Current Affairs - November 23, 2017 Current Affairs

The United Nations (UN) World Television Day is annually observed in many places around the world on November 21. World Television Day is a day to renew governments, organizations and individuals commitments to support the development of television media in providing unbiased information about important issues and events that affect society.

Axis Bank in association with Mumbai Police has launched its latest campaign #MuhPeTaala to promote safe banking. The aim of this campaign is to raise awareness about how to keep oneself safe from falling prey to fraudulent calls asking information such as pin code, CVV, OTP etc.

Karnataka State Cabinet approved 'Karnataka Electronics System Design and Manufacturing (KESDM) Policy 2017-22' to promote electronic design and manufacturing in the state. Under this policy, Karnataka State Government will encourage start-ups involved in electronic design and manufacturing by providing them with right ecosystem.

Bareilly's Shubhangi Swaroop became the first-ever female pilot to be inducted into the Indian Navy. Swaroop who has been appointed in the Naval Armament Inspection (NAI) branch will now undergo pilot training at Dundigal Air Force Academy near Hyderabad. She is among the 328 cadets who passed out from the Indian Naval Academy's first batch of female officers.

Social networking giant Facebook stated that it expects to train about five lakh people in India on digital skills by 2020 and has unveiled two programmes designed for individuals and start-ups. The two programmes - Facebook Digital Training and Facebook Startup Training Hubs - are being rolled out in India before any other country. Apart from these two, Facebook also runs offline training programmes as well as Blueprint (free online training for advertising on Facebook).

Messaging app Hike announced that it has entered into a tie-up with Airtel Payments Bank for its mobile wallet product. Owing to this tie-up, users of Hike messenger will now have access to Airtel Payments Bank's vast product line including merchant and utility payments. For the month of November 2017, management of Hike Messenger is expecting to register 5 million transactions which would include services like recharge and peer to peer transactions.

Mswipe, a domestic maker of Point of Sale (PoS) terminals, has partnered MasterCard to digitise merchant acquisition and can now enable a shopkeeper anywhere in India to acquire a card swipe machine. At present, merchants need to sign physical agreements and, in some cases, open new current accounts to become part of a credit card network.

Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) laid down provisions to help Pensioners in submitting Jeevan Pramaan with ease. Those pensioners who have already submitted Jeevan Pramaan digitally for the previous year need not essentially submit digital Pramaan for the current year. Those who have not submitted Jeevan Pramaan digitally even once should submit it digitally in this month. This facility is available in all offices of the EPFO, pension disbursing banks, and common service centers.

New Development Bank (NDB) floated by BRICS nations approved two infrastructure and sustainable development projects in India and Russia with loans of $400 million. These projects are in line with NDB's primary objective to provide financial support for infrastructure and sustainable development in Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS). NDB approved total seven projects worth $1.5 billion.

Rajasthan's Higher and Technical Education Minister Kiran Maheshwari launched 'Dishari', an educational mobile application that provides free study materials for youths preparing for competitive examinations. The app features interactive quizzes with questions related to mathematics, general knowledge, current affairs, computers, reasoning, and economics. It will also provide latest updates and job alerts.

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister, N Chandrababu Naidu launched Pattabhi Sitaramayya-Self Business Group (PS-SBG) scheme, a loan scheme for rural women in the state, who want to start their own businesses. Under this scheme, Andhra Bank would extend working capital and term loan up to Rs. 25 lakh to the group or in individual capacity within group.

Zimbabwe's former Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa will be sworn in as the President of the country. Speaker of Parliament Jacob Mudenda stated that the ruling ZANU-PF party has nominated him to fill the vacancy left by Mr. Robert Mugabe.

Manipur hosted the first- ever North East Development Summit (NEDS) 2017 in Imphal on21st and 22nd November 2017. NEDS 2017 was jointly organized by Manipur State Government in collaboration with Union Commerce Ministry and India Foundation. The main Objective of this summit was to showcase the economic potential and to attract investments in food processing, bamboo industry, real estate and other businesses within the state.

2017 United Nations Climate Change Conference, which incorporated the twenty-third Conference of the Parties (COP23), the thirteenth meeting of the parties for the Kyoto Protocol (CMP13) and the second meeting of the parties for the Paris Agreement (CMA2) concluded on November 18, 2017 in Bonn, Germany. The conference ended on a mixed note as developing countries including India succeeded in rich nations to discuss their pre-2020 actions under the 'Talanoa Dialogue', but could not get any commitment for climate finance.

Paytm has bought an undisclosed stake in Urja Money Private Limited which evaluates the creditworthiness of people seeking loans to buy two-wheelers. Paytm will use Urja's proprietary CreditMate technology to create a loan management system in collaboration with lending partners. Mumbai-based Urja, incorporated in July 2016, has partnerships with banks and non-banking entities on the supply side and auto-dealers on the demand side. The company raised $500,000 from India Quotient last November.