Current Affairs 1st January 2019

Current Affairs 1st January 2019 - Important Points

• Legendary moviemaker Mrinal Sen passed away at 95 on - 30th December 2018
• Sheikh Hasina wins third consecutive term as prime minister in - Bangladesh Elections 2018
• Smriti Mandhana named International Cricket Council Women’s Cricketer of the Year on - 31st December 2018
• Fiscal Stability Report released by - RBI
• Loan subsidy for middle-income group under PMAY extended till - 31st March 2020
• Madhya Pradesh Government to create an - Adhyatmik Vibhag

Current Affairs 1st January 2019 - Details

Legendary moviemaker Mrinal Sen passed away at 95 on - 30th December 2018

Legendary moviemaker Mrinal Sen decreased on December 30th, 2018 in Kolkata, following a prolonged age-related ailment. He was 95 years old and is survived by his son. His wife, actor Geeta Sen, deceased in 2017.
The Padma Bhushan & Dada Saheb Phalke awardee was well known mainly for paving the way for parallel cinema in the nation with movies including ‘Ek Din Achanak’, ‘Padatik,Mrigaya’, ‘Akaler Sandhane’, ‘Chorus’, ‘Kharij’, ‘Kandahar’, ‘Bhuwan Shome’, ‘Akash Kusum’ & ‘Calcutta 71’.
More about Mrinal Sen

• Mrinal Sen was a well-known Bengali moviemaker located in Kolkata. He was born on May 14th, 1923, in the town of Faridpur, which now is in Bangladesh and completed his post-graduation from the Calcutta University.
• In a career spanning for above 6 decades, Sen along with his contemporary stalwarts Satyajit Ray & Ritwick Ghatak, opened new era in Indian cinema with content driven, issue-based realistic cinema which fascinated to the global diaspora, besides creating ripples in the Indian movie industry.
• The 3 directors were known to be the greatest ambassadors of Bengali parallel cinema on the worldwide stage.
• Like the works of Ray & Ghatak, Sen’s cinema is recalled primarily for its meticulous & artistic depiction of social reality.
• He made his directorial debut with “Raat Bhore” in 1955 & found local approval with “Neel Akasher Neechey”  and “Baishey Shravana”. 
• However, it was the movie Bhuvan Shome, that finally launched him as a major moviemaker, both nationally & internationally. 
• Sen was also a member of the Rajya Sabha from 1998-2003. His last movie as a director “Aamaar Bhuvan” released in 2002.

Sheikh Hasina wins third consecutive term as prime minister in - Bangladesh Elections 2018

Bangladesh’s PM Sheikh Hasina won her 3rd consecutive term & 4th overall with a landslide victory in the country’s general elections. The results were declared by the Election Commission on December 31st, 2018. 
Sheikh Hasina’s ruling party Bangladesh Awami League & its associates secured 288 of the 299 parliamentary seats contested, outstanding its previous election victory when it had secured 234 seats. This is an unprecedented feat in the nation’s political history as no other leader in Bangladesh has been able to secure a 3rd consecutive term.
Important Points

• The Election Commission confirmed that Hasina secured her Gopalganj-3 seat bagging more than 2.29 lakh votes, while her Bangladesh Nationalist Party opponent got only 123 votes.
• The ruling coalition has reportedly earned above 80% of votes, making it the strongest governments in South Asia.
• As per to reports, the Grand Alliance-led by the Awami league secured as many as 288 seats, while the opposition alliance won below 10 seats.
• The main opposition party Bangladesh Nationalist Party won 5 seats & the Gano Forum is reported to have won 2 seats. The remaining 4 seats were secured by Independents.
• The voting occurred in 299 out of 300 seats on December 30th. The voting was suspended for 1 seat due to the death of a candidate.

Smriti Mandhana named International Cricket Council Women’s Cricketer of the Year on - 31st December 2018

India’s left-handed opener Smriti Mandhana has secured the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Award for the International Cricket Council Women’s Cricketer of the Year. Mandhana was also pronounced as the International Cricket Council Women’s One-Day International Player of the Year. The declaration was made by the International Cricket Council on December 31st, 2018. 
The 22 years old Mandhana, has also been named in the International Cricket Council Women’s One-Day International Team of the Year & the International Cricket Council Women’s T20I Team of the Year, scored 669 runs at an average of 66.90 in 12 One-Day Internationals & 622 runs at a strike-rate of 130.67 in 25 T-20 Internationals during the voting period, which ran from January 1st-December 31st, 2018.
The cricketer had played a crucial role in India’s semi-final appearance at the International Cricket Council Women’s World T-20 in the West Indies, scoring 178 runs in 5 matches at a strike-rate of 125.35.
Important Points 

• Smriti Mandhana has become the 2nd Indian woman player to secure an International Cricket Council award after fast bowler Jhulan Goswami, who was named the International Cricket Council Women’s Player of the Year in 2007.
• Australia’s opening batter & wicketkeeper Alyssa Healy, who ended with 225 runs in 6 matches at the International Cricket Council Women’s World T-20 2018 in the West Indies, has been named the International Cricket Council Women’s T-20 International Player of the Year.
• England’s 19 years old left-arm spinner Sophie Ecclestone has been voted the International Cricket Council Women’s Emerging Player of the Year after she took 18 wickets in 9 One-Day Internationals &17 in 14 T-20

Internationals during the calendar year.

• The International Cricket Council Fans’ Moment of the Year award, which will be selected by cricket fans worldwide who will get a chance to vote for their favourite moment of 2018, will be declared subsequent month.
• The voting window for this award is now open & the winning moment will be declared along with the men’s International Cricket Council Awards, which will be declared in January 2019.

Fiscal Stability Report released by - RBI

The bi-annual Fiscal Stability Report deliberating issues concerned to the development & regulation of
the financial sector has been published by the Reserve Bank of India. The Fiscal Stability Report shows
the collective assessment of the Sub-committee of the Financial Stability & Development Council on risks to the financial stability of the nation, as also the resilience of the financial system.
Findings of the Fiscal stability Report

• Banking system’s Asset quality has amazingly started to show progress. The gross Non-Performing
  Assets have decelerated during September 2018 quarter.
• The asset quality of Scheduled Commercial Banks showed a progress with Gross Non-Performing Assets ratio declining from 11.5 percent in March 2018 to 10.8 percent in September 2018 & the net non-performing assets ratio has also registered a decrease during the period.
• The number of banks with Gross Non-Performing Assets ratio below 10 percent has decreased in
  September 2018 as compared to March 2018.
• Due to the removal of various restructuring schemes, the Restructured standard advances ratio steadily dropped in September 2018 to 0.5 percent.
• The provision coverage ratio of all Scheduled Commercial Banks was higher in September 2018 as
  compared to March 2018.
• The Capital to Risk-weighted Assets Ratio of Scheduled Commercial Banks has weakened marginally from 13.8 percent in March 2018 to 13.7 percent in September 2018.
• Based on the Data, Reserve Bank of India predicts that projected Scheduled Commercial Banks ratio under the baseline scenario may weakening from 10.8 percent in September 2018 to 10.3% in March  2019.
• Analysis of portfolio of Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises highlights that, the performance of PSBs in the Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises segment trails that of other intermediaries including private banks & non-banking financial firms.

Loan subsidy for middle-income group under PMAY extended till - 31st March 2020

The Minister for Housing & Urban Affairs Hardeep Singh Puri has informed that the loan subsidy for the middle-income group under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana, has been stretched till 31st March 2020.
The Minister informed that above Rupees 6900 crore interest subsidy on housing loans has been
distributed to more than 3.14 lakh beneficiaries of Credit Linked Subsidy Scheme under Pradhan Mantri
Awas Yojana (Urban).
Credit Linked Subsidy under PMAY-Urban

• The Credit Linked Subsidy Scheme is a component under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana-Urban.
• Under the scheme, the central government provides interest subsidy or purchase or construction or extension or progress of a house to cater Economical Weaker Section, Lower-Income Group and Middle-Income Groups.
• The Credit Linked Subsidy Scheme is being implemented by 2 central nodal agencies in India, namely Housing Urban Development Corp & National Housing Bank.
• The Credit Linked Subsidy Scheme is deliberate as a demand-side intervention to expand institutional credit flow to the housing desires of the urban poor.
• The Credit Linked Subsidy Scheme is the only central scheme under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana-Urban & the remaining ones are applied as sponsored schemes.
  For Middle-Income group

Credit Linked Subsidy Scheme for Middle-Income group covers two income segments in the Middle-
Income group including Rupees 600001 to Rupees 1200000 and Rupees 1200001 to Rupees 1800000 per year.

Madhya Pradesh Government to create an - Adhyatmik Vibhag

The Government of Madhya Pradesh has declared formation of a new Adhyatmik Vibhag (spiritual
department). The planned new department will be formed by merging several current departments.
According to the tweet from the CM’s office of MP Dharmik Nyas Evam Dharmasv Department
(Religious Trust & Endowment Department), Anand Vibhag- Happiness Department, in addition to the Directorate of Religious Trust & Endowment, MP Teerth Evam Mela Pradhikaran & Rajya Anand Sansthan would be fused to form the planned Adhyatmik Vibhag- spiritual department.
More about Anand Vibhag

• MP had become the 1st state in the nation to create Happiness Department. The government had also declared the formation of the Happiness Institute.
• Previously announcing the formation of Happiness Department, the state government had undertaken a deep study of the measures taken to evaluate the status of happiness among the inhabitants by the UN as well as the Government of Bhutan & America’s International Management Institute.