Current Affairs Update – 21 Jan, 2015

Finance/Business/Economy News
1. Pradhan Mantri Jan
Dhan Yojna made it to Guinness World Records

  • Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojna(PMJDY) on 20 January 2015
    made it to Guinness Book of World Records.
  • Indian Banks opened 11.50 crore accounts under the
    Pradhan Mantri Jan-Dhan Yojana in a short span of five months. The feat was
    commended by the Guinness Book of World Records.
  • Out of the total account opened, 5.68 crore accounts
    belonged to male and 5.82 crore account belonged to females. In percentage
    terms, 49.37 % accounts belonged to male while 50.63% accounts belonged to
    females.
  • 6.84 crore accounts were opened in rural areas which is
    59.49%  of the total accounts opened
    while in urban area  4.66 crore accounts
    were opened which is 40.51%.
  • In August 2014, Indian Government set a target of opening
    up 10 crore accounts to pass on benefits of various social security schemes to
    the account holders.
  • Now, Government will transfer annual subsidy of around
    51029 crore rupees directly to bank accounts of 15.45 crore beneficiaries,
    plugging system leakages.
  • PMJDY was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in
    August 2014. The scheme was launched for opening the most bank accounts—about
    1.80 crore— in one week as part of the financial inclusion campaign.

2. CII and Alibaba
signed agreement to provide global platform to Indian SMEs

  • Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and China’s
    e-commerce giant Alibaba on 20 January 2015 signed an agreement to provide
    global platform to Indian small and medium enterprises (SMEs).
  • The agreement will facilitate greater economic engagement
    between Indian and Chinese SMEs.
  • Alibaba.com and CII will collaborate and develop various
    trade opportunities and online promotions to facilitate greater economic
    engagement between Indian and Chinese small and medium enterprises (SMEs). CII
    and Alibaba.com will also work jointly towards providing trainings, promoting
    Industry clusters for SMEs in some key business sectors.
  • Alibaba will work with CII to run their e-certificates
    programmes in India. The agreement is a step forward in forging greater
    partnerships, engagement between Indian and global business especially among
    SMEs.
  • India’s manufacturing and services sector will be able to
    achieve the objectives of building greater India-China SME engagement by
    benefiting with the expertise of Alibaba.com in the digital space.

3. ILO released report
tittled World Employment and Social Outlook – Trends 2015
  • International Labour Organisation (ILO) on 20 January
    2015 released a report tittled World Employment and Social Outlook – Trends
    2015 (WESO).
  • The report warned that unemployment will continue to rise
    in the coming years, as the global economy has entered a new period combining
    slower growth, widening inequalities and turbulence.
  • By 2019, more than 212 million people will be out of
    work, up from the current 201 million.
  • The employment situation has improved in the United States
    and Japan, but remains difficult in a number of advanced economies,
    particularly in Europe.

News Related to India and Indian Polity


4. India is world’s second most trusting
nation: survey
  • Moving up
    the ranks, India has emerged as the second most trusted country in the world in
    terms of faith reposed on its institutions even as globally trust levels have
    fallen, says a survey.
  • As the
    world’s rich and powerful gather in the Swiss resort of Davos, a study by
    public relations firm Edelman has found that general level of trust in
    institutions among college-educated people around the globe are at levels not
    seen since 2009 in many of the markets it surveyed.
  • Trust in
    institutions in India has improved sharply in 2015 with the country moving up
    three notches to the second place among 27 nations.
  • While the
    number of “truster” countries are at an all-time low of six in 2015 including
    UAE, India, China and Netherlands, the number of “distruster” countries has
    grown significantly to 13 including Japan, Russia, Hong Kong, South Africa and
    Italy.
  • Brazil,
    Malaysia, France and the US are among the 8 “neutral” nations as per the trust
    index, the survey said.
  • India,
    which last year saw the BJP-led NDA government storming to power at the Centre,
    stands tall.
  • According
    to the report, an “alarming evaporation of trust” has happened across all
    institutions, reaching the lows of the Great Recession in 2009.
  • Trust in
    government, business, media and NGOs in the general population is below 50 per
    cent in two-thirds of countries, including the U.S., U.K. and Germany, it said.

5. Hindi Novel Farishta authored by Kapil
Isapuri
  • Hindi
    novel Farishta was in news in the fourth week of January 2015 after its author
    Kapil Isapuri accused the makers of film PK of plagiarism. The book was
    published in 2013.
  • The
    novelist Isapuri approached the Delhi High Court and claimed that certain
    portions of the film like characters, expression of ideas and sequences were
    stolen from his novel Farishta and was used in the film.
  • He sought
    punitive damages of 1 crore rupees from the filmmakers along with the credit of
    his work.

6. Netherlands, Thailand inked MoU with
Sikkim to help in development of floriculture
  • State
    government of Sikkim on 20 January 2015 inked Memorandum of Understanding (MoU)
    with governments of the Netherlands and Thailand for development of
    floriculture in the state. This deal will help the state to reach out to the
    international market.

Features of the MoU
  • Governments
    of the Netherland and Thailand will provide expertise and technology to develop
    hybrid Sikkim’s Cymbidium and other orchids and also cut flowers
  • They will
    help the state in marketing and transportation of flowers

7. India signed an agreement on transfer of
sentenced persons with Hong Kong
  • India on
    20 January 2015 signed an agreement on transfer of sentenced persons with Hong
    Kong Special Administrative Region.
  • Under the
    agreement, the two sides will exchange sentenced prisoners in each other’s
    jurisdiction. The agreement will mostly apply to Indian prisoners as there are
    very few Hong Kong residents in Indian prisons.
  • There are
    at present 93 Indians in Hong Kong jails. Only 17 of them are undergoing
    sentence for serious crimes like drug dealing while most of the remaining
    prisoners have been jailed for relatively minor offenses like immigration law
    violation.
  • The two
    sides have been engaged in discussions on this issue for a long time and it is
    only now that an agreement has been reached. The agreement will add to the
    existing framework of institutional cooperation between the two sides.
  • India has
    similar agreements on exchange of prisoners with several other countries but
    none with Mainland China.

8. NTCA released report on Status of Tigers
in India, 2014

  • The latest
    report on Status of Tigers in India, 2014 showed 30 percent increase in tiger
    population to 2226 from 1706 in 2010. India now has 70 per cent of the tiger
    population in the world. The report was released by National Tiger Conservation
    Authority (NTCA).
  • The
    largest increase was recorded in the Western Ghats Landscape complex comprising
    Kerala, Karnataka, Goa and Tamil Nadu 
    with 776 tigers (up from 402 in 2006).
  • In 2006,
    the number of tigers in Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Karnataka were 76, 46 and 290 respectively.
    In 2014, the number of tiger increased to 229, 136 and 406 in Tamil Nadu,
    Kerala and Karnataka respectively.
  • The
    Mudumalai-Bandipur-Nagarahole-Wayanad complex holds the world’s single largest
    tiger population currently estimated at over 570 tigers.
  • Goa now
    has a persistent tiger presence with three to five animals. The tiger
    population had increased in Karnataka, Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu
    and Kerala. Odisha reported a fall in number.
  • The
    Periyar Tiger Reserve of Kerala on 20 January 2015 won the National Tiger
    Conservation Authority (NTCA) biennial award. It was awarded for encouraging
    local public participation in managing the reserve.

International News
9. EU decided to lift
ban on import of mangoes from India

  • European Union (EU) on 20 January 2015 decided to lift a
    seven-month-long ban on the import of mangoes from India. The proposal to lift
    the ban was voted unanimously by the European Commission’s standing committee
    on plant health.
  • India will be able to start the export again after a new
    EU legislation is formally adopted and published by the European Commission.
  • The decision to lift the ban was made after India, the
    world’s biggest producer of Mangoes made significant improvements in plant
    health controls and certification system.
  • The Commission’s Food and Veterinary Office in India in
    September 2014 carried out an audit and showed significant improvements in the
    phytosanitary export certification system.
  • However, imports of four other products namely
    aubergines, bitter gourds, snake gourds and patra leaves, remain suspended
    subject to sustained improvements in plant pest control.
  • European Union issued a temporary ban on import of Indian
    mangoes on 1 May 2014 after fruit flies and other quarantine pests were found
    in 207 consignments. The consignment infested with fruit flies were found by
    authorities in Brussels. The ban was supposed to be effective till December
    2015.