DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS: 09 JULY 2017

DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS: 09 JULY 2017
(DAILY NEWS INDIA)
SHARED BY: WWW.DAILYGK.IN

1. CENTRE ALLOTS RS 100 CR TO GOA UNDER SWADESH DARSHAN SCHEME
i. Tourism minister Manohar Azgaonkar announced that Goa will be allotted Rs 100 cr by the Union ministry for tourism under phase II of the Swadesh Darshan Scheme. The funds will be used for developing the state’s coastal circuit from Panaji to Palolem.
ii. This is the 2nd allotment of central financial assistance within one year. The amount was approved after “A Special Purpose Vehicle formed by the Goa governments department of tourism under the Goa Tourism Development Corporation made a presentation before the Monitoring Committee. .
iii. The initial allotment of Rs 100 cr under phase I for coastal circuit development is being utilized for developing the coastal belt in North Goa from Sinquerim to Keri. The phase II allotment of Rs 100 cr will be utilized for developing the South Goa coastline from Panaji to Palolem.

2. INDIA’S 1ST UNIVERSITY ONLY FOR DALIT STUDENTS TO COME UP IN HYDERABAD BY 2018
i. Telangana is the first state to build India’s 1st university for Dalit students by 2018. The university will be a part of the government’s policy of providing education free of cost to students from weaker sections from kindergarten to post-graduation level.
ii. The objective of establishing an university for Dalit students is to provide them a comprehensive education, so that they would come out as complete and knowledgeable citizens.
iii. The proposal was bring up by a government arm – Telangana Social Welfare Residential Educational Institutions Society.
iv. At present, there are universities exclusively for women and religious minorities but not for weaker sections.

3. HARSIMRAT KAUR LAYS FOUNDATION OF PUNJAB’S FIRST MAIZE-BASED FOOD PARK
i. Union Food Processing Minister, Harsimrat Kaur Badal laid the foundation stone, of Punjab’s first maize based Food Park at Rehana Jattan village in Kapurt.hala District of Punjab. Ms. Badal mentioned that there is an urgent need to turn to maize and the government is working relentlessly to make maize as the third viable staple crop of Punjab after wheat and rice.
ii. This food park will be set up on 55 acres, at the cost of Rs. 123 cr. The Union government is providing a financial assistance of Rs. 50 crore for the project.
iii. It is being developed by Sukhjit Mega Food Park and Infra Limited and will generate turnover of Rs 450 – 500 cr annually.


4. GOVT LAUNCHES IPR AWARENESS SCHEME FOR MSMES, STARTUPS
i. The ministry of commerce and industry has launched a scheme for awareness on Intellectual Property Rights. It was further step to take forward the National Intellectual Property Rights Policy 2016.
ii. ‘Scheme for IPR Awareness Creative India; Innovative India’ has been launched by Cell for IPR Promotion and Management.The scheme aims at raising IPR awareness amongst students, authors, artists, budding inventors.
iii. To conduct over 4,000 IPR awareness workshops in academic institutions including MSMEs and start-ups which will cover international filing procedures, promotion of Geographical Indications and highlighting the ill-effects of piracy and counterfeiting.
iv. To promote innovation and entrepreneurship, IPR awareness could be implemented via partner organisations where the complete details can be viewed on the website of department of industrial policy and promotion.

5. RBI CONSIDERING SETTING UP PUBLIC CREDIT REGISTRY IN INDIA
i. Reserve Bank of India is considering setting up a public credit registry in India to address the twin balance sheet problem of the banking sector and the corporate sector. RBI Deputy Governor Viral Acharya highlighted the need to set up a public credit registry while delivering the theme talk at the 11th Statistics Day Conference.
ii. Reserve Bank celebrated its ‘11th Annual Statistics Day Conference’ on the Theme ‘New Frontiers on Statistical Methods and Information Base for Central Banks’
iii. According to the World Bank Doing Business Project, “Public credit registry coverage reports the number of individuals and firms listed in a public credit registry with current information on repayment history, unpaid debts, or credit outstanding. The number is expressed as a percentage of the adult population.”

6. ORACLE OPENS ITS FIRST DIGITAL HUB IN BENGALURU
i. US tech giant Oracle has announced the opening of its first ‘Digital Hub’ in the Asia Pacific region.
ii. It aimed at providing small and mid size businesses access to cloud solutions and resources they need to power digital transformation.
iii. There will be five hubs across the Asia Pacific, but India is the first hub, and the other 4 Digital Hubs that will come up in the Asia Pacific region will be in Singapore, Sydney, Seoul and Beijing.
iii. Oracle’s Digital Hubs will provide a complete suite of cloud applications, platform, and infrastructure services. The new Digital Hub is a part of a global network of best practise centres for SMBs.
iv. It will help them leverage Oracle Cloud solutions to streamline operations, boost innovation and gain a platform for growth. The new facility, one of the five Digital Hubs set to open in Asia Pacific and help in better serving the mid size market in the new cloud economy.

7. FORMER MARTIAL ARTS STAR BATTULGA WINS MONGOLIAN PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION
i. Khaltmaa Battulga, a member of the Democratic Party, won with 50.6% of the vote for the presidential election according to  General Election Commission.
ii. He was a former martial arts star and businessman. Tsakhia Elbegdorj will step down as president after finishing his 2nd and final term.

8. CENTRE LAUNCHES GST RATES FINDER APP TO VERIFY ACCURATE TAX RATE UNDER GST REGIME
i. Centre has launched a GST Rates Finder app to verify the accurate tax rate on commodity and services under the Goods and Services Tax regime.
ii. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has launched the app in New Delhi. It will help the taxpayers and every citizen of the nation, to find out the correct GST rate on goods and services.
iii. Through this app, user can determine GST rate by entering the name of the commodity or service.
iv. This app can be downloaded on any smart phone and once downloaded it can work in offline mode as well. Under the GST regime Central Board of Excise and Customs has taken these initiatives for ease of doing business.
v. CBEC has also provided a GST rate finder on its portal – cbec-gst.gov.in. It will help taxpayers to know applicable GST rate on their supplies.

9. HARINDER SANDHU WON SOUTH AUSTRALIAN SQUASH OPEN TITLE
i. Harinder Pal Sandhu won the 8th title at the PSA level and the 3rd  this season after winning two in Malaysia in the month of May.
ii. The tournament was held at Adelaide, Australia. He defeated Rhys Dowling of Australia in the final.

OBJECTIVE QUESTIONS BASED ON TODAY’S NEWS

Q1. UNION FOOD PROCESSING MINISTER, HARSIMRAT KAUR BADAL LAID THE FOUNDATION STONE, OF PUNJAB’S 1ST MAIZE BASED FOOD PARK IN WHICH DISTRICT OF PUNJAB?
a)  Faridkot
b)  Patiala
c)  Kapurthala
d)  Firozpur
Q2. THE UNION TOURISM MINISTRY HAS ALLOTTED RS 100 CR TO WHICH STATE UNDER THE SWADESH DARSHAN SCHEME TO AUGMENT ITS TOURIST INFRASTRUCTURE?
a)  Rajasthan
b)  Madhya Pradesh
c)  Goa
d)  Kerala
Q3. WHICH SCHEME HAS BEEN LAUNCHED BY MINISTRY OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY FOR AWARENESS ON INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS TO INSPIRE ARTISTS AND BUDDING INVENTORS SO THAT THEY CAN PROTECT THEIR CREATIONS AND INVENTIONS?
a)  ‘Scheme for IPR Awareness – Advanced India; Innovative India’
b)  ‘Scheme for IPR Awareness – Vibrant India; Innovative India’
c)  ‘Scheme for IPR Awareness – Modern India; Innovative India’
d)  ‘Scheme for IPR Awareness – Creative India; Innovative India’
Q4. WHICH AMONG THE FOLLOWING ENTITY IS CONSIDERING SETTING UP A PUBLIC CREDIT REGISTRY IN INDIA TO ADDRESS THE TWIN BALANCE SHEET PROBLEM OF THE BANKING SECTOR AND THE CORPORATE SECTOR?
a)  Reserve Bank of India
b)  Ministry of Commerce & Industry
c)  NITI Aayog
d)  Securities and Exchange Board of India
Q5. WHICH COMPANY HAS LAUNCHED ITS FIRST DIGITAL HUB IN ASIA PACIFIC IN BENGALURU?
a)  Google
b)  Orcale
c)  Microsoft
d)  IBM

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