Today's GK (14-8-13)

Banking as well as non-banking financial companies must be under a unified regulation of the central bank to prevent 2008- like crisis, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor D. Subbarao said on Tuesday.

Dr. Subbarao said there were strong inter-linkages between banks and non-banking financial companies (NBFCs), and a ‘unified regulation by the same regulator’ was essential for financial stability.

The RBI Governor’s comment assumes significance in view of the government’s plan to take away the regulation of non-banking financial companies from the central bank, and put it under a unified financial authority.

Dr. Subbarao said any such move would prove detrimental to financial stability.

“For monetary policy to be effective, credit creation (that is, by banks and credit institutions such as NBFCs) should be regulated by the central bank,” he said, addressing an annual banking conference, organised by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) and the Indian Banks’ Association, here.

Referring to the 2008 financial crisis, Dr. Subbarao said the major reason behind the crisis was ‘credit intermediation activities’ conducted by non-banks or the so-called shadow banks, which were primarily outside the regulatory purview.

“This raised serious concerns of regulatory arbitrage, requirements for similar regulation of entities performing similar activities and issues of commonality of risks and synergies of unified regulation for such entities,” he said.

“Post-crisis, the trend has been to entrust more, not less, regulation to central banks,” he said.

Dr. Subbarao, who demits office on September 4, said none of the Indian banks were in the global league of large banks, and the country aspired to have at least a few “Indian multinational banks in the near future by selective acquisition.”

“Our biggest bank is ranked at about 60 in the global league of large banks. It may take years for our banks to become global players by way of organic growth,” he said. — IANS

Imagine strapping into a car-sized capsule and hurtling through a tube at more than 1,126 kmph not for the thrill of it, but to get where you need to go.

Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk has unveiled a transportation concept that he said could whisk passengers the nearly 643 km between Los Angeles and San Francisco in 30 minutes half the time it takes an airplane.

If it’s ever built.

In this case, the cargo would be people, reclining for a ride that would start with a force of acceleration like an airplane but then be turbulence free.

Capsules would catapult through a large, nearly air—free tube. Inside, they would be pulled down the line by magnetic attraction.

Each capsule would float on a cushion of air it creates like an air hockey table in which the puck produces the air instead of the surface. To minimise friction, a powerful fan at the front would suck what air is in the tube to the rear.

“Short of figuring out real teleportation, which would of course be awesome [someone please do this!], the only option for super fast travel is to build a tube over or under the ground that contains a special environment,” Mr. Musk wrote in his proposal.

Capsules could depart every 30 seconds, carrying 28 people, with a projected cost of about $20 each way, according to Mr. Musk’s plan, which was posted online at http-//www.spacex.com/hyperloop. Mr. Musk said if all went right, it could take seven to 10 years for the first passengers to make the journey. Like the bullet train, the Hyperloop didn’t take long to attract scepticism. He however mused there were bound to be technical obstacles. — AP

Having twice missed out on the highest award for sporting excellence, double-trap shooter Ronjan Sodhi became third time lucky when he was recommended for the prestigious Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna on Tuesday.

Once the awards are ratified by the Union Sports Minister Jitendra Singh, the 33-year-old Asian Games champion and winner of multiple World Cup gold medals will become the seventh shooter to receive the award and third in a row. While Gagan Narang received it in 2011, London Olympics silver medallist Vijay Kumar pipped Sodhi last year.

Sodhi beat discus thrower Krishna Poonia, who made the women’s discus final in the London Olympics.

Besides Sodhi, the committee also named dashing batsman Virat Kohli and rising badminton star P.V. Sindhu among 14 sportspersons recommended for the Arjuna Award.

18-year-old Sindhu became the first Indian woman to clinch a singles medal at the recent world badminton championships in Guangzhou (she lost to the eventual champion Ratchanok Inthanon of Thailand in the semifinals). She beat the defending champion Wang Yihan and another former world No.1 Wang Shixian, the reigning Asian Games gold medallist.

Kohli, who led the Indian team to a 5-0 series victory against Zimbabwe recently, has been the leading performer for the last two years, and is widely tipped to receive the award.

Last year, the absence of Ravi Shastri in the panel meeting caused Rahul Dravid to miss out on the Khel Ratna. This time around, the entire panel headed by former billiards world champion Michael Ferreira, met to decide the awardees. Triple-jumper Renjith Maheshwary, rising golfer Gaganjeet Bhullar and squash star Joshna Chinappa have also been recommended for the Arjuna Award.

The award nominees:

Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award: Ronjan Sodhi (shooting); Arjuna Award: Chekrovolu Swuro (archery), Renjith Maheshwary (athletics), P.V. Sindhu (badminton), Kavita Chahal (boxing), Rupesh Shah (cue sports), Virat Kohli (cricket), Abhijeet Gupta (chess), Mouma Das (table tennis), Gaganjeet Bhullar (golf), Saba Anjum (hockey), Rajkumari Rathore (shooting), Joshna Chinappa (squash), Neha Rathi and Dharmender Dalal (wrestling), Amit Kumar Saroha (paralympics).

Special Envoy of India for Sudan and South Sudan and Special Secretary (Development Partnership Administration), Ministry of External Affairs, PS Raghavan, paid an official visit to Juba, South Sudan on 08-09 August 2013. The visit came only a day after the swearing in of the new 18-member South Sudanese Cabinet, reflective of India’s strong commitment in partnering South Sudan, which gained independence only in July 2011, in its political transition process. In fact, Raghavan was the first foreign dignitary to interact with the new South Sudanese leadership.

Raghavan had detailed discussions with the President of South Sudan H.E. Gen Salva Kiir, as well as with the key Ministers of Foreign Affairs; Electricity; Health; Agriculture and Rural Development; Petroleum, Mining and Industry as well as high level officials of the Ministry of Finance. He also interacted with key members of the Indian community based in Juba as well as representatives of the Indian contingent of the peacekeepers attached to the United Nations Mission for South Sudan (UNMISS). India has two battalions of 2200 personnel in UNMISS, deployed in two of the largest states in South Sudan, Jonglei and Upper Nile, since 2011.

The visit was useful for identifying India’s development projects for South Sudan. The programme has two main components of capacity building and infrastructure development in key areas of health, education, solar electrification, mining, agriculture, fisheries, food processing, electoral management and hydrocarbons. Additionally, an offer was made to the South Sudanese side for granting concessional lines of credit (LOC) for undertaking other sustainable development projects, in alignment with its socio-economic priorities.

Raghavan stressed the importance of India’s energy security in bilateral cooperation. ONGC Videsh Ltd. (OVL) has made substantial investments in the hydrocarbon sector in South Sudan over the last ten years, and has expressed interest in further expanding its operations, when conditions permit.

The visit was also undertaken in preparation for the forthcoming visit of the South Sudanese President to India, scheduled from 26-28 August 2013. President Kiir will be accompanied by a high level delegation of Ministers, senior officials and business leaders.

The Rajya Sabha on 13 August 2013 passed Registration of Births and Deaths (Amendment) Bill, 2012, under which marriages solemnized in India irrespective of the religion of the persons getting married will have to be compulsorily registered.

The Registration of Births and Deaths (Amendment) Bill, 2012, was passed by a voice vote after a brief discussion. Through this bill, the Union government is providing a platform to the states, which are free to frame their own rules in accordance with their requirements. The government does not favour compulsory registration in cases of live-in relations.

The Bill is set to protect the women from unnecessary harassment in matrimonial and maintenance cases. It also seeks to provide evidentiary value in the matters of custody of children, right of children born from the wedlock of the two persons whose marriage is registered and the age of the parties to the marriage.

Rafael Nadal of Spain defeated Canada's Milos Raonic 6-2 6-2 in the final of the men's Rogers Cup on 11 August 2013 in Montreal, Canada. This is the Nadal’s third Rogers Cup title. He was also won Rogers cup in 2005 and 2008.

With this victory Rafael Nadal completed his 25th ATP World Tour Masters title and lifted his eighth tour-level trophy of the season.

According to the new ATP world rankings which was released on 12 August 2013, Rafael Nadal is raised to third rank and Milos Raonic rose to tenth rank and also became the first Canadian to be ranked in the top 10 on the ATP Tour.


About the Rogers Cup

Rogers Cup presented by National Bank is a prestigious professional annual tennis tournament organized by Tennis Canada. This Tournament has been conducting since 1881 for the men and 1892 for the women.

The men's competition is a Masters 1000 event on the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) tour. The women's competition is a Premier 5 tournament on the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) tour. The competition is played on hard courts.

A major fire broke out on board INS Sindhurakshak at the Naval Dockyard in Mumbai on 14 August 2013. An explosion on board damaged the submarine. The fire was doused in time and prevented from spreading to other vessels docked in the vicinity.

INS Sindhurakshak is the ninth of the ten Sindhughosh-class diesel-electric submarines of the Indian Navy. On 4 June 2010, the Indian Defence Ministry and Zvezdochka shipyard signed a contract worth 80 million US dollars to upgrade and improve the submarine. The submarine suffered two fire incidents, a minor one in 2010 and a major one on 14 August 2013, which led to in its sinking at Mumbai's naval dockyards.

Sindhurakshak was constructed in Admiralty Shipyard, St. Petersburg. Construction of the submarine started in 1995. It was launched in June 1997 and delivered in December 1997. A fire broke out aboard Sindhurakshak while the vessel was in Visakhapatnam in February 2010.

The first season of the Indian Badminton League (IBL) started on 14 August 2013 at New Delhi. The IBL is the franchise league which is proposed by Badminton Association of India (BAI). The schedule of the IBL is 14 August 2013 to 31 August 2013. The league will include Indian as well as foreign badminton players.

Important Facts about the Indian Badminton League (IBL)

• Deepika Padukone and Aamir Khan are the brand ambassadors of the IBL.
• The franchise cities include Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Pune, Hyderabad, Nagpur and Lucknow.
• The opening ceremony of the event took place at Delhi on 13 August 2013 and the final will be held at Mumbai on 31 August 2013. The semi-final matches will take place at Bangalore and Hyderabad.
• The six teams at the inaugural IBL are Krrish Delhi Smashers, Pune Pistons, Banga Beats (Bangalore), Awadhe Warriors (Lucknow), Hyderabad Hotshots and Mumbai Masters. Each franchise will consist of 11 players- 4 foreign, 6 Indians and 1 junior Indian.
• The overall prize money of the event is 1 million US dollar. This is the richest tournament of badminton in the world.
• Five matches will be played per tie which will include two men's singles, one each of women's singles, men's doubles and mixed doubles.
• Six icon players from India include Jwala Gutta (Krrish Delhi Smashers), Ashwini Ponnappa (Pune Pistons), Lee Chong Wei (Mumbai Masters), P Kashyap (Banga Beats), Saina Nehwal (Hyderabad Hotshots) and PV Sindhu (Awadhe Warriors).

India won six medals at the 7th Asian Junior Wushu Championships which concluded in Manila, Philippines which concluded on 13 August 2013.

India won one silver medal and five bronze medals in the Asian Junior Wushu Championships. A total of 22 countries participated in the Championships.

Mahipal Singh (75kg) won the silver medal. He lost against Iran in the final match. The bronze medals came in Sanshou event. The winners of the bronze medals were Neha Kashyap (48kg), Kiwlani Brhma (56kg) and Naveen Jatin (80kg). In the Taolu Chanquan individual category, Jyoti Kumari bagged the bronze and T Arita Devi won the bronze in Nanquan Taolu event.

About the Asian Junior Wushu Championships

• Asian Junior Wushu Championships take place after every two years.
• The seventh edition of the Asian Junior Wushu Championships took place from 6 August 2013 to 13 August 2013 in Manila, Philippines. In the competition, two events were included- Taolu and Sanda.
• The venue of the event was Makati Coliseum, Makati, Philippines.
• Wushu is actually an exhibition as well as full-contact sport which is derivative of Chinese martial arts.
• Wushu was developed primarily in China and in Chinese it means Martial Arts.
• Taolu and Sanda are the two disciplines of competitive Wushu.

The Supreme Court of India on 13 August 2013 directed the Union Government of India and the Government of Uttarakhand to not grant any environmental clearances to the hydro-electric projects in Uttarakhand. The two-judge bench headed by Justice KS Radhakrishnan and comprising of comprising Justice Dipak Misra passed the judgement in relation to the Alaknanda Hydro Power Project.

The Apex Court ordered the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) for establishing the expert body in order to study the environmental degradation taking place by the power projects. Also, the court directed that the study should focus on the recent tragedy which claimed thousands of lives in Uttarakhand. The expert body should consist of representatives from the state government of Uttarakhand, Central Water Commission, Central Electricity Authority, WII (Wild Life Institute of India) as well as certain other bodies.

The expert body to be established, in the meanwhile, will also analyse and examine the effect of 24 new hydro-electric projects which were proposed on biodiversity of Bhagirathi and Alaknanda river basins.

Also, the Apex Court directed the Disaster Management Authority of Uttarakhand to submit a detailed report on the plan of disaster management in the state. The central as well as the state agencies were asked to submit their detailed reports by November 2013.

Uttrakhand in the third week of June 2013 was stuck by flash floods and landslides. During this natural disaster in the state, thousands of people lost their life and various remained stranded. Rescue operations by Indian Army were carried out in the state. The worst affected region of Uttarakhand was Kedarnath, which is a popular Hindu shrine and receives lakhs of tourists every year during June and July.

A team of researchers from the University of Gerona in Spain found that huge numbers of insects are shipped across the world unwittingly. The researchers also warned that a lot of insects were establishing the colonies in new habitats, which in turn could be disadvantageous for the human health, infrastructure and environment.

The lead author of the study Veronica Miravete explained that because of the small size, a lot of ants were transported involuntarily in the boxes and containers along with ornamental plants, wood, fruits and soil via the airplanes and the ships.

The research team found out about the numbers of exotic ants in New Zealand, the US and the Netherlands. A lot of these ants were discovered than what had been reported earlier. It was estimated that 768 exotic ant species were introduced in the world through the trade routes. Out of these, around 600 species have already established their own new colonies in the different places of the world.

Veronica Miravete, in the meanwhile, also explained that the number of ants which were arriving was very huge and around 85 percent of the newly introduced species of the ants were establishing themselves very successfully. The research indicated towards the fact that a lot of newly introduced species were living around the humans and that these were still undetected.

It is important to note that all the animals which move to the new regions are not a threat to the environment and the human health, but some of these animals pose serious threats and wreak havoc. Invasive ants are among those animals which pose a threat.

The aggressive Argentina ants have built their own mega-colonies in Europe and they are also out-competing the population of local ants. This in turn can ripple the entire ecosystem. In the meanwhile, in the US, there is an invasion of the South America's Rasberry crazy ants, which in turn causes a lot of problems because these insects swarm inside the electrical equipment. Another concern is that of the spread of fire ants.

The researchers explained that there was a need of halting the spread of the pests like these because in case the exotic ants establish their colonies in new regions, it becomes difficult to eradicate them.

In order to curb this, there are certain methods such as black lists, quarantine inspections and pre-border risk assessments. However, the major focus needs to be done on the shipping routes from the regions where there is higher probability of introduction of these exotic species of ants.