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Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 28 September 2014

National

18-year-long legal battle ended, Jayalalithaa sentenced to 4 years in jail

• An epic 18-year-long legal battle ended in less than five minutes on 27th september. All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam supremo Jayalalithaa arrived at the Parappana Agrahara complex as Tamil Nadu Chief Minister. By the time the curtains were drawn on the dramatic day, she had lost her post after having been found guilty of corruption.
• The three-time Chief Minister was sentenced to four years’ simple imprisonment and a Rs. 100-crore fine was imposed on her for offences under the Prevention of Corruption Act. Her co-accused — Sasikala Natarajan, V. Sudhakaran and J. Elavarasi — were sentenced to four years’ imprisonment with a fine of Rs. 10 crore each.
• In consequence, Ms. Jayalalithaa stood disqualified as an MLA and lost her position as Chief Minister. She would now be barred from contesting elections for the period of conviction plus six years — a total of 10 years.

Persons in news

Panneerselvam will be the CM of Tamil Nadu

• O. Panneerselvam will be the next Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu. He will assume the office for the second time under similar circumstances.
• In September, 2001, AIADMK general secretary Jayalalithaa had to step down as her appointment as Chief Minister was quashed by the Supreme Court.
• Mr. Panneerselvam, the AIADMK treasurer, met Governor K. Rosaiah at the Raj Bhavan and submitted a letter and resolution passed by the party legislators stating that he had been unanimously elected leader of the AIADMK legislature party.
• He will be the 28th Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu since 1920.

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Sports

Asian games 2014: India on day 9 (28th September)

• Indian pair of Sania Mirza and Prarthana Thombare settled for a bronze after losing their women’s doubles semifinal to Chinese Taipei’s Chin Wei Chan and Su Wei Hsiehin in the Asian Games, in Incheon.
• Yuki Bhambri clinched India’s lone singles’ medal in tennis at the ongoing Asian Games, settling for a bronze in the men’s event after unforced errors cost him the semifinal clash against Japan’s Yoshihito Nishioka in Incheon.
• Three women — Mary Kom (51kg), L Sarita Devi (60kg) and Pooja Rani (75kg) entered the semifinals of their respective weight categories with commanding victories — assuring India of at least a bronze medal.
• Indian race walking’s wonder girl won a sensational silver in the 20km at the 17th Asian Games here. It was the country’s first-ever women’s silver in the event at the Asiad.
• A few hours later, quarter milers M.R. Poovamma and Arokia Rajiv picked up bronze medals while Manju Bala brought another in the women’s hammer throw.

Business & Economy

Reserve Bank of India unlikely to cut policy rate

• While the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is likely to maintain its policy rate at current levels, the financial markets expect that the central bank would reduce the Statutory Liquidity Ratio (SLR) further.
• In the last bi-monthly policy review on August 5, amidst uncertainty over the progress of the monsoon, the RBI had kept the short term indicative lending rate (repo) at the current level of 8 per cent and the Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) unchanged at 4 per cent. However, SLR was reduced from 22.5 per cent to 22 per cent with effect from August 9. In the June bi-monthly policy also, the central bank had cut SLR by 50 basis points from 23 per cent to 22.5 per cent.
• SLR is the portion of deposits banks are required to maintain in the form of gold or government securities, before providing credit to customers. CRR is the portion of total deposits of customers, which commercial banks have to hold as reserves either in cash or as deposits with the central bank and the repo rate is the rate at which the central bank lends money to banks.
• In the last policy review, Dr. Rajan said that “The idea behind the SLR cut is that if government finances are improving and the government is on a fiscal consolidation mode, we can afford to liberate more access to government financing and make it possible for the private sector and public sector firms to get access to that financing.”

International

PM announces lifelong visas for Indian Diaspora

• Amid cheers from thousands of Indian-Americans, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced several measures to ease travel to their motherland including life-long visas.
• “There is even more to come,” he said smilingly as he announced that People of Indian Origin (PIOs) in staying in India for long would not have to report to police. “There is no need for them to do that anymore.”
• Currently PIO cards, given to those who themselves, their parents or grandparents or their spouse, were one-time Indian citizens, allow for visa-free travel to and from India. However, a PIO card is only valid for 15 years.
• On the other hand, the Overseas Citizenship of India (OCI) card given to only those who themselves or their parents were one time citizens, has lifelong visa-free travel and does not require the holder to register with any office regardless of the length of their stay.
• Eventually the PIO and OCI schemes will be combined in a new scheme and also cover spouses.