Weekly Current Affairs (18 September to 24 September 2017)

Banking and Financial Awareness

• ●All peer-to-peer lending (P2P) firms will be treated as non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) and will be regulated by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
• ●Fino Payments Bank has launched its mobile banking app called BPay.
• ●SEBI permitted Real estate investment trusts (REITs) and infrastructure investment trusts (InvITs) to raise funds through debt securities.
• ●SEBI allowed single-asset REITs similar to InvITs.
• ●Vijaya Bank has bagged the first prize under the Rajbhasha Kirti Puraskar (Region C) for the year 2016-17 for active implementation of Hindi in its day-to-day activities.
• ●SBI bagged first prize under Government of India Rajbhasha Kirti Awards 2016-17 for its Quarterly Hindi house magazine PRAYAS.
• ●Amazon India has tied up with the Bank of Baroda to offer micro loans to its sellers.
• ●Asian Development Bank (ADB) has signed a loan of up to USD 200 million with IndusInd Bank to provide finance to low-income women borrowers in rural India.

New Appointments

• ●NHPC, National Hydroelectric Power Corporation Ltd has appointed Balraj Joshi as its new chairman-cum-managing director (CMD).
• ●The Government of India has appointed Gautam Bambawale as the ambassador to China.
• ●Ajay Bisaria will serve as India's next high commissioner to Pakistan.
• ●National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) has appointed B Sambamurthy as interim Chairman of the board.
• ●The Chairman and Editor-in-Chief of India TV, Rajat Sharma was elected as the President of the News Broadcasters Association (NBA).
• ●Twitter has hired Indian-born executive Sriram Krishnan as its Senior Director of Product.
• ●Mahendra Pratap Mall was appointed as the Chairman and Managing director of Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) Ltd.
• ●Senior IPS Officer Y C Modi was appointed as the new Director-General of the National Investigation Agency (NIA).
• ●The Head of Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited Punit Goenka was re-appointed as President of The Indian Broadcasting Foundation (IBF) for the second consecutive year.
• ●Rajni Kant Mishra is appointed the new chief of the Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB)
• ●Harsh Kumar Jain has been appointed as the next Ambassador of India to the Slovak Republic.

Obituaries

• ●French businesswoman and heiress of cosmetics company L'Oreal Liliane Bettencourt passed away. She was the world's richest woman.
• ●Paul E. Gray, American professor, President of MIT died on September 18.
• ●Shakila, a veteran Bollywood actress of India passed away on September 20.

Honour and Awards

• ●Swayam Shikshan Prayog (SSP) has won this year’s UN Equator Prize.
• SSP is a Pune-based non-governmental organisation working among women farmers.
• ●Vice-President M Venkaiah Naidu presented the ANR National Award of Akkineni International foundation to top film-maker SS Rajamouli.
• ●Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT) was awarded the “Rajbhasha Kirti Puraskar” for the year 2016-17 in the category of ‘B’ region for autonomous bodies and boards, for its excellent implementation of the Official Language.
• ●Salman Khan has been honoured with the Global Diversity Award 2017 in the British Parliament House.

Important Days

• ●The International Day of Peace or "Peace Day" is observed on 21 September every year.

Index and Ranking:

• ●India ranks 128th in Sustainable Development Goals Index-in terms of meeting the UN's health-related Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030.

MoUs and Partnerships:

• ●NITI Aayog of India and the International Road Federation, Geneva (IRF Geneva) have signed a Statement of Intent (SoI) to cooperate in the field of Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS).
• ●India’s first foreign nuclear power project, Rooppur plant will be built in Bangladesh in collaboration with Russia.
• ●Exercise Yudh Abhyas - 2017, a joint military exercise between Indian and US armies has commenced at Joint Base Lewis McChord, Washington, USA.

Important News- World

• ●India will host the first 'BIMSTEC (Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation) Disaster Management Exercise in October.
• ●Raquel Dodge will be the first woman to hold the position of Attorney General in Brazil.
• ●Mercedes Araoz was sworn in as the new Prime Minister of Peru.
• ●Zannah Mustapha of Nigeria was awarded United Nations annual Nansen award, presented by UNHCR.
• ●Japanese postal department has released postage stamps on four of Bengal’s famous personalities of Yoga.
• ●The World Bank has allocated about $8 billion for the infrastructure projects of the Chinese initiative Silk Road Economic Belt, which comprises 6 corridors which connect five central Asian countries.
• ●The 69th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards ceremony was held in California.
• ●Tunisia abolished a ban on Muslim women marrying non-Muslims.
• ●Former U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon was elected as the head of the International Olympic Committee’s ethics commission.

Important News- India

• ●The first of the six Scorpene submarines, Kalvari was handed over to the Indian Navy by shipbuilder Mazgaon Dock Ltd.
• ●The Film Federation Of India (FFI) selected Amit Masurkar's 'Newton' to be the Indian entry at the Oscars 2018.
• ●The Union Minister for Textiles and Information & Broadcasting, Smt. Smriti Irani inaugurated 6th Edition of the 4-day international textiles and apparel fair VASTRA 2017, in Jaipur.
• ●Minister of State Dr Jitendra Singh inaugurated first ‘Pension Adalat’ and presented Anubhav Awards 2017 16 pensioners. He also launched Mobile App to avail the services of Pensioners’ Portal.
• ●The law ministry gave approval to Fugitive Economic Offenders Bill, which will give powers to the government to confiscate property of economic offenders and defaulters who flee India.
• ●On September 14, 2017, Hindi Diwas, President Ram Nath Kovind has launched a 'LILA Mobile App' to understand Hindi easily.
• ●The Ministry of Women and Child Development will hold the first-ever National Conference in New Delhi on Mission Mode to address Under-Nutrition in the country.
• ●Air India has launched the first non-stop flight service between India and Denmark.
• ●India's first Centre for Animal Law has been established at NALSAR University of Law of Hyderabad.

Science and Technology:

• ●India's First High HP Electric Locomotive (12000 hp) is received from Alstom, a firm of France.
• ●The Department of Biotechnology will commission Brahmaputra Biodiversity Biology Boat (B4), a two-tiered barge in the Brahmaputra River to perform tests on water quality and biodiversity of the wider ecosystem.
• ●Tata Steel has in association with The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) has launched "Green School Project" in Odisha, an initiative to create awareness about environmental issues in school campuses.
• ●HP Inc India has unveiled its innovative, all-in-one point-of-sale (POS) system HP ElitePOS, with secure and enhanced performance features.
• ●Mindtree inaugurated its first international Digital Pumpkin innovation hub at New Jersey.
• ●Google has launched its UPI based mobile payment service, through an app named Tez, in India.

Important News- States

• ●Himachal Road Transport Corporation has launched it's electric bus service on Manali-Rohtang highway.
• ●Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu has announced 2017 as the year of e-Pragati
• ●Lalawmpuii Chawngthu has become the second woman to be inducted into the Council of Ministers of Mizoram after a period of 30 years.
• ●Andhra Pradesh CM N. Chandrababu Naidu launched 'People First' mobile application for grievance redressal.
• ●Tripura has become the first state in India to set up Family welfare district committees, to examine the complaints of women against their husbands and in-laws.
• ●Jharkhand Government has launched the Shaheed Gram Vikas Yojana
• for developing villages of freedom fighters.
• ●Bihar launched a mobile application called Bandhan Tod to create awareness on resisting child marriage.
• ●Former Indian cricketer Sachin Tendulkar launched Mission-24 programme to improve the quality of life in M-East ward of Mumbai.
• ●Kerala will start country's first exclusive clinics for the transgender community.
• ●Chhattisgarh has launched 'Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay Shram Anna Sahayata Yojna' to provide nutritious meal for Rs 5 to labourers in the state.
• ●Uttarakhand has named Bollywood actor Akshay Kumar as the brand ambassador of the Swachh Bharat Mission in the state.
• ●Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao launched Nation’s first Govt. Mobile Veterinary Clinics.
• ●The "Assam Employees’ Parents Responsibility and Norms for Accountability and Monitoring Bill-2017" – the Assam Employees PRANAM Bill was passed by the state assembly.

Sports News

• ●On the latest Badminton World Federation rankings, PV Sindhu has reached her career's best rank-number 2 from previous rank 5.
• ●The official emblem and slogan for FIFA Women's World Cup 2019 France were unveiled. The slogan of the tournament is "Dare To Shine".
• ●Mahendra Singh Dhoni has been nominated for the country's third highest civilian award, the Padma Bhushan, by ICC.
• ●The Union Cabinet has approved the revamped Khelo India programme at a cost of Rs.1,756 crore for the period 2017-18 to 2019-20.
• ●Ana Carrasco has become the first woman to win a world championship motorcycle race in Portimao, Portugal.
• ●Lewis Hamilton won Singapore Grand Prix and bagged Formula One world championship.
• ●India's PV Sindhu won her third Super Series title by grabbing Korea Open Super Series Title.