Daily Current Affairs: 06 February 2014

1) Delhi govt orders probe against Sheila Dikshit on CWG projects: In yet another move aimed at needling outside ally Congress, the AAP government on Thursday directed its Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) to probe a number of Commonwealth Games related projects that were implemented during the reign of Sheila Dikshit. The government has particularly asked ACB to probe the alleged irregularities in street light projects in which the Prime Minister-appointed Shunglu Committee had questioned certain decisions made by Dikshit.

2) India extends visa-on-arrival facility to 180 countries: In a significant step towards liberalization of the visa regime, the government on Wednesday cleared two initiatives: visa on arrival and electronic travel authorization for all countries barring eight "prior reference'' countries including Pakistan, Iran, Sri Lanka and China. ETA will allow foreign travelers to apply for a visa from home and receive an online confirmation in five working days. India currently offers visa-on-arrival to tourists from 11 countries like Finland, the Philippines, Singapore and Japan.

3) Huawei allegedly hacked BSNL network: Government- Chinese telecom equipment maker Huawei allegedly hacked state-owned BSNL's network and the government is investigation the matter, Parliament was informed. "The government has constituted an inter- ministerial team to investigate the matter," Minister of State for Communications and IT Killi Kruparani informed the Lok Sabha.

4) Vishwanath Tripathi selected for Vyas Samman 2013: Eminent Hindi writer Vishwanath Tripathi been selected for the prestigious Vyas Samman for the year 2013. Tripathi has been chosen for the coveted annual literary award instituted in 1991 by the K K Birla Foundation for his memoir 'Vyomkesh Darvesh', a biolgraphy of noted Hindi scholar Acharya Hazari Prasad Dwivedi. It is  given to outstanding literary work in Hindi published during the last 10 years.

5) Times Now “Amazing Indian Award” has been awarded to Arunima Sinha: The Vice President of India M. Hamid Ansari presented an “Amazing Indian Award” instituted by Times Now channel to Ms Arunima Sinha, the first female amputee to climb the Mount Everest in the world.

6) India Vs New Zealand Test series began: The test series between India and New Zealand began in Auckland. New Zealand has finished on top during the opening day after posting 329 at the loss of four wickets at the close, boosted by centuries from captain Brendon McCullum and Kane Williamson.

7) New Microsoft chief will get $4.8 million this year, $18 m in 2015: The winner takes it all. Satya Nadella, who has been appointed as CEO of Microsoft, will earn $4.8 million in the current financial year. While Nadella gets an annual salary of $1.2 million, he will get three times ($3.6 million) more as a cash award. This will go up to $18 million next year as he becomes eligible for stock awards.

8) Govt. committee set up to suggest steps to ensure security of North East people: The government on Thursday set up a committee to suggest suitable remedial measures to address concerns regarding security of people from North East. The six-member panel to be headed by M P Bezbaruah, a retired bureaucrat, will submit its report within two months after examining the causes behind the attacks, violence and discrimination against the people from the Northeast. The decision comes in the wake of death of Nido Taniam, a student from Arunachal Pradeshn New Delhi last month.

9) Bureau of Energy Efficiency had calculated that the new fuel efficiency standards from 2017 would help India reduce oil consumption by 2.22 million tonnes of oil equivalent (mtoe) by 2017 and 10.5 mtoe by 2022.

10) Delhi is India’s official bid for the status of UNESCO World Heritage Site: Centre has given its nod to Delhi’s bid for UNESCO World Heritage City status. Delhi has cited the historical city of Shahjahanabad and the more recent Lutyens’ Delhi in its bid for heritage status. The deadline for submitting entries ended last week.

11) Vodafone India's Rs 10,141 crore FDI proposal cleared by Cabinet: The  Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) on Thursday approved the telecom major Vodafone's Rs 10,141 crore (or $1.6 billion) proposal to buy out minority shareholders in its Indian unit. This is the single largest foreign investment in the telecom sector. Follwoing the CCEA clearance, Vodafone India will be the country's first telecom player to be fully owned by a foreign company.

12) Google Launched Chromebox For Meetings & Videoconferencing: At a small media event in Mountain Viewon Thursday, Google announced the launch of Chromebox for Meetings, a $999 Core i7-based ASUS Chromebox setup with a remote, camera and microphone for conference rooms. Chromebox video-conferencing tool is available in the US at a starting price of $999 and is to be released later this year in Australia, Britain, Canada, France, Japan, New Zealand, and Spain. As many as 15 people can take part in a Chromebox video conference using smartphones, tablets, laptops or other Internet linked computers.