PM reunites Nepalese youth with parents after 16 years

I.In a special humanitarian gesture, Prime Minister Narendra Modi today personally handed over a Nepalese youth to his parents here having nurtured him for 16 years.

II.26-year-old Jeet Bahadur, who is currently pursuing BBA in Ahmedabad, had come to India in 1998 along with his brother looking for work like many other migrants from Nepal.

III.Bahadur came in contact with Modi in Ahmedabad over a decade ago and was since looked after by him. He travelled with Prime Minister Modi to Kathmandu to be personally handed over to his mother and elder brother.

IV.At the hotel where the Indian delegation is staying, Prime Minister Modi met Bahadur’s family members who have moved here from their native place Kawasoti in Nawalparasi district in western Nepal where they live in a slum area.

V.His family members include his mother Khagisara, elder brother Dasharath, his wife and younger sister Prem Kumari.

VI.“Bringing a family together! @PMOIndia 1st engagement in Nepal was to bring together Jeet Bahadur’s family,” spokesperson in the Ministry of External Affairs, Syed Akbaruddin, tweeted along with a photograph of the Prime Minister with Bahadur’s family.

VII.After coming to India with his elder brother, Bahadur worked in Rajasthan for a brief period. However, after sometime he decided to return to Nepal as he was unhappy with his job.

VIII.While leaving Rajasthan, he mistakenly boarded an Ahmedabad-bound train instead of one going to Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh, which borders Nepal.

Nearly 200 people missing after massive landslide in Nepal

I.Nearly 200 people were missing after a massive landslide in northeast Nepal that blocked the Sunkoshi river, turning it into a huge lake and putting dozens of villages both in Nepal and India at the risk of flash floods.

II.A huge hill had suddenly collapsed last morning burying 100 homes before dumping mud and stones into the Sunkoshi river at Mankha village in Sindhupalchowk district, 75 km northeast of the capital Kathmandu.

III.After the river was blocked by the landslide, a huge lake — estimated to be 2.5 km long with 130 metre depth — was formed in the area and the people residing in the nearby villages ran away to safer places fearing for their lives.

TTD deposits 1,800 kg gold offerings with SBI

I.A whopping 1,800 kg of gold offerings made by devotees of Lord Venkateswara at the famous hill shrine at Tirumala was today deposited with the State Bank of India (SBI), taking the total deposits made by it so far with various banks to more than 5,000 kg.

II.Executive officer of the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam (TTD) M G Gopal handed over the gold to State Bank of India (SBI) Chairperson Arundhati Bhattacharya at the TTD Headquarters here, in the first deposit of the precious metal by the temple in the last two years.

III.The gold offered by devotees in the hill temple hundi was deposited under SBI Gold Scheme for a period of five years at the rate of interest of one per cent, which effectively would mean addition of 12 kg of gold per year, Gopal told reporters.

IV.“TTD has not made any gold deposits in the last two years as the banks have stopped accepting gold due to restrictions imposed by the RBI. After negotiating with various banks, SBI has first come forward to accept the gold deposits at one per cent interest rate per annum and we welcomed it,” he added.

V.Bhattacharya said in terms of quantity, this was the largest single deposit of gold made with the bank in the entire country.

Jaitley to address SEBI Board on Aug 10

I.Finance Minister Arun Jaitley will address SEBI Board in the Capital on August 10 in a customary post-budget meeting. This meeting assumes significance as it would be the first time Jaitley would address the entire SEBI Board after the new BJP Government assumed office at the Centre in end May.

II.After assuming charge as Finance Minister, Jaitley had in Mumbai interacted with some institutional investors besides meeting few SEBI wholetime members.

III.On Sunday next (August 10), market regulator SEBI is expected to finalise the regulations for Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) and Infrastructure Investment Trusts (InvITs).

IV.A REIT is an investment vehicle that puts money into real estate assets to generate income.

V.SEBI was ready with the draft REIT regulations last year itself, but tax hurdles had come in the way of finalising them.

Two powerful earthquakes rock China

I.China was today rocked by two powerful quakes—— one in Tibet, close to Indian and Nepalese borders and another in Yunnan province bordering Myanmar

II.A 6.5-magnitude earthquake jolted Zhaotong city in southwest China’s Yunnan Province at 4:30 pm (Beijing time) on Sunday, said the China Earthquake Networks Center (CENC).

III.The epicentre was monitored at a depth of 12 kilometres, according to the CENC, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

IV.Zhaotong is about 300 kms from Kunming, the capital city of Yunnan.

V.In September 2012, a 5.7—magnitude caused more than 80 deaths and injured more than 800 people.

VI.In 1974, a 7.1-magnitude earthquake in the same place caused about 1,500 death.

VII.Earlier a 5.0-magnitude earthquake jolted Xigatze Prefecture in Tibet close to Indian and Nepalese borders.

Jayalalithaa announces Rs. 50 lakh each for squash doubles gold winners

I.Lauding the performance of Dipika Pallikal and Joshna Chinappa, who won the squash doubles gold at the Commonwealth Games, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa today announced a cash award of Rs. 50 lakh each to the winners.

II.In separate identical congratulatory letters to Pallikal and Chinappa, Jayalalithaa said that she was delighted to learn of one more triumph in their sporting career, a gold medal in the squash women’s doubles event.

III.“I understand this is the first time that India has won a Commonwealth Games Gold Medal in squash. Yet again, you have done both the nation and Tamil Nadu proud. Kindly accept my heartiest congratulations on behalf of the people of Tamil Nadu on your splendid achievement.”

IV.Recalling the enhancement of cash award for sportspersons winning a Commonwealth gold medal to Rs. 50 lakh by her in 2011, she told the winners that each of them will be receiving it.

CWG 2014: Dipika, Joshana create history with gold; 4 silver for boxers

I.Dipika Pallikal and Joshana Chinappa created history by winning the first-ever gold medal in squash but disappointment was in store for the four Indian boxers, including Olympic bronze winner Vijender Singh, who had to be content with a silver each in the 20th Commonwealth Games here yesterday.

II.Dipika and Joshana stole the limelight with their historic feat as they beat Jenny Duncalf and Laura Massaro of England 11-6, 11-8 in the womens doubles squash final on the 10th day of competitions in this edition. It was the first squash medal for India in the Commonwealth Games.

III.Vijender Singh, Mandeep Jangra, Sarita Devi and Devendro Singh were the other star performers during the day with their silver-winning achievements in the boxing ring while A Arpinder Singh bagged a bronze in men’s triple jump.

IV.P Kashyap stood just a win away from a historic gold while P V Sindhu and RMV Gurusaidutt managed a bronze each in the badminton competition. Delhi Games gold medallist pair of Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa, too, were on course to defend the women’s doubles title after winning their last-four match at the Emirates Arena.

V.Vijender, a bronze medallist at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, was comprehensively beaten 3-0 by England’s Antony Fowler in men’s middleweight 75kg bout at the SSE Hydro Arena.

VI.With the four silver today, India has bagged five medals from boxing with Pinki Jangra having won a bronze after losing her semi-final bout against Michaela Walsh of Northern Ireland in women’s 51kg category yesterday.

VII.Rajinder Rahelu and Sakina Khatun claimed a silver and a bronze each in men’s heavyweight and women’s lightweight powerlifting, respectively, as India made a last-ditch effort to boost their medals tally.

CWG 2014: Arpinder wins bronze, gives India third medal in athletics

I.Arpinder Singh gave India its third medal in athletics as he won a bronze in the men’s triple jump event of the 20th Commonwealth Games here.

II.The Indian athletics team was hoping for a medal from Arpinder after he leapt a brilliant 17.17m in June and he lived upto the expectations by winning a bronze with a best jump of 16.63m at the Hampden Park which was hit by evening rain.

III.The 21-year-old Arpinder achieved his best jump in his first attempt and he could not improved upon the mark in his subsequent five efforts. He had a series of 16.46m, 16.31m and 16.09m after his first effort while his last two attempts were foul jumps.

IV.Khotso Mokoena of South Africa won gold with a jump of 17.20m while 2010 Delhi Games winner Tosin Oke of Nigeria settled for a silver with an effort of 16.84m.

V.On his performance, Arpinder said, “It was good. The weather was not good. My coach was not here, so it wasn’t a very good performance. My next big championships are the Asian Games.”

Boxers Sarita, Devendro settle for silver each

I.Laishram Sarita Devi and Laishram Devendro Singh settled for a silver each after losing their respective final bouts as India collected two medals on the concluding day of boxing competitions in the 20th Commonwealth Games here today.

II.Sarita lost to Shelley Watts of Australia after a gritty fight in women’s lightweight (57-60kg) category final while her younger brother was beaten by Paddy Barnes of Northern Ireland in the men’s light-flyweight (46—49kg) final at the Hydro Arena.

III.Devendro was no match for Barnes and the unanimous 3-0 verdict in favour of the Irish reflected that.

IV.With the two silver today, India has bagged three medals from boxing with Pinki Jangra having won a bronze after losing her semifinal bout against Michaela Walsh of Northern Ireland in women’s 51kg category yesterday.

V.Sarita, a former World Championships silver medallist, dished out a gritty fight as she was on level terms till the midway in the four—round eight—minute bout.

NSEL investors want SEBI to crack down on brokers

I.After fighting a losing battle for over a year, the investors of National Spot Exchange (NSEL) are now seeking the intervention of the capital market regulator SEBI to crack down on 253 brokers who lured Rs. 5,600 crore investor money into the scam-ridden exchange.

II.Satish Bhangar, who invested Rs. 6 crore in NSEL, said these brokers will fall in line if SEBI cracks the whip as all of them operate in equity market and are registered with SEBI.

III."But it is unfortunate that I could not get an appointment with SEBI Chairman UK Sinha even after writing 13 e-mails. For all the wonderful investor friendly norms SEBI prescribes, it is surprising that the SEBI chief not deputing an officer to hear investor grievance," said Bhangar who is the Managing Director of Magna Industries and Exports, a stock exchange listed entity.

‘India Inc expects marginal relief in interest rates by RBI’

I.Corporate leaders expect a small relief in interest rates in the upcoming RBI credit policy as inflationary expectations and continuing geopolitical tension are likely to prevent the central bank from effecting a bigger cut, according to an Assocham survey.

II.“As many as 73 per cent of the corporate leaders comprising CEOs, CFOs and senior functionaries said the RBI would not be ambitious enough to go in for a big cut in the benchmark interest rates,” the survey said.

III.“...Inflationary expectations are still likely to weigh on the mind of the central bank in the wake of deficient rainfall and troubled geo-political situation posing risks of the oil prices again shooting up,” said the industry chamber.

Credit policy review

I.The RBI’s next credit policy review is scheduled on August 5.

II.As many 57 per cent of the 181 corporate leaders polled in the last week of July, said they expect that the RBI policy will place a considerable weightage on the geo-political situation in Iraq, Syria, Ukraine and its impact on global energy prices.

III.In the June 3 policy review, the RBI left key rates unchanged and unlocked about Rs. 40,000 crore of funds by reducing the amount of deposits banks are required to park in government securities.

IV.This was the second time in a row that interest rates were left unchanged amid demands for moderation to spur growth.

Black money: Tax department setting up warehouse of data

I.As part of its vigour to track black money in the country’s economic channels, the I-T department is creating a new “warehouse” of business related intelligence and funds data which will empower the taxman to check multiple trends of expenses made by individuals and entities.

II.The Income-Tax department, which already has databases to undertake a 360-degree profiling of a person based on PAN card information or debit or credit card usage, has named the new project — Data Warehousing and Business Intelligence, which it plans to operationalise by next year.

III.The proposal to activate this powerful and hi-tech database and a host of other unique investigative tools was recently approved by the top brass of the I-T department and the Central Board of Direct Taxes during the annual conference of the Chief Commissioners and Directors General of I-T held in the national capital.

IV.“The department is now scouting for a land and space for basing the project somewhere in north India. The new database will collate all electronic and manual intelligence and other information collected by the investigation and snoop wings of the department,” a senior I-T officer said.

V.The DWBI project, according to a blueprint prepared by the CBDT, envisages to “streamline and enhance the non-intrusive surveillance capabilities of the I-T and for harnessing the potential of information being collected.”

VI.The warehouse will not only store and add to it information that the I-T database has till now such as PAN card information, tax returns and a host of banking related information, it will also have the ability to generate information from the open source available on the Internet.

VII.The I-T department, over the years, has decided to gradually move from regular search and survey operations to non-intrusive methods of data mining through electronic databases and information available through electronic portals of banking and other financial intermediaries.

Monetary policy review: RBI likely to keep interest rate unchanged

I.Amid fears of poor monsoon impacting food inflation, the Reserve Bank of India may opt for status quo on interest rate in its bi-monthly monetary policy review to be unveiled on Tuesday.

II.The food inflation remaining over 8 per cent mark will weigh heavily on the Reserve Bank of India, which has been maintaining that containing inflation is its top priority.

Deficient monsoon

I.Prices of some of the food articles like tomato, onion, potatoes are still quite above normal. With monsoon being below normal, there is a fear that price situation, especially food inflation, may further deteriorate in the coming days.

II.Monsoon deficiency stood at 23 per cent in at the end of July.

III.The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is scheduled to announce its third bi-monthly monetary policy on August 5.

IV.The State Bank of India (SBI) Chairperson, Arundhati Bhattacharya, said the RBI is likely to keep interest rate intact in the monetary policy review.

Repo rate, SLR

I.The repo rate, at which the RBI lends to banks, was retained at 8 per cent and the cash reserve ratio (CRR) was kept unchanged at 4 per cent.

II.The statutory liquidity ratio (SLR), the mandatory amount of bonds lenders must park at the RBI, was cut by 0.5 per cent to 22.5 per cent of their net demand and time liabilities (NDTL) with effect from June 14.

III.America-Merill Lynch said it expects the rate cut to happen only in December, if the monsoon normalises to cool down inflation, or early 2015 in case prices rise prolongs.

RBS India pre-tax profit jumps 58% to Rs 662 cr in FY14

I.British lender Royal Bank of Scotland has posted a 58 per cent jump in pre-tax profit from its India franchise at Rs 662.11 crore in FY14, helped by wholesale banking business.

II.The bank — which has 10 retail branches, wealth management business apart from wholesale banking and brokerage unit in India — said it posted a 60 per cent growth in net profit, but refused to share the absolute number.

III.“The wholesale banking business grew the top and bottomline. This includes risk management, lending/arranging debt and transaction banking,” RBS India Country Executive Brijesh Mehra told PTI.

IV.He said in spite of the fragile domestic as well as global economic environments, the bank was able to display good performance and added that RBS is among the top five foreign lenders in all the product categories in India.

V.Mehra said there was a “substantial” decline in the gross non-performing assets ratio as well but again declined to share the actual numbers. He claimed the net NPA ratio is “close to nil“.

VI.It has been a mixed bag for foreign banks on earnings front in Asia’s third largest economy. Standard Chartered, the largest and oldest in terms of branches, reportedly saw a hefty 46 per cent dip in pre-tax profit, while HSBC reported a 23 per cent fall in operating profit. But others like Citi and Barclays reported a surge in numbers.

VII.Mehra said RBS, which has reduced its focus on the retail banking, will continue to focus on wholesale banking opportunities and the Indo-British trade in specific.

VIII.It can be noted that following its failure to sell retail banking, RBS has been winding down its operations in the segment in the country for a few years now.