Current Affairs Update – 12th March, 2015

• The Employees' Provident Fund Organisation's apex decision making body, the Central Board of Trustees (CBT), which is headed by the Labour Minister, met on Wednesday and took a slew of other decisions, CBT member D L Sachdev said.
• At present, a formal sector worker covered under the EPS-95 can make contributions towards pension scheme till the age of 58 years and can claim pension thereafter.
• After the amendment to the pension scheme, a formal sector worker can choose to contribute towards it till 60 years of age. This will provide him a benefit of 4 percent enhanced pension per year.
• The Pension Implementation Committee (PIC) had recommended an increase in the age for vesting pension to 60 years, while suggesting that the Actuary should be asked to develop a model to give incentive to those persons who opt for drawing pension at the age of 60 years.

• India and Mauritius will work together to avoid the "abuse" of double taxation avoidance convention, Prime Minister Narendra Modi declared today, as the two countries agreed to push negotiations for a long pending revision of the treaty.
• He also assured Mauritius that India will do nothing to harm the vibrant financial sector of "one of our closest strategic partners".
• Often corporates have been accused of laundering money through the "Mauritius route" for channelling FDI in India and the two governments have been in negotiations to curb this practice.
• Negotiations to amend the bilateral tax treaty have been hanging fire for a long time amid India's apprehensions that it is being misused to route black money and evade taxes.
• Prime Minister Modi and his host Sir Anerood Jugnauth agreed to push forward their negotiations for a long pending revision of Double Taxation Avoidance Treaty (DTAT) during their talks here last night.

• India and Mauritius inked 5 Memorandum of Understandings (MoUs) on 11 March 2015 to give new impetus to bilateral co-operation between the two nations.  The MoUs were signed in Port Luis in presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Mauritian counterpart Sir Anerood Jugnuth.
• Prime Minister Narendra Modi is on a five day official tour of three ocean nations, namely Seychelles, Mauritius and Sri Lanka. The journey started on 10 March 2015 and will conclude on 14 March 2015.
• This is the first visit to Mauritius by an Indian Prime Minister in over three decades.

• MoU in the field of Ocean Economy: The agreement provides for mutually beneficial cooperation for exploration and capacity development in the field of marine resources, fisheries, green tourism, research and development of ocean technology, exchange of experts and other related activities
• MoU on Programme for Cultural Cooperation for the year 2015-18: The programme will help to enhance bilateral cooperation and will also enhance greater people-to-people participation between the two countries.
• MoU on the Protocol for the importation of fresh mango from India: The aim of this Protocol is to facilitate importation of fresh mango fruits from India by Mauritius to enable the Mauritian to relish the flavor of the world-renowned Indian mangoes.
• MoU for the Improvement in Sea and Air Transportation Facilities at Agalega Island of Mauritius: This will help in betterment of the condition of the inhabitants of this remote Island. These facilities will enhance the capabilities of the Mauritian Defence Forces in safeguarding their interests in the Outer Island.
• MoU on Cooperation in the field of Traditional System of Medicine and Homeopathy: This MoU will promote cooperation in the field of traditional system of health and medicine between the two countries. It envisages exchange of experts, supply of traditional medicinal substances, joint research and development and recognition of the traditional systems of health and medicine in both countries. It also aims at promotion and popularization of the various Indian traditional systems which fall under AYUSH.

• An India-built naval patrol vessel for Mauritius that will help in better policing its vast exclusive economic zone was commissioned on Thursday by Prime Minister Narendra Modi who said it will make the Indian Ocean “more safer and secure.”
• The induction of the 1,300-tonne vessel ‘Barracuda’ for the Mauritian National Coast Guard amid attempts by China to establish its presence in the Indian Ocean Region marks the first of such sales to this strategic island nation, which include fast attack craft under construction in Indian shipyards.
• ’Barracuda’ which has automatic 30 mm Rapid Fire Gun and 12.7 mm Heavy Machine Guns as part of its ammunition was handed over to Mauritius in December 2014 by Kolkata-based Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers Ltd (GRSE).
• The warship marks its entry into the global market and it is optimistic on a follow up order.

• After severe floods in Jammu and Kashmir and cloudburst in Uttarakhand, the government on Thursday said it has formulated a Himalayan Meteorology Programme for better understanding of weather in the mountainous States.
• The initiative will help in improving the forecasting very short range up to 6 hours in advance and predicting severe weather phenomena up to 72 hours in advance, Harsh Vardhan, Minister for Earth Science informed the Rajya Sabha.
• Earth System Science Organisation-India Meteorological Department has formulated a plan to augment observing systems by deploying Doppler Weather Radars, rain radars, automatic weather stations (AWS), Automatic Rain Gauges (ARGs).

• Maharashtra government would be developing a new city - 'NAINA' - over an area of 600 sq km around the upcoming Navi Mumbai International Airport, Governor Ch Vidyasagar Rao said here today.
• He was addressing the joint session of the Maharashtra Legislature on the opening day of the budget session.
• "The government is committed to expedite the work of the Navi Mumbai International Airport Project. Due to comprehensive rehabilitation policy of the government, consent letters from Project Affected Persons for land acquisitions have been received by CIDCO (the implementing agency).
• "Majority of the clearances required for the project have been received. The government has decided to build a new city called NAINA in an area of 600 sq km, around the upcoming Navi Mumbai International Airport," he said.
• As a part of the smart city mission of the Centre, the state government wanted to develop 30 towns, focusing on "themes" such as education, medical, entertainment, industry, etc., he said, adding that study groups had been formed to suggest the roadmap for this.

• Some 108 million Muslim travellers spent $145 billion globally in 2014. By 2020, the figure is expected to swell to 150 million travellers spending $200 billion, according to a new report that has noted that in 2014, India welcomed 1.4 Muslim visitors.
• In the Global Muslim Travel Index (GMTI), a comprehensive research report by MasterCard-CrescentRating, India has been named in the top 20 destinations among the non-Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) destinations.
• India came 14th on the list, in which Singapore took the top spot for the non-OIC destinations. Malaysia topped the list for OIC countries, which also included Turkey, the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Qatar.
• The GMTI covered 100 destinations, creating an overall index, based on a number of criteria for research into one of the fastest growing tourism sectors in the world.

• South Korea's central bank cut interest rates for the first time in five months on Thursday in a surprise move, joining the ranks of other economies which have recently eased monetary policy to boost sluggish growth.
• The Bank of Korea's monetary policy committee cut its base rate by 25 basis points to a record low of 1.75 per cent, a media official said without elaborating. Governor Lee Ju-yeol is due to hold a news conference from 11:20 a.m. (0220 GMT).
• Only four out of the 33 analysts polled by Reuters ahead of the decision had forecast the central bank would cut rates on Thursday. However, 19 of those who saw a hold in March forecast the bank would cut rates in April or sometime later in the second quarter.

• Google launched a virtual tour of Nepal's Everest region today, allowing armchair tourists a rare glimpse of life in one of the toughest and most inaccessible places on earth, home to the world's highest mountain.
• The Street View project takes viewers into the heart of the stunning Sagarmatha national park, where icy blue rivers run below snow-capped peaks, monks play music and yak-herders navigate precipitous stone-strewn trails.
• Armed with two single-lens tripod cameras and a 15-lens custom-built "Trekker" unit designed for backpacks, teams travelled on foot to capture more than 45,000 panoramic images of the remote eastern Himalayan villages inhabited by the ethnic Sherpa community.
• Google worked on the project with Kathmandu-based start-up Story Cycle and Nepalese climber Apa Sherpa, who scaled Mount Everest a record 21 times before he retired from climbing and set up an educational charity.

• Defending champions Karnataka clinched their eighth Ranji Trophy title on Thursday as they thrashed their southern opponents Tamil Nadu by an innings and 217 runs on the last day of the Ranji Trophy cricket tournament final at the Wankhede stadium in Mumbai.
• The R. Vinay Kumar-led side always had the upper hand in the five-day encounter after bundling out Tamil Nadu for 134 in the first innings and then amassing 762 runs courtesy a triple century by middle-order batsman Karun Nair (338).
• Chasing an imposing 628, Tamil Nadu were shot out for 411 in 107.5 overs in the final session of the fifth day’s play.
• Starting the day on 113 for three, Tamil Nadu saw resilient centuries from Vijay Shankar (103) and Dinesh Karthik (120) but the writing was on the wall after their departure.

• Star striker Sunil Chhetri struck twice in the second half as India notched up a 2-0 win over Nepal in a dominating display in the first leg of their 2018 FIFA World Cup football qualifying round one here today.
• Today's win at the Indira Gandhi Athletics Stadium at Sajusarai here gave newly appointed India head coach Stephen Constantine a winning start in his second stint at the helm of affairs.
• Chhetri scored in the 53rd and 69th minutes though he failed to complete a hat-trict as he muffed a spot kick in the 80th minute. A 3-0 verdict would have put India in an even better position when they play the second leg in Kathmandu on March 17 for a second round berth in the qualification.

• IPS officer M Akhaya has been appointed as the Chief Vigilance Officer in the Department of Telecommunications here.
• Akhaya, a 1988-batch IPS officer of Odisha cadre, has been appointed for an initial period of three years. His tenure will be further extendable by two years in the same department or three years through shifting to another department, said an order issued by the Department of Personnel and Training.
• The appointment of the CVO, who acts as distant arm of the Central Vigilance Commission to check corruption, comes at a time when bidding for spectrum by telecom companies is underway.

• An Indian-origin South African educator has been given a Lifetime Achievement Award at the country's annual National Teaching Awards held here.
• Ganasen Reddy was felicitated by South African Minister of Basic Education Angie Motshekga.
• The award is given for sustaining a high-level of achievement and commitment throughout a long teaching career by receiving results, awards and recognition over a long period of time as well as showing endurance, commitment and perseverance to the benefit of the school and the education sector in general.
• Other Indian-origin teachers who were felicitated at the awards function included Silas Pillay who received the Excellence in Primary School Leadership Award; Anneline Govender, who was placed second in the category Excellence in Primary School Teaching; and Caryn Reddy who took third place in the category Excellence in Special Needs and Inclusive Teaching.

• Padma Shri Award winner and senior Naga litterateur Temsula Ao was named for the prestigious Kusumagraja National Literature Award.
• The Award which has been instituted by the city-based Yashwantrao Chavan Maharashtra Open University (YCMOU) has been bestowed, for her outstanding contribution to the field of literature, YCMOU registrar Prakash Atkare stated in a press release issued here today.
• The award carries a cash purse of Rs 1 lakh, a memento and a citation which would be presented to Temsula Ao at a function to be held at the YCMOU campus on March 20, at the hands of famous Marathi litterateur Arun Sadhu, who was recently honoured with the Janasthan Puraskar, the release said.

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