Current Affairs for BANK, IBPS Exams

02 January 2016

:: NATIONAL ::

Odd-even starts but not much difference in air quality

• Air quality in the Capital saw a slight improvement during the day, but by evening, levels of harmful particulate matter were higher than that recorded on a day before.
• As of evening, the Delhi government said there had not been much difference in the air quality.
• According to the System of Air Quality and Weather Fore-Casting and Research (SAFAR) of the Union Ministry of Earth Science, the level of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) fell sharply from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. – about 10 per cent. However, it rose again during the afternoon.
• Though it is too premature to comment on the policy’s effectiveness, the best case scenario for the 15-day experiment would be a 15 per cent fall in air pollution.
• The transport sector contributes about 40 per cent to the total man-made emissions and about 10 per cent to dust.

SC appointed Justice Lodha committee for reforms in BCCI is ready with report

• Giving final touches to the Supreme Court-appointed committee’s report on reforms in the BCCI and the Indian cricket administration, the former Chief Justice of India, R.M. Lodha, said the theme of the report remains the purity of the game.
• Justice Lodha, the chairperson of the three- member committee, said the report would be first filed in the Supreme Court Registry on January 4.
• The report may change the destiny of the game and its administration for the better.
• The report culminates the panel’s exhaustive investigations into how the game is run in the country and what could be done to ensure that transparency and accountability is the rule and not the exception in the administration of cricket in India.

LPG refill payment will be online by the end of 2016

• Describing 2016 as the year of the LPG consumer, Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas said that one of the initiatives aimed at making their lives simpler will be online payment facility for LPG refill by the end of the year.
• Government also came up with 1906 helpline for LPG leaks, At the moment, each oil marketing company has a separate helpline for gas leaks.
• With 1906, consumers will have a single, short number that they can dial to receive prompt help.
• Every year, around 5 lakh women die because of in- door pollution caused by the use of wood or gobar as fuel.
• In addition, thousands of people fall ill, adding to their medical expenditure.
• The government is pushing for supplying cleaner fuel like LPG to as many households as possible.
• While the aim is to have an LPG connection in every household, the target he set is that 70 per cent would be covered by the end of 2018.

Senior IAS officer Ashok Khemka promoted to principal secretary

• Senior IAS officer Ashok Khemka who had cancelled the mutation of a land deal between a firm owned by Sonia Gandhi’s son-in-law Robert Vadra and realty major DLF, was among six officers promoted to the rank of Financial Commissioner and Principal Secretary by the Haryana government.
• The other five IAS officers of 1991 batch who have been promoted to the rank of Financial Commissioner and Principal Secretary are Abhilaksh Likhi, Vineet Garg, Anil Malik, AK Singh and Shrikant Walgad.

:: INTERNATIONAL ::

After a good year another hitch in relations between U.S. and Iran

• Iran’s President Has- san Rouhani has denounced possible new U.S. sanctions on his country which could jeopardise a hard-won nuclear deal due to be finally implemented within weeks.
• In the five months since the nuclear deal was struck, Iran has conducted two missile tests, one of which state media reported at the time, on October 11. Iran also recently aired television footage of an underground missile base.
• The actions angered the United States and a United Nations panel found earlier this month that the tests breached previous resolutions aimed at stopping the Islamic republic from developing missiles capable of carrying a nuclear warhead.
• But the threat of new sanctions the nuclear deal is due to lift past measures that froze Iran out of the global financial system and crippled its oil exports brought al- ready worsening relations to a head.

:: BUSINESS & ECONOMY ::

Blueprint for start ups in India to be ready by Jan 2016

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi will release the blueprint of ‘Start Up India’ programme which may include a Startups and Entrepreneur- ship Law to make it easier for setting up new ventures and closing unviable ones, besides clearing regulatory issues that hamper access to finance.
• The government is also seeking to define a new category of business ‘Innovative Start-ups’ to distinguish them from micro, small, medium and large enterprises that are built on conventional business models.
• There would port structure be a special for such sup- innovative start-ups, technology including funding from the government.
• In such start-ups, the government, through the domestic venture capital funds, could take a 25 per cent stake.
• Government will leave the due diligence, mentoring and refining of business ideas to the professional venture capital (VC) and private equity (PE) funds.
• As these start-ups gain in scale after two or three years, other investors, including PE and VC funds could buy back the government venture fund’s stake.
• This would help create a revolving fund to finance such ventures with transformative potential, as the government can deploy the proceeds from exiting these start-ups to fund other ideas.

Rupee is among best performing currencies in 2015

• Rupee turned out to be one of the best performers in 2015 among all Asian and BRICS currencies, excluding yen.
• The currency’s depreciation of about five per cent against the dollar was less than the losses of most of its other Asian peers. The Indian rupee fared better in 2014, when it weakened by only two per cent.
• However, the rupee fared much better despite a pullout by foreign funds from the emerging markets, including India, as an interest rate hike was expected from the U.S. Federal Reserve.
• The currency was stable when the U.S. raised the benchmark interest rate and has actually strengthened against the dollar since then.
• Its Asian counterparts like the Indonesian rupiah weakened by 11.30 per cent and the Thai baht depreciated 9.5 per cent against the dollar.
• Only the Chinese currency fared marginally better, losing only 4.6 per cent.
• Among the BRICS nations also the Indian currency fared well. The Brazilian real depreciated 49 per cent against the dollar while the South African rand declined 34.75 per cent.

:: SPORTS ::

AIFF issues show cause notice to FC Goa

• All India Football Federation (AIFF) Disciplinary Committee has served a show cause notice to FC Goa under the AIFF Disciplinary Code and ISL Regulations for ‘team mis- conduct’, ‘ofensive behavior’, ‘threat to match officials, ‘bringing disrepute to the game’ and ‘public criticism of match officials..
• The issue pertains to the incidents which followed the final whistle at Indian Super League final between FC Goa and Chennaiyin FC.
• FC Goa had in fact boycotted the presentation ceremony and the post-match press conference.
• The club has been asked to respond to the notice within seven days or by January 8, 2016.

  This Current Affairs is Part of Online Course of IBPS Exams.. Register Here

  Click Here for Daily News Archive