Current Affairs Today – August 26 2015

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Indian Affairs 

• India to implement Sendai framework for Disaster Reduction 2015 – 2030
• Union Government launches ‘Sehat’ to provide healthcare facilities in rural areas
• Rajasthan Government approved Arogya Rajasthan campaign

PM inaugurates birth centenary celebrations of Rani Gaidinliu

• Recalling the contribution of Naga leader Rani Gaidinliu to India’s freedom struggle, Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated birth centenary celebrations of freedom fighter Rani Gaidinliu in New Delhi.
• Narendra Modi said that Rani Gaidinliu believed that her struggle for the Naga people against the British was also a struggle for Indias unity and integrity and also credited Rani Gaidinliu with spreading the message of Mahatma Gandhi in the North-East.Rani Gaidinliu born on January 26, 1915, joined her Cousin Haipou Jadonang’s movement at the age of 13 to drive out the British from Manipur.
• Central Government also allocated Rs. 9.83 crores for setting up a Library-cum-Museum at Kohima onRani Gaidinliu.
• Narendra Modi launched commemorative coin of 100 rupees and circulation coin of 5 rupees of Rani Gaidinliu to mark her birth centenary celebrations on the occasion.

Muslim share of population up 0.8%, Hindus’ down 0.7% between 2001 and 2011

According to the official data released by the Registrar General and Census Commissioner, the Muslim population in India grew by 24.6% while the decadal population growth for Hindus stood at 16.8% during between 2001 and 2011.

• The 2001-11 decadal growth rate for total population was 17.7%. Over this period, Christians grew by 15.5%, Sikhs by 8.4%, Jains by 5.4% and Buddhists by 6.1%. Those stating other religions and persuasions grew by 19.6% in the 10 years preceding 2011
• Total Population in 2011 is 121.09 crore. Hindu 96.63 crores (79.8%), Muslim 17.22 crores (14.2%), Christian 2.78 crores (2.3%), Sikh 2.08 crores (1.7%), Buddhist 0.84 crores (0.7%), Jain 0.45 crores (0.4%), Other Religions & Persuasions (ORP) 0.79 crores (0.7%) and Religion Not Stated 0.29 crores (0.2%).
• The number of people who did not state their religion went up by 294% between 2001 and 2011.

Second Forum for India-Pacific Islands Cooperation (FIPIC) Summit held in Jaipur

India-Pacific Islands Cooperation (FIPIC) second forum held in Jaipur, Rajasthan on  August 21, 2015 attended by heads of states and governments and key officials of the 14 pacific island nations of the group.

• The objective of summit is to strengthen trade and bilateral relations between India and the Pacific countries.
• The leaders discussed common areas of cooperation including marine resources exploration, oil and natural gas, mining, IT, health care, fishing, marine research and space collaboration, climate change, UN reforms in the summit.
• Prime Minister Narendra Modi also held bilateral dialogue with various heads of governments on the sidelines of the summit.
• The first summit was held in Fiji’s capital Suva in the third week of November 2014.

Indian Army inaugurated Jaisalmer War Museum and Laungewala War Memorial

For the Indian heroes of the 1965 and 1971 war with Pakistan, Jaisalmer War Museum’ has been established in the Military Station of Jaisalmer to commemorate the sacrifice of war heroes.

• Lieutenant General Ashok Singh, General Officer Commanding in Chief, Southern Command inaugurated the museum.
• The War Museum is located 10 km short of Jaisalmer on the Jaisalmer – Jodhpur Highway.
• The museum has two large Information Display Halls, an Audio Visual Room and a souvenir shop.  There are a large number of captured war trophies and own vintage equipment on display to include tanks, guns and military vehicles.
• The inauguration of the museum in the Golden Jubilee Commemoration Year of 1965 Indo Pak War is also a tribute to all soldiers who made the supreme sacrifice in the defence of the motherland.

International Affairs 

India-Australia bilateral maritime exercise next month

India andAustralia will undertake their first first bilateral maritime exercise – AUSINDEX  in Visakhapatnam next month announced by Defence Minister Manohar Parikkar, who is on a two-day visit to Australia, met his Australian counterpart Stephen Smith in Perth

• The maritime exercises, to be held in the Bay of Bengal off India’s eastern coast next month, will include anti-submarine warfare and coordinated anti-submarine drills said by the Australian High Commission in Delhi
• Three Royal Australian Navy ships and a Royal Australian Air Force AP-3C aircraft are expected to travel to India for the week-long exercise.
• The ships, including frigate Arunta, tanker Sirius, and a submarine Sheean, are expected to participate with four Indian Navy ships.
• India and Australia had participated together in multilateral maritime exercises in Malabar in 2007 and in Milan in 2012.

Banking & Finance 

ICICI Bank launches ‘mortgage guarantee’ backed loans for affordable housing sector

‘Mortgage guarantee’ backed loans for retail customers allows a borrower to enhance the loan amount by up to 20% and also provides the option to extend the repayment period up to 67 years of age is launched by ICICI Bank.

• ‘ICICI Bank Extraa Home Loans’ will be available at the bank’s branches in Greater Mumbai, NCR (National Capital Region), Bengaluru and Surat.
• Self-employed individuals seeking home loans of a maximum amount of Rs 75 lakh are eligible for this loan, the variant for middle aged, salaried customers is suitable for salaried borrowers up to 48 years of age.
• Under this facility they can extend their loan tenure till 65 years of age.
• Young, salaried borrowers up to 37 years of age are eligible to avail a 30-year home loan with repayment tenure running till 67 years of age.

Business

IFFCO launches joint venture with Mitsubishi Corp for manufacturing agrochemicals

For manufacturing agrochemicals in India, Fertilizer cooperative IFFCO launched a joint venture with Japanese firm Mitsubishi Corp.

• The joint venture IFFCO-MC Crop Science Private Ltd, IFFCO holds 51% stake and the rest is held by Mitsubishi.
• IFFCO-MC will come up with 20 different products across various product ranges of agrochemicals.
• The logo of the JV firm was exchanged between IFFCO chairman Balvinder Singh Nakai and Mitsubishi Corporation India chairman and managing director Masakazu Sakakida.
• IFFCO has a strong presence in the fertiliser market and Mitsubishi Corporation, are expertise in agrochemical business internationally.
• Indian Farmers Fertiliser Cooperative Limited, also known as IFFCO, is the world’s largest fertiliser cooperative federation based in India which is registered as a Multistate Cooperative Society. IFFCO has 40,000 member cooperatives.
• IFFCO has been ranked 37 in top companies in India in 2011 by Fortune India 500 list.

India’s state-owned LIC buys 86% of Indian Oil shares on offer

Life Insurance Corporation of India, bought 86 percent of shares on offer, in state-run Indian Oil Corp ,salvaging a $1.4 billion government sale, as the Indian market took its biggest tumble in more than six years.

• It heavily supported the sale of Coal India shares in January and the sale of shares in Steel Authority of India (SAIL) last year.
• The investments have sometimes proved fruitful for LIC, with stock in the State Bank of India, which was invested in January 2014, up more than 60 percent.
• The sale was undermined by the sharpest fall in the Indian stock market, since January 2009.Next on the stump for the government are sales, including a 10 percent slice of Coal India and stakes in NTPC, Bharat Electronics, Hindustan Copper.
• LIC Chairman– S K Roy
• Indian Oil Chairman – B. Ashok

Awards & Recognitions

• Government announces Dronacharya, Dhyan Chand, Rashtriya Khel Protsahan Puruskar awards 2015

Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg world’s richest individual under 35: Wealth-X

• Co-Founder and Chief Executive of the Facebook Mark Zuckerberg is the wealthiest individual under the age of 35 – $41.6 billion by Wealth-X report.
• Facebook co-founders Dustin Moskovitz-second place on the list with $9.3 billion and Eduardo Saverin-fourth with $5.3 billion.
• Only six women in the top-20 list features, However, no Indian featured on the list.
• Huiyan Yang, the 34-year-old Vice Chairman of Chinese real estate developer Country Garden Holdings – third spot with $5.9 billion.
• The youngest individual on the list is Snapchat Chief Executive Evan Spiegel, who at the age of 25 has amassed a fortune of $1.9 billion.

Appointments

Sebi to appoint 46 official from weaker section

For faster and more effective execution of its work, Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) plans to beef up its headcount has embarked on a special recruitment drive for hiring 46 officers from weaker section of the society.

• Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has workforce of over 700 people, plans to increase its workforce to about 1,000 employees in order to meet future manpower requirements to take full ownership of regulatory oversight of all investment schemes
• Sebi plans to recruit legal experts, researchers, engineers and other officials for general administration from Scheduled Castes (SCs), Scheduled Tribes (STs) and Other Backward Class (OBC) categories.
• Sebi has invited applications for 32 posts in general administration department, nine in legal stream, two each for research and official language team and one for engineering department.
• The candidates can apply for the positions between August 22 and September 7 and regulator would select the officers through a written examination followed by interview.

Girish Sahni assumed charge as Director General of CSIR

• Girish Sahni assumed charge as the next Director General of the Council of Scientific & Industrial Research(CSIR) and Secretary, Department of Scientific & Industrial Research (DSIR), Ministry of Science & Technology.

About Dr. Girish Sahni:

• Presently he had been the Director of CSIR-Institute of Microbial Technology (CSIR-IMTECH), Chandigarh.
• Sahni, having specialization in Protein Engineering, Molecular Biology, and Biotechnology, has contributed significantly in the area of protein cardiovascular drugs especially ‘clot busters’ and their mode of action in the human body.
• He has received National Biotechnology Product Development Award 2002, CSIR Technology Shield 2001-2002, The Vasvik Industrial Award 2000, Ranbaxy Award in Pharmaceutical Sciences 2003, Vigyan Rattan Award 2014, Shri Om Prakash Bhasin Award 2013, and CSIR Technology Award for Business Development and Technology Marketing 2014.

Ananth Padmanabhan appointed as CEO of HarperCollins India

• HarperCollins has appointed Ananth Padmanabhan  as the new CEO of HarperCollins India.
• Presently,he is working as a Senior Vice President of Sales at Penguin Random House. He has a total of 20 years of experience in the publishing sector.
• HarperCollins announced the formation of a new board for the business.The board includes Redmayne, Padmanabhan, Colin Hughes, Ed Kielbasiewicz,  Alex Beecroft, and Amit Abrol.Krishna Naroor will also join the board.

Sports 

First international weightlifting event in India

• The first time in the history of weightlifting, an individual international tournament will be organised in India when it hosts the Commonwealth Youth, Junior and Senior Weightlifting Championships in Pune from October 11-15.

The Squads:

• For 26th Women & 45th Men Senior Asian Championship:S Mohana Sundaram (56kg), Vikas Thakur (85kg), Md. Jameer Hussain (94kg), Praful Kumar Dubey (105kg), Bangaru Usha (48kg).Coaches: Kunjarani Devi, Sandip Kumar and Dathan AP.
• For 5th Commonwealth Youth Games:Jamjang Deru (56kg), Deepak Lather (62kg). Coach: Vijay Sharma.

SAI launches School Sports Promotion Foundation

Sports Authority of India organize sports tournaments across India to identify talent, arrange to nurture it and take them through the city, district, state, zonal and national level of competitive sport.

• SAI will arrange to provide sports coaching to those talented youth who are identified through these tournaments at all levels.
• In the first year of its operations, School Sports Promotion Foundation will roll out Football and Cricket.
• Other sports like Tennis, Basketball and Athletics will be introduced in the second year and rural, sub-urban elementary schools with a strong focus on rural sports would be included in the programme.
• The Sports Promotion Foundation hopes to reach out to around 1,00,000 secondary and senior secondary schools irrespective of their ownership, economic or social strata they operate in or the board they are affiliated to.