Current Affairs Update – 8th – 9th May, 2016

Hello and welcome to ExamPundit. Here are the Important Current Affairs of 8th May and 9th May, 2016. These are important for the upcoming SBI Clerk 2016 and SBI PO 2016 and UIIC AO 2016.

• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI)
  on 28 April 2016 released consultation paper on Peer to Peer (P2P) lending to
  classify it as Non-Banking Financial Company (NBFC). The suggestions or
  comments on the Paper may be sent to Department of Non-Banking Regulation, RBI
  on or before 31 May 2016.
• The Consultation paper outlines
  the pros and cons of regulating the sector and proposes a suitable framework
  for regulating the activity.
• It includes minimum capital,
  permitted activity, governance requirements, and fair practices code for customer
  dealing and data security.

• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI)
  on 5 May 2016 released Draft Guidelines for on tap Licensing of Universal Banks
  in the Private Sector.
• It also sought views and comments
  on the draft guidelines from banks, non-banking financial institutions,
  industrial houses, other institutions and the public at large latest by 30 June
  2016.
• RBI will issue the final
  guidelines will after receiving feedback, comments and suggestions on draft
  guidelines.

• Minimum capital requirement: The initial minimum paid-up voting
  equity capital for a bank shall be 5 billion rupees. Thereafter, the bank shall
  have a minimum net worth of 5 billion rupees at all times.
• Foreign shareholding in the bank: 
  The foreign shareholding in the bank would be as per the existing
  foreign direct investment (FDI) policy. The aggregate foreign investment limit
  is 74 per cent.

• The Department of Industrial
  Policy & Promotion (DIPP) under Union Ministry of Commerce & Industry
  permitted 100% foreign direct investment (FDI) into asset reconstruction
  companies (ARCs) through automatic route.
• In this regard the DIPP notified
  the Press Note 4 (2016 series) on 6 May 2016.

• Person resident outside India can
  invest in the capital of ARCs registered with Reserve bank of India, up to 100
  per cent on the automatic route. Earlier, it was 49 per cent through automatic
  route and beyond 49 percent through government route.
• It stated that total share
  holding of an individual foreign institutional investor (FII)/foreign portfolio
  investment (FPI) shall be below 10 per cent of the total paid-up capital.

• 112, the single emergency number
  that will help people to reach immediate services of police, ambulance and fire
  department will be operational throughout India from 1 January 2017.
• Single emergency number 112 of
  India will be similar to the ‘911’ all-in-one emergency service in the United
  States.

• The service will also be
  accessible even through those SIMs and landlines whose outgoing call facility
  has been stopped or temporarily suspended.
• A person in distress will need to
  call only 112, which will direct the call to concerned departments immediately
  for help.
• All existing emergency numbers
  will be phased out within a year of rolling out 112, depending upon the
  awareness about this new facility.

• The Karnataka Government in the
  first week of May 2016 decided to establish Asia’s first-ever Rice Technology
  Park at Gangavati.
• Besides, a Maize Technology Park
  will also be established at Ranebennur in Haveri district.
• The rice park is being
  established at Navali-Karatagi villages on the outskirts of Gangavati, and the
  maize park is to be come up in the APMC market yard at Ranebennur.

• These parks will be established
  under public private partnership (PPP).
• The establishment of the Rice
  Technology Park will help paddy cultivators in the Tungabhadra Command Area in
  Ballari, Raichur and Koppal districts.

• Switzerland government on 4 May
  2016 honoured the late bollywood film maker Yash Chopra with a special statue.
• The bronze statue of Yash Chopra
  which weighed about 250 kilos was inaugurated by his wife Pamela Chopra and
  daughter-in-law Rani Mukerjee.
• This statue was installed at
  middle of the Interlaken which is inside the Kursaal area near the Congress
  Centre which is a prime, popular spot for the tourists.
• He was honoured as he shot most
  of his romantic films in the lush mountains of Switzerland, which opened a
  legacy of South Asian tourists flocking to that country.
• This is not the first time Yash
  Chopra has been honoured by the Interlaken government.
•  Earlier, he was awarded with the honorary
  title of Ambassador of Interlaken in 2011.
• And Jungfrau Railways named a
  train after him, which was an honour shared only with Adolf Guyer who was the
  founder of railway.
• The five-star Victoria Jungfrau
  Grand Hotel & Spa in Interlaken also named a suite after him.

• India is ranked at ninth position
  in crony-capitalism index that was released by the Economist in the first week
  of May 2016. India has a crony sector wealth accounting for 3.4 percent of the
  gross domestic product (GDP).

• As per the latest
  crony-capitalism index the non-crony sector wealth in India amounts to 8.3 per
  cent of the GDP
• India stood at the same ninth
  place in the previous 2014 rankings.
• Russia topped the list and
  followed by Malaysia, the Philippines and Singapore.
• Russia fares worst in the index,
  wealth from the country’s crony sectors amounts to 18 per cent of its GDP.

• SpaceX on 6 May 2016 successfully
  launched the Japanese communications satellite, JCSAT-14 on Falcon 9 rocket
  from Cape Canaveral, Florida.
• The satellite was place into its
  intended preliminary geostationary transfer orbit by SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket
  which was launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, US.
• The odds of a successful
  soft-landing were slim due to the mission requirements for the particular
  launch.

• United Nations (UN) on 6 May 2016
  announced the establishment of the UN Zika Response Multi-Partner Trust Fund
  (MPTF) to finance critical unfunded priorities in the response to the Zika
  outbreak.
• The establishment of the fund was
  announced by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

• The Fund aims to provide a rapid,
  flexible and accountable platform to support a coordinated response from the UN
  system and partners.
• It will directly support the Zika
  Strategic Response Framework, developed by the World Health Organization (WHO)
  in consultation with UN agencies, partners and international epidemiological
  experts.

• Atomic Oxygen was detected in the
  upper layers of the Martian atmosphere known as Mesosphere. This presence of
  Atomic Oxygen for the first time since the last observation 40 years ago was
  detected by an instrument onboard the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared
  Astronomy (SOFIA).
• Atomic oxygen affects how other
  gases escape Mars and therefore has a significant impact on the planet’s
  atmosphere.
• The research was published in the
  journal Astronomy and Astrophysics.

• Number one seed Novac Djokovic on
  8 May 2016 defeated Andy Murray 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 to conquer the Mutua Madrid Open
  title in Madrid, Spain.
• It was Djokovic’s fifth win in
  the last 6 ATP 1000 competitions. With the win, he also reached a record 29
  Masters 1000 titles.
• Mutua Madrid Open title was
  Djokovic’s second title on the Caja Mágica clay. He claimed the game in two
  hours and six minutes.

• Romanian tennis player Simona Halep
  on 7 May 2016 won the women singles title of the Madrid Open. The men’s singles
  title was won by Novak Djokovic of Serbia.
• She defeated Dominika Cibulkova
  of Slovakia 6-2, 6-4 in the final played at Madrid, Spain.
• This was the third Madrid title
  for World No. 6 Halep and her first title of 2016. Overall this was her 12th
  career title.

• The British Labour party’s Sadiq
  Khan on 6 May 2016 was elected new Mayor of London. His election as Mayor of
  London made him the first actively affiliated Muslim to become mayor of a major
  Western capital.
• Khan emerged victorious in the
  2016 mayoral elections after defeating Conservative Member of Parliament (MP)
  Zac Goldsmith by 1310143 votes to 994614. Khan assumed the office on 9 May
  2016.
• Khan succeeds Conservative Party
  Mayor Boris Johnson.

• Yesteryear’s Bollywood actor
  Shashi Kapoor’s biography titled Shashi Kapoor – the Householder, the Star was
  released on 6 May 2016.
• The book, which attempts to delve
  into the nature and nurture of Shashi Kapoor, is authored by film journalist
  Aseem Chhabra.
• Shashi Kapoor – the Householder,
  the Star is the first biography of the veteran actor.

Regards

Team ExamPundit