Current Affairs 11th October 2017

Current Affairs 11th October 2017 -  Important Points

• D Shivakumar quits as CEO of PepsiCo India on - 10th October 2017
•  Jagdish Mukhi sworn in as new Governor of Assam on - 10th October 2017
• Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana in Silchar inaugurated by - Assam CM
• International Day of the Girl Child 2017 observed globally on - 11th October 2017
• Who has been appointed as President of US-India Business Council ?- Nisha Desai Biswal
• Iceland makes history, Qualifies for World Cup on - 9th October 2017
• Maharashtra cabinet approves climate change adaptation policy on - 10th October 2017
•  Centre imposes Anti-dumping duty on imports of steel wire rods from China by - union Government

Current Affairs 11th October 2017 - Details

D Shivakumar quits as CEO of PepsiCo India on - 10th October 2017

PepsiCo India Chairman and CEO, D Shivakumar resigned from office on 10th October 2017. Ahmed El Sheikh who is currently serving as senior vice-president and general manager for PepsiCo Egypt and Jordan will be succeeding him.
D Shivakumar served for almost four years with the beverage maker, overseeing the company’s operation across India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan and Maldives.
Shivakumar will be quitting PepsiCo on 31st December. He is expected to join Aditya Birla Group as Head, Corporate Strategy and Business Development in three months and will be reporting directly to Group Chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla.

More about D Shivakumar

• He is an IIT alumnus, Madras and IIM, Calcutta.
• Before joining PepsiCo India Shivakumar worked as Senior Executive with Finland based Nokia Oyj where he played a pivotal role in bringing low-cost mobile handsets across rural heartland.
• He served more than a decade with Hindustan Unilever Ltd managing Lipton Tea brand expansion.
• He has also worked with Philips Consumer Electronics India previously.

 Jagdish Mukhi sworn in as new Governor of Assam on - 10th October 2017

Veteran leader, Jagdish Mukhi was sworn in as the new Governor of Assam on 10th October 2017.
Chief Justice Ajit Singh from Gauhati High Court administered the oath of office at a function in the Srimanta Sankardeva International Convention Centre in Guwahati.
The swearing-in ceremony also saw in attendance the state’s Chief Minister, Sarbananda Sonowal and other senior officials.
Mukhi succeeded Banwarilal Purohit in his new position who has been appointed as the Governor of Tamil Nadu.

More about Jagdish Mukhi

• He previously served as the Lieutenant Governor of Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
• He was also holding important ministerial positions including minister of Finance, Planning, Excise and Taxation and Higher Education in the Delhi government previously.
• In 1997, He had been awarded the Best Finance and Planning Minister by the then Planning Minister, Pranab Mukherjee.
• He has also served as the Leader of Opposition for approximately 10 years.

Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana in Silchar inaugurated by - Assam CM

The Chief Minister of Assam, Sarbananda Sonowal inaugurated the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana in the state’s Silchar district on 11th October 2017.
The Minister, who is on a two-day visit to Cachar, also took part in various programs. He also attended a meeting of the district administration officials and  police personnel of the three districts of Barak Valley and interact with the intellectual fraternity on Namami Barak festival. He also attended the Gunotsav programme at the DNNK School and laid the foundation stone of an Rs 61 Crore road repair project at VIP Road at Udharbondh that will be connecting
the city to the airport.

More about Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana

• It is a welfare program of the Union government launched by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2016.
• The main objective of the program is to provide LPG connections to 50 million BPL (below-poverty-line) families in three years.
• The scheme is aimed at replacing the unclean cooking fuels mostly used in the rural India with the clean and more efficient LPG.
• As on 3rd April 2017, twenty million LPG connections had been completed.
• The initiative is guided by a strong commitment to bring in changes in poor women lives.
  India has become world’s second largest LPG importer followed by China.

International Day of the Girl Child 2017 observed globally on - 11th October 2017

The International Day of the Girl Child was observed across the world on 11th October 2017 with the theme 'EmPOWER girls: Before, during and after crises'.

At present there are approximately 1.1 billion girls in the world, and each and every one of them deserves equal opportunities for a better future. Most girls face discrimination and disadvantage on a daily basis, and those living through crises are suffering even more. As a result of violence, every 10 minutes, an adolescent girl dies.

Adolescent girls in conflict zones are more likely to be out of school in comparison to the girls of conflict-free countries. This day aims to empower girls in raising their voices to fight for their rights and protection in all contexts.

Who has been appointed as President of US-India Business Council ?- Nisha Desai Biswal

Nisha Desai Biswal was on 10 October 2017 appointed as the President of the US-India Business Council (USIBC). The US-India Business Council is the premier business advocacy organization that was formed in 1975 at the request of the US and Indian governments.
It is the largest bilateral trade association in the US and has its presence in New York, Silicon Valley and New Delhi.

More about Nisha Desai Biswal

• She served as Assistant Secretary for South and Central Asian Affairs in the US Department of State between 2013 and 2017, where she oversaw the US-India strategic partnership including the launching of Commercial Dialogue and US-India Strategic.
• She served as Assistant Administrator for Asia at the US Agency for International Development previously.
• She spent more than ten years on Capitol Hill while serving as staff director on the State, Foreign Operations Appropriations Subcommittee in the House of Representatives.
• She served as a senior advisor with the Albright Stonebridge Group most recently, where she helped expand the firm’s India and South Asia practice.
• Indian President awarded the prestigious Pravasi Bharatiya Samman Award to her in January 2017.

Iceland makes history, Qualifies for World Cup on - 9th October 2017

Iceland created history by qualifying for the 2018 World Cup on 9th October 2017. For the first time Iceland qualified for the World Cup.
Gylfi Sigurdsson and Johann Berg Gudmundsson scored 2-0 against Kosovo to bag a spot in Group I of UEFA World Cup Qualification.
With a population of hardly 330000, Iceland became the smallest country to grab a position at the 21st FIFA World Cup. The previous smallest country to have reached the World Cup was Trinidad & Tobago with population of 1.3 million.

More about 2018 FIFA World Cup

• 21st FIFA World Cup will going to be held in 2018 in Russia.
• FIFA World Cup is held once in four years international football tournament.
• This is the first time when Iceland and Panama will going to participate.
• The winners of the World Cup 2018 will be qualifing for the 2021 FIFA Confederations Cup.

Maharashtra cabinet approves climate change adaptation policy on - 10th October 2017

The state cabinet of Maharashtra approved a climate change adaptation policy on 10th October 2017 that will be focusing on developing environment-friendly villages and cities.
According to a statement issued by the Chief Minister's office, a special cell under the state Environment department will be set up for its effective implementation.

Key Objective

The main objective of the policy would be to develop environment-friendly cities and villages.
Other Cabinet Decisions

• The cabinet approved provision of funds for agricultural pumps, approval of special scheme for pending agricultural pumps in Vidarbha and Marathwada region.
• The cabinet has given its approval for a grant of Rs 10 lakh to the Akhil Bharatiya Marathi Sahitya Mahamandal including six other regional educational institutions.
• Further, the state government also increased subsidy from 50 percent to 75 percent for the development of basic infrastructure of 26 municipal corporations in A and D category in the state.

 Centre imposes Anti-dumping duty on imports of steel wire rods from China by - union Government

The Union Finance Ministry has imposed anti-dumping duty on imports of certain steel wire rods from China for a period of next five years. The decision has been taken to guard the interest of domestic players from other cheap in-bound shipments.
Important Highlights

• The duty was imposed after the Commerce Ministry's Directorate General of Anti-Dumping and Allied Duties recommended duty on such imports.
• The DGAD had concluded in its findings that the alloy wire rod or non-alloy steel has been exported to India lower to the normal value because of which domestic industry is suffering material injury.
• India has already slapped anti-dumping duty on certain cold-rolled flat steel products from four countries which include China and South Korea.
• Department of Revenue said in its notification said that the anti-dumping duty impose shall be effective for a period of five years from the date of its imposition and will be payable in INR.
• The concerned steel products are used in many sectors such as automotive components,engineering, railway and construction.

Anti-Dumping Duty

• An anti-dumping duty is a protectionist tariff imposed by domestic government on foreign imports which it believes are priced below fair market value.
• The measure is taken to ensure fair trade and to provide a level-playing field to the domestic industry.
• To protect local businesses and markets, many countries impose stiff duties on products they believe are being dumped in their own national market.