Current Affairs - 25th May,2017

• Anti encephalitis campaign in UP.
  • Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has launched a campaign to eradicate the deadly encephalitis disease.
  • Close to 40,000 children have died of the disease in the past four decades in the region.
  • The campaign has been launched for 38 districts in UP.
  • The drive will cover over 88 lakh children for which the central government has provided one crore vaccines.
• Devendra Fadnavis to launch Samwad Sabha
  • Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis will launch a ‘Shivar Samwad Sabha’ to reach out to farmers and address their issues.
  • MPs, MLAs, zilla parishad members and corporators, will engage in a dialogue with farmers to know about their issues and take their feedback on decisions taken by the government till now.
  • The initiative is being launched amid the rising resentment among farmers.
• Second most densely populated city.
  • Mumbai has been ranked the world’s second most densely populated city with 31,700 people per sq km by the World Economic Forum.
  • Mumbai is also the most populous city in India and and ninth most populous agglomeration in the world.
  • Bangladesh’s capital Dhaka topped the list with 44,500 people per sq km.
  • Rajasthan’s Kota has been ranked the world’s seventh most densely populated city.
• PM Modi to embark on four nations.
  • Prime Minister Narendra Modi will embark on a four nation visit to Germany, Spain, Russia and France on his forthcoming six-day visit abroad to Europe starting May 29.
  • He will first visit Germany, followed by Spain, Russia and finally France from May 29-June 3.
  • He will be in Russia for a two-day visit on 1st and 2nd June for the 18th India-Russia Annual Summit in St. Petersburg.
• HCL to host Asian Junior Tennis 2017.
  • HCL will host the HCL Asian Junior Tennis Championship 2017, the most reputed tennis championship in the Asian circuit for the U/18 category in association with the Maharashtra State Lawn tennis Association.
  • The Championship, which is the only B1 category tournament in Asia will take place from May 29 to June 3 in Pune.
  • Players from 11 countries will participate in the tournament.
• Rohtang Pass opens for Vehicular traffic
  • 13,050 feet high Rohtang Pass has been opened for vehicular traffic and tourists after remaining closed for almost six months.
  • The pass connects tribal-district of Lahaul-Spiti with other parts of the state.
  • Tourists can access Rohtang Pass by obtaining a proper permit.
  • The permit system has been put in place as per directions of the NGT which took serious note of the vehicular pollution.
• RBI to reconstitute oversight committee.
  • The Reserve Bank will reconstitute the oversight committee.
  • It will be done to operationalise the banking ordinance for resolving the issue of bad loans.
  • The existing OC, which has two members, was constituted by the Indian Banks’ Association.
  • RBI has also proposed to enlarge the committee to include more members so that it can deal with the large volume of cases.
• Sindhu elected to BWF Athlete Commission
  • PV Sindhu became one of the members of the BWF Athletes’ Commission after the end of voting for the four places on the representative body.
  • Sindhu topped the ballot with 129 votes with Kirsty Gilmour of Scotland placing third overall with 103 votes.
  • Both Sindhu and Kristy will serve four-year terms along with Germany’s Marc Zwiebler who received 108 votes.
• Paytm Bank appoints 3 new board members.
  • Paytm has formed a five-member board for its payments bank.
  • PV Bhaskar, Ash Lilani and GS Sundararajan have joined the board as independent directors.
  • Paytm CEO Vijay Shekhar Sharma will act as a non-executive chairman, and Paytm Payments Bank CEO Renu Satti will also serve as a director on the bank’s board.
  • Paytm has become the 3rd entity to launch a payments bank in the country.
• Defence buys model comes into force.
  • The government’s ambitious Strategic Partnership model for promoting Indian private industry participation in defence manufacturing has come into effect.
  • The guidelines of the policy were cleared by the Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) of the Defence Ministry last week and put up for noting by the Cabinet.
  • It will encourage, “Make in India” regarding defence equipments.
  • JDI between India and Germany approved.
    •  The Union Cabinet has approved a Joint Declaration of Intent between Germany and India regarding cooperation in the sector of alternative medicine.
    • While India has well-developed systems of traditional medicine which hold tremendous potential in the global health scenario, Germany has considerable interest in such a system of medicine,
    • The collaboration will also generate employment.
  • SBI launches national hackathon.
    • State Bank of India has launched a national hackathon for developers, start-ups and students to come up with innovative ideas and solutions for the banking sector.
    • The hackathon is named ‘Code For Bank’.
    • The hackathon will focus on the business value driven by technologies like predictive analytics, fin-tech/blockchain, digital payments, IOT, artificial intelligence, machine learning,
  • Cabinet approves AIIMS in Kamrup, Assam.
    • The Union Cabinet has given its approval for establishment of new AIIMS at Kamrup, Assam.
    • The cost of the project will be Rs.1123 crore.
    • It will be set up under the Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana.
    • The AIIMS will consist of a hospital with a capacity of 750 beds, trauma centre facilities, a medical college which can accommodate 100 MBBS students per year.
  • IFFCO launches debit card for farmers.
    • IFFCO, the world’s largest fertiliser cooperative has launched its co-branded debit card for farmers.
    • IFFCO and Bank of Baroda had signed an MoU in February to create the co-branded debit cards for farmers.
    • The card will help farmers buy agri-inputs through cashless transaction mechanism
    • The co-branded debit card can be used to make 30-day interest-free agri-input purchases of up to Rs 2500
  • ItzCash raises ₹800cr.
    • Digital payment company ItzCash has raised about ₹800 crore from US-based Ebix Inc.
    • EBix will now own about 80 per cent stakes in ItzCash.
    • Earlier investors Matrix Partners, Lightspeed Venture Partners and Intel Capital, have taken exit.
    • Currently ItzCash focuses on payments, remittances and corporate solutions.
    • With this fund raise the company is now valued at ₹1,000 crore.
  • Nepal PM Pushpa Kamal Dahal resigns.
    • He was elected as the 39th prime minister of Nepal after forging alliance with the Nepali Congress.
    • He had reached an understanding with Nepali Congress president Sher Bahadur Deuba that he would step down as Prime Minister and hand over the leadership to him after nine months.
    • Nepali Congress chief Sher Bahadur Deuba will replace him.
  • World’s first philosophical novel on God
    • Kiren Rijiju, Union Minister of State for Home Affairs has unveiled a philosophical novel on God titled “Confessions of a dying mind: The blind faith of atheism.
    • A young Indian IAS officer, Haulianlal Guite, has penned it.
    • The book billed as “the world’s first philosophical novel for God”.
    • The book is published by Bloomsbury Publishing.
  • Roger Moore passes away.
    • British actor Roger Moore passes away at 89.
    • He was best known for his role as James Bond in films such as “Live and Let Die” and “The Spy Who Loved Me.
    • Sir Roger was appointed as UNICEF  Goodwill Ambassador in 1991.
    • He passed away in Switzerland after a brief battle with cancer.
  • Cabinet approves abolition of FIPB.
    • The Union Cabinet has scrapped the 25-year-old Foreign Investment Promotion Board.
    • FIPB is an inter-ministerial body under the finance ministry’s Department of Economic Affairs that processes FDI proposals and makes recommendations for government approval.
    • FIPB was initially constituted under the Prime Minister’s Office in the wake of economic liberalisation in the early 1990s.
  • Man United clinch Europa Leagu title.
    • Manchester United defeated Ajax 2-0 to win their maiden Europa League title and claim their second major trophy of the season.
    • Manchester United is now the fifth team to have now won all three of Europe’s major competitions.
    • United finished sixth in the Premier League while Chelsea won the league.
    • Manager of Manchester United – José Mourinho