Daily Current Affairs Update of 28 March 2015 | General Knowledge
Daily Current Affairs Update of 28 March 2015
1.
Abel Prize for 2015 has been conferred to two US mathematicians John F.
Nash Jr. and Canada-born American national Louis Nirenberg for their
contributions to mathematical sciences. Abel Prize for 2015, considered
as the maths Nobel, has been granted to them "for striking and seminal
contributions to the theory of nonlinear partial differential equations
and its applications to geometric analysis".
2. India has contributed USD
260,000 for a permanent memorial unveiled at the UN headquarters to
honour the victims of slavery and transatlantic slave trade. The 'Ark of
Return' was unveiled by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and President
of the General Assembly Sam Kutesa.
3. President Barack Obama has
nominated an Indian-American, a former official at its Embassy in New
Delhi, as the next US ambassador to Sri Lanka and Maldives. Obama
announced the nomination of Atul Keshap, a career foreign service
official, as the next US ambassador to Sri Lanka and Maldives along with
Alaina Teplitz as the next ambassador to Nepal.
 |
| Daily Current Affairs Update of 28 March 2015 | General Knowledge |
4. India's First Secretary in
Kathmandu, Abhay K, a poet-diplomat, has been appointed as the Director
of the Nehru Centre in London. Abhay, a 2003 IFS-batch officer, will
succeed current director Sangeeta Bahadur and expected to join office in
June.
5. The Asian Development Bank
(ADB) will extend a loan of USD 300 million to India for improving road
connectivity and increasing the domestic and regional trade along the
North Bengal-North Eastern Region (NER). An agreement in this regard was
signed with the ADB.
6. Kerala Tourism was conferred
the national Web Ratna Award for 2014 for exemplary e-governance
initiative through the internet. The Kerala Tourism website
(www.keralatourism.org) won the Golden Icon award in the 'Outstanding
Content' category of the Web Ratna Awards, instituted by the Union
government under the ambit of the National Portal of India.
7. The Prime Minister-led
Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) approved the establishment
of National Supercomputing Mission to enable India to leapfrog to the
league of world class computing power nations. National Supercomputing
Mission (NSM) would be implemented and steered jointly by the Department
of Science and Technology (DST) and Department of Electronics and
Information Technology (DeitY) at an estimated cost of Rs.4500 crore
over a period of seven years.
8. NTPC Ltd. became the
first-ever public sector undertaking (PSU) to issue bonus debentures
amounting to Rs. 7725.76 crore to Government of India by virtue of its
74.96% shar eholding in NTPC. In addition to the bonus debentures, the
Government of India has also received Rs. 2060.75 crore as dividend
distribution tax on the debentures. This thus became the first-ever
instance of a PSU issuing bonus debenture issues.
9. K.M. Mani (Finance Minister
of Kerala) was appointed as the Chairman of the Empowered Committee of
State Finance Ministers on the Goods and Services Tax (GST). The post of
the Chairman of the Empowered Committee of State Finance Ministers on
the GST fell vacant when Abdul Rahim Rather quit following defeat of
National Conference in the Jammu and Kashmir elections.
10. 11 influential
Indian-American investors feature in Forbes 2015 Midas List. The Forbes
2015 Midas List represents the world's 100 smartest technology investors
with valuations greater than $1 billion and a total of 766 deals. Jim
Goetz of Sequoia Capital maintained the number 1 spot for the second
year in a row. Leading the Indian-Americans on the list is 49-year old
Aneel Bhusri (17th rank), CEO and Co-founder of Workday, a cloud-based
financials and human resources software firm.
