CURRENT AFFAIRS - SEPTEMBER 2018
DAY: 19 SEPTEMBER
NATIONAL AFFAIRS
News Title 01: CCEA approves RCF’s ₹1033-cr equity
infusion in Talcher fertiliser plant
 The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs has
approved an equity investment of ₹1033.54 crore
by Rashtriya Chemicals and Fertilizers Ltd (RCF)
in a coal gasificationbased fertilizer project being
set up by Talcher Fertilizer Ltd (TFL) in Odisha.
 The capital infusion is 29.67 percent of the total
project cost.
 The capital expenditure of the project has been
pegged at ₹11,611.48 crore, with a provision for
15 per cent escalation in cost.
 TFL is a joint venture company of GAIL (India) Ltd,
RCF, Coal India Ltd (CIL) and Fertilizer
Corporation of India Ltd (FCIL) incorporated in
November 2015.
 GAIL, RCF and CIL each have a shareholding of
29.67 per cent and FCIL has 10.99 per cent in the
venture.
 TFL has been given the task of setting up the
project at Talcher.
 GAIL and CIL are both Maharatna Public Sector
Enterprises and their board is competent to
approve their equity investment in the joint
venture company TFL. But a CCEA approval was
warranted since RCF is a Miniratna company and
its equity investment in the project is beyond the
delegated financial powers of its board.
 The CCEA also has approved the construction of a
205.5-km railway line from Budni to Indore
(Mangaliyagaon) at an estimated cost
₹3•261.82 crore.
 The main purpose of this project is the
development of backward area and reduction in
travel time from Indore to Jabalpur as well as from
Indore to Mumbai and towards the southern side,
as this will reduce distance by 68 km compared to
the present route via Bhopal.
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 The CCEA gave its ex-post facto approval to the
ASHA Benefit Package with effect from October (to
be paid in November).
 The package entails an expenditure (Central
funding) of ₹1224.97 crore for 2018-19 and
2019-20.
 The Cabinet also approved the extension of
timeline for implementing the special package
under the Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana – National
Rural Livelihoods Mission (DAYNRLM) for Jammu
& Kashmir by one year during 2018-19.
 There is no additional financial implication as the
approval is to extend the timeline to cover two
thirds of the vulnerable households in the State
within the originally approved financial outlay of
 ₹755.32 crore.
 An amount of ₹143.604 crore will be required for
the period of one year, that is, 2018-19.
News Title 02: Railways clears GE’s locomotive
 The Railways has confirmed its acceptance of GE’s
4,500-horsepower diesel-electric evolution series
prototype locomotives, a statement from the US
technology giant said.
 After successful testing on Railways’ tracks, the
locomotives were handed over in February 2018.
 The acceptance of the 4,500 hp locomotives came
after months of reviewing key design aspects,
documentation and a thorough validation around
various parameters in US and India, it added.
News Title 03: Triple talaq is criminal offence
 The Union Cabinet cleared an ordinance that
makes talaq-e-biddat, or instant triple talaq, a
criminal offence that will attract a maximum jail
of
term of three years.
 The new law, however, incorporates safeguards,
including a provision for bail to an accused before
the start of the trial.
 While instant triple talaq will continue to be a
“non-bailable” offence, the police cannot grant bail
at the police station, the accused can approach a
magistrate for bail even before trial.
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 Another safeguard that had been added is that the
police can lodge an FIR (first information report)
only if the complaint is filed by the wife (victim),
her blood relations or her relatives by virtue of her
marriage.
 Non-relatives or neighbours cannot lodge a
complaint under the proposed law.
 The offence of instant triple talaq has also been
“compoundable” or a provision that allows the
wife to withdraw a complaint or approach the
magistrate for a dispute settlement.
News Title 04: India puts four more nuclear facilities
under IAEA safeguards
 India has decided to place four more reactors
under the IAEA safeguards.
 Accordingly, two Russian-designed Pressurised
Light Water Reactors and two Pressurised Heavy
Reactors being built with Indian technology will be
covered.
 With this, a total of 26 Indian nuclear facilities will
be under the international nuclear energy
watchdog.
 start their respective commodity derivatives
 India plans to build 21 reactors by 2030.
 In power generation, a notable achievement was
one of the longest run of reactor Unit-1 of Kaiga
plant.
 By reaching 859 days of continuous operation, it
has become the third longest running plant in the
world.
 These were stated by Sekhar Basu, Chairman,
Atomic Energy Commission and Secretary,
Department of Atomic Energy, at the 62nd General
Conference of IAEA Vienna, Austria.
News Title 05: Cabinet clears ₹3,466 crore dam
improvement project
 The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs
(CCEA), chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi,
approved the Dam Rehabilitation Improvement
Project (DRIP) project.
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 Out of the ₹3,466 crore cleared, ₹2,628 crore
would be funded by the World Bank and ₹747
crore by the States and Implementing Agencies
(IAs), and the balance ₹91 crore by the Central
Water Commission (CWC).
 Originally, the total cost of DRIP was ₹2,100 crore
with the States expected to fund ₹1,968 crore and
the Centre ₹132 crore.
 Initially, the six-year project commenced on April
18, 2012, with a scheduled closing on June 30,
2018. This has now been extended to June 2020.
 There are 198 existing dams in Kerala, Madhya
Pradesh, Odisha, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka,
Jharkhand (Damodar Valley Corporation) and
Uttarakhand (Uttarakhand Jal Vidyut Nigam
Limited) that would benefit from the project.
BUSINESS AND ECONOMY
News Title 01: BSE, NSE get SEBI nod for commodity
segment
 The Securities and Exchange Board of India has
given the regulatory go-ahead to BSE and NSE to
segments.
 Both bourses plan to start the new segment from
October 1.
 Interestingly, both the equity exchanges plan to
start with non-agriculture commodities like
metals and bullion, and subsequently launch
contracts in agriculture commodities.
 Currently, Multi Commodity Exchange of India
(MCX) is the largest commodity bourse with over
90% market share.
News Title 02: Alibaba Group, OBS launch
broadcasting system on the cloud
 The Alibaba Cloud and Olympic Broadcasting
Services have tied up to launch OBS Cloud, a
broadcasting system that operates on the cloud.
 This will be functional at the Tokyo 2020
Olympics.
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 The OBS cloud aims to offer all the necessary cloud
components in specialised configurations that can
support the demanding content production and
delivery workflows of broadcasting the Olympic
Games.
 OBS will be able to provide visuals and audio from
the Olympic Games through OBS Cloud.
 Broadcasters will also be able to set up their own
content creation, management and distribution
systems on OBS Cloud.
 The live media service on OBS Cloud will also
allow broadcasters to experiment with new
programme ideas in a secure
environment or conduct interactive
broadcasts.
APPOINTMENTS AND RESIGNS
News Title 01: Danske Bank CEO quits over $234-b
money laundering scam
 Danske Bank’s chief executive Thomas Borgen quit
in a money laundering scandal which involved
€200 billion ($234 billion) flowing through its
Estonian branch between 2007 and 2015, most of
which was suspicious.
 Regulators and the financial community will
scrutinise the Danske Bank report, which follows
calls by Brussels for a new European Union
watchdog to crack down on financial crime after a
series of scandals involving antimoney laundering
controls.
News Title 02: Afghanistan Ambassador to India quits
 Afghanistan ambassador to India Dr. Shaida
Mohammad Abdali quit, presenting
resignation personally to President Ashraf Ghani
at the end of his one-day visit to Delhi.
News Title 03: 10 public lenders get CEOs
 The Centre appointed chief executives to 10 public
sector banks include Syndicate Bank, Andhra Bank,
Maharashtra Bank, Indian Bank, United Bank of
India, Allahabad Bank, Dena Bank and others.
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 Padmaja Chundru has been appointed as MD &
CEO of Indian Bank
 Mrutyunjay Mahapatra as MD & CEO of Syndicate
Bank.
 Pallav Mahapatra as MD & CEO of Central Bank of
India.
 All three are with the State Bank of India (SBI) as
deputy managing directors and now have been
promoted to head smaller public sector banks
independently.
 J. Packirisamy has been moved from SBI to Andhra
Bank as MD & CEO
sandbox  S.S. Mallikarjuna Rao, the executive director (ED)
event of Syndicate Bank, has been moved to Allahabad
Bank as MD & CEO.
 SBI deputy MD Karnam Sekar has been moved to
Dena Bank as MD & CEO.
 Executive Director of Indian Bank A.S. Rajeev has
been moved to Bank of Maharashtra as MD & CEO.
 Executive Director of Union Bank of India Atul
Kumar Goel has been shifted to UCO Bank as MD &
CEO.
 S. Hari Shanker, ED of Allahabad Bank, has been
moved to Punjab and Sind Bank as MD & CEO.
 Ashok Kumar Pradhan, ED of United Bank of India,
has been elevated as MD & CEO in the same bank.
 Rakesh Jain has been appointed on the southern
local board
 Revathy Iyer and Raghevendra Narayan Dubey on
the northern local board
 Sachin Chaturvedi on the eastern local board of the
RBI.
News Title 04: Yes Bank CEO to stay only till Jan.
his
 The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has extended Yes
Bank’s managing director and chief executive
officer Rana Kapoor’s term till January 31, 2019.
 Mr. Kapoor’s term ended in August 31, 2018,
following which the bank said RBI had allowed Mr.
Kapoor to continue as MD & CEO ‘till further
notice’.
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 The board of the private sector lender will now

meet on September 25 to decide on the future
course of action.

News Title 05: IRDAI panel to examine fintech issues

 IRDAI has constituted a committee, comprising its
officials as well as senior executives of a few
insurers, to study regulatory issues fin-tech poses
for insurance.
 With IRDAI Chief General Manager Randip Singh
Jagpal as the chairperson, the 10 member
committee would identify key regulatory issues
and gaps pertaining to fin-tech in insurance.
 Besides six IRDAI officials, Aditya Birla Health
Insurance CEO Mayank Bathwal, HDFC Standard
Life Insurance COO Subrat Mohanty, ICICI
Lombard General Insurance’s VP-Business
Intelligence Chirag Bhojani and a representative
from World Bank figure in the committee.

OBITUARY

News Title 01: Air Marshal Randhir Singh passes away

at 97
 Air Marshal Randhir Singh (retd.), a highly
decorated Indian Air Force veteran, passed away
here at the age of 97 after a brief illness.

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