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CURRENT AFFAIRS: IMPORTANT DAYS
World Braille Day
- World Braille Day is celebrated every year on January 4th, for Louis Braille’s birthday, the inventor of Braille.
- Louis was born in 1809 in France, He became blind after a childhood accident and he quickly mastered his new way of living. When he was just 15 years old, he created the system we know today as Braille.
CURRENT AFFAIRS: NATIONAL
Parliament passed National Council for Teacher Education (Amendment) Bill, 2018
- The Indian Parliament passed the National Council for Teacher Education (Amendment) Bill, 2018, following the approval of the Rajya Sabha.
- The Lok Sabha had already passed the Bill on July 23, 2018. The Bill seeks to amend the National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE) Act, 1993.
- That bill seeks to retrospectively grant recognition to certain institutions running teacher education courses as well as grant retrospective permission to start new courses.
- The Bill was introduced by the Union Minister of Human Resource Development, Prakash Javadekar in Lok Sabha on December 18, 2017.
Indian Oil Corporation will commission its first liquefied natural gas (LNG) import terminal at Ennore in Tamil Nadu
- Indian Oil Corp (IOC), the nation’s biggest oil firm stated that, it will commission its first Rs. 5,151 crore worth liquefied natural gas (LNG) import terminal at Ennore in Tamil Nadu.
- This is the first LNG import terminal IOC has built on its own, It holds 95 per cent stake in the Ennore LNG import terminal. Tamil Nadu Industrial Development Corporation (TIDCO) has 5 per cent.
- The firm is also working on laying a 1,385 km natural gas pipeline originating from the Ennore terminal to Nagapattinam in Tamil Nadu via Puducherry.
Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education amendment Bill passed in Parliament
- Parliament has passed the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (Amendment) Bill, 2018,
- The Lok Sabha had already passed the bill seeking to further amend the Right to Education Act, 2009.
- The existing policy under the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009, prohibits schools from detaining students till they complete elementary education.
- The Bill seeks to amend the Right to Education (RTE) Act to abolish the “no-detention” policy in schools.
CURRENT AFFAIRS: INTERNATIONAL
Storm Usman hits Philippines
- Storm Usman hit the Bicol region in Manila
- The tropical depression, locally named Usman, brought heavy rains, causing catastrophic flooding and triggering deadly landslides.
| USEFUL INFO |
| Philippines Capital | Manila |
| Currency | Philippine peso |
| President | Rodrigo Duterte |
CURRENT AFFAIRS: BANKING AND FINANCE
Public Sector lender Syndicate Bank and SBI Life Insurance signed Bancassurance pact
- Syndicate Bank and SBI Life Insurance have signed a pact to offer a comprehensive financial planning solution to its customers.
- This partnership will see over 3000 branches of Syndicate Bank offer SBI Life’s diverse range of insurance products to its customers.
| Syndicate Bank Headquarters | Manipal, Karnataka, |
| Tagline | Faithful and Friendly. |
| MD & CEO | Mrutyunjay Mahapatra |
| SBI Life Headquarters | Mumbai |
| MD & CEO | Sanjeev Nautiyal |
Bharti AXA Life delivers policy, renewal premium receipts via WhatsApp
- Private sector insurer Bharti AXA Life Insurance has started delivering policies and renewal premium receipt to customers via instant messaging platform WhatsApp.
- Bharti AXA Life Insurance, a joint venture between Bharti Enterprises and French Insurance major AXA
| Chief Operating Officer (COO) | Ishita Mukherjee |
| MD & CEO | Vikas Seth |
HDFC Mutual Fund piped ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund to become largest AMC in India
- HDFC Mutual Fund has piped ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund to become the country’s largest asset management company (AMC) after a gap of over two years.
- As of December-end, HDFC MF manages assets to the tune of Rs 3.35 lakh crore, while those of ICICI Prudential MF stood at Rs 3.08 lakh crore.
- SBI MF is at the third slot with AUM of Rs 2.64 lakh crore, followed by Aditya Birla Sun Life MF Rs 2.42 lakh crore, and Reliance MF Rs 2.36 lakh crore.
SEBI allowed custodial services in commodity market
- Markets regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has allowed custodial services in the commodity derivatives market, which would enable participation of institutional investors, including mutual funds, in the segment.
- SEBI stated that under the new framework, existing custodians will be permitted to add commodities as an asset class and provide physical delivery of both the securities and commodities.
- Currently, the regulation on custodian of securities provides safekeeping of securities, gold or gold related instruments, title deeds of real estate and services incidental.
CURRENT AFFAIRS: APPOINTMENTS AND RESIGNATION
Pentagon comptroller David Norquist to serve as acting deputy defence secretary
- The Pentagon’s top financial officer David Norquist will take over as the acting deputy defence secretary, in succession to Patrick Shanahan, who took over as the acting defence secretary.
- Norquist has been the department’s chief financial officer and comptroller since May 2017.
- In addition to that, Deputy Secretary of Defence Patrick Shanahan was appointed to serve as the acting secretary of defence.
CURRENT AFFAIRS: SUMMIT AND CONFERENCE
Kochi to host Advertising Association global summit in February
- The International Advertising Association (IAA) will host the IAA World Congress at will be held at the Lulu International Convention Centre in Kochi from February 20 to 22, 2019.
- The world congress is held every alternate year, This is the first time an Indian city is hosting the summit,
| Theme of the summit | BrandDharma’ |
| IAA world president | Srinivasan Swamy. |
CURRENT AFFAIRS: AWARDS AND HONOURS
India’s Arunima Sinha becomes world’s first woman amputee to climb highest peak of Antarctica
- Arunima Sinha, the first female amputee to have conquered Mt Everest, created another record as she became world’s first woman amputee to climb highest peak of Antarctica.
- Her aim was to climb all the continents’ highest peaks and hoist the national flag of India. She has already done six peaks: Everest in Asia, Kilimanjaro in Africa, Elbrus in Europe, Kosciuszko in Australia, Aconcagua in Argentina and Carstensz Pyramid (Puncak Jaya) in Indonesia.
CURRENT AFFAIRS: MOU
IIT Bombay and public sector oil companies inked a MOU
- IIT Bombay and public sector oil companies inked a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for setting up Centre of Excellence in Oil, Gas and Energy.
- The MoU was signed by heads of Indian Oil Corp (IOC), Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC), GAIL India Ltd, Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd (BPCL), Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd (HPCL), Oil India Ltd and Engineers India Ltd.
CURRENT AFFAIRS: DEFENCE
Defence industries received Rs 1.21 cr FDI during 2014-18
- India’s defence sector received Rs 1.21 crore foreign direct investments during 2014-18,
- Minister of State for Commerce and Industry C R Chaudhary stated that, FDI equity inflow of Rs 12,146,180 has been reported in the sector namely ‘Defence Industries’ during the period 2014-2018.
- As per the current policy, in defence sector, foreign investment beyond 49 percent has been permitted through approval route.
CURRENT AFFAIRS: OBITUARIES
Bengali writer Dibyendu Palit passed away
- Renowned Bengali writer and Sahitya Akademi awardee Dibyendu Palit passed away.
- He was born in Bhagalpur in Bihar in 1939, Palit had studied comparative literature in Jadavpur University and his first short story ‘Chhandopatan’ was published in 1955.
- Palit, who was conferred the Sahitya Akademi for his novel ‘Anubhab’ in 1998. He was awarded the ‘Bankim Purashkar’ for ‘Dheu’ in 1990 and ‘Ananda Purashkar’ in 1984 for ‘Sahojoddha.