DAILY CURRENT
AFFAIRS: 19 JAN 2018
(DAILY NEWS INDIA)
SHARED BY: WWW.DAILYGK.IN
1. 14TH MEETING OF SPECIAL COMMITTEE FOR INTER-LINKING OF RIVERS
HELD IN NEW DELHI
i. 14th meeting of the Special
Committee for Inter-linking of Rivers was held in New Delhi.
ii. The meeting was attended by Nitin
Gadkari – Union Minister of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga
Rejuvenation, Arjun Ram Meghwal – Union Minister of State for Water Resources,
River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation, Dharam Pal Singh – Irrigation
Minister of UP, T Harish Rao – Irrigation Minister of Telangana and senior
officials from the centre and state governments.
iii. Main topics that were taken up
during the meeting included the status of clearance of Ken-Betwa Link Project,
Damanganga-Pinjal and Par-Tapi-Narmada Link Projects. Other topics on which
discussions were held included Surplus Water in River Basin for Interlinking of
Rivers, Restructuring of National Water Development Agency and Status of
Intra-State link proposals.
2. MAHARASHTRA BECOMES 1ST STATE TO UNVEIL PUBLIC CLOUD POLICY
i. Maharashtra has become the first
state in the country that has come out with a public cloud policy, virtually
mandating its departments to shift their data storage onto the cloud. This move
has created a USD 2- billion opportunity for the industry.
ii. The announcement was made by Chief
Minister Devendra Fadnavis at the Maharashtra Technology Summit. The policy
will result in additional private sector investments as the government is one
of the biggest creators and consumers of data.
3. AP GOVERNMENT, NITI AAYOG SIGN MOU TO DEVELOP AN ONLINE
DASHBOARD
i. Andhra Pradesh Government signed a
MoU with NITI Aayog to create an online dashboard for the 115 most backward
districts of India, in Amaravati, Andhra Pradesh. NITI Aayog Vice-chairman
Rajiv Kumar and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu were present
when the MoU was signed.
ii. The backward districts were
selected based on education, health, nutrition, rural road connectivity, rural
household electrification, access to potable water, individual toilets, etc.
Jharkhand has the highest number of the listed backward districts. It is
followed by Bihar and Chhattisgarh.
4. INDIA TO SET UP $350 MILLION FUND TO FINANCE SOLAR PROJECTS
i. As per the Power Minister RK Singh,
India will set up a $350-million fund to finance solar projects as the country
steps up efforts to achieve its ambitious target of adding 175 gigawatts in
renewable energy by 2022.
ii. The announcement was made at an
event organised by the International Solar Alliance in Abu Dhabi, UAE.
Installed renewable power capacity is currently about 60 GW, and India plans to
complete the bidding process by the end of 2019/20 to add a further 115 GW of
installed renewable energy capacity by 2022.
5. HDFC BANK M-CAP CROSSES RS 5 LAKH CR MARK
i. HDFC Bank’s market capitalisation
crossed Rs 5 lakh crore mark. Market value of a company’s outstanding shares is
referred to as market capitalisation. It is calculated by multiplying the
current market value of company’s share with total outstanding shares.
ii. HDFC Bank has become the 3rd
company to cross Rs. 5 lakh cr m-cap after Reliance Industries Ltd. and Tata
Consultancy Services.
iii. During January 18, 2018 afternoon
trade, HDFC Bank’s m-cap stood at Rs 502859.55 cr. It is also the first bank to
achieve this milestone.
6. CENTRE, CII INK MOU FOR DEVELOPMENT OF LOGISTICS SECTOR
i. A Memorandum of Understanding was
signed between Government of India and Confederation of Indian Industry in the
presence of Commerce and Industry Minister Suresh Prabhu to enhance import and
export performance.
ii. The Centre has entrusted the task
of integrated development of the logistics sector to the Department of Commerce.
7. INDIA RATINGS PROJECTS ECONOMIC GROWTH AT 7.1% NEXT FISCAL
i. India Ratings and Research has
projected the country’s economic growth to improve to 7.1 % in 2018-19 from 6.5
percent in 2017-18, buoyed by robust consumption demand and low commodity
prices.
ii. The projection is a tad lower than
7.4 percent growth estimated by Asian Development Bank and International
Monetary Fund for next fiscal.
8. S SELVAKUMAR APPOINTED CMD OF SPMCIL
i. The government appointed senior IAS
officer S Selvakumar as Chairman and Managing Director of Security Printing and
Minting Corporation of India Ltd.
ii. Selvakumar has replaced Anurag
Agarwal. The state-owned SPMCIL produces banknotes, coins, postage stamps,
non-judicial stamps and other official documents.
9. AB SINGH TAKES OVER AS CHIEF OF STAFF WESTERN NAVAL COMMAND
i. Vice Admiral Ajendra Bahadur Singh,
AVSM, VSM took charge as Chief of Staff, Western Naval Command.AB Singh takes
over as Chief of Staff Western Naval CommandAB Singh – Chief of Staff Western
Naval Command:
ii. He replaces Vice Admiral Ravneet
Singh. Earlier, Vice Admiral AB Singh was the Deputy Commander-in-Chief,
Strategic Forces Command.
10. FACEBOOK APPOINTS ITS 1ST AFRICAN-AMERICAN MEMBER TO BOARD
i. Facebook has appointed outgoing
American Express CEO Kenneth Chenault to its board, making him the first
African-American to be on the board.
ii. Chenault serves on the Boards of
IBM and Procter & Gamble and is also a Harvard Law School graduate.
11. WHATSAPP UNVEILS BUSINESS APP FOR ANDROID
i. Facebook-owned instant messaging
platform WhatsApp has rolled out a feature that connects small businesses with
customers. Currently, only Android users can access the feature and they can
avail of it through the latest update of the app.
ii. The new feature will be available
first in Indonesia, Italy, Mexico, UK and the US before being launched globally
in the coming weeks.
12. YES BANK TIES UP WITH AMPLUS ENERGY SOLUTIONS
i. Amplus Energy Solutions announced entering
into a pact with private sector lender Yes Bank for strategic tie-up to
co-finance projects in the solar energy space in India.
ii. The memorandum of understanding was
signed at International Solar Alliance pavilion at the World Future Energy
Summit, Abu Dhabi.
