Current Affairs Updates - 22 December 2017

Current Affairs Updates - 22 December 2017

Banking/Economic Affairs

Regulator Sebi raised the FPI investment limit in central government securities to Rs 1,87,700 crore to boost inflow of foreign funds into Indian capital markets 

• Earlier, the limit for foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) was about Rs 1.85 lakh crore. 
• The move is part of Sebi's effort to enhance inflow from overseas investors in the country's capital markets. 

RBI puts Bank of India under prompt corrective action(PCA).

• The Bank of India (BoI), in a stock exchange notice, said the RBI had placed it under the PCA framework, following an on-site inspection under the Risk Based Supervision Model carried out for year ended March 2017, and the report issued thereof.

Rankings

UK 'best country for business' in 2018 - Forbes annual rankings

• An annual ranking has declared the UK to be the best country for business next year, despite uncertainty over Brexit.
• As business groups clamour for clarity on future trading arrangements and warn of financial services firms enacting contingency plans to maintain EU access, Forbes said the country had risen in its rankings from fifth last year to first.

According to the latest report by JLL India, a real estate services firm, Delhi ranked 7th because it has emerged as one of the most expensive premium office locations in the world.

• Also, at 16th place Mumbai is another Indian city in the list whose rentals are higher than Los Angeles, Singapore, Paris and Sydney.
• The top spot is again taken by Hong Kong and there is huge margin between the rent rates between Hong Kong and London (West), which is second in the list. New York, Beijing, Tokyo are on the third, fourth and fifth position respectively.

National Affairs

Odisha Environment Congress 2017 kicked off with an aim to foster ‘Sustainable River Basin Management’ at Regional Museum of Natural History in Odisha. 

• Inaugurating the event, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik said, “I am delighted to be here to inaugurate the Odisha environment Congress 2017 that is poised to deliberate on Sustainable River Basin Management. I hope that the issues pertaining to the theme will reach larger public domain, especially the young masses”. 

Cabinet approves "Scheme for Capacity Building in Textiles Sector (SCBTS)" for the period from 2017-18 to 2019-20.

• The scheme will have National Skill Qualification Framework (NSQF) compliant training courses with funding norms as per the Common Norms notified by Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE).

The Cabinet approved a project to set up India's National Rail and Transport University (NRTU) in Vadodara in Gujarat. 

• A not-for-profit company under Section 8 of the Companies Act, 2013, will be created by the ministry of railways which shall be the managing company of the proposed university, the ministry said in a statement. 

According to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), the year 2017 will likely be among the three warmest years on global record.

• The year 2017 is expected to be the warmest year without a warming El Nino, Xinhua quoted the global weather office as saying.

The Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) will now help internationally acclaimed sand artist Sudarshan Pattnaik’s dream come true by launching world’s first online certificate course in sand art in March, 2018.

• The announcement regarding the same was made almost a year back. Work has already been started and video lectures have also been prepared.

The Cabinet approved the Consumer Protection Bill that seeks to establish an authority to safeguard consumers’ rights along with provisions to deal with misleading ads.

• In August 2015, the Centre had introduced the Consumer Protection Bill in the Lok Sabha to repeal the 30-year-old Consumer Protection Act, 1986.

Science & Technologies

Samsung Electronics Co Ltd said it has developed the world's smallest DRAM chip, widening its technical lead on competitors as it tracks towards a record operating profit in 2017 driven by the semiconductor business. 

• The "second-generation" 10-nanometre class, 8-gigabit DRAM chips with improved energy efficiency and data processing performance would be geared toward premium data-crunching electronics such as cloud computing centres, mobile devices and high-speed graphics cards, Samsung said in a statement.

Defence & Railway

The Cabinet today approved a project to set up India's National Rail and Transport University (NRTU) in Vadodara in Gujarat. 

• A not-for-profit company under Section 8 of the Companies Act, 2013, will be created by the ministry of railways which shall be the managing company of the proposed university, the ministry said in a statement. 

The Indian Air Force kicked off the process to order another 83 indigenous Tejas light combat aircraft by issuing a RFP (request for proposal) to defence PSU Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL).

• The 83 Tejas Mark-1A jets are supposed to have 43 "improvements" to improve maintainability, AESA (active electronically scanned array) radar to replace the existing mechanically-steered radar, mid-air refueling capability, long-range BVR (beyond visual range) missiles and advanced electronic warfare to jam enemy radars and missiles.

Application / Portal 

A mobile application R-MITRA (Railway Mobile Instant Tracking Response and Assistance) has been launched by Eastern Railway for security of passengers especially women passengers in Kolkata and suburban areas of the zone.

• Security Application R-MITRA has been launched to facilitate security of passengers and to render timely security-related assistance to passengers within the jurisdiction of Eastern Railway, Minister of State for Railways Rajen Gohain said in a written reply.

Schemes / Programme

The Minister of Communications Manoj Sinha launched DARPAN- “Digital Advancement of Rural Post Office for A New India” Project to improve the quality of service, add value to services and achieve ‘financial inclusion’ of the unbanked rural population.

• The goal of the IT modernization project with an outlay of Rs. 1400 Crore is to provide a low power technology solution to each Branch Postmaster (BPM) which will enable each of approximately 1.29 Lakhs Branch Post Offices (BOs) to improve the level of services being offered to rural customers across all the states.

Agreements (MoU)

India signed a MoU with Myanmar for improving socio-economic condition of the restive Rakhine State that could empower Rohingyas and prevent their further migration into neighbouring Bangladesh. 

• This MoU is the first Government to Government agreement signed by the ministry of social welfare, relief and resettlement of Myanmar with a cooperation partner focused on socio-economic development and livelihood initiatives in Rakhine State. 

Summit /Conference / Events / Host

AN INTER-STATE collaborative event between Maharashtra and Bihar to combat child labour and trafficking was held.

• The collaboration, involving police officers, Child Welfare Committee members, officials from the Labour and Women and Child Development departments, NGOs and civil society members is aimed at increasing coordination between the two states for rescue and rehabilitation to stop child labour and trafficking.

Birmingham has been named host city for the 2022 Commonwealth Games - the most expensive sports event to be held in Britain since the London Olympics.

• The city's bid was the only one submitted to the Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) by the deadline of 30 September, after it was chosen ahead of Liverpool as Britain's candidate.

Awards & Honours

The 12th edition of the Ramnath Goenka Excellence in Journalism Awards saw twenty seven journalists, including six from The Indian Express, winning the prestigious award for outstanding work done in 2016.

• The awards, which come with a trophy and a reward of Rs 1 lakh to each of the winners, recognise courage and commitment and showcase the outstanding contributions of journalists from across the country.

Sports: Awards & Honours

Lionel Messi, the star forward of Barcelona, has received La Liga’s top scorer and best player awards for the 2016-2017 football season.

• The Argentine beat rival Cristiano Ronaldo, who guided Real Madrid to their first title since 2012 in the recent campaign.
• He scored 37 goals in league action last season to earn his fourth Pichichi award for most goals in La Liga and his fifth Alfredo Di Stefano trophy for best player.