Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) has been adjudged the world’s best airport in the 25-40 million passengers per annum category in the Airport Service Quality (ASQ) awards given by the Airports Council International (ACI) for the year 2014. The airport improved from an ASQ score (measured on scale of 1 to 5) of 3.02 in 2007 to 4.90 in 2014. It was ranked second in 2011, 2012 and 2013.
| S. No | Name of the Awardee | Discipline | State/Domicile |
| 1. | Shri L. K. Advani | Public Affairs | Gujarat |
| 2. | Shri Amitabh Bachchan | Art | Maharashtra |
| 3. | Shri Prakash Singh Badal | Public Affairs | Punjab |
| 4. | Dr. D. Veerendra Heggade | Social Work | Karnataka |
| 5. | Shri Mohammad Yusuf Khan alias Dilip Kumar | Art | Maharashtra |
| 6. | Shri Jagadguru Ramanandacharya Swami Rambhadracharya |
Others | Uttar Pradesh |
| 7. | Prof. Malur Ramaswamy Srinivasan | Science and Engineering | Tamil Nadu |
| 8. | Shri Kottayan K. Venugopal | Public Affairs | Delhi |
| 9. | Shri Karim Al Hussaini Aga Khan (Foreigner) | Trade and Industry | France/UK |
More details on Padma Award 2015
The Planning Commission, which was established in 1950 was on 1st January replaced by a new body, NITI Aayog or National Institution for Transforming India, which will serve as a policy think-tank for the central as well as state governments and have Prime Minister as its chairperson. NITI Aayog will have a CEO and a vice chairperson, to be appointed by the Prime Minister, in addition to some full-time members and two part-time members, while four union ministers would serve as ex-officio members. The NITI Aayog will have a governing council comprising of all state chief ministers and Lt Governors and will work towards fostering a ‘co-operative federalism’ for providing a “national agenda” to the Centre and states.
#NITIAayog
The 630-tonne Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (MK III) blasted off from Sriharikota in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh. The new rocket will be able to carry heavier satellites into space. India has successfully launched lighter satellites in recent years, but has faced problems sending up heavier payloads. The new rocket is capable of carrying communication satellites weighing 4,000kg, reports say, meaning India will not have to rely on foreign launchers to do so. The rocket’s main cargo was an Indian-made capsule capable of carrying two to three astronauts into space. #GSLVMKIII #ISRO #CurrentAffairs
Shri Narendra Damodar Das Modi has been taken oath as 15th Prime Minister of India along with his cabinet minister & minister of state.
Minister’s Name – Portfolio
Mr. Narendra Damodar Das Modi – Prime Minister of India, Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, Department of Atomic Energy Department of Space, All important policy issues and all other portfolios not allocated to any Minister.
Mr. Rajnath Singh – Home Minister
Mr. Arun Jaitley – Finance, Corporate Affairs and Information and Broadcasting
Mr. Manohar Parrikar – Defence
Ms. Sushma Swaraj – External Affairs Minister
M Venkaiah Naidu – Urban Development, Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation, Parliamentary Affairs
Mr. Nitin Gatkari – Road Transport and Highways, Shipping
Mr. Suresh Prabhu – Railway Minister
Ms. Uma Bharti – Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation
Najma A. Heptulla – Minority Affairs
Ram Vilas Paswan – Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution
Kalraj Mishra – Minister for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises
Ms. Maneka Gandhi – Women and Child Development
Mr. Anant Kumar – Chemicals and Fertilizers
Ravi Shankar Prasad – Communications and Information Technology
Ashok Gajapathi Raju Pusapati – Civil Aviation
Anant Geete – Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises
Harsimrat Kaur Badal – Food Processing Industries
Narendra Singh Tomar – Mines, Steel
Jual Oram – Tribal Affairs Minister
Radha Mohan Singh – Agriculture Minister
Thaawar Chand Gehlot – Social justice and Empowerment
Smriti Irani – Human Resource Development
Jagat Prakash Nadda – Health and Family Welfare
Dr. Harsh Vardhan – Science and Technology and Earth Sciences
Birender Singh – Rural Development, Panchayati Raj and Drinking Water and Sanitation
D V Sadananda Gowda – Law and Justice
Shri Rajiv Pratap Rudy – Skill Development & Entrepreneurship (Independent Charge), MOS Parliamentary Affairs
Bandaru Dattatreya – Labour and Employment (Independent Charge)
Dr. Mahesh Sharma – Culture (Independent Charge), Tourism (Independent Charge), MOS Civil Aviation
Gen (Retd) V K Singh – Statistics and Programme (Independent Charge), External Affairs, Overseas Indian Affairs
Inderjit Singh Rao – Planning (Independent Charge), MOS Defence
Santosh Gangwar – Textiles (Independent Charge)
Shripad Yesso Naik – AYUSH (Independent Charge), MOS Health & Family Welfare
Dharmendra Pradhan – Petroleum and Natural Gas (Independent Charge)
Sarbananda Sonowal – Youth Affairs and Sports (Independent Charge)
Prakash Javadekar – Environment, Forest and Climate Change (Independent Charge)
Piyush Goyal – Power (Independent Charge), Coal (Independent Charge), New and Renewable Energy (Independent Charge)
Jitendra Singh – Prime Minister Office, Personnel, Public Grievances &Pensions, Department of Atomic Energy, Department of Space, Minister of Development of North Eastern Region (Independent Charge)
Nirmala Sitharaman – Commerce and Industry (Independent Charge)
Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi – MOS Minority Affairsation, MOS Parliamentary Affairs
Ram Kripal Yadav – Drinking Water & Sanitation
Haribhai Parthibhai Chaudhary – Home Affairs
Sanwar Lal Jat – Water Resources, River Development & Ganga Rejuvenation
Mohanbhai Kalyanjibhai Kundariya – Agriculture
Giriraj Singh – Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises
Hansraj Gangaram Ahir – Chemicals & Fertilizers
Manuskhbhai Dhanjibhai Vasava – Tribal Affairs
Ram Shankar Katheria – Human Resource Development
Y S Chowdary – Science and Technology and Earth Science
Jayant Sinha – Finance
Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore – Information & Broadcasting
Babul Supriyo – Urban Development, Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation
Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti – Food Processing Industries
Vijay Sampla – Social Justice & Empowerment
GM Siddeshwara – Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises
Manoj Sinha – Railways
Nihal Chand – Panchayati Raj
Upendra Kushwaha – HRD Ministry
P Radhakrishnan – Road Transport and Highways and Shipping
Kiren Rijiju – Home Affairs
Krishan Pal – Social Justice and Empowerment
Sanjeev Kumar Balyan – Agriculture
Mansukhbhai Dhanjibhai Vasava – Tribal Affairs
Raosaheb Dadarao Danve – Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution
Vishnu Deo Sai – Mines, Steel, Labour and Employment
Sudarshan Bhagat – Social Justice and Empowerment
Cricket legend Kapil Dev has been honoured with a Lifetime Achievement award at a ceremony in the House of Lords. The award, constituted by the Indo-European Business Forum, was presented to Dev on 24th September 2014 for his contribution to the sport and for his work to uplift poor.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has appointed former McKinsey India Chairman Adil Zainulbhai as the Chairman of Quality Council of India (QCI). An autonomous body under the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion.
Ending years of dispute over the maritime boundary between India and Bangladesh, a UN tribunal on July 8, 2014 announced that Bangladesh will get 19,467 sq km of the total 25,602 sq km disputed area with India in the Bay of Bengal.
By a majority of four votes to one, the Permanent Court of Arbitration at the Haque in the Netherlands determined the course of the maritime boundary line between Bangladesh and India in the exclusive economic zone and the continental shelf within and beyond 200 nautical miles.
In its verdict, the tribunal nuanimousy decided that it has jurisdiction to identify the land boundary terminus and to delimit the territorial sea, the exclusive economic zone and the continental shelf between the parties within and beyond 200 nautical miles in the areas where the claims of the parties overlap.
Mumbai’s Esplanade House, once the residence of Jamsetji Tata, founder of the Tata empire, and the Shri Sakhargad Nivasini Devi Temple Complex in Satara are among the 14 projects from 10 countries that bagged the UNESCO Asia-Pacific Heritage Awards that were announced in Bangkok on 2nd September. The awards recognise efforts of private individuals and organisations in restoring and conserving heritage structures and buildings.
Four new Govornor has been appointed:
1. Shri Kalyan Singh as the Governor of Rajasthan
2. Shri Vajubhai Rudabhai Vala as the Governor of Karnataka
3. Shri Chennamaneni Vidyasagar Rao as the Governor of Maharashtra
4. Smt. Mridula Sinha as the Governor of Goa.
