26 September 2017 Current Affairs
New Underground Water Treatment Plant in Agartala
In Tripura, a new underground water treatment plant has been commissioned at Sadhutilla in the southern part of Agartala. The plant has fulfilled the need for drinking water free from iron and other contamination. The plant has started functioning with supply of quality treated water initially to 565 households through pipeline. It has treatment capacity of 4 point 8 million litre per day. It has two Over Head Storage Reservoirs with capacities of 1,130 Kilo Liter and 450 Kilo Liter.
SBI eases Minimum Balance rules on Savings Accounts
State Bank of India lowered the Minimum Average Monthly Balance (MAB) requirement in a savings account to Rs 3,000 from Rs 5,000 and also revised downwards penalties for not maintaining such a balance. From July 1, tax on banking has been revised to 18 percent under Goods and Services Tax (GST), the new indirect tax regime. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) allowed banks to levy charges on non-maintenance of minimum balance in normal savings accounts.
Odisha govt launched ‘Sampurna Yojana’
Odisha Government launched ‘Sampurna (Sishu Abond Matru Mrityuhara Purna Nirakaran Abhijan) Yojna’ scheme for pregnant women, in Odisha. Under the scheme, Odisha government will provide Rs.1,000 as transport cost for pregnant women to travel to the hospital from inaccessible areas arranging their own vehicles. The main objective of this scheme is to reduce the death ration of the newborn child and mother mortality rate. Around 7853 villages will be covered from 30 districts of Odisha, under this scheme.
PM Modi forms Economic Advisory Council
Prime Minister Narendra Modi reconstituted the Economic Advisory Council (EAC) to guide him on economic issues and appointed economist Bibek Debroy as its chairman. Debroy is a member of government think tank Niti Aayog. The four other part-time EAC members are Surjit Bhalla, Rathin Roy, Ashima Goyal and Ratan Watal.
Lakshmanan Wins 5,000m gold in Athletics Nationals
Reigning Asian champion Govindan Lakshmanan of Services cruised to victory in the men’s 5000-metre race on the opening day of the 57th National Open Athletics Championships at the Nehru Stadium in Chennai. Lakshmanan has recently won gold in the 3,000m event at the Asian Indoor Games in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan.
Karnataka Govt launches Vision-2025 project
Karnataka Government to launch The Nava Karnataka 2025 or Vision 2025 was launched on Monday, for charting out a development roadmap for the next seven years. The main aim of the government on several developmental goals, whether it was eliminating hunger, creating employment or decreasing malnutrition among children. The Vision 2025 exercise will cover 13 sectors including agriculture and allied sectors, infrastructure, industrial development, education, employment, health and nutrition, rural development, social justice, urban development.
INS TARASA commissioned into Indian Navy
INS Tarasa (T94), the fourth and last ship in series of Water Jet Fast Attack Craft (WJFAC) was commissioned into Indian Navy at Naval Dockyard, Mumbai. It is an improved variant of Car Nicobar-class high-speed offshore patrol vessels (OPVs) built indegenously by Kolkata (West Bengal) based Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers Ltd (GRSE), for the Indian Navy. INS Tarasa has been named after the picturesque island in the Andaman and Nicobar archipelago in Bay of Bengal. It is powered by the latest 4,000-series MTU engines and has displacement capacity of 315 tonnes.
Rajnath Singh unveils ‘PENCIL’ Portal on Child Labour Elimination
Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh has launched a web portal called ‘PENCIL’ for effective implementation of the National Child Labour Project, (NCLP) in the National Conference on Child Labour organized by Ministry of Labour & Employment. PENCIL (Platform for Effective Enforcement for No Child Labour) – an electronic platform for no child labour in the country is being developed by the Labour Ministry. PENCIL portal has five components – Child Tracking System, Complaint Corner, State Government, National Child Labour Project and Convergence.
Government launches Divyang Sarathi Mobile Application
The Ministry for Social Justice and Empowerment has launched Divyang Sarathi-The accessible and comprehensive mobile application for easy dissemination of information to ‘Divyangjans’. The mobile app aims to empower Divyangjans by providing them easier and convenient access to information pertaining to schemes, scholarships, statutes, institutional support systems, jobs and other crucial information.
Isro’s Mars Orbiter Mission completes 3 years in orbit
India’s rendezvous with the red planet continues as its celebrated Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) completes three years in orbit. The country had on 24 September 2014 successfully placed the Mars Orbiter Mission spacecraft in the orbit around the red planet, in its very first attempt, thus breaking into an elite club.
Railway line between India, Nepal
After remaining non-functional for the last 3 years the Janakpur-Jayanagar Railway line connecting Nepal and India is expected to become functional by 2018. It is the only railway line that once used to link India with Nepal but after 2014 its service got discontinued. The project will be completed in three phases and is estimated to cost Rs. 5.48 billion, mostly aided by Indian Government.
Shashi Shankar appointed CMD of ONGC
Shashi Shanker has been appointed as the chairman and managing director of India’s biggest oil and gas producer ONGC. Shankar, at present director (technical and field services), ONGC, will take over the charge as CMD from October 1. He will replace Dinesh K Sarraf, who retires on September 30, upon attaining superannuation age. Shankar will have a nearly 4-year term until March 2021.
Apple, Google and Microsoft top list of the 100 most valuable brands
Apple and Google respectively have once again take the two top spots in a list of the world’s 100 most valuable brands, according to rankings by consultancy group Interbrand. This is the fifth consecutive year with Apple and Google at the top of the list.
Russia launches world’s biggest, most powerful icebreaker
Russia has launched the world’s largest and most powerful icebreaker ship, designed to transport cargo via the Northern Sea Route in the Arctic Ocean. The nuclear-powered vessel, capable of breaking ice fields up to three metres thick, will also carry out rescue work in ice conditions and ice-free waters.
Nooyi, Kochhar, Shikha on Fortune’s most powerful women in business list
Two Indians – Chanda Kochhar and Shikha Sharma – have made it to the rankings of most powerful women in business outside the United States drawn up by the Fortune magazine while Indra Nooyi featured in the top three on the US edition list. The Most Powerful Women in Business Outside the US list, which was topped by Banco Santander group executive chairman Ana Botin, placed ICICI Bank’s Kochhar at the fifth spot while Axis Bank’s Sharma has been ranked 21st. PepsiCo chairman and CEO Indra Nooyi came in at No. 2 on the US Most Powerful Women in Business list, led by General Motors chairman and CEO Mary Barra.
Patanjali CEO among top 10 richest Indians with ₹70,000 cr wealth
Patanjali Ayurved CEO Acharya Balkrishna has been named among India’s top 10 richest people for the first time in Hurun Rich List 2017, with a wealth of ₹70,000 crore. Now India’s 8th richest person, Balkrishna saw a 173% increase in his wealth in a year. Notably, he is the most followed entrepreneur on the Indian social media. Mukesh Ambani retains the richest Indian title for the sixth year.