Current Affairs Update - 7 December, 2016

Hello and welcome to exampundit . Here are the important Current Affairs of 7 December, 2016. These are important for the upcoming IPPB PO Mains, NIACL AO Mains, IBPS Clerk Mains, IBPS RRB Office Assistant Mains and RBI Assistant Mains 2016-17.

• Indian Oil Corporation, Bharat Petroleum Corporation and Hindustan Petroleum Corp today signed a pact to build India's biggest oil refinery at a cost of $30 billion on the west coast.
• The three firms signed the pact for the 60-million tonne a year refinery in Maharashtra with IOC as leader of the consortium, officials said.
• IOC will hold a 50 per cent stake in the project while BPCL and HPCL will have 25 per cent each. The consortium agreement was signed on the sidelines of the Petrotech conference here.
• Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said oil majors like Saudi Aramco of Saudi Arabia are interested in taking a stake in the project, but nothing has been finalised as yet.

• Repo rate unchanged at 6.25%, Reverse repo at 5.75%
• Cash reserve ratio or CRR unchanged at 4%
• Cuts growth forecast to 7.1%, from 7.6% for this fiscal
• Inflation target remains 5% for March 2017, upside risk
• Demonetisation to lower prices of perishables, could reduce inflation by 10-15 basis points by December
• All MPC members voted in favour of status quo in policy
• Demonetisation to result in short-run disruptions in cash-intensive sectors
• Crude price volatility, surge in financial market turbulence could put March end inflation target at risk
• Foreign exchange reserve rose to all-time high of $364 billion on December 2
• RBI injected Rs. 1.1 lakh crore liquidity through OMO purchases this fiscal
• Next monetary policy on February 8.

• Bangladesh and India will be signing a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on Wednesday which permits New Delhi to use Chittagong and Mongla seaports to ferry goods.
• The two Asian neighbours will sign the MoU during the Bangladesh-India shipping secretary-level meeting, which is to be held at the secretariat on Wednesday.
• Bangladesh's Shipping Secretary Ashok Madhab Roy, before the meeting, said that they have already given permission to India to use Chittagong and Mongla seaports but have not decided on the fee yet.

• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on 6 December 2016 relaxed the norms for Additional Factor of Authentication (AFA) for online card transactions of up to Rs 2000.
• However, only authorised card networks will provide such payment authentication solutions for online CNP (Card Not Present) transactions.
• Customers opting for this facility will go through a one-time registration process by entering the card details and additional factor authentication by the issuing bank. Thereafter, the registered customers will not be required to re-enter the card details for every transaction at merchant websites or apps.

• Only authorised card networks can provide such payment authentication solutions with participation of card issuing and acquiring banks.
• Customer consent shall be taken while making this solution available to them.
• The relaxation for AFA under such solutions shall be applicable for card not present transactions for a maximum value of Rs 2000 per transaction across all merchant categories.
• Banks and card networks are free to facilitate their customers to set lower per transaction limits.
• If the transaction limit goes beyond Rs 2000, then the card not present transaction will be processed as per the extant instructions with mandatory AFA; this goes same for the transaction value of below this limit.
• Banks and card networks will decide the number of such small value transactions in a day, week or month.
• There will be no change in the existing chargeback process.

• To make customers aware that this solution is an optional facility for CNP transactions of up to Rs 2000 only and they are free to make payments using other forms of AFA as well.
• To educate the customers about the use of this means, risk involved in it and the mechanism for customer grievance redressal and how they can report complaints through multiple channels.
• To indicate the maximum liability that falls in on the customer's part and the responsibility of the customer to report any frauds while transacting.
• To bear the full liability in the event of any security breach or compromise in the authorised card network.

• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on 6 December 2016 announced to issue Rs 100 denomination banknotes in the Mahatma Gandhi Series-2005.
• The new notes will be printed without inset letter in both the numbering panels. Moreover, the notes will bear the signature of Dr Urjit R. Patel, Governor of Reserve Bank of India.
• The year of printing, that is '2016', will be printed on the reverse side of the banknote.
• The design of these banknotes will be similar in all respects to the previous Rs 100 banknotes in Mahatma Gandhi Series- 2005. The previous notes had ascending size of numerals in the number panels, bleed lines and enlarged identification mark on the obverse side.
• However, the old banknotes in the denomination of Rs 100 issued by the Bank in the past will continue to be the legal tender.

• ISRO successfully launched its own earth observation satellite Resourcesat-2A on 7 December 2016. The observation satellite Resourcesat -2A was launched with PSLV C36/ RESOURCESAT-2A from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh.
• The PSLV-XL variant rocket standing 44.4 meters tall and weighing 321 tonne tore into the morning skies at 10.25am with a reverberating sound breaking free of the earth’s gravitational pull. The Resourcesat-2A weighing 1235 kilograms was injected into an 817 km polar Sun Synchronous Orbit (SSO) at around 20 minutes into the destination.

• The Indian Navy’s offshore patrol vessel Sumitra on 6 December 2016 reached Darwin, Australia. The vessel is on a three day visit to the country and will return to India after participating in the Royal New Zealand Navy International Naval Review 2016.
• The ship’s visit to Australia is aimed at strengthening bilateral ties and enhancing maritime security cooperation between the two nations.

• During INS Sumitra’s stay in harbour, various activities are planned towards enhancing cooperation and mutual understanding between the two navies. Such activities include professional interactions with Royal Australian Navy (RAN) and discussions towards further enhancing inter-operability.
• Calls on senior Government and military authorities, sporting and cultural interactions and sharing of best practices would also be undertaken.
• On departure, the ship would also undertake a Passage Exercise (PASSEX) with RAN ships.

• Konkan 16, the 2016 edition of the annual bilateral maritime exercise between the Indian Navy and the Royal Navy of Britain, commenced in 5 December 2016 at Mumbai. The exercise will conclude on 16 December 2016 in Goa.
• The 2016 edition of the bilateral maritime exercise will familiarise both forces with each other’s planning processes and further enhance synergy and inter-operability. Therefore, it will play an important chapter in the maritime interactions under the aegis of Konkan series.
• In addition, participation of IN Marine Commandos (MARCOs) and Royal Marines would add another dimension to the exercise. It will provide valuable opportunity for both navies to interact and cooperate in the field of maritime security operations.

• The exercise will be conducted in two phases at Mumbai and Goa.
• The first phase will be held from 5 December to 9 December 2016.
• The first phase will include a Command Planning exercise involving the two navies. The planners from both sides will undertake planning for combined maritime operations.
• The second phase of the exercise is known as a LIVE EXERCISE (LIVEX). It will be held from 12 December 2016 to 16 December 2016 at Goa.

• Indian Railways on 5 December 2016 announced that the reservation of rail tickets for senior citizens will be directly linked to Aadhaar or Unique Identification (UID) cards from 1 April 2017 onwards on a mandatory basis for availing concessions at both counter and e-tickets.
• This Aadhaar-based ticketing system for senior citizens will be implemented in a two-phased manner. Accordingly, from 1 January to 31 March 2017, requirement of Aadhaar verification for getting concessional tickets for senior citizens will be optional.
• However, from 1 April 2017, such a requirement will become mandatory.

• Dr BR Ambedkar’s birthday, 14 April, will be observed as “Water Day” across India. The day will be observed to mark Ambedkar’s contribution in water resource management of the country.
• Union Minister for Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation Uma Bharti announced the same while addressing a National Seminar on Marching ahead on Dr Ambedkar’s path of water resources management for inclusive growth. She was the Chief Guest of the seminar that was organised by Central Water Commission in New Delhi.
• The seminar was organised on 6 December 2016 to mark the 61st death anniversary of Dr Ambedkar.
• The day will be observed with an aim to sensitise people about managing water resources, which is a precious resource for life.

• Multimedia artist Helen Marten on 5 December 2016 won the Turner Prize, which is Britain’s top award for contemporary art. The prize comes with a cash award of about USD 31800.
• The Turner Prize is the second prize in a month for Marten, who also won the inaugural Hepworth Prize.
• The nominees for the 2016 Turner Prize were Michael Dean, Anthea Hamilton, Helen Marten and Josephine Pryde.

• The European Union (EU) on 6 December 2016 approved Microsoft’s USD 26 billion acquisition of LinkedIn Corporation.
• The Executive Arm of the European Commission stated that it was clearing the deal on the condition that, Microsoft, postmerger, will allow other professional networking sites access to programming commands for its Office applications and cloud-computing services for the next five years. The EU also said that the Microsoft must also grant computer manufacturers the option not to install the LinkedIn shortcut on desktop devices.
• The EU’s clearance was the final hurdle to closing the deal, following approvals in the U.S., Canada, Brazil and South Africa.

• Veteran journalist, political analyst and comedian Cho S Ramaswamy passed away on 7 December 2016 following a prolonged illness at Apollo Hospital in Chennai. He was 82. He is survived by his wife, a son and a daughter.
• He was the first to propose Narendra Modi as the Prime Ministerial candidate. He was also known to be very close to Late J Jayalalitha, CM of Tamil Nadu who died earlier this week, and also mentored her during her film career and continued to do the same even after she entered the politics.

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