Current Affairs : 2nd And 3rd October 2013

1. Gandhi Jayanti is celebrated in India today on 2nd October to mark the ocaasion of the birthday of Mahatma Gandhi, the 'Father of the Nation".

109th birth anniversary of former Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri also celebrated across the country. Several functions including symposia and discussions organised to mark the occassion. Leaders of different political parties paid floral tributes to the former Prime Minister at his memorial Vijayghat in Delhi.

2. The Centre given its approval for creation of a separate Telangana state from out of Andhra Pradesh and decided that Hydrabad will be the joint capital of the two states for 10 years.

3. The Asian Development Bank (ADB) Wednesday sharply lowered its forecast on India’s economic growth to 4.7 percent for this year from its earlier projection of 6 percent.

4. Government of India appointed on 2 October 2013 a four member committee headed by Arvind Mayaram, Economic Affairs Secretary setup to clear the ambiguity between Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and Foreign Institutional Investment (FII). The committee will look into the difference between them and it will also give definition of FDI and FII.

5. The International Academy of Spiritual Unity and Cooperation Among the Nations of the World has nominated President Putin as a candidate for the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize.

6. President Pranab Mukherji will meet the Prime Minister of Belgium Elio De Rupo in Brussles today. After the plenary meeting between the two leaders, delegation level talks will take place during which some agreements are likely to be signed between the two countries.

7. Special CBI court in Ranchi has sentenced RJD Chief and former chief minister Lalu Prasad Yadav to 5 years in jail in fodder scam case. The court also imposed a fine of 25 lakh rupees on him. The sentencing by special CBI judge Pravas Kumar Singh disqualifies Prasad from Parliament and renders him ineligible for contesting elections for 11 years.

8. Sun Pharmaceutical Industries India’s biggest drug maker by market capital and USA based Intrexon Corporation, a leading player in synthetic biology announced on 2 October 2013 to establish a joint venture to develop controllable gene-based therapies for the treatment of eye diseases. The joint venture will helpful for Sun Pharma’s to increase their global capabilities and experience in developing and manufacturing complex dosage forms .It will also enhance their specialty pharmaceuticals for niche therapy areas.

9. The goverment today launched a unique project to put 100 most important Indian heritage sites online. The sites include theTaj Mahal, Khajuraho and the Ajanta and Ellora caves. An agreement to this effect was reached at between the Archaeological Survey of India and Google in New Delhi today in presence of Union Culture Minister Chandresh Kumari Katoch.

10. Meghalaya Government to provide all School and college classrooms with Wi-Fi connection to aid their learning process. The announcement was made by CM Mukul Sangma after distributing free tablet computers to 11,000 class XII students as a part of state government’s Digital Learning Aid for Students scheme.

11. The book titled Haunted by Fire: Essays on Caste, Class, Exploitation and Emancipation authored by Mythily Sivaraman released in International Centre in New Delhi on 1 October 2013. Mythili Sivaraman is a Women Rights Activist. She is currently one of the Vice Presidents of the All India Democratic Women’s Association (Women’s wing of Communist Party of India (Marxist)).

12. A multinational company plans to launch the world’s largest man-made lagoon costing a whopping $7 billion. Crystal Lagoons Corp., developer of patented technology for giant crystalline lagoons, has signed a deal to construct the lagoon, covering 40 hectares, almost four-times bigger than the world’s largest existing lagoon.

13. 3M Healthcare, the healthcare division of 3M India, has won the “Sterilization Services Company of the Year award” at the Frost & Sullivan’s fifth annual India Healthcare Excellence Awards 2013. These coveted Awards recognized innovative growth strategies and solutions adopted by top companies in the healthcare industry for 2012-13.

14. Yashasvini Cooperative Farmers’ Health Care Scheme, launched in Karnataka in June 2003, has successfully completed 10 years benefiting lakhs of farmers in co-operative sector. The Yashasvini Cooperative Farmers’ Health Care Trust was formed under the principle “One for all and all for one” has made healthcare affordable to farmers in co-operative sector.

15. Airtel is the only telecom company from India featuring on the list of top ten global brands admired most in Africa, according to a survey. Airtel was placed at ninth on the list, beating Japanese car manufacturer Honda, the survey conducted by the African Business Awards said. The list was headed by US-based Coca Cola, and dominated by other US and European brands, the only other Asian brands were Japan’s Toyota and Samsung Electronics of Korea.
The full list is:
1. Coca Cola—US,
2. Shell—Netherlands
3. Samsung—South Korea
4. Vodafone—UK
5. Nike—US
6. Toyota—Japan
7. McDonald’s—US
8. Pepsi Cola—US
9. Airtel—India
10. Honda—Japan.

16. Tata Power today has commenced construction work for the first phase of its joint venture 400-MW hydro power project in Georgia. The hydel project would be jointly developed by Tata Power along with Clean Energy Invest AS, Norway (Clean Energy) and IFC InfraVentures (IFC).

17. Private insurer SBI Life Insurance on Thursday launched ‘Smart Power Insurance’ plan, which is designed to care for investor’s twin needs of insurance and investment. SBI Life Insurance is a joint venture between State Bank of India and BNP Paribas Cardif, the insurance arm of BNP Paribas.

18. The Gambian Government on 2 October 2013 announced that it is pulling out of the Commonwealth with immediate effect. Gambian, a West African country joined the Commonwealth of Nations in 1965. The last country to be withdrawn from the Commonwealth group was Zimbabwe in 2003.

19. The BCCI awarded the title sponsorship for all international series and the domestic tournaments in India for the year 2013-14 to Star Private Ltd and ESPN at the base price of Rs. two crore per fixture, considerably low compared to their previous deal with Airtel. Sponsorship rights will extend to domestic events such as Irani Cup, Ranji Trophy, Duleep Trophy, Vijay Hazare, Deodhar Trophy and Raj Singh Dungarpur Trophy.

20. Former national table tennis champion Uttam Chandarana, who dominated the sport during 1940s and 50s, passed away in Mumbai on Wednesday morning due to old age, family sources said. Chandarana is remembered for defeating world champion Ivan Andreadis in 1954.

21. Balaji Motion Pictures, the film production unit of Balaji Telefilms, has acquired the film adaptation rights to the book, The Devotion of Suspect X. ii. Director Sujoy Ghosh, whose previous release was the Vidya Balan-starrer Kahaani, has been signed to direct the Hindi feature film.

22. The California Institute of Technology (Caltech) has again been named the world’s top university by the Times Higher Education Global Ranking.

Special Gk about Mahatama Gandhi ji on the occasion of his B'day

1. When did Gandhiji born?

Answer: in 1869 October 2

2. When did Gandhiji went to South Africa to practice law?

Answer: in 1893

3. Where did Gandhiji's first Satyagraha experimented?

Answer: South Africa in 1906, September to protest against the Asiatic Ordinance issued against the
Indians in Transval

4. When was Gandhiji's first imprisonment?

Answer: 1908 at Johannesberg in South Africa

5. In which railway station where Gandhiji was humiliated and ousted ?

Answer: Peter Marits Burg Railway Station in SouthAfrica

6. When did Gandhiji started Tolstoy Farm (SouthAfrica)?

Answer: in 1910

7. Where did Gandhiji started the Phoenix Settlement ?

Answer: Durban in South Africa

8. What is the name of weakly started by Gandhiji in SouthAfrica?

Answer: Indian opinion (1904)

9. When did Gandhiji returned to India from South Africa ?

Answer: 9th January 1915. January 9 is observed as Pravasi Bharatiya Divas

10. Where was Gandhiji’s first satyagraha in India?

Answer: It was for the right of Indigo workers in Champaran in 1917

11. Where was gandhiji’s first fast (Gandhiji’s second satyagraha in India)?

Answer: In Ahmadabad

12. Which causes Gandhiji to abandoned his title Kaiser-I-Hind?

Answer: Jallianwalabagh Massacre (1919)

13. Who started weeklies named Young India and Navjeevan?

Answer: Mahatma Gandhi

14. Which is the only Congress session presided over by Gandhiji?

Answer: Congress session Belgaum in 1924

15. Who started All India Harijan Samaj in 1932?

Answer: Mahatma Gandhi

16. Where is Wardha Ashram situated?

Answer: In Maharashtra

17. When did Gandhiji started the weekly Harijan?

Answer: 1933

18. Gandhiji called Subhash Chandra Bose as _________?

Answer: Patriot

19. Who called Gandhiji as “Half naked Seditious Fakir”?

Answer: Winston Churchill

20. Who gave the name ‘Gurudev’ to Tagore?

Answer: Mahatma Gandhi

21. Who called Gandhiji as ‘Mahatma’?

Answer: Tagore

22. Who is political guru of Gandhiji ?

Answer: Gopal Krishna Gokhale

23. Who is considered as spiritual guru of Gandhiji?

Answer: Leo Tolstoy

24. When did Gandhiji assassinated?

Answer: 1948 January 30 by Nadhuram Vinayak Godse

25. What was called as'Post Dated Cheque'by Gandhiji ?

Answer: Cripps's Mission (1942)

26. When did Gandhiji published'Hind Swaraj'?

Answer: In the year 1908

27. Who gave Baba Amta the title'Abhay Sadak'?

Answer: Mahatma Gandhi

28. The period which is considered as'Gandhian Era'in Indian Independence struggle ?

Answer: 1915 - 1948

29. Where was Gandhiji’s third satyagraha in India?

Answer: kheda satyagraha

30. What is the real name of Gandhi's Autobiography ?

Answer: Satya na prayogo

31. What is the period that referred in Gandhi's Autobiography ?

Answer: 1869 - 1921

32. When did Autobiography of Gandhiji first published ?

Answer: 1927 (in Navajeevan)

33. In which language Gandhiji wrote his Autobiography ?

Answer: Gujarati

34. Who translated Gandhi's autobiography into English ?

Answer: Mahadev Desai

35. Who founded Satyagrah Sabha ?

Answer: Mahatma Gandhi

36. Who was the secretary of Mahatma Gandhi after the demise of Mahadev Desai ?

Answer: Pyarelal

37. What is the real name of Mira Behn, the disciple of Gandhiji ?

Answer: Madeleine Slade

38. Who compared Gandhi's Dandi March to the legendary journey of Sri Rama to Lanka ?

Answer: Motilal Nehru.

Current Affairs : 1st October 2013

1. Today, the International Day of Older Persons is being celebrated. The day is celebrated by raising awareness about issues affecting the elderly and to appreciate the contributions that they make to society. The day’s theme for 2013 is ‘The Future we want: What older persons are saying’.

2. Former Foreign Secretary Ranjan Mathai appointed as India’s High Commissioner to the United Kingdom. He will succeed noted economist and veteran diplomat Dr Jaimini Bhagwati.

3. A senior Indian journalist, Ravi Shankar Narsimhan, on 29 September 2013 was presented with Friendship award by China-the highest honor given to foreigners. Narsimhan is the executive editor in the overseas edition of the Beijing based China Daily. Ravi Shankar hails from Andhra Pradesh.

4. Finance Ministry on Tuesday said economy will grow by over 5 percent in the current fiscal on back of high farm productivity and investments and promised more steps to boost growth.

5. Former Indian President Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed and ex-Prime Minister Gulzarilal Nanda were posthumously conferred with the ‘Bangladesh Liberation War Honour’ on Tuesday in recognition of their outstanding support to the country’s struggle for independence from Pakistan.

6. Trade between India and Mozambique could double to $3 billion by 2016 from the current level of $1.28 billion. This was stated by Commerce Minister Anand Sharma during his meeting with Mozambique’s Industry and Trade Minister Armando Inroga in the Mozambique capital Maputo. India has extended Lines of Credit (LoC) worth $640 million to Mozambique. India is the 8th largest foreign investor in Mozambique with total investments estimated at more than $500 million.

7. The Reserve Bank of India will infuse 10 thousand crore rupees by purchasing government securities on 7 October, to ease liquidity in the market. Open market operations refer to the sale or purchase of government securities with the objective of adjusting rupee liquidity conditions in the market.

8. The CBI has filed a case against the then Telecom Minister Dayanidhi Maran and BSNL officials for allegedly allotting 300 high-speed telephone lines to Maran’s residence in Chennai which were extended to his brother’s channel.

9. Aga Khan, a Swiss-Born Philanthropist and Muslim Spiritual Leader visited India. During the official visit, Aga Khan the unveiled restored Humayun’s Tomb in New Delhi on 18 September 2013.

10. The Vice President of India, M. Hamid Ansari released a commemorative postage stamp in the memory of Baba Jumdev at a function in Gondia, Maharashtra on 30 September 2013. Baba Jumdev was a prominent spiritual leader and revered social activist.

11. Rajya Sabha member and Congress leader, Rasheed Masood, was sentenced to four years in jail by a Delhi court in a corruption case, becoming the first MP to lose his seat after a recent Supreme Court judgement had removed the immunity for convicted lawmakers.

12. In Tennis Somdev Devvarman qualifies for Singles event at china Open.

13. Indian basketball team has won bronze medal at KFC under-21 3ON3 International Challenge in Beijing. Lovneet also secured a gold medal for India in KFC 3ON3 International Challenge 3-Pointer shooting competition.

14. The Czech Republican tennis player Petra Kvitova defeated Germany’s Angelique Kerber in the final to win singles title at WTA Pan Pacific Open at Tokyo. It was her 11th WTA title and evened her tournament finals appearances at 2-2 in 2013.

Current Affairs : 29th And 30th September 2013

1. Every year on 29 September celebrated as the World Heart Day since 1999. The theme of the 2013 World Heart Day is “A life course approach to the prevention and control of cardiovascular disease (CVD) with a focus on women and children because healthy children lead to healthy adults and healthy adults lead to healthy families and communities”. The World Heart Day is organised by World Heart Federation.

2. Ruchira Kamboj was appointed as the Permanent Representative of India to UNESCO, Paris with the rank of Ambassador. The government made this announcement on 25 September 2013. She will succeed VS Oberoi.

3. Rashtriya Janata Dal Chief, Lalu Prasad was Monday held guilty in a fodder scam case by a Special CBI court and renders him ineligible for contesting elections for at least six years. . The quantum of sentence will be announced Oct 3.

4. Megan Young of Philippines crowned Miss World 2013 at the Bali Nasa Dua Convention Center in Bali, Indonesia. The second place went to Miss France Marine Lorphelin and third to Miss Ghana Carranzar Naa Okailey Shooter.

5. In Andhra Pradesh, a state-of-the-art advanced integration centre for the Naval Science and Technological Laboratory under DRDO was inaugurated in Visakhapatnam on 29th September 2013.

6. The National Green Tribunal banned digging of earth across India for making bricks and roads without prior environment clearance. A bench headed by Justice P Jyothimani directed the Chief Secretaries of all states and union territories to ensure that its interim order is adhered to.

7. Net-enabled cellphones could soon be provided to 2.5 crore people under the MGNREGA scheme. As per proposal, one person per family registered under MGNREGA scheme will be provided with the cellphone for which a recharge of Rs 30 per month will be provided for free for two years. To get the cellphone, the beneficiary will have to pay Rs 300. The scheme will be funded by Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF) at a cost of Rs 4,850 crore spread over a period of four years to cover 2.5 crore beneficiaries.

8. The Khadi and Village Industry Commission (KVIC) announced on 29th September 2013 that Khadi will get a new push in context with its brand identity with the introduction of an exclusive mark from 2014 onwards.

9. Indian and Chinese officials held fourth round of talks and discussed various issues like finalising a key border security mechanism expected to be signed during Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s proposed visit here next month.

10. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif on Sunday met in New York for the first time and discussed ways to normalise bilateral ties.

11. Leaders of the Brics group of nations on 5 September 2013 announced to set up a 100 billion US dollar fund to steady currency markets destablised by an expected pullback of US monetary stimulus. The announcement was made at the meeting of BRICS leaders. Brazil, India and Russia committed 18 billion dollars each while China announced 41 billion US dollars. South Africa announced 5 billion US dollars. BRICS had earlier planned to set up 240 billion US dollars fund.

12. Germany is ready to give finance and technical support to the international operation to destroy Syria’s chemical weapons, Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said on Sunday.

13. High imports of gold and oil pushed Current Account Deficit (CAD) to 4.9 per cent of GDP to $21.8 billion in the April-June quarter of the current fiscal, the RBI said today. CAD, the difference between inflow and outflow of foreign exchange, was 4.4 per cent or $16.9 billion in the same quarter of last fiscal, 2012-13.

14. The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Nabard) has opened a lending window for private sector for the creation of warehouse space and also to set up cold storages and cold chains in Karnataka.

15. Rajnath Singh, the Bharatiya Janata Party President became the campaign committee chief for the 2014 Lok Sabha polls on 29 September 2013 in New Delhi.

16. Rafiq Kathwari, an Indian-American poet selected for 2013 Patrick Kavanagh Poetry Award for the collection of his debut poems. Rafiq Kathwari is the first non-Irish person to win the Patrick Kavanagh Poetry Award. The award was founded by the Patrick Kavanagh Society in 1971 to commemorate the Irish poet Patrick Kavanagh.

17. Anti-Corruption Bureau Director General B. Prasada Rao has been appointed as Director General Police in-charge by the State Government in Hyderabad on Monday as the DGP V. Dinesh Reddy retired on reaching superannuation.

18. The facsimile version of ‘Harijan’, a weekly publication started by Father of the Nation, Mahatma Gandhi, to highlight the social and economic problems of India and the world, will be released on Monday. “Harijan” is one of the two main publications of Gandhiji while “Young India” has already been published.

19. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation-funded Avahan programme may have prevented over 6 lakh HIV infections in India over 10 years, according to a report in Lancet Global Health. The Avahan India AIDS Initiative was launched in 2003, as a large scale, targeted intervention prevention programme and was implemented in Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Manipur and Nagaland.

20. Kerala Chief Minister Oomen Chandy is expected to participate at the 11th edition of the Suminfra 2013, an infrastructure summit organised by Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) here Oct 7-8. he theme of this year’s summit is ‘Accelerate Infrastructure Growth in the Changing Global Context – Revitalising Growth through Institutional Framework, for Dynamic, Sustainable and Inclusive Growth’.

21. Shahrukh Khan may soon become the “goodwill ambassador” of the Republic of Korea.

22. Tourism Minister K Chiranjeevi launched the campaign – ’777 days of Incredible Indian Himalayas’ on World Tourism Day to promote the virgin peaks of Himalayas and attract both domestic and international tourists during lean summer season.

23. Russia today successfully launched a Proton-M rocket with a European communication satellite on board, marking a return of its most important unmanned space vehicle three months after one exploded on takeoff. The Proton-M rocket is Russia’s most popular for commercial satellite launches.

24. NCA Chairman Ranjib Biswal appointed as chairman of the IPL during the annual General Meeting of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) at Chennai. Prior to this appointment Ranjib Biswal was manager of the Indian Cricket team during the ICC World Cup 2011 and the ICC Champions Trophy 2013. He is also the head of Orissa Cricket Association. He replaced Rajeev Shukla as chairman of IPL.

25. Narayanaswamy Srinivasan re-elected as the President of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) for a third term at its 84th annual general meeting (AGM) held at Chennai.

26. Olympian Swaran Singh Virk led the Indian rowers’ impressive showing by clinching a gold medal at the 15th Asian Senior Rowing Championship at Luan, China on Sunday.

27. A dominant India triumphed in the 3rd Sultan of Johor Cup with a thumping 3-0 victory over hosts Malaysia in the title clash of the Under-21 hockey tournament here today.
 
28. United Arab Emirates defeated Namibia in their second crucial match at Sharjah cricket Stadium by 135 runs to keep their hopes alive to qualify directly to the ICC Cricket World Cup in 2015.

29. Former Junior World Champion Nikhat Zareen (54kg) came one step short of making it two titles in two World Championships in Albena, Bulgaria on Saturday.

30. Stephen Lee, a snooker player from England banned for 12 years after being found guilty of seven charges of match-fixing on 25th September 2013.

Current Affairs : 28th September 2013

1. The Nation is celebrating the 106th birth anniversary of the great son of the soil, Shaheed-e-Azam Bhagat Singh, today. Bhagat Singh was born on 28 September, 1907 at Banga, Lyallpur district, in a family which was already involved in revolutionary activities against the British Raj.

2. World Rabies Day observed on 28 September 2013 across the world to raise awareness about the impact of rabies disease and to deliver the message that rabies is preventable.The theme for the year 2013 is Rabies: Understand it to defeat it. The World Rabies Day is observed each year on 28 September- on the death anniversary of Louis Pasteur who developed the first efficacious rabies vaccine with his colleagues.

3. World Bank funded North East Rural Livelihood Project (NERLP) would be executed in four northeastern states – Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim and Tripura, to uplift the economic condition of the rural people, officials said. “Under the NERLP, various livelihood generation schemes including farming would be undertaken in the selected districts of the four northeastern states.

4. Bangladesh, on Friday, began importing electricity from India on an experimental basis, adding 50 MW to the national grid. The import, which took roughly three years to materialise after it was decided in 2010, was part of the country’s plan to help ease the crisis. The two countries signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) in 2010 regarding import of 500 MW of power from India.

5. The Kirit Parikh panel on fuel pricing has suggested that the diesel prices should be increased by Rs 1-1.50 a litre every month as against the 45-50 paise monthly hike followed currently. The high-level panel headed by former Planning Commission Member Kirit Parikh has also suggested a draft trade parity mechanism for determining diesel price.

6. The International Monetary Fund approved a standby loan of nearly two billion euros to match a backup loan of the same size requested from the European Union. The IMF loan is a two-year standby arrangement for 1.98 billion euros, to give the government space to continue reforms.

7. Five years after India and the US signed a landmark civil nuclear deal, the two countries have clinched the first commercial agreement on civilian nuclear power cooperation that was stalled over India’s nuclear liability law. President Barack Obama announced the agreement on Friday after his meeting with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at the White House Oval Office.

8. Malala Yousafzai, a Pakistani schoolgirl and education rights campaigner presented with the 2013 Peter J. Gomes Humanitarian Award (Harvard Humanitarian of the year) by Harvard University on 27 September 2013. 16 years old Malala received the award by Dr Allen Counter, Director of the Harvard Foundation for her contribution in promoting the education among girls.

9. In Madhya Pradesh, a special court of Mandla district convicted IAS officer Shashi Karnawat in a corruption case and sentenced her to five years in jail and a fine of Rs. 50 lakh. The court also sentenced three others in the case. Karnawat had allegedly misused her official position to benefit a company for purchase of stationary worth about Rs. 35 lakh.

10. A 9-Metre bronze statue of Nelson Mandela will be unveiled in Pretoria in December to kick off celebrations of 20 years of democracy of south Africa. President Jacob Zuma will unveil the statue of the anti-aoartheid icon at the union buldings on Reconcilation Day on December 16.

11. India wasted a two-goal advantage to draw 3-3 against hosts Malaysia in their last inconsequential round-robin match of The Sultan of Johor Cup Under-21 hockey tournament, here on Saturday.

12. Tiger Woods was named U.S. PGA Tour player of the year for the 11th time on the strength of his five big wins and return to No. 1 in the world. It was the third time Woods won the Jack Nicklaus Award despite not winning a major.

13. Sania Mirza captured her fourth title of the season and 18th overall with Cara Black of Zimbabwe, recording a come-from-behind win over Liezel Huber and Hao Ching Chan to lift the Pan Pacific Open trophy in Tokyo on Saturday.

Recent Appointments (Womens Special)

==> Arundhati Bhattacharya - 1st women MD and CFO of SBI.

==> Usha Ananthasubramanian - 1st CEO of Bhartiya Mahila Bank.

==> Aruna Bahuguna - 1st Women Special DG of CRPF.

==> 1st Woman MD of a Public Sector bank - Ms Ranjana Kumar.

==> Chairman & MD ICICI Bank - Chanda Kochhar (MD & CEO).

==> Chairman & MD of United Bank of India - Archana Bhargav.

==> Chairman & MD of Axis Bank - Shikha Sharma.

==> Chairman & MD of Allahabad Bank - Shubhalakshmi Panse.

==> Chairperson of CBDT – Sudha Sharma.

==> MD and CEO of NSE - Chitra Ramakrishna.

==> Principal secretary of President - Omita Paul.

==> New Foreign Secretary - Sujata Singh.

==> Tulsi Gabbard - New member of US House of Representatives

==> Smita Singh - Member of U.S. Global Development Council

Current Affairs : 26th And 27th September 2013

1. World Tourism Day (27 September 2013) is being celebrated today all over the globe. The 2013 theme for World Tourism Day is “Tourism and Water: Protecting our Common Future”. As the most widely celebrated global day for tourism‚ it represents a unique opportunity to raise awareness of tourism’s role in water access and shine a spotlight on the sector’s contribution to a more sustainable water future.

2. In a landmark judgement, the Supreme Court on Friday gave the citizens of India the right to reject all candidates in elections. Hearing a petition filed by the People’s Union for Civil Liberties, an NGO, the apex court ruled that the Electronic Voting Machines or EVMs should have a button that will allow the voters to choose “none of the above” option. The bench of Chief Justice P Sathasivam, Justice Ranjana Prakash Desai and Justice Ranjan Gogoi said that voters should be allowed to reject all candidates standing in an election in his/her constituency.

3. The Raghuram Rajan panel report has made a case for ending the ‘special category’ criteria for providing additional assistance to poorer states, as it ranked Goa and Kerala as the most advanced state and Odisha and Bihar the least. The committee, headed by the then Chief Economic Advisor Raghuram Rajan (now RBI governor) which was set up by the government amid demand for “special category” status by Bihar, suggested a new methodology for devolving funds on states based on a ‘Multi Dimensional Index (MDI)’.

4. The controversial GAAR provision, which seeks to check tax avoidance by investors routing their funds through tax havens, will come into effect from April 1, 2016. The provision of General Anti Avoidance Rules (GAAR) will apply to entities availing tax benefit of at least Rs 3 crore, according to the notification dated September 23. The notification is broadly in line with recommendations of the Parthasarathi Shome Committee, which was set up by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in July last year to address the concerns of investors.

5. RBI governor Raghuram G Rajan has been awarded the Fifth Deutsche Bank Prize for Financial Economics 2013, in recognition of his ground-breaking research work which influenced financial and macro-economic policies around the world. The academic prize is sponsored by the Deutsche Bank Donation Fund and carries an endowment of euro 50,000.

6. Eight eminent scientists have been selected for this year’s Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize, the country’s top most award for excellence in Science and Technology. The Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize is named after the founder-Director General of Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and carries a cash component of five lakh rupees. It is given annually to young scientists below the age of 45 who have made outstanding contributions in any field of science and technology.

7. India’s financial capital Mumbai has been named the world’s second-most honest city, according to a survey of 16 cities worldwide. Finland capital Helsinki bagged the top spot for the world’s most honest city in the survey, while Lisbon, the capital of Portugal, proved to be the least honest. The survey put hundreds of people to test in four continents to find out just how honest they were by dropping wallets and seeing how many would be returned.

8. The Asian Development Bank (ADB) will provide a loan of $500 million (Rs 3,100 crore) to build a power transmission system at the Bhadla park in Rajasthan to deliver clean electricity from wind and solar power projects to the state and national grids, the development financial institution said on Friday.

9. US anti-chemical weapons campaigner Paul Walker, 67, was jointly awarded the Swedish Right Livelihood Award on Thursday honouring those who work to improve the lives of others.

10. The University of British Columbia’s Faculty of Law on 25 September 2013 presented Anna Hazare with the inaugural Allard Prize for International Integrity at Vancouver, Canada. The Allard prize is one of the world’s largest awards recognizing efforts to combat corruption and to promote human rights.

11. Supreme Court gets dedicated customized pin code. The Department of Posts, Ministry of Communications and Information Technology of India allotted Customized Pin Code to the Supreme Court of India for the first time. The Customized Pin Code of the Supreme Court is 110 201.

12. Horticultural mail order company Thompson & Morgan developed a plant called The TomTato, which can produce not just the tomatoes, but also potatoes. The TomTato is described as the veg plot in a pot and it was launched in UK. The TomTato has the capability of growing over 500 sweet cherry tomatoes and also the white potatoes.

13. Anupam Shah has taken over as the new Chairman of the Engineering Export Promotion Council (EEPC). Prior to this, he was the Senior Vice-Chairman of EEPC and has also been the past president of the Merchant Chamber, Kolkata.

14. In Uttar Pradesh, the Centrally sponsored National Urban Health Mission will be launched soon. Over 3 crore urban population will be benefitted from the scheme.

15. The Association of Mutual Funds in India (AMFI) on 26 September 2013 appointed Sundeep Sikka, Reliance MF President and Chief Executive, as its Chairman. In the meanwhile, Sandesh Kirkire, Chief Executive Officer of Kotak Asset Management company was elected as the vice-chairman.

16. The Indian Newspaper Society (INS) was elected Ravindra Kumar, Editor of ‘The Statesman’ newspaper as its president for the year 2013-14. Kumar, who succeeds K N Tilak Kumar of Deccan Herald and Prajavani was chosen at the 74th Annual General Meeting of the society.

17. The Ministry of Civil Aviation has given its no objection certification (NOC) to AirAsia India to start a low-cost carrier. The next step for AirAsia will be to get an Air Operating Permit and prepare to kick-start its operations in India. AirAsia India, is a three way joint venture between AirAsia, the Malaysia-based low-cost airline, Tata Sons and Telestra Trade place which was formed to start a new low-cost domestic airline.

18. The 18th International Children’s Film Festival (ICFFI), popularly known as ‘The Golden Elephant’, will be held in Hyderabad from November 14-20. The festival will present four competitive sections and the best film would bag the Golden Elephant trophy and Rs 2 lakhs in cash.The second best feature will bag the Golden Elephant Plaque with Rs 1 lakh in cash.

19. Pond’s Femina Miss India World 2013 Navneet Kaur Dhillon on 27 September 2013 won the Multimedia Award at the Miss World 2013 in Indonesia. India won this award for the second time in a row. The award was first introduced by the Miss World Organization in 2012 and India’s Vanya Mishra was its first winner.

20. Japan will promote “womenomics” — a theory which asserts that theadvancement of women in society is directly correlated with its growth rate — and give over $3 billion of official development assistance (ODA) in the next three years targeting women’s participation in society and the empowerment of women, says Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

21. India will build its first strategic oil storage by January in an effort to insulate itself from supply disruptions. India, which is 79 per cent dependent on imports to meet its crude oil needs, is building underground storages at Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh and Mangalore and Padur in Karnataka to store about 5.33 million tonnes of crude oil. This is enough to meet nation’s oil requirement for 13-14 days.

22. The company launched its latest “Hummingbird” algorithm about a month ago and that it currently affects 90 percent of worldwide searches via Google. “Hummingbird” is the company’s effort to match the meaning of queries with that of documents on the Internet, said Singhal from the Menlo Park garage where Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin conceived their now-ubiquitous search engine.

23. Contemporary western wear brand AND has unveiled its first exclusive boutique in Vadodara. It offers diverse collection of western wear like jumpsuits, jeggings, tunics, maxis, and more. “Store in Vadodara is the brand’s 39th store in India.

24. Asia Cup Hockey: India lose 2-1 to Korea in SF match. India’s dreams of earning a World Cup hockey berth were shattered when they lost 2-1 in a semifinal match of the 8th women’s Asia Cup championship in Kuala Lumpur today.

25. Serena Williams has clinched the year-end women`s world number one ranking for the third time in her career after winning two grand slam titles during an excellent 2013.

26. India have entered the final of the Sultan of Johor Cup, Under-21 hockey tournament by virtue of points. India will now face hosts Malaysia in the final match.

27. Former Under-14 World Champion and Grandmaster Vidit Gujrathi won the bronze medal at the World Junior Chess Championship after settling for a quick draw with winner Yu Yangyi of China in the 13th and final round that concluded at Kocaeli in Turkey.

28. Sania Mirza and Cara Black beat the top-seeded duo of Su-Wei Hsieh of Chinese Taipei and Shuai Peng of China in the semi-finals to reach final of the Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo on Friday.

Highlights Of Union Budget

The Union finance minister today presented the Budget for the year 2013-14. Some of the key points that were highlighted by Chidambaram in the Budget are:

- No change in slabs and rate for personal income tax. 

- Tax credit of Rs 2000 to be provided to every person to having income of up to Rs 5 lakh, this will benefit 1.8 crore people. 

- 5 to 10 per cent surcharge on domestic companies whose taxable income exceeds Rs 10 crore. 

- Commodities transaction tax levied on non-agriculture commodities futures contracts at 0.01 per cent. 

- Modified GAAR norms to be introduced from April 1, 2016. 

- No change in peak rate of customs duty for non-agriculture products. 

- Direct Taxes Code (DTC) bill to be introduced in current Parliament session. 

- No change in basic customs duty rate of ten per cent and service tax rate of 12 per cent. 
 

- Import duty on rice bran oilcake withdrawn. 

- Series of concessions granted to Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) business in the aviation sector. 

- Import duty raised on set-top boxes from 5 to 10 per cent to safeguard interest of domestic producers. 

- 10 per cent customs duty to be levied on unprocessed illuminate. 

- Import duty raised from 75 to 100 per cent on luxury vehicles. 

- Duty free limit on gold raised to Rs 50,000 in case of male and Rs 100,000 in case of female. 

- No countervailing duty on ships and vessels. 

- Specific excise duty on cigarettes and cigars raised by 18 per cent. 

- Excise duty on SUVs to be increased to 30 per cent from 27 per cent, SUVs registered as taxis exempted. 

- Vocational courses offered by state-affiliated institutes to be exempted from services tax. 

- Duty on mobiles above Rs 2,000 raised from one to six per cent, based on their maximum retail prices. 

- Service tax to be levied on all a/c restaurants. 

- One time voluntary compliance scheme for service tax defaulters to be introduced. Interest and penalties to be waived. 

- Direct tax proposals to yield Rs 13,300 crore, indirect tax proposal to give Rs 4,700 crore. 

- Education cess to continue at 3 per cent. 

- Contributions made to central and state government health scheme eligible to tax benefit. 

- Eligibility conditions for life insurance policies of persons suffering disabilities to be liberalised. 

- Investor Protection Fund set up by depositories will be exempt from tax. 

- Transactions on immovable properties usually undervalued. 

- TDS of one per cent on value of properties above Rs 50 lakh. Agriculture land exempted. 

- Securities Transaction Tax (STT) reduced on equity future, mutual fund. 

- Fiscal deficit will be 5.2 per cent in current year and 4.8 per cent in the next fiscal. 

- Will redeem our pledge to reduce fiscal deficit to 3 per cent by 2016-17 and revenue deficit to 1.5 per cent of GDP. 

- Tax Administration Reform Commission to be set up to regularly review tax law applications. 

- In 2011-12, tax-GDP ratio was 5.5 per cent for direct taxes and 4.6 per cent for indirect taxes. 

- Surcharge of 10 per cent for individuals whose taxable income is over Rs 1 crore. 

- Plan expenditure pegged at Rs 555,322 crore. 

- Non plan expenditure pegged at Rs 11,09,975 crore for 2013-14. 

- Low interest rate funds to be provided from Clean Energy Fund for green projects for a period of five years. 

- Generation-based incentives to wind energy projects reintroduced, Rs 800 crore provided for the purpose to Ministry of New & Renewable Energy.

- Constraints will not come in the way for providing additional funds for security of the nation. 

- Rs 2,03,672 crore, including Rs 86,741 crore capital expenditure to Defence in 2013-14. 

- Grant of Rs 100 crore each to AMU (Aligarh), BHU (Varanasi) and TISS (Guwahati) and INTACH. 

- National Institute for Sports to train coaches to be set up at Patiala at a cost of Rs 250 crore. 

- Rs 532 crore to make post offices part of core banking. 

- Rs 5,87,082 crore to be transferred to states under share of taxes and non plan grants in 2013-14. 

- Comprehensive social security package being evolved by convergence of several schemes run by various ministries. 

- Investor with stake of 10 per cent or less will be treated as FII; any stake more than 10 per cent will be treated as FDI. 

- FIIs will be allowed to participate in exchange traded currency derivatives. 

- We will evolve schemes for cities to take up waste to energy projects. 

- Small and medium companies to be allowed to listed on MSME exchange without making a public offer. 

- Concessional six per cent interest on loans to weavers. 

- Financial Sector Legislative Reforms Commission (FSLRC) to submit its report next month. 

- Govt to construct power transmission system from Srinagar to Leh at the cost of Rs 1,840 crore, Rs 226 crore provided in current Budget. 

- Faced with huge fiscal deficit, I have no choice but to rationalise expenditure.

- We have brought down headline WPI inflation to 7 per cent and core inflation to 4.2 per cent. Food inflation is worrying.

- Plan expenditure in 12th Five Year Plan revised to Rs 14,30,825 crore or 96 per cent of budgeted expenditure. 

- Budget expenditure is Rs 16,65,297 crore and Plan expenditure Rs 5,55, 322 crore.

- The revised expenditure target is Rs 14,30,825 crore or 96 per cent of Budget estimate for this fiscal. In 2013-14, the budget estimate is Rs 6,65,297 crore. 

- One overarching goal to provide education and skills to youth for securing jobs in the 2013-14. 

- FM allocates Rs 41,561 crore for SC sub-plan; Rs 24,598 crore for tribal sub plan. 

- Additional sum of Rs 200 crore to Women and Child Welfare Ministry to address issues of vulnerable women. 

- Rs 3511 crore allocated to Minority Affairs Ministry which is 60 per cent of the revised estimates. 

- CFM allocates Rs 41,561 crore for SC sub-plan; Rs 24,598 crore for tribal sub plan. 

- Rs 3511 crore allocated to Minority Affairs Ministry which is 60 per cent of the revised estimates.  

- Rs 110 crore to be allocated to the department of Disability Affairs. 

- Rs 37,330 crore allocated for Ministry of Health & Family Welfare. 

- Rs 1069 crore allocated to Department of Aryush. 

- Rs 4,727 crore to be allocated for medical education and research. Rs 1,069 crore to be given to Department of Ayush. 

- In the Budget Rs 65,867 crore allocated to Ministry of HRD in 2013-14. 

- Medical colleges in six more AIIMS-like institutions to start functioning this year; Rs 1650 crore allocated for the purpose. 

- Rs 5,284 crore to various Ministries for scholarships for SC/ST, OBC and minority students. 

- Rs 13,215 crore to be provided for mid-day meal scheme. 

- Rs 17,700 crore provided for Integrated Child Development Scheme. 

- Rs 15,260 crore to be allocated to Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation. 

- Rs 17,700 crore to be allocated for Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS). 

- Rs 80,194 crore allocation for Ministry of Rural Development in 2013-14. About Rs 33,000 crore for MGNREGA. 

- Rs 80,194 crore allocated for rural development schemes. 

- States which have completed Pradhan Mantri Gramin Sadak Yojana will be eligible for PMGSY-II, others will continue with PMGSY-I.

- Rs 14,873 crore for JNNURM for urban transportation in 2013-14 against Rs 7,880 crore in the current fiscal. 

- Foodgrain production in 2012-13 will be over 250 million tons. 

- Average annual growth rate of agriculture and allied services estimated at 3.6 per cent in 2012-13 when 250 MT foodgrains was produced. 

- Rs 27,049 crore allocation to the Agriculture Ministry in 2013-14. 

- Rs 7 lakh crore target fixed for agriculture credit for 2013-14 compared to Rs 5.75 lakh crore in the current year. 

- Eastern Indian states to get Rs 1,000 crore allocation for improving agricultural production. 

- Additional sum of Rs 200 crore to Women and Child Welfare Ministry to address issues of vulnerable women. 

- Green revolution in east India significant. Rice output increased in Assam, Odisha, Jharkhand and West Bengal; Rs 1,000 crore allocated for eastern states. 

- Rs 5,387 crore to be allocated for integrated watershed programme for farmers in 2013-14, an increase from Rs 3,050 crore in the current fiscal. 

Current Affairs : 25th September 2013

1. Former South Africa president Nelson Mandela was honoured with the Humanitarian Achievement Award this year.



2. The government on Wednesday announced constitution of the Seventh Pay Commission, which will go into the salaries, allowances and pensions of about 80 lakh of its employees and pensioners. The government constitutes Pay Commission almost every ten years to revise the pay scales of its employees and often these are adopted by states after some modification. The sixth Pay Commission was implemented from 1st January, 2006, fifth from 1st January, 1996 and fourth from 1st January, 1986.


3. The RBI on Wednesday banned zero per cent interest rate scheme for purchase of consumer goods; a move intended to protect customers, which may however dampen the festive spirit.

4. The Reserve Bank of India has set up a committee on comprehensive financial services for small businesses and low-income households. The committee will be headed by Nachiket Mor, member on the Central Board of Directors, Reserve Bank of India. The committee has been asked to come out with a set of design principles that will guide the development of institutional frameworks, and regulation for achieving financial inclusion and financial deepening.

5. The Reserve Bank of India set the cut-off price at Rs. 82 on inflation-indexed bonds (yield-to maturity 3.6624 per cent) for a notified amount of Rs. 1,000 crore at the bond auction held on Tuesday.

6. Tata Communications Payment Solutions Ltd (TCPSL), a wholly owned subsidiary of Tata Communications Ltd, today inaugurated Indicash ATMs in Mysore. The company’s first white-label ATM was launched at Chandrapada village in Thane district on June 27. This is in keeping with the Reserve Bank of India’s vision to accelerate growth and improve ATM penetration across the country.

7. Reliance Life Insurance has launched life insurance policies in electronic demat form across all its products. Reliance Life Insurance is among the first few private insurers to offer policy holders the option to hold their insurance policies in electronic demat form.

8. The Bombay Bullion Association, the apex body of all bullion and jewellery associations in India, would host the first-ever India International Bullion Summit, IIBS in Mumbai on October 5th. The IIBS would serve as a platform for industry experts, suppliers and buyers to converge and address concerns of the industry.

9. Vijay Keshav Gokhale has been appointed as India’s next Ambassador to Germany. Gokhale, a 1981- batch officer of the Indian Foreign Service, has been India’s High Commissioner to Malaysia since 2009. He was previously Joint Secretary ( China and East Asia).

10. Ruchira Kamboj, currently the Chief of Protocol, has been appointed as the next Permanent Representative of India to UNESCO, Paris, with the rank of Ambassador. The 1987-batch IFS officer, Kamboj will succeed V S Oberoi.

11. A.J. Tharakan has been elected national president of the Seafood Exporters Association of India. Elias Sait will continue as the secretary general. Other functionaries are: V. Padmnanabham and Kenny Thomas, vice-presidents; and Norbert Karikkassery, treasurer.

12. Mobile telephony and data services provider Aircel has tied up with handset maker Micromax for integrated device sales and activation. As part of the tie-up, customers who purchase Micromax handsets in the retail networks of both the companies would be eligible for a host of bundled offers including Rs 10,000 worth entertainment content free for over three months on 3G phones.

13. Retired IAS officer Ramlubhaya has been appointed Commissioner of Rajasthan State Election Commission. Ramlubhaya, who will succeed incumbent A K Pandey, will take over the post from October 1 for a five-year tenure.

14. ONGC is to explore shale gas in the Cambay Basin. It will spend nearly Rs 150-Rs 200 crore to drill the first set of wells starting next month, N. K. Verma, Director (Exploration) of India’s largest explorer, said on Wednesday.

15. 4G Identity Solutions Private Ltd (4Gid) has won the Red Herring 2013 top 100 Asia Award, one of the industry’s prestigious awards recognising the year’s most promising private technology ventures from the Asian business region.

16. Australia’s most powerful super computer, Raijin, was today unveiled in Canberra. Raijin, named after the Japanese God of thunder and rain, has cost $45.2 million to build and will cost USD 10.85 million a year to run, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) reported.

17. The Finance Ministry, on Friday, clarified that ‘auxiliary educational services’ such as hostels, canteen and school buses will not attract 12 per cent service tax.

18. India defeated hosts Malaysia 2-0 to qualify for the semi-finals of the eighth women’s Asia Cup hockey tournament on Tuesday.

19. The Board of Cricket Control of India, BCCI, today imposed a life ban on former IPL Comissioner Lalit Modi from any of its activities. The decision to this effect was taken at the special general meeting under the chairmanship of BCCI President N.Srinivasan at Chennai.

20. India BEAT Pakistan 4-0 at Sultan of Johor Cup Under-21 hockey tournament in Malaysia.

21. India have suffered a 0-3 defeat at the hands of top seeded Russia in their opening tie of the junior Davis Cup finals.

22. Chinese paddler Liu Shiwen clinched her third women’s table tennis World Cup after beating team-mate Wu Yang in four sets.

Draft Policy for Early Childhood Care and Education

Union Cabinet approved the draft policy of the National Early Childhood Care and Education (NECCE) which envisages for establishing guidelines for the standardisation of teaching and learning aids, trained manpower, sanitation and hygiene norms etc. in play schools and day care centres.

How would National Early Childhood Care and Education (NECCE) benefit?

The new National Early Childhood Care and Education (NECCE) policy will benefit children in playschools and crèches as it provides for establishing a national council to establish guidelines for the standardisation of teaching and learning aids, trained manpower, sanitation and hygiene norms etc. in these institutions.

 It will lead to better regulation and monitoring the quality of care and education provided to children at play schools and crèches across the country. The move is expected to directly benefit 158.7 million children who are under the age of 6.

The new policy provides for setting standards for the care givers and also set a curriculum framework. It also stipulates the minimum qualification required to be teachers at such centres, which will now have to be registered with the Government under this policy. The policy would be implemented through National and state ECCE Councils but the Union Ministry of Women and Child Development will have the authority to make necessary amendments in it.

Current Affairs : 24th September 2013

1. Rising shuttler P V Sindhu was conferred with the prestigious Arjuna Award by Sports Minister Jitendra Singh in New Delhi on Tuesday. Sindhu had missed the opportunity to receive the award from President Pranab Mukhejee at the Rashtrapati Bhawan on August 31 as she was busy playing in the final of the Indian Badminton league (IBL). Jitendra Singh today presented the shuttler with a statuette, citation and a cash prize of Rs 5 lakh during the governing body meeting of Sports Authority of India.


2. A high-level panel, headed by Economic Affairs Secretary Arvind Mayaram, on Monday submitted to Finance Minister P. Chidambaram its report on the alleged irregularities at the National Spot Exchange Ltd (NSEL). NSEL, part of Jignesh Shah-led Financial Technologies group, is facing a crisis in settling dues worth Rs 5,600 crore.

3. ICICI Bank has launched a new Facebook app that will enable its customers to transact directly from the social networking site. Primarily targeted at young customers, the new app ‘Pockets’ will enable customers of the bank to transfer money, recharge mobile phones and book movie tickets from their Facebook pages. There will be no additional charge for using the application.

4. Moody’s has lowered its outlook for India’s GDP growth to 4.5 per cent for 2013-14 from 5.5 per cent.

5. New HIV infections drop by a third since 2001 and more than halved among children :UNAIDS. In its annual report on the state of the global pandemic, the UNAIDS said globally, 2.3 million people contracted the AIDS virus last year, which is down 33% from 2001. Last year, 1.6 million people died of AIDS-related deaths, down from 1.8 million in 2011.

6. Joint military exercises in general combat and mountain warfare between India and Nepal began in Pithoragarh today in Uttrakhand . The exercise includes anti-insurgency operations in hilly terrains and relief and rescue operations at the time of natural disasters.

7. India Navy is conducting 3-day joint military exercises ‘Naseem Al Bahr” or the Breeze from the Sea, with the royal Oman Navy from September 23-26. The joint military exercise is part of ongoing collaboration between the navies of the two countries to enhance maritime capabilities.

8. Paper Arabia 2013, a 3-day long exhibition and conference of the leading manufacturers and exporters of paper and pulp industry gets underway at Dubai World trade center today. 132 exhibitors from 22 countries including India are taking part in the conference. India is a leading exporter and currently produces 12 tonnes of paper and paper products out of which 10 percent is exported.

9. Hun Sen, 61, who has been in power for 28 years, was sworn in Tuesday as Cambodian Prime Minister for another five-year term. Hun Sen took office after parliament re-elected him as the prime minister amid a boycott by the opposition party.

10. India environmentalist Bunker Roy and Pakistan’s teenage education activist Malala Yousafzai were declared winners of this year’s of the prestigious ‘Clinton Global Citizens Awards’. Roy is the founder of the Barefoot College, which has been providing solutions to problems in rural communities for more than 40 years.

11. Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) in partnership with GE and Saudi Aramco Tuesday launched first all-female business process outsourcing (BPO) centre in Saudi Arabia that will create nearly 3,000 jobs in the Gulf kingdom.

12. Bo Xilai, China’s disgraced former Communist Party leader, has appealed against his life sentence conviction. The move came after a court in eastern China sentenced Bo to life in prison on Sunday for bribe-taking, embezzlement and abuse of power.

Current Affairs : 22 & 23 September 2013

1. Deepika Kumari wins Silver at Archery World Cup in Paris. In the finals, the 19-year-old Deepika lost to the Korean Olympic champion Ok-Hee Yun.

2. Angela Merkel is heading for a third term as Germany’s Chancellor, as exit polls showed she could even be on course for the historic achievement of an absolute majority in the country’s Parliament.

3. Deutsche Bank has become the first bank in India to use the Reserve Bank of India (RBI)’s window to swap fresh foreign currency non-resident (bank), or FCNR (B), dollar funds. Deutsche Bank has raised about $450 million FCNR (B) deposits from about 10 non-resident Indians and swapped it with the Central Bank.

4. Tata and EESL have signed an MoU (Memorandum of Understanding) to carry out collaborative activities and partnerships in the field of Energy Efficiency and Demand Side Management ( DSM), Tata Power said in a statement. EESL ( Energy Efficiency Services Ltd) is a joint venture of public sector units of the Ministry of Power.

5. Indian cricketer Virat Kohli was appointed as the brand ambassador of the Border Security Force (BSF) on 22 September 2013. It is important to note that any central force in India has appointed its brand ambassador. BSF is the second largest paramilitary force of India that guards two crucial Indian borders with Pakistan and Bangladesh.

6. Beverage and snacks maker PepsiCo on Monday named company veteran Sanjeev Chadha as its CEO, Asia, Middle East and Africa (AMEA) region, effective immediately. Chadha will report to chairman and CEO Indra Nooyi and oversee all aspects of PepsiCo’s business in the AMEA region, the company announced from its headquarters in New York.

7. All new credit card swipe machines and automated teller machines (ATMs) will be required to have a mechanism for Aadhaar authentication using biometrics. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is understood to be preparing such a directive to improve security and promote financial inclusion.

8. 7th India Russia meeting on trade and investment was held at St. Petersburg , Russia on 20 September 2013. A high level delegation of 120 Indian business leaders led by Union Minister of Commerce and Industry participated in the meeting. It discussed various business opportunities with their Russian counterparts. The special focus was on Pharmaceutical and Medical Industry, Tourism and Medical Tourism and Trade in goods, services and innovative products.

9. Seekho Aur Kamao (Learn and Earn) Progrmme Launched by Union Government of India. Union Ministry of Minority Affairs, Government of India on 23 September 2013 launched a central sector scheme for Skill Development of Minorities.

10. Bharat Nirman- a Public Information Campaign launched at Viramgam block of Ahmedabad District in Gujarat on 23 September 2013 to spread the information of Government flagship programmes like MGNREGA, NRHM etc.

11. Justice Darmar Murugesan, the former Chief Justice of Delhi High Court on 21 September 2013 appointed as member of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) for a five-year term.

12. Durga Sakthi Nagpal reinstated. A day after she met Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, the Uttar Pradesh government today revoked the suspension of woman IAS officer Durga Sakhti Nagpal.

13. South Africa and India will jointly hold an inter-ministerial conference as well as a business meet later this month to enhance bilateral trade relations, officials said.

14. Australia is keen to collaborate with ISRO for scientific space data to guard its 59,736-km-long coastline against tsunami and storms.Australia has shown interest in getting data from Indian satellite Oceansat-2, which can measure ocean colour.

15. Disgraced top Communist Party leader Bo Xilai sentenced to life imprisonment by a Chinese court for bribery, embezzlement of power.

16. The AITA has appointed former Davis Cupper Anand Amritraj as the new non-playing captain of the Davis Cup team, which will take on Chinese Taipei in the Asia/Oceania Group I tie next year.

17. Russia would hand over 1,000 Megawatt Bushehr nuclear reactor to Iran today. The project under IAEA Control, began 35 years ago with Germany’s help and was finished by Russia. Iran’s Atomic agency chief Ali Akbar Salehi said he expected work to start soon on a second plant upon completion of talks with Moscow.

18. Sandeep Tulsi Yadav has created history by winning India’s first-ever medal in the 66kg Greco-Roman category at the Senior World Wrestling Championships in Budapest, Hungary.

19. Remembering ‘Dinkar’ on his 105th birth anniversary on 23rd September. Ramdhari Singh ‘Dinkar’ was an Indian Hindi poet, essayist and academic. He is considered as one of the most important modern Hindi poets. Dinkar was awarded the Jnanpith Award in 1972 for Urvashi. He also became a nominated member of the Rajya Sabha, in 1952.

20. Alvaro Mutis, an award-winning Colombian poet, essayist and novelist influential throughout the Spanish-speaking world, died on Monday in Mexico City, officials said. Mutis, who was 90, won the prestigious Principe de Asturias award in 1997 and the Cervantes award in 2001, two of the top Spanish language literature prizes.

21. Samajwadi Party general secretary and Rajya Sabha member Mohan Singh, who was recently removed from the post of party national spokesman over differences with Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, passed away at AIIMS on Sunday after a prolonged battle with Cancer.

22. Nepalese Army Chief General Gaurav Shamsher J B Rana will undertake a week-long visit to India from 29th September to strengthen military-to-military ties, including supply of hardware to Nepal Army. This is Rana’s third visit to India after assuming charge as Army Chief and second official visit to the country this year.

23. A powerful typhoon Usagi hit Hong Kong and the southern China coast on Monday, killing at least 20 people on the mainland, crippling power lines and causing flooding and gale force winds.

Current Affairs : 20th & 21st September 2013

1. Gyan Correa’s National award-winning Gujarati film ‘The Good Road’, a lost-and-found story of a small boy, nominated to represent India in the Best Foreign Film category at next year’s Oscars. Produced by the National Film Development Corporation (NFDC), ‘The Good Road’ marks 42-year-old Correa’s debut.

2. RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan on Friday surprised the industry and shocked the stock markets by hiking the short-term policy rate by 0.25 percent to keep worrisome inflation under check, a move that may increase EMIs for home and auto loans in the medium term.
New Policy Rates are as Follows:
1. Repo Rate – 7.50%
2. Reverse Repo Rate – 6.50%
3. CRR – 4%
4. MSF – 9.50%
5. Bank Rate – 9.50%
6. SLR – 23%

3. Govt approves 10% DA hike, to benefit 80 lakh employees, pensioners. DA and dearness relief are revised twice a year, first in January 1 and second from July 1. The revisions are based on the change in the consumer price index for industrial workers (CPI-IW).

4. The Heavy Industries Ministry is planning to set up an ‘Ultra Mega Green Solar Power Project’ in Rajasthan. It will be developed on 23,000 acres of land belonging to Sambhar Salts Ltd. The total capacity of this project will be 4,000 MW, making it the largest solar-based power project in the world. The first phase of the project, which will be 1,000 MW, is likely to be commissioned in three years – end of 2016.

5. The Union Cabinet has approved the proposal of Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL) for setting up 9-million-tonne-per-annum (mmtpa) Greenfield refinery-cum-petrochemical complex in Barmer District in Rajasthan.This will be a joint venture with the Rajasthan State Government and will be named HPCL-Rajasthan Refinery Ltd (HRRL). HPCL will own 74 per cent stake while the balance will be with the State Government.

6. Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh inaugurated Phase 1 of the Jaipur Metro Rail on Saturday after he laid the foundation stone of the first airport in Rajasthan’s Ajmer district, while informing that small destinations in the country will have air connectivity with a network of more than 100 airports, planned to meet the expected passenger load capacity of 30 crore, by 2020.

7. Jawaid Akhtar, the Chairman of Coffee Board of India, was elected as the Chairperson of the International Coffee Council at the meetings of the International Coffee Organization which took place on 9 September 2013 in Belo Horizonte, Brazil. The 111th session of the Council and the meetings took place from 9 September 2013- 12 September 2013.

8. Banks have been given conditional freedom to open branches in tier-I cities without seeking the Reserve Bank of India’s prior approval in each case.

9. Gurgaon’s Rapid Metro likely to be inaugurated on 2nd October. Rapid Metro would be the country’s first metro rail system developed in the public-private partnership mode, at a cost of about Rs 1,100 crore. The first phase of the Rapid Metro covers 5.1 km long track, with six stations: DLF phase-II, Belvedere Towers, Gateway Towers, Moulsari Avenue, DLF Phase-III and Sikanderpur. A major part of the line is single-track.

10. Assam government launched ‘Swavalamban Pension Scheme’. As per the scheme named ‘Swavalamban Pension Scheme’, a person with a minimum contribution of Rs 1,000 per year will get an equal amount of contribution from the govt. The aggregator for the scheme in the state will be Assam Gramin Vikash Bank and Alankit Assignment, while the fund managers are SBI Pension Fund, LIC and UTI.

11. TV Narendran appointed new Tata Steel MD for India, South East Asia. Narendran will succeed incumbent H M Nerurkar, who is retiring on October 31 upon attaining the age of superannuation. The appointment of Narendran, who is in his late 40s, has surprised many as current group CFO Koushik Chatterjee’s name was doing the rounds for the top post.

12. Former secretary of the Indian Cricket Board, Jaywant Yeshwant Lele passed away at his residence in Vadodara following a massive heart attack. Lele breathed his last late Thursday night. He was 75 and is survived by his wife, a son and a daughter.

13. Former India captain Sourav Ganguly and tennis ace Leander Paes will be conferred Lifetime Achievement Awards, while successful football coach Subhas Bhowmick will be given ‘Guru Ratna’ by the state government at a function on September 28.

14. Actor Aamir Khan has been selected for a U.S. award for his television show ‘Satyamev Jayate’ along with eminent American director Kathryn Bigelow and the International Center on Nonviolent Conflict (ICNC). They will be honoured at the inaugural awards dinner by the America Abroad Media (AAM) in Washington DC on October 28.

15. Kolkata giants Mohammedan Sporting created history by winning the prestigious Durand Cup Football tournament after a gap of 73 years, defeating ONGC 2-1 in the final in New Delhi. The last time Mohd Sporting won Durand Cup was before Independence in 1940 by defeating Warwickshire Regiment.

16. Indian men earned a maiden World Cup berth on the back of its best-ever sixth-place finish in men’s free-style at the World Championships in Budapest on Friday. India finished the tournament in the men’s freestyle category with 23 points, which catapulted the country to sixth in rankings behind Iran, Russia, Georgia, Ukraine and USA. As per the FILA rules, the top eight teams in the World Championship automatically qualify for the World Cup and Amit Kumar Dahiya’s silver medal in the 55-kg and Bajrang’s bronze in the 60-kg freestyle category ensured India its maiden World Cup appearance next year.

Present RBI Rates

S. No	Rates / Reserve Ratios	%	W.e.f
1	Bank Rate	9.50 %	20th September 2013
2	Repo Rate	7.5 %	20th September 2013
3	Reverse Repo Rate	6.50%	20th September 2013
4	Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR)	4.00%	9th February 2013
5	Statutory Liquidity Ratio (SLR)	23%	11th August 2012
6	Marginal Standing Facility (MSF)	9.50%	20th September 2013

Bank Rate

Bank rate, also referred to as the discount rate, is the rate of interest which a central bank charges on the loans and advances that it extends to commercial banks and other financial intermediaries. Changes in the bank rate are often used by central banks to control the money supply.

Repo Rate

Repo rate is the rate at which our banks borrow rupees from RBI. Whenever the banks have any shortage of funds they can borrow it from RBI. A reduction in the repo rate will help banks to get money at a cheaper rate. When the repo rate increases, borrowing from RBI becomes more expensive.

Reverse Repo Rate

This is exact opposite of Repo rate. Reverse Repo rate is the rate at which Reserve Bank of India (RBI) borrows money from banks. RBI uses this tool when it feels there is too much money floating in the banking system. Banks are always happy to lend money to RBI since their money is in safe hands with a good interest. An increase in Reverse repo rate can cause the banks to transfer more funds to RBI due to this attractive interest rates.

CRR

Cash reserve Ratio (CRR) is the amount of funds that the banks have to keep with RBI. If RBI decides to increase the percent of this, the available amount with the banks comes down. RBI is using this method (increase of CRR rate), to drain out the excessive money from the banks.

SLR

SLR (Statutory Liquidity Ratio) is the amount a commercial bank needs to maintain in the form of cash, or gold or govt. approved securities (Bonds) before providing credit to its customers. SLR rate is determined and maintained by the RBI (Reserve Bank of India) in order to control the expansion of bank credit. SLR is determined as the percentage of total demand and percentage of time liabilities. Time Liabilities are the liabilities a commercial bank liable to pay to the customers on their anytime demand. SLR is used to control inflation and propel growth. Through SLR rate tuning the money supply in the system can be controlled efficiently.

Marginal Standing Facility (MSF)

Marginal Standing Facility (MSF) is the rate at which scheduled banks could borrow funds overnight from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) against approved government securities. The basic difference between Repo and MSF scheme is that in MSF banks can use the securities under SLR to get loans from RBI and hence MSF rate is 1% more than repo rate.

Current Affairs : 19th September 2013

1. Obabiyi Aishah Ajibola (21) of Nigeria becomes World Muslimah 2013 during the third Annual Award of World Muslimah in Jakarta, Indonesia, on Wednesday.


2. Government bans new appointments as a part of series of austerity measures; asks all departments to cut down non plan expenditure by 10 per cent.


 3. A Haryana student has been selected for a three-year astronaut training programme of National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in the US. Ashish Kumar, who belongs to Dhaulera village of Mahendergarh district, was today honoured with ‘Pratibha Samman’ by Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda for his achievement.

4. WTO lowers growth projection for world trade in 2013 to 2.5% against 3.3 per cent projected in April and 4.3 per cent earlier in the year.

5. The Government will infuse Rs 14,000 crore in public sector banks within next few days, Financial Services Secretary Rajiv Takru said here today.

6. Tata Sons have signed an agreement with Singapore Airlines and applied for necessary regulatory approval to set up a new airline in India, the two companies said in a joint statement. Tata Sons will control the majority 51 percent stake, while Singapore Airlines will own 49 percent in the proposed carrier.

7. US launches unmanned Cygnus cargo ship to ISS. Orbital Sciences Corp launched the first flight of its unmanned Cygnus cargo ship on Wednesday to the International Space Station, as NASA forges ahead with its plan to privatise US space missions.

8. Justice Prafulla Chandra Pant, Judge of the High Court of Uttarakhand was on 19 September 2013 appointed as the new Chief Justice of the Meghalaya High Court. He was appointed by the President of India, Pranab Mukherjee.

9. Former Nintendo Company Limited President Hiroshi Yamauchi, who built the company into a video game giant from a maker of playing cards during more than half a century at the helm, died on Thursday of pneumonia, the company said. He was 85.

10. Veteran CPI leader Veliyam Bhargavan, who led the party in Kerala for long, died in Kerala.

11. Bajrang Kumar bags bronze in 60 Kg freestyle at World wrestling Championships in Budapest.

12. Former US heavyweight boxing champion Ken Norton, who beat Muhammad Ali has died at the age of 70.