3rd January 2015 - Important Current Affairs updates

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International Affairs

• President Pranab Mukherjee extends India's good wishes to Myanmar on the eve of its Independence day (4th January)
• In South Australia, houses were lost as an intense bush fire raged out of control today.
• The authorities warned the state faced its worst wildfire danger since the deadly 1983 blazes.
• More than 500 firefighters are battling the bush-fire which has ravaged more than 10,000 hectares in South Australia and is likely to burn until early next week.
• The US has imposed fresh financial sanctions on North Korea and its senior officials in its first public response to the "provocative" cyber-attack on Sony Pictures, which the Obama Administration has said was backed by the reclusive country.
• China has taken a firm step to extend the Silk Road Economic Belt to South Asia, by working out a blueprint of connecting Nepal with the Eurasian transport corridor.
• Last month, Nepal formally signed a four-point document endorsing the Silk Road Economic Belt — a pet project of President Xi Jinping for connecting Asia with Europe along a land corridor, with China as its hub.
• The agreement was signed during a meeting in Beijing of the Nepal-China Inter-governmental Business and Investment Coordination.

National Affairs

• Prime Minister, Narendra Modi today inaugurated the 102nd edition of the Indian Science Congress hosted by the Mumbai University.
• This event will conclude on 7th January 2015.
• This year's Theme : Science and Technology for Human Development
• Modi called for the need to rekindle the love for science and technology and the relaxing excessive regulations and cumbersome procedures for our universities to give a boost to research.
• He also felicitated Nobel laureates and Indian scientists on the occasion.
• As per statistics provided by Tigernet, the official database of the National Tiger Conservation Authority, Sixty-six wild tiger deaths were reported in the country in 2014.
• Highest number of wild tiger deaths was reported from the forests of Tamil Nadu —15, followed by Madhya Pradesh —14.
• Six of the deaths in Tamil Nadu were from the Mudumalai Tiger Reserve.
• The majority of wild tiger deaths was caused by poaching
• The DDA (Delhi Development Authority) is planning to issue its next housing scheme in December 2016, which would be much larger than the 2014 project and will include at least 24,660 LIG flats.
• Niti Aayog
• Niti Aayog, the new body to replace Planning Commission will start functioning from Next week.
• Noted economist, Arvind Panagariya is tipped to be the first Vice-Chairman of the Niti Aayog. 

Business & Economy

• Reserve Bank governor Raghuram Rajan today made a strong case for cleaning up bad debts of banks and restructure other possible NPAs within a year to put the economy back on track.
• He also favoured channelizing "full savings" of the households into the financial system so that requisite resources for growth are made available.
• Calling for an end to "lazy banking", Prime Minister Narendra Modi today said he is against any political interference in functioning of banks but supports necessary "intervention" in the public interest.
• Modi urged people to invest their money in banks instead of buying gold and keeping it safely, which is generally considered as an unproductive investment.
• He said Indians have a good habit of savings, but these savings have diverted to gold over the time as a measure of security and banks have a challenge to look into ways to discourage huge amounts of money being kept in gold. 
• In a bid to stem the bleeding of public sector banks engendered by soaring non-performing assets (NPAs), Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley today batted for greater autonomy to be given to PSBs.
• “Banks need to be given greater leeway for taking commercial decisions with a commercial mindset,” said Mr. Jaitley on the concluding day of the ‘Gyan Sangam’ bankers retreat.
• Aamir Khan’s ‘PK’ box office collections beat ‘Dhoom 3′ record to become Bollywood’s No. 1 at Rs 285.37 Crore. 

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