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Current Affairs Today – May 21 2015

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SenDhil
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[dropcap]D[/dropcap]ear Readers, We cover some important news in Bulletin Today Section, which are not covered in Daily Brief News, More Current Affairs coverage will helpful for upcoming exam.

 

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Detailed News

 

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Indian Affairs 

UP FDA asked Nestle to withdraw 2014 batch of Maggi

  • U.P. Food Safety and Drugs Administration has asked Nestlé India to withdraw a batch of Maggi noodles from the market
  • They found, in their security checks, high levels of lead and Mono Sodium Glutamate in the product.
  • Nestlé has, on the other hand, challenged the findings and conclusions of the U.P. FDA.. They allege that the organisation has come to the conclusion by their observation on only one packet whereas the subsequent batches were found safe.

Govt. relaxes FDI norms for NRIs, PIOs, OCI

  • The Cabinet approved amendments to FDI policy on investments by non-resident Indians (NRIs), overseas citizens of India (OCIs) and persons of Indian origin (PIOs) as domestic investment.
  • This will give PIOs & OCIs parity with NRIs in economy and education

Website to track missing kids soon

  • The government for the first time plans to launch a web portal that can be accessed by a common man to upload visuals and details of missing children and help track them.
  • he website khoyapaya.gov.in will act as an enabling platform for citizens to report missing children or those found as well as sightings.
  • The web portal has been initiated by the ministry of women and child development (WCD) along with the department of electronics and information technology (DEITY) and will be run with the assistance of Childline and local police.
  • It is likely to be launched in June.

International Affairs 

President Obama enters Guinness Book Of Records

  • Obama broke a Guinness world record by becoming the fastest person to garner one million twitter followers, which he did in less than five hours.
  • The new account- @POTUS – President Of The United States, is the new official PRESIDENTIAL ACCOUNT of the USA and will be managed by the subsequent presidents.
  • He broke Robert Downey Jr.’s record who achieved the feat in 23 hours.

Indian American Yale University professor Akhil Amar appointed to key post

  • Indian American Yale University professor- Akhil Amar has been named as a member of the prestigious Council on Humanities by president Obama.
  • He is a professor of Law and Political Science in Yale since 2008. He is also a member of Board of Directors of the Constitutional Accountability Centre. He was also elected a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Banking & Finance 

SEBI sets new norms for mutual funds managing off shore assets

  • Market regulator SEBI has simplified norms for domestic mutual fund managers managing off shore pooled assets for low risk investors. It has dropped the 20-25 rule.
  • According to the rule, for a domestic mutual fund manager to manage foreign funds, it has to have 20 investors and a cap of 25% on investment by an individual.
  • The regulations called- SEBI( Mutual Funds) Regulation, 2015, will apply to category 1 and 2 Foreign Portfolio Investors ( low risk ) which includes pension funds, banks, insurers, etc.

SBI partners with PayPal

  • The country’s largest bank announced a partnership with digital payments firm, PayPal so that the Customers of State Bank of India (SBI) can now use their debit cards on PayPal for buying products from overseas websites.
  • The partnership will also allow SBI’s Micro Small and Medium Enterprise (MSME) customers to use PayPal’s secure payment solutions.
  • SBI has also announced a partnership with e-commerce firm, Amazon.com, in India.

SBI signs pact with Snapdeal

  • SBI tie up with Snapdeal for funding MSMEs will boost Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Make-in-India initiatives by putting more funds in the hands of the small entrepreneurs enabling them to boost their industries.
  • SBI will offer easy loans to MSME traders and manufacturers on the Snapdeal platform enabling them to scale up operations. There will be concessional interest rate for women entrepreneurs and zero collateral security for loans up to Rs.1 crore. Traders will get collateral free loans up to Rs. 25 lakh.

RBI relaxes norms for raising ECB in rupee

  • The Reserve Bank today relaxed norms to help Indian corporates to raise funds in rupees from overseas lenders.
  • To facilitate external commercial borrowing (ECB) in rupees, RBI said off-shore lenders may enter into swap transactions with their overseas bank which in turn will enter into a back-to-back swap transaction with a bank in India.
  • Earlier, a non-resident ECB lender was allowed to extend loans in rupees provided the lender mobilises rupees through a swap undertaken with a bank in India.

 

Science & Technology

Astra missile fired from Su-30 MKI again

  • The indigenously-developed beyond visual range air-to-air missile, Astra was successfully launched from Su-30 MKI fighter jet in two developmental trials conducted at the Integrated Test Range, Chandipur, Odisha.
  • In the first trial, the supersonic missile was released when the fighter jet was performing a “very high-g manoeuvre”. In the second trial, the manoeuvre was higher than in the first exercise.
  • It is one of the most modern, stand-off beyond visual range air-to-air missiles (BVRAAM)

Sports

Virat Kohli named sixth most marketable athlete by British magazine

  • British Sports business magazine ‘SportsPro’ has named Indian Test cricket captain Virat Kohli as the sixth most marketable athlete of this year ahead of the likes of sprint king Usain Bolt and football superstars Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.
  • Another Indian, ace shuttler Saina Nehwal has been placed at the 44th.




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