Current Affairs Update – 27th August, 2015

• Bharti Airtel has agreed to acquire Augere Wireless
  Broadband India, as the nation’s top telecom carrier looks to consolidate its
  4G footprint ahead of the launch of similar high-speed broadband services by
  rivals such as Vodafone India, Idea Cellular and Reliance Jio Infocomm.
• Augere had won a block of 20 MHz of 4G spectrum (the 2,300
  MHz band) in the Madhya Pradesh-Chhattisgarh circle for Rs 122.46 crore in the
  2010 auctions. The company — owned by France Telecom and a clutch of private
  equity funds such as Harbinger Capital and New Silk Route — initially announced
  plans of rolling out 4G services in late 2011.
• But it then decided not to go ahead with the launch, citing
  uncertain regulatory conditions. It had been looking to sell its permit ever
  since.

• The Government on Thursday announced the list of 98 cities
  which will now compete for the second stage of the smart cities challenge to
  secure Rs. 100 crore funding from the Centre.
• Out of these 98 cities and towns, 24 are capital cities,
  another 24 are business and industrial centres, 18 are of cultural and tourism
  importance, 5 are port cities and 3 are education and health care hubs, Union
  Minister for Urban Development M Venkaih Naidu said.
• The Centre had allotted each state a specific number of city
  slots. These 98 aspirants have been chosen by States/UTs through an intra-state
  competition based on existing service levels, financial and institutional
  capacities and past track record and reforms.
• J&K has sought more time to decide the nominee from the
  State while UP has reported that Meerut and Raibareily have been tied in the
  evaluation. Hence, remaining 2 nominees will be decided in some time.
• In the next few days, the Government will release Rs. 2
  crore for each to these 98 cities for preparation of smart city proposals for
  competing in the second stage.
• Urban Development Ministry has drawn up region-wise panels
  of agencies for assisting cities in preparation of smart city plans.
  States/Urban local bodies can call for bids from among these panels, an
  official statement said.
• Proposals will be judged by the Centre on credibility of
  implementation, city vision and strategy, economic and environmental impacts,
  cost effectiveness, innovation and scalability and processes followed including
  citizen implementation.
• Top 20 scoring cities will be chosen by December this year
  and Rs. 100 crore per city per year will be provided by Centre for the next 5
  years. States will have to match this contribution.
• For implementation of proposals, a special purpose vehicle
  will be each selected city wherein the State/UT and urban local body will have
  50:50 equity.

• The Niti Aayog has launched an improved version of its
  interactive data tool on the country’s energy security scenario to help policy
  makers and stakeholders make informed choices for better energy planning for
  the future.
• The Indian Energy Security Scenarios (IESS) 2047 (Version
  2.0) calculator, housed within the Niti Aayog, will suggest measures to shift
  the energy pattern in a way to ensure advancement of the country’s energy
  security considerations.
• The calculator explores India’s possible energy futures
  across energy supply sectors such as solar, wind, biofuels, oil, gas, coal, and
  nuclear, and demand sectors such as transport, industry, agriculture, cooking,
  lighting and appliances, said Anil Kumar Jain, Adviser (Energy), Niti Aayog.
• The IESS 2047, an initiative of the Department of Energy
  & Climate Change, has been developed by the energy team in Niti Aayog with
  support from a number of non-government organisations, think-tanks and industry
  bodies such as FICCI, CII, TERI, India Smart Grid Forum, Integrated Research
  and Action for Development, Berkley Lab and Centre for Study of Science,
  Technology & Policy.

• Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV)-D6 was
  successfully launched on 27 August 2015. It was launched from the Second Launch
  Pad at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre SHAR (SDSC SHAR), Sriharikota in Andhra
  Pradesh.
• GSLV-D6 inducted 2117 kg GSAT-6, an advanced communication
  satellite into a Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit (GTO). The satellite is intended
  to provide S-band communication services in the country.
• This is the third time the indigenously developed Cryogenic
  Upper Stage (CUS) is being carried on-board during a GSLV flight. The flight is
  significant since it intends to continue the testing of CUS.
• It is configured with all its three stages including the CUS
  similar to the ones successfully flown during the previous GSLV-D5 mission in
  January 2014. GSLV-D5 successfully placed GSAT-14 satellite carried on-board in
  the intended GTO very accurately.

• The Union Cabinet on 26 August 2015 approved the amendments
  in the Central List of Other Backward Classes (OBCs) in respect of two States
  Gujarat and Uttarakhand for making suitable amendments in the Central List of
  OBCs.
• The amendments were approved following the advices received
  from the National Commission for Backward Classes (NCBC). The following
  castes/communities have been included in the Central List of OBCs in the two
  States of Gujarat and Uttarakhand:

• Gujarat: Sipai
• UK: Kahar

• Gujarat: Patni Jamat or Turk Jamat (all Muslims)
• UK: Tanwar Singhariya

• The amendments will enable the persons belonging to these
  castes/ communities to avail the benefits of reservation in Government services
  and posts as well as in Central Educational Institutions as per the existing
  policy.

• Kolkata Port was on 21 August 2015 adjudged as the ‘Major
  Port of the Year’ amongst 12 major ports in the country for the year 2014-15. It
  was honoured in recognition of its impressive growth rate in volumes,
  optimizing capacity utilization, growth in output per berth and customer
  satisfaction.
• It has been declared in the Gateway Award 2015 programme
  held at Mumbai.
• Kolkata Dock System and Haldia Dock System under Kolkata
  Port Trust (KoPT) together handled 16.834 million tonnes (MT) of traffic during
  April to June 2015, which stands against 13.698 MT handled during the
  corresponding period 2014.
• KPT has achieved traffic growth of 23 percent, while all
  other major ports of the country have together recorded a growth of 5.8
  percent. The port handles two private train operators apart from CONCOR.

• The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on
  26 August 2015 gave its nod for amendments to the Arbitration and Conciliation
  Bill, 2015. The amendments are based on the Law Commission’s recommendations of
  246th reports and suggestions received from stakeholders.
• The Union Government has decided to amend the Arbitration
  and Conciliation Act, 1996 by introducing the Arbitration and Conciliation
  (Amendment) Bill, 2015 in the Parliament. These amendments will help India to
  become a hub of International Commercial Arbitration.
• In order to ensure neutrality of arbitrators, it is proposed
  to amend Section 12 to the effect that when a person is approached in
  connection with possible appointment of arbitrator, he shall disclose in
  writing about existence of any relationship or interest of any kind, which is
  likely to give rise to justifiable doubts. Further, if a person is having
  specified relationship, he shall be ineligible to be appointed as an
  arbitrator.

• Novak Djokovic, the world’s top ranked tennis player, was on
  26 August 2015 appointed as the Goodwill Ambassador of the United Nations
  Children’s Fund (UNICEF), after having served as the UNICEF’s Serbia
  Ambassador.
• He also signed a Memorandum of Understanding between the
  World Bank and the Novak Djokovic Foundation to promote early childhood
  development. The Fund and the Foundation have established a close cooperation
  on bringing early childhood services to every child and family in Serbia.
• Novak Djokovic has been lending his support to children’s
  welfare since he teamed up with UNICEF in 2011. He has been working for
  improving the lives of children, especially those who are amongst the most
  marginalized, with a particular focus on the importance of early childhood
  education.
• With this, Djokovic has joined other accomplished and
  dedicated UNICEF Goodwill Ambassadors including Danny Kaye, Audrey Hepburn,
  David Beckham, Harry Belafonte, Orlando Bloom, Katy Perry, Sir Roger Moore,
  Shakira, Maxim Vengerov, Serena Williams and others.
• Djokovic is one of the most dominant players to ever set
  foot on a tennis court. To date, Djokovic has won a total of 54 career titles,
  including 9 Grand Slams and he was a Medallist at the 2008 Summer Olympics in
  Beijing.

• e-Commerce major Snapdeal, appointed former Adobe executive,
  Rajiv Mangla, as Chief Technology Officer.
• In his new role, Mr. Mangla will establish the company’s
  technical vision and lead all aspects of its technological development,
  Snapdeal said in a statement.
• Previously, he spent about 10 years at Adobe Systems, where
  he most recently served as VP Engineering, Digital Marketing.
• Prior to Adobe, Mr. Mangla had been an entrepreneur for 10
  years and founded a couple of companies.
• The technology team at Snapdeal is currently 1,000 people
  strong and the company looks at doubling it by the end of this year.
• In the past few months, Snapdeal has significantly ramped up
  its technology leadership team and has hired senior leaders like Anand
  Chandrasekaran (ex-CPO Bharti Airtel), Gaurav Gupta (India Head of Scalearc),
  Amitava Ghosh (ex-CTO, Taxi For Sure) and Viraj Chatterjee (ex-Director
  Engineering, Adobe Systems).

• The Waterman of India Rajendra Singh on 26 August 2015 was
  conferred with the 2015 Stockholm Water Prize.
• King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden, Patron of the Stockholm
  Water Prize presented the prize at a Royal Award Ceremony during World Water
  Week in Swedish Capital Stockholm.
• Singh was named for the prestigious award for his innovative
  water restoration efforts, improving water security in rural India, and for
  showing extraordinary courage and determination in his quest to improve the
  living conditions for those most in need.

• Three Indians were named as Fellows of American Society for
  Metals (ASM) in the fourth week of August 2015. These three Indians along with
  three other Indian-origin persons featured among the list of 29 fellows who
  were named as Fellows of ASM for 2015.
• While, the Indian Fellows were Pradeep Goyal, Vivekanand
  Kain, and Gankidi Madhusudhan Reddy, the Indian-origin achievers were Pranesh
  Aswath, Suveen Mathaudhu and Muthukumarasamy Sadayappan.
• All the 29 persons were honoured for their contributions in
  the field of materials science and engineering. The fellows will be presented
  with their awards in October 2015 during the Materials Science and Technology
  event at Columbus in Ohio State of the USA.

Regards

Team ExamPundit

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