Current Affairs - August 17, 2017 Current Affairs

Brazilian star Neymar has become a goodwill ambassador for Handicap International on Monday, pledging to work for millions who are 'less visible' but deserve equality. Neymar was announced as a goodwill ambassador outside the United Nations in Geneva.

Preethi Srinivasan, the former State under-19 cricket captain, has bestowed with the 2017 Kalpana Chawla Award for courage and daring enterprise from Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami during the 71st Independence Day celebrations at Fort St. George in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. Beside her, the Government of Tamil Nadu has also awarded S.P. Thyagarajan with the APJ Abdul Kalam award for discovering a patented drug to treat hepatitis B.

City Union Bank customers can generate a credit card online for free for its Net banking customers. All that a customer has to do is log on to his/her net banking account and seek a credit card. Only, the customer must have a fixed deposit with the bank. "We will mark a lien on the FD. The customer will be allowed a credit limit of up to 80 per cent of the deposit or a maximum of Rs 3 lakh.

According to global leader in broadband testing Ookla, Norway has the fastest mobile Internet in the world. In only 13 months, Norway has jumped from 11th to first place on the list of world best providers of fast Internet connection, Xinhua reported. Ookla created the popular application Speedtest.net, where the users can measure the speed of their Internet connection at any time. The average Internet connection speed of Norwegians' mobile phones has the speed of 52.6 megabits per second.

The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has given its approval to the proposal to complete the balance works of the North Koel Reservoir Project in Jharkhand and Bihar at an estimated expenditure of Rs.1622.27 crore to be incurred during three financial years from the start of the project. The project is situated on North Koel river which is a tributary of Sone river finally joining the river Ganga.

Karur Vysya Bank (KVB) appointed Shri P R Seshadri as Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer of the Bank. He is appointed for the period of three years.

The Union Cabinet of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi accorded its approval today for the creation of a non-lapsable pool in the Public Account for secondary and higher, education is known as "Madhyamik and Uchchtar Shiksha Kosh" (MUSK) which all proceeds of "Secondary and Higher Education Cess" are credited. The funds arising from MUSK will be utilized for schemes in the education sector which will be available for benefit of students of secondary and higher education.

Union Cabinet approved raising extra budgetary resources up to 9,020 crore rupees for Long Term Irrigation Fund in 2017-18 under Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana (PMKSY). The loans are for implementation of Accelerated Irrigation Benefits Programme works of 99 ongoing prioritized irrigation projects. According to Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, the amount will be raised by National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) through Bonds.

Italy will host a summit of G-7 interior ministers centered on security issues. The summit is expected to be held in October. According to Italian Interior Minister Marco Minniti, the meeting is being organized at the request of Italy's G-7 partners namely Canada, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, Japan and the United States.

Qatar has launched a new direct route between the country's Hamad Port and Pakistan's port of Karachi. It will boost trade between the two countries. It will also offer "fast and secure" corridor for importers and exporters, with transit time of six days from Qatar to Karachi.

The Karnataka government and Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi have launched 'Indira Canteen' in Bengaluru with an aim to reach out to the poorer sections of the society. The canteens will offer breakfast at Rs 5 and lunch and dinner at Rs 10 per plate. Of a total of proposed 198 canteens, 101 were launched on August 16, 2017 and the rest would start functioning from October 2, 2017.

State Bank of India launched a CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) initiative, SBI Gram Seva, which will work in the areas of health, education, environment and rural infrastructure. It will identify and partner with NGOs to carry out CSR initiatives under which it adopts five villages each from 10 village panchayats with each village getting around Rs 2.40 crore over the next three years. Initially, 10-gram panchayats comprising of 50 villages in six states have been adopted.

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) made Aadhaar linkage mandatory for availing short-term crop loans up to Rs 3 lakh in 2017-18. In order to get the free benefits to farmers under interest subvention scheme, the banks are advised to make Aadhaar linkage mandatory for availing short-term crop loans. The advice to all public and private sector scheduled commercial banks was sent through a RBI notification on the "Interest Subvention Scheme for Short Term Crop Loans during the year 2017-18".

The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) has conferred the 'best performance award' for 2015-16 and 2016-17 to Karnataka Vikas Grameen Bank (KVGB) for its work in the field of credit-linking joint liability groups (JLGs). The KVGB is sponsored by syndicate bank.