CURRENT AFFAIRS 18-19th August, 2014

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CURRENT AFFAIRS 19th August, 2014

1. The Indo-Pak talks was abruptly cancelled in response to the meeting of Pakistan government with the Jammu and Kashmir separatists. It marks a new phase in the proactive foreign policy by the new government and shows how it might deal with policy provocation in the future.

2. The finance ministry has said that a formal proposal seeking an amendment to the RBI Act is needed to appoint a chief operating officer (COO) by the Reserve Bank of India governor Raghuram Rajan. The current RBI Act provides for a full-time governor and not more than four deputy governors.

3. India ranked fifth amongst top ten wind power producers in the world by adding 1,700 MW capacity in 2013 according to Renewables 2014 Global Status Report. China was the leading wind power producer by adding 16,100 MW capacity in 2013, followed by USA, Germany and Spain.

4. The government has made ministry of skill development and entrepreneurship a part of the ministry of sports and youth affairs. Rajeev Gupta, secretary, department of youth affairs has been given additional charge of the department of skill development and entrepreneurship that is headed by Sarbananda Sonowal.

5. Sajjan Jindal-promoted JSW Steel would acquire the entire equity shares held by sponge iron maker Welspun and its net current assets for Rs 1,000 crore. Welspun has an installed capacity of 0.9 MTPA gas based direct reduced iron (DRI) plant at Raigad in Maharashtra.

6. Prime Minister Narendra Modi invited suggestions on the new institution that would replace Planning Commission through a special “Open Forum” that has been created by the government.

CURRENT AFFAIRS 18th August, 2014

1. Government has asked market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) to allow relaxations in rules for follow-on public offerings (FPOs). Centre is to give more importance to the FPO route than the offer-for-sale (OFS) route, to ensure better participation from retail investors.

2. Kerala Tourism department signed an agreement with the United Nations body, Unesco in promoting and protecting the ancient Spice Route heritage in the state. It is a revival of the ancient spice route that connected 31 countries in Asia, Africa and Europe.

3. A new set of guidelines will be announced shortly for appointment of independent directors on bank boards. The boards will induct reputed professionals such as economists, management professionals and other experts and will be

free of any political interference. The government has decided to split the post of the chairman and managing director.

4. The government may pay up to 2% commission to banks as an incentive which could help in achieving bank accounts for all by 2016. Banks need such incentive to sustain the cost of maintaining account since all these will be basic banking accounts wherein the depositors will not have to maintain any minimum balance.

5. TCS, the country’s largest software services exporter, would finance hygienic sanitation facilities for girl students across 10,000 schools in the country. TCS pledges a sum of Rs 100 crore towards Prime Minister’s Clean India initiative.