Current Affairs Update – 15th October, 2015

Hello and welcome to ExamPundit. Here are the Important Current Affairs Update of 15th October, 2015. These are Important for the upcoming IBPS PO Mains and IBPS Clerk 2015.

Finance/Industry
Tata
Housing tied-up with Facebook to sell its affordable homes online

  • Real estate developer Tata Housing on 14
    October 2015 tied-up with social networking firm Facebook to sell its
    affordable homes online. For this purpose, Tata Housing launched the new
    campaign titled Social sell on Facebook.
  • Through this new campaign Social sell, the
    company plans to sell around 250 units of its new five-acre residential project
    in Goa called Goa Paradise. The initiative is in line with the company’s target
    to generate over 30 percent of its overall sales online in the next five years.
  • Tata Housing started selling homes online
    in India in 2013 through its partnership with Google as part of The Great
    Shopping Festival. Currently, the company has sold around 2000 homes online in
    the last three years.

Union
Government approved performance-linked payment for CIL officers
  • The Union Government on 14 October 2015
    gave a green signal to payment of Performance Related Pay (PRP) to executives
    and non-unionised supervisors of Coal India Ltd (CIL) and its subsidiaries.
  • The recommendations of the Committee of
    Secretaries were approved by the Union Cabinet to regularise the 2007 Pay
    Revision implemented by CIL with effect from 1 January 2007 in the loss making
    subsidiaries.
  • The payment will be given out of the corpus
    created by pooling the profits of CIL subsidiary companies, duly setting off
    the losses of the loss making subsidiaries and stand-alone profits of CIL,
    excluding dividends received from its subsidiary companies.
  • However, it will be done with the condition
    that the corpus for payment of PRP should be treated as a yearly corpus with no
    provision for carrying it forward to subsequent years.

Dell
Inc acquired EMC Corporation for 67 billion US dollars
  • Dell Inc and EMC Corporation on 12 October
    2015 signed a definitive agreement under which Dell, together with its owners
    will acquire EMC Corporation, while maintaining VMware as a publicly-traded
    company.
  • This will the biggest tech deal in history
    with a 67 billion US dollars acquisition of EMC Corp by Dell. The owners of
    Dell include Michael S Dell, founder, chairman and CEO of Dell, MSD Partners
    and Silver Lake, the global leader in technology investing.
  • VMware Inc is a US company that provides
    cloud and virtualization software and services. It is a subsidiary of EMC
    Corporation.

India,
Israel signed pacts on Double Taxation Avoidance & Cultural Exchange

  • India and Israel on 14 October 2015 signed
    two agreements to enhance bilateral cooperation. The agreements were inked
    after President Pranab Mukherjee, who was in Jerusalem on the final leg of his
    tri-nation tour to West Asia, held a meeting with his Israeli counterpart
    Reuven Rivlin.

The
two agreements which were signed includes
  • A cultural exchange programme for 2015-2018
  • The amendment to the protocol on Double
    Taxation Avoidance Agreement

The pact on tax avoidance will help plug
loopholes in tax evasion and ensure that the Indian or Israeli companies are
taxed only where they have permanent establishments.
President Pranab Mukherjee’s three-day
historic visit to the Jewish state, the first by an Indian Head of State, was
held between 13 October and 15 October 2015.
Union
Cabinet approved MoU between ITA in Taipei and TECC in India
  • The Union Cabinet on 14 October 2015
    approved the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the India-Taipei
    Association (ITA) in Taipei and Taipei Economic and Cultural Center (TECC) in
    India. The memorandum was signed for the cooperation in the field of Micro,
    Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME).
  • The memorandum provides a structured
    framework and enabling environment to the MSME sector of the two parties to
    understand each other’s strengths, markets, technologies, policies etc.
  • The MoU also includes an agreement between
    the two parties to enable their respective MSMEs to participate in each other’s
    trade fairs/exhibitions and to exchange business delegations with the other
    party. The agreement will eventually help the parties understand the policy and
    explore markets so that joint ventures, tie-ups, technology transfer etc. could
    take place.

India
DRDO
Missile Complex renamed as Dr APJ Abdul Kalam Missile Complex

  • The country’s prestigious DRDO Missile
    Complex in Hyderabad was on 15 October 2015 renamed as Dr APJ Abdul Kalam
    Missile Complex by Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar during an event at
    Research Centre Imarat on the occasion of the 84th Birth Anniversary of Dr
    Kalam, the Missile Man.
  • Dr Kalam joined the Missile Complex, DRDO
    in 1982 and was a part of it for nearly two decades. The Missile Complex
    comprises Advanced Systems Laboratory (ASL), Defence Research and Development
    Laboratory (DRDL) and Research Centre Imarat (RCI), which are considered to be
    the brain child of Dr Kalam.

Portugal
became the first European country to sign the MoU on establishment of Nalanda
University
  • Portugal on 9 October 2015 became the first
    European country to sign the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on the
    establishment of Nalanda University.
  • The MoU was signed in New Delhi by
    Portuguese Ambassador to India Ana Martinho and Dr Jitendra Nath Misra, the
    Ambassador of India to Portugal.
  • With this, Portugal became the 17th country
    overall and the fourth outside the East Asia Summit to do so.

Uttar
Pradesh Government launched mobile app mSehat for health workers
  • Uttar Pradesh government on 13 October 2015
    launched the mobile app mSehat for health workers to record maternal and infant
    data in real-time.
  • The application was developed by Kellton
    Tech, a company that was selected as the technology partner for the initiative
    by State Innovations in Family Planning Services Agency (SIFPSA).
  • The application is aimed at improving the
    infant mortality rate outcomes.

Key
Features of mSehat
  • mSehat is a cloud-hosted solution to
    facilitate remote access and enrolment from across the region through
    2G-enabled mobile devices.
  • The recorded data will be stored in the
    cloud, which will act as the central repository.

India,
US and Japan began five-day Malabar Exercise 2015
  • The Navies of India, United States and
    Japan on 14 October 2015 began the five-day Malabar exercise 2015 on the
    Eastern Coast in which several warships, aircraft carriers and fast attack
    submarine will be participating.
  • Malabar 2015 is a latest in the continuing
    series of exercises conducted to advance multi-national maritime relationships
    and mutual security issues. Generally, the United States and India annually
    hold naval drills to sharpen skills, but this year the fleet of aircraft
    carriers, destroyers and frigates conducting war games included a warship from
    Japan.
  • The Naval personnel of the three countries
    will participate in the event called Complex, High-end war-fighting exercise.
    During the exercise which includes both ashore and at-sea training, there would
    be knowledge sharing sessions as well.

Union
Cabinet approved RCE for Kaladan Multi Modal Project in Myanmar
  • The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister
    Narendra Modi on 14 October 2015 gave its approval for the Revised Cost
    Estimate (RCE) of 2904.04 crores rupees for the Kaladan Multi Modal Transit
    Transport Project in Myanmar.
  • Since the project is of political and
    strategic significance, it was decided to execute it through India’s grant
    assistance to Myanmar.
  • The project will provide an alternate
    access route to the North-Eastern region of India and contribute towards the
    region’s economic development. Being a key connectivity project, it will
    promote economic, commercial and strategic links between India and Myanmar.

Union
Cabinet approved MoU with Mozambique for cooperation in renewable energy
  • The Union Government on 14 October 2015
    approved a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the Ministry of New and
    Renewable Energy, India and Mozambique.
  • The agreement was inked between the
    Ministry of New and Renewable Energy of the Government of India and the
    Ministry of Mineral Resources and Energy, Government of Mozambique in New Delhi
    on 5 August 2015.
  • The agreement aims at establishing a
    cooperative institutional relationship to encourage and promote technical
    bilateral cooperation, investment promotion and partnership on new and
    renewable energy issues on the basis of mutual benefit, equality and
    reciprocity.

Appointments
Kundhavi
Kadiresan appointed as FAO Assistant Director-General

  • An Indian national, Kundhavi Kadiresan was
    on 14 October 2015 appointed as the Assistant Director of the United Nations
    Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and Regional Representative for Asia
    and the Pacific. She was appointed at the post by FAO Director General José
    Graziano da Silva.
  • Kadiresan succeeded Hiroyuki Konuma who
    retired from FAO earlier in 2015.

Shruti
Haasan, brand ambassador for Emami’s Kesh King
  • Actress Shruti Haasan will be the new brand
    ambassador for FMCG Emami’s ayurvedic hair care brand, Kesh King. Shruti will
    be endorsing the Kesh King Ayurvedic Medicinal Oil specifically for the
    southern markets and the brand’s Aloe Vera Herbal Shampoo on a pan-India basis.
  • Actress Juhi Chawla, who is the current
    brand ambassador of Kesh King Ayurvedic Medicinal Oil, will continue as the
    national face of the product, Emami said as per a release.
  • The Kesh King brand was acquired by Emami
    in June 2015, marking the company’s foray into the ayurvedic hair & scalp
    care segment. The brand portfolio includes ayurvedic medicinal oil, herbal
    shampoo & conditioner and ayurvedic capsules.

Sports
Zaheer
Khan retires from international cricket

  • Fast bowler Zaheer Khan announced his
    retirement from international cricket on Thursday.
  • The 37-year-old pacer made the announcement
    on Thursday, ending his 14-year long international career. Zaheer made his
    India debut in 2000 and played his last game for India in 2014 at Wellington
    against New Zealand.
  • He has played 92 Tests (311 wickets), 200
    ODIs (282 wickets) and 17 Twenty20 matches (17 wickets).
  • The left arm seamer made his Test debut
    against Bangladesh at Dhaka in 2000 and played his last Test against New
    Zealand at Basin Reserve in February 2014. He was part of the Indian team that
    won the 2011 World Cup at the Wankhede Stadium.
  • Zaheer was the joint highest wicket-taker
    in the 2011 World Cup along with Pakistan’s Shahid Afridi, claiming 21 wickets
    at 18.76.

Awards
& Honors –
US
university honoured Tibetan PM Sangay with Presidential Medal for promoting
peace
  • Tibetan Prime Minister Lobsang Sangay on 14
    October 2015 was awarded with the prestigious Presidential Medal by Salisbury
    University in Maryland, US for promoting peace and understanding.
  • PM Sangay dedicated the medal to the sufferings
    of the Tibetan people and the non-violent Tibetan movement to reinstate freedom
    and dignity inside Tibet.
  • Lobsang Sangay was born in Darjeeling,
    India in 1968. He became Sikyong (equivalent to Prime Minister) of the Tibetan
    Government-in-Exile on 8 August 2011. He obtained his BA (Hons) and LLB degrees
    from the University of Delhi in India. He obtained his LLM degree from the
    Harvard Law School in 1995.
  • He is also the recipient of the 2004 Yong
    K. Kim’ 95 Prize of excellence for his dissertation Democracy in Distress: Is
    Exile Polity a Remedy? A Case Study of Tibet’s Government-in-exile.

World
China
operationalised Zam Hydropower station on Brahmaputra River in Tibet
  • China on 13 October 2015 operationalised
    the Zam hydropower station on the Brahmaputra River in Tibet Autonomous Region
    (TAR). It is considered to be the highest-altitude hydropower station in the
    world.
  • While the first unit began operations in
    November 2014 itself, the present initiative connected the remaining five units
    to the power grid.

Features
of Zam or Zangmu hydropower station
  • It was built on the river Brahmaputra that
    is also known as the river Yarlung Zangbo in Tibet.
  • It was built at a cost of 1.5 billion US
    dollars in Shannan Prefecture in the South East China.
  • It produces 2.5 billion kilowatt-hours of
    electricity a year.

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This post was last modified on July 20, 2019 10:16 am