JUNE/JULY/AUGUST NATIONAL NEWS

PM VISITS MYANMAR AFTER 25 YEARS

Embarking on a "new journey" of bilateral cooperation, Indian Prime Minister visited Myanmar after a gap of 25 years, to meet Myanmar President Thein Sein. India extended a USD 500 million line of credit as part of 12 agreements on sectors like trade and energy signed with Myanmar, which vowed that its territory will not be allowed to be used by terrorists to target India.

double taxation on income by determining the taxing rights between the countries.

INDIA RANKS 5TH IN CYBER CRIME

India is ranked fifth in the worldwide ranking of countries affected by cyber crime, claims a report by the Security and Defence Agenda (SDA) and McAfee. According to the report titled Cyber Security: The Vexed Question of Global Rules, the premium on internet privacy in the country is quite low.

PER CAPITA DEBT CROSSES Rs 33,000

INDIA RANKS 46TH IN GLOBAL TRADE As per a World Bank survey, India now ranks 46th in global trade logistics performance, whose top five slot are occupied by Singapore, Hong Kong, Finland, Germany and Netherlands in the list of 155 countries. The United States is ranked ninth, while Japan occupies the eight spot. Countries like India, China and the US, which pursued aggressive reforms, have improved their global trade logistics performance despite the slowdown in progress in the sector over the last two years amid the global recession, the World Bank has said.

India and Myanmar have announced to launch a transborder bus service from Imphal to Mandalay. India would repair and upgrade the Tamu- Kalewa Friendship Road between Manipur and Myanmar.

According to finance ministry data, the per capita debt in India was estimated at nearly Rs 33,000 at the end of March 2012, compared to a little over Rs 26,600 a year ago, led primarily by internal as well as external loans. This is in addition to the home and auto loans that individuals have taken. While companies as well as governments avail of external loans, internal debt is mainly on account of government borrowings, either from the market or even from individuals in the form of small savings schemes such as the National Savings Certificate or Public Provident Fund.

INDIA TOPS IN PRE TERM BIRTH DEATHS

According to a report published recently, India has the highest number of deaths due to premature births, and ranks 36th in the list of pre-term births globally. The ranking included 199 countries. Of the 27 million babies born in India annually (2010 figure), 3.6 million are born prematurely, of which 303,600 don't survive due to complications.

AP HIGH COURT QUASHES MINORITY QUOTA

INDIA 75TH IN MOTHERs INDEX

Andhra Pradesh High Court quashed the 4.5 percent subquota granted by the central government for the minorities, carved out of the 27 percent reservation for other backward classes in jobs. The court said that the quota violated Articles 15(1) and 16(2) of the constitution that prohibit discrimination based on religion.

INDIA TOPS IN CONSUMER CONFIDENCE

India has once again emerged as the most optimistic market in terms of consumer confidence, but there is still some amount of cautiousness when it comes to spending spare cash, says a Nielsen survey. This is the ninth consecutive quarter wherein India has retained the tag of the world's most optimistic market with an increase of one point in consumer confidence to 123. India is followed by Saudi Arabia at 119. Indonesia and the Philippines shared the third most optimistic nation tag with an index point of 118.

India has performed poorly on the mother and child front with its rank on the Mother's Index dropping to 76 in the list of 80 less developed countries'' category as against 75th position in 2011. Compiled by Save the Children's global flagship report, State of the World's Mothers, The Mother's Index is based on a number of criteria such as lifetime risk of maternal death, per cent of births attended by skilled health personnel and other risk factors related to maternity. Norway tops the Index.

31% INDIANS SAY THEY ARE SUFFERING

INTERLOCUTERS REPORT ON J A& K

Centre's interlocutors on Jammu and Kashmir have favoured setting up a Constitutional Committee to review all Central Acts and Articles of the Constitution of India to the state extended after 1952.The report of the interlocutors Dileep Padgaonkar (Head), Radha Kumar and M M Ansari, which was made public today, ruled out a return to the pre-1953 position. It also said the state assembly will submit three names to the President to the post of Governor who will be appointed by the President.It also suggested that there should be no change in Article 356 and if the state government is dismissed, elections should be held within three months.

Almost 31 per cent or about 240 million Indian adults rate their lives poorly, enough to be considered suffering, according to a new study by Gallup Research. Gallup classifies respondents as thriving, struggling or suffering according to how they rate their current and future lives on a scale of 0 to 10. Gallup considers people to be suffering if they rate their current lives and their lives in five years at 4 or lower.

FOREIGN HELP FOR BLACK TIGER SHRIMP

The government is planning to rope in global companies for the revival of Black Tiger shrimp farming in the country. This variety, also known as giant tiger prawns, is the most popular item in the Asian, European, and American markets.

JCC MEET WITH BANGLADESH

A host of strategic bilateral issues, including extradition treaty, Teesta water treaty and boundary implementation agreement were discussed in the first Indo-Bangla Joint Consultative Commission meeting held at New Delhi.

DTAA SIGNED WITH MALAYSIA

INDIA TO HOST E-9 MINISTERIAL MEETING

India and Malaysia today signed a double taxation avoidance agreement (DTAA) with a view to boosting bilateral trade and facilitating exchange of tax information. The main objective of the agreement is to avoid the incidence of

India will host the ninth E-9 Ministerial Review Meeting in New Delhi later in 2012 and assume the chair of the E-9 Secretariat from 2012-2014. Bangladesh, Brazil, China, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Nigeria and Pakistan are the nine most highly-populated countries of the South (E-9).

Between them they represent more than 60 per cent of the world's population, over two-thirds of the world's illiterate adults and over half of the world's out-of-school children.

BIHAR OFFERS 50% SUBSIDY ON DHABAS

Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee has been elected as

Chairman of the ADB's Board of Governors. service Speed Post.

India Post celebrates 25 years of its premium India will host the Annual Meeting of the Board of
Governors of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) in May next year. India has become the largest importer of arms during 2007-11 accounting for 10 per cent of global arms import as compared to Chinese share of 5 per cent. The Supreme Court has struck down the government's policy of giving subsidies to Haj pilgrims and directed that it be progressively eliminated within a period of 10 years. The Indian President made a nine-day state visit to Seychelles and South Africa to boost economic ties with the African nations K. SHANMUGAM, Singapore's Foreign Minister, visits India on a four-day trip to strengthen bilateral relations and identify new areas of cooperation between the two nations.

The Bihar Government has approved a proposal to grant 50 per cent subsidy to those setting up dhabas (highway eateries) and related facilities in identified areas under the tourism circuit in the State. A beneficiary of the subsidy would be required to run the dhaba or related facilities for at least 10 years otherwise the subsidy would be recovered.

Kerala Tourism is holding its maiden road show in The Uttar Pradesh Government has decided to give Rs
Jeddah, Saudi Arabia to attract tourists from there. 1,000 per month as unemployment allowance to the youth between 30 and 40 years of age. The Uttarkhand Government has decided to give allowance to the unemployed educated youth. Karnataka has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Mizuho Corporate Bank of Japan for mutual co-operation and investment promotion. The MOU was signed at a road show organised by Karnataka at Tokyo. Zila Parishad of distict Kurukshetra, Haryana has won the National Panchayati Raj Award for successfully implementing all Central Government schemes. High Altitude Cloud Physics Laboratory opened at Mahabaleshwar (Maharashtra) The Odisha government and Posco-India have agreed to set up an 8 mtpa greenfield steel plant near Paradip, downsizing the earlier plan of establishing a 12 mtpa facility.

NEWS FROM STATES

KARNATAKA TOPS IN FISH PRODUCTION
Karnataka has emerged as the leading coastal state with highest growth of fish production. With about five lakh tonnes of annual fish production, Karnataka accounts for almost six per cent of overall fish production in India which is currently estimated at about 91 lakh tonnes

GOVT INITIATIVES
CENTENARY AWARD FOR FILMS
To celebrate the 100th year of Indian cinema, the I&B ministry has instituted a Centenary Award (of Rs 10 lakh) which will be given to a path-breaking Indian or International film every year at the International Film Festival of India (IFFI) in Goa.

KERALA BANS GUTKA/ TOBACCO PRODUCTS

The Congress-led UDF Government in Kerala today announced a ban on the manufacture and sale of gutka and pan masala containing tobacco in the state with immediate effect. Kerala is the second state to ban the use of gutka and pan masala after Madhya Pradesh.

RESTRUCTURING OF TEXTILES LOANS

MAHA TO WAIVE WEAVER LOANS

Maharashtra Government has announced waiving off loans to the tune of Rs 50,000 borrowed by the weavers and handloom workers till March 31, 2010. The decision will provide relief to as many as 6000-7000 weavers. The Central Government had announced a package of Rs 3884 crore for this purpose for financial year 2011-12 and 2012-13 for the weavers across the country.

The government announced restructuring a debt of Rs.35,000 crore of textile firms on a case-to-case basis in a bid to revive the debt-stressed industry. The finance ministry would examine in consultation with the Reserve Bank of India for a two-year moratorium on term loans, special provision in NPA norms to avoid asset reclassification and working capital eroded to be converted into working capital term loans repayable over a period of 3-5 years.

ISEET TO REPLACE IIT-JEE/AIEEE

NEW HEALTH SCHEME IN MP

In Madhya Pradesh, a consolidated scheme has been introduced to provide health services in all 52 thousand villages of the state. Sampoorna Swasthya Sabke Liye scheme contains all the health scheme of the central and state government. Under this Scheme, the smallest unit Gram Arogya Kendra will be work at village level.

MAHA. TO GO BRAZIL WAY FOR COTTON

From 2013, aspiring candidates for IITs and other central institutes like NITs and IIITs will have to sit under new a format of entrance test which will also take plus two board results into consideration. The new exam - ISEET (Indian Science Engineering Eligibility Test) will replace the IITJEE and AIEEE. For admission to all the centrally funded institutes, there would be 40 percentage weightage for performance in Class XII (after normalisation of marks), 30 per cent weightage to performance in main and 30 per cent in the advanced test.

The Maharashtra Government is planning to adopt the Brazil pattern for boosting cotton yield from 475 kg per hectare to 600 kg per hectare in the State. Brazil produces about 1,495 kg of cotton per hectare against the global average of 745 kg per hectare. The model is based on high density cultivation practices where, at times, about one lakh shrubs are planted in a one acre area.

'ONE MP - ONE IDEA' SCHEME UNDER MPLAD

The Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation has announced a new scheme 'One MP - One Idea' under the Member of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme (MPLADS). An 'One MP - One Idea' Competition will be held in each Lok Sabha constituency annually to select the three best innovative ideas received from the local people

regarding developmental projects in the constituency.

COMMITTEE TO REVIEW POVERTY LINE

The government has set up a technical panel to review the Tendulkar Committee methodology for deciding the poverty line for which it has been facing increasing criticism in recent months. The technical group panel headed by the Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council Chairman C. Rangarajan will "revisit the methodology for estimation of the poverty and identification of the poor. Based on the methodologies suggested by Tendulkar Committee those who consume more than Rs.28.65 per daily in cities and Rs.22.42 in rural areas were not poor.

The Centre will include a number of additional activities in the work schedule of its flagship programme MGNREGS to boost the performance of the scheme. The new list has 30 different categories of work related to agriculture, rural sanitation, drinking water, watersheds, fisheries and livestock.

TCS ON GOLD PURCHASES ABOVE 2LAKH

PF INTEREST RATE REVISED TO 8.8%

The government has increased interest rates on General Provident Fund, GPF, State Provident Funds and Special Deposit Scheme, SDS, for the current financial year to 8.8 per cent. The rates were currently at 8.6 per cent.

CASH ASSISTANCE TO PRISONERS

According to the Finance Bill, it is now mandatory for the seller of jewellery to collect tax at the rate of 1% from the sale amount from the buyer for all cash transaction exceeding Rs 500,000. and deposit it with the Government. ( Earlier the limit proposed was 2 lac only) .The tax collected at source norms ask the seller to collect tax . This is different from Tax Collection at Source (TCS) where payment is made after deducting tax at specified rate. However, the threshold limit for cash purchase on bullion will be retained at Rs 200,000. Bullion will not include any coin or other article weighing 10 gram or less.

The Tihar-Prisons-authorities have launched a new scheme called, Sparsh, to provide five hundred rupees per month as financial help to poor and needy prisoners in the jail. The move will boost their morale, relieve them of the stress and also stop them from being repeated offenders.

MANDATORY NOTIFICATION FOR TB

The Centre has declared Tuberculosis, TB as a mandatory notifiable disease with immediate effect. Notification of TB cases by all healthcare providers will help patients better access to quality diagnosis and treatment.

THE COPYRIGHT ACT AMENDED

TAX REBATE TO PE FUNDS

Song writers, artistes and performers can now claim royalty for their works for life long period as the Parliament has approved The Copyright Act (Amendment) Bill, 2012. The Bill declares authors as owners of the copyright, which cannot be assigned to producers, as was the practice till now. The new law would help artists live a good life even in old age, as they would continue to get their dues for their work.

The government has decided to cut the long-term capital gain tax on investments made by private equity funds (PE Funds) into shares of unlisted companies, from 20 per cent to 10 per cent, to bring them at par with FIIs, which are taxed at 10%.

1000 ATMs BY INDIA POST

MANDATORY RURAL POSTING FOR MBBS

Government has decided to make one year rural posting compulsory for doctors and include it in the MBBS course curriculum. Doctors will be attached with the Health Ministrys flagship programme National Rural Health Mission during the year-long rural posting which will also help improve health care services in villages.

The Department of Post plans to set up 1000 ATMs at post offices and convert them into banks for taking core banking to unbanked population using the vast postal network. There are 154,688 post offices in the country, the largest postal network in the world. Of these 25,154 are departmental post offices and the rest Gramin Dak Sewak (GDS) managed post offices which are predominantly in the rural areas.

GOVT GRANTS WOMEN SHARE IN PROPERTY

RIGHT TO MARITAL PROPERTY ACT

The Marriage Laws (Amendment) Bill, approved by the cabinet, will give the woman, in case of divorce, half a share in her husband's residential property, regardless of whether the property was acquired before or during the marriage. This is the first time that the woman's share in marital property has been made part of the marriage legislation.

A panel set up by the Planning Commission has recommended enactment of a comprehensive Right to Marital Property Act, applicable to all communities, which should treat all movable and immovable assets of a married couple or a couple living together as joint property and which can be divided at the time of separation/desertion, regardless of who has bought the property, the minister said.

415 LAWS REPEALED

GAAR POSTPONED TO APRIL 1, 2013

The Govt has repealed 415 obsolete and redundant laws and 17 Acts were in various stages of being withdrawn and another nine Acts were under examination for repeal or amendment. Law Minister Salman Khurshid said 1382 laws had been identified redundant by a special commission set up by the government.

RAILWAYS TO LAUNCH SIMRAN

All trains, including Rajdhani, Shatabdi and Duronto, will be monitored by a satellite-based navigation system by next year as part of the Railways' effort to provide accuracy about their movement. Railways have launched Satellite Imaging for Rail Navigation (SIMRAN) as a pilot project for 18 pairs of important trains which provides precise location of the trains through interactive mode on mobile phones, laptops, thereby eliminating the need for telephone inquiry.

Finance Minister has announced that rules aimed at deterring tax avoidance - known as the General Anti-Avoidance RulesGAAR, (see details in Notes section) - would now be implemented from April 1, 2013, instead of April 1, 2012 as announced earlier. He also rolled back an unpopular increase in excise duty on jewellery and a withholding tax on property sales besides offering tax sops to private equity investors and reduced withholding tax on overseas borrowings to boost capital flows into the country.

SEPARATE ACT FOR SIKH MARRIAGES

MORE SERVICES UNDER MGNREGA

Parliamnet has passed act enabling registration of marriages of Sikhs under the Anand Marriage Act, 1909 meeting a longstanding demand of the community for a separate provision for them instead of being included under the Hindu Marriage Act. The Anand Act, enacted in 1909, had no provision for registration of marriage which continued to be registered under the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955.

BUSINESS CONFIDENCE INDEX

The Corporate Affairs Ministry plans to bring out a Business Confidence Index (BCI), which would be an indicator of optimism of business managers in the country. The index would help measure the business sectors perception based on political and economic situation. This would enable to bring out the right pulse and vibrancy in the economy.

ECONOMIC INDICATORS
CORE SECTOR SLIPS DOWN Eight core industries' growth rate slowed down to 2 per cent in March as against 6.5 per cent in the same month last year on account of dismal expansion in crude oil and natural gas sectors. During fiscal 2011-12, the core industries grew by 4.3 per cent as compared to 6.6 per cent in 2010-11, according to the data released by the Commerce Ministry. 8 Core sectors are: Coal, Cement, Crude Oil, Fertilisers, Natural Gas, Petroleum Products, Elecy. & Steel. All the eight core

RLYS TO PLANT 1CRORE SAPLINGS

The Railways has fixed a target of planting one crore saplings on its land in the current financial year. In the last three years, about two crore and sixty-one lakh saplings were planted. This drive is part of the Railways' commitment to improve the environment as also to safeguard its land from unauthorized occupation.

PILF FOR INDIAN WORKERS ABROAD

sectors have 37.9% weightage in the Index of Industrial Production (IIP). RUPEE SLIPS TO NEW LOW

The government is promoting a new Pension and Life Insurance Fund (PILF) scheme in a bid to provide financial security to poor Indians working abroad. PILF is for Indian workers aged between 18 and 50 who have a work permit or employment contract and whose passports carry the 'Emigration Clearance Required' stamp. The worker has to pay Rs 5,000 to become a member. The government will contribute Rs 2,000. If the person is a domestic help, the amount would be Rs 3,000.

The rupee breached the 56-level once again on May 30, 2012 at 56.23 its lowest close till date. The rupee weakened against the dollar which gained in the international market after trouble in Spain's banks pulled the euro down to a two-year low.

GDP GROWTH PROJECTED AT 6.1%

100 CHANNELS FOR Rs 100

Television viewers will soon get to choose a minimum of 100 Free-to-Air (FTA) channels at a maximum retail price of Rs. 100, under the new tariff rules for Cable Television announced by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India. The Basic Service Tier will consist of 100 FTA channels, including 18 mandatory Doordarshan channels plus the Lok Sabha channel.

A poll of 31 economists produced a median forecast of 6.1 per cent growth for Indian economy for January March quarter, unchanged from the growth of the OctoberDecember quarter. While 6.1 per cent would be the envy of most developed nations, it is the lowest growth rate for India in almost three years. GDP probably rose 6.7 per cent in the fiscal 2012, the slowest pace in three years, and well below the 8.4 per cent clocked in the previous year.

ECONOMY TO GROW BY 7.6%: BASU

7YR JAIL FOR HITTING CHILDREN

The government has put its foot down against corporal punishment and ragging and is proposing changes in the law that would send offenders to up to seven years in jail. To protect children in educational institutions, the government has for the first time defined corporal punishment and ragging in the proposed changes to the Juvenile Justice Act, which is being renamed as the Child Justice (Care, Protection and Rehabilitation of Children) Act.

According to the Chief Economic Advisor, Dr Kaushik Basu, the Indian economy is likely to grow by 7.6 per cent this fiscal year. This is in line with the growth estimate of 7.6 +/0.25 per cent put out in the Economic Survey in March this year. The Indian economy is estimated to have grown 6.9 per cent in 2011-12, reflecting a significant slowdown in comparison to the preceding two years.

INDIA TO GROW BY 7.5%: UN STUDY

The government has increased interest rates on Special

Deposit Scheme (SDS) and State Provident Funds for the year 2012-13 to 8.8 per cent from 8.6 per cent at present. The new rate will be applicable from April, 1, 2012. Government has decided to set up a call centre with a portal for receiving RTI applications. Lok Sabha has approved a bill to establish separate High Courts for Meghalaya, Manipur and Tripura. Railways has increased the distance that could be covered under the Izzat' monthly season ticket scheme from 100 kms to 150 kms. Government has decided to complete the digitalisation in the cable TV sector in a phased manner. It has been decided to completely change over from analog to digital services by December 2014.

India is projected to see a faster growth of 7.5 per cent this fiscal on the back of higher savings and investment rates, even as most of the Asia-Pacific economies are likely to expand at a slower pace, says a UN report. The Indian government has projected the economy to expand by 7.6 per cent in the current fiscal.

$ 6.25 BILLION ADB LOAN TO INDIA

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) will provide assistance of USD 6.25 billion to India over three years for various projects, including those in the energy and education sectors. The lending is to support inclusive and environmentally sustainable growth". The lending support will go to key areas like transport, energy, urban development, agriculture natural resource management, finance and education.

IIP SINKS BY 3.5%

India's industrial output unexpectedly contracted 3.5 per cent in March, from a year earlier. Manufacturing, which constitutes about 76 per cent of industrial production, shrank an annual 4.4 per cent. While mining output contracted 1.3 per cent, electricity output grew by 2.7 per cent. Mining and electricity constitute roughly 14 and 10 per cent of IIP.

RECORD FDI IN 2011-12

Undeterred by a slowdown in growth, India's foreign direct investment flow touched a record $50 billion in 2011-12, the highest since investments were opened up in 1996. With an

eight-fold increase, India attracted foreign direct investment (FDI) of $ 8.1 billion in March, the highest ever monthly inflows. British energy major BP's investment of $8.9 billion into India in March 2012 as part of its deal with Reliance Industries earlier this year, played a significant role in helping the country reach the record investment figure.

the three neighbouring countries. The 1,735 kilometres (1,078 mi) pipeline will run from the Turkmenistan gas fields (Dauletabad gas field) through Afghanistan and Pakistan to Fazilka in Punjab, India.

ROUTE RESS THROGH MFs-SEBI

The govt has set an export target of USD 350 The government has prepared a Strategy Paper for
billion for the 2012-13. doubling India's merchandise exports to 500 Billion US dollars by 2013-14. Govt has fixed four percent growth rate for agriculture during the 12th Five Year Plan.

To minimise risk associated with direct stock investment for new investors, market regulator Sebi has asked the government to route tax-saving Rajiv Gandhi Equity Savings Scheme (RESS) through mutual funds. Sebi feels that first time investors may not have adequate information about the stock market and so they should enter the market through institutional investors like mutual funds.

ECONOMY
FOREIGN INVESTMENT NORMS RELAXED
In a conscious bid to shore up the inflow of foreign funds and, thereby, stem the steady depreciation of the rupee against the dollar, the government has threw open the stock markets to direct investment by all residents of the Gulf and EU nations. Alongside, it also opened the doors to individual overseas investors better known as QFIs (qualified foreign investors) to bring up to $1 billion in the country's debt and corporate bond market.

RAJIV GANDHI EQUITY SAVINGS SCHEME This is the first-ever tax benefit scheme announced by the government to encourage retail investors participation in the equity market. By offering this scheme, the government aims at channelising household savings into stock markets. Under the scheme the government had announced 50 percent tax deduction to retail investors with annual income of less than Rs 10 lakh for investment up to Rs 50,000 in a year with a lock-in period of three years. A retail investor can avail the scheme only once in a life time.

TRADE WITH JAPAN TO MOVE UP

RECORD WHEAT PROCUREMENT

Helped by bumper production, wheat procurement in the country has grown to a record 32.6 million tonnes (mt) this year so far and is expected to grow further as states like Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh still seeing daily crop arrival of up to 150,000 tonnes. Punjab and Haryana, known as food bowls of the country, have contributed record 12.8 mt and 8.6 mt of the grain respectively this year.

The trade between India and Japan is likely to touch $25 billion by 2014 on the back of a trade deal that the two countries signed in 2011. During 2010-11, the two-way trade stood at about $13 billion. The two countries signed a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) aimed at eliminating tariff on majority of products traded between the countries.

$ 2 BN CURRENCY SWAP FOR SAARC

EXPORTS TO EUROPE MOVE UP

Amid the gloom from Europe, there is finally some good news for India. For the first time, trade with the 27-member bloc went up by 21.5% to $110 billion during 2011-12. Of this, exports are estimated to have gone up around 13% to $53 billion, which is lower than the overall export growth of around 21% for India.

Reserve Bank of India will offer Swap Arrangement of two billion dollars both in foreign currency and Indian currency to SAARC nations. The swap will be offered in US dollar, Euro or Indian Rupee against the domestic currency or domestic currency denominated government securities of the requesting country.

RIL FINED $ ONE BILLION

SWISS BANK DEPOSITS BELOW 10K Cr

Various estimates of black money stashed abroad have been doing the rounds in recent years. According to a white paper tabled in the LS on May 21, most of these estimates appear to be fabricated with malicious intent, with some bordering on the bizarre. The paper relies on figures provided by the Swiss National Bank to dispel the common belief that Indians hold the maximum deposits in Swiss banks. Total deposits of Indians in Swiss banks declined by more than Rs 14,000 crore during the 2006-10 period. The deposits stood at Rs 9,295 crore at the end of 2010 compared to Rs 23,373 crore in 2006, according to the White Paper.

The Petroleum & Natural Gas Ministry has slapped a hefty penalty of over US $1 billion on Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) for failing to meet gas output targets in K G Basin gas field allotted to the company. The ministry blamed RIL for not drilling its committed quota of wells, which led to a large chunk of production facilities lying unused or under-utilised.

$ 2 BILLION LOAN FOR RIL

Reliance Industries (RIL) has signed a $ 2 billion (Rs 10800 crore) loan with nine banks covered by Euler Hermes Deutschland AG. (Euler Hermes) on May 7 at Berlin, Germany. The loan will be primarily used to finance goods and services procured from German suppliers as part of RIL's petrochemicals expansion projects at Jamnagar, Hazira, Silvassa and Dahej in India.

INDIA SIGNS GSPA FOR TAPI GAS

RISE IN GHG EMISSIONS LEVELS

Union Cabinet has signed the Gas Sale and Purchase Agreement (GSPA) for buying gas from Turkmenistan through the $7.6 billion Turkmenistan-Aghanistan-PakistanIndia (TAPI) pipeline. The contentious issue of transit fee was also resolved with India agreeing to pay both Afghanistan and Pakistan a transit fee of $0.50 per million metric British thermal unit (mmBtu) for allowing passage of gas through their respective territories. This was one of the major points that had been a bone of contention between

Indias greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions rose 4.2 per cent to 1.3 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent compared with 1994 levels. The energy sector accounted for 67.4 per cent of total GHG emissions, followed by agriculture at 23.3 per cent, industrial processes at 6 per cent and waste sector 3.4 per cent.

INDO RUSSIAN TRADE HOUSE

The first Russian-Indian trade house has been opened in Mumbai. This will be followed by the opening of the similar

center in Moscow also. The project aims at promoting trade and investment between two countries.

foreign exchange from its current services such as advising clients on takeovers.

4 G SERVICES LAUNCHED AT KOLKATA

Telecom major Bharti Airtel became the first player India to launch the 4G services, at Kolkata. A successor to the 3G and 2G families, 4G is expected to be five times quicker than 3G services. It would offer services such as high-definition mobile TV and video conference on mobile.

NEW GLOBAL REMMITTANCE SERVICE

GOVT PLANS TO CUT SUBSIDIES

The Indian government is committed to bringing down subsidies to below two percent of the country's gross domestic product (GDP) in the current fiscal and cut it further to 1.75 percent in the next three years. This was stated by the Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee at Manila after being elected as Chairman of ADB.

Federal Bank has joined hands with National Bank of Abu Dhabi, the biggest bank in UAE, to launch a real-time international account-to-account money transfer service via mobile phones from anywhere in the world to any bank in India. The bank will make use of the arrow mobile service of NBAD powered by Luup mobile payment technology for the purpose. Under the scheme, Federal Bank beneficiaries get transferred funds instantaneously.

BANK NPAs CROSS Rs 59,000 CRORE

INDIA NEEDS $ 1 TRLN FOR INFRASTRUCTURE

Addressing the first business session of the annual meeting of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) at Manila, Finance Minister of India said that India has made provisions for creating infrastructure debt fund to attract investment in this sector. India needs about USD one trillion in the next five years for infrastructure development, out of which at least 50 per cent has to come from private sector. Therefore, there is huge scope for investments in India," he said.

The gross non-performing assets (NPAs) of nationalised banks stood at Rs 59,397 crore at the end of December 2011, accounting for roughly 2.4% of total advances. During 2010-11, nationalised banks had written off loans worth Rs 12,000 crore and loans amounting to Rs 47,000 crore have been restructured.

RBI ISSUES BASEL III GUIDELINES

POOR LIVING AT Rs 15 A DAY

According to the 66th round of National Sample Survey (NSS) carried out between July 2009 and June 2010, about 60 per cent of India's rural population lives on less than Rs 35 a day and nearly as many in cities live on Rs 66 a day, reveals a government survey on income and expenditure. The survey also pointed out that 10 per cent of the population at the lowest rung in rural areas lives on Rs 15 a day, while in urban areas the figure is only a shade better at Rs 20 day.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has issued the final guidelines for implementation of Basel III capital regulation in India, which would be effective from January 1, 2013, in a phased manner, to be fully implemented by March 31, 2018. Banks have to maintain Tier I capital, or core capital, of at least 7 per cent of their risk weighted assets on an ongoing basis, as against 6 per cent at present. The total capital ratio, including Tier I and Tier II, must be at least 9 per cent, unchanged from the current requirement.

The Government has decided to allow export of one

million tonnes of Sugar. Govt has decided to cut crude oil import from Iran by 11 per cent to 15.5 million tonnes in 201112. India has become the largest importer of arms, accounting for 10% share, surpassing the Chinese share of five per cent of global arms imports during 2007-11. India has decided to convert 200 million US Dollars as grant to Bangladesh, out of the One billion US Dollar credit being provided by India to Bangladesh.

WHAT ARE BASEL GUIDELINES Basel is the name of a place in Switzerland where headquarters of the Bank for International Settlements is located. It is an intergovernmental body which coordinates regulations in the fields of financial services to promote international financial stability. It issues guidelines to regulate the banking business world over. It has a Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS) which is known for the Capital Adequacy Norms issued by it in 1988, as per which banks are required to maintain a capital adequacy ratio of not less than 8 per cent of their risk weighted assets. In 2004, it issued Basel II guidelines comprising of three pillars. In 2010, it issued the present Basel III guidelines. INDIAN BANKS NEED MORE CAPITAL
According to Fitch a credit rating agency,Indian banks may need to raise up to $ 50 billion (about Rs 2.50 lakh crore) of additional equity (on top of retained earnings) under the Basel III capital regulations announced recently by the RBI. Most of the requirement is back-ended, with over 75 per cent needed to be added between 2015-16 and 2017-18.

BANKING
BANKS DIRECTED TO OPEN SB ACCOUNTS
The Finance Ministry has directed all state-run banks to ensure that every household has at least one savings bank account by the end of June. The move is seen as a step towards direct transfer of benefits under the government's financial inclusion plan. Financial inclusion refers to providing financial products such as bank accounts, savings products, and remittance and payment services to the disadvantaged.

POLICY FOR LOAN TAKEOVERS

MORGAN STANLEY GETS BANKING LICENSE

Leading US bank Morgan Stanley has received an in-principle approval from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for a banking license. The licence would enable Morgan Stanley to expand its offerings to wealth management, corporate banking and

The Reserve Bank has asked banks to put in place a board approved policy for takeover of accounts from another banks. The policy may include norms relating to the nature of the accounts that may be taken over, authority levels for sanction of takeover, reporting of takeover to higher authorities, monitoring mechanism of taken over accounts, credit audit of taken over accounts, examination of staff accountability especially in case of quick mortality of such cases after takeover, periodic review of taken over accounts at Board level etc.

RBI CAUTIONS BANKS ON LENDING TO NBFCs

The Reserve Bank of India has set a deadline of six months for banks to reduce their exposure to such non-banking finance companies or NBFCs which have half of their total

financial assets in gold loans, from 10% of their capital funds to 7.5%. The banking regulator warned about concentration risk inherent in NBFC's business model when more than 50% of their lending is against gold jewellery. These NBFCs rely heavily on bank finances to expand their business.

powers of the National Housing Bank (NHB) over housing finance companies to the RBI to ensure uniform control over non-banking financial companies and to enable the NHB to concentrate on supervision and financing of such institutions.

AXIS BANK JOINS HANDS WITH AIRTEL

TAX RELIEF TO FOREIGN BANKS

Bharti Airtel and Axis Bank have established a partnership to introduce mobile banking and payment services in India. As per the terms of the agreement, no-frills savings account of Axis Bank will be opened for customers on the airtel money platform 'Airtel Money Super Account, powered by Axis Bank' offering customers banking transactions such as cash deposit, money transfer and withdrawal.

BANK DEPOSITS SLIP DOWN

Deposits growth slowed down to 13.93% as depositors moved to gold and real estate for inflation-adjusted returns, leaving little room for banks to cut rates. According to latest data released by the RBI, deposits with commercial banks grew at 13.93% on a year-on-year basis to 60.6-lakh crore as on May 1, 2012. The RBI has projected a 17% growth in aggregate deposits of scheduled commercial banks for the financial year. The slowdown in deposits is partly attributed to high inflation.

Govt has decided to exempt foreign banks from paying tax for setting up local units as it looks to ring-fence such units against external economic shocks. The RBI is formulating a scheme for subsidiarisation of Indian branches of foreign banks to ring fence Indian capital and Indian operations from economic shocks external to the Indian economic scenario. However, foreign banks operating in India have cited high stamp duty and capital gains tax as a hindrance to floating local subsidiaries. Existing laws require overseas banks to pay up to 30 percent of the market value of their assets as capital gains and stamp duty while converting branches to a new entity.

RBI TO REGULATE MFIs

RBI REVISES COLLECTION CHARGES

In a relief to customers, the Reserve Bank has asked the banks to fix a uniform fee for collection of cheques of over Rs 1 lakh, instead of levying it as a percentage of the value of the instrument. "Banks, which have fixed their service charges for out- station/speed clearing for instruments valuing above Rs 1 lakh as percentage to the value of instruments are advised to review the same and fix the charges on a cost-plus basis," RBI said. In another notification, the Reserve Bank asked the banks in remote areas to set up a mechanism to ensure that cheques are delivered and exchanged on the same day.

Union cabinet has approved a bill aimed to bring microlenders under the RBIs control. The Microfinance Institutions (Development and Regulation) Bill needs parliament's approval to become a law. The bill proposes to make it mandatory for micro-finance institutions to be registered with RBI and have minimum net-owned funds of 5 lakh rupees. Microlenders have been accused of aggressive lending and recovery practices and high interest rates, which attracted calls for regulation. The bill proposes the maximum interest that the Micro Finance institutions can charge is 26%. This bill is sequel to the report popularly known as Y.H.Malegam committee report.

RBI TO SEEK OUTSIDE HELP

BANKS TO VERIFY Rs100 & ABOVE NOTES

RBI has directed banks to ensure that cash receipts in the denominations of Rs 100 and above should not be put into re-circulation without the notes being machine processed for authenticity. RBI further said that banks should use such machines in all bank branches with average daily cash receipt of Rs 50 lakh and above, within a definite time frame.

The Reserve Bank has decided to rope in a third-party consultancy firm to help it incorporate global best practices in its supervisory role and prepare the risk ratings for various banks in the country. The third-party consultancy firm would help RBI benchmark the global best practices in supervisory processes, develop risk profile templates and risk rating of commercial banks, and prepare a supervisory manual for conducting risk-based Supervision system.

INTEREST ON EXPORTS DEREGULATED

MOODYs DOWNGRADES TOP INDIAN BANKS

Moody's Investors Service has downgraded the ratings of top three private sector lenders - ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank and Axis Bank and Life Insurance Corp, reflecting the alignment of their fortunes with the government's deteriorating finances. The downgrade is driven by the macroeconomic situation of the country and there is nothing fundamentally wrong with the banks, said a spokesman of Moodys.

With a view to increasing the availability of funds to exporters, RBI has decided to allow banks to determine their interest rates on export credit in foreign currency with effect from May 5, 2012.

NEW NORMS FOR PREMATURE FD PAYMENTS

SMART NEW KCC CARD

The Reserve Bank of India has removed restrictions imposed on banks which earlier prevented lenders from levying penalty on customers for foreclosure of some term deposits. Banks are now free to formulate their own interest rate policies on foreclosure of term deposits for better assetliability management.

Revising the Kisan Credit Card (KCC) Scheme, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has asked the banks to issue smart cardcum-debit-card to farmers for hassel-free transactions. National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) will design the card of the KCC to be adopted by all the banks with their branding. GOVT TO TAKEOVER NHB FROM RBI To enable RBI to focus on its supervisory function and avoid clash between its regulatory and ownership roles, a bill was introduced in the Lok Sabha to transfer shareholding of the country's central bank in the National Housing Bank to the Centre. The National Housing Bank (Amendment) Bill, 2012 also seeks to transfer the registration and regulation related

INTEREST RAISED ON FCNR (B) DEPOSITS

To attract inflows in view of falling rupee, the Reserve Bank has raised the interest rate ceiling on NRI deposits in foreign currencies by up to 3 per cent. Interest rate ceiling on Foreign Currency Non-Resident FCNR (Bank) deposits of banks has been raised from 125 basis points (bps) (1.25 per cent) above the corresponding LIBOR or rates to 200 bps for maturity period of 1 year to less than 3 years, and to 300 bps for maturity period of 3 to 5 years.

NRI A/C RULES RELAXED

The Reserve Bank allowed non-resident Indians (NRIs) to transfer funds from non-resident ordinary (NRO) account to Non-Resident External (NRE) account subject to a ceiling of

$1 million in a financial year. While, an NRE account is for depositing income from abroad, NRO account is mainly for putting Indian incomes. In case of NRE account, only NRIs can become joint account holders but for NRO account, both resident and non-resident can become joint account holders.

AKASH MISSILE TEST FIRED

NRI INFLOWS JUMP 3 TIMES

Monies that NRIs deposited into Indian banks trebled to a record $11 billion in 2011-12. Interest rates that NRIs earn on rupee deposits were freed in December. In the previous five years, inflows of NRI money averaged $2.9 billion.

India test fired successfully its indigenously-developed surface-to- air Akash missile from the Integrated Test Range at Chandipur, about 15 km from Balasore, Odisha. It will boost its air defence shield and re-validate operational efficacy of India. The missile has a strike range of 25 km with a warhead of 60 kgs.

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

SPACE-X DRAGON JOINS SPACE STATION
SpaceX of USA became the first private commercial outfit to dock its own cargo capsule at the International Space Station, marking a new era for private spaceflight. The California-based SpaceX is owned by Internet entrepreneur Elon Musk. With no humans on board, the capsule delivered about a half tonne of supplies and science equipments for the ISS.

SBI plans to float a $1-billion (Rs 5,500 crore) debt

bond issue by August to raise funds for its expansion plans. The Reserve Bank is holding gold reserves of 557.75 tonne valued at USD 27.02 billion, accounting for 9.2 per cent of foreign exchange reserves. The RBI has ordered exporters to convert half of their foreign exchange earnings kept in bank accounts into Indian rupee to prop up the falling value of rupee. There are 93,659 branches of Scheduled Commercial Banks (SCBs) functioning in the country as on 31st March, 2012, out of which 34,671 branches are in rural areas and 24,133 are in semi-urban areas, which together constitute about 63% of the total bank branches. State Bank of India has become largest provider of housing loans crossing a record Rs.one lakh crore mark covering 20 lakh families. South Korea-based Woori Bank, a part of Woori Financial Group, has launched its first branch in India at Chennai. SBI plans to merge its two subsidiaries, namely, Satate Bank of Hyderabad and State Bank of Patiala with itself by the end of this year.

IPv6 THE NEW INTERNET PROTOCOL

A number of Internet Service Providers (ISPs), hardware makers and websites, including a few from India, will start running IPv6, a new generation Internet protocol, permanently from June 6. It is part of a global effort to move away from the IPv4 regime that now rules the cyberspace. Australian Mark Webber steered his Red Bull team to victory at the Monaco Grand Prix F 1 car race.

GENETIC CODE OF SUPERBUGS CRACKED

Scientists at the Harvard University, USA, have cracked the genetic code of superbugs such as MRSA, figuring out why they have become so resistant to anti-bioitics in mixed infections. Since 2005, superbugs, which included methicillin resistant Staph aureus (MRSA), have killed more than 18,000 people every year in the US alone.

DEEP SEA DRILLING RECORD

DEFENCE
AKASH TEST FIRED SUCCESSFULLY
India test-fired two indigenously developed surface-to-air anti-aircraft 'Akash' missiles from the Integrated Test Range at Chandipur near Balasore, Odisha. The double testfire came after trials of the missile, with a range of 25 km and capable of carrying a warhead of 60 kg to neutralise aerial targets, on 24th and 26th May.

A Japanese deep-sea drilling probe has set a world record for depth, reaching 25,400 feet below the sea surface. The probe named Chikyu, operated by the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology, was digging the seabed off Japan's northern coast to take fault samples and study last year's devastating earthquake and tsunami.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS
WORLD PRESS FREEDOM DAY
World press freedom day was celebrated on May 3. The United Nations General Assembly declared 3rd May the World Press Freedom Day in 1991 to raise awareness of the importance of freedom of the press and remind governments of their duty to respect and uphold the right to freedom of expression.

NAVY STARTS INS DWEEPRAKSHAK

As part of its efforts to augment the security of the strategically significant Lakshadweep archipelago, the Navy commissioned a full-scale naval base, INS Dweeprakshak, at Kavaratti on April 30.

DRDO DEVELOPS MISSILE DEFENCE SHEILD

The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), has developed a missile defence shield, which can be put in place at short notice to protect at least two cities, bringing the country on a par with an elite group of nations. The shield can destroy an incoming ballistic missile with the range of up to 2,000 kms.

CHINA ISSUES SMART PASSPORTS

ULTRA-LIGHT HOWITZERS FOR ARMY

Defence Ministry has cleared a Rs. 3,000-crore proposal to buy 145 ultra-light howitzer (ULH) M777 BAE Systems guns from USA. They can be air-dropped in a high-altitude position by a chopper in inaccessible areas. The guns can be deployed in high-altitude areas in Ladakh and Arunachal Pradesh.

The new passports issued by China have an electronic chip inside with personal information. Besides name and date of birth, the chip contains the holders finger prints and signature. Paper photos will also be replaced by digital ones. In addition to increased security, the E-passport is seen as an important step toward automatic processing at customs points.

$ 80,000 FINE ON AIR INDIA

Ailing Air India has been slapped a fine of $80,000 by US authorities for failing to post customer service and tarmac

delay contingency plans on its website and for not adequately informing passengers about its optional fees.

Time magazine has selected Sanjay Leela Bhansalis

WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM IN AFRICA

The three-day meeting of the World Economic Forum on Africa was held in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa. The meeting generated new ideas to achieve further development of the continent.

INDIA SHOULD SIGN NPT: JAPAN

Visiting Japanese Minister for Foreign Affairs, Koichiro Gemba, has called upon India to sign the Nuclear NonProliferation Treaty (NPT) so that the two countries can cooperate for development of nuclear energy. The two sides agreed to prepare a master plan for the industrial development of south India, especially areas around Chennai and Bangalore, and accelerate talks on export of rare earths to Japan.

NEPAL CABINET RESIGNS EN MASSE

The Constituent Assembly of Nepal failed to come to agreement on the new constitution and PM Mr,. Bhattarai has called for election on November 22 to resolve the constitutional impasse. Efforts for a new constitution have been marred by demands for the country to be divided into states along ethnic lines. Three smaller allies of the Maoistled government have quit the government against the announcement of elections. The allies have opposed elections declared by the government.

classic epic Devdas as one of the 10 all time best films of this millennium. The Netherlands to host Nuclear Security Summit in 2014. A major university centre dedicated to the life and works of Rabindranath Tagore has opened in Napier University, Edinburgh, Scotland to mark his 150th birth anniversary. Pakistan successfully tested Hatf III (Ghaznavi), a short-range ballistic missile capable of carrying both nuclear and conventional warheads across 290 km. (May 10,2010) The G-8 Nations Summit held at Camp David, USA. To boost trade and investment amid recession, the United Kingdom has announced the opening of two more missions in India, at Hyderabad and Chandigarh.

PERSONS IN NEWS
SAADAT HASAN MANTO: Veteran short story writer of Indian origin who later migrated to Pakistan after the partition. His 100th birth anniversary falling on 11th May, 1912 is being celebrated with great fervor in both India and Pakistan. Known for his famous story Toba Tek Singh. GIRIRAJ KISHORE: Verteran Writer and Gandhian was in news as he returned his Padma Shri award to protest against the auction of items belonging to Gandhi. A R RAHMAN: Oscar-winning musician has been conferred with his first American Honorary Doctorate by the Miami University, Ohio, USA. It is Rahmans fourth doctorate. He has previously been honoured by Aligarh Muslim University, Anna University and Middlesex University in the UK. SAM PITRODA: Advisor to Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, has been conferred with an honorary degree by New York University's Polytechnic Institute, which is considered among the U.S.' most prestigious and oldest private schools, specialising in engineering and technology. HILLARY CLINTON: US Secretary of State has been named No 1 in the World's 20 Most Powerful Moms list which also ranked India-born Indra Nooyi at the 3rd spot and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi at No 6. JACQUES ROGGE: President of the International Olympic Committee. MICHAEL HANEKE: Austrian director won the Cannes film festival's top honor, the Palme d'Or, for the picture "Love" (Amour), his acclaimed tale of an elderly couple facing the inescapable, yet no less tragic march of death.

HATF-IX MISSILE TESTED BY PAKISTAN

Pakistan (May 29) successfully carried out a test of its quick reaction tactical nuclear-capable Hatf-IX missile with a range of 60 km, aimed at "deterring evolving threats at shorter range." The missile is "indigenously developed short range, surface-to-surface multi-tube missile is named as Hatf-IX" or Nasr. It can carry "nuclear warheads of appropriate yield with high accuracy and possesses shoot and scoot attributes".

UN MEET ON CLIMATE HELD AT BONN

UN Climate Change Meeting held at Bonn, Germany to discuss the further amendments to the Kyoto Protocol and to review the other major decisions taken at historic UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) that took place in Durban in Nov, 2011. Next round of UNFCCC will be held at Doha by the end of this year.

JAPAN BECOMES NUCLEAR POWER FREE

Japans Hokkaido Electric Power Co has shut down the country's 50th and last active nuclear reactor at Tomari, leaving the world's third-biggest user of atomic energy with no nuclear-derived electricity for the first time since May, 1970.

HUNGER ALLEVIATION FUND

A report on food security and Poverty released by ADB in Manila, Philippines suggested creation of a hunger alleviation fund by the nations of Asia and the Pacific to deal with the problem of rising prices of commodities.

APPOINTMENTS
ANSHU JAIN: Co-CEO, Deutsche Bank S R RAO: Union Commerce Secretary PRADEEP KHOSLA: Chancellor of the University of California, USA. He is alumni of IIT Kharagpur. RAHUL KHULLAR: Chairman, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) RATAN KUMAR SINHA: Chairman, Atomic Energy Commission GOOLAM E. VAHANVATI: Attorney-General (re appointed for two more years) VIDYA BALAN: Ambassador for Total Sanitation Campaign of Govt. of India.

Switzerland has agreed to provide details of secret

bank accounts of individuals sought by India even on the basis of limited information, under a mutual DTAA inked on April 20 this year. Sh Anand Sharma, Commerce Minister inaugurated event of Days of India in Germany at Hamburg, Germany, commemorating the 60th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two countries.

FRANCOIS HOLLANDE: President of France, from Socialist party, defeating Nicolas Sarkozy JEAN-MARC AYRAULT: Prime Minister of France. DAVID RICHARDSON: Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the International Cricket Council TOMISLAV NIKOLIC: President of Serbia

boasts of its own mini-bus transport system and there are 25-odd CCTVs located on important junctions to spot litterbugs. And all this is without a single rupee from NRIs.

SPORTS WORLD

Indian Grandmaster Viswanathan Anand beat challenger Boris Gelfand of Israel in a tense, rapid chess tie-breaker to win the World Championship crown for the fifth time and fourth in a row in the World Chess Championship at Moscow. Services have won this year's Santosh Trophy (Football) defeating Chennai at Cuttack, Odisha. China lifted both, Thomas Cup for Mens Badminton and Uber Cup for Womens Badminton, defeating South Koreans in both the events at Wuhan, China Kolkata Knight Riders thrashed the defending champions Chennai Super Kings to grab their maiden IPL title in a nail biting finish at the MA Chidambaram stadium, Chennai. KRISHNA POONIA: Commonwealth Games gold medalist and Olympics-bound woman discus thrower created a new national record when she won silver medal at the Altius Track Crew Throwdown meet in Maui Island, Hawaii. WIM KOEVERMANS, former Dutch international footballer is all set to take over as the chief coach of the Indian football team for a two-year term. Grandmaster Parimarjan Negi won the Asian continental chess championship held at Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Deepika Kumari won her first World Cup individual Archery (recurve) gold medal at Antalya, Turkey. World Chess Title: Between defending champion Vishwanathan Anand and Israeli challenger Boris Gelfand. OFFICIAL SLOGAN FOR LONDON OLYMPICS: Inspire a Generation is the official slogan for the London Olympics. It has been selected to inspire a generation of young people to take part in local volunteering, cultural, and physical activity. The official Olympic motto is taken from the Latin "Citius, Altius, Fortius" - which means "Faster, higher, stronger", and was proposed by the man considered the founder of the modern Olympics, Pierre de Coubertin, on the creation of the International Olympic Committee in 1894. It was introduced at the 1924 Olympics in Paris. Since 1988, host cities have adopted their own motto. David Richardson has been named new chief executive officer (CEO) of the International Cricket Council World Snooker Championship: Englishman Ronnie O'Sullivan has won the 2012 World Snooker Championship, beating Alister Carter, also from England at Sheffield, England. Football: Manchester City secured their first English title in 44 years when they defeated Manchester United at London to win the English Premier League Football Championship. Shah Rukh Khan Banned :The Mumbai Cricket Association on Friday banned Kolkata Knight Riders co-owner and Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan from entering the Wankhede Stadium for five years for misbehaving with its officials and violating its rules. Lawn Tennis: Spains Rafael Nadal won his sixth Rome Masters title of the Italian Open Tennis tournament against Serbia's World Number One Novak Djokovic in Rome.

AWARDS & HONOURS

EXCELLENCE IN CINEMA AWARD: Shyam Benegal, veteran filmmaker. The award is conferred by the South Asian Cinema Foundation, London AMBEDKAR WOMEN'S WELFARE AWARD: Maya Suwalka, a social activist from Tonk, Rajasthan BANGA BIBHUSAN: West Bengal's highest award to eminent actor Suchitra Sen RATAN TATA: Tata Group Chairman, was conferred The Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun' title at Tokyo by Japan Govt for his contribution in strengthening economic relations between Japan and India. Palme d'Or: Best Film Award at Cannes Film Festival won by Australian film Love

BOOKS & AUTHORS

Imagine by Jonah Lehrer The Householder by Amitabha Bagchi The Rolling Stones: Fifty Years by Christopher Sandford The Chemistry of Tears by Peter Carey The Bridge: The Life and Rise of Barack Obama by David Remnick The Best Thing About You is You by Anupam Kher

OBITUARY
ACHALA SACHDEV: Veteran Hindi films actress GAJANAN VERMA: Eminent poet and lyricist from Rajasthan CARROLL SHELBY: Veteran race car driver and automobile manufacturer from USA, who created the best known US sports cars of the 1960s the AC Cobra and the Shelby Mustang. CARLOS FUENTES: Noted novelist from Mexico DONNA SUMMER: Legendary pop singer from USA

PLACES IN NEWS
KODUMANAL: A village in Erode district of Tamil Nadu was in news due to discovery of a variety of artefacts from four trenches in the habitational mound which revealed an industrial complex that existed around fourth century BCE. Dr. B.R. Ambedkar Pranahita-Chevella Sujala Sravanthi project: A hydel project across Pranahita river, which is a major tributary of Godavari river, being established jointly by Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra. The major benefit of increased irrigation from this project will go to Andhra Pradesh. PUNSARI: An ordinary village in district Himmatnagar, Gujarat, talks about wi-fi and optical fiber broadband network, its children spend best of their times in airconditioned classrooms with CCTV cameras. The village also

10

DAYS & DATES

01 - International Labour Day 03 - World Asthma Day, World Press Freedom Day 05 - World Athletics Day 08 - World Red Cross Day 12 - International Nurses Day, Mothers Day 13 - National Solidarity Day 17 - World Telecommunications Day 20 - World Metrology Day 21 - Anti Terrorism Day, (Rajiv Gandhi Martyrdom Day) 24 - Commonwealth Day 31 - World No-Tobacco Day

British scientists have claimed that they were the first to grow human body parts at a laboratory at the University College London. Scientists have developed a nose for the first time. The nose will be placed inside a balloon inserted beneath the skin on the patients arm. After four weeks, during which time skin and blood vessels can grow, the nose will be transplanted to the face.

NOTES
GENERAL ANTI-AVOIDANCE RULES (GAAR)
Government has decided to postpone imposition of General Anti-Avoidance Rules (GAAR) to next year. A look at why GAAR has caused panic among investors: What are general anti-avoidance rules? These rules, originally proposed in the Direct Taxes Code, are targeted at arrangements or transactions made specifically to avoid taxes. The government had decided to advance the introduction of GAAR and implement it from the current financial year itself. More than 30 countries have introduced GAAR provisions in their respective tax codes to check evasion. What are the implications? GAAR allows tax authorities to call a business arrangement or a transaction 'impermissible avoidance arrangement' if they feel it has been primarily entered into to avoid taxes. Once an arrangement is ruled 'impermissible' then the tax authorities can deny tax benefits. Most aggressive tax avoidance arrangements would be under the risk of being termed impermissible. The rule can apply on domestic as well as overseas transactions. What were the key concerns? GAAR is a very broadbased provision and can easily be applied to most tax-saving arrangements. Many experts feel that the provision would give unbridled powers to tax officers, allowing them to question any taxsaving deal. Foreign institutional investors are worried that their investments routed through Mauritius could be denied tax benefits enjoyed by them under the Indo-Mauritius tax treaty. The proposal had spooked stock market as FII inflows dropped on concerns, and the rupee hit a low of Rs 53.47 to the dollar. What has the govt done now? It has postponed GAAR to the next financial year. This will give a breather to tax payers and also allow the government time to frame clear rules after consultations with stakeholders. Govt has also clarified that the onus to prove that an arrangement is 'impermissible' will lie with the tax department. The GAAR panel, the final body that will decide on the applicability of the law, will include an independent member. Source: The Economic Times, May 8, 2012.

ET CETRA
SIKH PRIDE AT WINDSOR PALACE
Col Sarpratap Singh and Jaswinder Singh became the flagbearers of Sikh pride in the Queen's Diamond Jubilee celebrations 2012, marking the 60 years of reign of Queen Elizabeth II. The two horse riders from Punjab represented the Sikh martial race in the three-day Royal Windsor Horse Show (May 10-13) on the grounds of Windsor Palace, London.

WOMAN CONQUERS EVEREST AT 73

A 73-year-old Japanese woman, Tamae Watanabe, climbed to Mount Everest's peak on May 19, smashing her own record to become the oldest woman to scale the world's highest (8,850-metres, 29,035 feet) mountain. Ms. Watanabe had earlier climbed the Everest in 2002 at the age of 63, becoming the oldest woman to do so.

WORLDS TALLEST RESIDENTIAL BUILDING

Dubai, which already claims the world's highest building, has set a new record with Princess Tower, which the Guinness World Records has said is the world's tallest residential building. The Tower is 413.4 metres high and has 101 storeys above ground, dedicated to residential use.

PUNJABI WINS INTERNATIONL SONG AWARD

A Punjabi folk ballad 'Tere Bin Dil' by a former Patiala-based Thapar University student and software engineer, Dilpreet Bhatia, who was born in Ludhiana, has won the first place in the world music category of prestigious International Songwriting Competition (ISC). His song was selected out of 16,000 songs sent from 112 countries.

PAINTING SOLD FOR OVER Rs600 CRORES

'The Scream', iconic painting by late Norwegian artist Edvard Munch, considered as one of the most recognizable art work in world, was sold for nearly USD 120 million, setting a new world record the highest price ever paid for a work of art at any auction. The painting depicts the image of a man holding his head and his mouth wide open.

WHITES TO LOOSE MAJORITY IN USA

Predicting a major shift in demographic structure that could see whites become a minority in the U.S. sooner than expected, the country's Census Bureau (CB) has unveiled a startling finding that, for the first time ever, white babies represented only 49.6 per cent of all births in the 12-month period that ended in July 2011. Hispanics, AfricanAmericans, Asians and mixed-race infants comprised the other 50.4 per cent.

PURCHASING POWER PARITY

Purchasing power parity is based on the assumption that in absence of duties, transaction costs and other curbs, identical goods should have the same price in different countries when expressed in same currency. In other words, how much money would be needed to purchase same amount of goods and services in two different markets. This allows for calculating PPP exchange rates that can be used to convert gross national income of countries in terms of a single currency, usually the US dollar,

ARTIFICIAL NOSE DEVELOPED

11

to facilitate meaningful comparisons after adjusting for prices. How does the concept work? A good example of the PPP concept is the 'Big Mac' index compiled by the Economist. It assumes that over the longterm McDonald's Big Mac burger should have same price across the world. Comparing the rupee price of this burger with the price in the US gives the Rs-$ exchange rate on PPP basis. It is then possible to compare this PPP exchange rate with market rate and say if the rupee is undervalued or overvalued. How does India beat Japan in PPP terms? Under the regular method of GDP calculation, India's economy is well behind Japan. Even assuming an average economic growth rate of 7.5% over the next five years, the Indian economy will be only $2.9 trillion compared with Japan's $6.69 trillion. However, price levels in Japan are much higher than that of India or in the US. When the International Monetary Fund adjusts the national income of the two countries in terms of PPP exchange rates using US dollar, Indian economy grows to $4.46 trillion in 2011 because of lower prices while Japan stays at $4.44 trillion. Essentially, it means that in total two countries have the same purchasing power, but because of its much lower population average Japanese is way ahead of average Indian in purchasing power. What is the relevance of PPP? The concept of PPP is useful in comparing quality or standard of living in different countries which may not be possible if one just looked at per capita income. A lower income may allow a good quality of life in a country if prices are low. For instance, a haircut may cost lot more in London than in Delhi. The major shortcoming of PPP exchange rates is that these are difficult to measure. SOURCE: THE ECONOMIC TIMES, APRIL 30, 2012.

Confirmation An SMS alert of the debit to the transferor and credit to the beneficiary will be sent to both the parties once the transfer is made. Charges Each bank offering the service will individually decide the charges applicable on using the IMPS. POINTS TO NOTE 1. The mobile number and MMID of the beneficiary provided at the time of transfer must tally with the registered information with the bank before the transfer is complete. 2. The RBI has removed the Rs 50,000 limit on fund transfer through mobile banking, but banks specify limits based on their risk assessment. 3. The MMID can be cancelled by making the necessary request to the bank. (Content courtesy: Centre for Investment Education and Learning (CIEL))

THE RUPEE CRISIS

Strong dollar demand from the importers and deepening of Eurozone crisis has pushed the value of rupee to an all time low of Rs 55.40 a dollar on May 22. Lets have a look at the implications of this development.

Why is the rupee falling

The fall in the value of the rupee is driven by the perception about countrys financial ability and also by external factors like sovereign debt problems in Europe and a slowdown in the US. A recent downgrade of Indias rating by S&P and Moodys has added to the fall in value of rupee.

What the RBI can do

INTER-BANK MOBILE PAYMENT SERVICE

Mobiles phones are changing the way we do banking at present. It is the futuristic way of doing banking. The Interbank mobile payment service (IMPS), run by National Payments Corporation of India, allows banks to facilitate real-time transfer and receipt of funds for account holders through their mobile phones. The accounts to which the funds are to be transferred, can be with the same bank or other specified banks. The transfer can be done using mobile phones or the Internet banking facility at any time, including Sundays and bank holidays. To use this facility, account holders need to register with their respective banks. This can be done online using the customer identity and IPIN provided by the bank or by downloading the mobile banking application form from the bank's website and submitting the completed form at the nearest bank branch. Process To use IMPS, the transferor and the beneficiary must have mobile money identifiers (MMID), which can be generated by accessing the account online, mobile banking or by sending SMS to the number specified by the respective bank. Fund transfer The transfer process is menu-driven and will require the transferor to provide his MMID and amount to be moved, as well as the registered mobile number and MMID of the beneficiary.

One of the measurers is to sell dollars to increase the supply but it does not have a large foreign exchange reserve. The reserve, currently around $ 290 billion, is sufficient to fund only threefour months of imports. Other measures aimed at attracting more funds into the country include recent deregulation of interest rates on NRI deposits. Raising the interest rates on FCNR (B) deposits Instructing the exporters to release 50% of their holdings in foreign exchange accounts, in domestic market

What the government can do

The finance ministry may take policy action such as raising FII investment limit in corporate and govt securities to increase the supply of dollars.

Who will benefit from the fall

A falling rupee spells good news for companies who are selling their goods and services abroad. Major gainers: IT and pharma firms.

Who will lose?

Companies (that import raw materials) in oil and gas, airlines, capital goods and automobile sectors will be adversely impacted by the rupees depreciation.

How will it impact common man

A decline in the rupees value will make imported goods costlier. Petrol, diesel, cars and bikes, foreign travel and education will become dearer. Indian airlines will suffer as many of their expenses are paid for in dollars.

Where will the rupee stabilise?

An end to Europes debt problem will decide the future course of the rupee. Experts expect the rupee to decline further to 56-57 level against the US dollar.

STORY OF BLACK MONEY

What is black money? The National Institute of Public Finance and Policy (NIPFP) defines black money as the aggregate of incomes which are taxable but not reported to the tax authorities.

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How is unaccounted money estimated? One way is to look at the input-output ratio. For a particular amount of input, a country should produce certain amount of goods. If the output is less, then there is underreporting to that extent. This method fails to account for changes in the structure of the economy, efficiency gains and technology. Another method is to look at the currency in circulation with reference to the size of the economy. It is based on the assumption that currency is used by both the shadow and the regular economy. A small economy having lot of currency in circulation will suggest big presence of a parallel economy. However, such estimation fails to take into account the unorganised sector. How big is the black economy in India? There is no reliable current measure available. Most estimates are old and suffer from many shortcomings. An NIPFP study pegged black money in 1983-84 between Rs 32,000 crore and Rs 37,000 crore (which is 19% and 21% of GDP). How is Black Money Generated? The black money is usually generated in two ways: i) By Illegal means Criminal Activities such as kidnapping, smuggling, poaching, drugs, illegal mining. cheating & scams. Corruption: Bribes and theft by public officers. ii) By Hiding Income Hiding income through legal activities such as income not reported to authorities to evade tax. It accounts for a major share of black money In 2010, US-based Global Financial Integrity estimated that $462 billion went out of India between 1948 and 2008. The government has asked three institutions to estimate black money. The reports are expected towards the end of the year. How is the government curbing IT? The government has empowered its existing institutions and set up new mechanisms and institutions to unearth black money. The anti-money laundering law has been strengthened and more entities have been brought under its ambit to create a deterrent. India has joined global efforts to tackle illicit flows and also signed information exchange treaties with many countries. The gradual reduction in income tax rates has also helped improve compliance.

Lok Sabha met for an average 127 days in the 1950s

and Rajya Sabha for 93 days. This has decreased to 73 days for both houses in 2011.

GK BYTES
1) 2) 3) 4) 5) 6) 7) 8) 9) 10) 11) 12) 13) 14) 15) 16) 17) 18) 19) 20) 21) 22) 23) 24) 25) 26) 27)
High Court of which state has stuck down the 4.5% quota for minorities in government jobs, recently announced by the government: Andhra Pradesh What was the number of interlocutors appointed by Central Government for reviewing the Kashmir problem: Three Name the noted journalist who was appointed as one of the three interlocutor for the Kashmir review: Dileep Padgaonkar Which country topped the survey of consumer confidence in 123 countries, conducted by Nielsen: India A report by Security and Defence Agenda (SDA) & McAfee has placed India at ________ rank in terms of countries affected by Cyber Crime: 5th A World Bank survey to asses global trade logistics performance places India at _______ rank: 46th According to finance ministry data, the per capita debt in India was estimated at nearly Rs _______at the end of March 2012: 33,000 The internal debt of government is mainly on account of ________ either from the market or even from individuals in the form of small savings: Borrowings India signed DTAA recently with which country: Malaysia With which country India held its first Joint Consultative Commission meeting to review Teesta water treaty: Bangladesh Who represented India at the 45th annual meeting of board of governors of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) at Manila, Philippines: Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee Mr. Pranab Mukherjee as recently been elected as Chairman of Board of Governors which organization: Asian Development Bank India Post is celebrating completion of 25 years of which of its services: Speed Post Which country will host the annual meeting of board of governors of the Asian Development Bank: India Which country has replaced China as largest importer of arms during 2007-11 period: India India accounts for roughly ______ percent of total global arms imports: 10 The Supreme Court recently struck down the governments policy of giving subsidies to _________: Haj Pilgrims Name the African Island country recently visited by Indian President: Seychelles Which state recently announced a ban on the manufacture and sale of gutka and pan masal containing tobacco: Kerala Name the first Indian state which ban manufacturing and sale of gutka and pan masala with tobacco content: Madhya Pradesh Which state has introduced Sampoorna Swashtya Sabke Liye scheme to cover all its 52000 villages: Madhya Pradesh Brazil is known for its high per hectare produce of cotton. Which Indian state has decided to follow Brazil pattern to improve its cotton production: Maharashtra To promote tourism in Bihar, the state government has offered 50% subsidy to what type of projects: Setting up of Dhabaas Which state recently held a road show in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia to attract tourists from there: Kerala Name the state that has announced an unemployment allowance of Rs. 1000 per month for its youth between 30 and 40 year of age: Uttar Pradesh To attract investment from Japanese companies, which state has signed a MoU with Mizuho Corporate Bank, Japan: Karnataka Indias first high altitude clouds physics has been opened at

INDIAN PARLIAMENT COMPLETES 60 YEARS

Here is a brief fact file of the Indian Parliament: First Lok Sabha meeting was on May 13, 1952. First chairman of Rajya Sabha - S Radhakrishnan. First Speaker of Lok Sabha - GV Mavalankar. First Lok Sabha held 677 sittings for about 3,784 hours. Around 48.8 per cent of time of first Lok Sabha was used for legislative business. Percentage of graduates has increased from 58 per cent in 1952 to 79 per cent in 2009 (includes post-graduate and doctoral degrees). Women constitute 11 per cent of members in the 15th Lok Sabha. In comparison, only 5 per cent of MPs in the first Lok Sabha were women. In the first Lok Sabha, there was no MP over the age of 70. This number has risen to 7 per cent in the current Lok Sabha. The first Lok Sabha passed an average of 72 bills each year. This has decreased to 40 in the 15th Lok Sabha. Parliament passed 118 bills in 1976. This was the highest number of bills passed by Parliament in a single year. The lowest number of bills was passed in 2004 when only 18 bills were passed by Parliament.

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___________________: Mahabaleshwar (Maharashtra)

55) All the 8 core sectors put together comprise ________ percent of
Index of Industrial Production: 37.9%

28) National Panchayati Raj Award for successfully implementing all 29) 30) 31) 32) 33) 34) 35) 36) 37) 38) 39) 40) 41) 42) 43) 44) 45) 46) 47) 48) 49) 50) 51) 52) 53) 54)
Central Government Schemes has been won by _________ district of Haryana: Kurukshetra Government as increased interest rates on General Provident Fund, GPF to ________ from 8.6% at present: 8.8 percent The Tihar-Prisons-authorities have launched a new scheme called Sparsh for what purpose: To provide financial help to poor prisoners Govt has amended which act to provide for life time royalty to song writers, artistes and performers for their works: The copyright Act Government has decided to make rural posting compulsory for doctors completing their studies. It is proposed to attach them with which national programme: National Rural Health Commission To provide half a share to wife in her husbands residential property, in case of divorce, which law has been amended by the government: The Marriage Laws Recently Railways has launched Simran Project for what purpose: To track movement of trains What is the full form of abbreviation SIMRAN: Satellite Imaging for Rail Navigaiton Name the flagship employment generation programme of government of India: MGNREGS Government has introduced tax collection at source norms which make it mandatory for sellers of which item to collect tax at the time of selling their item: Gold bars / Coins for more than Rs. 2 lacs Notification of which decease has recently been made mandatory by the government: Tuberculosis (TB) Which organization has announced its plans to setup 1000 ATMs: Department of Posts Government has postponed implementation of General AntiAvoidance Rules from 1st April, 2012 to what date: 1st April, 2013 Government has decided to allow Sikhs to register their marriages under which act: Anand Marriage Act 1909 To measure the optimism level of the business managers in the country, which ministry plans to bring out a business confidence index: Ministry of Corporates Affairs Which government organization has fixed a target of planting one crore saplings on its land in the current financial year: Railways The government is promoting a new Pension and Life Insurance Fund (PILF) scheme in a bid to provide financial security to which segment of workers: Poor Indians working abroad To curb down the incidence of ragging and corporal punishment in the educational institution, government purposes to provide for ______ years jail to the offenders: seven Lok Sabha has approved a bill to establish separate High Courts for which States: Meghalaya, Manipur and Tripura Railways has increased the distance that could be covered under the Izzat scheme from 100 kms to 150 kms. What is Izzat scheme: Monthly Season Ticket According to Dr Kaushik Basu, the Indian economy is likely to grow by 7.6 per cent this fiscal year. Who is Dr. Basu: Chief Economic Advisor The Indian government has projected the economy to expand by _____ percent in the current fiscal: 7.6 What are the three main sectors comprising the Index of Industrial Production: Manufacturing, Mining & Electricity The manufacturing sectors comprises roughly ______ percent of the index of industrial production: 76 The weightage of mining sector in the Index of Industrial Production is about ________: 14% Electricity sector constitutes roughly ______ percentage of Index of Industrial Production: 10 The core sector in India comprises of how many industries: Eight

56) Growth rate target for agriculture during the 12th five year plan has
been fixed at _____ percent: four __________ billion: 350

57) The export target for the year 2012-13 has been fixed at USD 58) GSPA stands for: Gas Sale and Purchase Agreement 59) From which country the Union Cabinet has signed the GSPA
agreement: Turkmenistan

60) Name the countries involved in the TAPI pipeline project:

Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India

61) Which scheme SEBI has asked the government to route tax saving
through mutual funds: Rajiv Gandhi Equity Saving Scheme

62) India and Japan signed ________ agreement, aimed at eliminating 63) 64) 65) 66) 67) 68) 69) 70) 71) 72) 73) 74) 75) 76) 77) 78) 79) 80) 81) 82) 83) 84) 85)
tariff on majority of products traded between the countries: CEPA (Compressive Economic Partnership Agreement) Reserve Bank of India will offer swap arrangement of ________ billion dollars both in foreign currency and Indian currency to SAARC nations: Two The petroleum and natural gas ministry has slapped a hefty penalty over US $1 billion on which company: Reliance Industries Ltd. India Green House Gas (GHG) emissions rose by: 4.2 percent to 1.3 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide The first Russian Indian trade house has been opened in: Mumbai 4G services has been launched by which company and where: Bharti Airtel, Kolkata Who has been recently elected as chairman of Asian Development Bank: Pranabh Mukherjee The Indian government is committed to bringing down subsidies to below ______ percent of the its gross domestic product (GDP): two As per the 66th round of national sample survey, how much percent of Indias rural population lives on less than Rs. 35 per day: 60% The government has decided to allow export of ____ tonnes of sugar: 1 million Government has decided to cut crude oil import from which country by 11% to 15.5 million tonnes in 2011 2012: Iran India has decided convert 200 million US dollars as grant to which country: Bangladesh Axis Bank has established a partnership to introduce mobile banking and payment services in India with which company: Bharti Airtel Which Central Ministry has launched the scheme One MP One Idea: The Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation What is the full form of Parliaments popular scheme MPLADS: Member of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme What is the objective of One MP-One Idea Scheme: To reward generation of innovative ideas about the development of local area Government recently appointed a technical panel under Chairmanship of Dr. C. Rangarajan for what purpose: To review the methodology of fixing poverty line Fixation of poverty line at present is done as per the methodology suggested by ________ committee: Suresh Tendulkar The interest rate on Special Deposit Scheme and State Provident Funds has been revised to ____: 8.8% Which state of India ranks first in fish production, accounting for almost 6% of overall fish production: Karnataka Which Indian Bank has launched a real time International account to account money transfer service from any way in the world to any bank in India: Federal Bank Prime Minister of India on his recent visit to Myanmar met H E Thein Sein. Who is he: President of Myanmar India has announced to launch a trans-border bus service from Imphal to Mandalay, for which country: Myanmar Recently India test fired two indigenously developed Akash Missiles.

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Name the type of these missiles: Surface to air anti aircraft missile

114) Name the banks whose ratings have been downgraded by the
Moodys Investors Service : ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, Axis Bank

86) Name the film that recently won the prestigious Palme dOr award for
best picture at Cannes film festival: Love 87) Palme dOr the best film award is conferred by which film festival: Cannes Film Festival 88) Central Government has announced to replace common entrance tests IIT-JEE/ AIEEE with which test from 2013: ISEET (Indian Science Engineering Test) 89) What is the full form of the new test ISEET proposed from 2013 in lieu of IIT-JEE/AIEEE: Indian Science Engineering Test 90) Who has won the Santosh Trophy for Football: Services 91) Name the winner of Thomas Cup for Mens Badminton: China 92) Name the winner of Uber Cup for Womens Badminton: China 93) At which place the recent UN Climate Change Meeting was held: Germany 94) Write the full form of UNFCCC: United Nation Framework Convention on Climate Change 95) Space-X Dragon is the recent space craft launched by a private party in USA. What was its purpose: To carry supplies and science equipments for International Space Station 96) Village Kodumanal of district Erode was in news recently as a variety of ancient artifacts were discovered there. It is in which state: Tamil Nadu 97) What is the name of new Internet Protocol that will be launched World Wide from June 6: IPv6 98) Australian F1 racer Mark Webber won the Monaco Grand Prix recently. What was the name of his team: Red Bull 99) Government of India recently relaxed inward foreign investment norms for residents of which countries: European Union and Gulf Countries 100) As per new relaxed norms for inward foreign investment by individual overseas investors, they have been allowed to invest up to $_____ billion in Indias debt and corporate bond market: One 101) Recently Ministry of Corporate Affairs referred the alleged Rs. 870 crores fraud in Rebook Company to SFIO. What is the full form of SFIO: Serious Fraud Investigation Office 102) Anshu Jain has recently been appointed as Co-CEO of which International Bank: Deustche Bank 103) Who has been appointed as new Union Commerce Secretary: SR Rao 104) Name the International Finance giant which has recently been granted banking licence by RBI: Morgan Stanley 105) Morgan Stanley, the financial conglomerate which has been recently granted banking licence by RBI is from which country: United State of America 106) Government has announced restructuring of loans amounting to Rs. 35000 cr for units of which industry: Textiles 107) The Finance Ministry has directed all state-run banks to ensure that every household has at least one ______________ account by the end of June: Savings Bank 108) Government is planning to rope in global companies for the revival of Black Tiger ______ farming in the country: Shrimp 109) Which public sector bank plans to float a dollar one billion debt bond issue to finance its expansion plans: State Bank of India 110) RBI has recently removed restrictions imposed on charging of penalty on premature payment which type of deposits: Term Deposits 111) Name the film personality who has been recently honoured with prestigious Excellence in Cinema Award by the South Asian Cinema Foundation, London: Shyam Benegal 112) Government has decided to hold International Film Festival of India (IFFI) annually at which place: Goa 113) Indian Computer Scientist, Pradeep Khosla has been appointed as chancellor of which international university: University of California

115) The RBI has projected what percent growth in aggregate deposits of
scheduled commercial banks for the financial year: 17%

116) RBI has directed banks to ensure that currency notes in the
denominations of ________ should not be put into recirculation without the notes being machine processed for authenticity: Rs. 100 and above 117) Deposits growth slowed down to what percent as depositors moved to gold and real estate for inflation adjusted returns due to which banks could not cut rates : 13.93% 118) In order to revise the Kisan Credit Card (KCC) scheme, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has asked the banks to issue smart card cum debit card to farmers. Name the institution which will design the card of the KCC? : National Payments corporation of India (NPCI) 119) Name the bill which has been introduced in the Lok Sabha to transfer share holding of the countrys central bank (RBI) in the National Housing Bank to the centre National Housing Bank (Amendment Bill, 2012) 120) Government has decided to exempt foreign banks from paying tax for setting up local units as it looks to ring-fence such units against _________: External Economic Shocks 121) The Microfinance institution (Development and Regulation) bill has been approved by the Govt. As per this bill Micro Finance institution are required to be registered with which organization: RBI 122) In order to increase the availability of funds for exporters , RBI has decided to allow banks to determine their interest rates on export credit in foreign currency with effect from which date: May 5, 2012 123) The Reserve Bank has revised the interest rate ceiling on NRI deposits in foreign currencies upto what percent above LIBOR: 3% 124) Interest rate ceiling on which deposits of banks have been raised from 125 basis points above the corresponding LIBOR: Foreign Currency Non Resident (FCNR) 125) The RBI has allowed Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) to transfer funds from Non Resident ordinary (NRO) account to which account: Non Resident External Account 126) In case of Non Resident External Account (NRE) only NRIs can become joint account holders but for non resident ordinary (NRO) account who can become the joint account holders: both resident and non resident 127) NRI inflows jump 3 times in 2011-12. It has been trebled to what amount: $ 11 billion. 128) The RBI has issued the final guidelines for implementation of Basel III norms. It would be effective from January 1,2013 and are to be fully implemented by what time: March 31,2018 129) What is the new name for Rangoon, the commercial capital of Myanmar: Yangon 130) Name the capital of Myanmar: Naypyidaw 131) Where is the headquarter of the Bank for International Settlements located: Basel, Switzerland 132) In which year Basel III guidelines were issued 2010 133) Defence Ministry has cleared a Rs. 3000 crore proposal to buy 145 Ultra Light Howitzer (ULH) M777 BAE systems guns from which country: USA 134) Name the medium range surface to air Missile which has been successfully test fired by India at Chandipur, Odisha: Akash 135) Which naval base has been commissioned by the Navy at Kavarati on April 30 INS Dweeprakshak 136) The missile defence shield developed by DRDO can destroy an incoming ballistic missile with the range of up to what distance: 2000 kms 137) 3rd May is celebrated as ____ day: World Press Freedom. 138) Which airline has been slapped a fine of $ 80000 by US authorities for failing to post customer service and tarmac delay contingency

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plans on its website and adequately inform passengers about its optional fees.: Air India 139) The three day meeting of the World Economic Forum on Africa was held at which place: Addis Ababa, capital of Ethiopia 140) What was the theme of the meeting of the World Economic Forum on Africa: Shaping Africas Transformation 141) The Reserve Bank is holding gold reserves of 557.75 tonne. This is what percent of foreign exchange reserves: 9.2% 142) Which bank has become the largest provider of housing loans, crossing a record of Rs. 1 lac crore and has covered more than 20 lacs families: State Bank of India 143) Which South Korea based bank has launched its first branch in India: Woori Bank 144) In which city, South Korea based Woori Bank has launched its first branch in India : Chennai 145) SBI has planned to merge which two subsidiaries with itself by the end of this year.: State Bank of Hyderabad and State Bank of Patiala 146) Who is the Japans Minister for Foreign Affairs: Koichiro Gemba 147) Name the Japanese deep-sea drilling probe which has set a world record for digging the sea bed to reach 25400 feet below the sea surface: Chikyu 148) A Japanese deep sea probe named Chikyu has been operated by which agency: The Japan Agency for Marine Earth Science and Technology 149) Japans _______shut down the countries 50th and last active nuclear reactor at: Tomari Hukkaido Electric Power. 150) The host city of Nuclear Security Summit in 2014 will be: The Netherlands 151) Name the international university which has opened a centre in the honour of Rabindranath Tagore to mark his 150th Birth anniversary: Napier University, Edingburgh, Scotland. 152) Where was the G- 8 Nations Summit held in May 2012: Camp David, USA 153) The UK has announced the opening of two more missions at which place in India to boost trade and investment: Hyderabad and Chandigarh 154) Who is the writer of the famous short story Toba Tek Singh Saadat Hasan Manto. 155) Name the veteran writer and Gandhian who has returned his Padma Shri award to protest against the auction of items belonging to Gandhi ji Giriraj Kishore 156) Who is the Advisor to Prime Minister of India on Public Information Infrastructure And Innovations Sam Pitroda 157) Sam Pitroda has been conferred with an honorary degree by which international institute: New York Universitys Polytechnic Institute 158) Who is the President of the International Olympic Committee Jacques Rogge 159) Microsoft has launched a beta version of its ____ upcoming operating system for consumers to install and try out: Windows 8 160) What is the full form of NCTC: National Counter Terrorism Centre 161) The Bhimashankar wildlife sanctuary is situated in Maharashtra 162) At which place will the LPG Terminal Project of Indian Oil Petronas Pvt. Ltd be set up Ennore (Chennai) 163) Bonda tribe belongs to which state Odisha 164) Where is Namdapha National Park? Distt. Changlang (Arunachal Pradesh) 165) The first ever direct translation from Chinese to Tamil, named Even if I Adorn, Theres None To Behold is written by Indian diplomat Sridharan Madhusudhanan 166) Who is the Editor in Chief of the Guinness Book of World records Craig Glanday 167) What is the full form of NMEICT: National Mission on Education Through Information And Technology

168) Which country has launched Baby Beans,the worlds smallest

wireless laser mouse that uses 2.4 GHZ wireless communication technology Japan 169) Wadi Project is being sponsored by which institution NABARD 170) Which state has been selected for the national award for egovernance instituted by Union Govt. for 2011-12: Rajasthan 171) Name the currency of Myanmar: Myanma kyat 172) Hillary Clinton has recently been declared as _______: Worlds Most Powerful Mom. 173) Hillary Clinton recently visited India. She is ___ of USA : Secretary of State (equivalent to Foreign Minister) 174) Mr ________ has been appointed as new chairman of Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) : Mr Rahul Khullar 175) Who has been appointed chairman of Atomic Energy Commission: Mr Ratan Kumar Sinha 176) Mr. Goolam E. Vahanvati has been reappointed for two years as: Attorney General of India 177) Govt. of India has appointed _____ as Ambassador of Total Sanitation Campaign: Miss Vidya Balan 178) Who has been elected as new of President in France: Mr. Francois Hollande of Socialist party (He defeated Mr.Nicolas Sarkozy) 179) The new Chief Executive Officer of International Cricket Council is _____ : Mr. David Richardson 180) Who has been elected as new President of Serbia: Tomislav Nikolic 181) Mr Tomislav Nikolic defeated : Boris Tadick (Former President of Serbia) 182) Ms. Suchitra Sen an eminent actress has been awarded: Highest award of West Bengal, Banga Bhushan 183) The Grand Cordon of the order of the Rising Sun a Title by Japanese Govt. for contribution in strengthening economic relations between Japan and India has been awarded to: Mr. Ratan Tata 184) The Book The Chemistry Of Tears has been written by: Mr. Peter Carey. 185) The Best Thing About You Is You is a book written by : Anupam Kher 186) The Bridge: The rise and life of Barack Obama is a book written by: David Remnick 187) A Hydel project across Pranahita river named Dr. B.R. Ambedkar Pranahita Chevella Sujala Sarvanthi is being established jointly by: Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra 188) Name the village which has Wi-Fi and optical fibre broadband network, air conditioned class rooms with CCTV cameras and Mini bus transport system: Punsari Distt. Himmatnagar Gujarat 189) Name the women discus thrower who won silver medal at Altius Track Crew Meet in Hawaii: Krishna Punia 190) Name the player who won Asian Continental Chess Championship: Parimarjan Negi

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