Daily Current Affairs : October 20, 2017

NATIONAL

INS Ship visit Jakarta Indonesia:

IN Ships Tir, Sujata, Shardul, and ICGS Sarathi are visiting Jakarta, Indonesia from 18 to 22 Oct 17. The visit is aimed to expose the trainees to the conduct of IN warship in foreign waters, port familiarisation and foster bridges of friendship between the two countries. The ships belong to the First Training Squadron of the Indian Navy functioning under the Southern Naval Command, headquartered at Kochi and comprises six indigenously built ships, namely, Indian Naval Ships Tir, Sujata, Shardul, Indian Coast Guard Ship Sarathi and two Sail Training Ships, viz. INS Sudarshini and INS Tarangini.

AVSM, Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief (FOC-in-C), Southern Naval Command: Vice Admiral AR Karve

Vice Chief of Staff, Indonesian Navy: Vice Admiral ADE Taufiq R

Dharmendra Pradhan inaugurates 1st phase of PNG Supply System in Bhubaneswar:

Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan inaugurated first phase of Piped Natural Gas supply system in Bhubaneswar, Odisha. In the first phase, 255 houses in Nalco Nagar in Chandrasekharpur of Bhubaneswar were supplied with environment-friendly PNG. As part of the City Gas Distribution project, around 25 thousand households in twin-city Bhubaneswar and Cuttack would get PNG connection by end of next year.

The overall capital expenditure for the Bhubaneswar and Cuttack gas distribution projects will cost around Rs. 1700 crore. Around Rs. 400 crore will be spent in the next three to five years.

Odisha

• Capital: Bhubaneswar
• Chief Minister: Naveen Patnaik

Governor: S. C. Jamir

Maharashtra Government releases Rs 4000 crore in phase 1 of Loan Waiver Scheme:

The Maharashtra government has released a sum of Rs 4,000 crore, in which Rs 3,200 crore will be for writing off the loans of 4.62 lakh farmers. The remaining Rs 800 crore will be in the form of incentive for 3.78 lakh farmers who are paying their loans on time. It comes under the first phase of the over Rs 34,000 crore farm loan waiver scheme, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said.

Maharashtra

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

INTERNATIONAL

USA to provide EMALS technology to India for aircraft carriers:

The US has decided to release the crucial Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System (EMALS) for the Indian Navy’s future aircraft carrier, according to the Trump administration. The decision comes ahead of Secretary of State Rex Tillerson’s visit to India.  The Indian Navy plans to integrate the US-made EMALS catapults into its future supercarriers. Due to its flexible architecture, EMALS can launch a wide variety of aircraft weights and can be used on a variety of platforms with differing catapult configurations.

USA

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

NATO states open counter-espionage hub in Poland:

          NATO states opened a counter-espionage hub in Poland, aimed at expanding the alliance’s intelligence-gathering capabilities amid tensions with Russia. The new facility in the southern city of Krakow is focused on “developing the basic norms, principles and activities” for the spy agencies of NATO allies, Defence Minister Antoni Macierewicz said. Espionage now “covers all areas of life”, affecting the military and critical civilian infrastructure via both cyber-tools and conventional spying.

BANKING & BUSINESS

NASSCOM to set up centres of excellence for AI:

The software industry lobby NASSCOM is setting up centres of excellence on artificial intelligence (AI) and data sciences for a better understanding on the emerging technologies in Bengaluru and Hyderabad. They will look at mapping the resources available in the country, promoting startups in that area and also best practices globally, including regulatory aspects.

HDFC Life Insurance gets SEBI’s go-ahead for Rs 7,500 crore IPO:

HDFC Standard Life Insurance Company has received capital markets regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India‘s (SEBI) go ahead to raise an estimated Rs 7,500 crore through an Initial Public Offering (IPO).  The public issue comprises sale of amounting to 9.55% stake, by HDFC and up to 5.42% holding by Standard Life Mauritius. The objects of the offer are to achieve the benefits of listing the equity shares on the stock exchanges. The listing of equity shares will enhance the ‘HDFC Life’ brand name and provide liquidity to the existing shareholders. The listing will also provide a public market for equity shares in India.

RBI says linking bank account with Aadhaar not mandatory: Report

          In the wake of banks threatening their customers with the suspension of accounts for failing to link with Aadhar, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has said that it “has not issued any instruction so far regarding mandatory liking of Aadhaar number with bank accounts.” The central bank revealed the information in response to an RTI application filed by Yogesh Sapkale of news website moneylife.in.

India among five countries responsible for 50% newborn deaths:

India is among the five countries – Pakistan, Nigeria, Congo and Ethiopia being the others, responsible for half of all new-born deaths in the world, according to a UN report. The report, “Levels and Trends in Child Mortality 2017”, revealed that 5.6 million children died before reaching the age of five in 2016.

Despite the progress, neonatal deaths -defined as deaths during the first 28 days of life – accounted for 46 per cent or 7,000 every day. Another 2.6 million babies were stillborn in 2016, the report said. While India was accountable for 24 per cent of these new-born deaths, Pakistan accounted for 10 per cent, Nigeria 9 per cent, the Democratic Republic of Congo 4 per cent and 3 per cent of the deaths occurred in Ethiopia. Pneumonia and diarrhoea caused 16 per cent and 8 per cent of deaths respectively among children under five globally.

Section 247 of the Companies Act 2013, related to Valuation by Registered Valuers comes into force:

The Companies (Registered Valuers and Valuation) Rules, 2017 have been notified by the ministry. The rules provide for registration of valuers under the Companies Act, 2013. This rule provides for registration of different category of valuers and lay down the requirements on their eligibility, qualifications and experience. With the notification of the rules, Section 247 pertaining to valuation by registered valuers came into effect from October 18.

APPOINTMENTS & RESIGNS

Jacinda Ardern to be New Zealand’s youngest woman leader:

Jacinda Ardern will become the world’s youngest female leader after cutting a deal to form a coalition government in New Zealand. At 37, she is set to be the country’s youngest prime minister since 1856.

Solicitor-General Ranjit Kumar resigns, becomes second top law officer to quit in months:

          Months after getting a two-year extension, solicitor general Ranjit Kumar resigned from the second most important law officer’s post, after the attorney general, citing health issues in his family requiring him to devote more time at home.

AWARD

UAE Exchange India won Indcom Award 2017 for Best Digital Media Campaign:

Indcom 2017, India’s premier PR conference organized by Goldman Communication and Public Relations Society of India (PRSI) honoured UAE Exchange India for the Best Digital Media Campaign in a prestigious function at Mumbai, where Brijish Singh, IPS handed over the Best Digital Media Campaign Award to Satish Chawla, Head Corporate-West India.

IMPORTANT EVENTS OF THE DAY

World Statistics Day is celebrated on 20th October:

 World Statistics Day is celebrated on October 20, aims to show that good data and statistics are indispensable for informed decision-making by all actors in society. he United Nations event is celebrated every 5 years. It was celebrated for the first time on 20 October 2010 worldwide.