Current Affairs Update – 4th and 5th March, 2016

Hello and welcome to ExamPundit. Here are the important Current Affairs of 4th and 5th March, 2016.

• Jalandhar based Capital Local
  Area Bank limited (CLABL), is set to become country’s first Small Finance Bank
  (SFB) by flagging-off its operations on April 13, 2016.
• The Punjab-based entity is the
  first among ten players to get final licence from the Reserve Bank of India.
  CLABL is currently active as local area bank.
• The CLABL will launch operations
  under a new name ‘Capital Small Finance Bank Limited’ on April 13, coinciding
  with the auspicious festival of Baisakhi (the beginning of rabi harvest that
  gives a major boost to rural spending) in Punjab.
• Banking regulator had given in
  principle licence to set up small finance banks under the ‘Guidelines for
  Licensing of Small Finance Banks in Private Sector’ (Guidelines) issued on
  November 27, 2014. Other entities who have received nod for SFB include Au
  Financiers, and eight Micro Finance Institutions like Janalakshmi Fin.

• The Reserve Bank of India on 3
  March 2016 released Non-Banking Financial Company – Account Aggregator
  Directions, 2016.
• The NBFC-AA Directions will put
  in place the regulatory framework to allow a new kind of Non-Banking Financial
  Company (NBFC), which could act as an account aggregator.
• The announcement of draft
  directions is in tune with July 2015 announcement of the RBI regarding creation
  of a separate category of NBFC called Non-Banking Financial Company – Account
  Aggregator (NBFC-AA) to provide account aggregation services.

• Only companies registered with
  the Reserve Bank as NBFC – AA will be able to undertake the business of an
  account aggregator.
• Entities being regulated by other
  financial sector regulators and aggregating only those accounts relating to the
  financial assets of that particular sector will not need to register with the
  Reserve Bank.
• The Net Owned Fund of such
  companies should not be less than 2 crore rupees.
• An account aggregator will not be
  able to undertake any other business other than the business of account
  aggregator.
• Business of an account aggregator
  will entirely be Information Technology (IT) driven.
• Initially, only financial assets
  whose records are stored electronically and are under the regulation of the
  financial sector regulators, namely, RBI, SEBI, IRDA, and PFRDA shall be
  considered for aggregation.

• International Finance
  Corporation, a member of the World Bank Group, on 1 March 2016 launched its
  first Uridashi Masala Bond. The bonds are worth 300 million rupees and will be
  utilised to promote private sector development in India.
• The three-year Uridashi Masala
  Bond is Japan-specific and builds on IFC’s Masala bond Program.
• While Masala bonds are
  rupee-denominated instruments sold only to offshore investors, Uridashi bonds
  are sold to Japanese household investors.
• Earlier, in November 2014, the
  IFC issued first-ever Masala Bonds in London. The bonds were worth 10 billion
  rupee and listed in the London Stock Exchange.

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 4
  March 2016 launched the Setu Bharatam project. The project aims to make all
  national highways free of Railway crossings by 2019.
• Under the project, 208 places
  have been identified for construction of rail over-bridges (ROB) or underpasses.
  Nearly 10200 crore rupees will be spent on it.

1. Andhra Pradesh – 33
2. West Bengal – 22
3. Bihar – 20
4. Karnataka – 17
5. Maharashtra & Assam – 12 each
6. Jharkhand – 11
7. Punjab & Haryana – 10 each
8. Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu & Uttar
   Pradesh – 9 each
9. Gujarat – 8
10. Madhya Pradesh -6
11. Chattisgarh & Himachal
    Pradesh – 5 each
12. Kerala & Odisha – 4 each
13. Utarakhand – 2

• Detailed Project Reports have
  already been received for 73 ROBs and of these 64 ROBs are likely to be
  sanctioned with an estimated cost of 5600 crore rupees by the end of financial
  year 2015-16.
• As per Road and transport
  Ministry, there are around 1500 bridges that are over 50 to 60 years old. The
  Ministry has prepared a plan to demolish such bridges and rebuild new ones with
  more capacity. The cost of rebuilding the old bridges is expected to be about
  30000 crore rupees.

• Flipkart on 3 March 2016 launched
  its own digital wallet Flipkart Money that can be used for Flipkart only
  transactions.
• It aims to have a more organized
  method of payment and cutting significant costs related to handling cash on
  product returns.
• Flipkart Money was launched on
  the company’s Android app, where users can hold a balance of 10000 rupees at a
  time.
• Cash can be withdrawn from the
  wallet to the cards or the bank account.

• The Maharashtra government has
  formed a high-powered committee under Chief Secretary Swadheen Kshatriya that
  will ensure proper implementation of MoUs signed during the ‘Make in India’
  week here.
• The state government had hosted
  the Make in India week from February 13-18 in the megapolis jointly organised
  by Maharashtra government, Development of Industry Policy and Promotion (DIPP)
  and Government of India.
• As part of the event, the
  Maharashtra government inked 2,594 MoUs entailing investments of Rs 7.94 lakh
  crore which could possibly generate employment for over 30 lakh people in the
  state.
• A total of 2,097 MoUs were signed
  with Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) and large industries, and 20 in
  Skill Development sector.

• Union Government on 3 March 2016
  signed a memorandum of agreement (MoA) to provide a loan of 1000 crore rupees
  to the Fertilizers and Chemicals Travancore (FACT) Limited, a Central Public
  Sector Undertaking (CPSU).
• As per this MoA, FACT will be
  getting a loan of 1000 crore rupees, to be repaid with interest within a period
  of five years, with a moratorium of one year.
• The loan will be provided with an
  aim to revive the organisation which has been facing financial crunch for more
  than a decade.  This loan will ease its
  liquidity crisis. The new resources will be helpful in clearing long pending
  dues of the Company, and facilitate much needed working capital, as well as for
  augmenting production.

• Cabinet Committee on Security
  (CCS) on 1 March 2016 cleared the proposal to acquire two more Phalcon Airborne
  Early Warning and Control Systems (AWACS). These surveillance aircraft will be
  bought at an expense of 7500 crore rupees under a tripartite agreement with
  Israel and Russia.
• The decision to this effect was
  taken ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Israel later in 2016.
  His visit to Israel will be the first by an Indian Prime Minister.

• Tata Consultancy Services (TCS)
  CEO and managing director Natarajan Chandrasekaran and two others were on
  Friday appointed as non-official directors to the board of Reserve Bank of
  India (RBI).
• The Appointments Committee of the
  Cabinet (ACC), headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has approved appointment
  of former Chief Secretary of Gujarat Sudhir Mankad as part-time non-official
  director on the central board of the RBI for a period of four years, an order
  issued by Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) said.
• Mr Mankad was Chief Secretary of
  Gujarat from April 2005 to August 2007 when Narendra Modi was the Chief Minister
  of the state.
• Besides Mr Mankad, Mr
  Chandrasekaran of TCS has also been appointed as part-time non-official
  director on the RBI board, it said.
• Bharat Narotam Doshi,
  non-executive chairman of Mahindra & Mahindra, is the third part-time
  non-official director on the central board of the bank, the department said.

• Vineet Taneja on 1 March 2016
  resigned as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Micromax Informatics Ltd.
  Taneja’s departure was the second high-profile exit from the company with a
  span of one year.
• Earlier, in October 2015, Bharti
  Airtel CEO Sanjay Kapoor resigned as the chairman of the company.
• Taneja joined Micromax from
  Samsung Electronics’ Indian business arm in 2014. His appointment came in the
  backdrop of company’s plans to expand its operations abroad.

• Veteran Film Actor and Director
  Manoj Kumar will be conferred the 47th Dadasaheb Phalke Award for the year
  2015.
• A five member jury consisted of
  Lata Mangeshkar, Asha Bhosle, Salim Khan, Nitin Mukesh and Anup Jalota
  unanimously recommended Kumar for the prestigious Award.
• Manoj Kumar is remembered for his
  films Hariyali Aur Raasta, Woh Kaun Thi, Himalaya Ki God Mein, Do Badan,
  Upkaar, Patthar Ke Sanam, Neel Kamal, Purab Aur Paschim, Roti Kapda Aur Makaan,
  and Kranti. He is known for acting in and directing films with patriotic
  themes.

• World’s most expensive train
  station, the World Trade Centre Transportation Hub, opened on 3 March 2016 in
  New York, the United States of America.
• Santiago Calatrava, the
  Spanish-Swiss architect who unveiled his ambitious design 12 years ago, removed
  a barrier at the entrance of the Oculus, a giant oval hall with walls of steel
  ribs and glass.
• Built next to the site of the
  destroyed Twin Towers, the World Trade Centre Transportation Hub is expected to
  eventually serve more than 200000 daily commuters.
• Initially budgeted at 2 billion
  US dollars, the station ended up costing 3.85 billion US dollars that earned it
  the title of the most expensive station in the world.

• UNHCR, UNICEF on 26 February 2016
  launched a Twenty Child and Family Support Hubs, known as Blue Dots. These
  support centers will acts as a special support centers for children and
  families along the most frequently used migration routes in Europe.
• They will also help in protecting
  the growing numbers of children and others with specific needs arriving in
  Europe.

• National Safety Day was observed
  across India on 4 March 2016. The day is annually organised by the National
  Safety Council (NSC) to commemorate its establishment and enhance the safety
  awareness among people.
• It is a national movement carried
  out on annual basis to prevent and lessen the loss of life including various
  human being problems and their financial loss through availing them with
  safety, health and environment related support services.
• National Safety Council of India
  is a self-governing body (non profit and nongovernmental organization for
  public service) which was established on 4 March 1966 under the Societies Act
  in Mumbai, having over 8000 members.

• Indian men’s and women’s team
  scripted history by clinching the gold medals at the World Table Tennis Team
  Championship with superb victories over Luxemburg and Brazil respectively here
  on Saturday.
• Indian eves beat Luxemburg 3-1 in
  the event final of the Second Division, while their male counterparts overcame
  a stiff Brazil 3-2 here.
• India had sealed their entry in
  the Champions Division last night after reaching the finals.
• In the women’s team final, Mouma
  Das gave a winning start to her team when she defeated Danielle Konsbruck 3-0
  in a quick bust. Manika Batra then put behind yesterday’s loss and began with a
  bang, leading 2-0 against Tessy Gonderinger, who managed to grab the third
  game. However, Manika clinched the fourth game to win 3-1 and provide India
  with a 2-0 lead.

• The Mumbai under-23 team on 3
  March 2016 clinched the Col CK Nayudu Trophy by defeating Madhya Pradesh at the
  Holkar Stadium, Indore.
• Mumbai bowled out Madhya Pradesh
  for 442 and took a first innings lead of 135 runs to be declared the winner.
• This was Mumbai’s second big
  title of the season, having pocketed the Ranji Trophy for the 41st time
  earlier.

• The International Hockey
  Federation (FIH) on 3 March 2016 promoted Hockey India national-level umpire Napoleon
  Singh as the International Outdoor Umpire.
• The FIH took the decision after
  seeing his performance in the recently-concluded 12th South Asian Games 2016,
  held at Guwahati from 5 to 16 February 2016.
• Napoleon started his career as an
  umpire from Manipur in the third Hockey India Junior Women National
  Championship 2013 held at Ranchi, Jharkhand.

• Fixed! Cash and Corruption in
  Cricket authored by journalist Shantanu Guha Ray was in news in the first week
  of March 2016.  It examines the
  allegations of corruption against players, cricket administrators and bookies
  alike.
• The book rifled through the
  underbelly of cricket, analysed the spot-fixing and nexus of bookies and
  punters with those in the corridors of power, mysterious deaths and issues that
  threatened the gentleman’s game.

• Former Lok Sabha Speaker Purno
  Agitok Sangma died on 4 March 2016. He was 68 years old. He is  survived by daughter Agatha Sangma, former
  Minister of State in the UPA-led Government and Conrad Sangma, the Leader of
  the Opposition in the Meghalaya Legislative Assembly.
• In independent India’s history,
  he was the first tribal person to hold the post of cabinet minister in 1995. He
  was also the first tribal person to become the Lok Sabha Speaker in 1996.

• Indian film archivist and film
  scholar Paramesh Krishnan Nair died on 4 March 2016. He was 82.
• He was the founder and former director
  of the National Film Archive of India (NFAI) in 1964.
• In 2012, Celluloid Man, an
  award-winning documentary was made on his life and works, by Shivendra Singh
  Dungarpur. Later it won two National Awards at the 60th National Film Awards,
  including Best Biographical Film and Best Editing.

Regards

Team ExamPundit

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