Most important WAT Topics of 2016-17 for MBA Admissions

The topic is provided to a group of students and all the students express their views in written format, unlike voicing their opinion in the earlier GD rounds. The practice of adopting WAT round gives equal opportunity to all the aspirants for expressing their opinion in a time constraint of 30 minutes.

In this article we have compiled a list of most important 35 topics that you must brush up for your WAT preparation. These topics have been categorized under 5 heads: National, International, Sports, Banking and Technology and Economy.

Most important WAT Topics of 2016-17 for MBA Admissions

National

1. Cauvery Water Dispute: sharing of waters of the Cauvery river has been the source of a serious conflict between the two states of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. The genesis of this conflict rests in two agreements in 1892 and 1924 between the erstwhile Madras Presidency and Princely State of Mysore. The 802 kilometres (498 mi) Cauvery river has 44,000 km2 basin area in Tamil Nadu and 32,000 km2 basin area in Karnataka
2. Jayalalitha Demise: Jayalalithaa Jayaram was an Indian actor turned politician who served five terms as the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, for over fourteen years between 1991 and 2016
3. Vardah Cyclone: Vardah was the most intense tropical cyclone over the North Indian Ocean in 2016, which struck Andaman and Nicobar Islands as well as South India
4. Uniform Civil Code: Uniform civil code is the proposal to replace the personal laws based on the scriptures and customs of each major religious community in India with a common set governing every citizen. Article 44 of the Directive Principles sets its implementation as duty of the State.
5. Indus Water Treaty: The Indus Waters Treaty is a water-distribution treaty between India and Pakistan, brokered by the World Bank (then the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development).[1][2] The treaty was signed in Karachi on September 19, 1960 by Prime Minister of India Jawaharlal Nehru and President of Pakistan Ayub Khan
6. Surrogacy Bill: The Surrogacy (Regulation) Bill, 2016 proposes to regulate surrogacy in India by permitting it as an option for couples who cannot naturally have children, have a lack of other assisted reproductive technology options, are keen to have a biological child, and can find a surrogate mother among their relatives. Indian infertile couples between the ages of 23-50 years (woman) and 26-55 (man) who have been married for five years and who do not have a surviving child will be eligible for surrogacy.
7. ISRO launched 104 satellites: The PSLV-C37, in its 39th flight (PSLV-C37), launched the 714kg Cartosat-2 series satellite for earth observation along with 103 co-passenger satellites, together weighing about 664kg at lift-off. It was launched into a 505km polar Sun Synchronous Orbit (SSO)

International

1. BREXIT: The United Kingdom's prospective withdrawal from the European Union is widely known as Brexit, a portmanteau of "Britain" and "exit". Following a referendum held on 23 June 2016, in which 52% of votes cast were in favour of leaving the EU, the UK government intends to invoke Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union (the formal procedure for withdrawing) by the end of March 2017.

BREXIT: A take on Britain in EU

1. US Presidential Elections: Donald Trump won the United States presidential election against the strong contender Hillary Clinton.

How does USA choose its President

1. Noble Prize Winners: Alfred Noble Prize is an award presented by the American Society of Civil Engineers and funded by combined engineering societies of the United States. It is awarded annually to a person not over thirty-five for a technical paper of exceptional merit.
2. Paris Climate Change Convention: The Paris Agreement (French: Accord de Paris) is an agreement within the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) dealing with greenhouse gases emissions mitigation, adaptation and finance starting in the year 2020. The language of the agreement was negotiated by representatives of 195 countries at the 21st Conference of the Parties of the UNFCCC in Paris and adopted by consensus on 12 December 2015.
3. BRICS Summit: 2016 BRICS summit was the eighth annual BRICS summit, an international relations conference attended by the heads of country or heads of government of the five member countries Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.
4. South China Sea Dispute: The South China Sea disputes involve both island and maritime claims among several sovereign states within the region, namely the Nation of Brunei, the People's Republic of China (PRC), the Republic of China (Taiwan) (ROC), Malaysia, Indonesia, the Republic of the Philippines, and the Socialist Republic of Vietnam
5. Zika Virus and its aftermath: Zika virus disease is caused by a virus transmitted primarily by Aedes mosquitoes. In October 2015 Brazil reported an association between Zika virus infection and microcephaly.
6. Panama Papers: The Panama Papers are 11.5 million leaked documents that detail financial and attorney–client information for more than 214,488 offshore entities.  
7. Juno Reaches Jupiter: Juno is a NASA space probe orbiting the planet Jupiter. Juno arrived at Jupiter on 4 July 2016.

Business/Technology

1. Tata Sons and Cyrus Mistry: Tata Sons removed former chairman Cyrus Mistry as director of the company. The meeting took place at the Bombay House, the headquarters of the $103-billion group.
2. Reliance Jio: Jio is a 4G service that helps to make calls via VoLTE network. This means calls are made using data connection. India’s total 4G user number is believed to touch the mark of 143 million by this year end. So within 3 months of its official launch, Jio would have acquired more than 50% of the market share.

Reliance Jio Amazing Facts

1. Yahoo Verizon Merger: Verizon Communications Inc. agreed to buy Yahoo Inc.’s web assets for $4.83 billion, ending the company’s two-decade run as an independent business
2. Microsoft Linkedin Merger: Microsoft Corp. closed its roughly $26 billion deal to buy professional-networking site LinkedIn, cementing the largest acquisition in the tech giant’s history.

Top 10 Mergers and Acquisitions of 2016

1. Start Up India Initiative: The Prime Minister of India, Shri Narendra Modi had this year in his Independence Day speech announced the “Start-up India” initiative. This initiative aims at fostering entrepreneurship and promoting innovation by creating an ecosystem that is conducive for growth of Start-ups
2. Digital Unlocked: Google India has created two tools  My Business and Digital Unlocked for the small and medium businesses in India that would help to create an online presence, besides a digital training programme

 Economy

1. Pradhan Mantri Yojnas: PM Modi has launched various schemes for the welfare of the nation. All the schemes target various sectors such as housing, banking, agriculture (farmers) and aim to promote the growth and welfare of the nation.
2. Union Budget 2017: Finance Minister Arun Jaitley presented annual budget on FEBRUARY 01, 2017 that broadly focused on 10 themes — the farming sector, the rural population, the youth, the poor and underprivileged health care, infrastructure, the financial sector for stronger institutions, speedy accountability, public services, prudent fiscal management and tax administration for the honest.

Budget (FY 2017-18) Highlights for MBA Aspirants

1. Railways Budget merged with Annual Budget: After 92 years, in 2017, Railway budget was merged into Union budget. During the British reign, having a separate Railway budget made sense because a larger part of the country’s GDP depended on railway revenue. 
2. MPC Policy: Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) is a committee of Reserve Bank of India, headed by its Governor. It was set up by amending the RBI Act.
3. New RBI Governor: Urjit Patel was appointed the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor. Earlier, Mr. Patel served as Deputy Governor of the central bank for more than three years.
4. Demonitisation: On 8 November 2016, the Government of India announced the demonetisation of all INR 500 and INR 1,000 banknotes of the Mahatma Gandhi Series.

Bright side of abolishing 500 and 1000 notes

1. GST Bill: Goods and Services Tax (GST) is a proposed system of indirect taxation in India merging most of the existing taxes into single system of taxation. It was introduced as The Constitution (One Hundred and First Amendment) Act 2016. The chairman of GST Council is union finance minister which is currently Arun Jaitley

GST Bill: All you need to Know

1. SBI and Subsidiary Banks Merger: The cabinet has approved the proposed merger of State Bank of India (SBI) and five subsidiaries— State Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur (SBBJ), State Bank of Hyderabad (SBH), State Bank of Mysore (SBM), State Bank of Patiala (SBP) and State Bank of Travancore (SBT).

Sports

1. Rio Olympics: The 2016 Summer Olympics commonly known as Rio 2016, was a major international multi-sport event held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 5 August to 21 August 2016
2. Paralympics: The 2016 Summer Paralympics, the fifteenth Summer Paralympic Games, were a major international multi-sport event for athletes with disabilities governed by the International Paralympic Committee, held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 7 September to 18 September 2016
3. IPL 2016: The 2016 season of the Indian Premier League, also known as IPL 9, began on 9 April 2016, and concluded on 29 May 2016 with the playing of the finals match between Royal Challengers Bangalore and Sunrisers Hyderabad at M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore
4. Wimbledon 2016: Wimbledon was a Grand Slam tennis tournament which took place at All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in Wimbledon, London, United Kingdom.
5. UEFA Euro 2016: The UEFA Euro 2016 Final was a football match that took place on 10 July 2016 at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis, France, to determine the winners of UEFA Euro 2016

 

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