Current Affairs
Daily Updates: 04 and 05 January 2018
1. NABARD
sanctions Rs. 10,000 Crores loan for Odishas agriculture and rural
infrastructural development
- The National Bank for
Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) sanctioned financial assistance
of Rs 10,000 Crores to Odisha.
- Assistance has also been given
by the NABARD for the creation of rural infrastructures such as roads and
bridges, lift irrigation projects, rural piped drinking water project,
warehousing, and irrigation structures.
- Under Long-Term Refinance scheme
of the NABARD, banks in Odisha have availed credit support of Rs 624
Crores which have facilitated the creation of private sector farm assets.
- For infrastructure creation, the
bank extended financial support to the tune of Rs 2118 Crores.
2. GAIL Commissions India's Second-Largest Rooftop
Solar Plant in Uttar Pradesh
- State-owned gas utility GAIL
India Limited commissioned the country's second-largest rooftop solar power
plant in Uttar Pradesh.
- The firm has installed a 5.76
MWp (Mega Watt peak) solar plant at its petrochemical complex at Pata in
Uttar Pradesh.
- The plant over the roofs of
warehouses covers a total area of 65,000 square meters.
3. Six Countries to enter UN Security Council
- Equatorial Guinea, Ivory Coast,
Kuwait, Peru, Poland and the Netherlands formally joined the ranks of the
non-permanent members of the United Nations Security Council to make a
difference.
- The UN Security Council has 15
members, including five with permanent seats who have the power to veto
resolutions - Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States.
- The six countries who left the
UN Security Council recently are Egypt, Italy, Japan, Senegal, Ukraine and
Uruguay.
4. India and Myanmar Land Border Crossing
Agreement approved
- The Union Cabinet approved the
Agreement between India and Myanmar on Land Border Crossing.
- The Agreement will facilitate
regulation and harmonization of already existing free movement rights for
people of both countries.
- It will also facilitate movement
of people on the basis of valid passports and visas which will enhance
economic and social interaction between the two countries.
- The Agreement is an enabling
arrangement for movement of people across India-Myanmar border.
5. Central Government Contours of Electoral Bonds
Scheme
- The Centre unveiled the contours
of the ‘Electoral Bonds’ scheme, which seeks to ensure the flow of clean
money to political parties, without revealing the donors’ names.
- As per the Finance Minister Arun
Jaitley, the electoral bonds will be a bearer instrument in the nature of
a Promissory Note and an interest-free banking instrument.
- A citizen of India or a body incorporated
in India will be eligible to purchase the bond from specified branches of
the State Bank of India.
- The bonds can be purchased for
any value in multiples of Rs1,000; Rs10,000; Rs1 lakh; Rs10 lakh; and Rs1
crore.
- The bonds will not carry the
name of the payee and will be valid only for 15 days during which it can
be used to make a donation only to certain political parties.
6. Union Cabinet approves establishment of new
AIIMS at Bilaspur
- The Union Cabinet approved the
establishment of new All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) at
Bilaspur in Himachal Pradesh under Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana
(PMSSY).
- The new AIIMS will be completed
in a period of 48 months. It will consist of a hospital with a capacity of
750 beds and trauma center facilities.
- It will also have a Medical
college with an intake of 100 MBBS students per year.
- Under this scheme, AIIMS have
been established in Bhubaneshwar (Odisha), Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh), Raipur
(Chhattisgarh), Jodhpur (Rajasthan), Rishikesh and Patna (Bihar) while
work of AIIMS Rae Bareli (Uttar Pradesh) is in progress.
7. India and Israel signed MoU on Cooperation in
Oil and Gas Sector
- The Union Cabinet approved the
signing of MoU between India and Israel on cooperation in the Oil and Gas
Sector.
- The cooperation envisaged under
the agreement will facilitate promotion of investments in each other’s
countries, technology transfer, R&D, conducting joint studies,
capacity building of human resources and collaboration in the area of
Start-ups.
8. Rajinder Khanna appointed as Deputy National
Security Adviser
- Rajinder Khanna was appointed
the deputy National Security Adviser (NSA).
- He was the former chief of the
country’s external intelligence agency Research and Analysis Wing (RAW).
- He headed the RAW for a fixed
two-year period. Mr Khanna is at present officer on special duty
(Neighbourhood Studies) in the National Security Council Secretariat.
9. IICA, IPPB Sign MoU to Provide Training on
Payment Banking
- The Indian Institute of
Corporate Affairs (IICA) and India Post Payments Bank (IPPB) signed an
agreement for the training of employees of the latter in the area of
payment banking.
- Under the agreement, IICA has
been entrusted with the key responsibility of capacity building of IPPB
through training of its officials/employees besides providing research
support by instituting Research Chairs in the emerging area of payment
banking.
- The Andhra Pradesh Grameena
Vikas Bank (APGVB) operationalized its first desktop ATM in Telangana.
10. Andhra Pradesh Grameena Vikas Bank Introduces
Desktop ATMs in Rural India
- The mini-ATM within the branch
premises will facilitate customers to withdraw small amounts.
- At the same time, regular bank
account holders can withdraw money and do other banking activities. With
these ATMs, there will be no need for separate ATM rooms, so there is no
security issue.
- This initiative is the biggest
under the SBI and among the best regional rural banks (RRBs).
11. NABARD Sanctioned Rs 372.51 crore to Odisha
- The NABARD sanctioned Rs 372.51
crore loan assistance under the Rural Infrastructure Development Fund
(RIDF) to Odisha towards irrigation and rural bridge projects for the last
quarter of this fiscal.
- NABARD has also sanctioned 14
Rural Bridge Projects under Biju Setu Yojana with RIDF loan assistance of
Rs 242.34 crore.
12. Namami Gange Projects Worth Rs. 295 crore
Approved by NMCG
- National Mission for Clean Ganga
(NMCG) approved five projects worth Rs. 295.01 crore.
- Three projects pertain to sewage
management in West Bengal at an estimated cost of Rs 278.6 crore, one
relates to sewage management in Uttarakhand at an estimated cost of Rs
4.68 crore and one project worth Rs 11.73 crore is related to that
improvement works in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh.
13. Health Ministry and Tata Memorial Centre
Launches India's First Digital Online Oncology Tutorial
- Smt Preeti Sudan, Secretary
(Health and Family Welfare) launched the country’s first digital Online
Oncology Tutorial Series designed by the Tata Memorial Center in
collaboration with the Health Ministry.
- The oncology tutorial series
aims to train the doctors across the country to educate them in early
detection, prevention, palliation, rehabilitation and treatment of various
cancers.
14. CCEA approves extension of norms for mandatory
package in jute Materials
- The Cabinet Committee on
Economic Affairs (CCEA) approved an extension of mandatory packaging norms
of foodgrains and sugar in jute material for Jute Year 17 - 18.
- The mandatory extension was
approved under the Jute Packaging Material (JPM) Act, 1987. The approval
mandates that 90% of food grains and 20% of sugar.
15. World's Biggest Cleanliness Survey 'Swachh
Sarvekshan 2018' Launched
- The world's biggest cleanliness
survey 'Swachh Sarvekshan Survey 2018' was launched in India by PM
Narendra Modi.
- It will be conducted from the
4th of January to 10th of March. The survey will evaluate achievements in
cleanliness level of urban areas.
- The cleanliness survey was
launched in 2016 as part of the Swachh Bharat Mission.
- The main objective of Swachh
Survekshan is to encourage large-scale citizen participation and create
awareness towards making towns and cities a cleaner and better place to live
in.
16. India Excludes Pakistan from a SAARC
Initiative
- India excluded Pakistan from the
list of SAARC member countries with which it will be connecting its
state-of-the-art National Knowledge Network (NKN) for sharing scientific
databases and remote access to advanced research facilities.
- The government has kicked off
the process of appointing a telecom company that will connect and extend
the NKN to research and education networks in six South Asian Association
of Regional Cooperation member states — Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan,
Maldives, Nepal and Sri Lanka.
17. Defence Ministry clears Rs.2420 Crore worth
contracts for Navy, Army
- The Union Ministry of Defence
(MoD) approved procurement of P-8I Training Solution for Indian Navy and
Low-Intensity Conflict Electronic Warfare System (LICEWS) for Indian Army
at a total cost of Rs 2419.32 crore.
- These contract proposals were
earlier cleared by Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) and now final
approval has now been given by Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.
- This system will be procured
from Bharat Electronics Limited for Rs. 470 crore. It will equip Indian
Army with upgraded communications infrastructure.
18. Goa to Host 3rd Edition of Science Film
Festival
- Goa will be hosting the third
edition of the Science Film Festival of India in January 2018.
- The festival, titled SCI-FFI
Goa, is being organized by the state-based Vidnyan Parishad, Goa
Department of Science and Technology.
- The competition aims to boost
the culture of science films, all the films submitted should be related to
science and technology.
19. Meghalaya signs host city contract for 39th
National Games in 2022
- Meghalaya signed the Host City
Contract with the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) for hosting the 39th
National Games in 2022.
- The tripartite contract was
signed between the IOA, the Meghalaya State Olympic Association, and the
state government.
- Meghalaya had made the bid to
host the 39th National Games after successfully co-hosting the South Asian
Games in 2017.
20. BSF launches Operation Alert on JK
International Border to curb infiltration
- The Border Security Force (BSF)
immediately after destroying 2 Pakistani posts in retaliation to
unprovoked firing from Pakistani Rangers, launched "Operation
Alert" along the over 200 kilometers long International Border (IB)
in Jammu and Kashmir to curb the infiltration from across the border.
- The was followed by automatic
weapon fire. After getting intimation the neighboring mounts retaliated
back and a solid response was given by the BSF in which Pakistan has
suffered large human and property loss.
- The Indian forces crossed the
LoC and entered in Rakhchikri area of Poonch of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir
and fired heavily upon the Pakistani army posts and killed three troopers
of the neighboring country.
21. US lists Pakistan with ten other nations for
Religious Freedom Violations
- The United States of America
placed Pakistan along with ten other nations in the list of countries
designated as the worst offenders against religious liberty.
- However, Pakistan was placed on
a Special Watch List, which is a new category below that of Countries of
Particular Concern.
- He unveiled its list of
countries designated as the worst offenders against religious liberty that
includes Burma, China, Eritrea, Iran, North Korea, Sudan, Saudi Arabia,
Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan.
- These countries were labeled as
“Countries of Particular Concern” (CPC) in the State Department’s report
which has been remained unchanged.
