GK for Bank Exams: Weekly Digest: 18 to 24 September 2016

What was the big news? 

Angelina Jolie files for divorce from Brad Pitt was the most viewed news of the week worldwide. Sorry, IBPS is not interested in it.

GST updates

Updates: Annual turnover limit for exemption from GST is capped at Rs. 20 lakh.

The rollout of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) from April 1, 2017.

India and France enter into contract for supply of Rafale Fighter Jets

• India entered into the contract with France to buy 36 Rafale fighter jets from French defence major Dassault Aviation.
• This is the first such deal on aircraft in last 20 years, hence important.
• The plane is capable of carrying out all combat aviation missions — air defence, interception, ground support, in-depth strikes, reconnaissance, anti-ship strikes and nuclear deterrence.
• The French Air Force will be training three IAF pilots, one engineer and six technicians. IAF personnel will also undergo training by French industrial suppliers Dassault Aviation.

SAARC Development Fund

Ahead of the SAARC 2016 Summit in Islamabad, India was working on SAARC Development Fund.

• Fund’s Secretariat in Thimphu, Bhutan
• Fund’s three funding windows: Social, Economic and Infrastructure
• Economic Window is expected to extend funding to non-infrastructural projects related to areas such as trade and industrial development and agriculture.
• Social window, the Fund is already implementing ten regional projects. The focus of most of these projects is on poverty alleviation, education; health; human resources development; support to the disadvantaged; funding needs of communities, mirco-enterprises and rural infrastructure development.
• Infrastructure Window will finance projects in areas such as energy, power, transportation, telecommunications, environment, tourism and other infrastructure sectors.

ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Company

ICICI Prudential Life Insurance’s IPO was in the news.

ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Company is a joint venture between ICICI Bank and Prudential plc, a financial services company based in the United Kingdom.

Centre notifies BS-VI emission standards

Govt. of India notified BS-VI emission standards for two-wheelers and four-wheelers. This will come into force from April 2020 throughout the country.

The union government has decided to skip the BS-V norms and move to the BS-VI norms from BS-IV being followed now.

NAM Summit in Venezuela

• 17^th Summit of Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) concluded on Venezuela’s Margarita Island
• NAM membership includes two third of the UN members.
• India is one of the founding members of NAM, which was established to take a neutral stand during the cold war.

IIMs to double the intake for PG Diplomas

Govt. told IIMs to double the intake for PG Diploma Courses.

• IIMs are public, autonomous institutes of management education and research, established first time in 1961 in Kolkata and Ahmedabad on Planning Commission recommendation.
• There are 20 IIMs in India now.

The government appointed three members to the RBI monetary policy committee 

• Monetary Policy Committee consisting of six members and headed by RBI Governor to fix the benchmark interest rates and inflation targets.
• Of the six members, three will be nominated by the government while three others will be from the Reserve Bank, including the Governor
• The Monetary Policy Committee will take decision based on the majority vote.
• Each member will have one vote but RBI Governor will get a casting vote in case of equality of votes.
• The government nominees will have a four-year term.
• The three are academics — Chetan Ghate, associate professor at Indian Statistical Institute; Pami Dua, director, Delhi School of Economics; and Ravindra H Dholakia, professor of economics at Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Ahmedabad.
• They will be joined by three Reserve Bank members, making up a total of six, with Governor Urjit Patel having a casting vote.
• The other two members are R Gandhi, deputy governor in charge of monetary policy, and executive director Michael Patra.

Manufacturing slowing in September, reveals SBI Composite Index

News: SBI Composite index revealed manufacturing industry is slowing down in September. The news is not important for IBPS exam, but IBPS may ask you about this news maker.

• The SBI Composite Index is a leading indicator of manufacturing activity in the Indian economy.
• The index will analyze data from both manufacturing and services industries to determine expansion or contraction in the economy.
• SBI publish the indicator on a monthly basis.
• This indicator will track two months in advance the possible trends in official estimates
• The SBI Composite Index will help policy makers, market participants and the like to identify the turning points in the manufacturing cycles in advance.

Mysore - the first city to be free of open defecation

Union ministry of urban development declared Mysuru the first city with 1 million people to be free of open defecation under Swachh Bharat programme.

Earlier, Union Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation has adjudged Sikkim the cleanest state in India in terms of sanitation in rural areas as per NSSO survey.  

GK for Bank Exams: Weekly Digest: 11 to 17 September 2016

Talgo train

What was the news? Talgo train completed its final trial between Delhi and Mumbai in less than 12-hours at a maximum speed of 150 km per hour while Rajdhani Express train takes around 16 hours to cover the distance.

Talgo train comprising lightweight aluminium coaches with tilting technology.

Talgo trains are supplied by Spanish firm Talgo from Spain.  It is not a made in India train. 

Indian athletes in Paralympics

Indian athletes won a total of four medals, including two golds, a silver and a bronze each.

Indians won Paralympic Medals in Rio 2016

Mariyappan Thangavelu and Varun Singh Bhati had won Gold and bronze respectively in the men's high jump.

Deepa Malik won silver in the women's shot-put.

Devendra Jhajharia won the Gold medal in the men’s javelin throw.

Government notifies GST Council

The Constitution (One Hundred and Twenty-second -122-Amendment) Bill, 2016, for introduction of Goods and Services Tax (GST) in the country was accorded assent by the President and the same has been notified as the Constitution (One Hundred and First – 101 -Amendment) Act, 2016. (Don’t get confused -21 bills fail to become act!)

• As per Article 279A (1) of the amended Constitution, the GST Council has to be constituted by the President within 60 days of the commencement of Article 279A. So the government obeyed.
• GST Council will be a joint forum of the Centre and the States

This Council shall consist of the following members namely: -

1. Union Finance Minister-Chairperson
2. The Union Minister of State, in-charge of Revenue of finance- Member
3. The Minister In-charge of finance or taxation or any other Minister nominated by each State Government- Members
4. The Chairperson of Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) will attend all the meetings but he does not have voting powers.

GST Council will decide on the tax rate, exempted goods and the threshold under the new taxation regime.

Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana launched

No exam will question you URL, but the Ujjwala Yojana is in News

• Ujjwala Yojana  is to provide LPG connections to BPL households in the country in the name of women.
• It is aimed at replacing the unclean cooking fuels mostly used in the rural India with the clean and more efficient LPG (Liquefied Petroleum Gas)

India Declares itself Free from Avian Influenza (H5N1)

Department of Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries in the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers welfare has declared India free from Avian Influenza (H5N1) from 5th September 2016.

Avian influenza (H5N1) is popularly known as bird flu.

Last outbreak was on May 9 at Humnabad, Bidar in Karnataka.

Mangalajodi to be developed into ecotourism destination

It is the second largest hotspot for birds on the northern banks of Chilika Lake in Odisha

Chilika Lake - Asia's largest brackish water lagoon and second-largest in the world after

Chilika was designated as a Ramsar site in 1981 to afford better protection and India’s 1^st wetland to be declared as Ramsar site.

The Ramsar Convention is an international treaty for the conservation and sustainable use of wetlands. It is also known as the Convention on Wetlands. Such sites are called as Ramsar Site.

National Company Law Tribunal

NCLT President Justice M M Kumar has said something good on NCLT obviously, NCLT is in news.

NCLT was constituted last month, August 2016, replacing Company Law Board (CLB) under the Companies Act, 2013,

NCLT will resolve insolvency cases of companies

The Decisions of the NCLT may be appealed to the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal.

Mormugao: Indian Navy's new 'indigenous' missile destroyer

It is a made in India missile destroyer warship built by Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Limited (MDL)

Mormugao is the second destroyer, first destroyer, INS Visakhapatnam, was launched in 2015.

Mormugao will have Barak-8 long-range missiles, high-tech surveillance systems, which have been jointly developed by Israel and India

GK for Bank Exams: Weekly Digest: 4 to 10 September 2016

G20 summit- Hangzhou (China)

Why is G20 in the News?

• Hangzhou (China) summit on 4^th and 5^th Sep 2016, Chaired by Xi Jinping (Who is he? President of China)

What is G20 or Group of Twenty?

• It is an international forum for the governments and central bank governors from 20 major economies. It was founded in 1999.

Why did they found G20?

• G 20 founded for studying, reviewing, and promoting high-level discussion of policy issues pertaining to the promotion of international financial stability. (Here is the catch, this is why it is important for banking exams)
• The members include 19 individual countries along with the European Union

Where G20 leaders going for group tour next time?

• 2017 G20 summit is in Hamburg, Germany

That is enough; banks won’t expect you to mug up the member nations. Still, if you want here it is:

Panel on changing Indian Financial Year

Sri Arun Jaitley, union Finance minister told in some press conference something on this. It came in news.

• Present Financial Year structure in India: 1^st April to 31^st March
• Proposed structure: Panel yet to report
• Who is heading the Panel? Former Chief Economic Advisor Shankar, Acharya
• Why the changes? The different financial year periods in the different part of the world and international agencies is making data comparison difficult.

 Kaveri River water dispute

It is news due to the Supreme Court direction to Karnataka to release water to Tamil Nadu and ongoing unrest in Southern Karnataka.

• The dispute is mainly between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.
• Is there a tribunal? Yes, Apart from Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and Kerala are also having the interest in the Kaveri River water.

 Sauni Yojana

Saurashtra Narmada Avtaran Irrigation Yojana (Sauni Yojana)

PM Narendra Modi inaugurated SAUNI Yojana in Rajkot.

This plan is to divert the over flowing flood water of Narmada to Saurashtra Region distributing to 115 reservoirs of eleven districts of Saurashtra

(Saurashtra - Arabian Sea coast of Gujarat state consisting of 11 districts including Rajkot District)

ASEAN

Why is it in the news?

Obama, Modi and other world leaders went to Laos for ASEAN tour after finishing their G20 – Group tour in Hangzhou, China

• Full Form: Association of Southeast Asian Nations
• Founder members:  Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand
• Membership expanded to include Brunei, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar (Burma), and Vietnam
• India is not a member of ASEAN
• Secretariat of ASEAN at Jakarta, Indonesia 

Assam's Majuli

It is the largest river island in the world, now declared as a district by Assam Cabinet. Majuli became the first island district of India.

Next big news in GST bill became Law. After ratification by the required states(50%), the President signed the bill to make it law. Let us have important points on GST in banking examination view separately.

If you find any important news of this week is omitted, kindly comment below.