GK POWER CAPSULE - MAY 2015 – HINDU REVIEWS

1. AIADMK General Secretary J Jayalalithaa was sworn-

in as the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu for fifth time.

She is the 18th Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu and

succeeded O Panneerselvam who resigned on 21

May 2015 following her acquittal on 11 May 2015 in

the disproportionate assets case by the Karnataka

High Court. The court overruled the Bangalore’s

special court judgment which found Jayalalithaa

guilty.

2. David Cameron’s Conservative Party on 8 May 2015

won the UK General election 2015 by securing 331

seats in a Parliament of 650. With this win, the

incumbent Prime Minister David Cameroon will

continue to be in the office.

3. The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet gave

its nod for appointing G Mohan Kumar as the

Secretary of the Ministry of Defence.

4. Akhil Amar, an Indian-American professor from Yale

University, was appointed as a member of the

prestigious National Council on Humanities of

United States.

5. Peter M Christian was elected as the eighth

President of the Federated States of Micronesia.

6. SS Ahluwalia was appointed as the chairman of

Joint Parliamentary Committee on the Right to Fair

Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition

Rehabilitation and Resettlement (LARR)

(Amendment) Bill, 2015. The committee has 20

members from the Lok Sabha and 10 members from

the Rajya Sabha.

7. President Pranab Mukherjee authorized Justice

(retd) Cyriac Joseph to act as the interim

chairperson of the National Human Rights

Commission (NHRC). He will replace K.G.

Balakrishnan.

8. Eminent banker Kundapur Vaman Kamath was

appointed as the first President of the New

Development Bank (NDB) of BRICS nations. He will

serve a five year term after the bank becomes

operational within one year.

9. The Union Ministry of Finance appointed a

committee under the chairmanship of Justice Ajit

Prakash Shah to look into the issue of Minimum

Alternate Tax (MAT) on Foreign Institutional

Investors (FIIs). As per the Finance Act, 2015 the 20

percent MAT on Capital Gains made by FIIs is

waived off from the financial year 2015-16.

However, the issue of imposing MAT for past years

(till 2014-15) has become controversial. At present,

Justice A P Shah is heading the 20th Law

Commission of India.

10. Achal Kumar Jyoti was appointed as the Election

Commissioner of India. At present, Nasim Zaidi, the

Chief Election Commissioner (CEC), is the other

member of election commission.

11. Senior IPS officer Surender Singh took over as

Director General of central paramilitary force

Central Industrial Security Force.

This capsule has been prepared by the Career Power Institute Delhi (Formerly known as Bank Power). This

document contains all the important news and events of the Month May 2015, which can be helpful in the upcoming

exams and interviews.

12. Actor and producer Mukesh Khanna was appointed

as the Chairperson of the Children's Film Society of

India.

13. Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz appointed his

nephew Mohammed bin Nayef as the new Crown

Prince and as a Deputy Prime Minister.

14. Hungarian writer Laszlo Krasznahorkai won the

prestigious Man Booker International Prize for

2015.

15. Veteran Bollywood actor Shashi Kapoor was

honoured with the prestigious Dada Saheb Phalke

award.

16. The French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo was

presented with the 2015 Freedom of Expression

Courage Award of the PEN American Centre at the

American Museum of Natural History.

17. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and

Cultural Organization (UNESCO) presented the 2015

UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom

Prize to Syrian journalist and rights activist Mazen

Darwish.

18. Ace tennis player Rafael Nadal received the Golden

Medal for Merit in Work. Golden Medal is one of

the top civilian honours of Spain which aims to

highlight an exemplary performance in any job or

profession.

19. Prannoy Roy, the Executive Co-chairman of NDTV,

was conferred with the Redink Lifetime

Achievement Award 2015 at a function in Mumbai.

20. Two Indians namely Dr Ananda Kumar and Dr

Pramod Patil won the prestigious Whitley Awards

(also known as Green Oscar) for their contribution

to wildlife conservation.

21. Srinagar-born novelist Siddhartha Gigoo won the

2015 Commonwealth Short Story Prize for Asia

region for his work Umbrella Man.

22. Margarita, with a Straw directed by Shonali Bose of

India won the Audience Award for Best Feature Film

at the Washington DC International Film festival.

Kalki Koechlin-starrer film is a disability drama.

23. Prime Minister Narendra Modi conferred the 50th

Jnanpith Award on eminent Marathi litterateur

Bhalchandra Nemade.

24. Former Union Finance Minister and veteran BJP

leader Yashwant Sinha was conferred with

the Officier de la Légion d’Honneur(Officer of the

Legion of Honour- highest French civilian

distinction) in recognition of his valuable

contribution to thought on international issues.

25. President of the United States (US) Barack Obama

entered Guinness Book of World Record for

reaching a million followers in a span of mere 5

hours after going live. Barack Obama debuted on

Social Media Platform Twitter with @POTUS

account.

26. V Shanmuganathan was sworn in as 15th Governor

of Meghalaya at the Raj Bhawan in Shillong.

27. Indian-Origin Harbhajan Kaur Dheer became the

first Asian woman to be elected as mayor in the

United Kingdom (UK).

28. Indian-origin Priti Patel was appointed as Minister

of State for Employment in British Government.

29. Bollywood actor Salman Khan was in news as he

was sentenced to five years imprisonment by

Mumbai Sessions Court. He was sentenced for his

28 September 2002 hit and run case in which one

pavement dweller was killed and four others were

injured.

30. Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu O Panneerselvam

resigned.

31. Veteran jazz musician Bob Belden passed away.

32. Eminent economist and academics Mrinal Datta

Chaudhuri passed away.

33. Popular Indian stage, film and television actress

Sudha Shivpuri died.

34. Aruna Shanbaug, the nurse of Mumbai’s King

Edward Memorial (KEM) Hospital, died on 18 May

2015. She died after battling with coma for past 42-

years following a sexual assault by a hospital ward

boy.

35. Veteran Hollywood actress Elizabeth Wilson passed

away.

36. Former Union Minister and veteran Congress leader

Baleshwar Ram.

37. Authorities of the Gangotri National Park in

Uttarakhand on 21 May 2015 opened the Nelong

Valley for tourists for the first time since its closure

in 1962.

38. Islamic State for Iraq and Syria (ISIS) militants on 21

May 2015 seized full control of ancient city of

Palmyra in Syria.

39. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 19 May 2015

returned to India after completing his tour to three

nations namely China, Mongolia and South Korea.

40. Highlights of the visit to China - Prime Minister

raised the boundary question with China and asked

for an early settlement of the issue and decided to

maintain peace and tranquility at the border point

for maturity of relations. India-China signed 24

inter-governmental agreements. 21 business

agreements worth 22 billion US dollars signed

between Indian and Chinese companies. PM Modi

inaugurated ICICI’s first branch in China at Shanghai.

41. Highlights of the visit to Mongolia - Modi is the first

ever Prime Minister of India to visit the country.

India announced to provide one billion US dollar

Line of Credit to Mongolia. India-Mongolia signed

13 agreements including enhancement in

cooperation in border defence, air services, cyber

security, renewable energy and others. Modi

addressed to the Mongolian Parliament. Modi

gifted a rare history manuscript to Mongolian

President.

42. Highlights of the visit to South Korea - Narendra

Modi announced to set up a special panel to clear

and fast-track South Korean investments into India.

South Korea became the second country after Japan

for which a special panel will be constituted. South

Korea announced to invest 10 billion dollar for

Indian infrastructure development. India-South

Korea signed seven agreements including revised

avoidance of double taxation, cooperation in audio-

visual co-production, Youth Matters as well as co-

operation between the National Security Council of

India and South Korea.

43. Muglawali village of Yamun nagar district in

Haryana came into news after district authorities

claimed that they have dugged out a paleo (old)

channel which resembles now inactive River

Saraswati.

44. 19th century Dharahara (Bhimsen) tower at the

center of Sundhara in Kathmandu, Nepal on 25 April

2015 was reduced to rubbles after an earthquake of

magnitude 7.9 on the Richter scale struck the

country.

45. The United Nations released Mid-2015 World

Economic Situation and Prospects. Growth of world

GDP will accelerate slightly from 2.6 percent in 2014

to 2.8 percent in 2015.

46. United Nations Conference on Trade and

Development (UNCTAD) released a report titled

Global Investment Trends Monitor. The report

highlighted that developing Asia now invests more

abroad than any other region. Hong Kong (China)

and China were the second and the third largest

investors in the world, after the United States which

remains the largest single source of outward foreign

direct investment (FDI).

47. The World Economic Forum released the Human

Capital Report 2015 in Geneva, Switzerland. India

occupied the 100th position among the 124

countries surveyed in the Index. Finland topped the

list.

48. The Union Cabinet approved Polar Satellite Launch

Vehicle (PSLV) Continuation Programme consisting

of fifteen operational flights PSLV-C36 to PSLV-C50.

49. The Union Cabinet gave its nod for building and

launching of GSAT-17 and GSAT-18 communication

satellites.

50. India assumed Presidency of the 68th World Health

Assembly (WHA) after 19 years.

51. 6th National Conference on Nuclear Energy was

held in New Delhi on 15 May 2015. The Conference

was organised by ASSOCHAM with the

theme Nuclear Energy: a Clean Energy option.

52. President Pranab Mukherjee inaugurated the 50th

anniversary of India’s first historic climb of Mount

Everest in 1965 at Rashtrapati Bhavan. On 20 May

1965, Indian team led by Captain Mohan Singh Kohli

of Indian Navy made history by climbing 8848-

metres high Mt. Everest, the world’s highest peak.

53. Prime Minister Narendra Modi released a

commemorative coin to mark the birth centenary of

Swami Chinmayananda in New Delhi.

54. Singapore PM Lee Hsien Loong opened first

museum Indian Heritage Centre in Little India.

55. The term Multi-Object Tracking Radar (MOTR) was

in news as the Indian Space Research Organisation

(ISRO) announced its plans to commission the radar

in June 2015.

56. The term Nuclear Insurance Pool was in news as the

General Insurance Corporation of India was

collecting views from the stakeholders in the

Insurance industry and Nuclear Energy sector about

the creation of the NIP. The NIP is intended to cover

the liability of Nuclear Plant operators and

Equipment and Material Suppliers under Civil

Liability for Nuclear Damages (CLND) Act, 2010 in

case of nuclear accidents. The creation of the Pool

has become necessary due to the reluctance of the

foreign nuclear equipment suppliers to participate

in the nuclear trade with India as the CNLD Act,

2010 has imposed liability on them in case of

nuclear accidents. The GIC is given the responsibility

by the Union Government for the creation of the

NIP and it will be of 1500 crore rupees and the GIC

will invest 750 crore rupees in it.

57. India launched a relief and rescue Operation named

Maitri in earthquake hit Nepal. The operation will

involve two dozen military aircraft and choppers

along with bus services through road route. India

also pressed nearly 1000 trained personnel of the

National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) into

service.

58. The President of India Pranab Mukherjee

inaugurated Namaste Russia festival in Moscow,

Russia.

59. Book titled Unbelievable – Delhi to Islamabad

authored by senior Advocate Prof. Bhim Singh was

released by Vice President M Hamid Ansari in New

Delhi.

60. Mirage 2000 fighter jet of Indian air force landed

successfully on Yamuna Expressway as part of

developing road runaway for emergency landing.

It's a kind of first for military aviation in India.

61. Air-to-air missile, Astra was successfully test fired at

the Integrated Test Range (ITR), Chandipur in

Odisha. It was test-fired aboard a Sukhoi-30 MKI

fighter aircraft. Astra is India’s first beyond visual

range air-to-air missile (BVRAAM) that is capable of

engaging its target at ranges of 37 km or beyond. It

has operational range of 60km.

62. Indian Army signed Memorandum of Understanding

(MoU) with the Bank of India (BOI) on the Defence

Salary Package.

63. The Naval establishment of Indian Navy at

Porbandar, Gujarat was commissioned as INS Sardar

Patel by Anandiben Patel, Chief Minister of Gujarat.

64. India successfully conducted the 48th test firing of

the BrahMos Supersonic Cruise Missile from the Car

Nicobar Islands in Andaman and Nicobar. The

advanced version of the land-to-land configuration

of BrahMos Block-III version was test-fired from a

Mobile Autonomous Launcher (MAL) for its full-

range of 290 km.

65. The first regiment of the indigenously developed

Surface-to-Air missile Akash Weapon System was

inducted into the Indian Army in New Delhi.

66. The Fourteenth edition of the Indo-French naval

exercise VARUNA 2015 concluded on 2 May 2015.

The exercise started on 23 April 2015 off the Goa

Coast.

67. State-owned United Bank of India has become the

first of the 17 lenders to publicly admit that it no

longer expects to recover its dues from the

beleaguered Kingfisher Airlines. Interestingly, the

Kolkata-based lender was the first bank to attempt

to get Vijay Mallya, the chairman of Kingfisher

Airlines, tagged as a wilful defaulter.

68. RBI will soon set up a Central Fraud Registry as part

of an early warning system. The idea is to set up a

structure for quick sharing of information about

unscrupulous borrowers and help banks fight bad

loans.

69. Puducherry will be the first Union territory/state to

implement direct benefit transfer (DBT) scheme for

disbursal of food subsidy to the beneficiaries.

70. Government approved a proposal allowing

investment by non-resident Indians (NRI) to be

deemed as domestic investment on a par with

investment made by residents. This means NRI

investment will not be included in the category of

foreign investment.

71. An expert panel has recommended to the pension

regulator to give the option of up to 50% (up from

15%) equity exposure to government employees

under the National Pension System (NPS). The GN

Bajpai panel, constituted by the Pension Regulatory

and Development Authority (PFRDA) on September

10, 2014 to review investment guidelines, has

suggested that government employees also be

given the option to choose their pension fund

manager (now not available) as well as switch them

if not satisfied with performance.

72. The finance ministry notified the increased service

tax rate of 14 per cent effective from 1st June.

However, the Swachchha Bharat Cess is yet to be

notified. In Budget 2015-16, the government had

hiked the service tax to 14 per cent from the

current 12.36 per cent. The education cess and

secondary and higher education cess shall be

subsumed in the new service tax rate.

73. India and South Korea signed a revised double

taxation avoidance pact and agreed to begin talks

from mid next year to widen the scope of free trade

pact to boost bilateral economic cooperation.

74. South Korea decided to provide $10 billion to India

for infrastructure, development of smart cities,

railways, power generation and other diversified

areas.

75. The government has limited fiscal deficit for 2014-

15 at 4% of GDP, lower than the revised estimate of

4.1% announced in February.

76. India announced a USD one billion credit line to

Mongolia for infrastructure development as they

upgraded their ties to “Strategic Partnership” and

agreed to deepen defence cooperation besides

exploring potential for tie ups in areas like the civil

nuclear sector.

77. The Narendra Modi led government launched the

website of NITI Aayog with a blogs section that will

have articles, field reports, work in progress and

opinions by the officials.

78. Monsoon is likely to hit the Kerala coast on May 30,

two days before its scheduled arrival in India even

as the country stares at the possibility of below

normal rains for a second consecutive year.

79. Wholesale price inflation stayed in the negative

zone for the sixth month in a row, easing to -2.65%

in April.

80. The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime

Minister Narendra Modi approved amending the

Benami Transactions (Prohibition) Act, 1988 aimed

at curbing the generation and laundering of black

money within the country.

81. Rating agency Moody’s said monsoon and global

financial volatility will pose additional risks to India’s

growth this year, but the GDP is likely to average

around 7.5 per cent over the next 18-24 months

due to improvement in business environment

induced by reforms. US-based Moody’s has a

positive outlook on India’s ‘Baa3′ rating.

82. Retail inflation in April softened further and fell to a

four-month low of 4.87 per cent as prices of food

items, vegetables and fruits turned cheaper.

83. The proposed Goods and Service Tax (GST) Bill was

referred to a Select Committee of Parliamentarians.

The 21-member panel will give its report by the last

day of the first week of the Monsoon Session.

84. Indian Railways will soon launch its ‘Tatkal Special’

train service, travelling on which will be dearer than

on normal trains.

85. Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana (PMSBY) will

offer a renewable one year accidental death-cum-

disability cover of Rs 2 lakh for partial/permanent

disability to all savings bank account holders in the

age group of 18-70 years for a premium of Rs 12 per

annum per subscriber.

86. Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana (PMJJBY)

will offer a renewable one year life cover 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 per

subscriber.

87. Atal Pension Yojana (APY) will focus on the

unorganised sector and provide subscribers a fixed

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 entering at an age between 18 and 40

years.

88. Traders with a turnover below R10 lakh a year

won’t have to register for or pay the goods and

services tax (GST), and those with annual sales of

R10 lakh to R50 lakh will need to pay the tax at a

rate lower rate than the standard GST rate.

89. As part of its efforts to improve India’s ranking in

the World Bank’s ‘Ease of Doing Business’ index, the

government has set up a panel with a view to

replace multiple prior permissions required to start

a business with a pre-existing regulatory

mechanism. The panel is headed by Jaijit

Bhattacharya.

90. Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi’s

constituency Amethi is set to be developed as a

Smart City by the Narendra Modi-led government.

91. Cabinet enhanced the powers of Foreign

Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) to take

decisions on foreign investments worth up to Rs

3,000 crore, up from the Rs 1,200 crore allowed as

per the FDI Policy, 2014.

92. India and France decided to set up teams to work

out details of the acquisition of 36 Rafale fighter

jets in fly-away condition and a “time-bound

manner”.

93. Cabinet approved a modification in the Mega Food

Park scheme to streamline its implementation to

attract investment in the food processing sector.

94. Finance Ministry clarified that LPG subsidy received

by individuals in their bank accounts will continue

to be exempt from income tax.

95. The government said the birth rate in India is

greater than that of China and said the country’s

population will cross China’s by 2028.

96. A deal signed between engineering firm L&T and

French nuclear vendor Areva for maximising the

localisation of critical components for the proposed

10,000-MW nuclear power plant at Jaitapur.

97. Government decided to defer plans to set up an

independent Public Debt Management Agency

(PDMA) this year, allowing the central bank to

continue with regulating government bonds.

98. Eight core industries registered a negative growth

of 0.1 per cent in March, the lowest performance in

17 months, due to a steep decline in production of

steel, cement and refinery products.

99. A court in Pakistan sentenced 10 men to life

imprisonment for attempting to kill Nobel-prize

winning teenage activist Malala Yousafzai in 2012.

100. Operation Maitri, India’s Army-led rescue and relief

mission in quake-hit Nepal, would continue till

normalcy returned to the Himalayan country, the

Army said.

101. Raja Rajeswari, the first India-born woman to be

appointed a judge in New York City, was sworn-in

by Mayor Bill de Blasio.

102. The government decided to continue its Rs.1,000

minimum monthly pension scheme run by the

Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation.

103. In an audit report tabled in Parliament, the

Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) named

Union Minister Nitin Gadkari as one of the

‘promoters and/or directors’ of Purti Sakhar

Karkhana Limited — a company that, it said, was

sanctioned a loan of Rs. 84.12 crore by the Indian

Renewable Energy Development Agency (IREDA) in

violation of guidelines.

104. In the face of an uproar in the Rajya Sabha over

“son-guaranteeing’’ medicine, Putrajivak Beejbeing

sold by Yoga guru Baba Ramdev’s pharmacy, the

government agreed to look into the issue and see

how the “ayurvedic medicine” was issued a licence.

105. India is sending two of its senior most officials,

Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar and National

Security Adviser Ajit Doval, to Kathmandu to take

stock of the situation and amplify its relief efforts.

106. In order help investors better understand risks

involved in mutual fund (MF) investments, SEBI,

replaced the mandatory colour codes with a

‘riskometer’ containing five levels of risks from low

to high. The five risk levels would be low,

moderately low, moderate, moderately high and

high. The new system would replace the existing

practice of colour-coding the schemes wherein the

funds needed to be given blue, yellow and brown

codes to indicate low, medium and high risk

respectively.

107. Maharashtra Food and Drug Administration (FDA)

said that it had ordered an FIR to be filed against

the CEO and the directors of Internet shopping

company Snapdeal for allegedly selling prescription

drugs online.

108. NASA’s Messenger spacecraft has crashed into the

surface of Mercury.

109. The Centre has approved the long-standing demand

of Indian scientists that the country be an associate

member of CERN (European Organisation for

Nuclear Research).

110. Mutual fund managers pumped in over Rs.7,600

crore in equity markets in April, making it their

highest net inflow in more than seven years, mainly

on account of positive investor sentiments and the

government’s reforms agenda.

111. The Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Bill

2013 will be referred to a Select Committee by the

Rajya Sabha.

112. The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has

rejected allegations of unfair business practices

against five online retail majors — Flipkart,

Snapdeal, Amazon, Jabong and Myntra — as it did

not find any prima facie evidence of violations.

113. IT major Infosys has asked the West Bengal

government to either give SEZ (Special Economic

Zone) status to the company’s proposed software

development centre at Rajarhat or repay the money

it has given in advance for the land.

114. A sessions court in Mumbai held Bollywood actor

Salman Khan guilty of culpable homicide and

sentenced him to five-year rigorous imprisonment

and a fine of Rs. 25,000 in the 2002 hit-and-run

case.

115. With 352 votes in favour, the Constitution (122nd

Amendment) Bill for introduction of Goods and

Services Tax (GST) sailed through the Lok Sabha.

116. Union Cabinet met to approve an amendment that

would effectively dilute the scope of the Whistle

Blowers Protection Act of 2011. The amendment

incorporates ‘necessary provisions’ to keep issues of

national security out of its purview.

117. India and Iran signed an inter-Governmental

Memorandum of Understanding regarding India’s

participation in the development of the Chabahar

Port in Iran.

118. The U.S. has handed over to Pakistan 14 combat

aircraft, 59 military trainer jets and 374 armoured

personnel carriers, which were earlier used by

American forces in Afghanistan and Iraq.

119. The Lok Sabha passed a bill that provides for trying

juveniles aged between 16 and 18 years for heinous

crimes under laws for adults.

120. Parliament unanimously approved The Constitution

(119th Amendment) Bill, operationalising the Land

Boundary Agreement -- swapping territories

between India and Bangladesh -- 41 years after the

1974 Indira Gandhi-Sheikh Mujibur Rehman pact.

Once the Bill is ratified by at least half the

legislatures of the country and gets presidential

assent, it will likely be India’s 100th constitutional

amendment.

121. Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has said the

Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Mark-I Tejas being

inducted into the Indian Air Force (IAF) has limited

capability and does not meet the force’s

operational requirements.

122. The U.N. health agency declared Liberia Ebola-free.

123. RBI has advised all public sector banks and some

private and foreign banks to appoint an internal

ombudsman. The internal ombudsman would be

designated Chief Customer Service Officer. The apex

bank, however, has made it clear that the CCSO

should not have worked in the bank in which he/she

is appointed as CCSO.

124. India has lodged a protest against China’s

announcement of infrastructure projects in

Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK).

125. Commuters can now access Indian Railways’

schedule on their mobile phones and desktops

using Google Maps. Besides information on 12,000

trains, the Maps will now offer updated details for

bus and metro routes in eight cities: New Delhi,

Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Bengaluru,

Hyderabad and Pune.

126. Supreme Court restrained the government from

publishing the photographs of political leaders,

Ministers or prominent persons in government

advertisements. The court, however, drew an

exception to this restraint in the case of the

President, the Prime Minister and the Chief Justice

of India. The verdict relies on guidelines on ‘Content

Regulation of Government Advertising’ framed by a

three-member committee, led by legal academician

N.R. Madhava Menon.

127. The Aam Aadmi Party Government said it would not

allow foreign direct investment (FDI) in retail sector

in the Capital.

128. The Centre decided to continue with the aptitude

test (General Studies Paper-II) in the Civil Services

(Preliminary) Examination, fixing its minimum

qualifying marks at 33 per cent.

129. Union Cabinet approved a proposal to ban

employment of children aged under 14 in all kinds

of commercial enterprises. The Child Labour

Prohibition Act, 1986, imposes the ban on only 18

hazardous industries. However, keeping in mind the

“social fabric” of the country, the Cabinet has made

an exception for work done in family enterprises

and on farmlands, provided it is done after school

hours and during vacations. The Cabinet has barred

employment of adolescents (14 to 18 years) in

hazardous occupations and processes in the

chemical industry and mines.

130. The Indian Medical Association (IMA) has sent a

legal notice to the makers of the film Gabbar is Back

demanding removal of “objectionable” scenes from

the movie that was released on May 1.

131. The proportion of Christians in the U.S. population

dropped by ten per cent over the last seven years,

even as Hindus and Muslims nearly doubled their

share, according to a recent study.

132. China’s move to build nuclear power plants in

Pakistan is not consistent with the rules of the

Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) and the U.S. has

raised this issue in its bilateral meetings, a top

Obama Administration official has said.

133. The Central Government will sell its 10 per cent

stake in blue-chip Indian Oil Corporation and five

per cent in power producer NTPC to mop up about

Rs.13,600 crore in this fiscal’s first disinvestment

approval.

134. RBI allowed Infrastructure Debt Fund-Non-Banking

Financial Companies to invest in public-private

partnerships (PPPs) and infrastructure projects

which have completed at least one year of

satisfactory commercial operation. The maximum

exposure that an IDF-NBFC can take on individual

projects will be at 50 per cent of its total capital

funds.

135. State Bank of India joined its private sector rivals to

launch contactless cards using latest near field

communication (NFC) technology. Called the

SBIinTouch cards, these contactless debit and credit

cards are more secure and hassle-free to use at

merchant outlets or ATMs and use the NFC

technology, which enables users to make payments

by waving or tapping the card near the contactless

reader instead of swiping or dipping it.

136. Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that

India had decided to extend electronic tourist visas

to Chinese nationals.

137. An Egyptian court sentenced deposed Islamist

President Mohamed Morsy and more than 100

other people to death for their role in a mass

jailbreak during the 2011 uprising.

138. Foreign exchange reserves grew by $262.4 million

to touch a new record high of $352.13 billion for the

week ended May 8, 2015 against $351.86 billion for

the previous week, according to RBI weekly data.

139. Draupadi Murmu took oath as the ninth Governor

of Jharkhand, the first tribal woman to occupy the

position in the State.

140. HDFC Bank, in association with Apollo Hospitals, has

launched a co-branded pre-paid card called HDFC

Bank Apollo Medical Benefits Card, which will

enable corporates to easily disburse medical

allowance to their employees without waste of time

and incurring any cost.

141. A Sukhoi-30 fighter aircraft of the Indian Air Force

crashed in Assam.

142. A fully assembled Astrosat, India’s first space

observatory, is ready for intensive tests before its

launch around October.

143. India’s largest commercial bank the State Bank of

India said that its tie up with Snapdeal for funding

MSMEs will boost Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s

Make-in-India initiatives by putting more funds in

the hands of the small entrepreneurs enabling them

to boost their industries.

144. The Republic of Ireland became the first country to

legalise same-sex marriage through popular vote.