Current Affairs Update - 3rd March, 2015

• The Insurance Laws Amendment Bill was introduced in the Lok Sabha today to replace an ordinance in this regard, amid stiff opposition from Left and TMC.
• The bill seeks to raise foreign investment cap to 49 per cent in the insurance sector and provides for imprisonment of up to 10 years for selling policies without registration with the regulator IRDA.
• The Insurance Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2015, will also allow PSU general insurers to raise funds from the capital market and provides for increased penalty to deter multilevel marketing of insurance products.
• Under the new provisions, the Life Insurance Council and the General Insurance Council would act as self-regulating bodies for the sector.

• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has refused to share its banks' inspection reports on alleged money laundering laws and other violations with Central Economic Intelligence Bureau (CEIB), citing legal hurdles.
• The RBI was required to share relevant extracts of inspection reports with law enforcement agencies and CEIB, an apex intelligence agency under the Finance Ministry, to check black money and other financial crimes where gross violations of Know Your Customer (KYC) guidelines and Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) are noticed, official sources said.
• It had earlier given assurance about sharing of information relating to Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) violations with CEIB, which they share with Enforcement Directorate (ED), they said.

• A bill seeking to introduce the system of auction of mines to enhance transparency and augment mineral production was passed in Lok Sabha today, with the government terming it a "revolutionary" step.
• The Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2015, which will replace an ordinance promulgated in January, was passed amid vociferous protests by members from TMC, BJD and RSP.
• Wrapping up the debate on the legislation, Steel and Mines Minister Narendra Singh Tomar said the bill once enacted will increase transparency, end discretion, augment production and benefit the local population.
• Noting that iron ore production had gradually declined to 152 million tonnes in 2013-14 from 218 million tonnes in 2009-10 and its export fell to 16 million tonnes from 47 million tonnes, he said the ordinance was the need of the hour as the crisis in the mining sector has been increasing.

• In order to facilitate last mile connectivity to passengers and tourists, the IRCTC has launched concierge services at New Delhi railway station.
• The service aims to facilitate train passengers at the station in hiring a porter, getting information regarding running status of the trains, and arranging a taxi for dropping the passenger to his residence or hotel, a senior IRCTC official said.
• Concierge service is operational on a pilot basis at New Delhi railway station and the response is so far very encouraging, the official said, adding, IRCTC plans to launch the services at other major stations including tourist destinations on railways network.

• The Election Commission of India (ECI) on 3 March 2015 launched National Electoral Roll Purification and Authentication Programme (NERPAP) throughout India. The programme was launched with the prime objective to bring a total error-free and authenticated electoral roll.
• NERPAP will focus on improving image quality of electors along with sorting issues like corrections of errors etc.
• During the NERPAP, Electronic Privacy Information Centre (EPIC) data of electors will be linked with Aadhar data of UIDAI for the purpose of authentication.

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi will dedicate to the nation two units each of 600 MW of the Shree Singaji Thermal Power Plant in Khandwa district on March 5.
• He will also lay the foundation stone of two units each of 660 MW of the same power plant, Nanawati said.
• Shree Singaji Thermal Power Plant is a coal-fired project located near Dongaliya village in Khandwa. The project is owned by MPPGCL.

• Hifikepunye Pohamba, outgoing Namibian President, on 2 March 2015 won the Mo Ibrahim prize for achievement in African leadership for year 2014. Established in 2007, the Ibrahim Prize recognises and celebrates excellence in African leadership.
• Pohamba was awarded for serving the country since its independence and his leadership has renewed people’s trust in democracy. He is a role model for the African continent.
• The award is named after Mo Ibrahim, a British-Sudanese mobile communications entrepreneur and philanthropist, who had made billions of fortune from investing in Africa.

• U.S. economist Stephen Ross was named winner of the Deutsche Bank Prize in Financial Economics on Tuesday for helping to create models that have helped markets assess prices for options and other assets for the past three decades.
• The MIT professor and popular textbook author have developed concepts widely applied in the economics of uncertainty, corporate finance and decision theory.
• The prize honours researchers whose work has influenced financial economics and macroeconomics. The prize was awarded for the first time in 2005 to University of Chicago professor Eugene Fama, who went on to share the Nobel Prize for economics in 2013.
• The last recipient, in 2013, was Raghuram Rajan, governor of the Reserve Bank of India and former chief economist at the International Monetary Fund.

• Olympic medalist pugilist MC Mary Kom on 2 March 2015 announced that she will quit boxing after the 2016 Rio Olympic Games. She decided to retire after the Olympic Games as her body would not be able to cope with the rigours of the sport any further.
• The 32-year-old May Kom who won a bronze medal in 2012 London Olympics said that after retirement she will concentrate on her boxing academy set up in Imphal, Manipur.

• Swiss Tennis ace, Roger Federer on 28 February 2015 won the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships title. To lift his seventh Dubai Championship title, Federer defeated world number one Novak Djokovic of Serbia 6-3, 7-5.
• The only other tournaments Federer won seven times are Wimbledon and Halle (Germany), both on grass.
• This was 126th ATP final for Federer of which he had won 84th career title. He also passed 9000 aces in singles matches, the fete achieved only by three other players since 1991.

• Three-time Grand Slam winner Sania Mirza of India has decided to team up with former World No. 1 Martina Hingis of Switzerland in the US-leg of the WTA Tour circuit after parting ways with women's doubles partner Hsieh Su-wei of Chinese Taipei with whom she featured in the doubles final of the just-concluded Doha Open championship.

• Forbes magazine on 3 March 2015 released Global Billionaire’s 2015 annual list. Bill Gates co-founder of Microsoft topped the global billionaires list of Forbes magazine with worth of 79.2 billion US dollars for the 16th time.
• The United States topped the list with 536 rich people, followed by China at 213 rich people, Germany at 103 rich people and India at 90 rich people.
• 90 Indians were present in Forbes annual list, which includes Mukesh Ambani – Reliance Industries Limited, ranked 39, Dilip Shanghvi ranked 44 and Azim Premji ranked 48.
• Among Indian women, Savitri Jindal and family was ranked 283 on the list with a net worth of $5.3 billion in 2015, up from $4.9 billion in 2014.

Books For 2015 Banking/Insurance Exams