Daily Current affairs - April 19th, 2017 for all competitive exams
The IMF on Tuesday trimmed India’s annual growth
forecast by 0.4 percentage points to 7.2% for 2017, citing the impact of
demonetisation.
- The
Indian government in February had pegged GDP growth at a
higher-than-expected 7.1% for the current fiscal despite the note ban.
Textiles
India 2017 event hosted in India:
It is the first ever global B2B Textile and
handicrafts event in India. Hosted by the Ministry of Textiles, the
event was inaugurated recently.
- Textiles
India 2017 is a landmark global trade event for the Indian Textile and
handicraft Sector that will showcase the entire range of textile products
from ‘Fibre to Fashion’.
- The
aim of the event is to make it one of the key annual destinations for
International Buyers.
Respect for national flag, anthem non-negotiable,
Centre tells SC
Supreme Court questioned the need to expressively
define ‘respect’ for the two national symbols when such a feeling of reverence
is already inherent in the Constitution.
- The
court on April 18 exempted persons “who are wheelchair users, those with
autism, persons suffering from cerebral palsy, multiple disabilities,
Parkinson’s, multiple sclerosis, leprosy cured, muscular dystrophy and
deaf and blind” from the ambit of its November 30 order.
- Earlier,
in December 2016, the court had exempted physically challenged persons
from standing up for the anthem.
Hindi may become must till Class X in CBSE schools
Students of schools affiliated to the Central
Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) and Kendriya Vidyalyas (KVs) may have to
compulsorily study Hindi till Class X with recommendations of a parliamentary
panel in this regard getting the President’s nod.
- The
Ministry of Human Resource Development has also been instructed to form a
policy in consultation with the State governments to make the language
compulsory.
Met
dept. expects a ‘normal’ monsoon
In its first
official forecast of the season, the IMD expects India to have normal monsoons
this year.
- Rains
are likely to be 96% of the 50-year average of 89cm for the monsoon season
of June to September.
- They
are expected to fan out favourably and “help agriculture.”
Buzz
over photograph of ‘Indian wolf’ in Sunderbans:
An Indian wolf
(Canis lupus pallipes) has reportedly been sighted for the first time in the
Sunderbans. the forest department is yet to verify the veracity of the claim.
- The
sighting is significant since wolves in Bengal are mostly found in the
western parts bordering Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand.
- The
Indian wolf is a Schedule I animal in the Wildlife (Protection) Act
1972 of India.
Nepalese President arrives on maiden visit to India
Nepal’s President Bidhya Devi Bhandari arrived in
New Delhi on her first overseas tour during which she will hold talks with top
Indian leadership to strengthen bilateral ties between the two neighbours.
Australia
visa cut to hit Indian IT workers
The Australian
government has scrapped the Australian “457” visa programme that allowed Australian companies to hire foreign workers in a
number of skilled jobs for a period up to four years.
- The
programme will be replaced with a more stringent system, making it difficult
to hire non-Australian citizens. This is aimed
at giving priority for Australian workers for Australian jobs.
- According
to the notification, the new visa programme will cut more than 200
eligible jobs for skilled migrants — from 651 to 435, visa fees are set to
increase, and the visas will be restricted to filling “critical skills
shortages”.
Trump’s
order targets H-1B programme
President
Trump has signed an executive order that directs federal agencies to
review employment immigration laws to promote “Hire American” policies.
- The
order makes no immediate changes to work visa programs but tells the
Departments of Labor, Justice, Homeland Security and State to study
existing laws and procedures and recommend changes.
- The
H-1B program grants 65,000 work visas a year to foreigners, with 20,000
more visas granted to foreigners with advanced degrees and an unlimited
number of extra visas available for universities, teaching hospitals and
other nonprofit organizations.
- The
program is aimed at highly skilled workers, and most of the visas are
awarded to technology companies, although other specialty industries such
as fashion also use the visas.
RBI
raises red flag over banks’ telecom exposure
The Reserve
Bank of India (RBI) has raised a red flag over banks’ loans to telecom players
and asked the lenders to increase their standard asset provisioning more than
what is prescribed so that they can built ‘necessary resilience.’
- RBI
has asked the banks to make provisions for standard assets in this sector
at higher rates so that necessary resilience is built in the balance
sheets should the stress reflect on the quality of exposure to the sector
at a future date.
Common duct policy soon
The Centre is likely to soon come out with a new
policy under which a common duct will be laid across a city and service
providers such as telcos and digital TV players can lease these ducts to pass
their fibre through it to offer services to consumers.
- The
‘common duct policy,’ for which Telecom Regulatory Authority of India is
carrying out pilots in Deoghar in Jharkhand, could reduce operational cost
of firms, remove right of way challenges, while eliminating the need for
frequent digging up of roads.
- A
common duct will be created for about 20 years. Once the duct is made, no
service provider will be allowed to dig the road
SBI beats ONGC to become most-valued PSU firm in mcap
State Bank of India (SBI) on Tuesday surpassed
ONGC to become the country’s most valued state-owned firm in terms of market
valuation.
- At
end of trade, the market cap of SBI was Rs. 2,35,307.51 crore. This was
about Rs. 2,961.79 crore more than ONGC’s Rs. 2,32,345.72 crore. ONGC once
used to be the country’s most-valued company in terms of market valuation.
- Among
the top-10 most valued companies list, SBI is at fifth position.
Marathi film festival to be held in Sweden
A five-day Marathi International Film Festival is
to be held in Stockholm, Sweden.
- It
is being hosted by the Sweden India Film Association (SIFA) and the
Goa-based Vinsan World, in association with the organisers of the Goa
Marathi Film Festival.
- The
aim of the festival is to raise awareness about quality Marathi cinema
from India and to educate the people of Sweden about vibrant,
multi-faceted India. This will lead to the strengthening of ties between
the film industries of these two countries, while initiating an interest
in each other’s culture
- The opening film for the festival will be Harishchandrachi Factory, directed by Paresh Mokashi.
