Current Affairs Update – 12th Feb, 2015

• ICICI Bank has tied up with UAE Exchange to offer an instant
  bank transfer service to the Indians residing in the Gulf nation.
• ’FLASHremit’ service started by the bank enables customers
  to conveniently send money instantly to their beneficiaries in India in Indian
  Rupees.
• Customers of ICICI Bank will be able to avail this service
  by visiting any of the over 135 branches of UAE Exchange in UAE including over
  15 branches across the Dubai Metro network.
• Additionally, an instant SMS confirmation is sent to the
  sender and receiver informing about the credit, thus eliminating any follow up.
• With over 3,800 branches in India, ICICI Bank has the
  largest branch network among private sector banks in the country.
• The service is available to our customers 24 X 7 and 365
  days a year. Our partnership with UAE Exchange is a reinforcement of our
  commitment to deliver best-in-class service propositions to NRIs across the UAE
  – Statement by ICICI.

• Tech giant IBM today said it has secured a deal with
  Ratnakar Bank (RBL) to provide the private sector lender with mobile apps to
  support financial planning, expense calculation, and financial portfolio
  management.
• Financial details of the deal were not disclosed.
• This will enable RBL customers to interact with the bank —
  through the app, website, at kiosks and branch locations — to manage their accounts
  and finances, pay bills, transfer funds, open deposit accounts and so on.
• It will also enable better managed processes for loan
  origination, regulatory compliance, account opening and credit approvals.

• Rating agency Moody’s on Thursday said the Reserve Bank of
  India’s (RBI’s) recent guidelines on the countercyclical capital buffer (CCCB)
  are credit positive for the domestic lenders though the norms are unlikely to
  be activated in the current year.
• “The guidelines are credit positive for Indian banks because
  they make clear that banks will be required to hold the additional capital amid
  periods of rapid credit growth,” Moody’s said in a report.
• Last week, Reserve Bank of India had issued guidelines on
  when it would require Indian banks to maintain a CCCB, an additional layer of
  loss-absorbing capital on top of banks’ increased minimum capital requirements
  under Basel III.
• “According to the RBI’s guidelines, the key trigger for
  activating the CCCB will be when the credit/GDP ratio has risen relative to its
  long-term trend,” it said.
• The RBI said it would require banks to hold the full 2.5 per
  cent buffer when the gap between the credit/GDP ratio and the long-term trend
  exceeds 15 percentage points.

• West Bengal Chief Minister (CM) Mamata Banerjee on 11
  February 2015 launched the Micro Business Credit Card in association with the
  State Bank of India to boost the Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME)
  sector in the state.
• The Micro Business Credit Card is the first of its kind in
  India. These Business credit cards will even help the farmers to start
  businesses.
• With the help of this card, the small and medium
  entrepreneurs will be able to avail the cash credit or loan up to 5 lakh rupees
  for their business activities, even without collateral security.
• A fund of 200 crore rupees has been created for this purpose
  by the state government and a simplified clearance process was chalked out. The
  government will start the clearance centres in Bardhaman, Durgapur, Asansol and
  other places to expedite the clearance process.
• The initiative was supported by the State Bank of India. The
  State Bank of India undertook the scheme as a pilot project and with its
  success, it will be introduced in other states as well.

• Microsoft on 11 February 2015 acquired Sunrise for 100
  million US dollars. Sunrise is the maker of one of the top calendar apps for
  iOS and Android.
• The Sunrise app will remain in market and free after the
  acquisition. It will continue to support a wide range of third-party apps and
  calendar services.
• Sunrise supports various features such as recurring
  appointments, alerts, birthdays, Google Maps directions, and more.

• The India Cements Limited on 11 February 2015 transferred
  the Indian Premier League (IPL) team Chennai Super Kings Cricket (CSK)
  franchise to its new subsidiary Chennai Super Kings Cricket (CSKC) Limited.
• The decision was taken by India Cements Vice-Chairman and
  Managing Director (MD) N Srinivasan led Board of Directors meeting held in
  Chennai, Tamil Nadu. With this, the company targets to get into a pure-play
  cement company.
• Around 97000 shareholders of India Cements will be given
  free shares of Chennai Super Kings Cricket Ltd in proportion to the shares they
  currently hold in the company. The promoters together hold a 28.23 percent
  stake in the company.

• The Board of Directors of Grasim Industries Limited on 11
  February 2015 approved the proposed merger of Aditya Birla Chemicals (India)
  Limited (ABCIL) with Grasim.
• Under the merger proposal, the shareholders of ABCIL will
  get one share of 10 rupees each of Grasim for every 16 shares of 10 rupees
  each, they hold in ABCIL. 14.62 lakh new shares will be issued by Grasim, which
  will help the company to increase its share capital to 93.31 crore rupees.
• The proposed scheme is subject to approval of the high court
  and regulatory authorities.

• Mobile application-based taxi aggregator Uber on 11 February
  2015 had introduced two new India-specific safety features. The features
  include panic buttons and in-app tracking tools.
• Uber apps will now have a send status feature, where
  passengers can share details about the driver and the vehicle with their
  friends and family.
• The feature also lets passengers allow access to GPS
  tracking of their taxi to their kin, and share information like the driver’s
  photograph, name and vehicle licence number.
• The company earlier allowed passengers to share their
  estimated time of arrival with others. With this new feature, passengers can
  also send their trip details to up to five pre-selected contacts with just two
  taps on a button in the Uber app.

• The Navy is learnt to have taken the call to retire the
  decrepit warhorse INS Viraat, the aircraft carrier that has had a service life
  of 56 years as on date — first as HMS Hermes in the Royal British Navy and in
  its present avatar since 1987.
• Viraat — which saw action in the Falklands War and remained
  for well over a decade the sole aircraft carrier in the Indian Ocean region
  following the decommissioning of the first Indian carrier INS Vikrant in 1997 —
  is slated to have a grand farewell at the International Fleet Review at
  Visakhapatnam in February 2016.
• It is in the process of obtaining Defence Ministry’s clearance
  to the retirement plan.
• Mounting maintenance costs and rapid depletion of its
  integral fleet of Sea Harrier jump jets are said to have catalysed the decision
  to decommission Viraat. The Navy shelled out Rs. 70 crore for the last routine
  refit of the carrier.

• Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh on 11
  February 2015 launched the Crime and Criminal Tracking Network System (CCTNS)
  project in the state.
• This 19 crore rupees project will be completely funded by
  the Union Government. It will help in connecting 177 sites and 114 police
  stations in the state besides 13 district headquarters, 26 sub-divisional
  police officers and three police ranges along with state crime records bureau.
• It will also connect CID crime branch, 14 control rooms,
  finger print bureau, forensic science laboratory and 16 CCTNS training centers
  in the state.

• A unique web-based tool, named Atrocity Tracking and
  Monitoring (ATM) System was launched in second week of February 2015. The tool
  was launched with an aim to monitor atrocities perpetrated against Dalits and
  Adivasis and to deliver timely and speedy justice.
• The tool was launched by National Dalit Movement for Justice
  (NDMJ).
• The SC/ST PoA (Prevention of Atrocities) Act (NCSPOA) 1989,
  an Act passed by the Parliament of Act was enacted to prevent atrocities
  against scheduled castes and scheduled tribes.
• To strengthen SC/ST PoA (Prevention of Atrocities) Act
  (NCSPOA), NDMJ has started an initiative named National Coalition.

• Person who want to access the support provided by the ATM
  system will have to login into website and take the helpline provided over
  their (it is 9898915455)
• Then, the person will have to sent a message on it after
  which the circle will be automatically by the website and a message will be
  sent
• Further after validation, the message will be sent to the
  concerned authority to facilitate necessary action against the case

• Senior IPS officer Krishna Chaudhary on 11 February 2015
  took charge as the Director General (DG) of the border guarding force
  Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP).
• He succeeded Subhas Goswami. 
  He is a 1979-batch Bihar cadre IPS officer.
• Earlier, he was serving as the Director General (DG) of the
  Railway Protection Force under the Union Railway Ministry.
• The Appointments Committee of Cabinet (ACC) headed by Prime
  Minister Narendra Modi had issued orders for appointment of the officer in
  January 2015.

• The 7th round of India Kenya Joint Trade Committee (JTC)
  meet was held in New Delhi on 12 February 2015.

During the meet, the two sides reviewed bilateral trade
between the two nations and reiterated their commitment towards strengthening
mutually beneficial relationship. The two sides agreed

• To enhance cooperation in the fields of bilateral
  investment, infrastructure, SMEs, agriculture, health, energy, skill
  development & entrepreneurship, pharmaceuticals and tourism
• To ensure enhancement of bilateral trade and mutual
  cooperation, the two sides also agreed to meet often.

• Guns will fall silent, heavy weapons will pull back from the
  front, and Ukraine will trade a broad autonomy for the east to get back control
  of its Russian border by the end of this year under a peace deal hammered out
  Thursday in all-night negotiations between Russia, Ukraine, France and Germany.
• The deal was full of potential pitfalls that could derail
  its implementation, however. In announcing the plan, Russia and Ukraine differed
  over what exactly they had agreed to in marathon 16-hour talks, including the
  status of a key town now under rebel siege.
• Russian President Vladimir Putin told reporters that the
  agreement envisages a cease-fire beginning Sunday (2200 GMT (5 p.m. EST)
  Saturday) as well as a special status for Ukraine’s separatist regions and
  provisions to address border concerns and humanitarian issues.
• Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said there was no
  agreement on any autonomy or federalisation for eastern Ukraine, a long-time
  demand of Russia, which wants that to maintain leverage over Ukraine and prevent
  it from ever joining NATO.
• The deal, however, requires the Ukrainian parliament to give
  wide powers to the eastern regions as a condition for restoring Ukraine’s full
  control over its border with Russia a provision certain to trigger heated
  political debate in Kiev.

• Children mingled with cricketing greats in “backyard”
  matches and Maori warriors shared the stage with morris dancers as the Cricket
  World Cup opened today with a vibrant and quirky ceremony in Christchurch.
• Thousands of fans crammed leafy Hagley Park to see the
  launch of the first World Cup in New Zealand and Australia in 23 years, the
  formal part of which began with a lone bagpiper and ended with a booming
  fireworks display –he biggest in the city’s history.
• The World Cup is the largest event Christchurch has hosted
  since an earthquake in February 2011 devastated the city’s centre — only a few
  hundred yards from where Thursday’s festivities took place, claiming the lives
  of 185 people.
• Virat Kohli and Bhuvneshwar Kumar are India’s highest-ranked
  batsman and bowler in third and 13th positions respectively with the defending
  champions entering the 11th edition of the ICC Cricket World Cup as the
  second-ranked side on the ODI Team Rankings.

• Trying to cash in on the cricket frenzy, tech giant Yahoo on
  Thursday said its Indian arm has signed up South African cricketer Jonty Rhodes
  as its analyst for the up coming World Cup 2015 coverage on Yahoo Cricket.
• Yahoo Cricket promises to provide fans with in-depth
  stories, expert analysis, player profiles, game statistics, videos, match
  forecasts and Rhodes’ perspective on the game.
• Regarded as the first fielding superstar of cricketing world,
  Rhodes has played 52 Test matches and 245 One Day Internationals, Yahoo said.