Current Affairs Update – 18th August, 2016

Hello and welcome to exampundit . Here are the important Current Affairs for 18th August, 2016. These are important for the upcoming RBI Grade B Phase I, Bank of Baroda and Bank of Maharashtra PO and IBPS PO VI Mains Exams.
Current Affairs at a Glance – 18th August, 2016
  1. Union Minister for Railways
    Suresh Prabhu, Deputy Chief minister of Gujarat Nitin Patel and city mayor
    Ashmitaben Shiroya Wednesday signed an MoU for the development of India’s first
    multi-modal transportation hub (MMTH) at Surat railway station
    . The
    Rs 5,000-cr project would be taken up under the public private partnership
    model.
  2. Government has slapped an additional
    penalty of $380 million (around Rs 2,500 crore) on Reliance Industries and
    its partners for producing less than targeted natural gas from eastern offshore
    KG-D6 fields
    .
  3. Taking forward the consolidation
    agenda, State
    Bank of India (SBI) board today approved share swap ratio to merge five
    associate banks and Bharatiya Mahila Bank (BMB) with itself
    .  The swap ratio approved are as follows. SBI will issue 28 shares (face value of Rs
    1) for 10 shares (face value of Rs 10) of SBBJ, 22 SBI shares for 10 shares
    (face value of Rs 10) of SBM and SBT each
    .
  4. The Assam Assembly on 13 August
    2016 passed the Assam
    Amusements and Betting Tax (Amendment) Bill, 2016
    .  This bill will reduce the service charge of
    cinema tickets with an aim to boost to the local film industry. The government,
    however, raised the entertainment tax on cinema tickets by up to ten percentile
    points.
  5. Cricket icon and Rajya Sabha MP Sachin
    Tendulkar has selected Donja village in
    Osmanabad district for development under the Sansad Adarsh Gram Yojna
    .
  6. Indian wrestler Sakshi Malik won bronze in
    women’s wrestling at the Olympic Games in Rio
    on Wednesday, bringing home her country’s first medal of the competition — and she did it in
    dramatic fashion.
  7. The Uttar Pradesh government on Thursday announced
    to honour Indian wrestler Sakshi Malik who
    won a bronze at the Rio Olympic Games with the prestigious Rani Laxmi Bai Award
    .
  8. Power Grid Corp today said K Sreekant has
    been appointed as Director (finance) for five years by the Power Ministry
    .
Finance/Banking/Industry –
Railways signs MoU to develop Rs 5,000-crore Surat transportation hub
  • Union Minister for Railways
    Suresh Prabhu, Deputy Chief minister of Gujarat Nitin Patel and city mayor
    Ashmitaben Shiroya Wednesday signed an MoU for the development of India’s first
    multi-modal transportation hub (MMTH) at Surat railway station. The Rs 5,000-cr
    project would be taken up under the public private partnership model.
  • This is a first- of-its-kind
    infrastructure development project, where Indian Railway station Development
    Corporation (IRSDC), Gujarat State Road Transport Corporation Limited (GSRTC)
    and Surat Municipal Corporation (SMC) have formed a joint venture in giving
    different modes of facilities to passengers, including train, city bus and long
    distance bus services, auto rickshaws, taxi and private vehicle services, at
    one place.
  • The facilities will be given in
    such a way that the passengers will feel international level of travel comfort.
  • As per the minister, the Railways
    will also add two to four “Deen Dayalu” coaches to some long-distance trains
    for unreserved travel to enhance the carrying capacity.
Govt slaps $380 million additional penalty on RIL
  • Government has slapped an
    additional penalty of $380 million (around Rs 2,500 crore) on Reliance
    Industries and its partners for producing less than targeted natural gas from
    eastern offshore KG-D6 fields.
  • With this, the total penalty,
    which is in form of disallowing recovery of cost incurred, for missing the
    target in five financial years beginning April 1, 2010, now stands at a
    cumulative $2.76 billion.
  • The Production Sharing Contract
    (PSC) allows RIL and its partners BP Plc of the UK and Canada’s Niko Resources
    to deduct all capital and operating expenses from the sale of gas before sharing
    profit with the government.
  • Disallowing costs will result in
    government’s profit share rising.
SBI board approves share swap ratio for merger with associate banks
  • Taking forward the consolidation
    agenda, State Bank of India (SBI) board today approved share swap ratio to
    merge five associate banks and Bharatiya Mahila Bank (BMB) with itself.
  • The board gave approval for
    scheme of acquisition for five associate banks and BMB, SBI informed stock
    exchanges.  SBI is targeting to
    consolidate operations and balance sheets March 2017.
  • Its five associates are State
    Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur (SBBJ), State Bank of Hyderabad (SBH), State Bank of
    Mysore (SBM), State Bank of Patiala (SBP) and State Bank of Travancore (SBT).
    BMB, started in 2013, is a Delhi-based public sector lender.
  • The swap ratio approved are as
    follows. SBI will issue 28 shares (face value of Rs 1) for 10 shares (face
    value of Rs 10) of SBBJ, 22 SBI shares for 10 shares (face value of Rs 10) of
    SBM and SBT each.
  • SBI will issue its 44.2 million
    shares for 1,000 million shares of BMB.
  • As for two unlisted units – SBP
    and SBH, where the bank holds 99 per cent stake, it would be line by line
    merger, its chief financial officer and deputy managing director Anshukla Kant
    said.

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Assam Assembly passes Assam Amusements and Betting Tax (Amendment)
Bill, 2016

  • The Assam Assembly on 13 August
    2016 passed the Assam Amusements and Betting Tax (Amendment) Bill, 2016.
  • This bill will reduce the service
    charge of cinema tickets with an aim to boost to the local film industry. The
    government, however, raised the entertainment tax on cinema tickets by up to
    ten percentile points.
Provisions of the Bill
  • The government proposed to make
    service charge 8 rupees per ticket for the halls without air conditioning
    system and 12 rupees for the halls with air conditioning system with back-up
    generator.
  • The government also advised to
    increase the entertainment tax to 20 per cent from 15 per cent at present for
    entry charges between 5 rupees and 20 rupees per ticket.
  • There will be no entertainment
    tax if the entry charge is 5 rupees or less.
  • It raised the government tax to
    30 percent on service charge from the existing 20 percent.
  • It proposes to fix the service
    charge at a maximum of 12 rupees per ticket, which is as high as 40 rupees at present.
India –
Sachin Tendulkar adopts village in Osmanabad under Sansad Adarsh Gram
Yojana
  • Cricket icon and Rajya Sabha MP
    Sachin Tendulkar has selected Donja village in Osmanabad district for
    development under the Sansad Adarsh Gram Yojna.
  • Sansad Adarsh Gram Yojana,
    launched in October 2014, is a rural development programme focusing on
    development of villages which include social and cultural development, and
    spread motivation among the people on social mobilisation of the village
    community.
  • Osmanabad has been reeling under
    a serve drought over the last few years and has also recorded a steep rise in
    incidents of farmers suicide.
  • Donja is a village in Paranda of
    Osmanabad. As per 2011 census 582 families residing there. It has a population
    of 2,863 of which 1,508 are males while 1,355 are females.
  • In the village, population in the
    age group of zero to six years is 319 which makes up 11.14 per cent of the
    total population.
U.P. to confer Rani Laxmi Bai award on Sakshi Malik
  • The Uttar Pradesh government on
    Thursday announced to honour Indian wrestler Sakshi Malik who won a bronze at
    the Rio Olympic Games with the prestigious Rani Laxmi Bai Award.
  • Ms. Malik (23), who hails from
    Rohtak in Haryana, became only the fourth woman athlete from India to win an
    Olympic medal after she clinched a bronze in the 58-kg category.
  • Congratulating her, Uttar Pradesh
    Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav said she had made the nation proud, as he decided
    to honour her with the Rani Laxmi Bai Award, meant to signify bravery and outstanding
    achievement of women.
  • The award carries a cash prize of
    Rs 3 lakh. The Samajwadi Party government is deeply involved in the promotion
    of sports and has constantly provided various kinds of facilities to
    sportspersons, Mr. Yadav said, at a Raksha Bandhan function at his official
    residence here.
  • Girls and women from different
    communities tied rakhi to him on the occasion.
Sports –
India Wins Its First Olympic Medal in Rio as Wrestler Sakshi Malik Gets
Bronze
  • Indian wrestler Sakshi Malik won
    bronze in women’s wrestling at the Olympic Games in Rio on Wednesday, bringing
    home her country’s first medal of the competition — and she did it in dramatic
    fashion.
  • Twenty three-year-old Malik
    defeated Kyrgyzstan’s Aisuluu Tynybekova in the 58-kilogram freestyle in a
    thrilling bout, making a comeback in the final seconds to win 8-5. At one point
    early in the match she trailed 5 points to none.
  • After winning, Malik hoisted an
    Indian flag aloft and jogged around the arena before sinking to the mat in joy.
    Tynybekova protested a late call and had to be coaxed to the center of the mat
    to acknowledge the result.
Appointments –
K Sreekant appointed as Director Finance of PowerGrid
  • Power Grid Corp today said K
    Sreekant has been appointed as Director (finance) for five years by the Power
    Ministry.
  • “Ministry of Power has vide
    Order dated August 16, 2016 conveyed the appointment of K Sreekant, General
    Manager, NTPC to the post of Director (Finance), POWERGRID for a period of five
    years with effect from the date of his assumption of charge of the post on or
    after September 1, 2016, or till the date of his superannuation, or until
    further orders, whichever is the earliest,” Power Grid Corp said in a BSE
    filing today.

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