Current Affairs Update – 12th March, 2015

• 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 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 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.

• 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.

• 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.

• 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).

• 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.

• 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.

• 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 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.

• 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.

• 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.

• 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.

• 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.

• 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.

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