Current Affairs Daily Digest – April 17 2019
1. India to partner with Japan and UAE to set up two projects in Africa
India is joining hands with Japan and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to implement two projects in Africa as it seeks to extend its footprint on the continent where strategic rival China has made deep inroads.
While India will build a cancer hospital in Kenya in collaboration with Japan, it will partner with the UAE to set up an information and communications technology (ICT) centre in Ethiopia, said the two people cited above, requesting anonymity.
2. ADB committed $3 billion in sovereign loans to India in 2018; highest since 1986
ADB committed to provide USD 3 billion in sovereign loans to India in 2018, the highest level of assistance since sovereign operations began in the country in 1986, said the annual report of multilateral lending agency.
In all, the Asian Development Bank (ADB), owned by 68 member countries, committed a total of USD 3.88 billion, including sovereign loans and co-financing during the year ended December 2018.
The demand for ADB assistance continued to grow in 2018. New commitments included USD 21.6 billion in loans, grants and investments from ADB’s own resources, exceeding the target of USD 19.71 billion and up 10 per cent from 2017.
3. Mithali Raj named goodwill ambassador for Street Child Cricket World Cup
Ace cricketer Mithali Raj has been named as the goodwill ambassador of the Indian team for the Street Child Cricket World Cup. Captain of India’s woman ODI side, Mithali joins former captain Saurav Ganguly and IPL franchise Rajasthan Royals in supporting the team.
4. Bajaj Finserv launches industry first proposition to pay electricity bill on EMIs
Bajaj Finserv through its lending arm Bajaj Finance Ltd. has launched a unique proposition through its campaign #BijliOnEMI wherein customers buying air-conditioners on EMI can avail an Insta Credit loan in their Bajaj Finserv Wallet which they can use to pay their electricity bills on EMI.
The campaign is aimed to help their customers finance the high electricity bills that may arise due to extensive usage of conditioners during summer.
5. Fincare Small Finance Bank Awarded the Celent Model Bank 2019 Award
Fincare Small Finance Bank (SFB) has been awarded the prestigious Celent Model Bank 2019 Award in the category of Financial Inclusion, for ‘Redesigning Lending to Reach Small Businesses’. The award recognizes LAP (Loans Against Property) D.Lite, a tab-based solution designed and developed in-house by Fincare SFB for origination and instant underwriting of loans against property targeted at micro and small enterprises.
The Award was announced on the 12th of April, 2019 at the Innovation & Insight Day organized by Celent in New York. LAP D.Lite is one of the 22 initiatives from around the world to receive this award, which featured 140 nominations from 80 institutions from 30 countries.
6. World Hemophilia Day: April 17
World Hemophilia Day is held annually on April 17 by the WFH. It is an awareness day for hemophilia and other bleeding disorders, which also serves to raise funds and attract volunteers for the WFH. It was started in 1989; April 17 was chosen in honor of Frank Schnabel’s birthday.
The theme for 2019 World Hemophilia Day is “Reaching out – connect to your community”.
7. Rushdie’s new novel inspired by ‘Don Quixote’, to release in Aug
Salman Rushdie’s new novel is inspired by the classic “Don Quixote” and is the story of an ageing travelling salesman who falls in love with a TV star and sets off to drive across America on a quest to prove himself worthy of her hand.
This book “Quichotte”, acquired by Penguin Random House India, will be published in India under the Hamish Hamilton imprint in August.
8. Mohammed Ishtaye sworn in as new Palestinian PM
New Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammed Ishtaye and his cabinet members were sworn in before President Mahmoud Abbas at his headquarters in the West Bank city of Ramallah .
The 18th Palestinian government since the establishment of the Palestinian Authrity in 1995 was sworn in according to a presidential decree issued by Abbas, Xinhua news agency reported.
9. IMF, World Bank Launches Token for Crypto Orientation
The World Bank in collaboration with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has officially launched a cryptocurrency token dubbed “Learning Coin.” The token is set to lay a better knowledge for their staff how the distributed ledger technology works.
10. Canara Bank becomes the first public sector bank in India to meet RBI’s EMV mandate
ACI Worldwide, a global provider of realtime electronic payment and banking solutions, announced that Canara Bank has successfully rolled out major new functionality to support EMV card acquiring across its ATM network and Aadhaar Authentication, leveraging ACI’s UP Retail Payments solution to achieve market firsts.
Canara Bank, one of India’s largest public sector banks with nearly 6,300 branches and a network of more than 10,000 ATMs, is the first public sector bank to shift to EMV chip and PIN for card present transactions across the country’s vast ATM network.
11. IDBI Bank launches paperless account opening facility for NRIs
IDBI Bank has launched the ‘NRI-Insta-Online’ account-opening process for NRIs residing in Financial Action Task Force (FATF) member countries. The person will not be required to furnish physical documents and KYC proofs for opening an account with the bank.
12. Mukesh Ambani, Arundhati Katju, Menaka Guruswamy among TIME’s list of 100 most influential people
Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani and public-interest litigators Arundhati Katju and Menaka Guruswamy, who spearheaded a historic legal battle for LGBTQ rights in India, are among the Indians who have been named by TIME magazine in its prestigious list of the 100 most influential people in the world.
The Time 100 Most Influential People 2019 list was released Wednesday, naming the world’s most influential pioneers, leaders, titans, artists and icons of the year.
The list includes Indian-American comedian and TV host Hasan Minhaj, US President Donald Trump, Pope Francis, Chinese President Xi Jinping, Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan, iconic golfer Tiger Woods and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg.
13. The Indian and Vietnamese Navies Conclude Bilateral Exercise
The second edition of the bilateral maritime exercise between Indian Navy and Vietnam Peoples’ Navy (IN – VPN BILAT EX) was held off Cam Ranh Bay in Vietnam from April 13 to April 16, 2019.
IN Ships Kolkata participated in the exercise comprising of a harbour and a sea phase.
