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SADHANA ACADEMY PH:9290699996 INDIAN AFFAIRS Cabinet Approvals on November 11, 2017 On November 10, 2017, Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi approved following initiatives and bilateral agreements. i. Cabinet approves MoU between India and Philippines on agriculture and related fields ii. Cabinet has approved agreement between India and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) of China for the Avoidance of Double Taxation and the Prevention of Fiscal Evasion with respect to taxes on income. iii. Cabinet approves amending DTAA with Kyrgyzstan iv. Cabinet approves Joint Interpretative Declaration between India and Colombia v. Cabinet approves continuation and Restructuring of National Rural Drinking Water Programme Government to adopt land-pooling method for airport expansion Airports Authority of India (AAI) Chairman, Guruprasad Mohapatra has stated that, Central Government is working on adopting the ‘Land Pooling’ methodology as an alternative mechanism for development and expansion of airports. i. Indian aviation space has witnessed a significant surge in air passenger traffic in recent years. In order to accommodate this growth, AAI has already chalked out plans to expand current capacities of terminals and bays at airports. However the increased capacity too will be saturated on account of high growth and more land will be needed for further expansion. ii. In this situation, ‘Land Pooling’ emerges as the only available and viable alternative for airports expansion Union Cabinet approves Creation of National Testing Agency (NTA) On November 10, 2017, Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, cleared a proposal for creation of a National Testing Agency (NTA) which will conduct various entrance examinations. i. Currently, Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) conducts Joint Engineering Entrance (JEE) Exam, National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET), Central Teacher Eligibility Test (twice a year) UGC’s National Eligibility Test (twice a year) and the entrance test for Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas. These exams/tests are in addition to CBSE’s own board exams. ii. With the creation of National Testing Agency (NTA), CBSE and All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) will be relieved from conducting the above stated exams/tests.……………………………………Click here to Read more IT employees get nod to set up trade union in Karnataka The labour commission of Karnataka has certified the formation of the Karnataka State IT/ITES Employees Union (KITU) under the Trade Union Act, 1926, and Karnataka Trade Unions Regulations, 1958. Trade union for IT employees in Karnataka: i. Since last year, large number of IT employees have been approaching the courts seeking solutions for grievances like indiscriminate layoffs and long working hours. ii. So far, IT employees have been approaching pressure groups such as the Forum for IT Employees (FITE), the National Democratic Labour Front-IT (NDLF-IT) and the Union for IT/ITES (UNITES) for help in fighting legal battles. iii. The Karnataka State IT/ITES Employees Union (KITU) now formed is backed by the Centre of Indian Trade Union (CITU). CITU is an affiliate of the CPI-M (Communist Party of India-Marxist). About Centre of Indian Trade Union: ♦ General Secretary – Tapan Sen ♦ President – K.Hemalata First power plant under PM Ladakh scheme commissioned in Drass On 10th November 2017, the New and Renewable Energy Ministry said that, the power plant in Biaras Drass of Kargil has become the first project to be commissioned under the Prime Minister’s Ladakh Renewable Energy Initiative. First power plant under PM Ladakh scheme: i. The Biaras Small Hydropower Project (SHP) of 1.5 Mw was commissioned on 4th November 2017. This is the first project to be commissioned under the Prime Minister’s Ladakh Renewable Energy Initiative (LREI). ii. The total cost of the project is Rs 17 crore. It is fully funded by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy. www.sadhanaedu.co.in Dilsukh nagar SADHANA ACADEMY PH:9290699996 iii. The plant will power the Drass town in Kargil. The project has been developed by the Kargil Renewable Energy Development Agency (KREDA) under the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council. About Ministry of New and Renewable Energy: ♦ Minister of State (Independent Charge) – Piyush Goyal ♦ Headquarters – New Delhi Gadkari announces Rs 6000 crore World Bank-backed irrigation scheme On 9th November 2017, Union minister Nitin Gadkari announced World Bank-supported Rs 6,000 crore scheme to improve the irrigation facilities and water accessibility capacity in several states. Rs 6000 scheme to improve irrigation scheme: i. This scheme was announced by Nitin Gadkari at the inauguration of Agrovision Exhibition. Vice President Venkaiah Naidu was present on the occasion. He performed e-jalpoojan of Kerala Lift Irrigation Scheme and right bank canal of Gosikhurdh Irrigation project. ii. The states which will benefit from the irrigation scheme are Maharashtra, Karnataka, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, Odisha, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan. iii. Gadkari also announced Rs 25,000 crore-worth Daman Ganga-Pinjar river connectivity project, which is 90 per cent funded by the Centre. Its first phase will be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi within the next three months. About World Bank: ♦ Headquarters – Washington, D.C., U.S. ♦ President – Jim Yong Kim Telangana CM declares Urdu as second official language On November 9, 2017, Telangana Chief Minister, K Chandrasekhar Rao declared Urdu as the state’s second official language. i. Mr. Rao told the state assembly that the demand to make Urdu as second official language has been there for a long time. ii. Every government office in Telangana from the Chief Minister’s Office to District Collectorate have been instructed to have an Urdu speaking officer and to receive all petitions in Urdu as well. iii. Beisdes, all Telangana State Government competitive examinations will also be conducted in Urdu. iv. It is to be noted that Muslims comprise 12.7% of Telangana’s total population.Earlier, Mr. Rao had stated that his government will raise its proposal to hike reservations to backward sections among Muslims in Parliament and if needed, may also approach Supreme Court on this matter. INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS US Congress authorises $700 million for reimbursing Pakistan The American Congress has authorised up to $700 million in Coalition Support Fund (CSF) to reimburse Pakistan for activities carried out in support of US operations in Afghanistan. $700 million for reimbursing Pakistan: i. The authorisation is included in the reconciled text of the House and Senate versions of the 2018 National Defence Authorisation Act (NDAA-2018). ii. The reconciled version makes $350m of $700m available to Pakistan under the CSF contingent upon certification from the secretary of defence that Pakistan is taking demonstrable steps against the Haqqani network. iii. The certification need to declare that Pakistan was making an attempt to coordinate with Afghanistan to restrict the movement of militants along the border, and Pakistan had shown progress in arresting and prosecuting senior leaders and mid-level operatives of the Haqqani network and LeT. About Pakistan: ♦ Capital – Islamabad ♦ Currency – Pakistani rupee ♦ Official languages – Urdu & English BSF, Pakistan Rangers to hold Commandant-level talks On 10th November 2017, the Border Security Force (BSF) and the Pakistan Rangers decided to conduct Commandant-level talks along the International Border (IB) to resolve local issues. Commandant-level talks between BSF & Pakistan Rangers: i. The Border Security Force (BSF) and the Pakistan Rangers have decided to initiate dialogue at the local level www.sadhanaedu.co.in Dilsukh nagar SADHANA ACADEMY PH:9290699996 again. This practice was suspended one-and-a-half years ago. ii. Director General of BSF K.K Sharma said that, both the forces agreed to the proposal and the meetings would be held at regular intervals after a meeting withMajor General Muhammad Saeed, Director General, Sindh Rangers. About Border Security Force (BSF): ♦ Headquarters – New Delhi ♦ Director General – K.K Sharma BANKING & FINANCE PNB MetLife to sell policies to Bahrain Bank customers Private sector life insurance company PNB MetLife has entered into a tie-up with Bank of Bahrain and Kuwait (BBK) to sell retail and group insurance products to BBK’s customers in India. i. As per the terms of the tie-up, PNB MetLife will offer protection, health, savings and wealth plans to BBK’s customers in India spread across its branches. ii. Besides the conventional products, customised insurance plans will also be offered to BBK customers in India. iii. Bank of Bahrain and Kuwait has been operating in India for over 30 years while PNB MetLife has a customer base of 93015 by September 2017. iv. Bancassurance has been an important part of the PNB MetLife’s growth strategy. Bancassurance is a relationship between a bank and an insurance company wherein insurance company sells its products to the bank’s customers and bank gets a commission in return. Quick Facts about PNB MetLife: ♦ Founded in – 2001 ♦ Headquarters – Mumbai, India ♦ Current CEO – Ashish Srivastava BUSINESS HAU, Netherlands to jointly work on crop residue management On 9th November 2017, Haryana Agriculture University (HAU), Hisar, and the Netherlands government decided to jointly work on a project to tackle issues like crop residue management. HAU & Netherlands government to work