Current Affairs For Bank, IBPS Exams - 6 July, 2015

Current Affairs for BANK, IBPS Exams

6 July 2015

::National ::

Mobile cross landlines in rural India

Nearly 28 per cent of rural households in India still do not have access to a phone, whether landline or mobile, finds the Socio Economic and Caste Census, 2011. Only 11 per cent of these households have a refrigerator.
The census, released by Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and Rural Development Minister Chaudhary Birendra Singh here on Friday, finds that the number of mobile-phone connections far exceeds that of landlines in rural India.
Sixty-eight per cent of households own only a mobile phone, one per cent own only a landline phone, and 2.7 per cent own both.
The census provides an insight into transport facilities in villages, showing that only 20.6 per cent of households own “motorised two/three/four-wheelers or motorised fishing boats requiring registration”.
A whopping 71 per cent of Chhattisgarh’s rural population, for example, does not have a phone. This number is 65.3 per cent for Odisha and 51.9 per cent for Madhya Pradesh.
The proportion of these States’ rural populations with a refrigerator is very low — only around a third of the national average.

::International ::

Greece says 'No' to bailout referendum

Voters in cash-strapped Greece overwhelmingly rejected international creditors' tough bailout terms on Sunday, but Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras insisted the result does not mean a "rupture" with Europe despite fears it will end in a "Grexit" from the eurozone.
With the final tally showing the 'No' vote winning by more than 61%, the historic referendum represented a victory for the radical left prime, who said his negotiating position to secure a new debt deal was now greatly bolstered.
As eurozone leaders scrambled to work out their response, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande called a European summit for Tuesday and declared that the Greeks' decision must"be respected".
Thousands of pro-government supporters cheered and hugged each other in central Athens in celebration, although some other Greeks expressed pessimism that Tsipras would be able to deliver on his promises.
Figures released by the interior ministry showed the final tally at 61.31% voting 'No' and 38.69% voting 'Yes'. Participation stood at 62.5%.
Now, Europe faces a near impossible choice between giving debt-laden Greece a chance or pushing it out of the euro and risking global turmoil, analysts said.
European leaders reacted with a mix of dismay and caution to the resounding election results, which also sent the battered single currency plummeting.
In Asian trade, the euro help up against the dollar after dropping in the immediate wake of the vote, changing hands at $1.1024 to claw back some of the losses it suffered in New York electronic trade where it fell at one point to $1.0987.
Tsipras said the creditors -- the ECB, the European Commission and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) -- would now finally have to talk about restructuring the massive, 240-billion-euro ($267 billion) debt Greece owes them.

Japan joins US-Australia war games amid China tensions

The United States and Australia kicked off a massive joint biennial military exercise on Sunday, with Japan taking part for the first time as tensions with China over territorial rows loom over the drills.
The two-week “Talisman Sabre” exercise in the Northern Territory and Queensland state involves 30,000 personnel from the US and Australia practising operations at sea, in the air and on land.
Some 40 personnel from Japan’s army - the Ground Self-Defense Force (JGSDF) - will join the American contingent, while more than 500 troops from New Zealand are also involved in the exercise, which concludes on July 21.
The war games, being held for the sixth time, come as China flexes its strategic and economic muscle in the region.
Beijing has been building artificial islands and facilities in disputed waters in the South China Sea, and has a separate territorial dispute with Japan over the Tokyo-controlled Senkaku islands - which it calls the Diaoyus - in the East China Sea.

::Miscellaneous ::

Full findings of UNICEF survey yet to be released

The Ministry of Women and Child Development (WCD) has not published the full findings of a UNICEF-supported Rapid Survey of Children (RSOC) even after one year of its completion.
The original survey reportedly showed that child immunisation coverage in Gujarat dipped under the Narendra Modi government, but the government has contested the findings.
The delay in release has resulted in a political storm, with Ahmed Patel, political secretary to Congress president Sonia Gandhi, shooting off a letter to Women and Child Development Minister Maneka Gandhi raising uncomfortable questions on exclusion of survey data on Gujarat.

Key findings

UNICEF’s Head of Nutrition Saba Mebrahtu said that though the survey had hogged attention for only its immunisation-related findings, there was much in it to celebrate as well. “There has been a substantial reduction in child under nutrition by 9 percentage points compared to the findings of the National Family Health Survey (NFHS) 3 in 2005-06.
However, the findings pertaining to teenage girl child nutrition are worrying. “There is very little improvement in nutrition levels of girls in the 15-18 age group since NFHS 3.
While 10 years ago, teenage girl under nutrition level stood at 44.3 per cent, RSOC 2013-14 showed it stands at 44.7,” she said, adding that this lack of improvement is across the board.
Publication of the latest RSOC data is significant as most health policy workers are still depending on the decade-old NFHS 3 survey to design their programmes.

::Business ::

Bad loans big concern for banks

Bad loans will add up to almost half of the equity capital of public sector banks if even a fifth of the loans they have recently restructured continue to default according to a report by Fitch Ratings.
According to the agency mid-sized public sector banks remain the weakest and lenders might have to seek funds overseas as there is no domestic market for hybrid capital.
Describing FY15 as a 'difficult year' Fitch said that state-owned banks continued to face asset-quality pressures, falling profitability and weakened capitalisation.
""System-wide loan growth, at 9.7%, was the lowest over the past decade, and concentrated mainly in retail and farm credit.
The system NPL ratio rose to 4.6% of total assets from 4.1% in FY14, though the bulk of the deterioration was accounted for by restructured loans, as expected. Consequently, the broader stressed-assets ratio (which includes performing restructured loans) spiked to 11.1%, from 10%," the report said.

::Sports ::

Double delight for Jamaican sprinters

Jamaican sprinters Asafa Powell and Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce made up for the absence of injured Usain Bolt by storming to double 100m glory in the Diamond League meet in Paris on Saturday.
But there was heartbreak for Ethiopian Genzebe Dibaba who narrowly missed out on breaking her older sister Tirunesh’s world record in the women's 5,000m.
Powell held his nerve to power through the line in 9.81 seconds, Frenchman Jimmy Vicaut equalling the European record of 9.86sec in second ahead of American Michael Rodgers (9.99).
American Evan Jager led a strong field of Kenyans into the final bend of the men's 3,000m steeplechase, only to come a cropper on the final hurdle to allow Jairus Kipchoge Birech in a world leading 7:58.83.

Chile crushes Argentina in copa America final

It took an Argentine, Jorge Sampaoli, to plot Chile’s triumph in the Copa America final against his own country.
Lionel Messi and Argentina’s other Fantasticos lost their nerve in Santiago’s Estadio Nacional as they sought their first major international title for 22 years.
Chile’s coach Sampaoli stayed true to his live wire reputation, jumping up and down on the touchline urging stars Alexis Sanchez and Arturo Vidal to attack so they could win their first South American championship.
Since taking over, Sampaoli, 55, has transformed Chile’s national side into true global competitors. As well as Saturday’s South American title, Chile also reached the last 16 at last year’s World Cup.
But when he arrived in December 2012, Chile had lost three World Cup qualifiers in a row and despite the presence of stars such as Sanchez seemed like a disorganised rabble. Sampaoli said that Chile is capable of even better.
Though born near Argentina’s second city of Rosida, Sampaoli made his name mainly as a coach of teams in Peru and Ecuador.