THE HINDU: TOP NEWS SUMMARY SEPTEMBER 2012

Contributed by: Mr. Sumit Yadav, Sr. GK Faculty, Bank POwer

1. The Reserve Bank of India cut the Cash Reserve Ratio by 0.25%age point to 4.50%, pumping in Rs.17,000 crore into the banking system. Repo rate unchanged at 8% and Reverse repo rate at 7%. 2. Government allowed 51% foreign direct investment (FDI) in multi-brand retail with certain condition. a. Foreign company will have to take approval from Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) b. Foreign investor should make a minimum investment of $100 million c. 50% of which should be invested in back-end infrastructure within three years of the induction of FDI. d. 30% of the products must be procured from small-scale industries. e. Retail chains will be allowed only in cities (51 cities) with a population of more than 10 lakh as per 2011 Census. f. Retail outlets may be set up in those States which have agreed or will agree in future to allow FDI in multi-brand retail under this policy. 3. Government allowed 100% foreign direct investment (FDI) in single-brand retail sector. 4. Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs approved 49% foreign direct investment (FDI) in the aviation sector, allowing foreign carriers to pick up stake in domestic airlines. 5. Government has raised the foreign investment cap for modernising cable networks, Direct to Home (DTH) and mobile television service providers to 74% from 49%. It will not bring any changes to broadcast content companies such as TV news channels and FM radio channels where the foreign investment cap remains at 26%. 6. The expert committee on GAAR (the General AntiAvoidance Rules), headed by Parthasarathi Shome to address the concerns of foreign and domestic investors, has recommended postponement of the controversial tax provision by three years. 7. The senior most Supreme Court judge, Altamas Kabir, will become the 39th Chief Justice of India from September 29. Present Chief Justice of India, S.H. Kapadia will retire on September 28.

8. Summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) held at Vladivostok in Russia. 9. Commonwealth Parliamentary Conference held at Sri Lanka in Colombo. Speaker of Indias Lower House of Parliament, Meira Kumar and Chairman of Indias Upper House of Parliament, Hamid Ansari attended this conference. 10. The Supreme Court ordered Sahara company to refund over Rs. 24,400 crore collected from 2.21 crore depositors through the optimally fully convertible debentures (OFCDs) by way of bonds with 15% interest to the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) within three months. 11. Admiral Devendra Kumar Joshi took charge as the Navy chief, succeeding Admiral Nirmal Verma. 12. Verghese Kurien who is called father of White Revolution, died. He started cooperative dairy movement from Anand in Gujarat. 13. Power Ministry has decided to take up the work of connecting the southern grid with the national grid on a war footing, a task that is likely to be achieved by 2014. 14. Gross domestic product (GDP) growth at 5.5% in the first quarter (April-June) of 2012-13 marked a show of persistent sluggishness from a robust 8% expansion in the same period last fiscal.

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15. Stricter radiation emission norms for mobile towers been brought into effect with a view to reducing emission by 90% to one-tenth of the present levels. Failure to stick to the prescribed levels will attract a penalty of Rs 5 lakh per tower. 16. Government has asked telecom service providers not to provide mobile connection for more than three months to any foreign tourist visiting India. 17. The Union Cabinet approved a Bill to amend the Constitution to provide reservation to members of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in government job promotions. 18. India and Pakistan have concluded their arguments in the dispute over the 330-MW hydro-electric project on Kishenganga, a tributary of the Jhelum in Jammu & Kashmir. 19. Student of Kazakhstan's Turan University Farida Malik a girl of Indian Kazakh origin won the title of Miss Almaty 2012. 20. Hassan Sheikh Mohamud won the presidential elections of Somalia. 21. Union Minister of state for Telecommunication and Information Technology Sachin Pilot is commissioned to be a Lieutenant in Territorial Army. 22. According to a report by the Internet and Mobile Association of India, Indias Internet subscriber base is expected to reach 150 million with a growth of 16% by the end of this year. 23. Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) and French company Thales have announced a joint venture to manufacture civilian and defence radars. Thales will hold 26 % equity the maximum allowed holding by any foreign company in the defence sector. 24. East Godavari district is the first district of India to link public distribution system with Aadhar, Unique Identity number (UID). 50 district of Andhra Pradesh have been chosen for this trial. 25. Air India took delivery of the first Boeing 787 Dreamliner in its fleet. Air India placed orders for 27 of these aircraft six years ago. 26. President of Palestine Mahmoud Abbas will be on a State Visit to India on September 11. 27. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India has asked telecom companies to de-activate the international calling facility in pre-paid numbers and restore it only after a subscriber gives his consent to avail himself of the service. 28. Aseem Trivedi (25) was arrested on charges of sedition, cyber crime, and insulting the national flag, Parliament and the Constitution through his work in Cartoons Against Corruption website. 29. External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna visited Pakistan and signed a liberalised visa regime.

30. The Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) has begun loading enriched uranium fuel rods in the first reactor of the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project (KKNPP) in Tamil Nadu following a green signal from the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB). 31. Peoples Movement Against Nuclear Energy protested against Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project (Tamil Nadu) site to protest the fuelloading in the reactor. 32. National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) said the Kudankulam nuclear power plant in Tamil Nadu was safe and there was no need for people living in its surrounding areas to protest. 33. Public protested against Omkareshwar Dam in the form of jal satyagraha. Madhya Pradesh government accepted all their demands and constituted a ministerial committee to look into their grievances. 34. The first meeting of the India-Saudi Arabia joint committee on defence cooperation was held in Delhi. 35. China warned Japan that it would take necessary measures to protect its interests after Japan announced it had purchased disputed East China Sea islands Diaoyu or Senkaku. 36. The Indian Space Research Organisation has started working on a plan to hand over production of launch vehicles and communication satellites to private industry. 37. Customers can now book their railway tickets online through IMPS (Interbank Mobile Payment System). The charge for using the IMPS facility has been pegged at Rs. 5 for a transaction of up to Rs. 5000 and Rs. 10 thereafter. 38. Public of Muslim countries are protesting against an American movie Innocence of Muslims. Nakoula Basseley directed this movie. 39. Japan has announced plans to end its reliance on nuclear power within 30 years. 40. The WPI (wholesale price index)-based headline inflation has crept up to 7.55% in August from 6.87% in July. 41. Planning Commission chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh approved the 12th Plan (201217) draft document endorsing the scaling-down of the annual average economic growth target to 8.2% from the 9% envisaged earlier. 42. Finance Minister P. Chidambaram pitched for the setting up of a National Investment Board (NIB) headed by the Prime Minister for according speedy approvals to mega project of more than 1000 crore Investment. 43. 9th World Hindi Conference held in Johannesburg, South Africa.

44. The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has formulated a scheme to provide immediate cashless treatment to victims of road accidents on national highways. Pilot project will be funded by an insurance company. As per the proposal, the Ministry will take care of the victim for the first 48 hours, and can spend a maximum of Rs. 30,000 in that period. 45. The Apollo Hospitals Group has bagged the Asian Hospital Management Awards 2012 in four categories. It received awards for customer service, corporate social responsibility, cost reduction and patient safety. 46. Aircraft carrier Admiral Gorshkov has failed sea trials and its delivery to Indian Navy may be delayed again. It will be included in Navy with the name of INS Vikramaditya. 47. Pakistan tested its Babur (Hatf-VII) missile with a range of 700 km. 48. Indian-American astronaut Sunita Williams has taken over command of the International Space Station (ISS). 49. Trinamool Congress chairperson Mamata Banerjee announced that her party would withdraw support to the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government at the Centre due to diesel and LPG price hike. 50. India successfully flight-tested the surface-tosurface Agni-IV missile for its full range of 4,000 km. from a road-mobile launch pad on Wheeler Island off the Odisha coast. 51. Prime Minister of Pakistan Raja Parvez Ashraf informed the Supreme Court that it would withdraw the 2007 letter to Swiss authorities asking for closure of graft cases against President Asif Ali Zardari. 52. Government had for the first time agreed to allow an International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) team to conduct safety review of two atomic power plants Rawatbhatta located in Rajasthan. IAEAs Operational Safety Review Team [OSART] will visit Rajasthan in November. 53. USA presented Congress highest civilian honour to Myanmar democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi. She was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal in 2008 while under a 15-year house arrest for her peaceful struggle against military rule. 54. Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates has retained his position as the richest person in America for the 19th year in a row this year, according to Forbes annual ranking of the nations 400 super rich people. 55. Government had raised the price of diesel by over Rs. 5 a litre and capped supply of subsidised cooking gas to six cylinders per household in a full

year. Any additional requirement beyond the subsidised six refills per family was to be purchased at the market price of about Rs. 895 per 14.2 kg cylinder. Finance Minister P. Chidambaram announced the abolition of five% import duty and eight% excise duty on non-subsidised domestic LPG cylinders. However, non-subsidised commercial LPG cylinders would continue to attract both the Central levies. 56. Walmart expects to open its stores in India within the next 12 to 18 months and is reaching out to States which are ready to allow FDI in multi-brand retail. 57. Strategic Forces Command successfully test-fired surface-to-surface nuclear capable ballistic Agni-III missile with its full range of 3,000 km from the Wheeler Island, off the Odisha coast. This was the fourth success of Agni-III. 58. Finance Minister P. Chidambaram approved the operational features of the Rajiv Gandhi Equity Savings Scheme (RGESS) to attract first time investors to the stock market through a tax saving mechanism. The RGESS would provide a 50% tax deduction on investments up to Rs 50,000 to investors whose annual taxable income is below Rs.10 lakh. Under the scheme, stocks listed under the BSE 100 or CNX 100, or those of public sector undertakings (PSUs) which are Navratnas, Maharatnas and Miniratnas would be eligible for the tax benefit. 59. The Ranbir Kapoor starrer Barfi has been nominated as Indias entry to the Oscars next year in the foreign film category. 60. Standard and Poors (S&P) has lowered the growth forecast for India to 5.5% for this fiscal, from 6.5% projected earlier. Earlier this month, Morgan Stanley had also lowered Indias growth forecast to 5.1% for the current fiscal 61. India has been ranked 66 in the list of 105 countries in the 2012 Global Food Security Index released by the American chemical company DuPont. India's food security level is lower than China (ranked 39) and Sri Lanka (62), it is much better than Pakistan (75) and Bangladesh (81). 62. All foreign investors will have to produce tax residency certificates (TRC) of their base nation to claim benefits under the double taxation avoidance treaty from April 1, 2013. 63. Chief Economic Adviser Raghuram Rajan today said the government should focus on Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and open more sectors to such inflows against over- dependence on FIIs. 64. India ranks very low at 111th position in 144 countries in terms of economic freedom, behind countries like China, Nepal and Bangladesh. The

annual ranking, titled 'Economic Freedom of the World: 2012', is topped by Hong Kong, followed by Singapore, New Zealand and Switzerland. 65. India's annual consumer price inflation (Consumer Price Index) picked up in August to 10.03%. 66. The subsidy bill in the current financial year is expected to rise to 2.4% of the GDP from 1.9% estimated in the Budget, Finance Minister P Chidambaram said. 67. Delhi and Mumbai have been ranked among the least expensive cities around the world by a survey of Swiss banking major UBS. On the other hand Oslo, Zurich and Tokyo are ranked among the top three most expensive places in the world. 68. India's wholesale price index (WPI) rose to a higher-than-expected 7.55% in August from a year earlier. 69. Centre urged state governments to create land banks for setting up manufacturing zones. Under the National Manufacturing Policy (NMP), the government has proposed to set up National Investment and Manufacturing Zones (NIMZs). The government has notified nine NIMZs - one each in Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh; two in Rajasthan and three in Maharashtra. 70. Country's external debt rose to USD 345.8 billion at the end of March 2012 on account of higher commercial borrowings and rise in non-resident Indian deposit. 71. India received over USD 66.13 billion in remittances in the year 2011-12 as compared to USD 55.62 billion in the previous, a hike of 19%. 72. India's ranking declined by three places to 59th position in the Global Competitiveness Index 20122013 of the World Economic Forum (WEF) 73. Payments solutions provider Oxigen launched a mini ATM cum point of sale device that will enable the people living in rural areas to withdraw money from their account without visiting the bank or locate an ATM. 74. Reserve Bank permitted Indians to invest in Pakistan. 75. HDFC, Kotak Mahindra Bank and 11 companies from India are listed in the 2012 edition of Forbes Asia's Fab 50. 76. The Reserve Bank directed all banks to issue cheques with uniform features conforming to Cheque Truncation System (CTS) 2010 standard by end of this month. To ensure the time-bound migration to CTS-2010 standard cheque formats,

all banks are advised to arrange only "multi-city or payable at par CTS-2010 standard cheques not later than September 30, 2012. 77. The Finance Ministry is considering a proposal to further consolidate the number of Regional Rural Banks (RRBs) to 55 for improving their efficiency and to better serve the rural economy. There are 82 RRBs sponsored by various public sector banks across the country. 78. Centre announced the shifting of the Global Partnership Summit 2013 from Kolkata to Agra in Uttar Pradesh. The summit is scheduled to be held in January next by the Commerce and Industry Ministry in partnership with the Confederation of Indian Industry. 79. Service tax will be levied on high-end passenger classes, freight and auxiliary services rendered at railway stations from October 1. 80. Google turned 14 on 27 September and celebrated its birthday with a doodle of a rich chocolate cake. Larry Page and Sergey Brin founded Google in September 1998. 81. Indias first National Security Adviser Brajesh Mishra died. 82. Vijay kelkar committee submitted its report on Fiscal consolidation. 83. From 3 October 2,000 Km Nirmal Bharat Yatra will begin from Wardha to promote proper sanitation in rural areas. Actor Vidya Balan will be brand ambassador of the Ministrys campaign for improving sanitation. 84. Passport application fee will go up in both Ordinary and Tatkal categories from October 1. The application fee is being increased by Rs. 500 to Rs.1,500 for normal applications and by Rs. 1,000 to Rs. 3,500 for the Tatkal category. 85. Ratings firm Fitch lowered Indias growth projection for the current fiscal to 6% from 6.5%. 86. GSAT-10, the countrys newest and heaviest satellite, was launched on European Ariane 5 rocket from the Kourou launch pad in French Guiana in South America. The GSAT-10 carries 30 communication transponders. 87. Financial Sector Legislative Reforms Commission, headed by former justice B N Srikrishna proposed a super regulator for the financial sector which would subsume the functions of key agencies like SEBI, IRDA, PFRDA and Forward Markets Commission (FMC). National Ministerial Committee headed by the Prime Minister will work on it.

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