Current Affairs - February 24, 2018 Current Affairs

Union Finance Ministry announced that the first sale of electoral bonds will start from March 1, 2018 for a period of 10 days at select branches of State Bank of India (SBI). The bonds will be available in multiples of Rs.1000, Rs. 10000, Rs. 10 lakh, Rs. 1 crore. These bonds would be valid for 15 days from the date of issue. Electoral Bonds can be purchased from four main branches of State Bank of India in Chennai, Kolkata, Mumbai and New Delhi, starting from March 1, 2018 for a period of 10 days.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Chennai and launch the Tamil Nadu government's Amma Two-wheeler Scheme. The scheme of providing 50 percent subsidy to working women to buy two-wheelers is a pet project of late Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa and is being launched on her birth anniversary. He will visit Daman, Chennai, Puducherry, and Gujarat in the next two days. He will arrive in Daman today to launch various development projects and hand over certificates to beneficiaries of various schemes. He will also address a public meeting. From there, Mr. Modi will travel to Chennai to inaugurate the Amma Two-wheeler Scheme. Tomorrow, the Prime Minister will visit Puducherry. He will offer floral tributes to Shri Aurobindo at Aurobindo Ashram, and interact with students of Sri Aurobindo International Centre of Education.

Indian government notified the revised Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement (DTAA) between India and Kenya. It has been stated that, the revised DTAA will enhance transparency in tax matters, control tax evasion, and eliminate double taxation. It will also improve the flow of investment, technology and services between India and Kenya. The revised DTAA offers reduction in withholding tax rate on dividend and interest to 10 % from 15 %. The withholding tax rate on royalties, and fees for management, professional, technical services has been decreased to 10 % from 20 % and 17.5 % respectively. The revised DTAA issues a new Article on Limitation of Benefits to provide treaty benefits to bona-fide residents of India and Kenya. It will also prevent treaty abuse by third country residents. It will enable domestic law to prevent tax evasion. The revised DTAA has been upgraded to the latest international standard to make available exchange of information to the maximum extent.

The 7th edition of the Youth Festival has started with theme 'Let Love Live" at Central Park in New Delhi on February 22, 2018. The 6-day is organised by Sahitya Kala Parishad and the Department of Art, Culture and Languages, Delhi Government. The main purpose of this fest is to promote young performers. This year's festival is focused on "celebration of the freedom to love" and will host performances that drive home this message among the youngsters of Delhi.

India successfully test-fired the nuclear-capable surface-to-surface Dhanush ballistic missile with a strike range of 350 km from a naval ship off Odisha coast. This naval variant of the indigenously-developed Prithvi-II missile was test-fired from the ship positioned near Paradip in the Bay of Bengal. It was developed bt the Defence Research and Development Organisation. 'Dhanush' missile is is capable of carrying a payload of 500 kg and hitting both land and sea-based targets.

Israeli Ambassador to India, Mr Daniel Carmon has stated that a Centre for Agriculture, with collaboration of Israeli expertise, is going to be inaugurated in Mizoram on March 7, 2018. This will be the first such centre in the North East region (NER) of India that is being established with Israeli collaboration. It has been set up at a cost of Rs 8-10 crore. This Centre has been set up with the tripartite collaboration of India's Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Government of Israel and State Government of Mizoram and is exclusively for processing of citrus fruits.

The Khajuraho dance festival started off in Chhatarpur district of Madhya Pradesh. Madhya Pradesh Governor Anandiben Patel lit the traditional lamp and inaugurated the 44th Khajuraho dance festival. This festival will be held till 26th February 2018. This festival is organised by the culture department of the Madhya Pradesh government. It will fetaure classical dances like Kathak, Odissi, Bharatnatyam, Kuchipudi, Kathakali and Mohiniattam. The Art Mart will display paintings of international artists from Germany, France and China at the festival.

The Reserve Bank of India has launched Ombudsman Scheme for non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) for redressal of complaints against them. The scheme will provide a cost-free and expeditious complaint redressal mechanism relating to deficiency in the services by NBFCs covered under the scheme. The scheme will cover all deposit-taking NBFCs, and based on the experience gained. The offices of the NBFC ombudsmen will function at four metro centers - New Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, and Chennai.

An Indo-German MoU was signed for "Implementation Agreement in Sustainable Urban Development and Smart Cities in India". The MoU was signed between Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs (MoHUA), India and Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH, India on behalf of Germany Government. The agreement was signed by Rajiv Ranjan Mishra, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs and Ms. Annette Rockel, Deputy Country Director and Ms. Tanja Feldmann, Cluster Coordinator, Sustainable Urban and Industrial Development GIZ GmbH India. The 'Sustainable Urban Development Programme - Smart Cities in India' project is supported by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ).

The Government of India and Asian Development Bank (ADB) signed an $84 million loan for improvement and expansion of water supply in Bhagalpur and Gaya towns in Bihar. The tranche 2 loan is part of the $200 million multi-tranche financing facility (MFF) for the Bihar Urban Development Investment Program that was approved by ADB in 2012. The loan will have a 25-year term, including a grace period of 5 years, an annual interest rate determined in accordance with ADB's lending facility based on the London interbank offered rate (LIBOR), and a commitment charge of 0.15% per year.

Telangana Industry Minister K. T. Rama Rao said that, the Telangana government aims to double the valuation of its life sciences ecosystem to $100 billion in 10 years. K. T. Rama Rao made this announcement after he inaugurated the 15th BioAsia Summit. He said that 4 lakh jobs will be created in the life sciences industry in the next 10 years. Current value of life sciences ecosystem in Telangana is $50 billion. It has more than 800 companies. K. T. Rama Rao also said that, Telangana contributes more than 35% to the national pharmaceutical production of India. Telangana is also considered the vaccine hub of India and the world. It produces nearly 33 % of global vaccines dosages.

Indian "A" team won gold at the 5th Commonwealth Nations Bridge Championship held in Gold Coast, Australia, between 14 and 18 February 2018. The Indian "A" team was headed by Kiran Nadar. The team members were Keyzad Anklesari, B. Satyanarayana, Rajeshwar Tewari, Jaggy Shivdasani and Sunit Chokshi. The Indian "A" team defeated the Australian team with a score of 103-65. Indian "A" team won gold in the 5th Commonwealth Nations Bridge Championship.

India and Canada have inked a pact in the presence of Union Sports Minister Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore and Canadian Minister for Science and Sports Kirsty Duncan. There an academic part in terms of sports education is also something we seek help in. We have had a wonderful meeting with the minister and I am sure there will be a lot of active participation with each other." Meanwhile, Duncan appreciated the meeting with Rathore and said the two had some wonderful discussion. We are very pleased to sign the Memorandum of Understanding to talk about integrity in sports as well as using sports to succeed on sustainable development goals.

India and Canada have signed six agreements in different fields including nuclear science, energy cooperation, sports, education, science and technology cooperation and information communication technology. These agreements were signed after delegation-level talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his visiting Canadian counterpart Justin Trudeau in New Delhi. It includes MoU on Cooperation in Sport, for Cooperation in Higher Education, for Cooperation on Intellectual Property Rights. Terms of Reference for the India-Canada Ministerial Energy Dialogue. MoU for cooperation in the Fields of Science, Technology and Innovation. Joint Declaration of Intent on Cooperation in the Field of Information Communications Technology and Electronics.

The 23rd edition of the World Congress on Information Technology (WCIT-2019) will be held in Yerevan, Armenia. The WCIT is the largest and the most reputable international event among worldwide IT leaders. It brings together high-level officials from different countries, heads of multinational organizations, universities and scientific research centers, non-governmental organizations' representatives and many more. The event includes discussions of legal, political and economic trends affecting IT business processes, presentations of innovative solutions, B2B meetings and so on. The WCIT 2019 will be the first Congress being held in Europe since 2010.

The Election Commission (EC) announced polls to 58 Rajya Sabha seats which will fall vacant in April this year. Polling for the 58 seats will be held on March 23 The term of office of 58 members of the Upper House, elected from 16 states, is due to expire upon their retirement in April-May 2018. The maximum number of seats for elections are from the state of Uttar Pradesh i.e. 10, six each from Bihar and Maharashtra; five each from West Bengal and Madhya Pradesh; four each from Gujarat and Karnataka; three each from Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Odisha and Rajasthan; two from Jharkhand; and one seat each from Chhattisgarh, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand.