26 March 2015 Current Affairs

1) An ambitious multi-purpose and multi-modal platform PRAGATI was launched by Prime Minister

Narendra Modi on 25 March 2015. The main objective of this platform is to address the grievances of the common man and simultaneously monitoring and reviewing important government programmes and projects. What is full-form of PRAGATI? – Pro-Active Governance and Timely Implementation

Explanation: The PRAGATI platform integrates three latest technologies – digital data management, video-conferencing and geo-spatial technology. It also offers a unique combination in the direction of cooperative federalism since it brings on one stage the Secretaries of Government of India and the Chief Secretaries of the States. It will be interactive as well as integrative. From now on the fourth Wednesday of every month will be known as PRAGATI Day and it will feature the Prime Minister interacting with the Government of India Secretaries, and Chief Secretaries through Video-conferencing enabled by the PRAGATI platform. The PRAGATI platform has been designed in-house by the PMO team with the help of National Informatics Center (NIC).

2) Indian Railways on 23 March 2015 launched its RuPay pre-paid debit card service for the benefit of railway passengers. Passengers would be able to book railway tickets and make online payments through this debit card launched by the IRCTC. Which PSU bank is collaborating with the National Payment Corporation of India (NPCI) and IRCTC in this service? – Union Bank of India (UBI)

Explanation: The RuPay pre-paid debit card of railway will be made available from the branches of Union Bank of India (UBI) or through IRCTC for free. This card is the first of its kind in the market where both virtual as well as physical cards are being issued to the customer in two variants – Partial KYC with a loading limit of Rs.10,000 and full KYC with a loading limit of Rs.50,000. The first 5 transactions per card every month done on IRCTC for purchase of railways tickets will be FREE (no transaction charges) to the customer for the first 6 months only. For every subsequent transaction post the free usage, customer will be charged Rs.10/- per transaction.

3) Which two food and beverages companies have decided to merge their operations to create the fifth largest food and drink firm in the world as announced on 25 March 2015? – Kraft Foods Group Inc. and H.J. Heinz Co.

Explanation: Kraft Foods Group Inc. is the maker of Velveeta cheese and Oscar Mayer meats and it will merge with ketchup maker H.J. Heinz Co., which is owned by the Brazilian investment firm 3G Capital and billionaire investor Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway. The combined company will have revenue of about $28 billion and will be called Kraft Heinz Company. It will be co-headquartered in Pittsburgh and the Chicago area. The combined company expects to make $1.5bn (£1bn) cost savings per year by the end of 2017.

4) A tweet-powered service under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Digital India initiative was launched on 25 March 2015 that will provide political content in real time on mobile devices. What is the name of this service which is part of Twitter’s strategy to become more accessible to Indian users? – “Twitter Samvad”

Explanation: “Twitter Samvad” is based on the ZipDial platform under which users can give a missed call and get curated tweets from the official accounts of the Prime Minister, Chief Ministers, and ministries such as External Affairs and Railways. ZipDial, is an Indian platform based on the missed-call model which was acquired by Twitter some time back.

5) Japan took the delivery of a 248-metre-long warship named Izumo on 25 March 2015. What is a special relevance of this warship for Japan? – It is the biggest warship in the country since the Second World War

Explanation: Japan’s Maritime Self-Defence Force took delivery of warship Izumo, which is designated as a helicopter destroyer, a label that allows Japan to keep within the bounds of a constitutional ban on owning the means to wage war. The vessel can serve in a wide range of roles, including peace keeping operations, international disaster relief and aid. Japan is also adding longer-range patrol aircraft and military cargo planes to its defence capability, and buying Lockheed Martin F-35 fighter jets, amphibious assault vehicles and Boeing’s Osprey troop carrier, which can operate from the Izumo.

6) What is the name of the Dukhtaran-e-Millat chief who was booked under Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) on 25 March 2015 for allegedly hoisting Pakistani flag on its national day? – Syed Aasiya Andrabi

Explanation: Syed Aasiya Andrabi is a Kashmiri woman separatist political figure who heads the separatist organisation ‘Dukhtaran-e-Millat’ (Daughters of the Nation) which she had founded. She had allegedly hoisted the flag of Pakistan and sung its national anthem on its national day on 23 March 2015 in Kashmir. It is worth mentioning that her husband Dr. Ashiq Husaain Faktoo has been in the jail since 1992. Dr. Faktoo was a founding member of terror group Hizbul Mujahideen which wants separation of Kashmir from India.