Current Affairs for IAS Exams

Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 02 January 2017

State Bank of India (SBI), the country’s largest lender, has reduced its marginal cost of funds based lending rate (MCLR) by a whopping 90 basis points.
Among the steepest interest rate cuts in a long time, the move is aimed at boosting loan growth, which has fallen to a multi-decade low.
MCLR is the benchmark rate to which all loans are linked. A percentage point equals 100 basis points (bps).
According to a statement issued by the SBI, its one-year MCLR would be 8 per cent as compared with 8.9 per cent earlier. Home and auto loans of most banks, including SBI, are linked to their respective one-year MCLRs.
The rate cut will be applicable to all fresh loans. The effective interest rate for new home loans is likely to be between 8.25 per cent and 8.5 per cent.
Existing loans linked to the MCLR will be impacted when they are re-priced. MCLR has been in effect from April 1 and had replaced the base rate.

The Centre will deposit Rs. 2,000 crore into the bank accounts of 36,000 Hindu refugees from Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK).
The compensation package for the Hindu refugees was announced by PM Modi last year, and it got the clearance from the Union Cabinet in December. These refugees migrated to Jammu and Kashmir in 1947, 1965 and 1971.
Currently, violent protests have erupted in the Valley against domicile certificates being issued by the State government to 19,000 west Pakistan refugees, who came to India after Partition, but are yet to be given any voting rights or financial package.
The west Pakistan refugees have been demanding a similar package, but the previous Omar Abdullah government had vehemently opposed the move.
However, packages for PoK refugees were cleared by the Union Cabinet on November 30 and the “resettlement fund” will be disbursed once the figures and data of refugees are compiled.
The Home Ministry has sought bank account details of all the families from the State government as it intends to transfer the money directly into their accounts instead of giving it to the State government.
This is for the first time that the Centre has allocated Rs. 2,000 crore for providing relief instead of setting up a State-Centre committee first to examine their demands.

Two Indians died in a New Year’s eve terror strike at a night club in Istanbul, Turkey, that claimed 39 lives. External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj made the announcement on Twitter.
The Rizvis are well-known businessmen in Mumbai with interests in real estate, education and entertainment. Turkish police launched a massive manhunt for the gunman who went on the rampage at the nightclub.
The assailant shot dead a policeman and a civilian at the club entrance and then turned his gun on partygoers.