Daily Current Affairs and GK | 9 and 10 June 2024

Topic: Banking System

1. RBI raised the bulk fixed deposit limit to Rs 3 crore from Rs 2 crore.

• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has revised the definition of a bank ‘bulk deposit’.
• At present, a bank FD of Rs 2 crore and above is considered a bulk FD.
• The new threshold for ‘bulk deposit’ or bulk FD is Rs 3 crore. It means deposits below this amount will not be considered bulk deposits.
• Single rupee term deposits of up to Rs 2 crore with Scheduled Commercial Banks (excluding Regional Rural Banks) and Small Finance Banks will be part of retail fixed deposits.
• It has been also proposed to define the bulk deposit limit for Local Area Banks as Single Rupee term deposits of Rs 1 crore and above.
• RBI has also proposed to rationalise guidelines for export and import of goods and services under Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA), 1999 to promote the ease of doing business.

Topic: Important Days

2. International Archives Day: 09 June

• International Archives Day was observed on 9 June to raise awareness among public about the importance of records and archives.
• The goal of this day is to raise awareness of the importance of long-term archival preservation and access among the general public, private sector, and public sectors.
• 2000 participants in the Vienna International Congress of 2004 passed a motion asking the UN to keep a day to recognise the significance of archives.
• It was resolved to observe June 9th as International Archives Day during the International Council on Archives' Annual General Meeting later in 2007.

Topic: Committees/ Commissions/Taskforces

3. RBI has formed a committee under chairmanship of Mr. A P Hota.

• RBI has set up this committee to examine aspects of establishing a digital public infrastructure for Digital Payments Intelligence Platform to mitigate payment fraud risks.
• The committee will give its recommendations within two months.
• Mr. A P Hota is the former MD and CEO of National Payments Corporation of India.
• RBI has said that there is a need for network-level intelligence and real-time data sharing across payment systems to prevent digital frauds in the future.
• Payment ecosystem includes banks, NPCI, card networks, payment aggregators, and payment apps.

Topic: National Appointments

4. PNB MetLife has appointed Sameer Bansal as MD and CEO.

• He will succeed Ashish Srivastava. He is currently serving as the Chief Distribution Officer.
• His appointment is effective from 1 July 2024 and subject to regulatory approvals.
• Ashish Srivastava has been appointed MD of MetLife Inc.’s Global Shared Services team in India.
• PNB MetLife Insurance is a joint venture between MetLife International Holdings LLC and Punjab National Bank.

Topic: Space and IT

5. EarthCare satellite launched by ESA to study the impact of clouds on climate change.

• The European Space Agency's latest scientific mission successfully launched into space from the United States, carrying a satellite that could provide vital information about one of the most pressing issues facing the world: climate change.
• It is a collaboration between ESA and Japanese space agency JAXA.
• The satellite will study how the formation of clouds and the density of aerosols in the atmosphere affect Earth's temperature.
• After being hidden by low clouds over Vandenberg Space Force Base in Southern California, the satellite lifted off from the launchpad aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 launcher.
• The satellite then separated from the rocket about 10 minutes after launch and established first contact with Hartebesthoek ground station in South Africa less than an hour after launch.
• First conceived in 2004, EarthCARE (Earth Cloud Aerosol and Radiation Explorer) was designed and built by Airbus along with 75 subcontracted firms.

Topic: Awards and Prizes

6. Asian Banker awarded SEBI the "Best Conduct of Business Regulator" title.

• The Asian Banker has awarded SEBI the "Best Conduct of Business Regulator" award in Asia Pacific in recognition of its contributions to strengthening the regulatory framework governing India's securities markets.
• The award was received by Kamlesh Chandra Varshney, Whole-time Member, SEBI, at a function held in Hong Kong.
• The SEBI is actively working towards instantaneous settlement.
• T+1 settlement was introduced in a phased manner in 2021, which was fully implemented from January 2023.
• The move has provided investors faster access to their funds after trade execution and settlement, thereby increasing market efficiency and liquidity.
• Through stringent enforcement and innovative regulatory practices, SEBI has significantly improved the conduct of business in the country's financial markets, ensuring fair treatment of consumers and strong market integrity.
• The Asian Banker creates platforms to build a greater sense of community amongst players across the financial services industry, from traditional banks and digital disruptors to fintech and platform players.
• It also publishes rankings and ratings of institutions, people and processes for setting high standards in the delivery of financial products and solutions.

Topic: International News

7. French Parliament and National Assembly has been dissolved by President Emmanuel Macron.

• This has been done after exit polls showed his party’s heavy loss in European parliamentary elections.
• As per the preliminary estimates, National Rally (RN) party won 31.5% of the vote.
• This is more than the double the share of Renaissance Party of Macron.
• Renaissance Party of Macron secured 2nd place with 15.2% of the vote.
• It is ahead of the Socialists in third place 14.3%.
• There will be two rounds of elections- the first elections on June 30 and the second on July 7.
• In the French system, the 577 members of the National Assembly, the lower House, are chosen through parliamentary elections.
• The nation's president is chosen by means of independent elections, the next of which is not likely to occur until 2027.
• The EU elections are the second-biggest democratic exercise globally.
• The electorate in the EU, which numbers close to 400 million, will choose 720 members of the European Parliament.

Topic: National Appointments

8. Narendra Modi has taken oath as Prime Minister of India for his third consecutive term.

• President Droupadi Murmu administered the oath of office to Narendra Modi.
• The swearing-in ceremony was attended by following world leaders.

• Narendra Modi is also longest-serving Chief Minister of Gujarat from October 2001 to May 2014.
• In his first term as Prime Minister in 2014, PM Modi launched the ‘Swachh Bharat Mission’.
• PM Modi is leading an NDA coalition with 292 seats in the Parliament.
• In the 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP secured an absolute majority on its own, gaining 282 and 303 seats, respectively.

Topic: Banking System

9. India’s EXIM Bank opened its East Africa office to boost business & trade.

• The Export-Import Bank of India (India Exim Bank) has recently inaugurated the East Africa Representative Office in Nairobi.
• It will enhance India's business presence in the region.
• This will boost trade and investment between India, Kenya, and East Africa.
• Merchandise trade between India and East Africa reached US$12.9 billion in 2022.
• Under the Overseas Investment Finance Programme, India Exim Bank has supported ventures in 14 African Countries.
• Export-Import Bank of India (Exim Bank):
  • Export-Import Bank of India (Exim Bank) was established in 1982. Its headquarters are located in Mumbai.
  • It provides loans to Indian exporters and foreign governments for infrastructure projects
  • It is wholly owned by the government of India and was set up to finance, facilitate and promote India’s international trade.

Topic: Government Schemes and Initiatives

10. Indian Army recommends major changes to the Agnipath Scheme.

• The Indian Army has reviewed the Agnipath scheme and made several recommendations.
• The Indian Army suggested increasing the service period from 4 to 7-8 years.
• They also recommended increasing the entry age for Agniveers in the technical field to 23 years.
• It is also recommended that ex-gratia be provided for disabilities during training and that exit management should be handled by a professional agency.
• It recommended that if an Agniveer dies in war, their family should receive a subsistence allowance.
• Agnipath scheme:
  • It was launched to boost youth recruitment in the armed forces and to reduce the pension bill.
  • Under the scheme, both male and female candidates are recruited as Agniveers in the 'below officer's rank' cadre of the three services of the country for a period of four years.
  • The government launched the Agneepath scheme on June 15, 2022.

Topic: Personality in News

11. Ramoji Film City founder and media baron Ramoji Rao passed away at the age of 87 on 8 June.

• He was a towering figure in the field of media and his rich contributions have left an indelible mark on journalism and the film world.
• Ramoji Rao's Eenadu newspaper was crucial in swaying public opinion in favour of Nandamuri Taraka Rama Rao, also known as NTR, when he created the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) in 1982 in opposition to the Congress.
• Apart from this, Rao had supported Naidu when the latter revolted against his father-in-law NTR in 1995, leading to a significant political upheaval in Andhra politics at the time.
• Under Ramoji's leadership, Eenadu became a major force in Telugu media.
• Apart from the world-famous Ramoji Film City, Rao's vast empire of media business also includes the Telugu daily Eenadu newspaper, ETV network of channels and film production.
• In 2016, he was awarded the Padma Vibhushan, India's second-highest civilian award.

Topic: Summits/ Conferences/ Meetings

12. The first Command and Control Compatibility Board meeting for 2024 between India and the US was organized.

• The meeting was organized from 04 to 07 June 2024 at Manekshaw Centre, New Delhi.
• The meeting was attended by a 29-member US delegation led by Mr. Paul Nicholson, Executive Director, US INDOPACOM and a 38-member Indian delegation led by Brigadier Rahul Anand of Headquarters Integrated Defence Staff.
• The CCCB, held biannually, is a Technical Expert Group constituted under Article XI of the Communications Compatibility and Security Agreement (COMCASA) between India and the US.
• This is the seventh such meeting to measure, reinforce and achieve continued progress in the bilateral defence partnership between the two countries, following the signing of the landmark agreement in September 2018.
• During the four-day interaction, subject matter experts from both sides held several rounds of comprehensive discussions to understand the interoperability scenarios and operational communication requirements.
• The focused discussions with the US delegation were helpful in arriving at mutually agreed solutions to the current communication interoperability requirements of the Indian tri-services.

(Source: PIB)

Topic: Reports and Indices/Ranking

13. UNESCO’s State of the Ocean Report found knowledge gaps in research & data on spiking oceanic warming.

• As per the UNESCO State of Ocean Report, the world is still insufficient to design solutions for multiple ocean crises that can remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
• The upper 2,000 metres (m) of oceans warmed at a rate of 0.32 ± 0.03 watts per square metre (W/m2) between 1960 to 2023.
• The rate of ocean warming has doubled in the last two decades. It has become a major concern for scientists.
• The report provides regular data on how ocean warming is evolving and its impacts.
• 90 per cent of the EEI is absorbed by oceans. OHC is the total amount of heat stored by oceans.
• Sea levels continued to rise in 2023. The global mean sea level from 1993 to 2023 increased at a rate of 3.4 +/-0.3 mm/yr.
• The report highlighted that it is still not clear whether deoxygenation is accelerating in response to increased OHC.
• The report notes that longer-term data sets are needed for coastal areas than for the open ocean.
• This report has also mentioned the recent developments in marine carbon dioxide removal (mCDR) technologies.
• EEI is the balance between incoming energy from the Sun and outgoing energy from the Earth.

Topic: Awards and Prizes

14. Vellayan Subbiah has been selected for the EY World Entrepreneur of the Year 2024.

• He is the fourth winner from India in the 24-year history of the award.
• This makes India the only country among EY regions to win the global entrepreneurship award four times.
• Other Indians who won the award are Narayana Murthy, Uday Kotak and Kiran Mazumdar Shaw.
• Vellayan Subbiah is the Executive Vice-Chairman of Tube Investments of India (TII) and Chairman of Cholamandalam (Chola) Investment and Finance Co. Ltd.
• He was chosen from among nearly 5,000 programme participants.
• These participants included 51 winners across 47 countries and jurisdictions.
• He was awarded the EY Entrepreneur of the Year for India in 2023.