Current Affairs Update – 11th May, 2015

Hello and welcome to ExamPundit. Here are the important current affairs of 11th May, 2015.

Appointments
Kamath named head of
New Development Bank of BRICS nations

  • Eminent banker K V Kamath was today appointed as head of the
    $50-billion New Development Bank being set up by the five emerging economies of
    the BRICS grouping.
  • Kamath will have a five-year term of the bank, which is
    likely to be operationalised within one year, Finance Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi
    said. Kamath is the Chairman of the India’s largest private sector bank ICICI.
  • Leaders of the emerging economies of Brazil, Russia, India,
    China and South Africa (BRICS) had last year reached an agreement to establish
    the New Development Bank, with its headquarters in Shanghai. As per the
    agreement, India got the right to nominate the first president.
  • Kamath has been named the first president of the NDB,
    Mehrishi said.
  • The BRICS nations account for nearly $16 trillion in GDP and
    40 per cent of the world’s population.
  • The bank will start with an initial paid-in-capital of $50
    billion with each BRICS country contributing $10 billion.
  • After serving at ICICI for more than a decade, Kamath had
    moved to Asian Development Bank, Manila, in the private sector department in
    1988.

Vanitha Narayanan
First Woman Chairperson of AMCHAM India
  • American Chamber of Commerce in India today appointed
    Vanitha Narayanan as new Chairperson, the first woman to hold this post since
    the industry body’s inception here in 1992.
  • Narayanan, who is the Managing Director of IBM India, holds
    an MBA in Marketing and Information Systems.
  • She has been responsible for taking up multiple challenging
    assignments for India and several other countries.
  • Narayanan is responsible for all of IBM’s sales, marketing,
    services and global delivery operations in the India/South Asia region,
    including operations in Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka.
  • With 27 years of experience, she is also a member of IBM’s
    Growth & Transformation Team, a member of IBM’s Global Women’s Council and
    Chairperson of the Board of governors for National Institutes of Technology (NIT)
    heading NIT-Suratkal.
  • Richard Rekhy, CEO of KPMG, India and Gulshan Kumar Sachdev,
    Managing Director, Quaker Chemical Ltd, have been appointed as the Vice
    Chairmen of AMCHAM-India.

India
PM inaugurated
upgraded IISCO Steel Plant in Burnpur housing largest blast furnace plant of
India
  • Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 10 May 2015 inaugurated the
    upgraded IISCO Steel Plant (ISP) in Burnpur, West Bengal. The ISP houses the
    largest blast furnace of India.
  • The ISP was modernised by the Union Government at a cost of
    16000 crore rupees. After modernisation, the plant’s production capacity has
    increased from 0.85 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) to 2.9 mtpa.
  • The revamped plant in Burnpur is spread across 953 acres. It
    is the fifth integrated steel plant of SAIL. Also, the new plant is equipped
    with the latest green technologies with zero emission.
  • The revamped plant has already achieved some major
    milestones, both in production and quality, since 2014. It has started
    operating the continuous casting plant, and the first batch of 8-mm
    thermo-mechanical treatment (TMT) bars was produced in January 2015.  The company’s reserves of iron ore are the
    largest in Asia.

Jayalalithaa
acquitted of all charges in wealth case

  • In a major victory for AIADMK, a special bench of the
    Karnataka High Court on Monday set aside the trial court order convicting
    former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa in the disproportionate assets
    case.
  • Justice C.R Kumaraswamy, who read out the judgment at 11
    a.m, said the appeals of all the four accused, including Ms. Jayalalithaa have
    been allowed and they were being acquitted of all charges.
  • With this, a case that had panned out over 18 tortuous years
    was over within seconds. Jayalalithaa was acquitted by the Karnataka High
    Court, less than a year after she was sentenced to four years and a fine of Rs.
    100 crore in the disproportionate assets case.
  • The other three accused – and acquitted – were
    Jayalalithaa’s close aide Sasikala Natarajan and the latter’s relatives J
    Elavarasi and V N Sudhakaran.
  • Jayalalithaa was not required to be present in court during
    the judgment – which explained the sparse crowds around the Karnataka High
    Court. Her residence, in contrast, thronged with ecstatic supporters, even as
    some other Chennai-ites offered milk to her poster-images.

World
China becomes world’s
top crude buyer despite economy stuttering

  • China overtook the United States as the world’s top importer
    of crude oil for the first time in April, and its purchases are expected to
    remain strong despite a slowing economy, with far-reaching consequences for
    global oil and commodities markets.
  • The soaring imports came as a surprise as growth in the
    world’s second-largest economy was sputtering and its oil demand was expected
    to ease. However, low oil prices and China’s series of interest rate cuts —
    including one over the weekend — in a bid to stoke growth are factors boosting
    demand.
  • China’s crude oil imports hit a record of almost 7.4 million
    barrels a day (bpd) last month, putting it ahead of the United States’
    estimated imports of 7.2 million bpd for April, Reuters data show.

Indian Tech
Billionaire Tops Asia’s Wealthiest Under-40 List

  • Indian tech billionaire Arun Pudur has been ranked as Asia’s
    wealthiest entrepreneur under the age of 40, according to the Wealth-X list
    released today.
  • The global wealth intelligence and prospecting company said
    Pudur, the owner and president of software firm Celframe, topped the list with
    a personal fortune of USD 4 billion.
  • Pudur, a 37-year-old native of Chennai, founded Celframe in
    1998 after graduating from university, and the software firm now produces the
    world’s second most popular word processor after Microsoft.
  • He also has assets tied up in diversified businesses in the
    fields of mining and real estate, Wealth-X said.
  • Pudur is followed by Zhou Yahui of China at the second place
    with a net worth of USD 2.2 billion.

Sports
BRICS U-17 Football
Tournament Set to Be Held in India in 2016
  •  
  • Apex industry body ASSOCHAM has proposed a BRICS Under-17
    Football Cup in India next year and a Memorandum of Understanding is set to be
    signed tomorrow with Brazilian representatives here.
  • The MoU will be signed by Project Leader and Tournament
    Organiser, Joao Gilberto Vaz and Secretary General ASSOCHAM, D S Rawat in the
    presence of Sports Secretary Ajit Sharan.
  • All India Football Federation General Secretary Kushal Das
    will also be present.

Andy Murray of
Britain won the men’s singles title of Madrid Tennis Open
  • Andy Murray of Britain on 10 May 2015 won the Madrid Open
    men’s singles title in the final matches held in Madrid, Spain. He beat Rafael
    Nadalof Spain 6-3, 6-2 to win his second Madrid Open title.
  • With the present win, he has become the third player after
    Switzerland’s Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal to win at both the venues of
    Madrid Open.

Petra Kvitova of
Czech Republic won the women’s singles title of Madrid Tennis Open
  • Petra Kvitova of Czech Republic on 9 May 2015 won the Madrid
    Open women’s singles title in the final matches held in Madrid, Spain.
  • She defeated Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia 6-1, 6-2 to
    secure the title for the second time. She won her maiden title in 2011.
  • With the present win, she equals Serena Williams’ record of
    two titles in Madrid.

Rohan Bopanna, Florin
Mergea won Men’s Doubles title of Madrid Tennis Open
  • Rohan Bopanna and Florin Mergea, the Indo-Romanian pair, on
    10 May 2015 won the men’s doubles title of the Madrid Tennis Open.
  • In the summit clash played in Madrid, Spain, the duo
    defeated the Serbian-Polish pair of Nenand Zimonjic and Martin Matkowski  6-2, 6-7(5), 11-9.

Discus thrower Vikas
Gowda won Gold at Jamaican International Invitation meet
  • Ace Indian discus thrower Vikas Gowda on 10 May 2015 won
    Gold at Jamaican International Invitation meet. 
    The meet was held in Kingston, Jamaica. He came up with an effort of
    65.14m to win his event.
  • Chad Wright of Jamaica was second with a throw of 61.84m
    while Jared Schuurmans of United States was third with an effort of 61.62m.
  • Gowda, the reigning Commonwealth Games champion and Silver
    medal winnerof 2014 Asian Games, has thrown the discus over 65m three times in
    the last three weeks.

Business
Tata Communications
ties up with China Telecom Global
  • Tata Communications today announced a video network
    partnership with China Telecom Global to enable and manage media content for customers
    in China and globally.
  • The tie-up enables China Telecom Global to leverage its
    worldwide reach, along with Tata Communications’ Global Video Network to offer
    live sporting events in China, a company release said.
  • The partnership will cater to a market opportunity of $2.57
    billion, the release stated.
  • The statement, however, did not quantify the benefits to
    Tata Communication.
  • It recently launched a new media ecosystem that enables
    cloud-based management of content and supports global media distribution
    requirements, over-the-top content and mobility applications.

Days
National Technology
Day is celebrated on 11th May
  • National Technology Day is celebrated in India on May
    11,  to commemorate the first of the five
    nuclear tests that were initiated by the Indian government led by former PM
    Atal Bihari Vajpayee, on 11 May 1998.
  • National Technology day glorifies the importance of science
    in day-to-day life and individuals & companies are awarded with National
    Technology Awards for adopting new technologies.

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