Current Affairs 29th March 2018

Current Affairs 29th March 2018 - Important Points

• Government launched Study in India programme to attract - Foreign students
• Exim Bank extended $500 million loan facility to - 15 Nation ECOWAS
• Skill India partners with Ministry of Power for implementation of - Saubhagya Scheme
• Portal for pensioners launched by - EPFO
•  India and ADB sign USD 80 million loan agreement to boost employment in Himachal Pradesh on - March 28th, 2018
• Australian skipper Steve Smith and Vice-captain David Warner on - March 28th, 2018
• SEBI accepts most of recommendations of Uday Kotak Committee on Corporate Governance on - March 28th, 2018
• CCEA approved formulation of new Integrated Scheme for School Education on - 28th March 2018

Current Affairs 29th March 2018 - Details

Government launched Study in India programme to attract - Foreign students

With an aim to encourage more students to choose India for High education, Ministry of Human Resources Development (HRD) has approved Study in India Programme. Total Rs 150 Crore fund has been approved for same for two years. India want to double its share of global education which is currently less than 1%. It will also help to improve global rankings in studies.

Under this programme, meritorious foreign students can avail facility of fee waiver and scholarship. Important to mention here that One of the parameter of global rankings of education is number of foreign faculty and foreign students. Currently University of Oxford is on the top.

Exim Bank extended $500 million loan facility to - 15 Nation ECOWAS

Exim Bank has inked a line of Credit agreement with Bank for Investment and Development ( EBID ) to provide US $500 million credit facility to 15-member ECOWAS. ECOWAS is Economic Community of West African States. ECOWAS is a group of 15 West African countries which was founded in May 1975.

These 15 countries are following :

1. Benin,
2. Cape Verde,
3. Burkina Faso,
4. Gambia,
5. Cote d’Ivoire,
6. Ghana,
7. Guinea Bissau,
8. Guinea,
9. Liberia,
10. Mali,
11. Niger,
12. Nigeria,
13. Senegal,
14. Sierra Leone and
15. Togo.

EXIM Bank :

Exim bank is Export-Import Bank of India, which was established in 1982. Current CEO of Exim bank is Mr. Yaduvendra Mathur. Headquarters of this bank are in Mumbai.

Skill India partners with Ministry of Power for implementation of - Saubhagya Scheme

Ministry of Power has inked an MoU with Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship to tain the manpower in six states for speedy implementation of its Pradhan Mantri Sahaj Bijli Har Ghar Yojna. Pradhan Mantri Sahaj Bijli Har Ghar Yojna is also known as Saubhagya Scheme. These six states are Assam, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, Odisha and Uttar Pradesh.

In total 47,000 Distribution Lineman-Multi Skills and 8,500 Technical Helpers will be trained. District level ITI's will make available for training purposes. Also other infrastructures of State Power Distribution Utilities will be made available.

This scheme was started with an aim to give electricity access to every home in country. As even today many rural areas do not have power connections. For this scheme total 16320 crore funding has been approved. Socio Economic and Caste Census (SECC) 2011 data is being used to get beneficiaries of free connections under this scheme.

For BRL households free connections will be provided and for other it will be provided in Rs 500.

Portal for pensioners launched by - EPFO

The EPFO started a new portal for pensioners, through which Employees Provident Fund Organisation pensioners would be able to get the information of pension-related queries, on March 27th , 2018.
Key Highlights

• The portal will help subscribers with details including pension payment order number, payment order particulars, passbook data, date of credit of pension and submission of pensioner’s life certificate.
• It will also help the beneficial to see the status of their life-certificate, in case of non-submission or any refusal of life-certificate of the pensioners.
• It will also allow the users with the particulars and reason for stopping pension.
• Apart from this, Employees " Provident Fund Organisation started enhanced “Track eKYC” provision for the suitability of subscribers to enable them to check the status of Aadhaar updated against their UAN.
• For this facility, the subscribers will have to provide their Universal Account Number, then click the ‘Track eKYC’ button and then the exact status of their Universal Account Number will be flashed on the screen.
• The provision has been made available at Employees Provident Fund Organisation ’s website www.epfindia.gov.in.

 India and ADB sign USD 80 million loan agreement to boost employment in Himachal Pradesh on - March 28th, 2018

The Asian Development Bank and Indian Government inked USD 80 million loan agreement to assist modernise Technical and Vocational Education and Training institutions and improve the skills ecosystem in Himachal Pradesh, on March 28th, 2018.
The loan agreement was inked by Sameer Kumar Khare, Joint Secretary in the Department of Economic Affairs and by Country Director of ADB’s India Resident Mission, Kenichi Yokoyama.
While, the plan contract was inked by Basu Sood, Adviser (Planning) in the Planning Department of Himachal Pradesh.
Highlights of the Project

• The plan will support the skill initiatives of Himachal Pradesh government and will assist the State in gearing-up the reform and its skill development actions.
• It will fund short and long-term training plans in areas consisting automobiles, pharmaceutical, tourism, electronics, financial services and healthcare to assist improve the skills of the younger generation and increase their employment rate.
• It will start a polytechnic for women, 6 city Livelihood Centres, and 7 Rural Livelihood Centres.
• The Plan will assist in providing backing in developing relevant and good quality TVET programs, therefore cultivating employment predictions of nearly 65000 youngsters by 2022.

Australian skipper Steve Smith and Vice-captain David Warner on - March 28th, 2018

The official statement from Cricket Australia read that Smith and Warner have been suspended from all international and domestic cricket, while  opening batsman Cameron Bancroft has been banned for nine months. However, all the three players will be permitted to play club cricket in order to maintain links with the cricket community.
Important Highlights

Steve Smith was charged with ‘the knowledge of a potential plan in order to attempt to artificially alter the condition of the ball’ and inappropriate measures to take steps for the prevention of the development and implementation of the plan.

• He has also been charged for ‘seeking to mislead Match Officials and others regarding Bancroft’s attempts to artificially alter the ball's condition; and misleading public  comments regarding the nature, extent and participants of the plan.’
•  He would now have to wait for two years minimum before being considered for a leadership role.

Cameron Bancroft was charged with ‘knowledge of the existence of, and being party to, the plan to attempt to artificially alter the condition of the ball using sandpaper, carrying out instructions to attempt to artificially alter the ball's condition and seeking to conceal evidence of his attempts’.

• He was also charged for ‘seeking to mislead Match Officials and others regarding his attempts to artificially alter the condition of the ball and misleading public  comments regarding the extent, nature, implementation and participants of the plan’.
• He would not be considered for leadership positions until a minimum of 1 year after the end of his suspension.
• David Warner: He was charged with, ‘development of a plan to attempt to artificially alter the condition of the ball, instruction to a junior player to carry out the plan  using sandpaper, provision of advice to a junior player regarding how a ball could be artificially altered including to demonstrate how it could be done and failure to take  steps to seek to prevent the development or implementation of the plan’.
• He was also charged with ‘failure to report his knowledge of the plan at any time prior to or during the match, misleading Match Officials through the concealment of his knowledge of and plan involvement, and failure to voluntarily report his knowledge of the plan after the match’.
• He has also been barred from holding any team leadership position in the future.
• Other than this, all three players will be required to undertake 100 hours of voluntary service in community cricket.

SEBI accepts most of recommendations of Uday Kotak Committee on Corporate Governance on - March 28th, 2018

The Securities and Exchanges Board of India (SEBI) accepted 40 out of 80 recommendations suggested by the Uday Kotak Committee on Corporate Governance. One of the major recommendations of the committee was to separate the CEO post or MD and Chairperson of the listed companies.

Since this recommendation has been accepted by SEBI, the separation of posts would be coming into effect from April 1st, 2020. In the beginning, it will be applicable only for the top 500 listed firms in terms of market capitalisation.

SEBI has accepted following without any modifications

• Reduction in the maximum number of listed entity directorships from 10 to 8 by first April 2019 and to 7th by April 1st, 2020.
• To Expand the eligibility criteria for independent directors.
• Enhancing the role of the Audit Committee, Nomination and Remuneration Committee and Risk Management Committee.
• Disclosure of utilization of funds from the preferential issue.
• Disclosures of auditor credentials, audit fee, reasons for resignation of auditors, etc.
• Disclosure of the expertise of directors.
• Enhanced disclosure of RPTs (related party transactions) and related parties to be permitted to vote against RPTs.
• Mandatory disclosure of consolidated quarterly results with an effect from Financial Year 2019-20.
  Enhanced obligations on the listed entities with respect to subsidiaries.
• Mandatory secretarial audit for the listed entities and their unlisted subsidiaries under the SEBI LODR Regulations.

CCEA approved formulation of new Integrated Scheme for School Education on - 28th March 2018

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi approved the proposal of Department of School Education and Literacy on March 28th, 2018  to formulate a new Integrated Scheme on School Education.

The scheme would be formulated by SSA (subsuming Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan), RMSA(Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan) and TE(Teacher Education). It would be valid from first of April 2018 until March 31st, 2020. The Cabinet has approved approximately Rs 75,000 crore budget over the period, which is a 20% increase over the current allocations.

Key Highlights of the scheme

The scheme envisions to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education from nursery to senior secondary stage in accordance to the Sustainable Development Goal for quality Education. It is mainly emphasising in improving quality of school education by focusing on the two T's - Teacher and Technology.

The main objectives of the scheme are

• Providing quality education and to enhance learning outcomes of students
• To bridge Social and Gender Gaps in School Education
• To Ensure equity and inclusion at all levels of school education
• To Ensure minimum standards in schooling provisions
• To Promote vocationalization of education Supporting States in the implementation of Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act, 2009 
• To Strengthen and up-grading of State Councils for Educational Research and Training (SCERTs)/State Institutes of Education and District Institutes for Education and Training (DIET) as nodal agencies for teacher training

The scheme will give flexibility to the states and UTs to plan and prioritise their interventions within the scheme norms and the overall resource envelope available to them.
It will help improve the transition rates across the various levels of school education and assist in promoting universal access to children to complete their school education.
By providing quality education, the scheme aims to equip the children with varied skills and knowledge essential for their holistic development and prepare them for higher education in the future.
It would lead to an optimal utilisation of budgetary allocations and effective use of human resources and institutional structures created for the previous schemes.

Benefits of the scheme

• The scheme will be focussing on the quality of education with special emphasis on improvement of learning outcomes.
• The scheme will also be enabling inclusion of senior secondary levels and pre-school levels in support for school education for the first time.
• It will be enhancing capacity building of teachers and lay focus on strengthening Teacher Education Institutions like SCERTs and DIETs to improve the quality of teacher training.
• It will be enhancing the use of digital technology in education through smart classrooms, digital boards and DTK channels.
• It will be enabling improvement in the quality of infrastructure in Government Schools.
• The scheme will be offering a specific provision for Swachhta activities - support 'SwachhVidyalaya'.
• It will also be enhancing the commitment towards 'BetiBachaoBetiPadhao’, by upgrading Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalayas from class VI -VIII to up to class XII.
• It will be laying special emphasis on 'Kaushal Vikas' in schools.
• It will also be supporting 'Khelo India' by providing sports and physical equipment.
• It will also be giving preference to Educationally Backward Blocks (EBBs), LWEs, Special Focus Districts (SFDs), Border areas and the 115 aspirational districts.

Did you know?

The scheme comes in the backdrop of PM’s vision of SabkoShiksha, AchhiShiksha aiming to support the States in universalizing access to school education  from classes pre-nursery to XII across the nation.