Current Affairs Update – 30th March, 2016

Finance/Banking/Economy –

Union Government launched Innovative Entrepreneurship & Skill
Development Programme of MANAS

• Union Minister for Minority
  Affairs Najma Heptulla on 29 March 2016 launched innovative entrepreneurship
  and skill development programme of Maulana Azad National Academy for Skills
  (MANAS) through leading national and international experts in different skill
  sets.
• The innovative Scheme proposes to
  use leading celebrities who belong to Minority communities in various skill
  sets as the driving force behind the skill development projects in their
  respective fields.
• It is for the benefit of
  marginalised sections of minority communities.
• It was established under the
  aegis of Ministry of Minority Affairs (MOMA) by National Minorities Development
  and Finance Corporation (NMDFC) on 11 November, 2014 to fulfil the vision of
  Skill India and also achieve the over-riding goal of the Union Government
  SabkaSaath – SabkaVikas.

Tata Motors signs pact with Maharashtra ex-servicemen body

• Tata Motors today signed a
  memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Maharashtra Ex-Servicemen
  Corporation or MESCO), for creation of employment opportunities for
  ex-servicemen of Indian Army. This is in response to Tata Motors solution for
  the Defence Ministry’s prestigious $10 billion combat vehicle programme.
• As one of the indigenisation
  partners for the development of Tata Motors FICV (Future Infantry Combat
  Vehicle), the MoU was signed at the ongoing DefExpo 2016 in Goa.
• MESCO, a Maharashtra government
  undertaking, of the Mahasainik Industrial Estate (MSIE), is India’s first
  unique ex-servicemen industrial estate set-up in Pune in 2002, for the
  establishment and resettlement of ex-servicemen, with the moto of ‘Service with
  Discipline’.
• Tata Motors recently also signed
  a strategic agreement with Bharat Forge Limited (BFL) and General Dynamics Land
  Systems (GDLS) of the US, for the Defence Ministry’s prestigious Future
  Infantry Combat Vehicle (FICV) program.

RBI liberalises ECB norms for infrastructure space

• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI)
  on Wednesday allowed all companies engaged in the infrastructure sector to
  raise external commercial borrowings with a minimum maturity of five years,
  including those non-banking finance companies (NBFC) regulated by the central
  bank.
• The borrowings have to be fully
  hedged, the central bank clarified in a notification on its website. The
  individual limit of borrowing under the automatic route is currently at $750
  million.
• RBI expanded the scope of ECB in
  view of prevailing external funding sources, “particularly for long-term
  lending and the critical needs of infrastructure sector of the country.”
• Expanding the scope of the
  definition of infrastructure, RBI said exploration, mining and refinery sectors
  will also be deemed as in the infrastructure sector, and can access ECB as
  applicable to infrastructure sector.

SEBI hiked FPI investment limit for government debt

• Markets regulator, the Securities
  and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) on 29 March 2016 decided to increase the
  Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPI) investment limit in Central Government
  securities. This will boost inflows of foreign funds into Indian capital
  markets.
• The limit was increased to 140000
  crore rupees from 135400 crore rupees and will be effective from 4 April 2016.
  It will be further increased to 144000 crore rupees from 5 July 2016.
• There will be a separate limit
  for investment by all FPIs in the state development loans.
• The limit for long term FPIs
  (Sovereign Wealth Funds, Multilateral Agencies, Endowment Funds, Insurance
  Funds, Pension Funds and Foreign Central Banks) in the Central Government
  securities will be enhanced to 50000 crore rupees from 4 April 2016 and 56000
  crore rupees on 5 July 2016. Currently, the existing limit is 44100 crore
  rupees for long term FPIs.
• The limit for investment by all
  FPIs in State Development Loans (SDL) was enhanced to 10500 crore rupees on 4
  April 2016 and 14000 crore rupees on 5 July 2016 respectively from the existing
  limit of 7000 crore rupees. 

RBI signed Special Currency Swap Agreement with the Central Bank of Sri
Lanka

• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI)
  on 29 March 2016 signed a Special Currency Swap Agreement with the Central Bank
  of Sri Lanka.
• Under the arrangement, the
  Central Bank of Sri Lanka can draw up to 700 million US dollars for a maximum
  period of three months. This special arrangement is in addition to the existing
  Framework on Currency Swap Arrangement for the SAARC Member Countries.
• The proposal to extend the
  additional currency swap facility of 700 million US dollars to Sri Lanka for a
  limited period was decided with concurrence of the Union Government in March
  2016 for short-term liquidity management in the context of India’s strong
  bilateral relations and economic ties with Sri Lanka.

BHEL commissions 250 Mw unit at Nabinagar plant in Bihar

• State-run power equipment maker
  BHEL has commissioned first 250 Mw unit at coal-based Nabinagar thermal power
  plant of Bhartiya Rail Bijlee Company Ltd in Aurangabad district of Bihar.
• “The 250 MW unit has been
  commissioned at the upcoming, greenfield 1,000 Mw Nabinagar Thermal Power
  Project (4×250 MW), being set up by Bhartiya Rail Bijlee Company Ltd (BRBCL), a
  joint venture of NTPC Limited and the Indian Railways,” BHEL said in a
  statement on Wednesday.
• Execution of the other three
  units is also in progress, it added.
• BHEL has a long-standing
  partnership with NTPC and has supplied over 30,000 Mw of the coal-based power
  plants of NTPC and its JVs that account for around 80 per cent of NTPC’s
  coal-based installed capacity.

RBI cancelled Certificate of Registration of 22 NBFCs

• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI)
  on 29 March 2016 cancelled the certificate of registration of the 22
  Non-Banking Financial Companies (NBFCs).
• RBI cancelled their certificates
  of registration by exercising the powers conferred on it under Section 45-IA
  (6) of the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934.

The NBFCs whose certificate of registration were cancelled include

1. Kundan Leasing and Finvest
   Private Limited
2. Amazan Capital Limited
3. Vuma Maheswara Finvest Limited
4. Nawalsons Holdings Private
   Limited
5. Raseera Investments Private
   Limited
6. Surin Investments Private Limited
7. M3 Investment Managers Private
   Limited
8. Mascot Commerce Pvt. Ltd.
9. Integrity Trading Company Private
   Limited
10. Limtex Impex Private Limited
11. Shyamashree Foods Pvt. Ltd.
12. Vrindavan Services Private Ltd.
13. Nirankar Investments Private
    Limited
14. Dignity Motors Finance Limited
15. Credence Securities Private
    Limited
16. International Steel Industries
    Limited (Formerly Chitalia Infotech (I) Ltd.)
17. Trepechy Textile Limited
    (Formerly Trepechy Finance Limited)
18. Akansha Consultancy Services
    Limited
19. Sierra Investments Limited
20. Priyam Commercial Enterprises
    Private Limited
21. Bini Commercial Enterprises
    Private Limited
22. RR Securities Limited

Following the cancellation of
registration certificate, these companies cannot transact the business of a
non-banking financial institution as laid down under clause (a) of Section 45-I
of the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934.

India –

India, World Bank sign
USD 1.5 billion loan pact for Swachh Bharat Mission

• The Government of India and the
  World Bank today signed a US$1.5 billion loan agreement for the Swachh Bharat
  Mission (SBM) Support Operation Project to support the Government of India in
  its efforts to ensure that all citizens in the rural areas have access to
  improved sanitation with a focus on changing behaviour and eliminating the
  practice of open defecation by 2019.
• The loan agreement for the
  project was signed by Raj Kumar, Joint Secretary, Department of Economic
  Affairs, Ministry of Finance on behalf of the Government of India and Onno
  Ruhl, World Bank Country Director, India on behalf of the World Bank.
• Specifically, this project will
  support the rural component, known as SBM – Gramin (SBM-G), over a five-year
  period using a new performance-based program which links funds directly to
  results, ensuring that benefits are delivered to the people in need – more than
  60 percent of India’s population that resides in rural areas.

ISRO to launch 22 satellites in single mission

• Indian Space Research
  Organization (ISRO) is set to launch a record number of 22 satellites in a
  single mission in May 2016.
• The launch vehicle will inject 22
  satellites into orbit, a first in the history of the organisation.
• Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle,
  PSLV C34 will carry India’s remote sensing satellite Cartosat 2C along with 21
  other satellites to be injected into the orbit.
• The 21 satellites to be launched
  will include four micro-satellites weighing 85 to 130 kg each and 17 nano-satellites
  weighing 4 to 30 kg. 18 of these satellites are being launched for foreign
  agencies including the United States, Canada, Germany and Indonesia. Two of the
  nano-satellites have been developed by the Pune Engineering College and
  Sathyabama University, Chennai.

The four micro-satellites to be launched are:

• Maritime Monitoring and Messaging
  Microsatellite (M3MSAT)
• LAPAN A3
• BIROS
• SKYSAT Gen2-1

ICCR to set up first Indian Chair in Arab world at Cairo

• India will establish the first
  Indian chair in the Arab world at Egypt’s prestigious Ain Shams University
  (ASU) here.
• An MoU in this regard was signed
  on Wednesday between India’s Ambassador to Egypt Sanjay Bhattacharyya on behalf
  of Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) and and Prof. Abdel Wahab Ezzat,
  Acting President of ASU.
• Under the terms of agreement,
  ICCR, in consultation with ASU, will appoint an Indian academician to hold the
  Chair.
• Taking note of the technological
  advancements in India and the growing demand in Egypt, the first visiting
  Indian Professor will be in the Faculty of Information and Communication
  Technology.
• Founded in 1950, ASU is the third
  largest Egyptian university.

Haryana launched Projecet Salamati for injectable contraceptive

• The Chief Minister of Haryana
  Manohar Lal Khattar on 29 March 2016 launched Project Salamati in Chandigarh.
  The project seeks to maintain a healthy balance between the births of children
  by using injectable contraceptive.
• With this launch, Haryana became
  the first State in the country to launch injectable contraceptive as part of a
  government initiative.
• It is a public sector family
  planning programme implemented by the Haryana Health Department with the
  assistance of Pathfinder International and the Bill & Melinda Gates
  Foundation.
• Under this initiative, injectable
  contraceptive will be provided free of cost at all Primary Health Centres,
  Community Health Centres, Sub Divisional and District Hospitals.

IIT-Patna organised First International Symposium on 5G

• The Indian Institute of
  Technology Patna (IIT-P) organised the First International Symposium on Fifth
  Generation (5G) technology. The symposium commenced on 29 March 2016 and will
  conclude on 31 March 2016 in Patna.
• The Patna 5G Summit is
  co-sponsored by IEEE Communications Society, Center for TeleInfrastruktur,
  Aalborg University (CTIF), Global ICT Standardization Forum for India (GISFI)
  and IEEE Kolkata Section.
• The aim of the symposium is to
  bring academia, industry, government organizations etc. to participate and
  share their research intuition and views over the possible 5G technologies,
  standardization aspects, heterogeneous networks, architectural designs,
  wireless techniques and new hardware designs.

Appointments –

Htin Kyaw sworn in as Myanmar President

• Htin Kyaw, a confidante of Nobel
  laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, was sworn in Wednesday as Myanmar’s President,
  ushering in the first democratically elected government into office after
  decades of military rule.
• The 70-year-old Htin Kyaw took
  the oath of office in a joint session of Myanmar’s newly elected Parliament
  with his two Vice- Presidents at his side, as Ms. Suu Kyi sat watched from the
  front row.

Wipro appoints PayPal executive Patrick Dupuis to Board

• Country’s third largest software
  services firm Wipro today said it has roped in financial and business
  strategist Patrick Dupuis as an independent Board member.
• With effect from April 1, 2016,
  Dupuis will serve as an Independent Director on the Board and brings with him a
  rich experience of over 30 years, Wipro said in a statement.
• He is currently Senior Vice
  President for Simplicity, Quality and Productivity at Global technology
  platform and payments leader, PayPal Holdings, Inc, it added.

Rakesh Mohan joined Nestle India Board as Independent Non—Executive
Director

• Nestle India Ltd. on 28 March
  2016 announced that former RBI Deputy Governor Rakesh Mohan joined the Board of
  the company as an Independent Non—Executive Director.
• His appointment will be effective
  from 1 May 2016. For Rakesh Mohan, this is the second stint at the company.

Sebi approves Mrugank Paranjape as MCX managing director

• Market regulator Sebi today
  approved appointment of Mrugank Paranjape as MD & CEO of the Multi
  Commodity Exchange of India (MCX).
• According to posting by MCX to
  BSE, this appointment is for a period of three years from the date of joining.
• Sebi has also granted extension
  of the terms of Dinesh Kumar Mehrotra, G. Anantharaman and Satyananda Mishra as
  Public Interest Director (PID) on the board of MCX.
• As a result their terms will end
  in July, October and November respectively. Mishra is chairman of the board.

Awards & Honors –

P Susheela entered Guinness World Records for recording highest number
of songs in several languages

• Renowned playback singer P.
  Susheela Mohan in the last week of March 2016 entered the Guinness Book of
  Records for singing 17695 songs in 12 Indian languages.
• On the other hand, Asia Book of
  Records also officially recognised Susheela for singing most number of songs in
  Indian languages.
• While the Guinness Book of
  Records officially credited her for singing 17695 songs (solo, duet and chorus
  backed songs) in twelve Indian languages, Asia Book of Records recognised her
  for singing 17330 songs.

World –

China launched 22nd BeiDou navigation satellite

• China on 30 March 2016 launched
  its 22nd satellite for its BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS). The
  satellite was launched aboard a Long March-3A carrier rocket from the Xichang
  Satellite Launch Center in the southwestern province of Sichuan.
• The BeiDou system will be
  completed in 2020 and will comprise over 30 satellites.
• It was the 225th launch of the
  Long March carrier rocket.
• BeiDou currently provides
  navigation services within China and the neighboring regions. After entering
  its designated work orbit and finishing in-orbit testing, it will join others
  available in the orbit.

Obituaries –

Renowned American author Jim Harrison died

• Fiction writer, poet and
  essayist, Jim Harrison passed away on 26 March 2016 due to cardiac arrest in
  Patagonia, Arizona, United States. He was 78.
• Harrison is best known for his
  1979 novella Legends of the Fall. He was called a force of nature, and his
  works were compared to that of William Faulkner and Ernest Hemingway.