to 30 Jun Starred Articles - TESTfundafiles.testfunda.com/Content/ZeusToolsAssets/Content/...Bank...

Bank GKCA Update 1st to 30th Jun

www.testfunda.com of 15

Starred Articles

Telangana born as 29th state, KCR becomes first chief minister India > Telangana Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) chief K Chandrasekhar Rao took over as the first chief minister of Telangana as the stroke of midnight hour heralded its birth as the 29th state of the Union.

Welcoming the formation of Telangana, Prime Minister Narendra Modi promised complete central support to the new state.

It is for the first time since 2000 - when three new states of Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Uttarakhand were carved out of Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh respectively during NDA's rule at the Centre - that a new state has been created.

RBI slashes SLR by 50 bps, keeps repo rate unchanged Economy > RBI With consumer price inflation coming down this year, Reserve Bank of India has kept the key policy repo rate unchanged at 8 per cent while to increase the availability of credit, it has reduced statutory liquidity ratio by 50 basis points to 22.5 per cent of deposits, starting in mid-June.

Background:

Statutory liquidity ratio (SLR) refers amount that the commercial banks require to maintain in the form of gold or govt. approved securities before providing credit to the customers. It is determined and maintained by the Reserve Bank of India in order to control the expansion of bank credit. It is determined as percentage of total demand and time liabilities.

World Environment Day celebrated on 5th June World > World Environment Day World Environment Day was celebrated across the world on 5th of June. This year, the event is being globally hosted by Barbados, a small Caribbean island, leading the way in solar energy. Barbados is the first Small Island Developing State to host the World Environment Day. The theme for this year is `Small Island Developing States and Climate Change`, and the official slogan is `Raise Your Voice, Not the Sea Level`. Environmentalists and leaders from governmental, non-governmental organisations, and NGOs met at the conference to chalk out plans for environmental protection.

Rafael Nadal wins French Open Men’s Singles; Maria Sharapova becomes Women’s Singles champion Sports > French Open 2014 Spain’s Rafael Nadal, the current World no. 1 Tennis player, defeated Serbian player and World no. 2 Novak Djokovic to win the Men’s singles title in the French Open 2014. The victory made Nadal the first tennis player to have won 5 consecutive French Open titles. This was Nadal’s 9th French Open title and his 14th Grand Slam title. This equals him to legendary player Pete Sampras who also has 14 Grand Slam Singles titles, only 3 behind the leader Roger Federer who has 17.

03 Jun

02 Jun

08 Jun

05 Jun

http://www.testfunda.com/

http://testfunda.com/



In the second longest match for a women's singles final in the French Open, Russia’s Maria Sharapova defeated Simon Halep of Romania to win the women’s singles title. This was Maria’s fifth Grand Slam title and the second one at French Open.

Julien Benneteau and Edouard Roger-Vasselin of France won the Men’s doubles title, their first ever Grand Slam, beating Spaniards Marc Lopez and Marcel Granollers. In the French Open women's doubles, Peng Shuai of China and Hsieh Su-wei of Taiwan won their second Grand Slam title together by defeating Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci of Italy in the final.

Banks should have liquidity coverage ratio of at least 60%: RBI India > RBI Guidelines The Reserve Bank of India (RBI), in a move aimed at creating liquidity buffers in banks, has mandated the banks to have a liquidity coverage ratio (LCR) of at least 60%, which then should rise every year till it is 100% by 1 January 2019.

The liquidity coverage ratio is the percentage of highly liquid assets a bank should hold in order to meet its short-term obligations. It promotes short-term resilience of banks to potential liquidity disruptions by ensuring that they have sufficient high quality liquid assets (HQLAs) to survive an acute stress scenario lasting for 30 days.

RBI eases documentary address-proof norms helping migrant and transferrable workers Bank Specific > Know Your Customer Norms The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has eased the norms for documentary address-proof and said that henceforth customers may submit only one proof of address, either current or permanent, while opening a bank account or while undergoing periodic updation. In case the proof of address furnished by the customer is not the local address or the address where the customer is currently residing, the bank may take a declaration of the local address on which all correspondence will be made by the bank with the customer. No proof needs to be submitted for such local address. The RBI eased the rigorous customer verification norms keeping in mind migrant workers or transferrable employees, who have to change locations quite often.

Britain publishes world's first Modern Slavery Bill World > Britain Modern Slavery Bill Britain has published the world's first Modern Slavery Bill under which perpetrators convicted of slavery or trafficking will be jailed for life. The Modern Slavery Bill is the first of its kind in Europe, and one of the first in the world, to specifically address slavery and trafficking in the 21st century. Perpetrators of this heinous act will also face the toughest asset confiscation regime. According to the recent Global Slavery Index released in 2013, India was ranked 4th worst country indulging in modern day slavery and human trafficking. The Global Slavery Index found that between 13,300,000 and 14,700,000 are enslaved in India which makes it nearly half of the world's entire number of 30 million slaves worldwide.

World Day against Child Labour observed on June 12 World > World Day against Child Labour World Day against Child Labour was observed across the world on 12th June, 2014. The theme for this year is ‘Extend social protection: combat child labour’. The International Labour Organization (ILO) launched the

10 Jun

09 Jun

11 Jun

12 Jun





‘World Day against Child Labour’ in 2002 to focus attention on the global extent of child labour and the action and efforts needed to eliminate it. Every year, governments, NGOs, child rights workers and people from around the world come together to highlight the plight of child labourers and deliberate on what can be done to prevent child slavery. A lot of work needs to be done in developing nations like India, Pakistan etc. where child labour is still a prevalent issue.

Delhi becomes first kerosene-free city in India India > Delhi Delhi has become the first kerosene-free city in India. This feat was achieved after implementation of the Delhi: A Kerosene-Free Scheme launched in 2012 under which no subsidized kerosene were being issued in Delhi.

The scheme was launched in 2012 in collaboration with three Oil Marketing Companies and Union Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas for which Delhi Government had incurred an expenditure of Rs 62 crores. Under the scheme people holding Juggi Ration Card (JRC), Below Poverty Line (BPL) and Antodaya Ann Yojana (AAY) were provided free gas connection along with LPG filled cylinder, two burner gas stove, regulator and suraksha pipe. The LPG kits were only given to those people who were using kerosene oil for cooking. Besides, the paper of LPG connection was given to the senior most female member of the family of these ration card holders.

Delhi was earlier getting about 53,000 kilolitre of kerosene oil every year from Centre, which was issued to eligible households at a subsidised rate. At present market rate of the oil, it would have cost govt. Rs 200 cr per year as subsidy.

RBI hikes amount that could be carried overseas from Rs. 10, 000 to Rs. 25, 000 Economy > RBI The Reserve Bank of India has increased the amount that could be carried overseas from Rs. 10000 to Rs. 25000. Any person residing in India can take up to Rs. 25,000 in Indian currency notes on overseas travels and return with the same amount after the temporary visit. Those not residing in India, other than Pakistani and Bangladeshi citizens, may also take out and bring in Indian currency notes up to Rs. 25,000 but only through an airport.

Hindi poet Kedarnath Singh wins Jnanpith Award Awards > Jnanpith Award Hindi poet Kedarnath Singh has been chosen for the 49th Jnanpith Award for 2013. He is the 10th Hindi writer to receive the honour and joins the likes of Sumitra Nandan Pant, Ramdhari Singh Dinkar among others. The award includes Rs. 11 lakh and a citation.

SBI plans to introduce contactless dual-functionality payment cards for Chennai metro Bank Specific > SBI State Bank of India is in talks with Chennai metro to introduce contactless payment cards which will also serve as debit or credit cards. The dual-functionality card will work like a regular debit or credit card and at the same time it will incorporate a chip to allow the card to be used to pay for the metro ride. Although there is no revenue in this, SBI expects that new customers who are likely to use their cards for other payments would

17 Jun

21 Jun

20 Jun

23 Jun





help in expanding the market. Unlike credit cards which need to be either swiped or dipped into a chip reader, contactless cards can complete a payment almost instantly using radio frequency. However, SBI would have to refer to RBI guidelines. If RBI insists on additional authentication, the objective of speedy payments for public transport might not be possible.

ICICI Bank launches 'ICICI Bank Unifare Card' in partnership with Delhi Metro Corporate > ICICI - Delhi Metro ICICI Bank has teamed up with Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) to launch Unifare Card, which functions both as a smart card for the Delhi Metro users and a debit/credit card. It will be launching similar cards in other metro rail systems, such as those in Mumbai, Bangalore and Hyderabad. Incidentally, for the Bangalore Metro, Federal Bank has already launched such a system.

ICICI Bank’s Unifare Card will offer the benefits of a credit / debit card as well as the metro’s smart card discounts.

Banks employing skip trace tool to catch the loan defaulters Bank Specific > Skip Trace Tool Skip trace tools which will assist banks in catching the loan defaulters easily are being increasingly used by banks and loan agencies. Skip-trace is a method to extract and analyse creditor information that was difficult to obtain before. Skip trace tool allow users mine their repositories for alternative contacts and business locations of an existing customer, and give insights into his credit relationships and payment behaviour. This will be done by analyzing the user details such as contact number, address details which will assist the lender to trace who has defaulted.

Even if the defaulter changes his place he will be caught, if the defaulter uses the same name and identity proof like his PAN number, the system will identify the fraudster.

Saina Nehwal wins Australian Open Super Series title Sports > Badminton Indian badminton player Saina Nehwal played brilliantly to win the Australian Open Super Series title beating Spain's Carolina Marin in the finals on Sunday. This is her second title of the season as she had won the India Open Grand Prix Gold earlier this year.

Kwality signs MoU with Central Bank to finance dairy farmers Corporate > Kwality - Central Bank Kwality Ltd has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Central Bank of India for providing financial assistance for expansion / establishment of dairy farm of Milk Producer Farmers (MPF) under Bank's 'Cent Dairy' Scheme.

As per the MoU, Kwality will identify the farmers who supply milk to them and are in requirement of financial assistance. The company will then recommend their names to the bank, which would extend its credit facility to the Milk Producer Farmers (MPF) after checking the farmer’s credentials.

Kwality Dairy will help the farmers in the documentation process and also in remitting the sale proceeds of the milk from the farmers directly to the bank for appropriation towards the loan/credit of farmers account.

29 Jun

25 Jun

27 Jun

29 Jun





Awards

Delhi’s IGI airport named second best airport for service quality IGI Airport The Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport in New Delhi has been adjudged the second best airport in the world, third time in a row, for its service quality among the airports handling 25-40 million passengers per annum (MPPA). Mumbai's Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport was placed at the fifth position for service quality. In the global ranking, IGI this year was placed at the sixth position against last year's fourth. The rankings and awards are decided by the Airport Council International (ACI), a global body of airports. It covers 1,751 airports in 174 countries.

Lord Swraj Paul honoured with ‘Lifetime Achievement Award’ Lifetime Achievement Award India-born Britain-based business magnate Lord Swraj Paul has been honoured with the ‘Lifetime Achievement Award’ by the Black Country Asian Business Association for his outstanding contribution to the industry, education and philanthropy. He founded the Caparo Group in 1968, which is now one of the leading UK manufacturers of steel products as well as high value engineering products for various industries. He is the Chancellor of the University of Wolverhampton since 1999 and also the chancellor of the University of Westminster. He was awarded the Padma Bhushan by the Government of India in 1983.

France to honour Shah Rukh Khan with highest distinction Legion d'Honneur France has decided to honour Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan with its highest distinction, Officier de la Legion d'Honneur (Officer of the Legion of Honour) for his contribution to cinema. French foreign minister, Laurent Fabius, who is on a three-day visit to India, will travel to Mumbai to confer the award. The "Legion d'Honneur" (Legion of Honour) is the highest distinction that can be conferred in France on a French citizen as well as on a foreigner. The only other Bollywood actor to have received the same honour was Amitabh Bachchan in 2007. Lata Mangeshkar and Satyajit Ray had also won the prestigious award.

Bank Specific

RBI allows pledging of shares in favour of NBFCs Share Pledging The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has declared that it will allow pledging of shares of an Indian company held by non-resident investors in favour of non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) for business purposes. Earlier, pledging of shares of an Indian company held by non-resident investors was allowed in favour of banks only. The Equity shares listed on a stock exchange(s) only can be pledged in favor of the NBFCs. The RBI further clarified that the transfer of shares should be in accordance with the credit concentration norm.

Share pledging:

Promoters, in order to raise funds for either personal or company needs, pledge their holding shares to any financial institution. Banks and financial institutions give loans against such shares.

05 Jun

06 Jun

14 Jun

26 Jun





RBI hikes CRR for non-scheduled urban co-operative banks RBI The Reserve Bank of India on Thursday increased the cash reserve ratio (CRR) for non-scheduled urban co-operative banks (UCBs) by 100 basis points to 4% (100 bps refers to 1%). This increase will come into effect from July 12.

Background:

Cash reserve Ratio (CRR) is the amount of funds that the banks have to keep with the RBI. If the central bank decides to increase the CRR, the available amount with the banks comes down. The RBI uses the CRR to drain out excessive money from the system.

RBI directs banks to disclose sector-wise advances in financial statements RBI From the financial year 2014-15 onwards, the Reserve Bank of India has asked banks to disclose sector-wise advances in the ‘Notes to Accounts’ to the financial statements. To enhance transparency, the RBI in March 2010 had said that banks should disclose sector-wise non-performing assets (NPAs), movement of NPAs, overseas assets and revenue, and other special purpose vehicles sponsored by banks.

The RBI has been taking active steps for the early recognition of NPAs in the system and is also seeking to enhance transparency within banks to push for more prudent lending. The RBI also asked banks to classify accounts based on the number of days their interest payments are pending known as Special Mention Accounts (SMA).

RBI allows commercial banks to appoint NBFcs as Business Correspondents Business Correspondents The Reserve Bank of India has allowed commercial banks to appoint non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) as Business Correspondents. Only non-deposit-taking NBFCs will be eligible to act as banks’ BCs. The RBI has also abolished the rule that each outlet and sub-agent of a BC should be attached to a specific branch. This was done to ensure adequate supervision for BCs. Since, technology has now made oversight easy, the RBI has decided to abolish the rule to provide greater operational flexibility to banks. Banks should ensure that the NBFCs do not provide the benefits such as savings, remittances etc. only to its own customers and also there shouldn’t be any forced bundling of services offered by the bank and the NBFC.

Centrum Direct ties up with State Bank of Travancore to provide foreign exchange services Centrum-SBT CentrumDirect Ltd (CDL), a subsidiary of Centrum Capital Ltd and India's second largest company in retail foreign exchange, has tied up with Kerala-headquartered State Bank of Travancore (SBT) for providing foreign exchange services to its branches. Through this tie-up, CDL will be able to get regular supply of foreign currencies from the 1,000 plus designated and authorised foreign exchange branches of SBT. Centrum offers a wide range of services that include Foreign Exchange, Corporate and Leisure Travel, Insurance, Visa and E-business.

06 Jun

18 Jun

25 Jun

25 Jun





RBI takes control of Mumbai based Kapol Co-operative Bank Kapol Co-operative Bank The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has dissolved the board of Kapol Cooperative Bank, Kalbadevi, Mumbai. An administrator has been appointed to run the Mumbai-based urban cooperative lender. Though the bank's operations have not been restricted under Section 35A of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949, it would not be able to sanction any new loans. Depositors too cannot withdraw their deposits pre-maturely. The RBI dissolved the bank's board because of its weak capital adequacy and high-level of non-performing assets.

The RBI typically appoints an administrator when it is unhappy with the management of a bank or to protect interest of depositors. Typically, the move comes before effecting a change of management in a cooperative bank. The restrictions on withdrawals are imposed to prevent a run on the bank.

RBI announces rules for accounts in banks falling under the DEAF scheme DEAF Scheme The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has announced that banks will have to calculate balances in all accounts falling under the Depositor Education and Awareness Fund (DEAF) Scheme, and transfer interest payments on June 30, which must be calculated till the date of transfer of funds. Under the DEAF scheme, the credit of any account in India with any bank that has not been operated for 10 years or any deposit or any amount remaining unclaimed for more than 10 years has to be credited to the fund within three months from the expiry of the said period of 10 years. However, depositors can claim their deposit, or any other unclaimed amount, from the bank or operate the account after 10 years, even if the amount has been transferred to the Fund. The DEAF was first announced in the annual monetary policy by RBI in May, 2013 to use unclaimed deposits for depositor education and awareness.

RBI to tighten prudential norms for big banks Shadow Banking The Reserve Bank of India has indicated that big banks, to be classified as domestic systemically important banks (D-SIBs), will be asked to bring more capital and brought under stringent supervision from August 2015.

The RBI’s bi-annual Financial Stability Report (FSR) highlighted the need to assess the collective size and profile of activities of the large number of non-bank financial entities functioning in the organised as well as the unorganised sector, including unincorporated entities which are outside the purview of the regulatory perimeter, or collectively called shadow banking.

BCSBI to put individual bank ratings based on customer services in public domain Bank Ratings Banking Codes and Standards Board of India (BCSBI) is planning to make public the ratings given to its member banks on the basis of level of code compliance. Although the process started last year, ratings were disclosed only to respective banks. The ratings available in public domain last year were for overall categories such as private/public/foreign banks and not for individual banks. BCSBI has decided to put individual ratings in public domain to ensure that banks provide better customer services covered under BCSBI codes to get a better quality certificate and rating. The BCSBI code does not replace or supersede regulatory and supervisory

25 Jun

26 Jun

29 Jun

27 Jun





instructions of the Reserve Bank of India. The membership to BCSBI is on a voluntary basis. Ratings are decided based on an annual statement of compliance given by member banks and subsequent verification of those.

Corporate

Vishal Sikka appointed as Infosys CEO and MD Infosys Vishal Sikka, former SAP AG executive board member, has been appointed as Infosys' Chief Executive Officer and MD. With his appointment, he became the first non-founder CEO of Infosys.

Sikka will take over from current CEO SD Shibulal, one of the engineers who founded Infosys, on August 1, 2014.

Intex, Spice set to launch Firefox OS smartphones Mozilla In a move that may redefine the “ultra-affordable” mobile phone market in the country, Mozilla, the developer of the Firefox web browser, has tied up with handset makers Intex and Spice to bring smartphones priced at $25 (Rs 1,500) to India.

Mozilla had showcased a prototype costing $25 at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, targeting developing countries including India and China.

Economy

FICCI-CMSME and IDBI Bank sign MoU for financing member MSMEs Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises FICCI-CMSME, an affiliated body under the umbrella of FICCI and IDBI Bank, announced a partnership through a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to make organized finance facility available for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) across the country at competitive interest rates. The MoU was signed by A Didar Singh, Secretary General, FICCI and FICCI-MSME, and by B K Batra, Deputy Managing Director, IDBI Bank. “FICCI and Grant Thornton undertook a survey of Indian MSMEs in 2013 to gauge the Indian business environment for MSMEs in which regulatory compliances and finance availability was consistently ranked highly among the issues identified by MSMEs. This tie up is a positive step towards that direction”, said Dr. A Didar Singh, Secretary General, FICCI and FICCI-MSME.

Government approves salary cap for EPF from Rs. 6500 to 15000 per month Employees’ Provident Fund The government has approved a hike in the mandatory Employees’ Provident Fund savings from Rs. 6500 to Rs. 15000 a month. Though the Manmohan Singh government had approved the hike in the EPF threshold this February after years of deliberations, the change couldn't be notified before the election code of conduct came into force.

02 Jun

12 Jun

12 Jun

13 Jun





TARC accepts key BCIC recommendations for tax reforms Tax The Tax Administration Reform Commission (TARC) has accepted the recommendation of the Bangalore Chamber of Industry and Commerce (BCIC) regarding the realignment of the Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) and the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) for a more unified management structure. Certain other suggestions of the BCIC have been included in the first report of the TARC viz. PAN as a common business identification number, single registration for central excise and service tax, increase in the number of payment gateways for tax payments, provision to allow disclosure in the returns. It had also recommended dispensing the territorial jurisdiction and introducing industry-based assessment and abolishing manual filing of TDS certificates and establishing speedy dispute resolution mechanisms.

India and the US reach an agreement to implement FATCA, a USA tax compliance law FATCA India and the United States have reached an Inter-Governmental Agreement (IGA) to implement the Foreign Accounts Tax Compliance Act (FATCA), a US law that targets tax non-compliance by US tax-payers with foreign accounts. India is now treated as having an IGA in effect from April 11, 2014. However, the IGA would be signed only after the approval of the Cabinet. The RBI has said that Indian financial institutions will have to register with US authorities by 31st December, 2014 and obtain a Global Intermediary Identification Number (GIIN). They would have to report accounts and assets held by US citizens.

India

RTI Act is applicable to private schools too, rules CIC Right to Information The Central Information Commission said that every recognised school, including private ones, is bound to the Right to Information (RTI) Act. The CIC order becomes significant as it gives private education sector employees, especially teachers, a fighting chance to seek transparency on any calls made by the school managements.

The decision is based on an appeal filed by Sadhana Dixit, a former teacher of Jindal Public School, who was refused copies of her service book on the ground that it was exempt from the RTI law.

Madhuri Dixit becomes brand ambassador of 'Mamta Abhiyan' Mamta Abhiyan Madhuri Dixit has become the brand ambassador of Madhya Pradesh health department's 'Mamta Abhiyan'. She actress will take part in a programme organised by UNICEF in Bhopal on the issue on June 26.

Mamta Abhhiyaan was launched in 2013 by the Health Department as part of a move to bring down the maternal and infant mortality rates and improve maternal and child health in the State by providing better facilities.

05 Jun

06 Jun

19 Jun

30 Jun





Kudankulam becomes India’s first nuclear plant to generate 1,000MW power Kudankulam Nuclear Plant The Unit 1 of the Kudankulam nuclear power plant (KNPP) has reached full capacity generation of 1,000MW on Saturday, 7th June. This is the first nuclear power plant in the country to touch 1,000MW of power generation. The Voda Voda Energo Reactor (VVER) designed by Russia, achieved the final milestone nearly eight months after power generated at the plant was connected to the grid. Power produced from unit 1 is shared amongst Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Puducherry. An unallocated portion of the 1,000MW is still with the Centre.

ICICI Bank overtakes HDFC Bank as top private bank employer Private Bank Employer With more than 72,000 employees, ICICI Bank has overtaken HDFC Bank as the biggest employer in the private banking space. Incidentally, HDFC Bank saw its employee headcount decline by 900 during the fiscal ended March 31, 2014, while at least five other major private sector banks saw their workforces grow during the year.

These five lenders - ICICI Bank, Axis Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, IndusInd Bank and Yes Bank - saw their employee strength rise by over 20,000 in 2013-14.

ICICI Bank has also recorded higher total income and profits than HDFC Bank in the latest fiscal year.

RBI signs MoU with with Korea for supervisory co-op, info exchange RBI The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Monday signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on supervisory cooperation and exchange of supervisory information with the Financial Services Commission (FSC) and the Financial Supervisory Services (FSS) of South Korea, its 20th such MoU with a foreign regulator.

According to a statement on the RBI website, RBI has been signing MoUs with supervisors of other countries to promote greater co-operation and share supervisory information among the authorities.

Lt Gen Amit Sharma appointed commander of strategic forces Lt. Gen Amit Sharma Lt Gen Amit Sharma has been promoted as Army Commander and appointed Commander-in-Chief, Strategic Forces Command replacing Vice Admiral S P S Cheema. The responsibility of the Strategic Forces Command is to operationalize the directives of the Nuclear Command Authority (NCA).

The Command has the sole responsibility of initiating the process of delivering nuclear weapons and warheads after acquiring explicit approval from NCA. 58-year old Sharma was the Chief of Staff of Jaipur-based South Western Command of the army and had headed the force's elite 21 Strike Corps.

Delhi Metro to use solar power roof tops DMRC The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation becomes the first metro in India to build and use roof top solar power plants at its stations. The plant will have a capacity to generate 500 kwp (kilo watts peak) power and is expected to be operational by July 2014.

07 Jun

08 Jun

09 Jun

13 Jun

16 Jun





According to the DMRC, power produced from this plant will be used to cater to the requirements of the station. DMRC is also exploring the possibility of installing more such plants at its stations, depots, parking lots as well as residential complexes.

Politics and Government

Gadkari given additional charge of portfolios held by Munde Ministers of India Union Minister Nitin Gadkari has been given an additional charge of portfolios held by Gopinath Munde who died in a road accident. Late Gopinath Munde was given the charge of Ministeries of Rural Development, Panchayati Raj and Drinking Water and Sanitation.

Gadkari is Union Minister of Road Transport, Highways and Shipping in the Modi-led government.

Sumitra Mahajan elected speaker of Lok Sabha Lok-Sabha Speaker Senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader Sumitra Mahajan has been unanimously elected the Speaker of the Lok Sabha. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and senior MPs from all parties proposed her name in the Lok Sabha (the lower house) on Thursday, 5th June. Ms Mahajan, 72, is an eight-term MP from Indore in the central state of Madhya Pradesh and is known for her simplicity, honesty and clean politics.

Shaktikanta Das appointed as Revenue Secretary Revenue Secretary Shaktikanta Das, a Tamil Nadu batch IAS officer, has taken charge as Revenue Secretary replacing Rajiv Takru. Takru, a Gujarat cadre civil servant, who was Revenue Secretary since March this year has been posted as Secretary in the Ministry of DONER (Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region).

Das, 1980 batch officer, was earlier holding the post of Secretary, Department of Fertilizers in Ministry of Chemical and Fertilizers.

The Finance Ministry, which is preparing Modi government's first budget, has Arvind Mayaram as Finance Secretary, R P Wattal as Expenditure Secretary, Ravi Mathur as Disinvestment Secretary and G S Sandhu as Financial Services Secretary.

Sports

Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo wins Canadian Grand Prix Formula 1 Car Racing Red Bull’s Australian Formula 1 Driver Daniel Ricciardo beat Mercedes’s Nico Rosberg to claim his maiden Formula One victory for Red Bull in a dramatic match in the Canadian Grand Prix. Ricciardo ended Mercedes’ winning streak, which had won the first six races of the season. Both Mercedes cars developed technical snags during the race and this helped Ricciardo further, to take the lead over Nico in the final laps and ultimately win the race.

04 Jun

05 Jun

09 Jun

14 Jun





Jitu Rai wins silver at ISSF World Cup in Munich Shooting Indian pistol shooter Jitu Rai won the silver medal in the men's 10 metre air pistol event at the ISSF World Cup in Munich. He shot 199.4 in the finals after aggregating 583 in the qualification stage.

Spain's Pablo Carrera won the gold after shooting 201.3, while Pavlo Korostylov of Ukraine bagged the bronze.

Hockey World Cup: Australia clinches third title Hockey Australia clinched their third hockey World Cup by successfully defending the title that they had won four years ago when they thrashed hosts Netherlands 6-1 in the final at the Kyocera Stadium.

Argentine Gonzalo Peillat won the top goal scorer award with 10 goals while Australian captain Mark Knowles was named the player of the tournament. Dutch custodian Jaap Stockmann won the best goalkeeper award and Jeremy Hayward was named the young player of the tournament.

Pankaj Advani creates history by winning world titles in both formats of billiards and snooker

Snooker Indian billiard player Pankaj Advani created history by becoming the first player in the world to win world titles in the long and shorter formats of both billiards and snooker by winning the IBSF World 6-Red snooker Championship, in Sharm el-Sheikh, Eygpt. Advani defeated Kacper Flilpiak of Poland in the final to win his maiden 6-Red world title. This win takes Pankaj to highest tally of world titles by any Indian billiard player in the Open (Men’s) category. So far he has won 7 world titles in billiards and 1 in snooker.

World

Abhijit Guha, Indian Army officer, appointed as member of UN panel on peacekeeping UN Lieutenant General (retd) Abhijit Guha has been appointed as member of a UN expert panel on peacekeeping that will advise the world body on how to use new technologies and innovations in that field. The panel would visit field missions and consult widely with UN member states, partner organisations with similar field operations, non-governmental and governmental research institutions and think tanks as well as industry leaders in areas of interest to United Nations peacekeeping. The other members are Major General Michael Fryer of South Africa, Major General Ib Johannes Bager of Denmark and Walter Dorn of Canada.

Guha had recently concluded a term as director of the office for peacekeeping strategic partnerships in the department of peacekeeping operations and also served as the former deputy military adviser in the department from 2010 until 2012.

05 Jun

11 Jun

16 Jun

29 Jun





India becomes permanent member of Washington Accord Washington Accord In a major boost to technical education and engineering programmes, India joined a select group of 17 countries who are permanent signatories of the Washington Accord. The meeting of the International Engineering Alliance of WA member countries met in Wellington, New Zealand, and gave India the signatory status.

Background:

The Washington Accord is an international accreditation agreement for professional engineering academic degrees, between the bodies responsible for accreditation in its signatory countries. Established in 1989, the signatories as of 2014 are Australia, Canada, Chinese Taipei, Hong Kong China, India, Ireland, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, Russia, Singapore, South Africa, Turkey, the United Kingdom and the United States.

The agreement recognizes that there is substantial equivalence of programs accredited by those signatories. Graduates of accredited programs in any of the signatory countries are recognized by the other signatory countries as having met the academic requirements for entry to the practice of engineering. Recognition of accredited programs is not retroactive but takes effect only from the date of admission of the country to signatory status.

World Blood Donor Day observed on 14th June World Blood Donor Day World Blood Donor Day was observed across the world on 14 June 2014. The theme for this year is ‘Safe blood for saving mothers’. According to World Health Organization, every year around 800 women die during pregnancy or suffer childbirth-related complications due to excessive bleeding during delivery or after childbirth. The goal of this year’s campaign is to raise awareness about timely access to safe blood and blood related products as part of a comprehensive approach to prevent maternal deaths. World Blood Donor Day established in 2004 is one of the eight official public health campaigns marked by the World Health Organization (WHO). The event was established in 2004 as one of eight official global public health campaigns marked by the World Health Organization (WHO).

Jordan's Prince Zeid al-Hussein is first Muslim to become UN human rights chief UN Human Rights Chief The UN General Assembly has approved the nomination of Jordan's Prince Zeid al-Hussein as the next UN Human Rights chief, replacing Navi Pillay of South Africa. Zeid is the first Muslim and Arab to hold the post. Zeid, who holds a PhD from Cambridge University, is a top diplomat and represents Jordan on the UN Security Council. He is an expert in peacekeeping and international justice and has played a key role in the establishment of the International Criminal Court.

Japan hosts OSCE summit OSCE Conference Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Conference was held in Tokyo, Japan on 17 June 2014. This was for the fourth time that Japan had hosted the OSCE Conference since 2000 when annual

13 Jun

17 Jun

14 Jun

17 Jun





conferences with the Asian partners started. The theme of the Conference was creating a safer, more interconnected and fairer world in the face of emerging challenges in the larger OSCE area.

The attendees of the Conference included the representatives of 57 OSCE participating States and Asian Partners for Co-Operation – Japan, the Republic of Korea, Thailand, Afghanistan and Australia.

Background:

The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) is the world's largest security-oriented intergovernmental organization. Its mandate includes issues such as arms control and the promotion of human rights, freedom of the press and fair elections. It has 550 staff at its headquarters in Vienna, Austria, and 2,300 field staff. It has its origins in the 1975 Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe (CSCE) held in Helsinki, Finland.

After US and Japan, India most affected by online banking malware: Report Online Banking Malware According to a Trend Micro Q1, 2014 threat roundup, India is the third most affected country by online banking malware. The report also revealed that since law enforcement activities against online theft are slowly being improved, cyber criminals have now started to add more layers to ensure anonymity in order to protect their identities and avoid getting arrested.

India slowly rose to the top 3 due to an increase in the number of online bankers in the country, which could be attributed to a vastly improved banking industry.

World day to combat desertification observed on June 17 World Day to Combat Desertification The World day to combat desertification was observed across the world on 17th June. The theme for this year is “Land Belongs to the Future - Let’s Climate Proof It.” The theme of this year was chosen to increase awareness about the potential of ecosystem-based adaptation i.e. strengthening of natural systems to protect the dry-lands from the worst impacts of climate change. In 1994, the United Nations General Assembly declared June 17 the World Day to Combat Desertification to highlight the urgent need to curb the desertification process and highlight the issue on the international environmental agenda.

World Refugee Day observed on 20th June World Refugee Day World Refugee Day was observed across the world on 20 June 2014. The day is observed annually to draw attention to the plight of refugees, celebrate their courage and resilience and renew commitment to solve refugee problems. It also recognises contributions of the refugees made to the countries that host them. As per the UN Refugee Agency’s (UNHCR) annual Global Trends report, the number of refugees in 2013 increased to 50 million from 45.2 million in 2012. India hosts refugees from Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Tibet, China and Somali and has an established system to support them and ensure their safety. The UN General Assembly adopted a resolution on 4 December 2000 to observe the World Refugee Day on 20 June every year.

17 Jun

17 Jun

20 Jun





Indian-origin judge VK Rajah appointed Singapore attorney-general Singapore Justice V K Rajah, an Indian-origin judge, has been appointed as the eighth Attorney-General of Singapore replacing Steven Chong. 57 year old Rajah has also been appointed as a Member of the Presidential Council for Minority Rights for a term of three years. In 2004, Rajah had been appointed as a judge and as a Judicial Commissioner of the Supreme Court.

World Vitiligo Day observed on June 25 Vitiligo Day World Vitiligo Day was observed across the world on June 25. The day is specially dedicated to people with vitiligo. It is an initiative aimed to build global awareness about vitiligo, a frequent and often disfiguring disease that can have significant negative psychosocial impact on patients, also because of numerous misconceptions still present in large parts of the world.

Vitiligo is an acquired disease characterized by skin depigmentation, due to destruction or malfunction of melanocytes (cells that produce melanin). It is present worldwide, and its prevalence in different countries ranges from less than 0.1% to more than 8% of the general population (≈ 1% in the United States and in Europe).

25 Jun

25 Jun



to 30 Jun Starred Articles - TESTfundafiles.testfunda.com/Content/ZeusToolsAssets/Content/...Bank...

Documents

Transcript of to 30 Jun Starred Articles - TESTfundafiles.testfunda.com/Content/ZeusToolsAssets/Content/...Bank...