CURRENT AFFAIRS FOR IBPS RRB : 5, AUGUST 2017 India signs USD 329 million loan pacts with AIIB for Gujarat road project:

NATIONAL:

Aadhaar number not mandatory for registering deaths, clarifies government:

The government made Aadhaar numbers a pre-requisite for issuing death certificates to residents of all States, barring Jammu & Kashmir, Meghalaya and Assam, in order to establish the identity of the deceased.

The Registrar General India (RGI), in a notification, stated that the Aadhaar-linked death registration will start from October 1.

The government, however, clarified that it was not mandatory. If an applicant is not aware of the Aadhaar number or Enrolment ID Number (EID) of the deceased, he or she will be required to provide a certificate that the deceased person did not possess Aadhaar number to the best of their knowledge.

However, any false declaration given by the applicant would be treated as an offence as per the provisions of the Aadhaar Act, 2016 and also the Registration of Birth and Death Act, 1969. A reading of the Aadhaar Act indicates that the penalty for the said offence may be imprisonment up to one year and/or fine up to Rs 25,000.

Bengaluru to have India’s first heli-taxi service:

Bengaluru’s Kempegowda International Airport will become the first airport in the country to have a helicopter-taxi (heli-taxi) service.

The service, which will be operated by Thumby Aviation Private Limited, is expected to take off within three months. Initially, services will be operated between KIA and Electronics City, where a heliport is expected to come up. Estimates by the company peg the travel time at around 15 minutes, a journey that takes a few hours by road otherwise.

In Sao Paulo, Brazil, a city similar in size to Bengaluru, there is 300 helicopters operating as heli-taxis.

Karnataka:

• Chief Minister: Siddaramaiah
• Governor: Vajubhai Vala 

 Microsoft tied with Telangana to provide AI-based eye care solutions:

Microsoft is going to help the government of Telangana use artificial intelligence to provide eye care screening for children in the State.

As part of the agreement, Microsoft’s cloud based machine learning eye care screening Microsoft Intelligent Network for Eyecare (MINE) will align with the Rashtriya Bal Swasthya Karyakram programme under the National Health Mission.

MINE is a global consortium of eye care providers, research and academic institutions that will apply artificial intelligence to help in eye care delivery.

Telangana:

• Chief Minister: Chandrasekhar Rao
• Governor: S. L. Narasimhan 

Lok Sabha passes Bill for setting up petroleum institute in Vizag:

The Lok Sabha passed a Bill for establishing the Indian Institute of Petroleum and Energy (IIPE) in Andhra Pradesh that will impart high quality education and conduct advance research in all aspect relating to the conventional hydrocarbons.

The IIPE is being set up in Visakhapatnam at a cost of 650 crore as part of a package promised by the Centre to Andhra Pradesh after Telangana was carved out of it. 

INTERNATIONAL

India signs USD 329 million loan pacts with AIIB for Gujarat road project:

India has signed a loan agreement with Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) for financing of 329 million US dollar for Gujarat Rural Roads Project.

The agreement was signed by Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Finance, Sameer Kumar Khare and Vice President and Chief Investment Officer, AIIB, D J Pandian.

The objective of the project is to improve the rural road connectivity and accessibility (by providing all weather road connectivity) to 1,060 villages in all the 33 districts in Gujarat state benefiting about 8 million people.

AIIB:

• Headquarters: Beijing, China
• Chairman: Jin Liqun 

World’s Highest-Paid Authors 2017: J.K. Rowling Leads With $95 Million

Harry Potter creator JK Rowling has been named the world’s most highly-paid author with earnings of £72.2m ($95mn) this year.

The Edinburgh-based writer beat Dan Brown, Stephen King and John Grisham to top Forbes’ list of the 10 highest earners in the global industry for the first time in almost 10 years.

BANKING & BUSINESS:

Government announces new PSU ETF called Bharat-22 with diversified portfolio:

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley announced creation of new ETF (Exchange Traded Fund) called Bharat 2022, comprising of 22 companies, or investments from central public sector undertakings, public sector banks and some other strategic holdings.

Compared to energy heavy CPSE ETF, Bharat 22 is a well diversified portfolio of companies from six sectors (basic materials, energy, finance, FMCG, industrials & utilities) with a 20% cap on each sector and a 15% cap on each stock.

It will feature four banking stocks- SBI, Axis Bank, Bank of Baroda and Indian Bank other than CPSEs such as Nalco, ONGC, IOC, BPCL and Coal India. 

Bank of Baroda cuts interest on savings a/c by 50 bps:

The Bank of Baroda cuts interest rate on savings bank balance of up to Rs 50 lakh has been reduced to 3.5 per cent from the current annual 4 per cent.

However, for balance above of Rs 50 lakh, the bank has retained the rate at 4 per cent.

On July 31, the country’s largest lender State Bank of India had slashed interest rate on savings account deposits by 50 basis points to 3.5 per cent on balance of Rs 1 crore and below.

However, SBI continues to offer 4 per cent interest on savings account balance of Rs 1 crore and above.

Bank of Baroda:

• Headquarters: Vadodara
• CEO: P. S. Jayakumar

APPOINTMENTS:

Rwandan President Paul Kagame set for landslide win in presidential election:

Rwanda’s President, who has ruled the tiny African nation for 17 years, won the country’s latest election with a massive landslide. With 80 per cent of ballots counted, Paul Kagame looked set to secure 98.66 per cent of the vote, easily brushing aside his rivals Frank Habineza of the Democratic Green Party of Rwanda, who took just 0.45 per cent, and independent candidate Phillippe Mpayimana, who took 0.72 per cent

In the previous two presidential elections in 2003 and 2010, Kagame took 90 and 93 per cent of the vote respectively.

Rwanda:

• Currency: Rwandan franc
• Capital: Kigali 

US: Senate confirms three Indian-Americans to key government positions

In the United States, the Senate has unanimously confirmed three Indian-Americans to key government positions. The Senate confirmed Neil Chatterjee as a member of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and Vishal Amin as Intellectual Property (IP) Enforcement Coordinator in the Trump administration. Krishna Urs was confirmed as the US ambassador to Peru.

A career foreign service officer since 1986, Krishna – after Nikki Haley is the second Indian American to have been selected for an ambassadorial position by the administration.

AIFF names Banerjee as chairman of Transfers Dispute Committee:

The AIFF (All India Football Federation) named senior advocate Ushanath Banerjee as the chairman of a special committee that will be dealing with players’ transfer disputes.

AIFF:

• President‎: ‎Praful Patel
• Headquarters: Dwarka, Delhi 

Prabhat Kumar as the next Ambassador of India to the Republic of Kazakhstan:

Shri Prabhat Kumar, (IFS: 1991), presently Ambassador of India to Colombia has been appointed as the next Ambassador of India to the Republic of Kazakhstan.

Kazakhstan:

• Currency: Kazakhstani Tenge
• Capital: Astana 

Mohammad Mustafa appointed CMD of SIDBI:

Senior bureaucrat Mohammad Mustafa was appointed as Chairman and Managing Director in Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI).

Mustafa, a 1995 batch IAS officer of Uttar Pradesh cadre, is at present Joint Secretary in Department of Financial Services.

The Appointments Committee of the cabinet has approved his appointment to the post for three years.

AWARDS:

Prem Nazir Award for actor Sharada:

Veteran actor and national award winner Sharada has been selected for this year’s Prem Nazir Award.

Sharada had won three national awards with the first being for her performance in 1968 tragedy film ‘Thulabharam’. She also won the award for Swayamvaram (1972, Malayalam) and Nimajjanam (1978, Telugu). 

SPORTS:

Joshna-Dipika settle for bronze at World Doubles Squash Championship:

The Indian pair of Joshna Chinappa and Dipika Pallikal Karthik settled for a bronze medal after losing to English duo of Jenny Duncalf and Alison Waters in the semifinals of the WSF World doubles squash championship in Manchester, England.