1.Govt approves Rs 12,517 cr capital infusion in PSU banks:
The government on Thursday approved a proposal to inject Rs 12,517 crore in public sector banks to help them enhance the lending activity and meet the capital adequacy norms.
Finance Minister P Chidambaram said this will be completed by march this year and enable the banks to maintain their Cash reserve ratio, about 9-10 public sector banks will get benefit from the capital infusion programme. The government has been infusing funds in the public sector banks in the last couple of years to strengthen their finances
NOTE: i. Capital infusion is based on an assessment made by the Finance Ministry about the capital needs of public sector banks for meeting Basel III norms, to be complied with in a phased manner, ending by March 2018.
ii. The implementation of the capital adequacy guidelines based on the Basel III capital regulations was to begin from 1st January 2013.
2.India,Mauritius meet to review bilateral Double Taxation Avoidance Convention:
India and Mauritius will meet next month in New Delhi to review the bilateral Double Taxation Avoidance Convention, DTAC which seeks to prevent misuse of the provisions of the near three-decade old treaty.
During his meeting with Mauritius Prime Minister Navinchandra Ramgoolam at Port Louis, Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma expressed hope the two nations will be able to move forward on the issue at the Joint Working Group, JWG meeting.
NOTE: i. India is likely to press for changes in the treaty so that information regarding source based taxation of capital gains could be shared between the tax authorities.
ii. India will also pitch for incorporating benefit limitation clauses in the agreement with a view to prevent the misuse of the treaty.
iii.The JWG comprising members from the two sides was constituted in 2006 to put in place adequate safeguards to prevent misuse of the DTAC.
3.Allahabad Bank Signed MoU with Chamber of Indian Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises:
Allahabad bank signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Chamber of Indian Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (CIMSME) in Kolkata on 4 January 2013. The MoU was signed to support the priority sector lending.
CIMSME is basically a body that represents interest of the companies in the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) sector, with the financial institutions, banks, concerned ministries as well as other organisations.
NOTE: i. According to the agreement, CIMSME would help in activating the proposals from the members for the due consideration of the bank.
ii. Once the bank sanctions the loan, CIMSME would help the bank in following-up as well as recovering the dues. CIMSME would also help in providing the early signs of warning, if they exist.
iii. MoU signed between the two will basically help in accelerating the process of faster clearance of loan proposals which lie under MSME.
iv. It would additionally, also enable the bank in acquiring quality proposals as well as boosting up the credit flow to this sector.
4.Rajiv Takru appointed Secretary of Financial Services in the Finance Ministry
He will succeed Dinesh Kumar Mittal..
Rajiv Takru , the Senior IAS officer on 9 January 2013 promoted and appointed as Secretary of Financial Services in the Finance Ministry.
i. The job of Rajiv Takru is that of looking after the functioning of banks, insurance companies and other financial institutions.
ii. Rajiv Takru, is a 1979-batch officer of Gujarat cadre and was earlier CEO of Prasar Bharti and had worked in the Information and Broadcasting Ministry.
NOTE: Also, in an another appointment , the Appointments Committee of Cabinet (ACC) headed by Prime MinisterManmohan Singh had approved the appointment of Ravi Mathur as Secretary in the Department of Disinvestment under the Finance Ministry.
i. Ravi Mathur, is a 1979-batch IAS officer of Rajasthan cadre and is currently Additional Secretary in Ministry of Labour and Employment.
ii. Prof K Vijayraghavan, was also appointed by the Appointments Committee of Cabinet (ACC) as Director, National Centre for Biological Sciences, Bangalore as Secretary, Department of Biotechnology.
5.Jack Lew to replace Geithner as US Treasury Secretary:
US President Barack Obama has decided to nominate his Chief-of-Staff Jack Lew as his next Treasury Secretary to replace Timothy Geithner.
Lew, who previously served as Director of the Office of Management and Budget in the Clinton and Obama Administration, is a member of the Democratic Party.
6.Cochin Shipyard launched Aadesh !
The First Fast Patrol Vessel for Coast Guard..
Cochin Shipyard Ltd (CSL) on 8 January 2013 launched the first fast patrol vessel (FPV), built for the Indian Coast Guard.
The vessel which is named Aadesh was launched by Jayasree Muralidharan, in the presence of M.P. Muralidharan, Director General of Indian Coast Guard (ICG) and K. Subramaniam, Chairman and Managing Director of the Coast Guard.
The vessel is the first in a series of 20 numbers fast patrol vessel (FPVs) contracted by CSL for the Indian Coast Guard. The ship was designed by the Kochi-based SEDS and this is the first association between CSL and a local design house.
Specification of Fast Patrol Vessel (FPV):
i. It has a designed speed of 33 knots with propelled water jets to attain the speed.
ii. Its primary role includes fisheries protection and monitoring, patrol within exclusive economic zone (EEZ) and coastal patrol, anti smuggling, search and rescue operations and for anti piracy operations.
iii. The secondary role of vessel is to provide communication link and escort convoys during hostilities and war time.
iv. Although it is small in size and complex but is technologically very challenging.
7.Supreme Court rejected Sahara Petition on Refund of 24000 crore Rupees:
A bench of justices K S Radhakrishnan and J S Khehar, dismissed Sahara group's petition for review of its verdict directing its two firms Sahara India Real Estate Corporation (SIREC) and Sahara Housing Investment Corporation (SHIC) to refund around 24000 crore rupees to their investors with 15 percent interest per annum.
The bench asserted that all the contentions raised by the companies were considered by it while passing its August 2012 verdict and there is no need to review the same.
NOTE: Chief Justice Altamas Kabir on 5 December 2012 had modified the judgment granting the group nine more weeks
to pay back 24000 crore rupees with interest to over three crore investors.
8.NASA to send aircraft in stratosphere to study climate change:
NASA will send a remotely piloted research aircraft 65,000 feet over the tropical Pacific Ocean in January, 2013 to probe unexplored regions of the upper atmosphere and detect how a warming climate is changing Earth.
i. The first flights of the Airborne Tropical Tropopause Experiment (ATTREX), a multi-year airborne science campaign with a heavily instrumented Global Hawk aircraft, will take off from and be operated by NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base in California.
ii. ATTREX will study moisture and chemical composition in the upper regions of the troposphere, the lowest layer of Earth's atmosphere.
iii. The troposphere layer between the troposphere and stratosphere, 12 km to 17 km above Earth's surface, is the point where water vapor, ozone and other gases enter the stratosphere.
iv. Studies have shown even small changes in stratospheric humidity may have significant climate impacts.
NOTE: The Global Hawk is able to make 30-hour flights, NASA said in a statement.
Six science flights are planned between 16th January and 15tMarch. The ATTREX team also is planning remote deployments to Guam and Australia in 2014.
9.Life of Pi Nominated For BAFTA 2013:
Life of Pi and The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, the Hollywood films which had their shooting in India were chosen for the major BAFTA Awards 2013. The political drama of Steven Spielberg, Lincoln is leading its way with ten nominations.
NOTE:i. Suraj Sharma, the Indian actor was already nominated for the BAFTA Awards 2013 for the category of Rising Star.
ii. He acted as the Pi in Life of Pidirected by Ang Lee.
iii. Ang Lee was nominated for Best Director category in BAFTA for Life of Pi.
iv. Life of Pi is running for the categories original music, cinematography; best adapted screenplay, production design, special visual effects, Sound and editing.
v. The British Academy Film Awards 2013 will be held at Royal Opera House on 10 February 2013.
10.National under-20 Women's Hockey Ch'ship gets underway in H'bad today.
i. The 39th Under-20 National Women's Hockey Championship will be held in Hyderabad from today
ii. 21 teams from various states will play 18 league matches and seven knockout matches before the final match on the 16th of this month.
iii. President ofthe Indian Hockey Federation Dinesh Reddy said the National Women’s Hockey team will be picked from the week-long tournament.
11.ICC ODI rankings table set to change:
With upcoming India-England, Oz-Lanka series…
The International Cricket Council, ICC's ODI Championship table is up for changes in the wake of forthcoming India-England series and the Australia-Srilanka series which gets underway tomorrow and the South Africa-New Zealand series on 19th of this month.
i. England currently holds number one spot by virtue of being a fraction point ahead of South Africa.
In case it wins the India-England series, it will emerge as the clear leader in the ODI table.
ii. India is placed third behind South Africa.
iii. India stands a chance to climb up to number one ranking if it defeats England 5-0 in the forthcoming ODI series.
iv. Among Indian players, Virat Kohli, MS Doni, R.Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja figure among the top 10 in the ODI list.
v. Among the batsmen, Protean Hashim Amla is at number one followed by fellow countryman AB Devilliers.
vi. India’s Virat Kohli is at number three followed closely by the skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni.
vii. Among the bowlers, Pakistan Offspinner Saeed Ajmal maintains his top billing followed by his country man Mohammad Hafeez.
viii. India’s R Ashwin is on number seven.
ix. In the All rounders category Pakistan skipper Mohammed Hafeez is the leader followed by Bangladesh’s Shakib Al Hassan. India’s Ravindra Jadeja is at number seven in the latest ODI rankings.
12.Tendulkar’s son selected for Mumbai U-14 squad:
i. Sachin Tendulkar’s son Arjun has been selected to play for Mumbai U-14 in the West Zone leg matches of the BCCI tournament which will be held in Ahmedabad from January 20 to February 1.
ii. Arjun, who is 13-year-old, bats left-handed and scored his maiden century at the U-14 level for Khar Gymkhana at the Cross Maidan against Goregaon Centre.
iii. His innings of 124 had 14 boundaries and a six which helped Khar Gymkhana beat GC by an innings and 21 runs.
iv. This century helped break into the Mumbai U-14 probables list for an off-season training.
NOTE: The teenager has been in the news in junior cricket circle in Mumbai for his all-round abilities as he once scalped eight for 22 bowling left-arm pace for Dhirubhai Ambani International School helping them beat Jamnabai Narsee School, back in November 2011.
No comments:
Post a Comment