August Current Affairs (8-14)

National Affairs
Cabinet clears whistleblower protection bill
THE Union Cabinet has cleared a bill to protect whistleblowers and punish those exposing identity of people disclosing information. It is officially called ‘The Public Interest Disclosure and Protection to Persons Making the Disclosure Bill, 2010’ which provides the Central Vigilance Commission powers of a civil court to hand down harsh penalty to people revealing identity of whistleblowers.

July 25-31 Current Affairs

NATIONAL AFFAIRS
Centre finalising urban health mission
The Centre is in the process of finalising the National Urban Health Mission (NUHM) to provide better healthcare facilities to urban slumdwellers. The ambitious Rs.33,000-crore scheme is expected to bring within its purview domestic helps, vegetable vendors, vulnerable populations such as migrants, rag-pickers and street children.

July 8-14 Current Affairs

NATIONAL UPDATES

India, Iran ink 6 pacts; to boost strategic cooperation

Iran has once again broached the possibility of signing a Bilateral Investment Protection Agreement (BIPA) with India, which could increase bilateral trade to $30 billions.

The six pacts which were signed during the meeting were –

July 1-7 Current Affairs

National Updates
Sharad Pawar ICC chief

Former BCCI President Sharad Pawar formally took over as the International Cricket Council President, succeeding Englishman David Morgan. The 70-year-old Pawar, who is also a serving union minister in the Indian government, begins a two-year term as ICC President and on taking over lauded Morgan for his "impressive innings" during the last two years.

Commercial paper

It is an unsecured money market instrument, usually issued by top-rated corporates to meet their working capital requirements. The instrument was introduced in 1990 to Indian borrowers and initially such issues were confined only to corporates. Subsequently, primary dealers were also permitted to issue CP to enable them to meet their short-term funding requirements. CP can be issued for tenors ranging from a minimum of 15 days to a maximum up to one year. CPs can also be traded in the secondary market by investors.

International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS)

What is IFRS? 

IFRS is a set of accounting standards developed by the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB)—an independent group of 15 experts—that is steadily becoming the global standard for the preparation of financial statements of public companies. 

Rebranding of Indian rupee-How it will support the economy and its growth

The Indian rupee will soon get its own unique symbol, joining the dollar, pound sterling, euro and the yen as international currencies with an identity that is instantly recognizable worldwide. The proposed symbol will appropriately reflect and capture the Indian ethos and culture.

Five designs had been shortlisted by the government following an all-India contest and media reports suggest the Cabinet will choose the winning entry (from the following five) this week.

FAQ on Baste Rate

What is the base rate (BR)? 
It is the minimum rate of interest that a bank is allowed to charge from its customers. Unless mandated by the government, RBI rule stipulates that no bank can offer loans at a rate lower than BR to any of its customers.

Non Performing Assets

Non-performing assets are bad loans. Any asset, including a leased asset, becomes non performing when it ceases to generate income for the bank. As per the guidelines issued by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), banks classify an account as NPA only if the interest due and charged during any quarter is not serviced fully within 90 days from the end of the quarter.

June 15-22 Current Affairs

NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL UPDATES

India, South Korea to launch talks for civil nuclear pact

India and South Korea agreed to launch negotiations for a civil nuclear energy agreement, even as economic ties continued to expand after implementation of a comprehensive economic pact. This was discussed during a India-South Korea joint commission meeting in Seoul on Friday, which was chaired by Indian External Affairs minister S. M. Krishna and Korean Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Yu Myung-hwan. The negotiations are expected to pave the way for South Korea to export a nuclear power plant to India. South Korea was among the countries that had supported India in the Nuclear Suppliers Group lifting restrictions on civil nuclear trade. 

11 June 2010

NATION & POLITICS

Indian Art Attains Glory

A PAINTING by Syed Haider Raza sold at Christie's for £2.4 million (Rs 16.42 crore) , making it a record for any modern or contemporary Indian work of art. Saurashtra, a 7-foothigh, richly-coloured abstract dating from 1983, had been expected to sell for £1.3-1.8 million.

This comes after a collection of 152 works by one of the country’s priciest modern artists, FN Souza, on Wednesday night fetched £5.4 million with fees, exceeding a presale upper forecast of £2.3 million, based on hammer prices.

The work, with his famous bindu, embodied a growing and strong India. Now, he has taken India and its art to greater heights: the bindu symbolising the growing importance of Indian art.

US pressured Rajiv, implies Digvijay

CONGRESS general secretary Digvijay Singh painted an oversized bulls-eye on his party’s back for the Opposition to target when he said that “American pressure” could have prompted the then government at the Centre to offer safe passage to Union Carbide’s Warren Anderson.

April 1-14 current affairs

                                 NATIONAL UPDATES

India, Australia sign agreement to boost education ties
Despite the attacks on its student community in Australia, HRD minister Kapil Sibel signed an agreement to boost educational cooperation In view of strengthening the bilateral relationship. New Delhi wants to take the “relationship forward” with Canberra.
The aim of the ministerial statement is to strengthen what is already a solid partnership with the Indian government and open up more avenues to share expertise in the education arena.
An India-Australia Education Council comprising experts from both countries will now be set up. The relations between India and Australia had soured following several attacks on Indian students Down Under. A travel advisory had also been issued to Indian students coming to
Australia.

15th National Census 2011, a Biometric census, exercise kicks off

• It is the 15th national census since 1872.
• Census in taken once in ten years
• President Pratibha Patil became the first person to participate in the decennial exercise.
• 11-month exercise will enumerate the country's 1.2 billion population
• It has over 25 lakh enumerators working to capture the socio-economic and cultural profile of
• Indians, will also seek information for the creation of the first-ever National Population Register (NPR).
• NPR would also take the photographs and fingerprints of all persons over 15 years to create biometric national database.
• The Census operation will cost around Rs 2,209 crore
• The creation of NPR is set to cost about Rs 3,539.24 crore.
• India will be the first democratic nation having got fingerprinted
• For the first time, information about the ownership of mobile phones, computers, internet, and availability of treated and untreated drinking-water facility will be recorded.
• Entire exercise would be completed by March 5, 2011Results in mid-2011
• It is worth noting that first and last caste based census was taken in 1931
  
  
  
  

June 1-7 Current Affairs

                                         National updates

UPA report card: PM gives cautious pat on back, lists challenges
Presenting his government's report on completion of first year, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today vowed to fight terrorism "root and branch" and enforce the writ of the State in dealing with naxalism and political extremism.
A 107-page 'The Report to the People -- 2009-10', which was unveiled by Singh and UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi, highlighted 12 major themes of the government's priority.
These cover areas like economic resurgence, internal security, education, health, child rights, food security, empowerment of women, weaker sections and minorities, rural renewal and foreign relations.
Naxalism & extremism
Government's determined to fight terrorism "root and branch" and deal with Naxalism "firmly" while addressing developmental issues.  An amount of Rs 668.61 crore has been released during 2009-10 under the schemes for Modernisation of Police Forces (Rs 578.61 crore), Security Related Expenditure (Rs 60 crore) and Special Infrastructure Scheme (Rs 30 crore) to left wing extremism affected states.  A sum of Rs 1230 crore has been released to all the states for modernisation of state police forces.