Current Affairs Update – 7th August, 2015

Hello and welcome to ExamPundit. Here are the Important Current Affairs of 7th August, 2015. These are Important for the upcoming Insurance Exams and IBPS RRB 2015 Exam.

• Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on 6 August 2015 notified
  Section 23 of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949 -Relaxations in Branch
  Authorisation Policy. The notification allows banks to shift, merge or close
  branches, in urban areas, at their own discretion.
• The decision will provide more operational freedom to banks.
  The central bank said that customers of the branch should be informed well in
  time before actual shifting, merger or closure of the office.

• Banks may shift, merge or close all branches except rural
  branches and sole semi-urban branches at their discretion.
• Shifting, merger, or closure of any rural branch as well as
  a sole semi urban branch would require approval of the DCC/DLRC.
• Further, while shifting/merging/closing sole rural or semi
  urban branches, banks may ensure that the banking needs of the centre continue
  to be met through either satellite offices/mobile vans or through Business
  Correspondents. Thus the centre should not be left unbanked.
• Banks should, however, ensure that customers of the branch,
  which is being shifted/merged/closed, are informed well in time before actual
  shifting/merger/closure of the branch, so as to avoid inconvenience to them.

• Private insurer SBI Life Insurance on 6 August 2015 launched
  Smart Humsafar, a unique plan which offers multiple benefits of savings and
  insurance cover for husband and wife under a single policy.
• The plan complements the couple’s efforts to achieve
  prosperity along with protection to fulfill their dream of leading a better
  life.
• In case of death of one of the spouses, a payment of sum
  assured is made to the surviving spouse, in addition to waiver of future premiums.
  And, in the event of death of surviving spouse during the reminder of the
  policy term, the nominee gets the sum assured along with all the accrued
  bonuses.
• The basic sum assured with all accrued bonuses will be paid
  upon survival of any or both lives on maturity.

• A Joint life insurance cum savings plan wherein you can take
  insurance cover for yourself and your spouse under a single policy.
• Guaranteed (Conditions apply#) minimum bonus for first 3
  years @ 2.50 percent of the Basic Sum Assured.
• Provides financial protection in the event of death of
  either or both the lives assured.
• Pays a maturity amount on survival of one or both the lives
  assured at the end of the policy term.
• Benefits also include premium waiver in case of death of any
  one of the lives assured for in force policies.
• Additional rider benefit at an affordable cost
• Tax benefits as per prevailing norms under the Income Tax
  Act, 1961.

• Leading e-commerce player Snapdeal on 6 August 2015 tied-up
  with retailer Shoppers Stop Ltd to launch a digital marketplace through a
  flagship Shoppers Stop store on Snapdeal. The partnership will leverage
  Shoppers Stop’s product range, brands and Snapdeal’s reach.
• With this partnership, customers ordering from Shoppers Stop
  brand store on Snapdeal can now pick up the ordered products or get them
  delivered from the nearest Shoppers Stop store.
• This facility will be launched first in North India and will
  later be extended to other regions over the next 12 months.
• Shoppers Stop has 74 stores in 35 cities across India.
  Shoppers Stop currently sells its private-label brands on Amazon, Flipkart and
  some other e-commerce companies.

• State-run BHEL today said it has commissioned a 500 MW unit
  of NTPC’s Vindhyachal Super Thermal Power Station in Madhya Pradesh.
• “Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) has added one more
  coal-based power plant to the grid by successfully commissioning the 500 MW
  Unit-l3 of Vindhyachal Super Thermal Power Station (STPS), Stage-V of NTPC,”
  the company said in a regulatory filing.
• The project is located at Vindhyanagar in Singrauli district
  of Madhya Pradesh, it added.
• BHEL has earlier commissioned six units of 500 MW each at
  Vindhyachal power station, it said.
• Equipment for the project was manufactured at BHEL’s Trichy,
  Ranipet, Haridwar, Hyderabad, Bengaluru and Bhopal plants, while the company’s
  power sector-western region undertook erection and commissioning of the
  equipment.

• The Centre has moved forward on the question of an import
  duty on wheat with the Finance Minister, Arun Jaitley, placing a copy of the
  notification regarding the subject before the Lok Sabha on Friday.
• The notification dated August 7 sought to impose a Customs
  duty of 10 per cent wheat till March 31, 2016, under Section 159 of the Customs
  Act, 1962. The step had been suggested by the Food Ministry in June to curb the
  premium quality Australian wheat shipments in order to liquidate the stocks
  lying with the Food Corporation of India (FCI).
• Global prices of Australian wheat, in the range of
  $265-270/tonne, are viable for flour millers to buy, particularly those in
  South India. Flour millers have entered into a contract for about 0.5 million
  tonnes (mt) worth of imports since they found it difficult to procure good
  quality domestic grain.
• FCI has procured about 28.1 mt this year but almost 26.6 mt
  is believed to have been purchased under relaxed quality norms after the
  standing crops had been damaged by unseasonal rain between end-February and
  early-April.

• Travel major Thomas Cook has acquired Kuoni Travel (India)
  Private Limited (‘Kuoni India’) and Kuoni Travel (China) Limited (‘Kuoni Hong
  Kong’) for Rs. 535 crore.
• “The deal will be financed through a mix of funds from
  earlier equity infusion, internal accruals, debt funds (for Hong Kong) and/or
  other permissible modes, subject to applicable law and any regulatory
  approvals, as may be required,” the company said in a filing with the BSE.

• A global satellite for earth observation and disaster risk
  reduction — GlobalSat for DRR — proposed under the UN framework is to be
  dedicated to A.P.J. Abdul Kalam as a tribute to the vision of the celebrated
  rocket scientist and former Indian president who died July 27.
• This has been stated by Milind Pimprikar, Chairman of CANEUS
  (CANada-Europe-US-ASia) Organization on Space Technologies for Societal
  Applications headquartered in Montreal, Canada.
• Founded in 1999, CANEUS serves to develop a common platform
  for space technology solutions for natural and man-made disaster management.
  The ‘GlobalSat for DRR’ is a UN-driven global initiative on sharing space
  technology for disaster risk reduction, Mr. Pimprikar told IANS.
• Launch of this satellite was mooted at the third UN World
  Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction held at Sendai in Japan this March.
• The concept was initiated by CANEUS in cooperation with UN
  agencies including the UN Office for Outer Space Affairs, the UN International
  Strategy for Disaster Reduction, the United Nations Development Programme and
  the World Bank.

• Government has decided that Aadhaar enrolment of
  Non-Resident Indians, Persons of Indian Origin and Overseas Citizen of India
  should be eventually allowed to help them authenticate their identity
  digitally, Parliament was informed today.
• At present, all residents including Indian national and
  foreigners with valid visas can be enrolled and provided Aadhaar number by the
  UIDAI.
• Under the Aadhaar project, the Unique Identification
  Authority of India (UIDAI) is providing a unique identity numbers to residents,
  which can be digitally verified using the database.
• As per the official sources, UIDAI is working on the policy
  for Aadhaar enrolment of NRIs, PIOs and OICs after receiving a direction from
  the government on the issue.
• However the minister said in its reply that no timeframe has
  been formulated at this stage for achieving the goal.
• The Aadhaar number helps in availing various services and
  benefits provided by the government.

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 7 August 2015 inaugurated
  first National Handloom Day at the Centenary Hall of Madras University in
  Chennai, Tamil Nadu, where he also unveiled ‘India Handloom’ brand.
• Modi, while addressing the function, sought greater use of
  handloom in people’s daily lives and also emphasised on innovative initiatives
  for making handloom as fashionable choice among consumers.
• This was his first visit to the Tamil Nadu capital since he
  assumed office. On his arrival to the city, he was received by Governor K
  Rosaiah and Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa.
• Besides, the Prime Minster visited the exhibition of
  handloom products from various states kept for display at the University
  Auditorium. He also gave away the Sant Kabir Awards and National Awards for the
  years 2012, 2013 and 2014 to distinguished handloom personalities.

• India and Myanmar on 6 August 2015 inked an agreement to set
  up Centre of Excellence in Software Development and Training (CESDT) in
  Myanmar.
• The project to be set up with the financial support through
  ASEAN-India Cooperation fund will be implemented by C-DAC.
• The project envisages setting up of a state of the art
  Information and Communication Technology Centre, imparting intensive teachers
  training, extending support for ICT curriculum development, and will be
  accredited as an authorized Centre of C-DAC.
• The agreement was signed in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia during
  the visit of Minister of State for External Affairs of India Gen (Retd) VK
  Singh. Singh was in Malaysia to attend the ASEAN-India Foreign Ministers’ Meet.

• The 48th ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations)
  Foreign Ministers’ meet was held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia between 4 August and
  6 August 2015. The meet was chaired by Anifah Aman, Minister of Foreign Affairs
  of Malaysia.
• The meet was held under the theme “Our People, Our
  Community, Our Vision”, to create an ASEAN Community which is truly
  people-oriented, people-centred comprising all areas of cooperation.
• The foreign ministers of ASEAN had a productive discussion
  revolving round the theme of the meet.
• They also discussed regional and international issues as
  well as their ongoing efforts to maintain peace, stability and prosperity in
  the region.

• Amitava Ghosh was on 6 August 2015 appointed as Vice
  President-engineering of Domestic e-commerce portal Snapdeal. As a Vice
  President-engineering, Ghosh will head company’s technology innovation centre
  in Bengaluru and lead the company’s future development of intuitive technology
  solutions.
• Prior to this appointment, he was the Chief Technology
  Officer (CTO) at TaxiForSure. Earlier, he was serving as the Head of Indian
  engineering team of Tribune Digital Ventures.
• Ghosh has rich experience of over 17 years in building web-based
  platforms and products. For almost a decade, he was associated with Yahoo Inc,
  where he was responsible for building user experiences and platforms for media
  verticals, listings, communities and social products.

• The August edition of the FIFA/Coca-Cola World Rankings was
  released on 6 August 2015. The rankings show change in top three places with
  Argentina remaining at No 1 position.
• Argentina is followed by Belgium at No 2 (moved up 1) and
  the World Cup winner Germany at No 3 position (moved down 1).
• The main highlight of the August edition of the FIFA
  rankings is that Chile for the first time entered top ten (ranked 10th) while
  the Netherlands moved out of top ten (ranked 12th, down 7).
• India with 161 points retained its 156th position in FIFA
  World rankings.

Regards

Team ExamPundit

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