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Current Affairs Updates - 15 January 2018

Current Affairs Updates - 15 January 2018

Current Affairs Updates - 15 January 2018

We have sorted out some important current affairs points based on the upcoming Bank exams and other SSC exams. Some important headlines include news from National and International Affairs along with Appointments and Banking. We request our readers to go through each of the headlines along with the details given in each classification. We hope this will be beneficial to all our readers. 
Important Days
Army Day is celebrated on 15th January every year in India, in recognition of Field Marshal Kodandera.
  • The day is celebrated in the form of parades and other military shows in the national capital New Delhi as well as in all headquarters. 
  • On 15th January 2017, India celebrated its 69th Indian Army day in New Delhi. 
New Appointments: National
Anil Khanna appointed Chairman of newly formed Finance Commission by Indian Olympic Association (IOA)
  • The IOA also formed a Medical Commission and Games Technical Conduct Committee and nominated office bearers of IOA and National Sports Federations (NSFs) to the Committees.
Indu Malhotra first woman lawyer to be directly appointed as SC judge.
  • The Supreme Court collegium has recommended the name of senior advocate Indu Malhotra as the first woman lawyer to be directly appointed as a judge of the apex court.
Brand Ambassador
Actress Kajol, an active supporter of eradicating preventable deaths from hygiene-related issues, has become an advocacy ambassador for a Swachh Aadat Swachh Bharat initiative.
  • Kajol on Thursday took to Twitter to urge people to become "swachhta doot" and contribute to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Swachh Bharat Abhiyan.
Banking/Economic Affairs
The BSE's India International Exchange listed the IRFC's green bonds on its debt listing platform – the global securities market.
  • With this, the Indian Railway Finance Corporation's green bonds have become the first debt security to be listed on an exchange at International Financial Services Centre in Gujarat's GIFT city.
Federal Bank has entered into a strategic partnership with Hedge Equities Ltd for providing Portfolio Investment Scheme (PIS) services to NRIs.
  • A formal agreement was executed here in which Jose K Mathew (EVP & Head Retail Business, Federal Bank) and Alex Babu (MD, Hedge Equities Ltd) exchanged the MoU announcing the tie-up.
IDFC Bank and Capital First announced that their respective boards of directors approved a merger of Capital First with IDFC Bank. 
  • Capital First brings with it a retail lending franchise with a loan book of Rs. 22,974 crores (September 2017), a live customer base of three million customers; and a distribution network in 228 locations across the country .
Market regulator Sebi has approved appointment of Vijay Kumar as Managing Director and CEO of the country’s largest agri-commodity bourse NCDEX.
  • Kumar, a former chief business officer at NCDEX, is likely to assume the office next week. The exchange's selection committee had picked his name for the MD and CEO's post from a list of 11 candidates.
Rankings
India ranks 30th on World Economic Forum global manufacturing index. Japan tops ranking.
  • The report said that India's manufacturing sector has grown by over 7 per cent per year on average in the past three decades and accounts for 16-20 per cent of India's GDP.
National Affairs
Norwegian fertiliser giant Yara International, announced the completion of its acquisition of Tata Chemicals Ltd’s 1.2 million tonnes per annum production capacity urea plant at Babrala in Uttar Pradesh.
  • The acquisition represents a major step, as it deepens our footprint in the world’s second largest fertiliser market.
  • The Rs 2,682-crore deal includes the transfer of all assets and liabilities (working capital) relating to the Babrala unit, while marking the first foreign direct investment in India’s highly regulated urea sector.





The Unique Identification Authority of India, the Aadhaar-issuing authority, has decided to enable face recognition as another means of authentication from July 1, 2018.
  • The decision comes at a time when problems arising due to mismatch of biometrics are being reported about, including those faced by senior citizens with fading fingerprints.
  • However, the face authentication option will be allowed only in fusion mode, along with another authentication option such as biometrics or one-time password (OTP) on the registered mobile number.
International Affairs
India has contributed 50,000 dollar to UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres's Office of Envoy on Youth to help with its mission of involving young people in the world body's goals.
  • The contribution is voluntary with no strings attached and is in addition to the regular payments India makes to the UN's general and peacekeeping budgets.
  • The Youth Envoy's mission is to promote the engagement of youth and advocate for them across all the four pillars of the UN's work - sustainable development, human rights, peace and security and humanitarian action.
South Australia is aiming to build the world’s largest thermal solar plant.
  • South Australia is fast becoming a global centre for the development of renewable energy with storage, with a range of other projects set to come online over the next few years.
Nepal has joined hands with China to offer internet services to its citizens, ending India's decades-long monopoly of the Himalayan nation's cyber connectivity network. 
  • Nepal Telecom and China Telecom Global launched their services after they wrapped up the laying of optical fiber cables between Kerung in China and Rasuwagadi in Nepal, about 50 km (30 miles) north of Kathmandu, the companies said. 
Agreements (MoU)
India has signed a MoU with the United Kingdom to enable the return of illegal Indian migrants within a month of their detection by authorities abroad.
  • The Memorandum of Understanding, which would affect hundreds of Indians, comes ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s proposed visit to the UK in March. The UK has consistently raised the issue of return of illegal migrants with India.
India and Israel inked nine pacts to boost cooperation in key areas, including cyber security and energy. 
  • The agreements were signed after extensive talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu for bolstering bilateral ties in strategic areas. 
Summit /Conference / Events / Host
Home Minister to inaugurate International Workshop on Disaster Resilient Infrastructure 
  • The workshop will bring together countries from different parts of the world - from Chile to Australia and from Japan to Sri Lanka - with different socioeconomic backgrounds and geographical features. 
  • This will be a great opportunity to learn from their unique experiences in their efforts towards building disaster resilient infrastructure. 
Obituary 
Veteran journalist and writer Gnani Sankaran passes away.
  • Veteran Tamil writer, journalist and theatre personality, Gnani Sankaran, died in the wee hours of Monday at his residence in Chennai. He was 64.
Former Union Minister Raghunath Jha passes away in Delhi.
  • Senior Rashtriya Janata Dal leader and former Union Minister Raghunath Jha passed away late on Sunday at Delhi’s Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital. He was suffering from kidney ailment.
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