CURRENT AFFAIRS : 20th NOVEMBER 2013 1. Obama nominates Vivek Murthy for Surgeon General i. US President Barack Obama has nominated Indian-American Vivek Murthy for the post of Surgeon General, which a top American lawmaker described as a historic moment for the community across the country. ii. While Obama had announced his intent to nominate Boston-based Dr Murthy for Surgeon General last week, he has now sent in his formal notification to the US Senate, the White House said on Monday. iii. If confirmed, Murthy would not only be the first-ever Indian-American to occupy this post but also the youngest ever Surgeon General of the country. iv. The surgeon general serves a four-year term and is the administrations top official on public health issues. v. The surgeon general serves a four-year term and is the administrations top official on public health issues. vi. Indian-Americans have made many important contributions to American society, including in the medical field, and it is great to see another well-qualified leader rise in government, Crowley said in a statement. 2. Reserve Bank of India extended a refinance window of 5000 crore for the MSME i. The Reserve Bank of India on 18 November 2013 opened a 5000 crore rupees refinance window for MSME sector, for a period of one year to ease the liquidity. ii. The view of easing the liquidity stress to the Micro and Small Enterprises sector was taken by the RBI to provide refinance to the small Industrial Development Bank of India. iii. Basically the Micro and Small Enterprises sector is employment intensive and contributes significantly to exports. At present, the slowdown in the economy has resulted in the liquidity tightness in the MSEs in the manufacturing and services sector raising the need of liquidity support. iv. The availability of the refinance facility will be till 13 November 2014 3. RBI Directed Public Sector Banks to give loans to women SHGs at 7 percent i. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on 19 November 2013 directed Public Sector Banks (PSBs) to provide loans to women self-help groups (SHGs) at 7 per cent per annum to avail the benefit of interest rate subvention scheme under the Swarnajayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana-Aajeevika (SGSY) scheme. Salient features of RBI Notification 1.All women SHGs will be eligible for interest subvention to avail the credit upto 3 lakh Rupees at 7 per cent per annum. 2.PSBs will be subvented to the extent of difference between the Weighted Average Interest charged and 7 per cent subject to the maximum limit of 5.5 per cent, for the FY-2014. 3.This subvention will be available to all the PSBs on the condition that they make SHG credit available at 7 per cent in the 150 districts. 4.The Regional Rural Banks (RRBs) will be subvented to the extent of difference between the lending rates and 7 per cent for the FY-2014 on the condition they make SHG credit available at 7 per cent. 5.SHGs will be given an additional 3 per cent subvention on prompt repayment of loan. Swarnajayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana-Aajeevika (SGSY) is an initiative by the government to provide sustainable income to poor people living in rural areas of the country. About Interest Rate subvention concept Interest Rate subvention is a subsidy of interest given by Government to certain sectors like Textiles, Agriculture etc. For eg. Textile Company borrows from Bank at 10 percent and Government gives subvention of 2 percent. Hence net bank takes interest from textiles companies 8 percent. Other sectors have to pay 10 percent to the bank. 4. IFC launches Rs 1,000 cr global rupee bond issue i. IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, on Wednesday issued a Rs 1,000 crore (approximately $160 million) global Indian rupee bond of three years maturity. ii. The bond is IFC’s first rupee issuance, and the first bond issued under its $1 billion offshore rupee bond programme. iii. The issuance is to strengthen India’s capital markets and attract greater foreign investment in a time of renewed economic uncertainty across the world, IFC said in a statement. iv. The maturity date of the bond is December 3, 2016, and it carries a coupon of 7.75 per cent. v. The three-year benchmark bond is offered and settled in US dollars. The initial subscription and principal and coupon payments are in US dollars, with all amounts tied to the US dollar-rupee exchange rate. vi. IFC will convert bond proceeds from dollars into rupees on the domestic spot exchange market, and use the rupees to finance private sector investment in the country. 5. UN to Myanmar: Make Rohingya Muslims citizens i. The General Assemblys human rights committee passed a resolution on Tuesday urging Myanmar to give the stateless Rohingya minority equal access to citizenship and to crack down on Buddhist violence against them and other Muslims in the Southeast Asian nation. ii. The resolution passed the committee by consensus, meaning under General Assembly rules the body will unanimously pass it later this year. iii. Myanmar emerged from a half-century of military rule in 2011, but its transition to democracy has been marred by sectarian violence that has left more than 240 people dead and sent another 240,000 fleeing their homes, most of them Rohingya. iv. In 1982, Myanmar passed a citizenship law recognizing eight races and 130 minority groups but omitted the nations 800,000 Rohingya, among Myanmars 60 million people. v. Many Myanmar Buddhists view the Rohingya as interlopers brought in by British colonialists from modern-day Bangladesh, but many Rohingya say they have lived in the country once known as Burma for hundreds of years. 6. Anjolie Ela Menon awarded with Dayawati Modi Award i. Anjolie Ela Menon, a contemporary artist was awarded with Dayawati Modi Award for Art and Culture and Education by Dayawati Foundation on 19 November 2013. ii. The award comprised of a cash price of 2.51 lakh rupees, a silver shield and a scroll of hounour. It was presented to her by the Minister of state for Prime Minister Office, Department of personnel and Training, Government of India. About Anjolie Ela Menon • Anjolie Ela Menon was born in 1940 in India • She is one the leading contemporary female artist and well known muralist • She held a solo exhibition with fifty-three variety style at age of 18 • She was awarded Padma Shree in 2000 • Most recently a major work yatra was acquired by the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, California. 7. MCX, Dalian Commodity Exchange tie up i. Multi Commodity Exchange (MCX) and the People’s Republic of China-based Dalian Commodity Exchange (DCE) have signed a memorandum of understanding to boost co-operation. ii. The agreement is designed to facilitate potential collaboration in areas such as knowledge-sharing, research and price risk management. iii. The move will also foster the development of communication channels for the sharing of information between the exchanges, MCX said in a press statement. iv. P.K. Singhal, Deputy Managing Director of MCX, said: “As China and India are among the top commodity consuming and producing countries, this alliance will help in bringing more mutually beneficial opportunities that would eventually result in creating more efficient markets.” 8. Indonesia halts military cooperation with Australia i. Indonesia has temporarily halted its military and intelligence cooperation with Australia over the latters wiretapping of Indonesian leaders. ii. Besides notifying people that Indonesia has submitted its official query to Australia about the wiretapping issue, President Yudhoyono ordered a stop to several forms of joint military drills with Australia in all forces that include the navy, the army and the air force, Xinhua reported. iii. Indonesia previously lodged a strong protest against Australia and the US following reports by Australian and German media that the two countries have been using their embassies in Jakarta to extract intelligence information with enhanced wiretapping facilities set up in their embassies 9. IFFI kicks off in Goa tomorrow i. The 44th edition of International Film Festival of India (IFFI) that kicks off tomorrow here will screen 15 Oscar-nominated films from across the world. ii. The film festival director Shankar Mohan said that since 2011, the films that have won award in IFFI competition section go on to win the Academy award and mentioned the example of Life of Pi. iii. Veteran actress Waheeda Rehman will be conferred the inaugural Centenary Award for Indian Film Personality of the Year at the festival. iv. The lifetime achievement award will be given to Czech filmmaker Jiri Menzel during the inauguration tomorrow. v. Hollywood actress Susan Sarandon will be the chief guest at the inaugural function, which will be attended by Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Manish Tewari, veteran actors, including Kamal Haasan and Rekha, singer Asha Bhonsle and Iranian filmmaker Majid Majidi. 10. India and Russia decided to held a Joint Air Force Exercise in 2014 i. India and Russia on 18 November 2013 agreed to expand the range of strategic partnership in a significant manner in Moscow. ii. The two countries will also hold a Joint Air Force Level exercise for the first time in 2014. iii. This decision was taken by the two countries within two days after commissioning of INS Vikramadatya into Indian Navy. iv. This decision was taken by the two countries within two days after commissioning of INS Vikramadatya into Indian Navy. 11. Last Chance for Anand to defend title in World Chess Cship i. With four games to go, defending champion Viswanathan Anand will probably have one last chance in the ninth game to defend his title against challenger Magnus Carlsen of Norway in the ongoing World Chess Championship in Chennai on Thursday. ii. With eight games gone, Anand is down but still not out. Its a two-game deficit for the Indian ace and the ninth game would decide the course of the match as Anand plays white tomorrow. iii. Carlsen has been the pick between the two and he appears completely relax with his 5-3 lead. iv. Its a now or never situation for Anand as he has just two white games left. v. A victory in the ninth game will reduce the deficit to just one point and can unsettle Carlsen who is playing his first serious match. vi. After four draws and two losses, the situation has brewed up before Anand can go for his comeback act. The last two games were the easiest draws that he could have hoped for. 12. SPMCIL conferred with Engineering Excellence Award 2013 i. Engineering Excellence Award 2013 was conferred on the Security Printing and Minting Corporation of India Limited (SPMCIL), a Public Sector Unit under the Ministry of Finance, and Government of India on 19 November 2013. ii. The award was given by Engineering Watch at SCOPE Convention Centre in Delhi. iii. The second Best Engineering Marvel for Project Innovativeness was conferred on Modernisation of Ink Factory Project at Bank Note Press, Dewas. Indigenisation of Bank Note Paper production at Security Paper Mill, Hoshangabad and Modernisation of Bank Note Press, Dewas have been awarded under the Special Mention Category. About Security Printing and Minting Corporation of India Limited i. Security Printing and Minting Corporation of India Limited (SPMCIL) was formed after corporatization of nine units including four mints, four presses and one paper mill, which were earlier functioning under the Ministry of Finance. ii. The Company was incorporated on 13 January 2006 under the Companies Act, 1956 with its headquarters at New Delhi. SPMCIL is a Miniratna Category-I CPSE, and wholly owned Schedule ‘A’ Company of Government of India. iii. It is engaged in the manufacture of security paper, minting of coins, printing of currency and bank notes, non-judicial stamp papers, postage stamps, travel documents and others.
Posted on: Wed, 20 Nov 2013 14:40:40 +0000
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