Daily Current Affairs, 17th January 2020

1) India to host the 19th SCO Heads of Govt council meeting 2020

•India will host the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Council of Heads of Government meeting 2020. The meeting is held annually at the Prime Minister’s level and it discusses the SCO’s programme and multilateral economic and trade co-operation. All 8 members and 4 observer states and other international dialogue partners will be invited to the meeting.

•SCO member countries are Russia, China, India, Pakistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazhakstan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan. Observer countries are Afghanistan, Iran, Mongolia and Belarus.

2) Gujarat CM launched 7th Economic Census process

•Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani has launched the 7th Economic Census process in the state. Economic Census process is being organised by the Union Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation with the help of Common Service Centres. More than 40 thousand enumerators will use mobile application for the first time to gather information under the guidance of 6,500 supervisors.

•Enumerators will personally visit door to door for basic information like members of the family, their economic activity, whether it is shop, office or factory. It will continue till 30th June 2020. The entire data will be compiled on 30th September 2020. The data of this Economic Census will be classified into the village, taluka and district-wise to be developed into a National Business Register. This will be a very useful document for application into socio-economic issues of the country.

3) 1st edition of Krishi Manthan begins in Gujarat

•The 1st edition of Krishi Manthan– the largest Food, Agri-business and Rural Development Summit of Asia begins in Ahmedabad, Gujarat. This summit is organized by Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad. It is an exclusive platform for industry, academia, and policymakers to share ideas, knowledge, and expertise to create solutions. More than 1,500 delegates including students and academicians are participating in the event organized by the Food and Agribusiness Committee of IIMA.

4) GoI & World Bank signs loan agreement for Assam Inland Water Transport Project

•For the implementation of Assam Inland Water Transport Project, the Government of India (GoI), the Government of Assam and the World Bank have signed a $88 million loan agreement. The loan agreement seeks to modernize the Assam’s passenger ferry sector by improving the infrastructure and its services. The government ferries are operated by the Assam Shipping Company (ASC) while the terminals and terminal services are provided by the Assam Ports Company (APC) in the state of Assam.

Details of Loan agreement:

•The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) will provide the loan amount of $88 million for the modernization of Assam Inland Water Transport Project. The loan has a final maturity of 14.5 years with a grace period of 5 years.




Impact of the loan agreement:

•The $88 million agreement will provide technically better designed terminals and energy-efficient vessels to make the ferry services more efficient, modern and safe mode of river transport system. The ferry services will benefit both the passengers as well as the cargo carried by the vessels.

•The modernization of the ferry services with the increased efficiency will also led to low-carbon emission and is a more sustainable mode of transport. The above mode of transport is also an low cost option in comparison with the construction and maintenance of flood-resilient roads and bridges across the Brahmaputra river.

5) Noted writer Vasdev Mohi to be honoured with 29th Saraswati Samman

•Noted Sindhi writer Vasdev Mohi will be honoured with 29th Saraswati Samman. He has been selected for his short stories collection:- Chequebook, published in 2012. This short stories collection talks about the agonies and sufferings of marginalized sections of the society. He has authored 25 books of poetry, stories and translations. He has also received the Sahitya Akademi Award.

•Saraswati Samman a literary recognition given annually by the KK Birla Foundation. Saraswati Samman carries a cash award of 15 lakh rupees, a citation and a plaque.  Besides the Saraswati Samman, two other awards have been instituted by the KK Birla Foundation – the Vyas Samman (for Hindi works by Indian citizens) and Bihari Puraskar (for Hindi/Rajasthani works by Rajasthani writers) —, a literary and cultural organisation.

6) Defence Minister dedicates 51st K9 Vajra-T guns to nation

•Defence Minister Rajnath Singh dedicates the 51st K9 Vajra-T guns to the nation. This gun is self-propelled Howitzer gun made by L&T’s Armoured System Complex at Hazira in Gujarat. The gun weighs 50 tonnes and can fire 47-kilogram bombs at targets up to a distance of 43 kilometres. It can also turn around at zero radii. This future-ready combat vehicles meet the requirement of 21st-century warfare including deep fire support to the longer firing range.

7) National Book Trust appointed Lt Col Yuvraj Malik as director

•Lt Col Yuvraj Malik has been appointed as the Director of the National Book Trust on deputation from the Indian Army. He will replace Sahitya Akademi-awardee writer Rita Chowdhury. He has served with the Ministry of Defence, Ministry of Home Affairs, Raj Bhawan in Jammu & Kashmir, United Nation Missions in Africa and several operational areas. National Book Trust came under the Ministry of Human Resource Development.

8) Indian Railways’ SCR zone signs MoU with SBI to provide doorstep banking

•To provide doorstep banking services, the South Central Zone of the Indian Railways has signed an MoU with the State Bank of India. According to the MoU, the doorstep banking facility will be provided at 585 Railway Stations of the South Central Zone. The “doorstep banking” facility will enable direct pickup of earnings from the railway stations and will save the complex activity of cash movement through cash safes by trains.

Present Process of remittance?

•Before the signing of the MoU, the everyday earnings of the small railway stations used to be sent manually with the Guard of nominated trains. For the large stations, the earnings were remitted at the nominated nearest banks by the concerned commercial supervisor, escorted by the Railway Protection Force (RPF) personnel. There were several factors in the above process which led to the delay in remittance process. The factors are: availability of man power, holidays etc.

The advantages of provision of doorstep banking facility:

•The cash remittance technique would be uniform for all the railway stations.

•The real time information of the cash being deposited by different stations will led to better supervision and accountability.

•Unnecessary accumulation of cash at the railway stations can be avoided with the above facility.

Impact:

•The signed MoU will led to the introduction of door step banking which will increase the pace of financial transactions. The facility will also digitize the remittance of cash earnings of the railways. The State Bank of India (SBI) will collect the traffic earnings and make the process hassle free. The collected amount would be transferred to the Government account, thus avoiding any delay in the process.