22 June 2018 - Daily Current Affairs

22 June 2018 - Daily Current Affairs

1. President Kovind arrives in Cuba on the final leg of his three-nation tour

• Today, President Ram Nath Kovind has arrived in Cuba on the final leg of his three-nation tour to Greece, Suriname, and Cuba.
• The President paid respects to Cuba's legendary poet Jose Marti Memorial (also led the 1895 Cuban revolution).
• President Kovind also paid respects at the memorials of Fidel Castro and others.
• He is accompanied by a delegation including Minister of State for Steel Vishnu Deo Sai and two Members of Parliament.

National Affairs

2. Gujarat govt announces Wind-Solar Hybrid Power Policy-2018 

• Gujarat Energy Minister ‘Saurabhbhai Patel’ has announced the Wind-Solar Hybrid Power Policy-2018 in Gandhinagar.
• Under this policy, the Minister has announced 50% concession in cross-subsidy surcharge and additional surcharge while selling electricity to any third party.
• The benefits of the new policy can be accrued for 25 years or until its life or whichever is shorter.
• The objective of the new policy is an optimum utilization of land and grid land for clean energy - a new initiative worth emulating by other states.

Note:

• Currently, Gujarat state produces approximately 5,500 MW of wind power and 1,600 MW solar power, totaling 7,100 MW of non-traditional energy.

3. HRD Ministry issues fresh guidelines for Selection of Teachers for National Awards 

• The Human Resource Development (HRD) Ministry has issued fresh guidelines for Selection of Teachers for the National Awards to celebrate the unique contribution of some of the finest teachers.
• The purpose of the National Award to Teachers is to honor those teachers, who have not only improved the quality of school education but also enriched the lives of students.
• Now, Government school’s teachers can send their entries directly for the awards and an independent national jury will finalize the nominations for the awards.
• This is a new initiative, as earlier entries were selected by the State Governments.

Note:

• All the applications would be received through an online web portal which would be developed and managed by the Administrative Staff College of India.

4. Centre invites comments on the draft of National Voluntary Guidelines on Social, Environmental & Economic Responsibilities of Business

• The Ministry of Corporate Affairs had constituted a two-member expert committee to update the National Voluntary Guidelines on Social, Environmental and Economic Responsibilities of Business.
• The draft has been placed on its website “mca.gov.in” for public comment till 20th July 2018.
• The updated version will be finalised after an assessment and review of suggestions and inputs received from stakeholders and wide consultations with the relevant Ministries, Business and Stakeholders.

Note:

• India's National Voluntary Guidelines on Social, Environmental and Economic Responsibilities of Business were released by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) in July 2011.
• The national framework on Business Responsibility is essentially a set of nine principles that offer businesses an Indian understanding and approach to inculcating responsible business conduct.

Finance

5. India hikes customs duty on several goods imported from the US

• According to the Finance ministry notification, India has hiked customs duty on several goods imported from the US (effective from 4^th August).
• The import duty on chickpeas and Bengal gram has been increased to 60%, lentils hiked (to 30%), boric acid and binders for foundry moulds (7.5%), domestic reagents (10%).
• The other products on which duties have been hiked include certain kind of nuts, iron and steel products, apples, pears, flat-rolled products of stainless steel, other alloy steel, tube and pipe fittings, and screws, bolts and rivets.
• The move was in retaliation for the duty hike by the US on certain steel and aluminum products which had tariff implication of 241 million US dollars on India.

6. Govt sets up panels under task force for implementing drone technology

• The union government has set up three committees to help a task force set up in April this year to prepare a roadmap for implementing the drone technology in the country.
• The committees would separately make their recommendations on manufacturing and license of drones, airspace and air traffic management and policy and law related issues.
• The decision was taken during the first meeting of the drone task force chaired by Minister of State for Civil Aviation Jayant Sinha.
• It is working towards making Unmanned Aerial Vehicle-UAVs a sustainable, globally-competitive industry based in India.

7. BoB partners Accenture & IBM to drive growth through technology

• The Bank of Baroda (BoB) has mandated IT majors IBM & Accenture to create an IT Centre of Excellence (ITCoE) and Analytics Centre of Excellence (ACoE) as part of the bank’s strategy to use technology to drive growth.
• The twin centers are part of a comprehensive digital roadmap drawn up to enhance the quality of business, growth, portfolio diversification and fee-income using technology.

National & International Appointments

8. Sunil Mittal becomes honorary chairman of International Chamber of Commerce 

• The International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) has named Bharti Enterprises’ chairman Sunil Bharti Mittal as honorary chairman after his two-year-long tenure as the chairman comes to an end.
• He will be succeeded by Paul Polman (Unilever Chief Executive) as ICC Chairman.
• Now, He will function as the Honorary Chairman of the ICC commencing.
• The President and CEO of MasterCard ‘Ajay Banga’ will be appointed as the ICC First Vice-Chair.

Note:

• The International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) is the largest, most representative business organization in the world.
• ICC has three main activities rule setting, dispute resolution, and policy advocacy.

9. B Sriram appointed IDBI Bank's MD and CEO

• Mr. B Sriram (Managing Director- State Bank of India) has been appointed as the IDBI Bank's CEO and Managing Director (MD) for three months.
• He will replace incumbent Mahesh Kumar Jain who was named Deputy Governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
• Sriram has been working as the MD (Corporate and Global Banking) in SBI since July 2014.
• He had been Managing Director of State Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur.

10. B V R Subramanyam appointed as Jammu and Kashmir Chief Secretary 

• Senior IAS officer (Chhattisgarh cadre-1987 batch) B V R Subrahmanyam (55-years) has been appointed as the chief secretary of Jammu and Kashmir.
• Mr. Subrahmanyam has been appointed in place of incumbent B B Vyas.

Note:

• Chief Secretaries are members of the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) who are the administrative head of state governments.
• Chief Secretary is considered the Chief Executive of the state government and considered to be 'a linchpin' in the administration.