Daily updates 10 October 2019

                         National

1. Dearness allowance of government employees hiked by 5%

• The Central government has increased the Dearness Allowance (DA) of Central government employees and pensioners. The government has hiked DA by 5%, which means the dearness allowance has been increased from 12% to 17%. The decision was approved in a cabinet meet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The hike would be effective from July 2019. The cost to the exchequer will be Rs 16,000 crore.
• The cabinet also approved inclusion of 5,300 families under the development package of Jammu & Kashmir, who initially opted to move outside the state, but later returned and settled in the Jammu & Kashmir. This will enable such development package families to become eligible to get one-time financial assistance of Rs 5.5 lakh under the existing scheme.
• Cabinet has also relaxed the mandatory requirement of Aadhaar-seeded data as a pre-condition for release of funds to the beneficiaries under the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi scheme. The relaxation will be till 30th November 2019. It will enable immediate release of benefits to a large number of farmers who are not able to avail the same due this requirement.

2. "DHRUV" a Learning Programme launched from ISRO, Bengaluru

• "DHRUV" a Pradhan Mantri Innovation Learning Programme has commenced from Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) in Bengaluru and will conclude at IIT, Delhi.
• The programme aims to further sharpen innovative imagination, skills and knowledge of the students who are expected to contribute to bringing solutions to socio-economic, political and environmental issues in the country.
• 60 brightest and talented students from Science, Mathematics and Performing Arts have been chosen for the programme.

3. GoI launches "Ganga Aamantran: Open Water Rafting Expedition"

• Jal Shakti Minister has launched an initiative 'Ganga Amantran'. The initiative has been launched to connect with the stakeholders of the river.
• It is a pioneering exploratory open-water rafting and kayaking expedition on the Ganga river. The expedition will start at Devaprayag and culminate at Ganga Sagar covering the entire stretch of over 2500 kms of the River.
• Ganga Aamantran is the 1st ever effort by National Mission for Clean Ganga to raft across the entire stretch of the river.
• It is also the longest ever social campaign undertaken through an adventure sporting activity to spread the message of River Rejuvenation and Water Conservation on a massive scale.

Static/Current Takeaways Important For IBPS RRB Clerk Mains:

• Union Jal Shakti Minister: Gajendra Singh Shekhawat.

4. Govt constitutes panel for measures to raise GST revenue

• The Central Government has constituted a committee of officers to suggest measures to augment GST revenue collections and administration.
• The terms of reference of the panel includes making suggestions related to systemic changes in goods and services tax (GST) including checks and balances to prevent misuse and measures to improve voluntary compliance.
• The panel has also been given the task to give inputs on measures for the expansion of the tax base. The committee have to submit its 1st report within 15 days to the GST Council Secretariat.

Business News

5. RBI rejects Indiabulls Housing & Lakshmi Vilas Bank merger deal

• The Reserve Bank of India has rejected the merger proposal of Indiabulls Housing Finance and Lakshmi Vilas Bank.
• RBI has rejected the application for voluntary amalgamation of Indiabulls Housing Finance Ltd. and Indiabulls Commercial Credit Ltd. with the Lakshmi Vilas Bank Ltd.
• The merger was crucial for Lakshmi Vilas Bank as it is now under the prompt corrective action framework of the RBI due to a high level of bad loans and insufficient capital.

Static/Current Takeaways Important For IBPS RRB PO Mains:

• Chairman of Indiabulls Group: Sameer Gehlaut.

Ranks and Reports

6. RBI released Consumer Confidence Survey (September 2019)

• The Reserve Bank of India has released the results of the September 2019 round of its Consumer Confidence Survey.
• The survey was conducted in 13 major cities: Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Bhopal, Chennai, Delhi, Guwahati, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Kolkata, Lucknow, Mumbai, Patna and Thiruvananthapuram.
• Perceptions and expectations on the general economic situation, the employment scenario, the overall price situation and own income and spending are obtained from households across these cities.

Highlights of the survey:

• Consumer confidence weakened in September with both the current situation index and the future expectations index recording declines.
• Households’ sentiments on the general economic situation and the employment scenario declined. They were less optimistic on their income over the year ahead than in July 2019.
• Respondents perceived an increase in the price level over the last 1 year and a majority of them expect prices to rise further in the coming year.
• Respondents sentiments on overall spending as well as essential spending remain strong, though sentiments on discretionary spending weakened.

Static/Current Takeaways Important For IBPS RRB PO Mains:

• Governor of RBI: Shaktikant Das; Headquarters: Mumbai; Founded: 1 April 1935, Kolkata.

Banking

7. RBI approves merger of DCBs to form ‘Kerala Bank’

• The Reserve Bank of India has given the go-ahead to the Kerala government to amalgamate 13 district cooperative banks (DCBs) with the Kerala State Cooperative Bank to form the proposed "Kerala Bank".
• Except the Malappuram District Cooperative Bank, all district banks had approved the scheme of amalgamation proposed by the State government at their respective general body meetings.
• Now, the government have to complete the stipulations laid for merger and submit a compliance report to the apex bank before March 31, 2020.
• RBI also insisted that the State government would have to consistently infuse additional capital and also put in place a well-defined governance structure by amending the KSCS Act.

Static/Current Takeaways Important For IBPS RRB PO/Clerk Mains:

• Governor of RBI: Shaktikant Das; Headquarters: Mumbai; Founded: 1 April 1935, Kolkata.

Awards

8. Russia honors astronaut Nick Hague with "Order of Courage"

• Russia has honoured NASA astronaut Nick Hague with one of its highest honours, "The Order of Courage".
• Nick Hague survived an aborted space launch with Russian cosmonaut Aleksey Ovchinin when their Soyuz rocket failed minutes after blast-off from Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan in October 2018.
• Hague has been awarded for his "courage and high professionalism" shown during life-threatening conditions.

Sports

9. German Footballer Bastian Schweinsteiger announces his retirement

• German World Cup champion Bastian Schweinsteiger has announced his retirement from soccer.
• Schweinsteiger spent a major part of his career with European giants Bayern Munich, where he won 8 Bundesliga titles and 7 German cups as well as the Champions league in 2013.
• He made over 300 appearances for the Bavarian side, scoring 45 goals from 2002-2015.

Important Days

10. World Mental Health Day: 10 October

• World Health Organization observes World Mental Health Day on 10th of October every year. The day is celebrated with an objective of raising awareness of mental health issues around the world and mobilizing efforts in support of mental health.
• The Day provides an opportunity for all stakeholders working on mental health issues to talk about their work and what more needs to be done to make mental health care a reality for people worldwide.
• The theme selected for this year’s Day: Suicide Prevention.
• This year’s Day is supported by WHO, the International Association for Suicide Prevention, and United for Global Mental Health. World Mental Health Day is organized by the World Federation for Mental Health.

Static/Current Takeaways Important For IBPS RRB Clerk Mains:

• WHO Headquarters: Geneva, Switzerland; Director general: Tedros Adhanom.

11. World Space Week: 4th-10th October

• The United Nations (Office for Outer Space Affairs) observes 4-10 October every year as World Space Week. It is an international celebration of science and technology, and their contribution to the betterment of the human condition.
• The United Nations General Assembly declared in 1999 that World Space Week (WSW) will be held each year from October 4-10. The dates were in recognition of the October 4, 1957 launch of the first human-made Earth satellite, Sputnik 1.
• The theme for 2019 is: The Moon: Gateway to the Stars
• During World Space Week space education and outreach events are organised by space agencies, aerospace companies, schools, planetaria, museums, and astronomy clubs around the world.

Static/Current Takeaways Important For IBPS RRB Clerk Mains:

• Headquarters of United Nations: New York, USA; Founded: 24 October 1945.
• Secretary General of the United Nations: Antonio Guterres.

Science and Technology

12. Saturn overtakes Jupiter as planet with most moons

• A team of astronomers has discovered a haul of 20 new moons orbiting the ringed planet, Saturn. This discovery has brought its total to 82 moons, while Jupiter, by contrast, has 79 natural satellites.
• The moons were discovered using the Subaru telescope on Maunakea, Hawaii.
• Each of the newly discovered objects in orbit around Saturn is about 5 km in diameter and 17 of them orbit the planet "backwards" i.e. retrograde direction. The other three moons orbit in a prograde direction i.e. the same direction as Saturn rotates.
• Dr Scott Sheppard of the Carnegie Institution for Science in Washington DC led the team of astronomers including David Jewitt of University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), and Jan Kleyna of the University of Hawaii.

Miscellaneous

13. Vishnu Nandan among 300 researchers to join MOSAiC Expedition

• Vishnu Nandan, polar researcher from Kerala will join largest ever Arctic expedition "MOSAiC Expedition". He will be the only Indian aboard among the 300 researchers for multidisciplinary drifting observatory for the Study of Arctic Climate expedition.
• Vishnu Nandan will aboard the German research vessel Polarstern, anchored on a large sheet of sea ice in the Central Arctic, drifting along with it during the pitch-black Polar winter.
• Led by the Alfred Wegener Institute in Germany, MOSAiC, the largest ever Arctic expedition in history, will be the first to conduct a study of this scale at the North Pole for an entire year.
• The expedition will help the researchers better understand the impact of climate change and aid in improved weather projections.

14. "GEMINI" system to warn fishermen of danger

• GEMINI is a portable receiver developed to avoid communication blackouts. It linked to ISRO-satellites and is “fail-proof” and warn fishermen of danger.
• The Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services collaborated with Accord, a private company, to develop a box-shaped receiver that has an antenna and in-built battery that can last 3 to 4 days.
• GEMINI works on GAGAN, developed by ISRO and the Airports Authority of India and is an India-made global positioning system and relies on the positioning system by ISRO’s GSAT satellites.
• When GEMINI is connected to an app, it also lets fishermen know the probability of fish-catch in the surrounding seas.