Daily Current Affairs: 31 January 2014

1) Uttarakhand Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna resigned:  Uttarakhand Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna resigned from his post on Friday. Addressing the press, Bahuguna said he has submitted his resignation to the state Governor. He added he was merely following the wishes of his party. Union Minister Harish Rawat and state minister Pritam Singh have emerged as the frontrunners for the top job in the hilly state. The decision to replace Bahuguna was taken at a meeting Congress chief Sonia Gandhi had with senior party leaders on Thursday.

2) Diesel price hiked by 50 paise; non-domestic LPG cut by Rs 107: Oil companies have increased diesel price by 57 paise a litre but cut non-subsidised cooking gas rate by Rs 107 per cylinder from Saturday.

3) German President to begin 5-day India visit on Feb 4: German President Joachim Gauck will arrive in New Delhi on February 4 on a five-day State visit during which he will focus on the vast spectrum of bilateral relations. The President will be accompanied by a high-ranking delegation comprising, among others, representatives of the German cabinet, Parliament and business, a release from the External Affairs Ministry said. Germany continues to be India's largest trading partner in Europe.

4) Music Director and Singer Bappi Lahiri joined BJP: Ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, famous music director and singer Bappi Lahiri joined Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Friday. Party president Rajnath Singh welcomed Lahiri's decision of joining BJP. 

5) Web portal on Gandhi's life launched:  A first of its kind web portal, "Mahatma Gandhi for children", was launched last evening as a tribute to the Father of the Nation on his 66th death anniversary. The portal was launched by the advisor to the Prime Minister on Public Information Infrastructure and Innovations and Chairman of the National Innovation Council Sam Pitroda during a Twitter conference, said a press release. The portal - "Search for Gandhi" targets children from the age of 6 to 15 years and is available in English as well as Hindi. The portal is available at www.Searchforgandhi.In.

6) Rajasthan joined Delhi in banning FDI in retail: Following Delhi, Rajasthan has scrapped the decision to allow FDI in multi-brand retailing, evoking sharp criticism from the Commerce Minister, who said “states cannot retract unilaterally on such commitments.”

7) Satya Nadella likely to be next Microsoft CEO: Report- Senior Microsoft executive Satya Nadella would replace Steve Ballmer as Microsoft CEO, two media reports said, citing sources familiar with the processes of selecting the new leader at the Redmond-based company. Satya Nadella was born in Hyderabad and had completed his engineering from Manipal University before heading to the US for higher studies. Currently, Satya Nadella is the president of server & tools business at Microsoft. He landed his current assignment in 2011.

8)  India lost the fifth and final one-day against New Zealand: A listless Indian cricket team slumped to its worst ODI series defeat in New Zealand, going down 0-4, after the Black Caps hammered them by 87 runs in the inconsequential fifth and final one-dayer  played at Wellington.India also lost the No.1 rankings in ODI.

9) Saina rises to No. 7, Sindhu back in top-10: Following her win at the India Grand Prix Gold on Sunday, Olympic bronze medallist Saina Nehwal jumped two places to No. 7 in the latest Badminton World Federation (BWF) women's singles rankings released on Thursday. The runner-up of the Lucknow event PV Sindhu entered the top-10 for the second time in her career with her spot at 10th.

10) Department of Posts released commemorative stamp on International Year of Crystallography: The Department of Posts has brought out a commemorative stamp on International Year of Crystallography 2014 (IYCr2014) to acknowledge the contribution of crystallographers in every sphere of life and provide impetus to young scientists to study the subject.

11) Janet Yellen to be sworn in as Fed chief on Feb 3: Federal Reserve’s key monetary policy making panel, the Federal Open Market Committee, officially chose incoming Fed chief Janet Yellen as its chair. She is scheduled to be sworn in as the new chair of the Fed overall on February 3.

12) Sachin & Prof C N R Rao to get Bharat Ratna on February 4: President Pranab Mukherjee will confer cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar and eminent scientist Prof C N R Rao with Bharat Ratna on February 4 at Rashtrapati Bhavan.

13) India became third largest crude oil importer in the World: India overtook Japan to become the third largest crude oil importer in the World. As per the data released by Reuters on 30 January 2014, India imported 3.86 million barrels-per-day of crude oil in the year 2013.

14) Dhoni is 4th fastest batsman to score 8000 runs in ODIs: Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni today became the fourth fastest batsman to complete 8,000 runs in one-day cricket during the fifth and final ODI against New Zealand in Wellington.

15) Mumbai police chief quits, likely joining politics: Mumbai Police Commissioner, Satyapal Singh, tendered his resignation to the State Home Department on Thursday and plans to explore a career in politics.

16) Jayawardene becomes sixth-highest scorer in Test cricket: Veteran Sri Lankan batsman Mahela Jayawardene has become the sixth-highest run-scorer in the history of Test cricket with his unbeaten double-century on the third day of the first Test against Bangladesh in Dhaka.