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1.Important Cabinet Approvals- 10th January 2018 The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has given the following set of approvals. The important Cabinet Approvals are given as follows- MoU between India and Canada for cooperation in the field of Science & Technology. The MoU will provide a mechanism and help to foster scientific cooperation between R&D and academic institutions of India and Canada. Implementation of CCEA decision on the closure of Tungabhadra Steel Products Limited. Fixed term for Chairperson and Members of the National Trust- Cabinet approved the proposal to amend Section 4(1) and Section 5(1) of the National Trust for the Welfare of Person with Autism, Cerebral Plasy, Mental Retardation and Multiple Disabilities Act, 1999 to fix the term of the Chairperson and Members of the Board of National Trust for three years. 2. Karnataka Tops States with Investment Intentions of Rs. 1.49 lakh crore Karnataka topped all states with investment intentions of Rs. 1.49 lakh crore till October 2017, according to R V Deshpande, Karnataka Minister for Large, Medium Industries and Infrastructure Development The investment was 43 percent of the country's total investment intentions. Karnataka has topped in FDI inflows and has performed well in exports, contributing about 40 percent in electronics and software services. Karnataka CM- Siddaramaiah Governor- Vajubhai Vala. 3. India's 1st All-Women Railway Station in Mumbai Enters Limca Records The Matunga suburban station on the Central Railway (CR) has found its way into the Limca Book of Records for having an all-woman staff. 2
The achievement comes six months after Matunga became the first railway station in the country to be run by an all-woman staff. The station is being manned exclusively by women staffers since July 2017, a first on the Indian Railways. 1. Matunga station is situated in Mumbai, Maharashtra. 4. Karnataka Tops States with Investment Intentions of Rs. 1.49 lakh crore Karnataka topped all states with investment intentions of Rs. 1.49 lakh croretill October 2017, according to R V Deshpande, Karnataka Minister for Large, Medium Industries and Infrastructure DevelopmentThe investment was 43 percent of the country's total investmentintentions. Karnataka has topped in FDI inflows and has performed well in exports, contributing about 40 percent in electronics and software services. 1. Karnataka CM- Siddaramaiah 2. Governor- Vajubhai Vala. 5. Panel under B.R. Sharma to take a call on national anthem in cinema halls Union Home Ministry has appointed a 12-member inter-ministerial committee to recommend changes in the existing law of playing of the national anthem in cinema halls and public places. Details of the inter-ministerial committee: i. The committee is headed by B.R. Sharma, Additional Secretary in the Ministry of Home Affairs. ii. Other members of this committee include officers of the Joint Secretary rank representing Ministries of Home Affairs, Defence, Culture, External Affairs, Women and Child Development, Parliamentary Affairs, Human Resource Development, Law and Information and Broadcasting, Minority Affairs and the Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities. iii. First meeting of this committee will be held on January 19, 2018 and it will submit its final report within six months. iv. This committee has been formed in wake of Supreme Courts observation it could not be assumed 3
that if a person did not stand up for the national anthem, he or she was less patriotic. v. The committee will make recommendations in context of existing Acts and orders relating to the Prevention of Insults to National Honour Act, 1971. 6. Government to launch new scheme for free treatment of Hepatitis C From financial year 2018-19, Union Health Ministry will roll out a National Programme for Control of Viral Hepatitis, with a focus on Hepatitis C. Details about National Programme for Control of Viral Hepatitis: i. Under the programme, an antiviral treatment for Hepatitis C will be provided free at all government health set-ups. ii. Rs 600 crore for the next three years has been sanctioned for executing this programme. iii. In India, about 1.2 crore people are reported to be suffering from Hepatitis C. iv. Union Health Ministry is considering to screen vulnerable groups, including drug users and people who underwent surgeries/ blood transfusion before 2002, as screening protocol at that time was not robust. v. Hepatitis C is an infectious disease caused by the hepatitis C virus (HCV). It primarily affects the liver. 7. UIDAI introduces Virtual ID for Aadhaar to address privacy concerns On 10 th January 2018, the UIDAI launched Virtual ID, which an Aadhaar-card holder can generate from UIDAI website. Virtual ID for Aadhaar: i. Virtual ID has been introduced to reduce privacy issues. This virtual ID that can be generated from UIDAI website can be used for purposes like SIM verification, instead of sharing the actual 12-digit biometric ID. ii. The Virtual ID will be a random 16-digit number. Along with biometrics of the user, it will furnish limited details like name, address and photograph, required for verification to authorised agencies like mobile companies. iii. Users can generate any number of Virtual IDs they want. The older ID gets automatically cancelled once a new ID is developed. iv. UIDAI will accept Virtual ID from 1 March, 2018. From 1 June 2018 it will be made 4
mandatory for all agencies that perform authentication to accept Virtual ID for verification. v. The virtual ID will be valid for a particular period of time, or till the user generates a new one. 1. Established 12 July 2016 2. Functions under Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) 8. Paytm Launches Investment Arm, to Invest $10 million Paytm has set up a new entity called Paytm Money Ltd that will offer investment and wealth management products and will invest close to $10 million upfront in the new entity. Paytm Money is the fourth product from One97 s stable after Paytm Mall, Paytm Payments Bank and Paytm wallet. It will be available as a separate mobile application to users. 1. Paytm is run by One97 Communications Ltd. 2. Vijay Shekhar Sharma is the founder of One97 Communications. 9. Cabinet Approves Amendments in FDI Policy, Policies Further Liberalized In the financial year 2016-17, total FDI of US $ 60.08 billion has been received, which is an all-time high. The Cabinet chaired by PM Narendra Modi has approved amendments in FDI Policy and further liberalized few of the policies of FDI. Key Highlights- 100% FDI under automatic route for Single Brand Retail Trading. 100% FDI under automatic route in Construction Development. Foreign airlines allowed to invest up to 49% under approval route in Air India. FIIs/FPIs allowed to invest in Power Exchanges through primary market. Definition of medical devices amended in the FDI Policy. 5
10. Government approval no longer required for FDI in Single Brand Retail Trading (SBRT) Extant FDI policy on SBRT allows 49% FDI under automatic route, and FDI beyond 49% and up to 100% through Government approval route. It has now been decided to permit 100% FDI under automatic route for SBRT. 11. Civil Aviation As per the extant policy, foreign airlines are allowed to invest under Government approval route in the capital of Indian companies operating scheduled and non-scheduled air transport services, up to the limit of 49% of their paid-up capital. However, this provision was presently not applicable to Air India, thereby implying that foreign airlines could not invest in Air India. It has now been decided to do away with this restriction and allow foreign airlines to invest up to 49% under approval route in Air India. Construction Development: Townships, Housing, Built-up Infrastructure and Real Estate Broking Services It has been decided to clarify that real-estate broking service does not amount to real estate business and is, therefore, eligible for 100% FDI under the automatic route. 12. Power Exchanges The extant policy provides for 49% FDI under automatic route in Power Exchanges registered under the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (Power Market) Regulations, 2010. It has now been decided to do away with this provision, thereby allowing FIIs/FPIs to invest in Power Exchanges through the primary market as well. 13. Flipkart's PhonePe Inks Pact with FreeCharge Flipkart s payments arm PhonePe has partnered mobile wallet company FreeCharge to allow the latter s customers pay for transactions at PhonePe s partner merchants. According to the deal terms, PhonePe has now enabled its users to link their existing FreeCharge wallets to the PhonePe app. Once linked, PhonePe customers will be able to spend their FreeCharge wallet balance at all online and offline merchant outlets that accept payments via PhonePe. 6
1. Phone Pe Chief Executive Officer (CEO)- Sameer Nigam. 2. CEO of Freecharge- Sangram Singh, Owner- Axis bank. 14. PNB Ties up with NSFDC for Assisting SC Families Punjab National Bank (PNB) and National Scheduled Castes Finance and Development Corporation (NSFDC) have tied up to provide financial assistance for economic empowerment of persons belonging to Scheduled Caste (SC) families living below Double Poverty Line (DPL). A Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) to this effect was signed between PNB and NSFDC. Under this tie-up, PNB would act as a channelising agent for the loan schemes of NSFDC. 1. PNB Chairman- Sunil Mehta 2. Headquarters- New Delhi. 15. World Bank Projects India s Growth Rate at 7.3% in 2018 World Bank has projected India s growth rate at 7.3 percent in 2018 and 7.5 for the next two years. According to the 2018 Global Economics Prospect release, despite initial setbacks from demonetisation and Goods and Services Tax (GST), India s economy is estimated to have grown at 6.7 percent in 2017. India s growth potential will be around 7 percent for the next 10 years. In comparison with China, which is slowing, the World Bank is expecting India to gradually accelerate. 1. World Bank's Prospects Group Director- Ayhan Kose. 2. Jim Yong Kim is the 12th President of the World Bank Group. 3. World Bank Headquarters in Washington DC, USA. 16. Railways launches transparent and efficient New Online Vendor Registration System Research Designs & Standards Organisation (RDSO), Ministry of Railways research unit, has launched New Online Vendor Registration System. New Online Vendor Registration System: 7
i. The New Online Vendor Registration System has been launched to make systems and procedures digital and transparent. ii. This system is easy and user-friendly. Vendors need not visit RDSO office for any activity related to his case for registration, they can do it online. iii. This system has been developed after Piyush Goyal, Minister for Railways and Coal performed comprehensive review of the functioning of the RDSO. 1. Director General M. Hussain 2. Members Additional Director General, 23 Senior Executive Directors and Executive Directors 17. Dilip Asbe Appointed MD & CEO of NPCI National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) has appointed Dilip Asbe as Managing Director and CEO of the organisation. Prior to this, Asbe was CEO-in-charge of NPCI. He had come in place of AP Hota. 8 1. NPCI is an umbrella organisation for retail payment systems in India. 2. NPCI's Registered Office is in Mumbai. 18. Harjinder Singh appointed as Chef De Mission for Winter Olympics Games 2018 On 10 th January 2018, the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) appointed Harjinder Singhas the Chef De Mission for the 23rd Winter Olympic Games to be held in Pyeongchang, in February 2018. Harjinder Singh Chef De Mission for Winter Olympics Games 2018: i. Harjinder Singh is at present the General Secretary in the Ice Hockey Association of India. ii. IOA President Narinder Dhruv Batra announced the appointment of Harjinder Singh as Chef De Mission for Winter Olympics Games 2018. 1. President K. L. Kumar
2. Member of International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) 19. Aditya Mehta Wins Kolkata Open 2018 International Invitation Snooker Championship Professional player Aditya Mehta won the Kolkata Open 2018 International Invitation Snooker Championship in the capital city of West Bengal Kolkata. This is his third Kolkata Open title since it s inception. In the thrilling final he defeated Englishman Professional Player Alfie Burden. 20. Anchal Thakur Bags Bronze, India's 1st International Medal in Skiing Aanchal Thakur made history as she won India's first ever international medal in skiing. The 21-year-old Manali resident clinched bronze in the coveted Alpine Ejder 3200 Cup. The Championship was organised by the Federation Internationale de Ski (skiing's international governing body) in Erzurum, Turkey. She won the medal in the slalom race category. 1. Turkey Capital- Ankara 2. Currency- Turkish lira. -----***----- 9