. 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 (DSIBs).
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, SBIs loan book was worth Rs.12.8 trillion and
ICICIs loan book was close to Rs.4 trillion.

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 Peoples 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 land
by migrant workers in the State. The issue of losing ones 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 like
ONGC. 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 worlds
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.

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 Googles 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 financial
saving for 2014-15 placed at 7.5 % of Indias 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.

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 countrys 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 European
migrant 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, Hungarys 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
Europes 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 Europes 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.

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 22year long wait for a Test series win over Sri Lanka on their home
soil.
To Know: Indias last series success in Sri Lanka came under Mohammad
Azharuddins 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 15th 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 of
middle- and long-distance running with gold medals for David Rudisha in the
mens 800m, Vivian Cheruiyot in the womens 10,000m and Ezekiel Kemboi
and HyvinJepkemoi triumphing in the mens and womens 3,000m
steeplechase respectively. Kenyas final gold medal was won by AsbelKiprop
in the 1500m.

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 Africas Durban city was
confirmed 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 Canadas 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 Australias 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 35th Report, had
recommended retention of death penalty. India is one of 59 countries where
the death penalty is still awarded by courts.

Place
Temple of Bel
The historic temple in the ancient town of
Palmyra in Syria, is dedicated to the
Palmyrene gods and was one of the bestpreserved parts of the ancient city. It was
destroyed by the militants of the IS during August 2015.

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
McKinley
as 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 USAs tallest mountain, its 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 peaks
location.

Health
First total HIV/AIDS literate district Palakkad
To Know: Keralas 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 August
2015. 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.

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 secondhighest 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.

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 have
staged 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, the
Government 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 instalments
OROP 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