Current Affairs For Bank, IBPS Exams - 01 November, 2013

Current Affairs For Bank, IBPS Exams

To insulate the bureaucracy from political interference and to put an end to frequent transfers of civil servants by political bosses, the Supreme Court on Thursday directed the Centre and the States to set up a Civil Services Board (CSB) for the management of transfers, postings, inquiries, process of promotion, reward, punishment and disciplinary matters.
A Bench of Justices K.S. Radhakrishnan and Pinaki Chandra Ghose, giving a series of directions while disposing of a public interest writ petition — filed by former Union Cabinet Secretary T.S.R. Subramanian; former CECs T.S. Krishnamurthy and N. Gopalaswami; former Indian Ambassador to the U.S. Abid Hussain; former CBI Director Joginder Singh; former Manipur Governor Ved Prakash Marwah and 77 others — also said bureaucrats should not act on verbal orders given by politicians and suggested a fixed tenure for them.

China opened a new highway that links what the government has described as Tibet’s “last isolated county” – located near the border with Arunachal Pradesh – with the rest of the country and will now provide all-weather access to the strategically-important region.
State media reports have focused on the development benefits that the project would bring and have sought to play down the strategic dimensions.
The road will also provide access to the border county for nine months of the year.
That the government was willing to spend as much as 950 million Yuan – or $ 155 million – on a 117-km highway, with ostensibly few economic returns expected, has underscored the project’s importance to State planners.
Work on the 117-km road began in 2009, a year after the project was given the green light by the State Council, or cabinet.
The opening of the road comes at a time when there has been renewed attention on infrastructure projects in border areas in India and China.

India and Cuba signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for cooperation between Prasar Bharati (PB) and Cuban Radio and Television Institute (ICRT) as part of strengthening the friendly relations between the two countries.
They will also explore co-production opportunities in broadcasting on issues of mutual interest.
PB and ICRT will exchange programmes in culture, education, science, entertainment, sports and news of mutual interest, subject only to contractual and copyright limitations.
The exchange will be on gratis basis, taking into account any existing commercial agreement.

Six major central banks, said they would make their web of currency swap arrangements permanent as a ‘prudent liquidity backstop’ in case of future global financial strains.
The Bank of Japan, the U.S. Federal Reserve, the European Central Bank, the Bank of England and the central banks of Canada and Switzerland will convert their “temporary bilateral liquidity swap arrangements’’ into standing arrangements that “will remain in place until further notice.’’