Daily Current Affairs 11th October, 2017

Daily Current Affairs 11 October 2017 for Banking/Insurance/SSC and other related exams.

NATIONAL NEWS

Cabinet approves SANKALP, STRIVE schemes to boost Skill India Mission

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs chaired by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has approved two new World Bank supported schemes of Rs. 6,655 crore – Skills Acquisition and Knowledge Awareness for Livelihood Promotion (SANKALP) and Skill Strengthening for Industrial Value Enhancement (STRIVE).

• SANKALP is Rs 4,455 crore Centrally sponsored scheme including Rs. 3,300 crore loan support from World Bank whereas STRIVE is a Rs. 2,200 crore – central sector scheme, with half of the scheme outlay as World bank loan assistance.
• SANKALP and STRIVE are outcome focused schemes marking shift in government’s implementation strategy in vocational education and training from inputs to results.

House panel to look into China-India relations

A parliamentary committee has decided to examine the whole gamut of Sino-Indian relations, including the border situation.

• The Standing Committee on External Affairs, which will examine the relations between the two Asian powers, is headed by Shashi Tharoor, Congress member of the Lok Sabha.
• The committee will examine in detail the issue of “cooperation” between India and China in international organisations.

Law ministry nod to panel to look into pay hike issue of lower court judges

Judges of lower courts across the country are set to get a pay hike in the coming months with the law ministry finalising the appointment of a panel to recommend new salary structure for them and the proposal awaiting the Cabinet’s nod.

• The proposed commission will be headed by former Supreme Court judge PV Reddi.

PM Narendra Modi’s Economic Advisory Council held first meeting in New Delhi

The recently constituted Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister (EAC-PM) held its first meeting in New Delhi to deliberate upon and lay out a roadmap to give a leg up to the Indian economy in the short term after GDP growth for the first quarter fell to a three-year low of 5.7%.

• Key issues discussed include ways to boost consumer demand, attract private investments and measures to incentivise job creation in the country.

Germany to help Indian Railways to increase speed of trains on existing corridors

German Railways will assist Indian Railways to make country’s existing rail corridors semi high speed. The semi high speed trains will run at 200 km per hour.

• A joint declaration of Intent was signed between Ministry of Railways and Germany regarding carrying out of feasibility study on existing 643 km Chennai-Kazipet corridor of Indian Railways by German Railways for increasing the speed of passenger trains to 200 kmph on 50.50 percent cost sharing basis.

Sex with minor wife, despite consent, is rape: Supreme Court

The Supreme Court held that a man will be punished for rape if he is found to be guilty of havIng sexual intercourse with his minor wife.

• A Bench of Justices Madan B. Lokur and Deepak Gupta read down exception 2 to Section 375 (rape) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
• The exception clause to the heinous offence of rape allows a man to have sex with his wife who is not aged below 15.

UP govt launches Sankalp Seva bus service

Uttar Pradesh government launched Sankalp Seva bus service of 50 buses to connect as many as 6,000 villages. Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath flagged off the buses in function at Lucknow.  On this occasion he announced to construct ‘Gaurav Marg Path’ to honour the sacrifices of the martyrs.

Maharashtra Launched Web Portal with Information on New Government Schemes

Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis launched ‘MahaLabharthi‘ web portal that will help people get information about all the government schemes that they are eligible for.

The web portal, https://www.mahalabharthi.in, works on the basis of personal, educational and professional information provided by a person while registering on it.

Visa, Andhra Pradesh Ties up for Digital Dhan Sankalp Project

Visa has tied up with the Andhra Pradesh government for Digital Dhan Sankalp project. It is an initiative to develop Visakhapatnam into India’s first ‘less cash’ city.

• The e-transformation of large state-owned service providers of the state into digital payments mode under the Vizag Digital Dhan Sankalp (VDDS) project is now accessible to over 90 percent of the city’s two million-strong population.

BANKING & FINANCE

RBI panel reveals ad hoc, arbitrary practices by banks to inflate interest rates

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI)’s study group headed by Janak Raj, principal adviser, Monetary Policy Department, which recently submitted its report on an external benchmark rate for banks, has revealed several startling and “disconcerting” banking practices, including violation of the RBI guidelines, inflating of base rate and arbitrary adjustment of spreads.

• Such malpractices, in turn, aided banks in fixing interest rates on various loan products, including home, automobile and corporate loans, at inflated levels despite the sustained cut in the repo rate by the RBI.

Nabard buys 7% more in Sidbi from IDBI Bank for Rs900 crore

The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Nabard) has bought an additional 7% stake in Small Industries Development Bank of India (Sidbi) for Rs900 crore from troubled public sector lender IDBI Bank Ltd.

• This is the largest investment made by the apex rural financial institution so far, and raises its total shareholding in Sidbi to 10%.
• According to data shared by Sidbi, existing shareholders bought most of the shares of IDBI Bank in SIDBI —6.99% by Nabard, 2.04% by Life Insurance Corp. of India (LIC), 0.5% by Vijaya Bank and 0.5% by Canara Bank. With this, LIC holds 14.25% in SIDBI, Vijaya Bank 0.8% and Canara Bank 3.64%.

ECONOMY

Government approves Rs 2,000 crore to set up Aadhaar units in post offices

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has approved Rs 2,000 crore specifically for setting up Aadhaar centres in post offices, a move that will see private contractors phased out from the data collection process.

• Aadhaar enrolment and updation facilities will be available in around 15,000 post offices by March 31 next year and this will complement the earlier decision that bank branches will have similar centres by October 31. Around 5,000 post offices will have the facility by December this year.

Direct tax collections for FY 2017-18 up by 15.8 percent

The provisional figures of Direct Tax collections up to September, 2017 reported a 15.8 percent increase (Rs. 3.86 lakh crore) compared to the net collections for the corresponding period of last year.

SCIENCE

Japan launches fourth satellite for high-precision GPS

Japan launched a fourth Michibiki satellite for a new high-precision global positioning system (GPS) it hopes will encourage new businesses and help spur economic growth.

SPORTS

Boxing coach Sandhu gets Nat’l award for senior citizens

Long-serving Indian boxing coach Gurbax Singh Sandhu, who has the distinction of coaching both the men and women boxers, has been honoured with the National Awards for senior citizens by President Ramnath Kovind. Sandhu was the chief coach when India won its maiden Olympic medal in boxing through Vijender Singh in 2008.

FIFA suspends Pakistan from international football

The Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) has decided to suspend the Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) with immediate effect because of undue third-party interference. As a result of suspension, the PFF has lost all its membership rights as defined in article 13 of the FIFA Statutes.

APPOINTMENTS

Veteran Anupam Kher is new FTII Chairman

Anupam Kher, who has acted in over 500 movies and is a vocal supporter of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has been named as Chairman of the prestigious Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) in Pune.

• Anupam will succeed the controversial Gajendra Chauhan, whose appointment in 2014 had triggered widespread student protests.

Nisha Desai Biswal appointed US-India Business Council president

Former assistant secretary of state Nisha Desai Biswal has been named as the new president of the US-India Business Council (USIBC).

• Biswal previously served as the assistant secretary for South and Central Asian affairs during 2013-2017.

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