January 2013 Current Affairs, National | India, 2013 Current Affairs
Aadhaar card to be accepted as proof to get passport: Ministry of external Affairs
The Ministry of External Affairs on 8 January 2013 decided and consequently advised all Passport Issuing Authorities to accept Aadhaar letter as Proof of Address and Photo identity in conjunction with any other prescribed documents for proof of address/identity for the purpose of passport application.
Presently, it is being seen that the authorities accept passport applications based on about 14 documents such as voter ID card or electoral photo identity card (EPIC), ration card, PAN, driving license, birth certificates among others.
Aadhaar is a 12 digit individual identification number issued by the Unique Identification Authority of India on behalf of the government. This number will serve as a proof of identity and address, anywhere in India.
Vinod Rai re-elected as the vice-chairman.
United Nations gave Vinod Rai, the comptroller and auditor general of India a second term as the designation of chairman of UN Panel of External Auditors for 2013. CAG of the UK, Amyas Morse was re-elected as the vice-chairman.
Panel of the United Nations is the deciding body of the course as well as subject of audit of the different UN organisations which also include International Atomic Energy Agency.
The UN Panel of External Auditors for 2013 includes apex auditors of various countries such as Switzerland, Tanzaniam, Canada, China, India, Italy, Philippines, UK, France and Pakistan as the members.
Renault Duster bags Car of the Year Award 2013
Renault Duster was awarded the Car of the Year Award 2013 by the automotive magazine Autocar India at the annual awards night on 9 January 2013 in Mumbai.
In the gala event, there was a strong competition for the award among some of the most renowned and reputed names in auto industry. Autocar India gave away 22 awards in all, in the two-wheeler as well as four-wheeler segment.
Renault Duster grabbed three awards in all and these were SUV of the year 2013, viewer’s choice car of the year 2013 and overall Autocar car of the year 2013.
Microsoft Plans to shut down its Messenger service
Microsoft in the Month of January 2013 announced plans to shut down its Messenger service which is formerly known by Windows Live Messenger/MSN Messenger. The plan would involve enabling users to move down to Skype from 15 March 2013.
Over 100 million users of the service were notified by email over short period of time except those in mainland China where Microsoft have extended the life of Windows Live Messenger in that particular area for an undisclosed period of time.
It will be evident from 15 March 2013 that Messenger users will be unable to sign into Messenger and use the service. From the proposed date Microsoft encourage to download Skype from where one can exchange instant-messages and have chats with your Messenger friends. The only advantage is that one can use his or her Windows Live login ID for login to Skype.