Current Affairs Update - 25th Feb, 2015

In today Current Affairs, We have news on :

• Banking/Finance/Budget
• India
• World
• Awards
• Books
• Appointment
• Obituary 

• Private insurer ICICI Prudential Life Insurance today said it has crossed the ` 1-trillion mark in Assets Under Management (AUM).
• The company’s digitisation drive provided a hassle free on—boarding experience for customers, simultaneously enhancing organisational efficiencies and built capacity for the distribution network, he added.
• Having started operations in December 2000, the AUM garnered for the year ending March 31, 2001, was a little over ` 1 billion.
• ICICI Prudential Life Insurance is a joint venture between ICICI Bank and Prudential PLC, a leading international financial services group headquartered in the United Kingdom.

• Canara Bank launched three card variants on Wednesday in partnership with MasterCard targeting the high income group customers, small and mid-sized businessmen and students headed for overseas studies.
• The Canara Credit Card World is targeted at high-end customers with minimum net annual income of 7.5 lakh and comes with additional security features.
• The Canara Business Debit Card is targeted at SME businessmen and is laced with higher daily cash withdrawal and purchase limits for meeting the higher spend pattern of business segments.
• The Canara International Travel Prepaid Card is designed to suit the travel needs of foreign travellers and students pursuing studies abroad. This multi-currency prepaid card is valid for 5 years and enables the traveller to use the card in local currency in multiple countries saving the cross currency exchange load.

• Union Government in the third week of February 2015 accepted the recommendations of the 14th Finance Commission. The commission headed by former Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Dr. YV Reddy seeks to provide more power to the states for their progress.
• This devolution of more share of revenue to states through tax revenue is an indicator of Union Government’s commitment to move away from One Size Fits All approach.

• Tax devolution should be the primary route for transfer of resources to the states
• The increased devolution of the divisible pool of taxes is a compositional shift in transfers – from grants to tax devolution
• The panel recommended horizontal distribution by using broad parameters like population (1971) and changes in population since then, income distance, forest cover and area among others
• Distribution of grants to States and local body was recommended by using 2011 population data with weight of 90 percent and area with weight of 10 percent
• Grants to States should be divided into two and they are

• Grants should be divided into two parts and they include, basic grants – depending upon the performance of the gram panchayats and municipal bodies. The ration of basic to performance grant is 90:10 for Panchayats and 80:20 for municipalities
• It recommended a total grant of 287436 core rupees for a five-year period. Of this fund, 200292 crore rupees will go for panchayats while the remainder will go to the municipalities.

• The Delhi Government on 24 February 2015 launched a mobile application mLiquorSaleCheck for the benefit of the customers and to put a cap on sale of illicit liquor. The App will provide detailed information about the liquor being sold in the city.
• The application is expected to confirm the authenticity of the liquor and bridge gaps in system adoption. The application will also prevent the circulation of counterfeit products and help the Excise Department with information on where spurious, illicit liquor sale is rampant.

• Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has been made a member of the Governing Council of newly-formed NITI Aayog, which has Prime Minister Narendra Modi as it chairman.
• Kejriwal has come in place of national capital territory's Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung.
• The Centre has issued a notification regarding composition of the Governing Council of NITI Aayog for amending its Cabinet Resolution through which the new body was created.

• Madhya Pradesh governor Ram Naresh Yadav on Wednesday sent his resignation after the Union home ministry asked Yadav to step down after he was named in an exam scam in the state.
• The STF probing the MPPEB scam registered an FIR against Ram Naresh Yadav in connection with alleged irregularities in recruitment of forest guards under various sections of IPC, including 420 for cheating.
• Yadav is perhaps the first Indian governor to be booked in a cheating case.

• World Bank in January 2014 released a strategy report titled Building Resilience for Sustainable Development of the Sundarbans. The report states that the environmental damage in the climate change-hit islands of Sundarbans is costing India a sum of 1290 crore rupees annually.
• The report was jointly prepared by the World Bank in collaboration with the West Bengal government.

• Former Jatiya Party lawmaker Abdul Jabbar was sentenced to life imprisonment on 24 February 2015 by the International Crimes Tribunal-1 in Bangladesh. He was also fined 10 lakh taka in absentia. Jabbar has been absconding since the trial started.
• He was sentenced for crimes committed during the Liberation War in 1971. The tribunal chaired by Justice M Enayetur Rahim in its verdict said that if Jabbar fails to submit the fine then his jail term would be extended by two years.

• Google on 24 February 2015 acquired Facebook mobile marketing startup Toro.  Toro Company is best known for its Facebook ad campaigns. The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
• The acquisition will shift Toro’s focus away from Facebook. The company will continue to optimize campaigns and update dashboards for existing marketing customers. However, it won’t create new campaigns for the time being.

• The United States (US) on 24 February 2015 announced that it would allow work permits to spouses of H-1B visa holders from 26 May 2015.
• The move will benefit thousands of talented and professional Indian spouses who come to America but are unable to work.
• Currently, spouses of H-1B visa-holders are not eligible to work. However, The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) will begin accepting applications for work visas from H-1B spouses from 26 May 2015.
• The USCIS said the Department of Homeland Security was extending the eligibility for employment authorisation (EAD) to certain H4 dependent spouses of H-1B non-immigrants who are seeking employment-based Permanent Residency.

• The Vinda Karandikar Jeevan Gaurav Puraskar will be conferred on well-known Marathi writer D M Mirasdar.
• This was announced by Maharashtra Government today.
• Mirasdar, known for his humorous stories, will be given the award, which carries a cash prize of ` 5 lakh, for his contribution to Marathi literature.
• The award has been named after Vinda Karandikar, a noted Marathi poet, writer and translator, who was conferred the prestigious Jnanpith Award in 2003.
• The P U Bhagwat Award will be given to Keshav Bhikaji Dhavale Publication house, which is more than a century-old book publishing entity. The award carries a cash prize of ` 3 lakh.

• Kristen Stewart on 20 February 2015 won the Best Supporting Actress Award at France's Cesar Awards. She received the award for her performance in Clouds of Sils Maria.
• With this, she became the first American actress ever to win a trophy at France's Cesar Awards.
• Previously, Julia Migenes was nominated for her performance in the film Carmen, however, she could not win the award.
• The last American actor to win an award at France’s Cesar Award was Adrien Brody who won for the film The Pianist.

• The book titled Flora of Guntur City Andhra Pradesh authored by PR Mohana Rao throws an exhaustive treatise on the wealth of flora in Guntur City. The book is the only available and authentic work that throws light in the numerous species of plant and trees in Guntur.
• The book carries information on 431 flowering plants, shrubs and trees belonging to 76 families of angiosperms. The families of the plants, shrubs and trees have been arranged systematically on the basis of Bentham and Hooker System of Classification.

• A book on `India’s Growth Resurgence: Sectorial Issues and Governance Risks’ jointly authored by Yerram Raju, M Sitarama Murthy and Singala Subbaiah will be released by Banking Ombudsman (AP & Telangana) B Krishna Mohan here on Thursday.
• B S R Rao, former RBI Chair Professor, Gokhale Institute of Economics and Politics, Pune and Director of Institute of Public Enterprise, RK Mishra, will participate as the guests of honour in the function to be held in the Centre for Economic and Social Studies here.
• While Yerram Raju is an economist, Sitarama Murthy was former managing director of State Bank of Mysore and Subbaiah is General Manager, RBI.

• Indian-American Ravi Chaudhary was on 24 February 2015 appointed as Executive Director for Regions and Centre Operations at Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). Under this key position, Chaudhary will oversee aviation operations in nine different regions.
• Chaudhary will be responsible for executing a 288 million US dollars operating budget of FAA and will lead over 2100 Federal Employees in nine nationwide regions.

• Noted cinematographer-director A Vincent died at a private hospital here today after a brief illness at the age of 86.
• The multilingual director is survived by wife, two sons and two daughters.
• Born in June 1928 in Kerala, Vincent arrived in Chennai when he was barely 20 and began his career in cinema with Gemini Studios as an assistant cameraman.
• Vincent had directed 55 movies in Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam films and has worked as a cinematographer in 250 Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Hindi films, Ajayan said.
• "Bhargavi Nilayam" (Malayalam, 1964) "Murappennu" (Malayalam 1965) were among his noted directorial ventures.
• Vincent brought MT Vasudevan Nair, popular Malayalam novelist to cinema through "Murappenu".
• Former Chief Minister and AIADMK Supremo Jayalalithaa's 100th movie "Thirumangalyam" (Tamil, 1974) was directed by him.

Books For 2015 Banking/Insurance Exams