Current Affairs Update – 1 Jan, 2015

Finance/Business/Economy News
1. RBI alerts
investors against MLM schemes
  • The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Thursday cautioned
    investors against multi-level marketing firms that promise high returns and run
    on hefty member susbscription fees, warning such offers could result in direct
    financial losses.
  • Multilevel marketing structures work on the principle of
    enrolling more members and a part of the subscription amount is distributed
    among members at the top of the marketing pyramid.
  • “Any break in the chain leads to the collapse of the
    pyramid, and the members lower down in the pyramid are the ones that are
    affected the most,” the RBI said in a circular on Thursday.
  • The central bank also said accepting money under such
    structures was a cognizable offence under the Prize Chit and Money Circulation
    (Banning) Act of 1978.

2. LIC International
launches co-branded credit card with UAE’s First Gulf Bank

  • India’s LIC International and Abu Dhabi -based First Gulf
    Bank are planning to introduce a unique co-branded credit card in the United
    Arab Emirates to address concerns of insurance policy holders.
  • It is first of its kind payment solution. This is the
    first time that an insurance firm has entered into a strategic alliance with a
    bank in the gulf country.
  • Insurance payments, persistency and ad hoc surcharge
    levied by many insurance companies on premium payments through cards have been
    a concern among many policyholders in the UAE.
  • Through this programme, the bank will provide a payment
    solution to these issues in addition to developing a loyalty platform for their
    common customers with unique benefits.
  • The January 2013 cooperation of both the organisations
    has led to record sales worth USD 75 million for ‘Jeevan Aastha 3’ and to
    obtaining total premium worth USD 100 million in 8 weeks for LIC’s new
    insurance product ‘Jeevan Nivesh’.
  • LIC International, established in Bahrain in 1989 by LIC
    of India to facilitate residents in the gulf region, has over 350 million
    policyholders worldwide.
  • FGB, established in 1979, offers a full range of
    financial services through its branches spread in many parts of the world.

3. RBI modifies
reporting norms for representative offices of foreign banks

  • The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) today modified reporting
    norms for Representative Offices (ROs) of foreign banks in the country and
    asked them provide details of top clients introduced to the parent bank, among
    others.
  • Currently, the ROs are required to submit a certificate
    from the auditor to the effect that during the year no income was earned by or
    accrued to the office in India, a certified copy of audited final accounts,
    details of remittances received and an annual report of the work done by the
    office in India.
  • “On a review, it has been decided to revamp the existing
    system of reporting…and the same would be effective from the next reporting
    cycle,” the Reserve Bank said in notification.
  • Now, ROs would have also to provide details of
    correspondent banking relations with Indian banks, exposure of head office and
    other offices of the bank or group to corporates or banks in India and duties
    and role of staff of ROs in India.
  • ROs would have also to provide details of listing in
    stock exchange of group or associate companies and strategic investments, if
    any, made by the bank or group in banking or non-banking sector in India.

4. Mittal Committee
recommends passenger fare hikes
  • The D K Mittal Committee, formed on December 4 this year
    to suggest ways and means to raise the revenue of Indian Railways, has made out
    a strong case for increasing the highly subsidised and loss-making suburban
    train fares.
  • According to the recommendation, the suburban fares need
    to be increased by 2 paise per km every two months till they reach a break-even
    point.
  • However, it did not specify the quantum of hike needed to
    be made in long-distance mail/express train services.
  • The committee yesterday submitted its report to Railway
    Minister Suresh Prabhu.
  • The committee also said the minimum distance of travel in
    passenger train should be increased from existing 10km to 20km and in
    mail/express segment it should be increased from 50km to 100km.
  • Currently, even if a passenger travels less than 10 km he
    is charged for the 10km in a passenger train and 50km in mail/express trains.
  • The expert panel has observed that the current suburban
    fares is 60 per cent less than road travel cost and emphasised the need for
    increasing fares in a gradual manner.

News Related to India and Indian Polity
5. Planning Commission
renamed as Neeti Ayog

  • The Planning Commission, which was established in 1950,
    will be called ‘Neeti Ayog’ in its new avatar, months after Prime Minister
    Narendra Modi announced that it will replaced by a new body.
  • The decision comes nearly three weeks after Modi held
    consultations with chief ministers at a meeting where most favoured
    restructuring of the Socialist-era body but some Congress Chief Ministers
    opposed disbanding of the existing set-up.
  • Modi had announced in his Independence Day speech that
    the Planning Commission would be replaced by a new body which is in sync with the
    contemporary economic world.
  • While addressing the Chief Ministers on December 7, he
    had invoked former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh who had said on April 30 last
    year that the current structure has “no futuristic vision in the post-reform
    period”.
  • He had pushed for an effective structure which
    strengthens “cooperative federalism” and the concept of “Team India”.
  • There were indications that the new structure will have
    the Prime Minister, some Cabinet ministers and some chief ministers along with
    technocrats and experts in various fields.

6. Rajnath Singh
launches women safety mobile app ‘Himmat’

  • Himmat’, a mobile application of Delhi Police that will
    allow women to send a distress call to Police Control Room and their relatives
    in case of any emergency, was launched here today by Union Home Minister
    Rajnath Singh.
  • The app will basically cater to employed women who have
    smartphones and travel alone even late in the night.
  • Singh also distributed pepper spray to women and awarded
    girls who had successfully completed Delhi Police self-defence programme.
  • He lauded Delhi Police’s efforts to use technology for
    better policing.
  • Explaining the work of the app, Delhi Police Commissioner
    B.S Bassi said that after downloading the app, a new user has to register with
    the Delhi Police website by sharing their name, mobile number and that of a minimum
    of two relatives/friends.
  • Once the User registers, the user will get a SMS on
    mobile number given at the time of registration with a download link and
    registration key. User has to enter this key in the registration window in the
    application. This is a one-time process.

7. India lost 64
tigers in 2014

  • India lost 64 tigers due to various reasons in 2014 with
    Tamil Nadu topping the chart with the maximum number of deaths, according to
    National Tiger Conservation Authority.
  • Tamil Nadu saw 15 tigers deaths followed by Madhya
    Pradesh, which witnessed 14 deaths, says the data on tigernet.nic.in.
  • M.P.’s Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve, once densely populated
    with tigers lost seven majestic beasts while Kanha Tiger Reserve reported four
    tiger deaths. Pench Tiger Reserve and Panna Tiger Reserve lost one big cat each
    while as many deaths were reported from Balaghat district’s forested area, it
    said.
  • The deaths might have come as a blow to M.P. which is
    trying hard to regain the tiger state status which it lost to Karnataka in the
    last big cats count.
  • According to the All India Tiger Estimation Exercise 2010,
    the tiger population dipped to 257 in M.P. from 300 in 2006. On the other hand,
    Karnataka beating M.P. became the numero uno state in tiger population with 300
    counts — 10 up from the census of 2006.
  • This time around also, Karnataka has a reason to smile as
    it lost only six tigers since January 1 to December 30.
  • According to the 2010 census, India had approximately
    1,706 tigers. The result of the 2014 census is awaited.

8. Radhakrishnan
retires as ISRO chief, Shailesh Nayak in charge

  • Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) Chairman K.
    Radhakrishnan retired on Wednesday. Shailesh Nayak, who is Secretary, Union
    Earth Sciences Ministry, will hold additional and interim charge as Chairman
    for a month or until a regular chief is named, said an order by the Secretary,
    Appointments’ Committee of the Union Cabinet.
  • Dr. Radhakrishnan led ISRO in many achievements over the
    past five years after he took over the reins in November 2009. The historic
    Mars Orbiter Mission was launched and guided to an orbit around the red planet
    under his leadership. The partial experimental sub-orbital flight of the GSLV
    Mark-III heavy-lift launch vehicle was another success. The early part of his
    chairmanship was marred by the Antrix-Devas S-band satellite controversy and
    the cancellation of that deal in February 2011.
  • Dr. Radhakrishnan took over from G. Madhavan Nair in
    October 2009 as the seventh chief of the space establishment. He made a brief
    farewell speech to the 16,000-strong ISRO around 3.30 p.m.
  • No stranger to the Department of Space, Dr. Nayak
    actually began his career at ISRO in 1978. A geology and remote sensing expert,
    he worked at the Space Applications Centre, Ahmedabad, until 2008, when he
    moved to head the Earth Sciences Ministry.

9. Government blocks
over 60 websites including github & sourceforge on anti-terror advisory

  • Over 60 websites and links, including popular online
    tools like Github and Sourceforge used by thousands of programmers have been
    blocked in India, triggering angry protests by Internet users.
  • The websites were blocked for hosting content that is pro
    terrorist group ISIS and not cooperating with government investigations,
    officials said.
  • Websites like Pastebin don’t host any content but are a
    platform for users to paste text. Popular video networks like Vimeo and
    Dailymotion are among the websites that have been blocked.
  • The government has invoked section 69A of the Information
    technology Act (2000) and Information Technology (Procedure and Safeguards for
    Blocking for Access of Information by Public) Rules (“Blocking
    Rules”) to ban these websites.

10. AK Mittal
appointed Railway Board Chairman

  • Ending the suspense over filling senior posts, the
    Railways on Wednesday made a record 11 appointments, including Chairman of
    Railway Board and eight General Managers.
  • A.K. Mittal was appointed as the new Chairman of Railway
    Board succeeding Arunendra Kumar, who superannuated on December 31.
  • Mr. Mittal, the senior-most official, was earlier Member
    Staff in the Railway Board.
  • Pradeep Kumar, who was General Manager of the North
    Central Railway holding additional charge of Northern Railway, has become new
    Member Staff succeeding Mr. Mittal.
  • The Railways also filled the post of Member Electrical,
    which was lying vacant for more than six months after the retirement of Kulbhushan
    in July 31 this year.
  • Navin Tondon, General Manager of South Eastern Central
    Railways, has been appointed Member Electrical.

11. Open
defecation-free country became national slogan in 2014
  • The Narendra Modi government undertook a significant step
    in 2014 to make the country free from open defecation under an ambitious plan
    of around Rs. 2 lakh crore.
  • The year also saw the government deciding to implement
    the Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Project for Low Income States (RWSSP-LIS)
    of Assam, Bihar, Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh with World Bank assistance over a
    period of six years (from 2013—14 to 2019—20).
  • The project is aimed at providing improved piped water
    supply covering approximately 17,400 habitations in 2,150 gram panchayats in 33
    districts of the four States.
  • Wielding the broom himself, Mr. Modi launched ‘Clean
    India’ campaign on October 2 and was joined by Chief Ministers, lawmakers,
    prominent personalities from various fields.
  • The Swachh Bharat Mission (Gramin) aims at attaining a
    100 per cent open defecation free India by 2019, the 150th birth anniversary of
    Mahatma Gandhi.
  • The main objective of the programme is to bring about an
    improvement in the general quality of life in the rural areas, by promoting
    cleanliness, hygiene and eliminating open defecation and accelerate sanitation
    coverage in rural areas.

International News
12. New Year eve gala
around Burj Khalifa breaks Guinness Record

  • A dazzling show of New Year’s Eve gala using 70,000 LED
    bulbs around the world’s tallest building Burj Khalifa here has broken the
    Guinness World Record of the ‘Largest LED-Illuminated Facade’.
  • The never-before-seen show of fireworks, Light Emitting
    Diode lights and laser beam displays became one of the world’s most-watched New
    Year’s Eve spectacle with residents and visitors from around the world
    thronging around the 829.8 metres tall skyscraper to watch the display.
  • The illumination around Burj Khalifa spanned 32,467
    square metres and it surpassed the existing record held by Mall Taman Anggrek
    in Indonesia. The LED screen area around the skyscraper was nearly 3.75 times
    larger.
  • The record-breaking LED display had 70,000 LED bulbs
    placed in position using over 100,000 brackets and linked using 55,000 metres
    of cabling for the perfect visual display.
  • The event was also live streamed with four different
    camera angles including aerial views from three drones. Live telecast through
    major international channels reached billions of people worldwide.

13. Spartan,
Microsoft’s New Browser, Coming with Windows 10
  • Microsoft will soon be introducing a new web browser. It
    is to be called Spartan and shall be launched soon along with several consumer
    features of the Windows 10.
  • The Redmond-based company says that Spartan is not meant
    to replace its Internet Explorer, which once held sway as the king of web
    browsers before Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome dislodged it from its lofty
    spot.
  • The Hindustan Times reports that the new Microsoft web
    browser will not be putting the Internet Explorer to the backburner but will
    serve as a more lightweight and user-friendly alternative.
  • In attribution of the strength of its competitor
    browsers, the Spartan is reportedly similar to Chrome and Firefox. It’s initial
    advantage thus far, just like the Internet Explorer was, is that it is built in
    to the Windows 10, Microsoft’s upcoming and latest desktop operating system.
  • The browser would soon be available on PCs and other
    mobile devices that would be running on Windows 10. It will bank heavily on the
    Chakra JavaScript engine and the Trident rendering engine, which are
    Microsoft’s in-house tech support.

Sports News

14. WADA raises
minimum ban for doping to four years
  • Athletes convicted of doping will face a minimum
    four-year ban under new rules which came into effect from January 1.
  • Changes to the World Anti-Doping Code increased the
    suspension for doping from two years. Other changes include less leniency given
    for missed tests but possible reduced bans for helping investigators.
  • The revised code was agreed to by the World Anti-Doping
    Agency (WADA) in November 2014.

This post was last modified on July 20, 2019 12:11 pm