Current Affairs Update – 12th March, 2015


           Today’s Topics

   •  Economy/Finance
   •  India
   •  World
   •  Sports
   •  Appointments
   •  Awards

Finance/Economy

EPFO trustees approve
raising age limit under pension scheme to 60
  • The Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation’s apex decision
    making body, the Central Board of Trustees (CBT), which is headed by the Labour
    Minister, met on Wednesday and took a slew of other decisions, CBT member D L
    Sachdev said.
  • At present, a formal sector worker covered under the EPS-95
    can make contributions towards pension scheme till the age of 58 years and can
    claim pension thereafter.
  • After the amendment to the pension scheme, a formal sector
    worker can choose to contribute towards it till 60 years of age. This will
    provide him a benefit of 4 percent enhanced pension per year.
  • The Pension Implementation Committee (PIC) had recommended
    an increase in the age for vesting pension to 60 years, while suggesting that
    the Actuary should be asked to develop a model to give incentive to those
    persons who opt for drawing pension at the age of 60 years.

India, Mauritius
Agree to Push Forward Negotiations on DTAT
  • India and Mauritius will work together to avoid the
    “abuse” of double taxation avoidance convention, Prime Minister
    Narendra Modi declared today, as the two countries agreed to push negotiations
    for a long pending revision of the treaty.
  • He also assured Mauritius that India will do nothing to harm
    the vibrant financial sector of “one of our closest strategic
    partners”.
  • Often corporates have been accused of laundering money
    through the “Mauritius route” for channelling FDI in India and the
    two governments have been in negotiations to curb this practice.
  • Negotiations to amend the bilateral tax treaty have been
    hanging fire for a long time amid India’s apprehensions that it is being
    misused to route black money and evade taxes.
  • Prime Minister Modi and his host Sir Anerood Jugnauth agreed
    to push forward their negotiations for a long pending revision of Double
    Taxation Avoidance Treaty (DTAT) during their talks here last night.

India
India and Mauritius
inked five MoUs to give impetus to bilateral relations

  • India and Mauritius inked 5 Memorandum of Understandings
    (MoUs) on 11 March 2015 to give new impetus to bilateral co-operation between
    the two nations.  The MoUs were signed in
    Port Luis in presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Mauritian counterpart
    Sir Anerood Jugnuth.
  • Prime Minister Narendra Modi is on a five day official tour
    of three ocean nations, namely Seychelles, Mauritius and Sri Lanka. The journey
    started on 10 March 2015 and will conclude on 14 March 2015.
  • This is the first visit to Mauritius by an Indian Prime
    Minister in over three decades.

The five MoUs
which were signed between the two nations include
  • MoU in the field of
    Ocean Economy:
    The agreement provides for mutually beneficial cooperation
    for exploration and capacity development in the field of marine resources,
    fisheries, green tourism, research and development of ocean technology,
    exchange of experts and other related activities
  • MoU on Programme for
    Cultural Cooperation for the year 2015-18:
    The programme will help to
    enhance bilateral cooperation and will also enhance greater people-to-people
    participation between the two countries.
  • MoU on the Protocol
    for the importation of fresh mango from India
    : The aim of this Protocol is
    to facilitate importation of fresh mango fruits from India by Mauritius to
    enable the Mauritian to relish the flavor of the world-renowned Indian mangoes.
  • MoU for the
    Improvement in Sea and Air Transportation Facilities at Agalega Island of
    Mauritius:
    This will help in betterment of the condition of the inhabitants
    of this remote Island. These facilities will enhance the capabilities of the
    Mauritian Defence Forces in safeguarding their interests in the Outer Island.
  • MoU on Cooperation in
    the field of Traditional System of Medicine and Homeopathy
    : This MoU will
    promote cooperation in the field of traditional system of health and medicine
    between the two countries. It envisages exchange of experts, supply of
    traditional medicinal substances, joint research and development and
    recognition of the traditional systems of health and medicine in both
    countries. It also aims at promotion and popularization of the various Indian
    traditional systems which fall under AYUSH.

Modi commissions
India-built Mauritian naval patrol ship

  • An India-built naval patrol vessel for Mauritius that will
    help in better policing its vast exclusive economic zone was commissioned on Thursday
    by Prime Minister Narendra Modi who said it will make the Indian Ocean “more
    safer and secure.”
  • The induction of the 1,300-tonne vessel ‘Barracuda’ for the
    Mauritian National Coast Guard amid attempts by China to establish its presence
    in the Indian Ocean Region marks the first of such sales to this strategic
    island nation, which include fast attack craft under construction in Indian
    shipyards.
  • ’Barracuda’ which has automatic 30 mm Rapid Fire Gun and
    12.7 mm Heavy Machine Guns as part of its ammunition was handed over to
    Mauritius in December 2014 by Kolkata-based Garden Reach Shipbuilders and
    Engineers Ltd (GRSE).
  • The warship marks its entry into the global market and it is
    optimistic on a follow up order.

Himalayan Meteorology
Programme formulated for hill weather

  • After severe floods in Jammu and Kashmir and cloudburst in
    Uttarakhand, the government on Thursday said it has formulated a Himalayan
    Meteorology Programme for better understanding of weather in the mountainous
    States.
  • The initiative will help in improving the forecasting very
    short range up to 6 hours in advance and predicting severe weather phenomena up
    to 72 hours in advance, Harsh Vardhan, Minister for Earth Science informed the
    Rajya Sabha.
  • Earth System Science Organisation-India Meteorological
    Department has formulated a plan to augment observing systems by deploying
    Doppler Weather Radars, rain radars, automatic weather stations (AWS),
    Automatic Rain Gauges (ARGs).

New city ‘NAINA’ to
come up over 600 square km near Navi Mumbai airport

  • Maharashtra government would be developing a new city –
    ‘NAINA’ – over an area of 600 sq km around the upcoming Navi Mumbai
    International Airport, Governor Ch Vidyasagar Rao said here today.
  • He was addressing the joint session of the Maharashtra
    Legislature on the opening day of the budget session.
  • “The government is committed to expedite the work of
    the Navi Mumbai International Airport Project. Due to comprehensive
    rehabilitation policy of the government, consent letters from Project Affected
    Persons for land acquisitions have been received by CIDCO (the implementing
    agency).
  • “Majority of the clearances required for the project
    have been received. The government has decided to build a new city called NAINA
    in an area of 600 sq km, around the upcoming Navi Mumbai International
    Airport,” he said.
  • As a part of the smart city mission of the Centre, the state
    government wanted to develop 30 towns, focusing on “themes” such as
    education, medical, entertainment, industry, etc., he said, adding that study
    groups had been formed to suggest the roadmap for this.

World
India 14th among most
popular destinations for Muslim travellers
  • Some 108 million Muslim travellers spent $145 billion
    globally in 2014. By 2020, the figure is expected to swell to 150 million
    travellers spending $200 billion, according to a new report that has noted that
    in 2014, India welcomed 1.4 Muslim visitors.
  • In the Global Muslim Travel Index (GMTI), a comprehensive
    research report by MasterCard-CrescentRating, India has been named in the top
    20 destinations among the non-Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC)
    destinations.
  • India came 14th on the list, in which Singapore took the top
    spot for the non-OIC destinations. Malaysia topped the list for OIC countries,
    which also included Turkey, the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Qatar.
  • The GMTI covered 100 destinations, creating an overall
    index, based on a number of criteria for research into one of the fastest
    growing tourism sectors in the world.

Bank of Korea cuts
rates to record low of 1.75%

  • South Korea’s central bank cut interest rates for the first
    time in five months on Thursday in a surprise move, joining the ranks of other
    economies which have recently eased monetary policy to boost sluggish growth.
  • The Bank of Korea’s monetary policy committee cut its base
    rate by 25 basis points to a record low of 1.75 per cent, a media official said
    without elaborating. Governor Lee Ju-yeol is due to hold a news conference from
    11:20 a.m. (0220 GMT).
  • Only four out of the 33 analysts polled by Reuters ahead of
    the decision had forecast the central bank would cut rates on Thursday.
    However, 19 of those who saw a hold in March forecast the bank would cut rates
    in April or sometime later in the second quarter.

Google Launches
Virtual Tour of Nepal’s Everest Region

  • Google launched a virtual tour of Nepal’s Everest region
    today, allowing armchair tourists a rare glimpse of life in one of the toughest
    and most inaccessible places on earth, home to the world’s highest mountain.
  • The Street View project takes viewers into the heart of the
    stunning Sagarmatha national park, where icy blue rivers run below snow-capped
    peaks, monks play music and yak-herders navigate precipitous stone-strewn
    trails.
  • Armed with two single-lens tripod cameras and a 15-lens
    custom-built “Trekker” unit designed for backpacks, teams travelled
    on foot to capture more than 45,000 panoramic images of the remote eastern
    Himalayan villages inhabited by the ethnic Sherpa community.
  • Google worked on the project with Kathmandu-based start-up
    Story Cycle and Nepalese climber Apa Sherpa, who scaled Mount Everest a record
    21 times before he retired from climbing and set up an educational charity.

Sports
Karnataka wins eighth Ranji Trophy title

  • Defending champions Karnataka clinched their eighth Ranji
    Trophy title on Thursday as they thrashed their southern opponents Tamil Nadu
    by an innings and 217 runs on the last day of the Ranji Trophy cricket
    tournament final at the Wankhede stadium in Mumbai.
  • The R. Vinay Kumar-led side always had the upper hand in the
    five-day encounter after bundling out Tamil Nadu for 134 in the first innings
    and then amassing 762 runs courtesy a triple century by middle-order batsman
    Karun Nair (338).
  • Chasing an imposing 628, Tamil Nadu were shot out for 411 in
    107.5 overs in the final session of the fifth day’s play.
  • Starting the day on 113 for three, Tamil Nadu saw resilient
    centuries from Vijay Shankar (103) and Dinesh Karthik (120) but the writing was
    on the wall after their departure.

               
India beat Nepal 2-0
in 1st leg of World Cup Qualifiers
  • Star striker Sunil Chhetri struck twice in the second half
    as India notched up a 2-0 win over Nepal in a dominating display in the first
    leg of their 2018 FIFA World Cup football qualifying round one here today.
  • Today’s win at the Indira Gandhi Athletics Stadium at
    Sajusarai here gave newly appointed India head coach Stephen Constantine a
    winning start in his second stint at the helm of affairs.
  • Chhetri scored in the 53rd and 69th minutes though he failed
    to complete a hat-trict as he muffed a spot kick in the 80th minute. A 3-0
    verdict would have put India in an even better position when they play the
    second leg in Kathmandu on March 17 for a second round berth in the
    qualification.

Appointments

IPS officer M Akhaya
appointed as Chief Vigilance Officer in telecom department

  • IPS officer M Akhaya has been appointed as the Chief
    Vigilance Officer in the Department of Telecommunications here.
  • Akhaya, a 1988-batch IPS officer of Odisha cadre, has been
    appointed for an initial period of three years. His tenure will be further
    extendable by two years in the same department or three years through shifting
    to another department, said an order issued by the Department of Personnel and
    Training.
  • The appointment of the CVO, who acts as distant arm of the
    Central Vigilance Commission to check corruption, comes at a time when bidding
    for spectrum by telecom companies is underway.

Awards

Indian-Origin
Educator Ganasen Reddy Gets Lifetime Achievement Award In South Africa

  • An Indian-origin South African educator has been given a
    Lifetime Achievement Award at the country’s annual National Teaching Awards
    held here.
  • Ganasen Reddy was felicitated by South African Minister of Basic
    Education Angie Motshekga.
  • The award is given for sustaining a high-level of
    achievement and commitment throughout a long teaching career by receiving
    results, awards and recognition over a long period of time as well as showing
    endurance, commitment and perseverance to the benefit of the school and the education
    sector in general.
  • Other Indian-origin teachers who were felicitated at the
    awards function included Silas Pillay who received the Excellence in Primary
    School Leadership Award; Anneline Govender, who was placed second in the
    category Excellence in Primary School Teaching; and Caryn Reddy who took third
    place in the category Excellence in Special Needs and Inclusive Teaching.

               
Temsula Ao to Receive
Kusumagraja National Literature Award
  • Padma Shri Award winner and senior Naga litterateur Temsula
    Ao was named for the prestigious Kusumagraja National Literature Award.
  • The Award which has been instituted by the city-based
    Yashwantrao Chavan Maharashtra Open University (YCMOU) has been bestowed, for
    her outstanding contribution to the field of literature, YCMOU registrar
    Prakash Atkare stated in a press release issued here today.
  • The award carries a cash purse of Rs 1 lakh, a memento and a
    citation which would be presented to Temsula Ao at a function to be held at the
    YCMOU campus on March 20, at the hands of famous Marathi litterateur Arun
    Sadhu, who was recently honoured with the Janasthan Puraskar, the release said.

< Download Today’ PDF >


Books For 2015 Banking/Insurance Exams