DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS : JANUARY 25, 2018

NATIONAL

RRS for Scheme for Adolescent Girls

• The Secretary of Ministry of Women and Child Development Shri Rakesh Srivastava launched the Phase -1 i.e. the beneficiary module of the Rapid Reporting System for the Scheme for Adolescent Girls.
• It is a web based online monitoring for the Scheme for Adolescent Girls in New Delhi.
• This Portal has been developed in collaboration with National Informatics Centre (NIC). The URL for the portal is http://sag-rrs.nic.in.

Prime Minister’s Shram Award for 2016

• The GOI announced the Prime Minister’s Shram Awards for the year 2016.
• It will be awarded to the 50 workers.The award was given by Ministry of Labour and Employment every year.
• These awards are given to the workers in the Public Sector Undertakings, Departmental Undertakings of the Central and the State Governments and Private Sector units.
• Shram Awards are given in four categories namely ‘Shram Ratna Award’, ‘Shram Bhushan Award’( Rs. 1,00,000 cash prize), ‘Shram Vir/Shram Virangana’ ( Rs. 60,000 cash prize)and ‘Shram Shree/Shram Devi Awards’ ( Rs. 40,000 cash prize).
• This year no nomination was given for the ‘Shram Ratna Award’ category.

Govt announces 4 new schemes to promote young scientist

• The government has announced four new schemes to promote young scientists and researchers in the country.
• The Science and Technology Minister Harsh Vardhan announced the schemes.
• It includes Teacher Associateship for Research Excellence (TARE) Scheme, Overseas Visiting Doctoral Fellowship, Distinguished Investigator Award, Augmenting Writing Skills for Articulating Research (AWSAR).
• The schemes focus on youth to empower, recognise and motivate them.

Sushma Swaraj Inaugurates Bharat-ASEAN Maitri park in Delhi

• The External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj inaugurated the Bharat-ASEAN Maitri Park in the national capital, a day ahead of the ASEAN-India Commemorative Summit.
• ASEAN Secretary General Le Luong Minh attended the event, held at the Tughlaq Crescent, in the heart of Lutyens’ Delhi.
• The ‘Bharat Asean Maitri Park’ is developed by the New Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC).

Association of Southeast Asian Nations- ASEAN

Headquarters: Jakarta, Indonesia

Members: Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore, Myanmar (Burma), Cambodia, Laos, Brunei.

INTERNATIONAL

International spice conference in Jaipur

• The third edition of international spice conference will be held in Jaipur, Rajasthan.
• Arancha Gonzalvez, the Executive Director of International Trade Centre, Geneva, will inaugurate the conference.
• The event will be jointly hosted by the All India Spices Exporters’ Forum and Cochin Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
• The central theme of the 2018 conference would be ‘Managing Disruptions through Transformation and Collaboration’.

Indian Council of Agricultural Research Director General: Trilochan Mohapatra

PM Modi holds talks with Thai’s Gen Prayut

• In the India-ASEAN summit, Prime Minister Narendra Modi held bilateral talks with his counterpart from Thailand Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha on strengthening cooperation in strategic areas of trade, defence and security.
• Modi had also held separate bilateral meetings with Myanmar’s State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi, Vietnam Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc and Rodrigo Duterte, president of the Philippines.

BUSINESS AND ECONOMY

IOB and NHB tie up for RHISS

• Indian Overseas Bank has signed an MoU with National Housing Bank for the Rural Housing Interest Subsidy Scheme (RHISS) of the Ministry of Rural Development.
• The agreement was signed by R Subramaniakumar, MD and CEO of Indian Overseas Bank, and Sriram Kalyanaraman, MD and CEO of the National Housing Bank.
• The aim of the RHISS is to provide subsidy for housing loans taken by those living in rural areas for construction and modifications of their dwelling units.
• The interest subsidy under the scheme is 3 percent for a loan amount of ₹2 lakh for 20-year tenure.

Indian Overseas Bank

Headquarters: Chennai

CEO: R. Subramaniakumar

National Housing Bank

Headquarters: New Delhi

CEO: Shri Sriram Kalyanaraman

Parent agency: Reserve Bank of India

Government will infuse Rs 88,139 crore into 20 PSBs

• The government will infuse Rs 88,139 crore into 20 public sector banks through recapitalisation bonds and budgetary support in this financial year.
• A total of Rs 35,828 crore will be infused into nine banks that haven’t triggered prompt corrective action (PCA), including State Bank of India (SBI), Punjab National Bank and Bank of Baroda, among others
• While Rs 52,311 crore will be pumped into 11 banks that have been added under PCA, including IDBI, Central Bank of India, and UCO Bank.
• IDBI Bank will get the most- Rs10,610 crore and State Bank of India will get 8,800 crore rupees.
• At Present, NPAs held by Indian banks stand at around Rs 10 lakh crores.

India Ranks 81st On Global Talent Competitiveness Index

• India has moved up on a global index of talent competitiveness to the 81st position.
• Switzerland continues to top the list and it is followed by Singapore and the US.
• It is released every year on the first day of the World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting.
• India has improved its position from 92nd last year.Among BRICS nations China was ranked 54th, Russian Federation was placed at 56th, followed by South Africa (67) and Brazil (81).

The Coconut body approves 23 projects

• The Coconut Development Board under Technology Mission on Coconut has approved 23 projects with an outlay of Rs. 22.69 crore and financial assistance of Rs. 4.75 crore with annual processing capacity of 521 lakh coconuts and 4200 tonnes production of coconut shell charcoal.
• In the 23 projects, there were 3 research projects and 19 projects on Processing of coconuts for value addition and one project for market promotion.

AWARDS AND HONOURS

Tamil Nadu CM Palanichamy received UNESCO Award

• The Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K Palanisamy has received UNESCO Award of Merit.
• It has been awarded to the iconic Srirangam Ranganathaswamy temple in Tiruchirapalli.
• The award of merit was awarded by UNESCO Asia Pacific region for the cultural heritage conservation activities taken up at the temple without altering its original splendour.

Tamil Nadu

Capital: Chennai

Chief Minister: Edappadi K Palanisamy

Governor: Banwarilal Purohit

OBITUARY

Author Ursula K. Le Guin Passed Away

• The Award-winning science fiction and fantasy author Ursula K Le Guin has passed away. She hails from Oregon,US.
• she has won a number of Nebula and Hugo science fiction and fantasy awards.She also received the Newbery Medal, the top honour for US children’s literature and the National Book Foundation Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American letters.
• Her first novel, “Rocannon’s World” and she had wrote more than 20 novels and over 100 short stories.

IMPORTANT DAYS

National Voters’ Day – January 25

• The National Voters’ Day or Rashtriya Matdata Diwas is observed on January 25 every year. The significance of National Voters’ Day is to encourage more young voters to take part in the political process.
• This will be eighth National Voters’ Day (NVD).
• Theme: “Accessible Elections”

UP Diwas Day- January 24

• The Yogi Adityanath government has decided to celebrate ‘UP Diwas’ on January 24.
• The decision was taken at a cabinet meeting chaired by the chief minister Yogi Adityanath.
• The United Provinces unit was renamed as Uttar Pradesh on on January 24, 1950.

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DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS QUIZ : JANUARY 25, 2018