Current Affairs for SSC CGL Exams - 10 October 2015

:: Prize ::

Africa's Nobel Peace Prize winners list

The winner is selected by the Norwegian Nobel Committee, on behalf of Swedish industrialist Alfred Nobel's estate, and awarded to whoever "shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses".

Over the years, 10 individuals from Africa have been honoured for their efforts:

1960 South Africa's Albert Lutuli, president of the African National Congress:
"The Nobel Committee for the second time chose a prize-winner who was being persecuted by his own authorities"
1978 Egypt's President Anwar al-Sadat shared with Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin:
"After having taken the initiative in negotiating a peace treaty between the two countries"
1984 South Africa's Desmond Tutu, secretary-general of the South African Council of Churches - now emeritus Archbishop of Cape Town:
"The Committee has attached importance to Desmond Tutu's role as a unifying leader figure in the campaign to resolve the problem of apartheid in South Africa"
1993 South Africa's anti-apartheid leader Nelson Mandela, who became the country's first democratically elected president, and apartheid President FW de Klerk:
Image captionNelson Mandela spent 27 years in jail under apatheid
"For their work for the peaceful termination of the apartheid regime, and for laying the foundations for a new democratic South Africa"
2001 Ghana's Kofi Annan, UN secretary general, shared with the United Nations:
"For their work for a better organised and more peaceful world"
2004 Kenya's Wangari Maathai, environmentalist and founder of the Green Belt Movement:
Image captionWangari Maathai was Africa's first female peace laureate
"For her contribution to sustainable development, democracy and peace"
2005 Egypt's Mohamed ElBaradei, head of the UN's nuclear watchdog, shared with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA):
"For their efforts to prevent nuclear energy from being used for military purposes and to ensure that nuclear energy for peaceful purposes is used in the safest possible way"
2011 Liberia's President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and peace activist Leymah Gbowee, shared with Tawakkol Karman from Yemen:
"For their non-violent struggle for the safety of women and for women's rights to full participation in peace-building work"
2015 Tunisia's National Dialogue Quartet, a group of four organisations: the Tunisian General Labour Union, the Tunisian Confederation of Industry, Trade and Handicrafts, the Tunisian Human Rights League, and the Tunisian Order of Lawyers:
"For its decisive contribution to the building of a pluralistic democracy in Tunisia in the wake of the Jasmine Revolution of 2011."

:: Business ::

RBI move on loan-to-value ratio

The RBI's move to lower loan-to-value ratios and risk weights for individual housing loans can help bring down interest rates on home loans by another 25-30 basis points over the next few months, says a report.
"We expect interest rate on home loans to come down by another 25-30 bps over the next few months, triggered by RBI's move to lower risk weights on select home loans (up to Rs 75 lakh) where borrowers are willing to put in more money and thus lower the loan-to-value (LTV) ratio," the report by rating agency Crisil said.AFP
On Thursday, the banking regulator said in the case of 'individual housing loans' falling under the category of up to Rs 30 lakh, the LTV ratio would be up to 90 percent. Earlier, the facility was available only in cases where the cost was up to Rs 20 lakh.
For properties above Rs 30 lakh and up to Rs 75 lakh, the LTV will be up to 80 percent and those above Rs 75 lakh, it will be 75 percent.
A slew of banks, including State Bank of India, PNB, IDBI Bank and Bank of Baroda, Bank of India, Axis Bank, ICICI Bank, have lowered their base rates after RBI on September 29 reduced its repo rate by a hefty 50 bps to 6.75 percent.
The RBI has lowered risk weights on housing loans of up to Rs 75 lakh from 50 percent to 35 percent in cases where the borrower puts in at least 20 percent of the value of the home as own equity for loans up to Rs 30 lakh; and, 25 percent of the value of the home as own equity for loans between Rs 30 lakh and Rs 75 lakh.
The report said, theoretically, lower risk weights should significantly boost the return on equity (RoE) of the mortgage portfolio of banks.

Patanjali Ayurved enters big retail with Future Group tie-up

Yoga Guru Ramdev has taken the plunge into big retail for the marketing of his Patanjali Ayurved products which will jostle for space on the Future Group stores with the goods of multinational giants such as HUL.
Baba Ram Dev and Future Group chief Kishore Bayani on Friday announced the partnership between the two companies in the Capital on Friday.
The partnership will enable Ramdev's Rs 2,000 crore Patanjali empire to take the and small cities to supermarkets in the metros and big cities to target upper middle class households.
Future Group expects the sales from Patanjali products to go up to Rs 1,000 crore in the next 20 months.
Patanjali also plans to a launch its noodles brand next week tot ake companies such as Nestle in this segment. Ramdev said, "Our effort is to promote swadeshi and give a tough fight to the MNCs. We would launch our noodles in the market by October 15 and it would be available across India by the end of this month.'' He said Patanjali is also planning to launch products like pasta, oats, juices, muesli soon and is targeting to achieve Rs 5,000 crore turnover this fiscal. "In total we would have Rs 30-40 crore business from Patanjali products in a month from our stores and later on it would increase up to Rs 80 crore,'' Future Group CEO Kishore Biyani said.

:: Sports ::

Blatter fights ban as FIFA plans October 20 crisis talks

FIFA president Sepp Blatter appealed against the 90-day ban that forced him out of office, his lawyers confirmed Friday, as world football's sleaze-tainted governing body headed into months of turmoil over how to find a new leader.
As the drama intensified Friday, FIFA announced that an extraordinary meeting of its executive committee would meet in Zurich on October 20.
Some senior FIFA members had suggested the meeting could discuss postponing the election to replace Blatter -- who has already announced he will stand down -- currently slated for February 26.
The row over Blatter's suspension had already taken a fresh twist as FIFA's ethics watchdog rejected the 79-year-old's claims he was not allowed to give evidence before he was banned, saying he was given "all his rights".
Blatter's lawyers confirmed they had filed an official appeal and asked for further hearings with the ethics committee.
The New York Times earlier reported that Blatter had complained that he only found out about his suspension after it was made public.
But ethics committee spokesman Andreas Bantel said Blatter had been given the chance to put his case on October 1.