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Romesh Sharma - Important Current Affairs May 2015 Capsule with PDFby Romesh Sharma - Testbook Blog - https://testbook.com/blog

Important Current Affairs May 2015 Capsule with PDF

by Romesh Sharma - Tuesday, June 02, 2015

https://testbook.com/blog/important-current-affairs-may-2015-capsule-with-pdf/

Important Current Affairs May 2015 Capsule

Person in News

C N R RaoEminent scientist C N R Rao was conferred with Japan”s highest civilian award for hisoutstanding contributions to science and Indo-Japanese science coperation.Achal Kumar JyotiAchal Kumar Jyoti, a former Gujarat Chief Secretary, was appointed as the ElectionCommissioner, filling one of the two vacancies in the three-member body.

Born on January 23, 1953, Jyoti will have a tenure of nearly three years, when he will turn65.An EC or a CEC has a tenure of six years in office or till he or she attains the age of 65years, whichever is earlier.From April 19, when Nasim Zaidi took over as the CEC till today, he was the onlymember in the poll body.

Swami Atmasthanand MaharajPrime Minister Narendra Modi met Swami Atmasthanand Maharaj, presidentof Ramakrishna Math and Mission Order whom he considers his guru.

Sanjita Pradhan

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US President Barack Obama has nominated an IIT alumni to his advisory commissionon Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPIs).Obama announced the nomination of Sanjita Pradhan, an MBA from the IndianInstitute of Technology, along with other nominations for several key administration post.

Shashi KapoorVeteran Bollywood actor Shashi Kapoor was conferred with the prestigious Dada SahebPhalke award by Union Minister Arun Jaitley at Prithvi theatre in Mumbai.

Kapoor made his debut as a leading man in the 1961 film “Dharmputra” and went on toappear in more than 116 films during 60s, 70s and until the mid 80s.Some of his memorable films include “Deewar”, “Kabhie Kabhie”, “Namak Halal”,“Kaala Pathar” and others.His best known performances as child artist were in “Aag” (1948) and “Awaara” (1951),where he played the younger version of the character played by Raj Kapoor. ShashiKapoor also worked as assistant director in the 1950s.He was honoured with Padma Bhushan in 2011.He is the 46th recipient of Dada Saheb Phalke Award to receive this honour for hisoutstanding contribution to the growth and development to Indian Cinema.The Dadasaheb Phalke Award is India’s highest award in cinema. It is presentedannually at the National Film Awards ceremony by the Directorate of Film Festivals, anorganisation set up by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.First presented in 1969, the award was introduced by the Government of India tocommemorate Dadasaheb Phalke’s contribution to Indian cinema.The first recipient of the award was actress Devika Rani, who was honoured at the 17thNational Film Awards.

Rahul YadavA week after withdrawing resignation, Housing.com Chief Executive Rahul Yadav in a surprisemove decided to allot all his personal holding in the company worth Rs 150-200 crore to theemployees.

Yadav holds the highest shares among the founding team, which is now down to ninemembers from 12 when Housing began operations in 2012.Started by 12 IIT-Bombay graduates, Housing is a map-based real estate portal whichhelps people rent, sell and buy houses. Besides, SoftBank and Nexus Venture Partners, itsother investors include Helion Venture Partners, Qualcomm Ventures and Falcon Edge.

Arun Shrivastava

The government appointed Arun Shrivastava as Managing Director and Chief Executive Officerof Syndicate Bank, nearly nine months after the arrest of its CMD S K Jain in a graft case.

Draupadi Murmu

Draupadi Murmu has been sworn in as the first woman Governor of Jharkhand.Murmu succeeds Syed Ahmed, who will take over as the Governor of Manipur.A two-time BJP MLA from Odisha, Ms Murmu was a minister in the Naveen Patnaikcabinet when the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) ruled the state with the support of Bharatiya JanataParty (BJP).

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She headed the BJP’s Mayurbhanj district unit in Odisha and had represented Rairangpurin the Odisha assembly.

Harkeert Singh Saini

An 44-year-old Indian-American policeman has been awarded the prestigious “Top CivilianSupervisor of the Year” award for his efficient services to the Houston Police department in theUS state of Texas.

Harkeert Singh Saini received the award from Police Chief Charles A McClelland AndHouston Mayor Anise Parker during a function held at the Hyatt Regency Hotel hereearlier this week.Saini, a police records supervisor has been working for the Houston Policedepartment for the last 15 years.

S S Ahluwalia

Former Union minister and BJP MP S S Ahluwalia was appointed chairman of a JointCommittee of Parliament that will go into the provisions of the controversial land acquisitionbill.

Ahluwalia is a BJP Lok Sabha member from Darjeeling in West Bengal.The 30-member Joint Committee of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha would submit its reporton the first day of Monsoon Session on the bill which has already been passed by theLower House.

Tathagata Roy

Veteran BJP leader from West Bengal Tathagata Roy sworn in as the Governor of Tripura.Earlier, Padmanabha Balkrishna Acharya, the Nagaland Governor who had beendischarging additional duty for Tripura, was given a farewell by the State government.

V Shanmuganathan

Senior BJP leader V Shanmuganathan was sworn-in as the Governor of Meghalaya at the RajBhavan here.

Meghalaya was without a permanent governor for over four months.Shanmuganathan is a post-graduate and an M Phil in political Science.

Akhil Amar

US President Barack Obama has named an Indian-American professor from YaleUniversity as a member of the prestigious National Council on Humanities.

The nomination of Akhil Amar, Sterling Professor of Law and Political Science at theuniversity since 2008, was announced yesterday by Obama along with other keyadministration positions.

Parvinder Singh Batth

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An Indian-origin councillor took charge as the mayor of Britain’s Wokingham BoroughCouncil, the first-ever Sikh to hold this position.

Parvinder Singh Batth, a Conservative party councillor has served his local borough ofWokingham in Berkshire in southeast England as deputy mayor, took over the role fromcouncillor UllaKarin Clark and will serve till 2017.

John Nash

US mathematician John Nash, who inspired the Oscar-winning film A Beautiful Mind,has died in a car crash with his wife, police have said.The mathematician is renowned for his work in game theory, winning the Nobel Prize forEconomics in 1994.His breakthroughs in maths – and his struggles with schizophrenia – were the focus of the2001 film.Even this week, Nash received the Abel Prize, another top honour in the field ofmathematics.Nash’s famous equilibrium has grown to be perhaps the most important idea in economicanalysis and has found application in fields as diverse as computing, evolutionary biologyand artificial intelligence.

Manoj Mishra

Government has appointedManoj Mishra as Chairman and Managing Director ofstate-run National Fertilizers Ltd (NFL).

Shri G Mohan Kumar

Shri G Mohan Kumar took over as the new Defence Secretary, succeeding Shri RKMathur, who laid down office yesterday.

Belonging to the 1979 batch of IAS, Odisha cadre, Shri Mohan Kumar is a post-Graduate in Chemistry and an MBA from UK. He has worked in various ministries anddepartments including Steel, Water Resources, Rural Development, Fisheries, ExportDevelopment and VAT Administration.Shri Mohan Kumar was the Secretary, Defence Production since 01 September 2014before taking over as the Defence Secretary.

Pradip Baijal

Yet another book has come out damming the previous UPA government with former TRAIChairman Pradip Baijal alleging that the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had warnedhim of harm if he did not cooperate on 2G telecom licenses.

This is for the second time that the former chairman of the Telecom RegulatoryAuthority of India (Trai) has chosen to speak through a book, the latest being, “TheComplete Story of Indian Reforms: 2G, Power and Private Enterprise – APractitioner’s Diary”.

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Nirbhay Sharma

Lt General (Retd) Nirbhay Sharma was sworn-in as the Governor of Mizoram at the DurbarHall of Raj Bhavan here.

He is the eighth Governor of Mizoram after the then state Governor VakkomPurushothaman resigned on July 12 last year in protest against being transferredto Nagaland.

Selvin Christopher & GS Reddy

The Modi government appointed radar specialist Selvin Christopher and missile scientist GSReddy as the DRDO chief and Scientific Adviser to the defence minister, respectively.

Christopher – who heads the Bengaluru-based Centre for Airborne Systems and theproject to develop airborne early warning and control systems – will be the secretary,department of defence research and development as well as director general of the DefenceResearch & Development Organisation (DRDO).The new scientific adviser to defence minister, G Satheesh Reddy is the director of theHyderabad-based Research Centre Imarat (RCI), the missile avionics hub of DRDO thatis considered the brainchild of former president APJ Abdul Kalam.

George Yeo

Former Foreign Minister of Singapore George Yeo will be the new Chancellor of the NalandaUniversity, the External Affairs Ministry announced today, over two months after Nobel laureateAmartya Sen withdrew his candidature to the post for a second term.

Veena Jain

The information and broadcasting (I&B) ministry appointed Veena Jain as director general(news) in Doordarshan in place of Akshay Rout and, in an unusual move, directed her to reportdirectly to the ministry.Jain, an additional secretary rank official, will also hold charge as officer on special dutyoverseeing the ministry’s new media wing and social media cell.DD DG (news) is one of the most influential positions in the public broadcaster. Both DD andAIR are media wings that function under Prasar Bharati.

Pradeep Kumar Sinha

Power Secretary Pradeep Kumar Sinha was appointed as the next Cabinet Secretary of thegovernment.He will succeed Ajit Seth who has been holding the position for the last four years.Mr Sinha, a 1977-batch IAS officer of Uttar Pradesh cadre, has been asked to take overas Officer on Special Duty (OSD) in Cabinet Secretariat, an official release said.The Cabinet secretariat is under the direct charge of the Prime Minister. The administrative headof the secretariat is the Cabinet Secretary who is also the ex-officio chairman of the Civil ServicesBoard.

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National Affairs

Goa Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar witnessed four-hour long naval manoeuvringbetween Indian Navy and its French counterpart off Goa coast- the concluding day of ‘Varuna’

The exercises had began on April 23 off Goa coast with around 16 hours of practisebetween both the navies to understand each others’ strength, and also sync theunderstanding during the emergency times.The French side is headed by aircraft carrier Carrier Charles de Gaulle, two destroyersnamely Chevalier Paul and Jean de Vienne, replenishment tanker Meuse and a maritimepatrol aircraft Atlantique 2.While Indian side has aircraft carrier INS Viraat, destroyer Mumbai, stealth frigateTarkash, guided missile frigate Gomati, replenishment tanker Deepak, submarine Shankuland a few Fast Attack Craft.

Extending his wishes on the occasion of World Press Freedom Day on May 3, Information andBroadcasting minister Arun Jaitley called on all to rededicate themselves to upholding theconstitutional principles of independent, free and pluralistic media.Indian Army inducted the first regiment of the indigenously-developed Akash surface-to-airmissile system.

Akash Missile System is an indigenously developed supersonic short range surface-to-airmissile system with the capability to engage a wide variety of aerial threats like aircrafts,helicopters and unmanned aerial vehicles up to a maximum range of 25 km and upto analtitude of 20 Km.The system is capable of simultaneously engaging multiple targets and is capable ofproviding comprehensive short range missile cover to the vulnerable assets in the fieldforce of the Army.It employs command to line of sight guidance and relies on sophisticated radars andcontrol systems to guide the missile to its targets.The weapon system has been designed and developed by the Defence Research andDevelopment Organisation (DRDO).With 96% indigenous content, the state-of the art weapon system is a glowingmanifestation of the Hon’ble PM’s ‘Make-in-India’ initiative.

Superstar Salman Khan was convicted of culpable homicide and sentenced to five yearsimprisonment in the 2002 hit-and-run case but escaped being sent to jail after the Bombay HighCourt granted him interim bail till May 8 when it will hear his plea against conviction.

The high court granted interim relief to the 49-year-old actor on the ground that he hadbeen handed over only a 2-page operative part of the sessions court verdict and not adetailed order explaining the reasons for his conviction.

India has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Iran for developing the Chabaharport that aims to improve trade connectivity between Southeast Asia and Central Asia.

Chabahar port is located in Sistan-Balochistan Province on Iran’s southeastern coastand is of great strategic utility for India, which will get sea-land access route toAfghanistan bypassing Pakistan.The port will be used to ship crude oil and urea, saving India transportation costs.India intends to lease two berths at Chabahar for 10 years. The port will be developedthrough a special purpose vehicle (SPV) which will invest USD 85.21 million to convertthe berths into a container terminal and a multi-purpose cargo terminal.

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Government has approved National Smart Grid Mission (NSGM) for planning, monitoring andimplementing policies related to smart (power) grid activities, Parliament was informed today.

NSGM entails implementation of a smart electrical grid based on state-of-the arttechnology in the fields of automation, communication and IT systems that can monitorand control power flows from points of generation to points of consumption.The total outlay for NSGM activities for 12th Plan is Rs 980 crore with a budgetarysupport of Rs 338 crore.

Although India’s near-term growth outlook has improved, its medium-term prospects remainconstrained by longstanding structural weakness, the IMF said, describing the country as a newbright spot in Asia.

With higher political certainty improved business confidence, reduced externalvulnerabilities and lower commodity prices, real GDP is forecast to rise to 7.2 per cent inFY 2014/15, accelerating to 7.5 per cent in 2015/16.

India successfully test-fired an advanced version of the BrahMos land-attack cruise missile fromthe Car Nicobar Islands as it revalidated the weapon”s precision strike capability.

The BrahMos missile has been jointly developed by India and Russia.The multi-mission missile, having a range of 290-km and a Mach 2.8 speed, is capable ofbeing launched from land, sea, sub-sea and air against sea and land targets.The air version BrahMos is being readied for flight trials soon on Indian Air Force’sSu-30MKI strike fighter.

A strategically important new Naval base — INS Sardar Patel — was commissionedin Porbandar, which Navy chief K. Dhowan said will help boost security of Gujarat’s 1600-kmcoastline.

Gujarat has a coastline of 1600 km interspersed with 43 ports. Of these, besides Kandlabeing a major port, 11 are intermediate and 31 are minor ports. The ports of Gujarat handle300 million tons of cargo annually, which is 43% of the total maritime trade handled bythe various ports of India.The name Sardar Patel has been chosen to signify the role of Vallabhai Patel, the firstDeputy PM and Home Minister of India, one of the founding fathers of India.

For a cleaner River Yamuna, the National Green Tribunal announced that every householdin Delhi will have to pay environmental compensation every month.

The compensation to be paid would be directly proportional to the property or water tax,whichever is higher, paid by a particular household.In case of households in unauthorised colonies which do not pay property tax or water bill,the amount would be 100 to Rs. 500.The payment of the ‘environmental compensation’ would be added to electricity bills,water bill and the property tax demand in order of preference by the respectivedepartments which will transfer the money to NCT, Delhi.

Benami Transaction (Prohibition) BillThe Cabinet approved the new Benami Transaction (Prohibition) Bill which aims atcurbing the generation of domestic black money.The Bill provides for prosecution and aims to act as a major avenue for blockinggeneration and holding of black money in the form of benami property, especially in realestate.“The Benami Transactions (Prohibition) (Amendment) Bill, 2015 provides for attachment

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and confiscation of benami properties and also fine with imprisonment. This is one moreinitiative to fight the menace of black money inside the country,”

New Urea Policy 2015The government approved a new urea policy aiming to increase domestic production by 2million tonnes and reduce its subsidy bill by over Rs 4,800 crore annually, but decided notto raise retail prices.The maximum retail price (MRP) of urea for farmers has been left untouched at Rs 268per bag of 50 kgs, excluding local taxes. Farmers would have to pay an additional Rs 14per bag for neem-coated urea.The Cabinet today approved a comprehensive New Urea Policy 2015 for the next fourfiscals with multiple objectives of maximising indigenous urea production and promotingenergy efficiency in urea units to reduce the government’s subsidy burden.India’s urea production has remained stagnant at 22 million tonnes (MT) annually and thecountry has to import about 8 MT to meet the domestic demand.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi”s pet Ganga cleaning and protection programme was clearedand given a whopping Rs 20,000 crore budget, a four-fold increase over the money spent in thelast three decades for the river”s conservation.The Supreme Court laid down guidelines for publication of government advertisements toavoid the misuse of public funds for plugging the ruling party and glorifying politicians.

One guideline suggests that the photographs of only three dignitaries should be allowed ongovernment ads—the President, Prime Minister and the Chief Justice of India (CJI).The court spelt out the guidelines in response to public interest litigation filed by two non-profit organizations, Common Cause and the Centre for Public Interest Litigation, whichsought court directions to restrain the central and state governments from using publicfunds on government advertising.

Ignoring concerns of the intelligence agencies, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announcedthat India will grant e-visas to Chinese tourists, making it the 77th country to get such afacility.India and China agreed to seek a “political” solution to the border dispute at the earliest as PrimeMinister Narendra Modi asked Beijing to “reconsider its approach on some issues” andannounced CBMs like e-visa for Chinese tourists and operationalisation of hotline between twomilitaries.

Modi, who held talks with his counterpart Li Keqiang, pushed for clarifyingthe LAC without “prejudice to our position on the boundary question”, saying “a shadowof uncertainty always hangs over the sensitive areas of the border region” as “neither sideknows where the LAC is in these areas”.India and China today signed a record 24 agreements in key sectors, including inrailways and education, on day two of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s first visit to thecommunist neighbour.Protocol for setting up Consulates-General at Chengdu and Chennai besides an MoU onconsultative mechanism for cooperation in trade negotiations were among the 24agreements signed in the presence of Modi and his Chinese counterpart Li KeqiangAn action plan between the Indian Railways and China National Railways on enhancingcooperation in the railway sector was also signed.Other key agreements are on developing China India think tanks, maritime cooperation

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and ocean sciences.Four agreements were signed on sister-state and sister city relations between Karnatakaand Sichuan province; Chennai and Chongqing; Hyderabad and Qingdao; and Aurangabadand Dunhuang.An agreement on setting up a Mahatma Gandhi skill centre in Ahmedabad was alsosigned besides a broadcast tie-up for Doordarshan and China’s state-run CCTV.Agreements on education exchange programme, on mining and minerals, skilldevelopment, tourism and vocational education also figured on the list.Two MoUs between Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) and Yunnan MinzuUniversity and another with Fudan University were signed on the establishment of aYoga college and centre for Gandhian and Indian studies, respectively.

India announced a USD one billion credit line to Mongolia for infrastructure development asthey upgraded their ties to “Strategic Partnership” and agreed to deepen defence cooperationbesides exploring potential for tie ups in areas like the civil nuclear sector.The government has allocated Rs 5,000 crore for the growth of Department of AYUSH andlaunched an independent National AYUSH Mission aimed at capacity building for the sector.

The government has not only created the new portfolio AYUSH (Ayurveda, Yoga andNaturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy) but has also allocated Rs 5,000 crore forthe same, Union Minister of State for AYUSH Sripad Naik informed.Ayurveda is quite popular, being practised throughout the country, including tribal andremote areas where other modes of therapies are not readily available.

South Korea decided to provide USD 10 billion to India for infrastructure, development of smartcities, railways, power generation and other diversified areas as the two countries agreed toupgrade their bilateral relationship to a “Special Strategic Partnership”.

India and South Korea inked seven agreements, including on avoidance of doubletaxation and formalising consultations between National Security Councils of the twonations, to boost bilateral ties.The agreements were signed after Prime Minister Narendra Modi held talks with SouthKorean President Park Geun-hye in SeoulThe India-South Korea Double Taxation Avoidance Convention signed in 1985 hasbeen revised with a view to avoiding the burden of double taxation on taxpayers in the twocountries.The two nations also agreed to cooperate in audio-visual co-production.The agreement in this regard is being signed under the provisions of India-SouthKorea Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) and would enable co-production of films, animation and broadcasting programmes.The two nations also signed an MOU for cooperation between the National SecurityCouncil Secretariat of India and the Office of National Security of South Korea.This would formalise consultations between National Security Councils of the twocountries in a number of areas.The agreement envisages cooperation in areas such as renewable energy, smart grids andpower information and technology, transmission and distribution of electric power, energyefficiency and storage system.

Shri J P Nadda, Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare assumed as President ofthe 68th World Health Assembly, at Geneva.

Addressing the plenary session of the Health Assembly as President of the World Health

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Assembly, he said that the Assembly is an opportunity for the member states to take stockof the health challenges faced by humanity, while at the same time, prioritize andstrategize our combined efforts.India announced that it would contribute $2.1 million to the World HealthOrganisation (WHO) as a “reflection” of its commitment to the global health body and itsmandate.

The Fourth Anti Submarine Warfare (ASW) Corvette of Project-28, christened ‘Kavaratti’,was launched at a glittering ceremony held at Garden Reach Shipbuilders and EngineersLtd (GRSE), Kolkata.

The four ships of Project-28 built by GRSE, Kolkata have been designed indigenously bythe Directorate of Naval Design.Designed by the Directorate of Naval Design and built by the GRSE, INS Kavaratti is thelast of the four anti-submarine warfare class stealth corvettes being built under Project28 (P-28).The corvette has a displacement of 3,300 tonnes, is 109.1 metres in length and measures13.7-m at beam.The vessel is propelled by four diesel engines to achieve speed in excess of 25 knots andhas an endurance of more than 3,400 nautical miles, a release by the GRSE said.Kavaratti is well-equipped to fight in nuclear, chemical and biological warfare conditionsowing to its weapons and its sensor suite is predominantly indigenous.

Government sanctioned proposals for setting up 30 new cold chains in the country with a totalinvestment of Rs 724.9 crore.

The Food Processing Ministry provides financial assistance of up to Rs 10 crore for theseprojects.The total capacity of these projects will be 1.12 lakh tonnes of cold storage and 11.10lakh litres of milk per It would attract an investment of another Rs 470 crore. It will alsoresult in addition of 209 reefer or refrigerated container vehicles.A total of 138 integrated cold chain projects were approved by the government, out ofwhich 108 have been sanctioned so far, and remaining 30 are sanctioned today.Once all these 138 cold chain projects become operational, it will add 4.76 lakh tonnes ofstorage capacity and 118 lakh litres per day milk processing capacity and 810 reefervehicles.

The Union Cabinet has approved Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) continuationprogramme of fifteen operational flights of Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle PSLV-C36 to PSLV-C50, thus enabling the launch of satellites required for Earth Observation, Navigation and SpaceSciences along with the possibility of clinching commercial launch service contracts.

The total fund requirement is Rs 3090 crore and includes the cost of fifteen PSLVvehicles, Programme Elements, Programme Management and Launch Campaign.With the recent successful launch of PSLV-C26 on October 16, 2014, PSLV hascompleted three developmental and 25 operational flights and the last 27 flights have beensuccessful.

AIADMK general secretary Jayalalithaa was sworn in for the fifth time as Chief Minister ofTamil Nadu amid celebrations by party cadres and supporters all over the state.

She returns to power nearly eight months after she was forced to quit over corruptioncharges.Jayalalithaa took the oath in the name of God in Tamil in a simple function held at the

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University of Madras Centenary Auditorium in Chennai. Twenty-eight other ministers alsotook oath in a brief ceremony.

Indigenously-built guided missile stealth frigate INS Satpura and anti-submarine corvette INSKamrota are participating in SIMBEX-15, a bilateral naval exercise with Singapore, a statementsaid.

SIMBEX-15 was held between May 23-26, 2015.The annual bilateral exercise SIMBEX started in 1999.

India expects the strategic Chabahar port, which will give sea-land access to Afghanistanbypassing Pakistan, to be operational by December next year, Union Minister Nitin Gadkarisaid.The AAP government has approved mandatory GPS on all public transport vehicles. This will bein effect from June 1, said a senior official. The decision comes months after the transportdepartment, which has been extending the deadline for mandatory GPS, announced that allpassenger vehicles will need it in order to get their fitness certificates renewed.Reaching out to farmers, Prime Minister Narendra Modi made a strong pitch for their prosperityand development of villages, saying it was directly linked to the progress of the country.

Launching DD Kisan Channel, which would provide information about best agriculturalpractices and related content, the Prime Minister said that agriculture had so far been a“neglected” field and there was a need to make it “vibrant and dynamic”.The ‘DD Kisan’ channel is being dubbed as the first of its kind in the world by officials,who say that it would cover agriculture, rural areas and also areas like horticulture, foodprocessing and animal husbandry.

IT industry lobby group Nasscom launched ‘Nasscom Cyber Security Task Force’, which aimsto make India the hub for cyber securityrelated research, training and products. The developmentcomes nearly three months after Prime Minister Narendra Modi exhorted the domestic ITindustry and youth to help address the global cybersecurity challenge.

The task force has proposed four working groups focused on industry development, policyenablement, technology development and skill development.Recommendations from these groups will enable the task force to come up with acomprehensive cybersecurity plan for the country.

The Centre welcomed Tripura government”s decision to lift AFSPA saying there was no needfor the state government to take the consent of the central government while taking the move.

AFSPA provides unlimited powers to security forces to shoot at sight, arrest anybodywithout a warrant, and carry out searches without consent. All this knowing that theywouldn’t face any legal action for any action undertaken under the act.The central act was first enforced in Tripura on 16 February, 1997 when terrorism was atits peak in the state, which shares an 856-km border with Bangladesh.Ever since it was enforced in Tripura, the Act, as per its provisions, was reviewed andextended after every six months.

In a traditional ceremony, US-educated Yaduveer Krishnadatta Chamaraja Wodeyar, theadopted son of Pramoda Devi Wodeyar, was crowned as the titular head of the erstwhile Mysururoyal family.

The Wodeyar dynasty ruled the Kingdom of Mysuru from 1399 to 1947, the last kingbeing Jayachamarajendra Wodeyar, who ruled from 1940 until Indian independence in1947 when he acceded his kingdom to the dominion of India, but continued as the

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Maharaja until India became a Republic in 1950.An advanced version of the indigenously developed Pinaka Mark-II rocket was successfully test-fired from Army”s Chandan firing range near Pokhran using a multi-barrel launcher.

Jointly developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation and theIndian Army, this multi-barrel rocket launcher has high operational mobility, flexibilityand accuracy as the major characteristics, which give the weapon an edge in modernartillery warfare for the Indian Armed Forces.Pinaka-I has already been inducted into the Army and was also put into field testing forassessing its capability during the Kargil war. Its quick reaction time and high rate of firegives an edge to the Army during low-intensity warlike situation.

Himachal Pradesh has emerged as first the state in the country to start Aadhaar based PaymentSystem (ABPS) and payments amounting Rs 76.53 crore have been made through this system tilldate since the scheme was launched on October 2, 2014, Rural Development Minister AnilKumar said.

International Affairs

TheNepal earthquake that has claimed around 6,300 lives so far, was caused due to tectonicactivities in sub-continental thrust which passes through Patna in India to western part ofKathmandu, said an expert.

In the biggest event boxing has staged in years, Floyd Mayweather defeated MannyPacquiao by unanimous decision after 12 rounds to improve his professional record to 48-0 andunify the world welterweight titles.

Mayweather remains undefeated via unanimous decision, with two judges scoring it116-112 and the other 118-110.The legendary bout termed as ‘Fight of the Century’ was played at iconic MGM Grand,Las Vegas. This fight was also the highest watched and most revenue generating withalmost 400 million dollars of all time.

The US has handed over to Pakistan 14 combat aircraft, 59 military trainer jets and 374 armouredpersonnel carriers, which were earlier used by American forces in Afghanistan and Iraq.The altitude of the Kathmandu Valley has risen by 80 centimetres after the devastatingearthquake struck Nepal last month, the Survey Department said.Prime Minister David Cameron won a stunning majority in Britain, Conservatives led by48-year-old charismatic Cameron saw the party come back to power with 327 seats, in the650-member parliament.

The main opposition Labour Party suffered the second successive defeat winning only232 seats, forcing its prime ministerial candidate Ed Miliband to quit as party leader.Mhairi Black, the freshly elected lawmaker from Scotland, is all of 20 years old. shemade history by becoming the youngest lawmaker in UK history since the 17th century.

The World Health Organization says Liberia is now free of Ebola after going 42 days — twicethe maximum incubation period for the deadly disease — without any new cases.

Liberia is one of three West African countries at the center of the largest epidemic by farof Ebola since the disease was first reported in 1976.Liberia’s neighbors, Guinea and Sierra Leone have also had outbreaks and are still

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reporting cases.More than 11,000 people have died of Ebola in the three countries, according to WHOstatistics.

North Korea has successfully test-fired a newly developed underwater ballistic missile which itdescribes as a “world level strategic weapon”, the official Korean Central NewsAgency (KCNA) reported.

Leader Kim Jong Un oversaw the test himself.Development of a submarine-launched missile capability would take the North Koreannuclear threat to a new level, allowing deployment far beyond the Korean peninsula.

India-born Nikesh Arora was appointed as president of Japan’s SoftBank Corp and has beennamed as a potential successor to CEO Masayoshi Son.

The report in Fortune said the move comes as Son and SoftBank are battling to improveprofitability at US carrier Sprint Corp, which they bought in 2013 for more than USD 20billion.Arora, a graduate of the Indian Institute of Technology in Varanasi and NortheasternUniversity, was hired to run a newly created unit called SoftBank Internet and Media Inc,reporting directly to Son.Apart from being the largest investor in Chinese e-commerce giant AlibabaGroup, SoftBank has plans to invest USD 10 billion in India’s potentially huge but under-developed online retail market.

Jonodev Osceola Chaudhuri has been sworn in as the chairman of the National Indian GamingCommission, becoming the first Indian-American to occupy this top position in the US.Karan Menon, a 14-year-old Indian-American student, has won the prestigious NationalGeographic Bee competition in the US, in which the top three positions were bagged by Indian-origin contestants.

Of the 10 finalists, seven were of Indian-origin. In addition to winning the title of NationalGeographic Bee champion, Menon received a USD 85,000 college scholarship, lifetimemembership in the National Geographic Society and an expedition for two to theGalapagos Islands aboard the Lindblad ship National Geographic Endeavour.

US President Barack Obama has nominated General Mark Milley as the next Army chief ofstaff and Admiral John Richardson as the next chief of naval operations, DefenseSecretary Ashton Carter said.Deposed Egyptian Prez Mohammed Morsi and over 100 members of MuslimBrotherhood were sentenced to death by a court here in a mass jail break in 2011.

The incident took place during the January 2011 revolution when more than 20,000prisoners escaped from three Egyptian prisons. The uprising had led to the ouster of thenEgyptian strongman Hosni Mubarak.

As India pressed China to open its markets for Indian IT firms, technologymajor Infosys announced establishing its first overseas centre outside India in China with aninvestment of about USD 120 million to tap in the burgeoning Chinese market.Islamic State (IS) militants in Syria had entered the Unesco World Heritagesite of Palmyra after seizing the town next to the ancient ruins, reports say.

The ruins at Palmyra, a Unesco world heritage site just to the south-west of the town, areone of the region’s most renowned historic sites and there are fears the extremists willdestroy them as they have done after taking major archaeological sites in Iraq.

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Palmyra is famous for its 2,000-year-old towering Roman-era colonnades and before thewar, thousands of tourists a year visited the remote desert outpost, also known asthe “Bride of the Desert”.

Ireland has voted by a huge majority to legalise same-sex marriage, becoming the first countryin the world to do so by popular vote in a move hailed as a social revolution and welcomed aroundthe world.

Some 62% of the Irish Republic’s electorate voted in favour of gay marriage.UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon asked Southeast Asian nations to deal with the causesbehind a growing humanitarian crisis that has forced thousands of Rohingya from Myanmar andBangladeshi migrants to flee by sea, leaving many still stranded in boats.China, the world’s biggest gold producer, has set up a gold sector fund involving countries alongthe ancient Silk Road which is expected to raise $16.1 billion.

The fund, led by Shanghai Gold Exchange (SGE), is expected to raise an estimated 100billion yuan ($16.1 billion) in three phases, state-run Xinhua news agency reported. It issaid to be the “largest fund” set up by China.China is the world’s largest gold producer, and also a major importer and consumer ofgold.

The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) has announced that 90%of the world’s declared chemical weapons stockpiles have been destroyed.

This includes stocks of unitary weapons, such as sulfur mustard, and primary precursorchemicals for producing deadly nerve agents, like sarin. All destruction activities havebeen completed in a safe manner.The process to complete the elimination of Cold War-era stockpiles in Russia andthe United States is well under way and is scheduled to be completed before the end of2020 and 2023, respectively.The Chemical Weapons Convention has 190 States Parties, with six States – Angola,Egypt, Israel, Myanmar, North Korea and South Sudan – still outside the Convention.Angola’s and Myanmar’s parliaments recently approved joining the Convention, and bothcountries are expected to soon become States Parties.

Economy

Private lender Federal Bank has tied up with the country’s largest life insurer, LIC, forimplementation of Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyothi Bima Yojana (PMJJBY), the life insurancescheme announced by the Centre for savings bank account holders in the age group of 18-50years.

The scheme will be launched, along with one pension scheme (Atal Pension Yojana) andnon-life scheme Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana, by the PrimeMinister Narendra Modi in Kolkata on May 9, a bank release said.The insurance scheme provides for a life cover of Rs 2 lakh at an annual premium of Rs330.

Railways has not been able to meet its operational cost of passenger services during the last fiveyears, incurring a loss of nearly Rs 11,000 crore over this period, according to a report bythe Comptroller and Auditor General of India.

The CAG in its latest report tabled in Parliament said the state-run transporter incurred

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losses in all category of passenger classes barring the AC 3-Tier.After providing bank accounts to 15 crore unbanked people, Prime Minister Narendra Modilaunched three social security schemes, including an insurance cover for less than Re 1 per day,and said that the poor “need empowerment, not aid”.

Modi said Rs 15,800 crore has been deposited in the 15 crore Jan Dhan accounts openedin four months and the scheme to provide cooking gas subsidy directly into bank accountsof beneficiaries has helped stop pilferages and leakages worth hundreds of crores ofrupees.Modi said 80-90 per cent people in the country neither have insurance cover nor anypossibility of pension.While the three schemes will come into force from June 1, the Prime Minister said that inthe first seven days of the trail-run, banks have enrolled 5.05 crore people, including 42lakh from West Bengal.The schemes — Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana (PMJJBY), PradhanMantri Suraksha Bima Yojana (PMSBY) and Atal Pension Yojana (APY) — weresimultaneously launched at 115 locations throughout the country. .The Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana will offer a renewable one-year lifecover 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.The Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana will offer a renewable one-yearaccidental death-cum-disability cover of Rs 2 lakh for partial/permanent disability to allsavings bank account holders in the age group of 18-70 years for a premium of Rs 12 perannum per subscriber.Atal Pension Yojana will focus on the unorganised sector and provide subscribers afixed 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 enteringat an age between 18 and 40 years.The government has promised to co-contribute 50% of total contribution or Rs 1000 perannum whichever is lower, for the first five years. Subscribers without any social securityand who don’ pay income tax will get this added benefit.The schemes would come into effect from June 1, 2015.

Eminent banker K V Kamath will be the first president of USD 100 billion BRICS Bank whichwill provide infrastructure loans to emerging nations, rivalling multilateral lenders such as WorldBank and IMF.

Kamath, 67, will have a five year term at the bank, which is likely to be operationalisedwithin one year as ‘New Development Bank’ being set up by the five nationgrouping, BRICS, Finance Secretary Rajiv MehrishiKamath is the non-executive Chairman of the India’s largest private sector bank ICICI.Besides, he is also the non-executive chairperson of the IT bellwether Infosys.Leaders of the emerging economies of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa(BRICS) had last year reached an agreement to establish the New Development Bank,with its headquarters in Shanghai. As per the agreement, India got the right to nominatethe first president.The BRICS nations account for nearly USD 16 trillion in GDP and 40 per cent of theworld’s population.The bank will start with an initial paid-in-capital of USD 50 billion with each BRICS

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country contributing USD 10 billion, while its authorised capital is USD 100 billion.The Constitution amendment bill providing for the roll-out of the long-pending Goods andServices Tax (GST) was referred to a Select Committee after the opposition forced thegovernment in the Rajya Sabha where it lacks majority.Google will build its largest campus outside the US in Hyderabad at an investment of Rs 1,000crore, according to Telangana IT Minister K T Rama Rao.The Reserve Bank of India directed bank boards to deliberate on seven critical themes includingbusiness strategy, risk, financial report and their integrity, customer protection, financial inclusionand human resources as prescribed by the P J Nayak committee.

The central bank in its first bi-monthly monetary policy statement had proposed to doaway with the calendar of reviews and instead, replace it with the seven critical themes.The banks would as part of business strategy would have to discuss the development ofnew products, competitiveness of individual businesses and review businesses in relationto targets.Risk management policies concerning credit, operational, market, liquidity risks,assessing the independence of the risk function, said the RBI.

The second-largest private lender HDFC Bank launched co-branded medical benefits cardwith Apollo Hospitals, which allows corporates to disburse medical allowances to theiremployees.

With the HDFC Bank-Apollo Medical Benefits Cards, corporates can load the specifiedallowance onto the card each month, which can be used by employees for medicalexpenditure Visa/MasterCard outlets.The card comes with a free accidental death insurance of Rs 3 lakh and accidenthospitalisation insurance of Rs 30,000 apart from discounts at Apollo network includingApollo Hospitals, Apollo Pharmacies, Apollo Clinics and Apollo Whit.

The Madhya Pradesh government inked an agreement with online shopping major Snapdeal tosell ”Mrignayni” brand products to give a global platform to the state”s weavers and handicrafts.State Bank of India signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with e-commerceplayer Amazon to develop payment and commerce solutions for customers and small businesses.

The SBI, country’s largest lender, will also provide loans to SME customers who supplyproducts to Amazon to help them increase their operations.The bank may also look at selling its financial products on Amazon in near future.

The World Bank has offered a credit of 250 million dollars to the Government of Bihar forits school education reform.

The Government of Bihar is implementing a wide-set of reforms to improve the quality ofeducation given to children at the elementary level.

A Committee headed by Justice A.P. Shah to look into the issue of Minimum AlternateTax (MAT) on Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) constituted.

To Examine the Matter Relating to Levy of MAT on FIIS for the Period Prior to 01April 2015 among others and give its recommendations expeditiously.The Income Tax Department had sent notices to 68 foreign institutionalinvestors (FIIs) demanding Rs 602.83 crore as MAT dues of previous years. This hasraked up a big controversy, with FIIs moving higher court challenging the MAT demand.The committee will examine all the related legal provisions, judicial/quasi judicialpronouncements.

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Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in Budget 2015-16 has exempted FIIs from payingMAT with effect from April 1, 2015.

World’s largest steel maker ArcelorMittal and SAIL inked a pact to jointly set up a steel plant inIndia for the fast growing automotive sector.

India is forecast to become the world’s fourth largest automobile manufacturing nation by2020, growing from approximately 3.5 million units today to over 7 million units.

Customers of State Bank of India (SBI) can now use their debit cards on PayPal for buyingproducts from overseas websites. The country’s largest bank announced a partnership with digitalpayments firm, PayPal, on Thursday, enabling this.

The partnership will also allow SBI’s Micro Small and Medium Enterprise (MSME)customers to use PayPal’s secure payment solutions.SBI has also entered into an arrangement with Snapdeal for financing itssellers. E-commerce space is growing very fast and meets the aspirations of the nextgeneration of customers and small businesses.Snapdeal has one lakh sellers on board as of now for SBI to pick and choose forfinancing. The bank plans to give maximum Rs 1 crore loan without collateral tomanufacturers and up to Rs 25 lakh loan without collateral to traders

The government has cleared 21 foreign direct investment (FDI) deals worth Rs 281 crore butdeferred Kotak Mahindra Bank’s proposal to hike foreign investment limit in the bank to 55 percent.

FDI proposals under approval route are cleared by the Foreign Investment PromotionBoard (FIPB). However, those proposals involving investment of more than Rs 3,000crore are given final clearance by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs(CCEA).The proposal of pharma firm La Renon Healthcare to invest Rs 100 crore in abrownfield project was cleared by the FIPB in its meeting on April 30.The inter-governmental panel, chaired by Economic Affairs Secretary, also cleared BlueDart Express’s proposal to acquire shares in Blue Dart Aviation Ltd and hikeshareholding to 74 per cent from 49 per cent. This would entail investment between Rs52.8 crore to Rs 69 crore.The proposal of Quickjet Cargo Airlines to increase foreign shareholding in the companyto 74 per cent from 62.34 per cent has also been cleared. The deal will entail FDI worth Rs14.40 crore.Forever Living Imports (India) Pvt Ltd’s Rs 18.30-crore proposal to undertake singlebrand retailing of ‘Forever’ brand products in India has also been approved by the board.The FIPB has, however, deferred 12 proposals including that of Mumbai-based KotakBank for increasing the aggregate foreign investment limit in the bank to 55 per cent.

The Centre has set up a committee under the Chairmanship of former Finance Secretary VijayKelkar to revisit and revitalize the public private partnership (PPP) model of infrastructuredevelopment.

This committee has been asked to submit its report in three months.The terms of reference of the committee are review of the experience of PPP policy,including the variations in contents of contracts and difficulties experienced with particularconditions, if any; Analysis of risks involved in PPP projects in different sectors andexisting framework of sharing such risks between the project developer and the

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Government, thereby suggesting optimal risk sharing mechanism.The government has said that FIPB’s approval will not be required for merger and acquisitions insectors where FDI is allowed under automatic route, a move aimed at further improving the easeof doing business in the country.

The circular also said that government permission will not be required for issuing ESOPs(Employees Stock Option Plan) in sectors under automatic route.Currently, foreign investment is permitted either through the automatic route or thegovernment approval route.The move is aimed at making it easier for doing business in India. India currentlyranks 142 out of the 189 countries on Ease of Doing BusinessThe initiative is aimed at clarifying the grey areas in the foreign direct investment (FDI)policy.Inter-ministerial body FIPB clears investment proposals of up to Rs.3,000 crore.

The government has notified amendments to the Companies Act, which makes it easier to dobusiness and provides for stricter penalties for fraud cases.

The amendments, which were passed by Parliament earlier this month, have been made tothe Companies Act, 2013, mainly to deal with board resolutions, utilisation of unclaimeddividends and setting-up of a firm among others as well as to bring the law in tune with theglobal standards.The Act has removed threshold limit for minimum capital required for formation of privateor public sector firm.For setting-up a private company, new Act has done away with the norms of Rs 1lakh minimum capital requirement and Rs 5 lakh in case of a public sector unit.With regard to trying fraud cases, the new norms said that all cases under the CompaniesAct cannot be tried by a special court and that only serious offences will go to such courts,while the others would be tried by normal magisterial court.

The controversial requirement of filling foreign travel and dormant bank account data has beendropped in the new 3-page ITR forms introduced by the Indian Finance Ministry, whichextended the deadline for filing returns to August 31.

These ITRs will replace the 14-page form that were notified earlier this year, triggering amajor controversy with individuals, industrialists and MPs saying the tax filing wouldbecome cumbersome as those forms sought unnecessary details including foreign trips andbank accounts.The salaried individuals and those persons without any business or professional income arerequired to file I-T returns in either ITR-1 or ITR-2 by July 31 every year.

Banking & Finance

The RBI put in place a new framework to check loan frauds including by way of early warningsignals at banks and red flagging of accounts, while swindlers will have no access to furtherbanking finance.

Besides, the central bank will set up a Central Fraud Registry that can be accessed by allbanks to identify borrowers having committed frauds with any bank in the past.The CBI and the Central Economic Intelligence Bureau (CEIB) will also share theirdatabases with banks.The concept of a Red Flagged Account (RFA) is being introduced in the current

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framework as an important step in fraud risk control, RBI said in guidelines for banks todeal with loan frauds.No restructuring or grant of additional facilities may be made in the case of RFA or fraudaccounts.

Country’s largest lender State Bank launched a RuPay Platinum debit card in associationwith National Payment Corporation of India (NPCI).

The card offers various benefits like 5 per cent cash back on utility bills, complimentaryairport lounge access, personal accident death and permanent total disability insurancecover of Rs 2 lakh, among others.NPCI will soon launch international RuPay debit cards allowing its customers to usethem outside the country besides issuing RuPay credit cards by January 2016.

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has inked a pact with India to provide a loan worth USD31 million for sustainable water resource management in river basins in Karnataka.

The programme will improve irrigation efficiency in three river basins in the state, saving1,700 million cubic meters of water that could be used on an additional 160,000 hectaresof farm land.

Reserve Bank directed banks to mandatorily issue a duly signed acknowledgement to pensionersupon receiving life certificate from them.

RBI said it was receiving complaints from central and state government pensioners andtheir associations that they were being deprived of regular payment of pension as the banksmisplaced their life certificates.Further, it said banks may also enter the details of life certificate in their CBS immediatelyon receipt and issue a system generated receipt to pensioners.As per RBI guidelines, all pensioners are required to furnish a life certificate to thepension disbursing bank every year in November for continuance of their pension.This certificate can be submitted at any branch of the pension paying bank.Also, the government in September 2014 launched a scheme for introduction of Aadhaarbased digital life certificates known as Jeevan Pramaan.

Axis Bank, the country’s third largest private sector bank now facilitates instant transfer ofmoney on various social media channels like Whatsapp, Facebook, Twitter, Email list and phonecontact list.

The bank’s Ping Pay service competes with other banks digital products like ICICIBank’s Pockets and HDFC Bank’s Chillar.The person to person funds transfer through Ping Pay would happen via NPCI’sImmediate Payment Service (IMPS) and currently the transaction limit is at Rs50,000per day.Ping Pay users can register through their registered mobile numbers and for sendingmoney can associate their Axis Bank internet banking credentials or ATM/ Debit Card tosend money.The users can choose any social application and select the name of the person to whomfunds are to be transferred. The beneficiary receives an SMS/ notification informingreceipt of funds.

The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) announced a 10 per cent or 5paise reduction in charges for transactions on its inter-bank ATM network.

The Reserve Bank-promoted body, whose inter-bank network, the National FinancialSwitch (NFS), witnesses the largest transaction volume, has reduced the charges to 45

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paise on an increase in volumes and efficiency, the Corporation said.The NFS has over 400 member banks and connects over 1.92 lakh ATMs. The switchingfee is charged to issuing banks for approved transactions. The reduction in charges isapplicable from May 1, the statement read.

Relaxing norms, the Reserve Bank said customers can use card for contactless paymentswithout PIN authentication for transactions up to Rs 2,000 across all merchant categories.

In recent past, RBI had received requests for waiver of requirement of the additionalfactor of authentication (AFA) so as to foster innovative payment products/processes asalso enhance the convenience factor in certain types of card transactions.After examining the trade-off between security and convenience in cardtransactions, RBI had sought public comments on relaxation in AFA in case of smallvalue card present transactions using Near Field Communication (NFC) contactlesstechnology.The limit of Rs 2,000 per transaction will be the limit set across all categories of merchantswhere contactless payments will be accepted.“Beyond this transaction limit, the card has to be processed as a contact payment andauthentication with PIN (AFA) will be mandatory,” RBI added.PIN is acronym for ‘Personal Identification Number’.

State Bank of India joined its private sector rivals to launch contactless credit and debit cardsusing latest near field technology (NFC).

Called the SBI inTouch cards, these contactless debit and credit cards are more secureand hassle-free to use at merchant outlets or ATMs and use the NFC technology whichenables users to make payments by waving or tapping the card near the contactless readerinstead of swiping or dipping it.Private lenders ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank have already launched such NFC cards.The bank has said that the contactless card will come with emergency replacement facilityanywhere in the world and will have a fraud liability cover of Rs 1 lakh.

India”s largest private sector lender ICICI Bank is set to expand its Chinese presence with theopening of a branch this weekend in Shanghai, China”s biggest city and a major global financialhub.The Reserve Bank asked Urban co-operative banks to appoint nodal officers forimplementation of the government’s flagship scheme, Atal Pension Yojana (APY), whichprovides for a minimum pension of Rs 1,000-5,000, depending upon contribution.

The APY, launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi earlier this month, is focused onall citizens in the unorganised sector, who join the National Pension System (NPS),administered by the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA).The minimum age of joining APY is 18 years while the maximum age is 40 years.This means that minimum period of contribution by any subscriber under APY would be20 years or more.The government would also co-contribute 50 per cent of the total contribution or Rs 1,000per annum, whichever is lower, to each eligible subscriber account, for a period of 5 years(2015-16 to 2019-20).

ICICI Bank launched voice recognition service which authenticates customers based on theirspeech patterns and allows them to execute banking transactions through the bank’s call centre ina quick, secure and convenient manner.

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The-first-of-its kind service by a bank in the country, it is available to over 33 millioncustomers of its savings account and credit card.With the voice recognition technology in place, customers are no longer required to entertheir card numbers, PIN and answer security questions to authenticate themselves.Their voice will now act as the password for banking transactions through the call centre.The voice recognition technology works on voice prints, which are unique to anindividual. It comprises more than 100 characteristics including voice modulation, speed,accent, pronunciation which are impossible to imitate, thereby enhancing security.The bank stores the customer’s unique voice print against his account and matches itwhenever he calls from his registered mobile number, offering a seamless experience tothe customer.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley inaugurated a new production line here at Hoshangabad (M.P)tomanufacture currency paper, saying it symbolises the beginning of the ‘Make In India’ initiativeand would ensure high-denomination notes are printed on locally-made paper.

Currently, currency notes of larger denominations are printed on imported paper thoughink used is mostly produced within the country, the Minister said.Jaitley made these comments after inaugurating the New Bank Note Paper Line with anannual capacity of 6,000 tonnes at the Security Paper Mill (SPM).Hoshangabad was chosen as the centre for producing paper for printing currency notesseveral decades ago by Morarji Desai, who was the then Finance Minister and laterbecame the Prime Minister.However, it produced paper for printing of currency notes of smaller denominations only.With the development of new facilities at Hoshangabad and also Mysore, it would bepossible to produce currency printing paper in adequate quantity to meet the need of thenation.The Bank Note Paper Line facility at Mysore will have a capacity of 12,000 tonnes andis expected to be commissioned by the year end.This will also reduce possibility of diversion of the paper supplied by foreign countries toother destinations for the purpose of generating fake currency, the Ministry said.

Private sector lender HDFC Bank is the only Indian entity to find a place among the top 100most valuable brands globally, along with Apple, Google, Microsoft, IBM and Facebook.

HDFC Bank is ranked at 74th position in the BrandZ list compiled by MillwardBrown, a global research agency, in association with WPP.As per the report, the bank is the India’s most valuable brand with a value of USD 14billion.Apple tops the chart with a brand value of USD 246.9 billion, followed by Google withUSD 173.6 billion and Microsoft with USD 115.5 billion.

Sports

5th Hockey India Senior Women National Championship 2015

The tournament concluded with a win for Railway Sports Promotion Board who clinched thetitle of the 5th Hockey India Senior Women National Championship 2015 (Division A) bydefeating Hockey Jharkahnd with a huge margin of 12-2 at Saifai, Uttar Pradesh

Whereas,Hockey Punjab settled for the bronze medal by beating Madhya Pradesh

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Hockey Academy 2-0.

BNP Paribas Istanbul Open

Roger Federer won his 85th ATP World Tour title Sunday at the inaugural TEB BNP ParibasIstanbul Open, beating third seed Pablo Cuevas 6-3, 7-6(11).

As winner, Federer took home 80,000 Euros and 250 Emirates ATP Rankings points.Cuevas earned 42,100 Euros and 150 Emirates ATP Rankings points.

Gagan NarangGagan Narang won the bronze medal in the 50m Rifle Prone Event of the ISSF World Cup atFort Benning in USA, earning himself a quota place for the 2016 Rio Olympics.

Narang, who won the bronze in 10m Rifle at the London Olympics, shot 185.8 overallto secure third place behind gold medallist Michael McPhail (208.8 points) of USA andOle Kristian Bryhn (206.3) of Norway. The other quota place from the event went toMcPhail.

Italian Open title

Men’s Title WinnerTop seed Novak Djokovic warmed up for the French Open with a comprehensive 6-4, 6-3victory over Roger Federer to claim his fourth Italian Open title on Sunday.Novak Djokovic continued his rich vein of form Sunday when he lifted the InternazionaliBNL d’Italia trophy for a fourth time.The World No. 1 clinched his fifth title of the season with victory over No. 2-ranked RogerFederer 6-4, 6-3 in the Rome final. Djokovic is now 19-20 lifetime in their FedEx ATPHead2Head series.

Women’s Title WinnerRussian third seed Maria Sharapova came from a set down to beat Spain’s Carla SuarezNavarro 4-6 7-5 6-1 and win her third Italian Open title.

Joe Root and Charlotte Edwards have been named England men’s and women’scricketers of the year for 2014-15.

The Yorkshire batsman scored 1,135 Test runs at an average of nearly 95 since the two-match series against Sri Lanka at the start of last summer, including four scores of 149 andabove, with a top score of 200 not out against Sri Lanka at Lord’s. He also made three one-day international centuries.The women’s captain, Charlotte Edwards, enjoyed another remarkable year to win thewomen’s team award for the second consecutive year.She averaged above 75 in ODIs and nearly 60 in Twenty20 internationals over the past 12months as England secured ODI series victories against India and New Zealand, alongsideT20 series wins against South Africa and New Zealand.

Indian Premier League 2015

Mumbai Indians outclassed Chennai Super Kings in every department of the game to winthe Indian Premier League 2015.

After scoring 202 runs, Mumbai Indians halted Chennai Super Kings on 161/8 to claim

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their second Indian Premier League title since 2013.Mumbai became the third side – after Chennai and Kolkata Knight Riders – to winthe IPL on more than one occasion.

Indian boxers rounded off a brilliant run at the Doha International Tournament, winning fourgold, one silver and two bronze medals in the event .

Commonwealth Games silver medalist L Devendro Singh (49kg), Shiva Thapa (56kg),Manish Kaushik (60kg), and Manoj Kumar (64kg) won the gold medals.The silver medal went to Gaurav Bidhuri (52kg), while Mandeep Jangra (69kg) and VikasKrishan (75kg) bagged bronze medals.

CEAT Cricket Awards

Classy middle order batsman Ajinkya Rahane today won the CEAT Indian Cricketer of theYear award while former Sri Lanka captain Kumar Sangakkara clinched the InternationalCricketer of the Year honour at a ceremony.Former India captain Kapil Dev, who led the country to the first of two World Cup titles in 1983,was conferred with the International Lifetime Achievement Award at the 19th edition of theawards.Rohit Sharma,was given a special award for his record-breaking 264 made against Sri Lanka inan ODI at KolkataThe awards honour the best of the cricketers based on their performances in internationalcricketing in all formats – Test, ODI and T20 – as rated by the CEAT Cricket ratings (CCR) forthe year 2014 – 2015.List of award winners:International Lifetime Achievement Award – Kapil DevInternational Cricketer of the Year – Kumar SangakkaraIndian Cricketer of the Year –Ajinkya RahaneInternational Batsman of the Year – Hashim AmlaInternational Bowler of the Year – Rangana HerathT20 Player of the Year – Dwayne BravoPopular Choice Award – Kieron PollardSpecial Performance of the Year Award – Rohit SharmaDomestic Cricketer of the Year – R Vinay KumarYoung Player of the Year – Deepak Hooda.

Awards

world’s Best Airport for the year 2014

Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) has been adjudged the world’s bestairport for the year 2014, under the category of handling 25 to 40 million passengers per annum.Airports Council International (ACI) presented the Airport Service Quality (ASQ) award toIGIA at a ceremony of the ACI Annual General Assembly on the 28th of last month in Jordan.The Delhi airport scored 4.90 on a scale of 5 points measured by 300 members of the ACI ASQbenchmarking programme.ASQ is the key to understanding how to increase passenger satisfaction and improve business

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performance.

National Florence Nightingale Awards

The President of India, Shri Pranab Mukherjee presented the National Florence NightingaleAwards to nursing personnel today (May 12, 2015) on the occasion of International NursesDay at Rashtrapati Bhavan.President said that the conferment of the National Florence Nightingale Awards is a fittingtribute to the iconic ‘Lady with the Lamp’.The Health Ministry had instituted the awards in 1973 as a mark of recognition for the meritoriousservices of nurses.Until 2014 a total of 306 nurses were decorated with this award. This year, 35 nursing personnelconferred with the awards.The Award carries Rs 50,000 cash, a certificate, a citation certificate and a medal.Florence Nightingale, founder of modern nursing, was born on May 12, 1820 and hence this dayis celebrated as International Nurses Day all over the world.

UK’s Encore Award

Kolkata-born writer Neel Mukherjee’s “The Lives of Others” has won the UK’s EncoreAward for the best second novel.The 10,000 pounds prize, first awarded in 1990, fills a niche in the catalogue of literary prizes bycelebrating the achievement of outstanding second novels, often neglected in comparison to theattention given to promising first books.Mukherjee’s first novel A Life Apart was published in 2010. The Lives of Others wasshortlisted for the 2014 Man Booker Prize and the Costa Novel Award.

“Pt. Haridutt Sharma Award”

The Vice President of India Shri Hamid Ansari conferred the “Pt. Haridutt Sharma Award” inthe field of Journalism, Writing and Social Services to Smt. AnurradhaPrasad, Editor-in-Chief, News-24 Channel at a function here today. Addressing on the occasion,the Vice President opined that the Media persons should always do news reporting in an impartialand responsible manner with objectivity.He congratulated Smt. Anurradha Prasad for her outstanding contribution in the field of Mediaand said that she has maintained the dignity of Journalistic profession in her professional career.Haridutt Sharma was a renowned journalist and eminent writer. In his memory, this Annualaward is given in the field of Journalism, Writing and Social Services for the outstandingcontribution in their respective field. The Award consists of Cash prize of Rs. 51000/-, Citation,Trophy, Shawl and Souvenir.

2015 Man International Booker prize

The 2015 Man International Booker prize was awarded to the Hungarian writer LaszloKrasznahorkai at a ceremony at the V&A in London on May 20.The literary prize, worth £ 60,000 is awarded to a living author of any nationality who has

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published fiction either in English or in English translation.Unlike the annual Man Booker Prize for Fiction, the Man Booker International Prize, whichis awarded once in two years, is in recognition of a writer’s body of work and overall contributionto fiction rather than to a single novel.His novels include Satantango (1985, English translation 2012), The Melancholy of Resistance(1989, English translation 1998), and Seiobo Down Below (2008, English translation2013). Satantango was later adapted for the cinema in collaboration with the Hungarianfilmmaker Bela Tarr.

Radcliffe fellowship of Harvard University

Two Indians from Indian Institute of Science and University of Delhi have been named for theprestigious Radcliffe fellowship of Harvard University.Shivani Agarwal from Indian Institute of Science and Maharaja Pandit from University ofDelhi are among 50 scholars, scientists and artists who will begin their one-year fellowships alongwith 48 at the Radcliffe Institute in September 2015, a media release said.Considered as one of the most prestigious honors for faculty, only three per cent of applicantswere accepted this year.Shivani, William and Flora Hewlett Foundation Fellow has been selected for learning to makechoices in the era of big data.Pandit, the Hardy Fellow, has been selected for his project life in Himalaya.

68th Cannes International Film Festival

Indian filmmaker Neeraj Ghaywan’s project Masaan, centred around a group of peoplein Varanasi, was awarded the International Federation of Film Critics (FIPRESCI) award atthe 68th Cannes International Film Festival.The film and its director also won the ‘Most Promising Newcomer’ Award in the Certain Regardsection of the festival.

National Spelling Bee contest

Indian American kids maintained their complete dominance in the annual Scripps NationalSpelling Bee contest by winning the prestigious competition for the eighth year in a row.Vanya Shivashankar and Gokul Venkatachalam were declared co-champions; a feat achievedby Indian Americans for the second consecutive year.In 2014, Sriram Hathwar and Ansun Sujoe were declared the joint winners.Indian American Cole Shafer-Ray from Oklahoma bagged the third spot.This is the eighth successive year that Indian Americans have won the prestigious competitionand 13th in the last 16 years,starting 1999 when Nupur Lala won the nerdy word crown.

Reports

2015 Mothers’ Index

Save the Children released the 2015 Mothers’ Index, which ranks 179 countries according to

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five factors related to maternal health, female political participation, economic status, educationalattainment and children’s health, to indicate in which country it is best to be a mother.In commemoration of Mother’s Day, the 16th annual report, this year’s State of the World’sMothers report is published under the title “The Urban Disadvantage.”Norway rose to the top of the list while Somalia remained last for the second year in a row.Best countries for mothers:

NorwayFinlandIcelandDenmarkSweden

Worst countries for mothers:SomaliaDemocratic Republic of the CongoThe Central African RepublicMaliNiger

Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Index (TTCI)-2015

India has moved up 13 notches to 52nd position on a global list of countries in terms of theirtravel and tourism competitiveness, but ranks worse than its emerging market peers like China,Brazil, Russia and South Africa.The list has been topped by Spain, which is followed by France, Germany, US, UK, Switzerland,Australia, Italy, Japan and Canada in the top ten.Of the large emerging markets, China (17th) and Brazil (28th) made it into the top 30, whereasRussia, South Africa and India ranked 45th, 48th and 52nd, respectively.

Forbes world’s 10 biggest consumer financial services firms

Mortgage lender HDFC has emerged as the only Indian company among the world’s 10 biggestconsumer financial services firms, after giants like American Express, Visa and Mastercard.HDFC is ranked 7th on the list, compiled by business magazine Forbes, where AmericanExpress is placed on the top followed by Capital One Financial, Visa, Discover FinancialServices and Orix in the top-five. Mastercard is ranked sixth.HDFC is followed by CIT Group of the US at eighth position, Taiwan’s Hua Nan Financial at 9thand China’s Franshion Properties is at the 10th place.The list is part of Forbes’ annual compilation of 2,000 biggest and most powerful companiesglobally, which includes a total of 56 companies from India across various sectors.In the overall list, HDFC is ranked 485th, while Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries leads thepack of the Indian companies at 142nd overall position.Forbes said the list ranks the companies on the basis of a composite score of their revenues,profits, assets and market value.

Wealth-X list -2015

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Indian tech billionaire Arun Pudur has been ranked as Asia”s wealthiest entrepreneur underthe age of 40, according to the Wealth-X list released today.The global wealth intelligence and prospecting company said Pudur, the owner and president ofsoftware firm Celframe, topped the list with a personal fortune of $ 4 billion.Pudur, a 37-year-old native of Chennai, founded Celframe in 1998 after graduating fromuniversity, and the software firm now produces the world’s second most popular word processorafter Microsoft.Pudur is followed by Zhou Yahui of China at the second place with a net worth of USD 2.2billion.The youngest entrepreneur on the list is 32-year-old Leo Chen, who is the chairman and CEO ofJumei International Holding, one of China’s largest online cosmetics retailers.

Global Human Capital Index

India was ranked at a low 100th position on a Global Human Capital Index, which measuresthe countries in terms of the economies leveraging their human capital, where Finland has toppedthe 124-nation list.On the list, compiled by World Economic Forum (WEF), other emerging economies such asRussia, China, Brazil and South Africa are ranked ahead of India.WEF said the list has been compiled on the basis of 46 indicators about “how well they aredeveloping and deploying their human capital, focusing on education, skills and employment”.The major countries ranked above India include France (14th rank), the US (17th), the UK (19th)and Germany (22nd).

State of Environmental Democracy

India has ranked 24th out of 70 countries in the index to understand the state of environmentaldemocracy for countries around the world.Lithuania, Latvia, Russia, the US, South Africa, the UK, Hungary, Bulgaria, Panama andColombia are the top 10 nations in the list launched by Washington-based World ResourcesInstitute (WRI) and Access Initiative.The index evaluates environmental democracy in 70 countries, including 75 legal and 24 practiceindicators, based on recognized international standards.

International Passenger Survey (INS)

Indians are the second-largest group of migrants coming to the UK after Chinese, according tolatest figures. In 2013, 46,000 Chinese migrants entered Britain for study and work reasonsfollowed by 33,000 Indians.India is tied at the second place along with Spanish migrants from within the European Union,also at 33,000, according to the Office of National Statistics (ONS) International PassengerSurvey (INS).

Forbes Announces 12th Annual List Of The World’s 100 Most Powerful Women

Forbes today announced its 12th annual World’s 100 Most Powerful Women, with German

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Chancellor Angela Merkel topping this year’s list for the fifth consecutive year and ten times intotal. She is followed by presidential candidate Hillary Clinton (No. 2), and Melinda Gates, onceagain, at No. 3. U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen falls two spots to No. 4, and GeneralMotors CEO Mary Barra moves up two spots to No. 5.SBI chief Arundhati Bhattacharya, ICICI bank head Chanda Kochhar, Biocon founder KiranMazumdar-Shaw and HT Media chairperson Shobhana Bhartia are among the world’s 100most powerful women, according to the Forbes’ annual list.Members of the 2015 ranking represent women in eight categories – technology, politics,business, finance, media, entertainment, philanthropy and billionaires.To determine the rankwithin each category, as well as overall rank on the list of 100, Forbes applied four metrics:money, media, impact and spheres of influence.59-year-old Bhattacharya has been ranked 30th on the list, followed by Kochhar on the 35thspot, Mazumdar-Shaw (85) and newcomer on the list Bhartia is on the 93rd spot.Two women of Indian-origin PepsiCo Chief Indra Nooyi and Cisco Chief Technology andStrategy Officer Padmasree Warrior also made to the list.

The top 15 include:

RANK NAME TITLE, COUNTRY1 Angela Merkel Chancellor, Germany2 Hillary Rodham Clinton Presidential Candidate; Former Secretary of State3 Melinda Gates Co-Chair, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, U.S.4 Janet Yellen U.S. Federal Reserve Bank Chair, U.S.5 Mary Barra CEO, General Motors, U.S.6 Christine Lagarde Managing Director, International Monetary Fund, U.S.7 Dilma Rousseff President, Brazil8 Sheryl Sandberg COO, Facebook, U.S9 Susan Wojcicki CEO, YouTube, U.S.10 Michelle Obama First Lady, U.S.11 Park Geun-hye President, South Korea12 Oprah Winfrey Media Mogul, U.S.13 Virginia Rometty CEO, IBM, U.S.14 Meg Whitman CEO, HP, U.S.15 Indra Nooyi CEO, PepsiCo, U.S.

United Nations Annual Hunger Report

India is home to the highest number of hungry people in the world, at 194 million,surpassing China, according to United Nations annual hunger report.The number of hungry people in the world has dropped to 795 million – 216 million fewer than in1990-92 – or around one person out of every nine, according to the latest edition of the annual UNhunger report.UN body Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) said in its report titled ‘The State of FoodInsecurity in the World 2015?.At the global level, the corresponding figure dropped to 795 million in 2014-15, from 1 billion in1990-92, with East Asia led by

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India too saw a reduction between 1990 and 2015, it added. In 1990-92, those who were starved offood in India numbered 210.1 million, which came down to 194.6 million in 2014-15.A majority – 72 out of 129 – of the countries monitored by FAO have achieved the MillenniumDevelopment Goal target of halving the prevalence of undernourishment by 2015, withdeveloping regions as a whole missing the target by a small margin.

Forbes Announces Inaugural List Of America’s 50 Richest Self-Made Women

Two Indian-origin women have made it to Forbes’ inaugural list of America’s 50 richest self-made women, sharing the honour with high-achievers such as Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg,media mogul Oprah Winfrey and singer Beyonce.India-born Neerja Sethi, with a net worth of USD 1.1 billion, has been ranked 14th on the list ofthe most successful self-made women in the US while London-born Jayshree Ullal comes in atthe 30th spot with a USD 470 million net worth.Sethi, 60, co-founded IT consulting and outsourcing company Syntel with her husband,billionaire Bharat Desai, in 1980.Ullal became president and CEO of Arista Networks, a company that has emerged as one ofSilicon Valley’s most valuable networking firms.The first ever list of the nation’s top 50 most successful, self-made women as measured by theirnet worths includes entrepreneurs, CEOs, entertainers, designers and an author.Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes tops the list with a net worth of $4.5 billion and is theyoungest at 31, followed by ABC Supply’s Diane Hendricks (No. 2), worth $3.7 billion, TheGap’s Doris Fisher (No. 3), worth $3.1 billion,Forever 21’s Jin Sook Chang (No. 4), worth $3.05billion,and Oprah Winfrey (No. 5), with a net worth of $3 billion.Members of the 2015 inaugural list needed a minimum of $250 million in net worth to make thecut.

RANK NAME NET WORTH1 Elizabeth Holmes $4.5 billion2 Diane Hendricks $3.7 billion3 Doris Fisher $3.1 billion4 Jin Sook Chang $3.05 billion5 Oprah Winfrey $3 billion6 Judy Faulkner $2.6 billion7 Johnelle Hunt $2.4 billion7 Judy Love $2.4 billion9 Marian Ilitch $2.2 billion10 Meg Whitman $2.1 billion11 Lynda Resnick $2 billion12 Elaine Wynn $1.7 billion13 Peggy Cherng $1.5 billion14 Thai Lee $1.1 billion14 Neerja Sethi $1.1 billion

Science & Tech

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Microsoft has finally settled on a name for its next generation web browser, it announced at its2015 Build developer’s conference: “Microsoft Edge.”

Microsoft Edge will supplant Internet Explorer as the default browser for Windows 10this summer, but IE won’t disappear forever just yet. The new browser’s name appears toreference its graphic rendering engine, which is called EdgeHTML.

Researchers have discovered the driest location on Earth in the Atacama Desert in Chile – andthey were surprised to find some bacteria living there, according to NASA’s Astrobiologymagazine. The site is reported to be as dry as Mars.

The site is called Maria Elena South (MES). Armando Azua-Bustos, an environmentalbiologist and research scientist at the Blue Marble Space Institute of Science in Seattle,says the team discovered that MES has a mean atmospheric relative humidity (RH) of17.3 percent and a soil RH of a constant 14 percent at a depth of one meter.For more than a decade, the Yungay region has been established as the driest area of thehyper-arid Atacama desert, with conditions close to the so-called “dry limit” for life onEarth.

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