Current Affairs 8th April 2015

Current Affairs 8th April 2015 - Important Points

• Who has won Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 Trophy - Gujarat

• Who has been appointed as Director of ISRO Satellite Centre (ISAC) - Mayilsamy Annadurai

• Who has constituted Ajay Shankar committee to simplify clearances - Union Ministry of Commerce and Industry

• Who has won bronze in World Women's chess championship - Dronavalli Harika

• PM launched MUDRA Bank under PM Jan Dhan Yojana to - fund small entrepreneurs

Current Affairs 8th April 2015 - Details

Who has won Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 Trophy - Gujarat

Among the important Sports Current Affairs, On 7th April 2015, the 2014-15 Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 Trophy played at the KIIT Cricket Stadium, Bhubaneshwar was won by Gujarat cricket team. Gujarat defeated Punjab by scoring 123 runs in 19.5 overs whereas Punjab scored 117 runs in 20 overs in final match.

The Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy is a domestic Twenty20 cricket championship in India organized by Board of Control for Cricket in India and is played among the teams from Ranji Trophy.

Who has been appointed as Director of ISRO Satellite Centre (ISAC) - Mayilsamy Annadurai

Among the important appointments, On 1st April 2015, Mayilsamy Annadurai was appointed as Director of ISRO Satellite Centre (ISAC), Bengaluru. He succeeded Dr SK Shivakumar who antiquated on 31st March 2015.

Mayilsamy Annadurai will be responsible for the development of satellite technology and implementation of satellite systems for scientific, technological and application missions.

Prior to this appointment, since 2011, at the ISAC he had been the Programme Director of Indian Remote Sensing Satellites (IRS) and Small Satellite Systems (SSS).

Who has constituted Ajay Shankar committee to simplify clearances - Union Ministry of Commerce and Industry

On 7th April 2015, to suggest simplified compliance for establishing new industries, an expert committee has been set up under the chairmanship of Ajay Shankar by The Union Ministry of Commerce and Industry. Ajay Shankar is former Secretary to the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP).

Terms of Reference of the committee

• Analysing the requirement of various prior permissions with an exhaustive inventory of such permissions
• Possibility of replacing these prior permissions with a pre-existing (proposed) regulatory mechanism should be inspected
• Discovering safeguards to be put in place while replacing the system of prior permission and integrating these safeguards in the proposed regulatory mechanism
• A framework of the proposed regulatory mechanism is to be suggested
• Draft the proposed legislation

Who has won bronze in World Women's chess championship - Dronavalli Harika

Among the important Sports Current Affairs, On 6th April 2015, Indian Grandmaster Dronavalli Harika won Bronze medal along with Swedish Grandmaster Pia Cramling in the World Women’s chess championships held at Sochi, Russia. In the semi-finals, Mariya Muzychuk defeated Harika. Dronavalli Harika won the Bronze medal and got 20000 US dollars.

Mariya Muzychuk of Ukraine won the World Women Chess Championship by defeating Russian Natalija Pogonina. Muzychuk won 60000 US dollars whereas Pogonina got 30000 US dollars as an award.

PM launched MUDRA Bank under PM Jan Dhan Yojana to - fund small entrepreneurs

On 8th April 2015, Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the Micro Units Development and Refinance Agency Ltd. (MUDRA) Bank to fund the small business person. The Bank was launched under the ambitious Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY). The bank will provide credit of up to 10 lakh rupees to small entrepreneurs and act as a regulator for Micro-Finance Institutions (MFIs).

The bank would be responsible for refinancing and developing all Micro-finance Institutions (MFIs) which are in the business of giving loan to micro / small business entities engaged in service activities, trading and manufacturing.

The role of MUDRA Bank

• Building a good architecture of Last Mile Credit Delivery to micro businesses
• Assign policy guidelines for micro enterprise financing business
• Registration of MFI entities
• Maintain promotional & development activities in the sector
• Accreditation/rating of MFI entities
• Establish responsible financing practices to ward off over indebtedness and ensure proper client protection principles and methods of recovery
• Standardised set of covenants governing last mile lending to micro enterprises should be expanded
• Encouraging right technology solutions for the last mile
• A Credit Guarantee Scheme for providing guarantees to the loans/portfolios which are being extended to micro enterprises should be formulated.