DAILY CURRENT
AFFAIRS: 12 AUG 2017
(DAILY NEWS INDIA)
1. LOK SABHA PASSES STATE BANKS
(REPEAL AND AMENDMENT) BILL, 2017
i. The Lok Sabha passed State Banks (Repeal and
Amendment) Bill 2017 to repeal the SBI (Subsidiary Banks) Act 1959, State Bank
of Hyderabad Act 1956 and to further amend the State Bank of India Act, 1955,
following the merger of 5 associates with the parent State Bank of India.
ii. From April 1, 2017, State Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur,
State Bank of Hyderabad, State Bank of Mysore, State Bank of Patiala, State
Bank of Travancore and Bharatiya Mahila Bank were merged into State Bank of
India.
iii. On account of this merger, these subsidiary banks
ceased to exist and, therefore, it became necessary to repeal the SBI India
(Subsidiary Banks) Act and the State Bank of Hyderabad Act which established
these subsidiaries.
2. MINISTRY OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY
GAVE APPROVAL OF INDUSTRIAL PARKS IN ANDHRA PRADESH
i. Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion under
Ministry of Commerce and Industry has approved two projects for development of
industrial clusters at Hindupur and
Bobbili in the respective districts of Ananatapur and Vizianagaram of
Andhra Pradesh.
ii. It comes under ‘Modified Industrial Infrastructure Up
gradation Scheme’. The objective of the above projects is to provide quality
and reliable infrastructure to industrial units located in these clusters.
iii. These projects aim to provide road network,
drainage, power and water supply networks. It also provide some other common
services like health centres,
dormitories, canteens, crèches, parking areas, etc.
3. TELENGANA CM INITIATES 2000-CR
SRIRAMSAGAR MODERNISATION PROJECT
i. Telangana CM K Chandrasekhar Rao has initiated Rs
2,000-cr project that seeks to modernise and strengthen its network. It has
been initiated to modernise the SriramSagar project and increase the area
served by this lifeline project.
ii. The project on the Godavari River has the capacity to
boost water supply to several districts in the State. The State plans to keep
the reservoir full throughout the year by filling it with water from the
Kaleshwaram project.
iii. The project aims to ensure that water will flow
continuously in the canals of SRSP and all lakes will get steady inflow of
water.
iv. Under the SriramSagar project revival and repairing
initiative, water from the Pranahitha River, which joins the Godavari, will be
diverted at Medigadda and pumped into the SriramSagar project.
v. Under the Kaleshwaram lift irrigation project, from
Medigadda, water will be diverted to Yellampally SRSP flood canals and Mid
Manair and Lower Manair.
i. Government has fixed an ambitious target of installing
60 Giga watt wind power capacity in the country by 2022. Power Minister Piyush
Goyal said, the current wind power installed capacity in the country is over
32.5 GW.
ii. Till 2016-17 the wind power was being procured
through Feed in Tariff determined by respective State Electricity Regulators.
Annual wind power capacity addition of around 5500 megawatt is required to meet
wind capacity target of 60 GW by 2022.
5. 15TH MEETING OF THE FOREIGN
MINISTERS OF BIMSTEC COUNTRIES
i. 15th Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral
Technical and Economic Cooperation Ministerial Meeting was held in Kathmandu,
Nepal.
ii. The meeting was attended by foreign ministers from
Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Bhutan and the
deputy foreign ministers from Myanmar and Thailand. Union Minister of External
Affairs, Ms. Sushma Swaraj also attended this meeting.
iii. Speaking at the meeting, Ms. Swaraj mentioned that
India will host the 1st BIMSTEC Disaster Management Exercise in October 2017,
to build regional capacities.
iv. Progress and achievements in the 14 identified areas
of cooperation was reviewed and ways to accelerate the cooperation under the
BIMSTEC processes were discussed at the meeting.
v. Besides, discussions were also held on appointment of
the next secretary general, date and venue of the 16th BIMSTEC ministerial
meeting.
6. RBI TO PAY RS. 30,659 CRORE
DIVIDEND TO GOVERNMENT
i. This year, Reserve Bank of India will be transferring
to the Government Rs 30,659 cr as dividend. This amount is less than half the
amount of Rs 65876 cr it transferred to Government last year.
ii. The reduction in the transfer of surplus to the
government could be due to a number of factors including higher cost of printing
new currency notes and cost of managing excess liquidity generated from phasing
out of Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes.
iii. During last year, foreign currency reserves of RBI
were fetching less return because most of the foreign countries were giving negative
returns or very low returns.
iv. Also, throughout the year the reverse repo has been
high that means that RBI has to pay to banks. The whole of last year there was
surplus liquidity and RBI had to pay more interest to the banks.
7. MCX GETS SEBI APPROVAL FOR
LAUNCHING GOLD OPTIONS
i. The Multi Commodity Exchange Ltd has received markets
regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India’s approval to launch country’s
first gold options contract.
ii. MCX has received the approval to launch options on futures
in gold contract from SEBI. MCX will soon finalise exact contract
specifications and launch date.
iii. SEBI has mentioned that options could be launched on
futures contract of only those commodities that are among the top 5 in terms of
total trading turnover value of previous 12 months.
iv. For agricultural commodity and agri-processed
commodities the average daily turnover of underlying futures contracts in past
one year should be at least Rs 200 cr.
v. SEBI had also stipulated necessary guidelines with
regard to the product design and risk management framework to be adopted for
trading in options on commodity futures.
8. FACEBOOK TO MONITOR MSME GROWTH IN
ODISHA, LAUNCHES SHEMEANSBUSINESS
i. Facebook will monitor the growth of the MSMEs in
Odisha after imparting training to them in next one year.
ii. Facebook has partnered with the Odisha’s MSME
department and Project Mission Shakti to train 25,000 entrepreneurs by the end
of 2018.
iii. The state government has plans to organize hands-on
workshops for MSME entrepreneurs and women SHGs on ‘Digital Marketing Skills’.
The partnership aimed to reduce the digital divide and empower nearly 25,000
entrepreneurs and SHGs over the next one year.
iv. Facebook will also prepare a data base through
registrations in which they will take the email ids and mobile numbers of
entrepreneurs in all the workshops.
v. Facebook has launched its SheMeansBusiness programme
in Bhubaneswar, which was attended by about 1,100 women entrepreneurs of the
state.
vi. The programme of Facebook is launched in 16 countries
around the world including India. It is designed to aspire and established
women entrepreneurs to help them build and grow their business online.
9. REAL MADRID WON THE 2017 UEFA SUPER
CUP FOOTBALL TOURNAMENT
i. Real Madrid, a professional football club of Spain,
has won the 2017 UEFA Super Cup football tournament by defeating Manchester
United in the final.
ii. Union of European Football Associations European
Super Cup held at the Philip II Arena in Skopje, Macedonia. It is 4th UEFA
Super Cup title for real Madrid.
10. DAVINDER SINGH KANG, 1ST INDIAN TO
QUALIFY FOR JAVELIN THROW WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP FINALS
i. Davinder Singh Kang has become the 1st Indian to
qualify for the final round of the javelin throw World Championships.
ii. The IAAF World Athletics Championships is going on in
London. Kang, who was competing in the qualification round of Group B qualified
for the finals.
