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Russian
ruble declines 80 percent to US dollar, brings back fear of 1998
crisis; authorities blame it on western sanctions
World
> Ruble
Decline > Dec 18
A major decline in the value
of the Russian ruble has sparked off an economic crisis in Russia and
affected markets world over. The ruble went past 80 to the dollar,
the first time since 1998, bringing back fears of the 1998 Russian
financial crisis. A decline in confidence over the Russian economy
caused investors to sell off their Russian assets, further causing
the ruble to drop in value. Russian authorities attributed the fall
of the ruble to two sources - Crude oil, a major export of Russia,
declined in price by nearly 50% between June 2014 and 16 December
2014. The drop in oil prices was caused by a drop in demand across
the world as well as increased production in the United States. This
fall in oil prices hit Russia hard as roughly half of the Russian
government’s revenue comes from the sale of oil and gas. Secondly,
a host of economic sanctions imposed on Russia following Russia’s
annexation of Crimea and its alleged military intervention in
Ukraine. Russian companies have been prevented from rolling over
debt, forcing companies to exchange their rubles for U.S. dollars or
other foreign currencies on the open market to meet their interest
payment obligations on their existing debt.
Steps taken:
The Central Bank of Russia
increased its interest rate from 10.5% to a whopping 17% and pumped $
2 billion to strengthen the declining ruble. The government also
instructed five of the country's biggest state-controlled exporters
to reduce their foreign currency assets to October levels and to not
raise them again until March. The central bank lent $530 million to
bail out mid-sized Trust Bank, which became the first bank to accept
a government bailout during the crisis. Russian President Vladimir
Putin and Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev blamed the western nations
of engineering the crisis. News of the ruble collapse affected Indian
Pharmaceutical companies and caused a sharp plunge in the Sensex.
Stock markets in the US and China plummeted 2-3% due to the Russian
crisis. The devaluation of the ruble affected the currencies of many
post-Soviet states as trade with Russia represents over 5% of their
GDP.
Cabinet
approves GST Constitutional Amendment Bill
Politics
and Government >
Goods &
Services Tax (GST) > Dec 18
The Union Cabinet on
Wednesday approved the Constitutional Amendment Bill on Goods &
Services Tax (GST), taking a step forward towards an indirect tax
reform expected to raise revenues and boost growth. The government
aims to implement GST by April 1, 2016. GST is one of the primary
objectives of the Narendra Modi government's economic agenda. The
Bill had missed several rollout dates due to lack of consensus among
the states and the Centre. The breakthrough came after finance
minister Arun Jaitley assured the states of a fair deal. Initially,
petroleum will be kept out of GST but will be included in the new tax
set up once states come on board. Alcohol too will be kept out of
GST. Additionally, the Centre has devised a levy of 1% above the GST
rate on select items and is assuring the states full compensation for
revenue loss for three years, followed by 75% in fourth year and 50%
in the fifth. However, the Centre hopes that there will be less need
to pay compensations due to fewer exemptions and a gain from service
tax.
Indian
men’s and women’s teams win Kabaddi World Cup
Sports
> Kabaddi > Dec 20
The Indian men’s team
continued their winning streak by clinching the fifth Kabaddi World
Cup title defeating Pakistan 45-42 for the fourth time. The Indian
women’s team also won their fourth consecutive title beating New
Zealand 36-27 for the second time in a row. Both teams in the men and
women sections had clashed during the finals of Fourth Kabaddi World
Cup at Ludhiana last year and in both the matches, India had emerged
victorious.
Bharat
Ratna to be conferred on Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Madan Mohan
Malaviya
Awards
> Bharat
Ratna > Dec 24
On the eve of Bharatiya
Janata Party (BJP) stalwart Mr. Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s birthday on
December 25, the centre announced the decision to honour the former
Prime Minister and freedom fighter-educationist Madan Mohan Malaviya
with the prestigious Bharat Ratna, India’s highest civilian award.
Reportedly, the decision was
taken at a meeting held by PM Modi and attended by top BJP leaders.
The BJP has been demanding the award for Vajpayee since five years.
The award comprises a certificate signed by the President and a
peepal-leaf shaped medallion. Bharat Ratna has been conferred on 43
individuals from the day it was instituted.
Others
Chaos
in Rajya Sabha on the conversions' issue, opposition asks for PM’s
statement
Politics
& Government >
India > Dec 18
Rajya Sabha witnessed a
chaos over the conversions issue demanding a statement from Prime
Minister Narendra Modi. The house was adjourned immediately by the
Chairman of the house. Although the government said that it was ready
for a discussion on the issue, the opposition wanted a statement from
the Prime Minister himself.
The protests from the
opposition started after the mass conversions of nearly 60 Muslim
families took place in Agra in Uttar Pradesh last week.
Rajinder
Khanna and Prakash Mishra appointed as RAW and CRPF chiefs
respectively
India
> RAW
& CRPF > Dec 20
The NDA government on
Tuesday appointed Rajinder Khanna as the new chief of India's secret
agency, Research & Analysis Wing (RAW) and Prakash Mishra as the
Director General of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF). The
appointments were made by a cabinet committee headed by PM Narendra
Modi. The appointments committee cleared Khanna, a 1978 batch RAS
cadre, for the post of RAW chief for a period of two years from 31
December and Mishra, a 1977-batch IPS officer from Odisha cadre, was
made chief of CRPF.
Atletico
de Kolkata wins first edition of Indian Super League
Atletico de Kolkata beat
Kerala Blasters 1-0 to win the inaugural edition of the Indian Super
League (ISL) football tournament. Although Kerala had more chances on
goal than Kolkata, both teams remained goalless for more than 90
minutes. A header by Kolkata’s Mohammad Rafique in the 94rd minute
helped Kolkata lift the cup.
Ukraine
parliament votes to pursue closer ties with NATO drawing criticism
from Russia
World
> Ukraine > Dec 23
A pro-western Ukraine
parliament voted overwhelmingly, 303 to 8, in favour of revoking a
policy of “nonalignment” and to instead pursue closer military
and strategic ties with the West. “Nonalignment” has been defined
as “nonparticipation of Ukraine in the military-political
alliances” and was widely pushed by former president Viktor F.
Yanukovych, who was toppled in February and fled to Russia after
months of protests in Kiev. The revised law, widely pushed by current
President Petro O. Poroshenko, requires Ukraine to deepen cooperation
with NATO in order to achieve the criteria required to be a member of
the NATO. However, owing to Russia’s strong opposition, it is
unlikely that Ukraine will join NATO soon. In November, Russia had
asked for a 100 percent guarantee on Ukraine not joining NATO. Russia
has criticized the vote and said that such laws will not help in
settling the domestic crisis and instead aggravate the confrontation.
Kendriya
Vidyalayas to remain closed on Christmas, online essay competition
voluntary: CBSE
Politics
and Government >
Good Governance
Day Controversy > Dec 23
The CBSE has clarified that
it has not issued any directive for schools to remain open on
December 25th Christmas Day. A circular issued by the CBSE further
stated that all Kendriya Vidyalayas will adhere to the holiday
schedule and students can participate in the online essay competition
only if they desire. They can do so from the comfort of their homes
or any other place of their choice. The clarification by the CBSE
came in wake of the controversy over media reports that the
government had issued instructions asking schools to remain open on
December 25, Christmas Day, to observe 'Good Governance Day' to mark
former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's birthday.
Bodo
militants kill 53 tribals in Assam
India
> Assam
Attacks > Dec 24
65 tribals were killed by
Bodo militants in Assam's Kokrajhar and Sonitpur districts on
Tuesday. The areas in the jurisdiction of Dhekiajuli, Thelamara,
Rangapara and Biswanath Chariali police stations have been clamped
with curfew. The tribals retaliated with violent protests.In
Dhekajuli town, the protestors, armed with bows and arrows, tried to
storm the police station. Police resorted to lathi-charge and opened
fire when the situation worsened. Three persons were killed and
several others injured in police action. Angry protestors also set
ablaze twenty houses allegedly belonging to the people of the Bodo
community in Sonitpur district.
The Prime Minister condemned
the militant attack and called it an act of cowardice. A relief of Rs
200, 000 has been given to the family of the deceased and Rs 50,000
to the injured. The death toll is likely to go up as the bodies are
being recovered. The officials suspect the involvement of the
militant group National Democratic Front of Bodoland (Songbijit).
Shinzo
Abe confirmed for second term as Japan’s prime minister
World
> Japan > Dec 24
Japan's parliament has
confirmed Shinzo Abe for another term as prime minister after his
election victory. The lower house voted overwhelmingly for Abe with
328 votes against 73 for acting opposition leader Katsuya Okada. That
was followed by an upper house poll which officially confirmed Abe as
premier. His new cabinet remained largely unchanged except for
General Nakatani who replaced Akinori Eto as defence minister after
Eto declined reappointment in the midst of a political funding
scandal. China’s official news agency warned that Abe and his
defence minister need to tread carefully as the two of them advocate
a stronger role for Japan’s self-defence forces and the
international community should keep an eye on them. Relations between
Japan and China have been cold with China blaming Abe's provocative
nationalism, including a visit to a controversial war shrine, and
trying to conceal the truth on Japan's wartime record of enslaving
women for sex.
Cabinet
approves 100% FDI for medical devices sector
Politics
and Government >
FDI in Medical
Devices Sector > Dec 24
The Union Cabinet has
approved the liberalisation of the medical devices sector with 100
percent FDI for medical devices business. FDI will be permitted
through automatic route in the case of greenfield investment or new
venture and the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) approval is
required in the case of brownfield investment or in existing
companies. As per estimates, India imports about 70 percent of its
requirement of medical devices. The industry size in the country is
about USD 7 billion.
Medical devices include wide
range of products such as sutures, implants and surgical instruments.
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