Current Affairs Daily Digest – August 23 2019
1. India to launch e-commerce portal Bharatcraft for MSMEs
Union Government is planning to launch an e-commerce portal named “Bharatcraft” for MSME’s. The portal is based on other e-commerce portals like ‘Alibaba’ and ‘Amazon’.
The portal will provide a platform for MSMEs to market and sell their products and in turn boost the sector. The MSME Union Minister, the Bharat Craft portal has a huge potential to generate revenue worth ₹10 lakh crore in the next 2-3 years.
2. Government notifies Sabka Vishwas-Legacy Dispute Resolution Scheme, 2019
Union Finance Ministry has notified Sabka Vishwas-Legacy Dispute Resolution Scheme, 2019, a dispute resolution and amnesty scheme to reduce legacy service tax and central excise cases.
It will become operational from September 1, 2019 four months till December 31, 2019. It can be availed by taxpayerrs for closing their pending disputes relating to legacy Service Tax and Central Excise cases that are now subsumed under Goods and Services Tax (GST) so they can focus on GST.
3. Bavar-373: Iran’s new home-grown air defence system unveiled
Iran unveiled its new home-grown air defence system called Bavar-373 during a ceremony held on Iran’s ‘National Defence Industry Day’. Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani has ordered to add Bavar-373 to country’s missile defence network.
4. MoU signed between Indian Army and Tata Realty
In order to provide quality housing to army personnel, a historic milestone was reached with the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between Indian Army and Tata Realty & Housing.
It enables Indian Army’s personnel to immediately take over dwelling units in 13 ‘Ready to Move in’ projects of Tata Realty pan India spread in more than 10 cities such as Pune, Chennai, Bengaluru, Gurugram among others. These housing units are available at a discount ranging from 11% to 27%.
5. The Diary of Manu Gandhi Book launched in New Delhi
The book ‘The Diary of Manu Gandhi’ (1943-44), edited and translated by Tridip Suhrud, was launched by Prahlad Singh Patel, Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Culture and Tourism, at Nehru Memorial Museum and Library in New Delhi. The book has been brought out on occasion of 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi by National Archives of India in collaboration with Oxford University Press.
6. BCCI awards title sponsorship rights to Paytm for 5 more years
Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has extended Paytm’s association as title sponsor for Indian cricket team for all cricket matches, domestic and international, played in India for 5 more years. Paytm bagged the title sponsorship rights by signing the deal for Rs.326.80 crores which it will pay to BCCI over a period ranging between 2019 and 2023, starting October 2019.
7. HRD Ministry launches NISHTHA; to train over 42 lakh teachers
The Ministry of Human Resource Development (HRD) launched the National Initiative for School Heads’ and Teachers’ Holistic Advancements (NISHTHA). This is aimed at training over 42 lakh teachers across the country.
“Teacher training is our priority. In a bid to boost education and employment, we are focusing on reskilling the teaching workforce. NISHTHA is the world’s biggest such project and will focus on training 42 lakh teachers from across the country,” HRD School Education Secretary Rina Ray said at the launch event.
8. HDFC Bank appoints Srinivasan Vaidyanathan as CFO
Private lender HDFC Bank has promoted Srinivasan Vaidyanathan to the office of Chief Financial Officer with immediate effect. Vaidyanathan earlier held the position of Group Head (Finance) in the bank. He would replace Sashidhar Jagdishan.
9. UAE will be first Middle East country to issue RuPay card
The UAE will be the first country in the Middle East to witness the launch of the RuPay card, “an Indian indigenous equivalent of Mastercard or Visa”, during the visit of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi this weekend.
10. Bharti AXA Life ties up with Akshaya Patra to support mid-day meal programme
Bharti AXA Life Insurance, a private life insurer, said that it has partnered with Akshaya Patra Foundation to support and contribute to the mid-day meal programme for government school children.
The company joined hands with Akshaya Patra Foundation, the world’s largest non-profit organisation running mid-day meal programme, to mark its 13th Foundation Day.
11. Karnataka emerges as best state for roof top solar in India
Karnataka has emerged as the best state for setting up a roof top solar project according to the State Rooftop Solar Attractiveness Index–SARAL released by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy. Telangana, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh come next in the rankings but all four have been graded A++.
12. Russia sends its first humanoid robot Fedor into space
Russia launched an unmanned rocket carrying a life-size humanoid robot that will spend 10 days learning to assist astronauts on the International Space Station.
Named Fedor, short for Final Experimental Demonstration Object Research, the robot is the first ever sent up by Russia.
13. Ocean Energy Declared As Green Energy
Accordingly, the Ministry of New and renewable energy has clarified to all the stakeholders that energy produced using various forms of ocean energy such as tidal, wave, ocean thermal energy conversion etc. shall be considered as renewable energy and shall be eligible for meeting the non-solar Renewable Purchase Obligations (RPO), it said.
India had in 2015 committed to reduce the emissions intensity of its GDP by 33-35% by 2030 from the 2005 level. It had also announced plans to shift 40% of its installed power generation capacity to non-fossil-fuel-based energy resources.
