24th Feb Daily Updates

1. State Bank of India and Indian Army signs MoU on Defence Salary Package

State Bank of India (SBI) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Indian Army on the Defence Salary Package (DSP).

Signed MoU is revised version of the first MoU which was signed on DSP between two parties in 2011 and was valid for a period of three years. The revised MoU meets the requirements of serving soldiers, pensioners and their families.

Key facts about new MoU

• MoU include provisions for number of free and concessional banking services like drafts, cheque books, funds transfers to any other bank in India through Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS), free ATM cards etc.
• It also includes provision for implementing the Nepal Express Remittance Scheme. This scheme will benefit of the Nepali Domicile Gorkha Soldiers serving in the Indian Army in order to instantly transfer funds to Nepal.
• MoU adds improved features for linking of the Personal Accident Insurance (PAI) to the Savings account instead of the debit card.
• It also seeks to enhance the PAI amounts and the exemption percentage of margin money for house and car loans. It also waives off of the processing charges on the loans.

The revised MoU is going to benefit 19.5 lakh pensioners and 10 lakh serving personnel with access modern banking facilities. These personnel’s either hold Pay or Pension accounts with SBI.

2. Rana Bhagwandas first Hindu Chief Justice of Pakistan passes away

i. First Hindu Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Rana Bhagwandas passed away in Karachi, Pakistan. 

ii. He was the first Hindu and the second non-Muslim to head of the Supreme Court of Pakistan. 

iii. In 2005 for first time he was appointed as acting Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) for few days and again in 2006 during the absence of then CJP Iftikhar Chaudhry.

iv. During the Pakistan’s judicial crisis of 2007, he was again appointed as acting Chief Justice.

3. Modi government accepts Finance Commission recommendations

i. The Modi government said on Tuesday that it has accepted the recommendation of Finance Commission to raise the share of states in central taxes to 42 per cent from current 32 per cent. 

ii. As per the increased devolution suggested in the report of the 14th Finance Commission, the states will get Rs 3.48 lakh crore in 2014-15 and Rs 5.26 lakh crore in 2015-16. 

iii. PM Modi said that while the Finance Commission was in favour of all state plans being met through the resources being devolved, the Centre will continue to support national priority projects like poverty elimination, MNREGA, education, health, rural development, agriculture and a few others. 

4. ITC wins bid for Park Hyatt Hotel in Goa

Diversified group ITC has won the bid to acquire Park Hyatt Hotel property in Goa, owned by Blue Coast Hotels — put up for public auction by IFCI — for Rs.515.44 crore

Declaring ITC as the successful bidder at Rs.515.44 crore, IFCI said in a filing to the BSE that the Kolkata-based company has remitted 25 per cent of the bid amount of Rs.128.86 crore as per the terms of the tender document.

5. Chris Gayle becomes first batsman to hit double century in World Cup history

West Indies opener batsman Chris Gayle created history by becoming the first batsman to score a double century in the World Cup.

He made this record by scoring 215 runs off just 147 balls in a Pool-B match against Zimbabwe held at Manuka Oval stadium in Canberra, Australia.

Gayle’s record score comprised of 10 fours and 16 sixes that helped West Indies score 372 runs during the match. His fastest double century in One-Day Internationals (ODIs) also broke the previous record which was held by Indian batsman Virender Sehwag.

In December 2011, Sehwag had scored a double century in 140 balls in a match against West Indies held at Holkar Cricket Stadium in Indore. With this record, Gayle also became the first non-Indian to score a double century in one day cricket.

Indian cricketers to hit double century in ODI’s are

• Sachin Tendulkar – First cricketer to reach double century landmark. He made 200 runs against South Africa in 2010.
• Virendra Sehwag- second cricketer who scored 219 against West Indies.
• Rohit Sharma- third cricketer to score 209 runs against Australia in 2013. In November 2014, he broke his previous record and became highest ODI scorer with 264 runs in match against Sri Lanka. He is only cricketer to hit 2 double centuries in ODIs.

6. Salaries in PSU Banks increased by 15%

   Public sector bank unions on Monday withdrew their call for a four-day strike, with the management agreeing to a 15 per cent increase in wages and acceding to the demand for holidays on second and fourth Saturdays.

 7. TRAI removes interconnection usage charges (IUC)

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has removed the interconnection usage charges (IUC). Earlier, IUC of 20 paise was charged for calls made from landline to landline or landline to mobile.

TRAI also has reduced network IUC on calls made from mobile phones by about 30 percent to 14 paise per call from 20 paise earlier.

The main aim to remove IUC is to boost fixed line phone connections in the country and lower tariffs of calls for the customers.

What are interconnection usage charges (IUC)?

• IUC are the charges that a landline or mobile service provider has to pay to the other service providers for transmitting its customers’ phone calls.
• Generally, an IUC gets added to the price of the call made by customer, which the customer has to pay. Because of addition IUC, call tariffs were high.

Impacts of IUC

• Due to high call tariffs, landline connections in the country had declined in past few years. While, the mobile subscriber base had increased since the mobile incoming calls were made free.
• At the end 2014, mobile subscriber base in the country had reached all-time high at 94.39 crore. While, the landline connections had declined to 2.7 crore subscriber.

Implications of removing IUC

• It will help to boost fixed line phone connections in the country and lower tariffs of calls for the customers.
• Thus in turn promote an investment and adoption of wireline networks which is much needed for the delivery of high-speed Internet in the country to remove digital divide.