Daily News

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Indonesia wins UNSC vote

Maldives and Indonesia had contested for a seat in the UNSC, but in the plenary session held at the UN headquarters in New York, Indonesia won the seat after securing 144 votes against 46 for the Maldives.

In the election, 190 members participated, and the winning members had to get more than two-thirds majority or 127 votes.

Indonesia is likely to take up the seat on January 1, 2019 with other newly elected non-permanent members — Germany, Belgium, Dominican Republic and South Africa.

Did you Know

Capital of Indonesia- Jakarta
Currency of Indonesia- Indonesian rupiah
President of Indonesia - Joko Widodo

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Bank of India raises lending rates by 0.1%

The Bank of India has increased marginal cost of lending rates (MCLR) by 10 bps (or 0.10%) for various tenors.

The Bank has revised upward marginal cost-based lending rate for one-year at 8.50% while overnight rate up by 10 bps at 7.90%.

Did you Know

The marginal cost of funds based lending rate (MCLR) refers to the minimum interest rate of a bank below which it cannot lend, except in some cases allowed by the RBI.
It is an internal benchmark or reference rate for the bank.

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FDI rose to $61.96 billion in 2017-18

Foreign direct investment (FDI) in India increased by about 3% to $61.96 billion in 2017-18.

FDI inflows stood at $60 billion in the previous fiscal.

Foreign inflows jumped to $222.75 billion from $152 billion in the previous four-year period.

Did you Know

Foreign Direct Investment into India is regulated through two routes –automatic route and approval route.
Automatic Route- The foreign investor or the Indian company does not require any approval from the Reserve Bank or Government of India for the investment.
Approval route or government route- the foreign investor or the Indian company should obtain prior approval of the Government of India agencies or bodies specified.

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Deocha-Pachami coal block allocated to West Bengal

The Centre has handed over the Deocha-Pachami coal mines, said to be second largest coal block in the world, to the West Bengal government.

The mining project is expected to generate close to 1 lakh direct and indirect jobs in Birhum and the adjoining districts of West Bengal.

Did you Know

Capital of West Bengal- Kolkata
Governor of West Bengal- Keshari Nath Tripathi
Chief Minister of West Bengal- Mamata Banerjee

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Gold Medal in the 18th Asian junior athletics championships

Olympian Jisna Mathew retained her women’s 400m gold in the 18th Asian junior athletics championships.

Men’s long jumper M. Sreeshankar took a bronze.

Indians won four other bronze medals on the second day in the event.

Did you Know

The 18th Asian junior athletics championships are held at Gifu Nagaragawa Stadium in Gifu, Japan.

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Xi honours Putin with medal

President Xi Jinping gave China’s first friendship medal to Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin .

China’s “highest honour” is bestowed on foreigners who have made “outstanding contributions” to the country’s modernisation drive and helped maintain world peace.

Did you Know

Capital of China- Beijing
Currency of China- Renminbi
Capital of Russia- Moscow
Currency of Russia- Russian ruble

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About 5.5 lakh beneficiaries added a month under the PMRPY

The government is adding about 5.5 lakh beneficiaries a month under the Pradhan Mantri Rojgar Protsahan Yojana (PMRPY).

The scheme was started to incentivise employers for generation of new employment wherein the Government of India pays the employer’s contribution of Employees’ Pension Scheme (EPS) for the new employment.

The annual average addition of workers under the scheme is expected to be over 66 lakh.

Till March, about 31 lakh beneficiaries were added to the formal employment involving an expenditure of more than Rs 500 crore.

Did you Know

In Union Budget for 2018-19, an amount of Rs 1,652 crore has been allocated for the PMRPY scheme.
Under the scheme, the government was paying the employers’ contribution of 8.33 per cent of wages to the Employees’ Pension Scheme (EPS) for new employees having — a new Universal Account Number (UAN) and who joined on or after April 1, 2016 with salary up to Rs 15,000 per month — for first three years.

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Former Congress MP Shantaram Naik passes away in Goa

The 73-year-old was a one-time North Goa Lok Sabha MP and a two-time Rajya Sabha MP.

He also headed the Goa Congress until recently.

Did you Know

There are totally 2 Lok Sabha seats from Goa.
Capital of Goa- Panaji
Governor of Goa- Mridula Sinha
Chief Minister of Goa- Manohar Parrikar

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Indian scientists discover planet 600 light years away

A team of scientists from the Physical Research Laboratory (PRL), Ahmedabad, discovered a sub-Saturn or super-Neptune size exoplanet, which is about 27 times the mass of Earth and six times the radius of Earth.

The planet revolves around a Sun-like star, some 600 light years away from Earth.

The discovery was made by measuring the mass of the planet using the indigenously designed ‘PRL Advance Radial-velocity Abu-Sky Search’ (PARAS) spectrograph integrated with 1.2m telescope at PRL’s Gurushikar Observatory in Mount Abu.

Did you Know

The name of the host star is EPIC 211945201 or K2-236 and the planet will be known as EPIC 211945201b or K2-236b.
The planet was found to go around the star in about 19.5 days.

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No tariff concessions for US imports

The government has ruled out any tariff concessions for American imports, arguing that import duties are well within the limits agreed under WTO rules.

India will also focus on restoration of some of the benefits under the Generalised System of Preferences and getting the American side to drop the higher import duty on steel products.

Did you Know

The Generalized System of Preferences, or GSP, is a preferential tariff system which provides for a formal system of exemption from the more general rules of the World Trade Organization (WTO).
WTO headquarters- Geneva, Switzerland
WTO Director-General‎- ‎Roberto Azevêdo