1. South Africa's Desmond Tutu wins 2013 Templeton Prize
i. Desmond Tutu, anti-apartheid icon and former Cape Town Archbishop, was on Thursday awarded the USD 1.7 million Templeton Prize for his lifelong work to promote "love and forgiveness" around the world.
ii. The 81-year-old Nobel peace laureate, who rose to world prominence with his stalwart and successful opposition to South Africa
iii. "The judges noted that Archbishop Tutu's commitment to core Christian principles such as love and forgiveness has broken chains of hurt, pain and all too common instincts for revenge, and instead, has advanced the spiritual liberation of people around the world”.
iv. "As a leading moral voice for love, peace and justice, Desmond Tutu, in extending hands of a common brotherhood, is one of the world's most revered religious leaders”.
NOTE: i. Established in 1972 by the late global investor and philanthropist Sir John Templeton, the Prize celebrates each year a living person who has made an exceptional contribution to affirming life's spiritual dimension, whether through insight, discovery, or practical works.
ii. The USD 1.7 million prize has been the world's largest annual monetary award given to an individual for the past 40 years.
2. RBI to UCBs: Grant unsecured loans up to 25 pc of assets
i. In order to promote lending to priority sectors, the Reserve Bank has allowed urban co-operative banks (UCBs) to grant unsecured loans up to 25 percent of their assets if certain conditions are met.
ii. The UCBs need to fulfill criterion such as, coverage of the entire loan portfolio of the bank under priority sector and that all loans to be sanctioned as small value loans of up to Rs 20,000 in a single amount.
iii. Besides, they should have assessed CRAR (Capital to Risk Assets Ratio) of 9 percent and have assessed gross NPAs at less than 10 percent of gross advances.
iv. RBI said: "UCBs desiring to grant unsecured loans in excess of 10 percent of total assets...may approach the Regional Office of UBD (Urban Banks Department) for permission.
v. RBI further said the financial parameters set by RBI may be considered as on 31st March of the previous year.
3. RBI annual policy on May 3
i. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Wednesday said that its annual monetary policy will be announced on May 3.
ii. The RBI last cut the indicative policy rate (repo) on March 19 in its mid-quarter review by 25 basis points from 7.75 per cent to 7.50 per cent.
iii. In the last policy announcement, the RBI had said that inflationary pressures and the widening current account deficit (CAD) were continuing as a threat to the economy.
4. World Bank ready to work closely with BRICS bank
i. Describing the BRICS Development Bank as a significant undertaking, the World Bank has said that it will stand ready and work closely with the new bank to end poverty throughout the developing world.
ii. BRICS Summit in Durban decided to launch a development bank and create a $100 billion fund for contingency reserve arrangement to tackle any emergency financial crisis in member countries.
iii. Chinese Finance Minister Lou Jiwei said the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) development bank would be “complementary” to the existing development institutions such as the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank.
5. Sibal approves Rs 104 cr penalty on Vodafone
i. Telecom Min Kapil Sibal is learnt to have approved a recommendation by two internal committees of the Dept of Telecom (DoT) for imposing a fine of about Rs 104 crore on Vodafone for allegedly violating the licence conditions on routing of calls.
ii. The fine is based on the loss estimated by internal committees of DoT to the national exchequer due to violation of licence norms by Vodafone between October 2002 and December 2003 in Delhi and Mumbai.
iii. The committee, in its report, is believed to have said "there was a possible loss to designated security agencies by the act of violation of terms and conditions of the licence. Also there was threat to national security due to tampering of CLI (Calling Line Identity) by Vodafone."
NOTE: i. DoT had formed two committees to suggest the amount based on the level of culpability, revenue loss to the government, wrongful profit made by the service provider and the level of deterrence required and another for calculating the penalty/fine to be imposed on Vodafone for "wrongful gain made by the service providers.
ii. Based on recommendations of both the committees, it was recommended imposing a penalty of Rs 50 crore each forDelhi
6. World Bank praises MP achievements under National Livelihoods Mission
i. A team of World Bank has lauded Madhya Pradesh’s achievements under National Livelihoods Mission.
ii. In a meeting with Panchayat and Rural Developments officials in Bhopal yesterday, team members stressed the need to promote innovations in the context of livelihoods activities in the state.
iii. They gave suggestion about appointing Bank-Mitras to provide banking facilities to rural beneficiaries easily.
iv. These Bank-Mitras will be selected from among members of self-help groups.
v. 46 development blocks of 10 districts of the state have been covered under the project’s first phase.
vi. So far, 5,234 new self-help groups have been formed while 5,795 old self-help-groups have also been linked with the mission. Besides, 655 rural organisations have also been formed.
vii. This initiative will help in exact assessment of positive change brought about in these families’ socio-economic condition after conclusion of Livelihoods Mission.
7. Oscar Winner Author Ruth Prawer Jhabvala died in New York
i. Oscar and Booker Prize winner writer Ruth Prawer Jhabvala died on 3 April 2013 in Manhattan, New York after a long illness.
ii. She died at the age of 85 and is survived by her three daughters, her husband Cyrus Jhabvala and six grandchildren.
About Ruth Prawer Jhabvala
i. She was a long time member of Merchant Ivory Productions and wrote 22 films for it over a period of four decades
ii. Her long association with Merchant Ivory Productions won her two Academy Awards (Oscars) for her work on the films A Room with a View and Howards End, an adaptation of the E.M. Forster novels.
iii. She won her booker in 1975 for her fiction Heat and Dust
iv. She wrote 19 novels and short stories during her carrier span of more than five decades
v. Her last story was published in the New Yorker Magazine in its March 2013 issue with the title The Judge’s Will.
8. Saifuddin Soz re-appointed as the J & K Congress President
i. Congress leader Saifuddin Soz has been re-appointed as the Jammu and Kashmir party President.
ii. While, Janardan Chandurkar has been appointed as the president of the Mumbai regional congress committee.
iii. Mr. Congress President Sonia Gandhi today cleared both the appointments.
9. Indian women clinch series with seven-wicket win
i. A disciplined bowling performance from the Indian women helped them register an easy seven-wicket win over Bangladesh in the second T20 international and take an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three match series, in Vadodara on Thursday.
ii. Electing to bat, Bangladesh could manage a paltry 88for four in 20 overs, which the Indians comfortably overhauled with two overs to spare.
10. KKR make a winning start in IPL opener
i. Kolkata Knight Riders started their title defence on a confident note as they comfortably defeated Delhi Daredevils by six wickets in the opening encounter of the sixth edition of IPL in Kolkata on Wednesday.
ii. A clinical bowling effort saw KKR restrict Daredevils to a modest 128 in 20 overs and then they chased down the runs with eight balls to spare on a Eden Gardens
iii. Mystery spinner Sunil Narine with brilliant figures of 4/13 kept Daredevils under tight leash while skipper Gautam Gambhir's useful 42 kept the defending champions' run-chase on track
iv. Man of the Match – Sunil Narine
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