Current Affairs Update – 7 December, 2016

Hello and welcome to exampundit . Here are the important Current Affairs of 7 December, 2016. These are important for the upcoming IPPB PO Mains, NIACL AO Mains, IBPS Clerk Mains, IBPS RRB Office Assistant Mains and RBI Assistant Mains 2016-17.

• Indian Oil Corporation, Bharat
  Petroleum Corporation and Hindustan Petroleum Corp today signed a pact to build
  India’s biggest oil refinery at a cost of $30 billion on the west coast.
• The three firms signed the pact
  for the 60-million tonne a year refinery in Maharashtra with IOC as leader of the
  consortium, officials said.
• IOC will hold a 50 per cent stake
  in the project while BPCL and HPCL will have 25 per cent each. The consortium
  agreement was signed on the sidelines of the Petrotech conference here.
• Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan
  said oil majors like Saudi Aramco of Saudi Arabia are interested in taking a
  stake in the project, but nothing has been finalised as yet.

• Repo rate unchanged at 6.25%,
  Reverse repo at 5.75%
• Cash reserve ratio or CRR
  unchanged at 4%
• Cuts growth forecast to 7.1%,
  from 7.6% for this fiscal
• Inflation target remains 5% for
  March 2017, upside risk
• Demonetisation to lower prices of
  perishables, could reduce inflation by 10-15 basis points by December
• All MPC members voted in favour
  of status quo in policy
• Demonetisation to result in
  short-run disruptions in cash-intensive sectors
• Crude price volatility, surge in
  financial market turbulence could put March end inflation target at risk
• Foreign exchange reserve rose to
  all-time high of $364 billion on December 2
• RBI injected Rs. 1.1 lakh crore
  liquidity through OMO purchases this fiscal
• Next monetary policy on February
  8.

• Bangladesh and India will be
  signing a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on Wednesday which permits New
  Delhi to use Chittagong and Mongla seaports to ferry goods.
• The two Asian neighbours will
  sign the MoU during the Bangladesh-India shipping secretary-level meeting,
  which is to be held at the secretariat on Wednesday.
• Bangladesh’s Shipping Secretary
  Ashok Madhab Roy, before the meeting, said that they have already given
  permission to India to use Chittagong and Mongla seaports but have not decided
  on the fee yet.

• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI)
  on 6 December 2016 relaxed the norms for Additional Factor of Authentication
  (AFA) for online card transactions of up to Rs 2000.
• However, only authorised card
  networks will provide such payment authentication solutions for online CNP
  (Card Not Present) transactions.
• Customers opting for this facility
  will go through a one-time registration process by entering the card details
  and additional factor authentication by the issuing bank. Thereafter, the
  registered customers will not be required to re-enter the card details for
  every transaction at merchant websites or apps.

• Only authorised card networks can
  provide such payment authentication solutions with participation of card
  issuing and acquiring banks.
• Customer consent shall be taken
  while making this solution available to them.
• The relaxation for AFA under such
  solutions shall be applicable for card not present transactions for a maximum
  value of Rs 2000 per transaction across all merchant categories.
• Banks and card networks are free
  to facilitate their customers to set lower per transaction limits.
• If the transaction limit goes
  beyond Rs 2000, then the card not present transaction will be processed as per
  the extant instructions with mandatory AFA; this goes same for the transaction
  value of below this limit.
• Banks and card networks will
  decide the number of such small value transactions in a day, week or month.
• There will be no change in the
  existing chargeback process.

• To make customers aware that this
  solution is an optional facility for CNP transactions of up to Rs 2000 only and
  they are free to make payments using other forms of AFA as well.
• To educate the customers about the
  use of this means, risk involved in it and the mechanism for customer grievance
  redressal and how they can report complaints through multiple channels.
• To indicate the maximum liability
  that falls in on the customer’s part and the responsibility of the customer to
  report any frauds while transacting.
• To bear the full liability in the
  event of any security breach or compromise in the authorised card network.

• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI)
  on 6 December 2016 announced to issue Rs 100 denomination banknotes in the
  Mahatma Gandhi Series-2005.
• The new notes will be printed
  without inset letter in both the numbering panels. Moreover, the notes will
  bear the signature of Dr Urjit R. Patel, Governor of Reserve Bank of India.
• The year of printing, that is
  ‘2016’, will be printed on the reverse side of the banknote.
• The design of these banknotes
  will be similar in all respects to the previous Rs 100 banknotes in Mahatma
  Gandhi Series- 2005. The previous notes had ascending size of numerals in the
  number panels, bleed lines and enlarged identification mark on the obverse
  side.
• However, the old banknotes in the
  denomination of Rs 100 issued by the Bank in the past will continue to be the
  legal tender.

• ISRO successfully launched its
  own earth observation satellite Resourcesat-2A on 7 December 2016. The
  observation satellite Resourcesat -2A was launched with PSLV C36/
  RESOURCESAT-2A from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, Andhra
  Pradesh.
• The PSLV-XL variant rocket
  standing 44.4 meters tall and weighing 321 tonne tore into the morning skies at
  10.25am with a reverberating sound breaking free of the earth’s gravitational
  pull. The Resourcesat-2A weighing 1235 kilograms was injected into an 817 km
  polar Sun Synchronous Orbit (SSO) at around 20 minutes into the destination.

• The Indian Navy’s offshore patrol
  vessel Sumitra on 6 December 2016 reached Darwin, Australia. The vessel is on a
  three day visit to the country and will return to India after participating in
  the Royal New Zealand Navy International Naval Review 2016.
• The ship’s visit to Australia is
  aimed at strengthening bilateral ties and enhancing maritime security
  cooperation between the two nations.

• During INS Sumitra’s stay in
  harbour, various activities are planned towards enhancing cooperation and
  mutual understanding between the two navies. Such activities include
  professional interactions with Royal Australian Navy (RAN) and discussions
  towards further enhancing inter-operability.
• Calls on senior Government and
  military authorities, sporting and cultural interactions and sharing of best
  practices would also be undertaken.
• On departure, the ship would also
  undertake a Passage Exercise (PASSEX) with RAN ships.

• Konkan 16, the 2016 edition of
  the annual bilateral maritime exercise between the Indian Navy and the Royal
  Navy of Britain, commenced in 5 December 2016 at Mumbai. The exercise will
  conclude on 16 December 2016 in Goa.
• The 2016 edition of the bilateral
  maritime exercise will familiarise both forces with each other’s planning
  processes and further enhance synergy and inter-operability. Therefore, it will
  play an important chapter in the maritime interactions under the aegis of
  Konkan series.
• In addition, participation of IN
  Marine Commandos (MARCOs) and Royal Marines would add another dimension to the
  exercise. It will provide valuable opportunity for both navies to interact and
  cooperate in the field of maritime security operations.

• The exercise will be conducted in
  two phases at Mumbai and Goa.
• The first phase will be held from
  5 December to 9 December 2016.
• The first phase will include a
  Command Planning exercise involving the two navies. The planners from both
  sides will undertake planning for combined maritime operations.
• The second phase of the exercise
  is known as a LIVE EXERCISE (LIVEX). It will be held from 12 December 2016 to
  16 December 2016 at Goa.

• Indian Railways on 5 December
  2016 announced that the reservation of rail tickets for senior citizens will be
  directly linked to Aadhaar or Unique Identification (UID) cards from 1 April
  2017 onwards on a mandatory basis for availing concessions at both counter and
  e-tickets.
• This Aadhaar-based ticketing
  system for senior citizens will be implemented in a two-phased manner.
  Accordingly, from 1 January to 31 March 2017, requirement of Aadhaar
  verification for getting concessional tickets for senior citizens will be
  optional.
• However, from 1 April 2017, such
  a requirement will become mandatory.

• Dr BR Ambedkar’s birthday, 14
  April, will be observed as “Water Day” across India. The day will be observed
  to mark Ambedkar’s contribution in water resource management of the country.
• Union Minister for Water
  Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation Uma Bharti announced the
  same while addressing a National Seminar on Marching ahead on Dr Ambedkar’s
  path of water resources management for inclusive growth. She was the Chief
  Guest of the seminar that was organised by Central Water Commission in New
  Delhi.
• The seminar was organised on 6
  December 2016 to mark the 61st death anniversary of Dr Ambedkar.
• The day will be observed with an
  aim to sensitise people about managing water resources, which is a precious
  resource for life.

• Multimedia artist Helen Marten on
  5 December 2016 won the Turner Prize, which is Britain’s top award for
  contemporary art. The prize comes with a cash award of about USD 31800.
• The Turner Prize is the second
  prize in a month for Marten, who also won the inaugural Hepworth Prize.
• The nominees for the 2016 Turner
  Prize were Michael Dean, Anthea Hamilton, Helen Marten and Josephine Pryde.

• The European Union (EU) on 6
  December 2016 approved Microsoft’s USD 26 billion acquisition of LinkedIn
  Corporation.
• The Executive Arm of the European
  Commission stated that it was clearing the deal on the condition that,
  Microsoft, postmerger, will allow other professional networking sites access to
  programming commands for its Office applications and cloud-computing services
  for the next five years. The EU also said that the Microsoft must also grant
  computer manufacturers the option not to install the LinkedIn shortcut on
  desktop devices.
• The EU’s clearance was the final
  hurdle to closing the deal, following approvals in the U.S., Canada, Brazil and
  South Africa.

• Veteran journalist, political
  analyst and comedian Cho S Ramaswamy passed away on 7 December 2016 following a
  prolonged illness at Apollo Hospital in Chennai. He was 82. He is survived by
  his wife, a son and a daughter.
• He was the first to propose
  Narendra Modi as the Prime Ministerial candidate. He was also known to be very
  close to Late J Jayalalitha, CM of Tamil Nadu who died earlier this week, and
  also mentored her during her film career and continued to do the same even
  after she entered the politics.

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