Current Affairs Update – 7th May, 2015

Hello and welcome to ExamPundit. Here are the important current affairs of 7th May, 2015.

Finance/Business
Union Government
launched Credit Enhancement Guarantee Scheme for Scheduled Castes
  • The Union Ministry for Social Justice & Empowerment on 6
    May 2015 launched the Credit Enhancement Guarantee Scheme for Scheduled Castes.
    The scheme is being implemented by Industrial Finance Corporation of India
    (IFCI) Ltd.
  • A sum of 200 crore rupees was allocated towards Credit
    Enhancement Guarantee scheme for young and start-up entrepreneurs belonging to
    Scheduled Castes (SC) to avail financial assistance. This allocation was made
    under Social Sector Initiatives to promote entrepreneurship among SCs.
  • The main objective of this scheme is to encourage
    entrepreneurship in the lower strata of the Society resulting in job creation
    besides creating confidence in Scheduled Castes.

Union Cabinet gave
nod for revised Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement (DTAA) with South Korea
  • The Union Cabinet on 6 May 2015 gave its approval for the
    revised Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement (DTAA) with South Korea.
  • The bilateral DTAA was signed in 1985 for the avoidance of
    double taxation and for the prevention of fiscal evasion with respect to taxes
    on income for the citizens of both the countries.

Features of
revised Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement (DTAA)
  • Its primary purpose is to provide for tax stability to the
    residents of India and South Korea and facilitate mutual economic cooperation
    as well as stimulate the flow of investment, technology and services between
    the two countries.
  • It provides for source based taxation of capital gains,
    making adjustments to profits of associated enterprises on the basis of arm’s
    length principle and residence based taxation of shipping income.
  • It rationalizes tax rates in the Articles on Dividends,
    Interest and Royalties and Fees for Technical Services.
  • It enables effective exchange of information and assistance
    in collection of taxes between tax authorities

Myntra acquires
Bengaluru-based Native5

  • Myntra, an e-commerce portal for fashion and lifestyle
    products, has acquired Bengaluru-based mobile app development platform company,
    Native5. This acquisition will strengthen and expand Myntra’s mobile technology
    team.
  • Native5, led by Kunal Abhishek, Barada Sahu, Shamik Dattaand
    and Manish Priyadarshi, was founded in 2012 and builds tools and services to
    enable cross platform app development on the cloud. The entire team (barring
    Manish Priyadarshi) will join Myntra.
  • Native5 is Myntra’s second technology led acquisition. In
    April 2013, Myntra acquired Fitiquette, a San Francisco-based technology
    solution, a virtual fitting room.

India home to 56 of
the world’s 2000 powerful companies: Forbes

  • India is home to 56 of the world’s 2000 largest and most
    powerful public companies, according to the Forbes’s annual list which is
    topped by the US with its share of 579 companies.
  • Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries leads the pack of 56
    Indian companies in the 2015 Forbes ‘Global 2000’ list.
  • The list gives a snapshot of the world’s largest companies,
    and shows the dominance of the US and China in the current global business
    landscape.
  • The two countries split the top 10 spots for a second year
    in a row.
  • Forbes said that for the first time, China’s four biggest
    banks own the top four spots and the South Asian giant is home to 232 of the
    world’s largest companies, adding more spots than any other country in the
    world and surpassing Japan for the first time. With 218 companies, Japan slid
    to the third spot.
  • India has added two companies to its last year’s tally.
  • Reliance Industries is ranked 142 on the list, down from
    last year’s 135th spot, with a market value of 42.9 billion dollars and 71.7
    billion dollars in sales.
  • Reliance is followed by State Bank of India which is ranked
    152 and has a 33 billion dollars market value.
  • The other Indian companies on the list are Oil and Natural
    Gas ranked 183, Tata Motors (263), ICICI Bank (283), Indian Oil (349), HDFC
    Bank (376), NTPC (431), Tata Consultancy Services (485), Bharti Airtel (506),
    Axis Bank (558), Infosys (672), Bharat Petroleum (757), Wipro (811), Tata Steel
    (903) and Adani Enterprises (944).

India
India, Iran signed
inter-Governmental MoU for development of Chabahar Port
  • India and Iran on 6 May 2015 signed an inter-Governmental
    Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the development of the strategically important
    Chabahar Port in Iran.
  • The MoU was signed in Tehran by Minister for Shipping and
    Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari and Iranian Minister for Transport
    and Urban Development Abbas Ahmad Akhoundi.

Features of this
inter-Governmental MoU
  • The MOU facilitates Indian and Iranian commercial entities
    to commence negotiations for finalization of a commercial contract.
  • Under the contract, Indian firms will lease two existing
    berths at the Port and operationalize them as container and multi-purpose cargo
    terminals.

Lok Sabha passes
Juvenile Justice Bill

  • The Lok Sabha on Thursday passed a Bill that provides for
    trying juveniles aged between 16 and 18 years for heinous crimes under laws for
    adults, with the government insisting that it had tried to strike a “fine
    balance” to ensure that no injustice was done to innocent children.
  • The Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Bill
    was passed after the government agreed to delete Clause7 which said that “any
    person, who is apprehended after completing the age of 21 years, for committing
    any serious or heinous offence when such person was between the age of 16 and
    18 years, then he shall, subject to the provisions of this Act, be tried as an
    adult.”
  • At least 42 official amendments were moved by the government
    to the Bill which were adopted, while all the amendments moved by opposition
    members like Shashi Tharoor (Congress) and N K Premchandran (RSP) were negated.
  • Opposition members opposed the proposal to raise the age
    bar, expressing apprehensions about misuse and violation of rights of children
    by the new law which is being enacted against the backdrop of the involvement
    of a 16-year-old in the 2012 Nirbhaya gangrape case.

Union Cabinet
Approves Amendments to Whistleblowers Act

  • The union cabinet on Wednesday approved amendments to the
    Whistlebowers Protection Act, 2011 aimed at strengthening safeguards against
    disclosures which may affect the sovereignty and integrity of the country.
  • The decision was taken at a cabinet meeting presided over by
    Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
  • An official release said the amendments would address
    concerns relating to national security and the amendment bill will be moved
    during the budget session of parliament.
  • The Public Interest Disclosures and Protection to Persons
    making the Disclosures Bill, 2011 was introduced in the Lok Sabha in August,
    2010 in order to give statutory protection to whistleblowers in the country.
  • The bill was passed by the Lok Sabha in December, 2011 and
    by Rajya Sabha in February last year. The bill has received the assent of the
    president in May last year.
  • Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Wednesday accused the
    government of not properly implementing the act.

List/Indexes
World food prices
fall to nearly 5-year low in April: UN FAO

  • Global food prices fell in April to their lowest since June
    2010, as dairy led most commodities down, the United Nations food agency said
    today.
  • The UN Food and Agriculture Organization’s (FAO) price
    index, which measures monthly changes for a basket of cereals, oilseeds, dairy,
    meat, and sugar, averaged 171 points in April, 1.2 per cent below its reading
    in March.
  • High global production, a strong US dollar and cheaper crude
    oil have helped cap food prices for the past year and the index has been
    declining since April 2014.
  • There are no major concerns about supply, so external
    factors are likely to have more influence over price developments in the near
    future, FAO senior economist Abdolreza Abbassian said.
  • The FAO forecast world cereal production in 2015 would fall
    by 1.5 per cent from the previous year, with overall output reaching 2.509
    billion tonnes. Most of the decrease would come from reduced planting of maize,
    the agency said.
  • Cereal stocks at the end of the 2015-16 season are forecast
    to reach 626.6 million tonnes and world wheat output is due to hit 719.1
    million tonnes, the FAO said.

India Moves Up on
Global Travel, Tourism List to 52nd Place

  • India has moved up 13 notches to 52nd position on a global
    list of countries in terms of their travel and tourism competitiveness, but
    ranks worse than its emerging market peers like China, Brazil, Russia and South
    Africa.
  • While India fares much better as a business destination, the
    infrastructure gaps, concerns on health, hygiene and environment
    sustainability, and its “unsettling” safety and security situation
    has dragged down the overall ranking.
  • The list has been topped by Spain, which is followed by
    France, Germany, US, UK, Switzerland, Australia, Italy, Japan and Canada in the
    top ten.
  • Of the large emerging markets, China (17th) and Brazil
    (28th) made it into the top 30, whereas Russia, South Africa and India ranked
    45th, 48th and 52nd, respectively.
  • Releasing the biennial list, the World Economic Forum (WEF)
    said India’s relevance as business travel destination is increasing along with
    its economic growth and it remains a highly price-competitive destination (with
    8th position globally on this parameter) and recent changes in its visa regime
    have the potential to boost the international arrivals.
  • In the Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Index (TTCI)
    2013 India was ranked 65th out of 140 countries covered in its study. The 2015
    report ranks 141 countries across 14 separate dimensions, revealing how well
    countries could deliver sustainable economic and societal benefits through
    their travel and tourism sector.

Sports
Geeta Wins bronze,
Hitender Misses Out in Senior Asian Wrestling Championship

  • Geeta Phogat bagged a bronze in the Women’s freestyle 58kg
    category, while Hitender Beniwal lost his bronze-medal play-off bout to return
    empty-handed in the Men’s 125kg division in the Senior Asian Wrestling
    Championship in Doha.
  • Geeta defeated Thi Loan Nguyen of Vietnam by fall verdict in
    the bronze medal play-off, to settle for the third position last night,
    according to the Wrestling Federation of India.
  • Geeta earned five classification points in the match and
    also came out with four technical points. Her opponent could not get off the
    mark and the Indian won rather convincingly.
  • En-route to the bronze medal play-off, Geeta lost in only
    one pool bout to Kaori Icho of Japan, the Olympic gold medallist.
  • Having returned from an injury lay-off, Geeta won her first
    match against Salomat Kuchimova of Uzbekistan, by fall (11-0) to enter the next
    round.
  • Hitender lost to Kazakhstan’s Aiaal Lazarev, who won five
    classification points and eight technical points, even as the Indian failed to
    get off the mark.
  • Other Indians in the fray — Rahul Balasaheb Aware (57kg),
    Rajneesh Dalal (65kg) and Somveer (86kg) — crashed out of the tournament early
    in their respective weight categories.

Awards
& Honours –
Nadia District in WB
Gets UN Public Service Award
  • West Bengal’s Nadia district has been declared the winner
    for the ‘2015 United Nations Public Service Award’ in the category of improving
    delivery of public services, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said.
  • Nadia district has earned praise for making available
    toilets for all under the programme “Sabar Shouchagar”.
  • The Award would be handed over by the UN Secretary General
    on June 23, 2015 in Medellin, Republic of Colombia, she said in her Facebook
    post.

Appointments
Equifax appoints
HSBC’s Manish Sinha as new India head
  • Credit information company Equifax has appointed Manish
    Sinha as the new managing director and country head for India.
  • Equifax India is a joint venture between the Atlanta,
    USA—headquartered Equifax and seven domestic financial institutions, including
    State Bank of India.
  • Sinha comes to the company from foreign lender HSBC, where
    he focused on retail banking as the head of consumer assets and customer value
    management.
  • Sinha said the relationships he has forged and his knowledge
    of the financial sector will be of help in the new job.

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This post was last modified on July 20, 2019 10:24 am