Current Affairs - February 23, 2018 Current Affairs

India has contributed USD 1 million for the rehabilitation works in Tonga, after the devastation caused by Tropical Cyclone Gita. United Nations Office for South-South Cooperation has stated that, the Tonga Government will identify the rehabilitation projects to be supported by the India-UN Development Partnership Fund. India has allocated USD 500,000 in the India-UN Development Partnership Fund for rehabilitation purpose and USD 500,000 will be given for immediate relief assistance. The India-UN Development Partnership Fund is led and supported by Indian Government. It is managed by the United Nations Office for South-South Cooperation.

Odisha State Cabinet approved long-term bauxite linkage policy that would help Vedanta's Lanjigarh alumina refinery to source bauxite from government-owned Odisha Mining Corporation (OMC). Vedanta, which has invested more than Rs 50000 crore in two smelters, refinery and power plants in Odisha has been facing constraints in ore supply as it has no captive blocks in Odisha. Due to raw material crunch, Vedanta had set a target to produce only 1.25 million tonnes in 2017-18. As per Odisha State Cabinet's decision, 70 per cent of the total production by OMC will now be available for long-term linkage.

Norway's Marit Bjoergen became the most successful athlete in Winter Olympic history on Wednesday, as she took bronze behind a stunning win for the United States in cross-country skiing's women's team sprint free.

Memorandum of understanding (MoU) between India and Canada's IDRC to usher the 'Programme Based Research Support' in addressing current and future global and local developmental challenges was signed. During the last five years (2012-17), 96 research projects worth CAD 51 million were funded by the IDRC in India. A MoU signed between Shri S. Selvakumar, Joint Secretary (Bilateral Cooperation), Department of Economic Affairs and Dr.Jean Lebel, the President of IDRC, Canada.

Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) declared that rate of interest on employees provident fund for 2017-18 will be 8.55 per cent. This marks 0.10 per cent reduction as compared to 8.65 per cent for 2016-17. This is the second consecutive year, that EPFO has decreased the interest rates for its subscribers. 8.65 per cent for 2016-17 was 0.15 per cent lower as compared to 8.8% for 2015-16. As per the prevailing norms, all units employing 20 or more employees are mandatorily covered under the social security schemes run by the EPFO.

Debashish Mukherjee and Murali Ramaswami were appointed Executive Directors of Canara Bank and Vijaya Bank respectively. Debashish Mukherjee is currently the general manager of United Bank of India and Murali Ramaswami is the general manager of Vijaya Bank. As per personnel ministry's order, Debashish Mukherjee's appointment is for 3 years initially. It can be extended by 2 years after reviewing his performance. Murali Ramaswami's tenure is till 31st December 2020 i.e. the date of his superannuation.

Murali Ramaswami were appointed executive directors of Vijaya Bank. Murali Ramaswami had joined Vijaya Bank as Manager in 1989 and headed various branches and regions across India and many other departments at the corporate office. Prior to his elevation as Executive Director, he was General Manager-Credit (Operations) as well as the Chief Financial Officer of the bank.

World Thinking Day is a way to celebrate with girls all over the world on Feb 22nd by doing the same activities. Making an impact means having a strong effect on something or someone. Impact for the Girl Guides and Girl Scouts is all about bringing positive change. Theme of 2018: "Impact".

The government of Andhra Pradesh will collaborate with Facebook (India) in a bid to take up innovative pilot projects in the state. Andhra Pradesh Information and Technology Minister Nara Lokesh met Facebook (India) Connectivity Policy Head Aswani Rana. They decided to work on providing internet facility to every household through fiber grid project, internet, WiFi, and TV services at nominal cost of Rs 149. They further decided to provide training to women, small scale and cottage industries so that they can sell their products online.

Flying Officer Avani Chaturvedi became the first Indian woman to fly a fighter aircraft solo. Avani Chaturvedi achieved this feat by flying a MiG-21 "Bison". She took off the MiG-21 "Bison" from the Jamnagar base of Indian Air Force (IAF). Avani Chaturvedi, Bhawana Kanth and Mohana Singh were commissioned as flying officers into the fighter stream after finishing basic training in June 2016, on experimental basis for 5 years initially.

R.K. Singh, the Union Minister of State (IC) for Power and New & Renewable Energy, has inaugurated the 'International R&D Conclave' in New Delhi. It is a 2-day conference on Emerging Opportunities and Challenges of R&D in Indian Power Sector. It has been organized by Central Electricity Authority (CEA). The conference was stressed upon the need of a dedicated R&D department in CEA to coordinate the research in the power sector. The sessions in the Conference will focus on R&D activities in Thermal Generation, Hydro Generation, Renewable Energy, Transmission, Grid Operation, Distribution, Trading, Marketing and Tariff.

Digital payments startup Paytm launched two insurance companies, Paytm Life Insurance and Paytm General Insurance. Paytm Founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma, CFO Madhur Deora, and Shankar Prasad Nath are the three signatory stakeholders in both the companies.

Capital First announced that regulator National Housing Bank (NHB) has approved its merger with IDFC Bank. IDFC Bank - Capital First Merger was announced in January 2018. As per the terms of the merger deal, IDFC Bank will issue 139 shares for every 10 shares of Capital First. Capital Home Finance and Capital First Securities Limited, the subsidiaries of Capital First are also a part of the merger deal. Post merger, IDFC Bank-Capital First combined entity will have Asset Under Management (AUM) of Rs 88000 crore.

India is going to host first International Solar Alliance (ISA) summit in March 2018 in New Delhi. It will be hosted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and attended by leaders from over 50 member countries. It will include French President Emmanuel Macron, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, and Bangladesh President Abdul Hamid. During the summit, two new programmes - on scaling solar e-mobility.

The Haryana government has officially launched the Parivartan scheme, which is designed to address 10 issues including cleanliness and pollution, in 46 developmental blocks of the state. The 10 issues include facilitation of financing, making agriculture profitable and sustainable, improving health services, implementing Swachh Bharat, decongesting market areas, engaging the youth, checking air pollution, ensuring availability of identity-related services, effective policing, and ensuring road order and conduct. Under this scheme, the state government will provide training (practical) to the employees and thus will create strong training workforce in the state. This is a unique scheme in order to ensure that the benefit of all government scheme must reach the people.