Daily Current Affairs, 16th August 2019

1) PM announces appointment of a Chief of Defence Staff

•In his Independence Day address to the nation, Prime Minister has announced the appointment of a Chief of Defence Staff. The Chief of Defence Staff will be above the three Service Chiefs. The CDS is meant to be a single-point military advisor to the government who will coordinate long-term planning, procurements, training and logistics of the three services. The CDS will also act as the military advisor to the Prime Minister on nuclear issues.

•This is one the country’s biggest higher level military reform to bring in jointness and tri-service integration. In the absence of a CDS, presently the senior most of the three Chiefs functions as the Chairman of Chiefs of Staff Committee (COSC). Air Chief Marshal B.S. Dhanoa is the present chairman of COSC.

2) PM to be the chairman of the Inter-State Council

•The Inter-State Council has been reconstituted with Prime Minister as its chairmanand 6 Union ministers and all chief ministers as its members. Home Minister Amit Shahwill chair the standing committee of the Inter-State Council.

•The Union ministers who will be members of the reconstituted council are Amit Shah (Home), Nirmala Sitharaman (Finance), Rajnath Singh (Defence), Narendra Singh Tomar (Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Rural Development and Panchayati Raj).

•The Inter-State Council is mandated to investigate and advise on disputes between states. It is also tasked with giving recommendations on any such dispute and recommendations for the better coordination of policy and action.

3) ISRO Chairman K. Sivan honoured with A.P.J. Abdul Kalam Award

•Tamil Nadu government has awarded K. Sivan with its Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam Award. K. Sivan is currently serving as the chairman of Indian Space Research Organisation.

4) Harshad Pandurang Thakur appointed as NIHFW’s director

•Harshad Pandurang Thakur has been appointed as the director of National Institute of Health and Family Welfare. The proposal of appointment was approved by the appointments Committee of the Cabinet, headed by Prime Minister.

•The NIHFW is an autonomous organisation under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. It acts as an apex technical institute as well as a think tank for the promotion of health and family welfare programmes in the country.

5) RBI clarifies rules on ‘free ATM transactions’

•The Reserve Bank of India has clarified rules on ‘free ATM transactions’ provided by banks to its customers. Banks provide certain number of free transactions at ATMs to their customers and beyond that impose charges.

According to the Reserve Bank of India, the following transactions should not be counted as valid ATM transactions for the customer as the ‘free ATM transactions’:

•Transactions failed at ATMs due to technical reasons like hardware and software issues.

•Transactions failed due to non-availability of currency in ATMs.

•Use of ATMs for non-cash withdrawal transactions such as balance enquiry, cheque book request, payment of taxes, funds transfer.

6) Ravi Shastri appointed as Head Coach of Indian Cricket Team

•Former all-rounder Ravi Shashtri has been appointed as the head coach of Indian cricket team for another two years. Cricket Advisory Committee led by former Indian Cricket captain Kapil Dev along with Anshuman Gaekwad and Shantha Rangaswamy conducted interviews of shortlisted candidates for Indian cricket team’s head coach.

•Shastri has also played the role of the Team Director earlier and is currently the head coach of the Indian team after given a 45-day extension following the World Cup. Shastri has represented India in 80 Tests and 150 ODIs.