Current Affairs 09 February 2018 1. Dubai retains rank as world’s busiest international airport ● Dubai International Airport has held on to its No 1 ranking as the world’s busiest airport for international travel, after seeing some 88.2 million passengers in 2017. ● It comes after airport the saw 83.6 million passengers in 2016. Dubai Airports CEO Paul Griffiths expects the airport to see 90.3 million passengers in 2018. ● Dubai International Airport first surpassed London Heathrow as the world’s busiest airport for international traffic in 2014. ●
It has maintained the title ever since, with some 90 airlines flying into skyscraper-studded Dubai, a gateway for East-West travel.
2. RBI to set up the ombudsman for non-banking finance companies ● The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) announced setting up the ombudsman for addressing customer grievances in the non-banking finance companies. ● The rules will be laid out by the end of February 2018. RBI will start with deposit-taking NBFCs and widen the scope to cover NBFCs with asset size of Rs 100 crore. ● The scheme for banks is working well and is accepted as a preferred mode of customer grievance redressal by the public at large, which is cost-free and expeditious. Important Points: Reserve Bank of India ➢ Headquarters: Mumbai ➢ Founder: British Raj ➢ Governor: Urjit Patel ➢ Deputy Governor: B.P. Kanungo
3. First ever chat based job search app Empzilla launched ● Taking prime minister Narendra Modi’s Digital India initiative forward, a chat based job search mobile app Empzilla, first ever of its kind in the country, is being launched that will do away with existing limitations of employers and job seekers making selection process quick and cost-effective. ● The mobile app gets conversation between employers and job seekers going in seconds and the latter can chat with the potential employer. ●
It also relieves the Human Resource department of an excessive load of mails and the need to download all the profiles which is time-consuming and confusing.
4. HAL develops first flight of Hawk-i ● The Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) has developed the first flight of Hawk-i with indigenous Real Time Operating System (RTOS). ● Hawk-i is the first indigenous RTOS developed in India from scratch and certified by Center for Military Airworthiness and Certification (CEMILAC). ● The RTOS is the system software which provides a standard run-time environment for real-time applications execution in a safe and reliable manner. Important Points: Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) ➢ Headquarters: Bengaluru ➢ Founder: Walchand Hirachand ➢ Founded: 1940, Bengaluru ➢ Chairman: T. Suvarna Raju
5. Khelo India School Games: Haryana are the top guns ● The first Khelo India School Games concluded in New Delhi with sports powerhouse Haryana topped the overall medal tally. The state won 102 medals which include 38 gold and 26 silver. ➢ Haryana emerged as the overall champions, finishing with 102 medals.
➢ Maharashtra finished the KISG with 111 medals. ➢ Delhi finished the Games at the third position with 94 medals.
6. Hardayal Prasad appointed as SBI Card MD & CEO ● SBI Card, the country’s second-largest credit card issuer, Hardayal Prasad appointed as SBI new Managing Director (MD) & Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the company. He has replaced Vijay Jasuja. ● Prior to this appointment, Prasad was with State Bank of India, holding multiple leadership positions in the bank. He had joined SBI as a probationary officer in 1983. ● He has rich experience in many areas of banking and has served in several geographical locations spread across different Circles and abroad.
7. IndusInd Bank launches new Sonic Identity, A musical logo ● IndusInd Bank launched its new Sonic Identity, which is essentially a musical logo, as part of its branding initiatives. ● The objective for associating to a sonic identity is building the Bank’s brand imagery with the strategic use of music and sound for brand experiences and audience connection.
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The Sonic Identity is derived from the Bank’s persona and core values of innovation, courage and dynamism as well as its strong desire to place customers first.
Important points: IndusInd Bank ➢ Headquarters: Mumbai ➢ Chairman: R. Seshasayee ➢ Owner: Hinduja Group
8. India ranks 44 out of 50 nations in global IP Index ● India has increased “substantially” its score in the International Intellectual Property (IP) Index, ranking 44th among 50 nations, but it needs to take additional and meaningful reforms to complement its policy. ● Despite the improvement in the score, India continues to remain towards the bottom of the ladder. It now ranks 44 out of 50 countries. ●
Last year, India ranked 43rd out of 45 countries
in the Index. ●
The US tops the list with 37.98 points, followed by United Kingdom (37.97) and Sweden (37.03).
9. Defence Minister appoints panel to expedite capital acquisition ● Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has constituted a 13-member advisory committee to monitor and expedite capital acquisition projects for the modernisation of the armed forces. ● Under the terms of reference of the committee, it has to undertake an independent review and check the status of ongoing critical projects worth more than Rs 500 crore. ●
The committee would suggest measures to
improve the capital acquisition process. ●
The panel will review various categories of projects including “Buy” (Indian) and “Buy and Make” (Indian).