Current Affairs Update – 17th April, 2015

Hello and welcome to ExamPundit. Here are the important current affairs for 17th April, 2015.

PM
Visit to Canada –
India, Canada issued Joint Statement titled New Vigour, New
Steps

  • India and Canada issued Joint Statement title New Vigour,
    New Steps (नया उत्साह, नए कदम)
    to elevate their bilateral relations to a strategic partnership. The joint
    statement was issued on 15 April 2015 during the visit of Prime Minister
    Narendra Modi to Canada from 14 April to 16 April 2015. Modi’s visit to Canada
    is the first by an Indian Prime Minister in 42 years.

Business
MoUs & Deals –
IRMA signs MoU with
IICA, to train CSR professionals
  • The Institute of Rural Management-Anand (IRMA) on Friday signed
    a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Indian Institute of Corporate
    Affairs (IICA) for training CSR professionals.
  • The MoU, which comes in the wake of recent changes in the
    Companies Act, 2013, was signed by Prof. Jeemol Unni, Director, IRMA, and Dr.
    Bhaskar Chatterjee, Director- General and CEO, IICA, an institution launched by
    the Government of India in 2008 to act as a think tank and capacity building
    hub for corporate regulations and reforms.
  • The MoU was signed with the intent of furthering
    collaboration between the Centre for Rural Infrastructure and Corporate Social
    Responsibility at IRMA, and IICA, IRMA said in a statement here.

Ten MoUs signed on
final day of Naidu China visit
  • On the last day of Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N.
    Chandrababu Naidu’s six-day China tour, 10 MoUs – five G2B and an equal number of
    B2B – were signed on Friday.
  • While the G2B MoUs mostly related to facilitating direct
    investment in solar energy sector, majority of the B2B agreements were in
    connection with facilitating direct investment in Brandix India Apparel City in
    the field of textiles. Another B2B MoU was between KSEZ (GMR) and Hangzhou
    Huatong Inc for setting up a toys manufacturing unit at Kakinada SEZ, of GMR.
  • Earlier Mr. Naidu held a series of meetings with various
    companies in Shanghai. The TCL Corporation expressed interest in exploring
    investment opportunities in A.P. The corporation is a Chinese multinational
    electronic company that manufactures television sets, mobile phones, air
    conditioners, washing machines, refrigerators and small electrical appliances.
  • Mr. Naidu briefed the delegates on the strengths of the
    state and his plans to make A.P. an electronics manufacturing hub. He assured them
    of Government providing all necessary resources like land, water and power
    required for setting up a manufacturing unit.

Awards
& Honors –
Veteran Singer  SP Balasubramaniam Bags Harivarasnam Award
  • Veteran singer S P Balasubramaniam has been selected for
    this year’s prestigious “Harivarasanam” award instituted by the
    Kerala government.
  • Balasubramaniam has been selected for the award in
    recognition of his great contribution to propagate the spirit of secularism,
    equanimity and universal brotherhood of Lord Ayappa temple at Sabarimala
    through the songs he rendered in different languages in the past five decades.
  • He was selected by a jury headed by Sabarimala high-power
    committee chairman K Jayakumar, minister for Heath and Devaswoms V S Sivakumar
    said here.
  • The award carrying a cash prize of Rs one lakh, citation and
    plaque would be presented to Balasubramaniam at a function to be held at
    Sabarimala in June.
  • Cash prize of the award till last year was Rs 50,000 and it
    been incresed to Rs one lakh from this year he said.

Satya Nadella
honoured with the White House Champions of Change

  • Microsoft’s Indian-origin CEO Satya Nadella was honoured
    with the White House Champions of Change on 16 April 2015. He is one of the 12
    local Champions of Change who were honoured for their exemplary leadership.
  • Champions of Change honour is given to those who support
    working families and help make change in their companies or communities.
  • Satya Nadella is the first Indian-origin Chief Executive
    Officer (CEO) of Microsoft. He was named as one of the Champions of Change for
    his employee-friendly initiative. For instance, recently Microsoft announced
    that from 2016 onwards all the suppliers that do business with Microsoft in the
    US will have to provide at least 15 days of paid leave each year to their
    employees who handle Microsoft work.

Appointments
Vishal Sikka
appointed as University Advisory Professor at ECNU
  • The East China Normal University (ECNU), one of the
    prestigious universities in China, announced the appointment of Dr. Vishal
    Sikka, Chief Executive Officer of Infosys, as Advisory Professor.
  • According to a release from the company, Professor Shijun
    Tong, CCP Secretary of ECNU, formally conferred the Advisory Professorship to
    Mr Sikka.
  • Prof. Shijun Tong, CCP Secretary − ECNU, was joined by Prof.
    Rongming Wang, Vice President − ECNU, Prof. Qifeng He, academician at the
    Chinese Academy of Sciences, Prof. Zhenguo Yuan, Dean of Education − ECNU, Mr.
    Rangarajan Vellamore, Chief Executive Officer – Infosys China, and Mr. Mike
    Liu, Chief Operating Officer − Infosys China.

World
Russia lifted ban on
delivery of S-300 Missile System to Iran
  • Russia on 13 April 2015 lifted its earlier ban on delivery
    of S-300 Missile System to Iran. The S-300 Missile System is a surface-to-air
    missile defense system that can be used against multiple targets including jets
    and enemy missiles.
  • Russia lifted the ban in the back drop of an informal
    agreement reached on 2 April 2015 between P5+1, the EU and Iran to prepare the
    final draft of Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) by 30 June 2015.
  • Under the agreement, Iran agreed to stop developing nuclear
    weapons in return for lifting economic sanctions imposed on it by the international
    community.
  • This was the only sanction imposed by Russia on Iran since
    Iran had announced its nuclear programme in 2010.
  • Russia stayed the execution of 800 million US dollar worth
    deal after the international community raised apprehensions that the missile
    system would be used to protect Iran’s nuclear installations from air strikes.

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