Current Affairs Update – 15 Jan, 2015

• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on 15 January 2015
  announced sixth Bi-Monthly Monetary Policy Statement. RBI in its bi-monthly
  monetary policy statement cut its main lending rate (Repo Rate) by 0.25 per
  cent with immediate effect. This is the first rate cut from the RBI since 2013.
• With this, repo rate will now prevail at 7.75 percent
  from previous 8 percent. The RBI rate cut comes just two weeks before its
  scheduled policy review on 3 February 2015.

1. Repo Rate: Reduced
   Repo rate under Liquidity Adjustment Facility (LAF) by 25 basis points from 8.0
   percent to 7.75 percent with immediate effect
2. Reverse Repo Rate
   under the LAF: Stands adjusted to 6.75 percent
3. Cash Reserve Ratio
   (CRR): Kept unchanged at 4.0 percent of net demand and time
   liabilities (NDTL)
4. Marginal standing
   facility (MSF) rate: 8.75 percent
5. Bank Rate: 8.75
   percent

• Inflationary pressures (measured by changes in the consumer
  price index) have been easing, since July 2014
• The path of inflation, while below the expected
  trajectory, has been consistent
• Inflation has been lower than expected due to sharp
  decline in prices of vegetables and fruits since September 2014 and receded
  pressures in respect of cereals and the large fall in international commodity
  prices, particularly crude oil
• It seems that the crude prices is expected to remain low
  over the year due to geo-political shocks

• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on 14 January 2015
  relaxed the Forex Hedging Norms for exporters and importers.
• The norms were relaxed under Sections 10(4) and 11(1) of
  the Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999.

• Now, the exporters and importers can book forward foreign
  exchange contracts in excess of 50 percent of the eligible limit. This will
  give them greater operational flexibility.
• However, approval of these contracts is subjected to some
  conditions including the submission of a declaration that all guidelines have
  been adhered to while utilising the facility.
• The declaration has to be signed by the Chief Financial
  Officer (CFO) and the Company Secretary (CS).

• The Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) on 14
  January 2015 imposed a penalty of 100 crore rupees on Riddhi Siddhi Bullion
  Limited (RSBL) for violation of Reserve Bank of India (RBI) norms. The order
  was issued by Kavita Gupta, additional director general of foreign trade,
  Mumbai.
• The order also cancelled its nominated agency certificate
  (NAC). NAC is the mandatory document needed for direct import of precious
  metals.
• The DGFT had issued a showcause notice to the bullion
  trader in October 2014. According to the order, RSBL had obtained NAC in April
  2013 for direct import of bullion. In FY14, RSBL had imported 550 kg gold and,
  according to the RBI circular, this entire quantity should have been exported
  back.
• However, the company had shipped back only 350 kg while
  remaining 200 kg was supplied to the domestic market, violating NAC norms.

• Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) on 14 January
  2015 approved appointment of Anupam Shrivastava as CMD (Chairman and Managing
  Director) of Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL).  Currently, he is serving as Director –
  Consumer Mobility at the BSNL.
• BSNL’s Director Enterprises A N Rai is currently handling
  the additional charge of CMD.
• His appointment was pending from long. The Public
  Enterprise Selection Board (PESB) had shortlisted Anupam Shrivastava for the
  post of CMD of BSNL in 2013.
• His tenure as CMD was to begin from 1 May 2013 but the
  then Union Telecommunication Minister Kapil Sibal held back the recommendation
  and granted extension to R K Upadhyay till 30 June 2013.
• Further, change in the government at the Centre delayed
  the decision to appoint the head of BSNL.

• National fertilizers Limited (NFL), Engineers India
  Limited (EIL) and Fertilizer Corporation of India (FCIL) on 14 January 2015
  signed an agreement to form a Joint Venture Company (JVC) Ramagundam
  Fertilizers and Chemicals Limited.
• The agreement is aimed at setting up new Ammonia and Urea
  plants at the existing site of Ramagundam Fertilizer plant in District
  Karimnagar in Telangana.
•  
• Execution of construction activities is expected to start
  in early 2016. The new plant at Ramagundam will be a boon for the farmers of
  newly created state of Telangana.

• India on 15 January 2015 observed the 67th Army Day. The
  day is celebrated to commemorate the day, when Lieutenant General (later Field
  Marshal) K M Cariappa on 15 January 1949 became the first Indian
  Commander-in-Chief of the Indian Army post Independence. He had succeeded
  General Sir Francis Butcher, the last British Commander-in-Chief of India.
• To mark the day, all three service chiefs, Army Chief
  General Dalbir Singh Suhag, Chief of Naval Staff Admiral Robin K Dhowan and Air
  Chief Marshal Arup Raha paid tributes at the Amar Jawan Jyoti here at India
  Gate by laying floral wreath and remembering the martyred soldiers. Thereafter
  they also signed the record book at the India Gate.

• Eminent Sanskrit scholar Prabhu Nath Dwivedi was on 14
  January 2015 named as the winner of the Sahitya Akademi Award 2014 for Sanskrit
  language.
• He was awarded for his work Kanakalochanaha, a collection
  of 16 short-stories based on various social issues. His name was selected by a
  three-member jury of the Sahitya Akademi.
• The award will be presented to him in March 2015 during
  the Festival of Letters that will be organised by the Sahitya Akademi in New
  Delhi.

• Actor Amitabh Bachchan was on 13 January 2015 presented
  with the Social Media Person of the Year Award 2015  by the Internet and Mobile Association of
  India (IAMAI).
• The award ceremony was scheduled to be held on 15 January
  2015 in New Delhi but as Amitabh Bachchan was not be able to make his presence
  there, so he was honoured in advance.
• Amitabh Bachchan was awarded for being an active blogger
  and user of different social networking sites. He makes the most use of social
  media to communicate with his fans and well-wishers.
• He has over 12.5 million followers on Twitter and more
  than 18million likes on his Facebook page.

• Critically endangered forest owlet (Athene blewitti) was
  sighted in Betul district of Madhya Pradesh. The bird was traced in a new
  location by a Pune-based conservation society in second week of January 2015.
• Forest Owlet (Athene blewitti or Heteroglaux blewitti) is
  an owl and is endemic to the forests of central India. The species that belongs
  to the typical owls’ family, Strigidae is on the verge of extinction.

• Union Minister of State for Parliamentary and Minority
  Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi was sentenced to a one-year jail term after he and
  19 others were convicted by a Rampur court for breaching prohibitory orders in
  the run-up to the 2009 Lok Sabha election.
• The Minister was later granted bail.
• Judicial magistrate Manish Kumar pronounced Mr. Naqvi
  guilty under Sections 143 (unlawful assembly), 341 (wrongful restraint) and 342
  (wrongful confinement) of the Indian Penal Code, Section 7 of the Criminal Law
  Amendment Act and Section 144 of the Cr.PC.

• Amid reports that controversial film Messenger of God
  featuring Dera Saccha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh in lead role has been
  cleared by Film Certification Appellate Tribunal (FCAT), Censor Board chief
  Leela Samson tonight said she has decided to resign.
• Asked if she was aware of media reports that the nod has
  been given by FCAT to the film’s screening, Samson told PTI that “I hear
  so. Nothing in writing yet. Yet, it is a mockery of Central Board of Film
  Certification. My resignation is final. Have informed the (I&B)
  Secretary”.
• There was, however, no official word on the decision, if
  any, of FCAT.
• The Censor Board had referred the issue of clearance to
  Messenger of God to FCAT. The film was slated to hit the screens on Friday.

• In a move that appears to be aimed at curbing militancy
  and extremism in the country, Pakistan has decided to ban 12 organizations,
  including Jamaat-ud Dawa (JuD), the frontrunner of banned Lashkar-e-Taiba,
  Falah-e-Insaniat Foundation, a welfare wing of the JuD, and the Haqqani
  Network.
• The decision came a day after the US State Department
  declared Mullah Fazlullah, the chief of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) as
  a ‘Specially Designated Global Terrorist’. Fazlullah, nicknamed Mullah Radio,
  had accepted responsibility for the last month attack on school in Peshawar,
  which left 142 children dead.

• Former Australia fast bowler Brett Lee announced on
  Thursday his pending retirement from all forms of cricket after a 20-year
  career.
• The 38-year-old pacer quit international cricket in July
  2012, but had been a Twenty20 regular, both in the Indian Premier League and
  the domestic competition in Australia.
• Lee, who made the announcement at the Sydney Cricket
  Ground, remains the equal leading wicket-taker for Australia in ODIs with Glenn
  McGrath, with 380 in 221 appearances. Lee also took 310 wickets in 76 Tests for
  Australia.

• Indian open water swimmer Bhakti Sharma on 14 January
  2015 set a world record by swimming 1.4 miles in 52 minutes in one degree
  temperature in the Antarctic Ocean. She is the first Indian women as well as to
  achieve this feat.
• She broke the record of British open water swimming
  champion Lewis Pugh and American swimmer Lynne Cox.
• The 24-year old is now the first Asian girl and youngest
  in the world to have achieved this feat and now has conquered all the five
  oceans of the world.
• Bhakti’s quest was sponsored by Hindustan Zinc.