1.
Fama,
Hansen & Schiller win Nobel Prize for Economics
i. Eugene F. Fama, Robert J. Shiller and Lars Peter Hansen
shared the 2013 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences for their research on how the market prices of assets such as
stocks move.
ii. The
three laureates, all Americans, “laid the foundation for the current understanding
of asset prices,” the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, which selects the
winner, said today in Stockholm.
iii. Their work spans almost 50 years of
research, beginning with Fama’s finding that it’s difficult to predict price
movements in the short run, a conclusion that contributed to the development of
stock-index funds.
iv. Later work by Shiller and Hansen
focused on longer-run price swings and the extent to which they could be
explained by such fundamental features as dividend payouts on stocks and the
risk appetite of investors.
v. “Fama’s research at the end of the
1960s and the beginning of the 1970s showed how incredibly difficult it is to
beat the market, and how incredibly difficult it is to predict how share prices
will develop in a day’s or a week’s time.
vi. Shiller, a Yale University professor,
demonstrated in the 1980s that it’s easier to predict prices over the long
term, after finding that stock prices fluctuate more than changes in a
company’s dividends would suggest.
2.
UN names envoy for Syria chemical weapons
i. The head of the United Nations named Sigrid Kaag
to lead the UN's joint mission with the chemical weapons watchdog tasked with
eliminating Syria's arsenal, diplomats said.
ii. The UN Security
Council, which is set to vote on Kaag's nomination Wednesday, has formally
approved a first joint mission with the Nobel Peace Prize-winning (OPCW) Organization for the Prohibition
of Chemical Weapons.
iii. The OPCW and the UN
have had a team of 60 experts and support staff in Syria since 1st October,
destroying Syria's production facilities while the country's civil war rages
on.
iv. Kaag is charged with overseeing the destruction of Syria's
chemical weapons stockpile by 30th June, in line with a resolution passed by
the Security Council last month.
v. The mission she is set to lead must include about a hundred
staff members and be based in Damascus, with a second base in Cyprus.
vi. Kaag, 52, speaks Dutch, English, French, German and Arabic.
Note: i. Kaag, a UN assistant secretary-general working at the UN
Development Program, has served since 2007 as the regional director for the
Middle East and North Africa with the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF)
in Amman.
ii. She joined the UN system in 1994 after a stint in the Dutch
Foreign Ministry. Since then, she has also worked as a senior UN adviser in
Sudan, with the International Organization for Migration and with the UN
refugee agency UNRWA in Jerusalem.
3. Muthoot Finance gets ‘Golden Peacock’ award
i. Gold
loan company Muthoot Finance Ltd has been bestowed with Golden Peacock Award
for ‘HR Excellence for 2013’ at a
function in London.
ii. Baroness Verma,
Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Energy and Climate, Government of
United Kingdom, presented the award to George M. Jacob, Director, Muthoot Group.
Note: Golden Peacock Award
recognises the continuing commitment by business to conduct itself ethically
and contribute to economic development, while improving the quality of life of
the workforce, their families as well as of the local community and society at
large.
4. ING Vysya ties up with IRCTC to offer online ticketing
services
i. ING Vysya Bank has
entered into a business tie-up with Indian Railways’ IRCTC to offer online
train ticketing services to its customers.
ii. This facility
enables ING Vysya Bank’s customers to book train tickets using ING Net Banking or ING debit cards.
Over 1 lakh tickets were booked during the first month of the launch, the bank
said in a statement.
iii. The South-based
private sector bank has been enrolled into a select category of financial
services firms offering these services with a high level of safety, security
and ease of transactions online.
iv. The bank has also
invested in advanced systems and technology for processing faster refunds and
cancellations.
v. “This tie-up is in
line with our ongoing focus to offer the best online experience to our retail
customers,” said Brett Morgan, Country Head – Branch Banking and Private Client
Group, ING Vysya Bank.
5. NHB partners with UK Government’s DFID for affordable
housing programme
i. National Housing Bank
(NHB) has joined hands with UK Government's Department for International
Development (DFID) to launch an affordable housing project that will operate in
eight low-income States.
ii. This is the first
time that NHB has come up with a project that caters to specified States, said
R.V. Verma, Chairman & Managing Director of NHB here today.
iii. The project will
operate in the eight States of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Uttar
Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand.
iv. DFID has committed
pound sterling 50 million (about Rs 500 crore) over 7 years (2013-19).
v. This is comprised of
two components: pound sterling 40 million (Rs 400 crore) as a concessional loan
to NHB to finance the construction of affordable housing units and loans to
low-income households.
vi. DFID will give pound
sterling 10 million (about Rs 100 crore) as technical assistance to strengthen
systems and policies in the sector, to fund innovative pilots and upgrading of
slum housing.
6. Birla Sun Life launches BSLI Savings Plan
i. Private sector
insurer Birla Sun Life Insurance (BSLI) today launched a participating
traditional plan, BSLI Savings Plan, with guaranteed additions for the first
five years of the policy term.
ii. “BSLI Savings Plan
is designed to cater to the changing needs across customer segments with the
flexibility it offers in choosing the policy term and the premium paying term
with guaranteed additions,” Birla Sun Life Managing Director and CEO, Jayant
Dua said in a release issued here.\
iii. The plan is a
savings-cum-insurance option that aims to provide secured growth to savings and
comprehensive financial protection from the risk of unfortunate death.
iv. There is an option
for premium payment term of 10, 15 or 20 years with the minimum age of entry at
18 years and the maximum at 50 years.
v. At inception, the
customer needs to choose the sum assured, the policy term and the premium
payment term.
vi. The minimum sum
assured for this plan is Rs 30,000.
Note: BSLI is a joint venture
between the Aditya Birla Group and Sun Life Financial Inc, a leading
international financial services organisation from Canada.
7. ONGC Videsh wins two
oil blocks in Myanmar
i. ONGC Videsh Ltd, the overseas arm
of state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corp, has won two onland oil blocks in
Myanmar, strengthening its presence in the south-east Asian nation.
ii. OVL, which has stakes in the A-1 and A-3 gas discovery
blocks and three other offshore acreages in Myanmar, was last week awarded two
oil and gas exploration blocks in that country's Onshore Blocks Second Bidding
Round - 2013.
iii. The firm got Blocks
B-2 (Zebyutaung-Nandaw) and EP-3 (Thegon-Shwegu), according to the list of
winners released by Myanmar's Energy Ministry.
iv. Other pre-qualified
Indian companies Cairn India, Oil India Ltd (OIL), Jubilant Offshore Drilling
and Prize Petroleum drew a blank.
v. Myanmar awarded 13
onshore blocks, with OVL, Italy's Eni, Pakistan's Petroleum Exploration (PVT)
and Canada's Pacific Hunt Energy Corp each winning contracts to operate two
blocks.
8. High prices of vegetables push retail inflation up to
9.84% in Sept
i. Retail inflation rose
marginally to 9.84 per cent in September, mainly due to a hike in food prices,
particularly of vegetables.
ii. Retail inflation
measured in terms of consumer price index (CPI) was at 9.52 per cent in August.
iii. Retail inflation for
rural and urban areas in September stood at 9.71 per cent and 9.93 per cent,
respectively. The same was 8.93 per cent and 10.32 per cent (revised figures)
in August.
iv. Inflation in the
food and beverages segment rose by 11.44 per cent in the month under review as
against 11.06 per cent in August.
v. For CPI inflation,
price data are collected from select towns by the National Sample Survey
Organisation (NSSO) and from select villages by the Department of Posts.
9. Mohan Dharia passes away
i. Former Union
minister, freedom fighter and environmentalist Mohan Dharia, who quit the
Indira Gandhi government against imposition of Emergency, died here today of chronic kidney failure. He was 89.
ii. He was admitted to
Poona Hospital on Saturday and underwent dialysis. However, his condition
deteriorated and he breathed his last at 7.55 am, doctors attending on him said.
iii. A socialist at
heart, Dharia was minister of state for planning, housing and urban development
in the Indira Gandhi government in 1971-75.
iv. A recipient of Padma
Vibhushan, the highest Padma award, in 2005, Dharia retired from active
politics in 1982 and formed “Vanrai”, an organisation dedicated to the cause of
conservation and social forestry.
v. Interestingly,even
though a bitter critic of Indira Gandhi, Dharia was conferred the prestigious
Indira Gandhi Award for National Integration in 2011, by Congress president
Sonia Gandhi.
10. Sanam Singh and Vijayant Malik won the ITF Doubles
Title 2013
i. The
Indian tennis pair Sanam Singh and Vijayant Malik on 12 October 2013 won the
doubles title in the 15000 US dollars ITF Men's Futures Tennis Tournament at
the Jake Hess Tennis Stadium in Houston, USA.
ii. In the final match,
they defeated fourth seeded pair of Evan King (USA) and Costin Paval (Romania)
in two sets 7-6 (5), 6-4.
11. Varun Arora won UN Award for 'Open Curriculum' Web
Platform
i. Varun
Arora, a young innovator from India on 10 October 2013 selected for United
Nations 10 Young Innovators Competition 2013.
ii. Varun Arora is among
10 people from around the world selected for a prestigious United Nations award
in recognition of their work as entrepreneurs and use of technology to change
the world.
iii. Varun Arora awarded
for his creation Open Curriculum, an
online platform for local educational material for standard, primary and
secondary schooling.
iv. The UN competition
is open to young social entrepreneurs between the ages of 18 and 26 and seeks
innovative digital solutions in the form of start-ups or initial concepts
meeting global developmental challenges.
12. Many People Killed and Several Injured near a Temple
in Madhya Pradesh
i. Approximately,
115 people were feared killed and over 100 injured in a stampede on 13 October
2013 near a temple at Ratangarh in Madhya Pradesh's Datia district.
ii. The stampede was
caused by rumours that a bridge they were crossing was about to collapse.
iii. The unfortunate
incident occurred when a large number of devotees arrived from Datia and
neighbouring Uttar Pradesh at the Durga temple at Ratangarh, about 60 kms from
the district headquarters.
iv. Nearly 200 people
have been injured in the mishap and they have been admitted in close by
hospitals.
