Current Affairs - January 4, 2019 Current Affairs

HDFC Mutual Fund has pipped ICICI Prudential MF to become the country's largest asset management company after a gap of over two years. As of December-end, HDFC MF manages assets to the tune of Rs 3.35 lakh crore, while those of ICICI Prudential MF stood at Rs 3.08 lakh crore, as per the latest data available with Association of Mutual funds in India. The assets under management (AUM) of HDFC MF have grown over 9% in October-December quarter from the previous three-month period, however, ICICI Prudential MF's AUM slipped by 0.6% during the period under review.

IIT Roorkee professor Jayanta Kumar Ghosh was felicitated with the National Geospatial Award for Excellence -2017 (Life Time Achievement Award) by the Indian Society for Remote Sensing for his contribution towards the development of geospatial science and applications. The award which carries a citation, a medal and Rs.1,00,000 was conferred to J. K. Ghosh, a professor at the civil engineering department of the IIT Roorkee on 5th December 2018 at SAC (Space Application Centre) Ahmedabad. The Indian Society for Remote Sensing is an organisation known in the area of space science, remote sensing and geo-spatial technology.

Karnataka's Kaiga Atomic power station created a world record for the longest uninterrupted operation for 962 days on December 10. It had earlier set a record of 941 days. The earlier record of 940 days by Heysham-2 unit 2 was set by the United Kingdom. Generating Station-1 (KGS-1) at Kaiga in Uttara Kannada, Karnataka has now been shut down for maintenance after 962 days of operation. It will be commissioned again after the maintenance activities. Nuclear Power Corporation of India (NPCIL) said that during its continuous operation of 962 days KGS-1 had produced 5 billion units of electricity at a plant load factor of 99.3%. Kaiga has four indigenously developed Pressurised Heavy Water Reactors of 220 MW each fuelled by domestic fuel. Of them, KGS-2 has been operating since the last 661 days.

The Union Home Ministry approved a Uttar Pradesh government proposal to rename Allahabad as Prayagraj. In October 2018, the UP government had proposed the change in name of Allahabad to Prayagraj. The Home Ministry clears the name change proposals after the Ministry of Railways, the Department of Posts and the Survey of India confirm that no city, town or village has similar names.

Syndicate Bank and SBI Life Insurance signed a bancassurance pact aiming to offer a comprehensive financial planning solution to its customers. The pact was signed between Syndicate Bank MD & CEO, Mrutyunjay Mahapatra and MD and CEO of SBI Life, Sanjeev Nautiyal. Through the pact, Syndicate Bank will provide penetration in the market with its 3,000 branches and SBI Life's diverse range of protection, wealth creation and savings insurance products will be brought to the table to the customers.

Chief Minister of Odisha, Naveen Patnaik, launched a Rs 10,180-crore scheme,for overall development of small, marginal and landless farmers, dubbed as 'The Krushak Assistance for Livelihood and Income Augmentation (KALIA)' scheme. This scheme consists of a life insurance of Rs.2 lakh for 57 lakh farmers and would grant them crop loans at zero percent interest. Also,financial assistance of Rs 10,000 per farmer family per annum to around 30 lakh small and marginal farmers' families. Furthermore,Rs. 5000 would be given to farmers for Rabi cultivation and equal amount will be given for Kharif Cultivation.

Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas progressed towards manufacture in an enhanced, battle standard format on December 31. The LCA is being designed and developed by the Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) in Bengaluru. A new limited clearance from military airworthiness certifier CEMILAC for the Indian fighter green-lights its production in a superior lethal version. HAL aims to get the first aircraft out in late 2019. The Indian Air Force (IAF) has asked Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) to make 40 LCA aircraft. Of this, 20 will be in the advanced Final Operational Clearance (FOC) format. Another 20 are in the earlier Initial Operational Clearance (IOC) version. The IAF has modified and upgraded its trainer requirement in its old package order of 40 LCA aircraft.

The Mysuru City Corporation (MCC) aims for a 7-star under the Swachh Bharat Mission 2019. Under this mission, the garbage-free cities will be awarded star ratings as per the revised protocols of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA). The new survey is launched across the country from 4th January 2019. MoHUA has set various parameters such as door-to-door garbage collection, waste disposal, scientific handling of landfills, disposal of construction and demolition debris, and segregation of waste at the source for the rankings. As per the vision enunciated under the Swachh Bharat Mission, 100% of waste generated in a city should be scientifically managed, and measures are taken for visible beautification of the city.

Justice Asif Saeed Khosa will take oath of his office on January 18 a day after incumbent CJP Justice Saqib Nisar retires on January 17. Justice Khosa has been a senior Justice of the Supreme Court of Pakistan since 31 December 2016. He will remain as the top judge of Pakistan till December 20, 2019.

U.S. President Donald J. Trump signed into law the Asia Reassurance Initiative Act (ARIA), which passed the U.S. Senate earlier in December. According to the White House, the act establishes a multifaceted U.S. strategy to increase U.S. security, economic interests, and values in the Indo-Pacific region. Specifically, the ARIA will authorize $1.5 billion in spending for a range of U.S. programs in East and Southeast Asia and develop a long-term strategic vision and a comprehensive, multifaceted, and principled United States policy for the Indo-Pacific region, and for other purposes.

France's football team which last year defeated Croatia to win the World Cup were awarded the Legion of Honour, France's highest award for "exceptional service" to the nation, in the New Year's honors list. The football World Cup 2018 at Russia was France's second World Cup title, after the 1998 World Cup. Each of the 23 players of the French football team, including star strikers Kylian Mbappe and Antoine Griezmann, received France's top medal for their part in beating Croatia in the World Cup final in Moscow.

Markets regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has allowed custodial services in the commodity derivatives market. The move is aimed at enabling the participation of institutional investors such as mutual funds and portfolio managers in the commodity derivatives market. Under the new framework, existing custodians will be permitted to add commodities as an asset class and provide physical delivery of both the securities and commodities. Currently, the regulation on the custodian of securities provides safekeeping of securities, gold or gold related instruments, title deeds of real estate and incidental services.

Bharti AXA Life Insurance started delivering policies and renewal premium receipt to customers via instant messaging platform WhatsApp as a part of its alternative service option to the policyholders. Bharti AXA Life Insurance, a joint venture between Bharti Enterprises and French Insurance major AXA is one of the first few insurers to provide the option of policy contract, renewal premium receipts and claim intimation through WhatsApp.

The 106th Indian Science Congress (ISC-2019) has been inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at Lovely Professional University (LPU) in Jalandhar, Punjab from 3rd January 2019. The theme of the 5-day science congress is 'Future India: Science & Technology'. Approx 30,000 delegates, including 300 top scientists and Nobel Laureates from across world are attending the congress. In it, around 100 plus conferences and events of scientific and technology origin will also be held, where eminent personalities from DRDO, ISRO, DST, AIIMS, UGC, AICTE, and many elite universities of the USA, UK, India and other countries will participate. The event will play a pivotal role in stimulating scientific research effort and raising the scientific temperament in the country and the world. There will also be four parallel mega events, including the children's science conference; women's science conference; science communicators' meet; and, science exhibition. The exhibition will see participation from the national and international science companies, especially from the US, Australia, Germany and Switzerland.

The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi approved an MoU between India and Morocco on Cooperation in the area of Cyber Security. It also approved an Apprised of Progress under NHM and Decisions of Empowered Programme Committee and Mission Steering Group of NHM. Proposal to allot land to Chandigarh Housing Board for construction of apartments for 3930 allottees under Self-Financing Housing Scheme for UT Employees.

Arunima Sinha, the first female amputee to have conquered Mt Everest, created yet another record as she became world's first woman amputee to climb Mount Vinson, the highest peak in Antarctica. Apart from Mount Everest, the 30-year-old has climbed the highest peaks of five continents and plans to do so in all seven.

The Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Government of India, is mulling to impose anti-dumping duty for 18 months on a Chinese synthetic rubber 'fluoroelastomers' used in automobile and other industries in order to minimize the impact of dumped imports. The proposal in this regard was considered after the investigative arm of Commerce ministry, Directorate General of Trade Remedies (DGTR) initiated the probe in January 2018 following a complaint from Gujarat Fluor chemicals which alleged dumping of the product. The DGTR said that the product has been exported to India from China at below its normal value, which has resulted in dumping and recommended a duty which ranges between $0.078 -$7.31 per kilogram. The final decision to impose the duty would be taken by Ministry of Finance. The duty which is imposed under the under the multilateral regime of World Trade Organization (WTO) is aimed at ensuring fair trading practises and creating a level-playing field for domestic producers with regard to foreign producers and exporters.

The 44th Global Summit of the International Advertising Association (IAA) will be held in Kochi from February 20 to 22, 2019. The theme of the summit is 'Brand Dharma'. It is for the first time an Indian city is hosting the summit. The last three summits were held in Washington DC, Moscow and Beijing.