Current Affairs for BANK, IBPS Exams

3 July 2015

::Business ::

On Re 1 note, the govt has to spend Rs 1.14: RTI

• It costs the government Rs 1.14 to print a Re 1 note, a right to information query has revealed.

• Interestingly, Re 1 notes were discontinued over two decades ago for being too costly to manufacture.

• Unlike the other currency notes that bear the signature of the RBI governor, the Re 1 notes have the signature of the finance secretary.

• In November 1994, the Re 1 notes were discontinued due to high manufacturing costs and to free capacity to print notes of higher denomination.

• For the same reason, the two and five rupee notes were also scrapped. The RBI decided to discontinue printing notes below Rs 10 after it found that small denomination notes commanded 57% of the total volume of notes in the country and their average life was less than a year. However, Rs 5 bills were reintroduced in 2005 following a shortage of coins.

• The cost of the currency paper accounts for the fattest slice of the money printing expense, said a numismatic expert.

• The re-introduced Re 1 note is 100% cotton rag weighing 90g per sq metre with a thickness of 110 microns.

• Countries like the US control cost by keeping all dollars a uniform size and the moss-green colour.

• But in India notes are of varied dimensions and hues, mainly to make it easy for the illiterate population to distinguish among notes. The new pink-green Re 1 note will bear the Ashoka Pillar as watermark.

India cross $2-trillion mark

• India’s GDP crossed the $2-trillion mark in 2014, according to data released by the World Bank in Washington late on Wednesday. After taking 60 years to reach the $1-trillion mark, India added the next trillion in just seven years.

• The World Bank data also show that India’s gross national income per person rose to $1,610 (around Rs. 1 lakh) a year during 2014 from $1,560 the previous year.

• India’s growth rate, at 7.4 per cent in 2014, makes it the fastest growing major economy along with China’s, which is a whopping $10.4 trillion in size.

• The Indian economy, at $2.06 trillion, has almost doubled in size since the financial crisis hit the country in 2008, and has more than quadrupled from the start of this millennium.

• Despite its increase in per capita gross national income (GNI), India has remained in the ‘lower middle income’ category ($1,046-$4,125).

• China, however, with a per capita GNI of $7,380 and an average annual growth of 15.6 per cent, will leave the ‘upper middle income’ category by 2018 to become a ‘high income’ country like the U.S., the U.K., Germany and Japan.

• It will take India till 2039 to reach that level, at the assumed growth rate.

• The World Bank’s data on gross national income per capita — the total value added by all producers within the country, plus income received from citizens working abroad, divided by the population of the country — show Bangladesh, Kenya, Myanmar, Tajikistan, Mongolia, Paraguay, Argentina, Hungary, the Seychelles and Venezuela have shifted their income categories for the better.

• For example, Bangladesh, Kenya, Myanmar, and Tajikistan are now ‘middle income’ countries from being ‘low income’ nations.

::National ::

Fin Min release Census 2011 data

• Finance minister Arun Jaitley on Friday released the socio-economic and caste census (SECC) 2011 and said that it would be an important input for policy makers.

• Here are some key points from the census report:
  1. This is the first caste census done in Independent India.
  2. The last caste census in India happened in 1932.
  3. Just 4.6% of all rural households in the country pay income tax.
  4. The total households in the country - rural plus urban - stand at 24.39 crore.
  5. Public sector-employed households made up 1.11% of the total.
  6. Over 11% rural households possessed refrigerators.
  7. 20.69% rural households had either an automobile or a fishing boat.
  8. 94% of the rural households owned a house with 54% cent having 1-2 room dwellings.
  9. Of all the rural salaried households, 5% earned salaries from the government while those employed in the private sector constituted 3.57% of the total households.
  10. Landless ownership was 56% of the total rural population, with 70% of SCs and 50% of STs being landless owners.

After a long wait MNP from today

• Mobile services provider, including Airtel and Vodafone, on Thursday announced roll out of nation-wide mobile number portability (NMNP) on Friday that will allow users to keep their existing cell phone numbers while shifting between States.

• Presently, users can change their operator while retaining the same number only in the same State or telecom circle. NMNP will enable people shifting location, across circles, to retain their number either with the same operator or by shifting to a different operator.

• The government had fixed July 3 as the deadline for a national rollout of NMNP.

• Bharti Airtel said customer requests to port within its network will be processed in 24 hours and while the request is being processed, they can avail free incoming on roaming.

We need more salary,Parliamentary committee recommends doubling of MPs’ salary

• A parliamentary committee has recommended a steep hike in the salaries and allowances of Members of Parliament.

• The Joint Committee on Salaries and Allowances of Members of Parliament, headed by BJP MP Yogi Adityanath, has sought doubling of the salary of MPs from the existing Rs. 50,000 per month, increasing the pension of ex-MPs from Rs. 20,000 to Rs. 35,000, and doubling the daily allowance of members when Parliament is in session, from Rs. 2,000 to Rs. 4,000.

• In addition, it has sought facilities for “companions” in place of “spouses”, as many MPs are single.

• The panel has also responded positively to the ex-MPs, who appeared before the panel, and requested that their companions be also allowed to travel First Class on trains. Currently, companions and spouses are only entitled to second class tickets.

• The panel has also recommended that ex-MPs be permitted to travel economy class by air five times a year. Sitting MPs are allowed to fly executive class around three dozen times a year.

• Since MPs rank higher than the Cabinet Secretary in protocol, the panel suggested their privileges should match their status and also include healthcare benefits for married children of MPs.

23 firms show interest in train set project

• The Railways’ Rs.2,500-crore train set project under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘Make in India’ programme has seen interest from global firms such as Alstom, Hitachi, Toshiba, Bombardier, Siemens, CSR Qingdao and CSR Zhuzhou.

• The State-run transporter had floated a global tender for procurement, manufacturing and maintenance of 15 electric multiple unit (EMU) train sets or 315 rail cars last month.

• The move is aimed at improving the speed of Rajdhani and Shatabdi trains by running train sets, which can clock the speed of 160 kmph.

• Under the tender conditions, the successful bidder will have to import two train sets, while the rest will have to be manufactured in India.

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