Current Affairs Update – 6-7th March, 2015



           Today’s Topics

   •  Business
   •  India
   •  World
   •  Appointments
   •  Sports
   •  Books

Business
Flipkart acquired
mobile ad network AdiQuity
  • Flipkart on 6 March 2015 acquired mobile ad network
    AdiQuity. The acquisition is aimed at increasing advertising muscle of
    Flipkart.
  • The deal amount was not disclosed by both the companies. The
    deal marked the online retailer’s first acquisition in 2015 so far.
  • AdiQuity has a history of mobile innovations and extremely
    valuable experience in the ad space. The company was started in 2006 as a
    search engine. It has raised 15 million US dollar so far from Sequoia Capital
    and Sandstone Capital. The company profile includes video ads, geography-based
    targeting and interactive ads.

India
PM Modi among 30 most
influential people on Internet: Time Magazine

  • Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been named among the
    30 most influential people on the internet by Time magazine. The list also features
    President Barack Obama.
  • The list, which was analyzed on the basis of social media
    followings, site traffic and overall ability to drive news, also includes
    British author J.K. Rowling of the Harry Potter series fame and singers Taylor
    Swift and Beyonce.
  • Time said Prime Minister Modi roughly has 38 million
    followers on social networking sites.

Kathmandu-Varanasi-Kathmandu
bus service flagged off
  • The Kathmandu-Varanasi-Kathmandu bus service was on 5 March
    2015 flagged off jointly by India and Nepal. Nepal Minister for Physical
    Infrastructure and Transport Bimalendra Nidhi and Ambassador of India to Nepal Ranjit
    Rae flagged off the bus service.
  • The bus service was launched under the ambit of Motor
    Vehicle Agreement signed between India and Nepal during the 18th SAARC Summit.

Prime Minister
inaugurated two units of Shree Singaji Thermal Power Project in Khandwa, MP

  • Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 5 March 2015 inaugurated two
    units of 600 Mega Watt (MW) each of Shree Singaji Thermal Power Project at
    Dongliya village in Khandwa district of Madhya Pradesh.
  • The first phase of Shree Singaji Thermal Power Project with
    1200 MW capacity has been developed by Madhya Pradesh Power Generation Company
    Limited (MPPGCL) at an expense of 7820 crore rupees
  • With the commissioning of two plants, the total thermal
    power generation capacity of the State increased to 4500 MW.

India and Spain
signed an agreement on Mutual Protection of Classified Information
  • India and Spain on 5 March 2015 signed an agreement on
    Mutual Protection of Classified Information to provide the framework for
    enhanced bilateral cooperation in areas of defence research, development and
    technology cooperation.
  • The agreement was signed by the Defence Minister Manohar
    Parrikar and Defence Minister of Spain Pedro Morenes Eulate. It was signed
    during the official visit of Defence Minister of Pedro Moremes to India.

Subway opened an
all-women operated outlet in Mumbai

  • Quick service restaurant chain Subway on 6 March 2015 opened
    an all-women operated outlet at Andheri, Mumbai to mark the International
    Women’s day on 8 March.
  • With the new outlet opening in suburban Andheri, the
    Connecticut-based company’s store count has now reached 500 in India.
  • Subway entered India in 2001. It operates in 70 cities
    across the country and has plans to take its total number of stores to 1000 by
    2018. It is targeting tier II, tier III cities to fuel its growth plans.

NRDC, CCRAS signed
Memorandum of Agreement to commercialise ayurvedic medicines
  • National Research Development Corporation (NRDC) and Council
    for Research in Ayurvedic Sciences (CCRAS) on 5 March 2015 signed a Memorandum
    of Agreement (MoA) to commercialise ayurvedic medicines and technologies
    developed at CCRAS.
  • The MoA was signed by Abhimanyu Kumar, Director General of
    CCRAS and H Purushotham, Chairman & Managing Director of NRDC. The MoA
    provides Intellectual Property Rights services to CCRAS in India and abroad.

World
NASA’s Dawn
Spacecraft completed its Orbit around Dwarf Planet Ceres
  • NASA’s Dawn spacecraft on 6 March 2015 completed its Orbit
    around Dwarf Planet Ceres. By doing so, it became the first spacecraft to orbit
    around a dwarf planet.
  • The spacecraft was approximately 38000 miles (61000
    kilometers) away from planet Ceres when it was captured by the dwarf planet’s
    gravity.

Sri Lanka temporarily
suspended Colombo Port City Project of China
  • Sri Lankan Government on 5 March 2015 temporarily suspended
    construction work of China’s port city project in Colombo with immediate
    effect.
  • The decision was taken in Cabinet meeting chaired by Sri
    Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremasinghe based upon the Interim Report
    submitted by a cabinet sub-committee. The committee was appointed by the Sri
    Lankan Government to review the project.

Appointments
Indian-American Sunil
Sabharwal re-nominated as Alternate Executive Director at IMF by the US
  • Sunil Sabharwal, an independent Indian-American investor,
    was re-nominated as an Alternate Executive Director at the International
    Monetary Fund (IMF) by the United States (US) on 4 March 2015. He was
    re-nominated for the post by US President Barack Obama.
  • For the first time, he was nominated as an Alternate
    Executive Director at IMF in April 2014.

Sports
Snooker Shortlisted
for Tokyo Olympics

  • The green baize game of snooker, played with multi-coloured
    balls, has been short-listed among three sports to be included in the 2020
    Olympic Games in Tokyo, according to Captain P V K Mohan, president of the
    International Billiards and Snooker Federation (IBSF).
  • “For the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, snooker is being
    considered seriously. The Games organisers had approached the World
    Professional Billiards and Snooker Association to send in an application to be
    included in the programme and it has been done. Snooker and two other sports
    have been short-listed,” said Mohan today at the media conference for the
    2nd Indian Open Snooker, scheduled here from March 10.
  • The Japan Olympic Association and WCBS (World Confederation
    of Billiards Sports) are pursuing it.

Books
The Crown Prince, The
Gladiator and The Hope – Ashutosh

  • After the Lok Sabha debacle when Aam Aadmi Party saw a
    series of desertions and senior leaders like Yogendra Yadav questioning the
    “supremo style” of functioning within the party, Arvind Kejriwal
    broke down in the National Executive meeting and had even offered to quit.
  • This was revealed by AAP leader Ashutosh, convenor of AAP’s
    Delhi unit and a confidante of Kejriwal in his book The Crown Prince, The
    Gladiator and The Hope.
  • The National Executive was held from June 6-8 last year at
    Prashant Bhushan’s residence in Jangpura to discuss party’s debacle in the Lok
    Sabha. But a few weeks after the party’s drubbing, Kejriwal was sent to jail
    for refusing to furnish a bond in a defamation case by Union Minister Nitin
    Gadkari.

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