DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS: 3 DEC 2017

DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS: 3 DEC 2017

(DAILY NEWS INDIA)

SHARED BY: WWW.DAILYGK.IN

1.      22ND SMALL FARMERS’ AGRI-BUSINESS CONSORTIUM HELD IN NEW DELHI

i. 22nd meeting of Board of Mangement of Small Farmers’ Agri-Business Consortium was held in New Delhi. This meeting was chaired by Union Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Minister, Radha Mohan Singh.

ii. During this meeting, Mr. Singh was briefed about ongoing activities of SFAC. Mr. Singh was also brief about SFAC’s new initiatives such as Advance Training Programme for Board of Directors and CEOs of Farmer Producer Company, Fertilizer Dealership for the FPCs and Promotion of Fish Farmers Producer Organizations.

2.      PANEL SET UP BY GOVERNMENT FOR GST TWEAKS SET TO RECOMMEND SEVERAL CHANGES

i. A six-member panel set up by government (comprising industry representatives) will recommend several changes in the existing Goods and Services Tax law for smoother implementation. The panel has completed its evaluation and has identified more than ten areas where changes are required for smoother implementation.

ii. These areas include simplification of filing forms  and recommendation to make quarterly filing of returns as a permanent norm. The panel will also seek to extend composition scheme to services, which is currently available only to small traders, manufacturers and restaurants. Entities eligible for composition scheme have lower tax liability and enjoy a comparatively lower compliance burden.

iii .The panel has also recommended to postpone the rollout of E-way bills till the businesses get accustomed to GST regime. The panel is of the opinion that rolling out E-way bills at this time will create more confusion.

3.      INDIA RE-ELECTED TO INTERNATIONAL MARITIME ORGANISATION COUNCIL

i. India has been re-elected to the Council of the International Maritime Organisation under a category that represents nations with the largest interests in international sea borne trade.

ii. India was re-elected to the body under Category B at an assembly of the organization at its headquarters. Indian High Commissioner to the UK Y K Sinha represented India at the assembly where India secured the second-highest number of votes (144) from member-countries, just after Germany's 146 and ahead of Australia's 143.

4.      CORE SECTORS LOG 4.7% GROWTH IN OCTOBER

i. Combined index of eight core industries rose 4.7% in October 2017. The growth was primarily on the back of higher refinery and coal production. Coal production increased by 3.9% while crude oil refinery production grew by 7.5 per cent in October 2017.

ii. Coal, Curde Oil, Natural Gas, Refinery Products, Fertilizers, Steel, Cement and Electricity are the eight core industries of Indian economy. Natural gas production increased by 2.8%, steel production was up 8.4 per cent, fertilizer production was up 3 per cent and electricity generation was up by 2.1 per cent during the period under consideration.

iii. Industries that witnessed dip in growth during October 2017 are Crude Oil Production (-0.4 per cent) and Cement (-2.7%).

5.      SUSHMA SWARAJ ATTENDS SHANGHAI COOPERATION ORGANISATION SUMMIT

i. External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj attended the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit at Sochi in Russia. In June 2017, India and Pakistan had become full-fledged members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation.

ii. The meeting is the first major gathering of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit since the bloc was expanded for the first time to add India and Pakistan as full members in June's Astana summit in Kazakhstan.

6.      INFOSYS APPOINTS SALIL S PAREKH AS MD & CEO

i. Infosys annouced the appointment of Salil S. Parekh as its new CEO and Managing Director. Salil was in Capegemini earlier.

ii. The Bengaluru-headquartered company was searching for a new CEO after former CEO Vishal Sikka resigned in August 2017. Cofounder Nandan Nilekani returned to the company as non-executive chairman to steady operations.

7.      MISS KOREA JENNY KIM CROWNED MISS SUPRANATIONAL 2017

i. The 24-year-old model and Miss Korea Jenny Kim has bagged the title of Miss Supranational 2017 at the gala event, which was held in Poland's Spa Resort of Krynica- Zdroj.

ii Miss Columbia Tica Martinez and Romania's Bianca Tirsin were adjudged First Runner's Up and the second runner-up in the event, respectively.

iii. India's official entry to the competition, Peden Ongmu Namgyal, reached top 25.

8.      'POPULISM' NAMED CAMBRIDGE DICTIONARY'S WORD OF THE YEAR

i. The word 'populism' has been announced as Cambridge Dictionary's Word of the Year 2017. The dictionary defined populism as "political ideas and activities that are intended to get the support of ordinary people by giving them what they want".

ii. It said searches for 'populism' rose when Pope Francis made statements warning against its rising tide.

9.      A SURYA PRAKASH RE-APPOINTED PRASAR BHARATI CHIEF

i. Veteran journalist A Surya Prakash has been appointed the chairman of the Prasar Bharati board for a second consecutive term till February 8, 2020.

ii. Information and broadcasting ministry issued an order after a panel headed by Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu recommended Prakash’s name for the post.

10.  KENYATTA SWORN IN AS PRESIDENT OF KENYA

i. Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta has been sworn in for a second and final five-year term, a month after winning a bitterly disputed election rerun marked by delays and boycott.

ii. Kenyatta, 55, won 98 percent of the votes cast in October’s poll, which was boycotted by the main opposition leader, Raila Odinga.

11.  INDIA WINS 9 MEDALS IN ASIAN ARCHERY CHAMPIONSHIPS

i. Indian archers produced an impressive performance, grabbed three gold, four silver and two bronze medals at the Asian Championships in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

ii. Two Indian boys and girls also booked quota places for the 2018 Youth Olympics.

12.  SHIVA KESHAVAN WINS GOLD IN ASIAN LUGE CHAMPIONSHIPS

i. The sole Indian participant and defending Asian champion Shiva Keshavan retained his title with a time of 55.60 seconds.

ii. India's veteran Winter Olympian Shiva Keshavan won a gold medal at the Asian Luge Championships at Altenberg, Germany.

13.  GULZAR PENS DEBUT NOVEL IN ENGLISH ON THE PARTITION – ‘TWO’

i. Veteran lyricist Gulzar has written English novel ‘Two’ which examines the status of refugees after the Partition. ‘Two’ published by HarperCollins India, was originally written in Urdu, Gulzar’s medium of writing.

ii. It included many words and phrases in Punjabi, Saraiki and other dialects spoken in that area of Punjab which became Pakistan after Partition.

OBJECTIVE QUESTIONS BASED ON TODAY’S NEWS

Q1. IN WHICH CITY 22ND MEETING OF BOARD OF MANGEMENT OF SMALL FARMERS’ AGRI-BUSINESS CONSORTIUM WAS HELD AT?

a)  New Delhi

b)  Patna

c)  Darjeeling

d)  Bhubaneshwar

Q2. NAME THE INDIAN WHO BAGGED 3 MEDALS IN ASIAN ARCHERY CHAMPIONSHIPS 2017?

a)  Chinnaraju Srither

b)  Deepika Kumari

c)  Abhishek Verma

d)  Alison Williamson

Q3. NAME THE COUNTRY WHICH WAS RE-ELECTED TO THE COUNCIL OF THE INTERNATIONAL MARITIME ORGANISATION UNDER CATEGORY B?

a)  Bhutan

b)  India

c)  Sri Lanka

d)  Nepal

Q4. NAME THE JOURNALIST AND AUTHOR WHO WAS REAPPOINTED AS THE PRASAR BHARATI CHAIRMAN?

a)  Arnab Goswami

b)  Barka Dutt

c)  Nidhi Razdan

d)  Surya Prakash

Q5. WHO WINS GOLD IN ASIAN LUGE CHAMPIONSHIPS 2017?

a)  Sandeep Patuva

b)  Shiva Keshavan

c)  Nadal Rasal

d)  Jishnu Vardhan

ANSWERS: 

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