DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS: 3 AUG 2017

DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS: 3 AUG 2017
(DAILY NEWS INDIA)
SHARED BY: WWW.DAILYGK.IN

1. BRICS TRADE MINISTERS MEETING HELD IN SHANGHAI
i. Union Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman attended BRICS Trade Ministers meeting in Shanghai, China. On the sidelines of this meeting she also held meeting with Chinese Minister of Commerce Zhong Shan.
ii. Measures to expand e-commerce cooperation among Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa were discussed at this meeting.
iii. Economic and technological cooperation was included in the agenda for the 1st time in the trade ministers’ meeting’s history to improve the bloc’s capabilities in service trade, e-commerce and other fields.

2. JUSTICE B.N SRIKRISHNA HEADED COMMITTEE TO STUDY ISSUES RELATED TO DATA PROTECTION
i. The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology has appointed an expert panel committee that would study various issues relating to data protection in the country and will suggest a draft data protection Bill.
ii. It is a 10 member panel and it is headed by Supreme court Judge (retired) Justice B N Srikrishna. The panel includes the members from government, academia and industry will study and identify key data protection issues and recommend methods to address them.
iii. The committee will design a broader framework which will cover all other kinds of data and ensure that the deliberations on the issue start as soon as possible.
iv. The panel includes the following members: Rajat Moona, Director, IIT Raipur, is a key member in the panel, Rama Vedashree is CEO of Data Security Council of India, Ajay Kumar, Additional Secretary, IT Ministry, Ajay Bhushan Pandey is CEO of Unique Identification Authority of India, UIDAI, Aruna Sundararajan is Secretary, Department of Telecom, Arghya Sengupta, Research Director of Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy, Rajat Moona, Director of IIT Raipur and Gulshan Rai, National Cyber Security Coordinator.

3. RESERVE BANK ANNOUNCES ITS THIRD BI-MONTHLY POLICY REVIEW OF CURRENT FISCAL
i. Reserve Bank of India announced 3rd Bi-Monthly Monetary Policy Statement for financial year 2017-18. This time, RBI has cut the policy repo rate by 25 basis points to 6%.
ii. Policy Repo Rate- 6.00% , Reduced by 25 basis points. Earlier it was 6.25%.
Reverse Repo Rate- 5.75% , Reduced by 25 basis points. Earlier it was 6.00%.
Bank Rate- 6.25% , Reduced by 25 basis points. Earlier it was 6.50%.
Marginal Standing Facility Rate-    6.25% , Reduced by 25 basis points. Earlier it was 6.50%.
iii. Statutory Liquidity Ratio- 20.00% , Unchanged – since 7th June 2017.
Cash Reserve Ratio- 4.00% , Unchanged – since 9th February 2013.


4. SEBI FORMS COMMITTEE HEADED BY T K VISWANATHAN ON FAIR MARKET CONDUCT
i. SEBI has set up a committee on fair market conduct on 2nd of August. It will suggest measures for improving surveillance of the markets and strengthen rules for algo trades, among other norms.
ii. The panel is headed by former law secretary T K Viswanathan. The committee will suggest short term and medium term measures for improved surveillance of the markets. It would suggest measures for improvement in Prohibition of Insider Trading norms, Prohibition of Fraudulent and Unfair Trade Practices regulations.
iii. It is mainly related to trading plans and handling of unpublished price sensitive information during takeovers. The committee will also suggest evidentiary issues in anti-fraud enforcement.
iv. It would be responsible for recommending steps to align insider trading regulations with Companies Act provisions.

5. SBI, SAMSUNG COLLABORATE TO ADVANCE DIGITAL INDIA INITIATIVE
i. The State Bank of India and Samsung India has announced the availability of Samsung Pay for higher variants of SBI debit card to advance Digital India initiative.
ii. Samsung Pay is currently available on Samsung smartphones. It enables consumers to make offline payments without the need for a physical Card. Samsung Pay works on 2.5 million Point of Sale Card machines across the country through its Magnetic Secure Transmission technology.
iii. The Bank aimed to be the Banker to Digital India and has been at the fore-front of all digital initiatives in the banking space. Samsung Pay consumers holding eligible SBI Debit Cards can avail a flat Rs. 100 cashback on minimum transaction amount of Rs. 500.
iv. With this collaboration, 130 million SBI debit cardholders will be able to tap and pay using a Samsung smartphones at merchant outlets having card acceptance machines.

6. BHARAT GAURAV AWARD BY EAST BENGAL FOOTBALL CLUB GIVEN TO DHANRAJ PILLAY
i. Former India hockey captain Dhanraj Pillay was honoured with the ‘Bharat Gaurav’ by East Bengal Football Club on its foundation day.
ii. Bharat Gaurav is the highest award of the club. Gurwinder Singh bagged the Footballer of the Year award while Boddupalli Amit was awarded as the Cricketer of the Year.
iii. Former India international Subhash Bhowmick, a member of the 1970 Asian Games bronze medal-winning national football team, and former national team coach Syed Naeemuddin were honoured with lifetime achievement awards.

7. SEBI APPROVES APPOINTMENT OF DHIRENDRA SWARUP AS BSE CHAIRMAN
i. SEBI has approved the appointment of Dhirendra Swarup as the chairman of the board of directors of the BSE.
ii. Swarup, who was a public interest director at the BSE, had replaced incumbent Sudhakar Rao. He was the chairman of the Cash and Debt Management Committee of the Reserve Bank of India.
iii. He was the former Chairman of Pension Funds Regulatory and Development Authority. He has over 4 decades of experience across finance, public debt management, budgeting, public policy and pension Reforms.

8. PETER O’NEILL: RE-ELECTED PRIME MINISTER OF PAPUA NEW GUINEA
i. Peter O’Neill has been reappointed as PM of Papua New Guinea. Peter O’Neill won the parliamentary vote 60 to 46.
ii. He is the leader of the People’s National Congress and represents the constituency of Ialibu-Pangia.

9. GOVERNMENT LAUNCHES E-RAKAM PORTAL
i. The Union Government has launched a portal, e-Rashtriya Kisan Agri Mandi. e-RaKAM will provide a platform to sell agricultural produce and strengthen the agriculture-oriented Indian economy.
ii. It is a digital initiative that aims to bring together the PSUs, civil supplies, farmers and buyers on a single platform so that the selling and buying process of agricultural products become smooth.
iii. The e-RaKAM is a 1st-of-its-kind initiative that leverages technology to connect farmers of the smallest villages to the biggest markets of the world through internet and e-RaKAM centres.
iv. With the help of the platform, various crops whose price increases due to rainfall or bad weather conditions will be managed and get in the market.


OBJECTIVE QUESTIONS BASED ON TODAY’S NEWS

Q1. MINISTRY OF ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY HAS APPOINTED AN EXPERT COMMITTEE THAT WOULD STUDY VARIOUS ISSUES RELATING TO DATA PROTECTION IN INDIA AND WILL SUGGEST A DRAFT DATA PROTECTION BILL. WHO AMONG THE FOLLOWING IS THE HEAD OF THIS COMMITTEE?
a)  B N Srikrishna
b)  Rajat Moona
c)  Rama Vedashree
d)  Ajay Bhushan
Q2. UNION COMMERCE MINISTER NIRMALA SITHARAMAN ATTENDED BRICS TRADE MINISTERS MEETING IN?
a)  Cape Town, South Africa
b)  Shanghai, China
c)  Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
d)  Mumbai, India
Q3. RESERVE BANK OF INDIA  CUT THE POLICY REPO RATE BY 25 BASIS POINTS. NOW THE REPO RATE STANDS AT?
a)  7.00%
b)  6.50%
c)  6.00%
d)  6.25%
Q4. WHO AMONG THE FOLLOWING WAS HONOURED BY EAST BENGAL FOOTBALL CLUB ON ITS FOUNDATION DAY WITH ITS HIGHEST AWARD, BHARAT GAURAV?
a)  Virender Sehwag
b)  Mary Kom
c)  Yuvraj Singh
d)  Dhanraj Pillay
Q5. PETER O’NEILL HAS BEEN REAPPOINTED AS PRIME MINISTER OF?
a)  Poland
b)  Papua New Guinea
c)  Georgia
d)  Fiji

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