Monetary Policy and Current Affairs of August - 2010

First Quarter Review of Monetary Policy 2010-11:

Monetary policy is the process by which the government, central bank of a country controls (i) the supply of money, (ii) availability of money, and (iii)cost of money or rate of interest, in order to attain a set of objectives oriented towards the growth and stability of the economy.

As expected, RBI has raised the policy rates in the first quarter review of monetary policy on 27-07-2010. This is the fourth rate hike since March this year raising the Repo by a total of 100 bps and Reverse Repo by 125 bps.

Highlights of the policy:

·        Repo rates hiked by 25 bps to 5.75% with immediate effect.

·        Reverse Repo rates hiked by 50 bps to 4.50% with immediate effect.

·        CRR, SLR and Bank rate kept unchanged at 6%, 25% and 6%, respectively.

·        Estimated for GDP growth for 2010-11 revised to 8.5% from 8%.

·        Inflation projection for March 2010 increased to 6% from 5.5%.

The next mid-quarter review of Monetary Policy for 2010-11 will be announced through a press release on September 16, 2010.

The second quarter review of Monetary Policy 2010-11, including developmental and regulatory policies, is scheduled on November 2, 2010.

August Current Affairs:

·        China has eclipsed Japan as the world's second-biggest economy after three decades of blistering growth that put overtaking the U.S. in reach within 10 years.

·        Former Union Power Secretary Harishankar Brahma has been appointed as the Election Commissioner in the Election Commission of India.

·        Britain’s Andy Murray won the 2010 Rogers Cup over Roger Federer 7–5, 7–5 on Sunday in Toronto.

·        The President Mrs. Pratibha Devisingh Patil this evening conferred the prestigious Best Parliamentarian Awards to Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi, Mohan Singh and Dr. Murali Manohar Joshi at an impressive function in the Central Hall of Parliament. The Awards were given for the year 2007, 2008 and 2009 respectively for their outstanding contributions to parliamentary debates.

·        Former Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee's book, "Keeping the Faith: Memoirs of a Parliamentarian", which was released by Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh.

·        The Centre cleared for implementation the Rajiv Gandhi Scheme for Empowerment of Adolescent Girls — known as ‘Sabla' — aimed at enhancing their nutritional and economic status. The scheme will be run along with the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) project in anganwadi centres in 200 select districts, targeting girls in the age group 11-18.

·        Senior IPS officer R K Medhekar will be the new Director General of elite commando force -- National Security Guard. Medhekar, a 1975 batch officer of Kerala cadre, currently serving as Special Director General of Border Security Force. He will take over from 1972 batch IPS officer N P S Aulakh.

·        Vineet Jain, Managing Director, The Times of India (TOI) Group, has been elected as the new chairman of Press Trust of India (PTI), the leading news agency of India. Jain succeeds Vjiay Kumar Chopra, Editor, Punjab Kesari Group.

·        Union Minister of State for Environment and Forests Jairam Ramesh launched the Green Action for National Dandi Heritage Initiative(GANDHI) project in the historic coastal village in south Gujarat. It was at Dandi that Mahatma Gandhi launched his salt Satyagraha 80 years ago.

·        The postal department released a stamp(of Rs.5) in Visakhapatnam to commemorate the first death anniversary of the former chief minister late Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy.

Quiz General Awareness - 2010 44

1) Which Organization had sanctioned $150 million aid for the Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC)?

a)ADB    b)NABARD    c)World Bank   d)IMF   e)SIDBI

2) Which among the following is the winner of ‘Indian Car of the Year 2010’?

a)Maruti Suzuki Ritz    b)Honda Jazz    c)Fiat Grande Punto    d)Tata Nano   e)Skoda Superb

3) Who has been appointed as Chairman of Public Accounts Committee (PAC)?

a)Karia Munde    b)Meira Kumari    c)Jaswanth Singh    d)Pranab Mukherjee   e)Gopinath Munde

4) Who is the present Opposition leader of Lok Sabha?

a)Karia Munda   b)Nitin Gadkari   c)L K Advani   d)Sushma Swaraj   e)Rajnath Singh

5) China will overtake _________ as World’s biggest Gold Consumer for the first time in History?

a)US   b)IMF    c)Russia   d)Saudi Arabia   e)none of these

6) Vimal Kaushik has been appointed as the MD & CEO of __________?

a)Indian Bank   b)Nalco    c)HDFC   d)Maytas Infra   e)none of these

7) Recently which city has imposed speed limits for Vehicles plying on the roads?

a)Bangalore   b)Chennai   c)Hyderabad   d)Jaipur   e)Kolkatta

8) S.P.S Rathore has been arrested in the case of molestation of a budding tennis player. He was the former DGP of which state?

a)Andhra Pradesh    b)Punjab   c)Haryana    d)Uttar Pradesh   e)Gujarat

9) The Centre is planning to introduce an amendment to the Employees Gratuity Act to enhance the maximum gratuity amount paid to employees from Rs. 3.5lakh to ________?

a)5 lakh   b)6 kakh   c)7 lakh   d)10 lakh   e)15 lakh

10)Brinda Karat is associated with ____________?

a)Films    b)Sports    c)Journalism   d)Author   e)Politics

11)Rukhsana Kosser, the brave lady who killed L-e-T terrorist in J & K, has been chosen for the award __________?

a)Uttam Jeevan Raksha Padak  b)Sarvottam Jeevan Raksha Padak    c)Jeevan Raksha Padak   d)National Women Bravery award   e)Both d & e.

12)Pravasi Bhartiya Divas is celebrated on which of the following day?

a)Dec 9^th   b)Jan 9^th    c)Jan 21st    d)Oct  11^th   e)none

13)Who is the Chairman of NDA (National Democratic Alliance)?

a)Atal Bihari Vajpayee   b)L K Advani   c)Rajnath Singh   d)Goerge Fernandes   e)none of these

14)Which Country is going to use Mirrors to capture sunlight, produce steam and generate electricity?

a)India    b)Japan    c)US   d)Saudi Arabia   e)China

15)V M Balachandran had recently passed away. He was a ________?

a)Journalist    b)Author & Writer    c)Singer   d)both a & b   e)none

16)Ajit Lal, S.P Mishra, Ramanathan Krishnan & Jaideep Mukherjea, these names are famous in which of the following sport?

a)Badminton   b)Cricket   c)Lawn Tennis   d)Football   e)Hockey

17)K Chandrasekhar Rao is the president of Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS)(it is a political party) demanding separate state called as ‘Telangana’. TRS is a political party of which state?

a)Uttar Pradesh    b)Tamilnadu    c)Karnataka   d)Andhra Pradesh   e)none of these

18)How many Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSEs) are under the administrative/Government control of various Departments?

a)112    b)242    c)90    d)101    e)none of these

19)Who among the following entered in the Guinness Book of World Records for completing 26 hour long-aerobics marathon recently?

a)Dinaz Vervatwala    b)Amit Sharma    c)Vasanth Datla   d)Pradeep Darooka  e)none of these

20)Which City will host the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) Summit in 2010?

a)Hyderabad    b)Ahmedabad   c)Chennai    d)Bangalore   e)Mumbai

Points:

5 Q – India. To know more visit this link.

10 Q – Brinda Karat belongs to the Political Party CPI(M).

11 Q - The Other Person who has been nominated for the award – Narendra Kaushi. Jeevan Raksha Padak series of awards are given to a person for  saving the life of a person. The award is given in three categories, namely Sarvottam Jeevan Raksha Padak, Uttam Jeevan Raksha Padak and Jeevan Raksha Padak.7 persons were nominated for Uttam Jeevan Raksha Padak and 44 for Jeevan Raksha Padak. Besides a medal, the award carries lump sum monetary allowance which is given at the rate of Rs 75,000, Rs 45,000 and Rs 30,000 to the Sarvottam Jeevan Raksha Padak, Uttam Jeevan Raksha Padak and Jeevan Raksha Padak awardee respectively.

16 Q – They are the first finalists from India in Davis Cup in 1966.

World's Largest Gold Reserves - Article

On September 18, 2009, the IMF's executive board approved gold sales strictly limited to 403.3 metric tonnes, representing one eighth of its total holdings, in a bid to increase the (Washington-based) financial institution's capacity to lend to poor nations.

The International Monetary Fund has sold 200 metric tonnes of gold to the Reserve Bank of India for about $6.7 billion. This new purchase puts India gold reserves in the 11th spot among the world's leading gold owners.

Subsequently IMF sold 10 tonnes to Srilanka and 2 tonnes to Mauritius.

Worlds Largest Gold Reserves:

1. US – 8133.5 tonnes

2. Germany – 3408.3 tonnes

3. IMF – 3005.3 tonnes

4. Italy – 2451.8 tonnes

5. France – 2445 tonnes

6. China – 1054 tonnes

7. Switzerland – 1040 tonnes

8. Japan – 765.2 tonnes

9. Russia – 639.8 tonnes

10. Netherlands – 612.5 tonnes

11. India – 557.7 tonnes

Most countries including India and China—the two largest gold consuming nations in the world—have US dollar as most part of their foreign exchange reserves kitty. Now, China, India and other countries want to move away from dollar to gold, for all perceive gold as a stable currency than a hot commodity.

Top Buyers of Gold:

1. India

2. China

3. US

Top Producers of Gold:

1. China

2. Australia

3. US

Difference between India and China:

The most aggressive player in the gold reserves game these days is, of course, China. Though China is not keen to buy gold from IMF at the high price that gold is ruling these days, the People’s Bank of China is stepping up efforts to build up gold reserves by buying the yellow metal from the market and taking various initiatives to increase gold mining across the country. China has targeted to mop up a whopping 10,000 tonnes of gold reserves by 2020.

At the recent Elections in India (April-May 2009) you have Noticed/heard the lines saying that “China Buys Gold, India Buys Votes”.

The Indian politicians spent an estimated Rs 10,000 crore to buy the votes. China, meanwhile, has just announced that it has bought gold of 454 tonnes.

China is tired of owning US government debt which may be worthless pieces of paper. So China is busy buying all kinds of real, hard assets. They are buying iron ore mines; copper mines; and rumour has it they are keen to buy agricultural land, but not so that they can bribe someone and have it converted to build an SEZ(Special Economic Zones were started/founded in China in early 1980’s and the most successful SEZ in China is ‘Shenzhen’ has developed from a small village into a city with a population over 10 million within 20 years). And China is buying more military equipment, too.And now they are gobbling up gold. 

India is the “Land for Rising SON’s” that means…Take for an example our Indian Prime Ministers…Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi and Now Rahul Gandhi. Indian Politicians( major) thinking will be on who will become the next Prime Minister and when the next elections will be held and to tie-up which party during elections and more over politicians contesting in elections for their self benefit.

In India, only 44% villages have power. On the other hand, 99% of China’s villages are powered.

Examples where India is lagging:

Olympics in 2008:

China got 51 gold medals 21 Silver and 28 Bronze medals. Whereas India got 1Gold Medal and 2 bronze Medals and No Silver Medal. If India had spended (money) atleast 10% - 15% in Sports what they have used during elections India have won many medals.

Black Money:

Is India is Poor? Who says go and ask/verify Swiss Bank personal accounts. Indian Black Money in Swiss Banks currently/approximately holds $1456 billion or $1.4 trillion (converting into Indian Rupees = 7200000000000/- in words 72 lakh Crores when 1$=50 Rs) as on Swiss Banking Association Report 2006(Now it has crossed even more.) an amount 13 times larger than the country's foreign debt. With this amount 45 crore poor people in India can get Rs 1,00,000 each. 

Next place goes to Russia - $470 billion, UK - $390 billion, Ukraine - $100 billion, and China - $96 billion.

India recently asked the Swiss Government to reveal the Indian Accounts held in Swiss Banks. But the Swiss Government has snubbed India by throwing its weight behind the practice of 'protecting the privacy of clients' at its banks. 

Coming to Defence:

Active Military Troops in China: 2,225,000 Active Military Troops in India: 1,414,000.

Military Spending by country in 2008-09:

1. US - $607 billions

2. China – $85 billions

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10. India - $30 billion

I am not comparing with US. Because US is already a developed country. But both China & India are developing countries. But China is growing more fast than India that it may surpass Japan to become the second largest economy in the world in the coming few (2 or 3) years according to financial experts whereas India will become third largest economy by 2050. Still 40 years to go. China already 3^rd largest economy in the world(2009).

We have got Independence before China. India got Independence in Aug 15^th, 1947. China got in Oct 1^st, 1949.

Don’t think that I am against/blaming India. I am also an Indian. But need my Country to improve a lot. No Doubt India is the Worlds Largest Democracy in the world when compared to no other country in the world until China leaves Communism.
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