 Mumbai attacks. The enactment was the outcome of
a long felt need to constitute an investigation agency at the national level to
investigate and prosecute offences affecting the sovereignty, security and integ
rity of India, security of State, friendly relations with foreign States and off
ences under Acts enacted to implement international treaties, agreements, conven
tions and resolutions of the United Nations, its agencies and other internationa
l organisations and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto.
January19
The Ministry of Rural Development issued a directive to provide 150 days of wag
e employment under MGNREGA (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee A
ct) for Scheduled Tribe households living in forest areas. The move will benefit
about eight lakh people in the states like Jharkhand, Odisha, Chhattisgarh and
Andhra Pradesh.
* The additional 50 days of employment beyond the stipulated 100 days under the
Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) will be applica
ble to those individuals who got pattas under Forest Rights Act, FRA (2006).
* Approximately, 14 lakh individual and community titles have been distributed u
nder FRA 2006. Of these around 8 lakh individual titles have been given in Andhr
a Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Orissa.
Wal-Mart a global retail giant registered a new company in India as it prepares
to enter the countrys lucrative multiband retail market with a new partner. The
retailer registered a new company called Wall-Mart India Private Ltd in the countr
y. The American retail major and Bharti Enterprises decided to part in October l
ast year, bringing an end to their six-year long partnership.
January 20
DoT spectrum in the band of 1800 Megahtrg Megahtrg and 900 applications have be
en received.
The applicants are:
(1) M Vodafone India Ltd.
(2) S Bharti Airtel Ltd.
(3) M Ayrsal Ltd.
(4) S Idea Cellular Ltd.
(5) S Tata Teleservices Ltd.
(6) S Reliance Infocom Ltd. Geo
(7) M Teliving Communications Services Pvt. Ltd.
(8) S Reliance Communications Ltd.
Union Textiles Minister Dr. K.S. Rao inaugurated the fourth session of the Texa
s Trends India -2014 at Pragati Maidan in New Delhi.
* Dr. Rao said that in the last nine months textile exports has been growing at
a constant rate of 15 percent.
January 21
Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Dr. M. Veerappa Moily launched a sc
heme for the sale of 5 kg LPG cylinders through petrol stations in Delhi and NCR
.
* Initially the scheme will be implemented through 18 petrol stations.
* These small sized cylinders will be sold with minimal documentation.
* This scheme has already been launched in Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata and Bangalor
e.
January 22
Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Dr. M. Veerappa Moily today's 480 d
istricts across the country, all the oil marketing companies/ distributors of LP
G has approved the introduction of portability scheme.
* Oil marketing companies in October 2013 on a pilot basis in 24 districts in 13
states had introduced this scheme.
* In 480 districts across the country today, the scheme is being launched simult
aneously. LPG over 8.2 million consumers across the country will benefit from th
is scheme.
January 23
Government information under the RTI Act to provide better direction is formula
ted. Government April 15th 2013 Right to Information (RTI) Act to provide inform
ation under section 4 of the Central Ministries/ Departments Detailed directions
was issued. To prepare samples of four areas have been identified.
* The public distribution system, panchayats, NREGA and includes primary and sec
ondary school.
* In 2010-11, these numbers are respectively 28875 and 24071 and 2009-10 respect
ively is 22800 and 19482.
* Rights Day is celebrated internationally on 28th September information.
January 24
As part of a synchronised crackdown on hackers operating from India, the United
States, China and Romania, the Central Bureau of Investigation on Friday arrest
ed a Pune-based mastermind who allegedly ran two websites offering services for
gaining unauthorised access to email accounts.