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Current Affairs 19 December 2019

GST Council fixes 28% uniform tax rate for lottery effective from March 2020

The 38th meeting of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council, chaired by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman was held in New Delhi on December 18, 2019.
Some of the important decisions taken during the meeting are as follows:
- Uniform GST tax rate of 28 percent on both state and private lottery. Currently, lotteries run by state-government attract 12% GST and those authorized by them and sold outside the state are taxed at 28%.
- GST rate on woven and non-woven bags rationalized to 18 percent, compared to 12% at present.
- The new rates will be effective from March 2020.
- Exempt upfront amount payable for long term lease of industrial and financial infrastructure plots by an entity having 20 percent or more ownership of Central or State Government, to facilitate setting up of industrial parks.
- Deadline for GSTR 9 and GSTR 9C return filing for 2017-18 extended to January 31, 2020 from December 31, 2019 earlier.
- The panel also relaxed levy of penalty for non-filing of GSTR-1 from July 2017
- The finance ministry has also set a Rs 1.1 lakh crore monthly GST collection target for the remaining four months of 2019-20 financial year.

HDFC Bank Becomes Third Indian Company to cross $100 billion Market Cap

As per the Bloomberg data, HDFC Bank Ltd has crossed the $100 billion market capitalisation on December 19, 2019 to become the only third firm in the country to achieve this milestone.
Reliance Industries Ltd (market cap of $140.74 billion), and Tata Consultancy Services (market cap of $114.60 billion) are the only top companies in the country in the list.
Globally, HDFC Bank now ranks 110th as most valued companies in the worlds which have market cap of over $100 billion.
In terms of most valued banks and financial companies around the world with market cap of over $100 billion, HDFC Bank ranks 26th.

Reliance Industries Surpasses state-owned Indian Oil Corporation to top 2019 Fortune India 500 list

Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) has displaced state-owned Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) as India’s largest company in the Fortune India 500 list 2019.
RIL is the first privately-held company to become the largest corporation in India and has ended IOC’s 10-year reign as India’s largest company. IOC is second on the list.
RIL’s 2018-19 revenue stood at Rs 5.81 lakh crore, which was 41.5 percent more than previous year.
IOC’s revenue stood at Rs 5.36 lakh crore, with a growth of 26.6 percent.
Overall, the revenue of the Fortune India 500 companies in the 2019 list grew 9.53 percent, while profit rose 11.8 percent.

Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik launches ‘Jalsathi’ programme for safe drinking water

Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has launched the ‘Jalsathi’ programme, involving women volunteers, to ensure supply of safe drinking water to all households in the state.
Under the ‘Jalsathi’ programme, about 5,000 women, known as Jalsathi, will be engaged for supplying safe drinking water. They have been provided with water quality testing kits and POS (point of sale) machines.
The Water Corporation of Odisha (WATCO) and women federations in Bhubaneswar have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for the implementation of this programme.
‘Jalasathis’ will be responsible for water quality testing, facilitating new water connections, regularising connections, reassessment of demands, meter reading, bill generation, bill delivery, collection of water charges and facilitating complaints redressal.

Thaawarchand Gehlot releases Braille Edition of Book “Exam Warriors” written by Prime Minister

Union Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment Shri Thaawarchand Gehlot released the Braille Edition of the book “Exam Warriors” authored by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi.
The Braille Edition of the book has been published in Hindi and English.
It has been prepared in the Braille Press of Rajasthan Netraheen Kalyan Sangh.

79th Conference of Presiding Officers of Legislative Bodies Held in Dehradun

Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla inaugurated ’79th Conference of Presiding Officers of Legislative Bodies’ in Dehradun, Uttarakhand, on December 18. He was given guard of honour upon his arrival.
The Presiding officers of all state legislatures participated in the two-day Conference to share their experience.
The first Conference of Presiding Officers of Legislative Bodies was launched in 1921 in Shimla. Dehradun hosted the conference for the first time

Second National conference on ‘Uniformed Women in Prison Administration’ Held in Bhopal

The second edition of the National Conference on ‘Uniformed Women in Prisons Administration’ has been organised in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh from December 19 and 20.
The conference is being held in joint collaboration of Madhya Pradesh Jail Department and BPR& D, New Delhi.
The uniformed women police and employees from the post of Jail Warden to Inspector General Level of various states, members of non-government organisations, representatives of academic institutions and officers of other government departments are participating in the conference.
The first conference was held in Delhi in 2017.

Govt Sanctions Rs 436 crore for Future Skills PRIME to skill 412,000 professionals in new technology

The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology has approved an amount of Rs 436 crore over a period of three years for Future Skills PRIME to skill 412,000 professionals in new technology such as artificial intelligence, virtual reality, Internet of Things, Big Data, cybersecurity, social and mobile and so on.
Future Skills PRIME is next phase of the Future Skills platform, a joint venture between the government and National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM).
Future Skills platform was launched in 2018 as joint initiative by Nasscom and the government for member companies in the IT-ITeS industry to reskill professionals across nine emerging technologies.
Future Skills PRIME is the next level and will be open to professionals from outside the IT industry as well, who want to skill themselves in ten emerging technologies, including government officials and trainers.

Narendra Singh Tomar Launches Phase–III of Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana

The Union Minister of Rural Development, Agriculture and Farmers Welfare & Panchayati Raj, Shri Narendra Singh Tomar launched Phase III of Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) in New Delhi on December 18, 2019.
The Phase-III of PMGSY has been launched with an estimated cost of Rs. 80,250 crores (Central Share of Rs. 53,800 crores) for the period 2019-20 to 2024-25.
It aims at revamping 1,25,000 kms of roads through routes and major Rural Links that connect habitations to Gramin Agricultural Markets (GrAMs), Higher Secondary Schools and Hospitals.
Funding pattern between Centre and the States government will be as follows:
- For States other than NE & Himalayan States: 60:40
- For NE & Himalayan States: 90:10

India Emerges as World’s 3rd Largest Producer Of Scientific Articles; China Tops: US Report

Based on the statistics compiled by the US-based National Science Foundation (NSF), India has emerged as the world’s third largest publisher of science and engineering articles.
As per the report, in 2008, India published 48,998 science and engineering articles which increased to 1,35,788 articles in 2018. Now India accounts for 5.31 percent of the total world publications in science and engineering.
China is on top of the list with the number of global scientific publications increased from 2,49,049 in 2008 to 5,28,263 in 2018 (growth rate of 7.81 percent per annum).
United States stands second with the total global publications in science and engineering articles grew at a rate of 0.71 percent from 3,93,979 in 2008 to 4,22,808 in 2018.
The other countries in the top 10 list are Germany (1,04,396), Japan (98,793), UK (97,681), Russia (81,579), Italy (71,240), South Korea (66,376) and France (66,352).

DRDO successfully flight-tests upgraded Pinaka Missile System off Odisha coast

The Pinaka Missile System was successfully flight-tested from the Integrated Test Range, Chandipur off the Odisha coast on December 19, 2019.
The Pinaka is an Artillery Missile System capable of striking into enemy territory up to a range of 75 kilometres with high precision.
The multi-barrel rocket launch (MBRL) system has been indigenously developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).
The Pinaka MK-II Rocket is modified as a missile by integrating with the Navigation, Control and Guidance System to improve the end accuracy and enhance the range.
The Navigation system of the missile is also aided by the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS), also known as NAVIC.

Indian Navy conducts anti-hijacking exercise ‘Apharan’ off Kochi coast

The Southern Naval Command of the Indian Navy, in collaboration with Indian Coast Guard, Cochin Port Trust and all other concerned stakeholders, conducted a large-scale anti-hijacking exercise code-named Apharan off the Port of Kochi on December 18, 2019.
The first-of-its-kind large-scale exercise saw participation of multiple agencies, including more than 12 ships and helicopters of the Indian Navy, Indian Coast Guard and Cochin Port Trust.
The purpose of the exercise was to assess the preparedness of their respective organisations, identify gaps to address them on priority as well as to formulate an integrated crisis management plan for Kochi Port in case of any attempt by anti-national elements to hijack a merchant vessel or attempt forced entry of a rogue/commandeered merchant vessel into the Kochi harbour.

Apple, Amazon & Google partner to make smart home devices more compatible

Apple Inc., Alphabet Inc.’s Google and Amazon.com Inc. are all set to form an alliance to make smart-home devices more secure, reliable, and seamless to use.
These three biggest providers of smart-home and voice-assistant technology are teaming up for the project, titled “Connected Home over IP”.
They will work with the Zigbee Alliance (a foundation that promotes standards for the “internet of things), and its members including Samsung Electronics Co., Somfy SA and IKEA, on a new standard that will ensure their products work with one another.
The group aims to make it easier for device manufacturers to build products that are compatible with smart home and voice services such as Alexa, Siri and Google Assistant.
Through this, more parts of the home can now be controlled by voice-activated speakers or remote apps, from thermostats to lights and even refrigerators.

Fiat Chrysler & Peugeot Inks 50-50 merger deal to create fourth largest global automotive business

French carmaker Peugeot SA and US-Italian automotive manufacturer Fiat Chrysler have signed an agreement to create the world’s fourth largest automaker.
The agreement between Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and Peugeot SA (Groupe PSA) provides for a 50:50 merger of their businesses.
The combined group will be the fourth largest global automotive original equipment manufacturer by volume and third largest by revenue, behind global rivals such as Volkswagen, Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi and Toyota.
The business will be headquartered in the Netherlands.
Fiat Chrysler chief John Elkann will be chairman and PSA’s Carlos Tavares chief executive of the new entity.
Its brands will include Fiat, Alfa Romeo, Chrysler, Citroen, Dodge, DS, Jeep, Lancia, Maserati, Opel, Peugeot and Vauxhall.

Donald Trump becomes third US president in history to be impeached

Donald Trump has become the third US President in history to be impeached by the House of Representatives, bringing him a step closer to being removed from office.
The House voted the President on two charges: one that he abused his power and other that he had obstructed Congress.
The issue will now pass to the US Senate, which will hold a trial on whether to convict and remove Mr Trump from office next month.
Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton were other two former Presidents who had been impeached.

Portuguese PM, Antonio Costa, on two-day visit to India

Prime Minister of Portugal, Antonio Costa is on a two-day visit to India from December 19-20, 2019.
This is Mr Costa’s first bilateral visit outside Europe after being re-elected as Prime Minister on 6 October, 2019.
Portugal Capital: Lisbon; Currency: Euro

Daily Current Affairs – 19 December 2019