Current Affairs 5th October 2017

Current Affairs 5th October 2017 - Important Points

• India to surpass China as fastest-growing oil market in Asia with - 6 percent
• 3rd National Wildlife Action Plan for 2017-2031 unveiled by - India
• Service charge exemption on train e-tickets extended till March 2018- Report by Indian Railways
•  Cabinet approves the Extradition Treaty between India and Lithuania on - 4th October 2017
• To promote tourism center  Union Ministry to organize - Paryatan Parv
•  Bangladesh signs USD 4.5 billion loan deal with India on - 4th October 2017
• Who has been appointed WHO Deputy Director-General? - ICMR Chief Soumya Swaminathan
• Who has been appointed new SBI chairman? - Rajnish Kumar

Current Affairs 5th October 2017 - Details

India to surpass China as fastest-growing oil market in Asia with - 6 percent

India will be outshining China as the fastest-growing petroleum product market in Asia on the back of a 6 percent demand growth says a report. This seems possible as Chinese stipulated growth is seen halving to 2.5-3% in 2017-18 from a higher 6% in 2016-17. Despite the failing growth numbers in both of these countries, India and China will be maintaining to be the key growth engines for the sector in Asia, representing more than 80% of the expected growth in 2018.

Important Highlights

• Highlighting the American energy information administration projections, the report highlighted that the petroleum products demand in the Asia Pacific will be increased a modest 2% or 0.7 million barrels per day to 34.6 million bpd in 2018.
• The report has also stated that the seeing the oil sectors dependence on China and India increasingly, it is believed that demand would be facing considerable threat if economic growth weakens materially below our expectations.
• However, India will be outshining China as the fastest growing product market in Asia with petroleum consumption growing 6 % in 2018.
• It also says India and China growth will be making sure that Asian refining margins will stay firm, thereby supporting the earnings growth. 
• On China, the report stated that as China’s economic activity dials back, we anticipate its refined product demand growth will be modested to 2.5-3% in 2017-18 which is nearly half of higher CAGR of 5% between 2012-16. Still, in absolute terms, China will be accounting for 48% of Asian R&M demand growth in 2018.
• Noting that demand and supply will be varying by country, as a whole Asia’s incremental growth on demand for fuel of around 0.7 million bpd will be outpaced net refining capacity additions of 0.4-0.5 million bpd over the next 1-1.5 years.
• The report has concluded with the remarks that at the same time, the bulk of the incremental growth bulk in refining capacity will be coming from China and Vietnam.
• However, with the demand growth exceeding capacity additions in the last 5 years, Asia is likely to be a net importer of refined petroleum products for at least the next 3-years.

Service charge exemption on train e-tickets extended till March 2018- Report by Indian Railways

 The Railway Board has directed the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation to extend the benefit of service charge exemption on tickets booked online till March 2018.
This will be enabling the rail passengers to continue enjoying the service for an extended time period.
The government had waived off service charges on online booked rail tickets in November 2016 during demonetisation to encourage digital modes of booking. The facility had been extended to 30th June and then to 30th September 2017 recently.

Key Highlights

• Service charges on booking train tickets online through IRCTC ranges from Rs 20 to 40 per ticket which are waived off till March 2018 now.
• This decision was taken by the Railway Board, the ticketing agency of the railways, on 29th September 2017 and a notification in this regard was sent to the IRCTC.
• According to senior railway officials, almost 33 percent of the IRCTC revenue comes from the service charge collected through online bookings.
• As per the revenue collection of the last financial year, about Rs 540 Crore of IRCTC’s revenue of more than Rs 1,500 Crore came from ticket bookings.

3rd National Wildlife Action Plan for 2017-2031 unveiled by - India

Third National Wildlife Action Plan for 2017-2031 was unveiled by India spelling out the future road map for the wildlife conservation. A road map to conserve wildlife of India, in the form of an Action Plan was mooted in the 15th convention of Indian Board for Wildlife (NBWL) during 1982 and accordingl to that, the 1st National Wildlife Action Plan (NWAP-1) was drafted and adopted in 1983. It was put into practice between 1983 and 2001.
Highlights of Third National Wildlife Action Plan

• The Plan is based on the foundation that ecological processes that are governed, supported or strongly moderated by ecosystems are important for food production, health and other aspects of sustainable development and human survival. So, maintenance of these ecosystems that can be termed as ‘Life Support Systems’ is important for all societies regardless of their stage of the development.
• It also emphasizes on the other two aspects of living resource conservation which are, preservation of genetic diversity and sustainable utilization of species and ecosystems which has a direct bearing on our scientific advancements and support towards millions of rural communities.

 Cabinet approves the Extradition Treaty between India and Lithuania on - 4th October 2017

The Union Cabinet led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave its approval to sign and ratify the Extradition Treaty between India and Lithuania on 4th October 2017.
Main aim behind this -
With the approval of the treaty, it would now be providing a legal framework to seek extradition of terrorists, economic offenders and other criminals to and from Lithuania.

Definition of Extradition
It is the act to evict or force someone to return for trial to another country or state where they have been accused or convicted of a crime. Service charge exemption on train e-tickets extended till March 2018, directed by - Railway Board

To promote tourism center  Union Ministry to organize - Paryatan Parv

The Union Ministry of Tourism would be organising Paryatan Parv, a festival of tourism, from 5th October 2017 in collaboration with other central ministries, stakeholders and state governments.
The main motto behind organising the festival is to draw focus on the tourism benefits and showcase the country's cultural diversity and to reinforce the principle of ‘Tourism for All’. The 20-day festival would be starting at Humayun's Tomb in Delhi. It will end on 25th October.
There will be three components of the festival:

• Dekho Apna Desh
• Tourism for All
• Tourism & Governance

 Bangladesh signs USD 4.5 billion loan deal with India on - 4th October 2017

Bangladesh signed a massive USD 4.5 billion third line of credit agreement with India towards its social sector development and infrastructure with Finance Minister Arun Jaitley vowing to back the country’s developmental initiatives on 4th October 2017.
The accord was signed in the presence of India’s Finance Minister Jaitley and his Bangladeshi counterpart A M A Muhith after both the leaders held talks. In April, the USD 4.5 billion LoC was announced during Prime Minister Sheikh Hasinas visit to India.

India-Bangladesh relation:

• India’s view to this agreement was in the backdrop of Bangladesh’s significant development on the socio-economic front in the last 7 years.
• India also emphasized on the point that India always stood by Bangladesh’s attempts to develop and it will be continued to do so in the future.
• This agreement is an extension of that effort.
• Recognising the India’s effort, Bangladesh also said that “Bangladesh and India have excellent relations at the moment”.
• They further added that India stood by them during our independence. We hope they will be continued to do so in the future.

Line of Credit for Infrastructure:

• The new Indian line of credit, worth USD 4.5 billion, will be utilised to finance 17 major projects in Bangladesh, which include roads, railroads, electricity, shipping and ports.
• Bangladesh will be paying an interest rate of 1% per year. It will be getting 20 years to pay back the loans, with a grace period of 5 years.
• Bangladesh would have to procure 65 to 75% of the services or works from the Indian market with the money to be provided under the third LoC under this contract.
• Bangladesh has two other LoCs open with India: First was signed in 2010, and the second was in 2016.

Who has been appointed WHO Deputy Director-General? - ICMR Chief Soumya Swaminathan

Soumya Swaminathan, director general of Indian Council of Medical Research, appointed deputy director-general, of WHO in Geneva. This position is the second-highest at the UN’s health agency. The position is also the highest post held by any Indian in the WHO.
This new team in WHO was announced by Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the director-general, who was elected to the post in May 2017.
The second appointment was Jane Ellison along with Dr. Swaminathan, who was Special Parliamentary Adviser to the UK’s Chancellor of the Exchequer, has been appointed as a Deputy Director General for Corporate Operations, whereas Dr. Swaminathan has been appointed as the Deputy Director General for Programs.

Who has been appointed new SBI chairman? - Rajnish Kumar

Rajnish Kumar has been appointed the next chairman of the SBI. At present, he is the Managing Director of State Bank of India (SBI). Rajnish Kumar will be succeeding Arundhati Bhattacharya, who is at present serving her one-year extension. The Cabinet appointment committee has also permitted the selection of Kumar for a period of 3-years from 7th October, as per the order issued by the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT).

Important Points

• Rajnish Kumar's appointment comes at a time when the SBI profitability is under severe strain because of stressed loans and lethargic credit growth.
• The SBI was weighed down by gross NPA loans of 1.88 trillion rupees in the June end. Gross bad loans account for almost one-tenth of its total advances.
• SBI is also one of the leading banks in a majority of the forty cases referred for bankruptcy proceedings at the NCLT.
• Arundhati Bhattacharya who was the predecessor of Rajnish Kumar was the first woman chairperson of the SBI and also instrumental in the unification of SBI’s associate banks and Bharatiya Mahila Bank with SBI.
• Vinod Rai leading Bank Board Bureau made this recommenndation.

More about Rajnish Kumar

• He joined the bank as a probationary officer in 1980 and served in various positions
  including head of SBI Capital Markets Ltd which is the bank’s investment banking unit.
• Kumar has also held the overseas project in UK and Canada in three decades of career.