Dear Friends,
Welcome to the Quick Gyan (QG) Section of D2G. QG is just a glimpse of what happened today all over the world.
Only For Serious Candidates : We strongly recommend you to read the Current Affairs in detail. For your convenience, we have provided quick links under the updates. Make use of it.
Always Keep Yourself Updated!!!
AWARDS AND HONORS
Andhra Pradesh Harita-Priya Agriculture Project wins 2016 WSIS Prize
An Andhra Pradesh project to collect very specific climate data from farms and give farmers personalised information through SMS has won the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) 2016 prize in the e-Agriculture category. International Telecommunications Union (ITU) Secretary-General Houlin Zhao announced the prize in Geneva. The Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (CDAC) in Hyderabad developed the project, which is having a pilot run in Anantpur district. WSIS said the organisation had an e-strategy for implementing it at the national level.
- A total of 18 prizes were awarded in categories ranging from international cooperation to information ethics. The prize in the e-Agriculture category was the only one won by an Indian organisation.
- The project, Harmonized Information of Agriculture, Revenue and Irrigation for a Transformation Agenda- Precision Technology for Agriculture or HARITA-PRIYA, uses wireless sensor networks (WSN) to collect micro-climate information from farms, according to WSIS.
Quick Link – WSIS Prize
President Pranab Mukherjee confers Niryat Shree and Niryat Bandhu Awards
President Pranab Mukherjee conferred the 15th set of Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) Niryat Shree and Niryat Bandhu Awards in New Delhi. The Awards were presented to companies from various sectors of exports besides service providers, banks, various facilitating agencies promoting exports during the Golden Jubilee Celebration of Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) at New Delhi. Besides conferring the awards, the president also unveiled the brand new FIEO Logo representing growth, vibrancy, innovation and entrepreneurship.
Quick Link – Niryat Shree and Niryat Bandhu Awards
Swiss government honours Yash Chopra with special statue
A statue of a renowned Indian filmmaker, the late Yash Chopra, was unveiled in Interlaken, Switzerland. The 350 kg statue, which now stands in Kurssaal Garden in the central Swiss town of Interlaken, canton Bern, is a replica of the one in Chopra’s film studio in Mumbai and was unveiled by his widow, Pamela Chopra. Chopra’s daughter-in-law, the Bollywood actress Rani Mukerji – who also featured in his films, such as the highly successful Veer-Zara – also attended the ceremony. The event was organised by Interlaken Tourism and Jungfrau Railways. Chopra, who opened a legacy of South Asian tourists flocking to Switzerland, loved to spend time in the country besides shooting his movies.
Quick Link – Yash Chopra with special statue
Parashar Kulkarni wins 2016 Commonwealth Short Story Regional Prize
A Social Science professor from India Prashar Kulkarni has won the , for the Asia region for his “politically grounded, funny” fiction. Kulkarnis story Cow and Company about four men in search of a cow was adjudged the best piece of unpublished short fiction in English from Asia and will receive 2500 pounds prize.
- He is set to compete with winners from other four regions- Africa, Cananda and Europe, Carribbean and the Pacific – for the 5000 pounds grand prize, to be announced at the Calabash International Literary Festival in Jamaica on June 5.
Quick Link – Prashar Kulkarni
APPOINTMENTS
Vice Admiral Sunil Lanba appointed as Chief of the Naval Staff
Vice Admiral Sunil Lanba, Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief (FOC-in-C) of Western Naval Command, has been appointed as the new Chief of Naval Staff and will assume charge on May 31. The 58-year-old, a specialist in Navigation and Direction, will have the full three-year tenure as the Navy Chief. He will succeed Admiral RK Dhowan who is retiring. An alumnus of Defence Services Staff College, he will be the 21st Indian to be the Navy Chief. The first two were British. He will take over from Admiral Dhowan on the afternoon of May 31 and will be in office till May 31, 2019.
- Vice Admiral Lanba has served as Navigating Officer of corvette INS Sindhudurg and frigate INS Dunagiri.
- He has commanded four frontline warships — INS Kakinada (minesweeper), INS Himgiri (frigate) and INS Ranvijay and INS Mumbai, both destroyers.
- He is also an alumnus of the College of Defence Management, Secunderabad, where he has served as a faculty.
Quick Link – Sunil Lanba as Chief
Kumar Rajesh Chandra appointed aviation security wing chief
Senior IPS officer Kumar Rajesh Chandra has been appointed as chief of Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS), the aviation security wing of the government, over three years after the post fell vacant.
- The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has approved the name of Chandra, a 1985 batch IPS officer of Bihar cadre, for appointment to the post of Director General (formerly known as Commissioner of Security (Civil Aviation) in the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security, an order issued by Department of Personnel and Training said.
- He has been appointed in place of IPS officer G S Malhi, who had completed his tenure as BCAS chief in November 2012. The crucial post was lying vacant since then.
Quick Link – Kumar Rajesh Chandra as security wing chief
BANKING AND FINANCE
YES Bank gets SEBI nod to provide custodial services
Private sector lender Yes Bank has received in-principle nod from markets regulator Sebi to act as custodian of securities. The bank has been given a year’s time to establish the business by developing the operational, tech and human capital capabilities. Once it receives the final nod, it can offer custodial services to financial market participants, including foreign portfolio investors, which would help its fee-based income.
The size of custodial business in India is steadily growing with increasing value of assets under custody as well as newer investor classes such as Portfolio Management Services (PMS) and Alternative Investment Funds (AIF) opting for custody services, it added.
Quick Link – YES Bank gets SEBI nod
SBI launches mobile-based payment solution mVisa
Country’s biggest lender State Bank of India has announced the launch of mVisa, a mobile-based payment solution. The service will help customers make payments through their smartphones by simply scanning the unique merchant QR (Quick Response) code at merchant outlets.
- The mVisa is a card-less solution which facilitates payment by scanning the QR code displayed at the merchant outlet or from the merchants mobile.
- SBI customers (Debit Card holders and Internet Banking customers, having transaction rights) can now make easy payments to the merchants by simply scanning QR code image.
- This eliminates the need to swipe the physical card at a point-of-sale (PoS) machine.
Quick Link – mVisa
ICICI Bank signs MoU with BRICS Grouping-promoted New Development Bank
Private sector lender ICICI Bank became the first financial institution in the country to tie up with the BRICS Grouping-promoted New Development Bank (NDB) for a partnership in bond issuances, co-financing, treasury management and human resources. As part of the pact, the two lenders — NDBs first president is ICICI Bank veteran KV Kamath — will look at each other as “preferred partners”.
ICICI Bank and NDB will also leverage a mutually beneficial partnership in other areas such as treasury risk management, account and cash management services and human resource development.
Beyond this, there will be continuous dialogue and regular exchange of information between the two banks for exploring potential partnerships in other areas as well. Headquartered in Shanghai, the NDB began operations with an initial capital of USD 100 billion last year as a multilateral development bank promoted by Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.
Quick Link – ICICI Bank with BRICS
INDIAN AFFAIRS
NASSCOM, Facebook ink MoU to engage with India’s entrepreneurs
The trade body of Indian IT firms NASSCOM has signed an MoU with Facebook to build a product design initiative to engage the country’s young entrepreneurs into becoming problem solvers and solution builders. Signed in Silicon Valley, the NASSCOM-Facebook initiative is likely to propel innovative thinking and approaches to build solutions in key sectors where technology can play a transformational role.
With this initiative, NASSCOM plans to scale up the focus on product design and engage the young entrepreneurs into becoming problem solvers and solution builders.
Quick Link – NASSCOM
ITC shuts plants from May 4 to comply with new pictorial warnings rule
India’s biggest cigarette maker ITC Ltd shut its plants from May 4 to comply with a new stipulated pictorial warnings rule issued by the federal government. India’s top court told tobacco companies that they must adhere to a new federal rule requiring much larger health warnings on cigarette packs, in a major setback for the $11 billion industry. The court also transferred all petitions by cigarette manufacturers pending in various courts to the Karnataka High Court for further hearing. The companies had objected to the new federal rules.
- The Indian legal cigarette industry has been facing a continuous drop in demand because of high taxation and the growth of duty evaded illegal cigarettes that do not carry pictorial warnings.
- Since 2012-13, the excise duty on cigarettes, at a per unit level, has gone up cumulatively by 118% with increase in taxation in every successive year.
Quick Link – ITC
Lok Sabha passes Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2015
The Lok Sabha has passed the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code Bill 2016, which is seen as a “transformational” legislation that will help improve India’s ranking in the World Bank’s ‘Ease of Doing Business’ index.
- The new legislation has also provided for cross-border insolvency (which was not covered in the original Bill introduced in 2015).
- The Bill has also strengthened workmen rights as well as creditor rights. It has sought to provide a better deal for workmen in the waterfall (priority of repayment of dues post liquidation).
- The Bill ensures that there won’t be any “cherry picking” on the category of persons and that everybody (workmen, secured creditors etc) will get liquidation proceeds on a pari-passu basis, according to Sinha.
Quick Link – Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code
Cabinet Approvals – May 5 2016
i) Union Cabinet gives nod to India-EU agreement on S&T cooperation
ii) Union Cabinet apprised IT agreement signed between India and Qatar
iii) Union Cabinet approves India-UAE currency swap agreement
iv) Union Cabinet approves to allow flexibility in using domestic coal to reduce power generation cost
v) Union Cabinet approved to adopt United Nations fundamental principles of official statistics
Quick Link – Cabinet approvals
Lok Sabha passes Compensatory Afforestation Fund Bill, 2015
Lok Sabha has passed the much talked about Compensatory Afforestation Fund bill, 2015 that seeks to establish setting up of a National Compensatory Afforestation Fund and also a State Compensatory Afforestation Fund. Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar said it will be a historical legislation and will go a long way in ensuring countrywide afforestation programme. Members cutting across party lines supported the bill.
- The bill paves the way for unlocking of nearly Rs.41,000 crore earmarked for forest land which is lying unspent.
- The salient features of the afforestation programme will be people’s participation, social audit and there will not be any displacement, the minister said while replying to specific queries from Asaduddin Owaisi of All India Majlis—e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM).
Quick Link – Compensatory Afforestation Fund Bill
Offshore patrol vessel ICGS Shaurya launched
Goa Shipyard Limited launched Indian Coast Guard ship ‘Shaurya‘ at Vasco, the fifth of a series of six off-shore patrol vessels that the Coast Guard had tasked the Vasco defence public sector undertaking to build. The vessel is capable of cruising at a speed of 23 knots and has a range of 6,000 nautical miles. It will be fitted with state-of-the-art machinery like the integrated machinery control system and integrated bridge system. Once sea trials are done, it will be delivered to the Coast Guard.
The indigenously designed ship is capable of search and rescue operations, pollution control and external firefighting and will be deployed for ocean surveillance and for monitoring sea lanes of communication. ICGS Shaurya will be commissioned into service in early 2017.
Quick Link – Shaurya
Finance Ministry gives clearance to government e-marketplace
The Finance Ministry gave its green light to creation of ‘Government e-Marketplace‘ for online purchase of commonly used goods and services by various central government ministries and departments. The Department of Expenditure has added a new provision in the General Financial Rules (GFR) on the request of Commerce Department for creation of a one-stop GeM by Directorate General Supply and Disposal (DGS&D).
- The DGS&D will host an online Government e-Marketplace (GeM) for common use goods and services.
- The GeM would be dynamic, self-sustaining and user-friendly.
- DGS&D will ensure adequate publicity, including periodic advertisements in newspapers of the GeM and the items to be procured through GeM, for prospective suppliers.
Quick Link – Government e-Marketplace
INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS
Bangladesh nods Reliance Power proposal to set up 750 MW power project
Reliance Power has received in-principle approval from the Bangladesh government for the first phase of a 3,000 megawatt gas-based power plant, paving the way for the largest Foreign Direct Investment in the neighbouring country with a potential investment of over Rs 8,700 crore ($1.3 billion).
The first phase, a 750 MW power plant, will be set up at Meghnaghat (Narayanganj district), around 40 km south east of Dhaka, along with the FSRU (floating storage and regassification unit) terminal at Maheshkhali Island in Cox’s Bazar district of Bangladesh. The first phase will be commissioned in 2018-19.
Quick Link – Reliance Power
FOREIGN RELATIONS
India and Japan to sign MOU for Cooperation in Sports
India and Japan have decided to exchange sports persons, coaches, experts and administrators to improve the standard of the game in both nations. The two Asian countries will play some friendly matches ahead of the Under-17 World Cup tournament. The decisions were taken during a meeting between Sports Minister Sarbananda Sonowal and a 12-member delegation from Japan led by Hase Hiroshi, Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology.
Hiroshi also informed that the Shinzo Abe-led government has launched a programme named ‘Sport For Tomorrow‘ to promote sports among more than 10 million people in 100 nations between 2014 and 2020. In 2020, Tokyo will host the Summer Olympics and Paralympic Games.
Quick Link – India and Japan
SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
Aurobindo Pharma gets final USFDA nod for cholesterol drug
Aurobindo Pharma Ltd has got final approval from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to manufacture and market cholesterol-lowering fenofibrate tablets in 48 milligram (mg) and 145 mg dosage forms. The approved abbreviated new drug application (ANDA) is the generic version of AbbVie Inc.’s Tricor® tablets. Fenofibrate is used to treat high levels of cholesterol and triglycerides in the blood.
- The approved product has an estimated market size of $412 million for the 12 months ending March 2016.
- This is the 75th ANDA to be approved out of the Unit VII formulation facility in Hyderabad for manufacturing oral non-antibiotic products.
Quick Link – Aurobindo Pharma gets USFDA
SPORTS
Pakistan: Mickey Arthur succeeds Waqar Younis as head coach
South Africa’s Mickey Arthur has been appointed head coach of Pakistan ahead of this summer’s tour of England. The 47-year-old former South Africa and Australia coach takes over from Waqar Younis, who resigned last month. He led South Africa from 2005-10 and Australia from 2011-13 but was sacked 16 days before the 2013 Ashes series in England. Former England coach Peter Moores and Australian Stuart Law were among those linked with the position.
Pakistan Cricket Team is touring England for the first time since 2010. The first of four Test matches begins at Lord’s on 14 July, with five one-day internationals and one Twenty20 match to follow.
Quick Link – Mickey Arthur succeeds Waqar Younis
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