Current Affairs of 12 October 2015

1. Angus Deaton wins 2015 Nobel Prize for Economics

British economist Angus Deaton won the 2015 economics Nobel Prize for "his analysis of consumption, poverty, and welfare,"
"To design economic policy that promotes welfare and reduces poverty, we must first understand individual consumption choices," the award-giving body said on announcing the 8 million Swedish crown ($978,000) prize. "More than anyone else, Angus Deaton has enhanced this understanding."
The economics prize, officially called the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel, was established in 1968. It was not part of the original group of awards set out in dynamite tycoon Nobel's 1895 will.

2. YES Bank gets RBI nod for mutual fund, AMC, trustee co
YES Bank on Monday said it has received an approval from the Reserve Bank of India to sponsor a mutual fund and to set up an asset management company (AMC) and a trustee company.
In a statement, the private sector bank said the AMC and the trustee company will be set up as wholly owned subsidiaries of YES Bank.
The bank will now apply to SEBI to seek necessary approvals.
The Asset Management Company (AMC) will channelize the savings of retail and institutional investors in equity and debt capital markets. "This will complement YES BANK's retail liabilities strategy, and also allow the AMC to leverage the bank's distribution network for customer acquisition, and provide customers a seamless digical experience for their investments & savings solutions. The Bank will simplify and integrate "manufacturing to distribution" of equity and debt investment products for all its customers
The AMC will dove tail with the bank's move to grow its investment advisory and wealth management solutions and also beef up its capital market strengths. "In its 12th year of operations, as YES BANK accelerates into its next phase of growth, this new business initiative will provide further acceleration to YES BANK's differentiated product offerings to its customers

3. Mission Abaas launched in Odisha to provide affordable houses to urban poor
The Odisha Government  launched Mission Abaas, state’s urban housing mission, to provide affordable houses to Economically Weaker Sections (EWS), Low Income Groups (LIG) and slum dwellers.
The scheme aims at fulfilling the promise of protection and welfare of slum dwellers by providing affordable housing along with basic amenities such as piped water supply, electricity, concrete roads, drainage and community centre.
As notified in August 2015, Abaas will be the nodal agency to execute the Policy for Housing for All in Urban areas.
Components of the mission
• Slum redevelopment
• Affordable housing through interest subvention
• Rental housing for migrants
• Housing for urban destitute and homeless
Key points of the mission
• 10000 houses for EWS and Low Income Groups will be constructed in Bhubaneswar.
• Free land will be provided by the government for affordable housing projects in Public Private Partnership (PPP) mode to developers.
• Land on the city outskirts will be renewed into urban land by developing and expanding infrastructure.
• Pre-cast and pre-fabrication technology will be used under the mission.
• Mission Directorate will be set by the government for implementation of the policy.

4. Govt allows FPIs to invest addl $2.6 bn in government bonds
Foreign Portfolio Investors will be able to invest an additional $2.6 billion (Rs 16,431 crore) from today onwards in various government securities, including those of the states.
Out of this, investment limit worth about Rs 5,600 crore is being allotted through an e-auction, while the rest would be available on tap.
In further opening up, the limit would be enhanced by another Rs 16,600 crore from January 1 onwards.
This follows decision by the RBI and SEBI earlier this month to allow greater foreign fund flows into the government securities, which are generally favoured by Foreign Portfolio investors (FPIs) over corporate bonds in India.
The cap has been now raised to Rs 1,70,000 crore from Rs 1,53,569 crore previously. As against the previous limit, the total investment by FPIs in government bonds stood at Rs 1,53,109 crore ($23.6 billion) as on October 9, as per data available with NSDL (National Securities Depository Ltd).
In comparison, the total investment by FPIs in corporate bonds stood at Rs 3,39,660 crore as against a cap of Rs 4,14,323 crore.
While the FPIs have utilised about 82 per cent of available limits in corporate debt, they have less than 10 per cent free limits available in government bonds despite the increase in the cap.
The enhanced limits include a first-ever separate category for state development debt securities where FPIs can invest up to Rs 3,500 crore with effect from today. This would be doubled to Rs 7,000 crore from January 1.
The incremental limit of Rs 7,463 crore for Long Term FPIs shall be available for investment on tap with effect from today, while the separate additional limit for (SDLs) shall also be available on tap.

5. PM lays foundation stone of 4th terminal of Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust in Mumbai
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has laid the foundation stone of fourth terminal of country’s largest container port – Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT) in Mumbai. The ambitious project will augment JNPT’s present capacity situated off the financial capital’s eastern seafront by doubling it in next two years. 
Key facts 
The fourth terminal project will be carried out in two phases at estimated cost of 7,900 crore rupees and will be complete by the end of 2017. The project involves construction of two berths of 1 km in each of the two phases. It will be executed by Bharat Mumbai Container Terminal (BMCT), a subsidiary of Port of Singapore on a design, fund, built, operate and transfer (BOT) basis. The terminal will play important role in India’s Export-Import (exim) trade by doubling existing 4.5 million container handling capacity of JNPT to 10 million standard units. The expansion of port seeks to make it in top 15 ports of the world as it is presently ranked 31st.

6. Dell to buy EMC in $67-bn deal
Dell Inc will buy data storage company EMC Corp in a deal valued at about $67 billion, the largest on record in the technology sector.
The offer is $33.15 per share in cash and special stock.
Dell said it would pay $24.05 per share in cash and the rest in a special stock that tracks the value of a portion of EMC's economic interest in VMWare Inc, the virtualization software company majority-owned by EMC.
VMware will remain an independent, publicly traded company, the companies said in a joint statement on Monday.
The deal will help the world's No.3 PC maker tap into the faster-growing and lucrative market for managing and storing data for businesses amid waning demand for personal computers globally.

7. Novak Djokovic defeated Rafael Nadal to win 2015 China Open Men’s Singles title
Novak Djokovic  won the China Open Men’s Singles title by defeating Rafael Nadal of Spain.
In the summit clash held at the National Tennis Centre in Beijing the top seeded Serbian overpowered Nadal by 6-2 6-2.
For Djokovic, it was the fourth consequent win in Beijing and the fourth consequent title since 2012.
Overall, he is the only player to have won the title six times. His other two titles were in 2009 and 2010.

8. Fourth International Day of the Girl Child observed across the world
The Fourth International Day of the Girl Child (IDGC) was observed across the world on 11 October 2015 with the theme The Power of Adolescent Girl: Vision for 2030.
To mark the occasion campaigns, meetings and workshops were held to across the world to raise awareness about importance of girl child and steps to promote gender equality.
The theme was selected in recognition of the importance of investing in adolescent girls’ empowerment and rights, both today and in the future.
In September 2015, the UN General Assembly reviewed the progress of girl child development under Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and approved of continuing the momentum in the form Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for the period between 2016 and 2030.

9. Veteran Tamil actress Manorama died
Legendary Tamil actress Gopishantha, popularly known by her stage name Manorama, died on 10 October 2015 due to multiple organ failure in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. She was 78.
Manorama acted in over 1500 movies in her career spanning almost six decades. She was also a brilliant comedian, singer and a stage artiste.
Her first film was Malayitta Mangai, which released in 1958. She sang her first song in Ratha Thilagam in 1963. She also sang a song composed by A R Rahman for the film May Madham in 1994.

10. Punjab National Bank won Beighton Cup of Hockey
Punjab National Bank (PNB) on 11 October 2015 claimed the Beighton Cup hockey tournament at the Sports Authority of India (SAI) ground in Kolkata. PNB defeated Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) by 5-3 in penalties.
At the end of regulation time, both teams were locked at 1-1. Satpal Gulia of PNB had put the team in front in the 30th minute via a penalty corner. Three minutes after the half-time, Deepak Thakur of IOC went for a field goal.
However, Naveen Antil of PNB struck the decisive goal in the end to kick off the celebration for the team.
PNB goalkeeper Jasbir Singh was awarded with the Best Player award, whereas, the Fairplay Trophy was given to Army XI.

11. Indian shuttler Ajay Jayaram won 2015 Dutch Open Men’s Singles title
Ajay Jayaram of India on 11 October 2015 defended the 2015 Dutch Open Men’s Singles badminton title.
In the summit clash held at Almere in Netheralnds, the World Number 26 ranker defeated Estonia’s Raul Must by 21-12 21-18.
While Jayaram won his maiden title in 2014, it was the fourth overall title for India. The other two titles were won by Prakash Padukone and Chetan Anand in 1982 and 2009 respectively.
Dutch Open is a Grand Prix category tournament that is held annually since 1932 in Netherlands. It is currently organized by Nederlandse Badminton Bond (NBB) and is a part of the European Badminton Circuit.

12. November 26 to be observed as Constitution Day
India will observe 26 November as Constitution Day (Samvidhan Divas) to spread awareness of Indian Constitution and its architecture Dr B R Ambedkar. Significance of Day: On 26 November 1949, Indian constitution was adopted by the 389 member Constituent Assembly (CA) and it came into force on 26 January, 1950. It was announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi after laying the foundation stone of Dr Ambedkar Memorial at Indu Mills Compound in the heart of Mumbai city. 
Features of Dr Ambedkar Memorial 
The life and works of Dr. Ambedkar will be displayed at the memorial. It will feature a 150 feet tall statue of Dr. Ambedkar and 140 feet high dome stupa. It will have a research centre, library and museum, auditorium, park, ponds and plaza. It will also have meditation centre which can accommodate 13,000 people at a time.

13. India and Jordan ink 6 MoUs to cooperate in various fields
India and Jordan have signed six Memoranda of Understanding (MoU) in various fields. These MoUs were signed in presence of Jordanian Prime Minister Abdullah Ensour and Indian President Pranab Mukherjee in Amman. Jordan was first leg of President Pranab Mukherjee’s official three Middle East nations tour to Jordan, Palestine and Israel. 
The agreements signed are
 MoU on executive programme for cultural exchange between the Jordanian and Indian governments. 
MoU on Communication and Information Technology to cooperate in the field of ICT and electronics fields. 
MoU between Jordan News Agency Petra and the Press Trust of India (PTI). 
MoU on Maritime Transport Sector. MoU between Jordan Institute of Diplomacy and Indian Foreign Service Institute (IFSI). 
MoU between Indian Metrological Department (IMD) and Jordan Standards and Metrology Organisation to cooperate in assessment techniques. 
President Pranab Mukherjee also inaugurated a street named after Mahatma Gandhi in Amman and planted an Olive tree in peace park. Jordan has fully assured support to India’s candidature in the expanded United Nations Security Council (UNSC). Both countries also assured to enhance their cooperation in counter-terrorism and defence.

14. Lewis Hamilton wins 2015 Russian Grand Prix of F1
Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton of Britain won 2015 Russian Grand Prix title of Formula One. This was his overall ninth victory of the season. Earlier he had won Australia, China, Bahrain, Canada, United Kingdom, Belgium, Italy and Japanese 2015 Grand Prix titles of F1. It should be noted Lewis Hamilton has won highest number as compared to any other British driver in the history of Formula One. He is currently 5th on the all-time list of F1 with 41 wins.
1. Angus Deaton wins 2015 Nobel Prize for Economics

British economist Angus Deaton won the 2015 economics Nobel Prize for "his analysis of consumption, poverty, and welfare,"
"To design economic policy that promotes welfare and reduces poverty, we must first understand individual consumption choices," the award-giving body said on announcing the 8 million Swedish crown ($978,000) prize. "More than anyone else, Angus Deaton has enhanced this understanding."
The economics prize, officially called the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel, was established in 1968. It was not part of the original group of awards set out in dynamite tycoon Nobel's 1895 will.

2. YES Bank gets RBI nod for mutual fund, AMC, trustee co
YES Bank on Monday said it has received an approval from the Reserve Bank of India to sponsor a mutual fund and to set up an asset management company (AMC) and a trustee company.
In a statement, the private sector bank said the AMC and the trustee company will be set up as wholly owned subsidiaries of YES Bank.
The bank will now apply to SEBI to seek necessary approvals.
The Asset Management Company (AMC) will channelize the savings of retail and institutional investors in equity and debt capital markets. "This will complement YES BANK's retail liabilities strategy, and also allow the AMC to leverage the bank's distribution network for customer acquisition, and provide customers a seamless digical experience for their investments & savings solutions. The Bank will simplify and integrate "manufacturing to distribution" of equity and debt investment products for all its customers
The AMC will dove tail with the bank's move to grow its investment advisory and wealth management solutions and also beef up its capital market strengths. "In its 12th year of operations, as YES BANK accelerates into its next phase of growth, this new business initiative will provide further acceleration to YES BANK's differentiated product offerings to its customers

3. Mission Abaas launched in Odisha to provide affordable houses to urban poor
The Odisha Government  launched Mission Abaas, state’s urban housing mission, to provide affordable houses to Economically Weaker Sections (EWS), Low Income Groups (LIG) and slum dwellers.
The scheme aims at fulfilling the promise of protection and welfare of slum dwellers by providing affordable housing along with basic amenities such as piped water supply, electricity, concrete roads, drainage and community centre.
As notified in August 2015, Abaas will be the nodal agency to execute the Policy for Housing for All in Urban areas.
Components of the mission
• Slum redevelopment
• Affordable housing through interest subvention
• Rental housing for migrants
• Housing for urban destitute and homeless
Key points of the mission
• 10000 houses for EWS and Low Income Groups will be constructed in Bhubaneswar.
• Free land will be provided by the government for affordable housing projects in Public Private Partnership (PPP) mode to developers.
• Land on the city outskirts will be renewed into urban land by developing and expanding infrastructure.
• Pre-cast and pre-fabrication technology will be used under the mission.
• Mission Directorate will be set by the government for implementation of the policy.

4. Govt allows FPIs to invest addl $2.6 bn in government bonds
Foreign Portfolio Investors will be able to invest an additional $2.6 billion (Rs 16,431 crore) from today onwards in various government securities, including those of the states.
Out of this, investment limit worth about Rs 5,600 crore is being allotted through an e-auction, while the rest would be available on tap.
In further opening up, the limit would be enhanced by another Rs 16,600 crore from January 1 onwards.
This follows decision by the RBI and SEBI earlier this month to allow greater foreign fund flows into the government securities, which are generally favoured by Foreign Portfolio investors (FPIs) over corporate bonds in India.
The cap has been now raised to Rs 1,70,000 crore from Rs 1,53,569 crore previously. As against the previous limit, the total investment by FPIs in government bonds stood at Rs 1,53,109 crore ($23.6 billion) as on October 9, as per data available with NSDL (National Securities Depository Ltd).
In comparison, the total investment by FPIs in corporate bonds stood at Rs 3,39,660 crore as against a cap of Rs 4,14,323 crore.
While the FPIs have utilised about 82 per cent of available limits in corporate debt, they have less than 10 per cent free limits available in government bonds despite the increase in the cap.
The enhanced limits include a first-ever separate category for state development debt securities where FPIs can invest up to Rs 3,500 crore with effect from today. This would be doubled to Rs 7,000 crore from January 1.
The incremental limit of Rs 7,463 crore for Long Term FPIs shall be available for investment on tap with effect from today, while the separate additional limit for (SDLs) shall also be available on tap.

5. PM lays foundation stone of 4th terminal of Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust in Mumbai
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has laid the foundation stone of fourth terminal of country’s largest container port – Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT) in Mumbai. The ambitious project will augment JNPT’s present capacity situated off the financial capital’s eastern seafront by doubling it in next two years. 
Key facts 
The fourth terminal project will be carried out in two phases at estimated cost of 7,900 crore rupees and will be complete by the end of 2017. The project involves construction of two berths of 1 km in each of the two phases. It will be executed by Bharat Mumbai Container Terminal (BMCT), a subsidiary of Port of Singapore on a design, fund, built, operate and transfer (BOT) basis. The terminal will play important role in India’s Export-Import (exim) trade by doubling existing 4.5 million container handling capacity of JNPT to 10 million standard units. The expansion of port seeks to make it in top 15 ports of the world as it is presently ranked 31st.

6. Dell to buy EMC in $67-bn deal
Dell Inc will buy data storage company EMC Corp in a deal valued at about $67 billion, the largest on record in the technology sector.
The offer is $33.15 per share in cash and special stock.
Dell said it would pay $24.05 per share in cash and the rest in a special stock that tracks the value of a portion of EMC's economic interest in VMWare Inc, the virtualization software company majority-owned by EMC.
VMware will remain an independent, publicly traded company, the companies said in a joint statement on Monday.
The deal will help the world's No.3 PC maker tap into the faster-growing and lucrative market for managing and storing data for businesses amid waning demand for personal computers globally.

7. Novak Djokovic defeated Rafael Nadal to win 2015 China Open Men’s Singles title
Novak Djokovic  won the China Open Men’s Singles title by defeating Rafael Nadal of Spain.
In the summit clash held at the National Tennis Centre in Beijing the top seeded Serbian overpowered Nadal by 6-2 6-2.
For Djokovic, it was the fourth consequent win in Beijing and the fourth consequent title since 2012.
Overall, he is the only player to have won the title six times. His other two titles were in 2009 and 2010.

8. Fourth International Day of the Girl Child observed across the world
The Fourth International Day of the Girl Child (IDGC) was observed across the world on 11 October 2015 with the theme The Power of Adolescent Girl: Vision for 2030.
To mark the occasion campaigns, meetings and workshops were held to across the world to raise awareness about importance of girl child and steps to promote gender equality.
The theme was selected in recognition of the importance of investing in adolescent girls’ empowerment and rights, both today and in the future.
In September 2015, the UN General Assembly reviewed the progress of girl child development under Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and approved of continuing the momentum in the form Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for the period between 2016 and 2030.

9. Veteran Tamil actress Manorama died
Legendary Tamil actress Gopishantha, popularly known by her stage name Manorama, died on 10 October 2015 due to multiple organ failure in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. She was 78.
Manorama acted in over 1500 movies in her career spanning almost six decades. She was also a brilliant comedian, singer and a stage artiste.
Her first film was Malayitta Mangai, which released in 1958. She sang her first song in Ratha Thilagam in 1963. She also sang a song composed by A R Rahman for the film May Madham in 1994.

10. Punjab National Bank won Beighton Cup of Hockey
Punjab National Bank (PNB) on 11 October 2015 claimed the Beighton Cup hockey tournament at the Sports Authority of India (SAI) ground in Kolkata. PNB defeated Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) by 5-3 in penalties.
At the end of regulation time, both teams were locked at 1-1. Satpal Gulia of PNB had put the team in front in the 30th minute via a penalty corner. Three minutes after the half-time, Deepak Thakur of IOC went for a field goal.
However, Naveen Antil of PNB struck the decisive goal in the end to kick off the celebration for the team.
PNB goalkeeper Jasbir Singh was awarded with the Best Player award, whereas, the Fairplay Trophy was given to Army XI.

11. Indian shuttler Ajay Jayaram won 2015 Dutch Open Men’s Singles title
Ajay Jayaram of India on 11 October 2015 defended the 2015 Dutch Open Men’s Singles badminton title.
In the summit clash held at Almere in Netheralnds, the World Number 26 ranker defeated Estonia’s Raul Must by 21-12 21-18.
While Jayaram won his maiden title in 2014, it was the fourth overall title for India. The other two titles were won by Prakash Padukone and Chetan Anand in 1982 and 2009 respectively.
Dutch Open is a Grand Prix category tournament that is held annually since 1932 in Netherlands. It is currently organized by Nederlandse Badminton Bond (NBB) and is a part of the European Badminton Circuit.

12. November 26 to be observed as Constitution Day
India will observe 26 November as Constitution Day (Samvidhan Divas) to spread awareness of Indian Constitution and its architecture Dr B R Ambedkar. Significance of Day: On 26 November 1949, Indian constitution was adopted by the 389 member Constituent Assembly (CA) and it came into force on 26 January, 1950. It was announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi after laying the foundation stone of Dr Ambedkar Memorial at Indu Mills Compound in the heart of Mumbai city. 
Features of Dr Ambedkar Memorial 
The life and works of Dr. Ambedkar will be displayed at the memorial. It will feature a 150 feet tall statue of Dr. Ambedkar and 140 feet high dome stupa. It will have a research centre, library and museum, auditorium, park, ponds and plaza. It will also have meditation centre which can accommodate 13,000 people at a time.

13. India and Jordan ink 6 MoUs to cooperate in various fields
India and Jordan have signed six Memoranda of Understanding (MoU) in various fields. These MoUs were signed in presence of Jordanian Prime Minister Abdullah Ensour and Indian President Pranab Mukherjee in Amman. Jordan was first leg of President Pranab Mukherjee’s official three Middle East nations tour to Jordan, Palestine and Israel. 
The agreements signed are
 MoU on executive programme for cultural exchange between the Jordanian and Indian governments. 
MoU on Communication and Information Technology to cooperate in the field of ICT and electronics fields. 
MoU between Jordan News Agency Petra and the Press Trust of India (PTI). 
MoU on Maritime Transport Sector. MoU between Jordan Institute of Diplomacy and Indian Foreign Service Institute (IFSI). 
MoU between Indian Metrological Department (IMD) and Jordan Standards and Metrology Organisation to cooperate in assessment techniques. 
President Pranab Mukherjee also inaugurated a street named after Mahatma Gandhi in Amman and planted an Olive tree in peace park. Jordan has fully assured support to India’s candidature in the expanded United Nations Security Council (UNSC). Both countries also assured to enhance their cooperation in counter-terrorism and defence.

14. Lewis Hamilton wins 2015 Russian Grand Prix of F1
Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton of Britain won 2015 Russian Grand Prix title of Formula One. This was his overall ninth victory of the season. Earlier he had won Australia, China, Bahrain, Canada, United Kingdom, Belgium, Italy and Japanese 2015 Grand Prix titles of F1. It should be noted Lewis Hamilton has won highest number as compared to any other British driver in the history of Formula One. He is currently 5th on the all-time list of F1 with 41 wins.

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