Current Affairs For Bank, IBPS Exams

23 November 2013

Govt to review FDI policy

• Government will soon take up the issue of tightening FDI in existing pharmaceutical companies in the wake of concerns over multinationals taking over domestic drug makers.

• The Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) has proposed to reduce FDI cap from 100 percent to 49 percent in the "rare or critical pharma verticals." It has also proposed to incorporate conditions for foreign firms like mandatory investment in R&D and non-compete clause in the shareholders pact.

• As per the proposal, the foreign company would not be allowed to close down the existing R&D centre and would have to mandatorily invest upto 25 percent of the FDI in the new unit or R & D facility.

Institutional mechanisms for women's safety

• Prime Minister Manmohan Singh stressed the need to put in place more institutional mechanisms to ensure the safety and security of women and children in the country.
• On Dec 16, 2012, a 23-year-old woman was brutally gangraped in a bus by six people, including a juvenile. She died due to grave intestinal injuries Dec 29.
• Four of them were given the death sentence while one committed suicide in Tihar Jail in Delhi. The juvenile was sentenced to three years in a reform home by the Juvenile Justice Board as he was a minor at the time of committing the crime.

Why should India open up its banking sector?

• India should open up its banking sector to foreign banks and tap the strength of international financial institutions.India could then tap foreign banks to bridge its capital shortfall.
• DBS would open 50 branches in India once restrictions on setting up of branches are removed.DBS is rated the fourth largest foreign bank in India with 12 branches and 37 ATMs since it entered the country's market in 1995.
• Red tape is to be reduced and companies are to be allowed to raise capital from overseas markets.India has recently allowed companies to list overseas without first being listed at home.But this came with a two-year trial and restrictions on the use of funds if they list only abroad.

Magnus Carlson clinches chess world title

• Viswanathan Anand’s five-year reign as the undisputed world chess champion had to come to an end . The Indian played a solid line with black against Magnus Carlsen in the 10th game and drew in 60 moves to shake hands with the new world champion.
• Magnus Carlsen, the highest-rated player in the history of chess, will pocket Rs 8.4 crore to Anand’s Rs 5.6 crore. The draw gave Carlsen a 6.5-3.5 scoreline with two games remaining. The last time Anand lost by such a big margin was when Garry Kasparov defeated him in the PCA final in New York in 1995, also with two games remaining but in a 20-game match.
• Magnus Carlsen of Norway won the chess world championship , becoming the first Western player since Bobby Fischer to hold the title.

India clinches series against West Indies

• Statistical highlights of the first one-dayer of the three-match series between India and the West Indies.
• Rohit Sharma enjoys an outstanding record against the West Indies. His average of 62.07 is the highest in India-West Indies ODIs, his tally being 807 in seventeen innings, including nine fifties.
• Sharma's splendid 72 off 81 balls is his 20th fifty in ODIs.
• Sharma has recorded five consecutive fifty-plus scores in international cricket -- the sequence being 79 and 209 against Australia in ODIs; 177 and an unbeaten 111 against the West Indies in Tests and 72 at Kochi ODI.
• Sharma's home record in ODIs is quite impressive - his tally being 1154 at an average of 64.11 in 24 matches, including two hundreds and seven fifties.
• Sharma's tally of 1143 at an average of 60.15 in 23 matches is the highest by any batsman in ODIs in 2013. The leading run-getters being - Sharma (1143), Virat Kohli (1119), Misbah-ul-Haq (1119), George Bailey (1098) and Kumar Sangakkara (1033).
• India's victory with 88 balls remaining is their largest in terms of balls to spare against the West Indies in ODIs in India.
• India's ODI record at Kochi is superb - six wins and two losses out of eight played at Nehru Stadium, Kochi.
• Suresh Raina (3/34) has registered his best bowling figures in ODIs, surpassing the two for 17 vs West Indies at Indore on December 8, 2011.
• Raina's third duck vs West Indies is his 11th in ODIs. # Gayle has posted his fifth duck vs India - his 22nd in ODIs.
• Darren Bravo (59 off 77 balls) has posted his fourth fifty - his 13th in ODIs. Bravo's tally of 673 runs at an average of 35.42 in 21 matches, including a hundred and six fifties, is the highest by a West Indian player in ODIs this year.
• Ravindra Jadeja's aggregate of 49 wickets at an average of 22.22 in 29 matches is the highest by a bowler in ODIs in 2013, bettering Saeed Ajmal's tally of 48 wickets at an average of 19.77 in 25 game.
• Jadeja's performance is his best in a calendar year in ODIs.
• Sharma and Kohli were associated in a second-wicket partnership of 133 - India's second highest against the West Indies behind the 140 between Virender Sehwag and Suresh Raina at Indore on December 8, 2011.
• Kohli has raced to 5,000 runs in 114 innings, emulating Vivian Richards' feat. Kohli and Richards share a record for reaching 5000 runs in least number of innings.
• Kohli's match-winning 86 off 84 balls is his 27th fifty in ODIs - his sixth against West Indies. His excellent average of 65.54 in chases is the highest in ODIs (minimum 3000 runs).
• At 25 years 16 days, Kohli is the second youngest batsman to achieve the feat of managing 5000 runs, next only to the 23 years 294 days taken by Sachin Tendulkar.
• Kohli has justifiably received his fifth Man of the Match award against the West Indies - his 17th in ODIs.
• Kohli took five MOM awards this year in ODIs - the most received by him in a calendar year.
• The West Indian opening pair could manage just 85 runs in the last 10 outings vs India in India at an average of 8.50 - the best partnership being 34 between Edwards and Smith at Chennai on March 20, 2011.

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