Daily Updates on 31st May, 2015

1. Lok Sabha speaker Sumitra Mahajan to participate in World Speakers' Conference in Geneva

i. Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan would be participating in the preparatory committee of Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU)'s Fourth World Conference of Speakers of Parliament at Geneva next month.

ii.   Sumitra Mahajan will participate in the third meeting of the preparatory committee of IPU's fourth world conference of Speakers of Parliament at Geneva on June 1 and 2, 2015.

iii. IPU, Geneva will be convening the Fourth World Conference of Speakers of Parliament - a global summit focusing on democracy, role of legislative institutions and their relationship with the United Nations. 

iv. The Conference will take place in August-September, 2015. While the first meeting of the preparatory committee was held in January, 2014 at Geneva, the second meeting was held in November last year in New York.

2. Modi promises ‘one rank, one pension’ for army men soon

i. The government will implement ‘One Rank, One Pension’; Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in the eighth edition of his radio broadcast ‘Mann Ki Baat’.

ii. One rank one pension is a very old demand of defence personnel. It implies armed forces personnel holding the same rank and same length of service will get the same pension, regardless of the last drawn pay.

iii.  The demand was accepted last year and accordingly budget provision was also made. However, due to some issues related with calculation, implementation of the scheme has been delayed.

3. Veena Jain appointed as Director General of Doordarshan News

i. The information and broadcasting (I&B) ministry has appointed Veena Jain as director general (news) in Doordarshan in place of Akshay Rout and, in an unusual move, directed her to report directly to the ministry. 

ii. DD DG (news) is one of the most influential positions in the public broadcaster. Both DD and AIR are media wings that function under Prasar Bharati.

4. Niti Aayog gets two new advisers

i. Alok Kumar and Jitendra Kumar have been appointed as advisers in Niti Aayog for five years as part of a minor bureaucratic reshuffle effected by the government.

5. George Yeo new Nalanda University chancellor

i. Former Singapore Foreign Minister George Yeo will be the new Chancellor of the Nalanda University, the Ministry of External Affairs announced. 

ii. Mr. Yeo, who is on the governing board of prestigious university, will take over from Nobel laureate Amartya Sen, who withdrew his candidature for a second term as Chancellor of the Nalanda University in Bihar in February 2015.

iii. Mr. Yeo was awarded the Padma Bhushan in 2012 in recognition of his contribution in the field of "public affairs." An integral part of the erstwhile Nalanda Mentor Group, he has been at the forefront of the revival of the ancient seat of learning.

6. 31 May: World No-Tobacco Day

i. World Health Organization (WHO) with his signatory partners celebrated the World No Tobacco Day (WNTD) calling on countries to work together to end the illicit trade of tobacco products.

ii.  Every year, on 31 May, WHO and partners including Pakistan mark World No Tobacco Day (WNTD), highlighting the health risks associated with tobacco use and advocating for effective policies to reduce tobacco consumption. 

iii. This year WHO is focusing with a theme on how to counter the illicit trade of tobacco?

7. Pinaka Mark-II rocket successfully test-fired

i. 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.

ii. Jointly developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation and the Indian Army, this multi-barrel rocket launcher has high operational mobility, flexibility and accuracy as the major characteristics, which give the weapon an edge in modern artillery warfare for the Indian Armed Forces.

iii. Pinaka-I has already been inducted into the Army and was also put into field testing for assessing its capability during the Kargil war.

iv.  Its quick reaction time and high rate of fire gives an edge to the Army during low-intensity warlike situation.

8.  HDFC Bank among top 100 most valuable global brands in 2015

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

ii. HDFC Bank is ranked at 74th position in the BrandZ list compiled by Millward Brown, 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 $ 14 billion.

iii. Apple tops the chart with a brand value of $ 246.9 billion, followed by Google with $ 173.6 billion and Microsoft with $ 115.5 billion.

9. Finance Minister inaugurated New Bank Note Paper Line unit in Hoshangabad, MP

i. India will no longer require importing its currency paper from Australia and Japan. Union finance minister Arun Jaitley inaugurated the country's first new pulp line unit for production of bank note paper at Hoshangabad in Madhya Pradesh.

ii. With this India will become self reliant in producing bank note paper for big denominations. Till date, the Indian currency note was dependent on foreign countries since it requires a special kind of paper with ten different security features so it cannot be counterfeited.

iii. Another such unit for production of currency note paper will soon be started in Mysore.