Daily Current Affairs Update of 05 February 2015
1. Unilever to spend 100m euro on Indian sanitation by 2019
- Global FMCG (Fast-moving consumer goods) giant Unilever plans to spend 100 million euros (over Rs 700 crore) by 2019 on sanitation programmes in India.
- Unilever CEO Paul Polman decided that the company would focus on major cities in each of the states and set the standards.
- It become a key partner in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's clean India campaign.
- It also partnering the government in smart cities and Make in India initiatives.
2. India ranked second last in Intellectual Property Index
- The US is on top amoung 30 countries,
- India is at 29 position.
- Thaliand is at 30 position.
- Vietnam, Nigeria, South Africa, China and Russia are ranked above India in the list prepared by Global Intellectual Property Center (GIPC).
3. Infosys inducts Roopa Kudva as Independent Member of theBoard
- IT services major Infosys Limited the appointmented Ms. Roopa Kudva as a Managing Director and CEO of credit rating agency Crisil, as an Independent Member of its Board of Directors.
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| Daily Current Affairs Update of 05 February 2015 |
4. Snapdeal collaborates with Kolte-Patil for its home buying expo
- Pune-based real estate developer Kolte Patil Developers Ltd has tied up with e-commerce major Snapdeal to enable customers to make online bookings for all its 13 properties on display at its home buying expo, NestFest.
- The exhibition wi be held at SSPMS Grounds in Pune from February 6-8.
- Mr. Kunal Bahl, co-founder and CEO Snapdeal.com
5. RBI releases list of payments, small banks applicants
- The Reserve Bank of India today released the names of applicants of small finance banks and payment banks, stating it received 72 applications for small finance banks and 41 applications for payments banks.
- The RBI also announced the names of the members of the External Advisory Committee (EAC) for small finance banks as well as payments banks.
- External Advisory Committee for Small Finance Banks - Usha Thorat, former Deputy Governor, Reserve Bank of India (Chairperson) - MS Sahoo, Secretary, The Institute of Company Secretaries of India (ICSI) - MS Sriram, Professor at IIM Bangalore & Distinguished Fellow of Institute for Development and Research in Banking Technology (IDRBT) - M Balachandran, Chairman, National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI).
- External Advisory Committee for Payments Banks - Nachiket M Mor, Director, Central Board of Reserve Bank of India (Chairman) - Roopa Kudva, former MD & CEO, CRISIL Limited - Shubhalakshmi Panse, former Chairman & Managing Director, Allahabad Bank - Deepak Phatak, Chair Professor, IIT Bombay.
6. Punjab to issue Aadhaar linked e-ration cards
- Punjab will be the first state to issue Aadhaar-linked e-ration cards to ensure that only genuine beneficiaries get subsidised foodgrain. All the identified beneficiaries are being distributed Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) compliant e-ration cards.
- Punjab is the first state in the country to have initiated the e-ration cards to ensure that only genuine and deserving beneficiaries get subsidised ration, he added.
- After implementation of National Food Security Act, distribution of subsidised foodgrain is being done strictly on the basis of digitised database of the ration card holders, the Food and Civil Supplies Minister Adesh Partap Singh Kairon said.
- Punjab is among the first states to have implemented the National Food Security Act 2013. About 31 lakh beneficiary families were covered under the subsidised foodgrain scheme, he said.
7. Ghanshyam Sharma joins as Director (Fin), HNL
- Ghanshyam Sharma, DGM, NPCIL, has taken over the charge as Director (Finance), Hindustan Newsprint Limited (HNL).
8. Govt appoints new chit fund probe panel head
- The state government today appointed Justice Madan Mohan Das as the head the one man commission for verification and return of chit fund deposits raised by several unscrupulous financial companies.
- The post was lying vacant since January 28 after the death of Justice R K Patra, who was heading the panel since its constitution in July 2013.
9. KOEL, Rolls-Royce ink pact to supply gensets for nuclear plants
- Pune based engine and genset manufacturer Kirloskar Oil Engines and UK based power systems provider Rolls-Royce has inked an agreement for exclusive cooperation on the building and commissioning of emergency gensets for nuclear power plants in India.
- As per the declaration, Rolls-Royce will supply MTU engines and key components, and take responsibility for basic engineering and genset configuration. KOEL, as a main contractor to Nuclear Power Corporation of India (NPCIL), will integrate the systems and assemble and test the gensets on site in India.
- KOEL has invested Rs 100 crore to revise the Central Pollution Control Board's (Ministry of Environment & Forests) revised norms CPCB-II. It is spending Rs 25 crore for expanding dealerships and online distribution. It is delivered more than 2,000 gensets in the market complying with the new emission guidelines.
10. Goswami removed as home secy, L C Goyal appointed to the post
- Anil Goswami was on Wednesday removed from the post of home secretary. This followed Goswami being summoned for an explanation on why he tried to intervene and prevent the arrest of Matang Sinh, former minister of state in the Prime Minister's Office, in the Saradha scam.
- Rural Development Secretary L C Goyal, a 1979 batch Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer of the Kerala cadre, has been appointed Goswami's successor.
- Sources said earlier on Wednesday, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh had briefed Prime Minister Narendra Modi about allegations that Goswami had tried to stall Matang Sinh's arrest.
Read Daily Current Affairs Update of 03 February 2015
