Daily Current Affairs : October 21, 2017

NATIONAL

NRCB signs agreement with Andhra Pradesh government:

National Research Centre for Banana (NRCB) signed a memorandum of cooperation (MoC) with Andhra Pradesh State Government to develop technologies relating to banana production.

The MoC was signed between Andhra Pradesh’s Industries and Commerce Department Secretary M.Girija Shankar and NRCB Director S. Uma in presence of Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister.

Andhra Pradesh

• Capital: Amaravati

• Chief Minister:  N. Chandrababu Naidu

• Governor: E. S. L. Narasimhan

Hirasar Greenfield Airport Project in Gujarat gets Green Clearance:

The Centre has given green clearance for a greenfield airport project at Hirasar, about 28 km from Rajkot in Gujarat, at a cost of over Rs. 1,400crore. The Environment Ministry has given the environment clearance to the Gujarat State Aviation Infrastructure Company Ltd (GSAICL) for development of a greenfield airport at Rajkot.

The state government has proposed a new airport in Rajkot district as the existing one is small and the earlier plan to extend the current runway could not materialise because of high land cost.

Gujarat

• • Capital: Gandhinagar

• Chief Minister: Vijay Rupani

• Governor: Om Prakash Kohli

Varanasi to get 2 new Sewage Treatment plants before March for Clean Ganga Process:

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s parliamentary constituency Varanasi will get two sewage treatment plants as part of the government’s bid to curb Ganga water pollution.The sewage treatment plants, having a total 260 million liters daily capacity, will be commissioned at Varanasi’s Dinapur and Goitha before March next year.

Uttar Pradesh

• Capital: Lucknow
• Chief Minister: Yogi Adityanath
• Governor: Shri Ram Naik

• Narendra Modi constituency: Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh

Gujarat Government launches Ro-Ro Ferry Service, a ‘Dream Project’:

PM Modi has inaugurated the first Phase Ro-Ro Ferry service in Gujarat that will reduce the distance between Ghogha in Bhavnagar district and Dahej in Bharuch in the Gulf of Cambay. It is the South Asia’s first world class ferry service. He said that in Sagarmala project, it will create 1 crore jobs in the net 4-5 years.

INTERNATIONAL

APEDA to promote NE products in Bangladesh and Myanmar:

The Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) has taken up a programme for promotion of north eastern products in Bangladesh and Myanmar.

The APEDA, an apex organisation under the Union Ministry of Commerce and Industry, proposes to organise the promotion programme in Bangladesh and Myanmar in association with the High Commission of India in Dhaka and its Embassy in Yangon.

The export of APEDA scheduled products to Bangladesh during 2016-17 was of 396.44 million USD.

The export of APEDA scheduled products for Myanmar during 2016-17 was of 24.15 million USD.

Myanmar

• • Currency: Burmese kyat

• Capital: Naypyidaw

Bangladesh

• • Capital: Dhaka

• Currency: Bangladeshi taka

Lebanon’s parliament approves country’s first budget since 2005:

Lebanon’s parliament approved country’s first budget in 12 years.

It is aimed towards reforming the fragile economy and preventing rising debt from becoming a crisis-like situation.

This year’s budget was considered a necessity to bring the Lebanese economy on track which has been negatively affected by the inaction of previous Governments and also by six years of war in neighboring Syria.

Lebanon

• Currency: Lebanese pound

• Capital: Beirut

BANKING & BUSINESS

MHRD drives all financial transaction to go cash – less in all the Education Institutions:

MHRD (Ministry of Human Resource Development) desire to make all financial transactions to go digital in all higher educational institutions, preferably from the end of this year. This move will bring all Public and Private Universities including IITs, NITs, and Business schools in a digital domain.

Indian companies top global list on reporting CSR:

India has emerged as the top country for reporting corporate responsibility information in the annual financial report of companies, but the quality of disclosures has to improve, according to a KPMG survey.

Steps taken by the Securities and Exchange Board of India has helped the country score high on this parameter.

The 10th KPMG Survey of Corporate Responsibility Reporting studied annual financial reports and corporate responsibility reports of the top 100 companies by revenue in each of 49 countries it covered.

GSTN discloses an offline facility for GSTR-3B returns filing:

The Goods and services Tax Networks (GSTN) has launched an offline tool for the tax payers to finalize their GSTR-3B returns. The taxpayers can download the file from the GSTN Portal and after filling in the data; they can upload and preview the form in the Portal for GSTR-3B return. This facility would provide them to minimize the error and to verify the details of GSTR-3B returns before filing.

APPOINTMENTS

Sibi George appointed as the Ambassador of India to Switzerland:

Shri Sibi George, presently Joint Secretary in the Ministry of External Aftairs has been appointed as the next Ambassador of India to Switzerland.

Switzerland

• Capital: Bern
• Currency: Franc

5-member Committee formed to Select Candidate for Post of Editor-in-Chief of RSTV:

A five-member committee, headed by Prasar Bharati Chairman A Surya Prakash, has been formed to select the candidate for the post of editor-in-chief of Rajya Sabha TV (RSTV).

Rajya Sabha Secretariat said in an order that other members of the Search-cum-Selection Committee are Rajya Sabha MP Swapan Dasgupta, Prasar Bharati CEO Shashi Shekhar Vempati, Additional Secretary (Personnel) in the Rajya Sabha Secretariat PPK Ramacharyulu and journalist Rahul Srivastava.

Rajya Sabha TV is owned and operated by the Upper House of Parliament and the vice-president is its chairman.

AWARDS

Adesina Receives 2017 World Food Prize Laureate Award:

Nigeria’s former Minister of Agriculture and rural development, Akinwunmi Adesina has received the 2017 World Food Prize Award.

Adesina who is also the current President of the African Development Bank received the award at the event held on Thursday at the Iowa in the United States.

Alka Yagnik and Udit Narayan to get Lata Mangeshkar Award:

Noted music composers Usha Khanna, Bappi Lahiri, Anu Malik and playback singers Alka Yagnik and Udit Narayan have been selected for the Madhya Pradesh governments prestigious National Lata Mangeshkar Award.

SPORTS

Park Ji-Sung to be first South Korean to carry Olympic Games flame:

Champions League winner Park Ji-sung will be the first South Korean to carry the flame for the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics after the torch lighting ceremony in, the Greek Olympic committee.

South Korea

• • Currency: South Korean won

• Capital: Seoul

• President: MOON Jae-in

Balkan Open 2017 International Championship, Indian boxers win 8 medals:

The Third – Youth International Championships Balkan Open 2017 was held at Sofia, Bulgaria, were Indian boxers have won 8 medals, including 4 gold’s. Apart from the 4 gold’s, Indian women boxers have won 1 silver and 3 bronze medals, meanwhile, they were also considered as the best team in the Championship. Neha Yadav (+81 Kg), Shashi (57kg), Sakshi (54kg), and Nitu (48kg) won the Gold, while Ankushita Boro (64kg) won Silver. The bronze medals were won by Anupama (+81kg), Sapna (75kg) and Joy Kumari (51kg).

Mohit Dudeja, Kiran bag medals at World skills competition:

Two Indians bagged a silver and a bronze at the global skill competition in Abu Dhabi, showing the best ever performance by India since the country began participating in the WorldSkills’ challenge in 2007. The Indian team comprising 28 competitors also won nine Medallions of Excellence across key skills. India had won a silver medal in 2009 and five medallions of excellence in 2015.

Cristiano Ronaldo tops the Forbes Rich List of sport stars:

Cristiano Ronaldo is the richest sports personality in the world, according to the latest Forbes’ Rich List.

The Real Madrid striker has earned an incredible £70 million in the last year, along with picking up another Champions League medal and becoming the inaugural winner of The Best Fifa Men’s Player award.

Mali becomes first country to enter Semi-finals in FIFA U-17 World Cup:

Mali enters the Championship by defeating Ghana 2-1 in the Quarter-final match held at Indira Gandhi Athletic Stadium, Guwahati.

OBITUARY

French film legend Danielle Darrieux dies aged 100:

Danielle Darrieux, one of France’s most enduring and glamourous film stars despite her wartime collaboration with the Germans, has died aged 100 at her home near Paris

FRANCE

• • France President:Emmanuel Macron
  • Currencies: Euro, CFP franc

• Capital: Paris

HISTORIC EVENT OF THE DAY

Police Commemoration Day: October 21st

Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh attended the Police Commemoration Day Parade at the Police Memorial Ground in New Delhi.