13 June 2018 - Daily Current Affairs

Senior bureaucrat S Ramesh (Indian Revenue Service - 1981 batch) has been appointed as the chairman of the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC).
He will succeed Vanaja N. Sarna (present chairman) who retires in June 2018.
Currently, Mr Ramesh is a member of the CBIC.

Note:

The Central Board of Indirect taxes and Customs (CBIC) is the nodal national agency responsible for administering Customs, GST, Central Excise, Service Tax & Narcotics in India.
Currently, the Customs and Central Excise /CGST department comes under the Department of Revenue, Ministry of Finance, Government of India.

Important Days

The International Albinism Awareness Day was observed on 13th June with an aim to end multiple forms of discrimination that is faced by people who suffers from albinism.
Albinism is a rare, non-contagious, genetically inherited difference present at birth and it is still profoundly misunderstood, socially and medically.

Market regulator SEBI (Securities and Exchange Board of India) has set up a panel to recommend the ways to make stock market listing attractive for startups.
According to SEBI, the group has been formed after discussion with various stakeholders.
Members of the group include representatives from the Indian Software Product Industry Round Table (iSPIRT), the Indian Private Equity and Venture Capital Association (IVCA), The Indus Entrepreneurs (TIE), law firms, merchant bankers, and stock exchanges.
It will open a new way for finance if entrepreneurs find it difficult to obtain capital from traditional sources of finance such as banks and financial institutions.

Note:

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) is the regulator for the securities market in India.
It was established in the year 1988 and given statutory powers on 30 January 1992 through the SEBI Act, 1992.

Industrial production expanded by 4.9% in April on improved performance by manufacturing and mining sectors as also a robust offtake of capital goods.
The Index of Industrial Production (IIP) for March this year has been revised upwards to 4.6% from 4.4% estimated earlier.
As per the data released by the Central Statistics Office, the manufacturing sector recorded a growth of 5.2% in April this year (up from 2.9% a year ago).
Similarly, the mining output grew by 5.1%, compared to 3% in the year-ago period.
Retail inflation hit a four-month high of 4.87% in May on costlier fruits and vegetables, and fuel.
Based on the Consumer Price Index (CPI), the retail inflation was at 4.58% in April.

US government has approved a deal to sell the Indian military six AH-64E Apache attack helicopters for 930 million dollars.
Boeing and Tata (Indian partner) have begun to produce Apache fuselages at a plant in India, but approval concerns a direct sale of finished products from the US manufacturers.
The agreement has been passed to the US Congress for approval and if no US lawmaker raises an objection, the contract will go ahead.
The contract includes night vision sensors, GPS guidance and hundreds of Hellfire anti-armour and Stinger air-to-air missiles.

Under Swachh Bharat Mission, the union government has added ten Iconic sites in the third phase (1^st phase- 2016 & 2^nd- 2017) of its flagship project of Swachh Iconic Places (SIP).
The sites are Raghavendra Swamy Temple (Kurnool in Andhra Pradesh), Hazardwari Palace (Murshidabad, in West Bengal), Brahma Sarovar Temple (Kurukshetra in Haryana), Vidur Kuti (Bijnor in Uttar Pradesh) and Nagvasuki Temple (Allahabad in Uttar Pradesh) and Mana village (Chamoli in Uttarakhand) and Kanvashram (in Uttarakhand).
Besides, Pangong Lake (Leh-Ladakh in Jammu & Kashmir), Ima Keithal (Imphal in Manipur), Sabarimala Temple (Kerala).
These sites have joined the 20 iconic places selected under Phase- I and II where special sanitation work is underway.

Note:

SIP is an initiative of Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation under Swachh Bharat Mission and was launched in 2016.
Under it, the government will take up initiatives like improved sewage infrastructure, drainage facilities, installation of sewage treatment plant, improved sanitation facilities and water vending machines.

The Union government has approved a 33% increase in carpet area of houses eligible for interest subsidy under its affordable housing scheme Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Urban) to attract more beneficiaries.
Now, the enhancements will enable more Middle-Income Group customers to qualify for a subsidy and avail the benefits provided under the flagship mission of Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana-Urban.
The enhancement in carpet area will increase the construction activity and will give a push to the housing sector.
The new rules will be effective from 1st January 2017.

Particulars	MIG-I	MIG-II
Household income (Per annum)	6 Lack – 12 lakhs	12 Lack to 18 lakhs
Interest subsidy (% per annum)	4%	3%
Amount eligible for interest subsidy	Rs. 9 lakhs	Rs. 12 lakhs
Upfront subsidy amount	Rs. 2.30 lakhs	Rs. 2.30 lakhs
Capital area (in sqm)	160 (earlier-120)	200 (earlier- 150)

International Conference on Information and Communication Technology (ICT) will be held in Kathmandu, Nepal (from 17^th June).
The Theme of the two-day conference is “Sustainable Development Goals for Smart Society”.
The conference is organised by the Federation of Computer Association Nepal (CAN).
The objective of the conference is to bring government and private sector together for developing a plan of action using sustainable ICT applications.

American fighter Ronda Rousey will become the first female MMA fighter to be inducted into the Ultimate Fighting Championship UFC’s Hall of Fame (on July 5).
Rousey holding the bantamweight belt from 2012 until 2015 and defended it six different times.
Rousey had a 12-2 win-loss record, winning 11 of them within the first round of the fight.

India’s long-distance runner Gavit Murali Kumar (21 years) bagged a gold in men's 10,000-metre race at the Gouden Spike meeting in Leiden, The Netherlands.
Mr Kumar clocked a personal best of 28 minutes 43.34 seconds.
It was also the second-fastest time (Surendra Singh's: 28 minutes 02.89 seconds) by an Indian ever in the distance race.
The Gouden Spike is one of the top meetings in The Netherlands

Indian boxers bagged one Gold and two Silver medals at the Umakhanov Memorial Tournament in the Russian city of Kaspiysk.
In the final, Saweety Boora (India) won the coveted yellow metal in the Women's 75 kg category after beating local favourite Anna Anfinogenova.
In the Men's section, Brijesh Yadav (81 kg division) and Virender Kumar (91 kgs) lost their Final bouts to settle for Silver medals.
Earlier, India had claimed four Bronze medals in the Tournament.