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What is Minimum Reserve System? How new currencies are issued by the RBI?

noreply@blogger.com (weekly current affais) — Wed, 20 Jan 2016 17:09:00 +0000

The relationship between note issue and its reserve backing is usually done on the basis of a reserve system by central banks across the world. The reserve system provides guidelines for the issue of new currencies.

In India, currencies are issued by the RBI with the backing of reserves comprised of gold and foreign exchange (foreign currencies). For the issue of currency the RBI follows Minimum Reserve System at present. The Minimum Reserve System (MRS) is followed from 1956 onwards.

Under the Minimum Reserve System, the RBI has to keep a minimum reserve of Rs 200 crore comprising of gold coin and gold bullion and foreign currencies. Out of the total Rs 200 crores, Rs115 crore should be in the form of gold coins or gold bullion. The purpose of shifting to MRS was to expand money supply to meet the needs of increasing transactions in the economy.

The minimum reserve is a token of confidence and doesn’t have any practical connection with amount new currencies issued by the RBI. Under the Minimum Reserve System, RBI can issue unlimited amount of currency by keeping the reserve. But RBI follows some principle or rule for issuing new currencies based upon economic growth and transaction needs of the people.

How RBI issues new currencies?

For every year, RBI makes a money supply expansion target based on the expected economic growth. Higher the economic growth, higher will be the expansion of newly issued money by the RBI. This strategy helps RBI to contain inflation as well as enabling people to meet their transaction needs.

Similarly, the RBI secures assets while issuing new currency into the economy. These assets are foreign currencies or government bonds. Every unit of new currency is a liability of the RBI. To match this liability, there should be equal volume of assets as well. The procured foreign currency and government bonds constitute to the assets of the RBI whereas the newly issued currency is its liability. Foreign currencies purchased by the RBI are kept at Banking Department whereas the resaves used for issuing new currency (under MRS) is kept at Issue Department.

- See more at: http://www.indianeconomy.net/

Your guide to investing in the National Pension Scheme

noreply@blogger.com (sudhirshankla) — Mon, 08 Sep 2014 17:46:00 +0000

The pension scheme launched by the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority ( PFRDA) is the cheapest market-linked retirement option available in India. Here's how you can invest in this low-cost scheme.

Who is eligible?

All Indian citizens between 18 and 60 years of age can invest in the NPS.

What are the charges?

The NPS funds can charge a maximum of 0.25% of the amount as fund management charges in a year. This makes the NPS the cheapest market-linked financial product in the country

Mini SIPs is a bad idea

Given that many of these are fixed charges, contributing small amounts is not very costeffective. Don't go by intermediaries' claims since are only trying to boost their income. Ten contributions of Rs 500 each will be charged Rs 260, or 5.2% of the investment. However, if Rs 5,000 is invested at one go, the charge will be Rs 26, or 0.52% of the amount

Decide your asset allocation

The NPS offers three types of funds and you can divide your corpus between these as per your risk appetite. However, the exposure to E class equity funds cannot exceed 50%.

If the asset allocation is not specified, the investor's age decides the equity exposure. Up to 35 years, the allocation to equities is 50%. This is reduced every year by 2% after the investor turns 35, till it becomes 10% by the age of 55. You can also opt for the Lifecycle Fund by choice.

Choose a pension fund manager

The retirement savings of government employees are managed by the LIC Pension Fund, SBI Pension Fundand UTI Retirement Solutions. The general public can choose from any of the eight pension fund managers.

You can switch from one fund manager to another, but will have to continue with the new fund for at least one year before you can switch again. If you do not specify your choice of fund manager, then by default, your money will be managed by the SBI Pension Fund, the largest pension fund.

Get a PRAN

Go to a point of presence service provider (POP-SP) and apply for a permanent retirement account number (PRAN). Nearly 9,000 bank branches and post offices act as POPSPs. For a detailed list, go to: www.npscra.nsdl.co.in/pop-sp.php You will get a receipt number. Use it to track the status of your PRAN application at: //cra-nsdl.com/CRA/JSP/sim/Sub-RegStatSearchTile.jsp. In a few days, the Central Record-keeping Agency (CRA) shall send your PRAN card and account details. You can then make a contribution (minimum Rs 500) in any fund of your choice.

Source: Economic Times

Take-Out Financing for Project loans

noreply@blogger.com (weekly current affais) — Sat, 09 Aug 2014 16:56:00 +0000

Take-out financing applies to projects that have started commercial operations, considered standard, have a good cash flow.

"A BANANA A DAY" keeps the doctor away

noreply@blogger.com (sudhirshankla) — Fri, 08 Aug 2014 18:13:00 +0000

This is interesting. After reading this, you’ll never look at a banana in the same way again.

Bananas contain three natural sugars – sucrose, fructose and glucose combined with fibre. A banana gives an instant, sustained and substantial boost of energy.

Research has proven that just two bananas provide enough energy for a strenuous 90-minute workout. No wonder the banana is the number one fruit with the world’s leading athletes.

But energy isn’t the only way a banana can help us keep fit. It can also help overcome or prevent a substantial number of illnesses and conditions, making it a must to add to our daily diet.

Depression: According to a recent survey undertaken by MIND amongst people suffering from depression, many felt much better after eating a banana. This is because bananas contain tryptophan, a type of protein that the body converts into serotonin, known to make you relax, improve your mood and generally make you feel happier. Forget the pills – eat a banana. The vitamin B6 it contains regulates blood glucose levels, which can affect your mood.

Anaemia: High in iron, bananas can stimulate the production of haemoglobin in the blood and so helps in cases of anaemia.

Blood Pressure: This unique tropical fruit is extremely high in potassium yet low in salt, making it perfect to beat blood pressure So much so, the US Food and Drug Administration has just allowed the banana industry to make official claims for the fruit’s ability to reduce the risk of blood pressure and stroke.

Brain Power: 200 students at a Twickenham school ( England ) were helped through their exams this year by eating bananas at breakfast, break, and lunch in a bid to boost their brain power. Research has shown that the potassium-packed fruit can assist learning by making pupils more alert.

Constipation: High in fibre, including bananas in the diet can help restore normal bowel action, helping to overcome the problem without resorting to laxatives.

Hangovers: One of the quickest ways of curing a hangover is to make a banana milkshake, sweetened with honey. The banana calms the stomach and, with the help of the honey, builds up depleted blood sugar levels, while the milk soothes and re-hydrates your system.

Heartburn: Bananas have a natural antacid effect in the body, so if you suffer from heartburn, try eating a banana for soothing relief.

Morning Sickness: Snacking on bananas between meals helps to keep blood sugar levels up and avoid morning sickness.

Mosquito Bites: Before reaching for the insect bite cream, try rubbing the affected area with the inside of a banana skin. Many people find it amazingly successful at reducing swelling and irritation.

Nerves: Bananas are high in B vitamins that help calm the nervous system. Overweight and at work? Studies at the Institute of Psychology in Austria found pressure at work leads to gorging on comfort food like chocolate and chips. Looking at 5,000 hospital patients, researchers found the most obese were more likely to be in high-pressure jobs. The report concluded that, to avoid panic-induced food cravings, we need to control our blood sugar levels by snacking on high carbohydrate foods every two hours to keep levels steady.

Ulcers: The banana is used as the dietary food against intestinal disorders because of its soft texture and smoothness. It is the only raw fruit that can be eaten without distress in over-chroniclercases. It also neutralizes over-acidity and reduces irritation by coating the lining of the stomach.

Temperature Control: Many other cultures see bananas as a ‘cooling’ fruit that can lower both the physical and emotional temperature of expectant mothers. In Thailand, for example, pregnant women eat bananas to ensure their baby is born with a cool temperature.

So, a banana really is a natural remedy for many ills. When you compare it to an apple, it has FOUR TIMES the protein, TWICE the carbohydrate, THREE TIMES the phosphorus, five times the vitamin A and iron, and twice the other vitamins and minerals.. It is also rich in potassium and is one of the best value foods around

So maybe its time to change that well known phrase so that we say, ‘A BANANA a day keeps the doctor away!’

How the government taxes you

noreply@blogger.com (weekly current affais) — Mon, 25 Feb 2013 17:00:00 +0000

The central government imposes many taxes, but they can be divided into two broad categories: Direct Tax and Indirect Tax

Direct tax
This is the tax that business, companies , firms and partnerships and we all pay from our income or wealth. It is called direct tax because the person who pays the tax has to also bear the burden of the tax.

Corporation (corporate) tax: It is the tax that India Inc pays on its profits. It is the single biggest source of tax for govt.
Taxes on income other than corporation tax: It's income-tax paid by 'non-corporate assesses' such as individuals and Hindu undivided family (HUF).

Securities transaction tax (STT): STT is the small tax you need to pay on the total amount you pay or receive when you buy or sell shares on stock exchanges or transact in mutual funds. This is in the nature of a transaction tax.

Wealth tax: This is the tax individuals pay on their accumulated wealth. It is levied on individuals, HUFs and companies at the rate of 1% on the amount by which the net wealth exceeds Rs 30 lakh.

Capital gains tax: It is the tax levied on profit or gain made on sale of a capital asset such as shares, house, commercial property. Long-term capital gains tax is levied at 10% & short term at the marginal income-tax rate of an assesse.

Dividend distribution tax (DDT): Dividends are tax free in the hands of investors but the entity distributing dividends to investors pays DDT to govt.

Minimum alternate tax (MAT): It is often the case that companies report profits but pay no tax. Such cos have to pay a certain minimum tax on their book profits.

Withholding tax: This is a small tax deducted whenever a payment is made that is like an income for the receiver such as dividends, interest, royalty or even capital gains.

Indirect tax
It's essentially a tax on our expenditure, and includes customs, excise and service tax. It is called indirect tax because the tax is paid to the government by the person selling the good or providing service but its final burden is on the consumer. It is considered a 'regressive' tax as the burden is equal whether you're rich or poor.

Customs: Anything purchased from another country and brought into India is subject to this tax. It serves a twin purpose, yielding revenues for the government and protecting Indian industry.

Union excise duty: This is a duty imposed on goods manufactured in the country.

Service tax: It is a tax on services rendered.

GST: A proposed single tax that will replace the plethora of indirect taxes. This will make tax administration effective, compliance easy and evasion difficult. Consumers will benefit from the decline in the incidence of tax.

Source: Economic Times

Pakistan's blasphemy law

noreply@blogger.com (weekly current affais) — Sun, 07 Aug 2011 05:33:00 +0000

The Pakistan Penal Code prohibits blasphemy against any recognized religion, providing penalties ranging from a fine to death. However, in practice, it is only applied to Islam. An accusation of blasphemy commonly subjects the accused, police, lawyers, and judges to harassment, threats, and attacks.

By its constitution, the official name of Pakistan is the "Islamic Republic of Pakistan." More than 96% of Pakistan's 167 million citizens (2008) are Muslims. Among countries with a Muslim majority, Pakistan has the strictest anti-blasphemy laws. The first purpose of those laws is to protect Islamic authority.
By the constitution (Article 2), Islam is the state religion. By the constitution's Article 31, it is the country's duty to foster the Islamic way of life. By Article 33, it is the country's duty to discourage parochial, racial, tribal, sectarian, and provincial prejudices among the citizens

Some facts:-

-- In 1927, the British colonial rulers of the sub-continent made it a criminal offence to commit "deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religious belief". The law did not discriminate between religions

-- The law was retained when Pakistan gained independence in 1947 under the rule of the country's moderate founder Mohammad Ali Jinnah

-- Pakistan's late military ruler Mohammed Zia ul-Haq, who was in power for 11 years from 1977, made several additions to its blasphemy laws, including life imprisonment for those defiling or desecrating the Koran

-- In 1984, followers of the minority Ahmadi sect, who believe that Ahmad was a prophet, were banned from calling themselves Muslims, punishable with three years in jail

-- The death penalty for anyone found guilty of defaming Islam was introduced in 1986. Pakistan has yet to execute anyone for blasphemy. Most of those given the death penalty have their sentences overturned or commuted on appeal

-- Ten blasphemy cases were reportedly heard in court in the 58 years between 1927 and 1985, but since then more than 4,000 cases have been handled

-- A Christian woman, Aasia Bibi, was sentenced to hang in Pakistan's central province of Punjab last November after being found guilty of insulting the Prophet Mohammed following a row with Muslim women in her village

-- Lawmaker Sherry Rehman from the ruling Pakistan People's Party sparked fury later that month when she lodged a private member's bill, seeking to abolish the death penalty and clarify the law on blasphemy

-- On December 30, 2010, the PPP-led government announced it had no intention of amending the blasphemy law

-- On December 31, 2010, businesses went on strike across Pakistan in protest over moves to amend the law despite international controversy over Bibi's death sentence

-- On January 5, 2011, moderate politician Salman Taseer was killed by his bodyguard for advocating reform of the blasphemy laws. His assassin was subsequently hailed as a hero, with a number of lawyers offering to represent him for free.

-- On March 2, 2011, gunmen shot dead minorities minister Shahbaz Bhatti, a Catholic, who had vowed to defy death threats in his opposition to the laws.

CAT-31 for Banking Exams

noreply@blogger.com (weekly current affais) — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 16:43:00 +0000

1. As per data released by Central Statistical Organization, Per Capita Income of Indians in 2010-11 (calculated on the prices of 2004-05 prices) in rupees is…………….
A) 35,917
B) 33,731
C) 54,835
D) 46,492

2. The India's population stands at ………………..at the end of March 2011.
A) 1.21 billion
B) 1.26 billion
C) 1.31 billion
D) 1.36 billion
3. Bank customers will be also charged for making a balance enquiry and taking a mini-statement from other bank ATMs, if they exceed the limit of five free transactions, with effect from…………
A) June 1, 2011
B) July 1, 2011
C) August 1, 2011
D) September 1, 2011
4. A committee of bankers headed by Mr S. Sridhar, has recently recommended for hike in the allocation of grants for construction of a rural housing units for below poverty line (BPL) households from 45,000/- to …………..
A) 50,000/-
B) 65,000/-
C) 75,000/-
D) 85,000/-

5) The country's foreign exchange reserves is…………………during the week ended May 20.
A) $208.534 billion
B) $258.534 billion
C) $278.534 billion
D) $308.534 billion

6. Name the person who has been appointed as the Secretary General (chief) of FICCI.
A) Amit Mitra
B) R V Kanoria
C) Rajiv Kumar
D) Harsh Mariwala

7. Gross NPAs of State Bank of India as on March 31, 2011 is………..
A) 19,535 Crore
B) 25,326 Crore
C) 30,535 Crore
D) 35,326 Crore
8. Apart from India and China, other BRICS country / countries is/are?
A) Brazil
B) Russia
C) South Africa
D) All of these

9. As per RBI's revised provisioning norms, provisions for loans classified as substandard (secured) has been increased to …………per cent from existing 10 percent.
A 12
B 15
C 18
D 20

10. As per RBI's revised provisioning norms, provisions for loans classified as substandard (unsecured) would now be …………….per cent, against 20 per cent mandated earlier.
A) 25
B) 28
C) 30
D) 35

11.Name the head of Committee that will examine and simplify the procedures involving forex transactions.
A) Siddhartha Mukherjee
B) K J Udeshi
C) K Balachander
D) Shyamala Gopinath

12. Name the renowned Tamil film director and producer who has been given "Dada Saheb Phalke Award 2010".
A) Siddhartha Mukherjee
B) K J Udeshi
C) K Balachander
D) Prakash M Swamy

SBI Associates heading for mass recruitment

noreply@blogger.com (weekly current affais) — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 03:20:00 +0000

Important dates:Date of Commencement of Application:June 4, 2011
Date of Closure: June 25, 2011
Start Date for Fee deposit:June 25, 2011
Last Date for Fee deposit : June 2, 2011
Last Date for Reprint: July 10, 2011

Positions: Probationary Officers (PO) posts in State Bank of India Associate Banks (State Bank of Travancore SBT, State Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur SBBJ, State Bank of Hyderabad SBH, State Bank of Mysore SBM, State Bank of Patiala SBP etc.)

No. of posts: 4987
Reserved posts: (SBBJ-1000, SBH-1416, SBM-843, SBP-1328, SBT-404)
Pay scale: Rs.14500-25700/-
Eligibility: Graduation in any discipline.
Age: 21-30 years as on June 1, 2011

Selection process: Written Exam on August 7, 2011 followed by Group Discussion & Personal Interview for selected candidates.

Application Fee: Rs.500/- (Rs.50/- for SC/ ST/ PWD). Candidates are required to go to any CBS Branch of State Bank of India and pay the amount throug a payment voucher of prescribes fees and get receipt from the branch.

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15th Census 2011 highlights

noreply@blogger.com (weekly current affais) — Fri, 01 Apr 2011 02:44:00 +0000

Importance of census
Census 2011 will be the 15th National Census of the Country
The Indian Census is the most credible source of information on Demography (Population characterstics), Economic Activity, Literacy and Education, Housing & Household Amenities, Urbanisation, Fertility and Mortality, Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, Language, Religion, Migration, Disability and many other socio-cultural and demographic data since 1872. . This is the only source of primary data in the village ,town and ward level, It provides valuable information for planning and formulation policies for Central and the State Governments and is widely used by National and International Agencies, Scholars, business people, industrialists, and many more.

The Delimitation/reservation of Constituencies- Parliamentary/Assembly/Panchayats and other Local Bodies is also done on the basis of the demographic data thrown up by the Census. Census is te basis for reviewing the country's progress in the past decade, monitoring the ongoing Schemes of the Government and most importantly, plan for the future. That is why the Slogan is “Our Census - Our Future".

Highlights of 15th census 2011 (provisional figures)

India's population rose to 1.21 billion people over the last 10 years -- an increase by 181 million. The overall population growth rate is 17.6 in 2011, significantly lower than 2001 when it was 21.15 per cent.
India is now home to a whopping 17.5 per cent population - compared to China which hosts 19.4 per cent.
India now has as many people as these countries put together: of the United States, Indonesia, Brazil, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Japan.
Percentage growth in 2001-2011 is 17.64; males are 17.19 and females are18.12. India has 623.7 million males and 586.5 million women.
Literacy rate has increased from 64.83 per cent in 2001 to 74.04 per cent in 2011 showing an increase of 9.21 percentage points.
Percentage growth in literacy during 2001-2011 is 38.82; males: 31.98% & females : 49.10%.
Literates constitute 74 per cent of the total population aged seven and above and illiterates form 26 per cent.
The highest population density is in Delhi's north-east district (37,346 per sq km) while the lowest is in Dibang Valley in Arunachal Pradesh (just one per sq km).
The population of India has increased by more than 181 million during the decade 2001-2011.
2001-2011 is the first decade (with the exception of 1911-1921) which has actually added lesser population compared to the previous decade.
Among the states, Uttar Pradesh (199.5 million) is the most populous State in the country followed by Maharashtra with 112 million. The combined population of UP and Maharashtra is bigger than that of the US.
The percentage decadal growth rates of the six most populous States have declined during 2001-2011 compared to 1991-2001:

   - Uttar Pradesh (25.85% to 20.09%)
   - Maharashtra (22.73% to 15.99%)
   - Bihar (28.62% to 25.07%)
   - West Bengal (17.77 % to 13.93%)
   - Andhra Pradesh (14.59% to 11.10%)
   - Madhya Pradesh (24.26% to 20.30%)

During 2001-2011, as many as 25 States/UTs with a share of about 85% of the country’s population registered an annual growth rate of less than 2% as compared to, 15 States/UTs with a share of about 42% during the period 1991-2001.
15 States/UTs have grown by less than 1.5 per cent per annum during 2001-2011, while the number of such States/UTs was only 4 during the previous decade.
Child sex ratio has slipped to its lowest since India's independence. For every 1000 male infants, there are 914 girls.
The total number of children in the age-group 0-6 is 158.8 million (-5 million since 2001)
Population (0-6 years) 2001-2011 registered minus (-)3.08 percent growth with minus (-)2.42 for males and (-)3.80 for females.
Kerala with 1084 has the highest sex ratio followed by Puducherry with 1038, Daman & Diu has the lowest sex ratio of 618.
Increasing trend in the child sex ratio (0-6) seen in Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Mizoram and A&N Islands. In all remaining 27 States/UTs, the child sex ratio show decline over Census 2001.
Uttar Pradesh (29.7 million), Bihar (18.6 million), Maharashtra (12.8 million), Madhya Pradesh (10.5 million) and Rajasthan (10.5 million) constitute 52% children in the age group of 0-6 years.
Three major States (J&K, Bihar & Gujarat) have shown decline in sex ratio as compared to Census 2001.
Mizoram has the highest child sex ratio (0-6 years) of 971 followed by Meghalaya with 970. Haryana is at the bottom with ratio of 830 followed by Punjab with 846.
The proportion of Child Population in the age group of 0-6 years to total population is 13.1 percent while the corresponding figure in 2001 was 15.9 percent. The decline has been to the extent of 2.8 points.
Overall sex ratio at the national level has increased by 7 points to reach 940 at Census 2011 as against 933 in Census 2001. This is the highest sex ratio recorded since Census 1971 and a shade lower than 1961. Increase in sex ratio is observed in 29 States/UTs.

CAT-30 for Banking Exams and Other Public Service Exams

noreply@blogger.com (weekly current affais) — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 16:51:00 +0000

1) Which of the following book is not written by Jhumpa Lahiri?
a) Unaccustomed Earth
b) The Namesake
c) Interpreter of Maladies
d) The God of Small Things

2) Which of the following is having Maharatna status?
a) ONGC
b) Indian Oil
c) SAIL
d) NTPC
e) All of these

3) 'Aadhaar' - a unique number issued by the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), contains how many digits?
a) 10
b) 8
c) 12
d) 16

4) Which of the following is true?
a) South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) has 8 member states
b) The South Asian Free Trade Agreement (SAFTA) came into effect on July 1, 2006
c) Sixteenth SAARC Summit was held in Thimphu, 2010
d) All are true

5) The Government has announced setting up of a one-man panel to look into the spectrum allocation procedures and policies during 2001-2009. This panel was chaired by -
a) Shivraj V Patil
b) Shnglu
c) DV Sharma
d) Narsimhan

6) POSCO which have got the clearance for the Rs 50,000-crore project in Orissa from the environment ministry. POSCO is
related to
a) Cement Industry
b) Steel Industry
c) Carbon Industry
d) Renewable Resources

7) Chrome OS, an operating system has been generated by-
a) Microsoft
b) Windows 7
c) Apple
d) Google

8) The FRBM Act was enacted in
a) 2003
b) 2004
c) 2005
d) 2007

9) National celebrations of __ Birth Anniversary of Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore will be commenced in 2011.
a) 140th
b) 120th
c) 150th
d) 170th

10) Which of the following is for financial inclusion?
a) Swabhimaan
b) Business Correspondents
c) NREGA
d) All of the above

11) Swavalamban is -
a) the opening of no frills account
b) the pension scheme for workers in unorganised sector
c) the defence plan against China
d) the Scheme for making India Clean

12) Which of the following is true?
a) The Technology Advisory Group for Unique Projects (TAGUP), which was set up 2010
b) Government has approached Unicode Standards Authority for inclusion of the Indian Rupee Symbol in international standard
c) TAGUP is under the chairmanship of UIDAI Chairman, Nandan Nilekani
d) All of the above

13) Which of the following is the chairperson of NHRC?
a) Rajendra Babu
b) Naryana Murthi
c) K G Balakrishnan
d) None of these

Union Budget 2011-12 Highlights

noreply@blogger.com (weekly current affais) — Fri, 04 Mar 2011 02:48:00 +0000

OVERVIEW OF THE ECONOMY
- Gross Domestic Product (GDP) estimated to have grown at 8.6 per cent in 2010-11 in real terms.

- Exports have grown by 29.4 per cent, while imports have recorded a growth of 17.6 per cent during April to January 2010-11 over the corresponding period last year.

- Indian economy expected to grow at 9 per cent with an outside band of +/- 0.25 per cent in 2011-12.
- Average inflation expected lower next year and current account deficit smaller.

- Monetary policy measures taken expected to further moderate inflation in coming months.

Fiscal Consolidation

Amendment to Centre’s FRBM Act, 2003 laying down the fiscal road map for the next five years to be introduced in the course of the year.
Proposal to introduce the Public Debt Management Agency of India Bill in the next financial year.
The Thirteenth Finance Commission has worked out a fiscal consolidation road map for States requiring them to eliminate revenue deficit and achieve a fiscal deficit of 3 per cent of their respective Gross State Domestic Product latest by 2014-15. It has also recommended a combined States’ debt target of 24.3 per cent of GDP to be reached during this period. The States are required to amend or enact their FRBM Acts to conform to these recommendations.

Tax Reforms

As a step towards the roll-out of GST, It is proposed to introduce the Constitution Amendment Bil. Work is also underway on drafting of the model legislation for the Central and State GST.
Significant progress in establishing GST Network (GSTN), which will serve as IT infrastructure for introduction of GST.
The National Securities Depository Limited (NSDL) has been selected as technology partner for incubating the National Information Utility that will establish and operate the IT backbone for GST. By June 2011, NSDL will set up a Pilot portal in collaboration with eleven States prior to its roll out across the country.
Direct Taxes Code (DTC) proposed to be effective from April 1, 2012.
Govt in the process of setting up independent debt managing committee within finance ministry

Expenditure Reforms
A Committee already set up by Planning Commission to look into the extant classification of public expenditure between plan, non-plan, revenue and capital.

Subsidies

The extension of the NBS regime to cover urea is under active consideration of the Government.
Government to move towards direct transfer of cash subsidy to people living below poverty line in a phased manner for better delivery of kerosene, LPG and fertilisers.
A task force headed by Shri Nandan Nilekani has been set-up to work out the modalities for the proposed system of direct transfer of subsidy for kerosene, LPG and fertilisers. The interim report of the task force is expected by June 2011. The system will be in place by March 2012.

People’s Ownership of PSUs

As against a divestment target of 40,000 crore, the Government will raise about 22,144 crore from disinvestment in 2010-11.
40,000 crore is intended to be raised through disinvestment in 2011-12.
The Government is committed to retain at least 51 per cent ownership and management control of the CPSUs

Investment environment
FDI
�Discussions underway to further liberalise the FDI policy.

Foreign Institutional Investors
�SEBI registered mutual funds permitted to accept subscription from foreign investors who meet KYC requirements for equity schemes.
�To enhance flow of funds to infrastructure sector, the FII limit for investment in corporate bonds issued in infrastructure sector being raised.Discussions are underway to further liberalise the FDI policy.

Financial Sector legislative Initiatives
The financial sector reforms initiated during the early 1990s have borne good results for the Indian economy. To take the process of financial sector reforms further, various legislations
proposed in 2011-12.

It is proposed to move the following legislations in the financial sector:
(i) The Insurance Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2008;
(ii) The Life Insurance Corporation (Amendment) Bill, 2009;
(iii) The revised Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority Bill, first introduced in 2005;
(iv) Banking Laws Amendment Bill, 2011;
(v) Bill on Factoring and Assignment of Receivables;
(vi) The State Bank of India (Subsidiary Banks Laws) Amendment Bill, 2009; and
(vii) Bill to amend RDBFI Act 1993 and SARFAESI Act 2002.

The Government has set up a Financial Sector Legislative Reforms Commission under the Chair of Justice B. N. Srikrishna. It would rewrite and streamline the financial sector laws, rules and regulations and bring them in harmony with the requirements of a modern financial sector. The Commission will complete its work in 24 months.

Licenses to private players
Reserve Bank of India would consider giving some additional banking licences to private sector players. Amendments proposed to the Banking Regulation Act in the context of additional banking licences to private sector players. And RBI is planning to issue the guidelines for banking licences before the close of this financial year.

Public Sector Bank Recapitalisation
6,000 crore for the year 2011-12 to enable Public Sector Banks to maintain a minimum Tier I CRAR at 8 per cent.

Recapitalisation of Regional Rural Banks
500 crore during 2011-12 to enable them maintain a CRAR of at least 9 percent as on March 31, 2012.

Micro Finance Institutions
It is proposed to create in the course of the year, "India Microfinance Equity Fund" of `100 crore with SIDBI.
To empower women and promote their Self Help Groups (SHGs), a “Women’s SHG’s Development Fund” with a corpus of 500 crore will be created.

Rural Infrastructure Development Fund
The Rural Infrastructure Development Fund (RIDF) is an important instrument for routing bank funds for financing rural infrastructure.
It is proposed to raise the corpus of RIDF XVII to 18,000 crore in 2011-12 from 16,000 crore in the current year.

Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises
- Micro and Small enterprises play a crucial role in furthering the objective of equitable and inclusive growth.

- In Budget, 5,000 crore has been provided to SIDBI for the same purpose out of the shortfall of banks on priority sector lending targets.

- 3,000 crore to be provided to NABARD to provide support to handloom weaver co-operative societies which have become financially unviable due to non-repayment of debt by handloom weavers facing economic stress.

- Public sector banks to achieve a target of 15 per cent as outstanding loans to minority communities under priority sector lending at the earliest.

Housing Sector Finance
- To further stimulate growth in housing sector, budget is liberalising the existing scheme of interest subvention of 1 per cent on housing loans by extending it to housing loan upto 15 lakh where the cost of the house does not exceed 25 lakh from the present limit of 10 lakh and 20 lakh respectively.

- On account of increase in prices of residential properties in urban areas, FM has proposed to enhance the existing housing loan limit from 20 lakh to 25 lakh for dwelling units under priority sector lending.

- To provide housing finance to targeted groups in rural areas at competitive rates, It is proposed to enhance the provision under Rural Housing Fund to 3,000 crore from the existing 2,000 crore.

- Credit enablement of Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) and LIG households is a serious challenge. To address this issue, it is proposed to create a Mortgage Risk Guarantee Fund under Rajiv Awas Yojana. This would guarantee housing loans taken by EWS and LIG households and enhance their credit worthiness.

- To prevent frauds in loan cases involving multiple lending from different banks on the same immovable property, the Government has facilitated setting up of Central Electronic Registry under the SARFAESI Act, 2002. This Registry will become operational by March 31, 2011.

Agriculture
The total allocation of RKVY is being increased from 6,755 crore in 2010-11 to 7,860 crore in 2011-12.

Bringing Green Revolution to Eastern Region
To improve rice based cropping system in this region, allocation of 400 crore has been made.
The program would target the improvement in the rice based cropping system of Assam, West Bengal, Orissa, Bihar, Jharkhand, Eastern Uttar Pradesh and Chhattisgarh.

Integrated Development of 60,000 pulses villages in rainfed areas
To attain self-sufficiency in production of pulses within next three years, It is proposed to provide an amount of 300 crore to promote 60,000 pulses villages in rainfed areas for increasing crop productivity and strengthening market linkages.

Promotion of Oil Palm
The domestic production of edible oil meets only about 50 per cent demand. The gap in supply is met through imports.
It is proposed to provide an amount of 300 crore to bring 60,000 hectares under oil palm plantation, by integrating the farmers with the markets. The initiative will yield about 3 lakh metric tonnes of palm oil annually in 5 years.

Initiative on Vegetable Clusters
The growing demand for vegetables has to be met by a robust increase in the productivity and market linkage.
An amount of 300 crore has been proposed for implementation of vegetable initiative to set in motion a virtuous cycle of higher production and incomes for the farmers.

Nutri-cereals
Allocation of 300 crore to promote higher production of Bajra, Jowar, Ragi and other millets, which are highly nutritious and have several medicinal properties.

National Mission for Protein Supplements
Allocation of 300 crore to promote animal based protein production through livestock development, dairy farming, piggery, goat rearing and fisheries.

National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture
Government to promote organic farming methods, combining modern technology with traditional farming practices.

Accelerated Fodder Development Programme
300 crore has been proposed for Accelerated Fodder Development Programme which will benefit farmers in 25,000 villages.

Agriculture Credit
- Credit flow for farmers raised from 3,75,000 crore to 4,75,000 crore in 2011-12.

- The existing interest subvention scheme of providing short term crop loans to farmers at 7 per cent interest will be continued during 2011-12. There is an additional subvention to 3 per cent in 2011-12 who repay their crop loans on time.

- It is proposed to strengthen NABARD's capital base by infusing 3000 crore, in a phased manner, as Government equity.

- To enable NABARD refinance the short-term crop loans of the cooperative credit institutions and RRBs at concessional rates, a contribution of 10,000 crore to NABARD’s Short-term Rural Credit Fund for 2011-12 from the shortfall in priority sector lending by Scheduled Commercial Banks.

Mega Food Parks
- Approval being given to set up 15 more Mega Food Parks during 2011-12.

Stress on increasing Storage Capacity and Cold Chains
- Process to create new storage capacity of 150 lakh metric tonnes through private entrepreneurs and warehousing corporations has been fast tracked.

- Decision to create 20 lakh metric tonnes of storage capacity under Public Entrepreneurs Guarantee (PEG) Scheme through modern silos has been taken.

Infrastructure and Industry
- Allocation of 2,14,000 crore for infrastructure in 2011-12. This is an increase of 23.3 per cent over 2010-11. This also amounts to 48.5 per cent of total plan allocation.

- Government established India Infrastructure Finance Company Limited (IIFCL) to provide long term financial assistance to infrastructure projects. It is expected to achieve a cumulative disbursement target of 20,000 crore by March 31, 2011 and 25,000 crore by March 31, 2012.

- Under take out financing scheme, seven projects sanctioned with debt of 1,500 crore. Another 5,000 crore will be sanctioned during 2011-12.

- To boost infrastructure development, tax free bonds of 30,000 crore proposed to be issued by Government undertakings during 2011-12.

National Manufacturing Policy
- Share of manufacturing in GDP expected to grow from about 16 per cent to 25 per cent over a period of 10 years. Government will come out with a manufacturing policy.

- To provide green and clean transportation for the masses, National Mission for Hybrid and Electric Vehicles will be launched

- Capital investment in fertiliser production proposed to be included as an infrastructure sub-sector.

Exports
- Of 23 suggestions made by Task Force on Transaction Cost, constituted by the Department of Commerce, 21 suggestions already implemented. Action to be taken on the remaining two suggestions. Transaction Cost of 2,100 crore will thus be mitigated.

- Mega Cluster Scheme to be extended for leather products. Seven mega leather clusters to be set up during 2011-12.

- Jodhpur to be included for the development of a handicraft mega cluster.

Strengthening Inclusion
- The proposed allocation of 1, 60,887 crore for social sector in 2011-12 is an increase of 17 per cent over current year. It amounts to 36.4 per cent of the total plan allocation.

- National Food Security Bill (NFSB) to be introduced in the Parliament during the course of this year.

Bharat Nirman
- Allocation for Bharat Nirman programme proposed to be increased by 10,000 crore from the current year to 58,000 crore in 2011-12.

- Plan to provide Rural Broadband Connectivity to all 2,50,000 Panchayats in the country in three years.

MGNREGA
- To provide a real wage of 100 per day, the Government has decided to index the wage rates notified under the MGNREGA to the Consumer Price Index for Agricultural Labour.

- From 1st April, 2011, remuneration of Anganwadi workers increased from 1,500 per month to 3,000 per month and for Anganwadi helpers from 750 per month to 1,500 per month.

Scheduled Castes and Tribal Sub-plan
- Specific allocation earmarked towards Schedule Castes Sub-plan and Tribal Sub-plan in the Budget.

��Allocation for primitive Tribal groups increased from 185 crore in 2010-11 to 244 crore in 2011-12.

Education
Education gets an allocation of 52,057 crore, which is an increase of 24 per cent over the current year.

Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan
- 21,000 crore allocated, which is 40 per cent higher than Budget for 2010-11.

- Pre-matric scholarship scheme to be introduced for needy SC/ST students studying in classes IX and X.

- A revised Centrally Sponsored Scheme “Vocationalisation of Secondary Education” will be implemented from 2011-12 to improve the employability of our youth.

National Knowledge Network
Connectivity to all 1,500 institutions of Higher Learning and Research through optical fiber backbone to be provided by March, 2012

Innovations
National Innovation Council set up to prepare road map for innovations in India.

Skill Development
Additional 500 crore proposed to be provided for National Skill Development Fund during the next year.

Health
Health sector has been stepped up in 2011-12 by 20 percent to 26,760 crore. The Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana has emerged as an effective instrument for providing a basic health cover to poor and marginal workers. It is now being extended to MGNREGA beneficiaries, beedi workers and others.
In 2011-12, It has been decided to further extend this scheme to cover unorganized sector workers in hazardous mining and associated industries like slate and slate pencil, dolomite, mica and asbestos etc.

Unorganised sector
- Co-contributory pension scheme “Swavalamban” was announced in the Budget 2010-11. The exit norms in this scheme has been relaxed whereby a subscriber under Swavalamban will be allowed exit at the age of 50 years instead of 60 years, or a minimum tenure of 20 years, whichever is later. It is proposed to extend the benefit of Government contribution from three to five years for all subscribers of Swavalamban who enroll during 2010-11 and 2011-12.

- Under the on-going Indira Gandhi National Old Age Pension Scheme for BPL beneficiaries, the eligibility for pension is proposed to be reduced from 65 years at present to 60 years. Further, for those who are 80 years and above, the pension amount is being raised from 200 at present to 500 per month.

Environment and Climate Change
Forests: - Government has launched an ambitious ten-year Green India mission.
An allocation worth 200 crore from the National Clean Energy Fund has been drifted towards for its implementation in 2011-12.

Environmental Management:- There is an allocation of worth 200 crore from the National Clean
Energy Fund as Centre's contribution in 2011-12 for launching environmental remediation programmes.

Cleaning of Rivers and Lakes:- A special allocation of 200 crore for the clean-up of some important lakes and rivers other than the Ganga. All these projets fall under the National Ganga River Basin Authority.

Some Other Initiatives
- In order to boost development in the North Eastern Region and Special Category States, the allocation for special assistance has been almost doubled to 8,000 crore for 2011-12.

- 8,000 crore provided in current year for development needs of Jammu and Kashmir.

- Allocation made in 2011-12 to meet the infrastructure needs for Ladakh (100 crore) and Jammu region (150 crore).

- To give a boost to the development of backward regions, the allocation under the Backward Regions Grant Fund has been increased from 7,300 crore to 9,890 crore amounting to an increase of over 35 per cent.

- To address problems related to Left Wing Extremism affected districts, an Integrated Action Plan (IAP) for 60 selected tribal and backward districts has been launched in December 2010. The scheme is being implemented with 100 per cent block grant of 25 crore and 30 crore per district during the years 2010-11 and 2011-12, respectively.

- To build judicial infrastructure, plan provision for Department of Justice increased by three fold to 1,000 crore.

Defence
1,64,415 crore has been allocated for Defence services which include 69,199 crore for capital expenditure.

Census 2011
The 15th Census in the country is being conducted from 9th February. It is the largest administrative exercise in the country providing statistical data on different socio-economic parameters of population.

In response to the overwhelming demand for enumeration of castes other than Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in Census 2011, it has been decided to canvass ‘caste’ as a separate time bound exercise. This exercise will start in June 2011 and will be completed by 30th September 2011.

UID Mission
From 1st October, 2011 ten lakh Aadhaar numbers will be generated per day.

IT Initiatives
- Various IT initiatives taken for efficient tax administration. These include e-filing and e-payment of taxes, adoption of ‘Sevottam’ concept by CBEC and CBDT, web based facility for tax payers to track the resolution of refunds and credit for pre-paid taxes and augmentation of processing capacity.

- A new scheme with an outlay of 300 crore to be launched to provide assistance to States to modernise their stamp and registration administration and roll out e-stamping in all the districts in the next three years.

Performance Monitoring and Evaluation System
- Pursuant to the recommendations of Second Administrative Reforms Commission, the Government has set up a Performance Monitoring and Evaluation System (PMES) to assess the effectiveness of Government departments in their mandated functions. It involves preparation of a Results Framework Document (RFD) by each department, highlighting its objectives and priorities for the financial year and achievements against pre-specified targets at the end of the year. This document would be available for public information on the departmental websites.

Budget Estimates 2011-12
- Gross Tax receipts are estimated at 9,32,440 crore which is an increase of 24.9 per cent

- Non-tax revenue receipts estimated at 1,25,435 crore.

- After devolution to States, the net tax to Centre in 2011-12 is 6,64,457 crore.

- The total expenditure proposed for 2011-12 is 12,57,729 crore, which is an increase of 13.4 per cent over the Budget Estimates for 2010-11.

- The Plan Expenditure at 4,41,547 crore marks an increase of 18.3 per cent

- The Non Plan Expenditure at 8,16,182 crore is an increase of 10.9 per cent over BE 2010-11.

- The total plan and non-plan transfers of 2,01,733 crore to States and UT Governments increased by 23 per cent

Fiscal deficit
It has come down from 5.5 per cent in BE 2010-11to 5.1 per cent of the GDP in BE 2010-11.
For 2011-12, It has been at 4.6 per cent of GDP. And Fiscal deficit is placed at 4.1 per cent for 2012-13, and 3.5 per cent for 2013-14.
The fiscal deficit of 4.6 per cent of GDP in 2011-12 works out to 4,12,817 crore.

The net market borrowing of the Government in 2011-12 would be 3.43 lakh crore. In addition, 15,000 crore is proposed to be financed through Treasury Bills.
Accordingly, the Central Government debt as a proportion of GDP is estimated at 44.2 per cent for 2011-12 as against 52.5 per cent ecommended by the Thirteenth Finance Commission.

Direct Taxes
- The exemption limit for the general category of individual taxpayers from 1,60,000 to 1,80,000 this year. This measure will provide a uniform tax relief of 2,000 to every taxpayer of this category.
Senior citizens have been given special attention. For them,
• reduce the qualifying age, from 65 years to 60 years;
• enhance the exemption limit from 2,40,000 to 2,50,000;
• create a new category of Very Senior Citizens, eighty years and above, who will be eligible for a higher exemption limit of 5,00,000.

- In the case of corporate, the current surcharge of 7.5 per cent on domestic Companies has been reduced to 5 per cent.

- Minimum Alternate Tax (MAT) has been stepped up from the current rate of 18 per cent to 18.5 percent of book profits to keep the effective rate of the MAT at the same level.

- Tax incentives extended to attract foreign funds for financing of infrastructure.

- Additional deduction of 20,000 for investment in long-term infrastructure bonds proposed to be extended for one more year.

- To attract foreign funds for financing of infrastructure,
• create special vehicles in the form of notified infrastructure debt funds;
• subject interest payment on the borrowings of these funds to a reduced withholding tax rate of 5 per cent instead of the current rate of 20 per cent;
• exempt the income of the fund from tax.

- A lower rate of 15 per cent tax on dividends received by an Indian company from its foreign subsidiary.

- Weighted deduction on payments made to National Laboratories, Universities and Institutes of Technology to be enhanced to 200 per cent.

- Direct taxes are estimated to result in a net revenue loss of 11,500 crore for the year.

Indirect Taxes
- To stay on course for transition to GST.

- Central Excise Duty to be maintained at standard rate of 10 per cent.

- Nominal Central Excise Duty of 1 per cent imposed on 130 items entering in the tax net.

- The lower rate of Central Excise duty has been enhanced from 4 per cent to 5 per cent.

- Optional levy on branded garments or made up proposed to be converted into a mandatory levy at unified rate of 10 per cent.

Agriculture and Related Sectors
- Scope of exemptions from Excise Duty enlarged to include equipments needed for storage and warehouse facilities on agricultural produce.

- Basic Custom Duty reduced for specified agricultural machinery from 5 per cent to 2.5 per cent.

- Basic Custom Duty reduced on micro-irrigation equipment from 7.5 per cent to 5 per cent.

- De-oiled rice bran cake to be fully exempted from basic Custom Duty. Export Duty of 10 per cent to be levied on its export.

- Proposals relating to indirect taxes are estimated to result in a net revenue gain of 11,300 crore.

Manufacturing Sector
Measures takes are to
• reduce basic customs duty on raw silk (not thrown) from 30 to 5 per cent;
• reduce basic customs duty from 5 per cent to 2.5 per cent on certain textile intermediates and inputs for chemicals, ferro-alloys and paper;
• reduce basic customs duty on certain specified inputs for manufacture of certain technical fibre and yarn from 7.5 per cent to 5 per cent;
• fully exempt stainless steel scrap from basic customs duty;
• reduce import duties on specified raw material for the manufacture of syringes and needles to 5 per cent basic and 4 per cent CVD;
• extend the concession available to parts, components and accessories for manufacture of mobile handsets till 31st March, 2012 and to include few more items in its ambit;
• expand the raw material list for manufacture of specified electronic components that are fully exempt from basic customs duty;
• reduce excise duty (and hence CVD) on parts of ink-jet and laserjet printers from 10 per cent to 5 per cent.

- enhancing the rate of export duty for all types of iron ore and unify it at 20 per cent ad valorem.

- The basic customs duty on two critical raw materials of cement industry viz. petcoke and gypsum is proposed to be reduced to 2.5 per cent.

- In response to the growing demand for green products, a technology has been developed indigenously for the conversion of fossil fuel vehicles into Hybrid vehicles through the fitment of a kit. It is proposed to reduce the excise duty on such kits and their parts from 10 per cent to 5 per cent.

- The excise duty on LED lights is being reduced to 5 per cent and special CVD is being fully exempted.

- The basic customs duty on solar lanterns is being reduced from 10 per cent to 5 per cent.

- Pre-tanning or tanning processes in the leather industry use chemicals which are pollutants. To encourage use of green processes, full exemption from basic excise duty is being granted to enzyme based preparations for pre-tanning.

- Some of the other relief measures proposed are:
• Reduction in basic customs duty on raw pistachio from 30 per cent to 10 per cent;
• Reduction in basic customs duty on bamboo for agarbatti from 30 per cent to 10 per cent;
• Reduction in basic customs duty on lactose for the manufacture of homeopathic medicines from 25 per cent to 10 per cent; and
• Reduction in central excise duty on sanitary napkins, baby and adult diapers from 10 per cent to 1 per cent.

- customs and Central excise are estimated to result in a net revenue gain of 7,300 crore for the year.

Service Tax
- Standard rate of Service Tax retained at 10 per cent, while seeking a closer fit between present regime and its GST successor.

- Hotel accommodation in excess of 1,000 per day and service provided by air conditioned restaurants that have license to serve liquor added as new services for levying Service Tax.

- Tax on all services provided by hospitals with 25 or more beds with facility of central air conditioning.

- Service Tax on air travel both domestic and international raised.

- Services provided by life insurance companies in the area of investment and some more legal services proposed to be brought into tax net.

- All individual and sole proprietor tax payers with a turn over upto 60 lakh freed from the formalities of audit.

- To encourage voluntary compliance the penal provision for Service Tax are being rationalised. Similar changes being carried out in Central Excise and Custom laws.

- Proposals relating to Service Tax estimated to result in net revenue gain of
4,000 crore.

- Proposals relating to Direct Taxes estimated to result in a revenue loss of 11,500 crore and those related to Indirect Taxes estimated to result in net revenue gain of 11,300 crore.

UPSC Civil Services (Pre) Examination-2011

noreply@blogger.com (weekly current affais) — Sat, 19 Feb 2011 17:25:00 +0000

Civil Service Examination, 2011
The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) will hold the Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination, 2011 on 12/06/2011 for recruitment of nearly 880 various posts of Indian Administrative Service (IAS), Indian Foreign Service (IFS), Indian Police Service (IPS) and certain other Group 'A' and Group 'B' Central Services / Posts.
Eligibility:
Age : Not less than 21 years and not more than 30 years as on 01/08/2011. The upper age is relaxable for SC/ST/OBC and certain other categories of candidates to the extent specified in the Notice.
Educational Qualification: Degree of a recognised university or an equivalent qualification.
Physical Standards: Candidates must be physically fit according to the Regulations given in notice.
Number of Attempts: The maximum number of attempts permissible to different categories of aspirants, who are otherwise eligible will be as follows:

General Category : Four
Physical Handicapped : Seven
OBC : Seven
SC / ST : No Limit

Offline Application Form: The candidates must apply in the Common Application Form devised by the Commission for its examinations, which can be purchased from the designated Head Post Offices/ Post offices throughout the country against cash payment of Rs. 30/- only. OR published in the Employment News.

Online Application Submission : Candidates can apply Online also at http://upsconline.nic.in/ upto 21/03/2011.

Fee: Rs.100/- through Central Recruitment Fee Stamp only. SC/ST/PH/Female candidates are exempted from payment (OBC candidates required to pay full fee) for the candidates applying offline. Those who are applying Online need to deposit Rs.50/- in any branch of SBI

How To Apply Offline : All Offline applications must reach the "Controller of Examination, Union Public Service Commission, Dholpur House, Shahjahan Road, New Delhi-110069" either by hand or by Post/Speed Post or by courier on or before the 21/03/2011. [Candidates from far-flung areas can send application through post/speed post upto 28/03/2011]

Candidates can obtain details of the examination and can get information about registration of their applications, venues of the examination and syllabus etc will be posted on the website of the UPSC at http://upsc.gov.in/ or in the Employment News dated 19/02/2011.

Karur Vysya Bank PO Recruitment 2011

noreply@blogger.com (weekly current affais) — Thu, 17 Feb 2011 17:29:00 +0000

Karur Vysya Bank invites applications for appointment in Probationary Officer Scale-I
Last Date for Application : 02.03.2011
Qualification: Any Post Graduate / B.E. / B.Tech. with 50% and above. At the time of application, the non Computer Science candidates should possess a minimum three months Computer Course from a well established Institution.
Note: Candidates who have completed / going to complete any of the above said Degree course in 2011 and awaiting results may also apply subject to the condition that they have to submit original of Provisional Degree Certificate at the time of interview / joining the Bank, if selected. Candidates who have obtained degree through correspondence/open university are not eligible.

Age Limit: Not more than 30 years as on 31.01.2011
Mode of Selection: Written Test (Objective Type) and Personal Interview. Examination will be held at selected centres in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamilnadu, Gujarat, Maharashtra and Delhi.

Exam Fees: Demand Draft for Rs.400 (Rs.200 for SC/ ST candidates) drawn in favour of The Karur Vysya Bank Limited and payable at Chennai only. The Candidates should bring the demand draft while appearing for written test.

Click Here For Details

Apply Online

United India Insurance Recruitment 2011

noreply@blogger.com (weekly current affais) — Thu, 17 Feb 2011 03:09:00 +0000

Important Dates:
Website Link Open - From 07.02.2011 To 26.02.2011
Date of Written Test - 27.03.2011
Payment of fees at SBI Branches - From 07.02.2011 To 26.02.2011
Qualification
Group A
Code No.01 : ACS / ACWA / ACA or M.com with 60% (55% for SC/ST candidates) marks in aggregate from a recognised University.

Group B
Code No. 02 : LLB or equivalent qualification with minimum three years experience as a practicing lawyer. (two years experience for SC/ST candidates)

Group C
Code No. 03 : Post Graduate in statistics/ Mathematics/ Actuarial Science. Pass in atleast three papers of the examination conducted Actuarial Society of India (any of the papers out of CT – 1, CT -2, CT – 3, CT – 5 and CT -7)

Group D
Code No. 04 - B.E / B.Tech in Agriculture Engineering or B.Sc (Agri) with 60% marks(55% for SC/STcandidates)

Group E
Code No.05 _ Graduation with 60% (55% for SC/ST candidates) or Post Graduation with minimum 55% (50% for SC/ST candidates) marks in aggregate from recognised University

NOTE: (i) Qualifications mentioned above should be from any recognised University / Institute duly approved by UGC / AICTE as the case may be (ii) Other things being equal, preference will be given to candidates having post qualification experience in their area of specialization and/or having qualification in non-life Insurance. (iii) Working knowledge of Computer is must.

No of Vacancy: 300 (SC 44) (ST 20) (OBC 81) (Un-reserved 155)
Minimum age : 21 years
Pay Scale : Rs.27,000
Selection Procedure : Written Examination

Application Fee payment are to be made thro’ any Branch of State Bank of India by paying appropriate application fee in Account No 31601917796 in favour of “United India Insurance Company Ltd” by filling the Fee Payment Challan and remitting the amount.
Categories:
SC/ ST/ Persons with Disability (PWD), Permanent Employees of UIICL - Nil
All other categories(GEN/ OBC/ Ex- Servicemen etc) - Rs. 500/-+ Rs 40/- as service charges to SBI

Click Here For Details

To Download Challan

Apply Online

Syndicate Bank Recruitment of Asst Manager Rural Development (AMRD) in JMGS-I (2011-12)

noreply@blogger.com (weekly current affais) — Wed, 16 Feb 2011 19:21:00 +0000

Important Dates
Opening Date for Online Registration - 15.02.2011
Last date for On-line Registration - 09.03.2011
(Including for candidates from far-flung areas )
Date of Written Test - 15.05.2011

Qualification as on 01.01.2011 : Graduate with minimum 55 % marks (For SC/ST/OBC Candidates 50% Marks)in Agriculture/ Horticulture/ Animal Husbandry/ Veterinary Science/ Dairy Science/ Agriculture Engineering/ Fishery Science/ Pisciculture/ Agriculture Marketing and Co-Operation from a University recognized by the Govt. of India.ORPost Graduate Degree in any of the above disciplines (1) Knowledge of Official/Regional Language of the State/UT to which the candidate applies is essential. (i.e., to Read, write & speak)2 Computer Proficiency is essential
Pay Scale: JMGS-I Rs 21199
Age : (as on 01.01.2011) 21-30 years
Application Fee : For SC/ST Rs 50 For all others (including OBC Rs 300/-The fee for SC/ST is towards postage only and for others the fee includes postal charges of Rs50/- Requisite Application Fee has to be paid at any of the Branches of Syndicate Bank, by means of a Payment Challan as per the format given in the Bank’s website. The payment at Syndicate Bank Branches will be accepted free of charge.

Selection Procedure : written test and Interview.

How to apply
Candidates are required to Apply online. The Application printout along with the Xerox copy of the challan and required copies of documents should be kept ready for submission if selected for Interview. Candidates are required to have a valid personal e-mail ID

Click here for more details

To Download Challan Form
Apply On-Line

February Current Affairs (1-10)

noreply@blogger.com (weekly current affais) — Tue, 15 Feb 2011 19:24:00 +0000

NATIONAL AFFAIRS
IAF inducts India's first Light Combat Aircraft 'Tejas'

India's first homegrown supersonic fighter jet, the Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) 'Tejas', was handed over to the IAF by Defence minister, A K Antony after the Initial Operational Clearance.

Being India's much-awaited project, LCA design and development by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) was initiated in 1983 with a budget of Rs 560 crore.

Nicknamed 'Tejas' in 2004, the LCA designing had been launched in 1985 by the Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) under the DRDO with HAL as the nodal manufacturing agency.

IAF inducts 'Super Hercules' transport aircraft

After four decades, the Indian Air Force (IAF) oinducted an American origin aircraft, the C-130J 'Super Hercules' transport plane, augmenting its special operational capability.

The C-130Js, the latest version of Hercules with four powerful engines and around 20-tonne payload-carrying capacity, will enhance India's rapid reaction capabilities since the rugged aircraft can land on unprepared and short air fields as well.

The Super Hercules is a highly integrated and sophisticated configuration primarily designed to support India's special operations requirement.

Equipped with an Infrared Detection Set (IDS), the aircraft can perform precision low-level flying, airdrops and landing in blackout conditions.

But in absence of defence agreements such as the CISMOA, the C-130Js will be without some of the critical communication equipment that is fitted on the American aircraft.

Agni-III launch a complete success

The launch of Agni-III, the missile with the longest range in India’s arsenal, from the Wheeler Island off Orissa was a complete success.

The two-stage, surface-to-surface ballistic missile can carry nuclear warheads.

Biggest ever census to begin across the country
As the biggest census excercise has kicked off. The vital part of Census 2011, the population enumeration will be conducted across the country simultaneously between February 9 and 28 as 25 lakh enumerators will reach out to more than 24 crore households in a three week long exercise.

The Rs 2,200 crore exercise will cover all citizens living in 7,742 towns and six lakh villages in 640 districts of India.
With the expenditure of just Rs 18.33 for each person, this census is also being considered as the most cost-effective.
During the massive exercise, all citizens of the country will be counted classifying various factors and according to their gender, religion, occupation and education.
Enumerators for the first time will collect information like ownership of mobile phones, computers, internet, having treated or untreated drinking water facility and usage of banking services.
The massive exercise, to be spread over next 11 months, will mark a milestone as the first-ever NPR will also be prepared in which all persons aged over 15 years will be photographed and fingerprinted to create a biometric national database. Once the NPR final database is created, the same will be sent to Unique Identification Authority of India for duplication and generation of UID number and for issuing proposed identity smart card.
However, information about caste will not be collected in this phase but through a separate phase to be conducted between June and September 2011.

Inclusion of nomadic people in census
A bench of justices J M Panchal and H L Gokhale issued notice to the Centre on the plea for inclusion of Denotified, Nomadic and Semi-Nomadic Tribes (DTNT) communities in the census.
There are an estimated 700 communities in the country which claim to be DTNT.

Posco steel project gets green light with 28 new conditions

South Korean steel giant Posco or Pohang Steel Company has got approval to set up Rs 51,000-crore Posco integrated steel plant in Orissa and relenting on its tough insistence on absolute compliance with environment laws.
The clearance for the steel-cum-captive power plant has come with 28 new conditions that include riders such as no construction in high erosion zones and no industrial activity in coastal regulation zone.
Environmental clearance for the steel-cum-captive power plant is being accorded with 28 additional conditions over and above stipulated in the original environmental clearance of July 19, 2007.
The Posco project, the largest FDI in the country, has been mired in controversy for the last five years. The Rs. 51,000 crore steel and port project in Orissa has been stuck since 2007 because of protests by locals and environmental concerns.
Posco will have to invest 2 per cent of its net annual profit for welfare of the region.
The Orissa government and POSCO had signed a MoU on June 22, 2005 for setting up an integrated steel plant with a total capacity of 12 million tonnes per annum at Paradeep in Jagatsinghpur district.

India to have own satellite navigation system by 2015
India will launch seven satellites in the next four to six years to develop its own version of the Global Positioning System (GPS) for enhancing surveillance capabilities and improving accuracy of its weapon systems.

By this achievement, The Indian Navigation System (INS) satellites would provide coverage over India's areas of interest for military purposes along with its civilian uses.
Till now, India is dependent on the American GPS and has signed a deal with Russia for using their GLONAS system.
Similar developments in the neighbourhood are from China which was developing its own version of the GPS which will cover the whole globe.

Cabinet nod for amendment to law on print media policy
A comprehensive bill to replace the age-old law relating to print media that will cover internet edition of newspapers and include provisions on limits on foreign news content and investment was approved by the Union Cabinet.
Cabinet decided to amend the 1867 Press and Registration of Books Act to streamline the age-old processes pertaining to the print media policy.

Nation remembers Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed on 34th death anniv

The nation remembered former President Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed on his 34th death anniversary.

Home Minister declares open housing complex for tsunami hit villagers
Union Home Minister P Chidambaram declared open a housing complex of more than 1,400 independent houses constructed by Puducherry govt for rehabilitation of tsunami-affected fishermen families.
The complex, built with the help of a Rs 82 crore Central Government grant, will house the fisher-folk of Pillaichavady, Sinna Kalapet, Periya Kalapet and Ganapathy Chettykulam villages, who were hit by the tsunami in December 2004.

Chiranjeevi merges his party with Congress
Nearly 30 months after launching his party with much fanfare, Praja Rajyam chief Chiranjeevi has announced its party PRP merger with Congress, which is trying to counter the possible threat posed by Y S Jaganmohan Reddy in Andhra Pradesh.

Department of Post roped in for UID initiative
The Department of Post entered into a strategic partnership with the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) for registration and distribution of unique identification (UID) cards to Indian citizens.
By this move, UIDAI will leverage the existing infrastructure of the DoP to reach out to the masses for providing UID.
The Department of Post has offered to include one-and-a-half-lakh post offices for this purpose initially.
UIDAI authority has installed approximately 5,000 biometric devices for collection of the biometric impressions of citizens, like fingerprint and retina scanners.

In new bill emergency care to become mandatory for all hospitals
The Clinical Establishments (Registration and Regulation Act) Bill, 2010 — approved by the Union Cabinet last month — makes it mandatory for all clinical establishments to provide medical care and treatment to stabilise any person in an emergency condition.
If the Bill is passed in Parliament, this will be the first time emergency medical care is made obligatory under law in the country.
While there is no provision for imprisonment for non-compliance, the registering authority can impose a heavy fine — up to Rs. 5 lakh — on the erring establishment. If it fails to pay, the fine will be recovered as arrears of land revenue.

WB Panchayat Amendment Bill-2010 receives Governor's assent
West Bengal Panchayat Amendment Bill-2010 received the assent of Governor M K Narayanan. This has been observed for enhanced participation of women in grassroots administration which reserves half of the seats for them in state Panchayat bodies.
Earlier, 33 percent of the seats were reserved for women in Panchayati raj institutions.

Orissa minister resigns over dal scam
Orissa's Women and Child Dev Min Pramila Mallick has resigned in the wake of allegation of a Rs 700-crore scam in purchase of dal for mid-day meal scheme and Supplementary Nutrition Programme (SNP).
Her department was the nodal agency through which dal was being given to about 9.5 million beneficiaries including 5 million school children.

It’s best to be born in Goa
Goa is the best place in India for a child to be born while Madhya Pradesh is the worst.
India has seen a fall in its infant mortality rate (IMR). And in sheer numbers, Goa in 2009 recorded the least number of infant deaths per 1000 live births — 11. It was followed by Kerala (12), Manipur (16) and Puducherry (22). Daman & Diu recorded 24 deaths per 1000 live births.
In comparison, the states where maximum children died were MP which saw 67 deaths per 1000 live births, Orissa (65), Uttar Pradesh (63), Assam (61) and Rajasthan and Meghalaya jointly recording 59 infant deaths.
According to the latest Sample Registration System (SRS) estimates which have been released by the registrar general of India, India’s IMR dropped by three points — from 53 (during 2008) to 50 infants deaths per 1000 live births during 2009.
The IMR for rural areas also dropped by three points — from 58 to 55 infant deaths per 1000 live births.

Bill proposes 7-yr jail, 20L fine for trade in human organs
According to Union health ministry’s new Transplantation of Human Organs and Tissues Amendment Bill, 2011, which will come up in the next Cabinet meeting, punishment for illegal removal of human organ will entail a 10-year jail term and Rs 5 lakh fine. Punishment for commercial dealings in human organs is being increased to seven years of imprisonment along with Rs 20 lakh fine. Union health minister Ghulam Nabi Azad is keen to introduce the bill in the Budget session.

INDIPEX 2011
INDIPEX 2011, the World Philatelic Exhibition will be largely competitive and showcase some of the finest and rarest stamp collections from around the world. Stamps reflect t he history, culture, ethos and concerns of nations and people, which makes stamp collection as a hobby interesting and educative.

There is considerable excitement about the exhibition all around the world as it will be one of the biggest events in India after the Commonwealth Games.
It is being organized by India Post, Government of India, in association with the Philatelic Congress of India.
The first official airmail flight took place in India between Allahabad and Naini on 18th February 1911, a whole hundred years ago.
The first of such international philatelic exhibitions In India was organized in a small way in 1954 as part of the centenary celebrations of the Indian postages stamp. This was followed by INDIPEX-73 International Philatelic Exhibition held in New Delhi from 14 to 23 November1973. The first Asian International Philatelic Exhibition was held at Bangalore in 1977. In 1980.

IMD declares 2009 warmest year since 1901
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Saturday declared 2009 the warmest year since 1901, the year it started keeping records of temperatures and other weather parameters.
The average annual mean temperature over the country as a whole for the year was almost one degree Celsius above the average for the entire century — plus 0.913 degrees Celsius to be precise.
The average of temperatures between 1961 and 1990 is considered as the benchmark. The average annual mean for the 30 years is 24.64 degrees Celsius. The average mean temperature in 2009 has been calculated to be 25.553 degree Celsius.

Solar energy use in cell towers can reduce CO2 emission: Study
Use of diesel generators in cellphone towers leads to a staggering five million tonnes of annual carbon emissions in India and there is a need to replace them with solar panels, says a new study.
With the number of mobile phone users in the country swelling rapidly, telecom operators are going in for more high-intensity cellphone towers for better network efficiency entailing a massive consumption of diesel -- about two billion litres every year --- for power generation to run them, said the study released by 'Future Energy' periodical published by Maharashtra Energy Development Agency (MEDA).
This is resulting in carbon emissions totalling over five million tonnes.
The country at present has about 250,000 cellphone towers each of which use 3-5 kilowatts of power depending on the number of operators using them.
Together, these towers use more than two billion litres of diesel every year for power generation. Apart from this, fuel is also spent for cooling the equipment. It noted that cellphone towers are "energy-intensive" as they use power non-stop without interruption.
The total carbon emissions from diesel used for cellphone towers is estimated by the study at 5.3 million tonnes or 11.76 billion pounds while the cost of diesel every year at an average price is calculated at USD 1.4 billion (equivalent to Rs 6,400 crore).

Army to observe 2011 as the 'Year of the Disabled Soldier'
Honouring its troops who were severely injured and left disabled in operations, the Indian Army has decided to observe 2011 as the 'Year of the Disabled Soldier'.

337-year-old book to be reprinted
Collectors of rare books will soon be able to lay their hands on a facsimile copy of 17th century book India and Persia by British cartographer John Ogilvie. It is being reprinted by the authorities of the Asiatic Society.

INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS
Pakistan reconstituted his cabinet

Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani reconstituted his cabinet and in new cabinet Shah Mahmood Qureshi, who was known for his less-than friendly attitude towardsIndia, has no place and is no longer the foreign minister of Pakistan.
The government is also required to downsize the cabinet in line with a landmark constitutional reforms package passed by parliament last year. Under the 18th constitutional amendment, the size of the cabinet should not be more than 11 per cent of the total strength of parliament.

Pak test fires nuclear-capable Hatf-7 cruise missile

Pakistan test fired nuclear-capable Hatf-7 cruise missile with a range of 600 km that can hit targets in India.

Khanal sworn in as PM of Nepal

Nepal's veteran communist leader Jhalanath Khanal was sworn in as the new prime minister.

Mubarak steps down, Army takes over
Hosni Mubarak, who ruled Egypt with an iron hand for over three decades, stepped down as President and handed over power to the army capitulating under mass protests.
Tahrir Square, the epicentre of the anti-government protests, erupted in joy with tens of thousands of people shouting 'Egypt is Free".
Mubarak is the second leader to quit after protests broke out across Arab streets in what is called the 'Jasmine Revolution'.

US removes ISRO and DRDO from entities list
The US has removed nine Indian space and defense related companies including those from ISRO and DRDO from its export control 'Entity List' in an attempt to expand high technology trade and strategic cooperation with India.
The nine entities are Bharat Dynamics Ltd (BDL), four remaining subsidiaries of the Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO) in the US sanction list and another four of the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO).
It further adds India to a country group in the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) that consists of members of the Missile Technology Control Regime

Iran to enrich uranium to 20 p.c.
Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has ordered uranium enrichment to a 20 per cent level without giving up Tehran’s readiness to swap domestically produced low-enriched uranium with atomic fuel produced abroad.

ECONOMY, BANKING AND FINANCE
Centre to compensate for Rs 7k cr CST loss to states
The Government approved Rs 7,029 crore compensation to states for the losses they suffered due to reduction in central sales tax (CST) rate in 2010-11.
CST, a tax on movement of goods from one state to another, was reduced from 4 per cent to 3 per cent in 2007-08 and further to 2 per cent in 2008-09 after the introduction of VAT, as it was considered distortionary.

Cabinet approves Rs 1,100 cr fund infusion in RRBs
The government approved capital infusion of Rs 1,100 crore for Regional Rural Banks for improving their capital adequacy ratio.
Share of Central Government that is Rs 1,100 crore will be released as per provisions made by the Department of Expenditure in 2010-11 and 2011-12.
The issued capital of RRBs is subscribed by Central Government, State Government and sponsor banks in the proportion of 50 per cent, 15 per cent and 35 per cent, respectively.
RRBs are jointly owned by Government of India, the State Government concerned and the Sponsor banks.
The fund infusion in RRBs will improve their Capital to Risk Weighted Assets Ratio CRAR) and enable the banks to enhance their lending towards farm sector.
Besides, the Cabinet approved additional amount of Rs 700 crore as contingency fund to meet the requirement of the weak RRBs, particularly those in the North Eastern and Eastern Region.

Health insurance policy portability from 1st July

In a big relief to dissatisfied health insurance policy holders, sectoral regulator IRDA has allowed them portability -- shifting policies from one insurer to another on same terms – from 1st July.
The portability facility will allow policy holders to switch over to another insurance company with the same conditions.
The new facility will also help those policy holders who stick to one insurer throughout life for fear of losing the cover for Pre Existing Diseases (PED).

German, Swiss govts promise help on black money;assert secrecy
Germany and Switzerland have promised full support to India in unearthing black money stashed in their countries, but have asserted that their secrecy clause - barring Indian government from making the names public - be strictly adhered to.

Germany, which last year provided the names of some Indians having secret accounts in Liechtenstein's LGT Bank, will readily share more names whenever it comes across any on the basis that such information can't be made public and should only be used by the competent authorities.
A top Swiss government official also asserted that the information to be shared by Swiss authorities with India, once the revised tax treaty between two countries comes into force, can't be made public and should be "treated as secret."
India is putting in place relevant treaties with both Switzerland and Liechtenstein, a European nation, to get access to details about Indians having illicit wealth in bank accounts there.

Rs 500 crore sops for exporters
The government announced fiscal incentives worth Rs 500 crore to exporters of select products, helping them to cope with the uneven global recovery marked by problems in Europe.
The sops, to be given under different schemes like 'Focus Market' and 'Focus Products' from January to December 2011, were unveiled.
The sectors, which will benefit from the Commerce Ministry's initiative include agri products, chemicals, engineering, electronics, plastics and textiles. Over 617 products would get the benefit.
In the Focus Market Scheme, exporters get duty credit of three per cent on the value of consignments.
Whereas, under the Focus Product Scheme, the exporters avail duty credit of five per cent.
The government had given similar sops worth Rs 600 crore in January, 2010.

Govt to roll out banking services in 20K villages this fiscal
Finance Min Pranab Mukerjee has said banking services will be rolled out in 20,000 villages this fiscal, but warned the banks against selecting wrong entities as their business correspondents -- persons acting as intermediaries between rural people and banks.
For the year 2010-11, govt have set a target of rollout in 20,000 villages.
BCs are persons, who besides helping rural people to open bank accounts, would facilitate in banking transactions.
Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee after review of RRBs in 2009, constituted a committee under the Chairmanship of RBI Deputy Governor K C Chakrabarty.
This was to analyse the financials of the RRBs and suggest measures including re-capitalisation to bring the CRAR of RRBs to at least 9 per cent in a sustainable manner by 2012.
The Committee, which submitted its report in May, 2010, had recommended RRBs to have CRAR of at least 7 per cent as on 31st March, 2011 and at least 9 per cent by the end of March 2012.
Recapitalisation requirement is of the order of Rs 2,200 crore for 40 of the 82 RRBs. This amount is to be released in two installments in 2010-11 and 2011-12, the panel had recommended.
The remaining 42 RRBs will not require any capital and will be able to maintain CRAR of at least 9 per cent as on 31st March, 2012, it had suggested.

TDSAT reserves order on RCom plea against BSNL's ADC demand
Telecom tribunal TDSAT, headed by its Chairman Justice S B Sinha, reserved order on a plea by Anil Ambani group firm RCom, which has challenged state-owned BSNL's demand of access deficit charge (ADC) and disconnection notice for its walky service.
RCom has challenged a demand note issued by BSNL onDecember 30, 2010, asking it to deposit Rs 68 crore for two circles - UP West and Orissa - as ADC.
BSNL had also threatened to disconnect its Point of Interconnections (PoIs) if the ADAG group firm failed to meet the payment demand. The bill was raised for 2005-6.
PoIs between two operators are a must for subscribers to make and receive calls from different networks. ADC is a levy paid by private telecom operators for funding the PSU's rural and remote operations.

Exports grow by 32.5 pc to USD 20.6 bn in January
India's exports grew by a healthy 32.5 per cent year-on-year to USD 20.6 billion in January, 2011 on account of increasing demand in the western markets.
Imports in January, 2011 is estimated to increase by 13.1 per cent to USD 28.6 billion over the same period last year, leaving a trade deficit of USD 8 billion during the month
During April-January, 2010-11, imports rose by 17.6 per cent to USD 273.6 billion.
The US and EU are India's traditional markets and account for more than one third of its shipments.

HC boost to Islamic banking
Recently India is looking at incorporating Islamic banking. Give look at it
Banking -The Islamic way

What is Islamic banking |
Islamic banking abides by the Islamic law (Sharia). Sharia prohibits usury / payment or acceptance of interest on specific term loans. Islamic banks would never knowingly have anything to do with companies involved in gambling, alcoholic beverages or porcine food products
Who plays regulator |
To ensure Sharia compliance, Islamic banks usually have boards of religious scholars
Is it only for Muslims |
No. Anyone can participate in Islamic Banking provided he/she has faith in Sharia. In 1994, Malaysia created the world’s first Islamic inter-bank money market. Now, nearly one-quarter of all Islamic banking business in Malaysia is transacted by non-Muslims
Some Islamic banking services
   Islamic charge and debit cards | Unlike standard cards, these are linked to personal credit lines so users only “borrow” from themselves. The bank makes money by charging service fees
   Islamic debt investments |
include asset-backed securities, in which Islamic assets are bundled into bonds
   Convertible bonds |
morphs into shares of sharia-compliant companies
   Islamic bonds |
The German state became the first European govt to issue an Islamic bond last year — a $121 mn 5-year floating-rate note that provides “rent” in lieu of interest from a series of govt properties that form the bond’s collateral

Govt lifts export ban on certain rice, onion varieties

The government allowed the export of three varieties of non-basmati rice grown in the southern states in anticipation of bumper crop production this year.

Partially lifting a three-year old ban, the government has permitted exports of 'Ponni Samba' and 'Matta' varieties of basmati, subject to a cap of 25,000 tonnes each, while shipments of 'Sona Masuri' have been permitted with a cap of 1,00,000 tonnes, According to the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) said in a notification.

These varieties are grown in Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka.

The DGFT is an arm of the Commerce Ministry

Core sector grows 6.6% in December
The country’s infrastructure sector output grew 6.6% in December from a year earlier, accelerating from the upwardly revised 3% in November.

The infrastructure sector—spanning crude oil, petroleum refinery products, coal, electricity, cement and steel-—accounts for 26.7% of the country’s index of industrial production.

BHEL likely candidate for Maharatna status
According to Heavy Industries Minister Praful Pate, BHEL is likely the next candidate to get the coveted Maharatna tag, a move that will provide more financial flexibility to the state-run power equipment manufacturer.

At present, there are four Maharatnas -- ONGC, Indian Oil, SAIL and NTPC.
A PSU with Maharatna status can invest up to Rs 5,000 crore in a project independently, while the limit for Navratna companies is Rs 1,000 crore.
Criteria for having Maharatna status :-
For getting Maharatna status, a company needs to have a three-year track record of annual net profit of over Rs 5,000 crore, net worth of more than Rs 15,000 crore and turnover of more than Rs 25,000 crore. It should also be a listed firm.
Maharatna scheme was announced by the government in December 2009 to give more operational freedom to the top-performing PSUs.
What made government to divest its stake in public sector firms
As per the Clause 49 of the listing agreement between companies and stock exchanges requires companies to have independent directors in half of the board positions.
Some large listed state-run companies do not have the required number of independent directors.
This has impeded the government's effort to divest part of its stake in public sector firms, forcing it to name retired bureaucrats as independent directors.
Out of 47 listed government companies, the boards of 17 companies like Indian Oil, BHEL and SAIL do not have the required number of independent directors," a recent government report had said.
There are 246 Central Public Sector Enterprises in the country, as on March 2009.

25p coins to be history after June
The Reserve Bank of India has asked state-run banks and some private lenders to accept 25 paise coins for exchange until end-June 2011.

Parikh panel recommends flat tax on diesel cars
The Kirit Parikh Committee proposal for imposing a flat tax of Rs. 81,000 on diesel cars, including sedans and gas guzzlers SUVs and MUVs.
Diesel cars account for 35 per cent of the 1.5 million cars sold in India, and their sale is growing at 20 per cent, compared with an overall market growth of 12 per cent.

Food inflation at 7-week low of 13.07 pc
Food inflation fell to a seven week low 13.07 per cent for the week ended 29th January as pulses turned cheaper, even as vegetables remain costly.

Loan scheme for industries to acquire energy-efficient machineries launched
The Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) and Japan International Cooperation Agency have launched a line of credit to provide loans to industries for acquiring energy-efficient machineries.

Aditya Birla buys US co for $875m
Kumar Mangalam Birla-led Aditya Birla Group has acquired Atlanta-based Columbian Chemicals Company from One Equity Partners, the merchant banking arm of JP Morgan Chase, for $875 million (about Rs 4,016 crore), catapulting the Indian major into the largest global producer of carbon black by volume.
This is Aditya Birla Group’s second largest overseas buy after the $6-billion acquisition of Canada-based aluminum company Novelis in 2007.

Appointments
U K Sinha Sebi chairman

U K Sinha, chairman of UTI Asset Management Company, has been appointed chairman of the stock market regulator, Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi).
Sinha is a 1976 batch Indian Administrative Service officer and belongs to the Bihar cadre. He took voluntary retirement in 2008 to head UTI AMC. Current Sebi chief C B Bhave retires on February 17.

Sushma Nath new fin secy
Expenditure secretary Sushma Nath has been appointed as the next finance secretary with the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC).

Jhumpa Lahiri appointed to Obama arts committee

Indian-American Pulitzer Prize-winning author Jhumpa Lahiri has been appointed a member of U.S. President Barack Obama’s Committee on the Arts and Humanities, along with five others.

Awards
Jnanpith Award for 2007 to O N V Kurup
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh handed over the prestigious Jnanpith Award for 2007 to Malayalam poet ONV Kurup. He is from Kerala.

Born in 1931 in Kerala's Kollam district, Kurup is a leading voice among the contemporary Malayalam poets who has reinvented the narrative transition of Malayalam poetry through his long poems like 'Ujjayini' and 'Swayamvaram'.
Kurup has 20 collections of poetry to his credit. He is also winner of several awards and honours including Kerala Sahitya Academy award, Sahitya Academy award, Vayalar award and Padmashri.
While Kerala's own poet G Sankara Kurup won the first Jnanpith award in 1965, other eminent writers like Tara Shankar Bandopadhyaya, Uma Shankar Joshi, K V Puttappa, Sumitranandan Pant and Firaq Gorakhpuri were among the

Indian, Russian films win Golden Conch at MIFF
Russian director Alexander Gutman’s 17 August won the Golden Conch for the Best Documentary, while The Spell, directed by Umesh Kulkarni was adjudged the best fiction film at the 11th Mumbai International Film Festival of Documentary, Animation and Short Films.

SPORTS
South Zone win Duleep Trophy
South Zone clinched the Duleep Trophy as Openers Abhinav Mukund and Robin Uthappa bulldozed the North Zone bowlers to script a brilliant run chase.

Pakistan claims hockey gold

India put up a shoddy display to lose to Pakistan 5-4 in tie-breaker after 1-1 stalemate at the regulation and extra time in the final of the 11th South Asian Games hockey competition.

Fourth gold for paddler Madhurika Patkar
Madhurika Patkar struck four gold medals (three individual and one team) as Indian paddlers like their other athletes made a clean sweep on the final day of the 11th South Asian Games.
Indians were impressive on the final day capturing all the available seven gold and five silver medals to end their campaign in the 11th South Asian Games.
Madhurika joined shooters Om Prakash and Surendra Singh Rathod becoming star performer in capturing four gold medals each in the 11th South Asian Games.
India finished with 90 gold, 55 silver and 30 bronze medals, to finish the SAG with a haul of 175 medals.

Indian Overseas Bank PO Recruitment 2011

noreply@blogger.com (weekly current affais) — Fri, 11 Feb 2011 16:55:00 +0000

Important Dates :
Opening Date for Online application : 08/02/2011
Closing date for online application : 01/03/2011
Date of written exam : 22/05/2011
Indian Overseas Bank (IOB), invites applications from Indian Citizens for the post of Probationary Officer in JMG - I Scale :

Probationary Officers (PO) (JMGS-I) : 1000 posts (UR-495, OBC-263, SC-146, ST-96),
Pay Scale : JMG-I - Rs.14500-25700/-,
Age : 21-30 years as on 01/01/2011,
Qualification : Graduation with minimum 60% Marks.(55% Marks for SC/ST/PC category) (ii) Computer literacy shall be an essential qualification, which the candidate must either possess before or acquire within six months of joining the Bank. (iii) Diploma in Banking & Finance (DBF) from Indian Institute of Banking and Finance (IIBF) is a desirable qualification besides the above entry level qualification.

Application Fee : Rs.400/- (Rs.50/- for SC/ST/PWD candidates) in cash at the any of the IOB and take candidate's copy of Payment Receipt Challan.

How to Apply : Apply Online at IOB web site between 08/02/20100 and 01/03/2011. Take a printout of the online application registered by the candidates for their records and candidates should not send the printout of the online application to the Bank.

Click for more details

Download Payment Receipt

Apply Online

Capital Controls - When and How to rein in capital flows

noreply@blogger.com (weekly current affais) — Sat, 05 Feb 2011 17:49:00 +0000

What are Capital controls
Capital Controls restrict the free movement of capital. Countries use these controls to restrict volatile movements of capital entering (inflows) and exiting (outflows) their country.
OR
Any economic mechanism that limits the free movement of capital or money across borders is considered as capital control.

There are two kinds of controls: direct or administrative controls and indirect or market-based controls.

Direct controls consist of measures that would prohibit, or have a discretionary approval procedure for, cross-border capital transactions. These controls are designed to directly affect the volume of cross-border financial transactions. They typically impose administrative obligations on a country’s banking system to control the flows of capital.
Indirect controls discourage particular kind of capital movements by making them more costly. These capital controls may take the form of dual or multiple exchange rate systems, explicit taxation of cross-border financial flows, indirect taxation of cross-border flows and other indirect regulatory controls

Examples of capital controls

The Tobin Tax, levied on conversion of one currency into another, thereby dissuading short-term speculative currency flows. Other measures are quantity restrictions that limit the amount of inflows through a particular route such as debt or equity.

Why are capital controls imposed?
As economies globalise, a direct consequence is liberalisation of financial sector. This means giving foreigners the opportunity to invest in the domestic economy through various routes. These investments can be very sensitive to the global political and economic situation. During times of crisis, these flows become volatile. If the domestic economy does not have the capacity to absorb the flows capital, controls are imposed.
Huge capital inflows also cause the exchange rate to appreciate hitting the global competitiveness of the economy.

What are the controls used by India?
India currently has capital controls in place for the amount of investment into government and corporate debt. There are presently no taxes on foreign investment on the portfolio side.

December Current Affairs (1-8)

noreply@blogger.com (weekly current affais) — Thu, 03 Feb 2011 09:27:00 +0000

NATIONAL AFFAIRS
France, India in $9.3 Billion Accord for Areva to Build Nuclear Reactors

France and India on Monday signed a framework contract during President Nicolas Sarkozy's visit to India for the sale of French atomic reactors.
French nuclear group Areva wants to supply at least two reactors estimated at around 7 billion euros ($9.3 billion).
A final deal could take another six months.
Areva has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Nuclear Power Corp of India (NPCIL) for the sale and India has given the green light for construction. (1 euro = 1.33 U.S. dollars).
The EPR, developed by Areva, has a 60-year life and the French company has assured India of supply of uranium fuel for the lifetime of the reactor.
India plans to add 60,000 megawatts of nuclear power capacity in the next 14 years, a third of the current total output, to address power shortages.

India, France step up space ties
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has signed two more commercial agreements with Ariannespace, the French commercial launch services company.
Indian satellites GSAT 8 and GSAT 10 would be launched in 2011 and 2012.
The ISRO has also renewed its five-year contract (of 2005) with EADS Astrium, a European satellite system specialist that provides civil and defence space systems and services.
Two satellites jointly developed by the French space agency CNES and the ISRO would be launched by PSLV next year, the ISRO chief said. Megha-Tropiques, a space mission to study the tropical atmosphere, would be launched in May 2011; while Saral, an altimetry technology mission, would be launched by December 2011.

India-Sri Lanka ferry service gets Cabinet approval

The Union Cabinet cleared the proposal for a passenger ferry service between India and Sri Lanka that will strengthen economic and cultural ties.

A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) will be signed soon between India and Sri Lanka for providing a joint mechanism for passenger transportation between the two countries.

According to a release, it is proposed to start the passenger ferry service initially between Tuticorin and Colombo and subsequently extend it to other destinations, namely Rameswaram and Thalaimannar.

Rs.254-crore loan waiver for fishermen
The Kerala Cabinet has decided to write off loans amounting to around Rs.254 crore taken by fishermen from various cooperative institutions in the State.
Of this amount, a sum of Rs.221.15 crore is towards the principal of the loan and Rs.20 crore towards interest on the loan disbursed through cooperative societies. A sum of Rs.12.44 crore disbursed as loans through the Matsyafed too will be written off. Nearly 60,000 fishermen will benefit by this decision of the government.

IUCN in the process of assessing freshwater biodiversity of India
The freshwater biodiversity of the country is being assessed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). It is after a gap of 13 years that the freshwater biodiversity of the country, including fish, molluscs, insects and plants, is being assessed using the IUCN Red List Categories and Criteria. The last such assessment was held in 1997.
The list is considered a comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of plant and animal species.
It has nine classifications namely extinct, extinct in the wild, critically endangered, endangered, vulnerable, near threatened, least concern, data deficient and not evaluated.
It is estimated that only 13 of the 807 species of freshwater fish found in India have been assessed using the Red list criteria.

Stanley reservoir touches the full level of 120 feet

The Stanley reservoir, the lifeline of the Cauvery delta, touched the full reservoir level (FRL) of 120 feet for the 37th time in its 76-year history.

17 lakh tonnes of sugar released for December
The Centre has made available 17.08 lakh tonnes of sugar for December to keep prices under check. This quantity comprises 2.08 lakh tonnes of levy sugar sold through the Public Distribution System and 15 lakh tonnes of free sale quota by mills.

Stiff penalties soon for unsolicited marketing calls
From January 1, 2011, mobile subscribers will get relief from unsolicited telemarketing calls and SMS as the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) recommended stiff fines and blacklisting of firms that fail to comply with the new guidelines.
Issuing “The Telecom Commercial Communications Customer Preference Regulations, 2010,” TRAI said defaulting telemarketers would have to pay penalties of up to Rs.2.5 lakh.
A customer can choose to be under the ‘fully blocked' category, which is akin to the ‘Do Not Call Registry,' or the ‘partially blocked' category or ‘Do Call Registry,' in which case he will receive only SMS.

India's Nicole Faria is Miss Earth 2010

India's Nicole Faria has been crowned Miss Earth Talent 2010 after beating 17 other contestants at a talent competition in Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam.

Indian Statistical Institute signs pact with London School of Economics
The Indian Statistical Institute has signed a Memorandum of Understanding for co-operation in research with the London School of Economics.
Manipur has highest HIV infection prevalence: NACO
Even though the overall HIV infection prevalence rate has shown a 50 per cent decline during the past decade in India, among the States, Manipur continues to top the list with an adult prevalence of 1.40 per cent, followed by Andhra Pradesh (0.90 per cent), Mizoram (0.81 per cent) and Nagaland at (0.78 per cent). It is estimated that India had approximately 1.2 lakh new HIV infections in 2009 as against 2.7 lakh in 2000.

INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS

2010 in the top three warmest years: WMO

The year 2010 is almost certain to rank in the top three warmest years since the beginning of instrumental climate records in 1850, according to data compiled by the World Meteorological Organization.

A WMO statement said the global combined sea surface and land surface air temperature for 2010 (January–October) is now estimated at 0.55 degrees Celsius plus or minus 0.11 degrees Celsius above the 1961–1990 annual average of 14 degrees Celsius. At present, 2010's nominal value is the highest on record, just ahead of 1998 and 2005.

The final ranking of 2010 will not become clear until November and December data are analysed in early 2011.

$100,000 award for Indian NGO
An Indian NGO, Manav Seva Sansthan (MSS), was given a $100,000 award for its work among disadvantaged communities.
The prize, given by the United Kingdom-based international charity organisation, The STARS Foundation, specifically recognised the MSS campaign against child-trafficking along the India-Nepal border.
MSS has been recognised at the “forefront of the fight against child-trafficking in south Asia”.

ECONOMY, BANKING AND FINANCE
Exports up 21 per cent at $18 b in October
India's merchandise exports rose by 21.3 per cent to $18 billion in October over the year- ago period, boosting hopes that the country may be able to reach the $200-billion target fixed for the current fiscal.
Imports during the period grew by 6.8 per cent at $27.68 billion, leaving a trade deficit of $9.72 billion.
The rate of expansion in exports has outpaced imports growth for the first time in the last 3-4 years. Exports in October last year were valued at $14.8 billion while imports were worth $25.9 billion.
The growth in overseas shipments is attributed to improved demand in the U.S. and the EU, besides increase in exports to African and Latin American countries.

Appointments
A.P. Singh is new CBI chief

Amar Pratap Singh, senior-most Special Director in the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), took over as the new Director of the CBI. He succeeds Ashwani Kumar, who retired after completing his 27 month-long tenure.
Mr. Singh is of the Jharkhand cadre of the 1974 batch of IPS.

Lt. Gen. Lamba takes charge as Vice-Chief of Army Staff
Lieutenant General Arvinder Singh Lamba, took charge as the Vice-Chief of Army Staff.

DEATHS
Former cricketer T E Srinivasan passes away

Former Tamil Nadu cricketer T E Srinivasan died.

AWARDS
NTPC bags best financial performance award
NTPC has bagged PSU excellence award 2010. Vilasrao Deshmukh, Union Minister of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises, presented the award to NTPC in the Best Financial Performance category.
The PSU Excellence Awards were organised under the aegis of Department of Public Enterprises, Indian Chamber of Commerce and Deloitte.

Gautam Ghosh's film bags Golden Peacock Award
Bengali filmmaker Gautam Ghosh's film “Moner Manush”(The Quest), an Indo-Bangladesh joint production, bagged the coveted Golden Peacock Award for the Best Film at the 41st International Film Festival of India (IFFI) 2010.
Silver Peacock Award - The Silver Peacock Award for the Best Director went to Susanne Bier of Denmark for her film ‘In a Better World.' ‘Just Another Love Story' from India and ‘The Boy' from New Zealand were the joint winners of the Special Jury Award.

Maruti bags sustainability award
Maruti Suzuki India Limited has bagged the “Significant Achievement in Sustainability Award” from CII-ITC Sustainability Awards instituted by the CII-ITC Centre of Excellence for Sustainable Development.

Lifetime Achievement award for Cheeran

The Kerala Basketball Association has honoured one of its veteran administrators, George Zacharia Cheeran, with the P.C. Thomas Memorial Lifetime Achievement award.

Mr. Cheeran, who has been associated with the game since 1956, was presented with the award, instituted this year in memory of international referee and coach, the late P.C. Thomas.

SPORTS
2018 football World cup goes to Russia
Russia and the tiny Gulf state of Qatar were awarded the 2018 and 2022 footballs World Cups.
The announcement means the World Cup will be staged in two countries which have never hosted the event before following the 2014 tournament in Brazil.

More Current Affairs

TAPI Gas Pipeline - The 1,640 km Asian Development Bank-backed pipeline will draw gas from Turkmenistan's Daulatabad gas field. Once inside Afghanistan, it will run alongside the Herat-Kandahar Highway before heading towards Multan in Pakistan via Quetta. The pipeline will terminate in India at Fazilka in Punjab. Project will be completed by 2013-14, at a cost of around $6.5 billion.

Current Affairs Test-30 for Bank PO and other Public services

noreply@blogger.com (weekly current affais) — Thu, 03 Feb 2011 08:10:00 +0000

1. The 9900-Mega Watt Jaitapur Nuclear Power Project would be built in collaboration with -

a) Russia Rosatom

b) French firm Areva

c) Japan FEPC

d) None of these

2. Dilma Rousseff is the first woman president of -
a)Argentina
b) Brazil
c) Germany
d) Kazakhstan

3. Who is the writer of novel "Serious Men"?
a) Manu Joseph
b) Shashi Deshpande
c) Shreekumar Varma
d) Parvathi Nayar

4. Which of the following has recieved the bailout package which has been considered as heavily indebted, after Greece, from The European Union and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) ?
a) Portugal
b) Ireland
c) Spain
d) Italy

5. Which of the following has come up with the Bal Bandhu scheme that aims to protect the rights of children in areas of civil unrest.
a) The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights
b) Ministry of social justice and empowerment
c) Ministry of Labour and employment
d) North Eastren ministry of Development

6. The acronym 'BIMARU ' used to represent which four states -
a) Bihar, Maharastra, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh
b) Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh
c) Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttrakhand
d) None of these

7. Which of the following book is written by George W. Bush-
a) The God of Small Things
b) English August
c) The God of Small Things
d) Decision Points

8. Who is Nimrata Nikki Randhawa Haley?
a) Governor of South Carolina
b) Governor of North Carolina
c) Governor of Punjab
d) None of these

9. 2010 Asian games were held in -
a) Guangzhou
b) New Delhi
c) Busan
d) Incheon

10. The 2010 United Nations Climate Change Conference was held in -
a) Cancun
b) Copenhagen
c) Zurich
d) Davos

11. 2010 Asian games were the -
a) XVI games
b) XVII games
c) XVIIII games
d) XI games

12. The new chief of CBI -
a) Ashwani Kumar
b) P.J. Thomas
c) Amar Pratap Singh
d) None of these

13. Kyoto Protocol limits will expire in -
a) December 2012
b) September 2011
c) Janurary 2010
d) December 2014

Allahabad Bank 1500 PO vacancy

noreply@blogger.com (weekly current affais) — Thu, 03 Feb 2011 04:42:00 +0000

Important Dates :
Opening of Online Application - 01/02/2011
Last Date for Online Receipt of Applications - 01/03/2011
Date of Written Test - 17/04/2011

Allahabad Bank invites ONLINE applications from Indian Citizens for the following posts as follows :
Probationary Officer (PO) : 1500 posts (UR-755, OBC-405, SC-225, ST-115) (PH-78)
in JMG Scale-I Rs.14500-25700,
Age : 21-30 years,
Qualification : Graduate in any discipline with minimum 55% marks (for SC/ST/PC–50%) in aggregate from a University,
Essential : Computer qualification like diploma in computer operation from NIIT, SSI, Aptech, CMC, DOEACC course / certificate (O/A/B/C) level etc. etc.

Application Fee : Rs.400/- (Rs.50/- for SC/ST/PH candidates) to be deposited in the Allahabad Bank's CBS Branches in the A/c No. 50048377141 by Challan.

Click here for more details

Download Challan

Click here to apply online

November Current Affairs (8-15)

noreply@blogger.com (weekly current affais) — Tue, 01 Feb 2011 17:24:00 +0000

NATIONAL AFFAIRS
INDO-US Joint Statement: All Bases Covered

EXPORT CONTROLS & NON-PROLIFERATION
US to support India’s full membership to Nuclear Suppliers Group, MTCR, Wassenaar Arrangement and Australia Group; India will harmonize its rules to these regimes
Entities List: Following Indian entities removed from the US list: Bharat Dynamics Ltd, Armament Research and Development Establishment, Defence Research and Development Lab, Missile Research and Development Complex, Solid State Physics Laboratory; and the four remaining subordinates of ISRO — Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre, Solid Propellant Space Booster Plant, Sriharikota Space Centre and Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre
India no longer categorized as ‘country of concern’: US will ‘realign’ India in its dual-use export control regulations to reflect India’s status as a strategic partner

Weather and Climate Forecasting
US and Indian inter-agency partnership to:
1. Enhance forecast systems in India in advance of the 2011 monsoon season, The agreement between the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and India's Ministry of Earth Sciences is part of a series of food security agreements formalised during President Barack Obama's visit.
2. Advance crop forecasting and strengthen agricultural market outlooks 3. Improve water resource modelling and flood forecasting for agricultural management

Food Processing
1. For an improved food value chain: Focus on marketing, cold chain logistics, and sharing of market knowledge by introducing Indian private entrepreneurs and public sector officials to US best practices, standards and technologies in cold chain infrastructure
2. Technology transfer, such as in packaging or water recycling
3. Programmes to improve quality, safety, and professional certification

AFRICA Leverage Indian capabilities in Africa by
1. Harnessing frontier technologies for food security and climateresistant agriculture;
2. Promoting conservation agriculture and natural resource management; and
3. Linking US, Indian, and African universities to improve the knowledge base for agricultural extension and innovation

COUNTER-TERRORISM
New agreement of the department of homeland security and the Indian ministry of home affairs to conduct wide-ranging dialogue on domestic security issues under DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano and home minister P. Chidambaram

CIVIL SPACE COOPERATION
1. Joint Civil Space Working Group meeting to be held in 2011
2. Cooperation in planetary exploration and promote collaboration on future space missions
3. Preliminary discussion on human space flight cooperation

EARTH OBSERVATION
A joint weather and climate forecasting project to predict the impacts of climate variability on agriculture utilizing data from the ISRO Oceansat-2 mission, and similar activities
Long-term cooperation between the US Landsat and the Indian Resourcesat land imaging satellite programs

CLEAN ENERGY & CLIMATE CHANGE
Joint Clean Energy Research and Development Centre that will mobilize up to $100 million in public and private sector funding over five years for R&D on potential breakthrough technologies

MoU on Unconventional Natural Gas Cooperation towards helping
India achieve greater energy security in responsible ways
US pledged to spur private sector investment in clean energy infrastructure in India through the Overseas Private Investment Corporation and the Export-Import Bank

EDUCATION
US-India Higher Education Summit, chaired by senior officials from both countries in 2011

India signs shale gas MoU with US

Shale gas, which is locked in organic-rich sedimentary rocks, is found below the surface between two rock formations where shale acts as source for the natural gas.

In line with efforts to expand ties with Washington into areas of unconventional and frontier technologies, India has signed an MoU with the US for cooperation in identifying and tapping gas trapped in layers of sedimentary rocks, commonly known as shale gas.

Ministry also plans to include shale gas acreages in its auction of exploration blocks in 2011. The US is considered a pioneer in the area and has the only commercially viable market for the fuel. India is waking up to the prospect of the unconventional energy source. Even ONGC has initiated a pilot project and started drilling in a Bengal village. But lack of technology and know-how remains a hurdle which the US will help overcome.

India, U.S. sign pact on clean technologies
India and the United States signed an agreement on Monday to establish a virtual centre to promote research, development and deployment in the area of clean energy technologies.
Under the pact, the two countries would each contribute $5 million every year for supporting collaborative R&D projects involving academics and private sectors of both nations.
The pact will initially be valid for 10 years and can be renewed for blocks of five years at a time.

U.S., India sign MoU for global diseases detection
The United States and India signed a Memorandum of Understanding on establishing and operationalising a Global Diseases Detection Centre.
The MoU would be implemented through an agreed plan between the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), India, and the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Atlanta.

Prithviraj Chavan is new Maharashtra Chief Minister

Prithviraj Chavan will be sworn in as the next Chief Minister of Maharashtra, ending 10 days of political uncertainty in the State.
The impasse was triggered by Ashok Chavan's “offer” on October 30 to quit over a real estate scam that has since also placed the activities of a group of former generals and top bureaucrats under the scanner.

India on U.N. women panel
India has been elected to the board of a new U.N. agency to promote equality for women.
U.N. Women is the amalgamation of different United Nations bodies focused on women. It was created this year to look exclusively at gender equality and empowerment of women.
The 41-member executive board also includes the U.S. and Britain, which won seats in the donor nations category.

23 lakh kids aged below 5 died in one year in India
Around 23 lakh children, aged 1-59 months, died in India in 2005 alone. Of these, more than 60% were from five causes — pneumonia, prematurity and low birthweight, diarrhoeal diseases, neonatal infections and birth asphyxia and birth trauma. Two causes accounted for 50% (6.7 lakh) of all deaths at 1-59 months —pneumonia 3.7 lakhs and diarrhoeal diseases 3 lakhs. This has been revealed in a study by the Registrar General of India published in British medical journal “The Lancet”.

Orissa becoming Odisha
The Lok Sabha cleared the Bill to rename Orissa as ‘Odisha’ and its language as ‘Odiya’ instead of Oriya.
The Orissa (Alteration of Name) Bill was piloted by home minister Palaniappan Chidambaram in the House.
The state is called Udisa in Hindi and Orissa in English, and the language Udiya in Hindi and Oriya in English as per the constitution.
This required an amendment to the constitution and had to be approved by two-thirds majority of the house.

Justice Soumitra Sen to be impeached for misusing public funds

Justice Soumitra Sen of the Calcutta High Court is the second judge in the country's history to face removal proceedings in Parliament. The first was V. Ramaswami, former Chief Justice of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, who later became a Supreme Court judge, though the motion for his removal failed.
The report of a three-member committee, headed by Justice B. Sudershan Reddy of the Supreme Court, said it felt that Justice Sen was “guilty of misbehaviour” under Article 124(4) read with Article 217(1) (b) of the Constitution.

Over 8m slumdwellers in Mumbai by 2011

A panel appointed by the housing and urban poverty alleviation ministry said the country’s slum population had grown by 17.8 million people in the last decade.
The country’s financial capital Mumbai will have around 8.68 million people living in slums by 2011, followed by Delhi with 3.16 million people estimated to be living in slums by 2011, compared to 2.3 million in 2001, according to a new methodology adopted by an expert panel appointed by the housing and urban poverty alleviation ministry.
The expert committee was set up to estimate reliable urban slum population, which has estimated the country’s slum population grown by 17.8 million people in the last decade.

2m new TB cases in India last year
India is saddled with highest burden of tuberculosis — with nearly 2 million new cases recorded in 2009. Out of an estimated 1.3 million people who died of TB in 2008.
According to World Health Organisation’s annual report, “Global Tuberculosis Control 2010,” around 4,700 die of TB daily
TB mortality rate has dropped from 30 in 1990 to 20 per 100,000 in 2009. 1.7 million died of TB in 2009
4.4 lakh new cases of MDR-TB emerging each year, and that less than 5% of those cases being properly treated
9.4 million new TB cases (including 3.3 million women) in 2009

INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS
Scientists create “mini Big Bang”

The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) has succeeded in creating a miniature version of the Big Bang by smashing stripped-down lead atoms together.
European Centre for Nuclear research (CERN) research center has experiment in its Large Hadron Collider (LHC), the world’s biggest machine by slamming beams of particles at record collision energy of 7 TeV or seven million million electron.
The reaction created temperatures a million times hotter than the Sun's core.
This was expected to cause atomic particles such as protons and neutrons to melt, producing a “soup” of matter in a state previously unseen on earth.
What is the big bang model?
According to the Big Bang model, the universe expanded from an extremely dense and hot state and
continues to expand today. A common and useful analogy explains that space itself is expanding,
carrying galaxies with it, like raisins in a rising loaf of bread. General relativistic cosmologies,
however, do not actually ascribe any 'physicality' to space. For better understanding of our solar
system, look at this video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B1AXbpYndGc&feature=player_embedded#!

US army gets 1st enlisted Sikh soldier since ’80s
Simran Preet Singh Lamba became the first enlisted Sikh soldier in the US army in more than two decades to complete basic training after getting a rare religious exemption for his turban and beard because the military wants his language skills.

Economy, Banking and Finance
India, US Govts give in-principle nod for $10-b infra debt fund
The Governments of India and the US have given their in-principle nod for a proposal by industry captains of both countries to set up a $10-billion fund to finance core-sector projects in India.

Industrial production growth slows to 4.4 % in September
India's industrial production grew at a disappointing 4.4 per cent in September as compared to 8.2 per cent in the same month of the previous fiscal.

Forex reserves cross $300 billion
The country's foreign exchange reserves breached the $300-billion mark for the first time since 2008 with an addition of $2.2 billion last week (November 5) on the back of a healthy rise in foreign currency.
India's foreign exchange reserves had earlier touched $300 billion in March 2008, before the setting-in of the global slowdown in September that year.

Deaths
Noted economist L C Jain dead

Well-known Gandhian and Magsaysay Award winner L.C. Jain passed away.
An economist, organiser, commentator and activist, Mr. Jain spent more than six decades of his life as an impassioned crusader for what Mahatma Gandhi called India's second freedom struggle — the fight against socio-economic oppression.

Sports
Asian Games Medal Tally
India is in 8th position with one gold medal, 4 silver medals and 3 bronze medals in Asian Games 2010 Medal Tally.
China is in first position with 58 gold medals, 22 silver and 21 bronze medals. South Korea is on second position with total 52 medals and Japan is on third Position with total 63 medals.

Asiad 2010: Pankaj Advani Won First Gold for India
Indian ace billiards player Pankaj Advani won gold medal in Asian Games men's singles, it was India's first gold medal in Asiad 2010. The defending Champion won against Myanmar top seed OoNay Thway with 3-2 (33 - 100, 100 - 61, 12 - 101, 101 - 4, 100 - 45) in the final clash.

Chirag United clinches Durand Cup
Mohammad Rafique struck the all important goal as Chirag United today edged past JCT 1-0 to clinch the Durand Cup football tournament title, the first triumph for the Kolkata side in any major tournament. Chirag also became the fourth team from Kolkata to win the world''s third oldest football tournament.

Lorenzo wins Valencia GP
Spanish world champion Jorge Lorenzo won the Valencia Grand Prix.

Vettel wins Abu Dhabi Grand Prix and F1 World Championship
Sebastian Vettel has become the youngest ever formula one world champion after a stunning drive at Yas Marina Circuit.
The Red Bull driver dominated the Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix from start to finish.

More Current Affairs
Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG)
CAG office had completed 150 years of existence. Sir Edmund Drummond was appointed the first Auditor General on November 16, 1860, and V. Narahari Rao was appointed the first Comptroller and Auditor General of Independent India in 1948.

November Current Affairs (1-8)

noreply@blogger.com (weekly current affais) — Wed, 26 Jan 2011 16:36:00 +0000

National Affairs
India signs $10-billion worth deals with U.S.
Taking India-U.S. trade relations to new territory, U.S. President Barack Obama announced that deals worth $10 billion (nearly Rs.44,000 crore) have been reached between India and the U.S. for creating more than 50,000 jobs back in the U.S.
The Obama administration is confident that the unfolding Indian growth story means huge business for American firms and jobs for the unemployed.
The Obama administration’s target to double exports to India in the next five years is projected to create more than 10 million jobs.Given the fact that nearly 15 million Americans remained jobless in October, according to US Department of Labour.
India is the second fastest growing investor in US after UAE.
Among the deals, SpiceJet has purchased 30 737-800 aircraft with a total cost of $2.8 billion from Boeing and the Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group purchased power equipment for 2,400 MW plants from GE for $2 billion.

Ivanov to head India-Russia panel

Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov has been appointed to head the Russian part of the Indo-Russian Inter-Governmental Commission (IRIGC) for trade, economic, scientific-technical and cultural cooperation.

As Russia's Defence Minister in 2001-2007, he co-chaired the IRIGC for military-technical cooperation and helped formulate Russia's arms export strategy, which calls for the supply of the most cutting-edge defence technologies to India, while exercising extreme discretion in selling weapons to China.

India elected to key U.N. panel
India has been elected to a key committee that controls the purse strings of the United Nations, which has an annual budget of nearly $22 billion.
Namgya Khampa, serving in the Indian mission to the U.N., was elected to the 16-member Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions (ACABQ) for a three-year term.
ACABQ performs several functions including the examination of the budget submitted by the U.N. Secretary-General to the General Assembly and advising the Assembly on administrative and budgetary matters referred to it.

New scheme to protect child rights in Naxal-affected areas
In an effort to protect the rights of children in areas of civil unrest -- including those affected by Maoists, the central government has approved a special scheme which will be implemented in five states on a pilot project basis
The scheme, called the Bal Bandhu scheme, will be implemented in ten districts in Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Chhatisgarh and Maharashtra.
The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) has come up with the Bal Bandhu scheme aims to protect the rights of children in areas of civil unrest.
NCPCR is expected to implement the scheme simultaneously in all 10 districts (one block in each district) in the first year with the objective to intervene in 10 districts in five states in areas of civil unrest with the mandate to protect children’s rights, focussing attention on mobilisation of communities through trained local youth volunteers or ‘bal bandhu’ who will act as child defenders.
The Commission will establish an advisory committee with representation from the ministries of women and child development, home affairs, PMO and NCPCR to review and monitor the programme.

India’s first South Pole expedition on climate
India’s first national expedition to the South Pole to study climate change patterns over the past few hundred years will be beginning on November 1.
*First man reached the South Pole in 1911.
Being led by Dr Rasik Ravindra, 62, this is the first time that India is leading a 40-day expedition to the South Pole. The team will leave for Maitri, India’s second permanent research station in Antarctica, and will be back in mid-December.
The eight-member expedition team will bring samples, which will give vital information about climate change that has taken place in the last thousands of years.

Panel to study PPP model in power distribution
Planning Commission announced constitution of an expert group headed by B. K. Chaturvedi, who looks after the power sector, on facilitation of public private partnership (PPP) in power distribution. This has been formed to give a push for new reforms in the power sector. The committee, which would include chief secretaries and power secretaries of States, will also have representation from two financial institutions.
After working out the various modalities on how PPP can be promoted in the distribution segment, the group would submit a report to the Central Government.

8 Indian States have 421 million multidimensionally poor people

Eight Indian States are home to 421 million multidimensionally poor people, more than the figure of 410 million in 26 poorest African countries.

The Multidimensional Poverty Index — which identifies serious simultaneous deprivations in health, education and income at the household level in 104 countries — brought out in the latest United Nations Human Development Report has calculated that South Asia is home to half of the world's multi-dimensionally poor population, or 844 million people.

In Delhi, the rate is close to Iraq and Vietnam's (about 14 per cent), while that of Bihar is similar to Sierra Leon and Guinea's (about 81 per cent).
*The Indian States include Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh, often referred to as the BIMARU States.

Barack Obama will be the first person to sign a new Golden Book
United States President Barack Obama will be the first person to sign a new Golden Book kept for distinguished guests visiting Parliament.
Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar has introduced this book, bound in khadi silk with a golden emblem of Parliament.

Sonia, Tata in Forbes' list of 68 people “who matter”

Congress president Sonia Gandhi, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Tata Sons Chairman Ratan Tata are among the five Indians named among the most powerful people in the world in Forbes' list this year of 68 people “who matter.”
India's business tycoons Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani and steel giant ArcelorMittal Chairman Lakshmi Mittal also make this year's list.
Ms. Gandhi debuts at the 9th spot in this year's list of the world's most powerful people. Mr. Ambani, who has a net worth of $29 billion, comes in at the 34th spot. Mr. Tata, having dropped two notches from last year, comes in at the 61st position in the list of the world's most powerful people.
Occupying the 44th spot is Lakshmi Mittal, chairman of the world's largest steel company ArcelorMittal. London's wealthiest resident, Mr. Mittal is sponsoring London's 2012 Olympic games, paying for most of a 400-foot twisting steel tower to be named ArcelorMittal Orbit at the city's Olympic Park.
Chinese President Hu Jintao has topped the 2010 Forbes list of the “World's Most Powerful People.”
For the top spot, Mr. Hu pipped United States President Barack Obama, who comes in at second place. Forbes' list picks 68 who matter, out of the 6.8 billion people on the planet.

India ranks 119 on human development index

Rapid economic growth of the past decade has ensured India a place among the top 10 movers on GDP growth, but the country ranks a low 119 among 169 countries on the 2010 Human Development Index .
China has been ranked much higher at 89 on the index published annually by the United Nations Development Programme.
India compares very poorly with countries with high level of human development on all indicators such as life expectancy, education and per capita income. For instance, life expectancy at birth is 64.4 years in India.
In comparison, people living in countries such as Norway, Australia, New Zealand and many countries across Europe are expected to live beyond 80 years. The world average is 69.3 years. The Chinese are expected to live about 73.5 years. Similarly, the number of years a person has spent in school is a dismal 4.4 years for India as compared to global average of 7.4 and 4.6 for South Asia.
Over 30 years beginning 1980, India’s HDI values has increased from 0.320 to 0.519, an increase of 62%. In the same period, life expectancy at birth increased almost 9%, mean years of schooling by close to three years, and expected years of schooling by four years and per capita Gross National Income (GNI) by 254%.
The report also includes three new measures: the Multi-dimensional Poverty Index that was released earlier this year, the Gender Inequality Index and the Inequality-adjusted Human Development Index.
As per the inequality-adjusted index, India loses 30% of its HDI value when inequality is factored in
per Gender Inequality Index of 2010 Human Development Report released by the United Nations Development Programme, India fares worse than Pakistan. In fact, the country ranks lower than all other countries in South Asia, save Afghanistan.
Maternal mortality in India is 450 deaths per 100,000 live births; the figure for Pakistan is 320

Cabinet approves Bill for women's protection at workplace

The Union Cabinet on Thursday approved the Protection of Women against Sexual Harassment at Workplace Bill, 2010, that ensures a safe environment for women at work place, both in the public and private sectors, in the organised and unorganised sectors.
Sexual harassment defined as ‘‘such unwelcome sexually determined behaviour (whether directly or by implication)” as Physical contact & advances, Demand or request for sexual favours, Sexually coloured remarks
Showing pornography, Any other unwelcome physical, verbal or non-verbal conduct of sexual nature

1,500-horsepower FMBT to replace T-72 tanks beyond 2020
The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) is working on India's future main battle tank (FMBT) with a 1,500-horsepower (HP) indigenous engine. This tank will replace beyond 2020 the imported T-72 tanks, renamed Ajeya, with the Army.
The first prototype of the indigenous engine would be ready in four to five years.

Indigenous AWACS to be flight-tested by 2011
Even as the Indian Air Force (IAF) is likely to acquire the third Phalcon Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) from Israel by December, India is in the process of developing nine home-grown, state-of-the-art versions and the first of them is expected to be flight-tested by the end of 2011
The delivery of these AWACS to the IAF would begin from 2015. They would be used for air defence, surveillance and network-centric operations.

.
International Affairs
U.K., France sign historic nuclear deal

Britain and France signed an unprecedented 50-year nuclear deal that would see them share nuclear facilities and jointly develop technology.
They also agreed to create a joint rapid reaction force of up to 5,000 troops deployable at short notice and to cooperate in a range of other defence-related areas.
This deal was aimed at making the citizens of the two countries safer and save money.

Dilma Rousseff - A former Marxist guerrilla is Brazil’s first woman president

A former Marxist guerrilla, Dilma Rousseff, who was tortured and imprisoned during Brazil’s long dictatorship was elected as president of Latin America’s biggest nation, a country in the midst of an economic and political rise.

she is the Brazil’s first female leader.

She will lead a nation on the rise, a country that will host the 2014 World Cup and that is expected to be the globe’s fifth-largest economy by the time it hosts the 2016 Summer Olympics. It has also recently discovered huge oil reserves off its coast.

Medvedev's Kuril islands visit angers Japan
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev made history on Monday becoming the first Russian leader to visit the Kuril archipelago in the Pacific Ocean and reassert Russia's sovereignty over the islands claimed by Japan.
   Mr. Medvedev flew to Kunashir, one of four islands that Japan calls its Northern Territories, on the way back from Vietnam. He toured the island, telling its residents that Russia would invest heavily to develop the islands.
   Japan demands the return of four sparsely populated islands in the Kuril archipelago, which Russia took under its control during World War II. In 1956 Russia agreed to hand back two of the islands but Japan rejected the compromise. Russia's new leadership has ruled out the return of any Kuril islands to Japan.

Nikki Haley elected Governor of U.S State

Daughter of Punjabi Sikh immigrants from Amritsar, Nimrata Nikki Randhawa Haley (38) has become the first Indian-origin woman, and second Indian-American after Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, to become the Governor of South Carolina .

Indian-American Kamala Harris won the election for Attorney-General of California. Ms. Harris will be the first woman to hold the office.

Fed to buy $600-b govt securities to bolster growth
USA Unveiled another stimulus to rejuvenate the sagging American economy as Federal Reserve will purchase U.S. government bonds worth $600 billion by June next year.
The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), the monetary policy making body, plans to “purchase a further $600 billion of longer-term Treasury securities by the end of the second quarter of 2011, a pace of about $75 billion a month.

Economy, Banking and Finance
Reserve Bank tightens norms for home loans
The Reserve Bank of India hiked key policy rates — repo and reverse repo— by a modest 25 basis points (100 basis points=1%). Now it has made clear anyone applying for a housing loan from a bank will have to pay margin money of at least 20% of the value of the property.
This in effect means that you will have to shell out more from your own savings to buy that house you have been eyeing for a while. Earlier, this margin money varied between 10% and 15 %.
   The central bank also increased the risk weightage of loans above Rs 75 lakh taken for buying property, which could increase the interest rates on loans for high-cost properties. This is being seen as a pre-emptive measure to rein in the possibility of the creation of an asset bubble and a sign that there could be overheating in the property market.
   The RBI also increased the standard asset provisioning by commercial banks for all housing loans with teaser rates to two per cent “in view of the higher risk associated with such loans.”
   Some banks are sanctioning housing loans at ‘teaser rates,' wherein the loans are offered at a comparatively lower rate of interest in the first few years, after which the rates are reset at higher levels

Coal India makes spectacular debut
Shares of state-run Coal India Limited made India's largest public offering of Rs. 15,200 crore and zoomed nearly 40 per cent on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE).

Exports up 23 % in September
Exports posted an impressive 23.2 per cent growth in September recording a two-year high of $18.02 billion and imports grew even faster by 26.1 per cent to $27.14 billion in September. Merchandise exports stood at $14.6 billion in September.
The present rate of growth would ensure that India is able to achieve the export target of $200-billion for the current fiscal.

Direct tax collections exceed Rs. 2 lakh crore
With the economy showing robust growth, the Centre's net direct tax collections exceeded the Rs.2-lakh crore mark during the first seven months (April-October) this fiscal, marking a jump of about 18 per cent over the mop-up in the same period of 2009-10.
Net direct tax collections in the first seven months of the current fiscal stood at Rs.2.04 lakh crore as on October 31 (April-October, 2010) and Net direct tax collections during the April-October period last year stood at Rs.1.73 lakh crore.

BSNL offers free SIM for landline customers
Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd. announced a unique offer where its landline customers can now take a free SIM card and make unlimited free local calls to their landline numbers, besides being able to make calls at reduced call rates.
In the promotional ‘Pyari Jodi' offer, customers can also call two local BSNL numbers at a reduced rate of 20 paise a minute and one BSNL number anywhere in India at a reduced rate of 30 paise a minute, without paying any additional monthly charges. On activation, customers will also get Rs.15 talk value, 1,000 local and national SMS each, and 1GB data free.

Deaths
Former Russian PM Viktor Chernomyrdin dead

The former Prime Minister, Viktor Chernomyrdin, who steered the Russian economy through its stormy transition from Communism to capitalism in the 1990s, died
President Boris Yeltsin appointed Mr. Chernomyrdin as Prime Minister at the end of 1992 and he stayed in the post till 1998, becoming the longest serving head of government in post-Soviet Russia. He took charge of the economy when it was in a nosedive triggered by incompetent “shock therapy” at the hands of radical reformers led by Yegor Gaidar. State finances were in disarray as oil plunged to $9 per barrel, annual inflation measured in thousands of percentage points and whole industries were grinding to a halt.
Mr. Chernomyrdin made his career in the gas industry, rising from a machine operator to the Oil and Gas Minister under Mikhail Gorbachev. As Prime Minister, Mr. Chernomyrdin resisted pressure from liberal radicals to split Gazprom, the natural gas monopoly, turning it into Russia's most powerful weapon in relations with the West.
After Vladimir Putin became President, he appointed Mr. Chernomyrdin as Ambassador to Ukraine in 2001 and he remained in this post until last year.

Siddhartha Shankar Ray passes away

Former West Bengal Chief Minister Siddhartha Shankar Ray passed away. Mr. Ray was Governor of Punjab during the State's turbulent period in the 1990s. He also served as a Union Minister and as India's Ambassador to the U.S.

The world's oldest person, named Eugenie Blanchard, died aged 114 in the French West Indies.
Ms. Blanchard became the world's oldest person on May 4 after the death of Kama Chinen of Japan who passed away days before her 115th birthday.

Awards
Manu Joseph bags The Hindu Best Fiction Award 2010

Manu Joseph has bagged TheHindu Best Fiction Award 2010 for his debut novel ‘Serious Men’. The prize carries a cash prize of Rs.5 lakh and a plaque.
The award was instituted by TheHindu Literary Review as a prelude to celebrating its 20th year in 2011.

Sports
Mike Russell regains World crown
Mike Russell won his 10th World professional billiards title with a 1731-1204 victory over India's Dhruv Sitwala.
The Englishman who lives in Qatar has an additional three IBSF World titles taking his total World titles to 13.

More Current Affairs
Giant Hanuman statue at an altitude of 8,500 feet on the Jakhu Hills was unveiled in Shimla

Current Affairs Test-29 for Bank exams and other public service exams

noreply@blogger.com (weekly current affais) — Mon, 10 Jan 2011 17:48:00 +0000

1) World Human Rights day is observed on-
a) 10th of December every year
b) 10th of October every year
c) 10th of September every year
d) 10th of November every year

2) Nagoya Protocol is related to the what?
a) Protection of Ecosystem
b) Nuclear damage control
c) Human Rights
d) Globalisation

3) Jean Drèze is related with formulation of National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme. Who is he?
a) Politician
b) Economist
c) Statistician
d) Financial Advisor

4) Which of the following is not the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) developed domestically?
a) Rustom 1
b) Lakshya
c) Nishant
d) Tejas

5) World Food day is observed on-
a) 16 October
b) 17 October
c) 20 October
d) 17 December

6) Recently concluded "Indra 2010" wargame was excercised between which two nations -
a) Russia and South Korea
b) India and Russia
c) Russia and Singapore
d) India and USA

7) The high-level committee set up by the Centre to look into the conduct of the Commonwealth Games headed by-
a) V.K. Shunglu
b) Sudhir Aggarwal
c) D V Sharma
d) None of these

8) TAPI gas pipelines involves -
a) Four countries
b) Five countries
c) Six countries
d) Two countries

9) Recently IGMSY scheme has been launched on pilot basis. IGMSY stands for -
a) Indira Gandhi Mahajan Sahyog Yojana
b) Indira Gandhi Maternity Sahyog Yojana
c) Indira Gandhi Maternity SubhLakshmi Yojana
d) Indira Gandhi Matritva Sahyog Yojana

10) Who will head the the Court of Arbitration being constituted to resolve the Kishanganga hydro-electric project dispute between India and Pakistan?
a) Sudhir Aggarwal
b) Stephen Schwebel
c) Joan Donoghue
d) Christopher Greenwood

11) Who won the TED prize for 2010?
a) Jamie Oliver
b) Sylvia Earle
c) Jill Tarter
d) José Abreu

12) Who became the first Indian to win a Commonwealth Games singles gold in tennis?
a) Somdev Devvarman
b) Leander Adrian Paes
c) Rafeal Nadal
d) Sania Mirza

13) Who is the first Indian woman to win the badminton singles gold at the Commonwealth Games?
a) Pullela Gopichand
b) Chetan Anand
c) Saina Nehwal
d) Prakash Padukone

14) Which country was the most successful country and stood at first in medal table?
a) India
b) Newzeeland
c) Australia
d) England

15) India signed which of the following recently with regard to nuclear damage which seeks to
establish a uniform global legal regime for the compensation of victims in the event of a nuclear accident.
a) Convention on Victim's Compensation
b) Convention on Supplementary Compensation
c) Convention on Appropriate Compensation
d) None of these

October Current Affairs (22-31)

noreply@blogger.com (weekly current affais) — Sat, 08 Jan 2011 04:19:00 +0000

National affairs
India, Malaysia taking bilateral ties forward, sign six pacts
India and Malaysia signed six pacts, with the accord for implementing the Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA) from July 1, 2011 being the centrepiece.

Comparing the CECA with the India-Asean Trade in Goods (TiG) agreement that was implemented from January 1, 2010, both the sides offer “Asean plus' market access in goods.
The Memorandum of Understanding on cooperation in the traditional systems of medicine makes India the second country with which Malaysia has inked such a pact. Due to the large presence of people of Indian and Chinese origin, Malaysia has a wide canvas of traditional systems of medicine, including the Malay herbal medicine.
Both sides would also finalise two-three other areas of economic cooperation from among infrastructure development, creative industries, tourism, small and medium enterprises (SMEs), business facilitation, science and technology, and human resource development
India and Malaysia would liberalise their respective investment regimes to facilitate greater Foreign Direct Investment into each other's territory.
The two also announced the setting up of a Joint ICT Talent Development Consultative Committee to make specific recommendations to both the governments for IT skills training, talent development and greater engagement of the Indian IT companies in Malaysia.
India is the sixth largest source country for inbound tourism to Malaysia ( six lakhs in 2009) while Malaysia is the 10th largest (1.15 lakhs in 2008).

India signs nuclear liability treaty
India signed the Convention on Supplementary Compensation for Nuclear Damage (CSC), thereby delivering on the last of its commitments stemming from the landmark 2005 nuclear agreement with the United States.
CSC is the international covenant — which provides a framework for channelling liability and providing speedy compensation in the event of a nuclear accident.
It has so far been signed by 14 countries and ratified by four, including the U.S.
The CSC will enter into force only when at least five countries with a minimum of 4,00,000 units of installed nuclear capacity ratify the treaty.
With India signing the CSC and the Obama administration issuing the requisite ‘Part 810' licensing certifications, the stage is now set for the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd. to begin full-fledged commercial negotiations with General Electric and Westinghouse for supply of two 1,000-MWe reactors.

India, Bangladesh sign $1 b line of credit agreement
The two countries have signed $1 billion Line of Credit agreement and Apart from the Line of Credit, the bulk power transmission agreement and an MoU between NTPC and the Bangladesh Power Development Board have also been signed in the power sector. India has decided to export 5 lakh tonnes of rice and wheat to Bangladesh despite ban on outward shipments of the foodgrains. Both nations have also agreed to establish ‘Border Haats' along the Meghalaya-Bangladesh border and open the Chittagong and Mongla ports to boost trade ties.

India signs new social security agreement with Korea
A reciprocal social security agreement (SSA) and protocol that will benefit a huge number of Indians — particularly those working in the fields of Information Technology, medicine and finance — was signed in Seoul.
An SSA with Korea would enhance the movement of professionals, and strengthen the trade and investment, between the two countries.

Population stabilisation target date pushed back to 2070
With the Total Fertility Rate (TFR) continuing at 2.8 per cent, the Union Health and Family Welfare Ministry has pushed back the target date for achieving population stabilisation to 2070 from 2045, stipulated in the National Population Policy (NPP) 2000.
The mid-term objective of NPP 2000 was to achieve a TFR of 2.1 per cent by 2010 and the long-term goal was to attain population stabilisation by 2045.

India drops to 87th rank in Integrity Index
India has fallen three places to 87th in Transparency International's latest Corruption Perceptions Index, in which 178 countries were surveyed. It happened due to recent damaging revelations in the Commonwealth Games contracts seems to have increased the perception about corruption and caused the country to further drop in the CPI ranking.
India's integrity score has fallen to 3.3 out of 10 in 2010.
Denmark, New Zealand and Singapore have the highest Integrity Index of 9.3. The United States is at the 22nd position with 7.1. The countries in the South Asian region have performed miserably with Bangladesh at 134, Pakistan at 143 and Nepal at 146. Bhutan is the sole exception, scoring a creditable 5.7 and ranked 36th in the world.
The CPI is based on corruption in the government and public sector and is calculated on corruption-related data from 13 source-surveys published between January 2009 and September 2010. The criteria used to arrive at the score include perception-related questions like the government's capacity to punish and contain corruption; transparency, accountability and corruption in the public sector; extent of corruption; implementation of anti-corruption initiatives; and encouragement of corrupt officials.

Number portability launch from Haryana circle

The much awaited Mobile Number Portability(MNP) finally launched in Haryana. The first phase of MNP service has been started from Rohtak city and d customers in the state now have the option of changing their service provider without changing their mobile numbers.

Customer will have to pay a maximum of Rs. 19 to the new operator to change network via MNP as Porting charges. However the new operator has the option to waive off the MNP fee or reduce it.

The mobile number portability (MNP) will be launched across India by January 20, 2011. For orderly technical migration of complex interconnected networks, each of the remaining service areas will be migrated one by one on alternate days. This will enable simultaneous validation of technical parameters and removal of any problems arising from migration activity to ensure successful and smooth migration of a service area.
Presently BSNL and Tata Docomo announced their attractive MNP offers with freebies. Wherein subscribers can switch to BSNL at FREE of cost while Tata Docomo charged Rs. 19 for number portability service.
To avail the MNP service subscriber needs to send SMS PORT followed by 10 Digit Mobile Number to 1900 and they will get UPC porting code by SMS after that they need to submit CAF (application form) and MNP form with UPC to desired new service provider.

Kishanganga arbitration court to be headed by Justice Stephen Schwebel
Judge Stephen M. Schwebel, the former President of the International Court of Justice, will head the Court of Arbitration being constituted to resolve the Kishanganga hydro-electric project dispute between India and Pakistan. Judge Schwebel is an expert on international law and dispute settlement.
The dispute is over India's 330 MW hydro-electric project on the Kishanganga, a tributary of the Jhelum in Jammu & Kashmir. According to India, the treaty allows it to divert Kishanganga waters to Bonar Madmati Nallah, another tributary of the Jhelum, which falls into the Wullar lake before joining the Jhelum again. Pakistan has objected to this saying India's plans to divert waters will obstruct the flow of the river affecting its Neelam-Jhelum project downstream.
As per the provisions of the Indus Waters Treaty signed between India and Pakistan in 1960 under the aegis of the World Bank, the arbitration court has to have seven members, including the chairman. Already India and Pakistan have named two international experts each to represent them.

Finland offers cooperation in waste management
Finland on Tuesday expressed its willingness to offer new technologies to the Delhi Government in the field of waste management, improvement in sewer management and multi-utility pipe and cabling management.

China gets an ashram near Beijing
the People’s Republic of China got its first ashram.

Sri Sri Ravishankar, founder of the Art of Living, inaugurated an Art of Living ashram near Beijing
The 165-acre retreat for yoga and meditation was opened by Sri Sri Ravishankar’s Art of Living foundation. Billing itself as the first authentic Indian retreat in a country where spirituality is on the rise, the ashram will offer a range of courses.

International Affairs
U.S.-Saudi arms deal-Biggest ever in history of USA
The United States has announced one of the largest weapons sales in its history, worth nearly $60 billion, to Saudi Arabia.

The most significant components of this deal include 84 F-15 aircraft, 70 upgrades of existing Saudi F-15s to a more advanced configuration, 70 AH-64D Apache Longbow helicopters, 72 UH-60 Blackhawk helicopters, 36 AH-6i light attack helicopters, and 12 MD-530F light training helicopters.

$2.29-billion U.S. aid for Pakistan to fight terror
The United States announced that it would provide a whopping $2.29 billion as military aid to Pakistan to bolster its army's anti-terror capabilities. Ms. Clinton made this deal at the opening of the third U.S.-Pakistan Strategic Dialogue with her Pakistani counterpart Shah Mahmood Qureshi.
Ms. Clinton said a request would be made available for the period from 2012 to 2016. This would complement the five-year $7.5 billion in civilian aid to Pakistan under the Kerry-Lugar Bill. Ms. Clinton said a request would be made to Congress for the aid to be made available for the period from 2012 to 2016. This would complement the five-year $7.5 billion in civilian aid to Pakistan under the Kerry-Lugar Bill.

U.S., Russia to join EAS
Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) have agreed to invite the United States and Russia to join 16-nation East Asia Summit (EAS) on issues ranging from security to trade and the environment.
The EAS currently comprises the 10 ASEAN states plus Australia, China, India, Japan, New Zealand and South Korea.
Its leaders hold an annual meeting that coincides with the yearly ASEAN summit.

China's supercomputer world's fastest
China has overtaken the U.S. as home of the world's fastest supercomputer. Tianhe-1A, named in honour of the Milky Way, is capable of sustained computing of 2.507 petaflops — equivalent to 2,507 trillion calculations each second.
At 2.507 petaflops, Tianhe-1A is 1.4 times faster than U.S. Cray XT5 Jaguar

A first for women in Pakistan

Veteran human rights activist Asma Jehangir has won a keenly-contested election for president of the Supreme Court Bar Association, becoming the first woman to hold this office.

Pakistan observes Black Day
Pakistan observed Black Day on Wednesday to mark the arrival of Indian troops in Srinagar this day in 1947, after the signing of the Instrument of Accession. Protests were held against “Indian occupation of Kashmir” and banners mounted at key points of Islamabad to draw attention to the situation in ‘Indian Held Kashmir.'

3 suspended from House of Lords over expenses claims

Three senior peers — Labour's Lord Swraj Paul and Baroness Manzila Pola Uddin and independent Lord Amir Bhatia — were on Thursday formally suspended from the House of Lords for varying periods over their expenses claims.
The House took the action after a report of the House of Lords Committee for Privileges and Conduct recommended their suspension for wrongly claiming expenses. They were also ordered to repay thousands of pounds they had claimed in excess.

$25,000 compensation for Kanishka victims mooted
The Canadian government has suggested a compensation of $20,000 to $25,000 to families of each of the victims in the tragic 1985 Air India Kanishka terror bombing that killed 329 people, mostly of Indian origin.
Parliament passes French pension reforms
France's Parliament granted final approval to a bill raising the retirement age from 60 to 62, a reform that has infuriated the country's powerful unions and touched off weeks of protests and strikes. It was a victory for conservative President Nicolas Sarkozy, who has stood firm despite the protests — an unpopular stance that has resulted in his lowest approval ratings since he took office in 2007.

Singapore Indian gets Home portfolio
K. Shanmugam is being appointed Singapore's Home Affairs Minister with effect from November 1. Tharman Shanmugaratnam, another ethnic Indian leader, retains his post as Finance Minister.

Economy, Banking and Finance
India's rank up 3 notches in IMF
India will improve its rank by three notches to the 8th position in the International Monetary Fund (IMF), as the group of 20 nations (G-20) decided to increase the quota of emerging markets in the multi-lateral lending agency by over 6 per cent.
Quota represents the relative position of members of IMF.
By doing so, India's rank in the IMF will improve to the 8th position from the current 11th in terms of quota. The quota share (of India in IMF) will improve to about 2.75 per cent (from the present level of 2.44 per cent). Similarly, China will see an improvement in its ranking to the third position from the present sixth.
“Agreement on IMF reforms has been reached. There will be a shift in quota shares to dynamic EMDCs (emerging market developing countries) and to underrepresented countries of over 6 per cent while protecting the voting share of the poorest,” Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said.

FDI dips to $1.33 billion in August
Foreign direct investment (FDI) dipped by almost 60 per cent to $1.33 billion in August this year from $3.26 billion in the year-ago period. And this is the lowest FDI inflow in this fiscal.

Exports jumps 2-year high
Exports registered a jump of 23.2 per cent at $18.02 billion in September compared to the same month last year, whereas imports outstripped exports growing by 26.1 per cent to $27.14 billion in September compared to the same month in the previous year. And this massive rise in imports raised concerns over widening of the trade gap.
Crude oil, gems and jewellery and edible oil constitute the major part of the country's import bill.
The trade deficit in September alone stood at $9.12 billion. However, this was lower than the $13-billion deficit in August.

NABARD scheme for broiler farming
National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development has decided to introduce a scheme for contract broiler farming by women self-help groups in Kanyakumari district.

Biocon to invest $161 m in Malaysia
India's biotechnology major Biocon announced an investment of $161 million in Malaysia for setting up of a bio-manufacturing and research and development facility, marking the biggest foreign direct investment in this sector in the country.
The facility will be established in Bio-XCell, a biotechnology park in Iskandar, through a strategic partnership with Malaysian Biotechnology Corporation. The facility, targeted to be operational by 2014, would focus on research and development and production.

Rs. 11,218 cr tax notice slapped on Vodafone
The Income-tax department asked telecom major Vodafone to pay Rs.11,217.95 crore in taxes within a month for the acquisition of Hutchison's stake in its telecom joint venture with Essar in India in 2007.

PFC to help NPCIL set up nuclear plants
The Power Finance Corporation (PFC) and the Nuclear Corporation of India Ltd. (NPCIL) have entered into a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to facilitate NPCIL to set up nuclear power projects.
Under the MoU, PFC plans to offer debt financing, equity financing and consultancy services to NPCIL to facilitate the latter's large capacity addition programme. While PFC is a leading financier in the electricity sector, NPCIL is the only player operating nuclear power reactors in the country.
NPCIL now operates 19 nuclear electricity reactors in the country with an installed capacity of 4,560 MWe. Three reactors, with a total capacity of 2,220 MWe, are in an advanced stage of construction. They are two units of 1,000 MWe each from Russia under construction at Kudankulam in Tamil Nadu and an indigenous pressurised heavy water reactor (PHWR) of 220 MWe at Kaiga in Karnataka. In addition, excavation is under way for 700 MWe indigenous PHWRs, two each at Kakrapar in Gujarat and Rawatbhatta in Rajasthan. The NPCIL's installed capacity will reach 9,580 MWe by 2017, 20,000 MWe by 2020 and 60,000 MWe by 2032.

Awards
Winners of Infosys Prize 2010
The Infosys Science Foundation, established by Infosys Technologies Ltd., on Monday announced the winners in the five categories of the Infosys Prize 2010.
 The prize for excellence in Mathematical Sciences was awarded to Chandrashekhar Khare, Professor of Mathematics at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). He won the prize for his “fundamental contribution” to number theory.
 Professor at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai, Sandip Trivedi, won the prize in the Physical Sciences category for “finding an ingenious way” to solve two of the most outstanding puzzles of superstring theory — what is the origin of dark energy and why there is no mass-less scalar particle — simultaneously.
 Ashutosh Sharma, Chair Professor and Principal Investigator, Centre of Nanosciences, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kanpur, won the prize in the Engineering and Computer Science category for his “fundamental contributions” in materials science.
 The winner in the Life Sciences category was Chetan E. Chitnis, Principal Leader, Malaria Group, International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (ICGEB), New Delhi.
 Amita Baviskar, sociologist at the Institute of Economic Growth in New Delhi and Nandini Sundar, Chairperson of the Department of Sociology, Delhi School of Economics, were declared joint winners of the prize for excellence in Social Sciences.

Microsoft sets Limca record
Efforts of 22 Microsoft employees enabled Microsoft storm into the Limca Book of Records for the first ever dominoes display of its kind in India. The Microsoft Dominoes effect required 7,000 wooden dominoes, each weighting 12 gm and placed barely 0.2 inches apart sidewise and 0.5 inches lengthwise to create the logo. The fall of a chip sets off a cascading effect. As the chips lined up in formations fall, a wave is created and vibrant colour pattern emerges.

Microsoft celebrated the first anniversary of the general availability of Windows 7 and the effort

Indian wins U.S. award for EVM security work
The San Francisco-based Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), a leading civil liberties group, will confer the 2010 Pioneer Award on researcher Hari Prasad, who was recently released on bail after having been jailed for his security work on electronic voting machines.
Mr. Prasad is the first Indian to receive the prestigious award.

Deaths

Legendary Everest climber feared dead

A Nepalese mountaineer Chhewang Nima Sherpa who has climbed Mount Everest 19 times is missing and feared dead in the Himalayas two days after being swept away by an avalanche.

Mr. Chhewang is one ascent away from equalling the world record of summiting Mount Everest 20 times, which is held by Apa Sherpa.

K.E. Eapen passes away
K.E. Eapen, a pioneer in journalism and communication education in the country, passed away. Professor Eapen was actively associated with journalism for over 50 years, having set up three university departments of journalism and communication, and many organisations connected with the field. Besides teaching journalism, he also served on policy-making bodies and authored books on communication.
Professor Eapen was a pioneer in identifying the significance of the Satellite Instructional Television Experiment (SITE) and initiated a SITE evaluation study in the Karnataka cluster in 1975-76 when the nation experimented with satellite technology in taking developmental messages to the underdeveloped areas. Dr. Eapen was recently honoured in New Delhi with the “AMIC Asian Communication Award.”

Ex-President Nestor Kirchner dead
The former Argentine President, Nestor Kirchner — the country's most powerful politician along with his wife, current President Cristina Fernandez — died.

Sports
Alonso wins Korean GP
Ferrari's Fernando Alonso won Korean Grand Prix to seize back the Formula One World championship lead.

More current affairs

Narmada Bachao Andolan completes 25 years
The Indian Institute of Technology-Kanpur and the Indian Institute of Management- Kozhikhode on Thursday entered into a partnership with the Yale University for academic leadership development programmes.