DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS: JANUARY 5, 2019

Dear Aspirants,

Daily Current Affairs (January 5, 2019) like many other sections is inevitable and this also helps to score in the Banking awareness , Static GK and Financial Awareness sections. Remember, Banking Awareness and Static Awareness Questions are asked from the General Awareness section. This will also help you to ride your preparations for the forthcoming exams.

NATIONAL

Government Launches ‘Swachh Survekshan 2019’:

• Union Housing and Urban Affairs Minister, Hardeep Singh Puri, launched the ‘Swachh Survekshan 2019’, the fourth edition of the annual nationwide cleanliness survey of urban India in New Delhi.
• The Swachh Survekshan 2019 aims to evaluate the achievements in the cleanliness level in urban areas of the country. It is launched as a part of ‘Swachh Bharat Abhiyan’.

PM inaugurated 12 projects worth over Rs. 1500 crore on his a day visit to Imphal, Manipur:

• On the Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi’s one day visit to Imphal, Manipur, he inaugurated 12 projects worth over Rs. 1500 crore.
• Addressing a public gathering, he inaugurated 12 projects consisting of eight key development projects related to water supply and tourism and four schemes in Manipur.

STATIC: Manipur

Chief Minister: Shri. N Biren Singh.

Governor: Dr. Najma A. Heptulla.

Govt launches Green-Ag, GEF-assisted project, in partnership with FAO

• The Minister of State for Agriculture & Farmers Welfare Shri Parshottam Rupala informed that the Government had launched a Global Environment Facility (GEF) assisted project namely, “Green – Ag: Transforming Indian Agriculture for global environment benefits and the conservation of critical biodiversity and forest landscapes” in collaboration with the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) during September, 2018.
• The project was launched in high-conservation-value landscapes of five States namely (i) Madhya Pradesh: Chambal Landscape, (ii) Mizoram: Dampa Landscape, (iii) Odisha: Similipal Landscape, (iv)Rajasthan: Desert National Park Landscape and v) Uttarakhand: Corbett-Rajaji Landscape.

Andhra tops ACI’s Ease of Doing Business index:

• In the latest ranking of Singapore’s Asia Competitiveness Institute’s (ACI), Ease of Doing Business (EDB) index 2018, Andhra Pradesh emerged on top of the 21 states of India that were considered for the ranking, while Maharashtra and Delhi came in second and third place, respectively.
• Andhra Pradesh rose from the 5th rank in 2016 to the top spot in 2018.
• The ACI’s EDB index is based upon three parameters called ABC -Attractiveness to Investors, Business Friendliness and Competitiveness Policies. iii. The index captured the business environment at the sub-national level on the basis of 72 hard and soft indicators.

STATIC: Andhra Pradesh

Chief Minister: N. Chandrababu Naidu

Governor: E. S. L. Narasimhan

Capital: Amaravati

BANKING & ECONOMY

ICICI Bank, SBFC Joined Hands To Provide Loans Worth Rs. 1 Crore To MSMEs For 15-year Tenure:

• ICICI Bank, in a first-of-its-kind programme, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Small Business FinCredit India Pvt. Ltd. (SBFC), a systemically important Non-Banking Finance Company for entrepreneurs, to jointly provide credit worth up to Rs 1 crore to MSMEs for a tenure of 15 years.
• Under this arrangement, ICICI Bank will co-originate loan against property with SBFC at a mutually agreed ratio.

STATIC: ICICI Bank

Headquarters: Mumbai,

MD& CEO: Mr. Sandeep Bakshi,

Cyber frauds in Indian banking sector hiked over 50% in FY18:

• According to the Reserve Bank of India’s Report on Trend and Progress of Banking in India 2017-18, India witnessed a jumped of 159 per cent to almost ₹110 crore, from ₹42.3 crore in 2017-18.
• The volume of cyber fraud at banks has doubled in a year.
• A total of 2,059 cases of cyber fraud were reported in 2017-18 amounting to Rs 109.6 crore

ICICI Bank, Small Business FinCredit joined hands to provide loans worth Rs. 1 crore to MSMEs for 15-year tenure

• ICICI Bank, in a first-of-its-kind programme, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Small Business FinCredit India Pvt. Ltd. (SBFC), a systemically important Non-Banking Finance Company for entrepreneurs, to jointly provide credit worth up to Rs 1 crore to MSMEs for a tenure of 15 years.
• This MOU was signed under RBI’s circular dated September 21, 2018, that permits banks to engage with a non-banking financial company (NBFC) to co-originate loans for the creation of priority sector assets.

STATIC:ICICI BANK

Headquarters: Mumbai.

MD & CEO: Mr. Sandeep Bakshi.

Sebi allows custodial services in commodity market, paves way for MF entry:

Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), the market regulator has allowed custodial services in the commodity derivatives market enabling participation of institutional investors, including mutual funds, in the segment.

The new framework will allow the existing custodians to add commodities as an asset class and provide physical delivery of both the securities and commodities.

STATIC:SEBI

Chairman: Ajay Tyagi

Headquarters: Mumbai

AWARDS & RECOGNITIONS

Prof.Manoj Das received the Kabi Samrat Upendra Bhanja National Award:

• Manoj Das, an eminent English and Odia Litterateur received the “Kabi Samrat Upendra Bhanja National Award for Lifetime Achievement” in literature during 53^rd Foundation day ceremony organized by the Berhampur University, Odisha.
• Noted Folk dance Guru Nabaghana Parida was awarded with Dakshin Odisha Loksanakruti Samman during the ceremony.

STATIC:ODISHA

Governor: Ganeshi Lal

Chief Minister: Naveen Patnaik

Capital: Bhubaneswar

Wahengbam Lamnganba Singh from Manipur received Child Welfare (ICCW) for receiving National Bravery Award:

• 5-year-old class IXth student, Wahengbam Lamnganba Singh, of Kumbi area in Manipur, has been selected by the Indian Council for Child Welfare (ICCW) for receiving National Bravery Award.
• He will be honoured because he had saved his two and half year’s old cousin brother from drowning in a pond, on May 16, 2018.

APPOINTMENTS & RESIGNS

PayU India CEO Amrish Rau joined parent company Naspers as head of financial technology:

• PayU India’s CEO Amrish Rau joined as the head of financial technology partnerships and investments for Naspers’ fintech business. Nasper is South African parent of PayU.
• Rau will continue to report to Laurent le Moal the chief executive of PayU, which is headquartered in the Netherlands.
• He joined PayU after Citrus Pay was acquired by PayU in 2016 for $130 million in cash.

SPORTS

National Table Tennis Championship Begins In Cuttack:

• The 80th National Table Tennis Championship began at Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor Stadium in Cuttack. As many as 35 teams, including 550 players from different parts of the country are participating in the mega championship.

STATIC:Odisha

CM: Naveen Patnaik

Governor: Ganeshi Lal.

Rishabh Pant 1st ever Indian wicketkeeper to slam Test ton in Australia:

• India’s wicket keeper Rishabh Pant became the first Indian wicket keeper batsman to score a century in Test against Australia on Australian soil after hitting 159 runs on the 2^nd day of 4^th Test Match at Sydney, Australia.
• Rishabh pant broke Farokh Engineer’s record of highest Test runs against Australia on Australian soil. Farokh Engineer scored 89 runs in 1967.

IMPORTANT DAYS

World Braille Day celebrated on January 4:

• United Nations observed the first official World Braille Day remembering the birth anniversary of Louis Braille who was the inventor of Braille for the people with visual disabilities.
• World Braille day is observed annually on 4^th January to raise awareness on the importance of Braille for approximately 1.3 billion people living with some form of distance or near vision impairment.