DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS: AUGUST 11, 2018

Daily Current Affairs (August 11, 2018) 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

NITI Aayog Hosts Investors’ Conference in Andaman & Nicobar, and Lakshadweep Islands

The NITI Aayog host an investors’ conference to attract investments for the development of eco-tourism on public private partnership (PPP) basis in Andaman & Nicobar, and Lakshadweep Islands.

The Conference will be inaugurated by Shri. Amitabh Kant, CEO, NITI Aayog.

Nearly, 11 anchor tourism projects are proposed to be implemented with private sector participation under suitable risk-sharing model and through open-competitive bidding.

The Island Development Agency (IDA) is an apex body, under the chairmanship of Home Minister Rajnath Singh, was constituted in June 2017, while NITI Aayog has been mandated to steer the Holistic Development of Islands program, along with the respective UT administration/ State Governments.

President inaugurates ‘One District one Product’ Summit in UP

The President Ram Nath Kovind has inaugurated the ‘One District One Product’ Summit in Lucknow.  

The ‘One District One Product’ scheme will enhance skills of local people as well as increase the reach to products, which will in turn result in economic progress of artisans of Uttar Pradesh.

The summit has been organised by the Uttar Pradesh government to promote traditional industries and spur local trade. The President also distributed loan sanction papers worth Rs 1006 crore to beneficiaries of ODOP scheme digitally.

He also inaugurated ODOP toll free number and website. During the event, two MoUs were also signed with US-based companies, one with Amazon and another with GE HealthCare.

Haryana Government to launch Ayushman Bharat scheme on Aug 15

The Haryana government  will launch the Ayushman Bharat-Haryana Health Protection Mission on August 15 to provide cashless healthcare facilities to beneficiaries at empanelled hospitals.

On a pilot basis, the scheme would be implemented in one government hospital in each of the 22 districts, one ESI hospital and one medical college. A decision to this effect was taken in a meeting held under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar.

Under the scheme, families identified by the Socio-Economic and Caste Census (SECC) would be provided with coverage of Rs 5 lakh.

Defence Industrial Corridor Launched in Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh

The Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath will launch a defence industrial corridor in Aligarh as part of the government’s efforts to develop specialised zones dedicated to defence production in the state.

Six nodal points have been identified in state — Agra, Aligarh, Lucknow, Kanpur, Chitrakoot and Jhansi — for the corridor. There will be an exhibition of products by the armed forces, DPSUs and DRDO which are planned to be indigenised over the next five years.

Another defence corridor was launched in Tamil Nadu early this year.

Cabinet extends Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, chaired by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi has approved the continuation of Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) beyond the 12th five year plan period.

It will help in connecting 38,412 habitations at an estimated cost of Rs. 84,934 crore.

The Cente’s share in this will be Rs 54,900 crore and the states’ share is Rs 30,034 crore.

Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) was launched on December 25, 2000 ,with the objective to provide All-Weather road connectivity to the eligible unconnected habitations in rural areas of Country.

INTERNATIONAL

“Pacific Endeavor-2018 (PE-18)” started in Kathmandu, Nepal

The communication exercise ‘Pacific Endeavor-2018 (PE-18)’ under the Multinational Communications Interoperability Program (MCIP) started in Kathmandu, Nepal.

It aims to develop common communications operating procedures to enable military forces in the Asia Pacific region to collectively work in the wake of disaster.

Exercise SCO Peace Mission 2018 To Be Conducted in Russia

As part of Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) initiatives, SCO Peace Mission Exercise is conducted biennially for SCO member states.
The joint exercise for the year 2018 will be conducted by Central Military Commission of Russia from 22 August to 29 August 2018 at Chebarkul, Chelyabinsk, Russia.

The joint exercise will strengthen mutual confidence, interoperability and enable sharing of best practices among armed forces of SCO Nations. It will be a landmark event in the history of SCO defence cooperation.

Defence Minister Sitharaman meets South Korean counterpart

The Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman met her South Korean counterpart Young-Moo Song and discussed ways to strengthen bilateral ties in security and strategic sphere

The two ministers discussed “issues of mutual interest” and ways to strengthen cooperation in defence and security.

South Korea

Capital: Seoul

Currency: South Korean won

NASA plans to launch ‘touch the Sun’ spacecraft

Nasa is preparing to launch a $1.5 billion spacecraft designed to “touch” the sun, which will help scientists learn more about the scorching atmosphere of our favourite star, known as the corona.

The Parker Solar Probe, named after the 91-year-old pioneering solar astrophysicist Eugene Parker, will come within 6.16 million km of the sun in the next few years. This is the first time Nasa has named a mission after a living individual.

The unmanned probe, over five decades in the making, will last nearly seven years and pass through the corona 24 times.

BANKING AND ECONOMY

Blockchain: Exim Bank signs MoU with BRICS development banks

The Exim Bank of India has signed a multilateral cooperation agreement with member development banks of BRICS to undertake “collaborative research” in distributed ledger/blockchain technology.

Under this umbrella agreement, the signatories have agreed to constitute a joint research working group which will formulate the research agenda and targeted outcome.

Exim Bank of India is the nominated member development bank under the BRICS Interbank Cooperation Mechanism.

The BRICS grouping comprises Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.

A blockchain is a decentralized, distributed and public digital ledger that is used to record transactions across many computers so that the record cannot be altered retroactively without the alteration of all subsequent blocks and the consensus of the network.

Bajaj Allianz General Insurance And Vijaya Bank Entered Into Bancassurance Deal

The Bajaj Allianz General Insurance has entered into a bancassurance deal with Vijaya Bank. This corporate agency agreement will enable distribution of Bajaj Allianz General Insurance products through the bank’s network of 2,129 branches across the country.

Under this strategic tie-up, Bajaj Allianz General Insurance will offer personal lines of insurance products such as health, personal accident, home, motor and travel along with a commercial line of insurance products.

Vijaya Bank

MD & CEO: RA Sankara Narayanan

Headquarters: Bengaluru

DHFL Pramerica Life enters into pact with SVC Co-operative Bank

The DHFL Pramerica Life Insurance (DPLI), a private life insurer, has entered into a Bancassurance partnership with SVC Co-operative Bank Ltd.

It aims for the distribution of specialised products to the SVC Co-operative Bank Ltd customers.

Under this agreement, SVC Co-operative Bank will offer DPLI’s customised products and solutions to its customers through its extensive pan-India network of 198 branches as well as online network.

Managing Director and CEO, DPLI: Anoop Pabby

Managing Director, SVC Bank: Ajit Venugopalan

UAE top source of inward remittances in 2016-17: RBI

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has emerged as the top source of inward remittances, while Kerala has received the maximum funds sent from abroad, according to the Reserve Bank of India’s survey of inward remittances for 2016-17.

UAE’s share in total remittances was 26.9%, followed by the United States (22.9%), Saudi Arabia (11.6%), Qatar (6.5%) and Kuwait (5.5%).

According to the survey, 82% of the total remittances received by India originated from eight countries — UAE, the U.S., Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman, the United Kingdom and Malaysia.

Among destinations, Kerala has the highest share with 19%, followed by Maharashtra (16.7%), Karnataka (15%), Tamil Nadu (8%) and Delhi (5.9%).

APPOINTMENTS

Raju Narayana Swamy: Coconut Board gets new head

Raju Narayana Swamy took over as Chairman of the Coconut Development Board.

Swamy is a 1991 batch Kerala cadre IAS officer and a graduate in Computer Science and Engineering from IIT, Madras.

The Coconut Development Board (CDB) is a statutory body established under the Ministry of Agriculture of the Government of India for the integrated development of coconut and coconut-related products.

HDFC Bank Deputy MD Paresh Sukthankar resigns

The Private sector HDFC Bank’s second-in-command and long-standing lieutenant Deputy Managing Director Paresh Sukthankar has resigned.

Sukthankar, has been associated with HDFC Bank since its inception in 1994. He was appointed as the lender’s Deputy Managing Director in December 2013.

In March 2017, the bank’s board had approved his re-appointment as Deputy MD for a three-year period till June 2020.

HDFC Bank

CEO: Aditya Puri

Headquarters: Mumbai

OBITUARY

Australian Professional Golfer Jarrod Lyle Passes Away

The Australian professional golfer Jarrod Lyle has passed away.

The Australian won twice on the feeder Web.com tour in 2008, and played 121 US PGA Tour tournaments during his professional career.

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