CURRENT AFFAIRS 19-20th Nov., 2014

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CURRENT AFFAIRS 20th Nov., 2014

1. After his successful trip at Australia on his return Prime Minister Narendra Modi went to Fiji island where there is a thick population of ethnic Indians. He was received by the Prime Minister of Fiji Bainimarama. After Indira Gandhi’s visit in 1981, Modi is the next Prime Minister of India to visit Fiji.

2. European Organisation for Nuclear Research ( CERN) has informed that scientist have found two new subatomic particles at CERN known as Xi _b’ and Xi _b*. which belong to the baryon family of particles.

3. Market regulator SEBI has approved stricter insider trading regulations. Under the new definition of insider along with promoters, directors and some select employees any person having access to unpublished price sensitive information is also included.

4. The Competition Commission of India (CCI) is planning to examine whether bankers are operating as a cartel in fixing the rates as its suspects a possible unfair practise by banks with almost similar interest rates. CCI Chair Person Ashok Chawla said the regulator will probe the matter if needed.

5. ICICI bank has finalised launch of contactless debit and credit cards next month. NFC ( Near Field Communications) cards allow payments can be made by merely waving the card in front a scanner instead of requiring them to be swiped or dipped into a card reader.

6. India Post is aiming to improve in its E -com business. They have already entered into tie- ups with e- commerce majors Amazon and Snapdeal.

7. The government needs to infuse as much as 2.4 lakh crore ($38.78 billion) into state owned banks by end – March 2019 to meet different kinds of capital requirements including Basel III, provisioning for asset quality and additional risks, said RBI Deputy Governor S.S. Mundra.

CURRENT AFFAIRS 19th Nov., 2014

1. Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and Communication Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad relaunched the Kisan Vikas Patra (KVP) investment scheme to tap household savings for funding infrastructure development in the country. The savings instrument will be available in the denomination of Rs. 1000, Rs. 5,000, Rs. 10,000 and Rs. 50,000. There will be no upper ceiling on investments an investor can make in them. And no tax benefits would be available on these investments.

2. World Bank has approved a grant of $285 million to finance the three West African countries hardest hit by the Ebola crisis. The grant is part of the nearly $1 billion of financing previously announced by the World Bank for Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

3. Facebook Inc's professional version of its social network - 'Facebook at Work' aimed at businesses will launch in the next few months. It allows users to exchange messages and share documents using Facebook's scrolling news feed and other features from the consumer version of Facebook.

4. The book titled Truth Always Prevails has been written by Sadruddin Hashwani. The book was released on 17 November 2014 in Pakistan.

5. Union Government nominated Dr. Hasmukh Adhia as a Director on the Central Board of Directors of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). Hasmukh Adhia is currently working as Secretary in Department of Financial Services, Union Ministry of Finance.