Top news Based on The Hindu
Third Week of April 2012
1. Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia said that tea would be declared the national drink by next year.
2. The Madras High Court Bench upheld the validity of a decision taken by Indian Banks Association that students who had secured less than 60 per cent of marks in qualifying examinations and secured seats in private colleges under the management quota would not be eligible for availing education loan.
3. Anti-corruption activist Anna Hazare and yoga guru Baba Ramdev will jointly observe a token fast in New Delhi on June 3 to press for a strong Lokpal Bill and to mobilise opinion against black money.
4. India successfully test fired nuclear-capable Agni-V, which covered a range of more than 5,000 km from Wheeler Island in Orissa. The target was between Australia and Madagascar in the Indian Ocean. With this grand success, India joins the U.S., Russia, France and China, which have ICBM capability. Benefits of Agni-V:-
a. It can cover most of the part of china.
b. Multiple Independently Targetable Re-entry Vehicle (MIRV), known as a collection of nuclear weapons.
c. Booster technology gives the country the ability to launch mini or micro satellites in low-orbit for navigation and communication purposes.
d. It can be used as anti-satellite weapon.
5. The family of Agni surface-to-surface ballistic missiles :-
a. Agni-1 (700 km)
b. Agni-II (2,500 km)
c. Agni-III (3,000 km)
d. Agni-IV (3,500 km)
e. Agni-V (5,000 km)
Agni-1, Agni-II and Agni-III have been inducted into the Army. All Agni missiles are propelled by solid fuel and can carry nuclear warheads.
6. The missiles that have been inducted into the armed forces include surface to surface Prithvi-1(150 km -Army version), Prithvi-II (250 km – Air force version), Prithvi- III (350 km – Naval version also known as Dhanush), surface-to-air Akash (30 km).
7. Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee attended G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors Meeting at the IMF/World Bank Annual Spring Meetings in Washington,DC
8. Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha, Sushma Swaraj, who is leading an Indian parliamentary delegation to Sri Lanka inaugurated rail project which was completed by an Indian public sector company, IRCON (Indian Railway Construction Company). It was completed in two phase first was from Galle to Matara and second was Kauthara to Galle.
9. In 2011-12 => Import - $488.6 billion (32% Increased)
Export - $303.7 billion (21% Increased)
Trade deficit - $184.9 billion
10. The Centre said individual companies engaged in the aviation sector could raise working capital resources through the external commercial borrowings (ECBs) route to the tune of $300 million. The ECB made under this provision would have a maximum ceiling of $1 billion for the entire civil aviation sector.”
11. Following directions of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), the Punjab Government has banned the manufacture, import and use of carcinogenic pesticides, which according to reports, caused cancer.
12. Afghanistan and the United States have agreed the contents of a long-awaited deal to define their relationship after most foreign troops leave at the end of 2014
13. Shahrukh Khan and Vidya Balan will come together to act as brand ambassadors to fight open defecation, propagate sanitation and appeal to the people to get clean.
14. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has been named by Time magazine as one of the 100 most influential people of the world. Ms. Banerjee joins a club of “People, who inspire us, entertain us, challenge us and change our world,” that includes U.S. President Barack Obama, Warren Buffet, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg.
15. Seoul-headquartered Woori Bank has set up its first Indian branch in Chennai.
16. Reserve Bank of India (RBI) cut the policy rates by 50 Basis points. Revised Rate of RBI
a. Bank Rate – 9% (Decreased 50 basis point in April 2012)
b. Cash Reserve Ratio – 4.75% (Decreased 75 basis point in March 2012)
c. Statutory Liquidity Ratio – 24% (Unchanged)
d. Repo Rate – 8% (Decreased 50 basis point in April 2012)
e. Reverse Repo Rate – 7% (Decreased 50 basis point in April 2012)
f. Marginal Standing Facility Rate – 9% (Decreased 50 basis point in April 2012)
g. Target for Inflation Rate for March 2013– 6.5%
h. Target for Growth Rate of GDP (2012-13) – 7.3%
17. South Korean Jim Yong Kim, who has been selected as new President of the World Bank will replace Robert Zoellick on July 1, 2012.
Forth week of April 2012
1. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has made it mandatory for all banks to print the MICR and IFSC code on the passbook and statement of account of the customers. As per RBI guidelines, MICR code is necessary for all electronic clearing services (credit and debit) transactions. IFSC code is a pre-requisite for national electronic funds transfer (NEFT) and real time gross settlement (RTGS) transactions.
2. “Banks are being advised to offer a 'basic savings bank deposit account' with certain minimum common facilities and without the requirement of a minimum balance to all their customers” the RBI said in its credit policy.
3. Reserve Bank asked banks not to levy any penalty on pre-payment of loans taken on floating rate.
4. Abhishek Manu Singhvi resigned as Congress spokesperson and Chairperson of Parliament's Standing Committee.
5. Record food grain production in India 2011-12 => 252.56 million tones
Wheat production => 90.23 million tones
Rice production =>103.41 million tones
6. The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) launched heaviest, indigenous radar imaging satellite, RISAT-1 satellite into space aboard the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C19) from Sriharikota. RISAT-1's radar will be able to see through clouds and work in darkness.
7. India's second moon mission Chandrayaan-2 will be launched in 2014.
8. The government said it has agreed, in principle, to deregulate diesel prices, but is not considering a similar proposal for cooking gas.
9. New members of Rajya sabha :-
a. Arun Jaitley (BJP)
b. Mayawati (BSP)
c. Vilasrao Deshmukh (central minister)
d. Rajeev Shukla (central minister)
e. Chiranjeevi (Actor)
f. Jaya Bachchan (Samajwadi Party)
g. Dilip Singh Tirkey (former hockey captain)
10. Third Regional centre of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) will be opened soon in the Lucknow after Hyderabad and Guwahati.
11. Standard and Poor’s (S&P) lowered India’s long-term rating from stable (BBB+) to negative (BBB-) (which is the lowest investment grade rating) in view of prospects of low growth, high fiscal deficit, high inflation and a widening current account deficit in the prevailing economic environment. S&P also lowered the rating outlook of the country's 10 top banks which include the State Bank of India (SBI), ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank.
12. Pakistan test-fired the nuclear-capable Hatf-4 Shaheen-1A ballistic missile with improvements to hit targets anywhere in India.
13. world's largest telescope at the highest altitude is being established at at Hanle, Ladakh
14. Nomination of the three eminent personalities Cricket icon Sachin Tendulkar, Bollywood actress Rekha and industrialist Anu Aga were approved by President Pratibha Patil .
15. The interest rate on the Employees' Provident Fund will be increased to 8.6 per cent from 8.25 per cent for the current fiscal.
16. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon visited India offered to help India deal with diseases such as malaria, tetanus and measles and HIV-transmission related mortality.
17. India, Pakistan and Afghanistan agreed on transit fee for import of natural gas through Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India (TAPI) pipeline project
18. Andhra Pradesh Governor E.S.L. Narasimhan has been given a five-year-long extension by the President of India
19. India will be hosting the 46th annual meeting of the Board of Governors of the Manila-based Asian Development Bank (ADB) in May next year.
20. The Reserve Bank of India asked banks to allow intra-bank account portability in cases where full KYC (know your customer) details of the concerned account have been ascertained. The facility would enable the customers to shift their account to any of the desired branch any number of times, without any change in the account number.
21. Reserve Bank of India Deputy Governor KC Chakrabarty observed that between March 2010 to March 2012, more than 50 million basic banking accounts have been opened to take the total number of such accounts to more than 100 million.
22. IMF lowered India's growth projection to 6.9 per cent for 2012.
23. Indian steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal is wealthiest man in Britain, according to The Sunday Times ' annual Rich List for the eighth consecutive year.
24. President Pratibha Patil visited Seychelles and South Africa.