Current Affairs 15th August 2018

Current Affairs 15th August 2018 - Important Points

• Chhattisgarh Governor Balramji Das Tandon passed away on - 14th August 2018
• Ease of Living Index 2018 released on - 13th August 2018
• IRDAI constitutes working group to review norms for insurance surveyors on - 13th August 2018

 Current Affairs 15th August 2018 - Details

Chhattisgarh Governor Balramji Das Tandon passed away on - 14th August 2018

Chhattisgarh Governor Balramji Das Tandon passed away following a cardiac arrest at Dr B R Ambedkar Memorial Hospital in Raipur on August 14, 2018. Tandon was ailing since past many days.

He was very active socially and was an excellent sportperson in kabaddi, swimming,Volleyball and other sports.

More about Political career of Balramji Das Tandon

• Born on 1st, November 1927, Tandon was a graduate from Punjab University in Lahore.
• In 1953, he started his political career as a Corporator of Amritsar Municipal Corporation.
• Tandon was also one of the founder members of the Jan Sangh in 1951 and which later became the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
• He served as the Secretary of Punjab Jan Sangh between 1951 to 1957 and as a president of the Punjab BJP between 1995-97.
• Tandon was six-time MLA in his 65 years of political career.

Ease of Living Index 2018 released on - 13th August 2018

The Minister of State for Housing and Urban Affairs, Hardeep Singh Puri announced the Top 10 cities rankings on Ease of Living Index 2018 on August 13th, 2018. Kolkata was the only city which refused to participate in the survey among the top 116 cities of India. Pune has also emerged as the top-ranked city in the Ease of Living Index.

Important Highlights

• Pune from Maharashtra, Navi Mumbai and Mumbai rounded the top three of Ease of Living Index 2018, while Thane was ranked at the 6th spot.
• New Delhi was placed at a 65th spot.
• Tamil Nadu’s Chennai was ranked at the 14th place.
• The bottom 3 cities in the list are Kohima, Rampur and Patna.

More about Ease of Living Index

• It is an initiative of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs to assist cities assess their liveability in  relation to national benchmarks, global and encourage cities to move towards an ‘outcome-based’ approach to urban planning and management.
• In June 2017, The survey was planned and was launched in January 2018 by Minister Hardeep Singh Puri with the help of Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar.
• Ease of Living framework consists of four pillars which are, Institutional, Social, Economic and Physical which are further broken down into 78 indicators and 15 categories.
• The Ease of Living assessment standards are closely linked to the SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals) and aim to provide a strong impetus to India’s effort for systematic tracking progress of SDGs in its urban areas.

IRDAI constitutes working group to review norms for insurance surveyors on - 13th August 2018

The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) on August 13, 2018 constituted a working group to update the norms for insurance surveyors. The working group, which will comprise 7 members, has been formed to address areas pertaining to licensing, renewal and IIISLA membership in  the context of the existing regulatory framework for surveyors and loss assessors.

Key Highlights

• The group Yegna Priya Bharat group headed by Chief General Manager (Nonlife), IRDA led this group.
• It will be required to study the MoA (Memorandum of Association) and AoA (Articles of Association) of the IIISLA (Indian Institute of Insurance Surveyors and Loss  Assessors) and make recommendations to bring about alignment with the surveyor regulations.
• It will also be having to make a holistic analysis of the existing regulatory framework in view of the needs of the industry.
• As IIISLA is promoted by IRDAI, the working group will also be addressing issues related to the membership of IIISLA.
• The term of reference of the working group also required it to make recommendations in order to bring in more clarity in the areas of ambiguity in the surveyor regulations.
• The group will be needed to submit its final report with recommendations within two months.