Current Affairs 25th October 2017

Current Affairs 25th October 2017 - Important Points

• Who has been appointed as MD & CEO of IPPB?- Suresh Sethi
• Union Government announces Bank Recapitalisation Plan on - 24th October 2017
• Gold medal in air pistol mixed team competition won by - Jitu Rai and Heena Sidhu
• 7 lakh crore for highway projects approved by  - Union Government
• ‘Queen of Thumri’ Girija Devi passed away on - 24th October 2017
• President Trump ends refugee ban on - 24th October 2017
•  USD 300 Million Loan signed between - Union Government and ADB

Current Affairs 25th October 2017 - Details

Who has been appointed as MD & CEO of IPPB?- Suresh Sethi

Former MD of Vodafone M-Pesa Ltd Suresh Sethi was appointed as the Managing Director (MD) and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of India Post Payments Bank (IPPB) on 23rd October 2017. Sethi succeeded AP Singh, who had been serving as the interim MD & CEO of IPPB since January 2017.

He was selected by the Banks Board Bureau amongst top contenders from both public and private sector Banking and Fintech professionals.

More about Suresh Sethi

• He has broad international experience of more than 27 years in the banking and financial services industry.
• He has worked with various renowned organisations and banks like Vodafone M-Pesa, YES Bank and Citigroup across India, UK, Kenya, Argentina and US.
• He has extensive work experience in the Financial Inclusion space leveraging Fintech and digital led innovation as well.
• His experience in the Digital & Mobile Payments space is expected be of great help to IPPB which aims to deliver financial inclusion with special focus in rural and semi-urban India.

Union Government announces Bank Recapitalisation Plan on - 24th October 2017

The Union Finance Ministry on 24th October 2017 declaired Rs 2.11-lakh crore Bank Recapitalisation Plan for Public Sector Banks (PSBs). The action comes after the Public sector Banks have been fighting to come out of bad loans. Banks will get Rs 1.35 lakh crore from bonds, Rs 18,000 crore from the Budget share and raise the rest Rs 58,000 crore through sale of share.
Another considerable announcement was made by the Union Finance Minister as an allocation of Rs 6.92 lakh crore in the infrastructure sector with Government’s roads and highways project Bharatmala plan.

Important Highlights

• Simply Recapitalisation of banks mean funding capital to Public Sector Undertaking Banks. As holders of PSUs government can issue capital to these banks. It is unlike from loan because a loan has to be paid back whereas recapitalisation introduces money without suffering any liability.
• With over 10 trillion stressed benefits and 7.7 trillion Non-Performing advantages, Indian banks are unable to give fresh credits.
• Most Public Sector Banks require Capital plus, the credit growth has been slow growing for sometime needed of big corporate loans.
• Banks are not able to lend loans to big corporates due to bank’s weak capital conditions which restricts its potential to lend to big corporate houses.

What can alter after Recapitalisation?

• Lending Capability of PSU Banks would increase.
• It could also enhance India’s economy and improve private sector ventures especially when the International Monetary Fund projected India’s economic growth falling to a three-year low at 5.7%.
  Big developments in supply of money and this means banks can lend less interest rates.
• It might recover India’s fiscal deficit that is government's total outgoings may exceed the revenue that it generates apart from money from borrowings.
• Experts propose that banks have much wider needs than the budgetary allotment. According to Moody’s Investors Service, 11 big state-owned banks will need additional investment of Rs70,000-95,000 crore, against the Rs20,000 crore budgeted till March 2019.
• The Union government launch the road map of Indradhanush 2 to handle issues faced by Public Banks in 2015. Recapitalisation of banks is in process with Indradhanush 2.
• The purpose behind the plan is to keep the public sector banking fully debt-free.

 Gold medal in air pistol mixed team competition won by - Jitu Rai and Heena Sidhu

Jitu Rai and Heena Sidhu won gold medal at the International Shooting Sport Federation event (ISSF) World Cup Final in New Delhi on 24th October 2017. The duet achieved gold in the 10m air pistol mixed team event on the first day of ISSF World Cup in New Delhi. They will make their Olympic entrance in the Tokyo 2020 Games.
Both Rai and Sidhu won their third gold together in the mixed team effort, officially for the first time at an ISSF World Cup event. French players of Florian Fouquet and Celine Goberville were awarded the silver medal and China's Xiaoxue Cai and Wei Yang presented for the bronze. New Delhi hosted the ISSF World Cup Finals for the first time in year 2017.
The International Shooting Sport Federation-

• Founded in 1907 as an International Shooting Union, its name was altered to International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) in year 1998.
• The Federation direct the Olympic Shooting events in Rifle, Pistol and Shotgun and also many non-Olympic Shooting sport events, the ISSF distinguishes World Championship in Shotgun events and the ISSF World Championship.
• It organises international events such as the ISSF World Cup Series, the ISSF World Cup Finals.
• Olegario Vazquez Rana has been acting as the President of the organisation since 1980.
• The ISSF headquarters is situated in Munich, Germany.

7 lakh crore for highway projects approved by  - Union Government

The Union Government on 24th October 2017 approved major highway projects to construct 83677 km of highways over the next five years at a cost of Rs 7 lakh crore. These highway projects include the demanding Bharatmala project which is the second-largest project after National Highways Development Project (NHDP) that saw construction of about 50000 km of roads.

The Bharatmala Pariyojana will contain all the existing highway projects, comprising the flagship National Highways Development Project (NHDP).

Highlights of the Projects

• Mentioned as "Connecting India like never before", Bharatmala project is an sunshade programme for roads under which 34800 km of highways will be constructed.
• Bharatmala Project comprise 9000 km of economic passages, 6000 km of inter-roads and connecting routes, 5000 km of national highways, 2000 km of connecting border roads, 800 km of expressways and 10000 km of rest NHDP projects.
• A survey for the Bharatmala project by global consultancy company at Kearney recognized 44 economic roads for development. The roads included Mumbai-Cochin-Kanyakumari, Bengaluru-Mangaluru, Hyderabad-Panaji and Sambalpur-Ranchi along with others.
• The government has allocated National Highway and Industrial Development Corporation (NHIDCL) and Public Work Departments of state (PWDs) for the Bharatmala Project.
• The essential delegation of powers has been given to NHAI, NHIDCL and the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways to enable fast implementation.
• Under the Phase–I of Bharatmala Pariyojana, 9,000 km of Economic roads will be constructed. The Public Investment Board (PIB) had approved the phase-1 of the project in June 2017.
• Alongwith Bharatmala, National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) will, also, implement the equal works of 48877 km roads with an outlay of Rs 1.57 lakh crore.
• The first bunch of 9 NH stretches of 680.64 km has been put out to tender by NHAI with potential legitimate value of Rs 6258 crore.

Sponsering of Bharatmala project and others

• For sponsering of Bharatmala project, Rs 2.09 lakh crore will be collected as debt from the market, Rs 1.06 lakh crore of private investments will be generate through PPP and Rs 2.19 lakh crore will be issued through accruals to the Central Road Fund (CRF), Toll collections of NHAI.
• For the funding of balance 48877 km of highway projects worth 1.57 lakh crore, Rs 0.97 lakh crore will be monetised by CRF and Rs 0.59 lakh crore will be issued as gross budgetary support.
• The focus of Bharatmala Project is associated highways, border connectivity and international connectivity.
• It will upgrade the connectivity with remote and sensitive border areas. This will bring urbanization and real estate improvement.
• It will also be an advantage to mountainous and remote areas of the country where connectivity is poor.
• It is expected to improve the related industries like cement and steel sectors and will create number of jobs.
• The Bharatmala project will also be an advantage to the freight and logistics industry. It will bring down the logistics cost and make Modi government’s plans like ‘Make-in-India’ more appealing to investors.

‘Queen of Thumri’ Girija Devi passed away on - 24th October 2017

Indian classical vocalist Girija Devi, who was the India’s second highest civilian honour-Padma Vibhushan, passed away on 24th October 2017 in Kolkatta after a heart failure. She was 88.
The renowned singer was admitted to the city's BM Birla Heart Research Centre on the same day with cardiovascular ailments and was put on life support. Her situation was very critical when was taken to the hospital and was admitted directly to the CCU and kept under observation.
Popularly known as the Queen of Thumri, Devi is survived by a daughter.
More about Girija Devi

• She was born in Varanasi, on 8th May 1929, to a farmer family.
• She performed classical and light classical music and helped raise the outline of thumri.
• She acted in the movie ‘Yaad rahe’ at the age of 9.
• She made her public apperence in 1949 on All India Radio, Allahabad.
• She was a member of faculty at the ITC Sangeet Research Academy, Kolkata in 1980 and at Banaras Hindu University during early 90s.
• Her music collection comprises the semi-classical genres containing kajri, chaiti, and holi and she sang khyal, Indian folk music and tappa.
• She won three civilian awards throughout her career. She won the Padma Shri in year 1972, the Padma Bhushan in 1989 and the Padma Vibhushan in year 2016.
• Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave condoloscence on Devi’s death by stating with grief that the singer’s music appealed across different generations and her innovative efforts to popularize Indian classical music would always be remembered.

President Trump ends refugee ban on - 24th October 2017

United States President, Donald Trump issued an executive order on 24th October 2017 ending the 120-days temporary ban imposed on the US refugee entries.
The administration has however asked for an additional 90-day review of the program for all 11 countries classified as “high risk”, most are located in the Middle East and Africa.The extra review time is required to determine for add on safeguards, if required, are compulsary to ensure the security and welfare of the United States.
The US president had previously debared the processing of all refugees to the US for 120 days as part of a previously executive system, issued along with a travel ban on several Muslim-majority nations.
As per the Department of Homeland Security, however, individuals from the high risk countries will be reviewed for resettlement in the United States on a one-by-one basis, only if they are decided to live in the US for national interest and don't threat to security.
Requests from other nations would not be required to evidence they are in the national interest of the US.
Alongside, the US administration would also be short-term holding off a programme that allows family resettlement for some refugees already residing in the United States. The reestablishment process for this is expected to start once assessing enhancements have been performeded.
Important Highlights

• On 29th September 2017, the White House administration announced that Trump had fixed the refugee entrance ceiling at 45,000 for Fiscal Year 2018, which started on 1st October 2017, the lowest cap since the begining of the refugee program in 1975.
• US president joined the office in January 2017. His orders- temporary restriction on refugees and travel on various Muslim Majority countriess- live true to his Presidential election campaign promises, the idea of keeping ‘America First’.
• These limitations along with the travel have been opposed as being policies aimed at restricting Muslims to enter the United States.

 USD 300 Million Loan signed between - Union Government and ADB

The Union Government and Asian Development Bank on 24th October 2017 signed a USD 300 million loan to encourage a series of fiscal reforms in West Bengal to improve the quality of public service distributions.

The program contract was signed by Parwez Ahmad Siddiqui, Secretary Finance Department, West Bengal. Apart from the loan, ADB will also issue technical support grant of USD 500000 to nourish key institutions responsible for carrying out fiscal management reforms in state.

Key Highlights-

• This 'Second West Bengal Development Finance Program' focus on further increase in public ventures through decrease of unproductive expences, and savings from efficiencies in revenue gatherings.
• It will generate the crucial fiscal space to sustain higher public investment in the State which could put the state’s economy on a balanced and sustainable path.
• It will focus both public investment and private investments by creating an infrastructure solution to support project preparation, development with importance on public-private partnerships in health and education.
• It tries to simplify the registration and licensing process for small and medium enterprises.
  Planned to be completed by 2019, the Program will took forward reforms such as connecting medium term expenditure plans to actual budgets and improvements in the integrated financial management system.
• Other activities in this program include upgrade tax monitoring and regular support for IT systems in nourishing tax and land administration.