17 August 2015 important current affairs / GK / GA: Tajmahal now has its own twitter account.
- Tajmahal becomes first monument in world to have twitter account.
- UP CM Akhilesh Yadav launched monument’s official Twitter handle @TajMahal on eve of 69th Independence Day in Lucknow.
- Taj Mahal is a 17th century white marble mausoleum located on the southern bank of Yamuna River in the present city of Agra. Then Mughal emperor Shah Jahan (reigned 1628–1658) had commissioned the monument in 1632 to house the tomb of his wife Mumtaz Mahal.
- It is based on Mughal architectural style and was constructed under guidance of chief architect Ustad Ahmad Lahauri.
HDFC to sell its 9 percent stake in HDFC life to JV partner Standard Life for 1700 crore rupees.
- Earlier HDFC had 70.65 per cent stake while Standard life had 26 per cent stakes which will be change to 61.65 per cent and 35 per cent respectively.
- This move was taken in line to increase the role of its foreign partner which followed the Centres approval to hike FDI to 49 per cent from 26 per cent in Insurance sector. As per the agreement HDFC will issue 17.5 crore shares at the rate of Rs. 95 per share to Standard life.
Former Cabinet Secretary, Ajit Seth to take charge as the Chairman of the Public Enterprises Selection Board.
- Seth, an IAS officer from the UP cadre of the 1974 batch, will be in charge of the post till the age of 65 or for three years, whichever is earlier.
- He will replace Atul Chaturvedi, who was also an IAS officer from the Uttar Pradesh cadre of the 1974 batch.
- The decision was announced in a statement from the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet on Monday.
Birla Corporation has signed an agreement with French-based Lafarge Group to acquire its Jojobera unit in Jharhkand and Sonadih in Chattisgarh for sum of Rs. 5000 crore.
- The Lafarge disinvested these two units in order fulfil the directions given by Competition Commission of India (CCI) as a part to conclude its mega global merger with Swiss-based Holcim Ltd and its operations in Indian, the merger took place on 15 July 2015.
- As per deal Birla Corp will acquire these cement units along its brands ‘Concreto’ and ‘PSC’ and also its management team.
- These two plants have total cement capacity of 5.15 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) and have adequate reserves of limestone.
Prof. Mustansir Barma conferred with the prestigious Gujar Mal Modi Award for Innovative Science and Technology for the year 2015.
- He was awarded for his commendable contribution in the field of Science and Technology.
- He received the award from Vice President of India Hamid Ansari at a ceremony in New Delhi.
Mumbai based Real estate listing portal Housing.com acquires Bengaluru-based customer relationship management software company HomeBuy360 in all cash deal of 2 million US dollars.
- This deal will help Housing.com to strive for efficiency in the Indian real estate sector.
- It will also help in reduction of property prices eventually benefitting the consumers.
- With this acquisition, Housing.com is now the only online real estate listing platform to own a developer CRM company.
Leading UK based Avocet Sports acquired by Hero Cycles.
- Hero cycle aims to enter into high end bicycle maket in Europe with this acquisition.
- Manchester-based Avocet is among top three players in bicycles, e-bikes, bicycle parts and accessories in the UK and with Hero Cycles it aims to capture high-end bicycle market in UK and Germany.
India and Bangladesh signs MoU for full cooperation to tackle the menace of fake Indian currency notes (FICN) smuggling.
- MoU was signed at a maiden meeting of the Joint Task Force on Fake Currency Notes (JTFFC) in Dhaka held on 12 and 13 August, 2015.
Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) plans to establish a pan-India National fingerprint database for speedy identification of criminals and investigation of crimes across the country.
- The database will have fingerprint records of nearly 28 lakh convicts from all the states including of those who were arrested for criminal offences.
- The National Informatics Centre (NIC) will be nodal agency for creating this cloud based national record by linking finger print database of all States and Union Territories bureaus.
- The integration of all fingerprint databases will help police from any part of the country to furnish criminal finger prints record on real time basis.
Rogers Cup Masters tournament 2015 :
Men’s single title : Briton Andy Murray on 16 August 2015 won the Rogers Cup Masters tournament in Montreal, Canada.
Murray defeated world number one Novak Djokovic 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 in final clash. It was Murray’s 11th Masters Title.
In Women’s section, 18-year old Belinda Bencic of Switzerland lifted her maiden Canadian Open Masters title after world number two Simona Halep retired hurt.
- The match ended 7-6, 6-7, 3-0.
- It was Belinda’s second career title. She had, in the semi-finals, outplayed world number one Serena Williams.
World Badminton Championship 2015 : Saina Nehwal won silver medal.
- Defending champion Carolina Marin Martin of Spain has won the prestigious World Badminton Championship 2015 in women’s single category.
- Saina Nehwal becomes first Indian women badminton player to reach finals of Badminton World Championship.
- In the final match she defeated India’s Saina Nehwal by two set score of 16-21 and 19-21.
