Important Current Affairs 23rd November 2017

Important Current Affairs 23rd November 2017

Current Affairs 23rd November 2017: NATIONAL NEWS

 President approves Ordinance for amendment in Bankruptcy and Bankruptcy Code, 2016

The purpose of the ordinance is to make necessary arrangements for preventing undesirable and unscrupulous people from abusing the provisions of the aforesaid Code or making them ineffective.
●    The purpose of the amendments is to keep those people out of the purview of those who have deliberately defaulted or who are related to stranded loans (NPAs) and who are habituated to not complying with the rules and thus, those who successfully resolve the bankruptcy disputes of a company Is considered as a hindrance.
●    In addition to prohibiting such people from participating in such dispute resolution or liquidation process, it has also been specified for the prevention of the above mentioned amendment that before the approval of the committee of lenders, the profitability of the dispute resolution scheme and Will ensure the probability.
●    Indian Bankruptcy and Bankruptcy Board (IBBI) have also been given additional rights.
●    The rules and regulations of IBBI have also been revised recently, in addition to information related to the predecessor of the applicant who has submitted the dispute resolution, along with information related to priority, low evaluation or fraud related transactions, the lending committee , So that he can make appropriate decisions on the basis of proper information.
●    In addition to taking other steps for better compliance, keeping out of undesirable elements in the banking sector through reform and reconciliation process is also a part of the current reforms of the government.

Center has announced the Indian Forest (Amendment) Ordinance, 2017 to encourage bamboo cultivation in non-forest areas

Dr. Harsh Vardhan, Union Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change has said that under the visionary leadership of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, the Central Government has announced a historic initiative in the Indian Forests (Amendment) Ordinance, 2017, in which non-forest areas Exemption of planted bamboo to be brought under the definition of tree and thereby requiring demolition / transit permit for its economic use Could be granted an exemption from Ykta.
●    Bamboo, however, comes under the definition of the grass, but it is defined as the Indian Forest Act, 1927 legally as a tree.
●    Prior to this amendment, the provisions of the Indian Forest Act, 1927 (IFA, 1927) were enforced on the demolition / transit of bamboo grown on any forest and non-forest land.
●    This was a major hindrance in farmers' way of cultivating bamboo on non-forest land.
●    Earlier, in the chairmanship of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Union Cabinet had yesterday made an ordinance on this amendment on amendment of section 2 (7) of the Indian Forest Act, 1927.
●    Dr. Harsh Vardhan emphasized that this amendment was to encourage the cultivation of bamboo in non-forest areas to achieve the double goal of raising the income of a major eminent farmers and increasing the green cover of the country.
●    He also said that the bamboo grown in forest areas will still be governed by the provisions of the Indian Forest Act, 1927.

Bharti family to donate Rs 7,000 crore

Chief industrialist Sunil Mittal on Thursday said that the Bharti family will invest 10 percent of their property on charity.
●    He said that the family has committed to give 10% of their assets to the activities of the group's welfare work for the activities of the Bharti Foundation.
●    Overall, the amount of Rs 7,000 crore is made.
●    Founder Chairman of Bharti Enterprises Mittal said that the amount included in the above mentioned amount comprises 3 percent of the family in Bharti Airtel.
●    He said that the Bharati family will set up Satya Bharati University for free education to the deprived youth of the poor sections of the society.
●    This new generation university will focus on science and technology, including Artificial Intelligence, Internet of Things and Robotics.
●    The proposed University will be set up in North India by 2021.
●    Mittal said that the amount of money that the Bharti family has taken will be looked at in the university project.
●    The decision of the land is to be decided for the university and it has plans to impart education to 10,000 students.

Supreme Court directs Sahara's Amby Valley auction

Sahara Group's Embe Valley can be auctioned soon.
●    The Supreme Court directed the receiver of the Bombay High Court to help Liquidator in the auction of Ambli Valley on Thursday.
●    Chief Justice Deepak Mishra and Justice Ranjan Gogoi and AK Sikri's Bench said, "We want to auction the property.
●    Until then we will appoint the receiver of Bombay High Court to help with the auction. "
●    The bench also asked the official liquidator, who took over the responsibility of the auction, to seek directions from the judge or the Bombay High Court.
●    Sahara Group had earlier asked for an 18-month time to repay the remaining Rs 9,000 crore from the original amount of Rs 24,000 crore.
●    On October 12, the Supreme Court had strongly objected to the Sahara Group's interruption in the process of the auction of Amby Valley and warned that anyone blocking will be guilty of contempt and will be sent to jail.
●    Market regulator SEBI had told the court that Sahara group had allegedly blocked the auction process allegedly by writing a letter to the Pune Police on the issue of law and order in Ambi Valley.

Lotte confectionery has bought havmor icecream for Rs 1,020 crores

South Korea's Lotte Confectionery has announced the purchase of Havmor Ice Cream Limited in a cash deal of Rs 1,020 crore.
●    This deal will help the loss confectionery maker to make a lot of chocolate pie in India's Rs 5,000-crore ice cream market.
●    HIL, the China family company of Ahmedabad, got 2.5 times more than its turnover in this deal.
●    In 2016-17, the turnover of the company was Rs 400 crore and its CAG was 23-25%.
●    Havmor managing director Ankit Chona told ET that he would continue to help in the business of the Lotte as the CEO-Advisor of the brand.
●    Lotte Confectionery said, "The company has decided to buy 100% of HIL's 100% shares in its board meeting held on November 23.
●    Lotte confectionery plans to spread its marketing power from north-west India to the whole country as well as entering India's ice cream market.
●    Havmor was started by Satishchandra Chona in Karachi in 1944, but he had to come back to India after settling his business within three years.
●    He started ice cream business after settling in Ahmedabad in 1951.

Current Affairs 23rd November 2017: ECONOMY

HDFC Bank to develop 1,000 villages in the country under CSR

Private sector HDFC Bank will rejuvenate 1,000 villages.
●    HDFC Bank today said that it has targeted to improve the living standard in 1,000 villages under Corporate Social Responsibility CSR till March 2019.
●    Under the overall rural development program HRDP, the bank has already strengthened 750 villages deprived of basic facilities.
●    Paresh Sukankar, Deputy Managing Director, HDFC Bank said here, the Board of Directors has decided to develop such 1,000 villages by March 2019.
●    This initiative has so far influenced the lives of more than 10 lakh people in 16 states across the country.
●    The aim of the HRDP is to raise the livelihoods in the villages by improving the five major areas such as education, water and drainage and financial inclusion.
●    Bank claims that 550 residents of Umpathaw village now have access to clean toilets with potable water and a smart school.
●    The most recent village of the 750 villages made by the bank so far is Empathy.

EPFO Approves Proposal to Put the ETF Units in PF Accounts

Employees Provident Fund Organization (EPFO) has allowed the proposal to put Exchange Traded Funds (ETF) units into provident fund (PF) accounts.
●    The number of EPFO shareholders is 4.5 million.
●    Shareholders of EPFO can see ETF units in their PF accounts by the end of March next year.
●    Labor Minister Santosh Gangwar told reporters after a meeting of the EPFO decision-making body, the Central Board of Trustees (CBT) here on Thursday that the CBT has approved the accounting policy for evaluation of equity investment and accounting policy.
●    It has been prepared after consultation with the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore (IIM-Bengaluru).
●    Gangwar is also the chief of CBT.
●    He said that the findings of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) have also been included in the accounting policy.
●    When asked, when EPFO will start putting ETF units in its accounts of its shareholders, EPFO's Central Provident Fund Commissioner said that it would be possible by the end of this financial year.
●    EPFO invests 15% of its corpus in equity traded funds through equities.
 

Current Affairs 23rd November 2017: GLOBAL

Prime Minister  Narendra Modi Inaugurates The 5th Global Conference On Cyberspace, 2017
Narendra Modi, Hon’ble Prime Minister of India inaugurated the Global Conference on Cyberspace 2017 in the Capital today in the presence of His Excellency, Mr. Ranil Wickramasinghe, Prime Minister of Sri Lanka, Shri Ravi Shankar Prasad, Hon’ble Minister for Electronics & Information Technology and Law & Justice, Government of India, Shri Manoj Sinha, Minister of State(IC), Department of Telecommunication, Government of India, Shri KJ Alphons, Minister of State, Tourism, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, Government of India, Secretary General of International Telecommunication Union, Mr. Houlin Zhao amongst other dignitaries.
●    The Prime Minister also launched the UMANG App that aims to bring 162 government services on a single mobile app, with a larger goal to make the government accessible on the mobile phone of our citizens.
●    Themed on Cyber4All: A Secure and Inclusive Cyberspace for Sustainable Development, this is the fifth edition of GCCS wherein international leaders, policymakers, industry experts, think tanks and cyber experts will gather to deliberate on issues and challenges for optimally using cyber space. 
●    The overall goals of GCCS 2017 are to promote the importance of inclusiveness and human rights in global cyber policy, to defend the status quo of an open, interoperable and unregimented cyberspace, to create political commitment for capacity building initiatives to address the digital divide and assist countries, and to develop security solutions in a balanced fashion that duly acknowledge the importance of the private sector and technical community.