Current Affairs - June 30, 2018 Current Affairs

The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) has approved a proposal allowing Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) to acquire a majority stake in the IDBI bank. Under the proposal, the public sector life insurance behemoth can raise its stake in the public sector bank to 51%, injecting Rs10,000-13,000 crore in the debt-ridden lender. The acquisition, however, will be seen only as an investment and LIC will gradually lower its stake in the lender.

Shri J P Nadda, Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare inaugurated the NIMHANS Digital Academy and addressed the first batch of professionals enrolled for undergoing courses in the fields of Psychiatry and Psychiatric Social Work in New Delhi. This will enhance the skill and potential of healthcare professionals and also serve the purpose of mental healthcare needs. Up to 50 people can be trained in the virtual classroom with only a cell phone/mobile phone with 3G connection required at the receiver's end. The courses for different categories of healthcare providers would be of about 30 hours duration each and spread across a period of three months and would be digitally delivered.

ICICI Bank appointed retired IAS officer and former petroleum secretary Girish Chandra Chaturvedi as part-time non-executive Chairman and independent Director on the bank's Board, from July 1 for three years.

Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani met Israel's Agriculture and Rural Development Minister Uri Ariel and announced a joint working group (JWG) between Gujarat and Israel in the fields of agriculture, horticulture and allied sectors. The objective of the meeting was strengthening the Indo-Israeli agricultural cooperation and extension of the Indo-Israel Agriculture Plan (IIAP) and also to explore the opportunities of using the hi-tech protective cultivation and precision farming methods of Israel.

Epidolex is the world's first medicine made from marijuana. The drug does not cause intoxication or a high and is approved by US FDA. It is created by GW Pharmaceuticals. It is an oral solution of cannabidiol (OSC) will be used to cure severe forms of epilepsies in children.

NITI Aayog and Gujarat Narmada Valley Fertilizers & Chemicals Limited (GNFC) have signed a Statement of Intent (SOI) to work together towards implementing a Proof-of-Concept ("PoC") application using Blockchain Technology for fertiliser subsidy management. They will jointly develop the use case, undertake research, interact with multiple stakeholders, develop Blockchain solutions, exchange learnings, organise forums, and disseminate learnings across their networks.

The Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC) along with the Institute for Development and Research in Banking Technology (IDRBT) and Veermata Jijabai Technological Institute (VJTI), Mumbai submitted a proposal to set up a Centre of Excellence for blockchain technology in Hyderabad to drive innovation. The technology will be used to secure land records in Telangana. After this, the C-DAC's Hyderabad unit will be the first one by the government for blockchain technology.

Union Minister of Commerce & Industry and Civil Aviation, Suresh Prabhu launched a mobile application called 'ReUnite' which helps to track and trace missing and abandoned children in India. The app is multiuser where parents and citizens can upload pictures of children, and provide detailed description like name, birthmark, address, report to the police station, search and identify missing kids.

Sathyasri Sharmila enrolled as Tamil Nadu's first transgender lawyer. At 36 years, Sharmila will be the first transgender in the state, and probably one of the few in the country, to register as lawyer.

RBL Bank has raised its stake in Swadhaar Finserve Pvt. Ltd to 100% from 60.48%. The bank has bought the stake it did not own from US-based non-profit Accion. Swadhaar FinServe started operations as a non-banking finance company in 2008. It subsequently converted into an NBFC-MFI. It became a business correspondent for RBL Bank in 2014 and transferred its microcredit portfolio to the bank.

The South Central Railway has installed plastic bottle crushers at Telangana's Kachiguda, Secunderabad, and Nizamabad, and Andhra Pradesh's Vijayawada stations in order to promote environmental protection. The machines can crush up to 5,000 bottles a day. The crushed plastic pieces can be reused to make bags or t-shirts.

Ministry of Women and Child Development, Government of India will organize a seminar on technology partnerships for steering POSHAN Abhiyaan called 'TECH-THON' in Delhi. The seminar aims to discuss technology and also share an overview of POSHAN Abhiyaan and combat malnutrition.

India has been ranked 35th in the 2018 Global Real Estate Transparency Index (GRETI), according to a report by real estate advisory firm Jones Lang LaSalle Inc. (JLL). The ranking is expected to improve further in the GRETI 2020 survey, on the back of several government initiatives such as Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act (RERA), GST and Benami Transactions Act. In it, India's real estate market is currently placed in the 'semi-transparent' zone. According to the survey, UK is at the top position followed by Australia and the US. France, Canada, Netherlands, New Zealand, Germany, Ireland and Sweden are in top 10 in the list of 100 countries.

American-made SM-2 air defense missile became trapped in its launcher, and exploded German warship FGS Sachsen, during a training exercise off the coast of Norway. 'FGS Sachsen' was operating with 'FGS Lubeck' near the Arctic Circle when it attempted to fire a Standard Missile (SM) 2 Block IIIA as part of the exercise.

JPMorgan has promoted Madhav Kalyan, CEO and MD, JPMorgan Chase Bank in India, as the head of corporate banking in South and South East Asia. Madhav Kalyan will hold this position in addition to his existing responsibilities as head of corporate banking in India. JPMorgan's corporate banking heads in Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines, Indonesia, Vietnam, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka will report to Madhav Kalyan.

An Artificial Intelligence (AI) robot hardwired to assist astronauts is launched to the International Space Station (ISS) atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Florida. The Crew Interactive Mobile Companion (CIMON), is an English speaking robot which will assist German astronaut Alexander Gerst to conduct experiments on ISS. CIMON is equipped with a microphone on the back, an infrared camera on the front, two batteries, and most importantly, an "offline" button. Once toggled to "offline," Gerst can be sure nothing he is saying is streamed down to the IBM server on Earth.