DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS: 18TH MAR 2017

DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS: 18TH MAR 2017
(DAILY NEWS INDIA)
SHARED BY: WWW.DAILYGK.IN

1. GST COUNCIL APPROVES SGST & UTGST DRAFT BILLS AT ITS 12TH MEETING
i. The Goods and Service Tax council headed by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley cleared the State GST and Union Territory GST laws during its 12 Council meet.
ii. Now the draft bills will need to be approved by the Cabinet and taken up in Parliament’s ongoing budget session for final approval.
iii. The SGST draft law will have to be approved by the legislative assemblies of respective states including Delhi and Puducherry.
iv. The UTGST draft law is for the union territories like Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Lakshadweep, Daman and Diu and Dadra and Nagar Haveli, which do not have legislative assemblies.
v. The GST tax regime has 9 set of rules and regulations out of which the Council has already approved 5 including registration, payment, refunds, invoices and returns.
vii. The 4 other rules namely composition, valuation, input tax and credit transitions is yet to get formal approval of the Council and will be taken up in the next meeting on March 31. After March 31, the Council will take up the exercise of fitment of various commodities in the GST tax slabs of 5%, 12%, 15% and 28%.

2. INDIA, BRAZIL CONCLUDE SOCIAL SECURITY AGREEMENT  
i. India and Brazil have finalised text of the Social Security Agreement. It will be effective from 2018.
ii. This is the 1st SSA agreement between the BRICS Countries.
iii. India has signed Social Security Agreements with 18 countries: Australia, Belgium, Austria, Canada, Czech Republic, Finland, Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, Japan, Portugal, Norway, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland, and South Korea.
iv. SSA will help to promote more investment flows between the 2 countries. A detached workers of the 2 countries are exempted from making social security contributions in either countries so long as they were making such contributions in their respective countries.

3. DEMANDS FOR GRANTS OF MINISTRY OF DEFENCE FOR 2017-18 PASSED IN LOK SABHA
i. The Lok Sabha passed the Demands for Grants of Ministry of Defence for 2017-18 after negotiating with the opposition.
ii. In 2017-18, the Ministry of Defence has been allocated Rs 3,59,854 cr (including pensions) for expenditure across the various services, production establishments and research and development organisations.
iii. This allocation is the highest from all other departments and represents 16.8% of the central government’s budget of 2017-18 and 2.1% of India’s estimated GDP.

4. G20 MEET OF FINANCE MINISTERS & CENTRAL BANK GOVERNORS BEGAN IN GERMANY
i. The 2 day G20 finance ministers and central bank governors meet began in Baden-Baden, Germany.
ii. The meeting will focus on strengthening economic resilience in finance, digitalization and promote investment in Africa.
iii. The meetings between finance ministers and central bank governors will provide a preliminary discussion platform ahead the G20 Summit of heads of state and government, which will be held in Hamburg.
iv. This is the 1st global gather to discuss economic challenges since Donald Trump took over as the US President. The gathering will help to set the tone for international commerce and finance.


5. INDIA RANKS 148 IN 2017 UN WOMEN IN POLITICS MAP
i. The Inter-Parliamentary Union and UN Women launched the ‘Women in Politics 2017 Map’ in New York. The Women in Politics 2017 Map is the visual representation of women’s political empowerment in executive government and parliament.
ii. It was unveiled on the sidelines of the ongoing session of the 61st Commission on the Status of Women at United Nations. The CSW is a global organization that focuses on the empowerment and equality for women.
iii. The theme for 2017 CSW is “Women’s Economic Empowerment in the Changing World of Work”.
iv. As per the report, the top nations that have high representation to women in the government and parliament includes: Rwanda, Cuba, Bolivia, Iceland, Nicaragua, Senegal, Sweden, Mexico, Finland and South Africa.
v. As per the Map, India ranked 148 out of 193 UN member nations in representing women in the executive government.

6. WORLD BANK APPROVES $175 MILLION LOAN FOR INDIA’S NATIONAL HYDROLOGY PROJECT
i. The World Bank has approved a $175 million loan to India for the National Hydrology Project to improve India’s ability to forecast floods and reduce the recurring chances of floods and droughts.
ii. The loan would be disbursed by the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development. The loan has a 6-year grace period in which no interest payments will be due and will mature in 23 years.
iii. The project will strengthen the capacity of existing institutions to assess the water situation and equip them with real-time flood forecast systems across the country to help communities to plan in advance to build resilience against possible uncertainties of climate change.

7. ESAF SMALL FINANCE BANK LAUNCHED IN THRISSUR
i. Kerala’s first private sector bank ESAF Small Finance Bank was launched by Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan in Thrissur, Kerala.
ii. This bank is promoted by ESAF Microfinance and Investments Pvt. Ltd and it is targeted to ESAF open 85 branches in unbanked rural centres in 1st year.
iii. Target of the bank: Rs 20,000 cr by 2020. For term deposits of varying maturities – 5.75% to 9%.
iv. For savings deposits –  6% to 7% and Senior citizens term deposits – .05%.

8. FIRST AIRBUS TRAINING CENTRE IN ASIA TO BE SET UP IN NEW DELHI
i. France based Aircraft maker Airbus will set up Asia’s 1st training facility for pilots and maintenance engineers in New Delhi. Ashok Gajapathi Raju, Union Civil Aviation Minister performed the ground-breaking ceremony for the training centre.
ii. The centre will formed by the European aviation major Airbus. It is expected to be operational by the end of 2018.

9. MALLIKARJUN KHARGE SET TO BECOME NEXT PAC CHAIRMAN
i. Former Minister of Inidan Railways Mallikarjun Kharge has been nominated for the post of chairman of the Public’s Account Committee of Parliament.
ii. Kharge will succeed K.V. Thomas. He will now be entitled for a Cabinet rank and an office at the Parliament House.

10. LENOVO APPOINTS SUBHANKAR ROY CHOWDHURY AS HEAD HR FOR ASIA PACIFIC
i. Lenovo, Computer manufacturing company appointed Subhankar Roy Chowdhury as HR for Asia Pacific. He will succeed Andrew Dahms.
ii. Roy will be responsible for transformation and people strategy in Asia Pacific with focus on building leadership, cultural transformation and developing talent resources.

11. MICHAEL CLARKE’S LAUNCHES HIS AUTOBIOGRAPHY ‘MY STORY’
i. Former Australia captain Michael Clarke has launched his autobiography named ‘My Story’ in Kolkata in the presence of former Indian cricketer Saurav Ganguly
ii. This book was triggered by how he was affected by Phil Hughes’ death when India were touring Australia in 2014-15.

OBJECTIVE QUESTIONS BASED ON TODAY’S NEWS

Q1. 5. WHAT IS THE INDIA’S RANK IN THE WORLD FOR THE NUMBER OF MPS IN PARLIAMENT, AS PER LATEST UN REPORT “WOMEN IN POLITICS 2017 MAP”?
a)  155th
b)  119th
c)  148th
d)  169th
Q2. THE 2017 G20 FINANCE MINISTERS AND CENTRAL BANK GOVERNORS MEETING HAVE BEEN STARTED IN WHICH COUNTRY?
a)  Germany
b)  India
c)  Italy
d)  France
Q3. FIRST AIRBUS TRAINING CENTRE IN ASIA TO BE SET UP IN WHICH STATE?
a)  Chennai
b)  Mumbai
c)  Kolkata
d)  New Delhi
Q4. ESAF SMALL FINANCE BANK LAUNCHED IN WHICH CITY OF KERALA?
a)  Kochi
b) Thrissur
c)  Kollam
d)  Kozhikode

ANSWERS:

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