Daily Current Affairs: 19 February 2014

1) Kiran Kumar Reddy resigned as CM of Andhra Pradesh, quits Congress: Declaring his innings as Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh over, N. Kiran Kumar Reddy submitted his resignation to Governor E.S.L. Narasimhan on Wednesday in protest against the Union government’s decision to “divide Telugus for the sake of votes and seats.” Ending his 39-month reign, Mr. Reddy announced that he was quitting the Congress and the membership of the Assembly. He assumed office on November 25, 2010. He also urged the governor to make alternate arrangements at the earliest as he would not like to continue as caretaker chief minister.

2) Interim budget passed in Lok Sabha: Interim budget was Wednesday passed in Lok Sabha after the House functioned amidst chaos raised by political parties on the issue of reservation in the AIIMS super speciality faculty. The budget and two Bills that sought appropriation of funds were passed with minimal discussion due to a row raised by members that also led to the early adjournment of the House.

3) Bahrain King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa arrived India:  TheKing of Bahrain Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa on Tuesday arrived in the national capital. Al Khalifa is on a state visit to India from February 18 to February 20 at the invitation of President Pranab Mukherjee. During his first visit to India, Al Khalifa will meet President and Vice President of India and will hold delegation-level discussions with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on bilateral, regional and global issues.

4) Odia gets classical language status: Odia became the sixth language of the country to get “classical language’’ status after the Union Cabinet conceded a long-pending demand for putting it in the same league as Sanskrit, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam. Odia is billed as the first language from the Indo-Aryan linguistic group and the case for making it a classical language was also premised on the fact that it has no resemblance to Hindi, Sanskrit, Bengali and Telugu. The proposal was moved by the Culture Ministry.

5) Indira Gandhi Zoological Park to get country’s first wild dog breeding centre: In about two to three months’ time, the Indira Gandhi Zoological Park (IGZP), Visakhapatnam will be the first zoo in the country to have a conservation breeding centre for the endangered wild dog or ‘dhole.’ Selected by the Central Zoo Authority to carry out this project at a cost of Rs. 50 lakh, the zoo authorities have earmarked an area on the premises for the centre.

6) Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw appointed new chairperson of IIM Bangalore replacing Mukesh Ambani: Indian Institute of Management-Bangalore (IIM-B) has appointed Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw as the Chairperson of its Board of Governors. At the meeting of the Board of Governors of IIM Bangalore held on February 11, the chairperson, Mukesh Ambani, expressed his decision to step down, IIM-B said in a release.

7) Rajya Sabha passed the Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) Bill, 2014: The Bill provides for protection of livelihoods rights, social security of street vendors, regulation of urban street vending in the country and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto. The Lok Sabha had passed the Bill on September,2013.

8) Kohli reaches career-best 9th in ICC Test rankings: Owing to his decent performance in the just-concluded two-Test series against New Zealand, India batsman Virat Kohli on Wednesday rose to his career-best ninth position in the latest ICC Test rankings issued here on Wednesday. Kohli, who made 214 runs in four innings, broke into top-10 for the first time in his career and joined compatriot Cheteshwar Pujara, who slipped a rung to be on seventh spot. Kohli jumped two places following his knocks of 38 and 105 not out in the Wellington Test, which ended in a draw.

9) K Rehman Khan inaugurated Minority Cyber Village in Rajasthan: India’s first Minority Cyber Village was inaugurated by the Minister for Minority Affairs K Rehman Khan on 19 February 2014 in Chandoli in Alwar district of Rajasthan. Chandoli has been selected as the first village for the pilot project as it holds more than 80 percent of minority population and also because the minorities of the Mewat region is still backward in education.