Current Affairs 24 September, 2019

1. Centre launched 2 mobile app for farmers

• Centre has launched two mobile Apps for the farmers. The mobile applications named CHC Farm Machinery and Krishi Kisan App for Geo Tagging will give easy access to high value and technical agricultural equipment at their doorstep.
• The mobile app was launched by Shri Narendra Singh Tomar, Union Minister for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare.

Krishi Kisan App:
The Krishi Kisan App will provide the farmers with the information of the best demonstration of high-yielding crops and seeds in their nearby area.
CHC Farm Machinery:
The Multi-lingual Mobile App CHC Farm Machinery is already available to customer service providers for registration and uploading with geo-reference photographs of agricultural machinery custom service centers and photographs of machinery available in it.
 

2. Indo-US first tri-services exercise code “Exercise Tiger Triumph” for the year 2019 at Visakhapatnam and Kakinada in November

• In November 2019, India and the United States(US) are set to host the first ever tri-services exercise codenamed “ExerciseTiger Triumph” at Visakhapatnam and Kakinada, both of state Andhra Pradesh.
• India held similar such tri service exercise previously with Russia named “IndraWargames” in 2017 in Vladivostok, Russia. The announcement for the ‘Tiger Triumph’ was made by US president Donald Trump during the ‘Howdy Modi!’ event in America.
• So far the two countries have conducted defence hardware trade around USD 18 billion over the last 10 years.

Foot Notes:
About US
President: Donald Trump
Capital: Washington, D.C.

3. RBI bans PMC Bank, account holders will not be able to withdraw more than 1000 in a day

• The country’s central bank, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has prohibited Punjab and Maharashtra Co-operative Bank Limited (PMC) on business transactions of any kind for the next 6 months following detection of alleged irregularities.
   
• The RBI has taken this action under section 35A of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949.Punjab and Maharashtra Co-operative Bank LimitedKey points:
• Under this decree, no depositor can withdraw more than 1,000 thousand money from his savings account, current account or any other deposit account. Apart from this, the issuance of new loans of the bank has also been banned.

Foot Notes:
About PMC Bank
1. Formation:1983
2. Headquarters: Mumbai, Maharashtra
3. Chairman :S.Waryam Singh

4. SBI Life Insurance  & Repco Home Finance signs corporate agency agreement

• Repco Home Finance Ltd (RHFL ),an Indian banking and financial services company has signed corporate agency agreement with  SBI (State Bank of India) Life Insurance, a leading life insurance company in India to provide SBI Life’s range of products to its customers.
   
• SBI Life Insurance will now be available in RHFL’s over 148 branches and 27 satellite centres of RHFL spread across the country.
• Through this partnership, SBI Life Insurance will reach its product offers and enable more new customers across geographies to meet their diverse insurance needs.
• The corporate agency agreement was signed by RHFL CFO T Karunakaran, General Manager K Prabhu and SBI Life, Regional Director, E Thirumudi Pandian in the presence of Repco Home Finance Ltd MD and CEO, Yashpal Gupta and others.

Foot Notes:
About SBI Life Insurance:
1. Founded : March 2001
2. Headquarters:  Mumbai
3. MD & CEO: Mr. Sanjeev Nautiyal
About RHFL :
1. Founded: 2000
2. Headquarters: Chennai, Tamil Nadu

5. Nilesh Shah got appointed as Chairman of AMFI

• The Managing Director (MD) of Kotak Mahindra Asset Management Co Ltd., Nilesh Shah has been appointed as Chairman of the Association of Mutual Funds in India (AMFI) at its board meeting held in Mumbai, Maharashtra.
   
• He will replace Nimesh Shah, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, ICICI (Industrial Credit and Investment Corporation of India )Prudential AMC, who was appointed to the position in the year 2018.
• The AMFI board has also elected  Saurabh Nanavati, Chief Executive Officer, Invesco Mutual Fund as its new vice-chairman.Nilesh has over 25 years of experience in capital markets and market related investments.

Foot Notes:
About AMFI
1. Founded: 1995
2. Headquarters: Mumbai, Maharashtra

6. Infosys, TCS, HDFC among 17 Indian firms in Forbes

• The 17 Indian companies, including Infosys, TCS and HDFC named in the list of World's Best Regarded Companies compiled by Forbes.IT major Infosys has been ranked third in the list of World's Best Regarded Companies, along with global payments technology company Visa and Italian car-maker Ferrari on the first and second position, respectively.
   
• Infosys jumped to the third spot from 31st position in 2018.The Infosys leading position headlined an Asian invasion in the rankings," Forbes said.
• The other top ten companies in the list for 2019 are
• Netflix at the 4th position followed by PayPal (5), Microsoft (6), Walt Disney (7), Toyota Motor (8), Mastercard (9), Costco Wholesale (10).
• Indian companies Tata Consultancy Services (22nd position) and Tata Motors (31) featured among the top 50 in the coveted list.

About Infosys
1. CEO: Salil Parekh
2. Founded: 7 July 1981, Pune
3. Headquarters: Bengaluru
About TCS
1. CEO: Rajesh Gopinathan
2. Founded: 1 April 1968
3. Headquarters: Mumbai

7. Maharashtra, Haryana Assembly Elections held on 21st October

• Maharashtra and Haryana Assembly (Vidhan Sabha) Election 2019 Date, Scheduled on 21st October, while counting of votes will be held on October 24.
   
• Both Maharashtra and Haryana are the first states to go to polls after the Lok Sabha elections earlier this year. With the announcement, the Model Code of Conduct has come into effect in the two states.
• Maharashtra, which has a total of 288 assembly seats. Whereas, in Haryana has 90 assembly seats.

About Maharashtra
1. Capital: Mumbai
2. Governor: Bhagat Singh Koshyari
About Haryana
1. Capital: Chandigarh
2. CM: Manohar Lal Khattar

8. The Best FIFA Football Awards 2019

• Lionel Messi has bagged the FIFA's Best Men's Player Award for his outstanding performance. It was Messi's sixth FIFA best player award.
• In women’s category, Megan Rapinoe has been awarded the FIFA Best Player Award 2019.
• Lionel Messi and Megan Rapinoe picked up the top honours at the star-studded ceremony in Milan’s famous opera house.

9. Govt issues notification announcing amendments in pension rules

• President Ram Nath Kovind approved the amendment to the Central Civil Services (Pension) Rules, 1972.These rules called as the Central Civil Services (Pension) Second Amendment Rules, 2019 will come into force from October 1, 2019.
   
• The government felt that the need for family pension at enhanced rate is more in the case of a government servant who dies early in his career as his pay at the initial phase of service is much less, the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions said in a statement.
• As per the amended Rule 54, the family of a government servant, who dies within seven years of joining service, will also be eligible for family pension at enhanced rate of 50 per cent of last pay drawn, for a period of 10 years.

10. Doctors, nurses need not take TOEFL, IELTS exam to practice in UK

• Doctors, nurses, dentists and mid-wives who wish to practice in the UK will no longer have to appear for English language tests like TOEFL and IELTS as the country will now accept scores of Occupational English Test (OET) which the candidates have to anyway clear for registering with the relevant healthcare regulator.
• The OET is an international English language test that assesses the language communication skills of healthcare professionals, who seek to register and practise in an English-speaking environment.
• The candidates had to earlier take OET to register with Nursing and Midwifery Council and the General Medical Council, which are the two healthcare boards in the UK, as well as TOEFL or IELTS like exam to apply for visa.