1) Essar group: India’s first private sector township to go cashless
•The Essar group’s township at Hazira in Surat district of Gujarat has become India’s first private sector township to go cashless.
•The residents of Essar township have been provided with The Mobile Wallet (TMW) that has seen more than 12,000 app downloads since the launch recently. This will prove to be an important step towards making India a cashless economy. Prime Minister of India in his demonetization speech clearly stated that we can not make India go cashless immediately but we can try to move towards Less-Cash Economy.
•TMW is a Mumbai-based financial technology company whose wallet is powered by Mumbai-headquartered RBL Bank Ltd.
Takeaways from above news:
•MD and CEO of Mumbai-headquartered Ratnakar Bank Ltd (RBL) is Vishwavir Ahuja.
•First cashless private sector township of India is Essar group’s township in Gujarat.
•The Mobile Wallet (TMW) app is launched by Mumbai-based The Mobile Wallet Pvt. Ltd.
2) Trivendra Rawat elected as Uttarakhand CM
•The BJP named Trivendra Singh Rawat, a former Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) pracharak as a new Uttarakhand CM after replacing of Harish Rawat.
•Mr.Trivendra Rawat named as the State's ninth Chief Minister. He is currently the convener of the Modi government’s flagship programme for Ganga cleanup, the ‘Namami Gange’ programme and also the party in charge in Jharkhand.
•What can be the possible questions from above news:
Q1. Trivendra Rawat elected as Uttarakhand CM, recently. He is ____th CM of the State.
Q2. Name the Former CM of Uttarakhand, replaced recently by Trivendra Singh Rawat.
Q3. Name the governor of Uttarakhand.
3) Pakistan successfully test-fires surface-to-sea missile
•Pakistan Navy conducted a successful test of a land-based anti-ship missile, bolstering the operational reach of the country’s navy to launch long-range, anti-ship missiles from land.
•The trial of the missile was conducted from the coastal region and the missile secured a hit on a target placed at sea. The missile is equipped with advanced technology and avionics, which enable engagement of targets at sea with a high degree of accuracy.
•The test-launch was witnessed by vice chief of Naval Staff Admiral Khan Hasham Bin Saddique and senior officers of Pakistan Navy.
4) GST Council Approves SGST & UTGST Draft Bills
•The Goods and Service Tax (GST) council headed by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley cleared the remaining State GST (SGST) and Union Territory GST (UTGST) draft bills during its 12 Council meeting.
•In the past meetings, the Council has already approved CGST (Central GST), IGST (Integrated GST) and Compensation drafts bills. Now with this Council has approved all five draft bills for GST which is likely to be rollout by July 1, 2017.
•The UTGST draft law is for the Union Territories like Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Lakshadweep, Daman and Diu and Dadra and Nagar Haveli, which do not have legislative assemblies.
•After March 31,2017 the Council will take up the exercise of fitment of various commodities in the GST tax four slabs structure which are 5%, 12%, 18% and 28%.
5) India, Russia sign long-term support pact on Sukhoi Su-30MKI
•India and Russia have signed two long-term support agreements for the Sukhoi Su-30MKI combat aircraft fleet, which is the mainstay of the Indian Air Force (IAF).
•Bangalore-headquartered Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) with United Aircraft Corporation and United Engine Corporation also signed an agreement for maintenance of other Russian-origin platforms, such as Mi-17 helicopters, MiG-29K aircraft, INS Vikramaditya and T-90 tanks.
This step will ensure quality production under ‘Make in India’ initiative which is aimed at making India self-reliant especially in the field of the manufacturing sector.
•Takeaways from above news:
•Headquarter of HAL is in Bangalore, Karnataka
•Name of the Combat aircraft is Sukhoi Su-30MKI
•Sukhoi Su-30MKI is developed by Russia's Sukhoi Aviation Corporation and licensed by HAL
•Make in India initiative was launched on 25 September 2014
6) Fukushima stadium included as additional baseball venue for 2020 Tokyo Olympics
•TOKYO (AP) — Organizers on Friday confirmed that baseball and softball games for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics will be held in Fukushima, an area hit by the 2011 earthquake and nuclear disaster.
•The International Olympic Committee approved the use of Fukushima Azuma Baseball Stadium as an additional venue for baseball and softball.
•The IOC and Tokyo organizers have been eager to use the games as a symbol of recovery from the 2011 disaster that hit Japan's northeastern region including Fukushima, 240 kilometers (150 miles) north of Tokyo, where entire communities fled after meltdowns at the Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear plant.
•More than 18,000 people died or went missing after a massive earthquake and tsunami.
•"By hosting Olympic baseball and softball events, Fukushima will have a great platform to show the world the extent of its recovery in the 10 years since the disaster," Tokyo 2020 president Yoshiro Mori said.
•The stadium, which has hosted professional baseball games in recent years, will be renovated for the games. Yokohama Stadium, some 40km (24 miles) from Tokyo, will be the main stadium for the baseball and softball competitions.
•The proposal to use the 31-year-old Fukushima stadium was approved at the IOC Executive Board meeting in Pyeongchang.
•Baseball and softball were dropped after the Beijing Olympics in 2008 but have been added to the Olympic program for the 2020 Games.
