1) An indigenously made nuclear plant unit of India recently made history by running continuously for a period 765 days, or a little over two years. This unit is associated with which power plant of India? – Rawatbhata Nuclear Power Plant in Rajasthan
Explanation :
The Unit-5 at Rawatbhata Nuclear Power Plant is now ranked number two globally for continuous generation of electricity by a nuclear plant. The pole position is still held by a Canadian reactor, Ontario Power Corporation’s Pickering-7 plant, which ran continuously for 894 days before it was shutdown in 1994. Usually, most nuclear plants globally need to be shut down every year for maintenance, only well-maintained facilities can run for longer periods. This unit at Rawatbhata is a Pressurised Heavy Water Reactor (PHWR) and is run by the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL). It was established at the cost of Rs. 1200 crore in 2010.
2) Which professional services firm was hired by the Union Finance Ministry to undertake a validation exercise of the number of basic bank accounts opened by the banks under the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY)? – KPMG
Explanation :
KPMG would provide some comfort to the Finance Ministry that the numbers submitted by the banks pertaining to PMJDY were accurate and reflected the true picture. KPMG’s confirmation of the number of accounts opened will help the Centre pitch for an entry into the Guinness Book of World Records for the maximum number of bank accounts opened in a day. On 28 August 2014, the launch date of the PMJDY, the banking system had opened between 1.8 crore to 2 crore bank accounts. KPMG has already commenced work for this purpose and have approached banks to share information on the number of accounts opened under the PMJDY. Under the PMJDY, the Government is looking to open at least 7.5 crore basic bank accounts for 7.5 crore unbanked families in the country.
3) The Competition Commission of India (CCI) during September 2014 initiated an investigation against public sector general insurers and their association. The PSU insurance companies against whom this investigation has been initiated include New India Insurance, Oriental Insurance, United India Insurance and National Insurance, as well as their combine, the General Insurers’ (Public Sector) Association of India (GIPSA). What is the reason for this investigation? – Alleged anti-competitive practices relating to third-party administrators (TPAs) in health insurance committed by these companies
Explanation :
The charges against these public general insurers are that they are not allowing TPAs to function independently and have created in-house TPAs to settle any claims. It is also alleged that GIPSA, an ad hoc and unregistered body, was providing a platform to the companies to share sensitive information with each other. This affects competition in the market and also provides space to them for exchanging information regarding claims ratios, marketing efforts and terms and condition of TPAs, among others.
4) Indian tennis ace Sania Mirza won the US Open mixed doubles title in partnership with which Brazilian player on 5 September 2014? – Bruno Soares
Explanation :
Sania Mirza and Bruno Soares defeated American Abigail Spears and Santiago Gonzalez of Mexico in a tough three-setter final by 6-1, 2-6, 11-9. This was the first ever US Open title for Sania Mirza. On the other hand it was the second US Open title for Soares after a 2012 win with Russian Ekaterina Makarova in 2012.
5) Indian online fashion retailer Jabong will merge with four other firms to create a new global fashion e-commerce group as announced by Investment AB Kinnevik and Rocket Internet AG, the two investors in Jabong. What will be the name of the new group to be created with this mega-merger? – Global Fashion Group (GFG)
Explanation :
The newly created e-commerce entity Global Fashion Group (GFG) will combine five fashion e-commerce businesses, namely Dafiti (Latin America), Jabong (India), Lamoda (Russia & CIS), Namshi (Middle East) and Zalora (South East Asia & Australia). This deal is expected to be completed later in the year. GFG will focus on growth markets, covering 23 countries with a EUR 330 billion fashion market and population of over 2.5 billion people. It will market a wide assortment of leading International apparel and accessories brands, a tailored selection of highly engaging internally developed brands and local assortments developed for specific ethnic markets notably in India, Indonesia and the Middle East. GFC will be based in Luxembourg.
6) The Law Ministry of India has opined that the Government of India has all the powers to print currency notes of Re. 1 denomination. Why the opinion of Law Ministry on this issue was taken? –
The RBI was of the view that with the repeal of Section 2 of the Currency Ordinance, the Government of India is not empowered to issue note of denominational value of one rupee
Explanation:
Section 4 of the Coinage Act of 2011 provides that the central government may authorise minting of coin of denomination not higher than Rs. 1,000. The definition of coin in the Act makes it clear that Government of India one rupee note is included in the definition of coin. The Law Ministry in its opinion stated that the Act, which consolidates the laws relating to coinage and the mints, does not bar the Government of India from printing one rupee notes. The printing of notes in the denominations of Re. 1 and Rs. 2 has been discontinued as these denominations have been coinised. However, such notes issued earlier are still in circulation.
7) The Union Government during September 2014 asked Expenditure Management Commission (EMC) to suggest an effective strategy for meeting reasonable proportion of expenditure on services through user charges. The newly set up EMC will have to review the major areas of Central Government expenditure and suggest ways for creating fiscal space required to meet developmental expenditure needs. Who is heading EMC? –
Bimal Jalan (former RBI Governor)
Explanation:
Bimal Jalan, who has been conferred with the status of a Union Cabinet Minister, has been asked to design a framework to improve the operational efficiency of expenditures through focus on utilisation, targets and outcomes. Union govt. has asked the EMC to review the fiscal responsibility and budget management (FRBM) rules to suggest improvements for enforcing better fiscal discipline. The EMC, which will be headquartered in New Delhi, will have to submit an interim report before Budget 2015-16.
8) India has been ranked third in a list of countries most affected by online banking malware during the April-June quarter of 2014 as announced by security solutions provider Trend Micro on 6 September 2014. Which country has been ranked first in this list? –
Japan
Explanation:
Japan topped the list with the highest number of online banking malware infections during the April-June quarter of 2014. In May alone, it saw 13,000 malware infections. Japan was followed by U.S. in this list which saw about 5,000 malware infections during the month, followed by India with 3,000 attacks. Growing Internet penetration and rising popularity of online banking have made India a favourite among cybercriminals, who target online financial transactions using malware. These and many such incidents show that cybercriminals will always adapt to new trends and situations whether in the use of new malware or targeted attacks techniques to continue their attacks.
9) Barring a few, most of the life insurance companies have disclosed lower ‘persistency ratios’ for the first quarter of the current fiscal ended 30 June 2014 as also for the full financial year ended 31 March 2014. What is the reason for lower ‘persistency ratio’? –
A new standardised disclosure regime put in place for insurance sector
Explanation:
The persistency ratio broadly measures the quantum of the customer retention by the life insurance companies, while determining the percentage of policyholders paying renewal premiums at the end of one year, or more years depending on the tenure of the policy. However, persistency ratio has been one of the most abused financial metric by many insurers, who tend to disclose their best possible persistency ratios without following any standard formula or any specific time period. The insurance sector regulator IRDA earlier this year made changes in norms for such disclosures and put in place a standard formula to be followed by all companies in reporting their 13th month persistency ratios. An analysis of the disclosures made by various life insurers so far this year shows that there has been a marked decline in the high level of persistency reported earlier by many companies.
10) China last year relaxed its controversial decades-old one-child policy which was designed to curb population growth as the country grappled with looming demographic crisis with the increase in the numbers of old aged people. Till September 2014 nearly 20,000 couples have been allowed to have a second child in Beijing under country’s One Child Policy, which was recently modified to meet demographic challenges. What are the main demographic problems of the ‘One Child Policy’ that China has been facing for years now? –
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