Current Affairs Update – 11th November, 2016

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
  1. 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.
  2. 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
    .
  3. 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
    .
  4. 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
    .
  5. 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.
  6. 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.
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Competition Commission of India selected to host ICN 2018 Annual
Conference
  • The International Competition
    Network (ICN) on 9 November 2016 announced that the Competition Commission of
    India (CCI) would host the 2018 ICN Annual Conference.
  • The Conference will be held at
    Delhi in March–April 2018.
  • By virtue of the event, CCI is
    also inducted as an ex-officio member of the steering group member of the ICN
    for a period of 3 years.
India –
Union Government launches digital initiative Smart India Hackathon 2017

  • 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.
  • Smart India Hackathon 2017 is
    aimed at reaching out to all technology institutions in India and challenge
    students to offer innovative solutions to the daunting problems faced by our
    nation.
  • All India Council for Technical
    Education (AICTE), University Grants Commission (UGC), i4c, MyGov, NASSCOM,
    Rambhau Mhalgi Prabodhiniand Persistent Systems will organize the initiative
    under the aegis of Ministry of Human Resource Development.
Highlights of the Smart India
Hackathon 2017
  • The Hackathon will have nearly
    500 problem statements in all which will be published on innovate.mygov.in.
  • It is a pan-India 36-hour nonstop
    digital programming competition which will take place in more than 20 centres
    simultaneously.
  • Each participating college can
    nominate up to three teams, each having six team members, which can belong to
    different courses or semesters within the same college.
  • Each team will need to have at least
    one female team member, to encourage women coders.
  • Each team will also have the
    option of choosing up to two mentors, who can be faculty, alumni or any other
    expert in their circles.
  • Each of the participating 25
    ministries and government departments will give away prizes to top three teams,
    so 75 teams will stand a chance to win cash rewards as well as a chance to work
    with those ministries and departments for up to six months to execute their
    winning solution.
  • For every ministry and department,
    the first prize will be of 100000 rupees, second prize of 75000 rupees and
    third prize of 50000 rupees.
  • Some of the ministries and
    departments participating in the Hackathon include Railways, External Affairs,
    Defence, Civil Aviation, Indian Space Research Organization, Department of
    Atomic Energy, etc.
  • It will aim to find digital
    solutions to problems in the areas of power, education, health, water, finance,
    agriculture, energy, urban & rural development, aviation, transport,
    sanitation, sports, law & justice, etc.
  • It will help institutionalize a
    model for harnessing the creativity and skills of youth for nation-building.
  • It will harness creativity &
    technical expertise of over 30 lakh students from technology institutes in
    remotest parts of India to help build a way-out for Startup India, Standup
    India campaign.
  • Students will also win cash
    prizes from each participating ministry and will get a chance to be part of the
    NASSCOM’s 10000 Startups Program.
Union Government launched Healthy India Initiative magazine and No More
Tension mobile app

  • 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.
  • The initiatives were launched for
    promotion of health and to strengthen the health communications programmes.
Radio Kashmir Jammu starts Morning Gojri News Bulletin
  • The regional news Unit of Radio
    Kashmir Jammu on 10 November 2016 started morning news bulletin in Gojri
    language. The five minutes Gojri news bulletin will be aired at 10:15am daily
    from the transmitters of Radio Kashmir Jammu.
  • Gojri is one of the most widely
    spoken languages of the state and over 20 percent chunk of the population in
    the state consists of Gojri speaking people.
  • The radio news bulletin was
    formally launched and inaugurated at Abhinav Theater, Jammu by Deputy Chief
    Minister Dr. Nirmal Singh. After inaugurating the bulletin, the Deputy Chief
    Minister said that the bulletin will help in a big way in disseminating
    important information to people of the State in general and Gujjar Bakerwal
    community including nomadic tribes in particular.
  • Gojri also known as Gujari is a
    variety of Indo-Aryan spoken language. It is also known as Gujjar Bhakha,
    Gojari or Gujar Apabhramsha.
  • It is mainly spoken by the
    Gujjars of India and Pakistan.
Sports –
Mumbai’s Western Railways wins Surjit Trophy
  • Mumbai’s Western Railways women’s
    team on 10 November 2016 won the 33rd Indian Oil Servo Surjit Hockey
    Tournament.
  • The team defeated Haryana XI 4-2
    in the title clash played at the Olympian Surjit Hockey Stadium in Jalandhar.
  • In the 14th minute of the game,
    Western Railways’s Anupa Barla netted the ball after dodging goalkeeper Shewata
    of Haryana. She struck again in the 34th minute to make it 2-0.
  • In the second half, Haryana girls
    scored two goals in 40th and 50th minutes of the game to reduce the margin.
    Jaspreet Kaur and Neha scored goals for the team. Western Railways Mayengbam
    Lily Chanu and Manjit Kaur then struck to complete the score sheet.
  • The winners were presented a cash
    award of 1 lakh rupee and trophy and runners-up got 75000 rupees and Trophy.
  • Jaspreet Kaur of Haryana XI was
    declared the Best Player of the Tournament.
Awards & Honors –
Marta Jakimowicz selected for Lifetime Achievement Award 2016 by
Lalithakala Academy
  • Poland-born art critic Marta
    Jakimowicz was on 10 November 2016 selected for the Lifetime Achievement Award
    2016 by the Karnataka Lalithakala Academy.
  • Presently, she is settled in
    Bengaluru. Other than her, portrait artist Baburao V Nadoni from Belagavi, and
    KK Makali from Bellary were also selected for the award.

Regards

Team ExamPundit

This post was last modified on November 27, 2017 8:55 am