03 October 2016 Current Affairs

Jharkhand becomes first state to implement DBT in Kerosene

Jharkhand has become the first state in the country to implement Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) in Kerosene Scheme. The scheme is being implemented in four identified districts of the state from 1st of October 2017. These districts are Chatra, Hazaribagh, Khunti and Jamtara. Under the DBTK scheme, PDS kerosene will be sold at non-subsidised price and the subsidy will be directly transferred to consumers directly into their bank accounts. It aims at rationalising subsidy based on the approach to cut subsidy leakages but not the subsidy.


Nobel Prize in Medicine awarded to Yoshinori Ohsumi

The 2016 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine has been awarded to Yoshinori Ohsumi “for his discoveries of mechanisms for autophagy.” The professor is currently at the Tokyo Institute of Technology. Announcing the Prize in Stockholm, the Nobel Committee said that the cell biologist “discovered and elucidated mechanisms underlying autophagy, a fundamental process for degrading and recycling cellular components.” The 1974 Medicine laureate, Christian de Duve, coined the term autophagy (meaning “self eating”) in 1963. The 2015 Nobel Prize in Medicine was awarded for discoveries concerning novel therapies against river blindness, lymphatic filariasis and malaria to William C. Campbell, Satoshi Omura and Youyou Tu.


Reliance ties up with Dassault to execute Rafale offsets

Dassault Aviation of France has entered into a partnership with Reliance group to execute offsets for the recently concluded deal for 36 Rafale fighter jets. The joint venture called “Dassault Reliance Aerospace” was jointly announced by Dassault Aviation Chairman & CEO Eric Trappier and Reliance Group Chairman Anil Dhirubhai Ambani. This is the largest offset contract to be executed by any defence company in India till date as the contract value is estimated up to Rs. 30,000 crore. Last month, India and France signed an Inter-Governmental Agreement (IGA) for 36 Rafale multi-role jets in fly-away condition worth €7.87 billion or about Rs. 59,000 crore. The deal has a 50 per cent offset clause to be executed by Dassault and its partners in India.


Kersti Kaljulaid elected as first female President of Estonia

The parliament of Estonia has elected Kersti Kaljulaid (46) as the President of the Baltic country. With this, she became Estonia’s first female president. She had won vote 81-0, with 20 members absent in the parliamentary voting. She will be Estonia’s fifth President and is due to take office on 10 October 2016. She is also the youngest person to get elected as President of Estonia. Kersti Kaljulaid is trained biologist specialising in genetics and also holds an MBA from University of Tartu. In the late 1990s she had worked as investment banker at Hansapank that was later taken over by Swedbank.


3 October: World Habitat Day

The World Habitat Day (WHD) is observed every year on the first Monday of October throughout the world. This year it was observed on 3 October 2016. 2016 Theme is “Housing at the Centre”. It aims to raise awareness about need for affordable housing for all in urban areas, cities and towns. Access to adequate housing is a global challenge due growing fast with urbanization. Around one quarter of the world’s urban population continues to live in informal settlements and slums. An increasing number of urban dwellers, especially the poor and vulnerable groups are living in precarious conditions.


SBI becomes first domestic bank to open branch in Yangon

India’s largest lender State Bank of India (SBI) has announced the opening up its foreign branch in Yangon, the capital city of Myanmar. With this, SBI became the first domestic bank of India to open a branch in Myanmar. The Yangon branch is the 54th foreign branch of the SBI. This branch further extends the global presence of India’s largest lender in 37 countries through 198 offices. The Yangon branch was started after the Myanmarese central bank allowed SBI to open a branch with the primary objective of extending wholesale banking services to foreign corporates.


Leave a Reply


Share:
Free E-mail Job Alerts
Enter your email address:
Don't Forget To "Activate" Subscription Link Sent to Your Email