Current Affairs Update – 2nd September, 2015

Hello and welcome to ExamPundit. Here are the Important Current Affairs of 2nd September, 2015. These are Important for the upcoming IBPS PO V Exam.

Finance/Industry/Banking
RBI proposed marginal
cost of funds methodology to calculate Base Rate

  • The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on 1 September 2015 proposed
    a new methodology to calculate Base Rate (Base Rate). It is based on marginal
    cost of funds methodology.
  • The new methodology is aimed at bringing uniformity among
    BRs of banks so that they will be more sensitive to any changes in policy rates
    of the RBI like Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR), Statutory Liquidity Ratio (SLR), etc.
  • At present, banks are following different methodologies in
    computing their BR like on the basis of average cost of funds, marginal cost of
    funds or blended cost of funds (liabilities).
  • Under the proposed methodology, the components of BR will
    include cost of funds, negative carry on CRR/SLR, un-allocable overhead costs
    and average return on net worth.
  • The new methodology is expected to come into effect from 1
    April 2015.

India partnered with
UN’s Better Than Cash Alliance to speed up PMJDY Programme

  • Indian Government on 1 September 2015 partnered with the
    United Nations’ (UN) Better Than Cash Alliance to share success stories from
    the financial inclusion programme Pradhan Mantri Jan-Dhan Yojana (PMJDY).
  • By joining the Better Than Cash Alliance, the Indian
    Government will have a research, technical, and policy partner as it continues
    to create a digital financial economy.
  • The partnership is an extension of Indian Government’s
    commitment to reduce cash in its economy. Digital financial services lower the
    cost of providing financial services and make it more convenient for poor people
    to access their accounts.
  • The Better Than Cash Alliance is made up of governments,
    companies and international organizations.

FIIs/FPIs exempted
from MAT purview for the period prior to 1 April 2015
  • The Union Government on 1 September 2015 decided to exempt
    Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs)/ Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPIs) from
    paying Minimum Alternate Tax (MAT) for the period prior to 1 April 2015.
  • The decision was based on Justice A P Shah Committee’s
    report that was submitted to the Union Ministry of Finance on 25 August 2015.
    It is expected to improve ease of doing business conditions in the country.

Recommendations of
Justice A P Shah Committee
  • To bring an amendment to Section 115JB of the Income Tax
    (I-T) Act, 1961 clarifying the complete inapplicability of the MAT provisions
    to FIIs/FPIs (OR)
  • Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) may issue a circular
    clarifying the complete inapplicability of the MAT provisions to FIIs/FPIs.
  • In accordance with the above suggestions, the government
    decided to bring an amendment to the I-T Act, 1961.

Union Government
released 2000 crore rupees to EPS-95 as contribution for 2015-16
  • The Union Government on 1 September 2015 released 2000 crore
    rupees to Employee Pension Scheme, 1995 (EPS-95) as its contribution for the
    year 2015-16.
  • Further, a sum of 250 crore rupees was contributed as
    grant-in-aid for providing minimum pension of 1000 rupees to the pensioners of
    EPS-95.
  • The additional grant-in-aid became necessary as the Union
    Government directed the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) in
    September 2015 to provide for guaranteed minimum pension of 1000 rupees per
    month.

Uber to introduce
cash payment facility in Kolkata
  • Taxi aggregrator service Uber will expand the cash payment
    option to riders in Kolkata.
  • What this means is that those taking a ride in an Uber cab
    here in the city will have the option of paying in cash. This apart, riders can
    make payments through other regular options like digital wallets and plastic
    money.
  • According to a release issued by Uber, riders need to choose
    the cash payment option, take a ride and pay their driver directly in cash at
    the end of the trip.

Snapdeal acquires
Silicon Valley startup Reduce Data

  • Snapdeal has acquired Silicon Valley-based startup Reduce
    Data, a programmatic display advertising platform, the New Delhi-based online
    marketplace announced on Wednesday.
  • While the financial terms of the acquisition were not
    disclosed, the Reduce Data team will join Snapdeal, as the latter’s bid to
    build a world class discovery platform and associated tools for brands as well
    as over 200,000 sellers on the marketplace, the company said in a press
    statement.
  • This is the twelfth buyout announced by Snapdeal since 2010.
  • Founded in 2012 by Asif Ali, Reduce Data’s platform uses
    artificial intelligence, real-time data and other tools, to help brands deliver
    advertising strategies for consumers across platforms and devices.
  • In April, the company announced the acquisition of online
    recharge and payments platform Freecharge, for a reported $400 million.
    Separately, in May, it acquired mobile commerce startup Martmobi.

India’s wind energy
potential estimated at 302 GW
  • India’s installable wind energy potential has been estimated
    to be 302 GW with towers of a height of 100 metres.
  • This has been estimated by the National Institute of Wind
    Energy and the new findings were released in the form of a wind atlas launched
    by the Minister of State (Independent Charge) Power, Coal and New &
    Renewable Energy, Piyush Goyal, on Wednesday.
  • At the launch, Goyal said that the wind atlas can help
    states plan their transmission networks better to take more wind energy. “It
    can also help in development of hybrid solar and wind systems which would help
    stabilise the grid and better utilise the transmission network,” Goyal said.
  • Earlier, India’s wind energy potential was measured to be at
    around 100 GW with a tower height of 80 metres.

India emerged as 8th
largest tourism market for Australia
  • Australian trade minister Andrew Robb on 1 September 2015
    said that India has emerged as the 8th largest tourism market for Australia. In
    2014, over 2 lakh Indians visited the nation in and spent about 1 billion
    dollars which was an increase of 39 percent.
  • Earlier in 2013, India stood at 11th position.
  • Till date in 2015, a total number of 207000 Indians have
    visited Australia. This increase was supported by the 2015 ICC Cricket World
    Cup held in Australia and New Zealand.
  • Robb also said that India was one of the fastest growing
    markets and the result demonstrates that tourism is one of its strengths. He
    said that tourism can be its fastest growing sector this decade if it continues
    to leverage on the ‘clean, green and safe’ brand to position itself for
    tourism.

India
India now has 350
million Internet users

  • India has added 52 million Internet users in first six
    months of the year, taking the total user base to 352 million as on June 30,
    2015, industry body IAMAI said on Wednesday.
  • Interestingly, 213 million (over 60 per cent) users accessed
    the worldwide web through mobile devices.
  • “Internet in India has reached an inflection point. The
    consolidated numbers affirm the fact that Internet in India has now become
    inclusive, which augurs well for the industry and society at large,” the
    Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) said in a statement.
  • The number of Internet users has grown over 26 percent from
    278 million in October 2014. The number of mobile Internet users has also grown
    about 40 per cent from 159 million users in October last year.

West Central Railway
Zone became first zone to eliminate all Unmanned Level Crossings

  • The West Central Railway on 31 August 2015 became the first
    railway zone in the country to eliminate all Unmanned Level Crossings (ULCs).
    The headquarters of the zone is located in Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh.
  • Out of total 118 unmanned level crossings falling in the
    zone as on 1 April 2014, 80 were eliminated in the financial year 2014-15 and
    the remaining 38 were eliminated by 31 August 2015.
  • The safety initiative was achieved by constructing 33
    Limited Height Sub Ways (LHs) and manning of 30 level crossings.
  • In the 2015-16 railway budget, the government proposed to
    construct 970 Road Over Bridges (ROBs) and Road Under Bridges (RUBs) and other safety
    related works to eliminate 3438 level crossings across the country at an
    estimated cost of 6581 crore rupees.

Swachhata Sangraam
Abhiyaan in Indore to make it open defecation-free
  • Swachhata Sangraam Abhiyaan was launched in Indore district
    of Madhya Pradesh on 1 September 2015. On the occasion, over 100 public
    representatives donated 140 toilets for the poor.
  • The aim of the programme is to make the entire district open
    defecation-free by the end of the financial year 2015-16. Depalpur tehsil is
    going to be the first tehsil of the district to achieve this milestone.
  • The district collector P Narahari announced that the first
    three village panchayats to eradicate open defecation would be awarded the
    Ahilya Gram Puraskar. The winners would be given cash prize of 20 lakh rupees,
    15 lakh rupees, and 5 lakh rupees respectively.
  • He also announced that all panchayats that become open
    defecation free by 2 October 2015 would be given a cash prize of 3 lakh rupees
    each.

Sports
Sports ministry
recognizes Yoga as a sports discipline, places it in priority category

  • The Sports Ministry today decided to recognize Yoga as a
    sports discipline and place it in the Priority category.
  • The Ministry also decided to upgrade Fencing from ‘Others’
    to ‘General’ category, based on the past performance in major international
    events. It has also been decided to place ‘University Sports’ in the ‘Priority’
    category.
  • The Ministry today reviewed the categorization of various
    Sports disciplines and the revised categories of sports disciplines and the
    scale of financial assistance admissible to each category was conveyed to IOC
    and all recognized National Sports Federations on 23rd March, 2015.
  • It was also conveyed that ‘General’ category of sports
    disciplines shall be retained. Criteria for inclusion in this category and
    financial assistance to be provided will be separately issued.
  • It has now been decided by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and
    Sports that sports disciplines included in the multidiscipline mega events like
    Olympics, Asian Games, Commonwealth Games etc and which have obtained a ranking
    upto 8th in individual events and upto 10th in team events in Olympics/Asian
    Games/CWG or their respective Asian and World Championships shall be placed in
    ‘General’ category.

Mumbai won Buchi Babu
Memorial Trophy of Cricket
  • Mumbai on 1 September 2015 won the Buchi Babu Memorial
    Trophy in the All India invitation cricket tournament. In the final match
    played in Chennai, Mumbai defeated Tamil Nadu Cricket Association Districts
    (TNCA) XI by six wickets.
  • TNCA batting first was able to score 163 all out in 74 over,
    in response to which, Mumbai scored 166 for four in 45.2 over.
  • Mumbai’s Surya Kumar Yadav, was adjudged as the Man of the
    Series.

Durban to host XXII
Commonwealth Games in 2022

  • The Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) General Assembly on
    2 September 2015 selected South African city Durban as the host for the XXII
    Commonwealth Games.
  • With this, South Africa became the first country from Africa
    to host the games in its 85 years history.
  • The games are scheduled to start on 18 July 2022 to mark the
    birth anniversary of South African anti-apartheid revolutionary Nelson Mandela.
  • So far, South Africa successfully hosted the three biggest
    single-sport events— Rugby world cup (1995), the ICC ODI world cup (2003), and
    FIFA world cup (2010). Commonwealth games will be the first biggest
    multi-disciplinary event to be held in the country.

Awards
& Honors –
India won UNESCO’s
Award of Excellence 2015 for conserving Sree Vadakkunnathan Temple
  • India on 1 September 2015 won the UNESCO prize Award of
    Excellence 2015 for the conserving the Sree Vadakkunnathan Temple of Kerala.
    The award was given in the category of UNESCO Asia Pacific Heritage Award for
    Cultural Heritage Conservation.
  • While, the Xieng Thong Temple in Luang Prabang won the
    UNESCO Award of Merit and became the first project in Lao PDR to receive the
    UNESCO Asia‐Pacific Heritage Award.
  • The Award of Excellence for the Conservation of Sree
    Vadakkunnathan Temple at Thrissur in Kerala recognizes the remarkable
    conservation effort undertaken at the sacred site which employed age‐old
    rituals and conservation techniques drawn from vastu shastra.
  • As such, the tangible attributes of the temple are
    inextricably linked with its intangible heritage which dates back to
    generations, thus ensuring that spirit of place resonates throughout the site.

Appointments
Dinesh Kumar Likhi
took charge as CMD of Mishra Dhatu Nigam Limited
  • Dinesh Kumar Likhi on 1 September 2015 took charge as the
    Chairman-cum-Managing Director (CMD) of Mishra Dhatu Nigam Limited (MIDHANI).
    Prior to this appointment, he was Director (Production & Marketing) of
    MIDHANI itself.
  • Likhi succeeded M Narayana Rao. As a CMD of MIDHANI, he will
    be expected to contribute in a bigger way in research, development, manufacture
    and supply of critical alloys and products of national security and strategic
    importance for defence, aerospace and atomic energy.

Books
& Authors –
The Duels of the
Himalayan Eagle authored by Air Marshal Bharat Kumar released
  • The Indian Air Force (IAF) commissioned book, The Duels of
    the Himalayan Eagle: The first Indo-Pak Air War was released on 1 September
    2015. The book was released by Vice President Mohd. Hamid Ansari at the
    inauguration of the Tri-Services Seminar to commemorate the Golden Jubilee
    celebrations of the India-Pakistan War of 1965 in New Delhi.
  • The war’s golden jubilee celebrations will last from 28
    August to 22 September 2015.
  • The author, who was a young fighter pilot during the
    1965-war, has tried to club official records, squadron diaries and veteran
    accounts of the war in the book.

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Daily
Expected Questions on Stock GK:


1. Bucharest is the
capital city of which country?
– Romania
2. Which of the
following is the State Animal of Arunachal Pradesh?
– Hoolock gibbon
3. Narora Atomic
Power Station is located in which state?
– Uttar Pradesh
4. Raiganj Wildlife
Sanctuary is located in which state?
– West Bengal
5. Kempegowda
International Airport is located in which city/state?
– Bengaluru, Karnataka

Regards

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