SIPVS Knowledge is Power
- India permitted to construct Kishanganga, Ratle projects: World Bank
The World Bank has said that India is allowed to construct hydroelectric power facilities on tributaries of the Jhelum and Chenab rivers with certain restrictions under the 1960 Indus Waters Treaty (IWT).
The IWT was signed in 1960 after nine years of negotiations between India and Pakistan with the help of the World Bank.
Pakistan opposes the construction of the Kishanganga (330 megawatts) and Ratle (850 megawatts) hydroelectric power plants being built by India in Jammu and Kashmir.
- Committee to study issues related to data protection
Justice B N Srikrishna, former judge of the Supreme Court of India will head a Committee of experts which would study various issues relating to data protection in the country and suggest a draft data protection Bill.
The government led ten-member committee will “identify key data protection issues in India and recommend methods of addressing them.”
Expert Team had also reported how the government has sought the help of a legal think tank — the Vidhi Centre For Legal Policy — which was instrumental in drafting of the Aadhaar Act as well as the Bankruptcy Code.
- Government launches e-RaKAM portal
The government launched a portal, e-Rashtriya Kisan Agri Mandi(e-RaKAM), to provide a platform to sell agricultural produce. The portal is a joint initiative by state-run-auctioneer MSTC and Central Warehousing Corporation arm CRWC.
E-RaKAM is a first-of-its-kind initiative that leverages technology to connect farmers of the smallest villages to the biggest markets of the world through internet and e-RaKAM centres.
Under this initiative, e-RaKAM centres are being developed in a phased manner throughout the country to facilitate farmers for online sale of their produce.
Farmers would be paid through e-Payment directly into their bank accounts.
- Third Bi-Monthly Monetary Policy
Reserve Bank of India (RBI) announced Third Bi-Monthly Monetary Policy Statement for current fiscal.2017-18 on August 2, 2017. This time, RBI has cut the policy repo rate by 25 basis points (bps) to 6 percent.
Repo Rate – 6.00% (Earlier it was 6.25%)
Reverse Repo Rate – 5.75% (Earlier it was 6.00%)
Marginal Standing Facility Rate – 6.25% (Earlier it was 6.50%)
Bank Rate – 6.25% (Earlier it was 6.50%)
Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) – 4.00% (Unchanged)
Statutory Liquidity Ratio (SLR) – 20.00% (Unchanged)
- SEBI forms committee on fair market conduct
SEBI has set up a committee on ‘fair market conduct’ which will suggest measures for improving surveillance of the markets and strengthen rules for algo trades, among other norms.
The panel, under the chairmanship of former law secretary T K Viswanathan, would suggest measures for improvement in PIT (Prohibition of Insider Trading) norms, PFTUP (Prohibition of Fraudulent and Unfair Trade Practices) regulations and mainly related to ‘trading plans’ and handling of ‘unpublished price sensitive information’ during takeovers.
It would be responsible for recommending steps to align insider trading regulations with Companies Act provisions.
- SBI, Samsung collaborate to advance Digital India initiative
The State Bank of India (SBI) and Samsung India announced the availability of Samsung Pay for higher variants of SBI debit card, giving a major boost to government’s ‘Digital India’ initiative.
Samsung Pay works on 2.5 million Point of Sale (PoS) Card machines across the country through its Magnetic Secure Transmission (MST) technology.
Samsung Pay consumers holding eligible SBI Debit Cards can avail a flat Rs. 100 cash back on minimum transaction amount of Rs. 500.
The cardholder can avail maximum cashback of Rs. 500 per card, during the offer period from 1st August to 31st August.
With this collaboration, 130 million SBI debit cardholders will be able to tap and pay using a Samsung smartphone at merchant outlets having card acceptance machines.
- Dhirendra Swarup as chairman of BSE
BSE Ltd announced that market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has approved the appointment of Dhirendra Swarup as the chairman of the board of directors of the company.
Swarup was public interest director of BSE, was also chairman of the Cash and Debt Management Committee of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) from 2000 to 2003.
- Sanjaya Baru new secretary general of FICCI
Sanjaya Baru, who was media advisor to former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, has been named new secretary general of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI). He will replace A. Didar Singh.
“FICCI has completed 90 years of its glorious existence growing from strength to strength.
Established in 1927, on the advice of Mahatma Gandhi by GD Birla and Purushottam Das Thakurdas, it is the largest, oldest and the apex business organisation in India.
Headquarters – New Delhi, India
Members – over 250,000 companies
- Sam Shepard, Pulitzer-Winning Playwright, Is Dead
Sam Shepard, the Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright and Oscar-nominated actor passed away. Shepard was from Fort Sheridan, Illinois U.S.A.
He authored more than 40 plays and he also won the Pulitzer Prize for drama in 1979 for his play Buried Child.
He also received an Oscar nomination for best supporting actor for his portrayal of pilot Chuck Yeager in the 1983 astronaut drama “The Right Stuff.”
- Pushpa Bhargava, Scientist and Activist, Dies
Veteran molecular biologist and a vehement critic of genetically modified crops, Pushpa Mittra Bhargava, died.
He brought modern cell and molecular biology to India when there was no lab for research on cell, DNA and molecular biology.
In 2015, Bhargava was among the scientists who returned his Padma Bhushan.
Source:- Daily Current Affairs Capsule
