1) Usha Thorat, Nachiket Mor to head RBI panels for
differentiated bank licenses:
--> Usha Thorat, former deputy governor
of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will chair the External Advisory Committee
(EAC) to evaluate applications received for small finance banks.
--> Dr. Nachiket Mor, Director, Central
Board of the Reserve Bank will chair the EAC for payment banks.
--> RBI governor Raghuram Rajan said
that 72 applications for Small Finance Banks and 41 applications for Payments
Banks were received up to the deadline for submission.
--> Two External Advisory Committees
(EACs) will evaluate the applications received for setting up of small finance
and payments banks and thereafter make their recommendations to the Reserve
Bank.
2) Saloni Dalal became youngest medal winner in National
Games 2015:
--> Saloni Dalal, a school girl of Karnataka
became the youngest medal winner in the ongoing 35th National Games in Kerala
on 3 February 2015.
--> The 12-year-old, Saloni won a Bronze
medal in the 200 meter breast stroke swimming event.
--> Beside her bronze in breast stroke
swimming event, Dalal also won silver in women’s 4x100 meter Relay Medley by
teaming up with Anisha Gaonkar, Malika A Honagekar and Rutuja Pawar.
3) Bihar to provide free education till PG to SC/ST and girl
students:
--> Bihar government on 3 February 2015
decided to provide free education to Scheduled Castes (SC), Scheduled Tribes
(ST) and girl students till Post Graduation (PG) level in the state.
--> The decision, taken at a meeting of
the state cabinet, said no fee would be taken from the SC/ST and girl students
at the time of admission in government universities and colleges in Bihar.
--> The government would reimburse the
financial loss to such universities/colleges after gathering the actual
information about it.
4) RBI released its 6th Bi-monthly Monetary Review:
--> Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on 3
February 2014 released its 6th Bi-monthly Monetary Review.
--> It decided to keep the most
important Repo Rate unchanged at 7.75%.
--> RBI reduced the statutory liquidity
ratio (SLR) of scheduled commercial banks by 50 basis points from 22.0% to
21.5% of their net demand and time liabilities (NDTL) with effect from the
fortnight beginning 7 February 2015.
--> The reduction in SLR is expected to
release more funds in the economy.
5) Indian in Hayek Prize shortlist:
--> Journalist-writer Hindol Sengupta's
book on entrepreneurial ventures in India has been shortlisted for the US'
prestigious Hayek Prize this year.
--> "Recasting India: How
Entrepreneurship is Revolutionizing the World's Largest Democracy" is
among the six books in race for the USD 50,000 prize awarded by the Manhattan
Institute each year to writers whose work best celebrates the principles of
Austro-Hungarian Nobel laureate in economics, Friedrich von Hayek.
6) UK becomes the first country to legalize creation of
babies from three people:
--> UK is set to become the first
country to introduce laws to allow the creation of babies from three people.
--> In an historic move, MPs have voted
in favour of the creation of babies with DNA from two women and one man.
--> The technique is currently illegal
across the world and was pioneered by researchers in Newcastle, where the first
of the procedures will be carried out.
7) Sculptor and artist Mrinalini Mukherjee died:
--> Noted sculptor Mrinalini Mukherjee
passed away in New Delhi on 2 February 2015 after a brief illness.
--> She was 65. Mukherjee, the only
daughter of acclaimed artists from Santiniketan, Benode Behari and Leela
Mukherjee, was best known for her sculptures using knotted hemp fibre and cast
bronzes.
8) India replaced Russia as number 3 on Hurun Rich list:
--> India has scaled 27 places to
replace Russia and is now Number 3 in the Hurun Global Rich List 2015, a
ranking of the dollar billionaires across the world.
--> The US and China make up half of the
world’s billionaires. It is the first time that India has broken into the top
three, the report said.
9) Government's low cost generic drugs from July 1:
--> Government set to launch its own
brand to sell low cost generic medicines from July 1.
--> The Centre will procure medicines in
bulk from public as well as private drug manufacturing firms and rebrand them
under 'Jan Aushadhi'.
10) RBI increased limit for foreign spending:
--> The central bank on 3 February 2015
doubled the amount of foreign exchange that an individual can remit in a year
under a scheme that allows asset purchase outside India.
--> An individual can now remit up to
$250,000 a year under the Liberalised Remittance Scheme, which was started in
2004 with a view to simplify foreign exchange avenues available to Indians.
--> This is the second time the limit
has been raised since a drastic 62.5 per cent cut in the limit to $75,000 in
August 2013, when the RBI was fighting hard to stem the free fall in rupee
against the dollar.
11) Petrol, diesel prices cut by over Rs 2:
--> State-run fuel retailers on 3
February 2015 reduced petrol price by Rs 2.42 per litre and diesel by Rs 2.25.
--> Revision marks the tenth straight
cut in petrol since last August and sixth in diesel rates since October.
--> The petrol price is lowest since
September 2010, while diesel is cheapest since March 2013.
