GK

Power Capsule July` 2014 (The Hindu Review)

ThisGKCapsulehasbeenpreparedbyCareerPowerInstituteDelhi(FormerlyKnownasBankPower).Thishas


1.

beenpreparedonthebasisofnewsandeventsappearedinTheHinduNewspaperinthemonthofJuly2014.

Subhash Sheoratan Mundra took charge as the

fourth Deputy Governor of the Reserve Bank of
India for three years. He was appointed to fill
the vacancy created by the KC Chakrabarty.
Before being appointed as Deputy Governor of
RBI, S S Mundra was the Chairman and
Managing Director of Bank of Baroda.
2. Lt. General Dalbir Singh Suhag took over as Chief
of Army Staff. He succeeded General Bikram
Singh to become the 28th Army Chief.
3. Chief of Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal Arup Raha
took over as the Chairman of the Chief of Staff
Committee (COSC).
4. Amitabh Bachchan was appointed as the
horticulture ambassador of Maharashtra.
5. Veteran BJP leader Kaptan Singh Solanki was
appointed as the Governor of Haryana.
6. The Comptroller & Auditor General of India,
Shashi Kant Sharma assumed office as Member
of the United Nations Board of Auditors for a
term of six year.
7. The Supreme Court appointed R S Cheema as
Special Public Prosecutor for trial in coal blocks
allocation scam.
8. Keshari Nath Tripathi was sworn in as 22nd
Governor of West Bengal.
9. Ram Naik was sworn in as 27th Governor of
Uttar Pradesh in Lucknow.
10. Yellapragada Sudharshan Rao was appointed as
Chairman of Indian Council of Historical
Research (ICHR).
11. B Ashok took charge as Chairman of Indian Oil
Corporation (IOC), the Indias largest oil firm.
12. President of India, Pranab Mukherjee appointed
Balramji Dass Tandon as the Governor of
Chhattisgarh, Om Prakash Kohli as the Governor
of Gujarat, Padmanabha Balakrishna Acharya as
the Governor of Nagaland.

13. Emma Watson, the British Actress was

appointed as the Goodwill Ambassador for UN
Women.

14. Justice Arun Mishra, Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel

and Justice Rohington F Nariman were
appointed as Supreme Court judges.
15. M S Mehta was appointed as Chief Executive
Officer (CEO) of Reliance Infrastructure.
16. External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj visited
Nepal. She cochaired the meeting of the Indo
Nepal Joint Commission. India and Nepal agreed
to review and adjust the Treaty of Peace and
Friendship of 1950 to reflect the current
realities.

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17. The World Bank President Jim Yong Kim arrived
in New Delhi, India on his threeday visit.
18. Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi visited
Brazil to attend the 6th BRICS Summit in
Fortaleza, Brazil form 15 July to 16 July 2014.
BRICS group includes Brazil, Russia, India, China
and South Africa. One of the most important
decision taken was the creation of 100 billion
dollar New Development Bank with equal
contribution from all the BRICS countries.
Besides, the Summit also saw the creation of 100
billion dollar Contingency Reserve Arrangement
(CRA) fund for the BRICS nation. The 7th
Summit will be held in 2015 in Russian city of
Ufa.

19. Deputy National Security Adviser Nehchal
Sandhu resigned.
20. The Prime Minister of Ukraine, Arseniy
Yatsenyuk resigned from his post from
Verkhovna Rada (The Parliament of Ukraine)
after his governing coalition collapsed.
21. Bharat Vir Wanchoo, the Governor of Goa
resigned. He is the fifth Governor to resign in
last one month after M K Narayanan (West
Bengal), B L Joshi (Uttar Pradesh), Shekhar Dutt
(Chhattisgarh) and Ashwani Kumar (Nagaland).
22. MK Narayanan, the Governor of West Bengal
tendered
his
resignation.
Narayanans
resignation came within a week after being
questioned by the CBI as a witness in connection
with its probe into 3600crore rupees VVIP
chopper
from
AngloItalian
firm
AgustaWestland.
23. Dick Wagner, the famous rock guitarist of Alice
Cooper died.
24. Madhukar Singh, an eminent Hindi litterateur
died.
25. Sushilarani Patel, the renowned classical singer
of India died.
26. Veteran Journalist Sundaram Sankaran died.
27. American actor James Garner died.

28. Nadine Gordimer, the South African Nobel Prize

winning author, died.
29. Giriraj Kishore, the senior Vishwa Hindu
Parishad (VHP) leader died.
30. Veteran actress, Zohra Sehgal died.
31. Eduard Shevardnadze, the former President of
Georgia died.
32. Alfredo Di Stefano, the legend of Real Madrid
Football Club, died.
33. Granville Austin, the eminent scholar of the
Indian Constitution died.
34. Former Haitian president Leslie Francois
Manigat died.
35. Supreme Court allowed Sahara Chief Subrata
Roy to use the conference room of Tihar jail to
negotiate the sale his offshore and domestic
properties with prospective buyers.
36. Nicolas Sarkozy, the former President of France
was charged with corruption and influence
peddling.
37. Sujit Choudhry became the first Indian
American dean of the Berkeley Law School,
University of California.
38. The United States named a mountain in
Antarctica as Mt. Sinha to honour an eminent
IndianAmerican scientist, Akhouri Sinha.
39. Business 20 (B20) Australia Summit was held in
Sydney, Australia. At the Summit, the business
leaders of G20 countries issued a blueprint for
G20 leaders to boost economic and job growth
and make global economy more resilient to deal
with future shocks.
40. 7th IndiaBrazilSouth Africa (IBSA) summit will
be held in New Delhi, India in 2015. Apart from
this, it was also agreed to hold India Africa
Forum meet in New Delhi in December 2014.
41. President of Sierra Leone Ernest Bai Koroma
declared a public health emergency in Sierra
Leone to curb the deadly Ebola outbreak. The
outbreak is now the largest recorded in world
history, and has infected three African capitals of
Monrovia (Liberia), Freetown (Sierra Leone)
and Conakry (Guinea) with international
airports.
42. The United Nation launched the 2014 revision of
the World Urbanisation Prospects report. The

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report said that at present, 54 percent of the

world's population lives in urban areas, which
will have an additional 2.5 billion people in
urban areas by 2050. Tokyo was ranked at first
position as populous cities in 2014 with 38
million inhabitants. Delhi with 25 million
population was ranked at 2nd position. Shanghai
with 23 million was placed at the at the third
position . Mexico City, Mumbai and Sao Paulo,
each with around 21 million inhabitants in 2014
were ranked at fourth position.
India State of Forest Report (ISFR) 2013 was
released. The report said that total forest and
tree cover of the country is 87.92 million
hectare, which turns up to be 24.01 percent of
the geographical area of India. States with
maximum increase in forest cover are West
Bengal, Odisha, Kerala. States with Largest forest
cover are Madhya Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh.
Mizoram in terms of percentage 90.38 percent
had highest forest cover.
Heavy downpour caused landslide in Malin
Village of Ambegaon Taluka killing 41 peoples.
The village is some 70 kilometers from Pune.
7th BRICS Summit will be held in Russian city of
Ufa in 2015..
46 Indian Nurses and 137 others came to
India from Erbil in Kurdistan, Iraq. At present
Iraq is under the attack of ISIL (Islamic State of
Iraq and the Levant) jihadist militants. They
abducted the nurses against their will from a
hospital in the militantcontrolled city of Tikrit
in Iraq.
The World on 29 July 2014 observed the
International Tiger Day.
World Hepatitis Day was observed across the
world on 28 July 2014.
The 15th anniversary of Kargil Vijay Diwas was
celebrated in India on 26 July 2014. The day is
celebrated in the honour of war heroes of Kargil
every year.
World Population Day was observed across the
world on 11 July 2014. The theme of World
Population Day 2014 was Investing in Young
People.

51. India on 1 July 2014 observed the National

Doctors Day. The day is observed to honour
legendary physician, Dr Bidhan Chandra Roy
whose birth and death anniversary falls on the
same day.

52. Indian Air Force received its sixth C17
Globemaster III aircraft.
53. India's first indigenous antisubmarine warship
(ASW) Indian Naval Ship (INS) Kamorta was
handed over to the Indian Navy.
54. Indian Naval Ship (INS) Kuthar Warship was
damaged in a mishap.
55. India successfully testfired an advanced version
of the 290km range BrahMos supersonic cruise
missile from ChandipuronSea off Odisha coast.
56. Union government decided to appoint Suresh
Prabhu Committee to review the gas pricing
formula. The Union Cabinet on 25 June 2014 had
deferred the implementation of the C
Rangarajan Committee's pricing formula till 30
September
2014
for
conducting
a
comprehensive review of the whole issue.
57. The Union Civil Aviation Ministry on 7 July 2014
constituted an InterMinisterial Group (IMG) to
examine the maximum potential of the GPS
Aided Augmented Navigation (GAGAN) system.
The IMG will be headed by Ashok Lavasa.
58. One Life is Not Enough: An Autobiography
written by Kunwar Natwar Singh was published
on 1 August 2014.
59. The Lives of Others authored by Neel Mukherjee
was shortlisted for Man Booker Prize 2014. Neel
Mukherjee is a Kolkataborn British Indian
writer.
60. The Vijay Mallya Story written by K Giriprakash
was published by Penguin Books Limited in
2014.
61. A coffeetable book titled First Citizen: Pranab
Mukherjee in Rashtrapati Bhavan was released
on 2 July 2014 at a function in Rashtrapati
Bhavan, New Delhi. The books first copy was

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received by Pranab Mukherjee, the President of

India.
Muzaffar Ali, a noted filmmaker of India was
selected for Rajiv Gandhi National Sadbhavana
Award.
The Indian Contingent won five medals in 45th
International Physics Olympiad held in Astana,
Kazakhstan. India won 2 gold medals and 3
silver medals in the Olympiad.
Environmentalist and social activist Chandi
Prasad Bhatt was awarded with the prestigious
Gandhi Peace prize for 2013.
Four Indiaborn Americans were honoured on
the eve of US Independence Day. The Indian
Americans honoured were Microsoft Corp chief
executive Satya Nadella, Comedian and actor
Aasif Mandvi, Carnegie Mellon University
president Subra Suresh and former president of
the University of West Georgia, Beheruz Sethna.
Shah Rukh Khan was conferred with top French
civilian award Knight of the Legion of Honor.
Shahrukh Khan is the second Bollywood actor
after Amitabh Bachchan to be honoured with
Knight of the Legion of Honour.
Malala Yousafzai, the young Pakistani education
advocate won the 2014 Liberty Medal given by
the National Constitution Centre in Philadelphia
in Pennsylvania.
The classical music reality show of
Doordarshan Naad BhedThe Mystery of
Sound will be featured in Limca Book of Records.
The reality show will be featured under
Television Chapter in Limca Book of Records for
being the first ever National level reality show
on Classical Music.
The third edition of Ladakh International Film
Festival (LIFF) was held in Leh, Jammu and
Kashmir.
The annual Lord Jagannath Rath Yatra (Chariot
Festival) began on 29 June 2014 at Puri of
Odisha.
Air Algerie plane Boeing MD83 went missing
over Gao in Mali in Africa on 24 July 2014.
Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 plane, MH17, was
shot down over wartorn eastern Ukraine near
the Russian border on 17 July 2014. MH17 was

flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur

carrying 283 passengers and 15 crew members.
The plane might have been shot down by the
terrorists by Buk surfacetoair missile system.
73. Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi
launched a web platform MyGov.nic.in. The
platform has been created to facilitate Citizen
Engagement in Good Governance.

74. The Union Ministry of Women and Child

Development launched a Logo Design
Competition for the Beti Bachao Beti Padhao
Campaign.
75. President Pranab Mukherjee on 1 July 2014
joined Twitter with the handle
@RashtrapatiBhvn. He is the first serving
president of India to join Twitter.
76. First Aid Post was launched at Shastri Bhawan in
New Delhi. The post was launched to expand the
network of health care to its beneficiaries.
77. The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has
imposed Rs.1 crore penalty on three entities,
including Thomas Cook and Sterling Holiday
Resorts, for carrying out certain market
purchases related to their deal before seeking
the fair trade watchdogs approval.
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78. China has invited India to participate in the
Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank.
79. Indias Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle C23
successfully put five foreign satellites into orbit
in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra
Modi at the Indian Space Research
Organisations spaceport in Sriharikota. ISRO
launched the 714kg French earth observation
satellite SPOT7, the 14kg German AISAT, the
two 15kg Canadian NLS7.1 (CANX4) and
NLS7.2 (CANX5) and the 7kg Singapore
VELOX1. Prime Minister Narendra Modi asked
Indias space community to take up the
challenge of developing a Saarc satellite which
can be dedicated to our neighbourhood, as a gift
from India.
80. China has for the first time formally agreed to
allow Indian hydrological experts to conduct
study tours in Tibet to monitor the flows on the
upper reaches of the Brahmaputra, according to
a new agreement signed during the visit of Vice
President Hamid Ansari. The MoU on the
Brahmaputra was among three agreements
signed as VicePresident Hamid Ansari held talks
with his counterpart Li Yuanchao. Both
countries have also formalised a framework for
setting up Chinadedicated infrastructure parks
in India and for the firstever training exchange
programme for officials of both countries,
between the Lal Bahadur Shastri National
Academy of Administration (LBSNAA),
Mussoorie, and the China Executive Leadership
Academy (CELAP) in Shanghai.
81. The Nanavati Commission of Inquiry probing the
2002 postGodhra riots received a twomonth
extension beyond its expiry date.
82. Kaafiron ki Namaaz , a movie by debutant
director Ram Ramesh Sharma and producer
Bhargav Saikai won four awards, including one
for the best feature film at the third Ladakh
International Film Festival.
83. Indias ruling Bharatiya Janata Party was
included in a topsecret list of six nonU.S.
political parties worldwide that the U.S. National
Security Agency received official permission to
covertly spy upon, according to the latest trove

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of data released to the media by Edward

Snowden, former NSA contractorturned fugitive
whistleblower.
The Rajasthan government declared the camel
as the State animal.
In a rare honour, the U.S. has named a mountain
in Antarctica after eminent IndianAmerican
scientist Akhouri A. Sinha, whose pioneering
biological research expedition provided vital
data about animal populations.
The National Democratic Alliance government
has appointed the former Cabinet Minister,
Suresh Prabhu, as the head of a highlevel panel
on power revamp Advisory Group for
Integrated Development of Power, Coal and
Renewable Energy.
The European Court of Human Rights upheld
Frances controversial burqa ban.
WalMart India launched its online platform for
members of Best Price Modern Wholesale stores
in Hyderabad and Lucknow.
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs
(CCEA) approved the inclusion of onion and
potato under the purview of stock holding limits
under the Essential Commodities Act, 1955.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is the third most
followed world leader on Twitter, next only to
U.S. President Barack Obama and the Pope. Mr.
Modi, who overtook Indonesian President S.B.
Yudhoyono.
More than a year after actor Jiah Khan was found
hanging at her residence in the city, the Bombay
High Court transferred the case to the Central
Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
The government reappointed Harun Rashid
Khan as the Deputy Governor of the Reserve
Bank of India, for a further period of two years
with effect from July 4.
The Enforcement Directorate has registered a
money laundering case against retired Air Chief
Marshal S.P. Tyagi in connection with the alleged
payment of over 21.4 million by Agusta
Westland.
Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan wrote to
Chief Ministers of all States (except Rajasthan)
and Lt. Governors and Administrators of Union

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Territories to consider levying a VAT of at least
50 per cent on all tobacco products, including
bidis.
95. Universal Sompo General Insurance Company
has entered into a tie with Dena Bank to offer
loan secure insurance policy to the banks retail
and SME (small and medium enterprise)
customers. Universal Sompo is a joint venture
between Allahabad Bank, Indian Overseas Bank,
Karnataka Bank, Dabur Investments and Sompo
Japan Insurance Inc.
96. Parliamentary Affairs Minister M. Venkaiah
Naidu said the issue of granting Leader of the
Opposition (LoP) status to the Congress was
before the Lok Sabha Speaker.
97. The Supreme Court held that fatwas issued by
Muslim shariat courts (DarulQazas) do not
have legal sanctity and cannot be enforced if
they infringed on the fundamental rights of an
individual.
98. NASA has fitted a 17tonne telescope with an
effective diameter of eight feet on a modified
Boeing 747 jetliner that the U.S. space agency is
using as a flying observatory to study stars.
99. The government plans to increase the foreign
direct investment in the insurance sector to 49
per cent with a rider that the voting rights of the
overseas partner will remain capped at 26 per
cent.
100. Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI)
has notified that the minimum broadband speed
has been raised to 512 kilo bytes per second
(kbps) from the earlier 256 kbps.
101. The RBI Governor has conveyed his approval to
the Andhra Pradesh Governments request for
rescheduling of crop loans.
102. Railways made it clear that it would continue
with the fuel adjustment component (FAC) to
revise passenger fares every six months.
103. A statue of Mahatma Gandhi would be installed
in Parliament Square in London by early next
year.
104. The muchawaited verdict on the dispute
regarding the delimitation of the maritime
boundary between India and Bangladesh was
delivered, with a United Nations tribunal

awarding Bangladesh 19,467 sq. km of the

25,602 sq. km sea area of the Bay of Bengal.
105. People can now book a coach or even a train on
the Internet as part of Railways efforts to
expand the scope of online booking.
106. According to a recent report of the National
Crime Records Bureau Maharashtra recorded
highest number of suicides in 2013.
107. Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley tabled the
Economic Survey 201314 in Parliament. It
projects that the GDP growth this fiscal year will
be in the range of 5.4 to 5.9 per cent.

108. Amit Shah was named the next BJP president.
109. Maharashtra Governor K. Sankaranarayan
approved the ordinance granting reservation to
Maratha and Muslim communities in
Maharashtra. Marathas will get a 16 per cent
quota and Muslims five per cent in government
jobs and educational institutions.
110. Senior Advocate Pinky Anand has been
appointed Additional SolicitorGeneral.
111. The Securities and Exchange Board of India
imposed a fine of Rs.1.03 crore on Apollo Tyres
for allegedly failing to comply with buyback
regulations.
112. Top U.S. diplomat Bill Burns met Prime Minister
Narendra Modi to deliver U.S. President Obamas
invitation for him to visit Washington at the end
of September, when he attends the U.N. General
Assembly.
113. Germany expelled the U.S. intelligence station
chief in Berlin over alleged spying by
Washington.
114. Intensifying its offensive, Israeli jets hit more
than 780 targets in the Hamasruled Gaza Strip.
115. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley proposed hiking
the foreign direct investment limit in insurance
and defence sectors to 49 per cent.
116. Indian engineers are toiling in the Himalayas to
build the worlds tallest railway bridge which is
expected to be 35 metres taller than the Eiffel
Tower when completed by 2016. The arch
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shaped steel structure is being constructed over
the Chenab River to link sections of the
spectacular mountainous region of India's
northern Jammu and Kashmir state. The bridge
is expected to be 359 metres high when
completed surpassing the worlds current
tallest railway bridge over the Beipanjiang River
in China's Guizhou province, which stands at
275 metres high.

117. If all goes well, a U.S. couple may become the
first humans to travel to Mars by as early as
2021. Founders of an Arizonabased private
space company called Paragon Space
Development Corporation, Taber MacCallum and
his wife Jane Poynter are planning a roundtrip
flyby of the Red planet for themselves.
118. Air India formally became a member of Star
Alliance, a conglomeration of 26 overseas
airlines.
119. India and Sri Lanka reiterated their commitment
to finding a longterm solution to the issue of
Indian fishermen running into trouble with the
Sri Lankan authorities in the Indian Ocean. The
issue figured prominently in discussions
between External Affairs Minister Sushma
Swaraj and her Sri Lankan counterpart, G.L.
Peiris, who concluded his threeday visit to
India.
120. Delhi is now the worlds second most populous
city with 25 million inhabitants. Tokyo remains
the worlds largest city with 38 million
inhabitants. Among the other most populous
cities, Mumbai is in the top six with a population
of 21 million.
121. Election Commission has asked senior Congress
parliamentarian and the former Maharashtra
Chief Minister Ashok Chavan, to explain why he
should not be disqualified under Section 10A of
the Representation of the People Act in a case
pertaining to paid news.
122. The government has imposed an additional
penalty of $579 million (Rs. 3,475 crore) on

Reliance Industries for producing less than the

targeted natural gas from its KGD6 block in
201314.
123. Chinas President Xi Jinping invited Prime
Minister Narendra Modi to visit China in
November. Mr. Xi said he was looking forward to
his September visit to India, and also welcomed
Mr. Modi to visit China in November when
Beijing will host the APEC leaders meeting.
124. The Securities and Exchange Board of India
(SEBI) barred erstwhile Satyam Computer
Services chairman B. Ramalinga Raju and its
former top officials from accessing the securities
market for 14 years, with immediate effect.
125. A World Trade Organisation (WTO) Dispute
Panel has ruled that the imposition of
Countervailing Duty (CVD) by the United States
Department of Commerce (US DOC) on Indias
exports of hotrolled carbon steel flat products is
inconsistent with the law on subsidies.
126. India and Russia have commenced naval
manoeuvres in the Sea of Japan.
127. A fivejudge Constitution Bench of the Supreme
Court will take up for consideration a petition
seeking to allow a person suffering from chronic
terminal diseases and likely to go into a
permanent vegetative state to refuse treatment
and pave the way for their death.
128. Former U.S. President Bill Clinton arrived in
Jaipur on a threeday tour of India which will
take him to Lucknow as well.
129. Global AIDSrelated deaths and new HIV
infections have fallen by over a third in a decade,
raising hopes of beating the killer disease by
2030, the United Nations has said.
130. The government cleared 19 foreign direct
investment (FDI) proposals worth Rs.2,326.72
crore. The proposals include those from Walt
Disney Company and Reckitt Benckiser India.
131. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during his brief
stopover in Frankfurt on his way back from
Brazil, called up German Chancellor Angela
Merkel and extended greetings on her 60th
birthday, congratulated Germany for the World
Cup win and exchanged invitations for a
bilateral summit next year.

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132. India will host the 7th IBSA (IndiaBrazilSouth
Africa) summit in 2015.

133. RBI has set a minimum paidup capital of Rs.100
crore for those who wish to set up payments and
small banks. RBI has said that the promoters will
have to have an initial minimum capital of at
least 40 per cent. According to the draft
guidelines, existing authorised nonbank pre
paid instrument issuers (PPIs), nonbanking
finance companies (NBFCs), corporate BCs
(business correspondents), mobile telephone
companies, super market chains, companies, real
sector cooperatives and public sector entities
are eligible for setting up a payments bank. The
guidelines allow even banks to take equity
position in a payments bank as permitted under
the Banking Regulation Act, 1949. The activities
of a payments bank will be restricted to
acceptance of demand deposits, and provision of
payments and remittances services. A payments
bank, says the RBI, will further the cause of
financial inclusion by providing small savings
accounts and payments and remittance services
to migrant labour workforce, lowincome
households, small businesses and other

unorganised entities. The idea is to facilitate

high volume and low value transactions in a
secure and technologydriven environment. A
payments bank cannot set up subsidiaries to
undertake nonbanking financial activities. The
payments bank, however, has to comply with the
SLR (statutory liquidity ratio) and CRR (cash
reserve ratio) requirements. The Payments Bank
shall be required to maintain a minimum capital
adequacy ratio of 15 per cent of its risk weighted
assets (RWA) on a continuous basis. The RBI has
made it clear that a payments bank should
ensure widespread network of access points
particularly to remote areas, either through
their own branch network or BCs or through
network provided by others.
134. Small
bank
eligibility

Resident
individuals/professionals with ten years of
experience in banking and finance, companies
and societies are eligible to set up small banks.
Existing nonbanking finance companies, micro
finance institutions, and local area banks can
also convert themselves into small banks after
complying with the requisite legal and
regulatory requirements. The area of operations
of the small bank will be restricted to contiguous
districts in a homogenous cluster of
States/Union Territories so that the bank has
the local feel and culture. However, if
considered necessary, the bank will be allowed
to expand its area of operations beyond
contiguous districts in one or more States with
reasonable geographical proximity. Its branch
expansion plan for the initial three years will
need prior approval of RBI after which, based on
experience, the RBI may consider relaxing this
condition, the guidelines say. The small bank
shall primarily undertake basic banking
activities of acceptance of deposits and lending
to small farmers, small businesses, micro and
small industries and unorganised sector
entities, say the guidelines. A small bank also
cannot set up subsidiaries to undertake non
banking financial services activities, and its
promoters have to ringfence their like activities.
A small bank has to comply with the CRR and

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SLR requirements. The Payments Bank shall be
required to maintain a minimum capital
adequacy ratio of 15 per cent of its risk weighted
assets (RWA) on a continuous basis. And RBI has
fixed an upper limit for loan/investment
exposure to an individual or group at 15 per
cent of its capital funds. Also, a small bank has to
comply with the priority sector lending targets.
135. A bill to remove legal hurdles in the
appointment of former TRAI chief Nripendra
Misra as Principal Secretary to the Prime
Minister has now become an Act with President
Pranab Mukherjee giving his assent.
136. The Narendra Modi Government is unlikely to
rescind the foreign direct investment (FDI)
policy for multibrand retail that the Congress
led United Progressive Alliance government had
notified.
137. Railways has cleared decks for the upgradation
of five stations through commercial
development. The five stations are Chandigarh,
Anand Vihar, Bijwasan (both at Delhi),
Habibganj (Bhopal) and Shivaji Nagar (Pune).
The Railways had formed the Indian Railway
Stations Development Corporation (IRSDC) to
modernise and upgrade passenger amenities at
stations by raising finances through commercial
development of Railway land and air space at
these stations.

138. Manilabased Asian Development Bank has
upgraded Indias economic growth forecast to
6.3 per cent in 201516 on hopes of speedy
reform process.
139. Forex reserves rose to $317.036 billion in the
week to July 11, due to rise in currency assets.
140. The Indian government is planning to open up a
first ever Yoga resource centre in China.
141. International pop star Shakira is officially the
most popular person on Facebook with over a
100 million likes, the most for any public figure.
142. The Defence Ministry has cleared projects worth
Rs. 21,000 crore, including replacement of 56
Avro transport planes, demonstrating the
governments intent to fasttrack military

acquisitions with an eye on promoting private

sector investment in the Defence sector.
143. Close on the heels of the recently concluded
$400billion mega gas pipeline deal between
Russia and China, Moscow wants to work on a
pipeline to India through the Himalayas that
could become the biggestever energy project in
history, Russian Ambassador Alexander
Kadakin told.

144. The Pakistan government has decided to release
57 Indian fishing boats as a goodwill gesture
after the release of 150 Indian fishermen in May.
145. The recent decision of the Genetic Engineering
Appraisal Committee (GEAC) to allow field trials
of GM rice, mustard, cotton, chickpea and brinjal
has been met with strong opposition from
farmers groups and environmental activists.
146. The United Nations Security Council
unanimously passed a resolution calling for
international investigators to have unfettered
access to the crash site of Malaysian Airlines
Flight 17 in Ukraine.
147. The Civil Aviation Ministry has issued No
Objection Certificates (NOCs) to six entities
whose applications to start airlines in India were
pending for long. These six Air One, Premier
Air, Zexus Air (all national), Turbo Megha, Air
Carnival and Zav Airways (all regional) are in
addition to the TataSingapore Airlines joint
venture that is likely to start operations by this
yearend. At present, India has eight airlines
Air India, Jet Airways, Jet Lite, IndiGo, SpiceJet,
Go Air, Air Costa and AirAsia India.
148. India, the United States and Japan are embarking
on joint naval manoeuvres in the Pacific Ocean
as part of the Malabar series of exercises.
149. The proposed IndiaPakistan pipeline, through
which India plans to supply natural gas to
Pakistan, may be completed within a year. The
pipeline, being put in place by the Gas Authority
of India Ltd. The pipeline will start at Dahej in
Gujarat, pass through Vijaipur in Madhya

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Pradesh, Dadri in Uttar Pradesh, Bawana in
Delhi before reaching Nangal in Punjab.
150. The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs has
approved of new powers for the SEBI to crack
down on Ponzi schemes and illegal deposit
schemes such as chit funds.
151. The Union Human Resource Development
Ministry has advised all States and Union
Territories (UTs), barring Jammu and Kashmir,
to take appropriate action for the inclusion of
third gender children among socially and
educationally backward classes for admission in
educational institutions under the Sarva Shiksha
Abhiyan.

152. According to the 2014 UNDP Human
Development Report with an HDI value of 0.586
out of a maximum possible 1, India is 135th out
of 187 countries.
153. Kurdish politician Fuad Masum became the new
President of Iraq in a step towards forming a
new government.
154. The Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) and the
Reserve Bank of India (RBI) signed an
agreement, enabling the RBI to access the Sri
Lankan government securities market, up to a
maximum value of $500 million.
155. Despite Indias objections to the UN observer
mission at the Line of Control UNMOGIP,
visiting UN peacekeeping chief Herv Ladsous
made it clear that the mission would remain in
India until the UN Security Council removes its
mandate, established in 1948 after the first war
over Kashmir.
156. The Reserve Bank of India imposed a monetary
penalty on 12 banks for violating central bank
rules in the case of Deccan Chronicle Holdings.
The central bank has imposed a penalty of Rs.40
lakh on ICICI Bank and Rs.15 lakh each on Axis
Bank and IDBI Bank.
157. The Central Bureau of Investigation has
instituted a preliminary enquiry (PE) against
Google for purported violations committed

while organising Mapathon 2013, a nationwide

competition during which securitysensitive
installations were allegedly mapped without
prior permission.
158. Anil Ambani Group firm Reliance Power said it
had signed an initial agreement to acquire all the
three hydroelectric power plants of Jaiprakash
Associates Ltd.
159. Minister for Women and Child Development
Maneka Gandhi has announced that Nirbhaya
Centres or OneStop Crisis Centres (OSCC) will
be set up in all districts. Each will have
paramedical staff, ambulance service, a retired
police officer to help lodge the FIR, counsellors,
lawyers, shortstay shelter with food and
clothing, and video conferencing facility.
160. The CBI arrested ChairmancumManaging
Director of Sydicate Bank, S K Jain and five
others for allegedly taking bribe of Rs 50 lakh for
enhancement of credit limit to some companies
bypassing rules and regulations.
161. NDA government has mooted a proposal to
merge two financial institutions aimed at
women's empowerment. Set up in the final
months of the Congressled UPA government,
the Bharatiya Mahila Bank (BMB) with an initial
corpus of Rs 1,000 crores, and the Rashtriya
Mahila Kosh (RMK), which was established way
back in 1993 to provide microloans to women,
may be merged, the Minister for Women and
Child Development Maneka Gandhi said.
162. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) relaxed the
limit of loan that banks can sanction against the
pledging of gold ornaments and jewellery. On
December 30, banks had restricted the loans of
up to Rs 1 lakh against pledge of gold ornaments
and jewellery.
163. RBI has started scrutinising credentials of
companies suspected of illegally raising money
from public as NBFCs.
164. The Reserve Bank has allowed raising foreign
investment limit under portfolio investment in
private sector Kotak Mahindra Bank to 40 per
cent.
165. Infrastructure bonds issued by banks will have a
minimum maturity period of seven years and

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will not be considered part of the their net
demand and time liabilities (NDTL), RBI said.
RBI also gave affordable housing an
infrastructure status and laid down guidelines
for issuance of longterm bonds by banks for
financing infrastructure project loans and
affordable housing and exempted such bonds
from regulatory rules such as cash reserve ratio
(CRR), statuary liquidity ratio and priority sector
lending.
166. The government will retain a majority holding in
the public sector banks (PSBs), but will allow
them to raise money by selling shares to small
investors. The PSBs need a capital infusion of
R2.4 lakh crore by 2018 to meet the BaselIII
requirements.
167. The European Banking Authority (EBA) said it
had identified more than 70 risks related to
trading in virtual currencies, including their
vulnerability to crime and money laundering.
Virtual currencies, most famously Bitcoin, have
come under increasing scrutiny by financial
regulators as their popularity has grown.
Launched in 2009 by a mysterious computer
guru, Bitcoin is a form of cryptographybased e
money that offers a largely anonymous payment
system and can be stored either virtually or on a
user's hard drive.
168. State Bank of India has launched six digital
branches across the country, as part of a
pioneering program to offer next generation
banking solutions to India's growing mobile
phone and internetsavvy customer base. Its
new branches, branded as sbiINTOUCH, are
equipped with interactive wall and table
displays. The branches are located in major
metropolitan areas across India, including
Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru, Chennai and
Ahmedabad.
169. The RBI has said India and the US have agreed to
implement a foreign tax compliance act
(FATCA)and asked banks and financial
institutions to register by this yearend to report
accounts and assets held by US citizens.
170. Switzerland have come across a significant
quantum of fake Indian rupee notes in their

country the third highest for any foreign

currency after Euro and the US dollar.
171. In a move that may discourage firms from
defaulting on bank loans, the Supreme Court has
allowed lenders to publish names and
photographs of wilful defaulters in newspapers
in the larger public interest.
172. ICICI Bank in association with Delhi Metro Rail
Corporation (DMRC) launched cobranded card
with host of benefits for metro riders. Unifare
Card combines the benefits of a debit/credit
card along with a Delhi Metro Smart Card and
has the added facility of auto topup of fare
balance.

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