Important Current Affairs 3rd July 2016

SBI Inks Deal with World Bank

1. SBI has inked agreements with the World Bank for a $625 million or around Rs 4,200 cr facility to support grid connected rooftop solar programme in the country.
2. This will help SBI in financing grid connected rooftop solar photovoltaic projects at very competitive rates.
3. It will support the govt to faster achieve its target to generate 40 GW of electricity from rooftop solar photo-voltaic panels.

JPMorgan to Open 3 More India Branches

1. JPMorgan Chase & Co. is opening three branches in India.
2. The RBI has granted approval for the biggest US bank to open the outlets in New Delhi, Devanahalli (near Bengaluru) &Paranur (near Chennai).
3. The US based bank has one branch in India in Mumbai which was opened in 1994.
4. JP Morgan is expanding its footprint at a time when many foreign banks are scaling back due to profitability concerns.

MEA, MSDE Sign Pact to Skill Indians

1. The Ministry of External Affairs & the Ministry of Skill Development &Entrepreneurship have signed a MoU for implementation of the Pravasi Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PKVY).
2. The MoU will institutionalise a framework to provide skill training to lakhs of Indians who go abroad to work every year.
3. As part of the MoU, potential emigrant workers may avail work-related skill training under PMKVY.

RIL& SBI Sign Agreement for Payment Bank

1. Reliance Industries & SBI have signed the shareholder agreement to set up the payments bank joint venture.
2. RIL is the promoter with 70% & SBI will have an equity investment of 30%.
3. The RBI last year gave in-principle approval to 11 entities including RIL to open payments banks.
4. The new category of banks will provide basic savings, deposit, payment &remittance services.

Lanka Appoints New Central Bank Governor

1. Indrajit Coomaraswamy, veteran economist has been appointed as new Governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL).
2. Sri Lanka President Maithripala Sirisena announced his appointment.
3. He succeeds Arjuna Mahendran whose tenure was marked by controversies on the issuance of bonds.
4. Coomaraswamy is a senior economist & was a former director of economic affairs at the Commonwealth Secretariat.

Equitas gets RBI Approval for SFB

1. Chennai-based Equitas Holdings has got a licence from the RBI to start a small finance bank (SFB).
2. Equitas Finance will be named as Equitas Small Finance Bank,
3. It is one of the 10 entities that received in-principle approval from the RBI in Sept 2015 to set up a SFB.
4. The SFB will undertake basic banking activities of acceptance of deposits & lending to unserved & underserved sections.

Nobel Laureate Elie Wiesel Dies

1. Elie Wiesel, the Nazi concentration camp survivor, Nobel Peace Prize winner & author has died.
2. He became best known for his book Night which drew on his experiences in Nazi concentration camps during the Second World War.
3. He completed more than 40 other books including Dawn & Day.
4. He was born in Romania & moved to the US in 1955 & became a US citizen.
5. He was awarded Noble peace prize in 1986.

Oscar Winning Director Cimino Dies

1. Michael Cimino, Oscar-winning director of Deer Hunter & Heaven’s Gate has passed away.
2. He directed a total of seven feature films in his career but is best known for the 1978 post-Vietnam War drama The Deer Hunter which earned five Academy Awards.
3. He also directed Heaven’s Gate which widely recognized as one of the most epic flops in Hollywood history.

Former French PM Michel Rocard Dies

1. Former French Prime Minister Michel Rocard has passed away.
2. Rocard, a socialist had served as the Prime Minister from 1988 to 1991 under President Francois Mitterrand.
3. He was regarded as a staunch advocate of the European Union.
4. Among his achievements were the creation of a minimum welfare benefit in France & reform of the financing of the welfare system.

Alex Hales Picks Sehwag in All Time XI

1. England’s dashing opener Alex Hales has named his All-time XI team.
2. Hales chose Virender Sehwag over Sachin Tendulkar in his team.
3. He believes that Alastair Cook and Virender Sehwag will be the ultimate pair for the opening stand.
4. Others includes in his list are Ricky Ponting,Brian Lara,Kumar Sangakkara,Jacques Kallis, Gary Sobers,Muttiah Muralitharan ,Shane Warne,Wasim Akram & Glenn McGrath .

Chhattisgarh to become ODF in 2018

1. Chhattisgarh will become Open Defecation Free (ODF) by the end of 2018.
2. This was announced by the Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh Dr Raman Singh in Raipur.
3. Chhattisgarh has decided to give preference to its ODF blocks in schemes such as the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY) for distribution of LPG connections.
4. The Narendra Modi-led govt aims to make India Open Defecation Free by October 2, 2019

India First commercial Court Inaugurated

1. Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Dr. Raman Singh has inaugurated country’s first commercial dispute resolution centre & commercial court in the state capital.
2. The commercial court is located in Naya Raipur area of the city.
3. The court also consists of arbitration centre and a mediation centre.
4. It will facilitate speedy disposal of commercial disputes.

Smart Model Village Project Inaugurated

1. President Pranab Mukherjee has inaugurated a smart model village pilot project at Rashtrapati Bhavan.
2. It is a initiative to replicate the experience in transforming the President’s estate into a smart model township in 5 selected villages in Haryana.
3. The 5 villages which will be developed are Dhaula, Alipur, Harichandpur & Taj Nagar in Gurgaon district & Rojka Meo in Mewat district of Haryana.

Modi Okays Deal with US for 4 Poseidons

1. The Cabinet Committee on Security chaired by PM Modi has cleared the acquisition of four Poseidon-8I longrange surveillance & antisubmarine warfare aircraft at a cost of over $1 billion.
2. The four new P-8I aircraft will join the already acquired eight such aircraft inducted by the Navy in 2013-2015.
3. The Navy is using the  P-8Is to keep an intelligent hawk-eye over the entire Indian Ocean Region.

Assam to Introduce File Tracking System

1. Assam government has decided to introduce “File tracking” mechanism as part of its effort to bring in transparency in governance.
2. It will allow common people track the position of a file.
3. The Finance Department will also take recourse to on-line system to prepare budget and distribute the same to all offices.
4. It will maintain a constant link with the RBI through a Core Banking Solution ‘e-Kuber’.

Amul to Sponsor Indian Contingent at Rio

1. Amul has announced that it has bagged the sponsorship of the Indian contingent at the Rio Olympic Games.
2. The contract was signed by Rajeev Mehta,Secretary General, Indian Olympic Association & R S Sodhi, MD, Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (Amul).
3. Amul had sponsored the Indian contingent at the London Olympic in 2012 also.
4. Rio Olympics 2016 will be inaugurated on Aug5 in Brazil.

Haryana to Introduce Moral Education

1. Haryana Education Minister Ram Bilas has said that moral education would be introduced as a subject for students of Classes VI to plus two in the State.
2. Extracts from religious texts such as Bhagavad Gita,Quran,the Bible& Guru Granth Sahib had been incorporated in the curriculum of the subject.
3. Haryana govt has prepared the curriculum in collaboration with social organisations & educationists.

World Largest Telescope Poised for Trial

1. The world’s largest telescope built in China having a reflector of the size of 30 football fields is poised for a trial-run.
2. Installation work has been completed after the last panels were fitted into the big dish.
3. Scientists will then soon begin trial observation of the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Telescope (FAST).
4. The telescope which is aimed at observing deep space.

Iceland Named Safest Vacation Spot

1. Iceland has topped this year’s annual list of world’s safest vacation spots released by the Global Peace Index.
2. Out of 163 countries considered, Iceland claimed the top spot for the sixth year running aided by its low murder rate and small population.
3. Denmark came in at number two, while Austria came third due to its low weapon imports.
4. New Zealand came at 4th place on the index.

Katy Perry gets 90m Followers on Twitter

1. Singer Katy Perry has set a new milestone by becoming the most followed person on the micro-blogging site Twitter.
2. Katy Perry is an American singer, songwriter & actress.
3. She rose to fame in 2008 with the release of the singles “I Kissed a Girl”.
4. Pop star Justin Bieber is not far behind with 83.9 million followers while Taylor Swift is followed by 79 million users.