Current Affairs Update – 7th May, 2015

Hello and welcome to ExamPundit. Here are the important current affairs of 7th May, 2015.

• The Union Ministry for Social Justice & Empowerment on 6 May 2015 launched the Credit Enhancement Guarantee Scheme for Scheduled Castes. The scheme is being implemented by Industrial Finance Corporation of India (IFCI) Ltd.
• A sum of 200 crore rupees was allocated towards Credit Enhancement Guarantee scheme for young and start-up entrepreneurs belonging to Scheduled Castes (SC) to avail financial assistance. This allocation was made under Social Sector Initiatives to promote entrepreneurship among SCs.
• The main objective of this scheme is to encourage entrepreneurship in the lower strata of the Society resulting in job creation besides creating confidence in Scheduled Castes. 

• The Union Cabinet on 6 May 2015 gave its approval for the revised Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement (DTAA) with South Korea.
• The bilateral DTAA was signed in 1985 for the avoidance of double taxation and for the prevention of fiscal evasion with respect to taxes on income for the citizens of both the countries.

• Its primary purpose is to provide for tax stability to the residents of India and South Korea and facilitate mutual economic cooperation as well as stimulate the flow of investment, technology and services between the two countries.
• It provides for source based taxation of capital gains, making adjustments to profits of associated enterprises on the basis of arm's length principle and residence based taxation of shipping income.
• It rationalizes tax rates in the Articles on Dividends, Interest and Royalties and Fees for Technical Services.
• It enables effective exchange of information and assistance in collection of taxes between tax authorities

• Myntra, an e-commerce portal for fashion and lifestyle products, has acquired Bengaluru-based mobile app development platform company, Native5. This acquisition will strengthen and expand Myntra’s mobile technology team.
• Native5, led by Kunal Abhishek, Barada Sahu, Shamik Dattaand and Manish Priyadarshi, was founded in 2012 and builds tools and services to enable cross platform app development on the cloud. The entire team (barring Manish Priyadarshi) will join Myntra.
• Native5 is Myntra’s second technology led acquisition. In April 2013, Myntra acquired Fitiquette, a San Francisco-based technology solution, a virtual fitting room.

• India is home to 56 of the world’s 2000 largest and most powerful public companies, according to the Forbes’s annual list which is topped by the US with its share of 579 companies.
• Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries leads the pack of 56 Indian companies in the 2015 Forbes ‘Global 2000’ list.
• The list gives a snapshot of the world’s largest companies, and shows the dominance of the US and China in the current global business landscape.
• The two countries split the top 10 spots for a second year in a row.
• Forbes said that for the first time, China’s four biggest banks own the top four spots and the South Asian giant is home to 232 of the world’s largest companies, adding more spots than any other country in the world and surpassing Japan for the first time. With 218 companies, Japan slid to the third spot.
• India has added two companies to its last year’s tally.
• Reliance Industries is ranked 142 on the list, down from last year’s 135th spot, with a market value of 42.9 billion dollars and 71.7 billion dollars in sales.
• Reliance is followed by State Bank of India which is ranked 152 and has a 33 billion dollars market value.
• The other Indian companies on the list are Oil and Natural Gas ranked 183, Tata Motors (263), ICICI Bank (283), Indian Oil (349), HDFC Bank (376), NTPC (431), Tata Consultancy Services (485), Bharti Airtel (506), Axis Bank (558), Infosys (672), Bharat Petroleum (757), Wipro (811), Tata Steel (903) and Adani Enterprises (944).

• India and Iran on 6 May 2015 signed an inter-Governmental Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the development of the strategically important Chabahar Port in Iran.
• The MoU was signed in Tehran by Minister for Shipping and Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari and Iranian Minister for Transport and Urban Development Abbas Ahmad Akhoundi.

• The MOU facilitates Indian and Iranian commercial entities to commence negotiations for finalization of a commercial contract.
• Under the contract, Indian firms will lease two existing berths at the Port and operationalize them as container and multi-purpose cargo terminals.

• The Lok Sabha on Thursday passed a Bill that provides for trying juveniles aged between 16 and 18 years for heinous crimes under laws for adults, with the government insisting that it had tried to strike a “fine balance” to ensure that no injustice was done to innocent children.
• The Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Bill was passed after the government agreed to delete Clause7 which said that “any person, who is apprehended after completing the age of 21 years, for committing any serious or heinous offence when such person was between the age of 16 and 18 years, then he shall, subject to the provisions of this Act, be tried as an adult.”
• At least 42 official amendments were moved by the government to the Bill which were adopted, while all the amendments moved by opposition members like Shashi Tharoor (Congress) and N K Premchandran (RSP) were negated.
• Opposition members opposed the proposal to raise the age bar, expressing apprehensions about misuse and violation of rights of children by the new law which is being enacted against the backdrop of the involvement of a 16-year-old in the 2012 Nirbhaya gangrape case.

• The union cabinet on Wednesday approved amendments to the Whistlebowers Protection Act, 2011 aimed at strengthening safeguards against disclosures which may affect the sovereignty and integrity of the country.
• The decision was taken at a cabinet meeting presided over by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
• An official release said the amendments would address concerns relating to national security and the amendment bill will be moved during the budget session of parliament.
• The Public Interest Disclosures and Protection to Persons making the Disclosures Bill, 2011 was introduced in the Lok Sabha in August, 2010 in order to give statutory protection to whistleblowers in the country.
• The bill was passed by the Lok Sabha in December, 2011 and by Rajya Sabha in February last year. The bill has received the assent of the president in May last year.
• Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Wednesday accused the government of not properly implementing the act.

• Global food prices fell in April to their lowest since June 2010, as dairy led most commodities down, the United Nations food agency said today.
• The UN Food and Agriculture Organization's (FAO) price index, which measures monthly changes for a basket of cereals, oilseeds, dairy, meat, and sugar, averaged 171 points in April, 1.2 per cent below its reading in March.
• High global production, a strong US dollar and cheaper crude oil have helped cap food prices for the past year and the index has been declining since April 2014.
• There are no major concerns about supply, so external factors are likely to have more influence over price developments in the near future, FAO senior economist Abdolreza Abbassian said.
• The FAO forecast world cereal production in 2015 would fall by 1.5 per cent from the previous year, with overall output reaching 2.509 billion tonnes. Most of the decrease would come from reduced planting of maize, the agency said.
• Cereal stocks at the end of the 2015-16 season are forecast to reach 626.6 million tonnes and world wheat output is due to hit 719.1 million tonnes, the FAO said.

• India has moved up 13 notches to 52nd position on a global list of countries in terms of their travel and tourism competitiveness, but ranks worse than its emerging market peers like China, Brazil, Russia and South Africa.
• While India fares much better as a business destination, the infrastructure gaps, concerns on health, hygiene and environment sustainability, and its "unsettling" safety and security situation has dragged down the overall ranking.
• The list has been topped by Spain, which is followed by France, Germany, US, UK, Switzerland, Australia, Italy, Japan and Canada in the top ten.
• Of the large emerging markets, China (17th) and Brazil (28th) made it into the top 30, whereas Russia, South Africa and India ranked 45th, 48th and 52nd, respectively.
• Releasing the biennial list, the World Economic Forum (WEF) said India's relevance as business travel destination is increasing along with its economic growth and it remains a highly price-competitive destination (with 8th position globally on this parameter) and recent changes in its visa regime have the potential to boost the international arrivals.
• In the Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Index (TTCI) 2013 India was ranked 65th out of 140 countries covered in its study. The 2015 report ranks 141 countries across 14 separate dimensions, revealing how well countries could deliver sustainable economic and societal benefits through their travel and tourism sector.

• Geeta Phogat bagged a bronze in the Women's freestyle 58kg category, while Hitender Beniwal lost his bronze-medal play-off bout to return empty-handed in the Men's 125kg division in the Senior Asian Wrestling Championship in Doha.
• Geeta defeated Thi Loan Nguyen of Vietnam by fall verdict in the bronze medal play-off, to settle for the third position last night, according to the Wrestling Federation of India.
• Geeta earned five classification points in the match and also came out with four technical points. Her opponent could not get off the mark and the Indian won rather convincingly.
• En-route to the bronze medal play-off, Geeta lost in only one pool bout to Kaori Icho of Japan, the Olympic gold medallist.
• Having returned from an injury lay-off, Geeta won her first match against Salomat Kuchimova of Uzbekistan, by fall (11-0) to enter the next round.
• Hitender lost to Kazakhstan's Aiaal Lazarev, who won five classification points and eight technical points, even as the Indian failed to get off the mark.
• Other Indians in the fray -- Rahul Balasaheb Aware (57kg), Rajneesh Dalal (65kg) and Somveer (86kg) -- crashed out of the tournament early in their respective weight categories.

• West Bengal's Nadia district has been declared the winner for the '2015 United Nations Public Service Award' in the category of improving delivery of public services, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said.
• Nadia district has earned praise for making available toilets for all under the programme "Sabar Shouchagar".
• The Award would be handed over by the UN Secretary General on June 23, 2015 in Medellin, Republic of Colombia, she said in her Facebook post.

• Credit information company Equifax has appointed Manish Sinha as the new managing director and country head for India.
• Equifax India is a joint venture between the Atlanta, USA—headquartered Equifax and seven domestic financial institutions, including State Bank of India.
• Sinha comes to the company from foreign lender HSBC, where he focused on retail banking as the head of consumer assets and customer value management.
• Sinha said the relationships he has forged and his knowledge of the financial sector will be of help in the new job.

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