Important Current Affairs 15th May 2017

Important Current Affairs 15th May 2017

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important Current Affairs 15th May 2017 in English and Hindi, which will update you with latest headlines, news from various domains i.e: National News, Sports, Business, Awards & recognition. It is useful for the preparation of competitive exams like: SSC, SBI, IBPS PO, Clerk, Railways & Various other Entrance examinations.

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Current Affairs 15th May 2017: NATIONAL NEWS

President of India delivers first Bhairon Singh Shekhawat Memorial Lecture 

The President of India, Shri Pranab Mukherjee delivered the 1st Bhairon Singh Shekhawat Memorial Lecture on the topic “History of Parliamentary Democracy in India” today (May 15, 2017) in Jaipur, Rajasthan. 
●    He also presented the 1st Bhairon Singh Shekhawat Life Time Achievement Honour in Public Service to Shri Pawan Kumar Chamling, Chief Minister of Sikkim on the occasion. 
●    Addressing the gathering the President said he was honoured to be invited to deliver the inaugural Memorial Lecture instituted in memory of our former Vice-President Shri Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, an outstanding statesman and a man of the masses. 
●    The President stated that Shri Shekhawat and he shared a long history of friendship. Both of them served together in the Rajya Sabha in the 1970s. 
●    Later, while Shri Shekhawat was Chief Minister of Rajasthan and the President was Vice Chairman of the Planning Commission, he had opportunity to see Shri Shekhawat’s extensive knowledge about problems being faced by citizens of Rajasthan, and his will to eradicate these day to day problems. 
●    He was deeply impressed by Shri Shekhawat’s commitment to the downtrodden and poor.

Rajnath Singh inaugurates second meeting of National Platform on Disaster Risk Reduction 

The Union Home Minister Shri Rajnath Singh inaugurated the two-day second meeting of National Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction (NPDRR) here today. 
●    The theme of the Second meeting of NPDRR is “Disaster Risk Reduction for Sustainable Development: Making India resilient by 2030”. 
●    The Union Minister for Science & Technology and Earth Sciences, Dr. Harsh Vardhan, the Minister of State for Home Affairs, Shri Kiren Rijiju and Additional Principal Secretary to Prime Minister Dr. P. K. Mishra were also present on the occasion. 
●    The NPDRR is a multi-stakeholders National Platform headed by the Union Home Minister and it promotes participatory decision making in disaster management, and strengthens federal policy of our country. 
●    Speaking on the occasion, Shri Rajnath Singh said that NPDRR is a multi-stakeholders National Platform for sharing the experiences in disaster management and for making a collective effort for disaster risk reduction.  
●    He emphasized the role of prevention and mitigation in reducing disaster losses. He pointed out that 1 extra Rupee spent on disaster preparedness and mitigation could save 10 Rupees of disaster loss. 
●    He recollected global agreements like Sendai Framework, Sustainable Development Goal and Paris Agreement on Climate Change (COP21) for disaster risk reduction. 

Indian Navy and Space Application Centre, Ahmedabad Sign Memorandum of Understanding 

Vice Admiral SN Ghormade, AVSM, NM, Director General Naval Operations and Mr Tapan Misra, Director, Space Application Centre (SAC) signed a ‘Memorandum of Understanding on Data Sharing and Scientific cooperation in the field of Meteorology and Oceanology’ on 15 May 2017 at SAC, Ahmedabad. 
●    With this initiative, both the organisations have embarked on a common platform of mutual cooperation, wherein the scientific advancements and expertise achieved by SAC would be synergised into the Indian Naval efforts to keep the Nation’s Defence Forces in step with rapid development in the field of Environment Sciences and Satellite Data acquisition technology. 
●    This has further boosted the already established collaboration between the two organisations. 
●    The broad areas of cooperation include, sharing of non-confidential observational data for pre-launch sensor calibration and post launch satellite data validation, operational use of SAC generated weather products, provisioning expertise for installation of various satellite data processing modules at Naval METOC organisations, carrying out calibration and validation for ocean models, transfer of technology to generate weather information, training on latest technology and sharing of subject matter experts between the organisations for effective knowledge transfer.

V.O. Chidambaranar Port Trust and TANGEDCO Sign MoU to upgrade Coal Jetty-I&II

V.O. Chidambaranar Port is all set for a four-fold increase in the capacity of two of its Coal Jetties – Jetty I and II from 6.25 MTPA to 24 MTPA. 
●    The VOCP Trust signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation Limited (TANGEDCO) for the upgradation of Coal Jetty I and II in New Delhi today. 
●    The Minister of Shipping and Road Transport and Highways Shri Nitin Gadkari and Minister for Electricity, Prohibition and Excise, Government of Tamil Nadu Shri P. Thangamani were present on the occasion. 
●    Speaking on the occasion, Shri Gadkari said that the project would benefit both TANGEDCO and the VOCPT. 
●    It would make coal handling by the jetties much more voluminous and efficient, and thus bring down logistics costs. 
●    He said this would also allow for cheaper production of electricity, which would be very beneficial for industrial growth.

NHAI signs MoU with TIDCO for Development of Multimodal Logistics Park in Tamil Nadu

The National Highways Authority of India signed an MoU with the Tamil Nadu Industrial Development Corporation Limited (TIDCO) in New Delhi today, for the development of a Multimodal Logistics Park in the Ponneri Industrial Node area near Kamarajar Port in Tamil Nadu. 
●    The MoU was signed in the presence of the Road Transport and Highways and Shipping Minister Shri Nitin Gadkari and Shri M.C. Sampath, Minister for Industries of Tamil Nadu government.
●    Speaking on this occasion, Shri Gadkari said that it is an important agreement for the development of an integrated, multi-modal transport infrastructure in the country.
●    The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways is planning to develop Multimodal Logistics Parks in under its Logistics Efficiency Enhancement Programme (LEEP) in 15 locations all over India at a cost of Rs 33,000 crore, including Rs 1295 crores investment for the Chennai Region. 
●    The proposed logistics parks will bring down the overall freight costs, reduce vehicular pollution and congestion and will enable reduction of warehousing costs.  
●    All this is expected to result in lower logistics costs.

Light Combat aircraft Tejas successfully test-fires air-to-air missile

Tejas, the Light Combat Aircraft on 12 May 2017 successfully fired Derby Air-to-Air BVR missile in RADAR guided mode, demonstrating an Air-to-Air Beyond Visual Range (BVR) missile firing capability.
●    The flawless launch was demonstrated with all onboard systems performing up to the mark and the missile scored a direct hit on the target, completely destroying it.
●    The launch was performed in Lock ON after Launch mode for a BVR target in the look down mode and the target was destroyed.
●    The objective of the test was to assess the Derby integration with aircraft systems on-board Tejas including the aircraft avionics, fire-control radar, launchers and Missile Weapon Delivery System and verify its performance.
●    The Derby test was conducted on a Manoeuvrable Aerial Target at the Interim Test Range (ITR), Chandipur.
●    The sensors at ITR also tracked the target and missile.

Mumbai airport busiest with 1 flight every 65 seconds

The Mumbai airport, Chhatrapati Shivaji International, has become the world’s busiest single-runway airport with 837 flights a day or one flight in 65 seconds on an average in the 2016-17 fiscal year.
●    The airport has even overtaken London's Gatwick airport that had 757 flights a day. The city also tops in terms of the number of passengers with almost 45.2 million people flying in and out in fiscal 2017 as against 44 million at Gatwick airport.
●    No other large city in the world is served by one airport that too with a single-runway.
●    All the leading cities in the world including New York, London, Dubai, and Singapore have more than one airport with multiple runways.
●    The New Delhi airport also has in use three parallel runways at any given time.
●    In comparison, Mumbai works with just a single runway for both passenger and cargo aircraft and when it is shut for repairs, it uses the secondary runway.
●    The scarcity of land doesn’t restrict the flight network of the city, as it operates to about 95 domestic and international destinations.

Current Affairs 15th May 2017: SPORTS

Arjun Maini becomes first Indian driver to win a GP3 race

Jenzer Motorsports' Indian driver Arjun Maini, who is supported by JK Racing and TVS, created history on Sunday as he became the first Indian to win a race in the GP3 Series with a dominant victory. 
●    This is Arjun's first victory in the GP3 Series and this win moves him into third place in the driver's championship standings.
●    This victory capped off an amazing week for the young Indian who earlier this week was signed by Haas F1 team as a development driver. 
●    Maini finished seventh in Race 1 of the first round of the GP3 season on Saturday. 
●    After qualifying at sixth in the morning, Race 1 began with Arjun having a good start and moving up one place on the opening lap. 
●    But he could not keep up with the leaders and only managed to hold onto 7th place to claim 6 points.