1.IDBI Bank only PSB to get ‘high’ rating for code compliance :-
(I)According to the Code Compliance Rating of banks done by the Banking Codes and Standards Board of India (BCSBI) 2017, only one (unchanged from the previous survey conducted in 2015) out of 26 public sector banks and eight (nine in the previous survey) out of 17 private sector banks got ‘high’ rating for their adherence to code compliance.
(II)IDBI Bank was the only public sector bank that got ‘high (H)’(85 and above score out of 100) rating in two successive surveys.
(III)The eight private sector banks that got ‘high’ rating are — Axis Bank, DCB Bank, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, IndusInd Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, RBL Bank and YES Bank.
(IV)The three foreign banks — Citibank, HSBC and Standard Chartered Bank — that were surveyed got ‘high’ ranking.
(V)The code compliance rating, may be considered an indicator of the level of implementation of important code provisions at the grassroot level of a bank.
2.Home Ministry report features photograph of Spain-Morocco border as India-Pak border :-
(I)Home Minister Rajnath Singh ordered an enquiry on Wednesday to probe how a photograph of Spain-Morocco border made way to the Home Ministry’s annual report to showcase the floodlights installed along the India-Pakistan border.
(II)Home Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi said, “we are enquiring into the matter and will issue an apology if there is merit in it.”
- RBI Issues New Rs500 banknotes with inset letter ‘A’ :-
(I)The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) announced that it has issued Rs 500 denomination notes with inset letter A.
(II)They will be bearing the signature of Urjit R Patel.
(III)However, the old notes with inset letter E, which were introduced after Prime Narendra Modi’s demonetisation drive in November 2016 will continue to remain the legal tender.
4.Japan enacts controversial anti-terror law :-
(I)Japan enacted a controversial anti-terror law on Thursday that sparked street protests and warnings from critics that it would stomp on citizens’ privacy rights.
(II)The Upper House of Parliament passed the conspiracy Bill early Thursday after political wrangling through the night, overcoming the weak opposition’s no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s Cabinet and a censure motion aimed at Justice Minister Katsutoshi Kaneda.
- Nalanda model of water conservation chosen for National Award :-
(I)A model of water conservation adopted successfully by the authorities in Nalanda district of south central Bihar, has been selected for the national award for excellence in the Mahatma Gandhi national rural employment guarantee programme (MGNREGP), by the ministry of rural development.
(II)The award for excellence will be conferred on ‘Project Jal Sanchay’, the water conservation model developed in chief minister Nitish Kumar’s native district.
6.Petrol retailers withdraw strike call over daily price revision :-
(I)Petrol pump owners on Wednesday called off their proposed strike over daily revision of petrol and diesel prices from Friday after the government agreed to change the timing to 6 am everyday instead of midnight.
(II)Until now price revisions used to come into effect from midnight but considering the fact that dealers would have to deploy manpower everyday to change rates in the middle of the night, the timing has now been changed.
- Ex-Uttarakhand CM Pokhriyal authors book on Vajpayee :-
(I)Former Uttarakhand chief minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank, who credited Vajpayee for his debut in politics, said the 450-page book titled ‘Yug Purush, Bharat Ratna, Atal ji’ will be officially unveiled soon.
(II)However the first copy of the book on the social and political life of Vajpayee was presented to President Mukherjee.
8.No salary for Anil Ambani from RCom this year :-
(I)Reliance Group chairman Anil Ambani has “voluntarily” decided not to draw any salary or commission from debt laden flagship firm Reliance Communications (RCom) in current Financial Year as the as the company is reeling under debt of ₹ 45,000 crore and is facing credit downgrades.
(II)”Decision is part of Company promoters’ commitment to Strategic Transformation Program, said a company spokesperson. His decision comes weeks after the company reported a ₹ 966-crore loss for the quarter that ended in March 2017.
9.UK’s finance minister Philip Hammond, saved from purge, set to renew Brexit push :-
(I)British finance minister Philip Hammond has the chance on Thursday to assert his vision for a more business-friendly exit from the EU in a debate blown wide open again by an election that has undermined Prime Minister Theresa May’s authority.
(II)Hammond will address an annual gathering of London’s financial elite, who fear that May’s line that “no deal is better than a bad deal” will cost them business in the European Union.
10.RBI targets ‘dirty dozen’ defaulters accounting for 25% of bad loans :-
(I)India’s central bank has decided enough is enough.
(II)The Reserve Bank of India will order lenders to tip 12 companies into bankruptcy proceedings.
(III)These unnamed dirty dozen, most likely in the steel and power sector, represent a quarter of the country’s estimated $120 billion bad loan problem.
(IV)That will test a barely one-year-old insolvency regime.
