Current Affairs of August 2014

1. RBI has held policy rates at current levels.

However RBIs move to cut SLR by 50 bps to

22% could provide banks an additional
liquidity of R44,000 crore. Current fiscal year
is expected to go up to 5.5 per cent from 4.7
per cent in last financial year.

i. Bank Rate 9 % (Unchanged)

ii. Cash Reserve Ratio 4 % (Unchanged)
iii.Statutory Liquidity Ratio 22 %
(Decreased 0.5%)
iv. Repo Rate 8 % (Unchanged)
v. Reverse Repo Rate 7 % (Unchanged)
vi. Marginal Standing Rate 9 %
(Unchanged)
2.

Union Government appointed chairman of

Joint Intelligence Committee (JIC) RN Ravi
as Naga interlocutor. He was also
appointment as Chief of the Joint
Intelligence Committee.
3. Turkey's ruling party named Finance
Minister
Ahmet Davutoglu as New Prime
Minister of Turkey.
4. Thailand coup leader, Army Chief Prayuth
Chan-ocha was elected as the Prime Minister
of Thailand.
5. Prof. V. K. Thomas was appointed as
Chairman of
Public Accounts Committee.
6. Rajni Razdan became the new Chairperson
of the Union Public Service Commission.
She replaced Prof. D P Agrawal.
7. K V Chowdary appointed as new
Chairman of Central Board of Direct
Taxes (CBDT).
8. Arvind Gupta was appointed as Deputy
National
Security Adviser.
9. US actor and singer Harry Belafonte was
named
for
honorary
Jean
Hersholt
Humanitarian Oscar Award.
10. Renowned
agriculture
Scientist
M.S.
Swaminathan was conferred with an
honorary degree of the Doctor of Science
by the University of Agriculture in
Faisalabad, Pakistan.
11. Muzaffar Ali, renowned filmmaker and
poet, was presented the 22nd Rajiv
Gandhi National
Sadbhavana award.
12. Delhi University professor Dr. Sunil Kumar
received Global South Award given by
International Political Science Association
(IPSA).
13. Bharatiya Mahila Bank Ltd bagged the Core
Banking System Initiative Award for the year
2014 at the Asian Banking and Finance Retail Banking

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Awards 2014.

14. Shah Rukh Khan became the Ambassador

of Turn

Back Crime campaign of Interpol.

15. Russia granted a three-year residence
permit to Edward Snowden, the Former US
intelligence
contractor
turned
whistleblower.
16. Vinod Kumar Duggal resigned as
Manipur Governor.
17. Sheila Dikshit submitted her resignation
as Kerala Governor to The President of
India.
18. President Pranab Mukherjee conferred the
Outstanding Parliamentarian Awards.
i) BJP leader Arun Jaitley received the
award for the year 2010
ii) Congress Veteran Karan Singh received
the award for the year 2011
ii) JD(U) leader Sharad Yadav received the
award for the year for 2012
19. Maharashtra governor K Sankaranarayanan
resigned.
20. Nuri al-Maliki resigned as the Prime
Minister of Iraq and accepted the
candidacy of Dr. Haider al-Abadi, who was
nominated by the President of Iraq Fouad
Masoum to form the new government.
21. Mamta Sharma, Chairperson of the
National Commission for Women (NCW)
demitted office.
22. Deputy National Security Adviser Nehchal
Sandhu.
23. Syrian Golan Heights was in news in the
fifth week of August 2014 after forty-three
UN Peacekeepers from Fiji were held as
hostage by an armed group of rebels.
24. Indian Army discovered a tunnel in the
Pallanwalla sector along the Line of Control
in Jammu & Kashmir.
25. Bipan Chandra, former professor of history,
died.
26. Oscar-winning British filmmaker and actor
Richard
Attenborough
died.
Richard
Attenborough was renowned for his
critically-acclaimed biopic on Mahatma
Gandhi.
27. UR Ananthamurthy, an eminent Kannada
writer died.
28. World-renowned yoga guru B.
K.S
Iyengar died.
29. Oscar-winning
actor and comedian
Robin Williams was found dead at his
home.
30. Pran Kumar Sharma, the eminent
cartoonist who created the comic book
character like Chacha Chaudhary and Sabu
died.
31. Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh
launched a Plan Scheme of Mainstreaming

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Current Affairs of August 2014

32.

33.
34.

35.

36.

Civil Defence in Disaster Risk Reduction at

a function at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi.
Survey of India the official mapping agency
of the country alleged that Google continued
to pollute the internet with the map results of
Indias classified areas even after being
warned against it.
The WHO called for a range of tough
regulations that restricts the use of ecigarettes.
The WHO has declared Ebola as Global
Health Emergency. The decision was taken
after a two-day emergency session held in
Geneva.
President of Sierra Leone Ernest Bai
Koroma declared a public health
emergency in Sierra Leone to curb the
deadly Ebola outbreak.
Former Comptroller and Auditor General
Vinod
Rai authored a book titled Not Just an
Accountant.

37. A book titled Assassination of Rajiv Gandhi:

An Inside Job? authored by Faraz Ahmad
was released.
38. A book titled Gujarats success story in
Water Management was released. This
book was written by BJPs National
Convener of Water Management Cell,
Sriram Vedire.
39. A book Strictly Personal, Manmohan
and Gursharan written by Daman
Singh was published. The book is the
untold story of Manmohan Singh, Indias
thirteenth Prime Minister, and his wife.
40. Sivaramakrishnan committee
constituted by the Union Government to
suggest the place to build the capital
city of Andhra Pradesh submitted its
report.
41. Prime Minister Narendra Modi set up a
Ramanujam committee to identify
obsolete laws.
42. The Union Government decided to appoint
former RBI governor Bimal Jalan as the
head of the Expenditure Management
Commission. He would be tasked to
suggest ways for managing public finances
by reducing food, fertiliser and oil subsidies
to include fiscal deficit.
43. Lok Sabha speaker Sumitra Mahajan
appointed
a
committee
under
the
chairmanship of former home secretary RK
Singh to review Parliament security.
44. The Union Ministry of Human Resource
Development set up a four member
committee to review the present status of
Universities Grants
Commission. The committee will be

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headed by former UGC chairman Hari

Gautam.
45. Indian Air Force and Russian Federation
Air Force started Indo-Russian Air Force
Exercise, Avia Indra-2014 at Astrakhan
region, near the Caspian Sea in Russia.
46. Indias first indigenously-built stealth
AntiSubmarine Warfare INS Kamorta was
commissioned in Indian Navy by Union
Defence Minister Arun Jaitley.
47. SEBI imposed a penalty of Rs.13 crore
on Reliance Industries Ltd. (RIL) for nondisclosure of a key earnings ratio.
48. SBI reported a 3.3 per cent rise in its net
profit at Rs.3,349 crore for the first quarter
of 2014-15.
49. The
Union
Home
Ministry
has
recommended the name of hockey wizard
Major Dhyan Chand for the highest
civilian honour of Bharat Ratna.
50. Salman Rushdie has received the Hans
Christian Andersen Literature Award.
51. BCCI has appointed former Test all-rounder
Ravi Shastri Director of Cricket in the
Indian team for the five-match ODI series
against England.
52. T. M. Bhasin, Chairman and Managing
Director of Indian Bank, has been elected
as the Chairman of
Indian Banks Association.
53. The Narendra Modi government is likely to
name
Arvind Subramanian as its Chief
Economic
Adviser.
54. President Pranab Mukherjee appointed
Kalyan
Singh, Vajubhai Rudabhai Vala, Ch.
Vidyasagar Rao and Mridula Sinha
Governors
of
Rajasthan,
Karnataka,
Maharashtra and Goa, respectively.
55. The Jan Dhan Yojana provides for a free
zero-balance bank account with a debit card,
Rs 1 lakh accidental insurance policy
and Rs 30,000 free medical insurance
cover for those who enroll before January 26
2015. Depending on the performance of the
accounts in the first six months, banks will
later extend a Rs 5,000 overdraft facility,
thereby turning the debit card into a kind of
credit card. The debit card is being issued by
RuPay of the National Payments Corporation
of India. Accounts will opened with any one
document including electricity/telephone bill,
marriage/birth certificate for address proof
and NREGA job card/ identity card of
accredited institutions for identity proof.
Having an Aadhaar card/number is not
mandatory. These accounts can be linked to

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Current Affairs of August 2014

aadhaar numbers later.
56. Government plans to hike its stake in IFCI
Ltd to 51 per cent by infusing Rs 60 crore
in the country's oldest financial institution.
At present the stake is nearly 48 per cent.
57. GDP grew by 5.7 per cent in the first
quarter of the fiscal, marking the fastest
growth since March 2012, according to
data released by the CSO. The economy
grew at 4.6 per cent in the fourth quarter
of last fiscal.
58.Wholesale price index (WPI)-based inflation
dipped to a five-month low of 5.19 per cent in
July.
59. State-owned banks are likely to hit the
capital markets in November in a bid to
meet Basel III capital adequacy norms, for
which the requirement has been estimated
at Rs.2.40 lakh crore over a five-year
period.
60. Syndicate
Bank
Chairman-cumManaging Director (CMD) S.K. Jain was
arrested by the Central Bureau of
Investigation, along with his brother-in-law
and four others, for allegedly receiving a
bribe of Rs. 50 lakh.
61. A Bill to further empower SEBI to check
fraudulent investment schemes was
introduced in the Lok Sabha.

62. RBI issued draft guidelines for the

implementation of Bharat Bill Payment
System. The RBI has invited comments
from stakeholders by September 5. The
objective of the BBPS is to implement an
integrated bill payment system across the
country and offer interoperable and
accessible
bill
payment
service
to
customers through a network of agents,
enabling multiple payment modes and
providing instant confirmation of payment.
63. Chaired by Reserve Bank Governor
Raghuram G. Rajan the Sub-Committee of
the Financial Stability and Development
Council (FSDC) reviewed the domestic
macro economy and potential risks facing
the financial system.
64. SEBI approved the SEBI (Real Estate
Investment Trusts) Regulations, 2014, and
SEBI (Infrastructure Investment Trusts)
Regulations, 2014. The SEBI move will
provide a framework for registration and
regulation for setting up and listing of Real
Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) and
Infrastructure Investment Trusts (InvITs) in
India. Once registered, the REIT will raise
funds through an initial offer. Subsequent
raising of funds would be through follow-on
offer, rights issue and qualified institutional
placement. The minimum subscription size
for units of REIT will be Rs. 2 lakh.
65. Moodys said the countrys GDP would

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grow by 5 per cent this year and

accelerate further in 2015.
66. On a Supreme Court directive, SEBI has
issued a public notice asking those holding
bonds issued by two Sahara Group
companies to apply for refund by
September 30.
67. RBI asked the State governments to be
vigilant against unauthorised deposit
mobilisation activities in different parts of
the country.
68. The Union Rural Development Ministry
has suggested doubling the amount of
financial assistance offered to villagers to
build homes saying the current allocation
of Rs 70,000 was "insufficient". A paper
on National Gramin Awaas Mission (a
rechristened version of Indira Awas
Yojana) prepared by the ministry on
housing said the amount should be Rs 1.5
lakh.
69. India has decided to acquire US Boeing's
Chinook and Apache helicopters, an Indian
defence ministry official said, in a deal
valued at $2.5 billion. The deal topped the
agenda during a visit by U.S. Defence
Secretary Chuck Hagel in August.
70. The much-awaited minimum monthly
pension of
Rs 1,000 and a higher wage ceiling of
Rs 15,000 for social security schemes run
by retirement fund manager EPFO will be
implemented from September 1.
71.Govt lifted the restriction of supply of only
one subsidised cooking gas LPG cylinder to a
household in a month, saying consumers can
avail their quota of 12 bottles at anytime of
the year.
72. India has banned Finmeccanica group
of companies from bidding in contracts, a
defence ministry source said. In January,
India cancelled a 560-million-euro ($751
million) order with Finmeccanicas unit
Agusta Westland for 12 top-end helicopters
after Italian prosecutors alleged the
defence group had paid bribes to Indian
officials to win the contract.
73. The government notified the hike in
foreign investment limit in defence
production to 49% from 26% approved by
the cabinet recently. It said even beyond
the new limit of 49%, foreign investment
would be considered on case to case basis
by the Cabinet Committee on Security.
74. The government will spend Rs 20,000
crore to provide mobile connectivity in
55,000 villages, which are still untouched
by wireless telephony, in the next five
years.
75. Gujarat has grabbed a lion's share, 45
percent, of the country's total exports that

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Current Affairs of August 2014

were made from Special Economic Zones
or SEZs during the year 2013-14.
76. Government has started the process for
setting up four new ultra mega power
projects in Bihar, Jharkhand and
Odisha, which will together add 16,000
MW capacity to the country's power
generation. UMPP is a thermal power
project of at least 4,000 MW capacity,
with an approximate investment of Rs
25,000 crore. So far, four UMPPs have been
awarded. Of this, Sasan (Madhya Pradesh),
Krishnapatnam (Andhra Pradesh) and
Tilaiya (Jharkhand) have been bagged by
Reliance Power. Tata Power is operating the
Mundra UMPP in Gujarat.
77. Government hiked the import duty on
both raw and refined sugar to 25 per
cent from the existing 15 per cent.
78. Delhi has been ranked a dismal 111th
out of 140 world cities in a latest
global liveability study, pointing to the
lack of urban planning across India's
polluted and chaotic cities.
79. Gujarat followed by Maharashtra
and Karnataka are the leading states
attracting significant investment in Indias
hotels and tourism industry.
80. India ranked fifth amongst top ten
wind power producers in the world by
adding 1,700 MW capacity in 2013, a
report said. "China was the leading
wind power producer by adding 16,100
MW capacity in 2013, followed by USA,
Germany and Spain," Renewable 2014
Global Status Report said.
81. The Defence Ministry has decided against
blacklisting
British
aircraft
engine
manufacturer Rolls-Royce and allowed the
armed forces to do business related to
essential requirements with the firm, which
is facing a CBI investigation for allegedly
paying
commissions
and
employing
middlemen in contracts with HAL.
82. In a bid to end the agitation against the
Civil Services Aptitude Test (CSAT), the
Union government said the English
comprehension skills component of Paper II
in the Civil Services preliminary
examination should not be included for
gradation or merit.

new airline will be Vistara or limitless in

Sanskrit with aubergine and gold its
colours.
84. Prime Minister Narendra Modi waived off
Jammu and Kashmirs Rs. 60-crore liability
towards the Food Corporation of India and
announced Central assistance of Rs. 8,000
crore for four major road projects.
85. Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced
the setting up of a new institution to
replace the planning commission.
86. Asian Development Bank said it will
provide up to 7-9 billion loan to the country
over the next three years.
87. India and Singapore decided to scale up ties
in key areas of investment and trade which
has witnessed a huge surge from USD 4.2
billion to about USD 19.4 billion in the last
one decade. External Affairs Minister Sushma
Swaraj visited Singapore.
88. China inaugurated its second railway line in
Tibet, built at a cost of USD 2.16 billion, close
to Indian border in Sikkim, enhancing
mobility of its military in the remote and
strategic Himalayan region.
89 India's economy is expected to record
stronger growth momentum of 5.5 per
cent in the current fiscal, according to
a UN report.
90. NASAs Mars rover, Opportunity, which
landed on the Red Planet in 2004, is now
the record holder of the off-Earth roving
distance after accruing 40 kilometres of
driving, the American space agency said.
91. After the World Trade Organisation (WTO)
failed to agree on a Trade Facilitation
Agreement (TFA) or global customs rules
following Indian opposition India has
refused to agree on a TFA because it wants
the WTO to decide simultaneously on a
higher limit on stockpiling of agriculture
produce to feed the poor.
92. Doordarshan programmes will soon be
available across Asia, Europe, North Africa
and Australia, courtesy a memorandum of
understanding signed by Prasar Bharati
with German public service broadcaster
Deutsche Welle.
93. The two-day 18th BASIC countries
(Brazil, South Africa, India and China)
Ministerial Meeting held in New Delhi.
94. Manjul Bhargava and Subhash Khot,
mathematicians of Indian origin, are
among eight winners of the International
Mathematical
Union
awards,
announced in Seoul.

83. Tata-SIA Airlines Limited announced that

the much-anticipated brand name of its

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