India And UN Signed A Five-Year Sustainable Development Framework

CEO NITI Aayog, Amitabh Kant and United Nations Resident Coordinator in India, Yuri Afanasiev, signed the Government of India-United Nations Sustainable Development Framework (UNSDF) for 2018-2022, at a special signing ceremony. The NITI Aayog is the national counterpart for the UN in India for the operationalization of the UNSDF.

The government of India-United Nations Sustainable Development Framework (SDF) 2018-2022 outlines the work of UN agencies in India, to support the achievement of key development outcomes that have been identified in consultation with the government and are aligned to the national priorities.
Source- Press Information Bureau
Static/Current Takeaways Important for IBPS PO Exam 2018- 
  • The Prime Minister is the Ex-officio chairman of NITI Aayog.
  • Present Vice Chairmen of NITI Aayog– Rajiv Kumar. 

Tourism Minister Launches Incredible India Mobile App

The Union Minister for Tourism (IC), Mr. K.J. Alphons launched the ‘Incredible India Mobile App’ and the “Incredible India Tourist Facilitators Certification” programme. The Minister announced that India will be the host country for official World Tourism Day celebrations for the UNWTO, in 2019. 
The theme for the World Tourism Day 2018 being “Tourism & Digital Transformation”, the Minister recounted the various digital initiatives taken by the Ministry in harnessing technology for tourism promotion, which include, launch of a new Incredible India website; 24 X7 Chatbot interface on this website; launch of a new website on Buddhism in India and many more initiatives.
Source- Press Information Bureau

Government Forms Lokpal Search Committee

The government has set up an eight-member Lokpal Search Committee under the Chairmanship of former Supreme Court Judge, Justice Ranjana Prakash Desai. Prasar Bharati Chairman A Surya Prakash, former SBI Chief Arundhati Bhattacharya and Justice Sukha Ram Singh Yadav among others will be members of the panel. 
An official order issued by Ministry of Personnel stated that the panel will recommend the names for the Chairperson and Members of the Lokpal to the Lokpal Selection Committee. According to the Minister of State for Personnel Jitendra Singh the search panel is a major step towards setting up of the Lokpal and the committee will start functioning soon. 
Source- News on AIR

High-Level Meeting on Tuberculosis At 73rd Session Of UNGA Held In New York

J P Nadda, Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare addressed at the ‘High Level Meeting on Tuberculosis at 73rd session of United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) at New York’. 
He stated that India has shown personal commitment to tackle TB head-on as India plans to eliminate TB by 2025, five years ahead of the SDG target of 2030, by launching the TB Free India Campaign. India has allocated US$ 430 million for implementation of the Plan in the current year, which is an increase of 54% over last year. 
Source- Press Information Bureau (PIB)

Ravi Shankar Prasad Launched Centre of Excellence for Data Analytics and DigiVaarta

National Informatics Centre (NIC) and National Informatics Centre Services Incorporated (NICSI) have jointly set up a Centre of Excellence for data analytics to support Government departments to unlock the hidden potential of the data that they are generating as part of the governance processes and use it to improve the overall governance. 
Launch of Centre of Excellence for Data Analytics (CEDA) was done by the Union Minister of Electronics & Information Technology, Ravi Shankar Prasad, as part of Workshop on Data Analytics in Government. 
Source- Press Information Bureau (PIB)

Static/Current Takeaways Important for RRB Clerk Exam 2018- 
  • National Informatics Centre (NIC) was established in 1976. 
  • NIC Headquarters in New Delhi.
  • Ms. Neeta Verma is the Director General of NIC.
  • National Informatics Centre Services Inc. (NICSI) was established in 1995.
  • NICSI Headquarters in New Delhi. 

Tourism Minister K J Alphons Presents National Tourism Awards 2016-17

Tourism Minister K J Alphons presented National Tourism Awards 2016-17 in New Delhi. The awards were given in various segments of the Travel, Tourism and Hospitality Industry. Andhra Pradesh bagged the first prize in state category for comprehensive development of tourism. 
The state got the prize for promoting Andhra Pradesh Tourism as a global tourism brand. Kerala bagged the second prize for comprehensive development of tourism. Rajasthan and Goa jointly shared the third prize. The Tourism sector has generated 14.62 million jobs in the country in the last four years. There was a growth of more than 14% in number of Foreign Tourist Arrivals last year. 
Source- AIR World Service

Static/Current Takeaways Important for RRB PO Mains Exam 2018- 
  • Andhra Pradesh Capital- Amravati, Chief Minister- N Chandrababu Naidu. 

Argentina Gets Biggest Loan in IMF’s History At $57 billion


Argentina has received $57.1 billion from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the biggest loan package ever from the global body aimed at boosting the country’s struggling economy. 
The loan, $15 billion of which has already been received by Argentina, will be disbursed over the next three years. Argentina had originally secured a $50-billion loan in June this year. 
Source- AIR World Service

Static/Current Takeaways Important for SBI PO/Clerk Exam 2018- 
  • Managing Director of IMF- Christine Lagarde, Headquarters in- Washington DC, USA. 

IISc Bengaluru Tops India in Global List Of Best Institutes

No Indian institution figures in the top 250 of the Times Higher Education’s (THE) world university rankings 2019, though the Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru, has retained its position as the highest-ranked centre in the country, while the Indian Institute of Technology-Indore has risen to the highest position behind it. 
The rankings show Oxford continues to hold the first place, Cambridge second, and Stanford third. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology rose one place to number four. In India, number of Indian institutions in the rankings increased from 42 last year to 49, making it the fifth best-represented nation. 
Source- Hindustan Times

India and Oman Agree to Enhance Bilateral Cooperation

Sayyid Badr Saud Harib Al Busaidi, the Minister Responsible for Defence Affairs, Sultanate of Oman, is on an official visit to India at the invitation of Raksha Mantri Smt Nirmala Sitharaman. The Omani Minister met with Raksha Mantri in South Block. The Ministers undertook a comprehensive review of bilateral defence cooperation and discussed measures to further enhance bilateral exchanges.
The three wings of the Armed Forces hold staff talks and advanced joint exercises with each other. Several enabling agreements and Memoranda of Understanding have been signed between the two countries pertaining to defence related issues. Cooperation in maritime security and defence industry engagement were prioritized for future engagement. 
Source- Press Information Bureau
Static/Current Takeaways Important for IBPS PO Exam 2018- 
  • Oman Capital- Muscat  Currency– Omani rial

RBI Eases Cash Reserve Rules To Ease Liquidity

The Reserve Bank of India allowed banks to dip further into statutory cash reserves in a bid to ease a liquidity squeeze afflicting the nation’s money markets. The move by the central bank follows concerns over tight liquidity conditions and banks’ unwillingness to lend to NBFCs. 
As per the RBI, banks could ‘carve out’ up to 15% of holdings under the statutory liquidity reserves to meet their liquidity coverage ratio (LCR) requirements as compared to 13% now. 
Source- The Hindu Business Line

Static/Current Takeaways Important for Indian Bank PO Exam 2018- 
  • Urjit Patel- 24th Governor of RBI, Headquarters- Mumbai, Established on- 1st April 1935, in Kolkata.