Daily Current affair 20th November 2013

Venezuela President Nicolas Maduro got Special Powers....

Nicolas Maduro, the President of Venezuela on 19 November 2013 got the final approval to special powers by Venezuela National Assembly. Because of this approval, Maduro will be able to govern without consulting the congress for 12 years.

The new powers assigned to the power will help him to tackle corruption and the economic crisis of the country. Presently, Venezuela is facing the shortages of food and other essential goods, power cuts and inflation about 54 percent.

As the economic sabotage activity, the retailers of the country have been forced to slash the prices up to 60 percent. Strict controls over the sale of the foreign currency have been introduced by the government to control the growing black market of dollars.

 

India and Russia decided to held a Joint Air Force Exercise in 2014.....

India and Russia on 18 November 2013 agreed to expand the range of strategic partnership in a significant manner in Moscow. The two countries will also hold a Joint Air Force Level exercise for the first time in 2014.

The decision was taken during the 13th Meeting of the India–Russia Inter-Governmental Commission on Military Technical Cooperation (IRITC-MTC) and it was co chaired by AK Antony, the Defence Minister of India and His counterpart of Russia, Sergey Shoigu. This decision was taken by the two countries within two days after commissioning of INS Vikramadatya into Indian Navy.

The Agreements 

• The two countries agreed to hold a joint Air Force level exercise for the first time, which will happen in 2014 with a joint Navy Exercise in the Peter the Great Bay in the Sea of Japan. Recently, the armies of the two countries held an Exercise Indra in Rajasthan with a focus on anti-terrorism.
• Agreement was reached between the two ministers on further cooperation at all levels, especially in view of the regional and global challenges and to fight the menace of terrorism jointly. Both sides reviewed the situation in West Asia, especially in Syria and the evolving paradigm in Afghanistan.
• The two sides also agreed on to expand the cooperation not only in product design and development but also to involve various echelons of the Defence establishments in strategizing policies and cooperation in the fast changing global security scenario.

The Indian delegation in Russia also laid a wreath at the World War-II memorial at Poklonnaya Gora (Bow-Down Hill) of the Victory Park. A ceremonial guard of honour was also presented. Shoigu has also assured to India that the Indian pilots will be trained by the Naval Aviation Specialists to take offs and landing on the INS Vikramaditya, which may be held in Goa

 

Lionel Messi awarded third Golden Shoe.....

Lionel Messi, the Barcelonan forward footballer on 20 November 2013 won the Golden Shoe award. Messi won the award in recognition of his 46 goals in 32 leagues appearances in the Europe’s domestic football league in the 2012-13 season.

This is the third Golden Shoe award of Messi and with this win he became the first footballer win the show three times. Earlier Messi won the award in 2009-10 for 34 goals and a Spanish record 50 in 2011-12.

About Lionel Messi
Lionel Andres Messi (26) is an Argentine Footballer and a captain to the national team of Argentina. At present he plays for FC Barcelona in Spain. He is the fourth footballer to win 3 Ballons d’Or. He is the second player to win three Ballon’s d’Or consecutively after Michele Platini.

 

Bharatiya Mahila Bank launched by Prime Minister of India....

Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh and UPA Chairperson, Sonia Gandhi Jointly inaugurated India’s first all-women bank, Bharatiya Mahila Bank in Mumbai on 19 November 2013,marking the birth anniversary of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.

The main objectives of the bank will be to focus on the banking needs of women and to promote their economic empowerment. The bank will commence operations with an initial capital of one thousand crore rupees.

The Union Government on 12 November 2013 appointed Usha Ananthasubramanian as the first chairperson and managing director of public sector Bharatiya Mahila Bank (BMB).

About Bharatiya Mahila Bank

1.The Mahila bank aims to service women and women-run businesses, support women’s self-help groups and their livelihoods and promote further financial inclusion.
2.An only-for-women bank first time in India.
3.Bhartiya Mahila Bank will be a universal bank and will provide every banking service and facility that is provided by comparable Public and Private sector banks. It will establish branches all over the country and, in due course, some branches in abroad.
4.The Union Cabinet cleared the proposal for setting up of all-women bank on August 2013.
5.The Reserve Bank of India gave its in-principal approval for the Bharatiya Mahila Bank in June 2013 and the banking company was set up.
6.The Union government approved 1000 crore Rupees seed capital for the women-focused public sector bank, announced by Union finance minister P. Chidambaram in his 2013-14 budget speech.

 

SPMCIL conferred with Engineering Excellence Award 2013 ....

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. The award was given by Engineering Watch at SCOPE Convention Centre in Delhi.

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.

Security Printing and Minting Corporation of India Limited

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. 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. 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.

 

UN urged Myanmar to grant Rights to Rohingya Muslims .....

The UN General Assembly’s human rights committee on 19 November 2013 passed a resolution urging Myanmar to give the stateless Rohingya minority equal access to citizenship. The committee also asked Myanmar to crack down on violence against them and other Muslims in Myanmar.

The resolution also expressed "concern about remaining human rights violations, including arbitrary arrests and detentions of political activists and human rights defenders, forced displacement, land confiscations, rape and other forms of sexual violence and torture and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment."

In the resolution, the 193-nation committee reiterated its serious concern about communal violence and other abuses of the Rohingya minority in Rakhine State of Myanmar. The UN resolution, which will move to the full UN General Assembly, acknowledged "the scale of the reform effort undertaken" so far in Myanmar.

Background

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 240000 fleeing their homes, most of them Rohingya Muslims.

In 1982, Myanmar passed a citizenship law recognising eight races and 130 minority groups — but omitted the nation’s 800000 Rohingya, among Myanmar’s 60 million people.

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.

 

Government approved twenty proposals of Foreign Direct Investment .....

The Government of India on 19 November 2013 approved 20 proposals of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) amounting 915.83 crore rupees on the recommendation of Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB). The FIPB hold a meeting in regard of the FDI on 24 October 2013.

The FIPB has sent a proposal of M/s Federal Bank Ltd., Kerala, amounting to 1400crore rupees for consideration to the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA).

The 20 proposals that have been approved are:

Sl. No.	Name of the applicant	Particulars of the proposal	FDI/NRI inflows (Rs. in crore)
1.	M/s Castleton Investment Ltd., Mauritius; M/s GlaxoSmithKline Pte Ltd., Singapore	NR to NR transfer of shares between the foreign promoter group companies of an Indian pharma company – deletion of the standard conditions.	Nil
2.	M/s Intas Pharmaceuticals Ltd.	To issue fresh equity shares to eligible non-resident investors in a book-building IPO and by an offer for sale by an existing foreign investor M/s Mozart Limited to carry out the business of pharmaceutical sector.	225
3.	M/s Fenwal India Pvt. Ltd., Gurgaon	Transfer of shares from NR to NR as a part of global restructuring of the group companies.  The investee company is engaged in the pharma sector.	Nil
4.	M/s Menarini Raunaq Pharma Ltd.	Conversion of ECB into equity shares in a pharma sector company.	Nil
5.	M/s Perrigo API India Pvt. Ltd., Mumbai	To increase the foreign equity participation from 85% to 100% by way of issue of fresh equity shares and transfer of equity shares from resident to non-resident shareholders in a pharma sector company.	130
6.	M/s Cigniti Technologies Ltd., Hyderabad	Transfer of shares by way of share swap in a software company.	Nil
7.	M/s Hardinge Machine Tools B.V., Netherlands	To set up a LLP to carry out the end-to-end business of workholding products and their after sales services.	21.99
8.	M/s Casbaa Ltd., Hong Kong	To set up a LLP in India to be engaged in representing and promoting cable and satellite industry in India.	0.02
9.	M/s Luxora Realators Pvt. Ltd., Mumbai	Condonation of delay in bringing in the minimum capitalization amount of US $ 5 million into the FDI compliant real estate project.	Nil
10.	M/s Sugam Vanijya Holdings Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi	NR to NR transfer of FCDs within group companies before the completion of the 3 year lock in period.	Nil
11.	M/s Religare Enterprises Ltd.	To issue warrants to carry out the business of Investment Advisory Services and Financial Consultancy and to make holding investments in the NBFC Sector.	179.43
12.	M/s ANZ Capital Pvt. Ltd.	Post facto approval for exemption from minimum capitalisation requirement for a fund based NBFC, in order to regularise all transactions before winding up and liquidating the NBFC.	Nil
13.	The Nuance Group AG	To set up a duty free shop in Chatrapati Shivaji International Airport, Mumbai.	19
14.	M/s Emerald Group Publishing (India) Pvt. Ltd., Delhi	WOS of a foreign company to undertake the additional activities of Publishing of books and their supplements (text books, hand books, eBooks) in India for universities, educational institutions, research centres, other corporate etc.	12.37
15.	M/s DA Vinci GmbH, Berlin	To set up a WOS in India to undertake the down-linking and distribution of a Non-news and Non-current Affairs Edutainment Channel.	5
16.	M/s Berns Brett India Insurance Broking Pvt. Ltd., Delhi	Company having foreign investment to carry out the business of insurance broking under the regulation of IRDA.	0.65
17.	M/s JM Financial Limited, Mumbai	An Indian Core Investment company to issue warrants.	22.19
18.	M/s Aavishkar India Micro Venturecental Fund	Transfer of units from NR to NR in a Domestic Venture Capital Fund (DVCF).	Nil
19.	M/s Sacmi Engineering (India) Pvt. Ltd., Mumbai	Issue of equity shares to the shareholders of its foreign parent company pursuant to a High Court approval of the Scheme of Demerger.	Nil
20.	M/s Singapore Airlines Ltd., Singapore	To set up a JV Company in the ratio of 49%: 51%, which will be engaged in domestic and international full service scheduled passenger airlines services in the civil  aviation sector in India.	303.18

• The proposals of M/s Mordril Properties (India) Pvt. Ltd., Mumbai and M/s Cygnus Medicare Pvt. Ltd., Delhi were deferred
• The proposals of M/s Big India Malls Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi and M/s Indostar Capital Finance Pvt. Ltd., Mumbai (No.217/2012-FC.I) were rejected
• Proposal of M/s MY Mobile Payment Ltd., Mumbai (MMPL) has been advised to access automatic route
• In case of M/s Dashtag UK proposal has been advised that FIPB approval is not required.
• M/s Provimi Animal Nutrition India Pvt. Ltd., of Karnataka's proposal has been advised to apply afresh after the approval of the scheme of arrangement by the competent court.
• The proposal of the Federal Bank Ltd., Kerala was recommended for the consideration of CCEA, as the investment involved in the proposals is above 1200 crore Rupeees
• In case of M/s DLF Limitless Developers Pvt. Ltd. and M/s SingTel Global (India) Pvt. Ltd. the decision in case of their proposals have been kept in abeyance

 

RBI Directed Public Sector Banks to give loans to women SHGs at 7 percent......

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.

 

Anjolie Ela Menon awarded with Dayawati Modi Award....

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. 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.

 

ISRO Performed last orbit Raising Manoeuvre on its Mars Mission .....

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on 16 November 2013 performed the last of the five orbit-raising manoeuvre on its Mars Orbiter, raising the apogee (farthest point from Earth) of the spacecraft to over 1.92 lakh km.

In the series of five orbit raising manoeuvre with a supplementary operation after the fourth one, the space agency had raised the apogee of the spacecraft to over 1.92 lakh km.

After the successful completion of these operations, the Mars Orbiter mission is expected to take on the crucial event of the trans-Mars injection around 12.42am on 1st December 2013. It will reach the orbit of the red planet by 24th September, 2014 after taking on a voyage of over 10 months.

ISRO's PSLV C 25 on 5 November 2013 successfully injected the 1350-kg 'Mangalyaan' Orbiter (Mars craft) into the orbit around the earth, from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota, Andhra Pra desh.