Sunday 10 January 2016

Current affairs 06 - January - 2016

1)  The Union cabinet has given its ex-post-facto approval to Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Bangladesh for Mode of Operation of Border haats on India-Bangladesh Border signed in 2010. The MoU also seeks to establish new Border Haats along the border after identification of suitable locations in consultation with Bangladesh Government and concerned State Governments.
2)  Senior United Nations (UN) official Filippo Grandi from Italy has taken the charge as new UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). He succeeds Antonio Guterres of Portugal who has retired after heading the Refugee Agency for one decade. He will have tenure of five years.
3)  The Union Government has launched Ganga Gram Yojana to develop 1600 villages in Uttar Pradesh (UP) situated along the banks of Ganga River. The scheme was launched by the Union Minister of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation Uma Bharti at Puth village in Hapur district of UP.
4)  Andhra Bank has launched Immediate Payment Service (IMPS) at all its branches across the country to provide inter-bank electronic fund transfer service. The customer-friendly service was launched by Andhra Bank in association with the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI). It also supports real time instant fund transfer system for inter-bank remittances. However the maximum caps of transaction of remittances will 2 lakh rupees and the charges will be at the rate of Rs.5 per transaction.
5)  Sri Lanka and Pakistan have agreed to expand their bilateral free trade agreement (FTA) by inclusion of services and investment. Statement in this regard was made by Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif during his official visit to Sri Lanka. The expansion of FTA would help companies of the two nations to form joint ventures (JV) for exports to other nations. Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s official trip  to Sri Lanka comes after eight months of President Sirisena’s visit to Pakistan in April 2015.
6)  Reliance Capital Asset Management (RCAM) has received nod from Competition Commission of India (CCI) to acquire Goldman Sachs’s mutual funds and exchange-traded funds business in India. This approval comes after the boards of both the companies had approved the acquisition transaction. Now RCAM needs to get final nod of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) to complete the takeover. Under the acquisition deal, RCAM will acquire all 12 onshore mutual fund schemes of Goldman Sachs Asset Management (GSAM) India with total asset under management of 7132 crore rupees. US based Goldman Sachs had entered the Indian mutual fund industry in 2011 with acquisition of Benchmark Mutual Fund for 120 crore rupees.
7)  The Union Government has abolished export duty on iron ore pellets in order to make the commodity more competitive amid weakening prices due to subdued demand. In this regard Central Board of Excise and Custom (CBEC) has issued a notification mentioning that export duty on iron ore pellets has been reduced to zero from 5 per cent. This decision will help improve capacity utilisation of pellet plants and give a necessary boost to the sector. Earlier in 2014, Union Government had levied a 5 per cent export duty on iron ore pellets. Iron ore pellets are value-added products of leftover material or low-grade iron ore and are mainly used in steel-making industry.
8)  15-year-old cricketer Pranav Dhanawade created a world record by scoring 1009 runs (not out) in HT Bhandari Cup, an under-16 inter-school tournament held in Mumbai (Maharashtra). With this, he also has broken a century-old cricketing record becoming the first batsman to score 1000-plus runs in an innings in any form of cricket.

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