Current Affairs Update – 14 Oct, 2014

• ·        
  The RBI today asked banks to comply with the one-address-proof norm as
  it was found that many of them were not following the new rules.
• ·        
  Despite its clear instructions on requirement of one proof of address,
  whether permanent or current, RBI said it was brought to its notice that some
  banks were still insisting on submission of a proof of current address even
  when a customer produced a proof of permanent address.
• ·        
  Banks are advised to ensure that customers are not unnecessarily asked
  to submit additional proofs of addresses for current addresses in cases where
  proofs of addresses for permanent addresses are already available, RBI said.
• ·        
  RBI said the insistence for proof of local address prevents many
  prospective customers, especially migrant workers, from opening bank accounts.
• ·        
  Earlier in June this year, RBI had simplified the bank account opening
  norms by allowing customers to submit only one proof of address, either
  permanent or local.

• ·        
  Following Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s successful US visit, the
  Indo-American Chamber of Commerce (IACC) will hold a two-day Indo-US Economic
  Summit in New Delhi from Wednesday, to be attended by key policy makers and
  corporate leaders representing Indian and American companies.
• ·        
  “The theme for this year’s economic summit will be ‘Convergence and
  Connectivity in Indo-US Economic Relations’,” IACC said in a release here on the
  tenth edition of the summit.

• ·        
  Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced here on Tuesday afternoon an
  immediate assistance of Rs. 1,000 crore to the Andhra Pradesh Government in
  view of the havoc wrought by cyclone Hudhud in Visakhapatnam and other
  districts.
• ·        
  The Prime Minister arrived here by a special flight at around 1.30 p.m.
  after conducting an aerial survey of some of the cyclone-hit areas in the
  district. He was received at the airport by Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu,
  Union Ministers M Venkaiah Naidu and Ashok Gajapati Raju, and State Governor
  Narasimhan.
• ·        
  He saw the damage at the airport and went by road to the collector’s
  office where he reviewed the relief operations along with the Chief Minister
  and Union Ministers. He later told reporters that the Union Government would
  stand by the AP Government and the people of the city in the hour of crisis.
• ·        
  Modi commended the State Government for using modern technology in
  minimising the losses and both the Union Government and the State Government
  worked in tandem to reduce the loss of life. He also praised the courage and
  resilience of the people of Visakhapatnam and expressed confidence that the
  city would be back to normal soon.
• ·        
  He said he had announced in the US that Visakhapatnam would be made a
  smart city and in spite of the temporary setback, there was no doubt Vizag would
  develop into a great city.
• ·        
  The Prime Minister announced Rs. 2 lakhs to the next of kin of those who
  lost their lives in the cyclone and Rs. 50,000 to the injured out of the Prime
  Minister’s relief fund. Till now it is reported that more than 20 lives lost
  their lives in the cyclone in different districts.

• ·        
  The 2014 Global Hunger Index (GHI) was released on 13 October 2014 by
  the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), Welthungerhilfe and
  Concern Worldwide.
• ·        
  It revealed that two billion people were suffering from hidden hunger
  even though the levels of hunger in many developing countries decreased. The
  2014 GHI was calculated for 120 developing countries and countries in
  transition, 55 of which have a serious or worse hunger situation.
• ·        
  From 1990 to 2014, 26 countries reduced their scores by 50 percent. In
  terms of absolute progress, Angola, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Chad, Ghana, Malawi,
  Niger, Rwanda, Thailand, and Vietnam witnessed the biggest improvement in scores
  since 1990.
• ·        
  The severity of hunger was found to be low in 44 countries. These
  countries include Algeria, Argentina, Brazil, Cuba, Iran, Kazakhstan, Mexico
  and Turkey.
• ·        
  Moreover, countries like Burundi and Eritrea were classified as
  extremely alarming as per the 2014 GHI. However, reliable data for the
  Democratic Republic of the Congo and Somalia was sorely lacking.
• ·        
  Mauritius, Thailand, Albania ranked 1, 2, 3 respectively.

• ·        
  After implementing a national ban on animal testing for cosmetics, India
  has followed it up by banning the import of animal-tested cosmetics as well.
• ·        
  The significant development makes India the first cruelty-free cosmetics
  zone in South Asia and an example for other nations to follow, said a note from
  Humane Society International (India), hailing the move that is also being
  cheered by ethical consumers in the country.
• ·        
  The ban comes in the form of Rule 135-B that states, “Prohibition of
  import of cosmetics tested on animals. No cosmetic that has been tested on
  animals after the commencement of Drugs and Cosmetics (Fifth Amendment) Rules,
  2014 shall be imported into the country”, the note said. The notification will
  come into effect on 13 November, 2014.
• ·        
  Explaining the significance, HSI’s Alokparna Sengupta said that a
  consumer can be confident that any cosmetic in the country, imported after the
  November cut-off will be free of the cruel practise of testing on animals.
• ·        
  Israel and the 27 EU countries have already implemented both testing and
  sales bans to bring an end to cosmetics testing on animals. A little less than
  a year ago, even China took a monumental step in this direction. China’s Food
  and Drug Administration said that China would remove mandatory animal test
  requirements for its locally made cosmetic products, from June this year.
  Earlier this year #BeCrueltyFree campaigners in Australia, Brazil, New Zealand,
  Taiwan and the United States have all celebrated the introduction of bills
  proposing national cosmetic animal test bans, the note said.

• ·        
  Germany will provide €4 million, apart from services of international
  experts, to help the Ministry of Urban Development to implement sanitation
  programmes in urban areas of the country.
• ·        
  India and Germany on Tuesday signed an ‘Implementation Agreement on
  Support to National Urban Sanitation Policy’, a statement from the Ministry
  said.
• ·        
  The agreement, which is valid for three years (till March, 2017), seeks
  to promote capacity development in the urban sanitation sector, formulation of
  state and city sanitation policies and support states for technical innovation,
  the statement added.
• ·        
  The focus of the tie-up will be on enabling effective measures against
  discharge of untreated waste water into surface and ground water.

• ·        
  British Minister for Culture, Media and Sport, Sajid Javid here on
  Tuesday launched a new £6.5 million fund, set up by the Arts Council England
  and the British Council, to build creative connections between the people of
  the UK and India.
• ·        
  Titled ‘Re-Imagine India’, the fund will support artists and cultural
  organisations to exchange ideas and influences, promote new creative
  collaborations, showcase the best of UK and Indian arts across a range of
  forms. While the new fund will last till 2017, there is a likelyhood of
  additional funds for the project in 2016, British sources said.
• ·        
  The Minister, who led the delegation of experts, hosted a roundtable on
  UK-India museum partnerships. The meeting discussed opportunities in sharing
  best practices in collections, policies, strategies, HR, education programming,
  and audience profiling in Indian and UK museums and galleries.

• ·        
  Inspector Shakti Devi of the Jammu and Kashmir Police, who is currently
  deployed in the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), has been named
  recipient of the International Female Police Peacekeeper Award 2014 by the UN’s
  Police Division for her “exceptional achievements” with the UN mission in
  Afghanistan, including her efforts towards helping victims of sexual and
  gender-based violence.
• ·        
  Ms. Devi has been honoured for her “exceptional achievements” in leading
  the establishment of Women Police Councils in several parts of Afghanistan, the
  UN Police Division said in a communication to the Indian mission.
• ·        
  It said Ms. Devi has contributed to the improvement of the status of
  female police and has effectively helped the police of Afghanistan move towards
  achieving their goals of fully adopting democratic principles of policing.
• ·        
  The award was delivered during the International Association of Women
  Police (IAWP) conference held earlier this month in Winnipeg, Canada.
• ·        
  India is the largest contributor to UN peacekeeping operations, having
  contributed more than 170,000 troops in 43 out of 69 peacekeeping missions
  mandated by the United Nations Security Council so far. The UN also owes India
  $110 million, the second highest outstanding payment to any country, for costs
  relating to peacekeeping operations and troops.

• ·        
  All India National Unity Council on 11 October 2014 honoured
  poet-diplomat Abhay K with Asia-Pacific Excellence Award.
• ·        
  He was awarded for his outstanding individual achievements in the field
  of literature by penning Earth Anthem and SAARC song and for celebrating local,
  regional and global themes in his poems and writings.
• ·        
  Others who were honoured on this occasion were eminent lawyer Mithilesh
  Kumar Singh, Professor Basant Kumar Gautam of Tribhuwan University, former
  law-maker and Bhojpuri poet Gopal Thakur and the owner of the Dwarika Hotel
  Mrs. Ambika Shrestha, former Ambassador of Nepal to Japan Dr. Bishnu Hari Nepal
  and entrepreneur Mrs. Bhawani Rana.
• ·        
  The award ceremony was held at Kathmandu in Nepal in association with
  the Nepal-India Forum for peace and development.

• ·        
  British lawmakers have voted in favour of recognising Palestine as a
  state, a symbolic move intended to increase pressure for a two-state solution
  to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
• ·        
  Legislators in the House of Commons voted 274 to 12 to support a motion
  calling on the British government to “recognise the state of Palestine alongside
  the state of Israel.”
• ·        
  Prime Minister David Cameron and other government leaders abstained, and
  more than half of the 650 Commons members did not participate in the vote.
• ·        
  But the motion had support from both government and opposition
  lawmakers, who said it could help kick-start the peace process following a
  summer war in Gaza that claimed the lives of more than 2,100 Palestinians, the
  majority civilians, and more than 70 Israelis, most of them soldiers.
• ·        
  Labour Party legislator Grahame Morris said recognising a Palestinian
  state could help break the impasse in peace negotiations before it was too
  late.
• ·        
  Otherwise, he said, “any hope of a two-state solution, the only viable
  solution, will have disappeared altogether.”
• ·        
  Conservative lawmaker Nicholas Soames, grandson of World War II Prime
  Minister Winston Churchill, said that “to recognise Palestine is both morally
  right and is in our national interest.”

• ·        
  Khaled Bahah on 13 October 2014 was appointed as Prime Minister of
  Yemen. He was appointed by the President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi. At the time of
  appointment Bahah was serving as permanent representative of the Republic of
  Yemen to the United Nations.
• ·        
  The appointment comes under a power-sharing deal signed between Houthis
  and President Mansour Hadi in September 2014. The deal aims to bring the
  Houthis and the wing of a separatist group into a more inclusive government.
• ·        
  In October 2014, President Mansour Hadi proposed Ahmed Awad bin Mubarak
  as Prime Minister but he was rejected by Houthi, Shiite Muslim group. Houthi
  group proposed three names and Khaled Bahah was one among them.

• ·        
  In a big setback, India on Tuesday lost a case in the WTO against the US
  on restrictions it had imposed on poultry imports from America.
• ·        
  Giving its ruling on a case filed by the US, the World Trade Organization’s
  dispute panel said that restrictions imposed by India on imports of poultry
  from America were “inconsistent” with the international norms.
• ·        
  In March 2012, the US had dragged India to the WTO against India’s ban
  on imports of certain American farm products, including poultry meat and eggs.
• ·        
  India had banned imports of various agricultural products from the US in
  2007, as a precautionary measure to prevent outbreaks of avian influenza in the
  country.

• ·        
  Olympic bronze medalist MC Mary Kom on 13
  October 2014 was chosen as the Most Valuable Player (MVP) of India’s Incheon
  Asian Games campaign at a felicitation of the medal winners by contingent
  sponsors, Samsung India.
• ·        
  Kom, the first Indian woman boxer to win a
  gold medal in Asian Games was named as the MVP in a poll conducted by Samsung.
  The poll contest had all 11 individual/team gold winners, including the men’s
  hockey team.
• ·        
  After topping the list, the gold medalist in
  the 2014 Incheon Games in flyweight (-51kg) class, Mary Kom received 10 lakh
  rupees.
• ·        
  India won 11 gold, 10 silver and 36 bronze in
  the Incheon Asian Games. 

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