Current Affairs Update – 16th May, 2015

Hello and welcome to ExamPundit. Here are the Important Current Affairs of 16th May 2015. In Major News today, ICICI Bank’s first branch in China was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Also, we have witnessed Billion Dollar worth deals between India and Chinese companies which is a huge boost to our Make in India initiative.


MJ Joseph was appointed as Controller General of Accounts. Basically He prepares a critical analysis of expenditures, revenues, borrowings and the deficit for the Finance Minister every month. Which eventually gives him one of the most important position in terms of Finance Sector.

In other news, Gagan Narang booked a quota for India at the Olympics in Rio. Rest news are also important. Go ahead, read and discuss.



Finance/Banking/Industry
Modi inaugurates
ICICI Bank’s first branch in China

  • ICICI Bank, India’s largest private sector bank has launched
    its first branch in China. The Shanghai branch was inaugurated by Prime
    Minister Narendra Modi.
  • The initiative marks a significant milestone for the Bank’s
    international operations. In March 2003, ICICI Bank had set-up a representative
    office in Shanghai to develop strong relationships with Chinese banks and
    corporates for their India linked banking needs.
  • The representative office has been upgraded to a branch
    keeping in mind the rising trade volumes between India and China. With this
    branch, the Bank aims to provide greater support to Chinese and Indian
    corporates in their cross-border business interests.
  • Ms. Chanda Kochhar, MD & CEO, ICICI Bank said, “Our
    branch in Shanghai will allow us to play a greater role in the growing trade
    and investment opportunity between India and China. We foresee a heightened
    amount of bilateral activity taking place between the two countries in the near
    future. With the opening of this branch, ICICI Bank is strategically poised to
    take advantage of the increased opportunities.”
  • The Shanghai Branch received regulatory approval in March
    2015 to commence operations. It will begin with 17 banking professionals spread
    across different functions including corporate banking, operations, finance and
    treasury.

NIIT inks pack with
Guian New Area for Big Data training
  • IT training firm NIIT today inked an agreement with Guian
    New Area in Guizhou, China, to train students from the province in the area of
    Big Data.
  • The agreement was signed by NIIT President China Prakash
    Menon and Chen Yan, authorised representative from Guizhou Guian New District,
    in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
  • Big data refers to massive volume of structured and
    unstructured data across enterprise database as well as in areas like social
    networks and online.
  • Earlier this year, NIIT and Guian New Area in the Guizhou
    province entered into Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to offer new-age IT
    programmes with special focus on Big Data.
  • The agreement brings the MoU into effect with NIIT setting
    up a centre in Guian New Area to train 50,000 students in five years, NIIT said
    in a statement.

IL&FS inks MoU
with ICBC for infrastructure finance
  • Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services Limited
    (IL&FS) Group today entered into memorandum of understanding (MoU) with
    Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) to facilitate co-operation in the
    area of infrastructure financing in India.
  • Under the MoU, ICBC group will consider providing financial
    support of up to $1 billion equivalent to the IL&FS group.
  • These funds will be directed towards infrastructure
    development requirements and related investments of the Group, IL&FS said
    in a statement.
  • Further, on Saturday, IL&FS group company IL&FS
    Energy Development Company Ltd (IEDCL) entered into a MoU with the China
    Huaneng Group, Huabei branch, to jointly develop, implement and operate a 3960
    MW coal-based coastal power project in Kutch district of Gujarat.
  • The thermal power project is a part of the Special Economic
    Zone (SEZ) being developed by IL&FS Group, and has achieved a significant
    level of project development, including acquisition of land, statutory
    clearances and a recommendation of the Ministry of Environment & Forest
    (MoEF) for grant of environment clearance.

Islamic clothing
company East Essence tied up with Snapdeal
  • Islamic clothing company East Essence on 14 May 2015 tied up
    with Snapdeal.  The partnership aimed to
    set up store on their portal. The company will make its debut in June 2015 by
    launching an online store at e-commerce marketplace Snapdeal.
  • East Essence is the world’s largest Islamic clothing
    company. The company plans to turn India into a global centre of Islamic
    fashion. The US firm has presence in 68 countries and has annual sales of about
    256 crore rupees.
  • India is the world’s second largest Muslim-majority country,
    with the community representing 14.2% of total population. That’s nearly 170
    million potential consumers, completely catered by unorganised players at
    present.

India
DD, CCTV signed
agreement for exchange of art, culture programmes
  • Doordarshan and China Central Television (CCTV) on 15 May
    2015 signed an agreement for exchange of art, culture and development
    television programmes. The agreement was signed by Prasar Bharathi CEO Jawhar
    Sircar on behalf of India in Beijing during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s
    visit to China.
  • This agreement will enable both Doordarshn and CCTV to share
    programmes on their networks at free of cost. Under the agreement, Doordarshan
    will offer programmes pertaining to art, culture and tourism while CCTV in turn
    will exchange human interest, development programmes and success stories.
  • The exchange of programmes will begin by the end 2015 and
    both networks will also take up co-production works for this initiative.

Union Government
launched Road Asset Management System for National Highways
  • Union Minister of Road Transport, Highways and Shipping on
    15 May 2015 launched Road Asset Management System (RAMS) for National Highways.
    The system will compile information on road assets, condition of the pavements
    and traffic through use of laser technology.
  • The outcome of this integrated data collection system will
    assist in developing an accurate and scientific maintenance planning mechanism,
    finalizing road safety measures and development of the National Highways
    network in India.
  • The data collected will be stored and managed through a web
    based application, which will be hosted in the public domain. The application,
    when fully developed, can also be accessed by smart phones.

Union Government
decided to implement NERS for women in distress

  • Union Home Ministry on 15 May 2015 decided to implement the
    NERS (Nationwide Emergency Response System) to save women in distress. In this
    regard, the Ministry invited proposals from IT service providers to implement
    it.
  • NERS was the brainchild of the Congress-led UPA government
    which envisaged it in response to Delhi gang rape case of December 2012.
  • The NERS seeks to make the police immediately respond to any
    call by a woman in distress anywhere in India. It will revolutionalise the
    existing Police Response systems which are limited to a city and different
    cities use different systems and only a handful of cities use technology in any
    form.

Union Government
launched Kayakalp Award Scheme to improve cleanliness in Public Health
Facilities
  • The Union Health and Family Welfare Minister J P Nadda on 15
    May 2015 launched kayakalp Award Scheme.
  • The scheme is intended to encourage and incentivize Public
    Health Facilities (PHFs) in the country for maintaining the facilities clean
    and hygienic.

Features of
Kayakalp Award Scheme
  • To promote cleanliness, hygiene and infection control
    practices in public health care facilities
  • To incentivize and recognize such public healthcare
    facilities that show exemplary performance in adhering to standard protocols of
    cleanliness and infection control
  • To inculcate a culture of ongoing assessment and peer review
    of performance related to hygiene, cleanliness and sanitation

World
Former Egyptian
President Mohammed Morsi sentenced to death

  • Ousted Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi, along with more
    than 100 other defendants, was sentenced to death by an Egyptian court Saturday
    for his role in a mass prison break in 2011.
  • Morsi, Egypt’s first freely elected president, is already
    serving a 20-year jail sentence in jail for ordering the arrest and torture of
    protesters while he was president.
  • The then-leader of the Muslim Brotherhood movement was
    elected president in 2012 following the resignation of President Hosni Mubarak.
  • The Egyptian military deposed Morsi in 2013 following a
    series of street protests against his rule. In May 2014, Morsi’s successor,
    former military chief Abdul Fattah al-Sisi, who led the coup, won a landslide
    victory in presidential elections.

6th National
Conference on Nuclear Energy held in New Delhi
  • 6th National Conference on Nuclear Energy was held in New
    Delhi on 15 May 2015. The Conference was organised by ASSOCHAM with the theme
    Nuclear Energy: a Clean Energy option.
  • This conference is unique in many ways as 2015 happens to be
    the year of diamond jubilee celebrations of the setting up of Bhabha Atomic
    Research Centre (BARC).
  • The conference discussed the issue related to the status of
    Nuclear Energy in India. India is on course to double its nuclear power
    generation capacity to more than 10,000 mega watts (MW) over the next five
    years i.e. 2020.

Japanese Scientists
discovered new state of matter called Jahn-Teller-metal
  • Japanese Scientists on 14 May 2015 discovered a new state of
    matter called the Jahn-Teller-metal. The matter resembles an insulator,
    superconductor, metal and magnet all rolled into one.
  • The study led by Kosmas Prassides, Scientist at Tokohu
    University made the discovery by studying a superconductor made from carbon-60
    molecules or buckyballs.
  • The research was described in Science Advances. It involves
    caesium fulleride (Cs3C60) in a face-centred-cubic lattice with a Cs3C60
    molecule at each lattice site. The research could help develop new molecular
    materials that are superconductors at even higher temperatures.

Appointments
MJ Joseph appointed
as Controller General of Accounts

  • MJ Joseph was on 15 May 2015 appointed as the Controller
    General of Accounts (CGA) in the Union Ministry of Finance. He succeeded
    Jawahar Thakur who has been appointed as OSD (Accounting Reforms) in the Office
    of CGA.
  • Prior to this appointment, Joseph was the Director General
    of the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS). He is a 1979 batch Indian Civil
    Accounts Service (ICAS) officer.
  • Previously, Joseph has served in various administrative
    capacities in the Union Government including the post of Additional Secretary
    in Union Ministry of Corporate Affairs and as Director in Union Ministry of
    Defence among others.
  • Joseph has also worked with the International Monitory Fund
    (IMF) as a Public Financial Management Adviser at the IMF’s Regional Technical
    Assistance centre based at Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.
  • Controller General of Accounts is the principal Accounts
    Adviser to the Government of India and is responsible for establishing and
    maintaining a technically sound management accounting system.
  • He prepares a critical analysis of expenditures, revenues,
    borrowings and the deficit for the Finance Minister every month. He also
    prepares annual Appropriation Accounts (Civil) and Union Finance Accounts for
    presentation to the Parliament.

PM’s Visit to China –
PM Narendra Modi
announced e-Visa facility for Chinese Tourists

  • Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 15 May 2015 announced
    electronic tourist visa (e-Visa) facility for Chinese nationals.
  • The decision was announced in Beijing, China during his
    three day visit starting from 14 May 2015.
  • It is in tune with the Joint Statement issued by Modi and
    Chinese Premier Li Keqiang after conclusion of bilateral talks during the visit
    which called for development of tourism sector and increasing people-to-people
    exchanges between the two countries.
  • Incidentally, India designated 2015 as Visit India Year in
    China to augment Chinese tourist arrivals and tourist revenues.

Awards
& Honors –
Anurradha Prasad
conferred with Pt. Haridutt Sharma Award for Journalism and Social Services
  • Anurradha Prasad, the Editor-in-Chief of News 24 Channel, on
    15 May 2015 was conferred with the Pt. Haridutt Sharma Award for Journalism,
    Writing and Social Services.
  • He was conferred with the award by Vice- President Hamid
    Ansari in New Delhi.
  • The award is given in the memory of Pt. Haridutt Sharma who
    was a renowned journalist and eminent writer. The award is given annually in
    the field of Journalism, Writing and Social Services for the outstanding
    contribution in their respective field.
  • The Award comprises of Cash prize of 51000 rupees, Citation,
    Trophy, Shawl and Souvenir.

Sports
Gagan Narang wins
World Cup bronze, earns India quota for Rio Olympics

  • Star Indian shooter and Olympic bronze medalist Gagan Narang
    has earned the Olympic quota in men’s 50m Rifle Prone event at ISSF World Cup
    in Fort Benning in U.S.A. Narang, who had finished at third place in the 10m
    Air Rifle event at London Olympics three years ago, also grabbed the bronze
    medal by scoring 185.8 points in the final round.
  • Two Olympic quota places were up for grab in this category
    but Norway’s Bryhn Ole Kristian, who won the silver in this event, had already
    earned the Olympic quota. Narang and Michael McPhail of U.S.A sealed the quota
    places for their respective countries.
  • Narang is the third Indian shooter to earn the Olympics
    berth, Apurvi Chandela in women’s 10m Air Rifle and Jitu Rai in men’s 50m Rifle
    prone have already secured their Olympic berths.
  • Surendra Sinh Rathod finished at 14th spot with 624.7 pts;
    Chain Singh at 24th spot wit 623.9 pts in the Qualification round.

Obituaries
Franz Wright,
Pulitzer Prize-Winning Poet, Dead at 62
  • Franz Wright, a Pulitzer Prize-winning poet known for his
    concise and penetrating style and heartbreaking command of emotions, has died.
    He was 62.
  • Wright died yesterday at his home in Waltham, Massachusetts,
    of lung cancer, publisher Alfred A. Knopf said today.
  • Born in Vienna and raised in California after his parents
    divorced, Wright was the son of fellow Pulitzer winner James Wright, making
    them the only father and son to win in the same category. Franz Wright, cited
    in 2004 for Walking to Martha’s Vineyard, inherited his father’s talents, and
    his demons. In interviews and in his work, he confessed to emotional and
    physical struggles that stemmed at least in part from his parents’ breakup.


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This post was last modified on July 20, 2019 10:23 am