Current Affairs Updates - 12th October 2017

Current Affairs Updates - 12th October 2017

Do You Know?

General Insurance Corporation of India (GIC Re) launches India's third largest IPO 

• State-run reinsurer General Insurance Corporation of India (GIC Re) launched its Initial Public Offering (IPO) on Wednesday, selling shares at 855-912 apiece to raise 11,370 crore in the three-day offer. The IPO would be India's third largest ever, after Coal India's 15,200 crore and Reliance Power's 11,700 crore issues. Till mid-day trade, the IPO was already subscribed 71%.

Important Days

International Day of the Girl Child on 11th october

• International Day of the Girl Child will be observed today (Wednesday) throughout the world. Annually October 11 is the International Day of the Girl Child declared by the United Nations. It was first observed in October 2012.

New Appointments: National

Anupam Kher replaces Gajendra Chauhan as FTII Chairman

• Anupam Kher has been appointed the new Chairman of the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), succeeding television actor Gajendra Chauhan. The appointment of Gajendra in 2015 had led to protests by students, resulting in a 139-day long strike. Gajendra served as the FTII Chairman for one year and seven months out of the total tenure of three years.

New Appointments: International

Nisha Desai Biswal made USIBC President

• Nisha Desai Biswal, former U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia, has been appointed president of the U.S.-India Business Council (USIBC), a forum of U.S. businesses under the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

V M Kwatra appointed Ambassador to Principality of Monaco

• Vinay Mohan Kwatra (IFS:1988), has been concurrently accredited as the next Ambassador of India to the Principality of Monaco, with residence in Paris. Currently, he serves as Ambassador of India to France.

Banking/Economic Affairs

Standard Chartered opens global business centre in Bengaluru

• Standard Chartered Bank on Tuesday opened its global business services centre in Bengaluru to deliver support, client due diligence and advisory services for corporate and institutional banking customers using the latest technologies in data, robotics and software development.

Note ban, GST caused setback to Indian economy: World Bank

• Disruptions from demonetisation and events surrounding the implementation of GST led to a setback in India's economic momentum, said a World Bank report. It added that the growth is expected to slowdown from 8.6% in 2015 to 7% in 2017. According to the bank, GST is expected to disrupt economic activity in early 2018 but has the momentum to pick-up.

Cash disruption affected India's economic growth: World Bank

• World Bank in its report has stated that disruptions from the withdrawal of banknotes and uncertainties around the GST affected India's economic momentum. The report, however, mentioned growth could be accelerated to 7.3% by 2018 from 7% in 2017 through sound policies around balancing public spending with private investment. It also projected growth to increase gradually to 7.4% by 2020.

IMF lowers India's growth forecast to 6.7% over demonetisation, GST

• The International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Tuesday lowered India's growth projection to 6.7% in 2017, 0.5 percentage points less than its previous two forecasts in April and July. The cut has been attributed to demonetisation and GST rollout. However, it said the structural reforms undertaken by the government are expected to help push growth above 8% in the medium term.

Nabard buys 7% more in Sidbi from IDBI Bank for Rs900 crore

• The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Nabard) has bought an additional 7% stake in Small Industries Development Bank of India (Sidbi) for Rs900 crore from troubled public sector lender IDBI Bank Ltd, according to two people familiar with the matter, including Sidbi chairman Mohammad Mustafa.
• This is the largest investment made by the apex rural financial institution so far, and raises its total shareholding in Sidbi to 10%.

Rankings

Rajasthan becomes 1st state to incorporate skill development programme in higher education

• Rajasthan has become the first state to incorporate skill development programme in the higher education. The state’s Department of College Education in collaboration with IGNOU has prepared 16 courses for entrepreneurship and skill development for colleges in the state.

National Affairs

Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh cut VAT on petrol and diesel

• After Gujarat and Maharashtra, two other states cut down Value Added Tax (VAT) on petrol and diesel. Himachal Pradesh lowered the VAT by 1% on petrol and diesel in the state, and Uttarakhand slashed the VAT and cess on petroleum products by 2% each. The rate cuts were put into effect after Centre eased excise duty on petrol and diesel.

Delhi govt to give 2000 reward for helping accident victims

• The Delhi government will start giving a reward of 2,000 to people taking accident victims to hospitals from October-end, Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain said on Monday. The people will be rewarded under the Good Samaritan Policy that was approved earlier this year to encourage people to help road accident victims in emergency situations.

PM Narendra Modi’s Economic Advisory Council to hold first meeting today 

• The recently constituted Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister (EAC-PM) will hold its first meeting on Wednesday to deliberate upon and lay out a roadmap to give a leg up to the Indian economy in the short term after GDP growth for the first quarter fell to a three-year low of 5.7%. 

NIA gets new headquarters in New Delhi

• India’s federal anti-terrorism probe agency, the National Investigation Agency, set up in 2009 in the aftermath of 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, has a new headquarters in New Delhi.
• Union home minister Rajnath Singh inaugurated the new office at CGO complex amid Vedic chants on Tuesday.

ICICI Bank commits Rs 10 crore for welfare of armed forces

• Country's largest private sector lender ICICI Bank today committed a financial assistance of Rs 10 crore to the Indian Armed Forces.
• The fund will be utilised towards welfare activities and betterment of the families of ex-servicemen who have lost their lives guarding the nation, ICICI Bank Managing Director and CEO Chanda Kochhar said in a statement.
• The contribution would be made in two equal tranches by the bank as part of its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiative. A cheque worth Rs 5 crore was handed over to Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman here today as part of the initiative.

International Affairs

Japan launches fourth satellite for high-precision GPS named Michibiki-4

• Japan on Tuesday launched a fourth satellite for a new high-precision global positioning system (GPS) it hopes will encourage new businesses and help spur economic growth.
• The fourth Michibiki satellite lifted off from Japan's southern Tanegashima space port aboard an H-2A rocket taking just over 28 minutes to reach orbit, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency said.

Application / Portal 

Maha CM launches MahaLabharthi web portal with information on govt schemes

• Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis on Tuesday launched MahaLabharthi web portal to spread awareness about various government schemes among people. The portal will provide information on schemes that people are eligible for on the basis of details provided by them during registration. The portal has been developed by Maharashtra Knowledge Corporation Ltd and provides details of 229 schemes currently.

Schemes / Programme

HP Govt. implements senior citizen health insurance scheme

• With a view to provide easy access to curative geriatric health care services by way of additional insurance cover, the state government has implemented the Senior Citizen Health Insurance Scheme (SCHIS) in the state.
• The scheme will provide top up coverage of Rs. 30,000 per senior citizen to all existing Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojna smart card holders in addition to basic coverage of Rs.30,000 in Trust/Society mode.  The coverage will be provided through State Nodal Agency HP Swasthya Bima Yojna Society till the start of National Health Protection Scheme and through Insurance Company after starting of National Health Protection Scheme.

Agreements (MoU)

Andhra Pradesh Govt signs MoU with Visa and Thomson Reuters

• Andhra Pradesh has today signed two Memoranda of Understanding (MoU) with fintech multinationals Visa and Thomson Reuters at Mumbai. 
• The milestone represents another step by the state government designed to catapult Fintech Valley Vizag as the national and global hub for financial technologies (fintech) innovation.

Germany to help Indian Railways to increase speed of trains on existing corridors 

• German Railways will assist Indian Railways to make country's existing rail corridors semi high speed. The semi high speed trains will run at 200 km per hour. 
• A joint declaration of Intent was signed between Ministry of Railways and Germany on Tuesday in Rail Bhavan regarding carrying out of feasibility study on existing 643 kn Chennai-Kazipet corridor of Indian Railways by German Railways for increasing the speed of passenger trains to 200 kmph on 50.50 percent cost sharing basis. 

Summit /Conference / Events / Host

Vice President inaugurates the third International Conference on Yoga: Theme of this years conference is "Yoga for Wellness"

• Vice President, Shri M. Venkaiah Naidu will inaugurate the two-day International Conference on Yoga for Wellness tomorrow at Pravasi Bharatiya Kendra, Chanakyapuri, New Delhi. The Minister of State (Independent Charge) for AYUSH, Shri Shripad Yesso Naik will preside over the inaugural function.

Awards & Honours

President of India Presents 18th Lal Bahadur Shastri National Award for Excellence in Public Administration, Academics & Management-2017 to Dr. Bindeshwar Pathak at Rashtrapati Bhavan

• The President of India, Shri Ram Nath Kovind, presented the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Award for Excellence in Public Administration, Academics and Management for the year 2017 to Dr. Bindeshwar Pathak at Rashtrapati Bhavan today (October 10, 2017). 

Sports: Awards & Honours

India hockey team thrash Japan 5-1 in Asia Cup opener

• The Indian hockey team thrashed Japan 5-1 in their opening match of the Asia Cup 2017. SV Sunil opened the scoring in the third minute, a minute ahead of Japan's solitary goal of the match. Lalit Upadhyay, Ramandeep Singh scored a goal apiece, while Harmanpreet Singh scored a brace. India will next face Bangladesh in the tournament.