Current Affairs Update – 25th May, 2016

• Reserve Bank deputy governor S S
  Mundra has raised concerns over one-third of ATMs being non-functional and
  warned the banks of penal action if the compliance levels are not met.
• Mundra quoted a survey of 4,000
  ATMs conducted by a Reserve Bank team recently wherein it has found that almost
  one-third of these machines are not in working conditions. The ATMs surveyed
  were situated in various parts of the country and were of various banks, he
  said.
• The RBI survey has also found
  many violations of various regulatory instructions such as on display material,
  facilities for differently abled, etc, he added.
• The government and the RBI have
  taken financial inclusion as one of the top agendas and ATMs are one of the
  ways to attain that objectives, he said, adding despite that banks are being
  found not adhering to the compliance levels prescribed by the regulators.
• Led by state-run banks, 56
  commercial banks together had 1,00,671 on-site cash vending machines and 96,656
  offsite machines as of February this year as per the RBI data.
• After the big push to install
  ATMs in remote places, where there is no physical presence of a bank, by the
  past UPA government, banks, especially private sector ones, have been going
  slow in putting up new cash vending machines of late.

• That is three out of 11 payment
  banks which got the RBI’s approval, and the withdrawal highlights some of its
  limitations: payments banks cannot lend, there are restrictions on deposit
  deployment, and, more importantly, might not find a strategic fit with a
  group’s other businesses. 
• The companies which have said no to payment banks
  are: Cholamandalam Investment and Finance Co., Sun Pharma promoter Dilip Shanghvi
  and his partners (IDFC Bank and Telenor Financial Services) and Tech Mahindra.

• The Union Cabinet on 25 May 2016
  approved the National Capital Goods Policy 2016. This is first ever policy for
  Capital Goods sector with a clear objective of increasing production of capital
  goods from 2.3 lakh crore rupees in 2014-15 to 7.5 lakh crore rupees in 2025.
• It also seeks to raise direct and
  indirect employment from the current 8.4 million to 30 million by 2025.

• Vision: To increase the share of
  capital goods contribution from present 12 to 20 percent of total manufacturing
  activity by 2025
• Mission: To become one of the top
  capital goods producing nations of the world by raising the total production to
  over twice the current level
• To raise exports to a significant
  level of at least 40 percent of total production and thus gain 2.5 percent
  share in global exports of capital goods
• To improve technology depth in
  Indian capital goods from the current basic and intermediate levels to advanced
  levels
• Objectives: Increase total
  production to achieve total production in excess of 5 lakh crore rupees by 2025
  from the current 2.2 lakh crore rupees
• To increase the share of domestic
  production in India’s capital goods demand from 56 percent to 80 percent by
  2025 and in the process improve domestic capacity utilization to 80-90 percent
• To improve skill availability by
  training 50 lakhs people by 2025
• Programmes: To achieve the above
  objectives the policy proposed a new scheme Heavy Industry Export & Market
  Development Assistance Scheme (HIEMDA) on pilot basis, Technology Development
  Fund under PPP model, start-up centre for capital goods sector.

• The Government of Telangana and
  the US-based healthcare tech firm Eclat Health Solutions on 24 May 2016 signed
  a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU).
• Under the MoU, the Eclat will
  invest 15 million US dollars in Tier II cities of Telangana.
• Besides, another agreement was
  signed between the Government and Monif Matouk, Chairman, Genesis
  Pharmaceuticals and Afi Hasan, CEO Safye Holdings.
• The MoUs were signed in Indianapolis,
  the USA in the presence of Telangana IT and Industries Minister K T Rama Rao.
• He is on a 2-week trip to the USA
  to attract investments into the State.

• Hindustan Aeronautics Limited
  (HAL) said on Wednesday that it has signed a pact with Bharat Electronics
  Limited (BEL) for developing advanced airborne communication and electronic
  warfare systems.
• “The umbrella understanding
  includes sharing of expertise in design, development, engineering and
  manufacturing between HAL and BEL to develop and produce advanced airborne
  communication, electronic warfare systems, etc,” T Suvarna Raju, CMD, HAL
  said in a release.
• D K Venkatesh, Director (Engg and
  R&D) HAL and A T Kalghatgi, Director (R&D) of BEL signed the MoU in the
  presence of T Suvarna Raju, CMD, HAL and S K Sharma, CMD, BEL in New Delhi on
  Tuesday, the release added.

• State-run BHEL today said it has
  commissioned the first 800 mw supercritical thermal unit in Raichur, Karnataka.
• The unit has been commissioned at
  the 2×800 MW Yeramarus Thermal Power Station (TPS) located in Raichur district
  of Karnataka, Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) said in a statement.
• Yeramarus is being developed by
  Raichur Power Corporation Ltd (RPCL) — a joint venture of Karnataka Power Corporation
  Limited (KPCL) and BHEL.
• The second unit of this project
  is also in the advanced stage of construction and is expected to be commissioned
  shortly, the statement said.

• Taxi aggregator Uber has signed a
  pact with Kempegowda International Airport to provide people rides who land in
  the city from the airport.
• Through this pact, Uber will be
  given a dedicated parking area and pick-up zone called ‘U Zone’ located within
  the airport premises, the company said in a release.
• Stating that the U-Zone has been
  created to streamline traffic and reduce congestion at the pick up lanes, it
  said Uber executives will also be at the airport to help passengers find their
  cars easily and give them access to wi—fi in case they face network issues.

• DTH player Tata Sky has partnered
  TechProcess Payment Services, an electronic payments company, for the Next Gen
  Digital Payments Platform.
• This platform will empower
  multi-mode online and mobile payments for Tata Sky and will provide convenience
  and safety for consumers to make digital payments.
• The Next Gen Digital Payments
  Platform is interoperable with more than 185+payment modes, including credit
  and debit card, net-banking e-wallets and the likes. The platform is a single
  integration omni-channel payment solution compatible with online and mobile
  channels.

• Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail
  (ABFRL) today said it will be entering into a binding MoU with global clothing
  brand Forever 21 to acquire its online and offline rights for the Indian
  market.
• Forever 21 is among the fastest
  growing fashion retailers in the world with a large network of more than 700
  stores worldwide.
• The proposed acquisition is
  subject to necessary statutory approvals and signing of definitive agreements.
• Forever 21 expects that its
  partnership with ABFRL will help establish it as one of the largest women’s wear
  brand in the country.

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• Senior BJP leader and former
  Union minister Sarbanand Sonowal was sworn-in as the Chief Minister of Assam on
  24 May 2016. Governor Padmanabha Balakrishna Acharya administered his oath of
  office and secrecy at Khanapara in Guwahati.
• It was the first time after 1985,
  when a Chief Minister took his oath in an open field.
• With this, Sonowal became Assam’s
  second tribal chief minister after Jogen Hazarika in the 1970s. He is also
  first Chief Minister from Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Assam.
• It is the first time that a
  BJP-led alliance will form a majority government in Assam.

• Lieutenant General SK Saini in
  third week of May 2016 took over as the 46th Commandant of the Indian Military
  Academy (IMA), Dehradun.
• Lt Gen Saini is an alumnus of the
  National Defence Academy (NDA) and the Indian Military Academy (IMA).
• He was commissioned into the 7th
  Battalion of the Jat Regiment in June 1981.
• He has held various staff,
  instructional and command appointments.
• He has commanded his battalion, a
  mountain brigade and a counter insurgency force in Jammu & Kashmir.

• Subhash Chandra has resigned from
  the post of director and non-executive chairman of Zee Media.
• In a filing to the BSE, Zee Media
  said that its board in a meeting held today “took on record the
  resignation of Dr. Subhash Chandra as Director & Non-Executive Chairman of
  the Company with effect from May 24, 2016.”
• It further said that its board
  also approved appointment of R K Arora, CEO, as an Additional Director of the
  company.
• Zee Media, formerly known as Zee
  News, is one of the leading news networks of India.
• It has news channels which
  includes Zee News, Zee Business, India 24×7, Zee Punjab Haryana Himachal, Zee
  Madhya Pradesh Chhattisgarh, Zee 24 Taas, 24 Ghanta, Zee Kalinga News, Zee
  Purvaiya and Zee Rajasthan News.

• Indian Naval Sailing Vessel
  (INSV) Mhadei set sail from Goa on Tuesday with an all-woman crew for a voyage
  to Port Louis in Mauritius skippered by Lt. Cdr. Vartika Joshi, a Naval
  Constructor. The ship was flagged-off by R.Adm K.K. Pandey from INS Mandovi at
  Verem in north Goa at a ceremony on Tuesday.
• This would be the first open-ocean
  voyage of the Navy’s all-woman crew of the Mhadei. It is a training voyage to
  expose the young crew to the weather that they will confront during the
  circumnavigation of the globe scheduled for 2017.

• The abbreviation NEDA standing
  for North East Democratic Alliance was in news as Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)
  on 24 May 2016 formed NEDA to boost development agenda in North-Eastern states
  of India.
• This alliance can be termed as
  non-Congress alliance of parties willing to join of Chief Ministers of Assam,
  Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland and Sikkim.
• The main objective of the NEDA,
  which is part of the NDA, will be all-round development of North East and
  better co-ordination among the states and central government.

• India, which is has emerged as
  world’s second largest mobile market, is also the fifth largest producer of
  e-waste, discarding roughly 18.5 lakh metric tonnes of electronic waste each
  year, a study says.
• The telecom equipment alone
  accounting for 12 per cent of the e-waste, a joint study by Assocham-KPMG said.
• The rising levels of e-waste
  generation in India has been a matter of extreme concern in recent years. With
  more than 100 crore mobile phones in circulation, nearly 25 per cent end up in
  e-waste annually, it said.
• The Ministry of Environment,
  Forest and Climate Change has notified e-waste management rules, 2016 in which
  producers are for the first time covered under extended producers’
  responsibility (EPR).
• The rules prescribe a waste
  collection target of 30 per cent waste generated under EPR for the first two
  years, progressively going up to 70 per cent in the seventh year of the
  rule.The rules prescribe stringent financial penalties for non-compliance.

• The United Nations Office on
  Drugs and Crime (UNODC) on 24 May 2016 launched its inaugural World Wildlife
  Crime Report. The report highlights how the poaching and illegal trade of
  thousands of different species across the globe present real environmental
  dangers.
• The report also urges shared
  responsibility in tackling this crime given how products made from illicit
  flora and fauna such as fashion items, furniture, food, and pets, may be hidden
  in plain sight.
• The report is a part of UNODC’s
  ongoing Global Programme on Wildlife and Forest Crime.

• Wildlife and forest crime is not
  limited to certain countries or regions, but is a truly global phenomenon.
• Nearly 7000 species have been
  seized, including not only mammals but reptiles, corals, birds, and fish. No
  single species is responsible for more than 6% of the seizure incidents.
• Illegal wildlife markets do not
  correspond neatly to biological categories. Some markets make use of multiple
  species, while some species feed multiple distinct markets.

• The United Nations World
  Humanitarian Summit concluded on 24 May 2016 in Istanbul, Turkey. The summit
  was organised by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian
  Affairs (UN OCHA).
• More than 50 heads of state and
  government attended the summit, which commenced on 23 May 2016. However, the UN
  Secretary General Ban Ki-moon voiced his disappointment at the absence of world
  leaders from G7 countries.
• The World Humanitarian Summit’s
  main achievement was the Grand Bargain, which is the name for a set of 51
  commitments to reform humanitarian financing to make emergency aid finance more
  efficient and effective.
• In the summit, a New charter for
  Persons With Disabilities was also endorsed. The charter aims at improving the
  living conditions of persons with disabilities during emergencies.

• The book titled A Call to Mercy:
  Hearts to Love, Hands to Serve was in news on 25 May 2016. The book is a collection
  of previously unreleased writings by Mother Teresa.
• The material in the book offers
  Mother Teresa’s profound yet accessible wisdom on how we can show mercy and
  compassion in our day-to-day lives.
• The book was compiled by the Rev.
  Brian Kolodiejchuk, who has led the case for Mother Teresa’s sainthood.
• It will be released in August
  2016 weeks before the late Nobel Peace Prize winner is to be canonized.

• Renowned Pink Panther star Burt
  Kwouk passed away on 24 May 2016. He was 85. He is survived by his wife
  Caroline Tebbs and a son.
• He was best known for playing
  Inspector Clouseau’s manservant Cato in the Pink Panther films.

• Veteran Communist Party of India
  (Marxist) leader and former MLA and MP K Anirudhan passed away on 22 May 2016
  at Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala. He was 92.
• Anirudhan was suffering from
  age-related ailments for some time.
• He was known as the giant killer
  in electoral politics in the state.