DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS: 5 OCT 2017

DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS: 5 OCT 2017

(DAILY NEWS INDIA)

                               SHARED BY: WWW.DAILYGK.IN

1.   8TH SAARC SPEAKER, PARLIAMENTARIANS CONFERENCE HELD IN SRI LANKA

i. The 8th conference of the Association of SAARC Speakers and Parliamentarians is held at Hotel Hilton, in Colombo, Sri Lanka.

ii. The 8th Conference, organized by the Parliament of Sri Lanka, has brought together Speakers and Parliamentarians from the member countries of the SAARC. The conference was inaugurated by Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena.

iii. Sri Lankan PM Ranil Wickremesinghe delivered the key note address at the Opening Ceremony. Speaker Karu Jayasuriya delivered welcome speech at the inauguration.

iv. Theme of this conference is ‘Association of the SAARC Speakers and Parliamentarians’: a platform for the Parliamentarians of South Asia to work together to reach the 2030 agenda for Sustainable Development.

2.   BANGLADESH SIGNS $ 4.5 BILLION LOAN DEAL WITH INDIA

i. Bangladesh signed a $ 4.5 billion Line Of Credit agreement with India, for its infrastructure and social sector development, in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

ii. This is the 3rd LoC agreement of India with Bangladesh. This LoC involves $ 4.5 billion dollar. Economic Relations Division Secretary Kazi Shofiqul Azam signed the deal on behalf of Bangladesh and MD of the Export-Import Bank of India David Rasquinha signed for India.

iii. The agreement was signed in the presence of Indian Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and Bangladesh Finance Minister A.M.A.Muhith. The $ 4.5 billion, will be used to fund 17 major projects in Bangladesh, which include electricity, railroads, roads, shipping and ports.

iv. As per this LoC agreement, Bangladesh will have to purchase 65 to 75 % of the services, goods or works from the Indian market with the money to be provided.

3.   INDIA TO BE GUEST COUNTRY AT THE WORLD GOVERNMENT SUMMIT

i. The World Government Summit announced India as the guest country for its annual gathering on 11thto 13th February, 2018, in Dubai.

ii. Honorary guests from India will attend the World Government Summit 2017 to showcase India’s economic growth, skills, valuable knowledge, capabilities and unique culture.

iii. Hosting India as an honorary guest has been done in a move to strengthen UAE’s relationship with India. The World Government Summit focuses on hosting guest countries with exceptional experiences, worthy of being global models to follow.

iv. Requests have been made by 140 countries for showcasing innovations and experiences in the World Government Summit 2017.

4.   FOURTH BI-MONTHLY MONETARY POLICY STATEMENT RELEASED BY RBI

i. On the basis of an assessment of the current and evolving macroeconomic situation at its meeting, the Monetary Policy Committee decided to keep the policy Repo rate under the liquidity adjustment facility unchanged at 6.0 percent.

ii. Consequently, the Reverse Repo Rate under the LAF remains at 5.75 percent, and the Marginal Standing Facility rate and the Bank Rate at 6.25 percent. The projection of real Gross Value Added growth for 2017-18 has been revised down to 6.7 percent from the August 2017 projection of 7.3 percent, with risks evenly balanced.

5.   RESERVE BANK OF INDIA OPENS BRANCH IN DEHRADUN

i. In a bid to make transactions of the Uttarakhand State Government more convenient, Reserve Bank of India opened a branch in Dehradun.

ii. The branch was inaugurated by Uttarakhand Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat. Earlier, all the banking related works of the Uttarakhand State Government were carried out through the Reserve Bank of India branch at Kanpur.

iii. RBI principal chief General Manager S Ramaswamy mentioned that as RBI’s Department of Government accounts is situated in the State, it will be possible to work with improved coordination among treasuries, sub-treasuries, agency banks and RBI.

6.   MICROSCOPE TRAILBLAZERS WIN 2017 NOBEL CHEMISTRY PRIZE

i. Scientists Jacques Dubochet, Joachim Frank and Richard Henderson have won the 2017 Nobel Prize for Chemistry for developing cryo-electron microscopy which simplifies and improves the imaging of biomolecules.

ii. Cryo-electron microscopy has enabled scientists to generate images of everything from proteins that cause antibiotic resistance, to the surface of the Zika virus.

iii. It will be useful for basic understanding of life’s chemistry and for the development of pharmaceuticals.  Scottish-born scientist Henderson used an electron microscope to generate a three-dimensional image of a protein at an atomic resolution, which was further developed by German-born scientist Frank. Dubochet of Switzerland used rapidly frozen water to preserve the natural shape of the biomolecules.

7.   SOUMYA SWAMINATHAN, NEW DEPUTY DIRECTOR GENERAL AT WHO

i. The World Health Organization appointed Soumya Swaminathan one of two Deputy Directors General. This is the first time such a post has been ever created within the organisation. The position is also the highest post held by an Indian in the WHO.

ii. Dr Swaminathan is currently the Director General of the Indian Council of Medical Research. She has been appointed as Deputy Director General for Programmes and Ms Jane Ellison, who was Special Parliamentary Adviser to the UK’s Chancellor of the Exchequer, has been appointed as a Deputy Director General for Corporate Operations.

8.   RAJNISH KUMAR NAMED AS NEXT SBI CHAIRMAN

i. The government appointed Rajnish Kumar as the new Chairman of SBI. The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has approved the appointment of Rajinish Kumar as SBI Chairman, for a period of 3 years from 7th October 2017.

ii. Rajinish Kumar is currently one of the four Managing Directors of SBI. He joined SBI as a Probationary Officer in 1980. He has worked in various departments of SBI.

iii. Earlier, Rajinish Kumar headed the merchant banking arm of SBI named, SBI Capital Markets, as Managing Director and CEO. He became the MD of National Banking Group, SBI, in 2015. He currently heads the retail business at SBI.

9.   AIRTEL GETS APPROVAL FOR TIGO MERGER

i. Bharti Airtel has received Ghana’s National Communications Authority’s approval for the merger between Bharti Ghana (Airtel) and Millicom Ghana (Tigo), subject to certain conditions.

ii. This merger will result in an entity which will be the second largest mobile network operations in the country.

OBJECTIVE QUESTIONS BASED ON TODAY’S NEWS

Q1.  WHERE WAS THE 8TH CONFERENCE OF THE ASSOCIATION OF SOUTH ASIAN ASSOCIATION FOR REGIONAL COOPERATION SAARC SPEAKERS AND PARLIAMENTARIANS HELD?

a)  Sri Lanka

b)  Maldives

c)  Bhutan

d)  Bangladesh

Q2.  HOW MUCH BILLION 3RD LINE OF CREDIT (LOC) AGREEMENT HAS SIGNED BY BANGLADESH WITH INDIA FOR ITS INFRASTRUCTURE AND SOCIAL SECTOR DEVELOPMENT, IN DHAKA?

a)  $ 4.7 billion

b)  $ 4.5 billion

c)  $ 4.3 billion

d)  $ 4.4 billion

Q3. WHERE WILL INDIA ATTEND THE WORLD GOVERNMENT SUMMIT 2017AS THE GUEST COUNTRY FOR ANNUAL GATHERING?

a)  Ajman

b)  Abu Dhabi

c)  Dubai

d)  Sharjah

Q4. RESERVE BANK OF INDIA ANNOUNCED FOURTH BI-MONTHLY MONETARY POLICY STATEMENT FOR FINANCIAL YEAR 2017-18.WHAT IS THE PERCENTAGE OF POLICY REPO RATE?

a)  6.50%

b)  5.50%

c)  6.25%

d)  6.00%

Q5. WHERE DID RESERVE BANK OF INDIA OPEN ITS NEW BRANCH IN UTTARKHAND?

a)  Mussoorie

b)  Dehradun      

c)  Kashipur

d)  Roorkee

ANSWERS: 

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