DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS: 14TH MAY 2017

DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS: 14TH MAY 2017
(DAILY NEWS INDIA)
SHARED BY: WWW.DAILYGK.IN

1. RAJNATH SINGH CHAIRS NORTHERN ZONAL COUNCIL MEETING IN CHANDIGARH
i. Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh will chair the 28th meeting of the Northern Zonal Council on 11th of May in Chandigarh. The 27th meeting of the Northern Zonal Council was held at New Delhi.
ii. North Zonal Council comprises the Chandigarh, Haryana, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Delhi and Rajasthan.
iii. 5 Zonal Councils – Central, Northern, Western, Southern and Eastern—have been established under the State Reorganisation Act, 1956.
iv. A zonal council will be the matter of common interest in economic and social planning border disputes, linguistic minorities or inter-state transport.

2. NAGPUR WILL BE THE 1ST INDIAN CITY TO GET ELECTRIC RADIO CABS
i. Nagpur will be the 1st Indian city to get electric radio cabs. It will be started from 24th of May. It will be launched by Union transport minister Nitin Gadkari.
ii. The Project will be undertaken by Nagpur Municipal Corporation.and is the 1st project of its kind in the country. It is a method to tackle increasing pollution in the country.
iii. The pilot project will see around 200 e-cabs in Nagpur with the local body to provide for the charging stations across the city. It will promote the usage of electric and hybrid vehicles in India as the country is moving towards its goal of going all electric by 2030.

3. PM NARENDRA MODI’S TWO DAY VISIT TO SRI LANKA
i. Prime Minister Narendra Modi was on a 2-day visit to Sri Lanka. During this visit, he participated in the International Vesak Day celebrations, the biggest festival of Buddhists and attended several other programmes.
ii. The theme of this year’s celebration was “Buddhist Teachings for Social Justice and Sustainable World Peace”.
iii. Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated a multi-specialty hospital at Dickoya in Nuwara Eliya district of Sri Lanka.

4. 19TH SESSION OF INDIA-ITALY JOINT COMMISSION FOR ECONOMIC COOPERATION HELD IN ROME
i. 19th Session of India-Italy Joint Commission for Economic Cooperation held in Rome.
ii. The Joint Commission was co-chaired by the Indian Minister of Commerce and Industry Nirmala Sitharaman by the Italian Minister of Economic Development Carlo Calenda.
iii. India’s bilateral trade with Italy during 2014-15, 2015-16 and 2016-17 was US $9.32 billion, US $8.28 billion and US $8.80 billion respectively.

5. DISHA MICROFIN GETS FINAL NOD FROM RBI FOR SMALL FINANCE BANK
i. Disha Microfin has received the final license from Reserve Bank to operate as a small finance bank. The Bank will start operations from July this year. The bank will be called Fincare Small Finance Bank.
ii. Its main focus will be on the priority sector and retail segments, and will additionally offer products such as gold loans and affordable housing loans.

6. SBI REVISES SERVICE CHARGES; TO CHARGE ATM WITHDRAWALS AT RS 25
i. State Bank of India the country’s largest public sector lender has announced that it will start levying charges of Rs 25 for every withdrawal done at its automated teller machine or ATM kiosks.
ii. The bank has also mentioned that it will also charge the amount for exchange of “sullied” notes worth and above Rs 5,000.
iii. The recent move comes weeks after SBI made maintenance of monthly minimum balance compulsory in savings accounts under metro, urban, semi-urban and rural categories. All categories require Rs 5,000, Rs 3,000, Rs 2,000 and Rs 1,000 minimum balance to be maintained to avoid suspension of the accounts.

7. NEW IIP, WPI SERIES INTRODUCED, SHOW OVERALL BENIGN MACRONUMBERS
i. New-look Index of Industrial Production and the Wholesale Price Index were unveiled. It has been built on the new series of data and is thereby reflecting a healthier picture of the Indian economy in 2016-17 as compared to the old series.
ii. The new series of the IIP has 809 items as compared to 620 items in old series. Items such as cement clinkers, prefabricated concrete blocks, steroids and refined palm oil have been added in the new series, whereas items like calculators colour TV picture tubes, and gutka have been removed.
ii. The new series of the WPI has 697 items as compared to 676 items in old series. New vegetables and fruits such as radish, carrot, cucumber, bitter gourd, mosambi, pomegranate, jackfruit, and pear have been added to the list of primary articles.

8. ANDHRA PRADESH INKS DEAL WITH HCL TECH TO SET UP RS 500 CR RESEARCH FACILITIES
i. Andhra Pradesh IT Minister Nara Lokesh signed a deal with HCL Technologies. To set up of Rs 500-cr IT research facility in Vijayawada.
ii. The company will invest Rs 500 cr in ten years, for a development centre, training facility and other ancillary facilities.
iii. HCL will aim to hire, employ and train 5,000 local residents in the region in two phases. The company will develop its first centre at Kesarapalle village in Gannavarammandal of Krishna district.

9. R K MAHAJAN, MAHENDER SINGH APPOINTED CBEC MEMBERS
i. The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has approved appointment of senior bureaucrats R K Mahajan and Mahender Singh as members in the Central Board of Excise and Customs.
ii. Mahajan is the director general of Central Excise Intelligence and Singh is the director general (audit). Both of them are Indian Revenue Service officers.

10. AMITABH BACHCHAN APPOINTED WHO GOODWILL AMBASSADOR FOR HEPATITIS
i. The World Health Organisation appointed Amitabh Bachchan as its goodwill ambassador for hepatitis in South-East Asia region.
ii. It aims to boost awareness and intensify action to arrest the epidemic. This is the 1st formal association between WHO and Mr. Bachchan.
iii. He had also served as UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador for Polio in India.
iv. According to the WHO estimates nearly 90 million people suffer from chronic liver diseases, which are driving rates of liver cancer and cirrhosis in the region.

11. V K SARASWAT APPOINTED NEW JNU CHANCELLOR
i. V K Saraswat, Scientist and former Director General of Defence Research and Development Organisation was appointed as Chancellor of Jawaharlal Nehru University for a 5-year term. V K Saraswat succeeds former Indian Space Research Organisation Chairman, K Kasturirangan, who completed his term on March 30, 2017.
ii. Saraswat has a PhD in combustion engineering and played a very significant role in the development of the country’s first liquid propulsion engine. He is credited with the development of other rocket engines such as Prithvi,Dhanush and Prahaar.

OBJECTIVE QUESTIONS BASED ON TODAY’S NEWS

Q1. UNION HOME MINISTER RAJNATH SINGH, CHAIRED THE NORTHERN ZONAL COUNCIL MEETING HELD IN?
a) Chandigarh
b)  Amritsar
c)  New Delhi
d)  Shimla
Q2. DISHA MICROFIN, HAS RECEIVED FINAL LICENSE FROM THE RESERVE BANK OF INDIA TO SET UP A SMALL FINANCE BANK. IT WILL COMMENCE OPERATION FROM JULY 2017 UNDER THE NAME OF?
a)  Micro Nivesh Small Finance Bank
b)  Pragati Small Finance Bank
c)  Fincare Small Finance Bank
d)  Unnati Small Finance Bank
Q3. WHICH AMONG THE FOLLOWING WILL BE THE FIRST INDIAN CITY TO GET ELECTRIC RADIO CABS?
a)  Bengaluru
b)  Kolkata
c)  Hyderabad
d)  Nagpur
Q4. THE APPOINTMENTS COMMITTEE OF THE CABINET HAS APPROVED APPOINTMENT OF SENIOR BUREAUCRATS ________AND _______AS MEMBERS IN THE CENTRAL BOARD OF EXCISE AND CUSTOMS?
a)  R K Mahajan and Sudhir Krishnan
b)  R K Mahajan and Mahender Singh
c)  Lokesh Reddy and Mahender Singh
d)  Mahender Singh and Sudhir Krishnan
Q5. WHO AMONG THE FOLLOWING HAS BEEN APPOINTED AS CHANCELLOR OF JAWAHARLAL NEHRU UNIVERSITY FOR A FIVE-YEAR TERM?
a)  Arjun Nehwal
b)  Pravin Mehta
c)  V K Saraswat
d)  Pramit Joshi

ANSWERS: 

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