Current Affairs for IAS Exams – 08 October 2016

:: National ::

Amid rising tensions between India and Pakistan following the surgical strikes, Union Home Minister said the entire stretch of 3,323 km border would be “completely sealed” by December 2018, for which a time-bound action plan would be formulated.
Mr. Singh said the procedure for sealing the international border would be developed in a planned manner.
A mechanism would be put in place for periodic monitoring “by Home Secretary at the Central level, BSF from the security forces perspective and Chief Secretaries at the State level.”
Mr. Singh said the government would apply technological solutions for sealing the border in difficult terrains. A border security grid would also be formed, with guidelines to be framed with suggestions from all stakeholders in the border areas.
A notification would be issued after inputs from the Chief Ministers, Home Secretaries and Directors-General of Police, he added.

Eighty percent of the 240 million new bank accounts created under the Narendra Modi government’s Jan Dhan Yojana now have balance in them, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has said.
Mr. Jaitley was participating in a panel discussion at the World Bank on financial inclusion and de-risking or measures to prevent the illicit use of the banking system.
The Ministers of India, Indonesia, treasury secretary of the U.S. and the Governor of the People’s Bank of China who were part of the panel along with World Bank President represented 43 per cent of the world population and 40 per cent of unbanked adults.
Mr. Kim said the progress made by India in financial inclusion is a model that is inspiring for the rest of the world. Other speakers also lauded India’s progress in financial inclusion.

Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos won the Nobel Peace Prize for his “resolute” efforts to end more than five decades of war in his country, despite voters’ shock rejection of a historic peace deal.
The award was unexpected after voters rejected the terms of the landmark accord Mr. Santos clinched last month with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) leader Rodrigo Londono.
The Norwegian Nobel committee rewarded Mr. Santos for his resolute efforts to bring the country’s more than 50-year-long civil war to an end.
The deal, signed on September 26 after nearly four years of talks, was supposed to be ratified following an October 2 referendum but voters shot down the agreement, leaving the country teetering between war and peace.
The Colombia conflict has claimed more than 260,000 lives and left 45,000 missing over five decades, drawing in several Leftist guerilla groups, right-wing paramilitaries and drug gangs.

India’s foreign exchange reserves scaled a new high of $371.99 billion, up $1.223 billion for the week to September 30, as per the Reserve Bank data.
The increase was on account of a $1.468-billion surge in the foreign currency assets. In the previous week, the reserves had risen by $1.166 billion to $370.766 billion.
Previously, they had touched a high of $371.279 billion in the week to September 9. Foreign currency assets which are a major component of the overall reserves surged by $1.468 billion to $346.71 billion, the Reserve Bank said.