DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS: 5 AUG 2017

DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS: 5 AUG 2017
(DAILY NEWS INDIA)
SHARED BY: WWW.DAILYGK.IN

1. 2ND AGRI UDAAN PROGRAM LAUNCHED IN DELHI
i. In an attempt to promote innovation and entrepreneurship in agriculture, Government launched “AGRI UDAAN”- Food and Agribusiness Accelerator 2.0 programme in New Delhi. The program will be run by ICAR-NAARM Technology Business Incubator, a-IDEA and Indian Institute of Management Ahmadabad’s Center for Innovation, Incubation and Entrepreneurship.
ii. This is a 6 month program in which shortlisted agri startups with promising innovative business models will be mentored & guided to scale up their operations. AGRI UDAAN will be reaching out to agri-startups across the country with a series of road shows in Chandigarh, Bangalore, Ahmedabad, Pune, Kolkata & Hyderabad.


2. COMPULSORY RETIREMENT FOR NON-PERFORMING TEACHERS AND EDUCATION OFFICIALS ABOVE 50: BIHAR GOVT
i. The Bihar Government has informed that it has decided to compulsory retirement to the non-performing teachers, head masters and education department officials above the age of 50 years.
ii. The committee is headed by RK Mahajan. The main aim is to improve results in matriculation and intermediate. The action was taken after the poor show of students in matric and intermediate exams of the state in 2017.
iii. The state government is in process of identifying non-performing institutions and all those responsible for the poor show will be given compulsory retirement. The decision was taken after the review of the education department by CM Nitish Kumar.
iv. The committee is working to identify such non-performing headmasters, teachers, block education officers or district education officers. The government has also asked the Bihar School Examination Board to work out changes with greater emphasis on multiple choice questions.
v. The government will also go in for the merger of two or more schools in the same building in urban areas.

3. INDIA’S 1ST HELI-TAXI SERVICE LAUNCHED BY MOS FOR CIVIL AVIATION JAYANTH SINHA IN BENGALURU
i. Thumby Aviation, a private helicopter service provider, and Bangalore International Airport Ltd., have partnered to launch Heli-Taxi service from Bengaluru Airport.
ii. Kempegowda International Airport is the 1st airport and Bengaluru is the first city in the country with such a service.
iii. KIA is launched by Minister of State for Civil Aviation Jayant Sinha. The helicopter service will initially be launched from Bengaluru Airport to Electronic City and gradually expanded to other parts of the city.

4. FIRST MEETING OF JICF FOR DEVELOPMENT OF NORTH-EASTERN REGION HELD IN NEW DELHI
i. The 1st meeting of the Japan-India Coordination Forum for Development of North-Eastern Region was held in New Delhi.
ii. The Japanese delegation was led by the Japanese Ambassador to India, Mr. Kenji Hiramatsu while Secretary, Ministry of Development of North-Eastern Region, Shri Naveen Verma led the Indian side.
iii. The regular meetings of the Forum would enhance Assistance by JICA and also promote B2B and people to people contacts.
iv. The priority areas of cooperation identified by Indian side including Connectivity and Road Network Development, Food Processing, Disaster Management, Organic Farming and Tourism were the main agenda of meeting.

5. INDIA SIGNS LOAN AGREEMENT WITH AIIB FOR FINANCING OF US$ 329 MILLION FOR GUJARAT RURAL ROADS PROJECT
i. Government of India/ Government of Gujarat signed US$ 329 million Loan and Project Agreements with Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank for or Gujarat Rural Roads Project. The loan agreement was signed in New Delhi.
ii. The objective of Gujarat Rural Roads Project is to improve the rural road connectivity and accessibility by providing all weather road connectivity to 1,060 villages in all the 33 districts in Gujarat.
iii. This project will benefit nearly 8 million people in Gujarat.

6. FINANCE MINISTER ARUN JAITLEY ANNOUNCES NEW ETF-BHARAT-22, SECTORAL CAP SET AT 20%
i. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley launched a new Exchange Traded Fund under the name Bharat 22, comprising shares of 22 companies from 6 sectors of the economy. This decision comes on the basis of past experiments with CPSE-ETF which proved to be successful.
ii. The ETF will feature four banking stocks — SBI, Bank of Baroda, Axis Bank and Indian Bank — other than CPSEs such as Nalco, IOC, ONGC, BPCL and Coal India.
iii. Besides, there will be 9 other PSUs as well as REC and PFC.

7. INDIA’S 1ST PRIVATE MISSILE SUB SYSTEMS PRODUCTION FACILITY INAUGURATED AT HYDERABAD
i. India’s first private sector missile sub-systems manufacturing facility, a joint venture between the $2.5 billion Kalyani Group and Israel’s Rafael Advanced Defence Systems Ltd., was inaugurated near Hyderabad, Telangana.
ii. KRAS is a 24,000-sq ft facility, located about 40 km from Hyderabad and is close to the new international airport. The project has been set up in a record time, and is considered first such facility which makes missile systems by a private player in India.

8. MOHAMMAD MUSTAFA APPOINTED CMD OF SIDBI
i. Senior bureaucrat Mohammad Mustafa was appointed as Chairman and Managing Director in Small Industries Development Bank of India.
ii. Mustafa is a 1995 batch IAS officer of Uttar Pradesh cadre, was working as a Joint Secretary in Department of Financial Services. The Appointments Committee of the cabinet has approved his appointment to the post for 3 years.
iii. He served as the Chairman of the Board of National Housing Bank in 2014-2015. He has been a Non-Executive Nominee Director of Bank of Baroda since November 2014.
iv. He has also been Government Nominee Director of The New India Assurance Co Ltd since 2015.

OBJECTIVE QUESTIONS BASED ON TODAY’S NEWS

Q1. THE 1ST MEETING OF THE JAPAN-INDIA COORDINATION FORUM FOR DEVELOPMENT OF NORTH-EASTERN REGION WAS HELD IN?
a)  Tripura
b)  Manipur
c)  New Delhi
d)  Assam
Q2. SENIOR BUREAUCRAT MOHAMMAD MUSTAFA HAS BEEN APPOINTED AS CHAIRMAN AND MANAGING DIRECTOR OF?
a)  SIDBI
b)  NABARD
c)  ONGC
d)  NTPC
Q3. IN AN ATTEMPT TO PROMOTE INNOVATION AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP IN AGRICULTURE, GOVERNMENT LAUNCHED “AGRI UDAAN”- FOOD AND AGRIBUSINESS ACCELERATOR 2.0 PROGRAMME IN?
a)  Karnal
b)  Bhopal
c)  New Delhi
d)  Varanasi
Q4. INDIA’S 1ST PRIVATE SECTOR MISSILE SUB-SYSTEMS MANUFACTURING FACILITY, A JOINT VENTURE BETWEEN THE $2.5 BILLION KALYANI GROUP AND ISRAEL’S RAFAEL ADVANCED DEFENCE SYSTEMS LTD., WAS INAUGURATED NEAR?
a)  Kochi
b)  Hyderabad
c)  Amritsar
d)  Jaipur
Q5. FINANCE MINISTER ARUN JAITLEY LAUNCHED A NEW EXCHANGE TRADED FUND UNDER THE NAME ______, COMPRISING SHARES OF 22 COMPANIES FROM 6 SECTORS OF THE ECONOMY?
a)  Bharat 22
b)  GOI 22
c)  India 22
d)  PSU 22

ANSWERS:

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