Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Indian Affairs
Maharashtra FDA ordered to file a FIR against Snapdeal and its CEO Kunal Behl
Maharashtra Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on 1 May 2015 ordered to file a FIR against the
Snapdeal, its CEO Kunal Bahl and Directors for allegedly selling prescription drugs online. Selling of
drugs without prescription is a crime under the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940.
The FIR was filed after FDA officer on an investigation found that Jasper Infotech Pvt. Ltd. entered
into agreements with dealers across India to supply medicines offered or exhibited for sale on its
website, snapdeal.com, and to collect the sale proceeds on their behalf.
The Madhya Pradesh Cabinet in the last week of April 2015 gave its approval to build 750 megawatt
(MW) solar photovoltaic (SPV) plant at Gurh tehsil in Rewa district.
The pla t, to e de eloped i th ee phases of
MW, o e o pleted ill e o e the o ld s
largest solar power plant.
At present, the largest SPV plant is the Topaz Solar Farm (550 MW) in Califo ia s a Luis O ispo
county, US, which was commissioned in 2014
Rajasthan government allocates 12 crore rupees for Project Great Indian Bustard
Rajasthan Forest department has allotted more than twelve crore rupees for a bird conservation
programme, Project Great Indian Bustard (GIB).
For this project Japan Bank is going to provide financial support of three crore rupees.
Under the GIB Project, closures will be made at many places in Khudi rasla, Pokhran and Shahgarh
of Jaislmer district for safe habitat of bird. In order to regularly monitor the bird information chips
will installed.
The Union Minister of State for Culture (Independent Charge), Tourism (Independent Charge) and
Civil Aviation, Dr. Mahesh Sharma on 3 May 2015 inaugurated the first ever Science Centre and
Planetarium in the Union Territory of Puducherry.
The Science Centre and Planetarium has been set up by the National Council of Science Museums
(NCSM) of Ministry of Culture at an expense of 5.5 crore rupees. It is the 47th Science Museum in
the country.
Rajasthan Government has inked a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with National Health
Mission (NHM), UNICEF and Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN) to tackle the severe
problem malnourishment in the state.
This MoU will help to implement the state government programme which was announced during
the state budget. In this budget the state government had announced that special attention will be
given to the children falling out of medical reach in state.
Bhel o
State-owned power equipment maker Bhel today said it has commissioned a thermal unit of KBUNL
in Bihar.
This is the first 195 MW unit to be commissioned by Bhel at the 2195 MW Muzaffarpur thermal
power station of Kanti Bijlee Utpadan Nigam Limited (KBUNL) in Bihar.
Bollywood actor Salman Khan was in news as on 6 April 2015 he was sentenced to five years
imprisonment by Mumbai Sessions Court.
He was sentenced for his 28 September 2002 hit and run case in which one pavement dweller was
killed and four others were injured.
BHEL o
Bharat Heavy Electricals (BHEL) has successfully commissioned the first unit of 82.5 MW at the
upcoming Shrinagar Hydro Electric Project (HEP) in Uttarakhand.
The greenfield hydro electric project consisting of four units of 82.5 MW each is being set up by
Alaknanda Hydro Power Corporation (GVK Group).
Location of the Project : Alaknanda River, a major tributary of the Ganga River, a perennial river in
Uttarakhand.Near the town of Shrinagar in Pauri Garhwal District of Uttarakhand.
The project is designed to utilise the waters of River Alaknanda by way of a diversion dam .
Power generation from Shrinagar HEP is likely to result in reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.
Current Projects under Execution by BHEL in Uttarakhand:
Lata Tapovan HEP (357 MW)
Tapovan Vishnugarh HEP (4130 MW)
Vyasi HEP (2X60 MW)
Vishnugarh Pipalkoti HEP (4111 MW)
So far, more than 500 hydro generating sets of various ratings have been contracted on BHEL in
India and abroad, with a cumulative capacity of more than 26,000 MW. Of these, equipment for
about 5,000 MW generating capacity has been contracted outside India.
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Amendment to the First Schedule of the Constitution: The Bill amends paragraphs relating to the
territories of Assam, West Bengal, Meghalaya, and Tripura in the First Schedule of the Constitution.
Timeline :
1974 India Bangladesh Land Boundary Agreement was signed on May 16,1974 between Indira
Gandhi and Mujibur Rehman, but not ratified.
2011 In September 2011, Prime Ministers Manmohan Singh of India and Sheikh Hasina of
Bangladesh signed an accord on border demarcation and exchange of adversely held enclaves;
however, the Indian parliament has yet to ratify it. Under this intended agreement, the enclave
residents could continue to reside at their present location or move to the country of their choice.
2013 The Constitution (119th Amendment) Bill, 2013 was introduced to the Rajya Sabha, the
Upper House of Parliament of India, on 18 December 2013.
2014 The Parliament panel, Standing Committee on External Affairs, approved the bill in
November 2014
2015 Cabinet clears the revised land boundary agreement delinking Assam on April 29, 2015
2015 On May 5, Government reversed its decision of excluding Assam from the purview of its Bill
on exchanging land with Bangladesh.
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.
Amendment is being done with a view to incorporate necessary provisions aimed at
strengthening safeguards against disclosures which may prejudicially affect the sovereignty and
integrity of the country, security of the state.
Safeguard has also been provided in respect of such disclosures which have been exempted under
section 8(1) of the Right to Information Act, 2005.
Government will now move an amendment bill in Parliament during the ongoing Budget session
itself.
Highlights of the act :
The Bill seeks to protect whistleblowers, i.e. persons making a public interest disclosure related to
an act of corruption, misuse of power, or criminal offence by a public servant.
Any public servant or any other person including a non-governmental organization may make such
a disclosure to the Central or State Vigilance Commission.
Every complaint has to include the identity of the complainant.
The Vigilance Commission shall not disclose the identity of the complainant except to the head of
the department if he deems it necessary. The Bill penalises any person who has disclosed the
identity of the complainant.
The Bill prescribes penalties for knowingly making false complaints.
The Bill also provides safeguards against victimisation of the person who makes the complaint.
Timeline :
2010 : The Public Interest Disclosures and Protection to Persons making the Disclosures Bill, 2011
was introduced in the Lok Sabha in August, 2010.
2011 : The bill was passed by Lok Sabha, in December 2011, as the Whistle Blowers Protection
Bill, 2011.
2014 : The Rajya Sabha had passed it on 21 February 2014.
2014 : It had received the assent of the President on 9 May 2014.
2015 : Union Cabinet Approves Amendments to Whistleblowers Act.
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NDA govt. passed the Negotiable Instruments(Amendment) Bill, which makes filling cases more
convenient for payees in cheque bounce cases.
It aims at section 138 of the original act because of which large of no. of cases are stuck in courts,
as SC had ordered previously that cases against accused could only be filed in courts under whose
jurisdiction, the bank account of the accused fall.
It had to face opposition from its own party members regarding the bill, who fear that it would be
used against common man by corporates.
The bill was later passed by voice vote.
Union Cabinet approves the operationalization of the APY , PMJJBY and PMSBY
The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi today approved the
operationalisation of the Atal Pension Yojna (APY), Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana (PMJJBY) and
the Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana (PMSBY).
Atal Pension Yojana (APY):
Subscribers would receive a fixed minimum pension of Rs. 1000 per month, Rs. 2000 per month,
Rs. 3000 per month, Rs. 4000 per month, Rs. 5000 per month, at the age of 60 years, depending on
their contributions, which itself would vary on the age of joining the APY.
The Central Government would also co-contribute 50 percent of the total contribution or Rs. 1000
per annum, whichever is lower, to each eligible subscriber account, for a period of 5 years.
The minimum age of joining APY is 18 years and maximum age is 40 years.
The benefit of fixed minimum pension would be guaranteed by the Government.
The pension would also be available to the spouse on the death of the subscriber and thereafter,
the pension corpus would be returned to the nominee.
It is expected that around two crore subscribers would be enrolled during the current financial year
under APY.
Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana (PMJJBY):
Annual life insurance of Rs. 2 lakh would be available on the payment of premium of Rs. 330 per
annum by the subscribers.
The PMJJBY will be made available to people in the age group of 18 to 50 years having a bank
a ou t f o
he e the p e iu
ould e olle ted th ough the fa ilit of auto-de it .
Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana (PMSBY) :
The Scheme will be available to people in the age group 18 to 70 years with a bank account, from
he e the p e iu of s.
ould e olle ted th ough the fa ilit of auto-de it .
The risk coverage will be Rs. 2 lakh for accidental death and full disability.
The risk coverage will be Rs. 1 lakh for partial disability.
Schemes Inaugurated by Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment
Shri Thaawar Chand Gehlot, Union Minister for Social Justice & Empowerment inaugurated the
p og a
es Co
e ial Moto D i i g T ai i g P og a
e ith elf Defe se kills fo Wo e a d
C edit E ha e e t Gua a tee he e fo heduled Castes , he e toda i Ne Delhi.
Co
e ial Moto D i i g T ai i g P og a
e ith elf Defe se kills fo Wo e to be organized by
National Safai Karamcharis Finance & Development Corporation (NSKFDC) and o the othe ha d C edit
E ha e e t Gua a tee he e fo heduled Castes to e i ple e ted IFCI Ltd
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Co
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India has currently signed co-operation agreements with 35 countries for peaceful uses of outer
space.
ISRO is presently implementing the space debris mitigation guidelines endorsed by the United
Nations in design and operation of all its space systems.
Five international treaties on outer space activities formulated under the aegis of United Nations
Committee on Peaceful Uses of Outer Space are already in place. India is a Member State in four
major treaties.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday paid his tributes to Nobel Laureate Rabindranath
Tagore on his 154th birth anniversary.
Milak oad ope i g alte ati e a ess to sea po t fo Afgha ista s o e tivity to regional and
global markets.
India has already committed $100 million to develop the port.
India has planned to complete this port project in about one-and-a-half years.
In 2014, Indian government sanctioned an initial amount USD 85 million for the development of
Chabahar port.
The Union Government and Asian Development Bank (ADB) on 7 May 2015 signed a 31 million US
dollars loan agreement to boost water availability in selected river basins in Karnataka and ensure
improved water efficiency in irrigation.
The agreement was signed by Raj Kumar, Joint Secretary (Multilateral Institutions), Department of
Economic Affairs on behalf of the Union Government and M Teresa Kho, Country Director of ADB in
India.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday released a commemorative coin to mark the birth
centenary of Swami Chinmayananda.
Swami Chinmayananda was a renowned Hindu spiritual leader and teacher who had inspired the
formation of a global nonprofit organisation called Chinmaya Mission to spread the knowledge of
Advaita Vedanta.
Swami Chinmayananda born as Balakrishna Menon on 8 May 1916 pioneered works in the field of
education and social reform. He died on 3 August 1993.
He sa the eed to i ul ate I dia s g eat ultu e a d spi itual t aditio s, th ough
the English medium, among an elite class of people, who had moved away from this heritage.
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Government has approved the National Smart Grid Mission (NSGM) -an institutional mechanism
for planning, monitoring and implementation of policies and programs related to Smart Grid
activities.
This was stated by Sh. Piyush Goyal, Minister of state for Power, Coal & New and Renewable
Energy (IC) in a written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha today.
The NSGM aims to implement a smart power grid based on the latest technology in automation,
communication and IT systems that can monitor and control power flows from points of generation
to points of consumption
Total Outlay : Rs.980 crore with a budgetary support of Rs.338 crore.
State-level missions on the lines of the national smart grid have also been proposed
NSGM has three tier structure.
Indian Army and Bank of India Inked an MoU
On 08th May 2015, an MoU was signed between the Indian Army and Bank of India (BOI) on the Defence
Salary Package. The signing ceremony was chaired by the Adjutant General, Lt Gen Rakesh Sharma, and
was attended by senior dignitaries of BOI headed by Mr Arun Shrivastava, Executive Director.
The first MoU between BOI and the Indian Army was signed in 2011 and was valid for a period of
three years.
Army is hoping that this MoU will benefit a large number of serving and retired Army personnel
who are having their accounts with BOI.
An opportunity to access modern banking facilities.
Basic features of the MoU :
The standard bundle of free / concessional services including free drafts
Free cheque books
Free funds transfers to any bank in India through RTGS / NEFT
Free ATM cards etc.
Additional Features :
The Personal Accident Insurance (PAI) cover has been extended upto Rs 10 lacs from Rs 5 lacs including
air insurance, Home Loan Insurance on Army Welfare housing Organisation (AWHO) for deaths on account
of war/external aggression/ terrorist attack up to Rs 50 lacs.
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The applicability of PAI and overdraft facility to pensioners and waiver of merchant service fee
(MSF) for transaction on BOI POS Terminal installed at CSD Canteens for BOI Card holders.
The MoU also has a provision for yearly review of specific features and requests.
The revised MoU is tailor made to suit the requirements of serving soldiers, pensioners and
families.
State Government of Haryana on 9 May 2015 included Deaflympics in its Sports Policy. It was
included to enable Deaflympian medalists to get cash rewards, jobs and other benefits.
Decision to this effect to include Deaflympics in sports policy was taken during a state cabinet meet
chaired by Chief Minister Manohar Lal at Chandigarh.
Deaflympics, previously known as World Games for the Deaf and International Games for the Deaf,
is an event sanctioned by International Olympic Committee (IOC). Its participants are deaf athletes
and they compete at an elite level.
State Government of Goa on 9 May 2015 launched hot air balloon and amphibious vehicles in the
picturesque state of beaches. It was launched with an aim to add attractions to its tourism
portfolio.
The hot air balloon will help tourists to fly over the picturesque landscape, which will provide an
aerial view of the popular tourist destinations.
Amphibious vehicle, which can run on road and ply in waters, can operate across seven routes in
five talukas of Goa.
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MoU between Govt of Chhattisgarh and SAIL for setting up 1MTPA Pellet Plant at Dalli-Rajhara,
Balod District.
Estimated project cost: Rs. 826 crore.
The PMJJBY will be made available to people in the age group of 18 to 50 years having a bank
account from where the p e iu
ould e olle ted th ough the fa ilit of auto-de it .
An appeals court in southern India has acquitted powerful regional politician Jayaram Jayalalitha of
corruption charges, clearing the way for her to return to public office.
The High Court of Karnataka delivered its verdict on the appeal by former Tamil Nadu chief minister
J Jayalalitha challenging a special court order convicting her in the disproportionate assets case.
uppo te s f o Ja alalitha s pa t hee ed, set off fi e a ke s a d da ed i the st eets of the
Tamil Nadu state capital of Chennai, her hometown, after the Karnataka High Court in Bangalore
delivered its verdict.
Hyderabad is all set to host a 4 day long global pharma expo and summit from 23 July,2015.
Event will touch a range of issues from pharma teaching to education, indigenous drugs, drug
regulation and will also endorse joint ventures and collabs.
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The su
it, ith the the e i o atio a d ad a es is ei g o ga ised
in association with FTAPCCI and OMICS group.
Bangalore based, solar module manufacturer, Vikram Solar, has successfully commissioned a 40
MW solar photovoltaic plant for IL&FSED CO. Spread over 260 acres, it was installed within 6
months in 2 plants of 20 MW each.
It is set up under the Jawahar Nehru National Solar Mission phase II and is connected to the
national grid.
It s e pe ted to ge e ate .
illio kWh i the fi st ea .
It aims to boost local production. The high efficiency PV modules are made in Falta, West Bengal.
tate go e
e t ill i stall ate ATM s at most of the bus stations, which will provide portable
water at the rate of rupee one per litre and cold water at rate of rupee two per litre.
Apart from this , the state government of Uttar Pradesh Has also started Lohia gramin bus seva,
with 25% lower bus fares.
As a result of this scheme, the connectivity at reasonable price between cities and rural areas
where there was no means of transport will be provided.
149 self-operating inquiry services, super luxury air- conditioned bus services were also launched by
the government.
CM Mr Akilesh yadav, also laid foundation stones for 25 modern bus stations at a function
organised by state transport department.
The facility was installed at Charbagh of Lucknow and other 100 bus stations of the state.
NIGC- National Indian gaming commission- it is constituted for regulating gaming activities of the
sovereign Indian tribes in order to promote tribal development and ensuring the tribes are the
prime beneficiaries of the gaming activities.
Indian origin Jonodev Osceola Chaudhury has been appointed the chairman after a year and a half
stint as the acting chairman and vice chairman of NIGC.
He was sworn in by the secretary of interior- Sally Jewell, becoming the first Indian American to
hold this post.
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Punjab agricultural minister Mr Tota Singh told that he would personally monitor the project and
after micro and macro profiling of the soil, the state government would start customized cropping
and agricultural diversification plan for every area based on soil specifications.
Soil-crop compatibility would be taught by agricultural department and would join hands with
conservation of soil department to make the campaign a great success.
MoS for Information and Broadcasting, Rajyavardhan Singh, inaugurated the India pavilion at the
68th session of the film festival.
It ill sho ase I dia i e a s ultu al a d li gual di e sit through trailers,etc. and aims to boost
co production opportunities between India and foreign nations.
The unveiling of the 46th IFFI,2015 Regulations and launching of India film guide was also done by
him. Two Indian films- Chauthi Koot by Gurvinder Singh and Masan by Neeraj Ghaywans are the
Indian entries in Cannes.
The government has allocated Rs 5,000 crore for the growth of Department of AYUSH and launched
an independent National AYUSH Mission aimed at capacity building for the sector.
For creating awareness about Ayurveda, the Ministry is considering to observe Ayurveda Day.
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Independent National AYUSH Mission is launched aiming capacity building for the sector. The
mission will ensure creation of a centre of excellence for Ayurveda, Yoga, Unani, Siddha and
Homoeopathy independently.
Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation Limited (IRCTC) has joined hands with UP
Industrial Consultant Limited (UPICO) to conduct a certified course in the state.
A memorandum of Understanding with UPICO has been signed to provide training in various areas
like catering, cooking and maintaining cleanliness at stations.
The MoU was signed by Manocha and UPICO MD Pravin Singh here to conduct a certified course for
students and youth to upg ade thei skills u de the Hu a e ojga Tak s he e i Utta
Pradesh.
Union Information and Technology Minister Ravishankar Prasad inaugurates first postal ATM in Bihar
Union Information and Technology Minister Ravishankar Prasad i augu ates I dia s fi st postal ATM i
Bihar,as being part of the Digital India Initiative. Bihar Finance Minister Bijendra Prasad Yadav and senior
state BJP leaders Sushil Kumar Modi and Nand Kishore Yadav were present at the function.
He inaugurated the first postal ATM in Bihar at the GPO (General Post Office) in Patna,
The facility was part of efforts to increase the point of presence for customers, particularly in the
rural areas.
Hand-held devices would soon be used by the postal network and the devices to be used by the
postmen would ensure last-mile connectivity for banking transactions of India Post across its over
1.5 lakh branches.
This facility to be made available at all 8,000 post offices in rural areas in Bihar within a year.
Bihar has 9,000 post offices
Out of which 1,048 were fully computerised.
In Bihar, installation of ATM rooms have been done at 38 locations out of which three in Patna
were ready for transactions.
NITI Aayoglaunches its website in New Delhi
Senior BJP leader V Shanmuganathan was today sworn-in as the Governor of Meghalaya at the Raj
Bhavan.
Chief Justice of the Meghalaya High Court Uma Nath Singh administered the oath of office to
Shanmuganathan at a solemn ceremony attended by Chief Minister Mukul Sangma and most of his
cabinet colleagues.
Shanmuganathan was appointed as the new Governor on May 12.
li
of Mt. E erest i
Tathagata Roy on 20 May 2015 was sworn in as the 16th Governor of Tripura in Agartala.
Chief Justice of the Tripura High Court Mr. Jc. Deepak Gupta administered the oath of office to him
as per the provisions of Article 159 of Constitution of India.
He replaced Padmanabh Balkrishna Acharya, Governor of Nagaland, who had held the additional
charge of Tripura.
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U.P. Food Safety and Drugs Administration has asked Nestl 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.
Nestl 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.
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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
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.
Union cabinet decides to restart Sindri unit of Fertilizer Corporation of India Ltd. ( FCIL )
Union cabinet in its meeting, headed by the Prime Minister, has decided to revive the closed urea unit of
FCIL at Sindri, Jharkhand, which is worth an investment of Rs. 6000 cr.
It has been decided to do so in order to meet the growing demands of urea in eastern states. The
unit was shut down in 2002.
In addition to this, Union cabinet has also approved to set up a new ammoniaurea complex
at Namrup in Assam on PPP model.
India sixth in terms of publication of scientific papers
India is now 6th in terms of publishing scientific papers, up by 4 spots, as announced by Secretary of
Department of S&T, Ashutosh Sharma in a function organized by Research Council of UK in the UK.
The event also highlighted India-UK partnership in scientific matters. India has a ratio of 160
scientists for one million people.
Mirage 2000 fighter jet landed on Yamuna Expressway
Mirage 2000 fighter jet of Indian Air force (IAF)conducted successful trial run of landing on Yamuna
expressway near Mathura on 21st may 2015.
Purpose : As part of road runway for emergency landing.
It is the first for military aviation in India.
Operations were conducted with active support from the government of U.P, Yamuna expressway
authority, toll authorities of JP infratech and the civil police.
Keyhighlights
Successful trial run gives a push to the planning authorities to convert the 308 km Agra-Lucknow
expressway
It is the first green field expressway in the country
Expected to cost around Rs. 13000 crore.
It will pass through Firozabad, Shikohabad, Manipuri, Etawah, Kannauj and Mohanlalganj.
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Foreign deals worth 281 crores of 21 Foreign Direct Investment o FDI s have been cleared by the
government, but deferred Kotak Mahindra Bank to hike the Foreign investment in the bank to 55%.
FDI proposals under approval route are cleared by Foreign Investment Promotion Board FIPB. But
these proposals involving more than 3000 crores are cleared by CCEA or Cabinet Committee On
Economic Affairs.
The proposal ofpharma firm La Renon Healthcare in investing 100 crores in brownfield project was
cleared by the FIPB in meeting on April 30th 2015.
100crores have been alloted by the government for this new DD Kisan chanel and would focus on
140 million farm households in India.
At the Durbar hall of Raj Bhavan in Aizawl on Tuesday 26th May 2015, Lt General(Retd) Mr
Nirbhay Sharma was sworn-in as 17th governor of Mizoram.
Mr Sharma will succeed West Bengal Governor Mr Keshari Nath Tripathi who was given additional
charge of Mizoram in April 2015.
Mr Nirbhay Sharma is the 8th Governor of Mizoram state after the previous Governor Vakkom
Purushothaman resigned on 12th July 2014 in protest against after he was transferred to Nagaland.
On day one Tamil Nadu CM Jaya okays Rs 1,800-crore for welfare schemes
A day after being sworn in as Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu for the fifth time, J Jayalalithaa on
Sunday announced development and welfare schemes worth over Rs 1,800 crore.
Jayalalithaa launched several schemes, including those for improvement of roads, drinking water
facilities and for helping needy families headed by women.
The major thrust will be for urban and rural roads. She allocated Rs. 1,000 crore for urban roads,
including those under Chennai corporation limits as it was necessary to repair roads dug up
repeatedly by various agencies like Metrowater and those damaged in rains.
For the rural roads, the government will spend Rs. 800 crore covering 3,500 km of road network of
which 50 per cent will be spent on laying new bitumen roads and the rest for repairing the
damaged roads.
Micro Units Development Refinance Agency ( MUDRA ) bank partners with 19 regional coordinates
MUDRA bank has partnered with 19 state and regional level coordinates to reach the last mile
financiers for micro business. This would generate jobs almost 10 times of that being generated by
big companies presently.
This effort will likely transfer small enterprise industry into a 11 lakh crore industry. MUDRA bank
was set up by govt. to boost small scale business.
Software lobby National Software and Services Company( Nasscom ) along with Date Security
Council of India( DSCI ) formed a new body called Cyber Security Task Force led by NIIT Ltd
chairman Rajendra Pawar which will study cybersecurity threats, recommend how to tackle them
and explore ways to create opportunities out of them.
The Nasscom Cyber Security Task Force will also script a blueprint to make India a hub for
cybersecurity solutions, develop cybersecurity research and development and create a pool of
cyber security experts.
The taskforce will help grow the local cyber security industry from its 1% share of the overall
information technology-business process management (BPM) market to 10% by 2025.
Manabi Banopadhaya- I dia s first tra sge der ollege pri ipal
join the duty on 6th June 2015. Manabi Banopadhaya would be heading Krishnanagar Women
College in West Bengal.
Manabi Banopadhaya had been teaching in the college for more than 20 years and has the much
needed administrative experience.
Last year Supreme Court had announced transgender as legal third gender, granting them rights to
education employment and other health benefits.
Delhi high court gives nod to Greenpeace India to operate two of its domestic accounts
Delhi high court has allowed NGO Greenpeace India to operate two of its domestic accounts to
accept domestic contributions required for its day to day maintenance.
The bench led by Rajiv Shakder decided this in a plea of Greenpeace India against the central
government, to free is international and national bank accounts, which were blocked as per a home
ministry directive.
It also empowered the NGO to encash it's FDs.
Ma oha Lal Khatta , Chief Mi iste of Ha a a said that Mhara Gao Jag ag Gao our illage,
illuminated village) scheme would be launched in those villages where there is no power theft.
The scheme would also be launched in other villages where the consumers pay their bills regularly
and where the line losses are not more than 20%.
Electricity up to 16 hours per day would be provided to those villages and further it would be
increased to 24 hours in well phased way.
The Ha a a CM as ad essi g ikas all at g ai
a ket i Na gal Chaudhary, and the demands
put forth by Dr Abhey Singh Yadav representing Nangal Chaudhary assembly constituency were
accepted by the CM of haryana.
State government of Tripura on 27 May 2015 decided to withdraw the Armed Forces (Special
Powers) Act (AFSPA), 1958 from the remaining areas of the state immediately, after the Tripura
police in its latest half-yearly review found no need to extend the Act further.
The decision to withdraw the Act was taken during a cabinet meet which was chaired by Chief
Minister Manik Sarkar.
The Act was enforced in the state in 1997 in 40 police station falling within the areas of the state,
dominated by the tribals due to continuous violence and bloodshed.
Earlier in June 2013, the Act was withdrawn from nine police stations.
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Under the new scheme, debris will not be allowed to dump at dumping grounds and processing of
waste will be made mandatory.If the councils and corporations fail to implement Swachata
Saptrapati, they will loose a part of the grant.
Himachal Pradesh government sets up satellite tracking system to check forest fire
A satellite tracking system has been set up to check forest fires during summers in Himachal
Pradesh.
Under the satellite tracking system, continuous vigil was being kept on the forests to ensure that
the fire fighting staff reached the spot immediately on receiving information.
The Forest Minister said that awareness campaign was being launched throughout the state for
protection of forest wealth from fire for which 693 participatory committees had been constituted.
On Thursday 28th May 2015, at the Amba Vilas Palace in Mysuru, Yaduveer Raj Urs was crowned as
the e Maha aja of M su u . The e th o e e t as p i ate affai ut s
oli of o ti ui g
the family tradition of Wadiyars.
It was devoid of anything consequent to the abolition of institution of the maharajas and the Privy
Purse after independence.
Wadiyar is a 23 year old graduate from the University of Masachusetts,USA.
Mu
st irthda
Te zi g No ga s
st i thda was celebrated in Darjeeling. He along with Edmund Hillary of New
)eala d, ea hed the su
it of the o ld s highest ou tai peak, Mou t E e est, fi st i the
world on 29th May.
Several functions were organised in the hill city to pay tribute to him, born as Namgyal Wangdi,
who climbed the Mount Everest in 1953.
Norgay was awarded the Padma Bhusan in 1959, he also received several medals and awards by
England and Nepal.He died at the age of 71 in 1968.
ai hosts I dia s first editio of TEDxGatewayWomen Conference
The first TEDxGatewayWomen Conference in India was held in Mumbai on 29th May. In accordance with
the otto of TED s issio Ideas Wo th p eadi g the TEDxGatewayWomen had eleven
e po e ed o e sha i g the o e ts a d ideas that initiated action towards change.
There were stories worth knowing, be it Justice Leila Seth, persisting with a cynical senior advocate
to bag an opportunity to work under him as a young lawyer and then go on to become the first
woman Chief Justi e i I dia Mu ai high ou t o Ca adia a tist a d s ie tist A iel Ga te s
ge e al u iosit a out ho thi gs o k, hi h led he to de o atise a ess to ou ai s ith
her wearable technology.
The other notable speakers were Padma Shri awardee and Director of SEWA Reemaben Nanavaty,
and economist-farmer-activist Chetna Gala Sinha, Co-founder, CEO at Mad Street Den & Mad Street
Lab Ashwini Asokan, playback singer and soprano Natalie Di Luccio, co-founder of Menstrupedia
Aditi Gupta, classical dancer and choreographer Ananda Shankar Jayant and founder and publisher
of White Print I dia s fi st English lifestyle magazine for the visually impaired in Braille
Upasana Makati.
24 | P a g e
Himachal Pradesh becomes the first state in the country to start Aadhaar based Payment
System(ABPS). Payments amounting to Rs 76.53 Cr have been made through this system till now.
The workers and vendors whose bank accounts were Aadhaar-linked were being paid through ABPS
and the wages and cost of material was being directly transferred to their latest Aadhaar-linked
bank accounts. The scheme was launched on October 2, 2014
So far, Aadhaar numbers of 7.23 lakh active MNREGA workers had been synced with MNREGA out
of which 5.54 lakh workers 'accounts had been linked with the banks.
Rural Development Minister : Anil Kumar
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, inaugurated New Bank Note Paper Line unit in Hoshangabad, MP
Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley inaugurated the New Bank Note Paper Line unit at Security
Paper Mill in Hoshangabad, MP. It has a capacity of 6000 metric tone. He also flagged off the first
consignment of one thousand rupees bank note paper made indigenously to Currency Note Press
Nashik.
With opening of this, India will become self-reliant in producing Bank Note Paper for big
denominations. Earlier, India was dependent on import of bank note paper for currency of big
denominations. It is part of the indigenisation of the Bank Note paper undertaken by Security
Printing and Minting Corporation of India Limited.
The project has been completed at a cost of 495 crore rupees within the scheduled time. The plant
is capable of incorporating the advanced security features into the Bank Note paper. It is also
capable of manufacturing all denominations of Bank Note paper including 1000 rupees.
Another such unit will be soon being opened in Mysore.
The Government today approved a pact on coastal shipping between India and Bangladesh to
facilitate faster and cheaper cargo movement between both the nations.
The benefit of this agreement is that freight charges will come down and improve the utilisation of
port capabilities between the two countries, the Communication and IT Minister, Ravi Shankar
Prasad, said while briefing the media.
It will also help in decongestion of roads, especially at the land custom stations/integrated check
posts at the India-Bangladesh boarder, the statement said.
I dia a d Ba gladesh shall e de the sa e t eat e t to the othe ou t s essels as it ould
have done to its national vessels used in international sea transportation.
The commencement of coastal shipping between India and Bangladesh will increase bilateral trade
between the two countries and lower down the cost of transportation of Exim cargo.
I dia s t ade ith Ba gladesh has g o
apidl du i g the past fe ea s a d Ba gladesh is o
I dia s la gest t ade partner in South Asia.
Therefore, to reduce the cost of shipping operation, a lower but pragmatic standard of vessel
known as River Sea Vessel (RSV) has been prescribed for coastal shipping and the RSV category of
vessel has been agreed upon by both the countries.
Assam government appointed Vinod Kumar Pipersenia as the 45th chief secretary of the state. He
will replace incumbent JiteshKhoshla. He is an IAS officer of 1980 batch of Assam-Meghalayacadre.
25 | P a g e
Before this he was working as the Additional Chief Secretary of Agriculture, Irrigation and PWD
Department.
Narendra Modi will become the first Indian Prime Minister to visit the jewish state Israel. Israel is
u e tl o e of I dia s ke defe e a d se u it pa t e s. The e a e o fi ed dates fo the isit et.
In 2003, under the previous Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA)
government headed by prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, India welcomed then Israeli prime
minister Ariel Sharon,
Former deputy prime minister and home minister in the NDA government, Lal Krishna Advani, and
then foreign minister Jaswant Singh visited Israel in 2000.
Recently, home mi iste aj ath i gh s isited Is ael i No e e a d Modi et Is aeli P i e
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York in
September.
International Affairs
Tu isia s U furl World s Largest Flag
Wo ld s la gest flag was unfurled at an event in Ong Jmel in the southern desert area of Tunisia.
Tunisian national flag of the size of 19 football pitches was unfurled in a bid to set a Guinness World
Record and promote patriotism in the face of Islamist extremism.
The flag of 104,544 square metre was made using 80 kilometres of fabric and weighed arounf 12.6
tonnes.
I dia ra ked
th i
Mothers I de
I dia s o ed
th pla e out of
ou t ies i the ha it o ga izatio a e the Child e s
report titled tate of the Wo ld s Mothe s putti g it ehi d )i a e, I a a d Ba gladesh.
Top ou t ies as pe
Mothe s I de : No a st , Fi la d
d , I ela d d , De a k
(4th) and Swedan (5th).
Bottom 10 countries: Niger (175th), Mali (176th), Central African Republic (177th), Congo (178th)
and Somalia (179th).
A 7.2 magnitude earthquake struck in the Pacific between Papua New Guinea(PNG) and the
Solomon Islands.
The quake hit at a depth of 22 kilometres some 149 kilometres southwest of Panguna in PNG and
642 kilometres from the Solomons capital Honiara.
Of the
orld s
INDIA Forbes
President Pranab Mukherjee was conferred with an Honorary Doctorate in Moscow on Friday by
the Diplomatic Academy of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Singapore PM Lee opened first museum Indian Heritage Centre in Little India
Singapore PM Lee Hsien Loong on 7 May 2015 opened first museum Indian Heritage Centre in Little
India.
27 | P a g e
An army helicopter has crashed in a mountainous part of northern Pakistan killing seven people,
including the Philippine and Norwegian ambassadors.
The diplomats flying in the ill-fated MI-17 were headed for a little advertised but extremely exciting
inauguration ceremony of a ski chairlift, built in the breathtaking resort of Naltar, in northern
Pakistan.
Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was scheduled to attend the inauguration, but his aircraft
turned back from Gilgit after reports of the crash.
North Korea on 8 May 2015 successfully test-fired a newly developed Submarine-Launched Ballistic
Missile (SLBM). The nation described the missile as a world level strategic weapon.
The underwater ballistic missile that will meet the latest military science and
technology requirements of the country was test-fired after Leader Kim Jong-Un gave the order to
test-fire the missile.
David Cameron and Conservatives Back with Clear Majority in British Election
Prime Minister David Cameron and his Conservatives won a resounding victory in the British general
election, with nearly complete results showing that the party had secured an overall majority in
Parliament.
The Conservative Party won with 331 seats, comfortably crossing the 326 mid-way mark in the
650-seat House of Commons.
The Labour Party : A distant second,the Labour Party won 232 seats, a loss of 26 seats from 2010
election.
Labour Party Leader Ed Miliband has stepped down for taking full responsibility for the defeat of
his party.
The Scottish National Party : SNP has swept Scotland The SNP now have 56 MPs in Scotland,
while the Conservatives, Labour and Liberal Democrats each have one.
The Liberal Democrats : Leader of the Liberal Democrats, Nick Clegg, who led his party to a poor
finish, winning only eight seats, down from 57 in 2010, has stepped down.
28 | P a g e
United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP): The leader of the United Kingdom Independence
Party (UKIP) Nigel Farage also resigned following his defeat in Thanet South, a symbolic blow for the
anti-immigration and Eurosceptic party that got just one seat.
The Democratic Unionist Party of Ireland won eight.
High Profile Defeats :
La ou s hado Cha ello of the E he ue -Ed Balls
otla d s La ou pa t head Jim Murphy
The La ou pa t s a paig head Douglas Alexander
The senior Lib Dem leader and former Business Secretary Vince Cable
Former Energy Secretary- Ed Davey
Uma Kumaran Labour candidate of Tamil-Sri Lanka origin, lost to her Conservative rival in Harrow
East
Modi to inaugurate 1st Gandhian studies centre in china
Indian Prime Minister Mr Narendra Modi, would inaugurate Gandhian and Indian study centre at
ha ghai s p estigious Fudan University on may 16th. India would fund the centre, which is very
important as Mahatma Gandhi is not that much popular in China though he is around the world.
a i d a ath Tago e a d Ja aha lal Neh u s a es ha e ee i luded he eas Ga dhiji s a e
was left out on the list put up regarding the pe so alities ho had i flue ed Chi a s ou se i the
last 60 years.
OnMay 14th Indian PM would arrive for a 3 day visit, would sign an agreement for establishing yoga
studies college at the University Of Nationalities in Yunnan province.
Yati Musdi of Joho , Mala sia has e o e the o ld s oldest o e a d also the oldest li i g
person, presently).
Born on 27th April,1899, the 116-year-old, has been passed on the title by the American, Gertrude
Weaver, who passed away just a few days after being declared the oldest woman alive.
It s o th hile to e tio he e that despite he age, she lai s to ha e a lea isio a d is f ee
from any hearing aid
ent minister
British-Indian MP Priti Patel has been appointed employment minister in Prime Minister David
Ca e o s e a i et.
Patel, , ho o fo ta l o he Witha seat i E gla d s Esse ou t as a Co se ati e Pa t
a didate i last eek s ge eral elections by getting 57.5 percent of the total 47,339 votes cast,
was in 2013 appointed the first ever UK Indian Diaspora Champion.
29 | P a g e
The Saudi-led decision by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) in
November 2014 not to cut production despite the slide in oil prices has been largely motivated by
an effort to defend market share against outside competitors like Russia or US shale producers.
President Pranab Mukherjee, currently on his four-day official visit to Russia, has inaugurated a
festival of Indian Cultu e Na aste ussia i Mos o .
As part of the festival, the Russian Ministry of Culture will support the initiatives of the Indian
Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) in sending Indian teachers of music and dance to regional
centres in Russia from May 2015 to October 2015.
Special emphasis will be on encouraging the participation of youth of both the countries in cultural
exchanges.
The logo for the festival was designed by a young Russian from the Russian town of Krasnoyarsk,
who succeeded in an open competition participated by both Indians and Russians.
India, Russia signed 11 MoIs for Higher Academic Cooperation
Ele e Me ora du of I te ts or MoI s, were signed by the higher learning in India and Russia to
establish Institutes of Higher Education on 8th May 2015. Leading Indian and Russisan academic institutes
will train highly qualified staffs for innovative economy and expand scientific technical and technological
cooperation.
MoIs are signed in Moscow in the presence of Indian President Mr Pranab Mukerjee, who had
gone to Russia on a 4 day short visit to witness the Victory Day Parade on 9th may 2015, that marks
the 70th anniversary of Allied Forces victory in the Second World War.
The establishment of a network of Russian and Indian Universities will facilitate the establishments
of more institutional linkages, exchange of faculty,students and researchers.
It will also help in scientific conferences,research developments and symposias etc
From the Indian side those that signed the memorandum are IITBombay,IIT Madras,IIT
Delhi,University of Delhi,Indian Statistical Institute and Institution of Engineers.
Cooperation agreement was signed between Department of Science and Technology in India and
Russian Science foundation, that will help in joint research activities.
The purpose of signing these MoIs with Russia is India is trying to increase its economic growth and
development through strong importance on innovation and technology.
Asia s ealthiest u der
According to Wealth-X , I dia te h illio ai e, M A u Pudu , has ee a ked as the I dia s ealthiest
businessman under the age of 40. The owner and president of software firm Celframe, heads the list with
wealth of 4 billion dollars.
The software firm Celframe was founded in the year 1998 by Arun Pudur, a chennaite basically,
after he graduated from the university.
This fi p odu es the o ld s second most word processor after Microsoft.
Apart from software business, Arun has also got businesses in mining and real estate fields.
Chairman and CEO of Jumei International Holdings,Leo Chen,32 year old businessman is
the youngest of all and his business is online cosmetics retailing based.
Kiran Mazumdar-ha ra ks se o d i the glo al list of Medi i e Makers
Biocon founder and managing director Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw has been ranked one of the most influential
executives in the world in the field of medicine by a top UK-based medical publication.
30 | P a g e
Indian origin Councillor Harbhajan Kaur Dheer,62, of the British labour party, becomes the first
Asian woman to be elected mayor of the Ealing council in West London suburb district.
She replaces Tej Ram Bagha at the annual council meeting.
She went to Britain in 1975 and was elected a labour councillor for the Greenford Broadway ward in
2010 for the first time.
Indian- Gagan Toor wins the NASA contest to name a mercury crater
World Economic forum or WEF had compile a list of top ten countries in which Finland occupies the
top spot followed by Norway,Switzerland,Canada,Japan,Sweden,Denmark,Netherlands, New
Zealand and Belgium .
On the asis of i di ato s ho
ell the ou t ies a e de elopi g a d deplo i g thei hu a
apital,fo usi g o thei edu atio skills a d e plo e t , WEF had p epa ed the e ti e list.
The list also indicated whether the countries are wasting or leveraging the human potential.
Report said that although education attainment in India had improved its youth literacy rate is only
90%, which is very below compared to other nations .
Due to large informal sector, India also ranks poorly on labor force participation.
Countries like France, US,UK, Germany ranks 14th,17th 19th and 22nd respectively.
Among BRICS nations Russia leads at 26th place followed by China at 64, Brazil at 78 and South
Africa at 92.
According to WEF ,14 countries have reached 80% human capital optimisation while 38 countries
got 70 to 80 %.
40 countries are in the range of 60 to 70% and 23 countries in 50 to 60% range while 9 countries
are below 50%.
In Asia and Pacific where the population is high the spread between highest and lowest performing
nations is widest.
on Wednesday 13th May 2015, fourteen year old Karan Menon,Indian-American student, has won
the prestigious National Geographic. Karan Menon, a eight grade student competed against ten
finalists from across USA, and won National Geographic Bee Championship held at National
Geographic headquarters.
Seven out of ten finalists were of Indian origin.
Karan Menon, apart from winning the championship title also got prize award of 85,000 US dollars
college scholarship, lifetime membership of National Geographic society and expedition for two to
Galapagos Islands.
Karan added his name into the list of all those Indo-Americans who had previously won the
Geographical Bee competition.
PM launched this facility at Tshingua University, through which Chinese applicants can apply for
visas online, a few days before they plan to travel.
This seeks to boost MoU on tourism cooperation as 2015 & 2016 have been chosen as Visit India &
Visit China years respectively.
Less than 2 lakhs Chinese visited India last year.
13 years old- California based, Shubham Banerjee, who is credited with the invention of a low cost
Braille printer with his Lego toys, is now working with Microsoft.
They plan to integrate the printer with Windows so as to make it accessible to the target users.
They plan to launch the product commercially in November.
By his invention he had reduced the price of braille printers by 82% and further targeted a price of
$500 or less.
32 | P a g e
Former Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi was sentenced to death by Egyptian court for his
involved in a mass Prison-break in 2011.
No , As pe Eg pt s la , the ou t s eligious autho ities ill ha e to gi e thei opi io efo e
the death sentence can be carried out. But the advice will not be binding on the court.
Morsi who is the leader of Muslim Brotherhood Party was earlier sentenced to 20 years in jail for
was on charges of espionage for his involvement in ordering the arrest and torture of protesters
during his time in power.
He as Eg pt s fi st f eel ele ted p eside t afte the ilitary rule under Hosni Mubarak came to
end in 2011.In July 2013, he was ousted by the military after days of mass street protests by
Egyptians demanding his removal because of his divisive policies.
Current President of Egypt : Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, Capital of Egypt: Cairo, Currency of Egypt: Egyptian
Franc
United States had also committed to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions by 26 to 28 per cent cut
by 2025 from 2005 levels.
European Union (EU) also had set a target to reduce emission of 35 per cent below 2005 levels by
2030.
Chi a is Wo ld s la gest g ee house gas e itte ut has ot a ou ed its ta get to edu e the
greenhouse gas emissions yet.
To help Indian and Chinese corporates in cross-border businesses, top private sector lender ICICI
Bank today opened its first branch in China, which was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra
Modi.
ICICI Bank has opened its first China based branch in Shanghai.
ICICI Bank had first opened its representative office in Shanghai in 2003.
In March this year it got the regulatory approval to expand it into a branch.
This branch will engage in banking activities permitted under the guidelines of the China Banking
Regulatory Commission.
The new ICICI Bank branch would begin with 17 banking professionals
India is set to assume the presidency of the 68th World Health Assembly to be held in Geneva
starting May 18 with Health Minister JP Nadda to chair the meeting.
34 | P a g e
India is assuming the presidency of the WHA, the high decision making body of the World Health
organisation (WHO), after a gap of 19 years.
When : May 18 to 27. Where : Geneva
The Minister will host a reception for Health Ministers attending the Assembly on May 19.
Nadda and Margaret Chan, Director-General, WHO, will jointly inaugurate a photo exhibition Yoga
for All, Yoga for Health to mark the adoption of a resolution by the UN General Assembly
declaring June 21 as the International Day of Yoga.
36 | P a g e
Former Army Brigadier David Granger on 16 May 2015 was sworn in as the eighth President of
Guyana. He was sworn-in as the President after his A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) partyled coalition won the national elections.
In the national elections held on 11 May 2015, his coalition APNU Alliance for Change (AFC)
defeated the uli g People s P og essi e Pa t PPP . With this, it e ded the
ea old g ip o
power of Indo-Guyanese PPP.
Two finely woven pashmina sholes on which a poem that Rabindranath Tagore had written mainly
for Korea is hand embroidered in English and Korean, had been gifted by Indian PM Mr Narendra
38 | P a g e
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 oke o e t Do e J . s e o d ho a hie ed the feat i
hou s.
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.
Ancient Syrian city of Palmyra under ISIS control
The ancient Semite city in Homs, Syria Palmyra also known as the Pearl of desert, was seized by
the militant group ISIS. It is a world heritage city. The architecture dates back to the 1st
2nd century AD, built in Greco Roman style.
With the capture of AlTanf crossing in Homs, the Syrian govt. has lost control of the
ou t s all border posts with Iraq.
It also potentially opens the way for ISIS to the capital city of Damascus
In the first Environmental Democracy Index, India ranks 24th out of total of 70 countries which is
topped by Lithuania.The i de e aluates ou t s p og ess i e a ti g la s i the p o otio of
transparency,accountability and engagement of citizens in making decisions
regarding environment.
The top ten nations are Lithuania,Latvia,Russia,USA,South Africa,UK,Hungary,Bulgaria,Panama and
Columbia.as per the list released by World Resources institute and Access initiative on 20th May
2015.
The index evaluates environmental democracy in 70 nations including 75 legal and 24 practice
indicators depending on international standards.
At the tender age of 11, Indo-American prodigy Tanishq Abraham graduated from California
community college on Thursday 21st May 2015.
At the age of six and seven when most of kids of his age would be playing, Tanishq enrolled himself
in high school and college courses that saw the beginning of an astonishing career.
39 | P a g e
a or i U ited Ki gdo
s Woki gha
Borough Cou il
Republic of Ireland on 23 May 2015 became first country in the world to constitutionally legalise
same-sex marriage.
The efe e du o this issue to a e d ou t s itte o stitutio as passed ith a
esou di g . pe e t Yes . Off the total ote tu out of . pe e t, 1,201,607 people voted
in favour of same-sex marriage, while 734,300 voted against it.
An American woman, said to be the oldest living person in the world, has celebrated her 116th
birthday.
Jeralean Talley, who was born in Georgia on May 23, 1899, but now lives in Inkster, Michigan
turned 116 on Saturday.
Talley was named the oldest living person in the world after Gertrude Weaver, an American supercentenarian died in April.
A leading Indian-origin entrepreneur Ranjit Singh Baxi, has been elected as president for a Brussels
based e li g asso iatio , Bureau of I ter atio al e li g BI . He is the chairman of J & H
Sales (International) ltd. ,will serve a two year term as president . The election was held at the
asso iatio s World Co e tio & E hi itio i Du ai o 9 th May 2015.
In his acceptance speech , Mr Baxi, who succeeded Bjorn Grufman, a Swede, noted that the
precursor of climate change is the reduction of carbon emissions. He also referred to Prime
Mi iste Na e d a Modi s i itiati e alled at h Bha at , a a paig hi h would help to reduce
waste and promote recycling. He emphasised that recyclables must be provided with free passage
globally by reducing Trade Barriers and minimum legislative controls.
China sets up largest gold sector fund for nations along ancient silk board
Du i g o goi g fo u o t ade a d i est e t, i Chi a s o th est Xia it , gold se to fu d fo 65
nations along the ancient silk board had been set up.
The fund will be lead by Shanghai Gold Exchange[SGE] and 16.1 billion dollars in 3 phases is expected to
be raised.
It is expected that around 60 countries which fall along the routes of 21st Century Maritime Silk Road Or
MSR and Silk Road Economic Belt have invested in the fund.
40 | P a g e
To make seamless transit of passenger and cargo vehicles and making cross-border trade cost
effective , India and other SAARC countries like Nepal, Bangladesh and Bhutan are expected to sign
a pact next month.
The sources said that the pact called BBIN, Bangladesh, Bhutan , India and Nepal agreement would
manage cargo and passenger vehicle traffic among these four of eight SAARC members.
There is also possibility for other SAARC nations like Afghanistan,Pakistan,Maldives and Srilanka to
join this framework.
Nitin Gadkari, Road Transport, Railways and Shipping Minister would visit Bhutan on 15th June to
sign Motor Vehicle Agreement with transport ministers from Bhutan, Nepal and Bangladesh.
Japanese troops will participate in a major US-AUS military exercise which is to take place
in Australia, for the first time.
The biennial drill- Talisman Sabre that begins on 7 July, including around 27000 service men, will
see the pa ti ipatio of so e pe so el of the Japa s G a d elf Defe e Fo e JGDF .
It aims to improve tactical expertise in amphibian operations and to strengthen Japan-US
interoperability, also it comes at a time when US plans to strengthen its ties with its allies in the
face of Chinese aggression.
The e s a g o i g te sio i the outh Chi a ea- China is constructing artificial islands in disputed
waters( Sparthy Archipelago ) which is also claimed partly by US allies Philippines, Vietnam, and
others. China has a separate territorial dispute with Japan over Tokyo controlled Senakaku islands
also called Diaoyus.
The US is sending warships and surveillance aircraft within 12 nautical miles in the South China Sea,
which could lead to a stalemate in a stretch of eager traversed by some important global shipping
canals.
Chinese premiere Li Keqiang and Chilean president Michelle Bachelet signed a currency swap deal,
which aims at deepening economic ties by boosting trade and investment.
The deal et ee Chile s e t al a k a d the People s Ba k of Chi a, ill fa ilitate the e ha ge
of upto 2.2 trillion pesos ( USD 3.6 billion ) for next three years.
It s a post of deals sig ed du i g P e ie e s fou atio tou of outh A e i a hi h i luded
Brazil, Columbia and Peru.
Chi a is Chile s top t adi g pa t e , a ou ti g fo a out % of its e po t i ludi g copper,
salmon and wine.
41 | P a g e
HireRight MD APAC,Mr Edward Hickey, said that because of high competition in the job market,
the candidates may decorate or fabricate qualifications or job experiences on resumes to get
noticed from others.
ost po erful o e
Country singer Taylor Swift youngest entry in Forbes most powerful women list 2015
Taylor Swift,25, debuted at number 65 in the Forbes most powerful women list, becoming the
youngest entrant.
She is a seven time Grammy Award winner, having sold over 40 million albums and over 100 million
solo downloads worldwide, making her one of the best selling artists ever.
Next youngest lister was founder and CEO of blood testing company- Therox, Elizabeth Holmes- no.
72, who is also the world's youngest female self-made billionaire
Only 12 Europeans, 3 Africans, 4 Middle Easterns, 4 Latin Americans and 18 Asia Pacific women
featured in the list, being published by Forbes magazine since 2004, dominated by politicians,
activists and business women round the world.
This year's list was also topped by German Chancellor - Angela Merkel.
German authorities evacuated around 20,000 people from their homes in the western city of
Cologne on Wednesday after a World War II bomb was unearthed during construction work.
The unexploded US-made device, which lay five metres underground and was discovered on Friday,
was set to be defused later in the day.
India and Vietnam signed a Joint Vision Statement on defence cooperation for 2015-2020. The
statement was signed by the Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar and his Vietnamese counterpart
during the delegation level talks in New Delhi.
An MoU on cooperation between the coast guards of the two countries was also signed. These
were signed during the Vietnamese Defence Minister's 3-day official visit to India at the invitation
of Mr Parrikar
42 | P a g e
According to the report given by Food and Agricultural organisation FAO of United Nations on
Thursday 28th May 2015,India is the home to 194 million people in the world who are
undernourished.
This is % of I dia s populatio , e e su passi g Chi a i oth u e s a d i p opo tio of
al ou ished people i ou t s populatio .
According to the report of The State of Food Insecurity in the World, the higher economic growth is
not fully converted to higher food consumption indicating that the poor and hungry people are not
benefited from the overall growth.
Top ten countries: India (194.6), China (133.8), Pakistan (41.4), Ethiopia (31.6), Bangladesh (26.3),
Indonesia (19.4), Tanzania (16.8), Philippines (13.7), Nigeria (12.9) and North Korea (10.5). Note:
(population is million).
Swiss business s hool, I te atio al I stitute fo Ma age e t De elop e t s IMD a ual Glo al
Competitiveness list is out and India secured the 44th rank.
It cited problems like high corporate taxes and existence of a parallel economy for the low ranking.
The top 10 ranks include US (1) Hong Kong (2) and Singapore (3) move up overtaking
Switzerland(4), Canada (5),Luxembourg (6) Norway (7), Denmark (8), Sweden (9) and Germany (10).
Some challenges for India in 2015 are achieving high growth with zero defect, zero effect model,
mobilization of resources for public investment, implementation of the Goods and Services Tax, skill
development and employment generation and infrastructure development.
I dia s e o o i pe fo a e i p o ed from 21 to 16 rank, and business efficiency slightly
increased from 34 to 33. Government efficiency remained at the same spot on 47 but infrastructure
declined from 57 to 58.India was ranked 13th in the Asia Pacific category.
Singapore has appointed an Indian- origin businessman as its non-Resident High Commissioner to
Sri Lanka, the Foreign Ministry announced today.
Cha d a Das se ed as i gapo e s A assado to the epu lic of Turkey, resident in Singapore,
from 2006 to 2015.
He had also p e iousl se ed as i gapo e s T ade ep ese tati e f o
to
i the U,
the former Soviet Union.
Indian-American kids win spelling bee title for 8th successive year
On Thursday 28th May 2015, at the 8th US National Scripps Howard Spelling Bee championships,
two Indian-American kids Vanya Shivshankar and Gokul Venkatachalam were jointly declared
winners.
It marked the eighth consecutive year that Indian-American students have taken the title starting
from the year 2008 onwards.
According to Forbes, inaugural list of Americas 50 richest self made women, two Indian-origin
women have made it to the list and shares the honours with Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg, Media
Moghul Oprah Winfrey and singer Beyonce.
43 | P a g e
Muha
India born Neerja Sethi with net worth of 1.1 billion USD has been placed at 14th while Londonborn Jayshree Ullal at 30th place with 470 million net worth.
adu Buhari as s or i as Nigeria s preside t
Muha
adu Buha i as s o i as Nige ia s e head of stated fo a fou ea te , afte he
o the fi st oppositio i to o e a sitti g p eside t i the atio s histo .
Buhari, 72-year-old, took the oath of office before the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Supreme Court
President Mahmoud Mohammed.
Buha i s o o e outgoi g p eside t Goodlu k Jo atha i Ma h polls.Befo e taki g the oath,
he shook hands with the elected president he ousted in 1983, Shehu Shagari, in a military coup, and
he himself was ousted after 14 months.
Even as the government decided not to celebrate the seventh Republic Day celebrations, which falls
on Friday this year, messages to mark the day poured in from home and abroad.
Google Doodle changed its logo for Nepal with a picture of candles Thursday to mark the
epu li Da a d to ho ou Nepalis esilie e. O Ma
th,
, afte de ades of e olutio
and protests, Nepal became the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, the fund side of the search
e gi e gia t ote. e e ea s late , this ou t is a i te atio al s
ol of sple dou , pea e,
a d te a it .
A d zej Duda, i e of Pola d s p eside tial ele tio , as offi iall a ed p eside t-elect in a
state ceremony at the Baroque Wilanow Palace.
P i e Mi iste E a Kopa z, Duda s pa e ts, ife Agata a d daughte atte ded the e e o to
see the 43-year-old lawyer receive the official document confirming that he won the election. His
five-year term starts Aug. 6.
Duda is a member of the Law and Justice party, he won the presidential election against
Komorowski of the ruling pro-business Civic Platform.
The revolutionary Solar Impulse 2 aircraft took off early Sunday for a six-day flight over the Pacific
Ocean, AFP saw, the most ambitious leg of its quest to circumnavigate the globe powered only by
the sun.
Swiss pilot Andre Borschberg, 62, left the ground in Nanjing, in eastern China, heading for the US
island of Hawaii, at about 2.40 am (1840 GMT), for a 8,500 kilometre (5,270 mile) flight expected to
take 130 hours.
A powerful earthquake, 7.8 on the richter scale, shook Japan, which lasted for about a minute and
the quake was most intense at around 8.30pm. The epicentre was 676 kilometres below the Earth's
surface. It was centred on a remote spot in the Pacific Ocean around 870 kilometres south of
Tokyo.
Despite the huge power of the quake, there was no risk of a tsunami, the Pacific Tsunami Warning
Centre reported. There were also no immediate reports of injuries or damage.
44 | P a g e
This was the second sizable shake Tokyo has had this week, after a much weaker quake hit close to
Tokyo on Monday. It is worthwhile to mention that Japan is located at the meeting place of four
tectonic plates and experiences around 20 per cent of the world's most powerful earthquakes every
year.
Gautam Banerjee, who is the senior managing director at Blackstone and co-chairman of its Asia
operating committee, as well as chairman of Blackstone Singapore, an Indian-origin entrepreneur is
among the four persons, on whom the national honour will be conferred in Singapore for their
"instrumental roles" in the continued growth of the country's business scenario.
He was awarded the 'Public Service Medal' by President Tony Tan Keng Yam. The Public Service
Medal was also awarded to Paul Graham, Global Chief Operating Officer and CEO for Mainland
Europe, Middle East and Africa for DHL Supply Chain.
Dominic Barton, Global Managing Director for McKinsey and Company, and Michael R Splinter,
Applied Materials Chairman, were awarded the 'Public Service Star (Distinguished Friends of
Singapore) award'.
Bannerjee was also nominated as a member of parliament in Singapore, he currently serves on the
board of Singapore Airlines Limited, the Indian Hotels Company Limited and is the vice chairman of
the Singapore Business Federation.
Economic Development Board (EDB) of Singapore, Chairman : Beh Swan Gin.
Awards
CN ao o ferred ith Japa s highest a ard
Eminent scientist and Bharat Ratna awardee Chintamani Nagesa Ramachandra Rao was conferred
ith Japa s highest civilian award the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold and Silver Star.
He was bestowed with this award for his outstanding contributions to science and Indo-Japanese
science cooperation.
Rao is a National Research Professor, Linus Pauling Research Professor.
NDTV executive co-chairman,Mr Pranoy Roy, was honoured with REDINK life time achievement
award for the year 2015 in Mumbai. Mr Pranoy Roy spoke about the fact that the television
channels should go beyond the ta loid e s ultu e a d ust fo us o ualit jou alis .The
award function was organised by Mumbai press club.
Redink Lifetime Achievement Awards were started in the year 2010 by Mumbai press club to
encourage good ethical journalism that will create impact on people and the society.
Golden Medal for Merit in work of spain for tennis star Rafael Nadal
At a e e o held i Mad id,pai i the P i e Mi iste s offi ial eside e, the Prime Minister of
Spain Mariano Rajoy Brey gave Golden Medal For Merit In Work,o e of pai s top i ilia a a d
to Tennis player Rafael Nadal. The ceremony took place on 1st May 2015 which is recognised
as Labour Day.
45 | P a g e
The award embodies the merits of working. Nadal felt honored on receiving this award and he said
that he never imagined getting the award and hoped of overcoming ups and downs and restoring
stability.
46 | P a g e
On 3rd May 2015,President Mr Pranab Mukerjee, gave away 62nd National Film Awards at a
grand ceremony held in New Delhi.The ceremony was attended by great talents representing the
Indian film industry.
Yester year actor Shashi Kapoor, honoured with the prestigious Dadasaheb Phalke award, could
not attend the ceremony and he would be honoured later in Mumbai.
check complete overview here - http://www.affairscloud.com/62nd-national-film-awards-anoverview/
Syrian journalist Mazen Darwish honoured with UNESCO-Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize
2015
Syrian journalist and rights activist Mazen Darwish was honoured with UNESCO-Guillermo Cano
World Press Freedom Prize 2015.
He as esto ed ith this a a d the UN s Cultu al od fo e og itio of his o k a ied out
in Syria for more than 10 years at great personal sacrifice, harassment, enduring a travel ban, as
well as repeated detention and torture.
Honourable President, Sri Pranab Mukherjee presented the national Florence Nightingale awards to
35 selected nurses from all over the country in the Rashtrapati Bhavan, on the occasion of
47 | P a g e
I te atio al u ses da o
th a , hi h is ele ated e e ear on the birthday of Florence
Nightingale.
While giving away the awards, he expressed concern over poor ratio of nurse to patient(1.25/1000)
i I dia o pa ed to the glo al atio of /
. It s i po ta t to k o that u ses a e the la gest
work force(26 lakhs) in the medical industry.
Health minister J.P. Nadda was among other dignitaries present.
U ited Ki gdo s Encore Award for best second novel had been won by bengali writer Neel
mukherjee for his o el The Lives of Others .
It was way back in 1990 that this award was first given that has cash prize of 10,000 pounds.
This award is mainly given for outstanding second novels often neglected in comparison with
promising first books.
Indo-American professor Dr Sivanadane Mandjiny wins University of North Carolina[ UNC] 2015
awards given for teaching excellence. He will receive this award along with each professor of other
16 UNC campuses.
The award carries a cash prize of 12,500 US dollars and a commemorative Bronze. D i a s
dedication to teaching and guiding students was the major guiding force behind this award given to
him.
The First Indian-Origin lawmaker from Australia to take oath on Bhagavad Gita
Indo-origin Daniel Mookhey, became the first politician in Australia sworned on Bhagavad Gita
when he took oath in New South Wales parliament.
Mr Mookhey was elected by the Labor to replace Steve Whan in the New South Wales Upper
House, making him the states first politician of Indian origin.
48 | P a g e
hildre re ei e Gha sh a
14th Gnanashyam Binani Children Bravery Awards were presented to six children below the age of 16 at
a ceremony that took place on Monday the 11th of May 2015 in Mumbai. Two of these children are
posthumous winners.
Cash prize of Rs 51,000 to be used for their education, silver medal and a certificate of recognition
and citation are those for which the children are entitled.
Totally 74 nominations were received from all over India.
Akshay Tambe, Victor Lalbeiseia,Ashwini Ugadhe, Mhonbeni Ezung.
Shaurya Veer Singh and Rhea Chaudhary got the award posthumously.
Shaurya got the award for the fight he put up when three criminals barged into their house for
stealing. Inspite trying hard to save his mother, he was killed by those criminals.
Rhea was alone studying inside her home when she heard of commotion outside where her parents
and uncle were surrounded by armed criminals firing at them.
Rhea then lost her life when she took a bullet on her chest to save her dad .
Vice President Hamid Ansari confers Pt. Haridutt Sharma Award to Anurradha Prasad
Vice President Mohammed Hamid Ansari conferred the Pt. Haridutt Sharma Award to senior
journalist Anurradha Prasad in New Delhi.
She was bestowed with this award for her contribution in the field of Journalism, Writing and Social
Services.
Presently, Anurradha Prasad is the editor-in-chief of News-24 Channel and is Managing Director of
the entertainment company BAG Films & Media ltd.
She is wife of former Minister of State (MoS) for Parliamentary Affairs Rajeev Shukla.
18 years old Indian boy won Intel Foundation Young Scientist Award Young scientist
18 years old Karan Jerath won Young Scientist for a device that will stop undersea oil spills.
They deal with dystopian and apocalyptic themes where a forthcoming civilisational crisis threatens
the world.
His novels include Satantango[1985], The Melancholy of Resistance [1989], Seiobo Down
Below[2008].
Satantango was later made into a film with the help of Hungarian filmmaker Bela Tarr.
In the 1990s Laszlo spent more times in countries like Mongolia, China Japan etc and his writings
had aesthetics and literature of these countries.
Dame Marina Warner, Chairperson of the judging panel praised Laszlo being visionary writer of
extraordinary intensity and vocal range.
Mr George Szrites, translator of Mr Laszlo, was awarded translator prize of 15,000 pounds.
Prestigious Radcliffe fellowship by Harvard university- Shivani Agarwal and Maharaja Pandit selected
For the prestigious Radcliffe fellowship by Harvard University, two Indians Shivani Agarwal and Maharaja
Pandit have been selected. They are one among 50 scholars,scientists and artists and they would be
starting their one year fellowships at Radcliffe Institute in September 2015 .
Shivani Agarwal from Indian institute of sciences IISc Bengaluru, is selected as William and Flora
Hewlett Foundation Fellow for learning to make choices in big data
Maharaja Pandit has been selected as Hardy fellow for his project life in Himalaya and he is
from University of Delhi.
It is considered as one of the most prestigious honors for faculty, only 3% of applicants were
accepted this year.
Radcliffe Institute Dean Lizabeth Cohen said that it was great honor to give time,space and
intellectual stimulation to these innovative thinkers, to carry out their work.
Nadal re ei es Paris s top ho our
Pa is ost p estigious ho ou Grand Vermeil as p ese ted to tennis star Rafael Nadal on
Thursday 21st May 2015 at a e e t held at it s Hotel de ille.
Nadal as te ed as the ost Pa isia of Mallo a s hile e ei i g the a a d f o Pa is
Spainish- born mayor Anne Hidalgo.
Glo al Metals A ard, PLATT , was won by NMDC [National Mineral Development
Corporation] for the year 2015. At a function organised in London on 21st May 2015.
50 | P a g e
NMDC became the first ever Indian firm to get this award for leadership in the Raw Materials and
Mining Sectors. The award was given to NMDC Chairman and Managing director Mr Narendra
Kothari.
a s Massa
i s prizes
At the 68th Cannes film festival held between May 13th to 24th May 2015 in France film maker Neeraj
Ga a s Massa which has been the talk all over the world, got not only five minutes of standing
ovation but also managed to win the FIPRESCI, the International Jury of Film Critics prize and the Promising
Future prize.
68th Cannes film festival ,the coveted Pal d Or a ard e t to the fil Dheepan di e ted
F a e s Ja k Audia d, a sto a out ila ka efugees t i g to build new lives in France.
The runner- up award e t to Son of Saul di e ted Hu ga ia a d Tai a s Ne Wa e
master Hou Hsiao-hsien as gi e the Best Dire tor a a d.
Best Actor award went to French actor Vincent Lindon and Best Actress award was shared
between Emmanuelle Bercot and Rooney Mara.
The Jury Prize: The Lobster, directed by Yorgos Lanthimos.
Screenplay: Michel Franco for Chronic.
Annual CEAT awards for 2015 was given away in May 26
The CEAT cricket rating ( CCR ) was formed in 1995 with three cricket legends Clive Lloyd, Ian Chappell and
u il Ga aska as e e s of go e i g ou il. It s the fi st i ket ati g s ste to e a d pe fo a es
of players.
RPG group chairman- Harsh Goenka- announced the launch of cricket gear and named Aussie pacer Brett
lee as the brand ambassador of CCR.
List of award winners:
International cricketer of the year: Kumar Sangakkara
Domestic cricketer of the year: . Vi a , a ji t oph i i g Ka ataka tea s aptai .
Indian player of the year: Ajinkya Rahane
T20 player of the year: West Indian player Dwayne Bravo
International batsman of the year: Hashim Amla
International bowler of the year: Sri Lankan Rangana Herath
Popular choice award: West Indian Keiran Pollard.
Special award: Rohit Sharma for his 264 run chase against Sri Lanka.
Young player of the year: Deepak Hooda
Alexander Payne to be honoured at Munich International Film Festival
Munich International Film Festival will pay tribute to American director Alexander Payne with a
retrospective of his movies- shorts, features and TV. Among the movies to be played are Election,
About Schmidt, Sideways, The Descendants, and Nebraska.
Pa e s last isit to the e e t as i
he he i High Hopes A a d fo Citize uth. O Ju e
26, there will be a gala held in his honour.
The award was set up to encourage more state-funded schools to connect with the university.
Sidhu got the award in Oxford lastweek along with 11 others who were also nominated by their
students.
orld s top
list of o su er fi a e fir s
Mortgage lender HDFC has emerged the only Indian company a o g the o ld s
iggest o su e
financial services firms, after giants like American Express, Visa and Mastercard.
List was complied by Business magazine Forbes.
The list ranks the companies on the basis of a composite score of their revenues, profits, assets and
market value.
HDFC is ranked 7th on the list
American Express is placed on the top
Second Place Capital One Financial
Third Place Visa
Fourth Place Discover Financial Services
Fifth Place Orix
Sixth Place Mastercard
Eighth Place CIT Group of the US
Ninth Place Tai a s Hua Na Fi a ial
Tenth Place Chi a s F a shio P ope ties
Forbes List of top regional banks :
China Construction Bank tops the chart
I dia s BI is ra ked
d
ICICI Bank is at 29th place
HDFC Bank is at 40th position.
Forbes List of Top companies in Oil and Gas Sector:
ExxonMobil is on the top place.
Reliance Industries is ranked 15th globally.
Forbes List of top computer services companies :
Google tops the list
I dia s TC is at th pla e
CTS is at 9th place
Infosys at 10th position.
Forbes Annual Compilation :
The list is pa t of Fo es a ual o pilatio of ,
iggest a d ost po e ful o pa ies
globally, which includes a total of 56 companies from India across various sectors.
In the overall list, HDFC is ranked 485th, while Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries leads the
pack of the Indian companies at 142nd overall position.
Among other sector-specific lists, there is no Indian entity on the list of biggest major banks topped
by China s ICBC.
The overall list is dominated by the companies from the US and China.
53 | P a g e
The Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) has entered into an agreement with
SIDBI Venture Capital Ltd. to provide easy finance to micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs)
for their growth.
Both the MIDC and Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) Venture Capital have jointly
created funds to the tune of Rs 200 crore to provide immediate finance to the MSMEs.
MIDC has contributed Rs 75 crore. SIDBI has provided the remaining Rs 125 crore.
The rate of interest at which finance would be provided to the MSMEs is yet to be decided
ad loa s to go up
s.
rore
In the current fiscal FY16, gross non-performing assets (NPAs) of Indian banks will rise by Rs. 60,000
crore to Rs. 4 lakh crore (4.5% of total loans),according to a Crisil Ratings report.
Important Points of the report :
Total weak assets to be at 6 per cent of total loans (similar to FY15) to Rs. 5.3 lakh crore in FY16 as
against Rs. 4.7 lakh crore in FY15.
Exposure of banks to vulnerable sectors is expected to remain high, just the way it was in 2014-15.
Its s al ulatio s sho a out Rs. 80,000 crore of stressed loans could be structured under the 5/25
scheme during 2015-16.
Private-sector banks will continue to outperform the industry with RoA of 1.6 per cent compared
with 0.5 per cent for PSBs.
HSBC global research in its latest epo t has ut I dia s ati gs to u de eight f o o e eight.
I dia s a kets ha e ee u de pe fo i g.BE e se is the o st pe fo i g ajo a ket i
Asia. e se is do to % hile Chi a s i de is up to %.
It further said that India has been the second most expensive market and also there is little room
for further rate cuts. Much to the dismay, 2015 El Nino conditions are also firmly established.
State Bank of India launched yet another new service, Online Customer Acquisition Solution (OCAS),
an online platform to apply for home loans, car loans, education loans and personal loans.
Customers can even upload all necessary documents online, reducing the processing time of their
loan
This new service will help the customers determine their eligibility and get a loan personalized to
their requirement.
The customer will instantly get an e-approval on filling the online form. Thereafter, the Bank
officials will contact the customer and complete all the loan formalities.
A similar application will shortly also be launched on the mobile platform as well.
Chinese researchers from Tsinghua University and Tzekwan Technology, a Hangzhou firm in eastern
China's Zhejiang province that provides security protection for financial transactions, have
developed the first automated teller machine (ATM) with facial recognition technology.
China currently relied mostly on imported ATM technology, the report said, but the new machine,
which combines high-speed banknote handling, improved counterfeit-bill recognition and facial
recognition, was wholly Chinese.It seems to be a part of "Made in China" campaign, which aims to
transition the mainland from a manufacturing hub for low-end goods to high-quality products
within the next 10 years.
The new ATM's are expected to connect with the country's banks and public security networks,
which guarantees that only cardholders withdraw money, even if someone else knows the
password. These biometrics ATMs are not being used by some countries, such as the United States,
because of privacy concerns and its high cost.
Tzekwan chairman : Gu Zikun,
55 | P a g e
SBI ou t s la gest issue of de it a d a d thi d la gest issue of edit a d, has lau hed o ta t
less debit and credit cards- SbilNTOUCh, with one lakh fraud cover.
It has tied up ith shoppe s stop, elia e etail, Big Bazaa a d ta u ks. It will come with
emergency replacement facility.
It uses Near Field Technology( NFC ) that enables users to pay by waving or tapping the card near
the reader instead of swiping.
IT wing for RBI under planning :
Raghunath Rajan said that RBI is planning to set up an IT wing to face the rising challenge of the
cyber world.
RBI already has an IT arm Institute for Development and Research in Banking Technology( IDRBT )
but did not embark on how this new IT wing will differ from IDRBT.
RBI relaxes 2-factor authentication norms for contactless cards upto Rs 2,000
The Reserve Bank of India relaxed the norms for the two-factor authentication requirement for small value
transactions made through the Contact less cards upto the payments of Rs 2000.
Customers can now make payments up to 2,000 using NFC (near field communication) enabled credit
and debit cards without punching the password at any retail outlet or while shopping online.
Features of the New Norms :
Additional authentication would not be required for up to Rs 2,000 per transaction only using
contact-less cards.
The limit of Rs 2,000 per transaction will be the limit set across all categories of merchants in the
country where such contactless payments will be accepted.
Beyond this transaction limit, the card has to be processed as a contact payment and
authentication with PIN (AFA) will be mandatory.
Even for transaction values below this limit, the customer may choose to make payment as a
contact payment, which has to be facilitated by both issuing and acquiring banks.
In other words, customers cannot be compelled to do a contactless payment.
These rules will not be applicable to ATM transactions irrespective of transaction value and Card
Not Present transactions (CNP).
A customer can now just wave the card before the PoS machines to complete the transaction.
This new norms will promote Tap and Pay Electronic Payments.
Tap and Pay Electronic Payments :
The tap a d pa efe s to the use of ea -field communication (NFC) technology, enabling users to
make payments by waving or tapping the card near the contactless reader instead of swiping it.
Custo e s a look fo the o ta tless logo o the a d as ell as at the e ha t lo atio so
that they can distinguish such cards from other cards available with them and also identify the
locations where contactless payments are accepted.
Prior to this relaxation,
2-Factor Authentication : After tapping the card at a point of sale machines, the customer had to punch
their PIN number as an additional factor authentication (AFA) to avoid any chances of fraud.
Contactless payment cards :
Contactless payment systems are credit cards and debit cards, key fobs, smartcards or other
devices that use radio-frequency identification for making secure payments.
The embedded chip and antenna enable consumers to wave their card or fob over a reader at the
point of sale.
Transactions can be almost twice as fast as a conventional cash, credit, or debit card purchase.
56 | P a g e
The atio s largest lender State Bank of India (SBI) has created a separate company, SBI
Fou datio , to a out its assi e C i itiati es a d hopes to get it u i g f o Jul .
Incidentally, July 1 is the Foundation Day of the bank, which was started as Bank of Calcutta in June
1806. Pande said that in fiscal 2104, the bank had spent 115 crore on CSR, on a profit of 10,891
crore, which was 6 crore more than its 1 per cent profit.
State-owned iron ore miner NMDC said on Wednesday Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) has
acquired almost 8 crore of its shares shares worth over Rs 1,116 crore in a market purchase.
International airport lounge access and golf course access are the other benefits available under
the Platinum variant.
The Gold N Mo e a d ill o e ith a fee of 499.
This variant will offer a credit limit up to 1.75 lakh
State Bank of India today signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with e-commerce player
Amazon to develop payment and commerce solutions for customers and small businesses.
The idea of the MoU is that we can try and give customers a good experience in both buying and
selli g, BI Chai a A u dhati Bhatta ha a told epo te s.
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.
The ou t s la gest a k a ou ed a pa t e ship 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 pa t e ship ill also allo BI s Mi o all a d Mediu E te p ise MME usto ers to use
Pa Pal s se u e pa e t solutio s.
SBI has also announced a partnership with e-commerce firm, Amazon.com, in India.
58 | P a g e
BI tie up ith apdeal fo fu di g MMEs ill oost P i e Mi iste Na e d a Modi s Make-inIndia 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.
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.
Memorandum of Understanding MoU has been signed between Reserve Bank of India and Central
Bank of Seychelles on exchange of information and mutual assistance in banking sector
supervision.
MoU was signed between SS Mundra, Deputy Governor of RBI and C.Edmond, First Deputy
Governor of CBS.
Private sector electricity producer Tata Power will move out of the stock market benchmark index
Sensex and will be replaced by drugmaker Lupin.
The ha ge i the e se s o stitue ts ill e effe ti e f o Ju e . Apa t f o
e h ak
indices, the BSE announced changes in the BSE 100, BSE 500 and Bankex indices as well.
Adani Power is to be excluded from the S&P BSE 100 and be replaced by Aurobindo Pharma. In
additio , Tata Moto s lass A sha es o DV sha es ill also e i luded i BE
.
Asia s oldest e ha ge also e o ed Ca a a Ba k a d Ba k of I dia f o the Ba ke , a d epla ed
26 companies from the BSE 500 index by introducing 27 stocks as part of their index rebalancing.
What is BANKEX Index? As a result of bank stocks were emerging as a major segment in the equity
market, the bourse has designed an index, computed on free float methodology, with base date as
on January one, 2002, Bombay Stock Exchange launched a new index, BANKEX.
teel Autho it of I dia AIL a d o ld s la gest steel ake , A elo Mittal sig ed a MoU to set up
an automotive steel manufacturing facility in India.
The MoU was signed by ArcelorMittal Chairman & Chief Executive Lakshmi Niwas Mittal and SAIL
Chairman CS Verma in London.
59 | P a g e
The proposed JV will construct a state-of-the-art cold rolling mill and other downstream finishing
fa ilities i I dia that ill offe te h ologi all ad a ed steel p odu ts to I dia s apidl g o i g
auto oti e se to ,
The Reserve Bank of India has entered into an MoU with the Central Bank of Seychelles (CBS) on
exchange of information and mutual assistance in the banking sector supervision. The MoU was
inked by C Edmond, First Deputy Governor, CBS and S S Mundra, Deputy Governor of the RBI, the
central bank on 21st may 2015.
The Reserve Bank has been signing the Memorandum of Understanding or Exchange of Letters
(EoL) with supervisors of other countries to promote greater co-operation and sharing of
supervisory information among the authorities. With this, RBI has signed 25 such MoUs, one Letter
for Supervisory Co-operation and one Statement of Co-operation, with overseas regulators.
This MoU is supposedly said as part of the drive to unearth black money and the global war against
the menace of money laundering. The MoU between RBI and Central Bank of Seychelle is significant
as Seychelles is known as a popular tax haven.
The Cosmos Co-operative Bank- the oldest and tech-savvy multi-state scheduled bank has tied-up
with New India Assurance for Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana and with Life Insurance
Corporation of India for the Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Yojana informed Krishnakumar Goyal
Chairman Cosmos Bank.
Goyal informed that Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana and Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Yojana
will be available at all the branches of Cosmos Bank and customers should take advantage of these
facilities.
Banks union and Indian banks association sign 10th bipartite wage increment agreement
United Forum Banks Union (UFBU) & Indian Banks Association (IBA) on Monday, 25th May, signed
the tenth bipartite wage agreement in Mumbai, which will effectually put an extra burden of RS
4725 Cr and if superannuation is included, RS 8370 Cr.
UFBU was represented by nine bank unions, which covers 25 PSBs, 11 private banks and 7 foreign
banks. With this the employees will receive an increase of 15% salary, which will be calculated on
the total payslip component that includes Basic, DA, House rent
The deal, which will affect some 5 lakh workmen and 3 lakh officers, will be effective
retrospectively from Nov 2012, when the 9th agreement expired.
ICICI bank has launched a voice recognition service,which authenticates customers based on their
speech pattern and allows bank transactions through banks call centre.
This will cover over 33 million savings bank and debit&credit card holders.
This is a first-of-its-kind service, and with this customers are no longer required to enter their card
numbers, PIN and answer security questions to authenticate. Because with technology at place, the
voice will act as their password.
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Western Union, theAmerican global money transfer major, has renewed its 14 year old
partnership with India Post which means 10,000 post offices across India will continue to serve as
Western Union agents. The tenure of the contract is undisclosed.
Globally western union has tie ups withover 100 postal organisations round the world, with a
network of 1.11 lakh agents in India of which 9942 are post offices.
India Post is among the 41 entities who are in the run to become payment banks.
Department of Posts, Director General :Padmini Gopinath
Western Union, Chairman :Jack M. Greenberg.
RBI replaces Rupa Kudva with Naresh Takkar in the banking licenses panel
Rupa Kudva, former MD of CRISIL has been replaced with Naresh Takkar, MD and chief executive of
ICRA( India Credit Rating Agency ) by the RBI as a member of the four membered panel on
evaluating applications for payment bank licenses.
Other three members are Nachiket Mor, Head of panel- Director of Central Board of RBI,
Shubhankar Panse, former CMD of Allahabad bank and Deepak Phatak- a professor at IIT Bombay.
Market regulator Sebi has settled charges of fraudulent trading against two individuals after they
paid a total of around Rs 20 lakh in settlement fee.
The two individuals have violated PFTUP (Prohibition of Fraudulent and Unfair Trade Practices)
regulation in the matter of Arihant Foundations & Housing Ltd.
Laxmi M Chaturvedi paid over Rs 17.87 lakh while Manoharlal Chaturvedi made a payment of Rs 2
lakh towards settlement charges.
ANZ Bank will open two more branches in India by early next year.
The two branches would be opened at Gurgaon and Bangalore, ANZ Executive Director
(International banking) Subhash DeGamia said. The bank opened its first branch in India at Mumbai
four years ago.
In June 2014, Australia New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ) said it received in-principle approval
from the Reserve Bank of India to open new branches in Gurgaon and in outer Bengalore.
Its Mumbai branch offers Indian Rupee and foreign currency services, working capital and term
financing, transaction banking, global markets, deposits and advisory services.
In addition, ANZ's Bangalore-based operations and technology shared
The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) has imposed Rs. 65 lakh
penalty on India First Life insurance company for 48 charges such as violation of norms related to
payment of commissions and reporting of expenses pertaining to corporate agents.
They also included wrongful involvement of business development managers on behalf of
corporate agents, running sales campaigns for the employees of corporate agents, offering
incentives such as foreign trips, gift cards and online redemption points and faulty reporting of
expenses and file and use procedures, among others.
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IRDAI Chairman- T S Vijayan, Head - Governance and Company Secretary, IndiaFirst Life Insurance Viswanarayan .
Cou t s la gest i su e Life I su a e Co po atio LIC has aised stake i state-owned Canara
Bank by about 7.7 per cent through preferential allotment of shares.
It has also increased its stake in another public sector lender Bank of Baroda (BoB) by buying 4.7
o e sha es f o the ope
a ket. With the a uisitio , the LIC s stake i BoB i eased
. pe
cent to 11.4 per cent. LIC acquired the stake for a consideration of about Rs 750 crore as per the
current price.
With the a uisitio , the LIC s stake i BoB i eased
. pe e t to . pe e t. LIC a ui ed
the stake for a consideration of about Rs 750 crore as per the current price. These shares were
acquired over a period between January 16 and May 25, 2015 from the open market, BoB said in a
Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) filing.
With acquisition of 4 crore shares for a consideration of Rs 1,520.32 crore, the stake of LIC in
Canara Bank has gone up to 14.4 per cent, the lender said in a separate filing on the BSE. Prior to
this preferential allotment, LIC was holding 3.46 crore shares or 6.7 per cent in Canara Bank.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Thursday proposed to introduce a separate category of semiclosed Prepaid Payment Instruments (PPI) for Mass Transit System (PPI-MTS).
The PPI-MTS can be used within the mass transit systems and will have a minimum validity of six
months from date of issue.
Such PPIs will be re-loadable instruments subject to an outstanding limit of Rs.2,000 at any point of
time, RBI suggested in a draft circular for public comments.
RBI releases Draft Guidelines on Net Stable Funding Ratio for Banks
The Reserve Bank of India released on its website draft Guidelines on Net Stable Funding Ratio
(NSFR) under Basel III Framework on Liquidity Standards for banks. It has requested for comments
on these guidelines by email at the earliest, but not later than June 26, 2015. The Reserve Bank had
proposed to issue the guidelines in the First Bi-monthly Monetary Policy Statement, 2015-16
announced on April 7, 2015.
The objective of NSFR is to ensure that banks maintain a stable funding profile in relation to the
composition of their assets and off-balance sheet activities. A sustainable funding structure is
i te ded to edu e the p o a ilit of e osio of a a k s li uidit positio due to dis uptio s i its
regular sources of funding that would increase the risk of its failure and potentially lead to broader
systemic stress.
A notification allowing an Indian to spend $ 2.5 lakh abroad in a year, has been issued by the
Finance Ministry. Reserve Bank of India has done the same three months back.
A higher limit has been notified compared to the previous limit of $ 1.25 lakh per year because of
forex reserves getting stronger at $ 353 billion.
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Business
Railways to sign an MoU with the states for infra- expansion of railways
Railways will sign MoU with state governments to ensure their participation in its efforts to provide
better passenger amenities and upgrade infrastructure.
It is encouraging states' involvement in laying new tracks and improving passenger amenities at
stations.
Railways have also been entertaining suggestions from passengers for improving facilities at rail
premises.
The Board of Directors of Kishore Biyani-owned Future Retail approved the consolidation and
realignment of its retail operations with Bharti Retail Ltd.
To streamline the operations resulting from the consolidation, the respective boards of directors
propose to demerge the retail business of Future Retail to Bharti Retail and to demerge the
infrastructure business of Bharti Retail to Future Retail.
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
M t a s o ile te h olog tea .
Nati e is M t a s se o d te h olog led a uisitio . I Ap il
, M t a a ui ed Fitiquette, a
San Francisco-based technology solution, a virtual fitting room.
Tata Communications announced a video network partnership with China Telecom Global to enable
and manage media content for customers in China and globally.
The tie-up enables China Telecom Global to leverage its worldwide reach, along with Tata
Co
u i atio s Glo al Video Net o k to offe li e spo ti g e e ts i Chi a.
The partnership will cater to a market opportunity of USD 2.57 billion.
U i o s Chief Fi a ial Offi e Vi ek A a d has esig ed, a out a ea afte joi i g the o pa .
Mr. Anand had joined Uninor in May 2014 after its then CFO Prasoon Sinha was elevated to handle
Group Finance function at headquarters in Oslo.
Aditya Birla Retail buys retail biz of Jubilant
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Aditya Birla Retail, a subsidiary of Aditya Birla Group, had acquired the total superstore business of
Jubilant Agri & Consumer products in an all cash deal.
Deal includes 4 hypermarkets in Bengaluru, said Pranav Barua, Business Director at ABG, as the
group plans to expand its business in the south.
With a network of 1.5 lakh posts, India Post, covers more posts than any other logistics company.
Go t. has de ided to use it as a ajo pla e i the e o
e e usi ess.
Go t. Has lau hed a e-commerce centre in Delhi to handle all the delivery business catering
exclusively to the ecommerce portals.
India Post s e A d oid app : Post I fo
Eichel Motors, had acquired UK based Harris Performance Products Ltd, a motorcycle design and
engineering firm and the amount not revealed.Harris Perfromance had long standing relationship
ith o al E field, de elop e t of hasis fo a d s i o i Co ti e tal GT afe a e ike as due
to them.
Royal Enfields CEOSidharth Lal spoke about the idea behind the acquisition that his company is
working on new generation of products.The engineering and product design capabilities would be
increased by dedication of Harris Performance team.
Harris Performance Products,that was established by brothers Steve Harris and Lester Harris some
40 years ago, is one of leading expert company in designing and manufacturing of specialised high
performance motorcycle chassis and components.
Bharti Airtel gets Financial Commitments from Two Chinese banks for 9 years
Gurgaon-based Internet company Askme has acquired Accelity BestAtLowest Online Services
Private Limited, a New Delhi-based company that runs online grocery shopping marketplace
Bestatlowest.com, for $10 million.
Bestatlowest.com was founded by Ankit Nigam and Amit Nigam in 2013 with operations in New
Delhi.
Livspace acquires Dwll.in
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Home design service provider Livspace today announced the acquisition of Dwll.In, a curated online
network for interior designers.
With this acquisition, Livspace aims to create a catalogue of designer looks for homeowners and the
largest curated community marketplace of home designers.
Irish pharma major Endo International Plc has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire the
US-based privately-held Par Pharmaceutical Holdings Inc from TPG in a transaction valued at $ 8.05
billion, including assumption of Par debt.
Apple Inc. has acquired Coherent Navigation, a Bay Area Global Positioning System (GPS) startup, in
an apparent effort to boost its mapping technology and services.
A u e of Cohe e t s ke e plo ees, i ludi g its CEO Paul Lego, also e e tl ega orking
for the Cupertino-based technology giant.
Actor Amitabh Bachchan and his son Abhishek Bachchan have invested $125,000 each in
Ziddu.com, a Singapore-based website owned by Meridian Tech Pte Ltd.
The $250,000 investment will fetch them a small, minority stake in the company whose valuation is
around $ 71 million.
A free cloud storage and e-distribution and micro payment platform founded by Venkata Srinivas
Meenavalli, it has a development centre in Hyderabad.
Huawei will supply RJio with 4G devices which include smartphones, tablets and mifi dongles.
This agreement will play an important role in RJio ambitious plans to launch 4G service by 2015 in
around 5,000 towns and cities in India.
It is mandatory for RJio and other Indian telecom companies to roll out the 4G services who had
won broadband wireless access (BWA) spectrum in 2010 by August 31, 2015 as per the licensing
agreement.These services must be rolled out in at least 90 per cent of the service areas, failing
which the Department of Telecom (DoT) have the right to withdraw the radiowaves.
The Indian Railways Catering and Tourism Corporation has tied up with coupons site myDala, which
offers customized solutions to advertisements through attractive deals and coupons.
It is planning to offer deals across categories like food and beverages, beauty, health and wellness,
tattoos, retail shopping, etc. to its customers.
While Dala ill ha e a ess to ICTC s t o o e egiste ed use s a d oppo tu it to lu e .
million daily visitors with deals, IRCTC gets yet another revenue channel.
IRCTC is undergoing a massive modernization run, in order to reach out to maximum customers. It
has partnered with the likes of Airtel, Amazon, Pizza Hut, KFC and UBI. It had also launched COD
facility in January.
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The new site will be accessible at www.my-dala.irctc.co.in . Anisha Singh : Co-founder and CEO at
myDala.
Appointments
New directors for ISRO's three major centres
Three major centres of IndianSpace Research Organisation, including Satish Dhawan SpaceCentre
(SDSC), Sriharikota, are to get new directors.
Dr K Sivan, currently Director of Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre (LPSC), Thiruvananthapuram, will
take over from M Chandradathan, who is to retire by end May 2015, as the Director of Vikram
Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC), Thiruvananthapuram.
ISRO said S. Somanath, Director (Projects), VSSC, will take over as Director, LPSC, from Dr K Sivan.
P Kunhikrishnan, Deputy Director (Mechanisms and Vehicle Integration), VSSC, will take over over
from Dr M Y S Prasad, as Director of Satish DhawanSpace Centre (SDSC) SHAR, Sriharikota.
Budget carrier GoAir has appointed former Jet Airways chief executive, Austrian national, Wolfgang
Prock-Shauer, who has over 34 years of experience, as the new CEO of the company.
He will take charge from June 15. Prock-Shauer will succeed Italian airline professional, Giorgio De
Roni, who quit in March. Earlier Prock was a part of the management board of German airline
AirBerlin.
Jeh Wadia : GoAi s a agi g di e to .
Indian government as appointed S. Christopher who heads the centre for airborne systems, as
new Director General of DRDO with the rank of a secretary. This was in line with Defence Minister
Ma ohar Parikkar s concept of dividing top post into two parts.
Government also appointed a younger scientist GS Reddy a missile scientist, as the scientific
advisor to the defence minister.
Mr Reddy would report to Mr Parikkar and will b the pointsman for the minister for defence
research projects.
Dr Christopher is currently Distinguished Scientist and Programme Director[airborne early warning
and control systems] and Director, Center for Airborne systems in Bengaluru and Mr Reddy is
currently Distinguished scientist and Director,Research Center Imarat and Programme Director of
Medium Range Surface to Air missile MRSAM project.
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India Bank General Manager V A Prasanth has been appointed as the new CFO of the bank with
immediate effect.
He will replace K Srinivasa Raghavan as informed to the BSE by the bank.
Procter and Gamble has appointed- Al Rajwani as the new MD & CEO. He will replace Shantanu
Khosla, with affect from June 30, who has served P&G for 13 years.
Rajwani is a US citizen of Indian origin, who has been working for P&G in a variety of product
supply, marketing, management positions in the US, Canada, China, Korea and Arabic peninsula for
more than 34 years.
Before his role as VP/GM India, he was VP Arabic peninsula and Pakistan operations, where the
growth rate has been double digit and he is also credited for making P&G one of the leading FMCG
companies in the Middle East.
Rajnish Kumar appointed as the 4th MD of BI, ou t s la gest PB. He ill e the MDCompliance and Risk Department, which has been created for the first time by the bank.
Prior to this, Kumar was MD & CEO of SBI Caps. Current chairman : Arundhati Bhattacharya has also
served the same post in the past.
The other three serving MDs are Pradeep Kumar( Corporate Banking Group ), B. Sriram ( National
Banking Group ) and V.G. Kannan ( Association and Subsidiaries ).
Senior IPS officer Surender Singh took over as the new director general of the Central Industrial
Security Force (CISF) on Friday.
Singh, a 1980-batch Indian Police Service (IPS) officer of the West Bengal cadre, was serving as a
special director in the Intelligence Bureau (IB) before taking up his new assignment as CISF chief.
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Senior IRS officer S K Ray has been appointed as the new member in the Central Board of Direct
Taxes, the apex policy making body of the Income Tax department.
Ray, a 1978-batch officer of the Indian Revenue Service (Income Tax), was till now serving as the
Chief Commissioner of I-T in Ahmedabad.
S. basedhome appliances giant- Whirlpool has appointed u il D ouza the MD of its I dia ra h.
He will join as the MD onJune 22. Earlier he had been working with PepsiCo for 15 long years,
which includes holding various managerial posts in Malaysia, Vietnam, India and the Philippines.
Arvind Uppal President( Asia Pacific ) at Whirlpool and Chairman, Whirlpool India.
IFS officer Mr Saurabh kumar, was appointed as the next Indian Ambassador to the country of Iran.
He is at present posted as Joint Secretary in National Security Council Secretariat.
Manoj Mishra appointed as CMD of National Fertilizers
Government has appointed Manoj Mishra as Chairman and Managing Director of state-run National
Fertilizers Ltd (NFL).
Mishra, currently posted as Director Finance at State Trading Corporation (STC), is likely to assume
the charge of CMD of the fertiliser firm this week.
Friday 22nd May 2015 turned to be an important day in the life of Mohan Kumar, a senior IAS
officer.He was appointed as new Defence Secretary for a period of two-year term. Mohan Kumar is
presently Secretary in Department of Defence Production. He is 1979 batch IAS officer of Odisha
cadre.
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Mohan Kumar would take charge from Radhakrishna Mathur , a 1977 batch Manipur-Tripura cadre
IAS officer, whose two year tenure finishes on May 28th 2015.
Mohan Kumar previously had worked in Commerce Ministry and also worked as Additional and
Special Secretary in Ministry of Water Resources, River development and Ganga rejuvenation
between 2010 to Sept 2013.
Mohan kumar who is from Kerala, has also served as Steel Secretary before becoming Secretary in
Department of Defence Production in 2014.
BJP MP S.S. Ahluwalia to head joint panel on Land Acquisition Amendment bill
Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) MP Surendrajeet Singh Ahluwalia has been appointed as the chairman of
a Joint Committee of Parliament that will look into the provisions of the Land Acquisition
Amendment Bill, 2015.
The joint committee will comprise of 30-members- 20 members from Lok Sabha and 10 from the
Rajya Sabha.
M.J. Joseph has been appointed as the Controller General of Accounts (CGA) in the Ministry of
Finance. Prior to this appointment, Joseph was the Director General of the Bureau of Indian
Standards (BIS).
He succeeds Shri Jawahar Thakur who has been appointed as OSD (Accounting Reforms) in the
Office of CGA.
Arun Shrivastava assumed charge as the new MD and CEO of Syndicate Bank.
Prior to this, he was the Executive Director of Bank Of India and looked after the foreign
subsidiaries BOI of Indonesia and Botswana.
He is a certified member of Association of Indian Institution of Banks ( AIMB ).
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Judo union of Asia (J.U.A.) elected Judo Federation of India President Mukesh Kumar as the
general secretary.
Du i g the o g ess, I dia as allotted the hosti g ights of e t ea s Aisa adet a d J . Judo
championship, which will be held in Kochi.
International Judo Federation president Marius Vizer and general secretary Jean Luc Rouge also
attended the J.U.A. Congress meet.
Justice Cyriac Joseph who hails from Kerala, was appointed as the interim chairperson of the NHRC
until the new chairperson gets appointed.
He is taking over justice K.G. Balakrishnan who completed his tenure as the sixth chief of NHRC, he
had the longest tenure.
Eminent banker K V Kamath was today appointed as head of the $50-billion New Development
Bank being set up by the five emerging economies of the BRICS grouping.
Kamath will have a five-year term of the bank.
Kamath has been named the first president of the NDB.
NDB is likely to be operationalised within one year.
About Kamath :
Kamath is the Chairman of the I dia s largest pri ate se tor a k ICICI.
After serving at ICICI for more than a decade, Kamath had moved to Asian Development Bank,
Manila, in the private sector department in 1988.
His principal work experience at ADB was in various projects in China, India, Indonesia, Bangladesh
and other emerging nations.
He has served as the chairman of Infosys Limited, the second-largest Indian IT services company.
He is also a member of the Board of Governors of the Pandit Deendayal Petroleum University.
He was awarded Padma Bhushan Award from the Indian government 2008
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Chair a of Dr edd s La oratories Ltd, K Satish Reddy, has been appointed as the new chairman
of the National Safety Council (NSC).
Satish Reddy takes over the Chairmanship from Venu Srinivasan who steered the working of the
council since July 2011.
Deepak Iyer, currently working as the MD at Wrigley India, has been appointed as the new CEO and
MD of BHARATI AXA general insurance.
He will join office from June 2015 and will replace incumbent CEO Milind Chalisgaonkar. He has also
worked for PepsiCo.
Veena Jain appointed as Director General of Doordarshan News
Veena Jain was appointed as Director General (news) at Doordarshan. She succeeded Akshay Rout,
senior Indian Information Service (IIS) officer.
She is currently posted as Additional Director General in the News Services Division of All India
Radio (AIR). Prior to this, she had also been the director of Publications Division of AIR.
Jain will also hold the charge as Officer on Special Duty (OSD) and will oversee the govt. new media
wing and social media cell.
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O e of B itai s lo gest se i g I dia -origin MPs, Keith Vaz, has been appointed Vice-Chairman of
the Labour party.
Vaz, 58, who was re-elected from his Leicester East stronghold at the May 7 general election, also
serves as the chair of the influential Home Affairs Select Committee in the House of Commons.
Gujarat government has appointed senior IAS officer G R Aloria as the new chief secretary of the
state.
He will replace incumbent Chief Secretary D J Pandian who is retiring on May 31.
He is a 1981 batch IAS officer, and at present is the Additional Chief Secretary of Ministry of Urban
Development Department and also holds the additional charge of Home Ministry. Aloria had
served in Sardar Sarovar Narmada Nigam Limited as a head.
An advanced version of the indigenously and jointly developed by the Defence Research and
Development Organization and the Indian Army, multi-barrel rocketlauncher, Pinaka Mark-II rocket
was successfully test-fired from Army's Chandan firing range near Pokhranusing, near Indo-Pak
border.
It successfully hit the target in Keru area which was situated 55 km from the firing point. It has high
operational mobility, flexibility and accuracy.
Pinaka Mark-II rocket with a range of more than 60-km is capable of acting as a force-multiplier and
was developed to supplement artillery guns and is currently passing through a phase of testing.
Pinaka-I has already been inducted into the army.
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NAA s Messe ge spacecraft has crashed into the surface of Mercury, ending its historic 11-year
mission that provided valuable data and thousands of images of the planet.
MESSENGER was launched on August 3, 2004, and it began orbiting Mercury on March 18, 2011.
The spacecraft completed its primary science objectives by March 2012.
The Indian Army on Tuesday May 5th 2015,i du ted the Akash issile s ste i to its a se al, to
protect the country form aerial threats. Each regiment of Akash missile in the Indian army consists
of 6 launchers with each launcher having 3 missiles.
Indian Army had placed orders for 2 regiments worth of rupees 19,000 crores.
The first regiment will be ready by July 2015 and second by 2016.
Akash missile is medium range surface-to air, anti-aircraft defence system a d it fo s the I dia s
first home made missile designed by DRDO .
Though it has taken little long to be designed, it will replace Russian missiles which the Army has
been using since 1
s
BrahMos land-attack cruise missile successfully test-fired from Car Nicobar Islands
India today successfully test-fired an advanced version of the BrahMos land-attack cruise missile
f o the Ca Ni o a Isla ds as it e alidated the eapo s p e isio st ike apability.
This launch was the 47th test-firing of the missile and follows an unsuccessful test which was
conducted on April 9, 2015 when the missile had failed to hit the target.
Features- It is capable of carrying a warhead of 300 kilogram and has top supersonic speed of Mach
2.8. It can strike a target at maximum range of 290-km.
ISRO to commission new multi object tracking radar (MOTR) to trace space debris
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is close to commissioning its new, home-made radar system
that is capable of tracking several objects at the same time.
The Indian space agency is set to test its sophisticated, indigenously-built, multi-object tracking radar
(MOTR) on a rocket flight next month while formal commissioning is expected to take three months time.
Uses of the MOTR :
It will give ISRO the capability to better handle future space missions.
To track space debris.
It will help the re-e t of odules a k i to the ea th s at osphe e.
The radar could see objects as small as half a square meter in size, up to 1,000 km away.
It ill help to p ote t satellites i the lo ea th o it egio
ai l , e ote se si g satellites
from being hit by debris.
Less sophisticated versions of this radar could be used by airports.
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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.
I the fi st t ial, the supe so i issile as eleased he the fighte jet as pe fo i g a e
high-g a oeu e . I the se o d t ial, the a oeu e was higher than in the first exercise.
It is one of the most modern, stand-off beyond visual range air-to-air missiles (BVRAAM)
Indian-American Scientist Latha Venkatraman and her team of Columbia Engineering researchers
have created single-molecule of electronic device that has potential of real world technological
applications for nanoscale devices.
Single-molecule diode that performs 50 times better than other designs have been developed by
the researchers under the guidance of Latha .
Fraser Stoddart and his coworkers at Northwestern university have developed first man-made
molecular pump capable of transporting key proteins to cells for functioning of it and can be used
to power artificial muscles.New machine imitates the pumping mechanism of life sustaining
proteins.
Proteins help in movement of small molecules around living cells to metabolise and store energy
from food.
Energy that is stored in the pump will provide power to other artificial muscles and other molecular
machines.
The chemical reactions give power to artificial pump and molecules are driven step by step from
low energy to high energy state by this power.
New Horizons has released some latest images of the distant estranged planet Pluto, on the 109th
birthday of Clyde Tombaugh, who discovered the distant icy world in 1930.
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New Horizons was nearly 203 million kilometres away from Pluto when it began taking images, with
Ne Ho izo s teles opi Lo g-Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI),which is why Pluto appears as
a dot.
Alan Stern-New Horizons principal investigator at the Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) in
Boulder, Colorado. This project was launched more than nine years ago.
Environmental
World s first full
Scientists at United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration or NOAA, have discovered
very rare fully warm-blooded fish named Opah. It is a discovery that defies conventional biology.
Opah fish are reddish in colour with white spots and has distinct red fins.
It has an oval shaped body and weighs upto 90kgs.
It is normally found in deep waters at a depth of 50 to 400m.
It mostly preys on the fishes and squids.
The uniqueness of these Opah fishes is they can produce electricity by their pectoral fins flapping
continously.
The heat generated does not get lost to the environment because of its unique shapes.
The heat produced have average muscle temperature of 4 to 5 degree above surrounding water
temperature.
Main advantages of being warm blooded fish are faster swimming speeds, better brain and eyes
functions, withstand the effects of cold on vital organs when compared to cold-blooded fishes.
NOAA wants to compare Opah from different parts of the world to see how they have evolved
warming mechanisms in deep waters
New Species of fish found in Western Ghats
New species of fish called Pethia Striata have been found by ecologists in Tunga river of
Kudremukh National Park.Karnataka.
The discovery of these fishes has been published in the journal of American Society of
Ichthyologists and Herpetologists by researchers from Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and
Enviroment ATREE.
An ancient aqueduct dating back 2,000 years ago was unearthed near Har Homa in in East
Jerusalem city of Israel.
The discovered lower aqueduct was used in ancient times to transport water into the city of
Jerusalem
In the Afar regions of Ethiopia, scientists had discovered a new human ancestor species
of Australopithecus deyiremeda. The scientists team led by Yohannes haileselassie from Cleveland Museum of Natural History, have unearthed upper and lower jaws of the
species.
By the radiometric, paleomagnetic and depositional rate fossil analysis it is predicted that the
minimum and maximum ages to be 3.3 and 3.5 million years ago.
75 | P a g e
It must have existed alongside famous Lucy( female Australopithecus afarensis found in 1974) that
also existed 3.5 million years ago.
It must be noted that Lucy species lived from 2.9 to 3.8 million years ago .
Asiatic lion population in Gir sanctuary increases to 523: Census report 2015
Asiatic lion population in Gir sanctuary increases to 523: Census report 2015
The 14th Asiatic lion census,2015, proposes a good increment in the number of Asiatic lions in the
Gir Sanctuary of Gujarat. The number has gone upto 523 from 411 in 2010.
The census shows that there are 109 adults males,201 females and 213 cubs. The census covered 8
districts and was conducted by modern GPS , camera traps and dig cams.
SANDEEP Kumar- DCF , Gir sanctuary.
Sports
Prarthana wins ITF doubles title in Indonesia
Prarthana Thombare won her first ever USD 25000 level ITF (International Tennis Federation )
doubles title partnering with British partner Harriet Dart.
Prarthana and Harriet defeated the Thai pair of Nicha Lertpitaksinchai and Nudnida Luangnam ( 6-4
, 4-6 , 18-16 ) in the final.
Prarthana, now trains at Sania Mirza Tennis Academy in Hyderabad, had been the runner-up in
Ahmedabad USD 25,000 doubles event earlier in the season.
She also won two USD 10,000 level doubles titles this season -- at Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt in March
and at Dehradun in April.
Reigning champions, london based, Arsenal won the FA Cup, world's oldest knockout competition,
for a record 12th time, setting up a victory against Aston Villa ( 4-0 ) in the finals, at Wembley with
the help of two spectacular goals from Theo Walcott and Alexis Sanchez .
Arsene Wenger also became the most successful FA Cup manager of modern times, guiding his side
to a sixth triumph in their 19th final, and another record.
Archer Deepika Kumari bagged the bronze medal in the women's individual recurve event of the
World Cup, going on in Antalya, Turkey.
Ninth seeded, Deepika defeated her second-seeded opponent Chang Hye Jin of Korea by 6 (26, 29,
26, 28)- 2 (25, 26, 28, 27) to come up as then winner. Korean archers stood first and second on the
podium with Deepika at third.
Earlier she was denied a place in the final by Olympic gold medallist Ki Bo Bae of Korea, going on in
Antalya
Four Indian wrestlerss, struck gold at the International Wrestling tournament in Sassari City, Italy, in
their respective weight categories in Men's Freestyle.
76 | P a g e
Yogeshwar bagged gold in 65kg division, while Praveen Rana claimed the gold in 70kg category.
Amit Kumar and Narsingh Yadav also finished on the top of the podium in 57kg and 74kg
categories, respectively. Other Indians in the competition were Mausum Khatri (97kg) and Hitender
(125kg).
Gurpreet Singh gave India a fifth quota place in shooting for the 2016 Rio Olympics.
Gurpreet secured 154 in the final of the Men's 10m Air Pistol at the International Shooting
Sport Federation (ISSF) Shooting World Cup, being held in Munich, finishing fourth. The winner
was Joao Costa (201.4 points) of Portugal, while Tomoyuki (200.4) Matsuda of Japan won the
silver and Sun Yang (177.3) was third, securing a quota place for China, another quota place
went to fifth placed Daemyung Lee (136) of South Korea.
He is the second Indian to have secured a Rio berth at the ongoing World Cup, apart from
Abhinav Bindra, who won a quota place with a sixth place finish in the Men's 10m Air Rifle final.
Gagan Narang, Jitu Rai and Apurvi Chandela are the other Indians to have secured an Olympic
quota place. Narang did so after finishing third in the 50m Rifle Prone Event of the ISSF World
Cup at Fort Benning in USA earlier this month.
Chandela won the quota place by winning the bronze in the 10m Rifle at World Cup in Korea
last month, while Rai had won India's first Olympic quota place at the World Championships in
Granada, Spain last year, when he won a silver in the 50m Free Pistol event.
National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) president : Raninder Singh.
Australian wicketkeeper Brad Haddin has announced his retirement from one-day internationals.
Haddi
ade the a ou e e t ahead of his depa tu e fo Aust alia s Test tou s of the West
Indies and the United Kingdom on Monday.
Haddin, 37, has played in 126-match one-day internationals in a career that began against
)i a e at Ho a t i Ja ua
a d e ded i Aust alia s ICC C i ket Wo ld Cup fi al i to
over New Zealand in Melbourne in March this year.
World University Games silver medalist shot-putter Inderjeet Singh achieved the Olympic
qualification mark with a throw of 20.65m on the second day of the 19th Federation Cup at
Mangala Stadium.
Defending champion Inderjeet from Harayana was just a shade away from the national mark of
20.69m, held by Om Prakash Singh since 2012.
The Ol pi ualifi atio pe iod o
e ed o l este da a d is .
fo the e s shot put.
Jay Kowli ,Boxing India Secretary General,faced with definite removal, resigned ahead of much
awaited Boxing India Special General Meeting.
Mr Kowli was expected to been shown the door in a meeting where no confidence motion was to
be presented against him and BI president Mr Sandeep Jajodia.
77 | P a g e
Floyd Mayweather, cemented his status as best pound-for-pound boxer with an unanimous
de isio o e Ma
Pa uiao as the out te ed as Fight of the Ce tur failed to live upto the
expectations.
There were boos from the 17000 crowd in the MGM Grand after Mayweather beat his rival
Pacquiao from philipines, to frustrate the hopes of full-blooded slugfest.
A Special Genral Meeting (SGM) of the Boxing India (BI) on 3 May 2015 removed Sandeep Jajodia as
its president.
The SGM, which was attended by 64 members of the BI, passed a No Confidence Motion in this
regard.
He is the Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) of Monnet Group (an infrastructure firm) and was
elected to the post unopposed in the contest held on 11 September 2014.
ul Ope Te
is Me s i gles Title
Switzerland tennis player Roger Federer on 3 May 2015 won the TEB BNP Paribas Istanbul Open
Me s singles title by defeating Pablo Cueves of Uruguay 6-3 7-6.
With this win, the world No 2 ranking player took his 85th ATP World Tour title and ended a long
drought on clay since his previous title of 2012 Madrid Masters.
Railway Sports Promotion Board (RSPB) have won the 5th National women hockey championship
title.
In the final match played at the Master Chandgi Ram sports stadium at Saifai, Uttar Pradesh the the
RSPB girls team defeated Hockey Jharkhand by 12-2 goals.
78 | P a g e
England batsman Jonathan Trott has retired from international cricket with immediate effect after a
disappointing tour of the West Indies, the 34-year-old said on Monday.
gold,
ro ze
At the International Shooting Competition held in Hannover, Germany, I dia s top ifle shoote s
won 3 Gold and 2 Bronze medals. Abhinav Bindra, who got Gold medal in Bijing Olmpics, won both
the individual and team gold in his pet 10 metre air rifle event.
Chain Singh won Gold medal in 50 metre men rifle and team gold in 10 metre air rifle event.
The gold medal winning 10 metre air rifle team included Abhinav Bindra,Gagan Narag and Chain
Singh.
Gagan Narag won the Bronze medal in men 50 metre rifle 3 positions event and Apurvi Chandela
o B o ze edal i o e s ai ifle e e t.
The shooting event featured more than 1000 shooters all over the world.
All the medal winners will be seen action next week in Fort Benning for ISSF Rifle/Pistol world cup.
In the recently held Hong Kong Speed Skating Championships, India totally grabbed 14 medals out
of which seven were gold. There were participants from China Bangladesh and HongKong etc.In the
event that was organised by Doon Yuen from Checkers Sports Club in Hong Kong.
Eleven year old Kushi Shah was the star performer where she won gold medals in 3 races held over
distance of 250,500 and 1000mts.
Bronze medal for Geeta Phogat in Asian Wrestling Championships
In the Senior Asian Wrestling Championship held at Doha on wednesday 6th May 2015, Indian
wrestler Geeta Phogat won the Bronze medal in the women freestyle 58kg category .
Geeta beat Thi Loan Nyguen of Vietnam by Fall verdict in the Bronze medal play-off. Geeta lost to
Japa s Kao i I ho, the Ol pi gold edallist, i the pool fight, e -route to Bronze medal play off.
Cash prize for Saina Nehwal from the ministry of Sports and Youth Affairs
For the runner-up position in the recently concluded All England Open Badminton Championship
2015 held in Birmingham United Kingdom, Indian Badminton star Saina Nehwal was given cash prize
worth 25 lakhs. Mi ist s he e of pe ial A a ds had gi e this ash a a d to Neh al fo he
performances in InternationalSports Events.
Saina Nehwal becomes the 3rd Indian and first women from India to reach the finals of the
prestigious tournament.
In the finals, world champion Carolina Marin defeated Saina Nehwal.
Prakash Padukone and Pullela Gopichand won the prestigious All England Open Badminton
Championship in 1980 and 2001 respectively.
Jitu Rai crowned TOISA sportsperson of the year
At the Times Of India Sports awards function, graced by legendary Carl Lewis, marks man Jitu
Rai was declared as the Sports person Of the year.
Milkha Singh got Lifeti e A hie e e t Of The Yea f o the lege da Ol pi Cha pio Ca l
Le is a d Ti es G oup MD Vi eet Jai i a e e o that as atte ded I dia s spo ti g people.
79 | P a g e
Other sports persons like Saurav Ganguly,Olympic Bronze medallist Mary Kom,badminton player
Saina Nehwal,CWG gold medallist Dipika Pallikal etc.
Davis cuppper Ramesh Krishnan,Olympic gold medallist hockey player Zafar Iqbal,World
championship Bronze medallist Anju Bobby George,Ganguly etc formed the jury panel.
Ju s u a i ous hoi e as Jitu ai he eas ha pio ueist Pa kaj Ad a i agged the Popula
Choice Awards.
Upcoming or emerging player award went to young shooter Malaika Goel along with five others.
Weightlifter Sanjitha Channu won Popular Choice Awards.
Virat kohli won the best cricketer a a d i
e s atego
hile i the o e s atego the
award went to Harmanpreet Singh.
Indians bagged one silver and two bronze on the opening day of the inaugural Asian Youth Athletics
Championships.
Ashish Bhalothia won a silver in boys shot put with a throw of 17.75m at the Qatar Sports Club
stadium.
Anumol Thampi (girls 3000m race) and Seema Sangwan (girls discus throw) won a bronze each.
Thampi clocked 10:24.98 in her race while Seema threw the discus to a distance of 41.14m.
Lalita was defeated No th Ko ea s Ha Ku -ok 3-9 in the semifinal but she managed to settle for
a bronze medal in the end in her category.
Indian Davis Cupper Yuki Bhambri partnering Adrian Menendez-Maceiras of Spain clinched the
doubles title with a 5-7, 6-3, 10-8 victory over second seeds Sergey Betov of Belarus and Mikhail
Elgin of Russia in the $50,000 Challenger tennis tournament in Karshi, Uzbekistan
It as Yuki s fifth Challe ge le el dou les title o e all a d fi st of the urrent season. Last year, he
had won two titles, and one each in 2012 and 2013.
Nico Rosberg ended his Mercedes team- ate Le is Ha ilto s i i g st eak i this ea s
Fo ula O e d i e s o ld ha pio ship he he drove to a near-fla less i to i u da s
Spanish Grand Prix.
The 29-year-old Ge a , ho had ee eate
Ha ilto i all fou of this ea s fl a a
season-opening races.
Ha ilto fi ished i se o d pla e a d Fe a i s e astia Vettel as thi d.
a is o
Apex industry body ASSOCHAM has proposed a BRICS Under-17 Football Cup in India next year and
a Memorandum of Understanding is set to be signed tomorrow with Brazilian representatives here.
The MoU will be signed by Project Leader and Tournament Organiser, Joao Gilberto Vaz and
Secretary General ASSOCHAM, D S Rawat in the presence of Sports Secretary Ajit Sharan.
81 | P a g e
Englishman Lee Alan Johnson has been roped in as the head coach of India U-19 football team,
besides that he will also act as the head scout for the national side and assistant coach for the sr.
e s tea .
Prior to this he was the technical director of Rwandan football. He has worked for the Chelsea FC
academy.
aide
ers i
The Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) named Kuldeep Malik as the new chief national coach in
place of axed Vinod Kumar.
WFI has also a ed a e assista t e s f eest le oa h a d o e s tea oa h follo i g the
sacking of Rajneesh and Ramani Chanu, respectively.
83 | P a g e
Australia opening batsman Chris Rogers has confirmed that he will retire from international cricket
after the Ashes series in England later this year.
Rogers made his test debut in 2008 and was recalled for the 2013 Ashes series.
He has made more than 1,500 runs at an average of 40 in 20 test appearances
Himachal Pradesh will host the Paragliding World Cup from 23 October to 31 October 2015 at Bir
Billing in Kangra valley. The world cup will be held under the aegis of Para-gliding World Cup
Association, France.
This is for the first time that India will be hosting the Paragliding World Cup which will see
participation from over 50 countries.
Yuki Bhambri has a lot to celebrate. For the first time ever, the 22-year-old Delhi lad played the final
of a clay court Challenger.
The effort helped him reach 158 in the latest world rankings.
the best for an Indian at the moment, ahead of Somdev Devvarman (172) and Saketh Myneni (196).
12th South Asian Games 2015 to be held in Kerala in November-December this year.75
The Indian Olympic Association has allotted the 12th South Asian Games 2015 to Kerala to be held
in November-December this year
Kerala also hosted 35th National Games, which was held between January 31 to February 14.
British Sports business agazi e po tsP o has a ed I dia Test i ket aptai Vi at 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.
Indian boxers clinch 4 gold, 1 silver, 2 bronze medals in Doha Boxing Tournament
Indian boxers have rounded off a brilliant run at the Doha International Tournament by winning
four gold, one silver and two bronze medals.
Gold medal winners are L Devendro Singh in 49 kg category by defeating Aldren Moreno of
Philippines by 3:0.
Shiva Thapa in 56kg category by defeating HYM Abdelaal of Egypt by 2:1.
Manish Kaushik in 60 kg category by defeating Rabi Hamza of Morocco by 3:0.
Manoj Kumar in 64 kg category by defeating Magliquian Nicole of Philippines by 3:0.
The silver medal was won by Gaurav Bidhuri in 52 kg category. While Mandeep Jangra and Vikas
Krishan bagged bronze medals in 69kg and 75kg categories respectively.
84 | P a g e
Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg came out as the winner of Monaco GP which is his 10th overall win
and second of this season, first being the Spanish F1 world championship. With this he became only
the 4th person in history to win three Monaco GP in a row. Others are : Ayrton Senna, Graham Hill
and Alain Prost.
Sebastian Vettel( Germany ) of Ferrari and Lewis Hamilton( U.K. ) of Mercedes were 2nd and 3rd
respectively. Fo e I dia s e gio Pe ez a d Ni o Hulke u g fi ished th a d th espe ti el .
Mercedes gaffe: After Ma Verstappe s rash, Mercedes decided to call Hamilton for a stop to
change tyres when Rosberg and Vettel crossed past him.
India finally stamped their dominance against Japan, winning the fourth and the final match 4-0 and
claiming the hockey Test series 3-0 at the Kalinga Stadium.
Trevor Bayliss has been officiated as the head of the England national cricket team, becoming the
first Australian to hold such a post.
He su eeds Pete Moo es, ho as sa ked follo i g the tea s dismal performance at the World
Cup. T e o s fi st ajo task is to p epa e the tea fo Ashes Test se ies agai st Aust alia.
Bayliss led the Sydney sixers to win Australia Big Six and Champions league in 2012 and IPL title for
Kolkata Knight Riders in 2012 & 2014.
85 | P a g e
Former India cricket captain Kapil Dev, a keen golf enthusiast and an amateur player, has floated his
team in the upcoming Louis Philippe cup with top-ranked players like Siddikur and Om Prakash
Chouhan part of his outfit, Dev-Ellora Pune.
services hub employs more than 6,000 staff supporting ANZ's businesses around the world.
Abhinav Bindra becomes fourth Indian shooter to qualify for 2016 Rio Olympics
Abhinav Bindra became the fourth Indian to qualify for 2016 Rio Olympics by finishing sixth in a
field of 132 shooters with 122.4 points at the ISSF World Cup in Munich
Ace Chinese shooter Zhu Qinan won the gold medal with 206 points in the final, while Vladimir
Maslennikov of Russia settled for silver with 205.7 points
Gagan Narang, Jitu Rai and Apurvi Chandela are the other Indians to have secured an Olympic
quota earlier.
According to rule each country can win a maximum of 30 quota places from a total of 15 shooting
disciplines (including shotgun events), two each from each discipline.
Sepp Blatter was re-elected as FIFA president for a fifth term on Friday, chosen to lead world soccer
despite separate U.S. and Swiss criminal investigations into corruption.
He was chosen for the post by the 65th FIFA Congress held in Zurich.
The 209 FIFA member federations gave the 79-year-old Blatter another four-year term after Prince
Ali bin al-Hussein of Jordan conceded defeat after losing 133-73 in the first round.
Sevilla Football Club (FC) on 27 May 2015 won Europa League title. In the final clash at National
Stadium Warsaw, Poland, Sevilla defeated Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk football club, 3-2.
It was second consecutive Europa Cup win for Sevilla.
e illa, the pai s oldest lu solel de oted to foot all p a ti e, e a e the fi st side to i the
Europa League four times. Last time, it captured the trophy in 2006, 2007 and 2014.
Obituary
Documentary photographer Mary Ellen Mark passes away
Influential documentary photographer Mary Ellen Mark passed away in Manhattan, New York. She
was 75.
She was best-known for her humanist work and was one of the premier documentary
photographers of her generation.
In her career she had photographed people who were mainly away from mainstream society.
He began as founding member of the Barcelona School of Films and was known for bringing Spanish
novels to life on big screens; he was known for experimenting and exploring complex social issues.
He was born in Barcelona in Nov 9, 1926, he made his directorial debut in 1964 with- B ight
Futu e .
His latest p oje t as Lu a Calie te eleased i
, hi h is a adaptatio of the o el
Argentinean Mempo Giordinelli on the Process of Burgos.
He died after suffering from a suspected stroke. He collapsed on the pitch during his sides second
division encounter with Boca Unidos.
This was a second death of a football player of Argentina in less than a fortnight. Ten days ago, San
Martin de Burzaco defender Emmanuel Ortega succumbed to head injuries.
Marty Pasetta, a veteran director of live TV extravaganzas including 17 Academy Awards shows,
has died. He was 82.Pasetta died in La Quinta,California.
Pasetta directed 17 Oscar telecasts from 1972 to 1988.
He also directed many Grammy Awards.
The othe s B othe s Co ed hou , El is P esle s
ea Aloha F o Ha aii o cert and
many TV serials that got him 8 Emmy awards.
American actress and comedian Anne Meara aged 85, breathed her last on 23rd May 2015 in
Manhattan,New York City,USA.
She was famous for her opposites-attract comedy routine with her husband Jerry stiller.
Meara started her career in so called summer stock theatre and in 1954 she joined the cast of NBC
soap pe a G eatest gift .
British actor Terry Sue-Patt was found dead at his home. He was 50.
Police officers discovered Sue-Patt s od afte eaki g do the doo to his ho e i East Lo do .
US mathematician and Nobel Prize winner, John Nash at age 84 and his wife Alicia aged 82 passed
away in a car accident in New Jersey.
John Nash was famous for his work in game theory and in 1994 won the Nobel Prize for Economics.
He was the inspiration behind the Oscar i i g fil
A eautiful i d .
He passed away from a heart attack while he was admitted in Lenon Hill Hospital, Manhattan, NY.
He was only 58.
He had won three Grammies and other nominations during his great career. He also served as an
A&R executive for jazz label- Blue Note Records.
87 | P a g e
Cassell died peacefully at his home in Palm Desert, California. He was 103. He left behind his wife,
actress, singer and songwriter Marcy McGuire.
He, born in Sicily, with real name Oswaldo Castellano, began his movie career in 1942, when he
sig ed a o t a t ith MGM, a d ade his de ut i the o ie Fi ge s at the Wi do .
o e of his e o a le o ks a e, The Guilt , B eakdo
, Qui ksa d , White Heat , i
which he pla ed a ga g asso iate of Ja es Cag e s ha a te , a d i a o ies like a ds of I o
Ji a a d The Fl i g Leathe e k
He also ade appea a es o TV, ith guest oles o hit p og a
es like Gu s oke , The
U tou ha les , a hide a d The Be e l Hill illies Vel et .
He passed away from a heart attack while he was admitted in Lenon Hill Hospital, Manhattan, NY.
He was only 58.
He had won three Grammies and other nominations during his great career. He also served as an
A&R executive for jazz label- Blue Note Records.
Dr Mrinal Datta Chaudhuri aged 81, breathed his last at his Pune residence. He was famous for his
lively lectures on subject of economics and inspired many younger generations at Delhi School of
Economics.
Veteran actress Sudha Shivpuri, who be a e a household a e afte essa i g the ole of Baa i
popula TV sho K u ki aas Bhi Ka hi Bahu Thi , passed a a .he as .
he ega he a ti g a ee at a ea l age i
ith Basu Chatte jee s fil a i.
She also acted in films like Hamari Bahu Alka, Insaaf Ka Tarazu, Vidhaata, Sawan Ko Aane Do,
Bu i g T ai , Ma a Me saa a d Pi ja ased o A ita P ita s fa ous pa titio o el.
I the ea
, Pi ki Vi a i ote a ook titled A u a s sto that as ased o the life of
Aruna.
Ma athi pla Katha A u a hi as itte
Duttaku a Desa ased o A u a a d it as staged
under the director Vinay Apte in 2002.
B B Ki g, the Blues lege d ho edefi ed a e a ith lassi s like The Th ill Is Go e, Please Lo e
Me, a d M Lu ille, has died at the age of .
Riley B King, better known to his fans around the globe as B B King, was born September 16, 1925,
on a plantation in Itta Bena, Mississippi.
On 12th May 2015, famous bengali writer Suchithra Bhattacharya passed away in Kolkata,West
Bengal, due to cardiac arrest. She was one of the most powerful and popular novelist of Bengali
literature.
Her writings mainly dealt with sufferings of women and also on social issues affecting the urban
middle class population.
Stage and screen actress Elizabeth Wilson has died. She was 94.
She was best known for her collaborations with acclaimed filmmaker Mike Nichols, most notably in
s The G aduate , i hi h she pla ed Dusti Hoff a s o -screen mother.
Ni hols also di e ted Wilso i his fil s Cat h-22, The Da of the Dolphi a d ega di g
He
.
Eminent historian, economist and social scientist Dr Amalendu Guha died here today following old
age ailments.
He was 91 and is survived by his wife and eminent writer Anima Guha and a son.
At the age of 86,former Gujarat assembly speaker Barjorji Pardiwala,passed away at a private
hospital in Ahmedabad, due to age related problems. Ayaz Sheikh, his assistant said Barjorji
pardiwala had some of his vital organs not functioning properly.
His last rites would be conducted at Valsad. Pardiwala was also a famous lawyer in Valsad and he is
father of Gujarat High Court Justice J.B Pardiwala.
Award-winning journalist and litterateur Amitabha Chowdhury died after a prolonged illness here
on Friday. He was 87.
He began his career in 1948 with Jugantar , an influential daily in the city at the time. Later, he
worked for Ananda Bazar Patrika and Aajkal .
89 | P a g e
British motor le g eat Geoff Duke has died at the age of o the Isle of Ma , the spo t s
spiritual home where the six-time world champion raced to six TT victories in the 1950s.
The a k o as The I o Duke i a e a he B itish ike a ufa tu e s a d ide s led the
world, retired from the championship in 1959 after 33 grand prix victories.
Crime writer Ruth Rendell, who created the character Inspector Wexford that inspired a successful
TV series, has died. She was 85.
Rendell, who suffered a stroke in January, passed away here on Saturday morning, according to her
publisher Penguin Random House,
Former Union minister and veteran Congress leader Baleshwar Ram died on Saturday night due to
kidney-related ailments in a private hospital.He was 87.
A five-term MLA from various assembly constituencies since 1952,Ram had served in ministerial
capacity in various Congress governments in Bihar in 1960s and 1970s.
He was elected to Lok Sabha from Rosera constituency in 1980 and went on to serve in the Indira
Gandhi government as a Union minister.
Philip S Goodman, a writer and director for film, television and stage, has died at his home in New
York City. He was 89.
Good a
ote episodes of
s a d s TV sho s su h as P ofiles i Cou age, Alf ed
Hit h o k P ese ts, a d Joh
ta ato , epo ted Variety.
A to Nigel Te , k o fo his pe fo
E ali u , has passed a a . He as
a s
fil
Goldberg was CEO of online survey questionnaire provider SurveyMonkey. He died at age 47.
David Goldberg, a popular Silicon Valley executive and husband of Facebook second-in-command
Sheryl Sandberg.
90 | P a g e
Veteran film director Kalpataru, who worked in several hit movies such as Ghar Dwaar, Khoon Ka
Badla Khoon, Ghar Ghar Ki Kahani and Bade Ghar Ki Beti passed away at a hospital in Santacruz
West on Sunday evening. He was 78.
K Parvez, who started his career at the age of 18, made his real mark on family cinema when he
made the highl su essful Gha Gha Ki Kaha i, a d the eafte sta ti g a t e d of Gha fil s.
91 | P a g e
A Book titled China Confucius in the Shadows was released by the Vice President M. Hamid Ansari
on 1 May 2015. Confucius was considered as the most efficient author in Chinese history.
Book has been written by Poonam Surie. Poonam Surie is an Adjunct Fellow at the Institute of
Chinese Studies, New Delhi.
The book highlights that in the evolving socio political milieu of China; interpreting Confucian
philosophy as being non-confrontationist, benevolent and with values such as filial piety and
harmony could help the current political regime deal with such problems as corruption and rising
inequalities.
Prof Bhi
i gh s ook titled U
Vice President of India, Mr Hamid Ansari, eleased p ofesso Bhi i gh s ook titled
Unbelievable-Delhi to Islamabad on 8th May 2105 at a function in New Delhi. The travelogue by
Prof Bhim Singh is unique in its content and must be read by all,the Vice President told while
addressing on the occasion.
The book is an effort mainly started by the lawyers of India and Pakistan to ensure that Pakistani
prisoners languishing in Indian jails are treated in accordance with the Constitution Of India spirits.
It also makes certain that Indian prisoners in Pakistan jails are not denied fair trials.
Ahmedabad: A City in the World authored by Amrita Shah was released 28 May 2015. The book is a
biography of India's seventh-largest city Ahmedabad and its all too frequent complicity in
communal violence.
The author in the book has described the six-hundred year old former textile town in Kaka-style
development and sketches Mahatma Gandhi and his struggle against British rule.
The book Super Economies: America, India, China & The Future Of The World written by Raghav
Bahl published in May 2015. He is an Indian businessman best known for his ownership of several
television channels, including TV18.
The book explains the vastly changed nature of the world since the Cold War and predicts what will
be the likely changes in the 21st century.
Former Army officer Mr Ajith singh has discovered the value of duty,valour,honesty,brotherhood,
patriotism needed for a soldier through collection of poems.
At an e e t held, a ook of poe s titled Reflections of a Soldier
itte
Ajith i gh as
released by Lt Gen Bobby Mathews, General Officer Commanding of Konark Corps.
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Mr Pradeep Baijal in his self-pu lished ook The Complete Story of Indian Reforms: 2G , Power
and Private Enterprice- A practitioners diary said that the G s a t ail sta ted u de UPA s
Tele o Mi iste Da a idhi Ma a s egi e itself he Pradeep was head of the telecom
appointed by NDA government in 2003.
Pradeep in his book had alleged that former PM had gone to the extent of warning him if he did not
co-operate on 2G telecom licences and CBI wanted him to involve Ratan Tata and Arun Shourie in
the case.
ost
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