Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 15 June 2014

‘B2B’ ties with Bhutan

Making Bhutan his first foreign destination, Prime Minister Narendra Modi vowed to nurture bilateral relations which he described as “B2B — Bharat to Bhutan” as he held talks with the Bhutanese King and the Premier, discussing an entire gamut of ties.
Embarking on a two-day trip here to display “special and unique” status for Bhutan in India’s foreign policy, Prime Minister Modi also inaugurated the Supreme Court complex built by India as part of the developmental cooperation.
Mr. Modi announced doubling of scholarships being provided to Bhutanese students in India which will now be worth Rs. two crore.
Prime Minister Modi also promised to assist Bhutan in setting up a digital library which will provide access to Bhutanese youth to two million books and periodicals.
The fact that the Prime Minister chose Bhutan as his first foreign destination assumes significance since China has lately intensified efforts to woo it and establish full- fledged diplomatic ties with Thimphu.

A festive atmosphere prevails in Sirikonda mandal what with people waiting for the arrival of the youngest girl mountaineer Malavath Poorna, who scaled the highest peak, Mount Everest, to give her a rousing reception.
Pakala, a village abutting the forest belt in Sirikonda mandal, came to limelight with the 13-year-old’s achievement. Poorna, a class IX student in Social Welfare Residential School for Girls at Tadwai mandal headquarters, hails from a family that struggles to survive her. But her determination to make a mark for herself ever since she joined the school propelled her to scale the Mount Everest.
Identifying her flair for adventure, the AP Residential School Society secretary R.S. Praveenkumar encouraged her and got her trained to climb the Everest under B. Shekhar Babu, a renowned mountaineer and Tenzing Norgay awardee. She was noticed by Mr. Praveenkumar as she was active in sports. She was among the 20 students selected for the adventure and after screening.

The first canister-based trial of the 5,000 km-plus, nuclear weapons-capable Inter-Continental Ballistic Missile, Agni-V, “in final induction configuration” is to be conducted after the monsoon season from Wheeler Island, off the Odisha coast.
During the actual launch, the first stage of Agni-V would be ignited at a height of 25-30 metres after its ejection from the canister, DRDO sources said. The solid propellant-based gas generator at the bottom of the canister would provide a force equivalent to 300-370 tonnes to push Agni-V to a height of 30 metres when the first of the three stages gets ignited.

Eighteen public sector banks, including SBI and PNB, failed to fulfil the target for installing ATMs during 2013-14, leaving more than over 9,300 branches without cash vending machines. As part of the target, a total of 34,668 onsite ATMs were to be installed by PSU banks during the last fiscal.
However, they could set up only 25,331 such machines by March 2014, thus falling short by 9,337, as per Finance Ministry data. Installation of Automatic Teller Machines (ATMs), especially by public sector lenders, has been a major priority for the government's efforts to ensure financial inclusion.
Pursuant to Budget 2013-14 announcement, public sector banks were required to ensure an onsite ATM in ever branch. As on March 2014, Allahabad Bank was yet to set up 1,950 ATMs, Central Bank of India 1,620, Syndicate Bank 1,085, Bank of India 7,44, State Bank of India (SBI) 696, Indian Overseas Bank 553 and Punjab National Bank (PNB) 499. On the other hand, Bank of Baroda, Bank of Maharashtra, Canara Bank, IDBI Bank and the four associates of SBI managed to meet the targets given to them.
There are roughly about 1.4 lakh ATMs of public and private sector banks in the country. Financial inclusion aims to extend financial services to the large hitherto un-served population of the country. In addition, it strives towards a more inclusive growth by making financing available to the poor in particular.

Second seed Roger Federer picked up his 14th grass-court title with a 7-6(2), 7-6(3) victory over Alejandro Falla in the final of the Gerry Weber Open .
This was Federer’s seventh title at Halle, where he now has a 46-5 record.

ISRO is planning to launch its next rocket PSLV C23 carrying a French remote sensing satellite SPOT 7.
SPOT 7 is an Earth observing satellite, similar to Indian Remote Satellite System (IRSS).
This time around, ISRO would use the core-only edition of the launch vehicle PSLV.
Known for its expertise in launching PSLVs with smaller payloads up to 1,600 kg, the national space agency ISRO has earned a name in the space industry, attracting huge sum to the country as foreign exchange.