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Current Affairs Updates - 9 February 2018

Current Affairs Updates - 9 February 2018

Current Affairs Updates - 9 February 2018

Once again Achieversrule presents to the readers the Daily Current Affairs Updates for 9 February 2018. Today's headlines are quite from Nationals, International and Banking. Please go through the bullet points for further details. We hope you are following us regularly and finding all articles very useful. Keep providing us with your valuable feedback. Also here's the link to the Daily Current Affairs Quiz and Static GK Note Down Points.

New Appointments: National
Rear Admiral Mukul Asthana was appointed as the Assistant Chief of Naval Staff.
  • He was commissioned in 1986 in the Executive Branch of the Indian Navy.

RBI in News
The Reserve Bank will link the base rate for loans given by banks to the MCLR starting April 1, 2018 i.e. from the new financial year.
  • With the introduction of the MCLR system, it was expected that the existing Base Rate linked loans and other credit exposures would also migrate to MCLR system. 
The Reserve Bank of India announced setting up ombudsman for addressing customer grievances in the non-banking finance companies.
  • The rules will be laid out by the end of this month. RBI will start with deposit taking NBFCs and widen the scope to cover NBFCs with asset size of Rs 100 crore. 

Committees in News
Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has constituted a 13-member advisory committee to monitor and expedite capital acquisition projects for the modernisation of the armed forces.
  • The defence ministry said in a statement that under the terms of reference of the committee, it has to undertake an independent review and check the status of ongoing critical projects worth more than Rs 500 crore.
The Union Ministry of Defence (MoD) has constituted 13-member Raksha Mantri Advisory Committee on Ministry of Defence Capital Projects (RMCOMP).It will be headed by former secretary Vinay Sheel Oberoi.
  • The committee will monitor and expedite capital acquisition projects for modernisation of armed forces and bolster armed forces preparedness.

Rankings & Indexes
Forbes has released its first ever list of richest people in cryptocurrency, which is topped by Ripple co-founder Chris Larsen, with an estimated crypto net worth of USD 7.5-8 billion.
  • According to Forbes, the average 2017 price change of Bitcoin, Ethereum and XRP, three of the most common cryptocurrencies, is a whopping 14,409 per cent.





National Affairs
Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu laid the foundation stone for Rhododendron Park in Tawang.
  • He also carried out plantation drive of different varieties of Rhodos. Tawang is home to 50+ different varieties of Rhodos.
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) has approved to enhance target base of Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY) from 5 crore to 8 crore.
  • The decision comes in the wake of huge response to PMUY from the women particularly in rural areas and to cover such households not having LPG connect.
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) has approved increase in Minimum Support Price (MSP) for Fair Average Quality (FAQ) of “Milling Copra" for 2018 season.
  • The approval was based on recommendations of Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP).
The Union Cabinet has approved proposal for ratification of Minamata Convention on Mercury and depositing instrument of ratification enabling India to become Party of Convention.
  • The approval entails ratification of convention along with flexibility for continued use of mercury-based products and processes involving mercury compound up to 2025.
The Union Cabinet has approved signing and ratification of protocol amending Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement (DTAA) between India and China.
  • The DTAA aims for avoidance of double taxation and prevention of fiscal evasion with respect to taxes on income and update the provisions on exchange of information of the DTAA to the latest international standards.
The Union Cabinet has approved second round of Discovered Small Field (DSF) auctions under Discovered Small Field Policy.
  • The auction will offer total of 60 discovered small fields/un-monetized discoveries with an estimated 194.65 Million Metric tonnes of oil.
Cabinet approves placing new recommendation adopted by International Labour Organization (ILO) concerning “The Employment and Decent Work for Peace and Resilience (Recommendation No-205) before Parliament.
  • The Recommendation No.-205 was adopted at 106th Session of International Labour Conference of ILO in Geneva in June, 2015.
The Union Budget for fiscal 2018-19 has proposed electrification of 881 km of rail network in West Bengal at a proposed cost of 771.54 Crore.
  • The project will be undertaken in seven zones of West Bengal, under the jurisdiction of Kolkata-based Eastern Railway, South Eastern Railway (SER) and Maligaon-based North Frontier Railway (NFR), he said.

International Affairs
Chile Creates 5 New Massive National Parks.
  • These efforts protect wild land, bring in tourists and related business, and promote sustainable local development.
Israel to give Air India 6 crore for Delhi-Tel Aviv flight
  • Air India will get a one-time grant of €750,000 (approximately 6 crore) from Israel for launching direct flights between New Delhi and Tel Aviv, a senior Israeli official said on Tuesday. The flight is expected to operate on the shortest route and significantly reduce the cost of travel between the two countries.

Defence & Railway News
The Hindustan Aeronautics Limited has developed the first flight of Hawk-i with indigenous Real Time Operating System (RTOS).
  • Hawk-i is the first indigenous RTOS developed in India from scratch and certified by Center for Military Airworthiness and Certification (CEMILAC), HAL Chairman T. Suvarna Raju said.
India today successfully test-fired its indigenously developed nuclear capable surface to surface Prithvi-II missile as part of a user trial by the Army from a test range in Odisha
  • The trial of the surface-to-surface missile, which has a strike range of 350 km, was carried out from a mobile launcher from launch complex-3 of the Integrated Test Range at Chandipur near Balasore at around 11.35 am, they said.

Application / Portal 
A chat based job search mobile app 'Empzilla', first ever of its kind in the country, is being launched that will do away with existing limitations of employers and job seekers making selection process quick and cost effective.
  • The mobile app gets conversation between employers and job seekers going in seconds and the latter can chat with the potential employer even within his office set up without letting his peers and seniors know the context of the conversation. 

Schemes / Programme
Union Cabinet approved implementation of Prime Minister's Research Fellows (PMRF) scheme at a total cost of 1,650 crore rupees for a period of seven years beginning 2018-19.
  • Under this scheme, the best students who have completed or are in the final year of B. Tech or Integrated M.Tech or M.Sc. in Science and Technology streams from IISc or IITs or NITs or IISERs or IIITs will be offered direct admission in the Ph.D. programme in the IITs or IISc.

Agreements/ MoUs Signed
Google and NCERT signed a pact to integrate a course on 'Digital Citizenship and Safety' in information and communication technology curriculum.
  • "Internet can be used be phenomenonly in helping us, it has a potential of damaging the social structure and damaging an individual. It is extremely important for us to understand how can we keep ourselves safe," Union School Education Secretary Anil Swarup said on the occasion.
The Union Cabinet approved signing of Memoranda of Understanding (MoU) for Secondment Programme between India and Australia.
  • The MoU will be signed between Department of Economic Affairs (DEA)-Indian Economic Service Cadre and The Treasury, Government of Australia for period of three months.

Summit /Conference / Events
The Fifth edition of South Asia Region Public Procurement Conference was held in New Delhi. Theme: Public Procurement and Service Delivery.
  • It was hosted by Public Procurement Division (PPD) of Ministry of Finance and All India Management Association (AIMA). 
  • It was held under auspices of South Asia Region Public Procurement Network (SARPPN), which is sponsored and facilitated by the World Bank, Asian Development Bank and Islamic Development Bank.
Howrah Bridge celebrates 75th anniversary.
  • On the night of February 3, 1943, the inauguration of the Howrah bridge took place without any fanfare when a lone tramcar rolled down from the Kolkata city end to the Howrah Railway station end .
TVS Motor, Intel tie up for green scooter.
  • TVS Motor Company Ltd., unveiled ‘futuristic’ scooter and motorcycles to transform future mobility using alternative fuel. It included electric scooter, ethanol-powered Apache motorbike and cruiser motorcycle.
Awards & Honours: Miscellaneous
  • Indian princess Sophia Alexandra Duleep Singh was honoured by the Royal Mail of the UK, which marked the centenary of the suffragette movement with eight special stamps. 
  • Suffragettes were members of women's organisations in the late-19th and early-20th centuries which advocated the extension of the 'franchise' or the right to vote in public elections, to women.

Other Sports & Award Related News
Making history: India’s Jhulan Goswami becomes first woman cricketer to take 200 wickets.
  • On Wednesday, India fast bowler Jhulan Goswami became the first woman cricketer to claim 200 wickets in one-day internationals. 
  • The 35-year-old achieved this feat when she bagged the wicket of South Africa opener Laura Wolvaardt during the second one-day game of the three-match series at Kimberley.
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