2nd May 2016 - Important Current Affairs updates

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International Affairs

The ADMM-Plus (ASEAN Defence Ministers’ Meeting Plus) Exercise on Maritime Security and Counter Terrorism (Ex MS & CT) has started at Brunei yesterday (May 1, 2016).
- The aim of this nine day exercise (till May 9, 2016) is to strengthen the strong bilateral ties and extensive maritime interactions between India and ASEAN countries.

National Affairs

Parliament has passed Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2016.
- The Bill amends the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957.
- The amendment Bill was first passed in the Lok Sabha in March 2016 and later in the Rajya Sabha in May 2016.
Andhra Pradesh Government has launched Chandranna Bima Yojana, an insurance scheme for the working class people.
- The scheme was launched by Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu on the occasion of May Day in Vijayawada.
- According to this scheme, any insured worker who meets an accidental death and permanent disability will be paid 5 lakh rupees.
- Any insured worker who suffers partial disability will be paid 3 lakh rupees.
- Note : This scheme will cover about 1.5 crore workers of the state.
The government will monitor mines with the help of satellites starting this year, after a three-month long project found rampant illegal extraction of limestone in the state.
- Reportedly, state-run Indian Bureau of Mines is digitising maps of all mines under the government's purview to check whether companies are mining outside their lease areas.

The Union Ministry of Railways and Forest Department of Haryana & Punjab have inked Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for plantation of trees alongside Railway Track on Railway Land Boundary.
- The MoU paves way for planting around 5 lakh trees alongside Railway Track on Railway Land Boundary prior to Monsoon Season.
The Jammu and Kashmir government today signed an MoU with the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi for setting up an IIT in Jammu.
- About 625 acres of land has been approved at Jagti in Nagrota for the IIT, while regular classes will commence from the current session at a temporary campus, Deputy Chief Minister Nirmal Singh said.

New Appointments

An Indian American Sikh woman Harmeet Kaur Dhillon (47) from California was elected to an important position in the Republican Party at the United States national level.
- She was elected as the newest National Committee Woman, a key position of the Republican National Committee.
- Important Note : She was the first woman elected to this position of vice chair of the California Republican Party.

Awards & Honors

An Indian-American journalist Neela Banerjee was felicitated with a prestigious Edgar A Poe award along with three of her colleagues from Inside Climate News, John Cushman Jr, David Hasemyer and Lisa Song and Terrence McCoy of the Washington Post.
Three Indian Scientists Sriram Ramaswamy (Physicis), Ramanujan Hegde (Biochemis) and Lakshminarayanan Mahadevan (Applied mathematician) have been elected as the as Fellows of The Royal Society, a premier scientific academy of the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth.

Business & Economy

China today replaced all business tax with the Value-Added Tax (VAT) after extending it to four new sectors of construction, real estate, finance and consumer services.
- With the inclusion, almost all goods and services will reportedly be brought under the VAT cover, a move expected to help businesses save money.
- Note : China had first implemented the VAT scheme in 2012.
IT services company Wipro has inaugurated Saudi Arabia's first all women business and technology park (WBP) at the Princess Nourah Bint Abdulrahman University in Riyadh.
- The WBP is a joint venture between Wipro and the university, with oil firm Saudi Aramco acting as the strategic advisor.
- The initiative is expected to create nearly 21,000 jobs by 2025, Wipro said.
State owned SBI has lowered its lending rates based on marginal cost of funds by 5 basis points (0.05%) to 9.15%.
- The new minimum lending rates are effective from May 1, the bank said.
- With this, the home loan interest rate for women borrowers has come down to 9.35%, while for others it now stands lower at 9.40%.

People in News

Australian entrepreneur Craig Wright has reportedly confirmed that he created digital payment system bitcoins and provided technical proof for his claims.
- The creator of bitcoin had earlier developed it under the pseudonym 'Satoshi Nakamoto'.
- About Bitcoin : Bitcoin is a virtual currency system in which users exchange bitcoins for transactions and 'mine' bitcoins by sharing their computing power.

Science & Technology

INS Kalvari, Indian Navy’s first indigenous Scorpene-class stealth submarine, has recently launched for the first sea trial in the Mumbai naval dockyard.
- It is a diesel-electric attack submarine which is built under the strategic Project 75 by Mazagon Dock Limited (MDL) in collaboration with French naval defence and energy company DCNS.
Carnival Corp’s 704-passenger cruise ship Adonia set sail from Miami today to become the first US cruise ship to sail to Cuba in around 50 years.
- Carnival Corp started the $1,800 cruise after the Cuban government lifted its ban on Cuban-born people arriving by sea.
- This comes after the US resumed diplomatic relations and normalised ties with Cuba.

US-based squash player, Vikram Malhotra, who originally hails from Mumbai, won the PSA $5000 2016 Charlotte Open today.
Indian racer, Gaurav Gill started the 2016 Asia-Pacific Rally Championship (APRC) season on a winning note after finishing first in the Whangarei International Rally today.
Leicester City forward Jamie Vardy has been voted the 2016 Footballer of the Year by the Football Writers’ Association.