CURRENT AFFAIRS 31st JULY, 2014

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1. The government has come up with a new financial inclusion plan that aims to open 7.5 crore bank accounts in rural and urban areas and extend financial services to all citizens by August 15, 2018. It will provide at least one fixed banking point for every 1,000-1,500 households by splitting villages into small service areas and assign them to banks. The banks could either open a branch or have a 'Bank Mitra'(banking correspondent) with a fixed presence for a particular area.

2. The financial inclusion plan will be implemented in two phases. The first phase will provide basic banking accounts with a RuPay debit card, which will have an inbuilt accident insurance cover of Rs 1 lakh and overdraft facility of Rs. 5000. The second phase will focus on micro insurance and pension schemes like 'Swavlamban' for the unorganised sector. A credit guarantee fund will be set up to cover defaults on the Rs 5,000 overdraft facility that will be available to the lady of the house. First phase will be completed by August 15, 2015 and second phase by August 15, 2018.

3. The government has appointed S S Mundra, chairman and managing director of Bank of Baroda (BoB), a deputy governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). He succeeds K.C. Chakrabarti who retired in April.

4. Sixth Economic Census estimated that employment grew at about 4 per cent annually in the eight year period to 2014. The employment grew by over 34 per cent to 12.77 crore workers and the number of establishments jumped up by 41.7 per cent between January 2013 and April 2014.

5. According to the economic census, Maharashtra was the country's top employer with 1.43 crore workers and Uttar Pradesh has the largest number of establishments in the country during the eight year period. Five states, namely, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Gujarat account for about 46.63 per cent of the total employment in the country.

6. Former Foreign Minister Mr. Natwar Singh's book 'One Life is Not Enough: An Autobiography' is to be released soon.