Current Affairs Update – 13 Nov, 2014

Finance / Business

1. WEF hosted the 29th India Economic Summit
in New Delhi

  • ·
    The World Economic Forum (WEF) in partnership with the Confederation of
    Indian Industry (CII) hosted the India Economic Summit in New Delhi from 4
    November 2014 to 6 November 2014.
  • ·
    The summit was held under the theme, Redefining Public-Private
    Cooperation for a New Beginning. Union Finance, Corporate Affairs and Defence
    Minister Arun Jaitley inaugurated the events.
  • ·
    The Summit was built on three pillars: Boosting Global Competitiveness;
    Launching a Domestic Systems Reset; and Scaling Local and Social Innovation.
  • ·
    The summit convened against a backdrop of significant economic growth
    and progress in reducing poverty in most parts of India, but also persistent
    inequality.
  • ·
    Inclusive growth, competitiveness, health and infrastructure were the
    focus of the summit.
  • ·
    More than 700 leaders from business, government, civil society and
    academia from 45 countries participated in the summit.
  • ·
    During the summit, various issues regarding the Indian growth,
    employment, infrastructure, family planning have been discussed.

2. Uber announced to launch mobile wallet for
payments following RBI norms

  • ·
    The taxi-hailing smartphone app Uber on 12 November 2014 announced to
    launch a mobile wallet in India.
  • ·
    The company is tying up with Paytm to offer the services of a
    semi-closed wallet to Indian consumers.
  • ·
    The semi-closed wallet option allowed customers to use the same wallet
    across the merchants supported by Paytm, without having to be restricted to
    Uber.
  • ·
    Until now, credit cards of Uber users were automatically charged at the
    end of the journey, a cashless payment method that had to be stopped after the
    Reserve Bank of India (RBI) insisted on a two-step authentication process for
    all card transactions.
  • ·
    RBI had given all such businesses till 31 October 2014 to comply with
    the regulation. The central bank had later granted the San Francisco-based
    maker of the ride-hailing application until 30 November 2014 to move to a new
    payment mechanism.
  • ·
    Uber’s competitors in the Indian market largely work on a cash-based
    model.
  • ·
    RBI’s move has lessened Uber’s differentiation from its Indian rival
    companies such as TaxiForSure, Meru Cabs and Olacabs that have in recent months
    also introduced mobile wallets.

3. Chennai to host Global Investors’ Meet in
May 2015

  • The Tamil Nadu Government on Thursday announced that the Global
    Investors’ Meet (GIM) would be held during May 23-24 next year in Chennai to
    showcase the ample endowments and boundless potential of the State.

  • Among the sectors that would be highlighted were electronics and
    electronics hardware, textiles, agro and food processing, IT/ITES, automobiles
    and auto components, chemicals and petrochemicals, engineering and heavy
    engineering, Infrastructure including roads and minor port development,
    industrial parks and SEZs, urban infrastructure and renewable energy.

  • The government, in the budget for 2014-2015, set apart Rs. 100 crore for
    the proposed event.

  • An exhibition which would display the State’s competitive strengths,
    investment opportunities, avenues of collaboration, investment facilitation
    mechanisms and financial support would be held during the event. Partner
    nations such as Japan, USA, France, Germany, UK and South Korea and other
    partner organisations would take part in the exhibition.

  • The GIM would be preceded by focused discussions with potential
    investors from the shortlisted sectors so that a large number of MoUs could be
    signed during the Meet.

  • PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) had been selected as a knowledge partner
    for the event and the Tamil Nadu Industrial Guidance & Export Promotion
    Bureau (Guidance Bureau) will function as the Secretariat for conducting the
    event, according to the release

India
4. Ravi Chopra, director of famous TV show
Mahabharata, died at 68
  • ·
    Ravi Chopra, director of famous television (TV) show Mahabharata, died
    in Breach Candy Hospital, Mumbai on 12 November 2014. He was 68. He was
    suffering from lung cancer from last few years.
  • ·
    He was a producer and director of Indian movies. He started his career
    assisting his father B R Chopra in films like, Dastaan (1972) and Dhund (1973).
    He also assisted his uncle Yash Chopra in Ittefaq (1969).
  • ·
    He made his independent directorial debut with Zameer (1975), produced
    under the family banner, B.R. Films.
  • ·
    He was also the first Bollywood filmmaker who was taken to the court by
    a Hollywood company over the remaking of a film.
  • ·
    In 2009, 20th Century Fox had served a legal notice to Ravi Chopra and
    his production company B R Films over remaking of the 1992 Oscar Award winning
    comedy film My Cousin Vinny into Bollywood film Banda Ye Bindaas Hai. Fox
    sought 1.4 million US dollars in damages.
  • ·
    He was born on 27 September 1946 and was the son of legendary producer
    & director B R Chopra and nephew of producer & director late Yash
    Chopra. Aditya Chopra and Uday Chopra are his cousins.

Films Directed by Ravi Chopra

  • Zameer (1975)

  • The Burning Train (1980)

  • Aaj Ki Awaz (1984)

  • Mazdoor (1983)

  • Dahleez (1986)

  • Baghban (2003)

  • Bhoothnath

  • Bhoothnath Returns(2014)

TV Serials Directed by Ravi Chopra

  • Mahabharata (1988-1990)

  • Mini-series Ramayana (2002)

  • He was expected to come back to television with another mythological
    series, Vasudev Krishna in 2014-15

5. President Pranab Mukherjee visited Bhutan

  • President Pranab Mukherjee visited Bhutan on 7-8 November 2014 to
    strengthen ties between the two countries. This is the first bilateral visit by
    a President of India to Bhutan in 26 years.

  • During his visit he had meeting with the King of Bhutan Jigme Khesar
    Namgyel Wangchuck and Prime Minister Tshering Tobgay. He also discussed issues
    of mutual interest which includes bilateral and regional importance.

  • He also addressed Bhutanese leaders, officials, professionals and
    intellectuals on the subject of India-Bhutan relations.

  • During his visit, the two countries signed a Memorandum of Understanding
    (MoU) on Nalanda University. According to MoU, India will provide appropriate
    visa to students, faculty and staff for travelling to India to study or work in
    the University.

Besides, three more MoUs were signed


  • The Royal University of Bhutan and English and Foreign Languages
    University, Hyderabad

  • The Royal University of Bhutan and National Innovation Foundation under
    the Department of Science &Technology

  • The Royal Civil Services Commission and Indian Institute of Management,
    Ahmedabad

  • He also announced the doubling of Ambassador’s Scholarship to 2 crore
    rupees per annum for Bhutanese students to pursue their higher education in
    Indian Universities and institutes.

  • Both the countries agreed to strengthen the training programmes in the
    areas of agriculture, food processing and post-harvest technologies to build
    extensive assistance.

6. Union Government constituted IMC for
smooth allocation of cancelled coal blocks

  • Union Government on 12 November 2014 constituted a high-level
    Inter-Ministerial Committee (IMC) to ensure smooth allocation of 204 cancelled
    coal blocks. The committee will provide advise on policy issues and interact
    with the industry.

The
nine-member committee headed Additional Secretary Ministry of (M/o) Coal will
have other members from

  • Joint Secretary, M/O Coal

  • Advisor (Projects), M/O Coal

  • Representative of Ministry of power

  • Representative of Ministry of steel

  • Representative of Ministry of legal affairs (M/o Law and Justice)

  • Representative of Ministry of Industrial Policy and Promotion (M/o
    Commerce and Industry)

  • Representative of Ministry of Economic Affairs (M/o Finance)

  • Director (CA-III), M/o Coal as Member Converner


  • Union Coal Ministry in an official communication said that the nominated
    authority (under Vivek BHaradwaj) created under the Coal Mines (Special
    Provisions) Ordinance, 2014 is required to undertake management and
    reallocation of 204 coal blocks canceled by the Supreme Court. In discharge of
    duties, the Nominated Authority is required to consult Central Government on
    various policy matters.

7. India and UK announced Newton-Bhabha Fund
to scale up bilateral research & innovation relationship

  • India and United Kingdom (UK) on 12 November 2014 announced
    Newton-Bhabha Fund to scale up their bilateral research & innovation
    relationship to a greater level. It was announced by Union Minister of Science
    & Technology, Harsh Vardhan and Minister for Universities, Science and
    Cities of UK, Rt Hon Greg Clark MP during fourth UK-India Science and
    Innovation Council (SIC).

  • The Newton-Bhabha Fund is a programme with a strong interdisciplinary
    dimension that will further strategise the science, research and innovation
    cooperation between the UK and India. The fund contains 50 million pounds over
    5 years from the UK and matched efforts from India.

Newton-Bhabha programmes include :
British Council India and the Department of
Science and Technology, India joint PhD student mobility programme

  • The aim of the programme is to pave the way for the next generation of
    researchers in the UK and India to interact with each other and build long-term
    R&D linkages and collaborations.

  • It will sponsor UK and Indian PhD students to spend a period of their
    study (3 to 6 months) in premier Indian and UK higher education institutions
    starting from March 2015.

Global Research Programme in Women’s and
Children’s Health

  • This program is jointly funded by Medical Research Council (MRC),
    Department of International Development (DFID), UK and Department of
    Biotechnology (DBT) of India. The fund is up to 10 million pounds.

Centre Partnerships in Cancer Biology,
Translational Regenerative Medicines in Neuroscience and Antimicrobial Resistance

  • It is funded jointly up to 7 million pounds by Medical Research Council
    (MRC) of UK and Department of Biotechnology (DBT) of India.

Centres for research in Renewable Energy

  • The centres are jointly co-funded by RCUK Energy programme and
    Department of Science and Technology (DST) of India.

International
8. 22nd APEC Summit held in Beijing


  • 22nd Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit was held in Beijing,
    China on 9 November 2014- 11 November 2014.

  • The summit was held under the theme of Shaping the Future through
    Asia-Pacific Partnership.

  • The summit was concluded on 11 November 2014. The summit issued the 22nd
    APEC Economic Leaders’ Meeting Declaration – Beijing Agenda for an Integrated,
    Innovative and Interconnected Asia-Pacific.

  • Additional measures are described in Declaration for strengthening the
    rules-based, transparent, non-discriminatory, open and inclusive multilateral
    trading system as embodied in the World Trade Organization.

  • Leaders also issued the Statement on the 25th Anniversary of APEC. The
    next APEC Summit will be held in Philippines in 2015.

9. SC of Sri Lanka gave nod for third term to
President Mahinda Rajapaksa

  • Sri Lanka’s Supreme Court on 11 November 2014 gave nod to President
    Mahinda Rajapaksa to stand for third term as President. The Court in its
    decision said that there is no legal barrier preventing the President to stand
    for a third six-year term.

  • Further, SC noted that President can declare snap presidential election
    after he completes 4 years in office.

  • Supreme Court’s response comes to a request made by President to clarify
    the legal position in the light of the 18th Constitutional Amendment.

  • President Rajapaksa’s decision to seek legal clarity from SC came after
    his decision to go for a third term was publicly questioned by former Chief
    Justice of the Supreme Court Sarath Silva.

10. The US and China agreed to cut greenhouse
gas emissions

  • China and the US on 12 November 2014 agreed to cut greenhouse gas
    emissions. Both the countries have unveiled new pledges on greenhouse gas
    emissions.

  • US President Barack Obama set a new goal of reducing US levels between
    26%-28% by 2025, compared with 2005 levels.

  • China did not set a specific target, but said emissions would peak by
    2030. The two countries also agreed to reduce the possibility of military
    accidents in the air and sea.

  • The news came during a state visit by Obama to Beijing on the sidelines
    of APEC summit.

  • It is the first time China, the world’s biggest polluter, has set an
    approximate date for emissions to peak.

  • The two countries together produce about 45% of the world’s carbon
    dioxide.

  • The unexpected announcement is a bid to boost efforts to secure a global
    deal on reducing emissions after 2020, to be finalised next year in Paris.

11. Russia signed agreement with Iran to
build two more nuclear reactors

  • Russia and Iran on 11 November 2014 signed a contract to build two
    nuclear reactors in Iran, which will be followed with another six. Nuclear
    officials from the two countries signed the contract for building two reactors
    at Bushehr. Bushehr is the first nuclear plant built by Russia in Iran.

  • The deal was signed in Moscow, Russia between subsidiaries of the two
    countries’ state atomic agencies Russia’s Rosatom and Iran’s Atomic Energy
    Organisation.

  • Head of Russia’s Rosatom state corporation – Sergei Kiriyenko

  • Nuclear chief Iran’s Atomic Energy Organisation – Ali Akbar Salehi

Highlights of deal


  • According to the MoU inked between the two countries, the construction
    of the new reactors would be monitored by the International Atomic Energy
    Agency (IAEA), as it was done in case of Busherhr’s first reactor, which became
    operational in 2013.

  • Under the contract, Russia will supply uranium fuel and then take it
    back for reprocessing and this provision is intended to prevent any possibility
    of Iran using the spent fuel to build atomic weapons.

12. 7th Summit on Global Agenda held in UAE

  • The Seventh Summit on the Global Agenda was held in UAE from 9 November
    2014 to 11 November 2014.

  • The Summit on the Global Agenda for the year 2014 was organized by the
    World Economic Forum in collaboration with the Government of the United Arab
    Emirates and Government of Dubai.

  • The Summit was held under the theme Shaping the Transformations of the
    World and in partnership with the Government of the United Arab Emirates.

  • The co-chairs of the Summit were Sultan Saeed Nasser Al Mansoori,
    Minister of Economy of the United Arab Emirates, and Sami Dhaen Al Qamzi,
    Director-General, Department of Economic Development, Government of Dubai,
    United Arab Emirates.

  • The summit was attended by more than 1000 business, government and civil
    society leaders from 80 Global Agenda Councils.

13. WHO released Guidelines for Indoor Air
Quality: Household Fuel Combustion

  • World Health Organisation (WHO) on 12 November 2014 released Guidelines
    for Indoor Air Quality: Household Fuel Combustion. These guidelines are the
    first-ever guidelines released by WHO highlighting the threat of burning fossil
    fuels in home.

  • These guidelines stresses the need to improve access to cleaner home
    energy sources such as liquefied petroleum gas, biogas, natural gas and
    ethanol, or electricity, particularly in low- and middle-income countries.

  • The aim of these guidelines is to help countries introduce cleaner
    technologies, improve air quality in poor households, reduce pollution-related
    diseases and save lives.

Guidelines for Indoor Air Quality


  • It sets new emissions targets for different kinds of domestic
    appliances, for both carbon monoxide and fine particulate matter.

  • It recommends halting the use of unprocessed coal as a household fuel.
    Coal contains toxic elements such as arsenic, lead and mercury.

  • The use of kerosene as a household fuel is also discouraged amid
    concerns around its adverse impact on air quality and safety. Kerosene is also
    associated with burns, fires and poisoning.

  • People need to scale up the use of clean fuels such as biogas, ethanol,
    or natural or liquefied petroleum gas with appropriate venting, as well as
    solar electricity solutions for lighting.

14. Indian-origin becomes youngest Goldman Sachs
Partner


  • Kunal Shah, Indian-origin managing director at Goldman Sachs has been
    promoted to the position of Partner, becoming the youngest to be inducted into
    the global investment giant’s most coveted club.

  • The 32-year-old is among the 78 individuals to be promoted to this
    position, and is one of the five persons of Indian-origin to have made the cut
    in Goldman Sachs in 2014 class of Partners.

  • Shah was promoted to managing director at the investment banking giant
    at the age of 27. The Cambridge University math grad was also named in Forbes
    ‘30 under 30’ Finance list in 2011.

  • He has been a rising star at Goldman since he joined the company in
    London in 2004, analysing interest rate products, before trading on the global
    macro desk, according to Forbes.

  • The other persons of Indian-origin named to the firm’s elite group are
    Meena Lakdawala Flynn, Manikandan Natarajan, Umesh Subramanian and Rajesh
    Venkataramani.

  • Goldman Sachs selects its partners every two years through an extremely
    secretive and rigorous month-long selection process.

  • The record for becoming the youngest Goldman Sachs Partner is held by
    Eric Mindich who was promoted in 1994 at the age of 27.

15. India, US reach pact to resolve WTO
impasse

  • India and the United States issued statements on Thursday declaring that
    they had reached an agreement on outstanding issues with the aim of unlocking
    the impasse at the World Trade Organization (WTO).

  • India said that US has agreed that India’s right to protect its right to
    food security cannot be denied by the WTO as a result of which the
    imperfections of the Bali Ministerial package can now be removed. The US said
    that the agreement paves the way for full implementation of the WTO’s Trade
    Facilitation Agreement (TFA), the first multilateral trade agreement to be
    concluded in the history of the WTO. The agreement also reflects shared
    understandings regarding the WTO’s work on food security, the US statement
    added.

  • Union Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said at a press
    briefing: “We are moving towards a satisfactory resolution of the impasse at
    WTO; all our concerns being addressed favourably by the US”.

  • The WTO General Council will take up India’s proposal on food security
    around December 10 after which the impasse at Geneva could be resolved. “India
    had agreed to an imperfect Bali package in December; following the course
    correction it has been agreed to remove the imperfections,” the Minister said.

  • Sources on the India side indicated that the resolution could be
    achieved after the US agreed that India’s support prices to farmers are not
    trade-distorting and therefore an understanding could be reached that the
    protection of the peace clause provided by the Bali Deal against the WTO’s limits
    on agricultural subsidies should be available in perpetuity. The Bali
    Declaration was worded in such a way that it was open to interpretation on if
    the Peace Clause was available beyond 2017. The ambiguity is set to be removed
    now.

  • India, on the other hand, was able to reassure the US that it is not
    opposed to Trade Facilitation and in fact is on course to implement it.

16. Google celebrates Philae’s touchdown on
comet


  • Internet giant Google on Thursday celebrated the historic landing of
    European Space Agency’s Rosetta probe on comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, with
    a doodle on its homepage.

  • The landing on the speeding comet marks the highlight of the decade-long
    Rosetta spacecraft’s mission to study comets and learn more about the origins
    of these celestial bodies.

  • Scientists hope that the data collected by the spacecraft and its probe
    will provide insights into the origins of comets and other objects in the
    universe.

17. Pak test-fires nuclear capable ballistic
missile


  • Pakistan on Thursday successfully test-fired a ballistic missile capable
    of carrying nuclear and conventional warheads to targets as far as 1,500
    kilometres, bringing many Indian cities under its range.

  • The intermediate-range missile Shaheen—II, also called Hatf VI, was
    launched from an undisclosed location and its impact point was in the Arabian
    Sea, the military said.

  • The successful launch was the culminating point of the Field Training
    Exercise of Army Strategic Forces Command.

  • The purpose of the launch was to ensure operational readiness of a
    Strategic Missile Group besides re-validating different design and technical
    parameters of the weapon system, the military said in a statement.

  • Director of General Strategic Plans Division, Lieutenant General Zubair
    Mahmood Hayat and Commander Army Strategic Forces Command, Lieutenant General
    Obaid Ullah Khan witnessed the launch.

  • Gen. Hayat congratulated the scientists on the successful launch and
    said Pakistan is a peace-loving nation with no aggressive designs against any
    one.

Sports
18. ICC announced Ambassadors for ICC Cricket
World Cup 2015

International
Cricket Council (ICC) on 13 November 2014 announced appointment of its
ambassadors for ICC Cricket World Cup (CWC) 2015. The ambassadors for ICC CWC
2015 includes

  • India’s – Virat Kohli

  • Australia fast-bowler – Mitchell Johnson

  • New Zealand captain – Brendon McCullum

  • Sri Lanka’s former captain – Kumar Sangakkara

  • Australia’s – Shane Watson

About ICC Cricket World Cup 2015


  • The ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 will start on 14 February 2015 with New
    Zealand taking on Sri Lanka in a day match in Christchurch and co-host
    Australia will face England in a day/night match in Melbourne.

  • Melbourne will also host the final on 29 March 2015. A total of 49
    matches will be played across 14 venues, seven in Australia (Adelaide,
    Brisbane, Canberra, Hobart, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney) and seven in New
    Zealand (Auckland, Christchurch, Dunedin, Hamilton, Napier, Nelson and
    Wellington).Indian cricketer

19. Rohit Sharma scored the highest ODI score
ever of 264


  • The Indian cricketer Rohit Sharma on 13 November 2014 scored the highest
    ODI score ever of 264 runs. The score of 264 runs is also the second-highest
    List A score.

  • With this he became the only cricketer to score two Double ODI centuries
    and also broke the record of highest ODI score of 219 runs made by Indian
    cricketer Virender Sehwag.

  • He achieved this distinction during the 4th ODI between India and Sri
    Lanka played at Kolkata.

  • He took only 173 balls to score 264 runs that included 33 fours and 9
    sixes.

  • He was on 4 off 16 when he was dropped by Thisara Perera. He got to his
    50 off 72, 100 off 100, 150 off 125, 200 off 151 and 250 off 166.

  • His first double ODI century came against Australia in Bangalore on 3
    November 2013 when he had scored 209 runs.

  • He also broke the record of Most Fours in an ODI Innings.

20. FIFA clears Russia, Qatar to host World
Cup


  • Russia and Qatar were cleared on Thursday by a FIFA judge of corruption
    in their winning bids for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups.

  • FIFA ethics judge Joachim Eckert formally ended a probe into the bidding
    contests, almost four years after the vote by the governing body’s
    scandal-tainted executive committee. No proof was found of bribes or voting
    pacts.

  • “The evaluation of the 2018/2022 FIFA World Cups bidding process is
    closed for the FIFA Ethics Committee,” the German judge wrote in a statement
    released by FIFA.

  • The 2022 World Cup will finally, it seems, be played in Qatar though
    exactly when is still unclear as FIFA seeks an alternative to the desert heat
    in June and July.

  • “FIFA welcomes the fact that a degree of closure has been reached,” the
    governing body said Thursday in a statement. “As such, FIFA looks forward to
    continuing the preparations for Russia 2018 and Qatar 2022, which are already
    well underway.”

  • The Qatari organizing committee said it would study the report before
    commenting.

  • Despite finding wrongdoing among the 11 bidding nations, Eckert said the
    integrity of the December 2010 votes was not affected.

This post was last modified on November 27, 2017 9:04 am