June 6th 2015- Daily Current Affairs

Kotak Mahindra, ING Bank ink MoU for cross-border business

• Kotak Mahindra Bank and ING Bank have inked a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for exploring opportunities arising from cross-border business, investment and trade flows across various regions, including Europe.
• It was signed between the two parties and covers an array of co-operation in various areas such as trade remittances, finance.
• It also includes services related to non-resident Indians, corporate relationships, funding to counterparties’, fee-based products, direct banking and digital strategy and cross-border debt capital markets, mergers and acquisitions.
• Under the ambit of MoU, ING Bank will give its clients from The Netherlands and the other 39 countries commercial banking access to Kotak’s services in the vast Indian market.
• At the same time it will also offer the combined clients in India the opportunities of ING’s international network. It should be noted that Kotak Mahindra and associates are significant shareholders in Business Standard Private Ltd. ING Bank holds 6.5 per cent stake in Kotak Mahindra Bank which is India’s fourth largest private sector lender.

Prominent scientist Ameenah Gurib-Fakim sworn-in as first woman president of Mauritius

• Prominent scientist Ameenah Gurib-Fakim was sworn in as President of Mauritius. With this she became first woman to become President of Indian Ocean island nation which is a ceremonial position.
• Ameenah Gurib-Fakim is an alumnus of the universities of Exeter and Surrey of United Kingdom. She is also the chair of organic chemistry at Mauritius University.
• She is internationally renowned biodiversity scientist and biologist Ameenah Gurib-Fakim as their new President. She had worked with the World Bank and other international institutions. She also had served as the Managing Director of Centre International de Développement Pharmaceutique (CIDP) Research & Innovation.
• Ameenah had authored numerous academic and research papers. She has received several accolades and honours including Laureate for the L’Oreal-UNESCO Women in Science Award for Africa (2007), African Union Award for ‘Women in Science’ for the Easter African Region (2009) etc.
  
             

India’s first green police station inaugurated at New Delhi’s Maurice Nagar

India’s first green police station was inaugurated on the occasion of World Environment Day at Maurice Nagar in north Delhi. It was inaugurated by Delhi Police Commissioner Bhim Sain Bassi.

The police station has various provisions for preservation and safety of the environment. Students of Delhi University along with police officials had worked on the renovation of this police station to make it unique.

R Seshasayee appointed as non-executive Chairman of Infosys

• India’s second largest software services firm, Infosys has appointed R Seshasayee as non-executive chairman. He will replace KV Kamath, who stepped had down to take over as President of the Shanghai based BRICS New Development Bank. Since 2011,
• Seshasayee had served as an independent director of Infosys and was the chairperson of the company’s audit committee.
• Presently, he is also member of Infosys’ nominations committee. He is also non-executive vice chairman of Ashok Leyland and Chairman of IndusInd Bank. R Seshasayee is a chartered accountant by profession.
• He had started his career with Hindustan Lever Limited in 1971. Later in 1976, he joined Ashok Leyland Ltd. and was promoted as executive director in 1983, deputy managing director in 1993 and was elevated as managing director of the company in April 1998.

Doctors from Texas State of US successfully perform world’s first skull-scalp transplant

• Doctors from Texas State of United States have done the world’s first partial skull and scalp transplant from a human donor. This rare medical feat which opens new frontier in transplant surgery was achieved by team of Doctors from Houston Methodist Hospital and MD Anderson Cancer Center.
•  The recipient patient was Jim Boysen, a 55-year-old software developer who had suffered a large head wound from cancer treatment In a 15-hour transplant operation about a dozen doctors and 40 other health workers were involved. In this operation,
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•  Boysen was given a cap-shaped, 25-by-25 centimeter (10-by-10-inch) skull graft, and a 38-centimeter (15-inch)-wide scalp graft. This transplanted part extends from patients forehead across the top of his head and over its crown. It ends 2.5 centimeters above one ear and 5 centimeters above the other. It should be noted that in 2014 doctors in the Netherlands had replaced most of a woman’s skull with a 3-D printed plastic one

Union Government launches Jal Kranti Abhiyan

• Union Government launched nationwide Jal Kranti Abhiyan. It was launched by Union Minister of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejunivetion Uma Bharti in Jaipur, Rajasthan.
• Jal Kranti Abhiyan aims at turning one water scared village in each district of the country into water surplus village water through a holistic and integrated approach by adopting conservation and management techniques.
• Under the nationwide campaign a village with acute water scarcity on a pilot project will be selected as Jal Gram.
• In this identified village a comprehensive integrated development plan will be framed and several water conservation activities will be launched. Activities proposed under the campaign include rain water harvesting, recycling of waste water, micro irrigation for using water efficiently and mass awareness program. Along with it, a cadre of local water professional Jal Mitra will be created and they will be given training to create mass awareness. As pilot project, activities under this nation campaign will be run in one water stressed village in each 672 districts in the country