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CURRENT AFFAIRS: DAYS
International Day of Peace and Non-Violence (UN)
- International Day of Peace and Non-Violence (UN) is observed on 21 September around the world. For the first time it was observed in September 1982 and in 2001, the General Assembly adopted a resolution 55/282, which established 21 September as International Day of Peace of non-violence and cease fire.
World Patient Safety Day
- World Patient Safety Day will be celebrated for the first time on 17 September 2019.
- Events will be held around the world to raise awareness of the need to establish patient safety as a global health priority. The day brings stakeholders together in an effort to reduce the unintended harm caused by healthcare.
| USEFUL INFO |
| Theme 2019 | “Speak Up for Patient Safety”. |
CURRENT AFFAIRS: NATIONAL
Government reduces corporate tax rate to 22%
- The Government of India has announced a significant reduction in corporate tax rate for domestic company to 22%.Earlier it was 30%.
- Effective Tax Rate would be 25.17% inclusive of all surcharges and cess for such domestic companies. Such companies are also not required to pay Minimum Alternative Tax.
- Any new domestic company incorporated on or after 1st Oct 2019 making fresh investment in manufacturing will have an option to pay income tax at rate of 15%. Effective tax rate for new mfgcos would to be 17.01% inclusive of surcharge and cess.
- The government has announced relief to listed companies which have already made a public announcement of buy-back before 5 July 2019. No tax on buy-back of shares in case of such companies will apply.
- In order to provide relief to companies which continue to avail incentive or exemptions, even for them the government has provided a Minimum Alternate Tax(MAT) relief, and the MAT rate has been reduced for them to 15% from the existing 18.5%.
- Total revenue foregone for the reduction of corporation tax is Rs 1.45 trillion per year.
Govt notifies 8.65% rate of interest for over 60 mn EPFO subscribers
- The government approved 8.65% interest rate on employees provident fund for 2018-19, which will now be credited into the accounts of over 60 million subscribers of retirement fund body EPFO.
- The EPFO has been settling EPF withdrawal claims at 8.55% interest rate, approved for 2017-18. Now, the EPFO will settle accounts on higher rate of 8.65% for 2018-19.
- The Labour Ministry will soon notify 8.65% rate of interest on Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF) for 2018-19 as the Finance Ministry does not disagree on this rate.
India Post expands speed post service to six new foreign countries
- India Post expanded speed post service to six new foreign destinations in Asia, Europe and South America.
- The Department of Posts has announced commencing of International Speed Post (EMS) Service to Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Ecuador, Kazakhstan, Lithuania and North Macedonia.
- India Post currently provides speed post service to 100 countries.
29th Meeting of the Northern Zonal Council held in Chandigarh
- Union Home Minister, Shri Amit Shah chaired the 29th meeting of the Northern Zonal Council was held at Chandigarh (Haryana)
- The meeting was attended by the Chief Ministers of Rajasthan, Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Governor of Jammu & Kashmir, Administrator of UT of Chandigarh, Lt. Governor of NCT of Delhi
- The Haryana chief minister is the vice-chairman and host of the meeting
- Western Zonal Council meeting recently held in Goa
- Five zonal councils were set up in 1957 under the States Reorganisation Act, 1956. The Union home minister is the chairman of each of these five councils. The chief minister of the host state is the vice-chairman
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| Ministry of Home Affairs |
| Union Minister | Amit Shah |
| Constituency | Gandhinagar, Gujarat |
CURRENT AFFAIRS: STATE
Maharashtra Government to Set up Swachh Bharat World University in Wardha
- The Government of Maharashtra has decided to set up ‘Swachh Bharat World University’ in Wardha to mark Mahatma Gandhi’s 150th birth anniversary. The University will focus on research studies in sanitation, cleanliness and environment.
- The State has formed a seven-member committee headed by the Minister of Education Vinod Tawde.
- The committee will conduct a study on the requirements of the University, including land, basic infrastructure and manpower and submit a report in two months.
- The government wants to establish the University, which will focus on cleanliness and sanitation research.
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| Maharashtra Capital | Mumbai |
| Maharashtra CM | Devendra Fadnavis |
| Maharashtra Governor | Bhagat Singh Koshyari |
Kerala to host country’s first-ever ‘trans art festival’
- “Varnapakitt-2019”, the two-day event is considered to be the first such state-sponsored art festival to be organised exclusively for transgenders in the country.
- Kerala is the first state to unveil a ‘Policy for Transgenders’, in the country.
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| Kerala Capital | Thiruvananthapuram |
| Kerala CM | Pinarayi Vijayan |
| Kerala Governor | Arif Mohammad Khan |
CURRENT AFFAIRS: BANKING AND FINANCE
Sebi sets up panel to suggest norms for social stock exchanges
- The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has constituted a working group on Social Stock Exchanges (SSE) under the chairmanship of Ishaat Hussain, Director, SBI Foundation.
- The working group shall examine and make recommendations with respect to possible structures and mechanisms, within the securities market domain, to facilitate the raising of funds by social enterprises and voluntary organizations.
- In Budget in July, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman proposed a social stock exchange for social enterprises and voluntary organisations working for social welfare to help them raise capital through debt, equity and mutual fund.
| USEFUL INFO |
| Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) |
| SEBI Headquarters | Mumbai |
| SEBI Chairman | Ajay Tyagi |
OECD slashes India’s economic growth forecast from 7.2% to 5.9%
- The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) appears to be the most pessimistic on India’s economy among think tanks, as it cut the GDP growth forecast by 1.3 percentage points to 5.9 per cent for 2019-20.
- For the next year, the OECD has projected the Indian economy to grow 6.3 per cent, bringing down its earlier forecast by 1.1 percentage points.
- The OECD predicted since the 2008-2009 financial crisis, slowing from 3.6 per cent last year to 2.9 per cent this year; it predicted 3 per cent growth for the next year.
| USEFUL INFO |
| Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) |
| Secretary Generals | José ÁngelGurría |
| Headquarters | Paris, France |
IMPS rated world’s best in real-time payment service
- India’s Immediate Payment Service (IMPS) has been rated as the world’s best real-time payment service in an analysis of 54 countries that have similar facilities.
- India received the only 5+ rating, and remains the global leader in real-time payments usage,” according to the sixth annual Flavours of Fast report by FIS.
- Real-time payments systems are also gaining popularity around the world, and their use has increased 35 per cent globally over the past year and nearly four-fold since 2014.
CURRENT AFFAIRS: BOOKS AND AUTHORS
The Cousins Thackeray: Uddhav, Raj and the Shadow of their Senas
- The book“The Cousins Thackeray: Uddhav, Raj and the Shadow of their Senas” penned by the journalist Dhaval Kulkarni was released. It is published by Penguin Random House.
- The book depicts the political journey of Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray and Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray.
New book to mark Gandhi’s 150th birth anniversary “Being Gandhi”
- A new book by award-winning author Paro Anand will mark the 150th anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi by looking beyond the leader and his politics and into his way of life.
- Titled “Being Gandhi”, the book explores “not Gandhi the man or his life as a leader, but really the Gandhian way that must remain relevant to us.”
- The story revolves around a boy, Chandrashekhar, who is bored of doing projects on Gandhi.
CURRENT AFFAIRS: AWARDS AND HONOURS
Super 30 Founder Anand Kumar Honored With Education Excellence Award
- The Foundation For Excellence (FFE) presented the Education Excellence Award 2019 to Super 30 founder and noted mathematician Anand Kumar.
- Anand was chosen for his contributions towards imparting education to the country’s needy students. The 46-year-old has been running a highly innovative Super 30 program for the last 18 years to mentor 30 students free off cost through year-long residential coaching for Indian’s premier IIT-JEE.
- Recently, a film based on Anand enacted by Bollywood star Hritik Roshan released in July. The film garnered approximately Rs. 144 crores in India within a month.
Entrepreneur and author Kapil Pathare honoured with Doctorate in Business from Ballsbridge University
- Kapil Pathare, Director of VIP Clothing Ltd, has been presented with an honorary Doctorate in Business from Ballsbridge University for his outstanding contribution to business and entrepreneurship.
- The Well-known Entrepreneur of India’s Iconic Brand ‘VIP Innerwear’ and Author of sports book was honoured with the Global Leaders Award ‘Enterprise Edition 2019’ by Madhur Bhandarkar in Dubai in recognition for his achievements in promoting entrepreneurship and small business at the International, National, and Regional level.
CURRENT AFFAIRS: DEFENCE
Indian Army Conducts Massive Exercise ‘Chang Thang’ in Eastern Ladakh Bordering China
- The Indian Army conducted a massive rare exercise involving all its arms and services including tanks, artillery and helicopters, in Eastern Ladakh bordering China, for testing and improving its war-fighting capabilities.
- The integrated exercise named ‘Chang Thang’ was conducted at a high altitude area in the region.
- It involved the use of infantry, mechanised forces, T-72 tanks, with force multipliers such as artillery guns and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles.
CURRENT AFFAIRS: MOU
DSCI, MeitY and Google India join hands for ‘Digital Payment Abhiyan’
- Nasscom’s Data Security Council of India (DSCI) has collaborated with the electronics and IT ministry (MeitY) and Google India to launch a nationwide awareness campaign ‘Digital Payment Abhiyan’.
- Communications and Electronics & IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad launched the campaign that will educate end-users on the benefits of making digital payments and urge them to adopt security and safety best practices
- The campaign was launched at the Google for India event.
- These partners include representation from banking, card networks as well as fin-tech segment.
- The pan-India campaign has crafted in seven languages — Hindi, English, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Bengali and Marathi — and will engage with users and make them aware of the dos and don’ts for different payment channels including UPI, wallets, cards as well as netbanking and mobile banking.
- Digital payments are shaping the financial ecosystem by providing citizens with new mediums to pay electronically and move towards a cashless society.
CURRENT AFFAIRS: OBITUARY
Tunisia’s former president Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali passes away
- Former president of Tunisia, Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, commonly known as Ben Ali, passed away. He was 83.
- Ben Ali served as the President of Tunisia from 1987 until his ousting in 2011.
- He was also appointed as Prime Minister in October 1987 and assumed the Presidency on 7 November 1987.