21 January 2017 Current Affairs

i.The largest warship of the Indian Navy, INS Vikramditya, will be equipped with its own dedicated ATM. It will cater to over two thousand naval personnel deployed on the aircraft carrier.India’s largest public sector bank State Bank of India is providing the Navy the services for the ATM which will be on the satellite link. A currency chest will also be provided to keep running the ATM.

i. Bihar government  launched a Nasha Mukt campaign to make the state addidction-free. Over two crore people are likely to participate in human chains formed across the state on the occasion. Chief Minister Nitish Kumar said ‘nasha mukti’ in Bihar will herald a new era in the state as no one will be permitted to use intoxicating substance and tobacco products.

i. Mr Donald Trump has taken over as the 45th President of the United States, he took over the reins from Barack Obama 20 January 2017  Mr Trump, 70, took the oath of office in front of about 8 lakh people who braved chilly weather to gather on the National Mall in the center of the capital to celebrate the occasion.He was administered the oath of office by Chief Justice John Roberts. Donald John Trump is an American businessman, television personality, politician, and the 45th President of the United States.

i. Prime Minister Narendra Modi addresses the Combined Commanders Conference (CCC) at Dehradun in Uttarakhand . The day-long conference, to be hosted at the Indian Military Academy, will be attended by all Army commanders and their equivalents from the Air Force and the Navy. This will be the first CCC for the three military chiefs since taking over as head of their services last year (2016).

i. Tamil Nadu government will be promulgating an ordinance to conduct Jallikattu and Chief Minister O Paneerselvam has appealed to youngsters and all organizations to call off their protest as jallikattu.Prime Minister provide full support of central government in efforts made by Tamil Nadu to conduct jallikattu.

i. Government has clarified that Co-operative Banks are not authorised to accept deposits under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Deposit Scheme (PMGKDS). The scheme allows assessees to disclose previously unaccounted and undeclared income under its ambit. The PMGKDS permits voluntary declarations of previously undisclosed income with an effective tax rate of 50% and requires assessees to deposit a further 25% of such wealth into a four-year interest-free deposit.The scheme was launched on 17th of last month and will remain open for declarations upto 31st March this year.

i. Aimed at propagating financial literacy among school children, Kerala Gramin Bank has conceived a novel programme called FI@School.

Under the project, every branch of the bank has to identify and enter into a virtual tie up with a school in its locality preferably an upper primary school to organise various programmes such as formation of financial literacy clubs, account opening camps at schools, junior debit card distribution, financial literacy related classes, distribution of financial literacy booklets, competition on financial literacy etc.

i. Union Minister of Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME), Shri Kalraj Mishra inaugurated a Workshop on MSME Cooperation amongst Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA) Member countries in New Delhi.The Ministry of MSME finalised the MoU on MSME Cooperation with Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA) member countries.This finalized MoU will be signed at an appropriate forum soon. The MoU will come into effect after 5 countries signs it.

i. According to a statement by NITI Aayog, till date over 3.81 lakh consumers and 21,000 merchants have been declared as the winner of the NITI Aayog’s lucky draw schemes namely Lucky Grahak Yojana (LGY) for consumers and Digi-Dhan Vyapar Yojana (DVY) for merchants.

ii. It also stated that daily as well as weekly prize money worth Rs 60.90 crore has been declared at 24 Digi-Dhan Melas organized across the country. Besides, most of the winners were in the age group of 21-30 years.The top 5 states that had most of the winners are Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and Karnataka.

i. Dharamsala town in Kangra district of Himachal Pradesh has been declared as the second capital city of the state by the Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh.Dharamshala is located about 250 km from the state capital Shimla and has a unique significance and history of its own. It is of special value to the lower areas of the state comprising Kangra, Chamba, Hamirpur and Una districts.

i. The World Economic Forum and the UCSB’s Marine Science Institute have announced a partnership to improve health of world’s oceans and maritime resources. The new partnership aims to protect world’s USD 2.5 trillion ocean economy.This partnership will harness the potential of public-private cooperation and the fourth industrial revolution to help the international community meet the ocean sustainable development goal

i. India’s central banking institution, Reserve Bank of India(RBI) has imposed a penalty of Rs 75lakhs on Bombay Mercantile Co-operative Bank for violations of norms related to KYC and anti-money laundering.RBI had issued a notice regarding this to the bank and the bank has submitted its written reply.The Mercantile Bank of Bombay was an Anglo-Indian bank with business focus in the Far East.The Mercantile Bank of Bombay was renamed to Mercantile Bank of India, London, and China  in 1857.Founded in 1853 Headquarters in London

i. ISKCON’s Govardhan eco village in Thane district has been conferred with the UNWTO Award for Innovation in the category of Non-Governmental Organisations(NGO) at he annual United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) Awards for Excellence and Innovation in Tourism at Madrid in Spain. Govardhan eco village become the first village in India has recognized by UN in the NGO sector.ISKCON’s Govardhan eco village bags UN award.The village received this honour for its initiative of eco tourism as a catalyst for rural development.