Current Affairs Current Affairs - 5 January 2015 - Vikalp Education

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Current Affairs - 5 January 2015

Where are 'achche din' if commuters face problems? Shiv Sena asks Centre
  • Shiv Sena on Monday mocked the Centre's promise of ‘achche din’ and asked where are the good days assured to the people. (Photo: File)
    Mumbai: Criticising authorities over handling of commuter rage and breakdown of suburban train services last week, the Shiv Sena on Monday mocked the Centre's promise of ‘achche din’ and asked where are the good days assured to the people.
    "It is true that there were protests (on Friday) and they had turned violent. But neither the police nor the authorities are willing to probe what led the people to turn violent," an editorial in Sena mouthpiece 'Saamana' said.
    "If similar incidents, that had taken place during the Congress rule, continue abated, who exactly is experiencing 'achche din' (days of good governance)?" it sought to know.
    "Those (political parties) who thought that law should be taken into one's own hands when they were not in power, have their government now. If these protests were a result of people's frustration towards administration, we need to ensure it doesn't become a cause of law and order breakdown," the Sena, which is part pf the ruling BJP-led alliance at the Centre and Maharashtra, said.
    The breakdown of suburban rail services led to many people's work schedules going haywire and students appearing for exams had to bear the brunt of the failure on part of the railways, it said.
    "Will anyone from the railways be arrested for this mishap. Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu launched the mobile ticket service. But if trains do not move after people buy their tickets, there will be anger among people," the editorial further said.
    On Friday, Mumbai had come to a halt for over six hours when angry commuters staged a protest at Diva station over frequent train delays. The demonstration turned violent as agitators pelted stones and engaged in rioting and arson within and outside the station premises.
    The trouble further compounded when motormen went on a flash strike after a motorman of a local train got injured in stone pelting by protesters, leaving thousands of people stranded.

5 Maoists killed in encounter at Andhra-Odisha border
  • Representational photo. (Photo: PTI/File)
    New Delhi: Five Maoists were killed in an encounter with security personnel near Paparmetla area in Malkangiri district in South Odisha on Monday morning.
    According to intelligence officials, the encounter took place in the dense jungle of Balimela reservoir bordering Andhra Pradesh.
    The bodies of the slain rebels have been recovered. Security personnel also recovered ammunition at the spot.
    Additional forces had been rushed to the spot and intense combing operation is on to track down the rebels.
    Identity of the slain Maoists is yet to be ascertained. The operation is still on.

Amit Shah to meet party leaders in J-K over govt formation
  • BJP President Amit Shah. (Photo: PTI)
    New Delhi: Bharatiya Janata Party chief Amit Shah will be meeting Jammu and Kashmir party leaders on Monday to discuss government formation in the state.
    According to reports, BJP general secretary Ram Madhav will meet the members one on one and take their feedback.
    Earlier, the BJP had stated that any attempt to form a government in the Jammu and Kashmir without its inclusion will be a travesty of the mandate given by the people of the state.
    The J-K elections threw up a hung verdict, with the PDP emerging as the single-largest party in with 28 seats. The BJP won 25 seats, with the National Conference and Congress winning 15 and 12 seats respectively.

Hijack threat to Delhi-Kabul Air India flight, security beefed up at airports
  • Security have been increased at airport after intelligence warned of a possible hijack attack. (Photo: PTI/File)
    New Delhi: Intelligence agencies have tipped off India’s aviation authorities about a hijack threat to Air India’s Delhi-Kabul flight following which an alert has been issued and security beefed up further at all Indian airports. The alert was confirmed by sources in the aviation security establishment.
    Air India sources said that alerts are passed on from time to time and that the airline takes the alerts seriously but did not comment on this specific threat.
    Sources pointed out that Air India currently operates five flights per week from New Delhi to the Afghan capital. The alert comes barely three weeks before the arrival of US President Barack Obama to India on an official visit.
    Security agencies are on high alert as Pakistan-based or Pakistan-backed terrorists may look to carry out a massive terror strike just before the high-profile visit to attract global attention.
    The threat is also ominous since the last hijack of an Indian plane that of the erstwhile Indian Airlines flight IC-814 — took place in 1999 to Afghanistan. That flight had been hijacked from the Nepalese capital Kathmandu to the Afghan city of Kandahar at a time when the Taliban was in power in Afghanistan.
    According to some reports, the alert may have indicated possible threats from Pakistan-based groups like the Lashkar, and other groups like the Taliban as well as the new terror group ISIS that has wreaked much havoc in the past one year in both Iraq and Syria.
    Deployment of more skymarshals on these flights is reportedly being strongly considered.
    Security agencies are also reportedly carrying out ladder-point checks which are conducted just before the passengers embark onto the aircraft apart from the earlier rigorous security checks of both passengers and their baggage at airport terminals.
    Security has also been beefed up at airport perimeters and car-parking enclosures within the airport complex.
    The hijack alert comes soon after a suspicious fishing boat from Pakistan with four suspected terrorists on board was chased and intercepted by the Coast Guard on the high seas 365 km from the coastal Gujarat town of Porbandar on the night of December 31 following which the occupants of the boat had set it on fire, triggering an explosion in which they are believed to have perished.

West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee’s nephew Abhishek slapped
  • KolkataWest Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s nephew Abhishek Banerjee was allegedly slapped by a youth at a party programme in East Midnapore on Sunday. 
    The incident took place when Mr Banerjee, Trinamul MP from Diamond Harbour, was delivering his speech during the Panchayat Sammelan at Chandipur in East Midnapore. Sources said that Mr Banerjee did not retaliate after being slapped and was immediately taken away.
    The youth pretending to take pictures of the MP, suddenly rushed towards him and slapped him. He was immediately pulled away and attacked by Trinamul members present on the spot. 
    He was later identified as Debashish Acharya, a resident of Tamluk in East Midnapore. The youth was seriously injured after he was thrashed by the party activists. He was first taken to a primary health centre and later to Tamluk District Hospital. 
    Following the incident, Trinamul activists gheraoed the Chandipur police station alleging security lapses. They even attacked the police personnel, including SDPO leaving 12 injured.

Uneasy calm along Jammu and Kashmir border
  • New DelhiBSF DG D.K. Pathak said the uneasy calm prevailing at the border does not mean that tension has fully subsided and the force is alert to any threat.
    Reports from Jammu said that following heavy firing from across the border, 11 villages situated along the IB were evacuated and villagers are reluctant to return till there is a flag meeting and both sides decided to implement the ceasefire.
    However, there has been no call for a flag meet from either side. Instead, top security sources said, 25-30 men in six or seven vehicles visited the Paki-stan post, manned by the Pakistan Rangers, across Samba sector around 8.30 pm on Saturday night. 
    These men went inside the post and stayed there for around half-an-hour. As they left, the BSF personnel stationed 500 me-tres away heard slogan in support of Saeed. “Due to the darkness and the thick cover of trees, we could not see who these men were. But we suspect that Saeed or other LeT commanders could have been visiting the border. The sloganeering shows that the LeT brass is motivating its operatives who may have already been present at the post,” a top BSF official said. 
    Intelligence officials pointed out that Saeed’s “border action teams” are hand in glove with  Pakistani forces in making regular attempts to target Indian security forces. With the late-night activity at the Pakistan post remaining a mystery, the BSF is maintaining high vigil.

EVOLUTION OF BANKING
  • Banking, in the present form  might have evolved during the 17th century.  Kautilya, in his ‘Arthashastra’ written in about 300 B.C., has also mentioned about the existence of powerful guilds of merchant bankers who received deposits, and advanced loans and issued hundis (letters of transfer). In the modern times, an experienced Scottish goldsmith, William Paterson, is credited with the idea of setting up a national bank in Britain in 1688, which gave birth to the Bank of England. The modern day banking, in its simplest form, is meant to facilitate financial intermediation between the savers and the borrowers. It also seeks to act as a safe place to store money and earn some return in the process, as also a place to seek simple financial solutions to individual problems.
    The advent of technology in modern times has heralded three distinct phases in banking: a) Computerization of back office processes during the 1980s,
    b) Facilitating higher customer convenience during the 1990s and
    c) Enabling lifestyle/life stage banking during the 2000s
    Thus, over time, the banks have witnessed significant changes in their outlook and have emerged as financial supermarkets offering a range of complex financial products and services on a round the clock basis, duly customized to the needs of their customers through multiple delivery channels

    RBI

    Reserve Bank of India was established on April 1, 1935 in accordance with the provisions of the RBI Act, 1934 (the Act). This marked the culmination of the prolonged efforts, to set up a central bank in the country. The principle of aligning the regulatory structure to the specific needs of the country and for that matter to even go beyond the prevalent wisdom and ethos were distinctly visible at that time itself. Despite the Reserve Bank being constituted as a central bank, it was thought fit to prescribe in the statute itself a development role for the Reserve Bank. Accordingly, the Act has a provision that the Reserve Bank will develop and maintain expertise in agricultural development (later expanded as rural development) and related subjects and thus began the role of the central bank being sensitive to the need of the economy. As such, after independence in the year 1947, the Indian banking industry was brought under the regulatory ambit of the Reserve Bank of India.
    1)Banking Companies Act was passed in the year 1949.
    2)Later, in March 1966, certain co-operative societies were brought within its fold and this act was renamed as the Banking Regulation Act, 1949 (BR Act). This enactment brought significant powers to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) over the banks.
    Private banks were then on the scene, though the money lenders were the major source of funding. A usurious and exploitative system prevailed Promotional and Developmental role of the Central Bank in India
    The basic function of the Reserve Bank, according to the preamble of the Reserve Bank of India Act, is to regulate the issue of Bank notes and the keeping of the reserves with a view to maintaining monetary stability in India and generally to operate the currency and credit system of the country to its advantage.
    This function imposes on the Reserve Bank the responsibility for: i. Operating the monetary policy for maintaining price stability and ensuring adequate financial resources for developmental purposes;
    ii. Promotion of the efficient financial system; and iii. Meeting the currency requirement of the public.

    Establishment of Specialized Institutions:-

    1. Reserve Bank established a separate institution, viz., the National Bank for Agricul- ture and Rural Development (NABARD) for provision of medium-term and long-term refinance for agriculture and rural development as also for providing consultative service to the Government and banks and generally coordinate its activities in area of agricultural credit with those of the agencies engaged in purveying such credit.
    RBI promoted of Industrial Finance Corpo-ration of India (IFCI), State Financial Corporations, Industrial Development Bank of India (IDBI) and Unit Trust of India (UTI). Reserve Bank promoted the Deposit Insurance and Credit Guarantee Corporation of India Limited (DICGC) for providing insurance and guarantees against the risk of default in payment by the banks or to the banks. Further, the Reserve Bank also helped establish specialized institutions for specific type of financing, like
    i. National Housing Bank (NHB) and
    ii. Export Import Bank of India (EXIM Bank).
    iii. Discount Finance House of India (DFHI) and the Securities Trading Corporation of India (STCI).
    iv. Clearing Corporation of India Ltd (CCIL)
    v. National Payment Corporation of India Ltd (NPCI).
    Expansion of the scope and reach of the Indian banking system:
    Even though, up to the late 1960’s the Indian banking system made reasonable progress, there were still many rural and semi-urban areas which were not served by banks. The large industries and the big and established business houses tended to enjoy a major portion of the credit facilities, to the detriment of the priority sectors such as agriculture, small-scale industries and exports. Thus, with the primary objective of achieving efficient distribution of resources in conformity with the requirements of the economy and in order to meet the needs of the priority sectors, the Government decided to introduce social control over banks by amending the banking laws. Accordingly, on July 19, 1969 and April 15, 1980 respectively, 14 and six major Indian scheduled commercial banks in the private sector were nationalised. Social control marked a transitory stage in the evolution of banking policy and in this process; a system of credit planning and the Lead Bank Scheme were operationalized by the Reserve Bank to make the banking system function as an instrument of economic and social development. In conformity with these desired objectives of social control, the banking policy was reoriented in the seventies for securing a progressive reduction in poverty, concentration of economic power and regional disparities in the banking facilities. The promotional aspects of the banking policy came into greater prominence. In this direction, the branch expansion policy was designed, among other things, as a tool for reducing inter-regional disparities in banking development, deployment of credit and urban-rural pattern of credit distribution. Administered interest rate policy emerged as an important instrument for directing the flow of funds and for augmenting the pace of deposit mobilisation. The Reserve Bank opted for selective extension of credit under the Selective Credit Control scheme to those sectors that were accorded priority in conformity with the national objectives. The objective was to correct undue price fluctuations in respect of certain commodities such as food grains and agricultural raw materials arising from speculative activities. The main instruments of Selective Credit Control were a) minimum margins for lending and b) ceilings on the level of credit against stocks of selected commodities to control the quantum of credit given.
    The period since 1985 was a process of consolidation which involved, i) comprehensive action plans by banks covering organization, structure, training, house-keeping, customer service, credit management and recovery of bank dues, productivity and profitability,
    ii) phased introduction of modern technology in banking operations with emphasis on financial viability by easing some of the policy related constraints on profitability,
    iii) strengthening capital base of banks and iv) allowing them flexibility in several areas.
    By the end of eighties, the Indian economy had developed an extensive financial superstructure consisting of a vast network of institutions, deploying varied instruments and facilitating the mobilisation and channeling of funds for working capital and production credit purposes as well and for long term investment. The Reserve Bank thus helped promote and nurture a functionally varied and spatially diversified financial system.

    NABARD


    National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) was established on 12th July, 1982 under the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development Act, 1981 by merging the Agriculture Credit Department and Rural Planning and Credit cell of RBI.  It took over the entire functions of the Agriculture Refinance and Develop-ment Corporation (ARDC). NABARD was established with the recommendations of CRAFICARD Committee. Its head office is situated at Mumbai. It planned to open offices through out India. In the beginning the paid up capital of the NABARD was Rs.100 Crores contributed by the Govern-ment of India and RBI jointly. Its authorized capital raised to Rs.1000 Cores. The other funds of NABARD were
    a. National Rural Credit (Long Term Operations) Fund
    b.    National Rural Credit (Establishment ) Fund
    c.    Funds raised by issue of bonds and deben    tures guaranteed by the Central Government
    d.    Borrowing from RBI, Central Government or any other organisations approved by the Central Government
    e.    Funds from external sources through the Government
        What are the functions of NABARD?
    Ans: 1. Credit functions
           2. Development functions
           3. Regulatory functions

    Credit functions:
    NABARD is an apex development bank for agriculture and rural development. It has been established for providing credit for the promotion of agriculture small scale industries, cottage and village industries, handicrafts and the rural crafts and other allied economic activities in rural areas with a view to promote integrated rural development and securing prosperity in rural areas. It also provides refinance facilities to commercial banks, RRBs, Co-operative banks, Land Development Banks and other financial institutions. It also provides refinance for loans granted under IRDP scheme. Basis of refinance by the NABARD  is the percentage of recovery during previous year.
    Development functions: NABARD also undertakes the functions of co-ordination of various institutions in this area, acting as an agent to the Government and RBI, providing training and research facilities and development of expertise in the field.
    Regulatory functions: The Banking Regu- lation Act, 1949 authorises NABARD to inspect RRBs and Co-operative banks (other than primary co-operative banks). These banks file returns to NABARD and also obtain recommendations from NABARD in case of opening of new branches.
    NABARD is managed by a Board of Direct- ors consisting of
    i. Chairman
    ii.  Directors nominated by RBI, Government        of India, State Governments
    iii. Experts from Commercial and
         Cooperative Banks
    iv. Experts in Rural economics

    Practice Questions:
    1.    In ‘Hit and Run’ cases, insurance claims are settled from _______
    A:    Solatium Fund
    2.    Expanded form of FPA as used in insurance _________
    A:  Free of Particular Average
    4.    Expanded form of ALOP used in insurance
    A:    Advance Loss of Profits insurance
    5.    Which  term matches closest with ‘Professional indemnity cover’?
    A:     Practicing Surgeons
    6.    Which of the following terms matches closest with ‘Composite Policy’?
    A:    Shopkeepers’ insurance
    7.    Members of the Insurance Advisory Committee are drawn to represent the interests of different groups like:
    A:  Surveyors, agents, advocates
    8.    An Insurance Surveyor’s role includes
    A:  Reporting major losses to IRDA.
    9.    Which  type of insurances is dissimilar to the other four options?
    A:    Builders’ Risks insurance
    10.    On a certain angle, the security thread on a rupee note changes to __
    A:    Blue
    11.    Who is popularly known as Lok Nayak?
    A:    Jayaprakash Narayan
    12.    HDFC Standard Life is a ___
    A:    Life Insurance Company
    13.    Expand MICR ?
    A:    Magnetic Ink Character Recognition
    14.    Shanti Swaroop Bhatnagar Award is given in the field of___
    A: Science & Technology
    15.    Least Female Literacy Rate is in ____
    A:    Rajasthan (52.6%)



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