Current Affairs 5 January 2018

1. World Braille Day: 4 January World Braille Day is annually celebrated on January 4, the birthday of Braille inventor, Louis Braille...

1. World Braille Day: 4 January

World Braille Day is annually celebrated on January 4, the birthday of Braille inventor, Louis Braille.

• The day recognizes the contributions of Louis Braille in helping blind and visually impaired people to read and write.
• Braille is a code that uses bumps and indentation on a surface to represent letters, which can be recognized by touch.
• Louis Braille, a French man who was blinded in an accident at a very young age, invented it.

2. Iceland Becomes First Country to Enforce Equal Pay Laws

Iceland has become the first country in the world to legalize equal pay, charting a new history.

• Under the new law, companies and government agencies that employ at least 25 people will be fined if they can’t prove they pay men and women equally.
• Iceland has been ranked by the World Economic Forum (WEF) as No. 1 in gender equality for the past nine years.

3. Govt launches Swachh Survekshan 2018

The government has announced the launch of cleanliness survey for this year as part of Swachh Bharat Mission.

• The Swachh Survekshan 2018 will rank 500 cities on national level which have more than 1 lakh population, while 3,541 cities with less than 1 lakh population will have State and Regional ranking.
• The 2017 edition was conducted in January-February 2017 covering 434 Urban Local Bodies. Indore emerged as the cleanest city in the country in that survey.

4. Health Ministry launch first digital Online Oncology Tutorial

Smt Preeti Sudan, Secretary (HFW) launched the country’s first digital Online Oncology Tutorial Series designed by the Tata Memorial Center in collaboration with the Health Ministry.

• The oncology tutorial series aim to train the doctors across the country to educate them in early detection, prevention, palliation, rehabilitation and treatment of various cancers.
• This is part of a national program that will be rolled out across the country by Tata Memorial Centre in collaboration with state governments.

5. Namami Gange projects worth Rs. 295 crore approved by NMCG

National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) has approved five projects worth Rs. 295.01 crore.

• Three projects pertain to sewage management in West Bengal at an estimated cost of Rs 278.6 crore, one relates to sewage management in Uttarakhand at an estimated cost of Rs 4.68 crore and one project worth Rs 11.73 crore is related to ghat improvement works in Varanasi.
• With these approvals, all projects related to sewage management in high pollution load towns along river Ganga have been sanctioned.

6. Rs 372.51 crore sanctioned by NABARD to Odisha

The NABARD has sanctioned Rs 372.51 crore loan assistance under the Rural Infrastructure Development Fund (RIDF) to Odisha towards irrigation and rural bridge projects for the last quarter of this fiscal.

• A total number of 17,322 lift irrigation projects including bore wells, shallow tube wells, digging wells, micro river lifts shall be taken up with Rs 130.17 crore from the assistance.
• This will provide assured irrigation to about 36,440 hectares of agricultural land directly benefiting about 40,000 farmers of state.

7. GOI announces launch of 7.75% Savings (Taxable) Bonds, 2018

 

Government of India has announced to launch of 7.75% Savings (Taxable) Bonds, 2018 commencing from 10th January 2018 to enable resident citizens/HUF to invest in a taxable bond, without any monetary ceiling.  

• The Bonds are open to investment by individuals (including Joint Holdings) and Hindu Undivided Families. NRIs are not eligible for making investments in these Bonds. 
• The Bonds will be issued for a minimum amount of Rs.1,000/- (face value) and in multiples thereof. Accordingly, the issue price, will be Rs.1,000/- for every Rs.1,000/- (Nominal). 
• There will be no maximum limit for investment in the Bonds. 
• The Bonds will have a maturity of 7 years carrying interest at 7.75% per annum payable half- yearly.  The cumulative value of Rs. 1,000/- at the end of seven years will be Rs. 1,703. 

8. ICICI Bank takes Western India Shipyard to NCLT

Private lender ICICI Bank has initiated insolvency proceeding against Western India Shipyard, a subsidiary of ABG Shipyard which too is facing bankruptcy proceedings.

• The company has outstanding debt of Rs 130 crore and had reported losses of Rs 39 crore as on March 2016.
• Over 475 companies have been referred to National Company Law Tribunal by lenders for recovery of dues.

9. APGVB introduces Desktop ATMs in rural India

In a trendy initiative, the Andhra Pradesh Grameena Vikas Bank (APGVB) has operationalised it’s first desktop ATM at Kasibugga in Mandi Bazar of Warangal.

• The mini-ATM within the branch premises will facilitate customers to withdraw small amounts.
• At the same time regular bank account holders can withdraw money and do other banking activities.
• The model will be scaled up to 100 in the near future, said Narasi Reddy, Chairman.

10. MAS chief Ravi Menon named best central bank governor in Asia-Pacific

The managing director of the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), Ravi Menon, has been named the best central bank governor in Asia-Pacific for 2018 by UK-based magazine, The Banker.

• Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat was also given this award in 2011 when he was then MAS's managing director.
• Over the last three years, the award went to the central bankers of Vietnam, India and Bangladesh.