CURRENT AFFAIRS 21-22nd Dec., 2014

DOWNLOAD PDF

CURRENT AFFAIRS 22nd Dec., 2014

1. Reserve Bank of India has simplified the definition of a non-cooperative borrower to include all those who have the ability to pay but thwart lenders' efforts to recover their dues including providing necessary information.

2. Centre is considering Maharashtra Government's proposal to confer classical language status on Marathi language. Already six languages-Tamil, Sanskrit, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam and Odia have been recognised as classical languages.

3. According to 'Situation assessment survey of agricultural households' conducted by the National Sample Survey Office, more than half of India's agricultural households were in debt and 40 per cent of the dues from non-institutional lenders during agricultural year 2012-13 (July to June). Among the major states, Andhra Pradesh had the highest share of indebted agricultural households in the country (92.9 per cent), followed by Telangana and Tamil Nadu.

4. The Expenditure Management Commission may likely submit its interim report by January 2015. The commission will suggest measures to achieve reduction in financial costs through a better cash management system, greater use of information technology tools for expenditure management and improved financial reporting systems. The Commission is chaired by former RBI Governor Bimal Jalan.

5. Government is set to recast its consumer awareness campaign, Jago Grahak Jago. Also, it is proposing to amend Consumer Protection Act to include e-commerce, direct selling and teleshopping under its ambit. The amendments will also facilitate mediation and arbitration between parties and bring down the load of cases in consumer courts.

CURRENT AFFAIRS 21st Dec., 2014

1. A report titled 'Reflections on a Survey of Global Perceptions of International Leaders and World Powers' by Harvard's Kennedy School of Government has placed Prime Minister Narendra Modi third on the list of global leaders. German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Chinese President Xi Jinping is in the first and second position on the list.

2. According to RBI data, the amount of bad loans written off or restructured by the PSU banks has more than doubled in the last three years to Rs 42,447 crore. The rise in bad loans is due to the slowdown in the economy in 2012 and 2013.

3. Union Government introduced the Constitution (122nd Amendment) Bill, 2014 in the Lok Sabha. The introduction of this Bill will facilitate the introduction of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime in India and is considered on of the biggest tax reform in the country since independence.

4. Inter-ministerial panel Telecom Commission had earlier approved a new penalty scheme for mobile operators. The scheme has five slabs ranging from Rs 1 lakh to Rs 50 crore for violation of norms by mobile operators and these new norms are expected to be notified by the Department of Telecom this month.

5. Rajinder Khanna was appointed as the new chief of Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), the country's external intelligence gathering agency.

6. Prakash Mishra was appointed as head of CRPF, the world's largest para-military force with over three lakh personnel. He was a Special Secretary (Internal Security) in Union Home Ministry before the appointment.