Current Affairs of 30 November 1. RBI issued final guidelines for the Bharat Bill Payment System The Reserve Bank of India issued final guidelines for the Bharat Bill Payment System (BBPS). The system will help consumers pay multiple bills like electricity, telephone and school fees at a single point of transaction. The BBPS is an integrated bill payment system offering inter-operable and accessible bill payment service to customers through a network of agents, enabling multiple payment modes, and providing instant confirmation of payment. The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) will function as the authorised Bharat Bill Payment Central Unit (BBPCU) to set the standards for BBPS processes which need to be adhered to by all operating units (Bharat Bill Payment Operating Units - BBPOUs) under the system. The apex bank has set a 100 crore rupees net worth and domestic registration as qualifying conditions for those seeking to be authorised collection agents. 2. Mauritius emerging as largest FDI source, clocks $4 bn inflows Mauritius is again emerging as the largest source of foreign direct investment (FDI) in India, accounting for an inflow of $4.19 billion in the April-September period. According to official data, the inflow of foreign investment from Singapore amounted to $2.41 billion, followed by the Netherlands at $1.95 billion and USA $1.19 billion during the six-month period. Investments from the UK were at $842 million till September. In 2013-14, Singapore had pipped Mauritius as the largest source of FDI in India, accounting for about 25 per cent of total FDI inflows in the fiscal. During the last financial year, India attracted $5.98 billion in FDI from Singapore and $4.85 billion from Mauritius. The third country from where FDI inflow was high was the UK at $3.21 billion, followed by the Netherlands at $2.27 billion. 3. Modi slips to second spot in Time’s ‘Person of the Year’ poll Prime Minister Narendra Modi has slipped to the second place in Time magazine’s ‘Person of the Year’ poll with the Ferguson protesters surging ahead of him in a vote by the readers. According to the latest reports, Modi is leading second with 9.8 per cent of the total votes polled so far, while the Ferguson protesters are leading with 10.8 per cent of the votes. Joshua Wong, face of the Hong Kong pro-democracy movement, is placed third. Nobel Peace prize winner Malala Yousafzai (5.3 per cent) and Russian President Vladimir Putin are placed fourth and fifth respectively. US President Barack Obama is placed at a distant 11th position with just 2.4 per cent of the total votes. The annual poll, which is currently underway, is scheduled to end on December 6 and the poll’s winner will be announced on December 8. However, it is the Time’s editors who will choose the Person of the Year, which is scheduled to be announced on December 10. 4. ItzCash to apply for Payments Bank licence, says MD Surya ItzCash, a prepaid payments solution provider, will apply to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for a payments bank licence, its Managing Director Naveen Surya has said. We will definitely apply for a Payments bank licence, Surya said when asked if ItzCash Cards Ltd will participate in the process. The Reserve Bank of India had last Thursday issued guidelines for two new types of banks--Payments bank and Small finance banks. The objective of allowing these two categories of banks is to provide basic banking facilities to millions of unbanked citizens. A Payments Bank will offer small savings account where people can deposit up to Rs. 1 lakh . It cannot however lend money or issue credit cards. The RBI will accept applications for payments bank till January 16. The minimum paid-up capital for a payment bank has been pegged at Rs. 100 crore. 5. Planning Commission replacement likely in December Work has moved into top gear for finalising the name and structure for the new institution that will replace the 64-year old Planning Commission and the same may be unveiled this December. “The Prime Minister has convened a meeting of the Chief Ministers on December 7 to seek their view points on the structure of the institution which would ultimately replace the Planning Commission,” an official source said. The Commission has received many suggestions regarding the name and role of the new body. Some of the suggested names are Sustainable Development Commission, National Development Agency, Social Economic Development Commission or Bharat Pragati Lakshya. Besides, there have been reports about the new body being named as Niti Aayog or Policy Commission. The new institution, which is likely to be headed by the Prime Minister as was the case in Planning Commission, may have four divisions – Inter-state council, plan evaluation office, UIDAI and DBT. All the divisions would have experts from the Centre and state governments as also experts from the industry. The Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) Mission earlier was part the Planning Commission but was moved to the Finance Ministry later. 6. RBI eased gold imports & scrapped 80: 20 scheme The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) eased gold imports and scrapped 20:80 scheme. The decision to withdraw the 20:80 scheme will cut smuggling of gold and raise legal shipments into India. In 2013, the 20:80 scheme was introduced to bring down inbound shipments, sliding rupee and to combat a huge current account deficit (CAD) along with a hike in import duty to 10 percent. Under the scheme, 20 percent of the imported gold had to be mandatorily exported as finished products like jewellery. Initially only public sector firms and banks were allowed to import gold and later in May 2014 these rules were slightly eased to star and premier export houses. 7. Major General Gadi Eizenkot appointed as 21st Chief of Staff of the Israel Defence Forces Major General Gadi Eizenkot was appointed as the 21st Chief of Staff of the Israel Defence Forces (IDF). Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met Eizenkot confirmed his appointment. The Prime Minister and his Cabinet are involved in the selection process of the IDF Chief of Staff. The appointment of Eizenkot was delayed because of Netanyahus foot- dragging. He succeeded Lt Gen Benny Gantz. He is the current chief of staff of the Israel Defence Forces (IDF). 8. Book titled Letters for a Nation written by Jawaharlal Nehru & Madhav Khosla Book titled Letters for a Nation written by Jawaharlal Nehru & Madhav Khosla was published by Allen Lane an imprint of Penguin Books . The book contains Jawaharlal Nehru letters as Prime Minister of India to the heads of the country’s provincial governments which he kept a tradition till 1963. 9. Former Israel cricket team captain dies after being hit by ball Israeli cricket team’s former captain and an international umpire died after being hit by a ball in the chest during a local match in coastal city of Ashdod, days after tragic death of a promising Australian player in similar circumstances. According to spectators, 55-year-old Hillel Oscar collapsed after being struck in his upper body by the ball. He was evacuated to Barzilai Medical Center in Asheklon where he succumbed to his injuries yesterday. Australian batsman Philip Hughes died last week after being hit by a ball in the neck during a provincial match. 10. Cricket Fans across the world paid tribute to Hughes with # putoutyourbats campaign Cricketing fraternity as well as cricket fans paid their tribute to 25-year-old Australian cricketer Phillip Hughes on twitter by using hashtags #putoutyourbats. Players and fans have posted pictures of bats as mark of respect for the Phillip. The campaign was started by a Sydney cricket fan Paul D. Taylor. In the campaign people across the world have placed a bat and cricket cap by their front door as a mark of respect to Phillip Hughes. 11. Sindhu defends Macau Open title Two-time World Championship bronze medallist P.V. Sindhu lifted her first title of the season by successfully defending the $120,000 Macau Grand Prix Gold trophy after seeing off Kim Hyo Min of Korea in the women’s singles finals, in Macau on Sunday. World No. 11 Sindhu prevailed over 91st-ranked, Kim 21-12 21-17 in the summit clash that lasted 45 minutes at the Tap Seac Multisport Pavilion in Macau. The bronze-medallist at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games, Sindhu faced tough competition from Kim, who had come into the finals after beating seventh seed Chinese Yu Sun but the experienced Indian held her nerves to stave off the challenge from the Korean.
Posted on: Sun, 30 Nov 2014 13:24:26 +0000
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