Current Affairs Update – 7-12 October, 2016

Hello and welcome to exampundit . Here are the important Current Affairs from 7th to 12th October, 2016. These are important for the upcoming IBPS PO Mains, IBPS Clerk Mains, NIACL AO Mains and BOM PGDBF 2016 Exams.

Current Affairs at a Glance – 7-12 October, 2016

  1. ICICI Bank, country’s largest
    private sector lender, has become the first bank in the country to complete a
    banking transaction using block chain technology
    . This remittance
    transaction has been completed in partnership with another lender from the
    Middle East, Emirates NBD
    .
  2. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on
    6 October 2016 released the Report of
    the Internal Working Group (IWG) on Rationalisation of Branch Authorisation
    Policy
    . The Group is chaired by Lily Vadera, Chief General Manager, Department
    of Banking Regulation.
  3. Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on 8 October 2016 inaugurated
    India’s first centre for international arbitration in Mumbai
    .
    Inaugurating the Mumbai Centre for International Arbitration (MCIA), Fadnavis
    said that India will leave its benchmark worldwide in business dispute
    redressal with the setting up of international arbitration centre in Mumbai.
  4. President Pranab Mukherjee on 6
    October 2016 inaugurated the first edition of the World Sustainable Development
    Summit (WSDS) in New Delh
    i.
  5. Snapdeal-owned digital payments
    platform Freecharge has appointed Karthik
    Rajeshwaran
    , former global head of marketing at Obi Mobiles, as its new director of strategy.
  6. Badminton champion and Rio silver
    medallist P
    V Sindhu
    was on 8 October 2016 appointed as the Brand Ambassador of
    Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited
    which is also popularly known as Vizag Steel.
  7. Jeremy Corbyn, Leader of the
    Labour Party and Leader of the Opposition, on 7 October 2016 appointed Indian-origin barrister Shami Chakrabarti to the UK’s shadow cabinet.
  8. Luo Zhaohui was on 8 October 2016 appointed as China’s Ambassador to India, in accordance with a
    decision of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, the top
    legislature of China.
  9. BVR Mohan Reddy, Founder and
    Executive Chairman of Cyient Ltd, was on 5 October 2016 appointed as the Honorary
    Consul of Germany in Hyderabad
    .
  10. The 2016 Nobel Peace Prize was on 7 October 2016 awarded to Colombian President Juan Manuel
    Santos
    for his resolute efforts
    to bring the country’s more than 50-year-long civil war to an end, a war that
    took away the lives of at least 220000 Colombians and displaced nearly six
    million people.
  11. Pawan Chamling, the Chief
    Minister of Sikkim, on 6 October 2016 was conferred the prestigious 2016 Sustainable
    Development Leadership Award
    .
  12. The 2016 International Day of the Girl
    Child (IDGC) was observed across the world on 11 October 2016
    with the theme Girls’ Progress = Goals’ Progress:
    What Counts for Girls.
  13. World Mental Health Day was observed on 10
    October 2016
    with theme
    ‘Psychological First Aid’.
  14. World Post Day 2016 was on 9 October 2016 observed across the world with the theme
    Innovation, Integration and Inclusion.
  15. The 84th Air Force Day 2016 was
    on 8 October 2016 observed across India.
  16. Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL) announced on 6 October
    2016 that the Terminal 3 of Indira
    Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) achieved Platinum rating from Indian Green
    Building Council (IGBC).
    With this, the state-of-the-art Terminal 3 of IGIA has become the first
    Platinum rated green terminal building under Green Existing Building O&M
    Rating System by IGBC
    .
  17. India will host the Asian Ministerial Conference for Disaster Risk
    Reduction (AMCDRR)
    from 3 November to 5 November 2016.
  18. Andy Murray on 9 October 2016 won the 2016 China Open Men’s
    Singles title at the National Tennis Center in Beijing, China.
  19. The International Monetary Fund on 4 October 2016 released World Economic Outlook (WEO) October 2016. The report projects
    global growth at 3.1 per cent in 2016, with slight increase to 3.4 percent in
    2017.
  20. The U.S.
    on 7 October 2016 lifted sanctions against Myanmar that have been in place
    for nearly two decades.

Finance/Banking –
ICICI Bank becomes first bank in India to execute banking transaction
on blockchain technology

  • ICICI Bank, country’s largest
    private sector lender, has become the first bank in the country to complete a
    banking transaction using block chain technology. This remittance transaction
    has been completed in partnership with another lender from the Middle East,
    Emirates NBD.
  • ICICI Bank has managed to
    authenticate remittance transaction messages as well as original international
    trade documents related to purchase order, invoice, shipping & insurance,
    among others, electronically on blockchain in real time.
  • The usage of block chain
    technology simplifies the process and drastically reduced time to up to a few
    minutes as compared to a few days. As the time is reduced the costs also come
    down significantly.
  • Blockchain allows one to change
    the age old process of maintaining a ledger that can be accessed only by one
    party and instead it puts in place a distributed ledger that allows a
    participatory model. In fact, a recent PwC survey had stated that banks and
    financial institutions are increasingly looking at adopting and implementing
    the blockchain technology to improve efficiency.

RBI releases report of IWG on Rationalisation of Branch Authorisation
Policy

  • The Reserve Bank of India (RBI)
    on 6 October 2016 released the Report of the Internal Working Group (IWG) on
    Rationalisation of Branch Authorisation Policy. The Group is chaired by Lily
    Vadera, Chief General Manager, Department of Banking Regulation.
  • The thrust of the recommendations
    is to facilitate financial inclusion by ensuring availability of banking
    services in all centers through low cost delivery channels and mapping the
    footprints of various banking channels.

Recommendations of the IWG
  • In the first phase, the
    recommendations focus on broadening of the current framework to include all
    banking outlets which are fixed point locations and bring them on par with
    branches.
  • A banking outlet is defined as a
    fixed point service delivery unit manned by bank’s staff or its Business
    Correspondent where services of acceptance of deposits, encashment of cheques/cash
    withdrawal or lending of money are provided for minimum 4 hours per day for at
    least five days a week.
  • Banks need to open banking
    outlets to meet the 25 percent norms of opening banking outlets in unbanked
    rural centres that does not have a CBS-enabled banking outlet of a Scheduled
    Commercial Bank.
  • A part-time banking outlet opened
    in any Centre will be added to the denominator as well as numerator on pro rata
    basis for computing the compliance with the norm of opening 25% banking
    outlets.
  • A banking outlet opened in
    North-Eastern States, Sikkim and in Left-Wing Extremism Affected Districts will
    be treated as a banking outlet/part-time banking outlet in an unbanked rural
    centre.
  • Grandfathering of MFI/NBFC
    structures of Small Finance Banks to be provided to facilitate an orderly
    transformation and to minimize the risk of transition. As regards their
    existing NBFC/MFI branches, banks will be given a time period of 3 years to
    close or convert these into banking outlets.
  • The Boards of the banks should
    set internal financial inclusion targets and compile the data to monitor the
    transactions to ensure that target customers for financial inclusion are
    getting the banking facilities in unbanked rural centres.
  • In the second phase, a new data
    system will be devised which is capable of capturing the locations and
    transactions carried out by all banking outlets.

Fadnavis inaugurates India’s first International Arbitration Centre in
Mumbai

  • Maharashtra Chief Minister
    Devendra Fadnavis on 8 October 2016 inaugurated India’s first centre for
    international arbitration in Mumbai. Inaugurating the Mumbai Centre for
    International Arbitration (MCIA), Fadnavis said that India will leave its
    benchmark worldwide in business dispute redressal with the setting up of
    international arbitration centre in Mumbai.
  • The Mumbai Centre for
    International Arbitration (MCIA) is located in Express towers, Nariman Point.
    It is being headed by CEO Madhukeshwar Desai.
  • The MCIA will be governed by a
    17-member governing council.
  • The Arbitration Centre is in sync
    with the Prime Minister’s Make in India campaign.
  • The Centre would provide a time
    bound and cost-effective facility and reinforce investor confidence.
  • MCIA will be helpful in
    development of the proposed International Financial Services Centre (IFSC) in
    Mumbai. The state government has plans to develop IFSC in BKC.
  • It will feature arbitration rules
    that reflect international best practices.
  • The MCIA Council for Arbitration
    will have some of the leading arbitration practitioners from India and around
    the world.
  • It will be a catalyst for
    business and investment into India.

Pranab Mukherjee inaugurates first World Sustainable Development Summit

  • President Pranab Mukherjee on 6
    October 2016 inaugurated the first edition of the World Sustainable Development
    Summit (WSDS) in New Delhi.
  • The theme for the summit is
    Beyond 2015: People, Planet and Progress. The summit is being organized by The
    Energy and Resources Institute (TERI).
  • The World Sustainable Development
    Summit has evolved from the Delhi Sustainable Development Summit, the annual
    event of TERI.
  • The WSDS brings together Nobel
    laureates, political leaders, decision-makers from bilateral and multilateral
    institutions, among others, to deliberate on issues related to sustainable
    development.
  • It aims to provide long-term
    solutions for the benefit of the global community by assembling the various
    stakeholders on a single platform.

Appointments –
Freecharge appoints Karthik Rajeshwaran as Director of Strategy
  • Snapdeal-owned digital payments
    platform Freecharge has appointed Karthik Rajeshwaran, former global head of
    marketing at Obi Mobiles, as its new director of strategy.
  • Rajeshwaran’s appointment will
    help Freecharge build more consumer-centric features and products with
    understanding of what digital customers want. Moreover, his understanding of
    the consumer landscape in India could help Freecharge shape its services in the
    future.
  • Prior to heading marketing at
    Obi, he worked at retail giant Unilever where he kicked off his career. Rajan
    too is a veteran from Unilever who then moved on to telecom giant Airtel to
    build its payment service Airtel Money before coming to Freecharge.

Abdelilah Bekirane appointed for another term as PM of Morocco
  • Abdelilah Bekirane, leader of
    Morocco’s Islamic Justice and Development Party (PJD), was appointed as
    country’s Prime Minister on 10 October 2016. This will be his second term as
    Prime Minister of Morocco.
  • Mohammed VI, the king of Morocco,
    made the announcement after Benkirane’s PJD party emerged with the most number
    of seats in the 395-seat lower house of parliament.
  • In the election held on 7 October
    2016, the PJD party, which has been running a coalition government since 2011,
    won 125 seats. The opposition Authenticity and Modernity Party came second with
    102 seats. The country’s oldest party Istiqlal (Independence) Party stood third
    with 46 seats.

PV Sindhu appointed as Brand Ambassador of Vizag Steel

  • Badminton champion and Rio silver
    medallist P V Sindhu was on 8 October 2016 appointed as the Brand Ambassador of
    Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited which is also popularly known as Vizag Steel.
  • The company will have its brand
    logo on Sindhu’s playing jersey in international and domestic tournaments under
    the aegis of Badminton World Federation and Badminton Association of India.
  • The deal was facilitated by
    Baseline, a sports marketing and a brand licensing firm.
  • Sindhu, currently amongst the top
    10 ranked players in the world, became the first Indian female athlete to win
    an Olympic silver medal at Rio Olympics 2016. She is also the first athlete to
    win back-to-back medals at the World Badminton Championships.

Indian-origin barrister Shami Chakrabarti appointed to UK shadow
cabinet

  • Jeremy Corbyn, Leader of the
    Labour Party and Leader of the Opposition, on 7 October 2016 appointed
    Indian-origin barrister Shami Chakrabarti to the UK’s shadow cabinet.
  • Baroness Chakrabarti’s
    appointment as a member of the Lords was met with criticism from prominent Jews
    and Labour MPs.
  • Corbyn also handed a major
    promotion to his long-time ally Diane Abbott, making her shadow home secretary.
  • Other appointees include Sir Keir
    Starmer, who has been invited back as shadow Brexit secretary.

Luo Zhaohui appointed as China’s Ambassador to India

  • Luo Zhaohui was on 8 October 2016
    appointed as China’s Ambassador to India, in accordance with a decision of the
    Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, the top legislature of
    China.
  • His appointment was approved by
    Chinese President Xi Jinping. He succeeds former Chinese Ambassador to India Le
    Yucheng, who left the position in April 2016.

BVR Mohan Reddy appointed as Honorary Consul of Germany in Hyderabad

  • BVR Mohan Reddy, Founder and
    Executive Chairman of Cyient Ltd, was on 5 October 2016 appointed as the
    Honorary Consul of Germany in Hyderabad. His appointment was announced by
    German Ambassador to India Martin Ney.
  • As a Honorary Consul, Mohan Reddy
    will work towards further strengthening the collaboration between the two
    nations; promoting culture, industry and commerce, facilitating investments,
    educational exchange and enhancing goodwill.
  • The office of the Honorary Consul
    will also provide limited consular assistance in the state of Andhra Pradesh
    and Telangana and support the German citizens within the two states.

Sponsored

(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});

Awards & Honors –
Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos wins 2016 Nobel Peace Prize

  • The 2016 Nobel Peace Prize was on
    7 October 2016 awarded to Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos for his
    resolute efforts to bring the country’s more than 50-year-long civil war to an
    end, a war that took away the lives of at least 220000 Colombians and displaced
    nearly six million people.
  • The civil war in Colombia is one
    of the longest civil wars in modern times and the sole remaining armed conflict
    in the Americas.

Oliver Hart, Bengt Holmstrom win 2016 Sveriges Riksbank Prize in
Economic Sciences
  • Oliver Hart and Bengt Holmstrom
    were on 10 October 2016 awarded the 2016 Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic
    Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel for their contributions to contract theory.
  • They have developed a contract
    theory, a comprehensive framework for analysing many diverse issues in
    contractual design, like performance-based pay for top executives, deductibles
    and co-pays in insurance and the privatisation of public-sector activities.
  • The new theoretical tools created
    by Hart and Holmstrom are valuable to the understanding of real-life contracts
    and institutions, as well as potential pitfalls in contract design.

Sprinter Srabani Nanda wins 24th Ekalabya Award
  • Sprinter Srabani Nanda on 8
    October 2016 won the 24th Ekalabya Award for the year 2016 in recognition of
    her sporting excellence. With this, she will get a cash price of 5 lakh rupees
    along with a citation at the Ekalabya Award function.
  • Athlete Dutee Chand won the award
    in the year 2015.

Pawan Chamling honoured with Sustainable Development Leadership Award
  • Pawan Chamling, the Chief
    Minister of Sikkim, on 6 October 2016 was conferred the prestigious 2016
    Sustainable Development Leadership Award.
  • President Pranab Mukherjee
    presented the award to Chamling during the World Sustainable Development Summit
    organized by The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) in New Delhi.
  • The award was presented to
    Chamling in recognition of his vision and leadership in environment and
    sustainable development leading to the establishment of Sikkim as the first and
    only organic state in the country.

Initiatives taken by Pawan Chamling
  • Sikkim is known as the Land of
    Flower and holds a population of around six lakhs.
  • Around 75000 hectares of land has
    been converted into certified organic farms over the years following the
    guidelines as prescribed by National Programme for Organic Production.
  • Sikkim contributes around 80000
    million tonnes organic production out of total 1.24 million tonnes of organic
    production recorded in India.
  • On the initiative of Chamling, a
    historic declaration was made through a Resolution in the Sikkim Legislative
    Assembly on 24 February 2003 for transforming Sikkim into a Total Organic
    State.
  • The Sikkim State Organic Board
    was constituted on 16 September 2003 for outlining policy issues and strategic
    plans, as well as developing standards and regulations.

Days –
International Day of the Girl Child 2016 observed across the world

  • The 2016 International Day of the
    Girl Child (IDGC) was observed across the world on 11 October 2016 with the
    theme Girls’ Progress = Goals’ Progress: What Counts for Girls.
  • The theme for the 2016 IDGC asks
    for a call for action for increased investment in collecting and analyzing
    girl-focused, girl-relevant and sex-disaggregated data.

World Mental Health Day observed with theme Psychological First Aid

  • World Mental Health Day was
    observed on 10 October 2016 with theme ‘Psychological First Aid’. The day is
    annually observed with an aim to raise awareness about mental health issues
    around the world and mobilising efforts in support of mental health.
  • The year’s theme focuses on basic
    pragmatic psychological support by people who find themselves in a helping role
    whether they are health staff, teachers, firemen, community workers, or police
    officers.
  • Union Health Minister launched
    National Mental Health Policy of India
  • The day was first observed in
    1992 at the initiative of the World Federation for Mental Health, a global
    mental health organization with members and contacts in more than 150
    countries.

World Post Day 2016 observed with theme Innovation, Integration and
Inclusion
  • World Post Day 2016 was on 9
    October 2016 observed across the world with the theme Innovation, Integration
    and Inclusion.
  • The purpose of World Post Day is
    to bring awareness to the Post’s role in the everyday lives of people and
    businesses, as well as its contribution to global social and economic
    development.
  • World Post Day is celebrated each
    year on 9 October, the date of anniversary of the establishment of the
    Universal Postal Union (UPU) in 1874 in the Swiss Capital, Bern.
84th Air Force Day observed across India

  • The Air Force Day 2016 was on 8
    October 2016 observed across India. This is the 84th celebration of the Day that
    began in 1932.
  • On this day, the most renowned
    aerobatics display teams, Red Arrows of the Royal Air Force (RAF), enthralled
    audience at Indian Air Force Day celebrations in New Delhi. They flew Hawk
    jets, which are single-engine advanced trainer aircraft.
  • Besides, the Indian Air Force air
    displayed various aircrafts at Air Force Station Hindan in Uttar Pradesh.

India –
IGIA’s T3 becomes first Platinum rated green airport terminal building
in India

  • Delhi International Airport
    Limited (DIAL) announced on 6 October 2016 that the Terminal 3 of Indira Gandhi
    International Airport (IGIA) achieved Platinum rating from Indian Green
    Building Council (IGBC).
  • The plaque and certificate for
    the achievement was handed over by IGBC to Douglas Webster, COO-DIAL and Roy
    Sebastian, VP- Project and Engineering, during the 14th Green Building
    Congress, 2016 organized by IGBC in Mumbai.
  • With this, the state-of-the-art
    Terminal 3 of IGIA has become the first Platinum rated green terminal building
    under Green Existing Building O&M Rating System by IGBC. This is another
    significant environmental achievement by IGIA, after being accredited as the
    first Carbon Neutral airport in Asia Pacific recently by Airports Council
    International (ACI).

India to host Asian Ministerial Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction
  • India will host the Asian
    Ministerial Conference for Disaster Risk Reduction (AMCDRR) from 3 November to
    5 November 2016.
  • Prime Minister Narendra Modi will
    inaugurate the conference that will be held in New Delhi in collaboration with
    the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR).
  • The Conference will focus on
    partnership with governments and stakeholders to imbibe the practices in the
    region’s development narrative.
  • It will be the first AMCDRR after
    the introduction of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (SFDRRR),
    adopted at the third UN World Conference in Sendai, Japan in March 2015. It
    will set the direction of Sendai Framework implementation in the region.

Sports –
Andy Murray wins 2016 China Open Men’s Singles
  • Andy Murray on 9 October 2016 won
    the 2016 China Open Men’s Singles title at the National Tennis Center in
    Beijing, China.
  • World Number two Murray defeated
    Grigor Dimitrov by 6–4, 7–6.

Agnieszka Radwanska wins 2016 China Open Women’s Singles
  • Poland’s Agnieszka Radwanska on 9
    October 2016 won the 2016 China Open Women’s Singles at the National Tennis
    Center in Beijing, China.
  • Radwanska defeated Johanna Konta
    6-4, 6-2 to grab the title.

Shooter Jitu Rai bags silver at World Cup in Italy

  • Indian shooter Jitu Rai on 6
    October 2016 clinched a silver medal in the 50 meter pistol event of the ISSF
    World Cup Final at Bologna, Italy. Jitu, 29, shot a score of 188.8 to finish
    behind China’s Wei Pang at 190.6. Italy’s Giuseppe Giordano settled for the
    bronze.
  • In the process, Jitu also
    equalled his own national record score in the qualification round, which was
    shot in 2014 at Maribor World Cup.
  • Jitu, who was counted as India’s
    best shooting medal hope in Rio but had failed to deliver, had earlier won a
    Silver medal at the ISSF World Cup in Baku, Azerbaijan in the 10m Air Pistol
    event. In 2016 Rio Olympics he finished at the eighth position in the men’s 10
    meter pistol final.

Reports –
IMF releases World Economic Outlook; Sees subdued Global Growth

  • The International Monetary Fund
    on 4 October 2016 released World Economic Outlook (WEO) October 2016. The
    report projects global growth at 3.1 per cent in 2016, with slight increase to
    3.4 percent in 2017.
  • It says that the persistent
    stagnation, particularly in advanced economies, could further fuel anti-trade
    sentiment, stifling growth.
  • Growth in emerging Asia, and
    especially India, continues to be resilient. India’s gross domestic product is
    projected to expand 7.6 percent in 2016 and 2017, the fastest pace among the
    world’s major economies. The IMF urged India to continue reform of its tax
    system and eliminate subsidies to provide more resources for investments in
    infrastructure, education, and health care.

World –
US lifts economic sanctions on Myanmar
  • The U.S. on 7 October 2016 lifted
    sanctions against Myanmar that have been in place for nearly two decades.
  • The move came after President
    Barack Obama’s announcement that the US was ready to lift sanctions on the
    Asian country during Myanmar State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi’s visit to
    Washington in September 2016.
  • As a result of Obama’s
    announcement, the Treasury Department stated that the economic and financial
    sanctions administered by the Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign
    Assets Control were no longer in effect.

Obituaries –
Theatre legend Heisnam Kanhailal passes away
  • Manipur-based theatre legend
    Heisnam Kanhailal passed away on 6 October 2016 following a brief illness in
    Imphal. He was 75.
  • Kanhailal had contributed to the
    field of experimental theatre for more than 40 years.

Regards

Team ExamPundit