Update your IQ with the GK Eduwrap Weekly Edition, loaded with GK updates, Current Affairs and all major happenings across the Globe. With GK Eduwrap you can now confidently crack the IBPS, SSC’s Current Affairs Section. Good Luck
National:
1. The 4th North East Youth Festival concluded on 31 May 2015 at Majuli in Jorhat district of Assam.
2. State government of Andhra Pradesh on 29th May 2015 issued orders to bring 16 sectors under Schedule III of the AP Infrastructure Development Enabling Act (APIDEA), 2001 with an aim to develop infrastructure in public private partnership (PPP) mode.
3. Nigerian Army launched operations to flush out Boko Haram from Sambisa Forest.
4. President Pranab Mukherjee has given his assent to re-promulgation of land ordinance for third time as per provisions of Article 123 of Indian Constitution.
5. Maharashtra Government has launched Swachhata Saptapadi scheme on the lines of Union Government’s flagship Swachh Bharat Abhiyan.
6. A City in the World authored by Amrita Shah was released on 28th May 2015. The book is a biography of India’s seventh-largest city Ahmedabad and it’s all too frequent complicity in communal violence.
7. Jyoti Prasad Rajkhowa was sworn-in as Governor of Arunachal Pradesh. He became the 19th Governor of the state.
8. India and Sweden signed 6 agreements to boost ties and restart the bilateral strategic dialogue. The agreements were inked in presence of President Pranab Mukherjee, who is on a state visit to Sweden. Mukherjee is the first ever Indian head of state to visit Sweden.
9. The Union Government formed a committee under the Chairpersonship of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to oversee the celebrations of 125th birth anniversary of Dr. BR Ambedkar, also called Bhim Jayanti which is annually celebrated on 14th April.
10. The Union Government notified the Black Money (Undisclosed Foreign Income as Assets) and imposition of Tax Act, 2015. The Act will come into effect from 1st April 2016. The Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets (Imposition of Tax) Bill, 2015 was introduced in Lok Sabha on 20th March 2015 and was passed by Parliament on 13th May 2015.
11. Former Singapore Foreign Minister George Yeo was appointed as the new Chancellor of the Nalanda University, Bihar.
12. The Union Cabinet gave its approval to the Agreement on Coastal and Maritime Shipping between India and Bangladesh that paves the way for the commencement of coastal shipping between the two countries.
Some features of the Agreement:
» India and Bangladesh shall render the same treatment to the other country’s vessels as it would have done to its national vessels used in international sea transportation.
» It will improve the utilization of port capacities of Indian ports and open up new opportunity for Indian coastal vessels.
» It will help in decongestion of roads especially at the Land custom stations or integrated check posts at the Indo-Bangladesh boarder.
» The Indian ports serving as transshipment ports for Bangladesh cargo will derive benefits by way of enhanced throughput as a result of Indo-Bangladesh coastal trade.
» The River Sea Vessel (RSV) category of vessel is prescribed for coastal shipping to lower construction and operation cost without compromising on the safety of the vessel.
13. Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley inaugurated the new Bank Note Paper Line unit of 6000 metric tonne capacity at Security Paper Mill in Hoshangabad, Madhya Pradesh. Another such unit will be soon operationalised in Mysore.
With opening of this, India will become self-reliant in producing Bank Note Paper for big denominations. Earlier, India was considerably dependent on import of bank note paper for currency of big denominations.
He also flagged off the first consignment of one thousand rupees bank note paper made indigenously to Currency Note Press Nashik.
14. Buxa Tiger Reserve (BTR) in West Bengal: West Bengal Minister for Forests Benoy Krishna Barman stated in the legislature that the dwindling population has been caused by the increasing number of hamlets along the reserve. His reply came against the claims by some conservationists that the reserve lost all its tigers and no tiger was sighted in it since 2002.
15. The book Super Economies: America, India, China & The Future Of The World written by Raghav Bahl was 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 centuary.
16. Book Ahmedabad: A City in the World authored by Amrita Shah was released. 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.
17. Gatimaan Express is the first semi high-speed train service that will be launched between Delhi and Agra. The train will run at a maximum speed of 160 kmph and is expected to cover the 200-km distance between both destinations in about 105 minutes.
18. President Pranab Mukherjee has given his assent to re-promulgation of land ordinance for third time as per provisions of Article 123 of Indian Constitution.
19. Punjab government has announced that year 2015-16 will be will be observed as development year to give further fillip to the all-round development of the state. It was announced by Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, in Dhuri Assembly segment of the state.
20. A case was lodged in Barabanki court in Uttar Pradesh against Nestle India over inadequate safety standards of its product Maggi.
Uttar Pradesh Food Safety and Drug Administration (UP FDA) had asked Nestle India to withdraw a batch of Maggi noodles from the market after they had found that it contained high level of lead and Monosodium glutamate (MSG), a taste enhancer.
21. The Union Minister of Women and Child Development Maneka Gandhi launched the IAP HealthPhone programme in New Delhi. The IAP HealthPhone programme is the world’s largest digital mass education programme for addressing the malnutrition in women and children.
This programme was developed by the Indian Academy of Pediatrics (IAP) in partnership with the Union Ministry of Women and Child Development, UNICEF and is supported by Vodafone India.
It is a public-partnership initiative that leverages the increasing penetration of mobile phones in the country to educate over 6 million girls and women between 13 and 35 years of age and their families on better health and nutrition practices by 2018. IAP HealthPhone programme aims to tackle the challenge of malnutrition in mothers and children across India.
Vodafone will enable its customers to view/download the videos free of data charges and on viewing the 4 videos, the user will receive a talk time incentive of 10 rupees. Vodafone will send out approximately 300 million text messages to its subscribers every year to promote the viewing of the four videos. They will partner with social media giants such as Facebook, Twitter and Google to use their exponentially growing channels to reach more-rural and urban-caregivers.
22. The Union Government simplified the defence rules to boost defence manufacturing in the country and encourage foreign players to explore business in India.
In order to provide a level-playing field to private players, the government withdrew excise and customs duty exemptions enjoyed by the Ordinance Factory Board and defence Public Sector Undertakings.
It will encourage more private sector firms to collaborate with foreign partners such as Boeing, Airbus and Lockheed Martin and enter the defence equipment manufacturing business.
23. The trial run of Kolkata-Dhaka-Agartala direct bus service began on 1st June 2015.
During its journey, the bus will cross two international checkpoints- Petrapole between West Bengal and Bangladesh and second is Akhuara on Tripura-Bangladesh border. With the launch of the Kolkata-Dhaka-Agartala direct bus service, the time taken to reach Agartala from Kolkata will be reduced to 17 hours. Earlier, the distance was covered in three days.
Besides, India and Bangladesh will also announce Dhaka-Shillong-Guwahati service during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Bangladesh.
24. For the first time two patients infected by MERS Virus (Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS)) died in South Korea. So far, there have been 25 confirmed cases of MERS since a man tested positive following a trip to Saudi Arabia and became the country’s first MERS patient.
Facts about MERS Virus:
» Source: MERS is a betacoronavirus derived from bats. Camels have shown to have antibodies to MERS, but the exact source of infection in camels has not been identified.
» Transmission: It can be transmitted from infected person to others after close contact via a respiratory route. It spread’s in droplets when an infected person coughs or sneezes.
» Symptoms: Fever, Breathing problems, Pneumonia and Kidney failure.
» Treatment: Till date there is no vaccine available to prevent it. However intensive medical care can help patient to breath.
25. Union Government has launched Khoya Paya web platform for people to directly report, track and upload information on missing children. Khoya Paya is joint initiative of the Union Ministry of Women and Child Development (WCD) and the Department of Electronics and Information Technology (DeitY).
Khoya Paya website has three sections:
» My child is missing- where citizens can report missing children.
» I have sighted a child- where citizens can report sightings and whereabouts of missing children without wasting much time.
» Search a missing child and the found children can also be reported on it.
The reporting to the KhoyaPaya site can be done through text, photographs, videos and other means of transmitting and uploading information.
26. Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje inaugurated phase 1A of metro rail services in Jaipur. With this, the pink city became the sixth city in the country to have metro service after Delhi, Gurgaon, Mumbai, Bangalore, and Kolkata.
One most important fact of Jaipur metro service is that six out of 24 Metro train operators, that is, 25 percent of metro drivers, are women. Jaipur Metro Rail Project has been developed by Jaipur Metro Rail Corporation Ltd (JMRCL) which was set up as a wholly owned subsidiary by the Government of Rajasthan.
In the first phase, the metro will run on 9.6 kilometer stretch covering nine stations from residential area Mansarovar to business hub in Chandpole.
27. Fishing ban along the Western Coast became effective from 1st June 2015. The ban will be in place for 61 days till 31st July 2015 in all the western coast states except in Kerala.
Kerala decided to stick to the 47-day ban, as in previous years, and allowed its fishermen to continue operating till June 15.
28. India and Belarus signed six agreements to enhance bilateral co-operation. The agreements were signed in presence of President Pranab Mukherjee during his state visit to Belarus.
The signed agreements are:
» Roadmap for India-Belarus Cooperation for strengthening bilateral relations and co-operation in the field of trade, culture and other areas.
» Protocol to amendment to amend the agreement between two countries for the Avoidance of Double Taxation and the Prevention of Fiscal Evasion with respect to Taxes on Income and on Property (Capital) of September, 1997.
» MoU on Cooperation in the field of Standardization and Information Support: It was signed between Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) and the State Committee for Standardization of the Republic of Belarus.
» MoU for cooperation on Broadcasting: It was signed between Prasar Bharati (PB) and the National State Television and Radio Company of the Republic of Belarus (Belteleradiocompany).
» MoU on Bilateral Cooperation between the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) and the Ministry of Finance of Belarus.
» MoU for Manufacturing and Marketing of Light Industry Goods (concern Bellegprom): It was signed between the Union Ministry of Textiles of India and the Belarusian State.
29. India and the United States (US) signed the 2015 Framework for the India-US Defence Relationship. The framework was signed by the Manohar Parrikar, India’s Defence Minister and Ashton Carter, US Secretary of Defence. The framework was signed during the three-day official visit of the Dr. Carter to India.
30. Suresh Kalmadi was conferred with the Asian Athletics Association (AAA) President’s award. He was awarded for his contribution towards the development of athletics in Asian continent. Adille Sumariwala, the President of Athletics Federation of India received the award on behalf of Kalmadi at the function held in Wuhan, China ahead of the start of Asian Athletics Championships.
31. Stempeutics Research Pvt. Ltd. announced that its stem cell drug, Stempeucel, received Orphan Drug Designation (ODD) from the European Medicines Agency (EMA). An orphan drug is a pharmaceutical agent that has been developed specifically to treat a rare medical condition, the condition itself being referred to as an orphan disease.
32. India joined the Multilateral Competent Authority Agreement (MCAA) on Automatic Exchange of Financial Account Information (AEOI). The declaration to comply with the provisions of the MCAA was signed in Paris by Mohan Kumar, the Indian ambassador to France.
33. Jharkhand Cabinet approved Jharkhand Special Courts Ordinance 2015. The decision was taken during a Cabinet meet chaired by Chief Minister Raghubar Das. These Special Courts will be established for speedy trail of corruption cases and will help in creating a corruption-free state. Further these courts will enable prosecution of individuals responsible for hoarding black money and confiscate the illegal acquired property of the guilty.
34. World Bank has approved USD 250 million loan for Jhelum and Tawi Flood Recovery Project in Jammu & Kashmir (J&K). The project will be funded by loan credit from International Development Association (IDA), a World Bank’s concessionary with a maturity of 25 years, including a 5 year grace period.
35. Around 18 armymen were killed and at least 11 injured when militants ambushed their convoy in Manipur’s Chandel district on 4th June 2015. The government has asked the army to launch counter-insurgency operations to trace and eliminate the militants involved in the attack; the Indo-Myanmar border in Manipur has also been closed to stop the militants from fleeing to the neighbouring country.
36. India’s first of its kind Tier-I Oil Spill Response Centre (OSRC) for Mumbai Port Trust (MBT), Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT) and ONGC’s facilities at Nhava and Uran was inaugurated. It was inaugurated by Union Minister of Road Transport & Highways and Shipping, Nitin Gadkari to tackle pollution and oil spills in and around Mumbai.
37. India has lost a poultry case against United States at World Trade Organization (WTO) after WTO’s Dispute Settlement Board (DSB) ruled that India’s ban on import of poultry meat, eggs and live pigs from US is inconsistent with the international norms.
38. Union Government has signed a loan and project agreement with World Bank to provide $400 million to the Tamil Nadu government for its Sustainable Urban Development Project.
39. India’s first of its kind Tier-I Oil Spill Response Centre (OSRC) for Mumbai Port Trust (MBT), Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT) and ONGC’s facilities at Nhava and Uran was inaugurated on 5 June 2015.
40. Union Minister of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejunivetion Uma Bharti on 5 June 2015 launched nationwide Jal Kranti Abhiyan (campaign) from Jaipur, Rajasthan.
41. Fortune on 4th June 2015 released the 61st edition of list of top 500 companies.
These Fortune 500 companies account for 12.5 trillion US dollar in revenues, 945 billion US dollar in profits and 17 trillion US dollar in market value and employ 26.8 million people worldwide.
42. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on 4th June 2015 inaugurated six mechanical road sweepers on Kalibari Marg, Delhi to effectively control air pollution and keep the city clean.
43. Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency Limited (IREDA) was on 2nd June 2015 awarded the Miniratna (Cateogry -1) status by the Department of Public Enterprises under the Union Ministry of Heavy Industry and Public Enterprises.
44. India’s first green police station was inaugurated on the occasion of World Environment Day at Maurice Nagar in north Delhi.
45. Doctors from Texas State of United States have done the world’s first partial skull and scalp transplant from a human donor. This rare medical feat was achieved by team of Doctors from Houston Methodist Hospital and MD Anderson Cancer Center which opens new frontier in transplant surgery.
46. Union Government launched nationwide Jal Kranti Abhiyan. It was launched by Union Minister of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejunivetion Uma Bharti in Jaipur, Rajasthan.
47. The Mumbai Metro One, a subsidiary of Reliance Infrastructure, has tied up with Domino’s Pizza to introduce “pizza on-the-Go” to commuters, marking one year of operations.
International:
1. United States (US) in a landmark decision has removed Cuba from its list of State Sponsor of Terrorism.
2. The book titled The China Model: Political Meritocracy and the Limits of Democracy was written by Daniel A. Bell. The book seeks to understand the ideals and the reality of Chinese political system. Bell discusses the advantages and pitfalls of political meritocracy of China; he distinguishes between different ways of combining meritocracy and democracy, and argues that China has evolved a model of democratic meritocracy that is morally desirable and politically stable.
3. Muhammadu Buhari assumed the office of President of Nigeria. He became the 5th President of the country by defeating the incumbent President Goodluck Jonathan in the March 2015 general election. It is the first time in Nigeria’s history that an incumbent President was defeated in an election by the opposition.
4. Pakistan Paradox: Instability and Resilience by Christrophe Jaffrelot was published by Vintage Books. Christrophe Jaffrelot is Research Director at CNRS and teaches South Asian Politics and History at Sciences Po (Paris).
The 688-pages book is an overview of the contemporary Pakistan which was born as the creation of elite Urdu-speaking Muslims who sought to govern a state that would maintain their dominance.
5. Zoomcar co-founder David Back resigned from his post. Back used to head the company’s marketing and business development division. He will continue to hold his stake and board position in US-based Zoomcar Inc, the parent of Zoomcar India.
6. South Korea and China signed the Korea-China Free Trade Agreement (FTA) in Seoul, South Korea. The agreement was signed by the South Korea’s Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy Yoon Sang-jick and Chinese Commerce Minister Gao Hucheng.
It aims to gradually remove tariffs on more than 90% of traded goods between both the countries within 20 years. The pact will also greatly contribute to the economic integration of East Asia, the Asia-Pacific region and the development of the world economy. For this, negotiations for a trilateral Free Trade Agreement (FTA) among China, South Korea and Japan were launched in November 2012.
7. US President Barack Obama signed the USA FREEDOM Act 2015 in law. The USA FREEDOM stands for Uniting and Strengthening America by Fulfilling Rights and Ensuring Effective Discipline Over Monitoring Act of 2015. With this, the National Security Agency (NSA) lost its authority to collect the phone records of millions of Americans.
8. Amancio Ortega passes Warren Buffett as world’s second richest person in Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
9. The US-based World Justice Project (WJP) released the Rule of Law Index 2015. It provides data on how the rule of law is experienced in 102 countries around the globe.
India with a score of 0.51 has been placed at 59th position. The index has been topped by Denmark followed by Norway, Sweden and Finland at second, third and fourth place respectively. All the four countries have score above 0.85. On the other hand, Zimbabwe, Afghanistan and Venezuela are placed at bottom of the index with 100, 101 and 102 rank respectively. All these countries have score of less than 0.37.
10. Chinese cruise ship Eastern Star or Dongfangzhixing capsized in the Jianli section of the Yangtze River in Hubei province. The ship was headed from the eastern city of Nanjing to the southwestern city of Chongqing.
11. Travellers from across the globe have ranked Taj Mahal among the top three landmarks in the world. According to TripAdvisor’s 2015 Travellers Choice Attractions Awards, Taj Mahal was ranked third in the list of top landmarks. The top two places were taken by Machu Picchu in Peru and Angkor Wat in Cambodia respectively.
Sports:
1. Gurpreet Singh became the 5th Indian to get quota place in shooting for 2016 Rio Olympics.
2. Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, VVS Laxman join BCCI advisory committee.
3. Ace Indian archer Deepika Kumari has clinched the bronze medal in the women’s individual Women’s Recurve event at Antalya Archery World Cup held in Turkey.
4. Dilawar Singh of Haryana has won ‘Pedal for Kashmir’ cycling competition, held along the banks of picturesque Dal Lake in Srinagar. During this cycling, Singh piped local champion Mohammad Akbar Khan who came runner up, followed by another local cyclist Mohammad Adil Teli.
5. England professional football player – Rio Ferdinand announced his retirement from football. Ferdinand last played for Queens Park Rangers (QPR) in March 2015. Ferdinand played 81 times for England and was in the squads for the 1998, 2002, 2006 and the 2010 World Cups.
6. Kolkata giants Mohun Bagan won their maiden I-League title in 13 years. In the final clash at Kanteerva Stadium in Bengaluru, Mohun Bagan managed a 1-1 draw against the defending champions Bengaluru FC.
7. Barcelona won Copa del Rey also known as Spanish King’s Cup. In the final clash at the Nou Camp, Barcelona defeated Athletic Bilbao, 3-1. This was the 27th Copa del Rey title for Barcelona. This was the second title of the season for Barcelona, earlier; it had won La Liga.
8. Gurpreet Singh won a quota place in shooting for the 2016 Rio Olympics by finishing fourth in the Men’s 10 meter Air pistol final at the ISSF Shooting World Cup in Munich. Singh succeeded in getting quota place in shooting for Rio Olympics after scoring 154 points in the finals.
9. Union Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports added names of five women for TOP Scheme who were suspended for anti-doping rule violations between mid-2011 and mid-2013. These five women were named among the 39 athletes who were added to the list. All these women, namely Priyanka Panwar, Ashwini Akkunji, Jauna Murmu, Sini Jose and Mandeep Kaur are 400m runners.
10. Former captain Ravi Shastri was retained as Director of the Indian cricket team for the tour of Bangladesh starting 10th June 2015 as the BCCI continued its search for a new permanent coach to succeed Duncan Fletcher.
11. Sepp Blatter resigned as President of FIFA amid the corruption scandal that has engulfed the football’s governing body. Blatter has been serving as president of world soccer governing body FIFA since 1998.
12. Inderjeet Singh won gold medal in men’s shot put event in the 21st Asian Athletics Championships. The 21st Asian Athletics Championships is being held at Wuhan, China. Inderjeet heaved the iron ball to a new championship record of 20.41 meter, which he achieved in his fourth attempt. With this, he became the eighth Indian shot putter to win a gold medal in the history of Asian championships.
13. AB de Villiers won as many as five awards, including the South African Cricketer of the Year for a second consecutive time at a gala function, hosted by Cricket South Africa (CSA) in Johannesburg.
He was named the ODI Cricketer of the Year, Cricketers’ Cricketer of the Year, SA Fan’s Cricketer of the Year and also got the ‘So Good Award’ for scoring the fastest century in the history of ODI cricket against the West Indies in December 2014.
14. Indian shuttler Parupalli Kashyap ranked 12th in the world, beat the World No. 1 Chen Long of China by 14-21, 21-17, 21-14.
15. Eminent Indian umpire Sundaram Ravi, along with Chris Gaffaney of New Zealand was inducted into the Emirates Elite Panel of ICC Umpires for 2015-16. Sundaram Ravi becomes the first Indian after S. Venkataraghavan who was inducted into the elite panel in 2004.
Both of them were promoted from the Emirates International Panel of ICC Umpires and replaced New Zealand veteran Billy Bowden and Steve Davis of Australia.
16. India’s Machettira Raju Poovamma and Liksy Joseph have won silver medal each in 21st Asian Athletics Championships held in Wuhan, China.
Quarter-miler Poovamma won silver medal in women’s 400m finals event by clocking 53.07 secs. China’s Yang Huizhen (52.37 sec) won the gold medal and Anastasiya Kudinova (53.41 sec) of Kazakhstan won bronze medal in this event.
Awards & Recognition:
1. Former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee will be conferred with Friends of Bangladesh Liberation War Award by Bangladesh government. He will be bestowed this award for his outstanding support for the Bangladesh’s independence from Pakistan in 1971 when he was member of Lok Sabha.
2. Gurnimrat ‘Nimmy’ Sidhu, an Indian-origin teacher has been honored with ‘University of Oxford Inspirational Teacher Award’. She received her trophy in Oxford along with 11 other teachers for helping their students get into the world-famous varsity.
3. Super 30 founder and mathematician Anand Kumar on 29 May 2015 was honored by Legislature of British Columbia in Canada at Toronto University for his pioneering work in the field of education.
4. Gautam Banerjee, senior managing director at Blackstone and co-chairman of its Asia operating committee, as well as chairman of Blackstone Singapore, was awarded the prestigious Public Service Medal by President Tony Tan Keng Yam on Saturday.
5. Uttarakhand’s Medical, Health and Family Welfare Minister Surendra Singh Negi was conferred with the World No Tobacco Day Award 2015 by the World Health Organsiation (WHO).
6. Super 30 founder and mathematician Anand Kumar was honoured by Legislature of British Columbia in Canada at Toronto University for his pioneering work in the field of education.
7. New Zealand cricket captain Brendon McCullum and Coach Mike Hesson were honoured with Officers of the New Zealand Order of Merit (ONZM). Their names were listed in the honours list that was released to mark the annual Queen Elizabeth II Birthday public holiday.
8. Harriette Thompson, a 92 year 65 days old cancer survivor became the oldest woman to finish a marathon. The previous record holder was Gladys Burrill. She made the record at the age of 92 years and 19 days at the 2010 Honolulu Marathon.
9. Edward Snowden, former US security contractor and electronic surveillance whistleblower has been awarded a Norwegian prize for freedom of expression (also known as Bjornson Prize). The award was bestowed upon him by the Norwegian Academy of Literature and Freedom of Expression for his work protecting privacy and for shining a critical light on US surveillance of its citizens and others.
10. R. Seetharaman, CEO of Doha Bank, has been conferred with the Lifetime Achievement Award for his contribution to the industry and his support for the environment and the business (in Dubai).
11. Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency Limited (IREDA) was awarded the Miniratna (Cateogry -1) status by the Department of Public Enterprises under the Union Ministry of Heavy Industry and Public Enterprises.
Mergers & Acquisition:
1. Emami Limited acquired ayurvedic hair and scalp care brand Kesh King for 1651 crore rupees.
2. Intel Corporation acquired Altera Corporation for USD 16.7 billion. Altera is an American based company and it manufactures Programmable Logic Devices (PLDs).
3. Pizza Hut and Kissan Ketchup jointly marketing a new ketchup and pizza brand ‘Twist‘. Hindustan Unilever (which manufacture Kissan Ketchup) will sell a ketchup with the new brand, while Pizza Hut will add the brand to its menu in the form of a new hot and spicy pizza.
4. Mishra Dhatu Nigam Limited (Midhani), a PSU under the ministry of defence, has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Research and Development Centre for Iron & Steel (RDCIS), the R&D arm of Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL), to jointly undertake R&D work in the iron and steel industry.
5. Harley-Davidson tied up with fashion portal Myntra to sell its casual merchandise through an exclusive online store. Harley-Davidson will now offer its casual merchandise on an exclusive online store on Myntra. The online store will offer Harley-Davidson jackets, denims, shirts, t-shirts, caps, wallets and other accessories.
6. Kotak Mahindra Bank and ING Bank have inked a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for exploring opportunities arising from cross-border business, investment and trade flows across various regions, including Europe.
Economics:
1. Reliance Communications (RCom) will invest about INR 1,500-2,000 crore in the current financial year to increase its data business.
2. The Central Statistics Office (CSO) on 29th May 2015 released the provisional estimates (PE) of national income for the financial year (FY) 2014-15.
3. Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on 30th May 2015 inaugurated the new Bank Note Paper Line unit of 6000 metric tons capacity at Security Paper Mill in Hoshangabad, Madhya Pradesh.
4. The State Bank of India (SBI) on 29th May 2015 launched an Online Customer Acquisition Solution (OCAS). It is an online platform to apply for Home Loans, Car Loans, Education Loans and Personal Loans.
5. Jet fuel price was hiked by a steep 7.5 per cent on Monday and rates of non-subsidized cooking gas (LPG) by INR 10.50 per cylinder in step with global firming of rates. Price of aviation turbine fuel (ATF), or jet fuel, in Delhi was raised by Rs 3,744.08 per kilolitre (kl), or 7.54 per cent, to Rs 53,353.92, oil companies announced on Monday.
6. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) allowed cross holding in long-term infrastructure bonds. With this, now banks would be able to cross hold these bonds among themselves for financing infrastructure and affordable housing loans, which earlier was not permitted.
7. The decision of the Parliament to increase the rate of service tax from 12.36% to 14% became operational on 1st June 2015. Now, the new tax rate subsumes the education cesses, including the 2% Education Cess (EC) and 1% Secondary & Higher Education Cess (SHEC), which were earlier levied separately and calculated as consolidated service tax at 12.36%.
8. The Reserve Bank of India released the Draft Guidelines on Net Stable Funding Ratio (NSFR) under Basel III Framework on Liquidity Standards for banks. The objective of NSFR is to ensure that banks maintain a stable funding profile in relation to their assets and off-balance sheet activities.
9. RBI cuts interest rate by 0.25% to spur investment and growth; home, auto loans may become cheaper. RBI cut the repo rate (short-term lending rate) from 7.5% to 7.25%, but left all other policy tools like cash reserve requirement unchanged at 4% and Statutory Liquidity Ratio (SLR) at 21.5%.
10. Allahabad Bank cut its base rate or minimum lending rate by 0.3% within hours of RBI lowering key policy rate for the third time this year. The base rate has been be reduced to 9.95% from 10.25%.
11. Bangladesh has granted permission to India’s state-owned insurance group Life insurance Corporation (LIC) to do business in the country. LIC will start its operations in Bangladesh as a joint venture (JV) entity to be called LIC Bangladesh Ltd. with a paid up capital of one billion Taka.
LIC will be the second foreign insurance company to operate in Bangladesh after the US-based MetLife-ALICO. Presently, LIC is worth over 15,000 billion Indian rupees and operates in Nepal, Sri Lanka and Singapore apart from India.
12. United Bank of India slashed interest rates on fixed deposits by up to 0.5% on select maturities. PNB and Axis Bank had already reduced fixed deposit rates.
Allahabad Bank cut base rate by 0.30% to 9.95%, while Dena Bank, Punjab & Sind Bank reduced their base rate by 0.25% each. Dena Bank and Punjab & Sind Bank lowered their base rate to 10%.
13. Anil Ambani-led Reliance Power signed an agreement to invest $3 billion in setting up a mega power plant and a floating LNG import terminal in Bangladesh which faces acute power shortages.
Appointment:
1. Veena Jain appointed as Director General of Doordarshan News.
2. Pradeep Kumar Sinha appointed as Cabinet Secretary to Union Government.
3. G Satheesh Reddy appointed as Scientific Advisor to Union Defense Minister.
4. Incumbent FIFA President Joseph Sepp Blatter on 29 May 2015 was re-elected as President for the fifth term.
5. Eminent scientist Dr. Selvin Christopher has been appointed as the Director General (DG) of Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO) along with the rank of a secretary.
6. Amit Jain was appointed as the President of US-based taxi hailing app Uber’s India operations.
7. K. Sivan was appointed as the Director of the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC), an organisation that works under Indian Space Research Organisation in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala.
8. S. Somanath was appointed as the Director of Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre (LPSC) with immediate effect. LPSC works under the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and is located at Trivandrum, Kerala.
9. P. Kunhikrishnan was appointed as the Director of Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) SHAR. He will succeed MYS Prasad, who superannuated in May 2015.
10. Philipose G. Pynumootil was appointed as the Assistant Chief of Naval staff (Air).
11. The Government of Mauritius designated Ameenah Gurib-Fakim as new President of Mauritius. Ameenah, an internationally-renowned scientist and biologist, will be the first woman to hold the ceremonial position of President of Mauritius.
12. Meena Hemchandra was appointed as the Executive Director (ED) of Reserve Bank of India (RBI). She will look after Department of Banking Supervision, Department of Co-operative Banking Supervision and Department of Non-Banking Supervision.
13. VA Prasanth appointed as the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of the Indian Bank. Before this appointment, he was serving as the General Manager of the Indian Bank. Prasanth will succeed K. Srinivasa Raghavan.
14. Air Marshal Birender Singh Dhanoa, a Kargil war veteran, took over as the Vice Chief of the Indian Air Force. He succeeds Air Marshal Ravi Kant Sharma who demitted the office, after 40 years of service in the IAF.
15. Former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili was appointed as Governor of Ukraine’s southern Odessa region. He replaced Ihor Palytsia.
16. Pawan Munjal was on appointed as the Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) & CEO of Hero MotoCorp Ltd. (HMCL). He succeeded his father Brijmohan Lall Munjal.
17. Indian-American Punit Renjen was appointed as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited (Deloitte Global). Renjen succeeded Barry Salzberg, who retired from Deloitte Global on 31st May 2015.
18. Facebook appoints Munish Seth as Country Manager of connectivity solutions. Seth will be driving Facebook’s connectivity products and services in the country, including the Internet.org initiative.
19. OnePlus has named Karan Sarin as its head of marketing for the Indian operations. At Flipkart, Karan was responsible for overall business strategy, sales, and operations of the company’s Gift Cards business.
20. Former Director of Intelligence Bureau (DIB) Syed Asif Ibrahim was appointed as Prime Minister’s Special Envoy for Counter Terrorism and Extremism in National Security Council (NSC) Secretariat.
21. Rohan Narayan Murty will, very soon, be made a member of the Central Advisory Board of Education (CABE).
22. R Seshasayee was on 5th June 2015 appointed as the Non-Executive Chairman of Infosys Limited. He succeeded KV Kamath, who resigned to head the proposed BRICS New Development Bank in China.
23. Volvo Auto India appointed Tom von Bonsdorff as Managing Director.
He will take over with immediate effect. He succeeded Tomas Ernberg. Tomas Ernberg is moving back to Sweden in a new role.
24. Twitter appoints Robert Kaiden as chief accounting officer.
Science & Technology:
1. China unveiled the world’s first facial recognition ATM which will not allow users to withdraw cash unless their face matches their IDs. The ATM machine was created by Tsinghua University and Hangzhou-based technology company Tzekwan.
2. Advanced version of indigenous Pinaka mark-II rockets were successfully tested on 30th May 2015 in Pokhran field firing ranges in Rajasthan. They were test-fired using a multi-barrel rocket launcher (MBRL). In the test six rounds were successfully tested which had hit the target situated 53 kms from the firing point. The MBRL version of Pinaka has high operational mobility, flexibility and accuracy which is capable of acting as a force multiplier and has been developed to supplement artillery guns.
3. Maharashtra Cabinet approved a Composite Renewable Energy Policy worth Rs. 4156.43 crore which would help attract investment of Rs. 1 lakh crore. The policy was approved at a cabinet meet chaired by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis.
The policy aims at achieving 14400 MW of installed capacity from the present 6700 MW over a period of five years, that is, till 2020. The policy targets to increase the share of renewable energy in total electricity production in the state to 15% from present 9%.
4. Facebook announced the opening of a new artificial intelligence lab in Paris to expand a push to make its online social network smarter and more profitable.
5. Delhi Metro received its first driver-less train from Korea-based manufacturer. The train is equipped with several advanced features and will be operational on sections of Phase-III of the network, set to be operational by December 2016.
Due to the absence of cabin for the operator, these train will be able to accommodate 2280 passengers, which is 240 more than the regular six-coach Metro train. They would run on the over 58 km-long Majlish Park-Shiv Vihar and the over 38 km-long Janakpuri (West)-Botanical Garden corridors of the Phase-III.
6. The Delhi division of the Northern Railway rolled out a non-AC coach lit by solar panels mounted on its roof. This is the first time in the history of Indian Railways, that a solar photovoltaic system has been used for power requirements of light and fan in a broad gauge coach.
7. Scientists at Central Institute of Medicinal & Aromatic Plants (CIMAP), Lucknow succeeded in whole genome sequencing of Holy basil or Tulsi (Ocimum sanctum). CIMAP is a frontier plant research laboratory of Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR).
8. Property advisory firm Cushman & Wakefield has launched a new iPhone app which will enable users to access its research publications from across the globe.
Important Days:
1. The international Day of United Nations Peacekeepers was observed on 29th May 2015 with the theme Together for Peace.
2. Punjab government has announced that year 2015-16 will be observed as development year to give further fillip to the all-round development of the state.
3. The World No Tobacco Day (WNTD) 2015 was observed globally on 31st May 2015. To mark this occasion, the World Health Organisation (WHO) launched a campaign to stop illicit trade of tobacco products.
4. World Environment Day (WED) was observed globally on 5th June 2015 with theme Seven Billion Dreams. One Planet. Consume with Care.
The host country for the WED 2015 is Italy and the celebrations will be organized by Expo Milano 2015 that will run from 1 May to 31 October 2015 and will see the participation of 140 plus countries.
Death:
1. Hollywood actress Betsy Palmer passed away on 31st May 2015 following a brief illness. She was 88. Palmer is survived by her daughter Melissa Merendino.
2. Hemant Sonawala, the chairman of Hinditron Group, died on 30th May 2015. He was 78. Sonawala was one of the founders of India’s Information Technology (IT) industry. He started Hinditron in 1966 and its computer division in 1971, which at present is engaged in several fields like Information Technology, Instrumentation, and Telecommunication products, Video, Broadband and Software Services.
3. Doris Hart, the number one American tennis player of 1950s, died at the age of 89 on 29th May 2015. Hart as a player had won each Grand Slam tournament at least once, including three Wimbledon titles in a single day.
4. American Nobel laureate Irwin Rose, a biochemist whose groundbreaking work helped in the development of treatments for cervical cancer and cystic fibrosis, died on 2nd June 2015. He was 88.
Rose won the 2004 Nobel Prize in chemistry, along with Israel Institute of Technology researchers Aaron Ciechanover and Avram Hershko, for research into how cells break down and dispose of old and damaged proteins in plants and animals.
5. New Zealand’s former rugby captain Jerry Collins and his wife have been killed in a car crash in France. The 34-year-old, who played 48 tests for the All Blacks and captained them three times, was playing for Narbonne in France’s second division.
6. Former leader of Britain’s Liberal Democratic Party Charles Kennedy died at his residence in Scotland. He was 55 years old.
7. Hollywood Actor Hiroshi Koizumi passed away on 31st May 2015 following pneumonia.
He was 88. Making debut in 1951 on silver screen, Koizumi appeared in a string of monster films including Mothra vs Godzilla, Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster and Dogara, the Space Monster. In 1955, Koizumi appeared as a pilot in movie Godzilla Raids Again.
Koizumi also acted in numerous non-monster productions, including the 47 Samurai in 1962, alongside the legendary Toshiro Mifune. During 1970s, he became the presenter of Fuji TV’s popular Quiz Grand Prix.
Later, he appeared in The Return of Godzilla in 1984 and in 2003’s Godzilla.
8. Wrestler Prem Nath, a gold medallist at the 1974 Christchurch Commonwealth Games, passed away on 1 June 2015. He was 64.
Prem Nath, a President’s Medal-winning retired Delhi Police official, was known for his efforts to popularize wrestling in Delhi.