Current Affairs For Bank, IBPS Exams - 01 November , 2015

Current Affairs for BANK, IBPS Exams

01 November 2015

:: National ::

Where Space drives life on Earth

ISRO has a two-pronged SatNav plan: the GPS-aided GEO augmented Navigation (GAGAN); and the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS).
At the crux of many such critical ideas, it transpires, is your location at that given time. Add a map, a geo-image or an alarm to a hand-held device that has a navigation receiver, and help is at hand, according to Satellite Navigation (SatNav) exponents.
Humankind has used various navigation techniques. But the arrival of SatNav has revolutionised the world with innovative solutions that use position information. Today, without satellites, we would be lost.
Ships need position information for docking, as also for harbour operations. Railways can use it to avoid collisions and for safety at unmanned level crossings. Power grids and banks must know the exact time of power transfers and money transactions. A farmer can use fertilisers optimally and plant multiple crops.
ISRO is building the GPS-independent, national positioning system, the IRNSS. Four satellites are up. Similar to the universally used GPS, Russia has its own GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System) called GLONASS; Europe its GALILEO; and China its BeiDou. Each needs its own receiver. India and these governments are encouraging manufacturers of receivers and other hardware to put all SatNav systems, along with IRNSS and GAGAN, on the same receiver to make it easier and cheaper to use.
Current global satellite navigation systems

Global Positioning System (GPS): the most utilised system. Consists of up to 32 medium orbit satellites. Operational since 1978 and globally available since 1994
GLONASS (Global Navigation Satellite System): Consists of 24 satellites, operated by Russian Aerospace Defence Forces
DORIS (Doppler Orbitography and Radio-positioning Integrated by Satellite): French precision navigation system. Based on static emitting stations around the world. Limited in usage and coverage. Used with other traditional GNNS systems.

Database to help get a fix on the big cat

The database being set up at LaCONES (Laboratory for the Conservation of Endangered Species), an annexure of the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB), has genetic profiles of tigers from central India, Western Ghats and the Northeast.
A database of genetic profiles of tigers from across India is not only aiding in nabbing poachers but also in establishing whether the big cat is a suspected man-eater in cases of animal-human conflict.
The database was also enabling the scientists to assign with a fair degree of accuracy the region from where a big cat comes.
With greater awareness on the utility of DNA fingerprinting technique, forest officials from Maharashtra, Karnataka and other States have been referring samples in cases of poaching and human-animal conflict to LaCONES.

:: International ::

Africa makes outreach beyond China

The India-Africa Forum Summit (IAFS) ended with a globally relevant declaration.
Though India and African countries meet often in international platforms, IAFS 2015 will remain unique because it was the first time that India appeared before Africa speaking the language of pure economic development and finance capital, in a departure from the ideology-dominant days of Jawaharlal Nehru in the 1950s.
The summit was important because Africans have realized that it is necessary to let China know that the Africans too have an alternative to China, said former Indian High Commissioner to Kenya, T.P. Sreenivasan.
A Sudanese political activist now in India said that African human rights activists were disturbed by the fact that despite being the largest avoided showing any interest in advising African countries like Democratic Republic of Congo, Somalia, and several others on how to resolve conflicts and end discriminations.

Russian plane crash leaves no survivors

Russian airliner carrying 224 passengers crashed into a mountainous area of Egypt's Sinai Peninsula on Saturday shortly after losing radar contact near cruising altitude, killing all aboard.
A militant group ailiated to Islamic State in Egypt, Sinai Province, said in a statement it had brought down the plane.
The Airbus A321, operated by Russian airline Kogalymavia under the brand name Metrojet, was flying from the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh to St. Petersburg in Russia when it went down in central Sinai soon after daybreak.
Egyptian and Russian authorities said it was too early to draw any conclusions about the cause of the crash.

:: Business ::

India eyes bankruptcy reform to ease decades of gridlock

A group of government-appointed advisors has recommended sweeping changes to India's outdated and overburdened bankruptcy system, aiming to modernize a process that takes several years and costs investors and taxpayers billions.
The changes would be the most ambitious overhaul to date of rules governing the liquidation or revival of companies in India, a country with no single bankruptcy code and where competing laws, unclear jurisdictions and inadequate resources can leave cases languishing for decades.
Under current rules, even deciding whether to save or liquidate an ailing company can take years, leaving it in the hands of managers who can – and do - strip assets with impunity. Under the proposed changes, a decision would have to be reached in 180 days - even 90 days for fast-track applications.
The World Bank says it takes 4.3 years on average, more than twice as long as in China, with an average recovery of 25.7 cents on the dollar, one of the worst among similar size economies.
Troubled companies in India, or their creditors, largely turn to the Official Liquidator, a government-appointed officer attached to the country's high courts, who administers assets and oversees liquidation. Banks can also turn to separate Debts Recovery Tribunals (DRT), partly staffed by officials on assignment from the banks themselves and overseen by the Ministry of Finance. Both are overstretched; on visits to their offices in India's financial capital, Mumbai, computers were often of and always outnumbered by teetering pillars of files.

India may need to import10 million tonnes of pulses

India may have to import a large quantity of 10 million tonnes of pulses if the domestic production-consumption mismatch has to be bridged, leaving the government with a daunting task, an Assocham study has said.
Considering deficit in rainfall for 2015-16, it is expected that the production of pulses for the year would decrease slightly to 17 million tonnes as against 17.2 million tonnes recorded in 2014-15. Further with the rise in demand it is expected that a total of 10.1 million tonnes of pulses might have to be imported.
But given the global supply constraints, the demand-supply gap may be difficult to achieve this year.
Maharashtra is the largest kharif pulses producer in the country followed by Karnataka, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh. The respective shares of these major states in total kharif pulse production are 24.9, 13.5, 13.2, 10 and 8.4 percent respectively.
These five States together account for about 70 per cent of the country’s total kharif pulse production. All these states have witnessed weather related issues affecting the production.

:: Sports ::

Joshna stuns Raneem El Welily

JoshnaChinappa stunned World No. 1 and top seed Raneem El Welily of Egypt in the first round of the $1,15,000 Qatar Classic squash here on Saturday.
This is the first time that she was beating a player in the top five in the world ranking.
India’s SauravGhosal is in the fray in the men’s section and will play his first match on Sunday.

New Zealand retains World Cup

New Zealand became the first team to retain the Rugby World Cup after holding of a second-half comeback by Australia to win 34-17 in an absorbing final.
In probably the last test of his record-breaking career, fly-half Dan Carter steered the All Blacks to a record third global title.
Finals were held at Twickenham stadium, London.