Current Affairs

Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the Saubhagya Scheme on Monday evening. The scheme aims to provide electricity connections to over 4 crore families in rural and urban areas by December 2018. Under the Pradhan Mantri Sahaj Bijli Har Ghar Yojana, household across India which do not have an electricity connection will be given connections free of cost. The government will bear the expected cost of 16,000 crore for providing electricity connections. Speaking at the launch of Saubhagya Scheme, PM Modi said, “the welfare of the poor is linked to the identity of the NDA government” and he further said that reducing the problems faced by the poor is my government's biggest responsibility.”

Today, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal is expected to meet actor Kamal Hassan for lunch in Chennai. The two will meet at Hassan's home in Chennai. A 'lavish lunch' has been arranged by Hassan for the Aam Aadmi Party Chief. As per the sources of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Kejriwal and Hassan will have closed door “political discussions” at Hassan's home. Four other Aam Aadmi Party leader are accompanying Chief Minister Kejriwal for this lunch visit. Amidst this an Aam Aadmi Party leader commented, “There is a political void in Tamil Nadu's Game of Thrones.”

Barely a day before its inauguration by Bihar's Chief Minister, Nitish Kumar, a portion of Ganga pump canal project in Bhagalur collapsed on Wednesday. As told by the State Water Resources Minister Rajiv Ranjan Singh, “the breach in the canal happened due to release of water in full capacity. 21,700 hectares in Bihar and 4000 hectares in Jharkhand is meant to be irrigated by the Bateshwar Ganga Pump Nahar Pariyojna. This project has faced neglect by governments since 1977. It was started in 1977 with a cost of Rs. 13.88 crore. However, several times this project witnessed revision in its cost.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) announced that it would issue Rs 200 notes on Friday. This new Rs. 200 note is the second new denomination to be issued since the demonitisation exercise. The base color of the Rs. 200 note will be bright yellow. It will bear the signature of Urijit Patel, the RBI governor on the front. The note will have the 'Swachh Bharat' logo with slogan along with a motif of Sanchi Stupa on the reverse side. The new note is smaller than the existing 100 note with dimensions of 66mmx146mm. As per the experts, the new 200 note will improve the efficiency of the present currency system in India. In a statement, the RBI said, “There is a logical need to introduce the missing denomination of Rs. 200, which will make the present currency system more efficient.” The new Rs 200 notes is called the 'missing middle' by the chief economic advisor of SBI group Soumya Kanti Ghosh.

According to Government, the implementation of Goods and Services Tax, GST, will be beneficial for the country as well as the states. The government sources stated that the taxation system in the country has become more transparent after GST came into existence.

According to reports, Wholesale inflation for June 2017 fell to 0.9 per cent as prices of food articles, including vegetables, declined. The inflation has dropped to the lowest level in the last two quarters. Inflation in food articles was negative (-) 3.47 percent in June and inflation in vegetables stood at -47.32 percent in June 2017.

The Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) also called as Mangalyaan completes three years in space. The Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM)spacecraft was successfully placed in the Martian orbit in its very first attempt by the ISRO. MOM was successfully inserted into Mars' orbit on 24 September 2014. The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is only the fourth space agency in the world to send a mission to Mars. ISRO is the first space agency to do so in its first attempt. On completion of Magalyaan's three years in Martian orbit, the Indian Space and Research Organisation (ISRO) released MOM's second year science data.

Google has forayed in the payment segment with the launch of Tez. Tez is an app and is available in both android and iOS platforms. Tez uses the government's Unified Payments Interface. The app was launched by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley.

Tez allows users to do financial transactions like sending money, receiving payments directly into their bank accounts and paying bills. The users can link the app to their bank accounts as the platform is built on the government's Unified Payment Interface.

Google Tez supports several local languages including Hindi, Bengali, Gujarati, Kannada, Marathi, Tamil and Telugu.

As stated in a media release, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced that India will play three Test Matches against South Africa in a tour beginning on January 5th. The BCCI acting secretary stated in a media release, “ India will play South Africa in a three match 'Mahatma Gandhi Nelson Mandela' Test Series, six-match One Day Internationals (ODI) Test series followed by three Twenty20 Internationals.” Initially Indian Cricket Team was supposed to play 4 Tests, 3ODIs and 3 Twenty20 Internationals. Indian Cricket team last toured South Africa in 2013.

In an exciting and hard fought final on Sunday, India's ace shuttler P.V. Sindhu had to settle with silver medal. The final lasted for about one hour forty nine minutes. Sindhu lost to Japan's Nozomi Okuhara 19-21,22-20,20-22. Their match was the longest in the World Championships. India's ace shuttlers P V Sindhu and Saina Nehwal made India proud at the World Championship by bagging a silver and a bronze medal. For the first time India has bagged two medals in the World Badminton Championship.

On day two of the third and final test of India vs Sri Lanka series at Pallekele International Cricket Stadium, Pandya smashed a maiden test hundred in 86 balls. In the first innings, Sri Lanka was bowled by the Indian bowlers at 135 wherein Kuldeep Yadav took 4 for 40 and Shami claimed two wickets. Pandya's aggressive knock aided India to 487 runs at the end of the day. Pandya scored 26 runs off Malinda Pushpakumara's over smashing 3 sixes and 2 fours. His 26 runs off an over were the most runs scored by an Indian batsman in an over in Test Cricket.



A 1978 batch retired IAS officer of Rajasthan cadre, Rajiv Mehrishi is likely to take over as Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India. On Monday, the former Union Home Secretary, Rajiv Mehrishi will be administered the oath of office and secrecy at the Rashtrapati Bhavan by President Ram Nath Kovind. He will succeed Shashi Kant Sharma, who retires on 25 September. Rajiv Mehrishi is likely to have a tenure of about three years. Last month. Rajiv Mehrishi completed his two years as the Union Home Secretary.

At around 3:30pm today, the third Mahamana Express will be launched by Prime Minister Modi. As per the officials, railway minister Piyush Goyal would be present in Vadodara in the state of Gujarat and minister of state for railways Manoj Sinha in Surat. The new Mahamana train will start every Friday from Varanasi and from Vadodara every Wednesday. The third Mahamana Express will run between Vadodara and Varanasi, as it will be inaugurated on Friday via a remote control by PM Modi.

On Friday, the police arrested two terrorists involved in Wednesday's deadly terror attack on the Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) in Banihal belt of Jammu and Kashmir. While the police is still searching for the third terrorist, two militants Gaznavar and Arif have been arrested pertaining to the attack. As reported by the officials, the duo were involved in the terror attack along with Aquib Wahid. The SSP said that the hunt for Wahid is still on.