International Current Affairs:

1. The leaders of GCC countries concluded their 14th consultative summit under the chairmanship of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud. The GCC has decided to continue the moves for developing GCC union, while making consenses on all points with proposed member nations.

2. STANDING at just 54.6cm tall, Chandra Bahadur Dangi, a 71 years old Nepalese, has been crowned with “World’s shortest man alive” by Guinnes Book of Records.

3. Two Russians and an American blasted off in a Soyuz TMA-04M spaceship headed for the International Space Station, Russian cosmonauts Gennady Padalka and Sergei Revin, along with American Astronaut Joseph Acaba launched atop the Soyuz FG rocket from Kazakhstan’s Baikanur cosmodrome.

National Current Affairs;

4. The Air India board approved a proposal to monetise assets worth Rs 5,000 crore over 10 years. The move will help pay for Air India’s financial restructuring programme.

5. Television broadcasters came down heavily on norms issued by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) capped commercial breaks at 12 minutes per hour. The time will include that spent on channels’ in-house promotions.  It has also specified that there should be at least a 15-minute gap between two commercial breaks in an hour-long programme. During the telecast of a feature film, a 30-minute gap must be maintained.

6. Telecom regulator TRAI recommended a financial support of Rs 2,750 crore to BSNL to sustain its rural wireline connections installed before April, 2002. 

7. The Indian Embassy in Abu Dhabi, in an attempt to address grievances of the Indian community regarding consular, community and other matters, has decided to hold an “Open Day” at the embassy and the Consulate General of India, Dubai.

8. Encouraged by usage of the provisions of the Right to Information Act, the government has decided to set up a state-of-the-art call centre and an interactive website to facilitate easy exchange of information related to the transparency law to citizens.

9. In Arunachal Pradesh Government is implementing a pilot project under the title “”Sharing a Cup of Tea Mission ” for small and marginal tea growers in the state. farmers will be distributed free saplings of tea plants under the mission.

10. The government has introduced the Public Procurement Bill 2012 in the Lok Sabha that seeks to seeks to regulate award of government contracts above Rs 50 lakh to ensure “transparency, accountability and probity” in state purchases.