Gist of current affairs from July 2013 Megazines

Gist of current affairs from July 2013 Megazines

·        Siddharamaiyah  of congress party  became Chief minister of Karnataka.

·        Takehiko Nakao (Japan) on 27 april appointed president of ADB Asian development Bank succeeding Haruhiko Kuroda., who was appointed as Governor of Bank of Japan.

·        UN Public service award to MP for its initiative “Gramin Haat”  It was started to strengthnening and empowering the women’s self help group.

·        12^th may , International Nurses day. The National Florence Nightingale award for Nursing professional were presented on this day.

·        Whitley Award , also known as green oscar was given to Indian biologist Dr. Aparajita Datta in London for  her efforts in conservation of a rare species in dense tropical forests of Arunachal Pradesh.

·        Famous Dhrupad vocalist Ustad Zia Fariduddin Dagar passed away . Dhrupad is the oldest north Indian clsssical music form.

·        IMF approved $1.3 billion loan for Cyprus to stabilize its financial sector. IMF loan is a part of a rescue package of 10 billion Euros (12.9 billion $) approved in March from Eurozone bailout fund. Cyprus is the fourth country since 2010 after Greece , Ireland and Portugal to get such bailouts.

·        The largest Biogas plant was set up in Finland.

·        IBSA India –Brazil and South Africa is a trilateral development initiative to promote south –souh cooperation and exchange. Recently IBSA Women’s forum meet was held which was represented by Mrs Krishna Teerath , Minister of women and child development from India.

·        OBC creamy layer criterion raised to 6 lakh from 4.5 lakh earlier.

·        Raguram rajan headed  6 member expert committee to review norms to  measure backwardness of states      The new criterion such as distance of the state from national economic averages, per capita income and other human development indicators will be considered.  

·        Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan .. Govt. has accorded a high priority to the sanitation sector. In 12^th plan an outlay of Rs. 34,377 crore has been provided for rural sanitation as against 6,540 crore in 11^th plan. The goal is to achive 100% access to sanitation for all rural households by 2022 under NBA .

·        INFLATION INDEXED BONDS : IIB :As promised in the budget Govt. has decided to launch IIBs as instruments that will protect savings of poor and middle class from inflation and incentivise house hold  sector to save in financial instruments rather than buy gold.

·        NSE launched Debt trading platform .  Retail investor will get the opportunity to enter in to debt segment in a reliable , liquid and transparent manner. Corporate bonds will be available to the public in secondary market.

·        Economic review 2012-13 by PMEAC . Dr C. Rangarajan  chairman .  Highlights. 1) projected economic growth rate  6.4% 2) subsidy  and CAD to be reduced. 3) Faster clearance to stalled infrastructure projects required. 4) projected CAD 4.7% against 5.1 of 12-13. 5) Gold import bill estimated at $45 billion and OIL at $125 billion.

·        BSE launch Islamic Equity index comprising of companies which fulfill Islamic principals like bans on investing in alcohol , tobacco and gambling related activities.

·        DBTL – Direct benefit transfer for LPG will be launched in 20 aadhaar covered districts from 1^st June 2013. 1) 9 subsidised cylinders every year 2) 2) consumer to link their bank account to adhaar and provide such account details to LPG dealer. 3) Subsidy will be paid in advance as soon as consumer makes a cylinder booking.

·        New guidelines for Indira aawaas yojana for rural poor. 1) Allocation for each housing unit increased from 45000 to 75000 rupees.  2)building toilet has been made compulsory. 2) Manual scavengers and freed bonded labours will be given preference. 3) fund allocation will be made through state govt. . The changes were made after the Govt. agreement with Jan satyagraha representative in agra on 11^th Oct. 2012 , also known as Agra agreement on land reforms , signed by Minister for rural development , Shri Jairam Ramesh.

·        National Rural Livelihood Mission. – (Aajeevika). Some important changes announced in the scheme  1) BPL Criterion relaxed 2) The participative identification of poor process  PIP will be implemented .3) Women self help group will be strengthened.

·        10% Equity sale approved in coal India lt.. part of total disinvestment target of Rs. 40000 crore for this year.

·        $325 billion export target set for this year 13-14.

·        Etihad Airways (Abu Dhabi ) got 24% stake in Jet airways.

·        Walmart surpassed Exxon Mobil co. in profit figures. Walmart topped the Fortune magazine’s top 500 list with 469.2 billion revenue.

·        David beckham , legendary footballer and former England captain announced retirement.

·        Thomas cup(World men’s badminton) and Uber cup (world women’s badminton) . Final matches to be held in New Delhi.