Current Affairs Today – August 21 2015

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Indian Affairs 

• The world’s first solar powered airport – in Kerala
• Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Value Added Tax (Amendment) Regulation 2015 promulgation approved

Manipur Government reaches agreement with JCILPS on ILP System

• Inner Line Permit System (ILPS) is a travel document that restricts “outsiders” from entering and staying in a state without permission, Manipur Government made agreement with the Joint Committee on the Inner Line Permit System, JCILPS, on insertion of five major points in the Draft Bill to safeguard the rights of indigenous people of Manipur.
• JCILPS said implementation of the system would check influx of migrants and safeguard the culture, tradition, identity and demographic structure of the indigenous people of the state.
• A total of 16 members from the JCILPS and 12 member’s team of Political Parties Committee on ILP comprising of Deputy Chief Minister Gaikhangam, MLA RK Anand, Ng Bijoy and others attended the meeting.

Centre sanctions Rs 99.86 cr for tourism developp in Telangana

• Under Swadesh Darshan Mission 2015-16, the Tourism Ministry sanctioned Rs 99.86 crores for the ‘Integrated Development of Eco-Tourism Circuit’ project in Mahabubnagar district of Telangana.
• The project includes works on Somasila riverside development with jetties and boating facilities, development of Singottam reservoir and tourist facilitation centre, and development of Akka Mahadevi caves with illumination and visitors amenities among others.
• Telangana Tourism Corporation has proposed a tourism circuit highlighting the scenic beauty of the region, covering forests, tiger reserve and wildlife, waterfalls, caves, rivers and reservoirs and ancient temples, tourist-friendly amenities and infrastructure, including a water-sports hub at Singottam reservoir.

HP Government launches RISHTA project

• Rajiv Gandhi Illuminating Scheme for Hill Town Advancement (RISHTA) project has been launched by HP Government which is an efficient smart LED based street lighting project. It was launched by Virbhadra Singh who is State Chief Minister of Shimla.
• This project is also known as Centralized Control and Monitoring System, Smart Street Lighting Scheme for Urban Local bodies which implements LED based street lighting project.
  This project will replace total of 63, 484 street lights with LEDs in all the Urban Local areas.
• By this project, energy will saved by 45 to 55 percent.
• This project is being implemented by state Urban Development Department association and Energy Efficient Services Limited (EESL).

Iran no longer on restricted visa list

• The Union government has removed Iran from the list of countries put under the restricted visa category.
• India has liberalised its visa policy for Iran and struck it off the prior referral category (PRC) of countries. Three categories of visas — employment, conference, students and research visa — were on the restricted list till now.
• Union Home Ministry issued an order which said Iran was no longer on the PRC list, which has countries such as Pakistan, Bangladesh and China.

Union Cabinet approved signing of MoU between India and Australia on education and research

• Union Cabinet has approved the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between India and Australia on cooperation in the fields of education, training and research.
• This will help to intensify existing partnerships between India and Australia in higher education & research, including technical and professional education, schools, vocational education.

Objectives:

• Strengthening the policy dialogue .
• Supporting mobility of students and faculty members.
• Improving credit transfer arrangements.
• Supporting and organizing professional development programmes .
• Encouraging research collaboration.
• Further develop bilateral programmes between institutions,subjected to availability of fund.
• Any other activity as mutually determined by both parties.

Mumbai to host Miss India Worldwide 2015

• Mumbai is to host the 24th annual Miss India Worldwide next month announced by US-based organisers of the event.
• Square Entertainment has been given the ownership to manage the property for the next three years in India.
• Contestants from over 35 counties are scheduled to participate in the beauty pageant and finals would be held on September 5.

Important points:

• Miss India Worldwide Organized since 1990
• Chairman and founder of the US-based Miss India Worldwide – Dharmatma Saran.
• Present Miss India Worldwide – Monica Gill.

International Affairs 

Ranil Wickremesinghe sworn in PM of Sri Lanka

• Ranil Wickremesinghe has sworn-in as the Prime Minister of Sri Lanka for fourth time.
  He was administered the oath of office by President Maithripala Sirisena at the oath taking ceremony held at Presidential Secretariat in Colombo.
• Immediately after oath taking ceremony, two main parties in the country Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) and the United National Party (UNP) inked a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to form national unity government and work together in the parliament.
• Ranil Wickremesighe has held the position of Prime Minister of the country on three earlier occasions i.e. in 1993-94, 2002-2004 and from January 2015 to August 2015. He holds record of being Member of Parliament continuously without losing his seat for the last 38 years in Sri Lankan history.

China to build $10 billion N-plants in Pakistan

• The Karachi Nuclear Power Plant II (Kanupp II) with the capacity to produce 1,100 MW electricity will be constructed with the assistance of China with an estimated cost of $10 billion.
• Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif inaugurated construction work on a China-backed nuclear power plant.
• Kanupp II will pave the way for the construction of Kanupp III, also with a planned capacity to produce 1,100 MW, to be built also with help of China.
• The groundbreaking of Kanupp III was also performed in 2013 along with Kanupp II.
• This is considered to be the biggest energy investor and infrastructure projects in Pakistan.

Lahore High Court banned film ‘Phantom’ from release in Pakistan

• Pakistan’s Lahore High Court banned the release of Bollywood movie ‘Phantom’ in Pakistan. It also banned its airing on the cable networks and its sale in the form of CDs.
• The order to ban the release of the Saif Ali Khan-starrer film in the theaters in Pakistan was issued by Justice Shahid Bilal Hassan of the Lahore High Court.
• The decision was taken on a plea of by Jamaatud Dawa (JuD) chief and Mumbai attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed. The petitioner in his plea argued that the film set on post-26/11 attacks contains filthy propaganda against him and his outfit.
• The film could be a direct threat to his life as the dialogues of the film could poison the minds of the public.

Over 10 countries to join China’s military parade

• More than 10 countries including Russia will join with China for a military parade in Beijing next month commemorating the 70th anniversary of victory over Japan in World War II.
• Parade is widely seen as a public display of the People’s Liberation Army’s fast-growing capabilities.
• The foreign troops joining in the parade are from countries in Asia, Europe, Africa the Americas and Oceana.
• 12,000 troops will take part in the Sept. 3 event, showcasing 500 pieces of equipment of about 40 different types along with almost 200 aircraft of more than 20 types.
• China’s last such military parade was in 2009 to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic.
• Parade deputy commander : Qu Rui

Banking & Finance 

• R Gandhi panel recommended conversion of UCBs into Regular Banks
• SEBI bars 59 entities from trading for manipulating markets and evading taxes

Bank holiday on second, fourth Saturdays

• Bank employees have something to cheer on alternate weekends. The Centre on Thursday declared that the second and fourth Saturday of every month would be a holiday for banks, with effect from September 1, 2015.
• This announcement is being made as part of the agreement arrived at during the 10 bipartite wage settlement between the IBA and bank employees’ unions in June this year.
• All India Bank Employees’ Association general secretary C.H. Venkatachalam said, “As of now, they are working on all Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Beginning September, they will have two alternate Saturdays as holidays and have to work from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on the first and third Saturdays.”

Business

Nutraceuticals global market to touch $262.9 b by 2020

• According to the joint study of Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (Assocham) and RNCOS, Global nutraceuticals market is expected to cross $262.9 billion by 2020 from the current level of $182.6 billion growing at compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of about 8 per cent.
• According to a study on ‘Indian Nutraceuticals, Herbals, and Functional Foods Industry: Emerging on Global Map, India’s nutraceuticals market is likely to cross $6.1 billion by 2020 from the current level of $2.8 billion growing at compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of about 17 per cent.
• U.S. has the largest market for nutraceuticals, followed by Asia-Pacific and European Union.
• The Indian nutraceuticals market is at a nascent stage accounts for around 1.5 per cent of the global market.
• “At present, India does not have any kind of regulatory guidelines for the approval or monitoring of the products under this segment. These products are regulated under the guidelines of FSSA, 2006 amended in 2011 for registration, licensing, approval, labelling and packaging, import, marketing & distribution, laboratory testing such as conventional food products.”

Google and Amazon in fray to buy Tata’s data centre

• Around about for Rs 4,261.4 crore to Rs 4,589.2 crore ($650-700 million) Search engine giant Google Inc and ecommerce Amazon are in talks to buy the data centre business of the Indian company of TATA Group.
• Besides India, Tata Communications has data centres in the US, UK and Singapore, with over 1 million sq ft of co-location space, offering managed hosting and storage services.
• Acquiring large data centre operations will give access for companies like Google to penetrate into the Indian data market.
• With the success of the transaction, will help Tata Communications reduce debt burden and concentrate on its core data carrier business.
• Companies like Blackstone Group, Carlyle, KKR, Bain Capital and Advent International, who are all, looking to buy up to 74% stake in the data centre unit and take control of the business.

Appointments & Resigns

Ashwani Lohani appointed as CMD of Air India Ltd.

• Ashwani Lohani was on 20 August 2015 appointed as the Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) of state owned national carrier Air India Limited. he will succeed Rohit Nandan.
•  His appointment was approved by the Appointment Cabinet Committee (ACC) chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
• He succeeded senior IAS officer Rohit Nandan whose tenure ended on 21 August 2015.
• He will have a tenure of three years. Presently, he is working as Managing Director (MD) of Madhya Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation (MPTDC) in Bhopal.

Sports

Chess Prodigy, Aryan, becomes the second youngest IM

• Chess prodigy Aryan Chopra, 13 years and 10 months old has become India’s second youngest International Master (IM) after Parimarjan Negi who set record in 2006 was nine months less than Aryan Chopra.
• Aryan got his first International Master Norm at the Sants Open at the age of 11 where 650 players from 42 countries had participated.

International Master (IM):

• The IM title can be achieved once a player gets an Elo rating between 2200 and 2500.
• Elo rating is a rating system to calculate the relative skill levels of players.
• He has finished 6th in A section of the Latvian Open with 6.5 games in 9 games and rating performance of 2634.
• His effort was so strong that he attained not only his third IM norm but also his maiden GM norm. He is set to add 28 rating points to his Elo strength of 2402.

Books & Authors

Book titled Mrs Funnybones authored by Twinkle Khanna released

• Actor-turned-writer Twinkle Khanna, wife of Akshay Kumar launched her first book Mrs Funnybones: She’s Just Like You and a Lot Like Me.
• Twinkle’s tongue-in-cheek column “Mrs Funnybones” is a commentary on society and trends.
• Published by Penguin Books India, the 248 page is a collection of observations by Mrs Funnybones (the narrator/character) on the life of the modern Indian woman who organizes dinner each evening, even as she goes to work all day, who runs her own life but has to listen to her Mummyji, who worries about her weight and the state of the country.
• The 40-year-old actor’s mother Dimple Kapadia, Akshay Kumar and close friends Aamir Khan and Karan Johar were present on the launch of the book.

Making India Awesome authored by Chetan Bhagat

• Indian author, columnist, screenwriter, television personality and motivational speaker Chetan Bhagat, launches second political nonfiction ‘Making India Awesome’ after What Young India Wants, which was published in 2012 and was a national bestseller.
• In ‘Making India Awesome’ by Chetan Bhagat, the author attempts to analyse and provides inspired solutions to the country’s most intractable problems like poverty, unemployment, corruption, violence against women, communal violence, religious fundamentalism and illiteracy.
• Chetan Bhagat is the author of seven blockbuster books. These include six novels-Five Point Someone (2004), One Night @ the Call Center (2005), The 3 Mistakes of My Life (2008), 2 States (2009), Revolution 2020 (2011), Half Girlfriend (2014)-and the non-fiction title What Young India Wants (2012).
• ‘Making India Awesome’ books consists of 192 pages published by Rupa Publications.

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