Current Affairs 28 May

1) In its first major decision the newly inducted Narendra Modi government on 27 May 2014 approved the constitution of Special Investigating Team (SIT) to investigate large amounts of money stashed abroad by evading taxes or generated through unlawful activities. This SIT was formed to implement the earlier decision of the Supreme Court of India. Who has been appointed as the chairman of this SIT? – Justice M.B. Shah, former Judge of the Supreme Court (Justice Arijit Pasayat, former Judge of the Supreme Court was appointed as the Vice-Chairman of the SIT. There are 11 other members in the SIT. SIT will prepare a comprehensive action plan including creation of necessary institutional structure that could enable the country to fight the battle against unaccounted money)

……………………………………………….

2) Which PSU company accorded with the Navratna status suffered losses for the third year in a row and its Navratna status is in the danger of being taken back? –Shipping Corporation of India – SCI (SCI is the country’s largest shipping company. The Navratna status, which provides the company more autonomy in capital expenditure, investments, formation of joint ventures and other corporate decisions, was conferred on SCI in 2008. Hit by the bearish freight market, SCI reported a loss of Rs. 274.66 crore for the year ended March 31, 2014. This is against the loss of Rs. 114 crore in 2012-13 and Rs. 428 crore reported the previous year. According to the Navratna norms, the company has to report profits for continuous three years to be eligible for the covetous status)

……………………………………………….

3) U.S. President Barack Obama on 27 May 2014 announced plans for greatly reducing U.S. forces in Afghanistan by the end of the year. He also reiterated his commitment about U.S. military’s complete pull-out by the end of which year? –2016 (Obama’s blueprint calls for cutting the current U.S. force of 32,000 to 9,800 by the start of next year and complete pull-out by 2016)

……………………………………………….

4) RBI Deputy Governor R Gandhi recently said that the bank is proposing to permit opening of small bank accounts by merely filling up a form without any document for address or identity proof. This is being proposed in a bid to increase access to banking services. However, these proposed small accounts would come with some limitations. What are these limitations?

These accounts will have limitations on credit/debit balances

Will be available only at core banking solution-enabled branches

No foreign remittances will be permitted

Will be available only for 12 months — further extension on application for officially valid document

The aggregate of all credits in a financial year cannot exceed Rs. 1 lakh

……………………………………………….

5) What is the name of the the CEO of Amway India who was arrested on 27 May 2014 on the charge of cheating and other financial fraud? – William Scott Pinckney (In his capacity, as the CEO of Amway India, Pinckney, figured as the second accused in a case that was registered at Two Town Police Station in Kurnool city (AP) in 2013 in response to a complaint by an advocate Jagannatha Reddy. Amway India however protested against his arrest)