Current Affairs - December 7, 2013

Current Affairs

December 7 2013

International Affairs

1. Nelson Mandela, South Africa’s first elected black president and a global anti-apartheid icon passed away on early Friday, at his home in the suburb of Houghton in Johannesburg, following a lengthy illness. He was 95. He was the first black South African to hold the office of President from 1994 to 1999, and the first elected in a fully representative multiracial election. He was also known as Madiba in South Africa. He was the winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993 for his continuous fight to restore peace in South Africa. He was also the recipient of Bharat Ratna and Mahatma Gandhi peace award.

2. International Civil Aviation Day was observed today (7^th December) across the world to highlight the importance of civil aviation for social and economic development around the world. The International Civil Aviation Day is aimed at promoting the safety and efficiency of air transportation and to create awareness about the role of International Civil Aviation Organization in air transport. The date marks the anniversary of the signing of the Convention on International Civil Aviation at Chicago on same date in1944.

About international Civil Aviation organization (iCAO)
i. ICAO was established on 7 December 1944 to secure International cooperation and uniformity in civil aviation matters.
ii. This observance aims to generate and reinforce global awareness of the importance of International civil aviation in the social and economic development. The day also commemorates the ICAO’s role in promoting the safety, efficiency and regularity of International air transport.

3. 9th WTO Ministerial Conference concluded at Bali, indonesia

i. The 9th WTO Ministerial Conference was concluded on 6 December 2013 at Bali, Indonesia. The Ministerial Conference has agreed on the revised draft of Bali Package.

ii. The Ministerial Conference was held in Bali, Indonesia from 3 to 6 December 2013 and attended by 159 WTO Member countries representatives.

Bali Package
i. During the conference, the World Trade Organization (WTO) agreed to allow countries to provide subsidy on staple food crops without any threat of punitive action.
ii. In this regard, the WTO has issued a revised draft of the Bali Package which addresses India’s concerns on food security. The draft proposes an interim mechanism to safeguard minimum support prices to farmers against WTO caps till a permanent solution is adopted.
iii. The deal allows nations such as India to fix a Minimum Support Price (MSP) for farm produce and to sell staple grains to the poor at subsidised rates.
iv. It also permits countries to store food grains to meet contingency requirements.

Trade Facilitation Agreement

i. The 159-member WTO also agreed on the Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA), which is aimed at making International trade much easier by simplifying and streamlining custom procedures across the globe. 

ii. The pact is billed to bring in gains worth 1 trillion Dollars for global trade. The TFA would help countries cut transaction costs.

iii. The trade facilitation will also help developing countries including India to reduce transaction cost and improve competitiveness of domestic industry

india Point of view

1. Food Security Law may push India’s Minimum Support Prices (MSP) above WTO limits, but interim mechanism provides safeguards till WTO rules are corrected.
2. WTO Agreement on Trade Facilitation could boost India’s exports
3. India gains global leadership by getting a crucial poor-rich country imbalance corrected on a multilateral forum
4. Support subsidies to poor farmers across all developing countries get safeguards against WTO rule.

About Ministerial Conferences
Ministerial Conference is- the topmost decision-making body of the WTO. The Ministerial Conference, usually meets every two years. It brings together all members of the WTO, all of which are countries or customs unions. The Ministerial Conference can take decisions on all matters under any of the multilateral trade agreement.

About World Trade Organization

WTO was established with the signing of the Marrakesh Agreement/ Marrakesh Declaration at Marrakesh, Morrocco in 1994. WTO came up as a replacement of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT). GATT was overseeing the rules of commerce since 1948. GATT covered trade in goods, whereas WTO deals with trade of inventions, designs and services too. The World Trade Organization (WTO) deals with the global rules of trade between nations. Its main function is to ensure that trade flows as smoothly, predictably and freely as possible

Headquarter: Geneva, Switzerland

Established: 1 January 1995
Membership: 159 countries on 2 March 2013

Head: Roberto Azevêdo (Director-General)

4. Ambassador Ahmet Uzumcu has been re-appointed as the OPCW Director General at the 18th Session of the Conference of State Parties. This will be his second term in the office.  The Director-General called 2013 a truly historical year in his statement during the opening of the conference as the year has witnessed an unprecedented challenge for the OPCW in the form of eliminating Syria’s  chemical weapons in the midst of an active war. The Nobel Committee has also awarded the 2013 Nobel Peace Prize to the OPCW for his continuous struggle in order to destroy chemical weapons across the world.

5. UN General Assembly elected Jordan to the UN Security Council as a non-permanent member yesterday to replace Saudi Arabia. Earlier Saudi Arabia was elected in October 2013 to the Security Council as a non permanent member but it has rejected its seat in protest at the UN council’s failure to end the war in Syria and act on other Middle East issues. Jordan will now join with Lithuania, Chile, Nigeria and Chad as new members of the council, replacing Azerbaijan, Guatemala, Pakistan, Morocco and Togo. The other five temporary council members that will remain next year are Argentina, Australia, Luxembourg, South Korea and Rwanda.

6. Pakistani teenage activist Malala Yousafzai has been awarded the 2013 UN Human Rights Prize, an honour previously given to icons like late Nelson Mandela in recognition of outstanding achievement in human rights. The prize is awarded every five years and has previously been bestowed on Amnesty International and former US president Jimmy Carter.

7. The US unemployment rate dropped to 7% in November compared to 7.3% in October, as per the US Bureau of Labour Statistics. The jobless rate was the lowest since November 2008, when the US economy face the Wall Street meltdown and collapsing housing market, amid the worst recession in eight decades. The bureau’s separate survey of employers showed that payrolls grew by 203,000 jobs in November, led by hiring in the manufacturing and construction sectors.

8. FIFA, the international football body, has awarded india the rights to host the Under-17 World Cup in 2017. The country beat stiff competition from Ireland, 2010 World Cup hosts South Africa and Uzbekistan to get the final nod from fifas executive committee at the resort town of Costa Do Sauipe in Brazil. The tournament will be played at six venues. Among the cities in the fray to host the games are Mumbai, New Delhi, Goa, Bangalore, Pune, Kolkata, Kochi and Guwahati.

9. UN designates 31st October as World Cities Day

i. A United Nations General Assembly committee adopted a resolution on human settlement on Friday, designating Oct 31 as the World Cities Day.
ii. The General Assembly “decides to designate Oct 31 of every year, beginning in 2014, as World Cities Day,” Xinhua cited from the resolution adopted by the UNGA Economic and Financial Committee.
iii. ‘The General Assembly invites member states, the UN system, in particular UN-Habitat, relevant International organisations, civil societies and all other relevant stakeholders to observe and raise awareness of the World Cities Day’, the resolution added.

iv. On Oct 31, 2010, a declaration issued on the closing day of the World Expo 2010 in Shanghai proposed that Oct 31 be designated as World Better Cities Day, in a bid to recall, renew and advance ideas and practices of the Shanghai Expo for future development.

10. India contributes USD 1 million to UN Women

i. This contribution constitutes the fourth installment of India’s multi-year pledge to provide five million dollars as core predictable funding to UN Women’s resources, and takes India’s existing contribution to USD 4 million to UN Women, so far.
ii. India’s Permanent Representative to the UN Asoke K Mukerji handed over a cheque for the amount on Friday to Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, Under Secretary General and Executive Director of UN Women.
iii. Mukerji also reaffirmed India’s steadfast commitment to the goals of gender equality, the empowerment of women and gender mainstreaming, as enshrined in the mandate of UN Women.

11. Football World Cup winner’s prize money rises to $35 million

i. The 2014 World Cup champions will receive $35 million in prize money, world football’s governing body FIFA announced in Salvador on Thursday.

ii. The value represents a 17 per cent increase in the prize money handed to Spain for winning the 2010 tournament in South Africa.

iii. FIFA will award the second placed side $25 million while the third will receive $22 million.

iv. Each of the tournament’s 32 teams will receive $1.5 million before the tournament begins to help cover their preparation costs.

v. Another $70 million have been set aside for indemnity payments to clubs who will be without their players during the month-long tournament.

National Affairs

12. The Union Cabinet has finally cleared the bill to create Telangana state. Sticking to the original resolution of the Congress Working Committee, the new state will have only the 10 districts of Telangana region. Rayalseema districts of Kurnool and Anantapur will continue to be part of the residue state. It has also decided to finalize the capital of the residuary state within 45 days, thus formally setting in motion the process for the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh.

13. The World Trade Organisation (WTO) ministers at Bali finally adopted the historic five-draft decision declaration and the 10-document full Bali package that addresses the Doha Development Agenda. This is the first such agreement since the WTO was set up way back in 1995.

The Indian government claimed major gains at the World Trade Organization (WTO) as members accepted its demand on food security that will protect India and other developing countries from penalties for breaching the domestic subsidy cap of 10% of value of production. In return, India agreed to a new agreement on trade facilitation, the first since the WTO was set up nearly two decades ago, that will ease controls at ports and airports and may provide a boost of up to $1 trillion to the global economy. WTO Agreement on Trade Facilitation could boost India’s exports as well.

14. india is the seventh most economically confident country in the world, says a study by global research firm ipsos. According to the study ‘Ipsos Economic Pulse of the World’, India’s economic confidence revived substantially due to healthy farm output, a sharp boost in exports and narrowing of current account deficit.

15. Metro man E. Sreedharan is among six prominent Keralites have been selected for South indian Bank’s excellence awards. The others are actor Innocent, cancer expert P.V. Gangadharan, industrialist Kochouseph Chittilappilly, singer P.Jayachandran and poet O.N.V. Kurup. The Rs 1 lakh award will be presented to them at a ceremony at Thrissur, marking the 85th anniversary of the bank on February 1.

16. The Central Government has modified the FDi policy to allow unlisted companies to directly list on stock exchanges abroad. The move will facilitate raising of funds for acquisitions or clearing overseas debts. It may help India in containing its high current account deficit. Presently, unlisted companies are not allowed to directly list in overseas markets without prior or subsequent listing in the Indian market.

17. RBi hits the jackpot with dollar deposit scheme

i. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI)’s out-of-the-box move to woo dollar deposits by protecting banks from currency risks has been a big hit.

ii. Banks have managed to mobilise $34 billion in foreign currency deposits since the special swap scheme was flagged off in September.

iii. This is much higher than the sums raised by the Resurgent India Bonds (ribs) of 1998 ($4.2 billion) and the India Millennium Bonds ($5.5 billion). The inflows have given the rupee a much-needed breather from its steady slide over the past year.

iv. Hence, both the bank and the depositor benefit from such returns. “In effect, the annualised profit rate of the overdraft amount invested in India by the bank may be close to 10 per cent. Additionally, the NRI investor earns an annualised return up to 17-18 per cent on his initial investment.

Win-win for banks

i. But since banks have always had the option of raising FCNR (B) deposits, what has made them so attractive now? The low cost of this option was the major reason. Usually, an interest rate of 400 basis points over Libor is paid on dollar deposits to nris. To service the deposit, the bank would have to buy a currency hedge, paying about 7 per cent a year.

ii. But with the RBI subsidising the hedging cost at a fixed 3.5 per cent, the effective cost of funds for FCNR deposits has plummeted to 8.75- 9 per cent. This made it an attractive option, similar to raising domestic deposits.

18. The Reserve Bank of india will soon introduce cash-settled interest rate futures on 10-year government bonds and has also permitted exchanges to launch these derivatives in other smaller tenure securities in the future. The central bank has permitted exchanges to offer both physical and cash settled irfs on the notional 10-year government securities. The RBI stated in a notification that the physically settled 10-year IRF would have a semi-annual coupon rate of 7%.

19. Indian IT Services Company Wipro has announced that it exited its PC manufacturing business, one of the very first IT businesses that promoter Azim Premji entered into, long before he entered the IT services business that Wipro is known around the world for today. Wipro will discontinue manufacturing supergenius line of desktops, EGO laptops and netpower servers in a market where customer needs are changing rapidly.

20. 4th Edition of Stamps of india: National Exhibition – 2013 takes place in New Delhi

·     Its major attraction is Indian Cinema, which celebrates its 100 years 

21. india’s homeless population falls to 17.73 lakh

·     Urban homeless grew by 21% to 9.4 lakh 

·     Rural homeless declined by 30% to 8.3 lakh 

·     Uttar Pradesh has nearly one fifth of country’s homeless: Highest in the country, followed by Maharashtra with 12% of country’s homeless population 

·     Kanpur in Uttar Pradesh city with largest homeless population 80,877 

22. External Affairs Minister, Salman Khurshid to represent india at Global Security Summit

·     Global Security Summit known as Manama Dialogue starts in Bahrain 

·     3.5 Lakh Indians are the largest expatriate community in Manama 

23. Agricultural Minister Mr. Sharad Pawar announces a financial package of Rs. 7,500 Crore interest Free Loan for Sugar Mills

·     Loan can be repaid in 5 years with a moratorium of 2 years. 

·     Interest Subvention: 12%, it will be shared by Centre: 5%, Sugar Development Fund, Ministry of Food: 7% 

·     This has been approved to clear arrears which stood at Rs. 5,064 Crore in 2012-13 

24. Court admits petition for Kingfisher wind up

·     Karnataka High Court admitted the petition submitted by consortium of 14 banks led by State Bank of India (SBI) to wind up Kingfisher Airlines Limited (KAL) 

25. indian Bank in partnership with Apollo Hospitals comes out with health card

·     Customers to get discount up to 20% discount in various services of Apollo Hospitals 

·     Initially card to be given free of cost to bank customers with deposit more than Rs. 10 Lakh 

·     Indian Bank H/O: Chennai 

·     Indian Bank CMD: Mr. T.M. Bhasin 

Quiz:

1. Tarla Dalal, a noted Indian food writer, chef, best-selling cookbook author and host of cooking shows like "Tarla Dalal show" and "Cook It Up With Tarla Dalal" died on 6th November 2013. She has written over 100 books and sold more than 3 million books. Her first cook book was published in 1974. Can you name her first book?

[A] Know your Flours

[B] Chips & Dips

[C] Punjabi Khana

[D] The Pleasures of Vegetarian Cooking

2. Indian Navy inducted which fourth generation advanced jet trainer aircraft at a ceremony held at the Naval Air Station INS Dega at Visakhapatnam on 6th November 2013?

[A] Hawk 132

[B] Hotas 99

[C] Hawk 33

[D] Garuda

3. On 6th Nov 2013, a restaurant search service firm announced a fresh round of funding of $37 million from Sequoia Capital and existing investors Info Edge, taking its total funding to over $53 million. It also announced the launch of its services in three new countries - Brazil (Sao Paulo), Turkey (Istanbul, Ankara), and Indonesia (Jakarta) - where it will be available in local languages as well. Can you name it?

[A] Tomato

[B] Zomato

[C] khanakhazana

[D] mytiffin

4. According to data released by the Internet And Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) on 6th Nov 2013, which Indian city has highest number of internet users than any other city in the country?

[A] Delhi

[B] Bangalore

[C] Mumbai

[D] Hyderabad

5. The Reserve Bank on Wednesday, 6th Nov 2013, permitted wholly-owned subsidiary (WOS) of foreign banks to acquire domestic private sector banks as well as set up branches anywhere in the country. It also allowed foreign bank subsidiary to list on local stock exchanges. However, foreign bank subsidiary will not be allowed to hold more than __________ per cent, the sectoral cap for overall foreign investment, in the private banks they may acquire.

[A] 49

[B] 51

[C] 74

[D] 76

Answers:

1. [D]

2. [A]

3. [B]

4. [C]

5. [C]