CURRENT AFFAIRS - SEPTEMBER 2018
DAY: 27 SEPTEMBER
NATIONAL AFFAIRS
News Title 01: CJI launches insurance policy
 Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra launched LIC’s
Group Insurance Policy for members of the
Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA).
News Title 02: Rajasthan CM Raje inaugurates tourist
spots
 Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje
inaugurated 16 tourist spots with statues of saints
and eminent personalities across the State on the
World Tourism Day.
 Addressing a gathering at her residence, she said
the State government was constructing 48 such
spots at the cost of ₹150 crore and work of 44 was
already completed.
News Title 03: Kerala okays ₹50 lakh for Nambi
Narayanan
 The Cabinet meeting sanctioned ₹50 lakh for
former ISRO scientist Nambi Narayanan as per the
compensation awarded by the Supreme Court for
his arrest and harassment by the Kerala Police on
trumped up charges of espionage.
News Title 04: Centre to hike grant for SDRF
 The Centre has enhanced its contribution in the
State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) from 75%
to 90% with effect from April 1, the Union Home
Ministry announced.
 Kerala, which has recently faced the worst floods,
will be a major beneficiary of the Centre’s decision.
Henceforth all States will be required to contribute
10% to the SDRF.
 The additional contribution by the Central
government in SDRF on this account will be
₹1,690.35 crore for 2018-19 and ₹1,774.67 crore
for the financial year 2019-20, a Home Ministry
statement said.
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 Under the Disaster Management Act 2005, a
financial mechanism has been set up by way of
National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF) at
national level and SDRF at the State level to meet
the rescue and relief expenditure during any
notified disasters.
 The SDRF has been constituted in each State in
which the Centre, so far, had been contributing
75% for the general category states and 90% for
special category States of hilly regions every year,
the statement said.
 The SDRF is a resource available to the States to
meet the expenses of relief operations of
immediate nature, for a range of specified
disasters. At any point, the state government has
fair amount of funds available under the SDRF.
 Based on the recommendations of successive
Finance Commission, the central government
approves the annual allocation to SDRF.
 On the recommendations of 14th Finance
Commission, the government has significantly
enhanced the allocation to SDRF by 82.30% i.e.
from ₹33,580.93 crore during 2010-11 to 2014-15
to ₹61,220 crore for 2015-16 to 2019-20.
 In addition, the central government has provided
additional financial assistance of ₹ 32,142 crore
from NDRF to the States during 2014-2018
compared to ₹14,098 crore provided during 2010-
2014, which is also significantly higher, the
statement said.
News Title 05: Adultery is not a crime, rules SC; strikes
it off IPC
 A five-judge Constitution Bench, led by Chief
Justice of India Dipak Misra, in four separate but
concurring opinions held that adultery is not a
crime and struck it off the Indian Penal Code.
 Chief Justice Misra, in an opinion for himself and
Justice A.M. Khanwilkar, observed that Section 497
(adultery) of the Code “commands” married
couples to remain loyal to each other.
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 Two individuals may part if one cheats, but to
attach criminality to infidelity is going too far, the
Chief Justice observed. Besides, there is no data to
back claims that abolition of adultery as a crime
would result in “chaos in sexual morality” or an
increase of divorce.
 How married couples deal with adultery is
“absolutely a matter of privacy at its pinnacle”, the
Chief Justice wrote.
 Loss of moral commitment in a marriage creates a
dent in the relationship, but it is left to each
individual to deal with the problem, some may
forgive while others may seek divorce.
 Punishing each other or the wife’s lover is unlikely
to re-kindle commitment, the judgment said.
 Section 497 treats a married woman as the
commodity of her husband, the Bench held.
 Adultery is not a crime if the cuckolded husband
connives or consents to his wife’s extra-marital
affair.
 Section 497 treats a married woman as her
husband’s “chattel”.
 The provision is a reflection of the social
dominance of men prevalent 150 years ago, the
judgment said.
BANKING AND FINANCE
News Title 01: Real-time payment service IMPS ranked
No 1 globally
 Immediate Payment Service (IMPS) which runs
through the United Payment Interface is ranked
first (Only 5 rating for the second year in a row)
on the Faster Payments Innovation Index by
USbased financial services technology firm FIS.
 Australia’s New Payments Platform
Singapore’s Fast and Secure Transfers service
received 4+ ratings on the index, which rates
programmes on an index of 1 to 5.
 Daily transactions on the IMPS rose to close to 28
lakh every day this year from 20 lakh in 2017, it
added.
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 The payment system, which was launched in
2010, operates almost 24x7 with nearly all major
banks participating.
 Customers can use a mobile phone, internet
connection and a bank account to instantly
transfer money using IMPS.
 As part of the report, FIS identified 40 active
real-time payment programmes around the world,
compared to 25 in 2017, and nearly three times as
many as in 2014 when the first report came out.
 It also found five payment programmes under
development, with another 16 likely to go live in
the next 12 to 18 months.
 As many as 12 other programmes received 4+ or 4
ratings in this year’s index. These include China,
which now makes 2.59 crore faster payment
transfers every day; Single Euro Payments Area
(SEPA) Instant Credit Transfer Scheme, which
expects to have 34 countries live with real-time
payments by 2019; and the United States, which
saw the launch of its first real-time payments
system in late 2017.
News Title 02: ICICI Bank renews MoU with Army for
banking, insurance services
 ICICI Bank has renewed its MoU with the Indian
Army to offer a range of benefits to Army
personnel and pensioners through its ‘Defence
Salary Account’, and also new insurance benefits of
up to ₹1 crore.
 This includes a zero-balance account, preferential
allotment of lockers, and waiver on processing fees
on home, auto and personal loans for gallantry
award winners, as well as unlimited transactions
on ICICI Bank and non-ICICI Bank ATMs.
and  The bank also provides insurance cover, which
includes accidental death insurance cover – air
(₹1crore) and personal (₹30 lakh) partial and
total disability insurance cover, across all ranks.
 “As part of the insurance cover, in case of
accidental death, two wards of the deceased
account holders will also be eligible to get financial
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assistance of up to ₹1lakh per annum for four
years after grade XII for their higher education,”
the bank said.
News Title 03: Fed hikes rates, sees 3 more years of
growth
 Fed policy-makers lifted the benchmark overnight
lending rate by a quarter of a percentage point to a
range of 2.00% to 2.25%.
 The U.S. central bank still foresees another rate
hike in December, three more next year, and one
increase in 2020.
 The Fed sees the economy growing at a faster-
than-expected 3.1% this year and continuing to
expand moderately for at least three more years,
amid sustained low unemployment and stable
inflation near its 2% target.
News Title 04: RBI relaxes SLR rules to ease liquidity
fears
 To help banks overcome any possible liquidity
constraints, the Reserve Bank of India said they
can avail of higher liquidity with effect from
October 1 as it has enhanced the "Facility to Avail
Liquidity for Liquidity Coverage Ratio
(FALLCR)" from the existing 11 per cent to 13 per
cent of their deposits.
 This move will take the total carve-out from SLR
(statutory liquidity ratio) available to banks to 15
per cent of their deposits.
 Banks' SLR, which is the percentage of deposits
that they have to mandatorily invest in
government and state government securities, is
currently at 19.5 per cent.
 Availing of liquidity against the securities under
FALLCR is usually permitted to banks only under
the conditions of stress.
BUSINESS AND ECONOMY
News Title 01: Walmart Foundation to invest ₹180
crore
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 Walmart Foundation announced that it would
invest ₹180 crore in India over the next five years
to improve farmers’ livelihood.
 The funds would be used to support farmer
organisations to develop knowledge of sustainable
farming practices, share business best practices
and add value to primary agricultural
commodities.
 The money will also be used to improve access to
finance and markets, the Foundation said in a
statement.
 Walmart India would grow its direct sourcing
from farmers to 25% of the products sold in its
Cash & Carry stores over the same period.
News Title 02: WTO slashes global trade growth
forecast to 3.9%
 According to World Trade Organisation (WTO)
growth is expected 3.9 per cent in 2018 and
further to 3.7 per cent in 2019.
 The new forecast for 2018 is below WTO's April 12
estimate of 4.4 per cent but falls within the 3.1 per
cent to 5.5 per cent growth range indicated at that
time.
 Trade growth in 2018 is now most likely to fall
within a range from 3.4 per cent to 4.4 per cent.
 The updated trade forecast is based on the
expectations of world real GDP growth at market
exchange rates of 3.1 per cent in 2018 and 2.9 per
cent in 2019.
APPOINTMENTS AND RESIGNS
News Title 01: Mary Kom named Tribes India brand
ambassador
 Boxer M.C. Mary Kom was named as the brand
ambassador of Tribes India, an initiative of
Ministry of Tribal Affairs.
News Title 02: Rajni Kant Mishra, new chief of BSF
 The government appointed Rajni Kant Mishra as
the Director-General of Border Security Force
(BSF) in the place of K.K. Sharma, who is
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superannuating on September 30. A 1984 batch  Hosting Italy will end India’s streak of three away
Indian Police Service officer of Uttar Pradesh ties, played over the last two years.
cadre.  Madrid has been chosen to host the first two new-
 Mr. Mishra has been shifted from the Sashastra format finals in 2019 and 2020.
Seema Bal (SSB).  Under a format proposed by the Kosmos group,
 He will head the BSF till August 31, 2019. headed by Barcelona footballer Gerard Pique, and
 Special D-G (BSF) S.S. Deswal, 1984 batch IPS adopted by the ITF in August, the competition will
officer from Haryana cadre will replace Mr. Mishra bring together 18 nations in one place for a week
in SSB. at the end of the tennis season.
 The revamped finals are scheduled to take place at
News Title 03: Centre appoints search committee for
La Caja Magica, the current venue for the Madrid
Lokpal
Open, in 2019.
 Centre constituted an eight-member search  For 2020, organisers still must decide between the
committee, to be headed by former Supreme Court same location or at the WiZink Center.
judge, Justice Ranjana Prakash Desai, to
recommend the chairperson and members of the
anti-corruption ombudsman Lokpal.
 The Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, which envisages
establishment of anti-graft body Lokpal at the
Centre and Lokayuktas in States to look into cases
of corruption against certain categories of public
servants, was passed in 2013.
 Former State Bank of India chief Arundhati
Bhattacharya, Prasar Bharati chairperson A. Surya
Prakash and former Indian Space Research
Organisation head A.S. Kiran Kumar are the
members of the search committee.
 Former judge of the Allahabad High Court, Justice
Sakha Ram Singh Yadav; former Gujarat Police
head, Shabbirhusein S Khandwawala; retired IAS
officer of Rajasthan cadre, Lalit K Panwar; and
Ranjit Kumar are the other members of the panel.

SPORTS

News Title 01: India to host Italy in Qualifiers

 India will host Italy in the 2019 Davis Cup
Qualifiers to be played on February 1 and 2, 2019.
The draw was held here on Wednesday.
 India had lost 4-0 to Serbia in its World Group
play-off tie but made the qualifiers owing to its
superior ranking in the Asia-Oceania zone.

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