Current Affairs - January 28, 2014

Current Affairs

January 28, 2014

National Affairs

1. India ranks 155th out of 178 countries in the 2014 Environmental Performance Index (EPI) issued by Yale University yesterday. Despite an improvement in overall performance, India comes out worst among other emerging economies, including China, in efforts to address environmental challenges, with dramatic declines on air quality, as per the study. Very low GDP per capita coupled with the second highest population in the world means India’s environmental challenge is more formidable than that faced by other emerging economies.

India is the worst performer among the BRICS countries as China ranks 118th, Brazil 77th, Russia 73rd, and South Africa 72^nd in the same list. Even India’s rank is lower compared to Pakistan (148) and Nepal (139) as well.

2. PAN allotment process to undergo change from 3 February 2014 : PAN (Permanent Account Number) allotment process will undergo a change from 3 February 2014. The official release mentioned that an applicant of PAN will have to submit self-attested copies of Proof of Identity (POI), Proof of Address (POA) and Date of Birth (DOB) documents. The applicant will also have to produce the original documents for verification at the counter of PAN facilitation centres.

3. Social Justice and Empowerment Minister Kumari Selja has quit Union Council of Ministers and will work for the party. She was nominated by the Congress for a Rajya Sabha seat from Haryana, filed her nomination from Chandigarh.

4. H C Meena, an Indian Police Service (IPS) officer of the 1976 batch, has been appointed as the Secretary Security in the Cabinet Secretariat last week. She will hold the post till his superannuation on 30 September 2014. Earlier, she has served as the director general in Rajasthan.

5. The National Innovation Council (NInC) and the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) come together to set up 'India Inclusive Innovation Fund' (IIIF).  

The fund seeks to leverage the model of Venture Capital to transform the lives of the underprivileged.

Its to add teeth to the efforts of socio-economical upliftment by assisting inadequate philanthropy and Government grants/subsidies provided to the poors.

International Affairs

6. Switzerland secured No 1 rank in the 2014 Environmental Performance Index (EPI) issued by Yale University yesterday. Luxembourg, Australia, Singapore and the Czech Republic secured the other top 5 ranks in the same order in the same index, which ranks countries on high-priority environmental concerns that include air quality, water management and climate change. The bottom five performers in the EPI are Somalia, Mali, Haiti, Lesotho, and Afghanistan. All the low performers are grappling with civil unrest, significant economic development pressures, and political turmoil.

7. Rapper-turned-actress Queen Latifah will be honoured by the New York Women in Communications with its 2014 Matrix Award, which honours females who change the world. She will be honoured on April 28 at the Waldorf Astori along with eight others. Past Matrix winners include Meryl Streep, Tina Fey, Robin Roberts, Ellen DeGeneres, Martha Stewart, Whoopi Goldberg and Meredith Vieira.

8. The UK economy grew by 1.9% in 2013, the highest growth rate since 2007, as per the Office for National Statistics (ONS). But GDP growth for the fourth quarter of 2013 slipped to 0.7% compared to 0.8% growth in the third quarter.

9. Tunisia finally passes new democratic constitution : Tunisia’s national assembly approved the country’s new constitution on Sunday in one of the last steps to establishing full democracy three years after the uprising that toppled autocrat Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali. Just before the constitution vote, Prime Minister Mehdi Jomaa appointed a caretaker cabinet as part of a deal to end a crisis between Tunisia’s Islamist party and its secular opposition until new elections this year. Tunisia’s new constitution and progress contrasts sharply with messy transitions in Libya, Egypt and Yemen which are still caught up in turmoil after ousting their own long-standing leaders in 2011 revolts and uprisings.

Banking Affairs

10.    RBI raises policy rate by 0.25 pc to anchor retail inflation

i. Reserve Bank Governor Raghuram Rajan on Tuesday again surprised the markets and raised the key policy rate by 0.25 per cent to 8 per cent in a bid to curb inflation, a move that may translate into higher EMIs and push up the cost of borrowing for corporates.

ii. "An increase in the policy (repo) rate by 25 basis points is needed to set the economy securely on the recommended disinflationary path," Rajan said while unveiling the Third Quarter Review of Monetary Policy.

iii. Consequently, the reverse repo rate under the liquidity adjustment facility will be revised to 7 per cent and the marginal standing facility rate and bank rate to 9 per cent.

iv. However, the RBI kept the cash reserve ratio unchanged at 4 per cent as liquidity seems to be comfortable.

v. The Governor said economic growth would be below 5 per cent in the current financial year and could accelerate in 2014-15 to a mean projection of 5.5 per cent.

vi. The RBI's baseline projections for retail inflation indicate that over the ensuing 12-month horizon, and with the current policy stance, there are upside risks to the central forecast of 8 per cent.

RBI Current Policy & Reserve Rates

Repo Rate – 8 %

Reverse Repo– 7 %

CRR – 4%

SLR – 23%

MSF– 9%

Bank Rate – 9%

11.    Notes printed before 2005 will remain legal, says RBI

i. India's central bank, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has clarified that the currency notes that were printed before 2005 will continue to be legal tender.

i. The central bank said that the move to withdraw banknotes printed prior to 2005 is aimed at pulling off these bank notes from the market.

iii. The central bank pointed out that it is a common global practice to withdraw older series notes. The central bank said that the notes printed prior 2005 "have fewer security features compared to banknotes printed after 2005."

iv. The central bank clarified its statement dated January 22 following questions from the banks. 

v. The RBI also said on its website that it is already systematically withdrawing these notes from the market in a routine manner through the banks in the country.

vi. It said that the members of the public can exchange the notes at bank branches as per their convenience.

vii. Further, even July 1, 2014 onwards, members of public can exchange any number of these old series notes from the bank branches where they have their accounts," it said in a press statement.

12.    Growth likely to slip below 5% in 2013-14: RBI

i. The Reserve Bank on Tuesday said the growth is expected to fall below 5 per cent in 2013-14 in absence of pick-up in manufacturing sector, but likely to recover to 5.5 per cent in the next financial year.

ii. The economic growth, it said, could be “somewhat lower than the central estimate of 5 per cent”.

iii. In the first half of 2013-14, the GDP growth was at 4.6 per cent.

iv. For fiscal 2014-15, there is a case for gradual recovery to the 5-6 per cent band, the RBI said, giving a central estimate of 5.5 per cent growth.

v. The central bank further said if the nearly 130 projects worth over Rs 4 lakh crore cleared by the Cabinet Committee on Investments translate into investments, global growth improves and inflation softens, the country’s GDP growth could come in at “the higher reaches” of the forecast range of 5-6 per cent.

vi. For the fourth quarter, the headline CPI inflation is expected to range between 7.5 and 8.5 per cent with an upside risk, it added.

13. As per RBI announcement, India’s current account deficit (CAD) has shown improvement. India’s trade deficit during April-December 2013 was 25% lower than last year. Consequent to the lower trade deficit, CAD has declined from 4.9% of gross domestic product (GDP) in the first quarter of the current fiscal to 1.2% of GDP in Q2 of 2013-14. “The full-year CAD is likely to be below 2.5 per cent of GDP,’’ the RBI said in the Macro-Economic and Monetary Developments released by the RBI in the third quarter review 2013-14 today.

14.    BSE to launch IRF trading from 20th Jan

i. Leading stock exchange BSE has said live trading in new interest rate futures (IRF), in long tenure 10-year government bonds, will begin on its platform on 20th January.

ii. The exchange has already received the approval of market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) for launching IRFs. 

iii. Besides, NSE will begin live trading in the IRF on 21st January, while MCX-SX said it will also go live this month without giving an exact date. 

iv. The product would benefit banks, brokerage houses, insurance companies and primary dealers, among others. 

v. The market regulator had said IRF are being introduced on a pilot basis and the product features would be reviewed based on the experience gained. 

vi. An IRF is generally a contract between a buyer and a seller agreeing to the future delivery of any interest-bearing asset such as government bonds. 

vii. Earlier last month, the market regulator had permitted the stock exchanges to introduce cash-settled IRFs on 10-year government bonds, which has been a long pending demand of capital market participants. 

Appointments

15. Meena appointed as Secretary Security

i.  H C Meena has been appointed as the Secretary Security in the Cabinet Secretariat on 24 January 2014.

ii. Meena will hold the post till his superannuation on 30 September 2014.

iii. Meena an Indian Police Service (IPS) officer of the 1976 batch has served as the director general in Rajasthan.  

About Secretary Security

• Secretary Security is a nodal authority in respect of policy relating to procurement of jammers by the State Governments and Central Police Forces.
• Secretary Security is an administrative head of the Special Protection Group (SPG) and is responsible for closely monitoring the security arrangements for the Prime Minister and former Prime Ministers in India as well as abroad.

16. Egypt’s Army Chief Fattah al-Sisi promoted to Field Marshal: Egypt’s army chief Gen Fattah al-Sisi on 27 January 2014 was promoted to the rank of Field Marshal (the highest in the military). His promotion came amid speculation that the military strongman way readying for the Presidential bid. Fattah al-Sisi is the person who ousted the Islamist President, Mohammed Morsi. The presidential decree of promoting the 59-year-old Sisi to the rank of Field Marshalwas issued by the interim president Adly Mansour. Egypt’s army rarely promotes senior officers to the rank of a field marshal

Business and economy

17. Google purchased DeepMind Technologies of UK

i. Google purchased the British start-up DeepMind Technologies – an artificial intelligence company – on 27 January 2014.

ii. The American tech giant Google confirmed the deal in its London office. This deal represents Google’s biggest ever single acquisition in Europe.

iii. The acquisition of DeepMind would prove to be helpful for Google in further developing its most recent Hummingbird search update.

iv. The Hummingbird search update was created to make Google more human and searches which can now understand context like a human brain.

About DeepMind Technologies:

i. The artificial intelligence company DeepMind Technologies was founded by Demis Hassabis, neuroscientist and computer genius together with Shane Legg and Mustafa Suleyman in London.

ii. Artificial intelligence uses computers for tasks normally requiring human intelligence, like speech recognition or language translation.  

Awards

18.    Queen Latifah won 2014 Matrix Award

i. Rapper-turned-actress Queen Latifah won the 2014 Matrix Award on 25 January 2014.

ii. New York Women in Communications presented the 2014 Matrix Awards to honor seven remarkable women who have changed the world, through their work in the communications industry.

About Matrix Award

i. The Matrix Awards is recognized by the communications and entertainment communities as one of the most outstanding and prestigious events of the year.

ii. The Matrix Awards are given by New York Women in Communications to honour females who change the world.

About Queen Latifah

Dana Elaine Owens, better known by her stage name Queen Latifah, is an American singer-songwriter, rapper, model, comedienne, television producer, record producer, actress, and talk show hostess. She has long been considered one of hip-hop's pioneer feminists.

Sports

19. MS Dhoni became first captain to play in four tied ODIs : MS Dhoni on 25 January 2014 became the first captain to be involved in four tied One Day International matches. Indian cricket team captain achieved this feat in Auckland, while playing third ODI match against New Zealand.

20. Saina Nehwal clinches the women's Singles title by comprehensively beating PV Sindhu in the straight sets 21-14, 21-17 at Syed Modi India Grand Prix Gold Badminton Championship held in Lucknow.  Chinese Xue Song wins the Men’s title by overpowering India's Srikanth K 16-21, 21-19, 21-13 in the final.

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