Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 14 August 2015

Current Affairs for IAS Exams – 14 August 2015

:: National ::

CVC appointment under Supreme Court scanner

The Supreme Court on Thursday sought the Centre's response to a PIL challenging the appointment of former Central Board of Direct Taxes head KV Chaudhary as chief vigilance commissioner and ex-CMD of Indian Bank TM Bhasin as vigilance commissioner in the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC).
A bench of Chief Justice HL Dattu and justices Arun Mishra and Amitava Roy also sought response from Chaudhary and Bhasin on the petition which cast doubts over their "integrity and reputation" and alleged that clouds over their integrity made them ineligible for the top posts in the CVC.
The petition, filed by NGO 'Common Cause' and members of civil society including former Navy chief Admiral L Ramdas, said Chaudhary's actions as CBDT chief and adviser to the SC-appointed SIT on black money was under a cloud.
The NGO also said Chaudhary's name had cropped up in the Stockguru scam and also in the controversy relating to visitors to ex-CBI director Ranjit Sinha's official residence.
Although government agencies had given a clean chit to Chaudhary in both cases, the petitioners alleged that he did not meet the "impeccable integrity" requirement for the CVC post and termed the procedure to select him as arbitrary and illegal.

:: Business ::

RBI paid Rs 66,000 crore in dividend

The Reserve Bank of India on Thursday paid a dividend of nearly Rs 66,000 crore to the government, the highest ever from the central bank in its 80-year history, and 22% more than it paid last year.
On a point to point basis, RBI's dividend payment to the government is up more than four times in as many years.
This payment can help ease the government's finances, help meet its fiscal deficit targets, provide liquidity to the system so that the rate of interest remains low and also make available funds for the government's capital expenditure, economists and bond dealers said.
The central government's move is also seen as another proof of its active support to the government's initiatives to kick start the slowing economy, they said.
As banker to the central and state governments and the banks in the country, the RBI has several sources of income.
The three main sources of income are the coupon payments it gets on its holding of government securities, the interest it receives from banks which borrow money from it (repo operations) and also interest incomes on its holdings of sovereign bonds like US treasury bills etc.
Every year, after meeting its expenses and keeping aside part of its total profits, the central bank transfer a substantial amount to the central government exchequer.
This year's dividend payment by RBI is also more than the Rs 64,500 crore that the finance
minister had budgeted under 'Dividend/Surplus of RBI, nationalized banks & financial institutions', Budget papers showed. Since the nationalized banks are in the process of paying dividend to the government, the central exchequer's receipts under this head is sure to exceed the Budget estimates by a substantial margin, economists said.

Rajiv Gandhi International Airport becomes Ist to receive approval for e-boarding facility

Rajiv Gandhi International Airport in Hyderabad became the first in the country to receive approval to implement end-to-end e-boarding for domestic passengers in what will make air travel easier and paperless.
The Bureau of Civil Aviation Security, an agency of the ministry of civil aviation, gave its approval after assessing a pilot project conducted at the airport during April-June.
GMR Hyderabad International Airport Ltd, the operator of Hyderabad’s airport, successfully implemented a three-month e-boarding project in collaboration with Jet Airways.
About 7,000 fliers travelling via Hyderabad airport availed the e-boarding facility during the pilot.
Mumbai, Delhi and Bengaluru airports are also implementing pilot projects using scanners and e-gates.
Implementation of full scale e-boarding will be initiated “soon” for domestic passengers, GHIAL said in a statement.
It would come at no additional cost.
A passenger needs a mobile e-boarding card and an Aadhaar number to complete the e-boarding process.
Passengers can check-in online and use the QR code received on their registered mobile phones to access common use self service (CUSS) machine at the departure area of the airport. They validate their credentials by keying in their Aadhaar number and doing a fingerprint scan.

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:: Sports ::

India beat Spain by 4-2,win 3-match hockey series 2-1

Riding on forward Ramandeep Singh's two spectacular goals, that too within a minute, India outplayed Spain 4-2 in the third and last match of the European Tour to win the three-game series 2-1.
The first quarter started with a brisk pace as both the teams competed to dominate in the early stage of the game. After a barrage of attacks in the opening minutes, Spain managed to earn a penalty corner but an alerted PR Sreejesh kept the ball away from the net.