Current Affairs Daily Digest – April 5 2019
1. ED attaches immovable assets valued of M/s Udaipur Entertainment World Pvt. Ltd.
Enforcement Directorate provisionally attached immovable assets valued at 83.92 crore rupees of M/s. Udaipur Entertainment World Pvt. Ltd. in a bank Fraud Case.
Enforcement Directorate had initiated investigation under Prevention of Money Laundering Act,PMLA based on the FIR and charge sheet filed by CBI against the officials of Syndicate Bank and Others.
Investigation revealed that during 2011 to 2016, master mind of the fraud, Bharat Bomb, a Chartered Accountant, in collusion with bank officials of Syndicate Bank had defrauded the bank to the tune of 1055 crore rupees.
2. Vice President to inaugurate 3-day National Cardiology Conference in Lucknow
Vice President M. Venkaiah Naidu is visiting Lucknow where he will be the chief guest at National Cardiology Conference 2019 being held at Sanjay Gandhi Post Graduate Institute of medical sciences.
Vice President will inaugurate the 3-day conference organised by Dept of Cardiology in which leading national and international experts from Europe, USA, Japan, Singapore South Korea, Indonesia and Australia will deliberate on the latest topics of Interventional cardiology and cutting edge technology.
The conference being held for the first time in Uttar Pradesh offers an opportunity to showcase newer innovations in Cardiology that can help deliver cost-effective cardiology care to patients.
3. Secretary, MoHUA inaugurates seminar on Greenery & Landscaping in New Delhi
Secretary, Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, Durga Shankar Misra inaugurated a seminar on Greenery and Landscaping in New Delhi . The day-long seminar, being organised by the Central Public Works Department, will hold deliberations on the effective measures to increase green cover across the country.
4. Russian delegation meets I&B Secretary in New Delhi
A Russian delegation led by the Russian Deputy Minister of Digital Development, Communications and Mass Media, Alexey Volin met Information and Broadcasting Secretary Amit Khare in New Delhi.
During the meeting, it was mutually agreed that an annual Indo-Russian Forum for Media Cooperation be organized alternately in India and Russia to institutionalize the process of cooperation between the two countries in the media and entertainment sector.
5. South Korea declares national disaster after massive blaze engulfs 5 cities
The South Korean government declared a state of national disaster over the massive blaze that engulfed five cities and counties along the northeastern coast. One person died after being hit by a falling object and 11 were wounded in the blaze. Thousands of residents were ordered to evacuate overnight.
6. 7th Foreign Office consultations between India and Italy held in Delhi
The 7th Foreign Office consultations between India and Italy were held in New Delhi . The Indian side was led by Secretary (West), Ministry of External Affairs, A. Gitesh Sarma. The Italian side was led by Director General of Global Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Italy, Luca Sabbatucci.
In a release, the External Affairs Minister said these consultations provided an opportunity to review the follow-up actions taken after the visit of Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte in October last year as well as the entire range of bilateral relations, including political, defence, scientific, economic and commercial ties.
7. Nepal-India Franchise Investment Expo and Conclave to be held in Kathmandu from May 15
Nepal-India Franchise Investment Expo and Conclave will be held in Kathmandu from 15th to 16th May, 2019. The event primarily focuses on building the relations between India and Nepal through entrereneurship development.
The conclave is organised by Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FNCCI) in association with Embassy of India and Franchise India.
According to Indian Ambassador Manjeev Singh Puri the summit will help in bringing the leading Indian iconic brands to Nepal.
8. Cholera vaccinations launched in post-cyclone Mozambique
In Mozambique, a vaccination campaign has been launched after Cyclone Idai battered the nation and unleashed an outbreak of cholera.
International relief agencies and the Health Ministry are aiming to immunise nearly 9,00,000 people against the water-borne intestinal disease, which has already killed two people and infected more than 1,400. The vaccinations will be administered at health centres, shelters for the displaced, and at schools and markets.
9. RBI tweaks LCR norms to boost liquidity
In a bid to further improve the cash position of banks, RBI has tweaked liquidity coverage ratio (LCR) norms to provide an additional 2 per cent window to lenders. RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das said, this move will harmonise the liquidity requirements of banks and release additional money for lending.
LCR indicates the proportion of highly liquid assets held by banks to ensure their ability to meet short-term obligations.
10. CS Rajan Named Managing Director Of IL&FS
Chandra Shekhar Rajan, who was the non-executive director of IL&FS for the last six months, was appointed the company’s managing director, IL&FS non-executive chairman Uday Kotak said .
So far, Vineet Nayyar was the executive vice chairman and managing director of the company. He would now continue to be the executive vice chairman.
11. Micromax Co-founder Rahul Sharma to Launch Revolt Electric Motorcycle in June 2019
Homegrown entrepreneur Rahul Sharma has announced that his new venture, Revolt Intellicorp, will be launching an AI-enabled motorcycle in June 2019. Sharma said that he aims to gain a double-digit market share with this new venture. The company says that this new venture has been started with Rahul’s personal investment, and it will be looking for its first investment soon as growth capital.
12. BSNL Gets In-Flight Connectivity Licence, On-Air Services to Commence Soon
Bharatiya Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) has received a licence from the Department of Telecommunications to provide Internet and mobile services on flights. BSNL and its satellite partner, Inmarsat, will be able to offer in-flight connectivity to airlines later this year.
Inmarsat owns and operates the GX Aviation service, which enables passengers to browse the internet, stream videos, check social media during flights. According to the rules, passengers can make phone calls or use the Internet when a flight is at a minimum height of 3,000m in Indian airspace to avoid interference with terrestrial mobile networks.
13. Fitch keeps India’s rating unchanged for 13th year
Global ratings agency Fitch today retained India’s sovereign rating at ‘BBB-’, the lowest investment grade, with stable outlook, saying a weak fiscal position continues to constrain its rating.
This is the 13th year in a row that global rating agency Fitch has rated India at ‘BBB-’. It had last upgraded India’s sovereign rating from ‘BB+’ to ‘BBB-’ with a stable outlook on August 1, 2006.
Fitch said a robust growth outlook continues to support India’s credit profile and expects the country to grow at 6.8% to 7.1% in the current fiscal.
14. Paytm Money receives Sebi approval to start stock broking services
The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has given approval to Paytm Money — the investment and wealth management platform of the mobile payments company — to start offering broking services. it had applied for the licence in October last year.
Paytm Money has also received membership of NSE and BSE.
To handle the broking operations, Paytm Money is looking to set up a team to deal with settlements, trade, risks, treasury and other functions of a broking house. The broking services will allow investors to trade in the cash segment, derivatives, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), among other listed entities.
15. AIIB approves loans for 2 projects in Sri Lanka
The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) has approved loans worth $280 million for its first two projects in Sri Lanka, aimed at improving living conditions in the country.
A $200 million loan will improve housing conditions for low-income communities in Colombo by building affordable housing and redeveloping land while another loan of $80 million will be used to reduce the risk and damage from landslides in Sri Lanka.
16. Bombay High Court’s new CJ to take over on 7th March
Maharashtra Governor C. V. Rao will swear-in the current Rajasthan High Court Chief Justice Pradeep Nandrajog, as the new Chief Justice of Bombay High Court. He will take over from the present Chief Justice of the Bombay High Court Justice Naresh Harishchandra Patil who retires on Saturday.
An alumnus of Delhi University, the Chief Justice-designate, Justice Nandrajog obtained his law degree in 1981 and was enrolled as an advocate with the Bar Council of Delhi that year.
17. Rahmat, Naib, Rashid given leadership roles for Afghanistan
Ahead of the World Cup, the Afghanistan Cricket Board has handed leadership roles to Rahmat Shah, Gulbadin Naib and Rashid Khan taking charge of the Test, ODI and T20I teams respectively.
18. Nasscom appoints WNS’s Keshav Murugesh its Chairman
The Indian IT industry’s apex body Nassccom said WNS global services’ Chief Executive Keshav Murugesh will be its new chairman for the fiscal 2019-20.
Global software services’ Chief Operating Officer U.B. Pravin Rao will be the new Vice Chairman of Nasscom for FY20.
19. Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) inks an MoU with IIT, Delhi
The Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) has inked a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Indian Institute of Technology in Delhi to collaborate in the field of standardisation and conformity assessment. The MoU was signed by IIT Delhi Director Professor V Ramgopal Rao and Director General of BIS Surina Rajan.
BIS and IIT Delhi have also agreed to set up a Centre of Excellence in the field of standardization, testing and conformity assessment.
According to the MoU, IIT Delhi will provide infrastructure support for research and development projects of relevance to standardisation and BIS will provide financial support to IIT Delhi for projects.
20. Karnataka Bank in pact with Bharti AXA
Karnataka Bank has entered into a memorandum of understanding with Bharti AXA Life Insurance Company to distribute the latter’s life insurance products. the bank will be able to provide a wide choice of life insurance products to its customers across 836 branches, supported by the products of Bharti AXA Life Insurance Company.
This is the third such tie-up by the bank after PNB MetLife Life Insurance Company and LIC of India, both of which continue to provide insurance solutions to the customers of Karnataka Bank.
21. BSE, India INX become first Indian exchanges to sign MoU with Moscow Exchange
BSE (earlier known as Bombay Stock Exchange) and India International Exchange (India INX) have signed a memorandum of understanding with Moscow Exchange (MOEX) to connect investor community and companies in both countries besides allowing a capital formation platform.
BSE and India INX are the first Indian exchanges to enter into the MoU with Moscow exchange.
The exchange companies have agreed to the secondment of senior personnel to enhance understanding of activities in each other’s market. They will conduct joint research to explore the possibility of further cooperating in the area of cross-listing of derivative products, exchange traded fund, dual listing and fixed income product cooperation.
22. Lakshmi Vilas Bank board approves merger with Indiabulls Housing Finance
Private sector lender Lakshmi Vilas Bank Ltd (LVB) said that its board had approved a merger with mortgage financier Indiabulls Housing Finance Ltd. According to the filing, the swap ratio for the merger has been fixed at 1:014, which means that for every 100 shares of LVB held by shareholders, they will be entitled to receive 14 shares of Indiabulls Housing Finance.
The merger is subject to the receipt of approval from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and all other regulatory approvals.
23. Neeraj, Sindhu picked for ESPN India Multi-Sport Awards
Olympic silver medallist P.V. Sindhu and star javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra were named as female and male sportsperson of the year in the ESPN India Multi-Sport Awards for their achievements in 2018.
Sindhu got the nod for the top women’s award for her season-ending BWF World Tour Finals tournament in China and her impressive performance at the 2018 World Championships. Neeraj was picked for the top men’s award for his gold at 2018 Commonwealth Games and Asian Games, setting the national record of 88.06m.
ESPN Multi-Sport awards recognised achievements across 11 categories, of which winners across 10 categories were selected by an independent 14-member jury.
The Award Winners :
Sportsperson of the Year (Male) – Neeraj Chopra (athletics)
Sportsperson of the Year (Female) – P V Sindhu (badminton)
Comeback of the Year – Saina Nehwal (badminton)
Coach of the Year – Jaspal Rana (shooting)
Emerging Sportsperson of the Year – Saurabh Chaudhary (shooting)
Team of the Year – Women’s team (table tennis)
Match of the Year – Amit Panghal vs Hasanboy Dusmatov (boxing)
Differently-abled athlete of the Year – Ekta Bhyan (para-athletics)
Moment of the Year – Women’s 4x400m relay
Lifetime Achievement Award – Pradip Kumar Banerjee (football).
