(DAILY NEWS INDIA)
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
