Current Affairs Update – 2nd July, 2015

Hello and welcome to ExamPundit. Here are the Important Current Affairs of 2nd July, 2015. These are important for the upcoming SBI PO Mains Exam and RBI Assistant Exam 2015.

India
CCEA approved Pradhan
Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yoiana (PMKSY)

  • The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) on 2 July
    2015 gave its approval for a new scheme called Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee
    Yojana (PMKSY).
  • The Yojana was approved with an outlay of 50000 crore rupees
    over a period of five years, that is, from 2015-16 to 2019-20 and the
    allocation for the financial year 2015-16 has been kept at 5300 crore rupees.

Objectives of
PMKSY
  • ·
    To provide convergence to existing schemes of
    water management, thus bringing efficiency to the use of water
  • Expand cultivable area under assured irrigation
    (Har Khet ko pani)
  • Improve on-farm water use efficiency to reduce
    wastage of water
  • Enhance the adoption of precision-irrigation and
    other water saving technologies (More crop per drop)

Govt allocates Rs.
200 crore for national agriculture market
  • Government has allocated Rs. 200 crore for three years to
    set up an online national agriculture market by integrating 585 wholesale
    markets across India — a move that would help farmers realise better prices.
  • The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs had on Wednesday
    approved a Central Sector Scheme for Promotion of National Agricultural Market
    through Agri-Tech Infrastructure Fund.
  • The Department of Agriculture will set it up by creation of
    a common electronic platform deployable in selected regulated markets across
    the country.
  • Under the scheme, 585 selected regulated markets would be
    covered. The plan is to cover 250 mandis in current fiscal, 200 mandis in 2016-17
    and 135 mandis in 2017-18.
  • The Rs 200 crore allocations includes provision for
    supplying software free of cost by agriculture department to the states and UTs
    and for cost of related hardware/ infrastructure to be subsidised by the Centre
    up to Rs 30 lakh per Mandi (other than for private mandis).

Digital Guddi-Gudda
Board of Jalgaon district adopted as Best Practice under BBBP scheme
  • The Union Ministry of Women and Child Development on 1 July
    2015 adopted the ‘Digital Guddi-Gudda Board’ as a Best Practice under Beti
    Bachao Beti Padhao (BBBP) scheme. It was named as the best practice on the
    occasion of Digital India Week that is being observed from 1 July to 7 July
    2015.
  • The Digital Guddi-Gudda Board is an innovation of District
    Jalgaon in Maharashtra. It was initiated by its Collector, Rubal Aggarwal with
    the support of Raksha Khadse, Member of Parliament from Raver and AT Nana
    Patil, Member of Parliament from Jalgaon.

Features of the
digital board
  • ·
    It works as a platform for dissemination of
    Information, Education and Communication (IEC) Material on BBBP.
  • ·
    It is also used to update monthly birth
    statistics.
  • ·
    It displays audio video material as well as
    still frames for disseminating information.

Mhara Gaon- Jagmag
Gaon Scheme launched in Haryana
  • The Haryana Government on 1 July 2015 launched the Mhara
    Gaon- Jagmag Gaon scheme, aimed at providing 24 hour uninterrupted power supply
    to rural domestic consumers in a phased manner with their active participation.
  • With this, Haryana became the first state in the country to
    launch such an innovative voluntary scheme. The state will bear an additional
    expenditure of 15 to 20 lakh rupees per village for implementation of this
    scheme.

Highlights of the
Mhara Gaon- Jagmag Gaon Scheme
  • The scheme is aimed at strengthening the distribution
    network system for the convenience of the people.
  • In the first phase of
    the scheme, 83 feeders have been identified covering 310 villages having
    minimum line losses and which have made payment of their electricity bills.
    Power supply would be ensured for 15 hours in these villages instead of 12 hour
    power supply they were getting at present.

India to become
world’s second largest smartphone market

  • Buoyed by growing sales, India will overtake the U.S. to
    become world’s second largest smartphone market by 2017, says a report.
  • According to international research firm Strategy Analytics,
    global smartphone sales are forecast to grow from 1.5 billion units in 2015 to
    a record 1.7 billion by 2017.
  • India is fast becoming the next major growth wave.
  • India will soon overtake the U.S. to become the world’s
    second largest smartphone market by 2017 behind China, selling an impressive
    174 million units.
  • According to the report, 118 million smartphones will be
    sold in India this year.
  • Nearly 458 million smartphones will be sold in China in
    2015, rising steadily to 505 million in 2017.
  • About 164 million smartphones will be sold in the U.S. in
    2015, climbing marginally to 169 million in 2017.

NSDC to explore skill
development opportunities in tie-up with CRISP
  • In a bid to explore national and international opportunities
    for skill development in India, the National Skill Development Corporation of
    India (NSDC) has entered into a partnership with the Centre for Research and
    Industrial Staff Performance (CRISP) that is dedicated to human resource
    development and organisational development.
  • CRISP was set up by the Madhya Pradesh government and the
    Federal Republic of Germany under Indo-German Technical Cooperation.
  • The duo have decided to collaborate on projects and plans
    for capacity building of NSDC partnering institutions, by offering value-added
    services to the skill development initiative in India. Additionally, they are
    to create suitable interventions for state-level operations, which would offer quality
    oriented skills and services.
  • A memorandum of understanding in this regard was signed by
    the CEO of CRISP, Mukesh Sharma, and CEO of NSDC, Dilip Chenoy. Sharma said the
    collaboration would benefit both the organisation as well as help in the growth
    and development of skills in the country.

Awards
& Honors –
Indian-American R
Paul Singh Named World Agriculture Prize Laureate

  • Indian-American professor R Paul Singh has been named as the
    2015 Global Confederation for Higher Education Associations for Agriculture and
    Life Sciences World Agriculture Prize laureate.
  • The award was announced at the annual GCHERA conference,
    held last week at the Holy Spirit University of Kaslik, Jounieh, Lebanon. The
    award will be formally presented on September 20, during a ceremony at Nanjing
    Agricultural University, Jiangsu Province, China.
  • Singh earned a bachelor’s degree in agricultural engineering
    at India’s Punjab Agricultural University, then a master’s degree and Ph.D. At
    the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Michigan State University,
    respectively.
  • He joined the UC Davis faculty one year later in 1975.

Darshan Jain, an
Indian-American teacher named for US Presidential Award
  • Darshan Jain, an Indian-American teacher from Illinois, US
    in July 2015 was named for prestigious Presidential Award for Excellence in
    Mathematics and Science Teaching by President Barack Obama.
  • Along with Jain, President named 108 Mathematics and Science
    teachers as recipients of the Award.
  • Jain has taught mathematics at Adlai E. Stevenson High
    School in Lincolnshire, Illinois for eight years. Right now, he is serving the
    school as the director of mathematics. He is a BA in mechanical engineering and
    a MS in secondary mathematics education from the University of Illinois at
    Chicago.

Sanjeev Galande
selected for G D Birla Award for Scientific Research for 2014
  • Sanjeev Galande was on 1 July 2015 selected for G D Birla
    Award for Scientific Research for 2014. The name was announced by the K K Birla
    Foundation and he is the 24th recipient of the award.
  • Prof. Galande is a professor of Biology and Team Leader at
    the Centre of Excellence in Epigenetics, Indian Institute of Science Education
    and Research (IISER), Pune.
  • He joined IISER in 2010 and his focus area is epigenetics
    and studies regulation of gene expression, and nuclear organization and function.
    Epigenetics is an area of study about changes that influence gene function.

Industry/Finance
Union Government
notified dates for Compliance Window under Black Money Act
  • Union Government on 1 July 2015 notified dates for
    compliance window under the Black Money (Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets)
    and Imposition of Tax Act, 2015 (‘Black Money Act’).
  • It gave three months time (till 30 September 2015) for
    people to declare their undisclosed foreign income and assets to escape
    prosecution under the new Black Money Law.
  • The notice says that those making the disclosure during this
    period will have further three-month time till 31 December 2015 to pay the
    taxes and the penalty on their foreign income and assets.
  • As per the notice, people availing the one-time compliance
    window would be required to pay a tax of 30 percent and a penalty of a similar
    amount.

Maharashtra
government signed MoU with Blackstone and Panchshil SPV for three projects
  • The Maharashtra government on 30 June 2015 signed an
    Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Blackstone and Panchshil SPV for three
    projects worth 4500 crore and generation of some 50000 jobs.
  • Blackstone will invest 750 crore rupees in developing EON
    Free Zone SEZ; 1200 crore rupees in developing Hinjewadi Phase-3; 1500 crore
    rupees in IT Park in Central Mumbai and 1050 crore rupees in other IT parks in
    Mumbai.
  • Blackstone is a premier global investment and advisory firm
    that strives to provide solutions that create lasting value. Their portfolio
    companies employ more than 600000 people across the globe, making it a major
    factor in economies around the world.

Appointments
Chandrasekaran
Ramakrishnan appointed as CFO of Tata Motors’ Group
  • Chandrasekaran Ramakrishnan was on 1 July 2015 appointed as
    Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of India’s biggest auto maker Tata Motors’ Group
    with immediate effect. With this, he will continue as Chief Financial Officer
    and Key Managerial Personnel for Tata Motors Limited.
  • Now, CFOs of all Tata Motors subsidiaries like Jaguar Land
    Rover, Daewoo will report to Ramakrishnan. Chandrasekaran has been the CFO of
    Tata Motors since 2007 and was one of the senior executives to bring Jaguar
    Land Rover under the company’s fold in 2008.

U P Singh appointed
as Interim CMD of Oil India Limited
  • U P Singh was on 1 July 2015 appointed as the Interim
    Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) of state-run Oil India Limited. He
    succeeded S K Srivastava, who superannuated on 1 July 2015.
  • U P Singh is a Joint Secretary (Exploration) under Union
    Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas.
  • Normally, in cases where the appointment of a regular
    chairman is delayed, interim charge is handed over to the senior-most director
    on the company’s board. In case of Oil India Ltd, Borah, who is the wife of
    former OIL Chairman and Managing Director B C Borah, is the senior-most
    director.

Ratan Tata joins
Jungle Ventures as special advisor

  • Singapore based Jungle Ventures has announced that Ratan
    Tata, Chairman Emeritus of the Indian Conglomerate, Tata Sons, and an iconic
    business leader of modern India, will come on board as a Special Advisor.
    Founded by Anurag Srivastava and Amit Anand, Jungle Ventures, is an early stage
    venture capital fund, with a firm focus on helping build innovative technology
    led companies out of Asia-Pacific
  • Jungle has already made investments in 30 leading Asian
    startups, including the likes of Zipdial (recently acquired by Twitter),
    LiveSpace, Tradegecko, CrayonData, Fastacash and travelmob (acquired by Nasdaq
    listed HomeAway). In his role as Special Advisor, Tata has formally committed
    to spend time with Jungle’s portfolio of companies to help them build category
    leadership, while being ethically impregnable and culturally strong, in Asian
    and global markets.
  • Jungle Ventures, launched with a $10 million seed-to-early
    stage fund in 2012, is currently raising a second fund with a much bigger
    corpus.

Dr Anup K Pujari
joins as Secretary, MSME

  • Dr Anup K Pujari IAS (KN 80) joined as Secretary MSME here
    today. He succeeds Shri Madhav Lal who superannuated on June, 30 2015. Before
    joining the Ministry of MSME, Dr. Pujari was holding the charge of Secretary,
    Mines.
  • Born in 1956, Pujari is a post-graduate from the University
    of Boston, and a Doctorate in Economics. Shri Pujari has served the Central and
    Karnataka Govt. in various capacities.

World
NASA Unveils First
Plane to Fly on Mars

  • NASA has unveiled a boomerang-shaped aircraft that could be
    the first to take flight on Mars to look for potential landing sites for future
    manned mission to the red planet.
  • A prototype of the Preliminary Research Aerodynamic Design
    to Land on Mars, or Prandtl-m, which is a flying wing aircraft with a twist, is
    planned to be ready for launch from a high altitude balloon later this year,
    NASA said.
  • The Prandtl–m will be released at about at 100,000 feet
    altitude, which will simulate the flight conditions of the Martian atmosphere,
    said Al Bowers, NASA Armstrong chief scientist and Prandtl-m programme manager.
  • The tests could validate how the aircraft works, leading to
    modifications that will allow it to fold and deploy from a 3U CubeSat in the aeroshell
    of a future Mars rover.
  • A CubeSat is a miniature satellite used for space research
    that is usually about four inches in each dimension, a 3U is three of those
    stacked together.

Obituaries
Nicholas Winton,
‘Britain’s Schindler’ dies at 106

  • Sir Nicholas Winton, who became known as “the British Oskar
    Schindler” after saving hundreds of Jewish children from Nazi tyranny and
    slaughter in Czechoslovakia, has died aged 106, his family said.
  • The unassuming hero, who saved the lives of 669 children in
    1939 by sending them from Prague to London by train, died peacefully in his
    sleep at Wexham Park hospital in Slough, his son-in-law, Stephen Watson, said.
  • From a German-Jewish family, he received a knighthood in
    2003 and a Hero of the Holocaust medal at Downing Street in 2010. Last year he
    was awarded the Order of the White Lion by the Czech president, Milos Zeman, at
    a ceremony in Prague.

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