indian affairs cabinet approvals on february 22, 2017 i. … affairs... · 2017-02-25 ·...

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INDIAN AFFAIRS

Cabinet Approvals on February 22, 2017

i. The Union Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA)

okayed revised norms for the Scheme for Development of Solar

Parks and Ultra Mega Solar Power Projects with the production

target enhancement to 40,000 MW from the present 20,000

MW.

ii. Cabinet has given its approval for signing of a Memorandum of

Understanding (MoU) between India and Australia for

promotion and development of cooperation in civil aviation

security.

iii. Cabinet has approved the signing of Air Services

Agreement (ASA) between India and Greece which has the

potential to spur greater trade, investment, tourism and cultural

exchange also in line government‘s developments in the civil

aviation sector.

iv. Cabinet also approved the signing of Agreement

between India and Poland on cooperation in the field of

agriculture and allied sectors.

v. Union Defence Ministry has approved 38 additional coastal

radar stations with the cost of Rs 800 crore to enhance coastal

surveillance on India‘ over 7500 km long line.

vi. The Cabinet Committee of Economic Affairs (CCEA) approved

investment proposal for generation component of 900 MW Arun-3

Hydro Electric Project in Nepal by state owned SJVN Limited.

http://www.affairscloud.com/cabinet-approvals-february-22-2017/



Gujarat Govt Presents Budget With No New Taxes In Poll

Year

i. The BJP Administration in Gujarat presented a main stream

budget with overall layout of Rs 1,72,179 crore for 2017-

18, which is Rs 20,327 crore more than last year.

ii. This budget comes ahead of Poll is due in the state this year

that comes with a slew of welfare initiatives and no new taxes.

iii. While Presenting Budget Finance Minister Nitin Patel in the

Assembly the minister stated that the state has overall surplus of

Rs 239.16 crore while the revenue surplus is estimated at Rs

6,065.60 crore.

iv. As far as Tax is concerned he keeps it with a pause as he did

not propose any increase,especially in the Value Added Tax

(VAT), as GST will be implemented shortly.

v. The Minister Kept Agriculture, irrigation and rural development

with highest share of 21.88 per cent in the developmental

expenditure, followed by education and sports (21.17 per cent),

water supply, housing and urban development (16.72 per cent)

and energy, industry and minerals (10.42 per cent).

vi. In the backdrop of Demonetization besides keeping Tax rates

unchanged he also emphasized Education sector with allocations

this time with Rs 25,000 crore.

National Biodiversity Congress 2017 held in Kerala

Third National Biodiversity Congress (NBC) 2017 held

Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala on February 22, 2017



♦ Aim: To identify practical evidence based case studies at

regional level to support the plan of action

♦ Theme: ―Mainstreaming Biodiversity for Sustainable

Development‖ with four sub-themes.

Highlights of events :

i. NBC is hosted by the Kerala State Biodiversity Board

ii. This year event is comprises of programmes including

conference, exhibition, capacity building workshops and Childrens

Biodiversity Congress.

iii. National Biodiversity Conference, governed by a national

advisory committee comprising biodiversity conservation experts

on 23rd and 24th February as a part of National Biodiversity

Congress (NBC).

iv. A galaxy of renowned national experts in the field of

biodiversity conservation and Members of academic and research

institutions, civil society, biodiversity management committees,

NGOs, farmers, students, corporates are participated in the

event.

India aims to bring broadband to every village by 2018

i. Union government aims to bring high-speed digital

connectivity to every village by 2018 and is profound to share

proficiency in the area with other nations.

ii. Union Department of Telecom, under the Universal Services

Obligation (USO) fund, is working to bring highs peed

broadband to every village in the country by 2018.



iii. The Centre is working to bring the game changing impact of

technology to all our six lakh villages and the optical fibre

network to all rural areas.

INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS

India, China to hold strategic dialogue to boost bilateral

ties

i. Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar attended the first India-

China Strategic Dialogue to be held in Beijing to reinforce

bilateral ties amid hectic meetings to resolve differences over

Beijing‘s reluctance to support India‘s NSG bid as well as a UN

ban on JeM chief Masood Azhar.

ii. The two sides discussed all issues of mutual concern and

interest including friction point and expressed strong commitment

to develop positive relations despite differences..

iii. Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar along with China‘s Executive

Vice Foreign Minister Zhang Yesui held the strategic dialogue

and also held talks with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi.

China :

♦ Capital: Beijing

♦ Currency: Renminbi

BANKING & FINANCE



EPFO introduces Single Page Composite Claim Form

i. Employees‘ Provident Fund Organization (EPFO), the retirement

body of India introduced single page composite claim form that

enable its subscribers to withdraw money from their PF account

at an ease.

ii. Upon this introduction subscribers are not required to file other

relevant documents adhering to the new rules released by EPFO

as earlier, employees/subscribers were supposed to ll and submit

three different forms to EPFO for withdrawing provident fund for

dierent purposes

iii. The form does not require employers’ attestation, but the

facility can be availed only for those subscribers whose Aadhaar

number and bank account details are seeded with their Universal

Account Number (UAN).

iv. The new single-page form can be submitted with the

attestation of employers. In this new form, no revenue stamp

of Re 1 is required in both the cases whether you are filling

Aadhaar-based composite form or the non-Aadhaar based

composite form.

Bharat Financial Launches Instant Microloan Facility

i. Hyderabad based non-banking finance company Microfinance

institution Bharat Financial Inclusion Ltd launched an instant

loan approval at a village near Bassi in Jaipur district, Rajasthan

ii. The objective of this initiative to help rural areas embrace

cashless transactions. The loan amount will be deposited



directly to the loanees bank account.

iii. The loan facility based on a three-step verification process of

Aadhar-based eKYC, credit bureau authentication and eSign

and non collateral loans up to Rs 60,000 for one year to rural

women.

iv. It will be rolled out by June 2017 in all microfinance

companys nationwide network with several being in Rajasthan,

Bihar and Delhi.

Bharat Financial Inclusion Ltd :

♦ Founder: Vikram Akula

♦ Founded: 1998

♦ Headquarters: Hyderabad

SIDBI, Vijaya Bank combine to provide concessional loans

to micro, small units

i. Lucknow based Small Industries Development Bank of India

(SIDBI) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with

Bengaluru based Vijaya Bank for providing concessional finance

to micro and small enterprises (MSEs).

ii. Aim: To promote and strengthen the units in the MSE

segment

iii. The MoU also expect joint financing/co-financing of MSMEs for

meeting capital expenditure under the ‗SIDBI Make in India

Soft Loan Fund for Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises’

scheme at concessional rate of 9.60 per cent, along with

working capital from Vijaya Bank.



iv. The resources and expertise of SIDBI in MSME financing and

the outreach of Vijaya Bank are proposed to be leveraged

Vijaya Bank :

♦ Headquarters: Bengaluru

♦ CEO: Kishore Kumar Sansi

♦ Founded: 1931

♦ Tagline :A friend u can bank on

ICRA says GVA growth to decline by 70 bps to 6.2% in Q3

i. Guragon based Domestic rating agency ICRA reported

that the gross value added (GVA) is set to slip to 6.2 per

cent in the third quarter from 6.9 per cent and GDP growth will

decline to 6.5 per cent from 7.2 per cent.

ii. Services sector is expected to ease to 8 per cent from 9.1 per

cent in line with moderation in fuel demand following the note

ban.

iii. Industrial growth is set to more than halve to 4 per

cent from 8.6 per cent, led by manufacturing, construction and

mining and quarrying.

iv. The annual growth of systemic deposits improved to 15.2 per

cent as of December 23, 2016 from 10.2 per cent.

ICRA :

♦ ICRA Limited (ICRA) is an Indian independent and professional

investment information and credit rating agency.

♦ It was a joint-venture between Moody‘s and various Indian

commercial banks and financial services companies.



♦ Headquarters Gurgaon

♦ CEO: Naresh Takkar

BUSINESS

Britannia signs MoU with Greece’s Chipita for joint venture

in India

i. Bangalore based Indian food-products

corporation Britannia has signed an MoU with Greece‘s cakes

and confectionery major Chipita for exploring certain business

opportunities on February 22, 2017.

ii. This is the first joint venture after Britania‘s tie-up with New

Zealand‘s Fonterra Dairy and and dairy giant Groupe Danone SA

dissolved in 2009

Chipita:

♦ Chipita S.A. is a food company in Greece. It operates in 66

countries. It is already operating in India.

♦ Chipita‘s brands include 7Days, Molto, Fineti and Chipicao,

spanning categories such as croissants, cakes, biscuits, jams and

confectionery.

Britannia :

♦ It sells its Britannia and Tiger brands of biscuit throughout India

♦ CEO: Varun Berry

♦ Headquarters: Bengaluru



Oricon to set up Rs 100-crore facility for packaging

products in Odisha

i. Oricon Enterprises Ltd (OEL) is planned to build a

manufacturing facility in Odisha with an investments of Rs 100

crores

ii. This facility will be used to manufacture new packaging

products.

Oricon :

Oricon Enterprises Ltd is the flagship company of Parijat

Enterprises has interests in Real Estate, Marine Logistics,

Packaging, Petrochemicals and Automobile Dealership

Odisha :

♦ Assembly seats – 147 (Unicameral)

♦ Lok Sabha seats – 21

♦ Rajya sabha seats – 10

Nasscom signs MoU with ITAC Japan

i. The National Association of Software and Services Companies

(NASSCOM) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding(MoU)

with the IoT Acceleration Consortium (ITAC) Japan on

February 22, 2017

Aim: To collaborate to address digital technology shifts and

accelerate IoT (Internet of Things) adoption at a global level

across the industry.

ii. NASSCOM and ITAC will exchange statistics and dynamic

practices related to the respective IoT industries and will look at



facilitating exchange programs for association members.

iii. Both the organisations will share information on the

ecosystem, new practices and technological developments.

Japan :

♦ Capital: Tokyo

♦ Currency: Japanese yen

♦ Prime minister: Shinzō Abe

APPOINTMENTS & RESIGNS

Azerbaijan Prez named Mehriban Aliyeva as country’s First

Vice President

i. Azerbaijan‘s president Ilham Aliyev has named his

wife Mehriban Aliyeva(52) as Azerbaijan‘s first vice-

president on February 21, 2017

ii. Prior to this, Aliyeva has served previously as alawmaker and

headed a charity.

iii. She become the country‘s first powerful lady and second most

powerful person in Azerbaijan.

Azerbaijan :

♦ Capital: Baku

♦ Currency: Azerbaijani manat

FreeCharge CEO Govind Rajan Quits

i. The chief executive officer of Jasper Infotech-owned digital

payments platform FreeCharge,Govind Rajan has submitted his



resigned. It was accepted by the company on February 22, 2017.

ii. Snapdeal‘s chief strategy and investment officer, Jason

Kothari will oversee the business operations of FreeCharge.

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

AAI, IATA launch e-billing solution SKYREV360 for airport

operators

i. The state run Airports Authority of India, along with

International Air Transport Association (IATA) launched its e-

billing solution for airport operators and air navigation services

providers across the world.

ii. The e-billing solution, SKYREV360 developed by in-house

experts the electronic billing solution for data, e-invoicing and

collection of tariff from the airlines is being used by the AAI for

several years now.

iii. The solution launched by Civil Aviation Minister Ashok

Gajapthi Raju, comprises data gathering, invoicing and collection.

iv. This solution will also help in the reduction in disputes, easy

integration with all external systems and curtailing the debt

collection period to the minimum.

Russian supply ship launched to International Space

Station

i. Russia successfully launched an unmanned spacecraft taking

food and equipment to the International Space Station after the



previous such ship crashed to Earth shortly after launch in

December.

ii. A Soyuz-U booster rocket carrying the Progress cargo

ship MS-05 spacecraft blasted off as scheduled from the

Russian-leased Baikonur launch complex in Kazakhstan.

iii. Russia‘s launch went ahead without a snag and the spacecraft

go into a designated primary orbit en route to the space outpost.

ENVIRONMENT

Four New Species Of World’s Smallest Frogs Discovered In

The Western Ghat

i. Noted Scientist also called Frogman of India as professor SD

Biju from Delhi University (DU) and his team discovered four new

miniature species, now listed among the smallest known frogs in

the world.

ii. This findings surprised the scientists as the relative abundance

of these new miniature species of seven new frog species

belonging to the genus Nyctibatrachus, commonly known as

Night Frogs in the Western Ghats global biodiversity hotspot in

India.

iii. Among the findings four out of seven of the new species are

miniature-sized frogs (12.2-15.4 mm), which can comfortably sit

on a coin or a thumbnail.These are among the smallest known

frogs in the world.



SPORTS

India to host 2019 Combined World Cup for shooting

i. The National Rifle Association of India(NRAI) announced that

India will be hosting theCombined World Cup for shooting in

2019 during the meeting held in New Delhi.

ii. Combined World Cup will a qualifying event for the 2020

Tokyo Olympics. It will comprises all the three categories —

shotgun, rifle and pistol.

India pip South Africa in thrilling Women’s World Cup

qualifier final

i. Indian Women‘s team pipped South African Women‘s by one

wicket in a crunch Women‘s cricket World Cup qualifier final at

the P. Sara Oval in Colombo after All round show

from Harmanpreet Kaur that helped the side to deliver the

victory.

ii. South elected to bat first after winning the toss notably Mignon

du Preez (40), Lizelle Lee (37), skipper Dane Van Niekerk

(37)scored to post decent 244 in 49.4 overs.

iii. India chase was started smooth with opener Mona Meshram

(59) and Deepti Sharma (71) striking a 124-run second wicket

stand. The team started losing wickets there on before

Harmanpreet‘s run-a-ball unbeaten 41 runs that made great relief

for the side.



Adidas Ties Up With FIFA U-17 World Cup For Mission XI

Million

i. German Sportswear giant Adidas announced its ties up

with FIFA U-17 World Cup Local Organising Committee for

the Mission XI Million programme.

ii. Adidas will help to reach out to the youth across India to

increase participation in footballand create a platform for them

to develop their skills.

iii. It will conduct exclusive master-classes for the participants at

the Mission XI Million festivals, featuring a 360 degree approach

to improve their skills in the sport.

Mission XI Million:

♦ Mission XI Million isthe biggest school sport outreach

programme was launched by the sports minister Vijay Goel

♦ Aim : To encourage the school students to make children play

football games on regular basis.

OBITUARY

Russia’s UN envoy Vitaly Churkin dead at 64

i. Russia‘s ambassador to the United Nations, Vitaly Churkin has

died in New York City. He was 64.

ii. Churkin has been Russia‘s envoy at the United Nations for a

little over a decade and was considered Moscow’s great

champion at the UN.

iii. He had served as foreign ministry spokesman in the early



1990s and as special envoy to the former Yugoslavia.

Russia:

♦ Capital: Moscow

♦ Currency: Russian ruble

♦ President: Vladimir Putin

Noted bureaucrat V. K. Srinivasan passes away

i. Noted bureaucrat, columnist and director of the Institute of

Economic Studies, V. K. Srinivasan was passed away in

Hyderabad. He was 76.

ii. Srinivasan is a 1963-batch IAS officer, he was known for his

outspokenness, and had played in league division in Cricket in

Chennai, the then Madras State.

iii. He served as Collector of Karimnagar and Anantapur districts

and also served in Ministry of Finance

iv. He was closely involved with the activities of the Federation of

AP Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FAPCCI). He chaired

many committees, which examined government policy and also in

selection of excellence awards for industries.

v. He was also named Director of the Institute of Economic

Studies, which brought out quite a few studies and reports on

various aspects of the state and national economy.

BOOKS & AUTHORS



Amarinder Singh’s Biography ‘The People’s Maharaja’

Released

Punjab Congress chief Amarinder Singh‘s biography, ‗The

People’s Maharaja‗, written byKhushwant Singh was released

on February 21, 2017 in Chandigarh.

About Amarinder Singh :

i. Captain Amarinder Singh is an Indian politician of the Indian

National Congress.

ii. He was Chief Minister of Punjab from 2002 to 2007.Presently,

he is the sitting President of the Punjab Pradesh Congress

Committee (PPCC).

iii. He was also the Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the 16th

Lok Sabha till 2016,

indian affairs cabinet approvals on february 22, 2017 i. … affairs... · 2017-02-25 ·...

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