SH- Current Affairs Update 10th, Feb 2018

Dear Aspirants,

 India ranks 44 out of 50 nations in global IP index

India has “increased substantially” its score in the latest international Intellectual Property (IP) index released by the US Chambers of Commerce, ranking 44th out of 50 countries. 

• India’s overall score has increased substantially from 25 per cent (8.75 out of 35) in the 5th edition of the Index to 30 per cent (12.03 out of 40) in the 6th edition.
• The US tops the list with 37.98 points, followed by United Kingdom (37.97) and Sweden (37.03).

International Conference on Unani Medicine inaugurated 

The Minister of State (IC) for Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region, MoS PMO, Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, Department of Atomic Energy and Space Dr. Jitendra Singh has inaugurate the two-day International conference on Unani Medicine on 10th February, 2018 at New Delhi.

• This year is special for Unani fraternity as it is the 150th Birth Anniversary of  Hakim Ajmal Khan. 
• To mark this day, the Central Council for Research in Unani Medicine (CCRUM), under the Ministry of AYUSH is organizing a two-day International Conference on Unani Medicine as part of celebration of  Unani Day. 
• The theme of the conference is Integration of Unani System of Medicine in main stream healthcare.

"Swachh Bharat Sanitation Park” inaugurated in Delhi

The Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation, in collaboration with the Environmental Sanitation Institute and Tata Trusts, has developed a Sanitation Park which was inaugurated in the Capital by Union Minister, Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation, Sushri Uma Bharti, and Secretary, Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation, Shri ParameswaranIyer.

• The Sanitation Park was developed at CGO Complex in New Delhi with an objective to create awareness on various safe technological options. 
• The Park demonstrates various options pertaining to toilet technologies and solid and liquid waste management technologies, with a brief description of these technologies.

Syndicate Bank PO Admit Card 2018: Download

Dear Aspirants, 

Syndicate Bank has released the call letter for the post of PO through Admission to Postgraduate Diploma in Banking and Finance Course. The Online written exam will be conducted on 25th February 2018. 

Important Dates:

Commencement of Call letter Download	February 09th, 2018
Closure of Call letter Download	February 25th, 2018

SH- Current Affairs Update 09th, Feb 2018

Dear Aspirants,

 Former Bangladesh PM Khaleda Zia sentenced to five years in prison

A Special Court in Dhaka has sentenced former Bangladesh Prime Minister Khaleda Zia to jail for five years in a 10-year-old graft case.

• The court also sentenced her son, Tarique Rahman, and four others to jail for 10 years. Rahman is a resident of London.
• The Anti-Corruption Commission filed the case, accusing Ms. Zia and the five others of misappropriating over 2.1 crore Bangladeshi Taka that had come from a foreign bank as grants for orphans.

11 states are now open defecation free: Government

The government informed the Lok Sabha that till date 11 states and union territories (UTs) have been declared open defecation free (ODF) under Swachh Bharat Mission.

• The government is taking various steps under the SBM to make all states in the country ODF, the minister of state in the Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation, Ramesh Chandappa Jigajinagi, said in a written reply.

Pon. Radhakrishnan inaugurates the Third Global Procurement Summit

The Minister of State for Finance and Shipping, Government of India, Shri Pon. Radhakrishnan said that the Government of India attaches great importance to fairness, transparency and accountability in public procurement and it has raised the citizen’s expectation in terms of efficiency and outcomes of public spending.

• He said that the present Central Government has a clear vision of transforming the procurement and public service delivery.
• The Minister for State for Finance Shri Pon. Radhakrishnan was delivering the Inaugural Address after inaugurating theThird Global Procurement Summit in New Delhi.
• The two day Summit is being organized by All India Management Association(AIMA), World Bank and the Government of India.

Inter-Ministerial Committee to tackle menace of trafficking

An Inter- ministerial Committee (IMC) with concerned stake holders, Ministries/ departments of Government of India along with representatives of some State/UT Governments and CSOs under the Chairpersonship of Secretary, Women and Child Development has been constituted to tackle the menace of trafficking.

• As per Ministry of Home Affairs, National Crime Record Bureau (NCRB) the total number of cases of ‘Procuration of minor girls’ has risen from 231 in the year 2006 to 2465 in the year 2016.

IDBI Bank Recruitment 2018 – Apply Online for 760 Executive Posts

IDBI Bank Recruitment 2018 – Apply Online for 760 Executive Posts: IDBI Bank has published a notification for the recruitment of 760 Executive vacancies on contract basis at its different Branches and Offices. Eligible Indian Citizens may apply online from 06-02-2018 to 28-02-2018. Other details like age limit, educational qualification, selection process, fee & how to apply are given below…

IDBI Bank Vacancy Details:

Total No. of Posts: 760

Name of the Post: Executive

Age Limit: Candidates age limit should be between 20-25 years as on 01-01-2018 (i.e. the applicant must have been born not earlier than 02-01-1993 and not later than 01-01-1998 (both dates inclusive)). Age relaxation is applicable as per rules.

Educational Qualification: Candidates should possess Graduation from a recognized university with minimum 60% marks, (55% for SC/ ST/ PWD).

Selection Process: Candidates will be selected based on online test, document verification & medical test.

SH- Current Affairs Update 08th, Feb 2018

Dear Aspirants, 

THE rankings 2018: 42 Indian Universities in list, none in top 25

The Times Higher Education (THE) released the list of the best colleges in Asia in the Asia University Rankings 2018 on 6 February.

• While the top 10 spots were secured by universities from China, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore and South Korea, India managed to improve its score on the index with a total of 42 finding a place among just over 350 Universities.
• Indian Institute of Science (IIS) in Bengaluru was the topmost Indian University in the list coming in at rank 29.
• At rank 44 was the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, followed by IIT-Kharagpur at 60 with 11,016 students.
• IIT-Roorkee, rank 65, IIT-Kanpur, rank 81 and IIT-Delhi, rank 86. At rank 100, Tezpur University in Assam was the last Indian university in the top 100 list.

Sushma Swaraj inaugurates Saudi cultural festival

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj has inaugurate Saudi Arabia’s annual ‘Janadriyah Festival’ where India has been invited as guest of honour this year, officials said.

• Earlier, Minister of State for External Affairs VK Singh had said that India’s participation in the festival will be multifaceted and would take relations of the two nations “to new heights”.
• According to the minister, the Indian pavilion at the festival will project a number of Indian themes and projects.

First-ever Pelican Festival held at Atapaka Bird Sanctuary

Andhra Pradesh government has held the first-of-its kind, one-day Pelican Festival at the Atapaka Bird Sanctuary on Kolleru lake.

• Koleru is one of the largest freshwater lakes in the country.   
• Officials made elaborate arrangements to attract tourists for the ‘Pakshula Panduga’ at Atapaka village, located on the borders of the Krishna and the West Godavari districts.

Centre to link driving licence with Aadhaar

The Centre is in the process of linking driving licences with Aadhaar number to weed out fake licences and a software for this covering all states on a real time basis is under preparation, the Supreme Court was told.

• A bench comprising Justices Madan B Lokur and Deepak Gupta was informed about it by a court-appointed committee on road safety headed by former Supreme Court judge Justice K S Radhakrishnan.
• This assumes significance as a five-judge Constitution bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra is currently hearing a clutch of petitions challenging the constitutional validity of the Aadhaar scheme and the enabling 2016 law.

Cloze Test: English Quiz

Dear Aspirants,

Directions (Q.1-10): In the following passage, some of the words have been left out, each of which is indicated by a number. Find the suitable word from the options given against each number and fill up the blanks with appropriate words to make the paragraph meaningfully complete:

Acid attacks, especially on women, are an issue of increasing (1). In order to (2) with such attacks, a threepronged (3) is currently under formulation. The first is providing (4)punishment to perpetrators, not only as proportionate punishment for their (5) but also to (6) potential offenders. The second approach is to (7) attacks by regulating (8) to acids. The third is constructing a compensation scheme for victims.

The Indian Penal Code did not have specific provisions to criminalise and punish acid attacks (9) earlier this year. If a person is convicted for (10) acid on another, and thereby causing temporary or permanent damage or deformity, a minimum imprisonment of 10 years and a maximum of life imprisonment is now provided.

1.

1) value

2) welfare

3) gossip

4) concern

5) happening

2.

1) deal

2) do away

3) fight

4) solve

5) tussle

Reading Comprehension: English Quiz

Dear Aspirants, 

Directions (Q. 1-0): Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions given below. There are certain words in the passage printed in bold letters to lead you to find them out easily in order to help you in answering some of the questions:

Public sector banks are back in focus, not for the steep rise in bad loans, but for customer complaints against them. At first glance, the Reserve Bank of India’s annual report on the Banking Ombudsman Scheme reveals that customers of PSBs had a litany of grievances, while patrons of private and foreign banks were quite content with the services offered to them. But one reason why PSBs account for about 65 per cent of the complaints is that these banks have a lion’s share — about three-fourths — of the loans and deposits in the banking system. If we consider the number of complaints per account or branch, nationalised banks, surprisingly, have fewer complaints than their private and foreign counterparts. Complaints from the rural and semi-urban population have witnessed an increase, implying the wider participation from these segments. But there is a lack of awareness about the ombudsman scheme or lack of access to it in these regions. While they account for about two-thirds of the bank branches in India, less than 30 per cent of the complaints were lodged from here.

Reporting such numbers only scratches the surface of the problem. The ombudsman scheme, which was launched two decades ago to provide a free grievance redress system in the face of rising complaints against banks, will now have to use the data to improve its functioning. Both the Centre and the regulator also need to act on longstandinggrievances. For years now, debit/credit card operations (21 per cent of complaints) and unfair banking practices (29 per cent) have made up a large chunk of the complaints. Customers have had a laundry list of woes regarding failure of withdrawals from ATMs, issue of unsolicited cards and insurance policies, and banks’ non-adherence to ‘fair practices’ or BCSBI (Banking Codes and Standards Board of India) codes. The BCSBI was set up a decade ago to supplement the ombudsman scheme. Hence, the wide non-adherence to these codes on the part of banks is inexcusable. What it highlights is the need for the RBI to follow up more stringently on ensuring that banks conform to norms.