P.K. Sinha appointed Cabinet Secretary
(ii) He succeeds Ajit Seth. Mr. Sinha is a UP cadre IAS officer and is presently serving as Secretary in the Ministry of Power.
(iii) He had earlier worked as Secretary in the Ministry of Shipping, and has held several other important positions in the Union Government and the State of Uttar Pradesh.
(iv) The Prime Minister has also approved that Mr. Sinha may be appointed as OSD in the Cabinet Secretariat with effect from the date of assumption of charge, till June 12, 2015.
ExxonMobil mulls $600 m investments in Bengaluru
(i) In one of the largest foreign direct investments (FDIs) in country’s information technology sector, the U.S.-based oil and natural gas major ExxonMobil, is planning to set up a Business Support Centre.
(ii) It is also likely to set up its first research and development centre in Asia in the city, according to sources in the government.
(iii) As part of the proposed investment plans, Bryan Milton, President of ExxonMobil Global Services Company met the Chief Minister Siddaramaiah.
(iv) According to sources, the investments would be in excess of $600 million and the centre will provide job opportunity to around 1,000 people.
(v) “The land parcel may be a government land or a private property and if all goes as per plan this will be a genuine R&D investment and not just a support centre,” added the official.
Indian-American joint winners at US spelling bee for second year in a row
(ii) The bee hadn’t ended in a tie for 52 years until 2014. Now it’s happened for an unprecedented two years running. Ms. Vanya Shivashankar, 13, of Kansas, is the first sibling of a past champion to win. Her sister, Kavya, won in 2009.
(iii) Ms. Vanya Shivashankar’s final word was “scherenschnitte,” which means the art of cutting paper into decorative designs.
(iv) After being informed he’d be the co-champion if he got the next word right,
Two PIOs among Forbes list of America’s richest self-made women
(i) Two Indian-origin women have made it to Forbes’ inaugural list of America’s 50 richest self-made women, sharing the honour with high-achievers such as Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg, media mogul Oprah Winfrey and singer Beyonce.
(ii) India-born Neerja Sethi, with a net worth of $1.1 billion, has been ranked 14th on the list of the most successful self-made women in the U.S. while London-born Jayshree Ullal comes in at the 30th spot with a $470 million net worth.
(iii) Ms. Sethi, 60 co-founded IT consulting and outsourcing company Syntel with her husband, billionaire Bharat Desai, in 1980.
(iv) Ms. Ullal became president and CEO of Arista Networks, a company that has emerged as one of Silicon Valley’s most valuable networking firms.
Buhari sworn in as President of Nigeria
(ii) Mr. Buhari, dressed in traditional Muslim attire, stood on the stage clutching a Koran in his right hand, as he pledged to uphold the Constitution and laws of Africa's most populous nation.
Mahindra World City in JV with Sumitomo
(i) Mahindra World City Developers Ltd (MWCDL), a subsidiary of Mahindra Lifespace Developers Ltd of the Mahindra Group and Sumitomo Corporation of Japan have entered into an agreement to form a joint venture to set up an industrial park in North Chennai (the NH5 corridor).
(ii) The joint venture company — Mahindra Industrial Park Chennai Ltd — will have 60 per cent equity participation from Mahindra World City and the balance 40 per cent from Sumitomo.
(iii) The industrial park is targeted at Japanese companies which would be interested to set up base in India under the Union Government’s Make-in-India initiative.
(iv) Considering Sumitomo’s involvement in the venture, Japanese companies will find it easy to operate from here. Already over 500 Japanese companies are operating from industrial zones in Tamil Nadu.
Flipkart takes a dig at Snapdeal
(ii) This is the latest instance where a top executive of successful technology enterprise has taken to the social media to express opinion against a rival.
(iii) Sachin Bansal’s tweet comes against the backdrop of a report where Snapdeal co-founder Rohit Bansal was quoted as saying, “If you think about the landscape in India, not too many product companies got built here.”
(iv) Sachin Bansal tweeted: “Don’t blame India for your failure to hire great engineers. They join for culture and challenge.”
(v) He also tweeted the link to the report which had said that Snapdeal has decided to look abroad for programmers.
Nirni Cancer Foundation to set-up camps on ‘World No Tobacco Day’
(i) Nirni Cancer Foundation, Hyderabad will be organising No Tobacco awareness campaign and cancer screening camp in Kalaburagi, Bidar and Raichur districts to mark the ‘World No Tobacco Day’ on May 31.
(ii) Chairman of the foundation and oncologist S.S. Nirni addressing to the presspersons in Kalaburagi on Friday said that the theme of the 2015 campaign is ‘Stop Illicit Trade of Tobacco Products’.
(iii) Dr. Nirni said round 6 million people, suffering from oral cancer, most of who acquire the disease of tobacco consumption would die worldwide every year. In India, one person dies every minute from oral cancer.
(iv) Dr. Nirni warned that the use of tobacco could also cause cancer affecting the intestine, kidneys and lungs.
(v) He said people should come forward to give up the habit voluntarily.
(vi) The foundation has been organising awareness camps related to Breast Cancer and No Tobacco awareness camps in the last six years in education institutions and rural parts of the Hyderabad Karnataka region.
Nepal skips R-Day celebrations to mourn quake-dead
(ii) Prime Minister Sushil Koirala, in his message to the people on Friday, expressed deep condolences to all who sacrificed their lives in the movements so far to empower the people.
(iii) He also lauded the sacrifice of the people who fought for restoration of democracy fighters.
(iv) Meanwhile, President Ram Baran Yadav suggested that political parties should not delay the writing of the new Constitution, despite the focus on relief and resettlement of those affected by recent earthquake.
Labels:
Daily GK Update,
Daily GK Update May
