GK Power Capsule – July`
2014 (The Hindu Review)
1. Subhash
Sheoratan Mundra took charge as the
fourth Deputy Governor of
the Reserve Bank of
India for three years. He
was appointed to fill
Before being appointed as
Deputy Governor of
RBI, S S Mundra was the
Chairman and
Managing Director of Bank
of Baroda.
2. Lt.
General Dalbir Singh Suhag took over as Chief
of Army Staff. He
succeeded General Bikram
Singh to become the 28th
Army Chief.
3. Chief
of Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal Arup Raha
took over as the Chairman
of the Chief of Staff
Committee (COSC).
4. Amitabh Bachchan was appointed as the
horticulture ambassador of
Maharashtra.
5. Veteran
BJP leader Kaptan Singh Solanki was
appointed as the Governor
of Haryana.
6. The
Comptroller & Auditor General of India,
Shashi Kant Sharma assumed
office as Member
of the United Nations
Board of Auditors for a
term of six year.
7. The
Supreme Court appointed R S Cheema as
Special Public Prosecutor
for trial in coal blocks
allocation scam.
8. Keshari
Nath Tripathi was sworn in as 22nd
Governor of West Bengal.
9. Ram
Naik was sworn in as 27th Governor of
Uttar Pradesh in Lucknow.
10. Yellapragada
Sudharshan Rao was appointed as
Chairman of Indian Council
of Historical
Research (ICHR).
11. B
Ashok took charge as Chairman of Indian Oil
Corporation (IOC), the
India’s largest oil firm.
12. President
of India, Pranab Mukherjee appointed
Balramji Dass Tandon as
the Governor of
Chhattisgarh, Om Prakash
Kohli as the Governor
of Gujarat, Padmanabha
Balakrishna Acharya as
the Governor of Nagaland.
13. Emma
Watson, the British Actress was
appointed as the Goodwill
Ambassador for UN
Women.
14. Justice
Arun Mishra, Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel
and Justice Rohington F
Nariman were
appointed as Supreme Court
judges.
15. M
S Mehta was appointed as Chief Executive
Officer (CEO) of Reliance
Infrastructure.
16. External
Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj visited
Nepal. She co‐chaired the
meeting of the Indo‐
Nepal Joint Commission.
India and Nepal agreed
to review and adjust the
Treaty of Peace and
Friendship of 1950 to
reflect the current
realities.
This GK Capsule has been
prepared by Career Power Institute Delhi (Formerly
Known as Bank Power). This has
been prepared on the basis
of news and events appeared in The Hindu Newspaper in the month of July 2014.
Page No. 2
17. The
World Bank President Jim Yong Kim arrived
in New Delhi, India on his
three‐day visit.
18. Prime
Minister of India Narendra Modi visited
Brazil to attend the 6th
BRICS Summit in
Fortaleza, Brazil form 15
July to 16 July 2014.
BRICS group includes
Brazil, Russia, India, China
and South Africa. One of
the most important
decision taken was the
creation of 100 billion
dollar New Development
Bank with equal
contribution from all the
BRICS countries.
Besides, the Summit also
saw the creation of 100
billion dollar Contingency
Reserve Arrangement
(CRA) fund for the BRICS
nation. The 7th
Summit will be held in
2015 in Russian city of
Ufa.
19. Deputy
National Security Adviser Nehchal
Sandhu resigned.
20. The
Prime Minister of Ukraine, Arseniy
Yatsenyuk resigned from
his post from
Verkhovna Rada (The
Parliament of Ukraine)
after his governing
coalition collapsed.
21. Bharat
Vir Wanchoo, the Governor of Goa
resigned. He is the fifth
Governor to resign in
last one month after M K
Narayanan (West
Bengal), B L Joshi (Uttar
Pradesh), Shekhar Dutt
(Chhattisgarh) and Ashwani
Kumar (Nagaland).
22. MK
Narayanan, the Governor of West Bengal
tendered his resignation.
Narayanan’s
resignation came within a
week after being
questioned by the CBI as a
witness in connection
with its probe into
3600‐crore rupees VVIP
chopper from Anglo‐Italian
firm
AgustaWestland.
23. Dick
Wagner, the famous rock guitarist of Alice
Cooper died.
24. Madhukar
Singh, an eminent Hindi litterateur
died.
25. Sushilarani
Patel, the renowned classical singer
of India died.
26. Veteran
Journalist Sundaram Sankaran died.
27. American
actor James Garner died.
28. Nadine
Gordimer, the South African Nobel Prizewinning
author, died.
29. Giriraj
Kishore, the senior Vishwa Hindu
Parishad (VHP) leader
died.
30. Veteran
actress, Zohra Sehgal died.
31. Eduard
Shevardnadze, the former President of
Georgia died.
32. Alfredo
Di Stefano, the legend of Real Madrid
Football Club, died.
33. Granville
Austin, the eminent scholar of the
Indian Constitution died.
34. Former
Haitian president Leslie Francois
Manigat died.
35. Supreme
Court allowed Sahara Chief Subrata
Roy to use the conference
room of Tihar jail to
negotiate the sale his
offshore and domestic
properties with prospective
buyers.
36. Nicolas
Sarkozy, the former President of France
was charged with
corruption and influence
peddling.
37. Sujit
Choudhry became the first Indian‐
American dean of the
Berkeley Law School,
University of California.
38. The
United States named a mountain in
Antarctica as Mt. Sinha to
honour an eminent
Indian‐American scientist,
Akhouri Sinha.
39. Business
20 (B20) Australia Summit was held in
Sydney, Australia. At the
Summit, the business
leaders of G20 countries
issued a blueprint for
G20 leaders to boost
economic and job growth
and make global economy
more resilient to deal
with future shocks.
40. 7th
India‐Brazil‐South Africa (IBSA) summit will
be held in New Delhi,
India in 2015. Apart from
this, it was also agreed
to hold India Africa
Forum meet in New Delhi in
December 2014.
41. President
of Sierra Leone Ernest Bai Koroma
declared a public health
emergency in Sierra
Leone to curb the deadly
Ebola outbreak. The
outbreak is now the
largest recorded in world
history, and has infected
three African capitals of
Monrovia (Liberia),
Freetown (Sierra Leone)
and Conakry (Guinea) with
international
airports.
42. The
United Nation launched the 2014 revision of
the World Urbanisation
Prospects report. The
Page No. 3
report said that at
present, 54 percent of the
world's population lives
in urban areas, which
will have an additional
2.5 billion people in
urban areas by 2050. Tokyo
was ranked at first
position as populous
cities in 2014 with 38
million inhabitants. Delhi
with 25 million
population was ranked at
2nd position. Shanghai
with 23 million was placed
at the at the third
position . Mexico City,
Mumbai and Sao Paulo,
each with around 21
million inhabitants in 2014
were ranked at fourth
position.
43. India
State of Forest Report (ISFR) 2013 was
released. The report said
that total forest and
tree cover of the country
is 87.92 million
hectare, which turns up to
be 24.01 percent of
the geographical area of
India. States with
maximum increase in forest
cover are West
Bengal, Odisha, Kerala.
States with Largest forest
cover are Madhya Pradesh,
Arunachal Pradesh.
Mizoram in terms of
percentage 90.38 percent
had highest forest cover.
44. Heavy
downpour caused landslide in Malin
Village of Ambegaon Taluka
killing 41 peoples.
The village is some 70
kilometers from Pune.
45. 7th
BRICS Summit will be held in Russian city of
Ufa in 2015..
46. 46
Indian Nurses and 137 others came to
India from Erbil in
Kurdistan, Iraq. At present
Iraq is under the attack
of ISIL (Islamic State of
Iraq and the Levant)
jihadist militants. They
abducted the nurses
against their will from a
hospital in the
militant‐controlled city of Tikrit
in Iraq.
47. The
World on 29 July 2014 observed the
International Tiger Day.
48. World
Hepatitis Day was observed across the
world on 28 July 2014.
49. The
15th anniversary of Kargil Vijay Diwas was
celebrated in India on 26
July 2014. The day is
celebrated in the honour
of war heroes of Kargil
every year.
50. World
Population Day was observed across the
world on 11 July 2014. The
theme of World
Population Day 2014 was
Investing in Young
People.
51. India
on 1 July 2014 observed the National
Doctors’ Day. The day is
observed to honour
legendary physician, Dr
Bidhan Chandra Roy
whose birth and death
anniversary falls on the
same day.
52. Indian
Air Force received its sixth C‐17
Globemaster III aircraft.
53. India's
first indigenous anti‐submarine warship
(ASW) Indian Naval Ship
(INS) Kamorta was
handed over to the Indian
Navy.
54. Indian
Naval Ship (INS) Kuthar Warship was
damaged in a mishap.
55. India
successfully test‐fired an advanced version
of the 290‐km range
BrahMos supersonic cruise
missile from
Chandipur‐on‐Sea off Odisha coast.
56. Union
government decided to appoint Suresh
Prabhu Committee to review
the gas pricing
formula. The Union Cabinet
on 25 June 2014 had
deferred the
implementation of the C
Rangarajan Committee's
pricing formula till 30
September 2014 for
conducting a
comprehensive review of
the whole issue.
57. The
Union Civil Aviation Ministry on 7 July 2014
constituted an
Inter‐Ministerial Group (IMG) to
examine the maximum
potential of the GPS
Aided Augmented Navigation
(GAGAN) system.
The IMG will be headed by
Ashok Lavasa.
58. One
Life is Not Enough: An Autobiography
written by Kunwar Natwar
Singh was published
on 1 August 2014.
59. The
Lives of Others authored by Neel Mukherjee
was shortlisted for Man
Booker Prize 2014. Neel
Mukherjee is a
Kolkata‐born British Indian
writer.
60. The
Vijay Mallya Story written by K Giriprakash
was published by Penguin
Books Limited in
2014.
61. A
coffee‐table book titled First Citizen: Pranab
Mukherjee in Rashtrapati
Bhavan was released
on 2 July 2014 at a
function in Rashtrapati
Bhavan, New Delhi. The
book’s first copy was
Page No. 4
received by Pranab
Mukherjee, the President of
India.
62. Muzaffar
Ali, a noted filmmaker of India was
selected for Rajiv Gandhi
National Sadbhavana
Award.
63. The
Indian Contingent won five medals in 45th
International Physics
Olympiad held in Astana,
Kazakhstan. India won 2
gold medals and 3
silver medals in the
Olympiad.
64. Environmentalist
and social activist Chandi
Prasad Bhatt was awarded
with the prestigious
Gandhi Peace prize for 2013.
65. Four
India‐born Americans were honoured on
the eve of US Independence
Day. The Indian‐
Americans honoured were
Microsoft Corp chief
executive Satya Nadella,
Comedian and actor
Aasif Mandvi, Carnegie
Mellon University
president Subra Suresh and
former president of
the University of West
Georgia, Beheruz Sethna.
66. Shah
Rukh Khan was conferred with top French
civilian award Knight of
the Legion of Honor.
Shahrukh Khan is the
second Bollywood actor
after Amitabh Bachchan to
be honoured with
Knight of the Legion of
Honour.
67. Malala
Yousafzai, the young Pakistani education
advocate won the 2014
Liberty Medal given by
the National Constitution
Centre in Philadelphia
in Pennsylvania.
68. The
classical music reality show of
Doordarshan Naad Bhed‐The
Mystery of
Sound will be featured in
Limca Book of Records.
The reality show will be
featured under
Television Chapter in
Limca Book of Records for
being the first ever
National level reality show
on Classical Music.
69. The
third edition of Ladakh International Film
Festival (LIFF) was held
in Leh, Jammu and
Kashmir.
70. The
annual Lord Jagannath Rath Yatra (Chariot
Festival) began on 29 June
2014 at Puri of
Odisha.
71. Air
Algerie plane Boeing MD‐83 went missing
over Gao in Mali in Africa
on 24 July 2014.
72. Malaysia
Airlines Boeing 777 plane, MH‐17, was
shot down over war‐torn
eastern Ukraine near
the Russian border on 17
July 2014. MH‐17 was
flying from Amsterdam to
Kuala Lumpur
carrying 283 passengers
and 15 crew members.
The plane might have been
shot down by the
terrorists by Buk
surface‐to‐air missile system.
73. Prime
Minister of India, Narendra Modi
launched a web platform –
MyGov.nic.in. The
platform has been created
to facilitate Citizen
Engagement in Good
Governance.
74. The
Union Ministry of Women and Child
Development launched a
Logo Design
Competition for the Beti
Bachao Beti Padhao
Campaign.
75. President
Pranab Mukherjee on 1 July 2014
joined Twitter with the
handle ‐
@RashtrapatiBhvn. He is
the first serving
president of India to join
Twitter.
76. First
Aid Post was launched at Shastri Bhawan in
New Delhi. The post was
launched to expand the
network of health care to
its beneficiaries.
77. The
Competition Commission of India (CCI) has
imposed Rs.1 crore penalty
on three entities,
including Thomas Cook and
Sterling Holiday
Resorts, for carrying out
certain market
purchases related to their
deal before seeking
the fair trade watchdog’s
approval.
Page No. 5
78. China
has invited India to participate in the
Asian Infrastructure
Investment Bank.
79. India’s
Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle C‐23
successfully put five
foreign satellites into orbit
in the presence of Prime
Minister Narendra
Modi at the Indian Space
Research
Organisation’s spaceport
in Sriharikota. ISRO
launched the 714‐kg French
earth observation
satellite SPOT‐7, the
14‐kg German AISAT, the
two 15‐kg Canadian NLS7.1
(CAN‐X4) and
NLS7.2 (CAN‐X5) and the
7‐kg Singapore
VELOX‐1. Prime Minister
Narendra Modi asked
India’s space community to
take up “the
challenge of developing a
Saarc satellite” which
can be dedicated to “our
neighbourhood, as a gift
from India”.
80. China
has for the first time formally agreed to
allow Indian hydrological
experts to conduct
study tours in Tibet to
monitor the flows on the
upper reaches of the
Brahmaputra, according to
a new agreement signed
during the visit of Vice‐
President Hamid Ansari.
The MoU on the
Brahmaputra was among
three agreements
signed as Vice‐President
Hamid Ansari held talks
with his counterpart Li
Yuanchao. Both
countries have also
formalised a framework for
setting up China‐dedicated
infrastructure parks
in India and for the
first‐ever training exchange
programme for officials of
both countries,
between the Lal Bahadur
Shastri National
Academy of Administration
(LBSNAA),
Mussoorie, and the China
Executive Leadership
Academy (CELAP) in
Shanghai.
81. The
Nanavati Commission of Inquiry probing the
2002 post‐Godhra riots
received a two‐month
extension beyond its
expiry date.
82. Kaafiron
ki Namaaz , a movie by debutant
director Ram Ramesh Sharma
and producer
Bhargav Saikai won four
awards, including one
for the best feature film
at the third Ladakh
International Film
Festival.
83. India’s
ruling Bharatiya Janata Party was
included in a top‐secret
list of six non‐U.S.
political parties
worldwide that the U.S. National
Security Agency received
official permission to
covertly spy upon,
according to the latest trove
of data released to the
media by Edward
Snowden, former NSA
contractor‐turned fugitive
whistleblower.
84. The
Rajasthan government declared the camel
as the State animal.
85. In
a rare honour, the U.S. has named a mountain
in Antarctica after
eminent Indian‐American
scientist Akhouri A.
Sinha, whose pioneering
biological research
expedition provided vital
data about animal
populations.
86. The
National Democratic Alliance government
has appointed the former
Cabinet Minister,
Suresh Prabhu, as the head
of a high‐level panel
on power revamp —
“Advisory Group for
Integrated Development of
Power, Coal and
Renewable Energy.”
87. The
European Court of Human Rights upheld
France’s controversial
burqa ban.
88. Wal‐Mart
India launched its online platform for
members of Best Price
Modern Wholesale stores
in Hyderabad and Lucknow.
89. The
Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs
(CCEA) approved the
inclusion of onion and
potato under the purview
of stock holding limits
under the Essential
Commodities Act, 1955.
90. Prime
Minister Narendra Modi is the third most
followed world leader on
Twitter, next only to
U.S. President Barack
Obama and the Pope. Mr.
Modi, who overtook
Indonesian President S.B.
Yudhoyono.
91. More
than a year after actor Jiah Khan was found
hanging at her residence
in the city, the Bombay
High Court transferred the
case to the Central
Bureau of Investigation
(CBI).
92. The
government re‐appointed Harun Rashid
Khan as the Deputy
Governor of the Reserve
Bank of India, for a
further period of two years
with effect from July 4.
93. The
Enforcement Directorate has registered a
money laundering case
against retired Air Chief
Marshal S.P. Tyagi in
connection with the alleged
payment of over €21.4
million by Agusta
Westland.
94. Union
Health Minister Harsh Vardhan wrote to
Chief Ministers of all
States (except Rajasthan)
and Lt. Governors and
Administrators of Union
Page No. 6
Territories to consider
levying a VAT of at least
50 per cent on all tobacco
products, including
bidis.
95. Universal
Sompo General Insurance Company
has entered into a tie
with Dena Bank to offer
loan secure insurance
policy to the bank’s retail
and SME (small and medium
enterprise)
customers. Universal Sompo
is a joint venture
between Allahabad Bank,
Indian Overseas Bank,
Karnataka Bank, Dabur
Investments and Sompo
Japan Insurance Inc.
96. Parliamentary
Affairs Minister M. Venkaiah
Naidu said the issue of
granting Leader of the
Opposition (LoP) status to
the Congress was
before the Lok Sabha
Speaker.
97. The
Supreme Court held that fatwas issued by
Muslim shariat courts
(Dar‐ul‐Qazas) do not
have legal sanctity and
cannot be enforced if
they infringed on the
fundamental rights of an
individual.
98. NASA
has fitted a 17‐tonne telescope with an
effective diameter of
eight feet on a modified
Boeing 747 jetliner that
the U.S. space agency is
using as a flying
observatory to study stars.
99. The
government plans to increase the foreign
direct investment in the
insurance sector to 49
per cent with a rider that
the voting rights of the
overseas partner will
remain capped at 26 per
cent.
100.Telecom
Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI)
has notified that the
minimum broadband speed
has been raised to 512
kilo bytes per second
(kbps) from the earlier
256 kbps.
101.The
RBI Governor has conveyed his approval to
the Andhra Pradesh
Government’s request for
rescheduling of crop
loans.
102.Railways
made it clear that it would continue
with the fuel adjustment
component (FAC) to
revise passenger fares
every six months.
103.A
statue of Mahatma Gandhi would be installed
in Parliament Square in
London by early next
year.
104.The
much‐awaited verdict on the dispute
regarding the delimitation
of the maritime
boundary between India and
Bangladesh was
delivered, with a United
Nations tribunal
awarding Bangladesh 19,467
sq. km of the
25,602 sq. km sea area of
the Bay of Bengal.
105.People
can now book a coach or even a train on
the Internet as part of
Railways’ efforts to
expand the scope of online
booking.
106.According
to a recent report of the National
Crime Records Bureau
Maharashtra recorded
highest number of suicides
in 2013.
107.Union
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley tabled the
Economic Survey 2013‐14 in
Parliament. It
projects that the GDP
growth this fiscal year will
be in the range of 5.4 to
5.9 per cent.
108.Amit
Shah was named the next BJP president.
109.Maharashtra
Governor K. Sankaranarayan
approved the ordinance
granting reservation to
Maratha and Muslim
communities in
Maharashtra. Marathas will
get a 16 per cent
quota and Muslims five per
cent in government
jobs and educational
institutions.
110.Senior
Advocate Pinky Anand has been
appointed Additional
Solicitor‐General.
111.The
Securities and Exchange Board of India
imposed a fine of Rs.1.03
crore on Apollo Tyres
for allegedly failing to
comply with buyback
regulations.
112.Top
U.S. diplomat Bill Burns met Prime Minister
Narendra Modi to deliver
U.S. President Obama’s
invitation for him to
visit Washington at the end
of September, when he
attends the U.N. General
Assembly.
113.Germany
expelled the U.S. intelligence station
chief in Berlin over
alleged spying by
Washington.
114.Intensifying
its offensive, Israeli jets hit more
than 780 targets in the
Hamas‐ruled Gaza Strip.
115.Finance
Minister Arun Jaitley proposed hiking
the foreign direct
investment limit in insurance
and defence sectors to 49
per cent.
116.Indian
engineers are toiling in the Himalayas to
build the world’s tallest
railway bridge which is
expected to be 35 metres
taller than the Eiffel
Tower when completed by
2016. The archwww.
bankersadda.com |
www.careerpower.in | www.careeradda.co.in Page
No. 7
shaped steel structure is
being constructed over
the Chenab River to link
sections of the
spectacular mountainous
region of India's
northern Jammu and Kashmir
state. The bridge
is expected to be 359
metres high when
completed — surpassing the
world’s current
tallest railway bridge
over the Beipanjiang River
in China's Guizhou
province, which stands at
275 metres high.
117.If
all goes well, a U.S. couple may become the
first humans to travel to
Mars by as early as
2021. Founders of an
Arizona‐based private
space company called
Paragon Space
Development Corporation,
Taber MacCallum and
his wife Jane Poynter are
planning a round‐trip
flyby of the Red planet
for themselves.
118.Air
India formally became a member of Star
Alliance, a conglomeration
of 26 overseas
airlines.
119.India
and Sri Lanka reiterated their commitment
to finding a long‐term
solution to the issue of
Indian fishermen running
into trouble with the
Sri Lankan authorities in
the Indian Ocean. The
issue figured prominently
in discussions
between External Affairs
Minister Sushma
Swaraj and her Sri Lankan
counterpart, G.L.
Peiris, who concluded his
three‐day visit to
India.
120.Delhi
is now the world’s second most populous
city with 25 million
inhabitants. Tokyo remains
the world’s largest city
with 38 million
inhabitants. Among the
other most populous
cities, Mumbai is in the
top six with a population
of 21 million.
121.Election
Commission has asked senior Congress
parliamentarian and the
former Maharashtra
Chief Minister Ashok
Chavan, to explain why he
should not be disqualified
under Section 10A of
the Representation of the
People Act in a case
pertaining to ‘paid news.’
122.The
government has imposed an additional
penalty of $579 million
(Rs. 3,475 crore) on
Reliance Industries for
producing less than the
targeted natural gas from
its KG‐D6 block in
2013‐14.
123.China’s
President Xi Jinping invited Prime
Minister Narendra Modi to
visit China in
November. Mr. Xi said he
was looking forward to
his September visit to
India, and also welcomed
Mr. Modi to visit China in
November when
Beijing will host the APEC
leaders’ meeting.
124.The
Securities and Exchange Board of India
(SEBI) barred erstwhile
Satyam Computer
Services chairman B.
Ramalinga Raju and its
former top officials from
accessing the securities
market for 14 years, with
immediate effect.
125.A
World Trade Organisation (WTO) Dispute
Panel has ruled that the
imposition of
Countervailing Duty (CVD)
by the United States
Department of Commerce (US
DOC) on India’s
exports of hot‐rolled
carbon steel flat products is
inconsistent with the law
on subsidies.
126.India
and Russia have commenced naval
manoeuvres in the Sea of
Japan.
127.A
five‐judge Constitution Bench of the Supreme
Court will take up for
consideration a petition
seeking to allow a person
suffering from chronic
terminal diseases and
likely to go into a
permanent vegetative state
to refuse treatment
and pave the way for their
death.
128.Former
U.S. President Bill Clinton arrived in
Jaipur on a three‐day tour
of India which will
take him to Lucknow as
well.
129.Global
AIDS‐related deaths and new HIV
infections have fallen by
over a third in a decade,
raising hopes of beating
the killer disease by
2030, the United Nations
has said.
130.The
government cleared 19 foreign direct
investment (FDI) proposals
worth Rs.2,326.72
crore. The proposals
include those from Walt
Disney Company and Reckitt
Benckiser India.
131.Prime
Minister Narendra Modi, during his brief
stopover in Frankfurt on
his way back from
Brazil, called up German
Chancellor Angela
Merkel and extended
greetings on her 60th
birthday, congratulated
Germany for the World
Cup win and exchanged
invitations for a
bilateral summit next
year.
Page No. 8
132.India
will host the 7th IBSA (India‐Brazil‐South
Africa) summit in 2015.
133.RBI
has set a minimum paid‐up capital of Rs.100
crore for those who wish
to set up payments and
small banks. RBI has said
that the promoters will
have to have an initial
minimum capital of at
least 40 per cent.
According to the draft
guidelines, existing
authorised non‐bank prepaid
instrument issuers (PPIs),
non‐banking
finance companies (NBFCs),
corporate BCs
(business correspondents),
mobile telephone
companies, super market
chains, companies, real
sector co‐operatives and
public sector entities
are eligible for setting
up a payments bank. The
guidelines allow even
banks to take equity
position in a payments
bank as permitted under
the Banking Regulation
Act, 1949. The activities
of a payments bank will be
restricted to
acceptance of demand
deposits, and provision of
payments and remittances
services. A payments
bank, says the RBI, will
further the cause of
financial inclusion by
providing small savings
accounts and payments and
remittance services
to migrant labour
workforce, low‐income
households, small
businesses and other
unorganised entities. The
idea is to facilitate
high volume and low value
transactions in a
secure and
technology‐driven environment. A
payments bank cannot set
up subsidiaries to
undertake non‐banking
financial activities. The
payments bank, however,
has to comply with the
SLR (statutory liquidity
ratio) and CRR (cash
reserve ratio)
requirements. The Payments Bank
shall be required to
maintain a minimum capital
adequacy ratio of 15 per
cent of its risk weighted
assets (RWA) on a
continuous basis. The RBI has
made it clear that “a
payments bank should
ensure widespread network
of access points
particularly to remote
areas, either through
their own branch network
or BCs or through
network provided by
others.’’
134.Small
bank eligibility ‐ Resident
individuals/professionals
with ten years of
experience in banking and
finance, companies
and societies are eligible
to set up small banks.
Existing non‐banking
finance companies, microfinance
institutions, and local
area banks can
also convert themselves
into small banks after
complying with the
requisite legal and
regulatory requirements.
The area of operations
of the small bank will be
restricted to contiguous
districts in a homogenous
cluster of
States/Union Territories
so that the bank has
the ‘local feel’ and
culture. However, if
considered necessary, the
bank will be allowed
to expand its area of
operations beyond
contiguous districts in
one or more States with
reasonable geographical
proximity. “Its branch
expansion plan for the
initial three years will
need prior approval of RBI
after which, based on
experience, the RBI may
consider relaxing this
condition,’’ the
guidelines say. The small bank
shall primarily undertake
basic banking
activities of acceptance
of deposits and lending
to small farmers, small
businesses, micro and
small industries and
unorganised sector
entities,’’ say the
guidelines. A small bank also
cannot set up subsidiaries
to undertake nonbanking
financial services
activities, and its
promoters have to
ring‐fence their like activities.
A small bank has to comply
with the CRR and
Page No. 9
SLR requirements. The
Payments Bank shall be
required to maintain a
minimum capital
adequacy ratio of 15 per
cent of its risk weighted
assets (RWA) on a
continuous basis. And RBI has
fixed an upper limit for
loan/investment
exposure to an individual
or group at 15 per
cent of its capital funds.
Also, a small bank has to
comply with the priority
sector lending targets.
135.A
bill to remove legal hurdles in the
appointment of former TRAI
chief Nripendra
Misra as Principal
Secretary to the Prime
Minister has now become an
Act with President
Pranab Mukherjee giving
his assent.
136.The
Narendra Modi Government is unlikely to
rescind the foreign direct
investment (FDI)
policy for multi‐brand
retail that the Congressled
United Progressive
Alliance government had
notified.
137.Railways
has cleared decks for the upgradation
of five stations through
commercial
development. The five
stations are Chandigarh,
Anand Vihar, Bijwasan
(both at Delhi),
Habibganj (Bhopal) and
Shivaji Nagar (Pune).
The Railways had formed
the Indian Railway
Stations Development
Corporation (IRSDC) to
modernise and upgrade
passenger amenities at
stations by raising
finances through commercial
development of Railway
land and air space at
these stations.
138.Manila‐based
Asian Development Bank has
upgraded India’s economic
growth forecast to
6.3 per cent in 2015‐16 on
hopes of speedy
reform process.
139.Forex
reserves rose to $317.036 billion in the
week to July 11, due to
rise in currency assets.
140.The
Indian government is planning to open up a
first ever Yoga resource
centre in China.
141.International
pop star Shakira is officially the
most popular person on
Facebook with over a
100 million ‘likes’, the
most for any public figure.
142.The
Defence Ministry has cleared projects worth
Rs. 21,000 crore,
including replacement of 56
Avro transport planes,
demonstrating the
government’s intent to
fast‐track military
acquisitions with an eye
on promoting private
sector investment in the
Defence sector.
143.Close
on the heels of the recently concluded
$400‐billion mega gas
pipeline deal between
Russia and China, Moscow
wants to work on a
pipeline to India “through
the Himalayas” that
could become the
“biggest‐ever energy project in
history,” Russian
Ambassador Alexander
Kadakin told.
144.The
Pakistan government has decided to release
57 Indian fishing boats as
a goodwill gesture
after the release of 150
Indian fishermen in May.
145.The
recent decision of the Genetic Engineering
Appraisal Committee (GEAC)
to allow field trials
of GM rice, mustard,
cotton, chickpea and brinjal
has been met with strong
opposition from
farmers’ groups and
environmental activists.
146.The
United Nations Security Council
unanimously passed a
resolution calling for
international
investigators to have unfettered
access to the crash site
of Malaysian Airlines
Flight 17 in Ukraine.
147.The
Civil Aviation Ministry has issued No
Objection Certificates
(NOCs) to six entities
whose applications to
start airlines in India were
pending for long. These
six — Air One, Premier
Air, Zexus Air (all
national), Turbo Megha, Air
Carnival and Zav Airways
(all regional) — are in
addition to the
Tata‐Singapore Airlines joint
venture that is likely to
start operations by this
year‐end. At present,
India has eight airlines —
Air India, Jet Airways,
Jet Lite, IndiGo, SpiceJet,
Go Air, Air Costa and
AirAsia India.
148.India,
the United States and Japan are embarking
on joint naval manoeuvres
in the Pacific Ocean
as part of the Malabar
series of exercises.
149.The
proposed India‐Pakistan pipeline, through
which India plans to
supply natural gas to
Pakistan, may be completed
within a year. The
pipeline, being put in
place by the Gas Authority
of India Ltd. The pipeline
will start at Dahej in
Gujarat, pass through
Vijaipur in Madhya
Page No. 10
Pradesh, Dadri in Uttar
Pradesh, Bawana in
Delhi before reaching
Nangal in Punjab.
150.The
Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs has
approved of new powers for
the SEBI to crack
down on Ponzi schemes and
illegal deposit
schemes such as chit funds.
151.The
Union Human Resource Development
Ministry has advised all
States and Union
Territories (UTs), barring
Jammu and Kashmir,
to take appropriate action
for the inclusion of
“third gender’’ children
among socially and
educationally backward
classes for admission in
educational institutions
under the Sarva Shiksha
Abhiyan.
152.According
to the 2014 UNDP Human
Development Report with an
HDI value of 0.586
out of a maximum possible
1, India is 135th out
of 187 countries.
153.Kurdish
politician Fuad Masum became the new
President of Iraq in a
step towards forming a
new government.
154.The
Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) and the
Reserve Bank of India
(RBI) signed an
agreement, enabling the
RBI to access the Sri
Lankan government
securities market, up to a
maximum value of $500
million.
155.Despite
India’s objections to the UN observer
mission at the Line of
Control – UNMOGIP,
visiting UN peacekeeping
chief Hervé Ladsous
made it clear that the
mission would remain in
India until the UN
Security Council removes its
mandate, established in
1948 after the first war
over Kashmir.
156.The
Reserve Bank of India imposed a monetary
penalty on 12 banks for
violating central bank
rules in the case of
Deccan Chronicle Holdings.
The central bank has
imposed a penalty of Rs.40
lakh on ICICI Bank and
Rs.15 lakh each on Axis
Bank and IDBI Bank.
157.The
Central Bureau of Investigation has
instituted a preliminary
enquiry (PE) against
Google for purported
violations committed
while organising Mapathon
2013, a nationwide
competition during which
security‐sensitive
installations were
allegedly mapped without
prior permission.
158.Anil
Ambani Group firm Reliance Power said it
had signed an initial
agreement to acquire all the
three hydroelectric power
plants of Jaiprakash
Associates Ltd.
159.Minister
for Women and Child Development
Maneka Gandhi has
announced that Nirbhaya
Centres or One‐Stop Crisis
Centres (OSCC) will
be set up in all
districts. Each will have
paramedical staff,
ambulance service, a retired
police officer to help
lodge the FIR, counsellors,
lawyers, short‐stay
shelter with food and
clothing, and video
conferencing facility.
160.The
CBI arrested Chairman‐cum‐Managing
Director of Sydicate Bank,
S K Jain and five
others for allegedly
taking bribe of Rs 50 lakh for
enhancement of credit
limit to some companies
bypassing rules and
regulations.
161.NDA
government has mooted a proposal to
merge two financial
institutions aimed at
women's empowerment. Set
up in the final
months of the Congress‐led
UPA government,
the Bharatiya Mahila Bank
(BMB) with an initial
corpus of Rs 1,000 crores,
and the Rashtriya
Mahila Kosh (RMK), which
was established way
back in 1993 to provide
micro‐loans to women,
may be merged, the
Minister for Women and
Child Development Maneka
Gandhi said.
162.The
Reserve Bank of India (RBI) relaxed the
limit of loan that banks
can sanction against the
pledging of gold ornaments
and jewellery. On
December 30, banks had
restricted the loans of
up to Rs 1 lakh against
pledge of gold ornaments
and jewellery.
163.RBI
has started scrutinising credentials of
companies suspected of
illegally raising money
from public as NBFCs.
164.The
Reserve Bank has allowed raising foreign
investment limit under
portfolio investment in
private sector Kotak
Mahindra Bank to 40 per
cent.
165.Infrastructure
bonds issued by banks will have a
minimum maturity period of
seven years and
Page No. 11
will not be considered
part of the their net
demand and time
liabilities (NDTL), RBI said.
RBI also gave affordable
housing an
infrastructure status and
laid down guidelines
for issuance of long‐term
bonds by banks for
financing infrastructure
project loans and
affordable housing and
exempted such bonds
from regulatory rules such
as cash reserve ratio
(CRR), statuary liquidity
ratio and priority sector
lending.
166.The
government will retain a majority holding in
the public sector banks
(PSBs), but will allow
them to raise money by
selling shares to small
investors. The PSBs need a
capital infusion of
R2.4 lakh crore by 2018 to
meet the Basel‐III
requirements.
167.The
European Banking Authority (EBA) said it
had identified more than
70 risks related to
trading in virtual
currencies, including their
vulnerability to crime and
money laundering.
Virtual currencies, most
famously Bitcoin, have
come under increasing
scrutiny by financial
regulators as their
popularity has grown.
Launched in 2009 by a
mysterious computer
guru, Bitcoin is a form of
cryptography‐based emoney
that offers a largely
anonymous payment
system and can be stored
either virtually or on a
user's hard drive.
168.State
Bank of India has launched six digital
branches across the
country, as part of a
pioneering program to
offer next generation
banking solutions to
India's growing mobile
phone and internet‐savvy
customer base. Its
new branches, branded as
sbiINTOUCH, are
equipped with interactive
wall and table
displays. The branches are
located in major
metropolitan areas across
India, including
Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru,
Chennai and
Ahmedabad.
169.The
RBI has said India and the US have agreed to
implement a foreign tax
compliance act
(FATCA)and asked banks and
financial
institutions to register
by this year‐end to report
accounts and assets held
by US citizens.
170.Switzerland
have come across a significant
quantum of fake Indian
rupee notes in their
country ‐‐ the third
highest for any foreign
currency after Euro and
the US dollar.
171.In
a move that may discourage firms from
defaulting on bank loans,
the Supreme Court has
allowed lenders to publish
names and
photographs of wilful
defaulters in newspapers
in the larger public
interest.
172.ICICI
Bank in association with Delhi Metro Rail
Corporation (DMRC)
launched co‐branded card
with host of benefits for
metro riders. Unifare
Card combines the benefits
of a debit/credit
card along with a Delhi
Metro Smart Card and
has the added facility of
auto top‐up of fare
.jpg)