DAILY CURRENT
AFFAIRS: 23RD MAR 2017
(DAILY NEWS INDIA)
1.
CENTRE APPROVES OVER 1.17 LAKH MORE HOUSES FOR URBAN POOR AT RS. 5,773 CR
i.
The Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation approved
construction of new 1,17,814 affordable houses under the Prime Minister’s Awas
Yojana (Urban) for the benefit of urban poor in six States namely Bihar, Madhya
Pradesh, Jharkhand, Odisha, Kerala and Karnataka.
ii.
The total cost of the project is Rs.5,773 cr for which central assistance of
Rs.1,816 cr has been approved.
iii.
The construction project is being undertaken under 2 categories: Beneficiary
Led Construction and Affordable Housing in Partnership component. Central
assistance of Rs.1.50 lakh is provided for each beneficiary.
iv.
Under BLC, beneficiaries are assisted to build own houses on the land available
with them or take up improvement works for increasing living space and other
amenities. Under AHP, State Government provides the land to house urban poor.
v
.Thus the total number of houses being taken up for construction for the
benefit of urban poor under PMAY(Urban) has gone up to 17,60,507 with total
project cost of Rs.96,018 cr for which central assistance of Rs.27,714 cr has
been approved.
2.
ASSAM GOVERNMENT LAUNCHES INITIATIVES TO MAKE MAJULI INDIA’S FIRST CARBON
NEUTRAL DISTRICT & BIODIVERSITY HERITAGE
i.
Assam CM, Sarbananda Sonowal launched initiative to develop the World’s largest
river island, Majuli into country’s 1st ever Carbon Neutral district by 2020 as
well as a biodiversity heritage site to preserve its rich heritage and legacy.
ii.
The project titled ‘Sustainable Action for Climate Resilient Development’ in Majuli’
was launched on the occasion of the International Day of Forest and has been
initiated by the Assam’s department of Environment and Forest.
iii.
The project, SACReD, Majuli has been initiated to combat climate change and
ensure reduced greenhouse gas emissions.
3.
INDIA RANKS 131 IN HUMAN DEVELOPMENT INDEX 2016
i.
According to the UN Development Programme’s Human Development for Everyone’
Report 2016, released in Stockholm, India has been ranked at 131 out of 188
countries in the 2016 Human Development Index.
ii.
The HDI of India was 0.624 putting it in the medium HDI category. It was placed
at 3rd spot among the SAARC nation with Sri Lanka and Maldives taking the 1st
and 2nd spots respectively and coming under high HDI category with HDI of 0.766
and 0.701 respectively.
iii.
Norway and Australia is at 1st and 2nd spot followed by Switzerland is at 3rd.
4.
MOBILE PAYMENT SERVICE ‘SAMSUNG PAY’ OFFICIALLY LAUNCHED IN INDIA
i.
Samsung Electronics officially launched the mobile payment service, Samsung Pay
in India.
ii.
With this, Samsung becomes the 1st company to launch a mobile payment service
in India, ahead of Apple Pay or Android Pay.
iii.
The 1st commercial transaction of the new payments service in India was carried
out in the presence of NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant and Samsung Southwest Asia
President and CEO HC Hong.
iv.
Samsung has tied up with several banks and payment gateways in India like HDFC
Bank, ICICI Bank, SBI, Citi Bank, Standard Chartered and American Express for
the payment service.
v.
Samsung has also tied up with mobile wallet Paytm for payments and will also
add UPI based payment soon.
5.
GOVERNMENT LOWERS CASH TRANSACTION LIMIT TO RS 2 LAKH
i
.The Government of India has proposed to lower the limit of cash transaction
from Rs. 3 lakh to Rs. 2 lakh per month to further tighten and discourage
payments by cash as well as curb black money.
ii.
Arun Jaitley, The Union Finance Minister proposed 40 amendments to the Finance
Bill 2017 which was cleared by the Lok Sabha.
iii.
The new limit will be effective from April 1, 2017. Any violations to the norms
would be subjected to a fine equivalent to the amount of transaction.
iv.
Among other amendments, the Minister proposed to make Aadhaar mandatory for
filing tax returns from July 1.
vi.
The government also proposed to amend the Finance Bill to ensure only cheque
payments can be accepted for the purchase of electoral bonds and that RBI is
empowered to authorise banks to accept them.
6.
INDIA AND ADB SIGN $350 MILLION LOAN FOR UPGRADING 1,500 KMS OF DISTRICT ROADS
IN STATE OF MADHYA PRADESH
i.
Philippines headquartered Asian Development Bank’s Deputy Country Director L. B. Sondjaja and Joint Secretary
(Multilateral Institutions), Department of Economic Affairs in the Ministry of
Finance, Raj Kumar have signed a $350 million loan agreement in New Delhi.
ii.
This loan amount will be used to improve 1,500 kilometers of major district
roads in India’s 2nd-largest State Madhya Pradesh.
iii.
The state government of Madhya pradesh also will allocate $150 million for this
project.
7.
GOVERNMENT SET TO TRIPLE NUCLEAR POWER GENERATION BY 2024
i.
The Government of India is set to increase the nuclear power generation
capacity in India to nearly 15,000 MW by 2024.
ii.
The information regarding the same was delivered by Minister of State for PMO
Jitendra Singh in the Lok Sabha.
iii.
The minister also informed that in 2014, India’s nuclear power generation
capacity was 4,780 MW.
iv.
The government is taking a number of steps to accelerate all ongoing nuclear
projects and setting up of new plants in different parts of the country.
8.
ABB INDIA BAGS AWARD FOR RESTORING 1,035 MW SHARAVATHI PLANT IN KARNATAKA
i.
Bengaluru based ABB India has won the India Smart Grid Foundation’s “Smart
Technology of the Year 2016″award for restoring the crucial power
infrastructure of Sharavathi hydropower plant in Karnataka.
ii.
ABB India has restored and modernised the critical 1,035 MW Sharavathi
hydropower plant which will accounts for 25% of Karnataka Power Corporation’s
generation.
iii.
This kind of projects will be key to realising the objective of India’s
National Smart Grid Mission.
9.
UPENDRA TRIPATHY APPOINTED AS FULL TIME INTERIM DIRECTOR GENERAL OF ISA
i.
Upendra Tripathy has been appointed as the Interim Director General of the
International Solar Alliance on a full
time basis.
ii.
The decision regarding Tripathy was taken by Shri Piyush Goyal, Union Minister
for Power, Coal and Renewable Energy and Mines, and Minister for Environment,
Energy and Marine Affairs Government of France, Ms. Sgolene Royal.
iii.
The International Solar Alliance was launched
as a coalition of the solar resource rich countries jointly by PM
Narendra Modi and President of France, Francois Hollande in the presence of Mr.
Ban Ki Moon, Secretary General of the United Nations during the Paris Climate
Conference or CoP21.
10.
ANKUR KHANNA APPOINTED AS NEW CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER OF ICC
i.
Air Asia’s Chief Financial Officer Ankur Khanna has been appointed as Chief
Financial Officer of International Cricket Council. This was officially
announced by ICC Chief Executive, David Richardson.
ii.
Ankur has worked in senior roles at Air France / KLM Royal Dutch Airlines and
ITC, an associate company of British American Tobacco.
11.
2017 WORLD WATER DAY: MARCH, 22
i.
UN designated World water day is observed on March 22, in various country to
raise awareness of the importance of conserving and managing water resources.
ii.
2017 Theme was “Why Waste water?”
iii.
This year theme will focused to reducing and reusing waste water.
OBJECTIVE QUESTIONS BASED
ON TODAY’S NEWS
Q1.
WHAT IS THE THEME OF THE 2017 WORLD WATER DAY?
a) Why Waste Water?
b) Water and Sustainable Development
c) Better Water, Better Jobs
d) Water and Jobs
Q2.
WHO HAS BEEN APPOINTED AS THE NEW CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER OF THE INTERNATIONAL
CRICKET COUNCIL?
a) Gurdeep Singh
b) Ankur Khanna
c) Jayesh Pundit
d) Subhash Rathore
Q3.
WHO HAS BEEN APPOINTED AS THE INTERIM DIRECTOR GENERAL OF THE INTERNATIONAL
SOLAR ALLIANCE ON A FULL TIME BASIS?
a) Nripendra Puri
b) Girish Chowdhary
c) Ramesh Verma
d) Upendra Tripathy
Q4.
WHICH AMONG THE GIVEN MOBILE COMPANY HAS LAUNCHED THE MOBILE PAYMENT SERVICE
FOR THE FIRST TIME IN INDIA?
a) Sony Mobile
b) Microsoft
c) Samsung Electronics
d) Apple Inc
Q5.
ASSAM GOVERNMENT HAS SET A TARGET TO TRANSFORM MAJULI INTO INDIA’S FIRST CARBON
NEUTRAL DISTRICT BY WHICH YEAR?
a) 2023
b) 2020
c) 2019
d)
2021
ANSWERS:
