DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS : MAY 25, 2018
DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS : MAY 25, 2018
Daily Current Affairs (May 25, 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
ASEAN India Film Festival to begin in New Delhi:
- The ASEAN India Film Festival will begin in New Delhi. The six-day event will be inaugurated by Information and Broadcasting Minister Col. Rajyavardhan Rathore.
- 32 films from 11 countries will be screened during the film festival.
- It includes this year’s Best Film in the National Film Awards Village Rockstar, Singaporean film Maker Kirten Tan’s film Pop Aye, first female director of Brunei Darussalam Siti Kamaluddin’s movie Yasmine.
- The festival will celebrate the excellence of cinema by exhibiting films from various ASEAN countries.
- It will build bridges and bring harmony among the ASEAN countries and provide people-to-people contact between member countries especially youth.
Smart Cities India 2018 Expo underway in New Delhi:
- A three-day Smart Cities India 2018 Expo, began in New Delhi .
- The mega event, consisting five expos is being held with a vision to help develop attractive and safe cities that evoke pride, passion and a sense of belonging among citizens.
- The five expos are, Building India Expo, Solar India Expo, Transport India Expo, Smart Cities India Expo and Water India Expo.
- Over 300 exhibitors from different countries are participating in the 4th edition of this event.
HRD Ministry launches Samagra Shiksha scheme:
- Human Resource Development Minister Prakash Javadekar launched Samagra Shiksha scheme for school education.
- The scheme focuses on improving quality of education, enhancing the Learning outcomes and using technology to empower children and teachers.
- The Minister said, an annual grant of five thousand to 20 thousand rupees will be provided for strengthening libraries in schools. The scheme will be focus on digital education.
- Samagra Shiksha is a program that unifies learning from the pre-school to class 12 levels and encapsulates elements of the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, Rashtriya Madhyamk Shiksha Abhiyan and teacher education.
The objectives of the scheme include
—provision of quality education
—-enhancing learning outcomes of students
—bridging social and gender gaps in school education and promoting vocationalisation of education
— Strengthening teacher education institutions like SCERTs and Diets to improve quality of teachers
— annual grant of Rs 5,000 to Rs 20,000 per school for strengthening of libraries
Government finalises Model Contract Farming Act 2018:
- The Model Contract Act 2018, unveiled by Union Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh in Delhi brings in all services in the agriculture value chain, including pre-production, production and post-production services, under its ambit along with contract farming activity.
- The act lays special emphasis on protecting the interests of the farmers, considering them as weaker of the two parties entering into a contract, the ministry states.
- One of the key features of the Model Act, to be adopted and enacted by the states is that it brings contract farming outside the ambit of the APMC Act. It provides for a “Registering and Agreement Recording Committee” or an “Officer” at the district/block/taluka level for online registration of sponsor and recording of agreement. The contracted produce will also be covered under crop/livestock insurance in operation.
India, Nepal to conduct 2-week long ‘Surya Kiran’ military exercise:
- Armies of India and Nepal will carry out a two-week long military exercise begin in Uttarakhand’s Pithoragarh region with an aim to deepen counter-terror cooperation. The Indian Army said the ‘Surya Kiran’ exercise is expected to enhance the level of defence cooperation between the two militaries.
- The aim of this exercise is to conduct battalion level joint training with emphasis on counterterrorism operations in mountainous terrain. During the exercise, aspects of disaster management and joint effort towards relief work have also been included.
Nepal
- Prime minister:Khadga Prasad Oli
- Currency: Nepalese rupee
- Capital: Kathmandu
INTERNATIONAL
Netherland becomes 64th signatory member of ISA:
The Netherlands has become the 64th signatory member of the International Solar Alliance. Prime Minister Modi said both countries have stood together on many an international forum and the Solar Alliance is a symbol of this strong partnership.
- Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Netherlands Prime Minister Mark Rutte, who is in India at PM Modi’s invitation held wide-ranging discussions on bilateral and international issues. Both leaders acknowledged the private sector’s role in boosting trade and investment.
Netherlands
Capital: Amsterdam
Currencies: Euro, United States Dollar
Nepal first country in south-east Asia to eliminate trachoma: WHO
Nepal has become the first country in south-east Asia to eliminate trachoma, world’s leading cause of preventable blindness of infectious origin, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said in a statement .
5th India CLMV Business Conclave held at Phnom Penh, Cambodia :
The Ministry of Commerce & Industry, Government of India along with Ministry of Commerce of Cambodia organized the 5th India-CLMV Business Conclave in Phnom Penh on 21-22 May 2018. After four rounds of the Business Conclave in India, this initiative was brought by Department of Commerce of Government of India to Cambodia,for greater participation from the region. The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) is the institutional partner of the event.The inaugural session of 5th India CLMV Conclave was presided over by Deputy Prime Minister of Kingdom of Cambodia and was attended by Suresh Prabhu, Minister of Commerce and Industry of Government of India.
- Cambodia
- Capital: Phnom Penh
- Currency: Cambodian riel
Pakistan imposes temporary ban on screening of Indian films during Eid
- Pakistan has imposed a temporary ban on the exhibition and screening of Indian films during next month’s Eid holidays.
- According to a notification issued by the ministry of information and broadcasting, the exhibition and screening of Indian and foreign films will be banned from two days before the Eid to until two weeks after the holidays.
Pakistan
- Currency: Pakistani rupee
- Capital: Islamabad
- Prime Minister: Shahid Khaqan Abbasi
Nima Jangmu Sherpa scales 3 highest mountains in single season; sets world record
- Nima Jangmu Sherpa, a Nepali woman created a world record by scaling three highest mountains in a single climbing season.
- She made her historic ascent on Mt Kanchenjunga, third highest peak of the world .
- 28 year old Nima Jangmu has become only woman in the world to climb three highest peaks in Nepal above 8,000 meters in one season within 25 days. She had successfully scaled Mt Everest on May 14 and Mt Lhotse on April 29.
PM Modi, Hasina inaugurate Bangladesh Bhavan:
- Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Bangladeshi counterpart Sheikh Hasina inaugurated the Bangladesh Bhavan to symbolically highlight the warm bilateral cultural ties between the two countries.
- The inauguration of Bangladesh Bhavan inside the Vishwa Bharti University complex took place in the presence of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.
- The Bangladesh Bhavan features a museum that showcases renowned poet Rabindranath Tagore’s association with that country, the Liberation War of Bangladesh and Indo-Bangla relations.
- It has been built at a cost of Rs. 25 crores, which was provided by the Bangladesh government.
Bangladesh
- Capital: Dhaka
- Currency: Bangladeshi taka
Palestinian Authority joins Chemical Weapons Convention:
- Palestine has officially joined the Chemical Weapons Convention, according to a statement by the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW).
- The OPCW published the announcement on its website and said the move will take effect on June 16 of this year.
State of Palestine
Capitals: Ramallah, East Jerusalem
Currencies: Israeli new shekel, Egyptian pound, Jordanian dinar
BANKING AND BUSINESS
India at historic best on ‘Ease of doing business’ index:
According to the global ease of doing business report, India jumped up 30 notches into the ‘ease of doing business’ index. India now ranks 100 globally as compared to previous year’s 130.
Not only opening a new business is easier than ever, government has also reduced from 30% to 25% the corporate tax for the businesses with less than Rs 250 crore turnover. This will reduce the burden of taxes on smaller businesses.
E-Way Bill system for intra-state goods movement comes into force in seven more states, Uts
- E-Way Bill system for intra-State movement of goods will be implemented in seven more states and Union Territories.
- The States are Maharashtra, Manipur, Chandigarh, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Daman and Diu and Lakshadweep.
- With this, the number of States, where the system is being implemented, will go up to 27.
- As per the decision of the GST Council, e-Way Bill system has been rolled out from 1st of April this year.
MobiKwik launches UPI on platform, offers own VPA handle
Leading digital financial services platform, MobiKwik, announced the launch of Unified Payments Interface (UPI) on its platform via its own Virtual payment address (VPA) handle @ikwik.- MobiKwik’s users can, by default, use their mobile number as their own VPA which will be ‘@ikwik’.
- They will also be able to link multiple bank accounts with just one VPA and users can change primary account as per their requirements.
- Users can simply scan and generate UPI QR functionality to send and receive money using VPA and phone number from the contact list.
- If the receiver is also registered in Mobikwik UPI ecosystem, sender can send money by selecting his contact from phone book without remembering VPA domain. It will also be possible for the users to request money using UPI on the MobiKwik app.
India Stands 44th In Competitive Rankings, USA Tops
- India rose one place to 44th this year in the global competitive rankings out of 63 countries that were ranked by the IMD World Competitiveness Center.
- India started from the 40th position in 2013 and dropped to the 44th rank in 2014.
- India’s rank remained at 44 in 2015 and jumped four places to 41 in 2016, dropping to 45 in 2017, and rising to 44 in 2018.
- In contrast, China bagged the 13th rank in 2018 as compared to the 18th rank in 2016.
- The top 3 most competitive economies in the world are:
1. The USA,
2. Hong Kong,
3. Singapore,
SIDBI to provide financial support to Village Level Entrepreneurs
Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) will provide financial support to Village Level Entrepreneurs who operate the Common Service Centres that act as access points for delivery of electronic services.
A memorandum of Understanding, MoU, was signed between SIDBI and Common Service Centres (CSCs) for providing financial support to such centres across the country in the presence of Minister for Electronics and IT Ravi Shankar Prasad in New Delhi .
APPOINTMENTS & RESIGNS
Airtel Payments Bank appoints Anubrata Biswas as MD, CEO
Airtel Payments Bank said that it has appointed former ICICI Bank senior executive Anubrata Biswas as its managing director and CEO.
Justice C K Prasad appointed PCI chief for second term:
- Former Supreme Court judge C K Prasad has been appointed the chairman of the Press Council of India (PCI) for a second term, an official notification said.
- Prasad headed the media watchdog for three years from November 2014. He had succeeded Justice Markanday Katju.
Govt appoints chairpersons for three state-run banks :
The government has appointed non-executive chairpersons for three state-run banks based on the suggestions of Banks Board Bureau. Former RBI Director Charan Singh has been appointed at Punjab & Sind Bank. Anjali Bansal, former MD of TPG Private Equity, has been appointed at Dena Bank, while former Corporate Affairs Secretary Tapan Ray will take charge at Central Bank of India.
AWARDS AND HONORS
CSIR bags the Clarivate Analytics India Innovation Award 2018 in the Government Research Organizations Category :
Council of Scientific & Industrial Research has been awarded the Clarivate Analytics India Innovation Award 2018 in the Government Research Organizations Category. This award yet again recognizes CSIR as the top innovator.
SPORTS
WHO, Russia launch new campaign for football World Cup 2018:
- A new video campaign has been launched targeting football fans on the occasion of the World Cup 2018 next month to promote healthier and more active lives.
- The series of videos have been produced jointly by WHO, Russia’s Ministry of Health and the 2018 World Cup Russia Local Organising Committee. It is one of many joint activities that will be implemented around the month long World Cup starting from 14th of next month.
- The campaign consists of 3 videos, each tackling key health risk issues of Tobacco use, excessive salt consumption and physical inactivity.
Istanbul to host 2020 Champions League final:
- Istanbul’s Ataturk Olympic Stadium will host the 2020 Champions League final, UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin confirmed in Kiev.
- The 2020 Europa League final will be played in Gdansk, Poland with the UEFA Super Cup being held in Porto’s Estadio Dragao.
- Vienna will play host the women’s 2020 Champions League final.
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