Finance/Business/Economy News
1. RBI alerts investors against MLM schemes
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Thursday cautioned investors against multi-level marketing firms that promise high returns and run on hefty member susbscription fees, warning such offers could result in direct financial losses.
Multilevel marketing structures work on the principle of enrolling more members and a part of the subscription amount is distributed among members at the top of the marketing pyramid.
"Any break in the chain leads to the collapse of the pyramid, and the members lower down in the pyramid are the ones that are affected the most," the RBI said in a circular on Thursday.
The central bank also said accepting money under such structures was a cognizable offence under the Prize Chit and Money Circulation (Banning) Act of 1978.
2. LIC International launches co-branded credit card with UAE's First Gulf Bank
India's LIC International and Abu Dhabi -based First Gulf Bank are planning to introduce a unique co-branded credit card in the United Arab Emirates to address concerns of insurance policy holders.
It is first of its kind payment solution. This is the first time that an insurance firm has entered into a strategic alliance with a bank in the gulf country.
Insurance payments, persistency and ad hoc surcharge levied by many insurance companies on premium payments through cards have been a concern among many policyholders in the UAE.
Through this programme, the bank will provide a payment solution to these issues in addition to developing a loyalty platform for their common customers with unique benefits.
The January 2013 cooperation of both the organisations has led to record sales worth USD 75 million for 'Jeevan Aastha 3' and to obtaining total premium worth USD 100 million in 8 weeks for LIC's new insurance product 'Jeevan Nivesh'.
LIC International, established in Bahrain in 1989 by LIC of India to facilitate residents in the gulf region, has over 350 million policyholders worldwide.
FGB, established in 1979, offers a full range of financial services through its branches spread in many parts of the world.
3. RBI modifies reporting norms for representative offices of foreign banks
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) today modified reporting norms for Representative Offices (ROs) of foreign banks in the country and asked them provide details of top clients introduced to the parent bank, among others.
Currently, the ROs are required to submit a certificate from the auditor to the effect that during the year no income was earned by or accrued to the office in India, a certified copy of audited final accounts, details of remittances received and an annual report of the work done by the office in India.
“On a review, it has been decided to revamp the existing system of reporting…and the same would be effective from the next reporting cycle,” the Reserve Bank said in notification.
Now, ROs would have also to provide details of correspondent banking relations with Indian banks, exposure of head office and other offices of the bank or group to corporates or banks in India and duties and role of staff of ROs in India.
ROs would have also to provide details of listing in stock exchange of group or associate companies and strategic investments, if any, made by the bank or group in banking or non-banking sector in India.
4. Mittal Committee recommends passenger fare hikes
The D K Mittal Committee, formed on December 4 this year to suggest ways and means to raise the revenue of Indian Railways, has made out a strong case for increasing the highly subsidised and loss-making suburban train fares.
According to the recommendation, the suburban fares need to be increased by 2 paise per km every two months till they reach a break-even point.
However, it did not specify the quantum of hike needed to be made in long-distance mail/express train services.
The committee yesterday submitted its report to Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu.
The committee also said the minimum distance of travel in passenger train should be increased from existing 10km to 20km and in mail/express segment it should be increased from 50km to 100km.
Currently, even if a passenger travels less than 10 km he is charged for the 10km in a passenger train and 50km in mail/express trains.
The expert panel has observed that the current suburban fares is 60 per cent less than road travel cost and emphasised the need for increasing fares in a gradual manner.
News Related to India and Indian Polity
5. Planning Commission renamed as Neeti Ayog
The Planning Commission, which was established in 1950, will be called ‘Neeti Ayog’ in its new avatar, months after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that it will replaced by a new body.
The decision comes nearly three weeks after Modi held consultations with chief ministers at a meeting where most favoured restructuring of the Socialist-era body but some Congress Chief Ministers opposed disbanding of the existing set-up.
Modi had announced in his Independence Day speech that the Planning Commission would be replaced by a new body which is in sync with the contemporary economic world.
While addressing the Chief Ministers on December 7, he had invoked former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh who had said on April 30 last year that the current structure has “no futuristic vision in the post-reform period”.
He had pushed for an effective structure which strengthens “cooperative federalism” and the concept of “Team India”.
There were indications that the new structure will have the Prime Minister, some Cabinet ministers and some chief ministers along with technocrats and experts in various fields.
6. Rajnath Singh launches women safety mobile app ‘Himmat’
Himmat’, a mobile application of Delhi Police that will allow women to send a distress call to Police Control Room and their relatives in case of any emergency, was launched here today by Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh.
The app will basically cater to employed women who have smartphones and travel alone even late in the night.
Singh also distributed pepper spray to women and awarded girls who had successfully completed Delhi Police self-defence programme.
He lauded Delhi Police’s efforts to use technology for better policing.
Explaining the work of the app, Delhi Police Commissioner B.S Bassi said that after downloading the app, a new user has to register with the Delhi Police website by sharing their name, mobile number and that of a minimum of two relatives/friends.
Once the User registers, the user will get a SMS on mobile number given at the time of registration with a download link and registration key. User has to enter this key in the registration window in the application. This is a one-time process.
7. India lost 64 tigers in 2014
India lost 64 tigers due to various reasons in 2014 with Tamil Nadu topping the chart with the maximum number of deaths, according to National Tiger Conservation Authority.
Tamil Nadu saw 15 tigers deaths followed by Madhya Pradesh, which witnessed 14 deaths, says the data on tigernet.nic.in.
M.P.’s Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve, once densely populated with tigers lost seven majestic beasts while Kanha Tiger Reserve reported four tiger deaths. Pench Tiger Reserve and Panna Tiger Reserve lost one big cat each while as many deaths were reported from Balaghat district’s forested area, it said.
The deaths might have come as a blow to M.P. which is trying hard to regain the tiger state status which it lost to Karnataka in the last big cats count.
According to the All India Tiger Estimation Exercise 2010, the tiger population dipped to 257 in M.P. from 300 in 2006. On the other hand, Karnataka beating M.P. became the numero uno state in tiger population with 300 counts — 10 up from the census of 2006.
This time around also, Karnataka has a reason to smile as it lost only six tigers since January 1 to December 30.
According to the 2010 census, India had approximately 1,706 tigers. The result of the 2014 census is awaited.
8. Radhakrishnan retires as ISRO chief, Shailesh Nayak in charge
Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) Chairman K. Radhakrishnan retired on Wednesday. Shailesh Nayak, who is Secretary, Union Earth Sciences Ministry, will hold additional and interim charge as Chairman for a month or until a regular chief is named, said an order by the Secretary, Appointments’ Committee of the Union Cabinet.
Dr. Radhakrishnan led ISRO in many achievements over the past five years after he took over the reins in November 2009. The historic Mars Orbiter Mission was launched and guided to an orbit around the red planet under his leadership. The partial experimental sub-orbital flight of the GSLV Mark-III heavy-lift launch vehicle was another success. The early part of his chairmanship was marred by the Antrix-Devas S-band satellite controversy and the cancellation of that deal in February 2011.
Dr. Radhakrishnan took over from G. Madhavan Nair in October 2009 as the seventh chief of the space establishment. He made a brief farewell speech to the 16,000-strong ISRO around 3.30 p.m.
No stranger to the Department of Space, Dr. Nayak actually began his career at ISRO in 1978. A geology and remote sensing expert, he worked at the Space Applications Centre, Ahmedabad, until 2008, when he moved to head the Earth Sciences Ministry.
9. Government blocks over 60 websites including github & sourceforge on anti-terror advisory
Over 60 websites and links, including popular online tools like Github and Sourceforge used by thousands of programmers have been blocked in India, triggering angry protests by Internet users.
The websites were blocked for hosting content that is pro terrorist group ISIS and not cooperating with government investigations, officials said.
Websites like Pastebin don't host any content but are a platform for users to paste text. Popular video networks like Vimeo and Dailymotion are among the websites that have been blocked.
The government has invoked section 69A of the Information technology Act (2000) and Information Technology (Procedure and Safeguards for Blocking for Access of Information by Public) Rules ("Blocking Rules") to ban these websites.
10. AK Mittal appointed Railway Board Chairman
Ending the suspense over filling senior posts, the Railways on Wednesday made a record 11 appointments, including Chairman of Railway Board and eight General Managers.
A.K. Mittal was appointed as the new Chairman of Railway Board succeeding Arunendra Kumar, who superannuated on December 31.
Mr. Mittal, the senior-most official, was earlier Member Staff in the Railway Board.
Pradeep Kumar, who was General Manager of the North Central Railway holding additional charge of Northern Railway, has become new Member Staff succeeding Mr. Mittal.
The Railways also filled the post of Member Electrical, which was lying vacant for more than six months after the retirement of Kulbhushan in July 31 this year.
Navin Tondon, General Manager of South Eastern Central Railways, has been appointed Member Electrical.
11. Open defecation-free country became national slogan in 2014
The Narendra Modi government undertook a significant step in 2014 to make the country free from open defecation under an ambitious plan of around Rs. 2 lakh crore.
The year also saw the government deciding to implement the Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Project for Low Income States (RWSSP-LIS) of Assam, Bihar, Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh with World Bank assistance over a period of six years (from 2013—14 to 2019—20).
The project is aimed at providing improved piped water supply covering approximately 17,400 habitations in 2,150 gram panchayats in 33 districts of the four States.
Wielding the broom himself, Mr. Modi launched ‘Clean India’ campaign on October 2 and was joined by Chief Ministers, lawmakers, prominent personalities from various fields.
The Swachh Bharat Mission (Gramin) aims at attaining a 100 per cent open defecation free India by 2019, the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi.
The main objective of the programme is to bring about an improvement in the general quality of life in the rural areas, by promoting cleanliness, hygiene and eliminating open defecation and accelerate sanitation coverage in rural areas.
International News
12. New Year eve gala around Burj Khalifa breaks Guinness Record
A dazzling show of New Year’s Eve gala using 70,000 LED bulbs around the world’s tallest building Burj Khalifa here has broken the Guinness World Record of the ‘Largest LED-Illuminated Facade’.
The never-before-seen show of fireworks, Light Emitting Diode lights and laser beam displays became one of the world’s most-watched New Year’s Eve spectacle with residents and visitors from around the world thronging around the 829.8 metres tall skyscraper to watch the display.
The illumination around Burj Khalifa spanned 32,467 square metres and it surpassed the existing record held by Mall Taman Anggrek in Indonesia. The LED screen area around the skyscraper was nearly 3.75 times larger.
The record-breaking LED display had 70,000 LED bulbs placed in position using over 100,000 brackets and linked using 55,000 metres of cabling for the perfect visual display.
The event was also live streamed with four different camera angles including aerial views from three drones. Live telecast through major international channels reached billions of people worldwide.
13. Spartan, Microsoft’s New Browser, Coming with Windows 10
Microsoft will soon be introducing a new web browser. It is to be called Spartan and shall be launched soon along with several consumer features of the Windows 10.
The Redmond-based company says that Spartan is not meant to replace its Internet Explorer, which once held sway as the king of web browsers before Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome dislodged it from its lofty spot.
The Hindustan Times reports that the new Microsoft web browser will not be putting the Internet Explorer to the backburner but will serve as a more lightweight and user-friendly alternative.
In attribution of the strength of its competitor browsers, the Spartan is reportedly similar to Chrome and Firefox. It’s initial advantage thus far, just like the Internet Explorer was, is that it is built in to the Windows 10, Microsoft’s upcoming and latest desktop operating system.
The browser would soon be available on PCs and other mobile devices that would be running on Windows 10. It will bank heavily on the Chakra JavaScript engine and the Trident rendering engine, which are Microsoft’s in-house tech support.
Sports News
14. WADA raises minimum ban for doping to four years
Athletes convicted of doping will face a minimum four-year ban under new rules which came into effect from January 1.
Changes to the World Anti-Doping Code increased the suspension for doping from two years. Other changes include less leniency given for missed tests but possible reduced bans for helping investigators.
The revised code was agreed to by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) in November 2014.