Current Affairs Update – 14th August, 2015

Hello and welcome to ExamPundit. Here are the Important Current Affairs of 14th August, 2015. These are Important for the upcoming UIIC Assistant 2015 Exam and IBPS RRB 2015 Exam.

Finance/Banking
RBI notified Interest
Subvention Scheme 2015-16 of Union Government for banks

  • Reserve Bank of India on 13 August 2015 notified the Union
    Budget-2015-16 Interest Subvention Scheme (ISS) and asked all banks to provide
    interest concession of 2 percent on short term crop loans of up to 3 lakh
    rupees.
  • The central bank in its notification said that interest
    subvention of 2 percent per annum will be made available to public and private
    sector banks provided they lend short term credit at the ground level at 7
    percent per annum to farmers.
  • The bank said that additional interest subvention of 3
    percent will be available to farmers for repaying the loan promptly from the
    date of disbursement of the crop loan. This implies that farmers paying
    promptly would get short term crop loans at 4 percent during the year 2015-16.

Irda allows banks to tie
up with nine insurers
  • The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India
    (IRDA) has allowed banks to tie up with a maximum of nine insurers from three
    segments —life, non–life and standalone health insurers — as part of the new
    bancassurance guidelines.
  • While such a tie-up will not be mandatory on the banks and
    it has been left to them to take a call on the number of tie-ups, Irda is
    likely notify the new guidelines on the bancassurance norm shortly.

Axis Bank launches
multi-currency contactless card with Visa

  • Axis Bank will upgrade close to about one-fourth, or 50,000,
    of its point of sale (PoS) machines so that they can accept debit and credit
    card payments from contactless cards.
  • On Wednesday , the bank launched contactless multi-currency
    forex cards in partnership with Visa -the payments gateway company.
  • Axis Bank would be the first bank to issue multi-currency
    contactless cards or ‘tap and pay’ cards which can be loaded in 15 currencies
    such as Swiss Franc and Hong Kong dollar besides the three main currencies -US
    dollar, Euro and British Pound.
  • Axis Bank has also launched contactless debit and credit cards
    for its premium customers.

Pahal Scheme
acknowledged by Guinness Book of World Records as largest cash transfer program

  • Union Government’s ambitious Pratyaksha Hastaantarit Laabh
    (PAHAL) scheme was on 13 August 2015 acknowledged as the world’s largest cash
    transfer program (households) by the Guinness Book of World Records.
  • The scheme was formally launched as Direct Benefit Transfer
    Scheme for LPG subsidy in 2013 in 291 districts under the aegis of Union
    Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas.
  • The scheme was modified and named as Pahal in November 2014
    and was then again launched in 54 districts. Later it was extended nationwide
    on 1 January 2015.

About Pratyaksha
Hastaantarit Laabh (PAHAL) scheme
  • The scheme aims at reducing eliminating duplication or bogus
    LPG connections and its diversion. It also seeks to meet substantive savings in
    LPG subsidy.
  • Under the scheme, subsidized liquefied petroleum gas (LPG)
    cylinders are sold at market rates and consumers are entitled to receive LPG
    subsidy directly into their bank accounts.
  • It is done either through bank account or Aadhaar linkage.
  • Currently it covers more than 9.75 crore LPG consumers
    across the country.

India
India, Slovak
Republic signed MoU for technical cooperation in Railway Sector
  • India and Slovak Republic on 13 August 2015 signed a
    Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on technical cooperation in railway sector.
    The MoU was signed in New Delhi by Ganga Ram Agarwal, Secretary of Railway
    Board of India and Zigmund Bertok, Ambassador of Slovak Republic to India.

The potential cooperation
areas mentioned in the MoU are:
  • Infrastructure building and management– station development
    and workshop modernisation
  • Information & communication technologies especially for
    passenger amenities
  • Modernisation of rolling stock
  • Modernisation of Signaling & Telecom
  • Any other area mutually agreed between the Parties, falling
    within the scope of this MoU

Sports
Rahane makes it into
record books by taking 8 catches

  • India’s Ajinkya Rahane on Friday became the first fielder in
    Test history to take eight catches, achieving the feat in the ongoing first
    cricket match against Sri Lanka in Galle.
  • Rahane caught Rangana Herath at slip off Amit Mishra to
    enter the record books after going past five international players —
    Yajurvindra Singh (India), Greg Chappell (Australia), Hashan Tilakaratne (Sri
    Lanka), Stephen Flemimg (New Zealand) and Mathew Hayden (Australia), all of whom
    took 7 catches in a match.
  • Incidentally Yajuvindra took 7 catches in a Test after
    Independence Day in 1977, while Rahane has done it on the eve of August 15.
  • Rahane was instrumental in sending three Sri Lankan batsmen
    back to the pavilion during the first innings before the Mumbai player took five
    catches in the second essay.
  • Englishman Wally Hammond though holds the record for most
    catches — 10 — in first class cricket, having achieved the feat as a
    Gloucestershire fielder against Surrey in 1928.
  • England wicketkeeper Jack Russell — in 1995 — and South
    African glovesman AB de Villiers — in 2013 —have 11 dismissals each in a Test
    match.

Indian Men’s Hockey
team won European series against Spain 2-1
  • Indian Men’s Hockey Team on 13 August 2015 won three match
    series of their European Tour 2-1 after registering second win in the third and
    final match of the series. Indian team defeated Spain 4-2 at Teresa in Spain.
  • For India, Rupinder Pal scored the first goal in 24th minute
    followed by Akashdeep Singh in 45th minute and the third and fourth goals by
    Ramandeep Singh.
  • The first match of the series was won by Spain 4-1. The
    second match was won by India 2-0.

World
2015 United
States-India Cyber Dialogue held in Washington, DC
  • 2015 US – India Cyber Dialogue was held on 11 and 12 August
    2015 at the US Department of State in Washington, DC. The dialogue was held
    with an aim to increase global cyber security and promote the digital economy.
  • The whole-of-government Cyber Dialogue, fourth in the
    series, was led by the US Cyber security Coordinator and Special Assistant to
    the President Michael Daniel and by India’s Deputy National Security Advisor
    Arvind Gupta.

Obituaries
Om Prakash Munjal,
founder of Hero Cycle Limited, passed away

  • The founder of Hero Cycle Om Prakash Munjal passed away on
    13 August 2015 following a brief illness at the DMC Hero Heart Centre,
    Ludhiana. He was 87.
  • Om Prakash was born on 26 August 1928 in Kamalia, Punjab
    (then British India). Later, he shifted to Amritsar in 1944 to start a bicycle
    spare parts business with his three brothers and began the complete
    manufacturing of bicycle under brand name Hero.
  • Today the Hero Cycles Limited is the world’s largest
    integrated bicycle manufacturing company that manufactures 7.5 million cycles
    per year. Hero Group now has its foot print in sectors like bicycle components,
    automotive, automotive components, IT, services etc.

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