Current Affairs 21st August 2015

Current Affairs 21th August 2015 - Important Points

• Conversion of UCBs into Regular Banks was recommended by - R Gandhi panel

• Name the film banned in Pakistan : Phantom

• Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Value Added Tax (Amendment) Regulation 2015 promulgation approved by - the Union Cabinet

• Who is appointed as CMD of Air India Limited - Ashwani Lohani

• Name the Greek PM who has resigned and called for snap polls - PM Alexis Tsipras

• Name the book authored by Chetan Bhagat which was released recently - Making India Awesome

• Who has been honoured with Maharashtra Bhushan Award 2015 - Historian Babasaheb Purandare

• Name the spacecraft which has found presence of neon gas in Moon’s atmosphere - NASA spacecraft LADEE

• RISHTA project has been launched by - Himachal Pradesh Government

• Who is the author of the Book titled Mrs Funnybones - Twinkle Khanna

Current Affairs 21th August 2015 - Details

Conversion of UCBs into Regular Banks was recommended by - R Gandhi panel

Among the important National Current Affairs, On 20th August 2015, The Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI’s) High Powered Committee on Urban Cooperative Banks (UCBs) headed by RBI Deputy Governor R Gandhi in its report has recommended conversion of UCBs with business size of 20000 crore rupees or more into regular banks.

The important recommendations made by the HPC are briefly as under:

• Business Size and Conversion of Multi-State UCBs into joint stock bank: A business size of 20000 crore rupees or more may be the threshold limit beyond which a UCB may be expected to convert itself into a commercial bank. The conversion need not be de jure compulsory. However, the types of businesses to be undertaken by those choosing not to convert may remain within the limits of plain vanilla products and services and hence, growth will be at a much slower pace. Their expansion in terms of branches, area of operations and business lines may thus be carefully calibrated.
• Conversion of UCBs into Small Finance Banks (SFBs): Smaller UCBs with business size of less than 20000 crore rupees willing to convert to SFBs can apply to the Reserve Bank for conversion provided they fulfil all the eligibility criteria and selection processes prescribed by the Reserve Bank and further provided that the licensing window for SFBs is open.
• Issue of fresh licences: Licenses may be issued to financially sound and well-managed co-operative credit societies having a minimum track record of 5 years which satisfy the regulatory prescriptions set by the Reserve Bank as licensing conditions. For providing banking access in unbanked areas, the Reserve Bank may put in place an appropriate set of incentives for existing banks to open branches there.
• Board of Management (BoM) in addition to Board of Directors (BoDs): Putting in place a BoM as suggested by the Malegam Committee has to be one of the mandatory licensing conditions for licensing of new UCBs and expansion of existing ones.
• Entry Point Norms: The new Entry Point Norms (EPNs) may be as under:
• To operate as a Multi-State Urban Co-operative Bank- 100 crore rupees
• To operate beyond two districts and as a State level UCB - 50 crore rupees
• To operate as District level UCB (upto 2 districts) - 25 crore rupees
• In case of conversion of co-operative credit societies in unbanked areas and in the north-east, suitable relaxation may be made by the Reserve Bank.
• Depositors as voting members: The depositors ought to have a say on the Boards of UCBs. For this, a majority of the board seats may be reserved for depositors by making suitable provisions in the bye-laws.

Name the film banned in Pakistan : Phantom

On 20th August 2015, the release of Bollywood movie ‘Phantom’ was banned in Pakistan by Lahore High Court including its airing on the cable networks and its sale in the form of CDs.

Jamaatud Dawa (JuD) chief and Mumbai attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed filed a petition against the film as the film set on post-26/11 attacks contains filthy propaganda against him and his outfit which can cause a direct threat to his life as the dialogues of the film could poison the minds of the public.

The film has a storyline on crime author Hussain Zaidi’s novel ‘Mumbai Avengers’.

Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Value Added Tax (Amendment) Regulation 2015 promulgation approved by - the Union Cabinet

Among the important National Current Affairs, On 20th August 2015, the promulgation of the Dadra and Nagar Haveli Value Added Tax (Amendment) Regulation, 2005 was approved by the Union Cabinet, chaired by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

This will substitute the clause (b) of sub-section (1) of section 4 of the Dadra and Nagar Haveli Value Added Tax Regulation, 2005 with the amendment, namely “(b) in respect of goods specified in the Third Schedule, at the rate of five percent.”

An additional gross revenue and net tax generation that is estimated to be 120 crore rupees and seven crore rupees per annum respectively will be generated by the Union territory.

Do You Know :

Article 240 of the Constitution, gives the authority to the President to make regulations for the peace, progress and good government of the Union territory namely the Andaman and Nicobar Islands; Lakshadweep; Dadra and Nagar Haveli; Daman and Diu and Pondicherry.

Who is appointed as CMD of Air India Limited - Ashwani Lohani

Among the important appointments, On 20th August 2015, Ashwani Lohani was appointed as the Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) of state owned national carrier Air India Limited. Appointment Cabinet Committee (ACC) chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi approved his appointment.

He has replaced senior IAS officer Rohit Nandan. He will have a service term of three years. Currently, he is serving as a Managing Director (MD) of Madhya Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation (MPTDC) in Bhopal.

He is a Indian Railway Service officer of Mechanical Engineers (IRSME) of 1980 batch. He is the member of CII National Council on Tourism and founder member of the Indian Steam Railway Society (ISRS).

Name the Greek PM who has resigned and called for snap polls - PM Alexis Tsipras

Among the important International Current Affairs, On 20th August 2015, Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras announced his resignation and submitted to President Prokopis Pavlopoulos.

41-year-old Tsipras, who was elected as the Prime Minister in January 2015, said that he felt a deep moral obligation to lay his action before the judgement of the Greek people.

The aim of Tsipras to resign is to defend the massive bailout of 86 billion-euro (96 billion dollars), which Greece received from the creditors.

Name the book authored by Chetan Bhagat which was released recently - Making India Awesome

On 19th August 2015, Rupa Publications released the book authored by Chetan Bhagat titled Making India Awesome.

Inspired solutions to the country's most intractable problems—poverty, communal violence, religious fundamentalism, unemployment, corruption, violence against women, illiteracy and more was analysed and solutions were provided in the book by author.

Who has been honoured with Maharashtra Bhushan Award 2015 - Historian Babasaheb Purandare

Among the important National Current Affairs, On 19th August 2015, Maharashtra Bhushan Award 2015 was awarded to Historian and writer Babasaheb Purandare. Maharashtra Governor C Vidyasagar Rao presented him with the award in literature category.

He was credited with writing the first historical work on 16th century Great Maratha king Chattrapati Shivaji. He is famous for his popular play Janata Raja and book Raja Shiv Chhatrapati.

About Maharashtra Bhushan Award

• It is a highest civilian award of Maharashtra state and was instituted in 1995.
• The first award was presented in 1996 to Marathi writer and humorist Purushottam Laxman Deshpande.

Name the spacecraft which has found presence of neon gas in Moon’s atmosphere - NASA spacecraft LADEE

Among the important International Current Affairs, The presence of Neon gas in Moon’s atmosphere was confirmed by National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) spacecraft LADEE (Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer).

The lead author of the research, Mehdi Benna describes observations from LADEE’s Neutral Mass Spectrometer (NMS) instrument published in Geophysical Research Letters.

Main findings

• The neon gas was found to be in abundance in the exosphere of the moon.
• The Moon’s exosphere is made up of mostly helium, argon and neon. Their relative abundance is dependent on the time of day on the Moon — argon peaks at sunrise, with neon at 4 am and helium at 1 am.
• An unexpected source of some of the helium in the lunar exosphere was also found by the NMS.

RISHTA project has been launched by - Himachal Pradesh Government

Among the important National Current Affairs, On 20th August 2015, the Rajiv Gandhi Illuminating Scheme for Hill Town Advancement (RISHTA) project, an efficient smart LED based street lighting project was launched by Himachal Pradesh Government.

The scheme is also known as Centralized Control and Monitoring System (CCMS) Smart Street Lighting Scheme for Urban Local bodies which implements LED based street lighting project. State Urban Development Department and EESL implemented this project in collaboration.

National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC), Power Grid Corporation of India (PGCIL), Power Finance Corporation Ltd. (PFC) and Rural Electrification Corporation (REC) joint venture forms EESL (Energy Efficient Services Limited).

All the capital upfront for implementation of Project will be invested by EESL. total of 63484 street lights will be replaced with LEDs in all the Urban Local Bodies to achieve 45 to 55 percent energy savings under the project.

In terms of operation and maintenance the total saving with this project will be of 6.5 crore rupees.

Who is the author of the Book titled Mrs Funnybones - Twinkle Khanna

On 18th August 2015, Bollywood actress Twinkle Khanna released the book authored by her titled Mrs Funnybones: She’s Just Like You and a Lot Like Me. The book is about how a modern woman looks at India and how India looks back at her.

Twinkle is a popular columnist and her contributions can be seen in The Times of India and DNA After Hrs.