Current Affairs  2 July – 2017 –  Mumbai’s Vikrikar Bhavan renamed as GST Bhavan:

NATIONAL

Mumbai’s Vikrikar Bhavan renamed as GST Bhavan:

    Maharashtra government’s erstwhile Sales Tax headquarters ‘Vikrikar Bhavan’ was today renamed as ‘GST Bhavan’ after the Goods and Services Tax regime was rolled out.

    Maharashtra Finance Minister Sudhir Mungantiwar and Minister of State for Finance Deepak Kesarkar attended the ceremony at the Bhavan, located in south Mumbai’s Mazgaon area.

Maharashtra

• Capital: Mumbai
• Chief Minister: Devendra Fadnavis
• Governor: C. Vidyasagar Rao

Pedaparupudi to be smart village:

    Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu pledged all the necessary support from the government to develop Pedaparupudi village in Krishna district as India’s smart village by the end of 2018.

Andhra Pradesh

• Capital: Amaravati
• Chief Minister:  N. Chandrababu Naidu
• Governor: E. S. L. Narasimhan

IIT Kharagpur in bid to encourage more girls to join institute:

    The Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, has started a special helpline for girl students to increase their enrolment. It has also opened a website (jeewomen. iitkgp.ac.in/) for the purpose.

    A Facebook group ‘JEE Women Counselling 2017’ has been created to help girls clear their doubts related to admission to the IITs.

Prime Minister inaugurates Textiles India 2017:

    Narendra Modi inaugurated Textiles India 2017, India’s first ever mega textiles trade fair, being held at Gandhinagar, Gujarat.

    The Prime Minister expressed the hope that Textiles India 2017 helps familiarize global & Indian leaders with India’s enabling policy environment, strengths & vast opportunities.

Railways, NBCC to redevelop 10 railway stations:

    Rail Land Development Authority joined hands with National Building Construction Corporation for redevelopment of 10 railway stations across the country on global standards. The Railways has embarked on an ambitious project to redevelop 403 stations with the participation of private players, public sector and foreign agencies.

    The identified stations to be taken up initially by NBCC for redevelopment are Tirupati, Sarai Rohilla (Delhi), Nellore, Puducherry, Madgaon, Lucknow, Gomtinagar, Kota, Thane (New), and Ernakulam. 

I-T dept notifies form for linking Aadhaar-PAN manual:

    The Income Tax Department has introduced a one-page form for taxpayers to manually apply for linking their Aadhaar with Permanent Account Number (PAN), apart from the available online and SMS facilities.

    An individual will have to mention both PAN and Aadhaar numbers and have to undertake a declaration stating they have not been allotted any other PAN than the one mentioned on the form.

Telangana to have separate agriculture budget from next year:

    Telangana will have a separate budget for Agriculture from next year. This was decided after Chief Minister, K. Chandrasekhar Rao met the Ministers and officials on Agriculture. He said it has also been decided to enhance fund for agriculture sector.

Telangana

• Capital: Hyderabad
• Chief Minister: Chandrasekhar Rao
• Governor:  E. S. L. Narasimhan

Aadhaar centres only at govt. premises from September:

    Aadhaar-issuing authority UIDAI has asked States to ensure that all enrolments, even those by private agencies, shift to government or municipal premises from external sites by September.

    The move will have a bearing on 25,000 active enrolment centres across India and ensure that they come under direct supervision of the authorities.

GST will help generate 10 lakh jobs:

    Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar has said the implementation of Goods and Services Tax (GST) will create 10 lakh jobs in the country. Mr Khattar said this while speaking at a felicitation function organised by the Institute of Chartered Accountant of India on the occasion of 68th Chartered Accountants Day at Gurugram.

Haryana

• • Capital: Chandigarh
  • Chief Minister: Manohar Lal Khattar
  • Governor: Kaptan Singh Solanki

BANKING & BUSINESS

Adani Ports raises USD 275 mn via bonds:

                                                                           Adani Ports and Special Economic Zones Ltd said it has raised USD 275 million (about Rs 1,777 crore) through unsecured notes.

    In a BSE filing, it said these notes are expected to be listed on Singapore Exchange Securities Trading Ltd.

Govt imposes 10% customs duty on imported mobile phones, parts:

    The government has imposed 10 per cent basic customs duty on mobile phones and certain parts with immediate effect to boost domestic manufacturing.

    According to an official statement, 10 per cent customs duty, will be levied on imported cellular mobile phones and accessories such as charger, battery, wire headset, microphone and receiver, key pad, USB cable and other specified electronic goods.

Cheque bounce cases require deterrent punishment:

    Deterrent punishment has to be given in cheque bounce cases to ensure the credibility of a negotiable instrument like cheque which is part of everyone’s day-to-day life, a Delhi court has said.

    The court’s observation came while upholding the eight-month imprisonment of a man who was directed by a magisterial court to also pay a compensation of Rs. 20 lakh to the complainant in a cheque bounce.

GSTN will handle 320 crore transactions a month:

    Goods and Services Tax Network (GSTN), the information-technology backbone of India’s new tax regime, is a data-storage behemoth. Nearly 80 lakh businesses will upload details and carry out transactions on the network. After Aadhaar, India has seen such a large scale of IT operations in GSTN.

    The central government has 24.5 per cent equity in the GSTN, whereas state governments, two Union territories and empowered committee of state finance ministers together hold another 24.5 per cent stake in it. India’s leading IT company Infosys is managed service provider of GSTN.

SEBI issues new framework to deepen corporate bond market:

    Regulator SEBI put in place a new framework for consolidation in debt securities as part of its efforts to deepen the corporate bond market.

    Liquidity in the secondary market for corporate bonds will be increased by way of minimal number of ISINs (International Securities Identification Numbers). ISINs code, which has 12 characters, is used for uniquely identifying securities like stocks, bonds warrants and commercial papers.

SEBI

Headquarters: Mumbai

Chairman: Ajay Tyagi

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

IIT Guwahati succeeds in regenerating damaged nerve:

    Researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Guwahati have taken the first successful step in treating peripheral nerve damage which can result from traumatic injuries caused by accidents, physical conflict, bullet wounds as well as during surgical intervention.

    The nerve conduits synthesised by the researchers and implanted in rats with sciatic nerve injury showed “excellent” functional recovery one year after implantation.

APPOINTMENTS

AK Jyoti of Gujarat cadre will be the next poll panel chief:

    Current Election Commissioner Achal Kumar Jyoti will take charge as the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) after Nasim Zaidi retires on July 6. Zaidi had taken over as the 20th CEC on April 19, 2015.

    Jyoti, an IAS officer of 1975 batch, who served as the Chief Secretary and State Vigilance Commissioner of Gujarat, assumed charge as Election Commissioner on May 13, 2015.

Infosys appoints TVS Capital’s Sundaram as independent director:

    Infosys has appointed Sundaram as an independent director on the board of the company. He is the fourth independent director to join India’s second largest software exporter since chief executive Vishal Sikka took over three years ago. Sundaram’s role would be effective from July 14th.

AWARDS

2 Indian-Americans to be honoured with Great Immigrants award:

    Two Indian-Americans, Adobe Chief Shantanu Narayen and former US Surgeon General Vivek Murthy are among 38 immigrants to be honoured this year for their role in helping advance the country’s society, culture and economy.

    Narayen and Murthy will be honoured with the prestigious ‘Great Immigrants’ annual award on US’s Independence Day.

SPORTS

Jeff Horn stuns Manny Pacquiao to win WBO welterweight world title:

        Australia’s Jeff Horn stunned Filipino Manny Pacquiao in a bloody Brisbane battle to claim a unanimous 12-round decision and win the WBO world welterweight title in front of 50,000 fans at Lang Park.

Historic Events of the Day

World Sports Journalists Day: July 2nd

        World Sports Journalists Day is a global professional observance held on July 2. It was established by the International Sports Press Association (AIPS) in 1994 to mark the 70th anniversary of its foundation.