Current Affairs Update – 23rd October, 2015

• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on 22 October 2015 issued a
  Direction to all Scheduled Commercial Banks (excluding Regional Rural Banks) on
  implementation of the Gold Monetisation Scheme, 2015 notified by the Union
  Government.
• The RBI issued the direction to banks in exercise of powers
  conferred on it under Section 35A of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949.
• The GMS 2015 will replace the existing Gold Deposit Scheme,
  1999.

• The deposits outstanding under the Gold Deposit Scheme will
  be allowed to run till maturity unless the depositors prematurely withdraw
  them.
• Resident Indians (Individuals, HUF, Trusts including Mutual
  Funds/Exchange Traded Funds registered under SEBI (Mutual Fund) Regulations and
  Companies) can make deposits under the scheme.
• The minimum deposit at any one time shall be raw gold (bars,
  coins, jewellery excluding stones and other metals) equivalent to 30 grams of
  gold of 995 fineness.
• There is no maximum limit for deposit under the scheme.
• The gold will be accepted at the Collection and Purity
  Testing Centres (CPTC) certified by Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) and
  notified by the Central Government under the Scheme.
• The deposit certificates will be issued by banks in
  equivalence of 995 fineness of gold.
• The principal and interest of the deposit under the scheme
  will be denominated in gold.
• The designated banks will accept gold deposits under the
  Short Term (1-3 years) Bank Deposit (STBD) as well as Medium (5-7 years) and
  Long (12-15 years) Term Government Deposit Schemes. While, STBD will be
  accepted by banks on their own account, but the latter will be on behalf of
  Union Government.

• Paytm, leading mobile payment and ecommerce platform has
  tied up with Bank of Maharashtra to offer mobile wallet top up facility through
  bank ATMs. This facility is aimed at helping Bank of Maharashtra’s customers
  having debit cards to top up their Paytm Wallet through any of the Bank’s 1800
  ATMs. The facility will be expended to more banks in the future, company
  officials said.
• “This first of its kind wallet top up feature through the
  Bank ATMs is bound to make transactions easier and more accessible to everyone
  and we see this as a significant step towards powering cash free transactions,”
  said Nitin Misra, Vice President, Paytm.
• Bank of Maharashtra debit card users will now be able to
  make their mobile or utility bills payment, shop online at several destinations
  or pay for services such as cab fare and more, by topping up their Paytm mobile
  wallets through the bank’s ATM network.

• Karnataka Vikas Grameena Bank (KVG Bank), a Dharward–based
  Regional Rural Bank (RRB) sponsored by Syndicate Bank, plans to lend ₹150 crore under the Rajiv
  Gandhi Chaitanya Yojane in Karnataka.
• The bank recently entered into a memorandum of understanding
  (MoU) with the State Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Department along with
  Sanjivini, an NGO, for implementing the Rajiv Gandhi Chaitanya Yojane.
• According Nukala, the scheme is targeted at unemployed
  youths aged between 18 years and 35 years, whose applications are to be routed
  through the gram panchayats. The panchayats in nine districts of north
  Karnataka have to select 40 youths each by conducting gram sabhas.
• The bank, through its Vikas Janashakti scheme, has
  strengthened the rural credit delivery system by motivating people to take up
  income-generating activities by providing micro finance at the grassroot level.

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 22 October 2015 laid the
  foundation stone of Shri Venkateswara Mobile and Electronics Manufacturing Hub
  in Tirupati in Andhra Pradesh. The hub will be a dedicated mobile handset
  manufacturing facility.
• The foundation stone of this mobile handset manufacturing
  facility was laid during PM’s visit to Andhra Pradesh to lay the foundation
  stone for new Andhra Pradesh capital Amaravati.
• Shri Venkateswara Mobile & Electronics Manufacturing Hub
  will create more than 10000 jobs within a year. The hub is expected to
  contribute at least 5 percent of all-India target of 15 lakh jobs by 2019.

• The Union Ministry of Urban Development on 22 October 2015
  gave its nod to the first batch of state level Action Plans under Atal Mission
  for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT). The approved Action Plans
  have a total of 143 projects in 89 AMRUT cities in Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat and
  Rajasthan.
• The State Annual Action Plans (SAAP) worth 2786.28 crore
  rupees were cleared by inter-ministerial Apex Committee of AMRUT for 89 cities
  in the three states.
• It is for the first time that the Urban Development Ministry
  approved state level plans unlike the past practice of appraising and approving
  individual projects.
• Gujarat proposed SAAP entailed an investment of 1204.42
  crore rupees, Rajasthan entailed an investment of 919 crore rupees and Andhra
  Pradesh proposed an investment of 662.86 crore rupees.
• Gujarat will take up sewerage projects in 25 AMRUT cities at
  a cost of 916 crore rupees and water supply schemes in 11 cities with an
  investment of 233.65 crore rupees.
• Rajasthan will take up sewerage schemes in 6 cities at a
  cost of 555 crore rupees and water supply projects in 10 cities at a cost of
  344 crore rupees.
• Andhra Pradesh will focus on water supply in 26 AMRUT cities
  at a cost of 646.29 crore rupees and provision of green spaces and parks in 30
  cities at a cost of 16.57 crore rupees.
• Union Government will provide an assistance of 50 percent of
  project cost for cities with a population of up to 10 lakhs each and one third
  of project cost for cities with a population of above 10 lakhs each.

• Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe was on 22 October 2015
  awarded with the 2015 Confucius Peace Prize by China for supposedly injecting
  fresh energy into the global quest for harmony. The Prize is dubbed as Chinese
  equivalent of the Nobel Peace Prize.
• He was awarded for overcoming a number of difficulties and
  for contributing to building the government, economy and order in the country
  while continuing to work at the age of 91 actively for African peace.

• Kashmir’s versatile folk singer Abdul Rashid Hafiz was today
  honoured with the Sangeet Natak Akademi award by President Pranab Mukherjee at
  a function here attended by some of the country’s finest musicians, dancers and
  theatre artists.
• The 61-year-old singer was among the 40 artists who received
  the 2014 Akademi awards from the hands of the President in the Durbar Hall of
  the Rashtrapati Bhawan for their contribution to music, dance, theatre,
  traditional and folk music, puppetry as well as scholarships in the performing
  arts.
• The citation described Hafiz as the king of Kashmiri folk
  singing, who had represented his state in many prestigious festivals. A top
  grade artist of AIR and Doordarshan, he has also won other awards including one
  from the state government.
• Hafiz said later that it was an honour not only to him but
  also a recognition of the best traditions of the Kashmiri music.
• He is the third singer from the state to have won the
  prestigious award, the other two having been Raj Begum and Ali Mohammed Shaikh.

• Chinese President Xi Jinping and British Prime Minister
  David Cameron on 21 October 2015 signed Strategic Investment Agreements at a
  UK-China Business Summit at Mansion House in London during the official visit
  of Xi Jinping.
• Under the agreement, China will help the UK in building
  three nuclear plants including Hinkley Point C nuclear plant, which will be the
  first since 1980s.
• The deal was signed between China General Nuclear Power
  Corporation (CGN) and France’s EDF.

• First World Indigenous Games started in Brazil on 23 October
  2015 in the northern Brazilian city of Palmas. The game will end on 31 October
  2015.
• The games are a multi-sport event involving indigenous
  athletes has around 2000 athletes participating from many indigenous ethnic
  groups and 30 countries like Ethiopia, Mongolia, Brazil, Australia, Russia, the
  Philippines, Ethiopia and New Zealand.
• The participants on 22 October 2015 took part in a
  traditional fire lighting ceremony in Palmas’s central square and danced at the
  ceremony in traditional outfits.

• Former South African all-rounder Jacques Kallis was on 22
  October 2015 appointed as the Head Coach of the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR)
  team. He succeeds Trevor Bayliss, who was appointed as the Head Coach of
  England earlier in 2015.
• Kallis will be assisted by another legend Pakistan’s Wasim
  Akram, who has been serving as the team’s Bowling Coach for the past few
  seasons.
• Kallis has been a part of Kolkata Knight Riders team since
  2011 when he was brought in as a player at a fee of 1.1 million US dollars.
  Prior joining KKR, he played for Royal Challengers Bangalore in the initial
  three editions of the Indian Premier League (IPL).

• Bollywood singer and songwriter Labh Janjua was found dead
  at his Mumbai residence on 22 October 2015. He was 56.
• The singer was most famous for songs like Jee Karda from
  Akshay Kumar’s Singh is Kinng, Dance Pe Chance from Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi, Soni
  De Nakhre from Partner and London Thumka from Queen, among others.
• Janjua was also known for his Punjabi-bhangra style singing.

Regards

Team ExamPundit

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