Current Affairs - March 21, 2018 Current Affairs

India's largest lender State Bank of India SBI and India Mortgage Guarantee Corporation (IMGC) signed a pact to offer mortgage guarantee scheme for prospective non-salaried and self-employed home loan customers. The offering will help increase home loan eligibility up to 15% within the regulatory norms. The MoU between SBI and IMGC is a strategic initiative which will enable to improve housing loan volumes in the non-salaried segment.

State-run power equipment maker BHEL commissioned 1st unit of 110 MW of the Kishanganga hydroelectric project (HEP) of NHPC in Jammu and Kashmir. It is Located on the river Kishanganga, a tributary of the Jhelum in Bandipora district, all the three units of the 340 MW project will generate 1,350 million units (MU) of clean electricity annually. The other two units are also in advanced stages of commissioning. In J&K, Bhel has so far commissioned 31 Hydro sets with a cumulative capacity of 1,257 MW.

Reliance Asset Reconstruction Company (RARC) announced the appointment of Ravindra Rao as its new Chief Executive Officer. Ravindra Rao succeeds Asokan Arumugam, who is retiring after being at the helm at RARC since last four years. Ravindra Rao brings with him 22 years of experience in consumer lending spanning across risk management, compliance, distribution, operations and technology. Anil Ambani-led Reliance Capital is the principal sponsor of RARC. orporation Bank, Indian Bank, GIC of India, Dacecroft and Blue Ridge are the other stakeholders in RARC.

Four memorandum of understanding (MoUs) were signed in New Delhi under the aegis of the Ministry of Development of North East Region (DoNER) for promotion of tourism in the North-East India. The MoUs were signed between various entities in North East India and Airbnb, one of the world's leading community-driven hospitality companies. These MoU are aimed at creating hospitality micro-entrepreneurs across key destinations in the North East of India. Activities carried out under these MoUs are a step towards achieving the aim of creating more sustainable accommodation options to enhance the hospitality service standards in North East Region and thereby doubling tourist growth rate in the next three years. The MoUs were signed on behalf of North East Tourism Development Council (NETDC) and North Eastern Council (NEC)and two key livelihood initiatives, North Eastern Region Community Resource Management Project (NERCORMP) and North East Rural Livelihood Project (NERLP).

India and Hong Kong signed a double taxation avoidance agreement (DTAA) that seeks to improve transparency in tax matters and help curb tax evasion and avoidance. The agreement between India and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) of the People's Republic of China was signed by Indian Ambassador to China Gautam Bambawale and Hong Kong Finance Secretary Paul Chan Mo-Po in Hong Kong.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone of the Navi Mumbai International Airport site in Panvel, nearly 21 years after it was mooted. The first phase the Rs 16,700-crore project is expected to be completed by 2019. This is the country's largest greenfield airport. Navi Mumbai airport will have a capacity of handling 60 million passengers.

The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) will set up India's first offshore wind turbines at Arichamunai near Dhanushkodi in Tamil Nadu. This region was selected on the basis of the quality and speed of the wind which was found to be good. The MNRE will install 4 to 5 wind turbines, each with the capacity to generate a minimum of 6 MW of power.

The first National workshop on POSHAN Abhiyan involving all the states and union territories was held at Pravasi Bharatiya Kendra, New Delhi. The Ministry of Women and Child Development is organizing the day-long workshop with participation from all the states/UTs. It is been organized to provide a complete orientation on the POSHAN Abhiyan, to explain the key components of the Abhiyaan and to provide handholding in using the software involved. The Ministry of WCD is also launching five e-ILA (e-Incremental Learning Approach) courses and two ECCE(Early Childhood Care and Education) software modules.

The Donald Trump administration banned all use by Americans of Venezuelan cryptocurrency (Petro) that its introduction is intended to skirt U.S. sanctions. The prohibition applies to all people and companies subject to U.S. jurisdiction. In February 2018, cash-strapped Venezuela became the first country to launch its own version of bitcoin, the petrol.

Sony India on 19th March announced the appointment of Sunil Nayyar as its Managing Director (MD) in place of Kenichiro Hibi. Hibi, who was MD of Sony India from 2012 till 2018, has now been appointed as President of Sony Brazil. Nayyar is the first Indian to be appointed as Managing Director for Sony India.

India won the Nidahas Trophy at the R Premadasa Stadium, in Colombo, Sri Lanka. India beat Bangladesh in the finals by four wickets. Dinesh Karthik was named Man of the Match. India won the toss and chose to field first. Indian team restricted Bangladesh team to 166 runs with eight wickets loss.

Union Minister for Chemicals & Fertilizers and Parliamentary Affairs, Mr. Ananthkumar announced that the Government of India approved the setting up of a Plastic Park in Deoghar District, Jharkhand. The project would be set up at a cost of Rs. 120 crores in an area of 150 acres. Mr. Ananthkumar also announced the setting up of Rs. 3.5 crore Plastic Recycling unit at Deoghar to tackle the menace of plastic waste being generated due to the place being a tourist attraction.

The 3rd edition of National Conclave on Mines and Minerals has started in New Delhi on March 20, 2018. The representatives of various state governments, mining industry, industry associations, financial and academic institutions will participate in the event. The conclave will provide an effective platform to showcase the recent policy initiatives of the government. It was also enable intensive discussions on issues, challenges and opportunities in the mining sector to realize its optimum potential for the sustainable development of the country. The first edition of the conclave was held in July, 2016 at Raipur, while the second took place in February 2017 in New Delhi.

India and the European Union (EU) have signed an agreement that will enable them to share earth observation data from each other's satellites. The pact was inked in Bengaluru. The Copernicus programme provides a wide range of applications like climate change, land, ocean, and atmosphere monitoring as well as support in forecasting, management and mitigation of natural disasters. Under this arrangement, Indian Space Research Organisation ISRO will share data from its earth observation satellites.

Vivo announced the appointment of actor Aamir Khan as its brand ambassador for India. Aamir Khan replaces actor Ranveer Singh as Vivo India's Brand Ambassador. Ranveer Singh had been the brand ambassador for the past two years. Aamir Khan has been signed for future brand and product communication initiatives of Vivo India. He will be involved in a full-fledged marketing campaign and a new TV commercial soon.

Yi Gang, a US-educated economist has been named as next Governor of China's central bank, the People's Bank of China (PBOC). Yi Gang has been holding the post of deputy governor of PBOC since 2008. Mr. Yi will succeed Zhou Xiaochuan, who has been holding the post since 2002. Name of Mr. Yi for this post was approved by National People's Congress, (China's legislature) on March 19, 2018. After assuming charge, Mr. Yi's main challenges would be to implement prudent monetary policy, push forward the reform and open-up China's financial sector, and at the same time maintain the stability of economy.