Current Affairs Update – 13th February, 2016

Hello and welcome to ExamPundit. Here are the Important Current Affairs of 13th February, 2016. These are important for the upcoming LIC AAO 2016.

• The Reserve Bank of India has
  addressed the liquidity issues of commercial banks by easing the regulations on
  the liquidity coverage ratio.
• On Thursday, it allowed banks to
  qualify 10% of SLR bonds as Liquidity Coverage Ratio (LCR) from 7% earlier, a
  requirement mandated under the Basel-III accounting norms from their Statutory
  Liquidity Ratio (SLR) requirements. The move will help banks to use an
  additional Rs 2.8 lakh crore of their resources for lending.
• In a circular issued to banks,
  the central bank said ” It has been decided that …banks will be
  permitted to reckon government securities held by them up to another 3 per cent
  of their NDTL-net demand and time liabilities- within the mandatory SLR
  requirement for the purpose of computing their LCR.”
• Banks have been facing tight
  market liquidity forcing them to borrow from the Reserve Bank their daily
  liquidity requirements and have been saying that because of tight liquidity
  they have not been able to pass on the benefit of interest rate cuts to the
  borrowers. They have borrowed an average of Rs 1.3 lakh crore from the RBI in
  January.
• The additional resources released
  will come in handy in the fourth quarter when conventionally credit demand is
  high.

• Kicking off the ‘Make In India
  Week’, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday inaugurated the Make In India
  Centre at the MMRDA Grounds here along with Swedish Prime Minister Kjell Stefan
  Lofven and the Prime Minister of Finland, Juha Petri Sipila.
• Revolving around the theme of
  innovation, design and sustainability, the Make In India Centre showcases some
  of the country’s most innovative and trendsetting products and manufacturing
  processes before the world for the first time after the global launch of the
  ‘Make In India’ initiative in September 2014.
• This will be followed by a formal
  launch of the flagship event ‘Make In India Week’ at the NSCI Grounds later
  this evening which will promote India as the “preferred manufacturing
  destination” globally.
• During the week (February 13-18),
  the event will offer immense access and opportunities to connect with Indian
  and global industry leaders, the central and state governments and other
  stakeholders.

• Jharkhand became the first ever
  state to auction two limestone blocks through an electronic platform after the
  passage of the MMDR Act by Parliament.
• An official at the Union Mines
  Ministry told PTI that this is the “first ever successful e-auction”
  of limestone blocks. These blocks have been bagged by cement companies.
• A total of 43 blocks — excluding
  coal and lignite — have been identified by various states for e-auction, he
  said.
• According to the official, with
  the successful e-auction, the process for auctioning blocks in other states is
  likely to be expedited.
• The passage of the Mines and
  Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act paved the way for auction of mines
  bearing minerals such as iron ore, bauxite etc other than coal and lignite.

• Manipal University has signed a
  MoU for academic cooperation with University of Chicago.
• University of Chicago is amongst
  the top ten global Universities in the 2016 Times Higher Education World
  University rankings and University of Chicago’s Pritzker School of Medicine is
  among the leading medical schools in the US.
• The MoU includes mutual exchange
  of undergraduate and graduate medical students for clinical observerships,
  faculty exchange for educational purposes, joint clerkships in practical field
  courses and allowing transfer of credits at both the campuses.
• One significant area of
  cooperation is in the area of pedagogy covering development of joint
  internationalised curricula and exchange of academic material and teaching
  methodology.

• In a top level bureaucratic
  rejig, IAS officer Ramesh Abhishek, who was tipped to be SEBI Chairman, has
  been appointed as the Officer on Special Duty in the Department of Industrial
  Policy and Promotion, Ministry of Commerce and Industry.
• He will succeed the current DIPP
  Secretary Amitabh Kant, when he retires.
• This could mean that the current
  SEBI chief UK Sinha may get a one-year extension or SBI Chairperson Arundhati
  Bhattacharya could get the post.
• Also, Finance Secretary Ratan P.
  Wattal has been given a two-month extension till April 30, so that the Budget
  process does not get disturbed.

• Vilas A. Tonapi on 10 February
  2016 was appointed as the Director of Indian Institute of Millets Research
  (IIMR).
• At present, Tonapi is serving as
  the Principal Scientist at Seed Science and Technology of the IIMR.
• Tonapi earlier served as Head,
  Division of Seed Science and Technology, Indian Agricultural Research Institute
  (IARI), New Delhi.
• Indian Institute of Millets
  Research(IIMR) is headquarted at Hyderabad.

• Facebook India Managing Director
  Kirthiga Reddy on February 12, 2016 stepped down from her current role and will
  relocate to the US.
• The social networking giant has
  started looking for a successor to Reddy, who would be moving to Facebook’s
  headquarters in the US in the next 6-12 months.
• Reddy said she along with William
  Easton, Managing Director of Emerging Markets (APAC) and Dan Neary, VP Asia
  Pacific, have started looking for her successor in India.
• Facebook yesterday shut down
  ‘Free Basics’ in India, days after telecom regulator TRAI barred operators from
  charging discriminatory rates for Internet access based on content.

• On the second day of the New
  Zealand-Australia first Test in Wellington on Saturday, Adam Voges became the
  first batsman ever in Test cricket to reach the magical average of 100 thus
  beating the legendary Don Bradman, whose average was 99.94.
• At the end of Day 2, Adam Voges
  is going strong on 176 and has scored 1204 runs in 14 matches at an average of
  100.33.
• Australia finished the day with
  463 for 6 and leads New Zealand by 280 runs.

• The Disciplinary Committee of the
  Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on 12 February 2016 banned
  Pakistan umpire Asad Rauf for 5 years on charges of corruption and misconduct.
• The disciplinary committee took
  this decision after Rauf was found guilty of charges in relation to the Indian
  Premier League (IPL) betting and spot-fixing scandal of 2013.
• With this ban, Rauf became
  ineligible for umpiring or playing or representing cricket in any form or being
  associated with activities of the BCCI and its affiliates for 5 years.
• Earlier, on 18 January 2016, Ajit
  Chandila and Hiken Shah were also banned by the committee in relation to the
  2013 scandal.

• The 3-day long annual World
  Government Summit (WGS) concluded on 10 February 2016 in Dubai, the UAE. The
  summit was 4th in the series since the launch of WGS in 2013 by the UAE
  Government.
• The 2016 WGS was attended by 4500
  participants from more than 130 countries to discuss challenges and
  opportunities before present and future governments worldwide.
• During the summit, 2016 Best
  m-Government Service Awards presented. Karnataka’s Mobile One project the award
  in the One Stop App category at the international level.
• Edge of Government report was
  released that captures leading edge case studies of government innovation
  across the world.

• Jnanpith awardee and eminent
  Malayalam poet, lyricist and environmentalist O N V Kurup on Saturday passed
  away at a private hospital following a cardiac arrest.
• He was 84 and is survived by
  wife, a son and daughter.
• Kurup, who was ailing for some
  time, was admitted to a private hospital here two days ago and was on
  ventilator support.
• He breathed his last at 4.49 PM,
  hospital sources said.
• In addition to his valuable
  contributions to Malayalam literature, he is one of the leading lyricists in
  Malayalam film, drama and album industry.
• He was part of many dramas by
  Kerala People’s Arts Club (KPAC), which has made a major mark in the
  revolutionary movements of Kerala.
• “Kalam Marunnu” (1956) was his
  first film which was also the first film by famous Malayalam composer G
  Devarajan.

Regards

Team ExamPundit

Sponsored

(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});