Current Affairs For Bank, IBPS Exams - 24 April, 2014

Current Affairs For Bank, IBPS Exams

An RBI panel made a case for centralised bill payment system catering to different financial instruments, like cheques, debit cards and mobile banking.
In order to ensure uniform and efficient implementation of operations of the bill payments system in the country, standards have to be set for process standards, business standards for establishing the relationship between all entities, and information exchange standards for transactions as well as settlements.
The RBI has sought comments on the Report of the GIRO Advisory Group till May 25. This centralised bill payments system, it said will provide accessible services across all parts of the country through a strong network of operational units/agents who will ensure in making this service accessible in urban as well as rural areas.
The report further said the standard setting role/ function has to be distinct from the operational aspects of the bill payments system.
Currently, the payment system in the country offers a variety of payment instruments to the public, like cheques and various e-payment modes in the form of credit cards, debit cards, pre-paid payment instruments (including mobile wallets) issued by both banks and authorized non-bank entities.

Brazil’s president signed into law on a “Bill of Rights” for the digital age that aims to protect online privacy and promote the Internet as a public utility by barring telecommunications companies from charging for preferential access to their networks.
The law signed by President Dilma Rousseff at a global conference on the future of Internet governance puts Brazil in the vanguard of online consumer protection and what is known as “net neutrality,” whose promoters consider it profoundly democratic in part because it keeps financial barriers for innovators low.
The new law promotes privacy by limiting the data that online companies can collect on Internet users in this nation of 200 million people, deeming communications over the Internet “inviolable and secret.” Service providers must develop protocols to ensure email can be read only by senders and their intended recipients. Violators are subject to penalties including fines and suspension.
The law obliges Internet companies, however, to hold on to user data for six months and hand it over to law enforcement under court order.

Indian politician Arvind Kejriwal has won the readers’ poll for the 2014 TIME 100, TIME’s annual list of people who influenced the world this past year for better or worse.
As the world's largest democracy votes in the ongoing elections, the key candidates obviously have made an impact internationally.
Narendra Modi, who is already being hailed as the leader at the helm of affairs by Goldman Sachs and other agencies, was expected to be the top candidate from India on TIME magazine's list. But Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Arvind Kejriwal has managed to edge past the BJP's prime ministerial candidate by a small margin.
Kejriwal has edged past international icons such as Malala Yousafzai, Katy Perry, Lady Gaga, Jared Leto, Vladimir Putin, Janet Yellen, and Michael Bloomberg among others. Narendra Modi, who has gained much prominence of late, has secured the third post. According to TIME, Modi may clamour past pop star Katy Perry to the second spot and give Kejriwal a run for his money.

Multiple Olympic champion Carl Lewis was confirmed as the event ambassador of the TCS World 10K 2014 recently. The event will be flagged off from Bangalore`s Sree Kanteerava Stadium on May 18.
In a career spanning from 1979 to 1996, Lewis won 10 Olympic medals including nine golds in disciplines as varied as 100m, 200m, 4X100m relay and Long jump. Besides the Olympic glory, he also won 10 World Championships medals, setting numerous records. The International Olympic Committee honoured him with the title, the Sportsman of the Century for his unrivalled achievement as a track and field athlete.