Current Affairs Update – 28th May, 2015

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• RBI has issued draft guidelines on mobility cards that will allow you to travel without cash in metros, buses and taxis carrying prepaid cards with value up to Rs. 2,000.
• In a bid to boost prepaid payment instruments (PPIs) for commuting, RBI has introduced a new category of prepaid payment instruments that will be issued by the mass transit operators (such as metro or road transport).
• With a minimum validity of six months from the issue date, the PPI- MTS will be reloadable with a balance limit of Rs. 2,000. No cash-out or refund will be permitted from these PPI, the central bank said. At present, for other PPIs the RBI has permitted to issue cards with balance of up to Rs. 1 lakh.
• The issuer of the PPI may decide upon the desired level of KYC, if any, for such PPIs and will ensure on-boarding of merchants whose activities are allied to or are carried on within the premises of the transit system only.
• In addition, funds transfer under Domestic Money Transfer (DMT) will also not be applicable to these PPIs. All other extant guidelines for escrow arrangement, customer grievance redressal mechanism, agent / merchant due diligence, reporting and MIS requirements, etc. would be applicable, the draft circular said.

• Country's largest insurer Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) has raised stake in state-owned Canara Bank by about 7.7 per cent through preferential allotment of shares.
• It has also increased its stake in another public sector lender Bank of Baroda (BoB) by buying 4.7 crore shares from the open market. With the acquisition, the LIC's stake in BoB increased by 2.1 per cent to 11.4 per cent.
• LIC acquired the stake for a consideration of about Rs 750 crore as per the current price.
• These shares were acquired over a period between January 16 and May 25, 2015 from the open market, BoB said in a Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) filing.

• The Tripura government on May 27, 2015 decide to lift Armed Forces Special Power Act (AFSPA) from the state, where the controversial law was in effect for the last 18 years to curb insurgency.
• Chief Minister Manik Sarkar, who is also the Home Minister of the state said this decision was taken in the meeting of the council of ministers during the day.
• This Act was imposed in the state on February 16, 1997 following spurt of violence by the ultras.

• India remains at 44th rank in the annual global competitiveness report by a Switzerland-based business school International Institute for Management Development (IMD) which cited problems like high corporate taxes and existence of a parallel economy for the low ranking.
• The US continues to top the ranking due to its strong business efficiency and financial sector, its innovation drive and the effectiveness of its infrastructure.
• The top 10 ranks include Hong Kong (2) and Singapore (3) move up overtaking Switzerland(4), Canada (5), Norway (7), Denmark (8), Sweden (9) and Germany (10). Luxembourg moved to (6) from 11th place last year.

• India is home to 194.6 million undernourished people, the highest in the world, according to the annual report by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations released on Thursday. 
• This translates into over 15 per cent of the India’s population, exceeding China in both absolute numbers and proportion of malnourished people in the country's population.
• There has however been a significant reduction in the proportion of undernourished people in India — by 36 per cent — from 1990-92.
• In India, the extended food distribution programme has contributed to a positive outcome, the FAO says.
• Around the world, 795 million people — or around one in nine — are undernourished. Asia and the Pacific account for almost 62 per cent of this section. Yet, the trends are positive, with a decrease in the prevalence of people with undernourishment — from 18.6 pc in 1990-92 to 10.9 percent in 2014-16 worldwide.
• Southern Asia, which has historically had the highest number of underweight children below five years of age, also happens to be a region that has made big strides in reducing malnutrition among children.

• Eminent scientist S Christopher was today appointed as Director General of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) for a two-year term.
• The Appointments Committee of Cabinet has approved appointment of Christopher as Secretary, Department of Defence Research and Development-cum-Director General, DRDO for a period of two years from the date of taking over the charge, an order issued by Department of Personnel and Training said.
• Christopher is presently Distinguished Scientist and Programme Director (airborne early warning and control system) and Director, Centre for Air-Borne Systems in the DRDO.
• Another scientist G S Reddy was appointed as the Scientificc Adviser to Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar for a two-year term. Reddy is Distinguished Scientist and Director, Research Centre Imarat, and Programme Director of Medium Range Surface to Air Missile (MRSAM) in the DRDO.
• The Department of Defence Research and Development (DoDRD) has remained under additional charge of Defence Secretary, after Avinash Chander's contract was curtailed by the government.

• Singapore has appointed an Indian- origin businessman S Chandra Das as its non-Resident High Commissioner to Sri Lanka, the Foreign Ministry announced today.
• S Chandra Das served as Singapore's Ambassador to the Republic of Turkey, resident in Singapore, from 2006 to 2015.
• He had also previously served as Singapore's Trade Representative from 1970 to 1972 in the USSR, the former Soviet Union.
• Das was a Member of Parliament from 1980 to 1996 and is currently the Managing Director of NUR Investment & Trading private limited of Singapore as well as a director of a number of other companies.

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