Current Affairs Update – 22nd January, 2016

Hello and welcome to ExamPundit. Here are the Important Current Affairs of 22nd January, 2016. These are important for the upcoming LIC AAO 2016 Exam.

• India will be the fastest growing major economy in the world
  in 2016, says the United Nations World Economic Situation and Prospects 2016
  report launched today.
• This report expects the Indian economy, which accounts for
  over 70 per cent of South Asia’s GDP, to grow 7.3 per cent in 2016 and 7.5 per
  cent in 2017, up from an estimated 7.2 per cent in 2015.
• South Asia is expected to be the world’s fastest growing region
  in 2016 and 2017 despite challenging global conditions, the report added.
• On India, the UN report noted that the macroeconomic
  environment has improved, helped by the sharp decline in the prices of oil,
  metals and food.
• Consumer and investor confidence has risen even as India’s
  Government faced difficulties in implementing its wide-ranging reform agenda
  and some economic indicators, such as industrial production, remain volatile,
  the report added.
• Asked what explained the optimism over India’s GDP seeing
  incremental growth improvement in coming years, Nagesh Kumar, Economist and
  Head,UN-ESCAP South and South West Asia Office, said that many of the reforms
  that are stalled now are expected to get on track.
• Moreover, the softening of global oil prices, which is the
  only silver lining for India, is expected to continue, especially after Iran
  coming on board.

• The government will pay banks a 2.5% commission to unlock
  the country’s massive stash of gold under a new monetisation scheme, the RBI
  said, as the ambitious plan received a poor response from banks and customers.
• Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the Gold Monetisation
  Scheme on November 5 to lure an estimated 20,000 tonnes of gold hoarded in
  households and temples into the banking system and trim the import bill of the
  world’s second-biggest gold consumer after China.
• However, only a few kilograms trickled in over the last two
  months as banks showed little interest in popularising the scheme because of
  negligible returns for them.
• Now, the government has decided to pay the participating
  banks a total commission of 2.5%, including 1.5% handling charges, for the
  first year, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said in a statement late on Thursday.

• Deposits in accounts opened under the government’s flagship
  financial inclusion programme —— Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) —— have
  crossed the Rs. 30,000 crore mark.
• As many as 20.38 crore bank accounts were opened under the
  PMJDY as on the January 20, as per the latest data available. These bank
  accounts had deposits of Rs. 30,638.29 crore (about $4.5 billion).
• The accounts that can be opened under PMJDY are Basic Savings
  Bank Deposit Accounts (BSBDA) which can be of zero balance, as per RBI
  guidelines.
• As per the trends available, the percentage of accounts with
  ‘Zero Balance’ have actually shown a significant decline.
• Accounts with no balance in them were as high as 76.81 per
  cent of the total opened under the scheme as on September 30, 2015. They have
  come down to just about 32 per cent at the end of December.
• The Finance Ministry data further showed that 8.74 crore of
  the accounts were seeded with Aadhaar and 17.14 crore account holders were
  issued RuPay cards.

• The Central Board of Direct Taxes on Friday signed seven
  more unilateral Advance Pricing Agreements (APAs) with taxpayers, taking the
  total number of such pacts to 39.
• “The seven APAs signed on Friday pertain to various sectors
  of the economy like investment advisory services, software development services
  and IT enabled Services. The agreements signed today also include one of the
  few agreements to be reached in the manufacturing sector,” said an official
  release.
• Tax authorities have signed 30 such agreements this fiscal.
  The APA scheme, which was introduced in 2012, tries to provide certainty to
  taxpayers in transfer pricing by specifying the method of pricing and setting
  the prices of international transactions in advance.
• The scheme provides certainty in transfer pricing up to a
  period of nine years and helps reduce tax disputes.

• The Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) on 18 January 2016 launched
  Algorithm Trading Test Environment (ATTE) service in partnership with Symphony
  Fintech Solutions Pvt Ltd.
• The BSE is Asia’s oldest stock exchange and, at present, is
  the world’s fastest stock exchange with a speed of 6 microseconds.

• This will enable all market participants to test their
  trading algorithms in Equity, Equity Derivative and Currency Derivative
  segments free of cost.
• The members will be able to test their trading strategies
  with live market data feed during market hours and historical market data.

• It is also known as Algo-Trading or Black-Box Trading.
• As per SEBI’s Broad Guidelines on Algorithmic Trading,
  released in March 2012, algorithmic trading is defined as any order that is
  generated using automated execution logic.

• Indian Bureau of Mines (IBM) and National Remote Sensing
  Centre (NRSC) on 21 January 2016 signed Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for
  monitoring mining activity through satellite technology.
• The MoU was signed by IBM Controller General R K Sinha and
  NRSC Director V K Dadhwal in the presence of joint secretary, Union Ministry of
  Mines, Subhash Chandra.
• The MoU helps in the sustainable development and responsible
  use of precious mineral resources and also checking any anomalies in mining
  activities by licensee.

• As part of the MoU, the IBM would set up an exclusive remote
  sensing cell under the technical guidance of the NRSC at its offices in Nagpur
  and Hyderabad.
• These cells utilise Bhuvan-based services for monitoring
  mining activities across the country.

• The term BEPS is an acronym of Base Erosion and Profit
  Shifting and it was in news in the third week of January 2016 as India decided
  to implement these guidelines.
• BEPS refers to tax planning strategies that would exploit
  the gaps and mismatches in tax rules to artificially shift profits to low or
  no-tax locations where there is little or no economic activity, resulting in
  little or no overall corporate tax being paid.
• These norms were announced by Organization for Economic
  Cooperation and Development (OECD) in October 2015 to close tax loopholes that
  it estimated cost countries upwards of 100 billion US dollars a year.

• The Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship
  (MSDE) in line with Prime Minister’s vision to make India the skill capital of
  the world, today signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Department of
  Telecommunication (DoT) to develop and implement National Action Plan for Skill
  Development in Telecom Sector, utilizing PSUs under DOT with a common objective
  of fulfilling skilled manpower requirement of the telecom sector and at the
  same time providing quality opportunities for employment / entrepreneurship.
• MSDE and DoT together have agreed to make concerted joint
  efforts towards skill development by facilitating mobilization of financial
  support for various activities under the National Ecosystem for Development of
  Telecom Skills by suggesting PSUs under DOT to utilize at least 20 percent of
  their CSR funds for skilling purposes.
• The Ministers also launched the Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas
  Yojna (PMKVY) Rupay ATM Cum Debit card from Bank of India which would be issued
  to the students with 1 Lac Rupee PA Insurance Cover.BOI also has its own
  “Online Portal” for opening the accounts of students in PMKVY Scheme. The
  Training partners are required to get themselves registered for this process
  with the bank.
• The two Ministers also flagged of the Skill Vans. These vans
  would travel to different parts of the country and provide skill development
  trainings to the youth. These vans would be equipped with facilities to provide
  skill development on the spot.

• The Chhattisgarh Government on 20 January 2016 signed a
  share-holding agreement with a few central government-run corporations for the
  second phase of Jagdalpur-Raoghat railway project.
• A special purpose vehicle (SPV)-Chhattisgarh Dakshin Railway
  Pvt Ltd-was constituted through the agreement to build 142 km railway line at a
  cost of 2000 crore rupees.
• The project aims at leading the economic development of tribal-dominated
  Bastar region.

• National Mines Development Corporation will have 43 percent
  stake in the SPV
• IRCON, a Ministry of Railways company, will have 26 percent
  stake in the SPV.
• SAIL will have 21 percent and Chhattisgarh Mines Development
  Corporation will have 10 percent stake in the SPV.

• Senior revenue service officer Atulesh Jindal on 21 January
  2016 was appointed chairman of Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT).
• Jindal will succeed A K Jain, who completes his term at the end
  of January 2016.
• The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has approved the
  appointment of Jindal as chairman of the apex policy-making body of the income
  tax department.

• Union Health Minister J P Nadda was today named by UN chief
  as a member of the first high-level UN advisory group of a global movement,
  that will address the major health challenges faced by women, children and
  adolescents.
• The high-level advisory group of ‘Every Woman Every Child’
  will be co-chaired by Michelle Bachelet Jeria, President of Chile and
  Hailemariam Dessalegn, Prime Minister of Ethiopia.
• The advisory group will help provide leadership and inspire
  ambitious action for women’s, children’s and adolescents’ health during the
  transition from the Millennium Development Goals to the universal Sustainable
  Development Goals agenda, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said in a statement.

• Senior revenue officer Ashok Kumar Mehta was today appointed
  as Private Secretary to President Pranab Mukherjee.
• Mehta, a 1987 batch Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officer, is
  working as Commissioner in Kolhapur, Maharashtra, as per his service records.
• The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) has approved
  the appointment of Mehta as PS to the President, an order issued by Department
  of Personnel and Training said.
• He has been appointed on co-terminus basis with the
  President’s tenure, it said.
• Mehta has been appointed in place of Rajneesh, a 1987 batch
  IAS officer of Himachal Pradesh cadre. Today’s order did not mention further
  posting of Rajneesh who was working as PS to the President since July 25, 2012.

• Moldovan parliament on 20 January 2016 appointed Pavel Filip
  as the Prime Minister. He would be the third prime minister of Moldova in less
  than a year.
• The appointment follows the rise and fall of two prime
  ministers in 2015, namely Chiril Gaburici ( June 2015) and Valeriu Strelet
  (October 2015).
• The small ex-Soviet state and Europe’s poorest country was
  in a political turmoil after the fraudulent disappearance of 1 billion US
  dollars from the banking system and then government was brought down in a
  no-confidence vote in October 2015.
• Pavel Filip, a member of the main pro-European coalition and
  a former IT and communications minister in the last government, followed the
  rejection of two previous candidates. His Candidature as a compromise figure
  was resisted by opposition as he was close aide of Vladimir Plahotniuc.

• The Nai Manzil scheme was on 20 January 2016 launched for
  the first time in Jammu and Kashmir. The scheme was launched for girls in
  Srinagar in three institutions- Skill Development Centre, University of Kashmir
  and two Madarsas.
• The two Madarsas are Madarsa Shahi-i-Hamdan in Pampore and
  Madarsa Imam Sadique in Shadipur, Bandipora.

• Under the scheme, girls from minority communities will be
  imparted three month skill development training in seven identified sectors
  relevant to the region.
• These include training in saffron processing, food
  processing, embroidery, computers IT (both software and hardware),
  Tourism/hospitality, electronics and plumbing.
• Trainees will also be given stipend of 4500 rupees for the
  course.

• Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu today launched a free
  high-speed public Wi-Fi service in collaboration with technology giant Google
  at Mumbai Central here, the first station in the country to get such facility.
• Terming the facility as “world class”, Prabhu said around
  100 busiest stations across the country will be brought under the free public
  Wi-Fi service by this year-end, making it the world’s largest such project.
• Terming it as a “historic day”, the minister said that his
  government was trying hard to develop sustainable infrastructure and to improve
  safety and security of the passengers and bring financial stability to the
  entity.
• The project of providing free Wi-Fi connectivity at 400
  railway stations across the country was announced last September during Prime
  Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the Google headquarters in the US.

• Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI), a US-based think-tank, on
  14 January 2016 released the 2016 Nuclear Security Index with the theme
  Building a Framework for Assurance, Accountability, and Action.
• The Index assessed global nuclear security conditions in 176
  countries in two areas – the potential theft of weapons-usable nuclear
  materials and the potential sabotage of nuclear facilities.
• Among the 24 states with one kilogram or more of
  weapons-usable nuclear materials in the world, while Australia was adjudged as
  the safest, India was among the least safe with the 21st rank.
• Among states with less than one kilogram of or no
  weapons-usable nuclear materials, Sweden ranks first, and Djibouti is the most
  improved.
• Sabotage ranking: Finland ranks first among the 45 states
  that have nuclear facilities vulnerable to sabotage.

• Person of Indian Origin Rahul Thakkar on 8 January 2016 was
  named as one of winners of the Scientific and Technical Awards given by the
  Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, famously called Oscar Awards.
• He shares the award with Richard Chuang in the category of
  groundbreaking design of the DreamWorks Animation Media Review System.
• He will receive the award at the Academy’s annual Scientific
  and Technical Awards Presentation on 13 February 2016 in Beverly Hills.
• With this he joined the club of other person of Indian
  origins who have won Oscar Awards. These are Bhanu Athaiya, Satyajit Ray, Resul
  Pookutty, A.R. Rahman and Gulzar.

• Scientists spotted the potential planet by seeing the
  disturbances that it is causing in the gravitational field of the far solar
  system. There appears to be a great perturber upsetting the movement of other
  objects in that far away region.
• Konstantin Batygin and Michael E. Brown, the researchers at
  the California Institute of Technology claimed it as a possible ninth planet
  and their research papers were published in The Astronomical Journal on 20
  January 2016 with the title ‘Evidence for a distant Giant Planet in the Solar
  System.’

• Ravindra Reddy, founder Chairman of MTAR, which supplies
  critical indigenously developed systems for India’s space and nuclear
  programmes, passed away on Thursday at the age of 77.
• From a small machine shop in Bala Nagar industrial area of
  Hyderabad, MTAR grew under his leadership to manufacture rocket engines that
  powered Mangalyaan (Indian mission to Mars). Over the years, the private
  company fabricated engines for the PSLV and GSLV launchers, which have put numerous
  satellites into space.
• The company has also created special facilities to make key
  components in nuclear power reactors. The Atomic Energy department fully
  trusted the company as it acquired the capabilities of building a nuclear
  reactor entirely on its own, a company release said.
• His engineering acumen brought him recognition in the form
  of awards such as Defence Technology Absorption Award from the Prime Minister
  (in 2004), INS Industrial Excellence award in 2003 from El Baradei, and
  Chairman of IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency).

• Italian director Ettore Scola passed away on 19 January 2016
  following a prolonged illness in Rome. He was 84.
• As a filmmaker, he was considered to be among the last of a
  generation of Italian greats with a keen eye for the issues facing his country.

Regards

Team ExamPundit

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