Current Affairs June 19, 2015

CNR Rao Received Japan’s Highest Civilian Award

Eminent scientist and recipient of Bharat Ratna CNR Rao was on 19 June conferred Japan’s highest civilian award the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold and Silver Star. He was presented with the award by Japanese Ambassador to India, Takeshi Yagi for his outstanding contributions to science and Indo-Japanese science cooperation.

SBI Launched Online Forex Platform

State Bank of India (SBI), the country’s largest bank, has launched SBI eforex, an Internet-based platform that enables customers to book their foreign exchange transactions online. SBI eforex is also an innovative platform incorporating robust security features and is designed to be user-friendly, fast and convenient. It is a highly flexible product offering the facility to the customers to customise and set their own limits for deal size, daily transaction limits etc.

China Produces World’s First Electric Plane

The world’s first electric passenger aircraft named BX1E was manufactured in China.The BX1E has a 14.5-meter wingspan and a maximum payload of 230 kgs. It can fly at an altitude of 3,000 meters. The charging is completed within two hours, allowing a flight time of 45 minutes to one hour, at a maximum speed of 160 km per hour. The plane was designed by Shenyang Aerospace University and Liaoning general aviation academy in the northeastern Liaoning Province.

HDFC Bank Launches 10-second Paperless Instant Loan Scheme

Country’s second-largest private sector lender, HDFC Bank launched a 10-second paperless instant loan Scheme for its existing customers. The 10-second loan Scheme was launched as part of HDFC Bank’s digital banking platform GoDigital. With this, HDFC bank became first banking institution to completely automate the entire process of loan approval and disbursement. Under this scheme, bank will now disburse personal loans to its customers in just 10 seconds and a pre-approved loan amount will be available to them 24×7. The entire process of availing the loan under this scheme will be completely paperless.

Chinese Version of Bhagavad Gita Launched

The Chinese Version of the sacred ancient Indian scripture Bhagavad Gita was launched in China during an international yoga conference. The book was released by Indian Ambassador to China Ashok K. Kantha.This is the first a well-known Hindu ancient religious text was published in China. It was translated in Chinese by Professor Wang Zhu Cheng and Ling Hai of Zhejiang University in Shanghai and was published by Sichuan People’s Publications.