Current Affairs Update – 6-7 November, 2016

Hello and welcome to exampundit . Here are the important Current Affairs of 6th and 7th November, 2016. These are important for the upcoming IBPS PO Mains, IBPS Clerk Mains and RRB OS-I Mains exam 2016.

Current Affairs at a Glance – 6-7 November, 2016

  • India and the UK
    on Monday signed two memorandums of
    understanding (MoUs) on increasing cooperation in intellectual property rights
    (IPRs) and ease of doing business
    .
  • Chhattisgarh government has
    launched a campaign to complete the irrigation projects that could not be
    completed. Under the campaign called “Lakshya Bhagirathi”, the water resources
    department had identified 108 projects that could not be completed. Most of the
    projects are minor and middle. For the last three decades, the projects were pending
    for required clearances.
  • Hyderabad-based IT and
    engineering services company Cyient India Limited
    on Monday announced that it would acquire UK-based ground surveying and
    digital mapping solutions provider
    Blom Aerofilms Limited.
  • Future Retail has signed a definitive agreement to acquire the
    retail, agriculture, and bakery businesses of
    Heritage Foods in an all-stock
    deal on Monday. Heritage Foods, owned by Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu
    Naidu, will get 3.65% stake in Future Retail worth of Rs 295 crore.
  • Construction company Hindustan
    Construction Company (HCC)
    on 5
    November 2016 became India’s first firm to get Reserve Bank of India’s
    (RBI) approval for debt recast under Scheme for Sustainable Structuring of
    Stressed Assets (S4A)
    .
  • Grant Thornton released its International
    Business Report 2016
    . The report ranks India
    at the second position on the global business optimism index during the third
    quarter
    (July-September
    2016). During the April-June 2016 period, India was ranked at the third
    position after being on top for two consecutive quarters.
  • Indian Army in the first week of November 2016 launched ‘Operation
    School Chalo’
    in South Kashmir.
    The operation is aimed at providing students with free coaching after their
    regular education system was interrupted by spiraling violence, protests by
    militants and their supporters triggered by the encounter killing of Hizbul
    Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani.
  • The Ministry of Environment,
    Forest and Climate Change on 4 November 2016 constituted a four-member team for
    conservation and management of Loktak Lake in Manipur
  • The Reserve Bank (RBI) has appointed M Rajeshwar Rao as Executive Director following
    G Mahalingam’s voluntary retirement from the central bank.
  • Bank of Baroda has appointed Ratnesh Kumar as Managing Director and CEO of its wholly-owned investment banking subsidiary,
    BoB Capital
    Markets Ltd
    .
  • Guy Ryder has been re-elected Director-General of the International
    Labour Organisation (ILO)
    for
    another five-year term, starting October 1.
  • Indian lawyer Aniruddha
    Rajput
    was on 4 November 2016 elected as a Member of International
    Law Commission (ILC), a top body of legal experts of United Nations General
    Assembly (UNGA).
  • The International Day for Preventing
    the Exploitation of the Environment in War and Armed Conflict
    was
    observed globally on 6 November 2016.
  • World’s first hydrogen-powered and zero-emission passenger train was
    unveiled in September 2016 in Germany
    .
  • Indian Women’s hockey team on 5 November 2016 lifted the Asian Champions
    Trophy 2016 in Singapore. In the summit clash, India defeated China 2-1.

COLOR CODES:

  • GREY HIGHLIGHTER – Very Important Current Affairs
  • GREEN HIGHLIGHTER – Very Important for STOCK GK 

Finance/Banking/Economy –
India, UK ink MoUs on IPR, ease of doing business

  • India and the UK on Monday signed
    two memorandums of understanding (MoUs) on increasing cooperation in
    intellectual property rights (IPRs) and ease of doing business.
  • Both the MoUs were exchanged in
    the presence of Prime Ministers Narendra Modi and her British counterpart
    Theresa May here.
  • The MoU on IPR was inked between
    the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) and the Intellectual
    Property Office of the United Kingdom (UKIPO).
  • It is intended to promote
    innovation, creativity and economic growth in both countries, an official
    statement said.
  • It establishes a broad and
    flexible framework through which both countries can exchange best practices and
    work together on training programmes and technical exchanges to raise awareness
    on IPRs and better protect intellectual property rights.
  • The priority initiatives under
    the MoU include exchange of best practices, experiences and knowledge on IP
    awareness among the public, businesses and educational institutions of both
    countries, collaboration in training programmes, exchange of experts, technical
    exchanges, and outreach activities.
  • The MoU on ease of doing business
    will harness UK expertise to support India’s efforts to climb the World Bank Ease
    of Doing Business ratings.
  • In the World Bank’s latest ‘Doing
    Business’ report, India’s place remained unchanged from last year’s original
    ranking of 130 among the 190 economies that were assessed on various parameters.
    But the last year’s ranking has been revised to 131 from which the country has improved
    its place by one spot.
Chhattisgarh launches campaign “Lakshya Bhagirathi” to
complete irrigation projects

  • Chhattisgarh government has
    launched a campaign to complete the irrigation projects that could not be
    completed.
  • Under the campaign called
    “Lakshya Bhagirathi”, the water resources department had identified 108
    projects that could not be completed. Most of the projects are minor and
    middle. For the last three decades, the projects were pending for required
    clearances.
  • The economy of the state is
    mainly based on agriculture and forestry. The agriculture sector contributes
    around 38% to the State’s Net Domestic Product. Of the total workforce of 8.3
    million, 5.9 million (71%) are engaged in agriculture.
  • Net sown area of the Chhattisgarh
    state is 4.683 million hectares while the gross sown area is 5.561 million
    hectares. The state’s Irrigation potential was 1.328 million hectares at the
    time of formation of the state (in November 2000) which was 23% of the gross
    sown area.
Cyient acquires UK-based geospatial solutions firm Blom Aerofilms

  • Hyderabad-based IT and
    engineering services company Cyient India Limited on Monday announced that it
    would acquire UK-based ground surveying and digital mapping solutions provider
    Blom Aerofilms Limited. It has signed a definitive agreement with Blom AS, Norway
    for the acquisition of its UK-based subsidiary.
  • Blom employs a core group of 40
    people and had the calender year 2015 revenue of 6 million pounds. The
    transaction is EPS accretive and expected to complete over next 30 days.
    According to Cyient President John Renard, this acquisition will complete the
    company’s existing skills and capabilities in software and data processing
    around geospatial technology.
Odisha government signs MoU to with Software Technology Parks of India
to open four centers

  • The Odisha government on Saturday
    signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Software Technology Parks of
    India (STPI) to set up four STPI centres in the state. The STPI centres would
    come up in Angul, Jajpur, Koraput (Jeypore) and Sambalpur. With these four,
    Odisha will have eight centres of the total 55 in the country.
  • He said the Incubation High Speed
    Data connectivity facility would be available to entrepreneurs, specially
    catering to the need of Startups, MSMEs, SMEs to start their business without any
    hassles. “It is a matter of pride that the IT exports from the state is
    reported at Rs 2900 crore during the year 2015-16 and achieved national
    prominence in the IT map of the country. Today around 90% of software exports
    from the state are contributed by STPI,” Patnaik said.
  • He added that he is confident
    that the new STPI centres would facilitate and support the entrepreneurs to
    explore global opportunities and boost direct and indirect employment in the
    state.
Future Group acquires AP CM Chandrababu Naidu’s Heritage retail
businesses

  • Future Retail has signed a
    definitive agreement to acquire the retail, agriculture, and bakery businesses
    of Heritage Foods in an all-stock deal on Monday.
  • Heritage Foods, owned by Andhra
    Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, will get 3.65% stake in Future
    Retail worth of Rs 295 crore.
  • With this deal, Heritage will
    leverage the strength of Future Retail to expand the market for its dairy
    products across India, Heritage Foods director Nara Lokesh said.
  • The retail business of Heritage
    Foods includes the chain of 124 Heritage Fresh stores in Hyderabad, Bengaluru,
    and Chennai with 2,000-8,000 square ft store sizes. These small format stores
    will compliment well with Future Retail’s existing network of 379 small EasyDay
    stores in north India.
Google-accelerated Indonesian edtech startup raises $2.2m

  • Online learning platform
    HarukaEdu from Indonesia just announced it has raised funding to the tune of
    US$2.2 million from Pearson Affordable Learning Fund (PALF), Samator Education,
    and previous investor CyberAgent Ventures.
  • HarukaEdu is an edtech platform
    for online classes. It hosts both informal courses as well as certified
    university programs that lead up to a degree.
  • It is working together with a
    number of Indonesian institutions such as the London School of Public
    Relations, Wiraswasta Indonesia University, and President University. The
    startup was one of 8 firms from Indonesia selected to join the Google Launchpad
    accelerator program earlier this year.
HCC becomes first company to get
RBI approval for debt recast under S4A scheme

  • Construction company Hindustan
    Construction Company (HCC) on 5 November 2016 became India’s first firm to get
    Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) approval for debt recast under Scheme for
    Sustainable Structuring of Stressed Assets (S4A).
  • The RBI-mandated Overseeing
    Committee (OC) under the S4A approved HCC’s 5107 crore rupees debt recast that
    was passed by ICICI Bank-led joint lender forum in September 2016.
Highlights of the Debt Recast
of HCC

  • Under this debt recast of HCC, 52
    percent of the debt was found to be sustainable and can be serviced as per
    original terms and conditions including interest rate and tenure.
  • Out of the remaining 48 percent
    debt,  1000 crore rupees debt will be
    converted into equity for banks, which could eventually give them 25 percent
    stake in the company’s post-scheme equity capital.
  • The balance of 1400 crore rupees
    will be converted into Optionally Convertible Debentures for 10 years with a
    coupon rate of 0.01 percent.
  • The share price will be
    determined as per SEBI guidelines and debt will go down to the extent of the
    conversion amount.
  • These measures will now go for
    approval from HCC’s shareholders.
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Reports –
India rises to second spot on global business optimism index: IBR
Report

  • Grant Thornton released its
    International Business Report 2016. The report ranks India at the second
    position on the global business optimism index during the third quarter
    (July-September 2016).
  • During the April-June 2016
    period, India was ranked at the third position after being on top for two
    consecutive quarters.
  • Indonesia took the top spot, with
    the Philippines coming in third.
Highlights for India

  • The report says, the improvement
    in the optimism ranking in the recent past clearly reflects that the reform
    agenda of the government and its efforts on improving the climate for doing
    business are having an impact.
  • It says that the ranking rides on
    the recent policy reforms and Goods and Services tax (GST), which is expected
    to become reality soon.
  • The ranking was also complimented
    by the rise of employment expectations.
  • India came into light in the
    global economy due to the programmes and initiatives along with its focus on
    building relationships with all major economic powers.
  • About 59 per cent of the
    respondents have voted in favour  ofthe
    growth prospects.
  • In terms of revenue expectations,
    India slipped to third position from top in the previous quarter.
India –
Operation School Chalo launched in South Kashmir

  • Indian Army in the first week of
    November 2016 launched ‘Operation School Chalo’ in South Kashmir. The operation
    is aimed at providing students with free coaching after their regular education
    system was interrupted by spiraling violence, protests by militants and their
    supporters triggered by the encounter killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander
    Burhan Wani.
  • The operation closely follows its
    predecessor, ‘Operation calm down’, which was aimed at clearing off the anti-social
    elements from the valley.
Union Environment Ministry constitutes four-member team for
conservation of Loktak Lake

  • The Ministry of Environment,
    Forest and Climate Change on 4 November 2016 constituted a four-member team for
    conservation and management of Loktak Lake in Manipur. 
  • The team will visit Loktak Lake
    from 7 November to 9 November 2016 and hold discussions with the State
    Government, its concerned agencies and other stakeholders.  The consultations will also include people
    living in the vicinity of the lake. 
  • The Ministry has asked the team
    to submit a report by 15 November 2016.
Lost Ancient River Chandrabhaga found in Odisha

  • Scientists from Indian Institute
    of Technology (Kharagpur) claimed to have found evidence confirming the
    existence of a mythical Indian river, Chandrabhaga.  The discovery came in the first week of
    November 2016.
  • This is the second among such
    findings. In October 2016, KS Valdiya led expert committee had found that
    Saraswati River did exist.
Appointments –
RBI appoints M Rajeshwar Rao as Executive Director

  • The Reserve Bank (RBI) has
    appointed M Rajeshwar Rao as Executive Director following G Mahalingam’s
    voluntary retirement from the central bank.
  • As Executive Director, Rao will
    look after Department of Statistics and Information Management, Financial
    markets Operations Department and International Department, RBI said in a
    statement.
  • Prior to taking over as the
    Executive Director, he was the Chief General Manager, Financial Markets
    Operations Department.
  • Rao has a Bachelor of Arts in
    Economics and a Master of Business Administration from University of Cochin. He
    is also a Certificated Associate of Indian Institute of Bankers. Rao joined RBI
    in 1984 and as career central banker has exposure in various aspects of central
    bank functioning.
  • He has previously held charge of
    the Risk Monitoring Department. He has also worked as the Banking Ombudsman,
    New Delhi and in the Reserve Bank’s regional offices at Ahmedabad, Hyderabad,
    Chennai and New Delhi.
Ratnesh Kumar appointed MD and CEO of BoB Capital Markets

  • Bank of Baroda has appointed
    Ratnesh Kumar as Managing Director and CEO of its wholly-owned investment
    banking subsidiary, BoB Capital Markets Ltd.
  • Kumar holds a Masters degree in
    Management from FMS, University of Delhi, and M.Sc. (Hons) in Physics &
    B.E. (Hons) in Electrical and Electronics Engineering from BITS, Pilani.
  • The public sector bank in a
    statement said Kumar started his career in the Indian capital markets and
    financial services sector in 1993.
Guy Ryder re-elected ILO Director-General

  • Guy Ryder has been re-elected
    Director-General of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) for another
    five-year term, starting October 1.
  • In the governing body, Ryder
    received 54 of the 56 votes cast by the titular members, an ILO release from
    Geneva said. Incidentally, he was the only candidate.
  • Ryder is the 10th ILO
    Director-General and has about 35 years of experience in the world of work,
    most of it at the international level.
Aniruddha Rajput elected as Member of International Law Commission of
UN

  • Indian lawyer Aniruddha Rajput
    was on 4 November 2016 elected as a Member of International Law Commission
    (ILC), a top body of legal experts of United Nations General Assembly (UNGA).
  • He is India’s first time
    candidate to the Commission and youngest among the group. He is also the first
    Indian nominee chosen from outside the close circuit of lawyers of the Union
    Ministry of External Affairs.
  • Rajput is among other 34
    individuals elected as members of the ILC. The members were elected from five
    geographical groupings of Asia-Pacific, African, Latin American and Caribbean,
    Eastern European and Western European states. They will have five-year term
    commencing from January 2017.
  • Rajput was elected from the Asia
    Pacific Group by gaining 160 votes.
Parminder Singh resigns as Managing Director of Twitter’s MENA region

  • Parminder Singh on 3 November
    2016 resigned as the Managing Director (MD) of Southeast Asia, India, Middle
    East and North Africa (MENA) region of Twitter.
  • Singh’s resignation came barely
    two days after the resignation of Twitter’s India head Rishi Jaitly.
Days –
International Day for Preventing Exploitation of Environment in War and
Armed Conflict observed

  • The International Day for Preventing
    the Exploitation of the Environment in War and Armed Conflict was observed
    globally on 6 November 2016.
  • On 5 November 2001, the UN
    General Assembly declared 6 November of each year as the International Day for
    Preventing the Exploitation of the Environment in War and Armed Conflict
    through  resolution A/RES/56/4.
  • On 27 May 2016, the United
    Nations Environment Assembly adopted resolution UNEP/EA.2/Res.15 to recognize
    the role of healthy ecosystems and sustainably managed resources in reducing
    the risk of armed conflict.
  • It also committed itself towards
    the full implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals listed in General
    Assembly resolution 70/1 entitled Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for
    Sustainable Development.
World –
World’s first zero-emissions hydrogen train, Coradia iLint, unveiled in
Germany

  • World’s first hydrogen-powered
    and zero-emission passenger train was unveiled in September 2016 in Germany.
  • The Coradia iLint, developed by
    French rail company Alstom, only emits excess steam and condensed water into
    the atmosphere.

Key highlights of the Coradia
iLint
  • Coradia iLint is powered by a
    hydrogen fuel tank on its roof. The fuel cell is supplied with hydrogen and
    oxygen from the air, which it converts into electric power.
  • The system is backed up by
    lithium batteries. These batteries store the excess power in order to later
    supply the train when needed.
  • The train is totally carbon-free,
    making it a much more sustainable alternative to the 4000 diesel trains
    currently in circulation in Germany.

Sports –
Indian Women’s hockey team defeated China 2-1 to lift Asian Champions
Trophy 2016
  • Indian Women’s hockey team on 5
    November 2016 lifted the Asian Champions Trophy 2016 in Singapore. In the
    summit clash, India defeated China 2-1.
  • India’s first goal was scored by
    Deep Grace Ekka in the 13th minute, which was equalized by Zhong Mengling in
    the 44th minute. In the dying minutes of the game, the second goal came from
    Deepika Thakur to give the Indian eves the formidable lead and the crown.
  • This is for the first time that
    Indian eves won the Asian Champions Trophy competition. Top five women’s teams
    of Asia took part in this tournament. This was also the qualifying round for
    the 2017 Asia Cup.

Petra Kvitova wins 2016 WTA Elite Singles Trophy
  • Czech Republic’s Petra Kvitova on
    6 November 2016 won the 2016 WTA Elite Singles Trophy. She defeated Ukrainian
    Elina Svitolina 6-4, 6-2 to grab the title at Zhuhai, China.
  • Venus Williams was the defending
    champion for the title. However, she chose not to participate despite
    qualifying for the edition.

Henri Kontinen and John Peers win 2016 BNP Paribas Masters Doubles
title
  • Henri Kontinen and John Peers on
    6 November 2016 won the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 team title at the BNP
    Paribas Masters in Paris.
  • Kontinen and Peers defeated
    top-seeded Frenchmen Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut 6-4, 3-6, 10-6 to
    claim the title.

Obituaries –
Former J&K Deputy Chief Minister Mangat Ram Sharma passes away
  • Former Jammu and Kashmir
    (J&K) Deputy Chief Minister Mangat Ram Sharma passed away on 3 November
    2016 following a prolonged illness. He was 85. He is survived by six sons.
  • He played an important role in
    cooperative movement in the state and successfully headed the Kathua district
    cooperative society for some years before he became a member of the legislative
    council.

Regards

Team ExamPundit