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IDBI
Bank and UNICEF to jointly provide drinking water, sanitation in 400
UP and Maharashtra schools
India
> Swachh
Bharat Mission
> August 28, 2014
UNICEF and IDBI Bank have entered into a
partnership to provide safe drinking water and sanitation to 80,000
children in 400 schools and Anganwadi centres in the states of Uttar
Pradesh and Maharashtra. The Rs 2.7 crore partnership is part of
IDBI’s corporate social responsibility programme. Called the ‘Model
WASH in Schools’ where WASH stands for water, sanitation and
hygiene, the initiative aims to integrate critical behaviour such as
such as hand-washing, into the world's largest mid-day meal
programme. MS Raghavan, Chairman and Managing Director, IDBI Bank,
said that the initiative is also in keeping with the goals of the
'Swachh Bharat Mission', recently launched by the Centre. Under the
'Swachh Bharat Mission', IDBI is further supporting the construction
of 300 gender-segregated toilets in schools across India, primarily
in rural areas.
Shah
Rukh Khan becomes Ambassador of Interpol’s ‘Turn Back Crime’
campaign
World
> INTERPOL
> August 28, 2014
Actor Shah Rukh Khan has become the first Indian
actor to be roped in as an Ambassador of Interpol’s ‘Turn Back
Crime’ campaign, aimed at promoting greater awareness on how to
prevent crime. He is is lending his voice to help spread the message
that all of society benefits when citizens respect the law and fight
crime.
Khan joins actor Jackie Chan as an Ambassador for
the campaign, which has already garnered support from public figures
including footballer Lionel Messi, Formula 1 racing drivers Fernando
Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen in addition to law enforcement agencies
around the world. The ‘Turn Back Crime’ campaign is aimed at
raising public awareness that organised crime is often involved in
seemingly unrelated crimes.
Minimum
pension of Rs. 1,000 under EPFO; wage ceiling up at Rs. 15,000
Economy
> Policy
> August 28, 2014
The minimum monthly pension of Rs. 1,000
and a higher wage ceiling of Rs. 15,000 for social security
schemes run by retirement fund manager EPFO will be implemented from
September 1.
The government’s decision to fix pension
entitlement of Rs. 1,000 under the Employees’ Pension
Scheme 1995 (EPFS-95) will immediately benefit 28 lakh pensioners who
get less than this amount at present. Now the maximum sum assured
under the EDLI works out to be Rs. 3.6 lakh including 20
per cent ad hoc benefit over the prescribed amount under the
notification. This means that in case an EPFO subscriber dies, his
family will be entitled to maximum sum assured of Rs. 3.6 lakh
instead of existing Rs. 1.56 lakh.
The decision will immediately benefit about 28
lakh pensioners, including 5 lakh widows. In all, there are 44 lakh
pensioners under the EPFO scheme.
Indo-Japan
ties: Modi, Abe sign key agreements on bullet trains, Varanasi revamp
World
> Indo-Japan
Ties > Sep
01, 2014
Japan and India signed five major agreements
during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Japan. A deal on
bringing Japan's high speed bullet trains to India signed between the
'two most important democracies of the world' remained one of the
highlights. Japan promised $33.8 billion assistance to India for the
next five years towards funding next generation infrastructure
projects, smart cities, rejuvenation of the river Ganga and
introduction of bullet trains. Total five deals signed between India
and Japan. These include health, clean energy, women development and
roads, other than the Kyoto-Varanasi agreement.
The two nations also decided to "upgrade"
and "strengthen" their defence cooperation as they asked
officials to launch consultations to promote military equipment
collaboration and accelerate discussions on modalities for the sale
of Japanese US-2 amphibian aircraft.
Asia’s
first ballistic research centre to be set up in Gandhinagar Gujarat
India
> Ballistic
Research Centre
> Sep
01, 2014
Asia’s first ballistic research centre will be
set up at Gujarat Forensic Science University (GFSU) in Gandhinagar,
Gujarat. With this India will achieve self-reliance in testing of
armoured vehicles. Till now, the armoured vehicles from India are
sent to countries like the UK, USA and France for testing. The FSL in
Gujarat was so far able to conduct testing of only bulletproof
jackets, helmets and bulletproof plates. The Ballistic Research
Centre will conduct tests for armoured vehicles of the Indian Army
and also provide services to private players who supply vehicles to
the VIPs.
Others
India
Post to re-apply for banking license, going for major banking-tech
system overhaul
Bank
Specific >
India Post
> August 27, 2014
India Post, the state-run
mail company, will again seek a banking license from the RBI. It lost
out in the last round when RBI had given out licences since it did
not explain how it would bring in the Rs 500-crore capital required.
India Post believes that it will be able to offer financial inclusion
by leveraging its branch network in India's more than 6 lakh villages
which the full-fledged banks do not find attractive to do business.
The Post Office could be particularly attractive for small savings.
Preparing itself to start commercial banking operations, India Post
has announced the launch of 3,000 ATMs by FY18, of which 1,000 will
be in the near future. Once the RBI gives necessary permissions, even
other bank account holders will be able to transact through the ATMs.
India Post is already on the RBI's electronic funds transfer
platform. More than one and a half lakh Post Offices across the
country are being upgraded. India Post’s banking tech system is
being built by Infosys, while TCS is setting up the CBS platform.
Once the postal system is on CBS, a post office savings or deposit
account holder will be able to operate his account from any post
office in any geographic location in India, like a commercial bank
account these days.
ADB
to provide up to $9 bn loan to India for infrastructure development
India
> Asian
Development Bank
> August 27, 2014
Asian Development Bank (ADB)
has said that it will provide up to 7-9 billion in loan to India over
the next three years to support infrastructure development. Besides,
ADB will provide around $30 million for technical assistance grants,
especially for building institutions and capacity at the state as
well as the local levels.
RBI
further simplifies KYC Norms for bank accounts
Bank
Specific >
RBI Norms
> August 27, 2014
Ahead of the launch of the
Prime Minister's Jan Dhan Yojana, Reserve Bank of India announced
simplified 'know your customer' (KYC) norms for low-risk customers.
Under the new norms low-risk customers can provide KYC documents
within six months of opening the account. Those persons who do not
have any of the 'officially valid documents' can open 'small
accounts' with banks. A 'small account' can be opened on the basis of
a self-attested photograph and either a signature or thumb print in
the presence of an official of the bank. Such accounts have
limitations regarding the aggregate credits (not more than Rupees one
lakh in a year), aggregate withdrawals (not more than Rupees ten
thousand in a month) and balance in the accounts (not more than
Rupees fifty thousand at any point in time).
Google
buys video-processing service provider Zync Render
Corporate
> Google
> August 28, 2014
Google has bought Zync
Render, a service that trims costs of special effects by pushing the
work into the Internet "cloud." Google did not disclose the
financial terms of the deal to acquire the company whose technology
was used in films such as "Star Trek Into Darkness" and
"Looper." Zync is optimized for an Amazon.com cloud
services platform, but the takeover heralded a switch to Google.
Snapdeal
snaps $1-billion sales, to sell homes now
Corporate
> Snapdeal
> August 28, 2014
E-commerce website
Snapdeal.com has crossed $1 billion in gross merchandise sales. After
online giant Flipkart, Snapdeal is the second online player to cross
the $1 billion mark a year ahead of schedule. To foray into the
real-state category, it has joined hands with Tata Value Homes, a
subsidiary of Tata Housing Development.
With this partnership
Snapdeal.com will now sell apartments by the real-estate company on
its site. As part of the partnership, Tata Value Homes will be
selling apartments in seven projects located in five cities including
Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai, Pune, and Ahmedabad on Snapdeal.
Mother
Dairy launches prepaid card system
Corporate
> Mother
Diary > August 28, 2014
Mother Dairy will introduce
cashless shopping at all Mother Dairy outlets by the end of 2014. It
has launched a 'smart change card', which can be bought and topped up
at outlets. The card can be bought for Rs 25 and can be topped with a
maximum limit of Rs 1,000. The limit for a single transaction has
been set at Rs 500. The project has been launched in partnership with
the State Bank of India. Initially, the cards will be available at 76
outlets across Delhi NCR and would be extended to 74 more outlets in
the next three months.
PMO
overrules home ministry’s recommendation, appoints RN Ravi as
interlocutor for Naga peace talks
Politics
and Government >
Naga Peace Talks
> August 29, 2014
The Prime Minister's Office
has again overruled a suggestion of the home ministry and appointed
RN Ravi, chairman of joint intelligence committee (JIC), as new
interlocutor for Naga peace talks. Home Minister Rajnath Singh had
recommended the name of Ajit Lal, who had retired as chairman of JIC
in July 2014, as the interlocutor. The PMO considered Ravi for the
post because of his expertise in northeast affairs as he was looking
after the region during his tenure in the Intelligence Bureau from
where he retired as special director in 2012. Earlier, the PMO had
overruled the recommendation of the home ministry for appointment of
Alok Singh, an IPS officer, as the Private Secretary (PS) to the home
minister on the ground that he had served as a PS to the former
external affairs minister Salman Khurshid during the UPA regime.
National
Sports Day celebrated
Sports
> National
Sports Day > August 29, 2014
National Sports Day in India
is celebrated on the August 29. This day marks the birthday of Dhyan
Chand, the hockey player who won gold medals for India in year 1928,
1932 and 1936. This day is celebrated by organizing friendly matches
between different Indian hockey teams at the Dhyan Chand National
stadium in New Delhi which was constructed in the respect and honor
of Dhyan Chand.
Former
CJI P. Sathasivam to be Kerala Governor
Politics
and Government >
Governor
> August 31, 2014
Following the resignation of
Sheila Dikshit a few days ago, Former Chief Justice of India P.
Sathasivam has been appointed as the next Governor of Kerala. This is
the first time a retired CJI is being appointed to serve as a
Governor of a State. Justice Sathasivam (65) was the first Judge from
Tamil Nadu to become the CJI.
Jaipur
Pink Panthers beat hosts U Mumba to win the first edition of Pro
Kabaddi League
Sports
> Kabaddi
> August 31, 2014
The Jaipur Pink Panthers
owned by Bollywood star Abhishek Bachchan, beat hosts U Mumba 35-24
to win the inaugural Pro Kabaddi League at NSCI's Sardar Vallabhbhai
Patel Stadium in Mumbai on Sunday. The tournament has made the game
hugely popular in urban areas. It has been followed on TV and drawn
crowds to stadiums in big cities, a feat that the game had failed to
achieve till now.
Background:
The Pro Kabaddi League (PKL)
is a professional kabaddi league in India, based on the format of the
Indian Premier League. The first edition of the tournament started on
26 July 2014 with eight privately-owned franchises from 8 big cities,
consisting of players from around the world. It is currently
supervised by Mashal Sports Managing Director Charu Sharma. Star
Sports was the official broadcaster for the event.
Carolina
Marina defeats World no. 1 Li Xuerui to win women’s singles at the
World Badminton Championships, Chinese Chen Long wins men’s singles
defeating World no 1 Lee Chong Wei
Sports
> Badminton
> August 31, 2014
World no. 10 badminton
player Spaniard Carolina Marin beat World no. 1 Li Xuerui of China to
become the first European in 15 years to clinch the women's singles
title at the World Badminton Championships held in Copenhagen Denmark
on Sunday. Marin who took 1 hour 18 minutes to beat Olympic champion
Li, had marched to the finals after defeating India’s P.V. Sindhu
in the semi-finals.
Chen Long, the no. 2 seed
from China defeated top-seeded Malaysian Lee Chong Wei to win the
men’s singles title at the World Badminton Championships.
Zimbabwe
beat Australia in one-dayer for first time since 1983
Sports
> Cricket
> August 31, 2014
Zimbabwe beat Australia for
the first time in 31 years as Elton Chigumbura's 52 not out led his
team to a famous three-wicket win in the ODI triangular series. It
was Zimbabwe's first win over the Australians since they met in ODIs
for the first time at the 1983 World Cup.
US
Post to issue Akkineni Nageswara Rao stamp
World
> Nageswara
Rao Stamp > August 31, 2014
The US Post Service will
honour legendary actor Vibhushan Akkineni Nageswarara Rao by issuing
a postage stamp, Akkineni Foundation of America (AFA) announced. It
is the first time that an Indian actor has been given this honour.
The Foundation will host a special Postal Stamp release ceremony in
Dallas, Texas on September 20, on ANR's birthday to mark this
tribute.
AFA also plans to release
the stamp in India at the first International Akkineni Awards
Ceremony in the presence of ANR family members. The event hosted by
AFA will be held on December 17 at ANR College, Gudivada, Krishna
district, Andhra Pradesh.
ANR, who died on January 22
this year, has acted in over 255 films in Telugu, Tamil and Hindi. A
majority of his films were both commercial and critical successes.
Apart from being a movie star, ANR was a prolific writer.
SBI
signs $152 million export line of credit with Japan Bank of
International Cooperation (JBIC)
Corporate
> SBI
> September 1, 2014
State Bank of India (SBI)
has signed a loan agreement with the Japan Bank of International
Cooperation (JBIC) to set up an export credit line in two currencies
worth USD 152 million. The agreement was signed by SBI Chairperson
Arundhati Bhattacharya and JBIC Governor Hiroshi Watanabe in Tokyo,
where Prime Minister Narendra Modi is on a state visit.
The credit line will be
utilised by Meja Urja Nigam to finance the procurement of steam
turbine generators from Japan's Toshiba Corp and its Indian
subsidiary to construct a super critical pressure coal-fired power
plant in Meja, Uttar Pradesh.
The plant is an equal joint
venture between NTPCBSE 0.14 %, a Central PSU, and UP Rajya Vidyut
Utpadan Nigam.
Revived
Nalanda University begins first academic session
India
> Nalanda
University > September 1, 2014
The revived Nalanda
University has begun its first academic session from September 1,
with 15 students, including five women, and 10 faculty members. The
ancient Nalanda University, established in the fifth century during
the Gupta dynasty was an internationally renowned centre of learning
with scholars from across the world. It stood till the 12th century,
when it was razed by an invading Turkish army. The new university
will come up in Rajgir, 12 km from the site of the ancient
University. Classes are now being held in a makeshift campus. The
formal inauguration is expected in mid-September. The
fully-residential university, to be completed by 2020, will
eventually have seven schools, all for post-graduate and doctoral
students, offering courses in science, philosophy and spirituality
and social sciences. Over 1,000 students from 40 countries have
sought admission in Nalanda University. But only 15 students have
been selected, including one each from Japan and Bhutan and others
from India. More students will be enrolled in September as the
selection process is still under way. The university is an initiative
of the Indian government and the 18 East Asia Summit (EAS) countries.
China has committed $1 million for the project and a MoU on this was
signed during Manmohan Singh's visit to Beijing in November 2013.
Singapore has pledged $5-6 million and Australia about $1 million
Australian dollars. The central government has sanctioned Rs 2,700
crore ($445 million) cost for the university, to be spent over 10
years.
World
Bank to provide US$ 107 million for second Mizoram State Road project
The Government of India and
the World Bank have signed a Credit Agreement for assistance of US$
107 million for the second Mizoram State Roads Project (MSRP II). The
project is fully funded through the World Bank’s International
Development Agency (IDA). This project is the first project
facilitating regional connectivity in transport sector undertaken in
India with bank support. The objective of the project is to enhance
transport connectivity along regional trade corridors in Mizoram. The
project will focus on improvement of priority cross-border roads
connecting Bangladesh and Myanmar and of trade related
infrastructure.
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