Current Affairs Update – 22nd-23rd May, 2016

Hello and welcome to exampundit. Here are the important Current Affairs of 22nd and 23rd May, 2016. These are important for the upcoming UIIC AO 2016, SBI Clerk and SBI PO Mains 2016.

• India and Iran inked a dozen
  agreements ranging from a contract to develop the strategic Chahabar port to an
  initial pact to set up an aluminium plant and one on laying a railway line to
  give India connectivity to Afghanistan and Central Asia.
• The agreements and MoUs signed
  during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Iran will further deepen the
  bilateral ties in diverse fields.

1. India-Iran Cultural Exchange
   Programme – The objective is to extend the CEP for the period 2016-2019
   covering the areas of culture and art; radio, TV, mass media and cinema; and
   relevant general and financial terms.
2. MoU between the Ministry of
   External Affairs (MEA) of India and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) of
   Iran on Policy Dialogue between Governments and Interaction between Think Tanks
   – The MoU seeks to create a Joint Secretary/Director General policy dialogue as
   well as encouraging new institutional mechanisms between think tanks on both
   sides. There is also a provision for a conference on contemporary issues of
   regional and global significance.
3. MoU between Foreign Service
   Institute, MEA and the School of International Relations, Iran’s MoFA – This
   MoU is intended to enhance cooperation between the two parties for training of
   diplomats and exchange of eminent speakers.
4. Implementation Protocol
   between Department of Science and Technology, Ministry of S&T and Iran’s
   Ministry of Science, Research and Technology on Cooperation in the Fields of
   Science and Technology – The IP fleshes out the specific cooperation between
   the two sides pursuant to the 2003 MoU and covers areas like exchange of
   experiences, seminars, conferences etc.
5. MoU between Indian Council
   for Cultural Relations and Islamic Culture and Relations Organizations of the
   IR Iran – The MoU provides for institutional mechanisms for cooperation between
   ICCR and ICRO and lays down the modalities for the cooperation.
6. Bilateral contract on
   Chabahar Port for port development and operations between IPGPL [India Ports
   Global Private Limited] and Arya Banader of Iran – The contract envisages
   development and operation for 10 years of two terminals and 5 berths with cargo
   handling [multipurpose and general] capacities.
7. MoU between EXIM Bank and
   Iran’s Ports and Maritime Organization [PMO] oncurrent specific terms for the
   Chabahar Port project – This MoU is intended for the purpose of credit of USD
   150 million for Chabahar port.
8. Confirmation Statement
   between EXIM Bank and Central Bank of Iran – This confirms the availability of
   credit up to INR 3000 crore for the import of steel rails and implementation of
   Chabahar port.
9. MoU between ECGC [Export
   Credit Guarantee Corporation] Limited of India and the Export Guarantee Fund of
   Iran (EGFI) – The MoU seeks to establish a framework of cooperation between
   ECGC and EGFI in supporting and encouraging foreign trade and foreign
   investment between India and Iran and, where appropriate, the supply of goods
   and services from their respective countries as part of a project to a third
   country.
10. MoU between National
    Aluminium Company Limited (NALCO) and the Iranian Mines and Mining Industries
    Development and Renovation Organization (IMIDRO) – The objective is for the two
    parties to jointly explore the possibility of manufacturing aluminium metal by
    setting up of a smelter on joint venture basis in Iran and/or entering into
    tolling arrangements with smelters in Iran or any other form of business
    collaboration including sale of alumina etc.
11. MoU between IRCON and
    Construction, Development of Transport and Infrastructure Company (CDTIC) of
    Iran – MoU will enable IRCON to provide requisite services for the construction
    of Chabahar-Zahedan railway line which forms part of transit and transportation
    corridor in trilateral agreement between India, Iran and Afghanistan. Services
    to be provided by IRCON include all superstructure work and financing the
    project (around USD 1.6 billion).
12. MoU for cooperation between
    the National Archives of India and the National Library and Archives
    Organisation of the Islamic Republic of Iran – The aim to for facilitation of
    exchange of information and knowledge in the field of archival matters through
    exchange of manuals, guidelines, rules, publications and other special
    literature on archival topics.

• India, Iran and Afghanistan on
  Monday inked an agreement on the Chabahar port on the Gulf of Oman that will
  make it a transport and transit hub to boost trade.
• “A corridor of connectivity.
  The leaders witness the signing of the Chabahar agreement,” external
  affairs ministry spokesperson Vikas Swarup tweeted.
• The agreement was signed
  following a trilateral summit between Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Iranian
  President Hassan Rouhani and Afghan President Ashraf Ghani.
• Union Minister for Road Transport
  and Shipping Nitin Gadkari signed the agreement on India’s behalf.
• Earlier on Monday, India and Iran
  signed three bilateral agreements for the development of Chabahar port.
• The agreement to develop Phase I
  of Chabahar port is seen as India’s counter to the development of the deep-sea
  port of Gwadar, in Balochistan in Pakistan, located just 72 km away.
• The development of Chabahar port
  will allow India to circumvent Pakistan and open up an alternative land-sea
  route for its trade with Afghanistan and beyond to Central Asia.
• India has already spent $100
  million in building the 220-km Zaranj-Delaram highway in Afghanistan, also
  known as Route 606, which connects to Chabahar.
• India committed around $500
  million for the important port in Iran’s southern coast, which will serve as a
  “point of connectivity” between India, Afghanistan, Commonwealth of
  Independent States (CIS) countries and East Europe.

• Market regulator Securities and
  Exchange Board of India (SEBI) on 20 May 2016 tightened the norms for investing
  in Participatory Notes (P-Notes). The norms have been tightened with a view to
  check money laundering.

• It has been mandatory for P-Notes
  users to follow the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002.
• They have also been mandated to
  report any suspicious transactions immediately.
• Sebi also tightened the
  due-diligence requirements for issuance and transfer of these instruments
• It also put the onus on the
  original issuer for compliance to Anti-Money Laundering Regulations.

• Indian Space Research
  Organisation (ISRO) on 23 May 2016 successfully launched its maiden indigenous
  winged Reusable Launch Vehicle (RLV) from Sriharikota spaceport in Andhra
  Pradesh.
• It was carried up on a solid
  rocket motor (SRM). The nine-ton SRM was designed to burn slowly to accommodate
  the vertical lifting of winged body.
• After launch from the Sriharikota
  spaceport, it glided back onto a virtual runway in the Bay of Bengal. The
  vehicle re-entered the atmosphere after reaching a height of over 70 km.
• The mission, known as the
  hypersonic flight experiment, lasted about 10 minutes.

• The Re-Usable Launch Vehicle –
  Technology Demonstrator (RLV-TD) is considered as a first step towards
  realising a Two Stage To Orbit (TSTO) fully reusable vehicle. That is, it can
  put satellites into orbit around earth and then re-enter atmosphere.
• The 6.5 meter long RLV-TD has
  aeroplane like structure which weighs about 1.75 tons.
• The cost of this project is 95
  crore rupees.
• It is very similar to the US
  space shuttle.
• The double delta-winged RLV-TD
  being experimented is a scale model which is almost 6 times smaller than the
  final version.

• In a landmark judgement, the
  National Green Tribunal Circuit Bench here on Monday banned light and heavy
  diesel vehicles, which are more than 10 years old, in six major cities,
  including state capital Thiruvananthapuram and commercial capital Kochi, in
  Kerala.
• In its first sitting, the Bench,
  comprising NGT chairperson Justice Swatanter Kumar and expert member Bikram
  Singh Sajwan, also directed the state government not to register any diesel
  vehicle in the capacity of 2000 CC and more, except public transport and local
  authority vehicles.
• “All the diesel vehicles whether
  light or heavy which are more than 10 years shall not be permitted to ply on
  the roads in the major cities like Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Kochi, Thrissur,
  Kozhikode and Kannur,” the Bench said in its order.
• Upon expiry of 30 days from Monday,
  if any vehicle is found to be violating this direction, it shall pay Rs. 5000
  as environmental compensation and this will be collected by traffic police or
  pollution control board, the Bench said.
• It said both State police and
  pollution control board shall maintain separate account in this regard and
  directed that the funds shall be utilized for betterment of environment in
  these cities.

• To help passengers using reserved
  accommodation, railways today extended alternative train accommodation system
  for five major routes connecting Howrah, Mumbai, Chennai, Bangalore and
  Secunderabad from New Delhi.
• The facility named as Vikalp
  offers passengers booked under the scheme will be given an option for getting
  alternate accommodation in another train if they do not get confirmed berths in
  the trains of their choice.
• Under the scheme, waitlisted
  passengers can give choice to opt for Vikalp facility to get confirmed berths
  in alternate trains if they are getting waitlisted ticket in the train of their
  choice.
• Vikalp scheme was announced in
  the budget and so we are implementing it, Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu said
  at Mumbai.
• The scheme is implemented only on
  Mail/Express & Superfast trains and not applicable in Rajdhani, Shatabdi
  and Duronto trains.
• Once a vikalp passenger has been
  allotted alternate accommodation, journey modification will not be permitted.
  No extra charges are taken from passenger or any refund is provided for
  difference of fare.

• India and Oman on 22 May 2016
  signed 4 Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs)/agreements in Muscat. They were
  signed during the visit of Indian Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar to Oman.

• MOU on Defence Cooperation
  between the Ministry of Defense of Sultanate of Oman and Ministry of Defence of
  India
• MOU between the Royal Oman Police
  (Coast Guard) and the Indian Coast Guard in the field of Marine Crime
  Prevention at Sea
• MOU between the Government of the
  Sultanate of Oman and India on Maritime Issues
• Protocol between the Government
  of the Sultanate of Oman represented by Royal Air Force of Oman and the
  Government of India represented by the Indian Air Force on Flight Safety
  information Exchange

• Himachal Pradesh fisheries
  department in the third week of May 2016 launched an artificial propagation
  programme for rehabilitation and conservation of Golden Mahseer fish.
• A hatchery with an outlay of 6
  crore rupees has been set up at Machhial near Joginder Nagar town in Mandi district
  to rear the mahseer. The hatchery-reared juveniles would be released into the
  rivers and reservoirs.
• The brooder fish reared in the
  hatchery was collected from the local rivers and streams.

• The Union Minister of State for
  Science and Technology YS Chowdary on 20 May 2016 launched Qora. It is an
  indigenously developed faecal incontinence (FI) management system.
• The affordable device is
  primarily aimed at patients outside the intensive care unit.
• Qora was developed by the
  Department of Biotechnology in partnership with AIIMS and IIT Delhi.
• The international partners of the
  programme include Stanford University, US, Queensland University of Technology,
  Australia, and Tottori University, Japan.

• BJP leader and former IPS officer
  Kiran Bedi was appointed as the Lieutenant Governor (LG) of Puducherry on 22
  May 2016. Puducherry will now have a full time Lt. Governor after a gap of two
  year.
• She will succeed Ajay Kumar
  Singh, the Lieutenant Governor of Andaman and Nicobar Islands, who was holding
  the additional charge of Puducherry since July 2014. The LG post of Puducherry
  was vacant after the union government in July 2014 sacked Virendra Kataria from
  the post.
• The appointment comes into effect
  three days after the Congress-DMK alliance won 17 seats in the 30-member
  Assembly.

• The International Day to End
  Obstetric Fistula was observed across the world on 23 May 2016 with the theme
  End fistula within a generation. The day is celebrated to raise awareness about
  obstetric fistula.
• The day was created through the
  resolution A/RES/67/147 of United Nations General Assembly calling on the
  international community to use this International Day to significantly raise
  awareness and intensify actions towards ending obstetric fistula.

• The United Nations (UN) observed
  the International Day for Biological Diversity (IBD) on 22 May 2016. The theme
  for the year 2016 is Mainstreaming Biodiversity; Sustaining People and their
  Livelihoods.
• This year theme highlights the
  role of biodiversity in underpinning development. The UN also highlighted that
  biodiversity is an important cross-cutting issue in the message marking the
  2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

• Denmark on 22 May 2016 won the
  2016 Thomas Cup badminton tournament. In the final match played at Kunshan,
  China, the Danish team defeated Indonesia 3-2.
• In the fifth and final set,
  Danish Hans-Kristian Vittinghus defeated Indonesian Ihsan Maulana Mustofa in
  two straight games 21-16 and 21-7.
• Ending a 67-year wait, this was
  Denmark’s first ever win in the international tournament. Earlier, it had
  finished runner-up at the men’s international team tournament.
• Denmark is also the first European
  nation to win the Thomas Cup.

• Chinese women badminton team
  showing its supremacy on 21 May 2016 won the Uber Cup title. In the final
  played at the Kunshan Sports Centre Gymnasium in Beijing, the host country
  defeated South Korea 3-1.
• It was the host country’s third
  triumph in a row since 2012 and overall it won the title for 14th time since it
  first started competing in the Uber Cup in 1984.
• However, South Korean team was
  unable to end their six-year drought at the Uber Cup.

• The world’s oldest Olympic
  champion, Sandor Tarics, died on 21 May 2016 in San Francisco. He was 102. His
  death was confirmed by Hungarian Olympic Committee MOB.
• Tarics was member of the
  Hungarian Waterpolo team which won in the Berlin Olympics staged by the Nazi
  government in 1936, pushing Germany into second place.

Regards

Team ExamPundit