Current Affairs 2011 Part 1

8/4/2019 Current Affairs 2011 Part 1

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Current Affairs 2011 - Part 1

1)Banks asked to reimburse failed ATM transactions within 7 days

Banks have to reimburse customers for amounts wrongfully debited from theiraccounts in failed ATM transactions within seven working days of an accountholder's complaint (as against 12 working days earlier) or else pay Rs.100 a daycompensation.

The RBI further said that all customers are entitled to receive such compensationfor delays only if a claim is lodged with the issuing bank within 30 days of thedate of transaction.

The directive shall be came into effect from July 1

2) Norms for overseas direct investment eased further

Only 50 % of performance guaranteesto be reckoned for financial commitmentPrior RBI approval must for overseas exposure beyond new limit

3) Cairn-Vedanta deal awaits CCEA nod..(FDI deal)

4) Ariane 5 launches GSAT-8 from French Guiana

PERFECT TWO: Ariane 5 rocket, carrying two telecommunication satellites ST-2 and GSAT-

8, takes off from its launch site in Kourou .

.( India's GSAT-8 satellite has been lofted into space aboard an Ariane 5 rocket that lifted offfrom the European launch facility in French Guiana in equatorial South America. It is the20th satellite designed and built indigenously by the Indian Space Research Organisation(ISRO) to meet this country's requirements for space capacity in communications andbroadcasting. The 3,100-kg spacecraft's 24 transponders will relay signals in radiofrequencies known as the Ku-band. These transponders will be used for Direct-To-Hometelevision broadcasts as well as to support communications using small satellite dishesknown as Very Small Aperture Terminals (VSATs). Other Indian communication satellitesthat are currently operational have about 150 transponders working in various frequencybands. That capacity needs to be augmented, given that a power glitch on the INSAT-4B

knocked out half its transponders last July. )

India conducted a successful ballistic flight test of indigenously developedAstra beyond-visual-range air-to-air missile from the Integrated Test Range at Chandipur .

The missile is envisaged to intercept and destroy enemy aircraft at supersonic speeds in thehead-on mode at a range of 80 km and in tail-chase mode at 20 km.

5) JAYALALITA, MAMATA BANERJEE, OOMMEN CHANDY, JARBOM GAMLIN(ARUNACHAL PRADESH POWER MINISTER AS CM ) AND TARUN GOGOI (3rd

TIME)(ASSAM)

6) Infosys gets a new name


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The Infosys board decided to rechristen Infosys Technologies Ltd. as Infosys Ltd.

7) Kamath to take over as Chairman of InfosysThe board of directors ofInfosys decided to appoint K. V. Kamath as the Chairman of Infosys after itsfounder N. R. Narayana Murthy steps down from his position as Chairman on

August 20 when he turns 65.

The board also decided to appoint the company's CEO and Managing Director S.Gopalakrishnan as Co-chairman of the board. Chief Operating Officer S. D.Shibulal will take over Mr. Gopalakrishnan's duties. All the appointments are totake effect from August 21. Mr. Murthy has been appointed Chairman Emeritus.

8) Rajendra Pawar new Nasscom Chairman

He succeeds Harsh Manglik. Mr. Pawar is now the Chairman and Co-founder ofNIIT Technologies.

9) 2010 Dadasaheb Phalke Award for K. Balachander

10)58th National Film Awards

Malayalam film Adaminte Makan Abu chosen as the best feature film, andVetrimaran selected as best director for Tamil film Aadukulam. The two bestactors Salim Kumar and Dhanush were selected from these two films aswell. Two women selected for the Best Actress Award Tamil actor SaranyaPonvannan for Thenmerkku Paruvakkatru and Marathi actor Mitalee JagtapParadhar-- for her performance in Baboo Band Baaja and four children

chosen for the Best Child Artist Award.

11) No Indian entry for Cannes fete

Paris: The 64th edition of the prestigious Cannes Film Festival, which opens onMay 11, will screen 49 features from 33 countries, but there is no Indian entry tocompete for the event's most coveted prize.

After a fair showing last year with Vikramaditya Motwane's Udaan, India hasagain failed to mark its presence at the festival.

In a disappointment yet again, there is no Indian entry among the 19 films thatwill compete for the Palm d'Or, festival's most coveted prize

CannesReclusive U.S. director Terrence Malick clinched the Palme d'Or at theCannes film festival for The Tree of Life

Kirsten Dunst won acting honours

12) Commonwealth Writers' Prize for Sierra Leone novelist

British-born Sierra Leonean novelist Aminatta Forna has won the 2011

Commonwealth Writers' Prize for her novel, The Memory of Love.


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13) India in Africa

The second India-Africa summit at Addis Ababa.

14) Germany to shut nuclear reactors by 2022

Merkel's nuclear U-turn driven by Fukushima disaster

BERLIN: Germany wants to shut all nuclear reactors by 2022, Chancellor AngelaMerkel's ruling coalition declared , in a policy reversal drawn up in a rush afterthe Fukushima disaster in Japan.

The coalition, sensitive to accusations it may increase dependence on highlypolluting brown coal, said it planned to cut power use by 10 per cent by 2020.

15) U.S. hits $14.3-trillion debt ceiling

The extent of U.S. borrowing was under fresh scrutiny in April 2011, whenStandard & Poor's cut its outlook on the country's AAA-rating from stable tonegative.

16) Afghanistan may join SCO

Afghanistan may join the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation as an observer atthe group's 10th jubilee summit in Astana, Kazakhstan

The SCO will also consider the applications of India and Pakistan to join as fullmembers.

India and Pakistan have observer status in the SCO along with Iran andMongolia.

The regional security group has six permanent members China, Kazakhstan,Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

SCO will be asking three of its four Observers India, Pakistan and Mongolia to join as Members; Iran, like the other three, is an Observer. But highly placedsources said its full membership is in doubt because one criteria for upgradationis that no member should have United Nations sanctions standing against it.

17) Singapore poll set for May 7

Singapore's unicameral Parliament was dissolved and the follow-up generalelection was set for May 7.

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, seeking a popular mandate to constitute thenext A-Team for Singapore, had earlier advised the President, S. R. Nathan, todissolve the House which was formed after the 2006 general election

18) Singapore's ruling party triumphs again


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Singapore's long-governing People's Action Party (PAP) won an absoluteparliamentary majority in the May 2011 elections following Saturday's generalelection.

19) U.K. referendum faces defeat

British voters were set to reject the controversial referendum, proposing aswitch from the current first-past-the-post voting system to Alternative Vote(AV) in which voters rank candidates in order of preference. It is practised onlyin three countries Australia, Fiju and Papua New Guinea.

20) Canada's Harper back with majority

21) Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Hamas leader Khaled

Mashaal

The leaders of two main Palestinian-factions, Fatah and Hamas have signed areconciliation agreement paving the way for the formation of transitionalnational unity government followed by elections.

The accord ending a four year feud between Fatah and Hamas, will be followedby preparations for the formation of an interim government.

22) China enforces first-of-its-kind law to ban smoking in public

23) Japan slashes development aid

Japan decided to cut its Official Development Assistance (ODA) during thecurrent financial year. As one of the measures designed to mobilise resources forthe massive reconstruction of areas devastated by the March 11 earthquake andtsunami, the ODA cut-back was announced with regret.

India is among the largest recipients of the Japanese ODA. In February, said theJapanese Government, in a background statement, that Japan became India'slargest aid-donor in 1986 and remains so.

Authenticated data showed that Japan's economic assistance to India in thefiscal year of 2008 was of the order 236 billion as loans, over 4 billion as

grants and nearly 12 billion in technical cooperation.

24) Thailand-Cambodia clashes continue

Cambodia's Ministry of National Defence said the apparent goal of Thailand'smilitary aggression is to take control over Tamone and Ta Krabei temples ofCambodia.

These two temples, located deep inside the Cambodian territory, are distinctfrom the border-temple of Preah Vihear.


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The internationally-adjudicated status ofPreah Vihear as a Cambodianasset and its subsequent designation as a world heritage site are widely believedto be at the heart of hostilities.

25) Iran-Saudi Arabia rift widens over Bahrain

The war of words between oil-rich Iran and Saudi Arabia is escalatingdangerously following Riyadh's military intervention in Bahrain, where a securitycrackdown against pro-democracy dissidents shows no signs of abating.

26) France wins migrants row with Italy

Paris crowed victory in its month-long immigration row with Italy when theEuropean Union's Home Affairs Commissioner declared France had a right totemporarily halt a rail link between the two countries.

Several trains carrying human rights activists and Tunisian migrants holdingthree-month residence permits issued by Italy were stopped at the border byFrench police on the grounds there was concern for public order. Frenchauthorities said the trains entering France from Italy carried hundreds of illegalTunisian migrants without valid papers or the ability to support themselves.

The Schengen zone that includes countries like Spain, France, Italy, AustriaGermany and several others allows immigrants with valid Schengen visas orresident permits to circulate freely in the Schengen zone.

Since January, Italy has seen a steady influx of Tunisian and Libyan refugeesfleeing instability in their homelands, landing on the tiny Mediterranean island ofLampedusa.

27) Winning at that age is a beauty

Los Angeles: Pop diva Jennifer Lopez has beaten off competition from youngerbeauties such as Beyonce Knowles and Anne Hathaway to be named theWorld's Most Beautiful Woman by People magazine.

28) Bharti Airtel signs pact with Comviva

Bharti Airtel said it had entered into a five-year deal with mobile software-makerComviva for providing value-added services across Airtel's operations in 16African countries.

29) Global economy to grow 4.2 %: OECD

The global economy is projected to expand by 4.2 per cent in 2011 and 4.6 % in2012, according to Paris-based Organisation for Economic Co-operation andDevelopment (OECD).

The expected growth of the world economy is much lower than the 4.9 per centrate achieved in 2010.


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The OECD is a grouping of 34 developed and developing nations that account forover 60 per cent of global economic output.

30) Stagflation generally refers to high inflation in times of weakgrowth.

31) India's growth at 8.5 %

The OECD pegged India's growth at 8.5 per cent for the current fiscal, indicatingthat economic expansion would be slower.

32) Tighter reporting norms for derivatives mooted

In order to improving transparency and avoid build-up of a financial crisis, aReserve Bank of India (RBI) panel, under the chairmanship of P.Krishnamurthy, the then Chief General Manager, suggested tighter norms for

reporting and monitoring of interest rate and foreign exchange derivatives.

The report of the Working Group set up by the RBI suggested that ClearingCorporation of India (CCIL) should be made the repository of all interest rateand foreign exchange derivative transactions

33) FIIs, MFs allowed to hedge risk in corporate bonds

RBI came out with a credit default swap (CDS) guidelines that would allowcorporate entities, including insurers, FIIs and mutual funds, to hedge riskagainst default in corporate bonds to which they subscribe, w.e.f.Oct 24.

The CDS is a risk management product which helps entities guard againstpossibility of defaults in repayment of corporate bonds.

According to the guidelines, foreign institutional investors (FIIs), banks,insurers, NBFCs, listed companies, housing finance companies, provident fundsand primary dealers can buy credit protection under the scheme.

34) Facing up to financial risks--Derivatives

Derivatives, a chief culprit behind the financial meltdown that threatened

economies, continue to account for a sum that is 10 times the world's grossdomestic product (GDP). A major $8.5 billion takeover has analysts speculatingabout a new Internet bubble. Some emerging economies are showing classicsigns of overheating, with property prices, consumer credit and bank profitshitting an all-time high.

35) Joint celebration of Tagore's 150th birth anniversary begins in Dhaka

36)Senior citizen benefit for women from June 1

From June 1, women of 58 years can travel in train with concessions given to senior citizens andmen in this category can enjoy a higher concession of 40 percent in their fare.


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The Railway budget announced a reduction in the age of women from 60 years to 58 years to

avail themselves of the concession of 50 per cent allowed to them.

Higher concessionfor men

In the case of men, the Railways have retained the minimum age at 60 years but raised theirconcession limit from 30 per cent to 40 per cent.

37) NMDC has set in motion the process for acquiring a stake in a coal minein Alabama in the U.S. and buying a gold mine in Tanzania. It is also working onsecuring 50 per cent stake in a rock phosphate asset in Australia.

The company is also planning to buy-out iron ore assets overseas. Duediligence is on for acquiring a stake in a running mine at Alabama, which hasreserves of about 70 million tonnes of coal. In addition, there is about 161million tonnes of coal within the natural zone of access of the project, NMDC

Chairman Rana Som said here.

38) Poverty : Planning Commission says that a daily expenditure of Rs.20 on essential requirements for those living in urban areas and Rs.15 for thosein the rural India was enough to keep them out of poverty.

The Commission has also prescribed a minimum intake of 2,400 calories daily tosustain oneself. This required an expenditure of at least Rs. 44 per day notincluding any expenditure on shelter, clothing, education, and transportation.

The Commission put the poverty ratio at 33 per cent of our population while theNational Advisory Council suggested 46 per cent. Both estimations, however, arewoefully short in view of the late Arjun Sengupta's estimation that 77 per centof India's population was currently surviving on less than Rs. 20 a day.

39) India for concluding package for LDCs by December under Doharound

India called for addressing specific concerns of the least-developed countries(LDCs) in the Doha round of talks and conclude negotiations on the package ofdeliverables for them by December, leaving the rest of the agenda to be taken

up later. During his interaction with the various Ministers during the informalOrganisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Ministerialhosted by Australia on World Trade Organisation (WTO) at Paris, UnionCommerce and Industry Minister [Anand Sharma] pitched for addressing theconcerns of the LDCs on priority.

40) Centre may offer subsidised loans for post-harvest activities

Till now, the interest for such activities was 11%; now it is to be reduced to 4%Proposal to enable small farmers to command a premium on their commodities


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4 per cent same as the benefit extended for pre-crop loans to buy theirinputs.

41) China retains Sudirman Cup

Qingdao: China blanked Denmark 3-0 to capture its fourth Sudirman Cup on thetrot in front of a raucous sell-out home crowd here on Sunday.

42) Oxford chair in memory of Sanjaya Lall

A visiting professorship in memory of Sanjaya Lall, regarded as one of India'spioneering development economists, will be launched at Oxford University with alecture by Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen.

43) According to the official figures released , the fiscal deficit in monetaryterms stood at Rs. 3,69,043 crore for the year ended March 2011 which works

out to 4.69 per cent of the GDP of Rs. 78,75,627 crore.

Six core industries cement, steel, crude oil, petroleum refining, coal andelectricity together account for a weight of 26.68 per cent in the IIP (Index ofIndustrial Production).

44) In a sign of growing interest in the study of Indian culture in Europeanuniversities, the Jagiellonian University at Krakow in Poland will soonestablish a Tamil Chair.

45) Blatter re-elected FIFA chief; vows clean up

Zurich: FIFA president Sepp Blatter was re-elected head of world football'sgoverning body FIFA

Trade and Economic Relations Committee (TERC) free trade agreement (FTA)Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) World Trade Organization (WTO).

Common Market of Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA).

46) recent entry of women into Kolhapur's Mahalakshmi temple

47) Outgoing Chairman of Infosys Technologies -N. R. Narayana Murthyhis successor- K. V. Kamath

The board of directors of Infosys decided to appoint K. V. Kamath as theChairman of Infosys after its founder N. R. Narayana Murthy steps down fromhis position as Chairman on August 20 when he turns 65. The top leadership ofthe company addressed a crowded media conference and stressed that thecompany has opted for change, while seeking to maintain a degree of continuity.

The board also decided to appoint the company's CEO and Managing Director S.Gopalakrishnan as Co-chairman of the board. Chief Operating Officer S. D.

Shibulal will take over Mr. Gopalakrishnan's duties. All the appointments are totake effect from August 21. Mr. Murthy has been appointed Chairman Emeritus.


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48) Infosys born again

The Infosys board decided to rechristen Infosys Technologies Ltd. as InfosysLtd.

49) Maldivians protest currency devaluation

Maldivian currency, the Rifiya, to float in a 20 per cent band which, in effect,devalued it by 20 per cent. Maldives imports all its essentials and fuels and themove has hit citizens hard.

Salim Durrani became the 18th cricketer to be named for the C.K. NayuduLifetime Achievement award by the BCCI.

50) EPF Interest rate for 2010-11 = 9.5 %

51)India abstained from voting in UN resolution. Without consulting each otherintimately, India and China adopted largely similar stands while abstaining from the

United Nations Security Council resolution on approving a no-fly-zone over Libya.

52)India and other members of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) had

unanimously slapped tough sanctions on the Moammar Gaddafi regime in Libya.

53)Stung by the misery tax remark by the health care industry and in

deference to widespread criticism in and outside Parliament, Union

Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee withdrew the five per cent service

tax on hospitals and diagnostic centres. He also gave excise duty

relief on branded garments to small-scale industries .

54)The State ofOrissa will now be called Odisha and the Oriya language Odia55)Financial Sector Legislative Reforms Commission (FSLRC) constituted under

the chairmanship of former Justice B. N. Srikrishna to rewrite and harmonise

financial sector legislations, rules and regulations.

56) Pollution trade and cap scheme launchedInitially, it will cover 1,000 industries in 3 States

With the World Bank loosening its purse strings to the tune of $0.5 million, India launched its

first pollution cap and trade scheme .

The pilot scheme will cover air pollution caused by 1,000 industries in Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra

and Gujarat, and could have a significant impact on public health.

The scheme involves capping the total pollution by these industries, issuing permits to each

industry on how much pollution it can individually emit in the air, and then allowing them to buy

and sell those permits. This means cleaner units will make a profit by selling permits, while

polluting ones will have to shell out money to meet the standard. Essentially, the scheme allows

the market to regulate pollution rather than sending out an army of government regulators to do

the job.


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This scheme covers only particulate matter tiny particles of smoke, dust and industrial

emissions that hang in the air, causing air pollution and health woes. But the same technical

details could later be expanded to include greenhouse gas emissions that impact climate change.

A programme to monitor pollution on a real-time online basis is the first step that could be rolled

out by year-end, and will be complete in the next 18 months.

Trading could begin in early 2012.

57)The tiger census counts 1,706; finds 12 per cent growth

India's wild tiger population has grown 12 per cent in the last four years.

According to the 2010 tiger census, there are approximately 1,706 of the big cats in the country,

The largest number of tigers lives in Karnataka about 280

58)National Health Research Policy finalised

To overcome the weaknesses of the publicly funded health structures that restricted research in priority

health areas, the Union Health and Family Planning Ministry has finalised the National Health Research

Policy. It would maximise the returns on investments in health research through creation of a health

research system to prioritise, coordinate and facilitate conduct of effective and ethical research and its

translation into products, policies and programmes aimed at improving health especially of the

vulnerable population. It proposes to ensure at least two per cent of the national health funding is

utilised for research.

The Policy envisages creation of an overarching National Health Research Management Forum

59)Cambodia and Thailand are fighting over Tamone and Ta Krabei temples of Cambodia.

The internationally-adjudicated status of Preah Vihear as a Cambodian asset and its subsequent

designation as a world heritage site are widely believed to be at the heart of hostilities.

60)Illinois became the 16th State of the United States to abolish the death penalty .

61) Yemeni President Mr.Ali Abdullah Saleh sacks his government.62) Kazakhstans president Mr. Nursultan Nazarbayev is relected for

another 5 year term


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Current Affairs 2011 Part 1

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