Current Affairs Update – 19th October, 2015

• ICICI Bank, India’s largest private sector lender, has
  outpaced its peers to record the highest number of mobile banking transactions.
• According to Reserve Bank of India (RBI) data, in July this
  year, the lender recorded transactions worth Rs 6,885.36 crore, higher than any
  other bank.
• In June, too, ICICI Bank had recorded the highest amount of
  transactions via mobile at Rs 6,160.18 crore.
• Earlier, the top slot was occupied by HDFC Bank, which
  currently holds the second position, followed by Axis Bank and then State Bank
  of India.
• ICICI Bank’s aggressive growth in the mobile banking space
  is in line with the ambitious target that it had laid out earlier this year to
  grow its mobile banking transactions five-fold in FY16, compared to the last
  financial year.
• In FY15, transactions worth Rs 16,000 crore were recorded
  via the bank’s mobile banking platform, which the lender wants to grow to Rs
  80,000 crore in FY16.

• India’s second largest software services exporter Infosys
  Ltd on 19 October 2015 announced a definitive agreement to acquire Noah
  Consulting, LLC. The acquisition, an all cash deal, is worth 70 million US
  dollars.
• This acquisition is part of Infosys’ strategy to bring next
  generation data analytics solutions to the oil and gas industry
• This acquisition combines Noah’s deep industry knowledge,
  information strategy planning, data governance and architecture capabilities
  with Infosys’ ability to provide technology and outsourcing services on a
  global scale to oil and gas clients.
• Noah Consulting is a leading provider of advanced
  information management consulting services for the oil and gas industry and
  John Ruddy is the President of the firm.

• The Indian Railways Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC)
  has launched a pilot project of a ‘station-based e-catering’ service allowing
  passengers to order meals as per their choice, which will be delivered at
  stations from popular private caterers.
• In the first phase of the project, all trains passing
  through 45 specified railway stations, including nine in the east zone, namely
  Howrah, Sealdah, Guwahati, New Jalpaiguri, Patna, Bhubaneswar, Visakhapatnam,
  Kharagpur and Mughalsarai have been named.
• The other stations under this project are namely, New Delhi,
  Allahabad, Kanpur Central, Lucknow, Varanasi, Chennai Central, Mumbai Central,
  Delhi, Bangalore city, Madurai, Amritsar, Thiruvananthapuram Central,
  Chandigarh, Gorakhpur, Varanasi, Jaipur, Bilaspur, Anand Vihar, Hazrat
  Nizamuddin, Ludhiana, Secunderabad, Tirupati, Vijayawada, Chennai Egmore,
  Ernakulam, Kozhikode, Thrisur, Yasvantpur, Nagpur, Pune, Agra Cantt, Gwalior,
  Jhansi, Bhopal, Ahmedabad, Surat and Vadodara.

• The Haryana Government on 18 October 2015 approved Swadhar
  Greh scheme, which will assure economic and social security to women in
  distress. The scheme aims at creating a supportive institutional framework
  catering to their primary needs in difficult situations.
• The scheme will work upon providing basic amenities, such as
  shelter, food, clothing and health along with economic and social security to
  women in distress.  Also, the scheme will
  make sure that the special needs of these women are taken care of. 
• Under the scheme, Swadhar Greh will be set up in every
  district with capacity to accommodate 30 women.
• The Greh will cater to the needs of shelter, food, clothing,
  medical treatment and care of the women in distress.

• The Union Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public
  Distribution on 18 October 2015 extended stock limits on pulses to four
  categories of stocks that were exempted under the order issued in September
  2015.
• The four categories of stocks are-pulses sourced from
  imports, stocks held by exporters, stocks to be used as raw-materials by
  licensed food processors and stocks of Large Departmental Retailers.
• The extension of stock limits is aimed at easing supply side
  pressures on pulses by checking hoarding activities.
• In September 2015, a Central Order was issued under the
  Essential Commodities Act, 1955 imposing stock limits on pulses, edible oils
  and edible oil seeds for one year up to 30 September 2016.

• Senior diplomat Gurjit Singh has been appointed as India’s
  Ambassador to Germany, succeeding Vijay Gokhale.
• Singh, a 1980-batch Indian Foreign Service officer, is
  currently serving as India’s Ambassador to Indonesia.
• Gokhale is set to take over as Indian envoy in Beijing from
  Ashok Kantha.
• Singh had served in Indian Missions in Tokyo, Colombo,
  Nairobi, Rome and was India’s Ambassador to Ethiopia.
• Before becoming the envoy to Indonesia, he was Additional
  Secretary in-charge of Africa at the Ministry of External Affairs here.
• The bilateral ties between India and Germany are on an
  upswing and both sides have resolved to expand ties in a range of key areas
  including trade and defence during Chancellor Angela Merkel’s three-day visit
  here earlier this month.

• Realty giant Housing.com on 18 October 2015 appointed Mani
  Rangarajan as its Chief Financial Officer (CFO). The appointment was made to
  strengthen its senior management team.
• Rangarajan holds over 20 years of experience and has
  successfully played executive level roles in companies such as Yahoo! and
  Citigroup. He also played vital roles in many Silicon Valley start-up
  companies, like Boku, Kosmix and Media Boost.
• Rangarajan obtained an MBA degree from the Stanford
  University’s Graduate School of Business. He also received a post graduate
  management diploma from IIM Calcutta and is also a Cost & Works Accountant.

• All India Football Federation (AIFF) on 18 October 2015
  appointed the former India Football captain Baichung Bhutia as the advisor for
  overall issues of the game and the Federation.
• Bhutia is already the chairman of the AIFF’s technical
  committee.
• The former India Football captain will be advising the
  Federation on improving the National Team’s performance and will also help in
  the development of the squad for the 2017 FIFA U-17 World Cup. He will also
  advice on the licensing criteria of State FAs, development of Clubs and all
  other domestic Competitions, both men and women and across all age groups.

• Senior bureaucrat Alkesh Kumar Sharma is the new Chief
  Executive Officer and Managing Director of Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor
  (DMIC) Development Corporation, a USD 90-billion government-sponsored
  infrastructure project with aid from Japan.
• The 2006-incepted DMIC is setting up industrial zones across
  six states to spur development in Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Rajasthan, Gujarat
  and Maharashtra, it said.
• DMIC was chaired by Mr Amitabh Kant, who is also the
  Secretary, Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion.
• Sharma’s earlier tenure as the Director of Kerala Tourism
  during 2001 to 2004 saw the State consistently topping the national tourism
  awardees. Also, Kerala State Industrial Development Corporation turned into one
  of the highest profit-making enterprises when he was its managing director for
  three years from 2009.

• India’s tennis player Saketh Myneni on 18 October 2015 won
  the Vietnam Open tennis trophy in the men’s singles category. In the title
  clash, he defeated Australia’s Jordan Thompson 7-5 6-3.
• In the men’s doubles category, he, along with other Indian
  Sanam Singh, ended runner-up after losing the final 6-1 3-6 8-10 to Tristan
  Lamasine and Nils Langer of France and Germany respectively.
• For Myneni, this is his first singles ATP Challenger title
  of the 2015 season and the second overall singles title at the Challenger
  level.

• World Number 1 ranking Novak Djokovic on 18 October 2015 won
  the 2015 Shanghai Rolex Masters tennis title in the men’s singles category.
• To clinch the title, the top seeded Serbian player defeated
  Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 6-2 6-4 in the final match held in Shanghai, China.
• It was the third Shanghai title for Djokovic in four years,
  having defeated Andy Murray (the UK) and Juan Martin del Potro (Argentina) in
  the 2012 and 2013 finals respectively.
• In early 2015, Djokovic joined Roger Federer and Rod Laver
  as the only men in the Open era to reach all four major finals. His only defeat
  came in the final of the French Open against Stan Wawrinka of Switzerland.

• Zurich-based Fédération Internationale de Football
  Association (FIFA) on 16 October 2015 suspended Kuwait Football Association
  (KFA) with immediate effect.
• It was banned because of interference of the government
  officials in the running of the sports by the KFA.
• The suspension will be lifted only when the KFA and its
  members (the clubs) are able to carry out their activities and obligations
  independently.
• As a result of this decision and in accordance with the
  Paragraph 3 of Article 14 of the FIFA Statutes, no team from Kuwait of any sort
  (including clubs) can have any international sporting contact, and neither the
  KFA nor any of its members or officials can benefit from any development
  programme, course or training from FIFA or the Asian Football Confederation
  (AFC).

• The federal court in Madison, Wisconsin of the USA on 16
  October 2015 ordered Apple Inc to pay more than 234 million US dollars in
  damages to the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s patent licensing arm-WARF.
• The damages were in lieu of incorporating its microchip
  technology into some of the company’s iPhones and iPads without permission.
• However, the amount was less than the 400 million US dollars
  as demanded by the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF) as the jury
  observed that the Apple had not willfully infringed WARF’s patent.
• In January 2014, the WARF filed a case against the Apple
  alleging infringement of its 1998 patent on a “predictor circuit,”
  developed by a team led by Indian-origin computer science professors Gurindar
  Sohi and Terani Vijaykumar.

• The book titled Smita Patil: A Brief Incandescence authored
  by Maithili Rao was launched on 18 October 2015.
• The book, which was launched on Smita Patil’s 60th birth
  anniversary, acquaints the readers with a remarkable journey of the short-lived
  actress. It traces the journey of the actress from her childhood to stardom.
  The book shows glimpses of Patil’s controversial marriage and untimely tragic
  death.
• The book also throws light on Patil’s several unfortunate
  forays into mainstream commercial cinema.
• In addition, the book offers a sharp analysis of some best
  movies of the New Indian Cinema, including Bhumika, Mandi, Manthan, Umbartha,
  Bhavni Bhavai, Akaler Sandhane, Chakra, Chidambaram, Mirch Masala.

• Renowned Egyptian novelist and journalist Gamal al-Ghitani
  died on 18 October 2015 in Cairo, Egypt. He was 70.
• Al-Ghitani was born on 9 May 1945 in Gihena, Egypt. He began
  writing at a young age. His first short story was published when he was only
  14.
• For critically commenting on the regime of Gamal Abd
  el-Nasser, the second President of Egypt, Al-Ghitani even faced imprisonment
  from October 1966 through March 1967.
• Al-Ghitani also worked as a journalist for the Egyptian
  newspaper Akhbar El Yom (The Day’s News) in 1969. He was also the
  editor-in-chief of the literary periodical Akhbar Al-Adab (Cultural News) from
  1993 to 2011.

• Veteran Telugu comedian Kolluru Chidambaram passed away at a
  private hospital here today following illness. He was 67.
• The comedian, popular as Kallu Chidambaram, acted in nearly
  300 Telugu movies.
• The actor is survived by wife, two sons and two daughters.
• Born on August 8, 1948, Chidambaram was a native of
  Vizianagaram.
• A retired civil engineer with Visakhapatnam Port Trust, he
  acted in movies like  Kallu (his debut
  film), Money Chanti, Kondaveeti Donga, Ammoru and many more.

• Actress Pat Woodell has has died after she lost her longtime
  battle with cancer at the age of 71.
• The star passed away on September 29 at her home in
  Fallbrook, California, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
• Woodell began her career in 1962, appearing in an episode of
  Cheyenne. She went on to feature in several TV shows, including Hawaiian Eye,
  The Munsters and 77 Sunset Strip, but will perhaps be best remembered for her
  role as Bobbie Jo Bradley in 1960s series Petticoat Junction.
• She made her film debut in 1971’s The Big Doll House, but
  retired from acting in 1973.

Regards

Team ExamPundit

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