IMPORTANT CURRENT AFFAIRS OF FEBRUARY 16th, 2018

IMPORTANT CURRENT AFFAIRS OF FEBRUARY 16th, 2018

IMPORTANT CURRENT AFFAIRS OF FEBRUARY 16th, 2018

1. Iran President Hassan Rouhani arrived in India for a three-day visit and was received by Union Minister RK Singh at Hyderabad airport. 

a. This is his 1st visit after assuming office in 2013.

b. Rouhani's visit comes after the inauguration of the first phase of Iran's Chabahar Port, to be operated by India for ten years, in December.

2. Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the World Sustainable Development Summit 2018 in New Delhi. 

a. The three-day event has been organized by The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI).

3. Ethiopia's Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn announced that he has submitted his resignation as both premier and the chairman of the ruling coalition amid a political crisis in the African country.

4. Yogi Adityanath govt in Uttar Pradeshpresented its first full-fledged budget for Rs. 4,28,384.52 cr for financial year 2018-19.

5. The Ministry of External Affairs has suspended the validity of passport of Nirav Modi who is accused of defrauding Punjab National Bank of over ₹11,000 crore.  

6. IndusInd Bank launched its new Sonic Identity, which is essentially a musical logo, as part of its branding initiatives.

a. The objective for associating to a sonic identity is building the Bank's brand imagery with the strategic use of music and sound for brand experiences and audience connection.

b. Note : The Sonic Identity is derived from the Bank's persona and core values of innovation, courage and dynamism as well as its strong desire to place customers first.

7. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has announced that it will link the base rate for loans with the marginal cost of funds-based lending rate (MCLR) from 1 April to improve monetary policy transmission.

a. This is likely to narrow the gap between the base rate and MCLR, and benefit borrowers who are still using the base rate.

8. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) today announced setting up ombudsman for addressing customer grievances in the Non-Banking Finance Companies (NBFCs).

a. The rules will be laid out by the end of this month. 

b. RBI will start with deposit taking NBFCs and widen the scope to cover NBFCs with asset size of Rs 100 crore. 

9. Taking prime minister Narendra Modi's Digital India initiative forward, a chat based job search mobile app 'Empzilla', first ever of its kind in the country, is being launched.

a. This will do away with existing limitations of employers and job seekers making selection process quick and cost effective.

10. Taxi aggregator Ola today signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Government of Assam to pilot a one-of-its-kind app-based river taxi service in Guwahati. 

11. Following the resignation of scandal-hit Jacob Zuma, Cyril Ramaphosa has been elected as President of South Africa by a parliamentary vote.

12. Former Managing Director of Facebook India and South Asia Umang Bedi has joined Bengaluru-based news and local language content application Dailyhunt as its President. 

13. Rear Admiral Mukul Asthan has been appointed as the Assistant Chief of Naval Staff (Air) at New Delhi.

14. Khadga Prasad Sharma Oli from the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist) has been sworn in as the 41st Prime Minister of Nepal.

a. Nepal President Bidya Devi Bhandari administered the oath of office.

15. The state government of Odisha is going to sponsor India's national men's and women's hockey teams for the next 5 years. 

16. Karnataka's Kishan Gangolli has won the National 'A' Chess Championship for Blindfor the fifth consecutive time.