Current Affairs 9 february 2014

Current Affairs : 9 february 2014

1. Sikkim has become the only state in the country to achieve more than 100 percent sanitation in rural and urban households, schools, sanitary complexes and Aanganwadi centres. All 6,10,577 inhabitants in Sikkim have latrines with high sanitation and hygiene standards.  The state has also sensitised people to adopt a holistic approach to improve sanitation and hygiene in a clean environment while accelerating its overall development. Sikkim also topped the list among all states of the country in net performance indicators.
2. India’s central bank, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) removed 26 per cent cap on the interest rate that can be charged by a microfinance company to its borrowers. The central bank has also prescribed a new method of determining the rate for the industry. The RBI said that MFIs can arrive at their lending rate by calculating their cost of funds and adding the prescribed margin. The new method will allow the companies to determine their interest rates.
3. The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development has sanctioned Rs 348.63 crore to Karnataka under Rural Infrastructure Development Fund (RIDF). Nabard’s assistance to Karnataka Government is under RIDF XIX for construction of 174 road projects and 33 bridge projects by Public Works Department (Rs 152.60 crore), 24 rural road and three bridge projects by Tourism Department (Rs 65.68 crore), 127 veterinary institution projects by Animal Husbandry Department (Rs 30.32 crore), 60 Raitha Sampark Kendras by Agriculture Department (Rs23.37 crore) and nine maternal and child hospital projects by Health Department (Rs 76.66 crore) in different districts of the State.
4. Veteran Nepali Congress leader Sushil Koirala is set to become the next prime minister of Nepal with the support of the CPN-UML, ending months of political gridlock following last year’s elections. The Parliament of Nepal will elect Koirala, 75, as prime minister on Monday following the Constituent Assembly elections on 19th November that failed to throw up a clear winner.
5. Waitlisted passengers will soon get status messages in their mobile phones if their tickets get confirmed before journey. A senior Railway Ministry official said the waitlisted passenger will get a SMS about the status of the ticket on the mobile phone number given at the time of ticket booking before the journey.
6. Maruti Suzuki India Limited (MSIL) stopped the production of the iconic car brand Maruti 800 that had been carrier for millions of middle class Indian families. The company in its announcement claimed the production was the car was stopped in 18 January 2014. Executive Director of MSIL, CV Raman in the announcement said that the spare parts of the car will be available in the market for next 8 to 10 years as per the rules, even after the production was stopped.
7. New Zealand have registered their 1st Test win against India since 2002. They beat India by 40 runs & take a 1-0 lead in the two-Test series. Man of the Match : NZ Captain +Brendon McCullum  for his brilliant double century in 1st innings. 
8. Kumar Sangakkara, the cricketer of Sri Lankan national team became the second person in the history of Cricket to score a triple century and a century in the same test match. By performing the rare record, he joined Graham Gooch, the former skipper of England team. He achieved this reach by scoring 319 runs in the first inning of the match and 105 runs in the second innings. He achieved this record, while playing in the second test match against Bangladesh.
9. The decks were cleared on Sunday for India’s return to the Olympic fold after a 14-month suspension with Indian Olympic Association conducting its polls with N Ramachandran being elected as the president. Kho-Kho Federation of India President Rajeev Mehta and All India Tennis Association (AITA) chief Anil Khanna were also elected unopposed as Secretary General and Treasurer respectively in the polls which marked the exit of corruption-tainted Abhay Singh Chautala and Lalit Bhanot from the IOA.