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Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 24 July 2015

Current Affairs for IAS Exams – 24 July 2015

:: National ::

RBI Governor might lose veto power

In what looks like another sign of increasing differences between the government and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) governor, the revised draft of Indian Financial Code (IFC), released by the finance ministry on Thursday, proposed taking away the chief's authority to veto the interest rate decision of the Central bank's monetary policy committee.
Besides, the draft proposed that the all-powerful committee would have four representatives of the government and only three from the Central bank, including the 'RBI chairperson'. The draft talks of 'RBI Chairperson' and not 'RBI Governor'.
Currently, the governor consults a technical advisory committee, but does not necessarily go by the majority opinion while deciding on the monetary policy stance.
The first draft, submitted in March 2013, too had talked about the committee and majority vote, but gave powers to the RBI chairperson to supersede the decision of the panel.
The IFC, which is conceived as an overarching legislation for the financial sector, proposes a monetary policy committee which will be entrusted with the task of deciding the key policy rate and chasing the annual retail inflation target to be decided by the government in consultation with the RBI.
"Inflation target for each financial year will be determined in terms of the consumer price index by the Central government in consultation with the Reserve Bank every three years," said the draft, on which the ministry has invited comments till August 8.
Further, the RBI "must constitute a monetary policy committee to determine by majority vote on the policy rate required to achieve the inflation target".
As per revised draft, there will be three members from the RBI side and four from the Central government thus giving full control to the government on policy rate.
The government and the RBI had always disagreed over size of the committee, its composition and whether the governor would have the final say in the form of a veto.

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:: International ::

China begins assembling world’s largest radio telescope

China today started assembling the world's largest radio telescope, whose dish has the size of 30 football grounds, in the mountains of southwest Guizhou Province to enhance its ability to observe outer space.
China today started assembling the world’s largest radio telescope, whose dish has the size of 30 football grounds, in the mountains of southwest Guizhou Province to enhance its ability to observe outer space.
The Chinese technicians began to assemble the telescope’s reflector, which is 500 meters in diameter and made up of 4,450 panels. Each panel is an equilateral triangle with a side length of 11 meters.
Once completed, the single-aperture spherical telescope called ‘FAST’ will be the world’s largest, overtaking Puerto Rico’s Arecibo Observatory, which is 300 meters in diameter, state-run Xinhua news agency reported..
Wu Xiangping, director-general of Chinese Astronomical Society, said that for years Chinese scientists have worked on “second hand” data collected by others and failed to achieve breakthrough.
With a perimeter of about 1.6 km, it will take about 40 minutes to walk around the telescope. The giant dish is built upon a naturally-formed bowl-like valley in the southern part of Guizhou.
The Karst formation in the local landscape is good for draining rainwater underground and protecting the reflector, Sun said.
The construction of the telescope began in March 2011 and is set to finish next year.

:: Business ::

IDFC gets banking licence from RBI, to launch services by year-end

The Infrastructure Development Finance Company (IDFC Ltd) on Friday declared on it's website that theReserve Bank of India (RBI) had granted banking licence to the financial company making it the second lender after Bandhan Bank to enter the banking sector after more than a decade.
IDFC and Bandhan Financial Services Pvt Ltd emerged successful out of 25 contenders for new bank licences issued by the RBI in April last year. Bandhan Financial got RBI's approval last month.
IDFC's executive chairman, Rajiv Lall after receiving the final nof for the banking licence had said that the company plans to start operation from October 1 with an initial loan book of around Rs 55,000 crore with an estimated 20 branches. Of these 15 are expected to be in tier-VI cities with rest of the branches in New Delhi and Mumbai.
YES Bank was the last bank to be set up in 2004. Bandhan said in June it would launch banking operations in August.
Millions of people in India do not have access to formal banking services. The move to grant new permits marked the start of a cautious experiment to create more competition in a sector dominated by state lenders many of which are reluctant to expand into rural areas or towns where banking penetration is low.

:: Science & Technology ::

NASA mission's discovery makes Kepler-452b 12th possible Earth twin

A planet believed to be remarkably similar to Earth has been discovered orbiting a distant sun-like star, bolstering hopes of finding life elsewhere in the universe, US scientists said on Thursday.
The planet, which is about 60% percent bigger than Earth, is located 1,400 light years away in the constellation Cygnus. It was discovered by astronomers using NASA's Kepler space telescope and circles a star that is similar in size and temperature to the sun, but older.
The planet, dubbed Kepler-452b, orbits a star that is about 6 billion years old, compared to the 4.6 billion year age of thesun. "It's simply awe-inspiring to consider that this planet has spent 6 billion years in the habitable zone of its star,"Jenkins said. "That's considerable time and opportunity for life to arise somewhere on its surface or in its oceans should all the necessary ingredients and conditions for life exist on this planet," he said.
Kepler-452b is positioned about as far from its parent star as Earth is from the sun, completing an orbit in 385 days, compared to Earth's 365-day orbit. At that distance, surface temperatures would be suitable for liquid water, a condition believed to be critical for life.
NASA launched the Kepler telescope in 2009 to survey a sampling of nearby stars in an attempt to learn if planets like Earth were common in the galaxy. "This is great progress in finding a planet like Earth that is similar in size and temperature around a sun-like star," said Kepler scientist Jeff Coughlin, with the SETI Institute in Mountain View, California.
Based on its size, scientists believe Kepler-452b should be rocky, like the Earth, though that theory is based on statistical analysis and computer modeling, not direct evidence. "
With a radius 60% larger than the Earth, this planet has a somewhat better than even chance of being rocky," Jenkins said.
If so, Kepler-452b could be about five times as massive as Earth and have gravity that is twice as strong as what exists on Earth's surface. The planet also could have a thick atmosphere, cloudy skies and active volcanoes, Jenkins said.
With the discovery of Kepler-452b, the telescope has found 1,030 confirmed planets and identified about 4,700 candidate planets. The list of potential planets includes 11 other near-Earth twins, nine of which circle sun-like stars.

:: Miscellaneous ::

India’s youngest Chartered Accountant

19-year-old Nischal Narayanam has become the youngest person in India to clear the Chartered Accountancy exam, The Hindu reports. The Common Proficiency Test is considered one of the toughest exams in the country.
Despite clearing the exam, Narayanam cannot enrol in the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India this year as they don't allow members below the age of 21 years.
Narayanam is also the youngest graduate in Osmania University, from where he received his B. Com and M.Com degrees.
He has to credit other titles as well including the youngest 'Double Guinness World Record holder' in the category of memory and the youngest World Memory Champion. He is recognised by the National Geographic Channel one of the '7 brilliant brains of the world'.
If that's not enough, he has been invited as a special invitee and speaker at the Global Conference in Shanghai by Deloitte International, the audit firm where he did his articleship for CA.

:: Sports ::

Shubham Jaglan wins second junior world golf title in two weeks

Ten-year-old Shubham Jaglan added another feather to his cap when he created history by winning the IJGA World Stars of Junior Golf event in Las Vegas on Thursday.
The son of a milkman from rural Haryana shot a three round score of 106 winning by a five-stroke margin, ahead of two Americans Justin Dang and Sihan Sandhu and Thailand's Pongsapak Laopakdee for the Boys 9-10 years category title at the Angel Park.
Last Sunday, Jaglan had clinched a one-stroke win at the Junior World Golf Championships at the Welk Resort Fountain Course in California.