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EXAM BANK EXAM CAPSULE AUGUST 2013 VOL:-2

51. Government said the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) has issued more than 40.29 crore Aadhaar numbers till date and the body will achieve the target 60 crore enrollments by 2014.

52. Wholesale Price Index hiked to 5.79% in July.

53. Retail inflation marginally declined to 9.64% in July.

54. The e-filing of income tax returns has crossed the one crore mark with the maximum of such filings done by the salaried class of taxpayers.

55. The government proposes to develop seven large industrial hubs on the entire stretch of the proposed 2,000-km Amritsar-Kolkata industrial corridor project.

56. The Cabinet cleared the formation of an independent rail tariff authority paving the way for de-politicisation of fare determination by the national transporter.

57. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will soon issue Rs 5 coins to commemorate the 150th birth anniversary of Swami Vivekananda. Central bank will soon issue Rs 10 coins to commemorate the occasion of silver jubilee of Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board.

58. The Reserve Bank of India announced it will launch inflation-linked bonds every month, starting June 4, to attract household savings of up to Rs 15,000 crore this fiscal so as to discourage investments in gold.

59. Private sector lender Axis Bank requested the foreign investment promotion board (FIPB) to increase the limit of foreign shareholding in the bank from the current 49%.

60. The World Bank has signed an agreement with the Indian government to provide a USD 100 million loan to help low-income families secure housing loans.

61. IRDA has allowed banks to act as brokers and sell products of more than one insurer so as to increase the penetration of the sector across the country. There is no capital requirement for insurance broking business carried out by banks.

62. Ratnakar Bank has bought parts of the Indian retail business of Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), subject to regulatory approvals, the Indian bank said.

63. RBI has transferred Rs 33,010 crore as surplus profit to the government for the year ended June 2013. This is more than a 100% jump over Rs 16,010 crore that the RBI transferred in the previous year.

64. India’s second aircraft carrier, the 45,000-tonne INS Vikramaditya — a retrofitted Russian carrier formerly named Admiral Gorshkov — has successfully completed sea trial of achieving top speed of 32 knots. Navy is likely to receive it by this year-end.

65. Jet Airways won a conditional nod to sell 24% stake to Etihad Airways for Rs. 2,058-crore after the Abu Dhabi-based carrier made significant concessions, diluting its control.

66. Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia admitted that the method of tabulating the number of poor is “abstract” and said it is being reworked. According to current figures based on Suresh Tendulkar Committee report, poverty declined to 21.9% in 2011-12 from 37.2% in 2004-05.

67. The Supreme Court issued notice to the Centre, Petroleum Minister M. Veerappa Moily and Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) on a public interest litigation petition challenging the government’s decision to double the price to $8.4 per million British thermal unit (mmBtu) for gas produced from the KG basin.

68. Nagaland Governor D. Ashwani Kumar took additional charge of Manipur.

69. In a blow to Formula One enthusiasts in India, the 2014 Indian Grand Prix was dropped. Jaypee Sports International Ltd. said the extravaganza would come back to the country in March 2015.

70. India will restore the supply of subsidised gas to Bhutan from August 1, a month after it was halted.

71. Senior IPS officer Sharad Kumar was appointed the new chief of the National Investigation Agency.

72. Government raised the rate of interest subsidy for exporters to 3%, and promised to clear pending claims expeditiously.

73. The Union Cabinet has approved draft amendments to the Right to Information Act that would nullify an order of the Central Information Commission bringing the six national political parties under the orbit of the Act.

74. U.S. whistleblower Edward Snowden has been granted asylum in Russia.

75. A major crisis erupted at National Spot Exchange Ltd. (NSEL) after it suspended most trades on its platform, prompting the government to order an enquiry by commodity regulator Forward Market Commission (FMC) even as the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) began a separate probe amid a crash in shares of the two listed group companies.

76. The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs approved the proposal for sale of 10% government stake in Indian Oil Corporation (IOC).

77. The Centre rejected in the Supreme Court the CBI’s demand for complete autonomy.

78. The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs approved the “dilution” of certain safeguards, including relaxing the 30% sourcing norm and dropping the mandatory 50% condition for backend infrastructure investment, which were approved by Parliament while allowing 49% foreign direct investment (FDI) in multibrand retail announced last year. The Cabinet also approved increasing the number of cities to be covered under the MBRT policy by amending the clause of permitting cities or States with less than 10 lakh population to open front end stores with the permission of the States or Union Territories.

79. China’s tallest building — the 632-metre Shanghai Tower is set to become the world’s second tallest, surpassed only by the 830-metre Burj Khalifa in Dubai.

80. IAS officer Durga Shakti Nagpal Sub-Divisional Magistrate (Sadar) in Gautam Budh Nagar district was suspended on July 27 on charges of ordering the demolition of the wall of an under-construction mosque at Kadalpur village.

81. Russia and China flagged off their regular anti-terrorist war games “Peace Mission 2013” in Russia’s Urals region seen by experts as preparations for a local military conflict in Central Asia.

82. The 4,411-metre-high Daocheng Yading airport, being built in Garze, a predominantly Tibetan area of China’s southwestern Sichuan province, will become the world’s highest civilian airport when put into operation later this year.

83. The National Green Tribunal ordered a nationwide stay on sand mining on river beds without Environment Ministry clearance.

84. The World Bank and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) agreed to provide $ 400 million for
reconstruction and rehabilitation in the disaster-hit areas in Uttarakhand.

85. Chief Economic Adviser Raghuram Govind Rajan was appointed as Governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for three years. He will take over from D. Subbarao who demits office on September 4.

86. The National Spot Exchange Limited (NSEL) has suspended trading of contracts in e-series with effect from August 6, 2013, till further notice.

87. Antony Committee will decide to carve out Telangana State from Andhra Pradesh. The Committee’s other members are – Digvijay Singh, Veerappa Moily and Ahmed Patel.

88. The Sub-Committee of the Financial Stability and Development Council (FSDC) decided to set up a forum for inter-agency coordination and exchange of information about collective investment schemes (CIS) and discussed the need for a nationwide awareness campaign in this respect.

89. The Reserve Bank of India has imposed a penalty of Rs.5,62,555 on State Bank of India for violating the norms for opening and maintaining currency chests. The penalty has been levied in connection with the deficiencies / lapses observed in the operation and maintenance of the currency chest at SBI, Secunderabad branch.

90. The government said it had issued a notification giving more teeth to regulator Forward Markets Commission (FMC) to ensure that the NSEL settled Rs.5,600 crore in dues to investors. NSEL is facing the problem of settlement after it suspended trade in one-day forward contracts on July 31 following the government direction.

91. Doctors of several hospitals, including AIIMS, protested against the government’s decision to make one year rural posting compulsory for medicos applying for post-graduation entrance exams.

92. Finance Minister P. Chidambaram exhorted service tax defaulters to take advantage of the voluntary compliance encouragement scheme (VCES) and come clean on their tax dues with “no penalty, no interest” or else, face punishment.

93. Reserve Bank of India Governor-designate Raghuram Rajan will work as Officer on Special Duty (OSD) in the central bank for three weeks before taking over as head of the institution.

94. The Securities and Exchange Board of India notified buyback norms under which it would be mandatory for companies to repurchase at least 50% of their offers. The companies will now have to complete their buyback offers within six months, from 12 months now. Those not able to meet the target will be barred from launching another offer for a period of one year.

95. Environmental activists in Gujarat are protesting against the proposed Rs. 6,000-crore Mithi Virdi nuclear power plant in Saurashtra region’s Bhavnagar district.

96. Finance Ministry has agreed to provide a cash subsidy of Rs.8,000 crore to help make up for a part of the losses incurred by oil marketing companies in selling diesel, kerosene and domestic cooking gas at prices much below cost.

97. The three-member committee of the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests has found mining rampant in Gautam Budh Nagar district of Uttar Pradesh.

98. Against the backdrop of recent incursions by Chinese troops into Indian territory, the two countries are working on a border defence agreement. They intend to sign it when Prime Minister Manmohan Singh visits Beijing, possibly in October.

99. Subramanian Swamy announced Janata Party merger with the BJP.

100. More than one lakh people have applied for a one-way trip to Mars. The mission will cost $6 billion, Bas Lansdorp, Mars One CEO and co-founder said. Mars One is to select a multi-continental group of 40 astronauts this year. Four of them — two men and two women — are set to leave for Mars in September 2022, landing in April 2023.


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