DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS: 5TH MAR 2017

DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS: 5^TH MAR 2017

(Daily News India)

Shared By: WWW.DailyGk.IN

1. FINAL DRAFT OF CENTRAL GST & INTEGRATED GST APPROVED BY GST COUNCIL

i. The Goods and Services Tax Council headed by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley unanimously cleared the crucial Central GST and Integrated GST draft bills during its 11th meeting at Vigyan Bhavan.

ii. The state had recommended as many as 26 changes regarding CGST and IGST, all of which were accepted by the Centre.

iii. Under the IGST bill which is related to taxation of inter-state transfer of goods, the legislation has been made for cross empowerment of state and central officers.

iv. Both Centre and states have agreed to provide a composition scheme for small businesses. Now the small businesses with an annual turnover of up to Rs 50 lakh will pay 5% tax (to be shared equally between the Centre and states).

2. RS 10000 PENALTY FOR BANK BRANCHES REFUSING TO EXCHANGE SOILED NOTES

i. The RBI has clarified that currency notes which have messages scribbled on it are legal tender bank branches that refuse to exchange soiled notes from people will have to pay a penalty of Rs 10,000.

ii. According to RBI’s Clean Note Policy 1999, no banks can deny to exchange soiled or mutilated currency notes.

The restriction for exchanging soiled notes is that if one exchanges more than 20 notes or notes worth Rs 5,000 in a day, then banks will levy service charge.

3. GOOGLE INDIA INKS MOU WITH TELANGANA GOVERNMENT

i. Telangana government and Search Engine Giant Google India have inked a Memorandum of Understanding aimed at supporting the digitisation efforts of the state.

ii. As Part of the MoU Google will provide Google Cloud credits and access to all cloud  Google platform products to eligible startups engaged with Telangana government’s T-Hub initiative.

iii. The MoU will cover various initiatives among, making all government websites mobile friendly and introduce programmes to help local small and medium businesses go online and stay safe online.

iv. The Agreement will pave Google India and the Telangana to work on promoting digital literacy among rural women through programme Internet Saathi.

4. GOVERNMENT’S BIOTECH INNOVATION CENTRE TO BE SET UP IN BENGALURU’S C-CAMP

i. The Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council will house its regional entrepreneurship centre at Bengaluru ­based Centre for Cellular and Molecular Platforms a biotechnology innovation incubator.

ii. The government’s nodal funding agency for the biotech industry BIRAC regional centre aimed to increase portfolio through partnerships with startups and entrepreneurs.

iii. The centre will provide a direct interface between angel investors and early­stage VCs, among other things.

5. P K PURWAR APPOINTED MTNL CMD

i. Appointments Committee of the Cabinet appointed P K Purwar as the Chairman and Managing Director of State-owned telecommunications service provider Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited.

ii. Prior to this elevation Purwar was working as Director (Finance) in MTNL, he also held the additional charge of the post of MTNL CMD between June 2014 and June 2015.

6. WCCB CONDUCTS OPERATION THUNDERBIRD & OPERATION SAVE KURMA TO COMBAT WILDLIFE CRIME

i. The Wildlife Crime Control Bureau under the Ministry of Environment and Forests coordinated nationwide ‘Operation Thunder Bird’ to combat illegal trade of wildlife animals in the country.

ii. The operation was undertaken in coordination with International Criminal Police Organization.

iii. Operation Thunder Bird aimed to eliminate poaching of wildlife animals of India.

iv. ‘Operation Save Kurma’ is a turtle specific operation where over 15,000 live turtles were seized.

7. FORMER IFS AND MP SYED SHAHABUDDIN DIES

i. Well known Former Indian Foreign Service officer and parliamentarian Syed Shahabuddin has passed away after a prolonged illness in New Delhi.

ii. Syed began working as a diplomat for the Indian Foreign Service, later served 3 terms from 1979-1996 as a MP.

iii. The eminent man Shahabuddin was a former President of All India Muslim Majlise Mushawarat left party.

8. ‘NUMBER DO LIE’ AUTHORED BY FORMER CRICKETER AAKASH CHOPRA

i. Former Indian cricketer Akash Chopra released book titled ‘Numbers Do Lie’, 61 Hidden Cricket Stories which takes a different look at stats.

ii. The batsman narrated about the cricket records and player performances more lucidly that reflects player’s impact in the game of cricket.

iii. The book is more about Impact Index measures performance based on the match in series context and not just plain statistics.

9. WORLD HEARING DAY: MARCH 3

i. World Hearing Day is observed on each year on March 3^rd to promote hearing since its pronouncement in 2007.

ii. The theme for World Hearing Day 2017 was “Action for hearing loss: make a sound investment” reflects to the economic impact of hearing loss.

iii. This year WHO urged the theme which highlights actions which can be undertaken by decision-makers to address hearing loss.

OBJECTIVE QUESTIONS BASED ON TODAY’S NEWS

Q1. WHEN IS THE WORLD HEARING DAY OBSERVED?

a)  March 1

b)  March 4

c)  March 3

d)  March 5

Q2. WHO IS THE AUTHOR OF THE BOOK TITLED NUMBERS DO LIE: 61 HIDDEN CRICKET STORIES?

a)  Shoaib Akhtar

b)  Kapil Dev

c)  Sachin Tendulkar

d)  Akash Chopra

Q3. THE STATE GOVERNMENT OF TELANGANA HAS SIGNED AN MOU WITH WHICH TECHNOLOGY GIANT TO SUPPORT DIGITIZATION EFFORT OF THE STATE?

a)  Google India

b)  Microsoft

c)  Tata Consultancy Services

d)  HCL Technologies

Q4. SYED SHAHABUDDIN WHO DIED ON MARCH 4, 2017 WAS A ____?

a)  Scientist

b)  Journalist

c)  Novelist

d)  Politician

Q5. OPERATION THUNDERBIRD AND OPERATION SAVE KURMA WAS CONDUCTED BY WHICH AGENCY TO COMBAT WILDLIFE CRIME?

a)  Wildlife Conservation Trust

b)  Wildlife Crime Control Bureau

c)  Wildlife Trust of India

d)  National Tiger Conservation Authority

ANSWER: 

1 - C    2 - D    3 – A   `4 - D  5 - B