Current Affairs Update – 8th October, 2015

Hello and welcome to ExamPundit. Here are the Important Current Affairs Update of 8th October, 2015. These are Important for the upcoming IBPS PO V Mains and IBPS Clerk Exam.

• Kotak Mahindra Bank launched a fund transfer service for its
  offline mobile app ‘Bharat’ in Ahmedabad on Thursday. With this, Kotak has
  become the first bank in India to offer a funds transfer facility that does not
  require an internet connectivity or a beneficiary.
• It has also launched Kotak Bharat app in Gujarati and is
  planning to release the app in other regional languages in the coming months.
  At present, this app is available in English, Hindi, Marathi, Tamil, Telugu and
  Kannada.
• To make offline transactions secure, the bank has an
  encryption code process to enable users to transfer funds.
• According to Kotak Bank, saving account holders use mobile
  banking the most, having recorded monthly transactions worth Rs 1,700 crore via
  the mobile app.
• About 90 banking services are available on the mobile app,
  while in the Bharat app, the bank provides 23 services and will add more in the
  offline app.

• Top private sector lender ICICI Bank today launched a mobile-payment
  solution based on ‘mVisa’, that will allow its customers pay for services using
  their smartphones.
• The service, which can be used by customers, who have
  installed an app of the bank’s mobile wallet ‘Pockets’, works by scanning QR
  codes.
• They can make electronic payments from smartphones at
  physical stores, accept e-commerce deliveries, pay radio taxis and utility
  bills among others, the bank said in a statement.
• The service is based on ‘mVisa’, a new mobile payment
  solution from Visa, and ICICI Bank is the first to launch a mobile-app based
  ‘mVisa’ solution for consumers and merchants, it said.
• At present, customers pay either in cash or have to swipe
  cards at a point of sale (POS) machine to complete a transaction.

• As mentioned in the fourth bi-monthly monetary policy
  review, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has allowed all resident individuals,
  firms and companies who have actual or anticipated foreign exchange exposures
  to book foreign exchange forward and foreign currency and rupee options
  contracts up to $1 million without any requirement of documentation on the
  basis of simple declaration.
• “While the contracts booked under this facility would
  normally be on a deliverable basis, cancellation and rebooking of contracts are
  permitted,” said RBI on Thursday.
• RBI also said that based on the track record of the entity,
  the concerned bank may however call for underlying documents, if considered
  necessary at the time of rebooking of cancelled contracts.

• Mobile service provider Aircel today announced that it has
  selected Tech Mahindra to roll out a comprehensive set of Internet-of-Things
  (IoT) service offerings. Tech Maihindra is providing these services in association
  with Aeris Communications, a Silicon Valley-based IoT specialist, it said.
• According to Aircel statement, its strong presence in
  enterprise market combined with the IoT solutions from Tech Mahindra will give
  an edge to position the company as one of the leaders in machine-to-machine(M2M)
  and IoT services in India.
• Aircel intends to launch vertical specific solutions in IoT
  space and will cater to market requirement for comprehensive service offerings
  across several vertical market segments such as Smart Energy, Connected
  Vehicle, and Smart city among others.

• The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development on 6
  October 2015 (UNCTAD) on 6 October 2015 projected that India’s gross domestic
  product (GDP) is expected to grow at 7.5 per cent in 2015.
• It was revealed by the UNCTAD in its Trade and Development
  Report 2015 entitled Making the international financial architecture work for
  development.
• As per the report, the growth rate for world in 2015 is
  expected to remain more or less unchanged from last year, at 2.5 per cent.

• India’s gross domestic product (GDP) is expected to grow at
  7.5 per cent in 2015 compared to China’s 6.9 as China rebalances the structure
  of its demand by concentrating more on exports.
• India’s upward growth will be possible because of lowering
  oil prices in the international market that will ease pressure on current
  account deficit.
• India’s export growth (by volume) slowed down from 8.5 per
  cent in 2013 to 3.2 per cent in 2014.

• The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi,
  on 7 October 2015 gave its ex-post facto approval to the protocol for
  cooperation in the field of blue economy.
• India and Seychelles signed the protocol to this effect on
  26 August 2015 during the visit of the President of Seychelles James Michel to
  India.
• The protocol lays down the modalities and mechanism of
  cooperation between the two parties for ocean studies as well as scientific
  exploration and exploitation of sea based resources, for sustainable development
  and economic purposes.
• The cooperation will enhance India’s strategic cooperation
  in the field of blue economy; commercial benefits from export of human
  resources, expertise and technology and it will increase India’s access to
  ocean-based resources in cooperation with Seychelles.

• The Union Cabinet on 7 October 2015 approved the Protocol
  between India and Israel and between Indian and Vietnam for avoidance of double
  taxation and for prevention of fiscal evasion with respect to taxes on income
  and on capital.
• The Protocol with both the countries provides for
  internationally accepted standards for effective exchange of information on tax
  matters including bank information and information without domestic tax
  interest.
• With this, the information received from Israel and Vietnam
  in respect of a resident of India can be shared with other law enforcement
  agencies with authorisation of the Competent Authority of both the countries
  and vice versa.
• Besides, the Protocol with Israel also provides for
  Limitation of Benefits Article as an anti-abuse provision aimed at preventing
  misuse of the Convention. The provisions of this Article enable use of the
  provisions of domestic law and measures concerning tax avoidance or evasion in
  the event of misuse of the Convention.

• Union Government appointed committee chaired by Anil Baijal,
  former Union Home Secretary, on 7 October 2015 submitted its report on how to
  improve monitoring of CSR spending to government.
• The panel was set up by the Union Corporate Affairs Ministry
  to suggest steps to improve monitoring of CSR spending.
• The panel in its report recommended uniform tax treatment
  for all CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) activities under Companies Act
  2013 and leniency towards non-compliant companies in the first 2 to 3 years of
  the law.
• It suggests that under the Companies Act, 2013, certain
  class of profitable entities is required to spend at least 2 percent of their
  three-year annual average net profit towards CSR activities. The first year of
  implementation of Companies Act was financial year that lasted from April 2014
  to March 2015 and compliance reports would be available by the end 2015.

• The Union Cabinet on 7 October 2015 approved the payments of
  Productivity-Linked Bonus (PLB) equivalent to 78 days’ wages for the financial
  year 2014-2015 to about 12.58 lakh non-gazetted railway employees excluding
  RPF/RPSF personnel.
• It is estimated that the total payment of 78 days’ PLB to
  railway employees will be around 1030.02 crore rupees.
• The wage calculation ceiling prescribed for payment of PLB
  to the eligible non-gazetted railway employees is 3500 rupees per month. The
  maximum amount payable per eligible railway employee is 8975 rupees for 78
  days. This is in disparity to the productivity-linked bonus equivalent to a
  month’s wage paid to other central government employees and even public sector
  units such as NTPC.

• The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Narendra
  Modi on 7 October 2015 approved the setting up of three new All India
  Institutes of Medical Sciences (AllMS) under Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha
  Yojna (PMSSY).
• These three new AIIMS will come up at Nagpur in Maharashtra,
  at Manglagiri in Andhra Pradesh and at Kalyani in West Bengal.
• All the three AIIMS will cost 4949 crore rupees to the
  exchequer with AIIMS at Manglagiri costing 1618 crore rupees, at Nagpur costing
  1577 crore rupees and at Kalyani costing 1754 crore rupees respectively.
• These AIIMS will be established as institutes of national
  importance for providing quality medical education, nursing education and also
  to provide tertiary healthcare facilities to the people of these locations.
• Further, the proposed institution will have a hospital with
  capacity of 960 beds. In addition, these will also have an AYUSH block, nursing
  college, hostel and residential facilities among others.

• Bollywood actor Priyanka Chopra has replaced Alia Bhatt as
  the most ‘sensational’ celebrity on the internet in 2015, shows a study by
  Intel Security. Intel Security’s most sensational celebrities (MSC) report
  reveals the riskiest personalities on the web.
• Among the other entrants are Shraddha Kapoor at second
  position and Kapil Sharma, the only TV personality to make it to the list, at
  the third.
• While evaluating the top 10 celebrity names this year, Intel
  Security research found that 11.47 per cent of all links generated led to
  malware-ridden or suspicious sites. Cybercriminals keep a lookout for ways to
  take advantage of consumer interest around popular culture events like award
  shows, TV show premieres, film music launches, celebrity break-ups, etc.

• Belarussian writer Svetlana Alexievich today won the 2015
  Nobel Literature Prize, the Swedish Academy said.
• It honoured the 67-year-old “for her polyphonic writings, a
  monument to suffering and courage in our time.”
• Alexievich has drawn international acclaim with her
  emotional accounts of the Chernobyl disaster and World War II based on witness
  accounts.
• Chronicling such horrors in the first person through the
  words of witnesses, Alexievich has seen her works translated into numerous
  languages and scooped international awards.
• But her books, controversially written in Russian, are not
  published in her home country, long ruled by authoritarian President Alexander
  Lukashenko, amid what the author has described as “a creeping censorship”.
• Alexievich, only the 14th woman to be awarded the Nobel
  literature prize, takes home the sum of eight million Swedish kronor (around $950,000
  or €855,000).

• Nualgi, an Indian company with entirely Indian technology in
  the field of nano biotechnology, on 7 October 2015 won the Popular Choice
  Awards at the Climate CoLab of Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT),
  Cambridge.
• With this, Nualgi became the first Indian company to win the
  annual MIT contest.
• The Indian company had submitted two proposals to reduce
  power and fuel consumption for sewage treatment and reuse of water built around
  their nano-scale product called Nualgi for the 2015 edition of the contest.

• The book titled The Courage to Act – A Memoir of a Crisis
  and Its Aftermath authored by Ben S. Bernanke was released in the first week of
  October 2015.
• The author through the book has questioned the inflation
  targeting policy followed by Federal Reserve even during the recession and in
  turn has proposed the adoption Nominal Gross Domestic Product (NGDP) policy to
  better deal with recessions like 2008 Financial Crisis.
• The Courage to Act recounts and explains the worst financial
  crisis and economic slump in America since the Great Depression, providing an
  insider’s account of the policy response.

• United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD)
  on 6 October 2015 released the Trade and Development Report 2015 at its
  headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland. The report is titled Making the
  international financial architecture work for development.
• Besides reviewing recent trends in the global economy, the
  report suggested ways to make international financial architecture, including
  IMF and World Bank, work for development.
• Report with respect to trends in the global economy
• Following the 2008−2009 crisis and the rebound in 2010, the
  global economy has been growing at around 2.5 per cent.
• The growth rate for 2015 is expected to remain more or less
  unchanged from last year, at 2.5 per cent.
• Developed countries are expected to grow at around 1.9 per
  cent, compared with 1.6 per cent in 2014, as growth in the eurozone and Japan
  is experiencing a moderate acceleration, although from very low rates.

• International Monetary Fund (IMF) on 6 October 2015 released
  the Global Financial Stability Report October 2015 entitled Vulnerabilities,
  Legacies, and Policy Challenges-Risks Rotating to Emerging Markets.
• The report assessed key risks facing the global financial
  system and came up with suggestions to the policy makers to counter them.
• The report pointed out that as the advanced economies are on
  recovery path the time is ripe for them to normalize domestic interest rates.
  This will result in volatility in the emerging economies that are more
  integrated with global financial architecture.
• With respect to India, the report pointed out that though
  the credit expansion was relatively more moderate that has not prevented high
  formation of new stressed loans.

• Indian cyclist Deborah Herold in the first week of October
  2015 bagged one gold, three silver and one bronze medal at the 2015 Taiwan Cup
  held at the Hsin Chu Velodrome, Hsin-Chu city in Taiwan. With this, she became
  the first ever Indian cyclist to win in women’s elite section.
• Deborah fetched the gold medal in Taiwan Cup Track
  International Classic I by defeating the Malaysian top rider. On the other
  hand, she ended on second place in the keirin event and 500m time trial.
• In November 2014, the Indian cyclist had won four gold
  medals at the Track Asia Cup Cycling Championship 2014.

• The Director General of the National Cadet Corps Lt. General
  Aniruddha Chakravarty on 7 October 2015 inaugurated the NCC National Games-2015
  at DG NCC Camp, Delhi Cantt. The game will witness nearly 2000 cadets from all
  17 state directorates in action.
• The NCC Games aims at identifying the sportsperson in the
  cadets and provide them with a feel of a major sporting event and prepare them
  with essential match temperament and further their sporting careers.
• In addition, the game showcases and promotes low cost
  indigenous games such as Kabbadi and Kho-Kho among the youth.

• Russia on 4 October 2015 won the Women’s European Volleyball
  Championship title. In the final played at the Sportpaleis Ahoy Arena in
  Rotterdam, Russia defeated Netherlands, 3–0 (25-14, 25-20, 25-20).
• This was the 19th title for Russia.

• Gold: Russia
• Silver: Netherlands
• Bronze: Serbia

• Hoesung Lee, a Korean professor of economics of climate
  change, energy and sustainable development, was on 6 October 2015 elected as
  the Head of the Inter-governmental Panel for Climate Change (IPCC) at its 42nd
  session in Dubrovnik, Croatia.
• Lee was elected by 78-56 votes in a run-off with
  Jean-Pascale van Ypersele of Belgium. A total of six candidates had been
  nominated for the post.
• He succeeded RK Pachauri of India, who stepped down in
  February 2015 after a female researcher accused him of sexual harassment.

• Elevator and escalator manufacturer Kone has appointed Amit
  Gossain as new managing director in India effective September 28, 2015.
• He has taken over responsibility of the Indian subsidiary
  from Neeraj Sharma, who joined Executive Board of Kone as Executive Vice
  President, Asia Pacific & Middle East.
• Gossain’s last assignment was with JCB India Limited as
  Executive Vice President, where he was responsible for both India and SAARC
  countries.
• Based in Chennai, Kone India serves customers all over the
  country through its 40 branches and employs over 3,600 people in the country.

• The Air Force Day 2015 was on 8 October 2015 observed across
  India. This is the 83rd celebration of the Day that began in 1932.
• This prestigious occasion was marked with celebrations at
  the Hindon Air Force Station in Ghaziabad. The event began with a fly past of
  three Mi-17 V5 helicopters with ensign of the Air Force in a V-shaped formation
  at the air base in Ghaziabad in Uttar Pradesh.
• The parade saw Hercules formation comprising three C-130J
  aircraft in the same formation.

Regards

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