04 January 2012

• Nirbhaya Scheme : aimed at combating sexual violence against women & children
• Qatar proposed a Unified Format of Employment Contract for the 6 Gulf nations that heavily import workers from foreign nations
• WGEEP (Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel) proposed to allow conversion of agricultural lands to tree crop plantations
• Kerala Forest Research Institute (KFRI) raised apprehension against the move saying that it may lead to conversion  of paddy fields to rubber plantations
• A tribal community of Koraput, Orissa recognized by FAO (Food & Agriculture Organisation) under the Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Sites programme
• Reliance makes major investment in media group TV18
• Raghav Bahl : Founder & Promoter of TV18 Group
• Jonathan Goodluck : President of Nigeria
• Amman : Capital of Jordan
• West Asia talks held there - first of its kind in last 15months
• Brigadier Gen Ataollah Salehi : Armed Force's Chief of Iran
• USS John C Stennis : Biggest aircraft carrier of US Navy
• Iran warned US not to return to the Gulf & keep off the Gulf
• Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani : Former Iranian President
• His daughter was sentenced to jail & banned from political activities for anti-state propaganda
• Hugo Chavez : President of Venezuela
• Exxon Mobil Corporation (US) had settlement claim of $12b against Petroleos de Venezuela SA (Venezuela state-owned petroleum company)
• International Chamber of Commerce gave a verdict in favour of Hugo Chavez by requiring him to give only $907m
• Rajiv Bajaj : MD of Bajaj Auto
• RE60 : New Four-Wheeler of Bajaj Auto
• "Number Portability likely on Saving Bank Accounts" : DK Mittal, Financial Services Secretary
• RS Gujral : Finance Secretary
• R Gopalan : Economic Affairs Secretary
• Kaushik Basu : Chief Economic Adviser
• Petroleum & Natural Gas Ministry nod ofr RIL's $1.529b investment plan for developing 4 satellite fields in KG-D6 block
• ICICI Bank to join Facebook
• "Your Bank Account" : An Facebook app through which users can access their bank account information while on Facebook
• SB Sinha : Telecom Disputes Settlement & Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT)
• All-India inter-University Hockey Title : Jamia Millia Islamia bt Guru Nanak Dev University
• Trevor Bayliss : Appointed new coach of Kolkata Knight Riders
• Sabeer Bhatia : co-founder of hotmail.com
• He founded JaxtrSMS, a free SMS sending application
• Bhaskar Pramanik : Chief of Microsoft India
• Muhammad Yunus : Founder of Grameen Bank programme
• Bangladeshi economist, Nobel Laureate (Nobel Peace Prize 2006)
• Known as "Banker of the Poor"
• SK Goel : Chairman of Central Board of Excise & Customs (CBEC)
• B Raj Kumar : Appointed as new Executive Director of Indian Bank by Govt of India
• Railway Ticket reservation to go online
• Service providers are : NGPAY, PAYMATE & ATOM