GK and Current Affairs Updates

President Pranab Mukherjee appointed Om Prakash Rawat as the Election Commissioner. Rawat is an Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer of the 1977 batch from Madhya Pradesh cadre.An official press release said the appointment would be with effect from the date he assumes office.

About Election Commission of India -Election Commissioner of India is a member of Election Commission of India, a body constitutionally empowered to conduct free and fair elections to the national and state legislatures. He is usually a member of the Indian Civil Service and mostly from the Indian Administrative Service.
Until 1989, the commission was a single member body, but later two additional Election Commissioners were added. Thus, the Election Commission currently consists of a Chief Election Commissioner and two Election Commissioners. The decisions of the commission are taken by a majority vote. Nasim Zaidi is the current Chief Election Commissioner and other two Election Commissioners are Achal Kumar Jyoti and Om Prakash Rawat. H.S.Brahma retired on 19th April,2015 . After then Dr.Nasim Zaidi took over as 20th Chief Election Commissioner.

Gujarat Chief Minister Anandiben Patel today announced a ban on the use of plastic in the state.After unfurling the National Flag at the Independence Day ceremony at Lunavada in Mahisagar district. Several municipal bodies in the state have already baned use of plastic bags thinner than 40 microns. But the state government has announced this kind of a ban for the first time.
She didn't specify plastic carry-bags, though presumably the ban is only about such bags.

Few Points About Gujrat
•  Ms Anandiben Patel is the first Woman Chief Minister of Gujarat.
•  The world’s largest ship breaking yard is in Gujarat near Bhavnagar at Alang.
•  Gujarat is having the longest sea shore compared to any other Indian state.
•   Gandhinagar is the Greenest Capital City in whole of Asia.
•   Gujarat is the safest state in India as far as the crime rate is concerned.
•   Gujarat is the only home of Asiatic Lions.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced a new campaign 'Start-up India; Stand up India' to promote bank financing for start-ups and offer incentives to boost entrepreneurship and job creation.PM Modi also promised to do away with the current practice of interview-based selections for low-skilled government jobs.The Prime Minister announced the 'Start-Up India' initiative, which would encourage entrepreneurship among the youth of India.
From the Red Fort, he said each of the 1.25 lakh bank branches should encourage at least one Dalit or Adivasi entrepreneur and at least one woman entrepreneur.
As part of the Skill India and Digital India initiative, the Prime Minister said a package of incentives will be given to manufacturing units for generating jobs.

Modi also questioned the practice of "interviews" for recruitments even at relatively junior levels and asked departments concerned to end this practice at the earliest and promote merit by recruiting only through transparent, online processes.The Prime Minister reiterated his government's resolve to make India a developed nation by 2022, with a house and access to basic services like electricity to all.Talking about the financial inclusive programme Jan Dhan, he said 17 crore bank accounts were opened. Although these were to be zero-balance accounts, people deposited a whopping Rs 20,000 crore in them, reflecting the "richness of India's poor", he added.

Boxing Coach Swatantra Raj Singh has been recommended for the prestigious life time achievement Dronacharya award 2015. Along with Singh, Nihar Amin (Swimming) and Harbans Singh (Athletics) also have been chosen for this year’s Dronacharya award.

Their names were finalised by the award selection committee meeting presided by former Olympic Badminton Player Dipankar Bhattacharya and comprised of Woman Swimmer Bula Chaudhry and Woman Athlete Chaini Wilson.
 About Dronacharya Award 
The award is bestowed on person in recognition of his excellence in sports coaching.
Established in 1985 and named after Dronacharya who was the teacher of Arjuna (a protagonist of the Mahabharata along with Krishna).The award is presented by the Union Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports.
Award caries:
A bronze statuette of Dronacharya, a scroll of honour and a cash component of five lakh rupees.It should be noted that O.M. Nambiar (Athletics), Om Prakash Bhardwaj (Boxing) and Bhalchandra Bhaskar Bhagwat (Wrestling) were the first recipients of this prestigious award. 
I Fernandez (Boxing) from Cuba is the first foreign coach to be awarded Dronacharya Award in 2012.

Sania Mirza was recommended by the selection panel for the prestigious Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award.Sania Mirza became only the second tennis player to be recommended for the prestigious Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna, while star cricketer Rohit Sharma and ace shooter Jitu Rai were among the 17 sportspersons picked for this year's Arjuna awards.

The list of sportspersons recommended for Arjuna awards: P R Sreejesh (hockey), Dipa Karmakar (gymnastics), Jitu Rai (shooting), Sandeep Kumar (archery), Mandeep Jangra (boxing), Babita (wrestling), Bajrang (wrestling), Rohit Sharma (cricket), K Srikanth (badminton), Swarn Singh Virk (rowing), Satish Sivalingam (weightlifting), Santhoi Devi (wushu), Sharath Gaekwad (para-sailing), M R Poovamma (athletics), Manjeet Chhillar (kabaddi), Abhilasha Mhatre (kabaddi), Anup Kumar Yama (rollerskating).

Heavy downpours have caused mudslides and cave-ins led to several house collapses, affecting over 2 lakh people after Soudelor, called the biggest typhoon of the year earlier in the week with winds of up to 230 kilometres an hour, made a landfall in the Chinese coast on Saturday night.
The nine dead and three missing people may have been washed away by floods or buried under the collapsed houses in Wenzhou City in Zhejiang Province, state-run Xinhua news agency reported, citing local flood control and drought relief officials.After pounding Taiwan where it claimed six lives and injured 102 people, Soudelor made a landfall in Fujian Province and moved from there to neighbouring Zhejiang and Jiangxi provinces and has weakened.
In Wencheng county, under the jurisdiction of Wenzhou, precipitation within 24 hours hit 645 mm, the heaviest in a hundred years, officials said. A total of 2,21,900 people were affected in Wenzhou, with a direct economic loss of 248 million yuan ($40 million).

ICICI Bank today announced a new home loan proposition, ‘ICICI Bank Saral-Rural Housing Loan’, with a special interest rate. Applicants from rural areas including women borrowers as well as seekers from weaker sections can now avail home loans at the ICICI Bank Base Rate (“I-Base”) which is currently at 9.70%. An eligible borrower can take up to Rs.15 lac under the ‘ICICI Bank Saral-Rural Housing Loan’.Mr. Rajiv Sabharwal, Executive Director, ICICI Bank said, “ICICI Bank is committed to support the socio-economic development of a larger section of the society. We believe that ‘ICICI Bank Saral-Rural Housing Loan’ will empower customers including women borrowers in the rural locations to realize the dream of owning a home at an affordable interest rate.” The customers can avail the loan to purchase or construct or renovate a home in rural areas.

About ICICI Bank Ltd:

ICICI Bank Ltd is India's largest private sector bank with consolidated total assets of US $ 132.17 billion at March 31, 2015. ICICI Bank's subsidiaries include India's leading private sector insurance companies and among its largest securities brokerage firms, mutual funds and private equity firms. ICICI Bank's presence currently spans 17 countries, including India.

In a significant move,TATA Sons will hike its stake to 41.06 per cent in low cost carrier AirAsia India.The airline, which is facing stiff competition, is also set for top management reshuffle with CEO Mittu Chandilya expected to be elevated as Managing Director,in addition to his current responsibility.“We are in the process of subscribing to the capital of AirAsia India which will take up our stake to 41.06 per cent from the current 30 per cent,” a Tata Sons spokesperson said.
While specific details could not be immediately ascertained, Tata Sons is likely to acquire the additional stake from Arun Bhatia’s Telestra Tradeplace, which currently holds 21 per cent stake in AirAsia India.The no-frills carrier is a three-way joint venture in which Malaysia’s AirAsia Berhard owns 49 per cent.AirAsia India is expected to soon effect its first management revamp, since commencing operations in June last year.
The incumbent CFO Vijay Gopalan has already put in papers.“Our CFO, Vijay Gopalan has decided to resign for personal reasons.... We through our board of directors are already in the process of identifying a suitable replacement for this critical position,” the airline said in a statement yesterday.

India’s third largest private sector lender, Axis Bank has launched the first Contactless Debit, Credit and Multi-Currency Forex Card in association with VISA payWave in the country. Axis Bank will offer a contactless debit/credit cards to its 1.7 million premium customers which also enables withdrawal of 15 currencies via Multi-Currency Forex facility. To facilitate contactless cards operations bank will upgrade 50,000, of its point of sale (PoS) machines across the country.

 How does Axix Bank’s Contactless Card works? 
Axis Bank Contactless cards contain a chip and an antenna (based on radio frequency) that facilitates seamless, faster and hassle free payments.The customer has to enter the purchase amount in the contactless PoS terminal and then simply has to tap the card on the terminal to complete his/her payment wirelessly and in a secure manner.The bank has introduced this card in line with RBI’s guidelines of promoting PIN-less small ticket transactions and to provide service to its customers with the global standards.

The Nidhi Aapke Nikat, a public outreach programme was launched by Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO)  on 10th July 2015. The details and salient features of the programme are:-
•It is a public outreach programme. 
•It is proposed to be held on 10th of the month and on the next working day if the 10th happens to be a holiday.
•It is held in all the 122 field offices of EPFO across the country and is to be presided over by the Officer-in-charge.
•Various new initiatives in the interest of employees/employers taken by EPFO are explained during the programme.
•It is an endeavour by EPFO to bring together all its different stakeholders on a common platform. 
•It encourages employees and employers to give their suggestions and feedback regarding the different issues affecting EPFO besides redressing grievances. 
EPFO has been consistently improving its service delivery using a number of Information Technology (IT) initiatives.  As a result, the number of grievances received annually has considerably come down.  While 2,74,976 grievances were received in 2011-12, this has reduced by 32.91 per cent to 1,84,480 in 2014-15.
             ‘Nidhi Aapke Nikat’ not only adopts participatory and broad based approach in dealing with its stakeholders, but also disseminates information regarding the new initiatives taken in the interest of stakeholders.  Such measures in due course bring about greater public awareness of the rights and responsibilities of all the stakeholders and will in turn, check the number of grievances in future.