Current Affairs 1st September 2018

Current Affairs 1st September 2018 - Important Points

• Shipping Ministry signs new wage agreement to benefit over one lakh port workers, pensioners on - 30th August 2018
• GAIL India sign MoU signed for use of Natural Gas in railway workshops and production units between Indian Railways and - GAIL
• India Post Payments Bank launched by - Prime Minister Narendra Modi
• Indian women's hockey team settles for silver - Asian Games 2018
•  Home for widows ‘Krishna Kutir’ inaugurated in UP's Vrindavan on - 31st August 2018

Current Affairs 1st September 2018 - Details

Shipping Ministry signs new wage agreement to benefit over one lakh port workers, pensioners on - 30th August 2018

The Shipping Ministry on 30th August 2018 signed a new wage settlement agreement for Group C & D category of Port and Dock Workers in Mumbai, Maharashtra. The move will be benefitting around one lakh 35 thousand port and dock workers and pensioners in 12 major ports across the nation.

Shipping Ministry, port officials and workers federation in the presence of the Union Minister for Shipping, Nitin Gadkari signed this MoU.

Important Highlights

• The new agreement will be providing 10.6 percent wage hike to workers and pensioners.
• The lowest grade of workers would be getting a pay-scale of Rs 20900-43600 and the highest grade worker would be getting a pay-scale of Rs 36500-88700.
• The workers and pensioners will also be getting this benefit for a period of five years starting in January 2017.
• The total financial implication of the settlement for all the major ports to serve and pensioners is expected to be around Rs 560 crore annually.
• Over 32,000 Port and Dock workers and 1, 05,000 Group C and D pensioners across all major ports will going to be benefitted from of this settlement.

GAIL India sign MoU signed for use of Natural Gas in railway workshops and production units between Indian Railways and - GAIL

 Indian Railways signed a MoU with GAIL (India) Limited to provide infrastructure facilities to supply of Natural Gas to Indian Railways Workshops, Production Units and Depots on 30th August 2018. The MoU was signed by Chetram, CAO of the Indian Railway Organization for Alternate Fuels (IROAF) on and Gajendra Singh, Director (Marketing) of GAIL (India) Limited.

Key Highlights

• It is an in-principle agreement between GAIL and Indian Railways to create infrastructure and supply of CNG, LNG and PNG for both industrial as well as domestic purposes.
• The MoU is aiming to replace industrial gases like LPG, BMCG, Dissolved Acetylene, and Furnace Oil, High Speed Diesel (HSD) oil with environment friendly Natural Gas.
• Among 54 workshops and production units, 23 workshops have been identified in the first phase to replace Industrial Gases with Natural Gas.
• All 23 workshops will be starting to use Natural Gas by 31st December 2018, and all 54 workshops and production units will also be covered by 30th June 2019.
• All railway establishments, including base kitchens of IRCTC, all guest houses and hostels and Railway divisions will start using Natural Gas by June 30, 2019.
• In domestic segment, approximately 1100 houses have been provided with D-PNG supply in Railway colony of Bhubaneswar.

India Post Payments Bank launched by - Prime Minister Narendra Modi

The Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi launched the India Post Payments Bank (IPPB) Stadium in New Delhion 1st September 2018 at Talkatora. This initiative is seeking to leverage the expansive network of the postal department to ensure financial inclusion for the masses.

In addition to that, simultaneous launch events were held for the IPPBs at 650 branches and 3,250 access points.

Important Highlights

• The payments bank, where the Indian government is holding 100 percent equity, will be giving leverage to the vast network of the Department of Posts (DoP) that has over three lakh postmen and Grameen Dak Sewaks.
• All the 1.55 lakh post offices in the country will going to be linked to the IPPB system by 3st December 2018.
• The IPPBs will also be offering a range of products such as savings and current accounts, direct benefit transfers, money transfer, bill and utility payments, and enterprise and
  merchant payments.
• These products and related services will be offered across multiple channels which are counter services, micro-ATM, mobile banking app, SMS and IVR by  using the state-of-the-art technology platform of the banks.

Indian women's hockey team settles for silver - Asian Games 2018

India clinched three medals in sailing on 13th Day of the 18th Asian Games with Varsha Gautham and Sweta Shervegar winning silver in the 49er FX women's event, Harshita  Tomar bagged bronze in the Open Laser 4.7 event and Varun Thakkar Ashok and Chengappa Ganapathy Kelapanda settling for bronze the 49er men's event.

However, the Indian women hockey team's dream to reclaim the gold at the Asian Games after 36 years still remained unfulfilled after they lost 1-2 to Japan to while settling for the silver medal.  To start with, the Indians were the favourites to win the title as they are ranked five places above Japan at the ninth position in the world rankings.  A day prior to that Indian men's hockey team also lost to Malaysia in penalty shootouts in their semifinal match.

Indian boxer Vikas Krishan will also be having to settle for bronze after he was declared medically unfit to fight his semifinal about in men's 75kg event due to a cut on his  left eyelid, which he sustained before in the event. The 26-year-old was to take on Kazakhstan's Amankul Abilkhan in his last-four clash but was forced due to the injury.

On the other hand, the Indian women's squash team assured India of a medal after they knocked out by defending champion Malaysia to enter the finals of the 18th Asian Games.  The Indian team, comprising Joshana Chinappa, Dipika Pallikal Karthik, Sunayna Kuruvilla and Tanvi Khanna, defeated Malaysia 2-0 to assure itself at least for a silver medal.

 Home for widows ‘Krishna Kutir’ inaugurated in UP's Vrindavan on - 31st August 2018

Union Minister for Women and Child Development, Maneka Sanjay Gandhi, along with Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath inaugurated the widows’  home ‘Krishna Kutir’ at Vrindavan, Uttar Pradesh on 31st August 2018. Krishna Kutir is a special home for 1000 widows and is the largest ever facility of its kind created by a government organisation.

Key Details

• The Vrindavan home will be offering shelter and protection to the large number of helpless widows.
  An area of 4 acres has been allocated near the home by the district administration which will be developed into a park and which can be used by the widows of the home.
• Widows will be a part of various committees which will be formed to manage the widows’ home.
• The Home for Widows, Krishna Kutir has been constructed on 1.4 hectare of land through National Building Construction Corporation at a cost of Rs 57.48 Crores.
• It has capacity to house inmates and has beautifully made 100 dormitories.
• The Home design is prepared in consultation with ‘Helpage India’ and is old age friendly as well.
• It consists of ground plus three floors with the facilities of ramp, lifts, supply of adequate electricity, water and other amenities for senior citizens and people with special challenges.
• It is also equipped with a large modern kitchen and alongwith a skill cum training centre.
• It has two dispensaries and physiotherapy facility and the inmates will be provided with regular medical checkups.
• The construction of the home was funded by Central Government and Uttar Pradesh Government will be managing it.