Current Affairs for SSC CGL Exams - 14 August 2015

:: Business ::

RBI paid Rs 66,000 crore in dividend

The Reserve Bank of India on Thursday paid a dividend of nearly Rs 66,000 crore to the government, the highest ever from the central bank in its 80-year history, and 22% more than it paid last year.
On a point to point basis, RBI's dividend payment to the government is up more than four times in as many years.
This payment can help ease the government's finances, help meet its fiscal deficit targets, provide liquidity to the system so that the rate of interest remains low and also make available funds for the government's capital expenditure, economists and bond dealers said.
The central government's move is also seen as another proof of its active support to the government's initiatives to kick start the slowing economy, they said.
As banker to the central and state governments and the banks in the country, the RBI has several sources of income.
The three main sources of income are the coupon payments it gets on its holding of government securities, the interest it receives from banks which borrow money from it (repo operations) and also interest incomes on its holdings of sovereign bonds like US treasury bills etc.
Every year, after meeting its expenses and keeping aside part of its total profits, the central bank transfer a substantial amount to the central government exchequer.
This year's dividend payment by RBI is also more than the Rs 64,500 crore that the finance
minister had budgeted under 'Dividend/Surplus of RBI, nationalized banks & financial institutions', Budget papers showed. Since the nationalized banks are in the process of paying dividend to the government, the central exchequer's receipts under this head is sure to exceed the Budget estimates by a substantial margin, economists said.

Rajiv Gandhi International Airport becomes Ist to receive approval for e-boarding facility

Rajiv Gandhi International Airport in Hyderabad became the first in the country to receive approval to implement end-to-end e-boarding for domestic passengers in what will make air travel easier and paperless.
The Bureau of Civil Aviation Security, an agency of the ministry of civil aviation, gave its approval after assessing a pilot project conducted at the airport during April-June.
GMR Hyderabad International Airport Ltd, the operator of Hyderabad’s airport, successfully implemented a three-month e-boarding project in collaboration with Jet Airways.
About 7,000 fliers travelling via Hyderabad airport availed the e-boarding facility during the pilot.
Mumbai, Delhi and Bengaluru airports are also implementing pilot projects using scanners and e-gates.
Implementation of full scale e-boarding will be initiated “soon” for domestic passengers, GHIAL said in a statement.
It would come at no additional cost.
A passenger needs a mobile e-boarding card and an Aadhaar number to complete the e-boarding process.
Passengers can check-in online and use the QR code received on their registered mobile phones to access common use self service (CUSS) machine at the departure area of the airport. They validate their credentials by keying in their Aadhaar number and doing a fingerprint scan.

Coachin airport to be first airport operating on solar power

Cochin International airport limited (CIAL) is all set to become the first airport in the country which would be operating on solar power, CIAL official said today.
Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy will inaugurate CIAL's green initiative--a 12MWp solar power project set up on the premises of the airport on August 18, Airport Managing Director V J Kurien told reporters here.
When the photovoltaics (PV) panels laid across 45 acres near cargo complex become functional, Cochin airport will have 50,000 to 60,000 units of electricity per day to be consumed for all its operational functions, which will technically make the airport "absolutely power neutral".
CIAL, which has adorned many firsts in its cap, like being the pioneer in PPP model in building an airport to introducing a path-breaking rehabilitation package for evictees, has ventured into the Solar PV sector during March 2013, by installing a 100 kWp solar PV Plant on the roof top of the Arrival Terminal Block.

Ex-BJP official named to Sebi board

The government has appointed Arun P Sathe, a senior advocate dealing in tax matters and a former BJP national executive member, as a part-time member on the board of the Securities and Exchange Board of India, raising fresh concerns over political interference on the boards of regulatory and financial institutions.
Sathe's appointment was made late last month although he's yet to attend a Sebi board meeting.
Under the law the government can appoint two part-time members on the Sebi board with the second slot lying vacant currently.
The lawyer, who is Lok Sabha speaker Sumitra Mahajan's brother, had contested against Sunil Dutt from the Mumbai-North constituency in the 1989 general elections and was the party in-charge for Madhya Pradesh and Assam. The Atal Bihari Vajpayee government had appointed him a member of the JNPT board.

:: Sports ::

India beat Spain by 4-2,win 3-match hockey series 2-1

Riding on forward Ramandeep Singh's two spectacular goals, that too within a minute, India outplayed Spain 4-2 in the third and last match of the European Tour to win the three-game series 2-1.
The first quarter started with a brisk pace as both the teams competed to dominate in the early stage of the game. After a barrage of attacks in the opening minutes, Spain managed to earn a penalty corner but an alerted PR Sreejesh kept the ball away from the net.

National Cricket Academy may be moved to Dharamshala or Mohali

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI)-run National Cricket Academy (NCA) is going north. Literally.
A meeting of the NCA committee in New Delhi yesterday decided to recommend to the BCCI to move the facility to one of the centres in Punjab or Himachal Pradesh.
Meanwhile, the NCA Committee has decided to appoint specialist bowling and batting coaches for academy.
The BCCI website has put out an advertisement and the applications will be scanned after August 15, the last date.
The Sandeep Patilled national selection committee, with assistance from NCA director Brijesh Patel, will shortlist the names for the posts. It is learnt that each post has attracted 10 applications.