Current Affairs Daily Updates: 27th July 2017
APPOINTMENTS / RESIGNATIONS
Subhash
Chandra Garg appointed as India’s Alternate Governor on the Board of Governors
of ADB
- Shri
Subhash Chandra Garg, Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs (DEA),
Ministry of Finance, Government of India appointed as India’s Alternate
Governor to the Board of Governors of the Asian Development Bank (ADB),
Manila, Philippine.
- He
replaces Former Secretary, DEA, Shri Shaktikanta Das.
BANKING AFFAIRS
Guidelines of Sovereign Gold Bonds Scheme revised
- The
Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi has given
approval for revision of guidelines of Sovereign Gold Bonds (SGB) Scheme
with a view to achieve its intended objectives.
- Two sets of changes have been
made in the scheme:
- Specific
changes have been made in the attributes of the scheme to make it more
attractive, mobilise finances as per the target and reduce the economic
strains caused by imports of gold and reduce the Current Account Deficit
(CAD).
- Flexibility
has been given to Ministry of Finance to design and introduce variants of
SGBs with different interest rates and risk protection / pay-offs that
would offer investment alternatives to different category of investors.
Ministry of Finance (the issuer) has been delegated this power to amend /
add to the features of the Scheme with approval of the Finance Minister
to reduce the time lag between finalizing the attributes of a particular
tranche and its notification.
SIDBI
starts merchant banking operations to help MSMEs tap market
- Small
Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) started full-fledged merchant
banking operations to benefit the expanding number of growth-oriented
micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), especially those with a
strong technology and innovation quotient.
- The
initiative is aimed at enhancing the access of MSMEs to the capital
markets, including the SME Trading Platform and Institutional Trading
Platform.
BUSINESS AND
ECONOMIC AFFAIRS
Axis Bank
acquires FreeCharge for Rs. 385 crore
- Axis
Bank announced the acquisition of Snapdeal-owned mobile payments provider
Freecharge in an all-cash deal worth Rs385 crore.
- It
will get over 50 million customers of Freecharge along with its niche and
patented technology and human resources.
- FreeCharge
started as a recharge deal coupons platform before turning into a
full-scale mobile wallet.
Union
Cabinet approves new wage code bill to ensure minimum wage across all sectors
- The
Union Cabinet approved the Labour Code on Wages Bill which will ensure a
minimum wage across all sectors by integrating existing labour related
laws.
- The
Labour Code on Wages Bill consolidates the Minimum Wages Act, 1948, the
Payment of Bonus Act, 1965, the Payment of Wages Act, 1936 and the Equal
Remuneration Act, 1976.
- It
also marks the first major initiative of Union Government in amalgamating
labour laws for improving the ease of doing business as well as ensuring
universal minimum wage to all.
- The
minimum wage will be applicable on all classes of workers, even workers
getting a monthly pay of higher than Rs 18,000 will be legally entitled to
a minimum wage.
Union Govt
plans to open over 100 new post offices by 2018
- The
Union government is planning to open 81 sub-post offices and 100 branch
post offices during the 2017-18 fiscal year under the “Rural Business
& Access to Postal Network” scheme. The same was notified to the
Parliament.
- The
Communications Minister, Manoj Sinha in a written reply in the Lok Sabha
said that under the scheme, the Department of Posts plans to open 66 new
branch post offices during the current fiscal year by creation of new post
offices in 32 worst affected Left Wing Extremism (LWE)-hit districts in
the country.
Microsoft
launches ‘Made for India’ Kaizala app
- Microsoft
India launched Kaizala app, a ‘made in India’ app.
- It is
powered by Azure Cloud platform.
- Kaizala
will help the organisations to communicate, collaborate and complete tasks
in an efficient way.
- Both
‘Kaizala and Kaizala Pro are integrated with Microsoft Office 365.
Kaizala’ is available in India as a free download on iOS and Android
phones.
- The
app users can simply get connected using their mobile phone numbers as
their primary unique ID.
DEATHS
Former
Karnataka CM Dharam Singh passes away
- N.
Dharam Singh, former Chief Minister of Karnataka, passed away following a
heart attack. He was 80. He was the 17th Chief Minister of the state.
- He
headed the Congress-Janata Dal (Secular) coalition government from May
2004 to February 2006.
- Dharam
Singh represented the Karnataka Legislative Assembly seven times without a
defeat and was a member of the Lok Sabha from Bidar constituency once
(2009).
NATIONAL
AFFAIRS
Uttarakhand
records second highest tiger count in India
- Chief
Minister of Uttarakhand Trivendra Singh Rawat confirmed that The count of
tigers in Uttarakhand shot up 242 with an increase of 63 big cats in the
year 2017.
- 11
cubs were also found in the two tiger reserves, the Corbett Tiger Reserve
and the Rajaji Tiger Reserve.
- According
to the latest statistics, at least 208 tigers have been identified in Jim
Corbett Tiger Reserve, up from last year's 163.
Madras High
Court makes Vande Mataram mandatory in Schools, Govt. and Private Offices
- The
Madras High Court ruled that Vande Mataram should be sung in all schools
and colleges across the state “at least once a week”, and in government
and private offices at least once a month.
- To
insist a sense of patriotism in each and every citizen of the state, the
national song ‘Vande Mataram’ shall be played and sung in all schools/
colleges/ universities and other educational institutions at least once a
week (preferably on Monday or Friday).
- Vande
Mataram is written by Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay.
Prime
Minister Narendra Modi inaugurates APJ Abdul Kalam’s memorial in Rameswaram
- Prime
Minister Shri Narendra Modi inaugurated the former President, Dr APJ Abdul
Kalam’s memorial at Pei Karumbu in Rameswaram, Tamil Nadu on the second
death anniversary of the former President.
- He
will flag off Kalam Sandesh Vahini, an exhibition bus which will travel
across the country and reach Rashtrapati Bhavan on 15th of October, which
marks the birth anniversary of the former President.
- It is
designed and built by the Defence Research and Development Organization.
GST Council
panel to select National Anti-profiteering Authority
- The
Goods and Service Tax (GST) formed a selection committee headed by the
Cabinet Secretary Pradeep Kumar Sinha to identify and recommend eligible
persons for appointment as the chairman and members of the National
Anti-profiteering Authority.
- The
Standing Committee is empowered to refer cases requiring detailed enquiry
to the Director General of Safeguards, Central Board of Excise and Customs
for consideration of the National Anti-profiteering Authority.
- The
National Anti-profiteering Authority is to be headed by a senior officer
of the level of a secretary to the government of India and is to have four
technical members from the Centre and/or the states, according to the
provisions of the law.
Union
Cabinet appraised JDI on Indo German-Centre for Sustainability
- The
Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi appraised
of the Joint Declaration of Intent (JDI) between Department of Science
& Technology (DST), India and the Federal Ministry of Education and
Research (BMBF), Germany on Indo German-Centre for Sustainability (IGCS).
- The
objective of the JDI on IGCS is to promote cooperation between German and
Indian scientists on fundamental and applied scientific research. It
includes areas such as policy support, teaching, training and dissemination
of information in the area of sustainable development and climate change
through inter-disciplinary/trans-disciplinary research.
- Under
this JDI, the required institutional framework will be developed to
provide fund support to the IGCS at IIT, Madras by Department of Science
and Technology (DST) and BMBF (Federal Ministry of Education and
Research), Germany.
SCIENCE AND
TECHNOLOGY / DEFENCE AFFAIRS
National
Aeronautics and Space Administration jets for first time will chase solar
Eclipse
- Scientists
from National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) for the first
time are planning to chase the shadow of the moon using two of NASA’s
WB-57F research jets during the upcoming total solar eclipse in the United
States.
- The
research jets (planes) will have twin telescopes mounted on the noses of
the planes to capture clearest images of Sun’s corona to date.
- The
corona of the sun is heated to millions of degrees, but the lower
atmospheric layers like the photosphere are only heated to a few thousand
degrees.
Scientists
discover glow in the dark shark in Pacific Ocean
- Scientists
have discovered new species of glow-in-the-dark shark living 1,000 feet
below the Pacific Ocean off the coast of the north-western Hawaiian Islands.
- It has
been named Etmopterus lailae and belongs to lantern shark family.
- Etmopterus
lailae is a strange head shape which is large and bulgy snout where its
nostrils and olfactory organs are located in Sea.
