Current Affairs Update - 21st September 2017

Current Affairs Update - 21st September 2017

Do You Know?

Official Slogan and Emblem of FIFA Women’s World Cup France 2019 launched. Slogan: "DareToShine".

• The Musee de l’Homme, located on Paris’ famous Place du Trocadero, hosted the launch of the Official Emblem and Slogan of the FIFA Women’s World Cup France 2019™ today. FIFA President Gianni Infantino and French Football Federation (FFF) and Local Organising Committee (LOC) President Noel le Graet were joined by the current French women’s national football squad at the official unveiling event.
• France is often considered as being synonymous with history and style, elements echoed in the emblem which features the competition trophy wrapped in historic marinière stripes, worn by French sailors in the past and the fashion conscious today. At the top of the trophy is a stylised football surrounded by eight decorative shards of light to symbolise the eighth edition of the FIFA Women’s World Cup.

Three Indian entrepreneurial legends, Ratan Tata, Lakshmi Mittal and Vinod Khosla have been included in Forbes’s special list of the world’s ‘100 Greatest Living Business Minds ’.

• As part of Forbes’s 100th anniversary celebrations, the magazine unveiled on Tuesday its special centennial issue, which highlights essays, lessons and ideas for the next 100 years from the world’s greatest living thinkers from the world of business.
• In developing the list, Forbes sought people who have either created something with a lasting impact on the world or innovated in a way that transcends their given field. 

New Appointments: National

Advani renominated as chairman of Lok Sabha Ethics Committee

• Veteran BJP leader L K Advani has been renominated as chairman of the Lok Sabha Ethics Committee by Speaker Sumitra Mahajan.
• Besides Advani, all other 14 members have also been given another term. The Ethics Committee examines every complaint relating to unethical conduct of a member referred to it.
• It is also free to take up suo motu investigation into matters relating to ethics, including matters relating to unethical conduct by a member wherever felt necessary and make such recommendations as it may deem fit.

Banking/Economic Affairs

Cheque books, IFSC codes of 6 subsidiary banks invalid from Sept 30: SBI

• The State Bank of India on Thursday notified its customers that cheque books and India Financial System (IFS) code of six of its subsidiary banks would be invalid from September 30 and asked them to submit new applications.
• These banks are — Bank of Patiala, State Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur, State Bank of Raipur, State Bank of Travancore, State Bank of Hyderabad and Bhartiya Mahila Bank. 
• Earlier in April, these banks had merged with SBI, which put SBI among the top 50 banks in the world, reported Money Control.

India has replaced China as the numero uno retail destination in 2017 as part of the global retail development index, according to industry experts. 

• "India has replaced China this year as the top retail destination as part of the study on global retail development index," AT Kearney partner Subhendu Roy said on the concluding day of the two-day India Retail Forum 2017. 
• The change in ranking was an outcome of four factors including increased consumer spending, beyond essentials, rising mobile and internet penetration, favourable foreign investment climate and bold action on cashless transaction and GST, Roy explained. 

National Affairs

Rs 100 coin released by Venkaiah Naidu to commemorate birth centenary of MS Subbulakshami.

• Vice President Venkaiah Naidu on Tuesday unveiled commemorative coins of Rs 100 and Rs 10 coins on the birth centenary of noted musician M S Subbulakshmi, PTI reported. Earlier, it was reported that Finance Ministry has issued a notification about the introduction of Rs 100 coin. 
• However, the report by ANI had said that Rs 100 coin will be introduced to commemorate the birth centenary of Dr MG Ramachandran. Naidu released special commemorative coins of Rs 100 and Rs 10 denominations at an exhibition held to mark Subbulakshmi’s legacy, PTI reported.

Cabinet approves merger of 17 govt presses into 5 units

• The Cabinet approved the merger and modernisation of 17 Government of India Presses (GIPs) into five GIPs. These five will be at Rashtrapati Bhavan, Minto Road and Mayapuri in New Delhi, Nashik in Maharashtra and Temple Street in Kolkata.
• An official statement said that 468 acres of land of other merged presses will be given to the Land and Development office, Ministry of Urban Development. The modernisation will enable these presses to undertake confidential, urgent and multi-colour printing work of the Central Government offices all over the country.

The government put out ‘The Fugitive Economic Offenders Bill, 2017’ in the public domain, seeking feedback and suggestions. The bill aims to help confiscate assets of high-value economic offenders absconding from India till they submit to the jurisdiction of the appropriate legal forum. 

• As per the draft law, a ‘fugitive economic offender’ means any individual against whom a warrant for arrest in relation to an economic offence has been issued and the person has left the country and refuses to return to India to face criminal prosecution. The provisions of the proposed bill will override other legislations dealing with economic offences. 

India ranked third among the countries that have faced the most natural disasters in the last half century, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said.

• In his first speech to the annual high-level meeting of the General Assembly, he said, "It is high time to get off the path of suicidal emissions. We know enough today to act."
• "I urge governments to implement the historic Paris Agreement with ever greater ambition," he said. United States President Donald Trump has declared that his country is pulling out of the Paris agreement on combating climate change.
• Pointedly, Guterres said, "The United States, followed by China, India, the Philippines and Indonesia, have experienced the most disasters since 1995 - more than 1,600, or once every five days."

Tripura becomes the first state to set up family welfare committees to monitor complaints of women against their husbands and in-laws.

• Tripura has become the first state in the country to set up family welfare district committees to examine the complaints of women against their husbands and in-laws and find an amicable solution, Chief Justice T Vaiphei has said.
• "The committees would examine the complaints of any woman against her husband, in-laws and relatives of the husband and try to find an amicable solution through negotiation," he said.
• Vaiphei said that Tripura High Court is the first high court among 24 high courts of the country that has constituted the family welfare district committees.

International Affairs

WHO grants $175,000 for Rohingyas' healthcare in Cox's Bazar.

• The WHO has released its first tranche of emergency funding of $175,000 to provide lifesaving healthcare to the "vulnerable population" in Bangladesh's Cox's Bazar, a statement said on Tuesday.
• Though the World Health Organisation (WHO) did not specifically mention the Rohingya refugees, over 410,000 of them have arrived in Cox's Bazar since August 25 after escaping Myanmar's military crackdown.
• "Vulnerable populations require access to health services, including emergency and basic health care. Access for women to reproductive health services is especially important. The Ministry of Health's mobile medical teams will help deliver those services amid a highly challenging situation," said Poonam Khetrapal Singh, Regional Director for WHO South-East Asia.

Saudi Arabia To Unblock Internet Calling Applications "Snapchat"

• Saudi Arabia will lift its ban on internet calling applications on Wednesday, authorities said, easing restrictions online as the conservative kingdom faces new criticism over censorship.
• Voice and video calling apps such as WhatsApp and Skype will be "widely available to users", a government statement said Tuesday, in a move aimed at improving business confidence as the kingdom transitions into a post-oil era.
• "Access to VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) will reduce operational costs and spur digital entrepreneurship," the statement said, citing a directive from the communications and technology ministry.

Defence & Railway

India to conduct the First 'BIMSTEC Disaster Management Exercise- 2017' from October 10-13

• The First 'BIMSTEC Disaster Management Exercise- 2017' (BIMSTEC DMEx-2017) will be conducted by the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) as the lead agency from October 10-13, 2017 in Delhi and the National Capital Region (NCR). This Exercise will be a platform for sharing Best Practices on all aspects of Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR), strengthening regional response and coordination for Disaster Management among the BIMSTEC member countries.

Application / Portal 

DoPT to launch mobile app for retiring central govt employees.

• A mobile application will be launched on Wednesday for central government employees who are about to retire to help them monitor the progress of their pension settlement cases.
• Retired employees will also be able to assess their superannuation funds and record complaints, if any, through the pension calculator, an official release issued by the Personnel, Public grievances and Pensions Ministry said on Tuesday.
• The ministry already has a pensioners’ portal for this purpose. The mobile app will be extending to the mobile handset all services meant for the pensioner which are currently available on the portal of the Department of Pension and Pensioners’ Welfare, it said.

Schemes / Programme

First ever National Conference on “Mission Mode to address Under-Nutrition” to be held in New Delhi

• The Ministry of Women and Child Development will hold the first ever National Conference in New Delhi tomorrow on Mission Mode to address Under-Nutrition in the country. In his curtain raiser briefing in New Delhi today, the Secretary WCD, Shri Rakesh Srivastava said that this conference is being organized by the Ministry of Women & Child Development in collaboration with Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation and Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, keeping in mind the goal of “Malnutrition Free India-2022”.

Agreements (MoU)

Tata Steel, Thyssenkrupp sign MoU for European Steel JV 

• Tata SteelBSE 0.23 % on Wednesday ended its nearly decade-long effort to stabilise its European steel business on its own by striking a deal to merge operations with German giant ThyssenKrupp whose European steel business is in a similar spot of bother. 
• Tata, whose efforts to become a global steel player with the acquisition of Anglo-Dutch steel giant Corus in 2007 did not exactly play out as planned, has been struggling to deal with the problem of losses in its European steel operations for some years now. ThyssenKrupp, which has also suffered from headwinds buffeting the European steel industry, will now partner with Tata in a new company which will be the second-largest steelmaker in Europe. 

Awards & Honours

Nigeria's Boko Haram crisis: Zannah Mustapha wins UN award

• A teacher who takes in orphans of both Islamist fighters and Nigerian army soldiers has won this year's UNHCR Nansen Refugee Award.
• "They are the best of friends," Zannah Mustapha says of his pupils. "This should be a template for world peace."
• Mr Mustapha is the founder of one of the few remaining primary schools in Nigeria's troubled city of Maiduguri.

Sports: Awards & Honours

BCCI nominates MS Dhoni for Padma Bhushan award, he will become the 11th Indian cricketer to get the third highest civilian honour.

• The Indian cricket board has nominated Mahendra Singh Dhoni for the country's third highest civilian award -- the Padma Bhushan -- for his contribution to the game.
• A senior BCCI official confirmed that the Board has only sent one name for the Padma awards this year and it was a unanimous decision to nominate India's most successful captain.

Miscellaneous

Puducherry to ban plastic of less than 51 microns during monsoon in the Union Territory, the Welfare and Environment Minister M Kandasamy announced.

• The Puducherry government on Wednesday decided to ban manufacture and use of plastic packaging materials of less than 51 microns as these were found to be injurious to health and a source of menace during monsoon in the Union Territory.
• Announcing this, Welfare and Environment Minister M Kandasamy told reporters at the end of a joint meeting with officials of departments concerned with solid waste management that the ban would come into force in the next six months.