22nd September Current Affairs

• Gujarat declares Kutch as scarcity affected
  • Gujarat CM Vijay Rupani declared the entire Kutch district as scarcity affected area.
  • Apart from Kutch district, all blocks with less than 125 mm of rainfall during the current monsoon have also been declared as scarcity affected.

  

  
  

  • Various relief measures in the scarcity affected areas will start from 1 Oct.
  • He also announced drinking water pipeline project worth Rs. 296 crore for Kutch.
• India contributes $1 mn to UN’s solar project
  • India has contributed a $1 million for the installation of solar panels on the roof of the imposing UN building.
  • The contribution will help reduce carbon footprint and promote sustainable energy.

  

  
  

  • India is the “first responder” to Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’ call for climate action.
• WADA lifts ban on Russia
  • The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) lifted a ban on Russia’s anti-doping agency, RUSADA.
  • The lifted ban paved the way for Russian athletes to return to competition across all sports.

  

  
  

  • RUSADA was suspended in November 2015 after an independent WADA report outlined evidence of massive state-backed, systematic doping and cover-ups in Russian sport.
• E-com have to deduct 1% in supplier payment
  • E-commerce firms from 1 October 2018, will have to deduct 1% tax collected at source (TCS) under GST, before making payments to their suppliers.
  • The Finance Ministry notified TCS at the rate of 0.50% of the net value of intra-State taxable supplies made through e-commerce portals.
  • States too would follow suit and notify levy of 0.50% SGST on intra-State supplies
• Govt. appoints 14 EDs to public sector banks
  • 14 general managers have been appointed as Executive Directors in different public sector banks.
  • The appointed ED are as follows: Shanti Lal Jain and Vikramaditya Singh: Bank of Baroda; Agyey Kumar Azad: Punjab National Bank; Gopal Singh Gusain and Manas Ranjan Biswal: Union Bank. 
  • Vijay Dube: Oriental Bank of Commerce; Alok Srivastava: Central Bank of India. 
• ISRO opens tech incubation centre in Agartala
  • The ISRO Technology Incubation Centre has been launched in Agartala.
  • The Centre was launched at the first edition of ‘Spacetronics’ organised by the India Electronics and Semiconductor Association.

  

  
  

  • The Incubation Centre is located at National Institute of Technology Agartala.
  • On the launch event K. Sivan said that ISRO is looking to incubate space-related innovation and start-ups.
• Youngest author short-listed at Booker Prize
  • British writer Daisy Johnson became the youngest author to be shortlisted for the prestigious Man Booker Prize 2018.
  • She has been shortlisted for her mother-daughter tale, “Everything Under”.
  • The 27-year-old joins fellow UK authors Anna Burns for “Milkman” and Robin Robertson for “The Long Take”.
  • The shortlisted authors each receive 2,500 pounds and a specially-bound edition of their book.
• Gitesh Sarma appointed Secretary (West) in MEA
  • A Gitesh Sarma has been appointed as Secretary (West) in the Ministry of External Affairs.
  • Sarma is a 1986-batch Indian Foreign Service officer, he has been appointed to the post in place of Ruchi Ghanashyam.
  • Sarma will be responsible for the country’s diplomatic affairs with the UK and other European nations.
  • At present, he is the additional secretary in the foreign ministry.
• HC sets up panel to address NCLT
  • The Delhi High Court constituted a committee to deal with the problems faced by lawyers and litigants in entering the building housing National Company Law Tribunal and National Company Law Appellate Tribunal.

  

  
  

  • The committee is headed by the Registrar General of Delhi High Court .
  • The committee will also comprise two members each nominated by the Bar associations of NCLT and NCLAT
• Four new members to local boards of RBI
  • Reserve Bank of India has appointed four people as members in local boards.
  • Rakesh Jain and Sachin Chaturvedi have been appointed as the members in Southern and Eastern local board of the central bank.
  • Revathy Iyer and Raghvendra Narayan Dubey have been appointed as the member in the Northern local board.
  • Iyer and Chaturvedi have also been nominated as Directors on the central board.