Daily Current affairs - August 28th, 2017 for all competitive exams
The NITI Aayog has favoured conducting synchronised two-phase Lok Sabha and
assembly elections from 2024 in “national interest”.
- All elections in India should happen in a free, fair
and synchronised manner to ensure minimum “campaign mode” disruption
to governance, the government think tank said in its
report released recently.
- The recommendation of the Aayog assumes significance
as former president Pranab Mukherjee and Prime Minister Narendra Modi have
pitched for simultaneous Lok Sabha and assembly polls.
Uttar Pradesh joins PM Narendra Modi’s Government
e-Market portal
Uttar Pradesh has joined central Government’s e-Market portal. It will now
be making all its procurements of goods and services through the central
portal.
- It aims to ensure that public procurement of
goods and services in India worth more than Rs. 5 lakh crore annually is
carried out through the online platform for transparency and to eliminate
corruption.
- It aims to transform the way in which procurement of
goods and services is done by the Government Ministries/Departments, PSUs,
autonomous bodies etc.
Nuakhai Juhar celebrated in Odisha
Nuakhai Juhar was celebrated across Odisha on August 26.
- Nuakhai is the chief festival of Western Odisha. It
is the harvest festival of Odisha wherein farmers are in possession
of new rice of the season.
- They offer the first produce of their respective
lands to Goddess Samaleswari and then consume it personally.
Conflict of interest in appointment of GEAC members: Par
panel
The department-related parliamentary standing committee on science and
technology and environment and forest recently submitted its recommendations in
its 301st report on ‘GM crop and its impact on environment’.
- The committee said, there is a conflict of
interest in the appointment of some members of the country’s biotech
regulator- GEAC- with two of the top three positions
being held by bureaucrats of the environment ministry.
- The committee expressed its concerns about the “ad
hocism” in the constitution of the committee and also about the criteria
adopted by the environment ministry for selection of the members of GEAC,
their credentials, etc.
Ocean forecasting system unveiled
The Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS) of the
Ministry of Earth Sciences inaugurated the Ocean Forecasting System for
Comoros, Madagascar, and Mozambique at the third Ministerial Meeting of
Regional Integrated Multi-Hazard Early Warning System for Asia and Africa
(RIMES), held recently at Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea.
- The ocean forecast and early warming information on
high wave, currents, winds, tides, sub-surface ocean conditions cater to
users like fishermen, coastal population, tourism sector, coastal defence
officials, marine police, port authorities, research institutions and
offshore industries of these countries. These ocean services are aimed
towards safety at the sea.
- The system would offer oil spill advisory services,
high wave alerts, port warnings, forecast along the ship routes in
addition to tsunami and storm surge warnings and help in search and rescue
operations.
- The INCOIS has already been providing these
operational services to the Maldives, Sri Lanka and Seychelles.
NITI Aayog pitches to remove agriculture from Essential
Commodities Act
Premier think-tank NITI Aayog has pitched for completely removing
agriculture commodities from the Essential Commodities Act, and a shift towards
organised trading wherein lower number of traders with enough capital will
dominate the market.
- This will reduce handling costs, bring economies of
scale, reduce prices and increase returns for farmers.
- This will also lead to organised trading, improve
scale and logistics benefit and bring about more capital into trade with
handful of big traders
2,000-year-old Roman tombs
found in Egypt
Archaeologists discovered
five tombs dating back to about 2,000 years ago when the Romans were ruling
Egypt.
- The tombs, made of mudbricks, were excavated at the
Dakhla Oasis of Egypt.
- Some of the tombs are quite large containing
multiple burial chambers.
Govt notifies changes in Banking Regulation Act
The government has notified the Banking Regulation (Amendment) Act under
which it can authorise the RBI to issue directions to banks to initiate
insolvency resolution process to recover bad loans.
- The banking sector is saddled with non-performing
assets (NPAs) of over Rs. 8 lakh crore, of which Rs. 6 lakh crore is with
public sector banks (PSBs). To deal with this, Parliament had approved the
Act, which replaced an ordinance in this regard.
- Under the provisions of the Bill, the
government can also authorise the RBI to issue directions to banks with
regard to resolution of stressed assets and allow it to name one or more
committees to provide them with advice in order to do so.
- The Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code provides for a
time-bound resolution of defaults and stressed assets, either by
restructuring a loan or liquidating the borrower’s assets.
Centre ready to provide
capital support for merger of PSBs
The Finance Ministry is open
to providing capital support for facilitating consolidation among state-owned
banks, which are reeling under mounting bad loans.
- The Union Cabinet has approved the setting up of an
alternative mechanism, or a panel of ministers, to decide on consolidation
proposals for state-run banks.
- If the alternative mechanism finds the match viable,
the Finance Ministry could provide capital support to the acquiring bank
if there is a shortfall.
- After in-principle approval for consolidation, the
banks would take steps in accordance with the law and SEBI requirements.
The final scheme will be approved by the Cabinet.
Spice Digital gets RBI licence to operate under BBPS
Spice Digital Limited (SDL) has received the final licence from the Reserve
Bank of India (RBI), allowing the company to process bill payments as a Bharat
Bill Payment Operating Unit (BBPOU) in the Bharat Bill Payment System (BBPS).
- The Bharat Bill Payment System (BBPS) is an RBI
conceptualised system driven by National Payments Corporation of India
(NPCI).
- It is a one-stop
payment platform for all bills, providing an
interoperable and accessible “Anytime Anywhere” bill payment service to
customers across the country with certainty, reliability and safety of
transactions.
Child marriages high in A.P.:
Unicef
- According to DLHS statistics, the population of
adolescents in Andhra Pradesh is around 17% and the prevalence of child
marriages among tribal people in Visakhapatnam district is close to 57.4%,
which is above the national average of 50 %, according to Prasun Sen of
Unicef.
- According to him, in 1961, the total population of
adolescents in India was 85 million and it has gone up to 253 million by
2011.
- Unicef has embarked on a multi-country and
multi-year project from 2015-19 and AP is one of the four identified
states.
Ray characters promote EC
voter list campaign
Seeking to capitalise on the
popularity of Satyajit Ray’s famous characters Goopy Gyne and Bagha Byne, the
Election Commission (EC) has recently launched a music video featuring the two
to increase awareness among the youth in Bengal on enrolling their names in the
voters’ list.
- The campaign has been undertaken by the office of
the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of West Bengal. The EC started the
enrolment and correction drive on August 22 and it will conclude on
September 13. The movie Goopy Gyne Bagha Byne was released in 1969 and was
followed by two sequels.
Rural Games to take Place in Delhi
The first edition of Rural Games or Grameen Khel
Mahotsav will kick-start from Delhi and will take place between 28th
August to 3rd September, 2017.
- The Rural Games will aim at popularising the
indigenous games like wrestling, athletics etc. and
will also have fun games like Matka Race, Tug of War for senior citizens
to add the fun element in the games.
- This festival will help participation of rural youth
in large numbers in popular sports and encourage them to achieve
excellence and adopt healthy life style.
Sindhu loses epic final to
Okuhara
P.V. Sindhu’s gallant effort
to become India’s first ever World Champion ended in a heart-wrenching defeat
to Japan’s Nozomi Okuhara in an epic final held in Glasgow.
- Okuhara became the first shuttler from her country
to win the World Championship.
- For India, it still is a historic edition, Saina Nehwal won a bronze and Sindhu won a Silver.
