Current Affairs for BANK, IBPS Exams

11 March 2016

:: NATIONAL ::

Real estate bill passed

• The Rajya Sabha passed a landmark Real Estate Bill with a promise to secure the interests of homebuyers and developers in equal measure and remove corruption and inefficiency from the sector

• Real estate contributes nine per cent to the national GDP and the Bill’s passagewas seen as crucial to ensuring better regulatory over- sight and orderly growth in the industry.

• The first draft was rejected last year by the Rajya Sabha, with Opposition leaders saying it favoured developers and did not serve the interests of consumers.

• Compared to the previous version of the Bill, in which constructions below the sizeof 1,000 square metres or 12 apartments were left out of the accountability ambit, the new Bill has reduced the size and exempts projects only below 500 square meters.

• Previously, in the absence of a regulatory authority, real estate deals were largely done on faith or based on the experience of friends and family

• one of the significant aspects of the Bill was the definition of “carpet area”. “Buyers will now be paying only for the carpet areaand not the super built-up area which was fraught with confusion earlier

• the developers will now have to take consent of 66 per cent of the home- buyers in case they have to increase the number of floors or change the building plans. This will protect the buyers from any ad-hoc changes that are a norm presently.

• If builders still cause delays in transferring properties to buyers, the appellate tribunal would intervene and slap fines on them within 60 days. In a worst case scenario, the tribunals can send a developer found guilty of fraud to jail for three years.

• The builders would also beresponsible for fixing structural defects for five years after transferring the property to a buyer. In case consumers fail to make payments to developers, the appellate tribunal can fine them, too.

Radio channels to smoothen your drive

• The Union RoadTransport and Highways Ministry is working on an ambitious plan to broad- cast traffic updates through a dedicated radio frequency across various national highways.

• The Ministry is in talks with the Information and Broadcasting Ministry to get a frequency band to disseminate among national highway commuters travel tips, safety tips, traffic up- dates, including information on accidents and diversions.

• The Ministry would also have to get the approval of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India for voice broadcasting.

• A pilot project, the government on Thursday launched Highway Advisory Services to give traffic updates to commuters on the 256-km Delhi-Jaipur National Highway-8.

• While on the Delhi stretch All India Radio FM Gold will air the updates, AIR in Alwar and Jaipur would cover the stretch in Rajasthan.

• Doordarshan was planning to return its unused UHF band (ultra high frequency) to the government and it had already asked the Information and Broadcasting Ministry to allocate that frequency to the Highways Ministry.

• Another option was to get a licence for the unused 105.6 MHz frequency which was earlier allotted to Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) for its educational radio channel Gyan Vani.

CBI knew about Vijay Mallya’s flight plan

• The Central Bureau of Investigation had prior knowledge that businessman Vijay Mallya, who is facing charges of defaulting on a Rs.900-crore loan from IDBI Bank, was to board a London-bound flight at Indira Gandhi Inter- national Airport

• At this stage, there is no restriction on Mr. Mallya’s foreign visits. Therefore, legally, he is allowed to go abroad. He is a non-resident Indian and has to remain abroad for at least 183 days every year to retain the status. He also has a 10-year British business visa.

• The information on his travel plans was provided to the CBI in response to a lookout circular, valid for a year, the agency had sent to the exit ports across the country on October 16, 2015.

• Under the circular that carries passport details and other particulars of suspects, an agency can request the immigration department to provide information on the arrival or departure of the person concerned; seize travel documents and send them to the agency; prevent the person from entering India and inform the agency; or detain and hand over the person to the local police.

World Culture Fest

• Though the festival has come under fire for its ecologically-sensitive venue, it was given the go-ahead by the National Green Tribunal (NGT)

• Nearly 36,000 artistes from around the world will perform on what is possibly the world’s largest stage.

• before this carnival atmosphere took over the floodplains, the site was flanked by two bridges connecting the Trans-Yamuna area to therest of Delhi.Farmers grew vegetables at the site that will now host a mega festival.

• The farmers who had been at the site for years were moved. The soil was compacted and debris was added to give it some stability. Vegetation was completely removed. It will take years for the area to recover from the damage.

• While the NGT has said that the floodplains have been damaged, the Art of Living Foundation has maintained that it hasn’t done anything wrong.

Golden Jubilee of the historic concert of M.S. Subbulakshmi

• It is 50 years since Carnatic music legend M.S. Subbulakshmi and her daughter, Radha Vishwanathan, graced the General Assembly Hall of the United Nations. This significant moment, when M.S. played a cultural ambassador, is all set to be recreated in the course of her centenary year celebrations

• On October 23, 1966, M.S. and Radha presented a Carnatic music concert — the first time any Indian musician sang in the hallowed precincts as part of U.N. Day celebrations.

• To mark the Golden Jubileeof the historic concert, the performance will be re-enacted song-by-song by M.S.’s great granddaughters S. Aishwarya and S. Saundarya on March 26 as part of this year’s Cleveland Tyagaraja Festival

• Every number of the U.N. concert was a smashing hit and was set into an LP record.

Upper house to look after Aadhaar Bill

• The question of whether or not the Aadhaar Bill is a Money Bill continues to vex Parliament, with the Rajya Sabha’s Business Advisory Committee (BAC) meeting ending inconclusively.

• Opposition demanded specific clauses of Article 110(1) of the Constitution that defines a Money Bill to be part of Speaker Sumitra Mahajan’s certification of it as such.

• The Aadhaar Bill seeks to give legal backing to the unique identification number programme as the means to identify and disburse subsidies to eligible sections of the population.

• According to the Constitution, a Money Bill has to be returned to the Lok Sabha after clearing the Rajya Sabha within 14 days of it being introduced in the Up- per House. If it is not, it will be deemed as passed

• Government managers present at the meeting, quoted clause (4) of the Article that states the Speaker’s exclusive powers to certify a Money Bill.

IAF short of aircraft to face wars

• At a time whenSouth Asia is seeing induction of advanced fighter air- craft in large numbers,the current fighter strength of the country is in- adequate to handle a two- front war.

• steps are being taken to address the issue and the government-to-government agreement for 36 Rafale aircraft was agreed to in this regard.

• The Air Force has a sanctioned strength of 42 squadrons but the numbers are steadily dropping with the MiG series being phased out and the squadron strength is at its lowest at 33. Another concern is the low serviceability of various aircraft, especially the Su-30s, 272 ofwhich will eventually be fielded by the IAF.

• This, at a time when Pakistan is inducting JF-17 fighters in large numbers and set to receive eight more F-16 fighters from the U.S. China, meanwhile, is likely to receive the first of the 24 Su-35jets from Russia by year-end even as its fifth generation aircraft programmes make progress.

• the Air Force has something to cheer as the indigenously developed Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) is expected to get Final Operational Clearance

• The IAF has 120 LCAs on order, of which 100 will be an improved variant. Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), which is manufacturing them is ramping up production to 18 aircraft per year and the first aircraft with improvements is scheduled to be ready by 2018.

• This year’s Iron Fist exercises with the motto “demonstrating the capability to punish” will feature a series of firsts with indigenously developed weapon systems getting ready to show their prowess.

• The Advanced Light Helicopter will fire rockets and the LCA will demonstrate “swing role capability” by simultaneously firing a Beyond Visual Range (BVR) missile and precision guided bombs. The indigenously developed BVR missile Astra will be fired from a Su-30 jet while Akash Surface to Air Missile (SAM) will perform live firing for the first time.

:: INTERNATIONAL ::

Scientists believe Britain’s exit from EU will be a disaster to science

• Over 150 Fellows of Britain’s leading scientific institution, the Royal Society, have expressed their opposition to Brexit [Britain’s exit from the European Union] arguing that it could be a “disaster for science”.

• In a letter to The Times, the signatories, who include physicist Stephen Hawking, astronomer Royale Martin Rees and eminent Cambridge scientist Alan Fersht, have drawn attention to the benefits that have accrued to science as a shared enterprise in the EU.

• The signatories point to the example of Switzerland, which was for long a popular destination for scientists.

• It now has limited access to EU funds be- cause it voted to restrict the free movement of workers, and is desperately trying to find other ways to attract young talent.

:: SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY ::

IRNSS-1F placed in orbit

• ISRO successfully put into orbit India’s sixth dedicated navigation satellite, the IRNSS-1F. The satellite was launched on-board India’s workhorse launch vehicle, the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV).

• The Independent Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS) is designed to pro- vide accurate position information service to users in India and the region extending up to 1,500 km from the border.

• The IRNSS-1F carrying two payloads — the navigation payload and ranging payload — was put into orbit 20 minutes after take-of from the second launch pad at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota.

• [PSLV] has taken the satellite into the right orbit. We have only one more satellite in this constellation to complete our sequence of seven satellites for the regional navigation system

• The satellite had a lift-of mass of 1,425 kg and was powered by two solar panels generating 1660 W and one Lithium-ion battery of 90 Ampere-hour capacity

• With this launch, India inches closer to having its own navigation system (like a GPS).

• The navigation payload of IRNSS-1F will transmit navigation service signals and will operate in the L5 band and S band. The ranging payload consists of a C-band trans- ponder that facilitates accurate determination of the range of the satellites.

• ISRO is now preparing to launch the last satellite in the IRNSS series, the IRNSS-1G, and work has already begun on it.

:: BUSINESS and ECONOMY ::

New gas pricing formula approved by cabinet

• The Union Cabinet approved a new pricing formula for gas discoveries made in difficult- to-access areas.

• The formula will be based on a weighted one-year average of prices of fuel oil, naptha and imported coal.

• Since the rate is not enough to incentivise exploration, the government approved the new price formula for undeveloped gas discoveries in deep-sea, ultra-deep sea and high-temperature, high- pressure areas using average of landed price of naphtha, fuel oil and liquefied natural gas (LNG)

• This will definitely be positive for up- stream companies since the new pricing will be applicable to exist- ing as well as future discoveries.

• This will lead to prices rising by about 70-80 per cent of their cur- rent levels and will enable companies to begin work on their new discoveries in these difficult areas.

• The Cabinet also approved the Hydrocarbon Exploration and Li- censing Policy (HELP).

• The high- lights of the new policy involve granting explorers a uniform license for exploration and production of all forms of hydrocarbons. The previous policy required a separate license for each type of hydrocarbon.

• The new policy also incorporates an open acreage policy wherein exploration and production companies will be allowed to choose the blocks they want to use from the designated area.

• In addition, the policy moves towards an easier revenue-sharing mechanism from the current profit-sharing mechanism.

In order to boost economy ECB cuts rate

• The European Central Bank cut all three of its interest rates and expanded its asset-buying programme, delivering a bigger- than-expected cocktail of actions to boost the economy and stop ultra low inflation becoming entrenched.

• The ECB cuts its deposit rate deeper into negative territory, charging banks more for parking their cash, and increased monthly asset buys to 80 billion euros from 60 billion euros, exceeding expectations for an increase to 70 billion.

• Surprising markets, it cut its main refinancing rate to zero from 0.05 per cent. The euro fell around 1 per cent against the dollar.

• Hoping to boost lending, consumption and inflation, the ECB said it would also start buying corporate debt and launch four new rounds of cheap loan packages, to be extended by banks to the real economy.

• Inflation has been below the ECB’s nearly 2 per cent target for three years and is likely to remain so for many more.

• The ECB cuts its deposit rate to -0.4 per cent from -0.3 per cent, in line with expectations, but it also surprised markets by cutting its other two interest rates.

• Wall Street retreated sharply in volatile trading as a slide in oil prices undermined gains from the European Central Bank's move to cut rates and expand its stimulus programme.

:: SPORTS ::

Rest of India pulled off stunning chase

• Rest of India upset all predictions by chasing down 480 to win the Irani Cup match, against Ranji champion Mumbai.

• Akhil Herwadkar’s direct hit from point, which saw the exit of Rest captain Naman Ojha, kindled hopes of a home team win but Stuart Binny’s big blows (54, 3x4, 2x6) and an equally dynamic performance by Sheldon Jackson (59 not out, 4x4, 1x6) took their side past the finishing line in the mandatory overs.

• It was the third-highest run chase in India’s domestic first- class tournament history (see factbox) and Rest’s win was memorable because it was be- hind in the first innings by 297 runs.

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