Current Affairs Update – 25th Feb, 2015

In today Current Affairs, We have news on :

Finance/Banking/Budget

ICICI Prudential Life
AUM crosses
` 1 trillion

  • Private insurer ICICI Prudential Life Insurance today said
    it has crossed the `
    1-trillion mark in Assets Under Management (AUM).
  • The company’s digitisation drive provided a hassle free
    on—boarding experience for customers, simultaneously enhancing organisational
    efficiencies and built capacity for the distribution network, he added.
  • Having started operations in December 2000, the AUM garnered
    for the year ending March 31, 2001, was a little over ` 1 billion.
  • ICICI Prudential Life Insurance is a joint venture between
    ICICI Bank and Prudential PLC, a leading international financial services group
    headquartered in the United Kingdom.

Canara Bank launches
multiple cards in tie-up with MasterCard
  • Canara Bank launched three card variants on Wednesday in
    partnership with MasterCard targeting the high income group customers, small
    and mid-sized businessmen and students headed for overseas studies.
  • The Canara Credit Card World is targeted at high-end
    customers with minimum net annual income of 7.5 lakh and comes with additional
    security features.
  • The Canara Business Debit Card is targeted at SME
    businessmen and is laced with higher daily cash withdrawal and purchase limits
    for meeting the higher spend pattern of business segments.
  • The Canara International Travel Prepaid Card is designed to
    suit the travel needs of foreign travellers and students pursuing studies
    abroad. This multi-currency prepaid card is valid for 5 years and enables the
    traveller to use the card in local currency in multiple countries saving the
    cross currency exchange load.

Union Government
accepted 14th Finance Commission recommendations

  • Union Government in the third week of February 2015 accepted
    the recommendations of the 14th Finance Commission. The commission headed by
    former Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Dr. YV Reddy seeks to provide more
    power to the states for their progress.
  • This devolution of more share of revenue to states through
    tax revenue is an indicator of Union Government’s commitment to move away from
    One Size Fits All approach.

Recommendations of
the 14th Finance Commission
  • Tax devolution should be the primary route for transfer of
    resources to the states
  • The increased devolution of the divisible pool of taxes is a
    compositional shift in transfers – from grants to tax devolution
  • The panel recommended horizontal distribution by using broad
    parameters like population (1971) and changes in population since then, income
    distance, forest cover and area among others
  • Distribution of grants to States and local body was
    recommended by using 2011 population data with weight of 90 percent and area
    with weight of 10 percent
  • Grants to States should be divided into two and they are

a)
Grant to duly constituted Gram Panchayats
b)
Grant to duly constituted municipal bodies
  • Grants should be divided into two parts and they include,
    basic grants – depending upon the performance of the gram panchayats and
    municipal bodies. The ration of basic to performance grant is 90:10 for
    Panchayats and 80:20 for municipalities
  • It recommended a total grant of 287436 core rupees for a
    five-year period. Of this fund, 200292 crore rupees will go for panchayats
    while the remainder will go to the municipalities.

India
Delhi Government
launched mLiquorSaleCheck Mobile App to put cap on sale of illicit liquor
  • The Delhi Government on 24 February 2015 launched a mobile
    application mLiquorSaleCheck for the benefit of the customers and to put a cap
    on sale of illicit liquor. The App will provide detailed information about the
    liquor being sold in the city.
  • The application is expected to confirm the authenticity of
    the liquor and bridge gaps in system adoption. The application will also prevent
    the circulation of counterfeit products and help the Excise Department with
    information on where spurious, illicit liquor sale is rampant.

Delhi CM Included in
NITI Aayog Governing Council
  • Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has been made a member
    of the Governing Council of newly-formed NITI Aayog, which has Prime Minister
    Narendra Modi as it chairman.
  • Kejriwal has come in place of national capital territory’s Lieutenant
    Governor Najeeb Jung.
  • The Centre has issued a notification regarding composition
    of the Governing Council of NITI Aayog for amending its Cabinet Resolution
    through which the new body was created.

MP governor Ram
Naresh Yadav tenders resignation after he is named in exam scam

  • Madhya Pradesh governor Ram Naresh Yadav on Wednesday sent
    his resignation after the Union home ministry asked Yadav to step down after he
    was named in an exam scam in the state.
  • The STF probing the MPPEB scam registered an FIR against Ram
    Naresh Yadav in connection with alleged irregularities in recruitment of forest
    guards under various sections of IPC, including 420 for cheating.
  • Yadav is perhaps the first Indian governor to be booked in a
    cheating case.

World Bank report
Building Resilience for Sustainable Development of the Sundarbans
  • World Bank in January 2014 released a strategy report titled
    Building Resilience for Sustainable Development of the Sundarbans. The report
    states that the environmental damage in the climate change-hit islands of
    Sundarbans is costing India a sum of 1290 crore rupees annually.
  • The report was jointly prepared by the World Bank in
    collaboration with the West Bengal government.

World
Abdul Jabbar
sentenced to life imprisonment for war crimes in Bangladesh
  • Former Jatiya Party lawmaker Abdul Jabbar was sentenced to
    life imprisonment on 24 February 2015 by the International Crimes Tribunal-1 in
    Bangladesh. He was also fined 10 lakh taka in absentia. Jabbar has been absconding
    since the trial started.
  • He was sentenced for crimes committed during the Liberation
    War in 1971. The tribunal chaired by Justice M Enayetur Rahim in its verdict
    said that if Jabbar fails to submit the fine then his jail term would be
    extended by two years.

Google acquired
Facebook mobile marketing startup Toro
  • Google on 24 February 2015 acquired Facebook mobile
    marketing startup Toro.  Toro Company is
    best known for its Facebook ad campaigns. The financial terms of the deal were
    not disclosed.
  • The acquisition will shift Toro’s focus away from Facebook.
    The company will continue to optimize campaigns and update dashboards for
    existing marketing customers. However, it won’t create new campaigns for the
    time being.

US announced to allow
work permits to spouses of H-1B visa holders from May 2015

  • The United States (US) on 24 February 2015 announced that it
    would allow work permits to spouses of H-1B visa holders from 26 May 2015.
  • The move will benefit thousands of talented and professional
    Indian spouses who come to America but are unable to work.
  • Currently, spouses of H-1B visa-holders are not eligible to
    work. However, The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) will begin
    accepting applications for work visas from H-1B spouses from 26 May 2015.
  • The USCIS said the Department of Homeland Security was
    extending the eligibility for employment authorisation (EAD) to certain H4
    dependent spouses of H-1B non-immigrants who are seeking employment-based
    Permanent Residency.

Awards

Marathi Writer DM
Mirasdar Selected for The Vinda Karandikar Jeevan Gaurav Puraskar

  • The Vinda Karandikar Jeevan Gaurav Puraskar will be
    conferred on well-known Marathi writer D M Mirasdar.
  • This was announced by Maharashtra Government today.
  • Mirasdar, known for his humorous stories, will be given the
    award, which carries a cash prize of `
    5 lakh, for his contribution to Marathi literature.
  • The award has been named after Vinda Karandikar, a noted
    Marathi poet, writer and translator, who was conferred the prestigious Jnanpith
    Award in 2003.
  • The P U Bhagwat Award will be given to Keshav Bhikaji
    Dhavale Publication house, which is more than a century-old book publishing
    entity. The award carries a cash prize of `
    3 lakh.

Kristen Stewart won
the Best Supporting Actress Award at France’s Cesar Awards

  • Kristen Stewart on 20 February 2015 won the Best Supporting
    Actress Award at France’s Cesar Awards. She received the award for her
    performance in Clouds of Sils Maria.
  • With this, she became the first American actress ever to win
    a trophy at France’s Cesar Awards.
  • Previously, Julia Migenes was nominated for her performance
    in the film Carmen, however, she could not win the award.
  • The last American actor to win an award at France’s Cesar
    Award was Adrien Brody who won for the film The Pianist.

Books
PR Mohana Rao
authored a book titled Flora of Guntur City Andhra Pradesh
  • The book titled Flora of Guntur City Andhra Pradesh authored
    by PR Mohana Rao throws an exhaustive treatise on the wealth of flora in Guntur
    City. The book is the only available and authentic work that throws light in
    the numerous species of plant and trees in Guntur.
  • The book carries information on 431 flowering plants, shrubs
    and trees belonging to 76 families of angiosperms. The families of the plants,
    shrubs and trees have been arranged systematically on the basis of Bentham and
    Hooker System of Classification.

India’s Growth
Resurgence: Sectorial Issues and Governance Risks – Yerram Raju, M Sitarama
Murthy
and Singala Subbaiah
  • A book on `India’s Growth Resurgence: Sectorial Issues and
    Governance Risks’ jointly authored by Yerram Raju, M Sitarama Murthy and
    Singala Subbaiah will be released by Banking Ombudsman (AP & Telangana) B Krishna
    Mohan here on Thursday.
  • B S R Rao, former RBI Chair Professor, Gokhale Institute of
    Economics and Politics, Pune and Director of Institute of Public Enterprise, RK
    Mishra, will participate as the guests of honour in the function to be held in
    the Centre for Economic and Social Studies here.
  • While Yerram Raju is an economist, Sitarama Murthy was
    former managing director of State Bank of Mysore and Subbaiah is General
    Manager, RBI.

Appointments

Ravi Chaudhary
appointed as Executive Director for Regions and Centre Operations at FAA
  • Indian-American Ravi Chaudhary was on 24 February 2015
    appointed as Executive Director for Regions and Centre Operations at Federal
    Aviation Administration (FAA). Under this key position, Chaudhary will oversee
    aviation operations in nine different regions.
  • Chaudhary will be responsible for executing a 288 million US
    dollars operating budget of FAA and will lead over 2100 Federal Employees in
    nine nationwide regions.

Obituaries

Cinematographer-Director
A Vincent Passes Away

  • Noted cinematographer-director A Vincent died at a private
    hospital here today after a brief illness at the age of 86.
  • The multilingual director is survived by wife, two sons and
    two daughters.
  • Born in June 1928 in Kerala, Vincent arrived in Chennai when
    he was barely 20 and began his career in cinema with Gemini Studios as an
    assistant cameraman.
  • Vincent had directed 55 movies in Tamil, Telugu and
    Malayalam films and has worked as a cinematographer in 250 Tamil, Telugu,
    Malayalam and Hindi films, Ajayan said.
  • “Bhargavi Nilayam” (Malayalam, 1964)
    “Murappennu” (Malayalam 1965) were among his noted directorial
    ventures.
  • Vincent brought MT Vasudevan Nair, popular Malayalam
    novelist to cinema through “Murappenu”.
  • Former Chief Minister and AIADMK Supremo Jayalalithaa’s
    100th movie “Thirumangalyam” (Tamil, 1974) was directed by him.

Books For 2015 Banking/Insurance Exams

This post was last modified on July 20, 2019 12:10 pm