Assam Current Affairs – July 01-07 , 2018

Current Affairs Assam – July 2018

( Covers all important Assam Current Affairs & GK topics for the month of July 2018 )

July 2018 – eBook Monthly PDF | July 2018 Quiz 

Go To Assam Current Affairs                                                                                                               Go To Assam Current Affairs Quiz

 

July 3

 

Government unveils Five-Point Plan to tackle Bad Loans

The government accepted a new resolution scheme submitted by a committee of bankers to tackle India’s mounting bad loans. The Sashakt scheme is aims at resolving the problem of non-performing assets through a market-led approach. Under the scheme, bankers are not seeking any dispensation or forbearance from the Reserve Bank of India.

Piyush Goyal had recently announced the setting up of a high-powered bankers’ committee to better deal with bad loans through an asset management company or asset reconstruction company structure.

Details of the plan

  • For loans under Rs 50 crore, a resolution plan will be arrived at within 90 days of detection of stress by individual banks.
  • For assets between Rs 50-500 crore, the lead lender should take charge and devise a resolution plan within 180 days.
  • For assets worth over Rs 500 crore, an AMC structure will be created.
  • AMC to be formed with equity infusion from banks, foreign funds, infrastructure investment funds.
  • Alternative investment funds will be created by institutional investors.
  • AIFs will fund AMCs to buy stressed assets from the banking sector.
  • AMCs will appoint industry experts and turn around specialists to help resolve the stressed asset. AMCs will repay security receipts in full within 60 days
  • ARCs will also be allowed to bid for assets through a transparent auction process. ARCs could also tie up with AMCs to operate and turn around the asset.
Bharti Infratel-Indus Towers merger gets CCI  approval

The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has given its approval to the proposed merger of Bharti Infratel and Indus Towers. Bharti Infratel and Indus Towers announced a merger which would create the world’s largest tower company outside China.

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi), National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) and Department of Telecommunications also need to give the green signal for the merger.

The merger will help Bharti Airtel Ltd, Vodafone India Ltd and Idea Cellular Ltd, which came together in 2007 to form Indus Towers, easily pare their stakes in the combined entity to raise funds to invest in their struggling telecom operations and cut debt.

FACTFILE – Competition Commission of India (CCI)

  • Competition Commission of India is a statutory body of the Government of India responsible for enforcing The Competition Act, 2002 throughout India and to prevent activities that have an appreciable adverse effect on competition in India.
  • It was established on 14 October 2003.
  • It has succeeded the Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices Commission established under the The Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices Act, 1969.
Interest rate on PPF and other small savings schemes unchanged

The Govt of India kept the interest rates for small savings schemes which include PPF, POMIS, NSC etc. unchanged for the second quarter of the current financial year. The interest rate on PPF has been kept unchanged since January at 7.6%.

The rates of interest on various small savings schemes for the second quarter of the financial year 2018-19 starting 1st July, 2018, and ending on 30th September, 2018 shall remain unchanged from those notified for the first quarter of financial year 2018-19.The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) recently raised its repo rate by 25 basis points to 6.25%, its first hike in over four years, amid inflation concerns. Following which, banks have been raising rates offered on fixed deposits (FD).

The formula to determine the interest rates on small savings, is given by the Shyamala Gopinath Committee According to the committee, the interest rates of different schemes should be 25-100 basis points higher than the yields of government bonds of similar maturity. The committee has also suggested that the revision in interest rates should be done annually. However, the government has chosen to go with reviewing the interest rates every three months.

Agartala airport to be renamed as Maharaja Bir Bikram Manikya Kishore Airport

Union Cabinet gave approval to rename the Agartala airport as the Maharaja Bir Bikram Manikya Kishore Airport. Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb praised the Prime Minister for fulfilling a long-standing demand of the people of Tripura by naming the Agartala airport after Maharaja Bir Bikram Manikya Kishore.

FACTFILE – Bir Bikram Kishore Debbarman

  • Bir Bikram Kishore Debbarman Manikya Bahadur was an enlightened and benevolent king of Tripura.
  • He succeeded his father, Birendra Kishore Manikya Debbarman, on 13 August 1923. He was succeeded by his own son, Maharaja Kirit Bikram Kishore, who was king for two years till the state’s accession to India in 1949, but who did not rule, as he was a minor.
  • He is also considered one of the pioneers in land reforms.
  • In 1939, he reserved land for the local Tripura tribals, which was later instrumental in the creation of the Tripura autonoumus district council.
  • He also built the first airport in Tripura, which is today the second busiest airport in the entire northeast.

FACTFILE – Agartala airport

  • The Agartala airport was constructed in 1942 on a plot of land donated by Maharaja Bir Bikram Manikya Kishore.
  • It is the second busiest airport in northeast India after Guwahati.
  • During World War II, the airport was used by the 4th Combat Cargo Group of the United States Army Air Forces Tenth Air Force, flying Curtiss C-46 Commando transport aircraft over Burma.
  • The airport was used as a supply point from which the unit air-dropped pallets of supplies and ammunition to the advancing Allied forces on the ground.
  • The airport has experienced international operations in the distant past when Indian Airlines used to fly for various locations like Dhaka-Tejgaon Airport and Khulna in East Pakistan/Bangladesh from Agartala.
  • In 2015, Airports Authority of India started upgrading the airport to international standards. AAI was spending Rs. 500 crore on upgrade including the new terminal building with all the work to be completed by 2019-20.

July 4

Cabinet approves for Extension of RRBs’ recapitalisation scheme

The union government has approved extension of recapitalisation scheme for Regional Rural Banks (RRBs) for next three years up to 2019-20 with an aim to strengthen their lending capacity. The scheme started in 2010-11 and was extended twice in 2012-13 and 2015-16.

A total of Rs 1,107.20 crore, as government’s share, out of Rs 1,450 crore, has been released to RRBs till March last year. The remaining Rs 342.80 crore will be utilised to provide recapitalisation support to RRBs whose Capital to Risk Weighted Assets Ratio (CRAR) is below 9 per cent, during 2017-18, 2018-19 and 2019-20.

There were 56 functioning RRBs as of March, 2017 and together they extended credit of Rs 2,28,599 crore.

FACTFILE – Regional Rural Banks (RRBs)

  • Regional Rural Banks were established under the provisions of an Ordinance passed in September 1975 with the objective to provide credit and other facilities, especially to the small and marginal farmers, agricultural laborers, artisans and small entrepreneurs in rural areas.
  • These were set up on the recommendations of the Narshimham Committee Working Group.
  • The development process of RRBs started on 2 October 1975 with the forming of the first RRB, the Prathama Bank with authorised capital of Rs. 5 crore at its starting.
  • Also on 2 October 1975 five regional rural banks were set up with a total authorised capital Rs. 100 crore ($10 Million) which later augmented to 500 crore ($50 million).
  • They are jointly owned by the Centre, the concerned state government and sponsor banks with the issued capital shared in the proportion of 50 per cent, 15 per cent and 35 per cent, respectively. 
DNA Technology bill gets nod by the cabinet

The Union Cabinet approved the contentious DNA Technology (Use and Application) Regulation Bill, 2018 that seeks to create a DNA databank of hardcore criminals. The legistalion, which was conceptualised around 15 years ago, would also help the administration in identifying missing persons and disaster victims faster.

The bill’s provisions would enable cross-matching of DNA of persons reported missing with that of unidentified dead bodies found anywhere in the country.

But the most important application of the legislation would be in the criminal justice system as it would allow the government to maintain a DNA database of criminals convicted of heinous crimes.

Over a period of time, the database is expected to lead to better justice delivery and improve conviction rate, which currently stands at 30%.

The bill’s title was changed after the Law Commission reviewed the draft of the bill named ‘Human DNA Profiling: A draft bill for the use and regulation of DNA-based technology’.

The legislation authorises the collection and database retention of just 17 pairs of total 23 pairs of a person’s DNA that are sufficient to establish the identity of an individual by comparison with a second sample. The samples are taken from non-functional portion of the gene and would not reveal any information on the traits of an individual.

Minimum Support Price for Paddy Hiked By 13%

The government has decided to sharply increase the minimum support price for Kharif crops, to provide relief to country’s farm economy despite two years of strong monsoons.

The MSP for common variety paddy will be raised by Rs 200 over last year’s Rs 1,550 per quintal, which is 13 percent increase for FY19 compared to a 5.4 percent increase in FY18.

The year-on-year jump in MSP for most other Kharif crops has also been far steeper than the annual increases announced over the recent years. Ragi and Jowar saw among the steepest price increases of 52.4 percent and 42.9 percent respectively.

The MSP increase for moong in the pulses category stood at 25 percent. For cotton, the support price was hiked by 28 percent. With this increase, the govt has ensured that the MSP for the Kharif season is 50 percent above the cost of production.

FACTFILE – Minimum Support Price (MSP)

  • MSP is the price at which government purchases crops from the farmers, whatever may be the price for the crops.
  • Minimum Support Price is an important part of India’s agricultural price policy.
  • The MSP helps to incentivize the framers and thus ensures adequate food grains production in the country.
  • It gives sufficient remuneration to the farmers, provides food grains supply to buffer stocks and supports the food security programme through PDS and other programmes. 
Bank of China gets licence  for operation in India

The Reserve Bank of India has issued licence to Bank of China to launch operations in India. Last month, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had made a commitment to Chinese President Xi Jinping to allow Bank of China to set up branches in India.

Bank of China is one of the very few state-owned commercial banks in China. India and China have been focusing on expanding their economic ties notwithstanding differences on several sticky issues including on the boundary dispute.

FACTFILE – Bank of China

  • Bank of China is one of the four biggest state-owned commercial banks in China.
  • It was founded in 1912 by the Republican government to replace the Daqing
  • It is the oldest bank in mainland China still in existence.
  • Until 1942, it issued banknotes on behalf of the Government along with the Farmers Bank of China, Bank of Communications and Central Bank of the Republic of China.
  • Its headquarters are in Xicheng District, Beijing
  • It is the second largest lender in China overall, and the 5th largest bank in the world by market capitalization value
Centre approves Rs 1 lakh crore for research, infrastructure in colleges

The Union Cabinet allowed the Higher Education Funding Agency to mobilize Rs 1 lakh crore to fund research and academic infrastructure in higher educational institutions by 2022. The funding will also benefit Kendriya Vidyalayas and Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas.

The government had increased funding for higher education by 133% compared to 2013-’14, with the infusion of Rs 22,000 crore from the Higher Education Funding Agency.

In November 2017, the agency allocated Rs 2,066 crore for six universities – the Indian Institutes of Technology in Bombay, Delhi, Madras, Kharagpur and Kanpur, and the National Institute of Technology, Suratkal to improve research infrastructure.

FACTFILE – Higher Education Funding Agency (HEFA)

  • HEFA was set in September 2016 after it received Cabinet approval to provide financial assistance to institutes of higher education in addition to grants given by Union Ministry of Human Resources Development.
  • It has authorised capital of Rs. 2000 crore. Government equity in it is Rs.1000 crore.
  • It is not-for-profit organisation that will leverage funds from market and supplement them with donations and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) funds. These funds will be used to finance improvement in infrastructure in top institutions and will be serviced through internal accruals.

July 2018 – eBook Monthly PDF | July 2018 Quiz 

Go To Assam Current Affairs                                                                                                               Go To Assam Current Affairs Quiz

Pages: 1 2 3 4