august 02, 2018 - talentsprint · current affairs: august 02, 2018 6 gst collections at rs 96,483...

Current Affairs: August 02, 2018

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August 02, 2018

Union Cabinet Decisions on 1 August:

Extension of Concessional Financing

Scheme (CFS) to support Indian Entities bidding

for strategically important infrastructure projects

abroad.

Raising of Extra Budgetary Resources (EBR)

for Swachh Bharat Mission (Gramin) [SBM(G)]

amounting up to Rs. 15,000 crore during the financial year 2018-19.

Restructuring of the Agricultural Scientists' Recruitment Board (ASRB).

Policy Framework for exploration and exploitation of Unconventional Hydrocarbons.

LIC to acquire controlling 51% stake of IDBI Bank.

Opening of 13 new Kendriya Vidyalayas in seven States and opening of second

Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya at Alot, District Ratlam, Madhya Pradesh.

Grant of Interest Free Loan equivalent to interest during construction component to

fertilizer revival projects at Sindri, Gorakhpur and Barauni by Hindustan Urvarak and

Rasayan Limited.

Issue of fresh equity to the extent of 15% of the paid up equity capital by Hindustan

Copper Limited.



Government launches the scheme Seva Bhoj Yojna, beginning from 1 August

The Ministry of Culture, Government of India

has launched the new scheme namely ‘ Seva

Bhoj Yojna starting 01.08.2018, with a total

outlay of Rs. 325.00 Crores for Financial Years

2018-19 and 2019-20. The scheme envisages to

reimburse the Central Government share of

Central Goods and Services Tax (CGST) and Integrated Goods and Service Tax (IGST)so as to

lessen the financial burden of such as Religious/Charitable Institutions who provide

Food/Prasad/Langar (Community Kitchen)/Bhandara free of cost without any discrimination to

Public/Devotees.

NITI Aayog launches Move Hack, global mobility hackathon to crowdsource

solutions for future of mobility in India

NITI Aayog has launched Move Hack, a global

mobility hackathon to crowdsource solutions

aimed at the future of mobility in India.

Envisaged to be one of the largest hackathons

globally, Move Hack is focused on 10 themes and

structured over three legs: online, followed by

Singapore leg, and the finals in New Delhi.



Nationwide ‘State Energy Efficiency Preparedness Index’ released

As part of its commitment to create awareness about

energy efficiency as a resource and also to develop an

action plan for energy conservation initiatives, Bureau

of Energy Efficiency (BEE) and Alliance for an

Energy Efficient Economy (AEEE), released the ‘State

Energy Efficiency Preparedness Index’, which

assesses state policies and programmes aimed at improving energy efficiency across various

sectors. The State Energy Efficiency Preparedness Index has 63 indicators across Building,

Industry, Municipality, Transport, Agriculture and DISCOM with 4 cross-cutting indicators.

States are categorised based on their efforts and achievements towards energy efficiency

implementation, as ‘Front Runner’, ‘Achiever’, ‘Contender’ and ‘Aspirant’. The ‘Front Runner’

states in the inaugural edition of the Index are: Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Maharashtra, Punjab,

and Rajasthan based on available data.

NITI Aayog to host Investors’ Conference for the Holistic Development of Islands

on Aug 10

NITI Aayog will host an Investors’ Conference on

August 10, 2018 at Pravasi Bharatiya Kendra for the

Holistic Development of Islands. The Conference

will be inaugurated by Shri. Amitabh Kant, CEO,

NITI Aayog. It will attract investment for the

sustainable development of eco-tourism projects in

Andaman & Nicobar and Lakshadweep islands.



'Chill Bus' service begins in Kerala

Kerala Transport minister AK Saseendran has

launched 'Chill Bus', a new low-floor AC buses

service. Around 180 buses are going to be a part of

this service. This premium bus service will link all

main regions like east-west, south-north regions as

well as main tourist places.

President gives away Outstanding Parliamentarian awards

President Ram Nath Kovind gave away the

Outstanding Parliamentarian awards on 1 August.

The Awardees were Najma Heptullah, Hukumdev

Narayan Yadav, Ghulam Nabi Azad, Dinesh

Trivedi and Bhartru hari Mahtab. At the program

the Prime Minister expressed concern over

disruptions in Parliament saying that the Nation was the loser. Dr. Najma Heptullah won the

award for 2013, Hukum Dev Narayan for 2014, Ghulam Nabi Azad for 2015, Dinesh Trivedi for

2016 and Bhartruhari Mahtab for 2017.



RBI hikes repo rates by 25 basis points in 3rd Bi-monthly Monetary policy on 1

August

The six-member monetary policy committee (MPC) of

the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has decided to

increase the repo rate by 25 basis points to 6.5% due

to inflation concerns. Repurchase rate or the repo rate

is the rate at which the RBI lends money to

commercial banks in the event of any shortfall of

funds. Reverse repo — the rate at which the RBI borrows money from commercial banks within

the country — is adjusted to 6.25%. The RBI has projected the inflation at 4.6% in Q2, 4.8% in

H2 of 2018-19 and 5.0% in Q1 of 2019-20 “with risks evenly balanced”.

Present Rates are as follows:

Repo Rate 6.50%

Reverse Repo Rate 6.25%

Marginal Standing Facility Rate 6.75%

Bank Rate 6.75%

Bank Rate 4%

SLR 19.5%



GST collections at Rs 96,483 crore in July

Revenue collection from Goods and Services Tax

(GST) steadily rose to Rs 96,483 crore in the month of

July, from Rs 95,610 crore in June, data released by

Finance Ministry showed. Despite a rise in revenue

collection in July, the mop-up is still lower than the

government’s monthly target of Rs 1 lakh crore. The

2018-19 budgeted estimates for GST collection is Rs 12 lakh crore.

PHDCCI and CNI sign MoU to set up Indo-Nepal Centre

PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry

(PHDCCI) and Confederation of Nepalese

Industries (CNI) has signed a memorandum of

understanding (MoU) to establish India-Nepal

Centre. It will further strengthen economic

engagement between the two countries. The

MoU aims to promote Indian investment in Nepal, Work with Indian ventures in Nepal to

resolve problems being faced by them promote industrialization in Nepal and provide training

to Nepali entrepreneurs. The MoU was signed by Anil Khaitan, President of PHDCCI and

Hari Bhakta Sharma, President of CNI in Kathmandu recently.



Lucknow Metro, BSNL ink pact to facilitate customer services

Lucknow Metro Rail Corporation (LMRC) and

BSNL have signed an MoU for extending benefits

in customer services. Through this agreement,

BSNL will avail the smart card services of LMRC

for collection of post-paid bills and sale of

prepaid products like recharge vouchers and

electronic top-up at LMRC station counters.

StarAgri Fin, Karur Vysya Bank tie-up for agri lending

StarAgri Finance, a subsidiary of StarAgri

Warehousing and Collateral Management, and

Karur Vysya Bank have entered into a strategic

tie-up for co-lending against agriculture

commodities stored in the StarAgri’s warehouses.

An MoU was signed between StarAgri Finance

and KVB for co-lending services in Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra.

This partnership will help make institutional finance accessible to local commodity traders and

farmers.



ICICI Bank gets RBI nod for Bakshi's appointment as COO

ICICI Bank recently said the Reserve Bank of India has

approved the appointment of Sandeep Bakhshi as the

Chief Operating Officer with effect from July 31, 2018

for 3 years. CEO Chanda Kochhar will be on leave till

completion of the external enquiry against her in the

Videocon loan matter and named Sandeep Bakhshi as

chief operating officer, who would be handling all the businesses, ICICI Bank had said in June.

Kumar Mangalam Birla, Y.C. Deveshwar appointed non-official directors in Air

India

The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet

headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi

approved the appointment of Mr. Birla and Mr.

Deveshwar as non-official independent directors in

Air India for a period of 3 years, the order issued by

Personnel Ministry said. Besides them, Shyamvir

Saini and Gurmohinder Singh will be non-official

independent directors in National Seeds Corporation Ltd and Bharat Earth Movers Limited

respectively. Arun Tandon has been appointed non-official director in Balmer Lawrie and Co

Ltd, the order said without citing any details about these people. Tapan Kumar Mandal has



been named non-official independent directors in Kolkata Metro Rail Corporation Ltd, the

order said.

CB Ananthakrishnan assumes charge as Director (Finance) of HAL

State-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd recently said C

B Ananthakrishnan has assumed charge as Director

(Finance) of the company. Prior to this, he was the

Executive Director (Finance) at HAL Corporate Office,

the company said in a statement.

CAG of India signs 28 UN Audit Reports

Comptroller and Auditor General of India Rajiv

Mehrishi signed 28 UN Audit Reports at the United

Nations Headquarters in New York. Mehrishi

chaired the 72nd regular session of the UN Board of

Auditors on July 24 and 25. The Board session was

also attended by Auditor General of the United

Republic of Tanzania Prof Mussa Juma Assad, President of the German Federal Court of

Auditors Kay Scheller and Comptroller General of Chile Jorge Bermudez Soto who were also

members of the United Nations Board of Auditors.



Nepal: Indian Embassy camp office in Biratnagar closed down

The camp office of Indian Embassy in Biratnagar,

Nepal has been closed down from 2 August. All the

services including issuing of motor vehicle permits,

registration certificates for Indian nationals,

attestation of documents and birth or death

registrations rendered by Biratnagar Camp Office

now can be availed from the Embassy of India,

Kathmandu office. The Biratnagar Camp Office was opened in 2008 to deal with the situation

arising out of devastating Kosi floods. The purpose of this Camp Office has been fulfilled and

Government of India had decided to wind up the Camp Office and relocate the personnel.

China launches Gaofen-11 satellite on a Long March 4B rocket

China launches the Gaofen-11 satellite on a

Long March 4B rocket from the Taiyuan Satellite

Launch Center in Taiyuan, capital of north

China's Shanxi Province on 31 July. The satellite

has been successfully put into the predetermined

orbit.



ASEAN Foreign Ministers meet begins in Singapore

Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong

kicked off the 51st ASEAN Foreign

Ministers meeting in Singapore on 2

August. Lee emphasised the need for

ASEAN countries to be united to avoid

repercussions amid trade tensions between

the United States and its long-time trading partners, including China, the EU and Canada.

Asian Athletics Championships to be held in April 2019

The 23rd Asian Athletics Championships will be

held in Qatar's capital city of Doha, from April

19 to April 24, 2019. The biennial continental

event which is usually held in July-August has

been preponed by the Asian Athletics Association

(AAA) due to the intensely hot and humid

summers in Doha. The 6-day competition will be held at the Khalifa International Stadium,

which will also host the IAAF World Championships from September 28 to October 06, 2019.

With less than two years to go for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, the planning committee of

Athletics Federation of India (AFI) has advised all the coaches and athletes to focus on the two

competitions.



Learn Two a Day:

Coal India Limited (CIL) headquarters: Kolkata

Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Limited: Mumbai

august 02, 2018 - talentsprint · current affairs: august 02, 2018 6 gst collections at rs 96,483...

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