Daily Gk 20th June 2017

Current affairs for IBPS RRB,RBI,DENA BANK,SSC CGL,UPSC

National

Bihar Governor Ram Nath Kovind is NDA nominee for President

·         Bihar Governor Ram Nath Kovind is the National Democratic Alliance's nominee for President, BJP president Amit Shah announced at a press conference in New Delhi after a BJP Parliamentary Board meeting.

·         Mr. Kovind, a Dalit leader, was born on October 1, 1945 in Kanpur Dehat, Uttar Pradesh. He was a Central Government Advocate in the Delhi High Court from 1977 to 1979 and Central Government Standing Counsel in Supreme Court from 1980 to 1993. He became Advocate-on-Record of the Supreme Court in 1978.

·         He was a member of the Rajya Sabha twice, in 1994 and 2006, before being appointed Governor of Bihar. He was the general secretary of the Akhil Bharatiya Koli Samaj in Kanpur and the national president of the BJP Scheduled Caste Morcha. He has been associated with the RSS and causes related to Dalits for many years now.

President of India receives first copy of book ‘Garuda Purana’ published by All India Kashiraj Trust

·         The President of India, Shri Pranab Mukherjee received the first copy of book ‘Garuda Purana’ (Critical Edition) published by All India Kashiraj Trust June 19, 2017 at Rashtrapati Bhavan.

·         Speaking on the occasion, the President said that he was happy to have received the first copy of the book. He said that our legacy and heritage of knowledge in the shape of Puranas is extraordinarily rich. Over ages, these texts have shaped our socio-cultural conduct, values and intellectual outlook. He appreciated the efforts made by Dr. Anant Narain Singh and All India Kashiraj Trust (which was inaugurated by the first President, Dr. Rajendra Prasad) to preserve and propagate our ancient texts.

First flight marks new air cargo link between Afghanistan and India

·       An aircraft packed with 60 tons of Afghan plants with medicinal uses marked the opening of the first air cargo corridor between Afghanistan and India.

·       The cargo, worth about $5 million dollars, was the first in what officials from the two countries hope will be many flights allowing Afghan and Indian companies to bypass Pakistan, which strictly limits the shipment of goods by land between India and Afghanistan and is often involved in border disputes with them.

Dr. Harshvardhan Launches Mobile App “Celebrating Yoga” to connect people through Yoga for scientific healthy living

• Minister for Science & Technology Dr. Harshvardhan launched a Mobile App “Celebrating Yoga” developed by Department of Science & Technology, Ministry of Science & Technology in New Delhi.

• The Mobile App has been developed by DST on the occasion of International Yoga Day 2017. 
• The purpose of the APP is to popularise Yoga and encourage people to participate in it for a scientifically healthy living.
• Celebrating Yoga provides a platform to share information and insights about peoples’ participation in Yoga activities on the occasion of the International Yoga Day 2017; create awareness and encourage a scientifically healthy living.
• The App will enable in capturing both mass events being organized in   public places, schools and office complexes across the country and individual enthusiasts who are performing yoga to promote the celebration of the day and yoga performances.

International

India wants China’s Belt and Road Initiative and BRICS on separate tracks

·         India and China are working together to find common ground ahead of the summit in September of the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) grouping, despite their differences over docking the Beijing-led Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) with the alliance in the future.

·         At a conference of political parties, think tanks and civil society groups of BRICS held in Fuzhou, The Hindu has learnt, the Indian and Chinese delegations failed to arrive at a consensus that the five emerging economies should formally support the BRI.

·         The Fuzhou meet, organised by the Communist Party of China (CPC), is widely seen as an important component in framing the outcome of the BRICS summit that will be held in the Chinese coastal city of Xiamen in September.

·         The differences between the two delegations became evident when the text of the Fuzhou Initiative—an open document released at the end of the conference - was changed, on the insistence of the Indian delegation.

Australia announces online visitor visa facility for Indians

• The Australian government announced that Indian nationals can apply for a visitor visa online starting July 1.
• Australia's assistant minister for Immigration and Border Protection, Alex Hawke, said the online application option would make applying for the country's visitor visas easier and enhance the experience for Indians.
• There has been a significant increase in demand for Australian visas in India with the rising popularity of Australia as a holiday destination, an official statement said.

Macron to reshuffle govt after huge parliament win

·         French President Emmanuel Macron is poised to rearrange his Cabinet after his new centrist party engineered a landslide in the country’s parliamentary election, enabling the government to quickly start passing its first big laws.

·         Since Macron’s new party, Republic on the Move!, won an absolute majority in the 577-seat National Assembly, Castaner said the government reshuffling would be “technical and not far-reaching.”

·         The number of French female lawmakers is the highest ever at France’s lower house of parliament, reaching 38.7 per cent up from 26.8 per cent in the outgoing Assembly.

·         Republic on the Move! and its allies from the Modem party took 350 seats more than the 289 seats needed for a majority, according to the Interior Ministry’s definitive results.

Contemporary Economic Developments

Amitabh Bachchan is brand ambassador of GST

·         The government has chosen Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan as the face of the Goods and Services Tax (GST), which is set to be implemented from July 1. In a bid to promote the sweeping tax reform, the Central Board of Excise and Customs has decided to make the actor its brand ambassador.

·         The Central Board of Excise and Customs will make the 74-year-old star the brand ambassador of the GST. A 40-second video featuring him had been shot and is being circulated.

·         “GST — An initiative to create a unified national market,” the Finance Ministry said in a tweet, attaching the video.

·         In the video, Mr. Bachchan explains the GST as an unifying force just like the three colours in the national flag. The GST is an initiative to create ‘one nation, one tax, one market’, he says.

·         Ace badminton player PV Sindhu was previously the GST ambassador.

·         The GST will simplify a web of taxes, regulations and border levies by subsuming an array of Central and State levies, including excise duty, service tax and VAT.

·         It is being dubbed as the most significant economic reform since the BJP government came to power in 2014 and is expected to add as much as 2 percentage points to the GDP growth rate.

·         A four-rate structure that exempts or imposes a low rate of tax 5 % on essential items and top rate of 28 % on cars and consumer durables has been finalised. The other slabs of tax are 12 and 18 %.

The Hindu Group wins CII award

·         Kasturi & Sons Ltd., owners of The Hindu Group of publications received the CII Customer Obsession Award 2016 for active customer engagement in the services sector among large business organisations.

·         “The customer is at the heart of all industry activities and customer protection should be a priority for all of us,” R.C. Chaudhury, Minister of State for Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, said while speaking as the chief guest at the award ceremony.

Lanco Infratech first from 'Blacklist' to face bankruptcy action

• Lanco InfratechBSE -9.57 %, the power and roads builder, became the first company to face bankruptcy proceedings among the dozen identified by the regulator as IDBI BankBSE -0.35 % has decided to recover its dues by taking the resolution to insolvency courts.
• The bank has fund based exposure of Rs 7,799 crore and non-fund based exposure of Rs 3,349 crore as on March 2016, while the overall dues from the company are more than Rs 17,000 crore even as the company's market capitalisation is just a fraction of it.
• Lanco Infratech, Amtek AutoBSE 6.18 %, Alok IndustriesBSE 2.97 % and Bhushan SteelBSE 2.21 %, which were trading like penny stocks, tumbled further as investors are factoring in no equity value in the dozen companies identified by the Reserve Bank of India to be taken to bankruptcy courts.

Government in talks with RBI to defer Basel-III norms for banks

• The government is in discussion with the Reserve Bank of India to explore ways to defer the full implementation of international capital norms or Basel-III norms for Indian banks which are floundering in bad debt.
• An extended timeline to meet the capital needs would provide the necessary breather to banks to lend more while they grapple with bad loans and raise capital. It is imperative for banks to meet the Basel-III regulatory norms by March 2019.
• According to the norms laid down by RBI, Indian lenders have to maintain a minimum common equity ratio of 8% and total capital ratio of 11.5% by 2019. As of March 2017, state-run banks maintain an average common equity ratio of 8.5%. Some public sector banks (PSBs) are however struggling and already four lenders are under the prompt corrective action plan of the regulator.
• According to RBI estimates, state-run banks would require Rs 1 lakh crore while the entire banking sector would require an additional capital requirement of Rs 5 lakh crore to meet the norms by 2019. Banks may not be able to raise the required capital, which would curtail their ability to lend. This comes at a time when stressed assets of banks rose to Rs 7.4 lakh crore at the end of March 2017 from Rs 7 lakh crore a year ago.

Shashi Shanker to be next ONGC chief

·         Shashi Shanker will be the next chairman and managing director of India’s biggest oil and gas producer, ONGC.

·         Government headhunter, Public Enterprise Selection Board (PESB), selected Mr. Shanker to head Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) from October 1.

·         Mr. Shanker is currently director (technical and field services), ONGC. He will replace Dinesh K. Sarraf, who retires on September 30 upon attaining superannuation.

·         His appointment will be finalised after the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet, headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, approves it. Mr. Shanker, 56, will have a close to four-year term till March 2021.

Science & Technology

NASA’s Orion spacecraft passes key safety tests

·         NASA’s Orion spacecraft – designed to take astronauts to deep space destinations such as the Moon and Mars – has successfully completed a series of tests for its critical safety systems.

·         Researchers tested the abort motor for Orion’s launch abort system on June 15, firing the 17-foot tall motor for five seconds. The motor was fastened to a vertical test stand with its nozzles pointed toward the sky for the test. It produced enough thrust to lift 66 large SUVs off the ground and helps qualify the system for future missions with astronauts.

NASA discovers 10 new Earth-size exoplanets

• NASA revealed 10 new rocky, Earth-sized planets that could potentially have liquid water and support life.
• The Kepler mission team released a survey of 219 potential exoplanets -- planets outside of our solar system -- that had been detected by the space observatory launched in 2009 to scan the Milky Way galaxy.
• Ten of the new discoveries were orbiting their suns at a distance similar to Earth's orbit around the sun, the so-called habitable zone that could potent.
• Ten of the new discoveries were orbiting their suns at a distance similar to Earth's orbit around the sun, the so-called habitable zone that could potentially have liquid water and sustain life.
• Kepler has already discovered 4,034 potential exoplanets, 2,335 of which have been confirmed by other telescopes as actual planets.
• The 10 new Earth-size planets bring the total to 50 that exist in habitable zones around the galaxy.

Sports

India beats Pakistan 7-1 at Hockey World League semifinal

·         A clinical India demolished a hapless Pakistan 7-1 to register its third consecutive victory and seal a place in the quarterfinals of the Hockey World League Semifinal.

·         Goals by Harmanpreet Singh (13, 33), Talwinder Singh (21, 24), Akashdeep Singh (47, 59) and Pardeep Mor (49) ensured India toppled the Netherlands to lead the points table with its third successive win. Pakistan, on the other hand, is at the bottom.

No ICC World T20 in 2018

·         The World Twenty20 Championship’s seventh edition next year is all set to be scrapped and pushed to 2020 as the top member nations will be busy with bilateral commitments in 2018.

·         According to high-placed sources in the International Cricket Council, the next edition of ICC World T20 will only be held in 2020. However, the venue is yet to be decided.

·         “Yes, it is true that we are skipping the World T20 edition in 2018. Look, no venue was decided. The primary reason is there are too many bilateral series happening between member nations. It was not possible to schedule the tournament in 2018,” an ICC source said.

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