Important Current Affairs 20th May 2016

Election Results 2016: BJP Takes Assam

• In an emphatic mandate, the BJP has won 86 of Assam’s 126 assembly seats, with the Congress, which ruled for the last 15 years, getting only 26
• In West Bengal, Mamata Banerjee has constructed another sweep, with her Trinamool Congress winning 211 of the state’s 294 seats. The Left-Congress alliance was far behind at 77
• BJP won four West Bengal seats, the party’s best performance ever in the state

LDF Wins majority in Kerala

• In Kerala, The Left Democratic Front (LDF) won 91 seats with the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) winning 47 seats.
• In Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa won a second successive term with AIADMK winning 134 seats, well past the half-way mark at 118, while the DMK-Congress got 98 seats.
• The only good news for Congress comes from Puducherry, where it won 17 of 30 seats.

Vijay Bahuguna expelled by Congress

• Mr Bahuguna and eight other lawmakers, including seniors like Harak Singh Rawat, had been disqualified by the Uttarakhand assembly speaker in March after they revolted against Harish Rawat.
• Former Uttarakhand CM Bahuguna on Thursday was inducted into BJP along with 8 others.
• The clearance for the induction came during a meeting of the BJP state unit leaders with party chief Amit Shah.

Uber ready to accept Delhi Govt rules

• After a stern warning against surge-pricing, taxi aggregator Uber has informed Delhi government that it is ready to cap its fares at rates fixed by the government in the national capital.
• Uber said that per kilometre fare charged on its platform within Delhi will not exceed the government prescribed fare in the capital.

Egyptian plane crashes and vanished

• An EgyptAir plane made plunged steeply in Mediterranean on Thursday. The Cairo-bound plane vanished thereafter with 66 people aboard
• It was last noted on radar about 175 miles off Egypt’s Mediterranean port city of Alexandria – an area of sea known for fast currents and high winds
• Among those on board, according to the airline, were 30 Egyptians, 15 French nationals and rest from other countries

Cabinet clears order to postpone NEET

• The Centre today decided to use an ordinance or special executive order to put on hold the Supreme Court’s ruling last month that students across India must take just one common exam.
• State governments have been protesting against NEET or National Eligibility Cum Entrance Test, which was favoured by the SC because of complaints about corruption in exams held by states.

Pinarayi Vijayan to be Kerala’s new CM

• It is learnt that the Pinarayi Vijayan, and not Achuthanandan will be the new chief minister at the head of LDF government in Kerala.
• Vijayan is seen to have scored over star campaigner and former chief minister Mr Achuthananadan primarily because he is 20 years younger at 72. He also has a big majority in the party’s state committee.

Cyclone ROANU in Odisha

• Heavy rainfall coupled with gusty surface wind is likely to hit parts of Odisha as the deep depression over west-central Bay of Bengal intensified into a cyclonic storm ‘ROANU’ today.
• In view of the weather conditions, Distant Cautionary Signal Number one (DC-I) was replaced by Distant Warning Signal Number Two (DW-II) at all ports in the state.

First female president in Taiwan

• Taiwan swore in Tsai Ing-wen as its first female president on Friday.
• Beijing-sceptic Tsai took the oath of office at the presidential palace in Taipei after winning a landslide victory in January signalling the end of an eight-year rapprochement with China

HSBC plans to close 24 branches

• British banking major HSBC plans to close 24 branches in India, a decision that will impact around 10 per cent of the company’s retail customer base and lead to 300 jobs losses.
• HSBC’s decision to downsize its India operations comes after a strategic review of its retail banking and wealth management business, which showed customers are increasingly opting for digital banking services.