Current Affairs Update - 21st Feb, 2015

Categories:

1. Banking/Insurance
2. India
3. World
4. Sports
5. Days
6. Awards
7. Obituaries

• Directing private life insurer SBI Life Insurance Company Ltd. to refund excess commission of ` 275.29 crore to policy holders, the Indian insurance regulator on Friday reiterated that it has necessary powers to pass such an order under the Insurance Act.
• In a letter to SBI Life, the chairman of Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) T.S. Vijayan directed the insurer to implement its March 2014 order to refund ` 275.29 crore of excess commission to the policy holders.
• The SBI Life is a 74:26 joint venture between State Bank of India (SBI) and BNP Paribas Cardif of France.
• Throwing out the contention of the private life insurer that the regulator does not have the power to issue directions, the IRDAI said Section 34 of the Insurance Act enables it to issue directions to any insurer to prevent actions that are detrimental to the interests of policy holders.

• State Bank of India (SBI) will provide finance totaling ` 100 crore benefiting 3,000 small tea growers in the North East soon, a senior official of the public sector bank said today.
• Finance will be provided to tea growers who have proper basic documents of their existing garden as per Tea Board of India norms, SBI Eastern Range Circle Chief General Manager Sanjay Kumar Magoo told reporters here.
• The finance will be for all sections of small growers to establish mini-bought tea leaf factories and buying vehicles for transporting green leaves, Magoo said.
• As an example Sikkim has already taken the front seat in the tourism sector, he said, adding that Assam, Meghalaya, Nagaland and Arunachal could be equally attractive places both naturally and geographically for visitors.

• After two months of talks between the BJP and PDP on forming the government in Jammu and Kashmir, sources in both the parties confirmed that the two have finalised the deal and will soon announce the government formation.
• Since the elections results announced a hung verdict in the last week of December, the PDP and BJP, formerly seen as political parties with completely opposite political positions and agendas, have been in talks with each other to form the Government, ignoring all the other options for coalitions.
• According to sources, the two have had more than 15 rounds of talks during which, at many times, the two parties - in order to pander to their respective constituencies - behaved as if the attempts at stitching up the coalition were falling through.
• Head of PDP:  Mufti Mohammad Sayeed

• For the first time, two women are part of the Sarang team of the Indian Air Force, a show-stopping helicopter-formation team that is performing at the Aero India show under way here.
• Squadron Leader Deepika Misra and Flight Lieutenant Sandeep Singh, an engineering officer, hope that one day, there will be an all-woman quartet in the squad, whose name means peacock.
• In a major policy shift in 2010, the IAF allowed women pilots to fly twin-engine medium to heavy-lift helicopters. When the IAF sought women pilots to volunteer for the Sarang team, she jumped at the chance and was among the first to be inducted into the indigenous Advanced Light Helicopter squad. She joined its formation unit last July as its first woman IAF pilot.
• Soon, Flt. Lt. Sandeep Singh will join her as engineering officer of the unit. She and six other officers should keep the metal birds in good condition at all times (a few other women have joined the Mi-8 and Mi-17 class of helicopters.)

• The Khadi & Village Industries Commission (KVIC) on 20 February 2015 signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Monitoring Cell for Rural Self Employment Training Institutes (RSETIs).
• KVIC is under the Union Ministry of Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises and RSETI is under the Union Ministry of Rural Development.
• The MoU was signed by BH Anil Kumar, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) & Commissioner for KVIC and KN Janardhana, Chief Project Co-ordinator of Monitoring Cell for RSETIs.
• The MoU was signed to enhance the business skills and project-related skills of the beneficiaries under Prime Minister’s Employment Generation Programme (PMEGP) and improve the viability of the PMEGP project which is being implemented by KVIC.

• Parliament of Thailand (National Legislative Assembly) on 19 February 2015 passed a law banning commercial surrogacy, putting a halt on foreign couples seeking to have children through Thai surrogate mothers. The parliament voted 160 to 2 to pass the law.
• The legislation is aimed at ending rent-a-womb industry that made the Southeast Asian country a top destination for fertility tourism.
• It completely bans foreign couples seeking to have children through Thai surrogate mothers.

• United Nation Security Council (UNSC) on 15 February 2015 adopted the Resolution 2201 demanding immediate and unconditional withdrawal of Houthis from the government institutions of Yemen.
• The resolution was brought after the UN Secretary-General Ban ki-Moon had warned the 15-member UNSC that Yemen was collapsing under the weight of a protracted political crisis, widespread attacks by Al-Qaida, increasing secessionist tendencies in the south and an acute humanitarian crisis.
• The resolution demanded Houthis to safely release President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi and all others from house arrest, and engage in good faith in UN-brokered negotiations designed to keep the fracturing Middle Eastern country on a steady path towards democratic transition.

• The first India-US Space Security Dialogue would be held in early March in New Delhi, the State Department has said.
• The US Assistant Secretary of State for Arms Control, Verification and Compliance, Frank Rose, would lead the US delegation for the important talks, the decision on which was taken after the maiden meeting between the Prime Minister, Narendra Modi and the US President Barack Obama, at the White House in September last year.
• Rose would be in India from March 5 to March 9, the State Department had said yesterday.

• Pakistan suffered their second consecutive loss as they were handed a crushing 150-run defeat by the West Indies who rode on Andre Russell’s all-round show in a completely one-sided cricket World Cup match here on Saturday.
• Russell smashed 42 runs of just 13 balls at the far end of West Indies innings, hitting three fours and four sixes, after half centuries from Denesh Ramdin (51) and Lendl Simmons (50) to help his side score a challenging 310 for 6 after being put into bat.
• Pakistan, on the other hand, dished out a listless performance in all departments of the game to slump to their second defeat in the tournament. They had lost to arch-rivals India by 76 runs in their campaign opener on February 15.

• International Mother Language Day 2015 was celebrated across the world on 21 February 2015. The theme for the year 2015 is Inclusive Education through and with Language - Language Matters.
• The year 2015 is the 15th anniversary of International Mother Language Day.
• The day is observed every year since February 2000 to promote linguistic and cultural diversity and multilingualism.
• International Mother Language Day was proclaimed by the General Conference of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in November 1999.

• An Indian-American, who developed an environment friendly field analyser for checking toxic arsenic levels in water, has been awarded a prestigious award for his special contribution in the field of chemistry.
• Purnendu Dasgupta, a Jenkins Garrett professor of chemistry at The University of Texas at Arlington, has been awarded the 2015 American Chemical Society Division of Analytical Chemistry J. Calvin Giddings Award.
• The national award recognises a scientist, who has enhanced the professional development of analytical chemistry students, developed and published innovative experiments, designed and improved equipment or teaching labs and published influential textbooks or significant articles on teaching analytical chemistry.

• Eminent Odia filmmaker Nirad Mahapatra passed away on 19 February 2015 in Mumbai following a brief illness. He was 67.
• As a film-maker, Mahapatra was best known for his cultural, ecological and industrial documentaries. He was an alumni of the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), Pune.
• Mahapatra gained international fame with his very first film Maya Miriga in 1984. The film was awarded Rajat Kamal at the National Film Awards. Later, it also won a special jury award at the Cannes Film Festival.

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