Daily Current Affairs 24th October, 2017

Daily Current Affairs 24 October 2017 for Banking/Insurance/SSC and other related exams.

NATIONAL NEWS

Ministries of power and textiles jointly announce new scheme ‘SAATHI’

Ministries of power and textiles have jointly announced a new scheme SAATHI under which Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL) will provide energy efficient power loom equipment to small and medium units at no upfront cost.

• The use of the efficient equipment would result in energy and cost savings to the unit owner and he will repay in instalments to EESL over a 4 to 5 year period.
• The SAATHI initiative of the government will be jointly implemented by EESL and the office of the Textile Commissioner on a pan-India basis.
• SAATHI — Sustainable and Accelerated Adoption of efficient Textile technologies to Help small Industries.

Cabinet approves construction of 84,000 km roads at Rs 7 lakh crore

The Union Cabinet has approved road building programmes of around Rs 7 lakh crore with a target to construct 83,677 km of roads in the next five years.

• These programmes, including Bharatmala project of around 35,000 km with an investment of Rs 5.35 lakh crore, are likely to create 14.2 crore Mandays of jobs.

Govt to infuse Rs 2.11 lakh crore into PSU banks over 2 years

The government announced an aggressive Rs 2.11 lakh crore capital infusion for the NPA hit public sector banks over a period of 2 years.

• Out of this, Rs 1.35 lakh crore will be through the recapitalisation bonds, while remaining Rs 76,000 crore from the budgetary support. Non-performing assets of banks have increased from Rs 2.75 lakh in March 2015 to Rs 7.33 crore as on June 2017.

Environment Ministry fined Rs 2 lakh by SC

The Supreme Court has imposed a fine of Rs two lakh on the Environment Ministry for not fixing emission norms of Sulphur Dioxide and Nitrogen Oxide for 34 categories of industries — important to mitigate air pollution in Delhi and the NCR.

• The emission norms are significant as these industries, engaged in producing fertilisers, nitric acid and other hazardous activities, use pet coke and furnace oil.

MP govt shelves plan to shift to Jan-Dec fiscal format

Madhya Pradesh, which was the first state to announce that it would switch to January-December financial year from the existing April-March cycle starting 2018, has put the plan on the back burner.

• The state government will follow suit once the Centre shifts to the January-December fiscal cycle.

Bihar: Chhat Pooja celebrations begin

In Bihar, four-day Chhat Pooja celebrations are beginning from today (24 October), with NAHAY-KHAY. Kharna rituals will be held tomorrow.

• On Thursday, devotees will pay oblations to the Sun God in the evening and on Friday, after paying oblations to the rising Sun, the Chhat Pooja will conclude.

International meet on composite materials from Dec 27-29

The Indian Institute of Technology Hyderabad (IIT-H) will organise an international conference on composite materials from December 27 to 29.

• The conference would hold a discussion around recent advances in composite materials and structures. It will explore the role of innovation in developing composite materials.

Hirasar Greenfield Airport Project in Gujarat gets Green Clearance

The Centre has given green clearance for a greenfield airport project at Hirasar, about 28 km from Rajkot in Gujarat, at a cost of over Rs. 1,400 crores. The state government has proposed a new airport in Rajkot district as the existing one is small and the earlier plan to extend the current runway could not materialise because of high land cost.

BANKING & FINANCE

SBI Launched ‘2nd SBI Digital Hackathon’

The State Bank of India has launched the second edition of its Hackathon named ‘Digitize For Bank.’ This hackathon will be held from 1st to12th November 2017.

• It is presented by SBI Collaborative Innovation Centre (CIC). This edition focuses on four ‘Cognitive’ themes namely Facial Recognition, Signature Recognition, Voice based Authentication and Cheque Truncation Value Enhancers.

RBI to make LEI must for cos with over Rs 5 crore exposure

After making Legal Entity Identifier (LEI) mandatory for transactions in interest rate, forex and credit derivative market, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is set to make LEI compulsory for companies having aggregate fund-based and non-fund based exposure over Rs 5 crore.

• LEI is a unique 20 digit alphanumeric code that will be assigned to corporate borrowers.
• Banks will be required to capture this number in the Central Repository of Information on Large Credits (CRILC) database that captures details of loan above Rs 5 crore.
• The LEI number will help banks in monitoring the aggregate exposure of corporate borrowers.
• It would also enable banks in preventing multiple loans to companies against the same collateral.

SPORTS

Shuttler Srikanth wins Denmark Open title

Indian shuttler Kidambi Srikanth clinched his third Superseries title of the season as he defeated South Korean Lee Hyun II to win the men’s singles title of the Denmark Open in Odense.

Virat Kohli becomes top run-scorer at 200 ODIs

Indian skipper Virat Kohli has become the top run-scorer at the 200 ODI-mark, after taking the field against New Zealand in the first ODI at Mumbai. Even without scoring a single run in his 200th ODI, Virat has 8,767 runs, 146 more than second-placed AB de Villiers. Virat is the 14th Indian cricketer to play 200 ODIs.

Jitu, Heena strike gold in ISSF air pistol mixed team event

Jitu Rai and Heena Sidhu combined to give India their first gold medal of the International Shooting Sport Federation‬ (ISSF) World Cup Final, clinching the top honours in the 10m air pistol mixed team event.

Cristiano Ronaldo wins ‘The Best FIFA Men’s Player’ award

Real Madrid star Cristiano Ronaldo won ‘The Best FIFA Men’s Player’ award, while Lieke Martens was named best female player and Oliver Giroud won best goal.

• Notably, Ronaldo has beaten Lionel Messi and Neymar to win the trophy, for the second year running, according to ESPN.

APPOINTMENTS

Rakesh Asthana appointed CBI Special Director

In a major bureaucratic reshuffle, the government promoted senior IPS officers Rakesh Asthana and Gurbachan Singh as Special Directors of Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and Intelligence Bureau (IB) respectively.

• Deepak Kumar Mishra and Sudeep Lakhtakia have been promoted as Special DG in the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF).
• Rajesh Ranjan and A.P. Maheshwari have been promoted to the ranks of Special DG in the Border Security Force (BSF).

Alok Kumar Pateria appointed as ADG, CISF

Alok Kumar Pateria has been appointed as the new additional director general (ADG) of the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF). Pateria is a 1986 batch Indian Police Service (IPS) officer of the Madhya Pradesh cadre.

Nepal govt accepts resignation of its Ambassador to India

The Nepal government has accepted the resignation of its Ambassador to India, Deep Kumar Upadhyay, to contest the upcoming parliamentary elections.

RECOGNITIONS

Meghalaya Election Department enters Limca Book of Records

The Meghalaya Election Department has entered Limca Book of Records for the formation of the biggest human logo comprising young voters in the state.

• The logo formation was part of Mission Unite (U and I towards Enrolment) as part of the Special drive to enroll young and left out voters in the age categories of 18 to 21 years held in July at the Jawaharlal Nehru Sports Complex

BOOK LAUNCH

Rajasthan CM launches Rajiv Mehrishi’s ‘India 2017 Yearbook’

Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje launched an e-book titled ‘India 2017 Yearbook‘, compiled by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) and former Union home secretary Rajiv Mehrishi.

• Mehrishi said that the e-book includes a plethora of information on important dignitaries, state policy, public schemes and important data about demographics, trade, economy and many other topics.

OBITUARY

Noted Malayalam film director I.V. Sasi passes away

Acclaimed Malayalam film director I.V. Sasi has passed away. In a career spanning close to four decades in which he also helmed some Tamil and Hindi projects, Sasi directed nearly 150 films.

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