Current Affairs Update – 23rd June, 2015

Hello and welcome to ExamPundit. Here are the Important Current Affairs of 23rd June, 2015. These are Important for the upcoming SBI PO 2015 Mains Exam and RBI Assistant 2015 Exam.

• To help investors and companies in IPOs, SEBI today halved the listing time to six days from the date of the public offer and also allowed a larger number of firms to tap the “fast—track” route for raising funds.
• Currently, the companies are required to list their shares on the stock exchanges within 12 days of the last date of the IPO (Initial Public Offer) process, thus keeping the funds locked in for a longer period of time.
• The shorter time period, which would come into effect from January 1, 2016, would also help reduce the costs associated with the public offering, SEBI Chairman U K Sinha said after a meeting of the regulator’s board.
• However, investors will have to wait for making the IPO process entirely online in terms of submission of their bids.
• While SEBI has provided for online submission of bids from terminals of market entities, the same from any computer or mobile will take some time.
• The SEBI board also decided to allow a larger number of companies to raise funds through a ‘fast—track’ process.
• A company with public shareholding worth Rs. 1,000 crore can raise funds through FPOs under fast—track mode, down from Rs. 3,000 crore requirements earlier.
• For rights issues, the fast—track route can be availed by companies with public shareholding worth as low as Rs. 250 crore.
• SEBI also said that ASBA (Application Supported by Blocked Amount), which refers to an application mechanism for subscribing to IPO with the bid amount blocked in a bank account rather than that being debited, will be applicable to all kinds of investor categories and all IPOs.

• The Income Tax department has notified the new set of ITR forms, including a three-page simplified one, for taxpayers to file their returns for assessment year 2015-16.
• With the Finance Ministry publishing the gazette order yesterday, taxpayers and other entities can now file their Income Tax Returns (ITR) till August 31, the new deadline set in this regard by the government after it dropped the earlier forms which had attracted criticism for seeking numerous additional details like that of filers' foreign travel and about dormant bank accounts.
• The most simplified form, ITR-2A, to be filled by those individuals and HUFs who do not have income from either business, profession or by way of capital gains and do not hold foreign assets, only asks for the passport number of the tax-filer, with the words "if available".
• Filers now will have to declare only about the "total number of savings and current bank accounts" held by them "at any time during the previous year (excluding dormant accounts)."
• The form also has space to fill up the IFSC code of the bank and in an additional feature, tax filers have been given an option to indicate their bank accounts in which they would want their refund credited.
• The I-T department, in the new ITRs, has also sought the Aadhaar number of filers and has also given options for providing two email ids to it.

• Japan headquartered telecommunications and Internet major SoftBank Corp, Bharti Enterprises Limited and Taiwan-based Foxconn Technology Group on 22 June 2015 formed a Joint Venture (JV) named SBG Cleantech Limited. This JV is aimed at promoting the adoption of clean and safe energy in India.
• SBG Cleantech will be a harbinger of solar and wind energy. The venture will invest in developing renewable energy plants across India. SBG Cleantech will be committed to contribute to Union Government's mission of 24x7 power for all and achieving 100GW solar and 60GW wind target by 2022.
• The company intends to participate in the 2015-16 round of solar power plant tenders ‎under the National Solar Mission (NSM) program and state-specific solar programs. SBG Cleantech will not only work towards eliminating energy deficit but will also provide clean environment.

• India on 22 June 2015 decided to be a partner country in the major Industrial Fair named INNOPROM 2016 to be held at Yekaterinburg, Russia in July 2016. India accepted the invitation extended by the Russian Government in December 2014.
• This acceptance of invitation was conveyed to Minister of Industry and Trade of Russian Federation Denis Manturov by Union Minister of State (Independent Charge), Commerce & Industry Nirmala Sitharaman during a bilateral meeting held at St. Petersburg on 19 June 2015.
• Nirmala Sitharaman was on a three day visit to Russia to participate in annual St. Petersburg International and Economic Forum (SPIEF) held from 18-20 June 2015 at St Petersburg, Russia. She led a strong delegation of 30-member from Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).

• GMR Airport Developers Limited (GADL) on 17 June 2015 signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Oman Airport Management Company (OAMC) for providing aviation training and consultancy services.
• The MoU is aimed at knowledge sharing and skills development for the OAMC staff by the GADL.
• GADL is a subsidiary of Bengaluru based GMR Infrastructure Limited.
• GMR Group is the world's 4th largest private airport developer with the completion of four international projects and more in the pipeline in the Middle East and South East Asia.

• Nepal-India Treaty of Transit of 1999 was amended on 22 June 2015 to allow the movement of vehicles imported from a third country into Nepal through four border points.
• The four border points are Raxaul-Birgunj, Jogbani-Biratnagar, Sunauli-Bhairahawa and Nepalgunj Road-Nepalgunj border points.
• The amendment was done after Nepal requested India to allow movement of vehicles on their own citing the requirements of additional handling facilities, special carriers and equipment needed, which added to the cost and time of clearance of vehicles from Kolkata port into Nepal.
• To this effect, a Letter of Exchange was finalised between India and Nepal though the two governments had discussed the matter during the third meet of Nepal-India Joint Commission held on 25 July and 26 July 2014.

• South Africa and India have renewed an agreement to extend cooperation in the field of social innovation, astronomy, agriculture, biotechnology and indigenous knowledge systems for the next three years.
• Relations between the two sides in science and technology dates back to 1995, when they signed a bilateral agreement. The instrument to implement this agreement is a programme of cooperation, which is renewed every three years.
• The Fourth Programme of Cooperation was signed during the 10th Joint Committee meeting on Science and Technology Cooperation, which was attended by senior officials from both countries recently.
• Deputy Director-General of South Africa's International Cooperation and Resources Daan du Toit said that India, as an emerging market economy and a prominent player in the Asia-Pacific region, was an important strategic partner and played a significant role in South-South cooperation.

• State-run equipment maker BHEL today said that it has commissioned a 250 MW unit of NTPC's Bongaigaon thermal power plant in Kokrajhar district in Assam.
• According to the statement, BHEL is executing the main plant package contract for setting up three coal-fired units of 250 MW each at Bongaigaon thermal power station of of NTPC.
• Once the project is completed, it will become the highest rating coal-based power plant in Northeast India.
• Bongaigaon plant is located at Salakati near Bongaigaon in Kokrajhar district of Assam.
• The sets supplied by BHEL are considered as the workhorse and backbone of the Indian power sector. These sets have been performing much above the national average as well as international benchmarks. BHEL has so far contracted 251 sets of this rating class.

• India Brand Equity Foundation (IBEF) in the third week of June 2015 released a report on Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) filing in India during 2013-14.
• While Maharashtra topped the list of states and Union Territories (UTs), Bengaluru was the top city in IPR filing.
• The top five states and UTs: Maharashtra (2892), Karnataka (1639), Tamil Nadu (1436), Delhi (1009) and Andhra Pradesh (879).
• Bengaluru lead patent hunt as Samsung R&D Institute (84); Infosys (83); Wipro Ltd (59); Samsung India Software Operations Pvt. Ltd. (66) top filers from among technology companies.

• Rajasthan topped the list of states commissioning grid connected solar power projects in the country with an installed capacity of 1147 megawatt. The list was released by the Union ministry of New and Renewable Energy on 4 June 2015.
• Gujarat, which remained the undisputed leader in solar energy generation till 2014, came second with an installed capacity of 1000MW.
• The state has also signed MoUs with power developers like SunEdison, Adani Enterprises, Reliance Power and Azure Power that will generate 14000 MW solar power. National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) is already in the process of commissioning 680 MW in the state.

• Kerala government on Monday declared June 22 as the 'snake bird day' as part of a campaign to protect the endangered species.
• State minister for forest Thiruvanchur Radhakrishnan formally made the announcement at a function here organised by the Snake Bird Foundation, a city-based outfit of journalists.
• A near-threatened species, the snakebird figures in the Red Data book of rare and endangered species. The Snakebird Foundation estimates that Kerala is home to about 1,000 birds of the species, with the highest number found in Alappuzha district.
• The bird nests have been spotted at Nooranad, Kattanam, and Kuttanad in Alappuzha, Kumarakom in Kottayam, Thekkady in Idukki, the Museum compound in Thiruvananthapuram, and a few in the northern districts.

• Maharashtra government on Monday declared Blue Mormon as the state butterfly.
• The state is also the first in the country to make such announcement.
• The decision was taken in a meeting of the state Wildlife Board here chaired by Finance Minister Sudhir Mungantiwar.
• Maharashtra already has Indian Giant Squirrel (Shekru) as its state animal, Yellow Footed Green Pigeon (Hariyal) as state bird, mango as state tree, and Lagerststroemia (Jarul) as state flower but did not have butterfly as one of the symbols representing its flora and fauna.

• Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP) on 16 June 2015 released the Global Peace Index (GPI) 2015. The GPI 2015 measured peace, its causes and its economic value during 2014.
• Iceland is the most peaceful country, followed by Denmark and Austria at second and third positions, respectively.
• The GPI 2015 ranked the nations according to their level of peacefulness. It measured peace for 162 countries constituting 99.6 of the world population. Among these 162 countries, India was placed at the 143rd position, the same as 2014.
• The index gauged global peace using three broad themes: the level of safety and security in society, the extent of domestic and international conflict and the degree of militarisation.
• Cancelling out its strong improvement in the 2014 edition of the GPI, Libya experienced the largest deterioration this year. Its score deteriorated substantially and consequently it fell 13 places down to 149th to become the 14th least peaceful country.
• The second biggest decline was recorded for the Ukraine, due to the conflict between Russian separatists and the Ukrainian government as well as the instability caused by Russia’s annexation of Crimea.

• Alibaba Group Holding Ltd and its affiliate Ant Financial will invest nearly $1 billion in a joint venture that they hope can tap China's fast-growing local services market, focusing at first on food delivery.
• Local services, also known as online-to-offline (O2O), have been booming in China, with some of the country's most valuable startups like taxi-hailing app Didi Kuaidi operating in this area. Apart from calling cabs, these apps link smartphone users with offline businesses to offer things like delivery and nearby food and leisure deals.
• As more Chinese use phones for everything from shopping to booking restaurants, local services have become a key battleground for China's internet giants Alibaba, Tencent Holdings Ltd and Baidu Inc as they try to attract users to their platforms.
• The two companies will each invest 3 billion yuan ($483 million) in Koubei and each hold a 50 per cent equity stake in the business, the announcement said.
• Koubei will initially focus on food and beverages, with Alibaba's food ordering and delivery business, Taodiandian, and Ant Financial's offline merchant resources becoming a core part of Koubei's operations.

• Sister Nirmala Joshi, who succeeded Mother Teresa as the head of Missionaries of Charity, died on 22 June 2015 following a prolonged illness in Kolkata. She was 81. Sister Nirmala's life was devoted to service, caring for poor and underprivileged.
• On 13 March 1997, six months before Mother Teresa's death in 1997, Sister Nirmala was selected as the Superior General of the Missionaries of Charity. In April 2009, Sister Mary Prema was elected to succeed Sister Nirmala during a general chapter held in Calcutta.

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