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National News
NITI Aayog to replace 5-year plans with 15 year vision document
- Focus: Country’s social goal & Sustainable development agenda
- current12th Five-Year Plan will be concluded in the current financial year, 2016-17
- first 15-year visiondocument will start from 2017-18, along with a seven-year National Development Agenda.
country’s first Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) policy approved
- aims to create awareness about economic, social and cultural benefits of IPRs among iprall sections of society.
- the window for trademark registration will be brought down to one month.
Rs 1,984-cr Delhi-Meerut Expressway stretch
- widening of the crucial UP Gate to Dasna stretch of the Delhi-Meerut Expresswayto be made at an estimated cost of Rs 1,984 crore
- move is for the development of 8/6 landing of Delhi-Meerut Expressway – Package-II-Uttar Pradesh Border to Dasna Section of NH-24 in Uttar Pradesh.
- project will reduce the distance between the national capital and Meerut to 40-45 minutes from 3 hours at present.
pact between SEBI and FSRA Abu Dhabi approved
- Pact between regulator SEBI and Financial Services Regulatory Authority, Abu Dhabifor mutual co-operation and technical assistance.
- will promote further development of economic links and cooperation between the two signatories and will help create conditions for development of securities marketsin the two countries.
Rs 10 lakh on Spicejet for offloading disabled flyer
- Apex Court directed budget airline Spicejetto pay Rs 10 Lakh as damages to a disabled flyer, who was forcibly offloaded.
- manner in which the female passenger, a cerebral palsy patient, was de-boarded depicts total lack of sensitivity.
special enrolment drive in 4 States/UTs
- initiative to enroll left over population for Aadhaar enrolments in four States and Union Territories such as Haryana, Goa, Chandigarh and Puducherry.
- As on May 12,over 101.26 crore Aadhaar numbers have been generated across the country.
- pilot exercise in the States/Union Territories will be conducted between May 13 – June 15-2016.
first solar train set for trial run in Jodhpur
- trials of its first solar panel-powered train which will have its lights &fans run on solar energy in Jodhpur.
- train will have Prime Mover as a conventional diesel-run engine, the solar energy will be used for internal electricity gadgets.
- train using solar power can reduce diesel consumption by up to 90,000 litres per year and also bring down carbon dioxide emissions by over 200 tonnes.
China and Pakistan join hands to block India’s entry into Nuclear Suppliers Group
- China and Pakistan are closely coordinating moves to block India’s entry into the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG). China is using Pakistan’s non-starter position with the NSG to block India’s application in the name of parity
- China is stating that it would either support NSG entry for both India and Pakistan, or none of them.
India, China sign global pact to help tax MNCs
- move aimed at ensuring that multinational corporations don’t get away without paying taxes anywhere
- India and China have joined a club of countries that agreed to automatically share information, laying bare the structure of operations of these companies.
- two Asian countries, Canada, Iceland, Israel and New Zealand have also signed the Multilateral Competent Authority agreement for the automatic exchange of Country-by-Country reports,
International
India, China, four others sign pact on tax info sharing
- The countries are:Canada, Iceland, India, Israel, New Zealand and the People’s Republic of China
- Aim:Automatic exchange of information on tax issues – bilaterally and automatically exchange Country-by-Country Reports with each other
- Other countries already took part in the pact are:Australia, France, Germany, Japan, Liechtenstein, Malaysia, Italy and the UK.
Deal between India, Mauritius on cooperation in cooperatives
- signing of an Inter-Governmental Agreement between India and Mauritiuson cooperation in cooperatives and related fields.
- Treaty will be for a period of five yearsafter which it will be automatically extended for another five years.
- Agreement isto promote cooperation through short and medium term programmes within the framework of the joint activities declared in it.
World’s largest cargo plane AN-225 Mriya lands in Hyderabad
- can carry up to 250 tonnes of cargo also can fly at 850 km/h is the biggest commercially used freighter in the world for over 25 years.
- world’s largest cargo carrier aircraft Antonov An-225 Mriyalanded at Rajiv Gandhi International airport in Hyderabad in en route to Australia from Europe.
- technical halt at Hyderabad it is arrived from Turkman bashi in Central Asia and will proceed to Jakarta and is destined for Perth.
Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena Visits India
- Sirisena will address the valedictory session at theVaicharick Mahakumbh which is being held as part of the Simhastha Mahakumbh in Ujjain.
- also scheduled to visit Sanchi where he will tour the World famous Sanchi Stupaand attend a function by the Mahabodhi Society of Sri Lanka.
Business and Economy
Uday Kotak sole Indian financier in Forbes’ most powerful list
- uses to control the flow of trillions of dollars around the global economy.
- Kotak is ranked 33rd in the Forbes list of ‘Money Masters: The Most Powerful People in the Financial World’
norms for prior approval of branch offices by foreign entities in India
- Reserve Bank of India has directed that entities from Pakistan, China, Bangladesh and four other regions including Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Iran and Hong Kong or Macau will require its prior approval to establish branch office or project office in India.
SEBI to tighten KYC, transfer norms for Participatory Notes
- To curb round-tripping and restrict money launderingto follow recommendations made by Special Investigation Team on black money.
- Changes include requirement of increased disclosures on transfer and prior consent of issuer on transfer, bringing P-Notes under know-your-customer and anti-money laundering normsand reporting suspicious transactions to the financial intelligence unit.
SC strikes down TRAI’s penalty on call drops
- Mandatory for telecom companies to compensate subscribers for call drops levied by the Telecom Regulator.
- petition is challenging sector regulator TRAI’s notification asking them to pay compensation to consumers Rs 1 for each call drop, subject to a maximum of three disrupted calls per day.
People in News
Anil Kumble re-elected as ICC Cricket Committee Chairman
- Tenure:Three Years
- Former Australia off-spinner Tim Mayelected as current player representative, replacing Laxman Sivaramakrishnan
- Richard Kettleborough, three-time ICC Umpire of the Year, has been appointed as umpires’ representative and replaces Steve Davis.
Sanjiv Misra as Non-Executive Chairman of Axis Bank
- Axis Bankhas appointed retired bureaucrat Sanjiv Misra as independent director and non-executive chairman for a period of five years.
- chairman is being appointment by the bank and not nominated by SUUTI for the first time. The SUUTI entity has more than 11 % stakein the Bank.
- Prior to his new stint Misra was earlier the SUUTI nominee on the board as Non-Executive Chairman for three yearstill 11th May 2016.
Barack Obama Appoints Indian-American Manjit Singh to Key Administration Post
- member of President’s Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships.
- Singh founded Agilious a software technology consulting firm in 2013 he also the President of the firm.
- co-founder of the Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund, a national Sikh American media, policy and education organization.
Science and Technology
Electronic Maintenance Management System (e-MMS) Project at IAF
- an automated military maintenance system which will ease the system by keeping paper works and heavy logbooks away.
- e-MMS system is one of the largest Maintenance Repair Overhaul (MRO) IT implementation in the world.
- system has a central console that seeks to seamlessly connect squadrons, wings, commands, and Air Headquarters after its implementation.
- IAF work environment will become more efficient and also help to monitor the operational availability of all fleets and systems in real time at various categorized levels
‘Smart’ paper responds to gestures
- method relies on small radio frequency (RFID) tagsthat are stuck on, printed or drawn onto the paper to create interactive, lightweight interfaces
- can do anything from controlling music using a paper baton, to live polling in a classroom.
- leverages inexpensive, off-the-shelf RFID tags, which function without batteries but can be detected through a reader device placed in the same room as the tags.
- can track the velocity of objects in movement, such as following the motion of a tagged paper conductor’s wand and adjusting the pace of the music based on the tempo of the wand in mid-air.