7/24/2019 Week Draft

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/week-draft 1/10

. Current Affairs – week 36 Pdf . 

30 August - 5 September

Banking

Banking – RBI

Prescribed a uniform method for banks to arrive at the interest rates for

providing loans 

To Know: The new draft guidelines RBI has proposed to encourage banks to

move to the so-called marginal-cost-of-funds-based determination of their

minimum lending rates. Using this methodology, the base rates of banks

could soften a tad, going by the easy liquidity in the banking system currently.

The RBI has proposed to fix 1 April 2016, for implementing the new

methodology. This will give sufficient time to all banks to adopt the new base

rate methodology as well as the spread guidelines.

Banking – SBI & ICICI Bank

The Reserve Bank of India on 31 August

2015 declared two banks of the country as

Domestic Systemically Important Banks (D-

SIBs).

To Know: While State Bank of India (SBI) is

the largest public sector bank and the largest banking entity in the country,

ICICI Bank is the largest private sector bank in the country. The two banks

were designated as Domestic Systemically Important Banks (D-SIBs) by the

RBI, meaning their collapse could have a cascading impact on the entire

financial system and the economy. SBI and ICICI have been so designated on

the basis of a systemic importance score, arrived at after an analysis of the

banks‟ size as a percentage of annual Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Banks

with assets that exceed 2% of GDP will be considered to be part of this class

of lenders. As of 30 June 2015, SBI‟s loan book was worth Rs.12.8 trillion and

ICICI‟s loan book was close to Rs.4 trillion.

7/24/2019 Week Draft

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/week-draft 2/10

National - State

Manipur

Manipur witnessed huge violence on 31 August and 1 September 2015 after a

general strike protesting against three Bills.

To Know:  1) Protection of Manipur People’s Bill

2015, 2) Manipur Land Revenue and Land Reforms

(Seventh Amendment) Bill 2015 and 3) Manipur

Shops and Establishments (Second Amendment)

Bill 2015 

The tribal student groups claimed that new bills would facilitate buying of landby migrant workers in the State. The issue of losing one‟s ancestral land is a

big issue in Manipur as the indigenous population is getting outnumbered due

to inward migration from neighbouring countries and other parts of the

country. While the ethnic population is demanding imposition of an Inner Line

Permit (ILP), in line with a few north-eastern States to restrict outsiders, the

government passed the Bills prompting fresh clashes.

Policy

No Auction for small oil and gas fields

Union Government on 2 September 2015 announced, not to

auction Oil and Gas fields to private firms.

To Know: For the first time, auction 69 small and marginal

oil and gas fields surrendered by state-run explorers likeONGC. The government hopes to raise Rs. 70,000 crore

from the sale. The government expects private companies to boost output

from the areas that hold resources of more than $10 billion. India, the world‟s

No. 4 oil consumer, meets only a fraction of its demand through local sources

and wants to boost private and foreign participation in its industry, dominated

by state-run Oil and Natural Gas Corp and Oil India and privately-held

Reliance Industries Ltd.

7/24/2019 Week Draft

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/week-draft 3/10

Information Technology

New typeface logo

Google Inc. unveiled a redesign of its iconic logo on 1

September 2015, in a sans-serif typeface, similar to the

one being used by Google‟s newly created holding

company, Alphabet. With this Google has done FIVE

modifications in its logo since it started its operations.

To Know:  This was the fifth such modification in its logo since the search

engine giant started its operations in 1998. The compact version of the logo,

used to identify most of its apps, bids farewell to the little blue “g” icon and

replaces it with a uppercase “G” colored in blue, red, yellow and green to

match the full logo.

Photo Courtesy: Google Inc.

Finance and Economy

Financial savings of households have successfully reversed a 5-year long

dipping trend 

TO Know:  Financial savings stands for savings

or investments done in deposits, stocks,

insurance, mutual funds, pension funds and other

such instruments. According to the preliminary

estimates released by the RBI on 1 September,

the household financial savings in the country

have successfully broken a five year trend over

which the share of financial savings was seen dipping. Household financialsaving for 2014-15 placed at 7.5 % of India‟s national income as against 7.3%

in 2013-14. The gross domestic saving rate declined for the second

consecutive year to 30% of national income. This largely reflected the

reduction in the saving rate of households on account of a decline in physical

assets as well as in valuables. On the other hand, household financial saving

gained from returns turning attractive with the moderation in inflation as well

as the pick-up in economic activity.

7/24/2019 Week Draft

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/week-draft 4/10

Money and Finance

Merger of FMC with SEBI

The merger of the Forward Markets Commission (FMC) with the Securities

and Exchange Board of India (SEBI),is proposed for 28 September 2015.

To Know:  FMC is the erstwhile regulator of the commodity derivatives

market. While presenting the budget for 2015-16, Union Finance Minister

 ArunJaitley had proposed the merger of FMC with SEBI to strengthen the

regulation of the commodity markets. As this merger comes into effect, the

Forward Contracts Regulation Act, 1952 will automatically repealed and the

regulation of country‟s commodity derivatives market will shift to SEBI under

the Securities Contracts Regulation Act, 1956.

World

Germany and Austria

In a significant development in the ongoing Europeanmigrant crisis, the two countries on 5 September 2015

opened their borders to thousands of exhausted

refugees.

To Know: On 5 September 2015, both Germany and

 Austria threw open their borders to thousands of

refugees as after days of confrontation and chaos, Hungary‟s government

deployed over 100 buses overnight to take thousands of refugees to the

 Austrian frontier. From Austria these migrants entered Germany, with over

1,000 arriving by special trains in Munich. Hungary, the main entry point into

Europe‟s borderless Schengen zone for refugees, has earlier taken a hard

line, vowing to seal its southern frontier with a new, high fence by 15

September. The migrant crisis of 2015 has become Europe‟s most acute

refugee crisis since the Yugoslav wars of the 1990s. The migrant crisis arose

through the rising number of refugees and economic refugees, from areas

such as the Middle East and Africa coming to the European Union across the

Mediterranean Sea and the Balkans, and applying for asylum. Highest

number of migrants is from war-ravaged Syria and followed by Eritrea and Afghanistan.

7/24/2019 Week Draft

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/week-draft 5/10

Sports

India won Test series against Sri Lanka

India won a historic Test series against Sri Lanka as it defeated

the hosts by 117 runs in the third and final test match played in

Colombo on 1 September 2015. With this win India ended a 22-

year long wait for a Test series win over Sri Lanka on their home

soil.

To Know:  India‟s last series success in Sri Lanka came under Mohammad

 Azharuddin‟s captaincy in 1993 when they won 1-0. India won this Test series

under the captaincy of new Test captain Virat Kohli. Needing 386 runs to win

the final Test as well as the series, Sri Lanka were bowled out for 268 after

tea on the fifth day at the Sinhalese Sports Club in Colombo to hand the

tourists a 2-1 series score line. India fought back after losing the opening Test

in Galle by 63 runs to win the second at the P. Sara Oval in Colombo by 278

runs and then took the enthralling final Test in the last session of play.

Ravichandra Ashwin, who took 21 wickets in the series, was adjudged Man of

the Series.

Kenya - 15th World Championship of Athletics

Created history by topping the medals tally at the 15 th World

Championships of Athleticswith 7 gold, 6 silver and 3 bronze.

To Know: This was the first time that Kenya topped the medals

tally at the most prestigious athletics event in the world. Jamaica

stood second (7 gold and 2 silver) and the United States third (6 gold and 6

silver). It was the best ever finish for Kenya in World Championships as the

country once again performed exceedingly well in its traditional domains ofmiddle- and long-distance running with gold medals for David Rudisha in the

men‟s 800m, Vivian Cheruiyot in the women‟s 10,000m and Ezekiel Kemboi

and HyvinJepkemoi triumphing in the men‟s and women‟s 3,000m

steeplechase respectively. Kenya‟s final gold medal was won by AsbelKiprop

in the 1500m.

7/24/2019 Week Draft

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/week-draft 6/10

Commonwealth Games 2022

Durban (South Africa)- became the first-ever city from Africa to get the hosting

rights of the Commonwealth Games.

To Know: South Africa‟s Durban city wasconfirmed as the host of the Commonwealth

Games 2022, at the Commonwealth Games

Federation (CGF) general assembly in Auckland

(New Zealand) on 2 September. Durban was the

only bidder for the games as Canada‟s Edmonton

city had withdrawn its bid in February 2015 due to financial reasons. The Games will

be held from 18 to 30 July 2022. The Commonwealth Games was last held in 2014

in Glasgow, with Australia‟s Gold Coast hosting the 2018 event. 

Law 

Law Commission of India – Abolition of death penalty

In an important recommendation the Law Commission of India (LCI) has

recommended the abolition of death penalty in all cases except those

related to terrorism and waging war against India. 

To Know:  The Law Commission of India, led by Justice AjitPrakash Shah,

former Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court, has recommended that death

penalty should be kept only for cases pertaining to terror and war against the

country. This was the 262nd report of the Law Commission. It is worth

mentioning that in 1962, the Law Commission, in its 35 th Report, had

recommended retention of death penalty. India is one of 59 countries where

the death penalty is still awarded by courts.

PlaceTemple of Bel 

The historic temple in the ancient town of

Palmyra in Syria, is dedicated to the

Palmyrene gods and was one of the best-

preserved parts of the ancient city. It was

destroyed by the militants of the IS during August 2015. 

7/24/2019 Week Draft

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/week-draft 7/10

National

Housing for All

305 cities and towns of the country have been identified for the

implementation of „Housing for All‟ scheme under which assistance of over

Rs. 2 lakh crore would be provided over the next six years for enabling two

crore urban poor own their own houses.

To Know: The selected cities and towns are in Chhattisgarh (36 cities/towns),

Gujarat (30), Jammu and Kashmir (19), Jharkhand (15), Kerala (15), Madhya

Pradesh (74), Odisha (42), Rajasthan (40) and Telangana (34). Besides these

nines states, six more states have signed Memorandum of Agreement (MoA)

with the Ministry committing them to implement six mandatory reforms

essential for making the housing mission in urban areas a success. It is worth

mentioning that under „Housing for All‟ scheme, two crore houses are targeted

to be built for the poor in urban areas by year 2022, coinciding with 75 years

of Independence. „Housing for All‟ scheme was launched as

PradhanMantriAwasYojana by Prime Minister NarendraModi on 25 June

2015.

Geography

Denali

The tallest mountain Mount McKinley, of the

United States was renamed as – Denali 

TO Know: During August 2015 the Obama

administration renamed Mount McKinleyas Denali, as it was originally known by Alaska

natives before it was renamed to honour

President William McKinley. At 20,310 feet,

Denali is not only the USA‟s tallest mountain, it‟s also the tallest mountain in

North America. It is also worth mentioning that the U.S. Geological Survey

(USGS), in its latest survey found that the mountain is now 10 feet shorter

than its earlier measured height of 20,320 feet, which was measured using

1950s-era technology. The USGS and several other federal agencies and

universities teamed up to use a precise GPS measurement of the peak‟slocation.

7/24/2019 Week Draft

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/week-draft 8/10

Health

First total HIV/AIDS literate district – Palakkad

To Know: Kerala‟s Palakkad district would soon be declared as the first total

HIV/AIDS literate district in the country. This was announced by district

panchayat president T.N. Kandamuthan on 31 August 2015. To make the

district total HIV/AIDS literate district, a special project titled “Jyothirgamaya”

was implemented with the cooperation of 91 gram panchayats and four

municipalities in the district. The project was to educate people about AIDS

and the need to remove the stigma and discrimination against its victims.

Sahaj

Scheme launched by Petroleum and Natural Gas for new LPG connections

To Know: Sahaj scheme of the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural

Gas will facilitate online release of new LPG connections, through the

portal mylpg.in to enable customers to register for new LPG

connections online, as well as make on line payments for the same.

The scheme was launched on 30 August 2015, initially in 13 cities  – 

 Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Bhopal, Bhubaneshwar, Chandigarh, Chennai, Delhi,Hyderabad, Kolkata, Lucknow, Mumbai, Patna and Pune.

Appointment

Rajiv Mehrishi - Home Secretary

To know: Rajiv Mehrishi, a 1978 batch IAS officer from Rajasthan

cadre, was appointed as the new Home Secretary on 31 August2015. He replaced L.C. Goyal, who was appointed as the Chairman

and Managing Director of India Trade Promotion Organisation

(ITPO). With this Rajiv Mehrishi became the third Home Secretary to

be appointed by the Modi government in the past one year. Mehrishi was

Secretary at, Department of Economic Affairs (Ministry of Finance) till now.

7/24/2019 Week Draft

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/week-draft 9/10

Railway

West Central Railway (WCR)

WCR, zone will became the first zone of the Indian Railway to eliminate all

unmanned level crossings as announced on 2 September 2015.

To Know: The West-Central Railway (WCR) Zone, with its headquarters at

Jabalpur in Madhya Pradesh, became the first-ever zone of the Indian

Railway to have eliminated all unmanned level crossings. Out of total 118

unmanned level crossings falling on West-Central Railways as on 1 April

2014, 80 were eliminated in the financial year 2014-15 and remaining 38 have

been achieved in current financial year by 31 August 2015. This was done by

constructing 33 Limited Height Sub Ways (LHs) and manning of 30 level

crossings. This achievement by The West-Central Railway (WCR) Zone is a

landmark achievement in the annals of the Indian Railway as unmanned

railway crossings continue to remain a deathtrap in India. As many as 126

persons were killed in accidents involving unmanned level crossing in year

2014-15. Indian Railway has over 30 thousand level crossings out of which

nearly 40% are unmanned ones.

Real Estate

Bengaluru

The city has for the first time overtaken Mumbai in unsold

housing units and thus become the city with the second-

highest residential real estate inventory overhang after

the National Capital Region (NCR).

To Know: With more than 84,000 unsold housing units

by the end of the second quarter (April-June) of 2015

Bengaluru has surpassed Mumbai for the first time and is the second-highest

residential real estate inventory overhang after the NCR. This was disclosed

by JLL India, a private entity with interests in real estate information.

7/24/2019 Week Draft

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/week-draft 10/10

Indian – Defence

One Rank One Pension (OROP)

The long-standing demand of „one

rank, one pension‟ (OROP) pertaining

to the pensions of ex-servicemen, to

be implemented with effect from 1

July 2014, and would cost the

government Rs 18,000 - 22,000 crore

this year. However, numerous

proposals of the government were

rejected by ex-servicemen, who havestaged an almost three-month-long

public agitation for their demand of

OROP. The exclusion from OROP of

those who took premature retirement

(PMR) was severely criticized by the ex-servicemen.

To Know:  In simple terms, OROP implies uniform pension be paid to the

armed forces personnel retiring in the same rank with the same length of

service, regardless of their date of retirement. However, in its proposals, theGovernment rejected the provisions of OROP for personnel taking premature

retirement (PMR). Later on 6 September 2015 Prime Minister cleared the air

from OROP controversy by announcing that servicemen who have taken early

retirement will be eligible to receive the benefits of OROP.

Key points of Union Govt.’s OROP grant 

OROP granted with effect from 1 July 2014

 Arrears to be paid in four half-yearly instalments

Widows of casualties to be paid in single instalmentsOROP will raise annual pension bill by Rs. 8,000-10,000 crore

This amount will rise in tandem with military salaries

 Arrears will involve one-time payment of Rs. 10,000-12,000 crore

Pensions to be equalised and adjusted once every 5 years

Pensions to be average of maximum & minimum in 2013