Daily Current Affairs: 30 May 2015

1) G R Aloria named chief secretary of Gujarat:

--> Gujarat government on 30 May 2015 appointed 1981-batch IAS, G R Aloria as the new chief secretary to the state.

--> Aloria, who is currently serving as the additional chief secretary of Urban Development Department, succeeded the incumbent chief secretary D J Pandian, who retires from the service on May 31.

--> Aloria is the senior most bureaucrat in the state administration and had served in several key positions including heading the Sardar Sarovar Narmada Nigam Limited during the land acquisition for the for canal network.  

2) Sepp Blatter re-elected as FIFA President:

--> Sepp Blatter, 79, was re-elected as global football body’s (FIFA) president in a vote that overshadowed his arrests and corruption allegations.

--> The 2015, elections that was scheduled for the FIFA presidency, Blatter again became the incumbent candidate, running for a fifth consecutive term.

--> Prince Ali bin Hussein was his opponent in the election.

--> He was first elected President of FIFA on 8 June 1998 at the 51st FIFA Congress, succeeding João Havelange who had held the presidency since 1974.

3) AR Rahman documentary 'Jai Ho' screened at White House:

--> "Jai Ho", a documentary based on music maestro AR Rahman's life, was screened at the White House.

--> The film, directed by Umesh Aggarwal, traces the journey of the Oscar and Grammy winning music composer's professional and personal life.

4) Veena Jain named Doordarshan DG:

--> The information and broadcasting (I&B) ministry on 29 May 2015 appointed Veena Jain as director general (news) in Doordarshan in place of Akshay Rout and, in an unusual move, directed her to report directly to the ministry.

--> DD DG (news) is one of the most influential positions in the public broadcaster.

--> Both DD and AIR are media wings that function under Prasar Bharati.

5) Alastair Cook becomes England's leading Test run scorer:

--> Alastair Cook has passed Graham Gooch to become England's leading Test run scorer.

--> In reaching 32 on the second day of the second Test against New Zealand at Headingley, he overtook Gooch's mark of 8,900, which has stood since 1995.

--> Cook stands 13th on the all-time list of Test run scorers,  and only one current Test player - Sri Lanka's Kumar Sangakkara - is ahead of him on a chart led by India great Sachin Tendulkar with 15,921 runs.

6) Finance Minister Arun Jaitley inaugurated New Bank Note Paper Line unit in Hoshangabad, Madhya Pradesh:

--> Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley inaugurated the New Bank Note Paper Line unit of 6000 metric ton capacity at Security Paper Mill in Hoshangabad in Madhya Pradesh.

--> He also flagged off the first consignment of one thousand rupee bank notes made indigenously from this paper mill to the Currency Note Press Nasik.