Current Affairs Update – 11th November, 2016

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7 years ago

Hello and welcome to exampundit . Here are the important Current Affairs of 6th and 7th November, 2016. These are important for the upcoming IBPS PO Mains, IBPS Clerk Mains and RRB OS-I Mains exam 2016.

Current Affairs at a Glance – 11th November, 2016

India and Japan today signed a landmark civil nuclear
cooperation deal after talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his
counterpart Shinzo Abe, a move that will boost bilateral economic and
security ties and facilitate US-based players to set up atomic plants in India.
Goods and Services Tax Network (GSTN), the company which was tasked to set up IT
infrastructure for the GST, said that by January it will start training around
60,000 state government officials to equip them to handle GST roll out. The non-profit organisation said that the Centre agreed
to pay around Rs 500 crore every year on behalf of the tax payers as service
charge.
India and Japan on Friday inked a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU)
in the field of outer space, which would enable cooperation in satellite
navigation, planetary exploration and space industry promotion, joint missions
and studies.
Government
of Maharashtra on 10 November
2016 signed an agreement with Canada to
execute a joint action plan on the development of the state’s urban
infrastructure.
Union Human Resource Development
(HRD) Minister Prakash Javadekar on 10 November 2016 inaugurated Smart India
Hackathon 2017, world’s largest
digital national building initiative. The Government also unveiled the first
set of 250 problem statements that the students will be required to solve
during the Hackathon that will take place in early 2017.
The Union Minister for Health and
Family Welfare, J P Nadda, on 9 November 2016 launched Healthy India Initiative/Swastha Bharat-ek
pehal magazine and No More Tension mobile App.

Finance/Banking –

India, Japan sign landmark civil nuclear deal for non-military use

India and Japan today signed a
landmark civil nuclear cooperation deal after talks between Prime Minister
Narendra Modi and his counterpart Shinzo Abe, a move that will boost bilateral
economic and security ties and facilitate US-based players to set up atomic
plants in India.
The two countries had reached a
broad agreement for cooperation in civil nuclear energy sector during Abe’s
visit to India in December last year, but the deal was yet to be signed as some
issues were yet to be worked out.
The deal would allow Japan to
export nuclear technology to India, making it the first non-NPT signatory to
have such a deal with Tokyo. It would also cement the bilateral economic and
security ties as the two countries warm up to counter an assertive China.
There was political resistance in
Japan – the only country to suffer atomic bombings during World War II –
against a nuclear deal with India, particularly after the disaster at the
Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant in 2011.
Japan is a major player in the
nuclear energy market and an atomic deal with it will make it easier for
US-based nuclear plant makers Westinghouse Electric Corporation and GE Energy
Inc to set up atomic plants in India as both these conglomerates have Japanese
investments.
Other nations who have signed
civil nuclear deal with India include the US, Russia, South Korea, Mangolia,
France, Namibia, Argentina, Canada, Kazakhstan and Australia.

Centre to pay Rs. 500 cr a year to GST network as service charge

Goods and Services Tax Network
(GSTN), the company which was tasked to set up IT infrastructure for the GST,
said that by January it will start training around 60,000 state government
officials to equip them to handle GST roll out. The non-profit organisation
said that the Centre agreed to pay around Rs 500 crore every year on behalf of
the tax payers as service charge.
Speaking on the sidelines of
SICCI’s interactive session in Chennai today, GSTN’s Chairman Navin Kumar said
that GST won’t be successful without its IT backbone GSTN.
While on November 8, enrolment of
VAT assessees to GST Portal started from Puducherry, the first in the country
(along with Sikkim) on November 8, other States are expected to be covered
before February 15, 2017.
All GST ID numbers will only be
allocated once Parliament passes the supporting legislation for GST.
He noted, every month about 320
crore invoices are uploaded, initially GSTN suggested to the Government that
users should be charged a small fee, but Government said that it will pay on
behalf of the users. The burden would be around Rs 500 crore every year.

India, Japan ink MoUs in fields of space, skill development and
agriculture

India and Japan on Friday inked a
Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in the field of outer space, which would
enable cooperation in satellite navigation, planetary exploration and space
industry promotion, joint missions and studies.
The MoU also provides for the
establishment of a Joint Working Group (JWG) and signing of Implementing
Arrangements to carry out specific cooperative projects.
Apart from that, a Memorandum of
Cooperation (MoC) was also signed between the Ministry of Skill Development and
Entrepreneurship of India and the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry of
Japan on the Manufacturing Skill Transfer Promotion Program.
Under this, around 30,000 Indian
youth would be trained in the Japanese styled manufacturing in the next 10
years.
This would be achieved through
the programmes of Japan-India Institute for Manufacturing (JIM) and the
Japanese Endowed Courses (JEC) in select engineering colleges.
Japanese companies would be
encouraged to set-up JIM by utilizing their Corporate Social Responsibility
(CSR) fund while the JEC would be supported by Government of Japan through
technical experts. Programmes under this MoC would contribute to ‘Make in
India’ and ‘Skill India’.
India’s Ministry of Earth
Sciences and the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC)
agreed on a mutual collaboration in the field of Marine and Earth Science and
Technology.
It aims to promote cooperation in
the areas of joint survey and research, exchange of scientific visits by
researchers and experts, joint scientific seminars and workshops, exchange of
information, data and studied results and any other mutually agreed forms of
cooperation.
A MoC between India’s Ministry of
Agriculture and Farmers Welfare and Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries
of Japan was inked in the field of agriculture and food related industry.
It was signed to deepen the
bilateral cooperation in the fields of agriculture and food industries that
includes food value chain networking and protecting Geographical Indication
(GI) of agriculture products.
MOU was also signed between the
National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF) Ltd. and Japan Overseas
Infrastructure Investment Corporation for Transport and Urban Development to
enable cooperation and promoting investment in infrastructure projects in
railways and transportation.

Maharashtra, Canada to work on urban infra, smart cities

Government of Maharashtra on 10
November 2016 signed an agreement with Canada to execute a joint action plan on
the development of the state’s urban infrastructure.
The Canada-Maharashtra action
plan seeks to introduce companies, solutions and financing from the North
American country for urban development and implementation of state-led
infrastructure projects.
Key Highlights of the plan
It also includes supporting
Indo-Canadian partnerships including private sector companies, universities and
colleges to fasten project implementation, promote economic development and
contribute to the state’s ever rising standards of living.
The areas in focus include
affordable housing, urban infrastructure including smart cities, project
financing, training and skills development.
It will give top-level Canadian
companies the access to new partners and projects.
The implementation of the
projects undertaken under this plan will be overseen by the Mumbai Metropolitan
Region Development Authority and a group of officials from the Consulate
General of Canada and Maharashtra’s home, urban development, housing, labour,
information and technology departments.

Anil Bokil: The real brain behind the currency withdrawal move

The sudden and path-breaking
decision of the withdrawal of 500 and 1000 Rupee currency notes by the Indian
Prime Minister Narendra Modi managed to create inconvenience among people at
all levels. After the announcement, many people were seen in queues near the
ATMs.
The announcement of 8 November
2016, which created a situation of havoc among citizens, is being considered as
Modi’s fight against Black money. After the 2014 mandate, PM Modi promised that
he will not allow those with black money to rest in peace and take actions
against them.
But in this race to understand
the cause behind the withdrawal of notes, we as public managed to forget to
find the real face behind the idea.
Anil Bokil, a Pune-based
Chartered accountant, is the person who ideated the formulae.
Bokil is the founder of
Arthkranti Pratishtan, a non-governmental organization. His group has been
openly promoting the theory of ArthaKranti- revolution in economics. He
requested a meeting with the Prime Minister to put forward his take on
financial reforms.