Current Affairs 8-9th Apr, 2015

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Current Affairs 9th Apr, 2015

1. Prime Minister recently launched the Pradhan Mantri MUDRA (Micro Units Development and Refinance Agency) Yojana to fund and promote microfinance institutions (MFIs). MFI would in turn provide loans to small and vulnerable sections of the businesses. MUDRA will have an initial corpus of Rs 20,000 crore and a credit guarantee corpus of Rs 3,000 crore.

2. Reserve Bank of India (RBI) notified the government's decision to raise foreign direct investment (FDI) limit in the insurance sector to 49 per cent. According to the guidelines, FDI of up to 26 per cent come under automatic route and for beyond 26 per cent and up to 49 per cent, government approval is needed.

3. Social Progress Index (SPI) ratings will shortly be released globally. Out of 133 countries rated on indicators of well-being such as health, water and sanitation, personal safety, India has secured the 101th place. Nepal and Bangladesh rank higher than India. Norway has bagged the first rank.

4. Bollywood actor Amitabh Bachchan and Shia leader Karim Aga Khan were among five eminent personalities who were conferred with the country’s second highest civilian award, Padma Vibhushan, by President Pranab Mukherjee.

5. Hockey player Saba Anjum, women cricketer Mithali Raj, economist Bibek Debroy, T V Mohandas Pai and musician Ravindra Jain were given Padma Shri.

6. Renowned Assamese Filmmaker Jahnu Barua and computer scientist Vijay Bhatkar were given the Padma Bhushan, third highest civilian honour.

Current Affairs 8th Apr, 2015

1. Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in its first bi-monthly monetary policy review this financial year, had opted for status quo in the repo rate and the cash reserve ratio at 7.5 per cent and four per cent respectively. RBI raised concerns over the transmission of monetary policy to the broader economy as only a couple of banks had cut lending rates after the previous two repo rate cuts.

2. Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) has recommended ‘112’ as the single emergency number across the country to be used to call the police, fire, ambulance and other services. It would be similar to 911 in the US.

3. Government has set up a committee under former industry secretary Ajay Shankar to ease the process of getting clearances through a broad legal framework across sectors. It will also recommend a framework of the proposed regulatory mechanism.

4. Union government cleared amendments to the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Bill, 2013, paving the way for legislation on regulators for the sector. Developers, both in residential and commercial sectors, will be required to register their projects with the regulatory authorities to be set up and will have to mandatorily disclose all information.

5. Government plans to offer subsidy of up to 50 per cent of the capital expenditure or Rs 1 lakh per seat for setting up business process outsourcing (BPO) units in small towns and villages. The policy is meant to promote information technology in rural areas that have been left out so far.