Current Affairs of 19 May 2015

1. BJP MP S.S. Ahluwalia to head joint panel on Land Acquisition Amendment billBhartiya Janta Party (BJP) MP Surendrajeet Singh Ahluwalia has been appointed 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. The Committee will submit its report on the first day of the monsoon session.
NDA government led by Prime Minister this move come after they had agreed to refer the Land Bill to the joint committee after it had faced continuous resistance of opposition parties in the Parliament. Even some of its own allies like Shiv Sena, Akali Dal etc had shown opposition on various provisions of the amended legislation.


2. Reliance Jio signed pact with Huawei for sourcing 4G devices
Reliance Jio Infocomm, a telecom subsidiary of Reliance Industries Limited (RIL), signed a pact with Chinese telecom equipment manufacturer firm Huawei for sourcing various 4th Generation (4G) devices.
As per the pact, Huawei will supply 4G devices to Reliance Jio including smartphones, tablets and mifi dongles. This agreement will help Reliance in launching 4G service by 2015 in around 5000 towns and cities in India. It seeks to cover over 90 percent of urban India and over 2.15 lakh villages.
Background
It is mandatory for Reliance Jio and other Indian telecom companies to roll out the 4G services at the earliest by 31 August 2015 as they won Broadband Wireless Access (BWA) spectrum in 2010.
As per the licensing agreement, these services must be rolled out in at least 90 percent of the service areas, failing which the Department of Telecom (DoT) have the right to withdraw the radiowaves.
In this regard, DoT had announced the procedure to test network roll out of companies that have procured BWA spectrum.

3. Himachal Pradesh to host Paragliding World Cup 2015
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.
The state was chosen to host the World Cup after it successfully conducted the paragliding pre-World Cup-2013.
For the successful conduct of the event, the state government has formed the Billing Paragliding Association (BPA) under the chairmanship of Sudhir Sharma who is the Urban Development Minister of HP. Further, the state government has directed to ban construction activities near the take-off and landing sites. 
The success of the Paragliding World Cup 2015 would promote tourism as well as sports in the state.

4. India Meteorological Department signed MoU with POSOCO Ltd to increase efficiency of power sector
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) under the Union Ministry of Earth Sciences  signed Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Power System Operation Corporation Ltd (POSOCO) for optimum use of weather information/forecast in the power sector.
POSOCO Ltd is a wholly owned subsidiary of Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd.
Highlights of the MoU 
•    All weather information provided by ESSO-IMD will be used by the Power System Operators across the India for better management of Indian Power System.
•    IMD will make available current weather information for the identified stations; and forecasts at different time scales of temperature, humidity, wind speed, wind direction and rainfall of the identified stations/sectors.
•    IMD will also provide weather warnings about likely occurrences of thunderstorm, heat wave, cold wave, rainfall, fog, etc. over various states for up to 72 hours.
•    IMD will provide state or region wise Monthly/Seasonal outlooks of weather conditions.
•    Both the parties agreed to provide expert opinion and knowledge support in areas of Weather information and its affect on power distribution system.
•    Data and Inputs will be exchanged to encourage further study and research work.
•    POSOCO will provide economic assessment of impact of weather and climate information. Regular feed mechanism will be put in place for continued up-gradation of the services.

5. Indian-American Harkeert Singh Saini won Prestigious Police Award in Texas, US
arkeert Singh Saini, an Indian-American policeman in third week of May 2015 won the prestigious Top Civilian Supervisor of the Year. He was awarded for his efficient services to the Houston Police department in the state of Texas of United States.
Saini who hails from Hoshiarpur district of Punjab received his award from Houston Mayor Anise Parker and Police Chief Charles A McClelland. He is a graduate from Deshbandu College in New Delhi. 44-year-old Saini shifted to Houston in 1998 and joined its police department in March 2000. During his 15-year service in Houston Police Department he was subsequently promoted as an office supervisor.

6. Maria Sharapova of Russia won the women’s single of Italian Tennis Open for third time
Russian Maria Sharapova won the women’s singles of Italian Open for the third time.  She defeated Spain's Carla Suarez Navarro by 4-6 7-5 6-1. The Italian Open title was held in Rome, Italy.
The men’s singles of the Italian Open (also called Rome Masters) was won by Novak Djokovic of Serbia.
The Italian Open is the most prestigious red clay tennis tournament in the world after the French Open. The men's competition of the Open is an ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event on the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) tour, and the women's competition is a Premier 5 event on the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) tour.
The two events were combined in 2011. The tournament is played on clay courts, currently during the second week of May. The event is also known as the Rome Masters and the Italian Championships.

7. Reliance Industries sells India's first Formosa bond
 Reliance Industries has issued a $200 million 20-year callable Formosa at par to yield 5 per cent.
The deal is the first Formosa bond from an Indian company.
The notes are callable every year starting June 5, 2020 and will be used for the company's ongoing capital expenditure. They will be listed on the Taipei Exchange.
Deutsche Bank and HSBC were joint bookrunners and lead managers on the transaction. Morgan Stanley acted as structuring agent.
A Formosa bond is a bond issued in Taiwan but denominated in a currency other than the New Taiwan Dollar. They are issued by the Taiwan branches of publicly traded overseas financial institutions and to be traded must have a credit rating of BBB or higher.

8. SBI launches online facility for overdraft against FDs

 State Bank of India on Tuesday launched an online facility for Overdraft against Fixed Deposit, whereby customers holding fixed deposits in a single name can avail of up to 90 per cent of the FD amount as an overdraft to meet emergency and other needs.
As an introductory offer, SBI is charging an interest rate of only 0.5 per cent more than the linked FD. This is among the lowest in industry.
While the core product has been available at SBI branches for a while now, the online facility is part of SBI’s endeavour to take products and services onto the digital platform, SBI said in a statement.
The OD is created instantly without the need to visit a branch.
This facility is now available to all Internet banking users through the OnlineSBI portal. In the coming days, it will also be extended to the State Bank Anywhere mobile app.

9. RBI open to doubling capital a/c transaction cap to $250,000/year

 The Reserve Bank of India is in consultations with the government to double the limit for capital account transactions for individuals to $250,000 per financial year.
Currently, under the Liberalised Remittance Scheme, all resident individuals, including minors, are allowed to freely remit up to $125,000 per financial year for any permissible current or capital account transaction or a combination of both.
Capital account convertibility means that there is no restriction on conversion of the domestic currency into a foreign currency to enable a resident to acquire a foreign asset. This is also true for conversion of a foreign currency to the domestic currency to enable a non-resident to acquire a domestic asset.
Current account convertibility refers to freedom in respect of payments and transfers for current international transactions.

10. Mumbai KEM Nurse Aruna Shanbaug died after 42-years in coma
Aruna Shanbaug, the nurse of Mumbai’s King Edward Memorial (KEM) Hospital, died on 18 May 2015. She died after battling with coma for past 42-years following a sexual assault by a hospital ward boy.
66-year old Shanbaug was sexually assaulted on 27 November 1973 by a ward boy-cum-sweeper of the hospital, Sohanlal Bharta Valmiki, after throttling her with a dog chain. Since then, she was hospitalised in KEM hospital and was cared by hospital staff.

11. Federal Bank, SBI Cards join hands for co-branded credit card
Federal Bank on Monday forayed into credit card segment through the launch of co-branded credit cards in partnership with SBI Cards, a leading credit card issuer.
In the first year, Federal Bank aims to issue as many as 1.5 lakh credit cards to its customers, Shyam Srinivasan, Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer, told a press conference here.
Initially, two variants—Platinum and Gold’ N More—will be issued under the Visa platform for a specified fee.
"Yes this is for the first time that Federal Bank is entering the credit card segment. This alliance with SBI Cards will help fill a striking gap that existed in our product portfolio", Srinivasan said.
Federal Bank had all along "shied away" and "resisted the temptation" of entering the credit card segment, he pointed out.
"The Federal Bank SBI Credit Card will help complete the bouquet of offerings we have for all of our clients’ retail needs. It meets the longstanding demand of our valued customers to hold a Federal Bank credit card", Srinivasan said.
Commenting on the launch, Vijay Jasuja, Chief Executive Officer, SBI Cards, expressed confidence that the new co-branded card will add value to the customers of Federal Bank.
"Through this collaboration, we hope to extend our bouquet of best in class services and rewarding offers to Federal Bank customers", Jasuja said.
While the Platinum card variant will come with a fee of ₹ 2,999, the fee in the case of Gold N’ More card is ₹ 499.
Jasuja said that the benefits to card members in terms of joining gift (exclusive gift voucher) and reward points for use will outweigh the expense incurred towards the fee for the Platinum card.
International airport lounge access and golf course access are the other benefits available under the Platinum variant.
1. BJP MP S.S. Ahluwalia to head joint panel on Land Acquisition Amendment billBhartiya Janta Party (BJP) MP Surendrajeet Singh Ahluwalia has been appointed 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. The Committee will submit its report on the first day of the monsoon session.
NDA government led by Prime Minister this move come after they had agreed to refer the Land Bill to the joint committee after it had faced continuous resistance of opposition parties in the Parliament. Even some of its own allies like Shiv Sena, Akali Dal etc had shown opposition on various provisions of the amended legislation.


2. Reliance Jio signed pact with Huawei for sourcing 4G devices
Reliance Jio Infocomm, a telecom subsidiary of Reliance Industries Limited (RIL), signed a pact with Chinese telecom equipment manufacturer firm Huawei for sourcing various 4th Generation (4G) devices.
As per the pact, Huawei will supply 4G devices to Reliance Jio including smartphones, tablets and mifi dongles. This agreement will help Reliance in launching 4G service by 2015 in around 5000 towns and cities in India. It seeks to cover over 90 percent of urban India and over 2.15 lakh villages.
Background
It is mandatory for Reliance Jio and other Indian telecom companies to roll out the 4G services at the earliest by 31 August 2015 as they won Broadband Wireless Access (BWA) spectrum in 2010.
As per the licensing agreement, these services must be rolled out in at least 90 percent of the service areas, failing which the Department of Telecom (DoT) have the right to withdraw the radiowaves.
In this regard, DoT had announced the procedure to test network roll out of companies that have procured BWA spectrum.

3. Himachal Pradesh to host Paragliding World Cup 2015
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.
The state was chosen to host the World Cup after it successfully conducted the paragliding pre-World Cup-2013.
For the successful conduct of the event, the state government has formed the Billing Paragliding Association (BPA) under the chairmanship of Sudhir Sharma who is the Urban Development Minister of HP. Further, the state government has directed to ban construction activities near the take-off and landing sites. 
The success of the Paragliding World Cup 2015 would promote tourism as well as sports in the state.

4. India Meteorological Department signed MoU with POSOCO Ltd to increase efficiency of power sector
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) under the Union Ministry of Earth Sciences  signed Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Power System Operation Corporation Ltd (POSOCO) for optimum use of weather information/forecast in the power sector.
POSOCO Ltd is a wholly owned subsidiary of Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd.
Highlights of the MoU 
•    All weather information provided by ESSO-IMD will be used by the Power System Operators across the India for better management of Indian Power System.
•    IMD will make available current weather information for the identified stations; and forecasts at different time scales of temperature, humidity, wind speed, wind direction and rainfall of the identified stations/sectors.
•    IMD will also provide weather warnings about likely occurrences of thunderstorm, heat wave, cold wave, rainfall, fog, etc. over various states for up to 72 hours.
•    IMD will provide state or region wise Monthly/Seasonal outlooks of weather conditions.
•    Both the parties agreed to provide expert opinion and knowledge support in areas of Weather information and its affect on power distribution system.
•    Data and Inputs will be exchanged to encourage further study and research work.
•    POSOCO will provide economic assessment of impact of weather and climate information. Regular feed mechanism will be put in place for continued up-gradation of the services.

5. Indian-American Harkeert Singh Saini won Prestigious Police Award in Texas, US
arkeert Singh Saini, an Indian-American policeman in third week of May 2015 won the prestigious Top Civilian Supervisor of the Year. He was awarded for his efficient services to the Houston Police department in the state of Texas of United States.
Saini who hails from Hoshiarpur district of Punjab received his award from Houston Mayor Anise Parker and Police Chief Charles A McClelland. He is a graduate from Deshbandu College in New Delhi. 44-year-old Saini shifted to Houston in 1998 and joined its police department in March 2000. During his 15-year service in Houston Police Department he was subsequently promoted as an office supervisor.

6. Maria Sharapova of Russia won the women’s single of Italian Tennis Open for third time
Russian Maria Sharapova won the women’s singles of Italian Open for the third time.  She defeated Spain's Carla Suarez Navarro by 4-6 7-5 6-1. The Italian Open title was held in Rome, Italy.
The men’s singles of the Italian Open (also called Rome Masters) was won by Novak Djokovic of Serbia.
The Italian Open is the most prestigious red clay tennis tournament in the world after the French Open. The men's competition of the Open is an ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event on the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) tour, and the women's competition is a Premier 5 event on the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) tour.
The two events were combined in 2011. The tournament is played on clay courts, currently during the second week of May. The event is also known as the Rome Masters and the Italian Championships.

7. Reliance Industries sells India's first Formosa bond
 Reliance Industries has issued a $200 million 20-year callable Formosa at par to yield 5 per cent.
The deal is the first Formosa bond from an Indian company.
The notes are callable every year starting June 5, 2020 and will be used for the company's ongoing capital expenditure. They will be listed on the Taipei Exchange.
Deutsche Bank and HSBC were joint bookrunners and lead managers on the transaction. Morgan Stanley acted as structuring agent.
A Formosa bond is a bond issued in Taiwan but denominated in a currency other than the New Taiwan Dollar. They are issued by the Taiwan branches of publicly traded overseas financial institutions and to be traded must have a credit rating of BBB or higher.

8. SBI launches online facility for overdraft against FDs

 State Bank of India on Tuesday launched an online facility for Overdraft against Fixed Deposit, whereby customers holding fixed deposits in a single name can avail of up to 90 per cent of the FD amount as an overdraft to meet emergency and other needs.
As an introductory offer, SBI is charging an interest rate of only 0.5 per cent more than the linked FD. This is among the lowest in industry.
While the core product has been available at SBI branches for a while now, the online facility is part of SBI’s endeavour to take products and services onto the digital platform, SBI said in a statement.
The OD is created instantly without the need to visit a branch.
This facility is now available to all Internet banking users through the OnlineSBI portal. In the coming days, it will also be extended to the State Bank Anywhere mobile app.

9. RBI open to doubling capital a/c transaction cap to $250,000/year

 The Reserve Bank of India is in consultations with the government to double the limit for capital account transactions for individuals to $250,000 per financial year.
Currently, under the Liberalised Remittance Scheme, all resident individuals, including minors, are allowed to freely remit up to $125,000 per financial year for any permissible current or capital account transaction or a combination of both.
Capital account convertibility means that there is no restriction on conversion of the domestic currency into a foreign currency to enable a resident to acquire a foreign asset. This is also true for conversion of a foreign currency to the domestic currency to enable a non-resident to acquire a domestic asset.
Current account convertibility refers to freedom in respect of payments and transfers for current international transactions.

10. Mumbai KEM Nurse Aruna Shanbaug died after 42-years in coma
Aruna Shanbaug, the nurse of Mumbai’s King Edward Memorial (KEM) Hospital, died on 18 May 2015. She died after battling with coma for past 42-years following a sexual assault by a hospital ward boy.
66-year old Shanbaug was sexually assaulted on 27 November 1973 by a ward boy-cum-sweeper of the hospital, Sohanlal Bharta Valmiki, after throttling her with a dog chain. Since then, she was hospitalised in KEM hospital and was cared by hospital staff.

11. Federal Bank, SBI Cards join hands for co-branded credit card
Federal Bank on Monday forayed into credit card segment through the launch of co-branded credit cards in partnership with SBI Cards, a leading credit card issuer.
In the first year, Federal Bank aims to issue as many as 1.5 lakh credit cards to its customers, Shyam Srinivasan, Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer, told a press conference here.
Initially, two variants—Platinum and Gold’ N More—will be issued under the Visa platform for a specified fee.
"Yes this is for the first time that Federal Bank is entering the credit card segment. This alliance with SBI Cards will help fill a striking gap that existed in our product portfolio", Srinivasan said.
Federal Bank had all along "shied away" and "resisted the temptation" of entering the credit card segment, he pointed out.
"The Federal Bank SBI Credit Card will help complete the bouquet of offerings we have for all of our clients’ retail needs. It meets the longstanding demand of our valued customers to hold a Federal Bank credit card", Srinivasan said.
Commenting on the launch, Vijay Jasuja, Chief Executive Officer, SBI Cards, expressed confidence that the new co-branded card will add value to the customers of Federal Bank.
"Through this collaboration, we hope to extend our bouquet of best in class services and rewarding offers to Federal Bank customers", Jasuja said.
While the Platinum card variant will come with a fee of ₹ 2,999, the fee in the case of Gold N’ More card is ₹ 499.
Jasuja said that the benefits to card members in terms of joining gift (exclusive gift voucher) and reward points for use will outweigh the expense incurred towards the fee for the Platinum card.
International airport lounge access and golf course access are the other benefits available under the Platinum variant.

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