Current Affairs 20th May 2015

Current Affairs 20th May 2015 - Important Points

• Who has been appointed as Chairman of JPC on Land Acquisition Amendment Bill, 2015 - SS Ahluwalia

• Name of the Medical Benefits Card launched by HDFC - HDFC Bank Apollo Medical Benefits Card

• Recently PM Narendra Modi visited which three countries - China, Mongolia and South Korea

• Who has been elected as eighth President of Micronesia - Peter M Christian

• Where the driest place on earth has been discovered - Maria Elena South in Atacama Desert

• President inaugurated 50th anniversary of - First historic climb of Mt. Everest in 1965 of India

Current Affairs 20th May 2015 - Details

Who has been appointed as Chairman of JPC on Land Acquisition Amendment Bill, 2015 - SS Ahluwalia

Among the National Current Affairs On 18th May 2015, SS Ahluwalia was appointed as chairman of JPC (Joint Parliamentary Committee) on the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition Rehabilitation and Resettlement (LARR) (Amendment) Bill, 2015.

This committee has 30 members in total i.e. 20 members are from Lok Sabha and 10 members are from Rajya Sabha. This Committee was formed after there was a disagreement among the political parties on the provisions of the bill as this bill was introduced in Lok Sabha on 11th May 2015. 

This committee will be submitting its report in 2015 monsoon session's first week.

Who is SS Ahluwalia ? 

He is Lok Sabha member from BJP and representing Darjeeling constituency in West Bengal.

Name of the Medical Benefits Card launched by HDFC - HDFC Bank Apollo Medical Benefits Card

Among the Important Banking Current Affairs, On 18th May 2015,  a co-branded medical benefits card was launched by HDFC bank in partnership with Apollo Hospitals, this card was named as HDFC Bank Apollo Medical Benefits Card. It allows corporates to disburse medical allowances to their employees and has insurance cover for accidents.

This card also covers a free 3 lakh rupees accidental death insurance.

Recently PM Narendra Modi visited which three countries - China, Mongolia and South Korea

On 19th May 2015,  PM Narendra Modi concluded his three nations journey and returned to India. He visited China, Mongolia and South Korea from 14 May to 19 May 2015. This tour was a part of Act East Policy. Many agreements were signed during this tour and he also promoted Make in India concept during this tour. Following are the countrywise highlights : 

China Visit : 

• Boundary issue was raised and it was decided to maintain peace and tranquility at the border point for maturity of relations.
• 24 inter-governmental agreements were signed between India and China.
• 22 billion US dollars business agreements were signed between Indian and Chinese companies.
• ICICI's first branch in China at Shanghai by PM Modi.

Mongolia Visit : 

• One billion US dollar Line of Credit will be provided to Mongolia by India.
• 13 agreements including enhancement in cooperation in border defence, air services, cyber security, renewable energy and others were signed.
• Mongolian Parliament was addressed by PM Modi.
• A rare history manuscript was gifted by PM Modi to Mongolian President.

South Korea Visit : 

• South Korea announced to invest 10 billion dollar for Indian infrastructure development in India.
• Narendra Modi announced to set up a special panel to clear and fast-track South Korean investments into India after this South Korea became the second country after Japan for which a special panel will be constituted.
• Seven aggreements were signed between India and South Korea including revised avoidance of double taxation, cooperation in audio-visual co-production, Youth Matters as well as co-operation between the National Security Council of India and South Korea.

Who has been elected as eighth President of Micronesia - Peter M Christian

 Among the International Current Affairs, On 11th May 2015, Peter M Christian was elected as the eighth President of the Federated States of Micronesia. He was as a senator representing Pohnpei at-large for two terms between 2007 and 2015 before becoming the President. 

Do You Know : 

The Federated States of Micronesia is an independent sovereign island nation. It is in the Western Pacific Ocean and has four states. These four states are Yap, Chuuk, Pohnpei and Kosrae.

Where the driest place on earth has been discovered - Maria Elena South in Atacama Desert

Researchers have discovered the driest place on the Earth in the Atacama Desert in Chile and the name of site discovered is reffered as Maria Elena South (MES).

Armando Azua-Bustos who is lead author and an environmental biologist and research scientist at the Blue Marble Space Institute of Science in Seattle, US, presented in the paper, Discovery and microbial content of the driest site of the hyperarid Atacama Desert, Chile, published in March 2015 in the journal Environmental Microbiology Reports.

MES has a mean atmospheric relative humidity (RH) of 17.3 percent. It has a soil RH of a constant 14 percent at a depth of one meter and this place is dry as Mars. 

President inaugurated 50th anniversary of - First historic climb of Mt. Everest in 1965 of India

On 20th May 2015, President Pranab Mukherjee inaugurated the 50th anniversary of India's first historic climb of Mount Everest in 1965. This inauguration was done at Rashtrapati Bhavan and was organized by Indian Mountaineering Foundation.

On 20th May 1965 a team which was lead by Captain Mohan Singh Kohli of Indian Navy wrote history by climbing 8848-metres high world's highed peak Mt. Everest for the first time ever. This was done after three unsuccessful attempt in as many as five years. 

There were 21 members in the team and total 9 were reached at the peak. 

Captain Mohan Singh Kohli also wrote a book on this expedition titled Nine Atop Everest.