Current Affairs 14th October 2015

Current Affairs 14th October 2015 - Important Points

• Who has been appointed as CEO and MD of Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor Development Corp - Alkesh Sharma

• Who has became first Indian female bodybuilder to win silver in Asian body building championship - Shweta Rathore

• Who has won Presidential election of Belarus - Alexander Lukashenko

• Where did the Sweet banana species, Musa Indandamanensis, discovered - Tropical rain forest of Andaman Islands

• Who has been conferred Honorary Doctorate on President Pranab Mukherjee - Al-Quds University

• Which scheme has been launched by Delhi government - Bill Banvao, Inaam Pao scheme

• Ministry of Shipping launched a programme to develop 78 Lighthouses as tourism centers

• Who has been appointed as CEO of Reliance Power - N Venugopala Rao

• Who has been chosen as 'Finance Minister of the Year, Asia' by Emerging Markets - Arun Jaitley

• 2015 Man Booker Prize for Fiction - Jamaican writer Marlon James

• Who is appointed as MD and CEO of Bank of Baroda - PS Jayakumar

Current Affairs 14th October 2015 - Details

Who has been appointed as CEO and MD of Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor Development Corp - Alkesh Sharma

On 12th October 2015, IAS officer Alkesh Sharma was appointed as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Managing Director (MD) of the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor Development Corporation (DMICDC).

He sis a 1990-batch IAS officer of the Kerala cadre.

About Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor

It is a mega infra-structure project of 90 billion US dollars with the financial & technical aids from Japan, covering an overall length of 1483 KMs between Delhi and Mumbai.

This Multi-modal High Axle Load Dedicated Freight Corridor (DFC) will pass through the six States that is Uttar Pradesh, NCR of Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan, Gujarat and Maharashtra with end terminals at Dadri in the National Capital Region of Delhi and Jawaharlal Nehru Port near Mumbai.

Who has became first Indian female bodybuilder to win silver in Asian body building championship - Shweta Rathore

In first week of October 2015, Indian female bodybuilder Shweta Rathore became the first ever Indian female bodybuilder to win a medal at a continental level tournament by winning a silver medal in the 49th Asian Bodybuilding and Physique Championship, held in Uzbekistan.

She has qualified for the World Championship, to be held in Thailand in November 2015. She have participated in several tournaments across the world and has been the flag-bearer for women’s bodybuilding in India.

Before this, she won a bronze medal at the the World Bodybuilding and Physique fitness Championship. She runs an NGO called God’s Beautiful Children and also an Academy called fitness forever.

Who has won Presidential election of Belarus - Alexander Lukashenko

On 11th October 2015, Belarusian presidential elections was won by Alexander Lukashenko with over 83.5 % of the votes. He has came into power for the fifth time.

About 5.1 million out of the nearly 7 million casted their vvotes in favour of Lukashenko.

Where did the Sweet banana species, Musa Indandamanensis, discovered - Tropical rain forest of Andaman Islands

A new species of banana, named Musa Indandamanensis, was discovered from a remote tropical rain forest on the Andaman Islands by Scientists at the Botanical Survey of India (BSI).

It was located 16 kilometers inside the Krishna Nalah forest. Bananas of this species are very sweet in taste and are eaten by tribal people of the island.

Features of Musa Indandamanensis

• The height of the trees of this species are about 11 meter.
• The fruit lux of the species is about one metres.
• It is thrice the size of a regular banana species and a distinct global species with unique green flowers and fruit bunch lux (axis).
• The fruit pulp of the species is orange in colour.

Till now, about 52 species of banana are reported to occur in the wild across the world of which 15 are reported to be in India.

Who has been conferred Honorary Doctorate on President Pranab Mukherjee - Al-Quds University

On 13th October 2015, Al-Quds University conferred Honorary Doctorate on President Pranab Mukherjee at a ceremony held in Ramallah.

On the occasion, the President announced the setting up of an India-Chair in the Al Quds University.

About Al-Quds University

It is a Palestinian university founded in 1984 with campuses in al-Bireh, Abu Dis, and Jerusalem. Its official constitution was written in 1993 when Mohammed Nusseibeh, its first Chancellor and Chancellor of the College of Science and Technology, announced its formation.

Which scheme has been launched by Delhi government - Bill Banvao, Inaam Pao scheme

On 13th October 2015, Bill Banvao, Inaam Pao scheme was launched by the Delhi Government to motivate people to receive or demand proper bills for purchases.

The scheme is applicable only on a bill or cash memo/retail invoice of more than 100 rupees for purchases made from a registered dealer in Delhi. The maximum amount of prize is 50000 rupees.

Customers can upload the bill/cash memo on the website of the Department of Trade and Taxes within seven days of purchase or a snapshot of the bill can also be sent to the designated number of the department through Whatsapp. A unique ID will be generated for each bill and sent to the customer via SMS.

The bill must include the registration number (TIN) of the dealer, full name of each item purchased, rate of tax charged against each and total sale value (excluding VAT).

Ministry of Shipping launched a programme to develop 78 Lighthouses as tourism centers

On 13th October 2015, The Ministry of Shipping along with the Directorate General of Lighthouses and Lightships (DGLL) launched an ambitious programme to develop 78 lighthouses in the country as centres of tourism in the first phase under Public Private Partnership (PPP).

The identified lighthouses are in Karnataka, Kerala, Lakshadweep, Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, Gujarat, West Bengal, Maharashtra, Goa, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha and Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

The land adjacent to these lighthouses will have maritime museums and heritage museums, adventure sports facilities, hotels, resorts, viewing galleries, spa & rejuvenation centers, amphitheaters, thematic restaurants, souvenir shops, LASER shows and allied tourism facilities to attract the tourists.

The Ministry of Shipping and DGLL planned to promote lighthouses across India as tourism destinations with the following key objectives:

• To explore the possibilities of developing these projects under PPP by integrating commercially viable interventions at the feasible locations in order to make the project viable.
• To enhance and develop the existing Lighthouses and their surrounding areas into unique tourism destinations and Maritime Landmarks.
• To identify and develop possible tourism infrastructure components to facilitate promotion of tourism at Lighthouse premises.

Who has been appointed as CEO of Reliance Power - N Venugopala Rao

On 13th October 2015, Reliance Power appointed N Venugopala Rao as its Chief Executive Officer (CEO).

Rao has a rich experience of about 35 years in Finance & Accounts, project finance, project planning, contracts management and project development.

Earlier to this appointment, he was the CEO of Sasan Power Limited, a 100 % subsidiary of Reliance Power, which developed the world’s largest integrated coal mine and power project, Sasan Ultra Mega Power Project (UMPP), with an investment of nearly 27000 crore rupees.

Who has been chosen as 'Finance Minister of the Year, Asia' by Emerging Markets - Arun Jaitley

In October 2015, London-based publication Emerging Markets has chosen Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley was as 'Finance Minister of the Year, Asia'.

The magazine in an article said that Jaitley too deserves some recognition for India’s relative economic success over the last 18 months. It says that without his decisions and stewardship of India’s financial direction, India would not have achieved what it has.

Besides this, the Governor of Bangladesh Bank, Atiur Rahman was named as the Central Bank Governor of the Year, Asia 2015 for generating considerable strength and resilience in the economy of Bangladesh.

Emerging Markets is part of Euromoney Institutional Investor plc, one of the largest providers of financial information worldwide.

2015 Man Booker Prize for Fiction - Jamaican writer Marlon James

On 13th October 2015, the 2015 Man Booker Prize for Fiction was won by Jamaican writer Marlon James for his novel A Brief History of Seven Killings and became the first Jamaican author to win the prize in its 47-years of history.

He was honoured with the prize money of 50000 Euros, a trophy and a designer bound edition of his book. He was also awarded with additional 2500 Euros for being shortlisted for the prize.

The other writers in the list were Marlon James, Tom McCarthy, Chigozie Obioma, Hanya Yanagihara, Anne Tyler and Sunjeev Sahota.

About Man Booker Prize

• It is recognised as the leading award for high quality literary fiction written in English and the First award was presented in 1969.
• The prize is the world's most important literary award and has the power to transform the fortunes of authors and publishers.

Who is appointed as MD and CEO of Bank of Baroda - PS Jayakumar

On 13th October 2015, PS Jayakumar took over the charge of Managing Director (MD) and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of state-owned Bank of Baroda. He has taken the charge when the bank is under the scanner for an alleged black money transactions worth over 6000 crore rupees.

Besides this, Ravi Venkatesan, ex-chairman of Microsoft India, was appointed as the non-executive Chairman of the bank.

The alleged BoB scam

In the first week of October 2015, allegedly 6172 crore rupees were remitted from Bank of Baroda to Hong Kong. The amount was shown as payments for non-existent imports like cashew, pulses and rice. The amount was allegedly deposited in 59 accounts in cash as advance for imports that never existed.