SH- Current Affairs Update 31st, Jan 2018

Dear SH Aspirants,

Study Daily Current Affairs and stay updated as well as prepare for General Awareness section of bank exams. It's time to gear up your preparations for IBPS/RBI/SBI/SSC and with the daily dose of current affairs, you can easily prepare G.A and score well.

INDIAN AFFAIRS

Bihar cabinet grants Rs 105 crore for Bihar Mahadalit Vikas Mission
On 30^th January 2018, the Bihar cabinet allocated funds worth Rs 105 crore for Bihar Mahadalit Vikas Mission, which formulates and implements schemes for the most backward sections among the Scheduled Castes.
Rs 105 crore for Bihar Mahadalit Vikas Mission:
i. This was declared in a Bihar cabinet meeting headed by Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.
ii. The Bihar Mahadalit Vikas Mission was established in 2008. It is an autonomous body and functions under the SC/ST Welfare Department.
iii. In the cabinet meeting, it was also decided to construct a high security jail in Phulwarisharif block of Patna. The construction of this jail would cost around Rs 56.72 crore. Maoists and dangerous criminals will be held in this jail.
Some wildlife sanctuaries in India:
Vikramshila Gangetic Dolphin Sanctuary – Bhagalpur District
Udaypur Wildlife Sanctuary – West Champaran District
Kaimur Wildlife Sanctuary – Kaimur District

Uttar Pradesh launches Mukhyamantri Awas Yojana Gramin
On January 30, 2018, Uttar Pradesh State Cabinet launched ‘Mukhya Mantri Awas Yojna Grameen’, a new scheme to construct houses in rural areas.

About Mukhyamantri Awas Yojana Gramin:
i. Mukhyamantri Awas Yojana Gramin is for those who have not been covered under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojna and those who are not beneficiaries of any other government housing schemes.
ii. Under this scheme, Rs 1.30 lakh financial aid (for constructing houses) will be given to people residing in Naxal-affected areas of Uttar Pradesh and Rs 1.20 lakh to selected beneficiaries.
iii. Beneficiaries under this scheme also includes those families, who have been affected with Kala Azar or Japanese Encephalitis and those who belong to Vantangia or Musahar tribes and do not have houses or are living in “Kuchcha” houses.
iv. Uttar Pradesh State Government has already identified about 25000 beneficiaries for this scheme.
Quick Facts about Uttar Pradesh:
♦ Capital – Lucknow
♦ Current Governor – Ram Naik
♦ Current Chief Minister – Yogi Adityanath
♦ Important National Park – Dudhwa National Park

Maharashtra government to give sanitary pads to 7 lakh girls at Rs 5 a pack
On 30^th January 2018, the Maharashtra state cabinet approved the introduction of Asmita (dignity), a scheme to provide sanitary pads to 7 lakh girls in government schools for Rs 5 a pack.
Asmita:
i. The scheme Asmita aims to provide sanitary pads at subsidized price to girls in the age of 11 to 19 years.

SH- Current Affairs Update 30th, Jan 2018

Dear SH Aspirants,

Study Daily Current Affairs and stay updated as well as prepare for General Awareness section of bank exams. It's time to gear up your preparations for IBPS/RBI/SBI/SSC and with the daily dose of current affairs, you can easily prepare G.A and score well.

INDIAN AFFAIRS

AAI allocates 3,400 crore for upgradation of airports in North East region
On 29^th January 2018, Airports Authority of India (AAI) chairman Guruprasad Mahapatra said that, AAI has allocated Rs 3400 crore for upgradation of airports in the North East region.
AAI – 3,400 crore for upgradation of airports in North East region:
i. Out of the total allocated amount, the share for each state is as follows: Assam – Rs 1720 crore, Tripura – Rs 525 crore, Manipur – Rs 800 crore, Nagaland – Rs 42 crore, Arunachal Pradesh – Rs 211 crore and Mizoram – Rs 60 crore.
ii. Projects worth Rs 934 crore have already been finished. The remaining part is planned to be completed in two to three years.
iii. Among the work to be done, is a new integrated airport construction at Agartala in Tripura. Also, an Instrument Landing System (ILS) will be installed at the Shillong airport, in Meghalaya.
About Airports Authority of India (AAI):
♦ Headquarters – New Delhi
♦ Founded – 1995
♦ Chairman – Dr. Guruprasad Mohapatra

Indian, Vietnamese armies hold first military exercise ‘VINBAX’
On January 29, 2018, armies of India and Vietnam began ‘VINBAX’, a six day-long military exercise in Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh.

i. Vietnam – India Bilateral Army Exercise (VINBAX) is the first military exercise between India and Vietnam.
ii. Defence ties between India and Vietnam have strengthened in recent times with the primary focus being cooperation in the maritime domain.
iii. With the first protocol on defence cooperation signed in 1994, India and Vietnam have been periodically elevating their defence cooperation since then.
iv. In 2007, the ties were elevated to strategic level and thereafter a pact on boosting bilateral defence cooperation was signed in 2009.
v. In 2016, India-Vietnam strategic partnership was elevated to a comprehensive strategic partnership 
Quick Facts about Vietnam:
♦ Capital – Hanoi
♦ Currency – Vietnamese Dong
♦ Current President – Tran Dai Quang
♦ Important Rivers – Red River, Perfume River

Acid attack victims to get quota in central government jobs
The Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) has issued an order to provide quota in Central Government jobs to people with autism, mental illnesses, intellectual disability and victims of acid attacks.
Quota for Acid Attack victims in Central Govt. Jobs:
i. Now onwards, in case of direct recruitment, four per cent of the total number of vacancies, (up from the existing three per cent) shall be reserved for people with benchmark disabilities.
ii. A person with not less than forty per cent of a specified disability is to be considered as having benchmark disability.
iii. As per the new order, central government departments have been directed to ensure that one per cent of each posts be reserved for people with blindness and low vision, deaf and hard of hearing, locomotor disability including cerebral palsy, leprosy cured, dwarfism, acid attack victims and muscular dystrophy.

Recruitment Notice: SBI Specialist Officers 2018

407 Specialist Cadre Officers Posts

State Bank of India has released a notification as SBI Recruitment 2018 to appoint the qualified candidates for filling up 407 jobs opening against the Specialist Cadre Officers Jobs. Applicants who are willing to apply must send the application in endorsed configuration at the concerned address on or before the last date. Candidates who are applying for the specified posts are required to get more details which are specified below on this page.

Bank Name: State Bank of India

Name of the posts: Specialist Cadre Officers

No. of Vacancies: 407

Application Mode: Online

End Date to apply: 15th February 2018

Union Budget 2018-19: Highlights

Dear Aspirants,

It is very important for you to get updates on The Union Budget 2018-19. This will be the last full Union Budget to be presented by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in the session of Parliament and it will be unlike his previous four such exercises because of the complete overhaul of the indirect tax regime affected by implementing the Goods and Services Tax (GST) last year.

The Budget, to be the last for this government in view of the general elections due in the first half of 2019, may have two main components: The first part deals with new schemes and outlays for various existing schemes and sectors for the coming fiscal, while the second contains announcements on direct and indirect taxes. With the implementation of single tax regime GST, this year's budget is believed to take into account only those items that still remain outside the purview of GST. It is highly expected that 2018-19 budget could contain changes in customs and excise duties on these remaining products, which for most others have been subsumed under GST. For the rest, you'll have to watch this space for the review of Union Budget 2018-19.

Top Developments

1.      No changes in personal income tax slabs.

2.    Salaried tax payers to get a standard deduction of Rs.40,000 in lieu of transport allowance and "other medical expenses"

3.    Rs.2,000 crore fund for development of agri markets

4.    All senior citizens will now be able to claim benefit of a deduction of Rs.50,000 for any medical insurance.

5.     For critical illnesses, the deduction has been increased to ₹1,00,000.

6.    Free power connections to 4 crore homes under the Saubhagya Yojana

7.     8 crore free gas connection for poor women through Ujjwala Yojana

8.    Govt. to implement Minimum Support Price for all crops; It is hiked to 1.5 times of production costs

9.    Govt to contribute 12% of wages of new employees for all sectors.

10. New flagship National Health Protection Scheme, providing a health insurance cover of Rs.5 lakh per family per year announced

11.  Railway capex for the year 2018-19 set at Rs.1.48 lakh crore

12.Disinvestment target for this year set at Rs.80,000 crore

SH- Current Affairs Update February, 2018

1^st February 2018

2^nd February 2018

3^rd February 2018

4^th February 2018

5^th February 2018

6^th February 2018

Static GK Awareness- SSC/SBI Clerk/Railways

BOUNDARIES BETWEEN COUNTRIES

1. Line of Actual Control: India & China on the Northern Border
2. Line of Control: India and Pakistan
3. Durand Line: Afghanistan and Pakistan
4. Radcliffe Line: India and Pakistan (its includes Bangladesh Line)
5. Blue Line: Israel & Lebanon
6. Purple Line: Israel and Syria
7. Green Line: Israel and its neighbours
8. (Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria)
9. Mason-Dixon Line: Maryland and Pennsylvania/Delaware in Colonia America
10. Curzon Line: Poland & Russia
11. Military Demarcation Line (MDL) or
12. Armistice Line: North Korea and South Korea
13. McMohan Line:Northe east India &Tibet
14. Maginot Line:France& Germany
15. Mannerheim line: Russia & Finland
16. Order Neisse Line: Germany & Poland
17. (aftermath of World War II)

ENGLISH READING COMPREHENSION for Syndicate Bank/Canara Bank

Dear SH Aspirant,

We have been providing questions for the IBPS Clerk Mains Exam 2017 and for the IBPS SO Prelims Exam from the important topics of all the sections, which would enhance your preparations for those exams. Solve the questions below which are asked in the IBPS Clerk Prelims Exam, so that this will improve your preparations for the exams.

Solve these questions, so that you do not need to fear for the English section in the forthcoming exams. This question set is a mix of Reading Comprehension and Filler Type questions, which are asked in the recent examinations, attend these questions and conquer the section of English language.

R.C 1-10): Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions given below it. One word is given in bold to help you locate that while answering a question.

The 10th anniversary of the Great Recession, a.k.a. the Great Financial Crisis of 2007-08, has inspired a spate of comments across the globe. Almost without exception, they warn that the lessons of that financial crisis have not been absorbed, and another giant financial bubble is currently inflating its way to another huge bust. Yet, this near-unanimous chorus of warnings has not stopped stock markets across the world from reaching new heights. Greed is drowning out fear. Many busts are caused by central banks tightening money. Today, we have the opposite: the greatest flood of money ever created (over $10 trillion, according to some estimates). The central banks of the US, China, Europe, Japan and Britain are at the forefront. What happens when these central banks try to return to normal, and the giant flood becomes giant ebb? Optimists claim that central banks can manage the transition smoothly. The US Fed plans to move in baby steps, announcing its intentions well in advance to avoid panic. This assumes that markets are rational, when they are mainly creatures of panic and euphoria, boom and bust. Much has been written about the printing of trillions of dollars by the US Fed after 2008. But the others are not far behind. A recent Financial Times column noted that the Bank of England, created in 1694, had a bank rate of around 4% through most of its history. This fell to 2% in the Great Depression, then rose and peaked at 17% in the inflationary 1970s, before returning to the historical 4%. After 2008, an unprecedented monetary stimulus has reduced the Bank rate to 0.25% today. The Bank has also bought £445 billion (about Rs 36,900 billion) worth of securities by printing money. This enormous stimulus has neither led to a boom in GDP nor in consumer prices. Instead, like stimuli in other countries, it has created a giant bubble in assets like bonds, equities and real estate. Many financial analysts fear that the next bust may come not from Western central bank action but from China. This country encouraged a lending boom to rescue the economy after 2008. But that now seems out of control. China’s debt has exploded from $6 trillion to $28 trillion, and its ratio to GDP is up from 140% to 260%. James Anderlini of the Financial Times (‘China’s economy is addicted to debt’, goo.gl/McRV96) says this has created “an economy addicted to borrowing and afflicted with serious asset bubbles. The ultimate test will come when Beijing eventually attempts to wean the country off this debt dependence.” Historically, bonds and equities have moved in opposite directions. Today, both are at all-time highs. Not because this makes economic sense, but because the tidal wave of central bank money has to be put somewhere. So, financiers are plunging into bonds and equities simultaneously, as in the bad old days of 2003-08. They are also plunging into junk bonds, and even junk countries. Argentina has repeatedly defaulted on its foreign debts in the last 100 years. Yet, in the current financial madness, it has successfully sold 100-year bonds, a privilege once restricted to the most creditworthy nations. Mohammed El-Arian, chief economic adviser of Allianz, complains of a “liquidity delusion” that cheap money will continue to flood in forever. So, there is too much risk in soaring markets.

Such a huge bubble typically occurs when three things happen simultaneously. One, the arrival of an exciting new ‘disruptive’ technology that is difficult to value in the short term, but has huge potential. The second is easy market liquidity to help investors roar into markets. The third is cheap credit. All three elements are in evidence today. The new technologies include electric cars, hyperloops, artificial intelligence and companies with ‘network effects’ (like Uber, Facebook and Amazon). Liquidity is massive and cheap. (Some bonds carry negative interest rates.) Ruchir Sharma of Morgan Stanley says “the scale of today’s tech boom is not readily visible because much of the investment action has moved into the hands of big private players. In 1999, nearly 550 startups went public, and after many ended in disaster, the government tightened regulation of public companies. In part to avoid that red tape, this year, only 11 tech companies have gone public.” “Many are raising money instead from venture capitalists or private equity funds. Venture capitalists have poured more than $60 billion into just the technology sector every year for the last three years — the highest flows since the peak in 2000 — and private equity investors say there has never been a better time to raise money.” Many hyped companies (now called ‘unicorns’) have never made a profit. Yet, investors have thrown huge sums at them, raising their valuations above $1 billion each. The world now has over 260 unicorns, including many in India. A bust is certain everywhere (including India). But nobody knows when. The 2003-08 boom proved that markets could soar for years after being declared irrationally exuberant. Cynics are still buying, hoping to double their money before the bubble bursts. It’s a risky strategy.

Q.1) The underlying tone of the passage is understood to be one of:

a) Emphasis

b) Gloom

c) Uncertainty

d) Optimism

e) Prudence

Q.2) The acceleration in stock markets, for long years, not conforming to rational belief often happens under which of the following circumstances?

a) Prior to an economic gloom.

b) After an economic gloom.

c) After rate cuts imposed by a central Bank.

d) When prices of commodities stabilize.

e) When bonds and equities move in the opposite direction.