Current Affairs For Bank, IBPS Exams - 26 August, 2015

Current Affairs for BANK, IBPS Exams

State-owned Life Insurance Corporation of India, bought 86 percent of shares on offer, in state-run Indian Oil Corp this week, salvaging a $1.4 billion government sale, as the Indian market took its biggest tumble in more than six years.
LIC, India's biggest investor, has in the past dug into its pockets to prop up government sales, buying up state banks and government mining firms. It heavily supported the sale of Coal India shares in January and the sale of shares in Steel Authority of India (SAIL) last year.
The investments have sometimes proved fruitful for LIC, with stock in the State Bank of India, which was invested in January 2014, up more than 60 percent.

The 55-inch variant is priced at Rs 3,84,900 while the 65-inch model at Rs 5,79,900.
The new LG OLED 4K TV features a transparent stand and the back cover is free of fasteners and holes. In addition, the TV also features 3D and Harmin Kardon sound technology. 3D glasses are bundled with the TV.
The company’s curved TVs are based on LG’s proprietary WRGB technology that boasts 33 million colour sub-pixels (about 27 million more than a conventional full-HD tv) to offer better colours and contrast ratio along with deeper blacks. The display offers a 5.9mm thickness as well.
The TV also has a maximum response time of 0.001ms (1000 times more than conventional LCD TVs) for blur free viewing, claims the company and the TV is also powered by webOS smart TV platform and LG’s magic motion remote that also supports voice recognition. In terms of connectivity, it supports Wi-Fi, Miracast, MHL and Intel WiDi.

Even as the deadline to submit final demarcations of eco-sensitive areas (ESA) inWestern Ghats is only a fortnight away, four out of the six Western Ghats states are yet to present their reports to the Centre and according to reliable sources Maharashtra, like Kerala, may recommend reducing the ESA area in the state.
In March 2014, the environment ministry had issued a draft notification, identifying 60,000 sq km of area in Ghats as ecologically sensitive and the ministry has to finalise the draft in 500 days, which is by September 9.
Only Kerala and Goa have given their reports while the remaining four states – Gujarat, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu – have yet to submit their ground assessment of the notification, that was based on recommendations of the K.Kasturirangan-led high-level working group.
To carry out ground assessment, the state government had decided to form local committees comprising forest officers, revenue officials and gram panchayat members.

The Western Ghats ares a 1,600km long mountain range running all along the west coast of India.
It covers the states of Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Goa, Maharashtra and Gujarat, approximately 1,40,000 sq km. These mountains are home to number of endemic plants and animal species.
The Western Ghats consist of 5000 vascular plants. Of these, about 30% are endemic to the Ghats
Western Ghats also have over 450 species of birds 35% of them endemic
There exist 140 mammal species (around 20% endemic) and 260 reptile species (over 60% endemic)
The range also has a number of fresh water fishes and a number of invertebrates
The Western Ghats are one of the 34 biodiversity hotspots (Bio geographic regions with sizeable biodiversity endangered by humans)

India-born former Goldman Sachs director Rajat Gupta has filed a fresh appeal in a US court against a federal judge's ruling that had denied his bid to throw out his two-year sentence and conviction on insider trading charges.
Gupta's lawyer Gary Naftalis filed the fresh appeal in the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit on Tuesday against the July 2, 2015 ruling by a district court.
In the ruling, US district judge Jed Rakoff had rejected Gupta's appeal to overturn his two-year sentence and conviction on insider trading, disagreeing with him that there was "insufficient" evidence at trial of him receiving "personal benefits" in exchange for the insider tips.
Gupta, 66, was convicted in 2012 of passing confidential boardroom information to now jailed hedge fund founder Raj Rajaratnam. Gupta appealed his conviction on various grounds, but the US federal Court of Appeals and even the Supreme Court rejected his arguments and affirmed the conviction.
Gupta is currently serving a two year prison term in a federal prison in Ayer, Massachusetts and is scheduled to be released in March next year.