Current Affairs Update – 17 November, 2016

• India and the US have resolved more than 100 tax dispute
  cases involving Rs 5,000 crore under the bilateral Mutual Agreement Procedure
  (MAP).
• A meeting of the Bilateral Competent Authority MAP or
  Advance Pricing Agreement (APA) between India and the US was held in Washington
  last month, and these long pending cases were resolved, a finance ministry
  statement said.
• During the meeting, 66 MAP cases relating to Transfer
  Pricing issues and 42 MAP cases relating to Treaty Interpretation issues were
  agreed to be resolved successfully.
• MAP, under the Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement (DTAA),
  is an alternative dispute settlement mechanism available to authorities and
  foreign investors.

• To contain the problems being faced by people following the
  demonetisation of 500 and 1000 rupees currency notes, the Union Government on
  17 November 2016 announced new measures to contain the problem.
• The measures were announced by Economic Affairs Secretary
  Shaktikanta Das.

• Measure for Farmers: To ensure sowing in the Rabi season,
  farmers have been allowed to withdraw 25000 rupees a week against crop loan and
  Kisan credit card.
• Measures for Traders: Traders registered with Agriculture
  Produce Market Committee (APMC) markets and mandis can draw 50 thousand rupees
  in cash per week to pay for sundry expenses like wages.
• For Marriage: a person can withdraw up to 2.5 lakh rupees
  from bank account for marriage during ongoing wedding season. The money can be
  withdrawn by one member of the family, may be father or mother, bride or
  bridegroom.
• Crop loan insurance premium: The time limit for payment of
  crop loan insurance premium will be extended by 15 days.
• Central Government Employees: Employees up to Group C can
  draw salary advance up to 10000 rupees in cash. This advance salary will be
  adjusted against their salaries of November.
• The existing limit of 4500 for exchange of old 500 and 1000
  rupee notes has been reduced to 2 thousand rupees.

• The State Bank of India (SBI), has decided to write off
  loans worth almost 7016 Crore Rupees, owed to it by 63 willful defaulters
  including Vijay Mallya’s Kingfisher Airlines.
• The move is a part of a cleanup process of the bank’s
  balance sheets. While the loans of the 63 willful defaulters have been written
  off completely, 31 have been partially written off and remaining 6 of the
  bank’s top 100 defaulter’s list have been shown as non-performing assets
  (NPAs).
• In other words, SBI has categorized these loans as toxic and
  put them into Advance Under Collection Account (AUCA).

• Vijay Mallya’s Kingfisher Airlines tops the list with dues
  amounting to almost 1201 Crore Rupees. A court in Mumbai has issued a
  non-bailable warrant against Mallya in connection with money laundering.
• KS Oil, edible oil maker is the second in the list with dues
  amounting to 596 Crore Rupees. The company had invested a large amount of money
  on plantations in Indonesia and Malaysia, which failed to deliver the expected
  returns.  It was declared NPA from 30
  September 2013.
• The third top defaulter, Surya Pharmaceuticals, was added to
  the list of willful defaulters in 2013. The company allegedly committed fraud
  and misused its funds. An audit by Ernst & Young declared its account as a
  fraud one.
• Get Power is the fourth defaulter with debts of around 400
  Crore Rupees. Mismanagement and delayed projects got the company into the list.
  It was declared as a willful defaulter on 23 August 2016.
• Sai Info, the fifth defaulter has debts amounting to 375
  Crore Rupees. Sunit Kakkad, the main promoter of the company ran away in June
  2013. He was arrested and brought back to India and is out on bail now. The
  company was declared as a willful defaulter on 26 August 2016.

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• The Union Cabinet gave its approval for creation of a
  ‘special committee’ in accordance to an order passed by the Supreme Court in
  2012 for inter-linking of Indian rivers.
• The approval was given in a Cabinet council session headed
  by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 15 November 2016. According to the
  government, this move will help in monitoring the projects that are to be
  carried out under its National Perspective Plan, 1980.
• The Apex Court ordered the union government to create a
  ‘special committee’ immediately for inter-linking of rivers’ project.
• The court declared the project as a matter of national
  benefit and progress.
• The court also held the opinion that success of this project
  would save people living in drought-prone zones from hunger and those living in
  flood-prone zones from destruction.

• The Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO) on
  16 November 2016 successfully carried out maiden flight of TAPAS 201 (RUSTOM –
  II), a Medium Altitude Long Endurance (MALE) Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV).
• The test flight took place from Aeronautical Test Range
  (ATR) at Chitradurga, a newly developed flight test range for the testing of
  UAVs and manned aircraft.

• It was designed and developed by Aeronautical Development
  Establishment (ADE), the Bangalore-based premier lab of DRDO.
• It is the first R&D prototype UAV which got the
  certification and qualification for the first flight from the Center for
  Military Airworthiness & Certification and Directorate General of
  Aeronautical Quality Assurance.
• It will carry out the Intelligence, Surveillance and
  Reconnaissance (ISR) roles for the three Armed Forces with an endurance of 24
  hours.
• It is capable to carry diverse combinations of payloads like
  Medium Range Electro Optic (MREO), Long Range Electro Optic (LREO), Electronic
  Intelligence (ELINT), Communication Intelligence (COMINT) and Situational
  Awareness Payloads (SAP).
• The data link for the UAV was developed by Defence
  Electronics Application Laboratory (DEAL) of DRDO.

• The Telangana government of Telangana on Wednesday signed an
  MOU with Microsoft to explore cloud, machine learning and mobile-based
  solutions to improve citizen services, education, healthcare and agriculture in
  the state. State IT Secretary Jayesh Ranjan and Microsoft India (R&D) Pvt
  Ltd Managing Director Anil Bhansali signed the MoU here.
• Microsoft India will work with the state government to
  support the development of cloud and mobile-based solutions and support the use
  of machine learning and advanced visualization to help solve challenges in the
  fields of education, agriculture and healthcare.

• The sixth India China joint training exercise Hand- in- Hand
  2016 commenced on 16 November 2016 at the parade ground in Aundh Military Camp,
  Pune. The exercise will terminate on 27 November 2016.
• The joint exercise intends to acquaint both the Armies with each
  other’s operating procedures in the backdrop of counter terrorism environment.
• The Opening Day parade was commanded by Lieutenant Colonel
  Li Guanghua, Commanding Officer of People’s Liberation Army.

• The primary aim of the exercise is enhancing confidence and
  trust between the two armies, which may be called upon to grapple with anti
  terrorism operations under the UN mandate.
• The conduct of joint military exercises is also an important
  step to uphold the values of Peace, Prosperity and Stability in the region.
• The Opening Ceremony was followed by both the contingents
  displaying their weapons, which included assault rifles, grenade launchers and
  other equipment.
• The Ceremony concluded with a display of India martial arts
  of Kalyaripattu, Khukri dance and Malkhamb by soldiers of Indian Army and a
  massed martial arts display by the Chinese contingent.
• The 13-day exercise is focused upon training on crossing of
  obstacles, special heliborne operations, firing of various weapons, handling
  and neutralization of improvised explosive devices and conduct of cordon and
  search operations in insurgency and terrorism environment.

• In a first, the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) deployed
  a team of 135 women commandos in anti-Naxal operations in Jharkhand.
• The 135 women commandos belong to the 232 battalion’s Delta
  company. At present, they are undertaking operations under the guidance of the
  CRPF’s 133 battalion near Khunti on the outskirts of Ranchi.

• The 135 women commandos will be equally capable of
  neutralising Naxals in par with men commandos.
• They hold expertise in carrying out all types of
  anti-Maoists operations and will play important role in tackling women Naxals.
• They have been trained in several case studies and carry out
  their operation in a perfect manner.
• They are also equipped with modern weapons and software to
  assist them in executing their plan.

• The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) on 16
  November 2016 launched a revamped version of its toll-free helpline number
  1947. The number is revamped to handle more incoming calls.
• The helpline number was launched to help residents get quick
  access to information about Aadhaar.

• The free of cost helpline 1947 will be available 24×7
  throughout the year on IVRS mode.
• On the other hand, call-centre agents will be available from
  7 am to 11 pm from Monday to Saturday. On Sundays, the agents will answer calls
  from 8 am to 5 pm.
• On an average, the helpline number handles about 1.5 lakh
  calls per day.
• It can be accessed through mobile or landline.
• It will be especially beneficial in these times when the
  Aadhaar number is being increasingly used in the banking sector to identify
  individuals.

• The Union Government on 15 November 2016 inaugurated Hunar
  Haat (Skill Haat) exhibition at India International Trade Fair (2016) at
  Pragati Maidan in New Delhi. The exhibition aims at supporting and promoting
  artisans from minority communities and providing them domestic as well as
  international market to display and sell their products.
• National Minorities Development & Finance Corporation
  (NMDFC) has organised the exhibition Hunar Haat under scheme USTTAD (Upgrading
  the Skills & Training in Traditional Arts/Crafts for Development) of
  Ministry of Minority Affairs.
• India International Trade Fair (IITF) that began on 14
  November will conclude on 27 November 2016.
• Project Cost: About 1.74 crore rupees

• It saw the participation of about 184 master artisans from
  26 states and Union Territories of the country.
• The participants are displaying their traditional art and
  skills at about 100 stalls.
• It is a platform where Indian artisans can display the
  traditional Indian art and handicrafts at an ease.

• The World Philosophy Day was observed globally on 17
  November 2016. This year, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural
  Organization (UNESCO) organised the special events from 16 November to 18
  November.
• The Day is celebrated on every third Thursday of November.
  This year, the Day was celebrated in line with the International Day for
  Tolerance (16 November).

• Search Engine Google on 16 November 2016 launched the
  scanning app Google PhotoScan to scan and digitise physical photographs.
• The App is maintained by Google Photos.

• It detects edges of the picture, straightens the image and
  rotates it to the correct orientation.
• It ensures that the scanned old photos are clear and
  glare-free.
• It uses augmented reality to create four points near the
  frame and uses the four photos to create composite image without glare.
• The setup of the app is that effortless as it gives
  directions on how to use the app properly.

• HDFC Bank’s Aditya Puri has been ranked 36th in the US
  magazine Fortune’s top 50 business persons list for 2016, and is the only
  Indian among three persons of Indian origin in the global rankings.
• Puri, who has led the second largest private sector lender
  since its inception in 1994, has been ranked 36th in the list, which evaluates
  corporate leaders’ business performance.
• While Facebook’s Mark Zuckerburg leads the list, Microsoft’s
  chief executive Satya Nadella has been ranked fifth. AO Simith’s Ajita Rajendra
  is at 34, followed by Mastercard’s Ajay Banga at 40.
• According to the magazine, HDFC bank delivered $1.9 billion
  profits under Puri last year and its American depository receipts had a 15-year
  run which took them up 2,200 per cent before some easing.