Current Affairs - 4 December 2015

Friday, December 04, 2015

General Affairs

JD(U) Keen to Change Its Symbol to 'Wheel': Nitish Kumar

PATNA: Bihar's ruling JD(U)will approach the Election Commission to change its election symbol 'arrow' in favour of its previous symbol 'wheel', Chief Minister Nitish Kumar said today.

"The JD(U) will approach the Election Commission for a change of its symbol. There is unanimous agreement in the party on this," the Janata Dal-United leader told the media here.

He said there was confusion among voters over the 'arrow' symbol, with some other parties having more or less similar symbol.

"The JD(U) lost some seats (in the assembly polls) due to confusion over the party's symbol with other parties' similar symols."

He said the JD(U) was keen to get its old symbol 'wheel'.

"JD-U will talk to (former prime minister and Janata Dal-Secular president H.D.) Deve Gowda for this," he said.

The 'wheel' was the symbol of Janata Dal before it split into the JD(U)and JD(S).

JD(U)leaders Ajay Alok and Neeraj Kumar say the party lost at least four seats as people confused the JD(U) symbol with the 'bow and arrow' symbol of the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha and Shiv Sena.

The JD(U) contested 101 of the 243 seats and won 71.

Government to Start Electronic Transfer of MGNREGA Wages From 2016

NEW DELHI: To prevent leakages in the MGNREGA programme, the government will introduce the system for electronic transfer of wages to the beneficiaries from January 1 next year in Kerala, Lok Sabha was informed today.

An additional Rs. 2,000 crore would be sought from the Finance Ministry towards ensuring that MNREGA wages are at par with the agriculture wages fixed by some states, Rural Development Minister Birender Singh said.

Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) provides 100 days of employment to registered workers on their demand.

During Question Hour, Mr Singh said electronic transfer of wages under MNREGA would be introduced in Kerala from January 1, 2016. "If it is successful, we will introduce it (e-transfer of wages) in other states," he noted.

According to him, there are around 11 crore accounts and out of them, 65 per cent are in banks and the remaining in post offices.

Noting that MNREGA is a demand-driven wage employment programme, the Minister said various modalities have been put in place to prevent leakages in the scheme.

To avoid bogus attendance as well as instances of tampering and misuse of muster rolls, the e-Muster system has been introduced. For smooth fund flow, the electronic Fund Management System (e-FMS) has been made mandatory from April 1 this year, the Minister said.

Responding to a query about low wages being paid under MNREGA, Mr Singh said the government wants the wage amount to be equal to that fixed by respective states. In this regard, the Ministry would seek Rs. 2,000 crore from the Finance Ministry, he added.

"There has been delay in provision of work in the generation of 1.65 crore person days for which unemployment allowance of Rs. 137.89 crore becomes payable after due verification by the block level officers," Mr Singh said, while adding that no state has reported payment of unemployment allowance.

Devendra Fadnavis Calls on Maharashtra Governor Ahead of Winter Session

MUMBAI: Amid speculations of a cabinet expansion, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis today called on Governor Vidyasagar Rao at Raj Bhavan in Mumbai ahead of the Winter Session of the state Legislature, which begins in Nagpur from Monday.

"Various issues were discussed at the meeting, which lasted for 50 minutes," a Raj Bhavan press release issued in Mumbai said.

An official from the Chief Minister's office (CMO) denied that the meeting was held to discuss the cabinet expansion. "The meeting was on other issues," the official said without divulging any details.

The cabinet expansion to fill in 10 out of the 12 vacancies was scheduled to take place in the first week of December before the commencement of the three-week Winter Session.

According to sources, issues like tribal development figured in the meeting between the CM and the Governor.

Four members from BJP, two from Shiv Sena and four of smaller allies were to be accommodated as Ministers of State.

However, Sena and smaller allies like Rashtriya Samaj Paksha leader Mahadev Jankar have been demanding a cabinet berth.

Mr Fadnavis took oath as the Chief Minister on October 31, last year with seven Cabinet and two Ministers of State.

When Shiv Sena later joined the government, the strength of the ministry was increased from 10, including the Chief Minister, to 30.

At present, there are 20 ministers from BJP and 10 from Sena.

Rashtriya Samaj Party MLC Mahadev Jankar, Republican Party of India's Rajya Sabha MP Ramdas Athavale, Swabhimani Partys Lok Sabha MP Raju Shetti and Shiv Sangram MLC Vinayak Mete are seeking that their parties get ministerial slots.

As per constitutional provisions, the Maharashtra Assembly, which has 288 MLAs, can have 42 ministers, which is 15 per cent of the total strength.

Uttarakhand Congress Serves Show Cause Notice to Leader for Indiscipline

DEHRADUN: Senior Congress leader Dhirendra Pratap has kicked up a controversy in Uttarakhand by suggesting elevation of cabinet minister Indira Hridayesh as the Deputy Chief Minister prompting the state party leadership to contemplate disciplinary action against him.

Mr Pratap was issued a show cause notice by the party leadership on December 1 asking him to explain why disciplinary action should not be taken against him for making a statement which went against party line, a state Congress office bearer said on the condition of anonymity.

"The party has taken serious note of Pratap's statement. He has been issued a show cause notice and asked to respond to it by December 8... If he had a certain view regarding something he could have raised it on party forum instead of issuing a public statement and creating an unnecessary controversy," he said.

The Congress leader recently stirred the hornet's nest by suggesting in a statement here that the senior most member of Mr Rawat's cabinet, Indira Hridayesh should be made deputy chief minister to facilitate timely implementation of development projects announced by the chief minister.

Mr Pratap had demanded that Ms Hridayesh who holds several portfolios in Harish Rawat's Cabinet including Finance and Parliamentary Affairs should be immediately promoted so that she can monitor and fulfill thousands of promises and declarations made by the chief minister after assuming charge.

Party sources said the statement by Mr Pratap hurt the chief minister who felt that it will strengthen the opposition BJP's charge that announcements by Mr Rawat were not seeing light of day.

When contacted, Mr Pratap said he had not yet received the show cause notice from the party but had met the chief minister and explained to him his point of view on the matter.

The leader said he had no intention to hurt anyone.

British Bombers Strike ISIS Oil Fields in Syria

AKROTIRI, CYPRUS/ LONDON: British bombers made their first strikes on ISIS in Syria today, hitting oil fields that Prime Minister David Cameron says are being used to fund attacks on the West.

Tornado bombers took off from the RAF Akrotiri air base in Cyprus just hours after British lawmakers voted 397-223 to support Cameron's plan for air strikes, a Reuters witness said. They returned to base safely several hours later.

The four bombers used laser-guided bombs to attack six targets in the Omar oil fields in eastern Syria controlled by the Islamist militant group which British officials call Daesh, using an Arabic acronym that the group rejects.

"That strikes a very real blow at the oil and the revenue on which the Daesh terrorists depend," Defence Secretary Michael Fallon told the BBC.

"There are plenty more of these targets throughout eastern, northern Syria which we hope to be striking in the next few days and weeks," Fallon said. He said Britain was sending eight more warplanes to Cyprus to join the missions.

There was no immediate information about casualties.

The British contribution still forms only a tiny part of US-led "Operation Inherent Resolve", which has been bombing ISIS targets in both Iraq and Syria for more than a year with hundreds of aircraft. Previously, the small British contingent participated in strikes on Iraq but not Syria.

But although the British vote adds little additional military capability to the coalition, it has had outsized political and diplomatic significance since last month's attacks in Paris, as Europe's other leading military power wrestled with a decision to join France in expanding its military action.

After 15 years in which hundreds of British troops died serving as the main battlefield ally of the United States in Iraq and Afghanistan, many in Britain are wary of more war in the Middle East.

The decision to extend bombing to Syria divided the opposition Labour Party, opposed by its leader Jeremy Corbyn but supported by its foreign affairs spokesman Hilary Benn in a passionate speech in parliament.

Russia is also bombing Syria outside the U.S.-led coalition. Moscow supports Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, while the United States and its allies oppose him.

Cameron said the more than 4-year-old Syrian civil war could not be resolved by military action alone, but that the strikes would "degrade" ISIS, a militant Islamist group which has declared a caliphate in large parts of Iraq and Syria.

"It is in Syria where they pump and sell the oil that does so much to help finance its evil acts," Cameron told parliament on Wednesday ahead of the vote.

Stepping Back From The World

Cameron has been criticised for stepping back from the world since he took the top job in 2010, particularly after he lost a 2013 vote in parliament on military action against Assad's government. The vote on Thursday for military action gives him a chance to restore some of Britain's global clout.

The news of the vote was met by howls of disgust by dozens of anti-war protesters demonstrating outside parliament.

But the November 13 attacks on Paris that killed 130 people and were claimed by ISIS have stiffened the resolve of many lawmakers. Just under a third of Labour members of parliament defied leftwing leader Corbyn to vote for military action.

"We must now confront this evil. It is now time for us to do our bit in Syria," Benn said in his impassioned speech, which drew applause from lawmakers across the House of Commons.

Business Affairs

Sensex ends below 26,000, Nifty at 7,864 after US Fed hints at December rate hike

Extending losses for the second straight session, the domestic markets ended sharply lower in trade on Thursday after Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen hinted at interest rates hike in US for the first time in over a decade.

The S&P BSE Sensex slipped below its crucial psychological level of 26,000 to settle at 25,901.26, down 216.59 points, while broader CNX Nifty ended below its key 7,900 mark. The 50-share index quoted 7,864.15, down 67.20at close.

Market breadth remained fairly negative with 25 of the 30 Sensex components ending the day in red.

FMCG and consumer durable stocks were the top laggards on bourses. BSE FMCG index ended the day 1.48 per cent down, while BSE Consumer Durables lost 1.43 per cent.

The Fed chair said she was "looking forward" to a rate hike that will be seen as a testament to the economy's recovery from recession. The Fed's next policy meeting is to be held on December 15-16.

Sentiment was also hurt after a business survey released on Thursday showed India's services industry barely expanded in November, growing at its weakest pace in five months.

"Fundamentally nothing has changed but FIIs are selling frontline stocks which is where you're seeing pressure on the markets," said Deven Choksey, managing director at KR Choksey Securities.

Falls were led by stocks which have a higher percentage of foreign ownership, on worries that a hike in US interest rates would lead to capital outflows.

Among Asian markets, Japan's Nikkei ended the day flat at 3,584.82, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng index settled with a downtick of 0.28 per cent. China's Shanghai Composite bucked the trend and ruled higher by 1.35 per cent at close.

Overnight, US stocks ended sharply lower on Fed comments. The Dow Jones fell 158.67 points, or 0.89 per cent, the S&P 500 lost 23.12 points, or 1.1 per cent, while Nasdaq Composite dropped 33.08 points, or 0.64 per cent.

Lowdown on markets today

3:15 pm

Sensex at 25,865.24, down 252.61 points

Nifty at 7,855.70, down 75.65 points

1:30 pm

Sensex at 26019.41, down 98 points

Nifty at 7901.30, down 30 points

12:30 am

Sensex at 25963.70, down 154 points

Nifty at 7888.50, down 42 points

11:30 am

Sensex at 25,979.51, down 138 points

Nifty at 7,892.05, down 40 points

9:22 am

Sensex at 26,047.98, down 69.87 points

Nifty at 7,903.55, down 27.80 points

India to grow at 7.4% this fiscal, says S&P

India's economy will grow at 7.4 per cent in the current fiscal, which will further improve to over 8 per cent in 2016-17, Standard & Poor's Ratings Services projected on Thursday.

S&P in its 'India Credit Spotlight' newsletter noted that significant reforms are required with Indian corporates and banks currently facing a weak operating environment.

Indian economy grew at 7.3 per cent in last fiscal. The Reserve Bank too has estimated GDP growth in current fiscal to be 7.4 per cent.

The country's economic growth would be 7.4 per cent in fiscal year ending March 31, 2016 and increase to over 8 per cent in 2016-17, it said. This reflects the increasing importance of the Indian economy and its role as a new growth leader in Asia-Pacific, having overtaken China, S&P said.

Services industry growth at 5-month low in Nov as confidence slumps

The services industry barely expanded in November, growing at its weakest pace in five months, as firms grew increasingly gloomy about the coming year, a business survey showed on Thursday.

The Nikkei/Markit Services Purchasing Managers' Index fell sharply to 50.1 in November from October's eight-month high of 53.2. A reading above 50.0 indicates growth.

For the first time in the 10-year history of the survey, the business expectations sub-index tipped below 50, falling to 49.9 from 53.7 and highlighting firms' pessimism regarding prospects.

"Gloomy PMI data show a broad-based weakness in output, with little prospect of a rebound apparent in the near term," said Pollyanna De Lima, economist at Markit.

"Firms were concerned about stuttering demand and tough economic conditions," Lima said.

The downbeat outlook came despite Asia's third-largest economy expanding 7.4 per cent annually in the July-September quarter - outpacing China.

Robust growth in manufacturing, which accounts for roughly one-fifth of GDP, drove part of the surge although some analysts feared public spending contributed more than private consumption.

The Reserve Bank of India, having already cut 125 basis points from interest rates this year, left policy unchanged on December 1 and said any further easing from the current 6.75 per cent would depend on inflation.

However, scope for further easing may be limited after inflation climbed to 5 per cent in October, meeting the level the central bank wants it at by March 2017.

Markit's survey also found firms' input costs increased while the prices they charged consumers were unchanged in November, after falling the previous two months.

Adding to concerns, activity in the manufacturing sector slowed to a 25-month low in November, according to a sister survey released this week.

Coal India pegs capital investment at Rs 57,000 crore in 5 yrs

State-owned Coal India has estimated a capital investment of Rs 57,000 crore over the next five years to increase the production to 908.1 MT, as part of the road-map for one billion tonne coal production by 2020, Parliament was informed on Thursday.

Coal India has assessed a tentative capital investment of Rs 57,000 crore for the next five years to ramp up its coal production to 908.1 MT (million tonnes) from the production level of 494.80 MT in 2014-15, Coal and Power Minister Piyush Goyal said in a written reply to the Lok Sabha.

The tentative capital investment projection for 2015-16 is Rs 5,990.5 crore, 2016-17 is Rs 8,282 crore, 2017-18 is Rs 14,539 crore, 2018-19 is Rs 14,635 crore, 2019-20 is Rs 13,529 crore, the minister said.

Further, Goyal said, CIL has envisaged to invest Rs 8,615.69 crore in the three major railway infrastructure projects-Tori-Shibpur in CCL (Jharkhand), Jharsuguda-Barapalli in MCL (Odisha) and East and East-West corridor in SECL (Chhattisgarh) for coal evacuation.

Production of coal has faced evacuation constraints due to delay in construction of railway infrastructure. However, Bagli rail line is not known to Coal India, he said. The government has set an ambitious one billion tonne (BT) coal production target for Coal India by 2020.

Golden Tangle

Vithayathil Enterprises is one of Kerala's 7,000-odd gold loan companies, located in Varapuzha village, at the mouth of the River Periyar near Kochi. Barely 7.75 sq. km. in area and tucked amid lush green coconut palms, Varapuzha is one of Kerala's gold pockets, boasting 42 gold loan firms, including branches of the top three in the country - Muthoot Finance, Muthoot Fincorp and Manappuram Finance. Like its rivals in the region, Vithayathil Enterprises - run by Vithayathil Gigimon Ummachan and his younger brother Aby, both of whom joined the family business soon after finishing school - extends credit to fishermen and farmers in the neighbourhood against pledged gold, including loans for wedding and education expenses.

For decades the business ran smoothly, but now an air of depression pervades its narrow 20-sq-metre office. The drop in the price of gold worries the brothers no end. "Since the price has fallen, customers are reluctant to redeem their gold loans," says Gigimon. Loans of more than Rs 35 lakh are past their repayment date. The brothers lend mostly from their family funds and the company's cash flow is affected if customers do not pay back in time. "Gold loans have to be redeemed on time for us to survive in this business," adds Gigimon. "Margins are small. Two gold loan companies in Varapuzha have shut down. Many others are staring at the same fate."

The global price of 24 carat gold has fallen from a high of around $1,850 an ounce in early 2013 to about $1,084 (as of November 16) at present. In India, though the drop was partly offset by rupee depreciation during the same period, it still declined from a high of more than Rs 29,000 per 10 gm in January 2013 to Rs 23,010 (as of November 16). If the rupee strengthens, however, gold's outlook is bleak. "A combination of global gold price fall and rupee appreciation will increase defaults in the gold loan segment. But that is unlikely to happen in today's situation," says V.K. Vijayakumar, Investment Strategist, Geojit BNP Paribas.

Trying times: Gigimon Vithayathil (centre), owner of a gold loan company, at his office in Varapuzha

Unlike the smaller companies, Muthoot's and Manappuram's financials have, so far, held up well, though adverse market sentiment - following the gold price slide - has seen their stock price dip sharply. Muthoot Finance's revenue rose 88 per cent in the last four years to Rs 4,313.80 crore in 2014/15, while its profit increased 36 per cent to Rs 670.52 crore. Its portfolio has reduced by a modest 10 per cent in the last two years, but it still disburses 40,000 gold loans per day. Its share price, however, dropped 35.80 per cent from its 52-week-high of Rs 253.50 in February on the Bombay Stock Exchange to touch a low of Rs 152 on October 23, while its market capitalisation was down to Rs 6,050 crore from Rs 10,090 crore in the same period. However, the price recovered marginally during the recent Diwali season and is now hovering at around Rs 180 per share.

'The long-term perspective is that the price of gold will rise. Gold has seen a dip for the last three to four years, but it will bounce back...,' says George Alexander Muthoot, Managing Director, Muthoot Finance

George Alexander Muthoot, Managing Director, Muthoot Finance, denies any reason for concern. "The long-term perspective is always that the price of gold will rise," he says. "Gold has seen a dip for the last three to four years, but it will bounce back and touch new price peaks." In 2013, his company held 120 tonnes of pledged gold against total outstanding loans of Rs 26,000 crore. Currently, though the quantity of gold held is higher at 131 tonnes, the total loan value, due to the price drop, is down to Rs 24,000 crore.

Manappuram's share price fell by a whopping 79 per cent to a low of Rs 19.75 on October 10, from its all time peak of Rs 94.95 in November 2010, with market cap shrinking to Rs 1,661 crore from nearly Rs 8,000 crore. Its shares are now trading at around Rs 22. Its revenue, however, rose 70 per cent in the last four years to Rs 1,975 crore in 2014/15, though profit fell marginally, by four per cent, to Rs 270 crore. V.P. Nandakumar, CEO and Managing Director, Manappuram Finance, is similarly ebullient. "Gold ornaments have an emotional connect apart from their cash value," he says. "Often they comprise ancestral wealth which people do not want to lose. Even when the price is falling, around 90 per cent of our customers redeem their loans."

On this score, however, Muthoot feels differently. "The new generation is not that sentimental about ancestral ornaments," he says. "The number of people abandoning their pledged gold is increasing by two to three per cent each year." He is also critical of the growing propensity to splurge on status symbols rather than invest sensibly. "Earlier, people were putting their money in appreciable status, such as real estate and gold," he adds. "Fishermen and farmers lived through lean periods because of their gold investments. Today, people spend heavily on electronic items whose price can only depreciate. This may affect gold loan players in the future."

How the Business Works

The money gold loan companies lend comes from different sources, the largest usually being commercial banks, which charge interest of 10-11 per cent. (Three years ago, when gold prices were at their highest, the average rate was 13 per cent.) Muthoot, for instance, has 36 per cent of its borrowings (Rs 7,241.80 crore) from 25 banks and financial institutions, and in the case of Manappuram, it is 78 per cent (Rs 6,725.3 crore). Muthoot also raises funds through non-convertible debentures (NCDs) - it is in the process of raising Rs 250 crore from the primary market - and commercial papers.

Muthoot's lending rate varies between 12 and 22 per cent (and even higher for delayed repayments), with an average yield of 19 per cent. (When prices were high, the average was 22 per cent.) "Among NBFCs, the gold loan ones have the lowest interest rates," says Muthoot. "We want to be reasonable to our loyal customers. The interest is low because of the large volumes, which bring down overheads and borrowing costs." His net interest margin is around nine per cent - down from 10 per cent when business had peaked. "My bank borrowing cost is lower because of the size of borrowings and our company's AA- credit rating," he adds.

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) rules allow NBFCs to lend only up to 75 per cent of the value of collateral (loan to value) provided. "The remaining 25 per cent provides a cushion against price fall," says Vijayakumar of Geojit BNP Paribas. "Thereby, the related risks are lower." The loaned amount falls further depending on the loan's duration. "We give 75 per cent for a three month period, but for a six month period, it comes down to 69 per cent. It falls further to 63 per cent for a nine month period and 57 per cent for one year," says Nandakumar of Manappuram. Thus, if the gold price falls, so does the amount lent per customer and the gold loan company needs more customers to keep its profit level the same. If pledged gold is not redeemed beyond a specified period, it is auctioned.

Smaller players like Vithayathil provide loan size varying between Rs 5,000 and Rs 50,000 and that would go above 80 per cent value of the collateral. They hold gold for more time to maintain relationships with customers. The Kerala Money Lenders Act allows them to charge up to 18 per cent interest. "But I don't charge that much as I have known all my borrowers for decades," says Gigimon.

Challenge from Banks

Banks are major lenders to the gold loan companies, but they are also rivals, disbursing gold loans themselves. Indeed, a 2012 RBI report, Issues Related to Gold Imports and Gold Loans by NBFCs, notes that it is banks that have the dominant share in this market. "There is a general feeling that NBFCs account for the majority of gold loans disbursed. However, contrary to popular belief, the share of banks in total gold loans is the highest at 72.3 per cent on March 31, 2012," it said. Many allege, however, that banks take unfair advantage by providing loans against pledged gold to farmers as agricultural loans, where interest is just four to seven per cent.

'Gold has an emotional connect apart from cash value. Often, it comprises ancestral wealth which people do not want to lose,' says V P Nandakumar, CEO and Managing Director, Manappuram Finance

In 2007/08, when gold loan companies were expanding rapidly across the country, the RBI, suspecting money laundering activities behind their rapid rise, imposed various restrictions on them, which too have helped their bank rivals. The central bank capped bank exposure to NBFCs across the board - except for asset financing and infrastructure financing companies - at 10 per cent of the bank's capital funds. The 75 per cent limit imposed on loan to value for gold loan companies also helped the banks. "It was an acid test," says Muthoot. "There was a dip in business. But no company went under, unlike airlines or chit funds, demonstrating the inherent strength of the business. We have survived both the regulatory as well as the industry related checks."

The four Southern states account for 40 per cent of the country's gold demand, followed by the West, which makes up 25 per cent, the North with another 20-25 per cent and the East with 10-15 per cent. "As long as gold exists, this business will flourish," says Arundhati Bhattacharya, Chairman, State Bank of India. "NBFCs have traditional presence in this sector, but banks have caught up fast, because of their scale and scope. The market is going rural nowadays. The South has large exposure to gold and the North is also picking up." However, the gold price fluctuation has had its impact on banks too, with many of them curtailing the gold loan business. Specifics of banks' gold loan businesses are hard to come by, since they come under the head of personal products like home and vehicle loans, with details not being published separately. Even so, it is known that Federal Bank - headquartered in Kerala, but with a countrywide presence - has seen its gold loan portfolio fall from Rs 219.30 crore in 2013/14 to Rs 200.48 crore in 2014/15. It has accordingly reduced its gold loan network from 167 branches to 121. Gold loans comprise a substantial part of The Catholic Syrian Bank's - also Kerala-headquartered - business. But, here too, advances against gold have fallen from 38.31 per cent of the bank's total loans in 2012/13 to 32.04 per cent in 2013/14, while its gold loan portfolio dropped from Rs 3,438 crore in 2012/13 to Rs 2,836 in 2013/14.

The Way Out

Assuming gold prices will continue to waver, how can the gold business be revived? As interest accumulates and the price of gold falls, the customer's inclination to abandon the loan rises. Gold loan companies will have to gauge not only the repayment capacity of a borrower, but also his interest in servicing the loan and getting back his gold. "We don't want people saying they don't need the gold back," says the managing director of another major NBFC in the business.

Being mostly short-term loans, gold loans are usually paid back in one shot - interest and principal together - at the end of the loan term (what is called 'bullet repayment'). They can even be returned, at minimum interest cost, within a week of disbursement. Industry experts believe this has to change. "We will have to include equated monthly installments (EMIs) or, perhaps, quarterly servicing of loans as a clause in future contracts," says Muthoot. This will make gold loans no different from vehicle loans or personal loans, though without the elaborate paperwork and documents the latter require. "Every business has to change with time or else it will perish," adds Muthoot.

With an eye on the future, gold loan companies have also begun diversifying. Manappuram has launched new verticals such as home loans, commercial vehicle loans and loans against property for SMEs. With the acquisition of Asirvad Micro Finance in February this year, it has entered microfinance as well. "Diversification is the next phase for gold loan companies, but it is not because of saturation in the gold loan business," says Nandakumar. Muthoot too has forayed into housing and vehicle loans, as well as foreign exchange transfer. It acquired majority stake in Asia Asset Finance, a Sri Lanka-based vehicle finance company in end-2014. It tried for a payment bank licence as well, but was not successful.

The rapid expansion of branches by gold loan companies, right up to 2011/12, has stopped. Now the focus is on keeping operational costs at every branch low. Muthoot, which has 4,250 branches across the country, will, in future, open new ones only in the Northeast, where its presence is still limited. "We are focused on increasing business per branch now," says Muthoot. "The peak of average loan outstanding per branch was Rs 6.5 core, which has fallen to Rs 5.5 crore. Expansion is the least of our priorities."

The smaller players have high borrowing costs, but they too can survive if they act judiciously. They can be divided into two categories - the registered ones like Vithayathil Enterprises, who are regulated by the Kerala Money Lenders Act, and those outside the government's radar. The latter, who are often involved in dubious dealings, are likely to go bust fast.

FAILING TO DELIVER

The government's new gold monetisation schemes have opened to a poor response The government had come up with two Gold Monetisation Schemes (GMS) in the 2015 budget with an aim to bring an estimated Rs 50 lakh crore worth of the yellow metal (22,000 tonnes) lying idle with Indian households and religious institutions, like temples, into the economic system. But, both have failed to make an impact.

The gold deposit scheme has had a poor response so far with only 400 gm of gold monetised nationally. The first tranche of the sovereign gold bond scheme, open for subscription from November 5 to November 20 with an offer of 2.75 per cent interest to buyers, also met with a tepid response, grossing only about Rs 150 crore.

Industry observers highlight that customers of gold loan companies are mainly individuals who pledge one of their most precious assets, jewellery. But in the gold deposit scheme, one can deposit only pure gold to join the scheme. If it is jewellery, it has to be melted to assess the quantity and purity of gold. This does not go down well with a vast majority of Indians.

Experts point out that a lion's share of the gold in India is in the form of jewellery with households. Jewellery has an emotional connect, especially with women. In states like Kerala and Tamil Nadu, which account for over half of the jewellery sales in India, traditionally, jewellery is handed down from generation to generation. Another issue is the loss of 'making charges' value while melting gold ornaments. If one buys jewellery worth one lakh rupees, about 15 per cent of that value is the making charge and the actual gold in the ornament values only 85 per cent.

"If you sell a gold ornament even after less than an hour of purchase, straightaway it loses 15 per cent value. So the scheme is not economical as well," says Dr V. K. Vijayakumar, Investment Strategist, Geojit BNP Paribas. He says the scheme may be of interest to institutions like temples, but not for all their ornaments, since sentiments of devotees will be an issue for them as well. A UBS research report, based on a survey, had predicted that the new gold monetisation schemes have the potential to perform better than previous initiatives. However, it had asserted that it would take some time for them to gain traction, especially in rural areas.

General Awareness

Current Affairs were found in Month - November 2015

Appointments

Ajit Prakash Shah appointed as ethics officer (ombudsman) at Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).

Anil Khanna re-elected as president of Asian Tennis Federation for four year years.

Anil Kumar Jha appointed as CMD of Mahanadi Coalfields Ltd (subsidiary of Coal India).

Argentinian Footballer Lionel Messi has been made Global Ambassador of Tata Motors.

Atonio Costa of Socialist Party is named as Prime Minister of Portugal.

BCCI president Shanshank Manohar will be new Chairman of International Cricket Council. He will replace former N. Srinivasan.

British lawyer Patricia Scotland has been appointed as Secretary General of Commonwealth of Nations. She became first woman to hold this role in 66-year old 53-member Commonwealth.

Cab operator OlaCabs has appointed Rajiv Bansal as Chief Financial Officer (CFO).

Direct-to-home (DTH) service provider Dish TV appointed Arun Kumar Kapoor as Chief Executive Officer.

E-commerce firm Flipkart appointed Surojit Chatterjee as Senior Vice President and Head of Consumer Experience and Growth.

Former RBI Deputy Governor Subir Gokarn is appointed as Executive Director on board of International Monetary Fund (IMF). He will represent India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Bhutan on Washington-based IMF's Executive Board.

Former world long jump champion Anju Bobby George is appointed Chairperson of Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS) by Ministry of Sports and Youth Affairs.

TOPS is Formulated under National Sports Development Fund (NSDF) for identifying potential medal prospects sportspersons for 2016 and 2020 Olympic Games. Focus is on Boxing, Athletics, Badminton, Archery, Wrestling and Shooting.

Harshavardhan Neotia elected as President of Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI).

India's Subroto Som has been appointed head of retail banking of Mashreq, Dubai's third-biggest bank.

India-born Swati Dandekar has been appointed as United States director of Asian Development Bank (ADB).

Indian - origin barrister in UK, Kalyani Kaul sworn-in as a Circuit Judge in UK for Snaresbrook Crown Court.

International Terra Madre- 2015 started in Shillong (Meghalaya) with theme The Future We Want: Indigenous Perspectives and Actions. Five day event will have 100 tribes from 58 countries.

Janta Dal United (JDU)'s Nitish Kumar sworn in as Chief Minister (CM) of Bihar for fifth term.

Justin Trudeau of Liberal Party sworn in as 23rd Prime Minister of Canada.He appointed 4 Indo-Canadians as Cabinet ministers.

Harjit Sajjan as Defene Minister.

Amarjeet Sohi as Minister of Infrastructure and Communities.

Navdeep Bains as Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development.

Bardish Chagger as Minister for Small Business and Tourism.

Krishna Swaminathan appointed as Commanding Officer of INS Vikramaditya, Indian Navy's new aircraft carrier commissioned in Russia in November 2013.

Manpreet Vohra appointed India’s new envoy to Afghanistan.

Michael Keating of United Kingdom is appointed as Special Representative for Somalia and Head of UN Assistance Mission in Somalia (UNSOM).

Ministry of Information & Broadcasting nominated Satish Shah and Bhawana Somaaya as members of Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) Society.

Navtej Singh Sarna is appointed as Indian High Commissioner to United Kingdom (UK).

Nokia appointed Sandeep Girotra as head of Its India Operations and Amr Karim El-Leithy as head of Middle East and Africa as part of Nokia's Merger with Alcatel-Lucent.

Oxford University Press India appointed V Sivaramakrishnan as managing director, with regional responsibilities including Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Nepal.

P Uday Bhaskar appointed as Chairman of Andhra Pradesh Public Service Commission.

Pankaj Saran appointed as India's new ambassador to Russia.

Philips India appointed V Raja as Vice-Chairman and Managing Director.

Prithvi Raj Singh of Jal Bhagirathi Foundation has been elected to Board of Governors of World Water Council (WWC) for 2016-18.

RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan appointed as Vice-Chairman of Bank for International Settlements (BIS) for three years.

Reserve Bank of India appointed Deepak Singhal as Executive Director.

Rishi Gour is appointed as President of Sodexo India On-site Services.

Roch Marc Christian Kabore has been elected as President of Burkina Faso.

Roger Van Gent appointed as strategic coach for Indian men’s Hockey team till 2016 Rio Olympics.

Samia Hassan Suluhu made first first female Vice President of Tanzania.

Samsung appointed Dongjin Koh as President of its Smartphone Division.

Sanjay Jasjit Singh appointed as Assistant Chief of Naval Staff (Communication Space and Network Centric Operation).

Sunil Kanoria has been appointed new president of Associated Chamber of Commerce and Industry of India (Assocham).

Suresh N Patel is appointed as Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Andhra Bank.

Syed Akbaruddin appointed as next Permanent Representative of India to United Nations.

TN chief electoral officer Sandeep Saxena appointed as deputy election commissioner.

Nasim Zaidi is Chief Election Commissioner while A K Joti and Om Prakash Rawat are election commissioners.

Vijay Keshav Gokhale is appointed as India’s Ambassador to China.

Virender Mohan Khanna appointed as Air Officer-in-charge Maintenance of Indian Air Force.

Zarin Daruwala has been appointed as chief executive officer by Standard Chartered Bank for its India Operations.

Awards

A team of Indian scientists led by Sameer Panda from Odisha won NASA award for an innovative technology named Burst Prevention & Puncture Curative (BPPC) technology.

Actor Vikram Gokhale has been awarded with Vishnudas Bhave Award for his contribution to Marathi Industry.

All India Radio's Programme on child labour Nilkkam Ivarkkoppam won first prize at 2015 Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union (ABU) Prize ceremony at 52nd General Assembly of ABU in Ankara (Turkey).

Former Tennis Player and Hollywood filmmaker Ashok Amritraj awarded with honorary doctorate of Arts by University of East London.

India will host a World Indology Conference in collaboration with Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) from November 21 to 23, 2015 in Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi. A ‘Distinguished Indologist’ Award will be presented by President Mukherjee to Heinrich Freiherr Von Stietencron from Germany on this occasion.

Indian-origin South African freedom fighter Ahmed Kathrada has been awarded Freedom of City of Cape Town, becoming sixth recipient of this honour.

Infosys Science Foundation Awards 2015 -

Winners -

Engineering and Computer Science - Umesh Waghmare (Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research, Bangalore)

Humanities - Jonardon Ganeri (New York University)

Life Sciences - Amit Sharma (International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, Delhi)

Mathematical Sciences - Mahan Mj (Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai)

Physical Sciences - G Ravindra Kumar (Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), Mumbai)

Social Sciences - Srinath Raghavan (Centre for Policy Research, New Delhi)

About

The prize was established in 2009 in six categories by Infosys Science Foundation. Prize consists of 65 lakh rupees Cash and a 22 karat gold medallion and citation.

Liberian Abraham M Keita has been given International Children’s Peace Prize 2015 for his fight for justice for child victims of physical or sexual violence.

Marathi film Katyar Kaljat Ghusali and Bengali film Cinemawala are shortlisted for 2015 UNESCO Fellini Medal. Katyar Kaljat Ghusali is directed by Subodh Bhave and Cinemawala is directed by Kaushik Gangualy.

Minister of State for Home Affairs, Kiren Rijiju will be designated as Champion for Disaster Risk Reduction for his efforts in enabling community resilience in Asia-Pacific region. He will be honored by United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction as first regional champion after Sendai Agreement.

Naushad award has been given to Sarod maestro Amjad Ali Khan.

Noted Marathi actor Prashant Damle will be honoured by Master Dinanath Mangeshkar Award 2015.

Noted journalist Kuldip Nayar is honoured with 8th Ramnath Goenka Lifetime Achievement Award on for his contribution to journalism.

President Pranab Mukherjee presented APJ Abdul Kalam Ignite Awards 2015 at Indian Institute of Management - Ahmedabad.

Santoor maestro Shiv Kumar Sharma has been honoured with Aditya Vikram Birla Kala Shikhar Award for lifetime achievement by governor of Maharashtra C Vidyasagar Rao.

Syrian woman journalist Zaina Erhaim won 2015 Reporters without Borders Prize for her defence of press freedom in Syria.

United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has been chosen for 2015 Indira Gandhi Prize for Peace, Disarmament and Development. UNHCR is awarded for its Immense contributions in assisting millions of refugees in their rehabilitation and resettlement.

Books

Book From Fishing Hamlet to Red Planet released on second anniversary of launch of Mars Orbiter Mission Spacecraft.

Book Inter-linking of Indian Rivers written by Radha Kant Bharati has been released.

Book President of India and the Governance of Higher Education Institutions written by faculty of O.P. Jindal Global University has been released.

Book Rebooting India: Realizing a Billion Aspirations authored by Nandan Nilekani and Viral Shah has been released.

Book What Happened to Netaji? authored by former journalist Anuj Dhar has been released.

Former President APJ Abdul Kalam’s last book ‘Advantage India-From Challenge to Opportunity’ has been released. It has been co-authored by Srijan Pal Singh of Institute of Management-Ahmedabad.

Government released 3 Books on Rajyogini Dadi Janaki (Head of Brahma Kumaris organization). Books are

Prem aur Shanti ka Marg - authored by Dadi Janaki.

I know How to Live, I know How to Die - authored by Neville Hodgkinson.

Dadi Janaki : A Century of Service - authored by Liz Hodgkinson.

Indian Actress Shilpa Shetty and Luke Coutinho wrote Book The Great Indian Diet.

Committees

A 13 member committee under former Chief Election Commissioner N. Gopalaswami constituted by Human Resource Development ministry for Sanskrit promotion.

Bankruptcy Law Reform Committee under Chairmanship of T. K. Viswanathan submitted its report.

Report is in two parts - Rationale and Design/Recommendations and A comprehensive draft Insolvency and Bankruptcy Bill covering all entities.

Committee of Eminent Persons constituted by IIT Council under Chairmanship of Ashok Misra submitted its report about Major changes in structure of IIT - JEE from 2017 onwards.

Committee on Agriculture under Chairmanship of Hukm Deo Narayan Yadav took up Subject ‘Comprehensive Agriculture Research based on Geographical Condition and Impact of Climatic Changes to ensure Food Security’ for examination and Report.

Delhi Government appointed panel under Chetan Sanghi recommended suspension of Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA) due to severe alleged financial irregularities.

Former Cabinet secretary T.S.R. Subramanian has been appointed chairperson of a committee set up by the Human Resource Development Ministry to draft the new education policy.

Government approved Ujwal DISCOM Assurance Yojna (UDAY scheme) under Ministry of Power for financial turnaround of Power Distribution companies (DISCOMs).

Power sector is seeing good growth but the weakest link in value chain is distribution - DISCOMs in the country have accumulated huge debts. Revival of these stressed DISCOMs is important for ensuring power supply for all.

DISCOMs are trapped in cycle a where operational losses being funded by debt. This has increased Outstanding debt of DISCOMs from 2.4 lakh crore in 2011-12 to 4.3 lakh crore in 2014-15.

Features of UDAY Scheme -

States shall take over 75% of DISCOM debt as on 30 September 2015 over 2 years (50% in 2015-16 and 25% debt to be taken over in 2016-17).

States will issue non-SLR including SDL bonds in the market or to banks holding DISCOM debt to the appropriate extent. DISCOM debt not taken over by State shall be converted by Bank into loans or bonds.

States shall take over future losses of DISCOMs as follows:

Year

2015-16

2016-17

2017-18

2018-19

2019-20

2020-21

Previous Year’s DISCOM loss to be taken over by State

0% of the loss of 2014-15

0% of the loss of 2015-16

5% of the loss of 2016-17

10% of the loss of 2017-18

25% of the loss of 2018-19

50% of the previous year loss

States accepting UDAY and performing well will be given additional funding under Deendayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana,Integrated Power Development Scheme, Power Sector Development Fund or other schemes. States not meeting operational milestones will have their claims forfeited.

UDAY is optional for all States. However, States are encouraged to participate.

Ministry of Finance constituted Governing Council of National Investment and Infrastructure Fund to be chaired by Finance Minister (Arun Jaitley Currently). NIIF was approved by Union Cabinet with initial corpus of 20000 crore rupees.

SATYAM (Science and Technology of Yoga and Meditation) program has been launched to strengthen research in the areas of yoga and meditation.

Vijay Kelkar Committee on Revisiting & Revitalizing the PPP model of Infrastructure Development submitted its report.

Days

09 Nov - National Legal Services Day.

10 Nov - World Science Day (World Science Day for Peace and Development). Theme for 2015 is Science for a Sustainable Future.

12 Nov - World Pneumonia Day. Theme for 2015 is Every Breath Counts: Stop Pneumonia Now.

12 Nov - World Quality Day.

14 Nov - Birth Anniversary of Jawahar Lal Nehru (First Prime Minister of India). Also depicted as Children's Day in India. 14 Nov is also celebrated as National Metallurgists’ Day in India.

15 Nov - Statehood day of Jharkhand. State was created on Nov 15, 2000. On thsi occasion, Jharkhand government launched 14 mobile applications and three web portals to ntroduce Mobile Governance.

16 Nov - International Day for Tolerance.

16 Nov - National Press Day.

17th November - International Day of Students.

19 Nov - World Philosophy Day (Third Thursday of November).

19 Nov - World Toilet Day and International Men's Day.

19 November - World Toilet Day. 2015 Theme is Sanitation and Nutrition.

20 November - Universal Children's Day.

21 Nov - World Television Day and World fisheries Day. Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan proposed a new scheme ‘Blue Revolution: Integrated Development and Management of Fisheries’ with an outlay of Rs. 3000 crore to be undertaken by National Fisheries Development Board (NFDB).

25 Nov - International Day for Elimination of Violence Against Women. United Nations (UN) launched its campaign Orange the World. Campaign will be carried out till December 10 (UN’s Human Rights Day).

26 Nov - First Indian Constitution Day.

26 Nov - Indian National Milk Day. It marks birth anniversary of Father of White Revolution In India - Dr.Verghese Kurien.

Home Minister Rajnath Singh asked Central and State Governments to organise Qaumi Ekta Week to spread message of Communal Harmony and Integration -

November 19, 2015 will be observed as National Integration Day

November 20, 2015 will be observed as Welfare of Minorities Day

November 21, 2015 will be observed as Linguistic Harmony Day

November 22, 2015 will be observed as Weaker Sections Day

November 23, 2015 will be observed as Cultural Unity Day

November 24, 2015 will be observed as Women’s Day

November 25, 2015 will be observed as Conservation Day

ICICI Bank Canada (subsidiary of ICICI Bank) has been authorised by Canadian High Commission to accept GIC (Guaranteed Investment Certificate) for students aspiring to study in Canada.

As per rules, students applying for study permit in canada under Student Partner Programme (SPP), are required to invest in a GIC of 10,000 Canadian dollar with a bank in Canada authorised by government to offer this facility. Now, Canadian Government authorised ICICI bank Canada to accept GIC.

This programme will enable students from India to purchase a GIC from ICICI Bank Canada. The amount of 10,000 Canadian dollar will be paid back to student while studying in Canada in 12 equal installments along with interest amount. Processing fee for applying is Canada Dollar 150.

Nov 1 - State Formation day of Chhattisgarh, Haryana, Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh.

Chhattisgarh - 1 November 2000

Karnataka - 1 November 1956

Madhya Pradesh - 1 November 1956

Haryana - 1 November 1966

Defence

Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar commissioned Boeing P 8 I (Poseidon Eight India) Long Range Maritime Patrol aircraft In Indian Navy at INS Rajali Station, Arakkonam.

Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar commissioned Coast Guard Offshore Patrol Vessel (OPV) Samarth.

Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar commissioned Seakeeping and Manoeuvring Basin (SMB) andMaareech - Advanced Torpedo Defence System into Indian Navy.

France will deploy its largest warship named Charles de Gaulle (R91) in to boost operations against Islamic State (IS) in Syria and Iraq.

India successfully test fired indigenously developed supersonic interceptor missile Advanced Air Defence (AAD), which is capable of destroying any incoming ballistic missile.

India test fired Indigenously developed nuclear capable Prithvi-II surface-to-surface missile. It is a short-range ballistic missile (SRBM) capable of carrying upto 1,000 kg of warheads in strike range of 350 kms.

India test fired Ssupersonic cruise missile BrahMos with strike range of over 290 Km from Navy’s stealth destroyer INS Kochi.

Indian Army test-fired surface-to-surface nuclear capable missile Agni-IV with range of 4000 km.

Indian Coast Guard commissioned interceptor boat ICGS C-422.

LRSAM (Long Range Surface to Air Missile), jointly developed by Israel Aerospace Industry and DRDO has been successfully tested. It is also called Barak 8 missile in Israel.

Navy's Fast patrol vessel ICGS Arinjay commissioned in Kochi.

Nuclear capable surface-to-surface ballistic missile Agni-I (700 KM Range) Tested successfully. It can carry payload upto 1000 KM.

Nuclear-capable surface-to-surface Dhanush ballistic missile test fired from off Puri coast of Odisha with strike range of 350 kms. It can carry payload upto 500 kg.

Second Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) Corvette INS Kadmatt Handed over to Indian Navy. It has been built by Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers Limited (GRSE).

Seventh India-Russia Joint Military Exercise ‘Indra-2015’ to be held 7-20 November 2015 in Bikaner (Rajasthan).

Shipwright School, an alma-mater for Naval Architects, Shipwright Officers and Sailors commissioned Into Indian Navy and INS Vishwakarma.

US and Nepalese armies launched month-long joint military training Balance Nail 16-01.

Economy

7th Central Pay Commission (CPC) headed by Justice AK Mathur submitted its report -

Recommended 23.55 % hike in pay and allowances of government employees , from 1 January 2016.

Minimum pay will be 18000 rupees / month while maximum is recommended to be 225000 rupees / month for Apex Scale and 250000 per month for Cabinet Secretary level.

Increase in pay will be 16 %, increase in allowances will be 63 % and increase in pension will be 24 %.

The present system of pay bands and grade pay will be replaced by a new pay matrix. Status of employee, determined by grade pay will now be determined by level in pay matrix.

One Rank One Pension proposed for civilian government employees on line of OROP for armed forces.

Military Service Pay for Defence Officers more than doubled to Rs.15,500 from Rs. 6,000 currently. For nursing officers, 10,800 from 4,200 and others.

Abolition of 52 allowances and introduction of a Health Insurance Scheme.

Pay revision will impact 47 lakh serving employee and 52 lakh pensioners of Central Government.

It will cost public exchequer over 1 lakh crore rupees annually.

Implementation of Pay Commission will impact fiscal deficit by 0.65 %, as compared to 0.77 % in case of Sixth Central Pay Commission.

A fitment factor of 2.57 is being proposed to be applied uniformly for all employees.

The rate of annual increment is being retained at 3 percent.

Ceiling of gratuity enhanced from 10 to 20 lakh rupees and ceiling on gratuity raised by 25 % whenever DA rises by 50 %.

Short service commission officers may exit armed forces at any point between 7 - 10 years service.

Vice President Hamid Ansari visited Indonesia. He cancelled Brunei Visit due to volcanic erruption.

India signed two Memorandum of Understanding (MoUs) with Indonesia for co-operation in Energy and Culture.

Andhra Pradesh Government and World Bank have signed $75 million loan deal for Andhra Pradesh Rural Inclusive Growth Project.

Axis Mutual Fund announced Axis Children's Gift Fund as a goal-based investment option for minors, represented by a guardian. NFO comes with optional lock-in period till child turns 18 years old.

Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs approved extension of Indian Development and Economic Assistance Scheme (IDEAS) for 5 years from 2015-16 to 2019-20. During the extended period, about 3771 crore rupees will be utilized for scheme. First extension to this scheme was granted in 2009-2010 for 5 years.

IDEAS promotes India's strategic economic interest abroad by positioning it as an emerging economic power and partner for developing countries.

Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs hiked Minimum Support Prices for Rabi Crops of 2015-16 season to be marketed in 2016-17 on recommendations of Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP). Cabinet also decided to give bonus of 75 rupees / quintal for rabi pulses.

Commodity

MSP for 2014-15 season (Rupees per quintal)

MSP for 2015-16 season (Rupees per quintal)

Increase in MSP (Rupees)

Wheat

1450

1525

75

Barley

1150

1225

75

Gram

3175

3425

250

Masur (Lentil)

3075

3325

250

Mustard

3100

3350

250

Safflower

3050

3300

250

Canara Bank tied up with Navodhan Charitable Foundation for timely detection of cancer as part of its corporate social responsibility (CSR) drive.

Central Government relaxed Foreign Direct Investment norms across 15 sectors to boost investment -

Governement raised threshold limit of approval by Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) from 3000 to 5000 crores.

In defence, foreign investment up to 49% is allowed under automatic route from earlier government approved route.

In broadcasting (FM Radio) and News Channels FDI up to 49 % is allowed through FIPB route from earlier 26%.

In Banking, investment up to 74% provided.

Competition Commission of India imposed penalties on 3 Airlines for concerted action in fixing and revising Fuel Surcharge (FSC) for transporting cargo. Airlines are Jet Airways, InterGlobe Aviation and Spice Jet.

Director General of Foreign Trade extended duty incentives under Merchandise Exports from India Scheme (MEIS) from Rs 18,000 to Rs 21,000 crore to boost textile and apparel exports.

Facebook partnered with Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited for setting up 100 wi-fi (Wireless Fidelity) sites in rural India.

Food ordering portal Foodpanda tied up with Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) for order and delivery of food to the passengers.

Government Signed Loan Agreement with Asian Development Bank (ADB) for $273 Million Loan under Rural Connectivity Investment Program for Improving Rural Roads in States of Assam, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha and West Bengal.

ADB headquarters is in Manila (Phillpinnes) with Takehiko Nakao as its Current Chief.

Government announced 3% interest subsidy scheme (called Interest Equalization Scheme) for exporters to boost Exports. It will have financial implication of about Rs 2,700 crores.

Government approved direct subsidy payment to farmers at rate of Rs 4.50 per quintal for cane they will sell to loss-making sugarcane mills. It will cost Rs 1,147 crore to the Government.

Government approved disinvestment of 10 % Stake in Coal India Limited. Government's shareholding of 78.65 % in CIL will now become 68.65 %.

Government extended RuPay Card usage condition to 90 days from current 45 days for a claim under an accident insurance cover (with effect from 25th November 2015).

Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana's objective is of covering all households with at least one bank account and an accident insurance cover of Rs.1 lakh.

Previously, RuPay Card holder should have carried out at least one successful ATM transaction in last 45 days for claiming the insurance under Accidental Death cover. Now the limit is increased to 90 days.

Government launched Technology Acquisition and Development Fund (TADF) under National Manufacturing Policy 2011 to facilitate acquisition of energy efficient technologies and support manufacturing growth in Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises (MSME) sector. Scheme will be implemented through Global Innovation and Technology Alliance (GITA), a joint venture company between CII and Department of Science & Technology.

Government reduced deadline for completion of Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) for rural connectivity through all- weather roads from 2022 to 2019. Annual allocation for PMGSY works for 2015-16 is also increased by 5,000 crore rupees (Now Total 15,100 crores).

Government will impose Swachh Brarat Cess of 0.5% on all services liable to service tax from 15th November 2015. Proceeds from this cess will be exclusively used for Swachh Bharat initiatives.

HSBC Holdings will shut its private banking Business in India.

Healthcare booking platform Practo and taxi-hailing platform Uber partnered to help people reach doctors easily.

In October 2015, indirect tax revenue collections increased 36.8% as compared to October 2014.

Tax

October 2015

April - October 2015

2014-15

2015-16

% Growth

2014-15

2015-16

% Growth

Customs

16800

18998

13.1

104831

122448

16.8

Central Excise

13569

22550

66.2

87588

147685

68.6

Service Tax

12528

17143

36.8

89379

112727

26.1

Total

42897

58691

36.8

281798

382860

35.9

India's Indiabulls Housing Finance acquired 40 % stake in OakNorth Bank of U.K. for $100 million.

India’s economic growth accelerated to 7.4% in July- September quarter, overtaking China (6.9%)as world’s fastest growing major economy in manufacturing, mining and services sectors. In First Quarter of 2015-16 (April - June 2015) , GDP grew at 7 %. This growth rate is however less than 8.9 % recorded in July- September quarter of previous year.

Jayant Sinha, Minister of State for Finance will meet Heads of Government banks every 45 days to take stock of various performance parameters and discuss evolving issues.

Minimum train passenger fare has been hiked from Rs. 5 to Rs 10 in non-suburban services at par with platform ticket. Note that platform ticket was increased to Rs. 10 in April 2015.

Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation approved construction of 2,28,204 houses for urban poor under Housing for All Mission in five states - Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat and Rajasthan. Housing For All Mission aims to build houses for all Urban Poor by 2022.

Online auto classifieds firm CarTrade.com acquired car-selling portal CarWale.com

PM Narendra Modi launched Gold Related Schemes along with First ever National Gold Coin minted in India with National Emblem of Ashok Chakra. Schemes launched are - Gold Monetisation Scheme, Gold Sovereign Bond Scheme and Gold Coin and Bullion Scheme.

Gold Monetisation Scheme -

Gold Deposit Scheme Guidelines -

Minimum deposit shall be raw gold equivalent to 30 grams of gold of 995 fineness, with no maximum limit for deposit.

Gold will be accepted at Purity Testing Centres certified by Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS)

Deposit certificates will be issued by banks in equivalence of 995 fineness of gold.

Principal and interest of deposit under the scheme will be denominated in gold.

Designated banks will accept gold deposits under Short Term (1-3 years), Medium (5-7 years) and Long (12-15 years).

Interest rate in Short Term Bank Deposit (STBD) will be determined by banks. Interest rate in medium term bonds is 2.25% and long term bonds will have 2.5% interest rate.

Premature withdrawal will be available subject to a minimum lock-in period and penalty.

Interest on deposits will start from date of conversion of gold deposited into tradable gold bars after refinement or 30 days after receipt of gold at CPTC or Bank. During the period between receipt and interest accounting, gold will be an item in safe custody held by bank.

Utilisation of Gold mobilised under GMS

Banks may sell or lend the gold to MMTC for minting India Gold Coins or to jewellers, or sell it to other designated banks participating in GMS.

Risk Management under GMS

Banks will keep a risk management mechanism to manage risk arising from gold price movements in respect of their net exposure to gold.

Banks may access international exchanges, London Bullion Market Association or use over-the-counter contracts to hedge exposures to bullion prices.

Gold Sovereign Bond Scheme

Government will invite Applications for first tranche of Sovereign Gold Bonds from November 05- 20, 2015 and Bonds will be issued on November 26, 2015.

Sovereign Gold Bond will be issued by RBI. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley announced in Union Budget 2015-16 for developing a financial asset, Sovereign Gold Bond, as an alternative to purchasing metal gold.

Bonds will be in multiples of gram(s) of gold with a basic unit of 1 gram. Tenor of Bond will be 8 years with exit option from 5th year. Minimum investment will be 2 units (2 grams of gold) and maximum amount 500 grams per person per fiscal year.

Investors will get interest of 2.75 % per annum payable semi-annually on initial value of investment.

Gold Coin and Bullion Scheme

Indian gold coin & bullion is a part of the Gold Monetisation Programme. Coin will be first ever national gold coin minted in India with National Emblem of Ashok Chakra engraved on one side and M K Gandhi on other side.

Coin will be available in denominations of 5 and 10 grams. 20 gram bullion will also be available.

Indian Cold coin & bullion will be of 24 karat purity and 999 fineness and hallmarked as per BIS standards.

Coins will be distributed initially through MMTC outlets and later through specified banks and post offices.

RBI Issued Gold Bonds of subscription value of Rs 246 crore under Sovereign Gold Bonds Scheme.

RBI approve three applicants to set up and operate Trade Receivables Discounting System (TReDS) as per Guidelines issued on 3 December 2014 under Payment and Settlement System (PSS) Act 2007. Organisations are -

NSE Strategic Investment Corporation and Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI)

Axis Bank

Mynd Solutions

Reliance Communications accquired telecom business of Sistema Shyam Teleservices Ltd (SSTL) that operates MTS brand in a stock deal worth Rs.4,500 crores.

Reserve Bank of India approved National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) to function as Bharat Bill Payment Central Unit (BBPCU) in Bharat Bill Payment System (BBPS).

BBPS is an integrated bill payment system which to function as a tiered structure for bill payment system in India to provide convenience to customers.

BBPS will presently include bill payments such as, electricity, water, gas, telephone and Direct-to-Home (DTH).

Reserve Bank of India imposed Rs 1 crore penalty on Dhanlaxmi Bank for violation of Know Your Customer (KYC) and Anti Money Laundering (AML) norms.

Reserve Bank of India kept Monetary Policy Rates unchanged in its fifth bi-monthly monetary policy review.

Repo Rate - 6.75 %

Reverse Repo - 5.75 %

Bank Rate - 7.75 %

Marginal Standing Facility (MSF) Rate - 7.75 %

CRR (Cash Reserve Ratio) - 4 %

SLR (Statutory Liquidity ratio) - 21.5 %

Securities and Exchange Board of India signed Memorandum of Understanding with Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission during UK Sinha(Chairman of SEBI)'s visit to Bangladesh.

UAE-based Emirates NBD bank partnered with State Bank of India to help NRI customers in gulf to carry out remittances more conveniently.

Urban Development Minister Venkaiah Naidu inaugurated e-lala e-commerce portal of Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT). e-lala initiative aims to promote interests of 5.77 crore small businesses in context of rapid expansion of e-commerce in India.

International

13th World Robot Olympiad to be organized by National Council of Science Museums (NCSM) and India STEM Foundation in Delhi in November 2016.

46th International Film Festival of India (IFFI 2015) concluded in Panjim, Goa. Key Highlights are -

It started with screening of UK film The Man Who Knew Infinity, directed by Matthew Brown.

Closing Film - Argentina's El Clan, directed by Pablo Trapero.

Arun Jaitley (Finance Minister) Released Book 'Legends of Indian Silver Screen' as collections of essays of 23 Dadasahab Phalke awardees between 1992-2014.

UNESCO Fellini Medal for the first time to be awarded in India at IFFI 2015.

Spain was the focus country of IFFI 2015.

International Jury headed by Shekhar Kapur.

Special Retrospective on Actor Shashi Kapoor with screening of his 8 films.

AR Rahman became first music director to be chief guest at closing of IFFI annual film festival.

Best Film (Golden Peacock award) - Colombia's ‘Embrace of The Serpent’, Directed by Ciro Guerra. Received cash prize of 40 lakh rupees.

Best Director - Peter Greenway for Netherlands film ‘Eisenstein in Guanajuato.

Best male actor - Vincent Lindon for France's film ‘The Measure of a Man’.

Best Female actor - five Female actress for their roles in the Turkey Film ‘Mustang’.

Special Jury Award - Julia Vargas for ‘Sealed Cargo’.

The ICFT-UNESCO Fellini Award - Kaushik Ganguly’s Bengali film ‘Cinemawala’.

Lifetime Achievement Award to Russian Nikita Mikhalkov.

Centenary Film Personality Award for Music composer Illayaraja.

A court of Belgium asked Facebook to stop tracking country's Internet users who are not members of Facebook. As per reports, Facebook uses a special cookie called DATR to track all activities of User even when they are not Facebook Members.

Asian Development Bank will provide 120 million USD loan for Second Bangladesh-India Grid Inter connectivity project under SASEC Programme(South Asia Sub-regional Economic Co-operation).

Bangladesh blocked Facebook and messaging service WhatsApp and Viber for security reasons.

Bangladesh, Bhutan, India and Nepal (BBIN) Friendship Motor Car Rally started from Silchar, Assam. It aims at highlighting connectivity and seamless movements of vehicles across borders in these 4 nations through implementation of BBIN Motor Vehicles Agreement (MVA).

Beer Maker Anheuser-Busch InBev accquired SABMiller for $107 billion to create a company that makes almost a third of the beer consumed worldwide.

Bosnia and Serbia held their first joint session since Bosnian War in 1995.

Centre for Development of Telematics (C-DOT) (Under Ministry of Communication and Information Technology)'s product Gyansetu has been named best product capable of bridging gaps in connectivity at vast rural part of India. during ITU Telecom World 2015 at Budapest (Hungary).

China is building world’s biggest animal cloning factory in Tianjin to recreate sniffer dogs, racehorses, pets and beef cattle.

China will build world’s first salt lake data centre in Qinghai. China has over thousand salt lakes in Qinghai and Xinjiang.

China's Parliament ratified Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank agreement that establishes legal framework for Bank. 54 founding members of bank signed agreement in June 2015 provides legal framework for Institution of AIIB.

Chinese Currency renminbi has been included in world’s elite currencies by IMF (International Monetary ). It will pave way for more use of renminbi in International trade and finance. Just four other currencies — the dollar, the euro, the pound and the yen - have this IMF designation.

IMF is Headquarted in Washington (USA) with Christine Lagrade (France) as current Chief.

Deadly Terrorist Attacks occured in Paris City of France, reportedly carried by ISIS.

During 10th G20 Summit in Turkey - India and Australia signed Nuclear deal for supply of Uranium from Australia to India. India became first country to buy Uranium from Australia without being a signatory to Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. Australia has about a 40 % of world’s Uranium resources and annually exports 7,000 tonnes.

During recent International Conference ‘Networking the Networks’ in Delhi, India, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, Maldives, Sri Lanka and Myanmar decided to form South Asian Regional Intelligence and Coordination Centre on Transnational Organized Crime (SARICC) for information sharing to enable all Member States to respond Transnational organized crimes.

Eight Asian countries (China, Japan, Malaysia, South Korea, Indonesia, Thailand, Mongolia and India)participated in a meeting held in New Delhi for preparing disaster risk reduction for Asian region.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley visited United Arab Emirates.

First international film festival for persons with disabilities (IFFPD) will be held in Delhi from 1st to 3rd December 2015.

Food and Drug Administration (FDA) of United Statues approved human consumption of a genetically engineered (GE) Salmon.

Forbes World’s Most Powerful People 2015 List -

List provides annual ranking of World’s 73 Most Powerful People.

List was topped by Russian President Vladimir Putin for the third year in a row. Putin is followed by German Chancellor Angela Merkel (rank 2), USA President Barack Obama (rank 3).

India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi is ranked as world’s ninth most powerful person, up from 14th position in 2014.

Fortune's top 50 global business leaders -

Indian Origin Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella is named 47th and Mastercard CEO Ajay Banga is rankaed at 5th Position.

Nike’s Mike Parker topped the list followed by Facebook’s Mark Zukerberg.

Electronic Art’s CEO Andrew Wilson (3), Apple’s Tim Cook (4), Google (Alphabet)’s Larry Page at 11th position.

Goverment approved amending Double Taxation Avoidance Convention with Turkmenistan signed in 1997 for avoidance of double taxation and prevention of fiscal evasion.

Government approved Memorandum of Understanding with Belgium for co-operation in energy.

Government approved Memorandum of Understanding with Colombia for strengthening cooperation in Tourism.

Government approved Memorandum of Understanding with Germany for Security Co-operation, Promotion of Each other's Languages and carriage of In-flight Security Officers (IFCOs) on board the flight. Government approved German as additional foreign language in Kendriya Vidyalayas.

Government approved Memorandum of Understanding with Vietnam for cooperation in field of Animal Health.

Government approved amending Agreement with Kuwait for avoidance of double taxation and prevention of fiscal evasion.

Government approved revised Air Services Agreement with New Zealand.

Government approved signing Tripartite Agreement among India, Brazil and South Africa (IBSA) for IBSA Fund for Alleviation of Poverty and Hunger. IBSA countries contribute US$ 1 million each annually to the Fund.

Government proposed to extend Currency Swap Arrangement for SAARC Member Countries by two years upto November 14, 2017. Under this facility, RBI offers swaps of varying sizes to each SAARC Member countries (Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka) under US$ 2 billion.

Government ratified Articles of Agreement (AoA) of Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB).

Headquarters will be in Beijing (China). China is largest stakeholder with 30.34 % stake.

India will be second-biggest shareholder with 8.4 % ad Russia will have 6.5 % stake.

Total Paid up capital will be 100 Billion USD.

ICT Development Index (IDI) Report by UN International Telecommunications Union (ITU) -

India is ranked 131 out of 167 nations in level of information and communication technology access.

Globally, 3.2 billion people are now online ( 43.4 % of world’s population). Mobile-cellular subscriptions have reached 7.1 billion.

South Korea, Denmark and Iceland are top countries.

81.3 per cent of households in developed world, 34.1 % in the developing and 6.7 % in 48 UN-designated Least Developed Countries (LDCs) have internet access.

India - Ranked 131st. Percentage of households with computer is 13 %, while percentage of households with Internet is 15.33. Percentage of individuals using Internet has grown to 18 %.

India and Bangladesh signed Standard Operating Procedure in New Delhi to operationalize Agreement on Coastal Shipping signed in June 2015.

India and Japan exchanged Notes for Japan’s Loan of Rs. 5,536 crore to India for Chennai Metro Rail Project (IV) and Ahmedabad Metro Project.

India moved up one position to become world’s seventh most valued ‘Nation Brand’ with increase of 32% in it’s brand value to 2.1 billion dollars. US remains on top with valuation of 19.7 billion dollars followed by China and Germany as per annual report on world’s most valuable nation brands by Brand Finance.

India re-elected to Council of International Maritime Organization for 2 years at 29th Assembly of IMO in London.

International Maritime Organization's Headquarters is in London (UK) with Koji Sekimizu as Current Chief.

India signed Memorandum of Understanding with South Korea for bilateral air service cooperation.

Indian culture week called India in Shanghai inaugurated at China Shanghai International Arts Festival (SIAF) in Shanghai.

Institute for Economics and Peace (Sydney, Australia) Global Terrorism Index 2015 of impact of terrorism in 162 countries -

Deaths from terrorism increased 80 % in 2014 to highest level ever with cost 52.9 USD billion.

Most Affected Nations - Iraq, Afghanistan, Nigeria, Pakistan and Syria. India is sixth most affected Nation by terrorism in 2014.

Least affected Nations - Japan, Malawi, Togo, Zambia among others.

Over 32000 people killed by terrorism in 2014 as compared to 18000 in 2013. Boko Haram and ISIL making 51 % of all global fatalities.

International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) Launched Enable Makeathon Program for creating affordable assistive devices for persons with physical disabilities living in rural areas.

International Energy Agency released World Energy Outlook 2015.

Tightening oil balance will lead to price around 80 dollars per barrel by 2020.

World energy demand will grow by one-third between 2013 and 2040.

By 2040, China's net oil imports will be five times those of USA, while India's import will exceed those of European Union.

India in the developing Asia region will take over China as largest source of consumption growth.

With India moving to centre stage in global energy, energy demand will increase to 2.5 times due to India’s high economic growth, large population.

Renewables will be leading source of energy in 2040. Renewables-based energy will reach 50% in EU by 2040, 30% in China and Japan, and above 25% in United States and India.

Emissions trajectory implies temperature increase of 2.7 °C by 2100.

Japan Launched its First fully commercial satellite Mission by launching Canada's Telstar 12V.

Justice T S Thakur will be next (63rd) Chief Justice of India. He will replace H L Dattu.

Legatum Prosperity Index 2015 released by Legatum Institute in London. Index offering insight into how prosperity is forming and changing across the world. Norway topped table In terms of overall prosperity for seventh year in a row. Switzerland is second and Denmark as Third. Central African Republic was at bottom among 142 countries. India was ranked 99 overall.

Sub Indices ranks -

Sub-Index
India's Rank Top Ranked Nation

Economy

61

Singapore

Entrepreneurship & Opportunity

94
Sweden

Governance

53
Switzerland

Education

92
Australia

Health

107
USA

Safety & Security

114
Hong Kong

Personal Freedom

79
Canada

Social Capital

129
New Zealand

National League for Democracy (NLD) party led by Aung San Suu Kyi won Myanmar’s landmark election by winning 348 seats.

Norway reopened its Consulate General in Mumbai after four decades of closure in 1973.

Operation Inherent Resolve - US military operation for intervention against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) got Intennsified after recent ISIS Attack on France, killing hundreds.

Pakistan and China started ambitious 46 billion US Dollar China- Pakistan economic corridor (CPEC) project as China acquired over 2,000 acres of land in Balochistan to develop strategic Gwadar port of 1.62 Billion USD.

It includes construction of an expressway linking Gwadar port in Pakistan to Xinjiang region in China by highways, airways and railways and pipelines to transport oil and gas.

India objected to ths CPEC as it passes through Pakistan occupied Kashmir. But China defended it saying it is a commercial venture to improve livelihoods of people in Pakistan.

President Pranab Mukherjee approved Haryana Gauvansh Sanrakshan and Gausamvardhan Bill. Key provisions are -

Cow slaughter in Haryana will cause 3 - 10 years imprisonment with fine of 1 lakh rupees.

Attempt to export cows for slaughter will cause 3 - 7 years Imprisonment and fine 30000 - 70000 rupees.

President of Maldives Abdulla Yameen declared emergency for 30 days on grounds of threat to national security.

President of Sri Lanka Maithripala Sirisena inaugurated Mahatma Gandhi International Centre (MGIC) in Matale (Sri Lanka ).

Prime Minister Narendra Modi Visited UK and Turkey -

UK Visit

India and UK signed civil nuclear pact and decided to collaborate in of defence and cyber security besides launching a railway rupee bond in UK.

Deals worth 9 billion pounds signed in India and UK.

India’s first Low Income State Infrastructure Equity Partnership (the Neev Fund) launched by Narendra Modi in UK. It has investment from UK Department of International Development and the State Bank of India.

India and UK agreed on package of collaboration on energy and climate change worth 3.2 billion pounds.

PM Narendra Modi inaugurated Ambedkar memorial bulit by Maharashtra Government in London.

2017 has been announced as UK-India Year of culture.

PM Nardenra Modi unveiled Basaveshwara Statue in London.

PM Nardenra Modi addressed Indian Community at Wembley Football Stadium in London.

Turkey Visit

PM Modi attended 2015 G-20 summit chaired by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Antalya (Turkey).

PM Modi attended meet of BRICS leaders on sidelines of G-20 summit.

India and Australia announced completion of procedures for Civil Nuclear Agreement.

Punjabi became third most common language, after English and French in House of Commons of Canada after 20 Punjabi-speaking candidates were elected to the parliament.

Richard Proud-chaired Independent Commission on Doping in Sports submitted its report to World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) in Vienna, Switzerland.

Ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) founded by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has won 2015 Parliamentary Elections (25th) of Turkey.

Russia signed agreement with Egypt to build Egypt's first nuclear power plant at Dabaa with capacity 1200 MW.

Russian and Indian defence ministers signed military-technical cooperation agreement.

Saudi Arabia allowed women to vote and contest in municipal elections for the first time.

Scientists revealed that Himalayas were born about 47 million years ago when India and Eurasia initially smashed into each other. Research shows that 50 million years ago, India was travelling northwards at speeds of 15 centimetres / year, before it collided into Eurasia crustal Plates causing formation of Himalayan Mountain Range.

Sri Lankan announced to not to allow any country to set up naval base on Sri Lankan territory.

Tax Justice Network released Financial Secrecy Index 2015 that ranks nations according to their secrecy and scale of offshore financial activities. Switzerland is most secretive while India at 42nd rank is moderately secretive among 92 countries. Top five secretive are - Switzerland, Hong Kong, USA, Singapore and Cayman. Most Transparent are - Slovenia, Dominica, Finland, Cook Islands and Montserrat.

The first edition of Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) Graduate Employability Rankings has placed IIT Kharagpur and IIT Bombay among top 100 institutes in the world. IIT Kharagpur ranked at 77 and IIT Bombay ranked at 93. Top 3 universities are Stanford University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Harvard University.

Times Higher Education (THE) Ranking for Engineering & Technology's top 100 Institutes List -

Indian Institute of Science Bangalore ranks 99th in the List.

US institutions Stanford (1st), CalTech (2nd)and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (3rd) are at top three.

Tropical Cyclone Chapala hits Yemen triggering heavy flooding.

Turkey Shoot Down a Russian Sukhoi 24 Warplane flying over Turkish Claimed Region for Attacking Terrorist Group ISIS. This has escalated tensions between Turkey an Russia. Russia imposed economic sanctions against Turkey over this issue.

UN Human Cost of Weather Related Disasters report showed that over between 1995 - 2015, mmost major disasters have been floods, storms, heatwaves, droughts and other weather-related events. Five most hit countries are -United States (472), China (441), India (288), Philippines (274), and Indonesia, (163).

US drugs giant Pfizer agreed to buy Ireland based Allergan for 160 billion USD making it biggest ever deal in history of healthcare sector.

Ukraine Parliament approved amendment to country’s Labour Code prohibiting all forms of discrimination at workplace including discrimination against homosexuals.

Union Territory of Daman and Diu will host world’s longest beach festival starting December 1, 2015. The 75-day festival Festa Di Diu will go on till February 2016.

United Nations General Assembly's Disarmament Committee / First Committee adopted draft resolution submitted by Japan calling for abolition of nuclear arms. Resolution was adopted by 156 countries, 17 abstained from voting and 3 voted in against.

United Nations Security Council adopted French-sponsored resolution 2249 (2015) calling all nations to take all necessary measures to prevent and suppress terrorist acts of Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and other extremist groups.

Uttar Pradesh government's Clean UP, Green UP initiative earned place in Guinness Book of World Records by planting 10 lakh saplings in one day and previous record of 8 lakh 50 thousand trees in a single day.

Wipro’s chairman Azim Premji is ranked 4th amongst world’s top 20 philanthropists with his $8 billion Donations till Date, as per a study by wealth consultancy Wealth-X and Business Insider.

Bill Gates is first with donations of $27 billion, Warren Buffett next with $21.5 billion, and George Soros third with $8 billion donations.

World Economic Forum Global Gender Gap Report 2015 -

It ranked 145 nations according to how well they are leveraging their female talent

Global gender gap across health, education, economic opportunity and politics has closed by only 4 % in the past 10 years. So it will take another 118 years to close it completely.

India stood at 108th position in report.

Top 5 - Iceland (1), Norway (2), Finland (3), Sweden (4) and Ireland (5) and and least gender equality is in - Iran (141), Chad (142), Syria (143), Pakistan (144) and Yemen (145).

Among G20, India and Saudi Arabia have lowest rate of labour participation (40 %), USA has highest participation rate of 80 %.

In Economic Participation and Opportunity segment, India’s among lowest (139 th). Labour force participation rate among women was 29.5 % and 83 % among men.

World Health Organisation (WHO) launched World Antibiotic Awareness Week with theme Antibiotics: handle with care. Aim is to raise awareness to avoid further emergence and spread of antibiotic resistance.

World Health Organization officially declared African Nation Sierra Leone as Ebola-free.

World Meteorological Organization stated that global average surface temperature in 2015 is likely to be 1° Celsius above pre-industrial era, which will be warmest ever recorded.

World’s second largest diamond ever has been discovered in Botswana. The 1,111-carat diamond measures 2.5 inches by 2.2 inches.

Meetings

11th International Food Data Conference held at National Institute of Nutrition in Hyderabad. Conference jointly organised by International Network of Food Databases (Infoods), Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and National Institute of Nutrition (NIN).

12th Asia-Europe Foreign Ministers' Meeting (ASEM FMM12) took place in Luxembourg. Minister of State for External Affairs Vijay Kumar Singh attended on India's Behalf.

2015 G-20 summit held in Antalya (Turkey). It was tenth meeting of G-20 heads of government. Next G20 Summits - 2016 (China), 2017 (Germany), 2018 (India). It was attended by all G-20 Members except France.

2015 Summit on Migration held in Valletta (Malta) with delegates from Europe and Africa. The summit created an Action Plan to deal with migration issues from Africa to Europe. An EU Emergency Trust Fund of 1.8 billion euros established to address causes of irregular migration.

2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference started in Paris (France)

It is 21st COP (Conference of Parties) for Planning Climate Change Actions and Combating Global Warming Issues.

About 40,000 delegates from 195 nations are attended the summit. 183 countries submitted action plans to achieve the goal of limiting warming to 2 degree centigrade.

Participating countries decided to double their clean energy research and development funding by 2020.

India and France launched International Solar Alliance (ISA) with an aim to harness solar power as a major step to mitigate carbon gas emissions.

It will bring solar rich 121 tropical countries located between Tropic of Cancer and Capricorn together to tap solar energy.

It will function from the Gurgaon based National Institute of Solar Energy (NISE).

India will give assistance of $30 million for this initiative.

PM Modi stated that India has solar capacity of 4GW and targets 100 GW by 2022. He called for developed countries to mobilise $100 billion annually by 2020 for mitigation and adaptation.

France will invest 6 billion euros in 2016-2020 in Africa for enhancing renewable energy sources and cope with climate deterioration.

21st International Conference on ‘Frontiers in Yoga Research and its Applications’ (INCOFYRA) will be organized by Vivekananda Yoga Anusandhana Sansthana from 3rd to 7th January’ 2016 at Bengaluru with theme Yoga in Integrated Healthcare Systems’.

23rd Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Economic Leaders Summit held at Manila (Philippines) with theme Building Inclusive Economies, Building a Better World. Peru will chair APEC in 2016 and will host 24th APEC Economic Leaders’ Meeting in 2016.

24th Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting CHOGM 2015 Held in Malta.

India was represented by External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj.

A new trade finance fund for members of Commonwealth has been announced by governments of four member Nations - India, Malta, Mauritius and Sri Lanka.

The fund will be mainly geared towards small member states lacking in mineral resources and reliant on imports for growth, but are unable to get the necessary trade financing.

International exporters often do not trade with these small nations without letters of credit (LC) issued by local banks. While, international banks are reluctant to confirm letters of credit by these Local banks as they are not considered credit worthy.

The Fund has Initial capital of 20 Million USD and India has contributed US$2.5 Million.

The scheme will act as a guarantor of 20% of total finance exposures faced by international banks dealing with banks in small Commonwealth Nations. Making trade easier for smaller commonwealth Nations.

Asia Leaders' Meeting for Implementation of Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction in Asia and 2nd ISDR Asia Partnership meeting 2015 held in Delhi.

China hosted first Brazil-Russia-India-China-South Africa (BRICS) media summit in Beijing for creating an alternative media platform for the 5 emerging economies. 25 media organisations participated in it.

First World Indology Conference held in Delhi in collaboration with Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR).

Global conference on traffic safety in Brazil. Minister of Road Transport & Highways and Shipping Nitin Gadkari attended on India's Behalf.

ICAN (International Civil Aviation Negotiations) 2015 held in Antalya (Turkey). Indian signed Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with six countries - Finland, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Sweden, Norway and Denmark.

International Grassland Congress organized by Indian Grassland & Fodder Research Institute in New Delhi.

Minister of External Affairs, Sushma Swaraj launched Bharat Ko Janiye online quiz program for Indians across the globe. It is intended to educate them about India's progress in various fields like, Science & Technology etc.

Minister of State (I/C) for Petroleum and Natural Gas, Dharmendra Pradhan visited Doha (Qatar) for 6th Asian Ministerial Energy Roundtable.

Minister of State (IC) Development of North Eastern Region, Jitendra Singh inaugerated 7th Nuclear Energy Conclave organised by India Energy Forum on theme Creating conditions for rapid capacity addition on nuclear power in India in Delhi.

Minister of State (IC) for Development of North Eastern Region, Jitendra Singh inaugurated an Awareness Workshop on online Pension Sanction and Payment Tracking System - BHAVISHYA. It will introduce transparency and accountability in pension processes and will bring satisfaction to pensioners.

Minister of State for Home Affairs, Kiren Rijiju Inaugurated first "South Asian Annual Disaster Management Exercise" (SAADMEx) – 2015 in Delhi. Eight member nations of South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) attended the meet.

Second World Congress on Disaster Management held in Visakhapatnam (Andhra Pradesh).

World Robot Conference 2015 was held in Beijing, China from 23 - 25 of November 2015.

National

Rajasthan and South Australia signed Sister-State Agreement to boost export and investment opportunities during visit of South Australia Trade and Investment Trade Minister Martin Hamilton-Smith to Rajasthan.

3rd National Seminar on Social Innovation organized in Pune.

46th International Film Festival of India (IFFI 2015) started in Panjim, Goa with screening of internationally - acclaimed UK film The Man Who Knew Infinity. Film has been written and directed by Matthew Brown and produced by Edward Ramback Pressman.

Arun Jaitley (Finance Minister) Released Book 'Legends of Indian Silver Screen' as collections of essays of 23 Dadasahab Phalke awardees between 1992-2014.

50 districts of Uttar Pradesh have been declared drought-hit as they received lesser than 60 % rain during 2015 June to September 2015 (Monsoon period).

Actor Anil Kapoor will be chief guest and Shekhar Kapur will be Jury Head at 46th International Film Festival of India to be held in Goa from 20 November 2015.

Airports Authority of India signed Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with India's Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services Limited (IL&FS) Global Financial Services to spread its wings overseas.

Allahabad High Court ruled that Child born out of rape will have right over assaulter’s property.

Andhra Pradesh Government decided to waive loans taken by over 25000 weavers amounting over 110 crore rupees.

Andhra Pradesh Government signed Memorandum of Understanding with World Economic Forum to for support in assessing state's economic competitiveness.

Annual Hundred Drums Wangala Festival begun at Asanang in Meghalaya.

Arundhati Bhattacharya (SBI Chairman) is most powerful woman in Indian business in list of Fortune India. ICICI Bank’s Chanda Kochhar and Shikha Sharma of Axis Bank are second and third respectively. HPCL Chairperson and Managing Director (MD) Nishi Vasudeva is fourth, AZB Co-Founder Zia Mody and Aruna Jayanthi (Capgemini) are jointly at fifth.

As per report by Brickwork Ratings -

Maharashtra is biggest economy among states in India with 16.87 lakh crore rupees in terms of gross state domestic product. Followed by Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh.

Maharashtra’s GSDP grown by 11.69 per cent in 2014-15. It earns 70 % of its total receipts through taxes.

Manufacturing - Gujarat and Maharashtra accounted for 27.26 per cent and 25.18 per cent of GSDP respectively.

Services - Karnataka leads in growth of services sector in India, largely due to IT/BPO/ KPO sector.

Fastest-growing states : Bihar (17.06%), Madhya Pradesh (16.86%) and Goa (16.43%).

Slowest-growing states: Telangana (5.3%), Punjab (10.16%), Rajasthan (11%).

Assam government hiked daily minimum wages of workers in various sectors and sintroduced a new segment of highly-skilled workers who will be eligible for minimum daily wage of 450 rupees. Minimum wage of skilled workers has been hiked from 208 to 350 rupees. Wage of semi-skilled workers is hiked from 150 to 280 rupees while that of unskilled workers from 130 to 240 rupees.

Bihar to ban sale of liquor from 1st April 2016. It will make bihar 6th dry state/UT in India.

Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs approved Home Ministry's plans for Integrating Criminal Justice System in Crime and Criminals Tracking Network and Systems (CCTNS) Project to ensure quick data transfer among concerned entities.

Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) signed 11 more Unilateral Advance Pricing Agreements with 7 APA with a “rollback” provision.

CBDT has so far signed 25 APAs of which 24 are unilateral APAs and one is a bilateral APA.

Unilateral APAs are agreed between Indian taxpayers and CBDT without involvement of tax authorities of country where the associated enterprise is based.

Bilateral APAs include agreements between tax authorities of the two countries.

APA with rollback provision extends tax certainty for nine financial years as against five years in APAs without rollback.

APAs are meant to settle transfer prices and methods of setting prices of international transactions in advance. Government promotes having large number of APAs to foster tax cooperation and certainty.

Contract Agreement Signed For Two Rs.40,000 Crores High Horse Power Modern Locomotive Projects (Electric Locomotive Factory At Madhepura And Diesel Locomotive Factory At Marhowra - Bihar). -

Indian Railways tied up with USA-Based Company GE Global Sourcing India Pvt. Limited for Setting Up Diesel Locomotive Factory (DLF) at Marhowra, Saran District, Bihar. Factory will Manufacture Diesel Electric Locomotives of 4500 HP and 6000 HP for Indian Railways. 1000 Locos to be Manufactured in Ten Years with Cost of About Rs.14,656 crores.

Railways gave contract to France's Alstom for setting up Madhepura electric locomotive project. New factory will supply 800 high horse power (12000 HP) electric locomotive for 11 years. The project will bring FDI investment of 1300 crore, Its cost will be around 19,000 crores.

Delhi Assembly passed Right of Citizen to Time Bound Delivery of Services Amendment Bill, 2015 aimed at providing time bound delivery of Government services.

Delhi government approved Jan Lokpal Bill 2015 to establish an independent authority for investigating Corruption Acts in government offices.

Delhi will host first International Qawwali Festival 2015 titled Taali Ho in February 2016.

Election Commission announced results of 2015 Assembly elections of Bihar for 243 assembly seats. Grand Alliance (Mahagathbandhan) of Rashtriya Janata Dal, Janata Dal (United) and Indian National Congress emerged as winner of election. Nitish Kumar will be appointed Chief Minister of Bihar for Fourth Term. Rashtriya Janata Dal won 80 Seats, Janata Dal won 71 Seats and BJP won 53 Seats.

First India International Science Festival will be organized at IIT Delhi from 4 - 8 December 2015 by Technology Information, Forecasting and Assessment Council (TIFAC) in collaboration with NGO Vijnana Bharati.

Government advanced date for implementation of Bharat Stage V and BS VI emission norms for four-wheelers in order to reduce vehicular air pollution from road transport sector. BS V norms will be rolled out from 1st of April, 2019 and BS VI norms from 1st April, 2021.

Government announced Draft Aviation Policy 2015 -

Aims to bring India to third position from the current 10th position in global aviation sector.

Proposed hiking Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in domestic airlines to over 50 % in open skies policy, which is 49 % at present. Open skies policy - Under it overseas airlines can operate unlimited number of flights into and out of India.

Ticketing:

Airlines will not be allowed to charge over 2500 rupees for 1 hour flight between two small cities. under regional connectivity scheme.

2 % levy on all domestic and overseas tickets for funding the Scheme.

Policy aims to create an eco-system to enable 30 crore domestic ticketing by 2022 and 50 crore by 2027. Similarly, international ticketing to increase to 20 crore by 2027.

Government announced plans to open an exclusive Sports University in Manipur.

Government approved Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) Action Plan for 81 cities in 5 states (Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, Odisha and Mizoram) with total cost 5,748 crores. Union Government will provide 2,440 crore rupees while rest will be contributed by states.

Government approved proposal of Department of Health Research in Ministry of Health and Family Welfare to set up of National Resource Facility for Bio-medical Research (NARF) at Genome Valley in Hyderabad under Indian Council for Medical Research. Project cost will be approx Rs. 338 crores and resource center will be functional by 2018-19.

Government approved returning 803 acres land in Kashipur under Nepa Limited to Government of Uttarkhand.

Government declared National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN (K)) as a terrorist organization under Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967.

Government launched inactivated polio vaccine (IPV) injection as part of Universal Immunization Programme (UIP) to fight against polio virus.

Government released assistance of 939 crores for Flood relief operations in Tamilnadu.

Government wil set up National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPER) in Jhalawar, Rajasthan at cost of Rs 500 crores.

Harsimrat Kaur Badal, Union Minister of Food Processing Industries laid foundation stone of first Mega Food Park in Telangana state in Nandipet Mandal (District Nizamabad).

Human Resource Development Minister Smriti Irani launched e-Pathshala, Saaransh and National Programme on School Standards and Evaluation Framework (Shala Siddhi) web portals.

E-Pathshala web portal hosts educational resources for Students, Teachers, Parents. It contains books in English, Hindi and Urdu.

Shaala Siddhi web portal enables schools to evaluate performance in more focused manner. It will help schools to assess themselves and results can be seen by all enabling them to provide feedback.

Saransh allows schools to identify areas of improvement in students, teachers and curriculum to facilitate and implement change.

IT Firm Tata Consultancy Services launched new Centre of Excellence (CoE) for Internet of Things (IoT) in collaboration with Intel in Hyderabad.

India will set up a US$1 billion private equity fund dedicated to renewable energy sector as an effort towards meeting its 175GW of renewable capacity by 2022 targets.

Indian Railways signed a MoU to set up a Railway Chair on Sustainable Mobility at New Delhi campus of The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) University. It would promote research on sustainable mobility, green energy and use of energy efficient technology initiatives by Railways.

Indian Railways tied up with USA-Based Company GE Global Sourcing India Pvt. Limited for Setting Up Diesel Locomotive Factory (DLF) at Marhowra, Saran District, Bihar. Factory will Manufacture Diesel Electric Locomotives of 4500 HP and 6000 HP for Indian Railways. 1000 Locos to be Manufactured in Ten Years with Cost of About Rs.14,656 crores.

Intel launched its Ek Kadam Unnati Ki Aur program for rural digitisation in 10 States from Nadimpalle villlage in Telangana.

Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) released Internet in India 2015 report.

India’s internet user base will touch 40.2 Crore by December 2015. India will Beat USA ti become second-largest userbase in world after China.

Internet in India took over a decade to move from 1 to 10 crore and 3 years from 10 to 20 crores, it took just a year to move from 30 to 40 crore users.

Overall, 71 percent male and 29 percent female are Internet users in India.

Among Rural areas, User base of mobile internet users is expected will reach 8.7 crore by December 2015 and 11 crore by June 2016.

Jharkhand government declared entire state as drought hit in view of less rainfall in 2015 monsoon season and loss of crops.

Karnataka Government launched Tourist Mitra - 175-member friendly force to reinforce smooth and secure experiences for visitors to state’s tourist spots.

Kerala cabinet approved to set up a NRI Commission and became 2nd state after Punjab to have such a Commission. NRI commission will address all issues of Indian People in foreign countries.

Madhya Pradesh proposed 1,656 cr AMRUT Action Plan to improve basic infra in 32 mission cities with 8,279 cr investment proposed in 5 years to ensure water and sewage connections in urban households.

Maharashtra Government approved APJ Abdul Kalam Amrut Yojna scheme to provide cooked nutritious food to pregnant, lactating women in tribal areas.

Maharashtra government launched Gopinath Munde Farmers Accident Insurance Scheme 2015-16 to cover accidental death of the farmers. It will benefit 1.37 crore farmers in 10-75 year age group.

Mahesh Sharma, Minister of State (I/C) for Tourism and Culture stated that India has set up target to achieve 1.00 % share of International Tourist Arrivals by 2016-17, which is at present 0.68%.

Meghalaya High Court asked Central Government to enforce Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act (AFSPA), 1958 in militancy-hit Garo Hills region of Meghalaya.

Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Radha Mohan Singh laid Foundation Stone of Acharya N.G.Ranga Agricultural University in Andhra Pradesh.

Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change Prakash Javadekar launched new website –www.justclimateaction.org dedicated for climate change actions.

Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Prakash Javadekar announced formation of Indian Resource Panel (InRP) on Resource Efficiency. India is first nation to constitute a NRP to promote sustainable development by utilising secondary resources.

Minister of Urban Development, M.Venkaiah Naidu announced 3250 crore special assistance for decongestion of roads and development of Delhi.

Minister of human resource development, Smriti Irani inaugurated MHRD scheme Global Initiative of Academic Network (GIAN) to boost quality of higher education institutes In India at Indian Institute of Technology Gandhinagar.

Ministry of Health and Family Welfare launched Affordable Medicines and Reliable Implants for Treatment (AMRIT) pharmacy outlet at AIIMS Delhi. Purpose of this outlet is to reduce expenditure on treatment of cancer and heart diseases by 50 %. It has tied-up with government-owned HLL Lifecare Ltd.

Ministry of Information & Broadcasting has set up a Toll Free Telephone Number 1-800-180-4343 to answer queries of stakeholders, including consumers, for seamless transition to digitization of Cable TV.

Ministry of Railways applied changes in Computerized Passenger Reservation System to enable passengers to buy tickets even after preparation of reservation charts, w.e.f. 12th November, 2015.

Under this, First Reservation chart will be made 4 hours before departure of train.

After preparation of first reservation charts, reservation will again become open and passengers can Book available tickets· If passenger is holding RAC/wait list ticket, it can cancel the ticket up to 30 minutes before scheduled departure.

Second (and final) chart will be made before departure of train. It will ensure full utilization of seats and enhanced earnings.

Thus, Passengers can now book / cancel / modify tickets even after preparation of first reservation chart but only upto 30 minutes before the departure of train.

Mysuru Railway Station (Karnataka) became first blind-friendly Railway Station in India after installation of blind - friendly facilities.

NHAI approves pilot project proposed by Nagpur based National Environmental Engineering Research Institute for developing greenbelts along National highway. Pilot project will be implemented on a 5 km stretch on NH-7 (Varanasi to Kanyakumari) in Nagpur region.

NRI Billionaire Manoj Bhargava revealed prototype of affordable electricity-generating hybrid bicycle called Free Electric. It is priced between 12,000 - 15,000 and can provide up to 24 hours of electricity after 1 hour of peddling.

National Green Tribunal banned agricultural straw burning in New, Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh.

National Research Development Corporation signed Memorandum of Agreement with Indian Institute of Technology Madras for commercialisation of technologies/ intellectual properties developed at IITM.

Northeast India’s first hospital for elephants established at Kaziranga National Park in Assam.

Odisha Government imposed seven-month ban on fishing along Puri coast in order to protect endangered Olive Ridley sea turtles.

Odisha Government started implementation of National Food Security Act 2013 in 14 (of 30 districts). Under NFSA, beneficiaries are given 5 kg of rice at Rs 3 or 5 kg of wheat at Rs 2 from Public Distribution System. Second phase of NFSA will be implemented in remaining 16 districts from 1st December 2015.

Piyush Goyal (Minister of Power) announced that India would not need to Import Thermal Coal by 2017.

Prakash Javadekar (Minister of Information and Broadcasting) became first Union Minister to Visit Doyang Lake in Nagaland. He appraised return of Amur Falcons Birds to Nagaland and announced to Develop Doyang Lake as Eco Tourism Spot.

Prasad and Swadesh Darshan schemes of Ministry of Tourism launched with an aim to achieve 1 % share of international tourist arrivals by 2016-17 from present 0.68 %.

PRASAD is meant to augment religious tourism in India. Potential Religious destinations are identified and developed on priority basis. In the initial phase, 12 cities, that are part of HRIDAY scheme, namely Amritsar, Ajmer, Amaravati, Dwaraka, Gaya, Kanchipuram, Kedarnath, Kamakhya, Mathura, Puri, Varanasi and Vellankani have been identified for development.

Swadesh Darshan - Theme Based Tourist Circuit (tourist circuit around specific themes such as religion, culture, ethnicity) are identified and developed.

President Pranab Mukherjee approved Labour Laws (Gujarat Amendment) Bill 2015 that aims to relax labour laws and boost industrialisation and minimise disputes between labourers and employees. It has provisions to ban strikes in public utility services for up to one year from previous six months. It reduces time limit for workers to raise objections to decisions of the industries from 3 to 1 year.

President did not approve Gujarat Control of Terrorism and Organised Crime (GCTOC) Bill 2015 and Sikkim Promotion of Local Employment Bill 2008 that proposed 80 % employment in private sector for people carrying Sikkim Subject Certificate.

President Pranab Mukherjee approved Maharashtra Factories (Amendment) Bill, 2015 to allow women to work in factories in night shifts.

President Pranab Mukherjee inaugurated 35th India International Trade Fair 2015 in Pragati Maidan in New Delhi. Afghanistan is Partner Country while Bangladesh is Focus Country in IITF 2015.

President Pranab Mukherjee launched Impacting Research Innovation and Technology (IMPRINT) India to boost research in the country. Initiative is joint venture of Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) and Indian Institute of Science (IISC) and aimed at developing roadmap for research to solve major engineering and technology challenges.

Punjab Government will set up bio-ethanol refinery to tackle issues wheat and paddy straw burning for approx 950 crores.

Bio-ethanol refinery will solve problem of straw burning of leftover agro-based produce especially from wheat and rice feedstocks. It will also Benefit farmers economically.

What is Bioethanol - It is an alcohol derived by fermentation mostly from carbohydrates of plant produce and feedstocks. Commonly from sugarcane, corn, potato, grapes, banana etc. It can be used as a quasi-renewable energy that be blended with petrol / diesel making it sustainable transport fuel.

Railways gave contract to France's Alstom for setting up Madhepura electric locomotive project. New factory will supply 800 high horse power (12000 HP) electric locomotive for 11 years. The project will bring FDI investment of 1300 crore, Its cost will be around 19,000 crores.

Railways organized an International Summit on Energy Efficient Technologies in Railways in partnership with United Nations Development Programme in New Delhi.

Railways signed Memorandum of Understanding with Odisha to form an SPV (Special Purpose Vehicle) for Implementation of Railway Projects in Odisha.

Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje launched Agro-Processing and Agri-Marketing Promotion Policy 2015 to promote agro-processing and to reduce post harvest losses.

Rajasthan Government relaxed two-child policy for state government employees by allowing third child from a remarriage.

Rajasthan Government signed 295 MoUs attracting about 3.3 lakh crore investment during Resurgent Partnership Summit 2015.

Rajasthan signed 295 MoUs attracting about 3.3 lakh crore rupees investment during Resurgent Partnership Summit 2015. It aims to provide around 239694 lakh jobs in the state.

Registrar General & Census Commissioner of India released data of Census 2011 on Highest Educational Level Attained among population attending educational institutions. Out of literate population who are presently attending any educational institution in the country, below Primary are 32.6% followed by Primary (25.2%), Middle (15.7%), Matric (11.1%), Higher Secondary (8.6%) and Graduate & above (4.5%). During 2001-11, improvement is observed at Middle and above educational levels and decline in lower levels (below-Primary and Primary). It shows advancement in Higher Education during 2001-11.

Researchers discovered a new species of tree frog named Ghatixalus magnus in Western Ghats in Kadalar High Ranges of Kerala.

Social Justice and Empowerment Ministry announced 10 schemes for disabled persons under National Trust for welfare of persons with Autism, Cerebral Palsy, Mental Retardation and Multiple Disabilities. Minister Thawar Chand Gehlot announced to increase number of categories of disability from 7 to 19. List of schemes -

DISHA: Early Intervention and School Readiness Scheme

VIKAAS: Day Care Scheme

SAMARTH: Respite Care Scheme

GHARAUNDA: Group Home for Adults Scheme

NIRAMAYA: Health Insurance Scheme

SAHYOGI: Caregiver training scheme

GYAN PRABHA: Educational support Scheme

PRERNA: Marketing Assistance Scheme

SAMBHAV: Aids and Assisted Devices Scheme

BADHTE KADAM: Awareness and Community Interaction Scheme.

Supreme Court ruled that a daughter's right to ancestral property does not arise if father died before Hindu Succession (Amendment) Act 2005.

Supreme Court upheld Kerala Government’s ban on online lotteries.

Tata Steel started first phase of its Kalinganagar steel plant in Odisha as India's largest single-location greenfield project. First phase will produce 3 million tonnes of its total capacity of 6 MT/ annum.

Three-day Log Mayyazhi Mahotsavam started in Mahe, Puducherry.

Tribal Affairs Minister Jual Oram inaugurated National Tribal Crafts Mela ‘Aadishilp’ in New Delhi, Organized by Tribal Cooperative Marketing Development Federation of India Ltd. (TRIFED).

UGC (University Grant Commission) proposed to build interactive portal - Bharatvani as largest internet language site in the world with knowledge in all Indian languages.

USA's Sun Edison Won Auction for supplying 500 Megawatt Project in Andhra Pradesh at 4.63 Rupees Per Kilowatt-Hour.

Walmart India announced an entrepreneur development programme for women to encourage women owned businesses, including softer payment terms for them in first year of empanelment with Walmart (Starting from Andhra Pradesh).

West Bengal government decided to construct a 55-metre replica of Eiffel Tower in Kolkata, In memory of 13/11 terror attack in France.

Persons

Afghanistan's Deputy Foreign Minister Hekmat Khalil Karzai visited India.

Dalbir Singh, Chief of Army Staff visited Sri Lanka.

Former Chief of Air Staff, Om Prakash Mehra passed away.

Former England Cricketer Tom Graveney passed away.

Former RAW Director Shankaran Nair passed away.

French President Francois Hollande will be the Chief Guest at the 67th Republic Day parade of January 26, 2016.

Home Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi and Director General of BSF, D.K. Pathak visited Bangladesh. India and Bangladesh greed to share information on terrorists and insurgent threats.

India's cricketer Mahendra Singh Dhoni signed his first overseas endorsement deal withb Dubai's event management company Grand Midwest Group for 3 years.

Indian Red Cross Society Secretary General SP Agarwal passed away.

Indian scientist, Yusuf Hamied has been appointed as one of member of the United Nations (UN) high-level panel on health technology innovation and access.

Laurent Fabius, Foreign Minister of France visited India.

Li Yuanchao, Vice President of China visited India.

Minister for Science & Technology and Earth Sciences Harsh Vardhan visited Japan.

Minister of Agriculture of Brazil, Katia Abreu Visited India.

Minister of Human Resource Development Smriti Irani visited UNESCO Headquarters at Paris. She participated in 38th session of UNESCO General Conference.

Muhammad Farid Habib, Chief of Bangladesh Navy visited India.

Nepal's noted Indian-origin businessman Banwari Lal Mittal passed away. He was Founder of Shree Airlines of Nepal.

Noted Australian football player Joe Marston Passed Away.

Noted Hindi writer and journalist, Mahip Singh passed away.

Noted Industrialist and Founder of Hero Cycles, Brijmohan Lall Munjal Passed away.

Noted Japanese Tamil scholar and historian of South India and South Asia, Noboru Karashima passed away.

Noted Russian film Director and screenwriter Eldar Ryazanov passed away.

Noted Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) leader Ashok Singhal passed away.

Noted actor Saeed Jaffrey passed away.

Noted archaeologist Virendra Nath Misra passed away.

Noted labour economist T.S. Papola passed away.

Noted litterateur Surendra Upadhyay passed away. He was former chairman of Rajasthan Brijbhasha Academy.

Noted writer of children’s books Kamala Laxman passed away.

Oscar-winning British writer and actor Colin Welland passed away.

PM Narendra Modi Visits Malaysia and Singapore -

Malaysia -

India and Malaysia signed agreement to strengthen cooperation in defence, including maritime security and disaster response.

Participated in 10th East Asia Summit (EAS) held in Kuala Lumpur with theme Our People, Our Community, Our Vision.

Participated in 13th ASEAN - India Summit. India and leaders of 10 member ASEAN grouping discussed new Plan of Action for 2016-2020.

Participated in 27th ASEAN Summit 2015. ASEAN leaders endorsed ASEAN 2025: Forging Ahead Together to chart path for community building over next 10 years.

Association of Southeast Asian Nations leaders signed declaration for launching ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) similar to European Union (EU)-style regional economic bloc.

AEC will make ASEAN a single market with free flow of goods, capital and skilled labour in the region. Integrate Southeast Asia’s 10 economies with population of 62 Crores and combined gross domestic product of 2.4 trillion USD.

Singapore -

India and Singapore signed 10 co-operation agreements.

Extension of Loan of Artifacts to Asian Civilisations Museum of Singapore Executive Programme on Cooperation in Arts, Heritage, Archives and Library for 2015-2018.

Operationalisation of Agreement on Sharing White Shipping Information between Navies.

Cooperation in Cyber Security, Civil Aviation , Planning, Illicit Trafficking in Narcotic Drugs etc.

Railways Minister Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu visited London (UK).

Rajya Sabha MP from Nagaland Khekiho Zhimomi passed away.

Romania's Prime Minister Victor Ponta resigned.

Slovenia's President, Milan Brglez visited India.

Tata Sons chairman emeritus Ratan Tata has invested in Crayon Data, a Singapore-based Data startup.

Vinod Zutshi, Secretary in Ministry of Tourism visited London (UK) for World Travel Market event. He said India is aiming to attract one million UK visitors by 2020.

Science

China launched civil communication satellite ChinaSat - 2C from Xichang space center (Sichuan) by launch vehicle Long March 3B rocket as its 216th mission.

New species of Dracula ant of Stigmatomma group of predaceous ants has been discovered in Western Ghats region of Kerala.

China launched Yaogan Weixing series satellite called Yaogan-29 (YG-29).

China’s Tianhe-2 supercomputer named as world’s most powerful supercomputer for sixth consecutive year. It is capable of performing calculations with processing speed of 33.86 petaflops per second. Supercomputer Titan of US Department of Energy is second with 17.59 Pflop/s.

India's latest communications satellite GSAT - 15 (3164 kg) launched successfully by European Ariane 5 VA-227 launch Vehicle.

Russia launched first satellite for its newest early warning system, EKS or Integrated Space System. Satellite has been named Kosmos 2510 (Tundra 11L).

Sports

12th South Asian Games will be held in Guwahati and Shillong from December 10 - 20, 2015.

13th Asian Shooting Championships in Kuwait (Qatar)-

Important -

Women's 10 m Air Pistol - India's Heena Sindhu won Gold and Shri Nivetha Paramanantham won Gold in Junior Individual.

Men's 50 m Pistol - Jitu Rai won Silver in Individual Category.

Others

Women's 25 m Pistol - Chinki Yadav Won Bronze in Junior Individual.

Men's 25 m Standard Pistol - Shigvam Shukla won Gold in Junior Individual.

Men's 50 m Rifle Prone - Swapnil Kusale won Gold in Junior Individual.

Men's 10 m Air Rifle - Akhil Sheoran won Gold and Prashant Prashant won Bronze in Junior Individual.

Women's 50 m Rifle Prone - Gaayathri Ithyanadam won Silver in Junior Individual.

Women's 10 m Air Rifle - Prachi Gadkari won Bronze in Yiuth Individual.

shooter became first Indian Senior Player to won silver in 50 metre pistol event at 13th Asian Shooting Championship in Kuwait (Qatar). In junior events, India won four silver and two Bronze.

2015 WTA Finals women's tennis tournament at Singapore -

Singles - Agnieszka Radwanska (Poland) won by defeating Petra Kvitova (Czech Republic).

Doubles - Martina Hingis (Switzerland) and Sania Mirza (India) defeated Spain’s Garbine Muguruza and Carla Suarez Navarro.

Anil Kumble resigned as Chief Mentor of Indian Premier League (IPL) team Mumbai Indians.

Australia won first ever day-night Test match at Adelaide Oval with a pink Kookaburra ball against New Zealand.

Australian fast bowler Mitchell Johnson (age 34) has announced his retirement from all forms of international cricket.

Birhanu Legese from Ethiopia and Cynthia Limo from Kenya have won 2015 Delhi Half Marathon in men’s and women’s categories respectively.

Board of Control for Cricket in India excluded Barabati stadium in Cuttack (Odisha) from newly declared Test venues after fans recently hurled plastic bottled onto ground forcing match to stop.

Britain won 2015 Davis Cup tennis by defeating Belgium in Belgium.

Britain's Tyson Fury crowned new world heavy weight champion after winning Vladimir Klitschko of Ukraine who suffered his first defeat since 2004.

China Open (badminton) 2015

Women's Singles - Li Xuerui (China) won by defeating India's Saina Nehwal

Men's Singles - Lee Chong Wei (Malaysia) won by defeating Chen Long (China)

Men's Doubles - Kim Sa Rang and Kim Gi-jung (South Korea)

Women's Doubles - Yu Yang and Tang Yuanting (China)

Czech Republic defeated Russia to retain Fed Cup Tennis Title, played in Czech Republic.

FIFA (Fédération Internationale de Football Association) Rankings 2015.

India Ranked 172nd in total 207 Nations.

Top 10 are -

Rank

Team

Points

1

Belgium

1440

2

Germany

1388

3

Argentina

1383

4

Portugal

1364

5

Chile

1288

6

Spain

1287

7

Colombia

1233

8

Brazil

1208

9

England

1179

10

Austria

1130

FIFA banned Nepal's football chief Ganesh Thapa for 10 years for corruption.

Former Pakistani Cricketer Inzamam ul Haq has been made Afghanistan Cricket coach for 2 years.

Hockey India secured partnerships with National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) for Hockey World League (HWL) final, National Mineral Development Corporation (NMDC) as principal partner and South Eastern Coalfields (SECL) as first official partner for Hockey World League (HWL) to be held in Raipur from 27 November to 6 December 2015.

India's Pankaj Advani won IBSF World Snooker Championship by defeating China’s Xingtong. It is 15th World Title for Pankaj. He became first person to win both Billiards and Snooker World Titles in same year.

Indian Badminton Player P V Sindhu won Macau Open for Third Time. She Defeated Japan’s Minatsu Mitani.

Indian Harika Dronavalli won FIDE World Online Women Blitz Championship in Rome, Italy.

Indian Railways won 32nd Indian Oil Surjit Hockey tournament for first time by defeating Indian Oil Mumbai in final match played in Jalandhar (Punjab).

Indian boxer Shiva Thapa attained second rank in latest international rankings of boxing in 56 kilogram category with 1550 points.

Indian men’s junior hockey team won 8th Junior Asia Hockey Cup by defeating Pakistan by 6-2 goals. It was held in Malaysia.

Indian shuttler Siril Verma has won silver at 2015 BWF World Junior badminton Championships in Lima. He lost to Taipei’s Chia Hung Lu Chia in Final.

International Cricket Council suspended West Indies spinner Sunil Narine from bowling in international cricket due to his bowling action being found illegal.

Internet firm Google will provide Internet connectivity in India by using large balloons under its ‘Project Loon’. It uses big balloons floating at height of 20 kilometers above earth surface for transmission of Internet services. Google will initially partner with BSNL for testing this technology by using broadband spectrum in 2.6 Ghz band.

Maharashtra Srishti Pandey won second Indiana All India FIDE Rating Chess tournament organized by Nagpur Taluka Chess Association.

Mana Patel (Female) and Virdhawal Khade (Male) emerged as best swimmers of 69th senior National Aquatic Championships 2015 in Rajkot (Gujarat).

Michelle Payne (Australia) become first female jockey to win Australia 's prestigious horse race Melbourne Cup 2015 of 6.2 million dollars.

New Zealand has won 2015 Rugby World Cup for third time by defeating Australia. was played in England.

Nico Rosberg (Germany) won Abu Dhabi Formula One Grand Prix .

2015 Formula One season -

Total 19 Grand Prix Races to be organized across the world in 2015. Calendar is -

Grand Prix Date Winner

Australia 15 March Lewis Hamilton (UK)

Malaysia 29 March Sebastian Vettel (Germany)

China 12 April Lewis Hamilton (UK)

Baharain 19 April Lewis Hamilton (UK)

Spain 10 May Nico Rosberg (Germany)

Monaco 24 May Nico Rosberg (Germany)

Canada 7 June Lewis Hamilton (UK)

Austria 21 June Nico Rosberg (Germany)

Britain 5 July Lewis Hamilton (UK)

Hungary 26 July Sebastian Vettel (Germany)

Belgium 23 August Lewis Hamilton (UK)

Italy 6 September Lewis Hamilton (UK)

Singapore 20 September Sebastian Vettel (Germany)

Japan 27 September   Lewis Hamilton (UK)

Russia 11 October Lewis Hamilton (UK)

USA 25 October Lewis Hamilton (UK)

Mexico 1 November Nico Rosberg (Germany)

Brazil 15 November Nico Rosberg (Germany)

Abu Dhabi 29 November Nico Rosberg (Germany)

Nico Rosberg (Germany) won Brazil Formula One Grand Prix .

2015 Formula One season -

Total 19 Grand Prix Races to be organized across the world in 2015. Calendar is -

Grand Prix Date Winner

Australia 15 March Lewis Hamilton (UK)

Malaysia 29 March Sebastian Vettel (Germany)

China 12 April Lewis Hamilton (UK)

Baharain 19 April Lewis Hamilton (UK)

Spain 10 May Nico Rosberg (Germany)

Monaco 24 May Nico Rosberg (Germany)

Canada 7 June Lewis Hamilton (UK)

Austria 21 June Nico Rosberg (Germany)

Britain 5 July Lewis Hamilton (UK)

Hungary 26 July Sebastian Vettel (Germany)

Belgium 23 August Lewis Hamilton (UK)

Italy 6 September Lewis Hamilton (UK)

Singapore 20 September Sebastian Vettel (Germany)

Japan 27 September   Lewis Hamilton (UK)

Russia 11 October Lewis Hamilton (UK)

USA 25 October Lewis Hamilton (UK)

Mexico 1 November Nico Rosberg (Germany)

Brazil 15 November Nico Rosberg (Germany)

Abu Dhabi 29 November

Nico Rosberg (Germany) won Mexican Formula One Grand Prix .

2015 Formula One season -

Total 19 Grand Prix Races to be organized across the world in 2015. Calendar is -

Grand Prix Date Winner

Australia 15 March Lewis
Hamilton
(UK)

Malaysia 29 March Sebastian
Vettel
(Germany)

China 12 April Lewis
Hamilton
(UK)

Baharain 19 April Lewis
Hamilton
(UK)

Spain 10 May Nico
Rosberg
(Germany)

Monaco 24 May Nico
Rosberg
(Germany)

Canada 7 June Lewis Hamilton (UK)

Austria 21 June Nico Rosberg (Germany)

Britain 5 July Lewis
Hamilton
(UK)

Hungary 26 July Sebastian
Vettel
(Germany)

Belgium 23 August Lewis Hamilton (UK)

Italy 6 September Lewis Hamilton (UK)

Singapore 20 September Sebastian Vettel (Germany)

Japan 27 September   Lewis Hamilton (UK)

Russia 11 October Lewis Hamilton (UK)

USA 25 October Lewis Hamilton (UK)

Mexico 1 November Nico Rosberg (Germany)

Brazil 15 November

Abu Dhabi 29 November

Nigeria won 2015 FIFA U-17 World Cup by defeating Mali. It is the third championship for Nigeria. India will host bi-annual championship in 2017.

Noted Pakistan cricketer Younus Khan retired from ODI cricket.

Pakistani cricketer Shoaib Malik announced retirement from Test cricket.

Ravichandran Ashwin became fastest Indian bowler to reach 150 Test wickets (in 29 Tests).

Serbia's Novak Djokovic won ATP World Tour Tennis finals for fourth time continuously. He defeated Roger Federer of Switzerland .

Swiss Indoors Basel Men's Tennis Title 2015 -

Singles - Roger Federer of Switzerland defeated Rafael Nadal of Spain.

Doubles - Alexander Peya (Austria) / Bruno Soares(Brazil) defeated Rohan Bopanna (India) / Florin Mergea (Romania).

USA's Ashton Eaton and Ethiopia's Genzebe Dibaba have been named male and female IAAF World Athletes of 2015.

Uttarakhand approved names of former footballer and Asian games gold medallist Ram Bahadur Chetri for Khel Ratna and athletics coach Renu Kohli for Devbhoomi Uttarakhand Award. Weightlifter Hansa Manral Sharma wil be conferred life time achievement award.

Wasim Jaffer became first cricketer to score 10000 runs in Ranji Trophy history.

West Ham United's Aditi Chauhan became first Indian to be awarded Asian Woman Footballer of Year award in United Kingdom.

World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) suspended Russia’s anti-doping agency RUSADA for being non-compliant with anti-doping charter in sports.

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