. Current Affairs week 53Pdf.

28 Dec 2015 2 Jan 2016

Best of Current Affairs Desk

28th December

IN THIS WEEK

WHAT'S NEW NIRDESHAK.COM

Place
BANKING
INTERNATIONAL ECONOMY
SPORTS
POLICY
RAILWAYS
FINANCIAL COMMITTEE

Dear Readers,
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In the week, many place, events and policy
remained important as India and world saw
many developments. Further know more about
key personalities of the week, banking news,
government policies and foreign relations with
neighbours.
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Financial Committee
RBI Financial Inclusion
The RBI committee on pushing Financial Inclusion submitted its report on 28
December 2015. The committee recommended a slew of measures, including a
special deposit scheme for the girl child, government-to-person social cash transfer,
and opening interest-free windows (Islamic banking) by banks. Who headed this
committee? Deepak Mohanty (Executive Director, RBI)
To Know: The committee (titled Medium-Term path on
Financial Inclusion) was constituted in July 2015 with the
objective of working out a medium-term (five-year)
measurable action plan for financial inclusion. It was
chaired by Deepak Mohanty, RBI executive director.
Important Recommendations of the Deepak Mohanty Committee:

Banks have to step up account opening for women

Union Govt. should consider a welfare scheme (Sukanya Shiksha) for promoting
financial inclusion of women that can be jointly funded by the Central and State
governments

Need for better use of the mobile banking facility for Government-to-Person (G2P)
payments, and this would push government in its financial inclusion drive

A unique biometric identifier such as Aadhaar be linked to each individual credit account
and the information should be shared with credit information companies

Commercial banks in India must be enabled to open specialised interest-free windows

(primarily for Islamic banking) with simple products

The committee pressed for digitisation of land records to increase formal credit to all
agrarian segments

Place
Ramadi liberated from the Islamic State (IS).
To Know: Iraqi Army Spokesman Brig Gen Yahya Rasul on 28 December claimed
the forces had achieved an epic victory in the city of Ramadi and that the Iraqi flag
had been raised over the government complex in the city.

Ramadi is situated around 90 km west of Baghdad. The operation to recapture Ramadi

was started in early November 2015.

Ramadis recapture would mark a major reversal for the jihadist group. The jihadists had
seized it in May 2015, in an embarrassing defeat for the army.

However, some reports indicated there are still pockets of resistance in the city and that
the IS militants still controlled parts of the city.

Udavada (Gujarat)
The historic town was associated with the three day-Iranshah Utsav of the
dwindling Parsi community concluded on 27 December 2015.
To Know: The tiny Udavada village in South Gujarat
coast is the most prominent place for Parsi
community where Parsis landed in India in 8thcentury
escaping prosecution in their native Iran. The town is
near Valsad and the countrys first Atash Behram,
which is the holiest and the oldest Parsi temple or agiary in the country.

The Parsis have made considerable contributions to the history and development of
India, all the more remarkable considering their small numbers.

Iranshah Utsav was participation of over 3,000 Parsis from all over the world. The
patriarch of Indias one of the largest conglomerate Tata group, Ratan Tata was

felicitated at the event as an Icon of Success and received a standing ovation from the
audience. Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley addressed the gathering.

It is worth mentioning that the Parsi community is facing a severe problem of dwindling
population. Demographic trends project that by the year 2020 the Parsis will number
only 23,000 (less than 0.002% of the 2001 population of India

Policy
Gas Subsidy restricted from 1 January 2016
To Know: According to this announcement, the LPG subsidy will also not be given if
the consumers spouse has an annual taxable income of more than Rs. 10 lakh.

While it is not known how many LPG customers fall in the highest income bracket, data
from a parliamentary committee shows that in 2011-12, there were 20 lakh taxpayers in
the highest income tax bracket.

According to data available on the Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas website, a total
of Rs. 24,431 crore of subsidy has been transferred to consumers bank accounts till
date.

India - Political
India Political
Lok Sabha emerged Productive than Rajya Sabha.
The Winter Session of the Parliament ended during December 2015 thus bringing an
end to the Parliamentary sessions of year 2015. What important fact emerged from
the conduct of the two houses of Parliament during the year, which happened for the
first time in the parliamentary history of the country?

To Know: According to the data disclosed by

legislative research organization PRS, Lok Sabha
(lower house of parliament) performed better than
the Rajya Sabha (upper house) in the year 2015.
This thus was the first time after 1952, when the first elected government was
formed in India, that the Lok Sabha was more productive than the Rajya Sabha.

This was primarily due to the majority of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the
lower house. With more than 50% members belonging to the ruling BJP in the lower
house 282 out of 543, and 48 BJP members out of 250 in the Rajya Sabha, this trend
is evident.

The budget session was the most productive, and the monsoon session the least.

Health
Liberia - Awaits a countdown for the end of the epidemic.
Guinea was declared free of Ebola on 29 December 2015 after more than 2,500
people died from the virus in this West African country.
To Know: Liberia has lost more than 4,800 people to Ebola, but if all goes well it will
be declared virus-free in January 2016. The country was declared Ebola-free in May
and September 2015, but each time new cases emerged.

On the other hand Ebola killed more than 2,500 people in Guinea and a further 4,000 in
Sierra Leone. The disease has had an enormous social and economic impact on
Guinea. According to the UN, 6,220 Guinean children have lost one or both parents to
Ebola.

Sierra Leone was declared free of Ebola in November 2015.

A country is declared Ebola-free 42 days after the recovery or death of the final patient
and if there are no new infections.

Entertainment
Star Wars: The Force Awakens -Fastest movie to pass the $1 billion mark in global
box office sales.
To Know: The statement released by US production house Disney on 27 December
mentioned that the movie Star Wars: The Force Awakens posted an estimated
$545 million in ticket sales in North America and $546 million internationally just 12
days after it first hit screens.

It thus broke the record of Jurassic World which took 13 days to reach the milestone.

The highly anticipated seventh installment of the blockbuster series has received mostly
glowing reviews, and is being credited with breathing new life into the Hollywood
franchise launched by creator George Lucas in 1977.

James Camerons Avatar is the top-grossing film of all time having grossed nearly $2.8
billion globally.

International Economy
ASEAN Economic Community (AEC)
The ambitious and huge trade bloc launched by the 10 nation Association of
Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
To Know: The US-backed ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) was formally
launched on 31 December primarily to forge a prominent regional bloc to rival China
and Japan. AEC aims to boost economic ties by further lowering tariffs and allowing
a freer flow of labor, services and capital across the 10 member countries of ASEAN.

ASEAN which includes Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar,

the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam, is a fast-expanding region to
a rising middle class, but also to widespread poverty and income inequality.

Economic integration within the region is also at the center of US President

Obamas rebalance of foreign policy toward Asia, in part to address Chinas
increased military and economic assertiveness in the region.

Policy
3rd Phase of TRAIs digitisation drive to get Set Top Boxes (STBs) to avail
uninterrupted TV services ended on 31 December 2015.
To Know: The 3rd Phase of the deadline to get Set Top Boxes
(STBs) for availing uninterrupted TV services ended on 31
December. This phase included municipal corporations and
municipalities. Broadcasting sector regulator Telecom Regulatory
Authority of India (TRAI) asked all cable TV subscribers under the
3rd Phase of digitisation drive to get Set Top Boxes (STBs) to avail uninterrupted TV
services before the deadline of 31 December.

In the 1st phase of the digitization drive STBs were made mandatory in metro
cities while the 2nd Phase included 38 cities.

Foreign Policy
Nuclear Co-operation Agreement with Australia
The Union Cabinets approves Indias Civil Nuclear Cooperation Agreement with
Australia. The agreement which came is force on 13 November 2015 makes it
possible for Australian uranium exports in India to go ahead.

To Know: The agreements coming in force were announced on the sidelines of the
G-20 Summit in Turkey by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Australian
counterpart Malcolm Turnbull, in November 2015.

Currently, India sources uranium from Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Russia. It

has a total requirement of around 1,000 tonne of a year. Australia has around
31% of the worlds uranium reserves.

It also has some of the cheapest reserves. Earlier in the year, India also signed
a contract with Canada for the long-term supply of uranium.

Place
Delhi-Meerut Expressway
Foundation of Indias First 14-lane Expressway was laid by Prime Minister Narendra
Modi on 31 December 2015.
To Know: The ambitious Delhi-Meerut Expressway project, the foundation for which
was laid by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a programme held on 31 December,
aims at easing traffic congestion in the national capital. The project is proposed
under four packages and is expected to cost Rs. 7,500 crore.

The Delhi-Meerut Expressway will be a controlled-access expressway,

connecting Delhi with Meerut via Dasna in Ghaziabad (UP). While the present
stretch of National Highway 24 (NH-24) up to Uttar Pradesh Gate will be
widened to 14 lanes from the present eight, the road between UP Gate and
Dasna will be eight-laned.

This project is expected to ease massive congestion on the 24-km stretch

between Nizamuddin Bridge and Dasna.

Sports
India wins SAFF Cup 2015
India won the 2015 South Asian Football Federation Cup (SAFF Cup) by defeating
defending champions Afghanistan by 2-1 in the finals on 3 January 2016.
To Know: India defeated defending champions Afghanistan by 2-1 in the finals
played on 3 January. Afghanistan went into the lead after Zubayr Amiri scored in the
71st minute. But inform Indian striker Jeje Lalpekhlua equalized in the very next
minute. The game went into extra time and Indian captain Sunil Chhetri gave India
the winning goal by scoring through a free-kick in the 10th minute of extra time. With
this win India also took a sweet revenge of their 2013 final loss to Afghanistan.
The 2015 SAFF Cup title was Indias seventh title of this biennial football title. India
has won the title in 1993, 1997, 1999, 2005, 2009, 2011 and now 2015. It was the
11th edition of the biennial SAFF Championship and was held at Trivandrum
International Stadium, Thiruvananthapuram (Kerala). The 2017 SAFF Cup will be
hosted by Bangladesh.

Sports Cricket
Gujarat won its maiden Vijay Hazare Trophy
To Know: Captain Parthiv Patels polished 105 helped Gujarat
hammer former champions Delhi by 139 runs and capture their
maiden Vijay Hazare Trophy in the final played at the M
Chinnaswamy stadium (Bengaluru) on 28 December 2015.

Patel powered Gujarat to 273 for nine before their medium

pacers R P Singh (4/42) and Jasprit Bumrah (5/28) brought the star-studded Delhi
batting to its knees, dismissing the 2013-13 winners for 134 in 32.3 overs.

Vijay Hazare Trophy is the most prestigious domestic one-day tournament of the
country. It has been named after the famous Indian cricketer Vijay Hazare and was

started in 2002-03 as a limited-overs domestic competition involving state teams from

the Ranji Trophy circuit.

With 4 overall titles, Tamil Nadu is the most successful team in this tournament.

Sports Person
Lallianzuala Chhangte
The youngest ever Indian footballer, to score a goal in an International match.
To Know: 18-year old Lallianzuala Chhangte made his name into
history books as he scored two goals in Indias 4-1 thrashing of
Nepal in the SAFF Cup on 27 December 2015.

He thus went past Baichung Bhutias record as the youngest ever goal-scorer for India.
He incidentally also became the youngest player to represent India.

Sports
Pro Wrestling League (PWL) won by Revanta Mumbai Garuda
To Know: Mumbai Garuda outclassed Haryana Hammers 72 in the finals held in Delhis Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium
on 27 December 2015 to clinch the inaugural Pro Wrestling
League title. Down 1-2, Mumbai Garuda won their next four
bouts on the trot to claim the trophy after the seventh match itself.

PWL is the initiative of of ProSportify owned by Kartikeya Sharma and Wrestling

Federation of India (WFI). The inaugural edition of PWL was held from 10 to 27
December 2015. Six franchisee teams took part in this edition a) Bengaluru Yodhas,
b) Haryana Hammers, c) Mangalayatan University Dilli Veer, d) Punjab Royals, e) Uttar
Pradesh Warriors and f) Revanta Mumbai Garuda.

Nigerian Odunayo Adekuoroye (Revanta Mumbai Garuda) was declared woman

wrestler of the series while Narsingh Yadav of Bengluru Yodhas was adjudged man
wrestler of the series.

Awards
Jnanpith Award 2015 Raghuveer Chaudhari
Raghuveer Chaudhari was selected for conferment of Jnanpith Award for 2015,
considered Indias highest literary award.
To Know: Raghuveer Chaudhari, thus became the
56th writer overall and fourth Gujarati literary artist to
receive the prestigious award. His most noted works
include novels Amruta and Uparvas.

He received the Sahitya Akademi Award (1977) for his novel trilogy Uparvas.

Gujarati writers who have won the award before Chaudhari are poet Umashankar Joshi
(1967), novelist Pannalal Patel (1985) and poet Rajendra Shah (2001).

Jnanpith Award is considered the highest literary award in India. It was instituted in
1961 while first award was given in 1965 to G. Sankara Kurup (Malayalam writer). It is
presented by the Bharatiya Jnanpith, a trust founded by the Sahu Jain family, the
publishers of the newspaper The Times of India.

Human Rights
Migrants in Europe

The refugees and migrants in Europe reached which milestone mark of 1 million as
per UNHCR on 30 December 2015.
To Know: The UNHCR disclosed that more than one million
refugees and migrants have reached Europe by sea since the
start of 2015. The present migrant crisis is Europes worst
since World War Two.

More than 80% of the over 1 million migrants arrived in Greece, with the majority
landing on Lesbos Island.

Highest number of migrants is from Syria, followed by Afghanistan.

It is worth mentioning that on 21 December 2015 the International Organization for

Migration (IOM) said the total number of migrants arriving by both land and sea had
reached more than 1,006,000.

Defence
Barack-8
Latest long-range surface-to-air missile of the Indian Navy that was successfully
tested on 30 December 2015 from onboard INS Kolkata.
To Know: Barack-8 is the latest long-range
surface-to-air missile (LRSAM) that has been
developed by the Indian Navy jointly with
DRDO, Israels Elta Systems, Rafael (France)
and other companies. This test was conducted from onboard INS Kolkata in the
Arabian Sea on 29 and 30 December 2015.

Two Barack-8 missiles were launched on high speed aerial targets on the two days and
the targets were hit successfully. With this successful test the Indian Navy achieved a
significant milestone in enhancing its anti-missile defence capability.

Economy
Indias ranked 130th in World Banks Ease of Doing Business global list.
To Know: India jumped four places from 2014 to occupy 130th place in the list. It was
the steepest rise seen by the country in recent years. The rise in the 2016 ranking
was primarily on account of improvement in two areas ease of starting a business
and securing an electricity connection.

However, India still lags behind Nepal (99) and Sri Lanka (107) with Bhutan (71)
claiming the highest spot in South Asia.

Singapore retained the top spot in the rankings, followed by New Zealand, Denmark
and South Korea. While Chinas ranking improved from 90th to 84th, Pakistan fell 10
positions to 138th from 128th last year.

Person
Adnan Sami
Pakistani artist was granted Indian citizenship with effect from 1 January 2016.
To Know: Renowned Pakistani singer Adnan Sami was
granted Indian citizenship with effect from 1 January
2016 following his request to the Centre to legalise his
status in the country on humanitarian grounds. He thus
became an Indian citizen from this date.

Sami had first arrived in India on 13 March 2001 on a visitors visa.

Pak singer made India his second home for the past few years.

His Pakistani passport issued on 27 May 2010 expired on 26 May 2015 and his
passport was not renewed by the Pakistan government.

He had made a representation to the Home Ministry on 26 May 2015 requesting

his stay in India on humanitarian grounds.

Amitabh Kant
To be the new Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the NITI Aayog by the Union
Government on 29 December 2015.
To Know: Industry Secretary Amitabh Kant was entrusted with the additional
responsibility of CEO of NITI Aayog by the Prime Minister-led Appointments
Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) on 29 December.

He will replace Sindhushree Khullar, whose extended tenure comes to end on 31

December 2015. Amitabh Kant is a Kerala-cadre IAS officer and is expected to retire in
March 2016.

Gen OP Malhotra
Former Chief of Indian Army and former diplomat General O.P. Malhotra passed
away on 29 December 2015. Gen. Malhotra had resigned as Governor of which
state in 1991? Punjab
To Know: General O.P. Malhotra was the 13th Chief of Army Staff
from 1978 to 1981 and was Punjab Governor and Administrator of
Chandigarh from 1990 to 1991. He was Governor of Punjab at a time
when militancy was at its peak in that state. He resigned from his post
in protest when the Assembly elections in Punjab were postponed by the Election
Commission without giving notice.

After the elections were deferred, Gen. Malhotra said he had been through three wars,
but never felt as defeated as he felt after the poll panel deferred the elections.

He also remained Indian Ambassador to Indonesia from 1981 to 1984.

Person
Kargil: Turning the Tide by Lt. Gen Mohinder Puri
Book on first-hand narrative of the operations of 8 Mountain Division, which was
tasked to evict the infiltrators from the Drass-Mushkoh Sector during Operation Vijay
of 1999 was launched on 29 December 2015.
To Know: Lieutenant General Mohinder Puri, who headed the 8
Mountain Division, was responsible for spearheading the Armys
offensive in the Kargil sector which restored the sanctity of the
Line of Control by capturing Tololing, Tiger Hill and Point 4875.

This book by Lt. Gen. Puri provides gripping accounts from the

battle front during the 1999 Kargil war between India and Pakistan. It
captures the emotions and sentiments of a soldier, the apprehensions and fears of the
leaders, and finally the joy and ecstasy of victory.