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GK POWER CAPSULE - MAY 2015 – HINDU REVIEWS
This capsule has been prepared by the Career Power Institute Delhi (Formerly known as Bank Power). This
document contains all the important news and events of the Month May 2015, which can be helpful in the upcoming
exams and interviews.
1.
AIADMK General Secretary J Jayalalithaa was swornin as the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu for fifth time.
She is the 18th Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu and
succeeded O Panneerselvam who resigned on 21
May 2015 following her acquittal on 11 May 2015 in
the disproportionate assets case by the Karnataka
High Court. The court overruled the Bangalore’s
special court judgment which found Jayalalithaa
guilty.
2.
David Cameron’s Conservative Party on 8 May 2015
won the UK General election 2015 by securing 331
seats in a Parliament of 650. With this win, the
incumbent Prime Minister David Cameroon will
continue to be in the office.
The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet gave
its nod for appointing G Mohan Kumar as the
Secretary of the Ministry of Defence.
Akhil Amar, an Indian-American professor from Yale
University, was appointed as a member of the
prestigious National Council on Humanities of
United States.
Peter M Christian was elected as the eighth
President of the Federated States of Micronesia.
SS Ahluwalia was appointed as the chairman of
Joint Parliamentary Committee on the Right to Fair
Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition
Rehabilitation
and
Resettlement
(LARR)
(Amendment) Bill, 2015. The committee has 20
members from the Lok Sabha and 10 members from
the Rajya Sabha.
3.
4.
5.
6.
President Pranab Mukherjee authorized Justice
(retd) Cyriac Joseph to act as the interim
chairperson of the National Human Rights
Commission (NHRC). He will replace K.G.
Balakrishnan.
8. Eminent banker Kundapur Vaman Kamath was
appointed as the first President of the New
Development Bank (NDB) of BRICS nations. He will
serve a five year term after the bank becomes
operational within one year.
9. The Union Ministry of Finance appointed a
committee under the chairmanship of Justice Ajit
Prakash Shah to look into the issue of Minimum
Alternate Tax (MAT) on Foreign Institutional
Investors (FIIs). As per the Finance Act, 2015 the 20
percent MAT on Capital Gains made by FIIs is
waived off from the financial year 2015-16.
However, the issue of imposing MAT for past years
(till 2014-15) has become controversial. At present,
Justice A P Shah is heading the 20th Law
Commission of India.
10. Achal Kumar Jyoti was appointed as the Election
Commissioner of India. At present, Nasim Zaidi, the
Chief Election Commissioner (CEC), is the other
member of election commission.
7.
11. Senior IPS officer Surender Singh took over as
Director General of central paramilitary force
Central Industrial Security Force.
12. Actor and producer Mukesh Khanna was appointed
as the Chairperson of the Children's Film Society of
India.
13. Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz appointed his
nephew Mohammed bin Nayef as the new Crown
Prince and as a Deputy Prime Minister.
14. Hungarian writer Laszlo Krasznahorkai won the
prestigious Man Booker International Prize for
2015.
15. Veteran Bollywood actor Shashi Kapoor was
honoured with the prestigious Dada Saheb Phalke
award.
16. The French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo was
presented with the 2015 Freedom of Expression
Courage Award of the PEN American Centre at the
American Museum of Natural History.
17. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and
Cultural Organization (UNESCO) presented the 2015
UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom
Prize to Syrian journalist and rights activist Mazen
Darwish.
18. Ace tennis player Rafael Nadal received the Golden
Medal for Merit in Work. Golden Medal is one of
the top civilian honours of Spain which aims to
highlight an exemplary performance in any job or
profession.
19. Prannoy Roy, the Executive Co-chairman of NDTV,
was conferred with the Redink Lifetime
Achievement Award 2015 at a function in Mumbai.
20. Two Indians namely Dr Ananda Kumar and Dr
Pramod Patil won the prestigious Whitley Awards
(also known as Green Oscar) for their contribution
to wildlife conservation.
21. Srinagar-born novelist Siddhartha Gigoo won the
2015 Commonwealth Short Story Prize for Asia
region for his work Umbrella Man.
22. Margarita, with a Straw directed by Shonali Bose of
India won the Audience Award for Best Feature Film
23.
24.
25.
26.
27.
28.
29.
at the Washington DC International Film festival.
Kalki Koechlin-starrer film is a disability drama.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi conferred the 50th
Jnanpith Award on eminent Marathi litterateur
Bhalchandra Nemade.
Former Union Finance Minister and veteran BJP
leader Yashwant Sinha was conferred with
the Officier de la Légion d’Honneur(Officer of the
Legion of Honour- highest French civilian
distinction) in recognition of his valuable
contribution to thought on international issues.
President of the United States (US) Barack Obama
entered Guinness Book of World Record for
reaching a million followers in a span of mere 5
hours after going live. Barack Obama debuted on
Social Media Platform Twitter with @POTUS
account.
V Shanmuganathan was sworn in as 15th Governor
of Meghalaya at the Raj Bhawan in Shillong.
Indian-Origin Harbhajan Kaur Dheer became the
first Asian woman to be elected as mayor in the
United Kingdom (UK).
Indian-origin Priti Patel was appointed as Minister
of State for Employment in British Government.
Bollywood actor Salman Khan was in news as 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.
30. Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu O Panneerselvam
resigned.
31. Veteran jazz musician Bob Belden passed away.
32. Eminent economist and academics Mrinal Datta
Chaudhuri passed away.
33. Popular Indian stage, film and television actress
Sudha Shivpuri died.
34. 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 42years following a sexual assault by a hospital ward
boy.
35. Veteran Hollywood actress Elizabeth Wilson passed
away.
36. Former Union Minister and veteran Congress leader
Baleshwar Ram.
42.
43.
37. Authorities of the Gangotri National Park in
Uttarakhand on 21 May 2015 opened the Nelong
Valley for tourists for the first time since its closure
in 1962.
38. Islamic State for Iraq and Syria (ISIS) militants on 21
May 2015 seized full control of ancient city of
Palmyra in Syria.
39. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 19 May 2015
returned to India after completing his tour to three
nations namely China, Mongolia and South Korea.
40. Highlights of the visit to China - Prime Minister
raised the boundary question with China and asked
for an early settlement of the issue and decided to
maintain peace and tranquility at the border point
for maturity of relations. India-China signed 24
inter-governmental agreements. 21 business
agreements worth 22 billion US dollars signed
between Indian and Chinese companies. PM Modi
inaugurated ICICI’s first branch in China at Shanghai.
41. Highlights of the visit to Mongolia - Modi is the first
ever Prime Minister of India to visit the country.
India announced to provide one billion US dollar
44.
45.
Line of Credit to Mongolia. India-Mongolia signed
13 agreements including enhancement in
cooperation in border defence, air services, cyber
security, renewable energy and others. Modi
addressed to the Mongolian Parliament. Modi
gifted a rare history manuscript to Mongolian
President.
Highlights of the visit to South Korea - Narendra
Modi announced to set up a special panel to clear
and fast-track South Korean investments into India.
South Korea became the second country after Japan
for which a special panel will be constituted. South
Korea announced to invest 10 billion dollar for
Indian infrastructure development. India-South
Korea signed seven agreements including revised
avoidance of double taxation, cooperation in audiovisual co-production, Youth Matters as well as cooperation between the National Security Council of
India and South Korea.
Muglawali village of Yamun nagar district in
Haryana came into news after district authorities
claimed that they have dugged out a paleo (old)
channel which resembles now inactive River
Saraswati.
19th century Dharahara (Bhimsen) tower at the
center of Sundhara in Kathmandu, Nepal on 25 April
2015 was reduced to rubbles after an earthquake of
magnitude 7.9 on the Richter scale struck the
country.
The United Nations released Mid-2015 World
Economic Situation and Prospects. Growth of world
GDP will accelerate slightly from 2.6 percent in 2014
to 2.8 percent in 2015.
46. United Nations Conference on Trade and
Development (UNCTAD) released a report titled
Global Investment Trends Monitor. The report
highlighted that developing Asia now invests more
abroad than any other region. Hong Kong (China)
and China were the second and the third largest
investors in the world, after the United States which
remains the largest single source of outward foreign
direct investment (FDI).
47. The World Economic Forum released the Human
Capital Report 2015 in Geneva, Switzerland. India
occupied the 100th position among the 124
countries surveyed in the Index. Finland topped the
list.
48. The Union Cabinet approved Polar Satellite Launch
Vehicle (PSLV) Continuation Programme consisting
of fifteen operational flights PSLV-C36 to PSLV-C50.
49. The Union Cabinet gave its nod for building and
launching of GSAT-17 and GSAT-18 communication
satellites.
50. India assumed Presidency of the 68th World Health
Assembly (WHA) after 19 years.
51. 6th National Conference on Nuclear Energy was
held in New Delhi on 15 May 2015. The Conference
was organised by ASSOCHAM with the
theme Nuclear Energy: a Clean Energy option.
52. President Pranab Mukherjee inaugurated the 50th
anniversary of India’s first historic climb of Mount
Everest in 1965 at Rashtrapati Bhavan. On 20 May
1965, Indian team led by Captain Mohan Singh Kohli
of Indian Navy made history by climbing 8848metres high Mt. Everest, the world’s highest peak.
53. Prime Minister Narendra Modi released a
commemorative coin to mark the birth centenary of
Swami Chinmayananda in New Delhi.
54. Singapore PM Lee Hsien Loong opened first
museum Indian Heritage Centre in Little India.
55. The term Multi-Object Tracking Radar (MOTR) was
in news as the Indian Space Research Organisation
(ISRO) announced its plans to commission the radar
in June 2015.
56. The term Nuclear Insurance Pool was in news as the
General Insurance Corporation of India was
collecting views from the stakeholders in the
Insurance industry and Nuclear Energy sector about
the creation of the NIP. The NIP is intended to cover
the liability of Nuclear Plant operators and
Equipment and Material Suppliers under Civil
Liability for Nuclear Damages (CLND) Act, 2010 in
case of nuclear accidents. The creation of the Pool
has become necessary due to the reluctance of the
foreign nuclear equipment suppliers to participate
in the nuclear trade with India as the CNLD Act,
2010 has imposed liability on them in case of
nuclear accidents. The GIC is given the responsibility
by the Union Government for the creation of the
NIP and it will be of 1500 crore rupees and the GIC
will invest 750 crore rupees in it.
57. India launched a relief and rescue Operation named
Maitri in earthquake hit Nepal. The operation will
involve two dozen military aircraft and choppers
along with bus services through road route. India
also pressed nearly 1000 trained personnel of the
National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) into
service.
58. The President of India Pranab Mukherjee
inaugurated Namaste Russia festival in Moscow,
Russia.
59. Book titled Unbelievable – Delhi to Islamabad
authored by senior Advocate Prof. Bhim Singh was
released by Vice President M Hamid Ansari in New
Delhi.
60. Mirage 2000 fighter jet of Indian air force landed
successfully on Yamuna Expressway as part of
developing road runaway for emergency landing.
It's a kind of first for military aviation in India.
61. Air-to-air missile, Astra was successfully test fired at
the Integrated Test Range (ITR), Chandipur in
Odisha. It was test-fired aboard a Sukhoi-30 MKI
fighter aircraft. Astra is India’s first beyond visual
range air-to-air missile (BVRAAM) that is capable of
engaging its target at ranges of 37 km or beyond. It
has operational range of 60km.
62. Indian Army signed Memorandum of Understanding
(MoU) with the Bank of India (BOI) on the Defence
Salary Package.
63. The Naval establishment of Indian Navy at
Porbandar, Gujarat was commissioned as INS Sardar
Patel by Anandiben Patel, Chief Minister of Gujarat.
64. India successfully conducted the 48th test firing of
the BrahMos Supersonic Cruise Missile from the Car
Nicobar Islands in Andaman and Nicobar. The
advanced version of the land-to-land configuration
of BrahMos Block-III version was test-fired from a
Mobile Autonomous Launcher (MAL) for its fullrange of 290 km.
65. The first regiment of the indigenously developed
Surface-to-Air missile Akash Weapon System was
inducted into the Indian Army in New Delhi.
66. The Fourteenth edition of the Indo-French naval
exercise VARUNA 2015 concluded on 2 May 2015.
The exercise started on 23 April 2015 off the Goa
Coast.
67. State-owned United Bank of India has become the
first of the 17 lenders to publicly admit that it no
longer expects to recover its dues from the
beleaguered Kingfisher Airlines. Interestingly, the
Kolkata-based lender was the first bank to attempt
to get Vijay Mallya, the chairman of Kingfisher
Airlines, tagged as a wilful defaulter.
68. RBI will soon set up a Central Fraud Registry as part
of an early warning system. The idea is to set up a
structure for quick sharing of information about
unscrupulous borrowers and help banks fight bad
loans.
69. Puducherry will be the first Union territory/state to
implement direct benefit transfer (DBT) scheme for
disbursal of food subsidy to the beneficiaries.
70. Government approved a proposal allowing
investment by non-resident Indians (NRI) to be
deemed as domestic investment on a par with
investment made by residents. This means NRI
investment will not be included in the category of
foreign investment.
71. An expert panel has recommended to the pension
regulator to give the option of up to 50% (up from
15%) equity exposure to government employees
under the National Pension System (NPS). The GN
Bajpai panel, constituted by the Pension Regulatory
and Development Authority (PFRDA) on September
10, 2014 to review investment guidelines, has
suggested that government employees also be
given the option to choose their pension fund
manager (now not available) as well as switch them
if not satisfied with performance.
72. The finance ministry notified the increased service
tax rate of 14 per cent effective from 1st June.
However, the Swachchha Bharat Cess is yet to be
notified. In Budget 2015-16, the government had
hiked the service tax to 14 per cent from the
current 12.36 per cent. The education cess and
secondary and higher education cess shall be
subsumed in the new service tax rate.
73. India and South Korea signed a revised double
taxation avoidance pact and agreed to begin talks
from mid next year to widen the scope of free trade
pact to boost bilateral economic cooperation.
74. South Korea decided to provide $10 billion to India
for infrastructure, development of smart cities,
railways, power generation and other diversified
areas.
75. The government has limited fiscal deficit for 201415 at 4% of GDP, lower than the revised estimate of
4.1% announced in February.
76. India announced a USD one billion credit line to
Mongolia for infrastructure development as they
upgraded their ties to “Strategic Partnership” and
agreed to deepen defence cooperation besides
exploring potential for tie ups in areas like the civil
nuclear sector.
77. The Narendra Modi led government launched the
website of NITI Aayog with a blogs section that will
have articles, field reports, work in progress and
opinions by the officials.
78. Monsoon is likely to hit the Kerala coast on May 30,
two days before its scheduled arrival in India even
as the country stares at the possibility of below
normal rains for a second consecutive year.
79. Wholesale price inflation stayed in the negative
zone for the sixth month in a row, easing to -2.65%
in April.
80. The
Union
Cabinet
chaired
by
Prime
Minister Narendra Modi approved amending the
Benami Transactions (Prohibition) Act, 1988 aimed
at curbing the generation and laundering of black
money within the country.
81. Rating agency Moody’s said monsoon and global
financial volatility will pose additional risks to India’s
growth this year, but the GDP is likely to average
around 7.5 per cent over the next 18-24 months
due to improvement in business environment
induced by reforms. US-based Moody’s has a
positive outlook on India’s ‘Baa3′ rating.
82. Retail inflation in April softened further and fell to a
four-month low of 4.87 per cent as prices of food
items, vegetables and fruits turned cheaper.
83. The proposed Goods and Service Tax (GST) Bill was
referred to a Select Committee of Parliamentarians.
The 21-member panel will give its report by the last
day of the first week of the Monsoon Session.
84. Indian Railways will soon launch its ‘Tatkal Special’
train service, travelling on which will be dearer than
on normal trains.
85. Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana (PMSBY) will
offer a renewable one year accidental death-cumdisability cover of Rs 2 lakh for partial/permanent
disability to all savings bank account holders in the
age group of 18-70 years for a premium of Rs 12 per
annum per subscriber.
86. Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana (PMJJBY)
will offer a renewable one year life cover of Rs 2
lakh to all savings bank account holders in the age
group of 18-50 years, covering death due to any
reason, for a premium of Rs 330 per annum per
subscriber.
87. Atal Pension Yojana (APY) will focus on the
unorganised sector and provide subscribers a fixed
minimum pension of Rs 1,000, Rs 2,000, Rs 3,000,
Rs 4,000 or Rs 5,000 per month, starting at the age
of 60 years, depending on the contribution option
exercised on entering at an age between 18 and 40
years.
88. Traders with a turnover below R10 lakh a year
won’t have to register for or pay the goods and
services tax (GST), and those with annual sales of
R10 lakh to R50 lakh will need to pay the tax at a
rate lower rate than the standard GST rate.
89. As part of its efforts to improve India’s ranking in
the World Bank’s ‘Ease of Doing Business’ index, the
government has set up a panel with a view to
replace multiple prior permissions required to start
a business with a pre-existing regulatory
mechanism. The panel is headed by Jaijit
Bhattacharya.
90. Congress vice
president Rahul
Gandhi’s
constituency Amethi is set to be developed as a
Smart City by the Narendra Modi-led government.
91. Cabinet enhanced the powers of Foreign
Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) to take
decisions on foreign investments worth up to Rs
3,000 crore, up from the Rs 1,200 crore allowed as
per the FDI Policy, 2014.
92. India and France decided to set up teams to work
out details of the acquisition of 36 Rafale fighter
jets in fly-away condition and a “time-bound
manner”.
93. Cabinet approved a modification in the Mega Food
Park scheme to streamline its implementation to
attract investment in the food processing sector.
94. Finance Ministry clarified that LPG subsidy received
by individuals in their bank accounts will continue
to be exempt from income tax.
95. The government said the birth rate in India is
greater than that of China and said the country’s
population will cross China’s by 2028.
96. A deal signed between engineering firm L&T and
French nuclear vendor Areva for maximising the
localisation of critical components for the proposed
10,000-MW nuclear power plant at Jaitapur.
97. Government decided to defer plans to set up an
independent Public Debt Management Agency
(PDMA) this year, allowing the central bank to
continue with regulating government bonds.
98. Eight core industries registered a negative growth
of 0.1 per cent in March, the lowest performance in
17 months, due to a steep decline in production of
steel, cement and refinery products.
99. A court in Pakistan sentenced 10 men to life
imprisonment for attempting to kill Nobel-prize
winning teenage activist Malala Yousafzai in 2012.
100. Operation Maitri, India’s Army-led rescue and relief
mission in quake-hit Nepal, would continue till
normalcy returned to the Himalayan country, the
Army said.
101. Raja Rajeswari, the first India-born woman to be
appointed a judge in New York City, was sworn-in
by Mayor Bill de Blasio.
102. The government decided to continue its Rs.1,000
minimum monthly pension scheme run by the
Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation.
103. In an audit report tabled in Parliament, the
Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) named
Union Minister Nitin Gadkari as one of the
‘promoters and/or directors’ of Purti Sakhar
Karkhana Limited — a company that, it said, was
sanctioned a loan of Rs. 84.12 crore by the Indian
Renewable Energy Development Agency (IREDA) in
violation of guidelines.
104. In the face of an uproar in the Rajya Sabha over
“son-guaranteeing’’ medicine, Putrajivak Beejbeing
sold by Yoga guru Baba Ramdev’s pharmacy, the
government agreed to look into the issue and see
how the “ayurvedic medicine” was issued a licence.
105. India is sending two of its senior most officials,
Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar and National
Security Adviser Ajit Doval, to Kathmandu to take
stock of the situation and amplify its relief efforts.
106. In order help investors better understand risks
involved in mutual fund (MF) investments, SEBI,
replaced the mandatory colour codes with a
‘riskometer’ containing five levels of risks from low
to high. The five risk levels would be low,
moderately low, moderate, moderately high and
high. The new system would replace the existing
practice of colour-coding the schemes wherein the
funds needed to be given blue, yellow and brown
codes to indicate low, medium and high risk
respectively.
107. Maharashtra Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
said that it had ordered an FIR to be filed against
the CEO and the directors of Internet shopping
company Snapdeal for allegedly selling prescription
drugs online.
108. NASA’s Messenger spacecraft has crashed into the
surface of Mercury.
109. The Centre has approved the long-standing demand
of Indian scientists that the country be an associate
member of CERN (European Organisation for
Nuclear Research).
110. Mutual fund managers pumped in over Rs.7,600
crore in equity markets in April, making it their
highest net inflow in more than seven years, mainly
on account of positive investor sentiments and the
government’s reforms agenda.
111. The Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Bill
2013 will be referred to a Select Committee by the
Rajya Sabha.
112. The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has
rejected allegations of unfair business practices
against five online retail majors — Flipkart,
Snapdeal, Amazon, Jabong and Myntra — as it did
not find any prima facie evidence of violations.
113. IT major Infosys has asked the West Bengal
government to either give SEZ (Special Economic
Zone) status to the company’s proposed software
development centre at Rajarhat or repay the money
it has given in advance for the land.
114. A sessions court in Mumbai held Bollywood actor
Salman Khan guilty of culpable homicide and
sentenced him to five-year rigorous imprisonment
and a fine of Rs. 25,000 in the 2002 hit-and-run
case.
115. With 352 votes in favour, the Constitution (122nd
Amendment) Bill for introduction of Goods and
Services Tax (GST) sailed through the Lok Sabha.
116. Union Cabinet met to approve an amendment that
would effectively dilute the scope of the Whistle
Blowers Protection Act of 2011. The amendment
incorporates ‘necessary provisions’ to keep issues of
national security out of its purview.
117. India and Iran signed an inter-Governmental
Memorandum of Understanding regarding India’s
participation in the development of the Chabahar
Port in Iran.
118. The U.S. has handed over to Pakistan 14 combat
aircraft, 59 military trainer jets and 374 armoured
personnel carriers, which were earlier used by
American forces in Afghanistan and Iraq.
119. The Lok Sabha passed a bill that provides for trying
juveniles aged between 16 and 18 years for heinous
crimes under laws for adults.
120. Parliament unanimously approved The Constitution
(119th Amendment) Bill, operationalising the Land
Boundary Agreement -- swapping territories
between India and Bangladesh -- 41 years after the
1974 Indira Gandhi-Sheikh Mujibur Rehman pact.
Once the Bill is ratified by at least half the
legislatures of the country and gets presidential
assent, it will likely be India’s 100th constitutional
amendment.
121. Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has said the
Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Mark-I Tejas being
inducted into the Indian Air Force (IAF) has limited
capability and does not meet the force’s
operational requirements.
122. The U.N. health agency declared Liberia Ebola-free.
123. RBI has advised all public sector banks and some
private and foreign banks to appoint an internal
ombudsman. The internal ombudsman would be
designated Chief Customer Service Officer. The apex
bank, however, has made it clear that the CCSO
should not have worked in the bank in which he/she
is appointed as CCSO.
124. India has lodged a protest against China’s
announcement of infrastructure projects in
Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK).
125. Commuters can now access Indian Railways’
schedule on their mobile phones and desktops
using Google Maps. Besides information on 12,000
trains, the Maps will now offer updated details for
bus and metro routes in eight cities: New Delhi,
Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Bengaluru,
Hyderabad and Pune.
126. Supreme Court restrained the government from
publishing the photographs of political leaders,
Ministers or prominent persons in government
advertisements. The court, however, drew an
exception to this restraint in the case of the
President, the Prime Minister and the Chief Justice
of India. The verdict relies on guidelines on ‘Content
Regulation of Government Advertising’ framed by a
three-member committee, led by legal academician
N.R. Madhava Menon.
127. The Aam Aadmi Party Government said it would not
allow foreign direct investment (FDI) in retail sector
in the Capital.
128. The Centre decided to continue with the aptitude
test (General Studies Paper-II) in the Civil Services
(Preliminary) Examination, fixing its minimum
qualifying marks at 33 per cent.
129. Union Cabinet approved a proposal to ban
employment of children aged under 14 in all kinds
of commercial enterprises. The Child Labour
Prohibition Act, 1986, imposes the ban on only 18
hazardous industries. However, keeping in mind the
“social fabric” of the country, the Cabinet has made
an exception for work done in family enterprises
and on farmlands, provided it is done after school
hours and during vacations. The Cabinet has barred
employment of adolescents (14 to 18 years) in
hazardous occupations and processes in the
chemical industry and mines.
130. The Indian Medical Association (IMA) has sent a
legal notice to the makers of the film Gabbar is Back
demanding removal of “objectionable” scenes from
the movie that was released on May 1.
131. The proportion of Christians in the U.S. population
dropped by ten per cent over the last seven years,
even as Hindus and Muslims nearly doubled their
share, according to a recent study.
132. China’s move to build nuclear power plants in
Pakistan is not consistent with the rules of the
Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) and the U.S. has
raised this issue in its bilateral meetings, a top
Obama Administration official has said.
133. The Central Government will sell its 10 per cent
stake in blue-chip Indian Oil Corporation and five
per cent in power producer NTPC to mop up about
Rs.13,600 crore in this fiscal’s first disinvestment
approval.
134. RBI allowed Infrastructure Debt Fund-Non-Banking
Financial Companies to invest in public-private
partnerships (PPPs) and infrastructure projects
which have completed at least one year of
satisfactory commercial operation. The maximum
exposure that an IDF-NBFC can take on individual
projects will be at 50 per cent of its total capital
funds.
135. State Bank of India joined its private sector rivals to
launch contactless cards using latest near field
communication (NFC) technology. Called the
SBIinTouch cards, these contactless debit and credit
cards are more secure and hassle-free to use at
merchant outlets or ATMs and use the NFC
technology, which enables users to make payments
by waving or tapping the card near the contactless
reader instead of swiping or dipping it.
136. Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that
India had decided to extend electronic tourist visas
to Chinese nationals.
137. An Egyptian court sentenced deposed Islamist
President Mohamed Morsy and more than 100
other people to death for their role in a mass
jailbreak during the 2011 uprising.
138. Foreign exchange reserves grew by $262.4 million
to touch a new record high of $352.13 billion for the
week ended May 8, 2015 against $351.86 billion for
the previous week, according to RBI weekly data.
139. Draupadi Murmu took oath as the ninth Governor
of Jharkhand, the first tribal woman to occupy the
position in the State.
140. HDFC Bank, in association with Apollo Hospitals, has
launched a co-branded pre-paid card called HDFC
Bank Apollo Medical Benefits Card, which will
enable corporates to easily disburse medical
allowance to their employees without waste of time
and incurring any cost.
141. A Sukhoi-30 fighter aircraft of the Indian Air Force
crashed in Assam.
142. A fully assembled Astrosat, India’s first space
observatory, is ready for intensive tests before its
launch around October.
143. India’s largest commercial bank the State Bank of
India said that its tie up with Snapdeal for funding
MSMEs will boost Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s
Make-in-India initiatives by putting more funds in
the hands of the small entrepreneurs enabling them
to boost their industries.
144. The Republic of Ireland became the first country to
legalise same-sex marriage through popular vote.