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.  

No change in Small Saving Schemes interest rates for Q2 FY 2016-17

Government had decided to set the interest rate of Small Saving Schemes every quarter from FY 2016-17. Accordingly the interest rate of Small Saving Schemes for quarter 2 of FY 2016-17 is now announced. There is no change interest rates for the quarter 2 of financial year 2016-17. Sukanya Samriddhi and Senior Citizen Saving Schemes will fetch the highest rate of interest at 8.6% per annum followed by 5 year National Saving Certificates and Public Providend Funds at 8.1% per annum.

Instrument	Rate of interest w.e.f. 01.04.2016 to 30.6.2016	Rate of interest w.e.f. 01.07.2016 to 30.9.2016	Compounding frequency
Savings Deposit	4.0	4.0	Annual
1 Year Time Deposit	7.1	7.1	Quarterly
2 Year Time Deposit	7.2	7.2	Quarterly
3 Year Time Deposit	7.4	7.4	Quarterly
5 Year Time Deposit	7.9	7.9	Quarterly
5 Year Recurring Deposit	7.4	7.4	Quarterly
5 Year Senior Citizens Savings Scheme	8.6	8.6	Quarterly and paid
5 year Monthly Income Account Scheme	7.8	7.8	Monthly and paid
5 Year National Savings Certificate	8.1	8.1	Annual
Public Provident Fund Scheme	8.1	8.1	Annual
KisanVikasPatra	7.8 (will mature in 110 months)	7.8 (will mature in 110 months)	Annual
SukanyaSamriddhi Account Scheme	8.6	8.6	Annual

RBI Governor's power to decide monetary policy rates clipped

RBI decides the monetary rates to control the inflation. RBI governor had the final say it this matter till date. He was assisted by RBI’s Monetary Policy Department and Technical Advisory Committee, but he was not bound to take decisions based on this advice.

But the recently passed Finance Bill 2016 a.k.a Union Budget 2016 which also included an amendment to the RBI Act clipping the central bank governor’s powers to set monetary policy.

A six-member Monetary Policy Committee will be formed for this purpose. The committee will three members nominated by the government(other than any government officials) and three members from RBI.  The RBI Governor will chair the committee. Decisions will be taken by majority vote with each member having a vote. The governor, however, will not enjoy a veto power to override the other panel members, but can cast a vote in case of a tie. The members of the committee will be appointed for 4 years without a provision for reappointment.

Search-cum-Selection Committee under Cabinet Secretary, along with RBI Governor, Economic Affairs Secretary and three experts in the field of economics or banking or finance or monetary policy as its members will select the government nominees to the Monetary Policy Committee.

Monetary Policy Committee will set interest rates to keep retail inflation within targets which is set by the government every five years.

Get ready to be a PO in SBI: Notification for 2200 vacancies out

A great news for those who are preparing for Bank PO Exams. India's biggest bank has notified for the recruitment of 2200 Probationary Officer posts.

Online registration starts from 04-05-2016 and will be open till 24-05-2016. Call letters can be downloaded from 14-06-2016 for the preliminary examination that are being held on 2nd, 3rd, 9th and 10 July 2016. Result of this test will be declared within 8 days, that is on 18-06-2016. Main exam will be held on 31-07-2016. You can expect your result on 30-09-2016, on the same day SBI's Chairman Arundhati Bhattaharya is getting retired. 

Detailed notification can be downloaded here

SBI has not given you any leisure time. This could be the fastest PO recruitment drive in the history of SBI. Start the final preparation now. All the best. 

For the changed examination pattern read my article 

SBI PO exam pattern has changed

SBI has brought some major changes in the PO examination this year. Though the notification for the recruitment is not yet announced, the changes in the PO Mains Examination is announced on their website. 

There will be 3 phase process as earlier. Preliminary Examination will be a screening test and there are no changes in the test. But the mains exam has got a significant modification with sectional cut-off timings.

Phase-I: Preliminary Examination:

Sr.No.	Name of test	No. of Questions	Marks	Duration
1	English Language	30	30	Composite Time of 1 hour
2	Quantitative Aptitude	35	35
3	Reasoning Ability	35	35
	Total	100	100

Phase - II: Main Examination

Main Examination will consist of Objective Tests for 200 marks and Descriptive Test for 25 marks. Both the Objective and Descriptive Tests will be online. Candidates will have to answer Descriptive test by typing on the computer, that means you need to know typing an essay and a letter, not writing them using pen and paper. (So I don't need to face the questions on blue ink pen or black  ink pen) Immediately after completion of Objective Test, Descriptive Test to be answered.

The objective test of 3 hours duration consists of 4 Sections with 155 questions for total 200 marks. The objective test will have separate timing for every section (Note this change). The candidates are required to qualify in each of the Tests by securing passing marks, as decided by the Bank.

Sl. No	Name of the test	No. of Qs	Max. Marks	Duration
1	Reasoning and Computer Aptitude	45	60	60 minutes
2	Data Analysis and Interpretation	35	60	45 minutes
3	General Awareness about Economy/ Banking	40	40	35 minutes
4	English Language	35	40	40 minutes

These sectional timings are reasonable and most of the candidates will be attempting with same timing even if there were no such sectional timings. Hence, this should not bother a prepared candidate.

Descriptive Test: The Descriptive Test of 30 minutes duration with 25 marks will be a Test of English Language (Letter Writing and Essay). You need to type them. If you are dependent on others to apply for the examinations due to your poor typing skills, please join a typing class before joining PO coaching class.

Phase - III: Group Discussion and Interview:  Pradhan Mantri no interview yojana is applicable only to clerical recruitments. Hence, get ready for a group discussion (20 Marks) and interview (30 marks) with combined marks of 50. Final selections will be based on your score in Phase II and Phase III.

Number of Attempts: General candidates will have 4 chances, PBC, PWD and will have 7 chances and for SC/ST there will be no cap on maximum attempts. The number of chances will be counted from the examination held on 18.04.2010. If you had appeared before 2010, no need to count those attempts. Appearing in Preliminary Examination will not be counted as a chance.

Prepare well. All the best.