Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 30 June 2018

::NATIONAL::

The Union Cabinet will approve minimum support prices (MSP) at 150% of input costs for kharif crops at its next meeting, Prime Minister NarendraModi assured a group of sugar cane farmers
The PM’s reassurance comes as farmers’ groups have started agitating on the lack of announcement on MSP rates, though sowing of kharif crops has begun in most parts of the country.
The MSPs act as a price signal for farmers and are usually announced in early June, at the onset of the monsoon, when sowing begins.
With sugar mills’ arrears to cane farmers crossing Rs. 22,000 crore, the government has approved several relief measures over the past few months, including a production subsidy, buffer stock, minimum retail price and a hike in import duties, apart from steps to increase ethanol production from cane.

The brewing discontent against the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016, surfaced yet again in Assam on Friday as various organisations, including a students’ union, took to the streets here, urging the government to accord constitutional safeguards to the indigenous people.
The Bill, introduced in the LokSabha to amend the Citizenship Act 1955, proposes to make illegal migrants of six communities — Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians — eligible for Indian citizenship after six years of residence in the country.
The protestors demanded that the Centre should introduce constitutional safeguards to protect the identity of the people and this includes an inner line permit in Northeast States, taking into consideration the local conditions.

Road Transport and Highways Minister NitinGadkari on Friday met representatives from the country’s top banks and insurance companies in Mumbai, asking them to extend credit for road development projects.
The meeting held was an attempt to reach out to financial institutions asking them to extend credit for central projects. The banks have been reluctant to do so because of non-performing assets.
The minister said that they had announced 104 projects under the Hybrid Annuity Model (HAM), of which 56 have reached financial closure
The transport sector contributed 12% to the growth in the country and it wanted to further increase it & this can give banks business of up to Rs. 5 lakh crore.

India and Australia today reaffirmed the commitment made by Prime Minister, ShriNarendraModi and his Australian counterpart, Mr. Malcolm Turnbull in April 2017 to strengthen the education, training and research relationship between the two countries.
It also emphasised on institutional partnership, collaboration in school policy, online education and skill development & vocational education and Training.
The Ministers of both countries commended the contribution of Australia India Education Council, with its government and industry representatives, for significant progress across the key areas of skills, higher education and research, student mobility and welfare, quality assurance, qualifications recognition and schools improving collaboration across borders and developing new networks.

European Union leaders claimed a breakthrough deal on Friday on how to deal with the pressures of migration after all-night talks helped accommodate Italian demands for more help.
The EU leaders said the agreement would bolster the bloc’s external borders and improve the solidarity among member nations to ease pressure on point-of-entry nations like Greece and Italy.
The plan proposes screening migrants in North Africa for asylum eligibility and setting up control centers within the bloc by nations which would volunteer to have them.

The board of the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India, which met on Friday, has approved Life Insurance Corporation’s (LIC) proposal to increase its stake in troubled state-run lender IDBI Bank.
According to sources, IRDA has approved acquisition of up to 51% stake by LIC in IDBI Bank.
The deal, which will trigger takeover regulations, will also require an approval from the Securities and Exchange Board of India.

ICICI Bank has appointed former bureaucrat Girish Chandra Chaturvedi as non-executive, part-time chairman and an independent director of the board for three years with effect from July 1.
Mr.Chaturvedi, a former Indian Administrative Service officer, retired in 2013 as the petroleum secretary. He has also served on the boards of Canara Bank, Bank of Baroda and IDBI Bank as a government nominee. ICICI Bank’s present chairman M.K. Sharma’s term expires on June 30.

As more and more loan-related scams come to light in public and private sector banks leading to a pile-up of bad loans, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Friday decided to take auditors to task, warning them of stern punitive action.
Enforcement action framework in respect of statutory auditors (SAs) for lapses in statutory audit of commercial banks’, the RBI warned that any SA not following instructions will be met with punitive action such as debarring them from conducting business with banks.
To improve audit quality and bring about a transparent mechanism to examine the accountability of SAs in a consistent manner, it has been decided to put in place a graded enforcement action framework to enable appropriate action by the RBI in respect of the banks SAs for any lapses observed in conducting a statutory audit,the RBI said.

K.L. Rahul and Suresh Raina struck attacking half-centuries as India posted a huge 213 for four in the second T20 International against Ireland here on Friday.
ViratKohli (9), out for a duck in the first game, opened the innings with Rahul but fell cheaply. Rahul then took centre-stage and smacked the Irish bowling as brought up his 4th T20I half-century off 28 balls before being dismissed.
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