Current Affairs Update – 27th May, 2015

Hello and welcome to ExamPundit. Here are the Important Current Affairs of 27th May, 2015

• The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India
  (IRDAI) has imposed Rs. 65 lakh penalty on India First Life insurance company
  for a number violations.
• According to an order issued by IRDAI Chairman T S Vijayan,
  the life insurer had violated norms related to payment of commissions and
  reporting of expenses pertaining to corporate agents.
• The Authority had listed 48 charges on the insurer for a
  wide range of irregularities and identified some of them as serious in nature.
  They included wrongful involvement of business development managers on behalf
  of corporate agents, running sales campaigns for the employees of corporate
  agents, offering incentives such as foreign trips, gift cards and online
  redemption points and faulty reporting of expenses and file and use procedures,
  among others.
• The company has also been warned against any future
  violations on many other counts, as per the order.

• Union Ministry of Finance on 26 May 2015 constituted a
  Committee on Revisiting and Revitalizing the Public Private Partnership (PPP)
  Model of Infrastructure Development under the Chairmanship of Vijay Kelkar.
• Vijay Kelkar is a former Finance Secretary and Chairman,
  National Institute of Public Finance and Policy (NIPFP), New Delhi.
• The decision is in tune with the announcement made on 28
  February 2015 by the Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley while presenting the
  2015-16 budget.

• Review of the experience of PPP Policy, including the
  variations in contents of contracts and difficulties experienced with
  particular variations or conditions, if any.
• Analysis of risks involved in PPP projects in different
  sectors and existing framework of sharing of such risks between the project
  developer and the Government, thereby suggesting optimal risk sharing
  mechanism.

• The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) on 25 May 2015
  announced the complete operationalisation of the GPS Aided Geo Augmented
  Navigation (GAGAN).
• The final operational phase of the system commenced on 19
  May 2015 as it began broadcasting APV1 Certified signals.
• With this, India has become the fourth nation after the US,
  Europe and Japan to have inter-operable Satellite Based Augmentation System
  (SBAS). Also, GAGAN is the first SBAS system in the world to serve the equatorial
  region.
• Earlier on 30 December 2013, Director General of Civil
  Aviation (DGCA) gave its nod for GAGAN for enroute operations (RNP 0.1) and
  subsequently on 21 April 2015 for precision approach services (APV 1).
• While the GAGAN Payload is already operational through
  GSAT-8 and GSAT-10 satellites, the third payload will be carried onboard
  GSAT-15 satellite scheduled for launch in October 2015.

• Haryana government intends to include a lesson regarding
  Swachhta (cleanliness) in the course curriculum of school students and has
  invited views of all stakeholders and general public in this connection.
• Haryana School Education Department plans to earmark a
  period for the students to take up cleaning of school as being done in Japan.
• The step will be taken under the ‘Swachh Bharat Abhiyan’, an
  official release said here today.
• The department is in the process of preparation of
  instructions for implementation of this proposal, it said.

• India and Vietnam on 25 May 2015 signed a Joint Vision
  Statement on Defence Cooperation for the period 2015-2020 in New Delhi.
• It was signed by the Indian Defence Minister Manohar
  Parrikar and the Vietnamese Minister for National Defence General Phung Quang
  Thanh.
• The statement is an outcome of delegation level talks held
  in New Delhi to discuss cooperation on maritime security.
• Besides the Joint statement, a Memorandum of Understanding
  (MoU) on cooperation between the Coast Guards of the two countries was also
  signed in the presence of the two Defence Ministers.
• Earlier, in October 2014, India announced 100 million US
  dollar line of credit to Vietnam during the Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen
  Tan Dung visit to the country to enable Vietnam acquire new naval vessels from
  India.

• National Association of Software and Services Companies
  (NASSCOM) and Data Security Council of India have launched NASSCOM Cyber
  Security Task Force.
• According to a statement from the trade body, the task force
  aims to build India as a global hub for providing cyber security solutions,
  developing cyber security R&D plan and develop a skilled workforce of cyber
  security experts.
• The task force members will include industry leaders across
  IT, BPM and internet, heads of user organizations like banks and telcos as well
  as representatives from the government and academia.
• Rajendra Pawar, Chairman, NIIT will chair this task force.
  The task force over a 12 week period will identify the key priorities and build
  the detailed action plan for the sector.
• NASSCOM says the vision of the task force is to build the
  cyber security industry in India from the 1% market share to 10% by 2025; a
  trained base of 1 million certified and skilled cyber security professionals
  and build 100+ successful security product companies from India.

• Manabi Bandopadhyay on 26 May 2015 became the first
  transgender principal of Krishnagar Women’s College in Nadia district, West
  Bengal. She will join her new job from 9 June 2015. Currently, she is working
  as an associate professor in Bengali at the Vivekananda Satobarshiki
  Mahavidyalaya.
• She holds a Master of Arts (MA) in Bengali degree and
  started her journey with  the Vivekananda
  Centenary College in Jhargram sub-division as a lecturer in the late 1990s.
• In 1995, she published the country’s first transgender
  magazine, Ob-Manab (sub-human). The magazine, despite a very low circulation,
  continues to be published.

• Armed with a Delhi High Court order over its jurisdiction,
  AAP government today appointed senior IAS officer Anindo Majumdar as the CMD of
  Delhi Finance Corporation, days after he was removed from the post of Principal
  Secretary of the Services Department.
• The AAP dispensation also appointed IAS officer Parimal Rai
  as Principal Secretary of Social Welfare and Women and Child Development
  Department.
• Majumdar was removed by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal as
  Principal Secretary of the Services Department on May 16 after he issued a
  notification appointing senior bureaucrat Shakuntla Gamlin as the acting Chief
  Secretary following instruction of Lt Governor Najeeb Jung.
• The Lt Governor, on the same evening, had declared the order
  to transfer Majumdar “void” but AAP government did not allow him to
  resume his duties and had appointed Rajendra Kumar as Principal Secretary of
  the Services Department.

• An Indian-origin teacher has been honoured by Oxford
  University for helping one of her students get into the world-famous varsity.
• Gurnimrat ‘Nimmy’ Sidhu, head of science at Oaks Park High
  School in north-east London, is among 12 teachers to win the ‘University of
  Oxford Inspirational Teacher Award’ set up to encourage more state-funded
  schools to connect with the university.
• Sidhu feared a marking error and forced her student Esther
  Odejimi to get her exams remarked enabling her to gain admission Pembroke College,
  Oxford, to study theology.
• The 19-year-old returned the favour by nominating her
  teacher for the award.

• Two Indians Lance Naik Nand Ram and Raju Joseph on 23 May
  2015 were posthumously named for prestigious United Nations (UN) Dag
  Hammarskjold Medal.
• Lance Naik Nand Ram served the UN Organization Stabilization
  Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO) and Raju Joseph
  served in a civilian capacity with the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS).
• They will be awarded on the International Day of United
  Nations Peacekeepers observed annually on 29 May 2015.
• India is among the largest contributors of military and
  police personnel to UN peacekeeping. It currently deploys 8112 military and
  police personnel to the UN peacekeeping operations in Cote d’Ivoire, Cyprus,
  the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Haiti, Lebanon, Liberia, the Middle East,
  Sudan, South Sudan and Western Sahara.

• iSafe, the safety feature of the Thiruvananthapuram City
  Police mobile app, has won the award for ‘best use of mobile technology’ at the
  Elets Knowledge Exchange Awards 2015, Goa.
• The award was conferred in the governance category at a
  ceremony co-hosted by Elets Technomedia and the Information Technology Department,
  Government of Goa.
• Mridula Sinha, Governor of Goa, handed over the award to
  Manoj M Mani, head, PR, marketing and communications- India, UST Global, during
  the Elets Knowledge Exchange-Goa 2015 Summit.
• iSafe was recognised for improving overall police governance
  and public safety by empowering citizens using digital technology, a UST Global
  spokesman said.
• Developed UST Global’s mobile app for Thiruvananthapuram
  City Police, the safety feature enables citizens to maintain direct contact
  with police personnel during emergencies.

• NRI scientist Latha Venkataraman on 25 May 2015 created
  first single-molecule device.  The
  electronic device has a potential of real-world technological applications for
  nanoscale devices. The report was published in the journal Nature
  Nanotechnology.
• Under the direction of Venkataraman, researchers created a
  single-molecule diode which performs 50 times better than all prior designs.
• A team of Columbia Engineering researchers has constructed a
  device where the active element is only a single molecule, has long been a
  tantalising dream in nanoscience.
• With electronic devices becoming smaller every day, the
  field of molecular electronics has become more critical in solving the problem
  of further miniaturisation. Single molecule represents the limit of
  miniaturisation.

• The world’s biggest hotel project “Abraj Kudai”
  which is under construction in Mecca, Saudi Arabia
• Once completed, it will be the world’s largest hotel
  featuring 10000 bedrooms. At present, the Venetian Macao situated in Macau,
  China is the world’s largest hotel having 3000 rooms.
• It is located 2.2 km south of the Holy Haram (Grand Mosque)
  at the Manafia area in Makkah’s central zone in Saudi Arabia.
• The 45 stories tall, the desert fortress-style hotel is
  being built at a cost of 3.6 billion US dollars.
• The project is funded by the Saudi Ministry of Finance and
  designed by the Dar al-Handasah group.

• Forbes on 26 May 2015 released the list of World’s 100 Most
  Powerful Women of 2015 showing women who impacted businesses, media, philanthropy,
  politics and more.
• The world’s most powerful woman in the list is German
  Chancellor Angela Merkel who fetched the first spot.
• Hillary Clinton ranked at 2nd position, she has been
  appearing on this FORBES ranking every year as a senator, secretary of state
  and influential personality.
• The most powerful women in politics, philanthropy, business
  and tech are Angela Merkel, Melinda Gates, Barra and Sandberg.
• The top ranking billionaire in the list is Oprah Winfrey who
  stood at 12th spot, having personal net worth of 3 billion US dollars.
• Four Indians have been named in Forbes list including
  Arundhati Bhattacharya, Chairperson of State Bank of India (SBI), who stood at
  30th position.
• Chanda Kochhar, MD and CEO of ICICI Bank, was placed at 35th
  position; Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, CMD of Biocon Limited, was placed at 85th
  position and Shobhana Bhartia, Editorial Director of the Hindustan Times Group,
  was placed at 93rd position.

Regards

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