DAILY CURRENT
AFFAIRS: 3 AUG 2017
(DAILY NEWS INDIA)
1.
BRICS TRADE MINISTERS MEETING HELD IN SHANGHAI
i. Union Commerce
Minister Nirmala Sitharaman attended BRICS Trade Ministers meeting in Shanghai,
China. On the sidelines of this meeting she also held meeting with Chinese
Minister of Commerce Zhong Shan.
ii. Measures to expand
e-commerce cooperation among Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa were
discussed at this meeting.
iii. Economic and
technological cooperation was included in the agenda for the 1st time in the
trade ministers’ meeting’s history to improve the bloc’s capabilities in
service trade, e-commerce and other fields.
2.
JUSTICE B.N SRIKRISHNA HEADED COMMITTEE TO STUDY ISSUES RELATED TO DATA
PROTECTION
i. The Ministry of
Electronics and Information Technology has appointed an expert panel committee
that would study various issues relating to data protection in the country and
will suggest a draft data protection Bill.
ii. It is a 10 member
panel and it is headed by Supreme court Judge (retired) Justice B N Srikrishna.
The panel includes the members from government, academia and industry will
study and identify key data protection issues and recommend methods to address
them.
iii. The committee will
design a broader framework which will cover all other kinds of data and ensure
that the deliberations on the issue start as soon as possible.
iv. The panel includes
the following members: Rajat Moona, Director, IIT Raipur, is a key member in
the panel, Rama Vedashree is CEO of Data Security Council of India, Ajay Kumar,
Additional Secretary, IT Ministry, Ajay Bhushan Pandey is CEO of Unique
Identification Authority of India, UIDAI, Aruna Sundararajan is Secretary,
Department of Telecom, Arghya Sengupta, Research Director of Vidhi Centre for
Legal Policy, Rajat Moona, Director of IIT Raipur and Gulshan Rai, National
Cyber Security Coordinator.
3.
RESERVE BANK ANNOUNCES ITS THIRD BI-MONTHLY POLICY REVIEW OF CURRENT FISCAL
i. Reserve Bank of India
announced 3rd Bi-Monthly Monetary Policy Statement for financial year 2017-18.
This time, RBI has cut the policy repo rate by 25 basis points to 6%.
ii. Policy Repo Rate-
6.00% , Reduced by 25 basis points. Earlier it was 6.25%.
Reverse Repo Rate- 5.75%
, Reduced by 25 basis points. Earlier it was 6.00%.
Bank Rate- 6.25% ,
Reduced by 25 basis points. Earlier it was 6.50%.
Marginal Standing
Facility Rate- 6.25% , Reduced by 25
basis points. Earlier it was 6.50%.
iii. Statutory Liquidity
Ratio- 20.00% , Unchanged – since 7th June 2017.
Cash Reserve Ratio- 4.00%
, Unchanged – since 9th February 2013.
4.
SEBI FORMS COMMITTEE HEADED BY T K VISWANATHAN ON FAIR MARKET CONDUCT
i. SEBI has set up a
committee on fair market conduct on 2nd of August. It will suggest measures for
improving surveillance of the markets and strengthen rules for algo trades,
among other norms.
ii. The panel is headed
by former law secretary T K Viswanathan. The committee will suggest short term
and medium term measures for improved surveillance of the markets. It would
suggest measures for improvement in Prohibition of Insider Trading norms,
Prohibition of Fraudulent and Unfair Trade Practices regulations.
iii. It is mainly related
to trading plans and handling of unpublished price sensitive information during
takeovers. The committee will also suggest evidentiary issues in anti-fraud
enforcement.
iv. It would be
responsible for recommending steps to align insider trading regulations with
Companies Act provisions.
5.
SBI, SAMSUNG COLLABORATE TO ADVANCE DIGITAL INDIA INITIATIVE
i. The State Bank of
India and Samsung India has announced the availability of Samsung Pay for
higher variants of SBI debit card to advance Digital India initiative.
ii. Samsung Pay is
currently available on Samsung smartphones. It enables consumers to make
offline payments without the need for a physical Card. Samsung Pay works on 2.5
million Point of Sale Card machines across the country through its Magnetic
Secure Transmission technology.
iii. The Bank aimed to be
the Banker to Digital India and has been at the fore-front of all digital
initiatives in the banking space. Samsung Pay consumers holding eligible SBI
Debit Cards can avail a flat Rs. 100 cashback on minimum transaction amount of
Rs. 500.
iv. With this
collaboration, 130 million SBI debit cardholders will be able to tap and pay
using a Samsung smartphones at merchant outlets having card acceptance
machines.
6.
BHARAT GAURAV AWARD BY EAST BENGAL FOOTBALL CLUB GIVEN TO DHANRAJ PILLAY
i. Former India hockey
captain Dhanraj Pillay was honoured with the ‘Bharat Gaurav’ by East Bengal
Football Club on its foundation day.
ii. Bharat Gaurav is the
highest award of the club. Gurwinder Singh bagged the Footballer of the Year
award while Boddupalli Amit was awarded as the Cricketer of the Year.
iii. Former India
international Subhash Bhowmick, a member of the 1970 Asian Games bronze
medal-winning national football team, and former national team coach Syed
Naeemuddin were honoured with lifetime achievement awards.
7.
SEBI APPROVES APPOINTMENT OF DHIRENDRA SWARUP AS BSE CHAIRMAN
i. SEBI has approved the
appointment of Dhirendra Swarup as the chairman of the board of directors of
the BSE.
ii. Swarup, who was a
public interest director at the BSE, had replaced incumbent Sudhakar Rao. He
was the chairman of the Cash and Debt Management Committee of the Reserve Bank
of India.
iii. He was the former
Chairman of Pension Funds Regulatory and Development Authority. He has over 4
decades of experience across finance, public debt management, budgeting, public
policy and pension Reforms.
8.
PETER O’NEILL: RE-ELECTED PRIME MINISTER OF PAPUA NEW GUINEA
i. Peter O’Neill has been
reappointed as PM of Papua New Guinea. Peter O’Neill won the parliamentary vote
60 to 46.
ii. He is the leader of
the People’s National Congress and represents the constituency of
Ialibu-Pangia.
9.
GOVERNMENT LAUNCHES E-RAKAM PORTAL
i. The Union Government
has launched a portal, e-Rashtriya Kisan Agri Mandi. e-RaKAM will provide a
platform to sell agricultural produce and strengthen the agriculture-oriented
Indian economy.
ii. It is a digital
initiative that aims to bring together the PSUs, civil supplies, farmers and
buyers on a single platform so that the selling and buying process of
agricultural products become smooth.
iii. The e-RaKAM is a
1st-of-its-kind initiative that leverages technology to connect farmers of the
smallest villages to the biggest markets of the world through internet and
e-RaKAM centres.
iv. With the help of the
platform, various crops whose price increases due to rainfall or bad weather
conditions will be managed and get in the market.
OBJECTIVE QUESTIONS BASED
ON TODAY’S NEWS
Q1.
MINISTRY OF ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY HAS APPOINTED AN EXPERT
COMMITTEE THAT WOULD STUDY VARIOUS ISSUES RELATING TO DATA PROTECTION IN INDIA
AND WILL SUGGEST A DRAFT DATA PROTECTION BILL. WHO AMONG THE FOLLOWING IS THE
HEAD OF THIS COMMITTEE?
a) B N Srikrishna
b) Rajat Moona
c) Rama Vedashree
d) Ajay Bhushan
Q2.
UNION COMMERCE MINISTER NIRMALA SITHARAMAN ATTENDED BRICS TRADE MINISTERS
MEETING IN?
a) Cape Town, South Africa
b) Shanghai, China
c) Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
d) Mumbai, India
Q3.
RESERVE BANK OF INDIA CUT THE POLICY
REPO RATE BY 25 BASIS POINTS. NOW THE REPO RATE STANDS AT?
a) 7.00%
b) 6.50%
c) 6.00%
d) 6.25%
Q4.
WHO AMONG THE FOLLOWING WAS HONOURED BY EAST BENGAL FOOTBALL CLUB ON ITS
FOUNDATION DAY WITH ITS HIGHEST AWARD, BHARAT GAURAV?
a) Virender Sehwag
b) Mary Kom
c) Yuvraj Singh
d) Dhanraj Pillay
Q5.
PETER O’NEILL HAS BEEN REAPPOINTED AS PRIME MINISTER OF?
a) Poland
b) Papua New Guinea
c) Georgia
d) Fiji
ANSWERS:
1 - A 2 - B 3 - C 4
- D 5 - B
