Current Affairs Update – 5th November, 2015

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 5 November 2015 launched
  three gold related schemes. The schemes are – Gold Monetization Scheme,
  Sovereign Gold Bond Scheme and Indian Gold Coins.
• The three schemes were announced by the Union Finance
  Minister Arun Jaitley in his 2015-16 budget speech in February 2015.
• The primary purpose of the schemes is to reduce dependence
  on imported gold, recycle the unutilized gold in the country and most importantly,
  streamline the gold business in the country. At present, India is the largest
  consumer of gold in the world.

• Its objective is to mobilize unutilized gold from
  individuals, households and institutions and make them available to gold-base industries
  including jewellers.

• The purpose of the scheme is to reduce the demand for
  physical gold and to shift part of the estimated 300 tons of physical bars and
  coins purchased every year for investment into Demat (Dematerialised) gold
  bonds.

• Its purpose is to revive investment and reduce dependence on
  imports of gold coins. At present, India has been importing about 60 tonnes of
  gold coins annually that are sold at a premium of 8-10 per cent.
• Under the scheme, gold coins bearing the Ashok Chakra will
  be minted by the Security Printing and Minting Corporation of India.
• Initially, the coins will be available in denominations of 5
  gm and 10 gm.

• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on 4 November 2015 notified
  the Operational Guidelines of the Sovereign Gold Bonds 2015-16. These bonds
  will be issued by the RBI from 5 November – 20 November 2015.

• Joint holding and nomination: Multiple joint holders and
  nominees (of first holder) are permitted. Necessary details may be obtained
  from the applicants as per practice.
• Interest on application money: Applicants will be paid
  interest at prevailing savings bank rate from the date of realization of
  payment to the settlement date that is the period for which they are out of
  funds.
• Lien marking: As the bonds are government securities, lien
  marking will be as per the extant legal provisions of Government Securities
  Act, 2006 and rules framed there under.
• Agency arrangement: Scheduled commercial banks may engage
  NBFCs, NSC agents and others to collect application forms on their behalf.
  Banks may enter into arrangements or tie-ups with such entities.
• Processing through RBI’s e-kuber system: Sovereign Gold
  Bonds will be available for subscription at the branches of scheduled
  commercial banks and designated post offices through RBI’s e-kuber system.

• Government of Andhra Pradesh on 4 November 2015 signed a
  Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the World Economic Forum (WEF) to
  support the state in assessing its economic competitiveness.
• The MoU was signed in the presence of the State Chief
  Minister N Chandrababu Naidu and WEF Managing Board member Philipp Rosler in
  New Delhi.
• As per the MoU, the WEF will assist the state in assessing
  its economic competitiveness-both strengths and weaknesses.
• The assessment is aimed at leveraging the key role played by
  the data driven and evidence based policy making and will employ the Global
  Competitiveness Index (GCI).
• Accordingly, the WEF will provide technical support and
  training the government staff on GCI methodology, data collection and
  interpretation of results.

• The Bankruptcy Law Reforms Committee (BLRC) headed by Dr T K
  Viswanathan on 4 November 2015 submitted its report to the Union Ministry of
  Finance.

• Rationale and Design/Recommendations
• A comprehensive draft Insolvency and Bankruptcy Bill
  covering all entities

• Insolvency Regulator: The Bill proposes to establish an
  Insolvency Regulator to exercise regulatory oversight over insolvency
  professionals, insolvency professional agencies and informational utilities.
• Insolvency Adjudicating Authority: The Adjudicating
  Authority will have the jurisdiction to hear and dispose of cases by or against
  the debtor.
• The Debt Recovery Tribunal (DRT) and the National Company
  Law Tribunal (NCLT) shall be adjudicating authorities over individuals and
  unlimited liability partnership firms and companies and limited liability
  entities respectively.
• NCLAT shall be the appellate authority to hear appeals
  arising out of the orders     passed by
  the Regulator in respect of insolvency professionals or information utilities.

• The Reserve Bank has imposed Rs 1 crore penalty on Dhanlaxmi
  Bank for violation of Know Your Customer (KYC) and Anti Money Laundering (AML)
  norms.
• It had issued a Show Cause Notice to the bank for not
  complying with KYC and AML guidelines “in respect of a current account
  under investigation” of the Economic Offences Wing (EOW), Mumbai.
• After considering the bank’s reply, as also, personal
  submissions, information submitted and documents furnished, RBI came to the
  conclusion that the bank had violated the instructions/guidelines issued, from
  time to time, which warranted imposition of monetary penalty on it.

• Ride-hailing startup Ola has signed a memorandum of
  understanding (MoU) with Rajasthan government to train 50,000 men and women
  over the next five years, as it looks to expand its base of drivers on its
  platform.
• The skill development program will target women and youth in
  particular to enable them to take to entrepreneurship through Ola’s platform.
  The company will also back up its commitment by introducing Ola Auto and Ola
  Share services in the state, helping create employment.
• Ola, which claims to be the largest cab aggregator in the
  country, has 3.25 lakh drivers on its platform and is adding close to 1,500
  cabs a day on its platform. The company has also begun leasing cars to drivers
  through its fully owned subsidiary with the aim of adding 1 lakh vehicles on
  its platform by end of 2016.

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 5 November 2015 launched
  Imprint India, a Pan-IIT and IISc joint initiative.
• The project encourages the Indian technical institutions to
  develop a blueprint for research to crack major engineering and technology
  challenges relevant to the nation.

• Identify areas of immediate relevance to society requiring
  innovation
• Direct scientific research into identified areas
• Ensure higher funding support for research into these areas
• Measure outcomes of the research effort with reference to
  impact on the standard of living in the rural/urban areas

• The Union Government on 4 November 2015 constituted an
  Empowered Committee to approve schemes proposed under the Nirbhaya Fund.
• The Committee comprises officials from various ministries,
  including Women and Child Development, Home Affairs, Road Transport and
  Railways.
• The Secretary of the Women and Child Development Ministry
  will be the chairperson of the committee.
• The Members of the Empowered Committee may nominate an
  officer not below the rank of Joint Secretary as representative to the Empowered
  Committee of Officers.
• The Empowered Committee of Officers will take decision on
  the sanction of schemes/projects from Nirbhaya Fund within 15 days of the date
  of receipt of the proposal by the Ministry of Women & Child Development.

• The Odisha Government and Indian Railways on 4 November 2015
  inked a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to form a Special Purpose Vehicle
  (SPV) for implementation of railway projects in the state.
• The MoU aims at forming a Joint Venture Company to develop
  railway infrastructure in Odisha.

• It will work towards providing railway connectivity to
  Boudh, Kandhamal, Nayagarh, Nabrangpur, Kendrapada, Malkangiri and Deogarh
  districts.
• Maoist-affected districts will be in the high priority list.
• At least six-seven rail projects will be constructed in the
  state.
• A 40-km link connecting the Nabarangpur district
  headquarters to the nearest station at Jeypore in neighbouring Koraput district
  will also be built.
• The Odisha Government will have 51 percent stake in the
  project, while the Railways Ministry will have 49 percent stake.
• Initially, 200 crore rupees has been allocated to be spent
  on the project.

• Indo-Canadian Sikh Harjit Sajjan was on 4 November 2015
  sworn-in as Defence Minister of Canada. Sajjan succeeded Conservative Defence
  Minister Jason Kenney.
• He is one of the Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s 30-member
  Cabinet that was sworn-in at a public ceremony held at Rideau Hall in Ottawa,
  Canada. Trudeau was sworn-in as the 23rd Prime Minister of Canada.
• Sajjan is a decorated Lt Colonel in the Canadian Armed
  Forces who was elected as a MP for Vancouver South. He has served in Bosnia and
  had three deployments to Kandahar, Afghanistan. He has received numerous
  military honours, including the Meritorious Service Medal in 2013.

• Navtej Singh Sarna was on 31 October 2015 appointed as
  Indian High Commissioner to United Kingdom (UK). Sarna is a 1980 batch Indian
  Foreign Service (IFS) officer.
• Prior to this appointment, Sarna was working as Secretary
  (West) in the Ministry of External Affairs where he was responsible for looking
  after country’s diplomatic affairs with the UK and other European nations.
• Earlier, he had served in Indian missions in Moscow, Warsaw,
  Thimphu, Geneva, Tehran and Washington DC. He has also served as Indian
  Ambassador to Israel.
• He also held the distinction of being the longest-serving
  spokesperson of the External Affairs Ministry.
• Sarna has also authored many books including The Exile- a
  novel based on the life of Maharaja Duleep Singh, We Weren’t Lovers Like That-
  a novel and a non-fiction The Book of Nanak.

• The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for
  Refugees (UNHCR) on 4 November 2015 released a study titled I am Here, I
  belong: the Urgent Need to End Childhood Statelessness.
• The report draws on interviews with more than 250 stateless
  children and youngsters, their parents and guardians in seven countries around
  the world.

• Every ten minutes a stateless child is born largely because
  of discriminatory citizenship laws and violent conflicts taking place across
  the globe.
• The problem is most visible in the Syrian refugee crisis due
  to which around 140000 children born stateless in neighboring countries of
  Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey.

• Tax Justice Network on 2 November 2015 released the
  Financial Secrecy Index 2015 that ranked jurisdictions according to their
  secrecy and the scale of their offshore financial activities.
• While Switzerland is the most secretive jurisdiction in the
  world, India, with 42 ranking, is identified as the moderately secretive among
  92 countries/jurisdictions surveyed.

• Though global financial transparency improving few countries
  like the USA threatening progress.
• While Switzerland (1), Hong Kong (2), the USA (3), Singapore
  (4) and Cayman (5) are identified as the top secretive jurisdictions in the
  world, Slovenia (88), Dominica (89), Finland (90), Cook Islands (91) and
  Montserrat (92) are the most transparent among the surveyed countries.
• An estimated 21 to 32 trillion US dollars of private
  financial wealth is located, untaxed or lightly taxed, in secrecy jurisdictions
  around the world.
• Illicit cross-border financial flows have been estimated at
  1-1.6 trillion US dollars per year.
• Since the 1970s African countries alone have lost over 1
  trillion US dollars in capital flight, while combined external debts are less
  than 200 billion dollars.

• India is identified as moderately secretive jurisdiction as
  the index placed the jurisdiction between top 31 and 40 countries/jurisdictions
  surveyed.
• With a secrecy score of 39.19, India ranked 45 among 92
  jurisdictions surveyed.
• India accounts for slightly less than 1.5 per cent of the
  global market for offshore financial services, making it   a
  large   player   compared
  with   other   secrecy jurisdictions.

• Ace shooter Jitu Rai on 4 November 2015 won India’s first
  senior medal at the 13th Asian Shooting Championship in Kuwait City. He bagged
  the silver in the finals of the men’s 50 metre pistol event.
• Korea’s Park Daehun, who won the gold medal of the event,
  shot finals world and Asian record score of 199.2, while Jitu finished with a
  finals score of 189.5.
• In the process, Jitu defeated his long-time rivals Jin
  Jongoh of Korea and Vladimir Issachenko of Kazakhstan.

• India’s former Ambassador to Nepal Bimal Prasad on 4
  November 2015 passed away in New Delhi. He was 92.
• Prasad, who was also a close aide of Jayaprakash Narayan,
  worked as professor of history at University of Patna. He also taught South
  Asian Studies at Jawaharlal Nehru University. Later, he served as the dean of School
  of International Studies.
• After retirement, Prasad was appointed ambassador to Nepal
  by Prime Minister Chandra Shekhar.
• The former ambassador had also authored a number of books on
  Jayaprakash Narayan’s philosophy and life including Socialism, Sarvodaya and
  Democracy, Gandhi, Nehru and JP, Studies in Leadership and A Revolutionary’s
  Quest.

Regards

Team ExamPundit

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