Current Affairs Update 20-24 October, 2016

• Luxury car maker BMW and taxi
  hailing app Ola have signed an MoU to provide on demand luxury cab services in
  India.
• While BMW wants to expand the
  luxury car market in the country, which is less than one per cent at present,
  for Ola it is just another extension to its luxury segment “Ola Lux”
  that it had launched in June this year and is present in just three cities.
• The Bengaluru-based company plans
  to extend the same to other markets soon. Ola targets to double its revenues
  from this segment this year at a mere two per cent, said its COO, Pranay
  Jivrajka. Currently the fleet size is 100.
• Meanwhile, several global as well
  as domestic auto majors across the world are re-thinking their strategies as
  they witness decline in auto sales due to the growth of on-demand economy
  globally.
• Frank Schloeder, President
  (Acting), BMW Group India, said that India is a very small market with only
  35,000 cars and the young generation is not looking at buying cars and homes
  anymore but believe in shared economy.

• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI)
  on 20 October 2016 notified the amended norms for foreign investment in
  startups. For this, the bank amended the Foreign Exchange Management (Transfer
  or Issue of Security by a Person Resident Outside India) Regulations, 2000.
• Investment in India by Foreign
  Venture Capital Investors (FVCI), registered with SEBI, is governed by the
  provisions of Schedule 6 of the aforesaid Regulations.

• Any FVCI, registered with market
  regulator SEBI, will not require any approval from Reserve Bank of India and
  can invest in unlisted Indian companies.
• FVCI can invest in following
  sectors- Biotechnology, IT, Nanotechnology, Seed research and development,
  pharmaceutical sector, Dairy industry, Poultry industry, Production of
  bio-fuels, Hotel-cum-convention centres and Infrastructure sector.
• FVCIs can also invest in Equity
  or equity linked instrument or debt instrument issued by an Indian startup
  irrespective of the sector in which the startup is engaged.
• FVCIs can invest in units of a
  Venture Capital Fund (VCF) registered under the SEBI or units of a Scheme or of
  a fund set up by a VCF or by a Category I Alternative Investment Fund (Cat-I
  AIF).
• The downstream investments by a
  VCF or a Cat-I AIF, which has received investment from FVCI, shall have to
  comply with the provisions for downstream investment as laid down in Schedule 11
  of the Principal Regulations.

• India on 21 October 2016 signed a
  650-million US dollar loan agreement with the World Bank for the Eastern
  Dedicated Freight Corridor-III (EDFC-III) Project. The project will benefit
  industries of Northern and Eastern India, which rely on railway network for
  transportation of material inputs and exports.
• These industries also depend on
  railway network for transportation for the distribution of bulk processed and
  semi-processed commodities and consumer goods. Railway passengers will also be
  benefitted through decongestion of the existing passenger lines.
• The project is being developed by
  Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India Ltd. (DFCCIL). It would also
  help in creating jobs in the northern and eastern regions of the country.

• The EDFC-III Project is to
  augment rail transport capacity, improve service quality and enhance freight
  carriage throughput on the 401 km Ludhiana-Khurja section of the Eastern
  Dedicated Freight Corridor
• It seeks to develop institutional
  capacity of DFCCIL to build, maintain and operate the entire DFC network.
• The third loan agreement that the
  World Bank has signed for the Eastern Corridor, which is about 1840 km long and
  extends from Ludhiana to Kolkata. EDFC is going to be a broad gauge corridor.
  This will have double line and will be electrified. The corridor will also pass
  through Dadri (The origin point of Western Dedicated Freight Corridor) which
  will serve as a junction.

• AT&T Inc on 22 October 2016
  agreed to buy Time Warner Inc for 85.4 billion US dollars in a deal that will
  transform the phone company into a media giant.
• AT&T agreed to pay 107.50 US
  dollars a share, evenly split between cash and stock. The deal is expected to
  close by the end of 2017.

• The new company will be headed by
  AT&T Chief Executive Randall Stephenson.
• Time Warner Chief Executive Jeff
  Bewkes will stay for an interim period following the close of the deal.
• AT&T will tap 40 billion US
  dollars in bridge loans with 25 billion US dollars coming from JP Morgan Chase
  & Co and 15 billion US dollars from Bank of America Corp.
• Time Warner agreed to pay a 1.7
  billion US dollars breakup fee if another company outbids AT&T’s offer.
  AT&T, meanwhile, would pay 500 million US dollars if the deal gets blocked.
• Once the deal is completed,
  AT&T will rely on its entertainment business for more than 40 percent of
  its revenue, based on second-quarter financial results.

• Union Government on 21 October
  2016 unveiled the regional air connectivity scheme UDAN (Ude Desh ka Aam
  naagrik), which seeks to get more people to fly in the smaller towns. The Civil
  Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju who launched the scheme in New Delhi
  said the scheme is expected to be rolled out by January 2017.
• The scheme UDAN envisages
  providing connectivity to un-served and under-served airports of the country
  through revival of existing air-strips and airports. The scheme would be in
  operation for a period of 10 years.
• The Ministry of Civil Aviation
  took a major step today towards making flying a reality for the small town
  common man.

• Telecom Regulatory Authority of
  India (TRAI) in October 2016 recommended imposition of 3050 crore rupees
  penalty on Bharti Airtel, Vodafone and Idea cellular. The penalty was imposed
  for allegedly denying interconnectivity to newcomer Reliance Jio.
• TRAI, in its recommendation to
  the Department of Telecom, said it has found the three companies to be
  non-compliant with licence conditions regarding giving interconnection to
  Reliance Jio customers.
• Airtel: Penalty amounts to 1050
  crore rupees for 21 service areas (all, except Jammu and Kashmir)
• Vodafone: Penalty amounts to 1050
  crore rupees for 21 service areas (all, except Jammu and Kashmir)
• Idea: Penalty amounts to 950
  crore rupees for 19 service areas (all, except Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh,
  and North-eastern States).

• The State Bank of India (SBI) on
  20 October 2016 declared Silchar as its 5th zone in North-East India. This zone
  will cater to the banking needs of the people of Mizoram, Tripura and Manipur
  along with the Barak Valley.
• The other four zones of SBI in
  region are located in Guwahati, Shillong, Dibrugarh and Jorhat.
• Earlier, Silchar was under
  Guwahati zone and it was tough on the part of the bank to address the
  complaints and issues of the customers with such a difficult terrain. The bank
  has 736 branches across North East together with 3000 ATMs and 3000 customer
  service points for customer facilitation.
• Besides, SBI also opened its
  administrative office at Silchar. This office will facilitate banking issues for
  the customers of the region.

• The Union Ministry of Road
  Transport and Highways made it mandatory for all automobile manufacturers to
  provide emission and noise pollution details for every vehicle they produce.
  The new pollution norms will be made applicable from April 2017.
• The step will help to keep a
  check on whether the newly bought vehicle is emitting according to what the
  manufacturer claims. The Union Government approved testing agencies will give
  the approval for individual engine model after checking the emission levels.
• The ministry has notified the
  amendment of Form 22 under the Central Motor Vehicles Act. It is used to
  provide the initial certification of compliance with pollution and safety
  standards at the time of sale to buyers.

• From 1 April 2017, the vehicle
  manufacturers will have to provide emission details for each vehicle in the
  revised Form 22 .
• The Form will include the brand,
  chassis number, engine number (motor number, in case of battery operated
  vehicles) and emission norms, Bharat Stage – IV / VI /Bharat (Trem)
  Stage-III/III etc of the vehicle.
• The Form will also ask the
  manufacturer to specify the levels of each pollutant like carbon monoxide,
  hydro carbon, non-methane HC, NOx, HC + NOx, PM for petrol and diesel vehicles
  and also sound level for horn and pass by noise values.

• The Union Ministry of Shipping on
  17 October 2016 sanctioned the Capital Dredging Project for Ro Pax Ferry
  Services between Gogha & Dahej, in Gulf of Cambay in Gujarat.
• The step was taken as a part of
  promoting coastal shipping in the country under Sagarmala programme. It is one
  of the flagship projects under Sagarmala which aims to increase share of
  waterways transportation in modal mix to 10% from present level of 7% by year
  2025.

• The Ministry released 58.50 crore
  rupees as first instalment of grant-in–aid to Gujarat Maritime Board (GMB).
• The total project cost is
  estimated to be 234 crore rupees of which 50% will be funded by Union
  Government under the Sagarmala programme.
• The project will result in
  reduction in motorable distance of 231 kilometres between Gogha and Dahej to
  mere 31 kilometres and reduce the travel time from 7 hours to 1 hour only by
  crossing the Gulf in Cambay in 17 Nautical Miles.
• The initiative will also result
  in savings in fuel, reduction in CO2 emission and reduction in road congestion.
• The project is first of its kinds
  in India as it will be executed in the area of world’s second highest tidal
  range.

• Maharashtra Government on 19
  October 2016 launched Kaushalya SETU (Self-Employment and Talent Utilisation)
  initiative. The initiative, which is a skill development programme for
  students, is likely to generate employment for as many as 7.5 lakh people in
  state.
• For the purpose of employing
  skilled people, the state also signed 22 MoUs with various industries. The best
  part of the initiative is that it would help in bridging the gap between
  education and employment.

• Students of Maharashtra State
  Board of Secondary & Higher Secondary Education, who fail to clear Class X
  or SSC exam, would be accommodated in the skill development courses. This will
  help in ensuring that these students do not lose a year.
• The launch will play a leading
  role in fulfilling Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Skill India Mission-2020
• It is a mechanism launched by the
  Union Government under NITI Aayog to support all aspects of start up businesses
  and other self-employment activities, particularly in technology-driven areas.
  SETU is a Techno-Financial, Incubation and Facilitation Programme.

• The Indian Coast Guard Ships
  (ICGS) Aryaman and Atulya were commissioned on 21 October 2016 at Kochi by
  Sunil Kumar Kohli, Financial Advisor to Defence Services.
• The ICGS Aryaman and Atulya are
  the eighteenth and nineteenth respectively in the series of twenty Fast Patrol
  Vessels (FPVs). They are designed and built by Cochin Shipyard Limited.

• The ships have been christened
  ICGS Aryaman and Atulya.
• Aryaman literally means Possessor
  of Greatness. It will be based at Kochi under the administrative control of the
  Commander, Coast Guard Region (West).
• Atulya means Unrivalled. It will
  be based at Visakhapatnam under the administrative control of the Commander,
  Coast Guard Region (East).

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• The Indo-Italian Joint Committee
  established under the Scientific and Technological Cooperation Agreement on 21
  October 2016 re-launched the cooperation in the sectors of science, technology
  and innovation. The original agreement was signed between Italy and India in
  2003.
• The Indian delegation was led by
  Ashutosh Sharma, Secretary, Department of Science and Technology while the
  Italian delegation was led by Vincenzo De Luca, Director General for Cultural
  and Economic Promotion and Innovation of the Italian Ministry of Foreign
  Affairs and International Cooperation.

• The Joint Committee approved
  several initiatives in bilateral scientific R&D projects of significance
  with the aim of facilitating the mobility of researchers who will be jointly
  selected within the framework of the 2017-2019 Indo-Italy Executive Programme
  of Scientific and Technological Cooperation.
• IT, energy, environment and
  sustainable agriculture, health care, biotechnology, nanotechnology, physics
  and cultural and natural heritage are the areas for joint projects.
• A new scientific and technological
  cooperation programme on applied science was launched aiming at developing
  technologies and processes to be applied in industry.

• The Union Government held
  tripartite talks with Kuki National Organisation (KNO) and United People’s
  Front (UPF) of Manipur to find an amicable solution to their long standing
  demand.
• The second round of the
  tripartite talks was held on 19 October 2016 in New Delhi. During the dialogue
  the KNO and the UPF indicated their demands in the presence of senior
  representative of Manipur government. The first meeting was held in June 2016.
• The talks were held in a cordial
  atmosphere and the next round of dialogue will be held in consultation with
  Manipur government, KNO and UPF.
• To find a permanent solution to
  their demand for homeland and political future, the Home Ministry in June 2016
  had decided to hold tripartite talks with government of Manipur, KNO and UPF of
  Manipur.

• The Indian and Chinese armies on
  19 October 2016 held second joint exercise Sino India Cooperation 2016 in
  Ladakh. The exercise was held as a part of the ongoing initiative to enhance
  interaction and cooperation between India and China, under the provisions of
  Border Defense Cooperation Agreement, 2013.
• The Exercise was held as a sequel
  to the first Joint Exercise held on 6 February 2016 in the area of Border
  Personnel Meeting Hut at Chushul Garrison of Eastern Ladakh, along with Chinese
  troops of Moldo Garrison.

• During the day long exercise on
  Humanitarian Aid and Disaster Relief (HADR), a fictitious situation of
  earthquake striking an Indian Border village was painted. Thereafter, joint
  teams carried out rescue operations, evacuation and rendering of medical
  assistance.
• The Indian Team was led by
  Brigadier RS Raman.
• The Chinese Team was led by
  Senior Col Fan Jun.

• Union Government in October 2016
  decided to establish at least one Krishi Vigyan Kendra in each of the districts
  in country. These Kendra’s will be developed to provide technical assistance to
  farmers.
• The decision was announced by the
  Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh while interacting via video conference
  with all the Krishi Vigyan Kendra experts, district level officers associated
  with agriculture development and progressive farmers of 12 States.
• Besides, Singh also called upon
  the farmers to use the residual husk after paddy farming to make organic
  fertilizer, in paper making and card-board industry and as animal feed. The
  Minister said this will prevent the adverse effect of husk burning on the environment.

• In a dramatic development, Tata
  Sons, the holding company of the $103-billion (around Rs 6.88 lakh crore) Tata
  group, said its board has removed Cyrus Pallonji Mistry, 48, as chairman of the
  conglomerate and named Ratan Tata, chairman of Tata Trusts, the largest
  shareholder in Tata Sons, as interim chairman for four months.
• In a letter to Tata group
  employees, Tata said the board has requested him to perform the role of
  chairman and he has agreed to do so “in the interest of stability of and reassurance
  to the Tata group”.
• However, a brief statement by
  Tata Sons did not give any reasons for Mistry’s ouster, though sources close to
  the development said it was because of “performance” issues and the issue has
  been brewing for some time. The turnover of India’s largest conglomerate
  dropped to $103 billion in 2015-2016 from $108 billion the previous year. Net
  debt rose to $24.5 billion (about Rs 1.63 lakh crore) in March 2016 from $23.4
  billion a year ago.
• Sources close to the developments
  said Tata has been expressing his displeasure to Mistry about the way the group
  is being run.
• The board has constituted a
  selection committee to choose the new chairman. Apart from Ratan Tata himself,
  the committee comprises TVS Chairman Venu Srinivasan, Bain Capital’s Amit
  Chandra, former diplomat Ronen Sen and Kumar Bhattacharyya of Warwick. All of
  them, except Bhattacharyya, are on the board of Tata Sons.

• Vice Admiral S V Bhokare on 20
  October 2016 assumed office as the Commandant of the Indian Naval Academy at
  Ezhimala in Kerala.
• With this, Bhokare became the
  first officer from the submarine arm of the Indian Navy to take over the charge
  of the Indian Naval Academy.

• Japan’s Morinari Watanabe on 20
  October 2016 was elected the new President of the International Gymnastics
  Federation (FIG).
• Watanabe emerged victorious in
  the election after defeating rival candidate Georges Guelzec of France by a
  huge margin in a vote at the governing body’s Congress.
• Watanabe, who is the
  secretary-general of Japan Gymnastics Association (JGA), won 100 of the 119
  votes. Guelzec, the head of the European Union of Gymnastics (UEG), received a
  mere 19 votes.

• Retired bureaucrat Sunil Kumar
  Mishra was on 19 October 2016 appointed as the Chief Information Commissioner
  (CIC) of Odisha. Governor Dr. S C Jamir approved the name of Mishra, an
  official release said.
• Earlier on 6 October 2016, a
  selection committee chaired by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik recommended
  Mishra’s name to the Governor for appointment as the CIC.
• Former director general of income
  tax Mishra will succeed former chief secretary Tarun Kanti Mishra. The post of
  CIC was vacant since February 2015. TK Mishra had resigned six months before
  his scheduled retirement on personal ground.

• Two doctors each from the All
  India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) and the Sir Ganga Ram Hospital
  (SGRH) in the third week of October 2016 were selected for the prestigious Dr
  Bidhan Chandra Roy Award for excellence in the field of medicine.
• Randeep Guleria, Head of
  Pulmonology, and CS Yadav of Department of Orthopaedics from the All India
  Institute of Medical Sciences were selected for the award.
• Chairman of Board of Management
  at the Sir Ganga Ram Hospital D S Rana and Arvind Kumar were also chosen for
  the coveted award.
• The awards will be presented by
  the President in July 2017.

• The Milan city council on 20
  October 2016 bestowed honorary citizenship on the Dalai Lama. However, China
  has strongly opposed another award given to him.
• Lamberto Bertole, Chairman of the
  Council of Milan, honoured the Dalai Lama with the Milan Honorary Citizenship
  award at a ceremony held at the Arcimboldi Theatre in Milan, Italy.

• Noted British statistician Sir
  David Cox on 19 October 2016 was named the inaugural recipient of the
  International Prize in Statistics. He is honoured for Survival Analysis Model
  Applied in Medicine, Science, and Engineering.
• The International Prize in
  Statistics Foundation is recognizing Cox specifically for his 1972 paper in
  which he developed the proportional hazards model that today bears his name.

• India on 22 October 2016 lifted
  the 2016 Kabaddi World Cup. Team India, under the captaincy of Anup Kumar,
  defeated Iran 38-29 in the final held at the Arena By TransStadia in Ahmedabad,
  Gujarat.
• This was India’s 3rd World Cup in
  the Standard Style version of Kabaddi.

• The Indian football team on 20
  October 2016 achieved its best FIFA ranking in over six years. The team jumped
  11 placed to be 137th in the latest list.
• India, who defeated 114th ranked
  Puerto Rico in an International Friendly in Mumbai in September 2016, garnered
  230 points for the month.
• In August 2010, India were ranked
  137th which stayed India’s best ever FIFA Ranking since then.
• The Indian team was ranked 171st
  in February 2015 and slipped to 173rd in March 2015.
• At present, Argentina tops the
  FIFA World Rankings, followed by Germany and Brazil.

• Kochi on 19 October 2016 became
  the first Indian city to be officially declared as one of the venues for
  hosting the 2017 FIFA U-17 World Cup. The tournament will be hosted in the
  Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium of the city.
• A 23-member high-level delegation
  comprising experts from FIFA and Local Organising Committee (LOC) ratified
  Kochi as the venue for next year’s mega event. Earlier, the delegation visited
  the Jawarharlal Nehru International Stadium.
• With this, the event also became
  the first FIFA event to be held in the subcontinent.
• Tournament Director of the LOC,
  Javier Ceppi said that besides Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, the team also visited
  the prospective training grounds in Kochi — Parade Ground, Fort Kochi Veli
  Football Ground, Maharajas College Ground and Government Boys High School
  Panampilly Nagar.

• The United Nations Day 2016 was
  observed across the world on 24 October 2016. The day marks the anniversary of
  the entry into force of the UN Charter (the founding document of UNO) in 1945.
• In 2016, UN Day will be used to
  highlight concrete actions people can take to help achieve the Sustainable
  Development Goals.
• On this day, the UN also organise
  a concert to celebrate and reflect on the work of the United Nations through
  the universal language of music. This year, Korean Traditional Music Orchestra,
  Lang Lang, world famous Harlem Gospel Choir, the Hungarian State Opera with
  performances by soprano Andrea Rost and other notable artists will be organised
  at the UN General Assembly Hall. In 2016, the theme of the concert is Freedom
  First.

• The Police Commemoration Day was
  observed on 21 October 2016 across India. The day commemorates the sacrifices
  of ten policemen while defending the borders with China in 1959.
• Home Minister Rajnath Singh laid
  wreath and paid homage to the police martyrs at Police Memorial Ground,
  Chanakyapuri in Delhi.
• On 21 October 1959, Chinese Army
  personnel opened fire and threw grenades at the police party of 20 personnel.

• The book titled The Adivasi Will
  Not Dance, penned by Hansda Sowvendra Shekhar, was in news in the second week
  of October 2016.
• The book was recently shortlisted
  for The Hindu Prize 2016.
• The characters of the book are
  set in the fecund, mineral-rich hinterland and the ever-expanding, squalid
  towns of Jharkhand.
• The book, a collection of
  stories, offers the glimpse in the lives of troupe-master Mangal Murmu, who
  refuses to perform for the President of India and is beaten down; Suren and
  Gita, a love-blind couple, who wait with quiet desperation outside a neonatal
  ward; Panmuni and Biram Soren, who move to Vadodara in the autumn of their
  lives, only to find that they must stop eating meat to be accepted as citizens,
  and several other characters.

• Book titled The Sleepwalker’s
  Dream authored by Dhrubajyoti Borah released. The book authored by Borah,
  President of Asam Sahitya Sabha, narrates the journey of a group of militants
  towards an elusive freedom and an uncertain future.
• The Sleepwalker’s Dream is about
  June, Ron and several other rebels fleeing their hideout in Bhutan after an
  army attack. With them is their injured, unconscious leader, who is unlikely to
  survive the ordeal of their journey towards the Assam border.
• Through this book, the author has
  tried to give life to their journey to be an insurgent and the memories that
  hunts them. June is the only woman in the group who is strangulated in memories
  of her long-lost family, her village, her innocent childhood and the tragic
  circumstances under which she had become an insurgent.