Current Affairs: 6 September 2017

National Events

Govt launches two new contraceptives

• Two new free contraceptives, an injectable drug and a pill that the centre introduced in July this year were formally launched in 10 states.
• The introduction of new contraceptives will expand the basket of choices for the country’s population to meet their family planning needs.
• The contraceptives, which are available for free in medical colleges and district hospitals at present, have so far been launched in the states of Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Karnataka, Haryana, West Bengal, Odisha, Delhi and Goa.
• The contraceptives are safe and highly effective, the ‘Antara’ injectable being effective for three months and the ‘Chayya’ pill for one week, and will help meet the changing needs of couples and help women plan and space their pregnancies
• The contraceptives are being launched under the government’s Mission ParivarVikas
• The main objective of the Mission Parivar Vikas family planning initiative is to bring down the Total Fertility Rate (TFR) to 2.1, which is when the population starts stabilizing, by the year 2025.

Yogi Adityanath, Rajnath Singh flag off Lucknow Metro

• Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath flagged off the maiden run of the Lucknow Metro in Lucknow 
• The services will be opened for public use the next day. The 8.5-km-long 'Priority Corridor' from Transport Nagar to Charbagh, which is part of the Phase-1 of the project, will be operational for the public from 6 am to 10 pm everyday.

International Events

India-Nepal joint military exercise begins with focus on counter-terrorism

• India and Nepal on Sunday began their joint military exercise in the western part of the Himalayan country, focusing on counter-terrorism and forest fighting operations.
• The exercise - Surya Kiran - was being participated by around 300 troops each side in Rupandehi district.
• Senior Nepal Army officer Rajendra Karki inaugurated the exercise
• The 12th edition of Nepal-India joint military exercise will conclude on September 16.
• According to the Indian Army officials, the Surya Kiran is the largest joint exercise in terms of troop participation.

Cuba begins 5-month political transition

• Cuba began a five-month political transition expected to end with Raul Castro’s departure from the presidency, capping his family’s near-total dominance of the country’s political system for nearly 60 years.
• Over the rest of this month, Cubans will meet in small groups to nominate municipal representatives. Cuban officials say 12,515 block-level districts will nominate candidates for city council elections on October 22.
• In the second electoral stage, a commission dominated by government-linked organisations will pick all the candidates for elections to provincial assemblies and Cuba’s national assembly.
• The congress is expected to pick the president and members of the powerful Council of State by February. 
• Mr. Castro has said he will leave the presidency by that date, though he is expected to remain head of the Communist Party.

Sports

Ankur Mittal settles for silver in double trap

• Indian shooter Ankur Mittal settled for the silver medal in the double trap event of the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) World Shotgun Championship
• Mittal finished with 66 points in contrast to Fokeev's 68. China's Binyuan Hu settled for the bronze with 50 points in the summit showdown.
• Meanwhile, in the finals of the juniors' double trap event, 17-year-old Ahvar Rizvi also clinched a silver medal with a score of 66 points.

Amritpal Singh becomes first Indian to be signed by Australian basketball team

• The captain of the Indian basketball team, Amritpal Singh scripted history by becoming the first Indian-born player to be picked up by an Australian NBL team. 
• He had earlier been a part of the four-member Indian contingent of Amjyot Singh, Yadwinder Singh and Vishesh Bhriguvanshi, who had been a part of the National Basketball League (NBL) Draft Combine in Melbourne, Australia earlier this year. 
• He was then invited by the Sydney Kings for the Atlas Challenge 2017 tournament in China.

Konsam Ormila Devi bags gold at Commonwealth Youth weight lifting C’ship

• India’s Konsam Ormila Devi bagged a gold medal in 44kg weight category on the opening day of the Commonwealth Youth (boys & girls) weightlifting championships, held at Gold Coast, Australia.
• Ormila lifted 57kg in snatch and 76kg in clean and jerk for an overall effort of 133kg, to finish on the top of the podium. With this effort, Ormila has registered her best lift so far.

Banking & Business

Fincare Small Finance Bank starts operations with 25 branches

• Fincare Small Finance Bank (previously known as Disha Microfin Limited) on Friday kick-started its banking operations with about 25 operational branches across Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh.
• The bank was given final small finance bank (SFB) licence from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in May this year. On the day of its launch, the bank raised over Rs. 225 crore of deposits from its about 1000-odd depositors. This forms about 15 per cent of the bank's existing balance sheet of Rs. 2000 crore, which includes Rs. 1,350 crore as loans and advances, Rs. 450 crore as investments besides the deposits.
• In a bid to become a small finance bank, Disha Microfin had acquired the business of Future Financial Services in October 2016. Currently, as per the RBI norms, promoters and management hold 20 per cent in Fincare, while the remaining 80 per cent is with PE funds.
• The bank aims to be digitally driven, rural and semi-urban bank, focusing on the priority sectors and retail segments of micro and small enterprises.
• Fincare has laid ambitious plan to have 10 million customers with a deposit base of Rs. 14,000 crore and assets of Rs. 20,000 crore by 2022.

Ajanta Pharma gets USFDA nod for Parkinson's disease tablet

• Ajanta Pharma has received final approval from the US health regulator for Entacapone tablets, used in the treatment of Parkinson's disease. 
• The company said it will launch the product shortly in the strength of 200mg tablets. 
• This new approval is part of portfolio of products that the company has developed for the US market 
• Ajanta Pharma has 35 abbreviated new drug applications (ANDAs) of which it has final approval for 20 ANDAs, tentative approval for 2 ANDA and 13 ANDAs are under review with USFDA, 

Numaligarh Refinery Limited commenced export of High-Speed Diesel to Myanmar

• Ahead of Prime minister, Narendra Modi’s visit to Myanmar, Assam based Numaligarh Refinery Limited (NRL) has commenced export of High-Speed Diesel ( Gas Oil) to Myanmar. NRL plans to export 5,000 MT of HSD per month to Myanmar through Tank Lorry. 
• NRL is exploring the possibility of laying a pipeline to export diesel at a later stage. 
• Two tank trucks carrying 40 Kilo Litres of High-Speed Diesel was flagged off on Monday from the bordering town of Moreh in Manipur to Tamu in Myanmar. 
• NRL’s Refinery is located at a distance of 420 km from Moreh - Tamu Myanmar border connected by Asian Highway I. The consignment will be received by officials of M/s Parami Energy Services Co. Limited (PES), Myanmar at Tamu. 

RBI lists HDFC Bank as ‘systematic important’

• The Reserve Bank of India has listed HDFC Bank as a domestic systemically important bank (DSIB) under the bucketing structure identified last year. 
• State Bank of India and ICICI Bank were identified as DSIBs under the RBI rules in 2015. The additional Common Equity Tier 1 (CET1) requirement for D-SIBs has already been phased-in from April 1, 2016 and will become fully effective from April 1, 2019. 
• The additional CET1 requirement will be in addition to the capital conservation buffer. “D-SIB surcharge for HDFC Bank will be applicable from April 1, 2018
• The RBI had issued the framework for dealing with domestic systemically important banks (D-SIBs) on July 22, 2014. 
• The D-SIB framework requires the RBI to disclose the names of banks designated as D-SIBs every year in August starting from 2015 and place these banks in appropriate buckets depending upon their systemic importance scores (SISs).
• In case a foreign bank having branch presence in India is a global systemically important bank (G-SIB), it has to maintain additional CET1 capital surcharge in India as applicable to it as a G-SIB, proportionate to its risk weighted assets (RWAs) in India. 

Awards & Honours

Vice president honours 219 teachers with national award

• In a break from tradition, Vice President Venkaiah Naidu, instead of the president, today gave away the national awards for teachers. 
• President Ram Nath Kovind later interacted with the 219 awardees at the Rashtrapati Bhavan 
• Constituted in 1958, the National Award for Teachers is presented by the president to teachers, who have rendered exemplary service to the nation by exhibiting meritorious performance. The awards cover teachers working in primary, middle and secondary schools in the country. 
• On the occasion, the vice president also launched DIKSHA, a national digital infrastructure for teachers. 
• "DIKSHA is a customisable national digital infrastructure that states, Teacher Education Institutions (TEI) and private entities can use for their respective teacher-centric initiatives. 
• "Teachers will be able to use DIKSHA to access and create high quality teaching, learning and assessment resources for all subjects and levels in al Indian languages. They will be able to use DIKSHA to access and create high quality teaching

Appointments

DHFL appoints Harshil Mehta as Joint MD and CEO

• Housing finance company DHFL today elevated company's CEO Harshil Mehta as Joint Managing Director and CEO. 
• The appointment signifies the company's endeavour to develop a proficient executive team to accelerate organisation's growth, provide greater impetus to support the 'Housing for All' mission and remain focused on serving the LMI customer segment. 

Rama Moorthy takes over as MD and CEO of Tamilnad Mercantile Bank

• Former United Bank of India's (UBI) Executive Director K V Rama Moorthy has taken over as Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Tamilnad Mercantile Bank Ltd.
• Prior to this, he was working as Executive Director of United Bank of India since 2015 and earlier he was with Bank of Baroda.
• The appointment of Moorthy is for a period of three years from the date of assuming the charge according to the approval received from the Reserve Bank of India, in line with the earlier recommendations of the bank's board.

India-Origin Vasant Narasimhan Named CEO Of Novartis

• Vasant Narasimhan will be elevated as chief executive of Novartis in February
• Current chief executive Joseph Jimenez will retire next year. 
• A Novartis employee since 2005, Mr Narasimhan is currently the global head of drug development and chief medical officer with the Swiss drug company. 
• Just 41, he is among a new generation of leaders at Novartis who have sought to improve the process in which drugs move from research to actually becoming a commercial product.
• Swiss drug maker Novartis had reported revenues of $48.5 billion in 2016.

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