Current Affairs Daily Digest – August 03′ 2017

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  1. Dhanraj Pillay to be awarded with Bharat Gaurav – East Bengal’s highest honour

Former India hockey captain Dhanraj Pillay will be awarded with East Bengal football club’s highest honour – Bharat Gaurav on their foundation day.

Gurwinder Singh won the Footballer of theYear award. Boddupalli Amit was awarded as the Cricketer of the Year.

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 honored with lifetime achievement awards.

  1. Sanjaya Baru new secretary general of FICCI

Sanjaya Baru, who was media advisor to former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, has been named new secretary general of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI).

He succeeds A Didar Singh, who served as Secretary General for 5 years.

The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) is an association of business organizations in India.

  1. Cabinet to take up scrapping of no-detention policy in schools

States will soon be able to conduct exams for students of class 5 and 8 who fail in the annual exams to give them another chance to pass with the Union cabinet likely to take up a proposal of scrapping the ‘no-detention policy’.

Under the proposal, students of classes 5 to 8 who do not pass the examination in March will be given a chance in May or June.

An enabling provision will be made in the RTE amendment bill that will allow states to conduct examinations in class 5 and class 8 and detain students if they fail.

  1. Cabinet approves MoU between india-brics to set up BRICS Agriculture research platform

Cabinet has approved a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between India and BRICs countries to set up BRICS Agriculture Research Platform

The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi has given its approval for a MoU signed among India and various BRICs countries for establishment of the BRICS Agriculture Research Platform (BRICS-ARP).

  1. CCEA approves new rail tracks in Tamil Nadu, Kerala

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) has approved doubling of tracks of three railway lines and their electrification in Tamil Nadu and Kerala.

The Committee has approved the constructionof a electrified second line between Vanchi-Maniyachchi-Nagercoil via Tirunelveli, Madurai-Vanchi and Maniyachchi-Tuticorin, and Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala and Kanyakumari.

The estimated cost of the Vanchi-Maniyachchi-Nagercoil via Tirunelveli project will be Rs 1,003.94 crores. All the three projects are expected to be completed by the year2020-2021.

  1. Lok sabha passes bills to extend GST to J&K

The Lok Sabha has passed legislation to extend the Goods and Services Tax (GST) to Jammu and Kashmir, making it part of the “one nation, one tax” regime.

The first bill provides for the extension of the Central Goods and Services Tax (CGST) Act, 2017 to Jammu and Kashmir.

Under this different constitution procedure, President Pranab Mukherjee introduced two ordinances regarding the introduction of the GST.

  1. India Permitted To Construct Kishanganga, Ratle Projects: World Bank

India is permitted to construct hydroelectric power facilities on these rivers subject to constraints specified in Annexures to the treaty.

Under the Indus Waters Treaty, India is permitted to construct hydroelectric power facilities on tributaries of the Jhelum and Chenab rivers with certain restrictions, the World Bank has said.

Pakistan opposes the construction of the Kishanganga (330 megawatts) and Ratle (850 megawatts) hydroelectric power plants being built by India, it said in a fact sheet issued at the conclusion of secretary-level talks between the two countries over the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT).

  1. CIC reconstitutes bench to hear complaints against political parties

Chief Information Commissioner R K Mathur has constituted a larger bench to hear complaints against six national political parties not adhering to the CIC order bringing them within the ambit of the RTI Act.

The bench will replace a three-member panel headed by Sridhar Acharyulu which was hearing the matter since July 22, 2016 until one of its members Bimal Julka decided to recuse himself citing workload. After his recusal, Mathur had put the matter in abeyance till further notice.

  1. SBI, Samsung collaborate to advance Digital India initiative

The State Bank of India (SBI) and Samsung India announced the availability of Samsung Pay for higher variants of SBI debit card, giving a major boost to government’s ‘Digital India’ initiative.

It is currently available on Samsung smart phones. It enables consumers to make offline payments without the need for a physical Card.

It works on 2.5 million Point of Sale (POS) Card machines across the country through its Magnetic Secure Transmission (MST) technology.

  1. RBI widens Basel-III-compliant asset base of banks

Ahead of the implementation of the stringent capital requirements under the Basel-III regime from 2019, the Reserve Bank amended a slew of previous regulations on the same, helping banks shore up their capital buffers and improve liquidity coverage ratios.

Accordingly, the new amendments widen the assets of banks such as the excess CRR; excess G-secs holdings in SLR; and also excess g-secs under marginal standing facility, which all would now be included in the stock of liquid assets without any limit as also without applying any haircut, the central bank said in a notification.

  1. SEBI forms committee on fair market conduct

Regulator Sebi has set up a committee on ‘fair market conduct’ which will suggest measures for improving surveillance of the markets and strengthen rules for algo trades, among other norms.

The panel, under the chairmanship of former law secretary T K Viswanathan, would suggest measures for improvement in PIT (Prohibition of Insider Trading) norms, PFTUP (Prohibition of Fraudulent and Unfair Trade Practices) regulations and mainly related to ‘trading plans’ and handling of  unpublished price sensitive information’ during takeovers.

  1. Donald Trump signs Russia sanctions Bill into law

U.S. President Donald Trump has signed legislation imposing new sanctions on Russia into law,

The U.S. Congress voted last week by overwhelming margins for sanctions to punish the Russian government over interference in the 2016 presidential election, the annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea and other perceived violations of international norms.

The new law allows Congress, which passed the measure to punish Russia over interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election and the annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea, to halt any effort by Trump to ease sanctions on Russia.

  1. BRICS trade ministers meet concludes in Shanghai

The 7th Meeting of Brazil Russia India China and South Africa (BRICS) Countries with the corresponding Trade Ministers was held in Shanghai, China.

A six-member delegation led by Commerce and Industry Minister Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman along with Ambassador J.S. Deepak, PR to WTO participated in the meetings.

Mr. Zhong Shan, Minister of Commerce from China, presided over the meetings. The 8th BRICS Summit held on 16th October 2016 at Goa.

 

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