CURRENT AFFAIRS FOR IBPS RRB & PO-22ND AUGUST-2017

NATIONAL:

Govt to replace physical Police verification of Passport applicants with online verification within a year:

Physical police verification for passport will not be needed from next year as the Centre is planning to connect the procedure with the Crime and Criminal Tracking Network and Systems, CCTNS.

Union Home Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi said, the CCTNS is expected to be linked with the passport service of the External Affairs Ministry allowing online police verification for passports within a year.

The CCTNS project finallygotsigned by Home Minister Rajnath Singh launching the Digital Police portal that integrates the country’s 15,398 police stations online and allows citizens to report crime and request antecedents’ verification online. 

40-member panel named to select films for IFFI:

The Information and Broadcasting Ministry constituted a 40-member ‘preview committee’ with filmmaker VivekAgnihotri as its convenor to select movies for the international film festival at Goa.

Film editor Aarti Bajaj, film critic and screenwriter Khalid Mohamed, and film director Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury are among the other members of the newly-constituted committee.

The International Film Festival of India (IFFI) will be held in Goa from November 20 to 28. Last week, I &B Ministry had constituted the steering committee and the technical committee for the IFFI. 

Rajasthan govt signed JV agreement for refinery project with HPCL:

Rajasthan government and state owned oil firm HPCL inked an agreement to form a joint venture company for Barmer petroleum refinery and petrochemical complex. In a new firm, HPCL Rajasthan Refinery Limited (HRRL), state government will have 26% and HPCL will have 74 per cent of partnership.

With JV in place, government is aiming to start and complete the construction work in four years. Principal Secretary Mines and Petroleum, AparnaArora and director (finance) of HPCL, J. Ramaswami signed the JV agreement respectively on behalf of the state government and the HPCL

Rajasthan

• Capital: Jaipur
• Chief Minister:Vasundhara Raje
• Governor: Kalyan Singh 

HRD Minister ShriPrakashJavadekar launches ‘SwasthBachche, Swasth Bharat’:

‘SwasthBachche, Swasth Bharat’ Programme, an initiative of KendriyaVidyalayaSangathan to prepare a physical Health and Fitness Profile Card for more than 12 lakhs of KendriyaVidyalaya students was launched in Kochi. Union Minister for Human Resource Development PrakashJavadekar unveiled the Profile Card in a function held at KendriyaVidyalaya at KV NAD, Aluva (Kochi). 

Cloud seeding begins in Karnataka:

The cloud seeding experiment taken up at cost of 35 crore, called Project Varshadhari, began. This cloud seeding operation, a first in Magadi and Ramanagaram, aims to condense small water particles by clouds (size less than 10 microns) to droplets of 50 microns, which can constitute rains.

The flight is expected to a one-hour sortie and will spray Silver Iodide, Sodium Chloride and Potassium Chloride to condense the water particles. A committee, comprising meteorologists, experts in cloud physics and hydrologists, will monitor the process.

Karnataka

• Capital: Bengaluru
• Chief Minister: Siddaramaiah
• Governor: VajubhaiVala

INTERNATIONAL:

India, Canada start next round of free trade agreement talks:

The 10th round of negotiations for the proposed free trade agreement between India and Canada started in New Delhi.

The commerce ministry said both sides discussed issues relating to goods market access. The previous round of negotiations was concluded in New Delhi in March 2015.

The negotiations for the agreement, officially dubbed as the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA), were launched in November 2010 to boost bilateral trade and investments.

The proposed pact seeks to eliminate or reduce duties on goods, open services sector and facilitate investment proposals.The two-way trade dropped to USD 6.14 billion in 2016-17, from USD 6.25 billion in 2015-16.

Canada

• Currency: Canadian dollar
• Capital: Ottawa

ICMR, Min of Health sign pact with South Korea’s IVI for vaccine:

The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and the Union Ministry of Health inked a pact with the International Vaccine Institute (IVI),South Korea to collaborate on vaccine research and development.

The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between Dr SoumyaSwaminathan, Director General of ICMR and Secretary, Department of Health Research, Manoj Jhalani, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Health and Dr Jerome H Kim, Director General of IVI, South Korea.

With this partnership, India is committing an annual contribution of USD 5,00,000 to IVI and joins Sweden and South Korea as financially contributing signatories to IVI.

The ICMR is the apex body in the country for the formulation, coordination and promotion of biomedical research. An official statement said in New Delhi that with a long history of scientific collaboration with IVI, India officially became a signatory to the treaty of the Seoul-based organisation in 2012. The IVI has 35 signatory countries.

South Korea

• Currency: South Korean won
• Capital: Seoul
• President: MOON Jae-in

BANKING & BUSINESS:

Banks need to pay 3% IGST on bullion imports: CBEC:

Banks will have to pay 3 per centIntegrated Goods and Services Tax (IGST) on imports of gold and silver, which can be claimed as input tax credit, the Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) said.

The 3 per cent IGST is payable with effect from July 1, the day of implementation of the new indirect tax regime.Under the new GST regime, apart from the 3 per cent IGST, a basic customs duty of 10 per cent is payable on gold imports. 

APPOINTMENTS:

ShriDharmendra Kumar appointed as DG, Railway Protection Force:

          ShriDharmendra Kumar, IPS appointed as the Director General, Railway Protection Force, Railway Board. Presently he is working in CISF as Additional DG.

Kumar is a 1984 batch IPS officer of Arunachal Pradesh-Goa-Mizoram-Union Territories (AGMUT) cadre. Before being appointed Additional Director General (ADG), Central Industrial Security Force (CISF, Kumar was serving as Special Commissioner (Special Unit) in the Delhi Police.

After the retirement of S K Bhagat in June this year, the additional charge of DG, RPF, was being handled by National Security Guard (NSG) DG, SudhirPratap Singh.

Uber India appoints Vishpala Reddy as Chief People’s Officer:

The US-based cab aggregator, Uber has roped in former American Express executive Vishpala Reddy as the Chief People’s Officer for its India and South Asia operations. With over 17 years of experience in human resources will focus on Uber India’s diversity and inclusion agenda by developing programmes to foster an equal-opportunity workplace in the company.

AWARDS:

CM K Chandrasekhar Rao gets Global Agriculture leadership award:

The Indian Council of Food and Agriculture (ICFA) announced the Global Agriculture Leadership Award to Telangana chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao.

The award was conferred on the Telangana CM for his transformational role in bringing new systems and improving farm sector. The award will be presented on September 5 at Taj Palace Hotel in New Delhi.

Telangana

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

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY:

US based Indian doctor discovers new way to prevent sepsis in new born babies:

Dr PinakiPanigrahi, a US-based pediatricianat the University Of Nebraska Medical Center College Of Public Health has discovered an inexpensive prevention technique against sepsis. He along with members of his team has found that feeding babies with probiotic bacteria dramatically reduces the risk of sepsis in new-borns.

USA

• President of the United States: Donald Trump
• Currency: United States Dollar
• Capital: Washington, D.C. 

UK scientists create world’s smallest surgical robot to start a hospital revolution:

British scientists have developed the world’s smallest surgical robot which could transform everyday operations for tens of thousands of patients.

From a converted pig shed in the Cambridgeshire countryside, a team of 100 scientists and engineers have used low-cost technology originally developed for mobile phones and space industries to create the first robotic arm specifically designed to carry out keyhole surgery.

UK

• Currency: Pound sterling
• Capital: London
• Prime minister: Theresa May

SPORTS:

ShapathBharadwaj wins bronze at Junior Shotgun World Cup:

          Teenager ShapathBharadwajwon a bronze medal in the double trap event while LakshaySheoran and ManishaKeer combined to win a bronze in the mixed team trap competition at the ISSF Junior Shotgun World Cup in Porpetto, Italy.

The 15-year old Bharadwaj, from Meerut, shot a 48 in the final to finish behind gold-medal winning Briton James Dedman and silver medalist Finland’s Miki Ylonen.

This was India’s first medal in the competition apart from the bronze won by Sheoran and Keer in the mixed team trap competition, which had the status of a test event.

Italy

• Currency: Euro
• Capital: Rome

HISTORIC EVENT OF THE DAY:

Birthday of Sri Guru Granth Sahib being celebrated:

August 22^nd is the 413^thbirthday of Sri Guru Granth Sahib the eleventh guru of Sikhs is being celebrated with religious fervor and Geity. Devotees are visiting Gurudwaras to pay obedience.