Important Current Affairs 16th October 2017

Important Current Affairs 16th October 2017

Current Affairs 16th October 2017: NATIONAL NEWS

Union Home Minister inaugurates West Zone Regional Training Centre of IB in Jodhpur 

The Union Home Minister Shri Rajnath Singh inaugurated the West Zone Regional Training Centre of the Intelligence Bureau (IB), in Jodhpur, Rajasthan today. 
●    The Union Minister of State for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Shri Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, Union Minister of State in the Ministry of Law & Justice and Ministry of Corporate Affairs, Shri P.P. Chaudhary, Forest & Environment Minister, Government of Rajasthan, Shri Gajendra Singh Khimsar, Public Health Engineering Department (PHED) Minister, Government of Rajasthan Shri Surendra Goyal and other dignitaries were also present on the occasion. 
●    The purpose of the training centre is to strengthen and professionally empower the State Police Special Branches. The West Zone will include states of Madhya Pradesh, Goa, Gujarat, Rajasthan and Maharashtra. 
●    While inaugurating the centre, the Union Home Minister expressed belief that this training centre will play an important role in enhancing the professional and behavioral skills of the police officers posted in west region. 
●    He said that intelligence plays an important role in the effective execution of internal security system of the country. 
●    Shri Rajnath Singh said that IB has been playing an important role in tackling the challenges of terrorism, separatism and Left Wing Extremism. 
●    He appreciated the officials of IB for fulfilling their duties within limited resources. 

Hon’ble Raksha Mantri Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman Commissions INS kiltan ASW stealth corvette 

INS Kiltan (P30), third Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) stealth corvettes built under Project 28 (Kamorta Class) was commissioned into the Indian Navy by Hon’ble Raksha Mantri Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman at an impressive ceremony held at Naval Dockyard, Visakhapatnam today, 16 October 2017. 
●    Admiral Sunil Lanba, the Chief of the Naval Staff, Vice Admiral HCS Bisht, Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief Eastern Naval Command, Rear Admiral VK Saxena (Retd), CMD, Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers Limited, Kolkata (GRSE), Kolkata, Commodore MB Kunte (Retd) first Commanding Officer of erstwhile Kiltan and a host of other dignitaries were also present during the commissioning ceremony. 
●    The event marked the formal commissioning into the Navy of the third of the four ASW Corvettes, indigenously designed by the Indian Navy’s in-house organisation, Directorate of Naval Design and constructed by Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers Limited, Kolkata.
●    On arrival at the Naval Jetty, Hon’ble Raksha Mantri Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman was received by Admiral Sunil Lanba, the Chief of the Naval Staff. 
●    The Hon’ble Raksha Mantri was presented with a Guard of Honour and was introduced to the dignitaries’ present prior commencement of commissioning ceremony.

Footwear Design & Development Institute Act 2017 making FDDI an ‘Institute of National Importance’ comes into force 

Footwear Design & Development Institute (FDDI) has been declared an ‘Institute of National Importance’ under Ministry of Commerce & Industry, Government of India. The FDDI bill was passed by the Parliament in July 2017. 
●    The Provisions of FDDI Act 2017 have come into force from today, according to the Notification published in The Gazette of India on October 5, 2017.
●    The Minister of State for Commerce & Industry, Shri C.R. Chaudhary said here today, that the commitment of the Government to resolve the degree issue has culminated in the grant of the status of ‘Institute of National Importance’ to FDDI. 
●    With this, the government has also ensured upgradation of FDDI to a position of eminence so as to enable the Institute to effectively serve the Sector/Industry.
●    To empower the youth of the nation and to help them march alongside the Prime Minister’s Skill Development mission and Make in India initiative, the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Government of India proposed the FDDI INI bill to Parliament. 
●    FDDI, after becoming an INI, now has the autonomy to design its courses as per the requirement of the industry, and award its own degree to the students. 

Punjab Cabinet approves new industrial policy to boost growth

To boost industrial growth and economic activity, the Punjab cabinet today approved the ‘New Industrial and Business Development Policy-2017’, paving way for the fixing of industrial power tariff at Rs 5 per unit and a one-time settlement of industrial loans.
●    To boost industrial growth and economic activity, the Punjab cabinet today approved the ‘New Industrial and Business Development Policy-2017’, paving way for the fixing of industrial power tariff at Rs 5 per unit and a one-time settlement of industrial loans.  
●    The creation of a Rs 100 crore fund to promote start-up culture, establishment of a skills university and industry specific skill development centers, are other highlights of this policy.  
●    All skill training schemes in the state will be brought under one agency, the Punjab Skill Development Mission, an official spokesperson said.  
●    A cabinet meeting, chaired by Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh, gave its nod to the salient features of the policy, including the provision regarding five year fixed power tariff for existing and new industries, he said.
●    Besides incentives for expansion and upgradation of existing units, the new policy envisages a one-time settlement for loans taken from the Punjab State Industrial Development Corporation (PSIDC), the Punjab Financial Corporation (PFC) and the Punjab Agro Industries Corporation Ltd (PAIC).  

RIL, BP submit revised investment plan for KG-D6 gas finds

Reliance Industries and its partner BP Plc of UK today submitted a revised investment plan for bringing to production the satellite gas discoveries in the flagging KG-D6 block.
●    RIL and BP plan to develop four deepsea satellite gas finds, named D-2, 6, 19 and 22, together with two other nearby finds, D-29 and D30, in the Krishna Godavari basin block, sources with direct knowledge of the development said.
●    The four satellites and the other two finds (D29 and D30), R-Series and MJ gas discoveries, are the ones on which RIL and BP had in mid-June this year announced investing Rs 40,000 crore to reserve the flagging production from KG-D6 block.
●    Sources said development of the six satellite finds are being taken up together while D-34 or R-Series and D-55 (MJ) would have separate development plans.
●    They, however, did not indicate the investment RIL-BP would make to produce gas from the fields by 2021-22.

Vodafone celebrates super with its unique “Green Diwali Campaign”

In a hallmark style, Vodafone India, has come up with an innovative concept to delight its customers this Diwali. 
●    From 16th October to 19th October, across its 52 stores in Delhi NCR, Vodafone is inviting its customers to celebrate “Green Diwali”. 
●    Green Diwali is a part of its ongoing ‘Celebrating Super’ campaign wherein Vodafone will distribute “Super Crackers” to its customers. 
●    Also using Augmented Reality Technology, customers can create eco-friendly ‘Virtual phuljharis’ or ‘E-Phuljharis’2.
●    The ‘Super Crackers’ contain eco-friendly water soluble papers that carry different variety of seeds of plants with air-purifying characteristics.  
●    The E-Phuljhari is a unique personalized GIF greeting that can be sent to friends and family, through social media. 
●    With this initiative, Vodafone Delhi is making a conscious effort to have safe and eco-friendly celebration. 
●    The celebration gets doubled with customers being offered ‘Customised offers’3 and a chance to win a gift hamper.

Punjab imposes entertainment tax on DTH, cable connections

The Punjab cabinet on Monday approved the imposition of additional entertainment tax by local bodies (municipal corporations, municipalities, panchayats, local and district councils) on direct-to-home (DTH) and local cable connections, outside the ambit of the goods and services tax (GST).
●    According to a statement released by the Punjab chief minister’s office, the local bodies will now be able to impose and collect entertainment tax of Rs5 per DTH connection and Rs2 per local cable connection per month “with the enactment of The Punjab Entertainments & Amusements Taxes (Levy & Collection by Local Bodies) Act 2017.”
●    However, no additional entertainment tax has been proposed for cinemas, multiplexes and amusement parks. 
●    The government has proposed to bring the new legislation in the next session of the legislative assembly and is expecting to generate Rs45-47 crore in annual revenue from the taxes with close to 1.6 million DTH and 4.4 million cable connections in the state.
●    Tax experts and media executives, however, believe that this additional local tax defies the purpose of GST and will lead to an increase, though nominal, in the prices of DTH and cable services. 
 

Current Affairs 16th October 2017: INTERNATIONAL RELATION

India, Russia to hold major tri-Service 'Indra' combat exercise for first time this year

In the first such tri-Service wargames, India will hold a major combat exercise with Russia this year to crank up military-to-military ties between the two long-standing strategic partners.
●    "The Indra exercise, to be held in Russia, will include assets and manpower from the Army, Navy and IAF. 
●    This is the first time India will deploy the three services together for an exercise with a country," said a defence ministry source.
●    Finance minister Arun Jaitley, incidentally, will also be visiting Russia in his capacity as the defence minister for the Moscow Conference on International Security on April 25-26.
●    Though Russia has been India's largest defence supplier for long, notching up military sales worth over $50 billion since the 1960s, their armed forces do not exercise much together.
●    In sharp contrast, India and US hold a flurry of exercises every year, ranging from the top-notch naval Malabar wargames (with Japan now a regular participant) to the counter-terror Vajra Prahar & Yudh Abhyas Ines between their armies.