08 November 2019 - Daily Current Affairs
1. Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan re-elected as President of UAE
- The UAE's Supreme Council of the Union has re-elected His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan as its President for a fourth five-year term.
- Sheikh Khalifa became president on 3 November 2004, following the death of his father, Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan.
- The President of the UAE is the head of state of the United Arab Emirates.
- The United Arab Emirates is a federation of seven emirates consisting of Abu Dhabi (which serves as the capital), Ajman, Dubai, Fujairah, Ras Al Khaimah, Sharjah and Umm Al Quwain.
- Each emirate is governed by a ruler; together, they jointly form the Federal Supreme Council.
Source: Gulf News
National Affairs
2. Venkaiah Naidu inaugurates 10th Asian Conference of Emergency Medicine
- Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu inaugurating 10th Asian Conference of Emergency Medicine in New Delhi.
- Mr. Naidu has stressed on the urgent need to attach high priority to emergency medicine and services in the country.
- Emergency medicine is the medical speciality that endeavours to the diagnosis and treatment of the acutely ill and injured patients.
- Within Asia, EM was first recognized in Singapore in 1984, followed by the Philippines, Turkey, South Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Malaysia, Japan, Thailand and India.
3. DIN System of CBIC comes into existence from today
- The Documentation Identification Number (DIN) system of Central Board of Indirect Taxes (CBIC) will come into existence from today.
- This path braking system in indirect tax administration has been created as per the direction of Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.
- The objective of the step is to bring transparency and accountability in the indirect tax administration through the widespread use of information technology.
- The DIN would be used for search authorisation, summons, arrest memo, inspection notices and letters issued in the course of any enquiry.
- DIN, would be treated as invalid and shall be non-est in law or deemed to be as if it has never been issued.
4. Harsimrat Kaur Badal inaugurates state of art railway station at Sultanpur Lodhi in Punjab
- The Union Food Processing Industries Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal inaugurated the state-of-the-art new railway station along with a multimedia centre at Sultanpur Lodhi in Punjab.
- The railway station modelled on Sikh architecture has been engineered to facilitate pilgrims visiting the holy city.
- The Minister also released a book on the life and teachings of Shri Guru Nanak Dev Ji to commemorate Guru Sahab's 550th Prakash Purb.
Honour & Awards
5. West Bengal based writer Abhisek Sarkar wins an award at Dhaka Lit-fest
- The ninth edition of the DhakaLit-fest started with a galaxy of writers and book lovers thronging the venue ground at the Bangla Academy.
- West Bengal-based writer Abhisek Sarkar and Bangladeshi poet Rofiquzzaman Rony were given the Gemcon Young Literature Award and Gemcon Young Poetry Award.
- Abhisek and Rofiquzzaman won the awards for their manus, "Nishiddho" and "Dhoashar Tamate Rong," respectively.
- The special focus of this year's lit-fest is on Indigenous Languages as the UNESCO has marked 2019 as the year of Indigenous Language Protection.
6. Rajasthan Patrika chairman gets Raja Ram Mohan Roy award
- The Raja Ram Mohan Roy award will be presented to Rajasthan Patrika group chairman Gulab Kothari for his outstanding contribution towards journalism.
- Mr Kothari was selected for the prestigious award by the Press Council of India for his outstanding contribution in the field of journalism.
- The award will be presented to Mr. Kothari on the National Press Day (16th November 2019).
7. TVS Motor Chairman Srinivasan conferred with Deming award
- Venu Srinivasan (Chairman of TVS Motor Company and Sundaram Clayton) was conferred with the prestigious Deming Distinguished Service Award For Dissemination and Promotion Overseas.
- Srinivasan becomes the first industrialist from India to be bestowed this prestigious award for his contributions in the field of total quality management (TQM).
- The Deming Prize is the highest award for TQM in the world.
8. Nawazuddin Siddiqui to be honoured with Asian Film Talent Award at SIFF
- Actor Nawazuddin Siddiqui will be honoured by Lesley Ho Asian Film Talent Award at the Singapore International Film Festival (SIFF).
- He will be awarded for his Netflix's Emmy-nominated original series Sacred Games.
- Earlier, Nawazuddin Siddiqui was honoured by the Golden Dragon Award at the Cardiff International Film Festival for his excellence in cinema in the International market.
- The Lesley Ho Asian Film Talent Award is one of the most honourable awards on the global platform.
International Affairs
9. US announces an increase in H-1B work visa application fee by 10
- According to US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), The US has announced the increase of H-1B work visa application fee by 10 US Dollars as part of its revised selection process.
- The non-refundable fee will support the new electronic registration system to make the H-1B cap selection process more efficient.
- Petitioners seeking to file H-1B cap-subject petitions will first have to electronically register with the USCIS during a designated registration period.
- The electronic registration system is part of an agency-wide initiative to modernise the immigration system while deterring fraud.
- The H-1B program allows US companies to temporarily employ foreign workers in occupations that require the application of a body of highly specialised knowledge with bachelor's or a higher degree in the specific speciality, or it's equivalent.
Banking & Finance
10. RBI imposes Rs 5 lakh fine on Oxigen Services
- The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has imposed a fine of Rs 5 lakh on prepaid payment instrument Oxigen Services.
- The move was taken in exercise of powers vested under Section 30 of the Payment and Settlement Systems Act, 2007, for non-compliance of regulatory guidelines.
- The fine comes through a speaking order dated September 17, 2019.
- Oxigen Services facilitates payment processing and money transfer services.
11. Moody's lowers India's outlook to 'negative' from 'stable'
- Global rating agency Moody’s Investors Service ("Moody's") has lowered the outlook on the government of India's ratings to ‘negative’ from ‘stable’.
- It affirmed the Baa2 foreign-currency and local-currency long-term issuer ratings for India.
- Moody's also affirmed India's local-currency senior unsecured rating and another short-term local-currency rating.
- India’s economy grew only 5.0% year-on-year between April and June, its weakest pace since 2013
- Moody's Investors Service was established in 1909, headquarters in New York, USA.
- Standard & Poor's Financial Services LLC: was founded in 1860, headquarters in New York, USA, subsidiary of S&P Global.
- Fitch Ratings: was founded in 1914, headquarters in New York City and London.
12. Bajaj Allianz General Insurance launches ‘Farmitra’ mobile app for farmers
- Bajaj Allianz General Insurance has launched a new mobile app called ‘Farmitra’ to help the farmers needs and address their worries.
- It also resolves with relevant information, which they can use in optimizing their farming practices.
- The app ‘Farmitra’ provides services for even those who are not customers of Bajaj Allianz.
- Currently, the application is implemented in 6 states (Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Haryana).
Sports
13. Rohit Sharma becomes 1st Indian male cricketer to play 100 T20I
- Rohit Sharma (Stand-in skipper) became the first Indian man and second in world cricket to complete 100 T-20 Internationals.
- He reached the milestone when he led the team in the second match against Bangladesh at the Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium.
- Shoaib Malik with 111 games from Pakistan is the only player to have played more than 100 T20 Internationals.
- Rohit is currently the top-scorer in this format with 2452 runs with regular skipper Virat Kohli second in the list with an aggregate of 2450 runs.
- Rohit has scored the runs at a strike-rate of 136.67 with four hundred and 17 half-centuries.
