07th October 2019 Current affairs

Current affairs

1. On January 4, 2019, ICICI Bank, in a first-of-its-kind programme, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Small Business Fin Credit India Pvt. Ltd. (SBFC), a systemically important Non-Banking Finance Company for entrepreneurs, to jointly provide credit worth up to Rs 1 crore to MSMEs for tenure of 15 years. This MOU was signed under RBI’s circular dated September 21, 2018, that permits banks to engage with a non-banking financial company (NBFC) to co-originate loans for the creation of priority sector assets. Under this arrangement, ICICI Bank will co-originate loan against property with SBFC at a mutually agreed ratio.
2. On 1st January 2019, Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), the market regulator has allowed custodial services in the commodity derivatives market enabling participation of institutional investors, including mutual funds, in the segment. The new framework will allow the existing custodians to add commodities as an asset class and provide physical delivery of both the securities and commodities. Currently, the regulation on custodian of securities allows safekeeping of securities, gold or gold related instruments, title deeds of real estate and services incidental but doesn’t allows protection of goods, which are underlying assets of commodity derivatives. Under the new rules, the responsibility of custodians will not be limited to holding of securities but would also include holding of goods. The new regulations will enable participation of institutional investors such as mutual funds and portfolio managers in commodity derivatives market.
3. 30 years old former National level Volleyball player turned mountaineer, Arunima Sinha became the world’s first female amputee to climb Mount Vinson, the highest peak of Antarctica. The Padma Shree Awardee, Arunima Sinha became the first woman amputee to climb Mount Everest in 2013. She is from Uttar Pradesh and had lost one of her legs in a horrific incident in which she was thrown off the Padmawati Express train in 2011. Arunima Sinha’s aim is to summit seven peaks across seven continents. She had already scaled five peaks which are Mt Everest, Mt Kilimanjaro, Mt Ebrus. Mt Kosciuszko and Mt Aconcagua.

4. On 3rd January 2019, Manoj Das, an eminent English and Odia Litterateur received the “Kabi Samrat Upendra Bhanja National Award for Lifetime Achievement” in literature during 53rd Foundation day ceremony organized by the Berhampur University, Odisha. Noted Folk dance Guru Nabaghana Parida was awarded with Dakshin Odisha Loksanakruti Samman during the ceremony. Manoj Sinha has been already honoured with Sahitya Akademi Award, Orissa Sahitya Akademi award, Sarala Award, Sahitya Bharati Award and Padma Shri.
5. On January 3, 2019, 15-year-old class IXth student, Wahengbam Lamnganba Singh, of Kumbi area in Manipur, has been selected by the Indian Council for Child Welfare (ICCW) for receiving National Bravery Award. He will be honoured because he had saved his two and half year’s old cousin brother from drowning in a pond, on May 16, 2018. He would receive the award from Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Delhi. The National Bravery Awards are given under the aegis of the Indian Council for Child Welfare (ICCW) every Republic Day. These awards are broadly classified into five categories, including the Bharat Award, Sanjay Chopra Award, Geeta Chopra Award, Bapu Gaidhani Award and the General National Bravery Awards.
6. On January 2, 2019, Justice Asif Saeed Khosa, the senior most judge of the Supreme Court, was appointed as the new Chief Justice of Pakistan. He will succeed incumbent Chief Justice Saqib Nisar who will be retiring from service on January 17, 2019. Justice Khosa, 64, has been a senior Justice of the Supreme Court since December 2016. He has also served as an advocate in the Lahore High Court and Supreme Court.
7. On January 4, 2019, PayU India’s CEO Amrish Rau joined as the head of financial technology partnerships and investments for Naspers’ fintech business. Nasper is South African parent of PayU. Rau will continue to report to Laurent le Moal the chief executive of PayU, which is headquartered in the Netherlands. He joined PayU after Citrus Pay was acquired by PayU in 2016 for $130 million in cash.
8. On 4th January 2019, India’s wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant became the first Indian wicketkeeper batsman to score a century in Test against Australia on Australian soil after hitting 159 runs on the 2nd day of 4th Test Match at Sydney, Australia. Rishabh pant broke Farokh Engineer’s record of highest Test runs against Australia on Australian soil. Farokh Engineer scored 89 runs in 1967. Rishabh Pant also became the only Indian wicket keeper who has two test centuries outside Asia.

9. 30 years old Indian Batsman, Cheteshwar Pujara has faced 1258 balls in the ongoing test series so far against Australia to become the batsman who had faced highest deliveries in a test series in Australia beating India’s Former Captain, Rahul Dravid’s record of 1203 balls. He achieved the feat by scoring 193 runs of 373 deliveries on the 2nd day of 4th Test Match against Australia in Sydney.
10. On 4th January 2019, United Nations observed the first official World Braille Day remembering the birth anniversary of Louis Braille who was the inventor of Braille for the people with visual disabilities. World Braille day is observed annually on 4th January to raise awareness on the importance of Braille for approximately 1.3 billion people living with some form of distance or near vision impairment. Louis Braille was born on 4th January 1809 in France and he lost his vision at the age of 3. On the occasion of World Braille Day, half part of evening bulletin of All India Radio – Ahmedabad was read by a visually challenged primary school teacher, Mr. Krishnabhai Thakar.