By: D.K Chaudhary
1. Arun Jaitley launches Paytm Payments Bank
i. A new Payments Bank ‘Paytm Payments Bank’ was formally launched at the hands of the Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley. Currently, India has four Payments Bank including Paytm Payments Bank. The other three operational ones are Airtel Payments Bank, India Post Payments Bank and Fino Payments Bank.
ii. A payments bank is a differentiated bank. A customer can open a savings bank account in them and have deposits of upto Rs. 1 lakh. These banks cannot however lend money to their customers.
- Vijay Shekhar Sharma is the Chairman in the Paytm Payments Bank.
- There is no minimum balance requirement for your Paytm Payments Bank Savings Account.
2. 48th Edition of International Film Festival of India Concludes
i. The festival concluded with the world premiere of Indo-Argentinian co-production “Thinking of Him”, directed by Pablo Cesar. The closing ceremony was attended by Goa Chief Minister, Manohar Parikkar, Union Minister Smriti Irani.
ii. The legendary actor Amitabh Bachchan was honoured with the Indian film personality of the year Award at the glittering Closing Ceremony. The award was presented by Union Minister Smirit Irani and Akshay Kumar.
- Panaji is capital of Goa.
- Mridula Sinha is the Governor of Goa.
3. Russia to Help India to Set up National Crisis Response Centre
i. Russia will assist India to set up a national crisis management centre in the country to handle disaster and other emergency situations.
ii. This was agreed during a meeting between Indian Home Minister Rajnath Singh and Russian Minister for Emergency Situations Vladimir Puchkov in Moscow. Both sides agreed that EMERCOM of Russia would cooperate with India in the establishment of the National Crisis Management Centre (NCMC) in India.
- Capital of Russia is Moscow.
4. FSSAI Issues Detailed Guidelines on recall of Food Products
i. The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has asked companies to put in place a proper plan to recall food products from markets, if found unsafe.
ii. FSSAI has issued detailed guidelines on recall of food products and stated that the purpose is to help food business operators (FBOs) frame a proper recall plan and implement them when the situation demand.
- FSSAI established under Food Safety and Standards, 2006 which consolidates various acts & orders.
- Ashish Bahuguna is Chairperson of FSSAI.
- Pawan Kumar Agarwal is CEO of FSSAI.
5. Olympics: IOC bans Five more Russians for life over Sochi Doping
i. Five more Russian competitors from the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics, including two gold medallists, have been banned for life over anti-doping rule violations by International Olympic Committee (IOC).
ii. Dmitrii Trunenkov and Aleksei Negodailo, both in the gold-medal winning four-man bobsleigh team, plus biathlon relay silver medalists Yana Romanova and Olga Vilukhina, who also won silver in the 7.5 kilometers event. Sergei Chudinov, who came fifth in the men’s individual skeleton, was also disqualified for doping breaches.
- Headquarters of IOC- Lausanne, Switzerland.
- The 2020 Summer Olympics held in- Tokyo (Japan) in 2020.
- President of IOC- Thomas Bach.
6. Jet Airways, Air France-KLM tie up to Boost Traffic
i. Jet Airways and Air France-KLM announced a partnership to route more traffic through Europe and on to North America, in a potential challenge to Gulf carrier Etihad Airways that is a shareholder in Jet.
ii. The agreement also includes Delta Air Lines, with which Air France KLM has an existing partnership.
7. Bitcoin Crosses $10,000 for the First Time Ever
i. Bitcoin rose above the symbolic $10,000 threshold for the first time, bringing its rise for the year to date to more than 900 per cent. The price of the cryptocurrency edged above $10,000 on Coinbase, the largest dollar denominated bitcoin exchange, which gave the latest price as $10,052 in Asia.
ii. Bloomberg data gave the intraday high as $10,058 before easing to $9,999.Bitcoin was trading at around $1,000 dollars at the beginning of 2017.
8. French film on AIDS wins Best Film Award at IFFI 2017
i. Robin Campillo’s French film 120 Beats Per Minute, about a passionate fight against indifference towards AIDS, won the prestigious Golden Peacock award for best film at the controversy-ridden 48th International Film Festival of India. The film’s actor Nahuel Perez Biscayart won the Silver Peacock in the best actor male category.
ii. Malayalam film Take Off, which is loosely based on the evacuation of nurses from Kerala, who were stranded in Iraq’s Tikrit in 2014, won two awards at the festival’s Indian Panorama section, winning Silver Peacocks for best direction (Mahesh Narayanan) and best actor female (Parvathy). Actor Amitabh Bachchan was also presented the Indian film personality of the year award.
- 48th International Film Festival of India was held in Goa.
- Smriti Irani is union Information and Broadcasting and Textiles Minister.
9. Aung San Suu Kyi stripped of Freedom of Oxford Award
i. Myanmar’s de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi has been stripped of the Freedom of Oxford award over her “inaction” in handling the raging Rohingya refugee crisis and turning a “blind eye to violence” in the country that forced over 600,000 people to flee to Bangladesh.
ii. Oxford City Council in London voted unanimously to permanently remove the honour given to 72-year-old Suu Kyi in 1997.
10. Hyderabad Metro Rail Opens to Public
i. The Hyderabad Metro Rail opened for public with the passengers describing their first-time travel by it as a “convenient, comfortable and awesome experience“. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has inaugurated the first phase of the elevated Hyderabad Metro Rail project at the Miyapur station.
ii. The metro rail commenced its operations between Miyapur and Nagole, having a total distance of 30 kms and 24 stations, the concessionaire, L&T Metro Rail (Hyderabad) Ltd.
- Hyderabad is capital city of Telangana.
- K Chandrashekar Rao is CM of Telangana.
