Current Affairs Update – 24th November, 2015

Hello and welcome to ExamPundit. Here are the Important Current Affairs of 24th November, 2015. These are important for the upcoming Banking and Insurance Exams.

Finance/Economy/Banking
India-Singapore
signed 10 agreements on mutual co-operation

  • India and Singapore on 24 November 2015 signed 10 agreements
    on mutual co-operation. These include Defence, Civil Aviation, National
    Planning and cyber Security.
  • The agreements were signed in presence of Prime Minster of
    Narendra Modi and Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. Narendra Modi was
    on a two-day visit to Singapore (23 November to 24 November 2015).

List of Joint
Declaration/Agreements/MoU’s signed
  • Joint Declaration on a Strategic Partnership: Seeks to
    elevate bilateral relations to a strategic partnership to deepen and broaden
    engagement in existing areas of cooperation. The Strategic Partnership is also
    a framework to contribute to greater regional stability and growth.
  • Agreement concerning Defence Cooperation
  • Agreement on the Extension of Loan of Artifacts to the Asian
    Civilisations Museum of Singapore Executive Programme on Cooperation in the
    Fields of the Arts, Heritage, Archives and Library for the Years 2015-2018
  • Operationalisation of the Technical Agreement on Sharing
    White Shipping Information
  • MoU on Cooperation in the area of Cyber Security
  • MoU in Civil Aviation
  • MoU on Cooperation in the Field of Planning
  • MoU on Cooperation to Combat Illicit Trafficking in Narcotic
    Drugs, Psychotropic Substance and their Precursors
  • MoU in Capacity Building in the Field of Urban Planning and
    Governance

Facebook takes Free
Basics pan-India with Reliance Communications

  • Facebook has expanded its controversial ‘Free Basics’
    initiative across the country to offer basic Internet access with its telecom
    partner Reliance Communications (RCom).
  • Earlier called ‘Internet.Org’, Facebook had launched the
    initiative in India with RCom to offer free access to about 32 apps and
    websites in Gujarat, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Kerala
    and Goa.
  • The number of such free apps and websites has now been
    increased to over 80.
  • India has over eight lakh users under the Free Basics
    initiative.
  • Free Basics, which aims to bring free Internet access to the
    developing world, has faced backlash, with activists alleging that it violates
    network neutrality, the idea that all online traffic should be treated equally.

Axis Bank, Vistara to
launch travel credit card

  • Private lender Axis Bank today said it has joined hands with
    Tata-SIA joint venture airline Vistara to launch a travel credit card next year
    under a strategic partnership.
  • The co-branded travel credit card, to be unveiled early next
    year, will offer a host of privileges and benefits to the business and leisure
    travellers of Vistara, Axis Bank said in a release today.
  • The country’s third full service airline after national
    carrier Air India and Naresh Goyal-promoted Jet Airways, Vistara last month for
    the first time breached the one lakh passengers mark since its launch in
    January this year.
  • Vistara, is a joint venture between Tata Sons Limited and
    Singapore Airlines Limited (SIA) with Tata Sons holding the majority stake of
    51% in the company and SIA holding the remaining 49%.

Awards
& Honors –
Marathi actor
Prashant Damle selected for Dinanath Mangeshkar award

  • Noted Marathi actor Prashant Damle was on 23 November 2015
    selected for the Master Dinanath Mangeshkar Award. He will be conferred with
    the award by Lata Mangeshkar in April 2016 on the occasion of the death anniversary
    of Master Dinanath.
  • He was chosen for the award for his outstanding contribution
    in the field of theatre, film and music.
  • The announcement was made by Pandit Hridaynath Mangeshkar at
    the 100th show of Damle’s Marathi play Karti Kaljat Ghusli. Hridaynath was the
    chief guest for the 100th show of the the Marathi play.

Kuldip Nayar honoured
with Ramnath Goenka Lifetime Achievement Award

  • Kuldip Nayar, a veteran journalist, columnist and author was
    honoured with Ramnath Goenka Lifetime Achievement Award on 23 November 2015. He
    was awarded for his contribution to journalism. 
  • He was conferred with the award at the eighth edition of the
    prestigious Ramnath Goenka Excellence awards ceremony held in Delhi.
  • The award for the years 2013 and 2014 was handed over by
    Information and Broadcasting minister Arun Jaitley, who also handed several
    awards in different categories to over 56 journalists for their exceptional
    reportage in print as well as broadcast media.

South African
Indian-Origin Filmmakers Win International Emmy Awards

  • Miners Shot Down, helmed by South African Indian-origin
    makers, has won the best documentary honour at the International Emmy Awards.
  • Directed by Rehad Desai and produced by Anita Khanna, the
    documentary tells the story of the August 2012 strike at Marikana, a town in in
    the North West province of South Africa, through the eyes of the miners, which
    left 44 people dead and scores more injured when police opened fire.
  • Through eye witness accounts and incisive interviews, the
    film details the source of the tensions between the workers and their employers
    as they started protesting the low wages paid by the company progressing to the
    aftermath of the killings.
  • Desai was given a standing ovation from the audience at the
    ceremony, which took place in New York.
  • The filmmakers said they welcome the accolades but are more
    concerned about creating greater awareness of the tragedy on which the
    documentary is based.

Appointments
Michael Keating
appointed as Special Representative for Somalia and Head of UNSOM
  • The Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on 23 November 2015
    announced the appointment of Michael Keating of United Kingdom as Special
    Representative for Somalia and Head of the UN Assistance Mission in Somalia
    (UNSOM).
  • Keating will succeed Nicholas Kay, who will complete his
    assignment in December 2015. Kay was associated with UNSOM for over the past
    two and a half years.

Rishi Gour appointed
as Country President of Sodexo India On-site Services
  • Rishi Gour was on 23 November 2015 appointed as Country
    President of Support services company Sodexo India On-site Services with effect
    from 1 September 2015.
  • Gour joined Sodexo in 2011 and has since then worked towards
    the brand’s promise of delivering quality of life services to over 400
    corporate, education and healthcare clients. Prior to joining Sodexo, Gour was
    associated with WNS Global Services, Accenture and CITIL across various
    functional areas.
  • He has a Bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering from IIT-Varanasi
    and a Post-Graduate degree in Management from IIM Ahmedabad.

Sports
Roger Van Gent
appointed as strategic coach of Indian Men’s Hockey Team
  • Dutchman Roger Van Gent was appointed as the strategic coach
    for the Indian men’s Hockey. He will be the strategic coach of the team till
    the 2016 Rio Olympics.
  • His appointment to the post was announced on 7 November 2015
    by Hockey India.
  • Gent, who joined the coaching staff for the Indian men’s
    hockey team, will assist High Performance director and chief coach Roelant
    Oltmans. He will assist Oltamas to work for Hero Hockey World League Final 2015
    and the 2016 Rio Olympics.

World
Operation Inherent
Resolve to tackle ISIS

  • Operation Inherent Resolve (OIR) was in news in fourth week
    of November 2015. It came into news after the Paris terror attack on 13
    November 2015 in which about 130 people were killed and several were injured.
  • OIR is the US military operation name for the intervention
    against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), including both the campaign
    in Iraq and the campaign in Syria. Effective 22 September 2015, III Corps is
    responsible for Combined Joint Task Force- Operation Inherent Resolve
    (CJTF-OIR).
  • The anti-ISIS coalition is a coalition of 65-member nations.

UNISDR released the
report titled The Human Cost of Weather Related Disasters
  • The United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction
    (UNISDR) on 23 November 2015 released the report titled The Human Cost of
    Weather Related Disasters. The report was compiled by UNISDR and the
    Belgian-based Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters (CRED).
  • The report depicts that over the last 20 years, 90 percent
    of major disasters have been caused by 6457 recorded floods, storms, heatwaves,
    droughts and other weather-related events.
  • It finds that the five countries hit by the highest number
    of disasters are the United States, China, India, Philippines and Indonesia.
  • It demonstrates that since the first UN climate change
    conference (COP1) in 1995, 606000 lives have been lost and 4.1 billion people
    have been injured and left homeless as a result of weather-related disasters.

20th Anniversary of
Dayton Peace Accord observed
  • The Dayton Peace Accord was in news on 21 November 2015 as
    the world commemorated 20th Anniversary of the Signing of the Dayton Peace
    Accords.
  • The UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon also commended the
    efforts of the Government of Bosnia and Herzegovina on the consolidation of
    peace and political stability and the socioeconomic progress achieved during
    the past 20 years.
  • The Dayton Peace Accords were signed on 21 November 1995 at
    Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio to end the Bosnian war and laid
    the foundations for a sovereign Bosnia and Herzegovina.


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