Current Affairs January 31, 2014

Current Affairs

January 31, 2014

Banking Affairs

1. Disapprove of ATM charges: RBI Dty Governor

i. RBI Deputy Governor K C Chakrabarty has said that he disapproves the demand made by banks to charge their customers for using ATM services.

Speaking to reporters in Mumbai, Mr. Chakrabarty said it is a little bit ridiculous that bank will charge customers for using an ATM.

ii. He said that instead banks must compare the charges of serving a customer at a branch as against at the ATM.

iii. He further informed that RBI does not decide on service charges, and it was up to the banks to decide their charges.

iv. After a near-fatal attack on a Corporation Bank employee at an ATM in Bangalore last November, many states have made it mandatory to have round-the-clock security at ATMs, pushing up banks’ costs. Banks’ umbrella body IBA has requested RBI to cap the number of free transactions to five per month across any ATM network.

2. RBI issues guidelines for early detection of bad loans

i. RBI has released guidelines that will help banks in early recognition of bad loans and prompt steps for recovery or sale of unviable accounts.

ii. In the document called Framework for Revitalizing Distressed Assets in the Economy, RBI has asked banks to form a committee called Joint Lenders forum to formulate a plan for early resolution of stress in an account.

iii. The committee should also consider an option to transfer the promoters’ holdings to a security trustee or an escrow arrangement till turnaround of company.

iv. In the new guidelines, which will be effective from April 1, the RBI has said that restructuring of a bad loan should be done in such a manner that shareholders, including promoters, bear the first loss and not the lenders. The guidelines ask banks to make future loans more expensive for borrowers who don’t cooperate in resolving existing bad loans.

v. It also offers a liberal regulatory treatment for sale of distressed asset and allows lenders to spread loss on sale of such assets over two years provided loss is fully disclosed.

vi. RBI has said that the refinancing institution can fix a repayment period by taking into account the life cycle of the project and cash flows from the project.

vii. According to RBI, the amount of recast loans touched an all-time high of 4 trillion rupees or 10.2 per cent of the overall advances as of September 2013.

3. India and Fiji sign double taxation avoidance agreement

i. India and Fiji have signed a Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement, DTAA for the avoidance of double taxation and for the prevention of fiscal evasion with respect to taxes on income.

ii. The Agreement was signed in Delhi yesterday by the Finance Minister P. Chidambaram and Fiji’s Minister of Justice, Public Enterprises, and Industry and TradeAiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum.

iii. Speaking on the occasion, the Finance Minister Mr Chidambaram said that the Agreement will provide tax stability to the residents of India and Fiji and facilitate mutual economic cooperation. The move will also stimulate the flow of investment, technology and services between both countries.

National Affairs

4. India became third largest crude oil importer in the World

i. India overtook Japan to become the third largest crude oil importer in the World. As per the data released by Reuters on 30 January 2014, India imported 3.86 million barrels-per-day of crude oil in the year 2013.

ii. India’s crude oil imports were nearly 6 percent higher than Japan’s customs-cleared imports of 3648372 barrels-per-day (211716710 kilolitres).

World’s Top Five Oil-Importing Countries

1.China: China imports 6.30 million barrels per day

2.U.S.A: USA imports 6.24 million barrels per day

3. India: India imports 3.86 million barrels per day

4. Japan: Japan imports 3.64 million barrels per day

5.Germany: Germany imports 2.67 million barrels per day

5. Arun Gupta appointed as CMD of Shipping Corporation of India

i. Arun Kumar Gupta took charge as the Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) of Shipping Corporation of India (SCI) by the Union Government on 28 January 2014. The post was vacant for over a year after the retirement of S Hajara.

ii. Before this elevation to the post, Arun Gupta was the director of offshore services at the Mumbai-headquartered shipping line. Since retirement of S Hajara in December 2012, the Shipping Corporation of India has been without a full time head and has reported a net loss of 114.31 crore rupees in last fiscal.

iii. BK Mandal, the director finance of SCI has been acting as a CMD since the retirement of Hajara.

6. Vijay Bahuguna resigns as Uttarakhand CM, Harish Rawat set to take over

i. Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna visited the Rajbhavan in Dehradun and submitted his resignation letter to the Governor Aziz Qureshi on Friday. Union Water ResourcesMinister Harish Rawat is all set to become Bahuguna’s successor in the state.

ii. Bahuguna, who was under fire for poor handling of relief work after last year’s flash floods, handed over his resignation to Governor Aziz Qureshi at Raj Bhawan in Dehradun.

iii. The decision to replace Bahuguna was reportedly taken at a meeting between Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and senior party leaders on Wednesday.

iv. Rawat is scheduled to reach Dehradun on Friday. Congress sources said it was believed that Rawat would galvanise the party workers and boost the party’s prospects in the general elections.

v. Currently an MP from Haridwar parliamentary seat, Rawat also served as state party president when ND Tiwari was chief minister between 2002 and 2007.

vi. After the 2012 Uttarakhand assembly polls, Bahuguna was said to be the Congress high command’s “favourite choice” for the chief minister’s post.

vii. He is the son of former Uttar Pradesh chief minister HN Bahuguna, and his sister and party spokesperson Rita Bahuguna Joshi is also said to be on good terms with the party’s central leadership.

7. Mumbai police chief quits, may plunge into politics

i. Mumbai Police Commissioner, Satyapal Singh, tendered his resignation to the State Home Department on Thursday and plans to explore a career in politics.

ii. Mr.Singh has sought Voluntary Retirement from service and wants to be relieved from his duties by the second week of February.

iii. According to sources Mr. Singh has received offers from two major political parties – BJP and AAP. The BJP is keen to field Mr. Singh for a Lok Sabha seat from Meerut.

iv. Now I would like to expand my area of operation and I would like to devote my time and energy for social harmony, national reconstruction and world peace,” Mr. Singh added

v. Mr Singh becomes the first police chief to quit the force. The 1980 batch officer was due for retirement in 2015.

8. Army’s Sikh Light Infantry wins best marching contingent award

i. Army’s Sikh Light Infantry has been awarded the best marching contingent among the three Services at the Republic Day parade this year while the CRPF contingent bagged the honours in the paramilitary and auxiliary forces category.

ii. In the Services category, Territorial Army (Sikh LI) has been adjudged the best marching contingent in the Republic Day Parade 2014.

iii. In the category of Para-Military Forces and other auxiliary marching contingents, CRPF contingent has been adjudged the best contingent,” a defence ministry release said.

iv. Out of the 18 tableaux, including five from union ministries and departments, the West Bengal tableaux, which depicted the famous Purulia Chhau dance, has bagged the top award.

v. “Tamil Nadu’s tableaux on Pongal festival was adjudged the second best, while the third position has gone to the Assam tableaux based on the contribution of legendary folk singer, composer and writer Bhupen Hazarika to Assam’s folk culture,” the release said.

vi. In the competitive category of performances by school children, the dance presented by Navy Children School, New Delhi has been adjudged the best while a consolation prize was awarded to Govt Sarvodaya Kanya Vidyalaya, Hastsal, New Delhi, for their beautiful portrayal of traditional folk dance of Chhattisgarh.

International Affairs

9. China marks arrival of the Year of the Horse

i. In China, celebrations marking the arrival of the “Year of the Horse” have taken place across the country.

ii. The Chinese Lunar New Year is a long-held traditional holiday for the Chinese people.

iii. It is commonly celebrated by Chinese people across the globe. China’s Lunar New Year is also the largest annual mass migration on earth, as hundreds of millions of people head back to their home towns to spend the festival with their families.

iv. Chinese President Xi Jinping has delivered his Lunar New Year greetings to all Chinese people living in and around the world. He also issued a call for ethnic harmony among the people living in China.

v. In Hong Kong, crowds gathered at the city’s best-known temples last night to make wishes for the new year. Worshippers in Taipei also crowded local temples to pray for prosperity in the new year.

10. Obama to nominate Navy Vice Admiral Rogers as NSA chief

i. U.S. President Barack Obama will nominate a senior U.S. Navy officer as the Director of the National Security Agency (NSA), the federal body embroiled in a row over its spying programme.

ii. Vice Admiral Michael Rogers, 53, would take over at a moment when the spy agency is under unprecedented pressure following leaks from ex-intelligence contractor Edward Snowden.

iii. Mr. Rogers, a trained cryptologist, would take over from Gen Keith Alexander at the helm of the NSA, and also as head of the U.S. military cyber command.

Sports

11. Sachin & Prof C N R Rao to get Bharat Ratna on February 4

i. President Pranab Mukherjee will confer cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar and eminent scientist Prof C N R Rao with Bharat Ratna on February 4 at Rashtrapati Bhavan.

ii. A formal ceremony, which is likely to be attended by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, will be held at the Rashtrapati Bhavan.

iii. The Little Master was given the honour hours after he played his 200th and last Test against the touring West Indies in November last year.

iv. Tendulkar (40) and Rao (89), both of whom are recipients of Padma Vibhushan–the country’s second highest civilian honour, join the list of 41 eminent personalities to get the award given in recognition of exceptional service of the highest order.

Note: i. Tendulkar is the first sportsman and the youngest recipient of the the Bharat Ratna. Besides Tendulkar, Rao will also be presented with the award.

ii. Prof Rao is a well recognized international authority on solid state and materials chemistry. The 89-year-old has published over 1,400 research papers and 45 books. His contributions have been recognized by most major scientific academies around the world through conferment of memberships and fellowships, and has been honoured with several national and international awards.

iii. Sachin Tendulkar and Prof Rao join the list of 41 eminent personalitiesto get the Bharat Ratna.

12. Cricket: New Zealand win final ODI vs India by 87 runs

i. A listless Indian cricket team slumped to its worst ODI series defeat in New Zealand, going down 0-4, after the Black Caps hammered them by 87 runs in the inconsequential fifth and final one-dayer in Wellington on Friday.

ii. New Zealand’s Ross Taylor made his second-straight century of 102 runs and Kane Williamson made 88 runs, scoring his fifth-consecutive half century.

iii. From Indian side, Varun Aaron who took 2 wickets giving 60 runs, was the most successful bowler while Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Mohammad Shami took one wicket each.

iv. With this, the hosts have bagged the 5-match ODI series. They had won the first two games, tied the third and also won the fourth to claim the series and also dethrone the Men in Blue from the Number One spot in the ODI rankings.

13. Dhoni is 4th fastest batsman to score 8000 runs in ODIs

i. Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni today became the fourth fastest batsman to complete 8,000 runs in one-day cricket during the fifth and final ODI against New Zealand in Wellington.

ii. The 32-year-old reached the milestone in the 26th over of the match. It is a commendable achievement by the wicketkeeper-batsman who comes in lower down the order.

iii. The three men ahead of him in the list are illustrious compatriots Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly and the West Indian legend Brian Lara, all of whom batted in the top three. Dhoni has taken 214 innings to touch t he landmark.

14. Jayawardene becomes sixth-highest scorer in Test cricket

i. Veteran Sri Lankan batsman Mahela Jayawardene has become the sixth-highest run-scorer in the history of Test cricket with his unbeaten double-century on the third day of the first Test against Bangladesh in Dhaka.

ii. Jayawardene’s 203 and Kithuruwan Vithanage’s maiden century (103) helped Sri Lanka declare their first innings at 6-730 on the third day, which was the highest score by any team against Bangladesh.

iii. Jayawardene has gone ahead of Allan Border (11,174 runs) and West Indies star Shivnarine Chanderpaul (11,219) to move behind record-holder Sachin Tendulkar, Australia’s Ricky Ponting, Jacques Kallis, Rahul Dravid and Brian Lara on the all-time list.

iv. The report mentioned that the former captain, who has 11,236 runs in 142 matches, equalled teammate Kumar Sangakkara ‘s Sri Lankan record of 33 Test centuries, and his and Vithanage’s heroics gave Sri Lanka a gigantic 498-run first-innings lead over the hosts.

Miscellaneous

15. Samsung is most trusted brand in India: Study

i. South Korean consumer electronics major Samsung is India’s most trusted brand followed by Sony of Japan and the homegrown salt-to-steel multinational Tata, says a study report released on Thursday.

ii. The ‘Brand Trust Report 2014′ says: “Samsung has grown steadily in trust ranks over the last four years – fifth in 2011, fourth in 2012, second in 2013 and has reached India’s most trusted rank this year.

iii. Samsung’s strategy of focusing on the core intangibles of its brand is evident from its climb to leadership in BTR 2014,” said N. Chandramouli, chief executive officer, TRA (formerly known as Trust Research Advisory).

Note: Hewlett Packard emerged as the most trusted brand in technology, Hero in automobiles and LIC in financial services and insurance sector.

The list of top ten brands:

1. Samsung 

2. Sony 

3. Tata

4. LG 

5. Nokia 

6. Hewlett Packard

7. Hero

8. Honda 

9. Reliance

10. M&M

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