Current Affairs Update – 7-12 October, 2016

Hello and welcome to exampundit . Here are the important Current Affairs from 7th to 12th October, 2016. These are important for the upcoming IBPS PO Mains, IBPS Clerk Mains, NIACL AO Mains and BOM PGDBF 2016 Exams.

• ICICI Bank, country’s largest
  private sector lender, has become the first bank in the country to complete a
  banking transaction using block chain technology. This remittance transaction
  has been completed in partnership with another lender from the Middle East,
  Emirates NBD.
• ICICI Bank has managed to
  authenticate remittance transaction messages as well as original international
  trade documents related to purchase order, invoice, shipping & insurance,
  among others, electronically on blockchain in real time.
• The usage of block chain
  technology simplifies the process and drastically reduced time to up to a few
  minutes as compared to a few days. As the time is reduced the costs also come
  down significantly.
• Blockchain allows one to change
  the age old process of maintaining a ledger that can be accessed only by one
  party and instead it puts in place a distributed ledger that allows a
  participatory model. In fact, a recent PwC survey had stated that banks and
  financial institutions are increasingly looking at adopting and implementing
  the blockchain technology to improve efficiency.

• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI)
  on 6 October 2016 released the Report of the Internal Working Group (IWG) on
  Rationalisation of Branch Authorisation Policy. The Group is chaired by Lily
  Vadera, Chief General Manager, Department of Banking Regulation.
• The thrust of the recommendations
  is to facilitate financial inclusion by ensuring availability of banking
  services in all centers through low cost delivery channels and mapping the
  footprints of various banking channels.

• In the first phase, the
  recommendations focus on broadening of the current framework to include all
  banking outlets which are fixed point locations and bring them on par with
  branches.
• A banking outlet is defined as a
  fixed point service delivery unit manned by bank’s staff or its Business
  Correspondent where services of acceptance of deposits, encashment of cheques/cash
  withdrawal or lending of money are provided for minimum 4 hours per day for at
  least five days a week.
• Banks need to open banking
  outlets to meet the 25 percent norms of opening banking outlets in unbanked
  rural centres that does not have a CBS-enabled banking outlet of a Scheduled
  Commercial Bank.
• A part-time banking outlet opened
  in any Centre will be added to the denominator as well as numerator on pro rata
  basis for computing the compliance with the norm of opening 25% banking
  outlets.
• A banking outlet opened in
  North-Eastern States, Sikkim and in Left-Wing Extremism Affected Districts will
  be treated as a banking outlet/part-time banking outlet in an unbanked rural
  centre.
• Grandfathering of MFI/NBFC
  structures of Small Finance Banks to be provided to facilitate an orderly
  transformation and to minimize the risk of transition. As regards their
  existing NBFC/MFI branches, banks will be given a time period of 3 years to
  close or convert these into banking outlets.
• The Boards of the banks should
  set internal financial inclusion targets and compile the data to monitor the
  transactions to ensure that target customers for financial inclusion are
  getting the banking facilities in unbanked rural centres.
• In the second phase, a new data
  system will be devised which is capable of capturing the locations and
  transactions carried out by all banking outlets.

• Maharashtra Chief Minister
  Devendra Fadnavis on 8 October 2016 inaugurated India’s first centre for
  international arbitration in Mumbai. Inaugurating the Mumbai Centre for
  International Arbitration (MCIA), Fadnavis said that India will leave its
  benchmark worldwide in business dispute redressal with the setting up of
  international arbitration centre in Mumbai.
• The Mumbai Centre for
  International Arbitration (MCIA) is located in Express towers, Nariman Point.
  It is being headed by CEO Madhukeshwar Desai.
• The MCIA will be governed by a
  17-member governing council.
• The Arbitration Centre is in sync
  with the Prime Minister’s Make in India campaign.
• The Centre would provide a time
  bound and cost-effective facility and reinforce investor confidence.
• MCIA will be helpful in
  development of the proposed International Financial Services Centre (IFSC) in
  Mumbai. The state government has plans to develop IFSC in BKC.
• It will feature arbitration rules
  that reflect international best practices.
• The MCIA Council for Arbitration
  will have some of the leading arbitration practitioners from India and around
  the world.
• It will be a catalyst for
  business and investment into India.

• President Pranab Mukherjee on 6
  October 2016 inaugurated the first edition of the World Sustainable Development
  Summit (WSDS) in New Delhi.
• The theme for the summit is
  Beyond 2015: People, Planet and Progress. The summit is being organized by The
  Energy and Resources Institute (TERI).
• The World Sustainable Development
  Summit has evolved from the Delhi Sustainable Development Summit, the annual
  event of TERI.
• The WSDS brings together Nobel
  laureates, political leaders, decision-makers from bilateral and multilateral
  institutions, among others, to deliberate on issues related to sustainable
  development.
• It aims to provide long-term
  solutions for the benefit of the global community by assembling the various
  stakeholders on a single platform.

• Snapdeal-owned digital payments
  platform Freecharge has appointed Karthik Rajeshwaran, former global head of
  marketing at Obi Mobiles, as its new director of strategy.
• Rajeshwaran’s appointment will
  help Freecharge build more consumer-centric features and products with
  understanding of what digital customers want. Moreover, his understanding of
  the consumer landscape in India could help Freecharge shape its services in the
  future.
• Prior to heading marketing at
  Obi, he worked at retail giant Unilever where he kicked off his career. Rajan
  too is a veteran from Unilever who then moved on to telecom giant Airtel to
  build its payment service Airtel Money before coming to Freecharge.

• Abdelilah Bekirane, leader of
  Morocco’s Islamic Justice and Development Party (PJD), was appointed as
  country’s Prime Minister on 10 October 2016. This will be his second term as
  Prime Minister of Morocco.
• Mohammed VI, the king of Morocco,
  made the announcement after Benkirane’s PJD party emerged with the most number
  of seats in the 395-seat lower house of parliament.
• In the election held on 7 October
  2016, the PJD party, which has been running a coalition government since 2011,
  won 125 seats. The opposition Authenticity and Modernity Party came second with
  102 seats. The country’s oldest party Istiqlal (Independence) Party stood third
  with 46 seats.

• Badminton champion and Rio silver
  medallist P V Sindhu was on 8 October 2016 appointed as the Brand Ambassador of
  Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited which is also popularly known as Vizag Steel.
• The company will have its brand
  logo on Sindhu’s playing jersey in international and domestic tournaments under
  the aegis of Badminton World Federation and Badminton Association of India.
• The deal was facilitated by
  Baseline, a sports marketing and a brand licensing firm.
• Sindhu, currently amongst the top
  10 ranked players in the world, became the first Indian female athlete to win
  an Olympic silver medal at Rio Olympics 2016. She is also the first athlete to
  win back-to-back medals at the World Badminton Championships.

• Jeremy Corbyn, Leader of the
  Labour Party and Leader of the Opposition, on 7 October 2016 appointed
  Indian-origin barrister Shami Chakrabarti to the UK’s shadow cabinet.
• Baroness Chakrabarti’s
  appointment as a member of the Lords was met with criticism from prominent Jews
  and Labour MPs.
• Corbyn also handed a major
  promotion to his long-time ally Diane Abbott, making her shadow home secretary.
• Other appointees include Sir Keir
  Starmer, who has been invited back as shadow Brexit secretary.

• Luo Zhaohui was on 8 October 2016
  appointed as China’s Ambassador to India, in accordance with a decision of the
  Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, the top legislature of
  China.
• His appointment was approved by
  Chinese President Xi Jinping. He succeeds former Chinese Ambassador to India Le
  Yucheng, who left the position in April 2016.

• BVR Mohan Reddy, Founder and
  Executive Chairman of Cyient Ltd, was on 5 October 2016 appointed as the
  Honorary Consul of Germany in Hyderabad. His appointment was announced by
  German Ambassador to India Martin Ney.
• As a Honorary Consul, Mohan Reddy
  will work towards further strengthening the collaboration between the two
  nations; promoting culture, industry and commerce, facilitating investments,
  educational exchange and enhancing goodwill.
• The office of the Honorary Consul
  will also provide limited consular assistance in the state of Andhra Pradesh
  and Telangana and support the German citizens within the two states.

• The 2016 Nobel Peace Prize was on
  7 October 2016 awarded to Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos for his
  resolute efforts to bring the country’s more than 50-year-long civil war to an
  end, a war that took away the lives of at least 220000 Colombians and displaced
  nearly six million people.
• The civil war in Colombia is one
  of the longest civil wars in modern times and the sole remaining armed conflict
  in the Americas.

• Oliver Hart and Bengt Holmstrom
  were on 10 October 2016 awarded the 2016 Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic
  Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel for their contributions to contract theory.
• They have developed a contract
  theory, a comprehensive framework for analysing many diverse issues in
  contractual design, like performance-based pay for top executives, deductibles
  and co-pays in insurance and the privatisation of public-sector activities.
• The new theoretical tools created
  by Hart and Holmstrom are valuable to the understanding of real-life contracts
  and institutions, as well as potential pitfalls in contract design.

• Sprinter Srabani Nanda on 8
  October 2016 won the 24th Ekalabya Award for the year 2016 in recognition of
  her sporting excellence. With this, she will get a cash price of 5 lakh rupees
  along with a citation at the Ekalabya Award function.
• Athlete Dutee Chand won the award
  in the year 2015.

• Pawan Chamling, the Chief
  Minister of Sikkim, on 6 October 2016 was conferred the prestigious 2016
  Sustainable Development Leadership Award.
• President Pranab Mukherjee
  presented the award to Chamling during the World Sustainable Development Summit
  organized by The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) in New Delhi.
• The award was presented to
  Chamling in recognition of his vision and leadership in environment and
  sustainable development leading to the establishment of Sikkim as the first and
  only organic state in the country.

• Sikkim is known as the Land of
  Flower and holds a population of around six lakhs.
• Around 75000 hectares of land has
  been converted into certified organic farms over the years following the
  guidelines as prescribed by National Programme for Organic Production.
• Sikkim contributes around 80000
  million tonnes organic production out of total 1.24 million tonnes of organic
  production recorded in India.
• On the initiative of Chamling, a
  historic declaration was made through a Resolution in the Sikkim Legislative
  Assembly on 24 February 2003 for transforming Sikkim into a Total Organic
  State.
• The Sikkim State Organic Board
  was constituted on 16 September 2003 for outlining policy issues and strategic
  plans, as well as developing standards and regulations.

• The 2016 International Day of the
  Girl Child (IDGC) was observed across the world on 11 October 2016 with the
  theme Girls’ Progress = Goals’ Progress: What Counts for Girls.
• The theme for the 2016 IDGC asks
  for a call for action for increased investment in collecting and analyzing
  girl-focused, girl-relevant and sex-disaggregated data.

• World Mental Health Day was
  observed on 10 October 2016 with theme ‘Psychological First Aid’. The day is
  annually observed with an aim to raise awareness about mental health issues
  around the world and mobilising efforts in support of mental health.
• The year’s theme focuses on basic
  pragmatic psychological support by people who find themselves in a helping role
  whether they are health staff, teachers, firemen, community workers, or police
  officers.
• Union Health Minister launched
  National Mental Health Policy of India
• The day was first observed in
  1992 at the initiative of the World Federation for Mental Health, a global
  mental health organization with members and contacts in more than 150
  countries.

• World Post Day 2016 was on 9
  October 2016 observed across the world with the theme Innovation, Integration
  and Inclusion.
• The purpose of World Post Day is
  to bring awareness to the Post’s role in the everyday lives of people and
  businesses, as well as its contribution to global social and economic
  development.
• World Post Day is celebrated each
  year on 9 October, the date of anniversary of the establishment of the
  Universal Postal Union (UPU) in 1874 in the Swiss Capital, Bern.

• The Air Force Day 2016 was on 8
  October 2016 observed across India. This is the 84th celebration of the Day that
  began in 1932.
• On this day, the most renowned
  aerobatics display teams, Red Arrows of the Royal Air Force (RAF), enthralled
  audience at Indian Air Force Day celebrations in New Delhi. They flew Hawk
  jets, which are single-engine advanced trainer aircraft.
• Besides, the Indian Air Force air
  displayed various aircrafts at Air Force Station Hindan in Uttar Pradesh.

• Delhi International Airport
  Limited (DIAL) announced on 6 October 2016 that the Terminal 3 of Indira Gandhi
  International Airport (IGIA) achieved Platinum rating from Indian Green
  Building Council (IGBC).
• The plaque and certificate for
  the achievement was handed over by IGBC to Douglas Webster, COO-DIAL and Roy
  Sebastian, VP- Project and Engineering, during the 14th Green Building
  Congress, 2016 organized by IGBC in Mumbai.
• With this, the state-of-the-art
  Terminal 3 of IGIA has become the first Platinum rated green terminal building
  under Green Existing Building O&M Rating System by IGBC. This is another
  significant environmental achievement by IGIA, after being accredited as the
  first Carbon Neutral airport in Asia Pacific recently by Airports Council
  International (ACI).

• India will host the Asian
  Ministerial Conference for Disaster Risk Reduction (AMCDRR) from 3 November to
  5 November 2016.
• Prime Minister Narendra Modi will
  inaugurate the conference that will be held in New Delhi in collaboration with
  the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR).
• The Conference will focus on
  partnership with governments and stakeholders to imbibe the practices in the
  region’s development narrative.
• It will be the first AMCDRR after
  the introduction of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (SFDRRR),
  adopted at the third UN World Conference in Sendai, Japan in March 2015. It
  will set the direction of Sendai Framework implementation in the region.

• Andy Murray on 9 October 2016 won
  the 2016 China Open Men’s Singles title at the National Tennis Center in
  Beijing, China.
• World Number two Murray defeated
  Grigor Dimitrov by 6–4, 7–6.

• Poland’s Agnieszka Radwanska on 9
  October 2016 won the 2016 China Open Women’s Singles at the National Tennis
  Center in Beijing, China.
• Radwanska defeated Johanna Konta
  6-4, 6-2 to grab the title.

• Indian shooter Jitu Rai on 6
  October 2016 clinched a silver medal in the 50 meter pistol event of the ISSF
  World Cup Final at Bologna, Italy. Jitu, 29, shot a score of 188.8 to finish
  behind China’s Wei Pang at 190.6. Italy’s Giuseppe Giordano settled for the
  bronze.
• In the process, Jitu also
  equalled his own national record score in the qualification round, which was
  shot in 2014 at Maribor World Cup.
• Jitu, who was counted as India’s
  best shooting medal hope in Rio but had failed to deliver, had earlier won a
  Silver medal at the ISSF World Cup in Baku, Azerbaijan in the 10m Air Pistol
  event. In 2016 Rio Olympics he finished at the eighth position in the men’s 10
  meter pistol final.

• The International Monetary Fund
  on 4 October 2016 released World Economic Outlook (WEO) October 2016. The
  report projects global growth at 3.1 per cent in 2016, with slight increase to
  3.4 percent in 2017.
• It says that the persistent
  stagnation, particularly in advanced economies, could further fuel anti-trade
  sentiment, stifling growth.
• Growth in emerging Asia, and
  especially India, continues to be resilient. India’s gross domestic product is
  projected to expand 7.6 percent in 2016 and 2017, the fastest pace among the
  world’s major economies. The IMF urged India to continue reform of its tax
  system and eliminate subsidies to provide more resources for investments in
  infrastructure, education, and health care.

• The U.S. on 7 October 2016 lifted
  sanctions against Myanmar that have been in place for nearly two decades.
• The move came after President
  Barack Obama’s announcement that the US was ready to lift sanctions on the
  Asian country during Myanmar State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi’s visit to
  Washington in September 2016.
• As a result of Obama’s
  announcement, the Treasury Department stated that the economic and financial
  sanctions administered by the Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign
  Assets Control were no longer in effect.

• Manipur-based theatre legend
  Heisnam Kanhailal passed away on 6 October 2016 following a brief illness in
  Imphal. He was 75.
• Kanhailal had contributed to the
  field of experimental theatre for more than 40 years.

Regards

Team ExamPundit