DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS: 12 OCT 2017

DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS: 12 OCT 2017
(DAILY NEWS INDIA)
SHARED BY: WWW.DAILYGK.IN

1.      PV REDDI HEADED PANEL TO LOOK INTO PAY HIKE ISSUE OF LOWER COURT JUDGES
i.  Union Law Ministry has finalised the appointment of a panel (Second National Judicial Pay Commission) to recommend new salary structure for judges of lower courts in India.
ii. Former Supreme Court judge PV Reddi will be the head of this proposed commission which will submit its recommendations in early 2019.  It is to be noted that judges of the lower court got the last pay hike in 2010 on basis of Supreme Court-appointed one-member committee under Justice E Padhmanabhan, a retired high court judge, report in July 2009 recommending the three-fold hike.
iii. Currently a senior judge draws a salary of nearly Rs 80,000 while entry level salary for a junior civil judge is Rs 45000.


2.      MAHARASHTRA GOVT APPROVES CLIMATE CHANGE ADAPTATION POLICY
i.  Maharashtra State cabinet approved a climate change adaptation policy that will focus on developing environment-friendly villages and cities.
ii. Maharashtra State Government will set up a special cell under the state Environment department for the effective implementation of this policy of developing environment-friendly villages and cities.
iii. Besides, Maharashtra cabinet has approved financial allocation for special scheme for pending agricultural pumps in Vidarbha and Marathwada region.

3.      GOVT OKAYS RS 2,000 CR TO SET UP AADHAAR UNITS IN POST OFFICES
i. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has approved Rs 2,000 crore specifically for setting up Aadhaar centres in post offices, a move that will see private contractors phased out from the data collection process.
ii. The centres will have machines approved by the Unique Identification Authority of India and trained personnel who will be responsible for the operations. Aadhaar enrolment and updation facilities will be available in around 15,000 post offices by March 31, 2018.

4.      FIRST MEETING OF THE ECONOMIC ADVISORY COUNCIL HELD IN NEW DELHI
i. The first meeting of the Economic Advisory Council to Prime Minister Narendra Modi was held at NITI Aayog, in New Delhi. The EAC-PM is chaired by Dr.Bibey Debroy. Principal Adviser of NITI Aayog Ratan P.Watal is the council’s member secretary and Dr.Surjit Bhalla, Dr.Rathin Roy and Dr.Ashima Goyal are its part-time members.
ii. Main issues discussed were, ways to boost consumer demand, attract private investments and measures to improve job creation in India.
iii. The council had held a brainstorming session with stakeholders with regard to the meeting. Within the next few months the council would outline the long-term measures for Indian economy, to increase economic growth.

5.      IMF LOWERS INDIA’S GROWTH FORECAST TO 6.7% IN 2017
i. As per latest edition of World Economic Outlook released, International Monetary Fund has lowered India’s growth forecast for 2017 to 6.7% from its earlier estimate of 7.2%.
ii. In the latest edition of World Economic Outlook report, IMF has cited lingering impact of demonetisation and teething problems related to implementation of Goods & Services Tax as main reasons for the downward revision of Indian economy’s growth forecast.
iii. As per the report, India will reclaim its fastest growing major economy tag next year when it is projected to grow at 7.4% as compared to China’s 6.5% growth. Indian economy is expected to grow at 8% in the medium term on account of positive impact of reforms undertaken so far.
iv. Global economy, as per the latest World Economic Outlook is projected to rise to 3.6% in 2017 and to 3.7% in 2018. The latest forecasts for both 2017 and 2018 are 0.1% point stronger as compared to WEO April 2017 forecast.

6.      SBI TO SETUP COUNTRY’S LARGEST INNOVATION CENTRE IN MUMBAI
i. State Bank of India announced the setting up of its 15,000 square feet Innovation Centre, India’s largest Innovation Centre, in Navi Mumbai.
ii. The Innovation Centre of SBI would be built at its Global IT Centre in Belapur, Navi Mumbai. It will be the largest Innovation Centre by any financial services company in India. SBI is investing Rs.100 cr on this Innovation Centre. It has decided to allocate 5 % of its IT budget for innovation regularly.
iii. This Innovation Centre will have 40 dedicated zones for each technology like blockchain, artificial intelligence, machine learning etc. SBI’s Innovation Head is Sidon Baraokar. SBI currently has a 12 member innovation team. This would be increased to more than 30, once the centre is launched.

7.      HSBC LAUNCHES ‘HSBCNET TRADE TRANSACTION TRACKER’, APP TO TRACK TRADE TRANSACTIONS
i. HSBC launched the mobile app, ‘HSBCnet Trade Transaction Tracker’, to help customers track the status of their trade transactions on a real-time basis.
ii. The Trade Transaction Tracker feature has been built into the existing HSBCnet mobile application and has been launched in select countries in which HSBC operates, including India. It will provide a global view of import and export documentary credit and collections transactions, across markets in one single app.
iii. The HSBCnet Trade Transaction Tracker enables to: Get an overview of documentary credits, collections and payments, Access export and import documentary credits and collection transactions status, View real-time trade transaction status detail and Save time on the phone, faxes or email with access to transaction status.

8.      PRESIDENT KOVIND HONOURS BOXING COACH SANDHU & DR.BINDESHWAR PATHAK WITH NATIONAL AWARDS
i. President Ram Nath Kovind gave away the National award for senior citizens to Indian boxing coach Gurbax Singh Sandhu and Lal Bahadur Shastri National Award for Excellence in Public Administration, Academics and Management for 2017 to Dr.Bindeshwar Pathak.
ii. President Ram Nath Kovind honored Gurbax Singh Sandhu, Indian boxing coach, with the National Award for Senior Citizens at a function.
iii. He has been coaching both the men and women boxers. Sandhu was India’s longest-serving men’s national coach, for two decades, before he was made in charge of the women campers in 2017. His service ended in September 2017.
iv. President Ram Nath Kovind honoured Dr.Bindeshwar Pathak with Lal Bahadur Shastri National Award for Excellence in Public Administration, Academics and Management for 2017.
v. Dr.Bindeshwar Pathak is the founder of Sulabh International. He has developed and implemented, all over India, a low cost and appropriate toilet technology popularly known as the Sulabh Shauchalaya system.

9.      ACTOR ANUPAM KHER APPOINTED AS NEW FTII CHAIRMAN
i. The government appointed Actor Anupam Kher as the Chairman of Film and Television Institute of India, Pune. Anupam Kher Honored with Kala Ratan Award from Vice President.
ii. Anupam Kher will replace Gajendra Chauhan as Chairman of FTII. Gajendra Chauhan’s tenure ended in March 2017. Gajendra Chauhan’s appointment was met with heavy opposition from students, faculty and many in the film industry. It also led to a 139 day strike.

OBJECTIVE QUESTIONS BASED ON TODAY’S NEWS

Q1. WHICH INDIAN STATE CABINET APPROVED A CLIMATE CHANGE ADAPTATION POLICY THAT WILL FOCUS ON DEVELOPING ENVIRONMENT-FRIENDLY VILLAGES AND CITIES?
a)  Maharashtra
b)  Assam
c)  Tamil Nadu
d)  Madhya Pradesh
Q2. WHICH COMMITTEE WAS APPOINTMENT TO RECOMMEND NEW SALARY STRUCTURE FOR JUDGES OF LOWER COURTS IN INDIA?
a)  C B Bhave committee
b)  PV Reddi committee
c)  Dave committee
d)  Chakravarthy committee
Q3. INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND HAS LOWERED INDIA’S GROWTH FORECAST FROM ITS EARLIER ESTIMATE OF 7.2% TO ______% ?
a)  6.9
b)  6.8
c)  6.7
d)  7.5
Q4. STATE BANK OF INDIA HAS ANNOUNCED THE SETTING UP OF ITS 15,000 SQUARE FEET INNOVATION CENTRE, India’s largest Innovation Centre, in which part OF INDIA?
a)  Gujarat
b)  Chennai
c)  Kolkata
d)  Navi Mumbai
Q5. WHO IS APPOINTED AS NEW FILM AND TELEVISION INSTITUTE OF INDIA CHAIRMAN?
a)  Bhupendra Kainthola
b)  Actor Anupam Kher
c)  Shyam Benegal
d)  R K Lakshmanan

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