Current Affairs 6/10/2013 to 4/11/2013
Posted: Sun Nov 03, 2013 9:17 pm1.The world’s first Bitcoin ATM machine which can transact digital currency – Bitcoins -for any official currency has been unveiled in Vancouver, Canada.
The ATM named Robocoin allows users to buy or sell the digital currency known as bitcoins. The ATM in Vancouver is operated by Las Vegas-based Robocoin and Vancouver-based Bitcoiniacs.
What is Bitcoin?
Bitcoin is a virtual currency that is unregulated by any central bank or government, but still works for purchasing goods and services from retailers willing to accept it. It can also be traded on an open market that fluctuates much like a stock market. Bitcoin is a distributed peer-to-peer digital currency that functions without the inter-mediation of any central authority. Bitcoin is also called a ”cryptocurrency” since it is decentralized and uses cryptography to prevent double-spending, a significant challenge inherent to digital currencies.
2.William C Lowe (72), who pioneered the conception and manufacturing of IBM’s first personal computer, passed away in Lake Forest, Illinois.
3.Kirit Parikh committee on Pricing Methodology for Diesel, Domestic LPG and PDS Kerosene has recommended a price increase of Rs 5 / litre in diesel, Rs 4/ litre in kerosene, and Rs 250 in LPG cylinder with immediate effect.
4.DRDO (Defence Research and Development Organization) has developed a new tactical surface-to-surface missile Pragati which has a range between 60-170 km. India will offer the missile to friendly nations.
5.Astronomers have discovered a new planet called Kepler 78b which has a similar mass and density to that of Earth. The planet revolves around a star 400 light years away.
6.In a ruling that would affect the functioning of bureaucracy in the country, the apex court held that bureaucrats must be given an assured minimum tenure in posting. The SC bench observed that fixed tenure of bureaucrats would promote professionalism, efficiency and good governance and that much of the deterioration in the functioning of bureaucracy is due to political interference. In this regard, the court directed the Centre and state governments to pass an order within 3 months on giving fixed tenure to civil servants.
7.The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) performed a glitch free rehearsal of India’s first mission to the Red Planet designated the Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) at Sriharikota centre. The MOM is scheduled for launch at 2.38pm on November 5, 2013.
About India’s Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) ‘Mangalyan’:
The Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) has been named ‘Mangalyan‘
To be launched onboard PSLV C25 on November 5, 2013 at 14:36 hours from the first launch pad of Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota.
India’s first interplanetary mission to planet Mars with an orbiter craft designed to orbit Mars in an elliptical orbit.
It will reach Martian transfer trajectory in September 2014. Subsequently, it is planned to enter into a 372 km by 80000 km elliptical orbit around Mars.
8.It is for the first time Turkey has joined its European and Asian sides by inaugurating a railway tunnel thereby also fulfilling a vision first proposed by Ottoman sultan Abdulmejid about 150 years ago to connect the two continents.
The Europe-Asia linking tunnel:
The tunnel is 13.6km long, with 1.4km running under the Bosphorus, the strait that connects the Black Sea to the Sea of Marmara, and divides Istanbul between Asia and Europe. The tunnel is part of a larger “Marmaray” project that also includes an upgrade of existing suburban train lines to create a 76-kilometre (47-mile) line that links the two continents. Built at more than 55-metres underground, it will be the deepest submerged railway tunnel of its type in the world.
9.The World Bank approved financial aissistance of $250 million for Uttarakhand, in the wake of rains and landslides that wreaked havoc in the state in June 2013. The fund would be used to help the state undertake rehabilitation work and improve its capacity for disaster management.
10.The RBI in its second quarter review of monetary policy reduced the growth forecast for current fiscal 2013-14 to 5% from the earlier projection of 5.5%. The RBI had projected a growth of 5.5% for 2013-14 in its first quarter monetary policy on July 30, 2013. The economy grew by 4.4% in the first (April- June) quarter of current fiscal. It had expanded by 5% 2012-13 fiscal, the lowest level in a decade.
11.As per the latest ‘Ease of Doing Business’ rankings of 189 economies released by the World Bank, India has fallen three spot to 134th rank. In terms of ‘starting a business’ India has been positioned lower at 179th. This is when the government is making efforts to improve the business environment in the country. The list is topped by Singapore.
12.NGO the Harmony Foundation honored former Miss Universe Sushmita Sen with the Mother Teresa Memorial International Award 2013 for her efforts towards achieving social justice in Mumbai. Along with Sushmita Sen, seven individuals and an association, India Rescue Mission, were also awarded the Mother Teresa Memorial International Award for Social Justice 2013 for their contributions in the field of human rights and community development.
13.Air Marshal Arup Raha who is presently the Vice Chief of Air Staff will be the next Chief of the Air Staff of Indian Air Force. He will assume the position after the retirement of the present Chief of the Air Staff NAK Browne on December 31, 2013. Air Marshal Arup Raha is presently the Vice Chief of Air Staff.
14.Government of India appointed P.S. Raghvan as the next Ambassador of India to Russia.
15.The Ministry of Overseas Indian Affair launched a scheme named Mahatma Gandhi Pravasi Suraksha Yojana in Dubai. The scheme is a pension and life insurance fund scheme for blue-collar Indian workers in UAE.
16.As per the Second Quarter Review of Monetary Policy 2013-14 released by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), the Repo rate has been increased by 25 basis points from 7.5% percent to 7.75% keeping in view the surge in inflation and other factors.
Key points of the Second Quarter Review of Monetary Policy 2013-14:
Marginal Standing Facility (MSF) rate slashed by 25 basis points from 9% to 8.75%.
Policy repo rate under the Liquidity Adjustment Facility (LAF) hiked by 25 basis points from 7.5% to 7.75%.
The liquidity provided through term repos of 7-day and 14-day tenor has been enhanced from 0.25% of Net Demand and Time Liabilities (NDTL) of the banking system to 0.5%.
Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) untouched at 4%.
The GDP growth projection for 2013-14 has been reduced to 5% from previous 5.7%.
17.The Red Bull driver Sebastian Vettel won the Indian Grand Prix organized at the Buddh International Circuit in Noida, India.
Registering his third successive victory in the Indian Grand Prix he left behind four former world champions Fernando Alonso, Kimi Raikkonen, Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button.
18.Providing clarification over the recently included NOTA (None Of The Above) option in EVM/ Ballot paper in the upcoming polls as directed by the apex court, the Election Commission (EC) said that if the number of electors who had voted for the NOTA option exceeded the votes polled by any of the candidates, the candidate with the highest number of votes would be declared winner.
Clarification from the EC over NOTA option:
As per the provisions of clause (a) of Rule 64 of Conduct of Elections Rules, 1961, read with Section 65 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, the candidate who has polled the largest number of valid votes is to be declared elected by the Returning Officer. Therefore, even if the number of electors opting for NOTA option is more than the number of votes polled by any of the candidates, the candidate who secures the largest number of votes has to be declared elected.
In case the number of contesting candidates is equal to the number of seats to be filled, the Returning Officer has to declare all the contesting candidates to be duly elected. In the case of elections to the Lok Sabha and the Legislative Assemblies, where there is only one contesting candidate in the fray, the RO has to, under the relevant provisions, declare the sole contestant as elected.
19.The National Commission for Scheduled Tribes chaired by Dr. Rameshwar Oraon presented the Sixth Report on working of safeguard for Scheduled Tribes for 2010-11 to the President of India.
National Commission for Scheduled Tribes:
The National Commission for Scheduled Tribes came into existence w.e.f. February 19, 2004 following the amendment of Article 338 of the Constitution of India and introduction of a new Article 338A vide the Constitution ( 89thAmendment) Act, 2003 which, inter-alia, enjoins upon the Commission to oversee the implementation of various safeguards provided to Scheduled Tribes under the Constitution or under any other law for the time being in force or under any other order of the Government and to evaluate the working of such safeguards.
20.As per the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), India’s Forex reserves increased for a third consecutive week adding rasing it by $1.9 billion to touch $281.12 billion on account of growth in a key component.
In the previous week, the reserves had jumped by $1.51 billion to $279.24 billion. As per RBI, Foreign Currency Assets (FCAs), which form the largest portion of the reserves, jumped $1.8 billion to $252.7 billion in the same period of review.
21.Commemorating the centenary of legendary polymath Rabindranath Tagore (Gurudev) receiving the Nobel Prize for Literature, Swedish Ambassador Harald Sandberg inaugurated the Nobel Memorial Wall, a permanent structure set up in the Kolkata’s Esplanade Metro Railway station, where portraits of the seven Nobel Laureates from India, including Tagore, are displayed.
Author of Gitanjali and its “profoundly sensitive, fresh and beautiful verse”, Tagore was the first non-European to win the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1913.
22.France conferred its highest civilian award ‘Chevalier de la Legion d’Honneur’ on social worker and founder of NGO Naz Foundation Anjali Gopalan for her work on transgenders and HIV positive patients.
23.A pact to establish a mega LNG terminal was inked between the State owned GAIL and Paradeep Port. With the realization of this project, Odisha will soon be highlighted on the world map of natural gas business.
Under this project, GAIL will set up the terminal – Floating Storage Regasification Unit at a cost of over Rs 3100 crore.
The gas terminal will have an initial capacity of 4 million tonne per annum in first phase. The storage capacity of the unit will be 170,000 cubic metres. In the second phase, 4 million ton capacity will be added enhancing its capacity to 4.8 million tons. It will be operational by 2017.
24.Bollywood actor Shahrukh Khan has been appointed as the Goodwill Ambassador for South Korea. He has been appointed as the public diplomat as well as an ambassador of India’s soft power.
As a Goodwill Ambassador he will visit South Korea before the maiden visit of South Korea President Park Geun-hye. It must be recalled that India and South Korea have already inked a civil nuclear pact but it is still not operational.
25.The Odisha Government has imposed a seven-month fishing ban within 20 km from the river mouths of Dhamara, Devi and Rusikulya in Gamjam district for safeguard nests of endangered Olive Ridley sea turtles.
26.As per the the China-based Hurun India Rich List, Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani is India’s richest man with personal assets of $18.9 billion. Mr. Ambani retained the top rank for the second consecutive year even after a wealth decline of 2%.
According to the list, the top rich persons are:
Mukesh Ambani : Chairman Reliance Industries
L.N. Mittal: Chairman and CEO of ArcelorMittal, the world’s largest steelmaking company based in London ($15.9 billion)
Dilip Shanghvi : Founder of Sun Pharmaceuticals
Azim Premji: Chairman Wipro ($12 billion)
Shiv Nadar: HCL Technology’s ($8.6 billion)
Kumar Mangalam Birla: Chairman Grasim Industries ($8.4 billion)
Adi Godrej: Chairman Godrej Group’s ($8.1 billion)
Pallonji Mistry: Chairman Shapoorji Pallonji & Co ($8 billion)
Shashi & Ravi Ruia: Essar Energy ($7.6 billion)
Sunil Mittal: Chaiman Bharti Airtel ($7.3 billion)
Anil Ambani: Chairman Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group ($7.1 billion)
27.India revoked the ban it had imposed on Nepal to supply it military equipment. Marking the end of the eight-year old ban, India has supplied some of the equipment, including vehicles and arms, it had promised to provide to Nepal ahead of crucial polls to be held in November 2013.
28.The Geneva-based World Economic Forum (WEF) placed India at a low 101st rank on a Global Gender Gap Index which ranked 136 nations on how well resources and opportunities are divided between men and women in four broad areas of economy, politics, education and health. Despite India’s improvement on the Index by four positions since 2012, the performance indicates poor state of affairs in gender parity.
Key observations of Global Gender Gap Index :
Ranked very high at 9th place for political empowerment
Placed at second-lowest position (135th) for health and survival
Ranked at a low of 124th for economic participation and opportunity
Positioned at 120th for educational attainment
Among five BRICS nations, it still remains lowest-ranked
Who are the top performing countries on Global Gender Gap Index 2013?
Top-10 positions on the global have been retained by:
Iceland
Finland
Norway
29.The India and Bangladesh extradition treaty came into effect with the handing over of the instruments of ratification. The treaty was signed in January 2013.
30.The Finance Ministry has finalized the Rs.14, 000 crore capital infusion plan for public sector banks to strengthen their capital base, and promised another share in the fourth quarter of the current fiscal. The capital infusion would ensure that banks had 8% Tier-1 capital by the end of the current fiscal year.
31.In another major confidence building measure between India and China, both nations inked Trans-Border River Agreement (TBRA). The pact extends a previous MoU to provide hydrological date in the flood season to cover a longer time period. Unlike the current agreement, the new one is not just about sharing data, but has expanded the scope to discuss other issues of mutual interest.
Besides this, 2014 has been designated as a year of Friendly Exchanges between India and China and both nations are to discuss with Myanmar ways to mark the 60th anniversary of the Panchsheel.
32.The Empowered Committee on film certification chaired by Justice Mukul Mudgal has mandated that no State government can order the suspension of a film.
33.New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg has been selected for the inaugural Genesis Prize – an award popularly dubbed the Jewish Nobel Prize given by the Government of Israel. Bloomberg has been chosen for the award in recognition to his long record of public service and philanthropy. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will present the prize to Bloomberg in May 2014 in Israel.
34.Prabodh Chandra Dey ( a.k.a. “Manna Dey“) (94) passed away.
Manna Dey was a versatile Indian playback singer. Manna Dey sang mainly in Hindi and Bengali. He also recorded songs in several other Indian languages like Bhojpuri, Punjabi, Assameese, Oriya, Gujarathi, Marathi, Kannada, Malayalam.
Debut as a playback singer in the film Tamanna (1942)
Career (years active) : 1942-2013
Recorded more than 4000 songs
Some key Awards:
Dadasaheb Phalke Award (2007)
Padma Bhushan (2005)
Padma Shri (1971)
35.Researchers from Zurich (Switzerland) have revealed the world’s first walking, talking bionic man called Frank, short for Frankenstein
Researchers have engineered the world’s first robot human or Bionic man made entirely of prosthetic parts. It can walk, talk and has a beating heart. The robot has been developed by Roboticists Rich Walker and Matthew Godden of Shadow Robot Co in England.
To develop the Bionic man, scientists assembled prosthetic body parts and artificial organs donated by laboratories around the world.
36.The Ministry of Corporate Affairs approved the name “Tata SIA Airlines Ltd.” to be used for the proposed aviation venture of TATA with Singapore Airlines(SIA) which plans to offer full-service passengers sevices on domestic and international routes.
The initial investment in the project is estimated to be $100 million, with Tata Sons injecting $51 million for a 51% stake and Singapore Airlines pumping in $49 million for the remaining 49%. This is the third proposal in the aviation sector since the Government permitted 49% FDI in domestic airlines in September 2012.
Although Tata is already into a separate joint aviation venture with AirAsia and Telstra Tradeplace for a low-cost airline, there will be no conflict of interest as the two airlines do not compete in the same space.
37.Showing disappointment over the inability of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) to end the war in Syria and act on other Middle East issues, Saudi Arabia refused an esteemed seat on the UNSC.
38.Legendary vocalist Lata Mangeshkar was presented the first national Yash Chopra Memorial Award by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting as a mark of tribute to the legendary filmmaker Yash Chopra on the eve of his first death anniversary.
39.Researchers from Fudan University, Shanghai have developed a new cheaper way of getting connected to the internet through light bulbs instead of radio frequencies. The new technology is dubbed as Li-Fi (Light Fidelity) and an alternative to currently popular Wi-Fi (Wireless Fidelity).
40.The President of India Pranab Mukherjee gave his assent to the Uttarakhand Lokayukta Bill. With this the Uttarakhand Lokayukta Bill became an Act. The Lokayukta Act is aimed at curbing corruption in the Uttarakhand state.
41.India’s largest 84-meter tall Air Traffic Control (ATC) tower of India was inaugurated outside the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport, Mumbai.
42.The Union Cabinet has given nod to the proposal for construction of a 14-km all-weather tunnel at Zojila pass in Ladakh region. The project would require Rs 9000 crore investment to ensure undisrupted round-the-year connectivity between Ladakh and Srinagar. The Zojila pass is located at an altitude of 11578 ft on the Srinagar-Kargil-Leh National Highway (NH-1), which remains closed during the winter season due to heavy snowfall and inclement weather.
43.nion Government of India appointed Gireesh B. Pradhan, former Secretary of Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, as the Chairperson of the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC).
44.ICICI Bank CEO and MD, Ms Chanda Kochhar has been ranked 4th in Fortune magazine’s global list of top-50 women business leaders. The list is topped by Brazilian energy giant Petrobras’ CEO, Maria Das Gracas Foster.
Other Indians making it to the list were:-
- National Stock Exchange chief Ms Chitra Ramkrishna (17th)
- Axis Bank’s CEO Ms Shikha Sharma (32nd)
- HSBC’s Country Head of India, Ms Naina Lal Kidwai (42nd)
45.New Zealand author Ms Eleanor Catton became the youngest winner of the Man Booker Prize for fiction. She claimed the award for her novel “The Luminaries”.
“The Luminaries” is the longest book ever to win the Booker Prize .
Ms Eleanor Catton is the youngest author ever to win the Booker Prize.
46.“Global Slavery Index” published by the Australia-based Walk Free Foundation, ranked India first in terms of number of modern day slaves in the world. The index has ranked 162 countries based on 3 factors:-
Estimated prevalence of modern slavery (including practices such as debt bondage, etc.)
A measure of child marriage (including forced marriage)
A measure of human trafficking in and out of a country (including sale or exploitation of children as well as human trafficking and forced labour)
There are 29.6 million people in modern slavery globally out of which 13.3 to 14.7 million live in India.
47.As per the anti-corruption watchdog “Transparency International”, 6 Tata Group companies, Bharti Airtel and Mahindra & Mahindra were in its list of top 10 list of corporate entities among emerging market economies in terms of transparency in corporate reporting.
Tata Communications
Tata Global Beverages and Tata Steel
Bharti Airtel
48.India’s telecom subscriber base expanded marginally to reach 90.44 crore in July 2013, as per latest telecom subscription data from TRAI (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India).
Total number of subscribers: 904.46 million
Net addition: 1.37 million subscribers during July
Subscriber base from Urban areas: 548.85 million
Subscriber base from Rural areas: 355.60 million
Teledensity: 73.54 (Out of this urban: 60.68% and rural: 39.32%)
Mobile Number Portability (MNP) requests: 97.82 million at end of July 2013 (was 95.59 million at June 2013 end)
49.American Economist Eugene Fama won the Nobel prize for economics for developing new methods to study trends in asset markets. He is one of the three American Economists who won Nobel Prize for Economic Sciences. He shared Nobel for Economic Sciences jointly with Robert Shiller and Lars Peter Hansen.
Eugene Francis “Gene” Fama is known for his work on portfolio theory and asset pricing. Fama is regarded as the father of the “Efficient Market Hypothesis”. In 1970 issue of the Journal of Finance, entitled “Efficient Capital Markets: A Review of Theory and Empirical Work,” Fama gave the concept of EMH (Efficient Market Hypothesis).
50.As per Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) Chairman T. S. Vijayan, the insurance industry will undergo another round of regulatory reforms, particularly focused on distribution channel, to instill growth.
51.The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) won the Nobel Peace Prize 2013 for its extensive efforts to eliminate chemical weapons. The award was announced by Nobel Committee chairman Thorbjoern Jagland.
What is OPCW? What are its award-winning efforts?
The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) is an independent, international body established in 1997 to implement the Chemical Weapons Convention. It has a working relationship with the UN.
The organization is currently working in destroying Syria’s chemical weapons stockpiles which marks as the first time the OPCW is working in a war zone.
52.Karan Thapar, well-known television journalist, has been honored with the International Press Institute (IPI) India Award for Excellence in Journalism. The jury for this award chose Mr. Thapar ‘for his sharp interviews on the Devil’s Advocate programme on CNN IBN’.
53.Famous agricultural scientist MS Swaminathan has been selected for the Indira Gandhi Award for National Integration for the year 2012.
54.Pakistani teen activist Malala Yousafzai, who survived bullet-injury inflicted by the Taliban for championing girls’ education has won the European Union’s (EU) Sakharov Human Rights Prize 2013. Past winners of the Sakharov Prize include South African anti apartheid hero Nelson Mandela and former UN secretary general Kofi Annan.
55.International Day of the Girl Child was observed globally on October 11, 2013 to recognize the girls’ rights and the unique challenges girls face around the world.
56.Ms Janet L. Yellen as the new head of the Federal Reserve Board. She will replace Ben Bernanke as Chair of the Federal Reserve Board. Prior to her nomination, Yellen served as vice Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. She would be the first woman to lead the Federal Reserve Board and also the first Democrat to head the Board since 1979.
57.The Nobel Prize in Chemistry for 2013 will be shared by Michael Levitt, a British and US citizen, US-Austrian Martin Karplus and US-Israeli Arieh Warshel. As per Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences who announces the names for the awards, the Nobel Laureates in Chemistry 2013 have made it possible to map the mysterious ways of chemistry by using computers.
What are the Nobel winning contributions of Levitt, Karplus and Warshel?
The trio has been credited for the development of multi scale models for complex chemical systems.
They devised computer simulations to understand chemical processes. Their works laid the foundations for new kinds of pharmaceuticals and contributed to exploring multiple options in cyber space.
58.The Nobel committee has announced the winners of the 2013 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine. The Prize has been awarded to three scientists, James E. Rothman, Randy W. Schekman and Thomas C. Sudhof, all based in the USA for working out how biological cells organize and transport the many molecules they need to function.
59.The Nobel Prize in physics has been announced to be given to physicists Francois Englert of Belgium and Peter Higgs of Britain for their theoretical discoveries on how subatomic particles acquire mass.
What is the special contribution of Englert and Higgs to physics?
Both the scientists have been credited for their theoretical works on Higgs boson which they theorized in 1960s. They proposed a mechanism to explain why the most basic building blocks of the Universe have mass. Their theories were confirmed last year by the discovery of the so-called Higgs particle or ‘God-particle’, also known as the Higgs boson, at the famous CERN(European Organization for Nuclear Research) laboratory in Geneva. But it would still take decades for the scientists at CERN to confirm its existence.
60.In a historic event, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh inaugurated the India- Bangladesh Grid interconnection in Bangladesh through a video-conference. The key 71-km Baharampur-Bheramara transmission link between the electricity grids of the two countries will boost the ties between the two nations. The link would facilitate cross-border electricity transfer of up to 500 mega watt (MW) from India to Bangladesh.
61.Stock market regulator, the Securities Exchange Board of India (SEBI) announced Foreign Portfolio Investor (FPI) regulations aimed at wooing foreign investors. SEBI, through these new rules, intends to ease the registration process and operating framework for foreign investors. Under FPIs, SEBI has included all Foreign Institutional Investors (FII) and Qualified Foreign Investors (QFI).
62.Arundhati Bhattacharya, Managing Director and Chief Financial Officer of State Bank of India, has become its first woman Chairman. She succeeds Pratip Chaudhuri who retired as Chairman on September 30, 2013. Bhattacharya, who joined SBI as a probationary officer in 1977, will be at the apex position of the bank until March 2016.
63.With an aim to further strengthen trade and tourism links between the two cities, the Indira Gandhi International Airport (Delhi) and Birmingham Airport entered into an MoU called Sister Airport Agreement.
64.The Reserve Bank of India has reduced one of the key short-term borrowing rate, the Marginal Standing Facility (MSF), by 50 basis points to 9.0%. The step has been taken as the rupee has recovered 11.4% after hitting an all-time low of 68.85 to the dollar on August 28, 2013.
What is MSF?
Marginal Standing Facility (MSF) was introduced by the Reserve Bank of India in 2011-12 as part of its monetary policy. Under this facility, banks can borrow funds from RBI at a fixed rate, which is, normally, 1% or 100 basis points above the Liquidity Adjustment Facility-repo rate, against pledging Government securities (G-Sec). Banks can borrow funds through MSF when there is a considerable shortfall of liquidity. This measure was introduced by RBI to regulate short-term asset liability mismatches more effectively.
65.A number of government bodies, NGOs and private companies have formed a coalition named Alliance for Affordable Internet (A4AI) which aims at reducing the cost of internet access worldwide. The coalition will push for policy and regulatory reforms to bring down the cost of bandwidth in developing and poor countries, where cost of internet access remains exorbitant.
66.As per the World Bank report- Migration and Remittance Flows: Recent Trends and Outlook-2013-16, India is the largest recipient of foreign remittances among developing economies in 2013.
Migration and Remittance Flows: Recent Trends and Outlook-2013-16 report:
Non-Resident Indians (NRI) remitted a record $71 billion in 2013 compared to $70 billion in 2012.
67.India launched its first indigenously produced vaccine against Japanese Encephalitis (JE), a mosquito-borne viral infection that affects the central nervous system.
The vaccine named JENVAC has been jointly developed by the National Institute of Virology, Indian Council of Medical Research and Bharat Biotech Ltd.
68.Government of India set up a four member committee headed by Arvind Mayaram, Economic Affairs Secretary to clear the ambiguity between Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and Foreign Institutional Investment (FII). The panel will look into the difference between them and it will also give definition of FDI and FII.
69.The network of the US –based software maker Adobe Systems which makes software such as Photoshop, Reader and Creative Cloud, was hacked by cyber attackers exposing financial information of its 2.9 million customers.
70.Having unable to pass the annual budget, the US government has been shut down for the first time in past 17 years. The Democratic Party failed to break the impasse over the contentious President Barack Obama’s health care law which is the central issue behind the opposition.
71.The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) gave clearance to Jet Airways proposed sale of 24% equity to Abu Dhabi-based Etihad Airways, setting stage for the biggest ever foreign investment in the Indian aviation sector.
72.As per the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), India’s Current Account Deficit (CAD) for the first quarter ended June 2013 has widened to 4.9% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) compared to 4% in the same period of the previous financial year owing to a rise in imports and some decline in merchandise exports.
If we subtract the increase in gold imports of $7.3 billion in the first quarter of 2013-14 over the corresponding quarter of the preceding year the CAD works out to $14.5 billion, which means 3.2% of GDP.
The ATM named Robocoin allows users to buy or sell the digital currency known as bitcoins. The ATM in Vancouver is operated by Las Vegas-based Robocoin and Vancouver-based Bitcoiniacs.
What is Bitcoin?
Bitcoin is a virtual currency that is unregulated by any central bank or government, but still works for purchasing goods and services from retailers willing to accept it. It can also be traded on an open market that fluctuates much like a stock market. Bitcoin is a distributed peer-to-peer digital currency that functions without the inter-mediation of any central authority. Bitcoin is also called a ”cryptocurrency” since it is decentralized and uses cryptography to prevent double-spending, a significant challenge inherent to digital currencies.
2.William C Lowe (72), who pioneered the conception and manufacturing of IBM’s first personal computer, passed away in Lake Forest, Illinois.
3.Kirit Parikh committee on Pricing Methodology for Diesel, Domestic LPG and PDS Kerosene has recommended a price increase of Rs 5 / litre in diesel, Rs 4/ litre in kerosene, and Rs 250 in LPG cylinder with immediate effect.
4.DRDO (Defence Research and Development Organization) has developed a new tactical surface-to-surface missile Pragati which has a range between 60-170 km. India will offer the missile to friendly nations.
5.Astronomers have discovered a new planet called Kepler 78b which has a similar mass and density to that of Earth. The planet revolves around a star 400 light years away.
6.In a ruling that would affect the functioning of bureaucracy in the country, the apex court held that bureaucrats must be given an assured minimum tenure in posting. The SC bench observed that fixed tenure of bureaucrats would promote professionalism, efficiency and good governance and that much of the deterioration in the functioning of bureaucracy is due to political interference. In this regard, the court directed the Centre and state governments to pass an order within 3 months on giving fixed tenure to civil servants.
7.The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) performed a glitch free rehearsal of India’s first mission to the Red Planet designated the Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) at Sriharikota centre. The MOM is scheduled for launch at 2.38pm on November 5, 2013.
About India’s Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) ‘Mangalyan’:
The Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) has been named ‘Mangalyan‘
To be launched onboard PSLV C25 on November 5, 2013 at 14:36 hours from the first launch pad of Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota.
India’s first interplanetary mission to planet Mars with an orbiter craft designed to orbit Mars in an elliptical orbit.
It will reach Martian transfer trajectory in September 2014. Subsequently, it is planned to enter into a 372 km by 80000 km elliptical orbit around Mars.
8.It is for the first time Turkey has joined its European and Asian sides by inaugurating a railway tunnel thereby also fulfilling a vision first proposed by Ottoman sultan Abdulmejid about 150 years ago to connect the two continents.
The Europe-Asia linking tunnel:
The tunnel is 13.6km long, with 1.4km running under the Bosphorus, the strait that connects the Black Sea to the Sea of Marmara, and divides Istanbul between Asia and Europe. The tunnel is part of a larger “Marmaray” project that also includes an upgrade of existing suburban train lines to create a 76-kilometre (47-mile) line that links the two continents. Built at more than 55-metres underground, it will be the deepest submerged railway tunnel of its type in the world.
9.The World Bank approved financial aissistance of $250 million for Uttarakhand, in the wake of rains and landslides that wreaked havoc in the state in June 2013. The fund would be used to help the state undertake rehabilitation work and improve its capacity for disaster management.
10.The RBI in its second quarter review of monetary policy reduced the growth forecast for current fiscal 2013-14 to 5% from the earlier projection of 5.5%. The RBI had projected a growth of 5.5% for 2013-14 in its first quarter monetary policy on July 30, 2013. The economy grew by 4.4% in the first (April- June) quarter of current fiscal. It had expanded by 5% 2012-13 fiscal, the lowest level in a decade.
11.As per the latest ‘Ease of Doing Business’ rankings of 189 economies released by the World Bank, India has fallen three spot to 134th rank. In terms of ‘starting a business’ India has been positioned lower at 179th. This is when the government is making efforts to improve the business environment in the country. The list is topped by Singapore.
12.NGO the Harmony Foundation honored former Miss Universe Sushmita Sen with the Mother Teresa Memorial International Award 2013 for her efforts towards achieving social justice in Mumbai. Along with Sushmita Sen, seven individuals and an association, India Rescue Mission, were also awarded the Mother Teresa Memorial International Award for Social Justice 2013 for their contributions in the field of human rights and community development.
13.Air Marshal Arup Raha who is presently the Vice Chief of Air Staff will be the next Chief of the Air Staff of Indian Air Force. He will assume the position after the retirement of the present Chief of the Air Staff NAK Browne on December 31, 2013. Air Marshal Arup Raha is presently the Vice Chief of Air Staff.
14.Government of India appointed P.S. Raghvan as the next Ambassador of India to Russia.
15.The Ministry of Overseas Indian Affair launched a scheme named Mahatma Gandhi Pravasi Suraksha Yojana in Dubai. The scheme is a pension and life insurance fund scheme for blue-collar Indian workers in UAE.
16.As per the Second Quarter Review of Monetary Policy 2013-14 released by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), the Repo rate has been increased by 25 basis points from 7.5% percent to 7.75% keeping in view the surge in inflation and other factors.
Key points of the Second Quarter Review of Monetary Policy 2013-14:
Marginal Standing Facility (MSF) rate slashed by 25 basis points from 9% to 8.75%.
Policy repo rate under the Liquidity Adjustment Facility (LAF) hiked by 25 basis points from 7.5% to 7.75%.
The liquidity provided through term repos of 7-day and 14-day tenor has been enhanced from 0.25% of Net Demand and Time Liabilities (NDTL) of the banking system to 0.5%.
Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) untouched at 4%.
The GDP growth projection for 2013-14 has been reduced to 5% from previous 5.7%.
17.The Red Bull driver Sebastian Vettel won the Indian Grand Prix organized at the Buddh International Circuit in Noida, India.
Registering his third successive victory in the Indian Grand Prix he left behind four former world champions Fernando Alonso, Kimi Raikkonen, Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button.
18.Providing clarification over the recently included NOTA (None Of The Above) option in EVM/ Ballot paper in the upcoming polls as directed by the apex court, the Election Commission (EC) said that if the number of electors who had voted for the NOTA option exceeded the votes polled by any of the candidates, the candidate with the highest number of votes would be declared winner.
Clarification from the EC over NOTA option:
As per the provisions of clause (a) of Rule 64 of Conduct of Elections Rules, 1961, read with Section 65 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, the candidate who has polled the largest number of valid votes is to be declared elected by the Returning Officer. Therefore, even if the number of electors opting for NOTA option is more than the number of votes polled by any of the candidates, the candidate who secures the largest number of votes has to be declared elected.
In case the number of contesting candidates is equal to the number of seats to be filled, the Returning Officer has to declare all the contesting candidates to be duly elected. In the case of elections to the Lok Sabha and the Legislative Assemblies, where there is only one contesting candidate in the fray, the RO has to, under the relevant provisions, declare the sole contestant as elected.
19.The National Commission for Scheduled Tribes chaired by Dr. Rameshwar Oraon presented the Sixth Report on working of safeguard for Scheduled Tribes for 2010-11 to the President of India.
National Commission for Scheduled Tribes:
The National Commission for Scheduled Tribes came into existence w.e.f. February 19, 2004 following the amendment of Article 338 of the Constitution of India and introduction of a new Article 338A vide the Constitution ( 89thAmendment) Act, 2003 which, inter-alia, enjoins upon the Commission to oversee the implementation of various safeguards provided to Scheduled Tribes under the Constitution or under any other law for the time being in force or under any other order of the Government and to evaluate the working of such safeguards.
20.As per the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), India’s Forex reserves increased for a third consecutive week adding rasing it by $1.9 billion to touch $281.12 billion on account of growth in a key component.
In the previous week, the reserves had jumped by $1.51 billion to $279.24 billion. As per RBI, Foreign Currency Assets (FCAs), which form the largest portion of the reserves, jumped $1.8 billion to $252.7 billion in the same period of review.
21.Commemorating the centenary of legendary polymath Rabindranath Tagore (Gurudev) receiving the Nobel Prize for Literature, Swedish Ambassador Harald Sandberg inaugurated the Nobel Memorial Wall, a permanent structure set up in the Kolkata’s Esplanade Metro Railway station, where portraits of the seven Nobel Laureates from India, including Tagore, are displayed.
Author of Gitanjali and its “profoundly sensitive, fresh and beautiful verse”, Tagore was the first non-European to win the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1913.
22.France conferred its highest civilian award ‘Chevalier de la Legion d’Honneur’ on social worker and founder of NGO Naz Foundation Anjali Gopalan for her work on transgenders and HIV positive patients.
23.A pact to establish a mega LNG terminal was inked between the State owned GAIL and Paradeep Port. With the realization of this project, Odisha will soon be highlighted on the world map of natural gas business.
Under this project, GAIL will set up the terminal – Floating Storage Regasification Unit at a cost of over Rs 3100 crore.
The gas terminal will have an initial capacity of 4 million tonne per annum in first phase. The storage capacity of the unit will be 170,000 cubic metres. In the second phase, 4 million ton capacity will be added enhancing its capacity to 4.8 million tons. It will be operational by 2017.
24.Bollywood actor Shahrukh Khan has been appointed as the Goodwill Ambassador for South Korea. He has been appointed as the public diplomat as well as an ambassador of India’s soft power.
As a Goodwill Ambassador he will visit South Korea before the maiden visit of South Korea President Park Geun-hye. It must be recalled that India and South Korea have already inked a civil nuclear pact but it is still not operational.
25.The Odisha Government has imposed a seven-month fishing ban within 20 km from the river mouths of Dhamara, Devi and Rusikulya in Gamjam district for safeguard nests of endangered Olive Ridley sea turtles.
26.As per the the China-based Hurun India Rich List, Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani is India’s richest man with personal assets of $18.9 billion. Mr. Ambani retained the top rank for the second consecutive year even after a wealth decline of 2%.
According to the list, the top rich persons are:
Mukesh Ambani : Chairman Reliance Industries
L.N. Mittal: Chairman and CEO of ArcelorMittal, the world’s largest steelmaking company based in London ($15.9 billion)
Dilip Shanghvi : Founder of Sun Pharmaceuticals
Azim Premji: Chairman Wipro ($12 billion)
Shiv Nadar: HCL Technology’s ($8.6 billion)
Kumar Mangalam Birla: Chairman Grasim Industries ($8.4 billion)
Adi Godrej: Chairman Godrej Group’s ($8.1 billion)
Pallonji Mistry: Chairman Shapoorji Pallonji & Co ($8 billion)
Shashi & Ravi Ruia: Essar Energy ($7.6 billion)
Sunil Mittal: Chaiman Bharti Airtel ($7.3 billion)
Anil Ambani: Chairman Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group ($7.1 billion)
27.India revoked the ban it had imposed on Nepal to supply it military equipment. Marking the end of the eight-year old ban, India has supplied some of the equipment, including vehicles and arms, it had promised to provide to Nepal ahead of crucial polls to be held in November 2013.
28.The Geneva-based World Economic Forum (WEF) placed India at a low 101st rank on a Global Gender Gap Index which ranked 136 nations on how well resources and opportunities are divided between men and women in four broad areas of economy, politics, education and health. Despite India’s improvement on the Index by four positions since 2012, the performance indicates poor state of affairs in gender parity.
Key observations of Global Gender Gap Index :
Ranked very high at 9th place for political empowerment
Placed at second-lowest position (135th) for health and survival
Ranked at a low of 124th for economic participation and opportunity
Positioned at 120th for educational attainment
Among five BRICS nations, it still remains lowest-ranked
Who are the top performing countries on Global Gender Gap Index 2013?
Top-10 positions on the global have been retained by:
Iceland
Finland
Norway
29.The India and Bangladesh extradition treaty came into effect with the handing over of the instruments of ratification. The treaty was signed in January 2013.
30.The Finance Ministry has finalized the Rs.14, 000 crore capital infusion plan for public sector banks to strengthen their capital base, and promised another share in the fourth quarter of the current fiscal. The capital infusion would ensure that banks had 8% Tier-1 capital by the end of the current fiscal year.
31.In another major confidence building measure between India and China, both nations inked Trans-Border River Agreement (TBRA). The pact extends a previous MoU to provide hydrological date in the flood season to cover a longer time period. Unlike the current agreement, the new one is not just about sharing data, but has expanded the scope to discuss other issues of mutual interest.
Besides this, 2014 has been designated as a year of Friendly Exchanges between India and China and both nations are to discuss with Myanmar ways to mark the 60th anniversary of the Panchsheel.
32.The Empowered Committee on film certification chaired by Justice Mukul Mudgal has mandated that no State government can order the suspension of a film.
33.New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg has been selected for the inaugural Genesis Prize – an award popularly dubbed the Jewish Nobel Prize given by the Government of Israel. Bloomberg has been chosen for the award in recognition to his long record of public service and philanthropy. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will present the prize to Bloomberg in May 2014 in Israel.
34.Prabodh Chandra Dey ( a.k.a. “Manna Dey“) (94) passed away.
Manna Dey was a versatile Indian playback singer. Manna Dey sang mainly in Hindi and Bengali. He also recorded songs in several other Indian languages like Bhojpuri, Punjabi, Assameese, Oriya, Gujarathi, Marathi, Kannada, Malayalam.
Debut as a playback singer in the film Tamanna (1942)
Career (years active) : 1942-2013
Recorded more than 4000 songs
Some key Awards:
Dadasaheb Phalke Award (2007)
Padma Bhushan (2005)
Padma Shri (1971)
35.Researchers from Zurich (Switzerland) have revealed the world’s first walking, talking bionic man called Frank, short for Frankenstein
Researchers have engineered the world’s first robot human or Bionic man made entirely of prosthetic parts. It can walk, talk and has a beating heart. The robot has been developed by Roboticists Rich Walker and Matthew Godden of Shadow Robot Co in England.
To develop the Bionic man, scientists assembled prosthetic body parts and artificial organs donated by laboratories around the world.
36.The Ministry of Corporate Affairs approved the name “Tata SIA Airlines Ltd.” to be used for the proposed aviation venture of TATA with Singapore Airlines(SIA) which plans to offer full-service passengers sevices on domestic and international routes.
The initial investment in the project is estimated to be $100 million, with Tata Sons injecting $51 million for a 51% stake and Singapore Airlines pumping in $49 million for the remaining 49%. This is the third proposal in the aviation sector since the Government permitted 49% FDI in domestic airlines in September 2012.
Although Tata is already into a separate joint aviation venture with AirAsia and Telstra Tradeplace for a low-cost airline, there will be no conflict of interest as the two airlines do not compete in the same space.
37.Showing disappointment over the inability of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) to end the war in Syria and act on other Middle East issues, Saudi Arabia refused an esteemed seat on the UNSC.
38.Legendary vocalist Lata Mangeshkar was presented the first national Yash Chopra Memorial Award by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting as a mark of tribute to the legendary filmmaker Yash Chopra on the eve of his first death anniversary.
39.Researchers from Fudan University, Shanghai have developed a new cheaper way of getting connected to the internet through light bulbs instead of radio frequencies. The new technology is dubbed as Li-Fi (Light Fidelity) and an alternative to currently popular Wi-Fi (Wireless Fidelity).
40.The President of India Pranab Mukherjee gave his assent to the Uttarakhand Lokayukta Bill. With this the Uttarakhand Lokayukta Bill became an Act. The Lokayukta Act is aimed at curbing corruption in the Uttarakhand state.
41.India’s largest 84-meter tall Air Traffic Control (ATC) tower of India was inaugurated outside the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport, Mumbai.
42.The Union Cabinet has given nod to the proposal for construction of a 14-km all-weather tunnel at Zojila pass in Ladakh region. The project would require Rs 9000 crore investment to ensure undisrupted round-the-year connectivity between Ladakh and Srinagar. The Zojila pass is located at an altitude of 11578 ft on the Srinagar-Kargil-Leh National Highway (NH-1), which remains closed during the winter season due to heavy snowfall and inclement weather.
43.nion Government of India appointed Gireesh B. Pradhan, former Secretary of Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, as the Chairperson of the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC).
44.ICICI Bank CEO and MD, Ms Chanda Kochhar has been ranked 4th in Fortune magazine’s global list of top-50 women business leaders. The list is topped by Brazilian energy giant Petrobras’ CEO, Maria Das Gracas Foster.
Other Indians making it to the list were:-
- National Stock Exchange chief Ms Chitra Ramkrishna (17th)
- Axis Bank’s CEO Ms Shikha Sharma (32nd)
- HSBC’s Country Head of India, Ms Naina Lal Kidwai (42nd)
45.New Zealand author Ms Eleanor Catton became the youngest winner of the Man Booker Prize for fiction. She claimed the award for her novel “The Luminaries”.
“The Luminaries” is the longest book ever to win the Booker Prize .
Ms Eleanor Catton is the youngest author ever to win the Booker Prize.
46.“Global Slavery Index” published by the Australia-based Walk Free Foundation, ranked India first in terms of number of modern day slaves in the world. The index has ranked 162 countries based on 3 factors:-
Estimated prevalence of modern slavery (including practices such as debt bondage, etc.)
A measure of child marriage (including forced marriage)
A measure of human trafficking in and out of a country (including sale or exploitation of children as well as human trafficking and forced labour)
There are 29.6 million people in modern slavery globally out of which 13.3 to 14.7 million live in India.
47.As per the anti-corruption watchdog “Transparency International”, 6 Tata Group companies, Bharti Airtel and Mahindra & Mahindra were in its list of top 10 list of corporate entities among emerging market economies in terms of transparency in corporate reporting.
Tata Communications
Tata Global Beverages and Tata Steel
Bharti Airtel
48.India’s telecom subscriber base expanded marginally to reach 90.44 crore in July 2013, as per latest telecom subscription data from TRAI (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India).
Total number of subscribers: 904.46 million
Net addition: 1.37 million subscribers during July
Subscriber base from Urban areas: 548.85 million
Subscriber base from Rural areas: 355.60 million
Teledensity: 73.54 (Out of this urban: 60.68% and rural: 39.32%)
Mobile Number Portability (MNP) requests: 97.82 million at end of July 2013 (was 95.59 million at June 2013 end)
49.American Economist Eugene Fama won the Nobel prize for economics for developing new methods to study trends in asset markets. He is one of the three American Economists who won Nobel Prize for Economic Sciences. He shared Nobel for Economic Sciences jointly with Robert Shiller and Lars Peter Hansen.
Eugene Francis “Gene” Fama is known for his work on portfolio theory and asset pricing. Fama is regarded as the father of the “Efficient Market Hypothesis”. In 1970 issue of the Journal of Finance, entitled “Efficient Capital Markets: A Review of Theory and Empirical Work,” Fama gave the concept of EMH (Efficient Market Hypothesis).
50.As per Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) Chairman T. S. Vijayan, the insurance industry will undergo another round of regulatory reforms, particularly focused on distribution channel, to instill growth.
51.The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) won the Nobel Peace Prize 2013 for its extensive efforts to eliminate chemical weapons. The award was announced by Nobel Committee chairman Thorbjoern Jagland.
What is OPCW? What are its award-winning efforts?
The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) is an independent, international body established in 1997 to implement the Chemical Weapons Convention. It has a working relationship with the UN.
The organization is currently working in destroying Syria’s chemical weapons stockpiles which marks as the first time the OPCW is working in a war zone.
52.Karan Thapar, well-known television journalist, has been honored with the International Press Institute (IPI) India Award for Excellence in Journalism. The jury for this award chose Mr. Thapar ‘for his sharp interviews on the Devil’s Advocate programme on CNN IBN’.
53.Famous agricultural scientist MS Swaminathan has been selected for the Indira Gandhi Award for National Integration for the year 2012.
54.Pakistani teen activist Malala Yousafzai, who survived bullet-injury inflicted by the Taliban for championing girls’ education has won the European Union’s (EU) Sakharov Human Rights Prize 2013. Past winners of the Sakharov Prize include South African anti apartheid hero Nelson Mandela and former UN secretary general Kofi Annan.
55.International Day of the Girl Child was observed globally on October 11, 2013 to recognize the girls’ rights and the unique challenges girls face around the world.
56.Ms Janet L. Yellen as the new head of the Federal Reserve Board. She will replace Ben Bernanke as Chair of the Federal Reserve Board. Prior to her nomination, Yellen served as vice Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. She would be the first woman to lead the Federal Reserve Board and also the first Democrat to head the Board since 1979.
57.The Nobel Prize in Chemistry for 2013 will be shared by Michael Levitt, a British and US citizen, US-Austrian Martin Karplus and US-Israeli Arieh Warshel. As per Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences who announces the names for the awards, the Nobel Laureates in Chemistry 2013 have made it possible to map the mysterious ways of chemistry by using computers.
What are the Nobel winning contributions of Levitt, Karplus and Warshel?
The trio has been credited for the development of multi scale models for complex chemical systems.
They devised computer simulations to understand chemical processes. Their works laid the foundations for new kinds of pharmaceuticals and contributed to exploring multiple options in cyber space.
58.The Nobel committee has announced the winners of the 2013 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine. The Prize has been awarded to three scientists, James E. Rothman, Randy W. Schekman and Thomas C. Sudhof, all based in the USA for working out how biological cells organize and transport the many molecules they need to function.
59.The Nobel Prize in physics has been announced to be given to physicists Francois Englert of Belgium and Peter Higgs of Britain for their theoretical discoveries on how subatomic particles acquire mass.
What is the special contribution of Englert and Higgs to physics?
Both the scientists have been credited for their theoretical works on Higgs boson which they theorized in 1960s. They proposed a mechanism to explain why the most basic building blocks of the Universe have mass. Their theories were confirmed last year by the discovery of the so-called Higgs particle or ‘God-particle’, also known as the Higgs boson, at the famous CERN(European Organization for Nuclear Research) laboratory in Geneva. But it would still take decades for the scientists at CERN to confirm its existence.
60.In a historic event, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh inaugurated the India- Bangladesh Grid interconnection in Bangladesh through a video-conference. The key 71-km Baharampur-Bheramara transmission link between the electricity grids of the two countries will boost the ties between the two nations. The link would facilitate cross-border electricity transfer of up to 500 mega watt (MW) from India to Bangladesh.
61.Stock market regulator, the Securities Exchange Board of India (SEBI) announced Foreign Portfolio Investor (FPI) regulations aimed at wooing foreign investors. SEBI, through these new rules, intends to ease the registration process and operating framework for foreign investors. Under FPIs, SEBI has included all Foreign Institutional Investors (FII) and Qualified Foreign Investors (QFI).
62.Arundhati Bhattacharya, Managing Director and Chief Financial Officer of State Bank of India, has become its first woman Chairman. She succeeds Pratip Chaudhuri who retired as Chairman on September 30, 2013. Bhattacharya, who joined SBI as a probationary officer in 1977, will be at the apex position of the bank until March 2016.
63.With an aim to further strengthen trade and tourism links between the two cities, the Indira Gandhi International Airport (Delhi) and Birmingham Airport entered into an MoU called Sister Airport Agreement.
64.The Reserve Bank of India has reduced one of the key short-term borrowing rate, the Marginal Standing Facility (MSF), by 50 basis points to 9.0%. The step has been taken as the rupee has recovered 11.4% after hitting an all-time low of 68.85 to the dollar on August 28, 2013.
What is MSF?
Marginal Standing Facility (MSF) was introduced by the Reserve Bank of India in 2011-12 as part of its monetary policy. Under this facility, banks can borrow funds from RBI at a fixed rate, which is, normally, 1% or 100 basis points above the Liquidity Adjustment Facility-repo rate, against pledging Government securities (G-Sec). Banks can borrow funds through MSF when there is a considerable shortfall of liquidity. This measure was introduced by RBI to regulate short-term asset liability mismatches more effectively.
65.A number of government bodies, NGOs and private companies have formed a coalition named Alliance for Affordable Internet (A4AI) which aims at reducing the cost of internet access worldwide. The coalition will push for policy and regulatory reforms to bring down the cost of bandwidth in developing and poor countries, where cost of internet access remains exorbitant.
66.As per the World Bank report- Migration and Remittance Flows: Recent Trends and Outlook-2013-16, India is the largest recipient of foreign remittances among developing economies in 2013.
Migration and Remittance Flows: Recent Trends and Outlook-2013-16 report:
Non-Resident Indians (NRI) remitted a record $71 billion in 2013 compared to $70 billion in 2012.
67.India launched its first indigenously produced vaccine against Japanese Encephalitis (JE), a mosquito-borne viral infection that affects the central nervous system.
The vaccine named JENVAC has been jointly developed by the National Institute of Virology, Indian Council of Medical Research and Bharat Biotech Ltd.
68.Government of India set up a four member committee headed by Arvind Mayaram, Economic Affairs Secretary to clear the ambiguity between Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and Foreign Institutional Investment (FII). The panel will look into the difference between them and it will also give definition of FDI and FII.
69.The network of the US –based software maker Adobe Systems which makes software such as Photoshop, Reader and Creative Cloud, was hacked by cyber attackers exposing financial information of its 2.9 million customers.
70.Having unable to pass the annual budget, the US government has been shut down for the first time in past 17 years. The Democratic Party failed to break the impasse over the contentious President Barack Obama’s health care law which is the central issue behind the opposition.
71.The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) gave clearance to Jet Airways proposed sale of 24% equity to Abu Dhabi-based Etihad Airways, setting stage for the biggest ever foreign investment in the Indian aviation sector.
72.As per the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), India’s Current Account Deficit (CAD) for the first quarter ended June 2013 has widened to 4.9% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) compared to 4% in the same period of the previous financial year owing to a rise in imports and some decline in merchandise exports.
If we subtract the increase in gold imports of $7.3 billion in the first quarter of 2013-14 over the corresponding quarter of the preceding year the CAD works out to $14.5 billion, which means 3.2% of GDP.