Current Affairs

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1. US government announced that it is amending regulations to allow Spouses of professionals working in the US under non-immigrant business visa H-1B to engage in gainful employment. Indian IT companies are among the largest beneficiaries of H-1B visas.

2. Union Cabinet cleared the establishment of the New Development Bank for funding infrastructure and development projects in the BRICS countries. It also cleared the BRICS Contingent Reserve Arrangement (CRA) which is meant to provide short-term liquidity support to the members in case of a Balance of Payments Crisis.

3. Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has notified that Overdraft facilities extended under the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) will qualify as priority sector lending. However, for this, the borrower’s household annual income should not exceed Rs 60,000 in rural areas and Rs 1,20,000 in non-rural areas.

4. Reserve Bank of India Governor Raghuram Rajan went with the majority view of an advisory panel that the policy repo rate should be left unchanged in the sixth bi-monthly monetary policy review. RBI last reduced the repo rate by 25 basis points from 8 per cent to 7.75 per cent on January 15, outside the policy review cycle.

5. The 14th Finance Commission has recommended the creation of an autonomous and independent GST Compensation Fund by the Centre through legislative action. States have been demanding that the Goods and Services Tax (GST) compensation fund must be created constitutionally.



6. The Y V Reddy-headed 14th Finance commission recommended to devolve an unprecedented 42 per cent of the divisible pool to states during 20015-16 to 2019-20. It has also recommended setting up of an independent council to undertake assessment of fiscal policy implications of Budget proposals and replace existing FRBM Act with a debt ceiling & fiscal responsibility law.

7. People’s Democratic Party (PDP) patron Mufti Mohammed Sayeed will be sworn in as the chief minister of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-PDP coalition government in Jammu and Kashmir on March 1. It will be the first time the BJP will be a part of a government in J&K.

8. Adya Sharma, a cultural icon and pioneer of mobile theatre in Assam, passed away in Nalbari town, Assam. He was famously known for bringing innovation in the technical aspects of mobile theatre which made it more attractive and capable of staging more complex themes.

9. Road Transport Ministry has suggested capping the liability of general insurers at Rs. 15 lakh for road accidents in the draft Road Transport and Safety Bill. This comes in the backdrop of insurers facing huge losses in third party motor insurance.

10. Madhya Pradesh government, along with Odisha, Tamil Nadu and Punjab governments, has come out openly against some of the recommendations of the Shanta Kumar Committee on Food Corporation of India (FCI). The committee had recommended lowering of grain entitlement under the National Food Security Act (NFSA) to 40 per cent and cash transfer of food subsidy.