Important Current Affairs 22nd October 2017

Important Current Affairs 22nd October 2017

Current Affairs 22nd October 2017: NATIONAL NEWS

Bi-Annual Naval Commanders’ Conference to be held at New Delhi from - 24-27 oct 17 

A four day Naval Commanders’ Conference is scheduled at New Delhi from 24-27 Oct 17. 
●    The Conference serves as a platform for institutionalised interaction between the Naval Commanders and senior government officials, as also, with the Chiefs of Indian Army and Indian Air Force.   
●    The Hon’ble RM will address and interact with the Commanders’ during the bi-annual conference. 
●    The Chief of the Naval Staff, with the Commanders’-in-Chief, will review major Operational, Materiel, Human Resource, Training and Administrative activities undertaken in the last six months and deliberate the way-ahead on important activities and initiatives. 
●    An interaction is also planned with Shri Amitabh Kant, CEO, Niti Aayog to provide the Commanders’ a perspective on broader national interests.   
●    The Navy’s combat readiness would be reviewed with focus on operational effectiveness of combat platforms, logistics and development of shore support infrastructure for sustaining distant operations. 

BSF organised Half Marathon 2017: Run For Martyrs 

The BSF Half Marathon-2017 - in the memory of martyrs was flagged-off by the Minister of State for Youth Affairs (I/C) & Sports and Information and Broadcasting Col. Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore here today. 
●    The marathon received overwhelming response of residents of Delhi and participants who registered to run for the cause. 
●    Total 4865 participants registered for the run. 
●    In addition, BSF Prahari Pariwar participated in large numbers. 
●    Shri Rathore paid tribute to the martyrs of the force and flagged-off half marathon. 
●    Other segment of the race 05 Kilometer run was flagged-off by the MoS (Home) Shri Kiren Rijiju. 
●    Shri Rijiju also participated in the run for martyrs with DG BSF Shri K K Sharma and other force members including members of BWWA. 
●    The BSF Half Marathon had the support of Padma Shri Ms P T Usha, Golden Girl of Indian Athletics, Padma Bhusan Shri Abhinav Bindra, Olympian Ace shooter, Arjuna Awardee Shri Amit Luthra, Golfer and Ms Swara Bhasker, Film Actress and all of them graced the occasion.

The Reserve Bank will list the marketing agencies for multimedia functions

The Reserve Bank is in the process of preparing general tender notices issued in print and electronic media as it is preparing to sign licensing agencies for the publication of multimedia and multilingual advertisements.
●    It has been said in the tender of the proposal released by RBI that the listed agencies will work for preparing, designing and printing advertisements for newspapers and for advertisement in television and radio.
●    Advertisement activities of the Reserve Bank include regular tender notices, multilingual multimedia public notification and information regarding the restoration of staff and creative marketing activities for print and electronic media.
●    There will also be an opportunity for video footage for television and jingles for radio in front of the listed agencies.
●    Apart from this, preparing print advertisement in dubbing and translation of miniature films, television advertisements, radio jingles and Hindi, Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Oriya, Punjabi, Tamil, Telugu, Urdu, English and other listed languages. 

Tata Motors plans to change commercial vehicle business, opens 6 new dealerships

Tata Motors plans to make changes to regain market share in commercial vehicle business.
●    For this, the company is focusing on three things - the cost reduction, the product on time and the supply chain.
●    As part of the change strategy, Tata Motors will invest Rs 15,00 crores in various sections.
●    According to the release issued by Tata Motors, note-taking, BS IV norms from BS III and the GST implemented in July saw a decline in commercial vehicle business.
●    However, the company has started to emerge from this and the second quarter has registered strong growth in July-August-September 2017.
●    In order to strengthen its position, Tata Motors will open 6 new commercial vehicle dealerships and 40 new touch points in the region in the year 18.
●    In descending, Tata Motors has a market share of 60 percent in the medium and heavy commercial segment.
●    Along with this, the company has 77 dealerships and a network of 680 touch points.

Maruti becomes No. 1 exporter of PVs from India

Maruti Suzuki India has become the largest passenger vehicles exporter from India in the first half of the ongoing fiscal, dethroning Hyundai Motor India Ltd which has now been pushed to fourth spot behind Volkswagen and General Motors.
●    In the April-September period this fiscal, Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) exported 57,300 units of passenger vehicles (PVs) as against 54,008 units in the year-ago period, up 6 per cent, according to the latest data by Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM).
●    The long-running number one exporter, Hyundai Motor India Ltd (HMIL) on the other hand shipped 44,585 units as against 63,014 units in the year-ago period, a decline of 29.25 per cent.
●    The company is now behind Volkswagen and General Motors India in terms of export of PVs from India.
●    During the first half of the fiscal, Volkswagen India exported 50,410 units at a growth of 16.92 per cent. 
●    It is now the second biggest exporter of PVs from India behind MSI. Last year, it had exported 43,114 units during the same period.

Essar completes construction of Ro-Ro terminals in Gujarat

Essar Projects, the EPC arm of Ruias-led Essar Group, today said it has constructed and designed the ‘roll-on-roll-off’ (ro-ro) terminals at both Dahej and Ghogha ports, as part of its Rs 225 crore contract from the Gujarat government.
●    Essar Projects, the EPC arm of Ruias-led Essar Group, today said it has constructed and designed the ‘roll-on-roll-off’ (ro-ro) terminals at both Dahej and Ghogha ports, as part of its Rs 225 crore contract from the Gujarat government.  
●    Prime Minister Narendra Modi today inaugurated the first phase of the Rs 615 crore ‘roll-on-roll-off’ (ro-ro) ferry service between Ghogha in Saurashtra and Dahej in south Gujarat.  
●    The project was awarded by Gujarat Maritime Board (GMB) which has executed the ro-ro project, for constructing the ro-ro terminals and supporting onshore infrastructure at Dahej and Ghogha.
●    Congratulating the GMB on reaching the milestone, Essar Projects said: “A GMB project of national significance, the ro-ro ferry will bring down the travel time between Gujarat’s Ghogha and Dahej ports from 7 hours to just 2.5 hours”.  
●    The ro-ro ferry service will be able to carry about 500 passengers and 100-150 vehicles on each trip across the Gulf of Khambhat (also called Gulf of Cambay) over a 30 km (17 nautical miles) navigational channel created on the sea.  
●    Once services commence, the ferry is expected to do four round trips every day.

India, US trade policy forum meet in Washington on October 25

Issues including visa, greater market access for goods and intellectual property rights are expected to figure in the trade policy forum (TPF) meeting between India and the US on October 25 in Washington, an official said. 
●    Commerce and Industry Minister Suresh Prabhu will attend the meet.
●    After the Trump administration took power, this would be the first formal interaction between trade authorities of the two countries. 
●    The last meeting was held in October here. 
●    The forum was set up in 2005 and the meeting is co-chaired by the Indian commerce minister and the US Trade Representative (USTR), with an aim to expand bilateral trade and investment.
●    The official, who did not wish to be named, said that on September 22, senior officers of both the countries took stock of the issues in run-up to this meet. 
●    It was a preparatory meeting for the ministerial level TPF.

ICAR to study if ‘cow urine’ can be used in organic farming

India’s premier farm research organisation Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) has been asked to study if ‘cow urine’ can be used to promote organic farming and submit its report in two months. 
●    According to a senior Niti Aayog official, the ICAR has been asked to look into the possibility of converting cow urine into amino acid for use as natural fertiliser to increase farm productivity.
●    The decision to request the ICAR to conduct this study was taken after a high-level meeting at the Niti Aayog, during which Minister of State for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Giriraj Singh talked about organic farming and also how cow urine, bio-waste and cow dung can be used in organic farming.
●    Prime Minister Narendra Modi also many times in the past has asked Niti Aayog to hold discussion with Singh as he had done lot of work in the field of organic farming in Bihar, the official said. 
●    Singh had reportedly told the Niti Aayog meeting that cow urine is a better alternative to chemical fertilisers and can increase the farm productivity as much as by 4-5 times.
●    Amino acids is used an essential nutrient for soil and plant health.