DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS: 8 FEB 2018

DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS: 8 FEB 2018
(DAILY NEWS INDIA)
SHARED BY: WWW.DAILYGK.IN

1.      IMPORTANT CABINET APPROVALS- 07TH FEBRUARY 2018
i. The Union Cabinet chaired by PM Shri Narendra Modi has given the following set of approvals. The important Cabinet Approvals are given as follows-
ii. The Cabinet has approved- 1. Signing of India-Australia MoU for Secondment Programme.
2. Signing of a MoU with United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland on Cooperation in the Field of Skill Development, Vocational Education and Training.
3. Signing and ratification of protocol amending the Agreement between India and China for the Avoidance of Double Taxation and the Prevention of Fiscal Evasion.
4. Signing of a Memorandum of Cooperation between India and USA on Law Enforcement Training.
5. Ratification of the Minamata Convention on Mercury.
6. Discovered Small Fields Policy Bid Round-11 for 60 un-monetised discoveries of ONGC and OIL under Nomination and Relinquished Discoveries under PSC Regime.
7. Placing the new Instrument adopted by International Labour Organization Recommendation concerning “The Employment and Decent Work for Peace and Resilience” before the Parliament.
8. Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (Amendment) Bill, 2017 to replace the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (Amendment) Ordinance, 2017.
9. Implementation of ‘Prime Minister Research Fellows’.
10. Rationalization of Autonomous Bodies under Department of Health & Family Welfare.
11. Proposal for Amendment to the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Act, 2006 to change the criteria of classification and to withdraw the MSMED (Amendment) Bill, 2015 – pending in Lok Sabha.
12. Changes in the Major Port Authorities Bill 2016.
13. Cabinet apprised of an MoU signed between India and Tunisia for cooperation on Youth matters.


2.      ARUNACHAL PRADESH CM LAYS FOUNDATION STONE FOR RHODODENDRON PARK
i. Arunachal Pradesh CM Prema Khandu laid the foundation stone for Rhododendron Park in Tawang.
ii. He also carried out plantation drive of different varieties of Rhodos. Tawang is home to 50+ different varieties of Rhodos.

3.      5TH SOUTH ASIA REGION PUBLIC PROCUREMENT CONFERENCE HELD IN NEW DELHI
i. The 5th edition of South Asia Region Public Procurement Conference was held in New Delhi. It was hosted by Public Procurement Division of Ministry of Finance and All India Management Association.
ii. It was held under auspices of South Asia Region Public Procurement Network, which is sponsored and facilitated by the World Bank, Asian Development Bank and Islamic Development Bank. The theme this edition of the conference was “Public Procurement and Service Delivery”.

4.      HAL DEVELOPS FIRST HAWK-I FLIGHT
i. The Hindustan Aeronautics Limited has developed the first flight of Hawk-i with indigenous Real Time Operating System. Hawk-i is the first indigenous RTOS developed in India from scratch and certified by Center for Military Airworthiness and Certification.
ii. The RTOS is the system software which provides a standard run-time environment for real-time applications execution in a safe and reliable manner.

5.      DUBAI RETAINS RANK AS WORLD’S BUSIEST INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT IN 2017
i. Dubai International Airport has held on to its No 1 ranking as the world’s busiest airport for international travel, after seeing around 88.2 million passengers in 2017.
ii. Dubai International Airport first surpassed London Heathrow as the world’s busiest airport for international traffic in 2014.

6.      FIRST EVER CHAT BASED JOB SEARCH APP 'EMPZILLA' LAUNCHED
i. The 1st ever of its kind in the country chat-based job search mobile app 'Empzilla' is being launched that will do away with existing limitations of employers and job seekers making selection process quick and cost-effective.
ii. The mobile app gets the conversation between employers and job seekers going in seconds and the latter can chat with the potential employers.

7.      FORBES RELEASES ITS FIRST-EVER CRYPTOCURRENCY RICH LIST
i. Business magazine Forbes has released its 1st-ever Crypto Rich List, comprising 20 wealthiest people in the cryptocurrency space. The list was topped by Ripple Co-founder Chris Larsen, who is estimated to have a crypto net worth of $7.5-8 billion.
ii. He is followed by Ethereum Co-founder Joseph Lubin ($1-5 billion) and Founder of cryptocurrency exchange Binance Changpeng Zhao ($1.1-2 billion).

8.      BERMUDA BECOMES 1ST COUNTRY IN WORLD TO ABOLISH SAME-SEX MARRIAGE
i. Bermuda has become the first country to legalise and then repeal same-sex marriage.
ii. Bermuda’s governor John Rankin approved a bill reversing the right of gay couples to marry, despite a supreme court ruling last year authorising same-sex marriage.

9.      RBI TO SET UP OMBUDSMAN FOR NON-BANKING FINANCE COMPANIES
i. The Reserve Bank of India announced setting up ombudsman for addressing customer grievances in the non-banking finance companies. The rules will be laid out by the end of February 2018.
ii. RBI will start with deposit-taking NBFCs and widen the scope to cover NBFCs with asset size of Rs 100 cr. There are around 20 banking ombudsmen have been appointed with offices mostly in state capitals.

10.  RBI TO LINK BASE RATE WITH MCLR
i. The Reserve Bank of India will link the base rate with the MCLR from 1st of April 2018 to ensure expeditious transmission of its policy rate to borrowers. The RBI had introduced the Marginal Cost of Funds based Lending Rates system with effect from 1st April 2016, the Central bank observed that a large proportion of bank loans continue to be linked to Base Rate.
ii. According to the RBI Deputy Governor NS Vishwanathan, it has been decided to harmonize the methodology of determining benchmark rates by linking base rate to MCLR as it is more sensitive to policy rate signals.

11.  REAR ADMIRAL MUKUL ASTHANA TAKES OVER AS ASSISTANT CHIEF OF NAVAL STAFF
i. Rear Admiral Mukul Asthana, has been appointed as the Assistant Chief of Naval Staff (Air) at New Delhi. He was commissioned in 1986 in the Executive Branch of the Indian Navy.
ii. He is a recipient of the prestigious Nausena Medal. He was also conferred with the Tenzing Norgay National Award by HE the President of India in 2006.

12.  ACTOR JOHN MAHONEY PASSES AWAY
i. Actor John Mahoney passed away after a brief illness in Chicago, the USA. He was 77 years old. He was well-known for playing the title character in the “Frasier” show.
ii. He worked in films for nearly 35 years. His important works are “The American President,” “Moonstruck,” “In the Line of Fire,” and “Say Anything”.

OBJECTIVE QUESTIONS BASED ON TODAY’S NEWS

Q1. FOR WHICH OF THE FOLLOWING INSTITUTIONS RESERVE BANK OF INDIA HAS ANNOUNCED TO SETTING UP AN OMBUDSMAN?
a)  NBFCs
b)  NHB
c)  NABARD
d)  SIDBI
Q2. WHICH CITY IS HOSTING THE 5TH EDITION OF SOUTH ASIA REGION PUBLIC PROCUREMENT CONFERENCE-2018?
a)  Kathmandu
b)  New Delhi
c)  Colombo
d)  Dhaka
Q3. WHO HAS BEEN APPOINTED AS THE ASSISTANT CHIEF OF NAVAL STAFF (AIR)?
a)  Admiral A. K. Chawla,
b)  Admiral Sunil Lanba
c)  Admiral Mukul Asthana
d)  Admiral Robin K. Dhowan
Q4. WHICH ORGANISATION RELEASED THE FIRST-EVER CRYPTO RICH LIST?
a)  Business Today 
b)  Times Group
c)  Moody's
d)  Forbes
Q5. WHICH COUNTRY HAS BECOME THE WORLD’S FIRST COUNTRY TO REPEAL SAME-SEX MARRIAGE?
a)  Portugal
b)  Greece
c)  Bermuda
d)  South Africa

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