CURRENT AFFAIRS 21st JULY, 2014

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1. A study 'Debt Sustainability at the State Level in India' by RBI showed that state governments' debt position is sustainable in the long run but contingent liabilities, primarily in the form guarantees issued by them, remain an area of concern.

2. Inland Waterways Authority of India along with the Odisha government and Port of Paradip and Dhamra will develop National Waterways 5 which will cost about 2000crore rupees. The waterway will improve shipping and navigation of cargo vessels along the stretches of many rivers in Odisha and West Bengal.

3. Private sector lender Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd has agreed to buy a 15 percent stake in the Multi Commodity Exchange of India Ltd (MCX) for 4.59 billion rupees ($76.1 million). The bank will purchase the stake from bourse operator Financial Technologies (India)(FTIL) which has been ordered by Forward Market Commission to reduce its stake in MCX to 2% from 26%.

4. The first phase of Financial Inclusion Mission by the new government will focus on providing basic banking services to every household and the second phase will include micro-insurance and unorganised sector pension schemes like Swavlamban. The plan is to provide bank accounts to two adults (husband and wife) in every household with an overdraft facility of Rs 5,000 as well as a RuPay debit card with a personal accident insurance cover of Rs 1 lakh.

5. Russia has shown interest to work on a $400-billion mega gas pipeline deal with India along the route of the planned TAPI (Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India). If implemented, it could become the “biggest-ever energy project in history,”.