Current Affairs Update – 23rd April, 2015

Hello and welcome to ExamPundit. Here are the Important Current Affairs for 23rd April, 2015.

• The Reserve Bank today revised priority sector lending
  norms, asking banks to give 8 per cent of the total credit to small and
  marginal farmers.
• It also widened the definition of priority sector by
  including medium enterprises, social infrastructure and renewable energy while
  retaining the lending target to the sector at 40 per cent.
• Changes have however been made in certain sub-categories by
  fixing lending targets. Also, the distinction between direct and indirect
  agriculture has been dispensed with and loans to food and agro processing units
  will form part of agriculture.
• Eight per cent of total bank credit prescribed for small and
  marginal farmers within the agriculture segment has to be achieved in a phased
  manner — 7 per cent by March 2016 and 8 per cent by March 2017, RBI said.
• Overall target for agriculture has been kept unchanged at 18
  per cent.
• For micro enterprises, 7 per cent lending by March 2016 and
  7.5 per cent by March 2017 has been prescribed.
• However, there will be no change in the 10 per cent loan
  target for weaker sections.
• Existing categories in priority sector include agriculture,
  micro and small enterprises, export credit, education and housing loan.
• RBI said foreign banks with less than 20 branches will have
  to move to total priority sector target of 40 per cent, on par with other banks
  by 2019-20.
• RBI said overdrafts extended by banks for up to Rs 5,000 in
  case of PMJDY accounts would be considered as priority sector lending (PSL).
• It would however qualify only if borrowers’ household annual
  income does not exceed Rs 1 lakh for rural areas and Rs 1.60 lakh for non-rural
  areas.
• RBI further said that bank loans of up to Rs 10 lakh
  extended to individuals for educational purposes, including vocational courses,
  will be eligible for PSL.
• Limits for housing loans and MFI loans qualifying under PSL
  have also been revised.

• Now driving down to a restaurant becomes all the more easy
  for Zomato users.
• Global restaurant search and discovery app Zomato has
  partnered with the San Francisco-based hail-a-taxi app, Uber, to bring in more
  users onto their respective platforms across the globe.
• In a statement here today Zomato said the partnership has
  been rolled out to Zomato users in 27 cities across 13 countries — India,
  Australia, Canada, the UK, South Africa, Indonesia, New Zealand, the
  Philippines, Portugal, Qatar, Turkey, UAE, and the US.
• Zomato and Uber will provide users a seamless experience by
  enabling them to book cabs to the restaurant they are planning to eat at.
• The feature has already been made available to Zomato users
  in London and South Africa, and will now be rolled out to users in these other
  key markets, the release said.

• Google India has bagged the Randstad Award 2015 for Most
  Attractive Employer in India, while Sony India has been adjudged the runner-up.
• The sector-specific special recognition awards this year
  were awarded to Tata Steel (manufacturing), P&G (FMCG), and Honda India
  (Automobile). The 5th edition of the Randstad Awards event will be held in
  Delhi later today.
• In line with the Randstad Award philosophy, Microsoft India
  has been inducted into the Hall of Fame category this year for winning the
  coveted Randstad Award title for four consecutive years.
• The Randstad Award is hosted each year to encourage best
  practices for talent attraction and to identify the best ‘Employer Brand’ in
  the country based on the perceived attractiveness of a company. Globally, this
  research covered 23 countries, capturing the views of over 225,000 respondents
  (8,500 in India).

• UST Global, an information technology solutions and services
  company, has signed a $30 million deal with the Madhya Pradesh government to
  digitise its urban local bodies. Under the seven-year deal, the company will
  digitise the State’s 377 urban local bodies.
• As part of the deal, UST Global will help these bodies
  provide facilities such as electronic bill payments and online filing of
  grievances to its citizens. Overall, it will support the state’s projects in
  water, electricity, public health and transportation outlined in the Chief
  Minister’s infrastructure development manifesto, ‘Vision 2018’, the company
  said in a statement.
• UST Global will also train and hire 10,000 differently-abled
  individuals across the country over the next three years, under its ‘Impact
  India’ programme. This is apart from the 5,000 people that the company plans to
  hire for expansion during the same period.

• The share of rural internet users will increase nearly
  fivefold to touch 28 crore by 2018, signalling higher online purchasers going
  forward from rural India, says a research report.
• By 2018, the country will have “as many as 55 crore
  internet users, of which 28 crore would be from smaller towns and cities,
  expanding at close to 40 per cent a year from six crore in 2014,”
  forecasts a report on digital consumption by Boston Consulting Group (BCG).
• The report said that the shift will open up significant
  growth opportunities for marketers and service providers keeping in mind the
  dynamics of rural markets in India.
• Around 70 per cent of rural users access the internet from
  their mobile handsets, the report said.
• Three factors including expanding reach, affordable access
  and improved awareness will be the primary driver of online growth, the report
  pointed out.
• By 2018, women will account for a third of all internet
  users from 25 per cent in 2013.

• The Union Cabinet on 22 April 2015 gave its approval for
  signing of a shipping agreement between India and Jordan. The agreement aims at
  strengthening cooperation and providing sustained mutual assistance on merchant
  shipping and other related maritime matters.
• The nod was given in a Cabinet meet chaired by Prime
  Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi after recognizing the significant mutual
  benefit which can be derived from cooperation in area of shipping between the
  two countries.

• It will help the two nations to encourage and facilitate
  development of their maritime relationship.
• It will help the two nations to cooperate in the task of
  enhancing and stimulating steady growth of maritime traffic.
• It will help in exchange and training of staff and students
  from various maritime establishments, exchange of information necessary for
  accelerating and facilitating flow of commercial goods at sea and at ports.

• The Union Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (I&B)
  on 22 April 2015 received the ISO 9001:2008 certification from the British
  Standards Institute (BSI). The ISO certification was granted in respect of
  various licences issued by ministry for the broadcasts, print media and films.
• In this regard, the Ministry has put in place a well-defined
  procedure and measures in order to ensure quality of services offered to the
  customers on the basis of ISO 9001:2008. This certification will also ensure
  delivery of services by the Ministry in a qualitative manner.

• Thomas Bach, the president of International Olympic
  Committee (IOC), was on 22 April 2015 named as ambassador of HeForShe campaign
  by UN Women.
• HeForShe is a solidarity campaign for gender equality
  established by United Nations (UN) Women.
• The campaign was launched by the UN Women Global Goodwill
  Ambassador Emma Watson in September 2014. HeForShe encourages men and boys to
  join in on the fight for women’s rights and gender equality all over the glove.
  Their goal is to enlist one billion men and boys to become advocates for
  women’s rights worldwide.
• Hundres of thousands of men have voiced their commitment to
  gender equality, since the campaign’s launch, and gave their full support for
  the program.

• Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan was on 21 April 2015 honoured
  with the Dadasaheb Phalke Film Foundation Award 2015 for his performance in the
  movie Happy New Year. The award ceremony was held in Mumbai.

• Actor Rajkummar Rao won the prestigious award for his
  performance in the critically acclaimed film Citylights, which was released in
  2014.
• Actress Huma Qureshi bagged an award for her memorable
  performance in the movie Dedh Ishiqya.
• Bollywood actors Shreyas Talpade, Tiger Shroff, actress Jaya
  Prada, singer Udit Narayan and Pankaj Udhas were also felicitated with the
  award.
• Several television celebrities were also conferred with the
  award including actors Rubina Dilaik, comedian Bharti Singh and actor Ravi
  Dubey.

• Bangladesh on 22 April 2015 won the three-match One Day International
  (ODI) Series against Pakistan in Dhaka by 3-0. This was Bangladesh’s first
  series whitewash against an Asian Test-playing nation.
• Man of the Series award went to Tamim Iqbal.
• Now, both teams will play a T-20 match at Shere Bangla
  National Stadium    in Dhaka on 24 April
  2015. It will be followed by a 2-match Test series which will began on 28 April
  2015 at Sheikh Abu Naser Stadium in Khulna and end on 10 May 2015 at Shere
  Bangla National Stadium in Dhaka.

• The Union Sports Ministry on 22 April 2015 suspended the
  recognition of Paralympic Committee of India (PCI) with immediate effect. It
  was suspended for poor management and conduct of 15th National Para-Athletics
  Championships held in Ghaziabad in March 2015.
• The action of Union Government came a week after PCI was
  indefinitely suspended by the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) for
  infighting and poor treatment of the para-athletes during the event. IPC had
  suspended PCI on 15 April 2015.
• The government took the action in the backdrop of the report
  of the inquiry conducted by the Sports Authority of India (SAI). SAI in its
  report found that the PCI failed miserably in providing adequate facilities to
  the para-athletes during the National Para Athletics Championships 2015 held
  from 20 March to 22 March 2015.

• Indian-American Vivek Murthy was today administered the oath
  for the top post of US Surgeon General by Vice President Joe Biden at a
  ceremonial ceremony here, becoming the youngest-ever in charge of the country’s
  public health.
• 37-year-old Vivek Hallegere Murthy is now the highest
  ranking Indian-American in the Obama Administration.
• Attended by eminent Indian-Americans, who flew in the
  military bastion from across the country to attend the Commissioning and Change
  of Command Ceremony, Murthy took the oath on the holy Gita.
• As the US Surgeon General, Murthy carries the rank of Vice
  Admiral.
• The Health Secretary Sylvia Burwell also participated in the
  event.

• World Book and Copyright Day – marked around the world on 23
  April – was proclaimed by UNESCO in 1995 and is observed by millions of people
  in over 100 countries by schools, public organizations and private businesses.
• As global symbols of social progress, books have always been
  targets for those who reject freedom and tolerance, the United Nations agency
  mandated with promoting education said today on World Book and Copyright Day,
  calling the occasion an opportunity to recognize the power of books to change
  lives for the better.
• Each year, UNESCO and the international organizations
  representing the three major sectors of the book industry – publishers,
  booksellers and libraries – select the World Book Capital for a one-year
  period, effective 23 April each year.
• This year the city of Incheon in Republic of Korea was
  chosen in recognition of its programme to promote reading among people and
  underprivileged sections of the population.

Regards

Team ExamPundit

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