June 6 - Tidbits

National:

                                                     

1.Vice admiral Anil Chopra, the second senior most officer of the Indian Navy, took over as the flag officer commanding-in-chief of the Western Naval Command (WNC), at a ceremonial parade held at INS Shikra, Mumbai. He took over the charge a month and a half after the former Vice admiral Shekhar Sinha took voluntary retirement on April 21. 

Prior to his tenure in the east, Vice admiral Chopra was the director general Indian Coast Guard, taking charge a few days after the 26/11 Mumbai attacks in November 2008. Chopra had taken over as the chief of the Indian Coast Guard just few days after the November 26, 2008 Mumbai terror attacks. 

He had also commanded the Missile Corvette INS Kuthar, Destroyer INS Rajput and Aircraft Carrier INS Viraat.

2.The Reserve Bank of India on Thursday increased the cash reserve ratio (CRR) for non-scheduled urban co-operative banks (UCBs) by 100 basis points to 4%. One basis point is equal to onehundredth of a percentage. 

This increase will come into effect from July 12. The move will bring nonscheduled urban co-operative banks on par with scheduled primary urban co-operative banks. There are some 1,500 unscheduled urban cooperative banks in India. 

To bring the primary urban co-operative banks on par with commercial banks, the central bank reduced the statutory liquidity ratio (SLR) requirement for them by 50 basis points to 22.50%. 

3.Newly appointed minister of state for power, coal and new and renewable energy Piyush Goyal  on announced that his ministry would replicate Gujarat  government’s  ‘Jyotigram Yojna‘ in other states to provide 24x7 electricity to every household in the country. The ‘Jyotigram Yojna’ was started by Prime Minister Narendra Modi when he was chief minister of Gujarat.

4.Union Road Transport, Highways and Shipping minister Nitin Gadkari has been given additional charge of the ministries of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj, Drinking Water and Sanitation - the portfolios held by Gopinath Munde.

5.As part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's mission to clean up the Ganges, four ministries would work hand in hand to cleanse the polluted holy river and make it a hub of spiritual tourism.

Announcing this at a press conference on Friday after a meeting of the ministries, Minister of Water Resources Uma Bharti said a meeting comprising four ministers from Surface Transport, Shipping, Tourism and Water Resources was convened on Friday for the purpose.

6.Capital market regulator Sebi has widened its probe into suspected investment scams through mobile SMS and WhatsApp messages, wherein investors are lured into promise of huge returns after initial payments. 

The regulator had begun a preliminary probe after complaints that certain entities were offering trading tips through SMS and WhatsApp sent from five distinct mobile numbers, as also some websites. 

In these messages, the investors were being promised 200 per cent assured returns on deposit payments of Rs 25,000, along with promise for trading tips. The messages also promised monthly gains of Rs 25-50 lakh. 

International:

1.Europe to force Google, Facebook to abide by EU privacy rules

The agreement to force Internet companies such as Google and Facebook to abide by EU rules is a first step in a wider reform package to tighten privacy laws - an issue that gained prominence following revelations of  U.S. spying in Europe.

                                                    

2.India's Forex reserves fall $274 million  to $312.383 billion:

RBI holds reserves in foreign currencies and gold and foreign currency assets expressed in dollar terms include the effect of appreciation or depreciation of non-US currencies such as euro, pound and yen. 

Foreign currency assets fell $269.3 million to $285.292 billion, RBI said. 

India's foreign exchange reserves dipped for two consecutive weeks as the valuation of its euro and gold holdings shrunk on account of fall in euro and gold price. 

sources-EconomicTimes