Current Affairs 22nd or 23rd July 2018

National News

1. Decisions In 28th Meeting of GST Council: Complete Highlights 

i. The 28th meeting of GST Council was held in New Delhi. It reduced tax rates on more than 50 items and exempted sanitary napkins, rakhis, stone, marble, wooden deities and Saal leaves from GST. Finance Minister Piyush Goyal chaired the 28th GST Council meeting in New Delhi. 

ii. Highlights On the changes  that have been made in the meeting: 

1. GST on footwear priced below 1,000 rupees will attract 5% rate.  GST on imported urea and ethanol sold to oil companies for blending with petrol and diesel has been reduced to 5%. 

2. GST rate on handbags, jewellery box, wooden box for paintings, artware of glass, stone endeavour, ornamental framed mirrors and handmade lamps were reduced to 12%.

3. Lithium-ion batteries, vacuum cleaners, food grinders, mixers, storage water heaters, hair dryers, hand dryers, paint, varnishes, water cooler, milk cooler, ice cream coolers, perfumes, toilet sprays and toilet preparation have been brought to 18 from 28% slab. 

4. GST council has cleared 46 amendments which will be passed in Parliament. The exemption limit for traders in Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh and Sikkim has been increased from 10 lakh to 20 lakh rupees. 

Static/Current Takeaways Important for SBI PO/Clerk Exam 2018- 

·                     GST is an Indirect Tax which has replaced many Indirect Taxes in India. 

·                     The Goods and Service Tax Act was passed in the Parliament on 29th March 2017. 

·                     The Act came into effect on 1st July 2017. 

2. Rajnath Singh launches the Student Police Cadet (SPC) programme

i. The Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh launched the Student Police Cadet (SPC) programme for nationwide implementation at a ceremony in Gurugram, Haryana.
ii. Earlier the Home Minister launched the theme song and training manual of SPC prepared by the Bureau of Police Research and Development (BPR&D). 

3. Advanced weather forecasting system unveiled in New Delhi

i. Minister for Science and Technology Harsh Vardhan has unveiled the first of a kind Air Quality and Weather Forecast System, SAFAR at Chandni Chowk in New Delhi. The giant true colour LED display will give real-time air quality index on the 24x7 basis with colour coding along with 72-hour advance forecast. 

ii. The new system can track UV-Index, PM1, Mercury and Black carbon in real time and will provide health advisory and related precaution.

4. Environment Minister Inaugurates Advanced System Of Air Quality ‘SAFAR’ 

i. Union Environment Minister Harsh Vardhan unveiled a state-of-the-art Air Quality and Weather Forecast System– ‘SAFAR’ (System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting) at Chandni Chowk in New Delhi.
ii. The Environment Ministry’s mission model project ‘SAFAR’ is being implemented in four cities of India – Delhi, Pune, Mumbai and Ahmedabad as an operational service. 

iii. First of its kind in the country, the system was developed indigenously by Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, Pune and operationalised by India Meteorological Department (IMD).

5. Public Affairs Index 2018: Kerala Best Governed State, Bihar Worst 

i. According to the Public Affairs Index 2018, Kerala is the best-governed state in the country, released by a Bengaluru think-tank, Public Affairs Centre. As per the report, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Karnataka and Gujarat are among the top five states delivering good governance. Bihar, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Odisha ranked the lowest on the index, indicating higher social and economic inequalities. 

ii. Among smaller states – with the population less than two crore – Himachal Pradesh topped the list of states with good governance, followed by Goa, Mizoram, Sikkim and Tripura. Meghalaya performed the worst in this list. Manipur, Nagaland, Delhi and Jammu and Kashmir were the other poor performers. This year’s index also measured how child-friendly each state is. Kerala, Himachal Pradesh and Mizoram topped this index. 

International News

6. PM Modi Embarked On 3-Nation Visit To Rwanda, Uganda, and South Africa 

i. Prime Minister Narendra Modi left on a three-nation visit to Rwanda, Uganda and South Africa. In the first leg of his five-day visit, Mr Modi will reach Rwanda. India will extend two lines of credit of 100 million US Dollars each for agriculture and industrial sectors to Rwanda during his two-day visit to that country. 

ii. On second leg he will leave for Uganda where he will call on the President. He will have delegation-level talks and will address Indian community. Two lines of credit worth 164 million US Dollars will be extended to Uganda during the visit. In the last leg of his visit, Prime Minister Modi will reach South Africa to attend the 10th BRICS summit at Johannesburg. 

Static/Current Takeaways Important for SBI PO/Clerk Exam 2018- 

·                     Rwanda Capital: Kigali, Currency: Rwandan franc. 

·                     Uganda Capital: Kampala, Currency: Ugandan shilling. 

·                     South Africa President: Cyril Ramaphosa, Currency- South African rand. 

                                                             Banking News

7. Federal Bank Gets RBI Nod To Enter Bahrain, Kuwait, Singapore 

i. Private Sector Lender Federal Bank has received the regulatory nod to open offices in Bahrain, Kuwait and Singapore, but is awaiting local clearances before it starts operations. 

ii. Federal Bank already has representative offices in Abu Dhabi and Dubai, and its desire to expand comes even as a majority of its larger peers are downsizing their overseas presence. 

Static/Current Takeaways Important for SBI PO/Clerk Exam 2018- 

·                     S Srinivasan is the MD and CEO of Federal Bank. 

·                     It headquarters in Kochi, Kerala. 

Sports News

8. All India Football Federation Awards 2017 Announced: Complete List of Winners 

 Sunil Chhetri 

 i. The All India Football Federation (AIFF), the governing body of football in India named India and Bengaluru FC Captain Sunil Chhetri as the AIFF Player of the Year in the Federation's Executive Committee Meeting in Mumbai.
ii. The meeting was chaired by AIFF President Praful Patel. The All India Football Federation has announced several other awards as well in the Meeting. Kamala Devi bagged the 2017 AIFF Woman Player of the Year.
Find The Complete List of Winners Here

9. Fakhar Zaman, Quickest Player To Reach 1000 Runs In 1-Day Internationals 

i. Fakhar Zaman recently scored a double century for Pakistan against Zimbabwe and he became the first player from Pakistan to score a double century in a one-day international. He became the quickest player in history to reach 1,000 runs in the format. 

ii. Fakhar Zaman has broken the record of West Indies cricketer Vivian Richards. Fakhar Zaman took 18 innings to reach the 1000 mark. Vivian Richards had achieved this mark in 21 matches.
10. Muhammed Anas Yahiya Breaks Own National Record In 400m 

i. Star sprinter Muhammed Anas Yahiya once again entered the record books as he broke his own national record to win the 400 metres race at the Cena Noveho Mesta nad Metuji meet in the Czech Republic. 
ii. Anas set a time of 45.24 seconds to break his own record of 45.31 seconds which he had set during the Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast in April 2018.

11. Historic Win: Lakshya Sen Wins Badminton Asian Junior Championships Title 

i. Indian badminton player Lakshaya Sen bagged the gold medal after defeating Indonesia’s top-seeded Kunlavut Vitidsaran in the final match of the Badminton Asia Junior Championship in Jakarta, Indonesia. 

ii. The 16-year-old thrashed his Indonesian opponent to win gold for the country at the mega-event after a gap of six years. The feat is only the second for India in the men's singles category since Gautam Thakkar's gold way back in the 1965 edition of the tournament. 

Static/Current Takeaways Important for SBI PO/Clerk Exam 2018- 

·                     Indonesia Capital- Jakarta, Currency- Indonesian rupiah. 

12. Junior Asian Wrestling Championship: India Win 8 Medals, Iran Tops 

i. India won 8 medals in the two day Junior Asian Wrestling Championship which concluded in New Delhi. The medals comprised 2 gold, 3 silver and 3 bronze. Sachin Rathi won the gold after winning the bout in the 74-kilogram category. Deepak Punia then won the gold in the 86 kilogram category.

ii. Iran with 189 points topped the team championship. India with 173 points finished second while Uzbekistan with 128 points came third. 

Obituaries

13. Pulitzer Prize-Winning Restaurant Critic Jonathan Gold Passes Away 

i. Los Angeles Times and Pulitzer Prize-winning restaurant critic Jonathan Gold passed away at 57.
ii. He became the first restaurant critic to win a Pulitzer for criticism in 2007. Gold died of pancreatic cancer after being diagnosed with the disease.