Current Affairs Update – 26th August, 2015

Hello and welcome to ExamPundit. Here are the Important Current Affairs Update of 26th August, 2015. These are important for the IBPS RRB Officer Scale I and IBPS RRB Office Assistant as well as IBPS Clerk 2015.

Finance
PayU India tied-up
with redBus to attract customers to use its wallet PayU Money
  • PayU India on 25 August 2015 tied-up with online bus
    ticketing platform redBus to offer cash-back discounts to customers who use its
    wallet PayU Money to buy tickets.
  • Today, around 50 percent of bookings on redBus are through
    the PayU Wallet. This tie-up is expected to increase the wallet customers from
    the current 5 million users to 20 million by 2015 end. However, payments on
    redBus can also be made with credit and debit cards, net banking and cash on
    delivery.
  • Established in 2011, PayU India is part of Naspers Group
    which owns companies such as red-Bus, OLX and Goibibo.  The company is now forming similar alliances
    in the travel booking space and integrating with sites such as Makemytrip,
    Goibibo and Cleartrip.

India
BRIDGE programme of
Australia extended to include Navodaya Schools
  • Australia’s BRIDGE Programme was in news in August 2015. The
    programme that is run by Australian Schools in collaboration with Indian
    Schools came in news on 24 August 2015 after Australia agreed to include
    Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas (JNVs).
  • The agreement was reached during the 3rd Australia-India
    Education Council (AIEC) meeting held in New Delhi chaired by the Education
    Minister of both the countries.
  • The Australia-India BRIDGE school partnerships project,
    which is currently confined to private schools, will connect Australian and
    Indian schools and focus on building teacher capability across key learning
    areas, including science, technology, engineering and mathematics, information
    and communication technologies, intercultural understanding, values and
    inclusive education.

Second Forum for
India-Pacific Islands Cooperation (FIPIC) Summit held in Jaipur

  • The Second Forum for India-Pacific Island Cooperation Summit
    was held on 21 August 2015 in Jaipur, Rajasthan.
  • Besides the Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the summit was
    attended by heads of states and governments and key officials of the 14 pacific
    island nations of the group.
  • During the summit the leaders discussed common areas of
    cooperation including marine resources exploration, oil and natural gas,
    mining, IT, health care, fishing, marine research and space collaboration,
    climate change, UN reforms.
  • Further, Prime Minister Narendra Modi also held bilateral
    dialogue with various heads of governments on the sidelines of the summit.

Union Government
launched ‘Sehat’ to provide healthcare facilities in rural areas
  • The Union government on 25 August 2015 launched a
    telemedicine initiative ‘Sehat’ in collaboration with Apollo Hospitals to
    provide healthcare facilities in rural areas.
  • The initiative was launched by Union Communication and IT
    Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad at a function in New Delhi.
  • Under the initiative people will be able to consult doctors
    through video link and also order generic drugs. It will also help in providing
    quality and affordable healthcare is one of the emerging needs for citizens in
    rural areas.
  • The Common Service Centres (CSCs) have been delivering
    tele-consultation services with support from Apollo and Medanta Hospitals in
    some areas. These CSCs will also provide diagnostic services and promote sale
    of generic drugs through collaboration with Health Ministry by setting up Jan
    Aushadhi Stores.

India, Egypt signed
two MoUs to deepen bilateral cooperation
  • India and Egypt on 24 August 2015 signed two Memorandum of
    Understandings (MoUs) to enhance bilateral cooperation.
  • They were signed in Egypt’s capital Cairo during the visit
    of External affairs minister Sushma Swaraj to Egypt and they were

MoU on Cooperation
in the field of Tourism
  • Aimed at enhancing bilateral cooperation in Tourism,
    Hospitality and Human Resource Development; Draw up a road map for enhancing
    cooperation; establish a Joint Working Group (JWG) on tourism cooperation.

MoU on scientific
and technical Cooperation
  • It was signed between the Council of Scientific and
    Industrial Research (CSIR) and the National Research Center (NRC) of Egypt.
  • It will support promotion and extension of cooperation in
    Scientific Research and Technology Development in fields of mutual interest;
    Cooperate on common intellectual property rights; Develop Working Program to
    review the implementation of MoU; Establish Joint Committee; Exchange of
    scientists, scholars, information; Joint Research Programmes in water
    desalination, solar energy, medicine and affordable health care, setting up
    joint laboratories, etc.

Rajasthan Government
and FCEL inked agreement to launch Annapurna Bhandar Yojana
  • Rajasthan State Food and Civil Supplies Corporation (RSFCSC)
    and Kishore Biyani-led Future Consumer Enterprise Ltd (FCEL) on 20 August 2015
    inked an agreement to launch the Annapurna Bhandar Yojna, which is a Public Private
    Distribution Scheme, the first-of-its kind in India.
  • The agreement was signed in presence of Vasundhra Raje,
    Chief Minister of Rajasthan in Jaipur.
  • The agreement was signed with an aim to provide better
    quality multi-brand consumer goods at competitive prices to the public of the
    state through Fair Price Shops (FPS).
  • Under the Yojna, Annapurna Bhandars will emerge as malls in
    rural areas of Rajasthan and in the first phase, the scheme would be
    operational through five thousand Fair Price Shops in the state.
  • As a pilot run, this scheme was launched through five shops
    in Jaipur city and one at Udaipur by supplying multi-brand daily consumption
    products.

Nobel laureate
Muhammad Yunus to help Maharashtra in reviving MSMEs

  • Social entrepreneur and Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad
    Yunus of Bangladesh will guide Maharashtra on microfinance and how to revive
    dying Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in the State.
  • On a special invitation extended by the State government,
    Mr. Yunus — the founder of Grameen Bank — will hold a discussion with top
    ministers and bureaucrats on September 6.
  • Apart from sharing his experience , he is also expected to
    discuss the government’s thrust on a road-map for future development of the MSME
    sector in the State.
  • At present, the State is suffering from the closure of high
    number of small scale industries. Out of the total number of 2.54 lakh, around
    30,549 units are closed for various reasons, ranging from lack of finance to
    unavailability of skilled labour.

India to implement
Sendai framework for disaster reduction
  • India will implement the Sendai framework for disaster risk
    reduction in letter and spirit, Union Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju
    said today.
  • Inaugurating a workshop on ‘Enhancing Private Sector
    Partnership for Disaster Risk Reduction’ here today, Rijiju said India has
    upscaled its efforts to assist its neighbours and other countries in the field
    of disaster risk reduction.
  • The ‘Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030’
    was adopted during the third UN World Conference on disaster risk reduction
    held in Sendai, Japan on March 14-18, 2015 where India was represented by Home
    Minister Rajnath Singh.
  • The implementation of the Sendai framework involves adopting
    integrated and inclusive institutional measures so as to work towards
    preventing vulnerability to disaster, increase preparedness for response and
    recovery and strengthen resilience.

Indian Army
inaugurated Jaisalmer War Museum and Laungewala War Memorial

  • ‘Jaisalmer War Museum’ established in the Military Station
    of Jaisalmer, Rajasthan was inaugurated on 24 August 2015. The museum was
    inaugurated by Lieutenant General Ashok Singh, General Officer Commanding in
    Chief of Southern Command to mark the Golden Jubilee Commemoration Year of 1965
    Indo Pak War.
  • The War Museum is located 10 km short of Jaisalmer on the
    Jaisalmer – Jodhpur Highway.

Appointments
Ananth Padmanabhan
appointed as CEO of HarperCollins India
  • Ananth Padmanabhan was on 25 August 2015 appointed as the
    Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of HarperCollins India with effect from October
    2015. Padmanabhan succeeded P M Sukumar.
  • Padmanabhan will have overall responsibility for all
    divisions of the business and will report to Charlie Redmayne, CEO of
    HarperCollins UK. While the responsibility for running the day to day Collins
    India education business remains with Krishna Naroor.
  • Presently, Padmanabhan is working as a Senior Vice President
    of Sales at Penguin Random House. He has a total of 20 years of experience in
    the publishing sector.

Girish Sahni assumed
charge as Director General of CSIR
  • Girish Sahni on 26 August 2015 assumed charge as the
    Director General of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR)
    with effect from the 24 August 2015. Additionally, Sahni will also serve as
    Secretary, Department of Scientific & Industrial Research, Union Ministry
    of Science & Technology.
  • Previously, Sahni had been the Director of CSIR-Institute of
    Microbial Technology (CSIR-IMTECH), Chandigarh.
  • Born on 2 March 1956, Sahni specializes in Protein
    Engineering, Molecular Biology, and Biotechnology. He is internationally
    recognized for his research contributions. He is Fellow of Indian National
    Science Academy, New Delhi; Indian Academy of Science, Bangalore, and NASI,
    Allahabad.

Sports
India to host
Commonwealth weightlifting for first time

  • For the first time in the history of weightlifting, an
    individual international tournament will be organised in India when it hosts
    the Commonwealth Youth, Junior and Senior Weightlifting Championships in Pune, Maharashtra
    from October 11-15.
  • India will field 40 weightlifters- 11 youth (boys &
    girls), 16 junior (men & women) and 13 senior (men & women) in the
    Commonwealth Championships.
  • Meanwhile, five weightlifters will take part in the 26 Women
    & 45 Men Senior Asian Weightlifting Championships to be held in Phuket,
    Thailand from September 3-12.
  • Another two weightlifters will represent India in the 5th
    Commonwealth Youth Games to be held at Apia, Samoa from September 3-12.

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This post was last modified on July 20, 2019 10:17 am