Daily Current Affairs 30th August, 2019

Daily Current Affairs 30 August 2019 for Banking/Insurance/SSC and other related exams.

NATIONAL NEWS

Centre releases Rs 47,436 crore to various states for afforestation

The Centre released Rs 47,436 crore to various states in a major boost towards promoting afforestation and achieving green objectives in the country. The money is released under the Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority (CAMPA).

• The money will be utilised for compensatory afforestation, catchment area treatment, wildlife management, assisted natural regeneration and forest fire prevention and control operations.

Centre approves Gorewada International Zoo in Nagpur

Union Minister Prakash Javadekar announced the approval for the new Gorewada International Zoo to be inaugurated in Nagpur district of Maharashtra.

Modi launches 10 AYUSH health, wellness centres in Haryana

Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched 10 AYUSH health and wellness centres in Haryana. The centres are in line with the Ministry of AYUSH’s commitment to making 12,500 AHWCs functional in the next three years.

• The main focus of these AYUSH centres would be empowering the community for ‘self-care’ by imbibing AYUSH-based healthy food and lifestyle, social behaviour and use of medicinal plants for primary healthcare.

M Venkaiah Naidu inaugurates Aqua Aquaria India 2019

Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu inaugurated Aqua Aquaria India 2019 in Hitex Exhibition Center, Hyderabad, Telangana.

• Marine Products Export Development Authority (MPEDA) under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry is organising this bi-annual event.

‘Fit India Campaign’: Meghalaya CM launches ‘walk to work’ campaign in state

Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma took the lead to launch the campaign of Fit India Movement which has been launched in the country by the Prime Minister.

• The Chief Minister took a two-kilometer walk from his residential quarters to his office chamber at Main Secretariat, Shillong launching the #WalktoWorkMeghalaya which is a part of the ‘Fit India Campaign’.

Haryana CM launches Mukhyamantri Parivar Samridhi Yojana

Haryana Chief Minister, Manohar Lal Khattar launched Mukhyamantri Parivar Samridhi Yojana from Red Bishop, Panchkula.

• The scheme is being launched with a vision of Surakshit Parivar, Shashakt Parivar, Samridh Parivar, to provide social security to lakhs of families in the state.
• In order to provide social security benefits to eligible families, the state government is starting this important scheme to provide people with the facility of Life Insurance or Accidental Insurance, Crop Insurance and Pension related benefits.

Rajnath inaugurates Ladakhi-Kisan-Jawan-Vigyan Mela in Leh

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh inaugurated the 26th Mela of Ladakhi-Kisan-Jawan-Vigyan Mela in Leh.

• The mela was organised by the Leh-based Defence Institute of High Altitude Research (DIHAR) of DRDO, which was established in 1960 to meet the fresh food requirement of the soldiers deployed in the harsh terrain of Ladakh

T.N.’s Dindigul lock and Kandangi saree get GI tag

Two well-known products from Tamil Nadu — Dindigul lock and Kandangi saree — have been given the Geographical Indication (GI) tag by The Geographical Indications Registry in Chennai.

• The Dindigul locks are known throughout the world for their superior quality and durability, so much so that even the city is called Lock City. Government institutions such as prisons, godowns, hospitals, and even temples use these locks instead of other machine-made ones.
• The Kandangi sarees are manufactured in the entire Karaikudi taluk in Sivaganga district. They are characterised by large contrast borders and some are known to have borders covering as far as two-thirds of the saree which is usually around 5.10 m-5.60 m in length.

Nepal, India introduce friendship bus service between Kathmandu and Siliguri

A private transport company in Kathmandu has started a deluxe bus service for Siliguri in West Bengal. It will leave Kathmandu at 3 pm (local time) and reach Siliguri via Kakkarvitta-Panitanki along the Indo-Nepal border next day at around 11 am.

Kerala, TN, Himachal top India’s child well-being index, says report

Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Himachal Pradesh and Puducherry topped the charts in the child well-being index, a tool designed to measure and tracks children’s well-being comprehensively. Meghalaya, Jharkhand and Madhya Pradesh featured at the bottom, as per a report released by the non government organisation World Vision India and research institute IFMR LEAD. The report is an attempt to look at how India fairs on child well-being using a composite child well-being index.

Rare tarantula sighted in Villupuram district

In an interesting find, researchers have sighted a critically endangered species of tarantula for the first time beyond its known habitat in the Eastern Ghats.

• The spider belonging to the genus Poecilotheria, commonly known as the Peacock Parachute Spider or Gooty Tarantula was spotted by a team of researchers of the Puducherry-based Indigenous Biodiversity Foundation (IBF) in the Pakkamalai Reserve Forests near Gingee in Villupuram district.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

Pakistan ‘successfully’ tests Ghaznavi ballistic missile

Pakistan has successfully carried out a night training launch of 290-km range surface-to-surface ballistic missile Ghaznavi. Ghaznavi was developed after studying Chinese M-11 missiles, which were delivered to Pakistan in 1987.

BANKING & FINANCE

10 public sector banks to be merged into four

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced a big consolidation of public sector banks:

• PNB, OBC and United Bank to be merged (PNB will be the anchor bank). Consolidated PNB+OBC+United Bank to be 2nd largest PSB with Rs 18 lakh crore business and 2nd largest branch network in India. PNB will be the anchor bank in this merger.
• Canara Bank and Syndicate Bank to be merged. Canara Bank will be the anchor lender.
• Union Bank of India, Andhra Bank and Corporate Bank to be merged. Consolidated Union+Andhra+Corporation Banks to be 5th largest PSB with Rs 14.6L Cr. business & 4th largest branch network in India. Union Bank of India will be anchor lender in the this merger.
• Indian Bank to be merged with Allahabad Bank. Consolidated Indian & Allahabad Banks to be 7th largest PSB with Rs 8.08 lakh crore business.
• After the merger, the number of India’s public sector banks drops to 12 from 27 earlier. Earlier, Dena Bank and Vijaya Bank were also merged with Bank of Baroda which came into effect from April 1, 2019.
• Apart from this, the government announced Rs 55,250 crore upfront as capital infusion in the PSBs.

BUSINESS & ECONOMY

Ind-Ra cuts GDP growth forecast in FY20 to 6.7%

India Ratings and Research has revised downwards its projection of the country’s GDP growth in financial year 2019-20 to 6.7%, a six-year low, from its earlier forecast of 7.3%.

SPORTS

Odisha: CM felicitates athletes with Biju Patnaik Sports Award

On the occasion of National Sports Day, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik felicitated several top players of the state with Biju Patnaik Sports Award at Jaydev Bhavan in Bhubaneswar.

• Players who secured medals at the national and international level for the state were given cash prize by the chief minister.

India bags gold in 10 meter air pistol event in Shooting World Cup

In shooting, Abhishek Verma won the gold medal in the men’s 10m air pistol event of the World Cup at Rio de Janeiro.

• Also, Elavenil Valarivan won a gold in the women’s 10m air rifle event.

Vismaya wins gold with new personal best in Czech Republic

Indian sprinter VK Vismaya produced a personal best timing of 52.12 s to clinch the gold medal in the women 400m run at the International Athletic Meeting – Josef Seck r Memorial (MJS) in Brno, Czech Republic.

Lionel Messi wins ‘Forward of the Season’ award

Barcelona’s Lionel Messi bagged the Forward of the Season award for the 2018/19 UEFA Champions League campaign.

Virgil van Dijk named as Defender of the Season

Liverpool defender Virgil van Dijk won the Defender of the Season award for the 2018/19 UEFA Champions League campaign.

Virgil van Dijk wins ‘Player of the Year’ award

Liverpool defender Virgil van Dijk won the Men’s Player of the Year award for the 2018/19 UEFA Champions League campaign

APPOINTMENTS

Govt extends CBDT Chairman Mody’s tenure

The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC), headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has approved “re-appointment” of Pramod Chandra Mody as the Chairman of Central Board of Direct Taxes for a period of one year. Mody was to retire on August 31.

ICRA sacks its MD and CEO Naresh Takkar

Moody’s India unit ICRA Ltd (Investment Information and Credit Rating Agency of India Limited) has ousted its Managing Director and Group Chief Executive Officer Naresh Takkar, nearly three months after the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) received an anonymous complaint alleging misconduct at the credit rating agency under him.

• On July 1, Takkar was asked to proceed on leave until further notice.

AWARDS

HPCL declared best navratna at Dun & Bradstreet PSU awards

Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL) has bagged the best navratna award in manufacturing category at Dun & Bradstreet PSU Awards 2019 consecutively for the second year in a row.

• Dun & Bradstreet PSU Awards have been instituted to recognise and felicitate the top-performing PSUs in India for business excellence and acknowledge their contribution in the socio-economic development of the country.

OBITUARIES

Veteran Bengali actor Nimu Bhowmik passes away

Veteran actor Nimu Bhowmik who essayed major character roles in Bengali classics such as ‘Ganadebata’, ‘Baghini’ and ‘Dadar Kirti’ has passed away following prolonged illness. He was 84.

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