DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS: 23 AUG 2017

(DAILY NEWS INDIA)
SHARED BY: WWW.DAILYGK.IN

1. HOME MINISTER RAJNATH SINGH LAUNCHES DIGITAL POLICE PORTAL
i. Union home minister Rajnath Singh has launched a digital policing portal making it possible to electronically apply and seek verification for tenants, domestic helps and even passports.
ii. The initiative is a follow up of Crime and Criminal Tracking Network and Systems Project or the crime and criminal tracking network system.
iii. CCTNS was visualized as a database for police to check antecedents of criminals; the new system called digital policing also has citizen centric aspects. More citizen centric services like passport verification can be channeled through this. Citizen can fill in details, verification can come online.
iv. A citizen needs to log in to www.digitalpolice.gov.in to complain about an accident, incident etc. The moment one logs in and complains, the nearest police station is alerted and swing into action.
v. For tenant verification or servant verification a consent letter of the tenant or the servant has to be uploaded with other details. So far, 15000 out of 16000 police stations in the in the country have been linked to CCTNS with over 75 lakh FIRs in this database.


2. KARNATAKA GOVERNMENT LAUNCHES CLOUDING SEEDING PROJECT VARSHADHARI
i. Karnataka Government has launched clouding seeding Project Varshadhari in Bengaluru under which an aircraft will spray chemicals to induce rainfall. Cloud seeding is an artificial way to induce moisture in the clouds so as to cause a rainfall.
ii. It aims to condense small water particles by clouds to droplets of 50 microns, which can constitute rains. The cloud seeding project is an experimental project that will cover Bengaluru, Gadag and Yadgir districts of the state.
iii. By cloud seeding will help in agricultural activities.

3. FINANCE MINISTER SH ARUN JAITLEY CHAIRS THE 17TH MEETING OF FSDC
i. The 17th Meeting of the Financial Stability and Development Council was held in New Delhi under the Chairmanship of the Union Minister of Finance, Shri Arun Jaitley.
ii. The below activities has been discussed during the meeting of the Financial-Stability-And-Development-Council
iii. Discussion on Indian Economy, Financial Sector Assessment Program, Discussion on Central KYC Registry, FSDC Sub-Committee.
iv. Financial Stability and Development Council is a high-level body constituted by the government of India. FSDC was formed to bring greater coordination among financial market regulators. To focus on attaining financial inclusion/ literacy goals and set up to sort out inter-regulatory issues, will define the role of the finance ministry.

4. NABARD APPROVES RS 1,350-CR LOAN TO RAJASTHAN GOVERNMENT
i. The National Bank of Agriculture and Rural Development has sanctioned a loan assistance of Rs 1,349.55 cr to the Rajasthan government. The loan has been approved for creation of rural infrastructure in the state under the Rural Infrastructure Development Fund.
ii. The sanction includes assistance for construction of two rural drinking water supply projects, strengthening and rehabilitation of 1,614 rural roads and modernisation of three major irrigation projects.
iii. An amount of Rs 599.84 cr has been sanctioned for rehabilitation of 1,614 roads.
iv. It will cover all 33 districts of Rajasthan, Rs 469.54 cr for providing potable water to population of 419 villages of Jalore district and Rs 280.17 cr for rehabilitation and modernisation of 3 major irrigation projects located in Udaipur, Banswara and Dungarpur districts.

5. TWO REGIONAL RURAL BANKS RECORD OVER ₹150-CR PROFIT IN FY17
i. According to the Reserve Bank of India’s ‘Report on Trend and Progress of Banking in India’, 45 of the 56 RRBs earned profits without carrying any accumulated losses during 2015-16.
ii. Karnataka Vikas Grameena Bank and Andhra Pragathi Grameena Bank recorded net profit of more than ₹150 cr during 2016-17.
iii. Out of the 56 regional rural banks in the country 2 RRB’s have recorded net profit of over ₹150 cr each during 2016-17. These are among the 49 RRBs that recorded a profit in 2016-17. 7 RRBs suffered losses during the period.
iv. As for 19 RRBs, data was taken from the figures compiled by All India Regional Rural Bank Employees’ Association. The 3 RRBs promoted by Syndicate Bank – Prathama Bank, Andhra Pragathi Grameena Bank and Karnataka Vikas Grameena Bank have improved their net profit over 2015-16 and emerged in the top league of profit-making RRBs during 2016-17.

6. GOVERNMENT ANNOUNCED LIST OF AWARDEES OF NATIONAL SPORTS AWARDS – 2017
i. Our Government announced the list of awardees of National Sports Awards 2017. National Sports Awards are distributed every year to recognize excellence in sports.
ii. Selection Committee for Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award and Arjuna Awards was headed by Justice C.K. Thakkar. Selection Committee for Dronacharya Awards and Dhyan Chand Awards was headed by Shri Pullela Gopichand.
iii. Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award is given outstanding performance in the field of sports by a sportsperson over a period of 4 year.
iv. Arjuna Award is for consistency outstanding performance for four years. Dronacharya Award for coaches for producing medal winners at International sports events. Dhyan Chand Award for life time contribution to sports development.

7. OPS SWORN IN AS TAMIL NADU DEPUTY CM
i. Senior AIADMK leader O Panneerselvam was sworn in as the deputy chief minister of TamilNadu. He has taken an oath by Governor Vidyasagar Rao at Raj Bhavan.
ii. The two factions of the AIADMK merged, 6 months after they split following the death of then Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa.
iii. Paneerselvam was made the Coordinator of the merged AIADMK. CM K. Palaniswami will be the Joint Coordinator, the Chief Minister announced at a brief function at the party headquarters while announcing the merger.

8. ONGC BOARD APPROVES HPCL TAKEOVER OF 51.11% STAKE
i. The Oil and Natural Gas Corp has given ‘in-principle’ approval to acquire government’s 51.11% stake in Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd.
ii. The board constituted a committee of directors to examine various aspects of the acquisition and to provide its recommendations to the board of directors.
iii. HPCL is likely to take over Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd to bring all the refining assets of ONGC under one unit.
iv. ONGC currently owns 71.63% of MRPL while HPCL has 16.96% stake in it. HPCL will become a subsidiary of ONGC and will remain a listed company post the acquisition.
v. The government has also constituted a committee which is headed by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley. It comprising oil minister Dharmendra Pradhan and road minister Nitin Gadkari to work out the modalities of the sale.

OBJECTIVE QUESTIONS BASED ON TODAY’S NEWS

Q1. WHICH STATE GOVERNMENT HAS LAUNCHED CLOUDING SEEDING PROJECT VARSHADHARI UNDER WHICH AN AIRCRAFT WILL SPRAY CHEMICALS TO INDUCE RAINFALL?
a)  Andhra Pradesh
b)  Orissa
c)  Karnataka
d)  Uttar Pradesh
Q2. NAME THE 17TH MEETING OF COUNCIL WAS HELD IN NEW DELHI UNDER THE CHAIRMANSHIP OF THE UNION MINISTER OF FINANCE, SHRI ARUN JAITLEY?
a)  Council of Financial Regulators
b)  Financial Reporting Council
c)  Economic and Financial Affairs Council
d)  Financial Stability and Development Council
Q3. RESERVE BANK OF INDIA’S ‘REPORT ON TREND AND PROGRESS OF BANKING DURING 2015-16?
a)  Andhra Pragathi Grameena Bank and Central Madhya Pradesh Gramin Bank
b)  Karnataka Vikas Grameena Bank and Andhra Pragathi Grameena Bank
c)  Uttarakhand Gramin Bank and Prathama Bank
d)  Kerala Gramin Bank and Punjab Gramin Bank
Q4. WHO HAS SWORN IN AS THE DEPUTY CHIEF MINISTER OF TAMIL NADU?
a)  O Panneerselvam
b)  TTK Dhinakaran
c)  Nanjil Sampath
d)  M.K.Stalin
Q5. THE NATIONAL BANK OF AGRICULTURE & RURAL DEVELOPMENT HAS SANCTIONED A LOAN ASSISTANCE OF RS 1,349.55 CR TO WHICH STATE GOVERNMENT?
a)  Manipur
b)  Gujarat
c)  Rajasthan
d)  Madhya Pradesh

ANSWERS

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