Current Affairs 12 February 2018 1. Rajnath Singh inaugurates first of its kind spoken Sanskrit centre ● Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh launched the Centre for learning Sanskrit language in Gujarat University in Ahmedabad. ● The centre will offer a six-month course for people on how to speak the language. The coordinator of the course, Atul Unagar, it was possibly the first such course launched in India. ● For the course, no prior knowledge of Sanskrit is required, adding that the first batch would hopefully begin in 10 days as the university looks for a minimum class strength of 30 students. The fees have been fixed at Rs 500.
2. Direct tax collections rise 19.3% in April – January ● Direct tax collections grew by Direct tax collections rise 19.3% in April – January 2018 with strong growth in both corporate and personal income tax receipts. ● According to official data released, net direct tax collections grew by 19.3 percent up to January 2018 to the ₹6.95-lakh crore. ● While net corporate income tax grew by 19.2 percent, personal income tax receipts rose by 18.6 percent in January 2018. ●
Gross tax collections also grew at a robust 13.3 percent to ₹8.21-lakh crore between April 2017 and January 2018.
3. India and Palestine sign six MoUs ● India and Palestine signed six MoUs (Memorandums of Understanding) worth USD 40 million. This was welcomed by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. ● During the term of this Government, the President of India made the first ever visit to Palestine in 2015.
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Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas made an official visit to India in May 2017 and now for the first time Prime Minister of India has made a visit to Palestine in 2018.
Important points: Palestine ➢ Capital: East Jerusalem ➢ President: Mahmoud Abbas ➢ Prime minister: Rami Hamdallah
4. India and Oman sign eight agreements ● Prime Minister Narendra Modi held wide-ranging talks with the Sultan of Oman as the two sides signed eight agreements, including pacts on cooperation in the field of defence, health and tourism. ● Modi, who arrived here from Dubai on the last leg of his three-nation tour, led delegation-level talks with Qaboos bin Said al Said and discussed measures to strengthen cooperation in trade and investment, energy, defence, security, food security and regional issues. ●
After that, the two sides signed eight agreements, including a MoU on legal and judicial cooperation in civil and commercial matters.
Important points: Oman ➢ Capital: Muscat ➢ Currency: Omani rial ➢ Prime Minister: Qaboos bin Said al Said
5. SBI wrote off bad loans worth over Rs 20,000 crore last fiscal ● The country’s largest lender SBI wrote off bad loans worth Rs 20,339 crore in 2016-17, the highest among all the public sector banks, which had a collective write off of Rs 81,683 crore for the fiscal. ● The data pertains to the period when the associate banks of State Bank of India (SBI) were not merged with it. ● Public sector banks’ (PSBs) write-off stood at Rs 27,231 crore in 2012-13, government data showed. The figure has jumped nearly three-fold in five years.
6. ONGC, partners acquire 10% stake in Abu Dhabi oilfield for $600 million ● ONGC (Oil and Natural Gas Corp. Ltd) Videsh Ltd and its partners have acquired a 10% stake in a large offshore oilfield in Abu Dhabi for $600 million, the first time any Indian company has set foot in oil-rich Emirates. ● The current production of this field is about 400,000 barrels of oil per day (20 million tonnes per annum) and Indian consortium’s annual share shall be about 2 million tonnes. ●
The contract for the concession was signed in Abu Dhabi in presence of Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed al-Nahyan and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Important points: United Arab Emirates: ➢ Capital: Abu Dhabi ➢ Currency: United Arab Emirates dirham