Current Affairs Update - 25 Sept, 2014

• ·         Revising India's GDP upwards by 0.3 per cent to 6.3 per cent in 2015, Asian Development Bank (ADB) has said the economy shows a new promise of turnaround after the election brought a stable government in May.
• ·         "India shows new promise of a turnaround. After winning a decisive parliamentary election victory, the new (Narendra Modi-led) government is better positioned than the old to pursue the reform necessary to unlock the economy’s growth potential.
• ·         "This Update maintains the 5.5 per cent growth forecast for 2014 but upgrades....to 6.3 per cent, the forecast for 2015, when reform can begin to bear fruit," ADB said in its Outlook 2014 Update released today.
• ·         The reform to stimulate investment, the timely award of environmental clearances, and measures to control inflation are expected to augment firming export demand from the major industrial economies, to boost economic growth, it said.

• ·         Reliance Jio, the broadband 4G arm of the Mukesh Ambani-led group, Thursday said it has signed a pact for a $750-million loan backed by Korea Exim Bank.
• ·         The loan is guaranteed by the promoter company Reliance Industries and will be primarily used to finance goods and services procured from Samsung Electronics for the infrastructure rollout of the 4G arm.
• ·         This is the first loan between Reliance group and Korea Exim Bank and has a tenor of 12-year term, including a 2 year availability period and repayable over 10 years thereafter.
• ·         "This deal is notably Korea Exim Bank's largest telecom infrastructure financing till date," Reliance said in a statement, adding: "It is also Korea Exim Bank's largest deal in India."
• ·         Korea Exim Bank is funding $440 million of the loan as a direct funding and the balance under a guarantee by 11 of Reliance's relationship banks.

• ·         Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the world is ready to come to Asia and India offers best destination as it is a vibrant democracy with demographic dividend and huge demand.
• ·         Kicking off the ‘Make in India’ campaign, he said his government’s focus will be on physical infrastructure creation as well as creating a digital network for making India a hub for global manufacturing of goods ranging from cars to software, satellites to submarines and paper to power.
• ·         “I do not only talk about good governance. I talk about effective governance and easy governance,” he said, while launching the ‘Make in India’ campaign that was attended by a galaxy of industrialists and business leaders, including Cyrus Mistry, Mukesh Ambani, Azim Premji, Kumar Mangalam Birla, Chanda Kocchar and Y C Deveshwar.

• ·         In a move that will further enhance the image of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the international community, the Southern University System of Louisiana in United States has decided to confer an honorary doctorate degree for his work in the field of inclusive growth.
• ·         The announcement could add a new dimension to the India-US relationship especially in the context of Modi’s imminent visit to the Washington and other US cities.
• ·         Today morning, the University board met at 4.00 am (Indian time) at the Baton Rouge campus and finally approved the conferment.
• ·         Baton Rogue is the capital of Louisiana State and about 150 km from New Orleans. Governor of Louisiana, Bobby Jindal, who has Indian roots, was born in Baton Rogue.
• ·         Mumbai-based promoter of Abhinav Knowledge Services, Pankaj Phadnis, who is also a Post-doctoral Fellow at the University, has been the pivotal figure in getting the University understand the work of Modi. In August 2013, Phadnis updated the University officials about Modi’s achievements in Gujarat.

• ·         India TV chairman and editor-in-chief Rajat Sharma on 24 September 2014 was appointed as the new president of the News Broadcasting Association (NBA) for the year 2014-2015.
• ·         Rajat Sharma will replace KVL Narayan Rao who was the president of NBA for four consecutive years. However, Rao will remain a member of NBA board.
• ·         Anurradha Prasad was named as the new honorary treasurer of NBA. Meanwhile, Ashok Venkatramani will continue to be the vice president of NBA.

• ·         Union Government declared 25 September as Antyodya Diwas. Antyodya diwas was observed to mark the 98th birth anniversary of Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay.  
• ·         Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay was the noted philosopher, historian and political activist.    
• ·         Several activities including blood donation camps, seminar, symposia were organised across the country.
• ·         Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya (1916 – 1968) was an eminent political personality and a profound philosopher. He was an organizer par excellence and a prominent leader of Jan Sangh.
• ·         He established the publishing house Rashtra Dharma Prakashan in Lucknow and launched the monthly magazine Rashtra Dharma to propound the principles he held sacred.

• ·         Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF) which markets Amul brand of milk and dairy products has risen to the rank of 15 amongst the top dairy organisations of the world according to a recent survey by International Farm Comparison Network (IFCN), a leading, global dairy knowledge organisation. Two years back, Amul had ranked 20 in the list.
• ·         According to a GCMMF press release here, “ This has been the fastest rise by any top-ranking dairy organisations across the globe.  Just two years back (in 2012), Amul was ranked #20 in the list of top global dairy organizations.
• ·         According to the latest rankings, USA’s Dairy Farmers of America ranked one with a 3.7 per cent share of world milk production at 27.8 million tonnes of milk intake.
• ·         It has been followed by New Zealand’s Fonterra, France’s Groupe Lactalis, Switzerland’s Nestle and Denmark’s Aria Foods. France’s Danone came in at the eighth position. GCMMF has been ranked 15th with 4.8 million tonnes of milk procurement and a 0.6 per cent share in world milk production.
• ·         R S Sodhi, managing director of GCMMF said that the federation plans to achieve turnover of Rs 22,000 crore in the financial year 2014-15.

• ·         The 3rd meeting of SAARC Ministers of Culture was held in New Delhi from 24 September 2014 to 25 September 2014.  The meeting was held under the chairmanship of Minister of State for Culture Shripad Naik.
• ·         They adopted the Delhi Resolution as a roadmap for cultural relations in the SAARC region for the period 2014–17.

• ·         Suresh Prabhu on 23 September 2014 was appointed as Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Sherpa for the Group of 20 annual Summit 2014. He was selected by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
• ·         The G-20 annual summit will be held in Brisbane from 15 November to 16 November 2014.
• ·         Suresh Prabhu will attend the G20 Sherpa’s meeting that is going to be held in Canberra, Australia from 30 September to 1 October 2014. Sherpa is a senior official responsible for preparing the agenda for leaders to consider during the summit.
• ·         Prabhu is Member of Parliament of 14th Lok Sabha of India.
• ·         He served as cabinet minister of Industries, Environment and Forests, Fertilizers & Chemicals and Power, Heavy Industry and Public Enterprises.
• ·         At present, he is the chairperson of the Council on Energy, Environment and Water.

• ·         Indian cricket legend Kapil Dev has been honoured with a Lifetime Achievement award at a ceremony in the House of Lords in London.
• ·         The award, constituted by the Indo-European Business Forum (IEBF), was presented to the former India World Cup-winning captain on Wednesday evening for his contribution to the sport and for his work in the field of upliftment of poor and destitute communities through the Khushii society.

• ·         If Mahendra Singh Dhoni fans have not got enough of the cricketer on field then now they will be served ‘captain cool’ on the big screen as actor Sushant Singh Rajput is set to portray the Indian skipper in a ‘biopic’ come 2015.
• ·         With the introductory poster of the film titled ‘M.S. Dhoni -- The Untold Story’ released in the national dailies on Thursday, the movie certainly becomes an awaited event along with the 50-over World Cup next year.
• ·         The project, which reportedly ran into financial problems, is now making headlines and Dhoni’s wife Sakshi was quick to share her joy on twitter after she tweeted the first poster of the film.

• ·         Sri Lankan Cricket Board on 24 September 2014 appointed the former national cricket team captain Marvan Atapattu as the head coach of the national team with immediate effect.
• ·         Atapattu’s name was unanimously approved for the post by the executive committee of Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC). However, SLC doesn’t disclose the terms and tenure of his appointment.
• ·         With this appointment, Atapattu became Sri Lanka's first full-time local coach in 15 years. The last Sri Lankan full-time coach of the national team was Roy Dias in 1999.
• ·         Apart from this, Atapattu is the seventh coach to be appointed by Sri Lanka in past since 2010. The other six coaches were Trevor Bayliss, Stuart Law, Rumesh Ratnayake, Geoff Marsh, Graham Ford and Farbrace.

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