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.

August 1-7 Weekly Current Affairs

National Updates
Centre seeks to spend 54,589 crore more this fiscal
The government today sought parliamentary approval for additional spending. The total supplementary demand for grants is pegged at 68,294.30 crore, but the actual cash outgo will be 54,588.63 crore because of 13,705.09 crore in internal savings.Part of the extra demand is for unforeseen expenditure such as a special police force for Naxal-hit areas, but much of it is for rural development, education and to compensate oil companies for selling fuel below market rates.

CAT-20 for Banking Exam and other public services

1. Where ASEAN 2011 would be held?
a) Inodnesia
b) Maldives
c) Hanoi
d) Mexico

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.

Credit-deposit ratio and its implication

What is credit-deposit ratio (CDR)?
It is the proportion of loan-assets created by banks from the deposits received. In simpler words, credit-deposit ratio is loans divided by deposits. The higher the ratio, the higher the loan-assets created from deposits.

CAT-17 for Bank Examinations and other public service exams

1. Kosovo nation got independence from which of the following country?
a) North Korea
b) Nigeria
c) Serbia
d) Spain

July 15-24 Current Affairs

National affairs
Three year plan structure for GST Regime
Goods and services tax (GST), which is to replace existing VAT, service tax, excise duties and central sales tax among others, will be placed from April 1, 2011. Pranab Mukerjee has unveiled a three-rate structure for GST which would finally converge into a single-rate regime of 16% on all goods and services.
 Under the GST regime, there will ultimately be a flat tax rate of 16% — 8% for central GST and 8% for state GST and the proposed three tier structure for the new indirect tax regime-  20 per cent for goods, 16 per cent for services and 12 per cent for essential items. As per the formula, the Centre and the states will equally share t he revenue.

Dispute over ULIPs (for interview perspective)

Ulips are hybrid instruments serving dual need of insurance and investment. and where a part of the amount paid by sub-scribers is invested and a small portion goes towards insurance pre-mium. SEBI passed an order in April this year saying that regulation of Ulips should be its responsibility rather than IRDA’s, as the funds were mostly invested in stock markets. Sebi had justified it by saying that in some of the products 90% of the money was channelised into markets and not insurance. On April 9, it had banned 14 insurance companies from selling ULIPs without its approval, saying they needed to register with the market regulator. This was opposed by IRDA, which asked insurance compa-nies to ignore the directive. The finance ministry intervened and asked both sides to seek legal recourse to the problem. 

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.

CAT -16 Central Bank of India General Awareness

1. Which of the following falls in the range of GDP growth predicted by RBI for 2010-11?
a) 7%
b) 7.5%
c) 6.9%
d) 8%
e) None of these

April 15-30 Current Affairs

NATIONAL UPDATES
India's first indigenous stealth warship INS Shivalik commissioned‎

It's a ship that is designed to escape detection by normal radars and surveillance equipment. Special aerodynamics, equipment and material used in designing and building these ships makes it very difficult to monitor their movements. That's why they are called 'stealth frigates.'It's called the INS Shivalik, and it's the first ship built by India designed to escape detection by normal radars and surveillance equipment. 

Indian rupee gets a symbol, joins elite currency club

India has finally got a symbol for the Rupee and joined a select club of countries whose currencies have an unique identity. The Union Cabinet approved the design, which includes both the Devnagiri 'Ra' and the Roman capital 'R' and has two parallel lines running at the top. 

The parallel lines symbolise the equal to sign.

The new symbol, designed by Bombay IIT post-graduate D Udaya Kumar, was approved by the cabinet today — reflecting that the Indian currency, backed by an over-trillion dollar economy, was finally making its presence felt on the international scene. 

CAT-13 for Banking Exams and Other Public Service Exams

1. The Swarna Jayanti Swarozgar Yojna (SGSY) , a poverty alleviation scheme, has been renamed as -
a) MNREGA
b) NRHM
c) NRLM
d) RSBY

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.

June 23-30 Current Affairs

NATIONAL UPDATES

India, Canada sign civil nuclear deal

INDIA concluded an agreement for Cooperation in Peaceful Uses of Nuclear Energy, to enable civil nuclear commerce between the countries. Canada is the ninth nation to enter into such an agreement with India, after India obtained its crucial waiver from the Nuclear Suppliers’ Group in 2008. The other eight are the US, Russia, France, the UK, Argentina, Kazakhstan and Mongolia. 

CAT -10 Canara Bank PO General Awareness for Bank exams

1. What is the repo rate currently?
a) 5%
b) 6%
c) 5.25%
d) 3.75%