Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 31 January 2017

:: National ::

Supreme court appointed panel to head BCCI

• The Supreme Court appointed a four-member Committee of Administrators (CoA) headed by former Comptroller and Auditor General of India Vinod Rai to oversee the Board of Control for Cricket in India.

• The others are former woman Test cricketer Diana Edulji, historian Ramachandra Guha and IDFC Ltd MD and CEO Vikram Limaye.

• The four will function as the interim bosses of the BCCI and run the day-to-day administration of the cricket body till the Lodha reforms are fully implemented and elections held.

• A three-judge Bench headed by Justice Dipak Misra did not heed pleas for fresh hearings by the BCCI and its members and took the step forward in the direction laid out by the Justice R.M. Lodha Committee.

• The BCCI CEO was ordered to submit a report to the CoA detailing the level of compliance achieved by the BCCI and its members in adopting the Lodha recommendations.

Patnaik a 1985 batch IPS appointed Delhi Commissioner

• Superseding two seniors in the running for the job, Amulya Kumar Patnaik, a 1985-batch IPS officer, was appointed the next Delhi Police Commissioner.

• Mr. Patnaik will have one of the longest tenures till January 2020 when he is scheduled to retire. He replaces Alok Kumar Verma, who was appointed as the CBI Director.

• In 1995, Patnaik took the initiative to launch ‘Pratidhi’, a Delhi Police programme to extend counselling and other assistance to victims of traumatic crimes, an initiative that is working successfully till date.

• Mr. Patnaik, who is credited with steps like launching the Anti-Obscene Call Cell and the Anti-Stalking Cell, will have to look into this aspect.

SC refused govt’s request of non hearing of plea related to vacancies

• The Supreme Court refused to heed the Centre's plea to stop hearing a batch of writ petitions on the yawning number of judicial vacancies in High Courts across the country and the delay in filling them.

• But Chief Justice Khehar, flanked by Justice N.V. Ramana, said the Supreme Court had already decided to entertain the petitions, and having decided to do so, it would not now back out.

• All problems on the delay would end if the draft Memorandum of Procedure (MoP) was finalised.

• The government and the Supreme Court Collegium had serious differences on several issues regarding the MoP draft, including that the AG should be consulted on judicial appointments.

• The last draft was handed over by the government to the Collegium in August 2016 for finalisation.

More relaxations on cash widhdrawl

• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) lifted curbs on cash withdrawals for holders of current accounts, cash credit accounts, and overdrafts with immediate effect.

• The limits had been imposed in November following the withdrawal of high-value banknotes.

• The central bank also allowed savings bank account holders to withdraw the entire weekly limit of Rs. 24,000 in a single transaction from ATMs with effect from February 1.

• The limits on savings bank accounts will continue for the present and are under consideration for withdrawal in the near future. The move is expected to ease fund availability for small businesses and traders.

• Banks typically cap ATM cash withdrawals at Rs. 20,000–Rs. 25,000 per transaction, though some banks offer higher limits for high net worth individuals.

• Following the withdrawal of high value notes in November, cash withdrawal limits from ATMs were initially capped at Rs. 2000 which was later increased to Rs. 4,500 and then to Rs. 10,000.

• More than 86% of the currency in circulation was impacted due to the ban of old Rs. 500 and Rs. 1000 notes.

EC came up with a solution for candidates (Register and Login to read Full News)

Tripartite talks between United Naga council, Manipur govt and centre (Register and Login to read Full News)

Maha kumbabhishekam at the famous temple dedicated to Sri Brahadeeswarar (Register and Login to read Full News)

:: International ::

Miss France is Miss Universe

• France won its first Miss Universe crown in 64 years in a made-for-television spectacle where finalists spoke out on the refugee crisis and other hot-button global issues.

• Iris Mittenaere, a dental surgery student from Lille in the north of France, beat 85 of the world’s most beautiful women at the event in the Philippines scheduled for primetime viewing in the United States.

• Ms. Mittenaere (24) edged out Miss Haiti, the first runner-up, and Miss Colombia, the second runner-up, to win France’s first Miss Universe title since 1953.

Rare lion-tiger hybrid born in Russian zoo

• An extremely rare cross between a tiger and a lion has been born in a travelling zoo in southern Russia, one of only a few dozen of the animals believed to exist.

• Named Tsar, the two-month-old liger cub, is the offspring of a tigress Princess and lion Caesar.

• Ligers can grow to be the biggest cat in the animal kingdom, weighing more than 400 kilograms.

• A liger called Hercules in the U.S. is currently listed in the Guiness Book of World Records as the biggest feline in the world, at a weight of 418 kilograms and length of 3.33 metres.

A million people sign U.K. petition opposing Trump’s visit (Register and Login to read Full News)

:: Science and Technology ::

Boron may be the next wonder material

• Boron may become the nanomaterial of the century as scientists have found that two-atom-wide ribbons and single-atom chains of the element possess unique properties.

• For example, if metallic ribbons of boron are stretched, they morph into antiferromagnetic semiconducting chains, and when released they fold back into ribbons.

• Carbon-atom chains known as carbyne, boron fullerenes and two-dimensional films called borophene, all predicted by the Rice group, have since been created by labs.

• One-dimensional boron forms two well-defined phases chains and ribbons which are linked by a “reversible phase transition,” meaning they can turn from one form to the other and back.

• To demonstrate these interesting chemomechanics, the researchers used a computer to “pull” the ends of a simulated boron ribbon with 64 atoms.

• This forced the atoms to rearrange into a single carbyne-like chain. In the simulation, researchers left a fragment of the ribbon to serve as a seed, and when the tension was released, the atoms neatly returned to ribbon form.

:: Business and Economy ::

RDEL has signed Rs. 916 crore contract with the Defence Ministry

• Reliance Defence and Engineering Ltd (RDEL) has signed Rs. 916 crore contract with the Defence Ministry for design and construction of 14 fast patrol vessels for Indian Coast Guard.

• RDEL is a wholly-owned arm of Reliance Infrastructure Ltd (RInfra).

• RDEL emerged winner through a competitive bidding process undertaken by Ministry of Defence with participation from almost all the private sector and public sector shipyards.

Digitalisation to top the agenda of Gyan Sangam

• The push for digitisation in the wake of demonetisation and the proposal for public sector bank (PSB) consolidation are likely to top the agenda for Gyan Sangam which is the retreat for PSBs.

• The sessions on digitisation will include presentations on increasing the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) systems and big data analytics in the banking & financial services industry in India.

• The major slowdown in credit growth to a more than six-decade low of 5.1% for the fortnight ended December 23  and ways to revitalise it, as well as measures to effectively tackle bad loans.

• The third edition of the retreat which will be attended by senior finance ministry officials as well as heads of PSBs, state-run FIs and insurance firms is likely to be held in Hyderabad or Bengaluru.

• Strategies for strengthening the ‘banking correspondent’-network and increasing the usage of micro ATMs and Point of Sale machines will also be discussed.

• The high-profile meeting will also deliberate upon the need for the autonomous Banks Board Bureau (BBB) to expedite banking reforms including PSB consolidation.

• The BBB was set up to help select heads of public sector banks and financial institutions as well as assist banks with strategies and capital-raising plans.

India post will use its manpower to deliver banking services (Register and Login to read Full News)

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