Current Affairs Update – 3rd March, 2015



        Today’s Topics

   •  Banking/Insurance
   •  India
   •  Awards
   •  Sports
   •  Report/List

Banking/RBI/Insurance
Insurance Bill
Introduced in Lok Sabha Amid Opposition

  • The Insurance Laws Amendment Bill was introduced in the Lok
    Sabha today to replace an ordinance in this regard, amid stiff opposition from
    Left and TMC.
  • The bill seeks to raise foreign investment cap to 49 per
    cent in the insurance sector and provides for imprisonment of up to 10 years
    for selling policies without registration with the regulator IRDA.
  • The Insurance Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2015, will also allow
    PSU general insurers to raise funds from the capital market and provides for
    increased penalty to deter multilevel marketing of insurance products.
  • Under the new provisions, the Life Insurance Council and the
    General Insurance Council would act as self-regulating bodies for the sector.

RBI Refuses to Share
Inspection Reports With Intelligence Agencies

  • The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has refused to share its
    banks’ inspection reports on alleged money laundering laws and other violations
    with Central Economic Intelligence Bureau (CEIB), citing legal hurdles.
  • The RBI was required to share relevant extracts of
    inspection reports with law enforcement agencies and CEIB, an apex intelligence
    agency under the Finance Ministry, to check black money and other financial
    crimes where gross violations of Know Your Customer (KYC) guidelines and
    Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) are noticed, official sources said.
  • It had earlier given assurance about sharing of information
    relating to Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) violations with CEIB, which
    they share with Enforcement Directorate (ED), they said.

India
Bill to Introduce
Auctioning in Mines Passed by LS
  • A bill seeking to introduce the system of auction of mines
    to enhance transparency and augment mineral production was passed in Lok Sabha
    today, with the government terming it a “revolutionary” step.
  • The Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation)
    Amendment Bill, 2015, which will replace an ordinance promulgated in January,
    was passed amid vociferous protests by members from TMC, BJD and RSP.
  • Wrapping up the debate on the legislation, Steel and Mines
    Minister Narendra Singh Tomar said the bill once enacted will increase
    transparency, end discretion, augment production and benefit the local population.
  • Noting that iron ore production had gradually declined to
    152 million tonnes in 2013-14 from 218 million tonnes in 2009-10 and its export
    fell to 16 million tonnes from 47 million tonnes, he said the ordinance was the
    need of the hour as the crisis in the mining sector has been increasing.

IRCTC Launches
Concierge Service at New Delhi Station

  • In order to facilitate last mile connectivity to passengers
    and tourists, the IRCTC has launched concierge services at New Delhi railway
    station.
  • The service aims to facilitate train passengers at the
    station in hiring a porter, getting information regarding running status of the
    trains, and arranging a taxi for dropping the passenger to his residence or
    hotel, a senior IRCTC official said.
  • Concierge service is operational on a pilot basis at New
    Delhi railway station and the response is so far very encouraging, the official
    said, adding, IRCTC plans to launch the services at other major stations
    including tourist destinations on railways network.

ECI launched National
Electoral Roll Purification and Authentication Programme
  • The Election Commission of India (ECI) on 3 March 2015
    launched National Electoral Roll Purification and Authentication Programme
    (NERPAP) throughout India. The programme was launched with the prime objective
    to bring a total error-free and authenticated electoral roll.
  • NERPAP will focus on improving image quality of electors
    along with sorting issues like corrections of errors etc.
  • During the NERPAP, Electronic Privacy Information Centre (EPIC)
    data of electors will be linked with Aadhar data of UIDAI for the purpose of
    authentication.

PM to inaugurate two
600 MW power units in MP on Mar 5
  • Prime Minister Narendra Modi will dedicate to the nation two
    units each of 600 MW of the Shree Singaji Thermal Power Plant in Khandwa
    district on March 5.
  • He will also lay the foundation stone of two units each of
    660 MW of the same power plant, Nanawati said.
  • Shree Singaji Thermal Power Plant is a coal-fired project
    located near Dongaliya village in Khandwa. The project is owned by MPPGCL.

Awards
& Honors

Namibian President
Hifikepunye Pohamba won 2014 Mo Ibrahim Prize for African Leadership
  • Hifikepunye Pohamba, outgoing Namibian President, on 2 March
    2015 won the Mo Ibrahim prize for achievement in African leadership for year
    2014. Established in 2007, the Ibrahim Prize recognises and celebrates
    excellence in African leadership.
  • Pohamba was awarded for serving the country since its
    independence and his leadership has renewed people’s trust in democracy. He is
    a role model for the African continent.
  • The award is named after Mo Ibrahim, a British-Sudanese
    mobile communications entrepreneur and philanthropist, who had made billions of
    fortune from investing in Africa.

U.S. economist
Stephen Ross wins Deutsche prize for pricing models
  • U.S. economist Stephen Ross was named winner of the Deutsche
    Bank Prize in Financial Economics on Tuesday for helping to create models that
    have helped markets assess prices for options and other assets for the past
    three decades.
  • The MIT professor and popular textbook author have developed
    concepts widely applied in the economics of uncertainty, corporate finance and
    decision theory.
  • The prize honours researchers whose work has influenced
    financial economics and macroeconomics. The prize was awarded for the first
    time in 2005 to University of Chicago professor Eugene Fama, who went on to
    share the Nobel Prize for economics in 2013.
  • The last recipient, in 2013, was Raghuram Rajan, governor
    of the Reserve Bank of India and former chief economist at the International
    Monetary Fund.

Sports
Mary Kom to quit
boxing after 2016 Rio Olympics
  • Olympic medalist pugilist MC Mary Kom on 2 March 2015
    announced that she will quit boxing after the 2016 Rio Olympic Games. She
    decided to retire after the Olympic Games as her body would not be able to cope
    with the rigours of the sport any further.
  • The 32-year-old May Kom who won a bronze medal in 2012
    London Olympics said that after retirement she will concentrate on her boxing
    academy set up in Imphal, Manipur.

Roger Federer won the
Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships
  • Swiss Tennis ace, Roger Federer on 28 February 2015 won the Dubai
    Duty Free Tennis Championships title. To lift his seventh Dubai Championship
    title, Federer defeated world number one Novak Djokovic of Serbia 6-3, 7-5.
  • The only other tournaments Federer won seven times are
    Wimbledon and Halle (Germany), both on grass.
  • This was 126th ATP final for Federer of which he had won
    84th career title. He also passed 9000 aces in singles matches, the fete
    achieved only by three other players since 1991.

Sania Mirza to team
up with Martina Hingis

  • Three-time Grand Slam winner Sania Mirza of India has
    decided to team up with former World No. 1 Martina Hingis of Switzerland in the
    US-leg of the WTA Tour circuit after parting ways with women’s doubles partner
    Hsieh Su-wei of Chinese Taipei with whom she featured in the doubles final of
    the just-concluded Doha Open championship.

Reports/Lists/Indexes

Forbes magazine
released Global Billionaire’s 2015 annual list

  • Forbes magazine on 3 March 2015 released Global
    Billionaire’s 2015 annual list. Bill Gates co-founder of Microsoft topped the
    global billionaires list of Forbes magazine with worth of 79.2 billion US
    dollars for the 16th time.
  • The United States topped the list with 536 rich people,
    followed by China at 213 rich people, Germany at 103 rich people and India at
    90 rich people.
  • 90 Indians were present in Forbes annual list, which
    includes Mukesh Ambani – Reliance Industries Limited, ranked 39, Dilip Shanghvi
    ranked 44 and Azim Premji ranked 48.
  • Among Indian women, Savitri Jindal and family was ranked 283
    on the list with a net worth of $5.3 billion in 2015, up from $4.9 billion in
    2014.

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